cw: suicide
I don't own the Pokemon franchise or the Mystery Dungeon franchise.
Please enjoy, and feel free to review.
Useless child.
"Born without Aura?" asks a masculine, fatherly voice. "That's frankly impossible, Nurse Audino. Even so, they'll awaken eventually, right?"
Failure of a warrior.
"Your daughter is smart, Lucario, but her strength levels… leave much to be desired. I'm sorry."
Disappointment of a daughter.
"How DARE you pull this shit!? I've worked tirelessly year after year to train you to live up to your destiny, and now you try to kill yourself? I can't believe you."
A shame upon the great Lucario legacy.
"I don't know how this is possible… the Golden Lucario, yet she can't even summon a simple Force Palm. I don't how you'd be able to survive anywhere with how lazy you are."
Jackie stood at the edge of the precipice overlooking Seaside Cove. The gentle sea breeze blew across the serene landscape, and the sound of waves hammered on in the distance. As the sun set in the distance, the young Shiny Riolu felt at ease for the first time in many years.
At the very least, her final memories would be beautiful.
Closing her eyes, she smiled.
And then she jumped.
…
…
…
"N-no…"
Jackie was only able to let out a whimper, her body damaged but her heart still beating.
She would've cried, but pain wracked through her bones with each attempt at movement. The only thing that didn't hurt was the movement of her neck.
Despite her pain, she was able to make out her surroundings. Indeed, she was on the beach that laid at the foot of the same cliff she had jumped off of.
She wasn't alone.
A few meters away from where Jackie lay, was someone else, seemingly unfortunate enough to remain unconscious.
Or dead.
As the Riolu attempted to pick herself up, she wondered if they too were on the beach for the same reason as her, only more successful in their deeds than she ever could. A grimace formed on her face as she realized her own failed suicide attempt would be yet another display of her weakness.
Powering through the pain in her bones, Jackie was able to stand and walk, albeit barely, and made her way to the other 'mon on the beach.
Said 'mon appeared to be a large Skiddo with strange black markings on their face. Despite her weakened Aura sensors, she felt a strange energy radiating off the goat. Dark, murderous energy.
And he wasn't alone. Behind the Skiddo's frame lay two other Pokemon, an Audino and a Meditite, both unconscious. Like the Skiddo, their Auras were askew enough to even be noticed by someone like her. The Meditite had the energy of two Pokemon, while the Audino's Aura was… indescribable.
Jackie had only heard stories, but she had a feeling she knew what these Pokemon were.
Humans.
She knew how this story went. It was part of her family's lore, how Grandpa Lucario met Grandma Delcatty in the same way, a human on the beach destined to save the world. Or the human who saved the Mist Continent, or the human who saved the Air Continent, and so on and so forth.
Humans were not of this world. Destiny and heroism were thrust upon them, and all that helped them only saw their lives improve from the good they brought society.
She knew she should've been happy. By all means, destiny seemed to have smiled at her for the first time. The opportunity to become a hero. To be someone that her family would love. The chance to prove herself worthy of the golden fur on her back, to be as great as Grandpa Lucario, or the great Lucario of Pokemon Square.
But as she finally pulled the three "humans" away from the tide, the Riolu could feel nothing but doubt. Just hours ago, she was trying to kill herself to escape the destiny given to her at birth. What would prevent her from simply trying to escape this new destiny?
Even then, she would be useless. Nothing more than dead weight while these three humans, who even while unconscious radiated more power than she could ever hope to dream of in her waking hours. She already brought down her noble family. To drive down such potential world savers would be even worse than simply making her parents ashamed. Hell, the world would suffer simply because of her actions.
Curling up to a nearby log, she slumped up against it, and stopped trying to stem the inevitable flow of tears welling up in her eyes.
"I can't do anything right…"
Her sobs rang out in the night.
A few ways down the beach, two figures materialized in a flash of glittery multicolored pixels. The tall figure was a pink Gardevoir, her gown split down the middle like a lab coat and her eyes obscured by round spectacles. The normal bob of her species was in the shape of a short bun, or at least the closest facsimile a Gardevoir could get. The shorter, quadruped figure was a Zorua, his hair tuft tinted in a garish bright pink and an equally garish bandana around his neck.
Subtlety was not in their playbook, but then again, it was about three in the morning. Presumably, nobody would be there to actually see them.
The Gardevoir landed gently, the lightness of her form barely even stirring up the soft powdery sand at her feet. Meanwhile, the Zorua landed much more awkwardly, the small flurry of upturned sand causing a bit of a stir in the once quiet night.
"We need to work on your Teleport etiquette, Moonwalker," said the Gardevoir, absentmindedly brushing off dust off her shoulder.
The Zorua frantically brushed dirt off his muzzle. "I feel like you did that one on purpose, Pen."
"Madame Director, Moonwalker. Codenames and abbreviations while on duty," retorted the Gardevoir. "Besides. Feels cooler."
"Right… Why are we by Sa— I mean GW's place again? I thought he and FS were off to take care of the baby," asked Moonwalker.
"We're not paying them a visit, MW. We're here for another reason, remember?"
The Gardevoir motioned to the rest of the beach.
"Humans?" said Moonwalker.
"Well, fallers. They aren't all human, remember. Something about beaches just loves pulling up weirdness. Don't know why, but that makes it easier for us." Pen noticed the worried expression on her assistant's face. "Don't look at me like that, that's how we got you in the first place."
Moonwalker wasn't exactly relaxed by that, but his complaints went ignored.
"Strange."
Pen's simple response was rather jarring, but Moonwalker could see why. Having reached their destination, their targets were missing. There wasn't even a mark in the sand where their bodies would have been, which Pen rationalized as high tide washing it away."
After a bit of uncomfortably silent pondering, Pen spoke up.
"Well, whoever took away the fallers, then they probably did it to save them from drowning. However, witnesses are… troubling."
Moonwalker shuddered at the implication. "Do we have to kill them?"
The response from his employer was not the one he had been hoping for. In a similar burst of glittery light, a metallic black L-shape materialized in the Gardevoir's right hand. Even knowing what a handgun was from his past life as a human, the weapon still looked alien and unnatural in the hands of a Pokemon.
*Click*
"Maybe," came the answer, and the two continued on. Moonwalker knew better than to question Pen's eccentricities, primarily out of self-preservation.
It didn't take long for Pen to find the fallers, her Psychic powers making the whole matter trivial. Just a few meters off, their targets lay unharmed and away from the water. Nearby, a young Riolu with golden fur was slumped against a tree, fast asleep. Pen paid the Riolu no mind, but Moonwalker noticed how disheveled and injured she was, how her face looked like she had been crying for the longest time.
"Moonwalker," snapped Pen. "Fit our guests with Escape Beacons. If the girl wakes up, I will handle it."
As ordered, Moonwalker attached a small metal bracelet to the Meditite, Skiddo, and Audino. None of them seemed to be stirred by the turn of events.
"They're on."
"Alright. Initiating 'Stealthy Recovery'." replied Pen, wordlessly sending a psychic message back to base. In her peripheral vision, she noted her protégé's wary expression.
"Uh, Pen?" He caught himself. "I mean, Madame Director?"
"What is it, Moonwalker?" replied Pen, slightly annoyed.
"We called it 'Stealthy Recovery' as a joke, remember?"
The bracelets then proceeded to glow, before dematerializing their wearers into tiny multi-colored cubes of data. With each pixel was a tinny, electronic sound reminiscent of bells. It also happened to do this for every single bit of data. Naturally, this cacophony of beeps and bloops was enough to stir awake the Riolu.
"Wh-What are you doing?!" cried the Shiny Riolu, her breath accelerating from the calm of rest to shallow hyperventilation. Pen seemed puzzled by this reaction, though Moonwalker thought if he also saw someone dematerialize someone without knowing that it was (probably) harmless, he would be rightly freaked out.
"MW, leave this to me," Pen muttered to Moonwalker before turning to the Riolu.
"What brings you here to this secluded beach at—" She made a motion as if to stare at her wrist. " —Three in the morning with these other Pokemon, hmm?"
"N-None of your business… W-w-what are you doing to them?" whimpered the Riolu, weakly pointing a finger at the disappearing "humans".
The Gardevoir was unsettling cheerful for the situation. "Oh, that? They're going to be fine. Moonwalker, tell the girl they're going to be fine."
"They'll be fine," Moonwalker replied, as if on cue. "Probably," he said in a quiet, almost internal voice.
The Riolu remained uneasy, but the pink Gardevoir continued on.
"Now, you're not supposed to see this. Most people aren't. The line of work me and that Zorua participate in is absolutely secret, and the fact that you interfere with our mission, albeit through an assumedly noble intent, means that I have to make a choice."
The Riolu gulped, knowing what was going to happen.
"Y-you're going to kill me…"
"Not necessarily. All you need to do to determine your fate from now on is this."
She outstretched her left hand to the Riolu.
"Shake my hand."
The girl was rightfully hesitant to do so.
"What will you do to me if I take this offer?"
Pen thought about that for a moment. "I'unno. I either deem you threat that needs to be eliminated, untapped potential, or mediocre background noise that I can trust to keep the status quo." She waved the gun in her right hand. "Pray to whatever impotent Legendary you worship that you fall into the latter two."
The Riolu eyed the offer put out before her. One the one hand, she might be killed.
Then again it was her own suicidal ideations that brought her into this in the first place. Nobody would miss her, not her father, not her family…
Though, at the same time, she shuddered to think what the Gardevoir would do to her if she refused. Whatever the strange object in her hand was, it probably wasn't benevolent in any shape or form.
"Ahem. I'm waiting."
Riolu closed her eyes, and grabbed the hand in front of her. When her paw touched the hand, her vision was overtaken by colors, flashing lights that emanated not from the Gardevoir, but from within her own mind.
...
"Correct answer."
And with a flash, they both disappeared without a trace, the beach once again left silent except for the rollicking waves on the shore.
~* Character Logs *~
Jackie - A Shiny Riolu. Supposedly destined for greatness at birth, her stunted Aura sensitivity has shattered those dreams.
Pen/"Madame Director" - A bizarre, pink Gardevoir with mysterious intent and shaky alignment. It's best not to test her.
"Moonwalker" - A (debatably) fashionable Zorua and the hapless assistant/protege of Pen. Tries to be the voice of reason. He's not trying hard enough, it seems.
A? - A Skiddo with a dark, murderous aura. Those markings don't look natural...
C? - A Meditite who seemingly has two distinct aura signatures inhabiting her body.
S? - An Audino with a seemingly paranatural aura, one that would be more at home on an Elgyem.