Chapter 19
Outside Your Peace
Ciecro held his arms in front in a basic stance position, fists clenched and breathing slowed. He turned his head slightly, focusing his attention on Jaron, on his right, rushing towards him. He could tell Jaron wasn't going at a full sprint, either due to them being on a hill's incline or just relying on Vragon to deal with the first strike from the other side.
He smirked as he faced right completely and rushed at Jaron, claws at his sides as the two brothers rushed each other. Ciecro feinted to swipe left but then tumbled with his entire body to swing his tail at Jaron as they neared a collision.
However, the Croconaw was nimble enough to jump away and roll on his side, quickly placing his left claw into the dirt to halt his momentum.
The Charmeleon did the same, stopping his body upright with his right claw, but he quickly used his left to parry Vragon's incoming strike so it grazed past him. He then shoved his head and torso into Vragon's back, sending the Fraxure flat on his face.
"Ack!" Before Vragon could get up, Jaron hopped over him to bring down a slash of his claws onto Ciecro, but the Charmeleon darted right. The two began to run up the hill as the Fraxure got back to his feet, following at a slow-paced jog.
Ciecro was getting close to the summit when he felt a claw slice swipe onto his leg. "Gah!" He quickly fell into a roll and twisted his body so he came up facing the other way as he raised his arms, just in time to catch Jaron's follow-up slice.
He snarled as he felt his brother's claws begin to dig onto his scales. Unfortunately, despite being stronger than Jaron, his brother had the vantage point and was pressing his weight firmly down on Ciecro preventing his escape.
I don' have enough time. Ciecro roared as he pushed with all his might, temporarily throwing off Jaron's attack, and swiftly grabbed Jaron's claws; attempting to throw him off guard.
Jaron quickly stepped back, using his tail to help brace himself from falling over as the two boys began doing a power struggle with their arms.
"Go for it, Vray!" Jaron shouted as he pushed harder, giving the Fraxure time to strike. Unfortunately, Ciecro had an avenue for escape, that being to fall back into Jaron's push and kick him overhead. "Dya!" Jaron exclaimed as he landed on his back with a thud.
"Jaron!" Vragon said in surprise, halting his charge.
Ciecro quickly got back to his feet right as the Fraxure looked at him. The Charmeleon gave a cocky grin and spread his arms wide, inviting the intimidated Fraxure to try his luck.
Vragon took a deep breath and rushed Ciecro's position, going for cautious swipes that were all parried by Ciecro's arms. The Charmeleon snickered to himself as he suddenly caught one of Vragon's swipes, making the Fraxure gasp and yanked the boy towards him. Vragon's beak collided with Ciecro's chest.
"Oof." Right as Vragon pulled back, reaching for his snout, Ciecro grabbed Vragon by the shoulders, spun him around, and then he grabbed Vragon by the underarms.
"What‽ Dya!"
Chuckling, Ciecro heaved Vragon above his head, leaning back on his tail for support. He quickly moved a foot forwards as he shifted one hand to grab near Vragon's lower back, right above the tail, while the other side to the armored back near the neck.
Ciecro smirked to himself as he held Vragon above his head. "How's dah view?"
"Put me down!" Vragon snapped, flailing about in the air, unable to lay a scratch on Ciecro.
As fun as it was keeping Vragon suspended like that, Ciecro could see Jaron getting back up on his feet. So, he granted Vragon's wish, by tossing him at Jaron, who cushioned Vragon's fall. The two boys tumbled onto their backs, both groaning.
"The hell, Ciecro," Jaron snarled, sitting up.
"Heh, kinda got carried away," Ciecro smirked and walked up, offering his hand, which Jaron accepted it though he was still scowling.
"I'll say you did," Vragon growled, sitting up and rubbing his head. "I could have landed on one of Jaron's scale spikes you jerkass."
Ciecro shook his head. "Yah're tougheh den dat. Or do yah mean tah say yah're jus' a baby." He held his hand out to Vragon, who begrudgingly accepted it.
Once all three boys were on their feet, Ciecro took a few steps away and turned around. "A'ight. Resume."
"Are you serious?" Vragon said with a dumbfounded look. "How are you not tired?"
"Bitch later, Vray."
"Hey!"
"Look, we can take him. Just stop whining and let's reform our strategy."
Vragon grumbled but complied as the two stared down the confident Charmeleon. The Fraxure took a deep breath and shut his eyes for a second in thought. "We need to strike at the same time."
"My thoughts exactly." Jaron grinned as the two boys split up and began walking to Ciecro's sides, Vragon at the higher elevation and Jaron at the lower one.
Ciecro adjusted his stance to low guard as he glanced from one to the other before finally having to choose Jaron to keep his attention on. Jus' like dah staht. He muttered in his head. Dough, dey migh' try somethin' sneaky. Bes' be prepared fo' dat.
A few seconds later, Jaron lunged towards Ciecro at full spring, causing Ciecro to tense his muscles. Grapple 'im fihst an' avoid Vray. "Oof," Ciecro grunted as Jaron rammed right into him, pushing Ciecro back though the Charmeleon had a good lock on Jaron's head. He could hear Vragon running behind him and thus immediately fell left, feeling the minor sting of Vragon's claw grazing him.
"What?" He heard Vragon exclaim as he fell down the hill, pulling Jaron with him into a tumble. Ciecro then let go, shifting his claws to grab the ground and stop himself as Jaron tumbled down for a little while longer.
"Get back here!" Vragon shouted, lunging for Ciecro to tackle him, but Ciecro flicked his tail, smacking Vragon on the side of his face and causing him to stutter to the side. He seized his chance and lunged for Vragon, shunting him right as the Fraxure faced him and causing Vragon to start tumbling down the hill with painful grunts mixed between the rolls.
Right as he turned to confront Jaron, his eyes widened as Jaron was right upon him. "Ack!" He was sent sprawling onto his back, the Croconaw on top of him. Ciecro raised his arms to shield his face as Jaron scratched at Ciecro viciously.
Finally, Ciecro got his bearings once he saw an opening. He pulled his legs up as best he could, snaking his tail up onto Jaron's head.
Jaron gasped at the surprise distraction, giving Ciecro all he needed to push Jaron off and turn the tables. The two went tumbling down again, rolling over a recovering Vragon as they kept going and going until reaching the bottom.
Ciecro used his strength to pin Jaron at the bottom, panting heavily as he shut down Jaron's attempts at struggling.
A few snarls and desperate attempts to free his hands later, Jaron went limp, panting as he sighed. "Alright, you win."
Ciecro nodded and got up, pulling a disappointed Jaron up. "Hey, yah almos' got me."
"Yeah."
Seeing Jaron's downer mood, he patted the Croconaw on the shoulder. "I mean it. Yah're very good at keepin' me on muh toes. Yah know me too well, heh."
Jaron's face perked up.
"Cool, great, I'm fine too by the way."
Both siblings looked up the hill to see Vragon limping down, rubbing his side.
"Yeah, don't worry. I don't mind being rolled over by you two fatzos."
"Aheh…sorry about that Vragon." Jaron started up the hill. "Not much I can do when tumbling down with Ciecro on my case and mind."
The Charmeleon was heading up after them, till he stopped at a stinging pain on his side. "Huh?" He glanced down and to his surprise, there was a long, but thankfully not deep cut. "When did I-?"
"Ciecro?" Jaron's eyes widened as he spotted the wound. "What happened?" he cried as he rushed over, staring at it with horror.
"It ain' dat bad." Ciecro shrugged as Vragon joined them.
"Maybe not, but you're bleeding and it is long."
The sound of Vragon clearing his throat garnered the two's attention. "Well, I suppose it's my turn to shine, no?"
"Huh?" Jaron looked at the wound and then back at Vragon. "Are you sure? It's a bit big."
"No worries. Besides, it was probably because of these bad boys that it happened." Vragon tapped on his right tusk.
Heh, well fine. Yah can show off if yah wanna. Ciecro nodded as he let Vragon walk up and touch his wound. Jaron made a little squeak of a protest that was instantly shut down by a faint yellow light glowing from the spot Vragon touched Ciecro.
The Charmeleon closed his eyes and smiled as he felt the calming sensation in his side. His stinging began to subside.
"There we go." Vragon pulled back, however, he suddenly began to stutter a little.
Jaron was immediately on the case, quickly latching his hands on Vragon's shoulders to steady the disoriented boy. "You alright?"
"Yeah, thanks." Vragon blinked a few times as he glanced at Ciecro. "Hey, can we pause training for a bit? I'm kind of drained after that fight and healing your wound just now."
"Sure. Let's get some wateh." Ciecro and Jaron helped the tired Fraxure up the hill as they all sat down around Ciecro's sack. Taking out the canteen, Ciecro offered it to Jaron who instantly took it and chugged down a few gulps.
"Mmmm…" Jaron took it from his maw, shaking his head rejuvenated as he offered it to Vragon. "Thirsty?"
"Very." Vragon snatched it and began gulping down his needed share.
Meanwhile, the Charmeleon was feeling the spot where the cut used to be. The scales on there were as good as new, with the only indication of the cut being some minor blood smudges.
"Geez, Vragon, save some for Ciecro."
Looking back at Vragon, Ciecro saw the Fraxure's eyes go wide as he took the canteen from his mouth.
"Aheh…whoops." Vragon did a weak little laugh as he handed the canteen to Ciecro. It felt light and when he tipped it over, barely enough liquid to fill the base of a cup poured down onto the grass. The two gave Vragon a half-shut gaze as the Fraxure sighed.
"Sorry, I was just really thirsty."
"Dang it, Vray." Jaron sighed and shook his head. "You shouldn't have healed him fully."
"Hey, it's not like I knew I was going to be so parched. Look, I'm sorry."
"Come on, you know that when you heal wounds bigger than a scrape you get all disoriented and shit."
"I'm not fragile, Jaron. I can take healing some dumb cut."
Jaron's eyes looked to the side. "I know…it's just…Well-"
"Oh don't even start." Vragon stood up and glared down at Jaron, startling the other two. "If this is about that one time, well forget it."
"Like hell to that." Jaron scowled as he stood up as well. "You were out for hours and you didn't even heal the guy's face fully. Like, we have to go at this slowly, not just shotgunning it when we don't even know what Gift you have."
The Fraxure's gaze lowered towards Ciecro's side, staring at it with a bitter expression.
Ciecro's gaze fell too as he thought, Yeh…he wound up bein' ou' cuz of me bein' stupid an' lettin' my angeh take control. He sighed in his mind as he looked up at Vragon. "Vray."
The Fraxure shifted his eyes to meet Ciecro's. The topaz iris emanated a look of resistance although Ciecro could see that behind it was a weak foundation. He nudged his head towards Jaron and the Fraxure reluctantly looked back at the younger sibling.
Ciecro looked too, seeing Jaron's stern face now one of understanding and sympathy.
"Look, Vray. I'm not saying don't use it. It's just…" Jaron sat down, pulling some of the grass out as he tried to formulate his thoughts. "Gifts aren't always just a net positive. Some have drawbacks or side effects that can hurt you or worse if you aren't careful about it." He looked up at Vragon, saying, "They're not like abilities. They use synergy directly. Your synergy. My Wary. Ciecro's Death Wrath. And whatever one you have, all of them rely on our power. And we don't have infinite synergy to supply them."
Vragon sighed, plopping down on the ground and shaking his head. "How am I supposed to learn more if we don't experiment?" He reached out and pulled some grass too, albeit more roughly than Jaron. "The only thing I have to anything Clans related is you two and you two don't even know too much about your own kind."
Ciecro frowned a little. It sucked hearing those words, though he'd be lying if he didn't feel the same. Glancing at the sea of prairie before them, Ciecro thought. Yeh…we don' know much. Like who dose enemies were from back den o' even wha' Norfair is like.
"It's not like we don't want to know more about our heritage, Vragon."
Ciecro glanced back to see Jaron eyeing Vragon with a frustrated scowl.
"Cool it with the passive aggression."
"Your right. Sorry, that was uncalled for." Vragon's head fell with a guilty look.
"Yah fine," Ciecro added, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. "We all don' like bein' in dah dahk abou' it. It feels wron'."
"I just…"
Ciecro opened an eye to see Vragon's melancholy frown.
"I just want some headway. It doesn't even have to be for my memories, just something. But…" he stared upwards at the clear blue sky with a few islands of clouds floating. Ciecro and Jaron also looked up as Vragon finished his thoughts. "I don't think we'll ever get those answers while we're here."
The silence felt heavy for the Charmeleon. This was why he didn't like talking like this. All this moodiness and stuff would just cause awkward silence for a few minutes and nobody enjoyed that. Finally, he'd had enough and stood up. "Yah feeling refreshed, Vray?"
"Huh? Uhm…sure."
"Good. I'm tired of talkin' abou' dis stuff. Let's train."
"Spoken like a true meat head." Jaron chuckled.
"I'll meet yah're head wit' my fist." Ciecro punched into his palm, giving an intimidating grin.
"Heh, sure, sure. Shame it's Vragon's training session now." Jaron chuckled as he stood up.
"Do we have to?" Vragon groaned, standing up as well.
"It's important you're capable of using your moves efficiently." Jaron raised a finger, in a manner that was hard to tell if he was just trying to mock inquisitive personalities or just Vragon. "After all, how can one be expected to defend oneself if one doesn't learn how to properly use one's power?"
Ciecro shook his head. Yep…definitely mockin' Vray.
Vragon seemed to get the message too and rolled his eyes. "I guess that's true. There are dangers and all that. Though…"
The two watched in silent curiosity as Vragon stood there thinking for a moment.
"Do you guys….do you think those guys might come back one day?"
"What guys?"
"Those guys from your past. The Red Eyes."
The brothers grew tense, scowling as if Vragon had said something insulting.
"W-what?"
Ciecro felt the flashbacks begging to be let into his mind again, but he forced them down. "Don' worry. Dey aren' gonna come."
"But…how do you know?"
"We're rural enough that it shouldn't matter. They can stay the fuck away for all I care." Jaron leered in the direction of the town. "Perion Town is small, but I thank Arceus every day that it is like that."
"But, what about learning more abou-"
"I don't care."
Ciecro raised a brow while Vragon stiffened up in surprise as Jaron glared at the two of them.
"If staying in a lackluster town like this keeps all that shit from coming into my life, I'll gladly stay here. Who cares anyway, it's not like being Norfarion nor that dumb Formula enhanced our lives at all."
That 'Norfarion' part made Ciecro growl a little. Deciding to distract himself from venting at Jaron's mindless venting, he looked over at Vragon and noticed the Fraxure's face stared at the ground bummed. The fiery orange eyes of the Charmeleon took a more pitying look as he resonated with being upset at Jaron's phrasing even if deep down, he agreed with Jaron. If he had to choose, he'd rather just stay here in the peaceful town than bother with anything outside, though, wanting to honor his parents' heritage and thus his own was important as well. Though, the poor guy didn't even know where to start, so in some ways he was the same as Vragon.
"So…we should be alright." Jaron sighed. "We don't have the formula, we don't have any ties to Norfair, and we don't have Seliph with us. All those things can just stay away and leave us alone." Jaron crossed his arms and raised his maw.
A burning feeling rose in Ciecro's chest as a slight snarl escaped his mouth. However, he quickly pivoted his gaze to Vragon as the Fraxure spoke up.
"But, what if something does happen? It'd help to at least know something."
"Like what?" Jaron skeptically asked.
"I don't know…jus-"
"Enough. Drop it, Vray." The Fraxure stared at him in surprise as Ciecro clenched his fists and glared at the Fraxure. "Dah Red Eyes aren' gonna look fo' us. Dah Formula is long gone. An' if Seliph was comin' back fo' us he'd have fuckin' done so years ago. Nothin' out dere cares abou' us, so I say fuck it an' focus on dah now."
A second after his rant, Ciecro felt some guilt swell up in his heart. He'd practically told Vragon to stop looking into things, like his missing memory, which was a terrible thing to say. His arms sagged a little as he sighed, sympathizing with Vragon's feelings but just being too done with this conversation to bother making amends. "Dis is why I said we should drop it."
"Yeah….I'm sorry." Vragon's arms went over his stomach, one rubbing the other's wrist softly like it too was sad.
Ugh… Ciecro walked over and patted Vragon on the shoulder. "Hey, as I said. No harm done."
"Are…are you sure?"
"Yeah. Sorry for blowing at you there, Vray," Jaron added, his signature grin returning. "But I'm with Ciecro. Let's drop this depressing topic and focus on the fun stuff."
Vragon smiled and shook his head. "Alright. Guess it is more fun to train with you meat heads."
O
Rain poured on the window of a dimly lit office. An Obstagoon, wearing a sleek, black brim hat, was sitting at a desk, reading some map with a smug grin on his face. His eyes focused on the continent of Triacal, specifically a town on its eastern edge, 'Crion City'. As his gaze traveled further eastward on the map, it came to a certain straight called 'Valiance' that was formed by the country Valendor to the north and the northwest portion of the continent Bermuda to the south.
He leaned in closer as he looked into Bermuda, showing various travel lines, all of which had been crossed out near their middle. A 'Dong!' sound scared him to sit up as he looked at the clock on his wall, an anxious glare covering his face. Damnit, what's taking him so long?
Leaning on his propped-up arm, he started tapping his fingers on the desk. That runt better not have gotten caught. I swear, Harken will never- He stopped as he smelled something strange. Sniffing the air, a dark smile crossed his face. "Ah," he got up and walked to the door and undid the bolt, opening the door to see, standing on a scaffolding overlooking a large warehouse, a Greninja drenched from the rain outside. He wore a sleeveless vest over a blank loose silk shirt that covered his shoulders and upper arms. Around his waist was a generic if not worn travel belt equipped with about four travel packs with even numbers on both sides.
The Obstagoon leaned on the door and smirked. "So, you have it?"
The mon nodded as the Obtsagoon backed up, ushering him inside but not before taking a brief look around at the closed-up, shipyard warehouse and shutting the door. "You didn't see any 'characters' whil-"
"No."
He paid the abrupt answer's tone no mind and instead focused on the prize, he was in the business of material after all. "So…did you find it?" The Obstagoon inquired as he led the Greninja over to his desk and sat down on the wooden seat, which squeaked under his weight.
Walking over and taking a stick from the Obstagoon's writing cylinder, the soaked stranger dipped it in the ink and proceeded to draw a link on the map. It started from a certain landing point in Northern Bermuda and traveled through, intertwining in areas until it finally met with the Western Ocean of 'Friedne'.
Leaning over the desk, the Obstagoon asked, "That's the route? What can you tell me about it?"
The Greninja set the stick into a liquid solution part of the cylinder and pointed to a certain spot. "Here. This is where they're able to take their route safely. Since every other one pretty much has to go around the fighting areas, they capitalized on this path due to a certain deal made between them and some Rayquiem forts in the area."
"Ah, so that's how they get their goods through Bermuda. Heh, no wonder they've been making great time, what with avoiding the fucking Valendor killjoys or Norfarion paranoid pricks."
The figure tensed up a little but went on to say, "As for who these individuals are that can grant you some access. Here," he pulled out a piece of paper tucked safely in a pouch and scooted it to the boss, who unscrambled it and began reading.
"Good. I'll send this to Harken. He can get somebody down there to negotiate."
"Are you sure he'll be able to get an arrangement?"
"Sure, I'm sure." The Obstagoon said with a slight tone of disappointment as he put the paper into his desk. "This is Harken we're talking about. The mob boss has extensions, he'll figure out a way. And who knows, maybe he can shut down the competition's little deal as well. Two for one."
"I suppose. But regardless, about my payment?"
"Sure, sure. Just one second."
The shipping warehouse boss got up and went to a certain bookcase. Sliding it aside, he put his claws onto a metallic vault with an octagon pattern on the front. He then started pressing the patterns on it as the Greninja watched.
Slowly, the water type moved his left hand back, faint blue light forming on his hand that traveled down and began forming the base of a Water Kunai. His muscles stiffened and his legs bent slightly forwards, ready to lunge at the target he kept his eyes fixated on. The throat.
"Clank!" The door opened, causing the Greninja to relax and let his water kunai disintegrate before it was fully formed.
"There we go." The Obstagoon hummed as he pulled out a certain orb from a pile of various things inside and set it on the desk for the other to grab it. "It wasn't easy, but I managed to get the recording you wanted. For…" he scratched one of his fangs with a nail for a second, trying to think of a word to say. "Liabilities sake, I had to make the boss's end of the conversation silent."
The Greninja scowled.
"Hey, hey, but it's there. I'm sure you'll get all the information you need. You don't need the boss's end for that."
"So you listened in on it?"
"What? No, as if I'd listened in on Harken's business. I don't have a death wish, like you do."
The Greninja nodded and pocketed the orb in the same belt pack he pulled the paper out of.
"Shame that you're playing with fire and all. What are these 'Red Eyes' to you anyway?"
"Nothing you should concern yourself about."
"Fine, fine. Not like I have reason to pry." The Obstagoon shrugged. "You're a good dock worker and an even better night one, so you've earned your privacy."
The figure nodded and turned to leave as the Obstagoon suddenly threw his arm around the Greninja's shoulders and chuckled.
"Hey, since I like you, I'm going to give you some advice."
"I'll pass thank-"
The grip grew stronger, making the Greninja tense up. The boss's smile faded to a neutral expression as he said, "Be careful. If you've got something to hide and it's something to do with these Red Eyes, best make sure you never, ever give them an opening. I've heard things about the fucked up things they could do to you and do alongside the mob bosses here in Triacal. If you're going to pick a fight with them, you best be ready for them to bite back even harder."
The Greninja's eyes narrowed, filled with conviction or was it anticipation? "I'll be careful."
"Good!" The Obstagoon exclaimed with a happy pat on the back and a pleased grin. "Well, then I hope it helps. Because I know damn well this info of yours will do wonders for fucking up our competition. Take care, Ricky." He turned around and sprawled his arms over the desk, looking at the map with a devilish grin.
"Right…glad it will help." The Greninja replied with a somewhat melancholy tone as he left, straightening his sleeveless vest and putting a hand over a pouch on his belt. The one that held his payment.
