AN: Hello, everyone!, I hope you had a great summer, and school is starting again... another year.
Whew! This was rather long to write. I think I might've set a new record for myself. It left me out of breath at times at the burst of writing words. I think I might've written more than half of this within this week.
IRtR: Cottonmouth25: Yeah, they're even more of a pushover than a certain Pegasus I know. And that's saying a lot.
Anyway, Please Review and Comment! Favorite/Follow if you are interested and want to see more! Guest reviews are welcome! Don't be shy!
Disclaimer: Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is owned by Spike Chunsoft and the Pokémon Company. (P.S. Eh, I'll probably stop writing the disclaimer next chapter.)
Gabite managed to make the first move as he burst out a small steam of purple flames went towards Ruby and Clyde, with little preparation for the attack.
As the flames skimmed across Clyde's body, he felt that the flames felt similar, yet different. It still hurt though, but it felt like it wasn't exactly fire. The flames disappear, only to reveal that Gabite closing the distance between the two, only to swing both of his finned arms at them, hitting both of them aside from each other. This caused Clyde's bag to be separated from him. Despite the hard hit, both of them were still standing.
Ruby was the next to attack as she took a deep breath and exhaled, firing embers at the dragon, in an effort to damage him. Gabite lifted his arms and blocked the embers from damaging him.
Clyde summoned his vines and ran towards Gabite and swung, but the strikes were blocked by Gabite's fins, as well. Gabite growled as he attacked the both of them, managing to claw at them with his swings, causing some scratches on them.
I gotta think of something! Clyde thought as he saw it's going to be hard to damage him. Then he saw his bag. He needed to get to it so he could get an item that can help him. The problem was that Gabite stood between him and the bag. He could just run around him, but that would probably get Gabite's attention and try to attack him easily.
He ran towards him, directly towards Gabite, not seeming to prepare to attack, which Ruby saw, causing her to panic at the sight of Clyde just planning to ram into him. Gabite swung one of his finned arms in order to attack him, but to the Torchic's surprise she saw the Snivy leap over him in a graceful manner and landing near his bag. Ruby saw what Clyde could be planning and decided to act upon him.
As Clyde got near his bag and started rummaging through it to find a Confuse Wand, Gabite turned around and went towards him to try and attack him again, but his movements were stopped as he had to block another barrage of embers coming for Ruby's beak. In a moment, Clyde found he was looking for and took out the wand that he desired and waved it towards his target, causing the light that came out of it directly hitting it. This caused Gabite to become suddenly disorientated and losing his sense of direction.
With this opportunity opened up, Clyde let out his vines to attack the dragon repeatedly with Gabite trying to hit him, only to go in another direction. The Snivy occasionally had to dodge swings that managed to be at his direction. Ruby also contributed as she used her talons to scratch Gabite, causing more damage than before as he was unable to block them.
Clyde could see that he was starting to weaken, as the swings of his arms were getting slower and had less of a response time to Clyde's strikes on him. If they keep this up, they'll beat him easily. He thought of an idea to try to land a blow that would defeat him.
"Ruby! Let's attack at the same time!" Clyde shouted to his partner. He stepped back a few yards away.
"Got it!" Ruby responded as she did the same action. They both charged at Gabite, ready to finish him off.
Suddenly, as the grass type ran closer towards, Gabite, starting to swing again with his vines, the scaled Pokémon recovered from being confused and turned around, only to use his big clawed feet to drag the sand on the ground, and dragging it to Clyde's face. The sand got into Clyde's eyes, causing him to turn away and miss his target.
As Gabite's action managed to somewhat distract the Snivy's attack, he unfortunately wasn't able to block Ruby's talons going directly towards his face, which was the moment where Ruby took the opportunity to use her talons to scratch and kick Gabite's unguarded face, and leapt away.
"Grr…" Gabite growled as he recovered from the hit. Suddenly he jumped up in the air only to dive into the ground, disappearing from sight.
"Wh-where'd he go?" Clyde said, surprised at seeing the dragon's move.
"He used Dig!" Ruby explained. "Watch out for him popping out under you!"
"Huh?" The sand in his didn't allow him to hear Ruby fully, as it was very distracting.
"AGH!" He was hit by Gabite's claw as he shot upwards out of the ground and hit Clyde, causing him to fly a short distance away and hit the ground, tumbling for a few feet. He groaned in pain as fell limp on the ground.
"Clyde!" Ruby exclaimed as she ran over to him.
"Hehe, too easy!" Gabite said as he landed on the ground. He looked to see the Torchic trying to get something out of the bag Clyde had dropped.
"Oh no you don't!" He charged towards them, swinging back one of his claws to strike Ruby. But she just caught the sight of Gabite's claw coming towards her, and was able to narrowly dodge by jumping to the side, only managing to skim through some of the feathers around her neck. He prepared to swing another strike with his claw, but the fire type seemed to end up near the edge of the arena.
Gabite yelled out, swinging his right claw upwards towards her. Just when she was about hit her, she mysteriously moved from her spot. He just barely saw the movement, but it was too late. His claw was headed towards a stone pillar where the Torchic was left standing, and it drove deep into the pillar, leaving his right arm stuck.
"What the?! How?!" Gabite growled.
"Quick Seed," Ruby said. She stood where Clyde was, still on the ground. In her talon held another seed, in which she lifted up over Clyde and released it, causing it to float in midair and shine a spotlight of energy onto the Snivy, causing him to wake up.
"Ugh…" he started to stand up.
"You okay?" Ruby asked as he helped him up.
"Yeah. Thank you," he answered.
"Good thing we had a Tiny Reviver Seed on us, huh?"
"We're lucky we had one in the first place." He turned to Gabite, still trying to pull his arm out of the pillar, which was almost free. "Let's say we take care of this guy before we start celebrating.
"Got it!" They both readied themselves as Gabite managed to free himself from the pillar, angrier than before.
"Rraah!" the dragon yelled angrily as he fired another burst of purple flame at the duo, but this time, they were prepared, and dodged to the side, damage dealt only to a pillar behind them.
"That won't work on us again!" Clyde yelled with confidence. With more vigor and determination he ran towards him and used his vines to attack him harder than before. He eve managed to leap up to his face and smack his face with his leaf tail. The ground-dragon type staggered back, but wasn't able to recover quickly as he was hit by more of Ruby's embers to the side, causing even more damage.
Gabite struggled to stand up from taking all those hit on him. Finally he had enough of these two Pokémon. Gabite dove at the ground again, using Dig to launch another attack.
"He's using Dig again!" Clyde exclaimed.
"Quick! Pass me a blast seed!" Ruby said.
"Okay!" Clyde reached in his bag, and handed her the seed, holding it at the edge of her beak. They both stood next to each other so that Gabite would have to hit both of them.
The pair heard the ground rumble between them, signaling them to dodge right away, only managing to not get hit by one of Gabite's claws just by a few inches. Ruby took the Blast Seed he had and took in into her mouth, causing a huge amount explosive fire to exit out of her beak in a massive burst.
As the blast came out of Ruby's mouth, Gabite wasn't able to brace himself, as he was still going in the air. It caused a direct hit in his chest and sent him flying.
"I got this!" Clyde yelled as he summoned his vines and jumped, only to flip midair and use his broad leaf tail to hit him and slam him to the ground with a big THUD!
"Time to finish it!" Ruby yelled as she fired a barrage of embers as much as she could to the now grounded Gabite. There were so many embers fired at the ground dragon that smoke began covering him from sight. She continued firing as her will allowed to until the trail of embers started to disappear.
The smoke began to clear, revealing that Gabite was covered in burns and dust. But he wasn't unconscious due to his eyes being open and struggling to recover.
"We did it!" Ruby exclaimed in celebration.
"Finally, it's over," Clyde panted as he walked over to where he dropped his bag and picked up.
"My treasure…" Gabite groaned as he tried to stand up, but stumbling back down, too weak to keep on fighting. "I won't hand it over to you thieves!"
"No one said you had to!" Ruby argued, not wanting to continue fighting. "Like we said, we're not here to steal anything!"
"But you're here for my rubies!" Gabite countered.
"But…" Clyde started, but stopped. It seemed like there was anything to convince him that they weren't thieves.
"But…" another voice sounded, coming from neither from Ruby or Gabite. "I think you should listen to them!"
"Who was that?" Ruby said.
"Could it be those Drilbur?" Clyde said.
Suddenly, the ground rumbled again and popped out the same Drilbur from before.
"My Drilbur compatriots…" Gabite said.
"Mr. Gabite sir!" on Drilbur said. "I think that these children were telling you the truth the whole time."
"I looked into that Torchic's eyes back at the entrance to the mine," the second Drilbur said, "and her eyes held not a shred of..." the Drilbur stuttered in finishing its statement.
"Not a shred of… what?" Gabite asked.
"Not a shred of… anything other than mischief…" the Drilbur finished. "But still, I don't think they're thieves, either."
"We didn't know that those rubies belonged to you, sir," Clyde said. "If you said those jewels are yours, and they're so important to you, then we have no right to take them. If anything, we just want to look at them."
"You... really just want to look at them?" Gabite asked.
"Yeah," Ruby replied.
Gabite seemed to mull over his thoughts for a bit before he saw the Snivy come closer to him and pull out an Oran Berry for him to eat, as a sign of apology.
"Well, it seems that I may have made some rather, rash, assumptions…" He took the berry in his mouth and ate it, causing some amount of his enrgy to return. He managed to stand up. "Please forgive me. I shouldn't have attacked you like that."
"You're not the only one to blame," Ruby said. "We're the ones who came sneaking into a place we weren't supposed to be, after all."
"Hmm… Perhaps I'll make a special exception." Gabite said. "So... if you please I'd like for you to come with me. I'll show you what lies at the end of this mine."
"R-really?!" Ruby asked excitedly.
"Of course. Consider it as an apology for attacking you earlier."
Gabite and the Drilbur led the two children down a path that led to arena, and through several twists and turns through the mine, they finally stopped at their destination, which was a short cave entrance,
"This is my special hideaway," Gabite explained. "My treasure chamber."
Gabite led the two inside the cave, and inside held a sight that had the pair drop their jaws in amazement.
"Look at this place!" Ruby said, with her jaw dropped in amazement. "It's jam-packed with jewels!"
There was no exaggeration in her words, as this end of the cave held many, many, beautiful jewels. Many different kinds of precious stones littered the walls and on the ground. Aside from the rubies, there were many sapphires, emeralds, amethysts, and the like, reflecting the light inside brightly. The sizes of many of them were the same or larger than the two children. "Are you seeing this, Clyde?!"
"Oh, I'm seeing it alright. This is amazing!" Clyde said in awe as well.
Gabite held a look of satisfaction while looking at his precious collection. "Collecting jewels is a bit of a hobby for me, you see. When I was just a little Gible, I started collecting small jewels, storing them in this area. As time went on, I just picking up more and more in this mine. And before I knew it, I filled up this entire room!"
"Woah." Clyde said, snapping out of his stupor. "It's a wonder why nobody else found this place."
"Ah. For you see, it was a long while no one noticed that I had a hideaway in a place like this. But a few months ago, the Drilbur came upon it accidentally during their mining and tunneling."
He scowled. "And ever since then, more and more Pokémon have come to steal my precious jewels. Every time I'd find more jewels, the same amount gets stolen. That's why the tunnel to this place was blocked off, with entry forbidden. Anyone who ever made it past the barriers, I've had to run off myself."
"We Drilbur promised him back then that we would fight of any thieves, but…" one Drilbur spoke up.
"But when push comes to shove, we get all wibbly and wobbly… and waddle away!" the second Drilbur continued.
"Oh! I get it now!" Ruby said in realization, now feeling apologetic about Gabite's plight. "Well, now I feel really bad. We didn't mean to put you in a hard spot like this."
She suddenly cheered up. "But… we did get to see the secrets hidden within the mine! That is a way better accomplishment than simply picking up some rubies."
"Yeah, couldn't have said it better myself," Clyde said. He turned to Gabite. "Gabite, since you love your jewels so much, we promise not to tell anyone about this. How does that sound?"
"I would appreciate that," Gabite agreed.
"I, for one, am totally pumped, and I declare this mission a success! And so I thank you, Gabite! And you two Drilbur, too!" She turned to Clyde. "Thanks to you, as well, Clyde!"
"You're thanking me? What for?" the Snivy asked.
"I love exploring and adventuring so much, so I get really into these types of things. But it was really you that I could've made it this far, Clyde! I couldn't have ever found out about this place without you!"
"Aw, you don't have to say that… you, helped me out, too, you know," the grass type blushed a little.
"Since we're done with this place, let me take you to my favorite place in the village like I promised you!"
"Oh, yeah," Clyde said at the reminder. "I hope we get there in time, we must've spent some time in here, right?"
"No need to worry," one of the Drilbur said. "We know the tunnels and places around here. We'll take you outside."
With the pair ready to leave with the Drilbur, all Pokémon except Gabite were left in his cave of jewels.
"Hmm… Those two…" the dragon muttered to himself as he looked back at his personal collection, specifically, the small ones that were scattered on the ground.
Once the Drilbur led the two of them, through some passageways that seemed to be hard to navigate, but somehow Drilbur managed to anyway, they were out of the tunnels of the mine and back at the entrance in a short amount of time. As it turned out, the sun was still out, as it looked like an hour or two passed by while they were in there. They both said thanks to the Drilbur for leading them out as they started to go back into the entrance.
"We've got plenty of time to go that special place," Ruby said.
"Well, lead the way," Clyde responded.
After a few minutes of walking trying get back to the plaza, they finally managed to return to the heart of Serene Village. But this was not their destination. They were both focused on where the fire type wanted them both to be. As they both ran through the plaza, they failed to notice two other Pokémon waiting for their return.
Both Pancham and Shelmet were waiting at the plaza for Ruby and Clyde to return, just to see if they were up to the challenge. They bet they weren't able to get those rubies, due to Gabite guarding them. They thought he managed to run them off crying.
"Well, well, well! Look who it is!" Pancham said, only to be ignored by who he said it to.
"Hey!" Shelmet yelled. "Pancham's talking to you!"
That got the attention of the duo, and both turned to the panda and the snail, both with big grins on their faces.
"Oh, you two," Clyde said with a monotone voice with a small tinge of anger in his tone. and crossed his arms.
"So… Did you go into the blocked path like we told you to?" Shelmet asked.
"Yeah, we did," Ruby said cheerfully. "It was lots of fun!"
"W-wait, you did?!" Shelmet asked in surprise.
"Yes, we have," Clyde said.
"W-well, then! Where's you're proof huh?" Pancham said. "Did you bring back those rubies, like we asked?"
"Nope," the Torchic said simply.
"Wha-a-at?! But we told you to get them and come back here, so we'd admit you have real guts!" Pancham said.
"But you've never said about some guardian of those jewels being very protective of them," Clyde countered. "I knew something was up. You knew that Gabite was guarding them, didn't you? You wanted him to scare us off!"
"U-um…" Pancham stammered, not sure how to react to this.
Clyde took a breath to calm himself. "If you want to know, we did see those jewels, by the way. We didn't steal them, though."
"We couldn't do that!" Ruby said. "After all, Gabite loves his jewels."
"We couldn't afford to steal something very precious from him. It'd be wrong to put those rubies in my bag. We aren't thieves," Clyde said, a small smug grin on his face, seeing Pancham and Shelmet's reactions.
"It was way better just to go and see them and have that memory live on in us, right Clyde?" Ruby said.
"You got that right," Clyde answered.
"Come on, let's go! I can't wait any longer!" Ruby, and started to run towards the bridge.
As the both of them headed off, the Snivy couldn't help himself as he flashed a bigger grin towards the two behind them, standing in place.
Ruby and Clyde went along the path that went near the lake, and after a decent amount of walking, they both ended up near the hill with the giant tree.
"So this is the place you were talking about, Ruby?" Clyde asked.
"Yep! We just need to get up there, and we'll be where I want us to be!"
Both of them went up the hill, and Clyde saw the entirety of Serene Village in a whole new perspective. Across the lake he saw the entirety of the village. He saw the plaza located near the lake, a small dock, the houses scattered across the village, including Nuzleaf's and Ruby's houses. Even then, it does not compare to the amount of area the forest is surrounding it, leading into the mountains in the horizon. The only thing that stood out from the forest is the mountain to the right. All of this set a kind of beauty of the village one can't get from any other angle.
"Wow… this is beautiful…" Clyde commented in awe of the sight.
"Pretty great view right? Heh heh!" Ruby said in satisfaction. "And we got this big ol' tree here to keep us in the shade."
"It feels like I want to relax here forever," Clyde said.
"It's not just me who loves this view," Ruby said. "Everybody in the village comes here!"
"I can see why."
"I wanted you to see it too, Clyde. It's nice here isn't it?" the fire type sighed in relaxation as she sat down onto the grass.
"Whew! We sure worked hard today. It's so nice to be able to look up at the sky like this…"
Clyde also sat down, relaxing his tired muscles from their adventure. "That's true. The breeze feels very nice here, too."
"It's been such nice weather today…" Ruby commented.
"And that we had a successful adventure, too," Clyde said.
"It really is the best kind of day." The Torchic smiled as she breathed in the fresh air. She looked at the sky, mostly clear with clouds near the horizon. "Would you look at those towering, great clouds over there?"
"Yeah, I see them. What about them?"
"They're so tall, taller than this tree beside us, stretching across the endless sky. And yet, when we look up at them, they look tiny from so far away. It sure makes you marvel at how big this world is, doesn't it?"
Clyde looked at the clouds again. "When you put it that way, yeah."
"I…I wanna be like those clouds."
"Like the clouds?"
"I want to race away from this village and see all kinds of places all over the world, go as far as those clouds. I want to meet all kinds of Pokémon and have all kinds of adventures! That's why I want to go to Lively Town and join the Expedition Society!" She stood up in excitement.
"The… Expedition Society?" Clyde asked.
"It's this group of famous explorers that travel the world that discover many things. They go on expeditions around the globe and find ancient ruins and artifacts. They also help all sorts Pokémon in need."
"Huh, so that's what they are. I can see why you want to join," Clyde commented
"Exactly! I want to join the Expedition Society and complete a map of the world someday! It's my dream."
"You have a dream, huh?" Clyde said. I could get behind a dream like that. Discovering new places, meeting new Pokémon, traveling the world. I'd like that.
"But..." Ruby sighed and hung her head. "I can't… I can't do it."
"What?" The grass type said in shock. Ruby looked very cheerful just a few seconds ago. "Why not?"
"They don't let kids join the Expedition Society," Ruby answered. "Even if they did, everyone says that it's too dangerous to leave this village. Can't do this… Can't do that… That's all they ever say. Why do grown-ups act like that? They gang up on us kids and tell us the way things are supposed to be… It's not fair. If we listened to them all the time, we'd never get to do anything even a little bit reckless."
"Well, yeah. If you do try and do something reckless, they would step in, I guess…" Clyde was starting to lose his attention to Ruby as he felt comforted by the relaxing atmosphere around him, causing him to get more tired…
Ruby turned to the sky, fire in her eyes. "But it doesn't matter! I still won't give up no matter what anyone says! Never! Never ever!"
"I will ne-e-e-e-e-ever give up!" She yelled as her lungs allowed her to the heavens, proving her pure determination.
"So Clyde!" She turned to the Snivy, only to find him not noticing her scream, seeing him only sitting with his eyes closed.
"Huh? Clyde?" She took a closer look. He was napping. "Oh, sheesh! I didn't know you were that tired. That adventure must have worn you out, huh?"
She went closer to Clyde's sleeping him, only to push h and nudge him, but to avail. But she kept trying. "You'll support my dream, right? Even if nobody else does?"
She saw his head move up and down dues to the Torchic's continuous pushing. "Oh! You nodded just now! I saw it! That means you will! Thanks, Clyde!"
She turned to the village. "All right! I'll give it my best shot! I'm definitely going for it!" She looked at the Pokémon in the village. "Just you watch me! I'll show everybody!"
Ah, it felt so good being on that hill. I can't believe I dozed off like that. Must be from exploring those mines. Clyde thought. After waking up from the nap on the hill with the big tree it turned out that it was getting late. Ruby and Clyde said goodbye to each other before returning to their homes. As Clyde went inside Nuzleaf's house he was greeted with a question by the owner of the house himself.
"So how was yer school day, Clyde?" he asked.
"I think it went rather well," the Snivy answered with a happy tone in his voice.
"Ain't that nice," Nuzleaf said, proud that Clyde was doing just fine. "I reckon you must've gotten along with those students. Made any new friends?"
"Well, you could say that," Clyde answered. "I did hang out with one of them."
"Oh. Would you like to tell me who this classmate of yours is?"
"Ruby," Clyde answered simply.
"That young Torchic? Ain't that nice!" Nuzleaf smiled. "What did you do together, then?"
"Oh, nothing much. She just took me around the town," Clyde lied. He couldn't reveal what happened just earlier today. One, it'd be breaking his and Ruby's promise to Gabite, and two, their adventure would not be taken lightly by Nuzleaf, despite him pretty relaxed about adventuring.
"Well, if you'd like to, I reckon you should walk to school with her. Since we live close to her and Carracosta and all."
"I'd like that," Clyde said that was almost a bit too quick in response.
"Great! I'd like for you to get along with those students, so that you'd fit in. No one got any suspicious look on you?"
"Not so far, no. I think I'm getting along just fine with them."
"That's good to hear."
As he went to the entrance to his room, Nuzleaf spoke up again.
"That reminds me. Any of yer memories comin' back to you yet?"
"Um…" he thought in his mind for a second. "Nope. Still nothing."
"Oh…" Nuzleaf said in slight disappointment. "Looks like we'll have to wait more to see if any of 'em come back to you, alright?"
"I suppose so," Clyde said. He turned back to his room. "Good night."
"G'night to you too," Nuzleaf responded.
The Snivy went into his room, only lit dimly by the light of the night. He looked at the window, reminded of what happened at the tree on the hill overlooking Serene Village.
This world has a lot of natural beauty to it. Even if it is just a small town, I wonder what the rest of the world is like. He thought.
This world…
This world!
Clyde stepped closer to the window, overlooking some of the village, somewhat visible by the some of the lights of the lamps and windows and the bright moonlight. He looked up at the sky, full of twinkling stars.
Huh… I forgot thinking about why I'm here in the first place, haven't I? He mused to himself. Why? Why was I sent here and turned into a Pokémon?
He remembered those Beheeyem that were chasing him around a couple of days ago, just when he woke up in this world. He started to get worried. What did they want from him? Was it okay to stay in Serene Village, hoping to never be found by them? And if somehow the villagers were able to find out that he was once a human, would they freak out?
Clyde clutched his head. Ugh... Too many questions to answer. I think I'll just get some sleep, and think about it tomorrow.
Above the ground of the planet, reaching towards the sky, beyond the stratosphere, a familiar, green, slender Pokémon was speeding through, trying to stay a sizable amount of distance from the planet below him as possible.
"Th-that… thing…" Rayquaza muttered to himself, shaky in his voice. "What could it have been?!"
It was only a couple of days ago when he was doing regular rounds traversing the skies. Every day that he did this, there was nothing wrong. Everything felt normal. But the past week wasn't normal. In fact, it wasn't normal at all. He felt a presence looming over him. A dark presence that was sent chills, down to his spine.
"This… this feeling…"
For the first time… he felt a feeling. One he had never experienced before.
Fear.
I picture Ruby standing bravely towards the sky fire blazing out of her in the background as she gives her speech of determination. It'd be very adorable and anime and awesome at the same time.
Follow me on the-mystery-of-light. tumblr . com. Come, chat, and ask me questions. I'll even draw some stuff sometimes, just pencil sketches, though. I encourage it.
Question of the chapter: Since my mind is on music right now, what type of music do you prefer that gets the blood pumping, get you more active, make you feel like you can do anything? I prefer the faster paced classical tones or orchestrated video game music with a taste of pop for variety.
Anyways, I'll see you guys in the next chapter!
And also, FFXV is delayed. For two months. *cries in the corner*
