Interlude 3

A Trapped Child?

It was the crying from the wall that alerted the Adventurers that something was different.

Hidden rooms were nothing special, of course. But this group of Legend Adventurers hadn't ever come across a Prisoner room outside of the Crimson Court. The Highwayman knocked on the wall several times before he found the false part, and managed to wrench open the way.

The Crusader went first, followed by the Highwayman, then the Bounty Hunter, and finally, the Vestal.

Their torch was as bright as could be, and they so stepped into the room.

And it was such a surprise to see what was in the middle of it. It was a small thing that looked like a Djinn, only a foot tall while primarily being pink and grey. Manacles that seemed specifically created for it were wrapped around its neck and disconnected arms, chaining it inside a circle of glowing eldritch runes and golden rings.

And it seemed just as shocked to see the humans. "H-humans? H-how did humans find me?" It asked aloud, unaware that it actually did.

"Saints, what is that?" The Vestal whispered.

"This is new." Mumbled the Highwayman.

The Bounty Hunter simply gave off a snort.

"Greetings, creature!" The Crusader said. "We are Adventurers, cleansing this Estate from the evil that plagues it!"

He then leaned down to look at the runes.

"Hm." He mumbled as he thought for a moment. "Ah! I know what must be done!" He declared triumphantly. And with that, he pulled out a bottle of Holy Water, and poured it over the runes, purifying them of their unholy aura, and washing them away.

The creature stared at the runes vanished, trying to move out of the manacles but failing that, proceeded to start headbutting the chains, trying to break them.

After a few seconds, it stopped, rubbing it's head with tears in it's eyes. It was a rather pitiful thing to see. "I-I don't wanna be here anymore!" It cried, much like a child traumatized.

The Crusader stood there, rubbing a finger against his faceplate, in deep thought.

The Highwayman scoffed, and stepped forward. "'Ain't that hard to figure out what to do."

Kneeling by the odd, colorful creature, the scruffy man pulled out several Skeleton keys. One by one, the shackles fell to the ground.

"Easy." The Highwayman said, rather smug.

The creature floated up, the rings disappearing save for two, which went over it's horns. It flexed slightly before cheering and hugging the Highwayman's face. "THANK YOU!" Then, it proceeded to hug the other human's faces, while saying thank you as well.

"I'm gonna go home and tell Diance about stupid idiotic jerkish Darkrai!" The creature took off one of the rings, trying to use it. Then, it winced in pain before reaching into the ring with one of his arms. Then its eyes widened.

"THAT NO GOOD DARK TYPE!" It yelled, looking comedically frustrated. "He took my Prison Bottle! I can't go home!"

"What the fuck is it talking about?" Whispered the Highwayman, to which the Bounty Hunter shrugged.

"Aha!" Cried the Crusader. "Mayhaps we can take you to The Heir, I'm sure he'll know what to do!" He said confidently.

It turned back to them, dejected. "Okay..." Then it perked up and pointed to the bottle that once held Holy Water. "But I want that bottle as well!"

"I- Sure, you can have it." The Highwayman said, somewhat bewildered.

It snatched the bottle, hugging it before floating over to the Bounty Hunter and settling on his left shoulder. "Let's go then. More shinies await!" And it was rubbing the bottle now…

With more wordless shrugs exchanged between the Adventurers, they left the room, and uneventfully came across a door at the end of the hall.

"Alright." The Crusader began. "We just have to clean up this last room and we'll have finished cleansing this part of the Ruins! Now, charge friends!"

With triumphant yells, the four (And the creature) burst into the room.

Whirling around, the animated dead revealed themselves!

Hissing, they drew their weapons. Two were armed with swords, one with a crossbow, and the last held a knife and a goblet!

The creature ignored the undead, focusing more on what the last held. "I want that cup!" He declared, pointing towards the goblet. "It is interesting and neat and shiny and I want it!"

The Adventurers shrugged, before laying into the Skeletons with all the fury you'd expect from Elites like them.

The Bounty Hunter paused as he moved to swing his axe. He looked at the colorful creature, then picked it up with a hand.

"You want it?" He asked rhetorically. "Go get it."

Then he threw the creature straight at the Bone Royalty's skull, and the snappily dressed skeleton began panicking and waving its arms around, unsuccessfully attempting to get the creature off of him.

The distraction proved to be enough for the others to finish off the Skeletons, it seemed.

It held the goblet, looking happy while it smashed the skeleton into a wall with a psychic blast. The creature rubbed the goblet before putting it in one of his rings, the goblet disappearing. "Thank you, humans!"

"We have won the day!" The Crusader cried heroically. "Now, let us go back to the Hamlet, so the Heir might meet our new friend!"

The Vestal nodded. "I would do to catch up on my verses."

"I could use a drink. Or five." The Highwayman snarked.

The Bounty Hunter just snorted as the creature landed on his shoulder again. "Away!" It cried, seeming much happier than when they first found it.

With no more to say, the five of them retraced their steps back through empty, decrepit halls, their destination the relative safety of the Hamlet.

The creature stayed clinging to the Bounty Hunter's head, looking around with curiosity at all the new sights.

Eventually, they arrived in the squalid, suffering, yet slowly recovering Hamlet the Heir bore responsibility for.

The Crusader went to introduce the creature to the Heir, while the others went their own ways, the creature following the Crusader.

As they came towards the door to the Heir's study, the Crusader was busy lecturing the pokemon.

"Now, please. You must be polite! It is quite important you make a good impression!" He said, as he knocked on the door.

"Uh-huh." It seemed to be distracted.

After a few silent moments, a voice came from the other side.

"Enter."

They did.

The creature was just ooh-ing at the items in the room, suddenly going quiet when he noticed that claw mark on the desk. "That… THAT JERK WAS HERE!" The creature started flailing angrily in the air. "I hope he got poked in the eye with a paper and got lots of paper cuts, that jerk!"

"A-Ah, My Lord! I apologize for the-" But he was silenced with a raised hand.

"It is fine, Reynauld." Then, the Heir turned to face the creature, his face cloaked in shadow.

"You know that shadowy creature?" He questioned.

"We found this being chained against its will, secreted in a hidden room. It was bound with hellish runes and chains. We freed it from it's bonds, and brought it here." The Knight explained.

The Heir gave a hum of acknowledgement in response. "I see. Then clearly you are no friend of it." A statement directed at the colorful pokemon.

"Now. Who are you? And who do you speak of?"

The creature turned to the Heir. "I'm Hoopa, Treasure Hunter extraordinaire and honorary Legendary pokemon!" Hoopa was fuming in the air. "And it was Darkrai who did that to me!"

For a long time, the Heir stared at Hoopa.

"What the fuck is a pokerman?" He droned.

"Pokemon! And we're kinda like humans, only we got lots more species than your Homo Sapien and a lot more powers. And we were created by the Original One's daughter, Mew!" Hoopa reached into a ring and pulled out a few paintings, showing various pokemon, before handing them to the Heir and the Crusader.

Wordlessly, the Heir pulled out a bottle of whiskey from his desk. He uncorked it, took a long, long drink, and placed it on the table.

He took a deep breath, and then slammed his fists on the table, sending papers flying.

"I bet the Ancestor did this!" He fumed.

"Mhm. Probably." Reynauld concurred.

Hoopa looked confused by what the Heir said, absentmindedly grabbing papers out of the air.

"Oh!" The Crusader gasped as he stared at a picture of a pikachu. "This one's quite adorable!

"That's a pikachu." Hoopa hummed. "Still don't understand why they were so popular with humans before the Original One split the world."

Then Hoopa shook his head. "But yeah, Darkrai is the legendary pokemon focused on nightmares but he's always been a good guy until he tricked me!" Hoopa was shaking. "He told me there was lots of treasure here that no one would mind me taking! Then he took my Prison Bottle and forced me in those manacles and rune circles! And he was taking my powers and doing who knows what with them and left me there with nothing!"

The Heir stayed quiet for a moment, before giving a small huff.

"Then it seems we need to aid you, don't we Reynauld?"

Said Crusader looked up from the picture, starting a bit. "O-Oh, yes Lord! Of course! We shall give aid to those who are in need of it!" He said, pointing a finger in the air triumphantly.

Hoopa gasped. "You'll actually help me?" The Djinn pokemon cheered before rushing over and hugging the Heir's arm. "Thank you! Together, we can stop that jerk before he ruins my world!"

And then Hoopa's stomach announced that the legendary pokemon was hungry.

"Hmph. Reynauld, show our new friend to the Barracks, they can get some food there." The Heir orders.

"Of course, my Lord!" The Crusader booms, and leads Hoopa out of the room.

As the door closed behind them, The Heir faced the window that gave a view of the Hamlet, and gazed out of it.

"I know you had something to do with this, you bastard." He growled menacingly. "And I will put an end to your failings, like always."

[hr]

A/N

So yeah… Darkrai/Ancestor is a jerk but at least Hoopa is semi-free and has got friends now.

And some foreshadowing. (Personally, I think Reynauld would hug Luke if they ever met.)

Zara?

zaravan : As always, the consequences of the Ancestor's mistakes are far reaching.

Time will tell if things can be set right.