Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon, just Aura and Hallow.
Chapter 1
"I hope we aren't too late," Aura muttered as she and Hallow splashed through the dark tunnels of the well. The only source of light for Aura to see with was Hallow's halo and that only lit a small bubble around them. She pretty much had to rely entirely on her mental scanning. "So far, we haven't found any sign of the poor little guy."
"Perhaps he's…" Hallow trailed off, leaving the sentence open for interpretation and Aura's gloomy mind filled in the blanks in a less than desirable manner.
"I hope not," Aura muttered sadly before cupping her hands around her mouth. "TIMMY! TIMMY, WHERE ARE YOU, LITTLE BUDDY?! TIMMY!"
There wasn't any response, excluding her own echoes. It was certainly not helping her ever decreasing feeling of hope for this rescue and she lowered her ears before pushing on, Hallow following closely. They moved in silence for a few moments, staying alert for any sign of life. There was none so far and it was really starting to get worrying. Maybe they should-
Aura came to a sudden stop. "Hey, what's that?" She took a few steps forward, leaning down and picking up something from the water. Shaking the wetness off as best she could, she scanned over it with her mind, its silver image showing that it looked a lot like a sand-dollar. Stepping closer to Hallow to make use of his light, she opened her eyes for a more detailed examination of the unknown item.
It was a golden coin, glistening in the halo's glow when she rubbed off some of the mud smudging it.
"Whoa, shiny," she muttered. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure," Hallow answered, staring at the coin. "Perhaps we can find out later."
Aura nodded before dropping the coin into Hallow's body. Shaking the water and grime from her paws, she continued on further into the well. "TIMMY!"
It seemed like hours had passed with nothing to show for it and Aura was on the verge of giving up when something else caught her attention. Its image only needed to flash in her mind for a split-second before she screamed and jolted back.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" she shouted, the unmistakable shape of a Spiritomb revealing itself upon closer mental examination. "IT'S JURY! HE'S STALKING US! I KNEW HE COULDN'T BE TRUSTED! I KNEW IT!" Hiding behind Hallow, she whimpered as the Shedinja didn't seem at all disturbed, for he wasn't blinded with panic and could sense something she didn't.
"It's not real, Aura." He told her, flying towards the object.
"It… It isn't?" she asked in confusion, only now choosing to scan the thing for its energy signature. It didn't have one. She relaxed with a relieved sigh, calming her racing heart. She felt a stab of guilt for making such accusations of their client, but she knew it was just her fear talking. At least she hoped that would remain the case. "Then what is it?"
"I… don't know…" the Shedinja trailed off as he paused in front of the object, just staring at it. Aura waited for him to do or say something, but he wasn't doing anything. Flicking an ear nervously, she began to pick up soft whimpers coming from the husk.
"Hallow?" she started worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Jury was right…" the Shedinja muttered mostly to himself, causing the Abra to tilt her head. "I am a murderer…"
"Wha…?" Aura opened her eyes merely to blink in confusion. She took a few steps closer, her ears picking up more whispers from the ghostly insect.
"I could've saved him… could have gotten him help before it all went downhill… and I could've ignored his pleas to die… He could still be alive… and with me…" he muttered. "But I murdered him… I ate him…" A shudder went through him, heavy whimpers escaping from his body. "I'm a monster…"
"Hallow, stop it!" she exclaimed firmly, beginning to get scared at what her friend was saying.
"I can't…" he replied in a dull and lifeless tone. "I can't escape the truth… Skeet's dead… Because of me… I don't deserve to live…"
Finally, it began to make sense to Aura and her eyes widen. "Hallow, get away from that thing!" But the Shedinja didn't move, continuing to mutter his woes and his words getting even darker and more suicidal in nature. Unable to take it, Aura gathered herself and lunged, tackling the insect onto the ground and splashing into the water.
Without wasting any time to even recover fully, the Abra dashed away from the mirror with Hallow still in her grasp until the offending object was out of sight. With that, she released her comrade. He merely hung in the air and made no implication of snapping out of it on his own whatsoever, even as she turned him to face her.
"Hallow?"
The Shedinja said nothing at first before giving a shudder, then a jolt as he finally snapped out of the trance that had taken hold of him. "What…?" He looked about in confused disorientation. "What happened…?" He looked to the little Psychic in front of him, who made no hesitation in speaking out.
"Are you okay, now?"
"Okay…?" Hallow paused, trying in vain to remember what just happened and thinking a bit on how he should answer. "I… I don't know… I feel like a wave of sorrow had just washed over me for some reason… I don't know why, but it's ebbing away now…" He paused as Aura sighed and his confusion grew. "Aura, what happened?"
"Nothing. Just stay close and let's not get distracted with random items anymore…" She said nothing else before walking off, the floating husk hesitating before glancing back the way they came. Attempting to push passed his confusion and lingering sadness, he decided to focus on the mission at hand and hurried after the Abra.
Another thirty minutes went by in silence, neither having anything to say before something alive alerted Aura's mental scanning. Her ears shooting up, she focused on the disturbance in an effort to identify it.
"You sense something?" Hallow asked, Aura nodding distractedly. It was a small Pokemon with a Ground-type energy signature. Feeling her heart race, she didn't even say anything before dashing off towards the source, the Shedinja rushing to keep up. Skidding to a stop, she froze as she focused on a small creature lying motionless in the water.
"Timmy…?"
She hurried over to the Sandshrew, gathering the little guy in her arms and looking for signs of life. Hallow intensified his halo's light for Aura to see and with it, the Abra could make out the pale coloration. Leaning her ear down, she could barely make out any breaths, but it was enough to tell her that he was alive. Though it was obvious he wouldn't last much longer.
"Hang in there, little guy," Aura said, glancing worriedly at Hallow before focusing. All three of the Pokemon flashed white before they disappeared with nothing more than a few ripples. Reappearing outside the well, the Abra sealed her eyes shut from the blazing hot sun, but at least it meant that the little Sandshrew was back in his element. The two Rescuers looked up as Jury's right-hand man, Andy the Golurk, and the mother Sandslash hurried over to them, having waited outside the well for their return.
"My baby!" the Sandslash exclaimed, tears of relief welling up in her eyes as she gathered the child into a hug. It was painful holding the soaked little mouse, but she didn't care as pulled off her scarf and began wiping off her baby.
"M…. Mom… Mommy…?" Timmy muttered weakly, barely able to open his eyes. He was shuddering quite heavily, too weak to even snuggle with his mother as she tried frantically to warm him. Aura hurried over, removing her bandanna and offering it to the mother, who nodded as she took it and wrapped it around the little guy.
"Thank you, child," the Sandslash muttered, a small grateful smile growing on her face. "I'll return it, I promise."
"Keep it, ma'am. I have plenty," The Abra reassured. "Just make sure you tell us later if little Timmy makes a full recovery."
"I will, thank you both so much." The Sandslash gave a bow before hurrying off to the town's hospital. Watching her leave, the two felt a sense of accomplishment, as well as the feeling that the little Ground-type was going to be okay.
"I said it once and I'll say it again: Manual labor makes me sleepy!" Aura announced as she finished up another brick, allowing Hallow to carry it towards the other bricks as she fell back to lie down in the sand. "Ugh, wake me when we're done!"
"We won't be done if you're sleeping." Hallow pointed out, placing the brick at the very top before glancing around. They had made ten piles, each of which contained about a couple hundred bricks. It was approaching the hottest part of the day, and Aura didn't even know how much longer they could keep it up. Or rather, how long she could keep it up. Last she check, Hallow didn't get dehydrated or overheated… Nor did he have paws to get sore and dirty…
"You two are more than welcome to take a break, y'know." Andy stated as he approached, and his words only needed to register in Aura's mind for a second before she fell right to sleep. And it was fairly obvious that she had no intention of waking up anytime soon. "Or we can settle for what we have now…"
"I'll get my poking stick." Hallow stated before floating off in search of said stick.
"This is probably the darkest thing I've ever taken part of…" Aura muttered as she looked over the plans for the Gallows. "I don't even believe in the death penalty, so why am I doing this?"
"For the points, and rewards." Hallow answered, earning another sigh from the Abra.
"But is it worth it?" She asked in a genuinely serious voice, looking up at the Shedinja with her ears low. "Taking part in building a torture device?"
"I wouldn't go so far as to call it that, as it can provide a quick death under the right circumstances," Hallow stated before going on with his own honest opinion. "It's a method of execution that's going to be built whether you take part in it or not. So it doesn't really matter either way, as your belief on the subject isn't going to change things." He would shrug if he could. "Might as well gain something out of it."
"I…guess…" she muttered uncertainly. "But it still makes me uncomfortable…" She sighed before looking back at the blueprints, forcing herself to ignore her morals to get the job done. Such a thing was making her feel like a Rogue or Merchant or something… "It says we need to 'legally' acquire some special wood…"
She looked back to Hallow and then towards Andy as he approached them for the daily progress report. "I'll be back."
With a white flash, the Abra disappeared to places unknown to the other two. Waiting for a few moments, Andy was about to ask Hallow about their current status when Aura reappeared with a whole bunch of neatly stacked wood, sitting casually at the top of the pile.
"Were these acquired legally?" Andy asked as he scanned the wood.
"Um, yeah…" Aura stated, climbing down from the stack. "I said 'Yoink!' and everything, so it's perfectly legal!"
Hallow and Andy merely exchanged glances.
Aura didn't say much of anything as they checked into the room Jury was so kind as to reserve for them. She didn't even bother cleaning herself up as the first thing she did was collapse on her bed face-first.
"Ugh!" she grumbled, her voice muffled by her pillow. "Too… much… work… So…friggin'…lazy… Must… sleep… until… next…week!" She whined, her body aching from building those stupid Gallows. This was probably the most work she's ever put in, both mentally and physically. Don't even get her started on her migraine…
Hallow merely floated towards the window, choosing to merely watch the stars as Aura promptly fell asleep. He didn't know what was in store for tomorrow; hopefully their last task will go without a hitch. It would be easy compared to today, drawing out and posting some flyers. Aura's bound to have some artistic fun with it…
Lowering his gaze to the activity below, he saw some rowdy Pokemon making a scene in the streets and whatnot; thankfully not one of these ruffians showed the slightest interest in bothering the lodge. He did catch a glimpse of gold pausing briefly to fly around a drunken brawl, and his instincts felt a rush as he attempted to focus on it. But it was too late and the figure was gone into one of the saloons.
He would've sighed if he could.
Glancing at the Abra for a second, he decided that he could explore his suspicions for the figure's identity tomorrow if the Fates were to smile down upon him and he floated to the other bed. Flopping down unceremoniously, he allowed himself to drift into a sleep-like trance.
Yeah, I had a lot of Tasks to cover, hence the short nature of the less important missions. But short or not, I still tried to make it fun and entertaining!
