The day was a beautiful one, one that drew the eye to countless displays of natural beauty around them. Team Gazer, however, had their eyes set forwards.
"Query: Are we there yet?"
It was also a day where Beheeyem's patience was truly wearing thin.
"No Beldum," the leader of Team Gazer sighed, rubbing his face with the smooth part of his arm. "We are not there yet."
They continued their trek, questing for one place and one place only. There was a growing concern among the three and, based on what was going on around the continent, it was a concern shared by more than just them.
Every village they passed through had mounting work, very eager for the skills of an exploration team. It was good work, hearty and noble, and filled their coin purse quite well. Yet, the fact that so many needing help was causing anxiety.
"Query: How much further to 'Designated Landmark' Treasure Town?"
"I don't know," Beheeyem replied, not bothering to keep the exasperation out of his voice. They had been travelling for weeks once the decision had been made to seek out knowledge of Time Gears. And with no better idea of where to look, Treasure Town and one specific guild was their destination.
"It can't be much further," Electrike barked. "It's been only forever since we left Jaunty Town."
"It has been four days," Beheeyem corrected. "You flirted with everything and we had to leave."
"Yeah," Electrike sighed happily, staring off into the distance. "That was fun."
"Query:," Beldum begun and Beheeyem felt his frayed nerves snap.
"I don't know!" he yelled, spinning on the floating pokémon. "I don't know how far it is to Treasure Town. I don't know what we're going to find when we get there. I don't know where to find the magnets you get off on. I don't know, I don't know, I. Don't. Know."
Beldum and Electrike stopped to stare at him, letting Beheeyem catch his breath before Beldum continued. "Statement: Noted. Counterpoint: None of those accusations were what I was going to ask."
Beheeyem sighed and scrubbed his face. "What? Then?"
"Statement: We have a dusknoir making considerable haste towards us. Query: What should we do?"
Beheeyem and Electrike started and looked around. "Why didn't you mention…?" Beheeyem trailed off, knowing that was a futile thing to ask and would only bring further mental and emotional harm. He'd also spotted a dusknoir trying out for record breaking-speed, for a dusknoir at least.
The dusknoir, having spotted the trio much earlier, slowed in its glide considerably. Even before it wasn't moving particularly fast, but such beings were not known for their speed in the first place. Beheeyem could fathom that something was quite wrong for one to be moving so fast.
"Hello?" he called, raising an arm in greeting. "Are you well?"
Dusknoir glided to a shelmet's pace. His wide upper chest was heaving with the force of exertion, even though he didn't have lungs as per the normal standard, air was still very much needed.
"Greetings travellers," he said grandly, floating up to Beheeyem and outstretching his hand. "I am Dusknoir, perhaps you have heard of me?" Beheeyem took his hand with only a moment of hesitation and an expression of surprise, Dusknoir noting only a slight grimace for a Psychic-type to be touching as powerful of a Ghost-type such as himself.
"Beheeyem, the leader of Team Gazer," Beheeyem said before gesturing to his companions. "This is Beldum and Electrike, members of Team Gazer."
"An exploration team?" Dusknoir asked, receiving a nod. His eye fell on Electrike for a moment too long, causing the Electric-type to shift uncomfortably. "Very good. I hate to ask something of you so suddenly, but in regard to your question. I am fine; however I have three badly wounded pokémon stored safely and I need to get to Treasure Town as soon as possible. I see you are a Psychic-type, might I trouble you for assistance?"
"There is no question of help, Dusknoir," Beheeyem said, blinking rapidly as it really began to dawn on him just who this was. "G-Great Dusknoir, I think… whatever I or my companions can do is yours for the using." He added a bow after a moment.
Dusknoir chuckled and shook his head. "No need to bow," he said as Beheeyem straightened. "I need you to pull me along with Psychic, or anything else you can muster. I have moved as fast as I can from Amp Plains and with no rest and, to my great shame, I find my strength beginning to wane."
"Yes, very well." Beheeyem nodded and looked around.
Detecting his question, Dusknoir opened his belly mouth to show three unconscious pokémon lying within, two familiar ones and Electrike gasped. "Is that Team Ion!?"
"Fascination: You carry them within you?" Beldum asked, not having the same tact at the other two.
"They are safe there," Dusknoir explained, closing it. "And I cannot carry all three with ease in my hands when they are unconscious."
Beheeyem swallowed and regained his nerve. "N-no problem Great Dusknoir. How shall I…?"
"Use Psychic on me," Dusknoir said. "I can withstand it." Beheeyem gave a jerky nod, lifting an arm as the lights on one lit up. Dusknoir didn't make a sound as he was grabbed in the, rather uncomfortable even at its gentlest, mental grip.
"Do not mind my discomfort," Dusknoir grunted. "We need to arrive at Treasure Town swiftly."
Beheeyem nodded and began to pull Dusknoir along, floating himself as fast as he could.
"Query: Do you know how far it is to Treasure Town?" Beldum asked, and Beheeyem groaned.
"This again?" he hissed, but Dusknoir gave a laugh.
"At my earlier speed I would have estimated four hours. With the noble Team Gazer I would guess just two."
"Two hours of this?" Beheeyem thought, even already he didn't like the pressure on his head. But, as he pulled Dusknoir along, he knew that this was for the best. Three pokémon as well as the Great Dusknoir were depending on this.
Beldum was silent, Beheeyem thanked all the legends, for the rest of the trip, while Electrike ended up running ahead to see if he could warn the guild in advance. Dusknoir thought such an idea was a grand one, Beheeyem simply hoped he wouldn't get lost, or distracted for that matter.
As Dusknoir had predicted, two hours after meeting they began to see the first signs of civilisation. The dirt track became a little more well-worn, more paths began to branch off, even a few pokémon were out and about, although they did nothing more than gawk at them passing by.
Either at Dusknoir, or the fact that someone was dragging Dusknoir along in a floaty grip. Either-or, Beheeyem was too tired to care which.
"Thoughtlight!" Electrike called and Beheeyem found new energy to be exasperated at him with. "Over here!"
He had a chimecho, chatot, and croagunk with him, and Chimecho at least winced at the use of Beheeyem's name.
No one commented on it, however, as the four approached.
"Chatot," Dusknoir gasped, nearly hitting the ground when Beheeyem's grip over him slackened and broke. "Team Ion, plus Litleo, terribly injured." He opened his belly mouth and reached in. Chimecho winced away, as did Team Gazer, along with anyone else looking in. Chatot and Croagunk took it in stride, however.
He pulled out Rai first and Chimecho floated forward, grabbing the battered shinx in a much better trained, far more gentle, psychic grip. "I'll see you there," she said and floated off to the guild, face set and determined.
Dusknoir acquired Litleo next, and Chatot took him with a carefully gentle grip and flew after Chimecho. Lastly, Dusknoir pulled out a bedraggled meowth and Croagunk stepped forward.
"This isn't trouble for you?" Dusknoir asked, continuing to hold Sean against himself, cradling him slightly. "I will be able to make the rest of the trip, his wounds look bad, he doesn't need any jostling."
"You've done your part," Croagunk replied. "He'll be fine with me." Dusknoir hesitated a moment before allowing Croagunk gently pull Sean out of his hands and Croagunk raced off into the guild, gait impressively even and failing to jolt Sean at all.
Dusknoir sighed in relief and nearly toppled back. He fixed himself back up properly and nodded to the pokémon watching before looking to Beheeyem. "Thank you for your assistance, Beheeyem," Dusknoir said and Beheeyem smiled, giving a flash with a finger that meant something pleasant. "I think I will adjourn to the guild, ensure that those three are going to be fine."
That caused a twitch in the exhausted Beheeyem. Electrike didn't notice, cosying up to a flustered Marill who had been walking out of the guild. Beldum, however.
"Concerned Query: Beheeyem, are you alright?"
Beheeyem pulled himself together, tried to forget about the pounding in his head as it nearly caused his innate control over his floatation to fail, and looked to Dusknoir. "Team Ion? What happened to them?"
This caused Dusknoir to pause. "You know them?" he asked, eye focusing only on Beheeyem.
"Yes," Beheeyem said tiredly. "We were coming to Treasure Town in the hopes of speaking to Wigglytuff, but also them if given the chance. What chance that it would be them…?"
He looked to Beldum and nodded. "Get Electrike and come to the guild."
"Statement: Directive understood." Beldum swivelled to float after Electrike but hesitated and swung back to the tired beheeyem. "Concerned Statement: Can you make it without assistance?"
Beheeyem nodded tiredly and shooed Beldum away.
Dusknoir and Beheeyem, one considerably more tired than the other, began to float their way up to the guild. Beheeyem thought it nice to make an ally of the Great Dusknoir, even if it was due to using a powerful move on him for two hours.
"What do you know of Team Ion?" Dusknoir asked, making conversation.
"Err?" Beheeyem hummed. "Not much, I guess? Didn't know they had a third member. We met in, uh… an exploration that went a little awry."
The sentry grate didn't seem to be monitored at the time, but the gate was open so the two just floated their way in. There was a distressing amount of loud sounds from below, while a few exploration teams loitered in the middle area awkwardly.
"I think I'm going to lay down, don't mind me," Beheeyem managed.
Beheeyem just floated to a relatively abandoned corner, it only had Team Glee in it, and decided now was a good time to fall unconscious.
Dusknoir continued on to the lower floors.
The guild continued to tick while Beheeyem was crashed out, a few pokémon wondering if they should help him and several trying to rouse him. Team Glee sung him happy songs, but he didn't wake up, so they switched to death metal. It also didn't work.
Strangely enough everyone else seemed to leave during the song and the three decided that was for the best, it gave Beheeyem time to rest in quiet.
Four hours later Beldum and Electrike wandered into the guild.
"Seriously though, Cobalt, I was working on a date with her so well! Why'd you have to ruin it with facts and reason?"
"Declaration: Thoughtlight wanted us here hours ago. Addendum: Marill was male."
"Working HIM so well then," Electrike corrected, then spotted his team leader being drawn on with bits of charcoal. "Hey! What are you doing."
"Colouring him in," Togepi of Team Glee said cheerfully. The immediate, pleasant, response stumped Electrike for a moment.
"I… uh… cool. Can I join?"
"The more the merrier!" Ledyba said, offering a piece of pink charcoal.
Beldum oversaw the graffitiing of Beheeyem and gave final scores to the four.
"Results Announcement: Togepi receives seven points for her skilful emblem of a flower on Beheeyem's chest. However quantity over quality was the goal of this endeavour. Electrike gets six points for enthusiasm, paws and muzzle are not skilful drawing appendages." Electrike huffed at that. "Ledyba received nine points for colouring Beheeyem's entire upper half. Politoad wins at ten points for his mix of colours and quantity of colour."
Politoad clapped happily and Team Glee sung Team Gazer a song before they decided it was time to leave.
Not long after that, a chansey left the guild and an apprentice come up and spotted them.
"Oh my gosh," Sunflora gasped and sprinted to them. "Are you the three who helped Dusknoir get Team Ion here sooner?"
"Yes," Beheeyem muttered, Sunflora's shrill voice finally waking him up. Rubbing his face, Beheeyem slowly floated upright. His other arm was quickly clasped with leaves as Sunflora shook him with enthusiasm bordering on Wigglytuff levels.
"Thank you so much!" Sunflora said before breaking down into tears. "If you hadn't helped, who knows what might have happened to poor Shinx and Meowth and Litleo?" She suddenly embraced Beheeyem and cried into his coloured chest.
"Aww," Electrike whimpered as his hard work was blended with tears. "Ooh." Then the colours really began to mix, and it looked funky.
"Alright," Beheeyem said, trying to push her off. "Yes, yes, I know. I know." With Sunflora not letting go he decided to just pat her back awkwardly until she stopped.
It took the intervention of a loudred even louder than logic would dictate to pry Sunflora from him. The extra harsh scowls weren't appreciated either, but Beheeyem could understand stress.
They were brought down a level to meet with the guild, and as Beheeyem grew more awake, he realised that as terrible of a situation this was, it really was quite beneficial. Wigglytuff was known to be difficult to approach, but in having helped some of his apprentices. Answers may be within their grasp indeed.
The nurses station was not often used to such a capacity. Chimecho kept the small room neat and orderly, as was her nature, but it wasn't often for her to have three serious patients at once.
Treating cuts and scrapes, injuries that just needed time, with some berries was simple. Chimecho knew she was the only one in the guild properly qualified to do this, but she realised she was somewhat out of practise when this landed in her room.
Still, she was still a consummate professional, and she quickly had Chatot and Croagunk place Litleo and Meowth down on the beds with sheets and then out of her way.
With her Psychic control, she didn't need hands or helpers for her work, and any distractions was not acceptable. No one would bother her unless she explicitly requested help. Which she did. Twice she sent someone out to fetch something she needed.
The first time Chatot flew out, being the fastest due to his flight, to go straight to Chansey and bring her to the guild. The Egg Pokémon was more a nurturer than a healer, but she had a few natural abilities that Chimecho knew would be a boon in this situation.
The next time Chansey had Chatot go out to her home to acquire some bitter herbs. The three were unconscious, for once that was a mercy. No one enjoyed those herbs, even being ground into a paste as it stung like nothing else.
Bidoof ran off as well, saying his friend Bell had some as well.
Wigglytuff waited outside the door, a rare frown plaguing his face and tension clear throughout his body. Only Chatot dared to approach, but he said nothing, just waiting for a new direction as he paced anxiously.
"Where did they go?" Wigglytuff wondered out loud. No one responded, the whole guild had arrived now and was loitering around worriedly.
Chatot snapped at them all multiple times and was pacing an actual hole in the ground, but no one left. Dusknoir himself eventually came down, but he insisted he was fine. He didn't turn down Sunflora going off to get him some food, however.
An abandoned bag sat near the base of the stairs. Wigglytuff himself had been carrying it before Electrike barrelled down shouting for help.
"How did they get so hurt?" he said out loud. Again no one replied. It wasn't uncommon for Wigglytuff to speak his thoughts out loud, not even realising he was doing it. Dusknoir moved to speak, but Chatot quietly told him that it was best to save the story until later.
Some time passed before the door to the nurse's room opened up. A tired Chansey yawned as a frazzled Chimecho floated on behind her.
"They're okay," Chimecho said, taking it as her responsibility to explain the situation. "Lacerations are abundant over Meowth and Litleo. Rai has multiple burns from what doesn't seem to be fire. All three are unconscious but stable. All we need to do now is keep them comfortable and wait for them to wake up."
"Is there any risk of that… not happening?" Chatot asked, speaking immediately as soon as Chimecho stopped.
"It's-" Chimecho tried to gather the words, causing the guild to clench up in worry as it looked like she was hesitating. "With any injury bad enough to keep someone unconscious for… however long they have been like this?" She turned to Dusknoir who replied.
"Over a day. 28 hours? I'm not sure, the time began to blend together."
"That long." Chimecho nodded her thanks. "Means that you can never give a one hundred percent assured answer. I believe they will wake up. These wounds are serious, but they should not be life threatening thanks to our treatment."
"I think it's exhaustion over anything else," Chansey added. "Whatever they've been through, it's sapped them. They just need time to recharge, literally in Shinx's case."
"Very well, thank you to you both," Chatot said, ruffling his feathers as the guild relaxed. "Now." He turned to Dusknoir. "I believe now is a good time to discuss how this happened? Dusknoir, do you know?"
"I know in part," Dusknoir explained as the guild, plus Chansey, all focused on him. "Young Shinx and I were discussing matters in relation to an old treasure he used to own before a pokémon approached him, believing to have seen something resembling Shinx's treasure."
Dusknoir looked back and forth among the guild, noting everyone's drooping eyes and several pokémon shifting around on tired muscles. "He quickly left to find his partner and then the two left. Or three it seems," he added, considering Litleo in the equation.
"Why would HE of all pokémon have joined them?" Corphish muttered.
"Right, he's a troublemaker. Did he do this maybe?" Sunflora growled. "Revenge maybe?"
A few pokémon were looking a bit mutinous at the idea that this was caused by Litleo. Neither Chimecho, Wigglytuff, nor Chatot shared in that thought.
"Now-now everyone," Chatot huffed. "Let us not jump to conclusions. What if he was there to help?"
A few skeptical looks were shot his way until Dusknoir nodded. "Indeed. Litleo does appear to have joined Team Ion in their trek through Amp Plains."
Sunflora and Bidoof twitched as those words were said, both of them thinking the same thing. Their guilty expressions weren't missed, but no one confronted them.
"Why would Shinx go back there?" Chimecho whispered, looking utterly stricken. She shivered.
"Regardless of that," Dusknoir said, continuing his explanation. "I followed them, feeling something off about the situation. I only managed to catch the trio once they had beaten the dungeon and entered the final area. A terrible place before a charred field of lightning strikes. At the time Team Ion plus Litleo had been overwhelmed by a force of electrike, led by a Shadow Manectric."
At that mention, everyone in the room stiffened.
"Sh-Shadow?"
"I… dealt with the manectric and carried the battered pokémon out of the dungeon and moved as fast as I could towards Treasure Town. The only place that could help them in that situation. I met a certain Team Gazer on the way and Beheeyem aided me by carrying me along in Psychic when my energy was fading. I owe them for getting me here hours quicker. Yet… I wish I could have done more, bring some items to help them, anything more."
"You went above and beyond," Wigglytuff said gently, stepping forward with tears brimming in his eyes. "To have gone to save our friends without asking, bringing them back within you, saving them from a Shadow Pokémon. Thank you so much Dusknoir, we are honoured to count you as a friend."
Dusknoir stared at Wigglytuff for a moment, unmoving and quiet for a moment of silence. "Thank you Wigglytuff. I am honoured to count you as a friend myself."
Wigglytuff smiled and then grabbed Dusknoir in a tight hug. Dusknoir stiffened but relaxed partially as Wigglytuff bawled into his chest for a moment. Thankfully, blessedly, Wigglytuff pulled back quickly and wiped his face.
"Let us all get ready to support Team Ion when they wake up," Wigglytuff said, still sniffling. "Litleo too. He went to help them himself it seems, we should make sure they all know they are loved."
The guild gave a quiet cheer and everyone, finally, moved away.
With that Chansey bade her goodbyes and left the guild, Sunflora seeing her out.
The Sun Pokémon returned quickly with three new pokémon.
"Guildmaster," Sunflora announced as she gestured them forward. "This is Team Gazer. The ones who helped Dusknoir get here."
"Yes!" Wigglytuff beamed. He gave all three of them a quick hug, steadying Beheeyem as he nearly dropped to the ground. "Are you feeling alright?"
"I am fine, just exhausted with a headache," Beheeyem said, speaking for the three. He still hadn't noticed the new body art.
"Thank you for helping Dusknoir," Wigglytuff said, smiling and waving to where Dusknoir was resting. He raised an arm in greeting.
"Indeed, thank you again, Beheeyem."
The Cerebral Pokémon blushed, but soaked in the praise. "There was no question of helping, as an exploration team it was our honour, and as leader of Team Gazer there was no greater work."
Then Beheeyem sagged. "Are they alright?" he asked. "We've met Team Ion before, we were actually heading to Treasure Town in the hopes to see them. And to speak to you, Guildmaster Wigglytuff."
"Me?" Wigglytuff asked, pointing. "Why me?"
"We've been noticing some… growing concern about Time Gears recently," Beheeyem explained as Dusknoir left the room. "Time going haywire, pokémon getting scared. We recently heard that the Time Gear of Boulder Quarry went missing, we discovered it alongside Team Ion. And also heard that you yourself had discovered it years prior. So we came this way hoping there was anything we could do, or anything you knew about the situation."
Wigglytuff frowned and rubbed his head. "…No. Nothing I can think of. I only found the one Time Gear in my exploring days and knew to stay away from it. The same you found, actually."
"That's… disappointing." Beheeyem frowned and decided to go for broke. "Nothing in your recorded information? Any old tomes or scrolls that you can think of? With the situation as it is becoming, any effort can only help."
"Nothing I can remember," Wigglytuff said, screwing his face up in concentration. "…Nope. Nothing."
"We couldn't take a look? Beheeyem pressed. "It would, if nothing else, be a great relief to feel like we are being useful. Nothing would make me happier." Beheeyem carefully didn't try and claim it was a reward for helping, he had helped even without knowing just who they were helping, it wasn't underhanded to try and benefit from the situation though.
"…I suppose that'd be alright," Wigglytuff said after some thought. "Alright, but tomorrow. Everyone is so tired, you worked so hard to get here. You are welcome to stay at the guild tonight, tomorrow we can look."
Beheeyem seemed to sag in mid-air, gratified relief flooding him. Even with his hours-long nap he was still exhausted, right now seemed to be a fine time to sleep.
Wigglytuff decided Beheeyem's choice of bed was a fine one and went and fell asleep on his feet. With his eyes open. Making Beldum uncomfortable, as Electrike had also toppled over and gone to sleep.
"Statement: This makes me uncomfortable."
With nothing else to do, Beldum also dropped like a stone into the floor.
Trill hopped up not long later and carried Rhythm back to his room, humming the night time song under his breath.
He had quietly cleaned up the bag Rhythm had packed, knowing the wigglytuff had been about to sneak out to go look for Team Ion. It was just what he was like. He would have preferred to be told at least.
He tucked Rhythm in and placed blankets on Team Gazer before taking his place as guardian of the guild.
He felt an eye on him and turned, spotting Dusknoir ascending from the lower level.
"Good evening, Dusknoir," Trill said.
"Good evening, Chatot," Dusknoir replied pleasantly. "Are you unable to sleep?"
"Nay," Chatot replied. "I rest on and off."
Dusknoir came to a stop, staring out of the grate into the star-filled night. "Why do you position yourself here?"
"It is the perfect place to catch anyone trying to sneak out," Trill replied, the old-fashioned response to that question, not the truthful one.
Dusknoir chuckled. "Hoo-hoo-ha, you are just as I had heard."
Trill cocked his head slightly. He ruffled his wings. "You are much different to the rumours say," he replied.
Dusknoir eyed him. "How so?"
"There is much talk of grandness," Trill explained. "You come across as far more down-to-earth."
Dusknoir couldn't smile like another pokémon could, but for a moment he seemed to be. "That is kind of you to say."
Trill didn't respond to that one. It wasn't so much kindness as an observation, and he was good at that. Good at seeing that Dusknoir wasn't quite what people said he was. Including himself.
Dusknoir continued gazing out into what part of the sky could be seen. "I've noticed that the guild's roof expresses emblems," he said softly.
Trill shifted slightly.
"Your feathers, are they not?"
Trill nodded. There was a bundle of feathers tied like a brush on the wigglytuff head. Right above another mark.
"And the mark on the roof's brow," Dusknoir continued, Trill tensed up. "Purple and cream. It almost looks like an accident, but…."
"You are wise, correct?" Trill interjected sharply.
Dusknoir stopped. "I… well, others have said."
"Then you should know not to carry on that thought."
Dusknoir stared at him in surprise for a long moment, Trill didn't stare back, eyes set on the stars outside, tracking constellations.
"Understood," he said. "I apologise for bringing it up."
"That is quite alright," Trill replied.
"I'll leave you to your night." Dusknoir vanished shortly after, leaving Trill to look at the stars and think about the Time Gears and the one they lost to their maddening allure.
He didn't understand.
He wasn't sure he wanted to.
He just roosted, the guardian of the guild.
The last thing Sean remembered was pain.
The first thing he remembered was fear.
Sean's eyes snapped open as he rocketed up on the softest bed he could remember sitting on as a single word remained the only thing in his mind. "RAI!"
"Mmm." Rai groaned from the bed next to him and shifted painfully, trying to pull himself up in his sleep before giving up and slumping back down with a frustrated huff.
Sean's whirlwind of one word crashed to a stop as his eyes adjusted. He was in a room. Not a clearing. The room was peaceful, unlike the clearing. There a window letting light in, not the darkness of the clearing. There was the gentle sound of life living its way, unlike the clearing.
His heart thumped painfully, and eyes began to burn as Sean didn't blink. Soon his eyes began to tear up from the pain and he closed them and held them closed, jaw tightening and pointy teeth biting down into his soft lip.
Litleo snored and mumbled something.
Sean started, jumping in place, and turning on the disturbance with wide, pinpricked, eyes. He breathed hard, heart still thumping. Litleo was under a blanket, that was odd. Not a carpet of electrike trying to smother him.
Slowly, carefully, even fearfully, the meowth turned back to where he thought he had seen Rai. The shinx was resting quietly under a blanket of his own, nestled on a bed with sheets as soft as his own.
The muscles in Sean's neck began to relax as he felt exhaustion crashing over him again. He didn't want to close his eyes again, but the first time had been alright.
He blinked a few times, slowly taking in the whole room with clearing eyes. A cupboard there, door slightly open. A basin filled with clear water there, three cloths soaking away. Soft beds stuffed with straw but covered with sheets he didn't even know existed here.
A door that led to familiar sounds, Sean thought he heard the tell-tale cry of. "Hooray!" And he fell back into bed with a groan.
They weren't in Amp Plains anymore.
It was safe.
Sean didn't want to close his eyes, afraid this was just a dream and they were all just dying in a clearing by Shadow Pokémon. Things hurt a bit too much to convince him of that, however. Just like how getting decked by Skuntank convinced him he wasn't dreaming the first day.
Sean turned to Rai, checking to see if he was breathing. He pulled an arm out of the blanket that covered him and reached over, brushing against the scrap of tail he could reach. Rai screwed his face and shifted around, easing Sean's irrational fears.
Litleo's snores were still ongoing, and it was to that sound that Sean drifted back off into sleep.
The sun rose and fell before any of the three injured pokémon stirred again.
As with the first time, Sean's eyes cracked open and squinted against the light. His slitted pupils widened and contracted as he blinked rapidly. For a moment, his mind was blank.
The rays of the sun creeping in through the window caught his eye again and Sean hissed in pain, swiping out with a clawed paw at the offending rays before stuffing his face into the comfortable bed he laid on.
Something rumbled in his throat before the headache hit him and Sean groaned. The racket he was pulling ended up causing both other occupants of the room to stir.
Litleo to his left, up against the wall, and Rai to his right, closer to the door, both shifted in their white sheeted beds. He had a moment of vertigo.
A quick glance at his paws showed they were still paws. "Do humans have four fingers or five?" Sean wondered for a moment before frowning. "Five. Thumb's a finger."
He felt a brief sense of melancholy for the fabled thumb before the shifting and mumbling of his companions pulled him back to the present.
"Rai?" Sean croaked, voice scratchy and hoarse. He coughed, saying just Rai's name sending his throat into spasms, before saying it again. "Rai?"
Rai cracked a squinted eye open, searching for a moment before his vision cleared enough to make out Sean. Rai started, jolting in bed, before rocking to all fours. "Sean!" he yelped before grimacing as his own throat stung.
"Stooop," Litleo moaned, trying to bury his head in his bed. "So loud."
He stilled himself before slowly, almost fearfully, poking his head up. He looked up, then left, and finally to his right. Sean, as the one with the clearest eyes, got a good look at Litleo's expression.
Fear. Distress. Desperation.
He blinked, and the expression was gone. A shaken grin replaced Litleo's fearful expression and he gave a quiet chuckle. "We're alive." He nodded to himself, looking around again, feverously. Sean's ears quirked as he picked up on Litleo's breathing rate speed up. "Alive. Back. Safe. We're safe. We're not drowning." His voice began to break, a mixture of dehydration and emotion causing his words to crumble. "We're fine. We're fine. We're fine."
"We're fine," Sean agreed, adding it in.
"We're fine," Rai said, giving a shaky nod as Litleo turned a borderline-hysterical gaze on them.
"We're fine," Litleo said one more time before sagging under the sheets.
"You're awake." A fourth voice chimed in and all three of the bedbound pokémon jumped. "Oops!" Chimecho giggled. "My apologies. You three are all safe here."
"Where?" Was all Sean could manage as the other two were catching their breaths from the spook.
"You're at the guild," Chimecho explained, floating closer. "You arrived three days ago, unconscious and… well." Chimecho glanced away, not wanting to say anything more about how bad it could have gone. "You've been asleep the whole time."
"We're alive," Rai breathed, sagging onto his bed as well. "Oh… thank the legends. We're alive." Tears filled his eyes and he turned away, hiccupping as he tried to not make a scene.
"You're all safe now," Chimecho said, ringing a calming chime. "You all woke up as well, that was the biggest hurdle." Chimecho's voice hitched as she swallowed. "I-I'm so relieved."
Chimecho took a few breaths to calm herself and she composed herself quickly. She smiled at Sean, who was trying to get out of bed and come to her side. "Stay in bed for now," she said gently, but firmly. "All three of you still need a great amount of rest. It's safe to sleep, but first. How are you all feeling? Is there any pain?"
An old medical fact came to Sean and he nodded. It wasn't helpful to yourself or your nurse if you lied or tried to downplay your state. "I've got a bad headache," he said, grimacing as being reminded of it seemed to bring the pain back in full force. "And my torso just… stings."
"Everywhere hurts," Rai admitted. "But help Meowth first."
"I kind of feel like my everything is bleeding," Litleo said. "Is that normal?"
"How's your breathing?" Chimecho asked, already floating to her supplies. Litleo took a moment to think about it.
"Not great. It's a little hard actually," he panted.
Levitating in a Psychic grip, Chimecho brought new bandages and several different types of berries. She gave three to Sean, two to Litleo alongside an incense, and brought the rest of the supplies to Rai.
Sean watched curiously as Chimecho did her work. Skilfully peeling off his bandages, not fussed with the dried blood, supplying a salve before rebandaging him. It bothered Sean what he had seen, patches of fur missing and unpleasant looking burns on Rai's body, but Chimecho was quick and efficient, covering Rai up quickly.
"I will inform the rest of the guild that the three of you have woken up," Chimecho said, floating back to observe her work. "Is there anything I can do for you before I leave?"
"More of that incense?" Litleo suggested and Chimecho quickly set some more out. Litleo coughed up a spark, but thankfully nothing was lit on fire.
"If you need anything," Chimecho began, levitating a bell over to Sean. "For anyone, give that a ring and I will be along soon. Understand?"
"Yes, ma'am," Sean said, smiling lightly.
Chimecho gave him a coy one back before leaving them to their devices.
She shut the door carefully behind her, closing with nary a click, leaving the three in silence.
A hushed calm fell over the room as neither pokémon chose to say anything. Everyone was feeling roughly the same, sore and tired, yet none of them closed their eyes and settled into a nap.
The air grew tense, anticipation hung in the silence of the room until Sean was unable to take it anymore.
"So that… sucked," he said plainly, feeling their eyes on him immediately as he broke the sacred silence.
"Yeah," Litleo agreed.
"Mm." Was all Rai added.
"How did we get out of that?" Sean asked, realising that none of them had asked Chimecho that exact thing. "Last thing I remember is everything going black with… pokémon surrounding us. Do either of you remember more than that?"
"Getting suffocated," Litleo said, voice starting light before beginning to shake. "Being pressed d-down and smothered by a… all th-those." He fell silent, squeezing his eyes closed. He didn't want to think about that.
The words he had felt, coming at his very core, were on the tip of Litleo's tongue, ready to tell them what he had felt, but Rai spoke up.
"No I… I just remember fainting. I couldn't." Rai bent his head, ashamed. "I couldn't beat Manectric. Even though he… it. Even though that monster killed my family, I couldn't beat it."
"None of us could have beat it," Sean said weakly. His mind was still taking its time to return to full faculties, but even now he could remember that such a thing was not right. "A Shadow Pokémon?" Rai and Litleo flinched. "How could we have been prepared for that?"
"It's my fault," Rai said, after taking a moment to digest Sean's words. "I dragged you there and you nearly died. Both of you," he added, remembering Litleo's presence.
Sean shook his head. He had the words to refute that, he was sure, but they were taking some time to reach him.
Litleo scoffed. As snorting would be far too painful at the moment. He grimaced anyway, the action hurting his throat, and flicking his tail as the two looked to him in confusion.
"It's not like you put it there," he forced out, throat feeling like he had an igglybuff lodged in there. "How is a… that, your fault?"
"I," Rai began, thrown off from Litleo's defence of him. "I made you both come. If I didn't go there without even thinking, neither of you would have been hurt."
"And YOU would have died," Litleo pointed out. "And you didn't make either of us come, although I wouldn't mind…?" He managed a smirk. It didn't land and he sighed. "We chose to go, idiot."
"You wouldn't have gone if I wasn't going," Rai argued back, and Sean finally caught up enough to add his two poké in.
"You were going to find your treasure," he said. "It's not like not going was an option."
"Yes, but," Rai groaned and looked back and forth. "You can't let me stew in my own misery? This wouldn't have happened if I wasn't so hasty."
"Stew…" Litleo whispered, eyes going far as he realised how hungry he was. Shaking his head, he said. "Nope. No stew for you. Get over yourself and stop blaming yourself for this. I was coming to tell you that your funky rock was missing anyway, at least you've started looking for it!"
Sean nodded. "He's right. It might have been a bust. A…" he shivered, thinking back to the clearing. "Even a little bit traumatising. But we're alive!"
Rai looked between them both for a long moment. Sean's eyes drooped a little and Litleo yawned before Rai muttered, softly. "Neither of you thought it was there… did you?"
Litleo shook his head, but Sean took longer to respond. "I… didn't want to dismiss it as a potential start." Rai held his gaze until Sean's cracked and explained further. "But… I didn't think that some stranger just randomly had seen a treasure at the end of a dungeon and not picked it up. It seemed… convenient."
Rai nodded slowly, mouth twisting.
"Sorry."
Rai sighed. "Don't apologise," he said, voice not brokering any argument there. "I'm sorry. This IS my fault, but you don't seem to be letting me drown myself in self-pity."
Sean grinned softly, Rai was getting the art of sarcasm, so he knew no offence was taken. "Can't let you do that, you're the light of my… of this team."
"Gay."
Rai gave him a crooked smile and sighed again, moving into a yawn. "It feels like it's been a long day already."
"Yeah, I'm exhausted still."
"All I want at the moment is sleep."
No one was particularly thrilled about sleeping. None of them could forget what memories the clearing left them, chatting had silenced them, but they were returning.
Rai was the first to fall asleep, too exhausted from his injuries and the talk to hold himself back. Litleo dropped next, watching Sean for a long time before finally succumbing to rest. Sean took the longest, every time he began to drift off he'd remember a sound, feeling, or fear and he'd jolt back to awake and need to take a look around to reassure himself.
Exhaustion took him in the end and Sean fell into a fitful sleep.
Another day passed before Chimecho even allowed them to step out of the room. All three felines had grown restless and they couldn't sleep the day away every day.
In the time since they had awoken and Chimecho alerted the rest of the guild, everyone came in to see them.
Wigglytuff was the first and he almost devolved into tears of joy and had to restrain his hugs to himself. They were recovering well, Sean was still baffled at the sheer durability of the pokémon form, but Wigglytuff didn't want to risk hurting them and receive Chimecho's wrath.
Corphish was next and being more lucid than Wigglytuff, he was able to explain the situation in ways Chimecho had avoided.
"Dusknoir carried us in his belly?" Sean shrieked upon hearing the news, even the fanboy that was Rai was a little thrown by that revelation, but neither Rai nor Litleo minded much for the sake of survival.
"We're alive," Litleo pointed out as Rai's gaze slipped off through the window.
Sunflora came in in actual joyous tears and did hug Sean as he was the best off but refrained from hurting Rai and didn't seem to think a whole lot of Litleo. She brought with her a piece of interesting news.
"Dusknoir left the day after he brought you in," she said, voice even and not shrill as she often became when she was spilling the news. "He said he received some alarming news about the southeast area of the continent and had to check it out 'post haste'."
"Southeast?" Rai frowned. "Isn't that…?"
"Yeah." Sunflora nodded, giving Litleo an obvious look. "Hopefully it's nothing."
"Even if it is the 'Great Dusknoir' surely can solve it?" Litleo said as Sunflora decided she had best get to work.
After Sunflora had left, Litleo turned to the other two and said. "Isn't that where the Guild explored? For Fogbound Lake? That you didn't find anything on?"
"Litleo," Sean said warningly as Rai was cringing. The Fire-type made a face but didn't press further.
Diglett and Dugtrio visited together, but neither were allowed inside the actual medical wing as their burrowing would damage the floor.
"First time, and last time, we ever came in here Chimecho made sure we had a reason to visit," Dugtrio explained.
Bidoof brought them some snacks, snuck through Chimecho's distracted gaze, rattled off a few knock-knock jokes and wished them good health.
Chatot made a strategic visit after Loudred, who had not been allowed to visit for long due to problems keeping his volume under control.
Chatot begun pacing a hole in the floor of the medical wing until Chimecho froze him in place with a terrifying glare. "Ahem." Chatot cleared his throat, after pausing.
"Due to your injuries you have been excused from work for the time being. Until Chimecho says you are able to return to work, you will stay here. There WILL be time made up for this, due to this being an unauthorised excursion into a dangerous dungeon without telling anybody and making each member of the guild worry over your safety and send the whole-"
Chimecho gently coaxed Chatot out of the room before he began showing emotion in front of them.
"Well, that sucks," Litleo commented when Chatot had left. "Great."
"He cares," Sean said, although he himself didn't like the idea of extra work. "But he can't show that."
Rai just gave a soft laugh.
Croagunk was the last to visit them. Being the one to bring them dinner that night. "Meh-heh-heh, good news you three." He wasn't the first to acknowledge Litleo immediately, but he was still only one of three. "In the time you've all been asleep, I've finally managed to repair my Swap Cauldron."
"Oh, wow!" Rai said, enthusiasm unparalleled in the room. "So, Grovyle's tip worked?"
"Yep. Smart guy that Grovyle." Croagunk turned his lidded gaze to Sean, who was looking pleased, and Litleo who was just confused at being acknowledged. "Some scrape you three got in, huh?"
"I feel like I get injured more often then not," Sean said, frowning as Rai looked to him. "This is the worst so far, but it isn't the first time. Those Shadow Pokémon were horrific."
Croagunk nodded slowly, cheek-pouches not moving. "I'd bet. Some serious stuff there. How are you three fairing?"
"Sore," Sean said.
"Bored," Litleo said.
"Alright," Rai said.
All three at the same time.
"Meh-heh-heh, I get that. I mean, mentally? Emotionally? You all nearly died, and it was to a Shadow Pokémon. You know the legends about that, right?"
Sean didn't, and looking around he noticed both Rai and Litleo cringing away. "No," he said, hoping Croagunk would explain.
He regretted it. Realising that maybe he didn't want to know.
Croagunk explained anyway. "They say that if a Shadow Pokémon does you in, you become a Shadow Pokémon yourself. Not sure how true a legend like that is, what legend is?"
Fogbound Lake was true. Was what Sean nearly said, but he held his tongue. He could see Rai was thinking it.
"You can tell if something like that has left any… lasting damage, right?" Sean asked, feeling a mite nervous. He didn't like to think about being dragged down by all the electrike before, even less now.
"Yeah you're all fine physically," Croagunk said, all three breathing a small sigh of relief and muscles they didn't know they had untensed. "But stuff up here." He pointed a deadly hand to his temple. "That's harder to tell. Chimecho's good with healing the body, the best in the area, but she doesn't know how to treat the head. Azumarill in town holds therapy, when she's not ill at least."
Sean nodded. He understood what Croagunk was getting at. But it was awkward, and a little embarrassing, to talk about fears and memory's that now felt trivial. They had survived.
But a part of Sean's head still felt like he was in the clearing.
Rai's burns ached. Cold and hot in ways he couldn't really remember.
Litleo still felt like he had trouble breathing at times. Discretely coughing brought nothing up. No inky blackness he was afraid of seeing. No blood either. Nothing was there, but he could still feel the air being pressed out of him.
None of them said anything. But their expressions were enough for Croagunk. "Make sure you say something when you need too," he said lightly, moving to take his leave from the room. "Bottling stuff up never helps. Alright?"
He didn't seem to wait for a response and left the room, door falling shut with a soft click.
The room fell into an awkward silence. Sean played with a thread, tangling it around a claw. Rai's tail sparked slightly. Litleo took a few deep, comforting, breaths.
"I kinda feel like I'm still in the clearing at times," Sean said, breaking the silence. He flushed under his fur, the insides of his ears going red, but he continued anyway. "I don't like thinking about what happened, but I can't help myself at times. I don't like it when it's really quiet."
He refused to look at either one of them. Saying it out loud felt like admitting to a weakness, and he didn't feel like a weight had lifted from his chest. Just that a burden was being pressed onto others.
"Something was… there," Litleo said quietly, also not looking at anyone. They all looked in a single spot, none of them meeting the other's eyes. "When the electrike were suffocating us. It wanted me to give in. I didn't. But… something was there."
Fogbound Lake was true. Flashed through Sean and Rai's minds again, but they didn't say anything.
"That… thing," Rai said roughly. "Killed my family. And I couldn't beat it. Is it still there? Did Dusknoir drive it off, or did he just swoop in and save us."
"Dusknoir killed the Shadow Pokémon in Mount Bristle," Litleo pointed out. "He probably would have done the same there."
Rai nodded, breathed a little easier. "I still couldn't. I just… there was nothing I could do against it. Nothing my parent… my brothers."
There were no tears in Rai's eyes. He had been out of tears for years for people he never really knew. It wasn't the closure he had hoped for in returning to Amp Plains. No due revenge. "And my Relic Fragment wasn't there. It was stupid to go."
"We didn't look everywhere," Sean said, jumping to Rai's comfort as naturally as breathing. "We could… g-go ba…."
He couldn't quite finish that.
Rai didn't respond. None of them wanted to think of going back.
They didn't talk much for the rest of the day. But there was no absolute silence held, something Sean was deeply grateful for. Rai purred when it got really quiet, resting his head on Sean's bed and letting him pet him a little.
Litleo watched jealously, but didn't ask for anything, sulking in silence, inching closer until Sean was petting him too. He leaned into the touch. Rai said nothing.
After three days of loafing around in the medical wing, Chimecho finally let them free.
"You will do NO strenuous tasks," she said, staring all three felines down with a nurse's demanding glare. "That means NO tasks, NO jobs, NO dungeons, NO training. Nothing but short walks, take plenty of rest, drink plenty of water, and if you disappear AGAIN?" Chimecho didn't finish that thought, left them to think up plenty of horrible things that would happen if they disobeyed.
"I'm alright," Sean protested, jutting his chest forward in proof of a lack of the mummy wrapping Rai suffered and plasters that adorned Litleo.
Chimecho stared him down until his ears fell flat and he obeyed.
Sean stuck close to Rai, who was still the most heavily bandaged of the three of them. He was not squeamish and had watched Chimecho's work and asked her plenty of questions she was happy to answer. He felt confident he could replace the bandages if, for some reason, Chimecho was unable to do so and she offered to let him practise on her if he so pleased.
But with freedom on the line, Sean assured her another day. For now, he and Rai, wanted to take a walk through Treasure Town.
A few residents had come by to visit them in their imprisonment. Kangaskhan had come and cried all over Rai. Duskull had spooked all three of them. Spinda brought them each a Life Seed Smoothie. There was a surprising visit from Team Gazer, but each was aware of Beheeyem's role in helping them and gratitude worthy of a shaymin was shared.
Rai received most of the attention. With Vigoroth, Electivire, who had also cried on Rai and was banished with Kangaskhan, Marowak, Marill and Azurill, and several more coming to visit Rai.
Now they could leave.
Litleo left the room first, unable to stand waiting any longer now that freedom was within his paws and he, gingerly, hopped off
He avoided what looked to be a hole that had been paced into the floor and hastily filled in and continued on.
However his haste, in his recovering state, was still slow enough for round, pink and cheerful to spot him. Wigglytuff, delighted as always, rolled his way over to Litleo.
"Good afternoon, friendly friend!" Wigglytuff beamed upon reaching Litleo, the Fire-type looking wary.
"Uh… hi?" he said, not sure about trusting Wigglytuff overwhelming pleasantness. Lot's of people were nice at first.
"How are you feeling?" Wigglytuff asked, walking in pace with Litleo. "Your injuries were quite severe. I saw Chatot carrying you in!"
Litleo would have grimaced upon being reminded of the state he was in, but what Wigglytuff said caught his interest. "Chatot carried me in?"
"Yup!" Wigglytuff nodded with his whole body. "Very carefully."
"Oh. Tell him thank you, I guess." Litleo frowned and turned away, continuing to walk. Wigglytuff trotted along, unbothered by the silence. "Do you want me to pay you or something? For the medical care, I guess?"
"What?" Wigglytuff gasped, voice so endearingly genuine it paused Litleo. "Gosh no! Never would I charge a friend for being saved! Never-Never! Besides apprentices don't pay. It's part of Chatot's budgeting anyway, you can tell him thanks in person he's probably around here somewhere"
Wigglytuff rambled a little. "I don't get the stuff he works on, bills and paperwork, medical things and food and bleh." Wigglytuff stuck his tongue out, but again Litleo needed to stop and return to something Wigglytuff had blurted out.
"Apprentice?"
"Yeah!" Wigglytuff beamed. "You're Meowth and Shinx's teammate, aren't you?" Wigglytuff frowned and looked off into the distance. "Why would you have gone to Amp Plains with them if you weren't?" he questioned out loud, but not actually asking Litleo.
"You... wouldn't mind?" Litleo asked, voice suddenly small. "If I was a member of the guild?"
"I would mind." Wigglytuff nodded and Litleo felt something crack inside. "If you weren't." He opened his arms. "Friendly friend, are you not? We teach well here and would love to have you!"
Litleo searched Wigglytuff's expression, looking for any deceit or jokes. He saw nothing but bare-faced honesty. And cheer. A lot of goofy cheer.
Litleo swallowed and went to speak but paused when Sean and Rai's voices reached them both.
"I'm just saying, what if Chimecho was secretly evil? Who'd ever suspect her?" Sean was saying, obviously joking, but Rai was fluffing up through where bandages weren't.
"She's way too nice to be evil. And, if you forgot already, she saved our lives."
"For eeeviill." Sean grinned, and Rai gave him a truly unimpressed look. They stepped around Litleo and Wigglytuff, giving nods to the Guildmaster, as they continued on. Litleo shot Wigglytuff a quirky look and received a mimed shove to join them.
He joined them, and they didn't notice the intrusion.
"This is ridiculous, Litleo tell him Chimecho can't be evil!" Rai demanded, waving a paw at Sean.
"I dunno." Litleo grinned as Rai's expression darkened into a mock-glare. "I think I'll need to hear it all just to make an 'educated' decision."
Wigglytuff danced off to parts unknown as the three felines began their walk to Treasure Town.
"So, I think it's a bit early to tell if Chimecho is evil," Litleo said after Sean gleefully repeated everything. "She's got some scary faces, but she DID save our lives."
"For evil," Sean reiterated.
"We don't know that yet," Litleo tutted. "Time needs to be taken, care, before such conclusions can be made."
"Why are you talking all fancy?" Rai asked, giving Litleo an inscrutable look.
"Well these things take time to work out," Litleo explained, stretching out and popping his back. "But we've got the time to work it out. Hopefully not anymore injuries like that, maybe watch how she acts when dealing with bumps and scrapes?"
"She also prepares the food," Sean pointed out. "Perfect time to poison someone."
"Has anyone died from the food?" Litleo asked.
"Not yet."
Rai cracked a smile before snorting in laughter. "You're ridiculous," he said, giving Sean a fond look. "Don't encourage him," he said, looking back to Litleo with a noticeably less fond look.
"I think I've done enough encouraging," Litleo said. It was a simple sentence, spoken with no weight or force. As if without a care to be had. It still brought Rai to a stop.
"Yeah," he said, looking at Litleo with older eyes. "You have."
Litleo stopped himself, looking back to Rai with a cool expression. Sean glanced between the two and frowned, watching them both carefully but didn't speak as the two stared each other down.
"So, I was thinking for our next, much better planned, excursion we could-" Litleo began before Rai cut him off.
"Next excursion?" he almost growled.
Litleo hesitated and Sean witnessed several emotions flash across his face. He spotted guilt, anger, exhaustion, pain, and several more that went by too fast. Litleo swallowed and reigned in any acerbic comments to speak more gently. "Sure. I mean I heard your first journey together didn't end so well either. Beach Cave Calamity or something. A nasty first go, a rite of passage I guess, to get membership into Team Ion."
Litleo gave them a confident look, one that didn't shake even as Rai narrowed his eyes and Sean frowned in conflicted emotions.
"Why would you want to join our team?" he demanded. "Especially after you nearly died. Why?
"Why not?" Litleo attempted, but Rai wouldn't let that cut it.
"No. Tell me why you think you can just force yourself along on our journey and then decide you're on the team after it all goes to shit? I didn't want you to come to Amp Plains, but I couldn't stop you, but you think I'm just going to let you on my team as if nothing has happened between us?"
"If I didn't come, you would have died," Litleo pointed out, mane flickering with sparks for a moment. "I'm sorry, alright? I always wanted you to do what you wanted. I never meant to hurt you."
"So why then?" Rai asked, looking warily at Litleo. "If you didn't mean it, why do it at all? Why for five years? Just tell me."
Litleo frowned and glanced upwards at the afternoon sky before sighing. "I thought everyone just… they all liked you but they knew you as the shy shinx with the tragic life. Wanting to become an explorer so badly, but just never having the nerve." He shook his head.
"You had people, everyone actually, who supported you. They told you to try again later, to always keep hoping, to always look forward. That one day it'll come to you. That if you're patient, you'll be an explorer one day. I thought they were just coddling you because you weren't doing it."
Rai shifted awkwardly, he wasn't entirely comfortable where Litleo was taking this, but continued to listen attentively.
"Who was pushing you, Rai?" Rai didn't react to the use of his actual name, Litleo didn't even notice he had used it. "Everyone was saying to be patient, to feel better when you couldn't do it, to be content that you'll get there someday, never saying when 'someday' would be."
He growled in disgust. Whether at the past or at himself, even Litleo wasn't sure. "I could see, I was sure that you'd never do it if someone didn't push you. If someone didn't just look at you and say 'good enough, top marks for hopes and dreams' to make you feel better, then why would you improve? I wanted to see you become an explorer, I knew you could do it. But you weren't. You just weren't."
Litleo stopped for some breath and looked down from the sky, looking to Rai with a guilty look. "I took it too far. I know I did, and I really am sorry. I thought I had to balance all the empty praise and well-wishing, everyone saying to feel better and try again some other time like that was going to do anything. I thought it was working too. Sometimes when I pushed you really far you'd go to the dojo, train, then march to the guild."
Litleo paused. Rai didn't need to hear what happened next, neither did Sean. They both knew. But Litleo said it anyway. "But you'd always turn back. Every time. You were so… sure that 'someday' would come that you just wouldn't try. So I thought I had to push harder and harder."
With a stony expression, Rai shook his head. "I wanted to prove you wrong, but every time I'd go your words would flash through my head and I'd lose my nerve. I decided you were right about me."
Litleo cringed, a stricken expression flashing across his face as Rai told him how he fucked up. "I'm… sorry. I never meant to make you think you weren't good enough. I was sure you could be. I thought I could make you angry enough to do it, then throw it in my face and say you were good enough. But… it didn't go that way. I was wrong."
Those last three words caused Rai's eyes to widen. "You… said you were wrong?"
Litleo nodded, turning away slightly so he didn't have to look directly at Rai's shocked face. "Yeah, whatever. Not even I can be right ALL the time." He pawed the ground grumpily before sighing and looking back to Rai. "I don't think I was wrong in all regards," he said honestly, getting a raised eye from Rai.
"I took it way too far without a doubt," Litleo said. "But I still think doing nothing but hearing 'good enough' wasn't doing any better. I hurt you in so many ways, things you'll probably never forgive me for, but everyone else wasn't doing you any better either. You ARE strong, and even before Sean turned up you were strong."
He met Rai's eyes. "I want to make up for what I did. There's no… excuse that just makes it better, but I want to try. You, heh, you inspired me really."
Rai breathed out a hard sigh, trying to find the words in the tumultuous miasma that was his formerly understood world. Friends for a day then Litleo was a jerk and he was the poor orphan. Now things were seeming less black and white and he couldn't find words.
"I… I… you're right." He went with. "I don't think I can just move on from what you put me through. Not yet at least, not all at once. But…" he paused for a long moment and looked to Sean before back to Litleo. "You tried to make Meowth leave me. I didn't have anyone else. You were cool that first day we met. "
Litleo's expression was pain and he bowed his head. "I… have no excuse for that. Mother just… no. I won't try and make excuses. I tried to justify it to myself later by saying it was just a 'test' for Sean. It was wrong though."
Rai turned to Sean. "What do you think about letting him on the team?"
Sean, caught somewhat off guard about being addressed, did his best to speak his best thoughts. "Um. I don't really have the history you two have. It's not easy to forgive, something I just know for sure. But…." He swallowed and looked to Litleo who was doing his best not to look vulnerable.
"I think he. Uh." He hesitated again, heart doing weird flips, mind telling him this was a bad idea, mind also telling him this was a great idea.
"The story didn't have this," Sean thought before frowning and making his mind up. "You know what?"
He set his mouth firm and nodded to Rai. "If you're willing to work with him. To try and put this behind you and start anew, then I support it." Litleo smiled widely and Rai gave a hesitant nod.
He looked back to a hopeful Litleo and breathed out a hard breath before giving a nod. "I guess we are going to be teammates now." He smiled weakly as Litleo gave a, somewhat teary, whoop. "I think we need to start over on a new foot." He reached his paw out, giving a fragile smile. Trusting Litleo. "I'm Shinx. Or… you can call me Rai."
Litleo looked at the paw for a moment in surprise, nearly reeling at the opportunity given. He quickly clasped it with his own and nodded a thankful smile back. "The names Mane. Mane the litleo. Call me Mane, Rai."
Rai smiled and nodded. "Sure, Mane."
"Thanks, Rai."
They both managed a smile before Rai pulled back. "Okay, bonding over. Let's start the day."
Nodding in relief that everything went better than he dared to hope, Mane began walking. "Yeah let's leave the gooshy stuff to Sean."
Smiling, Sean followed in their shadows as they walked in a comfortable silence towards Treasure Town. "Who said you could call me, Sean?" he asked, teasingly. Litleo gave him a grin.
"You can call me Mane if I can call you Sean."
"Sure."
I do really like Mane. He's fun and the story would not have been what it was without him. There's a fair bit to him as well, Rai's not the only one with some stuff in his backstory.