The Guardian Ch. 3

The festival was everything I had envisioned. People were walking around in kimonos. Lovely smells of food filled the air coming from colorful stalls. The first stall I saw was selling masks. I walked over to it while Charlot and Roch took off in another direction. I saw one that was some sort of red eastern demon and grabbed that one, putting it on my face.

“Ah, so you want that one,” the stall keeper said.

I nodded.

“Then it’s five dollars.”

I have him the money and walked around, looking for Charlot and Roch. I found them at another stall getting some takoyaki. I stood there with my arms crossed as Roch grabbed his food. He turned and saw me.

“Baah,” I shouted striking a fearsome pose.

He screamed and fell on his butt. Everyone around started laughing at us. The lady in line behind him went over to help Roch up. I took off the mask, putting it onto the side of my head.

“Y-You jerk,” Roch said, pointing a finger at me. “You gave me a heart attack!”

I just gave him a cheeky grin. Roch started fuming then Charlot put his hand on his shoulder.

“Calm down,” He said. “It’s a festival, remember?”
“I know,” Roch said then poked me in the chest. “I’ll be challenging you to a match later for this, y’know.”
“Okay,” I said.

I turned to see the butcher guy running a stall with cotton candy. I made it from one stall to that one in record time.

“Ah, new guy,” He said, “Want some cotton candy?”
“Eh, eh,” I said, bouncing up and down.

He seemed to work some kind of magic to gather up that fluffy pink stuff onto a stick.

“Hurry up, we’re going to be late,” I heard a girl say as soon as the butcher handed me my cotton candy.

I was knocked down, throwing my cotton candy in the air. I sat up, rubbing my head. A girl with long blonde hair was staring up at me. Another boy my age came running up to us.

“Marjo, I swear to God,” He yelled.

This girl didn’t seem to pay any sort of mind to that guy, but instead was completely transplexed by me. I scooted out from underneath her, getting up. I was brushing myself off when she came to.

“Eh? Ah! I’m so sorry,” She shouted.
“Geez, would it kill you to watch where you’re going,” the boy said, scratching the back of his head.
“Can it, Pons,” she said, “Let’s go!”

She grabbed him by the wrist and they took off again. I sighed and looked at the butcher. He handed me my cotton candy back. I bowed.

“Those two are Marjolaine and Pons,” He said. “They’ve known each other for years.”
“Ah,” I said, biting into my cotton candy.
“Ed, stop wandering off,” Roch said, “I swear, you have ADD or something. Are you done goofing off now? Now come, we’re going to miss the opening speech.”

A bunch of people gathered around a stage that was in the middle of the road. Everyone was talking but suddenly got quiet. I felt such a strong presence coming from one person. It felt so warm and calm. I could feel such strength run through my body. An old man walked onto the stage.

“Oh my, what a turn out we’re having,” He said.

My stomach started turning knots. I wasn’t the one who was standing on stage. Why would I feel like this, then?

“So, um, welcome to the fifth annual Atmora Village festival! We’re a fast growing community and in this past year alone we’ve more than doubled the amount of villagers.”

Everyone cheered. I could feel the energy of the crowd flowing through me. It was so much that I felt like I was about to explode. It always seemed to happen in large crowds such as this. The old man clutched his head, cringing in pain. When the audience calmed down, he continued.

“But we’re still ever growing. We need to work harder so that one day soon we can call this place a town. Let’s try our best to get this place noticed so that those Pokemon Rangers will finally have to accept that we’re not just some dumb cult and we are actual living breathing people!”

People started to mummer amongst themselves. I have no idea what a Pokemon Ranger is, but if these guys pissed them off, then perhaps this place isn’t as squeaky clean as I first thought it was.

“And now, our founder, Riley Hickleson!”

People started going wild when the elder cut everyone off.

“No! Stop that! You’re making me go crazy!”

Instead, everyone felt awkward as Riley took the stage. His eyes scanned the crowd. He waved his arms back and forth a bit, tugging at his collar. He took a deep breath before speaking.

“I felt alone in this world due to my abilities, but after meeting another person like me I’ve come to realize I’m not alone in this world. I’m sure we’ve all felt like that at one point. Knowing this has made me so proud that year after year, people are starting to realize they’re not alone. Every day we learn something new about our abilities. Maybe one day in the future we can find a way to use our powers in our daily lives. Maybe we can make new discoveries that other people can’t. And this is why it’s such an honor and a privilege to hold this festival. It’s not for my sake, but for the sake of our past and our future!”
“We love you, man,” The guy next to me shouted.

He raised an eyebrow and pointed at him.

“Charles, stop that,” He said. “And now we’ll begin with the talent show you’ve all been waiting for!”

I wasn’t particularly interested in this “talent” show so I started wondering around again. I ended up buying a bunch of festival food and sat down at a picnic table. Just as I was about to put a takoyaki in my mouth, Marjo came and sat down across from me.

“Hi there,” Marjo said, “You’re a new face. What’s your name?”
“Eh,” I said.
“C’mon let’s go,” her friend said, grabbing her by the wrist. “We don’t need to associate with guys like him.”
“Pons! He’s new! Don’t try to scare him away! We need more people in this village,” Marjo said, pulling away.

I scratched my ear with my pinky as Pons glared at me.

“We’re growing too fast,” he said. “At this rate we’ll run out of space to house everyone! Ever since the Rangers had the wall built, they’ve completely stunted our growth! We’re barely going to have enough room to build the things we need to in order for us to become a town! We need to think about ourselves first, Marjo.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Look, you,” Pons said, pointing a finger at me, “You best get out of here. We don’t have anything to offer a pretty boy like you.”

I shrugged. Fine with me. I wasn’t planning on staying here long after the festival was over anyway. Marjo smacked Pons in the arm. Pons backed away when she went after him again. She chased him around with the intent of causing him some serious harm. When they went past me I held up my arms, blocking Marjo from attacking her friend. She stared at me, bewilded while Pons got away.

“Hmph,” I said, readjusting one of my necklaces.
“That guy can be a real pain, y’know,” Marjo said, stroking her hair, “Say, they’re going to announce the winners of the talent contest. You should come with me and see it.”
“Um,” I said, rubbing the back of my neck.

I was planning on going to bed.

“After that, we’re going to have a fighting tournament,” she said, holding up her fists.

Sleep can wait; this is a great opportunity for showing off 5 years of learning how to use my powers combined with training with The Son of Jack Daniels! I nodded and she smiled.

“Come on, it’s this way,” She said, grabbed me by the wrist and dragged me back over to the stage.

I didn’t know nor cared who won that contest. I sighed, looking around at all the stalls. Some of the people running them were already packing up. Well, I suppose it was getting rather late. Marjo grabbed me and told me if I wanted to join the tournament, I had to sign up for it. She led me to a table by the stage where people were in line.

I scratched my head trying to figure out why anyone would care where I came from. I wrote down Kanto since that was the place I was found at by Seviper. I grinned thinking about that meeting where Seviper saved me from those beedrill. I looked around for him and my heart sank to my stomach, when all I saw were strangers.

It took a few minutes to figure out the match ups. I took the time to grab some soda and sat against the wall. From as far as I can remember, I’ve only truly known my friends. I wouldn’t be alive it weren’t for them. Now I’m slowly realizing how useless I am without them. They’re the only ones who can explain to others what I mean. Eventually, if I stay here long enough, the villagers will start to understand me, but now I’m struggling.

I understand now that I do in fact have emotions, but I wasn’t sure what this one would be called. My stomach was turning just thinking about being in an unfamiliar place without someone that knows just how useless I am by myself.

“Hey, what’s up,” Roch said. “You don’t look so well. Are you nervous about the tournament?”

I shook my head.

“Because you know that if you don’t have enough confidence going into this, you’re just going to get your ass kicked.”

I know that. It’s one the first things Jack taught us.

“Really, what’s wrong? I can sense that you’re really not doing all that well. Almost like you’re lonely or something.”

I looked up at him, trying to sparkle my eyes. I’m not the only one who can really tell when someone’s in a bad mood?

“There’s no need to feel lonely,” Roch said, “You’re leaving tomorrow, right?”
“Eh.”
“So, you’ll see your friends then. You know that being lonely is just a result of how much you care about them.”

I smiled. I didn’t really think of it that way.

“Well, then. Let’s get going! You can’t lose before facing off against me!”
“Eh,” I said with determination.

“It’s time for our battle tournament,” Riley announced. “Rules are simple: Use whatever it takes to either pin your opponent for five seconds or knock them off the stage! For our first round it’s newbie Ed vs. Marjoline. So, give it up for both of them!”

I looked around for this Ed person.

“Are you going or not,” Roch said, shoving me.
“Oh,” I said, realizing I was this Ed person.

When I got on stage, Riley pulled me over, telling me where I was supposed to be. There were a ton of people gathered around the stage, eager to see me beat the shit out of someone else. Marjo got up on the other side.

“Not afraid of hitting a girl, are you,” she said.

I flipped my hair, motioning her to bring it on. Jack always told me not to be afraid of hitting girls while we practiced fighting each other. Unfortunately, I never got to practice fighting girls. I shifted my body to the side, holding an arm up and the other down. She held up her fists.

“Are you two ready?”
“Ready.”
“Eh.”
“Go!”

She threw two aura spheres at me. I blocked one with my arm and kicked the other back at her. She dodged. I ran up to her, throwing an aura sphere. I was too close for her to dodge. She fell down. I didn’t give her time to breathe. I kicked her in the side and she fell off the stage.

“That was fast,” Riley shouted. “First round goes to Ed!”

The crowd cheered for me. Marjo stood up, clutching her side. I bent down to shake her hand in a friendly gesture. She was willing to accept defeat gracefully.

“Alright, let’s continue on with our second match! It’s Jacques vs. Roch!”

I stretched as I left the stage. I hope all my matches weren’t as easy. Perhaps Jack has rubbed off me in a way. It’s a shame he wasn’t here. He would have joined the tournament in a heartbeat.

“You’re pretty good,” Marjo said. “Where’d you learn how to fight like that?”

I pulled up my sleeve and flexed what little bicep I had. It was what I used to refer to Jack.

“Oh, you’re a natural talent,” She asked. “Wow, that’s amazing! You might be strong enough to beat Riley!”

I sighed. It’s hard to talk to people when you don’t talk.

I hung around the stage watching other people battle. Most people kept their distance, shooting aura spheres at each other. However, Pons was different. He got up close to his opponents so that aura sphere would be useless and made them exchange in hand to hand combat. From then it wasn’t long until he pinned the other guy and held him there for five seconds. The guy next to me nudged me and said I might be able to go toe to toe with him. I smirked, taking it as a compliment.

My next match was against Charlot. I was more eager for round two since I had already seen his fighting style and got my ass handed to me the first time.  Charlot took off his shirt, reviling his awesomely muscular body. I took off my shirts hoping I’d at least scare him by blinding him.

“Ready? Start!”

Charlot charged at me. I leaned forward, tucking my head in. He collided with my shoulder and I tried to flip him over. Instead, he fell to the side. I came down onto him with an aura sphere. He blocked it with his hands.  He grabbed me and pulled me down while throwing an aura sphere.

“Aguh!”

It hit me right between my chest and neck. I stumbled backwards. He jumped up, hitting me with another aura sphere. I fell to my knees. He came at me, bombarding me with aura spheres. I tried to block them all with my arms. When I looked up, I realized I had somehow made a shield. I didn’t have time to think because it disappeared and Charlot came at me again. I got to my feet. He roared while using both hands to form an aura sphere. I ran at him and smacked up against him with my shoulder.  I knocked him to the ground. I started to pant while he got back up.

We both stood there, waiting for each other to make a move. I swung at him. He blocked my arm and stuck me in the stomach. I fell down, gasping for air. I closed my eyes to see what he was doing. He was standing over me, aura spheres forming in his hands. I swirled around, using my leg to knock him down. I got up, still trying to catch my breath. I tried to come down on him with my heel, but he rolled out of the way. He got up and threw an aura sphere at me. I took a step back, throwing my arms in a circle to block it. I almost lost my balance, falling off the stage. Charlot grinned. He charged at me. I stepped to the side and he fell off. The crowd caught him.

“What an awesome fight,” Riley said. “This round goes to Ed!”

The crowd cheered for me. I flipped my hair and bowed. I grabbed my clothes and walked off the stage. Charlot came up to me and we shook hands.

“You’re pretty good,” he said then laughed. “I was an idiot for trying to just charge at you like that. I ended up doing myself in. We should battle again sometime.”
“Eh,” I said, holding up a hand.

Twice was enough for me. I spent time waiting for the next round checking to make sure I wasn’t terribly injured. I had a few bruises, but nothing serious. I had really worked up a sweat that match. A nice cool shower sounds nice after this is over.

Roch fell to Pons in the next match. After that, I battled a guy who relied on luring others to the other side of the stage so that he could easily toss them aside. I stayed at my side, throwing aura spheres at him.  He was as thin as I was, so he didn’t have the stamina to keep going for long. He eventually fell and all I had to do was pin him.

I didn’t have time to rest because the next round was the final one. Pons stood at the other end of the stage with his arms folded.

“You think you can beat me, Gorgeous,” He taunted.

I flipped my hair in response since, face it, I’m about as imitating as a puppy. It’s not like I can be offended by being called beautiful either because, damn, I am fine.

“You two ready for the final round,” Riley asked.
“Yep.”

I gave Riley a thumbs up.

“Now, begin!”

Pons threw aura spheres at me. I blocked them all with my hands. He frowned when he realized that I wasn’t going to fall as easily as the others. I started shooting aura spheres back at him, getting closer to him. He blocked them all as well. I grinned. He wasn’t going to be easy to beat as well. He came up to me. He tripped med with his foot while I was trying to dodge him. He threw an aura sphere at me.

“Gwah!”

I rolled over to my side, clutching my stomach in pain. I got kicked in the face and the next thing I knew, Pons was on top of me, trying to pin me down. I used an aura sphere to knock him away. I got up, cringing in pain. I could feel blood running down my nose. Pons was on me, trying to strike me with his palm. I grabbed his arm and threw him over my back. I used an aura sphere to smack him in the face. His head flopped to the side. I grabbed his arm, rolled him onto his stomach and held him there. He automatically came up with his elbow and hit me in the jaw. He grabbed me by the necklace, pulled me down and head-butted me. I tried to regain control, but he shoved me and I fell. He shoved my shoulder to the ground and the last thing I remember was him rolling his hand into a fist and the small gasp I let out as his knuckles came down onto my face.