The Guardian Ch. 6

Josue seemed embarrassed talking about his tale. Apparently, it happened while at work. He saw the eyes and felt the urge to kill the others. He chased after one of the more gruff looking men with his ax, causing him to scream like a girl. Some of the guys snickered, recalling the event, but Josue wasn’t amused. He eventually calmed down when Charlot grabbed him from behind and refused to let him go.

After Josue was done with his story, another man chipped in with his story. He said he couldn’t say what he did, but he did confirm the glowing red eyes as well.

I thanked everyone for telling me what I needed to know and they were grateful I was helping out the town. Lucario lead the way to where Roch was. He and a few ladies were going around berry bushes, picking berries from them. There was an Ursaring hanging out with them. One of the ladies held out her hand with a berry in it to the Ursaring. The Ursaring sniffed the berry, and then ate it.

“Is it delicious,” She asked.

The Ursaring nodded.

“Ah, it’s Ed,” Roch shouted, waving his arm around. “Come to help pick berries? Good, I’m surrounded by pussies here!”

One of the girls didn’t take kindly to that and threw an aura sphere at him. He jumped out of the while the other girls giggled. Someone gave the girl a high five.

“Eh,” I said, handing the journal to him.
“Oh, you were asking around about the weird thing going on,” Roch asked. “You were there, weren’t you?”

I pouted, puffing my cheeks at him. Roch poked me in the cheeks, making me lose my air.

“Okay, I’ll talk. Let’s go over here first.”

Roch took off his bag full of berries and put them on the ground. He took out a water bottle and took a long drink from it.

“Gosh, it’s hard working out here in the heat,” Roch said, wiping his brow. “You’re all sweaty too, aren’t you? What have you done today except walk around bothering others while they work?”

I looked down at my shirt. Sure enough, it was completely soaked. I reached for Roch’s water bottle and he jerked away, looking offended.

“But I guess it goes to show how hot it is today. It might even be hotter than it was yesterday.”
“Eh,” I said point to the journal.
“What? Can’t we socialize?”

I shook my head.

“Boy, you’re no fun. So, me and Charlot were looking for a new place to grow berries and I found one, and then I heard some laughter. I saw you guys playing in the river. And I think I saw a pair of evil eyes, but I might have imagined it.”

Roch was looking over my shoulder like he was looking at something. I turned, but saw nothing.

“Um, Charlot already told you this, didn’t he? Sorry, I’m wasting your time then, because I don’t remember nothing after that.”
“Eh, eh,” I said, holding up my hands.
“Well, I need to get back to picking berries. This village isn’t going to feed itself.”

We waved to each other as he grabbed his bag and went back to the nearest bush to pick the berries off of it.  I turned to the side and almost ran into Lucario. It stared at me in confusion, tilting its head.

“Hey, there, David, watcha doing,” A smooth and deep sexy voice said right behind my ear.

I screamed, jumping about fifty feet in the air. I formed an aura sphere ready to strike whoever it was that snuck up on me. It was James, cackling madly. I growled in disapproval.

“Ah, that was good,” James said, slapping his knee. “No, but really, what are you doing here?”

I gave him the journal.

“January first: Jack’s dad said it would be a good idea for me to-“

I snatched the journal from him and turned it to the right page. He read all that I had written down in silence.

“I see. You’re trying to solve some sort of mystery in this town,” James said, tapping the spine of the journal on his shoulder, smirking. “Well, I’d hate to tell you this, but you’re wasting your time.”
“What makes you think that,” I glared at him.

I hate it when he has that look. It’s like a rich popular guy who knows what he’s doing is wrong and is going to get away with it. He threw the book at me.

“Let’s just say I know something you don’t.”

James turned to walk away. I went around him, grabbing his shoulders.

“Tell me,” I growled.

He threw his arms up, causing me to let go of him.

“Nah, I’ll let you have fun figuring out this ‘mystery’ yourself. Ciao!”
“If you know something, please tell me! The people of the village are-“
“Whoa! You’re working for those guys?”
“Please, just consider helping them!”
“Why, what are they going to pay us,” James said, picking at his ear with his pinky.
“Well, nothing to be honest, but-“
“If there’s no profit to earn here, then I’m not going to bother. Hurry up with your mystery thing so we can get back to Cyllage and do some gigs there, or whatever you boys call it.”

My heart sank as he walked off. I guess I wasn’t getting any help from him either. He hardly does anything for us anyway other than approve of a gig and order us around sometimes. He only hangs out with use because if it weren’t for us, he’d be homeless.

Lucario noticed my displeasure and growled at James like he was ready to go. I put a hand on its shoulder, and then pointed back towards town. Lucario snorted, but let it go. As we walked back to town, I re-read the notes. I circled the consistencies within the stories. Everyone had seen a pair of glowing eyes and a desire to either harm another person or destroy things. I rubbed my chin, thinking hard about it.

I decided to go to Riley’s house to talk to him about it. I found him playing the piano as we walked in. It wasn’t really playing, but rather mashing keys in a vain attempt to sound good. Lucario ran over and tackled Riley off the bench.

“Oh, Lucario,” Riley said, putting his hat on it, “What am I to do with you?”

I bent over and held out my hand.

“Ed, you’re back from your trip. How was it?”

I tugged at his sleeve and pointed at the kitchen. We gathered around the table and I laid out the journal in the middle. Riley took the journal and read it for a bit while Lucario went upstairs and grabbed some pencils and paper.

“Ah, t-thank you,” I said to Lucario when it returned.
“I guess these circled things are things that are common in all these stories,” Riley said.

I nodded.

“Well, let’s start by writing these down,” Riley said, grabbing a piece of paper.

I grabbed a piece of paper for myself.

“What are you writing down,” Riley asked.
“L-locations,” I said.
“What for?”

I glanced up at him, and then back down. He could figure it out himself.

“If you would like all the locations, we could talk to Officer Jenny. I’m sure she has all of them.”
“It’s probably part of an active investigation, she legally can’t tell me that information,” I wrote down and showed him.
“Why not,” he scoffed.
“What part of ‘active investigation’ do you not understand?”
“Whatever then, I can tell you other locations where people have gone crazy and what they’ve seen and felt. We’re such a small community that everyone knows what’s going on.”

We had spent a long amount of time discussing the investigation. Looking at all the data I’ve been writing down, Riley concluded that all the possessions have been happening from as far away and fifty miles and up to recently, have gone back from around three miles. And from what he’s written, all the stories are all the same except Officer Jenny who was self-destructive, a man who did some not so pleasant things to his wife and Charlot and Roch. I asked about the location of Jenny’s attack because I wanted to investigate that particular one. He said it was a ways away and we should have dinner first.

After we ate, Riley went upstairs to get something. He came back with a collar with some sort of gem to put on Lucario and a pair of gloves. I pointed at the gloves.

“Oh, did you notice on the statue of Sir Aaron, he was wearing a pair of gloves similar to these?”

I tiled my head. Actually, I haven’t noticed at all.

“Well, those gloves were said to amplify their powers and I’ve met a few people who’ve done research on the type of gem that was used in his gloves. We found a location that had a tone of the stones, but the location was owned by royalty in Kanto and they refused to let us research further. So anyway, this stone on this hand is a fake. But the other one is a different story. This one’s a genuine keystone.”

“Eh,” I said, tilting my head further.
“It’s one of two stones that’s needed for mega evolution. The stone in Lucario’s collar, the Lucarioite, is the other one.”
“Eh! Eh,” I said, jumping up and down.

I’ve heard about mega evolution before, but I’ve never seen a Pokemon that could mega evolve before.

“Sorry, he can only mega evolve during battle. If we come across some trouble, we may have to resort to it as a last resort.”

I frowned, folding my arms.

“You may seem serious all the time, but you surprisingly do have quite an energetic side to you, don’t you?”

I gave him the middle finger then ran away while he yelled at me.

It was getting dark when we headed out. When the light of the village was too far to see anything, we used our aura to see the way instead. We ended up back at the berry field. I examined the berry bush Jenny ate from. It seemed like an ordinary plain old berry bush. I picked a berry and sniffed it. My eyes instantly swelled with tears. I whimpered as I flailed about, nose starting to run. Riley and Lucario laughed at me. I gave them an angry look as tears rolled down my cheeks. I wiped my eyes on my sleeve.

“Sorry,” Riley said, “That’s not a thing we should be laughing at.”
“Eh,” I said, shaking my head.

I sneezed and coughed at the same time. It felt like my throat was going to explode. I had a coughing fit for a few minutes while Riley was bombarding me with questions I couldn’t answer. I sat on the ground while I waited for my sinuses to clear.

When I finally calmed down, I heard something rustle in the bush. I closed my eyes and used my aura to see what it was. There was an Ursaring, staring at us.

“Ura,” it said.
“Oh, hello there, Ursaring,” Riley said, walking up to it, “Are you here for dinner?”

Riley started rubbing it behind its ears. Ursaring really seemed to enjoy that.

“Ursaring are known for being aggressive, but this one’s so nice to others,” Riley said, “Aren’t you, big boy?”
“Ursa,” It said, and then stood up on its hind legs.

It looked down at Riley and made a come here motion.

“You want to fight me,” Riley said, taking a stance.

The Ursaring smirked.

“Alright, I’ll fight you right before your dinner. Ed, hold my keystone.”

He shoved his glove into my chest. I sighed. We haven’t been here long, and he’s already goofing off. I put the glove on and poked the stone. Nothing seemed to happen to Lucario. It folded its arms and shook its head. I frowned, disappointed that Lucario wouldn’t mega evolve for me.

I went back to searching for clues while Riley fought Ursaring. Lucario started helping me, its conrow things lifting up in the air while it used its aura. I wandered a bit away, going down a slope. I heard something else rustle in a bush. I opened my eyes to see a pair of glowing red eyes. I stared at it, trying to figure out what it was. When it occurred to me what was going on, it was too late. I cried out, trying to keep in control of myself. I somehow got the glove off in the struggle. I felt an intense level of rage. The desire to kill the first thing that came my way was too intense.

“Oh, look its David.”
“How’s it going David?”

I turned and snarled at Jack, Tom and Tom’s Pignite. Jack was leaning to the side with his hands in his pockets while Tom stared blankly at me. I formed an aura sphere and shot it at Jack. I missed about a mile.

“Hey, calm down there, David,” Tom said.
“Don’t worry about it,” Jack said. “Just stick to the plan. Come on, David, you can do better than that!”

I roared in rage and ran at Jack, forming another aura sphere. When I got close enough, I threw it at him. He couldn’t dodge it this time. He fell to the ground. I jumped into the air and came down with another aura sphere.

“Pignite, arm thrust,” Tom shouted.

I threw the aura sphere at Pignite instead. Pignite used its arms to block the attack. I landed on top of Jack. He grabbed the back of my knees and pulled towards him, causing me to fall. He pushed me off of him and we both got up. I roared at him, throwing another aura sphere. He blocked it.

“Pignite, flamethrower,” Tom ordered.
“No, don’t,” Jack shouted.

I took his moment of hesitation to drive my knuckles into his gut. Jack took a step back, covering his stomach with an arm. I then punched him in the jaw. He fell down. I got on top of him, wrapping my arms around his neck. Jack grabbed my arms, trying to pull them off. I scooted closer, making him fall on his back. He smacked me in the chest, trying to push me off. I could feel his windpipe desperately trying to suck in air, his racing pulse, the muscles in his neck moving around as he thrashed about. I squeezed tighter, trying to make it all stop.

“Flame charge!”

Something rammed into my side, making me fly off of Jack. I tumbled and got back up. Pignite was standing between me and Jack. Jack rolled over, coughing. I started bombarding Pignite with aura spheres.

“Hang in there,” shouted Tom. “Wait until he wears himself out!”

I stopped waiting for Pignite to let its guard down. It let down its arms and looked up at me. I threw and aura sphere and knocked it onto its back.

“Ah! What’s going on here?”

Riley, Lucario and Usraring were standing ontop the hill.

“Bout time! I’ve got David here,” Tom said, “You go after him, Jack!”

Jack mumbled something, rolling over onto his stomach. He threw a pokeball.

“GWOOOORHHH,” Onix bellowed as it came out of the pokeball.
“Iron tail,” Jack gasped.

Onix lifted its tail and brought it down onto Lucario. I turned back to my battle. I started running towards Pignite, throwing an aura sphere at it.

“Block it,” Tom ordered.

As Pignite did as it was told, I jumped over him. I kept running up to Tom. He stepped back in surprise. I grabbed his arm and pulled him down onto my elbow. I heard something in his face crack and he screamed.

“Ed, what are you doing,” Riley shouted. “What did you do with my glove?”
“Is that it over there,” Jack said, getting up and pointing at the ground.

I watched Tom squirm on the ground, coving his face, crying in pain. I felt the ground shake behind me. I closed my eyes to see Pignite stomping on the ground. A glowing lighter aura formed around it. It charged at me. I jumped dodging it. It crashed into Tom, knocking him out.

“Looks like it’s just me now,” Jack said. “Figures when you have a puta with you.”
“What are you doing,” Riley shouted.
“Hmmm, well, we were on our way to do something else,” Jack said, cranking his neck, “but then we found the leader of the packers and a hombre hanging out, so then we got other plans.”
“Wait, are you with the Rangers?”
“I’m on the side that has a bigger challenge.”
“How dare you,” Riley screamed. “We’re just trying to live in peace and harmony! You guys are making it damn difficult for us! Tell them, Ed! Tell them how it is!”

Jack’s eyes widened and he looked at me.

“Por que,” He said to himself before placing his hand on his head and shaking it. “So, that’s how it is. David, you really thought of everything.”

I growled at Jack, and then threw an aura sphere at him. Jack jumped to the side.

“What?”
“You stop that,” Jack said, running his hand through his hair and pointing at me. “It may not look like at it at the moment, but I’ve been good friends with this guy for many years now. He’s an extremely loyal friend. I guess he had other plans while we were goofing off elsewhere.”
“Y-YOU,” Riley shouted at me, “WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!”

I turned my attention to Jack. I didn’t care for Riley much anymore. I still had a job to do.

“You may have got me good the first time,” Jack said, turning to me, “But I’m not worried so much anymore now that I have Onix. So, bring it on!”

I threw two aura spheres at him. He blocked one with his arm and the other with his leg. By then I was right on him. I threw a punch. He dodged it and gave me a quick jab in the face. It hurt a lot more than it should have, but then I realized he was wearing his uniform.

“Onix, rock tomb,” Jack said, striking my shoulder.

I tried to jab his windpipe with my fingers, but he grabbed my arm and got me in the same spot. I fell to the ground, gasping for air.

“Come one! You can do better!”

I turned my head to see Lucario grab the glove off the ground. Onix tried to tackle it, but Lucario jumped out of the way. I slowly got up. Jack was grinning. I scoffed and put my arms up. Jack tried to strike me in the sternum but I swacked his arm away. He then tried to get me in the face, but missed that too.

“Alright, Lucario, mega evolve,” Riley shouted, touching his keystone.
“Finally! My first battle with a mega evolution,” Jack yelled.

A bright light shown on the keystone and the Lucarioite. The two lights connected to each other. Lucario started to glow. The cornrow things grew longer. He seemed to grow some. His mid-section and tail changed shape. His spikes on his hands got bigger and grew some more on his feet. He broke out of the light, completely changed with a roar.

“AMAZING,” Jack shouted.
“Aura sphere,” Riley shouted.
“Tackle,” Jack ordered.

Lucario threw an aura sphere at Onix. Onix lunged at the attack, knocking through the super effective move like it was nothing. It kept going, knocking Lucario into the air.

“Iron tail!”
“Lucario, bone rush!”

I re-focused and threw and aura sphere at Jack. Jack hopped to the side. He grabbed me by the shirt and pulled me into the air.

“Not now, David. I want to fight that mega Lucario now,” Jack said.

I swung my leg between his. Jack let go of me and crumbled to the ground, swearing in Spanish. I kicked him in the face. He grunted, covering his face with a hand. I started forming an aura sphere with my hands. As I was about to throw it, I felt something hit me in the back. I flew over Jack and tumbled on the ground. I picked up my head. I could feel a rush of pain going down my back. I cried out.

“What’s wrong with you,” Jack yelled. “Don’t you know it’s rude to interrupt a battle?”

Jack was sitting up, facing the Ursaring that got between us. The Ursaring roared at him in response. I started crawling towards Jack on my stomach since I couldn’t get up. The Ursaring saw me and put its foot on my back, making it hurt more. Jack wiped his face and turned to his other battle.

“Use close combat,” Riley ordered.

Mega Lucario moved so fast that I couldn’t see it. Onix moved around like it was getting hit, and then flew backwards. The ground shook as it landed.

“Get up Onix,” Jack ordered.
“Aura sphere!”

Onix rolled around to get up only to get hit by aura sphere. Jack started ordering Onix around in Spanish. His tail started to glow.

“Lucario, use bone rush to block it,” Riley shouted.

Jack grinned. Mega Lucario held its hands together, then spread them apart, forming the bone rush. It held bone rush close to its body while Onix raised its tail in the air. It struck right next to mega Lucario, making it fly into the air.

“Catch it by its tail,” Jack shouted.

Onix lunged out and grabbed mega Lucario by the tail.

“Lucario!”

Mega Lucario started thrashing about, trying to get away. Riley froze.

“We never did get properly introduced, did we,” Jack said. “My name is Jack Daniels.”

That name was nothing to laugh at. Jack’s father, who bares the same name, is considered the strongest gym leader in Kalos. There’s no one in the region that hasn’t heard the name. With as much strength he has, it’s no wonder that his son is making a name for himself as well.

“And this one’s name is David Guetta,” Jack said, pointing at me. “Or at least that’s what he says it is. And the idioto, over there is Tom. We’re all a part of the same team, ‘The Black Bullets.’ “

Riley didn’t say anything, just stood there trembling. I tried to get up again, but between being held down by Ursaring and the pain, it wasn’t happening. All I could do was just lay there, breathing hard.

“You know what I used to do for a living, no,” Jack said, pulling out a gun out of his jacket. “Well, The Black Bullets basically the same thing. I get what it’s like being different; being Hispanic in this region, but it’s entirely possible to get along with others here. There’s not need to build a secret society in the middle of nowhere.”
“Ra raa,” Mega Lucario screamed.

Jack fired the gun. Riley clutched his chest. He looked down at his hands and then back up at Jack, terror in his eyes. He fell as Jack started walking towards him. He bent down next to Riley.

“Huh, this does work,” Jack said, pointing the gun at his face. “Bueno.”

Ursaring lifted its foot off of me and charged at Jack, claws glowing. Onix dropped Mega Lucario as it de-evolved and went after the Ursaring. Jack clutched the gun to his chest. Onix swacked Ursaring with its tail like a bat against a ball. Ursaring flew through the air.  Jack slipped to the ground and sighed.

“That was close,” he said to himself.

After a moment to re-collect himself, he got back up and walked back over to me. My vision was starting to waver. I still wasn’t going to give up. With what energy I had left, I gave my best growl at him as he pointed the gun at me.

“Alright David,” He said to me in a gentle tone, “It’s time to stop rampaging now.”