Craw stretched himself. The new room was bigger than the older. The most of the trainees only got a room for two but in some occasions they got rooms for three. Since Damion was now part of their secret and since they planned to form a team as soon as they finished the test. The room was a bit special since Anubis made sure that it was a soundproof room so they could talk without the need of fearing someone eavesdropping. The three now shared every thought with each other and formed a deep friendship with Damion. He didn't even regretted learning about everything even though he had a headache similar to that of Craw and Brighton.
"But damn. I would never have guessed you are a human Craw." Damion flopped onto his bed.
Craw chuckled. "Yeah I mean who would guess that under the skin of this Riolu here is a human?"
Damion nodded. "True. But now I understand why you were so strange with Ariela. I mean after you explained it. But I think it's fine. You shouldn't care much about it." He shrugged. "But who am I to judge about you."
Brighton grinned. "Oh does that mean you have a secret love you didn't tell us yet?"
Damion blushed a bit. "Nah... More like a crush."
Brighton's grin widened. "OH! Tell us!"
Damion looked to him. "What about you? Saw any girl you like yet?"
Brighton chuckled. "Oh I saw many girls that I like~ But nothing like a crush yet. Now stop distracting and tell us. Craw already told us the truth after all so it would only be fair."
Damion sighed. "OK OK... It's Viola..."
Brighton smiled. "Te Roselia? Well I can't deny she isn't beautiful but aren't you different egg groups?"
The Buizel now totally blushed. "What? Why you think on that? I-I didn't even think about that kind of stuff..."
Brighton laughed.
Craw on his side had to think a bit about these words. He blushed at the thought. Could he even have kids in this body? As far as he knew Riolus counted as so called baby Pokémon and those couldn't breed... Breed... That was a strange word now that he thought about it from the side of a Pokémon. He sighed and shook his head. "Could we talk about something else please?"
The other two went quiet. They probably knew or at least guessed what he was thinking about and they were probably the same.
Craw sighed. "What do you think this week's training will be about?"
Brighton shrugged. "Maybe more fighting training. But since next week we will start with dungeon training we will probably have lessons about dungeons. Like what they are and traps and monster rooms and so on."
That made Craw wonder. He never was in a dungeon. "What makes them so dangerous?"
Brighton looked to him. "Oh, right. You don't know about mystery dungeons. Well they are mysterious places that always change. Whenever you enter them they look different from before and they have traps and many feral Pokémon are living in there. Most of them act like if the dungeons are their territory and they get very aggressive. Some of them flee but most of the time you have to fight."
Craw nodded. "But why we go in there at all then?"
Damion smiled. "Well for different reasons. For one thing you can get a lot resources out of there. Like citrus berries. They are hard to grow in a normal region like this. It's just too cold. But they are found a lot in dungeons nearby for some reason. Also many useful items are found in there and of course the wild Pokémon. Where else should we get meat from?"
Craw paled. "So we really eat other Pokémon?"
Brighton chuckled. "Where else do you think meat comes from? But you don't have to worry about it. These Pokémon are feral. They only act on instinct and lost their consciousness over the generations. There is one thing tho. Sometimes it can happen that one of those feral Pokémon are different from the others. They have a spark of intelligence that makes them unique. Some of those will follow you and they show more intelligence as others. When they are trained well enough then they can learn to become normal Pokémon. They can learn to suppress their instincts and they can learn to talk. They can learn to become like us and become good team mates. But that is rare and they are hard to train. And they will never fully lose their feral side. They will still keep some of their instincts and will act strange at times."
Craw tilted his head. "So they are more like the Pokémon in my world..."
Damion looked to him confused. "Wait I thought you don't remember your world."
Craw sighed. "Kinda. I remember some things of my world. Like things that I learned. Things that I was taught... But I don't remember my life. I have no memory about my friends if I had some or about my family..."
Damion played with his paws. "That is strange... Like if someone wanted to prevent you from remembering something special..."
Craw thought about it. "Yeah... I have my knowledge but not my memory... It really is strange..."
The three sat there in silence for some minutes. Then Brighton stood up. "Well... We should get going. Training will start soon."
The other two nodded and stood up as well.
About ten minutes later they were in a classroom. Like Brighton guessed they will have some lessons. but nobody seemed to know about what topic.
Pokémon all around them were whispering. Especially one thing seemed to be of interest as topic. There was no female in the classroom. Someone said that they were in a different classroom.
Then Anubis entered the room. He went to the chalkboard in front of the class. He sighed and cleared his throat. "Well as you maybe noticed today I will only teach you boys. Well that has a certain reason and that is the topic we are talking about." He turned around to the chalkboard and started to write something on it but he hid it with his body. As he turned around and showed what he had written a certain tense was in the air. "Today and the next days we will talk about egg groups."
Many of the Pokémon felt uncomfortable and some embarrassed. Some seemed to be rather bored but the most interesting one was Anubis. He seemed to be nervous as if he didn't want to talk about the topic to a bunch of kids and teenagers.
Craw blushed and looked to him trying to get some eye contact.
As Anubis looked to him it seemed like he tried to search for help.
Craw nodded and smiled moving his paw like if he wanted to say: "Just continue."
Anubis sighed and cleared his throat once again. "I know it's a pretty... delicate topic but it is a necessary one. You will have to know about these things to know what's going on and to know if someone tries to get advantage of you. There are some Pokémon out there that will try things with young Pokémon that have no idea of it. Also some of you are in the age that you maybe got interest into girls. At some point you will then want to do other things and these days we will teach you what you have to take care of and what you could happen."
Some of the boys giggled and some were still embarrassed but some seemed to actually be interested in the topic and that seemed to give Anubis enough courage to continue. "Well first of all we want to start with where eggs come from..."
As they were finally released to lunch break Craw stretched himself. "That was..."
Brighton looked to him. "I would say interesting..."
Craw sighed. "Yeah..."
Damion sighed. "Yeah... I will never see girls the same way I think..."
Craw sighed. "Well... Not much new things that I learned today..."
Brighton and Damion looked to him surprised. "Wait do you mean..."
Craw looked around and went with them into a free room. "I think I had a similar lesson already... In the human world there seems to be similar lessons... Some things were new to me but that seem to be things that are differences between Pokémon and humans..."
Damion looked to him interested. "I would like to hear these differences."
Craw chuckled. "You are a little pervert."
Damion blushed. "Only out of... scientific interest of course..."
Brighton chuckled. "Of course."
Then they went to lunch. As expected there was a strange tension between the boys and girls now. Especially the boys and girls that wanted to form a team together before these lessons acted all strange now keeping a certain distance between each other. Whenever a boy and a girl got too close to each other they acted all up and sometimes a fight started while sometimes others teased them with calling them lovers.
Craw was a bit thankful for being in a boys only team right now and already feared how Ariela would maybe act towards him right now but as he, Brighton and Damion got their food he heard Ariela call out for him. As he looked to where she was calling she sat together with Kathrin on a table all alone and waved to them seemingly wanting them to sit with the girls.
So the boys went to them and sat down at the table.
Ariela smiled. "It's funny to see how they all act strange now don't you think? As if knowing more about our bodies change anything."
Craw blushed a bit and looked to her. She was right he thought. "Yeah. I already feared you would act all strange too..."
Ariela giggled. "Oh, I already know about those things since a long time. My dad explained me everything. Because of a different reason tho."
Brighton sighed and nodded. "I know what you mean. 'You have to take care to have a strong and healthy hair.' I always hated that..."
Craw looked at the two. He now looked at everything in a different light.
Kathrin sighed. "As long as the boys don't start flirting with me now all the time everything is fine. I don't care much about that..."
Damion chuckled. "As if anyone would flirt with miss untouchable."
Kathrin glared at him. "You better shut your mouth and watch your words in future or you will never get a girl."
Damion blushed and looked down nervous.
Brighton chuckled. "Don't take it too hard Kathrin. The boys only are intimidated by your strength. I bet if someone knows you a bit better you will get a boyfriend in no time."
Kathrin glared at him. "I thought I made it clear that I am not interested so stop your sweet talking."
Ariela giggled and Craw had to giggle with her.
Brighton smiled. "Well I think you are quiet cute. You don't need to take the compliment if you don't want but it wouldn't hurt I think."
Kathrin nearly lost it. "Now shut up already!"
Brighton grinned. "You are a bit hot headed for my taste tho so you don't need to worry about me flirting with you."
Kathrin glared at him angrily and continued eating.
Craw giggled and started eating himself.
Ariela who was half finished smiled. "Well Craw. Do you already have some ideas where we could go on our date?"
He started coughing. Ariela got him by surprise with this. "Uh... I-I dunno..."
Ariela giggled. "Then how about I make some plans? I know some nice places in the city."
Craw blushed. "Y-Yeah..."
Brighton chuckled while Damion concentrated on eating like if he wanted to avoid becoming the attention again.
Kathrin on her side rolled with her eyes. "And what should I do all the time?"
Brighton grinned. "I would have an idea." He grabbed Kathrin's paw and went with her into a corner.
Kathrin tried to protest but Brighton seemed to be stronger. "HEY!"
Brighton then whispered something to her with a huge grin on his face.
She rolled her eyes like usually but she seemed to be rather interested in what he said to her. "OK."
Brighton grinned. "Then we have a date." He chuckled and wanted to go back to the table but before he could dodge Kathrin punched him into the stomach. "No, that's not a date idiot." She then went back to the table with high risen nose.
Craw grinned as Brighton came stumbled back to the table. "Sometimes you should just stop when everything goes well."
Damion chuckled.
Brighton just waved his hand and sighed. "I think I am finished with eating for now..."
They quickly finished eating and the boys said goodbye to the girls and went back to their room.
Damion sighed. "By Arceus... I don't know... I am not able to make head nor tail of girls..."
Brighton chuckled. "Maybe because you still see them as girls and not as women."
Craw thought about that for a moment. "I never asked... How old are you two anyways?"
Brighton looked to him surprised. "I never thought that would matter..."
Craw sighed and nodded. "It never mattered before... But if we want to form a team we should maybe think about it... Some of the trainees are really young and maybe it would be wise to accept older ones in future..."
Damion looked to him nervously. "I am 14..."
Craw looked to him for a moment. "Yeah... Maybe we should should set that as the line. They should be at least 14 years old."
Brighton nodded. "That is a very good idea."
Damion's mood brightened visibly. "Really?"
Craw chuckled. "We promised you would be part of the team. We won't bail out of that now just because you are young. Also you are old enough and capable to think for yourself. I think that is enough. But we will discuss together in future if Pokémon that young want to join us. They will have to be reliable and independent enough for our team to survive and to be able to keep the secret."
Damion looked to him nervously. "So you only keep me in your team because you worry about the secret?"
Brighton shook his head. "No. I was sure before already that you are capable and reliable enough to keep up with us. Otherwise we wouldn't have told you about the secret at all."
Damion nodded and smiled a bit. "That is enough for me. Now about you. How old are you two?"
Brighton grinned widely. "I am 19 years old."
Craw thought about it. "I am not sure... I don't really know how old I am... But I think I am something around 17 or 18 years old... Maybe a bit older."
Brighton smiled and nodded. "Yeah at least you act like that so it sounds alright."
Craw nodded.
Damion smiled. "Maybe the guild leaders can find out somehow?"
Craw looked to him. "How should they find that out?" He shook his head. "I mean it's not like if they know it."
Damion shrugged. "Well Anubis is A Lucario at all. Maybe your aura gives a hint. Also he must have been a Riolu as well so maybe he has a guess because of your body height and so on."
Brighton shrugged. "It's worth a try. We can ask him after next class."
Craw nodded. "Yeah sounds like a good idea."
Brighton sighed and stood up. "Speaking about class... Break is nearly over... Time to get more knowledge about how to make eggs."
Damion giggled and Craw rolled his eyes.
They stood up and made their way back into the classroom. As they entered they saw that the atmosphere didn't change much over the break. The most still seemed to feel awkward about it. Craw could understand it a bit. Even tho he now saw it more from the intellectual view he only thought so because of what Ariela said. Again his thoughts started to wander around. He didn't know how to think about the date now. It was a very strange coincident that the leaders decided to talk about this topic right now and he wondered if they only did that because of him. Maybe they heard about Craw's date with Ariela? But probably he just was imagining that.
Anubis went to the chalkboard again. "OK. It's time to continue. But before that I want to ask you all something. I saw how you all acted in the break. I want to ask you all: If you wouldn't know about what I am teaching you all would you act different to the females? Why everything is different for you now? Sure you look at them in a different light now but instead you should maybe see them like before. They didn't change at all. You only know something more about them. Something that is nothing bad at all. Sure now you may feel awkward about it or think it is naughty but it is something beautiful. Something that is an important part of life. Without it nobody of you would be here. Sure we mostly talk about the risks and the things that can happen but if two Pokémon who really like... no... love each other do it together it is the most wonderful thing ever and can make you happier than ever. But always remember to never push someone to do it or force someone to do it. Because then it's nothing good. That is the worst someone could do. No matter if you force someone to it or if someone force it to you."
The boys looked at each other and even tho Craw could see that some of them were still confused he saw that most of them understood what Anubis wanted to say.
Anubis smiled. "Well then. Let's continue."
The next few hours seemed to be endlessly slow. Anubis told them mostly about the practical things like egg groups and the differences between male and female.
As it was finally over the boys all seemed too tired to really think about it anymore so the dinner went much better than the lunch did. Also the girls were much calmer now but maybe they also were just tired and exhausted from the long listening.
Craw, Brighton and Damion sat down on Ariela's and Kathrin's table again. The girls seemed to be rather relaxed. "How went your class?"
Brighton shrugged. "Anubis told us that we shouldn't act so tense about the topic and said some words about it being a wonderful thing if both partners love each other and if they want it but warned us to never force someone into it. After then everything went pretty good except that it didn't want to end..."
Ariela nodded. "Yeah. It was similar with us. Miss Serene said pretty much the same and then continued with the education but the girls seemed to be much more interested I think. Especially as we came to the part about the differences between female and male they asked more than just a few questions." She giggled.
Damion blushed. "Why is this so embarrassing?" He dropped his head onto the table nearly hitting his plate.
Kathrin chuckled. "Well maybe girls are more mature than boys about that topic."
Damion looked at her nervous.
Brighton grinned. "Oh really? I think that depends on the Pokémon."
Kathrin gave him an angry glare. "What do you want to say with that?"
Brighton shrugged. "That some Pokémon are more mature than others."
Kathrin wanted to hit him again but Ariela stopped her. "I think you are right. Some Pokémon really act like kids when it comes to that topic no matter how old they are."
Craw didn't really know how he should think about it anymore. "I have to admit I forfeit. Really I don't know how to think about it anymore. Sure it is a sensitive topic and even I feel a bit awkward talking about it but I also think that it is interesting and important to learn about it. I doubt I will need that knowledge right now but somewhat in the future probably. That counts for everything that you learn I think."
The others just nodded.
Ariela smiled. "Well said Craw. You are a good talker."
Craw blushed and looked to his food like if it was really interesting.
Ariela giggled and all of them started eating.
As they finished they said goodbye and the boys went back to their room. Craw sighed. "What a day..."
Brighton smiled. "Yeah. I bet you got a lot things to think about."
Craw blushed. "Shut up." He stretched. "Damn... Now we forgot to ask Anubis if he could help me finding out how old I am..."
Damion shrugged. "Then ask him tomorrow."
Craw stood up. "Nah. I will see if I can catch him before he goes to his office."
Brighton looked to him. "You want us to come with you?"
Craw shook his head. "Nah. It's fine. Maybe I will take a walk after that. I need to think a bit."
Brighton nodded.
Damion on his side was already lying on his bed sleeping.
So Craw left the two alone. He looked into the classroom first and to his luck Anubis was still there.
As the Lucario noticed him enter the room he stood up from his desk. "Still up? Something on your mind?"
Craw sighed. "A lot to be honest but that are things I have to think about alone. I would have a request to you. I don't know if you can help me with it though."
Anubis looked to him with curiosity. "I will try my best."
Craw sighed. "I was wondering something... Can you maybe tell me how old I am? I mean you are a Lucario and maybe have a guess with my body height and so on or maybe my aura can give you a hint..."
Anubis looked to him surprised. "Why is that important?"
Craw sighed. "Well... It's just strange to not know your own age... For humans it's a really important thing... We celebrate our birthday every year..."
Anubis sighed. "Well... I can try... let me see..." He looked at Craw for a moment. "You are at least 15. That is when Riolus normally stop to grow in height and you are already larger than average Riolus." He then closed his eyes and his aura pendants straightened to the side of his head. After some seconds he opened his eyes again and he looked to the Riolu. "If I am right you are 20."
Craw looked to him surprised. "What? I mean Are you sure?"
Anubis sighed. "Not fully. You see everyone has a unique aura and except for some really small things they don't change. These things change over time since they depend on the body of the owner of the aura. If you know how to read auras as good as I you know how to interpret these nuances you would be able to tell. I am not hundred percent sure tho. But if you are older or younger it would only be about some months."
Craw nodded and looked at his paws. "So I am 20..."
Anubis nodded. "Can I help you somehow else?"
Craw slowly shook his head. "I have to think about some things a bit. I will take a walk..."
Anubis looked at him. "Are you sure you don't want to talk?"
Craw sighed. "That are things I have to think about alone."
Anubis nodded. "Just in case that you still think about it: No Pokémon would think bad about you or Ariela or any other female if you fall in love with someone... Being alone is nothing that anyone deserves."
Craw looked at him for a moment. "Yeah... But It is less about how others think about me. It is more a thing about how I think about myself..."
Anubis sighed and nodded. "I just hope you get happy."
Craw nodded before he turned to go. "I am thankful for your concern but there are things that other's can't help me with..." He just left and went out into the late evening.
Anubis sighed. "And that is where you are wrong my brother..."
Craw took some deep breaths as he was outside of the tower. He turned around and looked up the tower. Everything felt so big to him... Everyone had such huge expectations on him... He tried to clear his mind a bit, turned around and started walking. He didn't know what to do. He just wanted to walk. He sighed and stretched himself. He didn't know what to think. He stopped and looked up to the sky. The sky was colored in red, blue, orange, yellow and pink. It was like if someone had drawn it onto the sky. He smiled weakly. At least something was normal here. He ruffed his head. "Damn why do I drive myself so crazy about such things?" He sighed and continued walking. Why does everything have to be so complicated? He thought about everything again. He was a human turned into a Pokémon. The last human turned into a Pokémon is known as someone who started a war while in truth he was the savior of the world and only acted as villain to make the countries bond together against him what caused an unstable peace. Now these Aura-less appeared and Craw appeared. Unlike the other human he doesn't remember his past. He was told everything about the other human and that Anubis who was now something like his mentor was like a brother to the last human. He cases nothing else than worries to the ones who made it to their duty to help him and to make everything worse he fell in love with a Pokémon what is a no-go in the Pokémon world. He sighed and felt tears running down his face. How should he solve all this?
"I wonder if all of you humans are like this."
He turned around in shock. Behind him was a Gothitelle.
Serene smiled calmly. "You know what? It is not you who has to worry about us. We put this duty onto ourselves. We made that to ourselves and we made that so you don't need to worry. If you start worrying you just make it harder to us." He softly hugged him and stroked his head as he was softly pressed onto her body.
Craw closed his eyes. He had to cry. "H-How-"
"How I know what you are thinking? I was the one who sealed your mind. Also I may need to dig through your mind to find see your memories but to hear what you are thinking at the moment I just need to listen. Think about it as if I can hear your thoughts loud and clear if I try to. A good psychic can do it without someone noticing it."
Craw looked to her nervously.
Serene smiled. "You don't need to worry dear. I will keep your secrets save. I can understand you. You feel like if you are fault for our mistakes. Please let me clear something out. It is something that even Anubis wouldn't want to tell you so please keep it a secret from him. We are fault that the last human died. It was our fault alone. While the human was away without us we made a huge mistake that caused the war to start. He worried too much about us and he worried too much about everything. We put too much pressure onto him. That is why we want to keep you save from our worries. We want that you don't have to worry but maybe we bar you out from us too much what makes you worry more... Please don't try to weight the world onto your shoulders. Maybe I can help you at least with one thing. How about I promise you that when we find out what you can do and what exactly is your task here that I tell you that. Till then you just do your best to prepare for whatever could happen? Then you don't need to worry about your task here and also not about the last human. That is just our problem and we are good at solving our problems. You just need to worry about the here and now OK?"
Craw nodded still crying.
She smiled softly. "Look at yourself. You are a total wreck. You really need some sleep."
Craw just nodded.
"Let me help you with that."
That were the last words he heard from her before he fell into sleep.
As he opened his eyes he found himself in a hospital. He was sitting in a wheelchair and someone brought him outside. As soon as he was out he stopped and stood up. "Thank you I can walk alone from here on." He made some steps and took a deep breath. "Finally free..."
Then a beautiful girl ran to him and kissed him. Somehow he felt very happy.
"Why are you here?" He asked.
"I thought you would like to see a nice face when you leave the hospital." The girl answered.
He smiled and hugged her.
She smiled and took his arm. "Wanna walk a bit?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
They walked along some streets and talked about some things that Craw couldn't understand. He just looked at the beautiful girl with a happy grin. It was like if he tried to remember a conversation he didn't listen to. After some minutes they went across the street. As they were halfway over the street he heard a loud horn and as he looked to the side he saw a bus just some meters away from him. The only thing he could do and did was pushing the girl away before the bus hit him.
Craw sat upright in his bed. He panted hard and stared at the wall in front of him. He didn't even notice as Brighton was talking to him. He slowly looked down at his paws. "I died..."
Author's note: If you are confused about why Craw act so immature even tho he is 20 I want to inform you that it is on purpose. Maybe you will find out what is up with him yourselves and maybe you need some more chapters to find that out but it should be clear pretty soon.
Still searching for a beta reader for grammar and stuff. Just DM me if you are interested. You get to see chapters about a day before actual release.