It Shall Begin and End With Pain chap 4
So this chapter took longer than the others. My bad. To make up for that, it's a decent deal longer than my usual chapters. I hope you all enjoy!
The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best that you can be.
~ Harold Taylor
Did you want a dumpling?
Chapter 4
RYAN'S POV
I held in an instinctive hiss at the sting when Sin's claws squeezed. I blinked a few times to adjust to the low lighting I had set the crystals at before falling asleep. It had taken me a good while to figure out how to 'set' the crystals to their lighting. It felt a little like there were notches and I could slide the crystal's 'settings' in one of those notches by focusing. Since I was working solely by guesswork and visualization, it was difficult.
"Hn." I looked to my left at the grunt she let out. Her brow was wrinkled and she was frowning. I could feel her individual claws twitch as she slept, which is what caused me to wake up.
She looked upset. A nightmare, probably. So I shook her shoulder and whispered, "Wake up."
To my surprise, her eyes opened immediately. She blinked a few times, looked at me, looked at my arm in her claws, then let it go. I took a moment to check and saw that, aside from thin lacerations, she hadn't cut me too badly. Those would heal in an hour or so.
I scooted a little away from her before I said, "You were pretty out of it after taking that Attract and Confuse Ray combo. What do you remember?"
She sat up and rubbed her head with a wince.
"I feel like crap, that's for sure. Headache is making it hard to think."
"Here," I passed her a nearby Heal seed. I made a note to go and get some more from Ivysaur with how low our supplies of them were getting. After a minute, I passed her my canteen. Water would do her some good.
She had gutted her own canteen a few minutes after she managed to open her backpack when we were taking a break. We split up the load after that with Axe carrying Sin and me loaded up with her, slightly cut up, pack.
She grunted a thanks and ate in silence.
"Where's Axe?"
"I'm not sure. Brought you here to recover and you latched on to my arm after I set you in your bed. Axe popped in for a minute and left. Probably eating or taking a nap somewhere," I joked.
"Ah, sorry about that."
"No problem. You were pretty out of it. That ever happen to you before?"
"The mixed effects? No. What's up with the lights?" She waved an open paw towards the still-dim crystals and I mentally cursed.
"Uh, sorry about that." Well, it was as good of a time as any. I focused and 'removed' the crystal from the 'notch' I had it set in. A wave of my paw had them lit up to their normal intensity.
"You've got some skill with aura?"
I blinked, caught off guard from the random question.
"Uh, I don't think so. I'm not sure. Why?"
"Cause I've only seen one other person mess with them like that and they're a Lucario. Can you do Aura Sphere?"
"I'm not sure. I've never tried. Riolu normally can't, I thought."
"Eh," Sin shrugged and took a last sip of water before handing it back to me.
"Doesn't matter. You think the mess hall is open?"
Apparently, it was some time in between lunch and dinner that the mess hall was, in fact, closed. We had slept for several hours.
We made ourselves a small snack out of apples and berries, as usual, and sat in some woods just outside Ivycross.
The place was nice. Quiet and peaceful. A typical wooded area. After going through so many Dungeons that had the looks, but not the characteristics, of normalcy, it was nice to actually be in a normal place.
We sat on opposite sides of a tree while we ate. The sunlight was filtered nicely by the leafy ceiling so that it felt warm, but not uncomfortably so. Ben was set next to me, within reach. (It had become a habit to keep it on-hand at all times.)
Honestly, I expected to see Axe lazing about somewhere nearby. It was perfect napping weather and I regretted sleeping earlier.
"We found you here," Sin said after awhile.
"Hm?"
"Awhile ago. This is where we found you."
I blinked and took another look around.
"Well, not right here. But in these woods."
I thought back to the few glimpses I had gotten of the area before I had passed out.
"I'm surprised that I haven't been here before now." Why hadn't I? I know that I was a creature of habit and routine, but did I really never spare some time to just look around the outskirts of Ivycross?
Looking at all of my spent free time, I discovered that the answer was a resounding negative.
All of my time had been spent honing my body and getting used to the world I was in. Any time I wasn't eating, training, or doing missions I was usually sleeping.
The lazy person in me was horrified at all the non-lazy stuff I had done during my time. So many opportunities to do nothing, lost forever.
"Why do we work so much harder than other teams?" I had been meaning to ask.
I heard her shoulders move against the bark in what I assumed was a shrug.
"We just do. I found out that Axe could keep up and, after seeing that you could keep up, we didn't slow down."
That was a fair answer. If something worked, no need to change it. It lifted a load off of my chest to know that I didn't slow them down much, if any.
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For letting me on your team without a fuss. I don't remember thanking you or Axe-"
"Don't be getting sappy," Sin cut me off.
I chuckled at her.
"Right." I changed the subject. "Who are those three that we saw this morning?"
"Team Baal?"
"That the Blaziken, Lucario, and Ampharos?"
"Yes. They've been around the Guild for a long time. Years, I think. They're Gold rank. Beware of Alvis."
"The Lucario?"
"Yes."
"I know," I muttered with a shiver. "She ever do that to you?"
"She tries now and again. I learned Quick Attack the day after meeting her."
"Does that work?"
"Sometimes. But she really likes cuddling Ken, so I don't think a little Quick Attack is going to cut it."
"Damn," I cursed and sighed while relaxing against the tree.
"You hardly ever use moves." She said it as a statement, but left it open for me to follow.
"Ben works." I appreciated the opening, I really did. Someday, I might even tell her why. But not then. Not in that moment.
"Alright Rookie, listen up!" A giant kickboxing fire-chicken, otherwise known as Blaize, landed scant inches in front of me and scowled as he spoke.
"While your colleagues appear to be content to see you waste your potential, the same cannot be said for me! Who the hell do you think you are, poncing around like you think you're a Cubone or something?! What kind of Fighting type are you?! I'm embarrassed and, quite frankly, slightly offended to share a typing with you."
I looked around the tree, hoping to beg Sin with my eyes-she was already fifty meters away and sprinting.
"Hey, are you listening, Rookie?! Your potential extends only as far as you're willing to push the limits of your body! No more half-assing everything you do!" Half-assing!? "Today, you're not leaving my sight until you can demonstrate a Force Palm to Alvis' satisfaction!"
My heart, and manliness, froze in fear at the idea of learning from her. I needed to get out of there before-
"Alvis, teach Rookie how to use Force Palm. The days of relying on Ben the club shall come to an end, here and now!"
I felt myself pale and scrambled to run. It turns out that the automatic movement to don Ben's sheath is what damned me.
The world vanished from under my feet and I struggled to get loose of the grip that lifted me up in the air by the sheath that held Ben in place.
"Your wish is my command, Boss-man." I shivered at the overly-happy voice of a certain Lucario and went limp in the sling in hopes that her attention would stay elsewhere.
"C'mon, cutie!" The world blurred and I felt wind move by at great speeds.
"Ugh," I went even more limp in the sling, this time due to feeling ill.
"Yeah, Extremespeed does that to some," Alvis said, some pity showing in her tone.
"C'mon, Rookie! I'm not about to let my source of entertainment-I mean a valuable new member of our Guild-get killed just cause he can't fight."
"But I do just fine-"
"Nope," in one movement, the sling was off of me and hanging from a branch at the edge of the clearing I had been brought to. I still don't understand how he threw it so perfectly.
"Now, Alvis. If you would."
I turned to look at Alvis, resigned to my fate after seeing how fast they could move, and twitched at the sight.
...where the hell did those Kamina shades come from? She hadn't been wearing them before.
ALVERO'S POV
"Hmm," I hummed and got up from the warm water I had been soaking in. I had been relaxing for the last hour or so and decided that I might as well get something done.
...on second thought, another hour wouldn't hurt. If I was legitimately considering something that was not relaxing, resting, or moving somewhere to do one of those then there was a problem.
An hour passed comfortably with different Pokemon coming and going. The underground hot springs were close, and accessible via a hatch in the Guild. Because of their closeness, I typically gave them a visit when Team Baal was back at the Guild.
But once the hour passed, I exited the pool of bliss and headed back to the surface via a different tunnel. I dried off as I walked. Once I got ground level, I looked around for a minute and thought about what to do next.
Blaize and Alvis were off somewhere. Probably with the rookie, Ryan. I think that's what his name was. Eh. Let fighting types be fighting types and train for fun.
My mind wandered, for some unknown reason, to Blaize's eye patch. And then to Alvis' Kamina glasses (I think that's what Blaize called them). I stared at the rocky ceiling far above and considered them for a minute, trying not to get distracted by finding shapes in the stone above.
I was one of the few to have ever seen under his eye patch, back when we had first met. He hadn't had one on back then and he needed someone to tie it on since he didn't have any arms to do it himself.
Alvis got those stupid glasses off of some crime boss. I couldn't remember which, it had been so long ago. Back when she was a Riolu and didn't follow me around like a lost puppy. Not as much, anyways.
But I considered the two items and came to a decision.
I needed some sort of headgear. I couldn't have only two members of our team have items adorning their craniums and not have a little something myself.
At a slow walk, I made my way to Ivysaur's shop. I coughed upon entry, feeling the nursing effects of the hot spring's air beginning to lessen. That's another reason I visited the hot springs so often. I rarely had coughing fits the same day that I went to the springs, so I tried visiting often. Hap said that it did my health good to visit them.
Ivysaur looked up from a box he had been sorting through and greeted me.
"Alvero! Anything you need?" Quick and to the point. After selling supplies to members of the Guild, and Ivycross Town in general, for so many years, he had figured out that most prefer a straightforward question. Made it so that we got in and out as quickly as possible. That was a habit most got after exploring for so long.
"Headgear. Anything you've got, I want to see it. I'm not picky about a design."
Ivysaur pushed the box he was messing around with away and moved into a back room with a, "Be back in a minute," thrown over his shoulder. He returned a bit later with a bucket full of different cloths held by one vine and a box full of various forms of eye wear in another.
"Just let me know if you're interested in anything," he sent at me before returning to his wares.
"No." A pair of glasses went into an already large pile.
"Not a chance." An eye patch, black and perfect for a pirate (or a certain kickboxing fire chicken), followed the glasses.
I ignored a snore from Ivysaur, who had nodded off after finishing up what he had been up to. And the thing after that. And the thing after that. As well as one or two customers that came in and out.
I had been there for awhile.
Finally, I tried tying a bandana around my face with some goggles that had been with them. They both had streaks of orange through an ocean of blue and I looked at myself in a small mirror.
"I'll take these," I plop a medium-sized bag of Pokè down in front of him, waking him from his nap.
"'Bout time. What made you decide on those?"
In a deadpan tone, I answered, "All the stray Smokescreens in the world couldn't stop me now. Mwahaha."
Ivysaur, just about immune from the constant exposure to the more eccentric members of Ivycross Guild, didn't flinch when ominous thunder was heard from outside after that statement. His eyes did flicker to check and, as usual, there wasn't any indication that a storm was brewing.
"Someday, I'm going to figure out how you people do that crap," Ivysaur grumbled as I made my way outside. I chuckled lowly and a cough followed. The tickle in my throat insisted that I cough more, but I held the flow back with practiced ease.
I stopped a few steps outside of the shop and muttered, "Oh but these look ridiculous." I slid the tied bandana down my face and neck so that it sat at the base. I moved the goggles so that they sat on the top of my head.
"That'll do."
With that declaration, I went off to find my teammates. I wondered how much progress they made with the kid.
RYAN'S POV
I was surprised. Despite their eccentric natures, mainly Alvis' desires to pinch my cheeks and squeal at my "adorable pouting expression," they were good teachers.
And, for the record, I do not pout. I glare. Glare! Feel my rage!
But in about two hours, I found myself proficient with Quick Attack and "I suppose good enough," according to Alvis with Force Palm. Blaize agreed, grudgingly.
Oh, you want to know how they trained me?
Well it was quite simple. They got logs. A whole big pile of logs. I know we were in the middle of a forest and everything, but I still don't know how they got a pile big enough to rival the trees nearby in height.
Then said logs were sent at me. Fast. My choices were to dodge them, deflect them with Force Palm, or break them with the same attack. If they were not in pieces, from hitting something and breaking or by the shockwave of a Force Palm, then they were picked up and sent at me once again.
I'm glad to say that they made sure I could use Force Palm before they started all this. Despite their eccentricities, they weren't totally insane when it came to training me how to survive.
"WHY ARE THEY ON FIRE!?"
"Extra incentive!" Blaize grinned and sent another one, now aflame, towards me.
Not totally sane either. I'm pretty sure Blaize is just a little sadistic.
Eventually, with a combination of me purposely deflecting them into hard surfaces, them burning to ashes on their own, and me breaking them into splinters via Force Palm, they ran out of logs.
That's when I fell to the ground, exhausted. My breath was heaving and my arms were aching far worse than any instance I could think of in my short time in that world. Even when I got a mild break from a training accident and it was wrapped up like a mummy by Hap did my arms not ache as much as they did then.
"You know that Hap is gonna be pissed if you get another one in the med bay for a month, again."
I rolled my head to the side and saw Alvero walking into the clearing. I thanked the Ampharos in my head for distracting them for a bit.
"He's fine," Blaize insisted.
I'm dying!
Okay, not really. But my arms hurt a whole lot.
"What do you have on?" Blaize asked, turning his attention away from me for the first time in awhile.
"Something to take care of any stray Smokescreens in the future." He, Alvero, pushed the cloth around his neck up and around the lower half of his face while fitting the goggles around his eyes.
Alvis bounded over to him and took a close-probably closer than necessary-look at his new items. He didn't lean away from the closeness. He was probably desensitized to it by then.
"I think they look nice," she said in a calm voice.
It was unexpected. I had only heard her speak in an upbeat tone with a grin just about any time she wasn't giggling or concentrating on something. The way she spoke to Alvero was different from how I had seen her speak to Blaize or anyone else. Softer. More open, yet hesitant.
"Did you purposely try to go with a team color theme?" Blaize asked, stepping closer. I saw what he meant and wondered the same thing. The orange and blue looked surprisingly good when Alvero was with Blaize and Alvis. Their natural fur and feather colors-
"What are you staring at?" And now the whole team was looking at me. I had zoned out.
"Sorry," I mumbled while pushing myself to a sitting position.
Ben was dropped next to me and I looked up to see Alvis and Alvero waking away and Blaize standing in front of me.
"You did well, Rookie. Now don't let me hear about you only using that or I'll have to sic Alvis on you for a lesson on Extremespeed. Hint, that's the move she used to bring you here." I honestly wondered if the guy was sadistic when I saw his grin after that statement/threat. He had the look to him, with all the Japanese delinquent stuff. Plus the eye patch.
"Right. Thanks for the lesson," I kept my voice level, trying to seem somewhat grateful. Perhaps I would be grateful at a later time, but right then my arms were aching far too much to be happy about the lesson I had just received.
Especially when they had stolen a day of relaxing from me.
Instead of responding, he just stared at me for a moment. I felt like a bug under a microscope and just kept my partially-dead eyes locked with his one.
"Where are you from?" I couldn't stop my eyes from widening just a tiny bit before forcing them back into a half-lidded state.
"Nowhere interesting. You from anywhere I would recognize?" I doubted it. Not unless it was a Mystery Dungeon I had gone to or Ivycross Town.
"Probably not. It's very far away."
My pulse quickened. "Funny. I'm from a place far away as well."
There was a silence. Then Blaize began to say-
"Yo, Ryan!"
ARCEUSDAMNIT, KEN!
The other Riolu of Ivycross Guild walked into the clearing and hesitated at the murderous look he was receiving from me. Oh wait, Blaize seemed pretty pissed as well. Were those-yup, those were flames flickering at his wrists.
"Hey, Ken," I said after reigning in the 'I will eviscerate you' look I was sporting.
"Uh, did I interrupt anything?"
YES! AGAIN!
"No," I said, CALMLY, while standing up. "What do you need?"
"Axe asked me to come and get you. He mentioned that it was something important. He also said that you might need help walking-"
"I'm fine." I donned Ben's sheath and began walking. My legs ached a bit, but my arms were the worst and I could deal with walking just fine.
"Talk to you later, Blaize."
"Later, Rookie."
Despite wanting nothing more than to find out what Blaize was about to say, I jogged back to the Guild with Ken.
"Any idea what's so important?" I asked Ken.
"I'm not sure. Axe just seemed really excited while Sin was rolling her eyes."
Dumplings. That's what I was interrupted for.
Dumplings.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot it was dumpling night," Ken sniffed the air, enjoying the fragrance that could be smelled upon entering the guild.
"Ken."
"Yeah?"
I really felt like putting an overpowered Force Palm right in his face.
"Never mind. Let's eat!" I plastered a grin on my face and restrained the urge to kill.
Ken leaned away from me at the sight of the grin. I don't think I was convincing enough.
Those dumplings better be tear-inducing tasty.
"Ryan!" I went over to Axe and gaped at the mountain-yes mountain-of dumplings piled on a platter in front of him. It was easily twice his height and about the same width as him. A twin mountain sat in front of a Rhydon and said Rhydon was waiting with arms crossed.
"Finally!" Bryson, the Rhydon, bellowed once he saw me.
"Eh?"
"C'mon," Sin grabbed me by the, still somewhat aching, arm and dragged me next to Axe.
I noticed at that point that the majority of the room's eyes were trained on us.
"Eating contest," Sin supplied at my panicked look. "It's traditional."
I repeat, "Eh!?"
"Just keep the food directed towards the abyss, otherwise known as Axe, and munch on one now and again."
"Ahem," Alvis, who had somehow got on the table between the platters without me noticing, cleared her throat and the room fell silent.
"The competition between Bryson, of Team Rock Solid, and-these three will begin when this hits the table." She pulled off her Dodge Scarf and held it out.
"Everyone ready?"
Everyone, myself excluded, gave some sort of noise of confirmation. I was just preparing to stuff myself and hoped that I didn't make a fool of myself.
Alvis dropped it and yelled "Go!" when it thumped down on the table.
I immediately reached for a dumpling and found it, along with the seven surrounding it, suddenly gone. I managed to get my paw on one and threw it in my mouth as quickly as I could. The dumplings were each about the size of a golf ball and I could taste something delicious inside of them. A type of berry, maybe?
Unfortunately, I didn't have time to enjoy the taste. I quickly chewed and swallowed before stuffing another in my mouth. I saw that Sin was shredding them in the time it took for her to bring them to her mouth.
Axe... Axe was in a league of his own. His paws were a blur of motion. They grabbed from the top of the mountain, careful not to tip it over, and the dumpling was gone before I recognized that he had grabbed it. I looked over at Bryson, who was easily taller than the three of us put together. His mountain was only a little shorter than ours.
The crowd waited in tense silence. I tried picking up the pace, surprised at myself that I had managed to keep up with Sin for the most part.
"Woooo!" A cheer began when the mountains of dumplings began to resemble hills. Soon they were mounds. My arms burned from the repeated motions of grabbing and pulling towards myself. My stomach protested the treatment and I had slowed down dramatically. Sin had stopped altogether, physically appearing bigger from all that she had consumed. She assisted Axe in throwing dumplings in his maw while it was open. It took precision work and more than one bounced off of his lips and had to be quickly caught.
"Winner!" The mess hall shook with the cheers as Alvis lifted Axe and Sin up in the air by their paws. I had gotten out of the way fast enough. I looked over at Bryson's platter and saw that there were only about three or four left on it. So very close. Bryson looked at his platter, specifically at the dumplings still left on it, and nodded once to us before falling backwards while letting out a content belch. I couldn't help but grin at the sight.
Suddenly, I felt myself in the air. Someone had grabbed on to Ben's sheath and hauled me up.
I needed to install spikes or something on it before this became a recurring theme.
"Let's hear it for these three!" I was-actually not too surprised to see that the Guild Leader (who I had learned was named Tor but would Hydro Pump you into oblivion if she heard you say it) was at the party and was the one lifting me up.
The room cheered at T-the Guild Leader threw me into the crowd. I had a heart stopping moment when I thought I was about to hit the ground. Then I landed on the various appendages that rose to catch me and move me above the crowd.
It that what it feels to crowd surf? It felt pretty weird, but also somehow awesome.
I had fully embraced the party atmosphere and was laughing as I was passed around the room. I saw that Axe had his eyes closed while the crowd passed him around the room. I'm still not sure if he was napping or just enjoying it, but I would bet it was the former.
Sin was sitting next to the platter and watched us with a good-natured smirk. It didn't surprise me that she hadn't wanted to be manhandled, which was involved with crowd surfing.
In fact, aside from necessary contact, she rarely allowed others to stay close. She had a habit of avoiding large groups of Pokemon, and not just monster houses. Even her sitting on the table instead of the bench distanced her from the crowd that surrounded her on all sides.
I tapped the ones holding me and they let me down with some congratulatory words a moment later. I smiled and made my way through the crowd to Sin.
Before I could get to her, a figure stepped right in my way. I paused and waited for a moment for whoever it was to move on. It was crowded, so it was expected that it would be difficult to get through.
But when the Xatu continued to stare down at me, that's when I began to get a weird feeling.
"'Scuse me," I tried squeezing past him, but an extended wing blocked my path.
Faster than I could react, the other wing curled around my arm and Xatu flashed white for a mere second.
When the light faded, the sounds of the crowd were gone. I recognized the folding feeling of being teleported. Acting out of fear, I smacked the wing holding me away and put some distance between us with a jump backwards.
Grabbing Ben, I yelled, "What's going on?"
The Xatu, who I had never seen before until that point, turned and looked at a point behind me.
"I've brought him, my lady."
Feeling a thrill of panic, I turned and swung Ben at the presence I only just registered.
It was stopped by nothing obvious and I only figured out what happened when I saw the faint blue glow around Ben. I looked up and saw that it was the floating Pokemon that was directing the psychic move.
"Thank you, Sabastion. Please leave us." The gray and pink, floating Pokemon ordered the Xatu and a flash of blue light told me that he was gone. The blue glow appeared around my own body and my ability to move disappeared.
The ability to move my mouth and eyes remained, and I went ahead and used them.
"And you are?" I honestly didn't remember this Pokemon's name. I knew that she was a legendary, but I couldn't bring her name up for the life of me. Wasn't she one of a trio? Something to do with...lakes?
"My name is Mesprit. I'm the one who asked Sabastion to bring you here."
So that's what her name was.
"Charmed, truly I am," I drawled. "Who doesn't love getting kidnapped from parties?"
I counted her rolling eyes as a success.
"Do you have any idea about why I had him bring you?"
"Not really. Did you want me to bring you a dumpling?"
Her left eye began twitching. I discovered the perfect weapon against Psychic types that have you in a hold: sass!
"No. I brought you here-"
"Oi, Mesprit! I thought we were meeting in the other place," a new voice appeared, but I couldn't turn my head to see who it was.
"I thought Uxie told you?"
"Sorry, Azelf. Forgot." Another new, sleepy sounding, voice appeared.
"For the one who controls memory and knowledge, you sure are forgetful," the newly named Azelf commented without heat.
Uxie hummed in response, but didn't say anything to contradict it.
"No, please. Just keep on like I'm not here," I said over the shoulder of Mesprit, who was looking past me to her two siblings. As least, I think they were siblings? I knew that they were the 'lake trio' that I had thought about before.
"He's a sarcastic guy," Azelf commented. "I like him already!"
Mesprit sighed and turned me around and lifted me up a bit so that I faced the three of them at the same level. They stared back at me with varied expressions. Mesprit had something that was vaguely exasperated. Azelf had a sort of grin going on. Uxie-was asleep. Wait, no! He just had a slack expression on and his eyes were closed. I doubted that Pokemon could float and sleep at the same time: it didn't make sense...then again, this was the Pokemon world.
As close as they were, I really wished that I had some sort of mouth based, long-range attack. Did Riolu have a single decent long-ranged attack that I could learn on a dime?
No? Damn.
"Now before anything else interrupts," she waited for a moment for the inevitable interruption.
There was none.
"Huh, didn't expect that. Anyways-"
"Oi, Ryan!"
For once, I didn't feel the rage of the ancients filling my veins at the sound of Ken's voice.
"And this is why we should have picked any other place than behind the very building he was just in to bring him," Uxie said. I'm pretty sure I heard Mesprit's teeth grinding at that statement.
"Ov-" my mouth closed against my will and the world folded in on itself. My mouth was released.
"We're sorry!" Mesprit shouted, making me flinch at the suddenness of it.
"Eh?"
Mesprit took a calming breath before starting again.
"We had Sabastion get you so we could apologize."
I blinked before saying, "For what?"
Uxie spoke next.
"While it wasn't us, we wanted to apologize that you were brought to this world."
My heart froze and, if I wasn't already unable to move, my body would have stiffened. My eyes were definitely wide, anyways.
"You were the ones to bring me here? Why?"
"We weren't, Ryan," Azelf said, crossing his arms as he went on, "I am in charge of keeping balance in the world. There's no way I would have participated in bringing someone from outside this universe into it. My siblings had no part in it either."
"Then who? Who else has been brought? And how can I get home? Where are we? Wh-" my mouth was immobilized once more and Uxie spoke next.
"We can't tell you that. One other, that we know of. I don't know. It doesn't matter. Let him speak, Mesprit."
I waited a moment and chose my words well.
"Thank you for your apology. And can you at least give me a hint as to who brought me here? Or the reason why?"
The three of them looked at each other and seemed to communicate through look alone.
Or maybe they were speaking telepathically. They are Psychic types. And Legendaries, to boot.
"No. Despite their quirks, they are family. That's why we are apologizing for them. But I'm sure you will come in contact with them at some point."
"When?" Mesprit's tone gave me a feeling that this conversation was coming to a close, so I said it with a somewhat desperate tone.
I needed to know.
"Soon enough," Uxie said, cryptically.
There was a flash of light before I found myself falling a short distance and landing back-down on a hard surface.
The impact knocked some breath out of me and I coughed a few times into my fist before looking up.
Everyone stared back at me. I had appeared back on the table, next to the platters where we had won the competition not half an hour before. There were, surprisingly, still a few dumplings left on one.
"Ryan?"
I looked to see Axe pushing through the crowd and I quickly plastered a grin on my face.
"Hey, what happened to the party? Don't tell me that you need me here to keep the party going?" The atmosphere relaxed and people began to talk to one another and music began to be played by a band in a corner somewhere as the party started once again.
I sheathed Ben and hopped down from the table.
"What happened?" Axe met me on the ground.
When had my smile faded? I reinforced my grin and said, "It's nothing. Enjoy the party!" I patted him on the shoulder good-naturedly as I went past. I made my way through the crowd, letting them see nothing more than someone who was there to have a good time.
Until I left the room. Once I was headed up the stairs, I let the expression fade. Some had looked worried-the majority had, actually. But telling them what happened would be telling them too much. It wasn't their problem.
"Going somewhere?" Tock was leaning a little out of his office. Guess he wasn't one for parties.
"Just getting some air. I think I ate too fast." I grimaced a bit and bent over a little, as though in some mild pain.
"This is your first celebratory-type night, so I'll go ahead and tell you. Curfew is more lax, but is still in place. Be back here by midnight. I hope your stomach settles," Tock said by way of farewell and moved back into his office.
I went outside and headed straight for the forest close to the Guild. The one I had appeared in.
I'm not sure how far I walked in before I sat down and leaned against a tree. I looked up, through a hole in the canopy above, and looked at the stars. The moon gave off enough light that I was able to see well enough. The ground was spotted with the moonlight that lit the night sky.
My thoughts wandered.
I wondered if Pokemon had any deities that they associated with the moon. Was he or she responsible for bringing me here? Mesprit had said that 'they' were family. Was the one who brought me a Legendary?
And why couldn't they apologize themselves? Were they ashamed? Afraid of how I would react? Did they just not care?
I felt some anger spark as the thoughts.
Why hadn't they, whoever 'they' was, at least talked to me?
As foolish as it was, it felt as though someone was talking behind my back. But instead of simple gossip or rude words, they were playing me like some novice puppeteer. Pulling strings and seeing what would happen.
"Ryan."
I stiffened, fearful that they had heard my thoughts.
The moment I saw Sin, I recovered from that foolish idea and smi-
"Don't give me that shit," she pointed at my mouth, which had froze halfway to a grin. I dropped it and was about to ask her why she was not enjoying the party. I opened my mouth-
"If I think the next thing to come out of your mouth is to distract me, I will beat you over the head with your stupid club," her threatening tone cowed any desire to defend Ben.
"What the hell happened?"
"Ah, umm," I searched for the right answer that wasn't actually the real answer.
"You suddenly disappeared after that Xatu grabbed you. What happened?"
"They just wanted to talk-"
"Talk!?" Her voice rose with her anger. "Who the hell do you mean and why did they take you just to 'talk.'"
Why was she taking this so badly?
"They just wanted to apologize on someone's behalf for something that happened in the past." There. Completely truthful, if lacking in details.
Sin's claws buried themselves in the wood to the left and right of my head, scant inches to either side.
I began to sweat.
"Why?"
Unreasonable anger gripped me and I yelled without thinking.
"Because I'm not from this world and they were sorry!"
I felt a pit of horror form as the echo of my shout faded. The anger in Sin's face had been replaced with something akin to confusion.
I slumped against the tree and looked at the stars.
"I'm not from this world," I admitted.
"I'm not a Riolu," why was I still talking?
"I'm not even a kind of Pokemon." Oh well, better keep going.
"The day you found me was the first thing I remember since coming to this world. It was a rude arrival," I chuckled weakly.
"The reason I was taken was because Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf wanted to apologize for someone else. The one who brought me to this world. They did it without my consent. I didn't even know what I was and what had happened until I looked at my paws."
Sin jerked her claws free of the wood and I looked at her in an alarmed manner, ready to dive to the side if they moved forward again. She sat down next to me. It wasn't rubbing shoulders close, but it was far closer than Sin normally sat when it came to me.
I felt reassured. Just a little. I began to talk about my family. About my life before I came to that world.
The last day I remembered. I remembered it in bizarre clarity, for some reason. I even remembered what I had for breakfast: waffles.
I drowned those delicious suckers in syrup. Mmm.
As I talked, I felt my tension ease. Just letting someone know, telling them the whole truth, was freeing in a way. She didn't tell me to stop...she didn't give any indications at all, actually.
"Ah, Sin?"
No response.
"Sin?" I looked to my right and my eye twitched when I saw that her head was positioned against the tree and she was sleeping.
I paused, then began to laugh quietly. She stirred and opened an eye at the sound.
"You done?"
"Yeah. Thanks."
"Freaking finally. I don't really care about your past," she said while getting to her feet and stretching. She had been in the same position for an hour or so.
"Or about where you're from or what you used to be, either. But if you need someone's ass kicked, or got some sort of problem, then ask your team. That's what we're here for."
She scowled as she said, "And for the love of Arceus. If you do tell us about your world, make it interesting crap! I fell asleep after you began describing the fluffiness of-what were they? Never mind."
"Right," I agreed. "I'm surprised that you're so relaxed about this." Well, aside from being a little annoyed. But Sin was always like that.
"What do you want me to act like? Freak out and run away screaming about aliens?"
Her deadpan tone had me laughing and I shook my head in the negative.
"Never mind. I think I would prefer this. I wonder how Axe is going to react?"
Sin paused in contemplation before shrugging. No way to find out until you try."
"So I'm not originally from this world, not originally a Riolu, and-hey, are you listening?"
Axe was sprinting alongside Sin and myself as we ran from the monster house we had stumbled on.
There I was, telling him something I considered a great secret, and he was hardly listening. How rude.
"Not from this world, not human, yeah yeah! Now RUN!"
I grinned like an idiot until we found the item we were searching for and returned home. Sin smacked me for pulling that out on Axe at the worst possible time. The moment had just felt right.
I mean, when isn't it a good time to spring that on someone? Sure, there were Pokemon thirsting for our blood and bellowing threateningly behind us, but I thought that was a good time. We had a few Escape Orbs, just if they caught up.
In any case, Axe was pretty relaxed about it. The main thing he focused on is, yup, you guessed it.
A knife-specifically of the cooking variety-embedded itself in the table next to my paw.
"I just realized," Axe started, speaking with a thought-filled tone, "you coming from somewhere else," I relaxed when he avoided mentioning my secret in the mess hall we sat, "means that you know different foods."
I felt a sudden accumulation behind me and glanced over my shoulder.
"Yes?" I asked to the group of various Guild Pokemon that looked at me intently. Wait, why we're a few of them wearing cooks hats?
"We heard you might know different types of food!" A male Nidoran exclaimed.
"Ah, a few things. But-"
"Good enough!"
BLAIZE'S POV
Enough was enough. I needed to find Rookie and find out where he came from, NOW. It had been a whole WEEK since our training session and I hadn't been able to get Rookie alone for even a second.
Then again, I hadn't actually tried. I had just watched him as he and his team ate, trained, and did missions.
...yes, I followed him on some missions. The moment I found out where he was from, I was going to give that kid some tips on exploring. Honestly, how had he survived for so long?
And no, Alvero I am not acting stalkerish. This is simply my way of taking care of the Guild's precious future.
The fact that my boredom is staved is a nice little extra, I assure you!
But back to the topic. I made sure that Mini-A was out of the way, on some mission with his team, before I went to find Rookie. For whatever reason, Mini-A seemed to appear at the last second when I would normally find Rookie alone.
I was at my limit. I needed to know.
So, in the most secretive manner known to man and Pokemon, I located Rookie. In a fashion that renown thieves would have nodded approvingly at, I carefully approached him and plucked him from the group without ever revealing my presence.
RYAN'S POV
So we were walking down the street, discussing what to do after finishing the B-rank that we had just completed. We had recently began those after Tock suggested it. No one complained, so we did them. They weren't that much harder, so we hardly slowed down.
But we were walking and I felt, at the last second, a presence appear beside me before I was hauled up.
I wondered, not for the first time, if I could learn Selfdestruct? Sure, it might kill me if my body isn't strong enough. But it would make anyone think twice before picking me up like a ragdoll ever again.
"In celebration of his new rank," a badge with a silver center was shoved in my paw unexpectedly, "I'm going to be bringing Rookie here on a guy's night out.
"No ladies," he said towards Sin, who bristled, "and no manchildren," he shot at Axe.
"Do I have any say in this matter?" I asked once I gave up on exploding violently.
Someday I would explode. Someday.
Thinking back on it, that was a stupid desire. I should've wanted to have the ability to teleport or something to avoid the crazies.
Speaking of crazies. "Not in the least," Blaize chirped and was off, me in tow.
"You didn't steal this, did you?" I held up the Silver rank badge questioningly.
Blaize shot me an irritated look and said, "Nope. Tock asked me to deliver it. He said that he forgot the last time you were there."
I frowned and Blaize sent a questioning look my way.
Tock had looked terrible the last time we had been in his office. His normal flat-backed posture was Alvero-slumped and his eye-bags had bags of their own. He forgot stuff like any other person, but I hadn't ever seen him forget something like a promotion.
Despite having a relationship that was almost strictly superior-employee in nature, I couldn't help but wonder if his health was worsening. I had determined that he did have something like insomnia. His sleep patterns were terrible, and sometimes non-existent.
I decided that I would speak to Hap the next time I saw her.
"It's nothing. Thanks for delivering this. Can-"
"We're here!"
I had a vague sight of a door that was tilted in a downwards angle before it was opened and I was tossed through unceremoniously.
I'm sad to say that I had enough experience being tossed that I was able to twist and land on my feet with only a little effort. When I looked up, I noticed that the entire room was staring at me. Pokemon sitting at simple wooden tables in a bar-like setting were now focused on me.
Seeing that, I decided the snarky route was prudent.
When wasn't it?
"No appreciation for grand entrances?" I plastered a smirk on and put my hand on my hip, the picture of snark and/or sarcasm.
Bryson, who was sitting at a table nearby, snorted loudly and turned back to the mug that sat in front of him. Honestly, it looked like a bucket. His reaction had everyone else turning back to what they were doing before.
"Over here," Blaize called to me from a table he had already secured. Somehow, two mugs (regular sized) were on the table already.
I sat in the chair across from him, hating the fact that the seat was much higher than his due to my short stature. I still missed my taller-than-average human body.
I needed to evolve or the shortness would drive me insane.
"What do you want?" Heck yeah, it was rude. But the guy had just abducted me from my team. After what happened a mere week ago, Sin was still edgy about letting me out of her sight. She was oddly protective, but showed it in ways that typically ended in bruises and long training sessions.
"Can't a Pokemon congratulate a fellow member of the Guild for ranking up? Now drink up!"
He pushed the mug over to me and I had it in my grip when he tapped the two wood containers together with a clunk.
He tipped his drink back and began drinking a little bit of it. He didn't gulp it down, surprisingly. Rolling my eyes, I tipped mine back a bit and my eyes opened when I recognized the scent of alcohol. I needed to be sure to sip.
"We never finished talking, before," Blaize said and I set the mug down, feeling the same tension from the woods a week prior.
"No, we didn't," I commented as nonchalantly as I could, eyes roaming the room, when I suddenly tensed.
"Ah, can't talk. I just remembered-"
"Cuuuutie!" Too slow.
"Alvis, later." At those two words, spoken seriously, Alvis halted mere feet from me, arms extended.
And then there's me, leaning out of my seat and escape plan already prepared, but not yet enacted.
With a pouting expression, she turned back to the table she had come from. Alvero was sitting with her, drinking something that steamed in the already warm air.
"Try to run, and I'll sic her on you," Blaize threatened casually, forcing me back into my seat.
"Fine. Where are you from?" I drank a little more from the mug, actually a little thirsty. I wasn't feeling anything yet.
"Earth. You wouldn't happen to know a place called that?"
And just like that, my body was vibrating. Shock froze me, keeping me from speaking.
But what if there was a twist? For all I knew, there was a place named Earth here. There were towns and cities with more mundane names back homes.
I needed clarification.
Relaxed slightly, I-
"If the next few words aren't where you're from, I am going to sic Alvis on you." I saw teeth gleaming from a grin across the room, courtesy of a certain Lucario.
"I'm from the USA," I said, meeting his requirements.
His eye widened and he muttered, "An American? Huh."
I grinned at his words and only the knowledge of the roomful of Pokemon kept me from shouting excitedly.
"You're human!" I whispered excitedly instead.
"No, I'm a Blaziken," Blaize grinned while sipping at his drink.
I rolled my eyes and whispered, "How long have you been here?"
I hope everyone enjoyed this! It's the longest yet. Please review and tell me what you think.
Answer: Hmm. It's a bit narcissistic, but I think I would want the Aura Stone from my very own fanfiction. Barring that, I think I would want a keyblade. I would love to have a weapon I wouldn't have to tote around. (I'm a lazy sucker.)
Question: Who here reads/writes fanfiction secretly, and who fangirls/fanboys over fics they read to their friends/family?