Risky [Private/Isadore]

[Etude]

Isadore

Etude was relaxing in the Guard’s room. She had been talking with the Magnezone that run the place about how common an escape route Gloomy Forest was. After exchanging stories, the Magnezone remembered he forgot to bring dinner, and pushed on by a rumbling stomach and a want of Spinda’s Cafe’s specialty seasonal soup, excused himself for a trip into town. 

The absol settled down by one of the tables. She’d been at the prison all day, having lacked any bounties other pokemon couldn’t handle. It was starting to get late, and she wondered when she should start heading home. She yawned, stretched, and decided she may as well stay until the Magnezone got back. 

A Fraxure was napping in the corner, on break and taking full advantage of it. It wouldn’t be long, Etude thought, before the shift change.  

The door flew open, slamming against the wall. But rather than a tired guard ready for their go at napping, the Croconaw was in a panic. 

“Some- Someone’s- Someone’s-” He breathed. 

Things happened in the prison. Pokemon got into arguments that escalated to fist fights. Prisoners tried to break out. It was part of her, often daily, job. Etude calmly strode to the pokemon. 

“What’s happening?” She asked sternly. 

“Someone’s breaking in!” The Croconaw managed. “The guard’s down! All of them!” 

“Who’s doing it?” Etude asked, her mind flicking through all their prisoners in block C. 

“A Lucario!” He replied. 

No, it couldn’t be. 

“Call backup.” Etude didn’t hesitate. She rushed out into the hallway, full sprint. 

He wouldn’t be here, would he? He couldn’t.

[Isadore]

ISADORE

…A moment ago. 

A sheepish roar scamped across the floorboards, heard across the thinning walls of the Mess Hall. "I-I-It's the Paladin. S-S-Sir Isadore. HE'S RETURNED?!" The complaint returned, the heaving breath from running layered over his exclamation. "P-Please, sto--." The interruption was a heart-wrenching feeling that tucked through most of the pokemon that heard this bewilderment. The constant rambling and juggling of words echoed throughout the chambers had grown louder. The chains rattling as the prisoners could only tremble, defenseless yet tensed to see what this fool had not finished what he's started. The inching fear and the panic surged through the guard's veins. Cell Block C, carried the most villainous 'mons of Lunar Island the rate of depression of time corroding their ways had often reassured them to stop becoming an evildoer. However, a prisoner who escapes and returns, what's up with that? They are at high-risk of getting beaten…though now, it's the opposite. 

Rampardos entered the scene, not surprised about the rookies getting hurt but for his fatigued guards more experienced than these newbies were unacceptable. His gargantuan tail whipped across the bars, his cranium bucking away as usual. "GRAAAA! WHAT NOW?!" A reply was not granted. Before he could carry his guards away from the area, a charged beam blasted at the metal doors, the dents increasing in size at an alarming pace. "Eh, that technique…Scrap-Metal?" He commented a familiar nickname, instantly dazed about the idea of the old prisoner. It was a long time-ago, many believed he was just a legend. But, of course the one's who've been here longer know that his existence is no joke. Besides, he was more than just another steel-type. 

As help arrived, they began to puzzle the situation. Rampardos glanced at the rescue squad but they were not what he was looking for. "Evacuate, now. Return, and this shall be your fate." He growled, directing his malicious stare at the fainted guards surrounding them. "I'll handle this. Go fetch, Lady Etude." He reassured them with a steadied nod before resuming his attention towards the door. As the world paused to witness this once in a life-time event. Soon, Rampardos reminiscence about the story, the tale of the Holy Guardian of Moon Island. He was a knight, one who investigated the island, protecting it from evil pokemon attempting to rob Cresselia's muted flowers. He was an intelligent one nurturing the plants that grew wherever it pleased even changing those who faced him in battle. He was Isadore, son of a great Paladin at Jagged Castle. He had potential and succeeded in his work. 

It was an ancient process that's repeated. A fable to inspire the recruits of the Jagged Castle. He was looked up to by many, some rumor he was Cresselia's greatest protector. This was suppose to be a happy story….Rampardos sunk in grief after hearing the ending told by his father. 

"Father, what happened to him? Why did they arrest him?"

"He was…a one of a kind friend to us all. He was smart. Until--"

The robust doors were melted down, by a physic power. The dull light from his expressionless eyes made Rampardos fall disappointed and somewhat saddened as he pitied this poor excuse for a hero. 

"….Until he fell in love."

It was such a shame, he was doing so well. 

"OUTRAGE!" 

"…."

---

The outcome came too soon and the violence eased off as the battle ended. Isadore knelt down, while Rampardos was completely taken down. " Ha, Lady Etude would love to speak to you. After all you've done." He spatted, frozen in movement his maw dragged across the ground as he spoke in a raspy tone. "Tis a shame, that I never got a chance to witness your partner's funer--" The speech was crushed into a full refrain by the finishing attack of Isadore. His foot placing over this thick-headed guard, tough enough to bring up final words that were worthless, merely a dire sin to speak. The note he was suppose to receive, he didn't want to hear any of it. Conscience fading within his victory.

He took a step back, allowing the shadow to hide more of his body. Etude? She wasn't suppose to be here…ugh, what a waste of time I'd be. Wide eyes watched the fainted foes before him, and, for a moment, thrill flashed in his eyes and chilled his pelt. He was a lucario, yes, hostile but only when approached by a threat. Rather was he tempted into seeing that face again. Wrinkly, aged, annoying…experienced, elegant, exquisite. He couldn't help but think about it that way in sum, he's not the same again but he shouldn't think so badly of her. She was the source for this sense of…power.

Ellos, my muse is low but this post was pretty old Etude

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[Etude]

Memories flew at her at the speed Etude flew down the halls. It’d been so long since she had visited them, ages since she packed them into the back of her mind. When she pulled them back out, she found she’d left them a jumbled mess in the box, at odd angles and overlaps and now covered in soft dust. 

She remembered the first time she met the riolu, in Jagged Castle. She was a young explorer. Only a week before she had earned her first permanent scar. Her badge was still shiny. 

Unconscious guards littered the floor of a large room . She hoped the two left in the Guard’s Room were awake and sensible enough to make good on her order; she could do nothing for these pokemon now but use their aftermath to gauge the intruder’s next direction. 

The castle smelt like old stone soaked in water and the fields outside abloom with tiny flowers. It was like the stone building wanted to hold something in its halls, if only a sent. Etude remembered her excitement and the energy in her teammates. They were at one of the most dangerous dungeons on the island, and they were going to explore it. Imagine their surprise to be greeted by a riolu. 

Not a single guard was standing. Pokemon she had passed in rounds earlier today were slumped against the wall, responding to but unable to stop the crisis. How many had he taken down? Only one, undazed, made eye contact and pointed for her the direction. 

The last time the two had crossed paths, it had been long enough ago she couldn’t tell you what she’d been doing beforehand, but was fresh enough, negative enough, to stand like a red cloth among a pile of white. 

She desperately hoped, as she began to hear the shouting and the fight, that it wasn’t him. It was some other lucario. Why did her past have to have so many loose threads? This one was a knot, deeply tangled and unable to be removed with a simple cut.  

The sound of battle grew louder, hidden only behind one last turn in the hall. The double doors leading in had been flung open. Etude dreaded to see what was beyond them, but she didn’t allow herself to slow. 

She stopped before the doorway. She’d known what she’d see, had known this entire time. Before her was the same scene she’d seen the entire way here, only the actors replaced with C-block guards, and the lead actor present.  

Her breath caught in her lungs. Her heart pounded against her chest. There was no way she could be mistaken; it could be no other lucario. Etude did not forget old friends. 

“Isadore.” She whispered. 

She clenched her brow, forced herself to take a deep breath. 

“Isadore!” She shouted, elongating the name to her entire exhale. 

She could already feel the surge of battle. Her stance broadened, her senses became acute. She did not want to make the first move. Perhaps this was a battle she needed to start, but she hesitated. She hadn’t prepared. For so long she’d both wished and dreaded this day. She knew it was coming, it’d been a long time so, but not once had she expected it’d be today.
 

It’d been dropped on her like a slab of rock and now she did something dangerous and even out of character; she gave her opponent the opportunity to move first.

[Isadore]

ISADORE

"Isadore."

A hushed greeting peaked at the gris moment. He continuously tried to focus on something else, another object. Though, he had no luck. Practically everything was written disastrous. His breath delaying by the sound of his heart, a mass that did not give him a break. His building daze encased him in a bubble of old thoughts. Some he wasn't proud of, while most, he swore never to bring up again. The memories, those dark pasts that turned out to be the worst. Disguised as the most happiest event that ever happened to him…he only wished he was capable of beating fate at it's own game.

Isadore tried to smile, attempted to hold onto something positive, but this was no work of appreciable art. The loose parts of the present already dismantled. Swept off in a clouding darkness, he had nothing left to lose, he had nothing left to gain but that wretched stone. That gem which contained power beyond his own strength, with it he was undefinable. Now, he was just any other individual, a lousy 'mon with no purpose but to wander aimlessly across the island like a ghost. No allies left, no enemies to around, not even a lover to bring him to a sense of relief about this life. Cresselia, utterly disappointed of him. Isadore's eye were half-lidded, a brewing dust clamped at his red oculars. Closing his eyes, he only could wish he had a second chance to meet someone again for the first time?

"Isadore!"

Had his wish arrive in a different form?

The calling was sharper, directly pulling him away from his shield. Before him was Etude, the absol. Great news, she didn't look like a grandmother yet. Instead she radiated a honed atmosphere that triumphed over all the guards he had faced off so far. Isadore adjusted his ears, hardly convinced that she remembered him still. What a gift she's got, after so long she noticed him through his imprisonment of a body. Though he wasn't all too sure if he should even dare to talk to her…he wanted his lucarionite. Whether, smashed into pieces or tossed into an unlock able chest, he wanted it back now matter what. For now, all he could think was that it resigned here, at the place where everything went downhill for him.

"…." Isadore looked at Etude from the distance, his palms quivering from the constant use of his close combat. His eyes colored in a dark circle due to the lack of sleep he receive. He presumed forward, he'd waited too long to get this far and he wasn't about to stop. Whatever she had to say, it shouldn't effect him…it couldn't not now.

The lucario sprinted at an extraordinary level. The agility immensely granted with such a sleek and precise balance, Extreme Speed. His tail curving through the breeze while his arms glided. Soon dressed in a veil of a white comet that began to brisk across the hall. Once he wasn't in a good range since the area was rather small, ceasing the power's true strength. Although he still attempted to aim at Etude's flank. 

Ellos, my muse is low but this post was pretty old Etude

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