Interlude 1

The Leper and the Wonder

WARNING! CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR PMD: EXPLORER GAMES! SKIP IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED ON MAJOR CHARACTER BEATS AND OTHER SPOILERS! IF YOU WANT TO KNOW THE SPOILER, THEN GO PLAY ONE OF THE GAMES! ALSO, BECAUSE THEY ARE AWESOME! GO DO IT NOW!

THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SKIP!

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

It was beautiful. Colors unlike anything Baldwin had ever seen before danced on his body and around him like a hazy smoke. The rocks around him didn't give off as much of that colorful smoke as himself and his sleeping companions but it did not detract from the swirls it made in the air.

These colors were in everyone, he realized. The Leper stood and left the cave. He was not going far, just to the entrance, fueled by the wonder and curiosity. And through his mask, he saw the colors, spinning off every single blade of grass and night time pokemon. All of it was a stark contrast from the world he had died in and the world he had just left mere hours ago.

He hesitated before he reached up with a gloved paw to take off the ever present mask so he could feel the air.

And the rush! It was intoxicating as foreign and old sensations washed over his face.

The cool air caressed the bare skin like an old friend while it played with the black on blue fur that was left as a part of his new form. He had to sit down, the sensations overwhelming him. Even the sensation of pain was a new one, given that it came from his tail that he sat on wrong.

A tail that came with his new form when he woke up. A form that was similar to a jackal but was upright like a human and had colors most unnatural to anything from his home. He knew of no jackal that was blue, or had metal spikes emerging from its body.

He wondered for a moment if this was how all jackals from his world saw theirs or if this was just unique to the creature he had become, a lucario, that name Grovyle had supplied earlier.

"Baldwin? You okay?" The lucario swiftly placed his mask beck on before looking back to the grass type, Grovyle. The shock of being able to understand the pokemon had waned in the sight of those colors.

"I am fine. I was just enjoying these sights." Baldwin responded, shifting over so Grovyle could sit beside him.

"I understand." The grass type looked up at the numerous stars and the huge bright moon. To Grovyle, it was just as amazing as the sun set, colors he had never seen in the future due to the ever present clouds.

To Baldwin, it looked so pure and far from the bleak and desolate Hamlet. It was the brightest white when compared to the ever red moon, perpetually bathing the surrounding land in dark shadows from whence the worst of humanity and the Ancestor's own bottomless idiocy rose.

"This is what we are going to protect." Baldwin spoke, his voice betraying the emotions he was feeling. "The wonder of this world and the innocents who would gaze upon it."

And for a moment, the two had the same emotions in mind. Even though they had different reason for feeling that way, they were still the same.

Then, the former king stood. "Grovyle, you should go back in and sleep. We have work tomorrow."

Grovyle nodded in return, glancing in the cave. "You think she'll be fine going to that town alone? She's still getting used to the changes like you."

"She will be fine." Baldwin responded, walking in the cave. "She has fought those abominations. Crowds would as water to her now."

"I hope so. I just… I saw what she was about to do." Grovyle sat down next to the third pokemon in the room but also the smallest, rubbing her head. "If… if she had been hit instead of Konstantin…"

"I'm sure she would have been fine. She is like Konstantin and he is a stubborn man." The freakishly tall lucario sat down. "I have seen him go into situations that would drive even the hardiest of men insane. One attack would not kill him."

"Even now, I am sure he is either looking for us or going to the nearest Time Gear."

"Oh, he could be getting prepared to fight Dusknoir if he shows up." Grovyle pointed out.

Baldwin gave a hidden smirk. "Let's just hope he doesn't call Konstantin, 'Stanley' again. We won't be there to protect Dusknoir from facial maiming."

Grovyle gave a smile at that before the two started laughing again.

[hr]

Kon shot up from the hay pile, looking furious. And didn't know why he was so angry.

"Go back to bed, Kon." Luke tried to cover his head with hay, the light of Kon's tail having woken him up.

[hr]

A/N: Yup, short interlude. I really wanted to do this from Grovyle's perspective but then I decided it was better to do it from Baldwin's perspective instead because I realized, "Oh poop, he's a lucario and can most likely see aura now. Might as well show his reactions and have him talk/foreshadow/spoil with Grovyle."

And now, I pass the A/N to Zara, so he can gush about the Leper, his favorite class.

Zaravan: The Leper is the greatest class ever. Though many fans of DD often deride him for being a pure frontliner, the Leper is a solid Tank class that can dish out damage and take it.

Thematically, the Leper is my favorite due to his calm resolution, even in the face of his disease. He bears it with grace and dignity.

The Leper's name, Baldwin, is a reference to the Character's design inspiration, from Baldwin IV, the Leper King of Jerusalem.

Kris: Yup, so don't go thinking he's named after an actor.