Pokémon mystery dungeon: Tides of Madness

Chapter 4: Past remembrances

Shift and his team of nuzleafs walked through the darkness of the cave around them.

"So... how did Axel's ceremony go?" One nuzleaf asked.

"Hard to say," Shift replied. "I didn't attend this time. Had to stay and figure out some work,"

"I see," the nuzleaf said.

"You sure he'll be alright on his own?" The other nuzleaf said.

"He's been by himself before. Plus, Chiree is the bigger threat right now,"

"Right,"

Shift with his luminous orb stopped and sighed, "Another dead end..."

"She's getting better," nuzleaf said.

"Didn't help her when she murdered Murcle," the other one replied.

Shift closed his eyes. He could still see Murcle's mangled and warped body. He still winced when thinking of it, even when that was 10 years ago. "I'm still surprised Chiree would do something like that. She seemed to have a good heart when I first met her. She even rescued me once. But to murder her own friend in cold blood,"

"Also I've been meaning to ask you this. What happened to Alakazam's team?"

Shift dropped his head. "They're... gone," The sound of water echoed through the cave interrupting the silence, "Their uh... corpses were found near Mount Blaze right after I found Axel... same place we found Murcle," Shift was fighting back tears. He had known Alakazam well. Once or twice he and his team teamed up with Alakazam for a rescue.

Shift shattered the orb from gripping it too hard. "Come on, she's not here. There's no need for us to be either," he walked back toward the now lit up tunnels. The nuzleafs stared at each other frowning then swiftly followed...

💢🪓🪓🪓💢

Axel was regretting his decision of going to the forest that night. He had thought about it at length after the ceremony but he never thought he would be face to face to the biggest outlaw of his time.

"A lot to sink in huh," Chiree bit her lip.

Axel didn't reply. He was still dumbstruck from her words earlier.

"Mm," Chiree stared at the red scarf around her neck.

Axel stared at her quizzically. Why did she save his life? He had heard from Shift that human the most vile creatures that there could be but... this one didn't seem to look very menacing. In fact she seemed harmless, well at least right now anyway. She wore a scarf that was a plain red with what seemed like a broken badge hooked on the front. The badge looked like an egg with wings only there was a giant crack on the pink and white egg. Then the wings were a shiny bronze, so shiny that it reflected the world around it as gold. It reminded Axel of the time he was snooping around the house and came across Shift's old badges.

The sun had now disappeared from the horizon and the moon was now peaking through the trees. The night had grown quiet and peaceful with the exception for a night wild's cry in the distance.

"How do you know my name?" Axel said looking to get some answers.

Chiree frowned, "You remember when Shift first found you."

Axel nodded.

"I uh... Found you just outside the village before then and you pointed me toward it. When I got there I noticed Shift hanging around the outskirts. So I plopped you down where you could easily be seen and went to hide," She replied. "It was too cruel for me to just leave you there when there were so many still dying around me..." Her eyes started glossing over as tears fell from her face, "Sorry, it's just... I lost everything on that day. My only friend in the world died that day,"

Axel clutched his everstone with his stubby fingers. He felt his eyes watering he didn't like thinking about his past. It reminded him of how lonely he felt.

"Isn't that an everstone?" Chiree asked.

Axel looked at the blue stone in his hand. "Yeah... My parents gave it to me before they disappeared,"

"I've never seen an everstone like that before," she said. "I mean everstones are pretty rare as it is but I've never seen a blue one like that, they are almost always grey,"

"Really? I thought all everstones looked like this," Axel replied.

"Nope they don't glow either if I remember right," Chiree continued to stare at it curiously, "Welp I'm pretty sure you got to prepare for your trial tomorrow right?"

Axel nodded in fact he wanted to go back home right now and hit the hay as quickly as possible.

"I wanted to ask you a favor,"

"A favor?"

"Mhm, can you ask all the recruits what a pokedex is and tell me who answers,"

"A what?"

"Poke- A- Dex,"

"Why do you want me to ask everyone that?" Axel replied cocking his head.

"I want to check something,"

"Why me,"

Chiree paused. "I-I don't know. I guess I just trust you more than anyone else right now,"

💢💢💢

Axel nearly put a hole on room wall when he heard the front door slam so aggressively it shook the house. I guess that means Shift is back. He thought as Shift's aggravated screams filled the once peaceful house. Yep that's definitely Shift... Axel wished he had a door that he could close for these nights. Shift was not the best when it came to anger. Most likely when he was angry it meant that he probably failed a job or mission. Axel tried to tone out the ruckus in the next room. He needed to sleep, the mind trial was tomorrow morning. He doubted he would get to sleep though. So many confusing things had happened today that all he wanted to do was think, but he knew that if he tried to ponder the days festivities he would never get to sleep.

He closed his eyes hoping to fall into his dreamland quickly. The darkness was unsettling. All sound had seemed to stop around him. He opened his eyes but only saw what he saw when he closed them, darkness. Pain radiated through his small body as he tried to move. It seemed that he was restrained with black straps holding every limb he had. Panicking shook his restraints rapidly.

"Don't struggle..." A voice echoed through the darkness. The voice was cold almost the breath of death that made Axels spine colder then ice. "It will only be worse for you..." four purple eyes glowed in the endless void around him. Axel squeaked trying to speak but all that came out was babble.

"AX-AXEW!"

"Shush my shine," Axel heard the figure shift through the darkness. As if examining him from all sides. "It will all be over soon..." The creature hissed softly "Have you ever tasted the sweet taste of pokemon blood," Axel jumped as he felt the table he was restrained to shake. "The fresh taste of death with no punishment," Ice cold wind blew on his neck. "It might taste worse the first time but..." something cold brushed his leg. "After a while... you start to crave the taste," The voice paused. "Tell me Axel... don't you feel the same way," All of a sudden an explosion of red liquid splattered on and around the axew's surroundings.

"AXEW EW!" Axel tried to say please leave me alone but the babble made it impossible to say. A chunk of flesh landed in front of Axel scaring the crap out of him.

"Well then... here's your chance to get a taste..." The voice said.

💢Eat...💢

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