3.1

A Day with Strangers

"Helllllllo Mr Bandit!" Rita announced as she entered the human turned krokorok's cell, looking pleased. "How are you today!?"

"Oh, what is it now?" He groans. "Come to gloat? I'm not stupid. I heard how everything went down outside a few days ago. The walls aren't that thick."

"Nope." She tossed something to him. A Rescue Team badge. "I came to thank you for the information you gave to Wigglytuff and give you an offer of a reduced sentence and some limited freedom~"

"Well, since the Brigade's scattered. I'm out of a job." He grumbles. "What's the salary? I can't eat goodwill and happy thoughts." He snarks.

"You'll get a monthly stipend of two thousand coins to spend on food or whatever you want." Rita explained, looking happy. "And you will be working with a Rescue Team near the Northern Isles in keeping the corrupted there contained."

"If after three years, you want to stay with the Rescue Team, you may but you may also go on your own way as well."

He huffed in return.

"Not like I have a choice. Right then. I accept." He grumbles.

"Well, you could stay in jail for ten years though I doubt you'd like that." Rita floated over and offered a paw.

With a huff, the Krokorok grasps her paw in a firm shake.

"Once the Brigade takes a contract, we don't break it. I'm no exception."

"Good! Welcome to Rescue Team Excalibur!"

A shaky ring spread open in the small forest. Right before a small figure in armor fell out of it.

Landing with a grumble, the Butcher was already wishing he had reconsidered taking this mission the Heir had entrusted to him personally.

Still, he refused to back down. Maybe he'd get to kill something along the way.

Standing up, he gathered his knives and short-swords, noting how everything seemed... Bigger. Strange.

"Tiffany!" A loud whisper was heard from nearby. "Get back here! It's probably Him!"

"B-but what if it's someone hurt." Another voice, female and demure, along with the bushes rustling.

"What if He's trying to trick us!?"

And then, a little lizard thing wearing a skull flopped out of the bushes with an 'oof', spilling the pack of food on her back.

The Butcher raised his swords for a moment, before lowering them again as he took in their small size and innocent eyes, not unlike the children of the Hamlet.

He would have been more surprised at their strange appearance, had the Heir and others like that Hoopa thing explained all they could before sending him through.

'Find out what's happening on the other side. Endear yourself to the locals, and do what you can to see if you can put a stop to it on your end. And try to find Baldwin and Konstantin if it's possible. Dead or alive, I just want to know.' The Heir had ordered.

Recalling this, he stepped forward and slowly gathered the spilled food, before offering it to the lizard.

"Hello." He grumbled. "You spilled these things."

The little lizard poked her head up before getting up. "Um, thank you." She crossed an arm over her tiny chest to grab her arm. "Um, are you okay?" She asked, slowly picking up food.

"Are you traveling somewhere?" He asks. From their items and packs, it seemed accurate.

"Kinda." The lizard had refilled the bag. "No place really in part-ticular." She stuttered out, sounding a little frightened.

And then there was the sound of a tree branch breaking before a different lizard, this one with… loose pants ran through the bushes. This one was double the size of the skull one and was holding a large branch. "Who the heck are you?! Do you know Ratatosk?! Are you his minion?!"

She was many times more aggressive.

"Runa…" The skull one whined. "He d-didn't try to hurt me."

The pants lizard, Runa, turned her head. "Tiffy! He could be trying to trick you to going with him!"

"What's a Ratasock?" The Butcher questions confusedly.

Runa smacked him on the head with the leafy end of the branch. "Ratatosk! The Scrafty who probably paid you to find us!"

"I'm employed by the Heir of the Darkest Estate." He explains. "I'm trying to find two other people named Baldwin and Konstantin. They got lost after a battle, and my employer wanted me to find them and see if they're alive and safe."

Not the complete truth, but the truth nonetheless.

Runa seemed to relax some at this. Not entirely. "Well, you can come with us to Treasure Town… But if you try something funny with me and my sister-" Runa stepped closer. "-I will kill you and NO ONE is going to find the body when I am done with you. Got it?"

The kid had guts, he had to give them that.

"Heh. Sure kid. I won't give trouble." The masked and armored Butcher says, chuckling and not intimidated in the least.

Runa just growled a little before stepping away.

"Well, let's go!" Tiffy cheered, walking ahead. "Treasure Town should be the best place to start a search!"

He nods, and starts following after them.

"Never gave you kids my name, did I?" The Butcher asks them.

"Nnnnnope." Runa popped the 'p'.

"Name's Verrall, kid. Don't wear it out." He says, laughing.

"Kay. My name's Runa and my twin sister's name is Tiffany." The brash lizard responded.

"So, who's this Ratorock guy?" Verrall asks as they walk.

Runa just growled. "He's a messed up jerk who wants us dead." Was her only reply, but she was just giving off an aura of hatred.

"Messed up in the head huh? And he wants kids dead?" The Butcher says slowly. "Ah, don't worry kids. He comes after us, I've killed plenty like him. I'll keep you safe."

Runa just nodded, staying quiet as the three walked.

Into town, walked a large invisible red and black fox. On his back were two eggs all bundled up. Of course, no one turned to look at the strange site.

He was a zoroark after all. It was easy for him to go invisible.

He took his time, looking around the damaged buildings and all the pokemon coming together to repair it all.

Needless to say, it wouldn't take long at all.

"Well, there's only one thing to do while I'm here." The dark type snickered as he approached the Medical Building at the edge of town. While it had craters around it and some of the windows broken, not much had damaged it.

Inside, the fox pokemon could hear yelling.

"You stay away from me! You didn't even take the Hippocratic Oath, did you!? You call yourself a doctor!? You aren't half as good as one I know! He could shove a man's organs back in his body after he'd been gutted and fix him up just fine, in the middle of a battle! Don't you dare stick me with needles!"

The zoroark chuckled. "Must be Kon."

"BOY, YOU SIT THE HELL BACK DOWN BEFORE I ACTUALLY STICK NEEDLES IN YOU!"

"And that's Audino. Jeez, still got her charm." He went up to the window to peek in.

"I WILL CUT YOU!" The other voice yells back. "YOU WOULDN'T BE THE FIRST DOCTOR I'VE KILLED! AGAGAGAGAHG!"

And Audino was pinning him down. "YOU NEED TO TAKE YOUR MEDICINE BEFORE YOU LEAVE! NOW TAKE IT OR IT'S GOING IN WITH A TUBE!"

The pinned charmander, who was wearing armor, was figuratively foaming at the mouth.

Wait, wait no he was literally foaming at the mouth as he stubbornly resisted every step of the way.

Zoroark carefully climbed in, dropping the illusion. "Hey Audino. Need help?"

Audino started slightly before glaring at him. "No, I just wrestle with patients for fun. But seriously, I don't need help with this FOUL MOUTHED CHILD!"

"Okay then. Do you know where Luke is? His siblings are going to hatch soon."

"You!" The charmander says suddenly, looking up at the zoroark. "You're Luke's father!" He declares in a moment of clarity among his madness.

"WHY ARE YOU WEARING MAKEUP!?"

"It's just fur, kid." Zoroark replied with a snicker, remembering meeting Rita for the first time. It was in line with her reaction too.

"Luke should be back up at Wigglytuff's Guild, getting prepared for tomorrow." Audino responded, quickly using Kon's moment of clarity to strap him down. "Rita should be around soon-ish."

"Ah, good, thanks Audino~ I'll bring the little scamps by after they hatch for their first check up." And Zoroark relaid his illusion, apparently disappearing like he had been made of smoke.

"No! No! Not the straps! I DON'T WANT TO GET CUT OPEN AGAIN!" Konstantin howls deliriously in terror.

And a tube was shoved in. "You ain't under so hush your whining. This is just because you wouldn't drink the potion!"

Zoroark left the building, ignoring Kon's muffled screams as he headed for Wigglytuff's guild.

He just snuck right on in, heading for the bottom floor with a smirk.

Carefully, he peeked into every single room, before coming to the right one, seeing his adorably little son talking with a lucario who… well, he was dressed like he hated the sunlight but seemed to have been stretched as well.

"I-I don't know Baldwin. I just…" Luke rubbed his face. "That future… it just sounds like it's the worst."

"It was like seeing what could happen if our mission at the Hamlet failed." Baldwin confessed. "Like we were just the smallest embers of hope, fighting against a torrent of despair."

"I'm sorry." Luke muttered.

"There is nothing for you to apologize for. You did not cause the terrible future of your world and you did not dictate the rules of Time." Baldwin hesitated for a moment before rubbing the top of Luke's head.

"Still…"

"Hush." The former king shushed him. "The only thing we can do now is prevent the future from happening. Save billions from a threat they did not even know about."

"But you… and Kon…"

"Death claims everyone in the end. What defines you in the end is how you accept it." Baldwin explained before looking up. "This… Ever since the signs of my leprosy appeared, I knew I would die young. So, I named my successor and left my kingdom. I left, ready to die as a warrior or as a sick man."

"Years passed, and I met Heir Darkest and his mission to save his inherited Hamlet and surrounding lands became my own as well. And then… I died, saving an Abom-a man who almost died saving my own. Then, you know the rest of the story."

Baldwin sighed. "Whether I die in battle or die saving one or a million lives, I have still lived a good life. Death is not my enemy. Death is just the end of my journey."

Luke was crying now… and so was Zoroark.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" He sobbed, grabbing the attention of both pokemon.

"Dad?!" Luke exclaimed.

A/N : BOOM! NEXT CHAPTER! NEW CHARACTERS! BACKSTORY! CRYING! KON SCREAMING AT SOMEONE! MAKEUP!

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?!

Oh, and the Butcher(Based on a Mod Class) is a Pancham.

Zara?

zaravan : Luke's dad is a little emotional, huh?