Cody was awake before his alarm, nerves had prevented him from sleeping properly. The weekend had been a blur for him from training with Keldeo; mostly just getting used to the new body that he gained when he transformed, the strength, the speed, the powers, it was all a rush. His mind turned back to the mission that Keldeo had for him today.
"We need to find others that will take on the mantle of the other swordsmen: Terrakion and Virizion." Keldeo said, carefully handing the other two medallions to Cody last night.
"Asking high school students to save the world…" Cody muttered to himself "That's a lot to ask of us."
"I know that." Keldeo huffed "But we don't have a lot of options, or a lot of time. Kyurem wasted a lot of energy bringing Tornadus here. It's why it's been quiet the last couple of days. But he's going to be attacking again soon. I just know it." Keldeo looked to Cody "He's not gonna stop until I'm captured, and he'll do worse to you." Keldeo looked down "I can't do this alone. Getting Terrakion and Virizion back will help us."
Cody sighed, brushing his thin hand through his short black hair "I know you're right. It's just a lot." Cody stopped "So who should I get to take the medallions?"
Keldo's brow furrowed in thought "Humans you trust, ideally. Maybe you have some friends you could ask?"
Cody bit his lip, did he tell Keldeo that his only friends were online and really far away too? He couldn't really call anyone at school a friend.
"I…" Cody began "I'll go to school tomorrow and see what I can do." Cody picked up his pace, not wanting to look at Keldeo "I'm gonna get going."
"Oh uh...alright." Cody was relieved Keldeo was not following "I'll be at the usual hiding spot. Meet me tonight with your friends!" Keldeo ran across the beach, back to where they met the first time.
Cody was dreading going to school today, the excitement of it being the final week of school being overshadowed by what happened. He got dressed in his usual attire; his denim fur-lined jacket, khaki shorts, and black sneakers. He shook the bed head out of his short black hair and called it good enough. He mused maybe going to school early could help out scope potential people to rope into saving the world. Cody grimaced at the morbid thought behind that.
"Cody?" he stopped when he heard his mother call him, just as he was about to walk outside the door. She was sitting at the small kitchen table, nursing a cup of coffee. "Before you go to school, can we talk?"
"Uh. Yeah. Sure." Cody walked towards the table "Everything alright?"
"I know you've been going out at night." his mother said plainly. Cody blinked, not wanting to have an overt reaction "I don't know what you're doing but…" Cody's mother looked to him "I just want to make sure you're safe...what are you doing?"
"I…" Cody paused, dreading his mother's reaction if he told her everything that happened this weekend, the fighting, the transformation "I made a new friend is all." technically the truth "We like hanging out on the beach is all."
There was a long pause, Cody's mother taking a long sip of her mug. Cody began to sweat, hoping his mother would just accept the answer and he could get going.
"Oh." Cody's mother smiled, making Cody sigh in relief "It's nice to hear you're making friends. Well, real life friends. Not those online people."
"Yeah…" Cody smiled flatly. Those online people were still his friends, even if they were rude yesterday.
"And it's good to know you're going out instead of being glued to the screen all the time." Cody's mother continued rambling. Cody moaned, inching towards the door.
"Yup. Sorry for making you worry. Probably going to be seeing them tonight too. So I'll be out late again. Love you bye!" Cody quickly opened and closed the door behind him, barely making out the farewell from his mother. Cody briskly walked away from his house, before sighing. That was awkward, he was just glad that answer was good enough for her. Shaking his head, he made his way to school.
School had a tense, excitable energy about it. Afterall, this was the last week of school, then it was finals week, and then it was summer vacation. It was a lot to take in, but Cody's mind was elsewhere. He had spent the whole school day scoping out people that could have been potential candidates for the other medallions. But with his not knowing them personally, coupled with the awkward question that followed, he sat frozen in his seat most of the time, just awkwardly staring at the potential individuals.
Joey? Friendly and outgoing, but he was moving away at the end of the summer.
Luke? Strong heart, but he was enlisting in the army after school.
Simon? Laid back and approachable, but maybe he was too laid back.
Most of the other students panned out the same. Cody could definitely see some positive trait that showed potential. But he was always second guessed himself, finding some fault that could be a waste if they weren't a good fit.
The whole day was wasted, he reached into his school locker and pulled out his satchel that still had the medallions in them. He had kept his medallion around his neck, on the off chance Kyurem decided to attack while he was at school. But when Kyurem didn't even bother to attack, it felt extra wasteful. He was going to have to come clean to Keldeo then, just admit he didn't have anyone here to call upon to take a medallion. Maybe Keldeo could scope out some people in town to join.
"Hey, nerd!" Cody froze when he heard that voice. To his horror, turning around showed him Terrence, still the same stocky built jock that bullied him every now and then. He was wearing one of his letterman jackets, to which sport, Cody didn't care to know. He wasn't too keen on getting to know the one who tormented him. It was only him and Terrence in the hallway right now, everyone else was already funneling out "You busy?"
Cody blinked at the casual question Terrence asked, he felt inclined to answer "N...no?" Cody asked more than stated.
"Good." Terrence said, Cody finally noticing just how fidgety Terrence was "You're coming with me to the library. Now."
Cody opened and closed his mouth, trying to make up any excuse why he didn't want to, but finally "Okay." Cody gurgled.
"Okay." Terrence said, breathing in and out "Okay. Good," Cody could hear him say under his breath, already turning around, making his way to the library. Cody didn't want to think about what would happen if he just ran for it in the other direction. So he opted to follow him.
All things considered, the library was still relatively full of students, all pouring textbooks, notes and discussing classes amongst each other. Cody was able deduce what they were doing, and with that, figured out what Terrence was probably going to ask him.
Cody and Terrence managed an empty table and sat down "So I just got word from my guidance counselor. If I don't bump my grades up with these finals, I'm going to summer school, and my dad ain't gonna like that." Terrence flipped his backpack over and dumped his textbooks and bare notebooks on the table. Cody coldly looked between the contents and Terrence.
Cody, sensing a moniker of power here, spoke plainly "And what do I get in return? For helping you."
"What are you…-?" Terrence almost raised his voice, but then remembered where he was "I don't know, dude. I…-!?"
"You leave me alone. No more calling me a nerd. No more making fun of my stuff. No more shoving me down in the hallway. Got it?"
Terrence glared at Cody for a moment before sighing "Dude, if you're talking about last week, that was an accident, I…-!?" Terrence began, but the stern gaze of Cody made him stop talking "Asshole."
"How about a 'Thank you'." Cody said right back, grabbing one of the textbooks "Let's start with math. I know that one the best."
"Fine." Terrence said, grabbing his empty notebook.
"Order of operation. That's actually really straightforward thankfully. Just gotta remember PEMDAS."
"What?" Terrence asked, already writing that down.
"Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally."
"In math terms. N-..." Terrence caught himself before he finished that sentence "Cody."
"I'm surprised you knew my name." Cody half chuckled "You do what's in parentheses first. Then exponents…-?" Cody looked at Terrence's confused expression "The little number above the other numbers you see sometime." Terrence nodded "Then multiply, divide, add, subtract." Cody watched Terrence take notes, writing surprisingly quickly and cleanly. Cody blinked in surprise before shifting his gaze to the textbook "Okay...try this one. Show me when you're done." Terrence groaned and looked between the textbook and his notes as Cody checked his phone.
Cody went to the guild group chat again, grimacing as he realized people were asking about him again, getting angry that he missed a whole weekend. He apologized for his absence.
"Can you play right now?" One group member asked.
"Can't, stuck tutoring my bully." Cody decided against snapping a picture of the scene, not sure how Terrence would react to it. He had figured at least that would get some sympathy. But the group chat only got madder at him for missing four days of playing now. Cody was surprised to see their reaction to that, he figured at least some of them would understand, but no, his friends were admonishing him.
"How's this?" Cody snapped back too when he heard Terrence slide his notebook over to him. Cody looked it over once, then twice, then a third time.
"That's…" Cody's anger drained away in surprise "... absolutely right. You didn't even get tripped up at that part."
"Well yeah, you said parenthesis first." Terrence said.
"I'm just used to math like this is all from DnD, a lot of people get tripped up by that."
"You mean that fantasy game with the dice and the plastic figures and the dry-erase boards?" Terrence asked. Cody grimaced, fully expecting him to make fun of Cody for that too "Always wanted to try it."
"Really?" Cody said in disbelief.
"Yeah, it always looked kinda fun. Could never get the teams to play though." Terrence looked to Cody "You mean that game has math like this?" he asked.
"Er. Yeah." Cody said "Also a lot of probability too."
Terrence grimaced "God. I suck at that too."
"Well...let's see here." Cody said, flipping to that part of the textbook.
Cody and Terrence spent hours in the library, pouring over the math book; much to Cody's surprise, Terrence had a quick grasp of the math that he claimed he was struggling with.
"That's everything that's gonna be on the math final?" Terrence asked, closing his now filled notebook.
"Yeah, should be a cinch for you now." Cody smiled "I don't get it. How are you almost failing if you're getting this so fast."
Terrence's smile faded, shrugging "I don't know. All the teachers go too fast, and I don't feel like raising my hand. I don't wanna look stupid."
Cody bit back the obvious comment "Well, you won't be as stupid if you ask them to explain it more. They're teachers, it's their job to teach." Cody thought for a moment longer "Why didn't you ask your sports ball friends to help you?"
Terrence opened and closed his mouth before turning to Cody "Sports ball?"
"I just kinda meld it all together." Cody chuckled, earning a laugh from Terrence.
"Heh. Well, they all wrote me off as a lost cause."
"That's...cold," Cody sighed "I'm sorry.".
"Yeah. So, I've been dealing with that. Buncha assholes." Terrence muttered "So. Thanks for helping me out, nerd." Terrence smiled, punching Cody lightly in the arm.
Cody still flinched, rubbing the spot, it being extra sore from training made that extra painful "I'll let that slide, dumb jock." Cody smirked back, earning a snort from Terrence. The moment passed when the lights began to flicker, and the whole school began to shake.
"Earthquake!?" students in the library began to panic, running out of the library in haste.
"Swordsman!" Cody heard in his mind, clear as day. Just as he dreaded, this was Kyurem's doing. Cody grasped his chest on instinct, hoping to transform and fight whatever Kyurem summoned this time. But with Terrence right by him, he couldn't blow his secret.
"Forget your stuff! We have to go!" Cody grabbed Terrence by the arm as he quickly attempted to pack up his backpack again. The plan was straight forward, get Terrence out and away, transform, pray to God that Keldeo knew what was happening. To Cody's horror though, the earthquake caused the entrance to the library to collapse.
"Hang on!" Terrence was quick to lift up some of the debris, his build made the task easy enough, even with the given circumstance "Move, Cody!" he didn't need much convincing to move. Once he was out, Terrence rolled out of the way and the entrance to the library collapsed completely. Cody was about to run deeper in the school to transform when Terrence grabbed him "What are you doing? The exit is this way?"
"I...forgot something?" Cody lied, it was clear Terrence wasn't convinced.
"No, we're sticking together. I'm not letting my friend get killed here." Terrence said, tugging at Cody's arm, they tried for the exit, but that collapsed as well "Dammit, this way!"
Cody would have tried to run instead of being dragged by Terrence, but he was in too much of a state of shock to move much. Did Terrence really just call him a friend? Cody snapped his hand out of Terrence's grip, who stopped and looked at him.
"Did you really call me friend?" Cody said.
"What?" Terrence looked at him "Are we seriously having this conversation right now?" the ground shook in emphasis "Yes, I did. You helped me, and you're actually pretty cool. I'm sorry I bullied you. There. Happy now?"
Cody stared at him for a moment, he was looking for a friend to help him, and here was someone who helped him get out of the library without a second thought. Cody inhaled, reaching into his satchel and pulling out a medallion; the brown one, it seemed. He looked between the medallion and Terrence. They had just met, and it was most likely the near-death situation making the two say things they didn't exactly expect to, and yet...
"What the hell is that?" Terrence asked.
"Desperation breeds creativity." Cody exhaled, throwing it at Terrence "Put that on. Now." and he grabbed his own medallion.
"How the hell is this gonna…-?" Terrence grimaced at it as he caught the medallion, inspecting it. When he looked back to Cody, he was replaced with a large blue goat creature with tufts of white fur on the back, it towered over him with an intense glare "Put it on, right." Terrence quickly slipped it on "Now what?"
"Hop on!" Terrence heard Cody's voice in his head, a commanding tone that betrayed the original soft spoken nerd he knew before. He quickly hopped on, gasping as Cody dashed through the crumbling hallway.
"What the hell is this?" Terrence screamed "Cody, is that you!?"
"Yeah, long story. If we survive I'll explain." Cody turned a corner with a hard skid, it was difficult to take sharp turns with hooves.
"Big 'if' dude!" Terrence screamed. Another shake caused Cody to stumble slightly, but they were so close to another exit, one that hadn't collapsed yet. Then the largest shake yet happened, causing Cody to stop. He could see it, the ceiling just before the exit was going to collapse. With quick thinking, Cody flung Terrence from his back and sprinted forward, holding the ceiling up with his back. Cody screamed and grunted.
"Get out. Now!" Cody screamed, Terrence could see it, there was just enough space for him to crawl between his legs. Terrence began to move forward, but stopped, looking at Cody's strange new form.
"What about you?" Terrence asked.
"I'll figure it out! Now go!" Cody strained, one leg already buckling under the weight of the collapse.
Then the spark of a thought entered Terrence's mind "He's not strong enough to do this alone...Then I guess I have to be strong for the both of us!" Terrence said, the medallion on his chest glowing as he rushed forward to Cody.
Gerald got on all fours and grunted in pain, despite this, he still dragged himself forward. His arms and legs became bulkier, enough so to rip his clothes, revealing his limbs changing into a light shade of gray. His hands and feet ripped apart and revealed black hooves with tan and gray designs.
The rest of his jacket was left to shreds as his main body grew and revealed a short gray fur. His pants ripped to reveal a short gray tail. This caused him to go silent for a moment, stopping in his moving.
He continued screaming when something large began to protrude from his head, which was turning light brown. Ripping through his head was a set of horns. Four small ones went up while two large ones went to his side and pointed downward. He looked at Cody quickly while his eyes were going from brown to orange and then roared, lunging forward and lifting the debris up, allowing Cody to regain his footing.
"Terrence!?" Cody grunted in surprise, as the two of them threw the debris behind them and charged through the exit, it finally collapsed as they escaped. The earthquake subsided long enough for them to look over his new form.
"...So…" Terrence grinned in his new ox-like form "I think you owe me that explanation."
"There you are!" Cody turned to the sound of a familiar voice, watching Keldeo spring towards the two of them, stopping at the sight of the other one "I felt the earthquakes from our hideout and saw Landorus appear and...Terrakion?" Keldeo gasped in disbelief, looking at Terrence, now Terrakion, with that same, watery eyed look.
"Whoa! I didn't know unicorns existed!" Terrence said, Cody trying his best to not laugh, relieved someone else made that connection.
"Wait. Landorus?" Cody asked, small shakes in the earth going off again, the three looked ahead out onto the school field, where they saw an orange and red, four legged creature approach them; each step causing the ground to shake slightly. Tufts of white were around its body, in addition to the same dark gray aura that surrounded Tornadus before.
"There you are, swordsmen." the creature spoke "I was hoping to have crushed you beneath the structure." it grimaced as it looked over Terrence "And you have found a replacement for Terrakion. How concerning. But I will bury you beneath this place and bring your bodies back to Master Kyurem." the rumbling around them grew stronger.
"So that's the jerk that made these earthquakes then?" Terrence asked.
"Leave it to the Incarnation of Earth to do so…" Keldeo growled.
"And it's up to us to take him down." Cody turned to Terrence "I know you just got transformed, and probably don't know how to use that body. But can you help up?" Cody asked.
Terrence looked between Landorus and Cody. He took a step forward and slammed his hoof down, causing the ground to shake slightly again "Sure. Can't mess with my new friend anymore. So I gotta take it out on somebody." Cody smiled back, stepping forward with Keldeo to face Landorus.
It threw Cody off, watching Landorus run on air towards them, shards of stone already being pelted at them. Cody stepped in front of Keldeo and Terrence, the shards of stone bouncing off his body with little more than a scratch. Keldeo attempted to counter attack with his beam of bubbles, but they met the edge of Landorus' stone projectiles, popping them. Then a wall of stone was launched at them, to which Terrakion sped in front of the two and held the wall at bay. Cody was surprised how quickly he grasped moving in such a large body.
"Terrakion!?" Keldeo gasped.
"It's Terrence!" Cody swiped away more large stones with his glowing claws.
"You can call me Terry!" Terrence laughed as he took a step forward, and to Cody and Keldeo's surprise, actually pushing the stone wall back "They didn't call me 'Wonderwall' in football for nothing!" With a grunt he lifted his head and sent the wall toppling in the other direction, shattering on the ground.
"How can you move like that?" Cody asked.
"Have you seen the crazy stuff they make you do in warm-ups? Running on all fours is the coaches favorite!" Terrakion rushed ahead, headbutting a large stone that was sent hurtling towards the two of them.
"That's...interesting…" Cody muttered, side stepping to avoid more stones thrown at him.
"You know how to pick them, Cobalion." Keldeo said quickly, Cody tried to correct him, but they got separated as more stones were launched at them. Keldeo enveloped himself in water and hopped onto a nearby fence for extra height to strike Landorus down. It was a direct hit, and Landorus was sent down a couple of feet, close enough for Cody to strike him with his glowing hooves. Keldeo and Cody tried to move in for more, but Landorus surrounded himself with pointed stones, which made the two reel back to avoid getting stabbed.
Landorus began to rise into the air, the pointed stones spinning around them before aiming directly at the ground below. Most of them stuck into the ground, making difficult terrain, but the ones that were aimed at Cody and Keldeo were spinning towards them. Terrence plopped in front of the two, grunting as the stones he couldn't swat away struck him.
"You okay?" Cody asked.
"Just fine." Terrence grinned "This new body is built like a truck!"
"I don't know what those are." Keldeo stepped forward, but the moment was cut short when the ground began to shake violently. The other tried to react, but Cody and Keldeo were standing right over two particular large cracks that formed in the earth, causing them to slip inside.
"Cody…-!" Terrence began, only for more large stones to send him rolling across the ground. He scrambled back up as fast as he could, but it was too late, the earth was beginning to close around Cody and Keldeo.
"Entrap the more competent of your group and leave the novice isolated from help." Terrence whipped around, grunting as more stones pelted him to take his attention off of Keldeo and Cody "Master Kyurem employed that strategy as well, it is how he disposed of the others."
"I ain't the others, ya freak!" Terrence growled, his back hooves glowing "Now how about a give you the smack down!" Terrence quickly spun around and kicked a rather large spire of stone at Landorus too quick for him to react. He was struck and sent spiraling to the ground.
Terrence spun around to where Cody and Keldeo were trapped, but to his horror, the earth was too cracked and indistinguishable from the rest of the battlefield, he couldn't find them. "Guys?" Terrence began kicking stone out of the way, hoping for a hint "Guys!" He watched the earth shake, then close up more and more. He whipped around to Landorus, who had already stood back up.
"I am your focus, Terrakion!" Landorus roared back, stones encapsulating Terrence too close to his body, he couldn't move "You may watch as the earth encases your friends!"
Terrence groaned, blinking in horror as he heard the screams of Cody and Keldeo not too far away as the earth enclosed in on them. He got angry, furious even. Cody, who had helped him when no one else would, was going to die, because he wasn't strong enough to stop this freak. And his friend Keldeo was going to suffer the same fate, if not worse.
Protecting his friends, his real friends. That strong desire sparked something within him. Terrence groaned, noticing the large horns at his sides beginning to glow; the glow traveled up his head, encapsulating his horns. He roared, turning his head and destroying the stone at his sides, getting a large chunk scooped up to throw at Landorus.
"We're not done yet!" Terrence roared, launching the rock at Landorus, who flew out of the way to avoid it, but it meant he was no longer focusing on closing the earth. He rushed forward to where he heard the screams from before, now noticing the large orange blade erupted from the center of his head, he brought it down into the earth and with one mighty slash, tore apart the earth. Keldeo and Cody coughed and crawled out of the earth, gasping for air. Keldeo clung to Terrence's leg as Cody looked to Terrence.
"...Thanks…" Cody nodded, marveling at Terrence's Sacred Sword. Terrence had been able to summon it so quickly; and he was fairly certain Terrence's was bigger too. The two looked to Landorus landing back on the ground, growling, the dark gray aura seemed to be growing stronger.
"Wanna learn the quarterback sneak?" Terrence turned to Cody. Cody looked between Terrence and Landorus with a grin. Cody grabbed Keldeo quickly, setting him aside so that the two could finish this.
With one more mighty roar, Landorus sent a massive wave of earth at the three. With Sacred Swords out, Terrence charged forward, meeting the wave head on. His horn pierced the earth and with a snap of his head, the wave fell into useless rubble.
"Now!" Terrence screamed, feeling Cody jump onto his back and leap with enough height to meet Landorus in the air and slash him with his Sacred Sword, causing him to collapse to the ground. A chill permeated the air as Landorus collapsed to the ground, gray fog pouring from his slash wound. Terrence and Cody were gasping for air as Keldeo walked behind them.
"Again you have evaded me, swordsman…" Cody and Keldeo recognized this voice, it was Kyurem again "Were it not for the barrier that kept our worlds separate I would have personally frozen you myself and shattered you." Cody couldn't help but notice that comment made Keldeo particularly shudder. Cody placed his foot in front of Keldeo, glaring the creature down.
"Ah yes. The first chosen of the swordsman. You humans always had a quick grasp of such things." Cody and Terrence dared a look at each other "But no matter. I hope you are ready for what comes next, swordsmen." and with that, Landorus vanished into wisps of cold clouds that vanished into the sky.
"Hey…" Cody and Terrence looked down to Keldeo, then to all the humans that stood by and watched the fight; all the students that escaped the collapsed wing of school. Most of them had their phone out in some capacity, having recorded everything. What surprised the three though were the cheers that followed shortly afterwards.
"So much for subtlety now, huh?" Terrence mused, smiling at the gathered crowd, reveling in their reaction when he summoned his Sacred Sword again.
"We need to go. Now. You know where to find me, Cobalion." Keldeo said, enveloping himself in water and jumping onto the roof of the school and jumping out of sight.
"It's Cody, you…-!" Cody sighed, looking to Terrence "Follow me." Cody ran, followed by Terrence lumbering slower behind, using their strength to leap over the crowd and retreat deeper into the town faster than anyone could follow.
It took an extra hour of Cody and Terrence hiding out in the wilderness before they could change back and make their way towards the beach without drawing suspicion. Terrence was relieved to see his letterman jacket was safe from his transformation, Cody was admittedly unsure why clothes were safe from the transformation, but it was a welcome mystery.. Beyond the jacket, he was dressed for summer with dark blue shorts and a white t-shirt underneath. He ran his hand through his brown mop of hair and groaned when Cody told him where they were walking, it was a long walk from where they transformed back.
"Why the beach?" Terrence asked.
"It's where Keldeo and I decided to partner up to take on Kyurem." Cody explained "Plus this part of the beach is never really touched, we found a little cave by the lighthouse and everything." Cody explained, looking behind him and Terrence, just as he said, most of the other beachgoers were staying closer to the stairs that lead to the beach.
"Keldeo? Kyurem?" Terrence laughed "If you had told me all these crazy names were actually things. I'd have thought you were crazy." Terrence said.
"Right? And what did he call you? Terrakion? Talk about a coincidence." Cody smiled.
"Coming from Cody the Cobalion?" Terrence countered, the two reaching the mouth of the cave.
"Touche…" Cody mused. He looked in the cave and saw Keldeo nursing his wounds in the corner. He stood up and looked at the two humans.
"Terrence, right?" Keldeo asked.
"Told ya. You can call me Terry. Same goes for you, Cody." Terry nodded, slapping Cody on the chest, knocking the wind out of him.
"Well, thank you for joining up with us. I'm sure Cody told you what's going on."
"Some evil frosty jerk wants you back in his world and us dead." Terry shrugged "Sounds about right?"
"Yeah." Cody nodded "That's pretty much the plot synopsis." he pulled out his cobalt blue and platinum medallion "These things let us turn into the swordsmen. We just need to find someone to take on the last medallion."
"Virizion." Keldeo interrupted.
"Right." Cody turned to him "Then we can stand a better chance at taking out Kyurem." Terry pulled out his own medallion, the brown and platinum one.
"Sounds like a plan." Terry smiled "I'm not much for planning, but if you two got that covered. Guess I'm following you."
"Can you think of anyone that could take on the last medallion?" Keldeo asked.
"Well, my other friends basically disowned me for the summer because of my grades. So I got nobody." Terry sighed.
"And I really couldn't think of any other friends either." Cody added quickly.
"You had other friends?" Terry added, earning a quick shush from Cody, Terry shrugged. Keldeo sighed and stepped back towards the mouth of the cave.
"If summoning Landorus was anything like summoning Tornadus, we have some time before he can come back here with some new crazy monster."
"Pokemon." Keldeo corrected, turning back to Cody "We're all pokemon: Me, Cobalion, Terrakion, Kyurem. That's what we are."
"Point is. Before he can summon another...pokemon." Cody shrugged "We can spend some time training Terry, maybe even scoping out someone for the last medallion."
Keldeo looked at Cody before shaking his head and sighing "I guess that's all we can do for now…" he perked up "Oh, Terrence…-!?"
"Terry." he quickly corrected.
"I'm not calling you that." Keldeo said "You need to take the pledge too. To fight against Kyurem and his forces."
Terry looked to Cody "It's pretty freeform. Don't think about it too much. Just mean it, y'know?" Cody smiled. Terry looked down at his medallion before nodding and clenching it in his fist, returning to the form of Terrakion and summoning his large orange Sacred Sword.
"Until my friends have no more battles to fight. I pledge to keep on fighting, for them and myself." Terry said. Cody and Keldeo nodding in agreement.
"That's a good one." Keldeo smiled, Cody nodding in agreement earning a grin from Terry.
Terry and Cody had exchanged phone numbers shortly after the pledge, keeping contact was going to be the best course of action for what was to come. The two went their separate ways, returning home for the day. Cody stepped inside and was immediately wrapped into a hug by his mother, relieved to know her son was okay from the strange earthquake and creatures appearing at school. It took effort to pry himself away from his mother, assuring her that he was completely fine, if a little sore. He quickly slinked away into his room and closed the door behind, sighing as he took off his jacket and the medallion. But as he tried his best to relax, the fight from before was on his mind, something Landorus had said had stuck to him.
It used the word 'human'.
He and Terry only learned that Keldeo and their transformations were called pokemon today, so how did they know the word human already when none of them had said anything before? Cody sat up in bed, looking at his medallion.
Keldeo called him Cobalion when he transformed, and he had called Terry Terrakion. He couldn't help but wonder where Keldeo got the medallions from, and where the original Cobalion, Terrakion and Virizion were. And Kyurem, Cody still had no idea what that looked like, or why it was after Keldeo in the first place, or how he came here.
There were so many questions, and he didn't even know how to begin asking Keldeo them.
Cody sighed, getting out of bed and rubbing his temples, getting lost in his thoughts was not helping him right now. He hopped onto his computer and turned it on, remembering the game that he had downloaded last Friday. It was only three days ago, but after everything that happened, it felt so much longer ago.
"Hey. There you are." a direct message from Swissigar, the only person in the group chat that showed him sympathy after he couldn't make it for the game's release. Cody clicked on him and realized he had been sending messages all throughout the weekend, just making sure he was alright.
"Hey there. Sorry for making you worry." Cody typed back "Last couple of days have been insane..." once again, Cody stopped himself from typing exactly what happened "Last days of school and all that."
"Fair enough. Can't say I miss that." Swissigar responded.
"Out of school?" Cody asked.
"Graduated last year. No idea what I'm gonna do now lol." Swissigar responded.
"So what? You're just a NEET?" Cody smirked.
"I'm working, so no. Nice try." Cody laughed.
"Have you been playing the expansion at all? How is it?" Cody asked.
"Eh it's alright. But the guild leader is having us run it ragged. He's upset you haven't been able to make it." Aleron commented
"Yeah...I've been meaning to apologize for not being able to make it."
"You sure you want to? With the way they've been treating you lately? All because you haven't been playing."
"You know that's a great point!" Cody huffed "I thought they were my friends? We've been playing that game since it first came out."
"No shit?" Aleron asked "I only joined recently, so I'm just an outsider looking in. In my experience, no point in staying around with people who treat you like that."
"Yeah...but I mean, once this is all over. I'll be free to play again, I can catch up quickly. I'm one of their best players in the guild after all."
"No one likes a grandstander, Swissigar." Aleron typed back.
Cody smirked at the screen, thinking "Come to think of it...I don't think I know your name."
"Sorry, I don't give my name to online people."
"Ah. Sorry." Cody thought "How about just your first name? I'll give you mine too?"
"Equal exchange. I can live with that." Aleron typed "My name is Quinn."
"Cody." he typed back "It's funny. This never would have happened with the others in the guild. No one else bothered to check in on me after what happened Friday."
"Some people are just here for the game, man. Can't fault them for that." Aleron, or Quinn rather, responded "If you wanna play the game, you go to the group chat with the game. If you want a deep, intimate conversation...you go anywhere but there."
Cody couldn't help but laugh at that "Too true. Say, I'm gonna get going now, but thanks for chatting. Talk to you later, Quinn."
"See ya, Cody. Take it easy." Cody logged off with a smile. The smile slowly faded as he thought about the guild group chat. He'd known them for a long time, when he was just a freshman in high school. They'd been playing that game of theirs for that long. And it was easy to call them friends when that was all they did. But now, as Cody thought about it, he couldn't say much else about them. He didn't know any of them personally. Could he even call any of them his friends anymore? When he made closer, friends, like Keldeo and Terry.
Cody looked to his phone, it was buzzing with a text from Terry.
"Hey, wanna go out to eat? I'm starving after today."
Cody looked between the computer and his phone.
"Sure, bring your medallion. We'll train afterwards." Cody grabbed his satchel and his medallion, shoving his phone into his pocket and heading out the door. Ready to spend time with his new friends.
Keldeo perked up to the approach of Cody and Terry. The two in the middle of conversation while Cody was carrying a small white bag. The sun was beginning to set, meaning training time was about to begin, just like Cody and Keldeo had done before. Keldeo was about to greet them, but a strange, intoxicating smell caught his attention.
"Do you smell that?" Keldeo asked, approaching. He finally realized that the smell was coming from the bag Cody was carrying.
"I'd hope so. Cody insisted on freshly baked." Terry said, stepping deeper into the cave and stretching, a ritual for getting ready for training "Do I have to do warm ups if I'm not using my body technically?" Terry asked, huffing when he realized he was not going to get an answer.
"Freshly baked?" Keldeo asked. Cody nodded, opening the bag and revealing two muffins, the fresh baked smell greeted Keldeo stronger than before.
"Yeah. I don't know if I've seen you eat since you came here, but I figured something warm would be appealing." Cody ripped the bag open proper, grabbing one muffin for himself and extending the other to Keldeo.
Keldeo looked at the muffin, then back to Cody "I've been managing…-!" Keldeo huffed, only for his stomach to growl loudly, earning a raised brow from Cody "I...haven't had a chance to eat since the attack with Landorus is all…"
"So let's eat now." Cody handed out the muffin again. Keldeo looked between the muffin and Cody, reaching in slowly and taking a bite out off the top. After a few slow chews, Keldeo's eyes lit up.
"This is really good!" Keldeo spoke with food still in his mouth "So fluffy and warm...and what's that taste?"
"Double Dutch muffins. A favorite of mine, loaded with chocolate." Cody unwrapped his and took a bite as well, leaning against the wall of the cave, Keldeo sat right beside him, eating out of the top and avoiding the wrapper.
"Chocolate…" Keldeo repeated, taking another small bite "We don't have that back home. Thanks." Keldeo relished the taste with slow, methodical chewing, while Cody finished his in only a few bites. Keldeo was about to take the last bite when suddenly he and Cody were blasted by sand. Both coughing and spitting out sand, the two whipped around to Terry, who had already transformed into Terrakion with his Sacred Sword out.
"You two done already?" Terry asked. Cody and Keldeo looked at each before looking back at Terry. Cody was already reaching for his medallion.
"Sure, Terrence." Keldeo hopped up, enveloping himself in water.
"How about a classic two on one?" Cody followed up, already transformed into Cobalion and summoning his Sacred Sword, ready to chase Terry.
"Wait! That's not fair! Cut the new guy some slack!" Terry cried out, dodging Cody and Keldeo's attacks, making a dash for the beach for the ensuing battle.