"AND THE CHALLENGER IS DOWN!" the announcer proclaimed over the P.A. system of the arena. "RICK 'THE REAPER' ONCE AGAIN DEFENDS HIS TITLE!"
"And good riddance," Rick, a Lucario, muttered under his breath as he straightened up from a fighter's crouch. This challenger, a large Aggron, had been especially tenacious. Still, a double type-advantage was hard to beat. A few well-placed Power-up Punches was all it really took, although to be fair it turned out to be easier said than done. Slightly.
The arena crew came in and dragged away the unconscious Aggron. The unfortunate Pokémon would have a hard time coming back from this defeat. He'd made a bad choice in deciding to challenge Rick, because this wasn't just any arena. This was the Underground League. Here you either won, or you didn't survive long.
Rick turned around as the gate to the cage opened, and headed for the preparation room; undoing the wrist-tape on his forearms as he went. He quickly found his locker and retrieved a plain-looking brown duffel bag. It contained more wrist-tape, some money, a sleeping bag, and a small stack of paper with an old pen.
He threw it over his shoulder and headed for the stairs in the back of the prep room. As he reached the top of the stairs a Scizor handed him a small, but heavy bag of coins; today's winnings. Rick accepted the small sack and shoved it into his duffle bag before continuing the climb. He stepped through a doorway at the top of the stairs, which led into the back room of a seemingly dilapidated old pub. The building was, quite simply, the perfect front for the U.L.
Rick made his exit without stopping to chat with anyone and stepped onto the front porch of the bar, stopping to breathe in the fresh forest air. It was a small town, only a few hundred residents; situated in a dense forest on the very outskirts of the kingdom of Durinheim. As such, they were very much left to themselves in terms of the government, which is why they could afford to support the Underground League even though the law prohibited things like that.
Although they were only a relatively small community, they still had a highly successful economy; mostly thanks to the Underground League, which brought in plenty of tourists and competitors both. The existence of the Underground League was fairly well-known pretty much everywhere except the capital, but its exact location was privy only to a very few outside of the competitors themselves.
The bar which served as a front for the Underground League was in the busiest part of the town; the market square. Although it was far from being an actual square. There were plenty of vendors and merchants around, each one advertising their goods to be the highest quality for the lowest price. Which was a physical impossibility since most of them sold the same kinds of things. There were a few however which Rick had found to be particularly reliable and honest; at least when compared to the other merchants.
With his winnings for the day's battle in his paw, Rick walked over to the stall of one such merchant; a particularly slim-looking Hariyama called Honest Jim. As per his habit, Rick picked up a few things for dinner as well as a small parcel of rock candy. Trying to conduct any business was difficult however, due to the background noise of dozens of people trying to do the same at different stalls.
With both dinner and candy in paw, Rick said goodbye to Honest Jim and headed for the residential district of the town; if it could be called that. To be brutally honest, Rick's house was in what would usually be called a slum. The housing was dirt cheap, and the houses were little more than cheap dirt. Still, although he was paid well at the Underground League, it was all Rick could afford. After all, he was supporting what was left of his family now.
As Rick walked through the slums, it struck him again how quickly everything had changed for them. One day they were a happy family, and the next they were living in a three-room wood house in the slums. He'd been forced to join the Underground League just so they could eat.
It all started when some puffed-up nobleman decided he could do a better job of ruling Durinheim than the previous king. The nobleman, Count Vladimir, staged a massive coup d'etat which quickly consumed the kingdom in a civil war. Rick's father and mother went to the capital to fight for the old king. They never came back.
Rick walked up to a rickety-looking wooden shack and carefully opened the door, which was little more than a few nailed together boards hanging limply off a set of rusted hinges. The inside of the house looked exactly as you'd expect; dark, dingy, and damp from the morning mist. The main room was lit only by a few dim shafts of sunlight filtering through the ceiling. There was a candle on the table in the center of the room, but it wasn't lit and hadn't been for quite some time. Rick walked in, the floorboards creaking under his feet.
"Jake? Lucy?" he called out, looking around for his two younger siblings; his only remaining family.
He was met only by silence. The house was empty, meaning his siblings were probably out visiting Samuel.
Rick sighed and rolled his eyes. "They need to stop spending time at that old Xatu's house, he's feeding them too much of his stories and wisdom. If this keeps up they're going to be smarter than me."
Rick placed his bag on the table, palming the small sack of candy as he did so. He then left the small house and turned in a different direction, heading to the better part of town.
As he walked he was greeted by neighbors and friends alike; each one smiling and waving at him as he passed. Most everyone knew that he fought in the Underground League, and they respected him for it. Almost anyone who knew about the U.L. knew Rick, and the record he held.
He eventually arrived at the old Xatu's house, which was in a much nicer neighborhood than the slums and was built to look the part. Samuel had worked in the court of the old king, and had more than enough money to live comfortably. Even with the amount he spent on less fortunate people.
Rick stepped up to the door and knocked. He waited a few moments as he listened to feet scurrying to answer the door. The door was flung open, revealing an excited-looking Riolu; Jake, Rick's younger brother. Jake was currently holding back his twin sister, Lucy, with his hind paw.
"Jake!" Lucy whined. "Stop it!"
"Rick!" Jake cried, ignoring his sister. "Did you bring any candy?"
Rick smiled and stepped into the house. "I did, but you need to stop bothering your sister if you want any."
Jake put his foot down causing Lucy to fall forward onto the floor.
Rick waited for Lucy to stand up and dumped some candy into his paw while Lucy and Jack held out theirs. Rick dumped the first handful into Lucy's paws, much to Jake's despair. Rick then handed Jake his share of the candy and they both ran off giggling to themselves.
"Ah, Richard," Samuel said, calling Rick by his full name as was his habit.
Rick turned and saw Samuel sitting on a sofa in the front room.
"Hi Samuel, how's it going?" Rick asked.
The old Xatu sighed. "Well enough, I suppose. Although when you get to be my age, the days start to blur together somewhat. You had another fight today?"
Rick smiled. "Rule number one about U.L., we don't talk about U.L."
Samuel chuckled slightly. "Of course, how could I forget. Still, I'm happy for you. You've managed to stay strong and provide for your family, even in the face of such… harsh trials."
Rick walked over and sat down next to him. "Yeah, it's definitely hard. But I have plenty of things to keep my mind occupied."
"That is good," Samuel replied, his eyes taking on the strange, faraway look they so often did; as though the old Xatu was looking into time itself. "Oh dear…"
Rick could sense that something was not right. "Are you okay?"
Samuel rose from the couch and walked over to the window. "I am perfectly fine, Richard. You need not worry yourself on my account. Although if you would be so kind as to follow me, I… I have something I'd like to show you."
Samuel didn't wait for Rick to respond, and instead started heading for the stairs to the basement. Rick, not knowing what else to do, followed him down a set of stone stairs to the root cellar of the house.
"Would you mind shutting the door behind you?" Samuel said, and Rick did so; although he was now extremely curious as to what Samuel wanted to show him.
Once the door was closed, Samuel turned to face the far wall. Unlike the other three walls it was completely bare, and there was nothing stacked against it. Then the Xatu said three words, but not from any language Rick had ever heard before. As Samuel said the words, Rick felt a strange buzzing in his ears and he detected a faint scent of ozone.
As soon as Samuel had finished pronouncing the third word, there was a low rumble and a portion of the opposite wall started to glow. Cracks filled with golden light formed and traced the outline of a door on the wall. Then, as soon as it had appeared, the light faded leaving behind the cracks.
"Come," Samuel said, walking towards the door.
Rick closed his mouth with a snap. "What was that?" he asked incredulously.
The old Xatu turned and gave him a sad smile. "There are many wonders in this world of oursh is the existence of magic so hard to comprehend? I have picked up many skills over my long life and, although I no longer possess the energy to use most of them, there is much I am still capable of. But come, open the door for a tired old Pokémon."
Rick nodded and stepped up to the cracks. He gave it his best push and the door swung inward effortlessly; as though it was weightless. As he did so he caught a faint glimmer of light, but the space behind the door was too dark for him to see anything clearly.
"Allow me," Samuel said, before speaking another of those strange crackling words.
The doorways was suddenly lit up as though by the sun, and Rick was struck dumb by what he saw.
"You know I used to work in the court of the king, do you not?" Samuel said. "Well, this is the culmination of my wages."
Rick didn't reply, he was still staring at the sight before him. The room was about twelve feet square, and the ceiling was several feet higher than Rick's head. Stacked up wall to wall all the way back, reaching right up to the ceiling, was an enormous mountain of gold coins.
"It's…" Rick started, but the sight defied description for him; never in his life had he seen so much gold.
"It's not just gold either," Samuel said, as though commenting on the weather. "See that chest in the corner? Yes, that one. It's full of gemstones, mostly in the form of jewelry. And I'm fairly certain there are a few old swords lying about somewhere, although I'm equally certain they're buried…"
"Why are you showing me all this?" Rick managed to mutter.
The Xatu's expression was briefly tinted with sadness, but Rick didn't see it and the moment was over quickly.
"Why, I wish for you and your siblings to have it of course," he said, once again as though he were discussing a handful of flowers or something equally inconsequential.
If it was possible to be any more dumbstruck, Rick would have been just then. He stared blankly at the pile of money in front of him, unable to form a cohesive thought.
"Of course, you'll have a hard time carrying it out of here," Samuel continued. "I expect you'll need significant help if you want to move any large portion of it elsewhere. Still, somehow I don't think that will be too much of a problem."
"But… why?" Rick asked again.
"It's really quite simple," Samuel replied. "I have no need of this much gold. I'd much rather see it put to good use, and I'm sure in your paws it will be. Of course I'll have to teach you the words of opening and closing, but they should work perfectly fine if you pronounce them correctly."
Rick didn't have a response, he just stared dumbfounded at the pile of gold.
Samuel sighed. "On the other hand, maybe I'd better give you a minute to take it in…"
"No, I'm… I'm good," Rick said.
"Alright then," Samuel replied. "In that case let us go back upstairs and I'll teach you the words."
That turned out to be easier said than done, as Rick could barely think straight enough to memorize anything; much less strange words from a mystical language he'd never heard before. Still, it only took an hour or so before he could repeat the words almost perfectly. He even tried them on the door a few times to make sure it worked.
Once he could open and close the door to the vault at will, Rick thanked Samuel profusely for everything; to which the Xatu responded with a somewhat sad smile, and a repetition of his request that the money should be put to good use. Rick then rounded up Lucy and Jake, who had been playing a spirited game of tag in and around the house, and had eaten every scrap of their candy, and the three of them said goodbye to Samuel and left.
"Oh, that reminds me," Samuel said as they walked out the door. "I'm going to be out tomorrow. I've got a few errands to do, and I won't be back until nightfall."
"Okay then," Rick replied, although a small spark of doubt was forming in the back of his mind; Samuel rarely went out, and he never stayed out until dark.
Rick looked down at his younger siblings who seemed to share his doubts. He made a mental note to check in on Samuel the next day. They said goodbye, and made their way back to the less appealing part of town; unaware of a pair of cold, emotionless eyes watching them leave.
In the forest, a few miles away from town, two young Mienfoo struggled to press forward in the hopes of finding… well, pretty much anything other than more trees really. As they walked, exhausted and hungry, the younger of the two tripped over a protruding tree root for the umpteenth time that day.
"Are you okay Chris?" The older one asked as she helped her younger brother back to his feet.
"I'm fine Suzie," Chris replied, brushing himself off.
"Then let's keep moving," Suzie said. "We've got to be close to some sort of town, I can smell other Pokémon."
"It might just be wild ones," Chris commented.
Suzie huffed. "Don't be such a downer. We're going to get out of this forest safely, I know it."
"I sure hope you're right," Chris sighed.
"Aren't I always?"
Me: Well, here it is. The secret project that Krominicon and I have been working on for… I don't know how long now. In any case, it's been a long time in the making. So long in fact that at this moment we've got three whole chapters written, and we're almost finished the fourth. The only reason why we haven't posted it until now is because… well, as you've probably all noticed this story lacks a name. Try as we might, we couldn't figure out what to call it. So we decided to do something I've only done once before, and get some input from you guys on the title. I know a few people who are probably reading this right now who have a whole lot more creativity than either Kro or I do…
Krominicon: I don't think that's entirely true, I mean with us combined and all, it gets pretty intense.
Me: You've got a point there. If any of you read the part of Kro's story where Jack made a cameo, then you know how well Kro and I work together. It's like they say, two heads are better than one. In this case, I think we've got a really good concept for a story; with more than a few twists and turns planned down the line. Isn't that right Kro?
Krominicon: *Grins evilly* yes, that is correct. Also, on a side note, I have a few announcements for whoever was or is involved in reading my previous production, The Ancient Fuse Evolution, and expecting a sequel. It is coming, but there have been some huge setbacks and plot reworks. So it's taking significantly longer than I anticipated. I am actually going to end up rewriting all the chapters that I currently have. So yeah, just bear with me for a bit longer… or something like that.
Me: Well put. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. To put it simply, we need a working title for this story. If any of you reading this have any ideas, feel free to let us know because we need all the help we can get. It's actually kinda ridiculous at this point… Anyway, the other thing we want to ask you guys is do you want to see more of this story? Like I said, Kro and I have three chapters done and a fourth almost finished, and we'll be posting them periodically over the next few days. If you guys like what you see, then let us know and we'll continue updating it as frequently as we can. Don't worry, it won't cut into either of our main stories. After all, Kro's and my schedules line up about once in a blue moon anyway these day so we'll both have plenty of time to focus on our other projects in between chapters of this.
If you're wondering why we're posting this on my profile, it's just because we figure it's easier that way. And no, it won't be like my collab with Osean where we post different versions on both our profiles. This is a standalone story (kinda) and it's just something Kro and I came up with one day and had a lot of fun coming up with ideas for. As such, we hope you guys enjoy it. Expect the second chapter when the bell tolls two! *cackles maniacally*