A/N: So...I'm actually somewhat straying a little from the outline I have for this to just add in a 'bonus' chapter of sorts. Just because I want to work on character interactions, introduce some new 'mons, and maybe put in more hints for the future of this arc (might include these every now and then to make sure things flow better than flashing through the story and forgetting character progression; many will probably happen in the pre-WRGP arc, like the anime; though the transitionary second arc will be the most fluff filled, and not in the shipping fluff XD). Besides, I figure something has to happen between that last chapter and the upcoming slight timeskip (not huge like years but maybe a few weeks; still a bit before the theft of Yusei's first Runner). Let's get this show on the road!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's nor Pokémon. Both go to their respective owners. I only claim OCs. Also, in Ren's POV and the third-person perspective from AJ will have the Pokémon's dialogue translated.
Chapter 3- New Additions:
"I really don't like this. I should be with them to help them. Not waiting in the shadows."
"I know you want to help them, but your body still hasn't recovered from the process yet. We can't risk things going awry before we have any chance of changing things for the better. Besides, we can do more help staying hidden than out in the open."
"Well, I guess I'm not the only one having to stay put right now at least."
(Ren's POV)
"No, Ren."
"Why not?! The doctor already cleared me this morning! It's not like I'm going to jump between roof-"
"I said no! I'm not going to risk anything around here! Just stay put until there's absolutely no risk of it opening up again!"
"I'll be careful! Just let me come with you and-"
"I. Said. No!"
"Well, what about just dropping me off at Yusei's, then?" I suggested, getting exasperated. I hated arguing with AJ, but at this rate I'll go insane if I stay indoors any longer!
"He's working on his Runner today, so he won't be available to keep an eye on you. Look, just wait another week-"
"A week?! Come ooonnn!"
AJ crossed her arms, looking stern. "Would you rather I saw a month?" The tone she used was one that I knew she was gong to make due on the threat and nothing would stop it.
"Fiiiine," I grumbled. I flopped back onto the bed.
"Good, glad we can come to an agreement. Tell Martha I'll be back before dark like usual."
"Yeah yeah." AJ left after that.
I pulled the pillow over my face and screamed hard into it. The pop of a Poké ball alerted me to one of my partners coming out. "No dice, huh?" Storm's voice came. "Told ya."
"Piss off."
"Hey, don't get mad at me. I'm just sayin' that I wasn't surprised she told you no."
Another pop. "That's not exactly helpful, Storm," Mazin retorted. "Besides, Ren's been bed-ridden since we got here. It's no wonder he's getting cabin fever."
"We're not in our world anymore. There's no telling what could happen around the corner if we're not careful. AJ got beat up bad that one time."
"You really think Riki would let that happen? Or either of us?"
"Point taken. Not that we can do anything about it now, though. AJ made it pretty clear that she doesn't want us to step foot out there."
I felt the pillow being pulled away and met with Riki. "Well uh...maybe we can't go out onto the streets but we could at least stay in the yard, right? That's not going very far," he suggested.
"So just hang around outside the house and just around it?" I surmised. He nodded. "Well, I did want to get fresh air..."
"That's the spirit! Come on, while there's still daylight!" Mazin and Storm hopped off the bed to follow Riki out as I sat up.
As soon as we stepped outside, I stretched out my arms over my head. "Oh Arceus, thought I'd forget what the sun felt like after all this time," I groaned.
"Didn't you complain this morning that mornings were evil?" Storm teased.
"Shut up, the light was in my eyes."
"Pretty sure you said that when-"
"Uhh, guys, what in the heck is that flying overhead?" Mazin said, his head craned up toward the sky.
We all looked up to see what seemed to be a dragon shape zip over our heads. It was low enough that it kicked up a gust of wind which caused all of us to hunch over to prevent being toppled over. The wind died down as the silhouette faded away. What the hell was that?! Was that...is it a Pokémon? Are the others here stuck too? And where is it going?
"Holy crap, when did birds get that kind of power?!" Storm exclaimed, shaking dirt out of his yellow fur.
"Maybe someone's Dueling nearby?" Riki suggested.
"There's no way that that was just a hologram. They don't cause that big of winds like back home," Mazin retorted.
"Then why—Ren! Hey!" I took off right as Riki was trying to come up with another suggestion.
I gotta make sure that Pokémon doesn't end up in the wrong hands here. If it was that strong flying overhead...
"Crap..."
"What? What happened? Are Ren and AJ-?!"
"They're fine, just...I need to go check on something. Stay here until I return."
(No One's POV)
"Maybe I was too harsh on him," AJ sighed, finding a relatively empty place to let her Pokémon partners out to stretch. "But this place isn't exactly the most...hospitable place for him to walk around."
"You're worried about him, Aly. We all had seen what those thugs did to him," Titus responded. "Anyone would be cautious after that episode."
"Yeah but...I'm also scared. What if he remembers to how I acted toward him? All the things I said...I-I was so horrible to him and-!"
"Calm down. You know better now and are making things right. When he does get those memories back, he might see the way you treat him now as a way to heal the past damage and not revert to what he was led to believe. But maybe it'd help more if you could tell him what all happened."
"I...I can't. I just want to put that part of my life—and her, along with it—in the darkest corner of my mind and never bring that to light again. Maybe I can explain when he eventually remembers, but I'd rather not until the time's right."
"If that's what you want, Aly, then I'll follow your lead."
"Aaahh! Get this teething dragon offa me!" Harley yelled, trying to free her tail from out of a Zweilous's mouth.
"By Arceus...Darko, I said gentle with the training!" AJ went over to where the two were sparring and separated the pair. "Don't put in a full power Bite on friends, okay?"
"Sorry," the two-headed dragon muttered, lowering both his heads.
The Galarian Linoone got busy fixing her tail's ruffled fur. "Just glad I'm not a Psychic or Ghost-Type. That would've hurt."
"Let's focus on less physical moves for the time being, then. I'm still working on getting the berry seeds to grow so we don't have to worry about using any more medical supplies here," AJ stated, stepping away. As soon as she got back to the Charizard, she turned back toward the group. "Go!"
(Ren's POV)
I kept running in the direction I saw the Pokémon fly but eventually started losing my breath and had to stop. The movement made the injury on my chest burn a little from going to rough in the running. I pulled my collar down a bit, sighing in relief to not see any red on the bandages. Well, guess that's one good thing...but now I lost the Pokémon and have no clue where it could have gone. Maybe I should tell AJ and she could fly on Titus around here and see if they can spot anything.
The footsteps behind me alerted that Riki, Storm, and Mazin had finally caught up. "Holy Arceus, Palkia, and Dialga," Storm gasped. "I need to work out more..."
"Ren, why did you run off? We were supposed to stay in the yard!" Riki chastised.
"I didn't want the Pokémon to end up with the wrong people. You felt that wind, imagine what it could do if someone bad had a hold of it," I replied.
"Well, not like we can do anything right now. It's long gone," Mazin said, squinting up at the sky.
"Let's just focus on getting back. Pretty sure someone had to have seen us running off," Riki sighed.
"Uhh...yeah, which way?" Storm pointed out.
I looked around, not recognizing any place. "Ah shit. How far did we go?"
"Did anyone pay attention to any landmarks we could recognize?"
"Dude, I was busy chasing after mister hole in his chest. What do ya think?!" Storm snapped back at Riki.
"Let's calm down. We've got to have at least left a scent trail," Mazin said.
"Can you smell anything among all this, though? I sure as hell can't."
"You're a Pikachu, Storm. You're not exactly meant for following scent trails, just electric shifts."
"Come on, let's just...try walking where we came from and hope we can get back," I stated, walking forward but not paying attention to what was in front of me. This caused me to collide with a body and end up losing balance, going backwards onto my butt. "Shit!"
"Ren!" my three partners cried out in unison.
"Ren? What are you doing out here?" came a surprised voice. I looked up to see that I had walked right into Yusei.
"Yusei?" He bent forward to help me up. "What are you—agh—doing? I thought you were working on your Runner."
"I am. I just stepped out to find more parts. Did you get lost?"
"Ah...you could say that."
"Come on, I can take you back to Martha's."
"No, wait! I can't go back yet! We spotted a Pokémon fly overhead and are trying to find it!"
"You did?"
"Yeah, and it was a really strong one. It nearly knocked us over just flying. I wanted to try to find it and keep it from ending up in the wrong hands, but I lost my breath and lost sight of it."
"I don't think there would be a lot of people able to catch it anyway. I'll try to ask around and see if-" He got cut off at the sound of a crash. Glancing over, there was a Rockruff laying between a pile of junk, rubbing its head.
"Oww..." the Rockruff muttered. "I missed the mark by a whole lot..." As soon as the Rockruff spotted us, it (or I guess she, by the voice) yelped. "Oh no!" She scrambled to her paws and ran off.
"Hey wait!" I yelled, going after her.
"Hold on a sec, Ren!" I heard Yusei call after me.
"Oh, for Giratina's sake," Storm groaned.
(No One's POV)
"You're distracted again, Aly," Titus stated.
AJ sighed. "Sorry, but I keep thinking back to Ren."
"Oh?"
"It's just...well, maybe I was a bit too harsh on him. He's been inside since we came to this place with a few exceptions."
"You were harsh on him," Harley stated, pausing in her spar with the Zwelious again.
"Harley!" Titus snapped.
"Lemme talk, lizard." She pointed a claw at Titus who snorted out a small plume of smoke. "Yeah, you were hard on him, but it's not without reason. He was tricked by some punks into believing everyone was against him and then beaten within an inch of his life. Plus, this place has been not very, well, safe for some folks. We were lucky you guys got found by that Yusei fella and not someone less trustworthy. Or by that Sector Security and dragged to Arceus knows where to never see the light of day."
"...wow, that was actually good insight," Titus admitted.
"Hey, I got my moments. And just 'cause I was in my ball doesn't mean I didn't hear all that shit goin' on."
"Still, I think maybe I should take back having him wait a week. He's been doing well in regaining his strength with helping Martha, with only one scare," AJ commented, recalling when Ren overdid some lifting and was adamant that he was fine just a bit winded.
"Yeah, plus gives some opportunity to build his little trio up a bit so they'll be ready to catch up to our level." Harley did her best to try to give a thumbs-up with her two clawed paw.
"All right. Let's clean up here and head back." Maybe if he practices with his partner Pokémon, he can remember something...anything.
(Ren's POV)
"Ren, you okay? You're breathing heavily."
"I'm fine. Just...out of breath." And the mark on my chest is hurting a bit, I added mentally but kept from saying that out loud. I didn't want him insisting we head back. Something was telling me to find that Rockruff. They're usually very friendly and like interacting with people, even wild ones, so why did this one immediately turn tail and run? I just wanted to be sure she was safe and not in danger. I can wait on that mystery Pokémon for Yusei to ask around about for any rumors. This one I can easily check in on.
I guess the good thing was that the Rockruff had been shedding a bit (fur, not the rocks around her neck), so the trail led to a rundown house. It didn't look like anybody was in it. Well, no one human, anyway. "Looks like the trail ends here."
"Hey, what's that over there?" Storm asked, pointing a bit ways off.
"Huh?" I looked where he was pointing, seeing some marks in the ground. "The hell?"
"What is it?" Yusei asked.
"Not sure..." I walked to the marks. "Tire...no wait, they're claw marks. Man, what sort of claws dug in though? Took some chunks out of the concrete."
"Maybe whatever also left this behind." I turned to see Yusei holding up a feather. The bottom had blue, then changed to purple, and the last part was stark white. "This look like anything from your world?"
"Uhh, not unless it's a Flying-type from some unknown region. Or it's from a very special Pidgeot." I took the feather from him. "Actually...maybe not even any bird like Pokémon. The bottom part feels like it's a scale."
"So then what-"
"Something just moved in there!" Mazin shrieked, his fur all puffed up. "Oh hell no! I've seen enough monster movies to know that that means we're going to get chomped up! I'm not dying before getting to evolve!"
"What do you mean? I didn't see anything," Riki retorted.
"There! In the window! Oh Arceus, it's looking out the window!"
"Last I checked, we're Pocket Mons—ahh! He's right! We're cooked!" Storm yelped.
"Guys, what's-" I stopped when I looked up where Storm and Mazin were locked on. The window they were glaring at was just about blocked out by the silhouette with only a pair of glowing amber eyes looking out it. As soon as the owner saw it had all of our attentions, it ducked out of the view. There was some muffled crashes coming from the building.
"Nope nope nope, we're leaving!" Mazin dashed behind me, grabbing the hem of my pants' leg. "Comf phon!"
"Wait wait, guys, just calm down!" I tried to dislodge Mazin from my pants. "Maybe it's just the Rockru-"
"Intruders spotted! Defend the base!" came a new female voice. "Charge!"
Before I knew it, something tackled me off the ground, over Mazin's body, and onto my backside. I felt the wind knock out of me as I coughed up my lungs (or at least that's what it felt like).
"Ren?!" Riki, Mazin, Storm, and Yusei all yelled while I felt the weight dig onto my chest.
I peeked my eyes open to stare into an angry yellow face, which was a bit comical if I wasn't knocked for a loop as just above the angry eyes was a bright pink heart. "I'm tired of you humans hurting us for no reason! This time, you're the ones who are—hey! Lemme go!" the voice screamed as the weight left.
"Is...Is that a Jangmo-o?" Storm questioned hesitantly. "I don't think they're supposed to be that color..."
"No, but they can be in very rare circumstances," Mazin replied. "Remember that Yungoos and Starly we spotted while vacationing a bit back? They were different colors, too."
I got helped back up into a sitting position as I hacked and coughed. "Easy there. Just catch your breath," Yusei said, keeping his hand on my back to make sure I didn't go backwards again.
As soon as I gasped into a nice lungful of air, I scrambled to bring my shirt up a bit. "Quick! Is there any red?!"
"No, they're still clean."
"Oh thank Arceus."
"Do I want to know why you tried to rip off your shirt so quickly?"
"If I wanna get back before AJ does, I do not want to have any signs of sneaking out. I'd like to keep my soul inside my body, thank you."
"I see."
"Hey, uh, Ren? Kinda having a hard time keeping this 'mon from maiming my face or anyone else's," Riki mentioned. The Pokémon he was holding—which holy shit, that's a Shiny!—was flailing her front claws into a blur as he tried to keep a good distance between the claws and his face. Storm and Mazin were leaning away on either side of him, have looks of nervousness and surprise.
"Just...put her down, but the other way from us, I guess," I told him.
As soon as he set her down, she jumped forward and whirled around to get into another battle stance. "Why are you defending the humans here?! Don't you know they've been attacking any of us!?" she growled.
"Whoa whoa, calm down. Ren's a Trainer and from our world, and Yusei's not like the humans that were hurting you," Riki said as he held up his claws in a 'whoa there' position.
"Yeah, and we were looking for a Rockruff that had been running through here," Mazin added. "Guy doesn't care much the fact he got cut up and wants to make sure everyone's all right, so he's the last person to try to hurt a 'mon."
"Hey, I can hear you, ya know," I muttered with a glare.
"Oh, likely story! Bet the moment we let our guard down, you'll—!"
"Wait! Hold on a sec!" a familiar voice yelled. Then, the Rockruff—looking a bit scruffier now that I had a better look—came tumbling out of the broken door. "They might be telling the truth."
"Wha—how can we be sure? Every person we tried to get help from attacked us! How do we know that those two are different?" The Jangmo-o nodded her head to Yusei and I in the second half.
"If they were, how come they've got three from our world vouching for them? The other humans just threw random stuff at us, no Poké balls or Pokémon."
"But...But they chased you! Isn't that the same thing as what the others did?"
The Rockruff looked down a bit and then looked up to Yusei and me. "Well...maybe not quite." She started padding up to us, moving around Riki, Mazin, and Storm with an, "Excuse me."
"Ren..?" Yusei said.
"She's not going to attack. At least, I don't think," I replied back in a whisper as the Rockruff stopped and sat down in front of us.
"You can understand me, right? You just mentioned that to your three there," the Rockruff stated.
"Uh...y-yeah?"
"Then can you help us? Some of ours got attacked and are really sick."
"Sick from...what?"
(?)
"Argh...what's taking her so long?"
"Co?"
"She made it sound like it would be a quick trip, but she's been gone a lot longer. Since she hardly goes out without that strange Pokémon, it shouldn't take this long for her to run wherever and back."
"Coco..."
"...screw this. I know the limits of my own body. If Ren and AJ are in danger, then what am I doing just laying around here?!"
"Co?!"
"Come on, let's see what this 'little problem' is."
"Fuecoco!"
(No One's POV)
AJ slid off of Titus's back as soon as he landed onto the ground. "Thanks for the flight back. Return," she said as she pulled out his ball, the Charizard being drawn back in with a red light. She clipped the ball back to her belt.
She headed in, going straight for the room she and Ren were sharing. "Ren, I reconsidered and..." Her voice trailed off as the door opened to reveal it empty. Immediately, her mind reeled back to the last time she had found Ren missing from his room in their world. Finding the note of him running off with the window wide open, scrambling to find his whereabouts, the fear of seeing him bruised and bloodied in the forest as well as his screams as...
AJ stumbled back and gripped her head. No no no, don't lose it. Don't lose it! I can't afford to lose composure again. I...I gotta find Ren. I won't be too late again.
(Ren's POV)
"What's taking so long..?" I mumbled, tapping my foot a bit as I was waiting with Riki, Storm, and Mazin.
The Rockruff and Jangmo-o led us into the building (the latter being unhappy) and revealed the others they had. And she was not kidding about them being sick. Each of the 'mons that were with the pair were either dealing with some nasty poison (judging by the flush on their faces being purple) or several claw marks marring their bodies. Either way, these guys were in rough condition and not in the best place to try to heal from the injuries without medicine. AJ and I had a few items from our world that would help, it's just getting all of the Pokémon in the building there.
"Can anyone walk with us?" I had asked.
"It'd have to be really slow with a lot of stops," the Rockruff replied. "Even the ones that float and fly can't do that in their state."
"Oh great."
"What did she say?" Yusei asked.
"All the Pokémon here are too weak to move very fast. And there's gotta be almost twenty of these little guys. It'll take well past nightfall to get 'em all."
"Hold on, I've got an idea."
"Huh?"
"Just give me a few minutes. I can get my Runner and get the worst ones straight to Martha's. Plus an extra set of hands."
"Isn't Crow's way to far from here, though? You got super speed?"
"Not Crow. He's...another old friend, but we haven't spoken for a while now. Which of these guys look the worst?"
"Uhh...lemme take a look."
That had been at least half an hour ago. Maybe more, since I had no way to really tell the time. I managed to find a box that wasn't too degraded to put about five 'mons in (a Sentret, Snom, Fletchling, and Poochyena were able to fit in it). Besides the Rockruff and Jangmo-o, there was still an Impidimp, Wooper, Wattrel, Zorua, Bagon, Deerling, Murkrow, Dreepy, Swablu, and Riolu. We're gonna have our work cut out for us. Guess it's a good thing there's nothing bigger...but what about what Mazin had spotted in the second story? Maybe the Zorua made an illusion? Since he's hurt, he'd probably make a few appear to keep others from coming in, but he isn't in much condition to make it that solid looking.
"Okay, something's bugging me," Storm said.
"What?" Riki replied.
"If these are all the Pokémon here, then how come none of 'em look what we had seen in the window?"
"Storm, there's literally a Zorua right here in this room. It's not that shocking we saw what seemed to be a strange monster."
"Dude, no offense, but that's the crappiest assumption you've made. Guy can barely keep his eyes open, much less conjure an illusion that had glowy eyes like that!"
"Plus that feather Yusei found was definitely real," Mazin who was resting in my lap added.
"That's true," I mumbled, pulling out said feather.
"Oh hey, looks like the big guy shed another feather," the Jangmo-o stated as she and the Rockruff padded up.
"The who now?"
"The big guy. Well, that's what we've been calling him since we have no clue what he is."
"No clue what he is? Wouldn't he have mentioned something?" Riki said.
"Well..." The Jangmo-o looked to the Rockruff.
"He doesn't really talk. At all. We kinda figured he was mute, or couldn't understand us," she responded
"Wait, hold up. You've been with a 'mon that you have no clue what he is and hasn't gotten him to speak at all? And yet you came after Ren like he was gonna do something?" Storm said.
"We didn't have much of a choice. He was able to fly off or swim off and bring back food for us, so we didn't have much of a problem with it. Besides, it's not like he never made a noise. He made small noises or shook and nodded his head," the Jangmo-o shrugged.
"Fly and swim? You sure he wasn't a Pelipper?" I asked.
"I'm pretty sure that feather tells otherwise." I looked back at it in my hand.
"Good point."
"Uhh...speaking of earlier...sorry for tackling you down and trying to scare you off. We haven't had the best experience with the humans around here," the Jangmo-o stated while bringing up a claw to sheepishly scratch the side of her head.
"Oh, don't worry about it. It didn't reopen anything, so we're all good," I replied.
"That's goo—wait, you're injured?!"
"Uh yeah?"
"You didn't notice him trying to have his friend check?" the Rockruff sighed.
"No! Ah man, good thing my aunt isn't anywhere around here. She'd have throttled me for attacking an injured opponent!"
"Wait, where is this big guy anyway? Shouldn't he be down here too?" Mazin asked.
"He must have gone out from the hole in the roof of this place. That's how he gets in and out usually since we found this spot. You guys must have spooked him with all the yelling, anyway."
All of a sudden, there was a crash from above. The Rockruff sniffed the air before her eyes widened and she let out a growl. "Dammit, we've been found!"
"What? What do you mean?" I asked frantically.
"When we got here, it wasn't just the humans that we had been chased out by. There was another that had been attacking us whenever we tried to find a place to rest up in."
"By what? Who?"
A creak came from the stairs. The Rockruff and Jangmo-o got into fighting stances as the other Pokémon behind were starting to wake up and realize what was happening. "That."
A/N: Well, hate to cut it off there, but I feel like I'm going to have to separate what I thought was going to be one single chapter into two as there's too much I've been putting in for a single chapter to hold. Besides, there were several times I could just cut off and start another chapter instead, but didn't as I felt like I had to keep going with the chapter. So I better tweak the next chapter's title. X'D
Anyway, got any guesses what the next chapter will hold?
