Chapter Three

Legends

Vex and Zorro guided me outside the fun-colored lit hallway. I thought it was interesting that these two took me in so quickly. In fact, it was kind of strange. Definitely not something most Pokémon would do. I still had no idea what was happening, or why I was immediately put into this guild without being questioned or interviewed or anything along those lines. They just took me in, and when someone questioned Blaziken, he kind of off-put it. Maybe he knows something, but then again, someone said that I might be a spy? I've no idea. I remember another Pokémon saying something about this marking on my furry chest. Someone called it a crest. Perhaps it has a story behind it.

"This is the Town of Snowberry," Zorro's voice sounded, bringing me back to reality.

We had left the building entrance to the guild, which was on a huge mountainside. It was actually incredible that this building was placed into this huge mountainside. It wasn't much of a building, but kind of a large digsite of Pokémon that was created a long time ago. The entrance of the guild was placed up a small hillside that eventually led into the mountain. Down below were some wooden steps that were frosted over with a thick layer of snow. I could see other Pokémon footprints just lining the stairs. The stairs led into a walkway through a thin part of the forest that was lining the other side of the mountain. Rocks were on the side of the walkway with bright lights attached to them. They were tiny little bulbs with all different colors. It was magical!

"We're getting ready to celebrate the Winter Festival leading up to Christmas," Vex explained as he noticed I was staring at the lights on the rocks of the pathway.

Zorro's body slowed down beside mine and he gazed at the lights alongside the rocks. "Honestly," He stated, "It's a bit overrated."

Vex rolled his eyes and grinned, replying to Vex, "Every Christmas morning when the Delibird's drop off gifts, you scream like a little Bonsly."

Zorro growled, giving him a cold glare almost. He even shouldered into Vex hard, pushing him into the snow. "I do not!"

Vex fell into the snow and laughed at him, and started to mock him, "Oh I sure hope Aalin got me something this year!" His voice was a bit higher pitched as if he was mocking the rude Pokémon earlier that told me not to 'take her place.'

"No, I don't expect anything from her," Zorro muttered, pointing his muzzle upwards. "I'd never expect a gift from anyone!"

I couldn't help but feel at ease with these two. They were clearly extremely close to one another – best friends. The way they acted together from the moment I woke up, they just seemed like they were almost brothers. They picked at each other, but it seems they would also have each other's backs in anything. It made me feel a little lonely, like I was a third-wheel. I chimed into the conversation, "Snowberry Town, then, correct?"

"Snowberry Town is a smaller town. We're actually one of the smallest towns here in this region. We have a few things and we are trying to grow but it's been hard lately," Vex told me, standing up from the snow and brushing it off of him. He fell into step on the other side of me, walking with Zorro and I down the hill that leads into the town.

"No one wants to live here though because of the strange things that happen consistently," Zorro said, his voice sounding rather confused.

"Strange things?" I questioned him.

"Yeah, just like, weird things," Vex answered. "Mostly in the mountain-top, which no one has been able to explore since nearly three winters ago. We're not sure why, but every time someone goes there, it's just too heavy and they magically end up back at the guild. Not even some of our stronger members can go there." Vex's voice dropped nearly into a whisper with that last sentence. It sounded sad, like there was more to that story than he anticipated.

"What do you mean? Were you able to explore it before?" I questioned. I was curious as to why the mountain-top was unexplorable nearly three years ago.

Vex didn't answer, instead he just stared at the ground in silence. Something was definitely bothering him.

Zorro gave me a light shoulder tap with his tail. When I glanced at him, he shook his head as if he didn't want me to pry into it even more. "We're here," He then said to me, completely clearing the silence with the motioning to the town.

I respected the choice that Zorro had me follow and I turned my attention to what laid out in front me. In front of me was the town of Snowberry. It was a small town, but I could see that Pokémon were decorating the area with green and strands of lights. It was a nice little town, and as far as I could tell there were about five different shops. There were four shops circling the large fountain in the middle. The fountain statue was in the shape of a Pokémon. It looked like another horse Pokémon, different from the one who spoke up against Blaziken earlier.

"That is Glastrier," Zorro said to me. "He's an ice-legendary mon. Legacy has it, he founded this area a long time ago and made it his home. He's a part of the legacy that lives in the mountain as well. He and Articuno created this land a very long time ago, or so the stories tell us," Zorro explained the story to me. "But we haven't seen them in a long time."

Vex walked in front of Zorro and I, in front of the fountain. He motioned to the statue and explained, "Then again, Zorro and I found something really cool that kind of gives a bit of hope." A smile crossed his face.

Talk about sudden mood change! It was an interesting tiny story though. What was it they could have found that gave them a sense of hope regarding Glastrier or Articuno? I tilted my head slightly and was about to question it when I heard a voice coming up from the side of us.

"Team Aster!" A tiny little white Pokémon called. The tiny Pokémon nearly blended into the snow, her tiny worm-like body moving fast through the snow. "Team Aster, Team Aster, Team Aster!" She called again, excitedly. "I saw you took my request, thank you thank you thank you!" The little ice-type Pokémon was so excited. She bounced back and forth between Zorro and Vex before she came to a stop and examined me. "Oh! You're that sleeping Pokémon! The one they found on the mountain – I'm Snom! Nice to meet you," She cheered. "Thank you for joining the guild and helping with Pokémon requests! It means a lot to a small town like us. Oh by the way, I like your eyes! They're really cool and pretty, especially for an Alolan Vulpix like you! You're just pretty!"

I could feel my cheeks growing a little warm when she said that and a small smile grew across my muzzle. "Thank you, Snom. It's nice to meet you. Unfortunate that you lost your special trinket," I replied to her, patting her head gently with one of my front paws.

"It's ok, I know I will always have Team Aster and the rest of the Guild to count on!" She responded, as happy as ever.

"Oh, Snom! There you are, my little snowstorm. Woosh, you are so fast!" A Pokémon came up behind Snom. She was a larger white butterfly Pokémon, with long eyelashes and a bright blue jewel between her eyes. Her wings were long and gray with snowflake looking patterns.

"Oh hello, Frosmoth," Vex greeted with a slight wave. "Snom was just thanking us for accepting her request." A big smile lopped across his face as he put his other hand behind his head, slightly embarrassed.

Frosmoth's gaze went back and forth between the three of us and you could see the joy her eyes brought out. "I know it's been rough with so few guild-members, and I do hope you certainly can recruit soon. Snom and I are very thankful for what you will be doing for us," She said sweetly.

"Alright then, let's head out. We can tour the town later," Zorro cut in. The red and white Pokémon began to tread out of the small tower towards the forest-area that I noticed earlier from Audino's room.

"Thank you!" Snom and Frosmoth called out after us as we all began to tread in the direction of the forest.

Vex turned and waved, a big happy smile on his face. It seemed that he enjoyed working with Pokémon and helping them. It was nice to see that there were good Pokémon out there that wanted to help out, without complaining or expecting too much in return.

I trotted off after Vex and Zorro, wondering what kind of 'mission' this was going to be. The forest outside of Snowberry was absolutely gorgeous, especially covered in snow. It may be because I'm suddenly an ice-type, but the snow felt amazing. The air was thin, and the sky was a bit cloudy today but the sun still peeked out behind the clouds and made the snow glisten. I took in every possible landmark of this area, and surprisingly, all the scents. I could smell so much more as a Vulpix, and weird different Pokémon smells. I'm pretty sure I've never been able to smell this much before, or be able to actually distinguish different scents. Of course, it'll probably take awhile before I can actually smell the difference between Pokémon. I could even pick up sweet and sour smells, berries! I was just excited, for whatever reason. Maybe it was the Pokémon instincts and curiosity that was in me.

"You seem a bit happy for someone looking at trees and snow," Zorro's voice brought me back to focus on what was in front of me.

"Huh, what?" It was then at that moment that my back paw caught on a tree root below the snow and forced me to trip. I lost my balance and ended up face-planting into the snow, knocking Zorro over with me. My face- buried into the snow, I could hear a low growl emitting from the Hisuian Zorua next to me. Quickly, I lifted my head out of the snow and shook off the ice. I glanced at Zorro and flashed him a quick grin, giggling a bit. "I guess I'm not used to my body yet?" I said with a soft laugh.

Zorro gave me a weird sideways glance, questioning me, "I still don't understand what you said earlier to Audino. You said you weren't always a Vulpix?"

"Aria, I don't think you can transform into another Pokémon. You aren't a Zorua, are you?" Vex asked me.

I shook my head and sighed, "I don't think I'm from this area to be honest."

"Well obviously, I told you already we don't see Ice-type Vulpix in this area," Zorro muttered as he stood up from the snow and shook it off his pristine white and orange fur.

I didn't think I would be bringing up this conversation already, but I guess I did it to myself. "Honestly, Vex, Zorro, I don't think I'm from… Well, I guess, and this might be the craziest thing you've ever heard, I don't think I'm from your world. Like, talking Pokémon? Granted, I woke up and couldn't remember a thing but something about this entire situation does not feel right. I'm not a Pokémon, nor should I have been one. I know for a fact that I'm not a Pokémon."

Vex and Zorro exchanged glances and paused beside each other to listen to me.

"The only thing I can remember from before passing out was a fire, that's it," I explained the little bit of what I could remember before my head started to grow in raging pain. It was like my memories were keeping me from remembering anything by causing pain any time I tried to think of what happened before I woke up to Vex on the mountain ledge.

Vex put his little bi-pedal hands up to his small muzzle and shook his head, replying, "I didn't see a single light or flame, or even firewood or rocks where I found you."

Zorro was laughing at me, nearly uncontrollable. "How can anyone wake up thinking they weren't a Pokémon before?"

Vex punched the Zorua in his shoulder and shook his head, retorting against his friend, "Zorro, you were the same way a few years ago when I found you."

Zorro bared his sharp little fangs at him, growling, "I told you not to talk about that."

Vex rolled his eyes and put his hand up to silence Zorro, who actually tried to nip at his hand but missed and then replied, "Zorro had a similar situation a couple years ago when I found him. He was a lot younger than he is now, and I was too, but he said he woke up and couldn't remember anything."

I was astonished. This Pokémon also woke up being unable to remember anything?

"Difference is we found him by the ocean. The only thing we could suspect was that he was at sea and got separated," Vex told me, ignoring the Zorro who was trying to headbutt him. "However, he kind of acted the same way you did."

"Vex, shut up!" Zorro snapped at him, finally breaking contact and actually being able to headbutt the Pokémon into the snow, silencing him. He then jumped on his friend, sitting on him and forcing Vex to lay still in the snow. He sighed and looked down, disappointed. "But he's not wrong," He murmured. "I can't remember what happened before I was woken up by Vex by the beach. It's kind of funny, honestly, that Vex somehow found us both and we can't remember a single thing." Zorro cuffed his own ear and grinned embarrassingly.

Vex finally managed to overthrow Zorro and jump up on his feet. "That wasn't nice!" He huffed, glaring at his friend. "Not nice at all!"

"It's not nice to spill people's stories either," Zorro scolded him.

Listening to Zorro's story made me actually feel bad for the Pokémon. To not be able to remember anything from the second you wake up is scary. Who knows where he's actually from and who knows where I'm actually from. Perhaps I am from another region or city like that other Pokémon had said from earlier. Maybe Vex is right though, maybe he just did hit his head from a storm while sailing the ocean. Who really knows.

"Sorry, Zorro. I just find it strange that you both had a similar story," Vex apologized, holding his hand out to Vex. "It wasn't my spot to tell your story, but perhaps there is a connection between them."

I nodded in agreement, "It's possible. But I was found on the mountain ledge and you were found on the beach. Maybe it's a coincidence or maybe there really is a connection."

Vex shrugged, and brushed the snow off his body before replying, "We'll have to just learn as we grow. As of now, Glacier Rose Lake is right on the other side of this hill." He motioned to the large hill that sat in front of us with a more narrow path than before.

There's got to be more to his story and my story. I remembered the sensation I felt earlier when I first woke up and locked eyes with Zorro. Something about it made me feel at ease. I wasn't sure if it was his eyes or if it was his presence, or scent. There was just something about this Hisuian Zorua that I was ok with. Perhaps it's just the presence of being another form of Zorua that made me feel better. I've no idea but I needed to find out. I wanted to find out where I was, what I was doing here, and why I was here. There's got to be a story going on somehow.

Over the snow-covered path led to a huge, but gorgeous lake that was frosted over with a thick blanket of ice. The lake had a lot of frozen flowers surrounding it but also a few trees here and there. On the far side of the lake was a tiny hill with a huge tree that had a few icicles hanging down from it. Overall, the lake was very pretty for being covered in snow and ice. It will definitely be a great relaxation spot for anyone.

"Glacier Rose Lake, known for the beautiful flowers it blooms in spring and winter. Surprisingly, these flowers that you see frozen can be used as mixing herbs for Audino. We can collect a few for her today after we find the missing trinket. Let's see… The description of this trinket. She described it as a small green-looking gem," Vex explained to Zorro and I.

"Found it!" Zorro called out, bringing a tiny green gem over to Vex and I.

"Wow that was quick," I murmured. "I didn't even get a chance to look for anything."

"Nose of a champ," He pointed to his own little black nose. He flashed a grin over at me and then made a face, "Like you, you need to go take a bath."

My eyes grew wide, like what?! Did he just say that? I couldn't even foam the words in my mouth to reply, I was so offended by this Pokémon.

He poked at me with his paw, "I'm kidding."

Vex crossed his arms and then rolled his eyes. "You're a jerk, you know that?"

"Nah, I'm just trying to lighten the mood. She's sooo new to our worlddddd," Zorro teased.

"You know, if I knew anything about being an ice-type Vulpix, I'd probably freeze you right now," I threatened him.

"Luckily, you don't. You can't freeze amazing," Zorro replied with a quick nod of his head.

"How much do you want to bet? I'll take you on right now," I clapped back at him, getting in his face. I don't enjoy being pushed around.

"Are you tough now?"

"If I can handle your little girlfriend, I think I can handle you."

Vex came between us and put his hands between us, one on each side, grinning nervously as he said, "Come on guys, let's get this gem back to Snom."

"Tch," Zorro made the noise under his breath.

I took a step back from Vex and nodded in agreement to Vex, "Yeah yeah."

"Or you can take it back to him and I can show Miss Newbie here the ropes of being a Pokémon," Zorro said, quickly jumping from Vex's side and dashed my way.

"Zorro, we talked about this!" Vex snapped at him, giving him a cold look. "She's not ready."

I was a bit offended that he said that and then stepped out of the way of Zorro's quick attack. "Not ready?" I replied, raising an eyebrow at him. "I mean, when will I be ready to learn how to be a Pokémon? I feel like that's rather important, especially taking on missions. What if we come across trouble?" I asked him.

Zorro slipped into a pile of snow, disappearing under it. I could only see the red ends of his mane above the snow and that's it. I ignored him and turned my attention back to Vex, still offended that he thought I wasn't ready to learn how to be a Pokémon – whatever that means. "How long did it take you to teach Zorro how to be a Pokémon?" I asked, a bit hard-headed, approaching the fighting type.

Vex put his hands up as defense, not wanting to fight, but replied, "That's not what I meant, Aria."

"I think I could be ready to learn a few things. Especially if I'm going to be stuck here for a while," I told him straight-forward. "I'm not a weak person – rather, Pokémon."

The riolu flashed me an embarrassed grin, waving his hands some. "That's really not what I meant, Aria. I promise, I'd never want you to be upset with me." He said softly. His gaze locked with mine.

As soon as that gaze locked with me, I could see something. I could see actual fear, like he is scared of me. I think I was scaring him to the point where he began to back up a little. He even managed to trip over his own feet. When I realized that he was scared of me, I froze in my tracks and looked down at him. I shook my head and flattened my ears, sighing. "I'm sorry," I murmured softly. "Things are just really really really bad for me right now, and I don't know how to handle it. You are right, we should head back to Snowberry to turn in the item to Snom and her mother."

Zorro sighed extremely dramatically and loudly behind me, "I really think we need to teach her a thing or two Vex."

I turned and forced a smile to the ghost-Pokémon, replying, "It's okay, I'll learn on the way."

"Aria, I know you're a bit lost right now, but I promise you, Zorro and I will be the best teachers you've ever had. Or well, remembered." Vex said, with the biggest smile on his face that I've ever seen. "And I don't break promises!"

"I do," Zorro muttered, coming up behind me. "But teaching a Pokémon to fight is fun."

I nodded to both of them, grinning widely and I could even feel my tail wag a tad. "Sure thing," I replied happily and held out a paw to the Riolu lying in the snow.

"Now, let's go. Our next mission is an overnight stake-out mission," Vex said, reaching out for my paw and pulling himself up.

"WHY would you pick up an overnight mission?!" Zorro groaned in annoyance as we began to walk back to Snowberry.

"Because we need it, and they trust us," Vex replied, putting an arm around Zorro's shoulder. "Besides, we can take turns sleeping. There's three of us."

"Sounds like fun to be honest. I'm not exactly tired." I responded with a quick nod of the head, and soft tone.

"That's because it's not even noon," Zorro mumbled.

I gasped, "WHAT?! It's not even noon?! I feel like I've been up for hours!"

"Like, three, if even."

"Come on, you two," Vex whistled to us as we all took off up over the hill and back to Snowberry.

When we reached Snowberry, we found Snom and her mother to turn in her jewel. She was extremely thankful, but they didn't have a lot to offer. After we stored away what we needed to for the guild, and split it amongst ourselves, we each received maybe 20 pokécoins. Which was fine for my first mission, as I didn't know what kind of things you would even buy here in Snowberry with these coins. I was introduced to a few of the townspeople, which included the shopkeepers and the banker. The shopkeepers were brother and sister of a Pokémon known as "IN Deedee." They're these purple and white Pokémon that were friendly. The sister was very outgoing towards me and was extremely happy to meet me, but the brother was a bit more distant and all about business. I learned that their names were Mari (the sister) and Mako (the brother.) Still, they were kind and I was grateful.

The banker was a bit different. He's a Scizor that doesn't speak much, but is very intelligent when it comes to pokécoin and extremely loyal and respectful. I opened a small tab with him, to ensure that I couldn't spend too much money if I didn't need to, and just to make sure I didn't lose it. It's not often you need to take pokécoins with you on a mission.

We were on the way to a café that was in town, one that is usually very busy with Pokémon. But being such a small town with so little Pokémon, I can't imagine it was that busy. The café is down a little path away from the fountain that's in the middle of town. I'm assuming in case Pokémon get a bit rowdy, they would not disturb the other Pokémon in town or sleeping. We approached the café which had a homey-vibe to it. It was a pink building with little white stripes on it. Obviously whoever created this building made it so it is more appealing to Pokémon and to attract business. I could smell a sweet aroma coming from the inside of the building which just turned my entire mood upside down. I realized I am extremely hungry! I didn't even eat but a few berries this morning! I couldn't wait to try this food!

The three of us marched inside, Vex and Zorro leading the way. The inside of the building was huge and colorful, with a large tree stranded with lights in the middle of the café. The tree was huge, touched all the way to the ceiling of this large building. The lights on it were lit up, plain white lights, but the color from the ornaments made it better. Before the walls disappeared and formed into the dome-shaped roof, stockings lined the entire round-about of a roof. Over to my left of the building were a pair of stairs that led up to a small balcony-like area with large windows looking outwards in the direction of the ocean. To the right of me were more tables with color papers on them and several Pokémon enjoying their meals. On the other side of the Christmas tree, I'm assuming, is the kitchen and counter to order because that's where Vex and Zorro were headed.

At the counter, we were greeted by a gorgeous serpentine cream-colored Pokémon with bright red eyes.

"Hello, Millie," Vex greeted her with a big smile on his face.

Millie the Milotic looked down at the three of us and replied with a greeting of her own, "Hello, Team Aster. Ah, is this your new teammate? What a gorgeous little Alolan Vulpix, you are!" She greeted me with the softest-most sweetest voice I've ever heard. "Welcome to Snowberry's Café, I hope you enjoy your stay with us!"

"You are beautiful as ever, Millie," Zorro purred over her.

Vex cuffed his ear and said, "Ignore him, as usual."

Millie gave him a confused but also embarrassed look, replying nervously, "I'll get your usual plus a little something extra specialty for the new ice-mon on your team!"

"Thank you, it's nice to meet you Millie. I am Aria," I greeted her with a respectful nod. She was a very pretty Pokémon, and I'm assuming this was her café. I was excited to try her food.

"Thanks Millie!" Vex exclaimed before paying her with his own pokécoins for the meals.

"It's about time food is on you," Zorro chortled, and then turned tail. "You don't need to impress the new mon, you know," he coughed.

"Impress?" Vex copied, following his friend to the table areas.

"Just because we have a new teammate, doesn't mean you need to go over the top to impress her," He muttered.

I listened to the two bicker for a moment, and I shrugged off the thought of Vex needing to 'impress' me. He's already saved my life, well, they both did. I was already impressed that they were able to do that. Nevertheless, find me if they said I was found in the mountain-top that can't really be explored right now. We sat down at the low table that had little cushions as chairs. I gazed around the café, toning out Vex and Zorro, looking at the room. Something important caught my eye though, and that was more details on the ceiling. It looked like a big mural of a few different Pokémon. It almost was as though it was a mural of stories. The two Pokémon looked like wolves with red, yellow, and blue fur. But they were shaped differently. One had a sword in it's mouth, meanwhile the other had what looked like a shield, around it's face as it's mane. Between the two Pokémon is a large draconic Pokémon that was painted the color purple and red. I couldn't even tell where it's eyes were – if it had eyes.

"Those are the legendary Pokémon, Zacian with the sword and Zamazenta with the shield mane. The one in the middle is known as Eternatus, known as the Gigantic Pokémon. Eternatus is one of the most powerful Pokémon – almost as powerful as Arceus himself," I heard Millie's voice speak up. "Of course, no one is more powerful than Arceus, but his power and stats are up there with Arceus's. And that little Pokémon you see beside Eternatus," She was speaking as she sat our plates down. After she set the plates down, she motioned to a little red and black Pokémon holding what looked like a yellow hoop in his hand, "That is Hoopa, the Dimension Pokémon. Legend has it, Hoopa assisted Eternatus with bending the dimensions to allow what we call, Dynamaxing."

I listened to Millie tell this story to me, and was quite intrigued. I've only ever heard of Hoopa, but these three new Pokémon were different.

"Zacian and Zamazenta worked together to stop Eternatus's rage one day, discontinuing the use of Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing," Millie explained to me, realizing I was extremely intrigued. "Hoopa was interested in learning these powers and did what it could to assist Eternatus in it's powerful rage before being defeated as well. We have not seen Dynamaxed Pokémon in a very, very long time. It's considered destructive and dangerous, as these Pokémon grow many many sizes. Certain Pokémon can be a bit destructive, if you would."

"Hoopa wasn't in it to be destructive, keep that in mind, but it just wanted to learn and understand how Dynamaxing and Gigantamaxing worked for Pokémon," Vex spoke up.

"However, if anyone ever awoke Eternatus, it could create even a larger rage that not even Arceus could stop by himself. Granted, he's the strongest, but with the way Dynamaxing works, even Arceus could be defeated. Especially if someone such as Yvelta ever got a hold of him. That is why Eternatus is sleeping and being protected by the Pokémon of the sword and shield," Millie said sweetly.

"Wow that's incredible," I murmured. All these different legendary Pokémon protecting this world and if one little thing turned, things could go extremely crazy.

"No one knows where Eternatus is sleeping except for the Guardian's, but they are not a force to reckon with," Millie explained to us. "Anyway, enjoy your food!" She cheered and slithered off back to the counter where more Pokémon were ready to order.

"Could you imagine being able to Dynamax?" Zorro asked, as he gazed down at his food. "That would be incredible. I'd be such a large Pokémon, and I could literally do anything!"

I took a few more seconds of this mural before turning to face the food in front of me. Dynamaxing, why did that sound so familiar? I could've sworn I've heard it before, but I couldn't quite put my paw on it. It seems dangerous if used by the wrong Pokémon, especially by someone dangerous. Imagine if Darkrai ever got a hold of Eternatus's power and used it for bad. Even Millie said, Yveltal – the Pokémon of destruction? That's such a scary thought. To think that even Arceus could be overpowered. Hopefully we'll never have to see that happen, but just the thought… Maybe I could learn more about it.

"Let's eat!" Vex declared and we all began to eat.