Ch 3: Partners
"So… I'm supposed to walk… on these?" Jared agitatedly shakes his left nub of a forepaw, nearly toppling over in the process.
"Well, yeah for now you dark fluffball." Shen jabs at the disgruntled Zorua.
"And what are you supposed to be then, a lion cub in a children's coloring book?" he retorts
Shen winces slightly, "Well… you have a point…. but at least we get some vacation days right?"
Jared shoots him an annoyed look in response. "Shen, this isn't some kind of game. We are stranded, in a whooole other dimension, where who even knows how much time is passing in our world, with no one even looking for us. And even if they were, THEY HAVE NO WAY TO FIND US!" He shouts, causing Shen's fur to stand on end.
"That's true…" the Shinx replies, retreating slightly into the cot.
"Exactly, do you want to be stuck here, for!..." His conclusion is cut short by the re-entering of Slowbro, now accompanied by the assistant guildmaster.
"What in Arceus's name are you hollering about? Chatot squawks, as Jared shrinks backwards.
"Ah…well…." he responds, turning towards his comrade. "How am I supposed to explain this?"
Chatot stares at them both tilting his head. "I know I'm getting old, but you two need to speak up."
Shen takes a deep breath and moves forward on his cot. "Alright… this may sound ridiculous, but me and this Zorua are humans… from another dimension. We arrived here through an…. accident."
"An accident you say?" the songbird beckons.
"Well… it's hard to explain…" he elaborates, ears flopped downward.
As the songbird stands there tapping his talon against the floor, outside clamor momentarily floods the room as dozens of pokemon pass through the stairwell. Shen and Jeon tense against the beds, nervously anticipating an upcoming rant from the bird who surprisingly, stays silent with an open beak. Eventually, Chatot gives an elongated sigh, "Look, you two can stay here for tonight since you seem quite disoriented, and tomorrow you decide where you want to go from here. Though our guild is always looking for new apprentices."
"That wou.." Shen barely gets out the first few words before Jared cuts him off.
"We'll… consider the option. Thanks for allowing us a place to stay while we figure out what our next move is." Jared responds.
"Well, it is our job to help those in need. You'll need these for your room though." Chatot explains, pinning two small badges on the duo. "Just make sure to return them to me tomorrow when you leave alright? I've got some business to attend to currently, but I'll be on the bottom floor if you need me and your room is number 3 on the third floor. Any questions?"
The pair look at each other for a moment then turn their attention back to the parrot. "Yep, we're good, thanks a ton for your support." Shen replies slowly hopping off the bed. "Hey Jared, come on, we've got stuff to work out before it gets too late."
The Zorua tilts his head slightly looking at him. "Sure… and thank you once again for your help…. Mr.."
"Chatot, and you're welcome." the assistant guildmaster replies, quickly flapping out of the room and down the stairs.
Jared closely follows his friend towards the door, nodding at the departing bird. "Shen… I have a few questions… but first, tell me what's on your mind. Forethought tends to be an afterthought for you." he playfully pokes.
"Aw come on, just because I'm no savant doesn't mean I can't make plans." he counters, rolling his eyes. "But to elaborate, I wanted to ask what you thought about working here." he questions, beckoning Jared down the steps.
"You want us… to sign up to be some kinda poke-police, and risk our asses for people we don't even know? How in the world would that help us?" Jared retorts.
"Well for one, free housing and food. But also because it would be fun. Dontcha think?
"Your idea of fun… is fighting magical creatures with superpowers and getting us killed? He repostes.
"Well… it's not like we wouldn't be doing a bit of that anyway considering we have nowhere else to go." Shen counters as they make their way down into the living quarters of the 3rd floor.
"Ugh, I guess you raise a fair point. Though… if I can find a strong enough power source…" he pauses momentarily, "Ah whatever, our first priority should be getting back home agreed? Jared asks, the door to their room automatically unlocking as they get close enough.
"Alright… agreed." he replies halfheartedly.
Entering inside, the duo find three small beds situated against the back of the wall. A dimmed light illuminates the abode, casting slight shadows across the somewhat small room. Multiple empty hooks hang from the wall near the entrance, and the piercing light of the full moon shines through an adjacent window below a work desk. Adjacent to this, a light pineapple smell drifts in from an ajar door creating a relaxed atmosphere despite the confined space. Shen's eyes seem to glisten in awe at the ordinary apartment-like setting.
"What's your shock? It's not much better than our dorm at school." Jared asks.
"Hm? Oh, nothing nothing." he chuckles in response.
"Whatever." Zorua rolls his large eyes. "But I've got a few questions first and foremost. To start, how do you know where we are? You've been looking around like you're visiting the town you grew up in" he inquires.
"Alright.. actually, I'll give you a rundown that should answer all of your questions capiche?" Shen responds, slowly jumping onto the elevated bed."God this is so much better than straw" he whispers to himself while collapsing onto the mattress, getting yet another confused look from Zorua.
"From what I've gathered, this world seems to be similar to these games I play. Though the technology seems to be way more advanced, it appears some things have stayed the same. If what I remember is correct, we are on the Grass Continent of the world. These different rescue organizations tend to run each continent and that's about all there is to it." Shen concludes, stretching out across the bed.
"Any plans for getting home? Or at least letting people know where we are?" Jared asks.
"I don't know about that one chief. You're the one who knows all about multiversal travel anyways" Shinx replies.
"So this is really a bit foregn to you as well huh? I suppose we'll figure this all out in time, but since our options are limited, I wouldn't be… opposed to working here. One last question though, could you tell me the Pokemon I even am? Jared questions.
"Oh yeah, I suppose that's pretty important." Shen chuckles. "You're a Pokemon named Zorua. The signature ability of them is their illusion creating powers."
"Illusions? How do I even… ya know…. activate them?"
"Hell if I know, but I'm about to fall asleep just laying here." Shen yawns, drowsily resting on the pillow nearly half the size of his body. "But watch out for fighting and bug types, they'll screw you up."
"Types?"
"Ugh, do I have to explain? I'm about to fall asleep right here." Shen responds.
"We just woke up dumbass." Jared retorts with an eyeroll. "But if I die because of your slack…"
"Don't worry, I'm like a pro at this, there shouldn't be any hiccups so long as you follow my…. lead." Shen interrupts with a yawn.
"Wait, who said you were the leader? You fail to remember your own shopping list half the time, let alone the needs of an exploration team." Jared retorts.
"Well… I've got nearly 1000 hours in the second game, I've got this down… probably." the curled blue and black mass answers.
Jared stares at him shocked, "1000 hours… ugh, we'll talk about your poor use of free time later. But for now, our main priority should be to get back alive… and as humans. Just don't treat this like a game. Ok?"
"Yeah yeah, alright. G'night Jared." Shen groggily finishes.
"Goodnight Shen" the crimson eyed pokemon utters.
Lighting strikes intensely outside of a huge indenture in the ground. From within, two silhouettes are lit up with each flash. "Yes, that's the plan. But I need time to recuperate my strength, understand?" a scarred tall creature replies. After a brief pause, the second answers. "I…I, cAn provide…. thE resOurCes thaT you neeD." numerous voices seem to ring out, echoing off the crimson red walls. "No, for now, I'll work alone. But consider the avenue open, I'll return here once I've recovered fully." the indistinguishable wisp answers. After another bolt shakes the ground, what little light existed in the room disappears, and the figures have vanished.
"UP AND AT EM ROOKIES!" an astonishingly loud voice reverberates down the hallway.
"Oogh, that voice is louder.. then I could have imagined…" Shen speaks aloud, shaking his head softly. He crawls out of the bed carefully and drops unsteadily onto the brown wooden flooring.
"Shen! What was that?" a voice peeps from atop the leftmost bed.
"You'll find out soon enough bud." he chuckles as a dark blue tuft comes into view from underneath numerous blankets. "Let's get going though, we've got things to do."
"Alright, just give me a second." Jared replies, reluctantly crawling out of his nest. A dull light shines in through the window, obscured by fading dark clouds.
Shen cracks the door open with his foot and watches as various explorers pile up and out the stairs talking amongst themselves. His ears rapidly change directions attempting to hone in on one particular conversation with little success. "C'mon Jared, we can't miss morning announcements." he pesters while slowly exiting their room, as Jared drops from his bed in a muddled pursuit.
As the Zorua exits the door, he nearly collides with a Ralts still caught up in a daydream, who aptly evades the collision. "Oh, sorry my fault."
"It's alright... just be more careful." the Ralts quietly replies before heading towards the stairs.
As they head up the flights, the stragglers make their way around the main floor to the large central area and behind the formidable crowd.
"Three! Smiles go for miles!" a loud cheer rings across the room as Chatot ends the assembly excitedly.
"You three!" he gestures with his right wing towards the back of the departing rabble. "I need to see you in my office, you'll want all the time you can get for this." The songbird continues, herding Shen, Jared, and Ralts back down the stairs and past the long hallway with Wigglytuff and a larger lobster-like pokemon following. "Now, Shinx and Zorua, have you made your final decision?" he asks.
"Yeah, we've decided the best course of action would be to join your guild, assuming you're still leaving that option on the table of course." Shen replies, his long tail wagging.
"Perfect, well then you three will be taking the entrance exam together as a team. The objective is simple: retrieve the treasure from the end of Broadleaf Woods which is just outside of town. The dungeon is short so it should be no struggle even for beginners hence why we added a…. surprise." Chatot eagerly concludes.
"As a team? Don't you think… that it would defeat the point of the challenge presented?" Ralts replies.
"Nonsense, in fact, leading a team often creates more challenges. You'll also find the finale to be equally challenging despite your numbers. Hence why we have given you ample time to depart, but you must complete the dungeon and return the treasure to us before sunset." Chatot counters. He hands Ralts a leather bag with a small insignia on it. "This should account for all of the supplies you should need, and that dark orb with lights in it will transfer your group out of the dungeon. Any questions?" he asks, carefully analyzing the demeanor of the group. "Alright then, I'll see you at sunset." The avian chirps, ushering the group out of the office before they could respond.
"Great, I'm stuck babysitting two other rookies, and now the challenge will be even harder. Well, I guess this is what I signed up for." the green headed psychic muses.
"Wait, Shen, you didn't tell me there was an exam." Jared exclaims, ears slightly drooping.
"Well, I didn't even know they had one…" he replies just as surprised.
The pink horn on Ralts head tenses as he nervously discerns their emotions. "Good grief, these guys haven't even gotten prepared, next thing you know, they won't know what type they are." he quietly contemplates.
"Hey Ralts, nice to meet ya, the name's Shen and my comadre over there is Jared." the golden eyed lion greets, extending a paw over.
Ralts lightly shakes it in return. "I'm Ralts, call me Nolan." he softly replies.
"Nice to meet you Nolan. I'm Jared." Zorua chimes in.
"I suppose we should get going then, if Chatot gave us till sunrise for a "easy dungeon" then I'd rather not see what he has planned." Shen says, cutting introductions short and trotting to the stairway.
"G'mornin Ralts, who are the new friends?" a voice chimes as the trio arrive on the second floor.
"Oh hey Lycanroc. These two are my teammates for the entry examination." he replies as Jared and Shen introduce themselves.
"Mm, well I'm certain you'll do fine so long as ol Craw…. gah, ignore that last part aight? I said nothin to ya." she quickly respostes, giggling slightly.
Shen eyes the golden badge pinned to her bag in awe, "You must be a pretty experienced explorer."
"Aw thx friend, though that's partially why I'm right here. Going for recon towards some islands right out ere by Steam Cave, reckon I'll need a move change or two to handle it." she continues, gesturing with her head towards a large map on the side wall. "If ya do ever need that done though, Electabuzz is your man."
"I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the advice." Shen responds as Lycanroc slowly proceeds towards the yellow booth.
"Good luck and have fun." she concludes, turning her attention to Electabuzz as the trio wave farewell.
On the second floor, they pass by a massive purple creature with countless holes on every part of his body. "That, my friend, is what woke you up this morning." he whispers in Jared's ear while the Zorua attempts to maintain his composure at the absurd sight. Nolan's confused stare however, brings Jared back to his senses.
The bounty board on the first floor was unusually crowded forcing Shen to part the small audience aside. "50,000 just for that one pokemon? Even with the guild's tax, that's still incredible." a Meowth cackles with glee from the audience.
Reaching the top level, Shen's pupils slowly shrink from the light beaming in through the ceiling.
The trio exit the guild through the enormous barred gate which closes behind them with a quick and controlled thud. Descending the enormous hill, Shen looks over at Ralts. "Hey Nolan, do you know where we're heading?"
"Yeah… it's right past the gate." Nolan answers as the group slowly exits the city.
As they arrive at their destination, lush trees block out most of the sky, and droplets of cold water fall from the cup shaped leaves. With each step, the leaves underfoot crack, startling most wild pokemon away. The humid air surprises Jared with its mugginess, but his coat stops the moisture from reaching his skin.
Suddenly, a long burst of white thread bursts from what appeared to be a cocoon towards Nolan who catches it partially in midair with a psychic grip, only to be sniped immediately after by yet another volly, pinning his feet to the ground. Shen and Jared promptly direct their attention to two long green bugs hanging from a limb of a tree.
"Just hit them with a Thundershock!" Nolan shouts, slowly breaking free of his shackles.
"Wha… I'm not quite sure how to use my moves…" Shen bashfully replies.
"What do you mean you can't, you're an electric type! Just focus all your energy into a goal!" Nolan interjects.
"I'll figure it out ok?" Shen retorts attempting to concentrate. Static slowly crackles across his hide, his tail glowing slightly, until he finally releases a weak jolt, fizzling out in contact with the opposing Metapod.
"What the hell was that?" Ralts asks, garnering a nervous look from Shen.
"I don't know, I've never done that before, I'm not Arceus." he counters as Ralts glares at him.
The Metapod are quickly disposed of however, as a purplish glow slams into them, knocking them from the low hanging branch. A thud shakes across the forest as the three pokemon fall. Jared slowly gets up and remarks, "Hey, that was pretty cool right?" getting a silent reply from both teammates.
"At least someone knows how to use their moves." Ralts murmurs.
Shen's ears twitch, "Don't act like you didn't struggle the first time you tried to use your psychic moves." he argues.
Nolan deeply exhales, "Just don't put us in danger, we're lucky those were Metapods and equally thankful for my ability." he exclaims.
"Alright, whatever…" Shinx concludes, his forepaws crackling around their yellow rings.
As they traverse through the labyrinth, Shen's star-shaped tail better illuminates the shaded pathways with its crackling energy. Occasionally, he fires a stray bolt at a nearby branch to less then desired results as his footsteps grow ever louder against the leafy terrain.
"So Shen… you said that I had the ability to create illusions right?" Jared asks, kicking along a small rock as they walk.
"That's right, though considering my lack of control of just electricity, I don't want to imagine how hard your technique is." He replies, ears pointed sharply back.
Nolan tilts his towards the pair, surprised. "I know you two are young, but you're acting as though you were only born yesterday. What's with the inexperience?"
Shen looks over at Jared who, lost in thought, ignores the question. "Erm… call me crazy if you want Nolan…. but we did only arrive here yesterday."
Ralts opens his mouth, ready to sarcastically retort, but after a twinge in his horn, decides he's better off not questioning it. "Do you know what moves you… wait Jared… what's up with your tuft?" he asks, catching the Zorua's typically blue head fur glistening with an amber tint in his peripheral vision. As though in unison, the blue accents on his paws begin to match the new color.
"Oh… what? Sorry I was thinking…" Jared answers looking at his two astonished teammates. "Did I miss something?"
"Yeah you did Jared, you were changing color." Shen replies excitedly. "Maybe that has something to do with your ability."
"You think so…?" Zorua timidly asks. Shen eagerly nods in response, as what little tint of orange remained on his friend had now evaporated.
As a small puff of gray smoke leaves Jared's nostrils, Nolan slowly puts his hand up to his chin watching it drift skyward.
The trio eventually arrives at a larger opening in the forest, though the sunlight still only shined through specks on the ground. The oval clearing was covered in soft grass with dewdrops reflecting the sky. A small wooden box sat in an indenture within a large tree near the back of the meadow. The area was nearly silent outside of the piercing chirps of Pidove.
Authors Notes
Hello again, apologies for the delay, I've had quite the busy week as of late. However I will try to keep the release dates of chs consistent with either every Tuesday or every other Tuesday. Besides that, I hope you enjoyed the longer ch (which are the ones that will take 2 weeks) and feel free to leave any comments or suggestions below as I'll answer them. Last bit of news is that I'll be releasing this fic on AO3 around ch 15 or so as I plan on utilizing the experience gained from the next few months of writing to "rewrite" the first ch or two for utmost quality. My writing has a long way to go, though and it has a myriad of ways it could improve. Here's hoping however that it DOES improve and that all of you have a great day. Stay tuned for Ch 4 and I hope I can brighten someone's day.
Discord in case ya wanna message: Slowpokemasta#1809