I don't own Pokemon. If I did, Game Freak would stop doing that thing where they add a beloved feature for like one generation and then never do it again. (PWT, walking Pokemon, etc.)

Jackie wasn't born Jackie.

The memories are long since past, almost faded after years of emotional torment, but they're there.

Aurelia.

Aurelia is the name on her birth certificate.

Her father said it was because it was a play on 'Aura'. After all, they weren't called the Aura Pokemon for their fighting prowess alone. Even disregarding the hesitant warnings of Nurse Audino in the maternity ward, Jackie's father still had some hope that maybe someday, that supposed Golden Lucario powers would manifest.

"Late bloomer," he said to himself, silently. The flower remains a closed bud.

Jackie's mother had another idea of the name. She read once of a language long dead, but its remnants still hanging on in the speech of modern times.

Aurum.

Gold, in archaic terms.

Even her name was a constant reminder of what she was, and most damningly, what she wasn't. Jackie would look at the family history, of the ancestors that were like her.

Golden.

A Golden Lucario who could quell a tsunami with only a Force Palm.

A Golden Lucario whose steps made the earth rumble at their feet.

A Golden Lucario who could see into the future, and shape time itself.

A Golden Lucario.

Golden.

Gold.

Too.

Much.

Gold.

That's why she gave herself a new name, a new name with no connotations or lofty ideals attached to it. At the very least, she could have this one thing, a name for herself.

At the very least, she could have control over her life…

Jackie's eyes fluttered open lightly as she came awake. Strangely, she didn't feel groggy or cranky at all...

She couldn't remember the last time she had a good night's sleep.

Coming to her full senses, and still at awe at how refreshed she was, she was able to figure out at least one thing. Based on how comfortable and ventilated the room was, she knew she wasn't back at home, in the stuffy basement room her family generally shut her up in. No, whatever this place was, it was certainly more generous to the Riolu than the Aura Dojo would ever be.

"Oh! You're awake!" cried a boyish voice near Jackie's bed. Startled, she turned her head and locked eyes with the Zorua from before. His voice still wavered with a slight lack of confidence, but compared to earlier it was certainly upbeat.

That didn't really matter to Jackie, because the last time she saw the fox, he'd been helping the extremely intimidating Gardevoir from before kidnap several "humans." In all fairness, given his general quirk of perceptiveness, he should've seen the next turn of events beforehand.

Jackie's heart seized up, and in self-defense, she threw a punch towards Glitch's face. The Zorua raised a paw in a feeble attempt to catch/defend, but he managed to drastically underestimate how strong the Riolu was, even without Aura. What ensued could be summarized as Jackie punching Glitch's own paw into his face, knocking him back onto a desk. The same paw was now clutched over his black snout, which appeared to be… bleeding?

Realizing what she had done, Jackie once again panicked, not out of fear, but out of anxiety.

"Oh gods, what have I done!? What if he's like me? What if he's not doing this willingly? Was he trying to help me escape?"

Soon, the panicked thoughts evolved and tears welled up in her eyes.

"I… I'm useless, awful, terrible. He was probably the only person who would've been nice to me and now I've hurt him… He must hate me..."

A somewhat muffled voice piped up from the side of the room, attempting to pierce through Jackie's weeping.

"I-I'm alright," said Glitch, his paw still holding his snout to stem the flow of his nosebleed. "I guess I'm the one who should apologize… y'know, with the kidnapping 'n all…"

Jackie was still crying. Glitch didn't really know how to respond to this. Most of the other recruits Pen forced him to "greet" mostly met him with the same general confusion of a lost child and/or an amnesiac.

The Zorua, scrambling for the right answer to the awkward situation of a teary-eyed stranger, took a shot in the dark.

Said shot in the dark was a hug. Granted, an extremely awkward hug that buried the Riolu's face in his chest fluff, but a hug nonetheless. To his surprise, Jackie's tears began to slow, if not from being calmed by the hug or by how out of left field the gesture was. They sort of remained there until Jackie spoke up.

"Uh… y-you're getting blood on me…" Jackie admitted sheepishly.

"AGH! I, er, we should go to the infirmary, then!" replied Glitch. Grabbing Jackie's arm (in the calmest and easiest way he could manage, he dragged himself and the Riolu off the bed, and the two made their way outside the room.

"Off to a great start…" they both thought internally

. The hallways were sparsely decorated, but at the very least they were decorated. Jackie, despite having lived in a basement for most of her life, could tell the building that the Gardevoir had spirited her away to was rather nice in some respect. Also, signs. Signs were very helpful, especially as what Jackie assumed to be a simple 2-minute walk to the infirmary or perhaps a shower evolved into a long, ten minute walk.

"S-Sorry… Pen says I don't have independent Teleport clearance yet," he admitted, his paw tousling his headfur sheepishly. "Also, the name's Glitch. Sorry I didn't get it to you earlier, with all the face punching and what not.

"Is Pen the Gardevoir who…"

"Yes."

Jackie decided it was best not to press on that particular rabbit hole right now.

"Jackie."

"Hmm?"

"My name's Jackie," said the Riolu. She sighed. "I'm… sorry."

"Oh. N-no harm done… happens all the time, honestly." (Note: getting decked in the face did not, in fact, happen all the time.)

"There we are!" exclaime Glitch. The two small canines, following the handily marked cross signs on the walls, had reached the infirmary of the building. At the moment, it was empty, which Jackie felt was a good sign, at least in her mind. Simple beds and storage containers were the few bits of furniture that lined the room, though Jackie did notice a rather ornate coffin in one corner of the room.

Her observations of the room were cut short by a strange, foreign fuzziness floating across the Riolu's fur. Controlling her movements so as not to repeat another face punch, Jackie swiftly turned and was faced with the small figure of a Skitty.

"Hiya!" said the Skitty, flashing a gleaming white grin of childlike wonderment. The cat wore a hood, though it was more like a black paisley headscarf with ear holes. The childish voice continued on, though its gaze (or whatever the seemingly closed/squinted equivalent to a gaze) remained fixed on the Riolu. "Interesting specimen we have here, Glitch. Shiny, and a possible Aura user as well!"

Jackie frowned at the mention of Aura, almost instinctively.

"M-Maisha, please! Sh-She's new here, don't scare her like that!" said the Zorua. By now the nosebleed had stemmed, though the blood on his fur did little to make him seem like the calm one.

The Skitty, whose name appeared to be Maisha according to Glitch, continued to size up Jackie as if she were both a piece of meat and a carved statue of marble. It was very weird. "I'm just looking! Besides, as chief medical officer of the Guild, I have to know the anatomy of our members in the first place. Bonus points if I actually enjoy anatomy." She turned to the Zorua and stuck out her tongue.

"Can you at least help —"

"Cat's Paw: Water Pledge!"

Glitch was cut off by a sudden torrent of water splashing his face, which at the very least had the fortunate side effect of removing the blood off his fur.

Maisha giggled, her tail slightly dripping from the water it had just hosed out. "Assist works wonders when you know what you're doing, Glitch." She lifted a stubby paw up to her ear and pulled out a small, patterned bandage that she quickly slapped onto Glitch's nose. "Try not to hurt yourself next time."

The cat turned back to the Riolu, ignoring the Zorua's complaints at being hosed on a whim. "I hope he didn't give you a hard time, miss…"

"Jackie."

"Right. Glitch is, truthfully, a bit of a dork. I'm surprised he hasn't died yet." Maisha leaned in closer to whisper. "Secretly, I've always wanted to study what part of the Zorua body generates illusions…"

"I'm right here, Maisha..." said Glitch, spitting out water from his mouth. Maisha ignored him.

Jackie nodded along, trying to not to seem creeped out by the very morbid Skitty. The kitten continued on.

"Anyways, he was supposed to bring you to someone else, but I guess you really, er, sidetracked him."

Jackie dared to ask. "Was… he supposed to bring me to Pen?" she asked cautiously.

"Pfft. Gosh, no," replied Maisha. "She's probably doing something stupid with her chessboard again or singing those weird songs that only humans know."

The Riolu let out a sigh of relief. "That's somewhat assuring. But who was Glitch trying to take me to?"

"Probably one of the deputies. Like for instance, Mister Rick." Maisha jerked her adorably large head to the side, motioning towards the other exit of the infirmary. "Incidentally, he's over there, like, right now."

"What?"

At that moment, a door on the other side of the room swung open, which seemed unnecessary and also impossible as even Jackie could tell it was clearly a sliding door. The dust cleared, revealing a lanky, somewhat musty-smelling Beheeyem. In particular, the smell of alcohol seemed familiar to the Riolu, despite her father never being the drinking type...

Seaside Village sake?

"Glitch, *urp*..." the alien stammered woozily, strange green liquid staining the general mouth (?) area of his face. "You-you gotta stop being such a friggin' klutz, dammit."

The Zorua sort of froze up, not in the fear that he had in regards to the Gardevoir, but more of a meek embarrassment. The alien locked eyes with Jackie.

"Oh hey, it's the suicidal girl Pen took a liking too. She told me to take over for my loser of a mentee," said the Beheeyem, his drunken voice dripping metaphorically with all the eloquence of a brick and literally with that same concoction that Jackie presumed was saliva and booze. "Unlike Glitch, I actually have Teleport clearance."

He motioned in the general direction of Glitch and Maisha. "Maisha, prep the m-medbay for later. Glitch, sit fucking still until I grab you later. Orientation for the Athena Initiaive is upon us."

Before Jackie could even figure out what was going on, or even object, the Beheeyem caught her in a Kinesis grip before snapping his finger-lights together, and without flair or flourish, Jackie and Rick vanished.

~* Character Logs *~

Jackie - A Riolu who is not the most mentally stable Pokemon at the moment. Our dear protagonist, she'd been kidnapped and taken to a mysterious facility for… reasons.

Glitch - The Zorua assistant of the kidnapper who seems to be in the same boat as Jackie. Kind of a dweeb, but means well. Wishes he could be taken more seriously.

Pen - Dame Not-Appearing-In-This-Chapter. The leader of the Guild who "appropriated" Jackie from her hometown, for good or for bad. Strange lady.

Maisha - The morbid Skitty medical officer for the Guild. Very interested in discerning the anatomy of her patients, in a purely medical sense. Still creepy.

Rick - A very drunk Beheeyem. Is a deputy of Pen in some capacity, as well asw Glitch's teacher in a different context than Pen.

Next Chapter: Apathetic alien shows Jackie the people she saved earlier, now awake this time. Also, some other Pokemon Pen may have kidnapped. Establishing supporting cast GO!