Do you hear the Slacker cry
Crying the tears of slow updates
I wake up, and the first thing I see is SWEET JESUS CHRIST WHAT IS THAT… oh, yeah. Mako, sentret, pokemon, and… I'm a zorua. Right, right, calm down… breathe, girl, breathe…
Mako blinks at me for a bit before brightening. "Oh! Ryuko, you're awake!" She quickly engulfs me in a hug. I chuckle nervously and wonder why she has to hug me first thing in the morning. I get the feeling I'm going to have to be used to this somehow…
"Ryuko! You know, we should make a rescue team!" Mako exclaims all of a sudden.
"Rescue team?"
"Yeah, it's where two or more pokemon form a team to help other pokemon stuck in Mystery Dungeons!" Mako explains. "It's got some paperwork in it, but it's quick and easy so I think I can do it!" She raises her stubby paws for emphasis. Looking at said stubby paws though, I doubt she actually can do it… well.
"What's in it for me?"
"Welllll… we kinda need a source of income?" Mako grins sheepishly. "You're in the family now! So we need more money for an extra pokemon. And you're gonna have to work for it! Consider it rent."
Rent… doesn't sound so bad. Anyway, it sounds fine, if not a bit…
"Isn't it dangerous?" I ask.
Mako shrugs. Still not used to that. "Kinda. But you're a Mankanshoku, and I'm a Mankanshoku, and Mankanshokus are super strong and awesome!" She beams. "You'll be fine. You're good at battling anyway, right, Ryuko?"
"… Depends on which pokemon I'm facing." But she had called me a Mankanshoku… Ryuko Mankanshoku, huh? It doesn't sound bad, at least. I can get used to this.
"So is that a yes?" Mako grins.
Say yes. I can just hear the grin in Senketsu's words. You do need to repay this family for giving you food and shelter.
"Alright, alright," I mutter under my breath, directed towards Senketsu. Mako takes that as an answer, though, and cheers excitedly. "Wait, I mean–"
"We're gonna be an awesome rescue team, Ryuko!" She jumps on me and proceeds to hug the air right out of my lungs. Which is a commendable feat, because her arms are kind of… not that long. "I'm gonna tell mom!" With that, she bounds out of the small wooden room.
The silence settles in and I take a minute to observe the room in itself. It's small and cozy, fitting in two yellow straw beds, two small tables and a lot of other random things strewn about. Did I forget to mention it's pretty messy? Well, it is. I don't see any food around here, though, so I guess that means Mako likes her food.
The only exit out of the room is a small circular door, which is easy for pokemon like Mako to get out of, since she's round and fits perfectly. The door probably isn't very fit for zoruas, since the first few times I tried getting in, I had to struggle for two good minutes.
"Ryuko!" Mako bursts back in the room. "Mom says it's okay! And if Mom says it's okay then that means Dad says it's okay too."
"Uh… I'm going to be smart and not ask about the logic in that sentence."
"You learn fast. Ooh, where was I? Right, right. So, we have to go to the Post Office here! We can sign up and send our letter to the… the… what was it? I think it was… Pokemon Rescue Team Fed… eration. Yeah, that sounds right. Okay, we'll send our letter to them and by tomorrow, we should be able to be an official rescue team!" Mako spread out her arms (which, I repeat, was not very impressive), finishing her long-winded explanation.
"That's, uh… nice. So, where's the Post Office, exactly?"
Mako paused. "…"
"Don't tell me you don't–"
"It's in town, duh!" the sentret says. "But I… ah, don't know how to get there. It's usually Mom who does all the mailing, and I've never gone there with her before, so…"
"Oh, my God." I would have facepalmed, but since I'm on all fours now, I settle for hanging my head. "You live in this town and you don't even know where the post office is?"
"I'm sorry!" she squeaks, though she doesn't seem very sorry. "But hey! Town's not that big! It's also a great opportunity to show you around so you'll know your way too!"
She has a point, Senketsu mumbles. I grunt affirmatively.
"Well, uh, okay then. Fine. Show me around… what was it again?"
Mako grins. "Clockwork Coast Town! Now let's go, Ryuko!"
As Mako said, Clockwork Coast Town is not that big. In fact, it looks more like a clump of small painstakingly hand-built (or paws, or other appendages) stands and small buildings just bunched up together. There's a narrow cobblestone pathway to walk on, but many of the stones are ridiculously sized and don't match up with the ground, so I stumble several times just walking. Mako, on the other hand, looks perfectly used to the surface.
Granted, she does live here. I'll let that pass for now.
"Look, look!" She points to a colorful-looking stand, built to look like a large green head of a… gecko, maybe? Iguana? A reptilian pokemon, I'm sure of that. Behind the stand, two pokemon who look the same species with different coloring manage it, with several items and glass jars decorating the counter. "Those are kecleon, and they run Kecleon Store! They sell stuff and sometimes it's overpriced but they're super scary if you try to bargain with them so just buy it and complain later. In one of these books I read kecleon are supposed to look like chameleons to humans, right?"
Chameleons… they look the part, I suppose. Green with yellow and red patterns and a long tongue, while the other is purple with green and red patterns. They stand on two legs, but they look like they can go on all four as well. Lucky…
"I guess so."
Mako moves on, dragging me along with her somehow. In front of us is a brown stand built to look like the head of a… I'm not sure what that is. Something brown and probably a mammal. Yeah, that sounds about right.
"That's Kangaskhan Storage, run by big 'ol Mama-skhan and her kid, Baby-skhan! She stores your precious items and other objects for you so you don't lose them if you ever get in a bad encounter in a Mystery Dungeon."
"Okay, that's nice, but are those seriously their names?"
"No. I just like calling them that. Mama-skhan is named Taura and her son's named after his dad, Yoshi."
"H-Hold up!" I laugh. "Yoshi? Are you serious? Wait, so what animal are they based off of?"
"Animal…?" Mako pauses. "… Oh! I guess they look like… kan… kanga…"
"Kangaroos!" I finish, breaking into peals of laughter. "But Yoshi – Yoshi is–"
"Ehh? What's wrong with Yoshi?!" Mako cries out, almost sounding concerned. "Is that a bad-luck name? Does Yoshi need good luck charms?"
"N-No." I wipe some tears from my eyes (with difficulty), still giggling. "It's just… a funny name." Strange I can remember that stuff from the human world and I can't remember my own last name. "A-Anyway, it's no big deal. Let's continue."
Mako stares at me looking very confused for a bit, before shrugging and moving on. "Whatever suits you, Ryuko. Hmm, let's see…" She pauses in front of a stand built to look like a cream-colored cat with a red jewel on the forehead. "Ooh, here! This is Felicity Bank, run by that persian over there." She points at… a slender, cream-colored cat with a red jewel on its forehead. I thought so. "You can store money there. Obviously. It's a bank, after all."
"Okay… hey, what'd you say the name was again?"
"Felicity Bank." She tilts her… head. Probably. "Why?"
"… No reason." I get the feeling in some other world, Felicity… is not a name to be said with grace. Oh well. "What's that over there?"
"Ooh, I like this place!" Mako drags me closer to the 'place', which turns out to not be a stand, but a full-blown restaurant. It's a freaking restaurant. I did not know pokemon were capable of building restaurants. How do they even…?
Well, there are tyranitars and dragonites and conkeldurrs and other psychic-type pokemon… Senketsu helpfully informs me. I mentally wave him off and ignore him, mainly because I didn't know what the hell tyranitars or dragonites were.
"This is Coli's Café!" Mako cheers. "They serve tons of awesome stuff! Mom still cooks better food than them though. Okay but still! They serve gummis and juices and, get this, floats! And you can ask for extra lemon slices with drinks!"
"…" I stared wordlessly at her. "And?"
She pouted. "Well, maybe for you humans it doesn't really matter 'cause you get those all the time. But for us pokemon, extra lemon slices and floats are super duper cool!" She giggles just thinking about it. "And a lot of it is cheap! Not like we can afford it that often but… it's still cheap! When we get lots of money from doing rescue jobs, let's eat here, Ryuko!"
"Uh… okay." Whatever she says. "Anything else?"
"That's all the major stuff in town." Mako grins. "So, let's go and look for the Post Office!"
"Can't you just ask?"
"But that's no fun…!"
I sigh, shaking my head. "Okay, fine. Let's go."
"Yay!"
It takes approximately twenty minutes to arrive at the Post Office. Or what I assume is the Post Office. It looks like a giant pelican bird with a yellow beak and blue-and-white feathers, and more pelicans are flying in and out of the roof, so I guess it's a Post Office in pokemon standards.
I also guess it's a Post Office because Mako screams and hugs the building with her stubby little paws. No one bats an eyelid at her, except for maybe this one… big… dragon.
Yes. A dragon. I'm looking at a giant orange dragon with actual wings and a tail that looked like it could slam against me, kill me in one strike, and not even have a scratch on it. It's a dragon for God's sake. What am I doing again?
"Ooh, hi Drago!" Mako greets enthusiastically WAIT WHY IS SHE TALKING TO THE DRAGON. Maybe the dragon is nice? "Nice day today!"
He… well, I guess it's a he. I can tell he's male similar to how I can tell Mako's a girl. I guess it's the pokemon instincts. Anyway, he kind of blinks down at her (she's barely even one third of his size…) and nods. "Yes. Sunny today. … Aren't you hot, though? You've been running around for a long time and you're not even sweating." He looks a bit amused. Or in between amused and thinking along the lines of 'why am I talking to her again?'.
"Oh, I'm sweating tons!" Mako says, her words starting to slur as she stumbles around blindly. "I'm sweating tons now, anyway. I was ignoring the heat so I could look for the Post Office better! Ahahaha~ but I think the heat is getting to me now… haha… hahaha… Drago, why are there two… three… four… five of you? I didn't know you could use Double Team! Wheee~"
She then promptly collapses on the cobblestone road with a resounding thud. Drago (I guess that's the dragon's name) and I wince. "That sounded painful."
"Not like she'd really notice it once she wakes up," I say. Drago nods in agreement, then actually turns to look at me to see who he's talking to.
A dragon's looking at me straight in the eye… I gulp. I thought dragons only existed in fairy tales… but I guess this whole thing is a fairy tale in itself, huh? He blinks once more and seems to raise an eyebrow (if he had eyebrows…) in confusion. "You're a…"
"Yeah?" I prompted.
"… never mind."
… Be that way, then, dragon. I shrug and head over to Mako, and after some difficulty, get her on my back. Drago keeps staring at me, and I look back up at him with some irritation. "… Yeah…?"
"Nothing." He turns away. I frown. "What were you going to do?"
"Mako wants to make a rescue team or some sort, and was gonna write a sign-up letter to…" I scramble to remember what she said. "To give to the Pokemon Rescue Team Federation. Or something," I add on as an afterthought.
Drago hums. "Have you thought of a team name?"
A team name? … Mako didn't tell me about that. But I didn't want to sound stupid in front of a dragon, and a pretty experienced one at that, judging from the scars littering his body and the large cuts in his wings. I think one of his… antennae, I guess? One of his antennae has been cut off. Team name, a team name…
"Uh… we–"
"You haven't, have you?" He looks down at me again, though he doesn't look very angry. More of a flat kind of stare.
"… No." Sigh.
"Having trouble picking a name?"
"Admittedly, yes. How do people go and pick names anyway? It's hard to make it sound cool and still not evil at the same time." I puff my cheeks out, which is probably childish, but I don't care by this point. The dragon isn't all that dangerous, anyway. Probably.
He raises an eyebrow.
Okay, so he doesn't actually raise an eyebrow, but he has this expression on his dragon face that looks like if he had eyebrows, he would raise an eyebrow. "People?"
You just blew your cover, Senketsu deadpans. I thought I had tuned him out for good… Nah.
"I mean pokemon," I hurry to say. "I was just reading this book about humans and I got used to talking about it with Mako, so…"
He looks at me with the eyebrow-raising expression for a bit more, before shrugging it off. Good. "If that is so. I shall advise you; team names are unchangeable. Think about it before writing the name down. Hm, I suggest something to do with…" he gives the both of us a long stare before continuing. "… illusions."
"Illusions?" That's a rather vague topic…
He nods. "I'll be off. Good day." Before I can get another word in, he flaps his wings, hovers above the ground, and soars off with unimaginable speed. I watch him in awe as he speeds over the town.
Then I ponder over his words. 'Illusions, huh? Why illusions?'
You're a zorua, Senketsu remarks. Zoruas and their evolution are known to be the only non-psychic-type pokemon to be able to conjure illusions. And even then, it's hard for other psychic-types to conjure realistic illusions. That's your talent; illusions.
"And what about Mako?" I ask under my breath so as to not attract attention and not make the nearest pokemon direct me to the hospital. "She's a part of the team too, and she's got nothing to do with illusions, as far as I know."
Senketsu hums, or makes a sound like a hum. You've known her for a day. She may have a little… talent, too.
"Something in your tone makes me feel like you know more about this than you sound like," I grumble irritably. "Stop being difficult, voice in my head. You know, I really need to see a doctor since you still haven't gone away."
I recommend you not, Senketsu says with a touch of annoyance. I'm vital for your survival in this world, Ryuko. Unless you want to die thanks to your nonexistent knowledge in fighting as a pokemon, you should definitely not get rid of me.
"…" He has a point there, annoyingly enough. Damn it. "Fine. But only for my own benefit. Alright?"
Fine with me, Senketsu says with an air of finality. He sighs. You are very difficult, Ryuko M… ankanshoku.
Did he just… hesitate there? "You were going to say something," I press. "Something that starts with the letter 'M'. What was it? My… last name?"
Enough, Senketsu says tiredly. Mankanshoku just sounds a bit strange on you.
"No, that's definitely not it," I persist. "My last name starts with 'M', doesn't it? What is it, Senketsu? What do you know about me? Who am I? No… who are you?"
Enough! He roars, loud enough to rattle my brains and give me a horrible headache. I would have clutched my head with my hands, but I only have paws here, so… You have questions. You are confused. I understand that! But now is not the time for you to receive answers to those questions! You are not ready!
"… How so?" I can't really argue with the tone of voice he's using.
Senketsu pauses, and when he speaks again, his voice softens a bit. It has only been your first day. You have not even had any… dreams about the subject yet. Do not question me on this. I will, however, grant you this piece of information; I am in your mind for a reason, and this reason is an important one. Moreover, I am not allowed to disobey my master's orders. If you get rid of me, you die, I disappoint my master, and you sadden Mako greatly. In summary, we all lose. Do you understand?
"Yeah," I mumble. "Guess I do." I would ask a lot of questions on what he just said, but that wouldn't really help matters now.
… He sighs. I apologize. To clarify, I was not angry at you. I was simply… pushed. To help, what about that team name?
"Oh, yeah. Illusions, huh?" I take a seat next to the white Post Office while Mako slips off my back and lands on the soft grass with a quiet thump. "I like the concept of illusions, I guess. They're pretty… confusing, though."
I like illusions myself, Senketsu says in a faraway tone. They are there, and at the same time, they are not there. Almost like a reflection from a mirror.
I hum in acknowledgement. "That's a nice comparison."
If he were human… er, pokemon, Senketsu probably would have nodded at that and let the subject be. An awkward silence descends upon us, but thankfully, Mako wakes up at that exact moment.
"Ryuko!" she shouts and I jump fairly high in the air. "What happened? Where are we? Where'd Drago go?"
"You fainted, we're beside the Post Office, and the dragon flew off," I respond, more out of instinct than anything else. Did this girl really have to shout my name first thing she wakes up? "You're okay now? Why did you even faint?"
"Heat?" Mako grins shamelessly. "Eh, it doesn't matter. Ryuko, let's go and sign up already!"
"Wait wait wait. Slow down there." I nudge her forehead for emphasis. "What about a team name? You didn't tell me about that."
She pauses, thinks about it for a moment, and soon enough a bulb lights up above her head. "Oh yeah! We needed a name! I forgot about that. Oopsie!" She laughs it off nonchalantly, lightly hitting herself on the head and making an 'oops!' expression. I almost smack it off her face when I realize I don't have hands anymore and I can't exactly do that without sacrificing my balance. I settle for sighing exasperatedly.
"Any suggestions?"
"Lessee… nope!" Mako skips ahead. "You think of one, Ryuko! If you don't, I'll fill the blank up with 'Friendship'!"
Something in me says she definitely meant that, so I immediately run after her, stumbling on a loose floorboard on the way.
The inside of the Post Office is nothing magnificent. It's basically a large and circular wooden room with a large counter at the far end and lots of other tables and chairs. Mako confidently grabs a paper with the heading 'RESCUE TEAM SIGN-UP FORM' from a nearby desk and a pen. She plops down on a chair and grips the pen in her small paws easily enough, surprisingly.
Mako begins filling in the basic stuff, I guess; the starting members of the team, hometown, other occupations and other things I can't see. She writes in everything but the team name, and once she's finished, she looks back at me expectantly.
"Uh," I say dumbly. "Err…" 'Senketsu, help me out here!'
Illusions? Mirrors… reflections? Senketsu blurts out. Mirages. Uhh, wishes. Dreams. Hallucinations. Schizophrenia?
'Okay, stop. Uhh…' Slowly repeating what he had said, I pick out a word that sounds just about right. "Reflection! Reflection sounds good."
"Reflection…" Mako's eyes glaze over. She grins. "Ooh, that sounds cool, Ryuko! How'd you think of it?"
"…" I glance at the counter in front of us. "So, who do we give this to?"
Thankfully, Mako's attention span is short enough for her to welcome the topic change completely. "That one over there, the one in the middle… ooh, it's Clyde this time!" She points over towards a white and green pokemon who looks slightly taller than us, with two large… ears, I guess. He also has a long scar stretching from his right front shoulder to the end of his left chest.
"Clyde?"
"Yuuup~ Clyde Roberts or somethin' like that. He's a shaymin. Comes often, does odd jobs every now and then. He sings nice too! The townspokemon know him pretty well." Mako shoves the paper in front of my face. "Here! Go and talk to him and make some friends or whatever!"
"Uh… okay?" How do I hold the paper anyway? With my paws… hands… paws? I can't do that or I'll look like a complete idiot. Do I grab it with my mouth? I think I'll do that. Foxes do that, don't they?
I gently take the paper into my teeth, making sure not to get it wet, and bound over to the shaymin, placing the paper on the counter. Clyde (is his name, right?) snaps to attention and smiles absentmindedly at me. "Morning. So you're signing up for a rescue team? That's cool. G'luck… Ryuko?"
"That's me."
"Mm…" he stares at me. "Don't think I've ever seen you around before. Where you from?"
"Uh…" 'Senketsu! Town name that's kinda close to this place?'
Er… Eija Village?
'That'll do.' "Eija Village. Just moved here with the Mankanshokus."
"Ahh. I see." He stamps something on the upper left corner of the paper, where a big blank box had been. "They're a nice bunch. Their kids are real nice too… oh, you're making a team with Mako?"
"HI!" the sentret screams from her spot on the table. Clyde waves over to her without taking his eyes off the paper.
I nod. "I needed to make some money, I guess. Mako conveniently pointed that out to me."
"Hmm." Clyde rereads the content on the paper and cheerily hands it back to me. "Okay. Congratulations, Rescue Team Reflection! Here you go. Keep it for proof you're a rescue team, alright?"
"Okay." I pause. "… Hold on! I thought we were supposed to send this to the Pokemon… whatever it was Federation?"
He chuckles. "I'm associated with them, so I can handle these kinds of things fast. I do owe the Mankanshokus a favor for… helping me greatly, after all."
I hesitate. "… I won't ask, then."
"Thanks. The rescue team necessities should be delivered to your place in the afternoon, tomorrow at the latest."
I take the paper in my teeth again, dip my head in a bow of thanks, and get back over to where Mako is.
She looks surprised. "Weh? What happened? Were we declined before we even sent it to them? Ryuko! What did you say?!"
"W-Why are you blaming me?!"
"Well, you… talked to him…"
"…"
"Anyway!" Mako shouts. "So what happened, Ryuko? Did we actually get declined?"
"No. Apparently he's associated with the Federation, so he can do these sorta things. Easier for us, I guess." I shrug. I don't even care anymore if I'm a black fox thing and can shrug. Nothing's new here.
"Ohhh." Mako sighs in relief. "Good! O-kay, Ryuko, let's get started! Y'know, Mom needs more ingredients for food, but we don't have enough money to buy the groceries she needs right now."
"Please don't go where I think you're getting at," I plead.
Mako beams. "So, let's go find a job with a money reward! Then we can buy our food!"
I sigh. Of course Mako puts food as her priority. Oh, whatever. "Fine, fine."
"Here, Ryuko! This is the job bulletin board!" Mako points at a large wooden board filled with papers and job requests pinned on it. It's right outside the Post Office, maybe a little bit to the side. "To accept a job, just get a paper and give it to the pokemon in the Post Office. They'll stamp it with an official stamp-thing and you can go on to do the job."
"Huh." Easy enough. "So, uh, can we actually get a job now? I mean, we don't have the rescue team stuff just yet, so–"
"Nah, just pick one for now!" Mako grins. "We won't take it just yet. Maybe like find a job with lots of money for a reward. Then later, when we have our stuff, we can go and take the job."
"Well… alright, then." 'Senketsu?'
What, do you expect me to find you a job as well? Senketsu sighs. Are you that hopeless?
'No. I just need your comments on the situation,' I reply mentally. 'And mind the attitude or I'll kick your mental ass.'
Senketsu grunts and pauses for a bit while I pretend to look for a job on the board, Mako already dozing off beside me. After a while, he says, You're best off getting that one. Your right… a bit higher… there. That one.
"'Help needed in the Eija Caves,'" I read. Mako snaps to attention at my side, bouncing around to see what I had gotten. "'I went in and got knocked out… can someone help me here? I'm on the last floor.' From… Nagot, a scraggy, with the reward of five hundred… poke?" Is that their currency here in the pokemon world? And… wait, 'Eija' Caves…?
"Those caves? Ooh, I've gone there with Matarou before!" Mako pipes up. "They're not all that hard if you have a type advantage. We should be fine!"
It's also near Eija Village. You might as well live up to your excuse, Senketsu says. I sigh.
"Okay." I fold the paper as neatly as I can with my two unsteady paws and tuck it in the mane of black fluffy fur around my neck. I didn't know I could use my fur as one big pocket, but apparently I can, as it slips into the inky black hair and disappear.
Mako skips back to the town square. "Hmhm… WHOA!"
"What?!" What's the matter now?!
"Look, Ryuko! She's here! The Queen's here! Look, look!" the sentret looks near to hyperventilating as she repeatedly jumps up and down, eyes wide and face permanently fixed on a grin.
"Oh." I sigh in relief. God, did she really have to shout that loud to announce something like that? Obediently, I turn to look at where the so-called 'Queen' was.
And oh, damn.
Look, guys! Here's your chance to vote for your Kill la Kill ship! I ship a lot of things, after all. Moreso with the incest. Not that they're sisters here. Or are they? I'm getting off topic and I'm probably spoiling everything, aren't I?
Word Count: 4570+. Longer than a fair amount of other chapters.
Sooooo. Clyde (WR Winters) and Drago (reven228) are introduced, along with Nagot (OPFan37), sort of. Rescue Team Reflection is created! Aaand... Senketsu and Ryuko get in a mini-argument. Well, that just provides some plot-related clues, though those who have watched KLK probably know Ryuko's last name already. So, eh. But Senketsu has a master wah. Who ever could it be. Hint: It's not Junketsu. Got that one out of the way, at least.
And the Queen, yay! The last line can be interpreted however way you like it, seeing as they are technically the Alakazam/Charizard/Tyranitar of the story so they've got the Four Devas + Queen herself. More to be explained maybe.
If you're a hopeless shipper like I am, you may as well send in who Ryuko's directing that 'hot damn u fine' sentence to. Arceus knows I'll go the incest route if none of you say anything. (Or the Ryumako route. That works too, right?)
Slacker, 5/2/14