Chapter 13: New Rumors

I stared in shock and awe at their "wonderful" hangout. Beyond the gates were hills, mountains of garbage, broken appliances, vehicles, trees, houses - was an entire town dumped here and left to rot? It certainly has the size of a town. If only it smelled like one too. I tried not to grimace from the smell. "This is beyond unclean!"

The other's walked past me except Leafy, who looked at me with sympathetic eyes as he noticed me holding my nose. "You get used to the smell."

I followed behind last as I was still processing how messy this place was. Even for a dump, it was bad. "Please tell me that our hangout is on the other side of this place." I pleaded.

Darkness sighed. "Oh boy."

"If it wasn't I wouldn't have said, "we're here"." Poseidon clarified, I can see from the edge of his eyeball he was looking at me. "You got a problem with that?"

"...Yes? We are in a dump."

"And you are a human. You're point?"

"Are you guys seriously not afraid of getting hurt? We can get hurt out here you know." I saw a slab of what I assumed to be meat resting on a tire; I couldn't even count all the flies and maggots. "Oh god, think I'm gonna puke."

"This isn't a warzone, Cal. You think the trash has a mind of its own and is gonna eat us?" The oshawatt asked. "You didn't have to come, you know."

"You could have given me a warning beforehand." I pressed.

Poseidon shrugged. "Must have slipped my mind." That's a load of crap. You knew all along didn't you, you little prick. If only I can punt you right now,

"Brother, be easy on him." Swirl held onto his paw. "He's still new to all this." She whispered in his ear. I couldn't make out what she was saying but I could have sworn I heard something about being "gentle." Poseidon gave her sister a light frown, then resumed looking straight ahead.

Darkness slowed down her pace and caught up to me. "Eh, don't worry about the smell. We got air fresheners in the truck." She gave me a slight smile. "Maybe next time we can hang out by the candy shop next time."

I instantly felt relief. "Yeah, that'll be preferable. Wait, did you just say truck?"

"Ah there she is, all in one piece." Leafy clarified. "Well… maybe in "one piece" enough."

I walked towards what appeared to be an… ice cream van? At least I think it's an ice cream van, there was a giant plastic ice cream on the hood. It's wheels were punctured or missing, the front windshield was broken, and there was a ton of rust all over. Other than that, it didn't look so bad. But it was far from what I would call "home".

"Who throws an Ice Cream Truck in a dump like that? Isn't that supposed to go in a junkyard?"

"This place is a mixture between a dump and scrapyard, so things get mixed up sometimes." Answered Poseidon. "You won't believe the stuff we find here."

The oshawott opened the backdoor of the truck. The interior had been refurbished with stuff I presumed was from the dump itself. A beanbag chair sat in the corner. A wind chime hung from the ceiling, and a nice red rug sprawled out on the floor.

"Leafy can you get the wood? I want the fire started before afternoon." The oshawott said.

"Sure thing, boss!" The monkey jumped into the truck while Poseidon frowned. "I thought I told you not to call me that."

"We're starting a fire?" I asked.

"Campfire." Poseidon simply said. "We can't roast the marshmallows without one, now can't we? Do you get the lighter like I asked?" He said to Darkness.

The meowstic reached into her hoodie and tossed the lighter to the oshawott. "I never leave without it."

"Woah, we cannot do that! We're too young to play with fire." I objected.

"We're not babies, Cal. We know the risks." Darkness answered. "I don't know why you're freaking out. You do realize that plenty of pokemon are fire-types right? They are living lighters. This is very tame in comparison."

"But… well that's true. But we are still kids? Aren't we?"

"So you never used a lighter before?" Asked Swirl. "I heard some kids are allowed to use them, but I guess not every parent is cool with that."

My eyes went wide. I know I used a lighter during my time on the run, but I didn't expect that a lot of kids knew as well. "I used one in the past but… A lot of kids used them nowadays?"

"Yeah, Apparently a lot of human children picked that up during the war. And since the kids were handling themselves nicely with it, a lot of adults were chill with that. Times have changed indeed."

No kidding. I was among many forced to grow up. To hear that some adult pokemon, in a society where they were trying to make us "kids again", was "chill" with the changes was beyond surprising. I know that Rose would never allow me to do that. "Huh. Interesting."

Leafy rummaged through the large cabinet overhead and pulled out several dried out logs. The monkey tosses them to the side. "Got them. So what do we do now?"

"It ain't the right time, why don't you all go fishing for treasure as I prepare the pit?" Poseidon grabbed the logs and sat down a couple of feet away from the truck, delicately arranging the logs with his stubby paws.

"Don't you want to join us, brother?" Asked Swirl? "We can start the pit later."

He shook his head as he stayed focused on the paws.. "Nah, the sun's setting soon. Someone has to take care of this. Sis, why don't you leave the backpack here. I'll prepare the food too."

"If you say so." Swirl nodded, leaving her pack on the ground. "C'mon guys."

We walked from the left of the truck - there laid several piles of scrap leaning against a metal fence. I had an irking feeling to what Poseidon was insuitating but I had to ask. "So where is the treasure we're supposed to be finding?"

"You're looking right at it." Answered Swirl.

"What?" I couldn't believe what she was saying. How does anyone-

"I get dibs on the one with car parts!" Leafy shouted in pure joy as he jumped high into the air and landed nice and neatly on the pile. I could have swore he was giggling as he was pulling out tires. Why do you have to be like this Leafy?

"You guys think dumpster diving is a great way of killing time?" I prodded the two girls to either side of me.

"Hell no." Darkness said. "Sometimes there is good stuff in these piles. Very rarely but it does happen. Leafy just loves diving through all kinds of crap."

Swirl gasped. "Darkness, that's a swear. You shouldn't be saying that."

"You think ''hell' and' 'crap' are swears?" She gave a slight smirk. "Man. you've been coddled."

"I am not!" Argued the cone, folding her arms. "I just think they're too rude to be used in conversations."

"Riggghhht."

"So Swirl, Darkness you mind telling me why we are hanging out in landfill out of all places?" I asked. "Don't you have a treehouse at your place, Swirl?"

"Yeah, but Leafy and Poseidon love this place, so we alternate between the house and this place every now and then."

Leafy I can understand, but Poseidon? Doesn't match with his higher than thou attitude. "And why is Poseidon so interested in this place? He doesn't seem like a free-go-lucky guy like Leafy?"

"There's a lot more space here than the treehouse, the mall or any other place downtown. No one comes here but to dump trash, they only come once a week. Otherwise it's pretty isolated." The meowstic replied, she turned her head back the way we came from. "That's what he says anyway. But to be honest, I think he's gotten his brain wrapped up over the rumor of that mine."

"That mine?" I asked.

Swirl was most displeased by that comment. "Let me show you." She pouted and held onto my hand. The three of us pressed against the metal gate, she pointed out to the distance. I saw a large river, a long asphalt road leading who knows, and a large hole embedded far down on the base of a hill.

"See that tunnel right there by the river. He picks this spot because of that mine." Swirl lets go of my hand and sighs. Her frown ever so present. "I keep telling him it's stupid. I keep telling him that it's dangerous. But he never listens."

"He is stubborn." Darkness said. "It's getting ridiculous at this point."

"I wouldn't say so. He just has a hobby. It's not like he is hurting anybody." I turned behind to see Leafy, holding a pair of red fuzzy dice and a license plate in separate hands. He looked rather pleased with himself.

"You finished early." Remarked Darkness.

"What can I say I'm an expert when it comes to digging through trash." He smiled.

"Lucky you, I'm so jealous." Man her sarcasm is so dry. She wasn't even hiding it.

"So why does he want to be near the cave in the first place? Something about a rumor?" I asked. Swirl was looking at the fence now, shaking her head in visible disapproval.

"Well… he believes there is actually something valuable in that cave." Swirl said. "I know for a fact that used to be a mine, but still..."

"Have you found anything good in there?" I asked.

"If you consider a bunch or rocks 'good', then yes." Darkness answered. "Does he still believe that legend is true?"

"Legend? What legend?" I said. "Does the cave have to do something about it?"

Swirl cocked her head before her eyes widened. "Oh that's right! You're not from around here. Makes sense why you wouldn't know. Since you're clearly interested I'll tell you: This city used to be a pirate town."

I raised an eyebrow. "Pirates? As in the people with peglegs and eyepatches pirates?" She nodded. I chuckled a little bit and saw that her expression hadn't changed. "Wait, you're serious?"

"I'm surprised you haven't heard of it sooner." Darkness replied. "Have you ever seen the pirate-theme stuff in the city?"

"Uh… I was too preoccupied to notice?" I shrugged to the meowstic's eye roll. "Guess I should get out more."

"Anyways, this place used to be a pirate safe haven. It's not anymore obviously, but there is a legend that one of the pirates at the time, Sollen Marrow, hid his fortune somewhere in this land."

"You mean in this specific spot?"

"It could theoretically be in the city, by the beach, underwater, heck it could even be right under our feet! But my brother believes that it's in the cave. I don't really believe in that legend myself, but I admit I love helping my bro out. Just wished he chilled out sometimes."

"Yeah, there have been plenty of people that came to [INSERT NAME] County to find it. But it didn't work out." Leafy was resting on his tire, pouting. "Shame they didn't, we would have had bragging rights."

"And you're still helping your brother out even though you don't believe it?" I asked her, genuinely curious. She let go of the fence and dusted off her cone.

"Because we're siblings. Even though I disagree with him, there's no way in heck I'm gonna leave my bro hanging. What kind of sister would I be if I didn't? After all, he'd do the same for me too."

As I was engrossed in their sibling dynamics, the man of the hour, Poseidon's voice came hollering from the way we came. "Swirl! Everybody! The fire pit is fixed! You can come back now!"

The ice cream cone tugged on my pant leg. "Come on, we shouldn't keep him waiting." We all went back to the van. The sun was just starting to set. Burning flames stood by Poseidon as he was finishing throwing the rest of the logs in the pile. He turned and waved at us, although I think he was directing the attention to his dear sister.

"Here's your lighter, Dark. It was a big help." The oshawott said, tossing the object into the meowstic's paw. "Now for the food."

"So we are really going through this." I commented as I joined the others sitting by the fire. "Does anyone know we're here?"

"Only Heimlick." His neck snapped to me. "And it's gonna stay that way. Remember that."

"I'm not a tattletale." I declared. "I'm surprised that you're butler is okay with all this."

"He knows we can handle ourselves. As long as we don't do anything stupid he won't care." Darkness answered. "We are not babies after all."

After the water-type opened the bags of food, he handed us each metal prongs with marshmallows at the end. Everyone put their treat close up to the fire, and I followed their cue. As our sugary cylinders lay burning, I asked one more important question that had to be said.

"Can I ask one more question? About your group?"

Poseidon remained indifferent while Swirl was eager to obliged. "Sure thing. Shoot."

"How did you guys meet each other? I know we're from the same neighborhood but…" I trailed, prompting the ice cream cone to speak.

"We all met in Coral Rock!" She said. "We were all in detention once and I guess it all worked out.. We'd been tight ever since."

"All of you were in detention." I was puzzled, I expected Swirl to be the last person to be in that position. "How'd you accomplished that?"

Darkness butted in. "It's a long story, we'll tell you later… eventually." The meowstic rubbed her arm, looking away from the fire. Why did Darkness get all shy all of a sudden?

"Ooh! And we made a super duper cool name afterwards for our group, it was so cool!"

"You used cool in the same sentence." Swirl criticized. Beside her, the oshawott was facepalming, doing his best not to cringe.

"Leafy… no-"

"The Treasure Hunter Pirate Ninjas!" The monkey screeched with joy to the detriment of Poseidon. I was failing to hide my smile.

"Treasure Hunter Pirate Ninjas?" I smirked.

"We don't use that name anymore." Said Poseidon. "We don't need a name anyways. We're not guild members."

"I still think it's pretty cool." Said Leafy.

"You think everything in the world is cool."

"Hey ladies." Said Darkness. "If you don't want to eat burnt sugar for dinner I suggest pulling it out of the flame already." The marshmallows were getting crisp and gooey that I was afraid they were gonna fall off. We retracted our sticks and quickly pressed the chocolates and crackers together against the white goodness.

Swirl held her s'more up high, the others followed and so did I. I was still focused on my snack but I still heard her that today is the start of a brand new year. It wasn't New Years but I totally understand the sentiment. After an unspoken signal, we all chewed on our hard work.

Today is a good day.