Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Frontier Justice

There I was, just having a wonderful day on patrol in Houston… when it happened.

“Oh- and there he goes…” I frustratedly muttered to myself as I broke into a sprint.

Some guy just jacked a woman’s purse and I happened to be looking in their direction. I can’t believe I even caught the act at first, I stood there stunned when I should’ve been running to stop it. Now he has a head start.

The suspect practically flew into an alleyway with me rapidly catching up. I shouted after him with frustration creeping into my voice. “POLICE, STOP WHERE YOU ARE.”

My words did not elicit any kind of reasonable response. He kept running like I never said anything at all, the purse bouncing up and down as he continued to resist his inevitable arrest. At least my higher ups can’t say I didn’t try.

Something began to pound intensely in my head. I wanted to stop running, but found myself unable to control my body. Every footstep started to echo and blend together into one as the world around me started to slightly blur.

The suspect abruptly stopped and pulled a knife from out of his pocket as the world seemed to return to normal. I whipped out my taser. “Drop the weapon and put your hands above your head.”

Blur overtook my vision again, the pounding drowning out anything the suspect said. I felt like I was being watched from everywhere at once, the throbbing pain like something was tearing into my mind with claws.

For a moment, I saw somewhere else. Thick green trees and blue sky. I heard my fathers yelling and the crack and boom of a glock… but mixed with the yelling of another language I did not recognize. I saw shapes in the corner of my eye that barely resembled humans, with colors that definitely weren’t.

My body refused to move, locked in a bent down position as something probed my every wanted movement from within. I felt the feeling intensify in my legs before a sickening crack-

The blur and pounding abruptly stopped. I found myself distant from my own body despite seeing things through its eyes, like I was watching things in a theater. I found myself back in the alleyway, my body moved of its own accord, escorting the now handcuffed suspect into the patrol vehicle while one parked just behind mine.

Another officer approached. He grimaced slightly. “You have everything under control?”

“Yes, dad, I have everything under control.”

“Alright,” he leaned against the door of his car. “Did you do everything to protocol?”

I nodded wordlessly, unable to see his features as the feeling of being distant seemed to grow.

“Is… something wrong?” he asked.

A sigh escaped me as I shook my head. “I’m just a little… out of it today.”

The blur slowly spread across my vision as my hearing slurred together with it. The world disappeared along with all sensation of it, panic being something I found myself unable to feel. Only the rapid thumping of my heartbeat reminding me that I was even there. Slowly, my senses came back to me in a silent environment.

I was no longer outside, or dressed in my police uniform. I had some grey sweatpants with a cyan shirt on and nothing else. I glanced out a nearby window, seeing the setting sun. Something within me got me to jump to my feet and look around, I was definitely in my apartment… yet something felt off.

The ringing of my phone brought me back, the number being that of my father. It beeped as I answered. “Hey, whats up?”

“Just checking up on you, I still remember how you looked earlier today. How have things been since then?” he asked wearily.

My voice answered not of my own accord, like all this already happened and I was watching it all play out. “Better, though I think I’m going to take the day off tomorrow.”

“Maybe you and I can do something tomorrow…”

My voice answered for me again. “What’d you have in mind?”

Everything blanked out as the pounding returned. Raw unbridled pain barreled through my mind, the feeling of being unable to move followed right behind it. I wanted to scream and yell but found that not a sound could be made. Only the steady rate of my heartbeat could be heard. I clung onto it desperately, trying to take my mind off of the agony I was feeling.

I heard my father yelling again, raw and losing its strength. More shapes flowed past me as it seemed to become more distant. I was flat on the ground, eyes barely open. I heard voices in a language I could not recognize, but now could understand.

A feminine metallic sounding voice boomed in the distance. “Get back here you witless cowards-”

Something shifted in my mind as I felt myself breathe in…

My eyes shot open, finding myself in my room in the dead of night. I scanned over everything yet I saw nothing out of the ordinary. My revolver sat on my nightstand with pictures of me and my dad. One was missing.

One that I really didn’t want to lose.

I got up, finding myself completely barren of clothes except for a pair of underwear. It wasn’t like I lived with anyone that could see me like this. With light tread, I braved the dark hallway and made it to the living room. In the center of a table in the room was the picture I was looking for.

It depicted only a single person from the top half of the chest up. An at the time fifteen year old with short light brown hair, grey eyes and careful smile, a black cap, and white skin occasionally plagued by a little bit of acne. My older brother.

Relief flowed through me as I walked back to my room with it in hand. I set it back on my nightstand with all the other photos I had there, waiting to greet me when I wake back up.

“I wonder what you’d say about me now…” I mumbled tiredly as I closed my eyes.

Blur returned, and nothing would respond to my wordless cries for help. I stopped trying to resist. Things seemed to briefly speed by, light finally surrounded me, but the horrid blur refused to go away.

The air seemed open, like I was outside. It was extremely hot again...

“What are we going out to do again?” my voice asked. Everything was blurred, my hands refused to raise themselves to my will.

I heard heavy footsteps on pavement. My ability to see anything was seemingly turned off, I wanted to panic but could only listen to my father’s deep, gruff voice. “After we hand this stuff in, I was thinking we could head out to the range.” I heard him chuckle heartily.

“Is this because of my new sniper rifle?” my voice said aloud, still against my will.

I heard a car door open before my dad chuckled again. “Heh, it's fun to watch you use it. Plus it doesn’t hurt that you let your old man try it out.”

“It’s almost brand new, I’ve only had it for a few weeks.”

His amused voice responded. “I’ll just watch you dink targets, if they’ll let me take a case of beer out there.”

My mouth went to open and say something in retort, but nothing came. The memory shattered away as everything went black, something ripping me away for the last time.


Some days, the healing section of the Guild couldn’t be more busy even if it tried. Today was one of those days. It hadn’t been two seconds since I cleared my last patient when I spotted an Emolga clutching its left arm. Still unattended to by anyone else here.

“Has no one come to help you yet?” I asked worriedly as I approached.

The Emolga shook its head. “No…”

Guess my plans for the afternoon would be a little delayed.

“I’ll help then.” I gestured to the door behind me. “Follow me please.”

The Emolga nodded wordlessly as it fell in behind me, wincing in pain from its arm. I could tell it was broken. Poor guy probably busted it up trying to glide. Maybe he wouldn’t notice if I stole a look at the memory of what happened… but me being a Gardevoir of respectable reputation stopped that idea before it could take hold.

We walked past a few other Pokémon before arriving where we needed to be. The room’s wooden walls didn’t do much to muffle the noises from the outside of it, much to my despair. Alas, a doctor such as me cannot be too picky over my environment, so long as it is clean and workable.

Especially here in Narkin, a frontier town so out on the fringe you’d miss us if it wasn’t for the popularity of our port. Exploration teams frequented here because of it… and that brought its own set of problems. Rowdy Pokémon were the bane of any well kept area. Especially on the nigh ruleless frontier.

The healing section was in pristine condition and well kept, thanks to me and others who shared my enthusiasm for keeping it that way. The rest… was workable. If at times a little dusty.

“Oh, Kira!” I heard from behind us. An Audino rushed up to us, a smile on their face. “Ace wants to see you in his office.”

I looked between the pained Emolga and the Audino and sighed. “Can you handle this for me then?”

“Of course!” The Audino bent down to the Emolga’s level. “Let's get you fixed up.” The Emolga nodded his head and followed behind her.

Briskly I walked down the hallway while stealing one last look at them. The clean wooden floors squeaked a little as I turned the corner into the main hall for the Guild. I was greeted to the usual sight of the general crowd of Pokémon going about their business.

Some were at the job board, browsing the selection there. Others were at the front desk, signing up to undertake more dangerous ones. I weaved through them all, as I went down another hallway to where Ace was waiting.

I opened the door to the sight of an Inteleon sitting on a chair behind a desk while looking out a window. He turned to me as I entered with a small smile on his face.

There were always a few chairs readily available, I sat in the one closest to him. “Why’d you drag me away from my duties this time?”

“Lloyd or Ronin never gave me that report of where you went last week still,” he chuckled.

“Of course he didn’t…”

He rolled his eyes with amusement. “What's the short version of what you found?”

“Nothing, I’m afraid.” A disgruntled sigh escaped me. “Lloyd thought we finally got a lead on potential information on humanity, I know he’s still mad about it. The information turned out to be nothing and was a big waste of time.”

Ace facepalmed as a grimace drifted across his face. “I’ll spare him any more grief at this point then. You’re dismissed.”

I got up and went to leave. “See you around then, Ace.” I waved tiredly as I went. He wordlessly nodded as he turned back to the window before the door closed.

“So what’d he need you for this time?”

I spun around, seeing the form of an amused Gallade rolling his eyes. I shook my head. “Nothing important, just that you and Lloyd didn’t give Ace the report from last week.”

“My mistake then, allow me to make it up to you-” he pulled out a slip of paper with a job on it. “I got all three of us a quick and easy job to do out in the woods..”

Ronin handed it to me. The note detailed the account of a Bidoof who wanted their berry bag recovered from the woods after they fled because there was screaming and a series of deafening bangs.

I couldn’t help but squint. “You’re not at all intrigued at what the-”

“Well, why do you think Lloyd agreed to take it?”

“Ah, so I take it you’re not planning on investigating that side of it?” I smiled smugly. Lloyd’s curiosity had once more gotten the better of him.

Ronin shook his head. “Well nobody takes those kinds of jobs, the mystery surrounding it is its own thing. Something I am quite worried about if I’m being honest, good doctor.”

“Then lets pack some basics up. Some of the Guild teams that came in today said something about a feral Houndoom leading a pack in the forest. If we come across them, it would be good if we… get rid of them.”


My eyes caught light seemingly at the end of a tunnel, rapidly expanding across the darkness. Feeling returned to me as I opened my eyes. My body finally bent to what I told it to do, my hands coming to rub my face.

I isolated what I felt to separate feelings.

An aching head. Bones that feel like they just got hit by a freight train. A sense of unfamiliarity with my surroundings and the feeling of being watched.

“For hell's sake...” I muttered as I slowly raised myself to my feet. I grunted as the pain, my legs were screaming at me with every nerve in them. Exerting to borderline unbearable levels like the bones were shattered with a sledgehammer.

The cool nature of the place around me took hold as I glanced around the area with all manner of surprise on my face. It appeared to be a heavily wooded forest, the scale of which I knew nothing about.

How could I have even ended up here? Last I remember I was doing my normal routine of monotonous errands that seemingly had no end. Whether it be at the Police precinct with my dad or home was... fuzzy.

I checked my pockets and found everything to still be in order in how I left them. My ID was in perfect condition, showing my name with my birthday below it and citizenship. I still had some money in my wallet. My phone was still in my pants pocket as well.

My hands drifted to my hip, feeling the cold iron and grip of my custom revolver still in its holster. I had a different then normal ammo on me, signalling that I definitely wasn’t doing something according to protocol. The label reading ‘subsonic ammunition’, it left me with more confusion strung about my mind.

Odd, I should’ve had my glock on me instead if I was supposedly on duty. I even had my other bits of equipment with me... was it somewhere around here? I pulled my phone out and tried to contact anyone, each time resulting in the same ‘no signal’ popup.

Nothing made sense at the moment, it's like I was kidnapped and put out here without any evidence to support that hypothesis. If it was some form of kidnapping I’d be stripped of anything valuable. Much less left with a fully loaded gun. But I should be thankful, I could defend myself at least.

Despite the longer barrel my revolver had, it still kicked and it barked pretty damn loud. But at the least, the subsonic ammo for it was much easier on the ears…

I patted down my sweater hastily, feeling a tube on the inside. I fished it out, lo and behold it was the suppressor for my glock. I hastily put it back, maybe I’d find it out here somewhere.

A small pond caught my attention.

The reflection showed me in detail, from my dark brown hair and cyan colored eyes, to my now wobbling legs-

I collapsed to the ground, my legs now feeling like someone was stabbing them with a dagger made of fire. Leaving me to stare at my pitiful reflection, seeing I was wearing a light grey button-up sweater on the top of my black shirt, my usual uniform. For some reason, I lacked my usual kevlar vest, that was worrying. I also noticed my sweatpants didn’t have grass stains on them, suggesting that I wasn’t out here very long at all...

It's like I appeared here without warning. Dropped into a strange land that I know nothing about. I’m not getting anywhere fast at this rate with my legs, and I desperately need to know where I am.

I couldn’t help but laugh because this whole thing was playing out like it was a dream. Maybe it was… just maybe. However having doubt at this point will only make this situation worse, I’d have to stay cool and collected in order to survive this mess.

Slowly, the feeling of unfamiliarity was overtaken… by familiarity. Why was I starting to recognize this place? I’ve never been here beforehand, and I would be willing to bet on that. The feeling wasn’t mine, it couldn’t be mine, it made no sense for it to be mine.

But how could it not be mine? What were the other possibilities?

The bushes rustled. A deathly silence came over me as I got to a crouched position, my revolver now loaded with the subsonic ammo. I cocked the hammer back with its ever satisfying click, a chill sent down my spine as the silence returned. I found myself hoping that whatever came out of the bushes wasn’t looking for blood.

Something blue exited the bushes. It was humanoid, and was reminiscent of something I’ve seen before as a kid-

My mind jumped to it being a Greninja the very second I noticed the weird scarf it makes with its tongue around its neck. It was looking right at me with an intentful stare. Should I be scared of it? It had a weird badge and purple bandanna around its left bicep. Clothing items? Seemed rather oddly specific to hallucinate with a Pokémon of all things.

Tentatively, I stared at it with my mind wanting to crack in two. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Pokémon by any means, I simply kept up with some aspects of it. But from what I did know, this situation is either going to be the last time I’m seen alive, or I’m high off my mind on drugs or something and nothing is actually there.

Pain rippled up through the lower half of my body.

I elected to ignore the ‘Greninja’ and looked back to my legs after pulling back my pants. Nothing looked wrong visually. Whatever was wrong might’ve been internal. That would be worse for my situation. I had no medical knowledge besides how to make sure nothing gets infected and how to prevent myself from bleeding out should I lose a limb. I was out of my league with this type of injury.

The ‘Greninja’ had seemingly gotten closer while I was turned away from it. The paranoid side of my mind howled at me to do something about it.

“Are you real? Or just a figment of my imagination?” I angrily half-yelled at it. My patience was starting to wear thin. Whether it be because of my lack of options, or that I was starting to suspect that it was real.

It crouched down like it was about to leap. My revolver remained trained on the ground in front of it. I spoke again as my stress swelled. “Go away-”

More rustling caught my attention.

“Hello?” someone called out as they exited the bushes.

A Gardevoir and Gallade exited the bushes. My jaw went slack, either I really lost it or I was in really big trouble. They both had a purple bandana wrapped around their left biceps along with one of the weird badges on them.

They caught sight of me and mimed the expression that the Greninja had. Panic welled up in me, everything inside me clicked that this wasn’t going to end well if I didn’t at least try to get away. I kept glancing around, looking for anything to help me get out of here.

As quiet as I thought the Greninja would be, I heard something from its direction. In one movement I rolled backwards onto my knees with my revolver now trained directly on it.

“H- ha -hands ups.” I said in a much more panicked voice then I would have liked.

Its expression intensified, until it finally spoke in a deep voice that I wasn’t expecting. “Just, uh, calm down...” It trailed off, taking another step.

The crack of a shot going off echoed throughout the area as the Greninja staggered back in some form of shock. It glanced behind itself, seeing the bullet having punched a hole nearly through an entire tree. The Gallade and Gardevoir froze, both extremely fearful.

I missed purposely, hopefully that’ll keep them away from me. The hammer clicked again as I nearly stammered. “Stay at a safe distance away and nobody gets hurt... do you understand?”

It shakily nodded. “W- what happened to you?” the Greninja asked.

My mind kept trying to come up with potential consequences from telling them my situation. Despite it begging me to do literally anything else, I pushed past it. “Can’t remember, I just ended up here without any memory as to how and why.”

“What is that thing anyway?” the Gardevoir asked in a tone laced with fear while slowly pointing to my weapon.

I ignored its question. “I want to know where I am.”

The Greninja spoke. “In a… uh, forest south of the town that we currently work from.”

“I’m talking about the region’s name.”

“The region is Etyth.” He pointed behind himself. “And the town is a seaport known as Narkin.”

I really did end up in a different world to my own, that was a simultaneously intriguing and terrifying thought. The panicked side of my mind realized that maybe it would do me good to be a little more friendly with them. I carefully put the hammer back into a safer position as I lowered it, still keeping it in my right hand for the time being.

The Gardevoir had a bag hanging from its shoulder, and I wondered why it hadn’t tried to use its psychic powers yet. Maybe it didn’t know the extent of my weapon, or was unfamiliar with what a human was. Either one gives me somewhat of an advantage. I’d hope they knew nothing about me, while I on the other hand know enough about Pokémon to know which ones I should run on sight from.

Gardevoir and Gallade being two types of Pokémon I’d run away from, but my legs were hurting even worse than before. I couldn’t stand, much less run. I’m stuck with them until further notice.

I  chuckled lightly at the absurdity of the situation. “Who are you three anyway?”

“We could ask the same,” the Gallade said. “What are you?”

I tensed slightly. “Human.”

All of them went wide-eyed for a moment. Leaving me to wonder if I said something wrong. Their fear looked to have vanished, replaced by the shock of what I said.

“You seriously can’t remember anything as to how you got here?” the Gardevior asked.

I nodded. “Not a single thing.”

Time dragged on, seconds felt like hours with the tense silence strangling all involved. They didn’t seem hostile to me… for now. I loosened up some more, a more calm atmosphere was growing.

“Are you okay?” The Gardevoir looked me over. “I can tell that you’re in pain.”

A weary sigh escaped me. “My legs are messed up, and I… don’t know what to do now.”

A howl suddenly pierced the silence from behind the trio of Pokémon. Their expressions and tone shifted immediately, like I wasn’t even there.

“And there are those ferals you were talking about...” The Gallade’s arm blades shot outwards as he turned around towards the bushes.

“Well this is just wonderful… Kira, Ronin, how many are there?”

The Gardevoir’s powers flared up as she took beside the Gallade. “Can’t tell, I’m guessing they’re dark types.”

The Greninja turned around, and looked me up and down. “Can you, uh, stand?”

“No,” I said as the hammer clicked into place again. “But I’m most certainly not defenseless.” He slowly nodded as he took position with the others while still keeping somewhat of an eye on me. I don’t blame him, I nearly shot him after all.

One by one, about seven Houndour led by a Houndoom jumped through the bushes.

“Keep ‘em busy,” the Greninja said in a tone that seemed to radiate annoyance as he disappeared from sight.

They had some semblance of a plan clearly, how deep was to be determined. “You three know what you’re doing?” Guess I should ask why these Pokémon are different from them later.

The Gallade’s blades began to glow. “Yes we do, just stay low and away from their flames, human.”

“But I can’t fucking move…” I muttered to myself as I took aim. The Houndoom let out another fear inducing howl that rallied them to start their assault. Should be similar to fighting against wolves, just keep a cool head and aim true.

Just like when I did it while hunting with my brother, just with a revolver this time. And not a high caliber hunting rifle.

Ronin, who I guessed was the Gallade, charged up a bright blue ball of something and threw it hard at an approaching Houndour. It sailed through the air, blowing up in its face and blasting it into a tree.

Kira, the Gardevoir if I logically finished the name game. She charged something up above herself. What looked to be a blast of light slammed into two of the Houndour and knocked them down.

The one that was half inside the tree didn’t even look alive, the other two got to their feet and continued running mindlessly at us. I wanted to start laughing-

Flame jumped at us and knocked them further out as two more Houndour jumped in front of me from the bushes. I was cut off from the others. Smiles that could best be described as malicious were planted on both their faces.

They thought I was defenseless. Shame that I wasn’t.

I raised my gun as they attempted to slowly approach with what looked to be flames licking around their mouths, Firefang if I was remembering correctly. A grin grew across my face as the shot lined up.

The hammer fell as the first shot rang out, stilling the battle for a second as the noise ripped through the area. The Houndour collapsed to the ground as the bullet ripped through its skull, the blood decorating its friend in the shower of red fluids.

If these were wolves, that would’ve been a hell of a lot less effective. Guess I should be counting my blessings. I noticed that my temporal allies looked rather shocked by the gruesome display before returning their attention back to the fight.

I narrowed my eyes and pulled the hammer back, peering down the iron sights as the second Houndour charged. The Houndour jumped to the side as I pulled the trigger, the shot rang out, the bullet hitting nothing but air.

Pain riddled up my ribs and legs as its head rammed into me and knocked me back. It’s jaws clamped down on my shoulder, the adrenaline in my system clawing at my mind to fight back. I clawed its eyes desperately, it yelped and pushed me to the side.

I grunt as my breath is knocked from my lungs, a tree breaking my momentum a little too fast. The Houndour growled in anger and slowly approached, but stopped short… An orange glow in its maw, I had an educated guess what that meant...

I scrambled to the right, flames billowing at my previous location. Heat washed over me in all its intensity as I steadied my breathing. My legs refused to allow me to stand up despite the adrenaline coursing through my body.

I could hear its rapidly approaching footsteps as I twisted around with my weapon aimed directly at it. The clack and bang of my gun ripped through the battle once more, the Houndour yelped as the bullet ripped through its neck. Blood dripped from it, looking at me as the life faded from its eyes and dropping dead.

Battered, bruised, and now bleeding out of my right shoulder with my legs crippled for reasons unknown. I could feel everything throbbing with some form of pain. My breaths ragged and short with my vision beginning to blur.

I staved them off… if only barely. I stared at the battle that was still raging in front of me. Most of the Houndour were taken out, only two remained with the Houndoom. Ronin was fighting them off with the Greninja, Kira was missing…

“Need some help?” I jumped in surprise from the voice. I saw it was Kira, and she looked the least beaten up out of everyone. She glanced at my two no longer alive combatants, something akin to weary satisfaction flashing across her face.

I didn’t have time to think about why. “Would be much appr-”

Fire blasted in our direction, deflected by an unseen force. Kira tensed her arms as the flames cleared away, a glow in her eyes and crystal in her chest. She must have used her psychic powers. I wonder if she saw it coming or was just that quick to react.

Ronin was knocked back by the blast of fire and into a tree, not getting back up. The Greninja jumped over the Houndoom and landed between it and Ronin, getting into a defensive stance while conjuring some sort of water projectile.

The Houndoom seemed disinterested, turning to see me and Kira. It barked loudly, the two Houndour charging against the Greninja as it charged us.

She looked down at me briefly, the glow in her eyes intensifying as she snapped her fingers.

A bright light took my vision. I took a deep breath and found myself a little further away from the battle. If I was remembering correctly from what little experience I had playing Pokémon with their types and advantages, Kira should be able to win this with relative ease through a fairy-type move…

The Houndoom grinned maniacally as if it was imagining ripping into us with its fangs. A ominous purple smog started to form around its mouth. My heart dropped, that was a poison-type move. I opened my mouth to yell at her to watch out as she teleported behind it as the purple smog exploded from it in a radius.

Kira fell back, wavering in her stance as she broke out in a coughing fit. Panic swelled across her face as she tripped and fell over. I started crawling closer, the dirt beneath me not giving me much resistance. I needed a better place to shoot from, the closer the better.

A blur of movement caught my eye. The Greninja sailed through the air, throwing something sharp at the Houndoom. It yelped and growled, seeing its two Houndour not able to fight. Kira got up slowly, trying to back away. Why wouldn’t she just teleport?

Something must’ve been messing with her powers, and I had a feeling it was the poison.

It howled as fire exploded from itself and struck both Kira and the Greninja to the ground. The Houndoom pounced on the shocked Greninja with its fangs bared. Perfect timing, I was just close enough for a shot or three. I grunted in pain as I lifted my revolver up, it felt heavier than usual.

“HEY,” I shouted at it to get its head to turn in my direction. The hammer fell as one more crack of a bullet tore through what little noise there was. It yelped in pain as it stumbled back, the bullet having created a sizable hole in its neck.

It seemed afraid now, something unveiled across its face before it ran in the opposite direction. I breathed a sigh of relief, a small smile on me as I sat up properly. The Greninja shakily got to his feet, wiping off some of the blood from the Houndoom.

He glanced at me, an odd mix of surprise, dread, and relief spreading across his face.

Kira appeared to have healed herself with something. The poison seemed to no longer be affecting her, judging by her abilities being able to be used again. She tossed a berry at the Greninja, before going and waking Ronin. He was battered quite badly, after being given a berry though… it’s like all he needed now is rest.

“Are you okay?” I heard Kira ask me.

She seemed worried about me, though I was more worried about if killing these things was the bad call. Didn’t want people crying bloody murder when I only just arrived after all. “One of them messed up my shoulder and burned me a little.”

My head began to throb, a headache starting to fester. I didn’t think berries could fix that.

Instead of tossing me one, she put a hand on my shoulder as it began to glow brightly for a second. The wounds on my shoulder dissipated a little. Providing some much needed relief from all the throbbing.

Kira examined my legs, her expression changed to one of shock briefly before she regained her composure. “Your legs are… broken, to the point where only a psychic with healing abilities can fix it with intensive treatment. I know we’ve asked this before, but what happened to you?” she asked in a surprised tone.

“My head... for lack of a better term, is majorly fucked up right now.” A single question came from the recesses of my mind. “And why haven’t you just looked into my head? Can’t you do that?”

“Who said I haven’t been trying?” she said in a neutral tone. “I’m only trying to see memories that are related to how you got here, but there’s nothing there.”

I sighed wearily. I wasn’t going anywhere fast because of my legs, and I had nowhere to go either way. I was stuck here alone. The scale of my situation was starting to kick in, dread once more clawed at me from the depths of my mind. What did they want with me? What could they want from me?

My revolver’s cylinder whirled and clicked as I took out each of the four spent bullet casing. Tossing them to the forest floor before I carefully inserted four live rounds in their place. I spun the cylinder around, its metallic clicking all too familiar to me. I clicked it back into place, deciding to still hold my gun in hand just in case.

“Did you have somewhere to go?” Kira asked, snapping me out of my thoughts.

“Look, I’m going to be really blunt here…” I stared into the ground, wondering if what I was about to say was the right call. “Why do you want to help me?”

The wounded Gallade gestured to their purple bands and the badges on them. “We’re a Guild Team, it is our job to care. And for you specifically… well...” he trailed off as a darker look came over him. The dread in my mind festered, I could feel it spreading into my demeanor.

“He means that you’re a more out of the ordinary case for us, not that it changes much.” Kira assured.

“I just want to go home,” I said bluntly. “What did you see anyway? You said that you were checking my recent memories or something.”

Kira sighed. “Truth be told, I could ask you questions all day about the things I can see in your memories. But we need to get back to Narkin to fix your legs and recuperate first.”

“It's not like I’m in any position to say no.”

“Hey, looky here,” the Greninja said in a gruff voice, approaching with what looked like makeshift crutches made of the branches of the nearby trees. “We don’t know what happened, and you can’t even remember that yourself anyway. Your only option right now is us, unless you want to be in this forest after dark with broken legs.”

I raised my hands in defeat before putting my revolver back in its holster. “My name is Mason.” I said to the Greninja as he helped me to my feet with the crutches.

He shook my hand briefly as I started getting balanced. “Mine is Lloyd, and thank you for saving me.”

I kept silent, only nodding at his thanks.

Lloyd left me alone to my thoughts. I saw Kira was helping Ronin with his more serious wounds, he got messed up pretty badly by the fire it would seem. However I was somewhat worried for Kira herself, she was poisoned and I don’t know the truest extent that it can go to. But maybe she already cured herself since she seems to be the resident healer of the group.

The Greninja seemed to be talking with them, probably about what to do with me. I just hope that this world doesn’t have a thirst for human blood. Because if it does, I don’t think I have the bullets to take all them on.

I was working my job as an assistant to my dad in various police and detective stuff not even a few hours ago. And now I’ve somehow ended up here and already killed three Pokémon in the span of around twenty minutes. This whole situation was insane, unpredictable, and quite frankly dangerous.

Yet I felt like those things had to be ignored if I wanted to survive.

I noticed that Ronin had approached me as Kira and Lloyd seemed to intensify their conversation. He seemed disinterested in what they were talking about.

Ronin looked me up and down, he seemed slightly in awe of me. “Do you really not know anything?”

“Not a thing. What should I expect?”

His voice lowered to a whisper. “Most will be wary or curious of you, but there are reasons to keep your head low. Some Pokémon really don’t like you’re kind, and there isn’t much talking to be had with them.”

“Why would anyone be interested in me?”

“It was a long time ago...” He took a deep breath. “A war between a sect of Pokémon who claimed to be on the side of Arceus himself and humans took place hundreds of years ago. Eventually the first Guild Federation was created to combat the cult.” Ronin narrowed his eyes. “Though it was in vain, humans were gone. Up and vanished. Only rumors to speculate where they all went, until… well, you showed up.”

I shook my head. “I don’t exactly have any answers to your questions regarding where humans went… I’m not from around here.”

“Then what is it like where you’re from?”

He seemed very defensive about this, like he knew much more than he was letting on. Although I didn’t really see a reason for anything he said to be a direct lie.

“Pretty good,” I pulled my phone from out of my pocket. “This thing looks like a useless piece of junk... until I tell you that under normal circumstances I can talk to someone across the entire world so long as they have one of these and a stable connection.”

“Connection to what?”

I sighed, realizing the can of worms I just opened. Though an analogy came to mind that might simplify it. “Imagine being able to connect psychically with anyone, no matter where they were so long as a few conditions were met. This thing allows you to do so. That is the butchered explanation, I cannot explain the more complicated parts even if my life depended on it. Afraid such things aren’t what I’m good at.”

Ronin slowly nodded. Maybe the idea wasn’t as big a deal as I had first thought. The less I have to explain, the better... I guess.

“Going to guess and say that you don’t have any natural affinity with the elements,” he pointed to my revolver. “Weapons aren’t particularly popular amongst Pokémon.”

I unholstered it, the revolver’s cold metal briefly pinching my skin. “Eh, this thing is in a class of its own. But if I’m being honest, hands down I’d trade in guns and ammo for the ability to mess with other people’s heads.”

Ronin narrowed his eyes again. “Tactics like that will only earn you dishonor, holders of the power over minds must keep their integrity even against our enemies. Lest we be like them.”

“Honor bound huh? So you can’t read my mind without proper reason?” I asked.

“Not exactly, though there are exceptions and even then… it's just hard to explain. Especially to an outsider who doesn’t have such abilities.” He seemed a little annoyed at my comment. “Though I must ask, what other weapons do you use?”

I remembered that I still had my typical equipment with me. From my nightstick and taser, to my stun-gun and pepper-spray. Electricity was strong against water, right? I wonder if it would be able to bring down anything here. Though I couldn’t exactly get new cartridges for my taser out here...

My stun-gun was something I could show relatively easily. Ronin seemed curious about it, whether because of the word ‘police’ along it’s center or how it looked was to be seen. I flicked on the switch and briefly pressed the button. The cackling of electricity surprised him, taking a step back as Kira and Lloyd briefly turned to see what the noise was.

I chuckled a little. “This thing won’t kill anyone, though it’ll hurt. Meant to subdue people when using a pistol isn’t justifiable.”

“So you’re a peacekeeper?” Ronin asked as I put the stun-gun back.

“We call people who keep law and order the ‘police’ but that technically is the job description. I’m not exactly the most… disciplined at it.” Still fresh, working with my dad helps quite a lot.

I didn’t exactly know why I was telling him this. Pokémon don’t exist in the ‘real’ world outside of entertainment through various media. Dear gosh I wasn’t having that conversation with them right now. And according to Kira, she read my mind and already knows...

Ronin opened his mouth to respond, stopping short as Lloyd and Kira joined us. Lloyd spoke in an even voice. “So uh, Mason… since you’re a little new around here and everything… me, Kira, and Ronin have come to a unanimous decision to help you should you accept.”

“What’s the catch?”

“There isn’t one.”

I squinted a little. “What about after all that?”

“Well…” Lloyd looked at everyone else, who nodded silently. “You could go on your way, do your own thing. Or you could possibly make or join a Guild team if you’re looking for work.”

I sheepishly shook my head. “I don’t know a single thing about how your cities and stuff work. Let alone laws, jobs, and stuff like that-”

Kira sighed. “With your current circumstances being as dire as they are, and due to you fighting alongside us… Lloyd also wanted to extend an invitation to join our team.”

A small look of shock briefly invaded my calm demeanor as I contemplated the proposition. This is the best case scenario, no doubt about it in any way. Other than my legs being busted up this whole thing might not be that bad.

In the back of my mind, the headache that was settling in seemed to get much worse. “I’d like to join your team then, if I’m welcome to.”

Lloyd briefly smiled and looked to Kira and Ronin, who both touched their badges and started glowing. He took his badge off and flicked it into the air briefly. “Just, uh… don’t panic when you appear at the Guild’s lobby area. We can explain how it all works later.”

I nodded as he touched me with it. A bright glow took my vision as everything dulled and blurred away. Quickly my vision returned, but my balance still absent.

I found myself flat on my ass. My only comfort being Kira’s soft giggling and Ronin with his hand extended. My head felt like it was killing me, already growing from before. Lloyd was strangely absent.

“You’ll get used to it,” he said as he helped me to my feet.

The floor was wooden with white marble pillars jetting up into the roof, where a small skylight resided. Letting the afternoon sun shine through into the entire room. It resembled a lobby area of sorts, a large door that probably went outside was currently closed but appeared to not have a lock. Some small windows were on the stone and wooden walls, allowing me to see out into the city of ‘Narkin’ itself.

I realized we weren’t alone. Other Pokémon I couldn’t name noticed our arrival, giving me an odd look or two. Some continued to stare. All of them had a badge and bandanna somewhere on themselves, all different colors, must’ve been how they showed what ‘squad’ they were in.

I didn’t know what they thought of me, and I’d rather not ask. What Ronin had told me was still fresh in my mind.

My legs were throbbing and it was beginning to get hard to stay balanced with the makeshift crutches Lloyd fashioned for me. Reminding me of the all important question. How in hell's name did I break my legs out in the middle of nowhere with no damn idea as to how I got there. Maybe Kira would know, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Thoughts swirled around my mind, paranoia once more staking its claim in my thought process. Their stares almost felt like a smoke cloud around me. I couldn’t defend myself properly because of my injury if they were to try anything, I was at their mercy until my legs could support me again.

A feminine voice suddenly pierced through my mind along with the emotion of concern flowing into me through some kind of connection. [Are you alright?]

[Just… nervous…] I tested the waters of this odd bridge that was created between us. It felt odd and unnatural at first, I struggled to get the words across. But I could tell it was different from just thinking random things in my head and her just being able see them.

[You’re safe here in the Guild,] Kira assured. [Nobody can do much other than stare or talk to you.]

I tore my eyes away from their gazes. [What... law... is... stopping... them?]

[One of decency, and I think we both know that people from either of our worlds do not care for such things.]

Ronin glanced between me and Kira, probably figuring out that she was communicating through telepathy. He shrugged and walked off towards a counter that seemed to be where you’d register for entry or something. He waved back at me to follow him.

Slowly I started to work my way over, looking mostly to the ground to avoid eye contact with anyone else. I really didn’t want to answer anyone elses questions while I figured things out. The Malamar behind the counter seemed to be studying me as I approached, its tentacles neatly behind its back.

Yet another Pokémon I knew would be really bad to get in a fight with. My headache only grew at the idea, flowing with ideas of horrible deaths.

Its voice was much more refined and regal than what I was expecting. “You know, it's been a while since I’ve seen something or someone new show up here. What’s your name?”

“Mason… uh, yours?” I said as calmly as I could muster.

It smiled brightly while putting away some pieces of paper into the desk draws. “Merek, I run certain things around the Guild. Speaking of which, I’m going to guess you’re new to the Guild stuff in general, right?”

I nodded, still unsure of whether it was going to read my mind or not despite what Kira told me. Despite that idea, this growing feeling of calm and the headache I had killed it on the spot. I’d rather come off as cautious, not paranoid.

“Well, what brings you here to Narkin Guild?” Merek asked while writing something more down on the paper.

“They did.” I gestured to Ronin and Kira. “Said something about fixing my legs up, and joining their team.”

Merek gestured to my legs and crutches. “Was the incident that broke them an accident? Or something more… malicious?”

“I’m afraid he can’t remember,” Kira explained. “We’re going to try and find out what happened after.”

He nodded. “Hmm, well, I’ll get everything in order for you to become a Guild member then, Mason. Were you going to create a team or join one?”

“They invited me to join theirs.” I pointed to Ronin and Kira again.

“Ah, you’re quite lucky then. A lot of Pokémon would love to be on the same team as one of Narkin’s best doctors.” he commented as he pulled some pieces of paper out and wrote with a quill and ink. I didn’t want to know where he got the ink.

Ronin folded his arms. A more serious look coming over him. “Kira and I pitched the idea to Lloyd since he had nowhere to go. And with recent happenings… it's not safe to be alone in this town.”

Paranoia flared once more inside me, the stares I was getting now starting to feel like they were pressuring me to run. The pounding of my headache drowned it out. Leaving me to simply ponder on what they could’ve been talking about.

The front doors flew open as three Pokémon entered. Each looking like they just fought their way out of hell. A normal looking Ninjask, followed by a Medicham with a bag on its shoulder, and an Aggron with an eyepatch.

The Ninjask and the Aggron went down a hallway, while the Medicham started coming over to the front counter. I tried to ignore it, facing back to Merek and praying that it’s just signing in or something.

I could feel its stare boring a hole in my back.

“I see your team is back so soon, I thought you’d be out longer?” Merek inquired.

The Medicham stood beside me, sighing while putting a piece of paper on the counter. “We decided that the, eh, bounty for this guy isn’t worth the hassle. Not even Viggo can really keep up with the guys fightin’ style.”

“Hmm, I see. Well it's no matter... did any of you get hurt out there?”

“No, we’re just tired- and can I ask where you came from?” The Medicham tapped me on the shoulder.

I sighed, sending a glare towards him as my paranoia flared up again. “I can’t remember.”

“Oh, er- sorry to hear that.” He put his hands together and slightly bowed his head. “I’ll be taking my leave, goodbye Merek.” I kept a watch on him from the corner of my eye as he went down the same hallway his team went.

I sighed and looked at the paper, written in a language I did not recognize, but could understand. The headache spiked, much to my displeasure.

“Bounty?” I asked while reaching for the paper. The paper levitated into the air, my pounding head convincing my body to recoil back as it slowly made its way over to me. I shook my head and reached out for it.

Merek hid a snicker beneath a tentacle as I grabbed it. “Yes, a bounty for this Zoroark named Luson. He’s responsible for a few thefts, and possibly the disappearance of a Kirlia. Although don’t quote me on that last one, it's only a rumor.”

“I’m going to guess these ‘bounties’ are only part of the amount of jobs that are available?” I asked while reading over the details. I wanted to know where I learned to use this language, it having appeared seemingly overnight.

“Yes, there are a plethora of things to do besides hunting down criminals. Although I’m guessing you’re going to be taking a liking to bounties specifically.”

I squinted a little bit as I looked at him. “I’m used to dealing with criminals... I’ll give you that.” I said defensively.

Ronin read it alongside me. “Maybe we can do this after you’ve completed the dungeon run.”

A swoosh echoed around the room briefly as someone teleported in. Lloyd was back and he had a black backpack with him, something that looked like it belonged to me given the modern design.

“Seems that you… dropped this out there.” He handed me the bag before going around to the side of the counter Merek was on. I took the bag in hand, spotting something hanging from it. It was a tag of some kind with someone's name on it.

‘If found, return to Mark Miller.’

A pit formed in my stomach as dread quickly filled it. It wasn’t my bag. The name was familiar, maybe I was driving… maybe this was a suspect's bag. Better in my hands then someone else's. I tore it off and put it in my pocket.

It did not help that the language the tag was in was still English. My pounding headache continued to stop my ability to think any further than the surface level. Even trying to take things slowly down its potential train of thought hurt my head. I was still outright missing my glock as well, and I was starting to get deathly worried about its whereabouts.

Lloyd took the paper that Merek was writing on and started down a hallway that was behind the desk. Ronin followed behind him, for what I could not tell. I couldn’t help but stare at the backpack, wondering if I should open it here.

I jumped a little as a hand was placed on my shoulder. Kira giggled a little at my nervousness. “There is no need to be afraid, you need to see the guy in charge before we fix you up.” I slowly followed after her past the squid-like psychic.

“Goodbye for now, young Mason.” Merek called down after me. I waved back, finding myself oddly fond of him. It was like a weight was lifted off of me, or a pressure just released. The stares from before faded out of my mind, calming the headache ever so slightly.

I followed Kira through a door on the left side of the hallway. A worried sigh escaped me as the door closed behind us.

There were four chairs facing a desk with one chair on the other side, occupied by a Pokémon I couldn’t quite make out. The walls were adorned with paintings and badges, a single window was putting light into this room from behind the desk.

Lloyd and Ronin sat in two of the chairs, gesturing for us to take a seat beside them.

The fancier chair swiveled around, its squeaking parts unnerving me. The Pokémon revealed was blue and lizard-like, ‘Inteleon’ rang in my head from somewhere I couldn’t remember.

It studied me for a moment, trying desperately to keep its face straight. “So you really weren’t kidding after all…” It shook its head. “S- sorry about my behavior, what’s your name, chap?”

“Mason, and are you the ‘boss’ around here?” I asked in an even voice.

The Inteleon smiled a little, taking the paper from before off the table and reading it. “My name is Ace, and yes, I run this place. With the rest of my team... although they're currently away right now, sadly.” he sighed quietly as he put the paper down. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

Ace shifted in his chair. “Pardon the bluntness of this question… but do you have any reason for being here outside of, well… your current situation?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well…” he sighed wearily. “Your kind has been effectively wiped off the whole world. I’m sure you’re aware of that already. Your appearance here isn’t… natural. I want to know if you have any connections with, well, anything.”

My head started to throb. Something in the back of my mind desperately wanted to be remembered, but it was kept back like it was imprisoned inside me. I shook my head. “From what I can remember, I’m not connected to anything.”

Ace nodded as a silence grew between all of us. He shifted his look from one of cold and calculated in origin, to one of concern.

“So you can’t remember everything?” Ace prodded.

I grimaced as the headache I almost forgot about ripped into me yet again. “I can remember everything fine, just not the reasons on how I got here.”

In the corner of my eye, I could see Kira with her crystal slightly glowing. I could only guess what she was doing.

“So I’m guessing you want to remember, right? And figure out what happened to you?”

I grinned, hoping to lighten the atmosphere. “That’s my plan.”

“I should warn you then, before you go…” He wrote something down on a piece of paper. “That you’re going to have quite a lot of Pokémon being very curious of you here in the Guild.”

“I’m gonna guess some of this attention isn’t going to be good for me…”

A small smile appeared on Ace’s face. “You’d be correct. But for now it shouldn’t be a huge deal. Anyways, after you heal up, we can get you properly made a member along with the other rookies.”

My head went numb, the pain becoming unbearable, I put a hand to the back of my head, feeling warm blood drip from my fingers and onto the floor. The feeling of it running down my neck coming to the forefront of my mind.

I got up and put my hand out, the blood dripping more onto the floor as I tried to speak. I opened my mouth, nothing but a slurred bunch of words came out. My vision blurred as my legs gave out. The wooden floors were cold, far colder than they had any right to be. I wish I could move, even if just an inch to flip myself upright.

I tried to not close my eyes like my dad told me, I found the idea more enticing as I drifted off closer to…

I could hear something echoing in my head… A voice? A memory? Or… was it both?-


“He’ll live…” I said to my on edge team. A collective sigh of relief came from them both. “But since no one here is familiar with human biology, they can only do the bare minimum in certain areas other than his legs. Which are similar enough to some Pokémon to manage.”

An Audino nodded reading off a clipboard. She looked me in the eyes, a calm yet curious expression on her face. Much calmer than when she first saw him. “We can handle it from here, Kira.”

Despite her reassurance, my mind ablaze. How did I miss such a head wound when I initially healed him? I’m supposed to be a doctor… yet I let that happen.

Lloyd was leaning against a wall beside the human, Mason. He shook his head. “How’d he not feel it ‘till the last second? Maybe he’s little… tougher than I thought.”

I put a hand on his forehead, feeling his pain briefly before everything opened up for me to see. Every injury sustained I didn’t heal I could feel on him, but most importantly, his legs. Somehow completely fractured on the inside without any indication on the outside.

No swelling, no blood, no external wounds even. Something even felt off with his very aura, like someone tried to already get inside his head and failed numerous times. He’s been through hell and can’t even remember it.

“Humans are resilient,” Ronin began as he approached. “If the legends are anything to go by.”

I rolled my eyes and faced him, a pang of guilt festering. “The legends never spoke of their powers or weapons, take them with a grain of salt, Ronin.”

“Well… I doubt he even has powers. He used this weapon of his and nothing more, nearly killed me with it…”

“In self defense,” I retorted. “Never once did malicious intent cross his mind beyond just defending himself. Besides, he’s alone, why wouldn’t he be scared?”

He woke up alone and afraid, nothing familiar to him at all. Even the sight of us sparked curiosity, like he’s never seen a Pokémon even. His memory was completely blank in the area that mattered most. And at this point, I was surprised he was taking it that well.

The Audino hushed everyone. “I’m afraid you’ll have to take this outside, this is disturbing our patients.”

“Sorry, let's go get the base setup for his arrival then.” Lloyd said as everyone gathered around me. I waved my hands around as everyone began to glow, everything disappeared from view as the process completed and we popped into our base.

Light brown wooden walls, dark flooring, and a skylight that was overtop of the kitchen and small living room we had. Basic decoration, some paintings and flowers that I was barely able to keep alive. There was a set up stairs that went up to where we slept, and that was about it. It was simple, it was quaint, but it was home. Just the way we liked it.

Lloyd waved to Ronin and me. “I’ll go get some materials to make a bed for him.”

“Sounds good, me and Kira can finish that job we were doing before then.” Ronin said as a bright light came over us again. I felt his hand guide where we were going. The deafening silence wrapped around us as the light died.

We were where Mason was. The surviving Houndour had gone, leaving behind the bodies of each of them killed by his weapon. The deafening crack still slightly echoed in my ears, my gaze seeing the small hole in each body where blood used to gush out of.

I gazed around the area, the patches of scorched earth and grass everywhere. “Do you think that the Bidoof’s berry bag is really out here? What did he say that he was scared from here by again?”

“A loud bang and screaming…”

I felt heavy emotion tied to the area, not just the Houndour intent. But something else, something far more malicious. Like someone didn’t want to be found out here and tried to cover their tracks in a hurry.

I found myself drawn to the center of the area, unseen forces guiding my mind to see the pond. I could see two objects foreign to it. A piece of bloodied clothing I was unfamiliar with, and a badge. My eyes widened as I realized what badge it was. I clenched my hand into a fist hard before I threw it at one of the bodies.

Ronin noticed my anger, I cut him off before he could say anything. “Lycoris members were already here. I think Mason killed one, these bastards are everywhere.” I angrily hissed. One more reason to hate these Pokémon out of the hundred I already have.

“If they were here, then we need to leave in case some show up.” he then pulled out a small bag full of berries. “I found the Bidoof’s bag as well, let's hope Mason’s condition stays low profile for now.”

I tapped my badge, a small light coming from me as the Guild badge did its magic. “Agreed.”

We appeared in the guild, the sound of an argument was echoing around the room. “I already told you, that is Guild business. Now get lost before I remove you from this lobby myself,” Merek declared angrily.

A Hitmontop with a Zangoose were at the front desk with a very angry Merek staring them down. “We don’t want to know where the guy is, we just wanna know if a human is actually alive-”

“Again I say, Guild business by decree of Ace,” Merek asserted while bending down to look them closer in the eye. “Last chance to leave without incident.”

“Fine then, be like that, we’ll leave,” the Zangoose said as they both hastily left. Slipping past all the Pokémon staring at them.

I glared at them as they passed us. Ronin shook his head, taking my hand in his as he coaxed me to walk with him. I softened my gaze for him and followed behind him.

“What was that about?” Ronin asked Merek who took the berry bag and gave us the reward for its return.

“They wanted to know about the human, as you heard they didn’t get anything from me. But I’d be careful of another team potentially telling them. They didn’t smell of being from around here and they certainly reeked of suspicious intentions.”

I gazed out the window, seeing them going down the hill and towards the dock. Hopefully they take a ship out of town and never sail back. “Did they say who they were?” Ronin asked.

“No,” his tentacles writhed a little. “But I doubt they’ll ever come back.”

Something stirred in the back of my mind. I felt drawn back to where we just were, my mind telling that something was still amiss. “I’ll meet you at home, Ronin. I’ve got something I need to check on first.”

He nodded before turning back to Merek, probably to continue their conversation. I channeled the memory of the location through my mind, the light surrounding me quickly fading away. I was back in the field. The bodies were now gone, dragged off by some nocturnal predator probably.

One more thing evaded me, I could feel it still here. My powers guided me near the pond again. Something felt off in the nearby tall grass. I reached in and felt two items, a part of me surprised that they were here. The first was a blue piece of clothing that looked like it could sit on my head with a small badge in the center that had two letters of an unknown language on it. It must’ve belonged to Mason.

The second was just a badge, but it seemed to have a name on it. One in the same foreign language as the clothing piece. Both definitely belonged to him. I stretched my mind over the area once more, feeling little out of place. The emotion was fading, but I could still feel it…

I noticed a bunch of holes on a tree, one with blood coating it. I counted nine holes in the tree, like Mason shot it with his weapon. But from what I saw of his weapon… it only had six uses in it before he had to ‘reload’ it.

Something was still amiss.

With what I came back here for in hand, light briefly flashed around me as I pulled myself to home. It faded away, leaving only the moonglow slipping down through the skylight. Illuminating the stairs up to where we sleep.

“You alright?” a deep voice asked. The Greninja was sitting on our couch, reading something.

I put a hand to my head, the frustration creeping into my demeanor. “Physically, yes. Mentally, no. I missed a damned wound on Mason, and he almost died because of it. Then I went back… and found these.”

I showed him the objects I found. Lloyd stared at them briefly, squinting a little before turning his attention back to his book.

“If I had to guess… they probably belong to Mason. Maybe tomorrow when you go check on him you can leave them with him, just in case.” He flipped a page, its edges slightly torn with wear. His demeanor shifted. “Ronin told me about, the uh… other thing found out there…”

I scowled, my mind having to resist the urge to yell out. “They’re behind this, they have to be. Like everything else that goes on in this town- it's always them.”

“For a Gardevoir, you are rather quick to anger, you know.”

“I have every right to be angry,” I huffed quietly. “Especially as of late. First it was Team Shade barely having gotten back on the brink of death, then it was that Eevee…” my voice faltered as the anger was replaced with distraught. “And now it’s… a human. An actual Arceus damned human still alive, and they’re after him.”

The Greninja sighed. “I think right now you need some sleep. We can figure this all out tomorrow, as a team.”

“Fine,” I conceded. Carefully walking up the stairs decorated in moonlight. I saw Ronin in our bed as usual. I climbed in, seeing one waiting for its owner.

I stared up into the stars above as I fell asleep, seeing their brilliant shine. I wondered what Mason thought about them, hopefully he was sleeping as peacefully as us.

So my review is for Chapter 1.

So I read the original version of this chapter and I know you said you wanted to change some things, so I've been waiting to finally get to see what you had in store. And they did not disappoint.

The first section seems quick and out of body with how it jumps from one thing to another in a sort of cryptic manner, but I think that works well with what you're trying to do. Memory flashes and all that, aheh. We even get a cameo of that brother character, though a bit more direct than other information conveyed.

The next new section with Kira and Ronin I actually don't think adds too much. While it does set up the interest Ronin and Lloyd have in humans and setting up the characters, such information wouldn't be stressful to scatter throughout the story. Bear in mind, I'm not saying this section is bad or nothin' cuz it's pretty good, but considering we don't know these characters yet it can be a bit of a tonal or at least flip of the "tension", especially considering we go back to Mason in the next section.

The last part is just like before and that's a good thing. All in all, good intro still and improved with the additions. Good job, keep it up.

I'm really liking the start of this fic! It's pretty interesting to have a human armed with a gun in the world of PMD, and I'm really curious to see where this goes because he's eventually gonna run out of bullets. The intrigue you introduced into the second chapter is also really well done. With a possible second human in play who came with Mason, it definitely makes you stop and wonder what actually happened! I also like the characterization of all of the characters we've seen so far, especially that of Mason. Keep up the good work!

The voice inside my head had long since gone silent. I heard… something. A name echoed out inside my head, Arwin. The name felt personal, like it belonged to me. But that left me with more questions than answers. Faintly I could recall the shattered remains of two other names, one beginning with an F, and the other that ended with a K. I could not tell if it was spelt in English or this mysterious language I know now. My mind could not recall who they could’ve been, but they sounded like friends.

A part of me suddenly felt wrong.

I couldn’t tell what, but whatever I could feel creeping along my entire body was not natural. Something didn’t fit right, like someone was with me. Inky blackness stretched out forever, I stood amongst it. I assumed it to be my dreamscape. But it didn’t react to my thoughts or will... like something else was here.

I could feel its presence everywhere, overbearing like it was on-top of me, only for it to disappear as suddenly as it came. Was a psychic type trying to get into my head? Trying to catch me with my guard down?

The feeling of helplessness already staked its claim in me. I didn’t let it go beyond the back of my mind, keeping it prisoner so it cannot affect me. I needed to focus.

[You are not safe here.]

The voice had echoed out all around me. I couldn’t feel where it was coming from, or who was speaking to me. “Who are you?”

[You will see when I wake you up…]

Something gripped around my head, a burning feeling erupting through me as light flooded my vision. I gasped awake, finding myself on a bed in a small room. The warm air wrapped around my bare chest and back.

Where the hell was my shirt?

I stopped myself short of climbing out of bed, having seen a sword floating right next to me. I already knew what this one was. A Honedge. But this one had a red ribbon, not blue. I wanted to admire the shiny, some questions already brewing inside my mind. I pondered if they were outcasts or revered, or maybe they weren’t treated much differently.

“First order of business, my name is Scarlet. Do you remember me from the forest or did they hit you that hard?” its voice was oddly feminine. I shook my head. I’d remember a sentient red sword if I saw one. Her voice sounded concerned. “Arceus above, what do you remember?”

“Nothing,” I answered. Keeping a careful eye on the sword.

She made some metallic sound that seemed to be like a sigh. “You and one other human appeared suddenly in a flash of light and saved me from some Pokémon who were harassing me. Truth be told I have no idea if you both even understood a single thing I was saying. They took your friend, you got attacked and ended up collapsing. I chased them trying to get him back and failed. And I guess you woke up and got found by a Guild team…”

“Who was I with?” I asked. The name ‘Mark Miller’ coming back to the forefront of my mind.

The floating sword staggered back a little. “Male, I think… Taller than you by a bit, and had a weird blue thing on his head with a badge on it.”

Another officer was with me? But I didn’t have a partner yet. They could be someone else, maybe a friend... or my dad... but I don’t remember driving with him. Much less even seeing him around the time my memory stops.

“Listen, you saved me from those freaks, and your friend got taken because of me. I feel bad, therefore to relieve myself of the guilt I wish to help you get him back. Sound good?”

I carefully got out of bed, my legs felt much better to stand on. I saw my T-shirt draped over my newly acquired backpack. The question surrounding its owner was still on my mind as I picked both items up and put them on the bed.

“How do I know you’re on my side, Scarlet?” I asked as I inspected my shirt, expecting blood to be on it. A small smile grew on my face with the realization that someone cleaned it for me.

She made another metallic sigh before floating to the door and peeking out of it, she sounded and looked very paranoid. The red sword shook a little as she closed it, coming back over to me with annoyance on her voice. “Because if I was not, I would not have woken you up. I would have instead grabbed your arm with my ribbon and dragged you off through a shadow. By the time anyone noticed you were gone it would be too late and I will have successfully gotten away.”

“How do I know that would even work?” I retorted, facing her as I put on my shirt. “Surely someone here would wisen up before you can get away for good-”

A metallic shing interrupted me, I froze in place at the sight of Scarlet’s blade hovering mere millimeters from my neck. “Some part of me is getting rather impatient, and very annoyed. Think about it, human, I’m right here am I not? If someone detected me already, they would have been here by now. You. Are. Alone. And completely at my mercy.”

“Then what do you want?” I hissed as I narrowed my eyes. Seeing my revolver beside me on a desk.

Slowly her blade went back to face the ground, her crystal that must’ve acted as her eye still close to my face. “To help you rescue your friend, and keep you safe in the meantime.”

I shook my head as my paranoia finally had the entire stage inside my mind to command all to itself. At first I didn’t want to believe a single word she said, the sentient sword could very well have been lying to me this whole time.

But at the same time, what she said did make sense. Slowly, I began to accept that she was telling the truth.

“Fine, I believe you.”

“Well, we may not have a lot of time-” she stopped talking and faced the door again, unsheathing herself again to reveal her crimson blade. I could see a looming shadow on the other side of the door, standing there.

I took my revolver off the nearby desk, completely loaded and ready to go. Just as I left it. I unzipped the backpack, finding that someone put my sweater and police equipment inside. Along with my ammo.

“They hired a Zoroark. That's all I know, also, did you make friends with those Pokémon that got you out of the woods?”  

I nodded. Getting ready in case the door was breached. She suddenly wrapped her ribbon around my wrist, I tried to yank back but stopped when I heard her voice in my head. [Stay calm, if it is listening it will use what we say against us as illusions. You said that you made some friends right? Name some random Pokémon that are not them, if they show up, it will be obvious.]

“Yeah, a Tsareena named Kira, a Bisharp named Ronin, and a Toxicroak named Lloyd.” I said calmly. Her ribbon went back to holding the sheath. Three knocks echoed through the room from the door.

I tensed up, hiding my gun behind my back as Scarlet stuck her blade into the wood above the door. Smart move. A voice came from the other side. “Are you awake?”

“Yes.”

The door opened and revealed a familiar Gardevoir who entered and closed the door behind herself. “Glad to see you’re already on your feet, but you should still rest.”

My mind was panicking, did the Zoroark know who I made friends with? Or was this some lie on Scarlet’s end. Or was this just the real Kira…

“Hi, uh- Ruby... one of the doctors or something right?” I asked while smiling.

She shook her head while a concerned look flashed over her face. “No, it's Kira. Does your head hurt? Are you experiencing any pain right now?” I mentally prepared to duck some sort of punch or claw on her approach. ‘Kira’ looked attentively around the room, not noticing the crimson sword right above her head, I dared not look at Scarlet for fear of giving her away.

“Why are you so tense as well?” she looked me in the eyes with a soft glow. “You’re… afraid of me?”

She reached her hand out slowly. I jumped away and pointed my revolver to the ground in front of her. “Scarlet, I want to fact check some things if you don’t mind.”

‘Kira’ looked confused and fearful, widening her eyes when she saw Scarlet land beside her. I knew Scarlet was real and not a Zoroark, but I didn’t know whether she was telling the truth or not. If Kira is real, then she can see if Scarlet is lying.

“So, Scarlet, can you confirm whether she’s not an illusion or not?”

‘Kira’ pointed at Scarlet while taking a step back. “Who are-”

Scarlet slapped her across the face with her ribbon. Hard. My heart dropped in my chest. Nothing changed in Kira’s appearance besides her fearful expression turning to anger.

Now I’ve got a potential liar and an angry Gardevoir in the same room as me, with possibly a Zoroark waiting for me to be alone. I really couldn’t allow any sort of fight to break out right now…

Kira took a big step towards Scarlet with her powers starting to rise in an aura around her. “I WILL RIP THAT-” I stepped between her and Scarlet despite my mind crying out for me to just let it take its course. She stopped, her glare intense enough to make me regret it instantly.

“I swear I’ll explain if you calm down…”

Either she had some good self control, or she felt my near-crippling fear. Her expression slowly softened. “What's going on?”

“Some unsavory Pokémon want this human and I do not know why,” Scarlet began, sheathing her blade again. “A Zoroark is involved, I do not know much else. I’m here to pay him back for saving me in the woods.”

Kira widened her eyes a little in surprise. “Was it against Lycoris members?”

“Lycoris?” Scarlet and me asked in unison.

She showed us a badge made of metal. It was round and had a weird skull of some Pokémon surrounded by what looked to be flowers. While the badge was foreign to me, I knew that lycoris was a kind of flower found in Asia. Not much else came to mind. “Did they have these badges?”

Maybe those were the Pokémon that killed off humanity here. Sounded like a cult, perfect. I really was just out here fighting for my life. She took a step towards me, and showed me a much more familiar badge..

“Does this belong to you, Mason?” Kira asked as she handed it to me...

It... was a police badge... with my father’s name on it. Along with a police hat that must’ve been either his or mine. I fell backwards onto the bed, unable to keep balance with the idea of my dad running around out there alone.

Scarlet was telling the truth after all. Kira put a hand on my shoulder. “Is something wrong?” she asked softly.

“This is a police badge with my fathers name on it...” I could barely stop my body from freezing up in stress. That means the person these Lycoris people took was him. I glanced at Scarlet. “So you were telling the truth after all…”

Scarlet froze up a little, realizing the true extent of her failure. Kira seemed to get angry again, balling her fist up and turning away briefly. “Let’s deal with the Zoroark, then I’ll ask my questions. Am I clear?”

“C- crystal,” Scarlet said in a faltering voice.

Kira’s powers flared up again as she closed her eyes. I felt a new feeling in me, one I couldn’t quite describe, but it seemed to be anger. Maybe she didn’t know she was sending me the feeling.

She shook her head a little. “It’s already inside, heading this way…” Kira opened her eyes and started towards the door, waving for us to follow.

I cocked my revolver again, putting the backpack and stuffing the badge into it for later. Carefully I put the police hat on, swearing to keep it safe until I could return it to its owner. She led us down the hallway at a careful pace.

I found that we were in the hub area again, back where Merek should be. I could hear Pokémon talking amongst each other, but I couldn’t see a single thing. Was this the power of a Zoroark?

“Your eyes are lying to you right now, Pokémon are here. Don’t make any sudden moves on anything that just ‘reappears’.” Kira stated sternly.

We followed her carefully, matching her weaving the way around the invisible crowd. For all we knew, they couldn’t see us either, which may be a big problem.

Between the time it took for me to blink, Kira vanished.

We should’ve never left the room.

I heard a muffled cry to my left, I dashed in its direction hoping to catch this Zoroark by surprise. I nearly yelled in pain as a wound spread out across my lower arm, blood dripping down it. Scarlet’s crystal went wide eyed as she unsheathed herself and prepared for another attack.

The flowing blood seeped onto the floor, an idea floated up to the surface of my mind.

I whipped my arm around, getting blood on a few things nearby, one of which was invisible and coming right towards me. It stumbled away, its form becoming seeable. I must’ve gotten it right in the eyes.

I saw Kira with a gag in her mouth with her arms tied behind her back, the Zoroark with a claw to her neck in their position. We both froze, this was no illusion this time.

“Nice trick, human, you think on your feet.” he wiped some of the blood off his face. “It's respectable even though it's not enough. I’m afraid it's gonna be her life for yours, heh.”

I raised my weapon, the idiot wasn’t even trying to conceal his head. “What's stopping me from popping your head open like a grape from back here again?”

“I know of your weapon, nasty little bugger. But I’m afraid since everyone else can’t see each other, you’re going to hit someone else as well. Plus there’s always the chance that this position I’m in is just an illusion. Ya know, it's just the basics.”

Scarlet was looking at the floor weirdly, I realized the shadows were showing his true location. “Are you Luson?” she asked calmly.

“Must’ve seen the considerable bounty on my head, maybe I’ll clean up a loose end or two later…” he looked down for a second too long.

Scarlet’s ribbon briefly flashed purple as a shadow suddenly took her away. Luson widened his eyes as she reappeared behind him and slash horizontally. Some of his illusions fizzled away as some blood came from a slash now going along part of his face.

My wound throbbed, but my adrenaline was kicking into full gear. A loud bang echoed through the room as blood spurted out from his left shoulder. A pained yelp came from him as he threw Kira at me. I grunted in pain as we both tumbled to the ground, my gun clanked along the floor away from me.

Scarlet launched forward in the blink of an eye, slashing rapidly at the backpedaling Zoroark. Luson chuckled darkly. “What’s a Chosen such as you doing out here on the frontier? Aren’t you a little far from home?” he taunted before disappearing once more.

“Show yourself, wretch,” She yelled as she stopped her assault in shock. Twisting around looking for something I doubt she’d see. I ripped the gag off Kira and loosened the rope. I grabbed my gun and frantically looked to everything around me that could give him away.

Scarlet made a metallic scream as she was thrown towards us with scratch marks all over her. Her ribbon tattered as she fell unconscious. My jaw went slack as I grimaced at the unconscious sword.

I was looking for blood, shadows, anything that could possibly tell me where he was. I focused, and could hear his labored footsteps. Every part of me screamed to take the chance and shoot where I thought he was. The gun in my hands was beginning to shake, I couldn’t start panicking now of all times.

“Can you teleport us out?” I asked Kira as I carefully gazed around us. Pokémon were yelling about what just caused the noise and were finding the blood everywhere.  

She nodded, shakily standing up as we began to glow. I held my breath out of reflex, expecting some last ditch attack from anywhere around us.

The light overtook my vision, leaving us in silence as it all disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief, we were safe. For now anyway.

We were in what looked to be the front room to a house, a kitchen was on my left while on my right seemingly went into a small living room. Stairs wrapped around some trunk-like structure that had no railings or safety measures at all.

Kira wobbled, nearly collapsing as she stepped forward. I reached out and supported her. Barely catching her in time before I carefully let her sit down on what looked to be a couch. I glanced back, seeing Scarlet was still sprawled out beaten nearly to death. I hesitantly grabbed the handle and put her in a chair.

The beaten and exhausted Gardevoir slouched back into her chair as she was surrounded by a light green glow. “Maybe it's best we go after big bounty targets with a whole team...” she moaned tiredly.

“What if he knew we would end up back here?” I asked nervously. “He seemed calculated enough to have accounted for us running away.”

“Under normal circumstances I’d agree, but you and Scarlet messed him pretty… well….” she trailed off as she fell unconscious. The light green glow having healed most of her wounds.

I swung my backpack onto the ground and unpacked my revolver ammunition. Finding it tucked just underneath my sweater and vest. I took a single bullet, my revolver clicking as I unloaded the spent casing and put the new one in.

With Kira unconscious, and Scarlet probably beaten within the reach of death’s door, I decided to count my ammunition. My head was on a swivel, so much as the slightest sound sent me to my feet with my gun already in hand. But even after every single round I’ve spent… I still had another sixty to use and abuse.

But at the rate I was using them at, they’d be gone within a week. I needed a reliable source of bullets from somewhere… or maybe just a new weapon that doesn’t need ammo.

It felt like hours had passed as I sat there alone. I didn’t know what to do with the cut on my arm, it didn’t hurt much anymore and the bleeding had practically stopped. I sat there twiddling my thumbs and hoping that Kira and Scarlet were okay. I nearly dozed off, the sudden sound of the front door opening easily sending me to my feet.

“Perhaps our dear doctor would-” Ronin walked in first, looking between me and Kira in shock. “What happened?”

Lloyd followed him, staring blankly at the scene. I breathed a sigh of relief. “Remember that Zoroark you said we could get after I officially joined your team? Well he got hired to kidnap me for someone else. We barely got out of there after he nearly killed Scarlet the Honedge right there.”

Ronin rushed over to Kira and held her close, sitting right next to her. Lloyd crossed his arms and looked tentatively at me and Scarlet. “Oh… are you alright?”

“Gave me a cut on my left arm, but other than that… the damage is just mental.”

The Greninja grabbed something out of Kira’s bag, pulling out what looked to be a roll of something white. “Wrap this around it for now,” he said as he tossed it to me.

The material was soft, but I couldn’t tell what it was made of. I wrapped it around my cut, the bleeding now completely stopped. I tied it up and broke it off from the rest of the roll. I put it down on the low table between the seats and couch.

“So…” I squeaked out. “What's the plan?”

Lloyd narrowed his eyes. “Well if he is coming after you… we’re going to need a phrase or word that only us will know.”

“How about something German?” I asked.

“Urm, is that a human dialect?”  

“Yeah, it's one of many,” I clarified. “The specific word I had in mind is ‘ketzer’ since I doubt anyone here knows what it means.”

Ronin was staying deathly silent by Kira’s unconscious side. Not moving at all except for the small rapid breathes he was taking. Lloyd nodded his head. “Sounds good, Ronin, tell Kira the ‘password’ when she wakes up.”

“What are we gonna do with the Scarlet?” Ronin asked as he gestured to the unconscious sentient sword.

A metallic shriek echoed out as Scarlet suddenly burst from her position and pointed her blade around the room. A pained groan following as she sheathed herself, realizing we were safe. “What happened?

“Luson got you,” I said with a grimace. “I don’t even know how you’re alive after that…”

“I have taken worse beatings, but never that fast. Hopefully that evil beast bleeds to death from both our shots at him.” She adjusted herself onto the chair again.

Ronin broke his silence in a low voice devoid of emotion. “Do you know where he-”

“Nuh uh, Ronin, not again.” Lloyd interrupted. “Your only job right now is to make sure Kira wakes back up safely. You’re not going on some crusade by yourself, no matter what you think it’ll accomplish.”

Ronin reluctantly conceded, picking Kira up and making his way upstairs. “I will gut that Zoroark alive when he finds us then.”

“You can do whatever you want to him then and then alone.” Lloyd turned his attention to me. “I’m no doctor… but uh, I think you should rest. There is a bed upstairs for you.”

I nodded as I climbed the stairs, finding Ronin and Kira sharing a bed, both embracing each other with each other's arms. I saw a bed that had my name on it, carved into a small wooden plate in the new language that appeared in my head.

It was quite comfortable, despite how it looked. I gazed up and saw the stars. Entire galaxies worth of them up through a skylight. My mind began to unravel and relax, embracing the moment of respite. Slowly I found myself drifting off to sleep… hoping that Kira was sleeping as well as I was.


A Zoroark growled in pain as it yanked a bullet from out of a wound on its left shoulder. Cursing under its breath as it tossed the piece of lead away onto the forest floor. The tree branch he was on squeaked as he repositioned himself, desperately trying to find a place that gave comfort and balance.

He popped an Oran berry over his face, its effects numbing the throbbing pain from the slash across it and jumpstarting the healing process. A sly smile grew on his face, that human could’ve killed him if he placed that shot better.

‘Guess the Honedge threw him off…’

The blood-caked Zoroark laughed to himself. Remembering the Honedge’s attempt at his life, and how pitiful it became after it landed its first and only hit. The slashing was fast, furious, but lacked any restraint and flow.

“I’m glad one of us is having fun,” a voice said from above him.

Luson brushed the newcomer off. “I’m enjoying the moment, heh, just feeling out our prey before I actually try.”

The form of a Decidueye slowly revealed itself from the shadows. “Why must you be so stupid? Now they’ll be on guard for us.”

“Correction; they’ll be on guard for a dastardly Zoroark. Not a big bad birdy with a bow.”

“You fool…” the Decidueye sighed in frustration. “You do realize that the Greninja will recognize me immediately, right?”

Luson rolled his eyes. “Just kill him first then, I fail to see what the problem is.”

“Believe me, I tried that.” the Decidueye snarled.

“Clearly you didn’t try hard enough-”

The angry bird let loose an arrow, hitting just above the Zoroark’s head. “I’m done with you, meet back up with our employers and we’ll see how to proceed from here. Oh, and do NOT engage with them until told. Understood?”

“Yeesh, don’t have to ask me twice.”

I was beginning to feel my ribbon properly again after some sleep. The chair was comfortable enough to allow me to rest easy, even if I’d prefer something else. Right now, all me and Mason have to do is recover. Thankfully his arm is healing up nicely. I was surprised it isn’t scarring given how large it was, he said something about humans having really good healing naturally. Maybe that might be playing a factor.

Mason had left for a while, doing something with Kira and Ronin. I didn’t bother to ask. I had assumed that it was private, seeing as I wasn’t in their team. They returned not too long later, a tired expression plaguing the Gardevoir and Gallade.  

The human however, seemed unamused.

“I was expecting much worse if I’m being honest.” Mason said as he walked up the stairs.

Kira slowly came up after him, I could see the exhaustion in her eyes. “Ronin considers that a more intense session.”

“Oh...”

Ronin smiled, calling up after him. “Don’t feel sorry for her. If she wishes to come with me on those runs, she will feel the wrath they incur on the unprepared.”

“You don’t have to be so dramatic, dearest.” Kira retorted back down.

“So… where do you hail from, Scarlet?” Lloyd’s voice snapped me away from the scene. I turned to the Greninja, seeing him getting comfortable in his seat as Ronin took his.

“Up in the northern Etyth mountains, they say steel-types like it up there. I never did.”

“So then what brings you down to Narkin of all places?” Lloyd narrowed his eyes. His voice remaining smooth. “It's not every day you see a Honedge in these parts, especially a… uh, Chosen.”

I rolled my eye, my color was more of a hindrance than anything. “I wanted to just get away, everything is just so boring up there. Going on an adventure to the frontier sounded nice so long as I could find Pokémon to do it with.”

A flash of light permeated around the room briefly, revealing Kira as she sat down beside Ronin. She looked almost frustrated and angry. I was no psychic, so I couldn’t really tell beyond just her body language unless I touched her with my ribbon. Her voice was eerily devoid of the emotion I heard in it before.

She looked briefly at me, a mix of frustration and anger washing over it. “There is a new complication that Scarlet had brought to me and Mason while we were at the Guild.”

“What may that be?” Lloyd asked.

“Mason wasn’t the only one, his… father, is also here.” the anger she was feeling seeped into her voice like a stream. “We need to deal with Luson fast, and hopefully get enough information out of him so we can find where these bastards took him.”

I felt obligated to help him, they both saved me from this ‘Lycoris’ group and it's technically my fault that they made off with Mason’s father. My blade rustled in its sheath, restless and desperately wanting action. I could never wait for very long, patience just wasn’t my thing. I know we need to rest and recover, but I just didn’t care at all.

I had no royal guard to call upon, and that suited me just fine. I didn’t need protection anymore from my own mistakes. Just the cold iron will to right them.

Lloyd sighed and shook his head. “I know what you’re thinking, Scarlet and Kira, but we can’t be, uh, aggressive when it's someone who is good with illusions.-”

“What breaks a Zoroark’s illusion?” Mason’s voice echoed out as he carefully came down the stairs.

“Urm, usually the breaking of their focus, or touching them. Hitting them hard with something does the trick usually… I know from experience.”

“Does the person creating the illusion have to be aware of things like walking through light smoke causing it to move in order to hide it?” Mason asked. It sounded like something they’d need to be aware of. Although Zoroarks aren’t exactly the most common sight where I’m from, I wouldn’t know the specifics.

“Yes they do,” Kira answered. “However Luson would know to cover his tracks properly through that sort of obstacle.”

“Same thing with mirrors I assume, right?”

Kira sighed heavily. “Yes, he’d have to be aware of everything that can give him away. We can catch him off guard but that's only useful if we’re already aware of him.”

“What about rain? How hard would that be to get through?”

Ronin leaned out of his seat in deep thought as Lloyd stared through the skylight. A pillow beside Ronin started to slowly rise into the air. “Rain would be hard for him to deal with. Lloyd could create a storm in the area, but he just can’t keep it going for very long. He’d need help.” the pillow dropped back down to the couch as he ended.

“What if I could help him?” I said with newfound energy. “I too can summon storms, I just need some practice before I can do it again. It has been a while since I have done it properly.”

Lloyd got up and walked past us, looking out the front window. “Well… that's great, but right now we need to find him. I can call in a few favors... specifically a Lucario. Aura will be our best bet at locating this guy. Since Mason is his… uh, target, all of us are at risk if we leave this building and he knows who is harboring him. We’ll unfortunately have to either split up, or stay together and maybe get some unwanted attention.” he turned around, facing Mason with weary eyes. “Look, I doubt you’ll make any trouble, however you won’t have to. It’s already looking for you.”

“I’m fine with either, don’t let me clog up your decision making. I’m the stranger here.” Mason replied dutifully.

Kira smiled. “If anyone was to get hurt, I’d prefer if all of us stuck together. Plus I’ve got a Zoroark to bind in rope now after what happened in the Guild.”

“And bash into the dirt repeatedly.” I added.

My blade felt dull in areas, only adding to my feeling of restlessness. I needed to sharpen it if I wanted to return to full health and it needed to happen soon. Waiting around feels like we’re wasting time. Precious seconds that Mason’s father probably doesn’t have.

Time that could be better spent sending this scum straight to Giratina.

Ronin looked just as restless as me, probably wanting revenge for Kira. He flexed his blades as he spoke in a deep voice. “We should stick together. But for now we should try and get Mason entirely accepted into the Guild. Currently all he has to do is a mock-run of a dungeon and everything should be fair as day.”

“Dungeon? Am I raiding a castle?” Mason jokingly asked.

Kira rolled her eyes as she pointed to a map on the wall. It depicted the layout of the land, and marked various points, including mystery dungeons. “No, we call them ‘dungeons’ or ‘mystery dungeons’. Places that have been cursed to forever change without exceptions, Pokémon explore them to find treasure or to rescue Pokémon who wander into them. Ferals populate them, and the deeper you go, the more… strange things begin to happen.”

“Define strange.”

“Visions of the future, past, or locations foreign to this world, voices in your head. Some say that they find curiosities that don’t seem to be from this world… and there are more effects and things still discovered to this day. It’s a frontier, one that I doubt has an end. Makes me tired just thinking about it.”

Mason looked at the map, pulling a weird looking rectangle out of his pocket. It seemed to glow for a moment as he pushed things seemingly on its glowing surface, before it suddenly went black. He put it back in his pocket, what was that? Some sort of human thing?

Curiosity took hold, beating down my restlessness for now. “What did you just do?”

“Oh uh… where would I even begin…” he took whatever it was back out of his pocket. It started to glow again as he seemingly pushed things on its flat surface again, before stopping, and gesturing for me to come over.

I looked confusedly at it, the map on the wall looked to be now on this weird rectangle. Smaller, but still readable. He then turned it around and looked to push something else. My eye hurt for a second as a bright light came from this strange object.

Mason turned it around again, I widened my eye in shock as I stared at what looked to be me. Like a painting, but done instantly in some kind of light. Every detail was perfect, including the area behind me.

“What is that- thing?” I asked in wonder.

“Human technology at some of it’s finest, can’t explain to you how it works though without confusing you more… I’m only comfortable using it because I found something else in my bag that will be able to charge this thing. Otherwise, know that this thing can run out of energy. And then it becomes useless.”

“How does someone even be able to begin to make such a thing?”

He put it back in his pocket, an embarrassed look on his face. “Afraid I don’t know, I'm just an average guy. All I can tell you is that it's fragile, and that it costs way more to buy one than what it costs to make them.”

“You won’t need such a thing,” Kira began. “However, you are allowed to bring it and whatever you else want.”

“So I’ll be doing it alone?”

Lloyd got up, along with Ronin and Kira. “We’ll have to ask Ace when we get there. Odds are you’ll have a team of three or four though. And I would expect a fight if I were you, should probably bring whatever human-made weaponry you have. Just don’t do anything that I can’t heal.”  

“Roger that,” Mason started going back up the stairs but stopped short. “Hey wait, Scarlet, have you done this test before?”

I remembered I hadn’t, mostly because I had to reason to for most of my life. Better late than never I suppose. “No, perhaps I could try and do it with you. I might need the badge and benefits later.”

“Eh, alright. I'll be right back after I decide what I'm bringing along for the ride then.” Mason disappeared upstairs, probably wondering which of his human contraptions to attempt to impress us with next.

Kira seemed to notice my growing discomfort judging by the way she was looking at me. A worried expression, hand to chin, and her rapidly approaching stride. She stopped just in front of me. “Are you alright?”

“My blade is dull because of what happened in the Guild… I just need a smooth rock or something to sharpen it myself.”  

She nodded before going into the kitchen area. The closest I could compare would be having dead skin for fleshy types, except it couldn’t be removed without a fight. And it would preferably be done by someone else…

“Here,” she handed me a decently large decorative rock. “Will this work?”

I bowed slightly as I unsheathed my blade. “Yes, thank you.”

I held the rock in my ribbon, not the most heavy thing, nor the most tedious thing to keep around for later should I need it. I’ll ask later if I could have one like it, or to keep it. I put the rock to my blade-

“Alright, I’m ready.” Mason announced as he jumped off the staircase and landed next to me. I nearly dropped the rock in surprise, kept only in my ribbon because of its weight. Relief flowed through me as I sighed, now I’ll have to do this on the move…

Ronin and Lloyd touched their badges, a glow started to permeate from them. Ronin flashed a smile to Kira. “See you in a flash.” their words barely made it to us before they disappeared.

“We should be going as well, who knows what they’ll get themselves into without us.” Kira giggled as my vision faded. The air became colder and less claustrophobic, the noises of the Guild’s lobby coming in full force.

“Ah, who do we have here?” a Malamar behind the counter asked.

Kira glanced at me and Mason. “Two fine Pokémon hoping to do the test today.”

“Righto, can I get your name?”

“Scarlet of the Etyth Mountain Fortress.” I mumbled.

He seemed rather shocked for a moment before writing something down on some sort of board. “So you’re… ah, I see. No matter, you both can make your way to the training area where Ace will be. He’ll handle the rest.”

The Guild wasn’t busy, few Pokémon darted through the hallways or were taking their time with whatever they had on their hands. We passed by a team that came inside from the training area, looking rather tired with whatever they were doing. I still needed to sharpen myself. The feeling was becoming unbearable.

Whatever notion I could’ve had about the training area being underdeveloped vanished as we entered. The sounds of power wrapped around us from those that were currently training or battling, occasional yelling piercing through it.

An Inteleon with a Guild Leader badge stood amongst the organized chaos, he saw Mason and smiled. “Back on your feet I see, perfect. I also see you have a new friend, there is just one thing we need to make sure of first…”

“And what would that be, Ace?” Mason asked defensively.

Ace gestured to the various training Pokémon around us. “Why the combat test of course! We can’t just throw people into the mystery dungeon without at least testing their basic abilities.”

“So… uh...  who would we be fighting then?”

“Me, but I’ll be going easy on you both. It’s only a combat awareness test, the real stuff will be during the actual run of the mystery dungeon.”

Mason stared at him, mouth slightly agape. “Uh where are we doing this?”

“Here,” Ace glanced at Kira and pointed to the side. “I’d recommend you stand clear just in case.”

She nodded and walked over, leaving me and Mason standing side by side. Facing this town’s Guild Leader in a two on one battle was not something I expected from this…

Except I was STILL BLUNTED.

“Mason, can you do something for me please?”

He glanced at me, seeing the rock in my sash. “Yea?”

“Look, you don’t have any powers, and I’m currently blunted and can’t cut through anything. Can you just hit him real hard with me please and get this over with?”

He looked at me with a confused expression. “You want me to… oh, wield you like an actual sword?”

“Please do, just spare me the embarrassment.” I was getting even more impatient, at least I can guide his hand should I need to.  

Mason took hold of the handle, I could tell he didn’t have a tight enough grip. “You don’t have to be afraid of hurting me unless an attack hits the area around where your hand currently is… you know what, let me help.”

I tossed the rock to Kira and gripped Mason’s right arm with my ribbon. It glowed briefly as I lent him some knowledge on how to swing a sword a little better than a rookie. Hopefully it’ll be enough, on my own I can barely do anything with a blunted blade. All Honedge are and should be taught that.

“Begin.” Ace said as he pointed a finger at us.

Mason started circling around our opponent slowly, probably waiting for Ace to make a move. He jabbed me forward at Ace’s chest as his finger began to glow bright blue. I pulled Mason out of the way of the water pulse, scrambling forward to make some pressure.

[Get this over with, just hit him in the head or something.] I impatiently said to him.

Mason shook his head. [Nearly got hit by playing aggressive, be patient, I’m waiting for an opening.] He started circling around again, keeping some kind of stance at the ready. Ace narrowed his eyes and pointed at us again. Mason charged at him but kept me to the side. What was he doing?

Ace jumped in the air again, Mason’s arm flexed, oh now I see… I let him go with my ribbon as he threw me at him. Ace’s tail grabbed me, I seized his arm with my ribbon and siphoned some energy. Bits of my blade seemed to sharpen back up, maybe I won’t need the rock after all-

The glow of a water pulse hit me, I grunted in pain and landed on the ground with a thud. I readied myself again, seeing Mason take something off his own waist with one arm as he pulled Ace towards him with the other.

Ace’s tail swung around towards Mason’s feet. He hunkered down in his stance, a grunt escaping him as it collided. Mason pulled him closer, his other hand with the weird rectangle on collision course with Ace’s chest.

A cackling filled the air as Ace started to convulse with electricity. He grunted in intense pain before the cackling stopped falling over. Arceus above this took FAR too long. The effects seemed to go somewhat away, though I could tell he would be feeling that for the rest of the day.

“What in blazes was that?” Ace croaked out as Kira healed him.

Mason had some sort of black rectangle in his hand again, though it didn’t look quite like the other one he has. “A stun-gun, one of my… tools.” the cackling of electricity came from it before he attached it back to his waist. “I have some basic hand-to-hand training, though I doubt it would’ve worked on you.”

“So I take it you’re familiar with this sort of thing, chap?”

He nervously smiled. “Well I do- did, deal with criminals as my job. I try to be efficient like my dad taught me.”

“I wasn’t expecting that, so you got me there.” he stood back up and dusted himself off. “I say it's time to get this party started, what about you two chaps?”

“Not before I ask Mason to help me with something after.” I took the rock back, Kira had put it on the ground to treat Ace’s injuries. “Do you see blunted bits on my blade?” I nearly whispered to him.

“What about them?”

“Can you scrape at them with that after we get to the mystery dungeon?” I gestured to the rock he now held in his hand.

He had an unsure look on his face. What wasn’t straightforward about that? “Uh, sure I guess… am I allowed to ask why you can’t do it yourself and right now?”

“Because it’s muckin’ embarrassing, that's why.” I hissed quietly. “It’s like an itch you can’t scratch, every second is making me more irritable and I swear now couldn’t have been a worse time for this-”

I must’ve struck a nerve, his tone blackened in tone like mine. “Alright I get it, calm down. Stop being so damn aggressive and learn some bloody patience. I’m still new to this whole thing.” With a sigh, I slid my sheath back on as he frustratedly tossed the rock between his hands.

“Sorry,” I blurted out.

“Just promise me you’ll try to keep a cool head at the very least. Trust me when I say people die when they don’t.” I nodded, earning a tentative smile from him. He put the rock in some pouch on his waist clothing. “Remind me to uh… ‘sharpen’ you later.”

“And you can trust me when I say that you will never hear the end of it.” I sarcastically answered. He snickered as he sat on some sort of seat.

I noticed that the Malamar was here, talking with Ace and Kira about something. I could only guess it had to do with the test, maybe Mason surprised him more than he initially thought. A voice appeared in my mind, giving me the instruction of meeting in the center of the area.

“That felt weird…” Mason muttered as he rose from the seat. The Malamar must’ve given everyone the announcement.

“As psychic powers usually do.”

Ace now had a small crowd of Pokémon around him, he stepped up onto something and spoke as we approached. “Gather around chaps, we’re heading out to the mystery dungeon now. Remember who you’re with. Rules are simple; get to the end and collect your badges and get out as fast as possible. If I or anyone else catch any of you cheating by taking another team’s badges or being general nuisances then you’ll be removed. Understand?”

Some raised their hands, some hollered, others kept silent and nodded. Ace carefully looked over everyone. “Good luck, see you chaps on the other side.”

A brilliant glow briefly took my vision. My sight returning to find ourselves on the side of a cliff overlooking a large swath of land that had ruins all over it.

Mason stared in shock at them. “Those are…”

“Those are what?”

He shook his head, looking a little on edge suddenly. “It’s nothing, they reminded me of something.”

Whatever was bothering him clearly stayed, Ace was talking, though I didn’t quite care. I stared more at the ruins that dotted the landscape, seeing a tall building that looked to have been created of metal and some sort of rock that was grey, covered now in vines and moss.

Mason seemed to snap himself out of his stupor, returning to the crowd. Something still was off, and it was more than just my blunted blade.