Seconds after Bisharp marches out of office a second pair of footsteps comes trotting forth, flip flopping into sight. It is a Prinplup, some water-type who looks terribly out of place wearing a yellow cravat and carrying what appears to be a piece of bamboo around his waist. After chattering to the lady behind the counter, the Gothitelle points to Honchkrow's way, and the Prinplup makes eye contact - his eyes absolutely glowing the all uppity curiosity of a young explorer.
The boy comes hopping forwards, immediately sliding himself in the couch across from him like a worm. A childish smile spreads over his beak as he leans in, all bright and eager to learn from the old Krow.
"Hey! My name is Prinn, I'm from the Scholar's Guild. I'm looking for someone." He explains, the smile not fading. "Since you have eyes all over, I was told to come see you. I figured you of all the people in Halfway Rock would know where the guy we're looking for has gone to."
Of course he is from a guild. Honchkrow puts on his show face, glancing at this Prinn fellow with the resting smirk of a businessman.
"That I am, son." Honchkrow assures. "I have eyes and ears all over this Continent. My sons however, have a wee bit of a memory problem. Only the glistening shine of coins jogs their memories these days. I'm sure a fellow like you understands."
"Yeah, I understand!"
The kid says this without pause or fuss. He is truly one of those explorer types, looking for adventure and saving those in need with zero regard as to their wallet. Kids like him are foolish as well as exploitable, this Prinn kid is a veritble money fountain whether he realises or not. Just how much can Honchkrow wring out of him?
"A thousand." Honchkrow says off the cuff. "A thousand would do nice. With this my boys could buy a nice meal and remember everything there is a fellow like you would know."
He did not anticipate the boy to outright slam a whole purse of coins onto the desk and hand him the thousand he demanded without question. The smile across his face tells him everything Honchkrow needs to know. If he demands any higher than this, then it is going to be way more than just his and this one explorer's problem.
Honchkow swipes the coins, sliding it into his big feathery crest where he stows most of his money. A thousand coins in exchange for information. This kid means business.
"So what information do you need, son?" Honchkrow asks, dusting his feathers. "Looking for a criminal to beat up, does someone owe your guild money?"
"No, I hope they don't." The boy shakes his head adamantly. "I'm looking for a missing person, that's all. He is a bird named Xatu. When we heard he came this way I knew to come to you. There is no way your Krows could not have seen someone like him flying by, right sir?"
Xatu, Honchkrow has heard this name somewhere. It is something to do with the guild by Calico Town, other than this, he has no idea who this person is. The hundreds of eyes he has in the sky on the other hand who go from guild to guild might say different things. Honchkrow flutters off his seat, and looks to the one of many maintenance holes in the ceiling for his Krows to come to and fro.
"Wait right here, son. I'll be right back with everything you need to hear about this Xatu man."
He wakes up with a warm spot on his chest. Celebi, the fairy thing, was using him as a pillow in exchange for spilling her secrets. She probably went fluttering off before Masters could ask where she was all night. Whiskey is still beside him, curled up into the awkward position he was earlier, his head pointed to where he is as if waiting for his rider's queue to depart from this Wherever Continent.
Some things happened to his sleep-deprived self last night best kept to himself, and honestly, he would have it this way. Kind, loving strangers like her come once in the blue moon. Celebi, for as all powerful as she was, still cares about the woes of a low-brow mortal down on his luck. It is no wonder Masters has a fondness for her. No one can understand the inner machinations of these legendary fellows, but this Celebi person is an outlier, he feels it in his chest.
And what she told him last night liners on his mind.t. Mega Evolution, a power requiring a Mega Stone - a crystal made from the heart of a Lucario before him. He had no idea how these things can be made, or how he can find one without sacrificing one of his own, but were he to get his mitts this artefact he could possibly achieve a power beyond imagination
She entrusted this knowledge to him because she believes he alone could save her darling Masters from a wretched fate. The question is how; how would he even find a Mega Stone yet alone activate it? Celebi believes in him, believes him so much as to sleep in his arms wishing him only the best on his journey.
He does not pray to anyone, really. Honchkrow was in between, praying to Winter and Summer equally and cursing them equally as well, but if he were the type he would most certainly pray to Celebi in thanks.
Dusting himself and soaking up the warm spot on his muzzle with his cloak, Lucario stands up. As spry as the day he was born, Lucario nudges Whiskey with his foot.
"We're going soon." Lucario says with certainty. "I'm gonna wake up Masters downstairs."
The rapidash squints his eyes, looking up at his lord.
"Sire." He speaks. "What about your legs?"
"I'm fine." Lucario answers, staning up on his feet.. "The lady here fixed me up last night. You weren't awake for any of it, but I would not be walking weren't it for her."
He remembers hearing something akin to bells, and that is about it, whatever Celebi did she had fixed his wary muscles in their entirety and he can walk without folding over like a piece of parchment. Lucario gives his legs a dramatic shake. Whiskey looks on with confusion.
"Don't worry about me." Lucario assures. "Get your act together and I'll see you after I talk to 'M"
"Understood, Sire Lucario."
He chuckles. Sire Lucario, maybe he can get used to the name after all. He gives his steed a farewell, travelling down the long staircase opposite of the cavernous road. Stomping his way down the side of the pyramid he finds himself surrounded by bright pink trees, their petals blowing in the wind like snowfall. Walking down the path between the flowering trees reveals a fountain and a shelter with two figures inside.
Masters is there sleeping on his side with Celebi clenched in his arms. Both pokemon stir upon hearing his footsteps, and it is the tired old ghost who notices him first.
"Luc?" Masters stirs to life. "What are you doing here?"
"Waking you up." Lucario stomps forwards, pulling on Masters' dangling arm. "Are you gonna get up or am I gonna have to drag you out of bed?"
"I will." The Typhlosion hisses, violently shaking his arm free. "J-just give me a…"
"We don't have time. We need to find those Time Gears 'M! Tag along or be left in the dust, I don't care which."
"W-What…aren't we ahea?" The Typhlosion blinks, watching Lucario begin tearing through the camp, looking under every bottle, rock and thing not nailed to the ground. "What are you lookin for, Luc?"
Good question. Before he can further trash the place a smaller voice interrupts him..
"It's not here, Lucario." Celebi flutters towards him. In her hands is a bottle full of pinkish fluid she offers. "Need some Persim? You seem confused."
Lucario swipes the bottle. He wets his beak, slopping himself on the fountain's ledge with a defeated grunt.
"I thought you said…"
"I said had* an idea where one could be, I didn't say I had one." The fairy laughs, sitting down next to him. "Did you think I was gonna keep a Mega Stone from you?"
"A what?"
Masters speaks up, rolling off the bed onto his feet. He begins dressing without breaking eye contact.
"She said Mega Stone" Lucario snarls "Suddenly hard of hearing, 'M?"
"I know what Mega Stones are, Lucario, I know what Mega Evolution is." Masters ties his cowl back on. "Mega Evolution is one of those things better left off the table, I didn't think you were desperate
"I'm not. I just want a full hand of cards." Lucario glances at the fairy. "Did you leave something out, Pinkie?"
"You were only interested in Mega Stones, Luc." Her antennae flicker. "The other methods I mentioned have some…erm…serious drawbacks. Mega Stones are finicky, I know they involve needing a friend. Considering your pals with Cole then the answer's obvious."
"And where can I find one?"
"Probably in a guild." She looks towards Masters with glee in her eyes. "It should be easy for you, right Cole?"
"Right." He sighs, approaching the two on the fountain. Lucario offers him the bottle and he takes a big thirsty swig. "I told you what happened to me. I lost my wealth, my home, my badge. If I could go back to the guild, I would have. I don't have it in me, Celebi."
Celebi nods quietly. Lucario gives his two pals confused looks.
"So what now?"
"Plan two." Masters says, leaning down. He takes out a Time Gear and extends his other hand to the fairy. "Celebi?"
She takes his hand into hers, gripping him tight. Masters' breath slows, his eyes close. He shudders in paind and then everything for him stops. One minute, two minutes pass. Then like being pulled out of a river, Masters comes back to life exhausted.
He gives Celebi a look of reassurance, and she pulls away. Masters looks at the gear with disgust before stuffing it out of sight. This time however, before Masters can brush the whole thing off, Lucario butts in.
"You wanna tell me what you did this time?" Lucario points to Masters' hand. "Is that the scream you're talking about?"
"Dimensional Scream." He finally confirms. "This isn't the first time I went looking for Time Gears. I gained the ability due to a series of unfortunate events, and my proximity to those temporal objects. Celebi would be happy to explain it all to you if you want to talk her ear off; we need to get going."
Celebi smiles up at Lucario. She kept him up a whole hour talking about time-things and this Mega Evolution thing: about how acquiring one is extremely rare, how getting it to Mega Evolve was just as finicky. It is as she says, Mega Stones need a strong bond for them to work. If she is to be trusted, then he already fulfills one of those elusive critera.
This Dimensional Scream must be the same in this regard, why else would Masters need to be holding her hand for it to activate in the first place? Why else would he be so afraid of the most simple touch.
Questions, he supposes, he can save for the way back. Feeling the mostly empty pack still attached to his back and the cold metal gear tied around his neck, Lucario turns around, giving her a beckoning nod.
"Come on, you can tell me all about this Scream thing on the way back." He glances at Masters. "And where is the gear this time, 'M?"
Masters looks off, over and away from the pyramid.
"We passed it a day ago."
"You told him?"
The squawk of a familiar Murkrow rings out through the chaos and mess of Honchkrow's office. Every side is a wall full of tiny cupboards, thus making the already small space seem even more closed in. The Murkrow squawking at him is not helping. Honchkrow, looking through stacks of fresh mai, glares from behind his desk.
"Who? The Prinplup boy or Bisharp?" Honchkrow grunts. "Complying with guilds with missing persons is common sense, boy. Helps with our image and makes the world think we're trustworthy - which we are."
Honchkrow says this knowing the pile of opened and re-sealed envelopes grows higher by the hour. He still has a Ponyta in this race. He will find another gear, not for the bounty's sake. The gears have a power to them, one he had the fortune of wielding for a short few hours. There has to be a reason - more than his boss' obsession with things of old - to pursue them relentlessly. And since when did Boss get the money to set out such a ridiculous bounty?
He has some amount of overview on her finances. She is rich enough to afford artefacts like those in her Musuem of an office; she is not wealthy enough to drop thousands upon thousands of coins on this competition out of seemingly nowhere. Unless she has had this plan concocted for ages, which she has made little mention of in all his time working with her, then there has to be an explanation for her recent influx of coins outside of her "saving up" in secret. She hasn't even sold a single one of her dozens of artefacts.
Either the hunt is getting to his head or there is something dodgy afoot not even he is privy to. As the underboss and patriarch to his family, he owes it to his boys to keep them safe. Anything which could possibly pose a threat to their clutch over their livelihoods Honchkrow is obligated to deal with.
"If the person who did me in is still with Lucario, then I have no problem telling Bisharp he ran off towards Lapis Town." Honchkrow fetches a pen from his desk, marking off one of hundreds of envelopes with a tiny inconspicuous tick. "It's better than having his family harass us. Bisharp's men have no honour, he would do anything to get you to squawk, and I'd rather not have to bury one of my own boys."
He slides the marked letter off into a pile with a few others. A gear was supposedly found and stolen from a place called Basalt Lake; some fellows from Calico Town failed to retrieve it. Counting the one Lucario failed to hide from him, there are three out there. He needs to find the one place nobody has searched and these letters are him narrowing things down place by place.
"Flaskk, boy." Honchkrow sighs, addressing the Murkrow directly. "Since you like questions so much, can I ask you one myself?"
The Mukrow lands opposite of his desk, careful not to tip over the pillars of parchment. He squawks.
"Yes, go ahead boss!"
"I did you a big favour by looking for my Son in the first place. What he did to you was wrong, and we failed to get back at him. I can't say whether or not he put you in mortal danger on purpose. You were lucky it was a Guildie hunting him at Pyrite Passage, and I'm lucky it was a guildie who buddied up with him." Honchkrow recollects, sighing in shame. "Luck does not last forever, neither should grudges."
"Sir?" The Mukrow tilts his head, hopping a teeny bit closer.
"I have something I want to start looking for. I'm not going after my Son, nor Bisharp, it's something I want to do on my own." He points a wing at the smaller Krow. "Can you keep things running here when I'm gone? It's not something I can do on the side, I need my full attention to get to the bottom of this. I can run you through how I handle the dailies if you need the assistance."
The Murkrow pretends to mull this over. Honchkrow has already done so much for the boy there is no way Flaskk can decline this without bringing dishonour to himself. So of course, after his little show of fake deliberation, the Murkow nods its head enthusiastically.
"Yes sir! When do I start!"
The old Krow chuckles.
"Not just yet, son. I'll let you know." He waves to the door. "Now scram, you're spoiling my focus."
Without a word, the Murkrow nods his head and hops off the desk, leaving out of the murkrow-sized flap in the door. Silence returns to his office as Honchkrow continues his work from now until his Insomnia releases its grip on him.
He will get to the bottom of all of this: he will discover the Boss' reason for this hunt, find a gear for himself, and uncover just what purpose these temporal gears have. Nothing as powerful as they are can ever be good.