Bare With Me

Chary hastily rummaged through the supply closet, grabbing a blast seed and a handful of oran berries. Thoughts on where he had gone wrong raced through his head, and a dark pit formed in his stomach. He had made a mistake, and now his only way out was to double down. 

‘What will become of me if they find out?’

His fur was messy, he hadn’t slept last night. He laid on his bed, having visions, dreams of people chasing him down for what he’d done. 

He had to put an end to it, get it off his mind once and for all. He had to frame Hypno again and ensure it would be the last time.

Chary turned to find his teammates staring at him from across the room. He froze up for a moment, dropping the last blast seed in the bag.

Concord was the first to talk. “What are you doing?” Her eyebrows rose in suspicion.

Chary subtly twitched. “I was about to go shopping, and I figured I should probably take stock, you know?”

“Well, while you’re doing that, us two will be taking care of missions.” Concord bought the lie, and turned to Adam to whisper. “Seems like he won’t be helping us today.”  She hoisted the bag upwards onto her shoulder, using the yellow tube around her neck to hold it in place.

“Sounds like a plan!” He smiled. ‘Perfect, as long as I get back in time, they’ll have no idea how long I was gone.’ 

The challenge lay in framing Hypno, getting him to the police station, completing his actual shopping, and returning before his teammates finished their missions. Oops, that’s four challenges actually, not one. Having decided on what to do, they waved their mutual goodbyes before setting off.

…Then they realized they were all going in the same direction. Chary tried to run away, but Adam noticed the dark bags underneath his eyes and went to intervene.

“…You okay, Chary? You look awfully tired,” Adam said. The Umbreon turned away, refusing to face the group. Concord silently motioned Adam to leave him alone.

Using the first available opportunity, Chary split off from the group and ventured to climb the same roof he had before. He hopped from bin to bin, aiming for higher and higher points. He tried to make as little noise as possible, but it was no use as the metal shrieked under his weight. Dark patches covered the town; the shadows of clouds casted on the buildings and paths alike. A lone observatory stuck out like a sore thumb, guiding his eyes down toward the town center. The place was crowded, and thus the most likely place for Hypno to be. Despite Chary’s best efforts, he was nowhere to be found. He was too far away, so he decided to start his shopping first and come back to this problem later.

Chary didn’t mind the clutter around Kecleon’s shop. He had gone there plenty before, after all. The Umbreon waved at the store’s titular character. Kecleon had been an upstanding member of the island for as long as he could remember, so it was basically the closest he could ever experience to meeting a celebrity. At least, the closest behind Ninetails. 

This realization stopped him for a moment.

Kecleon had slowly built his way up to the top by being helpful and nice to everyone around. Eventually, his reputation as someone who did good was beaten by no other. But Chary was trying to take shortcuts to fame, and he wondered if it was even possible to do it this way. But now he was in too deep.

Chary bought what he was supposed to, berries and food and other various goodies, but since he also had a new venture, he had to account for it and add a stack of blast seeds to his list.

As he was checking out, Kecleon spoke up.

“What’s with all the blast seeds?” He pointed out the obvious.

“It’s for my team. We recently took on a mission for a dungeon monster and we’re expecting to see more. Some of my blast seeds have gone missing as well.” Chary lied on the spot.

“Hmm. Alrighty then. I’m just saying that with recent events…” He trailed off, before coming back to his senses and finalizing the purchase. Now it was time for action.

Slipping back onto his trusty roof with blast seeds in his bag, Chary peered down into the crowd once again. This time he waited for what felt like hours, but that was okay. He had already proven himself to be fast at waiting for things to happen. 

Finally, he spotted a yellow blotch moving amongst the crowd.

The Umbreon moved his way inward, pushing to where the Hypno was. Once he verified his target, he knew it was go time.

He gripped the blast seed hard, using all of his energy to focus on where the Hypno was standing, and the people watching. Taking one final deep breath, he acted quickly. He ducked behind the Hypno and threw the blast seed into the crowd, slinking away before anyone could notice what he was doing.

The world seemed to pause for a moment, just before the blast seed landed. Everyone was focused on their own things, not having a smidge of concern for what was about to happen.

But, the moment passed. Carnage broke out immediately. People started running away, leaving only a few behind. Chary couldn’t see the results, but how many died didn’t matter. Now he just needed to do what he came here for.

“HE DID IT!” Chary pointed at the Hypno, and the few who were left of the crowd agreed. He was rushed down as the Umbreon slipped out undetected, sure of his success. He didn’t bother intervening, as he had a better method: The papers would bring him up for warning everyone earlier, and he would be praised for trying to do something about it. That, and intervening would get his hands dirty, and make things a bit too obvious. 

Instead, he waited until he “heard about the event” before going to tell others. That way, he could get the fame for trying to warn people, but without the risk.

“Back in another monster dungeon,” Concord warned, her voice turning to whispers as they entered. “Keep your eyes open for an Ursaring.”

Unlike the previous dungeons they had explored, this one was unusually lush, filled with greenery and shrubs, much like a rainforest. The real forests they knew were sparse and thin; nothing like the fake one here.

“What’s an Ursaring?” Adam asked, tilting his head up at her. Concord paused, trying to find a way to explain.

“Look for a brown thing,” she said, investigating a nearby bush. Adam looked upon himself and shivered with fear.

The trees shivered back, warning that their target was near. Adam readied his crossbow, trying to track the source of the movement. Concord prepared a few escape orbs in case their plan went awry.

At the worst possible moment, the wind picked up, making it nearly impossible to judge the Ursaring’s next move. Adam’s eyes darted around nervously, struggling to keep track of the beast. He and Concord slowly began to back up, giving them more space to react.

He took a long, staggered breath.

The Ursaring leapt out from the bushes, charging directly at Adam. Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger, hitting the bear square in the face.

Well, at least that’s what Adam would like you to believe, because in reality he missed entirely and now he’s going to die.

The bear turned around, revealing it had been bluffing. Unwilling to risk another encounter, Concord threw the Escape Orb. But instead of teleporting them away, it sent them… upwards?

“Wrong orb!” she yelled, leaving Adam as the only one on the ground with the bag. Adam followed her example and grabbed a random orb and threw it between them, and by sheer dumb luck, it teleported them out.

The two reappeared directly outside of the dungeon, drenched in sweat.

Adam laid down, gripping the fur on the top of his head like it was an instinctual reaction. His mind went blank for a moment, as breathing became the only thing he could focus on. 

The area was serene, yet Adam found it unnaturally quiet, which didn’t make much sense. With a strange tingling on his fur, Adam reached over and flicked an ant off leg, barely stopping to think about it. A few moments later, a realization set in.

‘Wait a second, if there are ants here, then that means…” Adam sat up quickly, and panic set in. ‘I’m sitting on an ant hill!’ 

Acting quickly, Adam got up and began to move, only to be stopped by Concord.

“Adam, what are you doing?”

“Can we take a break?” He changed the subject.

“Sure. I think we should call it quits early today. Chary should be home from shopping by now, so we’ll grab some lunch and meet him back at the house.”

Adam nodded in agreement. “I hope you know a good place.”

---

Adam exited the restaurant, traumatized and embarrassed. Concord, however, couldn’t stop laughing. The Eevee looked up at her and began to beg.

“Please never do anything like that ever again.”

“Oh, come on! You’re the only one there that didn’t have fun, you know!” She finished her sentence with a shrug. Just then, the door behind them swung open, revealing a Timburr.

“You two! Never return here!” he yelled, shutting the door again. The Buizel cringed in embarrassment.

“You sure about that, Concord?” The smug look which flew off of her face just a few seconds ago made its landing on his, causing the two to swap reactions. She grumbled, “Whatever,” and began to walk away.

She trudged along, knowing she had made a mistake. Adam followed her through the crowds, bored out of his mind.

“So, Adam. What’s up?” Concord attempted to make small talk to pass the time.

“Oh, not much. I just wish something interesting would happen. Walking for long distances isn’t really entertainment, but that might just be my opinion,” Adam said, causing the Buizel to laugh.

“That’s why we’re talking, you silly-”

An explosion erupted nearby, causing the two to freeze in place as all hell broke loose. People screamed and ran, while they just stood there. A voice shouted “HE DID IT!”, and since neither knew what just happened, they had no choice but to trust the crowd. 

Concord had planned to run away, but Adam had different ideas. He ran over to join in on the fray, followed closely by Concord.

“Hey, get off of him!” she yelled at Adam, but her voice seemed to reach further than she anticipated.

“Yeah, what she said! We need to take this guy to prison!” another one said. Another joined in agreement, then another, and another. Eventually, they found themselves as part of an escort mission for a likely murderer Hypno.

Adam tried to get him to talk, say anything at all, but he remained quiet the entire way through. Concord planned to leave the group, but others had the same plans before her, meaning they couldn’t get out without leaving him completely unguarded.

Adam barely talked beyond those few attempts as well, still shook by everything that had just happened. Everything moved so fast, leaving them with no time to think.

When they entered, it was a cramped space, just a room with bare furniture and a back wall replaced by two dreadful cells. It was hollow, lacking even the most basic of details.

Before they made their presence known, the three could overhear a conversation with the warden.

“I will stop at NOTHING until my child’s murderer is found! This prison isn’t enough. I want them dead!”

The Hypno began to sweat profusely, and even more so when the Lurantis stopped and stared directly at him.

“This place is useless.” She spoke before slamming the door open and leaving. When the door shut, the three finally turned back to the Warden.

“Alright, what are you three in here for?” the Glaceon asked. Concord responded before Adam could.

“We don’t know. We just heard an explosion, and all of a sudden, we were taking this guy here!” Adam explained frantically.

The warden took a sip of tea, clearly not caring much as they kicked their feet up on the desk. “Alright. I’ll find witnesses. Just leave this guy with me for now. But first, how about your accounts? ”

As soon as they arrived back home, they noticed something was off: Chary wasn’t there. How could shopping have taken so long for him?

As if right on cue, Chary burst in with a hurried explanation just seconds after them.

“I’m so sorry, guys! I was at the prison for what felt like hours! I saw this huge explosion, and I got tasked with escorting this guy to the prison, and I had to give a witness statement and-” Chary paused and looked for around reaction, but only found staring. “…It’s a whole thing. Anyway, I’m tired as hell.” Just as quickly as he started, he stopped and crawled into bed.

The two looked at each other and exchanged confused looks. They knew nothing he said could have been true.

---

AN: If this chapter is bad, I apologize. But I have sat on it long enough. It had to come out eventually.