11: Was That A Scam? I Dunno… (II)

Aiden – Audino

 

Hazy Pass was quite the opposite of Stony Cave. Instead of descending into a cavern illuminated by deep blue crystals, we ascended up coarse crags as the bright sky turned an evening hue of orange. 

The Riolu—Cole, I think his name was—seemed to be the stoic leader of the group. He was doing most of the fighting and wasn’t one for conversation. Shinx, on the other hand—Swift—was insistent on searching far and wide for treasure of any kind. She looked noticeably eager to be here. Meanwhile, Emolga, aka Morgan, didn’t look like he was too fond of this dungeon escapade. He trudged along, staying near his friend Danny and leaving Cole and Swift to do the heavy lifting. And speaking of which, the Dunsparce was warily looking around, staring in awe at how high up we were. He’d glance behind anxiously from time to time, making sure I was still here (I was right behind them all.).

…I really am analyzing these four as if they were characters in a book, huh? I tend to notice things really selectively—I can easily tell how one’s feeling through their behaviors and words, but outside of that; the actual context of their words, the things going on around me and them; I tune it out. It just breezes by me. It’s one big paradox—I’m so aware of people’s emotions, yet so unaware of what makes them emotional, if that makes any sense. 

Oh well. My mom used to tell me that it’s a good thing sometimes—”Ignorance is bliss,” she’d always say.

 

“Man, we’ve been looking everywhere for this guy…” Morgan groaned. “For Mew’s sake, did those Timburr lie to us?”

Cole shook his head. “He’s gotta be at the end. Higher up, probably.”

“And how do you know that?”

“…just a hunch. Important stuff always lies at the end. Anyway, be patient, Morgan… He’ll turn up eventually.”

My breathing was a little heavy as we trekked through. Hazy Pass was shaped like a giant staircase carved right out of a mountain. Thankfully we didn’t have to climb up its steep walls—there were entrances to little dungeons that would lead us up to the next step once we got through them.

“…are you okay, Aiden?” Danny stopped slithering, turning around once more.

“I’m… okay… just need to catch my breath,” I huffed. “…I’ve done so much walking today…” Venturing into two dungeons back to back… that’s a first.

“Why not use Refresh?” Swift asked. “You Audino are healers, aren’t you? Can’t you just replenish yourself with your own moves?”

“If only it worked like that…” I sighed. “I’d still be worn out from using the move in the first place.”

“Does Refresh need that much energy to use?”

“Well, no… but it’s certainly harder to perform when you’re already tired. In a way, it’s a paradox.” I shrugged.

“How do moves work, anyway…” I could hear Cole murmur as he looked down, putting a paw on his chest.

“Hm?” I glanced at the canine Pokemon.

“Erm, I mean, how do those healing moves of yours work?”

“Well, it’s simple—” I tried to explain, but I cut myself off as my attention turned to the sudden appearance of a pair of Wooper. “Oh!” They were waddling up to us from behind, and I easily could hear them coming.

“O-oh no…” Danny shuddered as he turned around and stared at the ferals.

“…they’re just Woopers. We shouldn’t be that scared of them… even if half of us can’t even damage it with most of their moves.” Cole scoffed before one of the aquatic Pokemon spewed out a ball of purple liquid—Acid Spray—at the Riolu. “Oh jeez–” The toxic fluid missed, splattering all over the ground, creating a splash that got some gunk on his legs. “Agh– it burns!!” Cole winced.

“Ferals are ferals, dude…” Morgan cringed at his teammate’s injuries before looking back at the Woopers, gritting his teeth as his cheeks began to crackle. He released a bolt of electricity at one of the ferals, but they were left unscathed.

“Fuck fuck fuck my legs my legs–” Cole was on the ground, immobilized from the acid stains. “D-don’t use electricity! They’re Water-Ground—they’re immune!”

“Craaaaaap.” The Emolga stumbled back a little as the Woopers jubilantly wobbled closer towards us. Characteristic of the Wooper line, the pair each donned a big, unassuming smile that more often than not would make ‘mon lower their guard.

Meanwhile, I rushed over to Cole, stepping around the big puddle of purple goo and attempting to lift him up so I could treat his wounds safely. Keyword “attempting”, because I certainly couldn’t carry him. Instead I dragged the little Riolu to the sidelines, then hovered my paws over his legs. I was still rather tired, but… that can definitely wait. I needed to heal him!

All moves are tied with some sort of emotion to activate. The energy we all have building inside of us stems from our feelings. Healing moves in particular require a calm and clear mind.

Deep breath in. Deep breath out. I relaxed my shoulders as I could feel it resonate from my chest. The energy flowed like liquid, dripping down to my paws and escaping as I used Refresh. My paws shone green, and the burning acid dissipated as I kept them over Cole’s legs.

“…woah…” The Riolu watched in awe. “Do all healing moves really work that quickly…? It looked so easy, too…”

“Well, it all depends on the severity of the injury… That acid left a flesh wound at most, so it doesn’t take much to patch up.”

Cole tried to get back up but winced in pain again. “Ack-“

“Careful now—it’s still going to hurt for a little bit. I just healed it, after all…” I took his paw and helped him stand.

While I was healing him, the rest of Cole’s team managed to defeat the wild Pokemon. One of the Woopers was comically dangling out of Swift’s jaw, hanging by its tail while unconscious. Meanwhile, the other one was on the ground as Morgan and Danny were breathing heavily. The Dunsparce smacked it one last time with his tail before sighing.

“See? We did it!” the Shinx smirked after tossing the Wooper aside.

“Jeez… that was rough without electricity… Acrobatics is hard to pull off!” Morgan groaned.

“H-heh… I bet you would’ve been toast without my help.” Danny grinned sheepishly at the Emolga.

“Oh shut it, you. You probably would’ve had the same trouble alone. 

“…damn, I didn’t even get to punt any of ’em…” Cole chuckled as he walked over. 

“What?” Emolga looked at him strangely.

“…don’t ask.”

“You okay, Cole?” Swift walked up to her friend.

“Uh, yeah… Aiden right here patched my legs right up in a matter of seconds! Still stings a bit, though,” Cole responded, grateful.

I smiled, nodding my head. “Happy to help!” It’s all I can really do, after all. Healing’s my specialty… although, that’s rather common for Audino like myself… In my family specifically, we take pride in this fancy healing technique passed down to the Audino in our family. Quite honestly, it isn’t as flashy as you may think it would be—at least, I don’t think it is. 

 

We continued to march through Hazy Pass, thankfully not running into many other ferals along the way. I could’ve sworn I heard somebody not too far ahead of us as we climbed up closer to the top.

“…ugh. Where the hell is that guy? He’s usually quick to get here,” Scraggy complained, staring at the setting sun. “I don’t got all day!” He was loitering around, leaning on a rock. His baggy skin looked a little full as he held it up with one paw.

“There he is—MMPH!!” Morgan exclaimed before Cole promptly shut him up.

“Quiet!” He covered the rodent Pokemon’s mouth with his paw and quickly brought him out of sight with him, the two of them hiding behind another larger rock. “Hey, hide! Quick!”

Swift snatched Danny by his tail and did the same. “WAAH—” the Dunsparce yelped as he was hidden away. This place just so happened to have many rocks convenient enough to hide behind…

“Eh?! Who’s there?!” Scraggy snarled as he looked our way.

“Wha– um–” They all skittered away so quickly that I was unable to do the same. I was caught unawares, frozen in place as the only one the reptile ‘mon spotted.

“A-Audino?!” Scraggy took a step back.

“…shiiiit.” Swift cringed.

“…heh.” He regained his composure in an instant. “Here to get back your gems, aren’t ya?” He smirked as he pulled one of the blue crystals out of his skin and flashed it.

I gasped. “So you did steal them!”

“Yes, of course I stole ’em! What did you think happened?” He laughed.

“I-I dunno…”

“Dude. If someone bumps into ya on the street and suddenly your paws are empty, it isn’t hard to put two and two together.”

“W-well, that doesn’t matter anyway!” I said. “The two Timburr told me what you were up to anyway!”

“…of course it was them,” he grumbled. “They’ve been complaining about our little scheme, how it’s not right or whatever, but neither of them had the balls to quit. They’re still desperate to scrape by, after all.” Scraggy shrugged.

 

Meanwhile, the Aces were offering some quiet commentary while they continued to be out of sight. “…why does he feel the need to tell us this?” Morgan whispered.

“Every villain’s gotta have some kinda backstory monologue,” Swift responded.

“This isn’t a book, y’know. And this hardly counts as an evil villain speech. More like just confessing your crimes.”

“A-at least it’s buying us some time…” Danny sighed.

“Yeah, maybe it’s a good thing we used Aiden as bait,” Morgan agreed.

“Time for what, though? What’s our plan?” Swift asked.

“Shh!” Cole growled.

 

“…you know I can hear all of you, right? Are you all fucking stupid?” Scraggy scoffed. “I’m not deaf—I know for a fact y’all are hiding behind those rocks.”

“A-am I really just bait…?” I asked, looking at Morgan.

“You didn’t hear that!”

“…I’m an Audino. Do I have to say any more than that?”

“…goddammit, guys,” the Riolu grumbled as he got up from his hiding spot. The other three all followed suit, assembling right beside me. “Ugh, change of plans! Five on one, should be a cinch!” Cole put up his paws, assuming a fighting stance. 

“…h-heh… you really hired an entire rescue team just for me, huh? I’m flattered.” Scraggy gulped. “…for Mew’s sake, where is he, dammit?!”

I could hear loud, heavy footsteps trudging our way coming from where we came. “…erm, guys? Someone’s coming…”

“Wh-wha?” Dunsparce turned around.

“…hehe, right on time…” Scraggy sighed in relief.

 

Gurdurr’s steel gaze stared right at all of us as he made his way here. “…you really couldn’t watch your back? We’ve done this over and over—you should’ve known not to let anybody follow ya here.”

“I got here a while ago! They just showed up now! Besides, your boys ratted us out!”

“…Arceus dammit, Pete and Lenny…” Gurdurr grumbled, his grip on his metal beam tightening as he stared at us. “…hmph. You rescuers must be fresh meat, I reckon.”

Danny cowered in fear. “Erm…”

Swift growled.

“Young, fragile-looking, and nervous. Definitely newbies.” He chuckled. “You really got yourself cornered by these guys, Scraggy?”

“Look, t-they outnumber me, okay! And they just crept up on me outta nowhere!” Scraggy crossed his arms, accidentally dropping his saggy skin and letting the gems drop. “…whoops.” He quickly stuffed them back in.

“You said it yourself, didn’t you?” Morgan said. “We didn’t do a good job at hiding.”

Cole’s eyes locked onto Gurdurr, trying to keep his cool as the carpenter towered over us. “Give Aiden back those gems. You shouldn’t have taken ’em—no, you shouldn’t have coerced him into getting ’em in the first place.”

“I shouldn’t have? Why not?” Gurdurr laughed. “It was his fault for falling for it. Not that hard to tell—met a pair of dumbasses, a Pikachu and Snivy, earlier that saw through it.”

“How self-aware of you…” the Emolga muttered.

“W-was it… really my fault?” I mumbled, frowning. “I just wanted a shed for my garden tools…”

“Pfft– get a load of this guy! Dude, he ain’t even an actual carpenter!” Scraggy cackled. “Guess what—you just got played like a damn fiddle! You can’t even do shit about it!” His voice grew louder. “You got scammed, but there’s nothing illegal about it, you DUMB FUCK! You got scammed, bitch! You got scammed!”

“…t-too loud…” I cringed as my ears hurt.

“Sheesh… what’s with all the yelling?” Swift mumbled.

“Not again, Jon…” Gurdurr whispered to himself, facepalming. “…Scraggy explodes when it comes to making fun of people we’ve tricked,” he explained, irritated. “It’s… a problem, to say the least.”

“YEAHHHHH! YEAHHHH BABY!! THAT’S WHAT IT’S ALL ABOUT!!! GET FUCKED, AUDINO!” Scraggy hollered.

“…he’s also wrong, I did use to be a carpenter.” Gurdurr rolled his eyes.

“…wait what?” Scraggy stopped cheering.

“I thought we’ve been over this. Remember? The injury I told ya about?”

“…ohhhh, right! Right, right. Right.” He kept repeating the word “right”.

 

“…um… hello?” I interrupted. “W-we’re still here… hehe…” I fiddled with my paws. “C-can I have my gems back now?” I asked politely.

“No,” Gurdurr said.

Well, it was worth a try. “…oh…”

“What… what’s even going on at this point?” Danny was confused at the strange back-and-forth that was currently happening.

“Yeah, aren’t we supposed to be, like, fighting you guys or something?” Swift asked.

Gurdurr paused, then sighed. His movement seemed somewhat restrained—he winced a bit as he got his metal beam ready. “…Scraggy, I blame you for draggin’ this on for too long.” He swung his weapon hard, easily knocking Morgan to the side. I shrieked as I watched the Emolga get sent flying.

“WOAH WOAH I WAS KIDDING WE WEREN’T READY! CHILL!” The Shinx immediately regretted her statement as she took a step back to hastily charge up her electricity. 

 

“BOSS! STOP! PLEASE!!” Suddenly, the two Timburr from earlier were running up to us, trying to break up the fight as they shielded us with their wooden planks.

“…out of the way,” Gurdurr ordered them.

“No! Boss, we… we don’t wanna do this anymore!” one of them exclaimed. “We’ve gone too far!”

“Too far?” Gurdurr scoffed. “I call the shots ’round here, Pete. We’ve been over this. We stop when I say we stop.”

“B-boss… Lenny and I, we’ve had enough of this! We’ve tricked too many innocent ‘mon. It just ain’t right anymore! Especially after scamming this poor Audino here, y’know?” the Timburr named Pete gestured to me. “Just look at the guy! Even more of a fool than the others we’ve come across—no offense, Audino!”

“H-hey!” I pouted. “I’m not a fool!”

“You honestly believed we were carpenters. Us.”

“I-I mean… isn’t your species line known for this kind of work?? Not to be… offensive or anything–” I scratched the back of my neck. “And besides that, Gurdurr just admitted you used to be honest-to-Mew carpenters!”

“…what a waste of time,” Gurdurr grumbled as he brushed his apprentices aside quite violently, giving them the same treatment as Morgan by smacking them away with his beam. “That life is behind us now.”

Cole clenched his fists. “No point in talking him down!” 

Gurdurr trudged forward, lifting up his long metal bar as he loomed over us. I took a step back, afraid of getting crushed, but Scraggy was still on our flanks, so the three of us were cornered.

I was frozen in place now. My heart beated rapidly.

Swift had been building up electricity this whole time–she looked like she was about to burst. Aiming for Gurdurr’s support beam, she unleashed a bright burst of lightning. Gurdurr was grasping tightly on it, so he was electrocuted with ease by such a big shock.

“GAHH–” Gurdurr gritted his teeth as he took a knee, dropping his beam. He didn’t look very hurt, but he was paralyzed.

“Oh-” Cole looked at Swift. “Uh, nice one!”

The Shinx huffed, worn out. “Too… too easy!”

“F-fuck!” Scraggy cringed. “U-uh…”

Cole looked back at him. “…this got a lot easier.”

“Nope nope nope nope nope!!” Hastily pulling up his skin, Scraggy bolted for the exit, dropping a pawful of gems along the way.

“Dammit… Jon…” Gurdurr grumbled, grimacing. “I swear imma kill that bastard.” He tried to stand up, grasping onto his beam again when suddenly he gasped, falling back down. “AGH– MY BACK–” 

“Now’s our chance!” Cole grinned as he got readied his fists.

 

“WAIT!” I yelled, impulsively grabbing the Riolu’s arm.

“Aiden?! What’re you doing?” He easily broke his arm out of my grip but stayed where he was after that. 

“He… he looks like he’s in so much pain…” I whispered.

“‘Cause I am!” Gurdurr roared. “My back’s actin’ up again… dammit…” As he was struggling to get back up, I could see a huge scar stretching across his back. It didn’t look like it healed properly, so the scar was beginning to reopen…

“Oh no…” Even though he tricked me, I just couldn’t bear to see him like that, so I stepped closer to check on him. “Erm… s-somebody go check on Morgan and the Timburr!”

Danny quickly slithered over to see if his friend was okay first.

“Woah woah what’re you doing?” Swift repeated Cole’s question.

I stuck out my paws over his back. “I’m healing Mr. Gurdurr… I feel absolutely awful for him…” 

“Uh, why? Why do you feel bad for him?” Cole looked at me, baffled. “He’s just a dirty crook.”

“He may be a dirty crook, but if we don’t do anything about this injury of his… well…” I didn’t want to continue my sentence any further, so I just hoped they’d understand.

“…fine. Wouldn’t be right to kick a man while he’s down, anyway… Literally.” He put down his fists and took a step back. “…do your thing, Aiden.”

Swift stepped back along with the Riolu. “Are you sure you can do this?”

“…No promises, but… please trust me.”

“Oi, what are you doing back there?!” Gurdurr growled as he stayed down on the ground, face-planted into the dirt.

Another breath in. And another breath out. I wondered if Gurdurr had even had his injury properly checked out by any healers before… it surely didn’t look like it. I shuddered as I took one last glance at the torn scar before shutting my eyes to concentrate. I’m not a big fan of seeing blood… I needed to keep as calm as possible so I could use my special healing .

I felt the energy build up within my chest once more, and as I exhaled it streamed through my palms, emitting two bright gleams from each. I creaked my eyes open ever so slightly, focusing on my paws. My left paw glowed green, while my right shined pink. As I held my paws over Gurdurr’s scar I brought them closer together, locking my fingertips together as my palms still faced downward. The two bright lights swirled around, the pink and green colors complementing each other but never combining. The healing energy from each paw worked together as one to seal up Gurdurr’s wound.

“What… what kind of healing even is this?” The Shinx stared in awe at the bright glow emanating from my palms.

“It’s… a special technique passed down in my family…” I huffed, beginning to wear myself out as my energy was sapped from my chest, heading straight through my arms and releasing above Gurdurr’s back.

“Woah… so cool…”

“…it… it’s really only me using Refresh and Heal Pulse at once…” I sighed. “…aptly enough, we call it… Refreshing Heal Pulse, haha…” By now, not only had the blood stopped leaking but the scar itself was fading. It would still be there, but it was a lot less noticeable now as I healed him.

 

I stopped myself once I got tired, letting the glow dissipate from my paws and giving my energy a break. “…how do you feel, Mr. Gurdurr?”

Gurdurr slowly rose, this time with relative ease. “I…” He had no words. He was astonished as he could move his arms and shoulders more naturally—they appeared more limber than before.

“Mr. Gurdurr?” I asked again.

“…I haven’t felt like this in ages,” he mumbled. “…maybe I should’ve seen a doctor back then…”

“You… never got it checked?”

“Was too busy with work back then—had no time. When it happened, I just took a day off, then got back to it,” he reminisced. “The pain wasn’t so noticeable at first… but the wound didn’t heal right, and it got harder to move as the days went on. I couldn’t put the same effort into my work as I used to… and it was too late to do anything about it by then.” Gurdurr picked his metal beam back up, but refrained from attacking us with it. “…how did you do it, Audino?”

“Erm… I-I just healed you with my energy… not much more to it than that.”

“…what’s your name, Audino?”

“Aiden,” I answered. “And you?”

“…call me Sledge. Thank you, Aiden.” He was uncharacteristically quiet for once. “…you’re a good kid, you know that? Sorry for the trouble I’ve caused ya…”

Meanwhile, Cole and Swift were just standing behind me in shock, watching the once menacing carpenter calm down so quickly. “…that worked?” Cole muttered. “That… that actually worked?”

Morgan and the Timburr brothers were led back to us by Danny. “Everybody else seems to be okay!” the Dunsparce exclaimed.

“…ugh… what’s going on now?” the Emolga grumbled. He was rubbing his head like he had a migraine… which he indeed had.

“…Pete. Lenny.” Sledge looked at his apprentices. “…let’s call it quits.”

“…wh-wha? Boss?” The twins were taken aback.

“…there’s no need for us to continue this path.” He shook his head. “…there really are still some kind souls left in this world, eh…?” The Gurdurr had a soft smile on his face.

Morgan blinked. “…okay somebody better fill me in, what the hell did you guys do to ‘em.”

“I just healed him… is it really not hard to understand??”

“Boss… a-are you serious?” one of the Timburr asked, tears welling up in both of their eyes. 

Sledge nodded. “…Aiden. That shed of yours… We’ll build it for ya. Don’t worry about no Poke, or gems, or whatnot. It’ll be on us.”

“Eh?! R-really?” I smiled. “T-thanks!”

“…nah, thank you . Whatever you need, me and my boys will have your back. I hope that’s enough payback for what we’ve done.” He looked at Pete and Lenny. “…let’s head back, boys. We got work to do.”

“…y-yessir!” they both said as they marched back down the mountain with their boss.

 

“…see? We didn’t need to hurt him any further.” I looked at Cole and the others. “I suppose that means the job is done…”

“…uh, yeah.” Cole stammered. He looked like he was a little lost in thought.

“…woo-hoo!” Swift cheered. “Mission accomplished! We did it, guys!”

“What? Already?” Morgan asked. “Dude, I didn’t even get to do shit… I just got tossed around by every enemy we came across…”

“We… w-we really did it!” Danny smiled.

“Yeah!” The Shinx’s tail wagged, and she glanced over to the Riolu, who was staying quiet. “Come on, Cole! We won! We did it! Our first mission was a complete success!”

“..h-huh? Oh, sorry, just… didn’t expect it to end like that. Didn’t think Gurdurr would just… turn over a new leaf so quickly.”

“A-At least it’s a lot better than getting into a huge brawl, that’s for sure.” the Dunsparce nodded.

“…so Aiden, how about that reward?” Morgan looked at me.

“A reward? Oh, right! Yes, um…” I needed to compensate them, of course… they’re rescuers, after all. An idea popped in my head as I saw the gems Scraggy dropped as he fled. “…you can have the gems I was going to give to Mr. Gurdurr if you’d like.”

“W-woah, really?!” Danny exclaimed. “That seems like way too much, Aiden… They could be worth thousands of Poke each!”

“I don’t have much use for money,” I said. “I’ll keep a few for myself though—they’re pretty. The rest are yours!”

“Sweet!” Morgan grinned as he headed straight for the crystals on the ground. “…two… three… four! Got four gems here.”

“You can have half, then.” I smiled, taking back two of them once Morgan came back.

“Yay! We’re gonna be rich, guys!” the Shinx grinned.

“…and I thought you said the money didn’t matter?” Cole smirked.

“Well yeah, but you’d be hyped too if you got your paws on a ton of cash!”

“Better find a good place to pawn it off then.”

“Erm… c-can I keep one for myself, guys? For, er, you know.” Danny blushed.

“For what—ohhh.” Morgan realized. “Oh, of course…”

“L-look, I never got the perfect gem for her until now! And she’s coming next week anyway! Now’s my chance!”

“You simp…” Cole laughed.

“Sh-shut up! Just let me have this, okay? P-please…”

 

I just yawned as I watched the four of them celebrate. I wanted to go home and get some well-deserved sleep—I’ve been out for way too long…

The four of them look like good friends… a part of me wishes to be in a group like that. Though… it might get too noisy for my liking. Besides, I like spending more time by myself…