15: Crossroads (III)

Rei – Snivy

 

I took my sweet time in Swanna House, munching on my cinnamon roll very slowly and waiting for my coffee to cool. 

That Riolu wants to talk to me? What for? I crossed my arms as I buried myself in my thoughts, slumping into my chair. My first immediate thought was that guy was cuckoo and was out to get me ‘cause I’d somehow pissed him off. What did I do, though?! I’ve never seen this guy before!

And then I remembered—I did. Ichi thought it was a good idea to race to the restaurant. I ran after him, of course—I wasn’t about to have him leave me in the dust again. We zipped through the street, and Ichi almost ran into this group of Pokemon. 

It was definitely that rescue team. The Riolu was the only one out of the four that I can distinctly recall.

I swear, a lot of Pokemon here are so easily agitated… I mean, yeah, it’s justified—Ichi and I were being nuisances. But why single me out? It’s Ichi who was being reckless, I was just going along with it. I tried to rationalize it in my head. 

…For all I know, this world just has a vendetta against me. Though, even if I didn’t do anything too bad in particular, I probably deserve it.

 

Aiden and Stella had already left, having paid for their meal. They were an… interesting pair. They were complete opposites of each other, it baffled me as to why they were together. In any case, it was just me and the rat now. An empty glass of Pecha juice was right beside him.

“…not a fan of that cinnamon roll?” Ichi abruptly asked, breaking the silence and taking me out of my thoughts.

“Huh? Uh, no, it’s like really good. Just… y’know. Savoring it. Slowly.” I’d only eaten about a third of it. “Very slowly.”

He frowned. “…you sure? You’ve been spacing out ever since we got our food.”

I sighed. “I just don’t wanna leave right now.”

“Eh? Why?”

“You know.” My eyes darted over to the window, then back to him. “Guy outside saying he’s looking for me? That just spells trouble.”

“How are you so sure about that?” Ichi snorted.

“I got ample evidence. He’s the guy we almost ran into when you decided to race me to the inn. And he kept staring at me when Stella and I watched Virizion and Dunsparce. He could be waiting outside to beat the shit outta me or something!” I then added, “…okay, I guess it’s not ample evidence, only like one or two points, but I think that’s enough to make a conclusion!”

“…you’re paranoid. We almost ran into him, doesn’t mean we did! No way somebody would get so pissed off over a petty thing like that. Though, uh, yeah, the whole staring thing does sound weird. Still, I don’t think you should be getting so riled up over it. I’m sure it’s nothing.” He shrugged it off. “If anything, all we’ll have to do is say sorry to the guy, and leave it at that. I doubt he’ll escalate it.”

“Have you seen how unfriendly some of the Pokemon here are? Some red bird literally spat fire at me on my first day here! Not every stranger is gonna be like that Audino and… whatever the fuck that dog was.”

“Rockruff,” Ichi answered.

“Of course the dog with rocks in her fur is called a Rockruff.” I rolled my eyes. 

“…if it makes you feel better, I’ll come with you.”

“Please do. I’m not going out there alone.” I sighed, before gulping down my lukewarm coffee.

“We’ll apologize together. I got your back, buddy. I’ll protect you.” He gave me an earnest smile, before snickering. “…okay you know what, that sounded kinda cheesy.”

I paused, before laughing too. “…Yep. Gayest shit I’ve ever heard.” If there’s one thing this rat is good at, it’s cheering people up. “But yeah. Thanks.” I then mumbled, “And another thanks for earlier, by the way.”

“Hm?”

“Covering for me by saying we’re both ‘from the Air’ or whatever. Instead of saying I’m human.”

“…well, I’m not wrong though, you did come from the air! Just not the Air Pokemon usually think of,” he joked.

“Haha. Very clever.” I rolled my eyes again. “…why do they call it the Air Continent, though? Is it windy or something?”
“Right on the money. A lot of the names seem pretty straightforward, but have some neat history behind some of them. The Water Continent, for instance, is called the Water because of this famous myth that a lake of water blessed by Xerneas resides on the peak of a mountain. Or it could just be because there’s too much freaking water there. Either or.”

“Okay, so what about the Air?”

“The Air is not only really windy, but also home to Rayquaza, ruler of the skies. My mom used to tell me and my brothers bedtime stories of this pillar of clouds he resided in,” Ichi reminisced. “People would keep trying to climb the tower for fame and fortune, salvation, their wishes to be granted, things like that. She said the idea of finding happiness at the top of the tower was what kept people going, even if time and time again they’d just fall through the clouds.”

“I see…”

“I loved those tales as a little Pichu. Thinking about ‘em keeps me motivated. But that’s enough talking about fairy tales. Finish your food, then I’ll pay and we can get outta here already.”

“Got it…” I reluctantly took another big bite out of that crisp, sweet, crunchy roll. Heh. Crunchyroll.  

 

The center plaza of Post Town had gone back to its crowded ways ever since Virizion strode out of the bar. Maybe, just maybe, we could blend in with the passersby and—

“Hey! You!”

Fuck. How’d he spot me instantly?! I froze up, staring wide-eyed at the blue furry running up to me with his tail wagging. 

Ichi’s ears perked up once he heard the Riolu holler for me. He gave me a reassuring look, but I didn’t buy into it. I cringed, already taking a step or two back to prepare to retreat back into the tavern.

“H-hey, I just wanna talk! No need to be so nervous.” Cole pouted as he saw my stressed expression. 

I kept my lips shut and my eyes stuck on the mutt in front of me. 

“…dude, chill. He doesn’t look at all like he wants to clobber you for earlier.” Ichi sighed, smiling sheepishly at me. “Oh, uh, by the way, we’re incredibly sorry for nearly running into you. I thought it was a good idea to race to Swanna House today, didn’t think to look where we were going and we nearly bumped into your little group.” Ichi hung his head, giving Cole an apologetic grin.

“…what? I don’t– I don’t care about that.” The Riolu raised an eyebrow before staring back at me. Blinking. Again. 

“The hell are you looking at?” I hissed.

“…What I do care about is you .” He kept on staring, but he broke the stare as he realized something. “…sorry, that sounds suggestive. I mean… I’ve been meaning to talk to you.”

“That- that also sounds suggestive!” I blurted, flustered.

Cole sighed. “God dammit. Look, buddy…” His eyes glanced at Ichi, then back at me. “…first off, mind asking your Pikachu friend to… give us some space?”

“Wha- me?” Ichi tilted his head. “You want me to leave?”

“Nope. He’s staying.” I shook my head. “He… he’s my partner.”

Cole raised an eyebrow again. “…oooookay?”

“S-shut the fuck up, you’re the one making it weird!” I spat, before stealing Ichi’s words, “B-business partner! He’s my business partner.” I never thought I’d admit it until now. I never thought I’d admit it during a conversation as strange as this, especially.

Ichi had a short little grin on his face upon hearing that, but he quickly got serious again as he crossed his arms and looked back at the Riolu harassing me.

“Well, you’re the one misinterpreting my words as if they’re some innuendo. I just want to talk to you after I saw you in that tavern, you- you caught my eye…” He made another quick glance at Ichi. “…for some reason.”

“…oooookay?” I mocked his ‘okay’.

“I can’t make it sound like anything other than an innuendo without spilling the beans,” he sighed.

“Spill the beans about what??”

 

He leaned in a little closer, his shifty eyes darting back and forth between Ichi and me again, before whispering to me.

“…you’re human too, aren’t you?”

My eyes widened. I tried to stammer out a reply, but nothing came out.

“You don’t need to answer. I can tell by your aura.”

“W-what the hell does that mean?? Don’t give me such cryptic responses!” What does he mean, he can tell by my ‘aura’? Who is this guy? I trembled as so many thoughts flooded my head.

‘You’re human too…’ Does that mean… I trailed off.

“…y-you’re also human?!” I exclaimed, wagging a finger at him. 

Cole’s eyes widened. “Shush! You’re not supposed to let anybody else know that! Especially when we’re in the middle of town!”

“…uh.” Ichi smiled sheepishly again. “Kinda already knew that Rei was human.”

“…what.” He glared at me. “You told him already?” 

“Dude. How else am I supposed to explain how I fell from the sky?” I scoffed. “Besides, I was too shell-shocked to come up with a good excuse. And do you really think anybody around us is listening?”

“Probably! You’re yelling in one of the busiest streets in Post Town!”

“Hey, hey, settle down…” Ichi stepped in between us. “…if you really care so much about privacy, I know a nice place,” he suggested.

Cole and I exchanged looks. “…oooookay?” we said in unison, coincidentally.

“Oh, what the—you guys need to get your minds out of the gutter!”

 

---

The rat had led us to a hill towering over the rest of the village. “Found this place while I was out on one of my runs,” he explained while we climbed the steps leading up to it. “Got a nice view.” 

We could see the entire town from up here. There was a pond near the edge, streaming water down into the river at the bottom, in between Swanna House and the Kecleon Shop. No one else was up here but the three of us.

The sun seemed a lot brighter up on the hill, and I could feel my tail leaf start to react to it. Even though photosynthesis calmed me down a lot, it wasn’t the time for that. I skittered into the shade of one of the trees near the hill’s edge. Cole and Ichi just followed me, unsure of what I was doing.

“…we started off on the wrong foot, didn’t we?” The Riolu sighed, crossing his arms. “Sorry for ‘weirding you out,’ alright?” He extended a paw to me. “My name’s Cole. Cole Bennett.”

“…Call me Rei,” I mumbled, reluctantly shaking his paw. 

“And I’m Ichi! Nice to meet ya!” Ichi stuck out his paw for him too.

Cole just left him hanging, barely acknowledging him. “Uh, yeah. Anyway, Rei… you cannot believe how happy I am to finally meet another human.” 

“……okay then.” The Pikachu put down his hand after a few seconds.

“Uh, yeah. Likewise.” I was still rather wary of the guy. 

“I thought I was the only one here! Such a relief, too…”

“…how the hell did you even know?” I narrowed my eyes at him. 

“Like I said. Your aura,” he responded again without elaborating.
“You expect me to know what you mean by that?”

“…yeah? Everybody knows Riolu are aura readers.”

“I don’t! I’m not a Pokemon nerd! I could barely remember the name of the Pokemon I got turned into without Ichi blurting it out for me!”

“You didn’t play the games? Didn’t even watch the show?”

“No, ‘cause that’s some little kid shit.” I crossed my arms. “Not my thing.”

“…games? Show?” Ichi tilted his head, incredibly confused as he merely listened.

“Uh… fuck, how do I explain it…” I mumbled.

“See, this is why I don’t wanna spill the beans about being humans to anybody here. It complicates things, and it’s such a hassle to explain it all.”

“…so what in the world is aura, and how did you guess I was human from it?” I repeated my question.

Cole sighed. “It’s your life force, or something like that. Kind of like your soul. The Riolu line are innate masters of aura. I just found this out today, but… whenever I close my eyes I can see it.” He blinked. “Blobs of colorful light shaped like Pokemon standing where you two are. Except that isn’t the case with you or me, Rei. Yours isn’t shaped like a Snivy, and mine isn’t a Riolu. They’re both human-shaped. I don’t know why, but… I suppose any humans-turned-Pokemon have their auras looking like that.”

“Wow, really…? I’ve heard stories of the powers Riolu and Lucario have… uh, sounds cool.” Ichi just nodded with a sheepish smile.

“…you’re confused, aren’t you? You’re purple. Your aura is, I mean.”

“Sheesh, you can read me like a book…” Ichi chuckled.

I looked at the rat. “I think anybody can tell, Ichi. You were always an open book.”

“Wha- seriously?” He exclaimed. 

“You’re a lot more expressive and open than most people I know,” I told him. “…not that I knew that many people.”

Cole was silent, his eyes half-lidded as he spaced out, staring at the two of us.

“Uh, hello? Cole?” I waved my hand in front of him.

He flinched. “Hm? Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about something,” he mumbled. “So, do you understand now, Rei?”

“Kinda. I guess that explains why you kept blinking at me so much.” I shrugged. “…why were you so eager to meet me though? Like, sheesh, were you really that lonely until now?”

“Why are you not ? It’s such a relief, knowing I won’t be alone to complete our task…”

“Task?” I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Don’t you remember the vision?”

“What vision??”

“You don’t remember? I got one right before waking up in this world… A Munna was crying for help.”

I shook my head. “Didn’t get anything like that. I simply went to sleep one night and woke up falling outta the sky, nothing in-between those two things.”

“…you fell out of the sky?”

My eyes widened. “You didn’t? It was like, the only reason Ichi ever believed I was human…” 

Cole looked like he was lost in thought again, furrowing his brow as his gaze kept shifting. “…strange…”

“So what, not only did you get to wake up safe and sound, but you got an actual hint as to why we’re here? That’s not fair.” I grumbled. “…so what is this task?”

“…uh… it’s best if the Pikachu isn’t here to hear any of this.” 

“Why not?” I narrowed my eyes.

“Look, can you just get him outta here? And don’t give me the partner shit, this absolutely has to stay between us.”

“I… fine.” I gave up. “Ichi, wait for me back at the house.”

“If you say so…” The Pikachu’s ears drooped. “…nice meeting you, Cole. See you around, I guess.” He jogged away, heading back down the hill.

---

 

 

I looked back at the Riolu expectantly.

“…we’re here to save the Pokémon world, Rei.” He spoke quietly. “Munna pleaded for my—er, our help in this dream I had before waking up here. She needs us humans to save the Pokémon world from a Hydreigon… I’m assuming, at least. She didn’t say much else other than that. I just saw her getting chased by one, and that was it.”

I was silent. Save the Pokémon world? Are you kidding me?

“Yes, I know, it’s overwhelming… but if I was able to find you, then that means there must be other humans out there! We don’t have to do this alone, we can beat that Hydreigon together and go home!”

Some god chose ME of all people to save the world? Were they out of their mind?

“So, what do you think, Rei?”

“I… I’m thinking a lot of things right now.” I was trying to stay composed. And utterly failing. “Are we seriously here just to do somebody’s dirty work??”

“Munna needs our help,” he repeated. “We can’t just ignore that call… especially since we might not be able to go back home if we do…”

“…what the hell am I supposed to do to help? Why’d this ‘Munna’ choose me? I’m… I’m not really anybody important or useful.” 

“Not useful? Why would you say that? You’re human, just like me—just having like-minded people on my side is already helpful by itself… the Pokemon here are nice, but I just can’t trust them to actually assist me in this.” 

“I never said I was on your side. I never agreed to help you.”

“Wh- why don’t you want to help me? Don’t you want to go home?” He was confused.

“Well… yeah, but…” I hesitated. I did want to go back to my ordinary life, instead of being stuck in an unfamiliar world… but it’s not like I had much to return back to anyway. My life was boring. And life here was already starting to seem more promising. I hated the prospect of being in your standard isekai, but following Ichi around and watching his antics has been some amusement I haven’t had in what feels like ages. Kinda sad if you think about it.

“…again, how am I supposed to help? You’re the one with the special human radar. I don’t even know how to fight, and you expect me to hunt down whatever a Hydreigon is with you? What is that, a hydra, I’m guessing from the name? You want me to hunt a god damn dragon?” I intensely stared at the Riolu with a scowl, getting more and more heated as I spoke. “There’s no point in me trying to help, so can’t you just leave me be?”

“Are you serious, Rei…? Come on, you’re the only other human I’ve found…” Cole looked at me, concerned. “You’re the only one that can help, that can understand.”

“You can find other humans easily with that aura or whatever. If there’s more than one, there’s bound to be more. There can’t only be two,” I reasoned. “…there better not be.” If he can wrangle up more humans to save the world with him, then it’s fine if one guy like me just sat out. Right? I thought. 

It won’t make much of a difference. I’ve hardly ever made a difference in my life.

Cole was staring at me, dead silent again, eyes shifting around worriedly. Must be lost in thought, I reckoned. I looked back with resentment in my eyes. All the guy was doing was just following a voice in his dreams. He was lost like me. But at the very least he had more of an idea of what to do than I did. At the very least he had a reason to care. 

I hated that.

 

The two of us locked eyes for a hot minute. I wondered if he was also thinking shitty things about me. Probably calling me lazy or something.

“…we gonna keep up this staring contest or what?” I broke the silence.

He blinked. “…right. Yes. I… I’m really disappointed in you.”

“Of course you are.” I rolled my eyes.

“If you’re not going to help me, fine. But if you ever change your mind… I recommend you become a rescuer.”

“A rescuer? You want me to do mercenary work? Why?”

“As of right now, I know almost nothing about Munna or Hydreigon. But I bet I’ll find answers if I venture around this world as a rescuer. I’m bound to pick up hints. And it’s a good way to train myself and a good source of money.”

“…that’s the stupidest line of reasoning I’ve ever heard.” I shook my head. 

“It… It’s the only idea I had. I don’t have much to work with, sadly.” He crossed his arms. “…anyway, I think becoming a rescuer is an excellent idea for you. If you really think you’re not useful, why not do something that’ll make you feel useful? Help the Pokemon.”

…what’s that supposed to mean? My mind was twisting his words, and I narrowed my eyes at him. 

The Riolu sighed at my reaction. “…I think we’re done talking for now, Rei. I don’t mind lending out a hand to you, but I just hope you’ll come around and do the same for me.” He turned to look at the array of homes below us. “…I’m currently staying in that house, the big one on the far left.” He pointed to one of them. “You can find me there.”

I said nothing.

“…well, it was nice meeting you, Rei,” he mumbled before walking off, heading down the steps the same way Ichi left, leaving me all alone atop the hill.

 

I kicked a small rock off of the grass. “…bullshit!” I cried, before wincing as I stubbed my stubby Snivy foot. “Agh- fuck! Why’d I try that a second time?!”

I clenched my fist. ‘Why not be useful for once?’ His words echoed in my head. “…I’ll show you, dammit.”

As I looked back at where Cole first pointed, something caught my eye, and I had to do a double take.

Smoke. There were pitch-black fumes rising above one of the neighboring homes, flames desperately being doused by water. How did I not notice the first time? Cole didn’t even point it out!

Was it burning the entire time, and none of us noticed?? My expression quickly changed from envy to fear as I couldn’t look away from the fire. What happened?!