Hello again everyone! I've decided that after I finish this fic I'm going to start working on a novel. I'm willing to put my RWBY story on hiatus due to the small reader base, but this story has too many followers for me to leave it incomplete for long in good conscience.
Rocker on: That will be explained later. Yes, he can turn into a pokemon. No, that's not how it works. A child of hybrids would take the mother's species. They were either born of hybrids or were turned into them. No human-pokemon relationships. Multiverse theory can make for good stories (see Rick and Morty for a great show based on it), and I might end up using it at some point. If you read my author's notes (the text in all bold) you would see I do have a catch phrase.
Shieldliger001: It's a case of conflicting philosophies, I personally fall more on the pessimistic side, but I'm writing a character who is the opposite.
On with the story!
I snatched the watch from the ground, staring at it in shock. "Well that was something." Jake said, eyebrows raised, walking over to me. Alejandra went to my side, putting a hand on my shoulder. The compass spun around thrice, pointing to the east as always. The message had said something about commands, hadn't it?
"Love." I said, and the compass began to spin once more. It spun around only once before settling, pointed directly at Alejandra. I moved the watch to make sure, and as I had expected the needle remained pointed at her regardless of position.
I heard her let out a sigh of relief. "What?" I asked, turning to look at her. "You know I love you, were you expecting it to point somewhere else?"
She shook her head, smiling slightly. "I couldn't help but worry, I know it was irrational. Try destiny, see where that points."
"You're just paranoid." Swift chimed in.
"Destiny." I said, and the needle followed its normal pattern, spinning three times and landing on east.
"It reminds me of a Time Flower." Jake said, staring at the watch.
I furrowed my brow. "What's that?" I asked.
"Time Flower." He repeated. "It isn't actually a flower, it's a type of crystal that grows in only one place, and they can store sound and images like what that message. They normally need Aura to activate, but I'd wager that this was made to activate once some other condition was met. They're exceedingly rare."
"Your grandfather seems so mysterious, how could he get something like that and make it into a watch?" Alejandra asked.
"I don't know that much about him myself, I've told you everything I know already." I said. "If it's a crystal I'd bet the glass on the watch is made of it somehow."
"Could be." Swift said. We stood silent for a moment, eyes on the watch.
I took one more look at the watch before pocketing it, the silver gleaming in the sunlight. "Should we get going? I don't see much point in waiting around longer." I asked.
"Agreed." Alejandra said.
Jake nodded. "We can do more training tomorrow." He said. "The day isn't getting any longer."
We set off down the road, the sun in our eyes the whole way. The day wore on, and the light grew dim. We set up camp at a more populated campsite this time, a small patch of woods around us.
Alejandra got a campfire going, a single touch setting a log ablaze. It took her more time to put the log into the fire put them to start it.
We sat by the fire, Alejandra and I leaning on eachother, hands clasped. Jake sat across from us, Swift on his shoulder as ever. "Could you tell us about Caleb?" Alejandra asked. "He never really told us much about himself."
Jake took a moment before answering. "Sure. Caleb's a rather complex person. He can be so intimidating to the casual observer, that trench coat doesn't help much, but he's one of the most caring people ever. He has the sine line of thought as you, Alejandra, when it comes to human/hybrid relations. He likes to spout his rhetoric about it whenever the topic comes up. He also hates to see people suffer to the point where he spends his time searching for someone to help. Did he tell you about the time travel stuff?"
I nodded. "He talked about that more than just about anything else.
"Yeah, I'm not surprised." Jake said. "That experience really changed him. Helped out someone with a similar situation to you, but they ended up stuck as a pokemon in the end. He met a friend who he thought was dead, and saw the man who made him a hybrid jailed. After he returned it was like he was a new man. Took a while for me to get used to calling him Caleb instead of Bane. Anyways-"
"Someone's coming." Swift said, flying up to a tree branch to get a better vantage point."
Jake stopped abruptly, turning to look at the group of people who were approaching us. "Mind if we join you?" One of them, a heavyset old man, said. His glasses shone in the firelight, eyes barely visible. There were two others, a middle aged man missing an arm and a younger woman with short hair.
"And who might you be?" Jake asked, eyebrows raised.
"We're just travelers." The woman said, looking us over. "I'm Illiana."
"I'm Gordon." The middle aged man said. His voice was exceptionally deep, and rumbled more than an earthquake.
"And I'm Rodger." The old man said. "It's fine if you want to be left alone, but we like to talk to people we meet on the road. We'll give you some food, if you'd like."
Jake looked at us. "Up to you guys, I won't be the one to say no to food."
"Take a seat then." Alejandra said. "I'm Alejandra, the one with the tail is Jake, and this is my boyfriend Tobias."
Illiana and Gordon sat down to our left, and Rodger to our right. "So you're all hybrids?" Illiana asked, eyes lingering on Jake's tail.
"More or less." Jake said, after a brief pause.
Gordon pulled a box out of his bag, opening it up to reveal a large number of pre-made sandwiches. "Help yourselves." He said. I took two, passing one to Alejandra.
"So why are you guys traveling?" Alejandra asked.
Rodger adjusted his glasses. "I'm trying to improve my health, Illiana wants to see the region, and Gordon travels for the sake of traveling. We ended up meeting each other a few months ago in Lumiose City, and since then we've seen most of the region. What about you three? What brought you to this place?"
"I'm actually a pokemon ranger." Jake said. "So I've just been wandering around the region as of late."
"We're heading to visit Alejandra's dad. Jake helped us out of a tight spot in Coumarine City and offered to tag along." I said.
"I've always wondered," Gordon said. "How many hybrids just hide what they are and live life as humans."
"Who can say?" Jake said, giving Gordon a lengthy glance.
"So you two are dating, you said?" Illiana asked Alejandra, seeming eager to change the subject to something less loaded.
"That's right." Alejandra said, flashing a smile at me.
"How long have you two been together?" Rodger said.
"About a month. It feels like it was so much longer ago that we met, with all that's happened." I said.
Illiana groaned. "You can't say stuff like that and not elaborate."
"If I say more it'll just leave you with more questions than it answers, are you sure you want that?" I asked.
"That's the best kind of story, if you ask me." Rodger said. "One that leaves the ending open to the listener's imagination."
"I don't like loose ends, but I'd like to hear it anyways." Gordon said.
"Just over a month ago, I was a pokemon and he was a human." Alejandra said, taking a bite of her sandwich.
Rodger's eyes widened more than I had thought possible. "I've heard rumors of happenings like this, but never in my life did I think something out of a legend would sit across a campfire from me."
Gordon looked at us, not saying a word. Illiana echoed his silence, eyes turned to the fire.
"We should get some sleep." Illiana said, after a few seconds. "Just promise that you'll tell us your story if we meet again."
"Absolutely." I said.
The three of them left, leaving us alone around the fire. "I'm surprised you told them that." Jake said.
"That was pretty reckless." Swift said, echoing his sentiment.
Alejandra shrugged. "What's the point of a story that you never tell?" She asked.
In the dim firelight I saw Jake closed his eyes for a second. Everyone has a story, and he had yet to tell us his.