Hey! Sorry this took so long; I had a lot of stuff to write down in this chapter. And I was sick... being sick is no fun, even though you get to sit in bed all day. Heh...
Anyway, enough blabbering; you want the chapter, don't you? Well, here it is. Enjoy!
Chapter 9: Thievery and Retrieval
Aria led Jay to the very top floor. He grabbed the top rung of the ladder and pulled himself up, finding himself in the familiar tented area from before.
"So what's this 'Trader's Village' thing you keep talking about?" he asked.
"Well, it's not really a village. In fact, the region we're in is actually a relatively unpopulated area… there aren't really any villages or towns, just guilds," Aria explained.
"That didn't really answer my question," Jay said.
Aria sighed. "Just follow me. The village isn't too far away from the guild," she said.
She strutted out of the open door, her waving tail beckoning for Jay to follow. Jay sighed, still frustrated from her lack of clear answers, but he followed her all the same.
As soon as she got out of the dark tent, she turned around and began walking around the lone structure. Behind the guild, a low hill rose from the ground. The hill was dotted with wildflowers that seemed to form a path up the hill. Even from a distance, Jay could hear noises coming from the beyond the hill: unfamiliar voices talking and chattering.
Aria began walking towards the hill, and as she did, she continued to talk to Jay.
"We're actually at a very convenient location. Since this is one of the biggest guilds in the region, Pokémon flock from everywhere to do business with us. We have a few permanent settlements, but for the most part, Trader's Village is made of travelling Pokémon hoping to make a quick buck off us," she explained.
Jay nodded, feeling slightly less confused. He couldn't help but admire the social structure of the world of Pokémon—there were giant dragons and crocodiles running around, but they had devised a shop system complete with coins…
They rounded the crest of the hill, and Jay had to catch his breath when he saw what was below him.
About halfway down the hill, a cobblestone path led to a small plaza made of smoothed stone. Small buildings lined the inside of the circle; some were made of wood, while others were made of what appeared to be stone or even metal. Among some of these buildings were carts, complete with wooden wheels. Many tents had been built in the soft grass outside of the stone plaza.
Even from a distance, Jay could see many Pokémon walking around, occasionally stopping by a building. Laughter and voices rang in his ears, and he could feel a happy mood emanating from the plaza.
"That's Trader's Village," Aria said simply.
After Jay got over his mild shock, he led the way down the hill. All the while, Aria was blabbing on behind him. He didn't really pay attention, however.
"Most of the really important things are permanent settlements—the Kecleon Shop, the Kangaskhan Storage, and Weavile's Bank are some of them. If we have any extra items, we can store it in the Kangaskhan Storage, and if we have too much Poké, we can deposit it in the bank… but now, we're gonna go to the Kecleon Shop," she said.
"Seriously, you don't need to explain everything to me! I can work some things out on my own, you know. I'm not stupid!" Jay grumbled.
"Of course you aren't. You're Jay," Aria replied.
"Whatever." But Jay couldn't deny that he was thankful for her help, even if it was annoying.
They finally reached the plaza, and Jay could finally get a good look at some of the other Pokémon there. He recognized Whimsicott and Altaria, and they gestured to him with a friendly wave. A few other unfamiliar Pokémon walked around, but none of them seemed to notice him.
Jay could automatically tell what some buildings were, but he had trouble with some. He couldn't tell where the bank was until Aria pointed it out: Weavile's Bank was made of sturdy stone and metal. He couldn't tell what most of the wagons sold, and this time, Aria was no help—she didn't know either.
"Yeah, thanks for the tour and all, but we were sent down here to get the Guildmaster a package. So far, we don't have a package. So could you please stop procrastinating and show me where the Kecleon Shop is?!" he said, his voice rising in irritation.
"Why, you're right here!"
Jay turned around, startled by the voices that had spoken in unison. He found himself face-to-face with two chameleon-like creatures: one green and one purple. They were standing in a wooden building with a roof that was modeled to look like the green one's head. He recognized the Pokémon as Kecleon.
"Oh…" Jay looked down in embarrassment. "Sorry. I'm new to this place," he added quickly.
"It's okay, my good chum! We see a lot of new Pokémon around here," the green Kecleon said with a smile.
The purple Kecleon noticed Aria and smiled. "Oh! Hello, Miss Aria! It's so nice to see you again!" he said jovially.
"Is this Totodile your partner, by any chance?" the green Kecleon said.
"Yep! He's the leader of our exploration team. We're Team River Song, and we're gonna become famous explorers someday!" Aria said happily.
"Well, congratulations!" the green Kecleon said with a nod of respect.
The purple Kecleon leaned in towards Jay and lowered his voice to a whisper: "You are very lucky to work with Aria. She's a very skilled explorer already, and I'm sure you and her can make a great team!"
"Yeah. We're already a great team. When he first met me, he started screaming at me," Aria said. She winked at Jay and gave him a playful smile just to let him know she was teasing.
"As you can see, we've got great chemistry—we tease each other at every moment we've got," Jay added.
"How sweet!" the purple Kecleon said with a smile. He earned a nudge from the green Kecleon, but he didn't seem particularly bothered. Meanwhile, Jay took great care to distance himself from Aria.
"Okay, enough messing around. We're here on official guild business. Guildmaster Flygon said she ordered a package from you?" Aria prompted.
"Package? What package?" the purple Kecleon asked.
"No… Don't tell me you forgot about that package!" the green Kecleon said, a note of panic in his voice.
The purple Kecleon smiled. "Just kidding. I know exactly what you're talking about," he said, giving his brother a playful push.
The green Kecleon wasn't very pleased, but he smiled tightly and turned around. "I'm sorry, Miss Aria. My brother is quite the jokester… Anyway, I do have that package that the Guildmaster requested; just give me a moment…"
There was the sound of rustling and crashing from behind the counter, but after a few moments, he turned around with a partially-squashed box in his hands. He pushed it over the counter and grinned.
"Here it is: one package for the Guildmaster!" he said.
Jay picked it up off the counter and nearly dropped it; he was quite surprised to find that it was very heavy. He stumbled back under the weight of the package but regained his balance fairly quickly.
"Agh—what's in here, anyway? Rocks?!" he gasped.
"Who knows?" Aria said, smiling a bit at Jay's struggle.
"Anyway… thanks, I guess… C'mon, Aria! I don't know how much longer I can hold this thing!" Jay groaned as he clumsily stepped forward. Aria strutted forward, and though he shot her a distressed glance, she did nothing to help him.
"We hope to do business with you again!" the purple Kecleon called as the duo began to walk towards the hill.
It was slow progress. Aria was walking at a leisurely pace, but she was still faster than Jay. Several times, Jay almost dropped the package on his toes, and he could feel his arms straining to hold it up.
Sheesh… What the heck is even in here? And why would the Guildmaster need something that weighs a ton? Jay thought. But he quickly stopped speculating as to what was in the package; he could only focus on putting one foot in front of the other.
He looked up from his aching feet and gasped.
A Pokémon was barreling down the hill, gaining momentum with each step it took. It looked somewhat like an otter standing on its hind legs, but it had orange fur and a tan belly, something Jay had never seen on an otter. It had a yellow ring around its neck and appeared to have two tails. Jay recognized it as a Buizel.
"Coming through!" the Buizel cried. Its voice was rather high-pitched but definitely male.
Aria stepped out of the way of the otter and motioned for Jay to move. Buizel was racing straight towards him, and he was running too fast to stop.
Jay tried to get out of the way, but he couldn't move: the package was weighing him down and preventing agile movement. He tried to sidestep the Buizel but couldn't do much—he almost tripped over his feet.
Jay closed his eyes and braced for the impact.
The Buizel ran into him with a loud "WAH!" He fell to the ground and felt the package fall from his hands. Buizel's body was on top of him, and as he struggled to get up, he earned a kick in the face.
"Oh! I'm so sorry," Buizel said as he felt his foot connect with his face.
"Urgh… Get off of me!" Jay said harshly.
"Yes! I'm sorry…" Buizel added quickly.
Jay felt the otter pull himself off his body. He rubbed his face and moaned as pain pulsed in his snout. He placed his arms on the ground and pushed himself up, blinking his eyes.
When his vision cleared, he found himself facing Aria. A concerned look was on her face, but she couldn't hide a slight smile. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"Y-yeah…" he said absently. He was still dizzy from falling and being kicked in the face, but he was at least off the ground. He rubbed his head again and felt a knot on his left side—was his impact on the ground really that hard?
He turned around until he faced the Buizel, which was looking guiltily at the package on the ground. "I'm really sorry, dude… I just couldn't change paths in time," he said.
"You'd better be sorry. I'm not in the best mood right now… Being run over and being kicked in the face isn't a very good start to your day," Jay grumbled.
Buizel stepped back, his eyes widening in surprise. Jay earned a swift slap from Aria, but even she looked defensive. "Yeah… He gets that way when he's really angry," she said.
"I'm so sorry… Hey, how about I pick up this package for you?" Buizel asked, noticing the partially squashed box.
"I could use the help. That thing weighs a million tons!" Jay said, flexing his sore arms.
Buizel bent down and wrapped his hands around the box. He strained under the weight as he picked it up, but in only a few seconds, he had accomplished the task. He lifted the package up and held it possessively against his chest, panting from the effort.
"Thanks!" Jay said. He held out his hands, clearly asking for him to hand the package back.
When Buizel didn't hand it back, Jay began to get suspicious. "Ahem… It would be nice if you could give me the package…" he said, his voice rising to a dangerous edge. Jay could feel Aria tense behind him, and a quick glance revealed that her tail was pointed straight up and her eyes were alert.
Buizel didn't say anything and refused to hand over the package. His grip tightened on it, making it even more squished than it already was.
"Give it back or I'll bite your head off!" Jay threatened.
It was an empty threat; even if he wanted to, he was still too weak to do anything in the way of fighting. However, a flicker of fear did slide across Buizel's face before being replaced with a sneer.
"Man, Flygon is really getting desperate, isn't she?" he said.
"What do you mean?" Aria demanded.
"She let two idiots join her guild… Even Snorlax's Guild has higher standards!" Buizel guffawed.
"Are you calling us idiots?" Jay cried.
"Why, yes. You just fell for the oldest trick in the book… If someone offers to pick something up for you, never trust them!" Buizel said.
Before either of them could respond, Buizel turned around and sped off in the opposite direction, the package still tucked in his arms. His two tails spun like propellers, and despite the heavy package he was carrying, he was surprisingly fast.
Once Aria had recovered from her shock, she stamped the ground and swore viciously. "That little—! I should've known!" she screamed.
"What?" Jay asked stupidly.
"Can't you tell?! He's a criminal! He just stole our package! He just stole Flygon's package!" she yelled, punctuating every word with a slap.
Jay felt an unexplained rage flare up inside him, but it faded just as quickly to be replaced by a deflated feeling. He slumped forward and sighed, kicking a pebble on the ground. "Whoop-de-doo. We can't get one simple errand right, can we?" he mumbled.
"Snap out of it, man. It stinks to have something stolen from us, but we can get it back! You can bite his head off if it makes you feel better," Aria said firmly.
"But the Guildmaster said to report back to her soon… She'll worry if we don't get back to her…" he said.
"Since when did you care about the Guildmaster?!" Aria glanced around and noticed all the funny looks she was getting; she quickly looked to the ground and grumbled.
"We should be honest with her. We failed, and we shouldn't try to hide it," Jay said dejectedly.
Aria opened her mouth to say something, but she sighed and closed it almost immediately. "Be right back," she said.
She ran over to the Kecleons, who wore identical expressions of shock on their faces. Jay could hear them stuttering in surprise—clearly, they had just witness the robbery.
"Tell the Guildmaster what happened. Don't try and sugarcoat it—tell her that we were robbed. If she wonders where we are, tell her we're robbing it back. You got that?" she said urgently.
The Kecleons quickly recovered from their surprise and nodded profusely, their eyes still wide with terror. "Yes, ma'am," the green Kecleon said meekly.
Aria ran back to Jay without another word. "There! Now that we've gotten that taken care of… let's go! The more we talk, the further he gets!" she cried.
One more slap to the face snapped Jay out of his stupor. Though he was still uncertain about the whole plan, he knew one thing for certain: he was going to give Buizel a piece of his mind.
This is where it gets real… Yesterday was just a warm up, and now, we've got our first exam!
Aria took off running in the direction that Buizel escaped. Jay followed behind her, nervousness and excitement coursing through his body.
XxX
The field beyond Trader's Village was hilly and grassy. A few wildflowers popped up, and occasionally, a lone pine tree would sprout from the ground. The sun was burning overhead, though it didn't seem as hot as yesterday. A few clouds floated overhead.
Aria led the way, following some imprints in the long grass. "That's the thing about grass… If you look carefully enough, you can see imprints in the grass. Buizel will never know what's coming!" she said.
Jay looked carefully in the grass and found that she was right—the grass was periodically stamped down, indicating footprints from him and Aria.
"Plus, even if there weren't any footprints, I think I'd know where he's going—Echo Cave," Aria said.
"Echo Cave?" Jay asked.
"It's a popular hideout for criminals. It leads from one side of the region to the other, and the Pokémon in there aren't very strong—just a couple of Whismur. Lots of thieves go there to avoid capture," Aria explained.
"And you know this… how?" Jay asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"When you've been an explorer as long as I have, you know things," Aria replied without looking back.
A few minutes of silence passed. Jay began to cramp up from running so much, but when he slowed down even a little bit, Aria would insist that he keep running. The meadow never seemed to end, and the sun seemed to grow hotter by the second.
"Urgh… Are we there yet?" Jay moaned as he dragged his feet behind him.
"Almost. If you look closely, you can see a pile of rocks up ahead—that's Echo Cave. If my calculations are correct, Buizel should be somewhere in there…" Aria said.
Squinting closely, Jay found that indeed, there was a pile of white rocks several yards ahead. There was a small opening in the rocks that presumably led underground. Jay picked up his pace—surely there would be some shade underground.
A few seconds later, they reached the rock pile. The opening was even smaller than Jay had thought, and he wasn't even sure if he could fit through.
He was snapped out of his thoughts by a strange sound from the tunnel. It sounded like something—or someone—was yelling inside. The eerie sound echoed off the walls and filtered out of the small cave, giving Jay the shivers.
"Don't worry, those are just the Whismur. They sound big and scary, but that's only because their voices echo off the walls. There's a reason why this place is called 'Echo Cave', Aria explained as she noted Jay's discomfort.
"What the heck is a Whismur?" Jay asked.
"You'll see. Now, let's go! The longer we wait, the further that slimeball gets!" Aria said.
Jay glanced nervously at the small opening. His head looked like it was way too big to fit in it. He tried to go in feet-first, and he got about halfway in before getting stuck.
"Are you stuck?" Aria asked.
"What's it look like? Of course I'm stuck!" he said.
Without another word, Aria shoved his head forward. The sudden movement made Jay scream, but it did the trick—he slid through the hole and fell down into darkness, falling on the rocky ground a few feet below.
Aria jumped in after him, landing on her feet a few inches away. Jay moaned and struggled to his knees, rubbing his chin, which had gotten scraped as he fell down.
He looked around and couldn't see much of his surroundings; the only light came from above, and even though the sun's rays were bright, they still didn't do much to light up the cave.
"Well, here we are… I seriously hope I'm right about this, because if I'm not, we just ran all that way for nothing," she said.
"But how will we see? It's super dark in here!" Jay cried, peering into the blackness ahead.
"Your eyes will adjust. Let's get going!" Aria said.
Jay took one last nervous look at the light above, his stomach writhing. He was uncertain about taking on a criminal two days after he arrived in this world…
"Let's get this over with," he said.
He clenched his hands into fists and barred his teeth. Then he stepped forward into the darkness, Aria following a few paces behind.
Soon, the soft light from the sun had vanished, leaving them in complete darkness. Jay was at first not used to this, but as time went on, he found that his eyes did indeed adjust to the darkness. He could vaguely see Aria following behind him.
From what he could gather, the cave was more of a maze than anything. The underground passages twisted and turned without warning. More than once, Jay found himself walking into a wall. Aria would giggle for a moment but then fall quiet.
Thirty minutes in, Jay found their first enemy: a Whismur. It was small and a light lavender hue, and it had two light yellow "antennae" on its head. Its mouth was slightly agape and its eyes were four lines.
Jay couldn't hide his panic. He had never battled before, and he was not at all ready to fight. Although the Whismur didn't look too threatening, he was still nervous.
"Don't worry, dude. You got this! Just use one of your moves!" Aria said.
"My moves?" Jay echoed.
"I don't have time to give you a whole lesson now, but you can do it! Just focus really hard and it'll just come to you!" Aria replied.
Jay closed his eyes and blocked everything out, focusing on a "move" to use. He didn't want to do anything too violent—he didn't know if he had the strength or the heart to harm a Pokémon too much.
When he opened his eyes, he knew what to do.
He lunged forward at the Whismur, who cowered in fear. He leapt on it and dragged his claws across its body, surprised to see little drops of blood seeping through three scratches.
The Whismur gasped and let out a small squeak. Jay backed off, feeling rather sick to his stomach. He had just hurt a creature, an innocent little creature with no intent on harming him. Was it the right thing to do?
"Great job, Jay!" Aria said.
The Whismur tried to scoot away as Aria bared down on it, but the creature didn't have time. Aria sank her teeth into its neck. It let out a small whimper and tried to struggle, but its body fell still and turned pale.
Jay gagged. "Ugh… That was disgusting!" he screamed.
"You're gonna have to get used to it if you wanna be a good explorer," Aria said simply.
She leapt over the Whismur's body and continued down the tunnel. Jay hesitated, feeling as though he should do something about the Whismur, but he didn't know what he could do…
He shrugged it off. Maybe it'll feel better soon…
He continued after Aria, trying not to look at the unconscious Pokémon he left behind.
Jay struggled with himself, wondering if what he did was right. It wasn't going to do anything to him; it almost looked incapable of attack. So why had he lunged forward to attack it…?
His question was answered when they encountered another Whismur. He didn't want to attack it like he did the last one, so he backed up and cowered behind Aria. His partner sighed and lunged forward, tackling the Whismur to the ground.
Jay winced; he expected that the poor creature was going to fall unconscious again. But a whole other story was starting to unfold right before his eyes.
Whismur had not been defeated; it was hanging onto a threat, barely on its feet. It opened its mouth, and Aria backed up, shooting a glare at Jay. Her ears flattened against her head as the Whismur finished opening its mouth.
The small creature let out an impossibly loud screech that was seemingly amplified by the echoing walls. Jay was so surprised that he stumbled back, pressing his hands against his skull to block out the terrible noise that was emanating from all around. Yet no matter what he did, he could still hear the horrible screech piercing his brain…
Finally, it stopped. Jay opened his eyes and was surprised to find that he was lying on the ground. His arms hurt from pressing against his head. The Whismur was standing there like nothing had happened.
He blinked, and all his indecision melted away. Aria was right: if he wanted to be a successful explorer—or even survive—he needed to fight. If he didn't make the first move, his enemy would…
He leapt at the Whismur and scratched it again. This was enough to finish it off; with a dull thump, the lavender creature fell to the ground.
Aria was staring daggers at him. "We wouldn't have had to listen to that if you had just moved first!" she cried.
"I know, I know… I was just uncertain about hurting such innocent creatures—"
"You call that innocent?!" Aria cried.
"Let's just go…" Jay said.
"You're right. We can finish this conversation later; we've got a mystery dungeon to explore!" Aria said, her voice dropping to a whisper.
Through the rest of their journey, they encountered many more Whismurs. They defeated most of them before they could attack, but once or twice one would sneak in and knock Jay or Aria down. Luckily, none of them screamed again.
Without conversation to distract him, Jay found himself hearing strange things. He could hear the quiet footsteps of him and Aria as they traversed down the tunnel. Sometimes, he'd hear a drop of water hit the ground. One time, he could've sworn he heard someone scream… but surely that was just his imagination… right?
He often heard whispers or similar noises, and while they were certainly unnerving, Aria assured him that it was just the Whismur. "Even though they are capable of screaming very loud," she explained, "most of the time, they're quiet as a mouse."
The ambience was actually rather peaceful for Jay. It was a nice break from the noisiness of the guild and Trader's Village, and though it was still rather spooky, he found himself strangely relaxed.
It was about two hours before anything of note happened. While they were making their way down another one of the endless passages, Aria's ears suddenly perked up. She stuck her nose high into the air and started sniffing for something.
"What's up? Do you hear something?" Jay whispered.
"Yeah… I can smell him. Buizel. He's been down here… I don't think he's too far away!" she replied, her nose still high in the air.
Jay was shocked by Aria's receptiveness. He couldn't smell anything, save for the muskiness of the cave. How had his partner been able to pick out the scent of a Pokémon? "How can you…?"
"I'm incredibly receptive. I think it's just part of me. But when you're an explorer, you kind of need these things…" Aria said.
She turned away from her partner, her tail twitching nervously. "Be prepared to fight. He could be right around the corner…" Her voice dropped to a whisper and she cautiously stepped forward.
Jay felt the need for stealth as well, and he quieted his breathing and stood on his tiptoes. He clenched his hands into fists and narrowed his eyes as his heart raced in excitement.
Aria took the lead for a few minutes. She walked with her nose in the air, occasionally stopping to sniff the air or listen for something. Jay guarded the back, making sure Buizel wasn't trying to sneak up behind them. They continued this way for several minutes until they reached a branching path.
Aria turned down each path and sniffed a few times, but she seemed unsatisfied. She continued to glance down the halls while Jay looked on.
Finally, Aria turned back to Jay and sighed. "I don't know where he is now…" she said glumly.
Jay's stomach dropped. "You lost him?" he asked.
"What part about 'I don't know where he is' do you not understand?! I lost him, okay?!" Aria snapped. When she noticed the surprised look on Jay's face, she backed up and softened. "I-I'm sorry, Jay. I just don't know what to do now…"
He looked into the crestfallen face of his partner and felt the strange desire to help her. He got down on his knees and prepared for a heart-to-heart, but something caught his eye.
His head snapped up and he leapt to his feet, his hands clenched into fists. Aria was so shocked that she forgot to be sad; she gasped and whipped around, following Jay's gaze. "What was that?"
Jay held up a hand to silence his partner. He knew he wasn't imagining things; he had seen someone down the left tunnel.
Hurried footsteps followed, and heavy breathing could be heard. He blinked hard and saw a flash of orange fur.
"Aria?" he whispered.
"Yeah?" Aria replied.
He could see him coming from several yards away. Buizel was stammering forward, the package clutched tightly in his hands. His eyes were wide and he was gasping for air. When he saw Aria and Jay, he screeched to a stop.
"I think we just found him…"
Before either of them could say a word, Buizel whirled around and raced away, stumbling over his legs.
"Let's go!" Aria cried.
She bolted ahead of Jay, all four of her legs scampering to keep up with him. He was about to follow her, but before he did, he stopped and began to think.
Time seemed to slow down as his mind raced to think of a plan. He's much faster than both of us, even with that heavy package… so pursuing him won't do us any good… What can we do…?
Buizel was almost out of sight by the time he came up with a good game plan. Instead of pursuing the thief, Jay cupped his hands to his mouth and cried after him: "Get back here, coward! Stand and fight!"
Aria seemed to sense his plan, and she turned around and made her way back to her partner. "Good idea," she said as she flashed him a split-second smile. Jay returned the smile but quickly returned his focus to his enemy.
Buizel skittered to a stop again. He turned around, and even from a distance, Jay could see fire in his eyes. He felt a thrill of excitement; he had intended to enrage his foe, and it seemed to be working.
"I AM NOT A COWARD!" Buizel screamed.
He tossed the package aside and barreled towards the team, his paws outstretched. Jay didn't have room to evade the attack, but he did manage to duck just as the weasel reached him. Buizel ended up tripping over Jay, and he lost his balance and fell a few feet away.
Jay got up and brushed the dirt off his snout. Aria nodded in approval. "Nice one. Not the way I would've done it, but…"
"Graaaah!" Buizel roared as he shakily got to his feet. "You must think you're so clever, huh? Well, guess what? Your cleverness runs out now! Guildmaster Haxorus trains us harder than you can imagine, and I'm not gonna let myself fall over you idiots!" he cried.
Aria growled and pawed the ground. Jay remembered her animosity with Haxorus's Guild, and he felt a bitter taste in his mouth.
"You are sadly mistaken, Buizel. You're the stupid one. See, for telling me that, you've made me angry. And when I'm angry, somebody loses their head," Aria said, her voice a deadly calm.
Buizel gulped, but he held his ground. His eyes narrowed and he growled: "Enough chat… If you say you're as strong as you think you are, show it!"
He charged the explorers again, and this time, Jay had no time to react. He fell to the ground as Buizel tackled him. His head hit the ground hard, and a spasm of pain shot through him.
The thief was holding him to the ground, and when Jay's vision cleared, he could see a crazed smile on his face. He tried to wrestle his way out of Buizel's hold, but his assailant held firm. He raised a hand up above his head and prepared to hit him.
Jay winced, expecting a swift slap across the face, but it never came.
The weight on his chest suddenly vanished. He opened his eyes a crack, and when he did, he discovered that Aria had managed to tackle Buizel off. The two were engaged in combat a few feet away, and though Buizel was fighting hard, Aria appeared to have the upper hand.
Jay caught Aria's eye for a brief moment. She grinned, just enough to reassure him that she was okay. She located the squished package, which was lying by her feet as the two battled. She nodded towards it, then ducked to avoid Buizel's swinging hand.
Jay got the message. He slowly made his way towards the brawlers, inching closer and closer to the package. Buizel was focused on Aria, who was still engaged with him, so he didn't notice that the box which he had worked so hard to retrieve was now being taken back.
Jay summoned all his strength and picked up the box. Initially, he buckled under the weight, but with a grunt, he managed to straighten up and hold on tight to it. He still didn't know what was in it, but he had other things to worry about.
Buizel was on his last straw. He moved slower and breathed in short gasps. He could barely block Aria's rapid-fire attacks, and he couldn't do to counter them. Jay wanted desperately to help out, but he could barely hold onto the box; fighting would be too difficult.
Luckily, he didn't need to help—Aria finally bested him. Buizel fell to the ground, and Aria towered over him. Jay almost felt sorry for the poor guy; he was cut in many places and looked positively terrified… but then he remembered that he was a criminal, and the feeling passed.
Buizel had been reduced to a stammering mess. He desperately choked out pleas to Aria: "No no no… I'll do anything, please… d-don't hurt me…"
Aria examined Buizel like he was a science experiment about to be dissected. Her eyes didn't show a glint of mercy—they were as black as night. However, she smiled sweetly and leaned in close to Buizel. "When you get back to that nasty guild of yours, I want you to tell them that Aria did this to you. Got that, pipsqueak?" she whispered.
Buizel sighed. His whole body seemed to relax, though his breathing was still quick. "I-I understand… I won't forget…" he said.
Aria smiled. "Thank you!" she chided.
Before Buizel could do anything, she smacked him across the cheek. He recoiled in surprise and fear, but he nodded all the same. "I'm sorry… I'll never do this again! I promise!"
Aria finally got off him, and he got to his feet and ran off, blubbering his apologies.
She turned to Jay, who wore an expression of mixed shock and admiration. "Whoa… That was awesome!" he said.
"Thank you. Like I said, just because I'm a 'frilly pink cat' doesn't mean I can't kick butt," she said with a teasing smile. She eyed the box and nodded. "I see you have the package?" she noted.
"Yep. And it's about time, too," he said.
"You said it," Aria replied.
"Anyway, let's get out of here before Buizel decides to come back for round two… though I'm sure you could take him again," Jay said.
"That guy? Psh, he was a piece of cake. We'd better get something more challenging for tomorrow!" Aria said indifferently.
Jay nodded, though he silently thought that this was challenging enough.
He brought his hand up to his Explorer Badge and tapped it lightly. Aria did the same, and the column of light descended on them again. Everything went white as his feet left the ground, and the two explorers were teleported out of Echo Cave.
XxX
When the light faded, Jay found himself in front of the guild, safe and sound. Aria was right next to him, stretching her legs and shaking her head. The package was still in his arms, weighing him down quite a bit. He still felt weary from the battle with Buizel, but as he looked up at the guild, he couldn't help but feel calm.
The sky was dark and full of stars, and Jay began to wonder just how long they were gone. It only felt like a few hours, and it was only morning when they began their chase…
"Jay… Aria…"
His head snapped towards the source of the voice. He stepped back in shock when he realized who had spoken.
Krokorok was standing just inside the guild, his arms folded. His mouth was twisted into a low frown, and his eyes shone even in the dark light of the night.
XxX
DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUN! Krokorok's back! (I'm sure you guys were just dying to see him again. *sarcasm*)
I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to review!