John could feel his backpack slipping off his shoulders. So that was how this was going to happen. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth because he had realized something. If the mugger was removing the backpack so slowly, their focus was on the backpack. At least, ideally. His fusion was fast enough for him to be too big and too strong for the jaws by the time they closed shut. But he couldn't go through with that, could he? He knew that fusion held the best odds of survival for him, but could he deal with the aftermath?

Suddenly he felt the mugger's grip on the backpack loosen. "You're lucky you look so pathetic, kid," came a girl's voice. He was being let go? Just like that? John let out a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding. He was tempted to think-shout Take that, Wrath! at his pokespirit, but that probably wasn't the best idea. He slowly turned his body to see his assailant and saw an older girl about an entire foot taller than him with a large mouth as a...ponytail? With some thought he recognized it as being similar to that of a pokemon once called Mawile. He didn't say a word as he watched the girl who seemed to watch him just as intently.

The young boy took slow steps back, not tearing his eyes away from this girl for even a second. That blood on her clothes was the sign of a killer, something that stood true for himself as well. He slowly and carefully stepped off to the side of the corner, his movements looking sometimes even exaggerated, and then instantly took off dashing to the main street in front of him. He couldn't keep waiting around anymore; he had to go somewhere. The question was where.

John was glad to be away from that girl, but he couldn't risk another encounter with someone like that, or a second encounter with her. But in this city what was stopping them? Think, think...where in this world of thieves and murderers can you find a place where you'd be protected? Then it hit him. Prophet Lucy's movement! If he pretended to join, they would offer protection to their "comrade" and he'd be safe until they left the city, at which point he could just run away when they slept! It was genius! For a moment, he was grateful that Wrath wasn't all that mouthy or else the spirit would criticize his plan to no end.

Now to put his plan into action. He had to act fast because the group was already on their way outside the city. "Hey, wait! I wanna join your cause too!" He ran after the group, struggling to catch up with the sounds of the various trinkets in his backpack clinking and clanking against each other with every step trailing after. Eventually he made it to the rest of the children, gasping for air as he observed each one. Honestly he expected more children for such an undertaking. Maybe each one was super strong? On second thought, probably not considering Lucy's recruiting methods. Either way, these would be his traveling companions for the rest of the day. He wasn't used to traveling with people, but as long as he could escape before anything serious happened then he supposed he didn't have to worry.

---

John listened to Lucy's tale. In this relative safety he was able to listen to her calmly and actually pay attention this time. It was just like a story in a book: a band of misfit young heroes sets off on an adventure to stop a great evil that threatens all life as we know it. Sure he didn't want any part in it but that didn't make it any less fascinating. Even so, the part that mattered most to him was "I have a feeling it's going to take a lot longer than one afternoon to find and stop them." That reassured him that his hastily-concocted plan might actually work.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly until suddenly an explosion happened in the distance, drawing everyone's attention. They all stared, John included, but the first to speak out about it was the loud girl from before. O-something. Ooooooo...riana, yes! Apparently she was separating from the group to bury the dead bodies from the explosion and to kill every BoA member there, or so she said. That's when John realized that it would be much easier to escape one person than a whole group of people. For all he knew, someone in the bigger group was host to a nocturnal spirit or one what was simply sleepless.

"I wanna come with you!" John shouted, just like when he asked to join the group. He figured that the explosion was far enough away for him to have a few chances to escape, so he didn't see any harm in going through with this tangent off of his original plan. He walked beside Oriana trying to look eager for adventure. Although it seemed it would remain a smaller group, John sincerely wished nobody else would join them on their trip.
​

​

Luke had been keeping company with Harry during their short walk. A short while later some kind of explosion happened which which made the whole group turn back. That girl Oriana decided to go and examine some bodies over there while some thin, weedy, half starved kid who nobody had seen before decided to follow her.

"What do you think about that?" Luke asked.

"Just a minor explosion. Might have something to do with the Bane of Arceus. Would suggest not go there as whoever caused the explosion will probably still be there." Harry murmured. Luke decided to stop asking questions. He had heard what Lucy had said. Both of them and the rest of the party just walked straight on.





​

A city of low population, a clothing shop and a thirteen year old who can't keep track of time, Emily was trying on clothes in Lumiose City's boutique, way off in the Kalos region. Most of the population had moved to more agricultural areas of the region, so Lumiose was rather bare and Emily had otherwise free reign. Sometimes kids came along or she passed them by, and Emily brought them with her to Mt Coronet so they could get their own Pokémon spirit. They either came back, or stayed in Sinnoh. Sometimes she took Lucy to the regions she'd been to, but with her being some kind of savior it wasn't easy getting time together.

Enjoying herself as she put on and took off hats and tried on the clothes the boutique had to offer in her size, Em. started thinking more about Lucy. She was planning on doing something today... something about Arceus' Bane. For a moment, she let the thoughts slide. Ketsu, her Pokémon spirit, had slipped through Arceus' watch; Hailey would have probably made the same slip-up. Emily didn't have personal survival to worry about. That might have been a good enough reason to stay out of the way a year or two ago, but she had friends now. Lucy was her adopted big sister and Amy her junior, and Lucy's misfit troupe had been a family despite all the problems her Pokémon spirit caused. They wouldn't have been exempt.

So help she was to do, starting with following Lucy in her quest to save the world. Maybe they could bring Amy around the world with them when everything was finished. They could use some theme music, too. Em. blinked once, and saw the boutique; she blinked again, and she was in the air, mere feet away from her sister. Then she fell on her.

"Hey, Lucy.~"

At least she didn't end up in her stomach again.
​

​

Harry was surprised when Lucy announced that they would be checking out the lake. Grumbling that he was wrong.

He and the party then headed towards the lake. It started raining all of a sudden. Lucy shouted saying that the rain was poisonous. Harry quickly covered himself with the metal armor and covered his eyes just to be safe.




​

"You?" Oriana asked confused, "But you're so small and frail looking." She looked him over, "Tiny and breakable looking." She wondered if he could even dig a hole.

If he is willing to go with us, he must want to see you an action. Blaziken said, Why else would such a wimpy boy offer to join us?

Like an apprentice? He could watch and admire me while I fight! Oriana nodded her head and smiled with excitement, "Ok smalls, you and me can take on the big explosion. I hope you learn from me like I learned from Spark!" She was ready to go at that moment, anybody who joined her would be just stealing her thunder.

John wondered about this girl. After saying redundancies she decided that he is now her apprentice. However, she seemed fun and having a teacher might not be that bad an idea. Maybe she'd even be able to teach him how to control Wrath! Oh wait... he'd probably end up trying to kill her if he fused anywhere near her, and now he especially didn't want to kill her. While her words had initially brought a smile to his face, his thoughts quickly manipulated it into a sad frown followed by a sigh.

He realized that this reaction might make her worried about him, which in turn would make her keep a closer eye on him, so he tried to smile once again. However, he was still a novice at the art of fake smiles and didn't exactly do a good job. "I'd like that," he said softly as opposed to the enthusiastic way he'd shouted after her. "Oh, and you can call me Corpse." Faking emotions was really hard work, so John quickly returned to the blank expression he usually wore and started walking.

"Corpse?" Oriana repeated, "I don't like it, I bury too many of those all the time." She shook her head, "That kind of name sounds like you are already dead. Why not call yourself something awesome like The Sun!" She cycled through names in her head, though she wasn't sure what his spirit was, so she couldn't think of a good name for him.

John didn't respond and simply continued walking. He thought about Oriana's habit of burying corpses. John hadn't buried a single one, even those of his parents. Why hadn't he though? He thought it was because there wasn't a reason to, but it would keep others from eating them. Time wouldn't exactly be an issue because Wrath could take care of any potential predators. Although, he wasn't strong enough to bury a corpse on his own and he'd probably try to eat them if he was fused with Wrath.

He stared down pensively, reflecting over it before he decided to change the subject in his mind. Was the name "The Sun" really better than the name "Corpse"? The sun gave life and warmth, but it was really just a big burning ball of gas. Was there anyone who could really relate to either of those things? Maybe a mother who was a fire spirit wielder, or a kind healer. But Corpse related to everyone. According to his mother, at least. Besides that, it was pretty much synonymous with his actual name.

John looked up at Oriana and was about to say, "I like Corpse better," but relented. Instead, he faced forward again and continued in silence. He couldn't be making friends, especially when he planned to just leave. It would be even worse if someone ended up getting attached to him to the point of wanting to go with him. Then he wouldn't be able to fuse at all and they would both die. He groaned internally, wondering how some villains in books could pull off fake emotions so easily. That would make his situation much easier.

"Well it makes ya sound dead, which would be a real shame." Oriana pulled her knife out and began opening and closing it. "Does that look like rain?" She said suddenly, looking up at the sky. A droplet fell on her forhead and she could feel how different it was. "Hey Sun, any idea about this rain? I feel like it ain't natural at all."

John was surprised to see it suddenly raining, but it was indeed more than rain. It seemed to... sting a little, even, as it sat on his skin long enough. Distracted by the strange rain, he momentarily forgot his vow of silence and even the fact that he had just been called "Sun" and spoke. "It feels more like a pokespirit attack than normal rain to me." Although as uncomfortable as it was, it wasn't really more than a minor disturbance. His trained ears caught onto something else, though, that was more than that. A big problem. He turned to see that Lucy and the rest of the group had decided to follow. Farther behind, probably avoiding contact with the main group, he noticed something even stranger.

Is that... me?! Indeed, he saw a copy of himself walking behind, out of the group's sight. Who would do such a thing? Who could? He was aware of a Pokemon once known as "Ditto" that had such a power, but he didn't know anyone who wielded one. A quick head count revealed it was someone outside the group, though. As mysterious as this was, though, the bigger problem was Lucy's group. Their presence made it impossible to sneak away. He sighed. It seemed he would be staying with the main group a little longer...

Suddenly, things started happening extremely quickly. They arrived at the lake to find only a ghostly-looking boy locked in one-sided combat with the rabbit girl from before with him being the one side winning. Lucy intervened before what would have been a death blow for the girl only to he struck herself. Then, for no reason, the boy seemed to vanish. It was all very strange and made little sense. One thing that John managed to gather was that if this was indeed like certain stories then that would mean that this boy was the "big bad" of the tale. Powerful and enigmatic whose motives and possibly past would be revealed over the course of the story. Either that, or he was the big bad's second in command, meant to look like the big bad until he is defeated, at which point the true big bad reveals himself. Either way, he meant trouble for Lucy and the group, which (hopefully not much longer) also meant him.

With another sigh, John motioned to rejoin the group. He wasn't very eager to become involved any further, because eventually in these stories everyone would have to fight, and if he had to fight then everyone would die, or he would die. And that would be no good. However, a more childish part of him deep down was excited to be going on a novel adventure of his own for once.

They walked on and eventually found the entrance to what he assumed was The Underground. The young girl who was supposedly Lucy's adopted daughter offered to heal anyone, but it didn't really seem like anyone besides the bunny girl and Lucy herself needed any healing. He looked for Oriana for a moment wondering if she needed any help since it was entirely possible that someone as battle-hungry as her was in a fight before the group set off on their journey and was wounded. It didn't seem like too much of a stretch to assume that she would stoicly hide the wound. Or even that she would just not even realize she had sustained any.

Oriana had ignored the boy's motion, intent on getting to the village. She had neglected to follow the group into the cave, "If you guys want to hide from a little rain, then fine!" She yelled, continuing on. The rain was not even touching her anymore, as she was burning hot enough that the droplets turned to steam when they got near. "Stupid aprentice, shoulda just stayed with me." She mumbled walking on. "I could just kill whoever caused the explosion myself, then whoever started this rain, and then whoever was at that lake." She was significantly annoyed, and was also feeling a bit odd.
​