I feel a light object brushing up against my side. It tickles. I open my eyes and see Rosie smiling at me. Why is Rosie waking me up?
"Get the stupid vulpix and the kirlia up, there's a meeting in the guild master's room," Rosie says. She walks out of the room after delivering her message. A meeting... Did something happen? I look over at Avia. She looks so peaceful when she's asleep, her breathing is rhythmic, and somehow calming. I poke her on her side gently. No response. I shove her lightly. Still no response. This calls for drastic measures.
"They're giving out cake, but if we don't hurry, we don't get any," I whisper in Avia's ear. She jumps up.
"Cake?" Avia asks. I laugh. "So there's no cake?"
"Probably not. There's a meeting in the guild master's room, there might be cake involved, but I seriously doubt it," I say. Cyria gets up and looks at us.
"A meeting? What happened?" Cyria asks.
"Heck if I know, only one way to find out," I say. We all walk to the guildmaster's room together.
When we arrive, everyone but Ri, Ica, and Spiral is there.
"Perfect, everyone's here," Chatot says, he closes the door behind us.
"What about Ri's team?" Amma asks.
"They're the reason we called this meeting in the first place," Chatot says. "You see, today is their graduation test."
"So they're going to graduate from the guild?" Xya asks.
"If they pass the test, then yes," Wigglytuff says.
"So what is the test?" Cyria asks.
"We're going to fight them, all of us. If they take all of us down, they win," Wigglytuff says.
"Are we just going to attack them as soon as they wake up, like we did with Arnold? Or are we going to ambush them in a dungeon, like we did with team MSB?" Loe asks.
"Won't they be expecting an ambush? It's not hard to see it coming, it's all we do for a graduation test," Diglett responds.
"They would, if they knew their test was today," Chatot says. "Telling them would've taken the fun out of it."
"So what's the plan, then?" I ask.
"We're going to ambush them in the woods," Wigglytuff says.
"How are we going to get them there?" Cyria asks.
"We're going to send them on a special mission to fight the 'monster' of the forest," Chatot says.
"And that monster is us," Rosie says.
"Precisely," Chatot says.
"Okay everyone, now that you know what we're doing, I'll lead you to the ambush spot," Chatot says.
"Won't they be suspicious if all of us are gone?" I ask.
"Don't worry about it, they won't suspect a thing," Chatot says. He leads us out of the guild and into the woods, where congregate in a clearing.
"Alright, so this is where they'll come, so now we need to figure out how to hide." Chatot says.
"Some of us can hide in the trees," I point out, "and the rest of us can hide behind them." This is pretty simple stuff, Chatot, a child could figure out how to hide here.
"You took the words right out of my mouth," Chatot says.
We all rush to find a tree to hide behind (or in). I end up hiding behind a tree kinda close to Avia and Cyria, not close enough to reach out and touch them, but close enough to see them clearly. Scythe flutters up into the tree I'm hiding behind.
We all wait silently for fifteen minutes or so before Ri, Ica, and Spiral arrive.
This was horribly organized. Is there supposed to be a signal for us to attack? They're coming this way! Scythe jumps out of the tree and slashes at Ri, who jumps back. Well, I'll take that as a signal. I shoot a shadow ball at Ri, he's still moving backwards. His feet are off of the ground, there's no way he could dodge that. He spins midair and cuts his jump short, then side-steps. If he can dodge in a situation like that, he's completely above my level. I'll have to rely on everyone else, and try to do what I can.
Wigglytuff (when did he get here?) drops out of the sky, trying to slam Ri into the ground, Ri once again side-steps. Wigglytuff throws a punch at him, which connects and knocks him back several feet. Everyone else jumps out of their spots and attacks, it looks like most of them are going for Ri. It seems like a smart strategy, hit someone powerful while they're down so they can't use their power, but Ri hasn't had the weaknesses I'd thought so far, so I'll stand back a little. Avia and Cyria seem to be going to Ica... I'll join them, the three of us should be able to take her out.
I begin to charge at Ica, but then it hits me. Where's Spiral?
"Get off of me!" Chatot yells. I look over at him, but all I see is him lying down, seemingly unconscious. A shadow next to him moves. It's going for Cyria now. There you are. I re-direct my charge to where it seems like Spiral is going to attack Cyria. He appears behind her before I can reach them, though, he bites her in the face several times, knocking her to the ground. I doubt she'll be moving any time soon.
I hear shouts of pain coming from Ri's direction. They must have gotten him good.
When I look over, I see that it's Mino who's being hit. Plusa, Rosie, Sunflora. Ri takes them out systematically, one by one, with speed I didn't even know he had. Within the next few minutes, everyone who attacked him originally is unconscious, and including Spiral's victims, only Wigglytuff, Avia, Scythe and I are are left.
Avia is trying, and for the most part failing, to beat Ica. Ica seems to be dealing most of the blows. I have to go help her! I run towards her, but then I see it to my right. Ri's flying towards me, foot-first. I can't change my direction now, he's going to hit me. I close my eyes, ready to absorb the blow, but it never comes. I open my eyes to see Ri staring down Scythe, who is in between the two of us. Scythe must have blocked the kick.
"Go help your teammate," Scythe says, "I've been waiting for this re-match for long enough, I don't need you getting in the way" I give him a quick nod, and run to Avia. She looks pretty beaten up, whereas Ica looks tired, but not nearly defeated. Avia shoots a weak stream of fire at Ica, who must be too tired to dodge, because she doesn't even try.
Ica counters by smacking Avia with her tail. Avia falls to the ground, but stands back up weakly a few seconds later. I use the opportunity to smash into Ica, just as she's hitting Avia again. Both girls fall, and neither seems to have enough strength to get up.
Then I feel a thump on the back of my head, and then nothing.
I wake up in the forest later. I don't know how long I was out, but it seems like most of us are conscious again. Ica's standing right next to me, she offers me a leg, I take it and lift myself up.
"Thanks," I say, "So what happened? Did Ri and Spiral finish us off?"
"Yeah, so now we've graduated," she replies.
"Will you ever come back to visit?" I ask.
"Not often, Ri's an explorer, he likes to have us move around when we can," she responds.
"But what about the festival of the moon tomorrow? Surely you're staying for that, right?" Avia asks.
"No. We've got something we need to accomplish right now, actually. It's time to go, Ica, say goodbye to your friends." Ri says. I must not have noticed him sneak up on us.
"I guess I have to go. It'll be a long time before I see you two again... I hate to leave you two like this, but I guess this is goodbye," Ica says. She hugs me, then Avia. Just like that? She's leaving just that? Even though I've only known her for a short time, she can't really leave my life just like that, can she?
"We'll miss you," I say.
"I'll miss you too," Ica says. She turns and walks away, followed by Spiral and Ri.
And now they're gone. Pokemon whom I've known for almost as long as I can remember, gone from my life.
