Chapter 4: Secrets Unveiled

“Aw, no point in anything if we’re just waiting around here for nothing, right?”

“H-huh?”

Mallku looked her dead in the eyes. “You’ve signed yourself up for something much more difficult than you could ever imagine, you know that?”

“What are y-you rambling about now?”

“I want to talk” he groaned, pushing his mug to the side. “Get to know you better, maybe? I’ve been waiting for at least an hour here for you and I don’t want to wait twice as long waiting for someone else…”

“Okay” Ruby mumbled. “Should I ask first question?”

“Of course. But for each question you ask me I have to ask you one back. Sound fair?”

“I guess.”

“Great! Go ahead.”

She sat there for a few seconds staring at the window before returning to revisit Mallku’s trusting glare. “So… you s-s-said your guild wasn’t around here?”

“Yup. I haven’t been there for at least a year though.”

“Oh, so you live in the city?”

“Correct” he announced, before slamming his claws on the wooden table. “Now! My turn!”

Does he always have this much energy?

“Who’s this other person you said was coming?”

“O-oh” Ruby slurred, sweating from within her petals. “We call her Gabi. She’s a Reuniclus, she’s a really good fighter I think.”

Mallku made no noise but lit up at the phrase ‘good fighter’. “Anyone else you brought?”

“N-nope. Just myself, Tori and Gabi. We had another friend named Coni but she said she didn’t want to go to some mysterious meeting, w-with a dark type no less..”

The more she talked, the more Ruby got nervous. But he was a good listener, and he seemed passionate with the way he returned discussion. “S-so my turn now?”

“It’s two for two.”

“Oh okay… so, are there any questions I’m not allowed to ask?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”

“Fair enough” Ruby sighed. “Going back to the guild discussion from earlier, I noticed you had a weird badge… with the weirder flying egg..”

“The same one I’ve had since I was a young Sneasel” he corrected, some sort of sweet nostalgia flowing through his words. “My guildmaster was a Ninetales, a humble but extremely intelligent mon who helped me out during the worst of times…”

“Oh. Are you still on g-good terms…?”

“Yep. He’s got a few more hundred years left in him. I may not live as long but I know I at least want to see him before I die. Tell him how I’m doing..” his voice grew more shaky, his eyes falling to the window. “Tell him I’m alive….”

Mallku chuckled a little before snapping his eyes back to Ruby. “S-sorry I got all nostalgic on you” he mumbled.

“N-no it’s fine. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

The way Ruby was so caring for him.. it reminded him of some sort of feeling that didn’t exist. A piece of history or memory floating within him that wouldn’t show itself. Something there, something in the void… with a blank face..

“M-Mall? You there?”

“Huh?” he arose from his drowsing state to find her waiting patiently in front of him. “Did you just… call me Mall?”

“I’m s-s-sorry if it’s too personal for you” Ruby blurted. “I just like to call close pokémon by a shorter nickname, it just helps m-me remember easily. It’s the same with Tori and Gabi…”

“Oh, I see” he nodded, with less concentrated eyes and a nervous grin. “Next question, maybe?”

“Who’s turn is it?”

“Don’t tell me you forgot” Mallku groaned.

“Sorry Mall… I m-mean Mallku.”

“N-no it’s fine.”

The two looked at each other nervously, locked in an awkward stare. “S-so what no-“

“I was thinking we could-“

Mallku sat up. “O-oh sorry for interrupting you.”

Before Ruby could say anything, the loud sound of a bell interrupted them both.

Gabi and Tori finally arrived, thank Shaymin.

Mallku immediately turned away from Ruby to look at the front door of the restaurant. A Whimsicott and a Reuniclus followed a Naclstack towards the table they were both sitting at, chatting lightly as they talked.

The Reuniclus wore a stringed necklace, with a pink gem replacing the spot near the pendant area. The two of their eyes’ reflected each other, one focusing intently on the environment around them while making an occasional sarcastic or smart remark, while the other rambled non-stop, not even paying attention to scattering dust or cotton bits coming from their back.

They made good chemistry. Ruby may have known Tori longer, but Gabi got along much better and was more likely to meet her outgoing and extroverted energy.

Ruby hated that.

She would do anything to get the Whimsicott’s love, to the point of fighting an uphill battle every day over whether she would make Tori laugh or have a mild anxiety attack, panic attack at worse.

“Are these the pokémon you were talking about?” Mallku whispered.

“Yeah..”

“Oh dear. You were right, these people are weird.”

“What do you mean?” Ruby quiered, only to get her gaze rejected by Mallku’s avoidant eyes.

“Popular people” he mumbled, leaning in and holding his left hand to his face. “Strange creatures, they are…”

Mallku chuckled as Tori and Gabi made their way towards their seats. Below the view of the table, the Naclstack grumbled. “Order something or leave.”

As the mon wandered elsewhere, the curious Weavile spoke up. “Took you long enough.”

Gabi looked at him dead in the eyes. “Protests were out of our control.”

Tori nodded, yawning before taking the spot directly next to Ruby. “It’s been a while since I’ve been with you.”

Ruby blushed as Tori smiled right into her soul. “Th-thanks for coming.”

“You know I enjoy it.”

Mallku said nothing as Gabi squeezed right into the seat next to him, causing him to shift towards the window and pushing the table forward slightly. With the four of them at the table now, Ruby couldn’t hesitate but to get nervous.

“Alright, spit it bucko” Tori threatened. “If you got words worth anything you better-“

“Chill” he mumbled, holding up his palms to get them to stop. He quickly forced them into his lap a few seconds later. “Anyways, for the record, no I am not buying anything. I got limited money and I need to show y’all something later.”

Gabi sighed, crossing her arms. “Fine then. Let’s make this quick.”

“I’m glad you agree.”

Tori crept a little closer to Ruby, leaning on her side. “So..”

“I said to chill.”

“Fine.”

Mallku simply turned his gaze away from Tori, now focusing on Gabi. “First off, I need to know, how much has Ruby told you?”

“Not much” Gabi mumbled. “Something about some sort of opportunity that’s better than a guild could ever be? Sounds like a lie but I won’t judge.”

“I see.” He pulled out his drink from beneath the table and sipped a little, causing Tori to look at him funny. “And I assume you all have a good idea on the degree of situation on which this is?”

“You barely told us anything. Stop acting like we’re the fools here” she hissed.

“Well, thanks for coming anyways.”

He glanced around the table with an adamant smile, meeting the confusion of the other three pokémon. “Here’s the gist: Before I even spill anything secretive, I want you to know that this opportunity is most likely going to require you not only travelling to a whole other continent entirely, but also..” his voice grew deeper as he spoke. “…battling mons twice your size.”

Gabi squinted. “Listen man, I’ve survived a landslide and graduated at the top of my class in dungeon-crawling expertise. I know stuff.”

Mallku merely smiled, taking another sip. “I’ve been a seeker for more than forty years. Looks like we both barely know each other.”

Ruby leaned down to Tori, whispering. “This guy scares me. But I don’t exactly know if I should feel afraid…”

Tori nodded, making no response.

“Well?”

The two of them sat up straight, finding Mallku to be staring at them both with interest. “Are you both still going to take a step forward?”

“Hell yeah!” Tori exclaimed. She held up a hand, shaking it aggressively. “This city has been getting really boring, I could use some adventure.”

She turned over to Ruby, now with pleading and selfish eyes. “And you’ll come with us right?”

“Sure, s-sounds fun” she croaked.

“Great!” Mallku crossed his arms. “This is a dangerous expedition, life-or-death even, so I at least want to know you are all somewhat prepared for what’s to come.”

Oh. Life or death.

“But the rewards a-are worth it at least, right?” Ruby mumbled. “You mentioned expedition.”

“I guess. If you get anything good on your own, it’s yours to keep. Unless we run into problems and we desperately need you to sell it.”

He smirked. “But that won’t happen. I have at least 100,000 poké saved up for all this. Don’t worry about costs or anything; but know that we will at least require a bit of assistance.”

“We?” Gabi queried.

“You’ll see. There will be a few other mons coming along with us.”

“Huh?”

“I think ‘few’ is an understatement, but it’s fine.” Mallku mumbled. “None of you are afraid of committing mild law-breaking or crossing bad terrain, right?”
“How bad?” Ruby shook a little at the thought, trying her hardest to not think too much.

He turned his gaze back to the rest of the diner, the other direction of the window. “Harsh desert, some mountain and maybe swamp if we get unlucky. We… haven’t fully charted the course.”

Gabi and Tori looked at each other, waiting for a response. Instead, Ruby spoke up.

“That’s fine. Should we worry about anything regarding dungeons or medical supplies?”

“Dungeons? No. If you have some Oran Berries you shouldn’t have to worry. We have a mon with some experience in healing wounds and the like, but I don’t think they have a degree in any of it. I know they’re trained by a professional healthcare assistant, but not much else.”

He stretched a little before letting out a sigh. “Any other questions?”

“Nope.”

“Good, that’s exactly what I need to hear.”

Mallku leaped on to the table and slid off, landing directly onto his feet. “Follow me if you’re still interested and aren’t willing to step back. Don’t expect to me to slow down though.”

With that, he zipped towards the door, knocking over a chair as he went and darted straight outside. An angry Volbeat wearing an apron cursed at him as he disappeared from their sight.

Tori glanced back at Ruby. “Well?”

She nodded. “Let’s follow him.”

The both of them raced out of their seats, Tori getting a headstart and headbutting the door open while Ruby scurried behind.

Mystery lies ahead, it seems.

 

~

The sky was slightly cloudier since she had last stepped outside. The summer wind had died down, however the protests did not. It was a scary realization as she ran right into the back of a steely hide, spraining her forehead area a little and bouncing back.

She looked up, meeting the face of a pissed Copperajah.

“S-sorry…”

The mon slammed its hooves towards her, barely missing and instead pounding into the heel of a Scizor, who proceeded to smack the quadruped back.

She could hear the muffled sound of a fight going on somewhere in the crowd, causing her to shrink away and walk through another subsection of the throng, determining that she had turned left of the restaurant. After a minute she managed to escape the claustrophobic area, ending up in an alleyway she didn’t recognize.

Ruby looked back, only to see a large, white and bipedal pokémon blocking the small gap that she had escaped from.

Guess I’m gonna have to find my way out of this now.

A long, shaded area full of rundown business and trashed streets, a sight she had only thought could be possible in stories. But no, this was real. This was the reality of every city or popular hotspot to ever be known.

She took a few steps forward, then a few more, looking over the rundown shops and forgotten buildings to her left and to her right. There’s a good chance that I could jumped at any moment.

She glanced back to her feet. The satchel was still with her.

Then Ruby stopped. She held her breath and stopped moving, noticing a puddle in front of her.

She crept forward, peeking with curiosity. A blurry, greyed reflection of her glanced back, body tilting lightly in the wind to get closer. A small gap in the middle of her front, just above the straps of a brown bag arched around her side. And the gap, despite how hard it was to see, hid eyes.

But they weren’t her eyes.

They were red and bloodthirsty, screaming terror.

She shrieked and jumped back, thudding onto the concrete and causing her bag to crush under her back.

Time blurred around her, fading in and pouring darkness right into her vision.

She could feel a heartbeat, pounding hard.

Silence. Two seconds passed and for a moment it felt like it wasn’t her heartbeat.

 

…

Her breath was cut short by the sound of movement.

“Ruby?”

It didn’t return right away.

“Did… something scare you?”

Whatever large burden crushing her down began to rise up and fly away.

She couldn’t see it, but she knew it.

“Breath.”

Breath.

“Do you… usually do this?”

The sound of a heartbeat started to become muffled, replaced by slow, mustered sighs.

And then there was heat. Some sort of wild inferno coursing through her veins. It hurt. But she could feel some sort of figure in front of her, tall and blobby and unmoving shape. The voice was… coming from it.

Ruby turned over her side, panting as a bright light burst into her eyes and struck more pain into her body.

“Shouldn’t have put Cheri Berries in your bag. I was about to eat some myself until I figured it might wake you up.”

Gabi.

Another figure shaped itself into vision, tall and thin and scary. “She’s alive?”

“She’s breathing now. Seems like it.”

Every muscle in her started to snap awake, coming out in the form of a large cough.

She was in the same place as she last remembered. The alleyway.

“The pud..” she mumbled.

She tried again. “Red… eyes.”

A force from behind pushed her up, causing Ruby to stand up awkwardly with slight trembling.

The sight of Gabi floated in front of her, confused but curious eyes. “You okay?”

“Ye-yeah..”

A sigh of relief chilled down her back, coming from somewhere else. “Do you know where Tori is?”

Gabi simply turned to her left. “Nah. She probably went shopping, knowing her.”

A familiar, masculine and snarky voice rang a laugh from behind her. “You’re right. Speaking of, I’m surprised Ruby got to the bunker before I did. I guess climbing up the building walls was just too fun for me, ahaha! I just had to show off the benefits of being a-“

“Shut it, wise guy. You can talk about how awesome you are later.”

“Alright. Do we go on ahead without Tori or-“

“Wait. She probably won’t take long.”

Mallku nodded, flashing a smile to make Ruby feel better. “Fine.”

The both of them stood idly in the middle of the street as she tried to get herself to walk again, breathing matching her steps in a slow-until-faster pace. In a minute of doing this and getting used to the alley environment again, everything started to feel natural like before.

“Hey Ruby?”

“Y-yeah?” The shy Cherrim turned around, finding Mallku to be slouching against a brick building, surrounded by barrels and stacks of wood. “You need something?”

“What was… that you said before? About the puddle and the red eyes. Sounds familiar and I wanted to know if-“

“Where were y’all!?“

Tori ran through the street, nearly bumping into Gabi before reaching for the ground and panting. Sweat ran from her forehead, slowly stopping as she began to calm down and Mallku approached her.

“What’s up?”

“Some random Haunter weirdo was chasing me in the streets after I looked at him funny. I don’t know if he’s still after me-“

He shook his head. “Ruby here got jump-scared in the middle of the alleyway, but we found her and now she’s doing better. We were also… waiting for you for a while.”

“Sorry” Tori mumbled.

Gabi floated towards the two of them with Ruby following. “Everyone’s here. Want to get a move on?”

“Yeah.”

Mallku stretched his limbs a bit before looking around the alley. “Whatever you see, you aren’t allowed to tell anyone about. No words, no writing, no nothing.”

He looked at Tori dead in the eyes. “This is serious business.”

Impatiently, he led the way, jumping over a box crate and crawling inside a broken window of a nearby building. The sign was long gone, with only a cemented-in door and random boxes lying around the front. It was very hard to tell what sort of building it used to be, but Ruby didn’t care because she quickly bounced after him.

The floors inside were wooden and creaky, shunned by the lack of any light within the building.

“Watch your step.”

“Right.”

She followed his voice through the pitch-black darkness, smacking her bag against a wall once or twice before noticing a small light in the corner of her vision.

“Here it is.” Squinting as the light loomed towards her, the sight of a small wax candle held by Mallku blurred into vision. “Heh, knew I placed one in the back of one of these rooms.”

“Ow!”

“Looks like someone didn’t watch they were going.”

Tori eventually made her way over, meeting Ruby and Mallku along with the candle. “Why aren’t there any lights in this shitty dump?”

“Because,” the dark type sighed. “If people see light they get curious, and they venture deeper inside, which is not something I want. That’s why the light is hidden.”

He turned away from them and started to walk the other direction with both claws gripping the candle.

“I can’t be the only one who hates this” Tori hissed.