"Ugh!" Zazz whined. "Zyla, it's late. Shouldn't we be in bed?" The excited fenneken couldn't help but prance around him in circles. She was excited. She wouldn't tell us why yet, but it has to be something big.
It was probably midnight. Zazz and I had been asleep, as well as half the guild, when she woke us up. Regardless, the whole half that had been awake was following us now. They didn't look near as tired as our dark type companion. I know dark types needed their sleep, so Zyla must have some reason for forcing him out here.
"Does she know where it is this year?" To pay had pulled up beside me with my noticing.
"Hm? Where what is?" I asked. Theo sighed.
"I knew these three had no idea." He motioned to turn backwards, but no one followed him. "C'mon! I wanna go back to sleep!"
"The Dedenne Squad," Dua said simply. She didn't explain, so Topsy continued for her.
"The Dedenne Squad is a group of dedenne and several electric Pokemon who come around every Fourth of July to perform."
Fourth of July? Here? In Paradise? I thought that this was a pokemon only world. What would they have to celebrate here? Confusion must've shown on my face because Topsy continued to explain.
"Here in Paradise, we celebrate the end of all uneasiness between each of the continents."
"Continents?" I whispered.
"Yeah," Theo answered. "In this world, there's six continents, each with three different types of pokemon ruling them. These six continents used to never get along until about three hundred years ago, where each legendary, the rulers of each continent, signed a truce. This ended all wars. So we called it the Fourth of July because it sounds a lot like "Come fourth and jolly!"
"That's not why they called it that!" Topsy corrected. "It's in some ancient language. Back in those days, all the Pokemon said either 'fourth', 'of', or 'July', so they combined them to show their union."
"Myth," Zazz grumbled. "It's from an ancient language. It has no understood meaning."
Oh my Arceus. This world was overlapping a little too much.
"We're almost there!" Zyla called to the group behind her. "Just over this hill!" Without waiting for anyone to follow, she darted up a grassy hill. I darted forward to catch up, as did Zazz with heavy paws. Right when we were at the top, a warm wind blew my fur in my eyes. I flipped it out of the way while Zazz fixed the fluff on his head.
Oh. My. Arceus.
There was an entire ring of pokemon below us, and I'm that ring was a perfectly harmonized group of electric types. They were dancing in a circle, their bodies taking on flashy, sparkly forms as they moved from spot to spot, twirling about elegantly. As they moved, more and more began to join in, appearing from their hidden spots in the darkness. As they increased in numbers, the pokemon of the guild started racing down the hill to join the small ring of people that had already gather. Zyla took a seat where she stood and Zazz gratefully joined her.
"I knew they'd be here this year," she said excitedly.
"How'd you know?" I asked. "Don't they come here every year?" Zazz shook his head, yawning.
"Nope," he said. "This group travels all around the continent. No one knows where they'll be each year. And when they're nearby, travelers have to find them by exploring." He narrowed his eyes at Zyla. "How'd you know?"
"I did some research," she said. Oh, yeah. I had forgotten that legend and myths and all the book reading was her thing. Wow, what a great hobby to have. "It's a good thing we're here. The show just started."
I watched the electric types as they danced around. A few were chanting a low, sad song. As it went along, the changing sped up and the lights started flickering. The song became hopeful, then cheery, then energetic. As it went along, the group matches their moves to the music. I couldn't see what Pokemon they were because each one was nothing but a ball of light. When they passed each other closely, I made out a few dedenne (obviously), some emolga, elekids, voltorb, and a minun. There were more, but they were masked by their shadows.
The pokemon in the crowd were silent as they watched the show. No wonder it was so hard to find; the whole performance was completely mute. Even as everyone watched, all that could be heard was the faint, faint breathing of the crowd.
"Hey, Zakuro." Zyla had whispered, but I still flinched.
"O-oh. Yeah?" It was hard to see in the darkness, but I could faintly see her smile. It wasn't her usual smile. It was different.
"Promise you'll stay here forever?" Her words didn't process until shortly after she had said them. Me? A pokemon forever? Was that even possible? Surely as soon as I filled the prophecy, I'd have to go back. But maybe I had a choice. Maybe I could stay. I didn't remember anything about Earth, and maybe they didn't remember me. But, a new life here with Zyla? That'd…
That'd be nice.
"I promise," I said with a soft smile. "Forever." She beamed.
"Thanks, Zakuro." She looked to Zazz to see his reaction, but the pokemon hadn't been paying attention. He was absorbed in the bright light, the beautiful display, and the gorgeous pokemon who continued to dance. In a way, that was alright. Because he wasn't as close to the reason I wanted to stay as Zyla was. It wasn't bad to stay because it's where I felt happiest, right?
I had a choice, didn't I?
Dedenne Used Dazzle!
The Guild Is Super Affected!
Zakuro Is Becoming Attached!
Saving Game…
Game Saved!