Finally, a next chapter and I apologize for the delays because of some problems I've encountered along the way in this site's problematic uploads and improving my writing skills and learn more about dialogue making. By the way, this chapter is co-written by a friend of mine RKType-0. Be sure to check them out too.
Chapter 3: Daily Life of Ours
HOPE HQ
June 21, 2019
10:54
Earwyn and Grace made their to the elevator of the living area to get down to the first floor of the HQ. Looking at the time, it would be time that the head leader of HOPE would be by the garden now to play with his young daughter for there were not much alerts and missions to be done today. With no missions and tasks to be done, everyone was free for now until the next alert for a mission. The two waited inside the box as it went down, Earwyn smiled as he heard the Spring part of "The Four Seasons" by Vivaldi from the speakers. Grace looked at him as he hummed.
"Isn't it nice to hear these?" Earwyn hummed.
"Huh? Oh, yes..." Grace agreed. 'And... nice to be close to you...' Her hand grips itself a few times. He doesn't seem to be aware of the attention towards him. Slowly, she reaches a hand to his arm...
The elevator stops and rings, signaling the designated floor.
"Oh, we're here." Earwyn smiled. "Seems like my mood's elevated." He moved out of the box, Grace missed her mark and sighed heavily. She slouched down as they walked down the nearly empty hallway.
Earwyn sighed sadly, there were not much members of HOPE. They were only somewhere below sixty members, sixty to protect a number of eight regions against these unknown beings called Sheds. Reason for this was because only they could stop them and with the military forces of all regions still weak, the entire world depended on them to stop this ongoing threat of the Sheds. It was difficult but they knew that this was just the beginning, they should be wary of what these Sheds were truly capable of.
A single Shed was dangerous, what more if they were to face more than one? Likewise, they needed every info to face one and how to deal with it. The journal Aaron left them, it had so much answers for them. It brought about information on how to defeat one.
It's hard just to think that these eight regions could be under attack all at the same time, less their strength is unknown prior to combat. A situation that is impossible to think or imagine. More likely, their numbers could just be cut down like weeds, or worse, complete annihilation.
"Hey Grace...That new type we faced last night." Earwyn asked. "When you cut the membranes, how many tons of force did you exert just to cut one?"
"The membrane was really tough..." Grace told him. "I doubt that I could just lessen the enhancement of my strikes, so I did what I could at average to lessen city damage, too..."
"I see..." Earwyn muttered. "Still, we managed to stop it despite the damaged caused was over fifty-percent of the city."
She sighed. "These monsters are impossible... we could have led with a strategy to lure it out of city area, but... I think we could have suffered casualties if we did that..."
"All citizens were evacuated at that part. Sylvia placed it at the minimum number of structures." He told her. "And we needed Carla's summon to prevent it from leaving." Grace sighed about hearing her best friend's name.
"That, too... It is more fortunate that there aren't any witnesses to that..."
"Yeah...Her being able to use something that was long gone."
"Earwyn, let's not... continue talking about the others with... supernatural abilities."
"...Right..." Earwyn nodded, knowing how much Carla knew of using that ability than she let up.
They walked out of the doors to the gardens. The gardens was a large area located at the center of the HQ. It was large and the overall architecture of the garden was wide enough for everyone in HQ train and learn what to do, with it separated into four parts. They knew Christopher and he would be somewhere at the Tree Area, the place were stealth was trained. Earwyn looked around the trees and plants. No dried parts and cut leaves were sighted.
"They're well-kept." Earwyn commented. "Callily did an amazing job here after Highfield left to come up with new strategies yesterday."
"Yes... uh, they did." Grace said with a rather long pause. "Still... what are they..."
"Huh?" Earwyn wondered, looking back about what she meant about this Callily.
"None of us here... knows what they... ah, their gender." Grace puts a hand on her head. "But whenever some try to find out, I heard that coincidental events occur and they never find out..."
"Um...Why don't we ask them?" Earwyn suggested, causing Grace slouch, remembering the last time she tried.
"I did. Some did."
"What happened?" He asked.
"Their response is this: 'Don't know... have open thing, and pokey thing.' ... "
She looked at him, he had that stupid-looking face again with the dotted eyes. He blinked rapidly, completely dense of what she meant.
"...Huh?" Earwyn let out.
"They said... and what I assume from that... is that they have both reproductive organs. Male and female." Grace tells him. "...Which still is nowhere close of their gender."
A groan escapes her throat. "...And even their biography doesn't have a clue about it... Gender: Unknown? I don't even know. "
Both of them stared silently with each other. No sound came from each other as a tumbleweed that crossed the desert then across the sea to their HQ passed by and continued its way pass them. Nowhere near knowing this Callily's true gender yet.
"Anyways...Let's find Dragonblaze." Earwyn suggested.
"Yes, of cou-hm?"
They looked and spotted a head of a masked green dinosaur poking out of the trees. They were looking at them silently with the tree barely hiding their body. The dinosaur was rather large in size, especially towards height. Several spikes of varying sizes protrude from the back of their head, neck, and shoulders. Both sides of their chest, the center of the back, and their knees have two triangular holes. There is a gray, diamond-shaped patch of scales covering their belly, and a smaller one on their back. There are three claws on their feet and hands. A ring of spikes then surrounds the tip of their tail. Their eyes are rather small, black pupils.
"Callily?" Earwyn called out. "What are you doing here?"
"Hello..." Callily waved an arm up. "Sky and Lora..."
"Oh...Sorry, haven't seen them yet." Earwyn answered. "How about you look for them somewhere else?"
"...Okay..." They appear to sound disappointed and they turn and lumber off. "But I thought I saw them a while ago..."
They continued to mutter on until they disappeared into the dark. Right, they were a skilled member in this type of skill. They're more into attacking by sneaking toward an opponent and attack their weaknesses. This reason was behind why they were in this area and the reason they weren't able to detect them was because of...
"I didn't detect them until they showed themselves." Earwyn muttered.
"...Neither did I..." Grace added. "At best, it was their typing to Dark that nullified Psychic-based detection..."
"More likely of their footing and the way they positioned themselves." Earwyn muttered.
They went onward until they heard laughing of a child.
"Oh, we've found them." Grace commented.
Going through a set of trees, they spotted the back of a Charizard facing them. His tail moved about and body bent down so that he could play with someone smaller than him. They knew that he knew that they were there but currently busy to address them.
"Dragonblaze!" Earwyn called out, hearing a sigh come out from Christopher's maw. As he stood up, both of them heard an audible crack as Christopher howled in pain.
"Argh...Not again!" Christopher complained.
"Is your back alright?" Grace asks. "Do you need anything immediately?"
"Argh..." Christopher groaned and pushed his back with both hands, more cracks were heard.
They visibly flinched.
"It is... fortunate that his back doesn't give way during missions..." Earwyn whispered.
"Yeah..." Grace agreed.
Christopher continued to bend his back a couple of times more until he panted when he felt alright. A small pink blob with two dots as eyes and a line as a mouth looked at him with concern.
"Katherine..." He muttered.
They look back at the Pokémon known as a Ditto.
"What is it now?" Christopher asked while crossing his arms. "What do you want now while I spend some time with my daughter?"
"Um..." Earwyn showed the journal at him, showing it showed that he knew what should be done.
"Oh..." Christopher nodded and looked back at the Ditto. "Can you play with Grace for a while? I have work to do."
The Ditto nodded and went to Grace. Grace smiled down at her as she transformed into a Gardevoir like her.
"Can we play?" She asked.
"Sure, Katherine. What would you like to do?" Grace said.
They went to the sides as Earwyn showed about this Shed they'd encountered last night. Christopher crossed his arms as he explained about this Shed. Not to miss a single detail for every detail was important if they want to survive this threat of the Shed.
"To start off, this Shed is called Gulia Gluttony, or call it Lesser Gluttony for it is weaker than the Shed it was based of from. It had the power to travel underground which made them dangerous if one were to be surprised if they appeared from the ground out of no where. The size of this Shed can grow up to three miles in length and ten diameter in height. The one we've faced was the shortest size it could reach. Furthermore, the membranes it fired were calculated to be stronger than the strongest alloy we've discovered and each require a three seconds to fire one for each membrane. Its mouth could fire spikes from the teeth around it and so far, we've seen that it approximately has five hundred teeth...Dragonblaze?"
Upon hearing those, Christopher looked lost in thought.
"What's this? Huh?" Christopher screamed as a Shed slammed and caused a wire to tangle him up. He couldn't break free no matter how hard he tried. The ground shook around him.
Something is coming... and he knows he can't escape from it.
He was then hoisted up as a hidden blade was deployed and threw him ten meters away as the wires around him went loose. He looked back at the person who threw him to safety.
Those... were the last seconds.
"T-To-" He tried to call out when...
He sees large, bone-like spikes stab right through the person without any halt, the cracking of turtleshell resounding in his ears.
He was then thrown a couple of ten meters out of where he was and landed on his back ground as he looked upward to see the tortoise being hanging by the spike several meters above him. Too shock to move, he could make out that the tortoise was still alive and tried to remove the spike from his shell. The pipe-like membranes on his shell was cracking for some of the spike hit those.
That was then the Shed realized that he wasn't dead. It released a howl and fired twenty more spikes out of its mouth and pierced the tortoise's body even further, a single spike hit the back of his head and went out of the right eye socket, the eye going out a few more centimeters away from the eyelid. All body functions stopped functioning as blood, organs, and spinal fluid fell down and splattered around Christopher's shaking body. The hidden blade beside him shattered as the Shed reeled the spikes back into it's mouth and chomped the tortoise in to devour what was remain of him.
Gone... gone...
"Dragonblaze? Dragonblaze!"
Christopher was pulled back to reality and looked back at Earwyn, who wore a concerned expression about what was going on with the old Charizard's mind about why he didn't move for a while. He looked at his tail, oh, he made the temperature warmer when he was bothered. Old habits die hard.
"You were out for a minute, something wrong?" Earwyn asked.
Christopher took a deep breath and smiled.
"There's nothing wrong." Christopher lied. "I'm alright."
"Really?" Earwyn tried to dig in but he knew that this old dragon won't speak up and hide some stuff.
"Yes...Katherine!" Christopher looked and called the Ditto out.
"Yes?" She asked.
"Come on, time to sleep." He ordered.
"What!? But I don't want to!" Katherine pouted.
"Please...You've stayed up last night too late, you need to go back to sleep and to make up the sleep you've lost."
Katherine sadly slouched and returned to her Ditto form as she looked back at Grace with a sad look.
"I have to go back to sleep..."
"Oh, that's alright." Grace consoled Katherine. "Some other time, alright?"
"Okay..." She agreed before returning to her father.
She jumped up onto his shoulder and they walked out of the place and disappeared from beneath the trees. Earwyn and Grace watched them leave and looked at each other. He looked at Grace closely, causing her to wonder what he was doing.
"Earwyn? What... what is it?"
"...When did you made Pendragon remove the seal?" He asked.
Her thoughts immediately fell, internally disappointed. Another moment, ruined.
The only thing that Earwyn is practically lacking in is recognizing love... "...Oh, since..."
She counted the days precisely.
"Hm...Si-" He began as a dagger was flung at them.
Both of them were startled at this. The dagger was thrown so precise that it flew in between Earwyn's gills and not hitting a single gill from it and flew to the side of Grace's head. It was so fast that they only recognized it was even there with it hit a tree which shook violent from the impact. It broke some bark off it as it remained there.
"...Oh..." Grace's tone fell.
They looked around from where the thrower was when suddenly, someone appeared suddenly from behind them and a pair of daggers was brought up to their throats. It happened so fast, barely a second passed when this all happened. They looked from behind, spotting Christopher grinning as they were in his mercy.
"With that...You lovebirds are dead." He teased.
"Hm?" Earwyn hummed. "We're not birds..."
"L-lovebirds...! D-Dragonblaze!" Grace shouts, once again quite annoyed with Earwyn for not even picking up on this very obvious statement.
She accidentally elbowed Earwyn as well. "Oh!"
"Hm?" Earwyn muttered as he looked down at the daggers.
The daggers were a couple of feet long and had a slightly curved edge with a pointed end. They were dark and blue, the color scheme of a Mega Charizard X. These were...
"These are the ones with more attack power, correct?" Earwyn asked, earning a nod.
"Indeed." Christopher clarified before letting them go while dismissing both of those daggers into specks of white light. "You know a lot about my daggers."
"Earwyn... sorry for the elbow strike..." Grace rubbed her arm.
"Um...It's alright." Earwyn muttered, rubbing the part where she elbowed him before looking back at Christopher.
"By the way...When was the last time did you use Terraferrum?" Christopher asked.
There was some silence while Earwyn frowned lightly.
"...Haven't used them since that battle we took that made us a legend." He answered, which meant...
"...Six years..." Christopher sighed. "Look, with the amount the Sheds appearing now these days, you know that you need to be ready to use those when needed."
"I'm fine with the skills you've taught us in unarmed combat." He countered.
"Is it?" Christopher asked. "You remembered the first time we met, correct? You cannot damage them with just the moves you made and we managed to kill that Shed by using its own weapon and made sure our weapons were transitioned to attacks. Masamune used a weaker version of Kyouko Sakura as to not draw any suspicion"
Earwyn remained silent and looked down.
"Tell me...Was spending your childhood was a waste of time when you nearly chained yourself using the chains of your weapon?"
"..." Still no answer came from Earwyn's mouth.
The use of these weapons...All taught by his trainer. One who went missing.
'Earwyn...' Grace thought.
Christopher let out a breath, shaking his head.
He rose a phone a dialed a number on it. He was met with an angry scream. It took a while for the other end of the call to finish his rant before Christopher could speak up.
"...I hereby grant permission for the use of Terraferrum." He announced as Earwyn felt something released from inside of him.
He looks at his hand, an open palm looking back at him. A few grips as he felt energy flow towards his arm. He flicks his wrist and it appears.
He looked as chains began to coil themselves around his arms like a chained prisoner and a pair of armlets strapped themselves on his arms. That was where the chains ended and the other end of the chain either rested around his arm or at the pommel of the large sword he wielded. The sword was a few inches longer than him, half a millimeter thick, and a couple of feet wide. Despite this, he wielded it by one hand with no problem. The sword was red and blue, appearing like it was two swords fused into one with a handle the looked duplicated with a red and blue part. He sighed upon seeing this sword again.
This sword...
"Terraferrum." Earwyn muttered, looking at the blade while rubbing the dorsal fins on his head, Christopher looked at this.
"You used your dorsal fins..." Christopher muttered, earning a nod from Earwyn. "You know what happens if they break, correct?" Another nod. "Which is why...You need to control it and know how to use the power so that it won't break."
"...Yes..." Earwyn nodded as Christopher looked at Grace.
"Yggdrasil?" He asked.
"Oh, I'll get started." Grace held her hand out and conjured a bow.
The bow had a dirty white color that made it look like it was made from the antlers of a stag. Around it were azure orbs that covered the bow and a sting that was stronger that it looks.
"...There." she finishes, looking back at Christopher.
He eyed her right arm twitching in pain. He knew which part of her was used to create that weapon.
"Your arm..." He muttered.
"...I know." She responded. "I'll be careful."
"Then...That is all and...Remember to train with those weapons and I won't take 'No' as an answer, got it?" Christopher clarified.
"...Yes..." Earwyn finally answered.
"Yes." Grace nods.
Christopher nodded before leaving them be. They heard Katherine laugh as she got on Christopher.
"You got those lovebirds!"
Then both of them disappeared like shadows.
"'Lovebirds...?'" Earwyn muttered and crossed his arms. "But...we're not birds."
"...Ugh..." Grace mumbled.
Again he didn't get any hints despite how obvious those were. They dismissed their weapons and began to make their way to the training area. Earwyn looked at Grace.
"Training with our weapons." He muttered. "We're going to do this and it's been a while since Master Samuel faced me wielding them."
"...Yes..." Grace spoke.
She turned her head to the side. "...Sky?"
"Oh, the-" Earwyn began before stopping of some costume he wore...
"What are you... wearing?" She asked the rather uncomfortable Salamence.
Sky just mumbled as he wore some kind of rodent's onesie pajama. It was yellow, with two brown lines at the back and a yellow tail with a brown bottom with his tail inside of it. The hood had a pair of pointy ears with black tips, a pair of black round eyes, a cat smile, and red small circles as cheeks.
"Sky? Are you listening to us?"
"..." Was all he mumbled.
"Sky?" Earwyn asked.
Tears welled up to Sky's eyes.
"Lora made me wear this!" He cried.
"Oh, Lora?" Grace said.
She heard Earwyn seethed in rage when he heard this. She flinched back when she felt the dreadful aura from him.
"Ea...Earwy-"
"LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
Around the fields, the rabbit sat down as she made some flower crown with the flowers around her before looking at the jackal man beside her. She looked at him. The jackal was mainly blue and black furred around his body except for his torso, which was cream-furred. The blue fur around his thigh area are in the form of shorts. There are short round metal-appearing spikes on his forepaws and chest. A medium-length blue tail hang from behind him. Beside his head are four droplet-like appendages and ontop of his head are two pointed ears.
"...Finished?" He turns to the rabbit.
The tone he made was rather...monotonous. No emotion was made when he spoke that.
"Well, yes!" She pouted. "Don't you like it!? It's cute like Sky!"
"Huh. Cute."
"So, what do you think of Sky?" She asked with a smile.
"Hmm... Young. Having to fight like all of us."
The rabbit pouted in annoyance, this jackal never got the hint about Sky. Why can't he just follow her?
"NO! I mean how he looks!"
" ..You should have been more specific." He said. "...Blue and red and gray with large wings."
The rabbit hit her head on the ground...She completely gave up.
"...How much more specific do you want to be?" He continues. "Th-Something's coming."
He had turned his head at a direction.
The rabbit looked up and spotted Earwyn making his way to them. He looked...upset. Extremely upset about something. She wondered about it while the jackal tried drinking some tea while the ground shook, not minding it by the slightest as he blew on the cup to cool down the tea. Finally, Earwyn stopped in front of them.
"Oh...Good morning...Or was it noon, Earwyn!" She greeted with a smile.
"Lora, what did you do to Sky!?" Earwyn screamed.
"Oh, I made him dress up as a Pikachu because he looks so cute!" Lora joyfully cheered.
The Lucario turned his head quietly at Lora. And he passively stood up and distanced himself away from the two.
"Um...Lucas? Why are you distancing away from me-"
"Good luck."
"Hu-!"
She received an earful scream from the angry Swampert. So loud that it broke the sound barrier and forced Lora to tilt a bit to the side. Her eyes widened into circles and a small dot remained of her iris when he did so scream in her long ears.
"Do you even know that Sky doesn't like wearing any clothes and that they're extremely uncomfortable if he were to wear any type of clothing meant that they'll make them itch a lot like what you just did to him and what..."
This continued on for a while and, during this time, Lucas was just sipping his cup of tea while watching the grilling Lora received. "You brought this on yourself." He comments before resuming drinking up the beverage.
Soon, it was done and Lora looked beaten of all the scolding she received from Earwyn. He huffed as Lora shook her head.
"Come on, Earwyn!" She pouted. "Why can't you just ease up a bit!? You took care of Sky a lot before you joined us. It isn't always about him being tied up to your will, let him have some fun!"
"'Fun...'" Earwyn muttered. "I question about the way you described that word."
"Define 'fun'." Lucas added.
"Oh...Um...Well..." Lora muttered.
"Does dragging him into the sewers while he played with a paper boat count?" Earwyn answered for her, remembering what Lora did to Sky for some fun.
"...Fun, is the meaning of enjoyment, amusement, or light-hearted pleasure." Lucas states.
"But you scared him." Earwyn continued.
"Lucas! Who's side are you in!?" Lora barked.
"It can also mean to joke or tease." Lucas added. "And you were in a fix, so I stated what is the definition of 'fun'."
"But you're helping Earwyn prove more points against me!" Lora complained.
"And then that bathroom, he hid inside it and you broke it with you kick and picked from the hole with a 'Here's Lora!' scream." Earwyn continued.
"Um..." Lora shook.
"...It can also mean that it is an activity or behavior that is intended purely for amusement and should not be interpreted as having any serious or malicious purpose."
Lora snapped her head toward him.
"You're not helping!" She cried.
"You're not giving your definition of 'fun'. And I don't need to remain as your dictionary, do I?" He reminds her.
"Ah..." Lora opened her mouth, she felt an arrow pierced through her chest. All this feelings. Her own brother...Her brother, Lucas, had betrayed her. Her head was now on the ground while Lucas sipped his tea. "How could you..."
"Your definition of fun?"
"Um...Smiling?" She answered.
"If that is a definition, then you are having 'fun' just a few minutes ago."
Lora slouched as he said this...He was right, but she only wanted one thing from Sky. She heard the tapping of Earwyn's feet as he glared at her.
"..." Lora bowed down on the ground. "...I'm sorry Earwyn. I just...wanted to become friends with Sky."
Earwyn just stared at her with a sigh. Her words sound genuine so he could let her off the hook for now. He didn't touch her as he spoke.
"...Fine, I accept your apology." Earwyn declared. "Just...Don't do that ever again, okay? If you do, then I would never let Sky talk to you again."
Lora beamed up and smiled while letting out a cheer.
"Yay! Thankyouthankyouthankyousomuch!" She chanted but stayed some feet away from Earwyn before turning to her brother. "Did you hear it? He forgave me!"
"Yes, he did." He nonchalantly speaks.
He then saw Grace looking a bit away from them. Lucas eyed her and then down at her chest. She was admiring Earwyn's attitude and how forgiving he was. No other person was as kind as he was.
"...And there she is. Touched."
"Hm? You mean Grace?" Earwyn asked.
"You figured." Lucas commented.
"What about her?" He pushed as Grace heard what they spoke of.
"Touched by how you acted just now."
"Well yeah...She admires me for some reason but I don't know why." Earwyn spoke out.
'Lucas, you're making me sound like a stalker!' Grace mentally seethed.
"Is the answer not clear to you? One word." Lucas spoke.
"Um...Friends?" He answered, Grace felt like an imaginary spear impaled her.
'Ugh...!' Grace cried internally.
"...Starts with the letter 'l'. Ends with the letter 'e'. Four letters." Lucas stated.
"Hm...Lore?" Earwyn answered, another spear. "We do have a long way since we've met."
'Ugh!' Another flood of mental tears ran through Grace.
"...change the third letter and what will you get?" Lucas questioned.
'Stop it!' Grace cried out in her mind, unable to believe this.
"Hm...Lone." Earwyn answered and another spear. "I can't leave her alone when she needs me."
'And you, too! Is your brain hard-wired to not know 'love'!?'
"Hm...Flat?" Earwyn spoke, not hearing Grace's haunted mental screams when he spoke that loud.
"...How does it even derail to that without matching those letters?" Lucas quips passively. "Even if that statement's true."
"Well, Grace is beautiful." Lora complimented, Grace looked at her happily.
'You get it, Lora!' Grace finally cheers from her mind.
"Even though she is flat!" Lora added, another spear.
'...I take back those words!'
"Hm...What do you think so about her being flat?" Earwyn asked.
"Hm...Her being less than A?" Lora wondered.
'Loraaaaa!' Grace wailed internally, sounding like several souls floating and wondering in Limbo for the rest of eternity.
"...Love. That's all." Lucas just said.
'Lucaaaaas!?' Grace wailed again, louder and more haunted than ever before.
"I said my piece. That's all."
'Why did you tell hiiiim!? He's only brain-dead to even understand that word!' Grace continues to panic mentally. 'I wanted it to be a secret!'
"Um...Love? Oh, of course I love her!" Earwyn declared happily.
'Earwyn!?' Grace felt her hopes hit at the peak.
"Because she's my friend!" He added.
...And, there goes all of that hopes because of the term, friendzoning. A giant slab of those words crashed onto her on her back, she fell prone to the ground with that giant piece of slab on top of her.
Earwyn sighed and turned back.
"Well, be seeing you, I had to train with my weapon." Earwyn waved. "Be seeing you, bye."
"Okay, bye!" Lora joyfully waved.
"Bye." Luca just waved.
"Grace, come on." Earwyn called as he passed her prone form.
"..." She never felt so distraught until... now.
Gathering the pride she had left, she got up and followed Earwyn with a distraught slouch.
She followed him back, she wondered if this braindead fishman knew anything than platonic love and a chance for them to be together. Right now, she was still just a friend and there was almost no hope that he could ever know if she and Earwyn could become a couple. They looked around the area they went to after Lora and Lucas were gone from their view and spotted what remained of the onesie Sky wore earlier. It was now reduced into a pile of fabric. Looking about, they spotted a trail of it and decided to follow it and at the end of it, Sky sat there and ate some platter of cookies on it in which he gobbled down quickly. They watched as the pile rapidly shrunk before their eyes from this little dragon's vigorous appetite.
"Sky? Who brought those cookies to you?" Earwyn asked.
"Oh, Ino just came by and wanted to give these to me!" Sky answered while his tail wagged. "They're such a good baker of cookies!"
"Well, seems you have a friend who cares for you." Earwyn smiled, that word still stung Grace greatly. "Well, I've talked to her and she promised not to dress you up ever again."
"R-Really!?" Sky cheered. "Awesome! Maybe next time, I could give her some of this delicious cookies too!"
"Hm...Okay Sky." Earwyn spoke.
Grace looked around some more. Where was that Ino fellow?
"Where did they..." She mumbled.
She got her answer at another pile of cookies being reduced and the head of a Tyranitar was appearing from the duo's line of sight.
"Oh, there you are Callily!" Earwyn called, Ino looked away, a blush appearing behind their masked face. "You could just have told us you wanted to give Sky his cookies, thanks a lot!"
"Mhm..." Ino nods slowly. "Friend. Sky big friend."
Grace hearing the word, "friend," again brought bad memories. She shook violently upon remembering how Earwyn could never know what she felt about him.
"Grace?" Earwyn wondered. "What's wrong?"
"...N...Nothing is wrong..." she insisted with a trembling voice. "...By the way, had you learn any new words with the book I found before?"
"Hm...New words..." Sky muttered. "Big bro, what is the meaning of 'sex?'"
Earwyn's eyes widened with shock as he fired a Hydro Pump out of his mouth and took down a tree by a distance and an owl-like man flew away to evade it from falling on top of him, Grace jolted with her mouth wide open of what she just heard, and Ino just tilted their head innocently, not knowing what he meant of that word.
"Melon...?" Ino trudged over to Sky's side.
"Hm? They said women have those." Sky answered. "So I don't have them but...Grace is a woman but she doesn't have what they describe as melons!"
"I don't have melons." Ino added.
That fact that further added the ambiguity of their real gender.
"Wait, where. Did you hear those words? Who taught you two them!?" Grace demanded with her arms flailing about wildly.
She felt the silent rage Earwyn had behind his smile.
"Oh, I've read from Metallic Piece of Carbs' pile!" Sky answered. "Still, it is very uncomfortable and I don't know why."
"Fat iron rhino stuff." Ino replies.
"Oh...I see..." Earwyn muttered with a hint of poison in his voice. "So, where did he go?"
"Even have girl Swampert with melons..." Ino mumbles. "And over there..." they point to a direction.
"Yeah, and Gardevoir with D-melons!" Sky added.
Grace instinctively touched her chest.
"Nidoqueen with D-melons..." Ino said. "Mmm... mmm... Millllfff..."
"...Okay, how about we pay a nice visit to Isaac?" Earwyn suggested.
"Oh." Sky nodded.
"Okay." Ino nods obediently.
They made their way there and as they went, Earwyn and Grace stopped Sky and Ino.
"Watch your steps." Earwyn reminded.
"Okay..." Ino nods.
They nodded and took a large step forward, not stepping on a large "black lump" on the ground. They made it to the place before they heard a loud moan of sorrow and disappointment.
"Why!? Why didn't you step on me!?"
They turned to the "lump" on the ground, which moved because of someone crying.
"Oh...?" Ino looked down.
They looked as the piece of "lump" was revealed to be actually Xavier, who faced them with tears falling from his eyes. He got on his knees and begged for them.
"Please, I want to feel the sensation!" He begged. "The sensation of my bones breaking, the force you apply as you mercilessly and unwittingly bring your entire weight on me. The agony that you let a friend suffer because of not thinking and minding your surroundings! A friend who brought great pain to me. Such cruelty and torture. Marvelous! Please! Step on me!"
"..." Earwyn stared with a deadpanned look.
"Oh... We must see Isaac." Ino tells Xavier. They look and pick up a small pebble. "Pebble can keep you company."
"A pebble?" Xavier hoped that Ino would beat him with it.
They simply put the pebble to rest on his head.
Xavier froze.
"Pebble, keep Xavier with friendship." Ino says and they turn to Earwyn and Grace. "Pebble can help Xavier... go go see Isaac..."
"Wow, you're so cool, Ino!" Sky complimented.
"Oh..." Earwyn muttered.
"Let's... let's just go on ahead." Grace tells them before Xavier changes his mind.
"Okay." Ino nods.
They left as Xavier cried in agony, however, his cries were muffled by the closed door as everyone entered the training room. They walked down the aisle and mats of where they trained different kinds of martial arts. Some parts of the room had firing ranges that allowed ranged specialists to train without harming any of the members around them. The three watched the numerous spars.
"Wow, look at how Smeeth go!" Sky cheered, watching a land shark train with a penguin several moves of Taijutsu.
"Hmm..." Ino looked around and points at a direction. "Fat iron rhino."
They turned to see Isaac sparring with Samuel. Isaac now held a spear at one hand and a shield with the other. The spear was wide with a thick silver shaft that was a feet in diameter and a black triangular blade that was a two feet wide. The shaft was longer than his body and needed to be wielded by two hands, yet he could do it with only one. The shield was as large as his body with it separated into black segments that allowed him for quick moment and instantly enlarge it to block attacks. It had a lighter grey front with a black symbol at the center that allowed Isaac vision of what was in front.
Samuel's weapons were now longer and narrower than the Seamitars he had, but they knew that it was stronger than them. It had a silver blade and blue and light handle, making them look more like katanas.
Ino looked around and waved and jumped about to get their attention.
The two stopped with both Samuel attacking with both katanas and Isaac blocking them with his shield. With the position, they turned to Ino. What do they want?
"Fat metal rhino, Earwyn wants to see you..." Ino tells Isaac.
Isaac turned to Earwyn, who was just looking at him with a passive and smiling expression. However, he felt dread from the look.
"Oh, g'day, Ear! ...Uh..." Isaac notices something quite... suspicious.
"..." Earwyn just continued smiling, not moving a muscle.
Isaac fell silent. He knew that when Earwyn smiled like that, he knew that there was something definitely wrong. But what was it this time?
He turned to the side and spotted Sky looking at him curiously. Oh crap, that one! Yes! He completely forgot about locking his secret sash of those materials from his bed! With Sky being the one who shared his bunk bed...Which meant he was one possible to know about those! How could he be so stupid and careless to not hide those!?
"..." Earwyn just looked at him silently. What was he about to do?
"...Earw-"
At a blink of an eye, Earwyn appeared before Isaac and did a powerful uppercut directly to his chin. Everything became slow as a powerful shockwave blew across the training room with the "In the Hall of the Mountain King" playing as this happened. Everyone stare in shock as this happened. They stopped at what they were doing and watched Isaac's face flinched with his metallic face vibrating from the impact.
The Prestissimo of the music played as Isaac's body was sent flying upward with Earwyn jumping with the uppercut's momentum. Isaac flew above and reached the ceiling's surface. Earwyn still wore his smile, Samuel had his mouth agape, Grace covered her mouth with her hands, Sky ate cookies while watching in awe, Ino found a green cap with an "L" emblem on it and waved it in the air. Then from the bleachers, Carla jolted back when this happened and Sylvia just sighed with her tail on her face as this happened. Isaac's head hit the ceiling and several splinters of wood appeared as his head met with the ceiling.
When everything had gone back to normal speed, Isaac left an Aggron-shaped hole on the ceiling and the entire room was hit by a wind of a tornado blow around them that several covered their faces from the force. This was when the finale of clashing instruments played. Isaac flew up, a flock of seagulls flinched when a large dinosaur passed them and disappeared into the sky with a twinkle.
Everyone looked at what happened while Earwyn sighed with relief.
"Bye-bye." Ino said. They put the cap away afterward.
"He's gone..." Sky muttered as he ate the last cookie.
'Oh, Earwyn...' Grace thought.
Earwyn turned to Samuel, who looked surprised at what just happened.
"Hey, Master Samuel!" Earwyn greeted with a smile.
"...Oh, Earwyn." Samuel finally speaks after a long pause. "So, you being here means you want to test the hardness of your sword?"
"Hardness? Sword?" Ino tilts their head.
"Hm?" Sky wondered, also tilting his head.
"Er..." Grace sweats.
"Yeah, since I will be using these for now on." Earwyn summoned Terraferrum in front of him. "Dragonblaze told me to train with these today and he won't make me refuse it. So, how about it?"
Samuel smirked at this. To be able to spar against a powerful weapon. This was exciting, his blood pumped swiftly with excitement. He could not wait any longer.
"Alright, then let us begin! Make our swords as hard as they can!"
HOPE HQ
June 21, 2019
11:20
"Alright, time for you to go to sleep, Katherine." Christopher whispered as he tucked his daughter on the bed, taking up some sort of shot and squeezed it so that no bubbles won't be present in the tube.
"It's not fair..." Katherine grumbled. "Why can't I play some more? I want to play longer."
"Katherine..."
Christopher knelt down beside her and showed the shot. She knew this shot, it always put her to sleep every time she was shot by it. The compound made her feel better and she didn't know why. Despite of what she spoke earlier, she actually felt more relieved and more energy pumped more into her on the next day but...Only could keep it up before noon kicked in.
"I wanted to watch that show..." Katherine muttered as she looked at prerecorded tapes of a show.
"Well, I'll record it later." Christopher answered.
"No...Not the recorded ones." Katherine shook her head. "Those that are on live."
"But...You can't do that." Christopher declined sternly. "You'll take up more and you'll hurt yourself keeping yourself awake more than noon. You understand?"
Katherine wanted to protest to her father, but she felt sleepy.
"Okay, daddy." She finally complied as Christopher then injected her with the syringe. She felt sleepy. "Good night."
Christopher tucked her inside her bed and planted a kiss on her forehead as he looked back at four replicas of weapons Katherine decorated in the room. A gauntlet with a blade underneath, a sniper rifle with no scope, and pair of daggers. He didn't know why there was another dagger there but...She kept it close and wondered why. Those weapons were...from old friends...They never walked this earth anymore. No longer there. Gone from this world and onto another realm.
He looked at his daughter sleeping. She looked so peaceful and well now but...How could he find the cure for this skill she held? He didn't know but continue to search for it as part of his role as the guardian and leader of HOPE. When he finally found that Katherine was asleep, he left the room and into the hallway. He moved about for a while and went to the elevators. Looking at the numbers of stairs, he pushed the button making its way to the rooftop. He waited for a while until the box reached the destination, he went out and onto the rails that overlooked the sea that surrounded the HQ.
This HQ was now their home, located somewhere from the seas that nobody ever tried to cross. Completely isolated from anyone and everything. A prison than a home. He wondered, could he still keep on being a hero like what the public describe him as such? He looked over the newspaper and found some comic strips depicting a pseudo appearance of HOPE. None knew who they were and if they had any trainers for they describe Pokémon without them as nothing more than wild beasts. When can they live onward? To live like normal Pokémon, not as soldiers and "weapons"? He didn't know the answer and everyone of HOPE...All of them were just teenagers...
Outskirts of Kalos
June 21, 2019
11:48
"Mmm, I'm hungry! Why did we even chose this mission, LB?" Blaze complained as he followed Leafbreeze amidst the forest, trying to find what was the reason of the nearby city's supplies of food and other resources were running out.
Leafbreeze just ignored him, kneeling down on the trail and checking out if there were any traces to find here. He looked on and about, staying silent while Blaze remained in place of where Leafbreeze told him to wait on. The reason why he told him to stay there was because he didn't want this foolish Blaziken ruin anything he could find about the culprits of this stealing of resources.
"Come on..." Leafbreeze called out, Blaze let out a sigh of relief.
"Finally!" Blaze exclaimed, jumping to his feet and followed Leafbreeze. "So, where can we-"
Leafbreeze had two vines shot out of his waists like small rockets and tied themselves on the branches of the trees nearby. Before long, those vines hoisted him up and he disappeared into the thick of the forest. Blaze covered his face from the wind the blew when Leafbreeze left. He looked onward.
"Hey, wait up for me!" Blaze yelled, running into the way Leafbreeze went off to.
Leafbreeze looked back at Blaze running in to go after him. He sighed, why did he had to join in this mission? Most mission they had were mainly good for just one member to complete. He never needed a partner, he was confident enough to do this mission all by himself. Once the vines reached the end of the line, he had them untie themselves off the branches before doing a flip with the force the vines gave him. The vines reeled in as he did so before firing them again and reeled them in to increase his speed and did a barrel roll. The roll allowed him to move around the branches before he reached out and grabbed a branch to swing him forward, then stepping on a branch to propel him forward to another, he used an arm on that branch and pushed him up that he broke off the sea of trees and looked around. There nothing much to see, only trees everywhere. He sighed and looked around some more then fired some vines from his waist again and went to another direction, swinging to a different dirction.
He flew about a few more before releasing the vines and skidding to a halt on the ground with his feet. He walked a few more meters to make the inertia of his travels end while his vines return back to his waist. He looked forward and knelt down, spotting some tracks on the ground. They must be nearby as he heard someone panting and stopping near him. He looked to see Blaze had arrived. He panted, hands on his knees with the back and legs bent to take in the air and rest his aching legs.
"Finally...caught you...Emo Lizard..." He breathed.
"...Come on." Leafbreeze spoke out as he stood and walked toward the direction he found.
"Heeey, can we take a break!?" Blaze complained before he ran to catch up with his companion. "We've been here for hours..."
"...No time for breaks."
Blaze pouted at this before following Leafbreeze with a slouch. He picked this mission for the both of them, hoping that he could get to learn more about this emo childhood friend of his. But nothing was making him understand him better. The gecko always pushed him away for some reason. Whatever if it was because of their trainer abandoning them or something else, he won't ever open up to them. Blaze just continued following his friend in this deep and dark forest.
Blaze began to feel bored, no Sheds to fight, anything. He just took this mission because there weren't any Shed activities for the past weeks and the only Shed he faced was yesterday and it wasn't even a solo mission but done by several members of their group. He looked ahead and only saw Leafbreeze there, nobody else. A bore, bore, and his friend was still boring even with him going more momentum to scout a head. What was he doing with that sick stunt? Just to lose him like he tried to do before in the past? He went onward.
"Hey, can you talk to me?" Blaze complained. "It's-"
Leafbreeze stopped him with a wave of his arm, it caused Blaze to step back.
"...We've got company." He simply told him, it caused Blaze to smile wildly.
"Yeah! You, come on out!" He got his answer when a katana came charging at him from behind, only for it to be blocked with Leafbreeze's Leaf Blade. "Whoa!"
Leafbreeze sighed and used his feet to trip Blaze forward and so that he could get a better position of this unknown enemy. He spun as Blaze released a yelp and rolled forward to block the next incoming hit, his eyes leered. This was the move Shadow Sneak that allowed one to hit someone from the shadows without them noticing. This one, however, was much more versatile and swift than an average user of this move could do. He jumped into the air to parry the user who jumped out of the shades of the tree like a ninja of the night.
He clashed against a katana that had a navy blue hilt with black stripes on it. The blade was sharp and dark, blending with the shadows nicely. He looked at the assailant, he realized that they were a shinobi, she wore the traditional short-sleeved garb of those types of warriors that was shaded dark blue in with the folds being black with the neckline opened up to between her chest and covered with a black fishnet, her lower wear was shorts of that garb around, and footwear were some leg wraps. She was a dark blue frog-like being with webbed feet and hands with the webbings being pale yellow, her limbs had pearl white circles on them and legs with pale blue star-shaped markings, she had a pair of red eyes on her head that was mostly dark blue with a yellow lower half, a pair of white triangular markings on her eyes, three crests on her head connected with light blue webbings, and the "scarf" around her neck was her tongue.
He knew this Pokémon, a Greninja, but he knew that he needed to use a weapon too if he were to survive her attack. He parried off the attack and used a Vine Whip to push himself back while he took out a phone and dialed on it. He looked around while he flew back upside down for his opponent while Blaze scurried off to evade some shurikens made from water from hitting him. Leafbreeze heard someone pick it up.
"Pendragon, I request permission to unleash Forestglint and Ho-oh's Might!" He declared while the Greninja appeared from above. He readied his arms to parry when...
"Permission granted, assholes!"
Leafbreeze flinched as he felt some part of his body got torn away and produced a pair of dark green katanas off his hands. He held them up and crossed them to parry the attack, his assailant was shocked up seeing those.
"You..." She muttered. "H-How?"
"We're on a mission." Leafbreeze promptly replied and parried, she jumped away and landed on a tree trunk. "We're here to take what you had stolen."
"...I won't let you destroy our village." The Greninja sneered as she sunk into the shadows. "You have to go through me first!"
"So be it." Leafbreeze sighed, dashed toward a different direction, and clashed with the Greninja's katana.
Blaze watched them appear as glint around the forest before seeing his hands get covered by orange gloves with rainbow-patterned feathers. His weapon, why were they here? Leafbreeze must had told to remove the seals of this. As he wondered why, he gasped and rolled to the side to evade a hammer brought down upon him. Blaze looked at the spiked hammer that detailed a losing war through its shaft and the head detailed a hero rising to turn the tides around. He looked up at the wielder...
The wielder was a two legged creature that bore the resemblance to a rhinoceros and a dinosaur. He was mainly grey with a rocky plate on his chest that slightly covered his cream abdomen that was divided into strips by thin divots. He had two points on his head that resembled ears, wide, wavy crests beneath those, a spike on his forehead that curved forward, and spikey ridges on his cheeks. He had a cream horn that Blaze knew that his was longer to show that he was male, two jaws peering out from the upper jaw, and a pair of red eyes. He wore some kind of platinum armor that covered his legs, arms, and shoulders but left his upper torso exposed with a pale brown torn cape around his neck. An armored brown bandolier was around his exposed torso that crossed from his right shoulder to his right hip. He had a scar over his chest and one over his right eye.
That warrior swung his hammer and smiled at Blaze. A friendly smile that Blaze blushed to note how handsome he was. Those cheek bones were nice and so was his body. However, he shook his head. He needed to concentrate on the mission to complete and he was his enemy now. His enemy was a Rhydon.
"Sorry, but I had a village to protect." The Rhydon told him. "No hard feelings!"
The Rhydon swung his hammer down and Blaze leaped out of the plates shattered with that swing and readied a kick down. A battle, his mouth curved to a glee, he wanted this and he'll be getting it.
"Then let's go!" Blaze exclaimed and charged down while the Rhydon swung his hammer toward him.