A Pokemon World 15 - Evolved

Evolved

Another hall led to another hour of endless walking. They were all growing quite tired of this.

“Are we nearly there yet?” Lauren complained.

Riolu, who was now leading the way instead of Riley, turned back to her. “Will you shut up? I know this place just as well as you do so if you would just shut up and let me go. I can focus harder on finding the way.”

Riley pushed up to Riolu. “Leave her alone, will you?”

“Then, all of you, just shut up!” Riolu shouted. “If I can be content enough, I may be able to evolve back into a lucario.”

Ninetales rolled her eyes. “Sure, because we couldn’t make it on our own. You and Nai are the only ones who aren’t fully evolved, and Nai fought pretty good back there.” She pointed out sarcastically.

“Well” Riley corrected.

“Fine, well”

Riolu turned around. “What did I say about not talking?” He shouted.

Several more minutes ticked away. No one had anything useful to say. There was the occasional joke to lighten the mood, but they were all tired and hungry.

Riley broke the silence. “Are we going to rest anytime?”

“We have to get out of here. Besides, if we stopped we would probably be swarmed.” Riolu pointed out.

“Then we’ll each take a turn as sentry, how about that? “ Riley suggested, trying not to get angry.

Riolu shook his head, aggravated. “Then we won’t get a full night’s sleep. Besides, who would volunteer to sentry?”

“Some sleep is better than none,” Riley countered. “and I’ll take first watch.”

“Last” Nai volunteered.

Riolu raised a paw in defense, but he knew he was beaten. He quickly lowered it. “Fine, I’ll take the second.”

Ninetales quickly took fourth, leaving Lauren to awake in the middle of the night. Nai and Riley had the best spots, as they could sleep without being interrupted. Riley would be able to sleep later than Nai though, giving him the best watch time.

“That only leaves the matter of where to sleep.” Lauren stated.

Riolu cursed under his breath for not thinking about that. It was something that he didn’t even know an answer to.

Nai pointed to a door marked ‘employees only’. “Why don’t we see what’s in here?”

Before anyone could advise against it, Nai had opened the door to a human wearing full denim mopping a tile floor. She quietly shut the door before he noticed that they were there.

“Okay, let’s listen through the door next time, shall we?” Nai suggested impishly.

They found another door. This one was glass, so you could see through it. There were plenty of desks and chairs. Each deck had a chair pulled up to it. A large table in front of all of the desks was covered in papers. A lamp was on it, but was turned off. Several large books were stacked on a counter at the side. There were several large closets toward the back of the room.

“It’s a classroom.” Lauren pointed out.

Ninetales cocked her head. “What is that?”

Lauren was confused, but figured it out. “Before the disaster that changed all of us, humans would go to a place called school. There were several classes where we were taught different things, such as science, or math. Another major class was trainer preparations. It wasn’t required, but you needed a license to be a trainer.” She explained.

“Oh”

Riley slowly opened the door. “Here” He said.

The others followed him in. Nai opened a closet door. It revealed a large space. There was a single book bag, but other than that, it was empty. It was large enough for two of them to lie down in.

Riolu opened the other to reveal the same thing, minus the book bag.

“Y’all get in. I’ll start watching.” Riley told the others. They didn’t argue. Lauren slept in the same one as Riolu, leaving Nai and Ninetales in the same closet.
Riley shut them in and hugged the far wall. His dark fur helped him blend in to the shadows that engulfed where he was hiding in wait for anyone who might enter.




Riley watched the clock. His eyelids felt like they had been injected with lead. He watched the seconds tick by. At one point, a human opened the door and quickly glanced around, but then left. Finally, after several hours, Riley opened a closet as quietly as he could. “Riolu, it’s your turn.” He whispered. He didn’t want to wake Lauren.

Riolu reluctantly struggled awake. He went out and hid under the teacher’s desk. His fur, being blue, wasn’t the best for hiding in the shadows.

No one came during his shift, and after a few hours, he awoke Lauren for her shift. Riley was woken too though, so Riley shoved Riolu out. Riolu slowly made his way over to a counter and went under it. He closed the cabinet behind him and cringed at the smell of mildew.

Lauren made no effort to hide herself, which could have made it very dangerous if someone had come. Fortunately, no one did.

When she was done, she awoke Ninetales. Ninetales hide herself above the cabinets that they were all in. Lauren moved into the one with Riley in it.

Ninetales’ shift went differently. Toward the end of her shift, a human child had come in. Ninetales beat the cabinets quietly, but not too quietly so that the inhabitants had heard them.

Riley stuck his head out of the door. “Where is it?” The child said to himself. He couldn’t have been more than seven.

Riley went back in. “Lauren, there’s a human child out there.”

“I know, I smelled him” She whispered.

“He’s looking for something.” Riley said. He turned to the book bag. He lifted it up. “Maybe this is it.”

The little boy was looking through the cabinets under the counter. He had woken Riolu, but Riolu couldn’t escape without being seen. He simply slunk as deep as he could, which wasn’t very far.

When he reached Riolu’s door, Riley threw the book bag out. It landed with a distinct thud as it slid into the leg of a chair, making a scraping noise. The boy, startled by the noise in the silent room, went over to Riley’s closet before retrieving his bag.

“Who’s in there?” The boy asked.

Riley quickly considered his options, but he knew that, no matter what, the boy would be changed.

Just as he had grabbed the handle of the door, Ninetales shot a small stream of flames at him. It wasn’t enough to hurt him, but anyone would be afraid.

The boy looked up at the glowing pokémon. He quickly turned and ran. He quickly grabbed what he had come for, and then left.

“It’s okay, Riolu. He isn’t here anymore.” Ninetales said.

Riolu slowly exited the safety of the cabinet. He had been scared out of his mind, but now he was glad that he wasn’t discovered. “Thank you” He said.
Everyone else emerged. “What happened?” Nai asked. She yawned shortly after. “A human came, but he only saw Ninetales. Considering his age, he will hopefully think it was a nightmare.” Riley explained.

Riolu laughed. “At least he didn’t meet my wrath.” He bragged.

Everyone looked at him to tell him that it wasn’t funny, but they stopped before they were able to tell him.

“Crap” Riley muttered. He shoved Riolu into the close that Riley had been sleeping in.

Riolu futilely tried to fight back, but couldn’t. “What the hell Riley?” He nearly shouted, but stopped himself.

“You’re evolving, and emitting a glow.” Riley pointed out.

Riolu looked at himself. Sure enough, a spike had started poking out of his chest. He was silent as he waited for it to end. When it did, he pushed himself out to show himself off. “Lets go, we can’t stay here for long if that kid knows that it wasn’t a nightmare.” Lucario said. The others nodded as they walked out.