Mr. Sap and Snap sat in silence, eating berries from a stash hidden behind her chest of human collectibles. Mr. Sap didn't realize just how hungry he was, he hadn't eaten since he met Snap. With everything going on, from his black-outs to his encounters, the growls from his stomach were quiet until this morning when they crippled him with pain. Snap pushed all of her bitter berries to him in disgust.
"I don't even know who you can stand that junk." she muttered while crunching on an Wiki berry. The Espeon just shrugged and popped a Rawst berry in.
"Don't you think we should save these in case we have to travel?" he questioned, pawing at a Nanab berry.
"Oh yeah! You know, since we're going nowhere real soon!" the Mawile laid the sarcasm thick. Mr. Sap lashed his tail back in forth then smiled. His sarcastic, slightly abusive friend was back. He shift uncomfortably on the rocky ground, a pebble seemed to want to pierce his stomach as he laid.
"Why don't we eat on your bed?" he questioned.
"Stain it and I'll eat you." she plainly stated. Mr. Sap sat still, wide eyed making Snap giggle. He watched as Snap nibbled on a Chesto berry, she seemed to only have a taste for dry berries at the moment. Mr. Sap shot up as his tail and whiskers twitched, near the entrance floated a Solrock.
"The time has come again. The road to the Convergence awaits." it spoke in a raspy whisper. It stared eerily until Snap waved it off dismissively for it to teleport away.
"That was Cal, it and its twin Endar keep track of the days that've passed. Cal is a Solrock so it knows when the sun is up." Snap gathered the remaining berries into a sack and walked to her chest. "And Endar, a Lunatone, senses a full moon." she threw the sack behind her chest then opened it to get her brown bag.
"How do the other Tribes know when it's time then?" Espeon pondered out loud.
Snap looked at him a shrugged with a sheepish smile, "One of the many secrets the Tribes keep from each other." She started towards the entrance and stood before it looking at Mr. Sap with a hand on her hip still holding a smile. "Time to mount up, the others will be ahead of us." Snap pulled up Mr. Sap's blindfold, he instantly crouched down for her to get on his back. They exited her room and went down the tunnel to the large cavern where he was once judged on whether he could stay or not. He still heard the roar of water coming from his side.
"You seem excited to go." Mr. Sap pointed out.
"It's fun to meet the other Pokemon." she answered happily. "They treat me nicer than this bunch!" she displayed again that her emotions come and go like Bullet Seeds. Mr. Sap sensed that they had entered another tunnel. Being blindfolded helped teach him to rely on more than his sight, his whiskers and tail sensitivity helped give him a feeling of the air. They kept him more balanced and gave him a picture of where he was, it felt like instinct.
"They let you come even though..." Mr. Sap trailed off.
"Hmm?" Snap hummed, still in a good mood until, "Oh right. Well I'm their only Translator. So like it or not, it's my right to go." Mr. Sap felt that Snap had her arms crossed with the slight tightness of his chain's leash. She settled down and they continued at a steady pace.
"How long before we get there?" Mr. Sap complained, though he slowly got stronger he could only hold up Snap for so long and the tunnel seemed endless.
"Well it'd usually take three days..." Snap stated it as if she was unsure.
"Three days?!" Mr. Sap halted, imagining the stress of carrying Snap the whole time. He also thought of how they'd have to rest out in the wilderness, that Pokemon would attack them like Crush. The memory still sent chills down his weak spine. Snap kicked at his sides and pulled his handkerchief down.
"I meant it would take three days calm down." she explained, "Our, well my, Tribe dug out a tunnel that leads to Sootopolis City." Mr. Sap looked over his shoulder up to her as she pointed down the dark tunnel that faintly glowed with scattered torches on the walls. "The tunnel goes directly to the Convergence, even under the the water that separates the city from the main land." Mr. Sap continued forward, kicking small stones as he went. "It'll only take an hour or two."
Moments later Mr. Sap's limbs became weak and his back felt as though it'd snap. "I need a break!" he whined, falling on his stomach to the ground.
Snap groaned before getting off, "Will you ever not be such a weakling." She dragged the weary Espeon by his chain for a while before he got back on his paws. Mr. Sap looked all over, trying to take an interest in his surroundings to avoid boredom. But to no avail. He sighed and attempted to get lost in thought as he followed the great black jaws before him. He recalled his encounter with Glow the Umbreon. Her soft slick fur against his when they wrestled and rested together. She talked differently from Snap or anyone from the Earth Bound Tribe. He wondered if the rest of the Supernaturalists talked like that, or that other Tribes talked differently as well. He imagined adopting their way of speech, and how silly he'd sound.
Then he wondered about Snap, and if he would be allowed to stay with his friend. Her Tribe seemed to discriminate beyond their own kind, Snap proved that she was as well with Glow and Skully. Incidentally, Earth Bounds even discriminated against Snap, their own Translator. Mr. Sap let out a small sigh, he had a good feeling that Snap would soon feel abandoned again, Earth Bounds didn't want him and Supernaturalists looked for him.
"Oh by the way," Snap's voice threw him back into reality, "stay close. You don't really belong to a Tribe yet so some Pokemon may want to eat you." She gave him a hard stare and turned with a curve of the tunnel.
"Yeah sure." he rolled his eyes, feeling the smile on her face as she lead him further. The atmosphere was beginning to change as they approached the end of the tunnel. "Wait you were joking right?" Snap didn't answer, "Snap?" Mr. Sap stuttered and swallowed his fear. The scene however made him look in awe. The ruined city sat on levels carved into the side of a large wall of earth and gave way to a calm pool of water. Pokemon swam up from the depths and flew in from the sky. They met and greeted on the land between the city and water in front of a destroyed Pokemon Gym. The tunnel Mr. Sap and Snap exited was in the wall of earth next to a ruined tall white building. They started down the stairs to move into the crowd of Pokemon. Their were Bulbasaurs and Ninetales, Persians and Politoeds, Sneasels and Buneary. Most of the Pokemon however were unrecognizable to Mr. Sap. Before going deep into the crowd, Snap stood in front of him and spread her arms outward.
"Welcome to the Convergence." she smiled and giggled at the Espeon's look of awe at all the Pokemon.
Mr. Sap took in a deep breath, beyond the mixture of smells of different Pokemon he noticed something, "The air is clean here."
"The Flying Pokemon act like a fan, blowing away the dust." she pointed up at the winged Pokemon above them. "Show offs." Snap lead Mr. Sap into the crowd, weaving through the Pokemon until Mr. Sap stepped on something long and soft. He shot back as a Pokemon howled and turned to him.
"Hey watch it you!" it was a feline Pokemon that stood on two brown paws, had a brown tipped tail and black pointed ears while the rest of its coat was a cream color. It had a big shiny chipped coin on its head as well.
"Play nice Meowth, you drag that thing everywhere anyway." Snap stood by the shaking Espeon. The Meowth went wide eyed, smiled and hugged Snap.
"Hey Snap, how're you doin'?" he spoke in a happy raspy voice. "It looks like I'm not the only one draggin' stuff around." he looked impassively at Mr. Sap. "He your pet or somethin'?" he whispered to her, covering his mouth from Mr. Sap. The Espeon sat annoyed now, lashing his tail side to side. "I'm just messing with yous!" Meowth laughed.
"Mr. Sap this is Meowth, he's the Translator for the Primals." Meowth gave a several bows and mouthed some thank you's.
"You can read human like Snap?" Mr. Sap asked.
"Oh yes," Meowth looked proud, "I used to speak it all the time before..." he trailed off. Mr. Sap knew the look Meowth gave as he stared at the ground, searching.
"We've all lost someone." Mr. Sap spoke sympathetically.
"Ain't that the truth." Meowth agreed flatly. The three moved on into the crowd, Snap and Mr. Sap explained their recent events to Meowth. Mr. Sap quickly grew to like Meowth, he also noticed that Meowth always had something to say and found things easily amusing, expecially Mr. Sap's name.
"So who'd you get that chip in your coin?" Mr. Sap pointed at his own forehead, which held a small gem, to Meowth.
"I'll tell you went you get a scar as equally impressive." Meowth looked away in a bragging manner with both his paws on his hips. "Nice gem by the way, it matches your girly fur."
"Oh, nice one. That joke matches the last ten bad ones you told." Mr. Sap teased back causing Snap to giggle. Mr. Sap liked the claw mark across his face already and thought it was impressive looking enough, though its origin isn't. The two boys proceeded to make faces at each other, only to be interupted by an embrassed Mawile noticing all the staring Pokemon.
"Knock it off you two or get a room!" she hissed as they both laughed. "Why didn't I see this coming? Two idiots acting stupid together." she groaned. They continued moving through the crowd, hearing stories of adventures and battles. Mr. Sap noticed that no one talk about their own Tribe in detail. Whenever someone asked about the status of one's Tribe the other would only answer "Fine, thank you." before they moved on to a different subject. The fact made Mr. Sap uneasy, that none of these Pokemon could truely trust another outside of their Tribe. He pondered if Meowth couldn't be trusted, or even Snap, or if they trusted him. His stomach fluttered but he reassured himself on Snap's behalf. She was his first and closest friend in with lost world. But the fluttering was only just beginning as he saw a fluffy black tail with a ring of gold.
It was Glow of course. The Pokemon that took his gaze, so much so that he didn't realize that he sat with a smile across his face. She was conversing with some other Pokemon he didn't care too much to notice. She then looked at him in a way that made him feel like the temperature rose. She blinked at him slowly, her rings pulsing a glow. She approuched him with a smile and licked his cheek in a greeting.
"Watcha lookin' at?" Meowth slapped his paw onto Mr. Sap's shoulder. He blinked rapidly and saw Glow still talking in her group. His ear dropped and his face grew red.
"N-nothing!" he stuttered. Snap walked up from behind them and looked impassively at Glow. She then turned to leave.
"Watch your step, you might slip on his drool." she hissed. The Espeon hung his head as Meowth chuckled. He patted Mr. Sap's shoulder the turned to follow Snap. Mr. Sap sighed and peered at Glow for a second more, she didn't notice him or was looking for him. He then too turned and followed Meowth.
"They'll be starting the Battles soon then the Reports." Meowth stated, walking with his arms folded behind his head.
"It's when two Knights from different Tribes battle to see who is the better fighter. Then challeneges are open to the public so any Pokemon can purpose a challenge." Snap explained as they walked toward the gym. "Reports are when the Kings and Queens address anything they'd like to share," Snap turned to Mr. Sap, "you'll be one of those Reports."
"I hope I'll be able to stay with you." Mr. Sap tried to lighten her mood with a small smile. She breathed a small chuckle.
"You just like me for my jaws." she teased, pretending to blush as she snapped her black steel jaws. Mr. Sap jumped in responce and hid behind Meowth who laughed at him.
"The Battles are about to begin!" announced a Tropius, flying overhead. A roar of cheers came from the crowd of Pokemon as they all moved to the gym.
