Serene Village lived up to its name as the first rays of sunlight poked through the trees onto the small settlement nestled in the shadow of mountains.
Pokemon were going to and fro already, shopkeepers yawning as they parsed through their opening wares.
Hawlucha was already going for a run, zooming past Kecleon and knocking up a trail of dust.
The sound of scraping and crunching emanated from the river's coast as Raticate began his daily work breaking stones down into smaller chunks and nodded to Lombre as he slowly walked along the pier.
The town was quiet and sleepy in the mornings.
Well, that was until Riolu woke up.
"IT'S THE MORNING!" Riolu cheered at about 3AM.
"Go back to sleep." Came the grumble from elsewhere in the house.
"Okay."
Hours later.
"IT'S STILL THE MORNING!" Riolu cried as her eyes snapped open and she rolled right out of bed and gave a good, long stretch.
She yawned loudly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes and marvelled at the rock-like fragments before racing out of the room.
"Pops! Pops! It's the morning!" she called, running to the kitchen.
"Don't run in the house," Carracosta snapped as his footing became dangerous with an excited youth dancing around his feet. "I'm making breakfast, sit down."
"I'm hungry," Riolu said.
"I'm making breakfast," he repeated.
"Can you make me breakfast?"
Carracosta nudged his child back. "Go outside and run around, I'll call you when it's ready."
"Yes!" She offered a fist bump but Carracosta did not play along. She edged forward and pressed knuckles to the confused older pokémon and then raced out the door.
"I said no running in the house!" he called, as he did every morning. He was ignored, as he was every morning.
Shaking his head with a small smile, Carracosta continued preparing the morning meal.
Riolu went racing outside, arms behind their back for maximum speed. Their feet pounded on the soft grass to the rougher tracks worn down by years of feet on earth.
Their house was on the fringe of the village and it took a while to run all the way into town and back.
About one breakfast making, she had worked out cleverly.
This day, however, would bring more than just a morning run.
Not looking where they were going because by this point everyone knew that Riolu ran around in the morning and stayed out of her way, Riolu slammed head first into a dark-tealish head and they were both knocked on their behinds.
"Oww," Riolu groaned, rubbing her head where a bump was already forming.
She looked up as her fellow in crashing sighed, rubbing their own head.
"Sorry," she blurted out. "I didn't see you there. I go running every day. I haven't seen you before, oh are you new around here? I'm Riolu but everyone calls me Riolu!"
The other, a quilava blinked as she said all that without much of a pause.
Riolu waited. "Um, hello?"
"...hi," Quilava said quietly. "I guess I'm Quilava."
"You guess?" Riolu cocked her head.
"Yeah."
"Are you new? What have you been doing today? Ooh, have you had breakfast?"
The rapid questions couldn't be addressed all at once. He blinked once at her, slowly, before saying, "Well…."
Nuzleaf always woke up bright and early and lingering soreness wouldn't convince him to remain in bed.
Especially not today.
He loitered outside the bedroom he'd given to his surprise tenant, pondering a few things. He poked his head in and was surprised to find eyes looking back at him.
"Oh! Er, sorry 'bout that. Was wonderin if I needed to wake you up later."
Quilava just sort of stared at him which made him twitch a little.
"How'd you sleep?"
"Fine." Quilava shrugged, rolling out of bed and stretching his muscles.
"Er, good, good. Well, if you're up already that's great. Don't need to worry 'bout getting to school on time."
Quilava frowned slightly. "Pardon?"
"Er, right. Look, since neither of us are too flush on how old you are and you're, uh, lack of memory I've got you signed into the village's schoolin' program."
Quilava's frown deepened.
"Now, don't you worry 'bout a thing! It's the oldest group of 'em and it'll just be for this one class til the summer. Just to give you a paw til you're on your feet!"
"I see."
Quilava got up onto unsteady legs and approached, Nuzleaf let him out.
"I, err, you want some brekky? I can whip up some grub if you want to stretch your legs or something?"
To that, Quilava's stoic expression shifted into almost a smile. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. Alright, uh… be back in a few?"
Quilava nodded and stepped out the door.
He had only spent a moment taking a nice cool breath of the morning air before someone collided with him.
After chatterboxing his ears off and making introductions, he reached that point of the day as Riolu extended a paw. "You are new, right?"
Quilava nodded.
"Let me show you around then!" And without actually waiting for him to agree, she took his paw and pulled him along to explore Serene Village.
The night had passed and morning blessed the day once more.
Soothe awoke alone in her bed feeling slightly cold, no blanket would quite help. She took her time getting up.
Laying in bed for a while at first, her mind sluggishly catching up, banishing nightmares and reminding itself that the day was here and she had duties.
She eventually slithered out of bed and wandered to her kitchenette to eat some chesto berries to give her a kick. The dry berries had to be chased with water but their effect was magical, immediate and convenient.
Her large ears twitched and swivelled as if they had a mind of their own. Always aware of every little sound around her. Falling dewdrops from leaves, a soft breeze moving a wind chime, any footsteps; she caught it all.
There was a noticeable lack of shrieks and calls that she was sure had played faintly in her dreams.
She sighed, cracked her back and made her way outside.
She lived at the school. The medical hut was only part of her home, further in was her place of residence and outside closer to the woods was a larger building.
It had been constructed not long after she arrived in Serene Village and took up station here.
Why? To contain them.
She stifled a yawn and walked along the serene path, ready to destroy the peace and harmony of the morning.
It wasn't just the riolu made of mischief that made the village a lie of its own name.
She sighed as she approached a flat-roofed building, sighing because it was quiet. That meant they had stayed up even later than she had heard last night and would not be easily woken up.
She stepped up the few short steps to the door and opened it. Inside the building was squat, mostly a single room with some space in the back to store things.
The lavender audino entered the quiet room, listening for the sound of breathing. No one had stirred at her entrance, not even a hitch or a groan. She hadn't entered quietly.
She looked around the dimly lit room. Closest to the door, the deerling was on her side snoring softly.
Across from her, a pancham was dead to the world, laying on his back and sleeping soundly.
A shelmet was on the bed next to him and had retreated entirely into his shell, a slight echoing sound of his sleep breathing.
Farthest into the room, a goomy snoozed in his specially-made bed. He had to sleep in something moist for best health and thus he had a repurposed wheelbarrow turned into a bowl of sorts.
The only one awake already was no surprise. Grey sat near the goomy, her eyes wide and mostly unblinking. She made no sound as Soothe glanced at her, meeting the espurr's eyes undaunted.
Satisfied they were all alive and pitiless to waking them up, Soothe spoke up loud and clear to the peaceful quiet. "Okay, everyone. Wake up. Up you get, it's morning, that means you, Dusk."
Her bright and authoritative voice was not met with bright and cheerful kids.
Dusk the pancham grumbled something and rolled over.
"Round two, everyone. Wake up! It's morning whether you want it to be or not." She clapped and the goomy and deerling stirred.
Dusk pulled his sheet over his face. The pancham gave an exaggerated snore.
Soothe walked along, individually coaxing everyone to wake up and begin getting out of bed.
Appearing from nothing, Soothe generated a platform with a Protect, placing it by the wheelbarrow. "How did you sleep, Nimbus?" She asked the goomy as he slithered down slowly.
"Good, Miss Audino," he replied quietly, sticking close to her as the deerling stumbled over to him.
Shelmet poked his head out. "How did you sleep, Miss Audino?"
Nightmares, as usual. "Quite well, thank you, Brisk." He preened.
Wordlessly, eyes still wide Grey quietly walked to the door. A small stick fell from above as she passed by Dusk and bumped him on the head, causing the pancham to curse up a storm.
"Watch your language, Dusk" Soothe reprimanded as the pancham finally surrendered to the morning.
He grumbled a significant deal, snapped a leaf off the twig that hit him and stuck it in his mouth, crossing his arms and glowering as best he could.
Soothe thought it was rather cute if she didn't know the trouble he liked to cause.
"What's for breakfast, Miss Audino?" the deerling asked politely.
"Probably the same as always, Temp" Dusk snorted.
"Always tasty," Brisk added, looking hopefully up at Soothe. The shelmet shuffled up to his pancham buddy, staring up at her together.
"Tempus," the deerling snapped.
"Got it, Temper."
Before she could headbutt him, Soothe cleared her throat and they straightened up.
"Follow me, kidlets," she said, leading them out of their room and to her own little kitchenette.
Every morning she awoke early to prepare breakfast for these five young pokémon. Breakfast was routine, everyone got porridge as a baseline with garnish specific to their wants and needs.
Dusk liked extra sugar. Grey got tart berries. Nimbus enjoyed his extra gooey. Tempus had grass of all things as a side dish and Brisk claimed he liked anything but she knew he enjoyed ground-up nuts so that's what he got.
Pancham pulled a face as he always did except for Sunday. "Wish we could have pancakes every day," he grumbled, dreaming of Pancake Sunday.
"You wish, Pancake," Deerling teased.
"The names not Pancake!" Pancham snapped.
She smirked. He could dish it out but not take it. "You sure?"
"Yes, Deerie."
She rolled her eyes and Soothe sipped at some tea, keeping eye and ear as the five tore into breakfast.
It was her responsibility to care for them. How exactly it was hers she was never too clear on.
Each one had been found as an abandoned egg, but unlike the mischievous riolu, no one had adopted these eggs.
Thus, when she stopped around preparing for the future, pokémon simply… looked to her. Village nurse. Simply made sense for her to care for them.
Spire had enjoyed the prospect of raising some adorable gremlins. The memory had her smiling behind her tea. After they finished breakfast and were released to get ready for school she drew out the Connection Orb.
/Kids are up ~ Soothe/
His response came swiftly.
/How are they? ~ Spire/
/Same as always. Brisk talked about dreaming of flying, that's a new one ~ Soothe/
/Say hello from me ~ Spire/
She assured him she would and closed it, stretching her back and finishing her tea.
She knew she'd come to miss these mornings. If the human had arrived then that meant peace was well and truly over, even if it may seem to continue for a while yet
She glanced out the window at the group playing. Eyes on Espurr most of all but everyone a little.
"You're still too young," she sighed softly, resting her head on her paw, wondering what to do. Grey turned her head to her, and even though she couldn't have heard, the glance almost looked purposeful. Perhaps another argument was breaking out?
Riolu and the human would be at school soon. If nothing else, that kid could use a good friend. Soothe had never been able to quite stop the distance Dusk pushed her into since none of the other kids could quite match or put up with her energy for long.
She'd like to continue dwelling for hours but the school day was soon starting and, despite what the game implied, these kids weren't the only ones being taught.
Just the oldest that were still at school.
She got up and left her house, mindless to the eyes staring at her from the distance.
"See her, Cornelius?"
"I do."
"Great! You'll never forget a meeting with The Saviour! Now, start getting notes on those kids, we're gonna need them, teehee."
Quilava was pulled down south, travelling downhill until the two of them reached the little bridge over a river, Riolu rambling on as she pulled him along. "And that's where Scyther and Aron live, they're cool, and this is the river we get water from. Some of it at least. Over here is the main part of the town, let's go!"
Quilava was pulled right into the middle of town before he caught his footing, due to Riolu slowing down. "Where are you taking me?" he asked.
"To see Serene Village for all its-" Riolu looked back and forth as pokemon slowly made their way to and fro. "Glory. Hehe. Sorry. Guess it's not that glorious, but it's home! Look, over there is Hawlucha, and way over there is where Mr Kecleon works. And over there is the docks. And over there-"
Riolu continued, turning in circles and pointing out literally everything she saw until she started getting dizzy. "Oooh." She fell on her bottom and groaned. "I'm hungry."
Quilava blinked at her, seemingly puzzled as to what to say to this expulsion of energy so early in the morning.
Riolu gave a humoured chuckle. "Am I annoying? You're totally thinking about how annoying I am right now, yeah?" Then, without waiting for his response, she laughed. "Well, quit it! Sheesh. Gimme a break, you big miltank!"
She grinned widely at him, standing up. "See what I did there? A little joke? With the miltank?" She continued to laugh at herself before dusting off. "I'm starved, pops always makes extra, come on!"
And so she grabbed his paw and pulled him along, Quilava just leaning into the pull this time and heading back uphill.
More than a few pokemon shook their heads in sympathy as he was pulled away. And maybe not just for him.
As Riolu pulled him right back up the hill, unmindful of the way Quilava stumbled and staggered along, she continued to talk.
"And pops makes the best pancakes and I know Pancham is jealous. Pancham is this cool jerk at school who lives with Miss Audino with the other kids in my class and-"
She had surprising strength, despite his height on her she effortlessly pulled him upwards, almost dragging him as he had serious trouble catching his footing.
"Could you let go?" he asked sternly as they neared Nuzleaf's house. She came to a stop, the cloud of dust beginning to abate and turned to him shocked.
"Oh no, did I hurt you?"
She let go, letting him massage his arm, making sure she hadn't popped it out of joint. He had absorbed a lot of what she said about the local area and school and was already wondering just how old this pokemon was.
"I'm fine," he said, rolling his arm and determining it wasn't pulled out of the socket. "Please don't do that again."
Her face fell and she grimaced. "Sorry! Sorry! Are you okay?" She stepped into his space again and poked his arm. "It looks okay."
"Ah, there you are." Quilava gave a silent sigh of relief as Nuzleaf poked his head out of his door, spotting them and waving.
"Ah! Are you Mr Nuzleaf's kid?" Riolu gasped, utterly shocked at the thought.
"Hey, what's with that shocked expression?" Nuzleaf asked good-naturedly.
"Well, you don't seem like the kind to have a girlfriend," Riolu said cheerfully.
Nuzleaf blinked at her, a little thrown at the bluntness. "Uh."
"Do you wanna come over?" Riolu asked, turning back to Quilava. "I promise pops makes the best food I just don't know what it is today. I hope it's something with oran… did I already eat all of them? I better not ask or he'll get mad, heeheehee."
Nuzleaf looked to Quilava questioningly, Quilava minutely shook his head back.
"Now, I reckon I better feed Quilava myself, you hear?" Nuzleaf said sternly.
"Aww, alright." Riolu pouted, the tassels on the side of their head shivered and for a moment both of them felt her disappointment. It was surprisingly deep. She didn't seem to notice her tassels floating and shook it off as soon as it came. "I'll see you around, then!" she chirped, playfully punching Quilava's shoulder, bruising it in the process, and running off.
Nuzleaf and Quilava watched her kick up dust on the way back home before Nuzleaf shook his head. "That one seems like a handful."
"I can't feel my arm," Quilava complained, holding it.
Nuzleaf winced at him and brought him back in, adding another oran berry to his breakfast to help with that.
It was an odd morning to be sure.
And would only grow stranger.
Quilava's confidence that this pokemon was even younger than they appeared would be proven false as Nuzleaf walked him to school and he met the group that would be his classmates for the rest of the spring.
Farfetch'd was busy poking at the chalkboard as the kids of his lesson gathered.
The children who lived at the school were obviously there first, meandering around in their little groups. The younger children were already taken ahead by Audino for their first lesson of the day, elsewhere on the school grounds.
He would have called them to their seats already, but he was waiting for someone.
Riolu hopped in place, unable to keep still. "What's taking so long? Has Mr Farfetch'd forgotten the time? He's not that old is he?"
Farfetch'd looked over with a frown, Riolu really did not control her volume very well.
"No, idiot," Pancham growled. "He's…." He trailed off, not knowing the reason for the delay but now eyes were on him. "If you can't figure it out, that's your problem," he scoffed.
Shelmet whispered. "What is taking so long?"
"That's your problem," Pancham hissed back, unable to admit he didn't know.
Thankfully, for him at least, he was spared from embarrassment as Farfetch'd coughed. "Here we are, get to your seats everyone, our newest student has arrived."
Eyes turned, besides Espurr who was already looking, as Nuzleaf and Quilava approached.
Riolu almost vibrated in excitement. "That's the guy I was telling you about! I told you he was real and not a figment of my imagination! Hi, Quilava, hi! Sit next to me, there's space! See, look!" She patted the seat next to her with urgent hopefulness.
There really wasn't anyone sitting next to her and all eyes fell on him. Nuzleaf smiled but it was almost a grimace, he nodded to Farfetch'd who said, "Take a seat anywhere you wish-"
"Next to me!"
"-Quilava. And welcome, I'll be one of your teachers, Farfetch'd."
Quilava looked about but did decide to sit next to Riolu. She looked like a hopeful puppy; refusing that would be like kicking her in the ribs.
And he was no puppy kicker.
Riolu's joy at being sat next to radiated out of them like a cheerful breath of fresh air that put smiles on everyone's faces, even Pancham.
He made sure to scowl extra hard and snapped out, "Don't do that stupid thing of yours, I don't want to feel you."
Riolu stuck a tongue out at Pancham in response before Farfetch'd requested attention.
"Alright, everyone. Today's lesson will focus on exploration of the past."
"Ooh!" Riolu raised her paw, bobbing up and down.
Farfetch'd took it in stride. "Yes, Riolu?"
"Like how Team Sunrise came back from the future? And then how Team Ion went there and came back too?"
"No, Riolu."
She pouted. "Aww, I wanted to hear about that again. I thought of, like, a hundred more questions! What is the future like?"
"Well-"
"A thousand more questions!"
"That is-"
"A million!"
"Riolu, save it for later," Farfetch'd said sternly. "If you want, you can come ask me anything during recess or questions related to the topic during class."
At the back, Pancham and Shelmet rolled their eyes, knowing she'd never sacrifice recess to ask questions.
Order restored, Farfetch'd tapped his leek stalk on the chalkboard. "Exploration of the past was referring to major events in history that have shaped the world as we know it. Today we're focusing on the development of Paradise and all that it would pave the way forwards. Much industry is being headed by it, say even some five years ago things like a Connection Orb could not even be imagined!"
Quilava did his best to listen attentively, although no one had a pencil or anything to write the lesson down. He couldn't help but feel like he was not in the right place, however.
Where he was meant to be? He wasn't sure.
Unfortunately, he zoned out a lot of what Farfetch'd said and only noticed the lesson was over when Riolu started waving a paw in front of his face. "Hello?"
Quilava turned to her, noticing they were the only ones there besides Farfetch'd.
"The lesson is over," they said pleasantly, not unfamiliar with the glazed expression of someone not listening. "Recess has started."
"Oh."
"Come on," Riolu said, grabbing his arm and pulling him up. "We get to play and have something to eat, I brought an apple if you wanna share?"
Nuzleaf hadn't given him anything to eat but at the same time, he wasn't exactly starving.
She dragged him off past the blackboard to the training grounds where the rest of that class enjoyed playing, daring each other to break the rules and enter the school dungeon or otherwise get into trouble.
Riolu was the proud bearer of the most detentions the school had ever seen and probably drove Watchog to drink.
"It's so cool you're in school with us," Riolu chatted cheerfully as she pulled him along, Quilava still stumbling a bit on two legs. "Hey, guys! This is Quilava, I met him earlier! He's Nuzleaf's kid, I think anyway."
She turned to him. "Is Nuzleaf your dad?"
Coming to a stop, she let him go and now his other arm was sore. He rubbed it, looking up as everyone was staring at him. It was more than just Pancham, Goomy, Deerling, Espurr and Shelmet. There was a fair few other young pokemon walking about, running around, bouncing on a seesaw and having a good time.
Not everyone was looking, but the five that Riolu had called out to certainly were.
Pancham scoffed. "Who are you, anyway? You look way too old to be in school with us."
Deerling frowned at Pancham. "Lay off, Pancham we don't know them." She turned to Quilava with a straining smile. "Hello, uh… um, yeah, what Pancham said."
"Do you really live with Nuzleaf?" Shelmet asked, his voice a little nasally as he looked Quilava up and down with a hint of wariness. He positioned himself between Quilava and Deerling.
"I live with Nuzleaf, I guess," Quilava answered softly. "He found me yesterday."
"Found you?" Pancham asked, frowning immediately. "Like in a cave or in a field, or in the store? Where?"
Quilava glanced around. The school was situated pretty high up, they could see over Serene Village and so he eyed the big tree Nuzleaf and he had passed by. "The woods over there." He pointed vaguely.
"What are you, a feral?"
"Pancham!" Riolu shouted. "Don't be mean! YOU were found, are you a feral?"
Pancham sneered at her but didn't have a retort. Instead, he turned to Goomy, remaining silent. "Whatever. That reminds me, Shelmet. Remember our challenge?"
"Sure do," Shelmet said, also turning to Goomy who twitched.
"What do you two want?" Goomy asked, looking to Deerling but she was focused on Riolu and Quilava.
"We were thinking about you asking us to hang out the other day," Pancham began. "And I think you might have some promise."
Goomy brightened. "R-Really?"
"Yeah, but there's a test," Shelmet quickly added, making Goomy wilt a little.
"Um, I'm not good at tests."
"Yeah, but this isn't one about stupid history or something," Pancham said, waving the idea off. "Nah, it's what really matters. How good you are, we don't want to hang around with someone lame after all."
Goomy couldn't disagree with that. "Um, then what is it?"
"There's a piece of paper in Foreboding Forest," Shelmet began.
"And we want you to go get it," Pancham finished, grinning as Goomy's eyes went wide with fear.
"F-Forebo-"
"Shh," Pancham hissed, stepping in close and casting a nervous eye back at Deerling. She didn't seem to hear. "You don't want Deerling to worry, do you?"
"W-Well."
"We went in," Shelmet said. "But we had too much fun and forgot it there. If you go get it back for us, that means you're super cool and that'd make you the third member of our team. Then Deerling would join us and we'd be an unstoppable team!"
"Yeah!" Pancham and Shelmet grinned at Goomy. Pancham came up next to him and asked, "So, what do you say? After school. We go to Foreboding Forest?"
"Unless you're a wimp," Shelmet added.
"What? No!" Goomy retorted, fierce like a dragon for a moment. "I'm not a wimp! I'll show you. Foreboding Forest? Alright, fine!"
"That's what we like to see," Pancham said, satisfied. His eyes danced with mischief just like Riolu's did all the time. "We'll take you there, but no telling anyone. In and out and then you're part of the team!"
As Dusk and Brisk concocted a scheme with their goomy pal, Tempus continued talking to Quilava.
"So, you were found?" she asked, concerned. "By, Mr Nuzleaf?" she added dubiously.
"Yes," Quilava replied.
She waited a moment. "Uh, not a big talker are you?" she asked. He shook his head.
Riolu, jittering with the need to talk blurted out, "I can talk! I talk a lot! Pops says I talk in my sleep even." She beamed. Deerling's expression wasn't the friendliest, but Quilava looked somewhat amused so she grinned.
"Yeah, you do," Deerling replied, tone as dry as a desert wind.
"I don't mind," Quilava said and Riolu looked peppy enough to fly.
"Yay! That's good because I really can talk a lot. Like about my pops who is the coolest old guy you'll ever meet! You should meet him! He cooks really good and is really nice and only grumpy sometimes but he's secretly a softy and I bet you'd like him, do you wanna come over!?"
Her eyes almost sparkled at him. With her attention on Quilava, Deerling slowly shook her head before backing off.
With that exchange finished, there was yet another pokemon among the five. Who stared unblinkingly at Quilava and Riolu.
"You seem odd," came a serene voice. Espurr spoke up and everyone looked to her. Her eyes wide as she looked over Quilava, leaving him feeling judged for something he didn't know. "You're a lot older than us."
Quilava agreed with that notion. "Yeah, I don't really remember anything. Nuzleaf said I should learn."
Riolu gasped. "Just like the humans of legend! Are you human!?"
He remembered that much and nodded. "Yeah."
Riolu gasped again, even more excited. Her tassels flared suddenly, causing a cheer to go through the playing kids on the playground equipment and running around like crazy.
Pancham and Deerling all gave Quilava withering looks though.
"Don't make up stories," Deerling snapped. "Not around Riolu at least."
"Yeah, you can find a better story to pretend with," Pancham snorted. "We all know who the humans really were and they are all awesome and did cool things."
Quilava was a little confused but Riolu was not deterred. "Don't listen to these jerks, they're all jealous I got to meet you first. That means I'm your partner!" She grabbed his paw again and began dragging him off, still far stronger than he was. Not that he was resisting.
Deerling looked a little pityingly at him as he was dragged off, while Pancham and Shelmet turned away to go harass even younger children.
Espurr's eyes did not leave him, however.
Nor did another's. Peering out from the shadows. "...heh, you took your sweet time but I'd recognise you anywhere. Still as quiet as ever aren't you, Kenji?"
Soothe was digging.
Not a literal dig, just going through papers she had stored in boxes. She had conferred with Scout those years back and together they wrote down everything they could remember about the progression of the Super Mystery Dungeon storyline.
She hoped they had it roughly in order and didn't forget anything too important.
The human and Mew. Mew transforming into the partner. Riolu certainly seemed like the energetic nutcase they could remember, Ampharos had found their egg along with Carracosta and had given it to the old man to raise.
She kept a close eye on that one. Rather amused that they were a riolu as well. Considering how much Riolu loved the stories of the disaster heroes or the humans as was getting more widely known, she was almost obsessed over Sean.
Dress up day never failed to see Riolu wear a pair of 'pants' that she'd begged Carracosta to get. Not worn on her legs of course, rather the pantlegs were tied around her neck and she wore it like a cape. Like Sean most infamously did.
She looked over the paper. Goomy, Nimbus she had named him, would be going into Foreboding Forest soon, the human would go on to save him. Assuming that raising him with Shelmet and Pancham wouldn't stop that incident.
Soothe had hoped that raising the five together would stop that kind of bullying. On one hand, Nimbus was generally pretty alright, he was just a bit shy and lacked a bit of confidence. She'd seen Dusk stick up for him when other kids tried to pick on Nimbus, which made her happy.
That didn't stop him from doing the picking himself, however. She'd need to sit down with him and Brisk again, she decided.
The next immediate set of events wasn't perfectly clear in their memories. The school dungeon would occur but that was decently safe, a mishap at the Drilbur Coal Mine would occur and that could be a big problem. Poliwrath River she and Scout were fairly sure happened after that with their poliwag backup. Scout had been pretty sure they were forgetting something as well, but neither could place it.
And the problem with the litwick feeding on people and attacking the kids with an illusion of Giratina. Did they kidnap Watchog or just scare him? Was Farfetch'd involved? Neither of them could quite remember.
They had more written down. Watching out for the beheeyem and keeping a close eye on Nuzleaf as well.
Soothe pondered if she should try and get Quilava away from Nuzleaf and decided she'd bring it up again to the Expedition Society.
Ampharos would be on his way down soon, travelling as soon as she told them that the human had shown up. Which, she hadn't yet. She had yet to… find the time. That was an excuse, but she wasn't prepared to tackle that set of emotions just yet.
A quilava though, that was interesting. No one had ever appeared as a second-stage pokemon before. Jessica's partner had been a pikachu sure, but she was an oshawott when she first showed up and she was the human of that duo.
Everyone had been first stage pokemon. Everyone besides Quilava, who she needed to get the name of. Shouldn't be too hard, as long as Nuzleaf didn't do the responsible thing and told him to keep that information to himself. She thought that tradition was silly.
Her head began to hurt as too many contrasting thoughts slammed into each other in a raucous showdown of stressful thoughts.
Needing something to relax with, she tapped onto the Connection Orb.
[The Humie Council]
/Alright guys, the human is a quilava, haven't gotten their name yet. ~ Soothe/
/Damn, I owe Jess 1k poké ~ Dimitri/
/Betting solely on them being a Water-type was terrible odds. ~ Jessica/
/You were! I was! ~ Dimitri/
/And Sean and Kenji and Soothe? ~ Jessica/
/Yeah, but if I had won… ~ Dimitri/
/You didn't. ~ Jessica/
/I already feel poorer than I did before ~ Dimitri/
/Your wallet matches you sensibilities. ~ Jessica/
/Regardless. Any concerns thus far, Soothe? ~ Jessica/
/Haven't spotted the beheeyem yet, everyone is still acting as they usually do. I'm probably going to talk to Dusk and Brisk soon, again, about bullying ~ Soothe/
/They're still doing that? ~ Dimitri/
/Yep. ~ Soothe/
/I have asked around, Emolga and Dunsparce are going to make their way over. Dunsparce will ask Virizion so there is a decent chance that he will come as well. ~ Jessica/
/And we're looking into the last known sightings of Latias and Latios. With any luck, they'll stick together and they could put out warnings to more legends ~ Dimitri/
/Looks solid, thanks ~ Soothe/
/No need to thank us. We live here too ~ Dimitri/
/If Dark Matter believes it can prey on the ignorant then it will feel the bite of cold, harsh, reality. Over and out. ~ Jessica/
Soothe set the orb down and took a nice, deep breath.
They had allies. Friends. Legendary and legendary pokemon on their side.
This wouldn't be as bad as she was thinking.
They were ready.
They had to be.
I'm sure it won't be worse or anything.
The story begins! How exciting.