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Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Worlds

Chapter 4

As the moon travels through the sky, the Totodile watches it through the window until it is no longer in view.He lets out a slow sigh as he rolls onto his back, lacing his fingers together on his chest. Some day, I'll be rid of the gangs for good, and this place can be a paradise for Pokemon again, just like in Dorin's stories.

Turning his head to the side, he smiles at his sleeping friend. I'll ask Lance tomorrow if he'd like to help me.

Sitting up in his bed, Moto looks outside again. He can see the shadows of the trees stretching out across the beach, and in the horizon over the ocean, the first rays of the morning sun have begun to show. After taking a deep breath, he slips out of bed.

Moto takes the sash off of its hook and concentrates on being as quiet as possible as he opens the cabin door, exits, then latches it shut. "Sleep well Lance, I'll be back later."

He strolls along the beach, kicking at the sand and occasionally using the sash to wipe clean his still leaking slit. "And he said it's gonna be doing that for a couple days? Jeez." He smirks, then faces the ocean and plops down on his rump.

The scars on his neck start itching, and Moto removes the bandana to scratch at them. Then he holds the cloth in his hands, examining it. He traces his fingers along the white patterns in it, imitating the sound of crashing waves as he does. "Dorin told me never to lose this, that it would mean something to me some day. I still don't know what he meant..." Shaking his head, Moto sighs and ties it back around his neck. "But if he didn't give it to me, how does he know if it's important or not?"

Getting to his feet, he makes sure the bandana is secure, then wades out into the water for a swim.

---

Lance awakens to sound of wood scraping on wood. "Moto?" He lifts his head, his ears twitching as the latch clicks into place. He tilts his head, watching the door. "Guess he couldn't sleep still."

Getting up, the Jolteon stretches, the pain in his leg spiking. "Uhg...why wasn't I more careful..?" He shakes his head, his ears slapping against it, and then he looks out through the window. "Almost morning."

With another stretch and a large yawn, the electric fox limps his way off of his cushion, the cast on his leg forcing him to hop with every step. Lance quickly finds that the cast has no grip on the wooden floor, and it slips out from under him. "Whoooaaa!!" He goes crashing into a pile of junk propped against the wall. Letting his breath out in a huff, he gets back up.

He jumps as something touches his leg. "What's this..?" He lowers his head, and finds a case has popped open, the cap wobbling to stop beside his paw. The case itself is as thick as Lance's neck and as long as his body. He pushes it with his nose. "It's heavy. Whatever's in there, They wanted it safe."

He looks back and forth, one eyebrow raised and smirk on his lips. "No harm in looking I guess." Picking up the cylinder with his teeth, Lance tries to climb onto Moto's bed, but it pops out of his mouth, forcing him to chase after it. Using his paw to assist, he finally succeeds. This should be high enough. He shakes his head, and a large rolled up piece of firm paper slides out of the tube and plops onto the floor. "Innerethging." He tilts his head, then hops down, setting the cylinder to the side.

"This should do." Picking up the water jug, he unrolls one edge of the paper, then sets it down.

Tilting his head as the poster is revealed, Lance blinks. "It's another map." He then uses the poster's case to hold it open at the other side. As his eyes wander over it, his ears perk forward, his eyebrows lifting. "So there's the beach and Moto's cabin there...and Lakethorn Oasis over there...and..." He draws his head back at an angle, one ear cocking to the side. "Well that's odd." He leans forward again and on the far western side of the map is a mountain with a circle drawn around it. Other markings are nearby. "That looks like it would take weeks to travel that far.

"And those," the Jolteon narrows his eyes at the other markings, "Are awfully precise." His paw traces over them. "C...O...I think that's an M..." He gasps. "This...this is human writing! C, O, M, E... Come... H, O... Come Home..." He sits up and then lets his back legs slip forward in front of him as he slides flat onto his rump. "Come home..."

A twinkle catches his eye, and he turns toward the bottom corner of the map. "What's that..?" There's a small metal piece bent into a hook, holding something to the poster on the back. Using a claw, Lance pulls it loose and slides it closer. It's white, and is similar in hardness to that of the poster. "More writing?" He traces each letter with his paw again. "W...E... L, O...V, E...'We Love...you...M, O, T...O'..." He blinks at it, then reads it again. "'We Love You, Moto'. No...no it can't be..." He shakes his head and tries again. "'We Love You, Moto'."

He takes a claw and flips it over. "There's gotta be more writing on this..." On the other side isn't lettering, but an image. "What are these..?" He slips the picture between two digits of his paw and holds it up. There's four creatures all standing together smiling, two taller ones in back with a hand on the each of the ones in front of them. Three of them have bare, pale skin on their faces and neck, fur on their heads, and wearing some kind of clothing over their shoulders. "Doesn't look soft enough to be fur..."

Contrasting the other three, the fourth, standing in front on the left, is covered with fur, no bare skin at all. Not counting its long, pointed ears, it's almost as tall as the one beside him. Blue fur covers its head with a black mask and a stripe running from the tip of its nose all the way up between its ears. "Its eyes are so red..." Its torso is a golden color, and a single spike pokes out of the middle of its chest. "I've never seen Pokemon like these before."

Then he goes back to examining the others. "So...no fur, except on their heads...walk upright, no claws..." He shakes his head, again quirking an ear to the side. "These...are humans..! They look just like my dad said! They're humans! The blue one isn't, but the rest are all humans!" He looks to the smaller one in the picture.

"What is that thing?" On the smaller human's head is some kind of plain yellow covering with a wide brim sticking out of the front, casting a shadow over his eyes. Were it not for a lower light source in the image, Lance wouldn't be able to make out the dark brown eyes beneath it. Hanging from his shoulders is a sky blue covering, and his arms stick out through the sides. "Oh, shirt! That's right." He traces the pad of a digit over the shorter human's shirt. "Why is this one so...familiar..?"

He sets the picture down on the floor and, leaning forward, he again squints his eyes. He tilts his head, craning his neck forward. "You...have got to be joking..." Around the short human's neck is a bandana: dark blue with foamy white accents. "That looks an awful lot like..."

---

Moto's eyes wander over the sky as the ocean waves carry him lazily about. The stars are slowly starting to fade as the sun continues to brighten the sky on the horizon, and the moon has already dropped behind the trees to the west.

He lifts his head as a large shadow flies over him. "That's the same one as before... What...is that..? I've never seen a bird so large before."

With a screeching cry, the shadow flaps its wings and then glides back toward the trees. Moto watches it until it disappears. "Huh." He shrugs.

"Well Ocean, thanks for trying to help me relax, but it's just not working this time..." He sighs, flips over onto his belly, then swims back to shore. Instead of heading home, he climbs up to the top of the cliff Lance used to get onto the ship. The Totodile sits down, hanging his feet over the edge.

Images of the Ursaring from his past flash through his mind. He closes his eyes. The bear, almost three times Moto's height, stands tall and proud. Dirt brown fur covers his body except for a large tan colored circle on his torso. The narrow black eyes remind Moto of the waning moon just days before the new cycle begins.

"Dorin..." He sighs, idly swinging his feet and touching the side of the cliff with his heels.

"Well, well, well... Long time no see."

Moto stands up. He turns around to greet his friend, only to see a black figure standing before him. "Who..?" The figure disappears as a flash of light blinds him, and in an instant, his body is wracked with pain. "GRAAAAH!!!"

---

Lance jumps to his feet, then rushes to the door. His teeth slip on the handle, unable to grip it in his haste. "Damn it, come on!" He presses on it with his nose until it finally clicks, and he bursts through the door. "MOTO!!! Moto, you gotta see this!!! Moto, where are you?!" Shaking his head, he looks around again. "He picked a hell of a time to take a walk...Moto!!!"

Lance's gaze darts all around until a flash on the cliff draws his attention. "A Discharge attack..?"

The fox's ears fold back, his eyes wide and his jaw dropping. "Moto...!" As fast as he can manage with his broken leg, Lance makes his way to the cliff.

He arrives at the precipice, his head jerking back and forth. "Moto..! I'm here, where are you?!" As he nears the edge, a crunch beneath his paw stops him. "Huh?" He looks down to see a piece of paper. "Footprint runes..?" He smooths it out and begins reading.

"We know you and the runt have gotten close. We've been watching you two, so there are no secrets here. All we ask is that you come to join us for a little game. One we think you'll enjoy. Or you can decline... I've never tasted roast Totodile before..." Only a single feline footprint, larger than the rest of the letter, serves as a signature. Another is sloppily stamped across the bottom. "Moto..."

Lance's breaths become fast and uncontrolled. "I was right... I got him into trouble... It's all my fault..." His teeth tingle, his body feels heavy. The Jolteon shakes his head, his brows furrowing and his fur bristling. He lets out a grinding rumble from deep in his throat. "There's... no reason...he had nothing to do with it... I won't... I won't let you keep him... No... NO! MOTOOOOO!!!"

His body crackles with electricity, and he glows a brilliant white as a thunderbolt reaches up to the sky, turning it yellow. The resounding clap echoes through the forest and sends flocks of Pidgey scattering from the trees. "VOLT! SCEPTILE!!! I'M COMING FOR YOU!!!"

Fueled by rage, the Jolteon runs into the woods at top speed, adrenaline coursing through his veins. His anger blinds him of his broken leg, the cast cracking and falling apart bit by bit. "I won't let them hurt you, Moto... I'll get you back..."