Red dust was sent flying into the air from underneath the heavy footsteps of the mudsdale as it raced its way through the outback of Orre. The lady riding on its back, the outlaw better known as Essie Duncan, held tight to her hat as her bright scarlet hair flapped in the wind like a cap behind her. She dared to cast a glance behind her and spotted three men behind her, all aback rapidash. They were gaining too. Essie leaned down and pat her mudsdale’s neck.
“Faster, Moe, we’re almost to the canyon. They won’t follow us there.” Moe let out a bray before picking up the pace, putting his full effort into hoofing it to safety. As they neared the canyon, Essie spotted three skarmory circling above, the sun glittering against their steel wings. Essie began to screech, making a sound not unlike the skarmory’s call. The three steel birds reacted immediately, diving down to attack Essie’s pursuers. The men were caught off guard, one even being knocked off his mount from a steel wing attack. The other two slowed, swerving around the skarmory before attempting to follow Essie’s trail, but the skarmory would not halt. The men were forced to turn around, catching one last glimpse of their target as she entered the canyon.
“Why are we leaving?” the man on the ground cried as he remounted his rapidash. One of the men scoffed in reply and shook his head. The other merely replied,
“She’s entered the canyon. She’s the only person mad enough to do it. No amount of money could make me enter that place.” The other two men mumbled their agreements before the sounds of flicking reigns signaled their exit. Essie watched from a little ways in the canyon, snickering at the fear these men showed. They were such weaklings. Essie flicked Moe’s hair gently, signaling the mudsdale to start walking further inside the canyon.
There were many tales and legends about this canyon. People suspected it was haunted, and there were ghost stories about how people went in but never returned. Essie did not believe in such superstitions. No such thing could actually happen after all. At least, not to her. After all, she was the great bandit, Essie Duncan! If she could escape Orre’s greatest sheriffs, she could handle some stupid canyon. Thus, the red head sat straight up in her saddle, as if she were a proper lady, and let Moe take over leading, as he knew where he was supposed to go.
The canyon opened up ahead leading to a large bridge that connected two parts of a never ending ravine. Moe continued at a steady pace, evenly distributing his weight between his feet in order to keep balance on the old bridge. Essie kept her green eyes straight ahead, not one for heights, plus it helped to keep Moe balanced. The wood creaked under the stress of the weight, but handled it just fine as always, and the partners made it across just fine. The canyon narrowed after the bridge, and this was the most treacherous area, no doubt. This area was prone to landslides and falling rocks. Essie always had to keep vigilante, in case something decided to come tumbling down the sides that day.
Essie scanned the tops of the canyons, not spying any loose rocks this time around. Seeing no imminent danger, Essie flicked Moe’s mane again, sending the draft horse pokemon forward. His hoofbeats echoed against the canyon walls as they traveled, nearing their destination just at the other end of this stretch. However, about halfway through, Moe suddenly stopped. Essie gave her mudsdale a strange look when the ground began to shake violently. The young woman’s grip tightened on her pokemon, knowing this to be an earthquake that wasn’t too uncommon in the Orre region, but was bad news here and now.
“Moe! Go Moe! We have to get out of here!” Moe made a whining sound in protest before starting to canter towards the end while the ground was still shaking. But it was too late. Just as Essie had suspected, the canyon walls began to cave, and rocks were hurdling their way. With the ground shaking like it was, Essie knew Moe would not be able to run fast enough to escape the canyon without some close calls. As if to confirm that thought, a boulder barreled past the two, just behind Moe. This prompted the mudsdale to speed up, but this was a bad move. Essie looked to her right just in time to see a large boulder, then nothing.
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A warm air brushed up against Essie’s face as she began to reawaken. She heard a distant crackling, a fire if she had to guess, and began to open her eyes. As her surroundings came into focus, Essie noticed she was in a cave of sorts, but how could that be? Essie frowned, her last memory of a boulder about to squash her. Was this the afterlife those buffoons always screamed about in Orre’s biggest cities? Man were they in for a shocker.
“Grrurr…” Essie turned her head towards the sound of a growl and felt her heart stop in her chest. Towering over Essie in the opposite side of the cave was a large reptile. Its skin was covered in green scales, four smaller legs currently supporting it as it stretched its large thin wings. A red hue was visible at the end of its wings, a beautiful sight, but Essie was more focused on the fan-like tail that seemed to be barbed with spikes. The pokemon glared at Essie through the red membranes that covered its eyes and let out another low growl. Essie stared at its fangs in fear, wondering if she was about to become its next meal when it suddenly backed up, and a new figure came into view. Essie turned her head a little more and saw a young man was the one holding back the beast. He was also naked.
Essie let out a squeak and closed her eyes, getting the impression she was not supposed to be awake yet. There was a shuffling sound and Essie felt a foot tap her gently. Essie mentally sighed and cracked open her right eye, trying her best to not look down too much.
“Yes? I’m awake. Can you please get dressed? You’re making me uncomfortable.” The man merely cocked his head at Essie’s words, almost as if he could not understand her. Instead, he got down on all fours and lowered his face closer to her. Essie opened both her eyes and tried to push him away, but the guy was aggressive, cornering Essie against a wall. His brown eyes inspected her as he tugged at her clothes and sniffed her over. Essie had never felt more violated in her life. Eventually, the outlaw was fed up with the violation of her privacy and shoved the young man away. “Get off! That’s creepy! Don’t you have any manners?” The stranger hissed and backed off, retreating to the side of the dragon. Essie narrowed her eyes in confusion, watching the guy make a series of clicking noises and growls. The chatter was returned by the beast beside him. It was obvious to Essie that this was a pokemon, but she had no idea what it was. Was it native to Orre? It wasn’t uncommon to see non-native pokemon in Orre, like Moe. Mudsdale were native to Alola which wasn’t far but not exactly close either. Wait Moe! Essie scanned the cave but saw no sign of her partner. She had to find him! He could be hurt or worse! Essie started to push herself up when the pokemon on the other side of the room screech.
“Aiirr!” Essie’s captor jumped to attention. He ran over to her and pushed her back down, holding her on her back. Essie tried to push the guy off but he was much stronger than she. Before Essie could yell, the young man gestured towards her leg. Essie sat up a little and looked down. Her leg was covered in leaves, but they were soaked red. That wasn’t good. She needed treatment but who could she go to? She’d have to go into town. But she’d need Moe to do so. Essie fumbled for a moment, pretty much under the assumption this guy understood no speech, then started to draw in the floor of the cave. The young man watched with interest as Essie drew Moe in the dirt. It wasn’t exactly pretty, but art wasn’t Essie’s strong suit, it’s why she stole paintings rather than making her own. However, it seemed to get the point across, as the young man jumped up and scrambled to one end of the cave. He disappeared for several minutes before returning with a bag. Essie recognized it as one of the bags she had strapped to Moe’s saddle. Moe must be outside then! The strange man held out the bag to Essie, which she gladly took. She started to stand up again, slower this time, but she felt her captor grab onto her arm. Essie looked at him with a flat stare.
“What?” As if to answer her, the young man’s stomach growled. Essie looked at him then at the pokemon in the other corner of the room. Were they both hungry? Was that it? Essie dug into her bag and pulled out a few berries plus some bread. She tore the bread into three pieces and handed one to the young man then tossed another towards the pokemon. She distributed the berries in the same manner before eating some herself, trying to show it wasn’t poison. The young man watched her carefully before taking a tentative bite of the bread. His eyes lit up and he made a clicking noise, prompting the pokemon to eat the bread as well. The food was gone almost as quickly as it came, but at least they weren’t on empty stomachs anymore. Essie’s new friend seemed to agree, rubbing his head against her shoulder and smiling. Essie giggled, patting the guy’s head, but stopped when she heard a familiar neighing from outside. Essie started to leave again but this time the guy grabbed onto her leg. Essie flinched, ready for the waves of pain that never came. She paused and glanced down at her wrapped leg. Essie tentatively reached down and unwrapped the leaves, only to find a scar there. Essie looked up and stared between the two mysterious strangers. Had they done this? Well, it seemed like Essie had no excuse to leave any time soon. So, if that were true, then she’d have to come up with names for her two new roommates. And also get the guy some clothes. Or at least pants. Essie wasn’t really the best with names either, so she sat pondering this for a while before settling for names from the periodic table.
“All right, from now on, you,” Essie pointed at the young man, “are Radon, and you,” Essie pointed at the pokemon, “are Xenon. Got it? Radon, Xenon. Radon, Xenon.” Xenon merely huffed but otherwise made no indication that it understood any of what Essie was saying. Radon, on the other hand, nodded eagerly and made a fast clicking noise, which Essie wasn’t quite sure what that meant but she took it as a sign of agreement. “I am Essie. And my mudsdale outside is Moe.” Essie gestured outside. Radon paused for a moment before dashing outside again. There was a neigh before Radon led Moe inside. Essie had to wonder why he hadn’t done this before but Radon’s thought process was obviously different than hers.
Moe looked relieved to see Essie. He walked over and pressed his nose against Essie. Essie smiled and pat her companion, relaxing him a bit. Essie walked to the bags hanging off the saddle and began to dig through them. Lucky for her, she always kept a spare set of clothes on her in case she ever needed them to disguise herself. Essie pulled out a pair of pants and frowned. Now how was she going to get these on him? If only she had a skirt, that would probably be easier. Essie mentally sighed and shook her head. Well it was now or never.
Essie stepped out from behind Moe and moved slowly towards Radon. He stared at her with a confused expression, cocking his head slightly to the right so that his brown hair fell in his face. Essie took a few more steps before holding out the pants. Radon stepped forward and inspected them, touching, sniffing, and staring at them closely. After a thorough inspection, Radon looked up at Essie. Essie gestured to her pants, before making the motions of putting on the pants. Radon furrowed his brows but took the pants and tried imitating her. It did not go well. Radon tried to put both of his legs in one of the pant legs, and started growling in frustration. Essie sighed and walked over. She pat his right leg and then tugged on the other pant leg. Radon looked between the two before lifting his right leg and stuck it in the hole. His eyes lit up at the seemingly magic trick and clicked quickly again. Essie found herself smiling a bit at the enjoyment Radon displayed. She reached behind him and pulled up the pants. Radon started to whimper and Essie could guess it was because the pants were probably a tight fit. Essie was quite a bit smaller than he, so the pants weren’t exactly made to fit him. Still, it would do.
Essie brushed off her hands and sat down, leaning against the wall. She sighed as she looked down at her leg. While she was glad to have Radon covered, she would have liked to put on a new pair of pants as well, given her leg had been ripped open to treat her leg. Essie began to wonder how long she had been out for. She was still considering the possibility she was dead, but Essie somehow doubted that a little bit more now. Still, she wasn’t allowed to leave, which wasn’t a problem now, but she only had a limited supply of food and water. She’d have to get back to her base if she wanted to restock, and from there possibly town if she ran out at the base. This was not a good situation.
“Bruoof!” Essie looked up at Moe, the mudsdale stomping around in a panicked motion. Something seemed to have startled him. Essie stood up but then the whole cave began to shake wildly, sending Essie face first into the ground. It was an aftershock if Essie had to guess. It faded away fairly quickly, but it was still terrifying. Essie had never felt more claustrophobic in her life. Essie stood up and brushed herself off before walking over to Moe. She tugged gently on his hair and began to lead him out. Essie paused at the sound of a loud whimpering. Essie turned around to spot Radon staring at her with terrified eyes. It was then that Xenon moved for the first time since Essie had arrived. The pokemon crawled over on all fours and nodded its head towards Radon. It took a minute for Essie to understand, but she was starting to get an idea of what was going on. This pokemon had saved Essie and Moe, and now was hoping Essie would take Radon. Maybe she was just romanticizing the situation, but that’s what it seemed like to her.
“Come with us,” Essie proposed quietly, “he’s more comfortable with you around.” The green dragon snorted and glared at Essie, as if to declare its negation of the proposition, but then relented when Radon nuzzled its side. It seemed to sigh before nudging Radon back. Radon excitedly crawled onto Xenon’s back. The dragon snorted again and motioned Essie forward with its head. Essie mounted Moe once they were outside the cave. She realized they were still in the canyon and not far from her hideout either, just much higher up. Good thing she had a mudsdale. “Let’s go, Moe!” She snapped his mane and the mudsdale let out a brey before charging down the rocky side to the next path. Essie looked up to see if Xenon and Radon were following, only to spot Xenon jump into the air. It expanded its translucent wings and cast a green-red light over the ground before. Xenon dove, lowering itself right behind Moe, and followed the trainer and pokemon all the way back to their base. And thus was the start of the most unique of friendships.
Originally Posted by EZ
The Queen of Shaymin
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