Chapter 22

The Dragon and The Gorilla

Ruby and Tide walked into Cafe Connection, deciding to celebrate another successful mission. Alice smiled and came up to the booth, asking, "what'll it be for my little explorers?"

Ruby made her order with "Petaya berry smoothie."

"Passho berry smoothie please," Tide requested.

Once the drinks arrived, the two began slurping them down,

Tide stopped and looked at the Fennekin, she was clearly happy, and the two had been doing so well on their missions.

"Your silver eyes are so pretty," Tide mumbled, not realizing he had spoken aloud.

Ruby froze; her white fur failed to hide her blushing.

Tide's eyes bulged, and fell silent as Ruby spoke with "you think I'm pretty?"

The mudkip was saved from responding when a blue flash came from a door in the far back of the cafe where a teleporter pad was located. A nine-foot-tall dragon, covered in gunmetal grey scales with axe blades on his jaw soon emerged from the doorway, ducking to avoid banging his head.

Everyone in the cafe froze, Haxorus were incredibly rare, since they only lived in secluded areas on the mist continent, and this Haxorus's unique color only made him stand out more. The people around Treasure Town were used to his presence, but the same could not be said for Serene Village.

He was wearing a black scarf with red edges, and Tide saw the wing of an explorer badge before the Haxrous lifted up one layer of his scarf and hid the badge under it.

"I'll be making an announcement in the town square in 10 minutes, so please stop staring," Alex requested before walking out.

Ruby and Tide gave each other a curious look and followed the dragon to the town square, Tide remembering to toss some coins on the table to pay.

Midnight Forest lived up to its name; the massive trees with pitch-black leaves made it look like it was always night.

Blake shoved through a layer of brush, before looking down at herself and removing the twigs from her fur with a small burst of psychic energy.

"UH…there has to be a better way to do this…."Blake moaned.

According to her map, the forest eventually became much more open with bigger gaps between trees and large clearings, but two-thirds of the nearly twenty thousand-acre forest was thick and inhospitable.

Blake drew Gambol Shroud, her fur extending out via psychic energy and wrapping around the handle. Holding the blade had become second nature to her.

The Meowstic began to slash at the brush but then paused. A thought crossed her mind, what could that second mode could be used for. She converted Gambol Shroud to sickle mode and extended the ribbon, throwing it into the air and swinging it from tree to tree until she came to a clearing. The movement of the swinging blade and ribbon felt natural as if she had done it dozens of times before, despite this being the first time. Landing on a large tree branch, Blake saw her target in the clearing below.

The perpetrator was a bipedal monkey Pokémon with a light-green body and lighter green markings on its face and chest. Its ears, arms, and tail were dark brown, and its two large eyes were yellow in color. It had dark green bands around its wrists and two sticks holding up a tuft of leaves resembling hair on its head.

Blake dropped down silently, channeling psychic energy into a slash and striking the Thwackey on the back. The grass type fell to the ground unconscious, dropping its apple and satchel. Blake had caught the thief completely off guard while it was eating.

Blake shot the containment beam and said, "Looks like that's it for you, Ozzy."

The Meowstick's words died in her throat as she saw another pokemon who arrived in the clearing. It was a massive pokemon, one that clearly resembled the pre-evolved form she had just captured. Its body consisted mostly of shades of brown: light, tan brown on its forehead, chest, abs, and extremities; dark brown on its nose and triangular ears, as well as under its eyes; and medium, mud-like brown across the rest of its body, including its thick arms and legs. Its mouth, the tip of its nose, and its irises were orange, and its sclerae were white. Each of its upper arms had tan marks resembling bow-ties or butterflies, and it had two diamond-shaped, tan marks running down its spine. The first, and larger, of the two marks, began around its shoulder blades, and the second, and smaller, mark began below its rib cage. He had a thick bush of green, leaf-like hair on his head, which cascaded down its back; on its forehead, a single, vine-like hair, which closely resembled a music note, fell between its eyes and curls at the end, which sat to its nose's left side. On its hips on either side, it had green, belt-like adornments resembling four leaves in a row. Similar adornments with two leaf-like parts sat on its each of its shoulders near the clavicles; these adornments appeared to be part of its hair. On each of its wrists, he had cuffs that resembled leafy crowns, with the peaks of the crown facing its hands.

"Now, who do you think you are attacking, my son?" The Rillaboom asked in a deep voice.

Blake, trying to stay calm, said, "sir, your son is a B-ranked outlaw wanted for multiple thefts and fights against police."

"I know; who do you think taught him to steal and fight like that?" the Rillaboom explained as he began to slowly approach Blake.

Blake took a step back; Ozzy was still suspended in the containment beam and floating behind her.

"Who are you?" Blake questioned as she reached into her small backpack behind her.

The Rillaboom cracked his knuckles and said, "the name's Ringo, and you've just made the biggest mistake of your life.."

Ringo punched Blake with incredible speed for a pokemon of his size, but she dissolved as the blow hit, the shadow clone vanished. Blake had subbed in a clone of her and Ozzy, and was now a solid five feet away.

Before Ringo could attack again, Blake threw a stun seed in his face, the potent yellow powder freezing him in place.

Ringo's nearly frozen face was filled with rage as Blake pressed the left button on the back of her explorer badge and said, "teleport to Wigglytuff Guild."

As much as she wanted to fight, she had no idea who she was dealing with; she wasn't prepared for a second outlaw and didn't have any backup either.

The Rillaboom's scowl darkened as he stammered, "You'll pay for this!" before Blake and Ozzy vanished in a flash of yellow light.

Soon everyone, including the school staff, the other children of the village, Jed and Wake were gathered in the town square.

The Haxorus announced, "My name is Alex; I have been sent by the exploration Team Federation to investigate the attack a few nights ago. Go about your lives as normal, but If I have questions, I'll visit you individually. If you've seen any suspicious activity, I'll be around the lake today and the schoolyard tomorrow."

As Alex walked off towards the lake that was just south of the Town square, Jed came up to the duo as the crowd dispersed and said, "Haxorus are nasty and aggressive; steer clear of him…."

Ruby gave a confused look and said, "He seems nice enough; I was planning to ask him about some exploration team stuff."

Jed's eyes bulged at Ruby's plans, and he reaffirmed his order with, "I'm telling ya, dragon types like him are not to be trusted…stay away from him."

Tide gave an even more confused look than Ruby and asked, "what did dragon types ever do to you?"

"Nothing, but I've heard about his kind; leave him be, understand!" Jed warned, raising his voice slightly. The two younger pokemon repeatedly nodded, noticing his unusually harsh tone

Jed walked off as Tide mentioned, "I've never met a Haxorus, and he's probably safe to be around. He had an exploration team badge, after all; I saw him hide it under his scarf."

"What rank?" Ruby questioned.

"Didn't see it; we could go ask him?" Tide suggested.

Ruby shook her head and replied, "Jed was pretty mad at me the last time I did something; he told me not to…let's not push our luck."

Author's note-oh, dear..

1. Again, trying something new with Ruby and Tide's interactions, so feel free to give me some feedback

2. Blake seems to have made a powerful enemy; I wonder if he'll show up again...hehe

3. Jeeze, Jed seems to really hate dragon types...or more specifically, wants them to stay Alex, I wonder if there's a reason for that

LEAVE A REVIEW, I desperately want some feedback, and my other story, Pokemon Genesis, is on indefinite hiatus until I get more. I simply am not confident in writing it without feedback on this or any other stories. I see all these new follower and wish some of them would leave a review about what they like regarding my stories

Next Time- We begin my first multi-part chapter of the story, "The Ancient Burrow."