[Pokémon] Follow Me to the Wall of Death

[IggyKoopa]

Follow Me to the Wall of Death​

Summary: A hunter-gatherer and the protégé of a rescue guild whose members can barely make enough to eat. These two pokémon end up being thrown into a fiery inter-guild conflict that can only end in disaster.

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Chapter 1: Off the Beaten Track​

I pulled the hood of my cloak further over my head to protect me from the rainfall while I hauled my bag through the forest. My home wasn't far off - something which I was rather thankful for, as those two items of cloth were becoming increasingly waterlogged with every passing second. I kept my head down, stepping around the puddles that were collecting on the ground - puddles that were soon to become a mess of mud.

I approached my 'home' - it was really just a cave, but it was good enough for a hunter-gatherer like myself. I could hear the sound of rushing water from the nearby waterfall; a sound that I had long since associated with this place. The mouth of the cave was obscured by the branches of a couple large trees, and just as I was about to brush them aside, a rustling of leaves caught my attention and made the spines on my head stand on end. It wasn't a rustling caused by wind – rather, it sounded distinctly like another pokémon. I stopped in place, staring in the direction of the sound.

"Uh... hi?" a voice meekly said, its sound barely audible over that of the waterfall and the rain. Its owner emerged from a shadow - a mawile, looking about as timid as the tone of his voice suggested. I said nothing, still sizing him up, which prompted him to continue. "...Do you live here?"

"Yes," I responded, my voice as low-key as his. After a moment, having determined that the mawile wasn't a threat, I swept the branches aside and began to step forward. Then, without thinking: "Do you need shelter from the rain?

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I set my now-soaked bag and cloak down on the floor and walked over to my pile of dry branches, beginning to build a fire. With us both inside, I was becoming more comfortable making conversation. "So, how did you find this place?"

"I... um..." He struggled to come up with anything for a long moment, before: "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to come across it, I just found it while I was walking and I..."

He trailed off, and I stood in place, staring at him. Did I really come off as that intimidating...? I'm a chespin, for god's sake, I'm practically the least menacing pokémon around!

"...It's not a problem," I managed to get out. "I just wasn't expecting to come across anyone friendly, is all."

"Ah, yes... there have been more and more dangerous pokémon around lately, huh...?"

I had no response, so I grabbed my bag and tossed it in his direction. "Here," I said, "I have some berries. Don't eat them all. You can stay here until the storm passes."

"Wait, really?! You're just gonna let me eat your food?"

"Sure," I said, keeping my voice just as level as I had been throughout the entire conversation. "That's why I told you not to eat all of it." Then another thought crossed my mind: "What's your name, anyway, kid?"

"Roy. And you?"

"Luke."

"Well then," he said, extending a hand to me with a bright smile on his face, "It's nice to meet you!"

I hesitated. Friends... he didn't outright say it, but it was clear that he was implying it, and... I didn't really have any friends. I lived in isolation, after all, and I was content that way, being happy in the company of myself.

Regardless, I shook his hand and made a noise resembling that of acknowledgment, if only out of politeness.

"So , uh... you need help with the fire?"

"No, I'm fine." I began to walk toward my pile of stuff - pretty much the only man-made things I owned. "I have some firestarters to do the job for me." Never mind that matches would suffice, but when there are items made specifically for the purpose of starting fires, they're worth having.

After setting off the starter, I watched as the flame migrated from the kindling to the firewood and began radiating heat. I sat down a few yards from it and my new 'friend' Roy sat next to me.

"I've been wanting to join a rescue team for some time..."

Well, that was unprompted. I braced myself for the incoming life story as he continued speaking.

"I've been doing some odd jobs around the local rescue guild lately - unpaid, of course, because they really can't afford to pay me - but with the way they have the teams set up, they can't put me on one without it being a huge pain in the neck for everybody! Basically the only thing I can do is wait for someone else to join solo, which ain't gonna happen any time soon."

I had nothing to say, so I ended up just making another grunt of acknowledgment. He turned to face me and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry! Didn't mean to lay it all on you like that. I just needed to set my thoughts straight, y'know?"

"Oh, no, it's fine," I responded in spite of myself. Silence took over, and we were left watching the fire and eating as I organized my thoughts for the near future.

"What about you?" Roy then said, out of the blue.

"Huh?"

"Well, clearly you have good survival skills to be living alone out here; that alone makes you a really valuable rescuer. And, no offense, but... you don't look like you have a whole lot to leave behind. You'd be perfect in the rescue guild!"

"I, uh..." I hadn't considered the thought before. Sure, I was quite capable, but I wasn't a fan of having company, and being in a rescue team would be a big commitment-

"Roy? You in there?" This was a new voice - a female one - and my quills instantly pricked up. This time, two pokémon showed up: a lucario and a blue-eyed mawile, the latter of whom carried a sword in a sheath strapped to their back. The one bearing the sword prepared to draw it, but Roy, sensing the tension, stepped in between us.

"Hold up!" he yelled. "He's friendly and they're friendly! You don't need to fight!"

"Well, okay then," I said as we both stood down. "I suppose it's only right for me to let you in out of the rain as well." I turned to Roy. "Friends of yours?"

"People from the guild. These two are actually the toughest fighters and are part of a four-person team, but they often split up for smaller jobs like..."

"...Like looking for you after you take hours running a simple errand?" the blue-eyed one finished.

"I, um, I'm sorry, I-"

"Nah, I'm kidding. I totally get it; the storm slowed you down, you found a place to take shelter. It's fine, really!" She then turned to me. "I'm Eva, and this," she gestured to the lucario, "is Devon."

"Uh, nice to meet you," I said, still rather blindsided by their sudden appearance. "I'm Luke."

"Anyway," Devon spoke up, "As much as we'd all like to stay in here and wait for the rain to pass, we really should get going before Charizard starts worrying about us as well. And so as to not intrude on this chespin here either."

"Okay..." Roy said, seeming none too thrilled to have to go back outside.

"Wait," I said, just as they were preparing to leave. "I'm coming with you. To the guild."

Roy's eyes lit up. "Wait, does that mean you're-"

"Yeah. I'm joining the rescue guild. You've convinced me."

Devon smiled. "Well then. I imagine Charizard will be pleased to have a new recruit. Come on, let's go."

After a couple minutes spent putting out my fire, we were on the proverbial road, with me following the two rescuers through the territory that was oh so familiar to me. And although I was expecting Roy to excitedly inform me of every facet of the guild, he actually kept quiet, preferring to 'let me find out on my own.'

After a good amount of time spent walking, our destination came into view. It was a reasonably simple wooden building sitting on top of a hill with nothing else around. The air around it stood still, and the building itself looked almost vacant, even abandoned. Nevertheless, it seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary to the other three, so I simply followed their lead, walking into the guild hall that would undoubtedly mark the beginning of a new chapter in my life.

How exciting.

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Author's Note: Alright, you're getting this on a slightly later schedule than FF.net gets, for no reason other than "I forgot to post it here." Updates might be kinda sporadic since my buffer is a lot shorter than I had planned it to be, but whatever.

Also, just as a heads up, the story isn't gonna be anywhere nearly as edgy as the title suggests :P​