Chapter 4: The Waterfalls
Rye groaned softly and stirred, his body ached with a dull throb as he returned to the world of the living. Blood red eyes opened slowly, blinking as he looked upward. He was greeted with the smooth dark grey ceiling of the cave roof. A droplet of water dripping down and splashing him right between the eyes. He rubbed it away with a paw, that's when the sudden pain hit him. Like a fire through his fur, coursing up from the upper left side of his back. He yelped in surprise, jerking upward and smacking his head against the slight rocky ledge that he hadn't noticed with a fleshy smack.
"Ow…" he grunted, regretting that he had woken up for a brief moment. The ruckus he had made had drawn the attention of the cave's other's occupants. He had managed to drown out the constant roar of the waterfalls outside.
The first to arrive on the scene as he slowly sat back up was Dale. The Sandshrew peered into the small cavern and waved when he saw the Riolu shifting. There was barely any room for two or three pokemon he noticed as he waved toward the Mouse Pokemon in turn. Looking up once more, he realized that it was also small in terms of height, the room met the floor with only about four feet of clearance.
"Ya made it." Dale said, grinning softly in the darkness as he held out a small apple"Gotta be hungry after all that."
Rye closed his eyes for a moment, oddly relieved that the Ground-type had made it. He hadn't been sure if he'd even see him again after he burrowed into the dirt by the river. The fire! his eyes shot open as he grabbed the apple, he laid it on his lap, looking around quickly. "Ryker?"
"Is ok." A second voice cut in. One that Rye hadn't recognized, he shifted a bit, looking over Dale's head and spotting a blue-furred otter standing there.
"He is?" he asked, relieved at the news as he swallowed his fears along with a chunk of the fruit. He was about to ask who the stranger was when his stomach decided to cut into the conversation with a low rumble. The apple seemed fresh, which surprised him, but he wasn't going to question it, besides it was rude to speak when he had hungrily torn another chunk of the fruit off and demolished it.
Once he had finished the brief meal, he looked up once more, Dale had quietly left leaving just him and the Dewott staring at each other awkwardly in silence for the span of a few moments. "Who are you?" he eventually asked.
"Swift." The Dewott said, idly rubbing at his sore arm as he spoke. "Me and my companion fished you out of the river." He added, seeing Rye's partially opened mouth, the clear question already formed on it.
"Oh…" Rye said quietly, closing his eyes once more as the events of the past couple of days rushed back in, the dull throb of his shoulder caused him to suck in a breath. "Thank you..how long has it been? The fire still going?"
Swift shook his head slowly, crossing his arms "A day or two, been hard to keep, everyone has been recovering. The fire burned itself out but half the valley's been devastated."
"Wow…," Rye said quietly, The scale of the destruction had to be huge, during their run, he had noticed that the valley had seemed to stretch for miles in every direction. leaning his back against the damp wall of the cave. "What exactly happened?"
"After your near drowning?"
Rye nodded, even though he knew Ryker was safe, he still didn't know much about Swift, or even who his companion was. What had they been doing here during the blaze? Travelers maybe? The thought crossed his mind, but looking the Water-type over, it seemed possible, but the air around him, how he acted, He didn't seem like the casual traveling type.
Swift thought it over for a moment, rubbing his chin as he settled down, sitting near the entrance to their little alcove."Hm, where to start, me and Skyla, the Umbreon I'm currently working with were further up the mountain investigating reports when the fire started. We heard your Fletchinder companion's screech and your scream as we were climbing down. The two of us found you in the river half dead." He paused for a moment, letting Rye absorbing everything he had said so far before continuing.
"It didn't look good for you at first, but we managed to get the water out of your lungs and drag you into these caves, situated behind some waterfalls that were nearby. After that though, Ryker was fluttering around frantically calling out for you. We flagged him down and brought him in and that's when the Sandshrew popped up, He mentioned that you all had been attacked by slavers."
"Yea, and his teammates," Rye said, scowling at the memory. He still felt some anger toward the Tucannon for knocking Ryker out of the air with that stray ball of fire.
"Well, he didn't mention anyone else, but if they survived the fire, chances are good that they were captured then," Swift said, pausing as a startled yelp came from somewhere behind him, within the main room of the cave.
Rye grimace, noticing that the Dewott had wasted no time, he had a hand on a scalchop while peering around the bend.
"Sorry!" A high pitched and distinctively feminine voice squeaked. Swift sighed softly, resheathing the shell and eying Rye "You well enough to move? I think everyone's clustered together to welcome you back to the land of the living."
"Just be careful!" Came the familiar and sharp voice of Ryker. Rye couldn't help himself but smile a bit as he nodded and with a grunt of effort, he pulled himself to his paws. There was a sudden wave of dizziness as he muttered for a moment, his eyes closed. He felt a paw on his shoulder and looked at it.
"Take it easy, you've been lying down for the better part of two days and if you three have had the same kind of experience we did in the past couple of days then I'm sure you're still tired."
The Riolu grimaced a bit at the news but he nodded. "Alright, let's go see everyone else." He said, leaning against Swift as the maneuvered their way around the narrow bend. The main cavern wasn't much bigger than the alcove, but there was enough room for each of its five residents to be able to have a foot or so of space between them. Their bags were piled up in the corner, just beside the entrance. Looking out, Rye noticed the bright light behind the continuous roaring flow of the white waterfalls outside, the cave entrance was situated just behind the falls, off a slender ledge that ran behind the gathering pool.
As they entered the cave proper, everyone turned to face the duo. Dale was smiling, Ryker bore his usual of concern and the Umbreon, a shiny one at that, had a mischievous smirk on her own muzzle.
"I'm Skyla!." She chirped, dipping her head toward Rye, he paused, a bit put off by the sudden friendliness but gave a small nod, his attention turning to his best friend.
"How you feeling?" he asked quietly.
"Alright, tired, but we've had time to rest here," Ryker replied, hopping over the short distance, causing Skyla to scramble out of the way with a small yelp. "Sorry." The bird said, before glancing back at his companion "How about you?"
"Same…" Rye said, glancing between everyone, an awkward silence was starting to form as the three groups tried to get used to each other. Swift was the first to break the silence.
The Dewott stepped forward, clapping his hands together "Alright so I think it'd be good if we all figured out what we're going to do from here." He looked around, getting a couple of nods in agreement. He looked around crossing his paws behind his back "The situation is fairly simple so far, there are or were slavers in the area, each of you've been attacked by some."
Once again, most of the group nodded their agreement. Swift paused, but no one had anything to say and he used it as a chance to continue. "These slavers have caused a lot of destruction for this valley, the nearest town is called Three Peaks, there's an exploration guild there and they'd be our best bet to get to Kios from."
Rye paused, raising a paw, he looked at Ryker, the same question stood on the Fletchinder's beak.
"Yes?"
"Why Kios?" Rye asked, judging by Ryker's reaction, he realized that neither of them had mentioned that part of their plan once they had gotten away from the slavers.
Swift raised an eyebrow for a moment, he had forgotten a key piece of info and realized it after a moment. "Right, sorry about that, It slipped my mind to mention that I'm a Warden, reporting this back to the HQ is my mission right now, I assumed that you three would want to accompany us there and help fill in the Commander."
"The Wardens?" Ryker asked, his head cocked to the side. Swift opened his mouth to explain, but Skyla beat him to it.
"Their secret agents for Grassillia!" She declared, her fangs flashing as she grinned widely "Chasing down murderers and things!" she added, her long slender tail beating wildly.
"Blunt, but accurate," Swift said, rubbing his paw against his forehead. He turned toward the trio "Well, do you three want to come with us? I'm sure Lyn would be willing to reward you for the information."
"I mean..we were planning to head there anyway." Rye said, a bit wary about the situation "Once the escort mission was done we were wanting to start over in the capital."
"Yea, this sounds like a good way to get there," Ryker added, the bonus of a reward sounded good as well, the couple of hundred gold coins that the Simisage had already paid them would only last them so long though. "Do you think we could join the Wardens?" he asked after a moment. It seemed like a good idea to him, especially if it was like the Exploration Guild and how they worked.
Swift grimaced a bit, thinking it over, Rye looked hopefully at him, having been about to ask the same question. "I don't know." he said honestly "The training is rougher and far more dangerous then what the Guild does, there isn't no asking to join and you're in. There's training and making sure you can handle it all."
"Handle what?" Rye asked in confusion, so far it sounded exactly like what the exploration guilds and rescue teams did."It's just catching outlaws, right? And exploring."
"There's far more to what we do than that," Swift said before bracing his back against the rough uneven wall of the cave, near the entrance. "I guess there's time for a history lesson."
"We have any berries left?" Skyla asked, cutting in. She blinked in confusion when the Dewott turned and shot her a withering glare. "What!?" She squeaked, protests for her innocence on the tip of her tongue.
"I wouldn't mind a snack myself." Dale cut in before Swift could say anything else.
Rye and Ryker were about to chime in their agreement, but Swift held up a hand and stopped them. "Alright then, everyone grab something then, we'll take afterward."
"Sounds good ta me," Dale said. The Sandshrew dug through one of the bags, the brown one that had previously belonged to the Meowstic that Swift and Skyla had fought. Humming quietly, he grinned as he dug out the stash of berries.
Once the fruit was distributed among the five, they all dug in enthusiastically. The food wasn't great, in fact, most of the apples and berries were severely bruised or battered, but they weren't about to complain. Rye said nothing when he realized that the apple from before had been the freshest and that someone had saved it for him.
"Alright, so some history behind the Wardens." Swift started, pausing to wipe the stray Oran berry juices from his chin. He hadn't been too happy with the interruptions, but he wasn't going to admit that talking was much easier with some food on his stomach. "Roughly four centuries ago Grassillia was the largest kingdom on the continent of Manaria. There were colonies to the west and east, from coast to coast the kingdom stretched. Over time the country's wealth and influence started to die out. There was betrayal within the royal family. Unable to maintain the massive empire, colonies dissolved when left to their own devices while a civil war broke out between brothers. King Kero won the day in the end and his brother's attempted coup failed. The usurper was exiled, along with his followers to the south-west."
"You mean Pyros?" Skyla asked, interrupted the moment Swift paused to draw another breath.
"Pyros is north-west of us," Rye said quickly, unable to allow the geographical flaw to stay. "Helios lays to the south-west, along with Thermos, both are rugged and nearly lawless countries, but Thermos has some semblance of order with the various city-states that war with each other."
"Aye." Swift added, pausing and looking between Rye and Skyla "If I could continue?"
"Of course!" Skyla said quickly "We won't interrupt you."
"Yea, please go on," Rye added while grinning a bit.
"Why thank you," Swift said crisply, hiding his irritation at the interruption that promised not to interrupt anymore. Dale and Ryker glanced at each other seemingly the only other ones who caught onto the irony.
"So, With the king's brother and his people in exile, they settled down in Thermos, bringing about a semi-balance of order to the desert coast, but word reached Grassillia about slavery, there are other continents out there, like Valeria, slavery is legal and popular there among the different kingdoms and colonies. unfortunately, Thermos is positioned perfectly for a slave market and now, they've popped up all over the south-west coast inside of cities and towns. The Wardens originally were formed as a way to keep track and combat this new threat. We keep tabs on any threat to the country and act when needed, effectively we're the king's intelligence and special mission task group, Wardens of the kingdom."
"So the Wardens were formed in response to an issue inadvertently caused by the exile?" Ryker asked, his head tilted slightly as Swift nodded.
"Yes, but something like that wasn't foreseen, no one could have known it would happen."
"If only they had an intelligent force back then," Skyla said with a near perfect straight face.
"Yea, maybe then they coulda seen it coming," Dale added, rubbing his chin innocently. Suddenly, he felt the familiar sensation of someone's glare burrowing into the back of his head and he turned, expecting to see Gen's scowl. Instead, though, he was met with Swift's furrowed brow. Something about the Dewott's calmer demeanor unsettled him more than the Toucannon's huffing and puffing and he swallowed.
"What happened to the king's brother? Surely his descendants aren't just out there roaming are they?" Rye asked, diverting the Warden's attention, much to a grateful Sandshrew's relief., "They'd be legitimate contenders for the throne wouldn't they?"
"No, Prince Heshin was disowned and stricken from the records of the official Genealogy, in the eyes of the law, his line has no more claim to the throne than any of you." Swift explained, "And so far, there hasn't been any proof that he even had children, but our reach out that far from the kingdom is small as it is."
"It's a good history lesson and all, but I'm only concerned on gettin' back ta me shop out in Avios," Dale said once Swift was finished. All four turned to look at him.
"Not coming with us?" Rye asked, the disappointment evident by his tone.
Dale shook his head slowly "Nah, I need ta get back home."
"Do you know how to?" Swift asked while glancing out toward the screen of water "Might be unwise to roam, you'd have better luck if you came with us where we could arrange transport from Grassillia to Avios for you."
The Sandshrew paused, considering that as he looked out as well "True, lotta them might still be around and I don't fancy bumping into any of erm would be good for my health."
Swift nodded, looking toward the others "Alright then, It'll be best if we all get some rest, I say we head off at nightfall and head toward Three Peaks, from there we contact the local guild and arrange to get to Kios, sound good?" he said, looking at each of his cavemates to be sure they understood.
Ryker and Dale nodded quickly, Skyla had hesitated, curious about leaving at night, but then she realized the value of the cover of darkness. She had used it many times herself in order to escape pursuit. Rye had been wondering the same thing before nodding as he came to the same conclusion.
"You guys get some sleep.' Swift continued before grabbing one of the bags near the entrance.
"Wait, where are you going?' Ryker asked, his head tilted slightly.
"I slept already." Swift said with a shrug "Someone needs to keep a watch out in case anyone's lurking nearby, we don't know for sure that the slavers are gone after all."
"At least let one of us come with you," Rye said, He hadn't said that because he didn't trust the Dewott, though he knew little about him as it was. The suggestion made sense, and two people had a better chance.
Everyone watched as Swift's eyes narrowed slightly as he thought about it, rubbing his chin, he nodded, pointing at Ryker "You then, everyone else try to get some sleep alright?"
Rye nodded, pleased with that solution, Ryker was the best choice with the ability to fly and skim from the air. Rye was unaware that the bird had been asleep from exhaustion most of the morning and was one of their fresher and more alert members.
"Works for me," Skyla said with a grin, she wasn't one to argue if someone else wanted to take the brunt of the work for a while. She had been running most of the past week, only able to catch brief snatches of sleep that kept her from passing out. Now that their group had grown some, she felt less guilty about finally getting some proper rest. She curled up atop a small rock that protruded from the rough wall.
Rye looked to his left as Swift and Ryker disappeared through the narrow gap between the wall and water. Dale was already settled down, looking up at the ceiling, on his right, Skyla's blue rings had dulled, emitting a soft pulsating light that gleamed on occasion as she dozed off into a deep sleep. Groaning softly the Riolu grabbed his and Ryker's bag, settling down with his back against the wall, he patted it with a paw, doing his best to make it into a comfortable pillow before sleep finally claimed him.