Vray
Pull up a chair.
Chapter 17
Friction (Perturbation)
Friction (Perturbation)
A sleepy groan came from Jaron as his eyes fought to start opening. “Uhhh…morning Ciecro.” He rubbed his tired eyes, then paused at the following silence. “Ciecro?” He sat up, looking down at the empty spot next to him. Instead of surprise, Jaron’s eyes immediately went to a mild scowl. “Arceus, again?”
He tossed the covers off with a swipe of his claw and slid off the end of the bed. Shaking his head as he walked around to the pool of water, Jaron reached in and splashed his face a couple of times. The cold water shook any lingering drowsiness he had and he looked back into the settling water, specifically at his reflection.
“Hmm…” he felt under his jaw, browsing down the yellow scale pattern with his stare as it dropped down to his stomach and split into a ‘V’ pattern at his lower chest, and stopped near his waistline. Getting closer to how Dad’s looked. I wonder if his pattern was like this at sixteen.
A small smile formed as he turned his head and looked as best he could out of the corner of his eye at the red scale spikes on the back of his head. The curves were more pronounced than when he was a Totdoile, but still had some more curvature to go before they’d match up to Gathor’s.
“Coming along nicely,” Jaron said with a nod, giving his reflection his signature grin.
Eventually, he stopped marveling at himself, walked over to the nightstand, and took the orb off from the top. He twisted the top and looked forwards as a square hologram appear in front of him. “Eight o’clock, huh? Damn, I guess I can’t ever sleep in even on the weekend.” He shut it off and set the orb back down, pausing as he looked at the picture next to it.
No, don’t want to give her any clues. Jaron turned around and walked to the desk on the opposite side of the room from the stone bed. The stone carvings and other odd trinkets now had metallic projects to share their spots with. The desk itself had a large piece of paper with a grid and various numeric marks on it, along with a ruler laying at the top.
“Hmmm…” Jaron stared at the center. It was a pentagon plate with a square hole on its top, where one could easily see plenty of wires and mechanisms. It rested upon a thick cut of cloth, similar the palm part of an arm guard. The pentagon was connected to a thin, flexible rod of metal that went about a foot and half, with two adjustable straps equally spaced apart.
The Croconaw reached for the device and carefully slid it on his right arm, adjusting the straps so it was nice and tight on his arm. “Hmmm…” he rolled his arm over, eyeing the rod as he moved his arm in different ways and motions. “Feels good still. I guess I could work on you later today.”
He moved his right arm in front and checked the top, picking one of the wires hanging out from the hole with his left and eyeing it. I could get some supplies for this while I’m out. It would give me something to do while I-
A splashing sound came from behind him. Jaron spun around and gasped. “Oh, you’re awake.”
“Good morning, Jaron.” Miss Dresha pulled herself a little more up on the edge of the hole. “Working on your project?”
“No Ma’am. Might work on it later today.” Jaron started undoing the first strap, raising a quizzical brow at the fish. “Is Vray up?”
“Yes, though he was already gone when I checked on him.”
An annoyed sigh followed as Jaron started undoing the second strap with a bit more force. “Am I the only one who actually enjoys sleeping in on the weekends?”
Miss Dresha giggled. “Maybe if you consider waking up at Eight o’clock ‘sleeping in’.”
“Maybe I’ve been taking too much after you,” Jaron smirked as he started sliding the device off his arm and carefully setting it on the desk.
“So, how’s your device coming along?”
“I’ve still got a few things to work on and add, but right now I’m almost able to test powering it up.” Jaron glanced back with a smirk. “Once that passes I can work on the specifics and then I’ll have my own Technical Machine Administrator.” He sat in the chair, looking at the device. “Just getting all the stuff to build my own cost most of what I fu-” Jaron’s eyes shot wide as he caught himself mid-sentence. “fu…foo…fully own. Yeah, what I fully own. Just imagine how much a professionally made one costs.” Jaron weakly chuckled as Miss Dresha smiled at him, not buying his acting one bit.
“Well, I’m glad to hear it’s coming along well.”
“Thanks, Aunt Dresha.”
“Though, Jaron.”
“Yes, Ma’am?” The Croconaw got up from the chair and walked over to the pool of water.
“After your chores, can I ask you to run some errands for me?”
“Errands?” Jaron asked, eyes widening a little.
“Yes. I have a few things I need you to pick up for me. I’ll tell you them after you’ve done your chores. Oh, and can you do a sweep for me before you go? I’ve already done most of the harvesting, but I could always you a young pair of eyes to make sure this old Lanturn didn’t miss one.”
“Come now, Aunt Dresha.” Jaron said, standing up to make up the bed. “Your eyes are perfectly good for it. And they’re still very pretty.”
“Oh, thank you Jaron. You’re so very sweet to me.” Miss Dresha giggled.
Just you wait. A grin formed as Jaron pushed the covers up to the headrest. “Can you go on and get a net ready for me? I’m almost done here.”
“Oh, of course.” Miss Dresha immediately dove into the water.
Seeing her dive, Jaron slowly crawled to the edge of the bed. Okay, she’s gone. Immediately, he shifted to the left and grabbed the picture frame from the bed. He hurriedly scooted to the other side and undid the flap. Right as he was about to thrust the frame into the backpack, Jaron stopped and instead looked at the frame, holding it tightly with both hands.
The drawn image still looked as lively as when he first saw it years ago. Her smiling face and the smile of her husband, who he never was able to meet gleamed with contagious happiness. The Croconaw couldn’t help but grin a little at seeing it, even though the memory of his first time was less than happy.
I’m glad we have her. I hope she likes this. Jaron shook his head and gently set it snug inside the backpack. As he closed the flip, he heard a splashing sound and froze. His eyes slowly darted right as his heart began to race.
“Jaron?”
“Here!” He hopped onto the bed and crawled over into view. “I’m done, Aunt Dresha.”
“Oh? Okay, I was wondering what was taking you so long to make the bed.”
Chuckling, Jaron slid off the bed and walked over to the pond. “Guess I’ve not fully woken up yet.”
Dresha smiled. “Ah, well hopefully the water will wake you up. The net is ready for you.”
“Thanks.” Dresha dove into the water as Jaron took a big breath, leaned over the edge of the water hole, and dunked his head in. The coldness made his face feel alive and slightly numb as he pushed forwards, diving in.
Phew, she didn’t notice, he thought as he did a big stroke with his arms. Jaron kept his gaze firmly locked onto Miss Dresha’s light as he swam after her. He pulled his arms in close, swinging his tail side to side as he followed, watching the walls of the underwater cave close in on them the further they went.
His ruby eyes gazed at different parts of the walls, seeing how they looked in the glow of the Lanturn’s headlight. Sure, he’d been through these underwater ways enough on his own to not need any light, but it was nice to see what he was swimming through.
Eventually, the darkness subsided as Jaron exited out of a hole, spreading his arms and legs to halt his movement. The view of the lakebed sprawled out before him like a giant prairie does for one on a hill on a foggy morning. As his eyes trailed upwards, the sunlight gleamed off the shifty ceiling like waves of radiance. Simply looking at it warmed him up inside in spite of the chilly water.
He looked to his left as Dresha swam over to him, carrying a bag net to him. The Croconaw accepted the net and held it with both hands. He pulled his legs to the middle and his arms up to his chest as he once more relied on his tail to propel himself.
As he swam close to the lakebed, he spotted clusters of green spheres dotting near the lake’s floor. They each were connected to the stem of a certain plant, all lined up like a row of crops. It certainly made it easier for Jaron to inspect for any ripe fruit that had been missed.
However, his earlier assumption seemed more correct as each lap he did from one end of the lake to the other yielded no missed ripe fruit.
Heh, like I thought. Shouldn’t be too hard. I’ll be done in no time. I shouldn’t dawdle too much though since I need to be there ten minutes before ten o’clock. Suddenly, he halted and peered down at a spot. Is that? Sure enough, there was a larger red sphere intermingled with its green siblings.
As he dove closer, his earlier assumption began to fade as the colors became less blended and revealed a decent ratio of green. Jaron reached out and lifted the fruit, taking one close-up check just to be sure.
Nope. Close, but not ripe yet. Letting go of the fruit, Jaron swam back up and resumed browsing the rows once more. I could call it early. I mean, maybe something might come up that slows me down. His eyes drifted to the side as he reached the end of the line and turned around, swimming his way over in front of the next long stretch. His gaze shifted left as he eyed the rows he had left to do. Well…if I hurry I should be done before nine. That’s more than enough time to get to the town hall ten minutes before they open.
With a self-affirming nod, Jaron started swimming on. I hope everything goes right today. It’s only a week away and I want everything to be perfect. His eyes shifted to a resolved scowl. I want her to have the best birthday ever.
< O >
“Okay…do you have any letters you need mailed?” Jaron looked up at Dresha, who was currently guiding some mons that were moving crates full of Rosenarps. “Ahem, Aunt Dresha?”
“Huh?” She looked his way. “Oh, no, no, no. I don’t have any mail to send out.”
“Okay, so is this everything.” Jaron looked down at the list he’d just written out. Thankfully, it wasn’t too long, but he shuddered at how much of it comprised of market errands especially with market season’s first days being the worst for errands.
“Should be, dear- Careful!”
Jaron snapped his head up to see the two mons steadying the heavy crate.
“I told you to get a good grip!” The angry one shouted.
“Sorry, my paw slipped.”
Rolling his eyes, Jaron folded the list and stuffed it into the side pocket of his backpack. “Okay, if there’s nothing else. May I go ahead and go?”
“Sure, Jaron. And have fun while you’re out there.”
“I will. Thanks.” Jaron slugged the backpack over his shoulders and hopped off his seat. Right as he was about to go up the long flight of stairs, he heard a little cough. The kind of cough that made him groan inside.
He turned around, walked over to the pool of water, leaned in close, and shifted his head to the side so Aunt Dresha could kiss his cheek.
“Enjoy your day.”
“You too.” Jaron stood up and headed for the stairs, stifling the cheeky grins from the market mons from his mind. Today was too important to care about annoyances for Jaron as he rushed up the stairs.
As he emerged into the outside world, he felt the warm greetings of the sun and the relaxing breeze of the prairie. It was enough to give him pause to just get used to the shift from the colder interior of the cave. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, Jaron grabbed his backpack’s straps and smiled at the view of the large lake in front.
Going down the hill, he reached into one of the pouches on the backpack and pulled out an orb, twisting it to display the time once more. “Nine o’clock huh? I should have more than enough time.” He put the orb away and turned his head towards the lake as he continued walking on the overgrown dirt path running alongside the cliff.
About halfway around the lake, Jaron turned and broke off from the path, heading up a grassy hill and stopping when he reached a set of four stones. His warm smile that greeted the world above had grown to a slight frown as he gave each one of the gravestones a look.
His head fell a little. I know he’ll be okay but…can you keep an eye on him for me? A little grin formed as his smile faded. You know how he is.
“Mornin’ Jaron!”
The boy’s eyes shot open as he hopped back, his startled face shifting to a relieved smile. “Oh, morning sir.” He gave a little wave to a Seismitoad, who was heading up the hill to him.
“Visiting the folks are we?” He asked, with a hearty smile as he lightly tipped his cabby hat to Jaron.
Jaron nodded but raised a brow at seeing this mon wearing a green armband on the upper part of his arm. It bore a yellow threaded design, the kind Jaron had seen plenty of in the Town Hall. The symbol of Perion Town.
“Are you on duty sir?”
“Hrm?” The Seismitoad looked at his armband. “Yeah, just for the morning. Rangers can’t really afford a weekend like other businesses, heh. Especially the station’s commissioner.”
“Heh, yeah. That’s something I’m not looking forward to.”
“You’ve still got time.” The mon joined next to Jaron in front of the stones, moving his arms behind his back. “And even still, we’ve got a good force here. I doubt they’d need you to work weekends as well if we keep such a good number of rangers on call.”
Jaron’s smile faded as he and the ranger looked at the stones in front.
“So long has it been?”
“Almost eight years now.” Jaron’s eyes narrowed.
“‘Eight years’, huh,” the mon uttered to himself as he rubbed his large chin. “It’s respectable. I’m sure they all would be glad to know you and your brother are doing well.”
“I hope so.” Jaron walked up to the furthest right gravestone and placed a hand on it, looking at his father’s name crudely cut into the rock. “I want to make them all proud. Both of us do.” Jaron stepped a little to the side and looked up at the mon, keeping his hand resting on the rock. “You were at the station today, right?”
“Yep.”
“Was…was Ciecro there?”
“Hmmm…” He closed his eyes and pondered for a second. “Nope. Didn’t see him there, Jaron.”
A heavy sigh followed as the Croconaw took his hand away. “Okay, thanks.”
“Something up?”
“No…he just left early this morning again.” Jaron walked up to the ranger, asking, “If you see him, can you tell him to meet me near the Town Hall? If I’m not there, then probably the marketplace on Main Street. I have to run some errands for our Aunt.”
“Sure.” The mon affirmed with a nod. “Though, are you sure nothing’s wrong?”
“Well…” Jaron adjusted his backpack as he looked towards the town, still a ways away. “I just need to get going.”
“Oh, you heading into town? Can I tag along?”
“Sure, Mr. Humphrey,” Jason said with a smile. As he left the gravestones and joined next to the Seismitoad ranger, Jaron gave one more respectful head nod to the stones as Humphrey tipped his cap to them.
“I wish I got to meet your folks. They sound like real fierce Norfarions based on what you told me,” Humphrey said as they started back down the hill.
“They were, but they were good to us too. Same with Uncle Tethe and we wouldn’t be here if not for Roweilo too.”
“Yeah…I’m glad a ranger was able to help you in your time of need. Makes me feel a little bit prouder about the job.”
“Mhm. He’s why we wanted to be rangers.” Jaron tightened his claws on the straps as they reached the path, heading towards town side by side. A somber stare was on his face as the two walked in silence.
“So, what errands does the old missus have for you?”
“Mostly supplies and business in town.” Jaron let his arms drop to his sides as the two shared a glance.
“What are your plans afterwards?”
“It’s a bit open. I may work on some projects or just find Ciecro so we can train.”
A frown formed on Humphry’s face. “Training? Again? Come on, it’s your weekend, boy. Enjoy it.”
“Well… Ciecro likes sparring and I’d be lying if I didn’t say I didn’t find it fun too.” Jaron stretched his right arm forwards. A white light began to glow on the outer portion as curved blade spikes shot out from them, similar to the red scales on the back of his head and back. “It’s something we’ve always liked,” Jaron said as a smile formed, looking at his Slash as the white energy in the Slash danced with the sunlight.
“If you say so,” Humphry commented, shaking his head. “Most kids your age would probably be playing around with their friends or hanging out. You sure you both just want to train by yourselves on the weekend?”
“We’re sure.” A small smirk formed on Jaron’s face as he let his move vanish. Glancing back at Humphry, Jaron asked. “What about your weekend, Mister Humphry?”
“I’ve got errands to run for the missus.” His arms sagged a little as he leaned his head back, staring at the sky with a look of a mon under a terrible burden. “And…she wants to do something tonight.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. She wants us to take a trip. Says she wants to go someplace, just the two of us. I had to haggle it down to Vergium Town.” He grunted. “Does she think I’m made of money? ‘Let’s go to Treasure City.’ Bah. That’d take years to save up for. It’s not some weekend getaway.”
“True sir.” Jaron smiled a little as he pictured Humphry being asked in his brain. “But even a trip to Vergium Town sounds nice.”
“Ehh…”
Jaron raised a brow. “Not looking forward to it?”
Humphry shrugged. “Yes and no. I imagine it’ll go fine enough, but it takes a bit of effort to travel there, go do things, putting up with any hiccups and noise when I could just be relaxing in my chair reading a good book. I just enjoy my quiet afternoons.”
Nodding, Jaron looked west at the vast grasslands, sprawling out before them beside the road. The rods of each blade weaved in the pleasant wind like a valley of metronomes. “She is a very active person.”
“She’s fussy that’s what she is,” Humphry grunted and then sighed. “But she’s worth the fuss.”
Jaron started fiddling with his straps again. His head lowered slightly as his mind drifted back to how his parents would be similar. Loving each other despite the fuss. His ruby eyes then looked towards the glistening lake, his mind wandering to the time here. How annoying Ciecro could be, but how they would remain brothers. Some things still hadn’t changed. Ciecro…
“Sir.”
“Yeah?”
Jaron looked up at Humphry. “Have you seen my brother today?”
“Nope, just been at the office.”
“Oh…” Jaron’s head lowered.
“Why would he be at the office on his day off?” Humphrey inquired with a raised brow.
“I dunno. He’s just been up early and off doing training or something. Probably just getting ready for that test.”
“Test?” Humphry thought for a second before snapping his fingers. “Oh! Right the ranger’s aptitude test. Yeah, I imagine he’s wanting to make good marks on that.”
“I guess. It feels like that’s all he’s focused on right now.”
Humphry stroked his chin, eyes shutting. “Yeah, I can see why. I remember that test stressing me out when I was his age. But chin up.” The Seismitoad gave Jaron a warm smile. “Ciecro’s much more qualified to pass it than me at his age and I did alright.”
Jaron pulled on his straps as he shook his head slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Humphry stopped, prompting Jaron to halt as well. “Is there something I should know?”
“Well…it’s…” Jaron’s eyes darted to the right a little, uncertainty in them.
Humphry’s eyes narrowed. “Are you worried he migh-”
“No!” Jaron froze, surprised by his outburst. He pulled back and looked shamefully to the side. “Sorry.”
Shaking his head, Humphry placed an encouraging hand on Jaron’s shoulder as their gazes met. “Don’t be. Look, Ciecro’s a good kid. I don’t think we’ll have another incident again. Even I could tell that was just the cork popping out of a lot of buildup and he understands the gravity of it. He’s done the sessions well and the situation has been settled so I think he’ll be fine.”
Jaron made no reply.
“Tell you what. I’ll go find him and check on him.”
“I wouldn’t want to impose on you, since you have errands.”
“Won’t be imposing. Ciecro’s due for his check on anyway, so it saves him a trip.” Humphry smiled at Jaron, who couldn’t help but catch the positive disease.
“Thank you, sir. I would appreciate that.”
“No problem at all, Jaron. Besides, the errands weren’t that big of a deal anyway.”
Jaron paused for a second, his eyes shooting wide. He reached into one of his backpack’s pockets and pulled out the orb.
“Jaron?”
The Croconaw twisted the orb and looked with dread at the time displaying. “Fuck! It’s Nine Thirty!” As Jaron hastily yet sloppily tried to put the orb back, he said with panted breath, “I’m sorry sir, but I need to go. I don’t want to be late. Thank you, Mister Humphry!”
“No proble-”
Jaron rushed off in a flash, not even bothering to listen to the rest as he sprinted towards town as fast as his Croconaw legs could. Shit! Shit! I’ve only got Twenty Minutes! I’ve got to get to Town Hall before they open!
Sprinting his way to the town’s perimeter Jaron had the unfortunate reminder of how busy market season was by running into a large Exploud after evading some cart.
“Watch it!”
“Sorry,” Jaron replied, his ears ringing from the loud voice. He glanced forwards and to his dismay, Main Street was crowded from side to side. God damnit, how am I going to get there on time now? He glanced along the sides and eventually spotted the entrance of an alleyway. Perfect!
Darting into the alley, Jaron rushed around any lingering mon inside until he came out of the other side in a much narrower street, which thankfully wasn’t nearly as crowded. He instantly broke off into a sprint, disregarding his whining muscles as he hurried his way deeper into the town.
His lungs felt like they were on fire as he finally exited the end of the road, arriving at a large circular dirty path that surrounded a smaller grassy spot. On this spot, a large building stood tall above the rest, its four entrances each holding a flight of stone stairs. The top of the building bore a large dome and a flag flying on top with an insignia exactly like Humphry’s band.
As much as Jaron liked to marvel at Town Hall, he couldn’t afford to. Instead, he rushed directly across the dirt road, avoiding whatever mons and carts of goods that tried to block his path. Shit! Shit! Shit! Please don’t be open yet! He pleaded as he headed up the stairs, so fast and lightly that even he was surprised at how nimble he managed it with his Croconaw body.
But marveling at his feat would have to wait. He went straight for the wooden doors and burst through at full sprint.
Right as he caught his balance, he was met by a sea of shushes. His hands clamped on his snout as his cheeks went rosy. Shit, this was the library entrance. Looking to the right, he started scooting along the perimeter towards the stairs, whispering “Sorry.” To all the annoyed mons.
Once he cleared the spiral staircase, he headed deeper inside, passing by various shelves of books and reading tables until he reached a large arc at the rear entrance.
The room was massive compared to the library, with a large dome-like ceiling towering high above. In the center was a statue of the town’s founder. It was a Seismitoad, but looked more rugged than Humphry, which was understandable given it must have been hard to start an entire town from scratch. Despite that, Jaron could easily tell the resemblance of the commissioner’s ancestor. It filled him with a small sense of pride to be learning under someone part of such an impressive line.
Oh right, the engravers! Jaron glanced around. There were four large arcs to the center of Town Hall just like the outside. However, only one bore his destination and thankfully, the first to come into his line of sight was the correct one.
Taking a quick breath as he rushed over to the right arc, he glanced around at a long hallway with various office doors and professional desks. There! He rushed over to one of the doors and immediately started knocking as fast as he could.
Please be on time. Please be on time. He repeated in his head, almost too afraid to look at his clock incase his knocking wouldn’t be heard. A few seconds later, he heard the sound of a bolt click and stepped back as the door nudged open lightly.
An Arbok stuck his head out from the other side, glancing around with a rather frustrated look on his face. Once he spotted Jaron, he cleared his throat and said, “We’ll be open in fiftee-” He stopped himself, eyeing Jaron curiously. “Oh!” His eyes lit up, causing Jaron to pull back startled. “Jaron Almkin, was it?”
“Uh….Yes sir.” Jaron nodded as the door was opened wide for him.
“Ah, good, good. Come on in.”
As Jaron entered the office, he was struck with awe at the artistic murals on each wall. Each one depicted some kind of event in either the town or Triacal’s history. He was so mesmerized that he almost didn’t notice the tapping of the Abork’s tail on his shoulder.
“Do you have it?”
Jaron nodded as he took off the backpack and opened it up, fiddling around until he pulled out Aunt Dresha’s picture frame with the precious memory inside. He handed it to the Poison Type who took it into his tail, balancing it with impressive ease despite the tapered tip.
“Hmm…” The Arbok’s eyes narrowed as he stared at the image in a way that made Jaron imagine him rubbing his chin with some invisible hand. “So this is the base image, correct?”
“Yes sir.” Jaron glanced at the door. “Sorry for the trouble, I hope I got here with enough time for you to make the copy.”
The Arbok’s eyes glanced to the ceiling as he debated numbers in his head. “Well, I said I could do it in ten minutes and the image doesn’t look terrible complex so I should have enough time.”
“Perfect! Thank you so much for this.”
“No problem valued customer.” The Arbok nodded as he set the picture frame down on a nearby desk. “Considering the nature of your order, I’ll do my best to make such a fine metallic copy for you. I presume this is for your underwater dwelling Aunt?”
“Yeah. Aunt Dresha only has that one copy, so we decided to get her another one. One that she could keep with her underwater wherever she wanted.”
“Well, she’s certainly lucky to have such considerate nephews.” The Arbok smiled as if he was being snuggled by a wholesome cloud of fluff. “Now, run along so I can get this done before we open.”
“Yes sir.” Jaron slung his backpack back on his shoulders like it was empty and headed outside, waving at the mon as he shut the door behind him. He rested his back on the door and just took a deep, relieved breath. I’m so glad I wasn’t too late.
As he got off, he looked back at the center of Town Hall, spotting the statue. He made his way back over, walking to be in front of the large monument once more and staring at it without the hindrance of running late. I wonder what he was like. He looks tougher than Mr. Humphrey but Humphry looks tough too when on the job. Jaron sighed as his head lowered. I hope he finds Ciecro today. That test is less than a week and I don’t want Ciecro driving himself crazy over it.
Jaron looked back at the archway leading to the library. Hmm…Aunt Dresha said Vragon already left the cave. Guess while I’m here. A small smile formed as he marched his way back into the library.
After passing a few shelves and going down a spiral staircase, Jaron looked at the backroom desk. Since it was currently empty, he went under the obstructing plank and walked over to the door at the back, peeking through the small rectangle window.
Heh, thought so. A mischievous grin formed as he twisted the knob and quietly cracked the door open. He squeezed through the crack like a slippery snake and shut the door behind without a sound.
The bland, grey room was rather empty save for large storage shelves on the side where books, papers, and other literature things were organized. A few crates were stuffed in a corner and piles of books rested on the floor. It was quite literally a literary mess.
In the center of the room was a table with two chairs on opposite sides. The one on the side closest to Jaron was tilted back by a Fraxure, who was engrossed in his reading while keeping a black toe tucked under the table to avoid a nasty tip over.
This Fraxure had tusks that seemed smaller, no more than two feet in length, but strangely they were curved back from his mouth to form a ‘V’ formation with his head. His Body was standard grey, but the upper, cowl-like armor was a deep black with some white lines that flowed upwards to the neck.
Jaron crept to the side and undid his backpack, setting it on the ground. He leaned over slightly to get a better look at the Fraxure’s face. The dragon type was completely mesmerized in whatever he was reading, the topaz irises of this mon shifting left to right in a matter of seconds on that eye’s black sclera.
Perfect. Jaron’s signature grin formed as he crept behind the Fraxure, raising his claws high up. Suddenly, he pounced his hands on the Fraxure’s shoulders and in a deep voice growled, “Vragon.”
“Dyaaaa!” The book was flung towards the ceiling as Vragon fell out of his chair and rushed under the table in fright.
Bursting out in laughter, Jaron fell onto the floor and pointed to the boy under the table, who was glaring at him with murderous rage.
“Arceus! Jaron!” The dragon would have flipped the table off of him if he was strong enough, choosing instead to just crouch walk from underneath and set the chair back on its legs. “What the hell is wrong with you‽ You want to get us into trouble?”
“Sorry Vray,” Jaron said, stifling the last bit of laughter left. He stood up and with a smug grin said, “Couldn’t help myself. It’s just too funny walking up behind you and growling like a Granbull like that.”
Vragon raised a brow. “Why a Granbull?”
“Duh, you’re scared of them.”
Vragon rolled his eyes as he crossed his arms. “I’m not scared of any silly Granbull.”
Leaning in, Jaron said, sarcastically drawing out his words, “Sure you aren’t.”
Vragon snarled a little at Jaron’s playful smirk. “Well I’m not,” he retorted, walking over to where his book felt. “You could have said anything and I’d still have been startled.” Vragon sighed as he started checking for any bent pages.
Jaron sat down in the chair. “Sorry, Vray. It was just too perfect.”
“Oh shut up.” Vragon shut the book and set it on the table as he walked over to the other chair. “You know I can get into trouble if a book gets damaged in my care.”
“Fair point.” Jaron watched Vragon set the book on the table, taking a second to lean over and read the cover. “‘The enigmatic dichotomy of Synergy’, huh.” A sly grin formed as he looked up at Vragon who stared back confused at what was so funny. “And here I was thinking you’d be using that obsession in reading for romance fiction like all the other girls.”
Vragon rolled his eyes as he walked around the table and sat in the other chair. “I wanted a break from researching. It’s interesting stuff not that you’d understand what makes it so interesting.”
“Try me,” Jaron challenged as he leaned back in the chair.
“I would, but I should probably put my research materials up first.” Vragon got up and headed for the back door. “Mind helping me? It’s kind of a pain to lug here myself.”
“Sure.” Jaron hurried on over to Vragon as the Fraxure inputted a code into the lock and undid it, setting it on a shelf as he pushed the heavy door open. As the two entered into a narrow back room, Jaron instantly covered his nose as he felt dust ready to swarm into his nostrils. He looked around and to his horror, the room was covered with it. “The fuck? Do they even clean this place?”
“Nope,” Vragon bluntly answered as he started walking down the hallway, his casualness a testament to how much he adapted to it. “It’s easier to just store everything into these boxes here.” Vragon tapped one for emphasis on a dusty shelf as Jaron followed, holding his snout and covering his nostrils like his life depended on it. “Especially since all shipments come locked up anyway. Management probably doesn’t see the point in keeping this room so clean since the books and other stuff are well stowed away. Especially since this is a ‘staff only’ room.”
“Not like that’s stopping you from being here when you’re not on shift,” Jaron answered, rolling his eyes.
“Difference being I have permission to come back here for my research.”
“Then you can vouch for me. I help you from time to-” Jaron stopped as Vragon turned and grabbed at a certain chest on the shelf at their chest level. Is this the right one? They all look the same. Jaron inquired in his mind, looking around at the other shelves, some vacant some with chests and other storage items.
“Can you give me a claw?” Vragon grumbled.
“Oh, yeah!” Jaron reached for the far end and helped angle it so Vragon could slide it out and Jaron could grab the other end. Carefully, they lowered to ease the strain on their arms. “So, this is the right one, right?”
“Let me check.” Vragon blew on the dust on the top.
Instantly, Jaron dropped his end of the chest and started sneezing, making three loud ‘Achoo’s in just five seconds. “Vray! What the hell‽”
“Oh, sorry, guess I was too engrossed in checking I didn’t think what would happen to you,” Vragon asked with a smug grin.
“Hah, hah…” Jaron said with bland sarcasm. He squatted down with Vragon and the two lifted the chest once more. “Had enough revenge?”
Vragon pondered for a second as they started carrying the chest back down the dim hallway. “Don’t know yet. You still owe me for that dirty trick you pulled on me last month.”
Jaron sighed. “Are you still mad about me hiding that torn-up book from you?” He was jerked forwards a little as Vragon stopped moving. He was about to say something when he noticed a hostile glare on Vragon’s face, eyeing him like he wanted him to melt where he stood. “Loo-”
“Firstly,” Vragon interrupted, shutting his eyes and raising his head. “That ‘torn up book’ was a rare first edition of a collection on theories and hypotheses on the topic of ‘Real and Reverse world distortions’ that the library loaned from overseas. Secondly.” Vragon glared back at him as his words were spliced with a growl. “Not only did you hide the book from me for two whole days, making me lose my mind trying to find it and risking me losing my job, you also had the audacity to return it to me on the third saying, ‘I found this in your pile of books. Were you looking for it?’”
“Yeah, that was pretty cruel of me.” The Croconaw chuckled at the memory, much to make the fires in Vragon’s mood burn fiercer. “I am sorry it went so far. I didn’t mean to freak you out like that. But give me some credit,” Jaron said, heaving the box up a little to get a better grip. “I said I wouldn’t do something that bad to you again.”
“Oh sure, sure.” Vragon shut his eyes and snubbed him by facing his snout to the wall. “I much prefer you sneaking up on me and scaring me out of my chair. Especially when you do it when I’m next to a cliff overlooking the lake!” The Fraxure glared at Jaron, who stifled his chuckle this time as he looked to the side, thinking back to the incident.
“Yeah, that last one was definitely on me.”
Vragon snarled as Jaron met his gaze again. “Honestly, Jaron, I hope you lose that stupid urge to mess with me before you wind up being the death of me. I have half a mind to break it out of you for my own preservation.”
As the two started moving again, Jaron raised a brow. “You’re not serious right?”
“I am serious,” Vragon protested. “Like, sure, I haven’t been insanely injured by your pranks on me, but who knows. Maybe you’ll think hiding a brick up on a door that I walk through is funny.”
“Come on Vray, I’m not stupid,” Jaron replied, getting a bit annoyed at the undying hostility.
“That’s exactly what I’m worried about. You’re so unique with all this stuff you do.”
“Why thank you.” Jaron grinned as Vragon sighed.
“It’s not a compliment. What if something goes wrong and I wind up hospitalize because you, I don’t know, forgot to carry the two or something.”
“I’m not just spending all my time coming up with ways to mess with you. Hell, I don’t put nearly as much thought into making them elaborate,” Jaron stated as they started angling the chest to get it through the large door with what little space they had in the hallway to work with. “I just mess with you because I like you. I always mess with people I like.”
“Yeah, well then why don’t you go pranking Dolly? I’m sure she could take some of the heat for me,” Vragon said with a grunt as they bumped into the side of the doorway.
“She’s too good at seeing it coming. Every time I tried she foiled my attempts and then I would get bombarded by those horrible puns of hers. I just lost the motivation after the fifth time.”
With a heave, the two set the chest onto the table with a noisy thud. “Fair point,” the Fraxure Sighed. Vragon walked in front and started undoing the metal latches. “Those puns of hers are pretty awful.”
“Yeah.” Jaron walked over to get a look at the front, crossing his arms and leaning over to get a closer view. “So what’s in the chest?”
“Maps.”
“Maps?”
“Yeah, maps. I’m trying to find somewhere based on what I know.”
“Oh! Did you learn something new?” Jaron eyed the Fraxure with excitement, but it quickly evaporated as Vragon shook his head and sighed heavily with a lackluster frown.
Vragon flipped the chest’s lid up with what seemed to be the least amount of effort needed. “No. I’m trying to just guess places now from what I know because I can’t find anything to narrow things down.”
“So not even this shipment huh?” Jaron said with a frown that shared in his friend’s disappointment.
“Nope and I was very excited about this shipment too.” Vragon climbed up on the table and looked into the chest. “Market season always makes the selection for shipments more diverse and exotic. You know the ‘further out’ kind of books you don’t see often. So, naturally, I was hoping this time I could find something that’d give me a clue.” Vragon leaned inside and began shuffling things around. “But I didn’t. So I’m just going to try and figure out the place first and then find similarities.”
“That really sucks mon. I’m sorry.” Jaron sighed as he planted his hands on the table. “How can it be that hard to find some information about some silly pendant?”
“Apparently very…but I at least enjoyed some of what I read.” Vragon took his head out and looked at Jaron, his previous frown shifting to a quizzical, neutral look. “Did you know there’s a very special spot South-Eastern of Bermuda called the ‘World Spike’?”
“No. What’s so special about it?”
“Well.” The Fraxure leaned against the chest, sprawling his arm along the rim of it. “It’s basically this spike of land that used to be part of the cliffside. However, long ago it got angled up to an almost ninety-degree angle.”
Jaron’s eyes widened as his imagination tried to conceptualize such a thing. “Woah, how big is it?”
“Huge. We’re talking miles worth of land just slanted towards the sky. And the coolest part is there’s no sign it’s gonna ever fall.”
“None?” Jaron said with a skeptical brow. Despite his disbelieving tone his body leaning forwards gave showed his interest plain as day.
“Apparently the bedrock is so solid that not only can it handle the strain of that much land in the air, but nothing that’s been developed technology-wise has even come close to cutting into it.”
“Seriously? How is that possible?”
“Beats me. It’s not a wonder of the world for no reason after all.” Vragon started to dig in the chest again.
“That’s so cool!” Jaron commented, eyes gleaming towards the ceiling. “I’ve got to see it someday!”
“Yeah, it is pretty cool,” Vragon agreed, taking a few things out of the chest.
Putting aside his newfound excitement, Jaron walked over and sat down in the chair. “Okay, so what have you learned about your pendant so far?”
“All that I’ve figured out so far is that the art and structure comes from some Legend revering culture, namely the Zekrom and Reshiram. There are a few places that fit that Legendary species around the world, but if I had to say what my first guess was it’d be some country in Winthrobax.”
“Winthrobax?” Jaron raised a fist to his chin. “That continent to the north of here?”
“Pretty far north you mean.”
Hrm? As Jaron wondered how far “Pretty Far” meant, his eyes fell on a particular thing on the floor near the foot of the table. Huh? Jaron got out of his seat and looked at it.
It was a thin chain connected around a circular piece of metal via a small hoop at the top. It was coated in black and white colors, both being represented in equal proportions of the pendant. They weaved together in some dichotomy harmony and bore symmetry akin to looking in a mirror.
The Croconaw looked up at Vragon, who was still buried in the chest looking around for something. An evil grin formed on Jaron’s face as he quietly picked up the treasure from the floor and tucked it under his tail as he sat down. Seeing Vragon didn’t notice, he resumed his normal posturing, putting all his willpower to keep his glee to himself. “Hey, Vray. Speaking of our pendant, where is it?”
The Fraxure stopped digging and felt near his chest. “Huh?” He pulled away from the chest and looked around the table. He leaned over to see the base of the chest, a horrified look growing on his face. “Oh no.” He got off the table and looked around the floor. “No, no, no, no.”
Seconds later he was digging around the room like a madmon, all while Jaron watched in sadistic pleasure. “Shit! Where is it‽ Don’t tell me I dropped it somewhere in the library! I’m sure I had it on when I-”
“Ahem.” Jaron reached for the pendant in his seat and held it tightly in his fist. Right as Vragon looked in his direction, he opened his fist to let it fall, dangling at the end and glowing faintly from the dim light in the room. He gently ticked it back and forth, saying in a spooky voice, “You will no longer enjoy reading dumb synergy related shit and instead love reading romance novels, oooooooo. Hypnosis.”
“Fuck off,” Vragon snarled as he snatched the pendant and began undoing the chain. “You’re such a jerk.”
“Hey, you’re fault for taking it off.”
“I took it off because my neck was starting to complain,” Vragon answered as he started putting it on. “Besides, it’s not like you had to take it and hide it from me like the book.”
“Hey, that was just a few minutes.”
“Still.” Vragon glared at Jaron, gesturing his hand outwards. “You didn’t have to do it.”
Shrugging, Jaron grinned. “I mean, if you wouldn’t put such temptation in my way, maybe I wouldn’t.”
“Maybe you wouldn’t if your arms were broken,” Vragon snarled as he crosses his wrists near the center of his chest.
“Lemme guess, you would do that?” Vragon leered at him, while he just kept up a confident, knowing grin. Their standoff lasted all of two minutes before Vragon’s gaze shifted, catching Jaron’s contagious smirk. “You’re such an asshole.”
“Yep,” Jaron said with pride.
“Well.” Vragon walked over to the other seat and started pulling back around the table. “At least you’re my friend.”
“Yeah.” Jaron watched as Vragon sat down, their gazes almost even. The Croconaw’s hands cupped together as his mind began to mull over things.
“Jaron?”
“Hey, Vray.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you see…Ciecro this morning?”
“No. He left before I woke up.”
Jaron raised a brow as Vragon sighed and elaborated, “His usual training bag wasn’t near the exit. I saw him leave it there yesterday night.”
“Oh…” Jaron shook his head, resting his left arm on the table as his fist tightened.
“Is something wrong?”
“I don’t know. It feels like something is.” Jaron gestured his right claw to Vragon. “He’s been waking up early like this for two whole weeks. Every time I ask him about it he says he’s fine but he can’t fib to me.” Jaron let his fist hit the table. “Something’s bothering him. He’s always gone in the morning training and his afternoons are training too.”
“Well, doesn’t he have that exam coming up?” Vragon leaned on the table like Jaron.
“Yeah, and that’s the problem. I think…I think he’s worried he won’t pass it.”
“He shouldn’t be. He’s been studying a lot and he’s very strong. He can even hold his own against some of the best adults here.”
“I know and you know…but I don’t think he does.” Jaron looked at the chest, somberness in his gaze. “I’m worried something else is bothering him. You know how he is. He won’t talk about it.”
Vragon went silent as Jaron’s head shifted towards staring at the floor. The Croconaw’s eyes went sterner as his muscles tensed. “And he just takes it on his own. I don’t want what happened three months ago to happen again.”
Vragon shivered a little. “Yeah, that was pretty ugly.”
“Worse, he got in trouble. He still has to do those stupid checkups.” Jaron leaned back. “And all he did was punch some jerk’s face in.”
“‘Punch some jerk’s face in’ is underselling it.”
“Maybe so, but I feel like he keeps beating himself up over it and doesn’t listen to what I say to him about it. “Shaking his head, Jaron said, “I just…I wish he’d talk to me. Listen to me more. I want to help him if I can…but he won’t let me. He won’t let anyone.”
“Come on, Jaron.” Vragon smiled, leaning towards the disheartened Croconaw. “Like you said, Ciecro’s a bit more closed off. But bear in mind, you’re like that too. At least, till I came along.” Vragon smirked a bit while Jaron looked back with annoyance.
“You’re not my mediator, Vragon. You’re just my best friend. I’m Ciecro’s brother…I don’t want him to feel alone in this.”
“I don’t think he feels alone. But I don’t know for sure. Maybe we should check on him today.”
“I would like that.” Jaron looked at the clock in the room. “Well, do you have to do anything else here?”
“Uhm…why?”
“Because I need to go pick up Dolly’s frame.” Jaron hopped out of the seat, a smile filled with resolve crushing what uncertainty was still left. “The copy should be done by now.”
“Oh!” Vragon hopped off as well. “So you got it put in?”
“Yep, he needed a copy to make it. I bet it’ll be awesome.”
“Yeah.” Vragon nodded. “It’ll be nice for her to have something like that for her room underwater. I’m glad we all came up with it.”
“Yep. All three of us. So, let’s go pick it up.” Jaron reached for the doorknob. “And theeeeeeeen.”
“Then what?”
Jaron gave Vragon a cheeky grin. “We go get errands.”
Sighing, Vragon smiled a little. “Couldn’t you have just gotten those done first?”
“And waste sleeping in? You’re crazy.”