Well, here's some filler for you all. The last bit is quite important, though!

ENJOY!

Chapter 26

The Umbreon

I woke up in my straw bed at the guild and sighed. My sister was dead. My aunt was dead. My mother was dead. Odds were my father was dead. All I wanted to do was go back to my dreamless sleep and not ever wake up. I didn't want to have to think about it. Would you?

I sighed again and rolled my shoulders. Man. Life hated me like nobody else.

"Are you awake, Dark?" a feminine voice wondered.

Dark. The name I've been calling myself this entire adventure, probably years before that. It wasn't even my real name. I probably hadn't thought about my real name in a long time before the memory.

I didn't move, wanting to be left alone to my sorrows.

"Dark? I know you're awake," a much more familiar and much harsher voice alerted me. Carry.

"Not now," I grumbled.

"Rough memory?" Carry wondered.

"They're all rough as hell," I muttered. "Like being shaved with sandpaper except worse."

"Mm," Carry said. I pictured her nodding and biting her lip. She didn't quite understand (did anybody?) but she tried her best to. It was appreciated.

"Is he okay?" the first voice wondered.

"Ashy, he's... he'll be alright," Carry said quietly. She added in a whisper I wasn't supposed to hear, "I hope."

Ashy. Right. Chimecho's new apprentice.

"Should we leave him?" Ashy wondered, sounding unsure.

"Um, wait for me outside," Carry decided. I heard Ashy slowly pad out the door, then heard it click quietly closed. Crap. Carry was going to push-

I yelped as she shoved me off my bed.

With an enormous sigh I sat up and said, "Carry, just leave me be."

"No, Dark. I'm not going to let you wallow in sorrow. We've got world-saving business to do," Carry said, sitting up tall with her chin up. "Now we're going to Shaymin Village. Let's go."

I tilted my head curiously. "World-saving?"

Carry shrugged. "Mesprit said the world needed you, didn't she?"

"Yeah, whatever," I said sourly. "Let's just get it done."

I padded past Carry and out the door. Ashy stopped me and wondered, "Are you alright?"

I looked at her, unsure as to what I should say. Lie and say I was alright? Tell her the truth and receive her pity? I didn't want it. Lying seemed easier. Before I could answer, though, Ashy said, "No. Okay. Well, just know that your past does not determine your future if you don't let it."

Did she know that my father's fate was still unknown to me? Or was she referring to the fact that there was a lot of death in my past, but there may be no more if I can help it? Did she even know about my past? I realized she probably did not. Either way, I appreciated the words of wisdom so I bobbed my head. "Thank you," I told her, meaning it.

Ashy smiled. "You're welcome, Dark. Good luck."

I nodded again. Carry walked forward and I followed.

The Umbreon

Shaymin Village looked just how it sounded- a small village coated in flowers of every kind with a dungeon built into the mountain it was based in.

"Hello and welcome to our village!" a furret exclaimed in greeting as she ran up to us. "Are you here to buy some flowers?"

"Actually, we're here to see Shaymin," Carry said. "Could you show us where she is?"

"Carry, we have some time," Heather decided. She looked very excited. "I'm sure we could see some flowers!"

Jared, Carry, and I all groaned simultaneously.

"Oh, come on, you guys!" Heather said, pleading now. "Just a few minutes!"

"No," Carry said. "Just no."

"Flowers aren't the only things we sell here," the furret put in. "We also have a juice bar and a flea market with all sorts of cool things!"

"...Fine," I mumbled.

"WHAT?" Carry demanded. She whipped around to face me. "What?"

"Heather can go see her flowers and the rest of us can go look at the items," I decided, shrugging.

"And maybe the juice bar?" Jared wondered. "I've got some gummies. I heard they made great shakes, especially with the fresh fruit they use here."

"Why not?" I asked. I was surprised when I wondered if they had any alcohol. I was surprised I remembered what alcohol was. Did I really want to get drunk with everybody else over here? Could umbreons even get drunk?

Everybody smiled except Carry, who just grumbled, "Whatever."

"Fantastic!" the furret exclaimed. She pointed to our right and said, "The juice bar is over there and the market is next to it." She turned to Heather. "Come with me and I'll show you the flowers!"

"Great!" Heather said. Furret rushed off with Heather at her heels.

"Let's go to the juice bar," I decided. I sounded pretty numb but no one commented.

As I headed over to the building with a big jug of juice on it, Carry and Jared chit-chatted about fruit. Jared seemed to know what he was talking about but Carry didn't seem too interested.

The small building seemed bigger and brighter than the outside foretold thanks to the yellow everything and the bright lights. There were several sets of chairs and tables as well as a bar. There was a range of pokemon here from a scyther to a teddiursa to a very familiar orange weasel next to a lucario.

"What are you guys doing here?" Jared asked as we approached our friends at the bar.

Austin turned in his chair, a drink in his paw and the usual smirk on his face. "Waiting for you. We beat you, by the way."

"What?" Carry demanded. She climbed up onto the chair behind Wylie.

Wylie turned to her, a drink in his paw, too. "We departed after you but we were here a good half an hour ago."

"What took you guys so long?" Austin added, taking a swing of his drink. It was something the color of a weird whitish blue.

"Not my fault Jared's so slow," Carry shrugged. She put a paw on the bar top and called, "Yo! Gimme the best thing you got!"

"Hey!" Jared protested. "That's not cool!"

Carry smirked at him. "Fine. It was my fault since I didn't hurry the rest of you along enough."

"Whatever," Jared said, rolling his eyes. He climbed up onto the chair next to Austin. I sat next to Carry.

"Here you are. Two Poke, please," the spinda behind the counter said. Jared paid (since he had the bag) and the woman handed Carry the same blueish liquid as Austin's. "You've met my cousin, no?"

"They probably haven't," Austin said, motioning towards Carry, Heather, Jared, and me. "Wylie and I have."

"Very good, very good," Spinda said, and walked over to the next customer. Spinda had what would be called a Jamaican accent in my world, but I didn't know what it was called here and didn't ask.

"What is this?" Carry wondered, staring down into her drink. She looked at Austin since he had the same thing.

Austin shrugged. "I don't know. It tastes good, though."

"Try it," Wylie advised. "Austin's got good taste."

"Alright. If I die of poison then I'll kill you if you're not already dead," Carry warned, looking at Austin through narrowed eyes.

"'Kay. Good luck with that," Austin said, smirking.

Carry first jumped down and got herself a straw. Once back in her seat she stuck it into the cup and tentatively took a sip.

"Is it good?" Jared wondered.

Carry tilted her head to the side and looked up into the corner, thinking. Eventually she nodded. "Yeah, actually. Like a smoothie."

"Pass it over," I asked, and Carry slid the cup to me. I took a sip of it and nodded my agreement. "Like an oran berry smoothie."

"Smoothie?" Austin asked, frowning. "What?"

"Human word for drinks with the same texture," Carry told Austin, holding her cup out to show Jared and Wylie since they didn't have the drink in front of them like her or Austin.

"Okay," Wylie said, nodding. "Interesting."

"Wait a minute," Jared said, looking at Wylie. "Aren't you still supposed to be at the guild?"

At the same time, Austin denied, "No!" and Wylie said indifferently, "Possibly."

"In other words, yes, yes he is," Carry said, looking smug. "Two bucks Chimecho'll hunt him down."

"I'm in," Austin said, smiling broadly in amusement.

"Me, too," Jared agreed, nodding.

"Wouldn't surprise me," I said, shrugging.

"You all think I'm screwed then, huh?" Wylie asked, sweat-dropping. "Fantastic."

Yeah, well, that's when the glass door was thrown open so hard when it hit the wall it shattered.

"Oh, f**king hell," Carry spat the words at the ground. "You b****ds again? Really?"

In the doorframe appeared the exact person I wanted to kill. "Did you miss us?" Craeg asked, smirking broadly. Someone screamed.

"This time we ain't alone," Skun walked up to stand beside his teammate.

Ashy was trapped between Skun's claws, her eyes wide with fear.

Author's Note:

Uh-oh. This isn't so terribly good, is it?

Also, Dark is just... not... good. Just... poor Dark.

And Austin. No idea what he's drinking. I find that funny for some reason xD

Hope you enjoyed!