[A Bleached Sanctuary] (Part 2)

Crick!

His eyes dart open.

What was that?

His slumber hadn’t exactly been restful, so it didn’t take much for him to wake up.

That sound. Was it a twig snapping in the woods?

His eyes slowly glance around the village.

Everyone is sleeping, dreaming, all nestled in their tents, the ones outside laying on blankets.

…Except Ogerpon, who’s laying flat on her back in the middle of the grass. Does she always sleep like that?

He keeps his guard up, eyes sweeping the area, making sure-

Crick!

There it is again.

Rustle rustle rustle…

Something’s moving round in the bushes surrounding the village. An intruder? Someone dangerous?

It would not feel right to simply shrug it off and go back to sleep, no. If his presence within the village is as much a disturbance as Aurorus claims, then the least he can do is provide protection, to make up for the hurt.

His eyes sweep the outside bushes, trying to follow the sound. For the briefest of moments, he sees something through the leaves in the bushes. Something purple, something big and bulky.

At least, he thinks it’s purple. Hard to tell when it’s so dark out now, and the trees above darken the moonlight that could potentially shine through.

The rustling suddenly stops, coming to a halt at one of the trees. He squints, seeing just the faintest hint of a glow, two white eyes, scowling ahead. Staring directly at Ogerpon.

A quiet, wet, squelching creaking noises is heard, as two additional purple glows join the white, making it unmistakable that something is there now. And it doesn’t take a lot of thought for Darkrai to quickly realize what’s going on.

Squurrrchh!

Something launches out of the bushes, Darkrai wastes no time rushing over. “Ogerpon!”

He extends his arm out, stretching it far, hands tightly clenching around the mysterious object as he catches it. Close call.

“Mmnnnnwuuuuuggghhh…?” He hears Ogerpon mutter as she stirs, her eyes opening tiredly, starry pupils gazing up at Darkrai with a sleepy, confused expression. “Darkrai? What’re you-“

He quickly hushes her, examining the projectile in his hand. It’s purple, not the same shade of purple as the one he saw, but a similar one. It’s… Strangely soft, not something you’d want for a projectile. He could probably crush it in his hand if he wanted to. He squints, lifting it up, sniffing at it.

It’s sweet, has a peachy flavor to it. Now, Darkrai becomes confused more than anything as he stares down at it. Is this supposed to be Mochi? “Seems like someone was trying to give you a midnight snack, by force.”

Ogerpon’s expression seems to darken as her eyes go wide. Is that a hint of paleness he sees, too? She says nothing, though, just sitting in shock, in silence as Darkrai turns back to the forest, the glow having faded. But he knows that something is still there, hiding. He can feel it. So, he decides to give the invader a taste of their own medicine.

Darkrai chucks the purple mochi back into the bushes, and sure enough, he hits something. _“Ow!” There’s tumbling, rustling of branches and leaves a few crashes can be heard just before their little intruder rolls out of the bushes. Some kind of- What is that thing? Some kind of bright purple Pokemon wrapped up in a peach-like shell, its face hidden by some kind of see-through pane, revealing only its eyes. _{“Ghhuuhh…”}

“You.” Darkrai hears Ogerpon speak behind him, in what can only be the most malicious, anger-induced voice he’s ever heard, turning back to see a fire burning in her eyes as she quickly reaches for her cudgel, gripping it as tightly as she can as she stomps towards the Pokemon. “What do YOU think you’re doing here?! You slimy, weasling little-?!”

The crackling of leaves roars above. Another intruder? Large wings, body too shadowed by the mottled moonlight to properly make out. No time to waste. On instinct, Darkrai’s arm stretches out and quickly pulls Ogerpon back towards him, other hand reaching up with a clutching motion as a swathe of inky black tentacles erupt from the ground, tightly gripping around the airborne attacker, tossing them back at a tree as they slowly slide down.

Easier to see them on the ground. A bird Pokemon. Certainly not a common one. Primarily black, orange tipped feathers. Purple, much the same color as that other Pokemon, starkly out of place on the bird, its eyebrows and some sort of ribbon, some sort of bow wrapped around its chest, made out of that very same Mochi. “T-That smarts…” It groans, glancing over at the peachy Pokemon beside it. “Jig’s up, it looks like.”

“We got caught? How?!” Another Pokemon shouts, rustling through the bushes. Monkey looking fella, shaped like a big, rounded chess piece. Lanky looking, on the thinner- or he supposes, less horizontal side and more of the vertical side. Another chain of mochi wrapped around his head too, like a headband. “”I ran through this in my head hundreds of times! There’s no way we possibly could have-“

“Can it, big brains.” A gruffer voice comes out as a large, green hand grips at the top of the monkey’s hand, a large dog-like Pokemon coming out, from the bushes, a biped. Ah, of course, the big brute. That’s what was missing from this big gang of trouble-making misfits. Yet again, another mochi chain, this one wrapped around its neck, acting like a scarf. “Seems like the little brat has a new bodyguard now.”

Darkrai holds onto Ogerpon longer, feeling her trembling with rage in his grip, trying to break free so she can go and lash out at the intruders, presumably caving their faces in with that cudgel of hers. “I’m flattered, though I’m afraid I’ve only just gotten acquainted with the little lady here. Though it seems you all seem to share a history together…”

“They. Ruined. My. Life.” Ogerpon growls, voice quaking with rage as the grip on her cudgel tightens, only now relenting as she stops trying to break free from Darkrai’s grip. “They’ve done absolutely nothing but cause harm to everyone around them, and I am not about to let them hurt this village!”

“Pcheehh, please.” A bratty little voice comes from the peachy Pokemon as it opens itself up, literally. Looks just as rotten on the inside, could almost be mistaken for a child from how small its actual body is. Dark purple body,white eyes and mouth, a long and misshapen ponytail resting behind it. “At least we don’t have a body count on our hands.” His gaze sneers as he stares down Ogerpon. “Unlike you.“

“Yeah! And I’d do it again!” Ogerpon snaps back, her cudgel thudding as it thumps against the ground. “I’d happily do it again if it meant getting rid of freaks for good!” Man, he knew Ogerpon was feisty, but these are some severe levels of feist.

Darkrai glances behind him, the other villagers mumbling, starting to wake up, confused murmurs filling the surrounding area. The village elder pokes his long neck out of his tent, eyes squinting as he gazes out. “What’s all the ruckus? What’s happening out here?” He calls out, groaning as he shakes off sleep.

“Unwanted guests, sir.” Darkrai responds, gaze turning back to the four. “Very unwanted guests, it seems. How did you even make it past-“

_“Mochi!” Two voices can be heard off in the distance, repeating some sort of.. Chanting call. Of mochi. _{“Mochi mochi mochiiiiiiiiii!”}

“Pcheehh, at least they’re having fun.” The peachy Pokemon sneers with a smirk as it glances back at the source of the voices. “They seemed so tired when we stumbled across them, but now they’re all active, dancing and happy! Now they don’t have to worry about falling asleep on the job. They were so thankful, they let us in without a word.”

“Invasion via impromptu dance party… Odd.” Darkrai remarks, shaking his head. “But just judging from the fact you tried to go after Ogerpon, while she was sleeping no less, you lot don’t exactly strike me as the kind with good intentions.”

“Whaaaaaaaat? Us?” The bird scoffs, crossing his arms. “We just have a little score to settle, is all! The village doesn’t have to bicker with us if they don’t want, it’s only Ogerpon we’re after, of course.”

Aurorus sneers as he walks out of his tent, stepping up towards both Darkrai and Ogerpon. “Subdue out guards, trespass on our village and try to harm one of us? You’re sorely mistaken if you think we’re going to take this sitting down.”

“Hah! Her? One of you?” The monkey sneers, leaning forward. “You know she’s not from around here! Nowhere near here! As if you’d treat such an outsider, such a little, bratty twerp as part of your own, unaware of what she can do, unaware of what she’s done to even us! If you knew how dangerous she could be, you wouldn’t dare allow her to-“

Deny!

Darkrai thrusts his hands out at the monkey, and in just a moment, his body gives out and he collapses face first into the ground. “WHMMMPHH?! HMHMMPHUUAGHH?!”

The other Pokemon all flinch, though the big dog doesn’t seem too phased, more annoyed if anything, the peachy Pokemon absolutely livid in shock and surprise as the dog rolls the monkey over. “Run that by again?” He asks.

“H-He turned off my body!” The monkey stammers, unable to do anything but quiver uselessly in the grass. “L-Like a switch flipped! C-Can’t move!”

“Monkey see, monkey do, your bones are now monkey stew.” Darkrai says. If he had a proper mouth, he’d be smirking.

“Get them! Get them now!” The peachy Pokemon shouts whinily, flailing its arms around. The bird and the dog quickly turn to the group, the bird recomposing itself while the dog, meanwhile, just rushes straight for them.

“Darkrai, you go for Fezandipiti! Aurorus, you take Okidogi! Leave Pecharunt to me!” Ogerpon shouts. So those are their names, huh? Swell.

Here’s hoping his amnesia hasn’t put a damper on his fighting.

Leaving the other two to fight their own fights, Darkrai focuses on his own target. The bird.

This should be interesting.

The bird tries to swipe at him with his feathers.

Not happening.

He swiftly dodges, swerving around Fezandipity, striking him in the back with a Dark Pulse.

This sends the bird to the ground.

He squawks angrily, flapping his wings furiously as he tries to come in for another strike. Rather suddenly at that.

It’s enough to catch Darkrai off guard, being struck, but he recovers fast.

Fezandipity makes the mistake of pushing his head too close to Darkrai, and he wraps his hand tightly around his beak, his free hand delivering a blow to the bird’s stomach.

This knocks the wind out of him, causing the bird to stumble back as his beak slips out of Darkrai’s grasp, coughing a bit.

_{“L-Low blow…”} The bird mutters out, an eye scrunched shut as he tries to recover from having the wind knocked out of him.

“Ahh, too low, huh? Thanks for the suggestion, I’ll go a little higher this time.”

Embrace!

Darkrai reaches out with his hand, clutching it tightly, pulling the bird closer to him at rapid speeds, faster than it can react.

One swift blow to the face later, the bird is down for the count.

Darkrai is almost disappointed. It went down so easily, can barely even be called a battle.

“Hmmph. All bark, no bite.” He scoffs, staring down the bird. “Figures. Maybe your other friends are putting up more of a fight.”

Which, they certainly are, to an extent.

Aurorus is in a more head-on fight with Okidogi, their body sizes allowing them easily to tank hits from each other, though Aurorus’ long neck allows him to be a bit more agile as he tackles himself against Okidogi’s body.

Ogerpon, meanwhile, is swinging away at Pecharunt, but it seems as though it’s an endless game of Glameow and Rattata, constantly swiping at him, hoping to land a hit.

He does launch some of those mochi ribbons at her, Ogerpon swiftly dodging out of the way as the ribbons instead wrap around one of the trees, making it wither and decay at an alarming pace.

Perhaps he can help..

Grasp!

Darkrai swipes his hand up, a tendril erupting from the ground and wrapping itself tightly around Pecharunt, which stops him dead in his tracks. A look of dread crosses over his face as he stares up at Ogerpon above him, a malicious glare across her face as she wastes no time punting the little peach with her cudgel, freeing it from the grip of the tendril.

Around that same time, Aurorus manages to strike Okidogi with a powerful hyper beam, sending him launching back into a tree, the one that Pehcarunt also happens to collide against.

Darkrai can see Fezandipiti juuuuust about to get up behind him, but before the bird has a chance to get back on his feet, he’s blasted with a fierce blast of water, him too colliding against the tree that everyone decided to toss them all again.

Seeing the source, Darkrai sees a Pokemon, a big, red, lumpy and sort of spiky one, two giant appendages that seem to act as hoses pointed towards Fezandipity, before clamping back together. Ah, that would be the Volcanion that Ogerpon had mentioned earlier.

With everyone down for the count and very little fight left in them, it seems Pecharunt acts accordingly as he clambers back up. “Retreat! Retreat!” He wails as the four of them get back up, Fezandipity picking up the motionless monkey in his talons as he flies away, the group rushing off into the night.

“And you stay out! Creeps!” Ogerpon shouts after them, waving her cudgel as they all run away.

Well.

Glad that’s over.

---

It’s still dark out by the time everything has calmed down.

The sky is a little brighter- at least, he thinks it is. He hadn’t noticed when he’d woken up, but the sky is a blend of colors, though with it being dark, it’s hard to tell which. He just knows that the sky looks a little inconsistent.

Many of the villagers are awake now, making sure everything is intact and in check, the village nurse, a Chansey, tending to the guards that Pecharunt had force fed, a Chesnaught and an Emboar.

Some are tending to the tree, some debating whether or not they should remove it, so that Pecharunt’s poison doesn’t spread to the rest of the forest.

For now, though, Darkrai is simply resting against a tree, listening to the conversation Aurorus and Volcanion are having.

_{“You mean to tell me you let him stay the night, even knowing what he could bring upon us?”} Volcanion’s deep, gruff voice can be heard.

_{“I realize the troubles with this, yes. He helped the village, he helped us, but don’t think I’m going to use that as clause for him to stay here. Should anyone else take refuge here, they’ll start to question why we’re letting such a Pokemon stay with us.”}

Unsurprising.

He wasn’t exactly expecting the whole ‘helping the village’ thing to be a get out of jail free card.

He turns his head and-

…Catches sight of Ogerpon starting to leave the village.

Huh?

Darkrai gets back up, calling out to her. “Ogerpon? What’re you doing?”

“Mmnh?” She stops in her tracks, glancing back at Darkrai, before turning around fully. “Oh, I’m leaving.””

“I can see that.” Darkrai says as a matter-of-factly, crossing his arms over his chest, looking past Ogerpon at the path ahead, before looking back at her. “May I ask why, though? Everything’s calmed down, the village is fine, and-“

“They know where I am now. I can’t stay.” Ogerpon says, glancing back as she clutches her cudgel tightly. “If I do, who knows what they’ll do if they try to come after me again? These people kept me safe, I can’t put them through this again. They only lost a tree, but maybe next time, it’ll be another person, or more than one person.”

Darkrai hums. That… Does make sense, yeah. He can see where that rationality lies. “Well… What’s next, then? Where are you going to stay after this?”

Ogerpon shrugs with a solemn smile. “I dunno. I’m thinking of maybe catching a boat to Galar and hang around there for a little while. I did my part here, maybe I can be useful over there now.”

“Ah. Is Galar a good place or-“

“Are you kidding me?” She chuckles softly. “Galar’s a mess nowadays. They’re still putting themselves back together all this time later because they still haven’t fully recovered. That’s why I’m going there. Nobody wants to be in Galar right now, which is exactly why I don’t expect them to track me there.”

Darkrai’s eyebrows furrow. “I’m not sure I follow. You’re going to a place that’s effectively desolate? Is that what I’m getting?”

“Not desolate, no, don’t you-” She pauses, blinking for a few times as a realization crosses her face. “…Oh, yeah, the whole amnesia thing. You probably wouldn’t remember, would you?” She sighs, shaking her head. “You can learn more if you ask around. I need to get going before they have the chance to come back.” She turns around, making her way off again, before stopping and glancing back at Darkrai. “Oh, and… Thanks for saving me back there. I don’t wanna think about what would’ve happened if Pecharunt actually got me to eat that mochi.” And then she’s off again.

Darkrai stands there, seeing her off. There she goes, making her own path. He’s about to head back to the village, when he hears Aurorus speaking to him from behind. “There she goes, off on her own journey. Who knows where it will take her?” The big, fairy dino says as he walks up next to him, seeing her off as well. “But what of you, Darkrai? Do you know where you’ll go when you depart?”

“Truthfully, no.” Darkrai shakes his head, glancing down at the ground as he crosses his arms. “Haven’t thought too far ahead. Can’t see myself settling down somewhere, I know nothing about myself, I doubt the rest of the Pokemon in Unova will take kindly to me if you were anything to go by, no offense.”

“None taken.” Aurorus says with a light chuckle. “Journeys can be long and arduous… But they don’t always have to be walked alone.”

Walked alone? What is he-

Ah.

Hmmm.

That could work, yes.

“I suppose I’ll be on my way, then.” Darkrai glances up at Aurorus with a nod. “May your village stay safe.”

Darkrai starts drifting over to Ogerpon, a bit faster, making sure he’s able to catch up with her, calling out to her. “Ogerpon?”

“Wha- Darkrai?” She turns around, arching an eyebrow in confusion. “What’re you-“

“I’m coming with you.”

Ogerpon blinks, staring at him dumbfoundedly, processing his words as her expression turns confused. “…Why? Wouldn’t you be better off trying to figure out who you are? What would you gain by following me?”

“We’re both aimless right now, aren’t we?” Darkrai shrugs. “I don’t know who I am, you don’t know where you’re going next, we’re effectively in a state of limbo. We could stand to benefit from traveling with each other, helping each other.”

Ogerpon hesitates, eyes darting around as her eyebrows furrow, thinking deeply, carefully as the grip on her cudgel loosens a little, resting it against the ground as she leans on its handle. “You sure this is a good idea? I don’t want to, you know… Make things harder for you or anything. You’ll have to deal with those jerks just as much as I do.”

“If what I saw tonight is anything to go by, we can take them on. Even if it’s, well, two to four. We can handle them together.” He reaches his hand out, offering for Ogerpon to shake on an agreement. “We can get through this together. You’ll find a place to settle down, maybe I’ll find myself in the process.”

Ogerpon sighs, gaze lingering at the ground for a few moments, staying silent for a while. Her eyes drift to Darkrai’s extended hand, her own covered hand finally reaching out and placing it in his. “We’re in this together and we’re sticking through it together. I don’t want you walking out on me or leaving me in the middle of our journey. Okay?”

Darkrai holds Ogerpon’s hand firmly as he shakes it with a nod of his hand. “Promise.”

“Remember.” Ogerpon pauses for a moment.

“Don’t make a promise if you can’t keep it.”