…Madness… Only four chapters and it has more reviews than the last one.
the book master: Sure… Just one thing. They're on the other side of the mystery dungeon.
kirby163: Jeanne already submitted a delibird. Sorry.
Mr. Anonymous: I said no cliché species.
Jeanne Reveur: Good luck locking forward. I forgive you for not reviewing the last few chapters until now ;D Lol. Thanks for the reviews!
Skroy Horitz: Fred who? Tsk, you had it coming. Thank you for the inspiring the new chapter title, much better than the old one. Well, me too. That's why I'm writing it. Where does ToV come into this? Twice…
ClinicallyInsaneAndDangerous: Hold it! Didn't you see what happened to Skroy Horitz!?
ShadowDragoon32: Aye, they seem like that, don't they? It will make it bit more sense as I reveal more of the world.
DelinquentDuo: Him? Lol, that's not quite who I was aiming for, but you're kind of right, actually. None of those. Have fun trying to figure it out like that.
I encourage you all to read each other's reviews. The above won't make sense otherwise, it keeps you guys from submitting similar OCs, and it wastes more of your time than I already have.
*Gets randomly shot at by a horde of dudes in shades with automatics, and does a Matrix thing to stop the bullets in mid-air, spelling "I do not claim ownership of the Pokémon franchise" with them.*
"Good morning!" A small hedgehog-like creature with grass rather than spikes shouted. "It's a new day! It's time for another brand-new journey! Today, we…"
Obsidian threw a gray pillow that at one point, might've been white at him. "Enough. We get the point," He growled groggily, only the bottom halves of his eyes lit. Valas snored loudly from his bunk. The sableye looked at him in annoyance.
"Hobbes! Why did you do that?!?" Jaden whined, getting up.
"Quiet and help me think of a way to wake this guy up that doesn't involve more shouting. And it's not Hobbes, it's Obsidian. Yeesh."
Lynn's head descended from the bunk above the kirlia's. "Hey, Valas, time to get up," She said in a more restrained cheer. He rolled over with an odd snork sound. "…Hey," Her tail slid down, shaking him. "Wake up. Valas…"
"Hey. Lynn. If you're not careful, you're going to fall off," Obsidian pointed out.
"Hm?" Her midsection slipped off the padded bunk. The floor shook as she hit the wooden planking hard. "Eep!" Her cry was only barely audible over the creak the floorboards made.
Valas shifted in his sleep. If Obsidian had eyelids, they would be twitching. Instead, the edge of the light flickered. "You know what? I…" He didn't get to finish as Clay splashed water all over the kirlia.
"COLD!! OW!! GACK! Okay, I'm up! I'm up!" Valas shouted as he jumped about two feet, hit the top bunk, fell back into the water, rolled off that bunk, and fell on top of Lynn.
"Eep! Clay, you didn't have to do that!" The dratini shouted from under him. Even after being squashed, she still sounded more concerned about Valas than herself.
"Um. That was… excessive," Obsidian muttered at a loss for words.
"What I want to know is how he got a bucket of ice water. I never saw him leave the room," Jaden said, looking at Clay.
The larvitar only smirked as he towed the empty bucket out the door of the small room. Valas grumbled and after getting off Lynn, began to shake his head, trying to clear his hair of the freezing water. "Nutty little…"
"The sunrise sure is pretty…"
Obsidian glanced at the drifloon, floating in front of the window.
"Hey! Let me see!" Jaden said, hoping from his bunk to a small, battered table in front of the window, where a flower vase containing a lone, leafy pink flower rested. "Wah, you're right, Tadayo…!"
"You both say that all the time," Obsidian grumbled. Though Tadayo was usually correct whenever he said such things anyways. The rays of the morning sun bathed the room in a golden light that almost made up for the dilapidated state of the small room.
Jaden ignored him, and instead, sniffed the Gracidea flower. His body began to glow with a soft yellow light and shifted in shape and size. In a few seconds, the glow faded. A slightly larger, more determined Jaden looked back at the occupants of the room.
"All right, then," He said as Valas stopped wringing his hair and Clay stepped back in the room, now bucketless. "What kind of adventure shall we have today?"
000
Pace's mouth curled into a slight snarl as a shadow appeared over him, blocking the morning light. He opened his eyes to look at whoever it was.
"So you're awake now?" He asked Luma.
She glared silently back. Her gaze traveled to the bandages wrapped around his torso, through which the rough scar could be seen in the soft sunlight.
Pace sighed and turned his eyes up, looking at the pine tree. It was the tallest tree among those that surrounded the small clearing. A small wisp of smoke trickled from the dead fire. After a while, he shut his eyes again, resting his head on his hands.
…It's too bright out here, even with my eyes closed. Maybe I should wear a hat.
…Pokémon don't wear hats. Damn it.
"Where are they?"
"Gone. The one who did it has been taken away. We'll never see him again." I hope. There was no need to be any more descriptive than that.
…
"It's your fault."
"How so?"
"When you came, Brother acted different."
He slowly opened his eyes again.
"We always fought away strangers who talked. Like you. He told me not to trust them, or go where they are from. Only to fight them."
Pace continued to watch the swaying of the branches through half-lidded eyes.
"When you came, he changed. He trusted a talker. He told me it was because you helped us, when no one helps each other."
His detached expression never altered.
"You called us cowards and left. He agreed. He told me he was a coward. He didn't want to be a coward anymore, so he wanted to follow you. I didn't understand, but I had to go with him, because Brother was the only one I had."
I see how it is now. The clicking in his brain ended as he closed his eyes again. "He was an idiot too, apparently."
Luma looked sharply at him, her cheeks sparking slightly.
"Destroying your old lives because I was dumped in them. Because I said something."
"…" The sparks faded. "Brother always did the best for me." She looked at the remains of the campfire.
"He probably thought so as well, even when he gave his life for me. All your life, he took care of you and mentored you like an older brother should. That never changed. When I showed up, he decided the best thing for you was to go explore outside. When he sacrificed himself, he decided the best thing for you was to let me to guide you outside. To the end, he was an idiot, but a better brother than anyone could ask for."
"…"
"What a pain, that guy," Pace grumbled, "dumping his responsibility for you on me. Doesn't seem like I have much choice but to take care of you now."
"…I still don't like you."
Pace snorted, but quickly regretted it as a spike of pain pierced his chest. "You might have to get me a berry or two first," He gasped. Luma looked at him, nodded, and dashed into the forest. He sighed, closing his eyes again. Now we just have to find out if he made the right choice.
000
"Okay then," Obsidian said, standing up from the stone bench. "Today, Kaysta, Clay, and Valas will take the mission to Jigsaw Sky, Jaden, Tadayo, and I will take care of patrol duty. That's done. Let's go."
"I still would like a particular reason for you forcing me on this excursion," Valas grumbled, propping his head on his arms as he sat on the edge of the fountain. He was wearing the paint-stained vest again.
"Most likely because you haven't gone on any missions the last week? Perhaps?" Clay suggested sarcastically.
"Give me a break, will you? An artist must produce art, and that's quite difficult to do in the confines of a mystery dungeon."
"Oh, come on Valas!" Jaden told him, hanging upside down in midair. "You're also on this team, so you have to take some missions!"
"That looks ridiculous. Stop it," Obsidian muttered at him.
"But do I have to do patrol duty?" The shaymin whined, still upside down.
The jet-black sableye looked blankly at him back through half-lit eyes. "Yes. You drew a short straw. You have to."
"Well, we'll be on our way," Valas yawned. "We'll just stock up on some supplies and get going. Come on, you two."
The larvitar grunted as he followed. "Okay, we'll meet you guys later! Right here at the southern fountain!" Lynn cheered as she floated after the kirlia.
"…Let's go that way first," Tadayo said, facing the opposite direction.
"He made sense again…" Obsidian sweat-dropped.
"What do you mean? He always makes sense!" The remaining pokémon said.
"Just get back rightside up. You're attracting too much attention." He grumbled as he started to walk away from the large water fountain. It was composed of a single coiling gyarados statue that spat a tall stream of water from its mouth while smaller flows came from the side of each segment. A circle of stone benches surrounded it, along with a variety of pokémon, peacefully minding their own business.
Well, some of them, anyways.
"Hey!" Obsidian grunted as a machop, wearing a black jacket, roughly bumped past him.
"Watch where you're standin', bozo!" The muscled pokémon shouted back as he kept running.
"Can't believe it," Obsidian growled. "The nerve… stealing my wallet like that." The accidentally-on-purpose-bump-and-nab technique was a very common strategy among pickpockets. The sableye didn't even have to check his shoulder bag to know that he would find himself a few hundred poké short.
"Hah hah, you were really careless," Jaden laughed.
"Whatever," Obsidian grumbled. "He's heading for an alley. Idiot. Tadayo! I need your shadow!"
The drifloon continued to bob in the air for a few seconds, as if he hadn't heard him, when he suddenly inflated to three times his size. Without a word, the sableye walked up to Tadayo's shadow and abruptly bent down. His head and torso went straight into the dirt ground, dissolving into the darkness as if it were but a hole.
000
"Heh heh, sucker," The machop chuckled as he slipped into a gap between two stone buildings, away from the milling crowds on the street outside. They cast a heavy shade over the entire alley as the he examined the small bag. "I wonder how much- Ack!"
"Hey. What's up?" Obsidian smirked, pinning the machop's throat to a wall with one arm and holding his coin bag with other. "Thanks for returning my money."
"What?!" He gasped. "How did you… What the!?" The machop noticed that only the top half of the darkness pokémon was present, sticking straight out of the wall.
"Yeah. You're seeing this right," He said as he shoved the bag straight into the machop's shadow. "I can travel through shadows. No use trying to hide from me. Completely pointless." He pulled his empty hand back and released the machop. He stumbled away from Obsidian immediately, holding his hands over his sore neck. He blinked. The sableye was gone.
"Down here."
He looked down. The sableye was back in his shadow, though only his grinning head and two glowing hands, waving back and forth, could be seen. "That's…" The machop gasped fearfully.
"Metronome," He grinned.
A large plume of smoke rose from between the two buildings. Nobody really paid it much attention. It happened all the time.
000
"Why do you suppose it's called that? Jigsaw Sky?" Lynn asked as she slid on the packed dirt road.
"I wouldn't know," Valas shrugged. "Though I did happen to hear that the one to dub it so was a rather…" he paused, as if searching for the right word, "kooky munchlax."
"We've been through it yesterday. It should be quite obvious," Clay quietly said.
"Oh, so why don't you enlighten us?" The kirlia was still peeved about the ice water.
"It's because the parts of trees and plants are all mixed up, like an unsolved jigsaw puzzle," The larvitar simply answered. "It's most noticeable if you're looking up at the tree leaves, where the sky usually is."
"Wow! That's so neat, Clay!" Lynn said in awe.
"It's not hard. Besides, aren't you supposed to be an artist, Valas? You at least should have realized."
"Shut up! I'm new at poetry! Simple music and sketching's where I'm good," He mumbled, looking away.
"That's kind of odd, being new at poetry. I thought you used to be in a rock band."
"Shut up! I wasn't the one who composed the lyrics!"
"Please you two, stop fighting!" Lynn interrupted the two. They stopped talking but tension was still heavy, much to the dratini's disappointment. "Come on, you two…" She sighed. She turned forwards again. "Hey, what's that?"
"Hm?" Valas put a hand over his eyes. "Hey, there's someone up ahead…"
Eventually, they got close enough for a good view.
"Wait," Clay mumbled. "Do you think…"
"Hey! You're hurt!" Lynn shouted, gliding about a foot off the ground to where the heavily bandaged buizel sat, under a tree.
"Kaysta, hold it!" Valas called out. Suddenly, a bolt of electricity hit the ground in front of her, causing the dratini to let out an "eep" of surprise.
"Stay away!" A pachirisu, in one of the upper tree branches, growled threateningly.
"But- But I just want to…" Lynn stuttered. The pachirisu didn't stop to listen, gathering up energy for another steak of lightning.
"Magical Leaf…" Valas suddenly jumped in front of Lynn and formed a large, green glowing mass in the shape of a palm leaf. He forced the stem into the ground and let go just as the pachirisu's lighting hit it. "Dance of the Palm."
His cool moment was ruined when the buizel rushed past the glowing leaf and swung his tail, smacking both Valas and Lynn with a sonic boom. As they stumbled backwards, the buizel prepared to ram into them shoulder first, when Clay suddenly rose from the ground and blocked his attack.
"Dig…" The buizel breathed, leaping backwards.
"Please!" Lynn cried, "We just want to…" The pachirisu interrupted her again, throwing a barrage of star-shaped rays at the group with a swing of her tail.
"Rock Tomb!" Clay immediately slammed his hands into the ground. With a dull flash, a crude wall of stone rose up, easily absorbing the attack. Meanwhile the buizel held out his paws, slowly creating an orb of water between them.
"Not letting you do that," Valas muttered. "Magical Leaf: Dance of the Willow!" He formed another glowing shape, this time, long and thin, almost like a sword. He gripped it like one as he ran at the buizel, preparing to interrupt the attack. Suddenly, the buizel let go of the water. It splashed to the ground noisily as he fell to his knees, gripping his bandaged torso in pain. Valas's eyes widened as he stopped, letting the leaf dissolve away. "Hey, are you…?"
The pachirisu jumped between them, her cheeks sparking threateningly.
"Luma," the buizel breathed, surprising all of them, "stop." The pachirisu looked back at him questioningly, but let the blue sparks fizzle out. "You three, what do you want?" he asked them with a sharp glare. They almost gulped. Despite his ragged breathing, his tone was so commanding, so threatening that they were hesitant to give an answer, as if in fear that it would be the wrong one.
"Well… um…" Lynn mumbled. "You were hurt… so we… we wanted to help!" She finished so quickly and loudly that she flinched at herself.
"…" The buizel regarded them carefully, as if trying to figure out whether or not she was lying. Finally, the buizel nodded and sat back down as the three let out breaths they hadn't realized they were holding. "Fine then. Luma, let them by," he told the pachirisu. She gave them another distrustful glare before backing away.
Lynn nervously glanced at Luma before sliding up to pace, using her tail to prod at the wound and letting out a soft "sorry" whenever he winced.
"So… Luma, huh?" Valas finally said. "That certainly is a pleasant name," he said, smiling at the pachirisu. She only looked away. "…What's yours?" He asked the buizel.
Lynn paused and waited for him to answer. "…Pace," he said.
"…Ah… There's not a lot I can really do like this, Pace," Lynn said. "Valas, I think you should take care of this."
The kirlia sighed. "Healing is not quite my specialty, but I'll see what I can do to assist him." His hands took on a light glow as he held them over the buizel. "Recover." A similar glow began to shine from underneath the bandages, as Pace relaxed slightly. It was over in a few seconds, when the glow receded. "So how is it?"
Pace thought for a bit. "Not much different than if I just ate an oran berry," he shrugged, standing up.
"You're going now?" Clay asked.
"What does it look like?" he grunted in response. "Come on, Luma," he said waving the pachirisu to his side. He began a slow, unsteady walk on the path, in the opposite direction.
The three watched them for a bit, then looked at each other with a unanimous agreement.
"Hey! What are you…!" Pace snapped as Clay grabbed his arm and wrapped it around his back. Luma quickly faced him, sparking again.
"Don't complain. You'll never get to the city at that rate. After all, I'm pretty sure that's not the first time you stopped because of your injuries," The larvitar said simply as he trudged along, supporting Pace.
"Yeah, but… What about you guys?" he asked.
"What about us? We're Watchers. Helping others is what we do."
Pace blinked, along with Luma.
"There is no need to worry. We're perfectly capable of finishing this mission ourselves," The kirlia said. "Right, Lynn?"
"Of course! Clay! Be sure to get him to Jaden!"
"That will take too long. I wouldn't know where to look for him," The larvitar said. "The hospital will be quicker."
"Okay then," Valas said, as he and Kaysta turned back to Jigsaw Sky. "We'll see you later!"
Clay grunted and continued walking. With his support, Pace could move much more quickly than he was previously.
"…Watchers, huh?" Pace said. "What is that, some sort of community service club?"
Clay nearly fell over.
Yup. Individual rescue team/guild members are called Watchers, which will sound odd if you've read ScytheRider's Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Silver Resistance. (Drumroll... Whiplash sound effect as *Insert your favorite anime character, movie star, etc.* gives a thumbs-up and says "Best PMD fic out there!") Oh, and if you noticed, I've figured out how to type the little accented é, so I can now spell Pokémon properly from now on. :D
After the last two chapters, comedy is restored! Joutei comes back, and we get a better look at their individual characteristics. Yes, sableye can in fact learn metronome. Surprised? It's only by move tutor in FR/LG, but still. I got the idea for Obsidians' shadow teleportation thingy from the move shadow sneak.
Ah, I ran out of comments.
…
Review!
Edited 8-23-09
Redid a few conversations, trying to make the new traits of each member of Joutei more defined. Also, I snuck in a brief battle. Pace was being a bit too trusting considering that his last meeting with strangers nearly got him killed, now that I really think about it.