Chapter 6 – Boogeyman
by acti_nerdingtonCRASH!!!
“GOOD MORNING!”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-“
Just like the morning before, the door to their room is violently kicked in as it slams against the wall, Lexxi and Rickety once again both waking up screaming and falling out of bed, heads pounding, eardrums close to bursting.
“IT’S MORNING! WAKE UP! TIME TO GET UP, BUCKAROOS!”
Thankfully, Loudred spares them any further yelling or shouting after that, simply departing from their room as he continues his morning routine.
Lexxi and Rickety look at each other as they lay sprawled out across the floor, fur covering their eyes from how messy and dissheveled it was.
“We’re going to have to deal with that every single morning, aren’t we?” Lexxi asks, using the cushion to get herself back up on all fours, shaking her head and clearing the fur from her face.
Rickety groans as he picks himself up off the ground, brushing his hair from his face. “Hope our ears can survive.”
Once all of the usual morning routines have been done and every team has gone their separate ways, Chatot had something new planned for Rickety and Lexxi today. Guiding them up to the first floor, he leads them over to the right side of the room, where a similar bulletin board hung up on the wall. “Today, we’re going to have you take a job listed on this side!~”
Lexxi glances up at the board, then at the board on the other side of the room, then back at the same board once again. “What’s the difference between the jobs on this side and the jobs on the other side? Do they have bigger rewards, or…?”
“Take a closer look and find out for yourself!”
Rickety and Lexxi do as Chatot suggests, their eyes skimming over the papers pinned to the board. There’s a common theme amongst all of these papers; all of them have pictures of other Pokemon on them. As Rickety leans even closer, he notices something else. Underneath all of these posters is a bounty, with a promise of a reward.
“These are all wanted posters, aren’t they?” Rickety asks as he glances back at Chatot.
“You’d be correct! Very perceptive of you!~ They’re all incredibly shady, skeevy characters wanted for crimes of all kinds.”
Lexxi takes a few steps closer to the board as well, eyebrows furrowing a tad bit as her tail idly sways back and forth behind her. “Going from finding something that someone lost to trying to catch outlaws? That seems like a bit of a leap…”
“Well, given the state of the region with how many bad Pokemon have been cropping up, somebody has to help keep them in check! Truth be told, they’re not all dangerous.” Chatot chimes in, gesturing to a few posters on the board with a wing. “Some are wicked through and through! The toughest of tough and baddest of the bad!” His wing gestures towards a different poster. “And some are just petty thieves who can’t put up much of a find, and will be more likely to try and run away than fend for themselves if they’re caught.”
“Are you sure we should be the ones handling this, though?” Rickety arches an eyebrow as his eyes glance away from the posters, back to Chatot. “We’re still apprentices, I thought we’d be doing something simpler like yesterday. What if we end up hunting down someone who’s dangerous without knowing?”
Chatot chuckles softly, feathers fluffing up. “Oh, you’d know. Trust me. Besides, the simple thing to do is to just not pick somebody who looks all rough and tough! It’s all part of the training, after all!~” He clears his throat, placing a wing against his chest. “But even so, I imagine regardless of how strong or weak these outlaws are, it’d be ill advised to go in unprepared. So I’ll have someone give you a little tour for the two of you to get the gist of things.~”
Chatot hops on over to the ladder and pokes his head down the hole. “Bungie! Your assistance is required!”
The sound of paws quickly scampering up the ladder could be heard as a Bidoof emerges from the holes, huffing and panting as he saunters his way up to Chatot! “Hhaahh! Hooooo-ee! I’m here! You called, Mr. Chatot Sir?”
Chatot smiles and nods, gesturing to Lexxi and Rickety with a wing. “These are the new recruits who joined us not too long ago. I’d like you to take them on a little tour around town, if you’d please.~”
Bungie, still panting heavily, eagerly nods his head up and down. “Oh of course! Yessirree! Mhm, yup yup! Haaahh, I can do that, Mr. Chatot Sir!”
“Good!~” Chatot turns back to Lexxi and Rickety, gesturing to the Bidoof. “This is Bungie, he’s one of your fellow apprentices! I want you to pay close attention to him and listen to everything he says, understood?” Lexxi and Rickety nod in response. “Excellent!~ Alright, off you go now.~”
As Chatot heads back down the ladder, the Bidoof continues to hop and bounce in place! “Oooohhh! Golly, I’m just so overjoyed and excited to have members junior to me!” He waddles over towards Lexxi and Rickety, his brown, beady little eyes staring up at them. “Sorry, sorry, I was the most recent member before y’all! It just makes me so happy to see new people joinin’ that I can help, yup yup!” Bungie waddles over to the ladder. “C’mon, I’ll give y’all a tour around the town!” And he quickly scampers on up.
“Alright, time for another piggyback ride.” Rickety mumbles as he kneels down for Lexxi to climb onto his back.
Treasure Town was such a bustling, lively place. Everywhere you go, you could see Pokemon, exploration teams and residents alike, all chatting up each other and buying things. Quite the number of shops and other such facilities! The Duskull Bank, Kangaskhan Storage, and of course, the Kecleon Market.
“…Aaaaaand I think that about does it for the tour! Yup yup!~” Bungie bounces as the three end up in the main square of Treasure Town, his tail still eagerly wagging back and forth. “I’ll meet y’all back at the guild whenever you’re ready! Gonna be giving ya a helpin’ hand in pickin’ an outlaw for ya!”
“You’ve been a lot of help, Bungie.” Rickety smiles down at him and nods. “Thanks for the tour! We’ll see you back at base soon!”
“Aw, golly, heheh.~ Y’all’re too kind! Be seein’ ya!” With that, Bungie goes ahead and waddles off back to the guild, plenty of pep in his step.
Lexxi’s mind stirs a little bit, eyebrows furrowing as she hums to herself, glancing up are Rickety. “Do we even have enough to buy anything? 200 P isn’t exactly a fortune worthy of splurging on…”
Rickety’s expression does fall a bit as the two begin to head back into the marketplace, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “I dunno. A berry, maybe? Or maybe a low end seed? I mean, I’m sure we’ll find something! Just, not sure yet. But, c’mon! Let’s head to the Kecleon Market and see what we can get! May as well before we head back to the guild.”
Lexxi smiles softly and nods in agreement, tail swishing back and forth as she walks alongside Rickety, glancing at the shops as they stroll by. The Duskull bank, shaped like… A Duskull? Huh. Alright. It’s got some chests filled with money and a few bags of P stashed around, so it fits the motif! Then there was the Kangaskhan storage, shaped like- Like a… Kangaskhan head, and then the Kecleon Market which is… Also…
“I thought Wigglytuff’s guild was a little strange, but does every Pokemon just build after themselves?” Lexxi’s expression is just bewildered at this point, having to take a moment to really let it all sink in.
Rickety pauses too, eyes sweeping over the store in the area. “…You know, I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about it before.” His eyebrows furrow, placing a paw against his chin. “Stylistic choice, maybe? Recognition? I mean you don’t go up to Duskull Bank thinking it’s the Kecleon Market or vice versa.”
“I guess that makes sense… I dunno, it’s just something I noticed. I don’t think humans made houses out of human heads… Most of the time, anyway. I feel like I’d remember something as distinct as that.”
Treasure chests also seem to be a bit of a recurring theme as well. Well, then again, it is Treasure Town. Lexxi supposes that wouldn’t be too out of the ordinary, at least compared to everything else, anyway. The two approach the Kecleon Market, run by- Who else, two Kecleons. One of them is even shiny!
“Hello! Welcome to the Kecleon Market!” The green Kecleon happily greets them, leaning over the counter. “See anything you like?”
Rickety leans over the counter a little bit, his eyes scanning the shelves behind the Kecleon. There’s a lot of things there, but none of them in particular really stick out. It mostly just seems to be berries. There is one thing that seems to stick out, though. A yellow seed, fairly large, propped against the wall. “Oh! What’s that, over there?”
“Hmm?” Kecleon glances behind him. “Ah! That’s a reviver seed! If either one of you goes down in a Mystery Dungeon, it’ll revitalize you and keep you from fainting! Really helpful in a pinch!”
Lexxi’s ears perk up, standing on her hindlegs so she could lean over the counter and take a better look. “That sounds like it’d be very useful to have. How much is it?”
“That’ll be 800 P!”
Lexxi and Rickety’s ears both droop as they look at each other and sigh. Rickety turns back to the Kecleon. “Yeah, we don’t have enough for that. Sorry…”
The green Kecleon turns to his shiny brother, leaning over a bit and discussing something with him, though it’s out of earshot for the Skitty and Riolu to reasonably hear. He comes back to the counter, looking over the two of them. “How much money you two got?”
“Huh?” Rickety blinks a few times, digging through his backpack and pulling out what little money the two of them had. “200 P. Why?”
The green Kecleon smiles. “Tell you what? Since you’re the newest recruits and you’ll need whatever you can get, let’s make a little deal. You can take the seed with the money you have right now, but you’ll have to pay the remaining 600 P later once you’ve gotten enough cash. Sound good?”
Lexxi and Rickety turn to each other, expressions perking back up as the two of them eagerly nod in response. “Of course!” Rickety exclaims, his tail wagging behind him. “Oh my gosh thank you so much! We promise we’ll pay you back as soon as we can!” Rickety plops the 200 P down onto the counter and the Kecleon hands them over the Reviver Seed.
“Thank you too! Come again soon, and good luck out there!”
Just as Rickety and Lexxi are about to leave, they notice two Pokemon quickly scampering up to the shop. “Misters Kecleon!” A Maril and an Azurill.
“Oh hey! Look who it is!~” The shiny Kecleon smiles as he leans over the counter. “What can we do for you kids today?”
“Hup!” The Azurill hops up and places 25 P on the counter, smiling happily. “We’d like to buy an apple, please!”
“But of course! Just one moment.” The kecleon heads back into the shop. Placing one apple on the counter. Then another.”
“Uhh- Misters Kecleon? We only paid for one. We didn’t-“
“It’s on the house.” The shiny Kecleon smiles, chuckling softly. “Consider it a little gift from my brother and I.”
The green Kecleon nods in response, giving a little wave from his side of the counter. “Don’t worry too much about it, the two of you deserve it!”
The Maril and Azurill’s eyes light up as they nod. “Thank you Mr. Kecleon and Mr. Kecleon!” The Azurill happily proclaims.
The Marill gives the Azurill a little pat on the back. “C’mon, let’s see if we can go find that item we lost now.”
The two go to leave, but Azurill ends up tripping over himself. The apple he was carrying falls to the ground, rolling up to one of Lexxi’s stumps. She picks up the apple, walking over to the Azurill. “You okay there?”
“Mnnhfff, yeah, I’m fine!” The Azurill hops back up, taking the apple as Lexxi hands it back over to him. “Thanks! Sorry for bothering you!” And he scampers back off, quickly trying to catch back up to Marill.
“Those two are brothers, you see.” The green Kecleon perks back up to the Skitty and the Riolu. “Their mother hasn’t been feeling the best lately, so they’ve been…”
…What’s this dizziness that Lexxi feels all of a sudden? Her head feels so heavy, and fuzzy. Her eyes scrunch shut as she stumbles back a bit, placing a stump on her head. She lets out a quiet, muffled groan from the pain, shaking her head in the hopes that it will go away.
It only seems to get worse, the heaviness and fuzziness getting stronger with each passing second. Lexxi feels like she’s going to pass out, until suddenly,
“H-H-Heeeeeelp!”
The dizziness vanishes, everything clears back up as Lexxi regains lucidity. W-What just happened? Did she hear a voice just now? Her eyes quickly dart all over the marketplace, trying to find the source of the screaming. There wasn’t anyone to be found, though. Just Pokemon going about their daily business as usual.
“Something bothering you, Lexxi?” Her ears flick as she hears Rickety’s voice, glancing up at him as he kneels down a bit. “What’s with that look on your face?”
She blinks a few times, taking a couple of seconds to calm down with a deep breath. “Rickety, did you hear anybody calling out for help just now?”
Rickety’s expression turns to confusion, tilting his head to the side just a tad. “Huh?” His eyes glance around the marketplace briefly, before returning to Lexxi as he shakes his head. “No, I didn’t hear anything like that at all.” He turns his attention to the Kecleon brothers as he stands back up straight. “You guys hear anything?”
The Kecleon brothers share an equally confused glance, both of them shaking their heads.
“Nothing of the sort, no.” The green Kecleon answers.
“Didn’t hear anybody shouting either, sorry.” The shiny Kecleon answers.
Lexxi’s eyebrows furrow as she scratches at her head, her tail twitching nervously. “I swear I heard something, though. I-It was very loud and they sounded very worried, and-“
“Are you sure you weren’t just daydreaming, Lexxi? You did look kinda zoned out there. Maybe you imagined it?”
Lexxi scratches at her head a little bit more, trying to think back to what she just heard. Come to think of it, the scream didn’t exactly come from any sort of direction. It sounded like it was coming from within her, from her head, from her mind. But it sounded so real, though… “I don’t know, let’s just head back.”
Rickety blinks, still a bit confused, but nods regardless. “Okay. If you say so, I guess.”
The two don’t walk too far, just crossing over the bridge to the next side of the marketplace, when they catch sound of a particular conversation happening just under one of the trees. “Oh, please! It’s nothing, really.” Their eyes glance over, and it seems to be Azurill and Maril! And a Drowzee, too? Well isn’t this peculiar?
The two quickly walk up to them, listening in. “Hey you two! What’s up?” Rickety asks, tail wagging once again.
Azurill glances over, his ears perking up as he smiles. “Oh hey! It’s you guys again! Hello!~”
“We’ve been trying to find something that we lost all day.” Maril explains, letting out a bit of a sigh. “No matter where we look, we can’t seem to find it anywhere at all.” He seems to perk back up though, as he gestures over to the Drowzee, his lips smiling behind his droop snoot. “But Mr. Drowzee here says that he’s actually seen our item somewhere! And not only that, but he’s offering to help us find it, too!”
The Drowzee lets out a chuckle, his snoot wiggling as he shuffles around. “It would be rude of me not to offer help to a couple of kids in need, wouldn’t it?”
“Well, that’s nice, at least!” Lexxi perks up, tail swishing back and forth behind her idly. “I hope you guys are able to find it!”
Drowzee chuckles once again as he sits up, snoot seeming to waggle and wobble back and forth with each movement he makes. Does that get annoying after a while, Lexxi wonders? “Alright, come along now. Let’s be on our way and find what you need before it gets dark.”
Maril and Azurill both nod eagerly and wave their goodbyes to Rickety and Lexxi before heading off. Drowzee gets up to follow them, but accidentally knocks himself into Lexxi on the way. “Oop- Sorry. ‘Scuse me.”
Lexxi stumbles back a bit, and as the Drowzee wanders off, she feels the dizziness starting to creep in again. “Nngh…” It’s even worse than it was before, and she finds herself stumbling back right up against Rickety, who manages to catch her.
“Whoa- Hey, Lexxi are you alright?” His brows furrow with concern as he does his best to keep her still. “He didn’t bump into you that badly, did he?”
“N-No, I’m… Hrrghh…” The dizziness and fuzziness quickly encroaches, feeling as if its consuming her entire being. Her vision goes blank… But only for a moment.
The surroundings are fuzzy, but Lexxi can make out a rocky, mountainous landscape in the surrounding area. She sees two Pokemon standing alone together. It’s Drowzee, who seems to be looking rather frustrated and angry as his palms clench into fists, and Azurill, who seems frightened for his life, eyes wide with fear as he waddles back, trying to back away from Drowzee.
“If you’re going to keep being difficult, that might cause problems for both of us. And you don’t want that, do you?” The Drowzee asks, any kindness that Lexxi had heard just moments ago were gone, only replaced with malice.
“H-H-Heeeeeeeeeelp!”
Lexxi’s eyes go wide as she’s brought back into reality, darting back and forth. Rickety is still holding her, looking down at her, more concerned than before. “You feeling okay, Lexxi? You’re zoning out an awful lot toda-“
“Rickety, we gotta go after them right now!” Lexxi explains, panic in her voice, breath quickening as she starts squirming frantically to try and get out of Rickety’s grasp. “W-We need to hurry and get them before they-!”
“Whoa- Hey, hey! Lexxi, take it easy!” Rickety does his best to keep Lexxi in place, his grip around her tightening a little bit, now even more concerned and equally confused, looking down at her worryingly. “What’s gotten into you?”
Lexxi squirms a little bit more, wriggling in Rickety’s grip before realizing that trying to get out is more or less useless. She tries to calm herself down, taking deep breaths, rubbing at her head. “I-I don’t know- I… Let’s just get back to the guild, I’ll explain along the way.”
“So lemme get this straight.” Rickety glances at Lexx as the two begin to walk up the steps to Wigglytuff’s guild. “You had two dizzy spells. The first one, you only heard a voice shouting. And then when Drowzee bumped into you, you had another one, but that time you saw Drowzee threatening Azurill?”
“That’s exactly it, yes.” Lexxi nods her head up and down fervently, worry still strewn across her face as her tail stands still, pointed up as it puffs up slightly. “Which is why I feel like we should go after them right away. We’ll go back to the guild, explain what’s going on, and then hurry off to find them before it’s too late.”
Rickety’s expression grows a bit dim, muffling a hum to himself as he looks down at the ground. “Lexxi, I don’t wanna say you’re lying. I can sense that you’re convinced you’re telling the truth, but…” He glances back at her, corners of his lips turned downward. “Are you sure you’re not just stressed out or something? The last few days have been hectic for both of us, you especially. Your mind might just be wandering off to bad places.”
Lexxi sighs, shaking her head as her ears droop down. “I don’t know, maybe I’m just losing my mind. The whole body changing thing is still not exactly sitting right with me so, so maybe I am just, having intrusive thoughts or, whatever. I guess the Drowzee didn’t seem that bad, but…”
Rickety tries to give Lexxi a reassuring smile, moving a bit closer to her. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. They’ll get their item back and we’ll see them again all happy tomorrow. Don’t let it weigh you down, okay?” As the two walk through the entrance to the guild, Rickety kneels down, letting Lexxi climb onto his back once again.
“Yeah… Yeah, you’re right, I’ll try to get my act together.” Lexxi hops right on top of Rickety’s back and the two begin their descent down the ladder.
Bungie seems to be right there waiting for them, looking up at them as they climb down. “Oh, welcome back! I take it yer’ all ready to go?”
“About as ready as we can be, at least.” Rickety hops off the ladder, and Lexxi hops right off his back, the two walking right up to the outlaw board along with Bungie.
“Great! Now let’s see here, yessirree, hhhmmmmmmmmm…” Bungies eyes squint as he scans over all the different criminals pinned across the board. “Eeeerrrrmmm… How’s about-“
“Stand clear! Updating listings!”
A siren rings out around the room, startling all three of them as the guild begins to rumble faintly. Rickety’s gaze darts around while Lexxi keeps trying to find the source of the alarm. Her gaze eventually lands back at Bungie, looking to him for an explanation. “What’s going on?”
“The data’s being updated!” He smiles casually. “Y’all might wanna step back from the board a little bit, yup yup!.”
Not one to question orders from a superior, Lexxi and Rickety both step away from the board. And then, the rumbling suddenly stops and the board flips over to the other side! “W-Whoa! Did you see that?!” Rickety exclaims, quickly turning to Bungie. “How’d you guys do that?”
Bungie chuckles softly to himself. “That’d be Dugtrio! The outlaw board and the job board are both on rotating panels, so whenever a new job comes in, Dugtrio flips it over and pins it right on the board! It doesn’t get a lot of recognition and people don’t really tend to notice it, but he takes a lot of pride in what he does!~”
Rickety smiles brightly, tail wagging back and forth. “Gosh that’s so cool…”
“Update complete! Stand clear!”
Fwip!
“Theeeeeeere we go!” Bungie chirps, scooting back up to the board. “The list has been refreshed! Lessee who we can-“
“Uhhh!” Rickety’s body tenses up, his eyes widening as his they land on a particular spot on the bulletin board. “L-Lexxi, look! T-The board! Top left!” Lexxi is briefly confused, but once her gaze lands on the same paper as Rickety, she swears she can feel her heart skipping a beat or two, stomach twisting in knots.
On the bulletin board is a wanted poster for Drowzee.
The two are in too much of a panic to make out Bungie’s confused calls as he asks them to explain what’s going on, Lexxi immediately hopping off of Rickety’s back as they reach the top of the ladder. The two are sprinting as fast as they possibly can, almost tripping down the steps as they rush for the gates.
They spot Maril just outside the entrance, wandering around with a rather worried expression on his face. “M-Maril!” Rickety shouts, waving a hand to flag him down, him and Lexxi panting heavily as they stop in front of him. “W-What’s going on?! Where’s Drowzee and Azurill?!”
“Ah! W-Well, uhhmm, when we went searching for our last item together, I must’ve gotten separate from them! I-I tried to call for them but they wouldn’t respond!”
Lexxi pants heavily as she shakily takes a few steps closer. “Do you know which direction they went, at least?”
Maril nod frantically, gesturing to a path that led to a mountain. “Yeah! They went this way!”
“Then there’s no time to waste, haahh, l-let’s get a move-on!” Rickety starts sprinting again as both Lexxi and Maril follow behind.
“Uhh… Mr. Drowzee? I think this is a dead end.” Azurill glances around, nothing more in this big, empty room. Only a tiny hole in the wall. He turns back around to look at him, confused. “Are you sure this is where you saw our item, Mr. Drowzee? I don’t see it anywhere.”
Drowzee’s smile grows sinister behind his droop snoot, muffling a chuckle to himself as he places his hands behind his back. “Yeah, about that, kiddo. Your item’s not here at all, sorry to say.”
“Whuh? T-Then why are we-” He peeks behind Drowzee, expecting to see Maril standing behind him, but there’s nobody else there. It’s just the two of him. Azurill gulps audibly, his body starting to tremble and shake in place. “W-Where’s my brother? I-Isn’t he coming too…?”
“I’ll let you in on a little secret, kid. It was all a trick. I deceived you.”
“W-Wha?!”
The Drowzee chuckles, his lips curling up into an even wider smirk as he takes a step closer to Azurill. “But let’s not focus on that right now. There’s something I need to ask of you. A favor. You see that hole in the wall behind you?” Azurill turns around, looking back at that hole. It was a small crevice, a crack in the wall with enough wiggle room for a small enough Pokemon to squeeze through. “Well, I”ve heard rumors that it’s a stash for a trove of treasure belonging to a thief!”
“Problem is,” Drowzee continues. “I can’t exactly fit through.” He takes a step closer to Azurill, who lets out a yelp as he tries to scoot away from Drowzee. “But you can.”
Azurill’s heart starts to pound in his chest as he backs away from Drowzee until he’s pressed against the wall. “I-I don’t wanna be here anymore! Let me go!”
“Just do as I say and it’ll all be fine. Go into the hole, bring out the treasure, and-“
Azurill tries to make a break for it, quickly hopping around Drowzee! “I wanna go home! I want my brother!- Hhrrk!” He’s stopped in his tracks as Drowzee grabs him by the tail, causing him to stumble back.
“Whoa now! Let’s not make any hasty, rash decisions, shall we?” His voice becomes more aggressive, pulling Azurill back and glaring at him angrily. “If you’re going to keep being difficult, that might cause problems for both of us. And you don’t want that, do you?”
Azurill whimpers, lips trembling and his whole body shaking as he stares back at the Drowzee in fear, not knowing what to do.
“S-Stop right there! R-Right this second!” Rickety’s voice shouts from afar, turning around the twisting corner to the room, with Lexxi not too far behind. Both of them look completely, utterly exhausted, practically stumbling forward as they make their way over to the two. “W-We won’t, haaahhh… D-Do whatever it is you’re gonna do! We… Hoohh my gosh I’m never running that long ever again, haahhh…”
“You’re telling me…” Lexxi, while just as exhausted, doesn’t seem any less down for the count, barring her teeth and puffing her tail up.. “You, y-you’re coming with us, you b-big jerk! W-We’re Team Void! And we’re gonna… W-We’re gonna, uhhh…”
Drowzee just stands there, dumbfounded, as Azurill just tries to scoot back as discreetly as he can from the scene. “…Hah! You almost had me scared for a moment with that whole justice schtick. Of all the teams to try and come after me, it’s a group of washed up rookies in over their heads? What a joke.”
Rickety growls angrily, his paws balling up into fists. “D-Don’t underestimate us! We’ll.. Do stuff! To you! Very bad stuff if you don’t follow along with us!”
“Hmm… No, I don’t think I will. I’ve dealt with plenty of exploration teams in my time, but never ones as scrawny as the two of you.”
“S-Scrawny?!”
“If you’re really that itching to take me down, though…” The Drowzee laughs, spreading his arms out and making a big show of himself to taunt the two. “I’m right here. Hit me with everything you’ve got.”
Lexxi’s eyebrows furrow angrily, taking a step forward. “You want scrawny?” She starts taking a few more steps forward, then breaks out into an all out sprint. “We’ll show you scrawny!”
The Drowzee’s eyes go wide as he realizes these two rookies were actually being serious with him. He’s caught off guard just enough that he doesn’t have enough time to move out of the way and he’s sent stumbling back as Lexxi’s prickly tail comes into contact with his cheek, smacking him and causing his snoot to wobble around. “Grrrghhh! Okay. Maybe I might’ve underestimated you a bit. Doesn’t matter, you still won’t take me down.”
Lexxi is still stumbling. Maybe charging at full force when she was already exhausted was a bad idea. So taking advantage of this state, Drowzee channels his psychic powers to inflict confusion upon the Skitty. Her mind reels, feeling like her head just exploded as she keeps stumbling around. She’s so dizzy at this point she may as well have little spirals swirling around in her eyes.
While Drowzee is distracted with this, though, Rickety had ran up to him, forcing his palm against the Drowzee’s back. He collapses into the dirt and rolls a bit, trying to cast another confusion beam at Rickety, but the constant moving throws off his focus as well as his aim. He regains his footing, his vision narrowing. He’s about to try and go after one of them, but suddenly, and unexpectedly, he’s assaulted from behind with an intense blast of water.
He stumbles forward, trying to stand up straight, but he’s been too battered too quickly to keep his balance under control. He falls to the ground, out cold. He won’t be getting up for a while. “And that’s for trying to kidnap my brother, meanie!” Maril shouts at he steps into the room, huffing.
“Maril!” Azurill cries as he quickly sprints over to his brother.
While the two water types are busy reuniting, Rickety checks up on Lexxi, sitting himself down next to her. “You doing okay?”
Lexxi gives a shaky nod, holding her head. “Y-Yeah, a little shaken up, but, I’m fine…”
Rickety sighs, rubbing at the back of his head. “Sheesh… I’m still processing everything, you know? Those dizzy spells, that daydream you had? It’s like you predicted the future or something. Maybe… Maybe it could have to do with why you got turned into a Pokemon?”
“Huh?” Lexxi’s ears flick as she turns to face him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugs, smiling nervously. “I dunno, it’s just the feeling I get. Skitty can’t look into the future as far as I know, and that other human didn’t have that ability as far as the stories go. Maybe… Maybe the two events are connected somehow. I dunno, I’m just speculating.”
“Hmm… Maybe.” Lexxi sighs, ears drooping. “It’s all so strange.”
Once the two brothers have finished their little reunion, they both make their way up to the due. “Thank you both so much. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.” Maril speaks up, smiling softly.
Lexxi smiles back, though her expression droops a little bit as she glances over to Drowzee. “What are we gonna do about him, though?”
“Magnezone police are on their way. They’ll take care of him once they arrive. You two might wanna head back to the guild and get some rest. You look exhausted.”
Lexxi chuckles softly in response as she nods. “Yeah, good idea. It’s been a long, long day.”
As the two of them finally make their way back to Wigglytuff’s guild and make their way down the ladder, Chatot waves them down. “Hey, you two! Over here!” Lexxi hops off of Rickety’s back as they head over to the board. Both are still fairly exhausted, fur a little matted and dissheveled. “I just got the bounty from Magnezone. You two did a wonderful job today. You should be proud of yourselves.”
“Heh, yeah, was a breeze.” Rickety chuckles tiredly. “Totally a breeze.”
“Now then, here’s your share of the pay!” Of the 3,000 P reward… Rickety and Lexxi only keep 300 P of the actual pay.
Rickety stares down blankly at the measely amount of money. A whole 300 P, that’s 100 P more than the last reward! He takes a slow, deep breath, turns to Chatot, and then speaks, calmly.
“ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME-“
Rickety and Lexxi stare up at the ceiling as the two of them lay in their bed. Lightning occasionally flashes through their window as thunder rumbles out across the vast, open sea. They lay there silent, motionless, incredibly tired, yet still find themselves unable to fall asleep.
“…What even was today, Lexxi?”
“I’m still trying to figure that out for myself.” She responds. “Why did I have those visions? What even caused them in the first place?”
“Wish we could tell for sure.” Rickety glances out the window as another bolt of lightning rockets across the dark sky. “Hmm… It was storming like this the night before I found you, Lexxi. Does anything in that jog your memory?”
“Mnnnnhhh…” She tries to think back again, but just like all the previous times, she comes up with nothing. “No.”
“Ah well, it was worth a shot, at least.” He sighs again, sinking back into his cushion. “…Have I told you about the Time Gears yet?”
“Huh?” Ear flick. “Time Gears?”
“I’ll take that as a no then, heh… You know how time’s been becoming unstable and all that stuff? Everyone seems to be saying that they might be involved, somehow. That maybe something’s happening to them.”
“Well- What are they?”
“They’re like these little relics hidden all over the world. They’re in all sorts of places, from deep in the forest, hidden inside active volcanoes, hidden under lakes, all that kinda stuff.” Well, Rickety seems to be going off on his hyperfixations again. Seeing him happy is enough to make Lexxi smile, at least. “They help keep time flowing in an area, giving it life, that sort of thing. So if time’s going out of whack… Maybe they’re growing weak. Or worst case scenario… Even being stolen.”
Rickety shudders, shaking his head. “I don’t know what anyone would want with a Time Gear, though, everybody knows not to mess with them, even the biggest thieves out there. It’s rumored that if every Time Gear is removed, some sort of disaster would happen, so that’s why they… Agh, I’m rambling again.” He chuckles softly. “Sorry, Lexxi.”
“What for?” Lexxi looks back at him, arching her back a bit. “I like listening to you ramble on and on about stuff.”
“Really?” He says, sounding genuinely surprised as he flips over to look at her. “You don’t think it’s annoying?”
She shakes her head as she smiles at him. “Not at all. It’s really endearing, honestly. You truly care about what you’re into, and you know a lot of stuff too!” Her tail swishes back and forth a little bit behind her. “I can tell how passionate you are about these sorts of things. It’s kinda cute!”
“C-Cute?!” Rickety’s eyes widen as his body seizes up a bit, a faint, rosy blush creeping up on his cheeks. “U-Uhh! Well, uhh…” He laughs sheepishly, muzzle burying itself into the cushion. “Thanks, heheh… I’ve always felt like I’m just annoying other Pokemon whenever I go off on tangents like these. I can kinda tell they’re usually ignoring me or not listening at all.”
“Well, I’m here to listen if you ever wanna ramble about something, Rickety.” She giggles softly, ear flicking a bit. “Hey… Do you think your necklace could be some sort of Time Gear? Or an older form of it? I mean, it looks like a clock and it has “Time” engraved in big bold letters on the back.”
Rickety glances down at his necklace once again, holding the clock in his paw as he stares down. He flips it over, his eyes wandering over the “TIME” etched into the back of it. He chuckles softly to himself. “Could you imagine how crazy that would be? That I was wearing an ancient Time Gear around my neck without even realizing it? I like the idea, but, I don’t know. Maybe there is some sort of connection, but we just don’t know it yet.” He yawns a little bit, slumping back into his cushion. “I’m beat, though… Too tired to do anymore thinky or talky for tonight, so I’m gonna try and get some sleep. Night, Lexxi.”
“Goodnight, Rickety.” She nestles into her cushion, drifting off to sleep as the storm continues to rage outside.
The machine’s eyes glow in the darkness, the only source of light, only broken by the occasional lightning flash as a green figure darts its way through the forest. Rain pelts its metallic body as it pants, running as fast as it can as the storm pours down from above.
“…It’s real.” The machine says to itself, quickly sprinting forward, slowing as it approaches the grassy wall, taking in the sight for all it was worth. A glowing gear rests upon the wall, ancient markings surrounding it in its place. “It’s only the first of many, though… But no matter.”
The robotic Grovyle reaches out, placing its hands on the gear, as if to feel its warmth, its wet surface as it’s pelted by the rain.
Gripping it tightly, and with a firm pull, the Time Gear is freed from its place on the wall.
As soon as it’s released, the surrounding area immediately begins to slow down. Rain begins to fall in slow motion, becoming slower, slower. Flashes of lightning become nothing more than still images in the sky, the pitter patter of rain fading into silence.
“No matter what it takes.”
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