Work Text:
Zack sat quietly, staring at the fire. He wasn't alone, far from it, as long as he had his Pokemon with him. But there was still an unfamiliarity with the quietness.
He knew it was the right decision breaking off from his bandmates. He wasn't getting ANYWHERE with them. He felt like he was drowning, screaming and no one was listening. But it still was weird, setting camp up by himself. He wasn't really sure WHAT he was doing anyway.
"Vui Vui!" Cinnamon, his newly caught Eevee was looking up at him concernedly.
"I"m alright," Zack said, affectionately rubbing her head.
"Saws," his Sawsbuck, Lumber looked at him almost questioningly.. Now that both he (Zack) and his oldest partner (Lumber) was out of the picture he supposed they didn't have a name, but that wasn't his problem anymore.
Maybe he should just go home. Sure he'd have to deal with a lot of well meaning but annoying questions from the twins, but at least he wouldn't be wandering aimlessly through the woods.
Zack was distracted by his musings by a the sound of a largish Pokemon dashing through the brush. He turned towards the sound, preparing to order his Pokemon.
An Absol burst into his campsite howling.
Which was never a good sign.
To be fair it wasn't a good sign from ANY Pokemon, but Absol had a well-deserved reputation. Now, no one these days thought Absol actually caused disasters, save for some old superstitious grumps. But still, whether they caused disasters or not they were still an omen of them.
The Absol didn't seem to be attacking him at least, but it was clearly... well it SEEMED upset. It was at least riled up about something. It turned back towards the woods and began barking.
Zack caught a glimpse of something in the Absol's fur. He quickly realized this wasn't some random wild Absol either. It wore a magenta colored colar with what appeared a mega stone charm securely attached. Not just a trainer's Pokemon but most likely a powerful and well beloved partner.
"Wait up!" A boy cried, stumbling out into the pathway himself, a Fidough in his arms.
"Oh good, a path!" A girl said following behind him, she didn't have any Pokemon at her side, but she held a pink ball in her hand.
"Can I help you?" Zack asked nervously. The pair looked like they'd just ran a marathon.
"Sorry for startling you!" The boy apologized, "I'm Milo! And this is Melissa!"
"Hey,"
"Well, I'm Zack, and this is Cinnamon and Lumber,"
"This is Diogee." Milo said.
The Fidough barked.
"And Hazy," Milo said, gesturing towards the Absol, who still seemed aggrivated about something, but barked a cheerful greeting.
"Those are some interesting names," Zack said, conversationally.
"Yeah Hazy is short for..."
Hazy started barking, and faced away from the woods.
"I know I know," Milo said, petting his Pokemon. Zack noticed that the Absol's collar matched the boy's sweater vest. Those two really must have been partners.
"I thought something terrible was about to happen," Zack confessed, laughing a bit nervously "it's good to know that the Absol was a trainers,"
"Oh something terrible's going to happen," Melissa said, "That's why he HAS Hazard."
A giant bolder suddenly fell from the sky only a few hundred meters away, and started rolling towards them. The woods were dense and the path was relatively narrow against the base of the mountain.
"You might want to run," Milo said
Zack began to run, scrambling for Pokeballs to recall his Pokemon but failing in his panic. Cinnamon quick Attacked herself into the woods and away from the boulder's path.
"I'll get dinner started!" Melissa called after them, through Zack's screams she successfully having avoided the boulder.
"That's good, because I'm getting hungry," Milo told Zack.
"My dinner was just destroyed," Zack found himself yelling at Milo coherently instead of the screaming.
"I'm sure Melissa will make some for you," Milo said.
"How are you not freaking out,"
"I don't see how that would help," Milo told him.
The path lead them UP the mountain, so it seemed and yet the boulder kept following them. Lumber was keeping pace easily with Zack and Zack (after a couple failed attempts) was able to mount himself on Lumber's back. Milo seemed content to keep running, Hazy dashed out ahead, and turned around and paused.
"There's good news and bad news." Milo said.
"Bad news?" Zack decided.
"We're going over a cliff," Milo said.
"Then what's the good news?"
"We should be able to lose the thing over the cliff,"
"Fun! Zack asked.
"Do you have your Sawsbuck's Pokeball?"
"Yeah?"
"Might want to put it away."
An Eevee was sitting on the edge of the clearing, anxiously whining. Melissa had already begun to set a fire.
"Oh your Zack's aren't you? What did he say your name was, Cinnamon,"
Cinnamon responded to the name by approaching Melissa.
"He'll be okay," Melissa tried reassuring the anxious Pokemon, petting her, "Milo's with him. How about we make dinner for when they get back?"
Zack was sopping wet, struggling to keep his head above water. In the back of his mind the idea of fish Pokemon lying beneath the waves was lurking, but the immediate terror of drowning was far stronger. A life preserver appeared in front of him.
"Grab on!" Milo called to Zack, somehow on the shore. Milo, Diogee and Absol pulled Zack ashore.
"Oh sweet land," Zack cried, lying on the shore, "I'm still alive,"
"Yep!" MIlo chirped.
Timber, left his Pokeball of his own volition, and began nudging him.
"I'm good boy."
"Let's head back," Milo said, "I'm sure Melissa's gotten dinner made by now!"
"Is Hazy short for Hazard?" Zack asked as they trudged through the woods in the direction the Fidough was leading them, moving surprisingly quickly for it's tiny legs.
"Yep!" Milo chirped.
Now, Zack figured Hazard it wasn't a bad name for an Absol, if maybe a bit insensitive but if the Absol was fine with it it must be fine. But the more pressing concept was that a disaster was in fact unfolding, and this seemed to be very typical for the boy and his Absol.
"I thought Absol didn't cause disasters?"
"They don't," Milo confirmed, "They only sense them,"
"So why is this happening?"
"You know just because Absol don't cause disasters don't mean that disasters NEVER happen around Absol. They are just as likely to experience misfortune as most people,"
"So this is just random chance?" Zack asked him in a mix of disbelief and frustration.
"Well, no. It's Murphy's Law." Milo said.
"What?"
"Murphy's Law." Milo said, "I'm Milo Murphy. What can go wrong will go wrong around me."
A tree was struck by lightning behind him.
"So is it always like this for you?" Zack asked.
"What do you mean?"
"This... dangerous and chaotic?"
"Well it varies from moment to moment, but yeah. Stuff like this happens all the time."
"And you chose to go on a journey?
"Isn't that the point of a journey?" Milo asked, "To have an adventure, get stronger, figure yourself out? How can you do that if nothing ever goes wrong. If nothing interesting ever happens?"
Zack considered this. He'd left on his journey nearly 2 and a half years ago, and for the first time he really considered why he was doing this, "Do you have room for one more?"
"Huh?"
"On your journey. Mind if I tag along at least for a little while?"
"Don't you have somewhere to be?" Milo asked, "Murphy's Law kind of prevents us from getting anywhere in particular quickly,"
"That's perfect," Zack said, "I don't have anywhere I need to be,"
"Really?"
"Let's just say that I was looking for a new direction anyway, and with you seems as good a direction as any
Lumber huffed in assent. This would be good for them.
"Well Zack, it's been a pleasure to have you on board for this direction, I would be honored if you chose to continue traveling with us, but I'd have to check with Melissa first,"
"Absolutely," Zack said, "I'll ask her as soon as we get back."
Suddenly the ground beneath them collapsed into a tunnel.
"Oh boy," Milo said, as Zack stared down a group of Graveler.
"What should I do?" Zack asked.
"Well, I'm no expert," Milo started, "But I think we should prepare to be exploded into the sky."
"How?" Zack asked.
The Graveler's did in fact explode, but Hazy quickly used protect, and while it shielded them from the worst of it, they still found themselves launched into the sky by the force of the attack on all sides.
"And now we're in the air," Zack said in almost pure disbelief.
Milo, Diogee and Hazy seemed rather casual about the whole thing.
Lumber, not fond of flying in the air, for the very understandable reason of being a quadraped who could not fly, was calling out distressedly. Zack, not fond of seeing his partner in distress immediately recalled him for the second time. Part of Zack felt guilty for continuously bringing his partner into these situations. The other part of him wished he could curl up small and safe in a Pokeball.
"Can't Mega Absol fly?" Zack asked, gesturing towards the Mega stone flapping in the wind against Hazy's fur.
"Nope, they don't have wings, they just have really fluffy feathers that look like wings," Milo explained.
"So we're going to die!" Zack screamed.
"Eventually," Milo said, "But I don't think we're going to die right now,"
"What makes you say that?" Zack asked, hoping he had a actual flying type in his back pocket, "Do you have a flying type,"
"I do not have a flying type," Milo informed him.
Suddenly they stopped falling.
"Oh... a psychic type works too," Zack said, "But couldn't you have done that sooner?"
"That wasn't me," Milo said, pointing behind Zack, where a large, strange Pokemon was hovering. It was orange and vaguely human shaped, if a human had intertwined tentacles for arms.
"What is that?" Zack asked.
"Maybe it will return us to Melissa." Milo said.
The pokemon started flying upward, with them in tow.
"Hey!" Zack shouted, which caught the Pokemon's attention, it stopped to stare at Zack, "Hey, um... you... my friends making dinner for us... And we haven't eaten, could you by chance, return us,"
The strange Pokemon stared at Zack for a long moment as if reading his soul.
And suddenly, Zack was where he started back at his camp (or what was his camp). A Mienshao was sitting besides Melissa at the table.
"Eevui! Vui!" Cinnamon said, launching herself at him.
"I'm back Cinnamon,"
"Hey Melissa, we're back!" Milo said.
"So, what's for dinner?" Zack asked. Melissa smirked, and handed Zack a plate of curry, seasoned with berries.
"The tree's you ran through made collecting these easy," she said.
"Oh, cool." Zack said awkwardly
"You seem pretty calm for all of that," Melissa noted.
"I want to come with you guys," Zack blurted.
"Wait, really?" Melissa asked in disbelief, "You want to do that... all the time?"
"Well, you do it?"
"I grew up with Milo," Melissa said, "I'm used to it,"
"If you don't want me to come along..."
"No sorry," Melissa said, "If you want to I'd love to have you. I'm just not sure anyone has volunteered to journey... with us. Sometimes we travel with people if we're headed in the same direction but. With us? willy nilly wherever Murphy's Law takes us.
"That's exactly what I want," Zack said.
"Alright then," Melissa said, extending an arm out "Welcome to the squad... don't let us down,"
"I won't!" Zack promised, firmly shaking it.