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nelvana · 4 years

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In which the travelers regroup

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which two dungeons are explored Previous: In which the god of antimatter is met

Nelvana stared out into the empty expanse of the night sky, silently counting the stars while she listened to the rest of her team sleeping. Though she had checked everyone when she had first been woken up, now she kept her gaze glued away from any of them. Being startled awake from another nightmare, and then being reminded that the one that had scared her back to consciousness was actually still with them always made her stomach turn.

One look to soothe her worries that all her friends were still present and doing alright was all she needed anyway, it wasn’t as if she was awake to keep watch. Tsuki was usually on that job, her and Edgar. Well, and Nelvana supposed, Dusknoir wouldn’t be sleeping much either. Either way, they were all resting on the ground, and herself and some of the others were up in a sturdy tree they had camped by.

Some rustling from above tore Nelvana out of her tired thinking, and Alex’s golden eyes peered out from beyond the foliage. While they had picked a tree that had more leaves than some others, there were certainly holes between the branches that could be seen. He gently lifted a finger to his mouth to tell Nelvana to stay quiet, and he patiently waited for her to calm down from being startled before he spoke.

“Nightmare?” Alex whispered, and Nelvana nodded. “Yeah. Me too. I just noticed you were up though, been awake for awhile now?” he continued, and she nodded again. “Alright… Normally I wouldn’t bother you, both of us could probably use some sleep, but I just remembered something I should tell you.”

“Important enough to keep us up and to whisper, but not enough to switch languages?” Nelvana questioned, finding a small smile returning to her face just as being able to hold a quiet conversation.

Alex chuckled softly, “yeah, well, ‘m too tired for that right now,” he responded, “anyway… it’s autumn now, isn’t it? Our first real one,” he murmured, his gaze drifting over the treetops momentarily before returning to look down at his partner. “My birthday should be coming up soon.”

Nelvana blinked, “oh yeah, you’re right,” she agreed, recalling when Alex had mentioned his age to Keahi months ago. “Do you want to celebrate it? Like Keahi did?”

“I’m not sure,” Alex sighed, “dunno if that’s something I’d enjoy for me. Was fun with Keahi, but…” he said, “besides, we’re off doing this right now. This is more important. I’ll check what the calendar date is when we get back, and maybe if it’s still before my birthday then I’ll see about giving it a go. If not, we can do something small or skip it altogether.”

“We shouldn’t skip it,” Nelvana told him, “you haven’t had a real birthday party before.”

“Yeah, you’re right. The others ’ll probably think the same,” Alex agreed, chuckling again. “Anyway, I just wanted to let you know. You generally have a pretty good memory, so if I forget when we get back, you’ll probably remember.”

“Alright, got it,” Nelvana replied, “anything else then?” she asked.

“Nah, we should probably sleep. Goodnight Nel,” Alex answered with a hum.

With that, he turned back around to rest on his branch. Exhaling, Nelvana closed her eyes a few moments afterwards, deciding to take the time to try to go back to sleep while her mind was no longer racing as much.

It was around midday after that that they received proper word from Ceebee, along with the rest of their team and friends back at home. She had spoken to the judge, and would be flying to catch up with the rest of the group that day.

The B Squadron and Gardevoir, looping in with Ceebee’s telepathy message to get to hear from everyone, confirmed that so far everything was fine back around Pokemon Square. Maurice had woken up, and while loopy from some of the medicine the kecleons recommended, seemed to be recovering well. Baguette explained that Maurice them all the best of luck as well, and was thankful that they had managed to get the warning in the end; Baguette adding afterwards that they explained the dimensional scream to Maurice so he wouldn’t be too confused, but they had only told Maurice.

With that message, the hope was that Ceebee would be back with everyone else with what she had learned by the end of the day.

“Alright, if we time this right, we can end the day right by Howling Forest too, so Ceebee will be back just in time for our first dungeon of the expedition!” Keahi exclaimed, reviewing the map that Damien had pulled out.

“Hey, it shows this lake right here though. Will that be a problem?” Damien asked, pointing out a blue circle on the map, not far from where they were if Keahi’s location estimates were enough to go by.

“Oh, right! Those are just the Mystic Lake! I believe there’s a community of dratinis and lapras out there,” Keahi replied, “that’s shouldn’t be any problem. We should be able to walk around just fine. Might take a bit of extra time, but it isn’t another dungeon, if that’s what you were worrying about!”

“Dratinis?” Nelvana questioned, glancing back at the other two from her position further up the line.

“Yeah! Well, the entire line is there, dratini, dragonair, dragonite…” Keahi responded, “er, are those another pokemon you guys didn’t get to see much of in the future? I guess that would make sense, they’re pretty rare, even now, as a lot of dragon-types tend to be.”

Alex nodded, “think we’ve seen some statues of them, the name does sound familiar,” he replied, “but there weren’t many dragon-types in the dead timeline. Think most of them went into hiding or rampaged enough early on to be a threat to be teamed up on,” he continued.

“I wonder if some of them would have gone to places like Sky Tower!” Edgar commented, “that would have been pretty safe, right?”

“Well, we’re not sure what happened to Sky Tower specifically, but yeah, I guess that sort of place would be used for some pokemon that can handle it,” Alex told him, “some pokemon would try living on the safe floors of dungeons to protect themselves from outsiders, but you’d have to be strong mentally and physically to handle it.”

“Oh…” Edgar nodded in understanding. “Back to the lake! Will we be able to see it before we get there? Lakes are just really big ponds, right? Does it have big waves like the beach back at Pokemon Square?”

Keahi laughed, “hey, slow down! I can only answer one question at a time!” zie insisted, “yeah, you could call a lake a really big pond. I’m not sure if the forest will open up before we get to Mystic Lake, I think it does a little bit…? We should be able to see it before we’re right on top of it,” zie explained, “er, what was the last question?”

“I don’t remember!” Edgar admitted with a giggle. “I’m just really excited to see new places!”

“He asked if the lake will have big waves, like back home,” Nelvana chimed back in.

“Thanks, Nel!” Keahi chirped, “lakes don’t usually have that big of waves, at least from what I recall. On a day like today, the water should be pretty calm.”

Trotting back closer to the others, Tsuki, who had been scouting ahead, spoke up, “you can go see for yourself,” she told them, “the forest opens up slightly up on that hill. We can see the lake from there.”

“Oh wow! Come on, let’s go look!” Edgar exclaimed, floating off and ahead of the rest of the group.

Following behind the energetic duskull, the group arrived to the aforementioned hill, and looked out over to the path ahead of them. While more forestry covered the direct land ahead, they could also see that not terribly far out was a large, deep blue lake. Even further ahead they could see where the terrain grew rockier, crested with mountains and expansive valleys running between each dip. The trees that still dotted the area even so far ahead were dappled with the warm colors they had been seeing before, painting the landscape with a colorful view.

“Woah… now would you look at that,” Alex whistled, “probably one of the best views out here for miles.”

Keahi stared out, beak dropped over, before letting out a squeal, “it’s so pretty! I had been told this looked nice, but wow! Coming out here in autumn definitely adds to it too!”

“Wonder what this would all look like in winter,” Tsuki mused, “there weren’t forests like these, or a lake, or even so many mountains back at the Frosty Forest…”

Dusknoir floated up silently behind the others, choosing not to speak about his opinion on the scenery ahead of them, though deep down he had to agree with every word that had already been said. Edgar eyed him momentarily, though did not say anything to him and simply chose to enjoy the sight for himself.

“Gee, I wish I had a camera with me,” Damien commented, “we’re gonna see a lot of cool stuff out here, and there’s no way to take a picture…”

“What’s a camera?” Edgar asked, turning his gaze to the gengar.

“Oh, it’s a device you can use to take pictures,” Damien answered, “er, I guess like an instant painting?”

“That sounds neat!” Edgar replied.

Damien nodded, “yeah, we could hang them around the base or just keep them around as memories.”

“We’ll just have to commit this to memory instead,” Nelvana joked, “nah, I’m sure we could get an actual painting someday if we really wanted,” she added.

“Well, better commit it to memory while you still can!” Keahi chimed in, “’cause if we want to make it by Howling Forest by the end of the day, we had better start looking for a way to get around Mystic Lake.”

“Ah, so you’re the one rushing us now?” Alex teased, elbowing the torchic gently with a laugh. “They learn so fast…”

Keahi laughed, nudging Alex back, “knock it off!” zie snapped playfully, “I was just saying!”

“Keahi is probably right. We should move on soon,” Dusknoir agreed, already beginning to move on ahead.

Alex’s smile shifted down to a scowl, abruptly cutting off his laughter. Rolling his eyes, Alex waited for someone else to begin to move on before he would follow as well. With a sigh, Keahi was the one to do this, and after zim and Alex had begun heading down the path with Dusknoir, the rest of the group was soon to follow on.

Aside from the enjoyable view that hill had provided, however, now those who cared to notice now realized that it would be generally faster to go eastwards around Mystic Lake, and after relaying this information to everyone else, they adjusted their path slightly in the hopes of saving on time. Of course, they did realize that Ceebee would still be trying to catch up, but unlike them she could fly above all the forests and the lake they would have to trudge through or around, so they knew she was unlikely to actually far behind, despite them having the head start on her for this part of the expedition.

The forest didn’t open up for Mystic Lake until another hour after passing over the hill, and thankfully with the previous path adjustment, they found themselves more towards the east side of Mystic Lake, still relatively close to the remainders of the woodlands and within reasonable walking around distance for the large body of the water. By now, just over the tree tops they could see more mountains around them, some tall enough to be topped with a layer of white snow.

Around Mystic Lake, they could see various serpentine shaped pokemon flying above the water, as well as some familiar lapras families swimming about. Some caverns licked the edge of the shores, and by the mouth of one the shape of a large orange colored pokemon could be seen lounging inside. Keahi pointed out each pokemon as zie spotted them, making sure to introduce the different species to zir friends who were not familiar with them.

Though some of them would have liked to socialize, there were enough that did not, and enough knowledge between all of them that they didn’t have time to be wrapped into a long conversation. Thus, they continued by the edge of Mystic Lake and did not engage with any of the residents of the area. None of the various pokemon living there seemed to take enough notice or interest of the group to go and speak with them, so eventually they made it around the lake and back into the forest uninterrupted.

“Next summer, we should go back and see if they’ll let us hang out there!” Keahi proclaimed as Mystic Lake disappeared from view, swallowed by the trees around them. “I know some of you like to swim, so it could be nice!”

“Well, I don’t l know about the swimming part, I might be the only one who likes that, but that does sound like a nice idea,” Nelvana agreed, “it seems like a nice spot. It would be nice to stick around longer sometime.”

“We could stay for a weekend, and set up camp at the top of that hill to always have the view,” Damien suggested.

“Do you plan on sticking around for an entire year?” Edgar asked, “sorry, I just mean that when you first decided to stay here, it sounded kinda temporary! I’d love to have you stick around longer!” he added.

“Oh, yeah, I had kinda forgotten about that…” Damien admitted, “well, I think I’ll hang out until you all get sick of me,” he joked, “I don’t really have plans to head out elsewhere quite yet.”

“Well, like Edgar said, you’re welcome to hang around longer if you’d like,” Nelvana hummed, “right?”

Alex chuckled, “yeah, you’ve definitely improved a lot. I don’t mind you staying around us longer. Might as well give your bed a good dent in it, we paid for that after all.”

Damien laughed, as did a couple others in the group. Keahi and Tsuki both nodded in agreement in Alex, and then conversation was soon passed on from. Dusknoir remained silent.

After another few hours, as the sun began painting the sky with its colors of departure for the night, Keahi suggested that they set up camp while there was still daylight. Zie admitted that zie didn’t know what the entrance to Howling Forest actually looked like, and didn’t want to run the risk of stumbling into the dungeon as the night darkness crept up on them. This was agreeable to the rest of the group, and they began to set up camp similarly to before.

It was then, about an hour after setting up their camp, that Ceebee finally arrived.

“There you guys are!” Ceebee exclaimed, practically dropping out of the sky to sit down with her friends. “Boy, am I exhausted. Flying all around the continent is no easy feat, you know,” she groaned.

“Ceebee!” Edgar cheered, swiftly floating over to where his friend had seated herself.

“Hey, Ceebee! I hope we weren’t too hard to find out here, we wanted to camp before running into the first dungeon of the expedition!” Keahi greeted.

“Nah, it wasn’t too bad, don’t worry,” Ceebee assured zim, “the light from the fire you all set up helped out too. I had just been getting worried I missed you all somewhere in the forest when I saw the smoke.”

“Heck yeah! Score one for the campfires!” Damien exclaimed, and then laughed at himself.

“So, do you want to explain first, or eat first? I’m sure you’re hungry from all that flying,” Alex offered.

“You know… I think I’ll eat first. How about you all tell me about how things have been over here?” Ceebee decided, already reaching for a small collection of blueberries that had been sitting out. “You’re all still here, which is always a good sign.”

“No one has killed each other yet,” Nelvana joked in response, poking the fire with her club before returning it to her side. “It’s actually been pretty nice, for the most part. The sights have all been gorgeous.”

“You should see it in the air!” Ceebee blurted out, bits of the blueberry spitting out from her mouth. “Sorry,” she apologized, wiping off her mouth. “It was an amazing view though. Made getting tired from the distance soooo worth it.”

“We’ve discussed plans for making it to the Howling Forest dungeon tomorrow morning. Keahi has said that depending on how things go, we can either get Pitfall Valley done in the same day or skip it altogether,” Tsuki spoke up.

“Well, neither of those should be too bad anyway,” Keahi added, “Howling Forest will be really easy, only about fifteen floors with weaker dungeon ‘mons. Pitfall Valley is a bit stronger, I think around twenty floors, but we can handle that, easy,” zie explained, “the main types, from what I remember, aren’t anything most of us are weak to either.”

Ceebee nodded, “that’s good! And then the day after should be at the guild?”

“Yup!” Keahi hummed, “again, if all goes well, we should only have about half a day’s travel from Pitfall Valley to the guild.”

Watching as Ceebee finished off the blueberries she decided to eat, Dusknoir spoke up next, “that’s most of what we have to share. What did the judge tell you?” he asked.

“Hm, someone’s in a hurry,” Ceebee huffed, brushing the fruit juice off from her hands into the leaves beside her. “Well, I am mostly done eating for now, at least. Thanks for waiting for that,” she added, “but yes, I did speak to the judge, and I did learn a lot about our situation from them… and, I actually brought them with me.”

With those words, Ceebee reached into the sack she had brought with her for her journey and pulled out a rock. To Nelvana and Damien, they recognized the stone as a piece of rubble from Murky Cave. Otherwise, it seemed ordinary in every way. Edgar floated closer to give it a better look, and after analyzing it for a few moments, he spoke up.

“Wow! So, the judge is a rock?” he asked, sounding equally as excited as he could have been if she had actually pulled a pokemon out of her bag.

“What?” Ceebee frowned, staring down at the rock. “Dammit, that could have been really cool! I thought you were supposed to come when called!” she hissed, poking at the rock.

Now with that cue, a presence arrived to the rock. It went generally unsensed by most, but Tsuki stiffened suddenly, and Edgar’s eye widened as they picked up on the new energy from the rock. Dusknoir narrowed his eye, though while he wasn’t about to say it, couldn’t sense much more than the general presence of something new.

“Oh wow! There’s a spirit in the rock now!” Edgar exclaimed, “Hello! Can you talk?”

A laugh rumbled from the stone, “yes, I can speak. Hello there everyone.”

Damien blinked, and then smiled broadly, “hey, that really is the judge! Hello!”

Standing up, Damien joined Edgar in crowding around to look over at the judge in the rock, and Nelvana followed suit. Naturally seeing their friends get up, Keahi hopped over as well, though by now it was getting challenging for everyone to get a good view.

“Ah, hello there, Nelvana and… Damien, is it now? That’s a nice new name,” they greeted, “how are you all? How is Gardevoir? She is back at the base, correct?”

Nelvana nodded, though unsure if they would be able to see her doing it, “yeah, she is. Did Ceebee tell you?”

“I let them pop in when we were visiting with the others before I flew out here to catch up with you all,” Ceebee responded, “now, everyone sit back down again! We don’t all need to crowd around, not like there’s really that much to actually look at here.

Complying with Ceebee’s wishes, those who had gotten up sat back down again where they had been originally. Ceebee placed the rock down as well in front of her, allowing them to “sit” as well.

“Can you see us from there?” Edgar asked, floating restlessly in place.

“No, I’m afraid I cannot. I can, however, sense you all from here, so I do know who is here and generally where you are,” they answered.

“How did you get to be able to put them there? Is it because the rock is from Murky Cave…?” Nelvana questioned, looking up curiously at Ceebee.

“Ehh no, not quite.” Ceebee rubbed the back of her neck with one hand. “Apparently it’s… something I can do as a celebi. Here, we’ll loop it in with the rest of the information. Should we just start from the beginning…?”

Nods and general words of agreement chorused from the group, all except from Tsuki, who still had her eyes locked on the rock. She slowly blinked at it, before sitting up more again from her more hunched position, fur still bristling slightly.

“That’s Giratina,” she said.

It was as if those words themselves had frozen time all over again. As realization clicked for everyone as to who Giratina was, and what legends spoke of them in the past, the previously cheerful mood was drowned in the new tension in the air. For a moment, it stayed silent like that, no one quite sure how to react right away.

Dusknoir abruptly rose from where he had been seated. Being directly to Ceebee’s right, it wasn’t difficult for him to get within arm’s length of her and the rock.

“That’s Giratina. In that rock,” he rumbled.

“Their spirit, yes. The judge is Giratina,” Ceebee replied, instinctively shuffling back. “Look, we’ll explain if you’d just-“

“You brought Giratina here?” Dusknoir demanded, voice raising as he closed the distance Ceebee had made. “Do you even realize who they are? They were banished for their violent nature! You are endangering us all by bringing them here!”

“Step back!” Alex snapped, suddenly standing up as well. “Back! off! Ceebee knows what she’s doing and you’re just making things worse! Sit down, now!” he snarled.

Dusknoir merely glared back at Alex, not moving at first. Though his stance didn’t change much, eventually he floated back slightly, still not as much as before, and still not sitting down again, but this seemed to relax Ceebee enough to continue speaking.

Ceebee exhaled, “thank you, Alex. Now look, I understand what the legends say, and even Giratina has admitted to their accuracy. But as I was saying, if you’d just let us explain…”

Giratina gave their thanks as well for everyone calming down some, and then took the time to explain their story once more, as they did to Ceebee when she was in Murky Cave. When they finished, Ceebee picked up with her thoughts on the situation, as well as the questions she asked and information she had gained from speaking to Giratina.

“So, I believe it would be in our best interest to allow Giratina to continue conversing with us,” Ceebee concluded.

“How can you be sure this isn’t a trick? They admitted to trying to trick others into releasing them in the past,” Dusknoir questioned.

“Because I can sense tricks; I’m a psychic-type!” Ceebee snapped, but then sighed again and tried to compose herself, running her fingers through her hair.

“If you truly distrust me, you can simply break the rock and my connection to your group is over,” Giratina added, “you are all in a position of power in this relationship. If you do not want me here, so be it. But I will assure you that I only wish to help.”

“Tsuki? What are your thoughts?” Keahi asked, turning to the absol sitting to zir left.

Tsuki let out a low hum, “they certainly still carry disaster with them, but it is faded. They have certainly done more good in recent times.”

“So, you’re saying you don’t get a headache around them?” Alex responded, glancing over at Tsuki as well.

Tsuki nodded, and Alex grinned. He shifted his gaze momentarily back to Dusknoir, still with the same smug grin, before facing Ceebee and the rock that held Giratina again.

“Well, if both Ceebee and Tsuki are fine with it, I’d say that seems to be at least good enough reason to keep them around,” Alex said, “we’ve had worse, evidently.”

Dusknoir tried not to show any reaction to this, but how his eyes narrowed and his posture stiffened again was caught by the grovyle, who only seemed to grin just a little bit more.

Damien was tearing grass out of the ground as he thought, rolling the vegetation in his hands before either tossing them into the campfire or simply letting them fall loose onto the ground again. As he finally reached a conclusion, he glanced over at Edgar by his left, and then Nelvana across from him, before speaking up. He knew alone he wouldn’t have enough authority here to land a final verdict, but he could hopefully sway some thoughts with his own conclusion.

“Giratina… did help us bring back Gardevoir, and without asking for any cost,” Damien stated, “I’d say, that is more good now than back like… a billion years ago. And if that’s not an argument to be accepted, I guess we could say this is repaying them for their help, since they want to come with us.”

Nelvana nodded, “I agree with that, and with what Alex said. Besides, now both Dialga and Palkia have threatened the world too, and a lot more recently than Giratina, and we’re going to be giving Dialga a chance to help us, so…”

“Thank you,” Giratina responded, relieved.

Edgar glanced at Keahi, the two of them being the only ones that hadn’t really weighed in their thoughts yet. Letting out a smile, Keahi smiled softly and nodded, and Edgar mimicked the movement after a moment.

“Alright, I’ll trust that Ceebee knows what she’s doing here with this. We’ve already said we can use all the help we can get,” Keahi hummed, Edgar nodding again.

Dusknoir scoffed at this, but didn’t say anything. He was clearly outnumbered in this discussion at this point, and he didn’t have enough influence here to really sway anyone’s thoughts anyway.

“Thank you,” Giratina repeated, “I will do my very best to assist you in whatever way I can.”

Ceebee nodded, “yeah, thanks everyone for trusting my choice on this. I think Giratina has already proved themself to be helpful, and them offering more of their services to us will greatly benefit us on this mission.”

“Well, the more help the better!” Edgar chirped, “glad to have another on board!”

“Hm, it is starting to get dark now though… I guess if that’s all settled, should we get some rest?” Keahi commented, glancing upwards through the foliage to peer at the night sky.

“Unless anyone else has any burning questions they’d like to ask Giratina, then yeah. Frankly, I’m exhausted. We should all get some rest for tomorrow,” Ceebee replied, “you said two dungeons, right Keahi?”

Keahi nodded, “mhmm, two dungeons. Maybe just one, but that’s only either if we’re too slow or if we manage to skip the second one.”

“Two new dungeons should be a new challenge for us, something we haven’t done as a team before,” Nelvana added, “we’ve done a few dungeons a day before, but never completely unfamiliar ones. We had better make sure we’re well prepared here.”

“And some rest can help with that!” Keahi chirped, “goodnight then everyone!”

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which two dungeons are explored Previous: In which the god of antimatter is met

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deasideblog · 4 years

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Keith Rhodora -

Son of a famed mercenary and her sole apprentice. Refuses to divulge information about his life. Fairly stoic and always on guard. As his affection rises, he’s more likely to give his opinions. Prefers animals over people.

Places: Stables and Monastery.

Starting class: Commoner - Fighter - Mercenary. Uses a lance.

War: Assassin.

Favored stats: Lance and Authority.

Crest: None

Gifts: (Favorite) Riding Boots, Board Game, (Hated) Monarch Studies Book, Legends of Chivalry

Carin Andrews -

Daughter of a family of hunters. Originally from Brigid. Quiet and is a ‘do it yourself’ type of person. Very detached and the only times when her expressions change is while she eats or goes on the battlefield.

Places: the Dining Hall and Training Grounds.

Starting class: Commoner - Fighter - Brigand

War: Warrior

Favored stats: Brawl and Heavy Armor

Crest: None

Gifts: (Favorite) Hunting Dagger, Smoked Meat, Tasty Baked Treat (Hated) Book of Crest Designs, Dapper Handkerchief, Floral Adornment

Liam Vito Eirian -

A graduate of Golden Deer. He remains in Garreg Mach as one of the scholars working under Tomas. Very rough around the edges so he may appear too serious, but he cares deeply for the students.

Places: Library and Training Grounds.

Starting class: Brigand

War: Fortress Knight

Favored stats: Axe and Strength

Crest: None

Gifts: (Favorite) Book of Crest Designs, Exotic Spices, The History of Fodlan, Tasty Baked Treat (Hated) Fishing Float, Landscape Painting

Alaric “Autumn” David Glaisyer -

Recently debuted heir of the Glaisyer House. There are rumors surrounding him that he was a child born from a mistress but bore a Crest and was kept in order to secure power for the failing house. Friendly with everyone, he tends to keep people at arm’s length, however.

Places: Greenhouse, Courtyard, and Library.

Starting class: Noble - Monk - Mage / Dark Mage

War: Dark Bishop

Favored stats: Reason and Charisma

Crest: Minor Crest of Macuil

Gifts: (Favorite) Book of Sheet Music, Floral Adornment, Watering can (Hated) Book of Crest Designs, Ceremonial Sword, Monarch Studies Book

Lucina Lawlie Alderliesten -

Adopted daughter of the Alderliesten House as she was born with a Crest that their children lacked. Very ambitious and wishes for people to look past her Crest and into her hard work. May seem elitist but she just doesn’t know how to lower her guard.

Places: Dining Hall, Marketplace, and Library

Starting class: Noble - Monk - Thief / Priest

War: Sniper / Bishop

Favored stats: Magic and Authority

Crest: Minor Crest of Chevalier

Gifts: (Favorite) Dapper Handkerchief, Exotic Spices, Legends of Chivalry, Smoked Meat, Tasty Baked Treat (Hated) Book of Sheet Music, Ceremonial Sword, Goddess Statuette

Merilyn “Lala” von Barrett -

Groomed to be the perfect wife, Lala only found freedom when attending Garreg Mach. Strives to earn her independence even if it means abusing the noble status of her Crest. Enjoys tea time and hates it when people interrupt.

Places: Courtyard and Classroom

Starting class: Noble - Monk - Pegasus Knight

War: Wyvern Rider

Favored stats: Reason and Charisma

Crest: Minor Crest of Indech

Gifts: (Favorite) Armored Bear Stuffy, Floral Adornment, Gemstone Beads, Tea Leaves, Tasty Baked Treat (Hated) Ancient Coin, Coffee Beans, Blue Cheese

"Amelia” Maria Keahi -

Alumni to Garreg Mach. Formerly a dancer, she returned due to her loyalty to Lady Rhea. She’s not very knight like, but does help ensure security when needed. Flirty type.

Places: Greenhouse, Church, and Marketplace

Starting class: Mage / Dancer

War: Dancer / Bishop

Favored stats: Riding and Dexterity

Crest: Minor Crest of Aubin

Gifts: (Favorite) Coffee Beans, Blue Cheese, Floral Adornment, Watering Can (Hated) Goddess Statuette, Tasty Baked Treat

#about. keith #about. autumn #about. lala #about. lucina #about. amelia #about. vito #about. carin #v. fe3h profiles #this took longer than it should've #long post

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thewolfisawake · 6 years

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His vision blurred and snapped into focus as his eyes slowly creaked open in confusion. Had he been asleep? But sleeping while standing on his feet, that didn’t make any sense. Heat crept across his skin even as he still tried to clear the odd haze from his eyes. It felt like waking from a daze or a long sleep, the kind he usually fell into after a particularly tough mission.

Orange blurred in his sight and finally he could focus enough to find the source of the heat around him. But it was the sight of the world on fire that greeted him. Flames roared as far as he could see, the sound of crackling and snapping of wood nearly deafening him. Wh-where was he? What happened? Aspis stared closer, noting that there was structures that were engulfed and burning in the flames. What was chilling though was the fact that these were buildings that he recognized.

It had been years since he had seen them, but there was no way he could mistake the sight of his own house and the surrounding area of his little island. His home.

And it was burning.

He choked on ash as he made to call for help, or to call out for any survivors, but no sound or sign of life greeted him. What kind of being could have set the entirety of his island on fire? Aspis took a slow step forward then stopped as something on the ground caught his attention. He blanched at the sight of a hand strewn across the ground in front of him, and followed it down the arm to find a body with a sickeningly familiar head of red hair laying there covered in blood. Crowe lay lifeless across the path, his usual eye patch gone and eyes wide open in death staring up at him. A hand was pressed to his stomach where the blood seemed to have been pouring from, but his body was still and cold. He was long gone.

He took a jerky step back, mouth opening, either to scream or call for more help, when his eyes caught sight of another familiar body. A little ways away lay Emil, also still and bloody with his own sword driven through his heart. Blue eyes wide with what seemed like shock in their last moments stared at him as well. Near him lay Katarina, her sword as well resting in her stomach and bloody, sightless eyes staring into him. His friends all lay around him dead, brutally and horrifically killed. Did the same thing that set the island on fire kill them as well? And even if it did then why did it leave him alive and well?

Suddenly, a low laugh slithered through his mind, one that sounded like his own yet also didn’t, and a sharp wave of familiar pain ran through him. He fell to his knees, a hand landing in a pool of his friends’ blood and an agonized scream left him. His curse…! It was acting up for some reason. His head was pounding and he clutched at it as another scream left him. Then the memories came back.

For some reason he…had started acting oddly and set his own island on fire, and his friends tried to stop him. But they were fighting to subdue and reason with him. He was fighting to kill. The memories of him killing each one with his own hands came back, the confusion, surprise, and betrayal in their eyes as they bled out staring up at him haunting. And yet he only laughed and reveled in the destruction. Aspis screamed again, this time having nothing to do with the pain burning his body or the fire closing in on him, and the demonic laugh echoed again through his head.

You are sullied and too far gone.

Your curse will only bring ruin and destruction.

You are a monster.

Give in and let the last of your line die in the fiery, agony-ridden death it deserves…!

The voice echoed through his head as he could feel the flames beginning to lick his skin, the ruins of his home and friends surrounding him as it all burned to ash. And he quietly accepted death.

No sooner did his vision blacken in the dream did it return for his waking body. A cry strangled in his throat as it all replayed. A loud snap made him notice his surroundings, immediately recoiling from the fire. Unlike the one in his dreams, it was tamed by his fuel and the barrier set by its masters. Most of whom were asleep around it.

But he could only see the inferno that engulfed his world. The heat accompanying the blood and guilt that ran down his frame. His breathing becoming obvious as he craved the air untainted by ash. Unfolding from the safety of his sleeping bag, came the chill of the night. The nipping felt better than the warmth of the fire. The one that threatened to take him again.

Aspis was so taken by the flames he didn’t notice Emil, returning from checking the perimeter. He was surprised to see anyone still up, “Aspis, round’s not for another hour.”

Emil’s voice forced him to notice the hunter. The color drained from Aspis’ face. He could see Emil coated in red. Blood still draining from his heart, its stillness watching him along with those lifeless eyes. Yet he was still moving towards him.

Noticing the younger hunter’s eyes, Emil could tell something was off. He approached cautiously, yet with a tread that could alert the other two at the fire. For every step he took, Aspis moved further from him until his back pressed against a tree.

You are sullied and too far gone.

“I didn’t–” he started as he felt the bark scratch his back, “I didn’t ask for this…”

His vision flickered between the concern reflected in Emil’s eyes to the ones that reflected his sin. It felt like he was underwater, words like washes of water. Using the tree as a brace, he started to rise to his feet. He couldn’t hear him instead hearing that voice much like his own, Liar, you wanted this.

“I didn’t want this. Is it wrong to want to live? I–” tears welled in his eyes as his breathing became shallow. Laughter met his thought, Nothing wrong with that. Live but tell me what’s your price to be alive?

Slowly he could see Crowe and Katarina waking up. The blood pouring as the covers removed from them. It staining their hands and clothes. Their eyes on him. Those…those hollow eyes that showed all his crimes. The ones he had. The ones he had yet to commit.

Your curse will only bring ruin and destruction. You are a monster.

He ducked around the tree and ran. For the first time seeing reality and able to hear for a moment before he’d sprinted from their range. He didn’t know where he was going nor paid attention as branches swiped at him or the roots that stubbed his toes. His voice called, Hey, you didn’t answer what’s your price to be alive? Wasn’t it the blood of the island?

It wasn’t my fault.

Mom and dad?

It wasn’t–

Keahi? C’mon throw me a bone

H-Help…

Lolo?

Help me…

Wasn’t that what got you here in the first place? Being weak to beg like this?

He couldn’t even answer as his foot hit air. Falling, he could see the moon peer through the clouds. Much like that night. When that voice slithered into his head. As he thought his life was going end to monsters that found him.

Give in and let the last of your line die in the fiery, agony-ridden death it deserves…!

The first branch that he hit, took his breath. The second blurred his sight. He quickly lost count after that. He wasn’t sure went he hit the ground. He didn’t care. Even as red seeped out of him, it running all over his body.

By the time his friends managed to catch up, he was a bloody heap on the ground. Trembling with sobs and incoherent with a language none of them were familiar with. They reached to take him to be treated, to safety…concern painting their faces.

But to him he could only see those face contorted with yearning. Asking for reason behind his guilt. To make him as dead as they were. He had no strength to fight them.

“…just let me die…I’m sorry……please let me go back…let me die…”

#writings #baring fangs with a rabbit's heart #yep consider my son a casualty #of this entire mess #submission #long post

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nelvana · 5 years

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In which the lost are found back home

First: In which the human is transformed Next [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Previous: In which help is requested from a higher power

“Keahi…?” Tsuki asked, padding up beside the torchic. “You ran out in such a hurry…”

Keahi exhaled, slowly letting out the tension in her body, “I just… I really hoped they’d be back,” she replied, squinting in annoyance at the desperation in her voice.

Tsuki paused, and then sighed as well, “yeah, me too…”

The pair stood outside for a few more moments, watching the morning sky. The sunrise had already passed, so they were left to stare at the clouds that slowly lolled on by across the open light blue field above them. Tsuki glanced back at the team base, and then back to her teammate.

“What did Gardevoir tell you? Good news, I hope…?”

“Oh, yeah!” Keahi answered, finally turning to face the absol. “She said it’s possible to bring them back… but I don’t know how long it will take.”

Tsuki shifted her weight, “then we’ll just have to be patient. Nothing else we can do about it,” she muttered, but her digging her claws in and out of the dirt path told Keahi that the absol was just as impatient.

Keahi didn’t respond; she turned her gaze instead back up to the sky. It was looking to be a beautiful day so far, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. A gentle breeze blew by, ruffling the torchic’s feathers, the ends of the scarf she was wearing around her head feathers, and the absol’s fur.

“Edgar insisted that because we both skipped lunch and supper yesterday, that we’d have to make a big breakfast,” Tsuki told Keahi, “unfortunately, neither of us are the best at cooking…”

“Are you asking me to help?” Keahi questioned, looking over at her teammate again.

“Yes, I suppose I am,” Tsuki admitted, “it would help pass the time, at the very least.”

“Mm, yeah… alright, alright… let’s go back inside,” Keahi agreed.

Even with that said, neither of them moved for a moment. Tsuki was about to turn and head back in, but hesitated when she saw that Keahi hadn’t moved, and so she stayed in place too. The torchic had begun tensing up again, stepping back and forth in place as she kept her eyes fixated above her. Then, she began shaking, her gaze dropping down to the ground again.

“I… I-I miss them so much… I just want them b-b-back,” Keahi gasped, tears pricking at her eyes again.

“I know… me too,” Tsuki responded.

Keahi staggered over to Tsuki, who pulled her close. The absol leaned down and pressed her muzzle to the torchic’s forehead as she let Keahi cry into her fur again. A feeling of pain swelled up in Tsuki’s chest and throat, and she let out some tears as well.

Together, they comforted each other in the quiet early morning on the lonely path.

Slowly, they let each other go again after a few minutes. Tsuki shook out her fur as she stepped back, ridding herself of the remaining tears in her eyes as well. Keahi stayed in place before finally offering her teammate a small smile.

“Okay, let’s make some breakfast,” she told her in a quiet voice.

They walked back inside the team base, where Edgar had been patiently waiting in the kitchen area. Some bowls and other various dishes and ingredients had been pulled out across the counter and table, but evidently none of them had actually been used yet.

“You’re back!” Edgar exclaimed, floating over to the pair. “Are… How are you doing?”

Keahi opened her beak to speak, and then hesitated and shrugged instead.

“We’re managing,” Tsuki answered the duskull, “Keahi says that Gardevoir is working on a solution to… to the problem, but we still have to wait.”

Nodding in agreement to Tsuki’s answer, Keahi hopped onto one of the stools so that she could properly look over what had been brought out.

“Okay, okay…” Edgar responded, nodding as well. “But… But it still hurts; while we have to wait.”

Tsuki sighed, “of course.”

“What were you two trying to make here?” Keahi interrupted, glancing back and forth at them.

“Pancakes!” Edgar answered, approaching the torchic to speak to her more directly. “I asked what made a good, big breakfast, and Tsuki told me that the biggest breakfast she had had with you guys was pancakes. So, we decided to make that,” he explained, looking over what had been brought out for a moment as well. “We… We didn’t get that far with it though,” he admitted.

“I see that… That’s fine though, we can all work together with it now,” Keahi replied, “here, I’ll help show you what to do…”

It was a slow process, perhaps the slowest breakfast had ever been made in this house, but they made breakfast together. Keahi relayed the instructions and did the actual cooking, Tsuki gathered any ingredients and dishes that hadn’t been brought out already, while Edgar did most of the mixing. Together, they managed to make a couple pancakes for each of them, and enjoyed that with some syrup for their morning meal. Without any of the extra toppings or side food that was usually added, this breakfast became a fairly bland meal; but after not eating in a while, no one complained.

Afterwards, though, they were left with the same emptiness that had consumed them the day before. While actually working had become a more available option in their minds, it was still one that was quickly rejected for various reasons. They all wanted to wait for the missing trio to return, though Keahi was the one to enforce it the most, and no one wanted to have to pass through Pokemon Square like this yet.

However, it didn’t take long for the idea of just going outside for, at the very least, some fresh air to become appealing. It had barely been a half hour since everyone had finished eating before the idea of hanging out on their lawn outside was brought up, and agreed upon.

“Perhaps we should head to the Hill of the Ancients instead,” Tsuki suggested as they walked out of the house, “if they disappeared there, then that may be where they reappear.”

Keahi furrowed her brows, “I think we should wait here,” she decided.

“Why do you think that?” Tsuki questioned, shoving the door shut behind them.

“I… I just do. I feel like we should stay here,” Keahi insisted, “besides, if they do appear there, then Xatu can just use telepathy to let us know,” she added.

“Very well,” Tsuki responded, “let us wait here then.”

Idly, Tsuki wandered over to their mailbox and pawed it open. Surprisingly, there were a few new letters in there that hadn’t been there the day before; but she barely spared them a glance before closing it again. She had only opened the mailbox just to have something to do anyway, and she hadn’t actually expected to have to read any messages left behind from others. They could deal with that later.

Taking a step back, she began looking over the mailbox itself. At this point, Keahi and Edgar had wandered over to join her, and so together they studied the painting they had left on it when they had put the mailbox back after the Team Meanies vandalism. The different colored paints still held strong, and everyone could clearly see the names written on the sides alongside the footprints and handprint that had stuck on. It gave the mailbox a bright and colorful look, shining with happier memories of only a few days before.

“Did you guys make this?” Edgar asked after a few moments of silence.

“The mailbox, no. But we did paint this, yes…” Tsuki answered.

Keahi nodded, “after we finished building the base… we decided to give the mailbox some colors.”

“It looks really nice like this,” Edgar commented with a hum.

“Thanks…” Keahi murmured, rereading all the names written on the mailbox.

After another few moments, Keahi let out a sigh, leaning forward and resting her forehead on the side of the mailbox. Tsuki’s shoulders sagged as she glanced over at the torchic, but she said nothing and eventually turned her gaze back up to the empty sky again. Edgar hovered around the pair for a bit longer, before beginning to slowly wander around the property; something he didn’t get the chance to do before now.

He floated around the house first, just a quick tour around the outside walls. It felt smaller on the outside, but an easy peek inside told him that the size, of course, had never changed. The grass growing on the lawn was a strong green, but it faded into patchy bunches closer to the recently constructed house. A chimney made from bricks stuck out of a side wall, which he knew connected to the large fireplace inside.

At the other end of the base, a tall flagpole had been erected at the roof, hanging the galaxy-print fabric from it. With no wind, the flag currently lay limp against the pole. He brought himself closer to it, tugging at it with one of his hands to get a better look at it. There was a white crescent moon and two stars stitched into one side, but was otherwise the galaxy-print that he had already grown to recognize with the team leaders’ accessories; both of which Keahi was currently wearing.

Looking down at the other two, he noted how high up he was. He hadn’t been paying attention as he had hovered up here, but this was a pretty big home. He didn’t know much about construction, but even he could tell that this must have taken a lot of work from the entire team.

“Edgar.” Keahi had noticed that the duskull had wandered up. “You’re up on the roof,” she commented.

“Yes, I am!” Edgar called back, “do you want me to come down?” he questioned, tilting to the side. “I was just admiring your flag.”

“Oh, you can stay up there if you want,” Keahi replied, “I… I want to go up there too.”

“Really? Okay!” Edgar responded, floating over to the lower part of the roof to await his friends.

While Keahi made it back to the side of the house first, it was Tsuki that managed to climb her way up onto the roof first. She shuffled around to get in position, before making a beautifully high leap straight on top of the building.

“Woah, that was a good jump!” Edgar complimented.

Tsuki nodded over to the duskull and then turned around to look back down at the torchic again. Keahi was still looking up at them from the ground, her gaze shifting around the walls as she wondered how to get up. The group had just been up there the night before, but she had always gotten help whenever they decided to watch the sky from the rooftop.

Fortunately, Tsuki seemed to reach the same conclusion. She laid down on her belly and reached a forepaw down for Keahi to grab on to. However, this still wasn’t enough to break the gap between them. Deciding to try helping as well, Edgar floated back down to give the torchic a boost, which was enough to help her grab onto the absol’s paw and be pulled up the rest of the way.

Now, the three were up sitting on the roof together, taking in the familiar view. Ahead they could see the path winding out across the land, and if they looked further and around, they could see where the forest began, as well at the outskirts of Pokemon Square. Above, of course, stretched out the ever open blue sky, still practically devoid of any clouds.

“Shall we wait here then?” Tsuki asked quietly, sitting down on her haunches.

Keahi nodded, letting out a hum of approval instead of giving a vocal answer. She looked up to the sky like she had done when she was outside not that long before, sitting with her feet tucked under her feathers.

And they waited.

For the most part, they remained quiet. Simply taking the time to quietly enjoy each other’s company as they sat together on the roof.

Eventually though, they began speaking again. After an entire afternoon of practically complete silence, it felt good to begin just talking to each other again and letting out some of their feelings. Keahi began recounting stories of the team’s adventures, Tsuki chiming in when she could as well. When the memories became bitter instead of sweet, they began asking Edgar more questions about his time in Sky Tower, and how he felt just being here on the land. Once conversation picked up, it felt easy to keep it going. While it wasn’t enthusiastic chatter, it was a good talk, a peaceful discussion to keep them going.

After a bit over an hour of this, Kangaskhan dropped by again. They could see her walking down the path long before she was in earshot, and watched her approach the house, carrying a pan covered with foil in her hands. Seeing the group outside, she offered them a warm smile as usual, but her eyes didn’t carry the same cheeriness that Keahi and Tsuki had grown accustomed to.

“Hello there dearies,” Kangaskhan greeted, “it’s good to see you all outside today.”

“Hello, mom,” Tsuki replied softly, nodding. “It is a nice day… despite everything. Getting some fresh air does us well anyway,” she murmured.

“That’s your mom?” Edgar blurted out.

“Adopted, but yes,” Tsuki responded, scratching the back of her head with a hind paw as she spoke.

“We’re waiting for the others to come back,” Keahi told Kangaskhan firmly.

Deep down, there was a moment of doubt, that Kangaskhan would think them to be foolish to hoping for this miracle. But the feeling swiftly passed as the large pokemon gave them a slow, approving nod. There was no doubt in her eyes, only a glimmer of hope that they had now passed onto her.

“I made this vegetable casserole for you all. It can make good comfort food,” Kangaskhan began explaining, “plus, cooking is a good activity to work through one’s stress,” she added quietly, “I figured that I would drop by, check in, and leave this for you in case you didn’t feel motivated to cook for yourselves. Perhaps you can just share it with the others when they get back, I did make a lot anyway.”

There was a pause, and then Keahi smiled.

“Thanks, Kangaskhan,” she said.

“Of course, sweeties. It’s no trouble at all,” Kangaskhan assured them, “you all deserve better times, and I wish from the bottom of my heart that you’ll get that soon.”

“Thank you, again,” Tsuki responded, now giving a soft smile as well. “It is nice to have you visit again, thank you for giving us our space yesterday,” she added, “I believe that we’ll want to save that casserole for later though. The door is unlocked if you want to put it on the table.”

Kangaskhan nodded, “I’ll do that then. Thanks for letting me know.”

She opened the door and entered the house, but only for long enough to set the pan she had brought down on the kitchen island table. Closing the door again, she walked back over to the trio still up on the roof. Her brows creased in a look of concern, but it faded away again after a moment.

“Will you all do fine if I leave you again? I’m afraid that despite everything, my job doesn’t offer many vacation days,” Kangaskhan said.

They paused, and then Keahi nodded. Tsuki shifted her position on the roof, offering Kangaskhan another small smile.

“We’ll be alright, but thank you for offering, mom,” Tsuki replied.

Kangaskhan opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it again as she reconsidered. After a moment’s thought, she managed another smile at them and spoke.

“Very well. I trust that you all will be able to handle yourselves for now, just remember that you can always stop by my stand, or even my place, if you need some other company,” she responded.

“Okay, we’ll keep that in mind!” Edgar chimed in.

Another pause, another reconsideration of a reply. Instead of speaking again this time though, Kangaskhan simply approached the side of the house more. Tsuki instinctively to see what her mother figure wanted, and received a comforting nuzzle in farewell. Kangaskhan went to Keahi next, who leaned down as well to accept the gesture. Edgar even accepted it too, floating downwards instead of forcing Kangaskhan to reach up. Despite not knowing her that well, he was willing to take the comforting touch before she would leave back to her own work again.

With the silent goodbyes done, Kangaskhan turned to go down the path again. She glanced over her shoulder a couple times as she walked away, but there was nothing else said before she disappeared back into the streets of Pokemon Square.

And they waited.

They waited on the roof for another few hours, the sun creeping across the sky into the afternoon. As with the previous passage of time, they did begin talking to each other again, and this time they would pace around as their limbs grew tired from not moving for so long. There were no signs of their friends’ returning, including no telepathic message from Xatu. Doubt was beginning to creep in, but none of them would admit to it and remained strong. After all, they hadn’t been promised a certain time. For all they knew, it would take a day, or even weeks or months.

Then, there was a golden orb in the sky that Keahi had been staring so intently at.

“They’re back!” Keahi yelled, being the first to spot the small light.

In her excitement, she leapt off from the roof of the house, only to face-plant into the ground below. Before anyone could react, she scrambled back to her feet as if that stumble was only a minor inconvenience, kicking dirt around her as she got up to her feet and hurried out into the path again. Tsuki leapt down swiftly afterwards, landing much more gracefully than the torchic had, and Edgar floated back down to join them.

“Please… please… please,” Keahi repeated under her breath, pacing around the path while keeping her gaze on the orb.

Slowly, it continued floating downwards, finally settling itself in front of Keahi, where it spun around her a couple times before landing on her forehead and fading away. Keahi blinked, shaking her head as the glow disappeared, and looked back up at the sky to see if there was anything else.

There was nothing. The sky was just as empty as it had been moments before.

Tsuki padded up beside Keahi, studying the torchic’s blank expression for a moment. Edgar floated up to her other side, and the absol glanced over at him instead.

“Do you sense anything?” she asked.

“I…” Edgar paused. “There’s something, but I don’t know what…?”

Keahi nodded, “I think that was a message. We just have to wait a bit longer.”

“…very well,” Tsuki replied, stretching in place for a moment.

And they waited.

Minutes dragged on far longer than they ever should have, but the trio remained in place. Keahi continued staring up at the sky as she had been, hoping for something else to appear.

Then, it finally happened. Another golden orb appeared in the sky, soon followed by dozens upon hundreds more. All swarming down from the heavens and landing in front of the group. The lights continued swirling around for a few moments, before finally fading away from the last time, revealing Nelvana, Alex, and Ceebee, clumped together, appearing a bit dazed.

“You’re back! You’re back! You’re back! You’re finally back!” Keahi yelled.

She rushed forward, tackling Nelvana into a hug before any of the returned trio could properly react to any of this. The cubone stiffened from surprise, but quickly relaxed again, returning the hug and letting a laugh bubble out from her throat.

“Yes! We’re back! We’re back, don’t worry, we’re back!” Nelvana responded, using repetition to push the point to even herself before pulling her partner close to her and resting her forehead on hers.

“I’m so glad… I missed you all so much, I was so scared that you’d never come back,” Keahi replied, and then paused. “Oh, Nel! Look! I kept the scarf for you, see?” she mentioned, tugging at one of the ends of the scarf with one of her wing talons.

Nelvana’s smile grew, “you did, thank you!” she hummed, bumping her forehead against the torchic’s again for a moment. “I knew I could trust you with that.”

She lifted an arm from around the torchic to tug away the scarf, but the pair didn’t separate. Keahi kept herself stuck next to Nelvana, as if she would disappear again if she let go. This made putting back on the scarf a bit more challenging, but she pulled this task off and then immediately pulled Keahi in another hug.

Behind them, Alex erupted into an excited laugh as well, too impatient to just sit back and watch the reunion, he hurried forward now and scooped the pair into a hug as well and spun around. Tsuki let out a cheery bark and began running around them, waiting for Alex to slow to just standing before leaning up next to them, waving her forepaws in the air in an attempt to join in the group hug properly. Ceebee giggled, flying over to the group in a hurry and leaning into the hug as well after a couple spins. Edgar was the last to join in, but not by long, and he joined in similarly to how the celebi had.

Another laugh bubbled up from Keahi, and it infected the rest of the group, bringing them all to a joyous chorus all at once. Once again, there were few words, but it wasn’t silent, and it wasn’t uncomfortable. Just having each others’ presences together again brought them the needed comfort.

“Arceus…” Keahi gasped, “I’m so glad you all are back… I was just so… so scared that you were gone for good,” she whispered.

“You’ve already said that,” Alex chuckled.

“I know, I know… But it’s true,” Keahi replied, “I don’t know what else to say… I’m still scared that we’ll lose you all over again.”

“How long were we gone?” Ceebee asked, finding herself in a very comfortable position leaning over Alex’s shoulder and onto Keahi’s warm feathers.

“Over a day,” Tsuki answered, glancing down at the ground as she spoke before looking back up at the others again.

“A day?” Alex repeated, “that isn’t that bad. Could’ve been worse.”

“It was the worst day of my life!” Keahi snapped, immediately shrinking back at her own harshness with her tone in that comment. “Ah… s-sorry.”

Alex frowned, “hey, no need to apologize for that. That must’ve been a really painful time, we’re sorry.”

“But, hey, we aren’t leaving again,” Nelvana added, “I promise.”

“You really promise?” Keahi questioned.

“Of course, I promise,” Nelvana replied, “as long as any of us have a say in it, we’re sticking around.”

“Thank you,” Keahi replied, nuzzling her head in her partner’s shoulder.

“Look, sorry guys but I can’t carry you forever,” Alex commented, carefully setting Nelvana and Keahi back down onto the path.

“It’s fine,” Nelvana responded softly.

This action didn’t separate the group much though. Even though Alex had set down the pair he had been carrying, he didn’t step back afterwards, and no one else seemed too inclined to move away either, keeping everyone bunched close in a clump together.

“Where did you go, anyway?” Edgar asked.

There was a pause, and then one-by-one the three time travelers’ expressions shifted into one of shock as they tried coming up with an answer to what should have been a simple question.

“I-I don’t remember,” Alex mumbled, then snapping his gaze to exchange looks with the other two. “Do either of you?” he asked, receiving stiff shrugging and head shaking as a response.

“We definitely went… somewhere. I guess we just don’t get to remember where?” Nelvana suggested, rubbing the back of her neck anxiously. “That’s really weird though… I don’t like that,” she added under her breath.

“Perhaps it is for the best,” Tsuki murmured, “you went somewhere where people aren’t supposed to come back. Who knows what else would have been there, and what secrets could have been leaked out if you had remembered and just told us now.”

“That sounds likely,” Ceebee agreed, “besides, what’s here, right now, is more important anyway.”

“And I’m sure if we ever do get curious enough about it, we can probably go ahead and look into it later,” Alex added, slowly relaxing again after that jolt. “But for now…”

“For now, we should celebrate!” Edgar suddenly squealed, spinning around the group again. “You guys are back! You’re back again! We should celebrate or do something!” he continued, “at the very least, we should announce it to that town! There were lots of people who stopped by worried about you guys, well, all of us really!”

“Edgar has a good point, we should go into Pokemon Square to announce your return,” Keahi responded, nodding. “Everyone will be so happy to see you all back again!” she added, grinning again.

“I guess we shouldn’t waste anymore time then, should we? We can always spend more time alone here again afterwards,” Nelvana said.

Despite saying this, no one moved for a moment. Nelvana, deciding to take initiative, lifted her foot to take a step forward, but it bumped into Keahi, who was still huddled up close to her.

“Keahi…?”

“Oh, sorry!” Keahi scrambled back to her feet, but still didn’t move too far away from the cubone. “I just…”

“Nah, it’s fine. I can carry you if you want,” Nelvana offered, smiling.

“I’ve been carried enough in the last while!” Keahi huffed, puffing up her chest feathers defiantly. “I can walk! I just… want to stay close to you.”

“Too late, I’ve decided that I want to carry you,” Nelvana insisted, snickering, to which Keahi didn’t continue arguing about. “Hey Alex, would you mind holding my club for me?” she requested.

“When did I become your designated club carrier?” Alex quipped, placing a hand on his hip.

“Please?” Nelvana pressured, waving the bone in the grovyle’s face.

“I’ll carry it for you, Nel,” Ceebee butted in, taking the weapon from the cubone’s hands.

“Why thank you dear Ceebee,” Nelvana replied with an exaggerated sweetness in her tone.

“It’s no problem at all!” Ceebee replied, using the same tone.

Alex rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t help but laugh at the warm joking that was taking place. His smile once again didn’t last long as he suddenly froze in place, patting along his body in a frenzy.

“Where’d my bag go?” he questioned, turning around to try looking around again.

“You dropped it,” Tsuki informed him, “don’t worry, it’s just inside. We shouldn’t need it right now anyway, you can grab it later.”

“Hey! C’mon you two! You don’t want to fall behind!” Edgar exclaimed.

Looking back up at the others again greeted them with the sight that they were already leaving. Nelvana had hoisted Keahi onto her shoulders, and now they were sprinting down the path in an energetic hurry, with Ceebee fluttering behind them the best she could. Alex let out another chuckle before bounding after them, catching up quickly with his natural good speed. Tsuki and Edgar hurried along to catch up with the others as well.

“They’re back! We’re all back! Team Galaxy is all together again!”

Pokemon Square had never been known for huge celebrations or parties, since it isn’t that big of a town to begin with. However, it still knew how to bring everyone together when needed. Even if in general no one carried the knowledge or the materials to throw a party, especially on such short notice, it went well. The last time something like this happened was after the mission to Magma Cavern, which despite feeling like ages ago already, had only taken place a couple days before.

This celebration blew that one right out of the water. After all, not only were they all celebrating the world being saved, but also the return of half of the team responsible for making the former happen. Many pokemon filled the place very quickly. The crowd that had made their way to the Hill of the Ancients that day before had arrived now, as well as all the citizens that had been unable to make the trip before.

Like that previous celebration, this lasted for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. Right off the bat were the greetings and excited reunions. Even those who didn’t know of the three that disappeared that much came by to leave a comment of too. Everyone had something to say, and many pokemon had something to give as well. Accepting gifts was as awkward as ever for most of the team, but the joyous atmosphere buried that anxiety away swiftly and let everyone enjoy themselves.

But as the sun set, many of the townsfolk began turning in for the night, including Team Galaxy. Looking forward for some time with just the six of them, they spent longer than expected waving goodbye to Pokemon Square for the night before heading back to their base again.

However, they paused at the doorway, and Nelvana held up her badge, looking over at the others.

“Actually, before we settle inside for the night, how about we see about properly adding you guys to the team?” she suggested, “no sense in delaying it any longer than needed.”

“Oh yeah! That’s a great idea, Nel!” Keahi agreed.

“Ooh! You really mean it? We can actually join the team?” Edgar exclaimed, bobbing around in the air excitedly.

Alex chuckled, “of course.”

“Tsuki, are you ready to join Team Galaxy now?” Nelvana began, turning to face the absol.

Tsuki shifted her position, standing tall and proud in front of the cubone.

“I am, indeed.”

“That’s great, I’m glad,” Nelvana hummed, “here we go then.”

Still holding up the badge, Nelvana took another step forward and used the tiny device to scan Tsuki. After a quick check on how to spell her name, everything was completed and there was a cheerful beep as the registration was complete.

“Welcome to Team Galaxy, as an official member now!” Keahi chirped.

“Alright, we met up with Ceebee next, so it’s only fair to ask her now…” Nelvana continued, giving Tsuki a pat on the shoulder before turning to face the celebi. “Would you like to join Team Galaxy, officially?”

Ceebee nodded enthusiastically, “yup! I do!”

Another click of a button, and another scan, but this time Nelvana was interrupted before she could fill out the name by a loud, less cheerful, beep, making everyone jump in surprise by the sudden and unfamiliar noise. Confused, she squinted at the badge to figure out what had happened.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked, leaning over to look as well.

Nelvana let out a nervous laugh, “oh, it just wasn’t expecting us to scan a mythical! I think it wants a rescan, and a more proper confirmation from you, Ceebee.”

“Ah, that’s alright! Pretty neat that it recognizes the oddity to have a mythical be scanned here,” Ceebee hummed, fluttering closer.

After more fiddling around, they managed to get back this strange bump in the registration and get Ceebee onto the team properly. With some sighs of relief that it had worked, and some congratulations for the new member, Nelvana finally turned to Edgar.

“Alright, last but not least… Edgar, would you like to join Team Galaxy?”

“Of course!” Edgar exclaimed, still continuously bobbing around in the air.

“Okay!” Nelvana responded, “let’s see if this works better this time ‘round…”

There was a slight pause after the scanning, but no loud beeping or extra steps this time. Edgar hovered around impatiently as Nelvana inputted his name, finally getting everyone registered properly in the team.

“Well, now everyone really is all together again!” Alex commented with a wide grin.

“Yeah! This was a great way to come back at the end of the day, thanks for bringing it up, Nel!” Keahi agreed, now stepping over to the door.

Everyone followed her closer to the base, and so Keahi simply opened the door without needing to unlock it, earning a stare from Alex.

“You guys forgot to lock the door?” he questioned as they walked back inside. “That isn’t very secure you know, someone could have broken in,” he continued.

“You don’t know what happened!” Keahi huffed, hopping up to the island table. “Here, Kangaskhan brought us some casserole today. I can warm it up for some supper.”

“Sounds good to me!” Ceebee chirped, fluttering around the house. “Say, this is a nice place you have here! It’s cozy, but has lots of space!”

“Yeah, we built it together with some help!” Keahi responded, “feel free to explore around if you’d like!”

Edgar followed the celebi, eager to show her what he had explored the day before, and Tsuki opted to follow them a bit as supervision. Nelvana was about to sit down beside Keahi and see what she could do to help prepare the meal, but her gaze was drawn to the next room, which still was littered with the papers that had been dropped the day before.

“Why are my drawings all over the floor?” Nelvana asked.

Tsuki’s head perked up and she turned back around to face the cubone, “ah… that was my bad, apologies. I wanted to look through them and ended up dropping them.”

“And then ended up not picking them back up?”

“I’m afraid not. I didn’t know what order they went in, nor do I even have the dexterity for that task.”

“Ah, fair enough. I’ll just have to put them away now.”

Nelvana headed over to the scattered drawings, Keahi watching her with a slightly disappointed look, but she turned back to her own task. Alex took note of this, and decided to sit in the kitchen instead, to keep the torchic company for the moment. Nelvana began sliding all the papers closer together, stacking those in the order they were drawn instead of by content. Fortunately, she had had the foresight to date most of them, making the reorganization a simple task. Curious, Ceebee fluttered back over to her friend to see what she could to do help, and also just to look through the art herself.

“Hey Nel, these are really good! It’s nice to see you’ve still been drawing!” Ceebee exclaimed, handing Nelvana some of the papers she had scooped up from the other end of the room.

“Yeah, she’s really good!” Keahi chimed in from the other room. “I got some papers and pencils for her to go with the other activities we had bought, and she’s been drawing up a storm!”

“Oh no, guys…” Nelvana squeaked, trying to bury her face into her scarf in a fluster.

Alex laughed, “and you still can’t accept a compliment about that!” he teased.

“But it is good art! What’s wrong with that?” Edgar questioned innocently.

Nelvana only let out a huff in response, finishing up with putting all the papers back where they were before on the bookshelf. She trudged back over to Keahi and leaned her head onto the torchic again.

“Your art is good though,” Keahi whispered.

“…thanks,” Nelvana finally replied.

With the meal that Kangaskhan had brought in earlier now being warmed up again, they gathered some plates and utensils so that they could dig right in. There had been some snacks that had been served at the celebration they had just been to, but it was refreshing to eat a larger meal together again. They were still lacking a side dish, or any desserts, but it was still a fuller meal than anything else they had had for a few hours. Everyone could easily agree that Kangaskhan was a good cook, and that they’d have to thank her for bringing this to them.

It only felt fitting that they would go play some board games when they were done eating. Many of the team had played most of the games several times by now, but with two other teammates, it made the experience feel new all over again. In the moment, they could enjoy just being with each other and bond, letting the pain from before fade away with happier times together.

Finally though, after many hours of continuously finding new things to do and fun ways to interact with one another, the night darkened the world, and the yawning of various team members told everyone that they would have to go rest soon.

They packed all that they had taken out away, and headed upstairs. Ceebee lacked a bed, but this issue was quickly resolved with the offer to sleep in the hammock with Alex. Tsuki and Edgar once again wouldn’t be able to actually sleep like the others, but would find themselves much happier with the silence this time, with the presences of their friends there to sooth any nerves. Nelvana went in her nest, and Keahi went in her’s.

Keahi, who had forgotten to tell the news after such a fast day filled with ups and downs, announced what Gardevoir had told her, about the low chance of being able to speak through the dream space together again. Even though many of the group, such as Tsuki and Alex, hadn’t even seen Gardevoir, much less spoken to her, they all felt the sadness of this long-distance friendship not working out in the end. Regardless, there was always the hope, always the maybe, that they could fix things. However, they also all knew that if they were to take that chance, it would have to be saved for a later date.

Slowly, after much more tired chatter, those that could ended up drifting off to sleep.

Nelvana woke up a couple hours later, the images of a fading nightmare still swarming her mind as she jolted awake. This had been the clearest memory nightmare in a long time, and of course, it had scared her more than usual. It was evident that the fear of disappearing or just losing her friends was plaguing her mind, and it had wormed her way into her subconscious.

Used to the scare though, she began taking deep breaths to try to calm herself down enough to go back to sleep. She paused, as she realized that there was something warm in her nest now. Lifting up the blanket she was tangled under, she saw Keahi curled up next to her. The torchic must have snuck in somehow without the cubone noticing, probably too caught up in her own nightmare to notice her partner nestle up with her.

A small smile stretched across Nelvana’s face, and she gently ruffled Keahi’s feathers. She lowered the blanket again, and snuggled up next to her friend, the nightmare already put at the back of her mind.

She was safe, they all were safe. They were all happy, together.

And if she glanced outside the window before drifting asleep again, she could see the galaxies above in the night sky.

First: In which the human is transformed Next [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Previous: In which help is requested from a higher power

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