"Nyne!" I mumbled in my half-asleep state and rolled over, straight onto something warm and fluffy. Trying to fall back asleep, I ignored the voice calling for Nyne. "Nyne!" A hammering at the door followed, irritating me. Shoving the fluffy thing I was pretty sure was Nyne, I buried my face into the bed.
"Nyyyyyne, tell them to go away," I mumbled to him. He did nothing but rolled onto his other side and started to snore.
"Fine, but when you're late, don't expect me to cover your ass," the voice said before finally leaving. Happy that the disturbance left us in peace, I curled back up and went back to sleep.
Of course, it didn't last long. It felt like I was only asleep for a few minutes before a pounding at the door woke me up again. Shoving Nyne with my foot, I told him to answer his door. He growled sleepily before picking himself up and trotting over to open his door.
"Yeh?" I heard him say tiredly.
"Nyne, why weren't you at meet this morning?" a deeper voice asked.
"Oh crap! I overslept?!" Nyne yelled. I heard the deeper voice chuckle and it took a step closer.
"Yes Nyne, you did. I expect more from you young man. Make sure you ge-…" the deep voice just cut off. The next thing I knew, I was lifted off the floor by my neck and my head slammed into the stone wall. Struggling to take a breath and trying to see past the spots in my vision, a canine face appeared in mine. It was blue with a black mask, large ears extending upward and a snarl humming it its throat.
"Master!" Nyne shouted in shock.
"What are you doing here, demon?!" the dog yelled at me. More spots swam in my vision, the edges turning black as I gasped for air.
"Master, don't hurt her!" Nyne yelled, trying to peel the dog's paws from my throat. "Please, stop!" The dog's grip let go and I fell to the floor, heaving great gasps to try and stay conscious.
"Nyne, explain this now!" Nyne balked at the dog's commanding voice, stature, look, everything. Every time he tried to start explaining, puffs of fire were the only things to come out.
"Hey, Nyne I brought you some breakfast. I thought since you over-" Buizel's face turned ash white as he turned into the room. "Oh… shit."
"Buizel, what is this?" the dog barked, glaring daggers at my weasel friend. Buizel dropped the food he was holding and started stammering an answer.
"W-well when N-Nyne and I w-were on the j-job last night, h-he went ahead, s-s-so then I r-ran after him. That's w-when he bluffed S-Sindri out of a t-tree. Sh-she was lost and s-scared a-a-and we c-couldn't leave h-her there, s-so we brought h-her back t-t-to the guild. W-we got b-back so late, N-Nyne figured w-we'd report t-t-to you this m-morning after meet." The dog's furious red eyes narrowed at his explanation, but he didn't call Buizel a liar. The butterflies returned to my stomach, throwing a party with a flock of moths too.
"No, Sindri!" Nyne said quickly. "I promise you'll be fine. Don't go disappearing again." I disappeared? Again? I tried looking down at my arms and sure enough, I couldn't see them. As I panicked, the invisibility flickered off and on. Why was I disappearing?! The butterflies got stronger and the flickering stopped, leaving me completely invisible. I darted to my feet and ran out the door, scared to death of the canine creature.
"Sindri!" Buizel yelled as he felt me brush past him. I didn't care where I was going, as long as it was somewhere else. I dashed down the halls, taking each turn I came across. Eventually I chanced upon a set of stairs that led upward and I followed them. They led to the top of the walls on the castle, wide enough for three people to walk shoulder to shoulder. Another set of stairs at the corner of the wall spiraled up into a tower, most likely a place to watch for enemies in the past.
I finally collapsed at the top of the tower, breathing heavily from my panicked running. I was glad no one was there, but I also wanted Nyne or Buizel with me. Both of them made me feel safer when they were around. Sitting back on my heels, I thought about the dog that hated me so furiously. Was it that I came in last night without permission? No, not that.
He called me 'demon'. What did he mean by that? Were Zoroark bad creatures? Was that why he was so angry with me? Did I do something to him in the past? But I had been human, hadn't I? That couldn't be it. So why did that dog get so angry when he noticed me?
I sat there for a while, turning things over and over in my mind. I heard my name being called a couple times, but it wasn't Nyne's voice, or Buizel's, so I stayed where I was. After only meeting that dog for a minute, his voice already sent fear through my heart. I couldn't get the image of those blood red eyes and wicked snarl out of my head. I rubbed at the bruises I could feel forming on my neck.
It wasn't until the sun was setting and my stomach was growling that someone came and found me. I hoped it was Buizel, but when I saw the blue fur, I was disappointed. The dog's eyes still betrayed irritation, but at least he wasn't going for my throat. The butterflies making a reappearance, I flickered in and out of view a few times.
"That's not going to work," the dog told me. "I can see your aura. I've known where you were all day." Gulping down my terror I stared blankly at the dog. He sighed and sat on the floor, crossing his legs and putting his paws on his knees.
"Nyne and Buizel told me about last night and I want to believe them, but I need to hear your side of the story first. So take as long as you need because we aren't leaving until you tell me." Trying not to shrink away from his hard stare, I ran my claws through my mane, gathering my thoughts.
"That's just it, I don't know my side of the story," I said quietly, my voice trembling in fear a little. "I woke up in the forest out there and I couldn't even remember how I got there. I can't remember anything from before those woods. No names, no childhood, no past life, nothing! When Nyne found me, I ran away from him because I was scared and confused. He caught up to me and Buizel caught up to him. He blew fireballs at me to get me out of a tree and Buizel offered their help. So I followed them back here and your gatekeeper didn't notice me, but Nyne said that was fine. So I let it go and slept in his room. That's it. You know the rest."
The dog nodded and cracked his knuckles, making me flinch with each pop. Then he said, "Fine. I believe you. Nyne also mentioned one thing, a very important piece of information."
"The insane notion that I remember being human?"
"Yes. I'm not going to deny that it is impossible... He said it was the only memory you had." I nodded and looked down at the floor, sondering about that pause after he said it wasn't impossible. I heard the dog sigh and tap the ground with his paw curled into a fist.
"I don't even know what I am anymore, Sirius. I've changed into some creature that I know I wasn't and I don't even know the world I've woken up to."
"I never told you my name." I smiled and chuckled sheepishly.
"Nyne said his Guild Master, Sirius, might know how to help. And he called you Master, so one could assume…" When I looked up, a small smirk was spread across the dog's face.
"Clever," he admitted. "Now, I apologize for how I acted this morning. My experiences with Zoroark in the past were not… pleasant. I am willing to put aside my grudge to help you. But I can't focus all my time on one Pokémon, I have a guild to run. So, I propose that you join my guild until we find out how to solve your particular problem. You don't have to. You can go get a job out in town and rent a house from Golduck, but I would rather keep you around here so I can keep an eye on you."
"You don't trust me?" I asked.
"No, not yet, at least." I felt hurt that he didn't trust me, but I realized it was only natural. Who would trust a creature whose species hurt them in the past?
"You said Pokémon earlier, what's that?"
"Pokémon are what we are as a collective, like humans. There are many different species, like me, a Lucario and you, a Zoroark and Nyne, a Ninetales and so on and so forth." I thought about my options. I didn't want to leave Nyne and Buizel, but I wasn't so sure about staying here with Sirius either. It spoke droves about his character that he was willing to let me join his guild when he didn't trust me.
"Okay, I'll join your guild. But what about your other members? What will they think about me? Zoroark haven't been around for a while, at least that's what Nyne says. And I'm guessing they weren't a very friendly species." Sirius sighed and tapped the floor with his fist a few times. I could tell he was trying to think of something to tell me, but I didn't see any ideas in his face. He sighed again and looked me straight in the eye.
"I can't promise you'll fit in right away, but I can promise my apprentices will not bully you. They'll have me to answer to if they do." I shivered inwardly at the remark. I'd seen how scary Sirius could be and I never wanted to see it again. "So, do we have a deal?" He offered a paw and I took it, shaking it once before he let go.
"So… now what?" Sirius smiled, a real smile that made me feel a little better.
"Now, we go get dinner." My stomach loudly agreed to that, making Sirius' smile a little wider. "I'll introduce you to the other apprentices tomorrow morning, since dinner was over a while ago." I looked out the tower window and saw the moon starting to glow.
"So that's just it? I'm a member of your guild now?" Sirius held open the door to the stairs for me.
"Well, after I find you something to eat, we'll have to get you a badge out of my office, and a scarf too… or maybe a hair ribbon. But yes, that's all there is to it." I didn't like the idea of a hair ribbon; it would probably just disappear in my mane.
Sirius led me back to the kitchen, motioning for me to wait outside the door like Nyne had the night before. It didn't take him long to gather some food and say goodbye to Sandslash. When we got back to his office, he pointed to a chair for me to sit in, and he took another on the other side of the desk. Setting the berries on the table, he started pulling drawers open.
"I know most Pokémon like their favorite colors, but the scarves I give are special." He dumped a pile of purple shaded fabric on the desk to sift through them. "They match your aura colors. I've found most Pokémon receive encouragement from having their personal colors on display, along with my insignia." He shoved all the purple scarves back into the drawer and opened another. Grabbing a pear shaped berry before it could get lost in the folds of fabric, I watched as he shuffled through a rainbow of textiles, looking at me repeatedly before shoving the colors away again.
"Aha!" he shouted, pulling- hopefully –the last scarf out of his desk drawer. "That's why you're so hard to pin down. Your aura is silver, reflective, not always itself." He handed me a length of fabric that sparkled in the torch light. The scarf looked like it was woven out of silver thread, but it felt like regular cotton. On the bottom edges, a small emblem was woven into the fabric in black thread. A blade stabbed through the center of two thick swirls. "That is our symbol for determination: cutting through any obstacles in our path."
There was something about this symbol that felt familiar, like I've seen it before. I traced the straight edge of the sword and tried to unearth the memory that seemed to be trying to claw its way to the surface. But I couldn't find it, I could only feel the pounding pain that came when I try to remember things. Frustrated, I pushed away the feeling and looked back at Sirius again. He held out a dulled metal badge decorated with a star and a pearl set in its center.
"This is your badge, complete with name and Guild. Do not lose it and do not break it." I nodded quickly at his stern look. "Tomorrow I'll have Nyne show you around, maybe even send you two out on a mission. But for now, go to bed. The apprentices all meet an hour after sun-up. Don't be late."
"Thank you, Sirius, for everything." He smiled ruefully and waved me out the door. I exited and wandered my way back to Nyne's room, surprised I knew the path to go. He was sound asleep when I pushed open the door, so I tiptoed my away around, and over, his many tails. Collapsing onto the pile of straw, I sighed in relief. Tomorrow might be crazy, but tonight… tonight was nice. I was accepted into Sirius' guild and he was going to help me figure out how to get my past back.
My eyelids started to droop and I yawned. Before I went to sleep, I thought about the symbol for Sirus' guild. I wondered why it seemed familiar to me, yet I didn't think I had seen it anywhere in the forest or in the guild the first night. Was it something from my past? I wondered. Had I seen it when I was human? But sleep could not be denied by my questions, so I let it wash over me and pull me into a strange dream.
It was the same forest I woke up in, but everything was in black and white, like an old photograph. Everything was still and gloomy. My dream-self shuddered and looked around the grove. So much for having a good night's rest. When I turned my gaze around, a flash of light nearly blinded me before a small, pink, cat… thing zoomed into my face.
"You need to stop it, right now!" she berated me. I blinked in confusion, wondering what exactly she was talking about. "You know damn well what I'm talking about young lady. Your memories aren't coming back, so quit looking for them."
"You know where my memories are?!" I shouted, ignoring her command. "Give them back!" She grimaced and poked my forehead with her stubby arm.
"You don't need them right now. What you need is to get used to that body and get strong." I growled at her, pissed that this puny thing would take my memories and refuse to give them back.
"No! You give them back. They weren't yours to take in the first place!" She smacked my forehead, actually causing me pain.
"I had absolutely every right to take them. You and I made a deal long ago. I promised to do you a favor and you promised to do this for me. So quit whining and get your butt in gear." I tried swiping at her, but she popped out of existence, then back again to my right.
"How the hell am I supposed to live up to a promise I don't remember making, huh?! And why would I make a promise to a bitch like you?!" She giggled and popped out of and into existence around me in circles. It was like she was taunting me.
"You really are still overprotective, good to know." She giggled again and patted my head. "I'll give your memories back when your promise is fulfilled. Ta-ta!" She popped out once again, this time, she didn't come back. I screamed in frustration and tore a chunk out of the nearest tree.
"You little bitch! I'm going to pound you into dust!" I clawed a deep gouge into another tree, letting out all my rage against that little pink furball. Shredding tree after tree, I destroyed the once picture perfect grove. But in the midst of my fury, I became scared of myself. How did I hold this much rage over one thing? I immediately sank to the ground and put my claws under my knees. I wasn't this kind of person, or I thought I wasn't. I didn't want to be that kind of person.
I would not become a monster. I would not become the monster that Sirius expected of me. I would not let my ire drive my actions, but I would not let the things and the people I treasured be taken from me so easily. Right then, in my dream, I swore I would protect the things I held dear and I would not slip into darkness like I had so easily tonight.
Gasping for air when I woke up, I shuddered at the images left burned into my mind from my dream. I tried to shake them away, but the clawed trees and the ripped bark would not vanish.
"Sindri?" I jumped at Nyne's voice. "Are you all right?" He looked worried for me, but I smiled to let him know I was okay.
"Yeah, weird dream is all." Nyne gave me a weird look, but left the subject alone.
"Well, Buizel came by to wake us up. Congrats on joining the guild, by the way!" The smile he sent my way was so warm and encouraging I couldn't help but smile back. "Let's go to meet, then I'll show you around Lazuli Town." I nodded in agreement and he led the way out into the halls.
Turning a few times, Nyne brought me back to the front entrance. There was no one here, just like the night before, and only a few torches burned, letting the sunlight light up the place through the windows. Nyne turned into the hall to the left, the one that was straight forward when I entered the palace the other day.
This room was gigantic! The ceiling soared high above our heads, beams criss-crossing back and forth across the ceiling. Wooden poster boards were hung on the walls. I counted three filled with rainbows of flyers and papers. I couldn't read any of them because the script was that weird footprint language. This room was deserted just like the other. I was starting to wonder where all the Pokémon were when I heard a bunch of talking coming from the next room.
"Come on Sindri, meet's about to start!" Nyne led the way through the next door, smiling broadly as he yelled, "Hey guys!"
"Wow Nyne, you actually made it this morning!" a metallic voice laughed.
"Here we thought you'd miss two days in a row," a rough, girly voice commented.
"Damn, Cubone, I owe you ten Poké." A raspy voice chuckled and cheered a bit.
"Yeah, yeah guys. Shut up, will ya?" Nyne drawled, prancing through the door and leaving me to follow. I stood halfway in the doorway, my nerves screaming at me to run away and hide. I was such a coward, sitting there and letting my timidity rule my actions. "Are you coming Sindri?"
"Who's Sindri?" a tiny voice asked.
"Do we have another apprentice?"
"Really?! Yay!"
"Nyne, who is it?"
"Yeah, Nyne, spit it out already!"
"Nyyyyne!"
"Hey, back off already! Sindri, you wanna come and say hi?" I saw that I had no choice but to grow a pair and introduce myself. I stepped through the doorway and walked up to stand at Nyne's side. I waved a bit with a nervous smile.
"Umm, hi," I said quietly. Everyone's eyes were boring holes into me. A small, pink cat standing next to a tall, feline with a pink ear dropped its jaw. A blue and white snake, a grey, shelled creature and a small green dinosaur all stared straight at my face with no shame whatsoever. A floating, blue disc and a brown thing with a skull over its face whispered to each other. Buizel smiled at me and poked a blue, quadruped Pokémon with thorny ears and spikes on its back. A purple bat hovering next to a white and red sloth creature nearly fell to the floor when it forgot to flap its wings. Lastly, a black, lamp with purple fire blazing inside it turned to a green, lizard-ish Pokémon with leaves on its wrists and made a noise of disdain.
"Ah! I see you've met our new apprentice," Sirius' voice split the silence that had been growing ever more awkward as the seconds passed. "Everyone, this is Sindri. She will be training with us from now on. I don't want to hear of any bullying, got it?"
"Yes sir," most of the guild said in unison. A few still stared at me, but most turned back to face Sirius. Standing next to him was a short, pink flower thing with a happy face in the middle of its petals.
"All right, youngsters!" she addressed them excitedly. "Since yesterday got a little chaotic with the missions on Hail Mountain, I want you all to make sure you check in your missions with me before you go out. Castform can tell you about the weather when you're going out, so please try to check in with him. Do your best and let nothing stand in your way!"
"Yes Ma'am!" the apprentices shouted happily. The flower smiled broadly at their response. Sirius smiled proudly as well.
"Now off to work. Don't get lazy just because there isn't a lot to do around here. There are a lot of jobs in the Chattering Forest and the Ice Plains." The apprentices all made noises of agreement and the flower nodded in return. Sirius and the flower both exited the room, leaving me with Nyne, Buizel and a bunch of Pokémon I didn't know. I had to stop a whimper from sliding past my lips.
"Nyne! You need to tell us about this now!" the sloth thing demanded. Most of the apprentices crowded around Nyne and me, causing my stomach to fill with butterflies again. Nyne noticed when I started to flicker, as did most of the Pokémon.
"Back up guys! You're scaring her!" Nyne shouted, pushing some of them back. "Geez, you'd think none of you have seen a Zoroark before."
"Nyne, no one's seen them for, like, forty years!" the grey, shelled creature said. "Of course we've never seen them. Most of us weren't even born when the Zoroark and the Zorua disappeared."
"Yeah, yeah. Just cool it, okay? Sindri is shy." Nyne smiled at my erratic self. "I promise they're nice. Just give them a chance." I felt the butterflies flutter away and I regained my visibility.
"Everyone, this is Sindri," Buizel introduced. "Sindri, these are our guild mates." Most of them just stared blankly at me. I tried to smile, but it probably came out more of a grimace. The green one with the leaves on its wrists sighed and stepped forward, putting out a claw for me to shake, which I did… hesitantly.
"Hello Sindri, I'm Ivy." She smiled a little and I did too. "Wisp, the Lampent over there, is my partner. We guard the guild as sentries." The lamp bobbed in the air for a greeting. The blue and white snake tapped the green dinosaur with its tail and slithered forward.
"I'm Dratini," she said, "and this is Axell. It's nice to meet you." The green dinosaur waved and the snake beamed at me. The shelled thing didn't seem so happy to greet me. It stayed where it was and stared at the two reptiles like he was mad at them.
"That ball of grief is Drake," Axell said, jerking a thumb at the shell. "He's a bit hard to get along with, but he's a good guy." I smiled at Drake, but he ignored me.
"Well, we might as well introduce ourselves. I'm Cubone and my friend here is Psych." The brown one with the skull face scared me when he came up behind me. The disc floating next to him- Psych –smiled at me. I was starting to get a little uncomfortable with all the smiles.
"I'm Zubat," the bat interjected. "I'm happy to meet ya. Even if I did end up losing the bet I made with Cubone because Nyne had to be your escort." I didn't know how to respond to that, so I didn't. The red and white sloth crossed her arms and humph'ed at me.
"I'm Vigoroth and that's all you need to know." I didn't like her brusque attitude, but I never expected to be easily accepted in the first place. In fact, Drake and Vigoroth were the only two that actually reacted like I thought they would.
"Well, you've all met her. I'm gonna go show her around Lazuli Town, so y'all should get to work." A bunch of them giggled and slapped their foreheads.
"You're not our Master Nyne!" Dratini said in-between her giggles. Most all agreed but went to the room with the boards anyway. Nyne smirked at me and I smiled half-heartedly back. I felt like this wasn't going to be so bad, maybe not at all.
"Let's go Sindri. You're gonna love the town, I know it!" Nyne pranced out of the room and proudly held his head high. I chuckled lightly at his character and followed readily.
Hey all! I'm glad I've already got followers on this project! It makes me all warm and fuzzy on the inside! 3 Luv ya peoples. I'd like to know what you think of the story so far, so if you could review it that would be awesome. Or you could be all weird and not review, crushing my already fragile sense of self-confidence. Ya know, what ever fits. Read on fellow authors! ~Ravinae