Obviously, I do not own Pokemon, nor the spinoff series Pokemon Mystery Dungeon — credit belongs to The Pokemon Company of Nintendo Game Freak Creatures and Spike Chunsoft. The following work is a fanfiction based on the franchise.
Author notes can appear at the top of the chapter and at the end. If you enjoyed the work, you are free to review, share, follow, and so on.
Let's begin.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds
Chapter 1 — Storm's Children
Lucario choked and gasped for air, consciousness flooding his shaken mind. A torrent deafened his ears, and his nose smelled the ocean.
His fur felt damp, yet so dry. Saltwater? Had to be, he was just in the sea a moment ago—
The sea. Oh goodness, he had been in the sea.
A pressure pressed against his forehead at the thought of it, and he shut his eyes tighter. The salt stung them, and there was coarse sand underneath his body and in his paws. Painful.
He raised his head skyward and tried to open his eyes. Stormy night clouds greeted him, rain pelting his face and washing away the sand. A splash of tidewater made him almost jump.
The sea.
Lucario gritted his teeth. Something had happened out at sea, he knew, but he couldn't recall. The memory was fragmented. Maybe he should start from the beginning?
Right, he had been on a boat. The boat was sailing on the sea when a storm brewed out of nowhere. It wasn't that bad at first, but then the waves got rough. He recalled being inside the ship, hearing the sailors holler above, and looking out the window—
Two eerie figures jumped into Lucario's mind, jostling his memory. Pokemon. There were two Pokemon fighting in the sea, with one being huge and birdlike and the other being impossible to make sense of. Its shape was all fuzzy-looking, and it seemed to writhe in the strangest ways. That was some kind of Pokemon, right?
But then what happened? he thought. I was on a ship, now I'm here on some beach. How did I get separated from my trainer like tha—
His brain shut down as more of his memories came back. His lying body fell flat, his foot gingerly moving inches to the right where it came into contact with a plank of splintered wood.
Torn. Torn apart. One of the Pokemon, or whatever they were, fired an attack that came the ship's way. Lucario had seen it below deck, yelled out in terror, but nothing could be done. A maelstrom of water and wind hurtled over, cries resounded everywhere—
His trainer was gone.
The people on that ship were gone, along with their Pokemon. Gone, either killed by the attack or left to drown. If they were lucky, they were adrift at sea, lost and soon to be starving.
Lucario's breaths went shallow, eyes going shut again. A boom of lightning went unheard by his ears. They were gone, all gone. It was all fuzzy from there, but he didn't recall seeing any water Pokemon about when the ship burst into fragments. Maybe there were other survivors, but despair made him doubt that. Better not to have false hope. They were gone.
They were gone.
And he was alive. How?
Shivering and with tears forming in his eyes, Lucario slowly turned to the driftwood that he had somehow hung on to.
He jerked with a start at the sight of a brown-skinned human girl clutching it. Unconscious.
Another set of memories triggered. One moment the ship was splintering, the next he was sinking to the ocean and looking for his trainer, but to no avail. Instead he found this girl, sinking along with him and crying for help, and from there it was hazy.
What he understood was that he had struggled to bring her back to the surface, finding a piece of driftwood and getting the surprised girl to hang on with him. A large wave grabbed her not a moment later, tossing her into the ocean again, and he was quick to swim back down to save her. After that he lost all sense of time as they floated there on the driftwood, the girl faint and hanging on tighter than ever.
Lucario coughed out some water that was in his mouth, staring at the young girl. Wet brown hair clung to her modest blue dress, loose black leggings underneath. Even in her unconscious state, she seemed afraid, like their implausible chances of survival would drown with them.
Yet it didn't. Fate had given him and her, of all the people on that ship, another chance.
Lucario at last brought himself standing. To his surprise, he was in decent condition. His muscles were sore, and he felt a few scratches deep in his blue fur, but he could get by with that.
The tidal waves seeped dangerously close to the human girl, and he hastily pulled her further into the sandy beach with his strength. No way he would let those waves snatch her now, not after what he went through to keep her from drowning.
The rain poured down without abandon, making him shiver. Sheesh, it was cold out. The girl had to be cold too, didn't she? That couldn't be good for her health.
For a moment he panicked, his situation dawning on him. Here he was, lost on an island with a human girl who was as cold and damp as him. For a Pokemon, that wasn't that big of a deal — a sickness was something he could handle — but a human?
He didn't know what to do about it either. Thinking about how to save someone wasn't his thing. He was a trained Pokemon, for crying out loud! He was used to listening to commands, not being the one to command himself!
Get a hold of yourself, Lucario, he thought, steadying his breath. Right now you are this human's only hope, and you will not let her down. You can do this. He looked over his shoulder at the unconscious human, the tension in his body disappearing as he understood what had to be done.
He and this girl were alive.
Now they had to survive.
The jackal Pokemon turned his attention to the surrounding area. The sandy beach transitioned to a grassy slope with sparse trees, leveling off at around fifteen feet over the ground. Considering the shipwreck happened in the middle of the sea, this could be an unknown island of sorts.
Checking up on the girl one last time, he ran up the hillside.
At the top was more of the same. A plains-like field spread across, trees, bushes, and tall grass scattered throughout. No Pokemon though, barely a noise even. Assuming this was an island, it didn't appear to be tiny, so there had to be some Pokemon around.
The thought of it made Lucario put on a half-smile. If he could find a Pokemon, he could ask for help. Maybe get someone who could make them a fire, or give them directions to any humans who might be living here. That would be a start.
But of course, he didn't see any. Weird. This wasn't a desolate island, was it?
Or the Pokemon live further inland, he reasoned. Could be a cultural thing. What would the culture be like on an island like this, anyway? And moreover, what's the rest of the island like? How big is it?
Questions to explore later. Lucario turned back to check up on the girl, inwardly wishing the rain would let up. His fur felt like a sponge.
The girl was still in the same place as he left her, right on top of the driftwood, but as Lucario approached she began to cough and sputter. A shudder went through her body, head slowly turning up and eyes squinting through the dark.
"W-where?" she said in wonder, hands reaching out to the sand around her. Lightning flashed, making her turn her head over.
Lucario's eyes met hers in that instant, and she reeled back in alarm.
"Don't worry, I don't mean you any—" Lucario told her before pausing. The girl was now looking at him with a mixture of confusion and apprehension.
Drat, he forgot about the language barrier. Being a Lucario, he could understand just about anything the girl said. Humans like her, on the other hand, could not make out a word from a Pokemon.
That could be a problem, doubly so if the girl wasn't a Pokemon Trainer. Most trainers learned how to piece together what a Pokemon said — and from the looks of it, she wasn't one.
He bent his knees a little and raised his arm non-threateningly, trying to make himself seem as small as possible. The girl relaxed, a twitch in her eyes as she recognized him.
"You," she mouthed, peering at the wooden plank she was lying on. "You saved me?"
Lucario nodded, flashing a little smile. She returned it.
Something kicked in, turning his red eyes into a fiery blue, the natural color of aura. At the same time, the four teardrop appendages flowing from the back of his head stiffened, then rose into the air. Ripples ran across his vision, the world turning into a network of blue strings that overlapped with each other, and the girl appeared to turn light blue all over. A feeling of cuddly warmth laced the ominous cold coming from her.
Good, his aurasense detected her as friendly. And it seemed her fear was being interrupted by an emotion of gratitude.
The girl flinched under the blue-aura eyes but kept her smile. Much to his perturbance, Lucario could literally hear the silent thanks coming from her head, and he turned off his extra sense before he intruded upon more private thoughts.
Using his innate powers with aura gave him an idea, though. By manipulating aura, he could gain access to the emotions of others and their thoughts. Didn't he also have the ability to send them back?
It wasn't often that he sent others his emotions to communicate — his trainer Adam never needed it — and sadly, true telepathy was too hard to do. Too much interference and language-translating, among other technical issues. He couldn't send his own thoughts, but he could send emotions, and hopefully the girl would be able to interpret them.
Wanting to show the girl he wanted to help her, he conjured a feeling of assurance and care, packaging it into a strand of aura. From there he sent it over to her, pleased when a gasp escaped her mouth.
She couldn't see the aura, of course, but she could feel the message that came with it. "Y-you—" she stammered, processing the alien feeling that had entered her head. An expression of peace took over her face, pleasing the aura-controlling Pokemon. Good, she understood.
The girl tried to get up, then hissed, propping herself on an arm and clutching her right leg. Wounded?
Lucario put his paw forward in a gesture to wait. His mind raced through a list of moves he innately knew, searching until he settled upon two that would help.
One was Life Dew, which healed himself and anyone near him, but was best suited to healing scrapes and minor wounds. The other was Heal Pulse, which only affected one person at a time, but the healing was far more effective. If the girl had any fractures in her bones, this would be the better choice, but it didn't seem like her injuries went that far.
Heal Pulse was overkill then. I could use a fair bit of healing too, he considered, concentrating on using Life Dew.
His body glowed a faint aqua, magical water drops surrounding him amidst the heavy rain, while some flew to the amazed girl. The drops landed, instantly fixing the cuts in Lucario's body and making his muscles feel less sore. He wasn't that injured to begin with, but it did help.
The girl, meanwhile, looked invigorated. Her hand was still clamped around her leg, but she could move it without a problem.
She gave him another smile as she gently rose. Lucario took note that she was a good foot taller than him and looked childish — a twelve year old, he estimated. Two years younger than Adam.
His eyes went back to the ocean, a stormy mess of waves leaping over each other, and a sigh came from his jaw. His trainer, Adam, lost to the sea. Him and his other Pokemon.
The girl acted likewise, looking at the sea and shrinking into herself. "Mother," she whimpered.
The twosome stood still as if in a trance, watching the sea rage on beneath gloomy thunderclouds. A flash of lightning turned the night sky white for a moment, and Lucario could have sworn he saw some kind of monolith rising out of the ocean, far in the distance. Even further out was this strange rippling effect that seemed to encompass the entire horizon, bending the light in a mystical manner. It was hard to make any of it out with all the rain and the tears in his eyes, though.
"Cold," the girl said, hugging her damp body.
Lucario turned away from the otherworldly scene. Right, the human still needed help. The mourning would have to wait.
He gestured to the girl to follow. She quickly nodded, walking behind him. "You can understand me?" she asked. "You can… communicate with your power?"
Lucario nodded, going up the hilly slope past the beach. The human looked at her feet, hands clasped behind her back. "Eira," came her shy voice.
Eira. Her name.
"Lucario," he wryly responded. The girl stifled a giggle — she must have gotten the joke. Pokemon languages were funny like that.
Reaching the field once more, Lucario looked around for signs of Pokemon. Still nothing. Sure, it was dark and stormy, but even in this weather there had to be someone around. Maybe they were hidden.
He tried searching with his aurasense, careful to tune out Eira's thoughts, but nothing lit up. The Pokemon here weren't hiding from him — there just weren't any around in the first place. How strange, he thought. Pokemon live in the wilderness, and yet I can't find any. Is there no one on this island?
The thought of it made him shiver with dread. The human girl Eira looked at him funny, but he waved her expression away. If there was no one to help, that made everything way more difficult. He needed a plan B.
At this point, even shelter from the rain would be enough. The heavens were pouring on him and Eira, and he felt soaked to the bone. Couldn't there be at least a large tree to stay under? So far the only trees he had seen were soaking wet, the storm laughing at the feeble shade they offered.
Minutes of walking made Lucario start to question if this place really was an island when he thought he saw something up ahead. Heavy rain and darkness blocked his vision, but his aurasense took care of that, letting him pick up on two blobs of aura in the distance. Both shone a neutral gray.
Pokemon. Finally!
Lucario beckoned Eira, trying to make out who those Pokemon were from their glowing silhouettes. One of them had frills on its head and a long tail that rolled itself into a spiral — probably a Kecleon. The other one, meanwhile, had the form of a spider the same size as the Kecleon. Considering the spiky horn on its head, he guessed it was an Ariados.
Which puzzled him. Ariados lived in forests, not grassy fields. What was an Ariados doing here with a Kecleon in a place like this? And why were these two the only Pokemon around here?
The gray blobs of aura went to a dull red, and Lucario stood still as their bodies twisted toward his direction. He still couldn't see them normally, the nighttime rain kept getting in the way, but somehow they had noticed his presence.
Glowing blue eyes in the dark do that, he told himself, kicking his mind for not thinking about it.
Lucario warily moved in closer, his aurasense showing the two auras grow increasingly red. "Hey, who goes there?" an aging voice hollered.
Eira flinched at the noise. "A Kecleon?" she whispered, obviously not understanding the words.
Motioning her to stay back, Lucario shouted in return. "Strangers who came here by accident! Could any of you be of help?"
At last he could get a glimpse of the two Pokemon themselves. A Kecleon and Ariados stared at him from beneath the shade of a gnarled tree, one whose umbrella-like foliage blocked out the heavy rain. Beside the tree was a muddy mess of a dirt road.
That road said a lot about this place. For one, the island had to be large enough to warrant such a road, and for another, it must mean that there were humans who made it. Lucario's worries turned to relief.
He and Eira would be fine.
"Goodness gracious," the Kecleon cackled, waving a paw at Lucario. "I thought you were a Luxray at first, up until you spoke. I forget some Lucario can do something similar with their eyes too. What's one of your kind doing on Grassbranch Island of the Haven Archipelago?"
Haven Archipelago? He was in a place made up of multiple islands? He never heard of such a place, and yet it sounded like some kind of region. And he was on Grassbranch Island right now?
The Kecleon didn't notice Lucario's confusion, too busy listening to the Ariados agitatedly whispering to him. Aurasense told the jackal Pokemon that Kecleon's blob had returned to gray, even a smidge of light blue, while Ariados was still in the red zone, a feeling of trepidation coming from her aura. Unlike the calm Kecleon, Ariados was for some reason suspicious of him.
"Don't worry, Ariados, a stranger is not someone we need to be afraid of," Kecleon said aloud. "Well met, Lucario. You an explorer or something? I'm betting you didn't mean to come to Grassbranch Island, but the sudden storm made your ship veer off-course and crash."
Explorer? He wasn't an explorer, he was just a Pokemon. What was going on?
"Veer off-course — how does a ship get to here because of a storm?" Ariados's silky feminine voice cut in, giving Kecleon an annoyed look. "There's not a single island north from here, and yet he comes from that direction!"
"Um, about that—" Lucario said when Ariados turned on him.
"And you, what's with your eyes?" she hissed. "Are you looking into my soul or whatever it is that those eyes do? You dare pry into the secrets of a matriarch?"
Out of shame Lucario turned off his aurasense and bowed his head. Ariados's expression softened, but just barely.
"Ariados, please." Kecleon shook her head, lips curved in a smile. "I don't know where or how he came here, but I do know he's quite stupid for staying out in this weather." He patted the spot next to him under the tree. "Well Lucario, whatcha doing trying to get yourself sick in this cruel storm? Get under here."
Lucario took a step before looking over his shoulder. Eira stood silently, clearly uncomfortable in the rain.
"Whoops, didn't realize you had a friend," Kecleon said heartily. "Can't see who it is from here, no thanks to the weather. You gonna invite the fella over or what?"
"Um, yeah, thanks." Lucario tilted his head to tell Eira to come, and she meekly approached. With how slow her pace was, he wondered if she was really shy or really, really cold.
"No big deal. Merchant Kecleon, by the way. Proud member of Kecleon Wares — perhaps you've met my brothers in one of the other islands. Ariados here was just talking about business with me."
Lucario blanched. Hold up, the Kecleon was a merchant.
A merchant. Pokemon weren't merchants!
Unless that's how things work here, he quickly thought. Maybe Pokemon on this archipelago have jobs. And that dirt path, maybe it was made by Pokemon. But if that's the case, does this mean that I'm in a place where Pokemon run things? And if so, what about humans? Do they exist here?
Something felt very, very off. In a moment of hesitation Lucario nearly signaled to Eira not to come closer, but by then Kecleon and Ariados had seen her, a nervous girl in blue with her wet clothes and hair sticking to her.
Their incredulous expressions said miles.
"What in—?" Kecleon said, jumping back. "Is that an Abhorrent?"
An Abhorrent? What was an Abhorrent? Lucario briefly let his eyes glow blue, peering into their auras. Normally he'd never stoop to reading others' thoughts, but this was an exception.
He barely got anything about what an Abhorrent was between the twosome, just images of what he assumed were messed-up looking Pokemon. Their thoughts were focused elsewhere, on a different idea that made him gasp.
Lucario turned off his sense as Kecleon's thoughts became words. "No, that can't be, that's a, a—"
"A human." Lucario was already in between Ariados and a startled Eira as the spider Pokemon panicked, shifting its position. No aurasense needed to tell him that she had the red-hot aura of an enemy. "A human!"
A being that apparently is not supposed to be on these islands, Lucario finished the unspoken thought, arms spread out. "Now hold on—"
"And she's your master!" Kecleon cried, getting up.
The aggression made Eira take a few steps back. "L-Lucario?" she asked.
Ariados leapt.
Lucario moved in the way, throwing her back with a sharp punch to the face. "Stop!" he said, noticing that Kecleon had disappeared. Eira looked on with horror. "You're making a mistake here! She's not—"
He shoved down the urge to curse as his aurasense flickered, revealing an invisible Kecleon. Realizing his cover was blown, the chameleon Pokemon revealed itself and flicked its tongue out in a Lick. Lucario grabbed the tongue, pulling Kecleon over and throwing him to the side.
Pokemon who live on an island where not only do humans not exist, but also are treated as foul creatures, he thought. Just our luck.
Ariados got up, opening her maw. Purple darts spread out in what appeared to be a Poison Sting, and he intercepted them with his body. Each dart gave a tingling feeling, but nothing more.
"Steel types with their stupid Poison immunity," Ariados said with all the malice she could muster. Lucario gave a frightened Eira a reassuring look, his mind skimming through the list of moves he liked to use in battle.
Aura Sphere was his ranged attack, and Bone Rush, Force Palm, and Metal Claw were physical moves. Quick Attack and Detect were useful as movement options, and he had Copycat for situational uses. Of course, Ariados would shrug off the Fighting-type energy of Aura Sphere and Force Palm but was weak to Bone Rush, while Kecleon — well, his kind changed their type to the last move they were hit by, but no problem. Metal Claw would turn him into a Steel-type, and Aura Sphere, Force Palm, and Bone Rush were all effective against that type.
Still, Lucario would rather settle this peacefully. "If you two could just listen—"
Ariados didn't, too busy conjuring swords of light around her. The blades circled around her body before folding in, her purple-yellow appendages bathed in red energy. Sword Dance.
"Get out of the way," she ordered, lunging with her empowered legs.
Lucario didn't give her the chance. His body cloaked itself in the white energy of Quick Attack, everything around him slowing down. For a moment he hesitated, not wanting to fight. He had to get through to these Pokemon somehow. There had to be a better way.
Then came the harsh reminder that a human girl's life was on the line, and he blurred forward. His body smashed into the airborne Ariados, the spider tumbling into the muddy dirt road.
Lucario kept going, reaching the gnarled tree where the two Pokemon had been. Pushing off of it, he changed direction and sped toward an unprepared Kecleon, slamming into his gut. Rebounding, Lucario ended his move back at his original spot, turning around to find Kecleon flying head over tail.
Amazement struck him as Kecleon landed cat-like on all fours, his expression relaxed. The green chameleon Pokemon didn't seem bothered by the attack whatsoever, almost pretending like it never happened.
Which gave Lucario a sinking feeling. The young Ariados matriarch seemed to be an easy target — he guessed her Level wasn't any higher than his own — but Kecleon might be much stronger than he thought. He had to be careful with that chameleon.
On the other hand, Kecleon was less rash than Ariados. Which wasn't good for him when it came to a fight, but it also meant he could be more open to reason. A two-on-one battle was difficult when he had to also make sure neither of his foes hurt Eira, but if he got Kecleon to listen to him, it would turn the tides.
"You have nerve," Ariados said, returning to the field. The spider Pokemon seemed miffed with the blow she had taken, one of her appendages rubbing her abdomen.
"You're the one who started this," Lucario shot back.
Oddly enough, she took that as a reason to laugh. "You don't get this, do you? You don't get a single strand of what it means that you and that accursed creature are here, do you now?"
Lucario found Eira shaking with her eyes locked on the Ariados, who sneered back with her fangs left bare. The girl couldn't understand the words, but the intensity behind it was hard to miss.
"You shouldn't be here," Kecleon said in a calmer tone, sneaking over to Ariados's side. "Whatever brought you here shouldn't have worked. Getting past the distortion field that hides the archipelago from human eyes makes sense, but the towers should have kept her from making it here. Why, she shouldn't have even gotten close."
Towers. The monolith Lucario had seen out at sea, that was a tower? One that can somehow repel humans? he thought.
"And I told you, we came here by accident," Lucario said, leaving the matter for another time. "There was a shipwreck, and by some miracle we washed up here."
"A miracle!" At this point Ariados was chortling like a Pokemon gone mad. "A miracle, you say! What you call a miracle, we call a tragedy."
"How does that even make any sense?"
"It doesn't matter!" Ariados hissed, putting on a grim expression. No, a warped, horrific expression of rage no spider should be able to put on, one filled with the stuff of nightmares—
Eira shrieked, making a move to run away but tripping, and Lucario immediately covered his eyes as his teeth chattered.
No use. Scary Face had hit.
His arm aimlessly swept to the side, only to reel back as Ariados bit it with Bug Bite. Lucario stumbled, shaking off his unnatural fear and lunging at the spider with an outstretched Metal Claw, but Ariados easily moved out of range. The back of her body faced him, a spinneret with two black dots that created the image of an angry face, and a web of string shot out of it.
Lucario rolled to the side, his Metal Claw slicing into the belly of an approaching Kecleon who grunted in pain. His skin turned grayish and metallic, reflecting his type change, and Lucario took advantage by summoning a bone that pulsed with blue aura. Kecleon put his arms in front of him, enduring multiple hits as Lucario clubbed him with his Bone Rush.
The jackal Pokemon didn't wait to see him change to a earth-brown color of a Ground type, Eria's screams and Ariados approaching her catching his eye. Lucario flashed forward in a Quick Attack, tackling the spider.
"It matters all right," he said through clenched teeth. "You're attacking a defenseless, innocent child."
"I'm removing a threat," Ariados coldly stated.
Lucario's response was to swipe her all over with Metal Claw.
An astounding force threw him off. In a flash he was rolling to the side, grappling with the brown Kecleon that was on top of him. "Sorry kiddo, but I've let this go on long enough," he said, slicing at his face with sharp nails.
A howl came out his throat, the jackal throwing Kecleon off him before dancing out of reach. By now Eira was running into the thick of the rain, an Ariados covered in ugly gashes scuttling after her. Lucario readied another Quick Attack.
"Nuh-uh."
Lucario had no time to react as Kecleon came faster. In a blink the chameleon was beside him, striking with his tail. The speed gave the attack so much momentum that Lucario found himself sailing, tumbling hard into the grass.
Aerial Ace? Why did this merchant's Aerial Ace hit so hard?
He didn't have time to figure it out as Kecleon jumped on top of him. His mouth opened wide, fire twirling within.
Lucario's eyes widened before everything burned. Flames, flames everywhere, meant to cook him alive. There was little stormy weather could do to stop a Flamethrower launched point-blank like that.
By the end of it all Lucario was charred and coughing out smoke, his body smoldering. Suddenly the cold weather wasn't so bad, being his only respite against the unnatural heat he felt. No burns somehow, and his soaked fur had taken some of the damage for him, but he still came out feeling as dried up as a raisin.
"Had to be done," Kecleon whispered. "No hard feelings."
The rain chose at that time to calm down. In a moment much less was obscured by the falling droplets, allowing Lucario to see — and groan in horror — as he saw what had become of Eria.
The girl was tied up in string, yelling in pain. The human girl he tried to save, and failed.
And Ariados was on top, stabbing her with appendages coated in Poison Sting.
"No," Lucario said, his voice hoarse.
Kecleon's eyes turned to slits at the sight. "What—" he yelled, blurring forward to Lucario's shock.
The next moment Ariados was thrashing underneath the chameleon's weight. "—are you doing to her?"
"What are you doing?" Ariados screamed, flailing her legs uselessly. "She's a human!"
Kecleon grunted. "You're trying to poison the girl to death."
"Of course I am!"
"You're poisoning a girl! A young girl!"
"A young human girl! She's a human, you—"
Kecleon's hand glowed, giving her a Slash on the nearest leg. Ariados made a crooning noise as it bent in an awkward way. Lucario slowly pushed himself up, astonished by the sudden change of heart.
"I don't care about that, you're trying to kill her!" a fury alien to the Kecleon rose to his lips. "You cannot go killing someone like that! Not even the most hardened criminals are killed without going through a legal process!"
"I AM THE LAW! I AM A MATRIARCH!" Ariados screeched, redoubling her efforts and throwing a flurry of Fury Swipes. Kecleon turned back to his normal green hue as he absorbed the attacks, retaliating by opening his jaw.
Lucario shut his eyes. Just because Ariados was a lunatic killer didn't mean he wanted to see her burn in the face of a Flamethrower, just as he had.
Only when the roar of flames ended did he open his eyes. Kecleon was shoving the crippled, smoking spider away. She hadn't taken as much damage as he had expected, but her injuries had added up, her speed barely any faster than a crawl.
"A poor excuse of a queen, clearly. Get lost," Kecleon told her.
With the tables turned Ariados had no choice, but on her way out she gave Lucario a death glare. She inched away, disappearing from sight.
The rain poured on as usual. Lucario slowly moved to Kecleon, whose stern look was mixed with sorrow.
Eria vomited purple ooze, making both sides flinch. "Shoot," Kecleon muttered, running back to the gnarled tree. There he grabbed a bag Lucario hadn't noticed, pulling out a Pecha Berry and an Oran Berry.
He returned and put the berries aside, arms glowing. Eria dug her face into the grass, bracing for the worst.
Kecleon cut the strings open with a Slash.
"Eat," he demanded as Eria slowly rose her head in wonder, pushing the Pecha Berry in front. Her hand lingered to it before retracting, a look of suspicion in her eyes.
"Good grief, girl, you're poisoned!" Kecleon said with a roll of his eyes. "Pecha Berries heal poison! Can't you tell when someone's helping?"
Lucario shuffled over, pushing the berry over himself and giving Eira a pleading look. The human girl looked between him and the Kecleon, as if questioning whether he was siding with the once-hostile Pokemon, but with a violent cough she forced herself to nibble at the berry.
Kecleon backed up, tail twitching erratically. "Of course she would trust you," he muttered.
"I saved her from drowning twice," Lucario answered, making sure Eira finished her Pecha Berry. Already she was looking less pale. "And you tried to hurt her."
"Wha- that was Ariados! I never aimed for her."
Lucario tightened his stern gaze.
Kecleon could only hold out for so long, dropping eye contact after a while. "Whatever," he said, nudging the Oran Berry over. "Look, I apologize if I came off as a murderer. I only meant to subdue her, not do what Ariados wanted with her, but I can see how you would think otherwise."
Lucario gave the berry to Eira, who got onto her knees and ate it. Her wounds began to close at the same time, but she didn't marvel at the healing powers of the Oran Berry. She was too busy being leery of Kecleon.
"Let me repeat myself." The jackal paced around, trying to keep his temper down. "I am not her Pokemon. As far as I know, she doesn't have any. The two of us came here by complete accident, our ship being destroyed during the storm."
Pain coursed through his arm, Lucario clutching it with his other. Kecleon hastily retreated to his bag, pulling out more berries.
"Here," he said, giving him an Oran Berry, a Rawst Berry, and — oh, goodness gracious — an Aspear Berry, perfect for resisting the cold. Lucario immediately snatched that one, having Eira eat it too before taking his own set of berries.
With the Rawst Berry his minor burns stopped throbbing, the searing pain gone. The Oran Berry took care of the rest, fatigue giving away to strength as Lucario tested his muscles. Not in perfect condition by a long shot, but everything felt so much better.
Eira looked healthier too. The cold seemed to stop bothering her, the girl no longer shivering. She still kept her distance from Kecleon though. "Does she even understand me?" the chameleon asked.
"Humans have their own languages. I only understand her—"
"Because you came from lands where they live?"
"More like a Lucario can naturally comprehend human speech. Not speak it, but understand it."
Kecleon nodded, waving him and the girl over to the shade of the gnarled tree. It felt weird, being under a mostly dry roof when he had been showered in rainfall for this long.
The merchant's brows arched in annoyance when Eira sat at the edge of the shade, staying as far away as possible and positioning herself so that Lucario was in front of her. "Since you seem to be able to reach out to her, could you explain to the girl that I'm not going to slit her throat out?" he said.
Eira buckled at his little outburst, not caring about the rain as she edged further away from him. Lucario looked between the two, resisting the urge to scoff.
"It's superstition, okay?" yelled the Kecleon, before softening his tone when the girl curled up with a whimper. "When I saw her, I noticed that she was wearing all those clothes, and I linked it to rumors about humans and what they were like. These islands are a Pokemon-only place, inaccessible to the fabled human race, and to see one walk right up to me was enough to give me a stroke. How would you expect me to react?"
"The rumors?" questioned Lucario.
"There's a lot of them. Stuff about humans capturing our sort in these gizmos called 'Pokeballs,' putting us into fights for fun, capturing the Legendaries themselves for their own greedy ends — that, and a wide range of beliefs that humans are evil, mischievous, harbingers of destruction, nature haters, you get the point. The moment I saw her, I thought I was doomed."
The ridiculousness of a Pokemon being afraid of a human amused Lucario. How strong was this guy again?
He asked. "Level 84," answered the merchant.
Good grief, this Pokemon had trained himself hard — that was high, way higher than his own! And to think this guy was afraid of a human of all things? Lucario didn't know whether to blanch or to burst out in laughter.
Kecleon pointed at Eira. "What about her? What's her Level?"
Laughter it was.
Lucario's dark chuckles left both Kecleon and Eira bewildered. "Humans don't have Levels, dummy," he sneered. "They don't come with any built-in awareness of their inner strength. After all, Levels mean nothing to a creature born without any kind of powers."
Kecleon's face became discolored, the green scales and yellow stripes literally turning gray. "T-they don't have Abilities? Moves? They can't tap into the energies of their inner spirit at all?"
Lucario shook his head. Kecleon was right when he mentioned the existence of Pokeballs, but he knew very little about humankind, that was for sure.
"So she's defenseless." By now Kecleon had lost all his composure. His gaze darted to wherever Ariados had gone off, water in his eyes. "I- I nearly let that paranoid spider kill someone who could do nothing to fight back. I nearly let her kill a harmless child who looks like she'd be scared of her own shadow."
"Let me drive this point into your head," Lucario went on, taking advantage of Kecleon's emotions. "Humans are not what you think they are. There's only so many rotten apples you can find amongst them. You do know Lucario evolve through high friendship with a trusted partner, right?"
"Your trainer." Kecleon couldn't bear to turn his head. "You mentioned a shipwreck, didn't you?"
Lucario grimaced as the memory stung his eyes. This had not been a pleasant day, to say the least.
Eira was finally letting herself relax, though the somber moment had infected her too. Lucario could see her lips fall ever so slightly, her head buried into her knees. Thunder boomed in the distance, a lament from the crying sky.
The chameleon turned his hand into a fist. "Gah, rumors. This is why I don't listen to those stupid things. Makes one unable to think straight."
He sighed, strapping his bag to his side. "Look, I've done all I could, but I can't save you. People are going to be in an uproar if they catch wind of your human girl. You two have to get off these islands."
That Lucario had already realized. A place that humans shouldn't be able to reach would be loaded with Pokemon who had the wrong ideas about humankind. Eira wouldn't be safe. There would be more people like Ariados out there, willing to get rid of her on sight.
"But how?" he asked. "You said something about human-repelling towers and a distortion field—"
"Curses," spat Kecleon. "The distortion field isn't a problem, it's this anomaly in spacetime that keeps Haven Archipelago hidden from the world at large, similar to how Mystery Dungeons work. The towers, however, they'd keep the girl from leaving."
Lucario's fist clenched up. They were basically stranded in some other world, then. Maybe a powerful Teleport user could get them past, but it'd have to be a Pokemon who was sympathetic. And in the meanwhile, they needed a hiding place and food.
If he wanted to keep Eira safe, he needed help. Help he wouldn't get on these islands.
"I don't know either," Kecleon said, reading Lucario's strained expression. "I suppose I can keep Ariados from spreading the word, but you're on your own. I don't have any way to get you out of here, and believe me, I'd like to get you two off this place as soon as possible. Less trouble for you and for us."
He got up and eyed the dirt path. "If anything, avoid the roads. There's a large forest south from here—" he pointed further into the island, away from the beach where they had come from "—which could serve as a place for shelter. Most Pokemon live in towns, you might be fine if you're lucky enough to find a place to lay low. Just keep your distance from the pathway that goes straight through the forest, got it?"
Lucario nodded with a sigh. "And about Mystery Dungeons, and Abhorrents?" he asked, trying to get as much information as possible. "What on earth are those?"
Kecleon's forehead creased. "Beware both. Dungeons around here aren't too dangerous for you, but your human cannot safely travel through those labyrinth distortions. And Abhorrents, well, you don't want to take your chances with those mutated, savage folk." A short pause. "Ariados makes her home in the Stringed Forest dungeon, come to think of it. Avoid that place at all costs."
That was some cryptic information Kecleon was giving, but Lucario doubted he could pull much more out of him. Help was help anyway, and so he nodded in appreciation. Avoid the dungeons, especially Stringed Forest, and watch out for what were apparently mutant Pokemon. He could do that.
Kecleon looked one last time at Eira. "I can't believe myself. A few minutes ago I intended to take down the girl and take her away to see what was true about the rumors, to judge how dangerous she was and if I needed to take her to the authorities. Looking at her now, however, I feel like a criminal."
He walked out of the thick shade of the tree, only stopping for a moment. "Storm's finally letting up. If you must find me, Lucario, and I pray you won't need to, I live in the town beyond that forest I mentioned. Be careful out there."
Lucario didn't bother to watch him depart, immersed in his own thoughts. A frown hardened on his face, one borne out of concern for the future.
"W-what happened?" Eira whispered, her tension gone now that no one else was around. "Are w-we safe?"
Lucario fervently shook his head. Instant no on that. Not safe. Not here.
Anxiety flashed across the girl's face before she took a deep breath. The calm expression that followed perplexed the jackal Pokemon. One would think that, between the ship's destruction and their not-so-welcome arrival to this island, she would be a mess of emotions. She didn't even know what was happening because of the language barrier, all she knew was that this place wanted her dead.
And yet she was trying to keep herself together. Trying to have hope.
And if she could do that, there was no reason for him not to do the same. Maybe it was silly to think of leaving the archipelago altogether, but he'd get them both to safety. He wouldn't let her get harmed again.
Sure, he could just abandon her, and then he would be safe from hostility. He could live the rest of his life here with no worries. But how could he dare do such a thing? She trusted him, and the right thing to do — the just thing — was to return it.
Blue flames erupted over Lucario's eyes as he scanned the area. No auras around save for Eira's, good. He would have to make sure he didn't get near any Pokemon, or the trouble would start all over. The last fight was tiring enough, and he didn't know if he could hold out in another. There was only so much time he had before the sun rose, and the cover of darkness was the best time to find themselves a hiding place.
Lucario rose to his feet, walking into the rain. Eira hastily followed, hands clasped as she walked behind him. The twosome headed out, looking for a place where no one would disturb them.
That should be a solid start. Don't worry, things will get better for the duo.