Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any other referenced media within this story
/The Infirmary/
"Um, Miss Tia, where did Nari go?" Nina asked. The Frogadier sat next to Lucas on one of the vacant beds, with Kora standing next to her. Tia shrugged, looking over Jax and poking the Machamp in several spots.
"She said she had a few important things to check on, something about an assignment, I wasn't really paying attention. Maybe she's off to speak with the Guildmaster." The Nurse replied, glowing a faint blue after she finished poking Jax. Kora turned his head to the Meowstic, his fur standing on end for some reason.
"The Guildmaster... is here?" He asked with a surprised and somewhat worried tone.
"Well, of course. Guildmasters aren't exactly the safest Pokémon around nowadays. It's rare that one leaves their guild more than a small handful of times a year." Tia answered, crushing an assortment of berries and mixing a white powder into it.
"Really? I just thought our Guildmaster was a shut-in." Lucas chimed in, scratching his chin. Nina nodded with Lucas.
"I guess being on this island for so long might have kept you kids out of sync with current events. Can't say I don't envy that." Tia sighed, nudging Jax to sit up and handing him the mixture she made. Nina and Lucas both wondered what she meant, while Kora realized he really doesn't know anything about life off the island. Other than the stories he heard while growing up, nothing about outside life ever came to his notice.
"What do you mean? You make it sound like... something bad happened..?" Kora asked, although he was hoping he wouldn't get the answer he was expecting. Tia blushed when she realized that she said that last part out loud.
"O-Oh, I didn't mean anything like that! I-I just meant that you're lucky to only know the island life! Yeah, that what I meant!" She stammered. Before anyone could say anything else, Jax immediately shot up and banged his head on the ceiling.
"H-HOLY MILTANK!!! Was that Energy Powder FRESH or WHAT!?!" He exclaimed, not noticing any pain from hitting his head at all. Tia looked at where she got the Energy Powder from and groaned.
"Did I put all of it in?! He's gonna be hyper all day!!!" Tia said, right as Jax sprinted out of the room. The force of his footsteps were felt all throughout the mountain.
"If you kids wouldn't mind, could you got make sure he doesn't get himself, or anyone for that matter, hurt?" The Nurse asked kindly with nervous laughter. The three nodded and went to keep the Machamp out of trouble. Just outside the Infirmary was Jay and Zen, the latter of which was carrying an unconscious Kane over his shoulder.
"What happened to him?" Lucas asked. Jay smirked and held up his fist.
"I helped Zen keep his promise. Are you guys chasing that Jax guy? He nearly ran us over!" The Grovyle replied, gesturing behind him. Lucas nodded, running past the two and waving goodbye.
"You better catch up with us soon, he's hyped up on Energy Powder!" The Charmeleon said as he ran off with Nina and Kora behind him. Jay waved back followed Zen into the nursery, both of whom were complained to by Tia for all the extra work she's done so early in the day.
/Half an Hour Later/
Following Jax was easy, the behemoth left footprints in the ground and the pounding of his footsteps was a good way of telling how far they were from him. The problem was actually catching up to Jax. With how large the Mountain was, all the tunnels and chambers within it, and how fast Jax was going, it wasn't exactly easy to get to the Machamp. Just as soon as the three thought they were close to Jax, they'd hear him running above or below them through one of the different tunnels. Even when they decided to split up, they ending up running into each other instead of Jax.
"Geez, how does he know where to go? *pant* *pant* We've literally been going in circles, and none of us can catch him!" Nina said, exhausted from trying to chase Jax. Lucas sat down beside the giant crystal in the Main Area, holding his chest and panting.
"Even with all that Energy Powder he took, I wasn't expecting him to outrun us this much!" Lucas exclaimed. Kora joined the two soon after, falling over as soon as he was infront of Lucas.
"How does he keep... getting ahead of us..?" The Zoroark said, rolling onto his back and breathing heavily. They heard Jax running through one of the tunnels, stop for a moment, then run in the opposite direction.
"There's gotta be a way to trap him! Running after him obviously isn't working." Lucas exclaimed having finally caught his breath. Nina remembered the flower Kora made and suddenly had an idea.
"Hey Kora, why don't you run through the tunnels and make walls behind you?" The Water-Type suggested, holding the flower over Kora. "Just like how you made this flower, remember?"
"Make... walls? I've never tried to do something like that before. But I guess, it's worth a shot." Kora stood up, trying to hear where Jax might be or is heading to. With a possible location in mind, Kora and the others ran down one of the lower level tunnels. When they went past the entrance, Kora placed his paw on the wall and closed his eyes. After a few seconds, Kora's aura bled from his arm and closed the entrance to the tunnel with inky blackness that gained a darker color than the rock around it. Kora slowly let go of the wall, and breathed a sigh of relief that the wall stayed intact. Lucas even tried to push through it, but the wall stayed strong.
"Oh my gosh it worked! I'm a genius!" Nina cheered.
"Alright, we're getting somewhere." Kora spoke, starting to walk down the tunnel. "Do either of you know where this leads? If we're lucky, we can get to whatever room he's heading to and trap him in it."
"I think this goes to the Cafe. Or maybe... uh..." Lucas scratched his head before he shrugged and gave up on thinking. "Probably just the Cafe."
/Fifteen Minutes Later/
"We're lost..." Kora said defeatedly. "There's no way we walked down this one tunnel and haven't come up to the Cafe yet."
"Maybe we shouldn't have went down the center path when we got to that three-way." Nina thought out loud.
"I have no idea where we're heading then. Whoops, my bad!" Lucas shrugged and laughed.
"How do neither of you know where we are?! You practically live in this mountain!!!" Kora exclaimed, putting up another Black Wall behind them.
"Hey, there's only like, three places we go to on a daily basis!" Lucas replied.
"And the Cafe isn't one of them?" Kora asked sarcastically. Lucas was going to respond, but couldn't come up with anything to say. "Atleast we'll know if we're going in circles since I've put a few walls. Let's hope we find that energetic man-child soon."
"Come to think of it, I haven't heard him sprinting through the tunnels for a while now. Do you think he's alright?" Nina asked. She brought up a good point, it's been mostly quiet for a little while now.
"Great. He's either out cold or on the other side of the mountain. You guys wanna backtrack or keep..." Kora looked up and noticed an opening further ahead. It had a purple torch on either side of it and a red mat below it. The edge of the opening was lined with silver and a thick wooden door in the center. Intrigued, Kora approached it to find out what was behind it. When Nina and Lucas noticed what Kora had found, they both immediately froze.
"H-Hey Nina. How m-many rooms have expensive looking d-doors like that..?" The Charmeleon asked, shaking slightly.
"Oh... not many. J-Just the G-Guildmaster's..." The Frogadier replied.
"KORA!!!" The pair both shouted, but immediately covered their mouths. Their sudden loudness made the Halfbreed jump, swearing he almost had a heart attack. "Th-That's the Guildmaster's door! We are NOT supposedto BE HERE!!!"
"The Guildmaster? This is his door?" Nina and Lucas both frantically nodded their heads and motioned for Kora to come back. "...I'm gonna open it."
"Don't you dare!" Nina demanded, although her shaking to her core probably didn't help her.
"I think I do. I mean, what harm could it do?"
"If you want to join this guild, I can guaranTEE he will deny you if you walk in there uninvited!" Nina tried to convince the Zoroark. Fortunately for Nina and Lucas, Kora stopped approaching the door, and the wave of relief that swept over them was heavenly.
"Alright, fine. I'll wait." Kora sighed, leaning on the door. "So I guess we're heading back then?"
Nina and Lucas nodded, both overjoyed to have avoided whatever punishment would have befell them. The two younger Pokémon walked back the way they came with Kora following behind them, until he realized that the door pricked his shoulder.
"Ow? I think I got a splinter from this thing." Kora said. After a moment passed, the door started to glow a faint red before opening itself up. Lucas and Nina didn't turn around, nor did they hear Kora.
'I'm pretty sure this counts as an invitation, right?' The Halfbreed thought to himself. 'Maybe I'll just look around a little, that should be fine. And just so Lucas and Nina don't freak out, I'll put an Illusion of myself up to follow them.' And so he did. The copy was expressionless, but it looked exactly like him, wrapped up arm and all.
"Follow them and disable any fake walls I put on along the way, alright?" Kora whispered to the fake Zoroark. It didn't respond, but it followed the two younger Pokémon like it was told.
/The Guildmaster's Quarters/
The inside was far more spacious and elegant than any other room in the Mountain. The floor was smooth, the crystals more radiant, and the ceiling was rounded-off. There was a three-way once Kora walked inside, the path in the middle had two purple torches at it's start, held four rooms on either side and led to a downward staircase, the path to the left led to another door, and the right path led to a large, open area with a table in the middle.
The meeting room had torches placed around it to keep even lighting all throughout and a noticeable lack of radiant crystals, instead being replaced with black ones, with one large one in the middle of the ceiling. The table in the middle was made of the same wood as the large door, and in the center was a hole with glass filing it. Kora noticed a stack of papers on the other side and walked up to up while gently gliding his paw on the table. Before he reached the papers, the table pricked his paw, much like the door did, and started glowing.
'Whoa...' Kora thought as the glow from the table was magnified in the glass, and a near-solid beam of red shot up, directly hitting the giant crystal. The light stopped being fired from the table and the black crystal was now a bright, vivid red. After a moment or two, the crystal projected the light back onto the table, leaving marking all over it similar to a map. There was a red spot glowing near Kora on the marking of a mountain, which Kora assumed was the Guild, and seven other spots on various other places on the map. One was in the middle of the ocean, three on two different land masses , one on a different mountain, one on a cloud, and one in a dessert, or atleast that's what Kora assume it was since it was on a rough spot on the map and looked just like one of the land masses. There was also an odd black mark in the ocean, it felt cold when Kora touched it and seemed to move slightly.
Once he was done admiring the map, Kora remembered the stack of papers that first intrigued him. Right on top was a paper with Minerva's name on it. It read...
"Minerva, Daughter of Frost and Althea. Extraordinarily Powerful. Insane Amounts of Untapped Potential. Currently Unconscious."
Kora cocked his head as he read that, surprised that it was so up-to-date on his feline friend. The paper below it was Rio's, which read...
"Rio, Outlander. Not Significantly Powerful, but Highly Adaptive. Unknown Potential. Currently Unconscious."
Kora was again shocked. Rio passed out literally earlier today. Minerva's paper was odd, but she was out since yesterday. The fox started to get the feeling that he might soon be overstaying his welcome, but decided to read his own paper first. It read...
"Koraza, Son of the Heroine Outlander Diana and the Late Orion. Highly Powerful, but also Highly Unstable. Potential Immesurable. Dangerous."
'Wait... what?' Kora thought, re-reading his description. 'Dangerous? Unstable?'
He had hardly anymore time to think when he heard someone approaching from the middle hallway. He stacked the papers like when he first entered and tried to removed the map from the table. He tapped and swiped on various parts of it, but it would dissappear. After several more fruitless attempts, Kora decided to cast an illusion over it so it looked normal and looked for a place to hide. He heard the footsteps getting louder, and with no better idea, hid behind the table and tried to cloak himself in the illusion.
The Pokémon that walked out of the hallway was a Zangoose. She was a little taller than Eva, had purple markings instead of pink, and looked as if she just woke up. The Zangoose yawned loudly and walked up to the large door. When she placed her paw on it, it shone a purple glow and opened. Kora sighed before she actually left, which was a mistake, because she immediately stopped and looked around.
"Is someone else here?" She said. Kora quietly crawled under the table and held his maw shut. She couldn't see him, thankfully, and left shortly after. After she closed the door, Kora didn't hear any footsteps and just now remembered that there's only one way out of this area, and that Zangoose was waiting right behind it.
'Alright, think Kora, think! She'll probably notice the door opening even if I put an Illusion over it, so either I'm gonna wait for her to leave or find another way out.' The Zoroark thought to himself. He took the illusion off of the table, thankfully the map faded away and the crystal turned black again, and slowly crept down to the three-way, stopping a few steps away from the door. Just to make sure he really was trapped in the Guildmaster's Quarters, Kora peeked under the door and saw the Zangoose's paws right at the door.
'This is fine, I'm gonna be alright. I'm only trespassing in the closed-off Guildmaster's chambers. No big deal, if I can get out of here unseen.' The Dark-Type thought, trying to keep his composure and think of a solution. He looked down the middle hallway and saw again the rooms and stairs. 'Let's hope that stairwell leads to literally any other part of the Mountain then.' He thought, walking slowly towards the middle hall.
Right as he was about to pass the torches, they instantly changed to red, which startled Kora enough to let out a light gasp and pause for a moment. Almost instantly he felt the fur on his back stand on end as the door was starting to open back up. Without even thinking, Kora jumped up as high as he could and dug his claws into the ceiling to hold him and his mane up, mere seconds before the Zangoose walked in. She looked to the sides before noticing the torches.
"The torches changed color, huh? It must've been the kids then." The Zangoose said. Kora quickly snuck through the door since she was so kind as to leave it open. The instant his feet hit the ground, Kora cloaked himself and bolted down the tunnel.
/Several Minutes Later, Main Area/
It was a pretty straightforward run back to Nina and Lucas, the walls Kora put up were disabled and all he had to do was remember what turns he had to take. What he didn't think of was what would be waiting for him once he got out. Upon arriving at the Main Area, Kora was met with Eva holding down the clone he made, Nina and Lucas looking hurt and confused, and a Floatzel staring at him.
"Well dang, I owe ya a cake Eva." The Water-Type said with a sigh. Before Kora could ask what happened, Eva spoke up and answered him.
"This illusion, or whatever it is, was attacking those two. They held their own until we showed up, and I pinned him to the ground. I thought something was wrong when he never responded to anything any of us was saying, and as I held him down, there was no warmth in him at all." Eva explained. She then pierced the fake Kora in the chest, causing it to dissipate into black and purple particles. "Shame."
Kora felt a light sting in his chest as Eva took care of the fake. He shook it off and went to check up on Nina and Lucas. They were scraped here and there, but overall alright. Lucas grinned and bragged about how he was going toe-to-toe with the clone. Nina, however, was very upset with Kora.
"What the hell?!?" She yelled, hitting Kora's chest. "You just up and left us with that, that thing! Where WERE you?!?"
"Um... I was, uhh-"
"You went into the Guildmaster's Room, didn't you?! We told you not to go in there, but you did anyway and left that MONSTER with us!" Nina turned her back to Kora and pointed at three large diagonal cuts across her back. Kora felt a chill run down his back, the wound weren't too deep, but they were painful to even look at. "That's what that thing did to me! Do you know how much that hurt?!"
"I never... I didn't know that would happen. I wouldn't try to hurt you on purpose, I promise!" Kora replied, feeling a weight start to form in his chest. Before either of them could speak, Eva butted in and pushed Kora to the side and hugged Nina. The Frogadier sniffled quietly and hugged Eva back.
"I'm sorry we didn't get here sooner, before you got hurt. James'll bring you guys to Tia, I have to talk to Kora for a minute." Eva said softly. James, the Floatzel, led the two kids to the Infirmary, trying to lighten the mood with a couple jokes, leaving Kora and Eva to themselves.
"...I know what you're gonna say." Kora started.
"Do you?" Eva replied, crossing her arms.
"I'm an irresponsible idiot who only thinks of himself, does whatever he wants, and gets others hurt in the process." The fox answered, sinking down a bit.
"If you already know all that, why did you do it?"
"I SWEAR I never meant to hurt either of them!!!" Kora yelled, gritting his teeth. "I don't know why this happened, but if I knew I was going to, then I never would have!"
"That doesn't fix anything, Halfbreed!" Eva exclaimed. "You put your 'friends' in danger, and all you do is apologize?! If you were really sorry, this wouldn't be the THIRD time one of your friends got hurt!" The Zangoose said, making the weight in Kora's chest grow more.
"It's not..."
"It's not what, Kora? It's not your fault that you let Minerva take the Thunder for you at the springs? Or is it not your fault that the illusion of YOURSELF attacked those kids, and scarred one of them?" Eva said coldly. Kora found it difficult to say anything. His mind kept going back to the paper about him that called him "unstable" and "dangerous." Maybe... it was right.
"I-I'm... I'm..." The Zoroark stammered, unable to say what he wanted. His legs felt weak, his stomach was in knots, and his arms and chest felt unbearably heavy.
"Don't waste your pitiful apology on me, I don't care to hear it again." Eva spat, walking past Kora towards the Infirmary. "Let someone else listen to you on repeat for once."
Kora stood motionless in place. He could move, for some reason. He felt like falling over, but he couldn't even do that. Even when a cold draft swept in from the outside, he wouldn't budge. Instead he heard same two words in his head, over and over again.
Dangerous
Unstable
Dangerous
Unstable...
Dangerous...
Unstable . . .
/The Infirmary, After Eva spoke with Kora/
James and Tia chatted, having already wrapped up Nina with bandage and medicine. Zen was dozing off while sitting on the ground in front of where Kane was, and Jay sat next to Nina and Lucas on a bed. The frog in question was still upset, looking at the flower Kora gave her. She didn't know what to do with it, but she didn't wanna keep it anymore.
"You feeling any better? I'd pat you on the back, but..." Lucas said jokingly, although Nina and Jay didn't think it was funny. At all.
"Really." Jay said.
"Sorry..." Lucas apologized, pushing the tips of his fingered together. Nina sighed.
"Do you guys think overreacted a bit? I mean, he really did look sorry." She asked her friends. They both shrugged.
"Oh please, I wouldn't give that jerk any leeway. It isn't his first." Eva said as she walked in. "Trust me, it's best for you not to get near him. He attracts nothing but trouble." The Zangoose stood in front of Nina, waving hello at the three. She quickly noticed the flower Nina was holding.
"What kind of flower is that? Looks pretty." Eva asked.
"I don't know, Kora made it after we put his Lucario friend in one of the empty rooms." Nina replied, offering for Eva to hold the flower. The Zangoose held the flower cautiously.
"Kora? Really? I don't think he's ever done anything like this before." Eva said, sniffing the flower. It's scent was similar to a berry, but she couldn't think of which.
"Do you two know each other?" Nina asked. Eva frowned and nodded.
"Regrettably. He's been nothing but trouble since we were kids." The Normal-Type said, crossing her arms.
"Really? I always thought you two were pretty close." James butted in. "I mean, the two of you always hung out together, eating berries, telling stories, camping out by yourselves. If I didn't know any better, I'd say he was your boyfriend."
Eva suddenly turned bright red and stuttered, tryin desperately to say it was nothing like that. Nina giggled at Eva being so flustered, while Lucas and Tia got a good laugh in. All the commotion even woke up Zen and made Kane nearly fall out of bed.
"W-We weren't like that at all! H-he was annoying and, and obnoxious!"
"If that's true, why are you turning redder than I am?" Lucas asked, holding back some laughter.
"It's just, uh, hot in here! Yeah, it's hot!" Eva answered, nodding her head.
"Is it hotter than your boyfriend?" Zen asked with a smug grin, making Eva turn somehow even more red.
"Hey, I can't beat up those kids, but I sure as hell can kick your butt, Metalhead!" Eva's threat was drowned out mostly by Lucas laughing his butt off and Tia laughing so hard that she snorted. The heavily embarrassed Zangoose turned to James and glared at him. Her gaze was so deadly, it stopped the Floatzel's laughter immediately.
"This is your fault!" She said through gritted teeth.
"It's j-just a little joke, Eva! Some harmless father-daughter humor! No need to get, um, angry, right?" James tried to reason with his bright red daughter. Instead of getting any confirmation, James received a first-class ticket to getting thrown out the Infirmary rather forcibly.
After chucking her dad out, Eva dusted off her hands and let out a deep breath. She slipped out the room to check in on James, making sure he wasn't hurt too much. The Water-Type was perfectly fine, upside-down, without even a scratch or scuff on his skin.
"Did I do a good job, did the throw look authentic enough or do we have to do it again?" James asked, preferring to stay on the ground. Eva giggled and nodded.
"Thanks for lifting the mood, even though it was at my expense." The Zangoose thanked her father, sitting down next to him. James sat himself up straight and brushed some dirt off himself.
"If you don't mind me asking... what exactly do you think of Kora? Every time I ask you say something like, 'it's complicated,' or, 'not the same as when we were kids,' or, 'Dad, stop asking me that question while stuffing your face with berries.'"
"It's surprising how many times I've told you that last one, honestly." Eva replied, letting out a little laugh before sighing and holding her head in her paws. "I definitely think he's an idiot... and dense. Stubborn too."
"Next you're gonna tell me he's needlessly emotional." James replied. Eva sank back a little, realizing that James was alluding to how broad that description is. "So... why does it seem like you really despise him?"
"Well... it's kind of hard to look past him leaving me hurt and alone in the forest. That kind of thing might possibly be a deciding factor in liking or hating someone." Eva's tone shifted slightly towards a saddened one, which James picked up on quickly.
"Yeah, I understand. Sorry to bring it up, I know it's a rough patch to bring up. I'm hoping to help you past it."
As James stood up to leave, Eva grabbed his arm to stop him, a grateful smile upon her face. She pulled James down and hugged him tightly.
"No, it's nice knowing you care, no matter how annoying you are about it." The Normal-Type said as she let go and smiled warmly at her father, who promptly smiled back. "I think... I might have to apologize to him sometime."
The two stood up and started walking towards the Main Area, hoping Kora would still be nearby. Eva worked in her head just how she would make it up to the fox, especially after snapping at him twice in one day. She knew James would offer to help, and even though Eva would rather do it herself, she might need it.
When they arrived, Kora was no where to be seen, much to the pair's dismay. The Pokémon they did run into was a heavily exhausted, extremely sweaty Jax who nearly collapsed on the floor when James and Eva saw him. The Floatzel was fast enough to catch the Machamp and sit the tired Pokémon down. Jax was barely able to keep his eyes open, muttering something about going "super fast" and being made of gingerbread.
"Looks like you'll have to wait until later Eva, unless you think apologizing to Jax will work." James joked.
"I could use him as practice, they both share the same level of idiocy." Eva replied. Seeing no need to stand around doing nothing, Eva suggested that James can go do whatever it was he needed to do in the first place.
"Oh shoot, that's right! I totally forgot! I gotta go update those files on all the Islanders today! The one for Kora and Zen were replaced by old ones by mistake, the maker of which will remain unnamed." James exclaimed, running down the hall to the Guildmaster's Chambers.
"H-Hey, wait for me!" Eva yelled, chasing after the Water-Type. On her way after James, Eva accidentally knocked Jax over, who almost instantly fell asleep the moment he hit the ground.
/The Land of Rebirth/
"Rio..."
"...Rio..."
The Outlander woke up to someone voice somewhere in the distance.
"Rio . . ."
There wasn't anyone around from what Rio could tell. The forest had gotten much thicker since the last time Rio was there, taller too. It was difficult to maneuver between the trees, so much so that Rio gave up within a few minutes. The Outlander sat there in silence, not doing anything, until he heard something
"Ri... o..."
The voice was further away this time, Rio was hardly able to pick up on it. He wanted to call back out, but the thought of what Third warned him and Ryan rang in his head. It wasn't exactly safe around here, anyone or anything could be anywhere. The Outlander waited a bit longer, listening for any sign of Ryan or Third.
After a few minutes passed, Rio decided to set out and find them. He, again, was hindered by the compactness of the forest, but knew he had no other choice but to move. He figured that the forest would eventually open up, and hoped that he'd run into Ryan or Third soon.
'I hope they aren't in trouble.' Rio thought to himself. 'Just... wait for me.'
"Wait for me..."