Chapter 8: Breaking Bids
by dust_scoutUsing another one of those annoyingly long sets of stairs, Otto and I made our way back up to the Upperside. We had to climb the central tower and use the ceiling roads to reach our destination. As a result, we emerged at the Eastern edge of town. The town’s lighting sported a sunset look.
With only Gil’s tip to work with, Otto and I made a beeline for the North-Eastern pier, hoping to find some answers on this alleged Shadow Auction.
The area’s roads were considerably less sandy, opting for more solid stone. Not as much grip to work with. At the northern edge was an expansive wall with sharp looking wires on top. The harbor’s gate was flooded with many worker pokemon leaving for the day, all of which did not prioritize cleaning very often. A guard was also posted there.
Otto pulled me aside to a nearby alleyway.
“That guard’s gonna be a problem,” he said, “Since we’re not officials, we’ll get in trouble easily.” He then glanced at my bruises from earlier. “And you’re not exactly in the best shape for fighting.”
One peek was all I needed. Even with the extra time of walking, that damage from the alleyway still stung upon the touch. I probably should have asked Kalea for another dose of that Life Dew, but alas.
With a sigh, I glanced at the dwindling crowd before facing the retainer. “Yeah, that’s gonna be a real problem, and I don’t think my looks are gonna allow us to slip through very easily. But…what’s stopping us from swimming around?”
The Fighting-Type gave me a long, irritated grunt. “In case you don’t recall, your swimming skills alone make that a terrible idea. Besides, the waters here are colder and there’s constant patrol on both sides. Forget about it.”
“Ugh…right.” I scratched my head, trying to think of something. (Sadly, no ideas came…for the most part.) Eventually, something did come to mind when I thought about knocking out the red gem Persian standing in our way.
I bit my lip in disgust. (“Ew…why did I think of that?”)
“Something the matter?” Otto asked.
I came over to the retainer reluctantly. “I was going to ask about Madeline trying to…you know how you folks can be when, ahem. Try the feminine charm?”
Otto’s expression quickly scrunched itself into an offended frown. “Excuse me?”
I gritted my teeth. “Y-Yeah…kind of a stupid idea I realized.”
Otto groaned into his tentacles. “Oh for…ughhh, why?”
“…Well I don’t know. I heard it worked at times.” Even after saying this, I ended up slapping a paw onto my forehead.
The retainer gave me a sharp scowl. “Our ability is a defense mechanism, NOT a jester act.” He crossed his arms and gave me a sharp frown. “That’s what everyone’s saying, to put it mildly.”
“I figured!” I blurted out. (“That must have been Madeline talking mostly.”)
Otto shook his head. “We told you before. Most of us don’t trust you; they aren’t going to show themselves in public willingly.”
“I know! I know! Haven’t you heard of a first draft?”
“Well no offense, but that idea is rather ungentlemanlike.” The retainer pondered for a moment. “And furthermore, I just got another message. Madeline just told me to give you this bit.” He then cleared his throat. “If you’re so keen on this ridiculous farce, do it yourself. You’re far more capable of this feat, no?”
(To some extent, they were right in that I was technically “capable” of doing the deed.) The thought of the idea disturbed me beyond belief, more so than usual. I never liked the idea of the process anyways.
I shook my head firmly. “No! I mean yeah, but- Gah! You seriously want me to be a girl, in just mere moments?!?”
The retainer gestured to me once more, “Well? Can you?”
“NO!” I snapped with blushed embarrassment, “That’s not how it works! One doesn’t simply drop everything manly to be a girl! Besides, it takes time! And who’d be attracted to me?”
Otto gave a shrug. “You’re the one that brought it up.”
I growled and started tapping my foot. “Okay, okay. Completely scratch that. Let’s think of something else.”
“…Hmm…” Otto’s face suddenly forms a smirk. “We have an idea.”
He then started moving away, gesturing for me to follow him.
Having nothing better to do, I just simply complied.
As it turned out, the head group in Grapploct had a real bright idea. Before I had a chance to disagree, the retainer snagged my legs and spun me around quickly. I was sent hurtling through the air after a few moments.
Of course, I was screaming. Who wouldn’t after suddenly getting grabbed and tossed?
Very soon, after some aerial spinning, I landed hard on my back.
I gave a quiet moaning meow. “……aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwww!”
Afterwards, I sat up. It was pretty clear Otto tossed me over the wall, but that still didn’t help the pain from landing on solid rock.
With no time to waste, I finally decided to get my bearings. Luckily, there were piles of large metallic boxes for me to hide behind. Stealth was hardly an issue since the area was mostly empty.
Eventually, I made my way to the entrance from earlier. The Persian guard was (somehow) oblivious to my presence since he was looking outside more often.
I took a couple careful breaths before attempting a non-sparky jog to the other side of the lot. The run was probably the hardest part.
One bit of carelessness would mean that I would start running too quickly and create noisy sparks.
My foot caught itself on something. My legs sped up and my heart started beating faster. (“Oh no!”)
I had to take the fall. I needed to. My instincts were fighting back unfortunately.
And then I stomped hard with my bad leg. It was a big mistake as the pain shot into my mind once more.
In a blinking moment, I let my hands hit the pavement, before making a small stride forward on all-fours.
After this lucky stride, my shoulder quickly made its own landing, causing me to tumble straight into a small pile of buckets.
The heap toppled over within mere moments.
There was only enough time to utter an “Ohhh nooo…” before facing damage from a barrage of junk.
A ton of noise sounded out as the pales fell over. The guard was more than notified by the noise and rushed over.
“…Ow,” I muttered quietly to myself.
The Persian approached. “Hey! You!”
(What followed next was…How could I even start?) I quickly spun myself onto my feet, unintentionally kicking a pale toward a bigger pile of trash in the process.
The guard stumbled back toward the pile after a bucket landed on his head.
“Sweet mercy! Someone get the-”
*CRASH!!!*
The junk pile fell right on top of the Persian, knocking them out much to my disbelief. At the edge of this spill was Otto, who just sighed upon seeing me behind the mess.
“…Could you have a more grand entrance there?” the retainer inquired.
I glanced around nervously. “He’s out cold, right?”
Otto rolled his eyes and went over to the guard. He puts a tentacle near the Persian’s mouth. “Yes, but by luck.”
“What?”
“He’ll live, but that’s going to leave a mark in the morning.” The retainer stared at me with a displeased expression. “Maybe don’t do that next time. Come now.”
With that another moment’s notice, he started moving away.
Sliding on that floor hurt a lot. A quick glance at my paws certainly showed.
The lower part of my palms were scrapped from the initial landing. (“Ahhg…How do those four-leggers deal with this?”)
After blowing on my palms, I followed Otto further into the boundaries of the premises.
The retainer and I slowly made our way through the storage area, glancing at each warehouse as we went along.
Oddly enough, security was spread out thinly. Way too thinly, with hardly any guards. Even Otto was quick to notice this observation as well.
I didn’t bother questioning it. I assumed his other selves must have experience with those details. Besides, if I did, I would have embarrassed myself more.
I decided to take a moment to charge myself sparks as we ran, just in case another tense situation came upon us. Granted, I still had stored energy from before the Catacombs, but I could only hold onto it for so long. (Besides, a quick check revealed there wasn’t much Electric energy to spare. Maybe enough for a Thunder Shock. Either way, there was no harm in gaining extra charge time.)
After a while, Otto stopped his pace and started glancing at a particular building.
I stopped running and looked back at the retainer. “What are you doing?” I whispered and mouthed.
Without another word, the retainer dashed off toward the building.
“Ack! Wait! Ugh!” I muttered in a fluster before following.
The building in question was large and…unsurprisingly generic. Aside from the rectangular shape of the base, the different markings, and the rounded arch roof, this building looked the same as the others. Sure, there were piles of boxes here and there near the walls. (What did anyone expect? Something unique? Well…we kind of did, but…that’s not how life works.)
Oddly enough, there seemed to be muffled noise coming from the building.
Otto and I decided to climb the box to get a better view of the interior.
Even more wooden boxes were littered in stacks throughout the building. The arrangement turned the building floor into a maze. I was not sure if that was the intention, but I guess folks had their own way of slandering the mystery dungeons…not that they have feelings…(or at least we don’t think they have feelings).
Though the place was dark, one particular corner did have a small amount of light shining forth with the subtlety of a campfire.
So…there was no question of what action to take. Otto and I quietly sneaked around on the high decks and boxes until we finally reached the area in question.
There, a smaller office building with lit-up windows stood. The sole entrance was guarded by a Golduck.
I rolled my eyes and was about to jump in, business as usual. But then Otto firmly pressed the back of a tentacle against me.
The retainer shook his head. “Allow me.”
With that, the Fighting-Type jumped off the edge.
The unfortunate Golduck looked up too late as Otto landed right on top of him with an Octoloct.
Though the guard struggled, he was no match for the Fighting-Type. (Not that there was much of a struggle in the span of a few moments. Otto gave a couple of hard bonks on the Golduck’s head to provide a knockout.)
I climbed my way down, still feeling the occasional soreness of my bad leg. Once on the ground I gave a remark. “A little blunt don’t you think?”
Otto shrugged and dragged the guard into the building.
The interior of this office space was messy with papers scattered about the tables. Otherwise, it seemed ordinarily dull.
After a minute of looking, I noticed part of the wall seemed more segmented upon closer inspection. Putting my ear close to the wall, it was easy to tell that the noise came from there.
Otto was dusting his tentacles off when he noticed my behavior. “Find anything?”
I couldn’t help but shush him. After a moment of composure, I knocked on the wall and got out of the way.
Well, the wall did open up. What I didn’t expect was how fast the thug found me out. The Sawk pulled me through the door by my shoulder fluff, but luckily for me, he gritted his teeth upon seeing me.
Why did he do that? Who cared? I took the moment and headbutted him away.
Otto wasted no time rushing to the other Fighting-Type and subduing him before he could make a sound.
After tying up the Sawk and placing him near the other guard, we made our way through the passageway, which ran down some stairs. We decided to keep the door closed, security getting alerted was the last thing we wanted right now.
A few flights later and we found ourselves at some kind of hall, right in time to hear some applause.
We were behind crowds of pokemon of varying shapes and sizes. Most of these folks were well-dressed with garments, garments of a more…excessive design. Many of these folks didn’t look like thugs at all (way too groomed to fit the description).
Toward the back of the large room was a stage. Some Falinks seemed to be pushing around displays for goods…at least from what I could. A Klefki was up-front on center stage, seemingly presenting these displays.
There was no denying it, this was the so-called Shadow Auction, conducted in the evenings when no honest workers are around to meddle.
I quietly blurted, “This is…”
Otto finished the thought. “Yes, down here. Of all places.”
“But…why?”
“Discrete maybe? Maybe the items in question aren’t exactly things to publicly sell.”
I bit my lip at the response. As much as I wanted to ask more…it would just waste time. Gil mentioned it being an illegal auction, featuring the best loot and treasures. I could only assume it wasn’t gained by honest methods.
Otto and I stayed low behind the back row of seats, trying to avoid being seen from the stage or whoever happened to be security.
After finding a comfortable spot, we listened to the exchanges taking place, all of which were brief, simple, snappy and hard-to-follow speeches by the Klefki.
The first item we saw was some kind of portrait. A piece of art.
I blinked. “Seriously? Parchment?”
Otto turned his gaze toward me and raised a brow.
I shrugged. “Who would want that?”
“…Smeargles, anyone that is not you apparently. It has value, Zera.” the retainer answered.
“How?”
“……Itallo said it went missing from a galley a month ago. Priceless piece of art from times past. Does that not mean anything?”
The response left me a bit perplexed. Though something told me it was a big deal. If it went missing, could it have been stolen? I’d have to take Otto’s word for it. (“Why would I react to some random piece of parchment being stolen? Parchment is parchment. What idiot would care so much about parchment? Darned Smeargles are the only pokemon that would care.”)
“SoldToTheSalazzle!” the Klefki announced.
I facepalmed. (“I stand corrected, but commoners still have strange priorities.”)
Otto gave up and listened to the auction as it happened. More and more items were displayed to the audience, all of which either went missing, stolen, or maybe forged according to Grapploct.
It was hard to make sense of it all, but from the unusual location, the suspect nature and background of the items presented, to the secrecy, I could only guess this whole event went against commoner law.
It didn’t help that most of that Klefki’s talking was like this: “Startingbid:100 Poke.Anybidsfor100 Poke?150!150!Anyonefor160?160!170,170,170?Oooh!200!Wegotonefor200!210?Anyonefor210?GoodmamaofXerneas!Wegotabid500already!Crowdsoverwhelemed.Don’tdiscoragednow!Anyonefor510?510foranyone?700!Abidfor700!Anyonefor710?…Goingonce?…Goingtwice?…Sold!”
(I blurred my mind off during this whole bit. My coinless head was honestly spinning from how fast the numbers were rising. Even now, I couldn’t believe I was missing the slow talks from my grand speech lessons. Yet another reason to not associate with common folk.)
After several bidding sessions, Otto prodded my shoulder. I looked over to the retainer sharply.
“We should go, we’ll notify the mistress about this later,” he whispered.
I tilted my head with a raised brow. (…sigh… )
“You know, the…ahem”
I just slowly blinked for a moment. “You mean Kalea?”
Otto shook his head. “No, no, no, no. The other one. One who’d actually be interested.”
It took a moment to register what the retainer meant (unfortunately). “Oh…you mean-”
The Grapploct promptly covered my mouth, shaking his head. “After…now.”
With that, we started to make our way out as the final item for auction was presented.
The Klefki spoke up rapidly. “And for our final item this session, we have something a little special. You don’t want to miss this one, folks.”
Admittedly (much to the dismay of better judgement), the Klefki’s words caught my interest. So I stopped and watched as the Falink assistants pulled the fabric from the latest display.
The item was a mural, usually made in dedication to something common folk considered significant, fictional or not. And this…this certainly seemed rather fictional. Though small, it seemed to depict a town of sorts, wrapped around by some kind of multi-colored snake…or was it a dragon?
It reminded me of Rayquaza almost, at least from what I was told. But the colors were wrong. Red, Blue, and no green? Yep, that looks rather made up. (Though it would be lying if the snake didn’t evoke an odd feeling.)
After the crowd quieted down from expressing their awe over the item, the Klefki presenter continued. “This here mural isn’t any ordinary piece of painted rock ohhhohohoho no! This is beyond a rare find. A lost artifact of Silspring’s most trying time in history, the Rift Calamity.”
Upon hearing those last words, I uttered a quiet “Huh?” with my next breath. (“That phrase…Could it really be? …What in the world?”)
Before I could think more, Otto tugged on my tail, suggesting I should keep moving.
The crowd was muttering amongst themselves as the Klefki host kept talking. “Well? No takers? This is among the rarest finds to date! Surely, there’s someone ready to make the starting bid. Bidders don’t fall from the sky after all.”
Just then some small pieces of debris fell near the host.
Before the poor Klefki had a chance to react, some rafters fell on top of him with a loud *Crsssshh!* The audience gasped as this happened. The mess certainly rattled everyone.
Afterwards, someone descended down from the roof using some rope. The white color of this fledgling gave it away. …Lucy.
After “clumsily falling down from the rope” by loosening her grip, she went over to the debris pile she must have made. “I uhhh…he’ll live…I think. Nothing like heavy lifting to strengthen character…hehe..”
The crowd was silent, glaring at the uninvited guest.
Otto and I stood up at that moment, jaws dropped. (“The heck?!? When did she-”)
Lucy looked back at the Falink units closing in on her. “O-Oh…uhhhh…” Security pokemon were on their way to the stage as well.
I gritted my teeth. (“Crud! This is bad! What the heck happened to Kalea?”)
The fledgling made a glance at the back of the room before focusing on where Otto and I were. She then pointed directly at me with her wing, shouting in hysterics. “OH MY GOSH! OVER THERE! THE MARKET STREET DESTROYER THERE!”
A scattered majority of the audience collectively looked toward me and Otto and started muttering.
The Fledgling continued, “IT’S THE GODDESS RETURNING! YOU BETTER RUN!”
I was too busy raising a brow at Lucy’s last statement to notice the increasing panic in the crowd. “Wha-”
It was at that moment that the audience erupted in panic, running about and screaming.
“THE GODDESS?!?”
“THE GODDESS IS BACK! FOR REVENGE!!!”
“EVERY MON FOR HIMSELF!”
“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIIIIIIIE!!!”
“GET HER!!!”
Numerous pokemon, both frightened and angry alike, rushed at me and Otto.
I only had enough time to guard my head from the crowd. “Gah! How?!? Ow!”
The crowd pounded on me relentlessly, thankfully with no moves. That fact didn’t lessen the pain very much.
Otto struggled in the middle of the crowd. “H-Hang on, citizen! I’ll- Agh!”
After a moment, a groaning hiss sounded out. “Oh for Cres sake!”
The retainer slipped between the crowd, grabbing me as they dashed by.
Before I could react, I was suddenly jerked out of the mob by Grapploct, who was now running on the walls in a cat-like fashion. Seemed like Madeline was fronting now, maybe the crowd forced her out.
Regardless, Madeline used one of her tentacles to drag me around by the leg as they climbed up the wall.
The members of the mob were leaping sporadically at the both of us.
Barely missing the grabby crowd, I could barely shout up to the Fighting-Type. “Oct, can’t you- Ow!”
“What’d you say?”
Sadly, I took a few blows before I could properly reply. “C-Can’t- Agh! Can’t you- Ow! Climb a little- Ugh! Higher? Agh! Ow! Ow! Owww!”
A Bronzong tried to attack the wall with a Gyro Ball. As the Steel-Type drilled itself into the wall, Madeline slid beneath in response, still maintaining a strong grip on the wall. “Going up!”
“Gra-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aa-aaaapp!” I screamed as I got dragged on the top of the ever attacking crowd.
(Luckily, Madeline must have noticed the whining because she pulled me up the wall with a steady climb up. Afterwards, she leapt off the structure.) The next thing I knew, I was suddenly falling through the air.
The retainer caught me with the make-shift tail, wrapping it around my gut and chest this time. We proceeded to bound and leap across the crowd’s heads and seats.
“Th-Thank you…” I ungratefully said.
Madeline rasped as she trailed off. “Boys…”
Looking toward the stage, Lucy was jumping up and all around the debris. The Falinks and security were having a difficult time grabbing her thankfully.
“Guys, a little help would be nice now,” Lucy remarked as she dashed backstage.
“The stage!” I exclaimed.
Madeline stopped for a moment, but before she could change course, an enraged Kingler leaped at us with a Hammer Arm.
Thankfully, we barely managed to jump away at the last moment. I felt a blast of air on my foot as the attack whiffed and smashed the chairs beneath it. Splinters of wood scattered from the impact, smacking out legs in the process.
Madeline started sprinting for some nearby double doors that lead to another area of this establishment.
The crowd was closing in quickly, and we needed to speed ourselves up or slow them down…we needed to do something, anything.
After some quick glances at the mob behind and at my paws, I got an idea. “Oh please let your ability be Limber,” I muttered.
“Huh?”
“Hold your breath!” I then clapped my paws together to create some sparks.
As predicted, the clap exploded, pushing our pursuers back and launching us straight to the doors, which we broke through on impact.
We tumbled a long distance into the next room. By the time we landed, we were sore and smoking from both the blast and the hard landings.
My shoulder and neck were cracking as I tried to pick myself up. The scrambled ending of that chase left me woozy, almost forgetting about my bad leg had I not put some weight on it.
Madeline was somewhat dazed from the blast, but managed to shake off the sparks as she slowly stood up. “A little more warning would have been nice, don’t ya think?”
Looking around, we must have landed in some kind of display hall, complete with many items of varying shapes and sizes, all of which may have been obtained illegally. There seemed to be more crowds of panicking pokemon running away from the scene, some of which were trying to break into the display cases.
Some of the mob slowly started to pour in from the open entrance we used.
With no time to waste, I grabbed one of the Grapploct’s tentacles and pulled her into the crowd as I ran forward.
The constant pushing of the crowd in random directions made navigation difficult. Despite my efforts to move toward the back stage I found myself getting pulled further forward. My grip on Madeline’s tentacle slipped loose, but I could vaguely hear her grumbling behind me.
After about a minute, I finally got out into a clear and open space. However, Madeline wasn’t there. (“Did I just lose her in the crowd?”) “Grap?”
No answer came and I was more or less annoyed at the inconvenience.
Before I could go back, I heard Lucy’s voice, along with someone else’s. It was reasonable to assume that it wasn’t Kalea.
I stood still for a moment, unsure if I should proceed to check on Madeline or help Lucy.
A crashing noise echoed from the hallway, prompting me to move toward the prior hall. But then I heard a scream.
I forced myself to a stop once more, looking at the hallways around me. (“Grap but then…She…just…”)
With a wince, I decided to come to Lucy’s aid. She was a kid after all, no debate about that.
I followed the voices as I traveled a few elaborate hallways.
(“What the heck, Kalea? How? How did that Primarina let this happen?”)
Speaking of the Primarina, I saw the retainer rush inside one of the rooms. With no time to lose, I hurried over.
“Lucy, run!” Kalea shouted from within the room.
Just after (oddly enough), the fledgling did as she was told for once and ran out the same way Kalea entered.
Lucy stopped upon seeing me, almost like she was expecting me somehow.
“You alright?” I asked.
The youngling promptly turned around and pointed toward the room she just left. “Yes, but Kalea-”
“Let’s just go somewhere-”
“No! Kalea needs you now!”
“But-”
“There’s no water here! And-”
I shook my head and grabbed Lucy’s wing. “If Kalea’s like Otto, Madeline or whoever, I’m sure she can handle herself.”
As I tried to drag Lucy away, we both heard Kalea and someone else making a ton of noise in the room.
Lucy frowned at my moment of hesitation. “You were saying…”
(“I can’t just leave her alone, but…”)
“Just help her already!” Lucy pleaded, stomping her foot. “Grapploct is somewhere, right?”
“Yeah, but give me one good reason to go with that plan.”
Kalea’s grunts grew desperate at the moment and Lucy was visibly sweating.
After wincing, Lucy hastily cried out, “Kalea will die if no one helps her now!”
Time practically slowed itself at that moment. I let go of the fledgling upon hearing such an absurd statement. “Wha-?” She couldn’t have been serious, right? (But at the same time…) I looked toward the room once more, admittedly worried.
“Hurry!” Lucy shouted, kicking and forcing me toward the door.
I ran at once into the room, which contained rows of displays and items.
I quickly saw a Bisharp poised with a Night Slash aimed at a Primarina, Kalea.
She looked a bit beat up. The knocked down exhibits nearby certainly indicated a rough struggle.
The Water-Type was trying her best to hold the slash attack back with her flippers, but the effort could only do so much. The attack was slowly sliding through Kalea’s grip, drawing close to her neck. Considering the circumstances, I had to act at that moment.
I ran over to Bisharp.
By the time he looked over, I was already pushing him away from Kalea.
After a short tumble, the Bisharp stood up and growled, “Now what?”
I stepped toward him and readied a battle stance. “You leave that lady alone, now.”
The guard narrowed his gaze. “…You. You’re no goddess.”
I just glared at the Bisharp, buying time for Kalea to get out of the way. I heard her moving slowly, but it was clear she wasn’t going far.
“Yeah, so?” I remarked with a narrowed stare of my own. “What else is new?”
The Bisharp ran at me with Night Slash, a rather dull effort considering the match-up.
I side-stepped and ducked under the attempted attacks easily. In the midst of battle, it just looked slow. (“…Predictable.”)
*TGHHH!*
In a surprise move, the Bisharp kicked me hard in the gut, sending me back into a display that crumbled to pieces. (It was a rather foolish miscalculation…again.)
I coughed a bit as I witnessed the guard charging up a nasty-looking silver attack.
As much as I wanted to move quickly and stop it…I wasn’t able to.
The Bisharp fired a powerful silver beam toward the ground, breaking and burning it in the process. (It was reminiscent of Cobalion’s Steel Beam. Heck it was probably the same kind of move.) Like some blade move, he then swiped and moved the blast toward me.
Without hesitation, I jumped over the beam, narrowly getting singed by the attack.
I was reeling from the pain as I landed. Many of the displays were also hit. Broken pieces of glass, rock, and whatever else was seared scattered across the nearby area, including on top of me.
Unfortunately I didn’t have a moment to relax at all…oh no. My ears were swiveling in a panic, particularly from above.
One quick glance was all I needed in order to see some bladed displays falling down from above.
With no other options, I rolled across the floor as quickly as I could.
Row after row of blades stuck and pierced the ground behind me. My chest was pounding. Each rotation felt painful as I squashed my tail repeatedly until I hit another pedestal.
The blades kept coming until one landed near my nose. No more of those odd replicas fell after that. (Too close of a cut for comfort.)
Regardless of my very temporary safety, I needed to move. Kalea was in danger and so was I after all.
I stood up and gazed down the path I rolled through. Lo and behold, the guard was already making an assault against me.
He grabbed one of the blades from the ground to swing at me.
I ducked and side-stepped the slash as it hit the display behind me. Wasting no breath, I tackled the guard to the ground. (And then came the bright idea to basically just punch the guy.)
*PNNNG!*
Instantaneous regret plagued my mind when I punched the guard’s helmet. “Ahhh…owwww!!!” (Legendary-brand super strength or not, punching hard metal is a bad idea. It hurts, a lot. The punch didn’t even make a dent.)
Taking advantage of the moment, the Bisharp pushed me away, making me trip over and land with my back on a wooden box. He then tried a blade swing once more.
Now on the ground and effectively cornered by blades, I was about to eat the bitter end of sharp metal…that is until an idea hit my head. It was yet another dumb “human” idea but…I didn’t have the time to be hesitant.
With one arm, I grabbed a nearby blade and swung it right at the Bisharp’s sword in order to parry.
(Well, the goal was accomplished, that much is certain.) With a shrill sound, my swing broke right through the Bisharp’s blade, but I also unintentionally flung it away in the process, piercing a nearby wall.
Tension was high as I leapt away. Unfortunately by the time I realized it, I was already sparking and preparing a Thunderbolt. In my attempt to stop myself, I made a nasty and flashy blast that caused me to stumble backwards.
The metal displays ringed and popped with flying sparks, wood and splitters scattered in the immediate area.
(“No no no no…shoot!”) Horrifying thoughts occupied my mind. Did I hurt everyone in the room or worse? What have I done? Did my habits cause another accident? Just then something else rushed to mind. (“LOOK OUT!”)
I instinctively looked to my right as my ears swiveled. The Bisharp was closing in with glaring and obvious Laser Focus.
He gave me a harsh elbow to the gut, pushing me off the ground. And then he followed up with a palm strike imbued with Dark-Type power.
The strike shouldn’t have done much damage….okay, it’s supposed to hurt, but it was way more damage than it should have been. It felt like a blow I would make with that posture. (The answer was simple. Only one Dark-Type attack could turn a target’s strength against themselves, an attack that should have been all too familiar, Foul Play.)
Regardless, the Bisharp’s decisive attack sent me tumbling through several glass displays.
My instincts were firing from every possible source. (“Get up! Get up! Get up!”) was the general thought.
Within moments, the Bisharp was leaping at me with a Night Slash, aiming for a kill.
I extended my claws with Scratch and crisscrossed them into a web-shape, catching the slash attack before it could reach my neck. “Ghhh! Rrrrrrgh!” I pressed my good leg’s foot against the Bisharp’s gut, preventing him from leaning closer.
“Should have stayed up at the surface!” the Bisharp scolded, “Should have minded your own business, like you cowards always do!” He pressed the slash harder against my defense.
I blinked. (“Like always?”)
The Steel-Type glared at me. “Hmmph! Don’t you play dumb. You know why, just like the others.”
(“Know what? Just great…another thing I don’t know, but I’m not dying here, not to you.”) I slowly pushed the Bisharp, making him lean to his right. (Time was short. The Scratch attack was starting to bend and crack.) My fingertips were starting to hurt.
An unstable-looking pile of treasure chests stood tall to my left.
As much as I tried to kick with my good leg, each attempt put the Bisharp’s slash attack closer to my neck. I needed to use my injured, but free leg.
I pressed my other foot against the Bisharp and the pain hit me once again. I couldn’t keep my mouth shut, it was too much to stay silent. I let out an almost blood-curdling scream. “Gaaaaah! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggh!”
Fighting through the pain, I kicked the Bisharp away with both feet.
The guard hit the pile with considerable force, but it wasn’t enough to topple.
Just after, something or someone kicked over the pile. I barely crawled out of the way. As for the guard, he could only react before the chests fell onto him mercilessly.
I may not have been an expert on Steel-Types, but it doesn’t take one to know that a pile of heavy objects would be enough to knock them out at least. It certainly takes more weight than a few vain treasures to crush one as well.
I shook my paws as my claws were hurting from all that prior pressure they stood against.
When the smoke cleared, I glanced over and saw a rather beat up Kalea standing behind where the chest pile was.
“Hah hah…Pressed and sealed!” she remarked, dropping to her usual posture.
She crawled over to me and extended a flipper. “Even I know one shouldn’t be heartless with their savior now, right?”
I took the flipper. “Thanks.” Pain shot up my leg as I tried to stand. “Agh!”
The Primarina quickly noticed. “You’re hurt.”
“Grrrhh! Urgh!” With a heightened struggle, I finally managed to stand. “I’ll…I’ll be fine.”
Much to the Primarina’s stunned silence, I limped out of the room.
We hurried through the now empty hallways (as quickly as a land-locked Primarina and a limping Zeraora could anyways).
“What happened to Lucy?” Kalea asked, hoisting some kind of bag over her back.
I was already stumped. I didn’t know. As far as I knew, Lucy never followed me into that treasure room…or…at least I thought she didn’t.
So…I gave a vague, but probable answer. “I just hope she finds Grapploct.”
Before Kalea could say more we turned at an intersection and the first thing we saw was an unfamiliar face, standing on his two feet. He looked ready to fire at us, based on the light-green power surrounding him.
Kalea dropped to the ground first thing.
“W-Wait!” I shouted.
The figure, still maintaining his focus, simply gave this command, “Get down.”
He fired a small beam over my shoulder as I dropped to the ground. A grunt of pain was the next thing I heard.
The big guy ran past us on all fours. It was then that I saw a knocked out Nuzleaf on the ground.
Kalea piped up, “Nice shot, Dalton…for once.”
Despite the dark green coat, it was easy to tell that this Dalton fellow was one of those long-bodied brown pokemon. Definitely not a Furret, the body was thicker and wider than that. (Still, the ability to stand tall on his hind legs and that oddball yellow stripe of fur on the head. Yep, this guy was definitely a Gumshoos.)
Dalton grumbled as he started restraining the Nuzleaf. “…for once? Why are your words always so cold, Kalea?”
I gave the Primarina a narrowed side glance. (“Oh lovely…”) “…Let me guess…another friend you know?”
The retainer rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly. “Ehhehe…well, kind of…just another police mon in the force. We Silspringers are a tight community.”
I stayed silent. (“…What? Do you have a book of names? …Then again…Kalea did mention the inability to leave…”)
Once he finished tying up the criminal, Dalton turned around and faced us, rope in hand. “Okay then, what got you folks involved this time, Kalea? Fledgling?”
The Primarina sighed, “Fledgling.”
Afterwards, Dalton blinked upon looking at me. “Hey wait…” He stomped with a frown. “You’re that new Zeraora Ivory mentioned!”
“New? What do you mean new?” I said, tilting my head. “I have nine years experience.”
Dalton put his paws up to ease the tension. “Whoa there, lightning rod. Don’t strike me for being told that.”
I scoffed and shook my head. “Tch, fine.”
Even Kalea held a pensive expression as she remarked, “I see D.D. is as sassy and busy as ever.”
Dalton crossed his arms. “Hey now, our duties are just as important as her’s. You should be thankful that anyone was here to help, even Miss Ivory is elsewhere right now.”
So D.D. wasn’t here. That was curious to learn. One would think that this Shadow Auction would be something of a priority, right? Or at least something she would have found out about, right? And if not, how did Lucy find out about it?
After getting escorted out of the building by Dalton and his Nuzleaf prize, Kalea and I started making our way to the entrance. The pier was filled with security, police mons, and other captured criminal folk, some of which I recognized.
The light was practically dimmed to a deep evening look. I glanced over toward the center of town where the Hourglass Tower stood. The tower’s metal was lighting up with a pleasant glow, just like last night. It was hard to tell, but the long arm seemed to be in the middle of the Evening wedge.
We went our separate ways once we exited the auction halls. Dalton mentioned something about needing to go elsewhere to add to the “literal pile of crooks we nabbed today.”
So, Kalea and I started making our way to the pier’s entrance gate.
On the way, Kalea piped up, “…Let me guess, you want to know what happened while Oct and you were gone.”
I turned to the Primarina. I was somewhat surprised she would bring it up but at the same time I wanted to know myself. “Yeah, in fact I do want to know. How the heck did Lucy leave your sight now?”
Without much resistance, Kalea recounted her tale.
In essence, Kalea and Lucy managed to reach the Upperside faster than Otto and I. Upon getting back to the house, they started repacking some emergency supply bags they had stored there. Once Kalea’s back turned, Lucy successfully made a dash out of the house.
From there, Kalea hurried to the docks, assuming Lucy would try to help Otto and I. She eventually found a bag Lucy snagged and searched frantically in the midst of the chaos. All in all, it was a mess.
After hearing the story, I gave this remark. “And that’s where they get you. A false sense of security. Take advantage of the new trust and bam!”
Kalea turned her gaze away with a frown. “Oh…is that it? Do you legendaries really have that little faith in them? So little trust?”
I crossed my arms. What did she expect? I’m just me. (There was no way she’d understand what I went through. Lies are told all the time, legendary or not.) Considering Lucy told more than several fibs in such a short time, it was Kalea’s mistake. Regardless, there were a lot of priorities on my mind to keep track of anyways.
Finally, we made it to the entrance, which was crowded by a ton of police pokemon. Of course, there were crowds of other curious pokemon all of whom were most likely wondering what happened. (Wouldn’t be surprised if some of them were “the nosy type” as commoners put it.)
Using a combination of Kalea’s emergency supplies and Life Dew, we took the time to heal ourselves while waiting for Grapploct and Lucy, recent scraps and bruises included.
During the time, Kalea raised a brow. “Something wrong?”
I was wincing at the time as I felt my bad leg. It wasn’t unbearable, but I flinched a lot during the trip back. Each step shot a reminder into my head. But…I had my pride. Legendaries have been through all sorts of hardships in history and they hardly ever asked commoner folks for help. So why should I ask now? So I answered Kalea’s question with a firm. “No, just…just a tad…glad the mess is over now.”
The Primarina blinked and shook her head. “…Nice try, pal, but you’re still hurt.” She glanced at my bad leg. “Your leg is injured, don’t you try and hide it now.”
(“Read me like an open scroll…darn it…”) I was about to refute it, but… I sighed. (“Just let her help.”) “…Fine, my leg’s been hurting like this since the catacombs.”
The Water-Type slapped my paw away and started pressing a flipper on my hip joint. I, of course, winced with…whatever attempt she made to find out.
“Tsk…Looks like the bone’s been pulled around,” she stated.
I irritably frowned as more terms invaded my head. (“I believe that’s what the humans called ‘pulled out of socket.’ Of course that’ll happen. My leg got pulled down by a heavy anchor pokemon.”)
“Hmmm…I bet you hate that pain because you want to run, don’t ya?” the retainer remarked.
I rasped. “You have no idea.”
Kalea rolled her eyes. “You’re right, I don’t.” She then pressed hard on my leg with both flippers.
I heard my bones cracking as a massive amount of shock and pain shot through my body. My body reeled as I yelped with a high-pitch scream. “AWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!”
Kalea flinched as she started using Life Dew in the midst of my pain-induced panic. “Breath, you fool,” she dully instructed.
I clenched my teeth and tried to stop myself from showing a tear. “Mmmmmm Hmmhmmmmmm!!!”
Eventually, Kalea finished her work and my leg, though in pain, was starting to feel a little better…kind of. She wiped her forehead and sighed in relief. “Not broken thankfully.”
“What do you mean not broken?” I snapped, “What was that for?”
The Water-Type crossed her arms, “You’re welcome, sir. Just don’t put stress on it and you should be fine tomorrow. Got it?”
“………Yes.” I then muttered to myself. “Now if only your psychotic definition of ‘healing’ wasn’t so blunt.” Psychotic might not have been the best choice of descriptive words.
From there, we just waited…and waited.
Something was wrong. Despite Kalea and I waiting for only a few long moments, neither Grapploct nor Lucy turned up. Neither of us said anything, but I was sure we both had the thought at the back of our minds. (It was a wonder if something happened or if Lucy or Grapploct got into deeper trouble somewhere…or something else. Either way, we wouldn’t find out from just sitting near the entrance.)
Kalea was the first to straighten up. Just as she did that, something caught her sight.
Looking toward the indicated direction, I saw Grapploct hurrying toward the two of us, alone.
“There you two are,” they said, coming up to us. The Fighting-Type stood up with a regular Grapploct stance. (Otto basically took over the fronting duty again.) And then came the dreaded question I feared. “You two didn’t happen to see Lucy, did ya?”
Kalea’s gaze instantly snapped to my eyes, evidently furious. “Zera, I thought you said she was with Grapploct!”
I glowered at the Primarina in disbelief. (“That was not what was said at all!”) “What? No. I said I hope she finds him.”
Kalea groaned as she heard my reply, eventually pointing at me. “Gaaah! Just…shut up! Just get up and shut up!”
I stood, my leg still stinging, but not as bad as before.
Otto took command of the situation at that moment. “Well I checked the complex we found earlier and not much of a trace at all.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” Kalea pondered, “Unless…” She then bit her lip as her eyes widened. She glanced at the bag she carried. “…Ohhhh…son of a Ditto.”
Otto nodded. “Kalea, go where you must. Zera, check the south side. I’ll check the waters. We’ll meet back here once we’re done, alright?”
Kalea and I nodded. And with that, we went our separate ways.
My leg was still stinging from the “healing process” it went through. I still needed to limp from place to place. All I could do was…walk (and the process was every bit annoying and dreadful as it sounded).
As I made my way south, I asked around for any sign of Lucy…nothing. Vanished like the maiden Misdreavus she was.
As mad as I was, shame hit my being hard. She was there, right in front of me. And I let her go. She took advantage of my need to help others in need. Kalea probably could have survived, right? (Honestly, it was hard to tell. Lucy said she was gonna die if no one helped. And thinking back to the scene, she definitely seemed like she was in trouble. Probably wouldn’t have thanked her “savior” otherwise.)
(“There’s something wrong here…about all of this. Kalea’s story and Lucy’s sudden compliance or…I dunno…I just gotta find her. I won’t be able to live with myself if I don’t…assuming Lugia doesn’t grind me into Minior feed first.”)
Sometime later, while making my way past another storage house, something caught my eye. A shell on the ground. (“…Wait…finally, a trace! That’s one of Lucy’s!”) I picked it up and started searching around, seeing if there was more.
I then noticed the door of a nearby storage house. It looked beat up, broken open. Something or someone forced their way in. So I slipped through the forcibly-opened gap and entered the warehouse, collecting the items along the way until…
“…Wha-…” (“What the heck?”)
Sticking out of the ground was a metal needle (an Iron Spike). A note was pinned under said needle.
Pulling out the needle and taking hold of the note, an overwhelming sense of dread took over. I gritted my teeth. My hands were trembling as I read the contents.
I could only utter a simple phrase. “Ohhh….nooo…” (Fear aside, the unthinkable had happened.)
To the Electric-Type Surface-Dweller,
We have taken away the youngling whose life you value without a doubt. If you ever want to see her alive and well again, you must turn yourself over to us at Midnight, for we wish to observe your character, both physically and mentally. Go to where the city’s blossoms glow at their brightest against the odds of nature and pokemon.
You MUST come alone, or else!
The Lunar Stars
A cold chill ran through my being. The chilling feeling got even worse when my ears swiveled.
“There you are!”
It was Otto’s voice, calling out to me. My back was luckily turned to him.
Kalea also happened to pipe up. “Any luck finding Lucy?”
They were both behind me and knowing them…I doubted they’d listen to me and run after Lucy. I didn’t know what to do. What could I even say?
The retainers started walking up to me, probably with raised brows.
Kalea then probed me with this question. “Zera, are you…okay? You look pale.”
(“No time to think now, just action.”)
“…………….”
Fragment of Knowledge:
Upperside Trade Piers:
Mainly housed on the north-eastern edge of the Central District’s Upperside, the Trade Piers serve as one of the city’s primary storage facilities and hubs for importing and exporting goods across the underwater regions.
Thanks to Silspring’s unique landscapes, the city has become a leading producer of surface-exclusive foods such as berries, plants, and even spices in some cases.
Despite Silspring’s prestige in the seafloor world, its risky and convoluted location in conjunction with the natural hazards make the possibility of trade with the surface world practically impossible.
Special Thanks to TheSnapDragon for beta reading this chapter.
-He’s done a lot to help out in Day 1’s editing. So, thanks a bunch.
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