Chapter Text
The sounds of city folk of all species and colors walking across the streets. The birds chirping atop trees in the park located in the heart of the city. Everything was peaceful for once in the city of Zoruopolis, located in Crystalga.
A little creature by the name of Chris the Zorua ran through the city sidewalk. He was a shiny little Zorua with reading glasses. His fur coat, a lightened gray comparable to normal-colored Zoruas, complimented his eagerness for adventure. He was chipper, excitement brewing in each step as he made his way to the Zoruopolis Library.
He stepped through the doors, noticing that it was a quiet day in the library today. Not a soul in sight except for him, the millions of books he could absorb knowledge from, and the librarian at the reception desk.
Chris hopped up onto the table. “Hey Ashley,” he said to the librarian. His voice sounded like a small child.
Ashley turned, and when noticing him, she smiled bright. “Oh, hello Chris! Good to see you!” She was a Braixen with pink eyes and a pink scarf. She wore spectacles just like him. Her voice was gentle, almost motherly.
Chris trotted over to the desk and jumped up to be on eye level. “Good to see you too! I made it for the fifty-percent off book sale today. Is that still going on?"
“Yes it is," Ashley confirmed, "In fact, you can find all of the books you would desire right over there.”
She pointed to the bookshelf with a sign that advertised the sale. Delighted, Chris hopped off the desk and used the provided stepladder at the end of the shelf. He browsed through the books one at a time for a couple of minutes. Books from “The History of Macaroni Dishes” to “Thievuls: Friend or Foe?” all caught his eye, but not to his liking. Suddenly, one book caught his eye. It was a thick brown one. He glanced at the title. “Archaeological Discoveries”. He grinned.
As he was starting to make his way back to the desk, the library doors swung open. Chrissy the Zoroark, Chris’ big sister, entered the building with a loudening grunt and put her hands to her kneecap so she could catch her breath. She had a long mane of hair with the same light-blue color as her little brother’s, and a tail fit for a small dinosaur. She looked like she had run a marathon so much that she used her navy blue scarf to wipe her cheeks for any sweat that dripped down her face.
Ashley’s ears perked up. “Chrissy,” she greeted her with a smile, “Good to see you! I was wondering when you were going to show up.”
Chrissy, upon seeing the beauty she knew as Ashley, sheepishly put her hand on the receptionist desk and smirked. She spoke in a tone that sounded gravel, almost like she was trying to clear her throat. “Yeah, sorry I’m late. Chris is way too fast for me these days.” Ashley chuckled, making Chrissy blush.
Chris put the book he was carrying on his back down immediately and jumped up to hug his big sister.
“So, bro,” she asked as she held him, “Have you picked out which book you’re buyin’?”
Chris nodded and pointed to the book he had left on the floor. Chrissy knelt down and read the title aloud. “’Archaeological Discoveries’? Why do you want this one?”
“I’ve been working on a story that involves mythical creatures,” Chris explained, “And I need a book that talks about them in great detail. I figured this one would be the best one to reference!”
Chrissy chuckled and gave her little brother a mini-noogie. “That’s my bro.” She carried her little brother and his book over to the desk and got ready for checkout.
Before Ashley could start ringing them up, something rose over them. It was as if an intense heat had entered the library. “Chrissy,” Ashley asked, “Did you forget to close the doors?”
“No,” she answered. Her little brother felt his glasses starting to sweat as well as his forehead. Chrissy felt more sweat droplets running down her forehead all the way to her legs.
Ashley asked Chris and Chrissy to wait while she checked the thermostat in the back.
Being a fire-type was her specialty, making it so she could keep her body sweat-free temperatures rose like this. She sensed something was up when she got to the thermostat, however The temperature on the left was at 90° Fahrenheit, and she knew the air conditioning had been running at full blast. She dashed back to Chris & Chrissy. “The thermostat is fine,” she said.
“Then, what’s going on with this heat?” Chris started to pant. “It’s like an oven in here!”
Suddenly, just as they were beginning to melt, the temperature went back down to room-level heat. It was like an immediate on/off switch on the temperature of the air. The three of them were even more baffled.
“That’s not right,” said Chrissy, “Just because it’s Sunday doesn’t mean the sun can just turn on and off if it wants to.”
Chris put a paw on his chin and began to think out loud. “While it’s true that temperatures can fluctuate, it doesn’t make sense for a heat-wave to pass after a measly minute. It’s not scientifically possible.”
“Alright, genius,” witted Chrissy, “If it’s not science, then it’s probably nature messing with everything again. You got an idea of something non-natural that could have caused this?”
Before Chris could come up with a witty comeback, Ashley suggested, “Why don’t you go see Huggles at the Goodra Gourmet? Maybe there was a fire there and it spread through the city."
“Good idea,” Chris said, “We haven’t heard from Huggles in a while anyways. Let’s go, sis!” Immediately, he jumped out of his sister’s hold and rushed out of the library.
Chrissy slapped the palm of her hand on her forehead and groaned. After saying goodbye to Ashley, she chased after her little brother. Out of the corner of Ashley’s eye as she was waving them off, she noticed the book Chris was about to buy still sitting at the front desk.
----
The Goodra Gourmet. It was a giant restaurant near the Healing Emporium just South of the library. Neon lights spelling out the name with a hungry Goodra symbol above the front doors. Chris and Chrissy made it to the front doors of the fine establishment and noticed that it looked just fine from the outside.
“Wait a sec,” said Chrissy with her foot in front of Chris, “Why would people still be here if this is where a fire took place?”
Chris’ face leveled out in annoyance. “People are like that. Now, come on!” He jumped over Chrissy’s foot and threw open the doors with his front paws.
It wasn’t a full house, but there were quite a few characters coming for an afternoon dinner. Tables lined up with humans, monsters, Pokemon, and more. They all seemed to be half-and-half: Half enjoying their meals and half tampering with the flustered waiters. All the while, there was no fire in sight. A yellow Lucario with the name tag reading “Reiko” rushed up to them with a menu in tow.
“Good afternoon,” he said with a smile, “Welcome to Goodra Gourmet! Table for two?”
“Actually,” Chrissy spoke up, “We’re here because it was scalding hot a few minutes ago, and we wanted to see if Huggles was around so we could ask about it?”
“Oh,” Reiko said, “Then I’m afraid you’ve come at a bad time. Huggles is currently on break, but I could send her a message to come see you, if you like?”
“That would be great, thank you.” Chrissy nodded and let Reiko rush off into the waves of tables.
Chris observed his surroundings. He noticed that the place had been running the air conditioning like mad with the air vents waving like leaves on a tree during a gusty day.
“Sis, look,” Chris pointed to them, “Do you see that?”
Chrissy looked to where he was pointing. “Yeah, I see it. The heat wave did a number on the joint.”
“Chrissy, a restaurant owner doesn’t go on break so casually after something like that.”
“So, are you saying Huggles didn’t notice, or...?”
Reiko made his way back to them with an egg omelet splattered across his head. Chrissy tried to contain her laughter with a snicker. “Huggles would like to see you two. Meet her in her office,” Reiko said, “And don’t tell her about the omelet on my head, please.”
Without another word, Chris and Chrissy made their way through the eatery. They passed table after table of satisfied and unsatisfied customers. After a couple of minutes, they entered a door that led to a cramped room filled with small cubbies for employees to store their valuables.
The next door after that led to a larger office with a desk that had the name of the owner, “Huggles the Goodra”, graciously on the desk plate. It looked snazzy and fit for a queen like her. Her accomplishments and standard owner certifications were hung on the walls on both sides of the room.
Huggles was sitting down at her metaphorical throne, looking dead-set at the two of them. Her body was gray with glowing turquoise eyes that intimidated the two siblings. She wore a black sweater vest with a bistro apron, complete with a spiffy tie. “Have a seat.” Her voice was monotone.
Chris, slightly frightened, went back up into Chrissy’s embrace. Chrissy sat in the seat provided in front of her. She was motionless, controlling her breathing at the tension Huggles brought into the room.
“Do you know why I called you here?” Huggles’ voice shook the room.
“Um… because we asked for you,” Chrissy answered nervously.
In a split second, Huggles let out a smirk which turned into a grin.
“Chrissy, you know precisely why I called you here,” she giggled in a more higher-pitched wavy voice, “It’s because you’re family! You don’t need to ask for permission to see me. I called for permission to see you!”
Chris started to chuckle, then began to laugh. Chrissy shut him up before he could make the moment more awkward. “That’s nice,” Chrissy said, “But we wanted to ask about this heat-wave we had about a half-hour ago.”
Huggles snapped her slimy stubby fingers. “Yeah, that! That was quite a spell. Goodra Gourmet never had that before! Thankfully, it’s all cleared up and the cooks went right back to work.”
“But,” Chrissy went further, “Isn’t it a bit odd for that to happen out of the blue?”
“Not in my restaurant! Hot spells happen, but so do cool spells! We’ve had each type come in and leave like it was nothing. Our cooks are trained to handle these types of situations.”
“Huggles, you don’t understand-”
“It’s okay, Chrissy,” Huggles cut Chrissy off, “Goodra Gourmet is alright and my break is almost done. There’s nothing to worry about!”
Suddenly, an explosion rocked the restaurant. It was loud, unexpected, and made Huggles fall out of her chair. Chrissy managed to catch Chris before he slipped out of her grip. The lights above them went out and the muffled sounds of customers panicking went through their eardrums.
Chrissy raised Chris up and put him directly in her hair. “Stay there,” she commanded, “And don’t make a sound.” Chris didn’t need to be told twice. He disappeared into her mane.
Outside the restaurant, Ashley was watching the weather above her when she was greeted to Chrissy and Huggles bursting out the restaurant doors along with a sea of customers running out behind them.
“Chrissy! Huggles! Look!” Ashley pointed up at the sky. Black clouds overtook the sunny atmosphere that the earth provided. The temperatures spiked once more, but they were more consistent. The wind picked up in speed.
“WHAT IS THAT?!” Huggles cried out in a panic.
Chrissy remained silent, knowing full well that the heat-wave wasn’t a coincidence anymore.
Chris popped out of Chrissy’s mane. His eyes widened at the change of weather. “What’s going on, sis,” he asked Chrissy, shaking feverishly. She did not answer.
From atop the gray canvas of clouds, an orange spark of lightning struck the ground in front of them. Ashley panicked and went straight for Huggles, holding her tight.
A fiery circle of Hell came forth from the air and formed itself into a figure that looked like a four-legged demon spawn. The head made of fire had a face on it with a body to match. A gryphon-like creature wearing armor suited for dealing with a furnace or heavy combat. If they could be described in a few words, it would be “silent, but deadly”. The creature looked down upon the area, scanning the population.
Ashley stepped away from Huggles and observed. A familiar feeling tingled through her tail and to her brain. A memory she had wished to put away.
The gryphon took a deep breath. A ball of lava began to form at the end of their mouth, and then it turned into pure fire. It went from the size of Chris to the size of Huggles.
Chris had a bad feeling in the back of his mind. This would not end well, and if he didn’t do something very quickly, Zoruopolis would become a wasteland.
In an instant, the gryphon let the ball of fire go. It rushed down towards the group at mach speed.
Chrissy quickly jumped out of the way with Ashley and Huggles following suit. The ball of fire smashed perfectly into the Goodra Gourmet, lighting it ablaze. An explosion followed not just for the restaurant, but for Huggles’ heart as well. Her passion in life burned to the ground in smithereens.
“MY GOURMET!” She fell to her knees and began to sob crazily. A waterfall of tears emitted from her eyelids as she saw everything she loved about her business went down in flames.
Chris and Chrissy didn’t have time to console their friend as the gryphon flew past them, heading for the heart of the city.
“Come on,” Chrissy commanded Ashley, “We’ve gotta get to the park!”
Without hesitation, they booked it to the park, leaving a broken Huggles to grieve over the loss of her eatery.
----
Chrissy and Ashley were already on their way to the park. Chris, still hidden in his sister’s mane, popped his head out to keep a closer eye on the demonic gryphon that was wreaking havoc on Zoruopolis. It wasn’t natural, he thought to himself, for it to be something so vile and attack without warning.
As they dashed through the city streets, they were passing through all of the panicked denizens that wished for the creature to disappear entirely. It was a wish they would not have granted.
The park was just another few steps away. Chrissy took one more glance up at the gryphon and noticed they were preparing for a landing. Ashley picked up the pace as well as Chrissy, making it in one piece to the park.
It used to be full of lush greenery, and while it was still present and accounted for, it looked darker with dread. It was as if nature was ill-prepared for a calamity. Flowers that had once bloomed were now retracting their petals. Animal creatures burrowed into their dens and hid into the trees. The shadows that were once there had faded over the demon’s wrath.
Chrissy and Ashley stopped just short of the gryphon’s landing spot. It slammed into the ground on all-fours and raised its head slowly.
Tension rising by the three of them. What was it? Who did it want? Why was it here? It was all that was running through Chris & Chrissy’s minds. Ashley put her paws on the stick poking out of her bushy tail, ready to draw if necessary.
In a split second, the gryphon raised its tail and opened its flaming mouth once more. Embers began to swirl around the end of its mouth. Its expression never changed.
Chris, without thinking, jumped out of Chrissy’s mane and landed on the ground in front of her. He knew it was a crazy idea. It would never work.
“Hold on! You don’t have to do this,” Chris cried out to the creature. “We can work this out! There’s no need for more destruction! Stop!”
It was as if the creature’s ears were non-existent. It continued charging its powerful fire blast. He took a few steps forward and stood his ground.
“Bro, no!” Chrissy yelled to him. With a quick step, she was about to make a quick grab for him. However, before she could move, she felt something holding her back. It was slimy, but also very strong.
“Huggles?!” Chrissy looked behind her and saw Huggles who was feeling much better after letting off some steam, “Let me go, Huggles!”
Ashley ran up in front of Chrissy, tears going down her face. “Don’t do it, Chrissy,” she begged, “You’ll die too!”
The creature had finally charged its attack and emitted spiraling fire energy, and it was heading straight for Chris. He stood his ground, sweat dripping down his forehead.
Chrissy broke the hold placed on her with a Shadow Ball straight to Huggles’ face. “Screw it,” she yelled, “Chris, no!”
Ashley and Huggles’ concerning cries for help were drowned out by the sounds of the flames approaching the sibling pair.
In a split second, Chrissy scooped Chris up from off of the grass and held onto him as tight as she could. The next thing she felt was the longest burning sensation she had ever felt in her lifetime, and the only sound she could utter was a scream of sheer pain.
The result of the blast made the nature surrounding them burn away into almost nothing. Wildfires that would have started instead went straight to ash. The panicked cries of animals were gone as the wave of flames passed by them. It was like a sonic boom of inferno.
When the explosion was settled, Chris & Chrissy were sprawled out on the ground. The trees and grass around them had been completely burned away from the attack. Ashley and Huggles were shell-shocked.
The gryphon turned around, opened its wings, and took off into the blackened clouds, disappearing into them with a poof.
Ashley took a careful step forward to look at her fallen friends. Both of them were covered in second-degree burns. Surprisingly, Chrissy’s scarf was not ruined, but it had a few burn marks.
“Chris? Chrissy?” Ashley called to them, hoping they would respond.
Silence.
“Please, wake up! Wake up!” Ashley begged for them to move, talk, or do anything. They were motionless.
Huggles felt the warmth of Ashley hit her stomach and chest. She looked down at the crying vixen, sobbing heavily. She pat Ashley on the back, hoping to provide at least a little comfort in all this.
With one last attempt, Ashley pulled her head out of Huggles’ embrace and turned to face Chris & Chrissy once more. She screamed at the top of her lungs.
“GET UP!”