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Terry padded along the sandy shore quietly.
It's been tradition to come all the way down here to watch the Krabbys blow bubbles in the morning; he started doing it again after they had restored the flow of time.
He stared out at the bubbles floating around him, shimmering lights refracting and shining a pearlescent color over his dull scales.
…
It would be beautiful, if it weren't for the fact that he was alone on the shore.
He glumly watched the bubbles float serenely by him, reaching a hand up slowly to pop a bubble that made the foolish choice to float too close to him.
It was a quiet thing, popping the bubble. It reminded him too much of how quickly life could be taken away.
A lot has happened since then…
He's made friends with a legendary, and banished one from this world.
He's raised a child, and evolved.
All without him…
…
…He's moping too much again. He needs to focus on his team's work now.
It has been many years since then, but he's carried on the torch of managing the team's work and recruits. They managed to reach 'secret rank', after he had delegated Basalt the Aggron, Logan the Tyranitar, and Orion the Magnezone to explore the Crevice Cave.
He didn't go personally, but from what he had heard, the expedition was a resounding success. They had even managed to rescue Scisor, who had been trapped on the very last floor by Froslass.
With their team of seasoned battlers and expeditionists, the battle was swiftly won.
Or at least, that's what he had heard.
After reaching the 'secret rank' a few years ago, two more years of grueling work had led his team to attain the 'guildmaster rank', a rank that had been achieved very few times before his team.
His two closest confidants and teammates, Logan the Tyranitar and Ocean the Armaldo, had urged him to open up a guild of his own, but…
It just wouldn't feel the same.
Both Logan and Ocean were good friends with him and Cyrus; Ocean being the first ever recruit that had joined their team, all the way from Beach Cave…
But…
He still just can't understand how they've seemingly moved on.
No matter what he tries he just… He just can't. Even on days when he doesn't feel that bad, the nagging wish for Cyrus to come back whispered in the back of his mind.
There's a sudden familiar sensation of hot tears pricking at the side of his eyes.
His emotions settled deep into his stomach, a weight upon his back and a heavy sensation emanating through his entire body.
The sun settled itself a small bit higher when he finally decided to get up.
…Too much of his time's been spent moping again.
He gets up, a low groan coming from his mouth. He's really been shirking his work lately… As he gets up, he looks at his belly. He's really getting fatter… He pokes his belly, with it jiggling slightly.
Sighing, he trudges back to Sharpedo Bluff, ignoring the pitied looks that the regular denizens of Treasure Town gave him when he looks as miserable as he does right now. He was just too tired. He was tired all of the time these days anyway.
Reaching the stairs, he walks down it, a glum look on his face.
He really needed to get to work.
First, he needed to check all of the pre-given supplies for each team…
He walks over to a table and chair that one of his teammates, a Nidoking named Ty, gave him. It has an inkwell built in too, how useful.
Pulling out some parchments and looking over them, he refills the inkwell with some Tentacruel ink and gets out his trusty Skarmory quill.
He looks over the parchment containing his team's items and equipment with a sigh. Oh Arceus, he should probably get someone else to do this.
First, he looks over the basic sets of items that he gives his teams.
Six oran berries… Three reviver seeds… Three sleep seeds… Two petrify orbs… Six apples… And then there's personal equipment like scarves… And then he lets his teams bring extra if they want to…
Nodding once he's made sure that it's all correct, he then looks at the items that he's saved up.
He sighs, looking at the reviver seed stocks. Only seventeen? And he has six teams of three…
His teams are all highly trained in combat, but mystery dungeons are all… Well, mysteries. He needs to make sure that all of his teams are properly and suitably prepared for whatever comes at them. And for that, he needs to make sure that every team can have at least three reviver seeds.
Dipping his quill in the ink by his side, he writes down a note for him to stop by the Keckleon Brothers to buy some reviver seeds and extra materials.
Now, onto the new recruits.
He rolls up the parchment for all of the items, and procures another parchment, similar to the last. He opens it, gawking at the sheer number that had applied to join his team. This… Is probably going to take a while.
—¤—
After appraising a lot of the recruits, (he had denied pretty much all of them,) he lets out a sigh and gets up to have a drink of water. He pushes out his chair, and walks over to a beaten up and patched bag that doesn't look like it's seen the light of day in a while.
He rummages through it, before pulling out a… Spoiled apple? Eugh. He tosses it outside into the bushes near the staircase.
Rummaging once again, he pulls out a worn down canteen, before trudging over to the spring that's conveniently in the bluff.
He fills up his canteen, before taking a swig of water. Refreshing! He greedily gulps down the rest of the water, wiping his mouth once he's done. Closing the canteen back up, he looks over to the two separate beds.
They're both equally disheveled, despite only one being actively slept on. A battered and torn power scarf is the only thing that occupies the bed closest to him. He feels a heavy sensation permeate through his body as he stares at the torn scarf for too long. He looks away, and puts his canteen back into his bag.
Sitting back down in the chair, careful of his giant tail, he pushes it back in and gets back to work.
—¤—
He lets out a sigh as he finally finishes the long list that laid upon the table in front of him. Unfortunately, there was really only one promising application, a Gyarados named Jules. Toughing it out enough as a Magikarp, enough to evolve was already a great feat; and along with some preexisting combat experience… It said a lot about the potential that they have.
Oh, and they have a good sense of humor too, apparently.
Marking them down for a future interview, he sighs and rolls up the parchment. How his team was so popular that it felt like a whole entire village applied; he really just didn't know… But he certainly knew that it was exhausting as all hell.
He gently puts the parchment on the slowly growing pile on the ground, before pushing out his chair.
He cracks his back, letting out a soft groan as he did so.
Jeez. His back is killing him… And he's only what? 23?
As he does that, he hears footsteps approaching the bluff.
He quickly pushes in the chair he was sitting on before, and nudges the pile of parchments under the table. Out of sight, out of mind…
A claw quickly shows itself, and a blue colored eyestalk peeks around the corner.
"Hey, dude!" Ocean says cheerfully, the rest of his large frame appearing from around the corner. "I'm just checkin' up on ya', how are ya'?"
Ocean the Armaldo.
The best way to describe him would be energetic, almost infectiously so. He was a bit reckless at times, but made up for it by being one of the most skilled at combat in his team. In fact, he and Terry had competed all of the time when they were younger, both of them having the same energetic attitude. They were quite similar, back then. The same can't really be said now, though.
Terry smiles tiredly at Ocean. "Well… I finally just got done with all of the new applications, and I'm also done with taking inventory." He quickly picks up the inventory parchment from the frankly concerning pile, opening it and showing Ocean. "We need some more reviver seeds. Mind running over to the Kecleon Bros and getting some for us? Just need around five to be safe."
Ocean gives him a weird look, eyestalk twitching slightly. "I thought ya' already bought some just a week ago?"
Groaning, Terry pinches the bridge of his snout again. "Don't remind me… Ty's team had to go on a job all the way in Zero Isle North... And on the 83rd floor!" His hand gestures wildly, a bit frustrated. "They had to use all of the pre-given ones, plus two, TWO more after that…! Can you believe it!? Ugh…" He walks dramatically to his disheveled bed, flopping onto it with a theatrical flourish. "Didn't even pay well… I hate Zero Isle."
Ocean only gives him a slightly concerned chuckle.
Terry suddenly sits up, seemingly sobered up now. "Oh, I forgot, lemme' get you the money for the reviver seeds…" He shuffles his way over to his bag, before fishing in it for a bit. "Give me a second…"
He eventually fishes out a pouch of poké, jingling it slightly. "To be honest, I forgot how much poké is in here. It'll be enough though, I'm pretty sure!"
He drops it into Ocean's awaiting claw.
"Are you sure?" Ocean asks, "This feels like a lot…"
"Nah, it's fine! We still make plenty. I've already set aside a lot for a rainy day anyways." Terry gives Ocean a dismissive wave, before turning to go back to his work. "I gotta finish up work now, so go on ahead…"
"What? No, you're coming with me," Ocean says, setting a claw on Terry's shoulder, a concerned look on his face. "Look, man. You've been cooped up in here for way too long!"
"What? But-" Terry starts, but he's cut off by Ocean starting to drag him out.
"No buts, you're one of my closest friends, and I'll be damned if I let you atrophy away in this bluff, ya' hear?!"
The captive in Ocean's grip finally relents, letting out a groan as he's forced out of the bluff. "Fine… Just let me go, I can walk by myself- I'm not a baby…!"
—¤—
They had bought a fair amount of reviver seeds, before sending them to Kangaskhan. It was a fairly hefty amount that they had to pay, seeing as reviver seeds were a hot commodity, but… He feels like it's been getting pricier recently.
1,200 poké for each seed! What a ripoff, even if they had a fair sum of money saved!
They had also purchased a few other things, namely oran berries, apples, and a few orbs, but they costed much less than the reviver seeds.
Now, he and Ocean sat under a tree near Duskull Bank, sitting there and eating a couple of oran berries.
Terry suddenly breaks the silence, sighing. "It's been a while since I've been out," he mutters to Ocean, "well, for anything that's not the trip to the beach and back anyways."
Ocean chuckles, poking him on the side gently with a claw. "I can definitely see, dude! You're gettin' pudgy… You really should come on some missions with me or some of the others again! Somethin' small though, probably. Maybe a mission in Zero Isle North? Eh? Eh???" He ribs at Terry, a grin on his face.
He groans, shoving Ocean away gently, with Ocean letting out a small cry dramatic of indignity as he gets shoved. "Shut up, dude… But, yeah, maybe I should go on expeditions again." He looks at the sky, thinking. "Yeah… Maybe I should…" He then turns to Ocean, a fond look on his face. "But, anyways, in the meantime, do you want to do something else? We can't just have an impromptu picnic with only oran berries and apples, as much fun as it is."
At his words, Ocean stands up, stretching. "Well, then how about we head over to Spinda's café? You probably haven't had a drink even longer than you haven't been outside."
The Sceptile by his side also stands up, rubbing his chin. "Well…" To be honest, he's, well… A mess when he's drunk. He's not sure…
Ocean pouts, pressing the tips of his claws together and giving Terry a pleading look. "Please…? C'mon, dude! I can get Logan too! It'll be just like the old days!"
Logan? Arceus, when was the last time he's actually seen him that wasn't just him reporting the result of missions…? He suddenly feels very guilty.
He scratches the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt…"
Ocean cheers, wrapping an arm around Terry. "Awesome, dude! Just head on over there and I'll get there with Logan in a 'lil!"
Eagerly, Ocean dashes off to a random direction, quickly leaving Terry's line of sight.
Terry sighs, before walking over to Spinda's Café.
—¤—
Sitting there and twiddling his claws, he waits.
It's been like… What, 20 minutes? Where are they? It's… Practically sundown now.
Right as he thinks that, he hears a loud voice faintly. "C'mon, c'mon! Speed it up Logan!"
"What…? What's the rush Ocean…?"
He then sees Ocean rush into the café, dragging a much larger frame behind him.
Logan the Tyranitar…
While Ocean and Terry were similar between the original four, Logan and… Cyrus, were similar to each other. Both of them were polite and docile, but whereas Cyrus was quiet, Logan was more just wise… Logan was definitely wiser than Cyrus. Cyrus made some… Questionable decisions, sometimes. Cyrus was more of the goofy kind of quiet, he supposes.
"T-Terry?" Logan started, a stunned look on his face. "What are you doing here…?"
Terry opens his mouth to answer, but is quickly cut off by Ocean. "Oh, I dragged him out!"
"Dragged him out- what?"
"Well, I mean, he was all cooped up in his bluff doing work, and It's been so long since we've all hung out…" Ocean twiddles his claws together. "I just wanted to get the gang back together, ya' know?"
Logan sighs, turning to Terry.
"Sorry about Ocean. But, I do agree that it… It is nice that you're out of Sharpedo Bluff once again."
He feels a warm feeling blossoming in his heart at Logan's words.
"Nah, it's fine. It's… Nice to be outside after a long while." Terry smiles slightly.
Suddenly, Ocean butts into the conversation. "What's up with this lukewarm conversation!? Terry's finally out of his cave, let's get sloshed!"
Terry gives Logan a look, almost asking, 'does this happen often?'
The look that Logan gives him practically answers his unsaid question loud and clear.
—¤—
He remembers when he had just evolved, he had finally turned to an age where he could drink.
The surprise he felt, when Spinda started allowing teammates to order alcoholic drinks in exchange for food items…
He hadn't gone in a while, but he always had a staple berry to bring to Spinda, a rindo berry. But, whenever he was able to find a starf berry, goodness, that day would be instantly better. Sure, it wasn't always that healthy, but it tasted amazing, so who cared, really…?
The trio of Terry, Ocean, and Logan found themselves sitting at a table, waiting for their drinks.
Terry had saved up a few starf berries in his time away from the café, so naturally he ordered a starf berry drink.
Logan had ordered a charti berry drink, a berry that he had always ordered in the past. "Feelin' nostalgic, eh?" Ocean heckled.
Logan smiled quietly, lightly poking Ocean in the side. "Shut up, Ocean."
Ocean's order was something that made both Terry and Logan's eyebrows raise. An enigma berry drink.
"Enigma berry?" Terry started. "Where'd you get one of those?"
Ocean chuckles, one of his eyestalks twitching slightly. "This Infernape guy sold one to me for a pretty penny… I think his name was like… Juice? Jude? Judge? I don't remember. All I remember is that I was broke for a long time after that… But! I got an enigma berry!"
—¤—
He wasn’t sure about what happened after all of the rounds of drinks they had. It costed a pretty penny to order, and ate away at their crew’s slowly dwindling berry supply… It tasted really nice though.
Ocean got drunk first, he remembers that. The enigma berry drink was pretty strong, apparently. But aside from that, all he remembers after downing his drinks was stumbling all the way back to Sharpedo Bluff with Logan and Ocean…
And now, there he is. Hungover, and in the same bed as Logan and Ocean. He silently prays to whatever god is up there that nothing happened.
Slowly untangling his limbs from both of them and cradling his aching head, he quietly leaves the quietly snoozing Logan, and the loudly snoring Ocean.
He shuts his eyes and hisses quietly at the moonlight as he trudges out of the bluff. How is it so bright tonight…?
Whatever.
He sits down on the edge of the cliff with a groan, cracking his aching back. Ugh… What happened?
Well… Probably nothing much.
Eventually, his thoughts started to drift towards Logan and Ocean.
It was nice to go out again after so much time. He… Didn't realize just how much time he's spent holed up inside of Sharpedo Bluff. Drinking like that, it almost reminded him of the olden days, albeit with more alcohol.
But… He was just so… Conflicted. It feels almost criminal to just do things that the gang and Cyrus had always just done, all without Cyrus.
Laughing, drinking, having conversations…
It feels so wrong.
He felt so wrong. It felt like every single thing he did, he felt a weight upon his back. A very close to Cyrus weight. He would have laughed if it weren't so sad.
He feels tears prick at the corners of his eyes.
Fuck, come on, please. Not now.
As he tries to wipe away the tears from his eyes, he hears quiet footsteps coming from the bluff.
He quickly tries to wipe away the moisture on his eyes, before turning around. Shit, why now, after he's so close to full-on sobbing…?!
He watches in dismay as he sees the larger frame of Logan enter his view. His face was studied intently by Logan's piercingly brown eyes, scrutinizing his emotions. Logan had always been good at discerning everybody's emotions. It was useful during interrogations, but now… "Terry…? Are you… Alright?" he asked, a worried expression written all over his face. "Your… Your eyes… They're red… Were you crying…? I-It's ok, you can tell me…"
Terry just shakes his head. "I…" he starts with a shaky tone, "I wasn't. P-Promise." He tries to force a strained smile onto his face.
He flinches, when Logan approaches him.
Logan puts a hand on Terry's shoulder, and he can't suppress the few tears that he couldn't choke back.
He leans into Terry, giving him a hug. "It's ok. We're here for you," Logan murmurs in his ear quietly, "it's ok to not be ok."
And he breaks.
He sobs and sobs, until he feels like he can't anymore, ugly tears rolling down his face and his entire body shaking. He gasps for air desperately, almost as if there was something gripping the core of his very body, and he can only hold onto Logan as he cried. He was only a passenger in his body, and he didn't even know who was piloting it at this point.
And Logan just sits there with him, holding him tightly, patting his back. "It's ok," he whispers, "it's all going to be alright…"
Terry doesn't respond. He only gasps and sobs, burying his face into Logan's shoulder, wetting the dull armor plate with his salty tears.
They sat there for a while, Logan not saying anything, while Terry cried and cried, consumed with grief; the bottled up feelings that he had been holding in for years fueling the fires that raged in his mind.
Eventually, Terry's shuddering and sobbing slows down, leaving quiet tremors and breaths. "How…" He starts.
Logan only makes a quiet sound of questioning.
"How… H-How did you move on?" he murmurs into Logan's chest quietly, "Fuck- I-I probably sound so pathetic right now… It's just- fuck- I- how? Please, please just tell me- I'll do anything, just- please, I hate this feeling, please make it stop…" He babbles almost incoherently, words spilling out of his mouth as he pleaded with Logan desperately.
Logan sighs quietly, and Terry feels a few tears fall onto the back of his head. "Well… That's a hard one, if I had to admit. Admittedly, I still haven't moved on. I don't think Ocean has either. Cyrus was a huge part of all of our lives, after all… But all I can really say is that I just keep trying. It still hurts, but I try to take each day in stride." He feels even more tears fall onto his head. "It's always going to hurt, probably, and there's always going to be a little part of us that misses Cyrus desperately… But the only thing we can do is remember Cyrus and keep him close in our hearts."
Terry could only make a hollow, shuddering laugh, and hold Logan closer, as they both lamented to the moon watching high above.
—¤—
It had been a while since that day.
Terry quietly padded along the all too familiar beach.
He looked across the horizon, the moon slowly dipping down across the sky.
Turning his head, he gazed at the spot where it all began.
He could almost imagine the body of a Totodile laying there, unconscious.
But, there was just one thing left there, a gravestone with a power scarf resting upon the base of it.
Terry quietly walks over to it, inspecting the carvings upon the quietly resting stone grave.
In loving memory of
Cyrus the Totodile.
Sacrificed his life for the world.
Beloved friend and teammate,
you will be missed by all.
He still feels hot tears prick at the corners of his eyes as he stares morosely at the familiar inscription on the grave. He rubs them away.
"Cyrus…" he starts, his voice shaky. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"
He sits down on his knees in front of it, gazing intently at the small offering dish in front of it. A fresh passho berry, and a blue gummi sat in the dish serenely. He smiles slightly; it looks like both Logan and Ocean had visited recently.
He sighs a bit, before putting a perfect apple in the dish. "Here… Another one of your favorites."
He studies the night sky above him for a bit, contemplating what to say.
He sighs. "I guess you probably already know this, but Ocean and Logan finally got me to start a guild a while away from here. It uh…" he laughs solemnly, "It still feels wrong. I always thought that I would be able to start it with you…" He quickly wipes away some of the tears that threatened to fall down his face.
"We're trying our best to make a guild that you could be proud of. It's going alright so far, I'd say… It's no Wigglytuff Guild, but, I mean, that's a steep hill to climb." He rests his hand on his face. "We do have a nice amount of guild members though… Oh, I'm not 'shirking my work' by the way," he does his best Chatot impression, "I needed to come here with Logan and Ocean for some work anyways."
He lays down on his back, splaying out in the sand and staring at the slowly regressing canvas of stars above him.
"I just… Couldn't sleep. I just decided to come here. I was gonna' come here before we left, of course, but I just decided to come here alone. Have a little one on one, just you and me, ya' know?"
He clutches his face, shutting his eyes tight to ward off the tears forming at his eyes. "Fuck. I'm so fucking pathetic… I-I just- I still miss you. I still miss you a lot." He sits up, wiping his eyes.
"I think I'm always going to miss you. But… I'm trying harder not to cry every time I start thinking about you." He wipes his eyes. "Bad example, but I swear… I swear I'm getting better."
He looks at the dish. "Logan and Ocean are doing well too. They still miss you, obviously, but… I think that they just don't want to worry me. I think they already visited you…" He trails off a bit, thinking. "They've probably already told you about how they're doing. But… Yeah. I think that's all I really wanted to talk to you about."
He stands up, before fishing around in the pack at his side, and procuring a slightly squashed bouquet of gracidea flowers.
"I had to cash in a few favors for this bouquet, you know. I just… I wanted to get you something special. To show my gratitude to you, for everything that you've done."
The sun had finally raised over the horizon, bathing everything with a comforting golden glow.
He rests the bouquet on the grave next to the dish with a sad smile.
The grave sits there almost serenely, bathed in a warm light.
"Thanks. Thanks for everything, Cyrus. See you soon."
And as he walked away, he felt a weight leave his chest.