Pokémon The sun runners (PMD)

[Theboxcatgamr]

Hi. Box here. Before we begin id like to say that this is more of a passion project than anything. Expect typos and inexperience. If you can get pass that then I hope you enjoy my story.

---

To whomever it may concern: I'm not going to be sticking around this place while I start freezing in place like a statue. I'm going to be on a mountain or fighting BEARS or already dead when it happens and i REFUSE to just wither in this little town while people are going out in a blaze of glory, FUCK that, FUCK this stupid town and I love all of you. Ugh worst part is I can feel it happening even as I write this. I got lucky and I can feel I've still got quite a bit of time left so I'm going to hit the road. I love you all and I also stole one of Jeff’s sledgehammers : )


-N

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

A soft gentle light shined on the short man's face as he looked off into the frozen sunset. It had been so long since he had seen it rise or fall and even if little bits of its glow still made it through the exclusion zone it just wasn't the same as it once was. Going without any contact or interaction for three years had only served to make the man more introverted as the miles went on. The wind no longer blowing only went on to make an already unsettling area even more tense as the man scanned the area for danger, hoping he wouldn't run into anymore of the strange purple monsters that regularly attacked his precious few supplies, he broke off the highway and after a few hours began slowing his SUV as he spotted movement ahead.


"The hell?" He said finally breaking an almost month long silence


The man saw a strange green creature that seemed to be trying to fight off some of the purple monsters that were attacking something in the distance, his caution overcame curiosity as the man opted to hang back and simply observe, taking out his half broken binoculars he got a closer look at the unfolding skirmish, it was a three on one in favour of the purple monsters as they continued circling the green creature, the green creature was a brutal combatant and to the mans surprise he noticed the creature's methodical approach drastically differing from the monsters almost feral swarm tactics, every move it made was like an elegant dance as it moved through the battlefield with the grace of a teardrop, as it worked around the monsters the man noticed a forth monster attempting to sneak away with a writhing black bag, realizing the implications of the bag the man sat up and shut off his car before donning his gas mask and preparing himself for the worst as he opened his trunk. Pulling out a sledgehammer he made his way to the occupied monster and stuck to the large permanent shadows the sun always cast, the monster had been forced to resort to dragging the bag on the ground without the support of its allies, as the man got closer he heard a young voice shouting something


"-VYLE? ANYONE?! HELP ME!" The bag shouted as the purple monster kicked it in an attempt to silence its contents


Angered by the action the kidnaper took the man began taking out his weapon and getting into position to strike. Now behind the monster he gently lifted the hammer next to its head as if judging the arc of his swing and began pulling the hammer back, realizing something wasn't right the monster dove to the side only receiving a grazing hit from the man's hammer. Exposed and noticed by his target the man jumped into action and lunged at the monster catching it in a flying tackle before sticking the head of the hammer in its mouth. after maneuvering the monster's head to the ground the man stomped down on the monster's head shattering its strangely soft cranium and splattering the man in a purple goo. The man was untying the bag when he heard movement behind him and he snapped into a combat stance, the green creature from before was running to him bloodied and battered, the man began retreating away from the creature as it got closer to him and the bag. realizing he was all that stood between the obviously young kid and the creature he gathered his resolve and frantically tore open the bag releasing the kid inside, the creature shoved the man back away from the kid and something on its arm began glowing as it stood between the man and the kid. The man tried to think of a way to try to talk his way out as the creature readied itself to strike when suddenly the kid stepped in.


"Wait Grovyle! Stop! I think he's friendly!" The kid spoke standing beside the creature


"Yeahyeahyeah! Please! Why don't we just calm down?" The man spoke frantically through his gas mask while trying not to panic


The creature called Grovyle held their pose as it thought over the cease fire and after what seemed like hours finally let up and relaxed, letting out a sigh of relief the man fell on his rear as he tried to catch his breath, the kid now curious walked up to the man.


"Why did you help us?" The kid asked as Grovyle chirped something the man couldn't understand


"I saw that your...friend?" The kid and Grovyle nodded to the question as the man continued


"ok yeah, your friend was busy with some of those things and I saw someone moving the bag you were in without Grovyle noticing, so naturally I walked up and showed him a cool greeting I learned from a friend in Mexico and took him out" the man finished to the kids surprise


"Wait. You actually took out a Sabelye by yourself?" The kid said impressed


Grovyle looked around and saw what was left of the monster before tugging on the kids shirt and pointing at it


"How did you do that?" The kid asked with genuine confusion present


"I re-invented the curb stomp" the man said dryly


The kid stepped closer to the man causing him to flinch, on closer look the kid looked almost pristine... in fact he hadn't even had any of the trademark signs that showed he was being frozen in time. Something like this was impossible as people who weren't slowly being frozen for whatever reason couldn't even enter the exclusion zone without drastic consequences.


"What's your name sir?" The kid asked suddenly


"Oh I'm Noah. And you are?" Noah fired back


"I'm Sam! And this is Grovyle!" Sam said proudly


"Nice to meet you Sam... I'm not sure where to go from here" Noah admitted


Grovyle nudged Sam and his eyes lit up in recollection as he took off a backpack and began rummaging through it, after a moment he found what he was looking for and eagerly gave a strange stone to Noah, something felt really wrong about the stone he was handed and Grovyle looked disappointed by this for some reason.


"Darn, I really thought that would work." The boy said sadly


"Oh well, he's the last one we agreed to try so we are done with this. Ok Sam?" Grovyle said now speaking in perfect English


"Oh! I'm sorry! didn't know you could speak en-" before finishing his sentence Grovyle quickly latched on to his arm and began inspecting it.


Really not wanting to die caused Noah to stiffen up and endure the inspection as Grovyle began looking all over him for something specific.


"...he doesn't have any of those marks" Grovyle said finished with his inspection.


"What about under his weird mask?" Sam said pointing to Noah's gas mask


"Ok if you take it off i won't be able to breathe" Noah said bluntly to get his point across


"Oh please the air is fine, I would have noticed first if it was tainted" Grovyle said


"No you don't understand, time stopped in my lungs two years ago and now for some reason I can only breathe air from before then or air that's gone through a filter" Noah explained


"What? That's-"


Noah cut Sam off by lifting his shirt and revealing a torso with large grey discolouration where one of his lungs would be, whatever it was it was spreading slowly yet surely.


"If I don't figure out a way to cover myself in the past then I won't have a future. Then again it's looking like I might not have one regardless"


"That's horrible!" Sam blurted


"That's life" Noah finished.


"You see Sam? This is why we need to find the gears and fix the future! So this doesn't happen!" Grovyle said


"Listen up both of you, long story short is I'm going to die soon. So Fuck it! I'm going out doing some good" Noah said as Sam flinched at the language


"No offence sir but what can you actually do?" Grovyle said


"I can juggle"


"Really?" Sam asked with bright eyes


"No, that was a joke. I can however speed things along with my car" Noah said


"You have a car?" Grovyle said interested


"Yes, got anywhere you need to go quickly?" Noah asked


"We need to get to a friend and fast, how much gas do you have?" Sam asked


"Full tank, I've been stealing gas tanks off the highway all week" Noah said smugly


"Then let's go! We have no time to waste!" Grovyle said


After retrieving the car and getting his two new companions comfortable he began an hour long road trip following the directions of his passengers until they reached a forest by the side of a big city.


"Over here to the right. Drop us off there." Grovyle commanded


"Alrighty then! Don't forget an-"


"Yeah yeah we know thank you bye!" Grovyle said not even letting him finish before blasting out of the car with Sam in tow.

“YOUR WELCOME!” Noah shouted after the sprinting creature.

Sighing as he slumped back in his seat Noah noticed That he still had the strange stone they wanted him to hold and was unsure if they forgot it or wanted him to keep it, so abandoning his vehicle and re-equipping his mask he gathered his bag of supplies and followed Grovyle's strange footprints deep into the woods. As Noah got closer to his destination he began hearing snippets of conversation from someone unknown.


"Are you absolutely sure you are ready? You two are much earlier than you two should be." A gentle voice said


"Yeah we got lucky and found someone nice who gave us a ride." Sam's voice said


"Really? And you two are sure he's trustworthy?" The gentle voice said a bit unnerved


"We left him at the road without any way to follow us. Besides as long as we have the sun slab we're-"


"Forgetting that you left it with me?" Noah said as he walked into the opening


Having cut Grovyle off Noah walked out of the clearing and into what seemed to be ancient ruins of some kind.


"You shouldn't be here! All of this is wrong!" The gentle voice said with a hint of panic


"Uh if you're in the middle of something I can just leave the strange stone and go" Noah said while looking for whoever was talking


"No it's too late now. Sam, Grovyle, this is the run. We don't have anymore redos" the voice said


"What?! Why!" Grovyle said panicked at the prospect


"The fact that HE is here means time is unraveling as we speak! He was supposed to arrive at that town and miss you by an hour!" The voice said losing its gentle tone


"How many time's have we been here?" Sam said with a dawning look of horror


"85 thousand times" the voice said


"So we..." Grovyle didn't have the heart to finish the thought


"No. After all of our hard work I refuse to give up now" the voice said harshly as the stone in Noah's hand snapped out of his grasp and into a spot in the air


"Repetition with a difference." Noah fearfully said quoting something from an old game in hopes that he wouldn't be vaporized or exploded or whatever happens to those the voice doesn't like


"...yes that's it!" The voice exclaimed in a tone that gave hope to Sam and Grovyle


"Ok I'm glad you all got this sorted out! I'm just going to-"


"Noah you are going with them" the voice said coldly while interrupting Noah’s escape plan


"And sending a dead man to save the past would help how?"


"Don't know. But since it's the past then wouldn't you be able to breathe again?" Sam asked


Noah wanted to say something witty but nothing came to mind


"Because of your frozen parts when you enter the portal i won't be able to alter you in any way, meaning that I can't make you more resilient to our world and our time. You will simply have to deal with it." The voice said.


"Celibi please think this over!" Grovyle begged.


"I can't Grovyle, like it or not he is going in."


A brilliant display of colours bombarded everyone's senses as the portal opened wide, and the forest was invaded by the sound of thunderstorms and wind, what happened next for Noah was a blur as his senses were flooded with colour and suddenly the colourful portal bled into the work until it enveloped him and his two companions. he found himself falling for what seemed like ages as Sam and Grovyle shouted something unknown to him as he began shifting through time and space itself. He saw many sights from tragedy to a man fighting people off in a bar with a pencil. It ended on a beautiful scene of the sun finally rising after a 3 year hiatus, it was the most beautiful thing Noah saw in years, then a body collided with his and everything went black


And the cycle finally broke. Now nothing is safe. Nothing is sacred. And above all:

Anything can happen

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

With all the beauty and grace of a gazelle from Chernobyl Noah landed hard on his back, moaning in pain he slowly got up and took off his gas mask outside of his car for the first time in years, the air was crisp with a hint of salt almost confirming he was on a beach somewhere as he took in his surroundings, basking in the glow of the sun he slowly stood up fully and assessed the damage to his bag, both straps were still firmly attached and all contents inside seemed relatively fine. Even his sledgehammer miraculously made the trip without smashing anything other then the sand. Pulling it out of the ground he slipped it into his makeshift patented ham-ar-holder and finally taking his first step into the unknown, a crater in the sand led to a pair of footprints that went into a small nearby cave, Noah paused when he didn't see any traces of Sam's sneakers or Grovyle's strange footprints yet it was the only clue where Sam could have gone, Noah followed the trail into the cave and was caught completely off guard when the walls began shifting, now trapped in the cave Noah found the only way out would be forwards deeper into the cave, with the tracks as his only guide he followed them through the empty rooms and found only large snail like creatures that occasionally shot an annoying spurt of water at him, as he followed the tracks deeper and deeper into the caves they only got fresher and more spaced out, Noah realized that for the tracks to be as spaced out as they were the owners of the tracks had to be running from something, picking up the pace Noah began getting closer to the sounds of some sort of fight, as he entered the room he narrowly dodged one of the snail creatures as it was blasted back, looking for whatever launched the poor thing Noah spotted a large lizard like creature with a fire on its tail, ow was looking at him with some look of fear, behind it was a strange black and blue creature with piercing red eyes.





"Sam what is that thing!" The lizard said confused





"Sam?" Noah questioned





"There! It's a human!" The blue creature said





"THAT's a human?!" The lizard said in disbelief





"Yes, I'm a human, also I heard one of you say Sam, do you know where he is? Little kid about this tall?" Noah said raising his hand up to his neck





"Wait you know me?" The blue creature asked hopefully





"...Sam?" Noah said as his brain finally put the cube in the square hole





"Yeah that's my-"





Distracted by the conversation Sam hadn't seen the large bat creep up on him and drop a rock on him knocking him out instantly, the bat laughed tauntingly as it flew deeper into the cave and both the lizard and Noah jumped in to protect their mutual friend.





"Uh hey cover me while I check him out please, I need to see the damage" Noah politely asked





The lizard nodded and Noah got inspecting Sam, no outside injuries somehow but you don't just drop a rock of that size on something without doing some sort of damage, without the tools to check and the medical knowledge to know what to look for the best action was to simply take caution and get help as soon as they got out of the cave.





"Ok so all we can do for Sam right now is to just carry him with us and get him out of this cave, you know how to get out of here?" Noah asked





"Yeah we just have to make it to the end of the dungeon!" The Lizard said





"Alright then, I can handle carrying Sam but I need some help in case the come back with more rocks"





"Jerks" the lizard said clearly done with the bat's bullshit





The duo walked out of the room... only for Noah to rush back in and pick up Sam, Noah spent the rest of the walk awkwardly stepping over the lizards trail of carnage as he tore his way through the cave with ease but at least he didn't kill the poor things, as time went on and they got closer to the exit they heard the sound of two guffawing voices talking about the easy money they made.





"I don't like the sound of this, something doesn't feel right" Noah admitted to the lizard





"Me neither but the only way out is that last room they are in"





"Wait, you know those guys?"





"Yeah they took something important to me" the lizard said





"Oh really...shit. I think the only way out is going to be through them"





"But- what if I can't do it? I-"





Noah put his hand on the lizard's shoulder





"...what's your name?"





"...Flare but I don't see why that would help"





"Ok Flare I'm going to be blunt, if we don't get Sam out of here this could be really bad, we need to find a doctor and the only way out is through them. Remember you aren't alone in this and when you fall I will be there to catch you." Noah said





"...ok I'll try."





"That's all I can ask for."





Setting Sam down gently by the rooms entrance Noah began rooting through his backpack only to have it snatched away and thrown into a pile of valuables





"Thank you for your kind donation-"





The bat didn't see it coming when instead of talking Noah just gently slapped him out of the air where he hit the ground hard, picking up the thief he didn't really see anything threatening about it beyond its two small fangs. Putting the small flailing creature down he took out an old hardcover book from his backpack and used it to pin one of the bats wings. Flare and the bat's partner were shocked at how easily and calmly he was dealt with


"I have fought off entire hoards of you kind with nothing more than that book. Please stop dropping things on peoples heads ok?" Noah said nonchalantly



Flare couldn't hold it anymore, seeing his bully for years in such an embarrassing position sent him into hysterics, the purple floating creature looked on at its comrade disheartened, this only sending Flare into further hysteria as even Noah stood utterly confused as to what the fuck just happened. Seeing the stone that got him into this mess he quickly took it from the pile and set it beside his backpack before taking the book off the poor creature, it didn't even get up afterwards instead opting for a distressed noise, suddenly Sam shot up and launched himself at the purple floating creature and with the element of surprise knocked it out in a single hit before grabbing Flares arm and sprinting out of the dungeon, Noah just calmly packed up his things and took the rock. After everything was accounted for he walked up to the purple bat to check on it.



"Hey are you o-"



"Please just go" the bat begged finally forgoing it’s pride



Noah left feeling more saddened by the response then anything, when Noah walked through the exit he found himself out on the beach again this time looking at a beautiful sunset, the sounds of sadness snapped Noah out of his trance and he remembered the rock was probably Flare's because although it was indeed the same stone he held before he was thrown in here it now had strange markings and signs he couldn't read on it.




"Hey Flare! You drop this?" Noah shouted hoisting the rock up dramatically



"You got it! I thought they tossed it!" Flare said happily as she ran up to Noah



"Nah, they were probably trying to sell it somewhere, but anyway we gotta get Sam to a doctor or something" Noah reminded them



"Why i feel fine" Sam said as he stumbled into the sand



"Ok I'm not exactly a medical expert but I think he might have a concussion" Noah said bluntly



"We don't have any doctors for miles except..."



"...Flare why did you stop dramatically? Is it like a bad idea or something?" Noah asked



"No it's just... scary" Flare said clutching his relic for comfort



"It's fine, just go one step at a time." Noah said encouragingly



Flare breathed in deeply and once calm began leading Noah and Sam to the place he had been trying to work up the guts to enter for the last few years of his life, finally forced into action he stepped boldly onto the grate...



"Pokemon detected! Pokémon detected! Who's footprint? Who's footprint?... the Footprint is Charmander's!" Something under the grate shouted


Flare looked sheepishly at Noah who gave an Encouraging thumbs up, next up was Sam and after a quick mishap where they didn't know who's footprint his was they settled on something called a riolu.



"ANYONE ELSE?!" The voice shouted



"YES HANG ON!" Noah shouted back while stepping on the grate.



"..." the usual voice went silent much to Noah's Disturbance



Noah's confusion grew more obvious as sounds of shuffling and light arguments could be heard from the grate, after more shuffling and a squawk sound the gate opened



"Please come human. We have much to discuss" a now melancholy voice rang from the gates



“…Uh huh.” Was all that Noah could respond with to the sudden mood shift


Determined to get Sam to a doctor and trusting Flare about the safety of the guild Noah shook off the awkwardness and took the first step down the ladder and as he helped Sam down they all descended into the belly of the beast. Once inside they were in a room that had a few torches poorly lighting the area.



"Follow me please" a bird like creature said directly to Noah


“Ok” Noah eloquently spoke


Noah,Flare and Sam followed the bird into a side room where a pink creature sat at a desk, its expression falling dramatically with Noah's appearance.



"Oh…I see" the pink creature said without much emotion


Flare shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of the guild master while Noah began dissociating.

“Erm are you alright sir you appear to be…dripping.” The bird asked

"Hm? What's wrong?" Noah asked now finally free of his minds attempt to silence him with musical routines


The pink creature sat up and looked over the man, his tattered clothes drenched in Syblye blood, the strange grey marks on parts of his body, shorter then average height with a small amount of scruff on his chin.



"Oh nothing. It's nothing to worry about!" The creature suddenly said as it quickly switched to a happy tone



"Beg my pardon for asking but why exactly are you here?" The bird asked



"My friend Sam had a rock dropped on his head and we think he has a concussion" Noah explained



"That's no good, we can take him to the infirmary and have a look at the damage, also what do you prefer we call you?" The bird asked



"Ok sounds good, and just call me Noah"



Upon hearing his name both the pink creature and the bird snapped out of their depressive states and stared in wonder at Noah much to his confusion.


[…Am I having a stroke or something?] Noah thought to himself


"Apologies. Please call me Chatot” Chatot said introducing himself with a polite bow


Noah nodded and the Guildmaster pulled out three boxes and set them in front of the trio


"In exchange for using our medical supplies we require you to work off your bill. For the foreseeable future consider yourselves explorers!" The Guild master said joyfully


As Sam and Flare excitedly opened their kits Noah opened his to find a map of the land, a treasure bag smaller than his backpack, a gilded badge, and a blue bandanna.

“Yaaaaaay i got bluuuee” Sam uttered and proving to Noah that he was without a doubt clearly concussed

[Poor Sam. Wait hold on. Explorers? As in the guys who run around all day looking for new rocks or some shit? Oh god I’m going to get lost in a cave or some shit.] Noah mentally complained

"And finally we need a team name for you!" The Guild master stated

[Sun runners. Gonna chase down the sun. Ugh now I miss Sunny D.]

"Sun runners" Noah said absentmindedly


"Sun... runners?" Flare asked


“Uh”

[Uuuuhhhh random bullshit go!] Noah thought to himself as he knelt down and put a hand on Flare’s shoulder

"Kid I've been chasing and running after that sunset for the last three years. Gives me hope that day will actually change to night eventually" Noah said


"I like it" Sam said with absolutely massive pupils


“Uh wait I don’t think Sam is-“


"Alright. Yeah! The Sun runners!" Flare said ignoring Noah


“Ok that was just poorly timed”

"It's agreed then! From this day on you three shall be known as team Sun runners!" The Guildmaster decrees as Flare and Sam triumphantly cheeard


“…Cool?”


After Sam was carried off to get checked out at the infirmary, Flare and Noah were shown their room.


"We get beds!" Flare said clearly exited about sleeping on a pile of hey


“For once I’m glad I brought my sleeping cot.” Noah said unhappy with his new bed

Moments later Sam came back with a strange floating bell creature in tow. It cleared him of anything being wrong and eventually the lights went out for the guild.


“Well that was spooky” Noah said


"...Hey Flare, do you ever think I'll get my memories back?" Sam asked


"Well you said you used to be human..."


"Actually Sam yes I did know you before you turned into that" Noah interjected


"Really? What was I like?" Sam asked



"You were just a bit smaller than me but that's also because you are quite a bit younger than me. You had long brown hair and very blue eyes. Though whenever I looked at you, you just looked right through me. Like I wasn't even there. If I’m being hounest though I only knew you for like half a day. So if we want more answers we need to track down your old partner Grovyle."



"So what do we do now?"



"I guess we just have to do this play by play and try to figure this out before things start going south. But enough, I got a feeling we are going to be beat pretty bad tomorrow so rest up."


"Night guys."


"Night"


"..."


“(Sigh)”


[I’m totally fucked.]

Noah after his teammates fell asleep started to drift as well, sleep came slowly to him as he fell deeper into his own psyche.

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

Morning broke over Treasure town as birds chirped and talked casually over lunch like civilized creatures while within the guild many Pokémon talked about the strange newcomers in heated debates over what the future held.


"-And I even hear it can walk through walls like a ghost!" A large caterpillar in the busy street gossiped


"No that's not right. I heard that it can harden any part of his body into steel!" A small bird argued


"No no no! Both of you are wrong! I saw him sneaking out of beach cave with a poor Riolu on his back! He can totally hypnotize Pokémon! Look it even has the poor thing following him around!" A small brown bear said pointing at Sam and Noah who were looking at the request board.


Blissfully unaware Noah turned to the staring group and gave a small wave. Everyone in the small group flinched and huddled up.


"That's awful! I bet he still has Flare as a captive too!" An antlered deer said joining in with its own paranoia


"Poor girl always wanted to get in here, but not like this!l" a large blue tadpole cried out


Seeing everyone flinch and hearing the gossip Noah felt awkward about the situation and visibly shrank down to try to block out the conversations around him only to be coaxed out by Sam tugging on his arm.


"Hey I'm thinking of having us start with this job here" Sam said pointing at a scrap of paper


"What's the job?" Noah asked trying to ignore the conversation behind him


"someone lost a scarf over by a mystery dungeon and are offering an award for getting it back to them. They offered something called a rare candy and some money for finding it" Sam explained


"Ok I think that's a good start for now. Let's wait for Flare to finish shopping though, I don't want to do this without any supplies if we can help it- oh speak of the devil" Noah said as Flare walked up with a bag half full of items


" You two pick a job yet?" Flare asked


"Yep. Something about losing a scarf." Sam explained to Flare's disappointment


"That's it? That's all we are doing? Why can't we explore a mystery dungeon?" Flare asked


"We are exploring a dungeon! That's where the scarf got lost." Sam said enthusiastically


“Sam I still think you have a concussion.”


“And how do you know this?” Sam asked with a raised eyebrow


“Because little dude you’ve been kinda spacey.” Noah said letting a little concern drip into his tone


“I’m fine.” Sam reassured


“Alright, prove it to me. Tell me one thing about where we are going.”


“…It has dirt?”


“(sigh) that was my fault. I made it too easy” Noah said


"Oh great! Let's get going then!" Flare said this time with some enthusiasm


Making their way up and out of the guild they walked to the crossroads by the town and took a left towards their destination as Noah followed behind desperately trying not to be left behind by the energetic duo.

---

The scenery changed as they eventually made their way to a cave that they couldn't look very far into before it suddenly cut off into pitch black.


"This the place?" Noah asked as they approached the strange cave


"Looks like it. The request said they lost it by the entrance so we probably won't need to look around for long before we find it." Sam said


Entering the cave was just as disorienting as last time for Noah as the walls seemed to shift around more like a liquid filling a mold of some design than a large solid mass sliding into a slot. Mesmerized by the shift Noah touched the wall only for it to feel cool and damp as wet rock usually dose feel.


"Are you ok Noah? You uh we're starring at that wall for quite a bit" Flare said snapping Noah out of his fixation


"Do these places do this every time?"


" Do what?" Flare asked


"Shift around like that?" Noah asked


"No? Why did you see things move?" Flare asked confused


[You know what? Nah we’ve got enough wacky shit going on.]

"...Nah. Don't worry about it i was probably just seeing things" Noah said as he fell into line and followed Flare and Sam's lead.


The damp cave stretched out before them as they went from room to room looking for the lost property. Time went on slowly as they wandered until eventually Flare broke the silence.


"So Noah. What's it like where you're from?" Flare asked curiously


"Is now really the best time for small talk?" Noah said a bit on edge due to the hostile surroundings


"Please. I used to come here as a hatchling to explore." Flare said calmly


"Alright. I lived in a small town before it froze. I grew up on a farm where we grew tomatoes." Noah said still scanning the area for danger


"Wait froze? Wow it must have been pretty cold over there." Flare said shivering a little at the thought


"Oh no. The cold is not what happened that day. The cold doesn't raze the ground and make it infertile, the cold doesn't stop machines dead in their tracks. Whatever it was it wasn't natural... And it seemed to be spreading. I was out in the field when it first happened." Noah stopped suddenly and looked over his shoulder only to find nothing


"What? Why did you stop?" Sam asked


" Something don't feel right. Eyes up ass out. I’m pretty sure we are being watched ” Noah said as he turned around and looked back into the long hallway they came from.


Looking around the area nobody could find anything. Room after room of nothing but paranoia until in the last room they had yet to check they saw the missing item in an item heap on the ground. The empty room only intensified Noah's paranoia as he looked up and saw surprised creatures hanging off the roof


"FUCKING MOVE ITS A SET UP!" Noah screamed as he grabbed and hurled Sam out of the way of a falling creature


"How did they see through our trap?" One of the spider-like creatures asked as it spun its web to get lower


"It matters not. We still have them outnumbered. Let's see them get out of this one!" The leader cockily said directly to Noah's face


Being so close to the bandits strange yellow head Noah went for it's exposed eyes and raked them with his fingers forcing the creature to flinch in pain, Noah tried to follow with a headbutt only to stagger back himself at the recoil. the leader apparently was amused by this and raised its left hand to signal its allies something before it started circling around Noah who in turn did the same.


"You must have a lot of guts to try and headbutt a scraggy." The Scraggy said coyly as Sam and Flare fought his goons


"First of all I have no clue what a “Scraggy” is. Secondly would it help my case at all if I said I was sorry?" Noah said a bit fearfully


"Oh by all means! It will make the next part all the more satisfying!" The Scraggy said as his arm glowed with a purple energy

[Oh I don’t like where th-PAIN!]

Noah's world was agony as his chest was suddenly bleeding and the air was red with a bloody mist. The Scraggy to his confusion was also now somehow behind Noah and smirking.


"Ooh looks like I hit blood. Shame, he seemed interesting. Rob em blind boys!" The Scraggy said waiving off Flare and Sam dismissively as he refocused on his target


The Scraggy turned around expecting to find his dead trophy only for Noah’s two bloody hands to wrap around its small neck and lift the creature upwards while choking it, gritting his teeth Noah pushed through the pain and sprinted towards the wall of the room and slamming the creature against the wall in a single strike before throwing the Scraggy head first into the ground like a football, pulling out a pocket knife Noah brought it to the creature’s neck and got behind the Scraggy as he pulled it back up to its feet. Seeing the other creatures still attacking


"LET US GO OR ILL FUCKING RIP HIS HEAD OFF!" Noah threatened


A majority of the creatures saw their leader and stopped attacking


" Boss!" One of the creatures called out


"We are leaving one way or another" Noah stated to the room as Flare pulled a strange orb out of her bag


"Quick! String him u-AAAGH!" The Scraggy screamed as Noah tore through a chunk of its baggy stomach pouch to everyone's horror


"You doing dumb shit is a good way to make me do dumb shit. This isn't a negotiation." Noah said coldly as he advanced towards his friends


The goons all stepped away from Noah scared for the life of their boss


"YOU ARE A PSYCHOPATH!"


"I'm whatever I need to be" Noah retorted


Finally reunited with her allies Flare slammed the orb into the ground and the four of them disappeared in a blue flash, the goons looked at where they once were helplessly.

---

Finding he was now outside of the dungeon Noah hit Scraggy in the back of the head to knock him out, taking off his shirt Noah reached for the first aid kit within his backpack and a bottle of bourbon Before pouring it all over some gauze and bandaging himself up.


" Everyone alright?" Noah asked gently


"We're fine. What was that back there?" Flare asked a little fearfully


"Oh I just took him hostage so we could get out of there. Speaking of which you think he has a bounty on him?" Noah asked as he looked through the Scraggy's bag


"I don't know why?"


"Aha!" Noah said as he pulled a poster out of the bag


"Wanted alive: black stone bandits, reward is offered for any information leading to the capture of gang members" Sam read from the poster


"Well boys looks like we've earned a bonus!" Noah said as he tied up the Scraggy with loose rope before he suddenly remembered the gossip from before and reevaluated what he knew about Flare.


"...why are you looking at me like that?" Flare asked


"You are a boy right?" Noah asked sheepishly

---

Chatot was interrupted from his important paperwork by a knock on his door. Irritably, he made his way to the door and opened it


"Enter" he said clearly annoyed by the interruption


A three headed mole came out of the ground to Chatots displeasure.


"Sorry to interrupt sir but it's important" a mole with three heads said


"What's wrong Dugtrio? Did we run out of perfect apples again?" Chatot spoke professionally


"No sir, it's team sun runners" Dugtrio said


Chatot suddenly ran past the mole as visions of what could have happened quickly clouded his judgement. He didn't have to get close to notice the metallic smell of blood entering his beak yet the familiar smell all but confirmed his fears as he reached the guilds entrance to find an injured human clutching his chest and a terrified Scraggy desperately thrashing around trying to escape the rope.


" What is the meaning of this?!" Chatot yelled


"We encountered bandits while on a job. We managed to escape with their leader and discovered he had a bounty on his head so I tied him up and took him with us, Flare and Sam are getting an officer right now." Noah explained


Chatot looked over the bound Scraggy and sure enough upon inspection of the wanted poster Noah was showing off it appeared to be the leader of the gang.


"Oh thank goodness. Er-Well done! It seems I was getting worried for nothing. However please do visit the infirmary to get that cut checked-" Chatot cut himself off as Noah took his hand off the red splotch and he finally got a good look at the massive flesh wound.


"I already applied a disinfectant and bandaged the wound but I am going to need to change the bandage eventually" Noah explained as he lifted off his shirt and exposed the velvet red bandage wrapped around him holding him together


"Dear Arceus. How... how are you still standing?" Chatot asked


"Spite"


"Spite? As in the ghost type move?" Chatot said wanting to clarify


"…No" Noah said after locking on to Scraggy's eyes


"I...see. Well you will be rewarded when Flare and Same return." Chatot said


"Sounds good chief. Also is it fine if I pack it in early today?"


"That's understandable" Chatot agreed


"Coolio. Night" Noah said before walking out of the room


“…”


THUDD


“(Groan)”


Chatot sighed and called for Chimecho to take him to the infirmary.


Looking back though he supposed he did have worse nights then this.

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

Noah woke up on a hard cold surface. Groaning as he sat up he was quickly reminded of his wounds as pain shot through his chest forcing Noah back down. inspecting the bandage he saw it was a much darker red than it should have been and after quickly cutting it with some bandage scissors he stole a while ago he saw the wound had turned into a scar. Rolling off the slab and landing on his feat he looked around only to find no medical equipment whatsoever, on the slab to his right he found a light teal coloured creature that looked almost human if you ignored the nose and tail. He was bleeding from his side with a completely uncovered wound. A bowl of some kind of yellow fruit sat beside the creature as the poor creature weakly took a bite.


[Ok this guy’s obviously been through a lot. Need to try to get info gently-]

"...Think you'll make it?" Noah asked as blunt as a smooth table

[God damn it] Noah mentally berated himself


The creature although surprised to see that Noah was up responded to the question by tenderly shakiits head. It's wound was obviously fresh as it's life slowly trickled away.


"Why haven't they closed the wound?" Noah asked


"C-close?" The creature inquired


It suddenly dawned on Noah exactly how little they knew about the medical practice


[…Fuck I’m actually considering helping]


"Ok, I'm not the best at it but I might be able to close the wound. However all I have knowledge of is more of an emergency procedure than anything, would you like me to close the wound? Noah asked


"...Please...do it" the creature pleaded


Noah carefully took out a pair of medical gloves and a needle and thread, even more pleased that he had raided a frozen hospital a while ago. Pulling out a store brand painkiller (which I will not say the specific brand here out of fear of Willy Wonka sending an orange midget assassin to kill me for the trespass) fed two pills to the creature and waited a moment.


"Ok I just fed you some painkillers and while they won't completely take away the pain it will dull it a bit. I'm going to clean your wound and stitch it up to close it. I need you one hundred percent with me on this because if you want to back out halfway through and kick me on accident we could do more harm than good. Are you with me?" Noah explained


"Yes." The creature said more out of desperation than anything

[Ok deep breaths. It’s fine just rely on your training.]

Noah put on the gloves with a quick snap and picking up a piece of cloth he doused with bourbon he moved over the wound and removed bits of grime in the wound, now as disinfected as it was capable of beingNoah put the needle to the skin and pushed through, repeating the process the creature grunted in pain as the needle pierced the tender skin and pulled. After seven excruciating minutes Noah was done and finished up his last pull and examined his work, finally satisfied with the end result.


"I'm finished, although it's not my best work it should keep you alive and since we acted quickly I'm sure you're going to make it." Noah said happy with his work


[Holy fuckeroni we actually did it!]


The creature bit into a berry and to Noah's surprise it's skin quickly turned into a much healthier looking deep teal


"It actually worked! I-I feel great!" The creature said getting up on its own

[Wait that don’t add up.]


"Hey hey hey! Slow it down a bit! If you rip open the stitches than all this is going to be for nothing." Noah warned


Calming down the creature eagerly but carefully walked around a little before it left the room getting a surprised Yelp from the other side, Noah looked at the bowl of berrys and remembering the result of the creature eating them his curiosity overwhelmed him as he decided to hazard a bite. The yellow berry tasted plain and strangely dull to Noah which confused him before a wave of energy flooded him and he felt more rested than when he first woke up. Mentally noting the effect it had on him he decided wanted to try one of the large blue berrys, what resulted was a shot to the heart volatile blast of adrenaline that nearly had him burst out of the room like a bat out of hell only for the feeling to leave as quickly as it came. Calming down he looked at the bowl in wonder before he greedily shoved as many in his bags cold pocket as he could. Interrupted by a sound Noah turned around to see a floating bell like creature drift towards him followed by the creature he patched up.


"Did you do this?" The bell asked


" do what? Because I definitely in no way whatsoever was plotting to overthrow the government.” Noah said without thinking


"What? No, did you help this Pokémon?" The bell said as its ribbon pointed to the creature


"Oh yes." Noah said


[So they call themselves Pokémon instead of people? Noted.]


"How did you close his wound? He would have bled out if you didn't"


Noah explained the revolutionary idea of physically covering wounds and how to stitch up holes. After a few minutes of explanations Noah bid farewell to the bell only to find he was being followed by his new friend. Unused to situations like this Noah kept up an awkward silence as the two walked over to the main hall where they caught the guild in the middle of the morning cheer. Noah patiently waited for the cheer to finish as he played with a plastic bottle cap he fished out of his pocket, absentmindedly toying with the object it took him a moment to notice the room went quieter and quieter as he fixated on the garbage in his hand only getting broken from his focus by a gentle tug on his pant leg.


"What? Oh right. What’s up?” Noah muttered as he faced the crowd seeing if they were finished.


What he turned to was a silent room staring not only at him but the creature he helped. The crowd broke off into murmurs and hushed whispers as they seemed to look over the two.


"…Uh do you know what's going on?" Noah asked the creature beside him


"What they are surprised about is that I'm still alive thanks to you" the creature said warmly while giving Noah a gentle elbow


“Ow! Tender!” Noah let out as he shook from the pain


“Oh no! I-I’m so-“


"It’s fine it’s fine. I’m fine. Hey what's your name?" Noah asked trying to distract himself from the pain


"I wasn't worthy of one" he said turning a bit colder to the question


Standing taller and and ignoring the rest of the fading pain Noah was offended by the answer as it was one he himself had tried to use multiple times to justify poor actions.


"Bullshit" Noah said a little agitated


"Listen I-I appreciate what you did for me but-"


"No. You listen here. I want to know who told this to you. Whoever fed you that absurd lie?"


"No! It's not like that! I deserved what I got and even then like a coward I tried to..." the creature's expression turned to a mix of hopelessness and horror as he spotted something in the crowd


Noticing the shutdown came from an outside source Noah looked through the crowd to find a very large creature with purple skin and visible muscles walking towards him with amusement present on its features.


"Well well well. What do we have here? The worm actually lived." The creature said cracking a knuckle as it began lumbering over the two


Having a new target to direct his anger at Noah stood between the two creatures with a resolute determination.


"…And why have you gotten between me and this cowardly traitor?" The large purple creature said getting closer


"Enough! I will have no fighting-SQWACK!" Chatot said as the creature swatted him to the ground


"This entire guild is a bunch of pushovers. But at least this one has some spine" the creature said


Noah was practically foaming at the mouth with rage in what could only be described as his first real touch of wrath. Knowing striking the wall of muscle would only cause more damage, Noah in an act of ungodly restraint he didn't even know he had took out his pocket knife to the interest of the creature and cut open his own hand before painting his face with the blood.


"...That’s an…Interesting tactic but it won't change that I've come for my property" the brute said


At his breaking point Noah put his bloodied hand on his friend marking him with Noah's blood


"I have marked him as mine. I grant him the name Stitch and he is now under my protection." Noah stated venomously


Stitch mouthed out his new name as he looked on in horror at the spectacle before him.


"I'm sorry that's now how this works-"


"I'm going to make a necklace out of your teeth! LEAVE OR DIE" Noah warned one final time


"I'm going to get that wretch one way or another"


Noah swung his hand at the large creature and flung his blood onto the creature's face blinding him, he then stabbed the creature twice in the chest before vaulting onto his back and wrapping his bloody left arm around the creature's throat, stabbing into the creature's back over and over again. Unused to the brutality Noah went from wrathful to manic as he gleefully stabbed into the fleeing creature repeatedly right before it all went dark.

---

A small crater inside the guild

---

Noah came to when he was woken up covered in his own blood. It was Stitch still having the bloody handprint on his shoulder


"Why did you do that?" Stitch said tearfully


"I want you to be safe Stitch. People like that just do things to me. OH SSSSSSSHHHHH” Noah hissed as he stood up


"Getting you knocked out isn't what I wanted to happen" Stitch said


Noah finally put together that after he threw blood in the creature's face he had immediately been knocked out in a single hit.


"…I meant what I said about protecting you" Noah said regardless


"No please-"


"I didn't say you had a choice Stitch." Noah said assertively


Getting up and shooting a bit of blood out of his nose, Noah walked over to Chatot who despite being slapped out of the air looked no worse for wear.


"Are you alright sir?" Noah asked


"I'm fine. What about you?" Chatot redirected


"Might have a broken nose but other than that I'm fine" Noah said completely ignoring the finger that was bending the wrong way


"Today might be a good day to simply remain in town, you're still recovering after all." Chatot said


"That is probably for the best, might as well learn the town now that I'm actually awake" Noah said


"Before you go however... how did you help the Machop?" Chatot inquired


"Listen. Your medicine seems to be ages behind what I know. Later on I'll share what I know with you all and see if I can actually make a difference. For now I'm going to figure out exactly where we are." Noah said before walking off


“…”



SNAP


“MOTHER FUCKER!”

“He noticed the finger didn’t he.” Chatot asked Stitch without looking behind him

Stitch just nodded looking a little more pale.

---

8 minutes and an angry cry later…

---

Above ground behind the guild entrance Noah looked darkly at a gun he had been saving for an emergency as he contemplated using his only bullets to hunt down the creature that seemed to have something out for Stitch. Sighing he put the revolver away and looked over the town below him. Stitch joined him and they both watched the town, they saw all manner of Pokémon walking around the town and Noah even spotted Sam and Flare talking to a pair of strange blue Pokémon that Noah didn't quite know yet. Absentmindedly lighting up a cigarette he watched as they handed the blue Pokémon a massive apple and suddenly it looked like Sam tripped over something, Noah looked at Sam with some concern but eventually he got up while staggering a bit. Taking another drag from his cigarette he simply wanted to spend the morning watching the routines of the Pokémon, unfortunately after a while the peace was shattered as Noah heard someone running towards the entrance. Getting up and walking to the front of the tent he spotted Flare and Sam rush into the guild eagerly only to sprint out a moment later with a dire look on their faces.


"Ah that doesn't look good. I'm going to try to catch up and see what's going on. Wanna tag along?" Noah asked Stitch as he put out his cigarette


"I don't think that I can join an exploration team without-" the words died in Stitches throat as he spotted his purple abuser down in the town staring directly at him


"Well I'm heading out. Follow if you want."


Weighing his options Stitch decided it was safer with Noah and reluctantly tagged along. Both of them descended the hill and found Sam and Flare right at the end of a conversation.


"-That's where Drowzee took Azurill!" Flare said


"Then that's where we have to go. Let's go!" Sam declared determined


The two ran off before Noah could stop them


"Wait...Stitch do you know who Azurill is?"


"Yeah that's one of the little kids that usually wander through town"


"Oh fuck you mean that this Drowzee guy has a child hostage?" Noah asked quickly dropping all forms of calm he has built up


"Yes" Stitch said


"Then come on! We gotta get going!"


"Wait what are we going to do?"


"We my friend are going to see exactly how much trauma is needed to breach a Drowzee skull" Noah said breaking into a light jog

---

15 minutes later

---

Following Sam and Flare's tracks all the way to a mountain Noah noticed that even the out in the open area started shifting before him, not having the time to hesitate they both entered the dungeon and Noah preemptively took out his hammer as they followed the tracks all the way to a pile of defeated Pokémon.


"Damn, they really are going in.” Noah said looking at a poor rock creature that had ironically been imbedded in a wall


"...something isn't right about this" Stitch spoke up

The moment the word left Stitches mouth Noah sprung up and looked for anything out of the ordinary.


"You think this might be a trap?"


"Yes. This is where me and my group used to train" Stitch said with his head on a swivel


"Shit. Is this going to be a problem?"


"I think so, listen. I say we just grab the kid and try to rush to town before-" a loud crash interrupted the conversation


Noah heard Sam scream as something heavy made contact with something else. Out of time the two rushed forwards into the Frey.

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

Sam zipped around the battlefield dodging thrown rocks as he glowed with a white energy, he smashed into Drowzee only for the yellow Pokémon to withstand the hit and fling Sam with some kind of strange force, Noah watched on in awe as the two forces clashed and countered each other's movements. Flare was hanging back clutching her arm in pain and occasionally throwing a fireball at Drowzee. taking advantage of Flare's injury, Drowzee focused on the Charmander and after a quick flash of strange energy Flare went down while clutching her head. Snapping back to reality Noah and Stitch quickly thought up a plan.


"Ok we need to do something," Stitch lamented


[FUCKING THINK! UUUUHHHH GOT IT!]


"What if we try to take advantage of the fact he doesn't know we are here and one of us try’s to get the kid out?" Noah suggested


"That could work but I don't do very well against psychics," Stitch said


[Ugh the things I do for people] Noah thought


"I'll take care of distraction duty, you see if you can get the kid out of here," Noah said


With a nod Stitch moved to the walls entering the room and Noah took out his hammer, his pocket knife and some of the berrys from earlier before setting down his pack by the entrance so it wouldn’t get damaged. Noah moved to Flare and fed her a blue berry while Sam and Drowzee fought.


"Noah?! What are you doing here?" Flare asked shooting to life the moment the berry touched her tongue


"Ok so a friend of mine is going to rescue the kid while we fight this guy, I need your help distracting him while he moves in," Noah explained


"You brought help? Who?" Flare asked


"Doesn't matter, Point is that we need to ether take him down or escape with the kid, now come on, we’ve got a show to stall.” Noah explained as he helped Flare to her feet


Meanwhile on the other side of the battlefield Sam and Drowzee exchanged another flurry of blows between The two, as they fought Sam was thrown once again into a wall. Noah ran up to Drowzee and stabbed him in the back getting a yell from Drowzee, Ducking underneath Drowzee's attempt to backhand him Noah swung the hammer with his right hand only for a force to stop its arc of destruction dead in its tracks, Noah was shoved to the ground with a blast of energy while his hammer remained in the air, Drowzee dropped the hammer on Noah's still healing chest wound and knocked the air out of him, Drowzee tried to follow it up but was blindsided by a fireball, Noah while on the ground weakly attempted to sweep Drowzee's leg only to miss entirely as he dodged another fireball, Sam finally back in the Frey grabbed Drowzee while he was distracted and threw him to the ground. Noah with all his might jumped onto Drowzee in a pounce and with his hands around the yellow Simpson demon’s throat he tried to choke Drowzee out, as Drowzee's oxygen was cut off he used a weak wave of force to get Noah off him and push everyone back, getting up Noah saw that Drowzee's breathing was getting more ragged as they fought, trying to capitalize Noah threw his hammer at Drowzee only for the Pokémon to duck under and even dodge Noah's following left hook. Ducking down and grabbing a hand full of rocks Noah threw it at Drowzee only for the stone to be caught in air, the stone fell as Drowzee's exhausted state became more obvious as stone after stone made it closer to his head, finally having exhausted the Pokémon's power Noah fake threw a stone causing Drowzee to flinch and open him up to a shot to the jaw from Sam. Drowzee staggered for a moment as he finally collapsed on to the ground, looking to the entrance of the room Noah saw Stitch and the blue mouse hiding behind a bolder. Victorious Noah sat down to catch his breath.


"…We got em, Christ what was that?" Noah asked Sam and Flare


"That was Drowzee, he's an outlaw" Flare explained before decimating a yellow berry


"I noticed, how did we get wrapped up in this?" Noah asked


"I saw it happen, the whole thing" Sam said


Drowzee twitched sending the group into high alert and causing Noah to reflexively punch Drowzee’s head.


"Ok we can talk about it later, for now let's just get the kid home and tie this basterd up" Noah said grabbing the rope from his back pack.


After Drowzee was tied up Stitch came out with the blue mouse


"We actually did it!" Stitch said joyfully


"Yeah we did, beautiful work Stitch! He didn't even notice a thing!" Noah praised with a not so gentle pat on the back


"Stitch?" Sam inquired


"Oh right, this here is Stitch! He's a friend and I think he's a good candidate for the Sun runners! I had him get the kid out of there while we were fighting," Noah introduced


"Hi," Stitch meekly said


"He saved me!" The mouse said happily


"Yeah. While we were fighting I had him get the kid out so even if we lost they got to safety" Noah explained as he hoisted Drowzee onto his shoulder


"That’s…pretty smart actually. Nice work. I'll use my badge so we don't have to walk back" Flare said holding up her badge


"What are you talking about?" Noah asked


The badge on Noah's shirt glowed with a strange energy as the world around them shifted quickly until it stabilized back at the guild


"Welcome back!" The floating bell said happily


Feeling strangely confident Noah set Drowzee down and effortlessly planted the bottom of his hammer into the dirt before leaning on it and casually flicking a cigarette into his mouth.


"Hey Flare can you lite this up for me quick?" Noah asked politely


Flare wordlessly gave small tuft of flame and the cigarette was lit, Noah nodded at Flare and took a long drag as the floating bell listed off the reward.


"I think that's the first time I actually did that successfully" Noah said


"That was kinda cool" Sam said causing Noah to beam at the complement


"Ok I'm going to go out into town now, I was going to earlier but this happened. I'll find the other kid while I'm there" Noah said walking up to the ladder that connects the guild to the outside

“Uh so who thinks they can pull out the hammer?”

---

Having finished his cigarette by the time he made his way down the guild path Noah put out the butt and put it into a little baggy full of leaves and newspapers to burn later. After a moment Noah heard the loud sounds of conversation that reached him even from the crossroads and made his way towards the newly vibrant town.


"Shes here!?" A small orange monkey exclaimed


"Yes! Lady Roserade is in treasure town!" A brown dog confirmed happily


"Dude we gotta get an autograph!" The monkey said as the two rushed further into town


"...Huh. “Lady Roserade?” Guess a celebrity or someone is in town." Noah said to himself


Walking into town Noah spotted the other blue mouse in the middle of a crowd surrounding someone preaching something Noah wasn't paying attention to, walking up to the wall of creatures Noah tapped the blue mouse on its back to grab its attention.


"Hm? Oh! Mister did you save Azurill?" The mouse asked hopefully


"We did. Got Drowzee too. You should probably go to the guild. I'm sure Azurill would be quite happy to see a friendly face" Noah said as gently as he could


The blue mouse thanked Noah with a split second hug and rushed over to the guild, breaking from his target Noah notices the sudden quiet and he felt the eyes of the town on him, a quick turn confirms that the crowd was indeed staring him angrily...while the flowery creature in the centre looked stunned at his appearance


"Uh I'm sorry for interrupting your speech but I needed to inform someone that we rescued a family member. Didn't mean to steal the show there!" Noah said sheepishly as he tried to get out of the spotlight


The creature made its way out of the centre and approached Noah as the crowd parted with many gasps as the creature passed just like the Red Sea did when Moses shot a bayblade through it (look it up it’s totally how it happened.).


"Don't worry about it! Might I ask who you are?" The now evidently female creature asked with a soft refined voice as she extended an arm in what Noah thought was a strange handshake


"I'm uh Noah." Noah said uncomfortably as he shook the flower


[Welp this has finally reach peak strange. We are literally covered in blood and muck and she is just ignoring it. Do not like this.]


"Well Noah you are quite charming. I'm Lady Roserade" Roserade said with a genuine warmth usually present in serial killers tucking their knives into bed before giving them a kiss. Many red flags shot up for Noah especially since he looked like he picked a fight with a dumpster


"That's a nice name. But honestly I have the beauty and grace of a gazelle from Chernobyl." Noah said


"Nonsense! You're beautiful!" Lady Roserade said


"Thanks I guess... I um need to go clean up now" Noah said without thinking


"Aw are you sure? Can't we talk a little longer?" Lady Roserade asked


"With all due respect lady Roserade I'm literally covered in blood and only half of it is mine. I really need to find a place to wash these so I can get the blood out" Noah said extremely uncomfortabley


As if finally noticing it for the first time Roserade looked at his filthy rags and couldn't find an excuse to counter it


"Very well. I…I do hope we meet again " Roserade said politely as Noah hastily left the crowd


[Just power walk away Noah. You are a man on a mission. A mission that doesn’t involve blood plant appreciation party’s]


Going as fast as he could without making a scene Noah approached the crossroads and made his way to the beach, finally out of town he breathed a sigh of relief at the empty sands and decided that it probably was actually time to clean himself, after making sure no one was around to look at him Noah quickly changed to his spare clothes and began the rigours task of cleaning he blood out of his clothing.


"Thank fuck frank was homeless once. Never would have learned how to do this otherwise" Noah said to himself as he scrubbed


Half an hour of scrubbing later and the clothing was finally in acceptable condition to wear again, Noah put the clothes on a small stand and after collecting wood to burn Noah made a small campfire to help dry his clothes.


"Hm... might get the gang together for a bonfire. Should be nice" Noah muttered to himself as he reads the newspaper for his latest kindling


"Time stops in Canada! Local population dwindling fast-"


Noah sighed as he remembered the fate of his family, he had been the "lucky" one, still didn't change the fact that he was the only one of his brothers to make it out of Canada.



"...(sigh) I miss you guys..." Noah said to the orange sky



Noah had to fight off the memories as he waited for his clothes to dry. It had been on his mind ever since the incident, after a moment of tense silence Noah saw the Roserade approaching him and his muted sorrow turned to a soft anger

[Oh fuck me]


"Ah Roserade. Good evening!" Noah said flipping into customer service mode


"Indeed! I thought you might want some company" Roserade said seemingly fooled by Noah’s fake smile


Without the crowd body blocking her Noah took in Roserade's appearance for the first time, she had a blue cloak flowing dramatically in the wind and on the ends of her arms were bouquets of flowers instead of hands which was confusing to Noah but he decided to overlook it since he still shook one like a hand and he finally finished at her face...which was masked, this was the first time Noah had actually payed attention to the features of one of the creatures he found himself stuck with.


"...So what was going on with that crowd back there?" Noah asked actually a little cu


"I was just giving a little speech about how we should have more garden patches, I simply adore flowers!" Roserade said finally sitting down beside Noah


[God kill me now]

"Oh that's nice, but why did you stop all together back there?" Noah asked


"Oh? Erm you were just so...heroic back there" Roserade said with a noticeable blush


"I was just doing my job, besides I'm no hero" Noah said


"Are you sure? You reunited two siblings!" Roserade said


"That's just part of the job, I'm only here because I have to be really" Noah tried to explain


"Nonsense I'm sure you-"


"Look. Roserade, I'm not really comfortable talking to people in general, I'm not that smart I'm not that brave and I'm sure as shit not very attractive, why are we doing this song and dance?" Noah interjected


"I-er-"


"Roserade. You seem like a nice lady, but I'm not interested in any rope-a-dope bullshit, please just tell me what I've done wrong? Why I'm being hunted?" Noah said breaking his apathetic mask


Roserade stared at Noah unsure what to do next as he began stuffing the clothes into his bag, and wordlessly put out the fire.


"Noah I don't understand?! What are you talking about?" Roserade asked


"I'm saying get out of here Roserade. I don't do those relationships with people I literally just met. I don't trust it. I'm sorry but I'm going back to the guild. Maybe I'd be willing to try again later but you came at a poor time today. It was nice. Have a day.” Noah said as he walked away


Noah felt cold as he walked back to the guild, feeling Roserade's eyes on his back the entire time up the hill until he stopped at the gate and got let inside, once inside let loose a breath he didn’t know he was holding and he started to make his way to his room until he was stopped by Chatot


"Oh Noah! It's dinner time so you should make your way over to the mess hall" Chatot said to Noah


Noah nodded this time with a genuand as he left towards the mess hall he saw Roserade standing by the entrance who was let inside


"Noah I'm sorry" Roserade apologized


"It's fine, [No it’s absolutely not] just let it lie for a day or two and it'll be fine. But for now I'm going to eat food and probably get some sleep for tomorrow's shitshow" Noah said


"I...I understand, thank you." Roserade said with a polite bow


"No problem, I'm going to go eat now cause I haven't in 3 days" Noah explained


"Wait 3 days? That's awfull!"


"That's life. At least I'm getting something this time" Noah finished before walking into the mess hall


Noah entered the hall and casually sat at an empty spot, the moment Chatot gave the word the hall devolved into pure chaos as everyone threw back whatever was on their plate, Noah’s starved form fell into that rhythm as well and scarfed down every strange berry on his plate that he could. By the end he and the crowd of creatures had left no stone unturned, exhausted and feeling a pound heavier, Noah headed to his room alongside Flare and Sam and he settled in for a peaceful nights rest...


"You met Roserade?!" Flare asked


Noah slammed his head into his pillow and screamed.


“…I’m guessing that’s a no?”

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

---

An uneventful day of rest later…

---

A bolt of lightning blasted outside of the guild and Noah's attempt to sleep was interrupted by nature itself.


"Wow that lightning's intense! Looks like it's really stormy tonight." Flare said


"Good thing I got in when I did then" Noah lamented as he wrung out his spare shirt


[Maybe Roserade got stuck in this rain.] Noah thought to himself hopefully


"Hold on! You know the night before we met, It was storming that night. I found you out cold on the beach the day after that stormy night Sam. Well? Do you remember anything about being out cold on the beach? Can you remember anything at all?" Flare asked Sam hopeful for some results


Sam thought on it and sighed when he couldn't pull anything from his memories


"I see...What about you Noah?” Flare asked


“We were in a forest that Sam directed me to. I honestly wasn’t really paying much attention beyond “go do things.” And honestly things have been pretty foggy ever since.”

“hmm…do you think something happened that made you like this?” Flare asked


“Yes. you see it all began on the day I was born…”


“Noah you know that’s not what I meant.” Flare interrupted


“Yeah but I said what I meant. I have ADHD. Basically I’ve always had difficulty focusing on stuff or I just lose the plot entirely because I’m too focused on something specific. I ran out of Vyvanse long before I ever left Canada.” Noah explained


“What’s Vyvanse?”


“My ADHD pills. Helped level me to “normal” levels of focus. Honestly I kinda miss that but I can live without them…”

---

One hour of ADHD talk later

---

“-listen I’m just saying I’d totally win against five kindergarteners. Like seriously I could just grab one and use em as a club! It would be so efficient!”


"...You still awake Sam?” Flare asked trying to get off the topic


Sam mumbled something to Flare that Noah couldn’t hear.



“I've been thinking it over since it happened. That strange dream you had... Maybe it has to do with you personally."



[…Dreams? That sounds important] Noah’s three AM brain concluded



"Dream? Wait sorry to interrupt but what dream?"


"We'll explain in the morning. Don't worry about it." Flare said waving Noah off


"Alright... just don't forget I'm part of this team too. You can talk to me." Noah said



"…You know, time is getting messed up, bit by bit, all over the world. No one seems to know why."


[ECH FUCKING SCUSE ME?!]


"What?!" Noah whisper shouted


"Yeah. didn’t you know? It started in the upper region but is slowly making its way south supposedly,"


[Fuck. Fuck! Frank! Fuck!]


"Oh god I can't go through that again. Please not again" Noah begged to the void as he curled up In his cot


"Why are you acting like this?" Flare asked concerned as she stood up and walked over to Noah’s trembling form


Noah paused his rambling and sat up. After a moment he looked Flare directly in the eyes.


"Flare i-i've lost people to this, friends, family, brothers. It's taken everything from me, an-and now it's back. It’s back in the one place I was told-no PROMISED I'd be safe from it, Flare I know you are young and you are probably not ready to hear this but if we can't stop whatever that is it's going to destroy everything we've ever loved and leave it frozen in time."


"Wh-what?"

Noah grabbed Flares shoulders and the faint light of Flare’s tail only served to make Noah’s appearance more scary and threatening


"Flare please listen to me. We were sent here for a reason. I was never told it but we are supposed to do something about it. We need to find the last person we were sent back in time with-Grovyle we need to find Grovyle because he m-might still know what to do." Noah spoke


"Wait I thought it was just you and me?" Sam asked


"Sam I told you ages ago and literally last night that you had a partner, his name was Grovyle. And we need to find them no matter the cost," Noah said


"We need to let the guild know!" Flare spoke up


"I'm sure they already know" Noah said


A flapping sound came from behind the closed door.


"...Remember. From here on everything we do has consequences. Now…Do you have any clue of what's causing this?" Noah asked


"Everyone believes that the time gears are somehow involved." Sam explained


"I remember Grovyle saying something about that. Something about collecting them." Noah said trying to remember that hectic day


"Collecting them? Why would he do that? Wouldn't that stop time in that area?" Flare questioned


"I don't fucking know! My guess is they needed to put them somewhere they and got pretty close before something happened. Something bad enough to go back in time and try again bad. And somehow I'm supposed to destabilize this event enough to change something but I don't know. I never know shit because no one tells me anything! Anyway please go on. This sounds important.” Noah finished


"Ok…They say time gears are hidden around the world, like in a forest or in a lake in an underground cavern, maybe even in a volcano somewhere. Nobody knows for sure. But at the centre of those places is what's called a time gear, time gears serve a very important function as each one protects time and keeps time flowing in its region. What happens when a region loses its time gear however...I don't know, my guess was always that time in that area would probably stop. But I don’t even know for sure anymore.” Flare finished


"Alright I've heard enough to know what's up. Taking the time gears is probably bad but necessary. But uh now it's important that we get some sleep. Let's just deal with the possible end of the world in the morning ok?" Noah asked


"Agreed but Noah? What was Grovyle like?" Sam asked breaking his silence

Noah paused to try to calm himself down. After a minute of nothing he spoke up.


"He seemed to be the cautious type but I didn't know him that long. Hell I didn't even understand him at first, not until you had me touch a strange red relic-thing. After that I understood him. If he's anything like I think he is then he's probably about to do something. Could be good could be bad but right now it seems that we need to find a way to get into contact with him. But later cause i wanna sleep now." Noah said laying back down


"What was that about a strange relic?" Flare asked


"Later Flare. Sleep"


"But-"


"Shhhhh. Sleep"


"..."

---

Five hours later

---

"...SMILES GO FOR MILES!" the guild finished and as everyone scattered Chatot approached the group


"Sunrunners! Today your task is to find a job on the job board. Please No outlaws today." Chatot commanded


"What if we can't help it?" Noah asked


"Then deal with the situation as you all see fit. But if you get in a fight with another outlaw tonight I'll have to ask you to take a day off. After all technically you are still bronze rank and aren't even supposed to be doing more than one outlaw a week." Chatot explained


"Understood"


"And one more thing Noah"


"Yes?"


"Could you please remove your weapon from the floor? We weren't able to get it out before dinner yesterday" Chatot asked with a hint of annoyance


[Hammer? What’s he talking about? Oh wait…]

It had finally dawned on Noah that after he left that night he had accidentally left his hammer embedded in the ground. After climbing to the next level Noah got to work removing the hammer carefully... only to rip the head off of the body and break the hammer.


"Shit. Welp that's done" Noah said looking at the wooden pole in the ground


"Oh no! Did it break?" Bidoof asked turning away from the job bo


"Yeah. Sucks but I guess I gotta find something else to fight with" Noah said


"Fight with? Why not use a move?" Bidoof asked innocently


[again with this move thing. What are they?]


"I don't think i have any. All I got is what you see and what I carry. It's how I defend myself" Noah explained


"I don't get it." Bidoof admitted


"Different worlds friend. Different worlds." Noah said waving off the question


"Oh...right. I forgot about that" Bidoof said sheepishly


"Happens. Don't worry about it" Noah said deciding to leave the hammer head inside of his bag


[Thank you sir smashington for your service. I will never forget your sacrifice] Noah thought sadly


"Alright I got a job! Someone lost an orb in beach cave!" Flare exclaimed


"Beach cave? Wait so it's literally just "beach cave"? That's it?" Noah asked


"Yep! Plain and simple!" Flare said with a smile


"Huh. Bit on the nose but whatever. Later uh..." Noah paused as he didn’t know the beavers name


"Bidoof"


"Thanks. Later Bidoof!" Noah said following the group out with a wave


On the way up stitch told the group he needed to tag out for the day to discuss his living arrangements with the guild since he was joining, after the small interruption they made their way to the beach and the once oppressive dungeon seemed much more tame


"Ok! Let's try to figure out a plan. Sam any suggestions?" Noah asked


"Hm... I think I should take the front and Noah should stay at the back to cover Flare since she doesn't do as well against water types. Flare?"


"I agree. I can focus on looking for the orb while you two cover me."


"Alright then. We got a plan. Let's do this." Noah said as they stepped into the cave and found themselves once more in the dungeon


They made it through two rooms with no sign of anything living or dead


"So... Noah how are you feeling about the guild?" Flare asked trying to pass the time


"I like it so far. Good people. Though I haven't really talked to anyone outside of our group"


"Why not?"


"I'm a bit of a social wreck. But in other news I have a question."


"Yeah?"


"Last night when we were eating I noticed that some meat of some kind was on the table. If everyone in this world is sapient then where does the meat come from?"


Flare raised her claws to answer only to put them on her chin


"Actually that's a good question. Where does it come from? I know it comes from something but... I've never really asked before."


"Let's ask Chatot when we get back. Should get something out of it I hope."


"Yeah. He better have a good answer." Flare said with a bit of fire in her eyes


"Hang on guys. Something's up ahead." Sam interrupted


It was one of the large snails Noah had fought in his arrival


"Oh I got this if you don't want to" Noah offered


"Didn't you break your hammer this morning?" Sam asked


"Yes. But I'll be fine. I'll just see how well i can handle fighting without a weapon. Should be a safe test on if can handle myself" Noah argued


Sam nodded and allowed Noah to enter the room where the snail like creature quickly noticed and began flinging shot after shot of water at Noah and although they were annoying Noah kept moving towards his target. Finally at his target and angered from being soaked, Noah tried to swing at the snail only to have his arm intercepted by another water blast, now even angrier Noah threw his entire weight into a left hook and his fist caught his opponent's head and stopped the water coming from it, this was followed by a downward slam from his right causing the head of the creature to bash against the ground and knock it out.


"...Ok I probably need some practice because if that wasn't as harmless as it was I'd probably be dead." Noah said walking back to the waiting two


"It's ok. You did your best." Flare said


"I was always more of a medic then a fighter. Except maybe that one time I accidentally took some bad meds. Woke up with my car on top of the body of one of the purple monster things, Grovyle called them “saybleeye” or something."


"Are you talking about a Sableye?" Flare asked


"Yeah that's the one! Sableye! They were quite the basterds on my trip to America."


"What did they do?"


"Wherever I went to try and get food or supplies there they were. They showed up around the time I crossed the border and were a menace to survivors everywhere. I'm quite lucky compared to some people I found. They literally woke up with everything destroyed and stolen."


"Wow..."


"Yeah. With the fields not growing any plants other then habaneros in the dead zones food was already scarce and that was the final straw that ended many poor people."


"Oh no..."


"It happens. It's sad but it happens. Now come on. We are safe from that from what I've seen. So let's grab that orb thing and make someone's day alright?"


"Alright." Flare said with a hint of sadness


"...do you wanna talk later?" Sam asked Flare


"Yes please."


"...I'll stay out of that. I…Think I just made things worse here." Noah said with hits of shame


A blast of water hit Noah in the back of the head causing him to turn around and grab the large shell creature before throwing it into a wall.


"Point is the future is depressing. But that's why we are here. It's up to us to fix that. All that sadness. All that pain. All that agony. We can stop it all right here." Noah said doing his best to bring some inspiration into his teammates


"He's right" Sam said


[Ok something inspirational…uuuhhh]


"Flare have you ever wanted to be a legend? A story told to kids all around the world? A grand triumph? This is your chance. The stage is set for heroes! So come on!"


"Yeah!"


"Good. Now let's- oh wait there's the lil basterd" Noah said as he spotted and picked up the strange sphere


"Nice! Let's get out of here!" Flare said thankful to leave the watery cave


And with a flash of their badges they were gone.

---

Guild first floor

---

"Nicely done. Now here's your cut of the reward" Chatot said handing the small pouch to Noah


"...huh. That's more than I expected for the small orb"





"Oh no that's your reward for the bounties" Chatot said


"..."


"Enjoy!"


"Is there like a group of high value coins in here?"


"Yes."


"Oh alright. Cool." Noah said checking the pouch as Chatot left


"how much did you get?" Flare asked


[one…two…three…four…]


Sam took the bag and looked inside


"…500" Sam deadpanned


"What?! Only 500?! That's like an apple at best!" Flare shouted


"...All of that work. For an apple?" Noah said a bit broken hearted


"Noah I'm sorry. I should have mentioned they skim off-"


"Flare that wasn't skimming a little off the top, that was straight up robbery. Whatever. Screw it. I don't care anymore. Besides with things that bad there has to be SOME reason everyone else is still here. Like maybe the main income is from what we find? I used to be a delivery guy and most money made was actually from tips.” Noah reasoned


Flare raised a claw to argue with the point but paused as she thought it over.


"...Actually that makes sense. Lots of items in dungeons are pretty valuable"


"Oh thank god. I don't think I actually could have cut it as an underpaid bounty hunter."



"I don't know about that. You seem pretty good in a pinch." Sam countered


"Maybe... anyway I'm tired and my feet hurt so I think this is where I call it."


"I'm with you on that one. Night Flare."


"Oh. Alright good night guys!" Flare said as Sam and Noah went to their room

---

Later that night…

---

"We need to keep moving." A voice said





"Wha?" Noah stammered to the voice





"Grovyle it's been three days. Surly they wouldn't chase us for that long. Please. Let's just rest for a bit." Another voice rang out





"Grovyle?" Noah said now awake





"Sam. Look. By that building. I see two of them."





"Oh I hate it when you're right. Let's just get out of here."


[…Oh god the shit never ends dose it?] Noah thought as he rose from his cot


"It's for the best Sam. Come on. Let's get going. If we make good time maybewe can break into an old candy shop or something."





"Grovyle...I don't know what I'd do without you."





Then suddenly the unmistakable sound of a gun being fired brought Noah to full attention. Shooting upwards (pun haha) Noah pulled out his revolver and frantically looked for his rounds before calming down as he realized nothing was actually happening. As he looked for the source he saw Sam's head was glowing with a strange blue aura and Flare and Stitch weren't responding to the voices


"...Sam?” Noah quietly asked


"Sam what was that?!" A voice now familiar to Noah said


"Oh crap. Grovyle we need to go now! It's a hunting party!"



"Just a second. I need to see what that noise was"



"Grovyle that was a gun. They are very dangerous and can really hurt someone. If we stick around you are as good as dead! You know what they do to any Pokémon!”


A long tense silence filled the room as Grovyle apparently thought it over.


"(Sigh) You're right. Ok let's duck into that alleyway and find our way from there." Grovyle said begrudgingly


"Sounds good. But can we still-"


"Later"


"…That's fair"


And as suddenly as it appeared it was gone. No voices no glowing no nothing. Noah stood in the room completely still as he waited for what seemed like hours. Eventually he couldn’t help but break the silence.


"...Buddy if that's one of your memories then why could I hear it?" Noah whispered to his unconscious friend


"..."


"Oh damn he really is out. Alright then. Guess I should start writing these down."


"Sam! Sam! Where are you?!" A voice called out causing Noah to almost shout out in surprise


The soft sound of snoring and the frantic sound of pen hitting paper was all the sounds that echoed through the night as Noah desperately recorded as much memory as he could.

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

[Its ok it’s fine just deep breaths. Deeeeep breaths ugh FUCK STOP CRYING YOU BITCH!]

It was around morning and Noah was attempting to force himself not to cry and wake up his teammates. The memories coming from Sam were emotionally devastating to Noah.


"Sam. We can't stop. Every time we do, every time we have just we lose something or someone." Grovyle said


"Grovyle we can’t just leave them! shouldn't we at least bury them?" Sam begged


"...No Sam. We already lost the rest of them. I'm not losing you too."


"...I'm sorry."


The sound of footsteps emitted as the telltale sound of running sounded around Noah. As the memory finished the light coming from Sam finally dissipated leaving Noah with an empty feeling and a full notebook. This strange occurrence was completely recorded and Noah decided that later on it they would have a meeting. Finally getting to bed Noah closed his eyes...


"UP AND AT EM ITS MORNING!"


"Ugh"


"Mmrr"


"Hm?"


"(Sigh)"


With those eloquent responses the group rose from their sleep and made their way to morning cheers

---

Ten minutes of bitching and moaning later

---

"...SMILES GO FOR MILES!" The guild chanted before breaking off


Chatot approached the group.


"Good morning! Today's task is a special one! Since Noah's...Addition to the task room I've noticed in Stitch’s reports that his combat effectiveness has been reduced somewhat so today's task is to find or build a replacement."


"Isn't there anything pressing to do?" Flare asked


"Well I was supposed to have you four put on sentry duty but as Noah and Sam don't have a basic education on Pokémon or know much of anything about the subject only Flare and Stitch are able to take over on that front. So for today I'm sending Sam and Noah to Mt.Bristle to find something to replace his weapon." Chatot explained


"Are you sure? I don't think I can punch a rock and come out on top." Noah said


"That's why Sam is coming with you. He is a fighting type and has the advantage against most creatures up there. Hop to it!" Chatot said as he waved the duo off


“Well this is going to suck.”

---

One hour of walking later

---

"Alright so Sam do you have any advice? I'm not exactly used to fighting without my hammer"


"I don't really have any. I just sort of punch things and it works." Sam admitted with a shrug


"You sure because i remember that business with Drowzee. You were flying around throwing haymaker after haymaker."


"That was in the heat of the moment. Besides isn't the point of this to find you something so you don't have to fight without."


"True. Screw it if we don't find anything I'll just use a sling or something since I used to use one for fun."


"A sling?"


"Yeah. It's a bit low tech but I've seen what it does to pumpkins. I have no doubt that it's a good weapon"


"Then why not just use the sling?"


"It covers range but other than my tiny pocket knife I'm at a loss if they are too close for the sling and too far for my knife"


"No I mean why haven't you used it yet. I understand the up close thing but why haven't you used it yet?"


"...That's umm a good question. One I can't answer. Anyway let's go!" Noah said pulling out his sling and sidestepping the question


They entered the dungeon and the walls shifted around them until they were on an open path with an item ahead of them which Noah picked up and showed it to Sam.


"...A brick tied to a stick? Why is this here?" Sam asked


"Don't know. My guess is someone got creative. Oh well. It'll work until the stick breaks at least…Though I doubt it will even make it out of the dungeon. Anyway I see a few of those rock things on the path ahead so eyes up" Noah said as he stashed the “weapon” and readied the sling


"Ok I'm going to rush in and distract them. I want you to hit them from range with your sling. Do you have anything for ammunition?"


"I have...a bunch of rocks. I can use them."


"It will work but they won't be as strong as something made of metal. Do you have anything like that?"


"Nope. I usually travel as light as I can."


"Flare said the treasure bag is weightless"


"Really? Damn I really gotta start going off this worlds logic or something. Anyway here we go!"


Sam ran forward and drew the attention of the two creatures as Noah began winding up. Sam struck first and knocked back one of the creatures with an aura charged punch before getting hit himself with a fist full of sand in his eyes. The rock creature prepared to strike again when a crack sounded through the air, his ally had been knocked down by something the creature couldn't see. While it was distracted Sam grabbed one of its arms and put his left palm through the rocky arm causing it to shatter. A rock weakly hit Sam in the side, looking to his attacker he saw Noah with a nervous smile


"SORRY!" Noah shouted


The creature tried to capitalize on the distraction and got a very weak punch off before Sam punched its head and knocked it out. With the two creatures knocked out Noah ran up to Sam


“Sam I'm so sorry! Are you ok?" Noah asked


"I'm fine. It was more annoying than anything. Good hit on the other one though."


"Thanks. I'm erm a bit rusty it seems." Nosh said rubbing the back of his neck


The rock creature by Sam twitched and on reflex Noah slammed the brick down on its rocky head breaking the brick instantly


"...fuck. Well there goes that."


"It's fine. Good reflexes though."


"You know I don't think we've ever had a chance to talk just the two of us. How are you holding up Sam?" Noah said while tossing the useless stick


"I don't really know. I've been thrown into a world I don't understand in a body that isn't mine without many of my memories. The only thing I have to go off of is anything you've told me. So I'm handling it as well as I can I guess. What about you?"


"Well it's interesting. I'm somehow supposed to be this great disruption in the world and change something so you, Grovyle and probably the rest of the guild can save the world somehow. Honestly I think I'm pretty screwed altogether."


"How so?"


"I had around 17-ish years left before I completely froze but it's like gone now. Yet I'm not fixed ether, I can't even tell what day I'm going to freeze on anymore and that scares me. What if the time gears hurt me or something? If I'm unlucky I might end up freezing on the spot or something if I get too close to the damn thing. I just feel like every time I'm out in a dungeon I'm gambling with my life. It's weird here."


"..."


"And every time we push forward I feel this giant sense of dread. Like I'm not supposed to be here. Hell I'm even scared of what happens if we do save the world. What is it going to cost to change the future so drastically that you two win the fight? How much blood exactly am I going to have to shed just to get there in the first place? Sam I don't have a place in this world like you do. I'm just some guy who wanted to visit the states and got dragged into this."


"...Then why are you even fighting?"


Noah looked at Sam with a confused expression


"I saw how you ran to join us when Drowzee was fighting us. If you knew it would have been ok then why did you bother helping us?"


"..."


"I'm not talking to the air Noah"


"I couldn't just leave you guys there. What if Something actually happened?"


"You know nothing would have."


"How do you know that? Now that I'm thinking about it why are you so dammed confrontational and tactical lately? Normally you're just quiet and reserved."


"...Stop changing the subject. Why are you even here in this mountain? You know this mission is only to waste time and get you equipment."


"Because maybe I like being hero for once. Because maybe if I give it my all to my last day I can finally see the moon rise and the sun rest on my home after decades of nothing. I would pay any price for this to never happen again to people I love or otherwise. I'm not fucking content with slowly withering away in my old fucking hole of a room. I'd rather chase the sun until the day I die. I have been given the chance of a lifetime. The chance to be a real hero. You want to know why I'm doing this? I'm doing this to spite the world. To spite everything and everyone who said I'd die worthless and alone. I hate them. I hate them so much that I want to be as kind as I possibly can be so I never even have to be even close to resembling them. I carry that hate with me every day and every blessed night. And if this "Dusknoir" is some sort of asshole god like I’ve been led to believe then I'd rather spit in his face and fall down into hell then ever letting someone like that control my life again." Noah stopped and took a moment to breath after his rant


"...Noah I'm sorry"


"It's fine Sam. But I think that a few memories or at least your old personality is bleeding through." Noah said


"Now that you mention it... I think I remember something…Why is the only thing I'm remembering about candy?"


"Maybe it's important to you? Like maybe you and Grovyle used to raid old candy shops or something." Noah said knowing that was exactly the case


"Maybe... but since it's been brought up..." Sam looked to Noah


"Sam I don't know if I have any. And if I do it's OLD. But I'll look around in my food pouch and see if I-what the hell? Why is my edibles pouch full of candy?…Wait there's a note here from you! You sly bastard You must've slipped em in during the car ride!"


"Really?! What's it say?"


"Thanks for the save back there and I'm sorry we have to leave you like this but we need to do this next part alone. But I left some of my favourite candy in your bag! I hope you enjoy!- Sam and Grovyle. Aw you two even left a parting gift for me. That's sweet. But anyway here you can have some since you did technically give them to me." Noah said giving a purple wrapped candy to Sam


Sam unwrapped a purple grape candy and as soon as he ate it a huge smile was plastered on his face.


"That good? Huh I guess they really were your favourite. In that case just take the lot of em." Noah said grabbing a fist full and dropping them inside of Sam's treasure bag


"Thank you! I know this isn't much but this really means a lot to me. Right now I might not have my memory's…But that doesn't mean I can't make new ones."


Sam's joy had gotten to Noah as they progressed through the dungeon and even he smiled at Sam's new attitude.


"Hey Sam?"


"Yes Noah?"


"Have you ever tried using that "aura" stuff to enhance your movement?"


"How so?"


"Well what if you did that glowypunch thing but like…all over your bodyand try to make it go outward? Like try to use it to push away something that's threatening you."


Sam thought on it for a moment before making an attempt to try the new move.

“BWAH!” Noah shouted as a strange force shoved him to the ground


"Sorry sorry! I didn't think it would be that strong."


"No that's great if you do that when something is about to hit you. Can I try something?"


"Sure"


"Ok I'm going to hurl a rock to the right of you, I want to see if this will deflect the rock. If so than you can just blast projectiles out of the air!"


Sam agreed and Noah threw a rock only for it to blast away and rocket off the mountain as soon as Sam used the move


"And just like that-"


Sam fell to his knees heaving and breathing heavily


"Sam! Are you alright?!" Noah asked rushing over and helping Sam to his feet


"I'm fine. I think I just over did it." Sam said in between wheezes


"If you say so. So how about we call it here? I'm getting a bit sick of seeing only rocks. And besides when we get back to town I'll see if I can make a spear or something."


"Sounds good. Let's go home."


And with a flash of their badges they were gone

---

Guild hall

---

Although disappointed Chatot took the failure well


"What do you mean you didn't find anything?!"


As well as he could anyway.


"Chatot there was nothing there other than a brick haphazardly tied to a stick. And that broke the second I tried to use it. But don't worry, I'll figure something out."


"Well regardless of the success you are lucky someone made a request for you specifically."


"Who?"


the familiar smell of roses filled the room


[Oh here we go] Noah thought


"I did. I need your help." Roserade pleaded


"Ok shoot. If it's difficult and not urgent however I might need a day to get the team together."


"It's my bouquet cloak. It was stolen! I need your help to get it back! I'm willing to come with you if I must."


"...Well what say you Sam? Think the three of us could handle this?"


"Yeah. Just give me half an hour to rest."


"Alright then. After a short break we'll be off to find your cloak!"


"Thank you so much Noah!"


"Don't. It's literally my job and I'm not the only one helping."


"…Are you and the little one an item or something?" She asked with a strange seriousness


"Roserade. He's a kid."


"And?"


[Really don’t like what she’s implying.]


"...Roserade what the fuck is your major malfunction? You come to US in your time of need and insinuate I sleep around with children?"


"I was just-"


"I was just bullshit. If you ever insult me like that again I'm going to grab you by the hair and drag you through sandpaper until we finally find out where the plant stops and the meat begins."


"...I'm sorry"


"Roserade you need to take a step back and reevaluate exactly what it is you are telling people. The very idea of such a wretched thing makes me want to die. Now do you really want our help finding your cloak?"


"Yes"


"Then don't step out of line like that again. I'm going to pretend this was a faux pass or whatever your people say and let it go but you better not slip up like that again or I'm done and doing my best to block you out of my life. Now prepare yourself. We got a good 30 minutes before we can head off"


Roserade awkwardly shifted in her spot as Noah walked to his room to wait with Sam


"...Has that wood pole always been there?"


“No” Chatot said with a hint of anger

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

Noah was on his pile of hey sharpening his pocket knife as Sam was laying down and eating a berry to catch up his strength when Roserade entered the room with a tall cloaked blue creature that easily dwarfed Noah's hight.


[Oh big lizard man! Cool!] Noah thought


"I wasn't sure if you were going to help so earlier on I hired someone who lived near the dungeon to guide us. Just letting you know so you two aren't surprised." She said before trying to leave the room


"Wait a guide? Why would we need a guide? I thought you already knew where your thing was?" Noah questioned


"Well it's in a town that a few thieves turned into a hideout." Roserade explained


"Ok I can understand a guide in that case. Is it fine if I ask your name?" Sam asked as Roserade left


"Names Hoke. I used to live in the area before it was a dungeon so I know the place well. Also I couldn't turn up the chance to meet the oh so "infamous" Sun runners in person." The creature named Hoke said as he looked over the duo


"Infamous? How could we possibly be infamous? We started like a week ago or something." Noah asked


"You broke the new member record set for bringing in outlaws, invented a revolutionary new method for stopping blood loss-a major usually fatal cause of death in most Pokémon, and created a team containing one of one of the first proper humans seen in centuries and an amnesiac human turned Pokémon. What part of any of that is insignificant?" Hoke asked


"...Huh never really payed attention. Anyway what's with the cloak?" Noah asked finally noticing a suspicious bulge


"…What do you mean? It's a cloak."


"Dose it do something? Like make you stronger in some way or is it just a basic cloak?"


"Just a basic cloak. Nothing else."


[…he’s hiding something.]


"So what's inside the cloak?" Noah said pointing to the strange bulge on Hoke’s hip


"..." Hoke went silent


Noah quickly noticed that Hoke wasn't responding and before Noah could ask if something was wrong Hoke calmly shut the privacy door and took a stance as he blocked the door. Sam got to his feat quickly and Noah simply stood there observing the situation before speaking.


"You aren't just some chance guide are you?"


"What gave me away?"


"Something was poking out of your cloak. Dagger I assume?" Noah guessed


"Smart."


"Alright. We don't have to do anything rash you know? Just tell me why you are being so secretive about it."


"Noah I don't think this is a good idea." Sam said holding his stance


"I disagree. Hoke if it's something to do with the job I could probably try to help you know?"


This caught Hoke off guard, he slowly relaxed and after cautiously lowering his stance he started to explain himself.


"I'm trying to find an outlaw in the dungeon. But it's illegal to hunt down anyone without a legal exploration team on a job. I plan to find him."


"I see. So this is an excuse for tracking down an enemy. What did they do if you don't mind me asking?" Noah said as Hoke took a seat on the ground


"I used to live with my uncle. They in a raid captured him. I want to find him."


"Why couldn't you just put it on the bounty board?" Sam asked still cautious


"I did. No one would help because I don't have anything to give as a reward"


"And the dagger?"


"Poisoned. I wanted to get an edge up on him"


"I see. What's their name?"


"Shiftry." Hoke said with distain


"Right. In that case when you split off i will try not to interfere."


"Noah don't tell me that you are actually considering this!" Sam said


"Sam I'm sorry but it's for the best if we let him work."


"Why?! What could possibly justify murder?" Sam asked


BANG!


"You couldn't have just given up the goods huh you little shit. Now I'll have to find another friend of yours since we broke this one." A voice from beyond taunted


"Noah?"


"...Because sometimes we need to do these things. Sometimes murderers don't stop until they are stopped."


"...Are you ok?" Sam asked sensing his sudden coldness


"You are just a pathetic little thing aren't you? Shame that you won't live to see daylight again. You look kinda cute when you beg." The voice chanted jovially


"Sam I'll never be ok." Noah said trying to shake off the voice’s words


"…Hey Noah was it? I know that look. I have a question."


"Yes?"


"Did you feel better after?" Hoke asks


The question ran through Noah’s mind like a wraith until eventually he found the answer he locked away.


"...I did."


"Noah?" Sam asked with concern evident


"I'm sorry for your loss."


"It's alright. It was years ago."


"What was their name?" Hoke asked softly


"…Frank. He was the one who taught me how to survive."


Roserade opened the door


"Times up! Come on we need to get a move on!" She said before rushing out of the room


"...We'll talk later about this." Noah said


"Indeed. For now I need to "guide" you." Hoke said with air quotes


Stepping up to the door Noah paused when he saw that Sam was not following.


"Sam if you don't want to come because you don't support this I understand. But I need to do this." Noah said


"...Noah it might be for the best if we just go ask-"


"Sam I'm sorry but this is pressing. Are you coming with me or not?" Noah said in a no nonsense tone


"...I'm staying behind. I refuse to help kill anyone." Sam said putting his foot down


"So be it. Noah times a wasting" Hoke said


"Alright. I understand. Later then." Noah said walking out of the room

---

Two hours later...

---

"Can we take a break? I'm pretty tired." Roserade asked sluggishly


"What? It's only been two hours." Noah said while stopping


"But it's dark!" Roserade complained


"Is that a problem?" Noah asked Hoke


"Actually it is with grass types. Usually they get most of their energy from the sun and are easily winded when they don't have sunlight." Hone explained


"Huh. Done a little research have you?"


Roserade collapsed on the spot unconscious as the two talked.


"Of course!" Hoke said before taking out a cot and dragging Her onto it


"Alright then let's camp for the night then. We still have a few hours before we get to the dungeon probably."


Hoke smiled genuinely as he took out supplies from his bag and set up a small pot on top of some logs while Noah dragged out his sleeping cot


"Camping kit?" Noah asked


"Yep. I've always loved camping. So I bring a mini kit everywhere I go." Hoke said as he took out two rocks


Hitting the rocks together produced sparks but to their disappointment nothing caught fire


"Hate it when this happens." Hoke said annoyed


Noah walked up and lit the kindling with a lighter.


"Oh thanks. Didn't know you could do that." Ho


"No worries. But what's going in the pot?"


"Some curry hopefully." Hone said dumping the rice into the pot


"I have some experience cooking if you want." Noah offered


"Sure."


Noah walked up to the pot and added four red spiked berrys into the pot


"What are you doing?" Hoke asked


"Adding something for spice. I've been eating these all week and i think it would complement the curry well." Noah explained


About twenty minutes of stirring and seasoning later the curry was done


"Oh hey that smells great! What's in it?" Hoke asked


"Four spicy berrys that I don't know the name of. Some chilly powder I stole from a supermarket and a pinch of spite."


"Spite?" Hoke said picking up a bowl and filling it


"Yep. Love is too sweet and sadness is too bitter so spite was the natural option." Noah said jokingly


When Hoke ate a bite he found a very spicy taste that worked excellently with the rice and meat


"So glad I got you to cook." Hoke said as he began shovelling curry into his mouth


“well only being able to grow spicy peppers will do that.”


Noah took a bowl and after a bite he silently congratulated himself on a job well done as the taste was exactly what he was aiming for. After two refills on both sides they both sat down in satisfaction


"Ugh. Think I over did it." Hoke said


"Well I feel great!" Noah said


"How?"


Noah lifted his shirt exposing his chest that looked almost malnourished. Only barely were his ribs hidden by bits of muscle


"What the fuck?!" Hoke said dropping his bowl in shock


"Yeah. Time stopped down there years ago. I can still eat food thank god but it's weird."


"How so?"


"Well I don't know where it goes. I just eat and I feel like I normally would but it's like nothing else happens."


"Wait time stopped? you are telling me you got stuck like this?"


"Yep. When I came here it seemed to stop spreading though so that's great but I'll never have kids since everything below the belt is frozen."


"How?"


"I don't know. But basically everything you see that's grey is frozen. Nothing happens ever and I can't feel anything there. Of course getting stabbed works as normal if it digs in deep enough to reach the non frozen parts."


"Ok...that's weird. Anyway let's change the topic. I wanna finish our chat from earlier" Hoke said


"Alright then. I'll go first if that's fine." Noah said


"Sounds good to me."

---

Four years ago... (Noah's POV)

---

I was just getting started surviving on my own when the incident happened. Frank is... (sigh) was a friend of mine who I met on the road a month back. As it turned out he was one of the homeless people I regularly gave cash too before time started stopping around the world. He had been living on the streets most of his life because his wife took his house in a divorce. He teaches me everything from how to cook mold of food to how to boil a bandage for reuse. He was always a pleasure to talk to and he had a smile that could light up a room and all he wanted in return was a trip to the United States where his wife took his kids.


About a week after he finished teaching me we ran into a frozen highway. Now understand that Frank couldn't enter frozen zones because it's super dangerous for anyone who isn't being frozen. I've seen some awful things that happened to people who tried to go through one, like a poor teenager who's arm turned to dust after it started ageing like crazy. Anyway we were trying to find a clearing for the car when we discovered a gruesome scene. A small family of three strung up from a lamp post by their necks. Even their poor kid who couldn't have been older then eight was hung. Now you need to understand the only reason we didn't just turn back right there was because this was right outside the border of America and I needed to find a way across this specific bridge as the ferry my family used to take over got frozen leaving the ambassador bridge as the safest path to Detroit. As we slowly advanced in the can on the bridge we saw more and more bodies all over the place. Some frozen, some not. It was by far the most... difficult part of my journey. And the smell. Oh god the fucking smell was awful. Anyway got off topic there. we navigated through the bridge and we eventually made it over the river and finally entered Detroit.

---

The present (3rd person POV)

---

"How many bodies were there?" Hoke said side eyeing Noah


"Could have been fifty for all I know." Noah said taking another bite of curry


[God I’m glad it’s finally not pepper stew] Noah thought


"Damn. That's...that's awful."


"It was. But it was only the beginning. You said your uncle was captured not killed right?"


"Yes. He's alive I know it."


"Alright I believe you. We need to be careful Hoke. After we split up you need to find a way to get in and get your uncle out. Because if they find out you are there for him they might use him as an insurance policy."


"Insurance?"


"They might threaten to kill him if you don't back off. And understand that you only have one shot. If this goes wrong and they get away with him they will ether go into hiding and ransom him to you for an atrocious amount or they'll just kill him to get back at you."


"Really? That's why they took him?"


"Well think about it this way. If people knew they had hostages and they threatened to kill one every time they found a rescue team they would probably be able to hunker down somewhere. Since it's in a mystery dungeon as well has problems because they would have a clear idea of where the entrance and exits are and would focus attention on those spots. Basically it's a funnel of death because anyone who wanders into the dungeon gets nabbed quickly and quietly. They effectively have an fortress full of fragile hostages that only an army could pierce. In fact I'm starting to think splitting up is a bad move. They could absolutely overwhelm one of us and sneaking in is impossible unless you find a way around the dungeon all together."


"When did you come up with that?"


"Just now."


"So how do we get inside without being spotted then?"


"Well you said you know the area. Is there anyway else into the place?"


"Well... maybe through one of the wells. But only I'd be able to go through there."


"Full of water I assume?"


"Not entirely but if you can't swim it doesn't matter."


"I know how to swim."


"Really? That's a pretty interesting thing to see."


"How so? I understand some of you guys don't have the limbs for it or are too heavy but it's really that rare of a skill?"


"Not many Pokémon beyond water types can even enter the water without getting hurt."


"What's in the water? I don't think plain water hurts that much."


Hoke looked at Noah strangely


"Is that so?"


"Well if it's like boiling or tainted or something I guess but it's just water to me."


"...hey can I try something?"


"What?"


"Are you really immune to water like water types?"


"What do you mean "immune"? It hurts them somehow?"


"What's the most dangerous thing about a body of water?"


"Drowning?"


"Noah that..." Hoke stopped suddenly and began looking around


Noah taking it as a sign of danger began looking around for whatever spooked Hoke. Moments later he saw it as a strange presence filled the area.


A mime


"Noah be careful. Those things are dangerous" Hoke warned


It was moving towards them by pulling an invisible rope.


"What the fuck?" Noah said fear evident


"Anything it mimes out happens for real." Hoke warned


"Dose that include what other people mime?"


"What? I think so but what could you possibly do?" Hoke asked


Noah walked up to the mime and felt something brush against his leg. The mime was acting out throwing a lasso and trying to pull Noah in. Playing along and feeling the invisible rope around his arms Noah increased his pace not allowing the rope to tighten and surprised the mime by walking in faster then the mime could pull. Finally at his target Noah began miming out turning the crank on a music box.


"Noah what the fuck are you doing?" Hoke called out


Noah put up a single finger telling Hoke to wait and shook the non existent box while looking disappointed. Noah then shrugged before he handed the box to the mime who began also turning it with a bewildered look. The moment the mime took the imaginary box Noah hit the deck as a cloud of dust exploded from the ground from some unseen force. When the dust cleared Hoke put a hand to his mouth as he saw what little remained of the mime. It's face had been completely blown off and its jaw was missing.


"WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED?!"


"Handed him a bomb." Noah said casually


Hoke simply looked baffled as Noah dusted himself off


"I don't play games with mimes."


"Arceus! What the hell was that?"


"Hoke. I gave the mime a bomb. It was imaginary until he physically touched it. Didn't even have a crank but I tricked him into thinking it was a music box. Y'all aren't very creative when stuff like this happens I assume?" Noah shot back as he flicked a bit of the blood off his clothes


"How did you even think of that?"


"I didn't. I stole it from an old cartoon. Something about a cat and a mouse"


"What?"


"Hoke don't worry about it. I finished my mime kill quota for the day and I'm tired."


"We didn't even know if he was an enemy!"


"He was dead the second he used his filthy mime magic to try and drag me in. Come on and get some rest. We have a fortress to storm in the morning and we need every wink we can get." Noah said as he laid down on his cot


Unable to argue with the logic Hoke settled down and tried to ignore the faint smell of decomposing mime.


Tomorrow was going to be a rough day

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

BANG


Another nail pierced Noah's flesh as he cried out in pain. Looking at his torturers he saw them move over to Frank and prep the next nail and raise the hammer to strike. This time Frank wasn't moving.


"W-wait!" Noah stammered out


"Oh?"


"Do me again! For fucks sake do me! Just please! He can't take anymore!"


"...You are just a pathetic little thing aren't you? (Sigh) Shame that you won't live to see daylight again. You look kinda cute when you beg. Grab grandpa. I got a plan."


The men began carting Frank out of the room before the leader slapped one of the nails in Noah's back getting a whimper from the prone man.


"Don't you pass out on us now. You still have to see the grand finale."


Noah groaned in pain as the leader began carting him outside where Frank was held near a few frozen objects


"Fucking look at him freak."


Noah's head was held up as they pushed the unconscious Frank closer to the frozen zone


"NO! FRANK! YOU BASTERDS!"


They kicked the stretcher into the zone and Noah was forced to witness his only friend age rapidly until only a skeleton remained. Noah screamed as loud as he could and clawed at his restraints madly sobbing violently the entire time.


"You couldn't have just given up the goods huh you little shit. Now I'll have to find another friend of yours since we broke this one."


Noah's world went red as the leader raised the hammer aiming for another nail on Noah's back.


"Welcome to Detroit pussy."


BANG

---

Noah opened his teary eyes with a start, now very confused as to how he escaped his restraints. Believing he was still in danger he scrambled to dodge another strike of the gang leader’s hammer. Only for the leader to end up not even being present. Looking around Noah couldn’t even see the carpentry shop he was held in just moments before.


[The fuck?! Where am I?! Where's that basterd. I'll fucking kill him! I'll-]


"Sorry Noah! Little miss flower hands dropped my pot." Hoke said apologetically as he interrupted Noah's thoughts


Noah looked at the strange creatures with pure unbridled panic and reached for his hammer only to find nothing. The missing hammer rang a bell and slowly as the cogs in his head turned he remembered where he was.


[...Oh right. Noah you fucking idiot.] Noah thought chastising himself for forgetting


Roserade grunted as she tried to force some sort of cloth into her bag. Walking up Noah took the cloth and began folding it only to discover it was a small dress.


"What's this?" Noah asked as he placed the folded clothes into the bag


"Oh that's one of my dresses!" Roserade said


"Huh. Neat. I um like the colours." Noah trying to complement the garish mishmash of colours


"Thank you. I make all of these beauties myself. Would you like to see me put it on?" Roserade asked mischievously


[I'd rather smoke a cigar out of a turtle's ass]


"O-ok sure." Noah said not liking where the situation was going


"Hey Noah could you do me a favour?" Hoke asked as he finished putting the pot away


"Absolutely Hoke!" Noah said grateful to escape the conversation


"Alright I need you to scout out that forest up ahead. We need to find out how far their influence goes." Hoke explained


"Sounds good. I'm going right away though cause the longer we wait the sooner we're caught." Noah said as he sprinted into the woods


"Wait! What about my dress?!"


"Later!" Noah shouted as he disappeared into the woods

---

A few moments later…

---

Noah had reached a calm slow moving stream going through the middle of the forest and was looking around for anything out of the ordinary. Seeing something shiny inside the river Noah plunged his hand inside and after rooting around he grabbed a lost coin


[Jackpot! I love it when I find stuff like...]


Noah was knocked out of his thoughts when he spotted a large horrific image across the water. His reflection. Looking into the visage he couldn't help but flinch at his dramatic transformation.


[Jesus fuck I look like a fucking wendigo.]


Unsettled by the reflection but driven by morbid curiosity, Noah took off his shirt to reveal his mostly grey torso and was alarmed at his state of being.


[Oh god I can see my ribs. That's not fucking good at all!]


Looking into his reflection he started searching for anything else wrong when he spotted something shiny behind him.

it was one of the gangs nails.

Horrified, Noah moved his hand along his back to feel around only to bump into a plethora of cold metallic objects.


"...Oh fuck the nails froze. The nails- THE FUCKING NAILS FROZE AND NOW ILL NEVER GET THEM OUT! GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!" Noah shouted out in his grief


Disturbed by his very image, Noah's mind turned traitorous and began hurling insult after insult at himself.


[Fucking freak. You deserve this you know. After all these years you finally had your true form revealed. You are fucking sub-human trash inside and out.]


(--h-. C-l--ser)


Noah began clutching his head as he sank to his knees and began weeping. The emotional side of him had finally broken free and chained him to the ground as the weight of the world he knew became too much to bear.


(Wh- is thi--icult?)


And then as Noah felt like his head was going to burst from a strange pressure everything went white

---

Chicken coop

---

Nothing. Absolutely nothing.


That is all Noah felt as he walked inside the chicken coop to his target. Everything was surreal as Noah Grabbed the featureless shape and dragged the squirming form over to the water trough.


(HEL- --GOT--E!)


As he held the thing under the water bits of red appeared on his finger and reality itself splintered as Noah's hand began registering pain.


It had bit him.


Slamming the shape into the side of the trough Noah began slowly processing its form as a few feathers dropped from the shape. Something lightly hit Noah in the back


(ST-P! -pl-a-e)


Noah looked on at the rooster as feeling returned to his body and he slowly took in his surroundings. The chickens and roosters were bunched up in the back of the coop cowering in fear. A white rabbit Noah didn't recognize lunged at him.


Throwing the rooster to the side like unwanted trash Noah caught the rabbit and held it over the water before dunking its head


"I'm sorry! I'm so so so sorry" Noah said fanatically as the world itself seemed to melt around him.

---

Forest

---

Noah regained control as he looked into the water below. In his hands he was holding something wet and struggling under the water.


[Is that…]


"Shit"


Noah lifted the poor pokémon's head out of the water and it gasped for air desperate to breathe. Looking around quickly he saw an unconscious yellow Pokémon with a large gash across its head.


"*COUGH* p-please no more." A voice weakly said


Looking to what he had in his hand Noah found it was a small white rabbit in what seemed to be a sweater. Moving to release the rabbit Noah felt a sharp pain in his back. Using his reflection to spot the irregularity he spotted his pocket knife stuck in a patch of numb grey flesh. Looking over to where he set his bag down he saw it was open with a few of his things sprawled on the ground.


"...You tried to kill me" Noah stated


The rabbit coughed repeatedly, unable to respond due to the water in its lungs. Reaching behind Noah yanked the knife out of the grey patch feeling minimal pain as a result of the frozen nerves. The rabbit saw this display and took it as intimidating.


"Oh Arceus. P-please spare me! I-I promise I won't ever do it again!"


Noah looked over the rabbit as he thought of a plan


[Ok so we have a strange yellow armadillo thing...I think? And this thing. Obviously it's just a teenager. Fuck!]


The yellow Pokémon started groaning and clutching its head before starting to float upwards


"Oh...shit" Noah said putting the bloody knife up to the rabbits neck


The Pokémon was now floating at eye level with Noah.


(Release him) Noah heard inside his head


"Oh that's freaky like Friday. Ok let's talk. I have something you want and you...stabbed me in the back. What is stopping me from just ending his life right here?"


(He is but a child.)


"A child who stabbed me. You think I wouldn't body a toddler if he rushed me? Bitch I could probably take FIVE!"


(Sir please.)


"Oh we are SO past please. We are VERY FUCKING PAST PLEASE."


(...What do you want?) the creature said as it slouched a little


"Answers. Why did you attack me?"


*POP*

(We were blackmailed. I had no choice.)


The Pokémon floated closer to Noah


(Do you even know what it's like to have someone stolen from you?)


"Yes" Noah deadpanned


(...I see.)


"Do you?"


(It was very tragic what happened to your friend.)


"The fuck?"


(Your mind is very erratic Noah. Topics jumping left and right, secrets hidden in plain sight and yet whenever I try to grasp something I get interrupted.)


"Cool cool now how the fuck is that even remotely related to what I asked?"


(The point is that I'm in your head and I know you won't do it.)


"Kill him? I don't have to kill him to make you talk."


(I'm sorry?)


*POP*


"Can't we agree that running would be more difficult with a prosthetic?" Noah said while moving the knife to the bunny’s leg


"NO! NO PLEASE!" The rabbit said while trying to kick out of Noah's grip


*POP*


(Well the ball is in your court. What are you going to do?)


"Nothing until I have more information...What's the name of the guy who blackmailed you?"


(He is a Shiftry that has no name.)


[DING DONG WE HAVE A WINNER!]


"...Funny. For someone looking through my head you sure didn't look well"


(What?)


"Me and my associate have been sent here to recover stolen property from who you speak of."


Noah gently set the rabbit down to both creatures confusion.


"Gentlemen let's have a friendly conversation without any of this...?"


*SNAP*


A loud snapping sound came from Noah's back bringing him to his knees.


(Roy was that you?)


"No it wasn’t! Kor i was trying to use flamethrower that whole time. Nothing was working!"


Steam started flowing out of Noah's back


"A-AGH! WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"


(Wait none of your moves worked?") the creature said ignoring Noah


"GUYS THIS IS REALLY FUCKING WEIRD!"


"Uh the spike things on his back are glowing" the rabbit pointed out


"ECH FUCKING-SCUSE ME?!"


(Noah the nails on your back are glowing red. Are they supposed to do that?)


"THEY ARE NOT!"


(Oh.)


"Wait look at the way his back is glowing. It looks kinda like aura!"


"WHAT THE FUCK IS AURA AND WHY IS MY BACK TRYING TO EXPLODE?!"


"Clench the muscles in your back! It might do something! It’s how I usually do it!"


"Oh-ok I'll try" Noah said trying to calm down


As soon as Noah tensed up a burst of flame blasted out of the nails on his back


"Holy shit"


"WHAT THE FUCK DID I JUST DO?!"


"You. Erm. Used flamethrower."


"I DONT THINK I CAN DO THAT BUD!"


(Well I’m sorry but it appears you just did)


"Uh kor?"


"WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING TO ME?!"


(Yes?)


"Can flamethrower levitate things?" Roy asked


Sure enough there were branches weakly floating around Noah


(...It cannot. Although I think i have an idea of what's going on.)


"What's going on with him?"


(I have reason to believe that he absorbed our auras somehow.)


"What?! That's impossible!"


"OH I DONT KNOW. I THINK ITS ENTIRELY oh hey it stopped." Noah said finally standing up


"Are you alright?"


"No. My back turned into a fucking ball of fire and I somehow moved shit with my fucking mind. I did not like a single second of that.”


"NOAH ARE YOU OK?! WE SAW SMOKE!" Hoke yelled in the distance


(Who was that?)


"That my friends was Hoke. He's my associate."


"IF YOU CAN HEAR ME YOU STILL HAVE TO SEE ME PUT ON THAT DRESS! ITS GORGEOUS!" Roserade shouted


"(Sigh) and that is my client."


"Huh"


(How odd.)


"Hey quick question"


(Yes Noah?)


"Do you guys think you could kill me before she gets here? I can lend you my pocket knife."


(No.)


"(Groan) Fine. Alright I'll explain who you two are and we can discuss plans."


"Plans? For what?"


"Why the plans for infiltrating the Fort of course!"


"We are doing what now?"


"I'll explain on the way over to Hoke-"


*POP*


"FUCK NEVER MIND I WAS WRONG HERE WE GOAGAIN I FUCKING GUESS!" Noah shouted as smoke poured out of his back again

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

And with that the story has been fully moved over!

 

[Negrek]

I saw you working on porting your stories over here, so I figured I’d check them out! Seems like I’ve been seeing more “human in the PMD world” stories recently. It’s a fun genre with a lot of potential to explore.

I have to admit that I found this one pretty confusing, though! Getting thrown into a scenario with Grovyle and his partner in the frozen future, but also it’s the US and some guy with a car is there was kind of a lot! Noah didn’t seem especially perturbed to encounter Pokémon there, but later on he seems weirded out that the locals call themselves Pokémon—it seriously makes me wonder what kind of world he’s from. Seems like it would have to be the same one he’s in now, if all that happened was he got sent back in time, but the place he’s found himself in doesn’t resemble the one he left at all.

Overall I was much more interested in the strange world Noah came from than what was happening to him in the present. I’ve by now seen the opening chapters of PMD Sky play out many times, and it’s difficult to make them interesting for me. The idea that Noah is here expressly to try to disrupt things was an interesting one, but if that objective was stated when he was originally sent back, I completely missed it. It didn’t seem like his presence was changing much of significance, but the last couple chapters have made me more hopeful that this won’t end up as a retread of Sky.

It was also really nice to start getting some clarity about Noah’s backstory and motivations! Up until chapter eight or so I didn’t have much of a sense of how Noah was feeling about everything that was happening to him, outside of temporarily exasperated or in pain, etc. In general the most recent couple chapters felt to me like the place where the story was finding its feet and moving into its next phase, since we’re now not doing any mission recognizable from the base Sky game and you’re focusing more closely on Noah as a character. It feels like you could take the story any number of different ways from here, which is exciting! It’ll be fun to see what elements you keep from Sky and which you choose to discard.

I’m also curious to learn more about Sam, who’s the protagonist of the Sky story, but not of this one. There’s some good tension there with Noah knowing more about Sam’s life but not letting on what all he knows—won’t be able to keep that up forever! And Noah is supposed to be here to change things somehow, which means changing Sam’s story. I’m really looking forward to seeing how their relationship works when the truth starts to come out about what Noah knows and why he’s here. And there’s also the matter of Grovyle, whenever he shows up!

There was one thing that made reading this a bit tougher and more confusing than it could have been, and that was the mechanics. There were multiple times where I got distracted, or couldn’t figure out what was going on, because of missing words or typos, punctuation problems or grammar mistakes. It’s perfectly fine if you want to post this for fun and not worry about any of that; if you’re hoping to bring in more readers, it’s probably something you want to take another look at. Even doing something like cleaning up chapter titles to use more consistent capitalization or punctuation would help. A lot of people won’t stick with a story if they think the prose is rough going.

A little more description of the characters or setting would have helped me out, too! Vague descriptions of Pokémon in particular caused me some problems. For example, I still don’t know what kind of Pokémon Hoke is. Big and blue doesn’t narrow it down enough for me!

That aside, I enjoyed the developments of the most recent couple chapters in particular, and I’ve got the sense that you have exciting ideas for where to take this story! I hope you’ve been having a good time writing it and will have more to share soon.

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

I saw you working on porting your stories over here, so I figured I’d check them out! Seems like I’ve been seeing more “human in the PMD world” stories recently. It’s a fun genre with a lot of potential to explore.

I have to admit that I found this one pretty confusing, though! Getting thrown into a scenario with Grovyle and his partner in the frozen future, but also it’s the US and some guy with a car is there was kind of a lot! Noah didn’t seem especially perturbed to encounter Pokémon there, but later on he seems weirded out that the locals call themselves Pokémon—it seriously makes me wonder what kind of world he’s from. Seems like it would have to be the same one he’s in now, if all that happened was he got sent back in time, but the place he’s found himself in doesn’t resemble the one he left at all.

Overall I was much more interested in the strange world Noah came from than what was happening to him in the present. I’ve by now seen the opening chapters of PMD Sky play out many times, and it’s difficult to make them interesting for me. The idea that Noah is here expressly to try to disrupt things was an interesting one, but if that objective was stated when he was originally sent back, I completely missed it. It didn’t seem like his presence was changing much of significance, but the last couple chapters have made me more hopeful that this won’t end up as a retread of Sky.

It was also really nice to start getting some clarity about Noah’s backstory and motivations! Up until chapter eight or so I didn’t have much of a sense of how Noah was feeling about everything that was happening to him, outside of temporarily exasperated or in pain, etc. In general the most recent couple chapters felt to me like the place where the story was finding its feet and moving into its next phase, since we’re now not doing any mission recognizable from the base Sky game and you’re focusing more closely on Noah as a character. It feels like you could take the story any number of different ways from here, which is exciting! It’ll be fun to see what elements you keep from Sky and which you choose to discard.

I’m also curious to learn more about Sam, who’s the protagonist of the Sky story, but not of this one. There’s some good tension there with Noah knowing more about Sam’s life but not letting on what all he knows—won’t be able to keep that up forever! And Noah is supposed to be here to change things somehow, which means changing Sam’s story. I’m really looking forward to seeing how their relationship works when the truth starts to come out about what Noah knows and why he’s here. And there’s also the matter of Grovyle, whenever he shows up!

There was one thing that made reading this a bit tougher and more confusing than it could have been, and that was the mechanics. There were multiple times where I got distracted, or couldn’t figure out what was going on, because of missing words or typos, punctuation problems or grammar mistakes. It’s perfectly fine if you want to post this for fun and not worry about any of that; if you’re hoping to bring in more readers, it’s probably something you want to take another look at. Even doing something like cleaning up chapter titles to use more consistent capitalization or punctuation would help. A lot of people won’t stick with a story if they think the prose is rough going.

A little more description of the characters or setting would have helped me out, too! Vague descriptions of Pokémon in particular caused me some problems. For example, I still don’t know what kind of Pokémon Hoke is. Big and blue doesn’t narrow it down enough for me!

That aside, I enjoyed the developments of the most recent couple chapters in particular, and I’ve got the sense that you have exciting ideas for where to take this story! I hope you’ve been having a good time writing it and will have more to share soon.

Thank you for the kind words! Honestly this is more of a passion project for me at the moment but I do enjoy getting the chance to improve my craft! Noah’s familiarity with Pokémon is actually because he had seen them prior to the prologue (albeit briefly and usually dead). As for hoke however I’m writing his description from Noah’s perspective. Unless you identify the Pokémon from what Noah saw, usually we aren’t going to know exactly what Pokémon it is unless they straight up tell him or Noah notices something distinct like a charmanders iconic tail flame (although I have been a bit stingy with defining features but that’s partially my fault and Noah’s). And as for Noah’s world I guarantee we will see more of it in the future (PUN!). Also most chapters are written rapidly and vehemently at early times of day so a few typos and grammar usually slips through. Honestly I’m glad I went back and fixed the worst of it. All and all thank you for the review and I will just keep doing my best.

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

Now back to slamming these five-guy-fries

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

[Man. Kinda feel really fucking tired.] Noah thought to himself as he laid on his stomach


"So Noah is this true? Did you really use a move?" Hoke asked as he gently hosed down Noah’s still steaming back with water


"I still have no clue what a "move" is. But I shot fire out of my back somehow."



"Interesting... and you really just stumbled into these guys on accident?"


"Yep. They were just unlucky enough to be near me while I was having an episode." Noah said omitting the fact that they caused the episode


(Noah are you sure this is the best idea?) the yellow creature said telepathically



[Yes. It's for the best they don't know you guys were trying to kill us.] Noah responded in his head



(Alright that I can understand but exactly why is the famous Roserade of all Pokémon here?)


[Long story-]


(Is she infatuated with you?) The voice said in a surprised tone


“Ugh.” Noah muttered at the thought



“Noah why didn't you mention your back spines earlier?" Hoke asked



"I didn't want to."



"Why? Is it embarrassing for your people to have them exposed or something?" Hoke asked



"Hoke. Please."


"Oh dear..."



"Something to add Roserade?" Hoke asked with a hint of annoyance



Roserade pulled one of the frozen nails with a vine only for the vine to wilt on contact and Noah to jump away from the strange sensation and face Roserade


"Don't touch those for fucks sake!" Noah shouted while pointing at her



Roserade pouted before noticing her vine.



"My vine! Now I'll have to spend all day growing a new one." Roserade complained while holding up the dead vine


"Noah what's this? Were you stabbed?!" Hoke exclaimed as he pointed to the obvious hole in Noah's side


The rabbit and yellow Pokémon shifted uncomfortably as Noah began slowly pacing around.


[Shit! We forgot about that!]


"Noah what happened here for real. What's going on here? And why are you walking in circles?"


[Fuck! Think of something! Ummmm PLANTS! Plants can heal shit right? So if I really just took Roserade's aura then theoretically I could heal myself if I do this right!]



(Noah.)


[Yes?]


(Hoke has been staring at you waiting for an explanation)


"Fuck" Noah said out loud


"Noah what's wrong with you? Are you and that Abra talking or something?"


"Alright fuck it Hoke long story short things got complicated. They are both being blackmailed and I decided we need all the help we can get. Now then if you will excuse I'm going to try something."


"Noah that doesn't really explain much." Hoke said getting agitated



Noah stepped over to a sunny patch and clenched his back. After a moment of nothing happening Noah tried again.




"Noah what are you doing?"



"Trying to heal myself. As you can see it isn't working. I don't get this." Noah said exasperated


Unlike last time the nails on Noah's back weren't doing anything



“Ugh! I don’t get it! This is stupid!” Noah shouted in frustration


“Well supposedly it’s different for every move.” Roy said



“Also I was using vine whip. I don’t know any grass type healing moves.” Roserade added with a shrug



“Well what do you know?” Noah asked while walking up to the plant creature



“Vine whip, mega drain, magical leaf and life dew.”



“Roserade you just said you didn’t know any healing moves. Life dew heals.”



“Didn’t know any grass type healing moves. If you payed attention you could clearly hear me say it” Roserade said smugly



Noah and Hoke looked at each other with incredulous expressions.



“Alright alright. Can we just get this going already? We have to report back soon or they will think we went rouge.” The rabbit piped up


“Fine. Alright then Abra tell us what the hideout is like.” Hoke said crossing his arms

(Very well. A large wooden fence surrounds the town. The old town hall had been transformed into Shiftree’s chambers and it’s also where they keep all valuables. There used to be four bell towers but the dungeon ended up taking the south west side of town so they don’t have any towers over there however they blocked off the entrance from the dungeon by moving wagons and old fruit stands so anyone who enters through there gets trapped between the exit and the barricade.) the Abra spoke showing flashes of the worn town


“Couldn’t people just re-enter the dungeon?” Noah asked

“No. The exit closes off after you escape the dungeon and no matter where you leave from you always end up at that exit.” The rabbit explained

“Well how do you get inside? There has to be someplace to get in and out.” Noah asked


“Well that’s the thing. The only way out is to get a flying Pokémon to carry you out or go through the beach front. But that is practically suicide.”


The Abra flashed an image to the group of a heavily populated beach front.


“Damn…so we can get in easy but the only way out is to go through the fence.” Hoke concluded


“Couldn’t we just climb a tree or something and hop the fence? They don’t look too high.” Noah interjected


“They would spot us in an instant.”


“At night?”


“Night? Why would we go at night?” Roserade asked


“yeah that doesn’t make much sense to me. We wouldn’t be able to see a thing.” The rabbit agreed


“…That’s the point. To not be seen.” Noah said now confused


“Hmm…It could work.” Hoke said


“You really think so?” The rabbit asked


“Why wouldn’t it? What’s the problem with doing this at night?” Noah asked searching for clarity


“Well I’d be tired.” Roserade said


“And?”


“We wouldn’t be able to use moves well.”


[I don’t get this shit. Moves are stupid


“Why does it being night have anything to do with moves?”


“A lot of our aura comes from the sun. A few Pokémon are able to get by on moonlight but none of us here can.” Hoke explained


“Wait so you are telling me your plan was to kill Shiftree in broad daylight.”


“Yes?”


[Fucking. God.]

(You should probably stop trying to figure it out. This is a different world with different rules. Though it is impressive how long you can stay awake.) the Abra said in Noah’s head


“So basically you are telling me that the only one able to get inside this base at night is me?” Noah said ignoring the Abra


“Wait you can do that?” The rabbit asked


“…Oh my god. This is-UGH! Fuck it. Fuck everything! Y’all are clearly useless at night so you know what? I’m going solo.” Noah said frustratedly grabbing his bag


(Wait I don’t think that’s wise-)


“Pretty bold words for someone who stabbed me!”


“Noah wait this isn’t a good idea! You can’t just-“


“Oh but I can. And why would I care what you fucking think? You’ve done nothing but stalk me and act like a dick.”


Roserade gasped and Hoke moved to block Noah’s path.


“Noah! You can’t just-“


“Hoke. I can. This is the only way.” Noah said trying to get around hoke


“Ok this-this is too much. If you get caught they’re gonna Kill my uncle!” Hoke said crouching down so he would be eye level with Noah


[GOD FUCKING DAMN IT!] Noah screamed from within as images of death assaulted his mind


“I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask for any of this.” Noah muttered


“No one asks for this.” Hoke said


“GOD DAMN IT HOKE THIS- Hoke this- this is the only way. I know you guys get tired at night or something burt-buh… (sigh).” Noah paused and took a deep breath to calm himself down and stop stammering


“Noah-“


“BUT there is no other way in. Doing it this way is the only way I can think of that might work. We need to strike while everyone is asleep.”


“That’s not right-“


“How?! How the fuck is saving your uncle like that wrong?!” Noah shouted



“it’s not honourable-“


“FUCKING HONOR?! YOU KNOW WHAT ELSE IS NOT HONOURABLE? POISON!” Noah screamed out


POP


Turning around to face the noise Noah saw Roserade standing behind him looking sickly.


“Oh god damn it.”


“I thought if I took some aura you would calm down” Roserade weakly said


“…Alright that’s it. Fuck this.” Noah said stepping fully around Hoke


“Noah wait-“ Hoke said putting a hand on Noah’s shoulder


Noah shuddered violently and stopped resisting causing Hoke to let go in surprise


“Are you ok?” Hoke asked


“…”


Noah’s expression was difficult to read as he slowly scanned his surroundings.


“Something doesn’t feel right.” Noah said with a wheeze


Hoke tried to search for anything out of the ordinary but failed to find any strange things in the forest. A strange uncomfortable sensation began spreading throughout Hoke as he broke out into a nervous sweat. Turning to Noah for help Hoke saw a look of recognition drape across the short mans face.


“Noah?”


(Something strange is happening.) the psychic mentally broadcasted


Noah said nothing as he equipped his gas mask and found to his dismay that the filter once again sported a familiar dry taste.


[Old mothballs… looks like we found a zone] Noah thought


“Hoke. We are in an exclusion zone.”


“What?”


“Time is freezing here. And that only means one thing.” Noah said hoping someone would know what the thing was


“Someone stole a time gear!” The rabbit interjected


“A time gear?” Hoke inquired


“Yes a time gear. And I can guess where it is now.” The rabbit said


(…If he has a time gear then he could freeze an entire city!)


“Wait he can do what?” Noah asked


“If he channels aura into the gear it stops time!” The rabbit said


“…And how exactly did you guys figure that out?” Noah asked


“Our ancestors long before us used the time gears to freeze and unfreeze entire castles and settlements in war time. They didn’t know that it would eventually be impossible to fix.” The rabbit explained


“Huh. And those places are still frozen today?” Noah asked


“Yes. Legend says that someday a brave gallant Pokémon will free the seven kingdoms from their frozen state and finally free the lands or something”


“Sounds interesting. I’ll ask more later but for now this isn’t about us anymore. They could literally destroy entire city’s with that power so we gotta slap their shit. But we are waiting until night before we do this.” Noah said


Hoke thought on it before reluctantly nodding. the group sat down and did their best to get comfortable.


“Alright so what do we do while we wait?” The rabbit asked


“This probably.” Noah said as he began covering his stab wound


“What about the zone?” Hoke asked visibly unnerved

“Ignore it. It’s usually safe for Pokémon to be in a zone. Only exception is when someone is in a zone when it’s made or when someone stays for a long time.” Noah explained


“…”


“…”


“I’m bored” Roserade complained


“(Sigh)”


“Dude it’s going to be hours before we go! What can we do?”


“Fine. We’ll discuss the plan. But I don’t want you and the psychic with us. They are probably suspicious that you aren’t back yet.”

(Then what can we do if I might ask?)


Noah smiled and reached for his ruined shirt.

---

Eight hours later

---

As night fell the group began sneaking towards the town when they saw it. The town hall in the centre peaked over the fence. Finding a tree near the wall, Noah began climbing and as he reached the top of the wall he took in the town. It was barren and very damaged. What was once a lively little port was now filthy and missing chunks. Giving hoke the signal he jumped over the fence and got into cover behind a wagon.


“Ok so if things go south on your end you remember what to do?” Noah asked


“I do but I don’t get what good dropping bottles on the buildings would do.”


“Oh trust me. You’ll see. Now here’s where we split up. Good luck and don’t forget about the whistle” Noah said as he gave Hoke a blue plastic whistle


Splitting off, Noah began making his way to the town hall before spotting a cat creature guarding something.


(if there’s guards… then there is something to protect.) Noah thought as he readied his knife.

Walking slowly to the guard Noah gradually raised his knife until he got beside the creature. Noah brutally Jabbed his knife into the creatures throat causing a jet of blood to exit the wound. The creature fell with an audible thud as Noah peaked into the building it was guarding only to find a room full of Pokémon guarding a single beat up door.


[Ok. That’s twenty. Whatever they have in there is top priority. Now how am I going to-]

FFFFFWWWEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Noah interrupted the thought to snap to the sound. He immediately threw the cat into the middle of the road and got into cover before the group inside rushed outside.

“Damn something got Meouth!” One of them shouted as they rushed towards the sound

knowing what would come next Noah quickly slipped into the building and waited. Seconds later the sound of breaking glass began filling the air as many bottles broke. Looking through the glass Noah smirked as he noticed parts of the town had caught fire.


[Looks like my Molotovs worked. Should buy us some time…Wait something’s not right.] Noah thought as he felt something brush against his back


Following his instincts, Noah sidestepped to the left and although he clumsily hit a wall he was lucky enough to only get grazed by something sharp. Kicking where he assumed the creatures legs would be Noah tripped a green creature and finally noticed his back felt funny.


“hmpf. You are much sturdier then you appear. Usually just a leaf blade is enough.” The creature said as it used its insect-like wings to quickly flutter to its feet


Eyeing down his opponent Noah finally saw the two large blades on the strange bug’s arms.


“Oh? Eyeing my blades I see. Impressive aren’t th-“ the bug cut himself off as he blocked Noah’s knife.


Following its momentum it swung its arm into Noah’s side and Imbedded the blade in his left side getting a shout of pain.


“Ha! They always-“


“FRAAAAAAAAAANK!”


Screaming like a banshee and pulling himself deeper into the blade Noah yanked harshly on the arm causing it to dislocate. Ducking under a retaliatory swing, Noah stabbed the dislocated arm and quickly sawed it off. The bug screamed as he fell to the ground. Weak and clutching its stump it gave little resistance when Noah grabbed it by the throat and began choking. The bug lightly swung at Noah but the little cut it caused on his leg only made him scream louder and squeeze harder. To the bugs surprise something behind Noah was glowing brightly and the blade in his side was pushed out by some sort of wooden object. Noah’s eyes noticeably bulged behind the gas mask before he finally went for the kill.

*SNAP*

Finally it was over. Picking up the blade on the ground Noah violently began hacking at the creature’s neck until after a few minutes it finally detached from the body. Turning to the door Noah rammed into it getting a small splintering for his efforts.

---

It had been weeks since he had been captured. The creature sighed before turning to a sudden commotion from the room in front of him.


“Ugh, guards probably got drunk again.” A prisoner grumbled


“…No something isn’t right. It sounds kinda like fighting.”


The door lurched forward suddenly as something hit it.


“what’s that?!”


“Is someone breaking in?”


The door lurched forward again as everyone in the cell backed up. Another hit caused them to nervously bunch together. One final hit blasted the door from its hinges and caused the creature before them to stumble and fall with it.

He looked at the creature in shock as he saw it was a human. And looked on in horror at the man’s nails and bloodied state. Then as he stood up he finally saw the familiar gas mask

“N-Noah?” Grovyle stammered out

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

Slashing at the prison cell’s pad lock Noah slowly chipped into the rusted metal as each swing flung with a mad fury. Grovyle stood incredulously as he watched the lock he had been slowly learning to pick over a long series of weeks get obliterated in only a few moments. The lock clattered to the ground and Noah’s rampage abruptly stopped to the confusion of the prisoners.

“W-what’s it d-doing?” A terrified white squirrel Pokémon asked

“I don’t know but stay close dear.” A deer-like Pokémon said before stepping in front of its friend protectively

Finally making his move Noah opened the cell and walked up to the group. Shakily he pulled out his guild badge.

“H-Hi I’m N-Noah from the team Sun runners. I’m here to rescue you all.” Noah said outstretching his hand as he shakily came down from the adrenaline

They sighed with relief as one by one the nervous Pokémon stepped up to be teleported. And just after a few horrible nerve-racking minutes it was over. Everyone was gone…Except for one.


“Noah?”


“Hmm? Why don’t you want to go to the g- Grovyle?!”


“Yes it’s me now where’s Sam? Is he safe?” Grovyle asked


“Yes of course. He’s at the guild but he took a knock to the head on his way here and lost his memory somehow. I’ve been trying to help get it back for a bit now. Speaking of which…We need to talk.”


“About?”


The sound of a roaring fire began to make itself known outside of the cell.


“Ah shit. Later we got more pressing stuff to deal with.”


“Why is the town burning?!”


“A little surprise I cooked up. Now come on. My friend called it in so he must be in trouble and…”


Noah took the revolver out of his bag and spun the barrel before putting a single bullet in the chamber (completely removing the point of spinning the chamber).


“I’m not taking chances. Can you fight?”


“I’ve been ready for weeks.” He said after he stood tall and cracked his neck.


With Grovyle leading the charge out they exited the holding room and entered the front.


“Arceus…what happened?” Grovyle said as he paused to see the gory scene Noah left


“Just keep moving. For the love of fuck please just keep going.” Noah hurriedly said before


“Fine but-“


Hoke without any notice burst into the room and slammed the door shut. Taking a moment to catch his breath he sighed before looking up and spotting Noah and Grovyle.


“It’s done. He’s dead.” Hoke breathed out


“Noah who is this?” Grovyle asked


“My friend. Now come on we gotta get that time gear and get the fuck out of here.”


“The time gear isn’t here anymore.” Grovyle said


“What? Where is it then?”


“i don’t know. A strange blue Pokémon appeared and teleported away with it as I was being captured.” Grovyle explained


“Damn. wait then why is time freezing near here?” Hoke asked


“That’s a sign that time is starting to grow unstable. The longer we wait to get the time gears the more unstable the world becomes.”


“Alright. Then we need to get back to the guild and start looking for these fuckers.” Noah said


“Alright. You have that guild badge still?” Hoke asked


“Yep. All we have to do is get out of here and teleport the gang home and then I get to lay down for a few days. What’s going on outside?”


“Town hall burned down though I was able to stab the basterd in the back and get Roserade’s item before. Lots of Pokémon are focused on putting out fires but the tree we were going to climb to get out caught fire so we need a new plan.”


“hmm…fuck it. I think we gotta either blow a hole through the fence somehow or just go through the dungeon entrance and rough it from there.” Noah suggested


CREEEK


“Or you could die here as filthy-“


BANG


The hooded Pokémon dropped mid sentence as the gunshot ripped through the air. Noah chastised himself for wasting one of his only bullets but it was done. Removing the hood revealed a wooden Pokémon with white fur. On its back was Hoke’s knife.


“What? But i-“

“Forgot to double tap. Hoke if you ever leave any chance for someone to survive something like this they usually have a nasty habit of taking it. He probably played dead. Now come on! They definitely know where we are now!” Noah said as he kicked the corpse into a nearby fire and broke off towards the forest dungeon.

---

Guild job hall

---

It was midnight in the guild as Chatot wandered around the guild looking for signs of a troublesome human as his teammates offered little information. Without any warning the force of a mass teleport violently shoved Chatot aside. Regaining his footing he quickly shook his head in disapproval.

“I knew it! He did a job under the table to get more money the greedy…” Chatot cut himself off as he finally noticed the elephant in the room

He was astounded to come face to face with a large group of confused, beaten and bruised Pokémon. Squawking in surprise he rushed to the infirmary and got everyone off standby before rushing back to the job hall


“Where are we?” A white squirrel asked Chatot


“You are in a safe place. This is the Wigglytuff guild. Now can you please tell me who rescued you?” Chatot asked politely


“I don’t know. It was a strange Pokémon who stood on two legs. I’ve never seen anyone like that before. He was kinda scary.”


“I see. If I may ask scary how?”


“He was large and lanky. When he busted down the door he was shaking really bad. The worst part was the smell. He reeked of blood.”


“…Alright that’s enough questions for now. Please join the others in the infirmary while we get you all healed up.” Chatot said


As the squirrel left to enter the infirmary Chatot sighed. Turning to the guild-master’s office he briefly caught sight of three Pokémon sprinting out of the guild and instead of stopping them he decided that it might be best to let it slide. After all it was probably for the best that they figure whatever chaos the human made out by themselves.

---

Forest entrance

---

A squadron of Pokémon rushed underneath the three as they clung to the tree branch for dear life. Even more groups were heading their way and slowly their hiding spot became more and more treacherous.


“What now?” Hoke whispered to Noah

“We can ether go to the dungeon entrance and risk finding some of them inside or we can jump from tree to tree like ninjas. I however am not a ninja so that is also very dangerous.”

“Trees. I can’t handle much fighting as I am now.” Grovyle quietly said

“So be it. Alright let’s do this.” Noah said as he readied to jump.

Hoke and Grovyle very quickly overtook Noah as he struggled to land on each branch. Noah unevenly made his way further out of danger when he lost his footing and began falling forward, in a panic Noah used the momentum to jump quicker out of fear of falling as his balance was tested with each jump. Finally Noah reached the end of the forest where Grovyle and Hoke waited. Making the final jump Noah accidentally collided with a bat like creature that unexpectedly flew up before landing on the final branch…with the unconscious bat in hand.


“Noah?”

“I know Hoke.” Noah said dismissively

“Alright then. We scouted ahead while you took your sweet time and found the others, they are in the clearing ahead.” Hoke explained before pointing out the clearing

“Got it. What about this guy?” Noah asked holding up the bat

“Tie him up and bring him with us. He was the one who came by the cages bragging about how he tracked everyone down so he obviously helped find out something about the time gears.” Grovyle said

“Got it. Though I’m out of rope so…”


Noah put down his backpack and promptly used the back strap intended for skateboards to tie down the bat to his bag.


“Uh are you sure that will work?”

“Yes I am. Anyway let’s get out of here.” Noah said as he jumped to the next branch

Continuing on from branch to branch Noah got closer and closer to the clearing, with each step bringing him further from the angry shouting of the guards Noah grew more confident as he reached the clearing.

Then Noah missed the final branch.

Breaking the fall with his his left arm, Noah stood up next to the clearing and checked himself for any damage.

“…Fuck.” Noah said in response to his bent middle finger

Knowing that what was necessary was going to be painful he gagged himself with a strip of cloth and grabbed the finger with his right hand.


“Noah are you alright? That was a nasty-“

*CRACK*

Grovyle was cut off by a soft yelp as Noah sharply yanked his finger straight.

“Why did you do that?”

“Just please shut up until we get back to the guild. I beg you.” Noah said with teary eyes

“…Ok.” Grovyle said hiding his concern with a smirk as he brought Noah to the group

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

The group emerged from the forest, battered and bruised, but determined to make their way back to the guild. As they approached the familiar dirt road they could see the giant pink hut on top of the hill and let loose a sigh of relief knowing they made it home.

Chatot, spotted them first. With a squawk of surprise, he flew down the stairs to meet them.

“You’re back! We were starting to worry, you know… Are you covered in blood again.” Chatot asked as his tone shifted from relived to annoyed

“We made it out, barely,” Noah replied, clutching his injured finger tightly. “But we have some important information and a captive.”

Chatot glanced at the bound bat on Noah’s backpack and raised an eyebrow. “Ah, I see. We’ll have to interrogate him later then. For now, let’s get everyone inside and attended to. Wigglytuff will want to hear about what happened.”

Noah looked around for his other two teammates but neither of them showed themselves.

“Where’s Sam and Flare?” He asked

“They left to go assist you however they quickly came back and went to bed early. They seemed upset about something. Would you happen to know anything about this?” The bird asked inquisitively.

“Nope not this time. Alright I’ll go check it out in a bit.” He said casually while tossing the bat to the ground.

“Dude I’m covered in my own blood. I gotta clean this shit before it gets infected or something.”

A worried look crept into his eyes

“Infected?”

“Not now dude.” Noah said before walking towards the crossroads

The small group of Pokémon behind Noah began to follow.

“Hey who are you two?” Chatot asked finally seeing the bunny and psychic

“Uh we were just following him to safety.” The bunny explained.

A sly smile formed on Chatot’s beak

“Have you ever considered Guild work?”

---

Beach front

---

Noah winced as he examined the wound on his side. The Scyther’s blade had cut deep, Noah stared solemnly at what should have been a fatal wound before the pot he had set up finally finished boiling the sea water. Hoke and Grovyle watched from a distance with a morbid curiosity.

Carefully, Noah gathered the necessary supplies from his bag: a roll of medical gauze, a bottle of whiskey and his old leather wallet.

Taking his old flask out he used the Scyther’s stolen blade to awkwardly cut off the old bandage and quickly flooded his wound with the water before putting the wallet in his mouth. Taking a deep breath, he poured the alcohol onto the wound making him hiss in pain before he moved to drench the gauze watching it soak in. Finishing up he wrapped his wound and quickly drank the remaining bit of whiskey and sighed knowing the job was done and he would live. Exhausted he began his way back to the guild before noticing his two companions.

“Now what was all that for?” Hoke asked with an amused tone

“Keeping the blood in my body so I don’t die.” Noah said in a tired voice

“Really now?” Hoke replied

“Yes? I don’t get it what don’t you understand.”

“Wait you are saying that blood is what’s keeping us alive? Not life force?” Grovyle asked

“Hell if I know, all you guys have some weird stuff going on. Anyway we are getting off topic. What i really want to know is what our next move is, Grovyle what is our next move?” Noah asked
“I’d rather explain it with Sam around. You do have a part to play, you’ve proven to me that you can be reliable. Just go back to your room and rest for now. I need more information before we can continue.” Grovyle said before splitting off from the group

“Damn an actual compliment. Think I did good. Welp I’m beat, hey where are you going Hoke?” Noah asked

“I have another job I promised to do so I’ll be a few days. But I’ll admit I like what yall Guild folks got going on! Think I might stick around, but for now I got to head back to Gallon town. I do need to get payment after all.”

“Gallon town?” Noah inquired

“Yep. It’s a bit of a hole in the ground but they have a nice hot spring near it. Let me know if you’re ever interested.” Hoke offered

“Think I will. But one last thing. What exactly are you?” Noah asked unsure if he asked before

“Inteleon.”

“Cool cool. Alright night dude. See you later.” Noah said before making his way back to the guild

---

Guild upper floor

---

Noah groaned as he made his way down the Guild ladder, it had been a long time since he was this sore, finally reaching the bottom he was stopped by a large crowd of recovering Pokémon chatting away. Blinking at the sight he slowly made his way closer to the second ladder only for the voices to suddenly hush. He looked at the crowd.

“It’s him!” Someone within the crowd said

Petrified at the amount of eyes suddenly on him Noah’s heart quickened its pace.

“He’s huge!” A voice said awestruck

A white squirrel Pokémon broke off of the crowd and approached Noah causing him to tense up.

“…” The squirrel remained quiet as it looked over Noah’s form

Noah fought to keep his lunch down.

“Why?” The squirrel suddenly asked making Noah jump

“Why what?”

“Why did you help us? The guild wrote us off, it was... Why? I don’t get it.” The squirrel asked distraught

“I don’t have an answer for that.” Noah responded

“I-I don’t understand?” The squirrel started tearing up

Noah looked at the crying Pokémon and all traces of fear slowly left his body as he fell to a knee and knew what he had to do. Picking up the small Pokémon he pulled it into a quick gentle hug.

“Wha-?”

“Hey. It’s ok. It’s okay now. Why I did it isn’t important. What’s important is getting you back to normal ok? Listen you are strong for enduring all that agony. But it’s over now alright?”

“…”

“Alright?”

“A-Alright.” The Pokémon said with a sniffle as Noah set it back down

“Good. Be strong for everyone ok? You all made it. Now it’s time you all feel the sun again. But as for me I’m going to keep chasing that Sun. There has to be more people like you out there. So rest easy.” Noah said comfortingly

“But I’ve lost everything…” the squirrel lamented

Noah turned the squirrel to the crowd, it’s crowd

“Have you?”

Revelation crossed the squirrel’s expression as Noah quickly took the chance to slip away down the ladder, looking back to where Noah was he only caught a glimpse of him heading downstairs.

“…Thank you.”

Noah quickly made his way to his room and upon entry Sam and Flare were waiting for him. Sighing and knowing he’d have to explain he took off his bag and set it down on his pile of hay. They both gasped upon seeing the spikes jutting from his back.

“So. I’ve got a story to tell.”

 

[Theboxcatgamr]

Hi I’m sorry for taking forever but I finally have the skeleton of the story finished. I know what path it has to take and I will be saying my objectives in the spoilers. If you want no spoilers on future chapters then you can move on. Otherwise…

Spoiler

so soon here we will be properly leaving game story territory. I plan on exploring a new frontier with new towns and missions. The main story will continue in the background but will have some changes someone mentioned that they were curious about Noah’s world and I’ll say that it will also be explored. Sooner than later actually.

I’m sorry for taking so long but I was in one hell of a slump. But I’m out now and working hard. Until next time!