The real size of the world blew Sean's breath away.
In his experience in geography, a continent was quite a lot larger than the map implied it was. At least most continents were.
Majority of the dungeons they had gone out to explore were within walking distance of the town. Sometimes it was a few hours, but they could always make it there, get through the dungeon, and back all in a single day.
This was different. They had to walk for most of the day just to reach the first leg of their journey. He saw rolling plains, the sea crashing against the coast, and types of trees he didn't even know existed.
"This world really is gorgeous," he thought to himself, smiling as Rai beaned Grovyle with a million questions. "I get why exploration is a big thing. It's exciting seeing these places even the games never showed."
There were some smaller towns close by to Treasure Town. Quad Town, Sicily, a little place called Feore? Feiore? He wasn't sure how it was spelled.
He was not offended that Rai barely spoke to him; the shinx focusing instead on barraging Grovyle with a thousand deadly questions.
He was a little worried. Grovyle being right there and ready to hear whatever. And not an inane fear that Rai liked Grovyle more, that was not even on the cards, nor was he afraid of Grovyle. More that Rai would ask too many questions and Grovyle would let something slip.
To be hit with this many questions would be daunting, even for one without something rather large to hide like Grovyle.
Not that he was paying much attention to how Grovyle answered. No, just a glance here and there whenever it seemed appropriate. It would be suspicious if he completely avoided Grovyle's existence, so a cursory glance now and again was the right action.
Sean's tail swish and flicked. Did he really need to hide? Would he have told Grovyle the Truth? The big capital T Truth? He felt like he would, wouldn't he? To give him hope in that terrifyingly dark place.
Sean had noticed that the night left him faintly uneasy for reasons he couldn't quite place, he reckoned it had to do with the Dark Future. All that he must have experienced. He was kinda impressed he'd survived, but he was certain he had Grovyle to thank for that.
And by not saying anything, it felt like lying. By omission at least.
Still, every time he turned to the pair to open his mouth to say something, something struck him right in the throat. Like a spider had crawled into his open mouth and made a nest in his oesophagus. He just couldn't spit it out. Something wild gripped him.
He caught Rai's eye and went to speak.
What if he doesn't believe you? His mind screamed. What if he thinks you're insane? What if you didn't tell Grovyle anything? But why else would he be here. What if what if what if?
He couldn't survive here on his own, he just couldn't. It felt faintly irrational, but his rational mind wouldn't listen.
He just smiled awkwardly and commented that the weather was nice.
"The last I heard from my sister, she had gone to the Water Continent," Rai said, winding down on the latest story that he was telling to Grovyle. He had already covered moving to Treasure Town from Amp Plains. Sean nearly using a move in town on Drowzee. Everything but the Ditto's secret from Boulder Quarry. And a basically everything else Sean had gone through with Rai. Now he was talking about personal stories. "She's an incredible luxio, I wonder if she's evolved all the way yet…? Oh, I've been talking so much. What about you, do you have any siblings Grovyle?"
"Never asked me if I have siblings," Sean thought mutinously as he also thought. "Because you have 'amnesia' you lying fool."
Sean glared down at the ground. His feet paws were poking their claws out and he took the effort to force them to retract.
"No, I am an only child," Grovyle replied, nodding down to Rai. Then he looked across. "What about you, Meowth?"
Sean didn't react, still not particularly used to being addressed as Meowth, as well as doing his best to ignore the pair. "Hmm?" he asked when he realised both pokémon were staring at him. "Pardon? I didn't catch that."
Rai opened his mouth, almost like he was going to say something, but faltered and closed his mouth again as Grovyle repeated the question. "Do you have any siblings?"
Sean felt trapped, boxed in, outwitted in a game he didn't know he was playing. "What does he mean by that? I can't say yes, cause then Rai would know something is up. Do I say no, that's a lie though, would Grovyle be able to tell!?"
"Uh, I…"
"You can't say amnesia. So, say something NOW!"
"N-no. Probably." He gave a weak shrug while mentally lambasting himself for backing out of the lie. "Come on, you lie basically every day. Grovyle isn't that scary, who cares if he knows? It wouldn't completely wreck the entire world if the story changed like that would it?"
Unable to take that chance, Sean smiled vacantly until Grovyle looked away.
"HE KNOWS!"
While Sean began a whole new tirade of mentally screaming two words, Rai took Grovyle's attention again and began spelling out how their first outlaw mission went.
The chatter was a pleasant hum in the back of Sean's mind as he continued to freak out over possibilities and suspicions he had no idea were feasible or not.
Still, despite the chaos of Sean's mind, the waves continued to crash against the cliffs as the Craggy Coast drew closer.
"I believe this is the entrance to our first proper challenge," Grovyle said, hopping up to a sheer opening into a dark cave. Sean grimaced as he looked at it, the entrance giving the feeling of a jagged hole torn into the side of a cliff. It was not particularly inviting, and Sean felt like something was missing, but he couldn't put his paw on it.
Dungeon entrances always threw him a little. It was like seeing a mirage on the road behind the drivers seat, a gas-like ripple. Only, this mirage didn't fade once he was close enough. It remained. Subtle enough that if he wasn't looking, he might not notice it.
He wondered if this was how pokémon got lost in dungeons, not even seeing the entrance before it pulled them in.
"Hoo." Rai breathed out. "This is the start, the real start. The start of our first expedition!" He turned back to Sean, beaming brightly and Sean lavished in having his attention again. "Let's do our best, Meowth!"
Sean noticed Grovyle's eyes on him and gave him a curious look. Grovyle smiled. "Are you both ready?"
Rai looked back to the entrance and murmured, "This is a true expedition…."
He froze, eyes being drawn into the dark cave, the yawning chasm pulling him in, pulling him towards an uncertain future. An unknown future. An exciting future!
He crackled with electricity. "Let's go already!" he yelled passionately. "The rest of the guild won't be waiting on us for sure!"
Rai raced to the mouth of the cave and began hopping from left to right. "Hurry up you two!" he cried, unable to contain himself and sparking several times.
"Very ready then?" Grovyle chuckled, as he turned to the meowth who was playing it cool. "This will be an adventure I'm sure." He nodded towards Rai who whined at them to hurry up. "Alright?"
"Right," Sean replied, feeling his throat try and restrict to stop the words. He didn't meet Grovyle's eyes. "Craggy Coast awaits." He hurried forward, smiling far too widely at Rai once he reached him and quickly stepping further into the cave.
Rai waited for Grovyle, and the two of them entered right after Sean, watching the meowth's tail flick back and forth as he did his best to appear natural.
"This is going to kill me," Sean thought, grimacing as Rai and Grovyle began to talk again. "Through worry I'm going to mess everything up or whatever is going to attack me in there, I'm not sure."
He resolved to keep his eyes fixated on what was in front of him and ignore what was behind. He had the bag, he had the items, and Rai was strong enough to fight even without Grovyle.
Sean knew he was the one who needed the help, but he wasn't accepting it from Grovyle.
The cave was a new low when it came to dankness.
The Beach Cave was wet, Drenched Bluff and the Waterfall Cave were slimy, this cave was wet, slimy, and salty.
So much salt, Sean feared he was going to absorb it through his feet. Even breathing was uncomfortable with how the scent of salt permeated everything.
"I'm going to smell like this for weeks," Sean complained. He had fallen back into line with Rai and Grovyle fairly quickly, not willing to put himself in the line of fire just to avoid maybe interacting with Grovyle.
Rai remained between them, however, that was unchanging.
"It probably will," Rai replied cheerfully, nodding wisely. Sean took it vacantly, moving on to the next problem, until Rai's tone registered with him.
"Hey!" he snapped. "What are you implying there?"
"In all the time I've known you," Rai replied with a smile. "You only clean off in the hot springs. No hot springs around here, just salt water and our tongues."
"…Saved your life," Sean mumbled, turning away with a pout.
"Sure did!" Rai agreed, grinning brightly.
"You don't bathe?" Grovyle asked, staring down with concern after dispatching a whiscash with Bullet Seed.
"Weirdest meowth ever," Rai said. "I get not wanting hairballs, but he prefers the water I think."
"I don't like this water," Sean growled, flicking a foot rapidly to free it from something particularly offensive.
"Did you know that Meowth can swim!?" Rai gasped, turning his full attention back to Grovyle as he found another thing to tell him of.
"Indeed?" Grovyle looked over Sean again, appraising him. "Interesting."
"I thought so too." Rai nodded. "Swam in our second dungeon to save a lost psyduck. Even saved me from drowning when I fell in." Rai trailed off into embarrassed laughter and Sean sent a smile his way before going back to glaring at the surroundings for surrounding them.
Sean wasn't sure what to take from Craggy Coast. The place was unpleasant, every dungeon was unpleasant, but the dungeon itself wasn't much of a problem.
It was almost relaxing, adventuring with Grovyle. He was so powerful, often with a type advantage on top of the ferals in this dungeon. Anything Rai didn't scare off, Grovyle easily laid low.
Sean was not relaxed though. Grovyle made the dungeon easy but strung his nerves like a harp each time Rai began to say a little too much.
"We talk every night, well not for the last few because Meowth's been uh… tired."
Didn't help Sean's nerves that Grovyle kept looking at him each time Rai would talk about him.
"He almost used a move on Drowzee in town, but he didn't! Everything worked out fine, even though Drowzee did get away. I wasn't fast enough to chase him down."
What was worse was when Rai realised he had been excluding Sean from the conversations and tried to add him in.
"Remember when we fought Litleo?" Rai asked, tearing his eyes from Grovyle for a few seconds to grace Sean with his attention.
Sean flinched slightly, startled at being addressed so suddenly. "Oh, yeah definitely! Big battle, I was only mostly useless."
"You weren't useless!" Rai immediately said, annoyed and also resigned to this discussion.
"Ah." Sean patted where his nose was. "I said mostly."
Rai gave him a flat look. "Don't get cute with me, there is no way I could have done that alone."
"You are the cute one here," Sean said, smirking as Rai puffed up. "Can't turn that talk on me, I'm the master here."
"I'm learning though," Rai warned, grinning again. "I'll figure your 'sarcasm' out one day."
"Hmm," Sean hummed before glancing to Grovyle. Things weren't different, but he felt a little better now that things were still normal. "Litleo was our first real battle together," he explained to Grovyle. "At least where I did something of use."
"He distracted Litleo," Rai interjected, happily knowing Sean was embarrassed by praise. "Tricked him into lowering his guard, and got him with a sleep seed. I was barely conscious at the time, but he got me some berries and I was back up."
"Just in time," Sean cut across, pushing the credit back. "To knock him out right as Litleo was getting up."
"An impressive win," Grovyle said, nodding down to the pair. "Some of the greatest teams are built from a common foe."
"Have you worked with anyone before Grovyle?" Rai asked innocently as he absentmindedly zapped a krabby. "
Grovyle was silent for long enough that he could only answer with. "Yes. Some time ago."
Rai nodded and didn't press further. Grovyle's clipped tone was explanation enough.
Not to be stopped by awkward silences, Rai had enough of those in the first few days with Sean, he decided to change the subject. "Meowth's been doing really well though." The shinx smiled as he felt Sean's eyes bore into the back of his head. "We went to a dungeon called Waterfall Cave not long before the expedition crew was announced."
"Indeed?" Grovyle asked pleasantly, keeping his eyes on the walls around them. He scared a gastrodon off with a quick Bullet Seed. "Preparing for the expedition?"
"Well," Rai trailed off awkwardly before righting himself. "We took two jobs that day, hoping to look like we were really dedicated."
"Understandable," Grovyle said nodding. A hint of a smile even twitched at his lips. "It appears to have paid off well."
"Yep!" Rai beamed, sending a Thunderbolt at an enemy to send it skittering for the depths. "It wasn't looking too good at first," he explained as Sean added something.
"We searched the dungeon three times looking for those two!" Sean frowned as the memory of what followed came to him. "I bet Floatzel knew we were there too."
Rai nodded, solemn. Turning back to Grovyle, he explained. "We were looking for two lost pokémon, but as it turned out Floatzel had kidnapped cherubi!"
Narrowing his eyes, Grovyle asked. "And you caught him?"
"We did." Rai nodded and looked to Sean. "We ended up going to the end of the dungeon and accidentally triggered a trap," he trailed off, looking hopefully at Sean.
Happy to continue, Sean brightly explained, "Was some sort of water trap on a big gem. Pushing it in triggered the trap and washed us all the way to the hot springs."
"His first proper bath." Rai smirked at Sean. "Also saved me from drowning."
"Ah yes." Grovyle nodded. "You mentioned that earlier I believe?"
"Did I?"
"You did," Sean said flatly. "You said everything. Well… mostly everything."
"Not my fault!" Rai said. "Grovyle asks such good questions and I had to tell him… most of it, you know?"
Rai was looking at Sean, Sean was looking back. There was something in the yellow eyes of the shinx, something pleading.
"We got directions from the pokémon at the hot springs," Sean continued with a cough. "And hunted Floatzel down just as he was handing Cherubi over."
"And we battled him!" Rai yelled, jumping forward and sparking dangerously. "Floatzel and Staraptor. They tried to fight back, but Team Ion was too good for them!"
Grovyle chuckled at Rai's exuberance and sidled next to Sean, making the meowth truly uncomfortable. "You have quite a partner there," he said, and Sean nodded stiffly.
"Yep," he croaked, cleared his throat, and tried again. "Yep." Still croaking.
Grovyle gave him a curious look, but before he could do anything, Rai returned. "I didn't get to tell the best part!" he said excitedly.
"Hm?" Grovyle glanced back up to Rai.
"That battle was when I figured out how to use Thunderbolt properly!" He fired the very same at an enemy creeping up on the pair, knocking it flying with a screech. "And Meowth did something new too!" With that, Sean's interest was piked.
"Huh?" he asked dumbly. "Me? When did I do anything besides Scratch?" He extended his claws and channelled some Power through them to demonstrate. "I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything fancy."
"You did seem pretty mad," Rai agreed, shaking his head. "But no Scratch attack I've even seen involves a long, black, blade thing. That was definitely a new move!"
"Long black blade?" Sean repeated, glancing at his right paw. "I don't really remember."
"How don't you remember?" Rai cocked his head, concern filling his voice. "You nearly cut Staraptor's wing off. That's what scared him away in the first place."
"Everything is a bit of blur after I realised what was going on with that whole 'deal'," Sean admitted, getting another concerned glance from Rai as well as one from Grovyle. "It's nothing," he insisted. "I just got really angry, and we were tired from doing the same dungeon three times!"
"I guess," Rai mumbled, considering it. They all stood in silence for a moment; Grovyle decided to break it.
"That does sound like Night Slash," he said, perking Rai up and getting a disbelieving look from Sean. Privately, Grovyle took it as a victory. The meowth had barely looked at him at all, and only for brief periods. He was fully staring at him now.
"You've seen a Night Slash?" Rai asked eagerly. "I've only really heard pokémon talk about it in the streets, or the guild. You don't get many Dark-type pokémon in Treasure Town. And the poochyena brothers have never showed it off."
"They likely cannot learn it, despite the matching typing," Grovyle explained. "I have seen a Night Slash before. Many times. I once helped someone learn it."
As soon as the last words left his lips, Grovyle froze up. Rai, ignoring any odd reactions in delight, immediately squeaked. "You can teach MEOWTH!"
Sean froze as well, and the two met eyes for a moment, looking away quickly. "He doesn't need to take that time," Sean quickly said. "It'd probably take days, if not weeks, and Grovyle has better things to do."
Rai pouted and looked to Grovyle who had regained his composure. "I." He was clearly hesitating, a look that would have thrilled Sean had it not been so confusing to see. Striker glanced at Rai and received the full brunt force of Rai's hope. "Could give a tip or two," he sighed, giving into the cute shinx.
Rai immediately beamed again and ran around Grovyle in happiness. "Oh, thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Meowth, this is great!"
He tackled Sean in happiness before rolling off bashfully. "S-sorry. I'm being a bit… much again."
"I'm fine," Sean said, pulling himself into a sitting position. Grovyle stretched out a clawed hand and Sean took it without hesitation, getting hefted up to his feet. He fought to prevent a disgusted look from crossing his face, his back was all damp now with cave slime.
"You are curious," Grovyle said, causing a painful heart jump in Sean. "I've never met a meowth who stands like that."
"I know!" Rai said, cheer returning. "It's so weird, but a good weird!" he quickly corrected. "I think it's cool. Unique."
"Other meowth can stand," Sean mumbled, stepping into his own space.
"Yeah, but Croagunk thinks it's weird and cool too," Rai said wisely as they began to walk again. "Meowth's weird in lots of ways, but that just makes him who he is! Who is wonderful, it's all good things I swear!"
Sean chuckled at Rai's scrambled attempts to praise him. It was nice to hear. Grovyle had relaxed around him, so he hoped that there was no suspicion there.
"I don't know, he seems interested but maybe just to seem polite? There has to be something I did that got him to come to Treasure Town early, risk being seen on this expedition. There has to be. But if I did tell him… wouldn't he tell me? Should I tell him my name, just to see? What would Rai think though?"
Sean watched Grovyle as Rai continued to chatter on. Grovyle was very alert, very twitchy, and almost brutal in how quickly he'd dispatch any pokémon that dared to even look at them. But he replied to Rai's questions easily and showed no odd signs when Rai would get Sean to add his own two cents.
Sean smiled and began to relax himself. "I guess if he does know something, nothing wrong seems to be going on. He'll take the Time Gear, and everything will be back on track. A few bumps here and there, but the expedition looks like it'll be easier than I expected. Grovyle is really strong, I don't even have to do anything!"
Happy to enjoy being lazy for once, Sean continued strolling alongside Rai and Grovyle until they returned to natural light and not the distorted angry light that peaked through the cracks of the dungeons roof.
"We're almost through!" Rai said, voice echoing through the widening passage. He picked up speed, trotting forward and driving Sean and Grovyle to run to keep pace with him.
The mouth of the cave yawned, and the trio were expelled.
"Ah!" Rai sighed as they emerged on a wide, rocky, path. "Can you smell that clear air?"
Sean breathed in. The terrible salty smell still stuck to his fur, but the air of the mountains was clear and pure. "Smells like victory."
"We are through Craggy Coast," Grovyle said, stepping up behind the pair. "But we are still quite a way from the base camp the guild wishes to meet at.
Grovyle pulled out his map and he and Rai began talking as Sean stepped away. He climbed one of the rocky edges that closed the path in, digging his claws in to hoist himself up, before taking a full view of the location.
"Do you want me to scout ahead?" Sean asked the pair. Rai hummed, Grovyle frowned at the map and flicked his eyes to him.
"No, we should be fine to go as a group," the deeply-voiced reptile said.
Dozens of snow-capped peaks spread out as far as his eye could see. Sean smiled, this wasn't the first time he'd been in a place a little like this, although this was a nicer place. The sun was still in the sky, although it was getting close to the horizon.
"We just need to cross this mountain and we should be at base camp," Rai called, catching Sean's attention.
"Right," he said, climbing down. "Just this dungeon and we're there?"
"Correct." Grovyle rolled up his map and stored it back in his bag. "But for the moment I believe we should rest. Eat, drink, and prepare for the next journey."
Sean wholeheartedly agreed with that, and he quickly joined the pair before walking to the entrance of the dungeon.
"It'll be a while before we get to base camp," Rai said as they sat down. Sean sighed as his weary leg muscles finally got to relax. "It might be a good idea to stay here for the night, it's not a great idea to rest in a dungeon." He offered a pointed look at Sean that he knew was just educational.
But felt like Rai was judging him, as if he would.
"This place appears well secured," Grovyle agreed, popping his neck. "And if I am correct, I may need all my strength for the next dungeon. Mountain dungeons are often home to Flying and Bug pokémon."
"Yeesh." Rai cringed. "Yeah I can see why that might be a problem. We'll just need to do better!"
"We did let you do most of the work." Sean grinned, receiving a scoff from Grovyle. "I'm still pretty useless, but I can throw a seed… occasionally accurately."
"Don't trust him with a blast seed though," Rai warned, catching Grovyle's curiosity.
"Why not?"
"Because they NEVER WORK!" Sean shouted, yelling at the sky. He calmed quickly though. "I don't know what it I." He pouted, crossing his arms. "Every single time."
Rai giggled, but Sean's disgruntlement was judged not due to be mocked, so he instead sat down on his belly. "I'm hungry, Meowth you have the bag."
"I do." He quickly swung the Treasure Bag around and opened it, glancing up when he noticed movement.
"I too have brought provisions," Grovyle said. "Would you consider pooling the food to be allocated equally?"
"Of course." Sean smiled and the two with some dexterity quickly set the food into three piles. With Rai already drooling, Sean hastened to make sure he didn't lose a paw to the hungry shinx's mouth.
They ate in silence, peaceful silence. Rai took this chance to rest his throat, having talked most of the day away.
With Rai giving them a blissful reprieve, Sean and Grovyle enjoyed some silence.
It was, unsurprisingly, Rai who broke the silence. "So, what you said earlier," he said, speaking to Grovyle. "About giving Meowth some tips for Night Slash?"
Sean cringed as he had thought that forgotten but Grovyle nodded. "Indeed." The Grass-type looked to the sky, the sun was setting now, but everything was still perfectly visible. "We should begin during this rest period, it is unwise to try and learn a new move in a dungeon. The stress can help." He gave Sean a sly look. "But can also go catastrophically wrong. Practise first, alright?"
"I understand." Sean nodded, withholding a sigh as he stood up. His legs twinged in discomfort, but he had to move. Things needed to be done, no point in complaining about them.
Rai remained sitting, simply rolling over to watch as Grovyle led him a few meters from the little camp they had.
"There are some important tenants to learning a new move," Grovyle explained, positioning himself in a combat stance. Sean felt a little nervous about that. "The first is will. You need to do it with determination and perseverance. The second is desire. You need to want to do it with all you can muster. The third is the actual training itself. Mastering those wants and needs until it becomes routine."
The leaves on Grovyle's arms flashed green and Sean immediately recoiled as Grovyle slashed out, Leaf Blade slicing a few stray bits of fur off his head. "HEY!"
Rai bolted up, but Grovyle had already stepped back. "That was Leaf Blade. For me to learn it, took simple dedication. A Grass-type move for a Grass-type pokémon." Grovyle lowered his arms, and Sean tried to still his pounding heart. "Many types are channelled without much trouble, and as you yourself are of the Normal-type, you have a typical capacity to channel other types with a little more ease than myself using a Ground-type move."
Grovyle began walking towards him, and Sean had to force himself not to back away. "A Dark-type move, however, is different. Some types require a little… more, when utilised outside their normal scope." Grovyle's arm leaves glowed again as he called a second Leaf Blade, Sean missed the subtle light in Grovyle's eyes.
"What do I need to do for a Dark-type move?" Sean said, impressing himself with the levity of his voice.
"The idea is simple," Grovyle said, and slashed. Not at Sean but sending a green blade of energy back at Rai.
Rai squeaked and leaped for cover, not that he had to. The Leaf Blade, somehow sent as if it was a bladed beam, had been aimed well above his head and off to the side, but the sudden attack had startled him.
"HEY!" Sean yelled, claws extending right as Grovyle had sent the attack near Rai.
"I'm okay!" Rai immediately called. "But what was that?"
His betrayed look didn't seem to move Grovyle, but the reptilian pokémon turned away from it regardless. "My apologies, Shinx," he said blankly. "How do you feel about that, Meowth?"
"What?"
"How do you feel about someone hurting your partner?"
"Angry!"
Grovyle nodded and smiled. "Look." He stepped to the side, just enough for Rai to spot Sean's paw and gasp. Sean blinked, seeing his claws not shining white, but beads of black pooling near the base of them. His blink broke the spell, and his claws returned to normal.
"What the?" Sean blinked again and shook his paw. When nothing happened, he turned to Grovyle. "What was that?"
"Night Slash," Grovyle answered. "Or, at least, the beginning of one." Grovyle sat down, satisfied. "For you to use Night Slash, emotion is needed," Grovyle explained. "Negative emotion usually. Anger is among the easiest to form, and brings a substantial amount of passion with it. It's an easy way to get you started.
"So, I need to feel… angry?" Sean asked, sitting down himself now that it seemed okay to. Grovyle stood up.
"Currently? Yes." Grovyle nodded. "You aren't trained enough to be able to channel the emotion without losing yourself to it. In time, perhaps, the memory of anger, or other emotions, can be enough to utilise Night Slash."
"Hm," Sean hummed, looking over his claw. He noticed Grovyle standing and got to his feet with a groan. "Is there anything you can do to help more?" He didn't mean to sound a bit ungrateful, but then Grovyle sat down, and he felt justified.
"I could attack you," Grovyle said, shrugging at Sean's horrified look. "Attack Shinx. Steal your belongings. Insult you until you hate me."
"Please don't." Sean sat down.
"Then you tell me?" Grovyle said, standing back up. "What could I do? I'm not a Dark-type. Grass-type if you didn't realise."
"I realised," Sean said, standing up. "You said you could help teach me earlier!"
"I said I could give you a few pointers," Grovyle corrected, turning his back and walking back to the campsite. "You will need to figure the rest out yourself."
"Wha?" Sean blinked, paws twitching. "Well that isn't very helpful!" he said, voice rising. "You can use Leaf Blade! Isn't there something there that can help? Something similar?"
"Leaves are not claws," Grovyle said, sitting down where Sean had left his bag. He dug into it and pulled out an apple. Biting into it like an asshole, Grovyle glanced back. "You gonna just stand there?" he said through chomps.
"Enough!" Sean yelled, claws extending completely before the shadows left by the setting sun began to lengthen. Darkness pooled, sharpening into solid blades of pitch darkness that extended onto the ground. Sean breathed deeply, trying to calm down before he heard clapping.
Grovyle smiled, clapping politely. "Well done," he said, nodding to Sean's right paw. Sean frowned, glancing down and stared in surprise. Unlike before, the Night Slash was fully realised and didn't disappear as soon as he saw it.
The three dark blades did disappear quickly, however, leaving his paw clean and without even a hint of the shadow. "Huh?"
"Grovyle was winding you up," Rai said, from where he was sitting. He had watched them with concern before figuring out what Grovyle was trying to do. "To get you to get angry enough to do Night Slash for real! Right?" He looked to Grovyle for confirmation, perhaps a little desperately.
Grovyle nodded, smiling. "Correct. I do apologise for doing that, but some things have to be learned through ways we'd prefer not to employ." He opened his own bad and pulled an apple out. "To replace yours," he said, setting it into Team Ion's Treasure Bag.
Sean was still blinking, mind whirring as it took all that in and sorted it. "Oh," he said, once things were in the right place. "Oh. Okay, uh… thank you? I think."
Grovyle chuckled, gesturing Sean over. "That'll be enough training for one day. You already seem to know Night Slash, as that was impressively well done for a first try." Sean came, with a little hesitance. He didn't like what Grovyle just did, but the reasons he could understand.
"I seem to know it?" he asked, confused.
Grovyle shrugged. "You were already forming the sabres. Either you have some experience in the move already, or you are a very quick learner."
"Oh."
"I needed to do that," Grovyle explained as Sean sat down, next to Rai. "In order to give you a baseline action to work from. From what Rai said, you've used Night Slash before, but you don't remember doing so due to the chaos of the time."
"Right." Sean nodded, shifting closer to Rai.
"But now you have used a proper Night Slash, and you remember if. You remember what I said about emotions fuelling this?"
"I do."
"So now you'll know. And if it helps, you can picture THIS moment to fuel future attempts." The brightness that Grovyle said that with threw Sean for a moment. Grovyle seemed to realise it himself and turned his head. "It is late now," he said uncomfortable. "It would be best if we got some rest. A long day tomorrow, we need to be ready."
"Sounds good," Rai yawned, curling up next to Sean. "Night, Meowth. Night, Grovyle." Rai was warm and soft next to him, it felt nice.
"Goodnight."
"Night."
Sean did not sleep well.
"All right gang!" Rai spoke brightly. The night had passed a little coldly, rather uncomfortably, and the trio was up earlier than usual, even for Rai. "We have to get moving. The base camp is on the other side of Mount Horn, and we can't let the guild down!"
Sean shot a bleary eyed, but curious, glance around. He had seen the entrance of the dungeon yesterday, and like Craggy Coast, something felt like it was missing. It had been bothering him, but not enough to take precedence over his several-hour-long-panic-attack Grovyle had caused.
"AH! That's right," Sean thought, realisation flooding him. "No Kangaskhan Rock thingy, whatchamajig, whoosits. The weird storing rock. Makes sense I guess."
Satisfied he'd figured it out, Sean followed Rai quickly as he urged them forward, Grovyle stepping in after him.
Things went well. For about five minutes.
"Rah, Thunderbolt!" Rai roared, blasting a butterfree with enough electricity to knock it out. Sean cringed as the pokémon hit the ground with a slap.
Grovyle grunted, weathering a dusty wind before forcing a Bullet Seed through and pushing the venomoth out of the room.
Sean kept them going as best as he could. Carving up berries and keeping their energies high. He felt bad, but there really wasn't a whole lot he could do. Not without going right up to the enemy at least.
"I need a ranged attack," Sean thought as Rai zapped pokémon in triplicate.
"We need to go," Grovyle huffed, pokémon were absolutely crawling through this dungeon. And all of them seemed after them.
"You're not injured, are you?" Sean asked as they began to run. Grovyle and Rai sent back as many moves as they could to slow the pursuers down. Sean only looked thrice, each time he saw a lot of bloodthirsty monsters. He ran faster.
"No," Grovyle answered. "But I am getting worn out. These pokémon are taking two to three times as much effort to knock out and there are so many."
"Just send them running then!" Rai said, unleashing the storm on every pokémon in the air. One fell, the others turned.
"If we don't knock them out," Grovyle argued back. "Then they will likely seek us out later when we are weaker."
"Feral pokémon don't leave dungeons," Rai snapped back, he was exerting electricity constantly and the drain seemed to be getting to him. Sean shoved an oran berry down the shinx's throat.
"What if they pursue us into a corner?" Grovyle demanded, felling a pineco and slashing out with a Leaf Blade to relieve a natu of consciousness. "We are already in a corridor."
"Just drive them off!" Sean said, tossing what he hoped was a blast seed at the horde. It wasn't, it was a quick seed.
The aerodactyl that ate it, suddenly roared and beat its wings, moving shockingly fast and slamming into Grovyle.
Grovyle was smashed into a wall as the aerodactyl swooped off, scrambling to fly. Rai shouted at it, trying to zap it, but its speed gave it the chance to evade.
"Crap, crap, CRAP!" Sean yelled as the aerodactyl came around for another run. "SORRY. FUCK!"
Sean's eyes had met the bloodshot eyes of the aerodactyl, and he realised a nightmare was literally coming true.
Several things happened in swift succession.
Grovyle had pulled himself from the wall, and slashed out, knocking two pokémon back and clearing a path to a different corridor.
Rai had unleashed electricity, zapping everyone. Grovyle and Sean included, and managing to force most of the attacking pokémon back.
Sean had frozen up as he stared hunger in the eyes, then was electrocuted and he yelped and jumped towards the path that Grovyle had opened.
The aerodactyl screeched and Sean screamed as cruel talons clamped around his body, pulling him into the air as the super-fast aerodactyl flew off with him.
"SEAN!" Rai cried in horror as Sean was carried off.
Rai and Grovyle went into immediately pursuit, abandoning the opened path. Sean screamed and struggled in the vice grip of the aerodactyl, its talons had drawn blood and no matter how many times he hit it, a simple Scratch attack couldn't pierce its rocky skin.
The wind rushed back, tickling his whiskers, and Sean screamed anew as everything began to shake. The aerodactyl took several turns, too many and too rapid for Sean to figure out. In desperation he tried to bite, but only stung his teeth in the process.
They arrived in a room and the aerodactyl released him. While flying full speed. Sean slammed into a wall headfirst and crumpled down in a heap.
Everything was spinning, his head pounded, his torso stung with a few gouged scratches, Sean wanted to vomit, wanted to scream, even wanted to cry a little.
Nothing embarrassing could be done yet, as the problem was still there. The aerodactyl had swooped off, shaking the speed off, before circling him, flying down closer. Sean flinched as a globule of drool hit him on the back of the head, and he realised what this monster was planning.
Sean's paws tore into the Treasure Bag, having thankfully not lost it in the flight, as the aerodactyl came for him mouth open. Sean tossed a seed and, with how well the last one went, the aerodactyl swallowed it before pulling up.
Sean rolled anyway and felt the wind rush past him again as the aerodactyl ascended. Then it fell. Fell quickly as a puppet whose strings were cut.
It crashed to the ground, asleep, and Sean got to wobbly feet. "Okay," he said, repeating it while backing away. "Okay. Okay, okay. Okay. Okay. Okay." He wanted to say more, just to hear it himself, but he was stuck in the shocked state of one word. "Okay."
He turned tail and ran.
"RAI!" Sean found his voice as he barrelled down a path. "RAI CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
The walls of the dungeon were pure rock, and the sound reverberated through the dungeon in a ceaseless, useless, echo. Sean grimaced, staggered as a wave of vertigo hit him. The fight or flight response was wearing off, he felt the front of his head and felt blood. The koban was fine though, barely even a nick on it.
Sean gasped in pain as he felt his torso throb, looking down there was two cuts on his front, and he could feel at least one more on his back. "Of course," he breathed. Thinking clearer, Sean opened the bag and fished around for an oran berry.
"Come on," he said, looking in and moving stuff around. "I had like ten of these. Where did they go?" There were no orans. He had been too hasty with them, giving them to the others at the first signs of tiredness. "Great." He threw the bag down. "GREAT. RAI? GROVYLE? CAN YOU HEAR ME?"
"Paa…"
Sean's body shivered as he stood painfully straight. "Now is NOT the time to freeze up," he thought furiously, considering how well that had just gone, and forced himself to turn around.
"Oh."
Part of Sean, a part very detached from this whole situation, was rather impressed that not one, not two, but three personal nightmares all happened in the space of two minutes.
A parasect scuttled forward. Eyes blanker than any feral he had seen thus far. Foggy white, blackened veins bulging in those empty orbs, mouth opened in a gormless, hungry, gape. It carried a wretched stink, an earthy musk that left him lightheaded upon first gasp and continued to make his vision spin as he began to hyperventilate.
The same detached part of Sean observed that the gigantic mushroom was the real enemy, and not to touch it or else he might catch the zombie plague. The rest of Sean flipped the shit out.
"AHHHHHH!"
Sean's scream was loud enough that Rai and Grovyle easily heard him.
"Where is he?" Rai scrambled forward. "HURRY!"
Sean scrambled backwards as fast as he could, slamming headfirst into another wall, this time bruising the back of his head. The parasect's mushroom quivered and it breathed out a lungful of spores.
Sean was having none of this. "NO!" he screamed, turning tail and running three steps into another wall. He jumped in panic, hitting another wall. He was boxed in at a dead end.
Sean desperately clawed at the walls, hoping in an irrational way he could dig his way through before it got him.
"Seect," the parasect moaned, its dry voice carried a weak tremble of something Sean's mind translated as hunger and charged.
Sean spun, both paws forming dark sabres, and flailed wildly, striking the parasect multiple times while screaming bloody murder. "HEEELLLP!"
He headbutted the possessed bug and slashed it with his claws. Its blood ran freely, oily mucus dripped as well from his feral attack.
Sean leaped forward, chipping the mushroom with his claws and he continued to thrash out wildly, and landed on the other side. The parasect gurgled something and tried to turn to him, puffing out more spores, but Sean was running again, and it crumpled to the ground. He tripped over his Treasure Bag and grabbed it on reflex, continuing to run in a blind panic.
He hit a few more walls as he ran on all fours, this proving to be faster than on two. He turned, twice, thrice, and found himself in a long hallway. Sean sprinted forward, no longer screaming loudly, but a high-pitched eeee.
"Where is he?" Rai shouted again, as he and Grovyle tore up a longer hallway.
"What is that sound?" Grovyle asked, detecting something getting closer.
"EeeeEEEEAAAH!" Sean cries, zipping past their view at the end of the corridor.
"SEAN!" Rai yelled and ran forward in a burst of speed. "MEOWTH, COME BACK!"
Sean was in no state to listen and continued running. The meowth detected something trailing him, and only ran faster as Rai continued to yell after him. Sean collided with a wall when he failed to turn, the loud crack causing Rai to wince. The meowth scrambled back to all fours and continued sprinting off right as Rai tried to pounce on him.
"MEOWTH! DAMMIT!" Rai was able to keep him in sight, but Sean was shockingly fast and fitter than he had seemed beforehand. Rai was getting tired, Sean seemed to be sprinting non-stop. "SORRY ABOUT THIS!" Rai called, before charging electricity.
"Shinx!" Grovyle called from behind him, managing to catch up. "You'll need to knock him out, just zapping him is going to make him run faster!"
"What?" Rai inwardly cringed. He rarely went so far as to knock even a feral out, but his closest friend?
"EEEEEEEEAAH!"
"Maybe it's for the best," Rai agreed.
"I'll tell you when to fire," Grovyle said as they sprinted side by side. There were too many turns so far, but Grovyle knew where the best point was.
They entered a room, too small, and continued pursuing.
They entered a corridor, but it ended too quickly.
Another room, Grovyle slashed an enemy down. They continued running.
"I'm," Rai gasped. "Getting to the end of my rope."
"Have you charged enough?" Grovyle asked eyes firmly ahead, far less fatigued.
"Yes."
"NOW!"
They entered a long corridor, nothing but walls for dozens of meters. Rai yelled out and he fired all the electricity he could at Sean, blasting the meowth off his feet. Sean rolled to a stop, and twitched once, before slumping on the floor.
Rai, gasping for breath at this point, staggered to Sean's prone form. "Meowth?" he managed, weakly. He nuzzled Sean with his nose. "M-Meowth?"
Grovyle knelt down, pressed a finger to Sean's neck for a moment, and nodded. "His heart is beating, he'll be fine."
"I-I can't b-believe I knocked h-h-him out!" Rai stuttered, wave of crashing guilt slamming into him. "What k-kind of f-f-f-f… friend am I?"
"A good one." Grovyle laid a gentle hand on Rai's back. "He was too panicked, he was pushing himself far too hard to run like that. Look at these wounds." He pointed to the bleeding parts on Sean's back. "This needs to be treated, and running like that, exhausting himself like that, was going to do damage. You had to do this, or he would have gotten hurt."
"But isn't he hurt now?" Rai's voice was low and weak.
"He is," Grovyle agreed. "But compared to what he would have been had you not knocked him out? This is nothing."
"O-okay."
"Okay?" Grovyle repeated until Rai accepted it.
"Okay."
"Good." Grovyle nodded, looking Sean over. "I think it'd be best to tie something over his chest; this scratch seems the worst."
"My scarf!" Rai said immediately, pulling the defence scarf off. "Here."
Grovyle took it after a brief hesitation and quickly tied it around Sean's chest. "That will have to do for now. We don't have enough berries to soak it, so…" Grovyle pulled out a berry regardless and coaxed Sean into swallowing it. "Thankfully we've gone forwards, rather than back. I'll carry S… Meowth for the rest of the way."
There was just a moment of silence, normally unnoticeable, but Rai realised in that moment he had been shouting Sean's name. Grovyle didn't quite look directly at him, a quiet offering to just pretend it didn't happen.
He took it.
"I can do it!" Rai insisted, staggering to his feet. "I should do it."
"Shinx…." Grovyle trailed off at the desperation in Rai's eyes.
"I have to do it," Rai said softly and Grovyle slowly nodded. "Very well." Grovyle tied Sean in place with his joy ribbon and the two conscious pokémon set off.
So, you have to focus really hard on something you felt
Can be something good, but, uh… not a whole lot of that there.
Excuse me. There is much good here to focus on!
…Right. Well, even so, stuff like anger is easier to start with.
That rush of emotion, that's the rush you gotta direct into your claws.
It's all intent.
And once you've mastered your intent.
…
"Ugh… what happened?"
For Sean, waking up was not pleasant. Probably among his least favourite awakenings.
"O-oh. You're awake?"
Sean's mind was a little foggy, but he could place that voice anywhere. "Rai? Ugh."
"S-sorry." Rai moved, and Sean jolted slightly, but he was a bit more comfortable now. He took a moment before realising that he was moving.
"Where?"
His eyes cleared a little and he realised he was quite low to the ground. Also, on a shinx.
"You are awake. Good."
That was Grovyle, Sean was sure. That voice couldn't be mistaken. He was also sure he should be feeling bad about that, but he was a bit too foggy. "What happened?"
"We are not certain," Grovyle replied, still walking. "You were carried off by a hastened aerodactyl and we did our best to pursue, following your screams." Sean felt Rai cringe at that memory. "Next we saw of you, you were running in a blind, instinctive, panic."
"Did I hit a wall and conk myself out?" he asked, feeling how bad his head ached. Muscles too. Everything hurt like he'd been squashed by a steamroller.
"N-no," Rai answered. "Y-you were panicking so badly you didn't understand us and I… I knocked you out." Sean didn't have time to register that before Rai was speaking again. "I'm so, so, so sorry. You just were running to fast, we couldn't catch up, and you were injured, and you were hurting yourself more, and bleeding, and Grovyle said if you kept running and I didn't knock you out you'd hurt yourself more, and I did it. I knocked you out, and I'm so sorry."
Rai crumpled to the ground and burst into tears. "PLEASE DON'T HATE ME!"
He shivered, feeling Sean's weight press down on him, and for a moment his guilty conscious thought Sean was pressing him into the ground where he belonged for hurting him.
Then the arms of the meowth were around him and Rai thought Sean was going to throttle him. He wasn't. Rai gasped when he realised Sean was hugging him, also saying something, but he hadn't heard the start.
"-erstand. Ow, I think I did do something bad to my chest, oh gosh I'm bleeding all over you!" Sean rolled off Rai, horrified he'd bled on his friend, but dragged Rai down and on top of him. The ribbon was still tying them together.
"Hello," Sean said to the whimpering shinx on top of him.
Rai sniffled, and a few tears hit Sean's face. "You don't hate me?"
Sean hugged him again. "Never. Sorry for bleeding on you though."
Rai sagged in relief, accidentally crushing Sean underneath. "Ow, ow! Rai!"
"Oh!" Rai squeaked, jerking up, and tugging Sean halfway up with the ribbon. "Ah, get this off!"
"Here," Grovyle said smoothly, adding his hands to the mix to get them separated. "We tied you to… Shinx as he insisted on carrying you in penance for knocking you out."
"Really?" Sean asked, breathing easier once Rai was off him. "Thank you."
"It's nothing," Rai said, looking away. "We uh… didn't have much to treat you with, Grovyle managed to get an oran berry down, and my scarf to go over the biggest cut." He pointed to Sean's chest, and he glanced down in surprise, having not felt it.
"Ah. Thanks again. For… a lot now. Heh." Sean rubbed the back of his head bashfully. "I went a bit crazy. I'm remembering a bit more, that aerodactyl was going to eat me! I got him with a sleep seed though, then I ran and found a dead end."
Grovyle felt just the slightest bit vindicated at that but didn't say anything.
"I got cornered by a…" Sean shivered. Then shivered again and rubbed his arms. Shivering one more time, he managed to say. "Parasect."
Both pokémon looked at him blankly. "And?" Grovyle said.
"It's a freaking zombie bug mushroom monster!" Sean snapped, shivering again. "Ugh, gah, AH! Just thinking about it makes me was to scream again."
"You don't like parasect do you?" Rai asked.
"Obviously," he snapped, sarcasm positively dripping from his tone. Sean didn't mean to snap, he was sore and still a little freaked out. To his surprise, Rai seemed to relax again.
"You're alright," he whispered, turning away for a moment to regain his composure. "I'm really glad you're alright, Meowth."
"I am too." Sean nodded, giving a quirk of a smile. Rai returned it and Grovyle shifted, catching their attention.
"We are almost through," he said, pointing forward. A dim light shone, and Team Ion sighed in relief.
"Thank god," Sean muttered, walking forward with a wince. "I'm ready to be out of this horrible place."
"Do you need me to carry you the rest of the way?" Rai asked, quickly trotting besides Sean, but Sean refused.
"I can manage the rest of the way. But… thank you."
Grovyle caught up himself, having paused for a moment. "By our chosen path the base camp shouldn't be more than an hour's walk from the exit."
"We've done it," Rai breathed as they exited the cave to a very foggy area. "We've made it over Mount Horn!"
They walked in silence the rest of the way. Sean was aching, Rai was exhausted, Grovyle was deep in thought.
They followed a pleasant track until the sounds of pokémon talking reached their ears.
"Hey everyone!" Rai called, letting his voice move forward as he didn't want to step away from Sean. "We've arrived!"
They stepped into base camp. There were a lot of wigglytuff-themed tents around. Personally, Sean would have been creeped out if he wasn't so relieved.
"You are somewhat late!" A sharp voice only Chatot could manage caused Sean and Rai to cringe and even Grovyle to snap to attention. "Everyone else arrived hours ago!"
"Sorry, we uh, had a little…" Rai trailed off, cringing under Chatot, remembering the last time Chatot was upset with him.
"Things didn't go to complete plan," Grovyle cut in smoothly. "A situation occurred during our trek through Mount Horn and Sean was knocked out and badly hurt."
Chatot's rage, and the attention of the apprentices close by, turned to Sean who weakly raised a paw in greeting. Sunflora and Bidoof gasped at the scarf he was wearing around his chest and the dots of blood that had gone through. "Hey."
There was a brief moment of silent. Sunflora whispered. "Oh my gosh." Before Chatot flapped to attention.
"Chimecho! Chimecho! You are needed post haste!" His voice carried far and Chimecho, along with the rest of the guild, came out of the mist.
"What is, oh my word!" Her confusion turned to concern once she spotted Sean and came floating over quickly. "Come this way immediately." Sean was relieved and followed as Chimecho took him to her own tent. The one she had her supplies in.
"Get set up and get ready for the briefing," Sean heard Chatot say to Rai and Grovyle before he was pulled in and everyone's eyes fell off him.
Chimecho had him seated on a rather soft bed, it was stuffed rather than just a pile of straw and gathered a few bits and bobs in Psychic before turning back to him. "You're safe now," she said softly, and Sean felt something grow in the back of his throat. He realised he was about to cry and forced it down. "Shh-shh-shh," Chimecho soothed. "You don't need to worry, you are safe here."
Sean covered his face. He didn't cry, but he did shudder a few times as he let some of the lingering panic wash away into the pain. Chimecho stripped the scarf and ribbon from him and replaced them with cloth soaked in sitrus juice.
"It is a repairing agent when applied like this," Chimecho explained when he asked. "Eating them is an energy boost not unlike eating an oran berry, but sitrus' are more useful as bandages than oran's."
She gave him water as well after washing the blood and dungeon dust off him and told him to rest up for now.
"You'll recover well from this, nothing too serious. It just looked worse than it was."
Sean couldn't help but feel like it hurt just about as bad as it was, but then again he had noticed how fast he recovered from the trials in the dungeons. Nothing like a human body. Even stamina wasn't much of an issue, despite felines not being known for having that in excess.
Wigglytuff was ecstatic that they had finally arrived and immediately pulled Grovyle to the side to bombard him with friendliness and tales about the dungeon. He was confident Sean was in the best care with Chimecho and wasn't super worried.
Rai was quickly met by the rest of the apprentices, and he began to tiredly explain the whole story.
Chatot, once sure Rai was in good company himself, hopped off to Chimecho's tent. She was just poking her head out when Chatot came by.
"Oh, Chatot. Meowth is doing well, I've just got him resting for the moment."
"Very good, Chimecho. I would like a word with him before he goes to sleep if this is possible?"
Chimecho hesitated. "He shouldn't be doing anything strenuous," she said uncertainly.
"I just wish to speak to him," Chatot reaffirmed. "It shan't take more than a few minutes. Then I will be back to address the guild."
"Very well. I will just… go check on Rai. And Grovyle, of course. Maybe he'll let me… um, I'll go!" Blushing, Chimecho floated away. Chatot shook his head, bemused, before hopping into the tent.
"I require a word with you," Chatot said blandly. Sean nodded, and he waited in silence as Chatot hopped further into the tent. "First, are you alright?"
"Yes, sore but... I'm fine now."
"How bad are your injuries, honestly?" Chatot's tone brokered no argument.
Sean hesitated, unsure of how to word it. "They sting," he said. "And I bled a bit, but nothing too bad. Chimecho said it looked worse than what it was. It was the parasect that freaked me out, but nothing really happened there. I'm fine now."
"I want to ask something, and you will answer truthfully," Chatot said sharply, Sean swallowing fearfully, he felt very tired, he really hoped Chatot wasn't going to ask what he knew he was going to ask. They hadn't had any time to deal with that little thing Sean had let slip.
"The other morning," Chatot began. "You revealed something to me. Something difficult to believe. Something that is very odd to claim. Something to my knowledge has only been proven true thrice in history. Wartortle and Gengar as well as Dewott in Paradise some years later. You said you were human, correct?"
Dewott in Paradise? That sounded like Gates, but Sean didn't jump onto that. "Yes," he answered. He felt that Chatot was giving him a chance to take it back, despite his earlier words. He didn't, he didn't want to lie on this day.
Chatot breathed out a sigh. "Human? Near-mythical beings that once existed and only exist here and now in the most… concerning of times. This is a... bold claim, Meowth. Although." Chatot glanced away, thinking. "It does explain a few things. Your name to begin with, your mannerisms to continue with. And…." The Time Gears going missing.
Sean stared at Chatot. The bird had begun to pace back and forth, a few feathers sticking up as he began to flap.
"Human! Human! What a ridiculous claim. Hee-hee-hee. What a fanciable fable to spook poor old Chatot with. I know it is customary for new recruits to try and pull a fast one on myself, but."
Sean felt a little insulted, but at the same time a little detached from it all. He glanced down at his paws, wiggling three nubby digits back and forth and the yellowish bandages that were tied on his furry form. "It's the truth," he said, Chatot stopped pacing. "I was human, but now... I'm not."
"Enough," Chatot snapped. "I don't know why you think this is funny-"
Sean's tail flicked irritably. "Chatot sir," he began, but Chatot cut over him.
"Meowth, enough." The meowth closed his mouth. "Do you have proof? Can you back up this claim with any evidence? Any powers you have not yet shown, items you possess, skills a meowth couldn't do?"
Sean couldn't.
"You have amnesia," Chatot continued, gentler this time. Although to Sean it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. "Whatever happened, whatever knocked your memories out, must have not taken everything. Humans are a popular legend, you may have simply found them fascinating. Perhaps you lost your memory searching for one, and only that remained in your head."
Sean frowned, he knew that wasn't the truth. His tail flicked again as he claws began to extend. He sighed and forced them back. "Chatot I..."
Chatot waited. Sean, for a moment, wanted to tell him everything. Everything he hadn't told Rai yet. "Told Rai this and he believes me."
Chatot raised his head slightly, observing him. "...He is a good partner then," Chatot said, settling on that above all other things he nearly said. "Nothing good can come out of this claim, Meowth."
"Why?" he asked, feeling daring enough to push.
Chatot's face became one of many emotions at once, a torrent that shifted too fast for Sean to nail down any of them.
"…is it true that a human stopped the meteor from falling?" Sean asked. Chatot's eyes closed in obvious pain. "And…?"
"And Paradise," Chatot managed with a gruff. "Not that we know much of what went down, they hold their secrets close. Stoke the rumours, get tourists. Paradise is growing quite well under Dewott's leadership, so there is nothing outright to say she came across to solve a… problem."
He went back to pacing.
"The Time Gears, sir," Sean pointed out.
"Yes," Chatot's reply was clipped. "Yes, I…." He sighed heavily. "Are you sure, Meowth?"
"Is Sean a name a meowth would have?" he asked.
"Sounds more like a mareep's name, yes. Shorn, rather… unusual for a meowth. You said you have amnesia?"
"Yes."
Another check in his corner. Chatot seemed to be wavering. Sean really wanted to have him on his side. Another flash of temptation hit him, to explain what he really knew.
As soon as he caught Chatot's eye, his throat closed up. Like that aerodactyl had clamped its jaws around his neck, threatening to bite if he even squeaked a word of it out.
The sudden flash of fear of what would happen. What Chatot would do. If he told him he was a character in a game. Would he even understand? Would he hate him too. Attack him to get rid of something that should not be.
Chatot seemed to take his hesitation as something else and his voice softened. "Meowth, do not worry. Whatever the truth is, you are not alone."
Somehow, that just made him feel even worse and he nodded miserably.
"Good." Chatot nodded. "Now I should return, the Guildmaster wishes to address the guild soon."
"Chatot?" Sean called after him before he left. His eyes were drooping, he just wanted to sleep, but something was more important first.
"Yes?"
"Don't tell anyone. Please."
Chatot stuck his beak up. "Of course not. I would never-"
"Not even the Guildmaster."
Chatot paused. "Eh? Why would you feel the need to specify exclusion of the Guildmaster?"
"It's just…" Sean's eyes were drifting, and things were spinning again. "I've only told people I trust and feel close to." Sean slipped asleep and Chatot waited for a moment, before sighing lightly and hopping out.
He hadn't promised, Sean fell asleep before he could demand anything so bold of him. To not tell the Guildmaster, Chatot barked a laugh at that.
"I've only told people I trust and feel close to..." Echoed in Chatot's head and he sighed. He hated promises.
I like Chatot if you couldn't tell by now. I think he's a decent sort. Can be harsh, but Wigglytuff is soft. They make a good duo.