Chapter 3: Cardin Winchester "Mace in the Mist"
It was supposed to be me and the boys.
"Wake up!" The haughty voice of my nightmares demanded.
Cracking my eyelids open, I was immediately reduced to squinting by the, now open, windows above both bunkbeds. My blankets were suddenly jerked from my grasp.
"Stop moping and get up!" The nightmare voice shrieked.
Durrrrant.
Yeah, at least I have you, bud.
"We have class, soon." A monotone voice said, "You're supposed to be our leader."
"Give me a week." I grumbled, reaching for a pillow.
"Nope." A third feminine voice chimed as she pulled the pillow from my grasp.
"Grrr…" Jumping up in an instant, I saw my durant, Mace was between me and the girls, no doubt sensing my intent, "Metal Claw!"
Mace leapt for the lizard faunus but was interrupted in mid-air by a torchic.
"Use Flame Charge, Ember!" The blonde pointed a finger at me, rather than Mace.
Her torchic ignited itself in flames but before it could take a step, the lizard faunus, Weiss, stepped in the middle.
"Yang, cease this barbarism!" She stood with arms outstretched.
"Move it, Ice Princess!" Yang nudged her torchic to advance, "You have any idea what a pokemon can do to a person?!"
"Yes, I do!" Weiss rose on her toes, "Better than any of you!" She then pointed to the gangly scar across her left eye, "I have aura! Where do you surmise this came from? Huh? My own father's pokemon."
Silence reigned, only accompanied by the heavy breathing of Weiss, Yang, and myself. Thinking on what she said and what it meant, I felt my anger subside.
"I'm…really sorry that happened, Weiss." The black-haired girl, Blake, stepped closer and put a hand on Weiss's shoulder.
"Your dad sounds like an unbelievable prick." Yang's voice was less loud but no less hard as she broke her purple eyes away from me to look at Weiss.
"We'll talk about this more later, if you want." Blake said, moving for the door, "But we need to get to class."
"Yeah." Yang crossed her arms and re-locked stares with me, "After you helped us beat that mechanical scizor during initiation, I thought you might be someone I could call leader. Go to class or don't. I don't care." She then followed after Blake before turning back around, "Let's go, Weiss."
"I'm right behind." The white-haired lizard faunus said.
Yang shook her head and left. After a moment of quiet, Weiss faced me.
"It's not hard to know that something is bothering you." She said, spine straight, hands behind her back, "As your partner, it is my duty to lend you my ear. If it's a family issue, I think I can relate."
I said nothing as Mace crawled up onto my head.
"I'll tell Professor Fall you aren't feeling well." Weiss made for the door, "Hopefully, she won't want proof…"
"No!" I semi-shouted while grabbing for my uniform, "I'm coming and…I'm sorry that happened to you…or whatever."
"Thank you, Cardin." Weiss showed a small smile and closed the door behind her.
--
"Bold to arrive late, Mr Winchester." Professor Fall sat upon a wooden table in the middle of the lecture room, as usual.
Blake and some silver-haired boy were standing between the Professor and the semi-circle of student desks.
"Am I in trouble?" I asked.
"Less than if you had skipped entirely." Professor Fall hopped to her feet and pushed long black hair from covering her left eye, "Who would like to battle Mr Winchester?"
"Uhhg." I groaned.
"I will!" Yang shot up out of her seat so fast, the sound of her chair toppling over echoed throughout the lecture hall.
"Ms Xiao Long, the point of the exercise is to battle someone not-"
"You asked and I answered." Yang said, "Professor."
Fall narrowed her golden eyes and glanced back and forth between us.
"Winchester, Xiao Long, to the front." She commanded, reseating herself on the table.
Durrrant!
And what am I supposed to do about that, bud? Not do what Fall said?
Durr…ant
I'll figure it out. Use your speed or something.
The lights of the lecture hall seemed even brighter than normal and I could feel the eyes of all those present searing into my back. When I chanced look over the crowd, Russel, Dove, and Sky avoided meeting my stare. Ruby Rose didn't, tho. With her boots on the occupied chair in front of her, she watched with a brow raised and a slanted grin.
"Hunters ready?" Professor Fall's voice broke my stupor and bounced around the room.
Facing the blonde, I saw her expression remained hard and her yellow aura was already engaged. My own black aura encased me.
"Begin!" Fall pointed at each of us.
"Let's go, Mace." I said, watching a black ball of energy leap off my arm and become my durant companion.
Yang said nothing as her torchic materialized itself from a yellow glow.
"Guess, I'll start." I began.
"Flame Charge!" She suddenly bellowed.
"Infestation, Mace!" I countered.
The little durant summoned a magical, miniature tornado filled with all manner of pale green winged insects and covered the torchic in it. The tiny fire bird pokemon winced a moment but still lit up in a campfire-sized blaze, breaking into a dash and colliding with Mace. When they broke away, a breeze of pale green insects briefly swarmed the torchic before disappearing oncemore.
"Metal Claw!" I ordered, watching Mace dive forward, mandibles enlarging slightly.
"You're done." Yang said, "Quick Attack!"
Fuck…!
A grimace claimed my face as the torchic vanished from sight and reappeared behind Mace, kicking him to the ground. He didn't get up.
"Match-" Professor Fall started.
"How bout a Flame Charge for you, Cardin, like I meant to back in the dorm? You're lucky Weiss got in the way." Yang approached with wide strides.
I didn't raise my head. She got what she wanted: my humiliating defeat.
"Huh? Do you even care? What's wrong with you?" Yang clenched a fist in each hand, "Ember, Flame Charge the durant, now!"
"What?" My head rsised in an instant.
Seeing the torchic spark up and Mace still laying there, I leapt between them and covered Mace with my body. All of a sudden, there was a massive presence to my rear. Pivoting gingerly, I glimpsed Professor Fall's heatran, Amber, towering over me.
"Team CWBL, remain where you are." Fall's voice wasn't a yell, but it was loud enough for all to hear and lacked the usual playful silkiness, "Everyone else, class dismissed."
I called Mace back to my aura while we waited for everyone to file out. Yang did the same. Once everyone was gone but not before their cacophonous footsteps couldn't be heard, Fall spoke.
"Line up, now." Her voice was deep with anger.
Weiss and Blake quickly hustled down, getting between Yang and I in the order of our team name.
"Xiao Long, what in the world was that?" Fall snapped.
"He's a terrible leader!" The blonde bellowed.
"Like that is grounds for-"
"He was going to attack Weiss, this morning!" Yang went on.
"What?!" Fall shrieked and stomped her heels before me, her eye level equaling my own, "What were you thinking?! Were you thinking?!"
"I-I just wanted to be left alone…" I whispered.
"Left alone?" Fall's golden irises were inches from my own, "Were you asleep during Headmistress Salem's address? Pokemon are dangerous! Deadly!" She stared another moment, not blinking, "Do you know what deadly means, Winchester?"
"I didn't ask to be with these three!" I shouted in her face.
"Oh." Professor Fall nodded, "Cause they definitely would have chosen you, right?"
"Professor!" Weiss suddenly spoke up, "He just wanted to make a scene, I'm certain! There was no legitimate ill intent!"
"Schnee…!" Fall exhaled deeply and moved tower over the white-haired girl, "Ms Schnee, are you saying you felt no danger in the slightest?"
"Of course!" She nodded.
"So, it's Ms Xiao Long I should be punishing?" Fall motioned toward the blonde.
"N-no, er, no, of course not!" Weiss stuttered.
Professor Fall stepped away and began shaking her head while looking over each of us, lingering longest on me. Producing a scroll from her dress, she alternated from typing into it and resuming her judgmental looks for what seemed like forever. I wanted to move but…that also seemed like a bad idea.
"Get your act together." She commanded, shattering the quiet, "There won't be a second chance." Fall strode to the large double-doors and opened them, "Wait here until your new handlers arrive."
"Our-" Yang started.
"Yes, I said handlers and yes, I am serious. Last chance." The doors slammed behind her, sounding like a gunshot with the resulting echo.
After another minute, the blonde turned around and slumped into a desk in the front row of many-tiered, semi-circles of lecture seats.
"Great." She huffed, crossing her arms.
"Yang…" Blake sighed, "Did you have to go overboard?"
"Me?!" The girl in question immediately became animated oncemore, "I'm overboard after what he did in the dorm?!"
"Yes, Yang, what Cardin did was obviously wrong." Blake went on, hitting me with an amber-eyed scowl, "But you can't just threaten someone in front of a Professor like Fall, maybe Professor Callows-"
"But-"
"And what about the durant?" Blake went on, "That was cruel."
"He comes out of aura as black as Cardin's heart." Yang scoffed.
"I don't think that's true." Weiss said, "He put himself in harm's way for that durant."
"Yo!" I shouted, "I am also in this room!"
Yang furrowed her brow at me and turned back to Weiss.
"Why are you defending him?" She went on, "Cause he was helpful in exactly one battle, ever?"
"The battle that also got us a passing grade for the initiation." Blake said with a finger raised for attention.
Yang sighed.
"Don't you guys get it?" Weiss shrieked, "My sister is the Champion! She's the perfect prodigy my father always wanted!" Weiss crossed one arm over her chest and wrapped her lizard tail around her ankles, "My own father only sent me here to be rid of me. No one thinks I can do this. Winter would never give voice to such a thought…but I'm certain she thinks it, too."
Dur…
"Weiss…there's no way that's true." Yang stood and slowly approached her, "I believe you can do it."
Duraant!
"You've known me for a week, Yang, how can you possibly know a thing like that?" Weiss sniffled.
"You're a good person, Weiss." I mumbled.
"Just shut up, Cardin." Yang said with a heavy exhale.
"No." Meeting her purple-eyed gaze, I broke away and looked to Weiss, "I came here with three friends, or, I thought they were my friends. When I first saw you back on initiation day, I made my peace with, I can't believe I'm about to say this to three strangers, with you being a faunus."
"What?!" Yang screeched, stepping between Weiss and I.
"I learned pretty fast that you weren't a thief or drug addict or any of the things they say about faunus." I confessed.
"Good gods." Yang groaned while Blake just watched and Weiss sniffled.
"I know, I know." I said with hands up, "Small town, okay?" The girls said nothing, "Okay, not an excuse. Anyway, I thought I could still see my friends I came here with but they don't want anything to do with me and just do whatever that Ruby Rose says to do."
"Wait, Ruby Rose?" Yang raised a brow, "That's who stole your friends?"
"Uh, yeah, why?" I suddenly felt unexplainably awkward.
"She's my cousin." Yang answered, "And a spoiled brat."
"Look, gods this sucks to say outloud." I took a breath and braced myself, "Losing people I thought were my friends hurts. They just wanna be around Rose because she's the most popular one here. I may not look like it to you all, but I was kinda a big deal back at Signal."
"Hmmf!" Blake snorted
"Don't encourage him, Blake." Yang recrossed her arms.
"Why not? It takes guts to share." The black-haired girl refuted.
"W-we could be your friends." Weiss sniffled, wiping her eyes clean, "You're my partner."
"One dream at a time, Ice Princess." Yang gave her a short hug and sat upon the table half of a desk, "You're still on my shit-list." She leaned forward on her elbows, "But I don't wanna get expelled."
"Me neither." I nodded fervently.
"So, tell your durant that I'm sorry." She said.
"His name is Mace." I whispered.
"Okay…" Yang sighed, "Tell Mace that I'm sorry."
Durra!
"He says, thanks." I relayed.
"And?" Blake waved an arm for my attention and nudged her head toward Weiss, "Cardin?"
"Right." Nodding, I walked over to Weiss where she was drying her eyes, "I'm sorry, uh, for everything. You didn't deserve all that."
"It's…okay." She smiled up at me, blue eyes sparkling, "There's a lot of pressure on me to succeed, here. From now on, let's work together."
"I'll give it a shot." I said, feeling a sideways grin seize my face, "And I don't even care that much that you're a filthy faunus."
"Wha-what-" Weiss gasped.
"Cardin!" Blake shouted, the first time I'd ever heard her do so.
"That's it." Yang leapt to the floor, yellow aura energizing in the same motion.
"Joke! Joke!" I cried, "It was a joke! Bad joke!"
Yang froze in place and flicked her eyes from Weiss to Blake.
"Re-really?" Weiss asked with another sniffle
"Yes! Yes, I promise." Sighing, I put a hand on Weiss's shoulder and saw she didn't flinch away, "I'm sorry, it's just that my sense of humor-"
"Sucks" Finished Yang.
"Maybe…" I relented, "In this instance…"
"I'm impressed." A mystery female voice suddenly sounded from behind.
Turning, I saw four people standing just inside the doorway. A girl in a beret wearing sunglasses, despite being indoors, who was even taller than Professor Fall, a boy even taller than her with narrow eyes, black hair, and a green vest, a girl Weiss's height with brown hair reaching her butt and two brown rabbit ears on her head, and very dark-skinned boy with shaggy red hair.
"Team Coffee?!" Yang squealed.
"CFVY, technically." Beret Girl lowered her sunglasses, "Goldilocks."
"Did you need something?" I asked.
"I sure do, Carrot-top." Beret Girl strode further into the room while her team followed, "I need to put in my community service hours and Professor Fall says you lot are ripe for some guiding."
"I think we're gonna be alright." I said, pausing to look over the girls, Yang glared back, "But, uh, whatever you say."
"Oh, we heard your little heart-to-heart." Beret Girl smiled, "Nearly brought a tear to my eye. Right, Yats?" She then elbowed the giant boy.
"Having just met you." He said, voice deep as a bass, "I was both impressed and moved by your apparent maturity."
"It was like watching a movie." Rabbit Girl wiped her eyes.
"Okay, how long were you listening?" I groaned.
"The whole time, probably?" Beret Girl shrugged, "Let's get acquainted, kids. This is Yatsuhashi."
"My pleasure." The giant boy bowed.
"The weeping one is Velvet." She continued down the line.
"Hello, everyone." Velvet showed a warm smile.
"On the end, there, is Fox. When it's new people, he doesn't talk much."
"Speak." Weiss chirped.
"Huh?" Beret Girl spun around.
"Ah, it should be 'he doesn't speak much'." Weiss elaborated.
"Right…" She lowered her sunglasses again, as if to see Weiss with more clarity, "And I'm-"
"Coco Adel." Yang spat all at once.
"Yeah…" Coco dragged the confirmation out, "Look, you did fine for today. We'll just start this for real tomorrow. Sound good?"
"Yeah." We all said in uneasy unison.
"Till then." She tipped her beret and bounded for the door.
--
"Uh, bread and…" Looking over what was on the menu, I wasn't in the mood for chicken, "Two of those little fish…and two strips of bacon, burned black. Oh, and something with protein for my durant."
"That's very specific, Mr Winchester." Said Melanie Malachite, spatula in hand and greased apron about her front, "You're lucky you're cute."
"Ah…ha." Feeling obscenely awkward, I began to scan for the girls.
There were pokemon at nearly every table, furiously gobbling down their feed. Several more endlessly circled the cafeteria's ceiling, including a silver and sparkling corvisquire. The cafeteria was only half full, still so, spotting the only girl with long, white hair and a long white tail to match was an easy ask. I sat down without saying a word and released Mace so he could start his meal, too. Yang reached over to scratch behind Mace's atenna and smiled before looking up at me with a glare.
"Oh, did you want a scratch, too?" She asked in a lifeless, monotone voice.
"Nope, nope, I'm good." I shoved a fork into my fish, "Do not need you to touch me…"
"What do you think tomorrow is going to be like?" Blake asked, intently observing her dreepy swallowing her food whole.
"However it is, we must endure it and get back on Professor Fall's good side." Weiss said once her mouth was clear, "In fact, I-" She suddenly stopped and pointed over Yang's shoulder, "What's happening over there?"
Peering in the finger's direction, I saw a very short girl with pink and brown hair clutching a nearly empty lunchtray while a gothita sat on her head. Ruby Rose stood in her path, devilish smirk on her face.
"I knew I recognized you from somewhere!" Ruby exclaimed, rising on her toes, "I put your dad in prison, huh?" She cackled, "That all you can afford to eat? Why don't you just steal something like your old man!"
The multi-colored girl visibly gritted her teeth, but I could see her eyes getting shinier by the second.
"Got nothing to say?" Ruby put a hand on each hip, "Come on."
Freeing one hand, the short girl made a few movements with it.
"What? You can't talk?" Ruby said, scratching her head, "Maybe you're just faking for sympathy, you know, since you're obviously poor and basically have no family."
When I looked back at the table, Mace met my eyes.
"Durrant!" He said, raising his mandibles.
"Yeah." I replied, standing and making my way over.
"Like, seriously, whoever heard of someone who can't talk but can still hear?" Ruby cackled, "Seems made up."
"Rose." I said, "Piss off."
"Ah, it's the guy who got beaten down by my cousin." She turned to face me fully and raised an inquisitive eyebrow, "What do you want with the pretend mute?"
Glancing at her, I saw the poor girl was staring at the floor.
"Nothing." I started, "But I'm trying to eat and your voice is ruining my appetite."
"Oh? And what are you good for?" Ruby stepped just in front of me, "You're just the guy that got beat down in front of the whole class. I was proud of my cuz for that one."
"Don't be." Yang's voice came as she walked up beside me, "That was none of your business and it was my mistake to make it so public."
"Either way, I just wished I had popcorn and a front row seat!" Ruby chirped, "Stay clear of this runt. She's a criminal, like her father."
Ruby Rose then turned on her heels and skipped away. As I watched her go, I saw a dark-skinned girl with green hair hurridly approaching.
"Are you alright?" Yang asked the multi-colored girl, "Don't listen to anything my stupid-ass cousin says."
"Hey!" The dark-skinned gjrl said at a distance, "What's going on, here?"
The short girl promtly dropped her tray and rushed the other girl for a hug. Miraculously, I managed to keep her small portion of cheesy pasta on the gray while Yang caught the bread.
"Is she alright?" Blake asked, having just arrived with Weiss beside.
The two other girls exchanged hand movements what could have only been sign language.
"Uh, huh." The green girl said throughout, looking each of us over, "She says thanks."
"It's whatever." I replied, sitting the tray on a table.
"I'm Emerald and this is Neopolitan." She pointed to the short girl, "But she says you can call her Neo."
Neo faced us and smiled, her gothita imitated her. She was just so short.
"We're gonna get out of here. There's one too many toxic redheads in here." Emerald motioned toward the exit, "But you guys are all right. Let's hang out, sometime!"
"Go in peace!" Weiss called.
"Go in peace?" I repeated once they out of ear-shot.
"Wha-" Weiss huffed and crossed her arms, "My knowledge of friendship is limited, okay?"
"I'm just pushin' your buttons, man." I nudged her with my arm and earned an annoyed-look trying its best to hide a grin.
"That Neo's got a cute smile." Yang said, still facing the direction they departed in, "I don't know any sign language, though."
"I do." Weiss shrugged.
"Oh, really?" Yang glacially pivoted to put eyes on the lizard faunus, "Teach me."
--
A knock on the door woke me. Based on the window light, it had to be early morning. Glancing from the white-scaled lizard tail hanging from the bed above mine to the occupied and unmoving bunks of Yang and Blake, I fell back to my pillow. Then it came again, but louder.
"Eyes up, CWBL." Coco Adel's voice came, "Community service time."
"Uhhhhhhg." Weiss moaned, "Get the door, Cardin."
Rolling my eyes for no one to see, I wandered over and threw it open with little abandon. Coco strode right past without so much as an invitation.
"Quaint little place." She said, slowly turning in a circle and sipping some steaming beverage, "Reminds me of being a first-year, eh, Yats?"
That couldn't be coffee, could it?
"Indeed." Yatsuhashi ducked to enter the room, also holding a hot and steaming beverage, "We have overcome many obstacles to make it this far."
As Velvet and Fox entered, also, holding hot and steaming beverages, I heard rustling from my bunk.
"I smell coffee." Weiss said in a horse, groggy voice, before sitting up, "And I see only four."
"Very astute, Ms Schnee." Yatsuhashi nodded.
"How do you know my name?!" She yelped.
"Oh, that." Coco took another swig, "I got it from the criminal file that Vale Police keeps on all faunus."
"What?!" Weiss hopped out of bed and gracefully landed on the floor, "I'm not a criminal!"
"Joke?" Coco shrugged as Velvet slapped her on the arm, "What? It was perfect."
"Who's talking…" Yang whined from under her covers.
"Hey, this Coco just told a faunus are criminals type joke!" I harped.
"Eh?" The blonde emerged from her blanket cocoon, hair in every direction.
"Come on." Coco put a hand on her hip and grinned devilishly, "I'm just trying to fit in with you all."
"It's fine when she does it." Yang yawned, "What are you all doing here?"
"It's like this." Coco's tone turned authoritative, "Fox with Belladonna, Yats with Xiao Long, and Velv with the Schnee." She snapped her fingers and pointed my way, "And that leaves you to me, kid. Let's get to it."
"Wait, but what are we doing?" I asked, feeling my face tighten with unease.
"Not sure what the others have in mind." Coco admitted, downing a huge amount of her coffee, "But you and I are going on patrol, Winchester. You know, real responsible leaderly type stuff."
"Uh…"
"Move it." Coco cut me off and gestured to the window, "I'll be out front."
"Yes, uh, ma'am." I managed.
"Ah, ma'am." Coco left, mumbling to herself, "I like that."
After changing to some black pants, black shirt, and gray jacket, I was as ready as I'd ever be.
"So lucky you got Coco." Yang said, stepping out of the bathroom in black shorts, tan top, and tall brown boots, "Uh, no offense to you guys."
The remaining members of Team CFVY didn't appear bothered.
"Good luck." Weiss said with a dignified smile.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I waved as if to shoo her away, but grinned at her in the end, "See ya."
Closing the door behind me, I turned and collided with something.
"Ow!" A high pitched voice complained, "You blind or something?"
It was the dark-skinned girl from the lunchroom incident. She barely reached my collarbone.
"Oh, it's you." She said, tone leveling out and red eyes peer up at me, "Thanks for sticking up for Neo, yesterday. That Rose is a prick."
"Yeah, that…ice cream girl." I said, recalling her uniquely hued hair, "I was just bored. Anyway, I got a thing. See ya."
"Hey!" She called, though I didn't turn to see, "Hit me up next time you're bored!"
Upon piercing Beacon's main entrance and exit, a breeze of cool air washed over me.
"There you are." Coco's voice found me, "Hop on."
The haughty older girl sat upon the back of a blue and black charizard, cobalt flames omnipresent on either side of its mouth.
"What kind of charizard is this?!" I exclaimed, barely inching closer.
"The strong kind, kid." She reached a hand down and pulled me up onto her beast.
It was quite warm to sit upon.
"Hold on to your butt." Coco mumbled, "Take us to town, Gianduja!"
"Char!" It bellowed, vibrating my eardrums, and after a couple flaps of its pointed wings, I was ready to hurl.
Beacon rapidly shrunk into a speck as we penetrated the thick cloud cover overhead and revealed the sun hidden above them. It was so bright, I shut my eyes immediately and still saw a glare in the darkness.
Dur…
So, that's what the sunglasses are for!
Suffice to say, the wind pressure was such that I was gripping Coco like my life depended on it.
"Ease up, kid!" She hollered, "You're squeezing me to death!"
After an eternity of suppressing my urge to vomit, I could tell we were descending. Gingerly cracking my eyes open, I saw we were already under the cloud canopy and approaching rapidly an expanding strip of small businesses, passing a flock of pidgeotto as we went. A crowd of people were making their way to and fro and seemed unbothered as they, perhaps unconsciously, made a small opening for us to land in. Were pokemon that common in the big city?
"Bleh!" I fell off the charizard and began coughing, though there was nothing to throw up.
"Cut it, Winchester, you're making me look bad." Coco whispered, rubbing the back of her pokemon before it dematerialized into a dirty amber-colored aura and returned to her, "Let's go."
"Go where?" I struggled up and followed, squeezing between those in the crowd.
"First order of patrol." Coco semi-yelled, raising an arm and pointing toward a coffee shop, "Can't get anything done without it." Coco skipped to the front of the line and flashed her scroll, "Macchiato for me and, uh?" She nudged me.
"Just, black." I said.
"Fits your whole black theme." She put a finger to her chin and looked me over, "I'm down with it. Next, we eat."
After leaving the cafe, she motioned me toward a food cart and acquired some manner of rolled up egg between a biscuit.
"Okay, what the hell is patrol?" I said, tapping her on the shoulder, "So far, it's just been making me wanna hurl and watching you skip lines."
"Did you benefit from me skipping those lines?" She asked with her mouth full?"
"Well-"
"Then, what are you whining about?" Coco lowered her glasses and winked, "Patrol is when you check out the city and make sure there aren't any, you know, nerdowells mucking about."
"Like, crime?" I posed, sampling the black coffee.
"Yeah, just like that." Coco grinned, "And they said you were smart." Pulled me around the corner and pointed, "My favorite spot. There's usually some sick art on this wall."
The wall in question did not disappoint. It was a massive stone building facing a park and depicted on it was none other than Headmistress Salem, legs completely concealed within her black dress and her arms raised toward a sky with swirling black clouds.
"We're actually gonna find crime?" I looked over the park and saw children running about and several baby strollers being pushed around, "Plus am I, like, qualified for that?"
"You're here to watch a pro in action, kid." Coco leaned against the wall, "I'm nearly graduated. Also, there's been reports of new players in Vale's underground and this, here-" She patted the mural wall, "Is a Schnee Vitamin store on the other side. Valuable stuff, you never know."
"But if we're on this side of such a large hunk of stone, how're we gonna get around to the front in time?" I asked, watching Coco's mouth tighten, "Unless you think they're gonna blow a hole in this wall to escape."
"Alright, alright, smart guy." She adjusted her beret, "We'll go to the front."
As we made our way around the massive stone rectangle, I saw a faint, pinkish fog was present in the alleyway.
No way…
Upon energizing my aura, I felt the fog was no natural thing. From the alleyway, I saw people were near-running in the opposite direction.
No fucking way…
"Eyes up, Winchester." Came Coco's voice from behind, "We got a live one."
Next I knew, she and her charzard went zipping over my head, turned sideways so the fire and dragon pokemon could still spread his wings.
"Damn! Wait up!" I shouted as Mace leapt from my aura and ran ahead of me.
Upon clearing the corner, I saw Coco and her charizard in the Vitamin Shop's doorway. Beyond her, there was a mass of people on their knees and a man in silver with a skull-like mask. Between him and the charizard was a pokemon I had never seen before. It was shaped like an open clam with a small black body inside and it was surrounded by thick, pink mist.
"What is that?!" I exclaimed, getting to Coco's side.
"A legendary pokemon." She replied through clenched teeth, "Tapu Fini." Her voice grew hardly audible as she leaned my way, "My only move to hit this thing is Earthquake and that puts everyone here in danger. What can your durant do?"
My heart seemed to stop beating and sweat beaded my whole body.
"Infestation, Metal Claw, Sand Attack, and Metal Burst." I said, forcing my hands not to shake.
"Let me pass or I'll have to hurt you." The masked man picked a large pack off the ground and slung it over his shoulder, flexing a yellow aura.
Frantically, I looked to Coco for direction but she didn't move.
"Crocea, Moonblast." He said in a calm tone.
Tapu Fini sparkled, conjured a snow-white sphere covered in dark craters, and hurled it our way. Everything happened so fast. The Moonblast zipped across the room in one blink and by the next, I was laying on my stomach with blurry vision as the pink mist moved about. When the numbness faded, I felt Mace pulling at my hand.
Steel resists Fairy!
Upon focusing my vision on the little durant, I saw the masked man striding past.
"Hey!" I shouted, watching him turn to face me, "Sand Attack him, Mace!"
Mace flung a clod of sand right at the unknown robber and sent him into a coughing fit. The Tapu Fini was on Mace in an instant, gripping him by the neck in its skinny black hand.
"No, Crocea." The man said between coughs, ripping his mask off and revealing short blonde hair, beautiful blue eyes, and a boy not much older than myself, "We need to go."
The clam pokemon dropped Mace and both it and the blonde boy vanished into the pink mist.