Chapter 2 - Classist Undertones
Location - Outside the Noblesse Woods
Terry and Cereza left the forest into a large valley littered with boulders and dotted with trees. The sun hung low in the sky.
"T-thank Arceus. We survived." Terry sighed a breath of relief and lay down about as well as a goo ball could. Cereza sat down on the ground and touched her neck scar.
"We're not exactly safe yet, though. We're sitting ducks out in the open like this." Cereza said, breathing heavily. Had she been going on pure willpower the whole time? Terry was not sure exactly what had happened, but knew that in order to injure her like that, it must have been very exhausting and painful.
"W-why don't we set up camp over there?" Terry said, looking at a rocky outcropping that would hide them from anyone exiting the forest.
"Set up camp with what, exactly? We don't have any bedding or food or... anything, really." Cereza asked.
"...Well, t-the grass is soft, and we can pick fruit from the trees." Terry replied. He was not sure if the trees bore fruit, but was so tired he did not care if he starved to death.
"Eaugh. Sleeping on the ground. I've had my fill of that. But I don't think we have any other options." Cereza and Terry worked up the strength to walk over to the outcropping and hide behind it. There they lay down for a bit to regain their strength and set up camp. Cereza, being the only one with arms, gathered up as much grass as she could and made it into a pair of beds. Meanwhile, Terry shook trees searching for fruit. He found it alot harder than he originally thought it would be because it turned out most of the trees were not fruit-bearing. He managed to find two apples and some medium-sized branches for a campfire. Nowhere near enough for them to subsist on, but it would have to do.
That night, Terry found it hard to sleep. His mind was too full of unanswered questions. Why was he picked for all this? Who exactly was Cereza? What was she running from? Does it want just her or would it want him, too? With no answers in sight, he lay awake on his grass bed and stared at the moon, then looked to his side to see how well Cereza was sleeping. She slept like had not done so for more than a day and obviously welcomed the sandman's influence over her mind. Her neck still looked a bit raw, and she was surely as hungry as he was, but right now, she didn't seem to care. She just looked happy to finally have a chance to sleep. Seeing her so tired made him tired, too, and he finally found it in himself to sleep for the night.
The next morning...
Terry found himself being woken by Cereza, who was throwing pebbles at him.
"C'mon, wake up! We have to go, now!" she whispered urgently.
"Huh, wh-whuh...?" Terry murmured, trying to wake himself up. he shook his head from side to side to get the sleep out of his eyes, and turned to face Cereza, who was looking behind the outcrop.
"W-what's wrong? W-why are you throwing rocks at me?" he asked.
"Look there!" she said, pointing at the entrance to the forest. There, a Persian looked from side to side with a scowl on his face. He was holding a black collar in his mouth and obviously looking for something, or perhaps someone.
"Is t-that who you were running from?" Terry asked in a hushed voice.
"Yes. He tried to sell me into slavery. And I get the feeling he won't give up looking for me. We have to go, now!" Cereza replied, as quickly and quietly as possible. She knew they wouldn't be able to take him in a straight up fight. They had to find a place to run to, and fast.
"U-uh, okay, this w-way!" Terry said, and the two of them ran off, away from the forest. They ran as fast as they could, but with little the food they could find from the trees they passed by, it felt like everything was against them. Going off pure adrenaline, they had no clue where the Persian was, but they didn't dare stop running for fear of him attacking them. Eventually, they thought they'd get a break when they found a dirt road they could follow to find a town, but then...!
"Ha! There you are!" shouted a voice Terry did not recognize, but Cereza knew all too well. Turning to face where the voice was coming from, she took a Pay Day attack and fell
"Cereza!" Terry cried out, running over to her side. He was tired, he was hungry, but he would never abandon someone.
"Aw, that's cute. You found a boyfriend in a nobleman. That won't save you from me, bitch!" the Persian said, walking slowly toward them. Cereza stumbled to her feet and readied her vines.
"I don't need saving." she said.
"Y-yeah! I-it's you who needs saving!" Terry added. Cereza facepalmed. She couldn't get over how dorky this kid was... if he was a kid, that is.
"Nice comeback, slimey. Let's see if you can fight better than you boast!" the Persian shouted.
The Persian charged forward. Terry tried to shoot bubbles, but a sick feeling in his intestines took over and what came out instead was a brilliant purple blaze of Dragon Breath. The Persian leaped over the flames as Cereza readied herself for his pounce, but he landed just short of her on purpose and struck at her with Fury Swipes. Knocking her aside, he turned to Terry and threw a Pay Day attack at him. Terry shot a Dragon Breath attack again, incinerating the coins as they flew into the flames. Meanwhile, Cereza had gotten back up and was running toward them. The Persian kept throwing coins at Terry, barraging him with attacks, until Cereza started whipping him with her vines. He turned and swatted her aside with Fury Swipes again, but Terry took the chance to Dragon Breath him, again. The Persian tried to turn again, but found his body would not respond to him. Paralysis had him in it's tingly jaws, and he was a sitting duck for Terry and Cereza's onslaught. Cereza shot Leaf Tornadoes and Vine Whipped him as hard as she could, while Terry Tackled him and sucked him dry with Absorb. Eventually, the Persian couldn't take it anymore and collapsed.
"Huff... huff... H-how's that?!" Terry shouted. Cereza didn't bother with a victory shout and instead walked over to the unconscious Persian and rummaged through his bag.
"Terry, look at all this!" she said, relieving the Persian of his things.
"There's food, and money, and all kinds of stuff!" she added.
"But if we take it, h-how will he...?" Terry started, but Cereza slapped him in the face.
"He's a slaverunner, Terry! He gave me this scar! What makes you think he deserves any kind of mercy?" she shouted.
"I j-just... L-look, let's just hear his story, okay?" Terry said. Even if he was a slaverunnner, he had to have some reason for doing what he did, right?
"Why should we? We ran ourselves ragged trying to escape him and now you want to make friends with him?!" Cereza yelled.
"B-because he's awake." Terry said. "I think your shouting woke him up." the Persian had indeed woken up and was trying to stand, but was too beaten up to do so.
"Rrrgh... What are you two doing? Go. You win." the Persian said, as if resigned to his fate.
"Um, we won, s-so, doesn't that mean we get to m-make demands?" Terry said. Cereza facepalmed again. She couldn't believe what this kid was trying.
"Fine. What is it you want?" the Persian replied, pouting a bit.
"Your s-story. Why are you trying to enslave us?" Terry asked.
"You really wanna know? Fine. It's because I'm a commoner." the Persian said.
"A c-commoner?" Terry asked, curious.
"Yeah. I'm a dime-a-dozen. I'm treated like shit wherever I go because I'm not a rare Pokémon like you are." the Persian explained.
"O-oh geez, that sounds awful!" Terry exclaimed.
"Cry me a river..." said Cereza, munching on trail mix and tuning the rest of the conversation out. She couldn't care less about what sob-story this creep spun and just wanted to have a roof over her head.
"No duh. Now what, you gonna spit on me?" the Persian asked.
"N-no! That would be the worst! Y-you don't deserve that kind of cruelty, you've been through e-enough." Terry said, exasperated.
"...You're kidding right? In this world, status is everything. No one of your stature would dare treat me as an equal." the Persian said.
"I'm n-not kidding! In fact, I t-think you should come with us!" Terry exclaimed. Cereza spat out her trail mix.
"You do want to make friends with him! Are you some kind of idiot?! He'll sell us out the first chance he gets!" Cereza shouted.
"C-Cereza, t-that kind of attitude condemned him to this kind of work, if he acts out of line, I-I'll roast him myself." Terry said. Cereza twitched with anger. Out of all his antics, this was the worst yet. She hated that cat with a burning passion, and yet... she needed Terry. He had proven himself capable enough in combat, and she would be swept away by slavers again if she didn't travel with him, no doubt.
"Fine. I'll let you do this. But just to show you how badly it'll go for you." she said, trying to make sure everyone knew their place.
"You really mean this, Slimey?" the Persian said.
"Y-yes. I do. If what you say is true, th-this world needs heroes." Terry said. He wasn't the type to volunteer himself for heroism like this, but since no one else seemed to care, he figured he had to.
"Heroes... then you have my loyalty." the Persian replied.
"G-Great! Then you need a name. H-howzabout... Erin?" Terry suggested.
"Erin... I like it." the Persian said. The two kept talking for the longest time. Something about the little goo ball reminded him of himself back when he was a kid. Back before he knew the truth about this world. But this kid... he knew the truth about it too. Erin had made sure of that. And despite that, he's kept his youthful cheeriness and fights for his ideals. Something about that made him feel at ease, like he could trust the kid.
"And that's why I'm gonna stick with him." thought Erin.
"I'm surrounded by idiots..." Cereza said.