The voice inside my head had long since gone silent. I heard… something. A name echoed out inside my head, Arwin. The name felt personal, like it belonged to me. But that left me with more questions than answers. Faintly I could recall the shattered remains of two other names, one beginning with an F, and the other that ended with a K. I could not tell if it was spelt in English or this mysterious language I know now. My mind could not recall who they could've been, but they sounded like friends.
A part of me suddenly felt wrong.
I couldn't tell what, but whatever I could feel creeping along my entire body was not natural. Something didn't fit right, like someone was with me. Inky blackness stretched out forever, I stood amongst it. I assumed it to be my dreamscape. But it didn't react to my thoughts or will... like something else was here.
I could feel its presence everywhere, overbearing like it was on-top of me, only for it to disappear as suddenly as it came. Was a psychic type trying to get into my head? Trying to catch me with my guard down?
The feeling of helplessness already staked its claim in me. I didn't let it go beyond the back of my mind, keeping it prisoner so it cannot affect me. I needed to focus.
[You are not safe here.]
The voice had echoed out all around me. I couldn't feel where it was coming from, or who was speaking to me. "Who are you?"
[You will see when I wake you up…]
Something gripped around my head, a burning feeling erupting through me as light flooded my vision. I gasped awake, finding myself on a bed in a small room. The warm air wrapped around my bare chest and back.
Where the hell was my shirt?
I stopped myself short of climbing out of bed, having seen a sword floating right next to me. I already knew what this one was. A Honedge. But this one had a red ribbon, not blue. I wanted to admire the shiny, some questions already brewing inside my mind. I pondered if they were outcasts or revered, or maybe they weren't treated much differently.
"First order of business, my name is Scarlet. Do you remember me from the forest or did they hit you that hard?" its voice was oddly feminine. I shook my head. I'd remember a sentient red sword if I saw one. Her voice sounded concerned. "Arceus above, what do you remember?"
"Nothing," I answered. Keeping a careful eye on the sword.
She made some metallic sound that seemed to be like a sigh. "You and one other human appeared suddenly in a flash of light and saved me from some Pokémon who were harassing me. Truth be told I have no idea if you both even understood a single thing I was saying. They took your friend, you got attacked and ended up collapsing. I chased them trying to get him back and failed. And I guess you woke up and got found by a Guild team…"
"Who was I with?" I asked. The name 'Mark Miller' coming back to the forefront of my mind.
The floating sword staggered back a little. "Male, I think… Taller than you by a bit, and had a weird blue thing on his head with a badge on it."
Another officer was with me? But I didn't have a partner yet. They could be someone else, maybe a friend... or my dad... but I don't remember driving with him. Much less even seeing him around the time my memory stops.
"Listen, you saved me from those freaks, and your friend got taken because of me. I feel bad, therefore to relieve myself of the guilt I wish to help you get him back. Sound good?"
I carefully got out of bed, my legs felt much better to stand on. I saw my T-shirt draped over my newly acquired backpack. The question surrounding its owner was still on my mind as I picked both items up and put them on the bed.
"How do I know you're on my side, Scarlet?" I asked as I inspected my shirt, expecting blood to be on it. A small smile grew on my face with the realization that someone cleaned it for me.
She made another metallic sigh before floating to the door and peeking out of it, she sounded and looked very paranoid. The red sword shook a little as she closed it, coming back over to me with annoyance on her voice. "Because if I was not, I would not have woken you up. I would have instead grabbed your arm with my ribbon and dragged you off through a shadow. By the time anyone noticed you were gone it would be too late and I will have successfully gotten away."
"How do I know that would even work?" I retorted, facing her as I put on my shirt. "Surely someone here would wisen up before you can get away for good-"
A metallic shing interrupted me, I froze in place at the sight of Scarlet's blade hovering mere millimeters from my neck. "Some part of me is getting rather impatient, and very annoyed. Think about it, human, I'm right here am I not? If someone detected me already, they would have been here by now. You. Are. Alone. And completely at my mercy."
"Then what do you want?" I hissed as I narrowed my eyes. Seeing my revolver beside me on a desk.
Slowly her blade went back to face the ground, her crystal that must've acted as her eye still close to my face. "To help you rescue your friend, and keep you safe in the meantime."
I shook my head as my paranoia finally had the entire stage inside my mind to command all to itself. At first I didn't want to believe a single word she said, the sentient sword could very well have been lying to me this whole time.
But at the same time, what she said did make sense. Slowly, I began to accept that she was telling the truth.
"Fine, I believe you."
"Well, we may not have a lot of time-" she stopped talking and faced the door again, unsheathing herself again to reveal her crimson blade. I could see a looming shadow on the other side of the door, standing there.
I took my revolver off the nearby desk, completely loaded and ready to go. Just as I left it. I unzipped the backpack, finding that someone put my sweater and police equipment inside. Along with my ammo.
"They hired a Zoroark. That's all I know, also, did you make friends with those Pokémon that got you out of the woods?"
I nodded. Getting ready in case the door was breached. She suddenly wrapped her ribbon around my wrist, I tried to yank back but stopped when I heard her voice in my head. [Stay calm, if it is listening it will use what we say against us as illusions. You said that you made some friends right? Name some random Pokémon that are not them, if they show up, it will be obvious.]
"Yeah, a Tsareena named Kira, a Bisharp named Ronin, and a Toxicroak named Lloyd." I said calmly. Her ribbon went back to holding the sheath. Three knocks echoed through the room from the door.
I tensed up, hiding my gun behind my back as Scarlet stuck her blade into the wood above the door. Smart move. A voice came from the other side. "Are you awake?"
"Yes."
The door opened and revealed a familiar Gardevoir who entered and closed the door behind herself. "Glad to see you're already on your feet, but you should still rest."
My mind was panicking, did the Zoroark know who I made friends with? Or was this some lie on Scarlet's end. Or was this just the real Kira…
"Hi, uh- Ruby... one of the doctors or something right?" I asked while smiling.
She shook her head while a concerned look flashed over her face. "No, it's Kira. Does your head hurt? Are you experiencing any pain right now?" I mentally prepared to duck some sort of punch or claw on her approach. 'Kira' looked attentively around the room, not noticing the crimson sword right above her head, I dared not look at Scarlet for fear of giving her away.
"Why are you so tense as well?" she looked me in the eyes with a soft glow. "You're… afraid of me?"
She reached her hand out slowly. I jumped away and pointed my revolver to the ground in front of her. "Scarlet, I want to fact check some things if you don't mind."
'Kira' looked confused and fearful, widening her eyes when she saw Scarlet land beside her. I knew Scarlet was real and not a Zoroark, but I didn't know whether she was telling the truth or not. If Kira is real, then she can see if Scarlet is lying.
"So, Scarlet, can you confirm whether she's not an illusion or not?"
'Kira' pointed at Scarlet while taking a step back. "Who are-"
Scarlet slapped her across the face with her ribbon. Hard. My heart dropped in my chest. Nothing changed in Kira's appearance besides her fearful expression turning to anger.
Now I've got a potential liar and an angry Gardevoir in the same room as me, with possibly a Zoroark waiting for me to be alone. I really couldn't allow any sort of fight to break out right now…
Kira took a big step towards Scarlet with her powers starting to rise in an aura around her. "I WILL RIP THAT-" I stepped between her and Scarlet despite my mind crying out for me to just let it take its course. She stopped, her glare intense enough to make me regret it instantly.
"I swear I'll explain if you calm down…"
Either she had some good self control, or she felt my near-crippling fear. Her expression slowly softened. "What's going on?"
"Some unsavory Pokémon want this human and I do not know why," Scarlet began, sheathing her blade again. "A Zoroark is involved, I do not know much else. I'm here to pay him back for saving me in the woods."
Kira widened her eyes a little in surprise. "Was it against Lycoris members?"
"Lycoris?" Scarlet and me asked in unison.
She showed us a badge made of metal. It was round and had a weird skull of some Pokémon surrounded by what looked to be flowers. While the badge was foreign to me, I knew that lycoris was a kind of flower found in Asia. Not much else came to mind. "Did they have these badges?"
Maybe those were the Pokémon that killed off humanity here. Sounded like a cult, perfect. I really was just out here fighting for my life. She took a step towards me, and showed me a much more familiar badge..
"Does this belong to you, Mason?" Kira asked as she handed it to me...
It... was a police badge... with my father's name on it. Along with a police hat that must've been either his or mine. I fell backwards onto the bed, unable to keep balance with the idea of my dad running around out there alone.
Scarlet was telling the truth after all. Kira put a hand on my shoulder. "Is something wrong?" she asked softly.
"This is a police badge with my fathers name on it..." I could barely stop my body from freezing up in stress. That means the person these Lycoris people took was him. I glanced at Scarlet. "So you were telling the truth after all…"
Scarlet froze up a little, realizing the true extent of her failure. Kira seemed to get angry again, balling her fist up and turning away briefly. "Let's deal with the Zoroark, then I'll ask my questions. Am I clear?"
"C- crystal," Scarlet said in a faltering voice.
Kira's powers flared up again as she closed her eyes. I felt a new feeling in me, one I couldn't quite describe, but it seemed to be anger. Maybe she didn't know she was sending me the feeling.
She shook her head a little. "It's already inside, heading this way…" Kira opened her eyes and started towards the door, waving for us to follow.
I cocked my revolver again, putting the backpack and stuffing the badge into it for later. Carefully I put the police hat on, swearing to keep it safe until I could return it to its owner. She led us down the hallway at a careful pace.
I found that we were in the hub area again, back where Merek should be. I could hear Pokémon talking amongst each other, but I couldn't see a single thing. Was this the power of a Zoroark?
"Your eyes are lying to you right now, Pokémon are here. Don't make any sudden moves on anything that just 'reappears'." Kira stated sternly.
We followed her carefully, matching her weaving the way around the invisible crowd. For all we knew, they couldn't see us either, which may be a big problem.
Between the time it took for me to blink, Kira vanished.
We should've never left the room.
I heard a muffled cry to my left, I dashed in its direction hoping to catch this Zoroark by surprise. I nearly yelled in pain as a wound spread out across my lower arm, blood dripping down it. Scarlet's crystal went wide eyed as she unsheathed herself and prepared for another attack.
The flowing blood seeped onto the floor, an idea floated up to the surface of my mind.
I whipped my arm around, getting blood on a few things nearby, one of which was invisible and coming right towards me. It stumbled away, its form becoming seeable. I must've gotten it right in the eyes.
I saw Kira with a gag in her mouth with her arms tied behind her back, the Zoroark with a claw to her neck in their position. We both froze, this was no illusion this time.
"Nice trick, human, you think on your feet." he wiped some of the blood off his face. "It's respectable even though it's not enough. I'm afraid it's gonna be her life for yours, heh."
I raised my weapon, the idiot wasn't even trying to conceal his head. "What's stopping me from popping your head open like a grape from back here again?"
"I know of your weapon, nasty little bugger. But I'm afraid since everyone else can't see each other, you're going to hit someone else as well. Plus there's always the chance that this position I'm in is just an illusion. Ya know, it's just the basics."
Scarlet was looking at the floor weirdly, I realized the shadows were showing his true location. "Are you Luson?" she asked calmly.
"Must've seen the considerable bounty on my head, maybe I'll clean up a loose end or two later…" he looked down for a second too long.
Scarlet's ribbon briefly flashed purple as a shadow suddenly took her away. Luson widened his eyes as she reappeared behind him and slash horizontally. Some of his illusions fizzled away as some blood came from a slash now going along part of his face.
My wound throbbed, but my adrenaline was kicking into full gear. A loud bang echoed through the room as blood spurted out from his left shoulder. A pained yelp came from him as he threw Kira at me. I grunted in pain as we both tumbled to the ground, my gun clanked along the floor away from me.
Scarlet launched forward in the blink of an eye, slashing rapidly at the backpedaling Zoroark. Luson chuckled darkly. "What's a Chosen such as you doing out here on the frontier? Aren't you a little far from home?" he taunted before disappearing once more.
"Show yourself, wretch," She yelled as she stopped her assault in shock. Twisting around looking for something I doubt she'd see. I ripped the gag off Kira and loosened the rope. I grabbed my gun and frantically looked to everything around me that could give him away.
Scarlet made a metallic scream as she was thrown towards us with scratch marks all over her. Her ribbon tattered as she fell unconscious. My jaw went slack as I grimaced at the unconscious sword.
I was looking for blood, shadows, anything that could possibly tell me where he was. I focused, and could hear his labored footsteps. Every part of me screamed to take the chance and shoot where I thought he was. The gun in my hands was beginning to shake, I couldn't start panicking now of all times.
"Can you teleport us out?" I asked Kira as I carefully gazed around us. Pokémon were yelling about what just caused the noise and were finding the blood everywhere.
She nodded, shakily standing up as we began to glow. I held my breath out of reflex, expecting some last ditch attack from anywhere around us.
The light overtook my vision, leaving us in silence as it all disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief, we were safe. For now anyway.
We were in what looked to be the front room to a house, a kitchen was on my left while on my right seemingly went into a small living room. Stairs wrapped around some trunk-like structure that had no railings or safety measures at all.
Kira wobbled, nearly collapsing as she stepped forward. I reached out and supported her. Barely catching her in time before I carefully let her sit down on what looked to be a couch. I glanced back, seeing Scarlet was still sprawled out beaten nearly to death. I hesitantly grabbed the handle and put her in a chair.
The beaten and exhausted Gardevoir slouched back into her chair as she was surrounded by a light green glow. "Maybe it's best we go after big bounty targets with a whole team..." she moaned tiredly.
"What if he knew we would end up back here?" I asked nervously. "He seemed calculated enough to have accounted for us running away."
"Under normal circumstances I'd agree, but you and Scarlet messed him pretty… well…." she trailed off as she fell unconscious. The light green glow having healed most of her wounds.
I swung my backpack onto the ground and unpacked my revolver ammunition. Finding it tucked just underneath my sweater and vest. I took a single bullet, my revolver clicking as I unloaded the spent casing and put the new one in.
With Kira unconscious, and Scarlet probably beaten within the reach of death's door, I decided to count my ammunition. My head was on a swivel, so much as the slightest sound sent me to my feet with my gun already in hand. But even after every single round I've spent… I still had another sixty to use and abuse.
But at the rate I was using them at, they'd be gone within a week. I needed a reliable source of bullets from somewhere… or maybe just a new weapon that doesn't need ammo.
It felt like hours had passed as I sat there alone. I didn't know what to do with the cut on my arm, it didn't hurt much anymore and the bleeding had practically stopped. I sat there twiddling my thumbs and hoping that Kira and Scarlet were okay. I nearly dozed off, the sudden sound of the front door opening easily sending me to my feet.
"Perhaps our dear doctor would-" Ronin walked in first, looking between me and Kira in shock. "What happened?"
Lloyd followed him, staring blankly at the scene. I breathed a sigh of relief. "Remember that Zoroark you said we could get after I officially joined your team? Well he got hired to kidnap me for someone else. We barely got out of there after he nearly killed Scarlet the Honedge right there."
Ronin rushed over to Kira and held her close, sitting right next to her. Lloyd crossed his arms and looked tentatively at me and Scarlet. "Oh… are you alright?"
"Gave me a cut on my left arm, but other than that… the damage is just mental."
The Greninja grabbed something out of Kira's bag, pulling out what looked to be a roll of something white. "Wrap this around it for now," he said as he tossed it to me.
The material was soft, but I couldn't tell what it was made of. I wrapped it around my cut, the bleeding now completely stopped. I tied it up and broke it off from the rest of the roll. I put it down on the low table between the seats and couch.
"So…" I squeaked out. "What's the plan?"
Lloyd narrowed his eyes. "Well if he is coming after you… we're going to need a phrase or word that only us will know."
"How about something German?" I asked.
"Urm, is that a human dialect?"
"Yeah, it's one of many," I clarified. "The specific word I had in mind is 'ketzer' since I doubt anyone here knows what it means."
Ronin was staying deathly silent by Kira's unconscious side. Not moving at all except for the small rapid breathes he was taking. Lloyd nodded his head. "Sounds good, Ronin, tell Kira the 'password' when she wakes up."
"What are we gonna do with the Scarlet?" Ronin asked as he gestured to the unconscious sentient sword.
A metallic shriek echoed out as Scarlet suddenly burst from her position and pointed her blade around the room. A pained groan following as she sheathed herself, realizing we were safe. "What happened?
"Luson got you," I said with a grimace. "I don't even know how you're alive after that…"
"I have taken worse beatings, but never that fast. Hopefully that evil beast bleeds to death from both our shots at him." She adjusted herself onto the chair again.
Ronin broke his silence in a low voice devoid of emotion. "Do you know where he-"
"Nuh uh, Ronin, not again." Lloyd interrupted. "Your only job right now is to make sure Kira wakes back up safely. You're not going on some crusade by yourself, no matter what you think it'll accomplish."
Ronin reluctantly conceded, picking Kira up and making his way upstairs. "I will gut that Zoroark alive when he finds us then."
"You can do whatever you want to him then and then alone." Lloyd turned his attention to me. "I'm no doctor… but uh, I think you should rest. There is a bed upstairs for you."
I nodded as I climbed the stairs, finding Ronin and Kira sharing a bed, both embracing each other with each other's arms. I saw a bed that had my name on it, carved into a small wooden plate in the new language that appeared in my head.
It was quite comfortable, despite how it looked. I gazed up and saw the stars. Entire galaxies worth of them up through a skylight. My mind began to unravel and relax, embracing the moment of respite. Slowly I found myself drifting off to sleep… hoping that Kira was sleeping as well as I was.
A Zoroark growled in pain as it yanked a bullet from out of a wound on its left shoulder. Cursing under its breath as it tossed the piece of lead away onto the forest floor. The tree branch he was on squeaked as he repositioned himself, desperately trying to find a place that gave comfort and balance.
He popped an Oran berry over his face, its effects numbing the throbbing pain from the slash across it and jumpstarting the healing process. A sly smile grew on his face, that human could've killed him if he placed that shot better.
'Guess the Honedge threw him off…'
The blood-caked Zoroark laughed to himself. Remembering the Honedge's attempt at his life, and how pitiful it became after it landed its first and only hit. The slashing was fast, furious, but lacked any restraint and flow.
"I'm glad one of us is having fun," a voice said from above him.
Luson brushed the newcomer off. "I'm enjoying the moment, heh, just feeling out our prey before I actually try."
The form of a Decidueye slowly revealed itself from the shadows. "Why must you be so stupid? Now they'll be on guard for us."
"Correction; they'll be on guard for a dastardly Zoroark. Not a big bad birdy with a bow."
"You fool…" the Decidueye sighed in frustration. "You do realize that the Greninja will recognize me immediately, right?"
Luson rolled his eyes. "Just kill him first then, I fail to see what the problem is."
"Believe me, I tried that." the Decidueye snarled.
"Clearly you didn't try hard enough-"
The angry bird let loose an arrow, hitting just above the Zoroark's head. "I'm done with you, meet back up with our employers and we'll see how to proceed from here. Oh, and do NOT engage with them until told. Understood?"
"Yeesh, don't have to ask me twice."
