Seven Years Later Chapter 5
Seven Years Later
CH 5: Treasure Town Legends
A gentle and soothing ringing filled Kutty's ears, waking her from a restful nap. "Good morning girls", dinged Chimecho. "Lets all get ready for another exciting day." Rubbing her eyes, Kutty looked over to find her roommates stretching out their bodies. Shinx and Numel invited the charmander over to join them in the activity, but Kutty decided that she should watch them first before attempting it herself. She watched in awe as Shinx calmly balanced herself on her hind legs while Numel showed off her unique flexibility. Finishing their morning routine, they looked at the stunned charmander and playfully laughed.
"Just do whatever you like", chuckled Numel. "It's just something we do to wake ourselves up." Kutty thought for a moment. 'What could I do everyday that could shake me awake' Kutty asked herself. "Do anything you want", Shinx nudged. "It doesn't have to be fancy or embarrassing. Just do something that makes you happy." Nodding, Kutty blushed as she began to jump up and down. With each bounce that she made, she felt herself get higher and higher. This time, it was Shinx and Numel's turn to be surprise. "I had no idea that charmanders could jump that high!" cried Shinx. "They can't!" exclaimed Numel. "How did you learn to do that?" Kutty panted as her thoughts drifted back to the time where her best friend unknowingly jumped with joy. "It's...a secret", she puffed in exhaustion. Finishing off with a risky front flip, Kutty sat down gasping for air. "Well, don't over do it alright?", winked Shinx. "Yep. Remember we still have an entire day ahead of us", grinned Numel. Laughing, the girls left their room and headed towards the main corridor.
Over in the guy's dorm, the sounds of arguing began to pour out into the halls. "How many times have I told you not to wake me up like that!?", cried Growlithe. Dripping wet, Growlithe stared at his roommate with rage gleaming in his eyes. Sandshrew shrugged as he placed a bucket back into the corner. "You know the rules, buddy. Either Bibarel wakes us up or the water wakes us up." Shaking the water off his fur, Growlithe sighed. " That rule sucks because you never oversleep and I always end up getting blasted." Finally dry and calm enough, Growlithe looked around the room. "Hey, where's the new kid. I kinda want to talk to him about last night." "He woke up at the same time as me. I asked him to fill the bucket up and we chatted for a bit. I also told him about your 'condition'." Growlithe gasped. "You told him about that?" Sandshrew nodded. "Don't worry. He asked me to tell you that everything is alright now that he knows about it. Now come on, we'll look bad if we show up late."
"...Three! Smiles go for miles!", the guild roared, shocking the new recruits. "OK, Pokemon. Get to work~", sang Chatot. The guild soon exploded into a unified "HOORAY", before shuffling off towards the upper floors. "Good morning Unshi", grinned Kutty. The totodile mirrored the charmander's happiness while adding in his own feelings of eagerness. "Did you sleep alright?", asked Unshi. Kutty nodded as a colorful avian swooped himself in to the conversation. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but the guildmaster would like to talk to you."
Heading into the guildmaster's chamber, Unshi and Kutty watched as Wigglytuff bounced a perfect apple on his head. "Hello friendly friends~. I hope you enjoyed your first night in your new home." The new apprentices nodded their heads in unison. "I bet you're wondering about why I called you into my room. First of all, I know that you're both generally new to this area. After dealing with such a dangerous outlaw at your level, you should just take today off from guild duties and explore the town." Chatot rushed in with a dumbfounded look plastered onto his face.
"Guildmaster! Did my ears deceive me or did I just hear you give them the day off!?" Wigglytuff looked at his feathered companion with sorrowful eyes. "I just thought that they should take today off and learn about the town by themselves." Tearing up, the guildmaster stared at his best friend. The room began to shake and the other pokemon began to panic. "O-Oh! I think that's an excellent idea!", squawked Chatot. "I bet that they'll make a bunch of new friends in town and learn about all the different shops and services. Isn't that right you two?" With the room shaking violently and sensing Chatot's fear, the apprentices cried out in approval. With the shaking coming to a halt, Wigglytuff sniffled a bit before a smile returned to his face. "I hadn't thought about the friends you'll make in town! That's such a great idea Chatot." Letting out a sigh of relief, Chatot grinned. "Yep, no problem guildmaster. Like the guildmaster ordered, the two of you shall take today off and learn about Treasure Town." With that, Chatot left the room with his tail feathers still shaking.
"Okay, the second concern is about your explore kit. Since it was so late last night, I don't think we actually got to open it. Each kit is special in its own way since the contents change as it reacts to its owner. Just the very thought of what's inside made me excited last night and I couldn't sleep. So lets open it up and cure me of my insomnia!" Getting their kit, Kutty and Unshi both laid a paw on it. With Wigglytuff counting down, they stared at each other before looking back down towards the kit. Finally, the countdown reached zero and together they opened the kit to find a bright light filling up the room.
Reaching in, the first thing that Wigglytuff pulled out was a map. "First things first. All kits have this thing here called a wonder map. As you explore different places, the map automatically fills itself. That way, you have to actually go out and find the places yourself or have a nice friendly friend tell you directions to get there. The second thing that all kits have is this exploration badge. As you complete more jobs, the badge's rank will start to rise and you'll become more well known. You can also use it to teleport or rescue your friends and clients out of the dungeon. Finally there's the treasure bag. You can hold all sorts of neat things you find in dungeons inside here. If you do things that the exploration federation likes, then they will enlarge your bag a bit so you could hold even more items. With those out of the way, it's time to move onto the special items~." Taking the treasure bag out, Wigglytuff opened it and looked inside.
"Oh my", gasped Wigglytuff. "I've never seen a scarf like this." Pulling out a blackened piece of fabric, Wigglytuff threw it onto the ground and stared at it. "I...This...Chatot!", Wigglytuff cried. Rushing in again, Chatot looked at the guildmaster with worrisome eyes. "Yes? Is there something wrong?" Walking towards the group, he immediately saw the dark scarf and jumped back. "Is that... Where did this come from?" Wigglytuff pointed towards the treasure bag. Chatot grabbed the bag and dumped out the rest of the contents. There had been four more scarves that fell out from it, but one had been colored green.
"Four cursed scarves and a green bow", whispered Chatot. "Cursed scarves? What are those?", asked Kutty. "They are exactly what they are called. They contain within them a deep darkness that harms the wearer both physically and mentally. The exploration federation itself issued a notice that ordered all the owners of these abominations to immediately hand them over to be destroyed. How four of them ended up here is a mystery, but they must be burned." After putting the green bow back inside the bag, Chatot carefully gathered the scarves into a pile in the middle of the floor. Kutty then used her ember to set them ablaze. The flame glowed an eerie black before dying down. A small piece of a scarf fluttered down from the sky and landed in front of Kutty. Picking it up, she could feel something deep within that reminded her of her old life. Clutching her head, she felt herself zoning out as she entered a flashback.
'There were several pokemon who were trapped inside of cages that lined the walls of a cold, darkened room. Many of them had tired themselves out from trying to break the indestructible bars while others kept pushing their bodies past its limit in order to escape. Kutty herself was in one of these cages, and she too was tired from trying to escape. "Hey buddy, don't you give up on me", cried a voice coming from a cage next to hers. Looking up, she saw a familiar face looking down at her with concern. Remembering the little torchic as one of her childhood best friends, Kutty felt tears roll down her face. Cursing under her breath, she tried to stand back up but felt her body drained of energy. "Sorry Poishu. I'm afraid that I can't move my body anymore. Looks like you can't move either, but I appreciate the pep boost." A couple of minutes passed and suddenly a group strange figures soon entered the room. They each took an exhausted pokemon from their cage into another section of the room and as soon as a cage was emptied, another figure would come and place a newly captured pokemon into that cage. The pair of fire pokemon had been chosen and together they were led away.'
Returning to her senses, Kutty looked around to find herself back at Wigglytuff's room. "Where...", she began before collapsing onto her knees. "Are you alright?" cried Unshi. Shaking, Kutty nodded slowly before she found the strength to stand back up. "I just remembered something about my past after touching this small piece of a cursed scarf. Would you mind if I kept this with me?" Unsure, Chatot silently nodded and left the room pondering. "Well, that really was interesting", said Wigglytuff. "I feel bad for making you destroy your things, so I want you to take these things as a token of forgiveness." Rooting through one of his treasure trunks, Wigglytuff pulled out a pink bow and a reviver seed. Placing the items inside the bag, Wigglytuff dismissed them.
Entering the first floor of the guild, Unshi and Kutty were greeted by Vulpix and Clefairy. "Hey, I don't remember seeing you two come to bed last night. Where did you guys sleep?" Unshi asked. Vulpix replied with a yawn. "We didn't~", Clefairy cheerfully stated. "Chatot 'punished' us last night by making us clean this entire floor", mumbled Vulpix. "Clefairy here didn't suffer as much as me, since there was a full moon last night. She normally stays up whenever there's a full moon and tidies up the guild a little before going out to dance with her friends." Clefairy smacked the fiery fox on the back. "Yea, and because of you I wasn't able to do that last night." Arching his back in pain, Vulpix moaned with pain. "I'll be fine guys", he chuckled. "I just need to take a little nap. We actually went out early this morning and completed a whole bunch of jobs, so Chatot can't really yell at me." With that, Vulpix headed off towards the dorms.
"So the guildmaster gave you the day off to explore the town? Awesome! Since I have nothing else to do today, can I show you two around?", asked Clefairy. "Sure, we could use an experienced tour guide to help us", smiled Unshi. Together, the three pokemon headed towards Treasure Town. Unfortunately, the only places open that day had been Duskull bank, Kecleon shop, and Kangaskhan Storage. At the bank, the team managed to open up an account in their team's name. Duskull was pretty spooky at first, but once they got to know him they thought he was a witty sense of humor. Their next stop was Kecleon shop, but along the way they met a nice Ursaring couple talking to each other while a pair of Teddiursa played together. They also met a bouncing spoink and an excited vigoroth. When they reached the shop, they felt exhausted from all the talking.
"Ah, welcome to our fine establishment. We're the Kecleon brothers and we would be honored to show you our collection of goods. It's so great to see a couple of new faces around here and you both seem to be extremely nice and chatty. Well my brother and I both love to have good conversation, especially with other folk so..." After an hour passed, Kutty and Unshi managed to politely end the conversation and waved goodbye to the shopkeepers. They received an apple from the talkative brothers and though that now was a great time to take a small break. However, they passed Kangaskans Storage and decided to have one more conversation with the kind, old lady. "I haven't seen cute youngsters like you in a long while", beamed Kangaskan. "Why the last time was when the Teddiursa twins were born about three years ago, and the last time before that had been these two other apprentices. Oh those two bring back many fond memories. There was this one time..."
Thirty minutes passed. Then another. Soon the whole day seemed to quickly passed by. The elderly Kangaskhan had the group locked tightly with her amazing tales. In fact, Unshi's eyes glowed with enthusiasm as the tale of how the two former apprentices saved the world not once, but twice from the same enemy. These tales reminded him of his days attending the Nido teacher's history class. It made his insides boil with adventure. He even had to contain himself from leaping up with joy everytime she mentioned another amazing feat that they did. "...But then, about two years ago, the team suddenly disappeared while taking on a job request from an unknown source." Snapping back into reality, Unshi stared in shock.
"The inhabitants of our town were utterly crushed by the news and the guild almost destroyed itself trying to search for them. They weren't just legendary heroes. It was because they had been our unforgettable friends ever since they entered our lives. We all searched the world for an entire year, but in the end we couldn't find them." Tears rolled down the elderly pokemon's face. "One day, we all gathered around Sharpedo Bluff and cried. We remembered their legacy by retelling their adventure to the younger generation and hoped that they would retell it to other future generations. Our final deed to help preserve their memory was building them statues and placing it beside their home. If you want to see it, head to the west." Thanking Kangaskhan for her stories, the group followed the path that led to Sharpedo Bluff.
Standing in front of the sunset, they could see two expertly crafted statues made of silver. A plaque laid in front of the statues and described the two in detail. 'In honor of their heroic deeds and portraying both an unyielding wall of courage and an unlimited amount of bravery, we dedicate this memorial to Syndi the Squirtle and Mashu the Cyndaquil. These two pokemon will forever be remembered for their unique personalities and their friendly and outgoing attitude. Where ever you are now, just know that the pokemon of Treasure Town and others around the world will remember you, not just as heroes, but as unforgettable friends.'
Silently paying their respects, the group stared out into the ocean. From the beach below, they could see a family of krabby sending out bubbles that reflected the dropping sunlight and turning the scene into a marvelous display of beauty. They stayed there until the sun itself disappeared before heading back towards the guild. "Hey Kutty?", asked Unshi. "I don't know why, but deep down I feel something that tells me that they're still alive. When we're done with the guild's training, lets focus our efforts on finding them." Kutty felt the same way, and nodded her head. Clefairy only watched in silence, noticing something that radiated from their eyes. As they walked, the sounds of their bellies growling made them all smile. "Last one home is a stinking koffing!", Clefairy shouted as she dashed out ahead. Kutty and Unshi smiled at each other, before running off with the stars glowing brightly ahead of them.