Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds
Chapter 3 — Chilly Mistakes
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Sparks flew from Lucario’s Metal Claw as it struck the white energy surrounding the Weavile’s Slash. “You have nerve,” the aura-commanding Pokemon barked, sweat forming on his brows.
“Blame the kid for attacking me,” Weavile retorted, his statement coming off as funny to Lucario. Really? Vulpix, hurting someone to draw their ire?
Never mind that. Disengaging, Lucario brought out his palm, wisps of blue aura gathering around it. The wisps swirled into a spherical, translucent mass of energy, the Aura Sphere crackling with power.
The projectile fired with a hiss, and only Weavile’s incredible speed allowed him to roll away from the attack, his neck-pouch flying about in a frenzy. A sneer crossed the weasel face as he prepared to strike back.
Lucario just scoffed as Aura Sphere made a u-turn, following Weavile’s movements, and smashed against the back of his head with a bang.
The blow threw Weavile to the floor, Lucario quickly propping a leg over Weavile’s prone body to keep him down. “It homes in on your aura, dummy,” he said, “it’s not just some super-effective attack. Never seen an Aura Sphere before? They may as well be the bane of your species.”
The weasel could only rasp and cough in response. Lucario looked over his shoulder to where Vulpix lay, her calm facade betrayed by her trembling. Weavile hadn't harmed her much, meaning he woke up just in time. Who was this guy, anyway?
And what was this thing in his claw, some flower? It was large and pink in color, with a sweet scent emanating from it. “What’s this about?” he asked the Weavile, pointing to the flower.
Weavile bared his teeth. “Look here, I was just passing through when your little friend spat snow in my eyes, okay? Just let me go, and I’ll pretend this never happened.”
Someone was avoiding the question. Suspicious about the Weavile’s intents, Lucario let his eyes glow up as he peered into his aura.
Weavile’s thoughts of escape and panic flowed into his mind, along with a powerful will not to let anyone take the flower. Lucario stopped the feedback before he brushed against more sensitive thoughts, having heard enough. This flower didn’t really belong to this Weavile.
He had himself a thief. Whatever the big deal was with the flower, he hadn’t looked into it, and he didn’t care. What should he do with this low-life? Find the Pokemon he stole from and return the item?
Weavile suddenly struck at his leg, throwing Lucario off-balance. “Stinking mind-reader,” he heaved, rolling to his feet and about to make a run from it.
Lucario was quicker on the draw, however. He lunged at his shoulder, tackling the Weavile to the ground. The two grappled with each other, wrestling for control.
“Get off me, you hooligan!” Weavile hollered, at a disadvantage as he struggled to keep the stolen flower in his claw.
“Not a chance,” Lucario responded, pressing his paw against the Weavile’s head.
Aura flowed out of the paw in volts of sizzling energy, shocking the thief as he screamed. His claw went limp from the paralysis caused by the Force Palm, and the flower fell out of his grasp, its petals still whole.
Lucario snatched the flower out of curiosity. Was this thing magical or what? What a resilient-looking plant, able to withstand a fight and all. It must be precious for a thief to steal it.
“I’ll be taking this, thank you,” he told the fallen Weavile.
He turned, then stumbled back as a spinning blade of wind slammed into his chest. Vulpix cried out and curled herself up, and Lucario growled as a second blade scraped the fur on his ears.
His aurasense flickered to life, the black dreadlock appendages at the back of his head tensing at the presence of two new hostile auras. Backup? assumed Lucario as he looked up, before taking cover behind a tree as a swirling trio of beams colored red, yellow, and blue razed his former spot.
The Pokemon responsible for the Tri-Attack flew overhead, a petite, white figure with angel wings on her back and red and blue triangle patterns all over her body. A Togetic. And riding her—
Lucario moved out of the way, a green orb of energy shooting past, and blanched at the little grassy hedgehog mounting the Togetic. “Drop it!” she demanded in her tart voice.
That wasn’t a Pokemon Lucario recognized. Who was this? And what was her deal?
The hedgehog was primarily white, just like Togetic, but with grass and greenery covering her back. She spat Energy Ball after Energy Ball, and Togetic assisted, sweeping her arm and conjuring a gust of Fairy Wind in its wake, Lucario hard-pressed to evade it all. He fired back, Aura Spheres dispelling attacks and striking the duo.
It caught him off-guard when the hedgehog blurred, the miffed Pokemon leaping off Togetic and ramming into him with a startlingly forceful Quick Attack. No sooner did she rebound off, wind coalescing around her paw into an Air Slash that she flung his way. It gutted Lucario, the sheer knockback throwing him to his side and making him drop the flower.
The hedgehog pounced toward the mystical plant, and only then did Lucario take notice of the flowers growing on the side of her head, pink in color. They looked just like—
She touched the flower. And before Lucario’s eyes, her form lit up and morphed.
A reindeer-like creature emerged from the transformation, shaking her white wing-like ears and grassy mohawk. “Alright, now you’re having it, punk,” she said, a flower-like scarf wavering from her chest. Her Pokemon-speak betrayed her species name, telling Lucario this was a… Shaymin?
Cold shudders ran down Lucario’s back as he realized his situation. Shaymin are a Mythical race in Sinnoh, he thought. The flower’s a Gracidea Flower.
Her flower.
Lucario internally facepalmed. She’s not an enemy, dummy! He admonished himself.
Shaymin took her flower and flew at him in her reindeer form, air swirling into a blade around her green forepaw. “Wait! I’m—” said Lucario.
She didn’t listen, bashing him with the Air Slash and tossing Lucario airborne. Even then he forced himself through the pain, throwing an Aura Sphere back in defense. Shaymin raised a brow before letting her next Air Slash dissipate, instead crossing her arms in front of her. A green barrier poofed into existence, the Aura Sphere crashing harmlessly against it.
Because of course the Mythical knew Protect. What was he doing anyway? He shouldn’t be tempting a Mythical Pokemon’s wrath!
Lucario rolled to the side, before being shoved to the ground by another Air Slash. His skull throbbed from the impact, the jackal’s eyes twitching toward the Mythical Pokemon hovering above him, then to the flower in her left paw and the blade of wind forming in her right paw. A blustering noise came from it, like the winds of a mini-hurricane on a crash course with him.
Shaymin scoffed. “Talk about bandit-ception,” she said. “Yo, thief, do you never flinch or something? I know those Air Slashes should’ve left you curling into yourself.”
“I—” Lucario felt his jaw slacken. “Thief? Now hold on—”
Shaymin waved her Air Slash dangerously close to his snout. “I believe it’s his Ability, Shaymin,” came Togetic’s soft voice, the angelic joining her side. “Inner Focus keeps him clear-minded, meaning your Air Slash can’t make him lose his guard.”
Shaymin huffed, as if she’d been robbed of some quality-level fun. “Your kind are supposed to be the honorable, lawful sort,” Togetic continued, throwing a perplexed look at Lucario. “What would drive one of you to steal?”
“Like actually, the nerve! ‘I’ll be taking this, thank you?’” Shaymin shook her head. “What’s two outlaws doing, trying to get their grubby hands on my flower?”
Lucario felt like tugging his feelers off. Good grief, this was such a bad misunderstanding. “I didn’t steal,” he insisted. “Weavile’s the only—”
Shaymin’s paw shifted, and for a moment it was like something had hit a pressure point in his feelers, Lucario’s watchful eyes glowing with intense blue light. His body moved without his command, time appearing to all but halt for him. Her blade moved, but he moved with unnatural reflexes, rolling to his feet and moving several feet away from both Pokemon in the blink of an eye.
The Air Slash drove a crack into the earth before the duo snapped their heads toward Lucario’s afterimages. “What in—?” said Shaymin.
The Mythical had Protect, but Lucario had Detect — a protection move augmented by his aura abilities. Should’ve done this earlier, he muttered to himself.
Well, no matter. “Just calm down!” said Lucario, putting his paws up. “You’re making a mistake! I wasn’t—”
Shaymin rushed him again, much to Lucario’s indignation. He strafed away from her Quick Attack, then ducked under an Air Slash that went too wide. Opportunity presented itself, and he thrust his paw forward.
It pressed against her chest. The Mythical stared at it for a split second, before aura burst outward, sending her tumbling toward the nearest tree. Togetic made a pained noise as she hurried over and clutched Shaymin, whose muscles had jolted into involuntary spasming.
She rolled her head toward Lucario with great difficulty. “Can I explain myself now?” he barked, huffing to himself. At least a Force Palm’s paralysis could keep the Mythical busy. “I swear, I have no intention of stealing your flower! I was just—”
Lucario’s voice died along with his soul as Shaymin glowed a cleansing green, losing all the stiffness in her muscles. She rose back to the air with casual mirth.
“Real cute of you, pulling that stunt off,” she said. “You know I can just get rid of the paralysis, right?”
Shaymin could heal off status effects. Perfect.
“You’re not a garbage fighter by the way, you know that? Most people are easy pickings, but stupid flinch immunity or not, you’re more durable than I thought. I’m almost enjoying myself.”
The compliment derailed Lucario for a good moment, along with Shaymin’s stupid grin. Sorry? She thought him to be competent?
“She’s not wrong, you seem rather capable,” Togetic cut in, the angelic growing uncertain as she looked between the two. “Shaymin, I really should check his purity. Are we sure he’s another thief? I’m starting to think his soul might be taintless—”
“You saw him!” said Shaymin, dismissing her level-headed approach. “Dude’s just another low-life who’s stealing my flower.”
“Shaymin, we could be making a mistake—”
“A thief’s a thief, Togetic—”
The two bickered for a while, the forest sighing in apology to Lucario. A trainer’s Pokemon shouldn’t have to deal with this, he complained, before Vulpix’s cry stole his focus.
The dark side of him laughed when Togetic and Shaymin turned their heads with him, noticing an icy vixen hunkered down next to a trunk and vacantly staring. “Wait, you have a kid?” Togetic said, stubby nubs cupped over her mouth. “Shaymin, he has a kid!”
Lucario didn’t pay much attention to how Vulpix accidentally solved his problem, however. Where Vulpix stared, a patch of flattened grass indicated the spot where a certain Weavile had once been.
Shaymin caught on too, head swiveling around. “Shoot, where’s that—”
Ice Shards impaled her and Togetic, making them drop. Lucario had a double-take when Shaymin’s flower left her grasp, disappearing into literal nothingness. In its place a beam of frost fired, encasing Togetic and Shaymin in solid ice.
He reacted faster, however, rolling under the Ice Beam when it came his way. Shaymin lit up before him as she morphed back into her grounded hedgehog form for some reason, but ignoring it for the time being, he shrouded his eyes in a blaze of blue aura, revealing the outline of a certain Weavile. How’d he turn invisible?
Weavile spat out a curse, seeing Lucario had foiled his trick with aurasense and preparing to use Quick Attack. That was bad — Weavile would be too fast for him to catch if he did that. Lucario fired an Aura Sphere immediately, not caring about its puny size so long as it slowed down the thief.
Unfortunately, Weavile predicted this and zipped behind Lucario, shoving him right into the sphere before he could yelp. The attack stung, moreso because of how the Fighting-type energy clashed with his Steel-typing.
Adding insult to injury, Weavile then shoved him to the ground. “You had to make this personal, kid, didn’t you?” he spat in his ear. His clawed feet padded over his back, thrusting Lucario’s snout into the dirt as the good-for-nothing thief stepped over his body and began to run off.
Only for him to make a pained noise and hit the ground as a violent roar of flames sounded. Lucario pushed himself up to see a beam of purplish fire fading into flickers as it rolled over the thief, stripping him of his invisibility. The flower in his claw fluttered to the ground.
A green glow pulsed, ice shattering beside an amused Lucario as a landbound Shaymin thawed out of her icy prison. Her Quick Attack launched her at the Weavile, throwing him to the side before he could reclaim the flower. “Frost-ridden jerk!” she said. “Why, I oughta—”
Weavile pulled something tiny from his pouch and ate it. And he vanished.
No, not vanished, he was literally gone. Lucario could sense his aura shift, as if he had teleported away. There’s a thing you can eat that does that? he wondered, rubbing his forehead. Must’ve had something for invisibility in that pouch too. Maybe a berry, or a magic seed?
Yeah, why not, magic seeds. That made perfect sense.
Shaymin whipped her head around in livid disgust as she looked for Weavile and, failing to do so, yelled something about stupid Ice-types and their stupid freezing attacks. Her anger subsided, she then brought herself to her flower and grabbed it, transforming into her flying reindeer self again, and then hurried over to a frozen Togetic. One cleansing green aura later and she was thawed out too.
Lucario got a whiff of a numbing aroma from the green glow, making his muscles relax on their own accord. Aromatherapy, that’s what the status-healing move was. Mythicals, he muttered to himself.
“Are you okay?”
Something cold brushed Lucario’s fur, Vulpix coming beside him with a shaken expression. Lucario couldn’t help but chuckle at her sudden concern for him. “Are you okay?” he repeated, as if redirecting the question.
Impressively, Vulpix caught on. “A-are y-you okay?” she said in the Vulpix tongue, making the question return to sender. Her expression softened when he nodded, reverting to a passive, calm state.
“Well, what a mess we’ve got here.”
And then a male voice made her scamper behind him. Lucario rose to meet a Pokemon who looked like a bipedal dragon with shark fins on his arms, back, and tail. A bag dangled from one said arm. His scales were blue, but his chest and stomach regions were red, with a light blue underside. Ears shaped like jet engines hung at the sides of his skull, and a frown adorned his face.
A Gabite. So this was the Pokemon who fired off those purplish flames — that must’ve been Dragon Breath.
Shaymin and Togetic were quick to float in front of the dragon-shark Pokemon, their expressions awkward. “Weavile used a Vanish Seed while you and Togetic were busy messing with someone else,” Gabite said in a chiding tone. “Ate an Eyedrop Seed so I could see him. Why did you target Lucario and not the actual thief?”
The forbidden knowledge of magic seeds actually existing gave Lucario a migraine somehow worse than the pummeling he had taken. “Uh, well,” stammered a red-faced Shaymin, “thing was, Weavile looked like he was down and Lucario had my Gracidea Flower—”
Gabite’s eyes became razor-sharp, digging into Shaymin’s skull. “I didn’t see how it started, but it seems Lucario tried to knock out Weavile to protect his kid. Yet you still attacked him on a whim?”
“I—” Shaymin stole a glance at Lucario. “Crud, I messed up.”
“You don’t say?” All the while Togetic had her eyes glowing with a soft pink, much to Lucario’s curiosity. She gazed straight through Lucario and Vulpix, a groan escaping her lips. “Oh, this is just as much my fault. You and your little one’s hearts, they’re filled with kindness and goodwill. I shouldn’t have attacked you — Shaymin, he had a kid! How could we both miss her?”
Huh. Lucario knew Togetic were able to sense kindness and purity in others, but not that it could be used like that. It was similar to his preferred way of detecting aura.
He shook his head, noting his injuries. All this fighting left him battered and bruised, a few cuts running deep into his skin, but nothing he couldn’t patch up. Noting the slash in Vulpix’s fur, courtesy of Weavile, he readied a Life Dew.
Togetic raised her head, noticing the blue glow around him and the water pellets forming around him. “Your kind learn that move too?” she said, before shaking herself. “Hold on, it’s only right that I make amends. Here.”
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Before he could turn her down she glowed a soft blue as well, conjuring her own healing droplets of water. Well, if she insisted, so be it.
He stepped back, allowing Togetic to seize control of his Life Dew pellets and add them to her own. They fell upon her, Shaymin, and Lucario, the moisture soothing the ache in his body and patching up his injuries. Vulpix tensed when the droplets came to her as well, only letting out a quiet sigh when they healed her too.
Togetic observed her, grimacing when the false vixen shied away behind Lucario. The jackal examined her with blue glowing eyes, his aurasense picking up on a chill that ignored her resistance to the cold. Fear? Poor kid kept facing too many encounters with aggressive Pokemon.
Lucario put his paw in front, sending calming messages through his command of aura. Nobody here was an enemy, and through his messages, Vulpix managed to understand this, accepting the foreign feelings as the chill went away. Something else took its place, however, jittery and itchy to the touch. Nervousness.
She looked at him, and laid bare her wish to be anywhere but here. Away from other Pokemon. That wish multiplied in force when she noticed the Gabite staring at her, a gleam in his eyes. It was like how he had glared at Shaymin and Togetic, but with none of the malice.
For now. Here’s hoping the disguise holds, thought Lucario as he showered her in condolences, and a request for patience. “You’re in charge of those two?” he asked aloud to Gabite.
Gabite hummed, ripping his stare away from his kid. “Team Heavendust at your beck and call,” he said in a sardonic voice. “Apologies about your run-in with Togetic and Shaymin, they’re usually better than this.”
He threw the abashed pair one last disapproving look. “We’re a notable explorer team around these parts,” he continued, before scrutinizing Lucario’s face. “But I get the impression you’ve never met explorers before, have you?”
Lucario twitched as Togetic and Shaymin gave him odd looks. “Uh—”
“No worries. Some people live their whole lives without encountering us, though Shaymin’s a poor benchmark to judge by.” Gabite shrugged when the Mythical huffed at him. “We’re a lot of things, but we often deal with work related to Mystery Dungeons and peacekeeping.”
“We’re adventurers,” said Shaymin, her voice strained.
“Rangers might be a more accurate term?” said Togetic.
“Depends on the task,” finished Gabite. “There’s plenty of exploring and Pokemon-helping to be done, especially with dungeons. Our group’s the sort to do local errands, but there’s a Braixen I’m friends with whose team loves to go traveling abroad.”
Explorer teams, huh? Kecleon had called him an explorer earlier — it shed a little light on dungeons too. Lucario got the impression that Pokemon got stuck in them and needed help, and these guys were battle-ready professionals who saved them. The exploration part also caught his fancy, it sounded a little like the sort of journeys he went on with his Pokemon Trainer.
Might be a way to make money on this archipelago, he thought, noting it down for later. “So explorer teams like you would capture thugs like Weavile?” Lucario asked.
Gabite nodded with a grumble, looking into the distance. “Fat chance we’re catching that speed demon though. Doesn’t help that he had Warp Seeds to make a quick getaway,” he said. “On behalf of my team, you have our thanks for intercepting him and getting back Shaymin’s flower. You and Vulpix are travelers, I take it? If I had to guess, you’re likely from Peakcrag Island.”
Interesting. Now Lucario knew another place besides Grassbranch Island that made up this archipelago, and it sounded like a mountainous area fit for a Lucario and Alolan Vulpix. He shrugged, playing along with whatever Gabite thought of them.
“Strange to find travelers deep in the woods instead of using the dirt roads,” the dragon-shark went on. “Then again, the roads did turn to mush from the storm yesterday. You must have been out in that miserable downpour, weren’t you? Why, if it was night, I’d have you come to my place to rest and get that wet smell out of your furs. Are you and your kid doing alright? Shaymin didn’t spook Vulpix too bad, did she?”
Again he stared at the vixen, and again Lucario felt her silent plea to leave this place and never return. “She’s shy,” he said, assuring her again through aura. “It doesn’t help that this wasn’t the first time either of us got attacked.”
Shaymin and Togetic reeled, while Gabite’s face turned dour. “Abhorrents?” he snarled.
Lucario shook his head — were most Abhorrents as bad as Aerodactyl? “No, just two everyday Pokemon who weren’t very friendly to her.”
The trio didn’t take long to see what his words implied. “Double crud,” spat Shaymin. “Now I feel really, really bad about all this. Super sorry about beating you up, I get real prickly with keeping my Gracidea Flower safe.”
Lucario narrowed his eyes, before dropping the matter. An apology was an apology, he supposed. No justice in holding on to grudges.
Noticing the lull in the conversation, Togetic gestured to Gabite, who pulled out two red objects from his bag — apples. “You two look famished,” she said, offering Lucario the apples herself. “It’s the least we can do after what happened earlier. We’ll escort you to the road too if that’s all right, it’s not as muddy as it was yesterday.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Gabite. “Shall we?”
He waved a claw, Vulpix noticing the gesture. Lucario made eye contact with her, whose lips quivered as if to object, before letting out a resigned sigh. The jackal threw her one more feeling of peace, promising it would be over soon.
He followed Gabite, who led the way to the dirt path crossing through the forest. Vulpix stuck close to his side, eyes on the ground, and Togetic and Shaymin floated at the back. In their hushed whispers, Lucario overheard Shaymin questioning his glowing blue eyes, and Togetic explaining aura, which seemed to cast awe upon her friend.
“You lasted a while against her, you know. Not a bad feat.”
Lucario’s ears perked as Gabite spoke to him, a lighthearted grin covering his face. “Uh, yeah, the Shaymin,” he said, unable to help himself. His trainer always dreamed of challenging a Legendary or Mythical Pokemon one day, but darn, encountering one and living to tell the tale wasn’t something Lucario ever expected to accomplish in his life. “Is this normal around here? For Mythicals to hang around these parts?”
Shaymin overheard him, Vulpix holding back the urge to flinch as she zipped over. “What about me being a Mythical?” she said in a grouchy tone. “Doesn’t mean much.”
Gabite coughed. “Biggest understatement anyone’s ever heard—
“But fine, I admit I’m one of a kind,” Shaymin said, speaking over Gabite. “Had a tribe I belonged to, but I couldn’t stay cooped up with them and ended up traveling on my own. Can’t call yourself a Pokemon of legend if you don’t live up to the title, yeah?”
She muttered to herself about useless Legendaries, before scratching her pelt. “Look, this fiasco’s my fault alone,” she quietly added. “Togetic’s a good person. It’s me who goads her into doing stupid things—”
“You don’t have to apologize twice,” muttered Lucario. Shaymin pursed her lips, before drawing back, pretending like nothing happened.
It wasn’t long before they arrived at the road, a soggy mess of a trail with nary a Pokemon walking upon it, what with it being a little too early in the morning. “We could accompany you to Berrypark Town too,” Gabite said, “the one down south. That’s where you’ll find explorer teams around here going, and it’s a pretty area. One of the more populated places in Grassbranch Island.”
One look at Vulpix and Lucario knew he ought to decline — that was enough contact with Pokemon for now. “Vulpix needs a little space,” he said, “and besides, I have a few things to take care of first.” He waved the apples in his palms, making Gabite and Shaymin snort.
Togetic, meanwhile, was busy giving Vulpix a sad look, further addled by how the vixen backed away from her approach. “The poor thing,” she whispered, sounding every bit like a doting mother. “Vulpix, sweetie? I’m really sorry if we scared you by attacking your companion, it was an honest mistake. I get it if you don’t want to say anything, but I hope you understand.”
Vulpix’s ears twitched, recognizing her Pokemon name, but otherwise she looked deaf to Togetic’s words. Understand, thought Lucario, scoffing to himself — that was the one thing Vulpix couldn’t do.
Something he had to rectify soon. “She does this with most Pokemon,” he said, covering her. “I’m one of the few she’s fine with. It’s not your fault anyway, we haven’t had the best of days recently and both of us are on edge.”
Togetic silently hovered there, trying to swallow what he said. Only when Gabite called her did she stir.
“Well then.” Togetic nodded to Lucario with a strained smile. “So sorry again for bothering you both, we’ll be off now. I hope you two see better days in the future.”
“Same,” Shaymin said, putting on a shamefaced grin. “Thanks again for keeping Weavile busy, I would’ve lost my flower otherwise. See you in town, maybe?”
Gabite gave his own goodbye. Lucario returned it, and the trio departed at a brisk pace down the road. Gabite turned back once, eyes lingering upon Vulpix one last time, before Shaymin hollered at him to keep up.
And again it was just the two of them, a Lucario and human-turned-Vulpix in a world they weren’t from. Lucario raised his head upward, the sun in its rightful place as it ascended to the cloudless sky. Not a trace of last night, nor its stormy weather, could be found.
A reincarnated day, thought Lucario. Reborn to a new chapter of life.
Eira the Vulpix exhaled, flopping her face into the muddy road. With the others gone, her anxiety was finally free to scamper back into the deepest recesses of her mind, exhaustion left in its place. Lucario almost found it amusing.
For a first encounter, the wristband did its job well enough.
Vulpix eyeballed him for a long while, working up the courage to speak. “I-I don’t- I just—” she said, before blurting it all out. “What was with those three Pokemon? How did Weavile disappear like that? W-why was Eevee a monster? Aerodactyl’s a monster too, isn't he?”
She blushed as Lucario raised a brow at her questions, ones he couldn’t easily explain. “S-sorry,” she mumbled, pulling her tails to her face, then instantly pulling them back with a shiver. “I— this is weird. Everything’s weird. Pokemon hate me, there’s mutant Pokemon, I’m talking to a Pokemon, I literally am a Pokemon—”
“Kid, you okay?”
All of those words were ones Vulpix recognized. She held herself for a moment, pondering upon the question Lucario asked her, and considering her answer.
“Hurts,” she said.
“Hurts?”
“H-hurts.”
Did Togetic’s Life Dew not do its job? Lucario examined Vulpix’s body for wounds, before she shook her head. Her paw drifted to the left side of her chest, her gaze faraway and mournful.
“Your powers can’t heal someone inside,” she said, clutching her heart, “can they?”
Ah. the shipwreck. Lucario grumbled, sitting himself down on the side of the road. “Your Mother, wasn’t it?” he asked.
It took a few repetitions for Vulpix to understand. “M-mother,” she confirmed. “You? Was it your trainer?”
And his fellow Pokemon companions. Lucario painstakingly went through the names, and she picked up on them one by one. “We’re in the same boat here,” he went on, using aura to accompany his words with relevant feelings and emotions. “Two strangers. Lost, lonely, and with no home to go back to.”
Vulpix felt more than she heard the words, giving a slow nod. She observed the forest with dull eyes, staring at a world so familiar yet so alien.
“What’s happening?” she said, her calm voice but a mere disguise. Much like her vulpine body.
Lucario wished he could explain. Darn, he wished he could explain everything to himself. His eyes went shut as he breathed in and out, wondering, questioning. Mourning.
His trance broke as bushes rustled, then burst open. Lucario opened an eyelid, before blinking as a rabbit hopped in front of him and a goggle-eyed Vulpix. Yes, a rabbit. The animal kind, not a Pokemon.
Were animals common in this archipelago? Finding them wasn’t easy back home. Blame that on over-hunting, he remarked to himself.
The rabbit turned to hop away when a flash of blue-gray feathers swooped in. The next moment Lucario was staring at a Corvisquire landing upon a tree branch, talons deeply embedded into the struggling rabbit.
The Corvisquire plucked at some loose feathers, a talon moving to the rabbit’s throat before she eyed him and Vulpix. “What?” the crow-like Pokemon squawked.
Lucario moved close to the vixen and held an apple-clutching paw over her eyes. Unfortunately his protective act proved ineffective, foiled by a simple trick: Vulpix scooting out of reach. She threw a flat stare at him.
“Civilized sissys.” Corvisquire flew off with her meal, intent on feeding elsewhere.
Well, maybe over-hunting was also an issue here. Even in Haven Archipelago, some Pokemon chose the rough, wild life. Lucario took a look at Vulpix, still frowning at his most benevolent attempt to protect her innocence, and made a swift decision.
I am not putting her through that lifestyle. Not if I can help it.
Foraging all day and working for basic necessities was a pain. Money was a thing in this world, where Pokemon lived in towns and had jobs like being a merchant or whatever, and as much as it messed with Lucario’s mind — when did he start playing the role of a human? — having a source of income would do them a lot of good. That explorer team thing did sound like a decent fit for him, and Kecleon said he was capable of handling dungeons, which was something explorers seemed to deal with constantly.
And maybe it’d give him a better idea of what was up with this weird archipelago, and even some potential way to get around the human-warding towers and leave. But first and foremost, they needed stability. Eira needed stability.
I can fret over my woes later.
Only then did Lucario recall that there were apples in his palms, ripe and ready to be eaten. “Here,” he said, offering Vulpix one.
She awkwardly grabbed it with both her paws. For a good moment she stared at the fruit, perhaps intimidated by its size, before taking a small bite while on all fours and chewing. Lucario sensed her silent struggle in doing an otherwise ordinary task in her Pokemon form — the out-of-body experience had to be messing with her.
She sat down on her hind legs, continuing to eat. At some point she brought her front paws over to grab her apple before blushing as Lucario watched, becoming self-conscious of how human-like her action was. “No, it’s fine,” he comforted her. “I’ve seen Pokemon of your build eat like that, you’re not doing anything wrong.”
Though she hardly understood, the tone was enough to put her at ease. Lucario munched on his own apple, Vulpix’s adventure in eating as a Pokemon making his lips curl up. She gnawed and chewed, every action slow and deliberate.
Soon enough they were finished, Vulpix swallowing the last piece of her apple. “T-thank you,” she said, her tails fidgeting when Lucario glanced at her. “For, um, the apple. And for saving me, a-again. And for, well, everything?”
Lucario’s curled lips turned into a full smile, which she returned with a tiny one. Darn it, Eira was nothing like Adam, yet he couldn’t help but be fond of the human. I’ll burn down a forest if anything happens to her, he thought.
Lucario snatched the barren core that remained of Vulpix’s apple, leaving the leftovers of their breakfast behind a tree to decompose. Back to business then. Eira’s transformation wristband was a blessing that changed the dynamic of their situation, but it wasn’t going to solve everything. Where should he start?
“Um, the language?”
A contemplative Vulpix answered his unspoken question. “You’re going to teach me the language, right?” she asked, getting up on her feet. “I don’t think I’ll ever understand what’s going on otherwise.”
Never mind the trouble she’d have in future Pokemon interactions. It was high time she got some practice. “Good to see you’re eager,” said Lucario, moving toward the path. “Come along, Vulpix.”
Vulpix perked her ears, barely catching anything from either sentence. Lucario gestured for clarity, pointing at her before waving with his hand. “You. Come along.” He repeated it, watching as Vulpix’s lips went to work.
“You… come? A-along?” Seeing Lucario nod, she obediently followed him, the two moving at a leisurely pace. “What about ‘I’?”
I, the simplest of phrases in the human tongue. Lucario said it in his own Lucario-speak, and she repeated using her Vulpix-speak, a tiny smile on her face. She then asked more words: ‘me’, ‘him’, ‘her’, ‘us’, ‘good’, ‘bad’, ‘help’, and plenty more. Lucario offered them all as they trekked down the quiet forest path.
A few repetitions were enough for her to recognize common words as a Pokemon. Forming sentences by herself tripped her up, however. When Lucario wanted her to put the words ‘you help me’ together, for example, she stumbled multiple times before stringing the words together.
Likely the result of her human mind clashing with the complexity of a Pokemon’s speech. What counted as a mid-sized sentence in the human tongue, made of multiple distinct words, could be shortened to mashing together syllables in one’s species name once or twice, or even just a grunting noise. She’d get used to it.
For the time being, crude sentences were the best she could do. “Gabite, Togetic, S-Shaymin,” she said in choppy Vulpix-speak, having asked him how to say Pokemon names in the Pokemon language. “Eevee? Him, help u-us?”
Lucario chuckled at her attempt, giving a nod. The Abhorrent did promise to return later to assist them, come to think of it. What kind of help could he offer?
He casually checked the surroundings with aura, only for his aura feelers to twitch with distaste as they directed him to a faint red aura on the left side of the path, lurking within the forest. Bad timing — was that Ariados?
The wannabe murderer was the last person he needed to run into again. Although Vulpix wasn’t in human form, she might put two and two together once she spotted him with the girl.
He examined the aura’s shape, before his muscles relaxed — and then tensed back up. Waves of pained fatigue came from this Pokemon, fresh and unlike the burning sensations he would sense from Ariados and her fiery injuries from yesterday. It was hard to make out from here, but that wasn’t the shape of a vengeful spider.
It was the Weavile.
Vulpix flicked her head over as Lucario paused. “Bad?” she asked, tails raised and alert.
“Yes, bad,” he responded, the aura around his eyes hissing and wavering. His fist clenched up as an urge welled up in his soul. “Weavile.”
Vulpix took a moment before repeating the word to herself, eyes widening once the name clicked. Judging from the aura, Weavile seemed to be leaning on something, a claw fingering what was probably a sore spot on his leg.
His injuries must’ve added up, preventing him from running off with the blistering speed Weavile were known for, and thus he ran here to hide and recover in the forest shade. The thief wasn’t aware of their presence either. Should he knock him out and turn him in at the nearest town?
His natural inclinations toward justice asked as much, pulling him toward the thief, but Vulpix’s presence made him hesitate. Risking her safety to take down this criminal didn’t seem right, but still, Weavile was pretty weak. What were the chances that he could threaten her at his current state?
So long as he was careful. Lucario gave Vulpix a solemn look before rushing headlong into the trees, leaves shuddering in his wake. The thief had it coming for the trouble he put him into with Gabite’s teammates, and for trampling upon his honor.
Weavile barely whipped his head at the noise, his legs already on the move and his aura retreating. He wasn’t making any ground, however, too hurt to go at full speed. He’d be caught within a moment, and even a Metal Claw would take him down.
At least, Lucario was sure until his foe’s aura blinked out of existence. One moment he was just ten or so feet away, able to catch a silhouette of his arm, the next he had disappeared in his entirety. Not a trace.
It was understandable not to see the Weavile himself, what with all this greenery in the way, but for his aura to disappear too? How?
Lucario halted, examining the spot where he last saw him. No matter where he looked, he was gone, aura and all. This wasn’t like how he teleported away earlier. Weavile had somehow erased himself from this place.
Vulpix caught up to Lucario with a pant, positioned as if wary of her surroundings. “Weavile?” she asked him with a timid voice.
This was a head-scratcher. “He was just here,” he replied, walking forward. There had to be something responsible for Weavile’s silent exit, there was no way he could otherwise vanish from his aurasense. Maybe there was some magic or supernatural force at work here?
Lucario bit his tongue when a tingle jolted his body, leaving him numb for a moment. His vision clouded at the same time, and something about the atmosphere suddenly felt different. He rubbed his eyes, taking a look around before twitching.
This wasn’t the spot he was at a moment ago.
He could tell because of multiple reasons. For one, the trees were more shaded and dead-looking, their foliage extending to all but blot out the sky. The density of trees was also greater, grouped in such a way as if to block anyone from passing. A path that shouldn’t be here snaked in front of Lucario, the barricade of trees suggesting that he take it to the small glade it led to.
Most importantly, Vulpix was not here for some reason, both her and her distinct aura. Instead there was a different, more hostile aura up ahead — Weavile.
He was standing at the glade, eyes trained on Lucario with something in his hand. As much as Lucario wanted to approach him, the bizarreness of what just happened kept him rooted. Where was he? What happened to the forest, and why was Vulpix not at his side?
A gasp made him jump, Lucario resting a paw on his heart once he saw where it came from. Never mind, Vulpix was here now.
And she was just as bewildered, eyes darting at her new surroundings before falling on him. “Y-you wer- you were g-gone for—” she blurted before steadying herself, lying down on the ground. “W-where are we?”
“Where.” Lucario paid no mind to Vulpix repeating the word in Vulpix-speak, still watching Weavile. Apparently he had disappeared for Vulpix too, just as she did for him when he entered this place. Then she followed, and here she was with him. Maybe they got teleported somewhere without realizing, or was this another kind of anomaly?
Vulpix cringed once she finally noticed Weavile, yet kept herself from stepping back. Lucario could’ve sworn the thief had been smirking at them this entire time. “What, too shocked to finish the job?” he yelled out, arms spread out.
Lucario’s growl only made him laugh. “Stupid aura-sensing Lucario and their unholy love for so-called justice. You didn’t expect to walk into a Mystery Dungeon in the middle of nowhere, huh?”
Mystery Dungeon. Lucario’s fur bristled — wait, this was one of the labyrinths Kecleon mentioned? And he just walked into it?
“Shame you don’t have any items to help you get out,” said Weavile, shifting his claw and letting Lucario see he was holding an orb. “That’s what you get for making me lose that sweet Gracidea Flower. Consider this a warning to stay out of my way next time, will you?”
Before Lucario could do anything, Weavile’s orb shattered, converting into a light that engulfed the thief. In a moment the light shot into the sky like a bolt of brilliant lightning, and the thief was gone, leaving behind a thunderous cackle.
Vulpix turned to the jackal, mimicking the frown he wore. This could be a problem.