3-3
Past Fights
"Kon, you okay?" Luke looked up from his pile of hay to the charmander entering the room.
"Luke." Konstantin slowly replied, having finally digested everything Rita had told him. "I now have a lot of respect for your mother."
"Anyway, anything you wish to tell me, Luke?" He asks, moving over to his pile of hay to sit down.
"Well, I'm a big brother now." Luke nonchalantly answered, sitting up.
"...Ah, right. You mentioned that." He hums.
"Anyway, I won't be coming with you on the Guild Expedition. I still need some time to recover. The battle took... too much out of me."
He slumps, looking terribly exhausted, still.
"Kon." Luke reached over and grabbed his hand. "I understand completely."
"Yeah." The former bandit mumbles. "Just don't die, you hear? If you do, I'll kick your ass."
Luke laughed, glancing over at the other occupant of the room, who was soundly sleeping. "Death would have to go through Baldwin first." He joked.
"He is a good person. Selfless, strong. He's sacrificed a lot to take part in our..."
He groans, and puts a paw to his head. Even now, the trauma the Comet had inflicted infinite times still haunted him, even after losing his memories.
"...our Holy Crusade. He'll keep you alive."
Luke gave a small laugh. "I have no doubt about that."
"He deserves better, than the hand he was dealt." The charmander mourns quietly.
He grows quiet, and sighs.
"We should get some rest while we all can. You'll both have quite the adventure come morn, no doubt."
"Yeah. Mom said we'd be gone for maybe a week or two, depending on the weather." Luke curled up on his pile of hay. "Good night Kon."
"Good night, Luke." The fire lizard replies, stripping off his metal armor, leaving it in a neat pile next to him as he settled down to sleep.
Before he drifted off to sleep, he resolved to introduce proper beds to the Pokemon here. He disliked sleeping on the ground, however used he was to it.
\~~~\
Blood covered the ground in large puddles, figures lying ominously still in them.
Fire was all around, consuming thatch roofed houses as screams echoed among the choking smoke.
Luke stared in abject horror at the sheer suffering all around, and so heard something behind him.
Turning, the Pikachu beheld an armored figure in a hood, who held in his crimson coated fist a Jade locket dripping with blood, as he loomed over the corpse of a female human.
"Oh," the figure spoke as his head slowly turned to face Luke. "What have I done? What have I done?"
Konstantin ripped down his hood, to reveal half mad eyes wildly looking right. At. Him.
"What have I done!? Light what have I done!?" He howled, as the aether of dreams broke, and Luke launched screaming into wakefulness.
Konstantin was on top of him, holding him down to the ground with what Luke could assume to be a concerned look.
"Calm yourself, young one. It is alright, nothing but a dream." Baldwin assures, his golden mask looking down at him as he gives Luke a few gentle pats. "It is safe, Luke. Don't worry."
"Come on, get up!" Konstantin hisses. His tone is harsh, but his worry is obvious despite them. "What's got you screaming your head off like that?"
"Ah-eh, it-it was just a nightmare." Luke stuttered out, sitting up when Kon let go of him. "Probably j-just… that thing with the heads." He visibly shuddered.
"Well, it's dead. We all made sure of that." The armored lizard assured, hefting up the head in a bag that was *still* freshly dripping blood despite it being days old.
Luke could have asked several important questions about that head, including, 'WHY DO YOU STILL HAVE THAT?' and 'WHY IS IT STILL DRIPPING BLOOD?' but Luke decided it's probably best not to know those answers.
Instead he just gave an unsteady thumbs up. "Y-yeah, I-I'll try to sleep lighter… you know, s-so I don't dream."
It was obvious from Konstantin's own long stare that he didn't believe him, though he looked unwilling to push the issue
"...If you're certain." He hums. "If you have another nightmare, I'll wake you."
"Thanks." Luke laid down, staring at the wall as he processed the nightmare he just had. It wasn't any of his normal nightmare involving his kidnappers. He could have recognized those eyes in his dream anywhere.
It was like nightmare or a memory from Kon's past.
'I can't talk to Kon about it. He'd probably get too upset.' Luke yawned, thoughts filling his head. 'Maybe Baldwin knows more about Kon's past as a bandit. He's been with Kon a while. They seem to trust each other and have fought together.'
Luke closed his eyes, decision in his mind as he attempted to sleep through the night.
The subject of his thoughts sat back down on his own bedding, silently watching Luke, intent on making sure he wakes him from any more nightmares…
\~~~\
The next morning started with a flurry of chaos and rushing to get everything closed up, save for the first floor where Diglett and Dugtrio would stay to keep the missions up to date for the teams that had already graduated.
Grumbling, the armored charmander slowly limped out of his room, watching the controlled chaos, even more controlled thanks to Baldwin, Swampert, and Rita.
With a hum, he decided to at least see them all off, and so, moved towards the entrance.
Luke glanced at Kon as he crawled up the ladder, giving a small shudder before grabbing one of the tents for himself and Baldwin. He carefully stuffed it into his bag, briefly rubbing his Relic Fragment.
'Just another mystery in a pile of mysteries.' The pikachu mused miserably, glancing over at Baldwin as the former human assisted Loudred in getting his items all bagged up. 'At least Balwin will be able to tell me something.'
\~~~\
As the rest of the Guild finished up packing, Konstantin took a moment to sit down and take in the world around him.
Between the cool breeze, the colorful surroundings, and the warm sun, he could feel a bit of the weight on his mind lifting.
He sighed, leaning back and looking to the clouds.
The clouds drifted by lazily, though there seemed to be some darker clouds in the distance.
It just felt like the perfect lazy day for napping.
Maybe that was a good idea, but first he had to tell the Guild he'd be upset if they all got themselves killed.
Slowly standing up, he stretched and popped his back, waiting patiently for everyone to file out.
And to his luck, Luke was the first one up, followed by Sunflora and Chimecho. "Hey Kon!" The grass type greeted. "Sorry you couldn't come along."
"That's fine." He grunts from behind his mask. "Need a break in order to not go completely insane. Anyway, just wanted to see the Guild off, tell you all something once everyone's together, too."
Luke just laughed nervously, pretty much knowing what Kon was going to say to everyone.
Chimecho was about to say something when more pokemon started coming up, chatting animatedly about the trip and Rita in particular. Eventually, everyone was out and Chatot was passing out group assignments and the routes they were to take to get to Fogbound Lake.
Unsurprisingly, Rita was with Luke and Baldwin while Swampert was with some other younger recruits.
Moving to where everyone would see him, Konstantin dragged over a random crate, and scrambled atop of it.
"Everyone, your attention please." His gruff voice booms. "I wished to address you all before you left."
Everyone looked to Kon, Luke sweatdropping as he mentally predicted what the charmander would say. 'Don't be idiots and don't die or I will find you and kill you again.'
He took a moment to clear his throat before he began.
"I regret not being able to accompany your on this momentous occasion, but please, know that I shall bear the burden of being one of the few to look after the town while you all are away. And know that I will give my all to protect the people here were something to threaten them."
He pauses.
"And please, know that I will not be there to protect Luke. As such, it will fall to you, all of you, to protect him while I cannot do so. Know I place my absolute trust and confidence in your safeguarding of his life."
He looks down at them all, and suddenly, he looks much, much more intimidating.
"And know if you fail in this one and only thing I ask, no, beg of you, you will wish you had died in his place."
He then turns, and hops off of the crate, walking off towards the town.
"That is all."
Luke's facepalm was audible for the silence of the group. "Thanks for singling me out, Kon." He said aloud, a slight amount of sarcasm in his voice. The pikachu was strongly aware of the dangers but he didn't really want anyone throwing their lives away to protect him just because Kon was creepy.
It wasn't helped by Baldwin rubbing his head. "He's just worried about you."
"Yeah but you're going to be with me along with Mo-Rita." He whined out in response, still hiding his relation to his mother for fear of being treated like a celebrity or being looked down on for not being as awesome as her.
"Even with all the defenses in the world, simple error is sometimes the weapon that breaks steel."
Luke glanced over as the other started splitting off and leaving. "Anyways, we should probably get Rita and head on out."
Baldwin simply nodded as they quickly found Rita and headed out.
\~~~\
"That must be Treasure Town!" Runa spoke up, the three able to see the colorful tents in the distance.
"Huh. Expected taller buildings." Verall grumbled, looking it over. "Where's the walls, where's the stone towers?"
Something was close on them, he could feel it. Their charge's psychotic sibling was closing in, and a bunch of tents wasn't going to stop him.
"I-I don't know, but I heard the guild-leader here is really strong." Tiffany spoke up, running ahead of her sister a little. "He's a fairy type but he can hand poison types their butts and kick them down the road!"
"Yeah, and there's all the meat shieldy guild members too." Runa just rolled her eyes with her statement.
"Well, if anything, we can get some help here, unless cowards reside in this place." Verall shrugs, leading them forward.
"No-no way!" Tiffany looked starry-eyed as they walked. "They're all super brave and go to some of the creepiest places to explore and solve mysteries like every single day!"
"Hehe, bet I've seen spookier." The former raider brags, casually juggling his throwing knives.
Tiffany turned to him. "We-well I bet they've been to ten times spookier places!"
Runa shook her head, ignoring Verall and Tiffany's pseudo argument in favor of walking and paying attention to what signs she could see.
Getting to a crosswalk, the three taking a right up some stairs. Some pretty long stairs.
"These are some... Pretty long stairs..." Verall huffs, pointing out the obvious, slightly regretting all of his body armor.
"Bleeeeeeeh!" Runa whined out, trying to help the dark type pokemon get up the stairs faster by pushing, Tiffany pulling at his arms.
He waved the two off, and hauled himself the rest of the way up, unwilling to show weakness and compromise the children's confidence in him.
"Um, is that gate supposed to be closed?" Runa asked, looking at the tent looking entrance to the Explorer's guild.
"Probably not." The masked combatant grumbled, stepping up to it and giving the metal barrier a shake.
"Damn, looks like no one's home."
Then, a voice shouted out from the darkness under the grate the human turned Pancham was standing on, surprising the twins.
"Pokemon detected! Pokemon detected!"
Twitching, Verall looked down at the grate he'd failed to spot somehow.
"Huh, looks like they put sentries down there." He grumbled. "Should have figured..."
"It looks like a Pancham but something is off! I'll check him out!"
There was a small rumbling before Diglett poked his head out of the ground near Verall and the twins. And he almost immediately got nervous upon seeing the former human's armor.
"D-Daaaaad!" His head shot down into the ground, his voice now coming from the grate. "One of us has to go get Kon! It's a Bandit!"
Giving an offended huff, Verall rolled his shoulders, loosening his muscles.
"What a rude welcome. Guess the guild isn't as heroic as we thought."
"W-well, maybe this is just a big misunderstanding?" Tiffany suggested.
"Oddly enough, I don't feel like disagreeing with you." He hums, giving a shrug.
\~~~\
"Aren't they just so sweet?" Zoroark was sitting in the main clearing of Treasure Town, the two baby zorua attempting to transform into various pokemon. It was pretty easy to see the biggest flaws, the illusions mainly being caricatures of pokemon.
"The innocence, and ignorance, of youth. What I'd give to have such a fresh, unburdened mind." Konstantin muses, watching the zoura younglings play.
"Well, there are rumors about Fogbound Lake, mainly about anyone who goes there has all their memories erased, being reduced down to a baby like state." The dark type teased the former human.
"...Hm. Perhaps if my sanity is beyond salvaging. Other than that..." He drifts off.
He turns to Luke's trickster father. "You know, you remind me of a Jester."
"Oh, he must be a pretty handsome human then if I remind you of him~!"
Before Kon could really speak further, Diglett rushed over. "Kon! There's a Bandit at the guild house trying to break in and I think he has two hostages!"
Immediately shooting to his feet, Konstantin drew his blunderbuss.
"Get the children to safety." He says to Luke's father. "I'll take care of this."
Zoroark scooped up the kids with a nod as Kon took off.
…
Verall sighed, moving back over to Tiffany and Runa.
"Well, with such a terrible welcome, I suppose we can salvage this journey and see if this town's market is willing to sell to us-"
A thunderous crack, and something slammed into Verall's mask, sending him tumbling head over heels.
"Verall!" "Mister Verall!" The twins screamed, rushing to him.
"Away from him, children!" Konstantin shouted from behind them, reloading his blunderbuss as he stomped forward. "This scumbag won't hurt you any longer!"
Verall, trying to get up off of his back, groaned as he placed to a hand to his now scarred and cracked mask. Runa winced while a dark look came to her twin's face.
Tiffany turned on her heel, looking right at Kon.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Tiffany started marching towards Konstantin, fury radiating off her in an intense orange aura that even Kon and the hiding Diglett could see. "Mister Verall is not a scumbag and he did not hurt us at any point in our journey! Meanwhile, you just come out of nowhere, shooting him in the face without asking a single question! You could have killed an innocent pokemon, you complete jerk!"
"What are you talking about, child?" Konstantin questioned, shaking his head as he tried to move past her. "That is a Brigand. He and his brigade nearly razed the whole town to the ground, many buildings still bear the scars!"
"He is a good pokemon who helped me and my sister at our darkest moment in life!" Tiffany snapped back. "And he was with us for practically the last week!"
Slowly looking up, Verall saw a spark of familiarity in how the fire-tailed lizard was dressed.
"...Konstantin?" He gasped.
"You know me? Personally?" The one he referred to said as he stomped towards him, despite Runa trying to stop him from moving. "And why would you know who I am?"
"Ngh. No love for a fellow traitor to the Brigade?" Verall chuckles ruefully. "The Heir sent me to find you and Baldwin, you know, our employer?"
Konstantin froze on the spot, almost like a statue.
"Wait, you two worked together?!" Runa asked, looking between the two. "Then why didn't he recognize you then?"
"My memories. They were stolen from me." Konstantin explained, holstering his gun.
"The Comet's lingering influence... Helped me retain some, but not all. Much is still lost to me."
Verall slowly hauled himself to his feet, and after a moment, took Kon's hand when he offered one to help him up fully.
"Well, that's certainly a pain." The former raider chuckles. "But I guess my mission's not a total bust, then. Where's Baldwin."
"He's here, but helping the Guild at the moment on an expedition."
"Ah."
"Wait, so the guild is empty!" Runa exclaimed in anger.
"Yes, it is." Konstantin agrees. "Why were you here for them, anyway?"
"The children are being pursued by their murderous sibling. A mad hunter who slaughtered their family." Verall explains bluntly.
"...Oh. That's a problem." The other former brigand says.
"Aye. He's probably not far behind us."
"Fine, we'll just get a ride to another continent and get one of the other guilds to help us!" Runa headed for the stairs, Diglett slowly coming out since it seemed Verall wasn't a bad guy. "Come on, Tiffany!"
"Um." The cubone looked between Verall and Runa before drooping slightly. "O-Okay."
And yet, They were halted, for Verall and Konstantin both planted themselves in the children's way.
"Not so fast, you two." The charmander began. "You're not going anywhere."
"With me and Konstantin together, we can take care of your insane brother once and for all, he'll hurt no one else if we can help it!" The armored Ursine bragged.
"Yeah, but don't you two have to go catch up with that Baldy guy?" Runa asked, with a tilt of her head. "I mean, I'm sure your job is far more important than two pokemon."
Verall shrugged.
"I could use a break, and helping you two with your problems sounds like a good time, hahaha!"
Runa pouted while Tiffany just looked at the ground, slightly ashamed.
"Well, I know a place you all can stay, at least." Konstantin said, before leading them towards the hidden Bluff Rita had shown him.
"It's concealed, and it's rather nice. It's probably the safest place at the moment."
The twins followed, but Tiffany kept glancing back.
\~~~\
A/N: GOOD NEWS! Zara has laptop access again! Next chapter will have the story which will probably take up most of the chapter! AKA the retelling of Pokemon Blueeeeeeeeeee!
zaravan ?
Zaravan: With two stabby bois to protect Runa and Tiffany, surely their psychotic brother doesn't stand a chance?