"No, Sindri, like this!" Nyne called, swiping out the Ralt's legs from underneath. The Ralts squealed in protest and scuttled away into the dark cave. "Really all you gotta do is scare them off."
"Or, you know, you could just avoid them," Buizel said with acid in his tone. "You and your stupid games." Nyne just laughed and flames reached out from his smile.
"Can't we just buy the client a new orb?" I asked, thinking back to my nightmare last night. "I don't want to hurt anyone." Buizel and Nyne both sighed. I'd been saying the same thing since we'd entered the purple rocks known as Lyria's Den. The cave system was extensive to say the least. With stalactites dripping from the ceiling and stalagmites reaching up from the ground, it was like being chewed up by a giant beast.
"No, we can't," Buizel answered, holding up the bright green flyer that Nyne had plucked from the board in the guild. "The job is to retrieve the orb and the criminal that took it. Plus I don't think Nyne has the funds to buy anything other than apples and berries right now."
"Hey!" Nyne's smile dipped into a guilty frown. The way these two argued was like watching a married couple. A laugh slipped out and Nyne turned his frown on me. "It's not like that!"
"If you'd just stop gambling with Throh, then you wouldn't have these problems," Buizel accused. "It's like you enjoy him coming around to kick your ass every week."
"Nyne has a gambling problem?" I questioned, looking at Nyne's guilty face. Buizel rolled his eyes and let out a deep breath.
"I swear if Chandelure didn't have a minimum balance rule, Nyne would be so far in debt that his children's children would still be paying it off."
"I told you it's not like that!" Nyne shouted, his voice echoing off the rock ceiling. Buizel and I laughed as Nyne's mouth dripped with fire. It was cute the way he drooled flames whenever he was angry or amused.
Nyne decided that he'd had enough of us and turned away. We followed his light footsteps further into the cave system. It didn't make me feel any better, but Nyne and Buizel were intent on catching the thief. I guessed that as long as we kept going, we'd get this over with sooner rather than later.
It wasn't until we were a few floors down in the cave that we found our culprit. It was a green creature with a rather large head and three colored dots on the ends of its arms. It hadn't caught sight of us yet, which was fine by me. Nyne smiled and crept forward inch by inch. Too bad he kicked a rock and the creature shot to attention.
"Ahhh!" it yelled, firing a beam at Nyne that swirled with all sorts of colors. Nyne sidestepped the beam and it was like he disappeared for a moment. He reappeared behind the creature and smacked it to the ground.
"Give up your stolen goods, Elgyem," Buizel demanded, blocking the only exit from the cavernous room. In response, the creature fired another beam at Nyne sneaking up behind him.
"Over my unconscious carcass!" Elgyem shouted. Buizel and Nyne advanced upon the creature, pushing him into a corner. I could see a stash of glittering objects piled behind a stalagmite. His horde, assumedly.
Nyne puffed out five blue fireballs, each rocketing towards the green Pokémon. Buizel spat a strong stream of water at the same time. The creature shot upwards, letting the two attacks cancel each other out. Noticing me at the entrance, Elgyem streaked towards me. My gut clenched as I realized I had no idea what to do. I just let my instinct take over… which was the best possible thing actually.
My claws glowed with purple-red light and I lashed forward. It must have caught Elgyem off guard because he took the hit with his face. Elgyem crashed to the ground, unconscious. I looked from my claws to Elgyem and back again. One hit? I'd taken him out in one hit?
"Yeah! Great hit, Sindri!" Nyne shouted, his tails wagging. Buizel even looked proud. I just watched the light fade from my claws. The sight reminded me of the dream I'd had last night. The thought made me shudder. "And hello loot!"
Nyne grabbed everything from Elgyem's horde and put it in the bag around Buizel's torso. He held up a particular green orb. It was the treasure we had promised to retrieve. The footprint letters around the middle of it looked just like the ones on the picture in the flyer. Why was everything covered in footprints?
"So, what's the orb do anyway?" I asked, grabbing it from Nyne. He looked at me weirdly.
"Sindri, it says so right here." Buizel pointed to the group of footprints facing my way. "It's an escape orb, used to exit dungeons quickly or in an emergency."
"Those… those are words?" If Buizel and Nyne had a gold coin for every incredulous look they gave me, they'd be rich by now. The two looked at each other and then back at me. For once, Nyne couldn't find any words to say.
"Y-you can't read?" I felt the fur on the back of my neck stand up. A low rumble started at the back of my throat before I even realized I was getting angry.
"I can read perfectly well!" I shouted, my face heating with blush. "I know the alphabet backwards and forwards, and those damn footprints aren't part of the alphabet!"
I turned my back on the boys and stomped off. The cave system wasn't that complicated and I could already see the path we had taken to get down this far. All I needed to do was find the tunnels that led upward. And yet… I couldn't find any of the tunnels we had taken. It should have been right there in that particular room, but it was just gone.
Pulling at my mane, I let out a frustrated snarl and sank to the floor. Good god, why was I so angry? Why was everything upsetting me so much? The footprints weren't anything like the letters swirling in my mind, but that just meant they were a different language. Why did I take such offence to Nyne asking if I couldn't read? I stuck my head between my knees and tried to hold back the irritated tears.
The out of place frustration and anger rolled through me, finding no hold. I was glad when it faded back into nothing. I needed it to stop. How was I supposed to show Sirius I was trustworthy when I couldn't control my rage? I didn't want to be kicked out of the guild. I didn't want to leave Nyne and Buizel after they'd been so nice as to give me a place to stay.
What is this? I jumped at the sudden voice. My ears perked and I twisted my head around, looking for the thing that said it. But I was alone in this part of the cave. There weren't even any feral Pokémon to defend myself from. Dear one, what are you doing all alone out here?
Just as I was going to look for the echoing voice, Buizel's orange fur appeared in the corner of my eye. He was toting Nyne behind him and the bag slung around his torso was bulging with the items they had retrieved from Elgyem. Buizel's exasperated smirk made the ball of confusion and guilt in my gut unravel. He wasn't mad at me for being such a dipshit.
"Told you she'd be fine. You worry too much, Nyne," Buizel said, turning his smirk on our friend. Nyne sighed and slapped Buizel's shoulder.
"I do not worry too much. You know how dangerous these places can be. Sindri, I'm sorry that I made you upset." I shook my head.
"You didn't. I got mad for no reason…" I lowered my voice to a whisper. "That's been happening a lot lately."
"What's with that anyway? You get mad over the smallest things." Buizel slapped Nyne over the head.
"Nyne!" I smiled and waved at him to tell him it was okay.
"I don't really know. It's like, everything that can make me angry makes me as angry as I can be." Buizel scratched at his head and Nyne's paws shifted.
"Heh, next thing you know, we're going to have to take you to anger management classes."
"Yeah," I laughed with Nyne, "Maybe we will."
"Come on, you dweebs," Buizel sighed, a small smile sitting at the corner of his mouth, "let's get back to the entrance.
"Grab your badge, Sindri," Nyne instructed. I took the bronze star badge I had clipped to the scarf around my neck and held it. "Now, just press the little pearl in the center with us and we'll be out in a flash."
The three of us pressed our badges and in a quite literal flash of white light, the cave around us disappeared. Two seconds of stomach flipping blankness and the scenery returned. We hadn't moved an inch, and yet we were at the entrance to Lyridia's Den. The purple maw of the cave looked just as scary coming out as it did going in. The dirt path that led back to town was bathed in the light of the late afternoon. I hadn't realized we'd been in there that long.
Nyne took a deep breath and exhaled with a wide grin. "Good to be back outside. Let's return Flabébé's stuff, shall we?"
The trip back wasn't as long as the trip there. With the mood a lot more relaxed, I was beginning to think that maybe life with Nyne and Buizel wasn't really all that bad. Sure, I may not remember hardly anything about my past, but did I really want to? That pink cat in my dream seemed to imply that I made a deal with her. A deal that required my memories to be held as collateral. Just what did I agree to that was worth giving up my past?
"Well, looky what we found 'here," a gruff voice interrupted my thoughts. I looked up and spotted a short, fat, and red Pokémon on the path ahead. It was accompanied by a blue Pokémon with orange fins on its cheeks and two black fins on its back. "You were right, Finny-boy. My dear friend Nyne did escape to Lyridia's Den for tha day. Now scram 'fore you get a beatin' too."
The blue one shot a fearful and apologetic look at us before he ran off as fast as his short legs could take him. The red Pokémon pounded one fist into the other, a greedy smile stretching across its squat face. Buizel and Nyne both took a step back, scowling. Nyne looked like he was going to throw up.
"What do you want, Throh?" Nyne asked. I heard the fear in the tension of his voice. This was the person Nyne kept gambling with? Why? The dude looked like he could flatten Nyne.
"You owe me money, Nyne. I'm here ta make sure you pay up. I know that cave's got a lot of loose coin sittin' around. Cough it up and maybe I won't beat ya to a pulp today."
Throh stalked closer and Nyne froze. Buizel started digging in the bag at his side. He was just going to give his bully all the coins we worked so hard to find? That was our money! We found it fair and square. A growl started in the back of my throat and I stepped between Nyne and Throh. Throh stopped in surprise for a second, but his smirk returned and he looked around me.
"What's this then? You got cute little girls protecting you now, eh?" I crossed my arms and looked Throh in the eye.
"Sindri," Nyne hissed. "Get out of the way before you get hurt." I shook my head and planted my feet.
"How much does Nyne owe you?" I asked directly.
"300 poké." Nyne made a squawking noise behind me.
"I do not! I bet you 150, and then you lost that to Medusa! I knew better than to play 'one last round' with that greedy Honchkrow."
"You do too owe me 300! You never paid up the game before that one!"
"I did too, and you're just making it up."
I snarled to grab their attention. The two stopped and looked up at me.
"How. Much. Does. He. Owe. You." Throh's smirk melted into a frown and he shifted.
"I still say 300. Interest, you know?"
"Buizel," I said, turning around. "Hand me 200 of our poké, would you?"
"Two-hundred?! That's a hundred short, you shapeshifting bitch!" I whipped around to find Throh's fist accelerating towards my face.
Time seemed to slow down as I grabbed Throh's arm. Using the weight he drove behind his punch, I pulled Throh up and over my head and slammed him into the ground. Throh landed with a loud thud and a wheeze of air.
"You're lucky I'm giving you two-hundred," I growled, looming over his gasping face. "If you ever bully Nyne, or any of Nyne's friends again, I won't stop at just throwing your sorry ass on the ground."
Nyne's jaw was almost on the ground and Buizel was stuck with one paw on the bag and one paw holding the coins out in the air. I took the small sack of coins and dropped them next to Throh's head. I turned away and started walking back down the path. Nyne and Buizel shook themselves out of their stupor and followed.
"Holy shit! Sindri, I had no idea you were so strong!" Nyne yelled, practically bouncing with glee. "You flipped Throh. You flipped Throh! No one's ever flipped Throh!"
"Eheh, I can't let anyone bully the friends that gave me a place to stay," I replied, trying to cover up the blush on my face. "Besides, bullies can always use a good kick in the butt."
"That was Foul Play, right?" Buizel asked. When I didn't answer he continued. "Foul Play is a move that does more damage the stronger your opponent is than you. Throh is a powerhouse, which meant that your attack did either as much damage as he could, or more."
"Oh, okay. I thought I was just using his momentum to my advantage." Buizel looked at me funny, but decided to drop it.
"Damn, Sindri. If you ever join a battle club, I'm betting on you all the time."
"That reminds me. Nyne?" He looked at me with such a stupid grin. "I'm taking care of our money from now on."
Nyne's face fell and Buizel burst out laughing. He poked at Nyne as the poor fox blushed and stammered an argument. The entire way home, Nyne couldn't get a single word in edgewise.
So... I know I haven't updated this in forever. Sorry. For all you fans still here, good on ya. Seriously, I don't have that kind of loyalty in me. I really appreciate you being here. Hope you like the new chapter!