Task 3 - Next Level
Altair opened his eyes. His whole body felt like he got beaten up, like… like training, but on a whole other level. Or maybe he was having a nasty hangover. This was why he didn’t drink.
“Urgh… where am I…?”
He looked around, and the answer made itself clear instantly: inside a prison cell. A very tiny one, with a barred window overlooking the city, some big beds, a gate that he couldn’t break out of, and…
Three other Pokémon. Mack, Tyron, and that Lycanroc he didn’t know the name of. All four of them had a bracelet around their arms.
“Oh, you’re awake!” Mack perked up, jumping from the bed and then running to give Altair a hug.
“W-Wait, wait! It still hurts, it still hurts—” Altair wasn’t fast enough, though by the time he got hugged, he didn’t reject it. Rather, he returned the gesture, nuzzling Mack slightly. “Why are we in a prison, by the way?”
“The guards think we’re dangerous.”
And now Lycanroc spoke up. He was close to the gates, looking left and right. “We were knocked out, and they dragged us here. Something about disturbing public peace.”
“They’re a buncha bullies, that’s what!” Tyron groaned, sitting on a bed on the other side of the cell. Unfortunately, he wasn’t all that comfortable, and the bed creaked beneath him. “We saved them! And, uh, I have no idea how we did that. But we
did!”
Altair winced. Right, right. Everything was coming back to him. The fight. The Tyranitar. And that Lycanroc saying some weird stuff. “...Great, this is just what I needed.”
“Hmph. I think we can point fingers in this situation.” Mack let go of his partner, before crossing his arms and frowning as he looked at Lycanroc. “Hey, you know more than what you’re telling us. The stuff you said back then…”
“No idea,” he answered without looking at them. “I don’t know why I said all those things.”
“What? You expect us to believe that?!” Mack was ready to go and knock some sense into the guy, but Altair touched his shoulder to get him to stop.
Altair looked at Mack first, then at Lycanroc. “Maybe we should hear him out. I’m curious.”
“We don’t even know his
name,” Tyron interjected, raising an arm. “...And for what it’s worth, when I saw him, he was freaking out.”
“My name…?”
Lycanroc stopped, like he was considering what they said. He honestly had no idea. The option in this case, then, was to say the first one he had in mind.
“Uh, it’s Cole.”
“Hmph.” Mack pouted, puffing some smoke from his nostrils. “I’m not convinced. And I saw that Tyranitar was looking right at you.”
“That
is weird.” Altair nodded. Mack had a point! “Can’t blame us for wantin’ some answers, though. Can ya?”
Tyron stood up from his bed, hearing the loud creak from it. “Yeah, we need to know.”
“Great, just great! Wouldn’t it be nice if I had all the answers with me?” Cole turned around, then rolled his eyes, putting a hand on his hip. “But I don’t. I really don’t. When we were fighting, I just sorta…
knew some stuff.”
“Like the crystals’ power.” Altair said. He vividly remembered that part. And remembering it gave him a pit in his stomach. “What’s that about?”
“I. Don’t.
Know.” Cole hissed, practically letting out a snarl. “All I know is that their power helps fight those
things.”
Altair didn’t say anything to that. Mostly because he was focused on that pit in his stomach. It felt too intense to be fear or any kind of reaction of the sort.
His vision grew blurry for a moment. His legs trembled, and Altair felt like he’d fall.
…
He didn’t. However, he kept quiet about this incident.
“...Maybe we need to deal with this in a good cop, bad cop way.” Mack cracked his neck. “Look, I just don’t wanna be in prison, ‘kay?”
“None of us do.” Tyron pointed out. He was rather calm about all of this, all things considered. “And I don’t think it’ll be helpful if we start beating each other up.”
Altair and Mack both looked at each other, before the Lokix spoke up. “We’re not.”
“Look, look. Listen.” Cole rubbed a hand against his head, groaning. “The point is… I’m not sure what happened there. I can’t remember much. Hell, I barely remember my name!”
“...You have amnesia?” For a brief second, there was a
spark in Altair’s eyes. “Hey, hey, hey! Wait a minute! What if—”
“Altair!
No,” Mack interrupted, shaking his head. “He’s not a human!”
“What makes you think he isn’t?!”
“What makes you think he
is?!”
Tyron blinked, watching these two have a small argument. He looked to the side, seeing that Cole was utterly confused by what the couple was talking about.
“Uh, word of advice, humans are… I dunno, they’re these weird creatures. Sometimes they pop up. Though they tend to turn into a Pokémon like us, and lose their memories.”
“Really…?”
Well, if that was the case, Cole could understand why that Lokix was quick to say those things. Still, he didn’t know for sure. After all, he couldn’t remember much.
“Yeah, they’re cool, I think. Our mayor used to be one!” Tyron shot a grin.
“Huh, neat, I guess.” Cole shrugged. He didn’t particularly care about this, but well, it wouldn’t hurt to talk about it.
Altair looked at Cole, like he was scanning the Lycanroc for something. “...Okay, nevermind. He doesn’t look human-y to me.”
“I love you, but you’re just being arbitrary about this. None of us can tell!” Mack sighed, shaking his head.
“I’m sure there’s
some way of telling! I mean, it makes sense! Humans are so weird and mysterious. How else would he know about the crystals?!” Altair kept pushing, though Mack didn’t seem that amused about it.
Before any of them could continue their conversations, they all heard footsteps. It got them all to shut up.
And it didn’t take long before a Mienshao appeared, wearing a black jacket with an orange band around her midsection, with footwraps and gloves on her legs and hands.
She took a long look at the four, unimpressed, and scowled at them.
“It’s your lucky day,” she huffed. “The mayor wants to see you.”
The mayor’s office was big, and decorated. Shelves lined the wall, full of leather-bound books and high, arched windows that poured light across the room.
Another wall had a bunch of pottery. Plants, some tables with chairs. The floor was squeaky clean, to the point one could almost see their reflection when looking there, and a long row of carpet lined the center.
On the other side of the office was a massive oak desk, with a neatly stacked pile of paper, a framed picture of a ghost-type Zorua along with a Zoroark wearing goggles. A phone hung there, or at least its base, as the receiver was being held by the mayor herself.
She was a Froslass, wearing a dual-colored dress: cyan on the upper part, deep blue on the lower part with snowflakes adorning it, and a bow tie at the upper area of her dress. She also had a long, wide-brimmed white hat with blue ribbons. Finally, she had a golden ring on one of her fingers.
“Yes, we just received news of it a few hours ago,” she was saying. “Another formation of crystals. Right in the middle of the city. Kinda tore down Dex’s bar, or at least the front of it.”
She stopped talking for a moment, waiting for an answer.
“He was just with me a while ago, but I sent him back there.”
A pause, so she could grab a glass of water and drink a sip from it.
“And the formation was destroyed. I’m not sure how, but there’s only shards there now. Witnesses say a group of four was responsible.”
Once again, she was waiting.
“I’m not sure. They should be arriving here soon.” She looked behind her at the door. No visitors yet. “On that note, don’t you think it’s a little strange? The crystals remind me of—”
The answer this time came a little quicker.
“...You can’t blame me for asking. But if you say they’re not related, I believe you.”
Finally, she heard a knock on the door, turning around. “Excuse me, but I think they arrived. I’ll have to cut this call short.”
She put the phone down. “Please, come in!”
And the door opened. Altair, Mack, Tyron and Cole all entered the room, followed by the Mienshao from before.
“Thank you, Dahlia, for bringing them,” the mayor answered, hovering outside her desk and nodding at the Mienshao. She stopped in the middle of the room to address the new arrivals.
“I’m sure you all know me. Well, not personally, anyway.”
Cole looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Which, well, he
was. “Uh, I’m not from around here. I don’t know where I’m from.”
“Is that so…?”
She went a tad closer to Cole, though she was smiling. “Who knows? Maybe you’re like me! But let’s not jump to conclusions, alright? I was going to introduce myself anyway.”
Then, she moved back a bit, so she could see all of them.
“My name is Meggie. I am the mayor of this town.”
The Froslass didn’t wait for them to reply, and she was already looking at the others. “And you are… Mack, Altair and Tyron, yes?”
“She knows our names?” Altair looked at Mack. “Dude, she knows our names!”
“Noted, Altair, noted.” Mack merely shrugged at his partner’s words.
“...Cool,” Tyron whispered. Of course, even his whisper was rather loud. “Ma’am, I wanna apologize. I’m just a bouncer, but I couldn’t stop myself. I had to try and fight that thing!”
Cole scoffed upon hearing that. “Nobody asked you to. And we were all fighting it.”
“Yes, you all fought that creature. But that’s not what’s important here.” Meggie floated back to her desk, sitting on a chair. “What matters is that you
defeated the creature.”
“It was shattered into… pieces.” Altair winced, putting a hand over his stomach. Right where the shard landed. But there was no wound or anything. As far as he could tell, he was healed. “One of them stabbed me, but I can’t see it.”
“Wait,
what?!” Mack shouted, looking his partner up and down incredulously. “But you don’t look like you were stabbed!”
“Hm?” Meggie took a look at the Lokix, then shook her head. “I’m… sorry to disappoint you, but when the guards picked you, there was no visible wound. Otherwise, you would be at the hospital right now.”
“...Really?” Altair tilted his head. Okay, that was
confusing. “Uh, I guess there was an intense battle, maybe I was seeing things.”
“No,” Cole spoke up, his ears twitching. “I saw the shard hit you.”
Mack immediately glared at Cole, baring his teeth. “And you did nothing to help him?!”
“Actually, I think we were all hit.”
Now it was Tyron’s turn. He raised his hand and cleared his throat. “I remember being hit by the crystals, and then feeling them… enter me. Then it happened to both of you. Dunno about Cole, I passed out right after.”
“Curious.” Meggie let them speak for a while, but she felt that it was the proper time to return to the conversation. “This creature is not the first of its kind. I’ve heard reports of them showing up all over the planet.”
Cole shivered while she spoke. Why did this feel so familiar to him?
“How do you know all of that?” he asked.
“An associate of mine is investigating them.” Meggie raised the glass again, taking another sip. “So far, people have merely ran away from these creatures. None of them were actually inside any cities, until today.”
“Hey, frosty lady.” Altair crossed his arms. “You said we defeated it, then you say people ran from these things? Doesn’t add up.”
“That’s exactly it.” Meggie floated in place, addressing the Lokix. “Somehow, the four of you were able to strike down one of the creatures.”
“The mutt knows something.” Mack pointed at Cole, still glaring at him. “He said Altair got the crystal’s power.”
“You are such a tattletale.” Cole rolled his eyes. Whatever, now all eyes were on him. “I don’t know for sure. All I know is that Altair absorbed it. Honestly, seems like we all did. Only when that happened did he kill that monster.”
“My point, exactly.” Meggie looked at each of them, slowly. “Something happened to the four of you. Something that enabled you to destroy them. And I’d like to find out what.”
Altair heard her loud and clear, and he slowly started to smile, mandibles clicking together, and his antennae twitched. When Mack saw that, a shiver ran down his spine.
“...Great, you made him all excited. I hope you can handle it, Mayor.” Mack sighed. He really didn’t have the energy for it.
“I have a proposal to you all.” Meggie flashed a smile at them. How amusing. “Help us deal with these creatures. Think of it as a job. An opportunity to do good.”
…
…
…
Oh. Oh, oh! Altair had to repeat the words inside his head, just so he could make sure that he wasn’t hearing things.
A job?
An opportunity to do good?
Well, the last part wasn’t entirely up his alley—he wanted to make a name for himself, but still…
This was it! This was the opportunity he wanted! An actual adventure!
“YES!” Altair shouted, doing his best not to hop all over the place. “I’m in!”
“Yay…” Mack put his hands over his head, sighing. “...If it’s a job, are we getting paid? Because honestly, I don’t wanna go if we’re not being paid.”
“Of course you are.” Meggie kept her smile. “You’d deserve payment for a service like protecting the city.”
Cole, on the other hand, was quiet. When the crystal shattered, he heard the same ringing sound as before. And he felt calmer.
He didn’t know what was up with him. Who he was, where he came from, all those things. To him, it sounded like investigating would be the best way of getting answers.
“Fine, fine. I’ll join the group.” Cole rubbed his mane, grimacing. “But don’t expect me to be buddy buddy with you. I barely know you lot.”
“I…” Tyron began to speak, but then he stopped, shutting his mouth. “I don’t know if I can help. I only barely did when we were fighting that thing.”
Meggie shook her head. “Wouldn’t it be a good idea to try it anyway?”
“I mean, I guess I do wanna get stronger, and helping others is good, but…” Tyron looked down, only to feel someone poking at his thigh.
Altair.
“Grandmother once said, ’People become stronger through adventures.’”
“Sheesh, that too…?” Tyron managed a weak chuckle. “I suppose… I guess I could try, yeah.”
“Great, we have a full group!” Altair managed a short hop, and even then, he was still restraining himself a lot. “We’ll need a name, and a roll call! And a pose! And—”
“Not so fast. I’m assigning someone else with you as well.” Meggie tapped a finger on the table. “Dahlia. She will be accompanying you, though she has her own business to deal with. You don’t need to worry about her raining on your parade.”
Altair deflated, but he kept a grin up. “Fine, fine. I’ll add her to the roll call!”
They really remind me of our group, hm? Meggie chuckled for a bit, then cleared her throat. “Alright, I think that settles things, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, ma’am!”
He really, really, really wanted to jump right now. But suddenly Altair’s stomach flared up again. He kept his hand on his stomach, groaning as he tried to suppress the sudden pain.
Everything around him was blurry, and his hearing ebbed. He couldn’t make out what anyone was saying. There was a shout from… Mack? And he saw the blurry Cyclizar look at Cole—at least, Altair thought that was Cole.
Next thing he knew, Altair lost control of his legs. His body trembled, and he fell, right down on the ground.
There were still sounds surrounding him, but he couldn’t make any of them out.
All he heard was ringing.
It came more intensely now. Those visions.
He was running. Running for his life.
But from who?
At one point, suddenly running became a great struggle.
Then he tripped and fell.
There was someone cackling behind him, and when he moved his head to look at them, Altair only saw blurry figures. Three of them.
He recognized them. And at the same time, he didn’t. It was… difficult to explain.
They felt familiar, but he hadn’t seen them before, had he?
Like something was still missing. What he understood was how much his heart was racing. They were going to attack him, do
something to him. He didn’t know what, but the very fear nearly made his heart jump out of his body.
These guys were trouble. And if they caught up to him, they’d–!
Then Altair woke up.
When he came to, he was lying in a hospital bed. His vision was still rather blurry, but otherwise, things were looking pretty normal. If not for the fact this was the third time he got unconscious on the same day.
That was… part of the job, maybe?
“Altair! You scared the crap out of me!”
He knew that voice well. When Altair looked to the side, he saw Mack.
“Oh… hey there, babe. Sorry for passing out. Again.”
Mack shook his head. “Don’t apologise! But… are you okay? The doctors said you had a massive fever! Something about the heat being… right in your stomach?”
“I feel fine.” Altair shrugged. But he realized that the burning was where he felt that pit before—in his stomach.
How weird. He wasn’t a doctor, though. He couldn’t tell what was up with his own body. “...Look, okay. Maybe I’m not fine, I
am in the hospital, after all.”
Which reminded him, there were two more Pokémon with him.
“Uh, where’s Tyron? And Cole?”
Mack looked at the door. “Waiting outside. I’m allowed in because, y’know.”
“Yeah, you’re
bound to me~” Altair gave him a wink. “But seriously, I feel fine. Earlier I felt this weird pit in my stomach, and then there was the burning, but other than that, I’m alright.”
“Pit in your stomach?! That’s not fine at all!” Mack groaned. How could his partner be so
stupid?
“Maybe I’m just hungry. Dunno.” Altair shrugged. Really, his stomach felt weirdly empty, so hunger sounded like a reasonable option.
Before either of them could say anything else, however, the door opened.
And from the door came a white, ghost-type Zoroark, wearing a doctor’s coat, and with some papers in his hand. He wore glasses, which he quietly adjusted before closing the door.
“Hello. I’m Doctor Rory, and you’re my patient today,” he said, looking at Altair first, then at Mack. “...Although your boyfriend might as well be a patient, given how anxious he was before you woke up.”
“He can be like that.” Altair said in the most calm tone he could muster. “Anyway, what’s up, doc? I was told I passed out and had a high fever.”
“Mister Mack authorized me to perform some exams on you while you were unconscious.” Rory said, giving the papers to Altair. “Please take a look.”
Altair looked at the doctor, going quiet, before he looked at the paper.
There was an x-ray of his abdomen, which would be normal except for a weird formation right on his waist. It almost looked like a belt, though the ridges were a bit sharp. Crystal-like.
“...What?”
Mack poked his head nearby to look, only to blink a few times. “Uh, what?”
Rory sighed, sitting on a chair nearby. “There is a formation of crystals inside you.”
Mack kept blinking. Looking at the exam, looking at Altair, and then finally at the doctor. “Can’t you guys, I dunno, do a surgery on him and—”
“No,” Rory interrupted almost immediately. “They seem to have become entangled with your nervous system. Removing them now would either kill your boyfriend or leave him paralyzed.”
“W-Wait, what?!” Altair practically jumped out of the chair, only held back by Mack pushing him down. “You’re tellin’ me there’s this
thing inside me and you can’t even take it out?!”
“That is
exactly what I’m telling you. But there’s a silver lining to this.”
Altair’s antennae moved down. “...That being?”
“They don’t seem to be causing you any visible damage. It’s almost as if the crystals are…harmonizing with your system.”
“You’re saying they’re benign…?” Mack raised a hand. Honestly, he was going to yell, but they
were inside a hospital.
“We don’t know much. Yet. But…” Rory sighed again, putting his hands on the pockets of his coat. “My mother is investigating these crystals. She was the one that sent you here. I’ll be receiving samples of them, and hopefully, I can figure out if they’re malicious or not.”
Altair raised a claw, but then lowered it. Yeah, he wasn’t sure what to do now.
“...Damn it.” Mack muttered, shaking his head.
So, after those exams, the doctor didn’t actually know anything? Mack didn’t want to accept it. Even with the silver lining mentioned.
“You mean that, if we help her investigate, we’re helping Altair as well?”
“Exactly.”
“Urgh, this is annoying!” Altair groaned, covering his face with a claw. “It ain’t stoppin’ me, though! I’m going on this adventure!”
“Apparently, me too. I have an actual reason to go.” Mack sighed. Again, he was being dragged into things. “Sometimes you give me a load of trouble, y’know that?”
“Yeah, that’s why you lo-lo-love me~!” Altair winked at him.
He should have been freaking out more over this. Altair… felt like he should.
But he wasn’t.
And maybe that small detail was what scared him more than anything.
Altair wasn’t the only one in the hospital. Certainly not the only one hospitalized due to the fight the other day.
In one of the rooms, an Emboar rested, laying on a hospital bed and covered in a blanket. He groaned, trying to stand up, though the moment he tried, he fell right back into the bed.
This didn’t stop him from trying again. And again. And again.
“Ryker.”
He perked up, only to see the door had been opened, and a Golisopod had entered the room, adorned with rings around his inner arms, and in one of his eyebrows, along with a light pink sash on his waist.
“Master Aurelius.” The Emboar immediately tried to, at the very least, sit in the bed. With a lot of effort, Ryker managed it. “S-Sorry, sir. I wasn’t able to defeat that…
thing.”
“So I’ve heard.” Aurelius raised a brow, taking a step closer to him. “Yet, those civilians with you managed to do it. And now they’re being watched by the mayor herself. Curious, isn’t it?”
“...Really?” Ryker tilted his head. “Sir, sometimes you don’t make much sense.”
“Hmph. If you weren’t a simpleton, maybe you would understand me better.”
Aurelius moved to the side, looking out the window, right as Altair and the others walked down the hallway.
“The Golett pawns are being repaired as we speak.” He flexed his claws slightly. “And I am rather curious about this crystal business.”
Ryker blinked. “Sir…?”
“We’ll be watching this, and making some research of our own.” Aurelius only glanced at Ryker. “For the time being, I want you to recover. I can’t have my best soldier in bed.”
“...T-Thank you, sir.” Ryker nodded, gulping afterwards. The flames next to his neck burst for a moment. “But I feel fine! I’m ready to jump into action!”
“Your tenacity is admirable.” Aurelius kept looking at the window. “My mind is made up. You will recover, and then you will help me research these crystals. I have a feeling they will be important.”
“Sir, what about the mayor?”
Aurelius turned around, nodding to Ryker. “What do you mean? I’m cooperating with her. It’s in both our best interests that we investigate. After all, the Gilded Guard has this purpose, does it not?”
Ryker didn’t wait a moment before he gave out his answer. “I suppose so, sir.”
“Good. Now, recover. I have bureaucracy to deal with.” Aurelius rubbed a hand against his head, sighing. “I will return to check in on you.”
Ryker saluted him. “Aye, aye, sir.”
