Chapter 2: Guardian Initiation

I woke to voices.

"I asked you to bring him here, but did you really need to kidnap him? All I wanted was a simple-...he's waking."

I snapped up quickly taking in my situation when I lost the guise of sleep. Despite that, I was distracted a shadow that ran right past me and out a door, only allowing me a glimpse from the corner of my eye.

"Welcome."

My mind turned from the shadow to the speaker who stood in behind a fancy desk scattered with paperwork and other deskware. From the ceiling high window behind him, I could see the sun starting to rise. With the sun rising behind him the man certainly made an amazing first impression. Though his longcoat didn't give off nice vibes.

"You're Kalter's newest wanderer, Lucario Ziellos correct?"

"...Yes." I said, paying careful attention to the rope that tied my hands to the back of my chair.

"I apologize for my associate. She works hard but she's not the most hospitable person."

"You kidnapped me from my inn." I stated, "I had to pay for that room."

"From a wanderer's perspective I can see why that'd be a problem." The man said.

"It was really late." I added, "The room was more expensive than normal since they were running out in the first place."

"You're quite adamant about this aren't you?"

"I simply want you to fully know the inconvenience you caused me." I said.

"Inconvenience but not a problem?"

"That depends on what you want from me."

The man chuckled, "You're a rather roundabout individual."

"That's because you don't know me."

"Really? I know you aided a trio of Normality members at the Moomoo Milk farm last night. Despite that, you interfered at the last moment to betray them and save two Guardian members."

"And which side would you be representing?"

"That's right, I never introduced myself did I? My apologies." The man bowed deeply, "Gallade Weisschild. Leader of the Guardians."

"The boss?" I frowned, "So soon? This won't be ending well will it?"

"It'll end better than if I was the boss of Normality now wouldn't it?"

"Funny." I said, "Not a lot of mafia bosses have a sense of humor that's not intimidating, threatening or dark."

"The Guardians aren't a regular mafia." Gallade smiled, "The Guardians are what you can call the police of this town. Though we don't hold ourselves to too high a moral standard, we are what keep order in this town and protect the citizens from any harm."

"Should I be impressed?"

"I understand your skepticism." Gallade said, "But rest assured, I don't plan and don't tolerate injustice towards innocents."

"You kidnapped me."

"Er-yes, well...that was an accident."

"How do you accidentally kidnap someone?"

"My...associate is not really used to escorting people."

"Really?"

"Ah...I'm in quite the bad position aren't I?" Gallade smiled.

"I'm the one tied to a chair."

"Point. I would free you, but I don't know what you'll do."

"What can I do?" I asked, "I don't have any weapons."

"Yes. And without weapons there isn't any point for you to be freed is it? After all you can't fight back. Tell you what. I'll give these back."

Gallade picked up my revolver from his desk, "As a sign of my sincerity."

"You're giving me back my guns but you aren't going to untie me?" I said, "You're an odd one."

"I plan to untie you." He said as he approached me with my gun, "I simply want to give your escape meaning."

"You're not making sense." I said as he slid my gun into it's holster.

"I'm interested in you." He said as he returned to his desk to pick up my other gun, "You claim to never miss, correct?"

I didn't answer.

"And as a wanderer, you're searching for work." Gallade continued as he returned my other revolver, "So what do you think about joining the Guardians?"

"Why would I do that?" I frowned.

"It's simply a job." He said, "Your skills would be an asset and you intrigue me."

"..."

"You don't need to stay." Gallade added, "You can leave whenever you want, though I do hope you'd give me proper notice first. And I don't plan on forcing you to join."

"How do you know I won't betray you?" I interrupted.

"You saved Milktank. Unfezant and Tauros too."

"I destroyed Miltak's supply though."

"You sure like to undersell yourself."

"I simply want to know who I can trust."

"How convenient. I want to believe I can trust you."

I stared at Gallade who simply smiled back at me.

"Now. Let's free you from those restraints."

He walked behind me and began untying my bindings. Or at least he tried too. The knot was too well done and in the end he was forced to simply cut the rope with a letter opener.

"Now." He spoke as I stretched my arms out, "You can leave right now, but I do have a favor to ask of you."

"Favor?" I frowned.

"Yep. I won't be paying you, but at least you won't be a Guardian automatically."

"And if I don't want to be involved?"

"I'm afraid you're already involved." Gallade said, "It's about Miltank."

I sighed.

"Or more accurately his daughter. At the age of 12, she went and joined Normality against her father's wishes. It's currently an apprenticeship, but Miltank wants her to leave before she gets too involved. I concur."

"You want me to return his daughter from Normality?" I guessed.

"Yep."

"That's an odd mission." I said, "Not very mafia-like to take such personal requests from a civilian."

"I'm sure you have your own experiences. The life of a mafia is not a pleasant life. We all may not feel comfortable putting our lives in danger, but at the same time we are readily willing to do so for the sake of what we believe in."

…

"I believe that you don't think she's ready to be mafia either." Gallade said as he turned around, "And I believe that you are willing to risk your life for that girl's safety and understanding."

"...And if you're wrong?"

"If it turns out that I'm right...then you would be a perfect member for Guardian."

…

I got up and left.

"Looks like the boss is done talking with you."

As soon as I left I ran into Unfezant and Tauros' brother, seemingly waiting in the hallway.

"Let me guess." Unfezant said, "You're not joining."

"...Just because I saved you don't mean I plan to join you or even like you."

"Oh yeah, thanks for that. Saving us I mean."

"..."

"Were you asked to deliver Miltank's daughter too?" Unfezant asked, "Tauros and I were assigned to that same job."

"Then why does your boss need me?" I frowned.

"Think of it as a test." Unfezant smiled, "By saving our skins you caught the interest of not only our boss, but Miltank too."

"So I should do it because they like me?" I frowned.

"Like I said, it's a test. Skill and power mean nothing if not guided."

"By a leader? Or by mercy and morals?" I asked.

"By yourself." Tauros answered, "The Guardian takes anybody who wants to be here, so long as they don't seem intrusive."

"..."

I walked past them to take my exit before Unfezant spoke up,

"I forgot to introduce ourselves properly. My name is Unfezant Streuungwind. I used to be in Normality under the nickname 'Big Pecks'. Now I'm 'Dust Wing'."

"Tauros Durchbohren. No other name."

…

"Lucario Ziellos." I said, "A wanderer has little use for names."

I returned to my hotel room. My bed was made with no sign of anyone having been here save for my fedora.

"They left behind my hat." I sighed as I picked back up my hat.

I dusted it a bit before returning it to my head.

"...A test huh?"

I smiled, "Interesting."

The dusty streets of Kalter blew against my cloak as I wandered. The town has yet to make itself memorable to me though I could see a few large buildings in the distance. I approached a few, traveling around until I found it. Normality's Headquarters.

"I knew you'd come here."

I turned as Unfezant and Tauros came out from behind a few buildings.

"Took you long enough." Unfezant smiled.

"I would've been here sooner if anybody bothered to tell me where their home was." I frowned.

"Oh. Darn I knew we forgot something."

"What do you plan on doing?" Tauros asked.

"Asking their boss to let her go."

"Gallade's tried that." Unfezant said, "Dozens of times. Never worked out. Boss is set on making her a member."

"That wasn't the kind of talk I had in mind." I said as I drew my revolver.

"Whoa, what about the girl?"

"She's not going to be on the frontline." I reasoned, "I killed three of their members anyway. They'd probably try to kill me on sight. You two included for trying to kill them."

"We've been trying to kill them for a while."

"Well then fine." I sighed, "You leave and I'll take care of the base on my own."

"Now hold on there." Unfezant laughed as he caught my by my shoulder, "Look there."

He turned me to the entrance and pointed out three people standing guard. As still and as unblinking as statues.

"Those three are the Watchhog triplets." He said, "Kill one and the other ones will immediately alert everyone in the base. You want the element of surprise? Then you're going to have to get past them. Got something for that?"

"Let me ask you a question, 'Dust Wing'" I said as I loaded my guns, "Do you have a gun?"

"Course."

"Can you hit one of them from here?"

"Well yeah, but not all three before any of them can-"

"Just follow my lead." I said as I aimed my revolvers at them.

Unfezant let out a sharp cry as he quickly got his rifle ready, barely able to align his gun before I fired. Despite our lack of coordination, our bullets drilled into the triplet's heads at the same time, killing them without setting off any type of alarm.

"Whew." Unfezant let out a gasp as he put down his gun, "I can't believe you did that. I mean it's tough enough finding good sharpshooters at this distance, but you just did the job of two and with revol-hey where are you going?!"

I walked out from behind the building and approached their base, "Getting on with the job."

"That's the front gate though! We could at least do it a bit more stealthily!"

"Do you know where the girl is?"

"Err..."

"Every minute we spend wandering in the base is a chance that we'd get spotted and killed." I explained, "Approaching them from the front will surprise them. That's why we took out the guards in the first place. Besides our guns aren't exactly silent."

"B-But do you really think you can handle all of them?"

"Sure."

"You're taking on an entire mafia!" Unfezant cried.

I decided to ignore him and walk right up to the door. I leaned against it as I checked the ammo on my guns. Once I was prepared, I looked up to see Unfezant and Tauros still keeping their distance with Unfezant waving at me to come back.

"I'll try not to kill anybody." I called as I turned around and kicked down the door.

I didn't know what I was expecting when I burst into Normality's Headquarters. I had walked my way out of the Guardian's base which was homely enough. Normality's though was apparently a bar. Giant and spacious for the most part. Balcony above the main bar that had more stairs for more purposeful rooms. This first room was filled with people though. Every table crowed with almost five people with a few more standing and lingering around. Even more at the barstand and even a few dangling atop the balcony. And each of them stared at me when I burst in. Should probably make a good first impression. I leveled my guns at two people hanging around the balcony and emptied a bullet into their skulls. They slumped over the banister and fell, one of them even landed on a table. There. That should do it.

Instantly, everybody reached for their guns. I split the remaining ready ammo between the few on the balcony and the many that were close to me. Split between those with an advantageous position and those closest to me I only had five bullets to give each. Not quite enough.

As my revolvers clicked empty, I tossed them to the ground and reached into my cloak again, retrieving two more revolvers. At this point they had begun to fire at me, forcing me to dodge around a bit. My new salvo were less proactive, responding to those who fired at me with slightly less accuracy. Arms, shoulders and hands instead of heads. My second barrage soon petered out. I knocked over a table and hid behind it as I hastened to refill my gun. As I did, someone ran around the table before I could finished. He had claws on that reached out for me. I snapped the half-filled cylinder back into my revolver. I don't have time to defend or kill so we were going to have to exchange blows.

Said attacker was then ran over by Tauros, tossed aside by his shield.

"Remember the mission!" Unfezant cried over the sound of gunfire as he tossed the stunned claw user at me.

I caught him and slammed him against the floor, putting my gun to his head.

"Sorry but I'm going to need you to tell me where Miltank's daughter is."

"Who...are you?" He gasped as I pushed my arm against his throat, "Are you...Guardian?"

"Location." I demanded, "Now."

"Fourth floor." He said, "Rec room. Too young to start fighting. Hides out there."

"Thank you." I said, knocking him out. I checked my ammo, before I turned to check on Tauros and Unfezant. They too had knocked down a table for cover, Unfezant sniping from behind while Tauros took down anybody that got too close with a shotgun.

I checked the stairway from behind my table. No one was in the direct way, but there were still enough people around to catch me. Nonetheless, I have a job. I stowed away by revolvers and prepared to make my run.

"Cover me!" I called as I started running.

"What?!" Unfezant cried as he turned his gun around to cover me.

I covered my head and kept low as bullets began to fly at me. A few of them punched more holes in my tattered cloak, but I made it to the stairs alive. I dashed up them and onto the balcony. I spared Unfezant and Tauros a glance before I made my way up to my target.

I soon came up on the fourth floor and the room where Miltank was apparently being held. To my surprise there were no one around to stop me. Whenever they don't consider Miltank important enough to protect or if they still don't know is none of my concern. I swung the door wide open, gun at the ready for any enemies. Instead I felt the door bang against something and a cry of slight pain. I peeked around the door to find Miltank, rubbing the spot that the door had hit her on the head.

"Next time try standing away from where the door is going to open." I suggested.

"I thought there would be enough room." Miltank frowned, "Ah wait you're an enemy!"

Miltank brought up a gun at me. To her merit her hands didn't shake though her face belied the usual nervousness.

"Do you really think you can fire that gun?"

"I won't need to if you surrender quietly, creep."

"No I mean your safety's on."

"Oh snap!"

Miltank broke her aim to fix the safety. I took advantage of that to brush the gun out of her hands.

"T-That's not fair!" Miltank cried, "Fight me one on one!"

"You're half my size."

"So what?"

"...You father sent me you know."

"Dad?" Miltank frowned.

"He wants you to quit this mafia business."

"...Dad doesn't know anything."

"...Two people I know are fighting the entirety of Normality downstairs right now. They are waiting for me. Waiting for me to bring you down."

"Pfft. They're probably dead."

"Probably." I admitted, "How about this? I'm not going to force you to leave Normality. In exchange, do you want to come with me downstairs? I'd like to check if those Guardians are skilled."

"Guardians?!" Miltank cried, "...Alright."

"You're a Guardian?" Miltank asked as we made our way back.

"No."

"Who are you then?"

"A wanderer."

"Hired by my father?"

"In a roundabout way." I explained, "The Guardians approached me with this job since I was already mixed in with their business with both Miltank and Normality."

"Oh."

"My turn. Why did you choose to join Normality? Aren't they mostly known for just playing pranks?"

"Eh? Well...I...didn't want to at first..."

"..."

"I wanted to join the Guardians at first. Do some good. But they wouldn't accept me."

"Why's that?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Miltank scoffed, "Maybe it's because I'm girl. Maybe it's because I'm the daughter of a farmer. Maybe it's because to them I'm just a kid. Or maybe it's because me father begged them not to accept me."

Miltank glared at me for a while, "Take your pick."

"..."

"My turn right?" Miltank said, "Let's see...do you plan on becoming a Guardian?"

"I don't know." I answered, "And I don't know if I'll even be allowed."

"Why's that?"

"This is sort of my test."

"Hmph." Miltank scoffed, "Nice. So I'm just a test huh?"

"I'm making it your test too."

"What?"

"I said I'm not going to force you to return home didn't I?"

"Wait, what do you mean by a test?!"

"My turn." I said, "Why did you father try so hard to keep you out of the mafia life?"

"Argh. Why do you think I know?! It was supposed to be a plan to make our lives easier! If I become a member of an influential mafia we would have a guaranteed buyer! We wouldn't have to worry about the economy since we'd have somebody to fall back on!"

"So long as you don't fail."

"Well...yeah but..."

"People can be fickle, sure. But everyone has their own situation. In our darkened business you can die because it's needed or because they wanted it. Not to mention that you can die as a casualty."

"...I...know that..."

"...Your turn."

"Huh?"

"Ask a question."

"Oh uh...What do you mean by a test?"

"Unfezant called it a test. I'm not sure if they are officially calling this a test, but one thing's for sure, what happens here will impact both our futures."

"Not that!" Miltank cried, "I mean what do you mean that you're testing me?!"

"My turn. Why do you think your father is trying to ruin your plan?"

"Dammit, don't just dodge my question!" Miltank cried as she kicked my back.

I tumbled down the stairs and rolled onto the second floor. I slammed against the bullet ridden banisters that couldn't support me and dropped me right down onto the first floor.

"Whoa!" I heard Unfezant cried, "You still alive?"

"Think so." I responded.

"I think you flattened the last of them."

"Still alive?"

"Yep. Tauros and I are completely fine save for a few scratches."

"That's nice."

"Wait what about Miltank? Did you forget her?"

"She's up there."

I picked myself up, slightly worse for wear and pointed at the balcony.

…

"Where is she?" Tauros asked.

I frowned as a bad feeling crept up, "Miltank?"

Miltank slowly walked out onto the balcony...accompanied with a large man with a gun pointed at her head.

"...He sure looks important." I said as I got up.

"He's my boss." Miltank said with a nervous smile, "Exploud."

"Thanks for the introduction sweetie." Exploud sneered, "Though if I knew that you were their targets I'd have executed you sooner. Look at the mess you made of my club!"

We tried not to kill too many people." Unfezant mentioned.

"I killed twelve." I admitted.

"What the...dude!"

"You huh?" Exploud said, glaring at me, "Don't recognize you."

"You wouldn't."

"He's a wanderer." Miltank explained.

"A wanderer!" Exploud exclaimed, "Well I'll be. Not often you see somebody with such skill still free."

"I don't like being tied down for long."

"Ha. Well then tell me wandering boy." Exploud pointed his gun at me, "You want to save this girl? What are you going to do?"

"...Miltank."

"Y-Yeah?"

"You're not afraid of dying are you?"

"..."

"What are you planning on doing?" Unfezant hissed.

"You want me to be honest?" Miltank answered.

"Of course."

"Yeah. Yeah I'm scared."

"That's a good girl." I called, "Don't worry. I'll save you right now."

I pulled out my gun and pointed it at Exploud. He roared in laughter, "You're really willing to shoot through this girl to get to me?!"

"What are you doing?!" Unfezant hissed even louder.

"I'll ask again." I called, ignoring them, "You're not afraid of dying are you?"

"...I am. I'm afraid of dying." Miltank said, body and voice shaking, "But...I'd rather die by your gun than his."

"Then I'm going to fire."

"Are you crazy?!"

I turned around and tossed Unfezant my other revolver, "You said this was a test. I'm not a Guardian. I'm not even sure if I want to be a Guardian. From what I heard The Guardians do what they do because they want to correct?"

"..."

"I'm not going to fight you. But I'm doing this. Not because I am being tested. I'm not doing this because I want to join you or that I don't want to join you. I'm doing it because I want to."

I turned back to Exploud and held my gun up at him. No further arguments were made. Exploud and I kept a steady focus on each other with Miltank in between shivering in restrained fear. There was an eternity of stiff waiting. Waiting until one of us got tired of waiting and fired.

"AUGH!"

Miltank tumbled to the ground as she was released. Exploud stumbled back as my bullet bit itself into his shoulder.

"WHOOO!" Unfezant cried, "You got him! You actually got him you bastard!"

I could barely hear his cries as I laid on the floor. Exploud's shot had sniped the hat from my head as I fell on my back, stiff as a board.

"That's great." I said, stunned at my own luck, "But can one of you grab Miltank?"

"It's not going to end here you dirty wanderer!" Exploud cried as he recovered.

He leaped down from the balcony. I quickly rolled to the side as he landed on the spot where I was stunned. I brought my gun up but was too late for the wooden bar that Exploud had picked up to beat me in the face. I tumbled to the side as Exploud pointed his gun at me again. I dodged to the side as his bullet hit the ground. I rolled to a crouch and fired my own shot that snatched the gun from his hand. He tried coming at me with the wooden bar but I shot that into nothing more than a handle. I fired two more shots at Exploud directly who blocked it with a table.

"Is that all you got?!" He called, "I've had worse!"

He tossed aside the table and lunged at me. I fired a shot into his body which connected and stopped him dead in his tracks. He didn't fall however. He shuttered for a moment before he looked back up at me grinning,

"One shot to shoulder. One to disarm my gun. One to destroy my club. Two wasted on a table and one bullet I knew I could Endure. You tossed aside the only other gun you had and you haven't picked up your two other guns you had at the beginning. Six shots and you're out of bullets and out of guns. I don't care if I die here. I'm going to take you down with me."

And with that he made his final lunge at me.

I emptied my final bullet into his head. He finally fell, unfortunately on my legs. I gasped as I gathered my breath back enough to speak again, "You're right in that I normally use Six Shooters. But out of my four guns, one of them is a Seven Shooter."

…

"That was quite a show." Unfezant smiled, "But really? A seven shooter?"

"A wanderer needs a few tricks to keep up with others." I said as I pulled my legs out from under his dead body, "You won't imagine how many people thought they had me because I only had six bullets or one or two guns."

"You're a tough one." Unfezant said as he helped me up, "Bit crazy firing at the target you're supposed to save, but at least you're lucky."

"It wasn't luck." I said, "I told you. I never miss."

"You mean you aimed for his shoulder?!" Unfezant broke down laughing, "You aimed for his shoulder while he had the high ground, a hostage and you had a six shooter."

"Seven shooter." I sighed, used to the thinly veiled insults towards my guns.

"Sorry. Seven shooter." Unfezant laughed.

I sighed and turned towards Miltank, "Milta-"

"You okay?" Tauros asked as he helped Miltank down the stairs.

"Y-Yeah." Miltank said, still a bit rattled, "Got some blood on my face but that should wash off right?"

"You could've been killed."

"I know." Miltank said as tears came to her eyes, "I was scared."

"...You're safe now." Tauros said gently, "I'll take you home. I'll help patch things up with your dad. You won't have to see any of this again."

…

Unfezant tapped me on the shoulder.

"That head wound looks kinda bad." He said softly, "We have somebody who can patch that up for you back home. Come on. Let's leave the two alone."

I glanced back at Miltank sobbing on Tauros' shoulder and nodded. I picked up my guns and even my hat which bore a new hole. Two of them. I placed it on my head and followed Unfezant out.

"Wait!"

I turned as Miltank called to me.

"I don't know if it was all this or if he was just worried about my life." Miltank said, "I don't know why my dad tried so hard to ruin my plan. But maybe it was a stupid plan to begin with."

…

"My turn." Miltank continued, "To ask you a question."

"...Shoot."

"What's your name?"

"...Lucario. Lucario Ziellos."

And with that I left.