Blue woke up from his second forced nap slower than his first. The Bidoof rolled over on his side, and opened his bleary eyes.
The sight would have made him cry if he didn't have such a headache.
The room was completely destroyed. The books, the notes, everything was scattered and shredded, obliterated by the intense battle that took place. Even the counters and all the chemicals they held had cracked open and spilled onto what was left of one of the best preserved human ruins to date.
The biggest thing was the giant hole in the back wall. The crumbling stone and metal that was once a wall pained the Bidoof to look at. It took up most of the middle, far above his or Rio's height.
That raised another question. Where was Rio? In fact, where was anyone? The room was devoid of life. Blue took a step forward, and almost tripped over the small craters in the floor. They looked a lot like footprints.
Blue walked into the hole in the wall, very cautious about meeting what caused it. After a little walking he heard his teammates' voices.
"Shit!" he heard Scales yell.
"That idiot!" Pana shouted. He could see them now, overlooking the other side of the hole. The sky was visible, and the cold wind pelted at his face. He walked up to them, still woozy.
"What happened?" He asked his teammates. They turned to him, surprise and relief obvious on their faces.
"Least you're alright…" Pana said. Scales looked surprised to see him. His usual calm face was gone, replaced by a small grimace.
"Rio," was all he said. Blue walked closer to the edge, only to see the lake far below. He could see Rio there. Alone, no strange Pokemon around. His eyes were closed, and he was sinking fast.
Blue didn't ask why they hadn't gone to help him. He didn't think about how far down the water was to guess his chance of surviving a jump from this height. He didn't even think about his still throbbing head.
The Bidoof just jumped into the lake below.
The shock of the cold water hit him, but his species was built for rivers and lakes. This was nothing. If his head wasn't killing him, Blue might have even said it was easy.
The Riolu stood out, then again slowly descending in the middle of a lake would make anyone obvious. Blue bit down on Rio's arm, letting some of his air escape, and started to swim back up. He wished he thought to take a breath before diving in!
The dizzy Bidoof breached the surface soon enough, the Riolu with him. Blue's now very unfocused thoughts turned to why Rio was so fluffy. Hair was coming off in his mouth! The fact that he was losing consciousness again probably wasn't helping.
He managed to get them to shore, the soft grass felt great to lie down on.
So he did. The bliss of sleep followed.
...
The crackling of fire wormed its way into Blue's dreamless sleep. His eyes blinked open, taking in the warm fire. He groaned, sitting up and feeling the headache that still plagued him. The chilly afternoon at least felt cool, and the slight splashing of the lake behind them sounded nice.
"M-morning..." he heard a voice say beside him. He turned to see Rio, now mostly dry and shivering in the cool air. He sat close to the fire, trying desperately to warm himself. He sniffed deeply.
"...It's almost night..." was all the Bidoof could say.
"How do you know?" Rio asked. "You've been asleep."
Blue stared at the Riolu in disbelief. "I've been out for a day?"
Rio laughed, then coughed. "Kidding! It's been like an hour."
Blue sighed in relief. "Please don't do that."
"No promises." There was a brief silence before Rio spoke again. "Thanks."
"For what?"
"You kinda saved my life."
Blue suddenly remembered what happened in full. He had dove in, huh? He looked back at the waterfall, noting the large hole in its cliff face. It was about halfway down, making Blue's jump all the more reckless. The Bidoof wouldn't have believed it if he didn't remember doing it.
He didn't regret it though.
"...You're welcome," he said. "Where did everyone else go?"
"Pana dragged Scales back to see if they could salvage anything," Rio started. Blue groaned at the reminder of so much lost information. Those books could have contained anything! Information on human society, their advancements, maybe something that would have cleared the relationship between them and Pokemon! But those were probably all gone, along with whatever made that hole...
"Wait," Blue said, now thinking again. "What made that hole?"
Rio raised his right paw, the one with the stone bracelet around it. "Sorry."
Blue stared at Rio in disbelief, and Rio shrugged. "I don't know what else to say. Got caught up in the fight, tried something, and put a hole through that Dungeon."
"What?" Blue asked, incredulous. "Alone? How?"
Rio popped one of the stones out of his bracelet, and held it out to Blue. It was his stone. His treasure!
"Borrowed this," Rio said. "Popped out after you went down."
Blue quickly snatched it out of the Riolu's paw. He never wanted to lose it again. He vowed to never let it out of his sight. As he calmed down, he processed what his new friend had just said.
"Wait, THIS-" Blue said, dropping the stone in front of him. "did THAT?" The Bidoof looked towards the collateral damage Rio had allegedly caused with his treasure.
"No," Rio said. "I did that. That thing helped."
"..How?"
"...Not sure. I just did a thing, felt real good, and then I tackled a large cat through a wall."
"THAT WAS A TACKLE?"
"No. I think it was Headbutt? I think I tried to use Headbutt."
Blue stared down at his stone, in disbelief. What the hell was this thing exactly? Why did Dad of all people have it? How exactly had Rio done this?
Could he learn to do it too?
He decided these were questions for later. There was one thing still bothering him more than anything.
"What the hell was that thing?" Rio asked for him.
"I don't know," Blue answered. "I don't know if anyone knows. Those books probably could have told us..."
"...Sorry."
Rio looked away, sniffing. Blue winced. Had he said something wrong?
"Then again, whatever you did probably saved our lives," the Bidoof continued as Rio rocked his head back and took a deep breath.. "Can't really find out if we're dead, ri-"
"AAAAAAACHOOOOOOO!" Rio sneezed. His entire body flashed a light blue, and exploded. The small boom made Blue jump back as the ground around Rio blew away with the fire he was sitting near. Blue stared at the Riolu, shocked.
"Ah, dammit," was all Rio said as he stared at the fire.
"Did-did you just explode?" Blue asked.
"Hm? Oh yeah, that happens sometimes."
"...Why?"
"Never got a straight answer for that. Masters said I lack control."
"So what were you doing in that fight?"
"Smaller scale of that. They didn't like it when I used that either."
"Ok, but-"
Blue's next question was interrupted by Pana's arrival. She was just there suddenly, holding the bag and a few surviving books. She looked at Rio, then at what remained of the fire. The Pancham groaned as she put the stuff down.
"Please don't tell me you're sneezing," she said.
"Ok," Rio said back. "You might be in for a surprise later."
Pana sighed, handing her haul to Blue. "All the books we could salvage. Scales is hauling some bigger stuff back right now."
Blue took one and opened it. The paper was old, but the writing was still legible. Still, he couldn't quite make it out. It was the same language as the door, Unovan. He couldn't make out much, but the word "Danger" appeared more than once. It was something.
"Think this'll make that grump happy?" Pana asked Blue. "We still in trouble?"
"The books are legible at least..." Blue started, flipping through another one. "Still can't read most of it. We'll have to wait and see."
"And how mad will he be about Rio's little accident?"
The reminder made Blue groan. So much had been lost. If Blue was this sad about it, Mr. Thesus would be...
Well, angry would have fallen short of describing it. Livid would have been closer, but incomprehendingly furious was the best bet.
"We should avoid bringing it up," was all Blue had to say.
"Good plan," Pana responded. "...Thanks."
"It's the only thing I can contribute so-"
"Not that. Well, thanks for that too, but not what I meant."
Blue turned to her, and saw her usually stiff frown soften a bit. "You saved Rio's life. Scales sucks at swimming, and I didn't have any strength left after that fight. Thank you."
Blue was surprised at being acknowledged, thanked even, twice in a few minutes! It was strange, but nice. Even if it was coming from a group of walking disasters. He gave Pana a slight smile.
"Anytime."
"But please be more careful next time. We don't need another Rio."
"The hell is that-" Rio started, before being interrupted by another explosive sneeze. "supposed to mean?"
Pana's frown returned as she glared at the Riolu and pointed at the large hole once again. "We don't need another reckless idiot."
"This 'reckless idiot' saved your ass from a giant cat!"
"And almost got himself killed in the process. Again."
They bickered like that for a while, and Blue couldn't help but smile a little wider. They were so different from his own family, from anyone he'd ever known.
And he'd never felt more comfortable.
...
Scales got back a little later, dragging something metal with him. He told the team it looked important, but it was just too rusted and broken to find any use. Still, they decided it was better to take it. Someone might know more.
They took the rest of the night off, making camp by the lakeside. Rio fell asleep right by the newly made fire to dry out more. Pana slept by him in case another one of his explosive sneezes put it out.
He and Scales talked about his use of Water Gun, and when Blue tried it again he got the same result he did when he used it in the Dungeon. It got stronger all of a sudden.
"That's great!" the dragon exclaimed. "Why are you so hung up on it?"
"I don't know how it happened," Blue answered honestly. "I just want to understand."
"I don't know. Maybe something just clicked?"
"Maybe..." That answer didn't satisfy Blue much, but it was something. They both went to sleep after that. The Bidoof was already used to Scales's loud snores from their trek over.
Their trip back was thankfully uneventful. No mutants, no bandits, and Rio's sneeze explosions were small. They talked about the stones as they walked, but nothing much came from it. Rio tried to use the other one he found, but beside a bright flash at the beginning, nothing happened. He offered to do it with Blue's stone, but Pana shouted him down.
"WE DON'T NEED ANOTHER GIANT HOLE!"
Still, Blue wanted to try it. But later. When his best chance of figuring out what exactly happened wasn't constantly exploding.
It was nice to get back into the city after so long. The market was just as busy as ever. The snips of conversation the Bidoof caught were mostly gibberish, but it was a distraction from Rio's, now calmer, sneezes.
"So I punched him."
"That Alakazam sold me a shotty orb! It was already cracked!"
"Did you hear about the waterfall?"
"And he didn't use protection, so now-"
Wait what was that third one?
"Yeah, front page on the newspaper, right?"
Blue turned to his team. Rio seemed distracted, and Scales was being Scales, but Pana caught the same thing he did. Spotting a stand selling newspapers, Pana quickly walked over and snathced one without paying. The dosing Delibird didn't even notice the blatant theft. Blue was about to at least ask her to pay when she started reading out loud.
"'Giant Hole in Waterfall Cliffside has Guild Stumped! Days ago, Team Keymasters of the Wanderers guild discovered a massive hole in the falls a few days downstream. While unsure of what caused it, the guild had an anonymous tip that another team belonging to the guild went to the area, a Team Disaster. There was a Dungeon in the area, and nothing has been heard of the team in question since.'"
Blue was stunned. They had made front page news without even reporting anything! This was great! Pana seemed less pleased. In fact, when he looked back at Rio and Scales, they both looked nervous. This is what bothers them? After everything?
"Are you guys alright?" Blue asked.
"Fine, fine," Pana said waving the question off. "How far do you think this spread already?"
"Well, it was published today, so probably not farther than the town."
Pana sighed in relief. "Good, good. Well, let's drop these off!"
"Wait, why is it good?"
"It probably doesn't matter to you," Rio coughed. "We might get a surprise visit soon. You'll probably be fine."
For once, Blue wasn't sure he wanted to know. He dropped it for now, and went to see his mentor and finally complete this request.