Chapter 4
The Void
Ferician Territory - Fericia
The night blanketed the sky above Fericia with a vast array of stars. Each one twinkled amongst the black expanse above, casting light upon the castle and its inhabitants. But with the blanket of night brought a question to the forefront of Dillan's mind: where would the two friends sleep?
The gabite, for obvious reasons, hadn't a single penny to his name in this new world. As for Ryan, the pachirisu found himself with the same issue as the kidnappers robbed him of everything he had. This left the two with no way to rent a room from a local inn. Perhaps they could have asked Hazel for a space where she lived (or a spot on the floor at least), but the charmeleon took off too quickly and the question came too late.
However, a plan quickly populated Dillan's brain.
The two journeyed through the city, finding a spot within the walls filled with many flowers and a small field of grass. It was a sort of park hardly touched by the surrounding buildings, save for the occasional torchlight. Once there, Dillan flopped down onto his side, using the grass as a makeshift bed. Ryan stood, quite literally, against the idea, but soon followed suit as Dillan refused to move from his spot. It was, in truth, exhaustion that took hold of his body and brain, and it left Ryan to either set off alone or to curl into a small, fluffy ball of fuzz on the grass. And that seemed the more appealing option as he did just that.
But Dillan didn't mind the area. In fact, the stillness of the night and the vast array of stars above brought a peace to his mind. Not to mention, he could stare up at the moon and reminisce. Within no time, he found himself waking up to the soft light of day and setting off towards the eastern entrance of Fericia.
Hazel was first to the gate, wearing the same satchel as before around her shoulder. And as the two approached the charmeleon, she began flailing an arm wildly through the air, completely oblivious to any attention it drew.
"What took you two so long?" Hazel asked with a bright smile to the two.
Ryan, however, did not share her enthusiasm. He cracked his neck to the side, mumbling, "Genius here decided sleeping in the grass was better than an alley."
"Isn't it?" Dillan asked. "You can't really see the stars in an alley, plus the grass cushions your body. Seems better to me than sleeping on bricks."
Ryan eyed Dillan accusingly, clearly not sharing his sentiments. Hazel, however, looked between the two with pursed lips. "You could have asked me," she said. "Up until yesterday, I worked at a diner called Harley's. The owner's good friends with my dad, and she would have given you the extra room."
Ryan smirked with a big gesture towards Hazel. "Could have had a bed," he insisted.
This merely caused Dillan to eye him with a suspicious grin. "And you know where Harley's is?"
Ryan hesitated a response. "Y-yeah," he lied whilst crossing his arms. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Well, it's not like it matters now," Hazel announced with a quick clap of her hands. "What matters is that Team Rescue is going on its first ever-"
Ryan cut Hazel off with a quick wave of his arms in the air. "Wait wait wait," he said. "You wanna call our Rescue Team 'Team Rescue'…"
The charmeleon pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "What's wrong with it?"
Dillan blinked a couple times as the name played across the tip of his tongue, before plummeting down into the dirt where he thought it belonged. "It's a bit on the nose," the gabite smiled with a tap to his snout.
Hazel purses her lips at the two. "Well, how about 'Team Rapture'?"
The pachirisu scoffed aloud. "What does that even mean?"
"It's like… extreme joy," Dillan answered.
Ryan shook his head once more. "Too wordy for a Rescue Team. No one would even understand what we're about.
"Besides: do we really need to name the team? Why can't we just be us?"
Hazel upturned her nose at the question. "Of course we need a name." She quickly reached into her satchel and pulled out another leathery book whose spine wore even more wear than the poem book from yesterday. She flipped through the pages with ease, stopping on one of the dog-eared pages near the start.
"Page forty-two of the Guild Rescue Team handbook states that, as a requirement to forming a Guild-sanctioned Rescue Team, applicants must select a team name. Failure to do so will result in a denied application by the Guild Leader and or Guild Master."
She then held the book up to Ryan for him to read, and taking a quick glance, he had no protests. Hazel closed the book with a hefty "clap" of the pages, leaving Dillan to stare in awe of her clear knowledge on the subject.
Ryan merely sighed aloud. "Fine. We'll get a team name, but definitely not, 'Team Rescue'. We'd be the laughing stocks of Ganderosa."
Hazel gave a definite nod, agreeing to Ryan's terms. "We have until Kerrosia to come up with something, anyways."
Dillan tilted his head at Hazel's statement. "Why until Kerrosia?"
Hazel looked towards Dillan with a raised claw. "We're not technically a team yet," she said. "The Guild requires everyone to take a battle exam before registering to make sure you won't get killed on missions. And since the battle exams take place in capital cities like Fericia, and more importantly Kerrosia, we have until we get there to decide."
Dillan placed a claw to his chin in thought. "Maybe we should all come up with names while we walk?"
Hazel grinned at the idea. "That'd be cool," she smiled.
"Why not?" Ryan shrugged. "Might be a good way to kill time at the very least."
"Well then, we might as well get to it." Hazel waved her new teammates onward. And with a little pep to their step, Dillan and Ryan followed Hazel as she led the way towards Kerrosia.
Ferician Territory - Void Canyon
As the days went by, the surrounding mountains rose above like towers that lightly pierced the clouds. The path underfoot wound between the looming forms, and a large shadow casted itself over the small group. The ground turned from flat lands of grass to a slow incline towards a part in the coming mountains which seemed close now, maybe a mile or two away.
The air smelled fresher, yet chillier the longer they walked, and it began to aggressively bite at Dillan's scales. The feeling was not pleasant to say the least, like pointed spines running into his face with each freezing gust of wind. Yet as he pulled his cloak closer by the tips of his claws, he noticed his friends didn't seem affected. Perhaps there was something about being a gabite that made him vehemently disagree with the cooler climate?
Regardless, this became one of the numerous talking points. Dillan would have expected long swaths of soundlessness to consume their group in the passing days. Instead, the opposite seemed to be the case as Hazel seemed to be quite the conversationalist… or at least, she liked going on plenty of tangents during conversations which kept them perpetually undead.
The charmeleon set her claws on her chin as they bounced from the topic of the weather, to healing properties within berries, to how Fericia used to be a city of slavers (Not Dillan's favorite topic, though he preferred it to nothing). At one point, the charmeleon even invited the two in a chant of, "ninety-nine baskets of wheat on the cart" that lasted hours.
Ryan, however, did not seem to share the same sentiment or conversational skills. He didn't even join in when the two began discussing team names once more.
Regardless, Dillan had something more important on his mind: Hazel's poetry book.
He'd managed to ask her about it a couple times before, taking care not to mention it unprompted for fear of tipping the other two off as to his true origins. Yet Hazel's smile always grew at the question, as she'd happily retrieved the book from her bag and started reading for Dillan (who was unable to do so himself for his lack of thumbs). She'd always pause after every few sentences to let these epics of humans in the pokemon world sink in, though Dillan found the tales to be less than informative.
They always seemed to be extravagant rhymes on how "Human A" met "Partner B" followed by solving some world-ending crisis together… and to be honest, Dillan couldn't help but wonder if that would be him and Ryan. And to be frank, the thought sent shivers down his fin.
"No," he'd chide himself mentally, shaking the thought from his head. "There's no reason these aren't just the more extreme cases of humans arriving in this world. No need to jump to conclusions. There doesn't have to be some grand plan. You're just here by mistake, and that's all."
So in the end, Dillan would always brush aside the books and set his mind back to Kerrosia: to its library, where hopefully some biographies written by humans existed. After all, if humans really had come to this world in the past, there was a chance actual records would be contained in the library, with some information on how to go home.
Dillan turned his mind towards the charmeleon, who had begun showing the gabite a map she kept in her knapsack. Tracing her finger from a castle towards the upper right labeled, "Kerrosia", Hazel pointed to one of their "roadblocks" on the road ahead, one that quickly stretched upwards like a gaping maw in the side of the mountain: "Void Canyon."
"It's a Mystery Dungeon," Hazel said. Yet upon seeing Dillan's confused look, she went on: "A mystery dungeon is a place where the world seems to fold in on itself. Like… one second you can be traveling down a straight road, and when you look back the way you came, the way back might suddenly be winding or even a dead end." She paused for a bit, examining Dillan with a light laugh. "Based on your face… I'm guessing you guys don't have those in your country?"
"That's not…" the gabite chuckled, looking up the craggy road towards the big gap in the mountains ahead. Truth be told, Dillan wasn't as shocked at this statement as he thought he'd be. After the last few days, a place that changed its own roads seemed to become somewhat… normalized. Not that he believed something like that was possible. Even so, Hazel seemed to believe it, which begged the question: was it a normal concept here?
Dillan knew he'd have to gamble an answer if he didn't want to come off as either ignorant, a liar, or a mixture of the two. He quickly nodded his head. "I mean, I've obviously heard of them. I just… never really had to go to a… dungeon."
Hazel seemed to accept this pretty easily. "It's pretty standard in Ganderosa," she explained, pointing to other spaces on the map labeled, "Mystery Dungeon". "Though I can understand if you don't know much about them if you're not really an explorer…" She side-eyed Dillan for a moment and looked him up and down before shrugging as if having come to a conclusion.
Dillan blinked a couple times, considering both what was said and her following action. 'Does… she think I'm a couch potato…?' he thought. And based on Ryan's snickering, he didn't know whether that was humorous or insulting. Nevertheless, Hazel didn't seem to mean any offense, so he let it go.
"Pokemon used to be afraid of Mystery Dungeons a long time ago, back when they first appeared, but our first king - Maximilian Armadine - formed the first rescue team and showed everyone they're nothing to fear. Now, they're standard places for foragers hunting for things to sell."
"Just make sure you stay with us inside," the pachirisu added. "With how often these things shift around, wandering away from the group would mean having to get out on your own."
"Stay on the path, too," Hazel said with a definite point of her tail to the floor. "That one's a big rule."
"That shouldn't be an issue in Void Canyon cause we'll have walls on every side."
"Wait," Dillan began. "What happens if you wander off the path?"
The question was met with silence at first. Ryan and Hazel both looked at each other as if discussing how best to answer the question. Though eventually, Hazel spoke.
"Well… The myths say you wander the dungeon forever, always looking for the path back but never finding it. Eventually, you lose your mind and become feral."
"Feral?" Dillan asked, imagining himself perched in a tree, growling at passersby below like some deranged lizard. "That doesn't sound fun…"
"Those are just the rumors," Ryan shrugged. "No one really knows what happens to you 'cause anyone dumb enough to wander off the path goes missing. Never heard from again. There isn't really anyone to say what happens."
"So… stay on the path…" the gabite surmised. "Got it…"
And within a moment, they found themselves at the foot of a gap within the large precipice above. Large walls stretched up ahead, forming a natural ravine whose top stood at an unimaginable height. Shadows stretched ahead, and the path disappeared into a void of darkness.
Hazel stared wide-eyed at the cliff face, taking a couple steps back to truly take in its sheer size. Dillan found himself doing roughly the same. How such a wall of stone was created… Dillan marveled to think about it.
In contrast, Ryan hardly gave it a glance, continuing on. "Let's get this over with," he shrugged.
"Right!" Hazel said affirmatively, grabbing Dillan by the arm and pulling him on with, "Come on!"
Yet as Hazel and Dillan went to follow, stepping deeper into the shadowy void ahead, a wave of nausea came over him in an instant. He hardly felt Hazel's grip loosen on his arm before his head began to spin ever-so-slightly while he steadied himself on his feet. Looking at his compatriots, Hazel, who put a palm to her temple and Ryan, who had his arms outstretched at his sides to stabilize himself, he realized he wasn't the only one suddenly afflicted with vertigo.
"What was… that…?" Dillan asked, looking around. He had to pause once more as he found, without even realizing it, his surroundings had changed in an instant.
The fields of rock and crag, which used to surround the road, seemed to vanish behind walls of stone which unknowingly erected themselves behind the group, creating a narrow path barely wide enough for two of them to stand shoulder-to-shoulder. They stretched upwards into the shadowy void overhead that blotted out the sun, leaving the dancing flame on Hazel's tail as the only source of illumination. Only a damp chill surrounded them. No wind blew through the rocky alley.
"We're here," Hazel said, recovering from the dizziness and hoisting her bag further up her shoulder. She smirked giddily back at the two pokemon. "Welcome to Void Canyon."
"Yipee," Ryan groaned, regaining his balance.
"What happened to…?" Dillan began, continuing to spin in confusion. "Where's the…?"
Dillan stopped in place as a fuzzy paw tapped at his leg. "That dizziness," the pachirisu explained, "is the first indicator that you're in a Mystery Dungeon. Then the world gets weird."
Dillan stared upwards into the darkness in awe, still expecting to see the cloudy blue peaking through the cliff's top. Yet there was nothing - just a void of blackened cold. Within an instant, his surroundings had changed. Using the word "Weird" would be putting it too lightly. This was downright freaky.
"Let's go already!" Hazel bounced. She began marching down the path, leaving Ryan and Dillan behind to stare in wonder.
Ryan huffed at Hazel's disposition. "She's way too excited about what's basically a death maze."
Dillan gave a half-laugh to the squirrel. "It can't be that bad, right? Could be exciting, even?"
Yet Ryan just shrugged. "We could find ourselves walking right towards a cliff and we wouldn't even notice it until we fell… Not that that'll be a problem with, 'Hazel the walking torch' in the group." Ryan gestured towards the bouncing light, which danced on the charmeleon's tail. "Our only real problem would be ferals, but you'll just need to use an attack and they'll go down."
"An attack…" Dillan thought back to his encounter with the nuzleaf, remembering the glowing blades that shot out from his fins. "Like… Dragon Claw?"
Ryan nudged Dillan's leg. "Exactly. Just stick to Dragon Claw and you'll be fine."
"Come on, you two!" Hazel's voice echoed from ahead. "Adventure is right around the corner!"
And with that, Ryan moved ahead to catch up with Hazel. "Give us a sec!" he shouted back.
Dillan heaved a sigh, walking to catch up as well. As he did so, his thoughts wandered to the idea of having to fight off feral pokemon within the canyon.
He wondered if they were like dogs in nature documentaries, wandering together in packs. He imagined frothy pools of foam oozing from their maws as they stalked unsuspecting prey. Would that prey be him?
The gabite glanced upwards once more into the void. Were there cliffs overhead - overhangs that were simply blanketed just behind the black? Perhaps there were pokemon up there, emitting low, gurgling noises he couldn't yet hear. They could have seen them very well as Hazel essentially acted like a walking beacon. Were they up there? Were they simply waiting for the right moment to attack? Were ferals that smart?
Dillan gave a nervous laugh at the thought. Did he really think it possible? It wasn't like anything with the name, 'feral' could study Sun Tzu's 'Art of War'. He wouldn't have much to worry about… right?
Regardless of that thought, he instinctually set a claw on the wall for support. Yet as he did so, the instant his boney appendage met stone, something truly strange occurred.
As if in response to his small pressing against the wall, he felt an array of vibrations shoot into his claw. He gave a small yelp from shock and immediately pulled away from it. The fin on his back then ran into the opposite side, followed by an even more intense shaking which spread throughout his body.
In an instant, Dillan seemed to feel the walls quake inside his very chest like an echo. He felt the creaking of stone from the impact, the shifting of the surrounding walls, even a small pattering ahead of him: somehow, he felt them all within his body.
Dillan jerked away from the wall once more and stared ahead, wondering what sort of threat could have caused this. Yet all he found were his two friends walking on, unaware of his stumbling.
Were they the source of that pattering he felt?
Dillan looked towards the wall, taking in small breaths. "How did…?" he started. "What was that… me?"
"Dillan?" Ryan's voice called ahead. The gabite looked towards the pachirisu, who merely smirked towards the gabite. "Stick together, remember? Unless you think you can handle the dungeon alone."
"N-no," Dillan said, looking back at the wall. "I'll be right over."
His sense of time seemed to vanish within the mystery dungeon. With each step, Dillan tried to think about how long it had been since coming into the labyrinthian canyon but drew a blank. Was it minutes? Hours? He didn't know.
Yet, as the group stepped over fallen rocks illuminated by Hazel, who clutched her tail like a torch within the musty alleyway, Dillan's mind wandered to other things. He noticed that the deeper they went into Void Canyon, the more the vibrations from before seemed to increase. What once was a feeling of little knocks against Dillan's chest became an audible stamping in tandem with Ryan and Hazel's footsteps. Stranger still, the vibrations had a direction. Dillan found, even closing his eyes, he could somehow feel exactly where the vibrations came from, as if they radiated through the dirt itself and up his legs.
It was a strange sensation to be sure, one that had Dillan closing his eyes more than actually watching ahead. Yet even when he did, he knew exactly when the path took a turn or where his friends were at all times. He didn't need to see in order to know what was around him.
Dillan found with each step he took, his own footsteps flowed into the ground and radiated - if only slightly - through the walls. He reached out to the vibrations, and as expected, he felt the jagged surface of the wall next to him. He tested this seeing-through-your-footsteps process further by taking heavier steps, and not only did he feel more of the surrounding valley with the increased pressure - overhangs and boulders hanging above beyond shadow - he also seemed to get a general form of his friends. He could almost feel their curious glances as they questioned just why in the hell Dillan started stomping unprompted like an angry toddler.
"What are you doing back there?" Hazel laughed.
Dillan opened his eyes to see that, indeed, the two were staring in confusion. "S-sorry," he apologized, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Just… don't mind me."
Ryan and Hazel looked towards each other, yet neither of them said a thing. They seemed content merely shrugging off the strange behavior and continuing their trek ahead.
Dillan took a small breath, deciding his tests were conclusive and stamping was no longer required. Clearly, somehow, he could sense the vibrations in the ground. He wondered if it was a byproduct of the Mystery Dungeon. Yet he quickly put that thought to rest as Hazel would have either mentioned something about that or would have joined in on his strange stampings. Instead, she used her tail-flame for light.
That left Dillan with the fact that this had to be a result of him: or more simply, his body. Something about being a gabite gave him the ability to sense vibrations in the walls. He couldn't help but smile at the idea that he found himself within a world where he could feel the ground like an earth benders from Avatar.
Yet he had to wonder why this happened now and not in Fericia, or even before the craggy walls closed in around him. Was that due to the mystery dungeon? Or perhaps it had something to do with being stuck in such a cramped space? Maybe-
Dillan stopped mid-thought, feeling the vibrations in the wall shoot away. He opened his eyes and stared past Hazel, whose flame lit up the walls just enough to see maybe ten feet in front of them. Just ahead, an open area sat, shrouded in the darkness.
"Finally," Ryan huffed, also seeing the curve of the walls give way to a room. "Any longer and I'd be claustrophobic for sure."
"Wait…" Dillan said.
The two pokemon ahead stopped in their tracks, both looking towards Dillan with curious glances.
Ryan crossed his arms towards Dillan: "Hey, if you like small, cramped places, that's on you."
"This is small to you?" Hazel asked with a smile towards Ryan, adding emphasis on the last word.
Yet Ryan didn't seem to share in her joy, shooting the lizard an accusing look with a firm tap of his foot against the floor. "What's that supposed to mean?" he snapped. "You think because you're taller than me I can't feel claustrophobic?"
Hazel was taken aback by the sudden hostility. She raised her arms and dropped her tail. "W-what…?" she stumbled.
"I'll have you know that where I come from, I'm one of the tallest around, sweetheart! So I don't need comments like that, thank you!"
"S-sweetheart…?" Hazel stumbled. Her brow-line tightened as she stared towards Ryan in confusion. "...What are you talking about?"
Ryan took a deep breath, as if fueling a flame held deep within the squirrel's small body that just wanted to roar. He raised his hand again as if getting ready to unleash this flame, yet Dillan cut him off with a huff: "Seriously. Can you guys be quiet for a second?"
The gabite pressed his claw into the wall and stomped his foot against the ground. The vibrations flowed through the earth, shaking through the walls and towards the room ahead where three bodies stood in hunched-over stances: an action he thought would have been cool if not for the dangerous implications.
Thick forms Dillan couldn't make out stood within the room. The gabite couldn't tell much from the vibrations, just that there were, indeed, bodies ahead, who faced towards the group of three as if waiting for them to turn the corner.
"There's something waiting up ahead…"
Both Ryan and Hazel's jaws opened in surprise. "How do you know that…?" Hazel questioned, looking back towards the room. "It's so dark, I can't see a thing."
"I don't know how to describe it…" Dillan said. "Ever since coming in here, I can… feel you guys?"
Ryan pressed his paws to his body and shifted away from Dillan. "That's just creepy, man!" he squeaked.
Dillan cocked his head at Ryan. "It's not like that! It's like this… sixth… miracle sense?" Yet this received even more bewildered expressions. "Look, there's someone in that room, okay?! I'm counting three… things, and they're facing us and… waiting."
"They are, huh…?" Ryan questioned. He dropped his uncomfortable demeanor and looked towards Hazel's flame. Recognition donned on him, forcing his eyes wide-open… well, as wide as possible when staring into an open flame. "Hazel, it's that fire at the end of your tail. Whatever's there probably knows where we are 'cause of it."
Hazel glanced from her tail-flame to Ryan. "Well, what do you want me to do about it?"
Ryan rolled his eyes at the question. "I don't know. How about, 'Put it out'? You know? Like one does with a flame?"
Hazel looked at Ryan with disbelief. "Really. You don't know anything about Charmeleon, do you?"
"Should I?" Ryan shrugged.
Hazel pursed her lips at the pachirisu. "If my flame goes out, I'll die."
"W-what?!" both Dillan and Ryan asked in quiet panic.
"How do you live, like… at all?!" Dillan questioned.
"It's not that surprising," Hazel said with a look of disbelief. "Most pokemon know at least that about Charmeleon. That's why suggesting it is just rude!"
Ryan crossed his arms. "Well, you'd think calling a pachirisu 'short' would be offensive, too, but here we are."
"I didn't-" Hazel took a breath and took a reset. Then, after rolling her eyes at the pachirisu, the charmeleon looked over him back to Dillan. "You're sure there are three pokemon ahead?"
"Y-yeah," Dillan assured. "They're just waiting."
"Probably just a few ferals," Hazel surmised with a nod. "They shouldn't be too difficult."
"You guys can handle them," Ryan said with a glance between the two. "Based on the area, they're either rock or ground-types, so I won't be much good."
"N-no," Dillan said, taking a step back. "I don't really…" He held his tongue for a moment. Based on how 'well' fighting the nuzleaf were, there was a part of him that wondered if he could do this. Was there another option that didn't involve hand-to-hand combat?
"Why don't we just… cause a cave-in?" Dillan suggested.
Yet he immediately regretted the suggestion as both his teammates pursed their lips, along with a dramatic shake of Ryan's head.
"What?" he asked sharply.
"I… guess it's an option?" Hazel said. "Though we might end up collapsing the roof on our own heads. It's a pretty risky move for ferals."
"Nope," Ryan said, quickly throwing his paws to the side. "Veto. Not doing that. Not today. Ixnay on the ollapsed eiling cay."
Dillan's shoulders tensed at their responses, stepping back from it and his team. 'Well, there goes that…' he thought. And with the exhaustion of that idea, what other choice was there but to fight?
Dillan glanced down towards his arm fins, recalling how they'd extended back in Howling Plains - back with the nuzleaf. Perhaps he could fight them using that? After all, he did take on a couple of the elves before being overrun. How hard could these ferals be?
Even still, Dillan looked towards Hazel for some sort of plan. But she merely cranked her arm, raring to dive head-first into the opening ahead. And Ryan - the pachirisu just smirked slightly towards him in a reassuring way.
"Just use Dragon Claw," he assured the gabite. "Ferals are push-overs, really. Just watch for its swings and try not to get hit."
"Great plan," Dillan huffed. "Anything more… thought-out?"
"Not really," Ryan smirked. "If it gets real hairy though, I'll try and help."
"We're wasting time!" Hazel cheered, taking hold of Dillan's claw and pulling him into the room ahead. "Let's take care of these guys already!"
Stepping past the threshold, they entered the large room. Even as Hazel held her tail above for light, the room's corners still hid inside the dark. Her face tensed for a second and the flame grew brighter, followed by a sharp hiss that sounded ahead. With another step, the light crept up a set of large, jagged claws, illuminating a rat-like creature as yellow as sand with rocky spines arching from its back (sandslash).
The fire burned into its wide eyes and danced amongst glowing, red hues. The creature bared mangled teeth dripping with drool as a guttural, hissing sound echoed through Dillan's shaking heart. The creature ahead took a step deeper into the light, as serrated spines rattled along its back, clicking against each other.
Just then, two more creatures crept into the light - two more - eyeing Dillan directly. They all walked side-by-side, eyeing the three pokemon ahead, watching with snarling fangs. A feral growl ripped through the room, stabbing at Dillan's nerves.
"T-two more…?" Dillan asked worriedly. He quickly raised his arms in response, and his fins shot out like scythes, glowing blue against Hazel's red flame.
Her tail-flame flared through the air as if anticipating the fight ahead. She didn't take her eyes off the pokemon ahead as she said to Dillan, "Ready?"
Dillan didn't respond, feeling entirely unprepared for this battle. His gaze set on one of the creatures ahead as his brain raced with the different ways it could take him apart with those razor-like talons. Not to mention it had friends to back it up. He feared what kind of bloody pulp they'd make from his corpse if given the opportunity.
And in an instant, one of the creatures lunged at Dillan.
Dillan's body moved on instinct, quick to shove at the creature and managing to drive his fin into its chest. It didn't yelp from the sudden gouge, but continued to press against him. Its teeth gnashed at Dillan, trying to reach around his arm with its jowls, seemingly unaware of the gabite's blade that sunk deeper and deeper into its body. It's growling dug into Dillan's ears with a horrific sight playing before him. But the gabite drove the butt of his free claw like a fist, driving it into its face, and throwing it from his arm.
The bones in his arm creaked from the impact. He doubled back, cradling his arm in pain. "Gabite can't throw punches…" he noted during his seething breaths. "Good to know, Dillan…"
The pokemon spun around on the ground, barely affected by Dillan's jab. It's maw shot open as an ear-piercing scream vibrated the room. Dillan instinctually moved his arms to cover his ears, but immediately regretted it as a pair of foot-long claws barely edged themselves across his stomach.
He yelped from the sudden attack, and his arms swung down upon the rat's back. Yet this only sent his arms racing into the monster's serrated spines.
"D-damn…!" Dillan hissed through the pain, prying his arm from the beast's back and freeing himself from his own lapse in judgment. Blood oozed out from numerous scratches across his arm as fear sunk its teeth into his brain.
He was outclassed. The amount of mistakes he'd made, the pain in his body: his legs felt like jello as he wondered if escape was still an option. This pokemon was relentless. Every attack only seemed to temporarily daze it.
He stumbled backwards, attempting to flee from the spiny rat, yet the creature met his advance with another lunge.
The ferocity forced Dillan to the ground. His eyes dilated as he stared past its blood-soaked claws and into those crimson eyes: eyes that seemed to burn with hatred. It wouldn't stop. Not if Dillan played dead, or even if he keeled over. This creature was what Dillan expected from the pokemon world: a mindless creature that acted on instinct with an undeniable desire to eviscerate him within an instant - nothing but a blood-lusting animal.
Just as Dillan put up his arms, turning his head away and anticipating the worst, a solid jet of flames engulfed the rat in an instant. It howled into the dark, scraping its claws across the flames until the jet died out. And that's when Dillan noticed Hazel running past him towards the feral.
The beast recovered, albeit hastily, and snarled at Hazel. It dove head-first towards the charmeleon, who quickly side-stepped out of its way. Her tail-flame grew into a flickering inferno as blue energy escaped her maw. And as she opened her jowls wide, a short burst of white-hot energy crashed into the sandslash. The beast was forced to the ground, lying motionless.
The charmeleon ran towards Dillan and offered a hand: "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah…" he said slowly, accepting her help and rising to his feet. "That was intense…"
"Was that your second fight?" Hazel asked with a small jab to Dillan's shoulder.
"Is it that obvious?" Dillan asked, trying to ignore the stinging of his arms.
Hazel shrugged a light shrug. "At least you got some hits in, right?" Yet that was all she could get out before her crimson body was grappled by a second sandslash who wrestled her to the ground.
"Hazel!" Dillan shouted, shooting towards the beast on pure instinct. He bolted towards the yellow beast, leveling his glowing blades at its back. With a single slash, his fin etched itself through its spines, ripping a few from its back, and cleaving even more. The sandslash's scream echoed cold, sending chills down Dillan's spine. It instantly reared its head towards Dillan throwing Dillan from its back, yet it didn't get the chance to attack as Hazel sunk her claws into the beast's neck, before throwing jabs at its face.
It hollered once more, shooting off a volley of its remaining spines from its back. They shot towards Dillan at incredible speed. In an instant, Dillan turned from the spines in a last-ditch effort to shield himself, and all he saw was a blue flash of light before he tightly shut his eyes.
His split-second decision turned into passing moments of Dillan bracing for impact. Each breath felt like an eternity, and pretty soon, it was. The gabite counted each breath as if instinctually timing himself, in a game of, "how many breaths can I take before I hit my last". One breath. Two breaths. Three… breaths…?
That couldn't be right. There was a fight raging behind him. How could he hear his own breaths, let alone his thoughts, above what should have been a battle? In fact, he should have been hit by now. Those spines traveled in the air like a knife from Grace's cartoons. Why hadn't they made their mark?
He risked a glance, opening his eyes and seeing first a bright, blue glow emanating from the crystal around his neck.
He turned, half-expecting to find the sandslash just waiting for him, like a cheetah stalking its prey for the perfect time to strike. Yet as he turned, he couldn't help but shoot back in startled surprise.
The spines, which by all rights should have impaled his shoulder, sat stagnant within inches of his chest, somehow suspended in thin air. Not only that, but he saw the sandslash opponent stuck motionless mid-flail, with Hazel still grappled to its neck. They both seemed suspended in time, like mannequins posed for some sort of event. He couldn't even see them breathing.
"Woah…" Dillan said in astonishment.
That's when the blue glow truly caught his eye. Dillan looked down to see the Sapphire Star, still perched on his neck by a string, glowing fiercely in the dark. He looked past its crystalline walls into the fierce typhoon within, which still spun relentlessly, beating against the walls.
"Did you do this…?" Dillan asked, reaching a claw out to the sapphire. And with a tap, its glow faded within an instant.
Dillan felt a quick jab throttle his shoulder. One moment, he felt weightless as he fell backwards, and the next, a "thud" echoed in his ears as his fin hit the ground, bending against his weight. His breath seemed to catch in his throat as he stared upwards into the darkness.
From the corner of his eyes, he saw bolts of lightning sparking off into the air followed by another "thud" in Hazel's direction. And within seconds, the charmeleon was standing over his head.
"Are you okay?!" she asked worriedly, her eyes darting between the gabite's face and to his shoulder. "That… That'll probably heal."
"Wh… what…?" Dillan asked. His eyes drifted down towards the spot on his shoulder that took the impact and found the sandslash's spine, once suspended in air, now embedded within his scales. "O-oh… That's… probably bad, huh?" Dillan laughed lightly, the pain assumedly held back by pure adrenaline.
"Can you sit up?" Hazel asked, stepping behind the gabite and grabbing hold of his good arm with scaly paws (not even her dusty palms rubbing against the marks hurt at the moment).
"Y-yeah," Dillan said, making his way into a sitting position with a little help from Ryan.
His short breathing echoed underneath the crackle of lightning. His eyes looked towards the source, finding Ryan who seemed to have gotten involved with one of the sandslash. However, he only caught the last blow as the remaining sandslash toppled to the ground.
As Ryan stood atop the beast triumphantly, he took a quick scan of the surrounding room, spotting Dillan and Hazel.
"Oh my God!" he said between breaths. The pachirisu hopped towards Dillan quickly indeed, standing beside him and looking over the spine lodged in his arm. "Are you okay?!"
Dillan's fin-blades shrunk back to normal as he gave a small nod. "I think so," he assured. "I honestly can't feel it." He promptly stood straight and immediately regretted it as shooting pain went through his shoulder. "Nope! There it is!"
He began panting as he looked over the numerous cuts across his burning arms, as well as his new spine. Hazel leaned towards him with a concerned look as she, too, looked over his injuries. Yet she merely pursed her lips. "Really, Dillan. Those aren't too bad considering."
"Are you kidding?!" Ryan scoffed with a dramatic gesture towards the spine. "He's been impaled! He's got a frickin spine! In! His! Arm!"
"Could have been worse," Hazel said, stepping away from Dillan. The gabite found himself swaying from losing Hazel's support but managed to keep from falling over. Hazel immediately dove into her bag and procured a small pouch. And not even seeking permission, she took hold of the spine and yanked it from Dillan's shoulder.
He instantly seized from the sudden pain. Yet he found his body more relieved from the release of pressure. "W-wah…!" was all he got out before falling to his backside in pure shock.
"Hazel!" Ryan shouted in absolute shock.
"Give me a second," Hazel said, not bothering an explanation. She moved her hand towards the small pouch, no bigger than a soft ball. Reaching beyond its drawstring, she pinched out a sprinkle of a sort of green powder. "This shouldn't hurt for too long."
Yet as she moved towards him, Dillan caught Ryan's grimacing face before she sprinkled the powder over his shoulder wound. The instant it touched his wound, Dillan's whole body seized up from what felt like a hot coal was pressed into his wound. He practically jumped away from Hazel while biting down on his lower lip to keep from screaming. Yet within a moment, the pain seemed to subside.
Dillan looked over the wound. Where there once sat a bloodied spine seemed to be nothing more than a large scab that barely stung, even as he tapped it with a claw. Still, the gabite stayed on his feet, moving away from Hazel.
"What the hell was that?!" Dillan asked, shocked by the sudden pain and following relief. "What the hell?!"
"Bad move," Ryan said with a grim shake of his head.
"It's pollen from the Figgy plant," Hazel said, pulling the drawstring closed before gently setting the pouch back into the bag. "Works well for numbing light wounds and helping them heal."
"That hurt more than being stabbed!" Dillan said, his voice cracking at the mere memory of the pain. And as Hazel pulled something new from her bag, Dillan raised his claws in defense. "No no no! No more! I think I'll take my chances with one of those yellow berries, thank you!"
Hazel gave a light laugh at Dillan. "Those things aren't cheap, you know. And in comparison, this is."
"Now why do you think that is?" Ryan asked with a crossing of his arms.
"It's fine!" Hazel insisted. "Plenty of explorers have used it before, and so will we."
"I'm fine now!" Dillan insisted, preferring to take his chances. "Really! No need for any more of… that!"
Hazel just continued to laugh. "I'm done with the powder, Dillan." And raising her claws, she showed Dillan the only thing she had was a roll of cloth - presumably for bandaging.
Dillan blinked a couple of times at the cloth, feeling especially silly for how he acted (though not entirely as that powder hurt like a lit match). He promptly took a quick breath and loosened his arm, holding it out so Hazel could properly wrap his shoulder.
"Thank you," she smiled, applying the bandage to his arm. "Sorry for the powder, by the way. I didn't think it'd be that bad."
"It's… fine," Dillan forced out. "I guess it healed me anyways, which is better than walking with an open wound."
Dillan watched her work, and while the bandage was wrapped a little tight for Dillan's comfort, and lazily at that, he had to admit it did the job.
Hazel went to close up her bag before it occurred to her Ryan was standing right there. "Are you okay, Ryan?" she asked the pachirisu, reaching back into her bag. "I can use some more of the Figgy Pollen on-"
"I'm perfect!" Ryan said with a definitive wave. "I didn't take any hits that warrants your death pollen, thank you."
With that, Dillan took the chance to look over both his compatriots. And just as he said, other than a few new shavings in his fur, Ryan looked pristine. Hazel also looked relatively untouched, only sustaining a few light scratches to her arms and one on her knee - neither of which received a pinch of her potent pollen.
"You could use some battle training," Ryan said, tapping Dillan's side. "Doesn't look like you handled the feral all that well."
"Oh," Dillan said with a nervous smile. "You noticed that, huh?"
"Well, I think you did fine," Hazel said with a thumb's up that felt forced to Dillan.
He pursed his lips as he stared towards his arm-fins. The bones in his arm still stung from that punch he threw before. He wondered how he was supposed to fight now that he didn't have fists. Was what he did really okay or was there another way: one that better suited his body type?
And then there was the Sapphire Star… Did it really petrify that feral or was it just some mystery dungeon thing Hazel forgot to explain?
He looked over his two friends once more, then took a deep breath. Normally, he made it a point not to rely too heavily on others. But here, in a world with these, 'feral' things, and with this job he wanted to take, he didn't see much other choice. "Do you guys think you could… you know… teach me how to fight?"
Ryan pursed his lips at the question. "Teach you?" he asked.
"Yeah," Dillan admitted. A small smile came to his face as he recalled the way Ryan used that tail-star attack. Or how Hazel breathed that gust of flames down the sandslash's throat. "You guys seemed to hold your own in that fight while I… didn't. Like, I can do the dragon-claw thing," Dillan demonstrated with a short burst of light from his fins, "but that's about all. I think if you guys taught me, I could do better next time."
"A gabite who doesn't know how to fight?" Hazel smirked - not in a condescending way, but in one of surprise.
Dillan merely shrugged in response. "Didn't really need to know where I used to live…"
"Is that why you didn't know Dragon Claw when we were caught…?" Ryan said, rubbing his chin in thought.
"No matter!" Hazel said with a cheerful smile. "Doesn't matter if you know or not! There's always a chance to learn some more, right?"
"That's a great idea and all," Ryan started, "But I can't teach you."
Hazel crossed her arms and looked towards Ryan with a scowl. "And why's that?"
"I use my speed and size to out-maneuver opponents," Ryan explained. "And my moveset isn't comparable to a gabite since I manipulate distance to keep from getting hit too much. That's why I use Swift. While in contrast, gabite are normally up-close fighters, and their attacks reflect it. I don't really see Dillan being able to learn from me."
"Ah," Dillan said, a sense of disappointment rising in his chest. He pursed his lips and looked towards the ground. "I get it."
"Well, I'll teach you," Hazel said, almost as if in defiance of Ryan's answer. "Gabite and charmeleon aren't all that far apart species-wise. It actually wouldn't surprise me if you could learn Flame-Thrower."
But Ryan shook his head. "Like I said before, it would work better if you learned physical moves that work up-close with an enemy. Flame Thrower kinda defeats the point."
Yet Dillan hardly heard a word of what Ryan said, instead perking up at Hazel. "Is Flame Thrower what you called that breathing-fire thing? Can I do that?"
"Maybe," Hazel said with a smirk. "It can't hurt to show you some things after we've gotten some rest."
"That'd be great!" Dillan said with a smile.
Hazel gave a great grin, content with having lifted Dillan's spirits. And indeed she did. Dillan began imagining himself spewing great flames from his maw, scorching any opponent in his way. He had to admit, the idea had a cool flare to it: one that brought a childish glee to his face.
Yet the moment seemed cut short as Ryan cleared his throat, grabbing their attention: "Okay. Whatever. If you wanna learn to breathe fire, be my guest."
Yet Hazel just smirked down at Ryan in defiance. "He's just mad that his species can't do it." Ryan groaned aloud yet his upturned lip was all the confirmation Hazel needed to be chuckling to herself once more. "See?"
"Look, can we leave now?" Ryan asked, gesturing towards the road ahead. "We're still in the death dungeon, you know. Maybe we can keep this conversation going when we leave."
"R-right!" Hazel said, her grasp closing once more on her tail and holding it ahead. "Don't want to be here when those ferals wake up. Let's get to it!"
And with that, she took the lead, starting back towards the gap in the wall ahead, continuing through Void Canyon.
The rest of the journey went fairly smooth (apparently Void Canyon wasn't a popular living space amongst Ferals). And eventually, after another dizzy-spell hit the group, they found the darkness overhead gave way to a dimly-lit sky filled with twinkling lights filling the vast expanse above. The walls of the canyon vanished as well, fading into a small crevice a ways back, along with a hillside-view of a lush forest ahead, full of some of the tallest firs Dillan had ever seen. Just beyond the forest, peaking above the firs, stood more mountains and the moon overhead.
"Welcome to the Alkan Territory," Hazel said. She scanned the horizon as if searching for a cave or something. Yet she inevitably shrugged. "Looks like we're setting up camp here."
Ryan interlaced his fingers behind his head and stretched towards the sky. "Fine by me," he yawned. "That dungeon took it out of me, and I don't really wanna deal with anyone else tonight."
Hazel dropped her satchel onto the ground. Reaching inside, she retrieved a thickly-rolled bundle of sheets. "Here," she said, spreading them out against the ground.
She took hold of one of the sheets and tossed it towards Dillan, who caught it in his arms effortlessly. She then tossed one at Ryan who promptly took it to the face. Hazel immediately raised her hand apologetically: "Sorry."
"It's… cool," the pachirisu said from behind the roll, a lone thumb visible from beyond the sheets. Dillan watched methodically while Ryan took hold of one of the corners and unrolled it out atop the grass. He then bundled one of the sides up, rolling it into a sort of pillow. "What are we gonna do about a fire?"
"You and I can get some sticks," Hazel said, attending to her own sheet, "While Dillan watches the camp."
"I can help with…" the gabite started, but stopped himself as he looked down at his claws. "N-nevermind. Watching the camp sounds good."
"We'll be back in a minute," Hazel assured, starting off down the hill towards the forest.
Ryan looked towards Hazel and hesitated. Yet after a moment, he shrugged towards Dillan saying, "Don't get mugged while we're gone, alright?" and caught up with Hazel, leaving Dillan alone.
The gabite sighed. "Stupid claws…" he mumbled, dropping the cloth onto the floor with a pillowy, "thump." He didn't even bother rolling it out as he laid down on his side, using the roll as a make-shift pillow and his cloak as a blanket.
The problems of having no hands didn't seem to occur to him until he hadn't any. He wondered if all humans who came to this world did so as a gabite or was it just him? Had they dealt with this kind of issue? Were there work-arounds? Or perhaps they dealt with other issues entirely? Like Hazel's tail-flame for instance. If he were a charmeleon, would he have to worry about taking a bath? Or even more thought-provoking, would he need to constantly be aware of not lighting his own cloak on fire?
Dillan sighed aloud while his mind drifted from problem to problem. He tossed and turned, but eventually found himself staring out the side of his eye towards the sky. Each star glistened a calm blue against the purple hues above, and they each reminded him of the sapphire hidden just beneath his cloak.
That fight before… he was definitely going to take that spine before… well, before he did. But it stopped mid-air just before impact. That, he didn't imagine. And while everything else seemed to stand still, the sapphire didn't. Perhaps that was one of the abilities Lily had referred to?
No, what was he thinking? Powerful rocks that could make the world stand still? He shook his head at the mere idea. Clearly he'd been hanging around burning lizards for too long. I mean, what would Grace say to any of this?
"You've lost your marbles again, haven't you?" she would say with that playful smirk of hers. "You need help picking them up. Maybe we can get you into a psych ward."
It brought a smile to Dillan's face.
He looked towards the big, white surface of the moon. Its peaceful rays drifted across his face, blessing the surrounding area with a serene blue light. His eyes and mind wandered across its many craters, thinking about how similar this moon looked to his own. Perhaps, somehow, it was the same one.
And as he stared up, recalling his own world - his own home - his chest began to tighten. "Grace…" he whispered.
The name played on the tip of his tongue, like a dancer spinning on the tip of a blade. A dangerous feat to be sure, one that could split the dancer in two if they were not careful. Yet the simple fun of the dance… enough to capture everyone.
That was Grace.
He thought back to a time long ago, back when he was still a boy - about twelve in age - while his sister was still practically a baby. He smiled, recalling how reckless she was even then.
He had just gotten a skateboard from a friend whose brother didn't use it anymore. He remembered running up the street, wearing those worn, beige shoes with the skateboard under his arm.
Grace was tailing him, five years old but still fast as the wind. It didn't take long for her to catch up. He recalled her dark pig-tails bouncing as she ran with the biggest pout.
"¡Hermano!" she whined, puffing out her cheeks. "Let me try!"
"You're too small," he told her. "Mama would kill me if I let you play on it alone!"
This was true. His mother was over-protective of the little girl, something Dillan found all-too-often a frustrating fact. If she ever got hurt, their mother would be all over her, kissing every boo-boo until she felt better. And if Dillan somehow caused this incident, even indirectly… He shook from the thought.
"Then help me! We can do it together!"
That familiar, uneasy feeling crept up Dillan's chest. He knew what would happen if Mama ever caught him doing such a thing: what more could happen if Grace got hurt.
But as she stared with those big, caramel eyes, pleading with him to ride, Dillan felt obligated. Perhaps it was a big brother's duty to help his little sister have some fun. After all, Mama always insisted he play with her. Why else than to fulfill an obligation?
He remembered the last word that pushed him towards agreeing: "Please."
It was all she needed to say. And with a, "Don't tell Mama this time," off they went, speeding down a hill at break-neck speeds, sharing a rickety, hand-me-down skateboard together. Of course they were bound to crash, especially when Grace tried mounting Dillan for an impromptu piggy-back ride.
Dillan continued to stare above, a chuckle escaping his lips as a tear rolled down his cheek. "Grace…" he said once more, staring at the full moon.
He stared over its glowing surface as a void spread within his chest. He couldn't help but wonder: if that were, in fact, the same moon, could Grace be looking up at it as well? Was she staring through her hospital window towards the white orb? He smiled at the thought.
He continued to stare, and whispered a promise into the calming air: "Familia por encima de todo…"
Another tear rolled down Dillan's scaly cheek as he took a shaky breath, steeling his nerves. He turned away from the moon above. Best not to dwell on such things for too long. After all, he had a plan.
Kerrosia had all the books he needed to find out more about humans. There had to be some sort of hint as to getting home hidden away in that library. He only needed to get there.
With one final glance at the sky, Dillan took a breath. "I'll get back, Grace… No matter what. Familia por encima de todo…"
Ryan and Hazel came back fairly quickly. Within the course of an hour, they made a small campfire, rolled up in their blankets, and began to sleep, peacefully unaware of the pokemon perched on the cliff above them.
Her hair was a mossy shade of green - frizzy with blackened tips at the end - and her skin as white as snow (gardevoir). A black, silken cloak worn by travel sat on her shoulders, held closed at the neck by a silver chain. She looked downward towards the slumbering pokemon with intrigue.
Her eyes scanned over the group as a scowl set upon her face. There, sleeping peacefully beneath her, his face staring up at the stars, sat the target. His very existence put a wrench in months of planning and sacrifice. He didn't belong here. He had to go. There was no other option.
The human had to die.
Her hand drifted down towards a black dagger resting beneath her cloak just behind her waist. Sure, she could kill him just as easily with a Lunar Blast or a quick Psychic to break his bones - he wouldn't be awake to resist the pull - but that would alert the others, and they had no part in what was to come (best to keep them unaware). But with the knife, it would be quick. Painless. Instant. She could kill him before he even got a breath out.
With one slice, it would be over. He would never be able to win without the boy. He wouldn't be able to take anything else. Yet as she looked down towards once again, a blue glint caught in the red of her eye. A quivering breath escaped her lips.
There, sitting right beneath her nose, dangling on a thread, sat a blue, four-pronged gemstone, like a glowing star that fell from heaven.
She couldn't believe her eyes. After all this time - all the destruction and all the searching - and it sat right below her very nose? Could this really be the gemstone? She needed a closer inspection.
The gardevoir carefully stepped down the rockside. Each step, she tested the rocks, careful not to disturb any stones lest she wake the sleeping pokemon. Her pace was as slow as a snail, but she could afford to be patient right now.
She took the last step as carefully as the previous before making her way to the sleeping gabite. She took each step as soft and silent as a sharpedo stalking its prey. Each step closer, she felt a building pressure in her mind just behind the eyes, like a balloon was swelling in her own head, expanding more and more the closer she got. And then, she was standing above him, peering down at the corner of the gemstone peeking just underneath his cloak.
She moved her hand carefully, hovering it just above the gabite's chest. And as a pink glow emanated from her fingertip, she enveloped his cloak in the pink glow before carefully nudging it away. Dillan hardly stirred from the movement, unaware of the gardevoir's movement. And eventually, she revealed the star-shaped gem.
Her eyes peered beyond the crystalline surface into the watery vortex within, and she forgot herself for a moment as a soft gasp escaped her mouth. She couldn't believe it. It truly was the Sapphire Star.
She looked down towards Dillan in absolute horror. The boy found it? How? How did he manage such an impossible feat? Where did he ever pick it up? Did that make The Enemy one step closer to their goal?
She reached back and began drawing her blade. She wouldn't allow him to end everything. He needed to go. He needed-
But the gardevoir stopped, her blade still lodged in its hilt, as the glow of the Sapphire Star radiated against her face. It began pulsating erratically, as if it were a warning light. And this shocked the gardevoir into inaction.
She looked up towards the sky - a single, blue star sitting high above to the right of the moon. 'Does that make him your Paladin?' she wondered.
She stood there for a long while, staring at the star, waiting for an answer. She sheathed her blade once more and the light of the Sapphire Star grew dim. To which she smiled.
"If this is truly your will," she whispered, "then he will survive this night."
The gardevoir stepped away from Dillan and began her way down the mountain once more. She pulled the hood of her cloak back over her head, shielding her face from the moonlight.
"We will meet again, Paladin of the Sapphire Star."
(A/N)
Chapter's a bit long but I promise they'll be shorter from here-on out (at least for Section 1)!
Also still looking for a beta reader! If you want to:
1) Read the story early
2) Receive a credit at the end of the story's chapters
3) Help me catch the occasional *mid-story-author's-edit* that got left in by accident (i.e. Ryan's being too much of a jerk here - tone it down, Ryan!)
Feel free to reach out! I won't bite: promise :D
Anyways: like, comment, and survive, and I'll see you all in the next chapter!
P. S. I've got this story posted on AO3 as well, and DAMN it looks better - got all sorts of art to go with the chapters and a map for you to feast your pretty eyes on, not to mention the story cover FRONT-AND-CENTER at the end of Chapter 3. If you like art and wanna see it with the story, go check that OUT!