What I find hilarious is that I managed to fit in THREE ARCEUSDAMN COMPANION MODES IN THIS SINGLE CHAPTER which is probably why it took a little longer than usual (plus my new fanfic).


Takeshi let out a sigh. His first day as a helper in Mirai and Shido's 'Paradise' had been more tiring than he'd expected. First, he had to help Daichi pin up the new notes that just kept coming in, then he had to sit behind a wooden counter for six straight hours while managing the Magnagate that didn't seem to want work at all.

But, well, the money. His promised salary was around ten thousand poke a month, and that was way more than any other part-time job he could possibly find. So he stayed. Reluctantly.

He had one more hour to go until Paradise closed for the day and he could finally catch up on some rest. Akio had let him sit there and manage the notes and Magnagate while he and (sometimes) Daichi would continue on the house. He estimated it would take around another week to finish, so Mirai and Shido were to spend the a few more days in Post Town's inn. The signora wasn't very pleased when she learned she had to let them stay in there for a discount, but agreed eventually.

The timburr had then learned on what exactly he was helping out in; the official construction of Paradise, a place where pokemon could hang out in for no cost at all and take job requests and help out other pokemon when needed. Bulletin boards where notes were pinned were set up in each corner of Paradise, and there were two beside his counter as well, so it was easier for him to fix the notes and activate the Magnagate. Once the house was finished, facilities would soon be built around it as well, so long as there was money and materials involved, of course.

So far, there had been exactly seven pokemon who had wandered in and decided to take a little peek at what exactly was happening in such a strange-looking place (even Takeshi had to admit that, and he worked in it). The most eye-catching couple was a duo made up of a luxio and a buizel, who had decided on taking a quick job request for scientists in the local laboratory in Post Town. Takeshi had caught Team Azure from the luxio before they rounded the corner and disappeared from sight. He had shrugged. None of his business, anyway, and he'd get the money soon without them.

And right now, he was bored as all hell. He had almost absolutely nothing to do, as his task was to simply sit there and do whatever needed to be done. Since it was only the opening of Paradise and Kumo wasn't exactly the gossiping type (the timburr shivered at the mental image), no one had really heard about Paradise's existence at all. Only a few had come, but at least they had taken some pretty high-paying jobs. It had been incredibly amusing to see the eevee and the riolu's faces when they realized they'd only be getting twenty percent of the money promised.

In return, he got about half of two thousand four hundred, which was around one thousand and two hundred. Well, at least he didn't need to worry about material-gathering anymore, after a couple months of working in Paradise. Even if he wanted to quit, he had the feeling Akio wouldn't let him.

Another yawn. He would sleep, but there was the slightest chance a customer would come, and he couldn't risk losing one… even though he felt like he could fall asleep any second. He felt something cold drip on his arm and he drowsily looked up, flinching once another raindrop plopped straight in his eye.

Rubbing it off, he grumbled under his breath as he snatched a big black beanie from the counter drawer. Akio had given it to him for a birthday gift, and he decided it was good enough the world ever decided to rain. Which was now. He planted the beanie firmly on his head, sighing when it slid down his face and partially covered his eyes.

Just forty more minutes, Takeshi, he told himself. Be a good timburr and you'll get your money's worth.


"So if we can recruit one more pokemon… we get to be one of those official Teams or whatever?" Mirai cocked her head.

Shido nodded his head cheerily. "Mhm. It's raining right now, so we can't exactly go outside, but I've heard we can find a couple of interested pokemon in either the dojo or the library. I mean, Daichi keeps saying that the library is getting fuller and fuller each day. I think it's because of the new pokemon that are just flocking to town this week, y'know? I bet it's because of you, Mirai!"

"How come?" the axew yawned, knowing the snivy was in for another one of his informative rants.

"Well, being a Future Guardian means that you have this kind of… aura, y'know? Like, pokemon are easily attracted to you and all. You kinda have this scent about you that draws others to you. It's, like… yeah. Hey, maybe Kyurem'll come after you? Sometimes he sends other Future Guardians to pick potentials up, and sometimes if that potential is super-powerful, he'll come after you himself! I'd sure like to see him myself. He's one of the rare pokemon to be able to shift into his Other!"

"Other." It wasn't even a question, just a prompt for Shido to continue explaining about all the strange terms in the pokemon world.

Shido nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, yep! Other means the other form of a pokemon; the more animalistic one, the one that's ten times more powerful than our normal form! We adapted to this form because of the legendary humans, who are known to possess intelligence of all kinds. That's why we have cities and towns and all now, since humans have those too. Before, we pokemon used to be in our Other forms all the time, but a lot of us couldn't control out powers and ended up destroying some of our lesser towns, and even the rare whole cities!" He shivered at the thought. "Then we were alerted to the presence of humans. The wisest pokemon among all of us banded together and traveled to the human world via the strongest teleportation known to pokemonkind. When they came back, we were shocked! They had turned, appearance-wise anyway, into what they called humans! Pokemon adapted to their appearance as well, and it was very helpful, since it helped restrain our sometimes overbearing abilities and we managed to live much more peacefully."

The snivy breathed in deeply. "Man, that was a lot. I was one of the few who actually ever listened to History in my class, which is why I know that."

"Oh." Mirai stared dumbly at Shido, admiring the way he spoke about the tales and legends of pokemon lore as if it were the greatest treasures Arceus had given to them. It was really quite fascinating, the way he wove the stories together and managed to put an impact behind his words. If given the chance, the axew could have sat there and listened to him talk for days.

Shido tilted his head to the side, smiling pleasantly. "Anything else? Oh, no, maybe we could enroll you into Sunny Academy? It's one of the best schools I've studied in, and it was named after their founder, Sunny the legendary flareon. You know? They say he could burn legions of enemy pokemon in a single breath! And his sneezes were infernos that could set even the Empress Ho-oh ablaze! And–"

"Hold on. 'One of' the schools you studied in?" Mirai didn't want to believe it, but… "You mean… you actually studied in multiple schools?"

"Of course I did." Shido looked confused. "Why wouldn't I?"

Mirai honestly didn't know what to say to that, so she gestured for him to continue rambling on about Sunny the flareon and how he could command thousands of pokemon without breaking a sweat.


Six hundred poke for defeating a bunch of pokemon and rescuing a shuppet who probably couldn't find his way out of a paper bag. All in a day's work for police apprentices, Sakura and Caitlin.

Now, with their miniscule sum of money, the eevee and the riolu trudged back to the Police Force base not too far away from Post Town. Their mentor, an old venomoth who couldn't pronounce Sakura's name properly, had the shortest temper they had ever seen and was expecting them on or before six. It was way past seven thirty.

Today, Sakura was to carry the Treasure Bag, but it was almost overloaded with all the goodies they had unexpectedly found in Ragged Mountain. Feeling a bit sorry for the panting eevee, Caitlin grabbed the bag from the protesting Sakura and slung it over her shoulder, wincing slightly at how heavy it really was. She forced herself to drag it all the way back to the base, which thankfully wasn't as far as it seemed (and looked).

Both pokemon practically collapsed once they set foot in the base, letting out low groans of exhaustion when they heard the dinner bell ring loudly. With great reluctance, they dragged themselves to the mess hall, and ended up having to sit at the very edge, where nearly all the food wasn't. The riolu took it upon herself to shove her way through, grab the plates, scoop what looked like an infinite amount of apples, gummis, and berries on them, then slave back to where Sakura had already fallen asleep, chin on the table. Caitlin placed the plate with more food on it in front of the eevee and proceeded to chomp down on a big apple.

"Caitlin!" An old, raspy voice hissed. The riolu didn't even have to look to know it was Baggan, their mentor and the most annoying venomoth they had ever met. "What do you think you're doing, returning home a hell of a lot later than I told you to?!"

"If it helps, we brought six hundred poke back with us," she snapped, shoving the money bag to the surprised woman. "Now leave me alone. I need to refill my blood supply. Damn drilburs… didn't know it was their den, wish they'd just left us along…" she grumbled under her breath for a little more, shoveling food in her mouth like no tomorrow. She was hungrier than ever before; Ragged Mountain wasn't as easy as everyone said it was, apparently.

Eventually, Sakura woke up, and followed Caitlin's example in the rapid eating, though much calmer and politer. She also didn't spill juice down her chin, chuck an apple halfway through the table to symbolize 'shut up' towards a particularly noisy raticate, and she also didn't spill her orange juice all over her lap and curse like a sailor.

After dinner, the duo retreated into their bedroom (after a long, long lecture from Baggan, in which Caitlin fell asleep in her fourth sentence and Sakura in her second) and crashed onto the soft beds, sinking into the bedsheets and curling underneath their blankets with great appreciation to whomever thought up beds. They were asleep almost instantly to the pattering of rain outside their window, and they didn't bother to look outside, where the moon still shone despite the multiple storm clouds.


Mirai herself was having trouble sleeping.

Against her will, she had stayed up listening to the sound of the rain, which she really, really didn't like. Shido was already knocked out, curled underneath the blankets and snoring lightly, Daichi in the bed next to him. But Mirai? Nope, not her. Still awake, thank you very much.

She got up and hopped off the bed, making sure not to make a sound. The floorboards creaked slightly, but the two pokemon she had gotten attached to made no sign that they had heard. The axew made her way to the window, where the rain was raging on.

She'd recovered very few of her memories in the past few days; the fortune-telling thing, the books, the rain, friends (or, rather, her lack of any)… what else? There were a few more, but one stood out.

Human.

Yes, human.

No, it wasn't because of her newfound knowledge of the pokemon history, either. It just… stood out, somewhat, like it mattered. Just like future, where her name had come from. Maybe this meant something, too. Maybe she was actually a human, and not a pokemon. Or maybe she was a pokemon turned human? She didn't know. But human… that was another memory she couldn't comprehend. The others? Sure. But future and human seemed to be the ones with the most importance above all.

And yet, she couldn't understand why. It was all just so very, very frustrating it made her want to tear out her hair and punch something, preferably the one who made her life so difficult.

She felt her eyelids getting heavier, despite the loud rain, and eventually, she fell asleep, chin on the windowsill as she dozed off peacefully.

The super-amnesiac axew didn't notice the pair of blood red eyes watching her every move from the shadows.


My internet isn't even working properly and I'm so tired I could fall asleep on the keyboard right now and I wouldn't give a damn. Ugh. Well, good night. Expect the next chapter by March.

Marei, 26/1/14