Chapter Six

Promises

""A very long time ago, when most of the world was run by pokémon, something strange had happened," Volcarona began his story. "We're still unsure to this day, but, someone had shown up to a different region similar to your status. They were blanked, confused, and had no idea what was going on. When this pokémon finally came to, his memory was wiped like yours. Constantly, this pokémon was fighting with others claiming over and over he was not from this world. That it was a mistake that he was there," The pokémon let out a soft and sad sigh. "A lot of pokémon deemed him crazy and no one wanted anything to do with him."

I listened and watched this pokémons stance and he just seemed so sad while explaining this story.

"He finally ran off and disappeared into where Solaris Region is. Everyone soon eventually forgot about him and no one knows what happened to this pokémon – nor can they remember what type of pokémon he was. Some pokémon claim he was a Charmander, while others swear up and down he was an Absol. No one knows what this pokémon was because once he disappeared, no one cared," The fire-bug pokémon turned away and looked at the fireplace behind him, flames dancing around the room. "All we know is that things were strange at that time when he suddenly woke up. Places were nearly collapsing and disappearing into… Almost like blackholes. It's almost as if Hoopa were playing games bending dimensions, but with the help of Giratina's power to be able to travel through and control dimensions, it's almost as if they were literally just playing games – just to see what would happen if they brought someone from another dimension into ours." He paused for a second and turned quickly to me, getting in my personal space like he did earlier. "But you… Your story is different, so different. They say a pokémon was hovering over you, but it wasn't one of those two, it was something else. And that crescent," He examined the flame-like marking on my chest. "That's something! That's something special – I don't know what it is, or where it's from… But I know it's not normal nor from our world. It's not impossible that you were a human before, but highly unlikely unless something happened between dimensions with Giratina and, or, Hoopa."

I was a bit flustered by this pokémon when he spoke that into existence. It could be possible that I was actually a human? I guess when you are able to distort dimensions, anything is possible. But there's no way they would be irresponsible with their special powers such as that.

"Unless there is some special Clan out there, some secret clan, that we know nothing of and you really are here for a secret mission," He interrogated.

My ears flattened when he accused me of being here on a secret mission, "Definitely not that. I wish! It'd make things a lot more clear than what they are now." I chuckled nervously.

"Hrm…" He murmured and shrugged, before smiling softly at me. He softly spoke, "You got extremely lucky, Aria. It's kind of sad, to be honest. This pokémon had no memory and no one wanted to help him. But you, you and your friends out there," He gazed over my shoulder and out the window at the pokémon who were playing in the hot springs. A smile crept across his face as he boasted, "Hold your friends close, they will take care of you."

I definitely got red at that reply. I had known these pokémon for a few days, and Volcarona was correct. They were there to protect me and help me. Even if I hadn't spoken to them too much about the weird flashbacks or weird 'I know you from somewhere,' feeling I get towards Zorro, I know they're there to help.

I took a deep breath and responded, "Thanks, Volcarona, I appreciate it." I raised my head from my paws and connected gazes with this fire-bug pokémon. "If you find anything about this crest, or any information about anything, please let me know. I want to be able to find home – wherever that is. Or at least my purpose for being here."

Volcarona patted my head with one of his wings, "Any time Darling, now, you guys run along and head back home. Tell Vex and Zorro to stop scaring my customers off!"

A huge grin crept across my face when he expressed that and I couldn't help but laugh a tad, "Of course!" I turned tail away from this pokémon, "Thank you again, bye-bye Volcarona!" I waved goodbye with my tail before opening the door outside into the hot springs area. My gaze fell on the two pokémon, Vex who was swimming, and Zorro who was on a rock, they were splashing at each other. When they noticed me, they both waved with a grin. I was surprised that Zorro was even grinning, but both of their smiles made me feel better. They were good friends. I picked up the bags that were outside of the stone-hut and began to make my way back to my guild-members. I kept my words that Volcarona had said to me. He said it wasn't impossible that I used to be a human, and I am pretty sure I was. I just wish I had any slight memory at all!

"Glad to see you back out here, did you have a decent chat with Volcarona?" Vex asked, as he climbed out of the hot springs.

"You were in there for quite a bit, he didn't do anything weird, did he?" Zorro demanded, jumping from the rock he was on to the snow and landing with a soft thud.

I shook my head and flattened my ears, grinning embarrassingly. "Ah, no! I just had to ask him a question real quick. I asked him when Kaki and Kaji were coming back!" I told them. I didn't quite want to tell them the story that I was shared with, as I really wanted to discover some things on my own. I wanted to keep it on the downlow, so I didn't become a cast-out like this other pokémon had. That would be one of my biggest fears – to be abandoned by all means and left to explore this world on my own and figure out why I was here. I smiled at the two pokémon, to reassure them. "Should we start heading back to the guild?"

"Mmm," Vex gazed up at the sky and nodded quickly. "Probably. I don't want to be stuck traveling in the dark – it can be dangerous and icy. And I probably won't do well with scrambling on the ice, heh." The young riolu crossed his arms behind his head and smiled. "And I'm sure Audino wants her herbs!"

I noticed that Zorro was laughing when he said something about slipping on the ice. "Like the very first night you were trying to impress the guild?"

Vex shot him a quick look and kind of pursed his lips, "No, not like that one time I was trying to impress the guild!" He mimicked.

"Oh, you mean the night you were trying to talk to Lopunny of Novaus Guild?!"

Vex's face turned bright red when Zorro said that. He quickly turned away from him and began to leave the hot springs. He was so embarrassed, he couldn't even talk.

"Novaus Guild?" I questioned, ignoring the statement regarding a Lopunny.

"Novaus Guild is the guild in the Solaris Region," Zorro replied to me quickly. "Where Vex has his little 'girlfriend,'" He snickered.

Vex shook his head, putting his arms out in front of him and monitoring no extremely quickly, "It's nothing like that!"

I couldn't help but join in on the fun with Zorro, teasing Vex, "Ooh, Vex has a girlfriend? Quite the looker if it's a Lopunny." I could see Vex's face just lighting up with embarrassment.

"N-n-never!" He stuttered.

Zorro and I let out a unionized laugh. It felt nice to have friends to joke with.

"I wouldn't be in a long-distance relationship like that! Besides, she's been around a lot longer than I have, and she's not interested!" Vex tried his best to defend himself, but it just made me more curious to tease him.

"Nah, Vex could never score an older Lopunny such as herself. She's a tier-SSS Member anyway, and she's seeing someone. But Solaris is not the next region over, but one more. It's a good-ways to travel. That's where the Dynamaxed pokémon was seen," Zorro explained.

Vex was walking in front of us, muttering to himself about Zorro's tease, completely ignoring our conversation now. "Solaris Region…" I murmured, "Nope, don't ring a bell."

"I wouldn't expect it to," Zorro replied. "It's one of the largest regions in our world. It has numerous guilds in that area, and we do a lot of trade with them. Since they're such a big area with so many larger towns, most pokémon live there. There is also a lot more sun and warmth there than in our region of Winterry. But Novaus is the largest town there, and surprisingly, Snowberry is one of the largest towns here. It's not much of a popular area, and we're such a tiny region. We're basically the mountain range and some unexplored areas, but also a good portion of the beaches," He explained to me.

"Oh the beach!" I gasped, surprised. "We definitely need to check it out soon! Every time I look outside the guild walls and see the beach, it looks so perfect!" I imagined looking out the window of my new room, overlooking the ocean and the beach. It was such a wonderful view, and I was more than happy to be there. That view gave me such wonders and curiosity about what else was in this world of pokémon. I would love to explore it all.

Vex finally turned his attention back to Zorro and I, dropping back to walk on the other side of me. "We'll take you to the beach another day – maybe you can find a mission for it. Let's focus on getting back to the guild first though."

Zorro and I nodded in agreement, and together, we began to trudge through the mountain-tops, down the slopes and back towards the guild.

The way back to the guild, Zorro and Vex would point out small landmarks in case I ever ended up going to the mountains or into the forest by myself. The landmarks were pretty obvious, and often were marked with a bright orange ribbon. If it wasn't a ribbon tied around the tree, it was something else that made it an obvious marker. They shared with me that these markers were also to help lower the possible chances of a 'lost pokémon' mission – which apparently happened a lot. Most of the path we stayed on was marked with these markers, and not many off of the path. So, if one was to find the paths best they could, they were going to be ok. But if they were unable to find the path, well, that's another story. The two of them shared with me that there weren't too many pokémon that lived outside of towns throughout the Winterry Region. Then again, there weren't many towns in the Winterry Region. It was more of a quiet region with little activity. There are other towns, they just do their own thing. As far as I was aware, they said we were the only guild in this area since it was such a small region.

We had finally made our way back to the quiet town of Snowberry and the sun was beginning to set. Luckily, it didn't snow on our way back and it was just a simple and easy walk back to the Guild. Approaching the Guild, I heard voices at the bottom of the stairs leading into the guild. The three of us walked down the stairs to come into the main room with Shaymin and Takao the Gallade that we met earlier. They seemed to have just finished up a conversation, because Takao turned away from Shaymin after saying, "Thank you."

He turned around and his gaze instantly locked with mine. I scanned him over and sighed softly. I don't think I liked this pokémon, I feel like he just gives off bad first-impressions. I don't do well with being ignored either. Well, technically he didn't ignore me but the way he ran off earlier without me saying anything but my name kind of bothered me. I quickly walked around the pokémon, ignoring him but greeting Shaymin with a gentle hi.

"Thanks for coming to us with those questions and concerns, Takao!" Shaymin exclaimed, with a dip of his head in respect. "It'll help clear up any questions and confusion that any other pokémon might have. Please, keep us updated and feel free to stay with us in the meantime! Perhaps help us pick up any Tier SSS Missions and Recruit, please!"

Takao quickly turned back to Shaymin and stuck his hand out, as if he was agreeing to his requests. "Absolutely, I'll be more than happy to help Snowberry Guild out in the meantime, and if anyone needs anything, I'll help them." An arrogant smile crept across his face as he shook hands with Shaymin. Takao waved after the smaller green and white pokémon, watching him disappear outside of the guild. "Team Aster right?!" Takao greeted us.

I was almost turning down the hallway with the bag full of herbs when Takao's voice lit up like a flame in greeting us.

"Hey Takao," Vex greeted with a small wave. "We just got back from Twilrich," He chattered.

"Oh, how's Elder Kaki and Kaji doing?" Takao asked him, engaging in the conversation politely – a completely different attitude than what I got earlier.

"They were actually out when we got there," Vex explained.

I let out a small huff, plopping down while I waited for Vex and Zorro to finish their conversation with this gallade. While waiting on them, I was poking at a small rock that had chipped off the wall, pawing it back and forth below me.

"Volcarona said they had something to deal with up the mountaintop," Zorro mentioned.

"Ah, Volcarona, how's he doing?"

"He's doing well!" Vex replied.

"Good, good, good…" Takao trailed off.

I quickly glanced up, and awkwardly noticed that Takao had turned his attention to me and approached me. I could feel my neck fur standing up a tad as he walked over to me.

"Aria, right? Sorry about earlier, your name just reminded me of someone," Takao said apologetically, smiling softly at me. He had even crouched down to get eye-level with me.

When he did this, I was completely embarrassed. Taken aback, I looked around the room awkwardly and even over this pokémons' shoulder at Zorro and Vex who just shrugged. "Erm," I coughed and put my paw out to him. "I'm sorry?" I murmured, I wasn't sure how to reply to this pokémon.

Takao quickly shook my paw and nodded, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Aria. Thank you for giving me a second chance."

I awkwardly smiled, and mumbled, "No… Problem, I guess?" I then took a step back after shaking his hand, nosing the bag back onto my shoulder to sit properly. "Anyway, nice to meet you. I'm going to drop these off with Audino." I was so nervous that the bag wasn't sitting and I was having to readjust it so quickly.

"Here, let me help," Takao offered and instantly went to take the bag off of my shoulder, which completely shocked me and made me a lot more nervous.

I felt his hand brush against my chest where that emblem was and felt dizzy again. Not again, there was no way. Please, not now. Not in front of the guild. If it was anything like what happened with Zorro, this was not going to go well. My balance completely disappeared and the room was spinning. I could barely hear their voices surround me as they called out to Audino. The last thing I saw before everything went blank was Takao's piercing, empty, red eyes.

A few images were flashing before me, and I could hear those same giggles and laughter's that I heard from the other day after Zorro pawed at my chest. But, these laughter's turned into a demonic sounding laughter at the end and it brought an image to my mind. I could see a pair of blue eyes overshadowing me. I couldn't really make out the figure, but I could see a pair of wings – They were a very shiny blue but also white at the same time. The shadow of this figure's wingspan was huge.

I then heard a voice, "Dynmaxing possible? There's no way!" The figure disappeared and I could see some sort of white room with something tall and gray in the middle of it. It almost looked like a tube. "In this world? Never! You're crazy to think I'll ever agree to something like this!" It was a female voice, and she sounded extremely distressed. "I will never work for you..! Use …psycho cut!" The voice was barely able to make out the words of 'psycho-cut.' The female's voice faded out and I saw a huge flash of blue crackling down into the middle of the gray tube. After that flash of blue, the white room with a gray tube in the middle disappeared. I then was instantly teleported to a dark gray area, and I felt chilled like crazy. A cold, cold, cold breeze rippled through me. I noticed it was raining in this dark gray area. I could hear more laughter, manic laughter – almost evil.

"Capture her partner!" The first voice boomed with rage. "Get it under control before it destroys any more of the lab!"

"Sir, you oughta look at this," Another voice sounded with extreme uncertainty.

A soft chuckle filled the room, "Aria was right. He's here," The first voice spoke and laughed extremely loudly. I could not see where this voice was coming from but it did not sound like a friendly voice. Then as soon as some lightning flashed, I noticed a bright red beam coming from the ground and sparking upwards. The red was so bright that I eventually only saw red and that was it.

"Aria?" A soft voice sounded.

My body began to twitch, stirring as I began to feel alive again. I felt warm and toasty, comfortable, and began to feel a bit better. My eyes slowly blinked open as I came into existance of the room I was in. I raised my head a couple inches and noticed I was in my bed, in our guild room up on the stairs and underneath the moonlit window, overlooking the beach area. My gaze was frozen on the moonlit sea as I watched the waves crash against the walls of the mountain.

"Hey, you're awake!" The voice whispered.

I turned my attention to the stairs below my bed and was face-to-face with Vex who looked extremely tired but happy to see I was awake.

"Oh, hey Vex," I murmured, gapping a huge yawn. I scanned the room and noticed that Zorro was passed out on his back in his own bed. I guess Vex had stayed awake until I had woken up.

"Are you feeling ok?" He asked, reaching into his bag and grabbing a small blue oran berry. He offered the bitter berry to me.

I hesitated to eat the oran berry, as I was not a fan of the taste, but devoured the berry for his sake. "Ack," I scoffed. "Um, I'm feeling alright," I shared with him.

Vex sighed in relief and nodded at me, obviously happy that I wasn't hurt. "When Zorro and I saw you feeling super dizzy, we rushed you over to Audino. What happened?" He asked me.

I flattened my ears and looked away, focusing my gaze back to the ocean below me. I didn't want to worry him, or anyone, with my nonsense. Both times this has happened was because this emblem on my chest was touched. Not on purpose, but by accident I'm sure. I didn't like it, not one bit. Remembering Volcarona's story, I was even more worried. What if Vex didn't want to be around me anymore? What if I were abandoned like the pokémon in Volcarona's story? That made me scared.

Vex's gaze became unfocused but also passionate, as he completely relaxed on the step beside me. He looked up and out the window that was above us that overlooked the ocean but also revealed the moonlit sky. A very tender smile appeared on his face as he spoke ever-so-softly, "You know, Aria. I know we only just met not too long ago, but you know you can tell us anything right? We are a team, afterall."

I felt a bit warm on the inside when he said that to me. I could tell he was being serious by his tone of voice. I just couldn't form the words to put together.

"I know it's strange, waking up in a world with no memory and just some strange appearances," he pointed in the direction of the emblem.

As soon as he pointed at the chest emblem, I completely flinched, which exposed almost everything. My neck furs were standing up with insecurity, afraid of that painful thing happening again. I knew my fiery-red eyes grew wide with fear too. I had also gasped as soon as he pointed at it, when his hand nearly touched it.

He frowned with concern when I flinched, his own ears flattening against his head. "Whatever is going on, we are here to help you," He assured me, quickly pulling his hand away. A soft sigh escaped him and he folded his hands together as he quietly spoke again, "Zorro told me what happened the other day."

"What happened?" I echoed as my brain wrapped around what he could have possibly told him.

Vex began slowly, "He told me how you think you were a human. I know you didn't think you were a Vulpix, but I didn't know you thought you were human before. He also mentioned, something weird happened when that emblem," He pointed to the gray-flame patch of fur on my chest, "was touched by him."

I listened to the Vex speak to me, calmly and quietly. He was extremely sincere and wasn't at all raising or lowering his voice. His tone was steady, whether or not it was trailing off.

"Aria," He said sternly, catching my attention and forcing me to look at him, "Whatever happened to you before you were a pokémon, we will help you discover. I'm not sure what kind of things you're going through when someone has touched your emblem, but maybe it's a clue. Maybe it'll help us discover what kind of things you went through or why you had suddenly been brought here to our world." His voice was full of concern and promise.

"V-vex," I murmured softly. I could feel my eyes swell up.

"I would never abandon a pokémon in need of help – or human!"

"MaKe th-that two," Zorro's extremely raspy voice sounded.

My eyes quickly gazed over to Zorro's bed, and I could just barely make out tiny slits of orange. He was obviously half-asleep, but still knew what was happening. A huge yawn gape from the ghost pokémon and he rolled over onto his belly, his half-opened eyes locking with mine. "Don't worry about a thing, Aria. As long as you're in the guild, we'll be more than happy to help you home."

Both of their voices were promising and full of hope. I still didn't even know how to reply, I was so stunned by their act of forgiveness.

"Now keep it down, you lot! I'm tired and trying to sleep," the zorua growled in our direction before rolling over. Not even a few seconds before soft snores escaped the pokémon.

A soft chuckle escaped Vex before he turned his attention back to me. "Is that what you were speaking to Volcarona about?" He asked me.

I slowly nodded my head and began to explain the story that the fire-bug pokémon at the hot springs shared with me about the human-to-pokémon person. I mentioned how all the pokémon thought he was crazy and how no one wanted to help him, leaving him to aimlessly wander around the Solaris Region – or whatever it was back then. Who knows how old this story was anyway, Volcarona never gave me a time. I still felt scared to think of what Vex would think of me, but he said he'd be there to help me through this time. Granted, I still am new to this pokémon but I've learned so much about him and Zorro in the past couple days. I've learned some of their ups and downs. It made me happy knowing that they would be there for me through this.

Vex listened, not breaking eye contact once with me. He then put a hand on his chin and began to think for a second. "Scary to think you wake up with not a single memory and everyone abandons you," Vex quietly responded, his gaze reflecting sadness.

I nodded in agreement, frowning a tad. "It makes me worry what others would think of me," I said with extreme fear in my voice. The thought of being abandoned in this world with no one to help me would be scary.

He didn't respond to that comment. The riolu sat there with his hands folded in his lap and an extremely sad gaze resting on his face – as if he were hiding something. I wasn't going to pry though. Perhaps it was just the story that made him sad. Vex seemed like a very emotional pokémon, kind but emotional.

"Hey Vex," I murmured, looking at the black and blue pokémon. "Thank you," I said genuinely. "From the bottom of my heart, it means a lot knowing you — and Zorro – would be willing to help me through this. I'm looking forward to working with you both, and with the guild." A smile appeared on my face as I rested my head on my paws and waited for his reaction.

His reaction was priceless! His cheeks lit up with embarrassment and he even let out a soft chuckle, putting one of his paws behind his head and smiling. "You're welcome, Aria."

"Now," I muttered, sitting up straight. "Who in Arceus's name carried me here?" I demanded.

Vex gasped, "Oh Takao!"

I shivered, thinking of that creepy Gallade pokémon. I thought back to my flashback, which I still didn't tell Vex about. He didn't ask about it, so I wasn't going to share it yet. That was one thing I wanted to keep to myself, at least for now. When the time is right, I'll share it with Vex. Perhaps I could piece things together down the road with these flashbacks or whatever they were.

"Please don't ever let him carry me again," I said, half-heartedly. "That pokémon gives me the creeps for some reason."

Vex couldn't help but laugh at that comment sticking his hand out towards my paw for me to shake it as he spoke, "Promise,"

"I'm going to hold you to it!" I poked back at him, shaking his paw. I flashed him a genuine smile, happy to have him by my side.

Vex then stood up, brushing off any dirt that may be on him. "Anyway, let's get to sleep. We have another long day tomorrow," He shared with me.

I nodded in agreement, watching as the pokémon made his way down the two large steps that led up to my little window-area. "Goodnight, Vex," I called out to him.

"Goodnight –"

"Ugh will you shut up already?!" Zorro growled under his blankets.

Vex and I exchanged a small smile and laugh before, and then in unison, shouted, "Goodnight Zorro!"

Another lower and deeper growl sounded from the ghost pokémon. The room was filled with soft laughter as Vex and I crawled into our own beds and got comfortable for the night. I turned my back towards the two of them and stared outside the window area, staring at the moon-reflected ocean. I felt better and I knew this was going to be one big adventure for me. I couldn't wait to explore it all.