Chapter 6 - Driving Forward

Let go, forget your worries.

Pack up, time to go, now let's hurry.

You know they're waiting,

And there's no time for fooling around.

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Terrence got out of that dusty, old house to sneeze. His nostrils were itching, and the more he tried to hold it in, the more he felt the need to let it out. So he did, and began panting, catching his breath.

I know we said we'd join their team, but that Riolu should've picked a better base. How's it even standing?

He looked back, the house somehow managed to not break apart. And the dust? It made his nostrils weird. But alas, Liz did need his help, not that she'd say it out loud.

The one that did was Nick.

"Hey, Terry! C'mon, we need to clean this place up!"

"I'm coming!" Terry said, sighing as he ran inside.

There, he found an amusing sight: Liz was using her flowers to sweep dust into a large bag, holding it together with Nick, who was having troubles with his nose as well.

"Uh, Nick? What do you want me to do?"

"Good question! I want you to—achoo!" he was forced back, dropping the bag, and its contents, right on the Roselia.

Needless to say, she wasn't happy about it, growling. "How dare you?! Remove this dirt off me this instant!"

Nick smiled sheepishly, stepping back, hands folded in a praying position. "O-Oops! My bad!"

"My bad, you say? Yes, it is your bad!" she shouted, ready to pounce at him, when Terry got her attention, touching her flowers.

"It's not productive to fight over a trivial thing. We can clean that pretty quick, and then the rest of the house."

Oh thank Arceus, this guy can deal with her! Nick sighed in relief, but kept the sheepish look. "Yeah, there's also some boxes in my house that I wanna bring here. Stuff like tables, chairs, and I think there's a fridge in there?"

"Don't you need a power source for that?" Terry asked, tilting his head.

"Not to mention its weight, and you are a mere Riolu. I suggest asking the Marshtomp for assistance. And speaking of, where is he?"

Nick shrugged. "Shiron said he was taking Magnus' offer to hang out as thanks for saving his brother. I dunno where they are now, but he also said he was joining us soon. Ish."

That prompted an eye roll from the grass-type. "Why, of course! Our musclemon is busy on a lovely stroll around this dumpster!"

…I'm bad with sarcasm and even I could notice that, Terry thought.

"It's not my problem. Besides, the guy's new around here, he needs friends."

"I beg to differ," Liz replied. "My sire and I are also foreigners, and we do not have any friends."

Terry sighed. "But I kinda want one."

"...I do not have friends." she stated.

"I'm sure someone would love to," the Riolu pointed out, looking around and pointing at a few places in the room. "Alright, I'll grab the boxes, or those my feeble Riolu body can grab, and you guys clean this place up, got it?"

Before Liz could interject, Terry nodded in agreement for the two of them.

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Back at the bakery, Shiron sat on a chair next to the door and patiently waited for Magnus to bring his drink: a cup of hot chocolate.

Aw, that's so sweet… he must be thirsty. Going inside a dungeon and fighting did a number on him.

And judging from the drool on the Marshtomp's mouth, Magnus knew he had to do his best in making the beverage. Which he did, pouring the finest cocoa powder into a mug, along with milk. The two mixed together and after that was done, Magnus added whipped cream, along with some sprinkles, for the aesthetics.

"That smells so good!" Shiron said, sniffing the air and licking his lips.

"It tastes even better, and since we're the only ones here, I can actually talk to you!" the Quilladin replied, walking to the table Shiron was on and sitting on the other side, putting down the mug. "Here you go, hope you enjoy it."

"You're the best," he nodded, taking a rather large sip from the drink. Unlike the last time he tried some of Magnus' sweets, he made an effort to not overreact.

Even if it tasted heavenly. In fact, the only reason Shiron didn't down it in one go was due to how hot it was, forcing him to put it back on the table and catch his breath.

"Phew… man, that was great! You gotta teach me how to make something like this!"

Magnus snickered. "Sure thing! Oh, and by the way, there's some chocolate on your face."

"Really, where?"

The Quilladin picked a napkin on the table and leaned closer, rubbing it just above Shiron's mouth. "There."

"Huh, guess you were right. Thanks again!" Shiron beamed, sipping again. "Hm, yummy! But, uh, can I be honest?"

But on the inside, he was screaming. Please say no, please say no. If I'm honest I might hurt his feelings!

"Sure."

Drat, Shiron sighed. "I kinda… like when it's sweeter. I apparently have a sweet tooth."

Magnus blinked, then let out a chuckle. "Ah, that was it? No problem! Just let me know next time, so I can make you a proper drink."

This time it was Shiron that blinked, and nearly spit out the chocolate, barely managing to stop himself and chugging the drink down. "W-What? But… I kinda insulted your work?"

"Except you didn't?" Magnus crossed his arms. "Everyone has their preference. Besides, even if you did, it's fine. I've dealt with a lot of criticism before."

Hearing that, Shiron sighed in relief. So he didn't blow it, good to hear. Still weird, I didn't ruin this. Weiiird.

"Oh, by the way, Shiron, what do you plan on doing here? I know you joined Nick's team, but like… do you want anything else from your new home?"

What kind of question is that? Shiron wondered. Better to keep the amnesia lie for a little longer. "Well, I might try getting my memories back, if that's possible?"

"Oh, cool," Magnus smiled. "I asked because you seem like a nice guy to be friends with, and I thought you wanted to leave this town, so…"

Nice guy to be friends… with.

Shiron repeated that sentence in his head over and over, again and again. Maybe he misheard it. "Well, I —"

Someone knocked on the door. Strange, since Magnus had closed the shop so they could hang out freely.

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On the other side of the door stood a large Golem. His imposing presence told them he wasn't there for games, or to order anything. He just stood there… menacingly.

"Sir?" Magnus opened the door. "I'm sorry, but we're… closed."

"I ain't here for sweets," the Golem said, immediately entering, not bothering to talk with Magnus any longer. He stopped in front of Shiron and peeked at him, eyeing the Marshtomp. "Hm, hm…"

"What's with the peeking?" Shiron blushed, stepping back.

"Uh, sir, I said we're closed."

Once again, he ignored Magnus, gaze still on Shiron. "Interesting. When I heard we got another amnesiac, I got curious and wanted to see them. You're not impressive."

"Thanks? Actually, I shouldn't take this as a compliment. What?"

"And I got ignored," Magnus sighed, walking next to Shiron. Then, he stared at the Golem. "What do you want, Daichi?"

"I never said you could call me by my name," Daichi replied, rolling his eyes. "Eh, whatever. Shiron, was it? I'm curious. How did you get here…? I'm assuming an encounter with the holier-than-thou Xe—"

"I just kiiiiiiinda woke up on the shore, don't remember anything else!" Shiron proclaimed frantically, ready to salvage that lie with a technical truth. The less Magnus knew about it, the better.

Of course, that didn't go unnoticed by the other two, except Magnus ignored it. Daichi, on the other hand, flashed a smirk. "Reeeeally?"

Magnus pouted, opening the door again. "If you're here to harass a client, feel free to leave."

"Not harassing, just givin' out a friendly warning, that okay?"

Stolen story; please report.

No matter the response, Daichi didn't care. He eyed Shiron once more. The smirk was still there, but now that he was closer, Shiron flinched: that Golem was angry.

"W-What's the warning?"

"I've heard some rumors about you and that Riolu wantin' to deal with crime on this town. Now…" Daichi cracked his knuckles, laughing. "There isn't space here for both of us, so I suggest you make like a tree and leave."

Magnus trembled, closing his eyes and creating a vine around his arms, using it to slap Daichi. "That's… h-harassment. Out of here now!"

Daichi turned back, raising a brow, and then laughed. "Aight, aight. I did what I came here to do. See ya later, losers."

He walked out the door, but not before turning back to give them a final look. "And Shiron, do what I say and you won't get hurt!"

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Nick left his house, holding two large boxes, one stacked on top of the other, which forced him to use both arms to carry the things.

He began climbing down the hill, only taking a few peeks to make sure he wouldn't fall down and drop the boxes. Granted, it was very much possible, and the thought made Nick sweat.

Okay! I can do this! Nick thought, gulping. In hindsight, I should've asked for their help before doing this. Duly noted.

As he continued, Nick stopped to both catch his breath and see the village. Despite the kidnapping earlier, they were still celebrating, shooting fireworks and dancing.

…Who's idea was it to start unboxing now instead of enjoying the party? Mine?

Nick groaned. It was mine. Damn it, me!

With his head full of thoughts, Nick failed to hear the buzzing sound of wings creeping ever closer. Not until the clicking of blades got so near he threw the boxes in the air to dodge an attack, rolling on the ground then catching the packages, gently putting them down to look at his assailant.

"Jackett!'

In front of him stood a Beedrill, his red eyes, hidden inside brown goggles, glowed in the dark. His wings thrummed, but he said no word, not even a whisper.

"Jackett, what's wrong with you? You could've killed me!"

"Boss' orders," he finally said, pointing at Nick with his stingers. "Though he did say not to kill you, I took the liberty of testing your skills. Not bad… for a defective Riolu."

Those last words made his heart throb, Nick's fur soon stood on its end. "I'm not defective! You take that back!"

"Prove it, then." Jackett teased, a slight smirk could be seen in his face, illuminated by the moon's light.

"I don't need to prove myself to you!" Nick shouted, now sporting sharp fangs.

Jackett laughed, shaking his head dismissively. "Then it's settled. You are defective. And you really think you can set up a team here? We don't have resources for two teams."

"...I'm sure we can find some common ground," Nick held in a large breath, clenching his fists to calm down. "Please, it's my dream!"

"Tsc, tsc, tsc." Jackett said, and he was gone.

Next he knew, the Beedrill stood right behind Nick, stingers just barely touching the Riolu. "Sometimes… dreams don't come true. You know that well enough, defective."

More poisonous words. Nick trembled, trying to muster the strength to fight back, whether physically or verbally. But it was no use, because once he turned around, Jackett was gone again.

"What… what was that for?" Nick panted, his body still shaking from the encounter.

And maybe he was defective. Broken. Wrong. Nick grunted, biting his lower lip, the pain distracting him from the intrusive thoughts.

"I-I… no. I'm not giving up! If there's only room for one team in this town, then I'll do it."

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Much to her chagrin, Liz kept brooming the dust away from the house and into a trash bag. Unlike her, Terry was beaming at the job, using his tail to broom, all with a big grin. He closed the door to their office and walked next to Liz.

"Sire, how can you take this so lightly?" she asked, dumbstruck by the prospect of someone as high and mighty as a prince doing such a lowly job.

"I dunno, but it's fun! We're helping our—uh, my friends?"

"Helping, helping," Liz groaned, there was something she could do to make this situation better. "You know, there is no need for you to clean this place. I can do it for you."

"But I wanna do manual labor," he protested with a pout and a slap of his tail. "Besides, it builds character! I… think?"

A whistle got their attention. Terry looked at the other side of the area, watching as a Charmeleon wearing a belt buckle and a green scarf grinning at them.

"Ah, yes, of course, visitors. Please go away, we are not open for business yet." Liz said, her voice dripping with venom.

"Fella, I'm not here for that," Charmeleon said in a feminine voice, then shrugged. "Being honest I'm not in the mood to check out you bozos, but orders are orders."

"What is a 'bozo'?" Terry tilted his head.

"Nothing you should worry about, sire." Liz stepped in, standing in front of her lord and adopting a fighting stance. "I do not wish to fight, but I will if I must."

"Girl, I can literally burn you alive." Charmeleon scoffed, smoke coming out of her nostrils. Despite the threat, she hardly moved, only glaring at them with a lazy look. "Buuuut I'm not in the mood for that either."

Well, wasn't that jolly? Terry sighed. "What are you in the mood for?"

"Dunno," she said dryly. "Boss just said to check on the newbies who wanna make a team. Even if that's not possible right now."

"What? But we have a base, members and all!" Terry protested.

Before any of them could say another word, Liz stepped in, putting herself between the two and raising her head.

"I have heard of this before. Certain villages are so small, they cannot afford to pay more than one team. This must be one of them."

"Bingo, girl." Charmeleon flicked her tail, grinning. "Name's Onyx, by the way. Now that's all settled, I need your opinion on this. 'Cause we won't treat you well if y'all insist on the team thing."

Liz felt like she popped a vein (if she even had any). She grit her teeth and barely managed to resist slapping that Charmeleon. "Intriguing, but I do not have an answer, not yet. Our… leader has not returned, and we will not decide on an answer without him."

"Y'know, I can respect that." Onyx admitted, shrugging. She began to walk off, only looking back to deliver a final sentence. "Whatever, message's been said. What you guys do ain't my problem."

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"That was weird." Shiron commented, exiting the bakery and waiting for Magnus to finish locking the place up.

"I guess so, but don't bother with that guy. He's a bully," the Quilladin replied, shrugging and turning around. "Alright, now that the bakery's closed, I guess I should go help dad."

Leaving so soon? Shiron almost wanted to go with him, but surely that would be a bother, wouldn't it?

"Oh, okay. And… since I don't have anything to do right now, maybe I need to meet up with the others."

"Hmm," Magnus fidgeted with his fingers, thinking. "Well…"

Was that a sign he could ask about it? Nah, it couldn't be. Magnus would never…

"Well, what?" Shiron asked. If he keeps this up, I'll ask to go with him!

"You sound like you don't want to leave yet." Magnus said, smirking. "Too bad we don't have a mirror around, then I'd show you how you're acting."

Shiron blinked, tapping his cheeks. To his surprise, they were hotter, and Magnus' words only made them turn tamato-red. Not only that, but his gills twitched slightly.

Gah! He just read me like an open book! he thought, grabbing the scarf to try and hide his embarrassment. It… didn't work.

"Awww… just teasing you!" Magnus laughed softly, holding a snort.

As if that made things better. "R-Right. Well, I do wanna go, but Nick made me promise I'd help with the office."

"Go ahead! I'll still be here by tomorrow, so no need to worry," Magnus held out his arms for a hug. "C'mere, it's the least I can do for saving my little brother."

And they hugged, Shiron breathing deeply to prevent a panic attack. It was… nice, to put it lightly. A genuine, caring hug. When was the last time he had one of those?

"I think… I can call you my friend." Shiron said, still enveloped in the hug.

"Hey, weren't we friends already?" Magnus teased, hugging him tighter, before pulling away. "But for real, no problem! You're my friend too. Feel free to drop by at the bakery whenever you want."

"That might be every day," Shiron rubbed the back of his head and laughed. "Seems it's a promise, then! It won't be the last time we meet."

"I don't want it to be!"

…Okay, that was surprising. And I got a friend, so… double win for me? I'll take that. Thanks again, Xerneas!

Whether she heard him or not didn't matter for Shiron, as he was just happy about bonding with Magnus (and eating, thanks to the new metabolism). He giggled like an excited child getting a brand new toy.

"See you soon, then?" Magnus asked, tail swishing.

"Oh, you bet! As soon as I'm free, because Nick'll probably drop a million things at me."

"Sure sounds like him."

"A-Alrighty, then! I-I'll see you soon!" nodding, Shiron looked around to see where the office was supposed to be, a few blocks from the bakery, and then walked off in that direction.

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Right as he entered the office, Shiron stopped to catch his breath, raising his head just in time to see Liz next to him.

"Hmph. Took you long enough, Marshtomp."

Shiron forced a sheepish smile. "Sorry I'm late, I was doing… stuff."

Nick raised a brow and shrugged. "Eh, whatever dude. We were just waiting for you. Turns out there's something I kinda didn't tell you guys."

Hearing that caused Shiron to tilt his head. So Nick had secrets too? Honestly, all of them probably had their share of secrets.

"Yes, and while I suggested to talk about it before you got here—"

Terry brushed her off. "We figured it was best when everyone was together."

All eyes were set on Nick, and he gulped, struggling to form the words. "W-Well, you see…"

Terry slapped his tail on the wooden floor. "Me and Liz got a visitor, some lady Charmeleon, I think her name's Onyx?"

"Correct. She said her leader sent her. To what end? I am unsure at the moment."

"Y-Yeah, well, I got a visit too, a Beedrill…" Nick clicked his fingers together, gulping again. "See, Thornwell is kinda small, at least compared to other towns in this continent. We don't really have any police, just the detective agency run by one of Gramps' friends…"

Liz crossed her arms, raising a brow, paying close attention. Somehow, she could tell what this was all about, but would rather let Nick finish it.

"And right now they're not taking any applications to join the agency, which is why me and Liz got those visits, I know that team. They're led by a Golem, named—"

"Daichi!" Shiron blurted out, gasping. "He showed up at Magnus' bakery! Kind of a prick, if you ask me."

"Huh, so we all got visited by these guys." Terry mumbled.

"Anyway!" Nick clasped his hands together, nodding. This made things easier! "We can't join their agency, at least not now, so, instead… we make our own agency! What do you all think about it?"

"Hmph." Liz kept her arms crossed, thinking. She glanced at Terry, as if waiting for him to reply.

"I'm… I think I'm in!" Terry said as his tail began swishing. "I wanna learn more about the world, and helping others might be the way to do it!"

That left only Shiron. Sure, he agreed to it before, at the spur of the moment, of course, but still…

"Liz wants to follow what Terry does, I wanna be a hero, Terry wants to see the world," Nick said, now looking at Shiron. "And you, buddy? What's your dream?"

It wasn't like his decision had changed in the few hours since he told them. But Shiron didn't feel like answering what his dream was. He was happy enough helping them.

"I'm also in!" he raised an arm, smiling brightly. "Let's make this happen, let's all work together! As friends, and as a team!'

Shiron rushed in to shake hands with Nick, giving him a flashy grin.

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Daichi waited next to a large house, crossing his arms and lowering his head. Where were the others? If they kept him waiting any longer…

"Howdy, chief." Onyx stopped by, putting on a western hat and cracking a grin. "How's it goin'?"

The Golem shrugged. "Waiting on Jackett. He went to check for jobs with the detective, but man, we lost that case with the kidnapper…"

"Not our fault those kids got to 'em first," Onyx said bluntly, flicking her tail. "Better luck next time, eh?"

"Maybe, maybe." Daichi sighed. "...And you? Got any requests for us to do?"

"Old 'mon Samurott asked for us to grab him some scrolls from a town nearby."

"Ah, why am I not surprised?" Daichi groaned. "Pah, we can do that. No issue. But man, I wanted something more exciting, like, like…"

"Another kidnapper?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

The sound of buzzing wings as Jackett descended on their side, sporting a neutral expression. "We can't have kidnappers all the time. Anyway, all I got was a delivery mission."

"Boy this evening just keeps gettin' better!" Daichi replied, almost dripping with sarcasm.

"I can do the delivery mission. I'm a good flier." the Beedrill added.

"And I'll grab the boomer's scrolls. Sounds like a plan," Onyx chirped, then looked at Daichi. "And you? Wanna come with me, or are you gonna sulk about it?"

"Smartass," he muttered. "I'll go with you."

"And what of the defective and his team?" Jackett pondered out loud. "Should we just let them run around unchecked?"

"For now? Sure. But if they don't follow the rules soon, we'll have to teach 'em a lesson!" Daichi grinned.

Onyx rolled her eyes. "Why d'ya guys always jump into violence? 'Sides, I don't think they're all that bad. There's a prince among them, too."

"A prince?" Daichi blinked. "I didn't expect that, but it's a pleasant surprise."

"Let's go rest, you two." Jackett said, grumbling. "We won't be able to fulfill the mission without a good night's sleep."

They all agreed that was the best course of action and entered the house.

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Shiron entered Nick's house, yawning and rubbing his eyes. All in all, it was a good day. What a wonderful life this is! Being able to do so many new things, meeting all those people… he loved the feeling, the warmth in his heart.

And to think I'm gonna be a hero! Or… detective. Hah! This is actually really cool!

Did he deserve those things? Shiron shrugged that thought off before it got too troublesome and kept on walking, heading to "his" room.

…I'm kinda beat, though. Need to sleep. But one thing I know is… my life is burning bright, and I'll keep on living!