The King of The Sea - The Scaled Fury:: Introduction to Nobility's Myth.

Kal was in the hospital for a while, King knew that it'd be a bit before he could reunite with his partner in crime. It was a lot of mixed feelings, mostly feelings of sadness at seeing his partner so hurt. The fall was so severe that they had to get Kal airlifted. Everyone was quite nice, although King was the only friend to Kal who would leave him cards, flowers, and nice visits. King only had the problem that he didn't quite know what to do in the meantime. There were no missions, nor was there much happening in the big city that he felt he wanted to deal with. He decided to take the day off, by grabbing a ticket to a Mystery Dungeon. Sure, most wouldn't call that a 'day off', more so a place filled with danger. King was a guy who lived for danger though, he craved the chance to grow with every fiber of his being. 

 

Walking up to the train station was a pretty typical event at this point, at least for King. He had been all over the place, several times over. He bumped past a few Pokémon, waddling over to the train. It's old engine seemed to roar to life without any issue, steam clouds puffing out of the stem at the top. He felt a little rush of blood as his heart fluttered. While he did miss his friends, having the freedom to do his own thing felt like a dream. He boarded onto the train, squeezing to the back of the train and wiggling into a relatively comfortable seat. The cushioning was nice, and he found himself sat next to a very exhausted Gurdurr. 

 

The train ride was interesting, he talked with several Pokémon on the way through towards the 'Colossal Plants' dungeon. The Gurdurr slept through all of the trip, although he hopped off at a seperate stop, a smaller town. He met a wandering Smeargle, who was selling painting of the typical life within the dungeon. It was quite pretty, so King spent a few Poke on a drawing of a lovely waterfall over some mushrooms. He figured Kal would enjoy it. He slipped it into his bag, wrapped in papers so that the painting wouldn't suffer damage through his venture into the plant filled paradise.

 

The train came to a halt a few hours later, and King hopped off after thanking the staff and the Smeargle. He felt the humid hum of the place immediately hit him like a brick, the smell of peeling bark and moist greenery pervaded the lush landscape. It was a beautiful view, the sun barely weaved it's way through the leaves, the berries and the mushrooms to beam down upon the wandering Pokémon. King held a tentacle over his eyes, breathing in the fresh air before sighing. He was excited, how could he not be? A whole world to tackle, right in front of him! It was simply a question of where to start.

 

He had bought a map from a simple stand stood up near the train station, and after tracing the path in his memory, he decided to take the long hike, in hopes of treasure of some kind. Maybe not the typical treasure of course, just the stuff that people either dropped and forgot, or some shiny rocks. He presumed it wouldn't be anything crazy, but he took his time on the path. The first few kilometers consisted of some lovely Oran berries, grown to the size of a boulder. It always made King wonder why they weren't harvested and used for medicine in the big city. Maybe for conservation? Or maybe they couldn't find an application for it. He couldn't help but wonder if it would've helped Kal recover faster if civilization tapped into these resources. Of course, that might've been a silly thought, he would prefer to keep most of the wild to itself. There were lots of Pokémon that had been taken by the wilds, feral in some sense. If they were to take the homes from those Pokémon, they'd have a much bigger problem to deal with.

 

King was ripped from those thoughts when he noticed something in the grass nearby. Something that was a shiny gold color. He reached out without a second thought, grasping onto it and lifting it to his eye level. A shiny little badge, something that he found himself smiling passively at. A simple trinket to take with, and nothing else. He threw it into his bag, before humming and moving back onto the path. He wouldn't have given it a second thought, if it weren't for the fact that he swore he heard a voice around the area. He paused on the path, listening close past the sounds of rustling leaves and passive noise.

 

"Oi!! Stay away from me!! I'm a noble man, and I won't be takin' any of 'dis!!" A voice rang out in the distance, to King's curiosity. He felt like he wouldn't want to interfere on one hand, but on the other hand, he hadn't seen anyone else on the path yet. He wouldn't want to abandon someone if they were lost, right? That wouldn't be right, for a civilian at least. King made a slow, but steady break off the path. He found himself pushing past huge tree branches and crawling over rocks to come to a tightly packed area. A few spearow circled overhead, pecking at a small shape in the trees. Curious, it was a dark creature, almost shiny in itself. It fluttered, showing off it's own wings. It was unclear what kind of Pokémon it was though.

 

"I don't got anythin' for ya!! Bugger off, ya feathered freaks!!" They pathetically cried, in hopes that the spearow pack would let up. King almost chuckled, but it would've been a dead giveaway. He knew that this stranger likely needed help in some way. King focused, honing his mind before forming a series of spikes. They aimlessly floated around King, turning a bit translucent. Then, he focused on a bigger attack. Water pooled around his tentacles, forming into javelins before he hurled them towards the crowd. The poor stranger let out a terrified shriek as they inched further into the leaves. A couple spearow went flying, spiraling down to the ground. Although, the rest of them turned their gaze onto King. Fury filled their eyes, but he wasn't expecting anything less than that. They turned their attention away from the stranger, diving down towards King. He simply beckoned to himself, and threw out a hearty laugh. Each spike caught it's mark, toxic spikes engraving the poison he needed to take the rest of them down. Of course, two spearow flew into King, pecking at his tentacles. He responded quickly, by smashing a ball of water into one, and passively waving off the other. He focused down on the one he had hit, although the other spearow threw another peck into his back. It stung, although he could still take that pain. He dodged a beak attack from the spearow he was targeting, slamming his tentacles into it one last time in order to properly faint it. The other ones seemed to be dropping like flies, so he simply backhanded the one pecking at his back. All the screeching and cawing of the birds fell to an eerie silence. The efficiency in which King dealt with the threat even bothered him a bit. Nonetheless, there was something more important in the trees.

 

"You can get down now, the fuckers are outta your way. Watch for the spikes--" He yelped as the creature immediately leapt from the trees, he stuck out his tentacles, catching the guy before he fell right into the toxic spikes. The guy was heavy, and looked to be a shellder, with wings? The wings were a nice dark black, fading down into a grey as the wings grew further down. They were also striped, yellow stripes over most of their form. It was an interesting look for a sea creature, that's for sure.

 

"Oh, goodness-- thank you!! I couldn't have fought all of them off alone..." They sheepishly sputtered, large round eyes beaming into King. It made King feel really uncomfortable for a moment, but he realized that's... just how this clam looked. There wasn't anything that the shellder could do about it. 

 

"You're... incredibly weak." Was the first thing King said, if the guy couldn't deal with some birds, how could he handle the rest of the jungle. "How did you even get in this place??"

 

"Ah-- it was a huge series of events, really! I started by being mistaken for a piece of luggage and getting shoved in the luggage bay-"

 

"How does someone mistake you for luggage?" King burst in, gawking at this piece of information, "You're hard, have a shell and have literal wings! For Arceus' sake..."

 

"Don't ask me!!" The shellder seemed just as confused at King, to which he sort of backed off. "Listen, that doesn't matter. Get me outta this place-- I beg of you!! I'll pay you handsomely, you see, I'm part of nobility..."

 

"Nobility?? Buddy, you're three hours out of the city, we haven't heard of monarchy since the old ages. What kind of payment are we talking, though?" King raised a brow at the shellder, letting him flutter off as they began to make their way down towards the path again. He noted that the shellder almost hung from it's wings, like a door decoration. He wondered if that felt uncomfortable to the shellder.

 

"It's-- another long story. I come from far away! Across the ocean, a small little island. It's called--" The shellder proceeded to slam it's shell together in a series of knocking noises, presumably the name of the island. 

 

"...Right." King responded, trying to not laugh at him, the knocking sound made him giggle. It reminded him of the sound of someone slamming into a wooden door. Particularly, he couldn't get the imagery of Kal slamming his thick ass head into the door. That, brought him a smirk. The shellder seemed to ignore it.

 

"I have lots of Poke, is the point that I'm trying to make. I'm sure you could use it, eh??" They paused, "Ah, I should introduce myself if we're walking for a while!! I'm Hermes!"

 

"I'm King--"

 

"Ohhh, the 'no nobility in the old ages' guy is named King? You're pretty funny, King." Hermes gave him a very sassy side eye, and King didn't know whether to laugh, or slap the guy clean out of the sky. He opted to simply clear his throat and walk onto the beaten path once again. It felt good to put his tentacles back on the clear path again. 

 

"Say, Hermes. I found this badge on the ground, was wondering if you owned it." King dug around for the badge, before pulling it out. Hermes didn't even give it a look before chiming back. "Nope! Not mine, I've never worn a badge before..."

 

Right, guess it was just King's lucky day then. He shoved it back inside his bag for the time being, before shuffling back down towards the train station. King somewhat wished for quiet, although Hermes seemed to hold a different idea.

 

"Say, King. How'd you get that strong?" Hermes questioned, to King's amusement. Someone considered him strong? All he did was knock out a few birds, nothing to gawk at. Maybe this guy was just so weak, that he couldn't comprehend the idea of knocking out a few birds. Nonetheless, he cleared his throat.

 

"Just some training in the Mystery Dungeons, like this one." King looked over the shellder. "You know, you could have some potential too. You know how big you get when you evolve, right?"

 

"No-- none of my people ever evolved. We've only seen it written in legends! The Angel's Eye is what the legends call it. Some say that those who reach said form, join the right hand side of Arceus himself. Whether that's true or not... I'm not entirely sure."

 

King blinked, what an odd myth to have, but it certainly was one of intrigue. "...And you're saying you haven't trained yourself? After hearing all of that legend? Joining the side of the gods above, that's like a straight path to fame, fortune, whatever the hell your noble ass self desires."

 

"I-- I'm going to ignore the last part of your comment" Hermes huffed, "But I'm weak right now, you must understand. I don't come from a line of fighters, we're diplomatic people. Point is... I don't have any points of reference."

 

"Goodness, I could take you under my wing, if you want." King rolled his eyes as he offered this, half expecting to get rejected. Nobility clashed with people such as himself, although to say that was slightly hypocritical. King himself did come from a line of kings, hell, he named himself after the concept of being a king. There was a lot more that the two had in common than King ever wished to admit.

 

"You don't have wings." Hermes said, giving King a side eye.

 

"That's--"

 

"Oh lighten up, King sir, it's a joke!" Hermes knocked his shell together a few times, in what he could presume was... a laugh? It was a bit odd, but King cracked a smile. "If you're willing, I'd love to be shown the ropes! That way, I can maybe knock out a few birds myself!"

 

King took a moment to consider. Kal would be in the medical center for a while, and plus, he needed more people than just Kal to rely on. It would be his support circle, in order to eventually rule the sea. It would be perfect, if Hermes decided to stick around. That was left up to the future though, he just had to take up the offer.

 

"Ah, what the hell, I've been waiting to meet more locals. Come on Hermes, we'll learn the ropes together, eh? I have a few more spare tickets around the dungeons in the area. We can go ahead, take a big tour. I'll have to introduce you to Kal..."

 

"You have more recruits?" Hermes asked, fluttering past King as the train station slowly came back into view through the tree line. It seemed like people were sitting down for a lunch, hosted by a very fuzzy dedenne. King shook his head.

 

"I wouldn't call you a recruit, it's more of a mutual training thing. Friendship, I guess, if you wanna be a fucking sappy bitch about it. No, Kal's one of my best friends. Been there since the beginning. I'm sure he'd be..." King paused, considering how Kal would react to the possibility of new friends. He decided that for Hermes' sake, he should say something positive no matter what he personally thought.

 

"He'll love you." King sighed, hoping that this would hold up to even be remotely true. He wandered down into the open area, feeling the sun graze his skin once again.

 

"Yeah, we'll see King-sir!! Say, wanna grab a snack? Nobility hungers for a good burrito, after all!" Hermes almost didn't wait for an answer, already going into line.

 

All this adventure, leading into him meeting some 'noble'. It felt like the world here had something grand in store for him. He just had to take it by the hand and follow it into the darkness, to see where it brought him. A smile crossed his face, as looked to Hermes. His eyes beamed with happiness, and he wondered when Kal would give him that same look. The one of happiness, pure joy. Maybe, through these new friends, his own best friend would learn to live life on the edge. He felt the painting in his bag, and a wave of calm washed through him. No matter what happened, he was assured that it would work out, somehow.

 

"Yeah, let's go get some burritos, bud." King grinned, "And stop calling me King-sir!!!"

 

FIN