-Afternoon, Eden National Reserve-
Down in the depths of the plateaux's jungle, the leaves that lay flat on the tree's stretched out branches gently rustled in the peaceful climate. Small dew drops sparkled in the sun as their own weight rolled them towards the leaf's tip, dripping off into the shade where it broke over the ground in a splash.
From the shade a rustling sound was heard near a shaking tuft of grass. Followed swiftly by the soft sound of something stepping on the crumbling earth. The grass shook in place as something could slowly be seen emerging from the plant life. Another step was about to be taken when the much louder sound of branches bending and rocks rolling over made whatever was attempting to move quickly flee back into the safety of darkness. Its movements rustling past the tall grass on its way back.
Arriving in the area under the unassuming sunlight, Ruby lead her team as she darted her head left and right. "Come on team, just a little bit further and I'm sure we'll find these… uh what was the first thing on the list again?"
Yang looked down at her scroll. "Some kind of dandelion seeds, I dunno."
Walking beside Yang, Weiss entered the area squinting her eyes. "Wait a minute." Weiss dramatically turned to Ruby. "We've been here before! You've just led us around in a giant circle!"
"C'mon Weiss I'm pretty sure I would have noticed something like that on the way here." Ruby denied.
"Oh really? Then how do you explain that?" Weiss pointed off to the side where the large group campsite could be seen in the distance.
"Oh, I guess I did lead us in a circle. My bad." Ruby apologised.
"Your bad?! It's already been twenty minutes Ruby and we haven't even come close to finding one item on the list! I will not be held responsible for receiving a poor grade due to your poor exploration skills!"
"I already said I was sorry."
"No you haven't!"
While the two partners were arguing Yang looked up from her scroll to see Blake slowly joining up with them. "Hey, what took ya?"
"Nothing did. Have you found anything yet?" Blake unemotionally answered.
"You know you could at least try to look interested. I wish I was back the same as you but it's not like we can do anything about it, so we might as well make the most of it."
"I guess." Blake looked down at the ground to avoid eye contact when she could swear, she heard rustling. Blake gasped and quickly unsheathed her Gambol Shroud, raising its blade towards the grass in the distance.
"Blake?! What is it?" Yang urgently asked.
"Didn't you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
Blake looked at her partner then back at the still grass. She slowly put her weapon away and looked around aimlessly. "Nothing. It was nothing. Never mind."
"A ha!"
Blake and Yang quickly looked over to Ruby who triumphantly held a bunch of cotton-like spore's in her hands.
"I knew they would be around here!" Ruby triumphantly announced to her team as she held them close to her face.
"Alright fine. You were right this time. Let's just bag these up and then we can-"
Ruby had already lost interest in what Weiss was talking about, instead choosing to take a sniff of the plant seeds in her hands. Not only did they have a fresh scent but one just so happened to get sucked up Ruby's nostril making her wince.
"A… A… ACHOO!"
Ruby sneezed so strongly that all of the spore's in her hands were blown away, sent drifting along the wind into reaches unknown. Her teammates, Weiss in particular judged her harshly with annoyed glares.
"Honestly I would think you'd have learned after the Dust incident." Weiss moaned.
"Yeah. Way to go crater face." Yang mocked.
"Come on! Don't start that again Yang! I can't control my nose hairs!" Ruby begged, attempting to excuse herself.
The loud cries of her team made Blake momentarily smile at their innocent antics only to be reminded of the tainted white symbol that ruled over her conscience, her smile fading away. Distracted in her thought's she didn't even hear the sound of rustling behind her as a shadow stared at her team from behind the trees.
"Parfume!" Slurpuff announced.
Slurpuff pointed her stubby paw towards a series of thick thorny vines that were wrapped together so thickly that they bared the appearance of bushes that concealed the source of the aroma being sniffed. Kai and Robin leaned in closer to stare in between the vines to get a better look where they both caught a glimpse of a small yellow item hidden in the brush.
"Well it's definitely there but how are we gonna get to it? I know we have aura but I didn't come out here to get poked and stabbed by thorns today." Robin huffed.
Kai put his hands in his jacket pockets. "Don't worry I've got this."
A moment later Kai's hands re-emerged adorned with his gauntlets, a sight which caught Robin's attention.
"What are those?" Robin asked.
"These are my weapons; Gant Blindé. Part Multi Action Dust Gauntlet and part extendable grappling hook. Pretty cool right?" Kai crouched down and used his weapon to push the prickly vines away without injuring his hands.
"Part grappling hook? Isn't that a bit unnecessary?" Robin critiqued.
Kai scrunched his brow in annoyance. "Hey grappling hooks are cool! Don't diss it!"
Kai rummaged around a bit more until he removed enough foliage to get a clear view of the pair of listed items. A large golden seed with dark lines marked all around it.
Putting his hands around the seeds Kai pulled them out. "There we go. Two for the price of one. Here you go Robin."
Robin looked down at Kai's open palm holding the seed. She picked it up in her fingers and without hesitation tossed it over her shoulder. "What did I say about me needing help? I could've gotten it myself."
Kai got upright, staring Robin in the eye. "Less than a minute ago you were complaining about getting it. I'm just trying to help."
Robin turned and walked away. "Well I don't want it. Your Slurpuff narrowing down the search is one thing but as for retrieving, I'm not expecting any handouts. Don't expect me to give you any either."
Kai stared at Robin's back in slight bewilderment. "Wow… I knew you were stubborn but-"
Robin looked over her shoulder. "If you've got something to say about me. At least have the guts to say it to my face." Kai quickly closed his mouth, making Robin look back in front of her. "That's what I thought. Now come on, I need to get myself another seed."
Robin walked off with Kai slowly making his way back up to her. Staying in place Slurpuff watched her trainer and his roommate walk off, while she sniffed the air to catch a whiff of their parfume's.
"Such a pungent aroma coming off her parfume. Such a strong parfume clearly has been applied with too little restraint." Slurpuff judged as she too made her way after them.
Tiny bubbles of air escaped from the submerged rock bed that lay under the crashing wake of the plateaux's waterfall. The cool blue water was tranquil and pristine when it was disturbed by the arrival of two entities diving into the water. One a freshwater ninja amphibian, the other a saltwater cannon-clawed crustacean. Greninja and Clawitzer swam through the clear liquid as quick as they could to reach the bottom, their eyes peeled for the items they were tasked with collecting. Momentarily stopping his swim Greninja looked around where in the dark shadowed areas he spotted something. Bubbles slowly appeared from under his tongue as he went to investigate closer up where he found what he was looking for. Reaching out he grasped chips of pink coral, scooping them up in his front foot. He turned around and began his swim to the surface taking a moment to taunt the approaching Clawitzer for finding the coral first. Clawitzer shook her head in dismissal as she swam further down to retrieve the item.
Deep in the lush jungles of the plateaux where the canopy was so thick that shadows blanketed the entire space, a black silhouette blended in with the darkness. A high-pitched squeal was heard echoing from trunk to trunk allowing the silhouette to expertly make it towards a faint-light source.
The glow illuminated the silhouette to reveal Noivern flying down to meet up with the bioluminescent light emitted from various purple and pink mushroom caps. Cautiously approaching them, Noivern's sniffed them cautiously when his eyelids grew heavy and soon closed as he fell to a swift slumber. The ground slowly broke up next to them to form a hole that Flareon's head popped out of. She stared at the sleeping dragon and narrowed her eyes in poor judgement.
A black paw stepped off the jagged edges to leap to ascend to a higher point. The paw landed on top of another edge that allowed it to jump higher once more. A blue blur scaled the rocky cliffside like it was nothing, jumping higher and higher until at last they had reached the top.
Gently bending their knees so their posture stood straight, Lucario looked ahead to see a large brown birds' nest.
"GRRAWRR!"
Lucario looked over his shoulder to see Tyrantrum's head rising above the edge of the cliffside. On top of which perched Robin who calmly walked forward off her Pokémon's head onto the hard rock. She quickly caught up with Lucario as the two looked into the nest to see it made with not just sticks and feathers but most alarmingly… bones.
Gently placing their paws or hands into the nest they took a portion of the sticks, feathers and bones and walked back to Tyrantrum who gently lowered his head and bent his knees to safely escort them to the ground. Once on the ground Tyrantrum sat on his behind and scratched the back of his head with one of his feet, a sight which made Kai and Lucario smile but made Robin groan as she returned him.
"Forty-six, forty-seven, forty-eight, forty-nine…" Kai's eyes scanned the list on his scroll, muttering to himself. "One more and we're finished and it only took us a little over an hour."
Slurpuff triumphantly raised her paw. "Our parfume's are fragrant with success!"
"At least this stupid task is almost over. Maybe if we're fast enough, they'll take us back and we won't have to spend the night." Robin commented.
Kai looked up from his scroll and gazed at Robin. "Could you at least try to be a little positive? At least to avoid getting us attacked by evil monsters?"
"I doubt that parfume very much. This area's parfume is very baffling with an overwhelming scent of various parfumes' but none of which has been a Grimm parfume." Slurpuff explained.
"Really? Are you sure Slurpuff?"
Slurpuff nodded. "The parfume never lies."
Robin grunted. "Don't take this personally. But I'd be hesitant to take the word of a meringue over your own judgement. We're the trainers remember."
Kai shrugged. "Doesn't mean your team can't come up with a good idea. Besides I doubt even you can argue against Slurpuff having a better sense of smell over you."
"Bah! Do not even attempt to argue with Berry parfume. Her parfume is one of bitterness and sourness." Slurpuff waved her nose away from Robin in dismissal.
"Berry parfume?" Robin repeated in confusion.
"It's a nickname. Everyone other than me and my team gets one. Must be because of all those berries you grow." Kai explained.
Robin just looked away in disinterest. "Whatever. Let's just hurry up and finish this."
"Yeah I guess you're… you're…"
The two pushed on until they came face to face with their destination. Against one of the rocky walls of the plateaux was a large tunnel. Staring inside all you could see was pitch black giving it the appearance of a singularity. The two came to a stop in front of the entrance with Kai in particular eying it up and down, a certain stiffness taking over him.
"So, is this it?" Robin asked.
"…" No response came from Kai or Slurpuff.
Robin took a step forward before looking back at the pair behind her. "What is it? Don't tell me we've walked all this way for nothing?"
"…"
Again, Kai didn't respond. His focus was completely focused on the tunnel in front of him keeping his attention as though he were in a hypnotic trance. Robin began to show less annoyance and more curiosity for Kai's sudden silent treatment when Slurpuff gently patted her paw against his leg.
"Kai parfume…" She said in a gentle tone.
The soft sensation finally snapped Kai back into reality as he blinked and shook his head. "I'm sorry I… just zoned out for a minute there. Slurpuff what is it?"
"The last parfume is inside."
Kai looked down at Slurpuff, then past Robin at the tunnel's entrance. "It is. Right, that's… that's what we were doing here. In front of this cave. Which we are about… to go in…"
Kai's disposition didn't go unnoticed by Robin who decided to walk closer to him. "Okay, you're acting weird. Well weirder. Don't tell me you're giving up."
"Giving up?! No, not me it's just… it's just…" Kai took a deep breath in and out. "I just… can't go inside there. And I can't send any of my team in there either. That's all."
Robin put her hands on her hips in disappointment. "Well that sounds like giving up to me. Why are you even freaking out anyway? Surely, you've explored caves before? What about Connecting Cave? Glittering Cave? Reflection Cave? Or Terminus Cave the place where I assume you caught your Noivern when he was a Noibat?"
"Noibat actually flew out of the cave. Funny story really."
"You're dodging the question."
Robin leaned in closer, intentionally making Kai more stressed out. "Okay fine! I can enter caves… but only if I have to. And I mean really have to alright. Honestly… right now I'd rather fail then go in there okay."
"Seriously, you're not afraid of the dark or enclosed spaces but you're afraid of caves? How does that even-"
"I said I can't go in ALRIGHT!"
Kai's final outburst made Robin take a step back, the volume and the tone surprising her. Kai noticed her flinch and immediately calmed down. "Sorry it's just… I just can't go underground I just can't." Kai looked down at the ground shamefully. "And I can't send any of my Pokémon down there either because…"
Kai stopped himself before he finished, something clearly being on his mind. Robin having enough turned around and began walking into the tunnel by herself.
"Fine. Stay out here and give up then. Just don't expect me to get you a sample though, you'll just have to fail." Robin took her final steps into the tunnel where her figure soon vanished inside the darkness leaving Kai and Slurpuff alone.
Seeing Robin go in alone, Kai nervously gulped and took a step forward. His boot crunching against the earth. Taking a shaky breath, he took another one to get a step closer. "Come on Kai. Come on. Get a grip, get a-"
He took another step forward towards the dark, cold, abyss in front of him, the heat draining from his face. The darkness mesmerised him once again as he stared deep into the void with an intense look. His eyes glued to the end of the never-ending corridor; Kai felt he was unable to look away as in the back of his mind he could feel a painfully familiar pain.
"I…he…som...on…"
"K…wa…sto…!"
Incoherent ramblings went on in Kai's head as he began to slowly lose control of his breathing. The heat from not just the plateaux but from his anxiety making him sweat as slowly a blue flicker could be seen in his eyes.
"Kai parfume!"
The shout shut off the noises and the feelings in a sudden moment as though a switch was turned off. Kai slowly got control of his breathing once again and looked down at his feet to see Slurpuff standing there beside him.
"We do not need to explore the tunnel's parfume. We are not on a journey to seek badge parfumes. We are not out to save a lost parfume. Our parfume's are okay. Our parfume's are okay." Slurpuff calmly spoke to Kai.
Kai stared at his family member and managed to smile. "Thank you Slurpuff… come on let's head back to camp. I'll set everything up for us and maybe you can prepare lunch."
Slurpuff smiled leaving her tongue out. "My parfume would like nothing more."
The trainer and Pokémon turned around and began their trek back ready to leave the tunnel behind. However, Kai couldn't help but glance over his shoulder for one last look at the spot where Robin went into, before turning his head back forward and not looking back.
Elsewhere Team JNPR were in the midst of gathering a handful of leaves from the nearby trees. Jaune jumped up and down on the spot to reach the upper branches only for him to literally fall short. Hearing his grunting and the sound of his shoes repeatedly stomping the ground Pyrrha looked behind to see Jaune struggling.
"Jaune. Do you need me to give you a leg up?" Pyrrha kindly offered.
Jaune looked back to see Pyrrha. "No Pyrrha I'm good. I just need a bit… more… reach!" Jaune stood on his tip toes and groaned in his attempts to grab the foliage. Putting his hands on his knees, Jaune bent over and panted when he had a sudden epiphany. Reaching to his side Jaune pulled out his sword and stood on his tip toes, using his sword to hit the branches.
While Jaune struggled, to his side Ren successfully jumped down from the tree holding a bundle of leaves in his arms.
Looking over to see his teammate Ren narrowed his eyes. "Jaune? Are you doing alright?"
"Almost got it…" Jaune replied having not properly heard Ren.
Looking away in response Ren placed the leaves down on the jungle floor for Nora to collect and put away. Taking in the calm of the local terrain Ren took a calm collected breath while closing his eyes. His brow suddenly furrowed as though he felt a change in the air, he concentrated on that feeling as he shifted himself towards the unknown darkness further ahead of him. Cautiously he lowered his hands down to his waist preparing his weapons, unable to ignore the sensation that he was being watched.
"GAAHH!"
The loud scream followed by a loud crash brough Ren out of his senses where he and his team all stared at the base of a tree. Under which was an outstretched Jaune covered in freshly cut branches and large green leaves. Shaking his head Jaune exposed ruffled his nature filled hair and spat out a small clump of drool covered leaves.
"Okay… Now I could use some help…" Jaune admitted in defeat.
Pyrrha couldn't help but giggle at Jaune's ruffed up appearance, using her hand to cover her mouth. "Don't worry I'm coming."
As Pyrrha helped her partner up Ren looked back out into the distance. The feeling he had before had disappeared, was it nothing? Ren couldn't be completely sure? But for now, Ren moved his hands away from his sides and relaxed.
"Hey Re~n!"
Ren turned to see Nora holding up a pair of branches by the sides of her head. "Guess what I am!"
Ren showed confusion at Nora's antics. "Uhh… A tree?"
"Seriously! That's your first guess?!"
"Am I wrong?"
Nora pouted, dropping the branches and walking off. "Forget it. You ruined the joke." Ren just watched her walk off when she turned back round and leaned in close to his face. "I was an elk! An elk!"
Nora's leaned away from Ren leaving him to only blink awkwardly in response. "…That would have been my next guess."
At the campsite, a small group of Huntsman and Huntresses in training were in the midst of setting up camp rather than obtaining the items on the list immediately. Watching over them with a Noctowl like gaze, Goodwitch hardly felt the gentle breeze blowing the pointy ends of her cape.
"Glynda."
Goodwitch looked over to see Ironwood walking towards her from his own high-tech tent. "James. Shouldn't you be watching over Miss Polendina?"
"She should be able to look after herself for the time being. Provided nothing alarming should happen in the next few days." Ironwood answered coming to a stop next to Goodwitch.
"So, Ozpin has told you then."
"Ozpin has told me many things Glynda. You need to be more specific."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Ironwood looked over to the professional Huntress. "It's not often I see you this defensive."
"I am not defensive. Just wary."
Ironwood smirked. "Spoken like someone on the defensive. I should know." Ironwood's smirk faded into a serious frown. "I am not looking forward to the next few nights either Glynda."
"I'm not concerned about my own wellbeing." Glynda looked outwards taking notice of Team CRDL pitching up their tent, then further down she spotted Emerald and Mercury talking about the list of items they needed to obtain. The looks on their faces showed they weren't impressed. "I've had to go through this twice already and I have already prepared myself. But these students may lack the emotional maturity to handle this, it wouldn't be the first time I've seen it."
Ironwood looked out along with Glynda. "That is true. Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what goes through Oz's head sometimes. Even if someone has to go, he could send professionals or elder years-"
"Or your machine's?"
"If necessary." Ironwood turned back towards his tent. "I suppose I should check in with the fleet over Vale again."
Goodwitch sighed. "If you must then don't let me stop you."
Ironwood paused outside his tent and looked back at Goodwitch. "You know Glynda, my tent is always open should you find the need for some company."
"And you should know James that mine is completely shut off."
Ironwood gave a small chuckle, as he went inside. "There you go being defensive again."
Goodwitch brushed the comment off and went back to her observation of the students. However, she immediately noticed a change since the last time she checked, an extra student and his small pink companion arriving and beginning to make camp.
In a notably open and secluded area of the campsite Kai unrolled a sleeping bag from his backpack before looking towards an unpitched tent. "I've always hated these things but if we have to, might as well get started."
Kai picked up a set of illustrated instructions and set to work setting up the tent. Laying out the mesh flat on the ground before putting the mesh together one pole at a time. The minutes dragged on and while Slurpuff had adorned her chef's hat and began to work, lighting a fire with some nearby sticks and her Flamethrower before pulling out a frying pan and letting it heat up over the flames.
"You have got to be kidding me?"
Kai and Slurpuff looked to the side to see Robin standing opposite them, staring at Slurpuff.
"Robin? You're back already?" Kai said in surprise.
"It didn't take long to get the item, not that you would know. But what exactly is your Slurpuff doing with a frying pan?" Robin asked suspiciously.
"My parfume is preparing a delicious parfume filled meal." Slurpuff replied.
Robin looked at the meringue Pokémon with complete befuddlement. "…I could handle them talking. I could handle them battling. But this… This?!"
"Come on Robin, Slurpuff are used in kitchen's all the time." Kai explained.
"As taste testers! Not as chef's!"
"Well that was how it started." Kai began to recollect. "When I first caught Slurpuff as a Swirlix she would always sniff and taste the food I had. She would either give me seasonings or ingredients and eventually she just took over. Out of my whole team she probably handled pronunciation the best of my team when she started to speak thanks to all the cook books and cooking shows she watched after I finished my journey."
"I would hardly count saying perfume every sentence good pronunciation."
Slurpuff pointed her frying pan at Robin in a challenging manner. "Parfume! Do not underestimate my parfume Berry parfume!"
"You really think you can cook! Fine!" Robin went for her satchel and brought out three of her berry pots containing: Pecha berries, round blue berries, and a green berry with yellow stripes attached to the stem. "But let me show you what a real cook is."
Robin quickly set up her own cooking station and quickly sliced and diced her berries like a professional, placing them into an iron cooking dish where the berries began to form a thick glaze. Pulling into her bag again Robin added spinach leaves and walnuts and began stirring it all together.
Slurpuff raised her nose and sniffed the air, her face relaxing with delight before scrunching up in realisation. "I suppose the parfume is… decent…"
Looking over to her trainer she saw Kai practically drooling at the mouth at Robin's cooking skills. Slurpuff gaped at her trainer's betrayal looking away dismissively.
Soon the time had passed and Robin's dish was ready to serve. Pecha, Oran and Aguav berry salad with walnuts. "Has your Pokémon ever cooked something like this before?"
Kai shook his head. "Never something this healthy looking."
"The sugar's in my dishes parfume are healthy and energy providing!" Slurpuff defended.
Robin reached into her satchel and grabbed her team. "All right. Time to eat!"
Chesnaught, Beedrill, Tyrantrum, Flareon, Clawitzer and Beartic all popped out ready to be served.
"Ches! Naught! (Yeah! Food!)" Chesnaught cheered.
"Flareon Flareon. (I suppose I am rather peckish.)" Flareon politely stated.
Tyrantrum held his tongue out of his mouth and panted as he lay on his front waiting to be fed.
Looking at Robin's full team Kai smiled. "I guess it's my team's lunch too. Come on guys!"
Greninja, Talonflame, Aegislash, Lucario and Noivern joined Slurpuff ready for their meal.
"Hoo boy I'm hungry! All that retrieving works up an appetite!" Greninja declared, raising his front legs in the air.
"You retrieved one item in your ideal environment." Lucario pointed out.
"Your point?"
"Wait? Where's the food?!" Talonflame yelled.
Talonflame yell made Kai and his team look over to Slurpuff's cooking area to see that her frying pan was bare and that she hadn't even started cooking yet.
"Aah! My parfume was too distracted by the waft of another that I have yet to start the parfume's prep!" Slurpuff cried out in anguish, tears dripping from her eyes.
Robin's team all sceptically looked at the fairy type. "Flare Flare Flareon. (You'd think she'd show a little dignity.)" Flareon critiqued.
"Claw. Clawitzer Claw. (Aye. She be leaking more than a damaged hull.)" Clawitzer agreed.
Kai gently patted Slurpuff on the head. "There, there Slurpuff. We can wait a little longer to eat, it's no big deal."
Slurpuff rubbed her eyes and sniffed immediately perking up. "I apologise Kai parfume. I do not know what came over my parfume." Slurpuff's eyes became fire as she rose her frying pan up triumphantly. "For now, is the time to cook a bountiful parfume that will put Berry parfume's to shame!"
Robin completely ignored Slurpuff with a clump of salad in her mouth. "Gwoo lu wii tha. (Good luck with that.)"
Flareon stared at her trainer with a look of disappointment. "Flareon Flareon Flare. (Couldn't you at least swallow before speaking.)"
As Slurpuff began cooking her families' lunch Greninja stood up and stretched. "Well not that isn't fun but I'm gonna go explore."
Kai stood up to stare down Greninja. "Greninja."
"Kai. Let me do this."
Kai crossed his arms in defiance but relented and sighed in defeat. "Fine but you need to take someone with you."
Greninja sloped in disappointment "Ugh! Come on Kai! Don't do this to me, you know I can handle myself. Is this because of you saw that cave, cause if it is I solemnly swear on Talonflame's life that I won't go in there. Scout's honour."
"It's not about that Greninja. We're in a completely unknown environment, not even Miss Goodwitch or the others know much about this place. I'm just being cautious."
Greninja slouched and sighed. "Fiiine." Looking over towards his team Greninja tapped his foot in the middle of his decision making when he suddenly lit up with an idea. "So, I have to take someone?"
"Yes Greninja. You have to take someone." Kai repeated.
"Just as long as its someone."
"Yes."
"And you'll be okay with it?"
"Pretty much. Now either convince someone to go with you or sit back down."
"All right. All right. Cool your jets." Greninja walked in a circle humming to himself. "Then I'll ask… him!"
Greninja stopped in place and extended his front foot out to point at the Pokémon he wanted to accompany him. That Pokémon being-?
"Chesnaught?!" Robin turned to her starter who has a mass of spinach hanging outside his mouth as though he were a wild Milktank chewing on some grass.
Chesnaught looked at Greninja, swallowing the lump of veg held in his mouth. "Che? (Me?)"
"Do you happen to see any other Chesnaught here? Come on big lug up you get, we've got some splorin' to do." Greninja stepped forward with Robin getting in the way.
"You are not taking him with you." Robin stated harshly.
"Oh contraire. Kai told me I could take someone. He didn't specify who they came from and besides…" Greninja leaned closer to Robin's face. "Who knows if I keep speaking like this maybe he'll pick up talking easier. It was always a Mankey see Mankey do with us. So, what do you say?"
"I don't think so." Robin reinforced her hesitant opinion.
"I mean… he's not completely wrong." Kai pointed out.
"He's not?"
"I'm not?" Greninja asked at the same time as Robin. "I mean… of course I'm not."
Kai groaned. "As far as communication goes having my team talk to each other was more effective then me talking to them. And while I don't know too much about your Chesnaught I did say Greninja could take anyone so…" Kai shrugged his shoulders. "I'm okay with it."
"Seriously? Your Pokémon didn't do what you wanted and you're okay with it?" Robin shook her head. "I shouldn't even be surprised at this point."
"Well you heard my trainer come on big lug." Greninja shoved Chesnaught's shell only for him to not even budge. "Here we go. Here we go. Here we go-"
"Chesnaught. Chesnaught Chesnau. (I don't know. Robin doesn't seem happy about it.)" Chesnaught pointed out.
"She'll warm up eventually now move- GAH!"
Chesnaught suddenly got up, accidently knocking Greninja backwards onto his back. "Chesnaught Ches? (Hey where'd you go?)"
Greninja got on his four feet and shook his dazed head before looking at his team. "Shut up."
"We were not saying anything." Lucario responded.
"But you were thinking it. Especially you Aegislash!"
Aegislash huffed. "What I think of your foolishness is none of your concern Greninja."
"You know what?!"
The group all looked to Kai's Talonflame as he spread his wings. "I'm sick of this! I'm outta here!" In one flap Talonflame shot into the air where he adjusted himself, flying out into the distance.
After a moment of silence Greninja raised his front legs into the air. "Oh, come on! I have to have a buddy while Kalos Fired Chicken over there gets to go off on his own! How is that fair?!"
Kai rubbed his forehead. "It's not and I'll talk with him later. For now, though-" Kai looked over to Noivern. "Noivern would you mind following Talonflame. Just in case."
Noivern nodded. "Okay Kai. I'll try." Noivern flapped his wings and ascended up to try and keep up with his big brother.
All the while Robin and her team looked at the who scene with complete and utter befuddlement at their actions.
"Clawitzer Clawitzer. (Their crew hardly seems ship shape.)" Clawitzer commented.
"Beartic Bear. (And yet they beat us.)" Beartic reminded
"BzzzZ! BzZzzZ! BzzZzz! (Oh so they can do whatever they want but I can't! That makes me so-! So-!)" Beedrill's buzzing slowly grew in agitation
"Flareon Flare Flareon. (Do try to control your temper Beedrill.)" Flareon advised.
Beedrill's head drooped. "Bzz. (Sorry.)"
Robin stared at the ensuing discord with a painful feeling in her chest. "Do you have any control over your Pokémon?! Any at all?!"
Kai looked towards Robin. "Of course, I do. They just have very strong opinions sometimes. Where is this coming from?"
"It's-!"
A thud suddenly made the word ripple around Robin making her instinctively gasp and look behind her in shock. She just saw her Tyrantrum with his foot stamped in a different area of the ground. With her breath partially panting and her breath slowly slowing down, Kai looked at Robin struggling with a feeling he knew all too well.
"Robin are you okay?"
Robin slowly composed herself and looked back at Kai. "I'm fine. It's nothing." Looking over to Greninja and Chesnaught she finally relented. "Okay fine. You can go with Kai's Greninja. But don't wander too far or stay away for too long. Got it?"
Chesnaught grinned. "Chesnaught. (Yes ma'am)."
Greninja placed his front foot on Chesnaught's back and walked with him towards the edge. "Okay big guy. Now that we're away from the wet blankets tell me… what have you always wanted to do?"
"Ches. Ches… Chesnaught! (Well. I've always… I've always wanted to throw a rock!)" Chesnaught happily answered.
Greninja blankly stared at his fellow started. "Okay but maybe think a little bigger."
"Chesnaught Ches? (Throwing a big rock?)"
Greninja slapped his front foot on his face. "Okay. How about…" Greninja leaned up and whispered something to Chesnaught, making his grin go even wider.
"Chesnaught Chesnaught! (That sounds really fun!)"
The two Pokémon walked away while Kai watched them before paying his attention on Robin eating the remainder of her lunch.
"Robin…" He murmured to himself.
A shadow rushed over the canopies of the tress below, accompanied by a warm breeze and the scattered lights from falling embers. Piercing through the air with his aerodynamic flight positioning Talonflame flew at high speeds in the summer sun.
His eyes rolled back the way he came. "You don't need to follow me Noivern."
Following his grunts came the Flying/Dragon type in question riding his tailwind. "Come on Bro. Kai told us not to go off on our own. You don't want to worry him, do you?"
Talonflame rolled his eyes back in front. "If Kai is seriously worried about me taking myself then he's the one we should be worried about. Besides this is important."
"Important? I thought you were just going for one of your regular flights." Noivern asked.
Talonflame quickly accelerated, becoming a tiny spec in Noivern's vision. Quickly getting over it, Noivern flapped his wings to give himself a boost of speed to catch up. In his view he suddenly saw Talonflame fly vertically upwards before descending at an even faster speed. Though confused, Noivern didn't slow down and followed Talonflame's flight path where he descended to find a familiar stop.
"Hey wait a minute… This is…" Noivern looked around to see a cave embedded in the cliffside in front of him, with Talonflame at its entrance. "Big bro, you're not thinking of going in, are you?"
Talonflame turned around and scoffed. "Of course I'm going in! If Kai doesn't get that item then we fail! And I'm not gonna fail just because Kai's too skittish to enter some stupid hole." Talonflame grumbled as he faced the ground. "It took him a whole week on Route 7 to psych himself up to enter Connecting Cave. And we don't have time for that!"
"But he said we can't go in there." Noivern reminded.
"So I tell him I found the item while flying around. What Kai doesn't know won't hurt him."
"I don't know. Normally when Kai tells us not to do something its for a good reason." Noivern nervously looked down.
Talonflame groaned. "Look, I don't care what you or Kai think. I am going in that cave and I am getting that item!"
Turning faced his back to Noivern and spread his wings to prepare himself to go in. Nervously inching forward step by step Noivern made his way closer. "Um… Bro…"
Talonflame gave an annoyed grunt. "What is it?!"
Noivern flinched, hiding behind his wings. "Well it's just… Kai told me to follow you and well… I can navigate the dark easily… so…"
Talonflame sighed, flying on ahead. "You want to follow me, go ahead. I'm not gonna try and stop you."
Noivern witnessed Talonflame flying in and slowly uncurled himself. Spreading his own wings and flying into the cave, he opened his mouth slightly and emitted a high frequency noise that rebounded off the surrounding environment creating a sonar view of the cave. Hearing Talonflame's wingbeat up ahead he saw an outline of his figure. The embers from Talonflame body fell to the ground to momentarily light up the ground floor. Round boulders littered the edges of the cave that made odd cracking sounds as Noivern passed making him look back momentarily. Unaware to it all, Talonflame continued his flight unimpeded as he flew around a corner, squinting his eyes to scan the dark area until eventually a smirk formed on his beak. Flying down to the ground he flapped rapidly to slow himself down until he was just above the ground where the item was in front of him; a jagged orange crystal that looked as if it broke off a separate rock surface.
Talonflame picked the gem up in his talon and inspected it with a rough hum. A sudden gust of wind ruffled Talonflame's plumage to the side signalling Noivern's arrival.
"Is that it?" Noivern asked.
"Yeah this is it? Why Kai didn't think we could do this I have no idea." Talonflame remarked, stuffing the gem inside his feathery chest as a held item. "Come on, let's get out of here. This place is too cramped for me."
"…"
Talonflame and Noivern prepared to leave when Noivern suddenly paused. His ears twitched and rotated in place making Noivern anxiously look around his surroundings. "Bro, do you hear that?"
"With your ears you hear everything. Stop worrying and come on!" Talonflame flew away at high speeds, leaving Noivern alone in the dark.
"Bro wait! Don't leave!" Noivern's cry fell on deaf ears as he looked around.
"…hoooo…"
The mysterious raspy sounds echoed in Noivern's ear drums. Noivern shifted his feet while rotating his head to get a view of his surroundings but no matter what Noivern couldn't trace the sound.
"…aaaaa…"
Starting to panic Noivern ascended upwards and made his way back to the entrance, wishing to leave as soon as possible. Turning around the corner he left the cave in isolation and loneliness.
"…earrr…"
Cracking came from the sides of the walls as odd figures began to move. Among them in the pitch-black distance, a glowing blue light suddenly appeared. Partially revealing a phantom-like silhouette that looked in the direction Noivern went.
"…hmmm…"
In one section of the plateaux the afternoon summer sun raised overhead heated the ground over it like it was an oven. Heat lines formed in the air and bare rock became too hot to touch as Ruby Rose started to wilt from the intense rays.
"Phew… it's so hot…" Ruby sighed rubbing sweat of her forehead. "How long have we been out here?"
Weiss pulled her scroll out and stared at its face. "Just over three and a half hours."
Ruby collapsed onto the ground moaning. "Uuu~gh."
Weiss shook her head at her partner's current attitude when the sound of footsteps crunching in the ground alerted her to her teammates returning. "Did you get it?"
Yang gave a thumbs up with one hand and raised a clear bag filled with dry earth in another. "Yup. One bag of oddly specific dirt. That's another one off the list."
"How many do we have left to get?" Blake groaned.
Weiss pressed on her scroll to get the list back up. "Only… thirty-two more things."
Ruby moaned more loudly on the ground. "Life's so cruel…"
"Maybe we should call it a day. We already missed a chunk of the today getting here, maybe tomorrow we'll be better rested and get more done." Blake suggested.
"Already? But we haven't even got half of the list yet." Weiss complained.
"What do you think Ruby?" Yang looked toward her sister who seemed to be succumbing to the heat in exhaustion. "…I think we have our answer."
Weiss dropped her arms in defeat. "Fine. We'll head back to camp, perhaps as a team we can plan a strategy for tomo-" A jet of water crashed from the sky behind Weiss, forcing her back. "Where did that come from?!"
Yang leaned forward, noticing white vapour blowing outwards from the stream. "Is that steam? I know it's hot out but it's not boiling."
"Make waaaayy~!"
The scalding water became thicker and more pressurised as a thin figure fell further and further down from the sky at high speeds. Eventually the water suddenly stopped pouring and a blue amphibian figure landed on four feet.
"Uugh~ nailed it…" Greninja croaked as he picked his front feet of the ground and began blowing on them.
Ruby leaned up and saw the Ninja with a confused expression. "Greninja?"
Greninja looked around to see Ruby. "Ruby?" Looking around further he saw Weiss, Blake and Yang beside her. "Oh Team RWBY? Wassup girls? Random question have any of you seen a large armoured hedgehog?"
"A what?" Weiss uttered in confusion.
The earth quaked under everyone's feet. The sounds of the ground cracking open grated against everyone's hearing as their attention was drawn towards a certain Pokémon shaped silhouette hole in the ground.
"Never mind. I think I found him." Greninja leaped over to the hole while the other girls remained in shock. "Chesnaught. Buddy. You, uh… you doing okay there pal?"
Chesnaught's long arm reached out and grabbed the edge of the hole, followed by him doing the same on the other side. He grunted as he pulled himself up so his upper body was visible above ground. Shaking his head rapidly in place while making a blubbering sound and smacking his lips.
"Ches! Chesnaught! (Yeah! Let's do that again!)" Chesnaught cheered.
"See! I told you it'd be fun! Up top!" Greninja raised his front foot up for a high-five. Chesnaught went to slap it with one of his arms, only for the rock under his other arm to snap off due to his weight, resulting in him falling back into the hole. "Whoops."
From behind him Team RWBY stared at the starter duo, attempting to process what had just happened to them. Ruby managed to stand up and brush herself off maintaining a confused look on her face.
"So Greninja. Why did you just fall out of the sky?" Ruby asked.
Greninja turned around to face the team. "Oh that? Funny story."
Several minutes ago…
Greninja pressed down on a tensely pulled back tree held down by a large rock. "That should work. You ready up there?"
Sitting on top of said rock, Chesnaught quizzically looked at Greninja. "Chesnaught? Chesnaught Ches. (You sure about this? Something tells me Robin wouldn't like it.)"
"And that's how you know it's gonna be fun. Now make room." Greninja hopped onto the rock and prepared a singe Water Shuriken in his front foot. "Preparing for lift off in threetwoonego!"
Greninja threw the shuriken, breaking a chunk of the rock off and propelling the two high into the air in an instant. The two Pokémon began floating up off the rock due to air resistance and stretched themselves outwards to take in the thrill of falling.
"Woo hoo! Yeah! Take that Talonflame! Guess who's flying now!" Greninja cheered.
"Ches! Chesnaught! Chesnaught! (Yeah! That take off was so fun! I can't wait to see how we land!)"
Greninja's eyes suddenly widened. "Right. Land… I have made a terrible mistake. WAHHH!"
"CHESSSS~! (WOOOO~!)"
"And so, since my body was more aerodynamic, I fell faster. I used Scald to slow me down and here we are. Once again proving that I am never wrong." Greninja concluded while behind him, Chesnaught managed to pull his upper body back up.
"What happened to the boulder?" Yang asked.
The ground boomed and cracked once again behind them. Quickly looking behind them, they saw the boulder lying on top of the hole Chesnaught was crawling out of.
Greninja blinked. "He'll be fine."
"Well quite frankly I'm surprised you have the time to mess around. I would have thought as his part of his family you would be helping Kai right now." Weiss chided.
"What? You mean that dumb list. We finished that ages ago."
Team RWBY crowded Greninja. "YOU DID?!"
"Well technically Kai's missing one but he knows where it is. He just needs to psych himself up to get it. His hat or caves I can understand his language but not his aversions. Now can you all back off." Greninja pushed the four teenagers away.
"But how could you have gotten them all so quickly?" Weiss asked.
Greninja shrugged. "Eh. We're Pokémon and Trainers, navigating the wild is what we do."
Blake stepped forward. "So, since you're finished what will you do now?"
"I don't know probably chill for a bit. To be honest Kai probably needs it, between stressing over schoolwork and having to deal with little miss cranky roommate he could use a break."
"So you're not even going to try and ask to go back to Beacon?"
"That's really more of Kai's call really. Don't know why he would though, this place is pretty nice compared to the rest of your world. No offence."
"But don't you think you could be doing something more productive. More important than just wasting your time stuck here in the middle of nowhere?" Blake persisted.
"Where's this coming from?"
Blake looked at Greninja before walking around him. "I'll see the rest of you later. I'm going to look around a bit longer."
"Wait a sec Blake!" Ruby cried out to her teammate.
Unfortunately, Blake had already pulled out her weapon and configured it into a pistol. Grabbing tightly on the ribbon she threw it so that it snagged onto the treeline. Running to the snagged tree she quickly ran along it to climb upwards before jumping from tree top to tree top far into the distance.
"Guess there's more than one little miss cranky roommate." Greninja remarked.
"Blake…" Ruby repeated sadly.
Yang walked up to her sister and put her hand on her shoulder. "Come on Ruby we should get going."
Ruby turned around and sadly nodded, beginning to walk away with the remaining members of her team. Greninja looked at the scene and sighed to himself in empathy, when his ears picked up the sound of cracking behind himself. Slowly turning around he saw the boulder forming a myriad of cracks along its surface that grew and connected into each other, when the rock suddenly exploded in a shower of dust and pebbles.
"Ches…Ches…" Chesnaught mindlessly panted from below.
Stretching both his arms out he once again pulled his body up, this time managing to get himself completely out of the hole. Rotating his head in place to crack his neck and rolled his shoulders backwards, before Chesnaught grinned and punched his fist into an open palm.
"Ches. Chesnau? (Right. What'd I miss?)" He grinned in obliviousness.
A bold orange colour blanketed the sky as the long first day was finally coming to an end. At this point all Huntsman teams across the first year had returned to the campsite, each having collected a different number of items that were currently stored in crates held aboard the airships. Scattered over the camp site were dozens upon dozens of set-up tents to hold each team. From one of the tents emerged a reluctant trainer preparing to sleep.
"Alright, I'm finished. You can use the tent." Robin told Kai, dressed in a white sleeveless pyjama top and baby blue pyjama shorts along with keeping her bandages on her arms. "I still can't believe we have to share one. A dorm is bad enough."
She stared in front of her to see Kai dabbing Slurpuff's eyes with a tissue. "Thanks Robin, just give me a sec."
Robin took several steps in her bare feet towards the two. "Is your Slurpuff still crying?"
"I'm not sure it is crying, not in the conventional sense. Maybe there's something in the air that's irritating her eyes?" Kai guessed.
"Do not worry about my parfume. I am sure in time this parfume will diffuse into nothing." Slurpuff comforted.
"Well if you're sure then I might as well return you for now. Thanks for all your hard work today Slurpuff." Pulling out her Pokéball from his belt, Kai returned Slurpuff and headed away from the camp.
"You're not getting changed?" Robin noticed.
Kai reached into his jean pocket and pulled out the orange crystal Talonflame picked up. "Just gonna out this with the rest of my items. Pretty lucky that Talonflame managed to find one during his flight."
"Did he say where he got it from?" Robin inquired.
"I think he found it in some gorge or something on the tops of the cliffs here. Makes me appreciate having two flying types. Either way I'll be back in a minute."
Kai headed off towards the airships getting watched by Robin who only sighed and shook her head. "How naive can one guy get?"
Making his way to the airships he noticed that walking out of Beacon's was Goodwitch, holding her large tablet scroll in her hands.
"Twenty-eight items from Team RWBY… Eighteen items from Team CRDL… Thirty items from Team JNPR … and Kai Emblem obtaining forty-nine-"
"Fifty!" Kai interrupted, startling Goodwitch. "Um, sorry. But it's fifty now, I've got the last item here see?"
Holding the orange gem outwards, Goodwitch eyed the listed item before looking back at her scroll. "Well go on then. Don't let me updating your record hold you up."
Kai nodded and walked past Goodwitch to store his item with the others as she hovered over Kai's picture and ticked a box to mark Kai's list as complete. Kai's profile was then linked with Robin's, and Goodwitch looked at the pair of profile pictures, while narrowed her eyes in concentration.
"Already?" Goodwitch spoke in the past.
"Is that a problem?" Robin asked, having finished recounting Goodwitch how she collected all of her items.
"No. It shouldn't be but… you are the first team, or rather student to have collected everything on the first day. Let alone in the span of a single hour."
"I wanted to do this as soon as possible and I did. Now if you haven't got anything else to say to me, I'll be heading back to my camp since apparently I don't even have a choice in staying here or not." Robin remarked as she walked off back to her site.
Back in the present Goodwitch looked away from her scroll to see Kai already heading back to his and Robin's shared tent, her thoughts sent adrift. 'Dozens of teams and over a hundred students from the four largest Huntsman academies in the world. And those two were the first to complete it by a significant margin.'
Meanwhile sitting in their own set up camps, Team JNPR and the remainder of Team RWY were currently sat together roasting marshmallows over a camp fire. Nora had heated hers up to a brown gloopy mess that she happily put in her mouth whole, chomping on its sticky goodness.
"Waa a dae! (What a day!)" Nora swallowed her marshmallow. "Aah Ren, doesn't this bring you back to the good old days."
"Not really." Ren calmly answered taking a bite out of his marshmallow, humming at its surprisingly delectably taste.
"Well I quite enjoyed our outing today. How way yours?" Pyrrha innocently asked Team RWY.
Unfortunately, the three of them were hardly in a talkative mood. Ruby was stuffing marshmallows in her mouth straight from the bag, puffing her cheeks up like a Dedenne with cheek pouch. Yang was wistfully looking outwards towards the wild of the plateaux waiting for her partner to return from her individual exploration. Leaving Weiss, the one closest to reality as she exhaustedly looked towards Pyrrha and her team, lifting up the stick containing her charred black marshmallow.
"Not great." Weiss deadpanned throwing her stick into the fire, making embers erupt.
"Oh, come on it couldn't be that bad." Jaune kindly pointed out.
"We had to wake up ridiculously early. It's been ludicrously hot. We spent hours to collect less than half of the required items. And then our teammate ran away from us. Again."
Ruby popped another marshmallow in her mouth when her eyes became white circles that bulged out of her head as she fell on her side. Holding onto her throat, she struggled to swallow as she began to choke on her gelatinous filled treats making her face go red.
"Shouldn't you help her?" Ren suggested.
Yang got up. "Don't worry I've got it."
Walking up to her sister, Yang picked Ruby up and gave her a powerful smack on her back making Ruby shoot her marshmallow at bullet like speeds, hitting some random student in the back of the head to knock them to the ground.
"And now out leader almost choked herself." Weiss added to the list.
"Well don't let it get you down. Tomorrow is another day after all." Pyrrha comforted. "And at least one of your troubles look like it's going to end."
Confused by what Pyrrha meant, no one noticed Blake appearing behind them and slowly going into her team's tent.
"Hey there Blake!" Nora announced to the group, directing everyone's attention to her.
Blake closed her eyes and inwardly groaned at being discovered. Taking a quick breath, she opened her eyes and turned around to face her teammates and friends. "Oh. Hi guys~"
Weiss quickly stood up. "And where have you been?! I get that brooding and having your own space is your thing. But out here we're meant to be sticking together, at least tell me you were doing something important."
"I was… I was trying to find a scroll signal."
"Seriously? That's what you went out for?" Yang asked in disbelief.
"Um… did you find one?" Jaune asked only to be judgementally looked at by his team. "What? If she found a signal we might as well use it."
Blake shook her head. "I wasn't able to, unfortunately."
"So not only did you go off without us. You completely wasted your time." Weiss judged.
"Well it was better than sitting around a campfire doing nothing." Blake argued.
Ruby quickly stood between the two. "Alright guys. We've all had a long, long day. But let's not end it on a sour note. Come on guys, let's just shake hands and make up."
"I'm not apologising to someone acting completely unreasonable." Weiss defiantly stated.
"Me either." Blake stepped away, walking inside her teams' tent.
Weiss crossed her arms and turned away while Team JNPR looked awkwardly away. Ruby sat down and bowed her head in defeat while Yang looked around to see Kai happily walking back to his own tent to get changed for the night.
"Guess this is what karma feels like." Yang bitterly admitted.
The sun had set over the mountains creating a thin line of orange dividing where the sky ended and the dark majesty of space began. Stars began sparkling overheard alongside the shattered moon that Remnant was known for. Staring outwards from inside the tent Kai looked up to feel the immensity of it all, dressed in his pyjamas.
"Do you think our world is actually one of those stars out there?" Kai asked as he focused on one of the bright shining celestial bodies.
Behind him Robin moved around in her sleeping bag to get comfy. "What does it matter if it is? It's not like we can get there from here, Dust doesn't work when it gets too close to the atmosphere."
Kai stared back to see her. "Well look at you starting to learn things."
"Don't patronise me. Just hurry up and get to sleep, I've already had more than enough talking from you today."
"Alright, alright I'll be quiet but still just being here… doesn't it remind you of Kalos even a little bit?" Kai asked Robin more personally as he got into his sleeping bag and closed his eyes.
Robin groaned, rolling over again. "Not really. No shut up and go to sleep already."
"Alright Robin… good night…" Kai yawned as he quickly drifted off.
Robin prepared to follow suit but couldn't when a sudden draft blew over her drowsy head, making her shiver.
"Great. He forgot to zip up the front." Robin grumbled as she removed herself from her bag and crawled to the front.
She paused for a moment to look out at the calm serene night the plateaux had to offer and at the night sky that in this lightless environment, began to show more and more colours and vastness then what was possible in the Kingdom. It was enough to make Robin think on Kai's words, was Earth and Kalos somewhere up there? The though lit a small hope in Robin before quickly brushing it off and pulling the zip up to close off the outside.
When the tent was fully closed off, it joined the others in complete seclusion and silence. Other groups such as Team JNPR, Team SSSN, Team CRDL and more were all already fast asleep. In her own private quarters Goodwitch took off her glasses and mentally steadied herself as her own tiredness overcame her. And outside it all from the jungle, and the cliffs a sole black figure approached. Cloaked in shadows and moving as silently as a ghost it observed the camp grounds. Watching it all with a glowing blue eye.
Robin was slowly walking forward across an ethereal mindscape. An abstract environment in the back of her mind.
"Where… am I? Why is this so… familiar?" She spoke softly to herself.
In a flash her entire world was consumed by shadow, the light so poor that she could hardly see her own arms. A glow appeared in front of her being hidden off from view by a raven-haired figure blocking it and eclipsing Robin in their shadow.
"You?! Wait is this-?!"
But before Robin could continue, she felt her body moving backwards against her will, her feet ran as quickly as they could but seemed unable to cling to the surface.
"No! Wait! I'm going to catch up to you! And when I do, I'll-!"
And intense growl came from behind Robin making her gasp. She turned to a sight that made her eyes widen in shear horror. An army of Grimm all being led by the Beowolf that scarred her for life.
"No… No not again…Ugh!" Robin suddenly felt intense searing pain from her arms.
Looking down she saw that the bandages over them had disappeared revealing long deep cuts that tore through her muscle, that bled over her arms and dripped onto the ground.
Struggling to think she went for a Pokéball only for her pouch to be missing. She gasped out loud and struggled to think when she looked around and froze in fright. Lying down on the ground were all six of her Pokémon. Dead. All but two. Her Beartic and her Flareon. Their eyes opened to reveal blank lifeless stares as that stared into their trainer's soul.
"You failed us…and used us…" Beartic moaned.
"You left us…and killed us…" Flareon continued.
Robin stared at her Pokémon with a horrified face, twisted and distorted by grief. "I… I'm sorry! It… It was a moment of weakness! I-!"
"You weren't strong enough Robin! You've never been strong enough!" The two of them chanted together.
"No! I… I…" Robin struggled to find the words. Her heart beated faster and faster as the Grimm began to surround her with claws raised and teeth bared.
And in front of them all was that raven-haired silhouette laughing at her. His laughing became more and more malicious as a single glowing blue eye appeared on the left of their face.
A Beowolf claw raised its claw over Robin's trembling frame and slashed it down. Creating a splatter of blood.
Robin woke up with a start and shrieked, pulling onto her hair and sitting upright in her sleeping bag. Her breath was fast and short as she looked around and slowly realised that she was in her tent. She let got of her hair and stared at her bandaged arms and then at her Pokéball pouch attached to her belt on the edge of the structure.
"It was that dream again but… it's never been that intense before." Robin slowly regained a grip on her senses and controlled her breathing. She could hear the sound of growing unhinged breath but quickly realised it wasn't hers.
She looked over to the bag next to her and gaped. Kai laid in his bed shivering with horror. Sweat poured from his pores in a greater amount then all the hours he had spent in the sun combined. His breaths were hard to describe as that, he would get halfway when they would form a gasp or get stuck in his throat giving him the appearance that he was suffocating. And though hard to tell, underneath his eyes mixed in with the sweat was tears.
Not knowing what came over her, Robin urgently went over to Kai's side and began tapping his cheek. "Wake up Kai! Wake up! It's not real! You're just dreaming so just wake up already!"
Robin's results were in vain as her touch only seemed to make Kai close himself off more and more, worsening his condition. Staring at her fellow trainer Robin's mind went blank at his distress until she had a brainwave. Quickly scurrying over to Kai's side of the tent he grabbed his Pokéball belt and began making her way through each of the capsules.
"Come on, come on… This one!" Robin yanked one off and unlocked it before sending the Pokémon out in a flash.
"Slurpuff Slurpuff Slurp? (What is the meaning of this parfume?)" Slurpuff yawned too relaxed to properly speak in human tongue. She sniffed the air and immediately caught a whiff of sweat and fear as she became alert to the jittering Kai next to her. "Kai Parfume!" Slurpuff urgently went over to Kai's face. "Calm your parfume! Please Kai parfume!"
Kai turned his head to Slurpuff where he took a small breath the air around her, which was more than enough for him open his eyes wide and take a massive gasp of air.
Kai continued to shiver as Robin cautiously made his way towards her. "Kai?"
Kai immediately turned his head to Robin making her gasp as, he looked at her with illuminate blue eyes. "…Ro…bin…" He managed to utter in between breaths.
Putting his hand on his head Kai began to groan in discomfort. "The screams… The screams won't stop…"
Robin quickly went over to Kai. "There's no screams Kai. You just had a bad dream. Don't worry, it's over now."
Kai shook his head. "No… There's so many… From the others…"
"The others?"
While Robin tried to understand what Kai was saying, Slurpuff sniffed the air and made her way to the front of the tent to undo the zip. With the front open the night was in full view, but instead of deathly silence came bloodcurdling screams. From every tent, and every team, came cries of despair.
All of their howls echoed all over the plateaux and filled the night.
Boom! One last chapter before the end of the decade. Sorry if those last scenes came as too much of a shock.
So the first day of the trip is up and now everyone knows just how the Plateaux got its name. I'm sure many of you can already guess the reason I'm not exactly being subtle here. But just because you know part of the truth doesn't mean you understand everything.
Also while I don't always have in-head voices for the Pokémon. As I've mentioned before Noivern's to me is like Chip from Sonic Unleashed. And on Robin's side I consider Chesnaught to have a similar voice to Grog Strongjaw from Critical Role, and Flareon to sound like Rachael Alucard from BlazBlue. Of course its perfectly fine if you have your own in-head voice for these characters.
So until I see you all in the next decade, this is Kallerston signing out!