Chapter 11
Follow Me
DAY 2
Citel had to admit, X did good work.
The Chesnaught was busy sanding a slab of wood he had gotten from somewhere, with a promise to repay the seller as soon as he was able. The wood sat in X's impromptu work area, moving back and forth.
He took a step back to marvel in his work. "You know, I gotta admit...having a Chesnaught's power does make it easier."
"Really?" Nell paused for a moment to look at the Chesnaught, a knife floating. She had several pieces of wood, carving the one her grip into a leg. While they could have just put the legs on without carving them, Nell wanted to help.
"Really."
"So, how's my girl doing so far?" Nell looked up and saw her father trotting over to her. She smiled, and showed him her work.
To say it was sloppy was accurate. Nell was carving away some the wood, giving it the appearance of a cylinder that was moving in on itself before widening as it reached the bottom. Although the wood was a block rather than a cylinder, progress was good. Not excellent, nor bad, but decent for a newcomer to the craft.
"I think I might be getting the hang of it. I'm taking it slow, because I don't want to mess up."
"Words to live by." X replied. Like Nell, he was taking it slow, not because he was new to the job, but because he was new to the power of his body. "Can someone hand me that finish? I'm gonna need it soon."
"...You think your friends are okay?" Nell asked.
"What makes you say that?" X replied. He didn't look up, focusing on his work.
"Just.....felt the worry from you." was Nell's reply. X took a moment to stop his sanding.
"I gotta ask....what's the deal with you and the Emperor guy talking about my emotions? You two must be good at reading people."
"Uh, not really. Your emotions are pretty vibrant and easy to sense." Nell answered the question like it was a normal thing for her.
"Uh.....kinda new to this neck of the woods. Not sure what you mean by that."
"Don't get freaked out, but Changelings can eat emotions. Preferably Love and other positive emotions. So we have a natural ability to detect what emotions nearby creatures are feeling."
"....wait what?" X had a strange look on his face. It was a mix of confusion and curiosity.
"Please don't be scared. I know it sounds weird,but yea Changelings can do that."
"I'm not scared. Honest. That's actually kinda cool when you think about it."
"Really?"
"Yea? Helps cut the crap and get to the point." X felt something hover into his grip. He took a look, noticing what it was: A bottle of finish for the table. "Honestly would have speed things up for me with my folks."
"Feel like talking about it?"
A shake of his head served as his answer. "Not really. It's kinda personal. Really personal."
"That bad?" X was surprised it was Citel who spoke rather than Nell. "Be honest."
"No not really. It's just that being the black Whimsicott is not always fun."
X suddenly found a very curious Nell on his back again, her hoof just dangling past his face. "....my parents didn't really approve of my choice in occupation." X spoke, quickly giving in to the Changeling's request.
"They didn't like construction workers?"
"Well, the family has a rather long legacy. At least five generations of master pokemon trainers. Our family is one of the greatest training families in all of Kalos, possibly the world."
"And they did everything in their power to stop you and get you to change your mind?" A hint of anger rose in Citel's voice. From what little X described of his parents, they sounded like they did not bend, yet expected others to bend for them.
"Don't get me wrong. I love them and would never trade them for anything, but yea. That is exactly what they did."
"You're worried about them more now. I can feel it."
X sighed as he sat down. "Yea, but not just for them. I'm worried about my little sister. Rosemary. She's about nine. Cutest little girl you would ever see." A smile was on X's face. "She always sent me letters, asking how I was and other things like that. I....wasn't around much when she was growing up..."
"How come?"
"Went to school in another town far away. I visited, but it was never for long enough." X gave a wistful sigh. "I don't like to admit it....but I really wish sometimes that I didn't go to school to learn construction. That way I would have been around more for her.
"To my surprise, even though I wasn't really around, she thinks I'm worthy of being her hero." With a look of longing he looked up at the sky above him, a flock of Swablu flying above him, ignorant of the Chesnaugth below. "So, honestly I'm not sure exactly why she puts me so high on the pedestal."
In turn, Nell's eyes darted towards her brood sisters and brothers. "Yea, I think I know what you are saying. My sisters and brothers all think I'm more amazing than I really am. "
"All families are like that. Trust me, my brothers all though I was pretty amazing." Citel remarked.
000
"I feel at peace actually. Like nothing can break the mood."
"Attention citizens of Equus, both old and new.”
The voice, powerful and distant at the same time, caused Nell to scream, and turn invisible (actually transforming her fur to the colors around her, in an attempt to hide). X jerked around, moaning while adrenaline was running in his veins at maximum speed while trying to spot a person who was not there. And Citel got into a lower stance, his horn flaring with fire that formed a blade from his horn and his wings.
"Why do I say things like that?"
A few minutes earlier.
The carriage flew through the sky as Inti leaned over the edge, looking at the trees below. Every now and again there was a creature she spotted. The creatures were a almost equal mix of pokemon and other...creatures.
"Those are some weird pokemon below us." Inti said to noone in particular.
"That's a chimera actually."
Inti turned to face the speaker, whom was Rizen. He joined in leaning with Inti. "You seem down. "
"Congrats on figuring that out. What was your first clue?"
"I'm a psychologist and a ..."
"Shrink, you mean."
"...Uh. No. I am both a psychologist an..."
"Shrink."
"A psychologi...."
"Shr. Ink."
"Psychologist."
"Shrink."
"Psychologist!"
"Shrink."
"IMA A PSYCHOLOGIST!!!!"
All heads turned to Rizens angered shout. Rizen didn't bother turning around, as he realized that he was a little too loud. Attention towards him faded, and the others returned to what they were doing. The chimera below them however, turned upwards with three heads ( which were from a goat on the right, a tiger in the middle, and a dragon on the right. The creature snorted before shaking its wings and simply walking away, it's tail (that of the tiger) swaying as it walked away on cloven feet.
"...Smooth."
Rizen resisted the urge to slap the lizard. "I refuse to be acknowledged as a shrink. You think professionals in the mental aspect of health enjoy being called that? It makes us sound childish, uncaring, alien even."
"Shrink, psychologist, same thing really." Inti scoffed. Rizen took a closer look at Inti before speaking again. "This is not the first time you instigated anything, is it Inti?"
"Its fun."
"So why do I sense fear from you."
Int scoffed as she turned to face the soldier/psychologist. "I am the Storming Thunder Breaker. I made an entire colony of some of the meanest Bug types in the world afraid of me. Honestly, you're Psychic mind reading ain't working right."
"Citel's two daughters Nall and Nalel."
It only lasted for a moment. Rizen quickly noticed a spike of emotion, of fear, flare quickly inside of Inti before it faded. "You lie!"
Rizen was not impressed. "No, you lie. Changelings can sense and consume emotion. Trust me, I felt the same emotion that flared within you."
"I wanna get this out of the way, they annoy me! They're nothing but two hyperactive balls of hyperness that act first and think never! How could I, Inti the Storming Thunder Breaker be jealous of two good for nothings that have two parents that love them!"
"Oh, so you have a reason to despise them."
"Yea. They practically kidnapped me, dragged me around, and just stood there when their own brother was kidnapped. Their own brother! I had to save him, not them! They sat and waited! I tried it it once! I did it for a whole month. A WHOLE MONTH! I WAITED AND NOTHING HAPPENED! WHY DID IT WORK FOR THEM AND NOT ME!?"
This time the stares were focused on Inti. Inti grumbled and ignored them. "Even?"
"Even."
On the other side of the carriage, Carapace was concluding Silver Heart and Naruto. The elder Changeling had seen many things before in his long life. A situation like this was foreign to him. “Suggestions?”
“The only thing we can do is to fight back, show them that we are not afraid of them.” Naruto look at the landscape before them. “Fight metal with fire.”
“You honestly think they’re going to uphold their end of the bargain?”
“How very cynical…”
“But accurate.”
“How so Naruto.”
“The durant know they outnumber us, and because of that...outpower us. “
"I'll begin planning contingencies." Carapace sighed. "As of right now, you are probably our best bet alongside your friends."
Naruto sighed. "I'm not sure X will be to ecstatic about what you're implying...."
A grim expression was on Silver Hearts face. "I'm more worried about what would happen if we lose. The city of Citel has a population of anywhere between thirty thousand to seventy thousand.
"And that's not including any pokemon there?" Naruto asked to which Silver nodded. "Then I would bump that number up a few thousand. Realistically we could be looking at a possible number between sixty thousand to one hundred thousand refugees if we lose."
"Sir, permission to speak freely?"
"Granted."
Determination. In a single moment determination was the only discernable expression on Silver Hearts face, the intensity of it beginning to overwhelm Narutos calm demeanor. "I want to kick some metal ant flank. I know I'm not the most subtle warrior, or the most...obedient. But I solve problems. Violently. And that is something we need."
"But these Durant are not my only concern."
"Let me guess....the Pokemon in general."
"I checked all of my maps, and information in general about the lands you talked about. Kalos, Unova, Kanto....and not a single one. Of them are on my maps."
“That is something to worry about…” Naruto mused. “Something transported not only me, X, and the others here...but several pokemon. And it must be assumed that this happened at the same time.”
“The real question is who is capable of moving that many beings at once here?” Carapace mused as well. “It’s something that I just can’t seem to answer.”
“The problem at hand is what I’m concerned about Sir.” Silver mused as well. “Think about it. Back at your garden the troops and I were roughly tied in power before Blastoise got serious. When it was just Blastoise fighting, it took you and Naruto combined to stop him.”
“And that was taking Aura Sphere into account. If he didn’t know that then I don’t think I would have needed the Emperors help to win.”
“Right. But...these ants are on a different level. They easily won when it was their turn to tango with the guards.” Silver noted. His voice was grim as he recounted what he knew. “They had three things in there favor: Numbers, tactics, and the element of surprise. Count in that our troops didn’t fight these things before doesn’t hurt them in the slightest.”
“Naruto. Can I count on you to help in the coming battle?”
The fox returned the Emperors glare with one of his own. “Yes, and no.”
“Hey, I’m the smart ass here….”
Naruto rested his head on left arm as he replied. “What I mean Silver is that due to my sentance I must assist the Emperor in whatever he asks me to do, but….X comes first. I cannot give a more concrete answer until I talk to him first, though...I am leaning towards assisting. I know X would be fine with this. He would not approve of the Durant doing what they are doing now.”
“I understand. Family is important.’
The trio simply sat in silence for a moment before Silver spoke up. “So….who wants to bet that the Durant are gonna send more than just fifteen?”
“Naruto’s right SIlver. You are cynical.”
“I try to keep it real your majesty.”
"Attention citizens of Equus, both old and new.”
All present jumped in their seats, looking for the source of the voice. “This does not bode well.” Carapace muttered under his breath.
X looked to the sky, desperately hoping to find even a hint of whomever was speaking. “Dad? What’s going on? Who’s doing this?”
“I don’t know Nell. Get close to me!” Father and daughter raced towards each other, hugging each other tightly. As they embraced, X raced to them. He towered over them, shielding them from the unknown voice that echoed in their heads.
“X?”
“Stay under me!” X shouted. His facial expression shifted suddenly, once cool and calm, soaking in teh peace around him. The next, focused fury toward a single driving goal.
It was somewhat startling to see his expression change so fast.
”I am Lord Arceus, creator of the Pokémon realm. You have no reason to fear me, I come in peace.”
“I have revealed myself to inform you that I am the one responsible for the Pokémon’s presence in this world, for the citizens of Equus, the Pokémon are the beings who have appeared over the past few days.”
“I have my reasons for bringing them here, and to the leaders I will reveal them in time, but for now a warning. The Pokémon, while some may not seem it, are just as intelligent as any race who calls Equus home, and seeing as how they are my subjects, I will not tolerate them being treated any differently than you would treat your fellow Pony, Griffin, Minotaur, Diamond Dog, Changeling, Deer, Hippocampi, Zebra, Horse, Buffalo, Cow, Donkey, or Dragon depending on whichever race you belong to.”
“To my Pokémon, I say this, I brought you, all of you, here so that you could live in peace, do not seek to harm the natives of this world, for I am the one responsible for your displacement. And to the Pokémon who went through changes when I brought you here I say this. You are the ones who proved themselves worthy, those who were fair, kind and good in the old world, consider this your reward. And to all of you, as sapients the laws of Equus, and the varying countries, now apply to you, and only the laws of Equus.”
“That is all for now, but just to be clear, the Pokémon are not to be harmed simply out of spite, if you have a problem with what I’ve done, feel free to contact me, I currently reside in an ancient temple deep in the Everfree Forest, or a pocket dimension outside of the space time continuum, so if any of you wish to face the sheer power of a god, feel free to come by.” “Goodbye for now, though I doubt this will be the last you hear of me, and peace to you all.”
X gulped, going over what he just heard as Nell and he father crawled from under his imposing form. As they did, X fell to the ground, his face pale and his mouth open.
“X? X?”
Nell was trembling as she sampled the emotions of X. They were powerful, more powerful than any other motion Nell feasted on.
Emotivores had to focus on what made themselves unqiuge in order to not fall victim to the emotions they feasted on. Those who ignored that fact often got caught up in the emotions while they lasted.
For X, the strongest emotions were confusion. And awe.
Fear induced awe.
“Inti?”
“Yes Naruto?”
“I just want to double check on something here. Did you hear a voice in your head claiming to be Arceus say that he just teleported what I can only assume to be the entirety of both the Human and Pokemon races to these lands?”
“We’re assuming that these lands are in another dimension right? Like that one show from the nineties that Apocalypse and Azisa watch bout the four dorks from college sliding around or something?”
“Don’t forget the implication that said humans are no longer human.”
“Then yes Naruto. I did hear that. Did you?”
The two pokemon stared at each other.
“I heard it too Azisa. It sounded really funny having someone’s voice in your head.” Apocalypse was sitting down, Nell’s siblings surrounding the two.
“So….that must mean….”
“ARE WE ALIENS!?”
Azisa stared at Apocalypse before answering with a gentle laugh. "Yes Apocalypse. We are aliens.”
“YAY! I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE ALIEN!” Apocalypse began to dance around Azisa, repeatedly chanting "IMA ALIEN!" Unexpectedly Nall and Nalel took to the air, flying away from the pokemon with worried expressions on their faces.
"...Smooth Apocalypse. Smooth."
"Do I care? No. Why? IMA ALIEN!"
Inti and Naruto figured that now was a really good time to panic.
"WHAT DO WE DO? WHAT DO WE DO? WHAT DO WE DO?" Naruto shouted. He rushed back and forth, screaming his head off. The changelings simple gawked at him, unsure what to do. "I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO? DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEAS ON WHAT TO DO? I HOPE YOU DO, BECAUSE I DO NOT! OH DEAR OTHER OF AR..."
At that, Inti slapped him in the face. Hard. Naruto shook his head in reaction to the slap, exhaling. "Better? the lizard asked her ally.
"Yes. I needed that."
"As entertaining as that was..." Carapace addressed the pokemon, whom now turned to face the Emperor worry still in Naruto's eyes, steel vibrating in his tone. "...What the Tartarus just happened? Who was that?"
Naruto took a deep breath, apprehension in his voice and a slight tinge of fear in his heart before speaking. "That.....was Arceus. The Alpha Pokemon."
"And judging by the context of what he just spoke, I think he was giving pretty much everyone here a public service announcement about how you guys have some new neighbors." Inti continued for the Zoroark. "I'm guessing he moved all the pokemon on our planet to yours, plus a few humans I am guessing."
"Considering it's Arceus that explains why X is a Chesnaught." Inti mused. "Good thing too. I always thought he could use a little extra muscle."
"That's your opinion about everyone."
"Whoa, wait up a minute." Silver raised a hoof. "You guys honestly believe that his one guy moved an entire species here? "
"Yea, because that one guy is a God," Inti explained. "Arceus created everything. The stars, the planet, the water, the land...everything goes back to him. He even created us Pokemon. That's why we call him the Alpha: He's the first of us."
"Forgive me for being skeptical. I just find it hard believed just because a voice in my head told me so." Silver coughed. A dirty look was given to him by both pokemon, a nerve clearly hit.
"Then look at the evidence." Naruto explained. "We, creatures your kind have never seen nor heard of appear right out of the blue hailing from a land you have also never seen nor heard of. In turn the very same creatures arrive in a land they have never seen nor heard of. Add in the face that I am assuming you heard the same message we did...the evidence is staggering."
"Okay, fine. I see your point, but until I actually see it I will remain cautious."
"A good idea." A horn of the Emperor blazed with his magic. "I am returning to the capital. You four are to return to Sect and keep the peace. Once I get everything under control in the capital and other cities I will return to show those Durant exactly why I am the Emperor of the Changeling Hive."
"The Emperor then vanished in a blaze of magic. The four assembled pokemon and changings just looked at each other, a loss for words. The Emperor of all changelings had just vanished, so the feeling was one that was understood.
Naruto was the first to speak. "So....this cannot get any worse...can it?"
"Lets see how big the angry mob in town is, then we'll talk." Silver replied.
Carapace had learned long ago that if you were capable of long range teleportation, one had bette4r have a place set aside for the explicit purpose of appearing there. Mishaps when teleporting tended to be messy at best and horrifying at worst.
The stone walls of the Receiving CHamber as it was called was illuinated with four torches that were enchanted to light when someone was in the room, and only then. SIlently, the Emperor opened the door, a creaking sound echoing. To his surprise, a mob of his servants and elders (for many the described or "old" a word far too kind to use) were standing outside the door.
Carapace hated when Changelings did this. I tment they were literally doing nothing but wait for his return so they could swarm him with pieces of bad news followed by more pieces of bad news finished with a side order of disastrous news.
Now was no different.
The Horde was about to speak before Carapace beat them to it. "I know what you are about to say.The situation looks bad but lets face it we have handled crises before, so lets handle this in a neat and orderly manner. I will be heading to my office to map out a plan, and in the mean time, get the soldiers to keep order and the mages to replicate this." The emperor revealed his pylon before heading to his office. "
The Emperor then quickly dashed for his office. A changeling long lived as him learned that when faced with any mob, the best bet for survival is to be faster than them.
Naruto stood on the stage in front of Town Hall, the building carved into the oldest tree in town. Several offices lie above the main trunk of the building. But that did not matter to the Zoroark at this time.
What mattered to the Zoroark was the very large horde of Changelings and Pokemon, gathered at the Town Hall as requested. The loud din of an entire city's populace complaining as fi they were one was not distracting at the least.
Naruto did see the rest of ShadowFox in the crowd. That did calm him a little.
Standing next to him were Inti, Silver Heart, and Rizen, the trio behind Naruto hoping that the crowd would focus on in rather than them. He turned to the other three and whispered "Explain to me again why I am the one breaking the bad news to the populus?"
"It's a pokemon related matter. The populace will be more at ease if someone with a positive demeanor. You have that." Was the answer Rizen gave them. "Silver and I are soldiers so that might give everychangeling bad vibes about what we are going to say, and Inti sounds a little too enthusiastic about marching into battle."
"Oh so the straws we drew had nothing to do with it?"
"Told him he wouldn't fall for it." Inti moaned.
"Hey, he still drew the straws..."
"Inti, I know it was your idea. You are not that sneaky. And Silver....even if we didn't draw the straws, I still would have been the unlucky sap to be the target..."
"Guys, the Emperor wants this done while he's back at the Capitol handling the fallout there. You wanna let him down?" Rizen pleaded to his allies. Silver scoffed for a bit before replying "I know I don't. I'm already on thin ice."
"Look Naruto you got this. Just tell them. They'll understand. I bet you a bushel of fruit I'm right."
Naruto though on this for a moment. "You know, I know you're baiting me..."
"Just take the damn bet and go up there and talk. We don't have time." barked Silver. Naruto sighed before approaching the podium while he cleared his throat. "Good afternoon all."
He was met with many sounds of complaint.
"What's going on!?"
"Why am I an Oddish!?"
"Who the hell are you?"
"Naruto, why are you doing a speech?"
"Are we dreaming?"
"Was that really Arceus?"
"Can I have a pizza?"
Naruto raised his arms trying to settle the crowd down. "Settle down everyone!"
"What the hell are you?"
"Can I adopt you?"
"IMA ALIEN!"
"Will we get reimbursed?"
"Was that really Arceus?"
"Why am I a Ponyta?"
Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs "Trying to speak here!" He was promptly ignored.
"Where's my family?"
"What's the deal with those metal ants?"
"Why are you a ginger?"
"Answer the question! Was that really Arceus!?"
"Why am I a Mothim?"
"Who put you in charge!?"
"If you would just quiet down for a moment..."
"Where's our stuff?"
"Why do I lack arms?"
"Where's my pokemon team?"
"Who put the Dark type in charge!?"
"What's a Dark Type?"
"I'MA ALIEN!"
"Apocalypse not now!"
"Why am I a Sceptile?"
In a thunderous roar a Thunder shot from Inti, striking a nearby tree. The small tree exploded in a shower of bark. "EVERYONE SETTLE THE HELL DOWN OR YOU AIN'T GETTING ANY ANSWERS!"
All of the chatter died down in response.
"IMA ALIEN!"
Most of the chatter died down in response.
"Thank you Inti." Naruto made a very strained groan, slumping into the podium. "Okay, let me try to answer the questions the best I can. "To start, who I am is Naruto, of ShadowFox Construction, and what I am is a Zoroark. On a more broad sence, I am a Pocket Monster or the more common term 'Pokemon' for short."
"Prove it!"
"Can you narrow it down please?"
"Prove you're a Zoroark!"
"And with that, Naruto lept in the air, spun as he did so, and turned himself into Talonflame. He landed on the ground rather than fly. "Proven." He said. He raised his voice, attempting to sound feminine.
One changeling was not impressed. "Big deal. We're changelings. We do that everyday."
Naruto pointed a wing at his shadow, which unlike him had not changed shape. "As many of the denizens of Earth know, my kind have the ability to create Illusions. However this does not mean we actually can transform, unlike the powers wielded by your kind."
"Or Ditto."
"Or as the gentleman five people deep on the left side pointed out, Ditto." Naruto spun around as the Illusion faded and Naruto returned. "Now that that is out of the way...I'm pretty sure everyone recently got the message?"
Many heads turned to face one another while the rest simply nodded. "Now, from what we have been able to deduce...several thousand, possibly million Human and Pokemon have been moved from our world....to yours...by Arceus. In additi...."
"Who?"
"I have a lot to cover Ma'am. Please refrain from interrupting next time." Naruto grumbled. "To answer the question before I move on, our Legend states that Arceus created the world...pardon our world...from nothingness once he, or be fair she, hatched from an egg at the beginning of time."
"Other than that the legends are conveniently sketchy about anything relating to Arceus on a personal level." Inti voice carried as she snarked. The crowd grew worried as Naruto grew annoyed.
"Thank you Inti for that colorful commentary." He moaned. "As Inti pointed out, what I said is literally all almost anyone knows about Arceus. But, as I was trying to say before I was interrupted...we are under the assumption that the Humans that are here....are not exactly human anymore."
X resisted the need to shout as many of the pokemon that started to shout, complaining about their sudden lack of humanity. "Listen please, I know you are upset but that...is not the most important issue I address at this moment."
The crowd grew silent before Naruto continue. "As many of you noticed last night....several Pokemon attacked this fair city. They are Durant." A gasp was heard among several of the Pokemon and Human turned Pokemon present. This worried the changelings. "I, along side the Emperor of these lands, Emperor Carapace, went to talk to these creatures...and it didn't exactly go according to plan."
"Figures , he brought a stupid Dark Type with him!"
At that, X Charged in front of the crowd, pushing many in his way out of his way (thankfully he was near the front of the crowd so he didn't push many people. "Hey, why doesn't whoever said that about my best friend say that to my face!"
A quadruped fox like creature with fiery red fur marched out of the crowed to confront X. "He's yours?"
"Yes he his!"
"Then I'll say it again! I said It figures this Emperor who's his face ("Carapace") got the shaft because he brought a stupid. Dark. Type. With. Him."
X was about yell and charge when about two dozen changelings and Pokemon rushed in between forming a wall to separate the two from each other. He quickly had a change in plans and simply backed off, going back into the crowd were Nell was.
"Moving on...." Naruto cleared this throat yet again before moving on. "I'll skip over the details so I can get to the point. The Durant want the city. And Carapace challenged them for it. In other words, Carapace and the Durant are going to have a battle tomorrow, with the winner gaining possession of this city."
Everyone present made their displeasure of that announcement very clear, Naruto almost cringing from the volume. Rizen stepped forward before Naruto could speak. "What this means is that the crown is issuing a mandatory evacuation notice starting immediately. All citizens are hereby ordered to prepare to leave this city and proceed to the city of Chell. Any who stay will be expected to stay and help our forces prepare for the coming fight taking place in the morning."
The crowd roared again, the voices of many merging into a distorted sound. The most intelligible sounds to be heard were several shouts of how the creatures were the cause of the problems, and several very unflattering responses from the pokemon.
Throughout the chaos, X left unnoticed.
It had taken some time, but X finally found a quiet place to be alone, to think things over, and that place was the park. The park had several trees and places for children to play in, just like any other park X had seen.
Oddly the trees were different from the tree that overwhelmed the city's infrastructure. The parks trees where coniferous and evergreen trees compared to the tropical trees that served as brick and mortar.
A swingset stood in on the edges of the park, the structure standing alone in a arena of sand. X approached the swing, as he put a hand on the playground toy.
Thirty months before day zero
"Higher X! Higher!"
"You got it Rosemary!"
X grinned as he pushed harder than before, his sister soaring as far as her swing dictated. The little girl, garbed in a white sundress with flower designs on the dresses bottom, was laughing as she emulated flight, her black hair flowing through the gentle winds. Gravity took its hold, and The swing soared back to X. His hands gently caught Rosemary before pushing her towards the sky again. "Having fun?"
"Yea!" Rosemary shouted. "Watch this!"
"Rosemary you'd better not..."
As X spoke, Rosemary reached the apex of her swing, she slid out of the swing flying through air.
"...jump."
Rosemary landed in the sand, a small cloud bursting from her landing point as she crouched during her landing. She quickly got up and looked where she landed. "X! X! I beat my record!"
"That's nice Rosemary, but what Mom told you before we left?"
"Have fun and stay out of trouble?" Rosemary grinned innocently as she ran back to the swing, a exasperated X gripping his head with his fingers. "You forgot, didn't you?"
"I didn't forget, I had a convenient memory lapse. "
"....Rosemary..."
She sighed as she walked back to the swing, sitting down before answering. "No mischief making, and that includes jumping from the swings."
"Right. Wouldn't want you to twist your ankle again." X pointed out.
"X, why can't you stay longer?" Rosemary asked. Her question was quite innocent, causing X to turn to his little sister. "I miss you."
"Hey, I miss you too sis, but...it's complex." X replied.
"No its not. You went to someplace else to be a builder at construction school, to learn how to...build. But you're done with builder school right?"
"Yea, but...."
"So why didn't you come back? I really love it when you play with me, and give me ice cream, and let me play with Naruto and Inti. But you can't do any of your big brother things when you're not with me. I feel a little bad when I talk about my really cool big brother, because he's not really here.
"It's like I don't really have a big brother at all."Rosemary began to sniffle. "It's like I made up my best friend."
"Hey, hey, don't say that." X got up, and knelled, his eyes on level with Rosemary, whose eyes begun to tear up. "Hey, no tears. Big Girls don't cry."
"But I miss you..."
"Hey I miss you too...but the reason why I didn't move back is that I...wanted to live my own life."
"I don't understand."
"You know how Mom and Dad are pokemon trainers?"
"Yea."
"And you know how their mom and dads were also pokemon trainers?"
"Yea."
"Well our moms, dads, grandmoms, and granddads are trainers. It's kinda what our family does. But I didn't want to do that. And mom and dad....really didn't like that."
"You mean they don't love you anymore!"
X couldn't help but laugh. "No Rosemary, they still love me. It's just that they didn't think that being a construction worker like I wanted to be was what was best for me. But I'm me, not Mom or Dad. They can help me, make suggestions, point me in certain directions... but ultimately I choose what path of life I go down. Not them."
Rosemary made a frown before responding. "It sounds confusing. I'm only a kid."
"You'll understand when you're older. But until then, the short version is that I didn't want to be a trainer just because Mom and Dad are trainers."
"Well, I don't like that..." the young girl pouted. "I wanna be more like you. I even have a cool nickname like you!"
"...That's not what I meant. What I mean, is that I didn't want to train pokemon just because mom and dad are trainers. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't be a trainer because Mom and Dad are trainers.
"When you get older, try being a trainer, or a construction worker, or a ballerina, or anything you want to do. If you like it, then go ahead and do try it out. And if not, that's good as well because you can always try something else and keep trying other things until you find something you do like. You understand that?"
"So if I want to be more like you, and I don't like it...I can stop doing it?"
"Pretty much."
Rosemary said nothing for exactly half a minute before replying with "I feel better now."
"Great. So...what is your nickname?"
"Y."
X put his hands on his knee. "Well, as your big brother, I gotta see if it passes the big brother test."
"Why?"
"Because it's what big brothers do, I think. I'm not that good at being a big brother."
"But you're the best big brother ever!"
"Great! So what's your nickname?"
"I told you. Y."
"Rosemary, have you been hanging out with Inti?"
"No." X silly gave the little girl a hard stare. "Yes..."
"So what's your nickname?"
"Y! I told already."
X finally put two and two together. "Rosemary, is your nickname the letter Y?"
"Yes! Its wasn't that hard to get right?" The now christened Y grinned. "I wanted to be like you when I got bigger, and you have a cool nickname that's just a letter, and since I'm your little sister, then I should have a little letter for my nickname. But there really aren't little letters. So I thought about it and since your nickname is just a letter and I'm your little sister and I kinda came second I went with the next letter in the alphabet."
"I gotta hand it to you. That's a pretty smart way of choosing a nickname." X ruffled his sisters hair before checking the time. "Well, we gotta get going home now Ro....I mean Y. Dinners gonna be ready soon."
"Hey, when we get home, can you help me with my game? I'm having trouble with Thanatos. He's tricky."
"Hey compared to me you're a pro at video games." The older brother teased the younger as they began to leave the playground. "But I can try. "
"Yay!"
"And to give us the energy we need let's go get some ice cream on the way home. "Rosemary gave her older brother that look you give someone when they start speaking in a foreign language. "What? You have your ways of making mischief, and I have mine."
X sighed as the memory faded. Rosemary...Mom...Dad...please...be safe.
"There he is!"
His thoughts leaving him, X turned to face (in his horror) over four dozen young changelings, lead by Nall and Nalel. The two grinned as the horde surrounded X, whom was in the middle of panicking.
“Uh…..please don't break out the torches and pitchforks. I apparently now have a fire weakness.” X pleased. Nall grinned as she did pull one from out of nowhere, while others nt eh mob did the same.
“Oh don’t worry, its just for show.” Nall replied. The torch, along with all the others, were thankfully unlit. “I mean, you can’t have a mob without torches and pitchforks. But there are a bunch of strict fire rules here and we thought it would scare you, so we just have unlit torches.”
“And the pitchforks?”
Nalel pulled out he pitchfork, again from what seemed to be nowhere. “We gotta keep some traditions, right?”
X just gave her a hard stare as the crowd got rid of the pitchforks. "Okay, so you corned me. Uh, what happens now?"
"You tell us stories!" The two replied in unison. The gathered foals sat on their haunches, bearing eager grins.
Needless to say, it was not what X expected. "Uh, what?"
"You're an alien!" Nalel stated. "I mean, how cool is that!"
Nalel continued the train of thought. "And we wanna know all about It!"
"Because we're not aliens."
"And thus cannot know what an alien feels like."
"But you're an alien! So you can tell us what an alien feels like!"
At that X sighed. "Oh good. For a second I thought. You were just gonna yell at me and blame the Pokemon for something that was out of our control."
Meanwhile , back the ranch known as City Hall.
"ALRIGHT CHANGELINGS AND POKEMON, THE NEXT ONE OF YOU WHO TRIES TO START A FIGHT OVER WHO'S AT FAULT HERE WILL HAVE THE ROCK LIZARD...!"
"Apocalypse the Tyrunt."
"...THE ROCK LIZARD AND THE LIGHTNING LIZARD...!"
"Inti the Heliolisk."
"I prefer the Storming Thunder Breaker."
"We are you not calling you that, Inti."
'WHATEVER THE HELL THEY ARE CALLED, THE NEXT ONE OF YOU WHO TIRES TO PICK A FIGHT WITH THE OTHER SPECIES WILL HAVE THE TWO OF THEM PLAY WITH YOU. THAT IS AN EMPHASIS.!!!
Naruto let loose a sigh. "I cannot believe they talked me into this."
Silver Heart's shouts did little to calm each side, as they were very eager to point hoofs and fingers. Naruto then leaned to Rizen and whispered. "You're the psychiatrist. Anything you want to point out?"
"Well, from what I can make out, the Changelings are blaming the Pokemon in general for the Durant attack. Not just the Durant, all the Pokemon." Rizen pointed out. "It's because of the rampant change of pace. They were comfortable where they were in life as a community, and now something drastic has caused that to change. Change this drastic is never really easy to adjust to.
"The Pokemon however are not really blaming the Changelings for the Durant, but they are obviously angry at the Changelings for blaming them when only a small number of their kind is at fault. Mostly they're confused and scared at the deeds of a being that claims to be God."
"For all intents and purposes Arceus is God." Naruto replied.
"It sounds like you revere him."
"All Pokemon do. It's something we just understand in our gut. Thought to be honest, before today I kind of doubted the legends."
This got Rizen's attention. "How so?"
"I consider myself an intellectual Rizen. Everything question can be approached logically, and thus errors, especially intentional errors..." Naruto glared at Rizen, who was doing his best to keep relative peace between the species. "...bug me to no end."
"I figured it was a personality trait of yours. I noticed how you always took an opportunity to correct a mistake."
"The reasons why I doubted the legends is this." Naruto replied "If Arceus created our world, then where did he come from? The legends say he hatched from an egg, and then created the universe. That's fine with me, but that doesn't explain where the egg came from if nothing existed before the egg existed."
"That is a good question. Considering that you apparently come from a different world, maybe he came from one of them? What do you think?"
"I think we should lend a hand..."Naruto deadpanned. Rizen had come through on his promise: A Geodude on the pokemon side threw a rock at a Changeling. He was immediately pounced on by Apocalypse, and both sides decided that maybe calming down was the best choice of action.
At that, Azisa and Nell approached the soldier and the Zoroark. "Naruto, have you seen X?"
"Not since this morning." Naruto thought on it for a moment before continuing. "Though I think I did hear him in the crowd..."
"Well he was there, but when everyone started to argue, he vanished." Azisa sighed. "You think he's going to be fine."
More shouts rose as Naruto sighed. "I think it might be a good idea to find him. The general attitude towards Pokemon is getting to be....hazardous."
"I'll go in the air. You try the ground 'Azisa." Nell replied. With a nod of her head Azisa agreed, the Changeling taking to the air to search for X.
"So...any particular story you wanna hear about?"
Nall shot her hoof into the air. "Oh OH! PICK ME PICK ME!"
"Okay okay. Someone is jumpy." X laughed.
"Tell us a story about how you kicked some plot!" Nall practically shouted. X's face quickly contorted. "Uh....yea....Um....I try not to do that."
"Then can you tell us a story about how you saved a bunch of lives like you did yesterday!"
"Yea, look. Full disclosure here, I'm just a construction worker. I don't do stuff like that."
The crowd started to express their dislike of that sentence. "Boo! Do something exciting!"
"Well my job is exciting actually. " X retorted.
"But how is not saving the day not exciting!" Nalel started to pout. "YOU'RE AN ALIEN!"
"Nalel, right?" The filly nodded. "You know, making things isn't as boring as you think it is. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to build and create rather than fight. I remember the time my parents took me to a festival one time. And there was a guy with his Diggersby and Gurdur doing a show.
"See, they were artists. Now, the guy had a giant slab of stone he got, and it was a slab of stone. Ugly, plain....no one wanted it. Then, the three of them just went at it. They punched, kicked, hit it with a girder, cracked a joke...they just wailed on it. And fifteen minutes later that slab of rock turned into a statue that was really a sight to behold.
"That's boring!" Nall sighed.
"Okay, I think a practical demonstration is in order." X got up and took a look around. His search quickly ended as he saw several small pieces of wood and some vines near a lonely tree. He approached, picking them up and returning to the crowd. "I need a volunteer."
A hoof shot up. "Oh oh oh! Me me me memememememe!"
"Okay Nall. You can help me."
"YAY!" Nall was ecstatic. She quickly got in front of th crowd and sat on her haunches in front of X. "What do you need?"
"I need you to sit still." X explained. He then started to rub the wood up against her horn.
An awkward silence arouse before Nall had the courage to ask "Why are you using my horn like that?"
"I left the knife at your house."
"Oh."
"Don't worry. This won't take long." X grinned.
"If you say so."
The carving really didn't take that long as X seemed to know what he was doing. Just as quickly as he started, he finished. Four of the wood pieces now had carved indents in them. "Okay last step. I need to drill some holes in the wood, but your horn is pretty small, and sort of crooked..."
A flash of fire quickly remedied that as the horn was now a bit longer, straight, and pointier. "...And now it isn't. I forgot you could do that."
"It's a gift." Nall smiled.
"Kinda makes me wish I caught that Ditto I ran into." X spun the wood around, drilling into the wood the slow way.
"A what now?"
"It's a pokemon that is capable of transformation." X explained. "They can turn into pretty much anything."
"Gee, I wish we had that talent!" Nalel deadpanned. To prove her point many changelings in the crowd transformed. Many were ponies of various breeds, though here and there were zebras, diamond dogs, and others scattered around.
"Yea, I got nothing there." The former human laughed. "Okay, done. Thanks Nall."
Nall returned to the crowd (currently in the process of detransforming) as he took the vines, which were rather skinny, and stuck them in the holes and tied them together. "And tada!"
Nall and Nalel looked at the little project X had worked on. It looked like he had took a piece of wood, tied it so another piece of wood was on it, and did it twice. Each hand held one of the strange things. "Okay....that's...nice." The girls replied.
They were not impressed, to which X looked a little shocked for lack of a better word. "What, you've never seen castanets before?"
"Uh, no."
X smiled as he demonstrated. With deft handiwork learned from his trade, he opened the closed the toys, clunking sounds that suggested they were music flowed into the ears of the younger. "Like I said, they're called Castanets. They're musical instruments that people use to well...make music." X explained. "As you can see, I took individual objects and put them together making something new. And that's what building, whether it be the houses and structures I usually work on or small instruments like these, is to me: Taking something and turning it into something someone can enjoy."
"That being said....who wants to have some fun?"
"You work fast."
"Thanks Nall." X gave her a thumbs up. He sat down, watching all the changeling simply play in the park. X didn't know how they did so quickly, but after his little demonstration the crowd of eager children sought out as many pieces of junk they could find to build with, inspired by the construction worker.
The kids mostly stuck with toys, simple figures made of wood, either uncarved or very messily carved, while a large number of them were building what looked like a tower.
Sort of.
"What do you think that is?" Nall asked. Nalel was head of the item's creation, changelings buzzing to and fro in a hurry.
"Looks like either a totem pole of a tower you can jump off off."
This sparked Nall's interest. "I can get behind that. I'm coming!" She then buzzed towards the towers construction.
"Kids."
A commotion then arose, X getting up to investigate. Through the hear a young green mammalian creature ran as fast as it's stubby little legs could carry it. "Help! Help! Anyone, please please help! It's an emergency! A BIG ONE!"
The changelings were quick to approach, Nalel being the first to speak as she gazed at the pokemon with a questioning glare. "He's kinda cute. What is he?"
"He's a Chespin." X approached the Chespin, the group making a space for him to approach the Pokemon, the Chespin holding it's head in it's hands as he felt to the ground in sorrow.
"He kinda looks like you." Nalel remarked. "OH! Are you two related!"
"Uh.......no."X gave a look at Nalel as he explained. "Pokemon tend to look a lot like members of their species and evolutionary lines. For example, Chespin evolve into Quillaldin, who in turn will evolve into Chesnaught." X patted his chest twice. "Which is what I am. Somehow."
"Wait, this little guy is going to one day be all big and buff and strong and spiky like you?" Nall then shook her head, her face scrunching up like she had eaten the emotion of puppy love, the emotional equivalent of sticking a whole lemon in you mouth and trying to suck out all the liquid at once. "I don't buy it."
X was confused. "Well it's true. But that's not what's important." X kneeled down, his eyes level with the Chespin. "Hey little guy. Something the matter?"
Chespin stopped crying, opening his eyes and seeing X. "Yes mister! I need help! Help like right now!"
"Whoa whoa whoa....slow down, and explain."
"Well, me and my brother were just being still, we didn't want to make the Bug Thingies angry at us." Chespin sobbed. Many of the Changelings present showed various reactions to being called Bug Thingies. "Then a lot of really heavy boxes fell from everywhere! I got away but my brother didn't, and now...." he sobbed harder before continuing. "I can't get them off of him! I'm worried! I tried to find help but noone would help me! I looked and looked and then I found you!"
X spoke his next sentence with steely resolve. "Get on and lead the way. I gotta job to do." Chespin wiped the tears away as he climbed up onto X's back, pointing towards the innards of the city. Before leaving, X turned to Nall and Nalel and pointed to one of them. "Nalel, you're in charge until I get back!"
"UH, I'm Nalel." Nalel spoke. "You're pointing at Nall."
X paused for a moment before pointing to Nalel. "Nalel, you're in charge."
"Hey, why is she in charge?" Nall complained. Loudly. "I can do it!"
"Well, he said I was."
"But I can do it just as good!"
"Not. The. Time." X pointed at the Chespin on his shoulder with each word, the Chespin glaring at the two. "Lead the way little guy."
At his guide's command, X rushed towards the brother, as the
Changeling children just stood there, watching their new hero run off to do a heroic deed.
"Turn left here!"
X did as his guide told him too, hoping he wasn't too late. Fortunately, he was pretty easy to see, so anyone who was in the way had plenty of time to get out of it.
"Are we almost there?" X asked.
"Yea. One more right turn." Replied Chespin. He quickly shouted "Right turn!"
As X did such a turn, going into a long alley that was obscured with shadows near it's dead end. X though nothing of it as he approached the end, quickly skidding to a stop as he noticed who as in the alley.
A figure obscured by the shadows, with six Durant in front of it. Each of them snapped their jaws at X.
Fear welled in him. X made a quick turn around to escape, only to discover four more Durant, two on each wall, snapping their jaws to deter the Chesnaught. "What's going on!?"
"Relax. We mean you no harm." X turned around yet again as the figure in the shadows stepped into the light. It was a Chesnaught like him, only for one difference.
She was Shiny.
"I have heard a few things about you." The Shiny spoke with a curt tone, giving a small bow as she introduced herself. "I am Iron Shell. A pleasure meeting you."