Hello!
I'm saving most of what I have to say this time around for the Author's Note, so now I'd just like to say thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 3: There's Something Wrong with This Picture.
Getting over the initial shock of the current situation wasn't all that hard for me to do, but Riley on the other hand still seemed to be having trouble comprehending what had just happened here. He just kept staring at the Arceus on our coffee table with a dumbstruck expression.
"...Let's name him 'Sparky'." I randomly commented in hopes of breaking the awkward tension. Riley's gaze suddenly snapped over to me with a look that said "Seriously?", but a slight smile that said he knew I was joking. He stood up and began to approach the tabletop Arceus, but drew back and looked over at me.
"Your egg. Your responsibility." he smirked, and I rolled my eyes.
"Yeah, you're just happy you don't have to do the work." I sighed sarcastically. I got up and knelt next to the little guy's head, but I really wasn't all that sure what to do at this point aside from throw my blanket over him. The wheel that encircled his midsection held the blanket up in such a way that it looked like a little tent. I was slightly amused by this.
"So... All humor aside, we need to figure out what to do now." Riley mused, but I didn't respond right away. I knew that the chances of the newborn being allowed to stay with me was slim; not only for the obvious reasons, but there was also no doubt that the Council would end up sticking their noses into the whole situation.
"I bet you're thinking the same thing as I am right now. What's the Council going to do about this?" Riley suddenly chimed in. I nodded, and after a moment he continiued his thoughts. "Well, I don't think that they're going to bother us. You might not remember, but Darrius said that the egg and whatever hatched from it was your responsibility and yours alone. If I know Darrius, then he meant what he was saying. So that means its up to you." Riley pointed out.
"Wait... So you mean-" I began, but he cut me off before I could finish my sentance.
"Just what I said. This Arceus needs someone to raise him, and since you hatched the egg, you fit the bill." he nodded. I looked down at the "tent" on my coffee table and went over everything in my head. With the gradually increasing crime rate, I started to wonder if it would be safe to let a baby pokemon (although it's hard to call something that's pretty much a head shorter than me a "baby"), legendary or otherwise, go off on it's own in the wild.
At that point, Riley broke the silence for the third time that evening with one final question; "So, are you going to give him a name?"
I thought about this for a moment, but it didn't take me all too long to respond.
"Kin. I'm going to call him Kin."
-Three Months Later-
"Alright Kin, let's try that one more time!" I shouted over to my shiny Arceus partner, who was standing about 30 feet away from me on the training field. For the past month and a half, he and I had been working on a way to disguise his appearence in public. Fortunately, it turns out that Kin not only has crazy strong powers of his own, but he also seems to have "inherited" the Aura, for lack of a better term, both of which allow him to alter his physical appearance so that he appeared to be an Eevee, or at least mostly alter it. Although the form he was in changed, his color remained golden no matter what we did to try and change it. We even tried dyeing over the gold at one point, but that's another story about a seriously stupid idea on my part.
"Should I try to change my color again?" Kin asked me. I gave it a little thought, but I ultimently shook my head.
"I think we can officially say that there's nothing we can do about your color. We need to practice using moves while you're in disguise, however, so let's start by focusing on that." I called back, and with a nod he began to glow. The wheel on his back faded away and the quadrupedal figure that had been standing at about my chin shrank to the size of a tiny fox-like Pokemon that was about the size of my head. When the glowing faded, Kin had successfully transformed into a small gold Eevee.
"Good job, Kin! Go ahead and get started by trying to use a move. Any move you want, just to see how far we are." Kin had been getting pretty good with being able to use his attacks while disguised, but he still seemed to have a somewhat unpredictable breaking point that we needed to work out.
"Why don't you pick a move for me to use when we train like this? Isn't that kind of your job?" Kin asked me with his typical child-like curiosity.
"I may be your partner, but sometimes there are choices you have to make on your own. I want to be sure that you can do that." I replied simply. "Besides, I trust your Input, andwas my partner it's important that you trust mine."
Kin looked at me, some confusion still lingering in his eyes. He didn't question further, however; and with a slight outburst of energy he used Gravity.
At that exact moment, Rhett and his Celebi friend, Ivy, walked up to the training grounds, blissfully unaware of the increased gravity. The result was highly hilarious, and I regret not having a video camera to record it with.
Being a Levitating Pokemon, Ivy was hit by the Gravity first and flopped helplessly to the ground like a fish out of water. Being the kindhearted pile of fail that he is, Rhett tried to catch her, but underestimated the pull of the gravity. He promptly lost his balance, tripped over a rock, and tumbled face-first into a crater from some previous exercises. Best. Faceplant. Ever.
"Oh Rooooooobyn..." Rhett mumbled from the bottom of the crater. I was rolling on the ground laughing too hard to respond, however. "When you're done laughing your ass off at me, could you please turn the gravity off?" Rhett begged politely. I hauled myself off the ground and wiped a few remaining tears out of my eyes.
"A-alrighty Kin, you can take f-five..." I chuckled. Kin nodded and released the consenteated gravity, freeing Rhett and allowing him to haul his butt out of the crater.
"So, how's that agility training coming along for you? Still planning on joining the track team again, twinkle toes?" I taunted Rhett as he was rejoined by Ivy, pushing him around and nudging him slightly to tease him. "Not that you made it onto the team last year, either."
"Yeah, because I broke my leg during your little escapade to Spear Reef!" he retorted, nudging me right back. I gave him a look that said, "Don't push me; I know where you live," but he just gave me a big hammy smile. I cannot express how much I wanted to bury my fist in his overly-happy face.
"Yo guys! You got a minute, or am interrupting some kind of impromptu counseling session?" I heard Riley call from down the path that leads up to our house. A little flux in his aura feild told me that Lucario had just joined up with him. (Of course, after receiving multiple lessons on how to actually see with the Aura, I could have easily figured this out. I just couldn't be bothered to.)
"Whaddja want, Riley?" I hollered back.
"Just c'mon, I've got a little thing for you to do! Bring Rhett if you want!" he called right back. I looked at Rhett, who just sorta shrugged.
"I assume you're taking me. Just because you love me so much." Rhett observed casually, although he couldn't mask that sparkle of excitement in his eyes, and I couldn't resist the chance to call him out on it.
"And what if I decide to have Kin turn the gravity back on and leave you stuck inside that pit? Maybe that's what I'll do, because 'I just love you sooooooo much'." I snorted. Just remember; love is pain." I added quickly as I spun on my boot heel.
"I'll be sure to remember that." Rhett replied with a slight chuckle.
Eh, I guess by this point I've given him enough hell for one day. "...If you're coming, better keep up." I conceded as I began to walk in Riley's direction.
The walk to the town that lay just before the Academy, which Riley revealed to be our destination, was nothing short of a normal everyday trek. However, Riley did seem abnormally quiet, even when Rhett and I started up a quick round of verbal jousting. He didn't even chuckle or stick his two-cents in, which was already a red flag in my book.
Something's going on, and not knowing what is makes me anxious. And I hate having overwhelming anxiety; it's ridiculously distracting.
"Well Robyn, now that you have a partner it's about time you start your field training." Riley began saying as he suddenly stopped our little venture. I knew it; there really IS something else going on.
"So, as you know there really aren't as many Aura Guardians as there should be out there in society anymore. Because of that, we're having trouble covering the increase in crime; a problem you've most likely noticed. Because of that, the Council has decided to make you a special case and, if you choose to, you've been given special permission to start your independent studies early and basically be a traveling student." Riley explained all at one time. I began processing all this information, or rather, tried, but he didn't give me much time before he continiued speaking.
"This basically means that you'll be taking missions from both the council and the public in all parts of the globe instead of the traditional approach of assigning you to a specific area. You can always come back here when you don't have anything going on though. But from here on out, I'm not supposed to be giving you any more instruction." he finished, and then looked to me for a response.
Now I was excited. This was the real deal; the independent study period! I had been looking forward to this part of my training period. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy studying with my brother, but recently I had been outmatching him and it was definitely time for a change of pace. Of course, seeing as Kin hadn't learned how to use his abilities to "fly" (in a sense) yet, transportation might be an issue until that was taken care of... But, enough of that. Right now, there was one thing that was bothering me.
"I'm really excited about the independent study and all, but what does all that have to do with this leisurely walk through the woods?" I asked. Rhett, as chatty as he normally was, had absolutely nothing to say for once. I could see him standing in a daze out of my peripheral vision, and I couldn't help but wonder what was going on with him in the back of my mind. He may annoy the living sanity out of me 90% of the time, but... that doesn't mean I don't worry about him. Occasionally. He is my friend, after all.
"Weeeeeell... you remember how all these criminal groups are coming out of the woodwork, right?" Riley asked sheepishly. I only raised an eyebrow at him. "Well... Team Magma Grunts have taken over the town. They're looking for something, I guess. So this is a test. Drive the Grunts out of town, stop whatever they have planned, ect. ect. Oh, and I can't help you at all. So yeah."
"I'm going, too." Rhett suddenly snapped. I looked at his oddly yet absolutely determined experession with a certain degree of shock; this was possibly one of the first times I had seen him without that carefree attitude of his. I could feel that Riley was in the same state as I was.
"Yeah... No. This is a test; I have to do it alone to prove anything." I snapped back after getting over my short bout with shock.
"Yeah, but once you pass this test you'll be leaving for a long time!" Rhett retorted right back. "C'mon, I'm pretty useless anyway. We'll be the Dynamic Duo again, just like we were when you first moved to the island!" he laughed, although the undertones of his argument practically screamed out desperation. It was actually really hard to see my oldest friend like this, but there just wasn't time for sentiment at this point.
"...Fine. But just know that I'm using you as a weapon whenever I feel like it." I finally conceded; if for no other reason but to get the annoying, happy-go-lucky Rhett back. I actually liked him better.
"Great; just like old times!" Rhett sighed happily; his voice tinged with a certain relief. "Now, seeing as your brother and Lucario bailed..."
"WHAT?!" I exclaimed as I whirled around, and I found that they were in fact gone. Fabulous; how "unlike" my brother to just up and disapeer. Oh well; he wasn't supposed to be helping anyway. Which was probably going to kill him on the inside; being the overprotective brother he actually is.
"Well, let's start by checking out the damage. Our priority right now should be saving hostages and finding out what Magma's plans are. The rest will follow." I mused, and Rhett nodded in agreement. He seemed to have mostly recovered, although he had this distinct sense of determination in his aura.
When we reached the town border, however, we were met with a sight that made everything just that much more complicated. And cruelly ironic.
~~END CHAPTER 3~~
Author's Note:
Yes. I am finally here. Made it to the point of no return, and it all gets that much more fun from here. AHAHAHAHAHA I CAN'T WAIT!
A Few Quick Notes...
-Firstly, I'd like to extend a biiiiiiig thank you to a couple of good friends from a certain specific forum who have been following the story (possibly since i first posted it) ever since I first started the remake (and then promptly spammed the chat with it X'D) and have been supporting it since then. Pikashock, Sakura; YOU GUYS ROCK THANK YOU TWO A MILLION AND ONE TIMES OVER!
-I would like to extend he same gratitude to everyone who has read/followed/liked/reviewed Guardian Story so far; YOU ALL ARE AMAZING PEOPLE. I may sound like a broken record, but it's true.
In any case, see you in the next chapter!~
-TheRisingStarAlchemist