Chapter 12 – Like Clockwork
by acti_nerdingtonCRASH!!!
“GOOD MORNING!”
“Uuugggghhhhh…”
“IT’S MORNING, WAKE UP! TIME TO GET UP, BUCKAROOS!”
“Nnnghhhuuuhhhhh…”
“…And three! Smiles go for miles!”
“Okay, Pokemon! Time to get to work!”
“Hooray!”
The guild members all head off to do their own tasks, and as Lexxi and Rickety are about to head off and do their duties, Chatot waves them down. “Ah, you two! Could you come here for just a moment?”
Rickety and Lexxi both glance at each other before turning back to Chatot and nodding.
“We’ve got a much different task for you today. You’ll be in charge of obtaining stock to replenish the larder!”
“Larder?” Lexxi tilts her head to the side. “What, are we running low on food?”
Chatot nods his head in response, his expression turning a little more nervous. “See, we inspected the pantry this morning, and it seems that for some strange reason, our food supply has drastically and sharply dropped out of nowhere! We thought we had more, but it seems we might’ve been mistaken.”
He turns his head away, his face becoming seemingly more grim. “And what’s even worse is that the guild’s entire stock of Perfect Apples is gone too. It’s the only thing that seems to have been completely wiped out.”
“Perfect Apples?” She tilts her head again, to the other side.
“Think of an apple, but like,” Rickety begins to explain to her, shaping out a rather large apple with his paws. “Really, really big and juicy. They’re really rare to find out in the wild and you’ll be hard pressed to find any stores that sell them.”
“That is correct!~” Chatot chirps up a bit before his worried expression from before returns. “The cause for concern is that Perfect Apples are the guildmaster’s favorite food, and if there aren’t any Perfect Apples in stock, the guildmaster will…” He glances back at the entrance to the guildmaster’s chambers, visibly shivering before he turns back to face Team Void. “Well, you all saw what almost happened yesterday, I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate further than that.”
Rickety chuckles nervously, rubbing at the back of his head a bit. “Yeah, I think we get the picture. We won’t let you down.”
Chatot lets out a sigh of relief, ruffling his feathers. “Oh, excellent, excellent. I know this might seem like a simple errand, but it’s extremely crucial that you complete this task.” He briefly glances back at the guildmaster’s chambers, a chill running down this spine. “For everyone’s sake.” He clears his throat and quickly turns to face back to them. “You can find Perfect Apples in Apple Woods, now get to it!~”
Nodding eagerly, Lexxi and Rickety begin to head off, Lexxi hopping up on Rickety’s back as they head up the ladder.
Little were they aware that a certain group of troublemakers had been listening in on the conversation on the other side of the room, whispering amongst themselves.
“Food foraging, eh?” The Zubat chuckles softly. “Guess our little feast last night might’ve set out ‘friends’ back a bit, heh-heh!”
The Koffing chuckles as well, small plumes of smoke sputtering out with each quiet laugh. “Chatot said it was ‘extremely crucial’ they don’t fail. It’d be a shame if their plans were to go south, and cause them to come back completely emptyhanded, wouldn’t it?~”
Chief grins as he watches the two climb up to the first floor. “C’mon, let’s go follow ’em. I’ve got an idea…”
The three begin to head off after them, making their way up the ladder not long after. As Chatot’s about to head back into the guildmaster’s chambers, he catches Team Skull climbing up the ladder in the corner of his eye. Now, where could they be off to in such a hurry? And so soon after Team Void just left, too? Are they…
Chatot shakes his head. No, that’s absolutely ridiculous! His mind is just overthinking things, he’s already paranoid enough about invoking the guildmaster’s wrath if Team Void fails. How could he suspect their allies of acting out against other guild members? Such unprofessional behavior. Blast, he needs to calm his feathers, this is stressing him out far too much.
“Why does everything we need always have to be in a mystery dungeon?” Lexxi pouts as the two make their way into the entrance of Apple Woods, the rustling of the trees in the wind surrounding them along the path.
Rickety’s eyes follow the map, glancing up at the entrance to the forest before them. “I had a feeling the outbreaks were getting bad but I didn’t think they’d be in this many places at once.” He scratches at his head. “Wonder if there’s some kind of connection with where they crop up. They always seem to be in very dense areas, like the Beach Cave, the Drenched Bluff, and now here.”
Lexxi huffs as she stretches her body out a bit, shaking her head. “No wonder you don’t see Perfect Apples being sold, can you imagine how hard it would be to get a steady supply of them if you need to go through a dungeon every time to get a few?”
“Heh, guess we better bring back a really big haul then, huh?” Rickety smiles as he stashes the map back away. “Let’s get going, Chatot’s counting on us, remember?” He starts running off towards the woods, Lexxi following right behind him.
“Maybe if we bring back extra, Chatot will pay us four hundred and one P instead of just the four hundred.” Lexxi jokes, their footsteps becoming quiet as they venture off into the woods.
But of course, Team Skull isn’t too far behind.
“He ain’t gonna be payin’ either of yous squat when we’re done with ya.” Zubat snickers to himself as the group carefully follows behind. “We takin’ the shortcut, Chief?”
“Ain’t no reason not to, chaw-haw.~”
An Exeggutor stumbles back as Rickety strikes it with the force of its palm, stumbling back into the water and causing a splash. It’ll be fine. Maybe. “Whew! Alright! I think we should be at around the halfway point. Just a little longer and we should be at the deepest part of the woods. You holding up alright, Lexxi?”
Rickety glances back and sees Lexxi picking up a rather peculiar seed off the ground. Rickety notices that the air smells… Strange, all of a sudden.
Wait a minute.
Oh no.
“Hey Lexxi, hold on! Don’t-“
Chomp.
“…Eat that.”
“Mmwuh?” Lexxi glances back at Rickety, tilting her head. “Whfahf ish it?”
Rickety stares down at Lexxi with a nervous expression. “You’re gonna wanna spit that out. That’s an Allure Seed, you really, REALLY shouldn’t be eating that.”
“Mmnhuh?!” Lexxi”s eyes go wide and she immediately spits the food back out, little crumbs pitter-pattering against the dirt ground. “How come? I-It’s not like, poison or anything, is it?”
“No- Nothing like that, it causes any Pokemon who eats it to hallucinate. It looks like a Plain Seed but it smells just a little bit off. Y-You’re uh… You’re still okay, right?”
Lexxi stares up blankly at Rickety the substitute doll standing right in front of her. It doesn’t really seem to be doing all that much other than bouncing around in place, its form stretching unnaturally whenever it moves, like a picture being smeared around.
The colors of the trees around her are all… Wrong, too. Trees aren’t supposed to be purple, are they? And they’re not supposed to be covered in eyes as far as she can remember. Unless they’re birch trees? But wait- No, birch trees don’t drop apples, do they?
“The trees are looking at me.”
The doll sighs and shakes back and forth. “Uurrgghh, alright, don’t panic, panicking usually makes the symptoms worse. You only ate a little bit of it so it shouldn’t last too long. You’re not in any condition to walk on your own, though.” The dolls turns its back to Lexxi. “C’mon, I’ll give you a ride until it wears off, okay?”
“Uh-huh.” Lexxi responds in a somewhat monotone voice as she climbs up onto the doll. “…Ooooohhhh, you’re really fluffy, heheh.~”
“Uuhh-” The dolls stiffens up a bit, seeming to tense up and stay still. “…Yeeaaahh, the, uh, Allure Seed tends to amplify all your senses at once, you’ll probably experience more things than just visual, so-” Before the doll can finish speaking they notice a giant Cherri Berri rounding the corner. It seems to notice them and quickly starts making its way closer. “Hold that thought.”
“…Hold that thought?” Lexxi repeats those words slowly as she keeps clinging onto the doll. There seems to be fighting happening, but she doesn’t really seem to register it. Hold that thought… What does a thought feel like? How heavy is a thought? Or maybe a thought is light, and fluffy, and soft.
But nowhere near as soft as this doll, Lexxi could figure that much out.
The Cherri Berri eventually crumples down into little tiny pieces before it seems to vanish before her eyes. Smushy berry go bye bye.
“That takes care of that.” The doll says, its face shifting and warping until it manages to look back at Lexxi. “You holding up okay, Lexxi?”
Lexxi takes a good, long pause as she stares down at the doll’s elongated face, leaning in close. “…The purple leaves are pretty.~”
“…I’ll take that as a yes.” The doll’s face slowly retracts back into its usual place and begins to move forward again. “Stairway should be… There!” The doll’s arm extends and points at a single flower sprouting from the ground. Normal flower, nothing out of the ordinary, just a flower.
“Can big doll pluck the flower?”
The doll’s body tenses up a bit once again, muttering something to itself. “Hallucinations, Rickety. It’s not flirting if she doesn’t know what she’s looking at, right?” The doll sighs. “Yeeeaaahh, we can go pick the pretty flower, come on.”
The two make their way toward the flower, but they don’t pluck it, sadly. Lexxi initially begins to pout, but then the two begin to sink into the ground. This is totally normal, this registers as fully, one hundred percent rational in Lexxi’s mind.
And then the most wonderful thing happens.
The two are making their way down a staircase surrounded by a myriad of swirling colors, so vibrant, so pretty, probably the prettiest thing Lexxi’s ever seen in her entire life! The colors are so bouncy, so lively and emotional!
Gosh Lexxi felt like she was gonna tear up just watching this, she almost didn’t wanna go. She just wanted to jump off and go swim among the colors, to paddle in the sea of mesmerization and wonder, to frolic and be free in-
The colors are gone, the stairway is gone, they’re back in the purple forest again. “Aww…”
Then… Everything else seems to vanish.
The eyes on the trees disappear, the leaves go back to their normal color, and the doll morphs back into Rickety.
“…Whoa.” Lexxi’s head spins, resting against Rickety’s shoulder. “W-Whoa, okay, I think I’m coming down, that was… I think I’m gonna need you to carry me for a little while longer, I’m gonna need to recover from that, uughh…”
Rickety glances back at her, chuckling nervously. “Feeling better, at least?”
She nods slowly. “Yeah, I think so… I didn’t say or do anything embarrassing while I was conked, was I?”
Rickety stares blankly at her for a few good, solid seconds.
“…No.”
The forest seems to have opened up again, the trees much more spaced out, a tangible path finally accessible.
“I think we made it.” Rickety slows down a little bit, glancing back at Lexxi. “Think you can walk now?”
The Skitty nods, sliding down Rickety’s back and back down to the ground, stumbling a little bit, but managing to at least keep herself steady. “Hooooookay… So, this is the deepest part of the woods, right? Chatot said the Perfect Apples should be around here somewhere. Didn’t exactly say where they’d be, though.”
As the two continue walking down the path, they spot something at the very end. It’s a tree, an incredibly big tree, and one with equally, incredibly big apples as well.
“I think that answers our question. Over there!” Rickety begins to sprint forward eagerly as Lexxi follows right behind, their eyes both aimed up towards the Perfect Apples hanging from the trees.
High up in the trees.
…Maybe a little too high up.
Lexxi’s eyebrows furrow as her lips crease in a thin line, glancing over at Rickety. “We didn’t have a plan as to how we’d be getting them, did we?”
“Yeeeeaahhhh… Didn’t really think that far ahead.” Rickety shakes his head with a sigh, frowning as he crosses his arms over his chest. “That sucks. Urgh, how’re we gonna get them down?
The leaves in the tree begin to rustle slightly. “Oh, come on, you fellas come all the way out here and you ain’t even got a plan? I thought yous was supposed to be the smart ones here.” A familiar voice calls out from the trees.
Both Rickety and Lexxi’s faces fall, the two of them letting out a shared groan of frustration. “You’ve gotta be kidding me…” Rickety mutters to himself, staring up at the rustling leaves.
And sure enough, the heads of a Zubat, a Koffing and a Skuntank all poke out from the leaves, all jumping out and landing right in front of Team Void, all of them with big, smug grins on their faces.
“Fancy seein’ the two of yous here, ain’t it?” Zubat chuckles, wings flapping abundantly. “What took you two so long, anyway? Feels like we’ve been waitin’ ages for ya to show up.”
Rickety frowns, paws balling up into fists again, but he doesn’t make a move. Not yet. He stands still, firmly planted in his spot. “What do you want? Why are you all even here?”
“We heard yous were headin’ out to pick some Perfect Apples.” Chief speaks up, smirking at the two. “Figured we’d tag along with ya for the trip, but since we got here so early and you kept us waitin’, we figured we help ourselves to a little picnic of Perfect Apples.”
“We were waiting so long, we practically stuffed ourselves full of the things!” Koffing chuckles, smoke bellowing from his pores, as per usual. “I’m so full, I could practically burst!”
“But you couldn’t finish them all, could you?” Lexxi takes a more offensive stance, tail lifting up in the air, beginning to puff out. “We’ll be taking the rest of them back to the guild, thank you very much. But we’re not going down without a fight.”
Chief snorts, tilting his head as his smile grows. “Fight? Why would we even think about fightin’ either of yous? We’re guests at your guild, remember?” He chuckles softly. “We’s workin’ together, ain’t no use bickerin’, eh?”
“…Huh?” Rickety loosens up a bit, visibly confused as he arches an eyebrow.
“Why do you think we left so many Perfect Apples untouched? We left them for you, you dummies!” Koffing chuckles along. “We were even offering to help you two with your little errand.”
Rickety and Lexxi stare at Team Skull skeptically, though they keep themselves in their spots. “…Help us how?” Lexxi asks, still keeping her tail puffed up to be on the safe side.
“Chief, if you’d please.” Zubat gestures with a wing, Chief slowly beginning to back up into position beside the tree.
Chief keeps stepping back further and further, winding himself up. “Hhrrrrrrrnnnghhh…” Then, he charges forward towards the tree with great speed, crashing right into it, using his head to direct the brunt of the impact. “Ghhrraahh!”
The Perfect Apples adorning the branches all shake and sway a bit. One by one, they begin to snap off the branches and all fall down to the ground, ripe for the picking. Chief smiles at them as he gestures broadly to the apples scattered across the ground. “And there you twos go! Pick ’em up and make your ways back to the guild. Our little treat.”
Rickety and Lexxi’s eyes sweep around the opening, following all the Perfect Apples that had fallen down to the ground. That did make things easier for them… Team Skull stares back at them, all of them smiling warmly. Maybe a bit too warmly, uncharacteristically warmly for thugs like them.
The two of them go back to their offensive positions, Rickety’s paws curling into fists and Lexxi’s tail puffing back up, fur becoming prickly. “How dumb do you think we are?” Lexxi grows firmly. “After you spent the last two days giving us trouble, you suddenly decide to help us out? We’re not buying it, but nice try.”
Rickety nods in response, eyebrows furrowing. “Yeah, the moment we go to pick them up you’re gonna pounce on us or something, aren’t you? Whatever you’re planning, we’re not falling for it!”
The Zubat lets out an exasperated sigh, shaking his head. “Ah well, was worth a try, at least.”
Chief scoffs, flicking his tail in Team Void’s direction. “Hmph. You little brats ain’t as stupid as we thought. But what’chus gonna do ’bout it, huh?” His smirk returns as he takes a step forward. “You ain’t seriously thinkin’ you can take on all three of us, do ya? And you ain’t got the support of your guild members if it don’t go your way.”
“Of course we can take you on!” Rickety takes another step closer, eyes narrowed and his gaze firmly locked on the three in front of him. “We’re both much stronger than we were before we joined the guild, and we’ll take you all down no matter what it takes!”
Chief huffs, eyes narrowing right back as his smirk only grows. “You got some serious guts, kid. But takin’ someone on face to face is a lot different than smackin’ ’em while they’re in the middle of talkin’ to ya.”
Rickety’s body tenses up a bit, but he smirks back. “I was holding myself back there, I could’ve done a lot more. But not this time, I’m not holding anything back! We’re going to go all out on you creeps!” Lexxi nods along with him, her tail all prickly and bristled as it puffs out.
“That so?” Chief chuckles, glancing over to Koffing and gesturing for him to come over. “Alright, if that’s the case, we’ll take the two of yous fair and square, right here, right now.”
Zubat seems to fly back a bit, and Lexxi catches note of this. “They’re planning something, Rickety. Be ready for anything…”
The group all stand there, face to face, waiting for one side or the other to initiate battle.
Then suddenly,
“Think fast!”
Koffing and Chief both shout in unison as they both blow out a massive cloud of noxious gas and send it flying towards Lexxi and Rickety without warning.
The two immediately try and brace themselves, Lexxi trying to block it with her tail.
Rickety braces himself by holding his arms over his face and leaning back, scrunching his eyes shut and hoping for the best.
…
…
…He hasn’t been hit.
Come to think of it… It’s gotten surprisingly quiet. As if everything around him has suddenly become muffled.
Slowly, Rickety peeks his eyes open, and they immediately go wide as he sees the giant cloud of gas has slowed to a complete and utter crawl right in front of him. It hasn’t stopped completely, but it’s slowly, very slowly encroaching his way towards him. But… How? He’s still moving at a normal speed so-
He feels a warm pulsing sensation against his chest, making him gasp softly in surprise. He looks down, noticing that his necklace was… Glowing. The blue highlights that adorned the necklace glowed with a bright blue light that pulsed and flickered in the rhythm of a ticking clock.
“T-This is…” Is all he can manage to say to himself, his eyes wide with wonder as he stares down at the necklace as it glows. He looks up around him, noticing that everything else around him seems to have slowed to a crawl too.
And that includes Lexxi, who was still in the process of trying to defend herself from the oncoming gas cloud.
This was all so strange, but Rickety couldn’t waste time questioning it. He had to take advantage of this as much as he possibly could. He scoops Lexxi up into his arms and makes a break for it, dashing out of the radius that the gas cloud could affect them in.
…
Time reverts back to normal, flowing at its usual pace. The gas cloud that was intended for Lexxi and Rickety disperses, scattering out into the rest of the woods.
“…Huh?” Chief blinks a few times, noticing that both Rickety and Lexxi seem to be completely gone once the cloud clears up. “The heck did they go?”
Koffing’s laughter increases in volume. “We blew them back so hard we practically knocked them out of the dungeon! I knew it, all bark and no bite. You see that, Zubat-“
The two turn around to see Zubat knocked out completely cold as he lays back against one of the bigger roots of the tree, his wings occasionally twitching every so often as he lets out weak, tired little groans. “W-Weeeggghhhh…”
Chief scoffs in amusement, rolling his eyes. “Should’a told ya to take a few steps back, bozo.” He smirks as he glances back over to Koffing. “Now then, let’s gather up them apples. I gots an idea for the second part of-” Chief’s ears flick as he hears the distinct sound of quick footsteps running up behind him. “The heck is- GHHHWOOHHH!”
The instant Chief turns around he’s met with the swift, fierce strike and a face full of Riolu palm. The force is enough to knock him off his feet entirely, sending him onto his back and tumbling against the ground as his body is rolled around in the dirt.
“Chief?!” Koffing’s eyes go wide in shock as he sees his leader get blown back, quickly turning around, and doing so just in time to see a thick, bristly tail swing right at his face, which also send him flying back and spinning around in the air, knocking him down right next to Chief. “Oooogghh… What the?”
As the two pick themselves back up off the ground, they see Lexxi and Rickety standing under the tree, all staring them down intensely with furrowed brows and intense expressions on their faces. Rickety manages to crack a satisfied smirk. “I thought fast. What’re you gonna do about it?~”
Chief’s eyes narrow furiously at the two, a low growl erupting from his throat. “Alright, you little punks! The two of yous wanna fight? We’ll give yous a fight!” He gets back onto his feet and begins to charge straight at the two, unleashing another cloud of noxious gas, but nowhere near as big as the one he’d launched before.
Rickety and Lexxi swiftly dodge out of the way, with Rickety preparing himself for another strike. But Chief isn’t having it this time. He swats at Rickety with his massive tail, and it’s enough to send Rickety stumbling back, his teeth barred and growling furiously at the Skuntank.
Meanwhile, Koffing puffs himself back up into the air and sees the Skitty quickly making her way towards her. He channels into the fumes of his body, gathering up a ball of sludge in his mouth that he launches by spitting out at Lexxi.
Lexxi reacts to this accordingly, swinging her tail right at the ball of sludge and knocking it back at him. Koffing doesn’t have enough time to move out of the way before he realizes what’s happening, being knocked right back into the air and spun around.
Chief keeps trying to swing his tail at Rickety, who manages to swiftly dodge out of the way each and every time. He tries to go for a much quicker swing, but Rickety manages to knock his tail away and he ends up going in for an attack, biting right down on the side of Chief’s neck.
Chief winces and recoils in pain, but he manages to catch that Rickety has left himself wide open like this. With an angry, determined growl, Chief balls one his paws into fists and quickly jabs it into Rickety’s stomach.
This knocks the wind out of Rickety and he promptly lets go of Chief’s neck, stumbling back, his head feeling a little light, a little dizzy, his vision blurring faintly. He lets out a groan in pain as he stumbles back a bit, a light sweat beading at his forehead as his body feels a bit hotter. He’s not gonna let that get the better of him, though, he can still fight.
In the meantime, Lexxi is knocked back when koffing decides to start using his spinning as an attack, using his force to swing all over the place blindly. It’s successful, and it’s enough to send Lexxi sliding against her back against the ground, and into some of those puddles of sludge that the ball had created earlier.
She scrunches her eyes shut as she feels the rancid material singing her fur a bit, glaring up at the Koffing, whose face is starting to clear up from the sludge she’d knocked back at him. He begins to charge something else up. A shadow ball, it looks like. He charges it up scarily fast and Lexxi skitters out of the way, just narrowly managing to avoid it in time.
Rickety’s movements are sluggish, too sluggish to do anything too swift. He feels like he’s just barely grazing all of Chief’s attacks. He’s starting to see double and his head is starting to feel a bit too light to ignore now. Hearing is becoming a little muffled. A bit of clarity does manage to sneak in, though.
Tree, the tree, they could use that, somehow. He looks over to Lexxi, signalling her down as he ducks down below another one of Chief’s jabs. He manages to roll out of the way and get behind Chief, who tries to kick him with his hindlegs. Rickety gets hit in the stomach, but he immediately follows up with a counterattack, knocking Chief right in front of the tree.
Lexxi, catching Rickety’s signal, waits for Koffing to charge at her. She waits for him to get up real up close and personal to her to the point where he’s about to body slam her. But right when Koffing least expect it, Lexxi thrusts her head forward and thwacks Koffing right in his face. He winces from the pain, and Lexxi uses this window of opportunity to hit him hard with her tail, sending him flying.
Chief manages to catch something in the corner of his eye. Thinking it was Lexxi trying to sneak up and pounce on him, he turns to face her, only to be met with his partner hurdling towards him through the air. Because Chief’s body is such a big target, he’s unable to reasonably dodge out of the way in time, so his partner’s body slams right into him, to which he, in turn, crashes right into the tree.
The force of the impact knocks the wind out of the both of them, sending them both to the ground, both fainted, unable to fight any longer.
“Wuuuuhhh… Guys?” The Zubat slowly stirs, his head lifting up slightly. Before he can stay conscious for too long, though, another Perfect Apple comes falling down from the tree, hitting him right on the noggin. “Ghhk!”” And just like that, he’s out cold again.
Rickety and Lexxi stand next to each other, looking over the defeated Team Skull before them. They chuckle softly, managing to crack weak, exhausted smiles at each other. “Told you we could handle them, Rickety.”
Rickety chuckles weakly, panting heavily. “H-Heheh, yeah, we sure… Showed them.” He shakes his head, rubbing at the back of his head. “Hooooh, okay, I think the poison’s starting to wear off. Thought I was gonna faint for a few moments there.”
Lexxi smiles softly, tail swishing back and forth. “You holding up alright?”
He gives a shaky nod. “Yeah, yeah, I’m fine, just a little winded, is all.” He reaches down for one of the Perfect Apples, stashing it away in the backpack. “Let’s gather up everything we can and head back to the guild before these clowns wake up.”
“You actually managed to bring them back?!” Chatot’s eyes go wide as saucers.
“Quite a big supply of them, too.” Lexxi nods in response, smiling. “We shouldn’t be running out of Perfect Apples for a while.”
Chatot lets out a long, drawn out sigh of relief, placing a wing against his chest. “Ooohh, thank goodness and bless my feathers! I almost thought we were done for for a while.” He lets out a nervous chuckle. “Honestly, I can’t thank either of you enough, I swear I shaved off a few years of my life worrying about this. It puts me at ease knowing we won’t have to worry about this again for the near future.”
Rickety smiles, stretching his body out a bit as he places his hands behind his head. “Weeeeeeeeeelllpp, you did say it was important, right? We weren’t so eager to really fail, heheh.~”
“Yes, well,” Chatot ruffles his feathers a little bit as he clears his throat. “I do at the very least want to make clear that, while you have done an incredibly good job today, this doesn’t guarantee that you’ll be selected for the expedition. All it’s really done is boost your chances a little.” Lexxi and Rickety give an understanding nod. “But, nevertheless, you two deserve a bit of rest. You’ve certainly earned it.”
As the moonlight shines in through their window, Rickety and Lexxi are still somewhat restless. After all, there’s still much to be discussed, and much to learn.
“So, you’re saying… Time slowed down around you?” Lexxi asks, leaning forward against her cushion.
Rickety nods his head up and down. “I don’t even know how it happened or how I even got it to work, I just sorta, tried to shield myself and protect myself when Team Skull tried to blast us.” He stares down at his necklace, holding it in his paws. “Whatever I did back there… It saved us.” Rickety shudders. I hate to think what would’ve happened it we actually got hit by that thing.”
Lexxi hums curiously, her tail idly swaying from side to side. “Mmnnhh… Now we’re left with even more questions.” Her brows furrow, thinking back to that vision she saw when she touched the necklace. “Not only does this necklace hold a lot of significance, but it also seems to possess some kind of… Supernatural or even magical properties?”
Rickety just laughs weakly to himself, staring down at his necklace meekly. “Man… When I found this thing I knew it seemed like it was important in some way or another, but I never could’ve predicted how valuable this thing actually was.”
Lexxi smiles in an almost sorrowful manner. “…It’s funny how similar, yet different our situations are.” She glances over to Rickety. “I don’t have any idea who I am, but I seem to possess some sort of, sight sense whenever I touch something that I can’t control. And you,” She points at his necklace. “Have something that neither of us know where it came from, but also possesses powers that you can’t seem to control either.”
Rickety stares down at his necklace for a bit, chuckling softly as he gives a playful smirk in Lexxi’s direction. “What, you calling it destiny or something like that?”
“The circumstances just make it a funny little coincidence, is all I’m saying.” She muffles a giggle to herself. “Imagine how much it could help us in battles once you learn how to control it properly. We could get out of so many sticky situations if we learn how to take advantage of it.”
“…Well, I’ve been focusing to try and get it to work, and that doesn’t seem to be doing the trick.” Rickety shrugs. “Granted, I don’t really know what I should be focusing on, but it’s not working. Maybe if I try…” Rickety stands back up and places the necklace back around his neck, closing his eyes, and concentrating deeply on the necklace itself.
“Time Break!”
…
“Uhh…” Rickety glances around, everything still seems to be moving at the normal pace of time that it should. “Time Stop! Slow down?” Still nothing. He sighs, slumping back into his cushion. “Nah, yelling doesn’t work either. Now I just feel embarrassed. Everyone in the quarters probably heard it.”
“That’s really strange.” Lexxi tilts her head to the side. “Yelling makes everything work.”
Rickety muffles out a laugh as his muzzle buries in the cushion. “Guess shouting doesn’t solve all your problems after all.” He lets out another sigh, sinking into the cushion. “I dunno… Too tired to really think about it. We’ll figure it out soon enough, right, Lexxi?”
“Yeah.” She nods “We’re in this… Strange power-having thing together.” She nestles into her cushion, making herself nice and comfortable. “Goodnight, Rickety.”
“Mmhm.” He nods, yawning, streeeetching his body out before slumping into his cushion. “Night, Lexxi.”
“…And they attacked you over it?”
“That’s what we’s been tryin’ to tell you, Chatot sir!” Chief raises his voice to Chatot, the group in the guildmaster’s chambers, with Wigglytuff standing in his usual spot, though with a rather confused expression that Chatot seems to share. “Practically wooped us into the dirt!”
“Friend’s story doesn’t make a lot of sense.” Wigglytuff states. “Why would Team Void attack Team Skull if they too had Perfect Apples?”
“Little twerps wanted to take all the credit for it, is why.” Koffing scowls a bit behind Chief, smoke still puffing out from his body. “Maybe they thought they’d get a bit of extra if they did it themselves or something.”
Chatot’s eyebrows furrow in response. “I don’t know what sort of grudge you two have with each other, but it seems like it’s beginning to affect your stay here. And while I do admit that Team Void are on the stranger side when it comes to our members, they aren’t the kind to attack if unprovoked.”
“And furthermore,” Chatot’s eyes squint at them. “That was a team-critical mission, that only they had been told to do. Even if you were attempting to help out, what you were likely doing was interrupting important business and meddling in team affairs you shouldn’t have been a part of to begin with.”
“We was only tryna help with the food shortage!” Zubat shouts back. “The heck kinda guild only sends one team out to gather up food anyways?!”
“Well, if you wanted to help with the food shortage, then you should’ve-” Chatot pauses for a moment, blinking as he stares at the group. “How do you know about the food shortage? I haven’t told anyone other than Team Void.”
“Er-” Team Skull’s blood all collectively runs cold. “W-We uhh, wes-“
“Your trip to the Apple Woods too would also seem to imply that you knew all of the Perfect Apples had been cleaned out from the pantry. Nobody is allowed in aside from guild staff when preparing dinner.” Chatot’s eyes narrow. “Is there something you’re not telling us, Team Skull? Or can we make enough guesses for ourselves?”
“What’s it to you anyway?!” Chief snaps, stomping forward. “Maybe if you weren’t skimpin’ on dinner portions we wouldn’t of had to-“
The room begins to rumble. Wigglytuff’s expression is growing more furious by the minute. “Yooooooooooooooooooooooooooom…”
Zubat’s wings flap nervously. “We’re so screwed.”
“YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM…”
The rumbling suddenly stops and Wigglytuff snaps in Team Skull’s direction. “Team Skull are no longer considered friends of Wigglytuff’s Guild! For attacking members of the guild, stealing from the pantry and taking all Perfect Apples for themselves, Team Skull is no longer invited to the expedition!”
“WHAT?!” All three of Team Skull collectively shout in surprise.
“And Team Skull is no longer welcome in Wigglytuff’s Guild, either!”
Chatot turns to face Team Skull, brows furrowed in anger. “You heard the guildmaster. Get out. Now.”
“This freakin’ blows!” Zubat chuffs scowling as the three members all walk away from the guild. “How’re we s’posed to take that treasure for ourselves now?!”
“We should’ve tried harder, Chief.” Koffing huffs. “We can’t keep underestimating those brats like this, we need to-“
“Would the two of yous be QUIET for just a few moments?! I’m thinkin’ of something here!” He shouts, huffing out. “…You know what? I don’t care. To heck with formalities, we’re goin’ after ’em anyways.”
“You mean… We’re still makin’ the expedition trip?”
Chief nods his head in response. “It don’t matter if we ain’t invited, we’ll just follow behind ’em. We can’t let ourselves get caught, obviously, but when they least expect it, we’ll strike ’em, show those little punks who’s boss, wipe out the rest of the crew, then take whatever’s layin’ at that lake for ourselves.”
“…Hoh-hoh-hoh! That’s an excellent idea, chief!” Koffing chuckles, smirking. “I like the way you think.”
“C’mon, you think you’d expect anything less of me? Have some faith in your leader, boys.”
“Khhheheheheheh!~ Ain’t nobody mess with Team Skull and gets away with it!”
0 Comments