Author's Note: Aaand we're back! Apologies for the lateness on this one. I'll keep things brief and say that I've been hard at work expanding the world and making it more in depth and such. I've also been spending a lot of time drawing stuff related to Paradox and have also been working on getting a new cover done for the more updated look of the characters. Anyway, I hope the word count makes up for the time and enjoy :)
Side Note: Text like this usually means it's coming from someone's thoughts or some form of onomatopoeia.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon yadda yadda yadda all rights reserved to Nintendo.
Chapter 2: Put Into Motion
The world was spinning all over the place for the insomniac as he grabbed his stomach and collapsed to the ground with a moan.
"Ugh...I never want to teleport ever again. I thought I was going to have a seizure!" The cat let out a small chuckle.
"Yeah, that's usually everyone's first reaction with teleportation. It ain't easy on the head." She waved a paw at him. "You'll get used to it."
"I d-don't want to get used to it! That w-was awful! Do you d-do that all the time?"
"Eh. On occasion. Come on, let's look around." She gave him a moment to regain his senses then helped him to his feet and led the way around.
"What are w-we doing again?"
"Trying to see if any of these buildings or Pokémon from the village triggers anything in your memory. You might be from here and just hit your head."
"R-Right."
"We're just outside the village now, so follow me." The Mienfoo nodded silently and trailed behind her. In about a minute, they found themselves in the village plaza. Lillia rested herself on the fountain and looked at him. "So, does anything here seem familiar?" He glanced around.
"...Pansear's Café? Never heard of it. Tropius Airlines? ...Don't like heights, thank you very much. Lopunny's...oh hell no."
"Anything ringing a bell?"
Ding Dong
"Eh...yes." The Mienfoo laughed and turned his attention to the bell tower. "W-What's the bell for."
"Oh, that's our curfew bell."
"Curfew?" His head tilted. "What do you need a c-curfew for?"
"Well," Lillia's posture slouched. "the world is in a crazy mess right now." She finished the sentence by crossing her arms, showing a bit of malice at the topic. "There have been these deranged Pokémon running around cities raging about the end of the world. It's a load of pish posh if you ask me, but other cities have been dealing with rioting due to other Pokémon believing them. Even though they literally have little to no evidence whatsoever." The feline sighed. "Nonetheless, a lot of local law enforcement has been too busy dealing with said riots so there's been a flux of bandits and raiders ransacking towns. We have that bell to warn us when it gets dark and to go inside. First it rings at midday, then three fourths, and finally at sunset. That last one was the three fourths bell. We have to be in our homes by sunset.
"Wait...three fourths?" Lillia nodded in affirmation.
"That's how we keep track of time throughout the day. First it's sunrise, then one fourth, midday, three fourths, and sunset." Lillia then cocked her head to the side. "Wait, how do you not know about how we keep track of the time of day?"
"I-It's...weird. I basically remember only two things about myself, those b-being that I absolutely d-despise heights and that I know I'm a Mienfoo." He looked at his sleeved arms. "T-That much is obvious. I also k-know things like basic language and things like t-that."
"Hmm, odd." She rubbed her chin. "Hey, how come you always do that?"
"D-Do what?"
"That! The stuttering."
"O-Oh! W-Well...I don't know. I g-get a little shy talking with others." He crossed his arms. "It d-doesn't help that I can't remember anything." While he talked, Lillia peered over his shoulder and spotted two familiar figures.
"Hey!" She jumped up. "I see some friends of mine. I'm pretty sure they keep some sort of documentation for everyone living in Drizzle. They should be able to know if you're from here or not." She didn't give the fighting type a chance to respond and grabbed his hand then began running over to the aforementioned friends. Once it was clear who she was running to, the Mienfoo noticed them as a Flygon and Altaria. They were writing a ticket to a pissed off Sliggoo.
"Alright bud," Peb began. "watch where you're leaving your slime next time. We don't want anyone else breaking more than their foot next time."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever! Just give me the stupid ticket." He angrily snatched the slip of paper from the Flygon's claw and scooted away, mumbling a few curse words.
"I heard those!"
"Peb! Amber!" Lillia waved at them as her and the Mienfoo approached.
"Peb? T-That's a weird name?"
"Well, it's actually short for Pebble. I think he said something about how he hatched with some sort of defect that rendered him a little scrawny and smaller than his siblings." The fighting type shivered.
"S-Small?! The guy is s-still double my height!" The duo were soon in front of the dragons and greeted them.
"What's up, Lil'? Who's your bud?" Peb asked, adding in a short smile and wave to the Mienfoo that was currently trying his best to hide behind Lillia despite towering over her.
"This is...uh...a Mienfoo."
"I can see that." He chuckled.
"Ugh. He has amnesia, ok? He can't remember his name."
"...Oh." The dragon then noticed the cuts along both of them, specifically the fighting type, and cocked his head sideways. "What happened to you guys?" Lillia awkwardly avoided eye contact for a second and waved.
"Don't worry about it. We were wondering if you can check to see if he's from Drizzle. You have some sort of documentation on everyone living here, right?"
"That we do." Amber responded with a nod. "I don't quite remember ever reading about a Mienfoo, but we can still check if you want."
"That'd be great. Thanks!"
"No problem. Follow us, our headquarters is just down this street." After a very relaxing stroll through the village, the group of four had reached their destination. Said destination didn't exactly stand out as any sort of law enforcement headquarters, at least in the Mienfoo's mind. As it looked almost identical to the many houses lining the streets of Drizzle.
"T-This is your h-headquarters? It l-looks like an ordinary house." He explained as he and Lillia were led inside. His thoughts rained true as the inside looked even more like a standard house. A living room, kitchen, two bedrooms, etcetera. The only thing that stuck out to him was the room they were being led into. It possessed two desks and an overwhelming load of filing cabinets.
"When we were first stationed at Drizzle, we had a talk with Kyle and Vivian." Peb eventually responded to Peb's statement. "Since we were the only officers who would be looking over Drizzle, we simply came to the agreement that building an entire police station would just be a waste of materials for just the two of us. So, we simply work from home." He pulled open a cabinet and flicked through the documents while the fighting type silently agreed. Amber did the same, though it was obvious she struggled doing it given her lack of fingers.
One by one, the dragons repeated the action of opening a cabinet, flicking through the documents inside, then closing it to move onto the next. As the minutes ticked by, the Mienfoo's anticipation grew, hoping one of them would eventually say "Oh! Here it is. Your name is..."
It never came.
Peb gently closed the last drawer and sighed.
"Nothing. What about you, Amber?"
"Nope."
"Damn. Looks like you're from somewhere else, little guy." Any hope that was in his eyes was noticeably sucked away in an instant as his shoulders slumped and he looked away.
"Oh..."
"Hey! Don't worry." Peb quickly tried to cheer him up. "Amber and I could fly you around to nearby towns to see if they're the ones you're from. It'll take no more than a couple of hours." The fighting type, in response, perked back up. Once he noticed that his attention was successfully grabbed, he continued. Amber seemed less than pleased. "We could even leave right now if you wanted to."
"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we can't." Amber interrupted,
"Whaaaat? Why not?"
"We have patrols, dummy. We can't just ditch the village folk. You also said earlier that we were, quite literally, the only law enforcement in town. I don't think Pokémon would be very appreciative if we just vanished."
"Oh come on, Amber. Nothing bad will happen. What if I just flew him around and you stayed here?"
"So if we got attacked I would be the only frontline? Great idea."
"There's other Pokémon in this village! It's not like you're the only one doing the fighting.
"Pebble, you know there aren't many fighters in the village. Not to mention all the children.
"There's also the guild! They have plenty of capable volunteers."
"All of the teams and guildmaster are out on an expedition. There's only a single teacher and a recently graduated class of students who we are not forcing to fight a group of blood thirsty bandits."
"Don't forget Mrs. Leja."
"That doesn't matter you idiot!"
"Stop being such a party pooper."
"Glad to know you'd rather go off flying around the continent and leaving me to get incinerated by someone's flamethrower."
"Yes...wait, no!"
"I'm glad we've reached this point in our marriage."
"You know what I mean, Amber!"
"I really do. Have fun with your adventure. I'll just go and die while you're having fun so don't mind me."
The dragons continued on and on and on for a good while. Lillia, who had remained silent most of the time, decided she had heard enough of their bickering and turned to actually comfort the fighting type. Noticing he was gone from the room, she walked out and quickly spotted him sulking on the living room couch. His legs were pulled up to his chest with his head down. He hadn't even noticed her presence as she sat down next to him.
"Hey." He jumped at her sudden presence but remained quiet. "How are you feeling?"
"W-What do you think?" The feline winced.
Yeah that was a stupid question.
"I just...before I forget, I wanted to apologize for earlier. I should've been able to help you fight earlier. I didn't mean to throw you head first into a fight and-
"N-No, don't worry about it. You s-said that you had no moves to attack it with so we had no other choice." A faint smile crept onto Lillia's face, happy he was forgiving for the situation. The happiness quickly shifted when an awkward silence overtook the two. Wanting to avoid the silence, Lillia brought up the more pressing matter at hand...er...paw.
"I'll help you."
"What's the point?!" He suddenly yelled out, catching Lillia off guard. "We would just wander around aimlessly forever! We have zero clues as to where I'm from. Even if we find it and we see my family and friends, I don't remember them. I-It would feel...wrong. They would see me, hug me, say how happy they are to see me, then...nothing. I would feel nothing. I would be how I am now. Quiet, reserved, alone." The fighting type returned his knees to his chest and curled back up. "I-It would be awkward f-for all of us. Why should I even bother looking?"
Lillia, who was surprised from his initial emotional burst, took her time to respond, not wanting to say the wrong thing.
"Don't talk like that. You're right, we don't have any idea what's happened to you or where you're from, but you can't make outlandish assumptions like that."
"..."
"Look, I can't promise you much, but attempting to at least try and figure out where you came from is a better option than what you're doing right now. Besides, what if you're completely wrong and at one point your memories come flooding back after seeing the Pokémon that used to be a part of your life? They'll know you have amnesia and would definitely not just try to ignore you after learning about it. In fact, they would spend more time with you to try and get those gears in your brain back into working order."
"...H-How do you know?"
"Like I said, I don't. But you're going to make yourself feel worse by doing this." She motioned to the ball of fur sitting next to her. "Trust me when I say that finding the ones who know you will make you feel a lot better, if you get your memories back or not.
"...I-I don't know. I'll think a-about it."
"Take as long as you need. We're in no rush." After some, thankfully not awkward, silence had passed, he turned to face her.
"T-Thank you."
"Anytime." The cat hopped off the couch to collect her thoughts. She really did want to help him. The feline felt awful seeing him so miserable. She did, in fact, feel the same way not too long ago.
"I hope he doesn't do what I was about to do."
Entering the room she was in previously, the psychic type went back to being an observer of the still bickering dragons. After a few minutes of simply accepting the fact that they would go at it all night, she cleared her throat and got their attention.
"Oh...hehe...sorry, Lillia." We get a little carried away sometimes." Peb rubbed the back of his head.
"Forget it. By the way, I can take care of him. I don't have any better options at the moment so you two can go back to work."
"Didn't you just pass the guild's final exam? I thought you would start doing stuff for them now." Lillia winced and Peb quickly put two and two together. "You didn't pass it?! How!? You were their best student!" The cat crossed her arms and averted her eyes.
"Please, I don't really want to talk about it right now." The dragon sensed her uneasiness and dropped the subject in understanding.
"Well, do you even have an extra bed at your place?"
"Yeah." Lillia nodded. "I still have that one I never use." Her eyes moved to the window and noticed the sun hovering just over the horizon. "We should go. It's almost sunset. I'll see you guys later. Don't arrest me if I don't get home in time."
"Hehe. No promises." The Flygon waved.
Lillia met with the lone Pokémon in the other building and caught him up with the plan. He silently agreed to staying at her place, admitting to being scared of Peb a bit. He then followed her back to her place, trying his best to keep up with her fast pace.
Lillia dragged her spare bed from out of the corner of her house and placed it near hers.
"I didn't think I'd have to use this again. Welp," She turned to the anxious Mienfoo. "the spot is all yours." He quietly nodded and went over to the pile of straw. After some testing, he found a position he liked and plopped down. The psychic let out a small chuckle as she watched him let out a content sigh and go limp.
"Enjoying yourself?"
"Yep."
"Glad to hear." She checked out her window, which was still in need of repair, and watched the sun finally disappear over the horizon. Lillia huffed and joined him in her own bed. "On hell of a day I had." The fighting type rolled onto his stomach to face her.
"What else happened b-before you found me?"
"Lets see...I had a run in with a giant rock head, who I'm pretty sure was ready to murder me, I had a test, but let's not worry about it."
"Wait, you almost d-died twice today?"
"Yep." She laughed. "Just your average day in the life of Lillia I suppose. Though, for tomorrow, I was thinking we could do something a little more relaxing and less life threatening." His ears perked up, signaling that he was listening. "We could have you practice learning some of your moves."
"R-Really? I d-don't know. I still don't e-even know what they are."
"It just takes some practice. Besides, you crushed that Sabeleye with a boulder. You must have Rock Tomb, Rock Throw, or something. It's also good to learn them so you're not caught off guard in the future. You don't exactly want to be exploring the continent without knowing how to fight and defend yourself."
"I-I guess."
"That's the spirit." She smiled at him in which he feebly gave her one in return.
"Also...um..."
"...Yeah?"
I'd like to do what you said, about traveling. I still don't know if I like the idea of meeting the Pokémon I used to know, but you're probably right about not trying at all."
"Great! I knew you'd come around eventually. "We'll probably head out once you're comfortable with using moves, but for now, we sleep. I am exhausted." She turned away from him and nestled into her own bed. "Goodnight."
"Oh, goodnight." He mimicked and glanced out the window before drifting off.
"..."
"...ey...can...o...e?"
"W-What? W-Who are you? I c-can't hear you!"
"Do...er...e?"
"Speak up! I-It sounds like you're g-getting farther away."
"..."
The fighting type whipped his head into the air in a cold sweat. He was hyperventilating and grasping at his chest. He looked around frantically for any sort of danger present, but there was none to be seen. His breathing soon returned to normal and he was left sitting up in his bed.
"What was that?" He thought less about what was trying to talk to him, but more about the flashes of whatever he saw just before it ended. It left him feeling light headed. Like he had seen it before. But that couldn't be right. The Pokémon he caught glimpses of looked nothing like him. Eventually, the Mienfoo gave up trying to understand what he just dreamt up and tried to lay back down and go back to sleep, but a cold chill climbed through his spine making him shiver and lean back up.
His eyes moved towards the shattered window. Deciding he wasn't going to get much more sleep for the night, he picked himself up and walked over to the window to enjoy the nighttime sights. He was acquainted with a quaint view of silent peacefulness and a slumbering village. He enjoyed quiet moments like this, not having to worry about anything and just enjoying life. If life was like this all the time, he would have admitted to not mind living around Drizzle for the rest of his time on the planet. Unfortunately, sparks of light caught his attention and it would soon remind that reality isn't all so pleasant.
Tilting his head and squinting his eyes, he tried to make out what the glowing objects were. It was too far in the brush to be able to make it out. Eventually, after some time had passed, the lights had emerged from the brush and revealed to be not three, or four, but a ton of torches held by a group of Pokémon. His curiosity had him worried so he decided to wake Lillia up. After a few calls of her name and some mild shaking, she began grumbling and leaned up.
"What?" She questioned groggily.
"T-There are some P-Pokémon outside with torches."
"...Huh?" Her attention had successfully been grabbed and she got up to follow him to the window. After awkwardly telling him to hold her up since she wasn't tall enough to see out the window, any form of tiredness had left her body and swapped to panic as the two watched as a Gabite from the group walked over to one of the houses after a little hushed talking, bent down, and set it on fire. "Raiders." She muttered. The fighting type wasn't given a moment to respond as she jumped out of his grasp and yelled. "Raiders! We have to alert the town, now!" She grabbed his arm and ran out the front door.
"W-What do I d-do?"
"I don't know just...the bell tower! Run over to the bell tower, climb up it, and ring the bell. That should be enough to alert the entire village before they set too much of it on fire! I'll distract them until some help arrives. Now go!"
"W-Wait, by yourself? How a-are you going t-to distract-
"There's no time! Just trust me!" She, quite literally, pushed him into action and he began doing as she ordered. Thankfully, the tower was easy to spot as its silhouette was blocking off a portion of the moon. Within a minute or so, the Mienfoo found himself at the foot of the tower. He looked over his shoulder to see what had become of the raiders. From what he could see, some Pokémon were now awake and defending themselves against any aggressive raiders and while not plentiful, some flames were beginning to sprout up at multiple places. He figured that it wouldn't help that much anymore, but there may still be some slumbering Pokémon in need of an alert so he scaled the staircase anyway. Once at the top, the clashing had begun to pick up in volume and some screams sent a shiver down his spine, but he remained steadfast and pulled the bell's rope. The loud noise that followed had dazed him for a moment before he came back to his senses and began running back down the tower. The chaos from outside had climaxed in its volume and when the fighting type opened the door, he silently closed it back up and locked it, then sat down on one of the stairs to rest, not in the mood to get killed. His moment to rest didn't last long however, as a banging on the door kicked him back up to his feet.
"Who's in there?! Open up!"
The intruder began slamming against the door, each hit growing in power compared to the last. The Mienfoo's feet were already backpedaling up the stairs. Eventually, it stopped. He sighed a breath of relief that lasted a brief second as the intruder plowed the door down and came barreling in.
"There you are!" The now revealed Krokorok was now staring daggers at the poor fighting type who didn't take any chances and began shooting up the stairs. "Hey! Get back here you little shit! You're not getting away this time!"
He didn't know what to make of what had just been shouted at him, all he knew was that the stomping of another pair of footsteps was getting closer. For each stair the Mienfoo climbed, the Krokorok took two and was quickly closing the distance between them. Just as the fighting type placed his paw on the top room door handle, the ground type grabbed him by the throat and whipped him around to look eye to eye. The crocodile laughed dryly as he stared at his captor.
"Thought you could get away? You should have known we were going to find you. With you out of the way, we can begin looking for the last few. Have fun on your way back down." he didn't care about the confused look the fighting type was giving him and carelessly tossed him over the railing like he was trash going into a garbage can.
He was falling. He was falling fast. Realization kicked in real quick as the Mienfoo began flailing his body around in panic. He began looking for something...anything to do. With nothing else to do, his paws jumped forward to painfully, but successfully impact with the railing and slowly hoist himself over. At least the sleeves on his arms cushioned the impact ever so slightly. The crocodile from several stories above let out a bunch of audible curses before charging down the staircase after him. Seeing no other options, he ran back down the stairs and to the front door in time. The realization of what he had just run out into fully kicked in at that moment. He didn't have a plan and just dodged the now chaotic and fiery battlefield that used to be a nice and relaxing village, and hurriedly glanced around for a hiding spot. Thankfully, he spotted one in mere seconds, a narrow and dark alleyway. He slipped into the shadows and moved out of sight and was feet away when a faint voice from a nearby house caught his attention.
"H-Hello? Is someone out there? Please help me!" The voice sounded exhausted and raspy.
He wanted to hide. Everything in his body told him to simply cut his losses and just hide. However, something else kicked his legs back in gear and towards the door where the voice was behind. It thankfully wasn't locked, though he wished it was once the door opened up. Inside, he bore witness to the scene of a Clefable being pinned down to the ground by a Magmar. One hand was gripping her throat while the other had a knife raised in the air, ready to strike. Nearby the Clefable was an egg. Once the door had been opened, she noticed him and gently pushed the egg so that it rolled to his feet. The faintest of smiles was etched onto her features as the fighting type picked it up. It was then cut short by the fire type slamming his weapon down into the fairy's throat and dragging it across her neck. He almost gagged as the noise of her end echoed through his eardrums. Once the job had been finished, the murderer ripped his weapon out of the now lifeless corpse and chuckled, aware of the new presence in the building.
"Heh. Must be our lucky day. You not only brought yourself to us, you also gave us another village to rip apart."
"...W-What are you talking about?" He began backing his way towards the door.
"Don't play dumb with us. HYA!" A flash of silver flew directly for the Mienfoo's face. He barely managed to jump out of the way, making sure to land on his back and not crush the egg in his possession. A grunt escaped his mouth as he landed on the unforgiving wood, but he managed to lift himself back up to his feet. The weapon had impaled the door frame and the murderer was now running to it. With his only exit being blocked off, he ran as far back to the house and attempted to come up with a plan. "You know, you did a terrible job playing the hero." The fire type, knife back in his possession, began lumbering his way to the Mienfoo who now had his back against the kitchen counter, silently fishing his paw across it for anything he could use. "What kind of hero causes the death of not one, but two villages?" He stalked closer and closer until he was two feet away.
There!
"I guess that's just how the-
BONK!
The fire type landed with a loud thud once his back collided with the floor. The Mienfoo put the frying pan back on the counter and awkwardly shuffled around his still body, making sure he wasn't getting back up anytime soon.
"At l-least I don't r-ramble on like an idiot." He stuck his tongue out at this unconscious thief and ran out the door. He looked around and spotted his nearby hiding spot still unoccupied so he scurried his way back to it and crawled in the dark pathway. Thankfully, he barely managed to fit himself so his theory about larger Pokémon being able to get to him still held up. He glanced back outside for a few seconds before he had to shield his eyes from watching more Pokémon get impaled.
A long time had passed and the fighting was still going strong. He had tried to keep an eye out for Lillia and see if she was ok, but had no such luck. Thankfully, water types began making themselves known by dousing the raging flames throughout the city.
One problem down, one massive group of raiders to go. He thought dryly.
His thoughts went back to what those two Pokémon had told him. They clearly knew who he was, that much he couldn't deny, but he refused to believe the other things they told him. Death of a whole other village? He could never do such a thing. Just that thought alone made him sick to his stomach.
His eyes suddenly caught sight of something that filled his panic meters once more. A small Axew was running for their life by a Talonflame who was closing ground on them absurdly fast. He held his breath as the bird swooped down to grab the child with their talons, but was thankfully interrupted as an Aggron rushed in and slammed the bird to the ground with a massive Head Smash, making the Mienfoo let out a held breath. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the time to calm the child down as he got rammed by a Machamp before he could do anything. The Axew had begun running once more and was making their way to the fighting type. Taking his chance. The weasel swiftly climbed out of his hiding spot to intercept them as they ran by.
"H-Hey, kid!" The Axew collided with him, not spotting the fighting type in time and landing onto each other.
"Oof! I'm sorry mister!"
"Don't worry about it. H-Here, come with me. I can keep you safe." The dragon was hesitant, but he followed him into the skinny alley anyway. Once deep enough, the two sat down and the Mienfoo grabbed the egg, setting it in his lap once again.
"Is that your egg?" The Axew asked quickly.
"Uh...no."
"You stole it?!" The child became cautious and scooted away.
"No, no, no!" The fighting type shushed him and waved his paws frantically. "I-I had to save it. I found their mother. She r-rolled it to me just b-before she..."
"...Oh." The Axew looked down then towards the fighting happening outside. "I hope my mommy is ok. She got attacked by a Liepard and told me to run."
"What kind of Pokémon is she?"
"A Dragonite."
"Oh?"
"Mhm." He hummed.
"W-Well...I'm sure she's fine. Dragonite are really strong Pokémon."
"You think so?" The kid's eyes lit up a bit.
"Of course!" The fighting type smiled. "But We'll have to wait for the stuff outside to calm down."
"Aren't you an adult? Why aren't you outside fighting?" The Mienfoo scratched the back of his head.
"I-I'm no good at fighting...at all."
"Really?"
"I have something c-called amnesia. I can't remember m-much of these t-things."
"Am...nee..sha? What's that?" The fighting type tilted his head upwards, barely able to make out the no longer dark blue abyss of the sky as the sun was rising.
"I can't remember anything about who I was or most things that I knew."
"You can't even remember your friends?"
"Nope."
"Where you lived?"
"Nope."
"Your mommy?"
"...No. Not that either."
"Aw...that's so sad." He didn't respond. "But, I'm sure she's out there somewhere. Just like mine." The Mienfoo let out a bittersweet chuckle at the kid's optimism.
"You t-think so?
"Yep." The dragon nodded enthusiastically and smiled. The fighting type looked back up towards the sky.
"I hope you're right."
Slowly, the adrenaline that helped push him this far and was coursing through his body had begun wearing off and he was becoming awfully tired. The kid next to him must have been experiencing that same thing since he was leaning against his shoulder, completely out. He was quick to follow since he succumbed to the sleeping world not long afterwards.
"Hey!" The large crowd had turned their attention to the small psychic type yelling at them. A few mumbled whispers from the group had followed in response but they were mostly confused as they watched the tiny Pokémon threatening them. She had heard the word "baby" thrown around their hushed discussion which caused her anger to fly through the roof. "You've chosen the wrong village to mess with!"
"Oh yeah?" A Machoke walked forward. His figure was made clear from the now blazing fire from a few nearby houses. "What are you going to do about-WAAAAAA!" Before his sentence was even finished, Lillia had picked him up with Psychic and chucked him a good several yards away. A satisfied smirk was plastered on her face when he apparently landed the wrong way and a nasty crunch was heard shortly after.
"Who's next!?"
By now, multiple residents were awake and well aware of the spreading flames. Now that the town was on alert, the raiders had split up to sew as much chaos as possible. A handful of them remained to face off against Lillia and a crowd of villagers who had rallied behind her and prepared to fight. Lillia made note of the fact that almost all of them were carrying a weapon of some sort.
"Keep your distance." She whispered to the group around her. "They seem to be armed. Don't get caught or they'll gut you like a Magikarp." They all silently nodded and braced when a raider let out a whistle and the enemy group charged. The first one to reach Lillia was a Hitmontop with an axe. She thought she was going to predict some fancy footwork as he rushed her down, since their species is well known for their fancy tricks, but he instead made a direct b-line towards her. All the more easy for her to make him flinch with a Fake Out once he had set foot too close to her personal space and swiftly followed up by a Psybeam, knocking it out with one combo. Ah the joy of type matchups.
The feline had let her guard down too quickly, however, as an Ivysaur had wrapped their tentacle-like vines around her waist and hoisted her above ground She whipped her head around to meet the grass type grinning devilishly as she jerked the psychic around in her grasp to disorient her and hinder her psychic abilities. Once satisfied, she began rotating Lillia until her head was aimed at the soil, forcing the blood in her to rush to her head, further dizzying the cat. Lillia didn't want the same fate as the Machoke from earlier to bestow her, so she did the only thing she could do. She found the tendril closest to her mouth and bit down hard. The Ivysaur let out a pained yelp and loosened her grip on Lillia, enough to push through and release herself from the grass type. Lillia quickly flailed her body around enough so she landed directly on her stomach, losing a little air in the process. Better than losing a little more than that. She wasn't up to her feet fast enough to be able to react to the Ivysaur, now up close and personal. She reared back and headbutted the psychic type back into the ground. Lillia grunted and gritted her teeth at the newly formed pain in her skull.
Before the Ivysaur could follow up on her attack, she turned and received a face full of energy that sent her flying and skidding across the ground, twisting an ankle in the process. Lillia turned to face her savior and was happy to see Peb soaring over to the poison type. He picked her up, soared high into the sky, then forcefully threw her back down into the ground. Lillia flinched and looked away as her and the dirt collided, causing a small crimson explosion soon after. The dragon landed in front of her moments later.
"Lillia! You alright?" He gently took her hand and helped her to her feet. She tumbled around for a few seconds, but eventually found her footing.
"...Y-Yeah. Yeah, I'm alright. Head just hurts."
"Come on. I'll take you somewhere safe for now."
"I'm fine, Peb." I can keep-
"No you can't, Lil'. You're bleeding, I don't want you to do anymore fighting." She hadn't even realized the stream of red trickling down her face until he had pointed it out. She quickly dismissed it, however and shot back.
"You've done more than enough. You're lucky others game to arrive before they all engaged you or you'd be dead." He muttered that last part under his breath. Lillia opened her mouth to retort, but Peb picked her up and started flying to a safer location.
"Hey! Let...me...go!" She struggled, but his grip strength far outweighed any of her own power.
He continued to fly, despite the mass of fur that was very much against his ideas. Eventually, coming to a halt at his own house. He walked in, shut the door behind him, and set the cat down.
"You'll be safe here. Lock the main door, then lock yourself in our room. If anyone comes in, there's a secret exit that will lead you outside and you'll be facing the lake when you do. Run there as a last resort."
"Peb, no! I'm not hiding! I want to-
"LISTEN TO ME!" Lillia flinched. Peb never acted like this.
"You're injured, bleeding, and you may have a concussion!"
"But-"
"SHUT UP!" The cat jumped back as he yelled, completely silencing and shocking her. Was he that angry at her? The dragon didn't say anything for a few seconds, making sure she wasn't going to continue. Once he confirmed her silence, he sighed and looked at her. "Lillia. I don't want you to die." He tensed. "If I send you back out there, you will perish. You're already hurt and will quickly get overrun." Then, to her surprise, he smiled weakly at her. "But I'm proud of you for being so ready to fight and protect everyone. Not many Pokémon are willing to do that, let alone want to keep fighting after they get bruised up. Just stay safe. If not for yourself, then for me." She didn't verbally respond, instead choosing to nod her head. She couldn't exactly find the right words at the moment. "Thank you. I'll be back." He walked towards the door and paused as he placed a claw on the knob. "Oh and get yourself cleaned up, you're a little messy." With that, he locked and shut the door then took to the skies.
Lillia stood where she was at for a minute. Needing to wrap her head around what was happening. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the sound of the bell tower ringing. Her face lit up at the chime. At least her friend was okay. She wandered over to the kitchen sink and after a little bit of climbing to reach the counter, she began washing her face off. She had to admit it was rather refreshing to do so, the way the cool water trickled and soaked through her fur. Like she had jumped into the cool lake after an intense workout. Once finished, she did what she was told and locked herself in Peb and Amber's room. She climbed on a drawer and peeked out the window to watch the fighting get more and more violent. She still didn't understand why most of the thieves had swords, knives, and even some bows.
The feline pulled herself away from the window. She shouldn't watch anymore.
There wasn't much in the room that she could use to pass the time and going to sleep wasn't feasible. Her big lilac eyes were soon directed to a picture frame of Amber and Peb. The two were standing in town square, each wearing a fancy accessory of sorts. Peb had a black and white scarf around his long neck and amber had a little floral headpiece. They both had one arm, or wing in Amber's case, around each other and Peb was in the middle of pecking Amber on the cheek, to her surprise given the surprised look on Amber's face. In the background Lillia was cheering him on. She smiled.
Their wedding day. Heh. That was certainly an experience. She set the picture back down and sighed. Another glance outside ruined the good mood she was starting to get back. Minutes passed as she sat on the bed until, finally after some unwanted thoughts started going through her head, erupted. She slammed her paws on the bed, and let out an exasperated sigh. The psychic jumped up and rushed over to the door. She paused while unlocking it. She wanted to fight, she really did. But she knew Peb was right. Her head was becoming sore and she was becoming slightly light headed. If she were to go back out there, she would most likely contribute nothing and get gutted. Lillia locked the door back up and unwillingly sat back down on the bed.
"Ugh! This is so unfair! Why do Pokémon like me have to be born in a weak fucking body, with weak fucking moves, and a weak fucking will to live!" She yelled at nothing. "I just want to be USEFUL!" Her breathing was heavy and she was now laying on her back. "I just want to be able to help others." It went quiet for a bit until another thought popped into her head. "I bet that's why they said I failed at the guild. Those pieces of shit. They saw me and from day one were like "no, she's too weak. We'll keep her anyway and crush her dreams after she wasted four years of her life here."" Now she definitely wanted to throw something across the room. Really bad.
She continued murmuring to herself for seconds, then minutes, then before she knew it, an hour had passed and the sun was rising. Her ears perked upward at the blissful sound of collective cheering. One look out the window told her all she needed to know to have a smile plastered back onto her face. The raiders left alive were retreating and going back into the woods. She left the house and joined the crowd of villagers still alive. She quickly noticed Peb and Amber amongst them, scratched up, but overall alright. Neither of which looked as esthetic as the crowd.
"I'm assuming we won?"
"Yeah...but..." Peb craned his neck to look at the charred houses, a few of which still getting extinguished by a few water types, and the corpses lying across the ground, many impaled or missing limbs.
"Oh, Arceus." Lillia muttered. The crowd seemed to calm down and noticed why the officers were distraught as well and followed in their footsteps.
"What do we do now?"
"My house was destroyed? Where am I supposed to live?"
"Tropius Airlines is decommissioned too! I can't make it through Gloomy Woods! Am I just stuck here without a home?!"
They all began throwing out worries and concerns. Peb gathered and silenced everyone before it could get too out of hand and a mass hysteria started.
"Calm down everyone! Before we do anything, we need to search the area for any survivors. There could be children trapped under rubble, others near the entrance of Gloomy Woods, and some hiding near the lake. Make a few search parties and come back here once you think you've searched enough." They all remained concerned but agreed anyway. "Lillia, come with Amber and I." He ordered.
"Oh, ok." Lillia realized how little action happens around here. She was honestly pretty intimidated by Peb's serious side and was too used to him joking around all the time. Maybe this is what Amber was seeing that made her attracted to him.
"Lillia." He turned to her.
"Hm."
"Where's your friend at?"
"He should be in the bell tower." The two dragons shared a look of concern with each other before turning back to the cat.
"He can't be." Lillia began panicking. "The door to it was smashed down and when we checked no one was inside."
"Did you find a body?"
"None."
"Well he should be hiding somewhere!"
"If that's the case then someone should find him."
The trio continued their search around the area. Peb first went to Vivian's house, which was still standing. When no one was found inside, a nearby Graveler informed them that she was now with the crowd and safe. The two officers sighed with relief at that news. They continued checking corners and under rubble for any signs of life and while finding a few survivors, none were the fighting type Lillia was looking for which further increased her panic meters. Three hours had passed and the group finally decided to cut their losses and return to the crowd to discuss what to do next.
"W-Wait! He's got to be around here somewhere! We can keep looking!"
"Lillia. There have been multiple rescue parties going around for hours. If someone found him we would see him. You're going to have to face reality here. But I can try and see if anyone around has seen him." Lillia silently agreed and followed him back to the crowd. "Excuse me!" They turned to him. "Has anyone seen a Mienfoo anywhere?"
"He the tiny skittish fella?" A Ferrathorn piped up after some quiet chatter.
"Precisely."
"Yeah, I've seen em'. He's been chattin' with Mrs. Clawfield for awhile now."
Lillia practically fainted at the news. How have they not seen him while walking around? The Ferrathorn guided them to a Dragonite holding an Axew talking down to a clearly intimidated Mienfoo. Why did he have an egg?
"Hey!" He jumped and looked over the shouting and smiled when he noticed Lillia running over. He set down the egg and waved.
"H-Hi, Lil-OOF!"
A ball of fluff had rammed into him and was now wrapped around his waist.
"I was worried about you! What happened!?"
"I-I-I...u-uh...I-I just-
"Give the guy some space, Lil'" Peb joined them, chuckling to himself. "He's probably had a rough few hours. Hey, Mrs. Clawfield. Hey, junior."
"Hello!"
"Hello, officers. I'm assuming this is a friend of yours?"
"We've been acquainted, yes. Care to catch us up on the situation?" Lillia had let go of the confused fighting type and joined in on the listening.
"Well, when we were first attacked, I was jumped by a Liepard and told him" She bounced the Axew in her arms. "to run in case things got hairy. When everything calmed down, someone told me that my baby was sleeping with a Mienfoo in this small alleyway and sure enough, there were the two of them. Out like a light."
"I see. Do you mind coming with us? We're holding a town meeting."
"Of course." The dragons walked away leaving the other two to catch up.
"So...what's with the egg." Lillia poked him as he picked it back up.
"I-I saved it a-after it's mom..." He didn't finish and looked away.
"Oh...well, what do you plan to do with it?"
"I'm not sure. I t-think I'll give it away to any willing p-parents. I'm nowhere near qualified to raise it."
"...How old are you?" He looked at her with an odd expression.
"W-What? Why?"
"Just curious. Or do you not remember?"
"N-No, I do...twenty-one"
"Really? What a coincidence. I'm twenty-one as well." He made a surprised face.
"O-Oh? What do you k-know." They soon joined the crowd after some small talk. Peb, Amber, and Vivian were all at the front, preparing to speak.
"Excuse me!" Peb got all heads to turn to him. "Now that it seems everyone is here and accounted for-
"What are we going to do?!"
"Where are we supposed to live!?
"How do we-
"QUIET DOWN!" Peb broke out his loud voice again, shocking a lot of the residents involved, but silencing them. "We're aware of the housing situation. Right now, I need every Pokémon who doesn't have any children to fly towards Haronfield and let them know of our predicament. Tell them to send someone from Tropius Airliners to give a lift to anyone who needs a new temporary home. Understand?" After some quiet confirmation, everyone agreed to the current plan and a couple of Pokémon volunteered to fly over to Haronfield. "For now...uh..." He whispered a few things to Amber and Vivian, the latter of which had been watching the fighting type. Something that he noticed and made him try his best to hide behind the confused cat. Much to his fear, Vivian stepped away from the dragons as Peb continued and made her way to the two small Pokémon in the back of the crowd.
"Excuse me," She began in a weird accent. "I don't believe I've seen you around here before, but you look familiar to me. What is your name?"
"I-I...uh..."
"He doesn't know. He's suffering from amnesia." Lillia answered for him. She sensed the stress coming from him. The swan was known for being somewhat "imposing" as some had called it.
"Amnesia you say?" She put a wing to her chin and bent down to get a closer look at the Mienfoo. If he shook any harder the egg in his possession wouldn't be quite so round anymore.
"Vivian." Lillia tried to divert her attention away from the quivering fighting type.
"Oh! I apologize. I could have sworn I've seen this fellow before, but I suppose not. Though, where did you find him?"
"Out by the side of the lake. Why?"
"Well, in that case. I think I know what's going on here."
"You do?" Both of them responded simultaneously. The Swanna nodded.
"Your friend here is obviously a human."
Lillia had prepared a witty response to get back at Vivian for acting weird around him, but any thought about it was completely lost as she gave her response. Many of the nearby Pokémon had heard her and had gained their undivided attention, much to Peb's annoyance.
"I-I'm...I'm a what?"
"Human." She repeated. The crowd spiked into conversation once more.
"Like the ones in the stories?"
"I thought those didn't exist!"
"How can you tell?" Vivian raised a wing to silence them.
"How can you be so sure?" Lillia asked with a raised brow.
"I'm not just making brash assumptions here. I have enough reasoning to back up my claim."
"I-I don't want to b-burst anyone's b-bubble here, b-but I know I'm not human. S-Something in the back of m-my head says I-I'm not."
"Can you prove it?" She questioned.
"...No."
"Can you?" The feline retorted. Vivian hummed.
"Not exactly, but I have enough information to back up my claim." She raised a wing. "I'm sure you've all been told once or twice of the many tales of certain Pokémon being discovered with no memories at all, they reveal themselves to be a human, then go off to fight some entity that was trying to destroy the planet." She began pacing back and forth. "Such as the pair of Litwick that prevented Darkrai from casting the whole continent into an eternal slumber. Or what about the Chikorita and Spoink that defended the world from Giratina? Each one of them specifically told of a human who simply appeared and had no memories of their former selves." The bird turned to the Mienfoo with an expression that Lillia couldn't quite trace. "This case is far, far too coincidental to be just a simple case of amnesia. Because, as you all know, for the last few months or so, there have been those Pokémon that have been rampaging across cities about the end of the world and what so happens to be the thing that all of these stories have in common?" She faced the crowd, waiting for a response. Lillia unwillingly raised her hand. "Ah, yes. My dear Lillia. Go on, tell us."
"It's because something was trying to destroy or harm the planet."
"Correct." She looked back at the fighting type with a sinister look among her elderly features. "If that's the case, we have a problem on our paws."
Hey hey. Once again, I apologize for the slowness on this update. Reviews do be helpful as well because novice writer who likes to hear feedback new chapter soon hope you enjoyed ok byeeeeeeeeee
