PMD fanfiction! A Riolu washes ashore with no knowledge or memories, and is introduced to a welcoming town. What starts as an attempt to remember its past life turns into an adventure of self-discovery and exploration.
This is my primary Pokemon Mystery Dungeon fanfiction!
A Riolu washes ashore with no memory or knowledge of anything, and after wandering for some time, it's found and taken into town by a rather snobby-seeming Purrloin. What starts as an attempt to remember its past life turns into an adventure of self-discovery and exploration. Perhaps Redux will discover its past life, or... perhaps it'll find something more.
There isn't one. As soon as a chapter releases, you may discuss it freely.
This means that if you care about spoilers, you should read the fic before looking at any discussion topics.
Q&A
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It tried and failed to open its eyes. The first thing it saw was sand.
Its left ear flicked. The first thing it heard was the serene sound of waves crashing against the shore.
…For a brief moment, it paused, relishing in the sound.
Then it realized it had arms and legs. It moved them for a second or so, getting used to that feeling, then used them to wobbily push itself up for a brief moment… before giving out, startled by light flooding its eyesight.
…Try again…
Take two was more successful. While its movements were still shaky, as if it hadn’t moved in a very long time, it managed to push itself into a sitting position. The light was still almost blinding, with it covering its eyes with an arm for a brief moment, but eventually it was able to adjust.
It found itself in an unfamiliar place. The material underneath it was soggy, soft. In front of it, more of that soft stuff, but dry, brighter, almost eye-searingly so. And turning around, it saw… water. The ocean. Stretching out as far as the eye could see, into the horizon.
The combination of the water’s beauty, the way it moved, and the sounds it made, mesmerized it for a time. So, for a few minutes, it sat, glazing over, staring off into the distance. Normally it would have panicked, being in a place it never knew, and yet… it wasn’t. The ocean was calming, easing. The water helped it relax, any tension in its muscles from the struggle to sit up slowly fading away.
It knew that it existed. That it breathed. That it had arms and legs. That it was… something.
…It was content.
…
…But, it still didn’t know where it was.
As that thought crept into its mind, it blinked, its gaze refocusing on the world around it, its head swiveling around to take scope of its surroundings. To each side, more of that soft stuff. Behind, it hardened, became dry, continued for some time, before giving way to a plant-like mix.
Plants lived. It wasn’t alone.
But plants were firmly stuck in the soft stuff. They couldn’t move. Plants didn’t have arms, or legs, or eyes, or ears. They couldn’t feel, they couldn’t hear, they’d never taste the salt from the water, they’d never feel the breeze through nonexistent blue fur. But it did. It truly lived.
And maybe… maybe it could move. Maybe, by moving, it could prove to itself that it wasn’t just a plant. And it could learn where it was.
At first, it dragged itself forwards with its arms. But that quickly felt very uncomfortable, its blue bottom grinding against the soft stuff.
So then, shakily, it got up, firmly planted all four paws into the soft stuff. And that felt natural enough, standing like that, so then it started to walk. One paw in front of the other. One side, then the other.
It was moving. Walking. Perhaps it could run. But its arms and legs would give out if it did that, so… maybe not yet.
The feeling of moving around was gratifying. It was proof that it wasn’t as rigid as a plant. It was proof that it was truly alive, sentient, able to act for itself.
For some time, it just walked. Where? It wasn’t sure, but right then, it tried not to worry too much about that. All that mattered was that it lived.
…
Eventually, it saw something- no, someone. A… a Pokémon. That was the word that entered its mind. A Pokémon. Was it a Pokémon? Perhaps that made sense, given the two were of similar size. Other than height, though, the other Pokémon was different in almost every other way, in height, build, the color of their fur…
…the way they stood. On just their legs.
The purple Pokémon even emoted. It looked… upset? What could be so upsetting about this serene place? Did something happen? Something in a place other than-
The Pokémon looked at it. It froze, tensed up, not knowing how to react.
Their face seemed to twist, from being upset to… something else, something unreadable. Their stance changed, to something more… defensive.
After a few seconds of tense silence, their mouth opened, and they spoke. “…Hello? What are you, uh… doing…?”
Evidently, the purple Pokémon wasn’t a threat. If they were, it would have already been attacked, and it didn’t want to consider what it’d do in that situation – it could barely walk as it is, let alone run. But then, what was the Pokémon intending to do? It didn’t know. It had never run into anything other than a plant before.
“…Anything at all…?”
More speech. It didn’t know how to speak, let alone make sound. So it continued to stare, sitting down on the soft, soggy sand.
The Pokémon put a paw to the bridge of their nose, and for a moment, did nothing. With it still staring, the silence felt tense. It wouldn’t last too long, fortunately, the Pokémon squatting down to meet its gaze. “What’re you doing out here, little guy? You lost?”
Lost… could it be lost if it didn’t have a destination…?
It looked down, unwilling to maintain eye contact since it didn’t have an answer.
“…Okay, you can understand me, at least… uhh… can- err, can you walk?”
That, it could answer! It looked up and nodded its head.
“Well- okay, let me try again. Can you get up and walk? Like, on two legs.”
…Could it…? It hadn’t considered the possibility, but now that it was, the purple Pokémon was doing it, so maybe…
It pushed away from the soft stuff with its arms, shifting its weight onto its legs and attempting to lift itself upwards. It wasn’t easy – it hadn’t done this before, and it was putting quite a lot more weight onto its legs – but it evidently could start to try.
For a moment, it seemed successful, its legs shakily holding up the rest of its body. But as soon as it looked up at the purple Pokémon to see what they thought, its focus was broken, its legs gave loose, and it crashed into the soft stuff below with wide eyes and a loud yelp.
“GAH-!”
Its heart raced. It fell. That… that hurt… oww…
“Ughhh, now I’ve gotta wash all this sand off me when I get home!”
…Sand… so that’s what the soft stuff’s called…
“…” The purple Pokémon sighed. “Come on, you big baby, get up.”
It did what it was told, pushing itself back into a sitting position before trying again. This second attempt was much more promising, its legs still shaky, but noticeably less so. It wasn’t going to fall again. That was good.
“Finally…” the purple Pokémon exclaimed, sounded rather irritated. “You think you can walk?”
So the same thing, but with just its legs… somehow, that’d be easier than how it was walking before. It nodded.
“Follow me, then,” the feline said, already turning around. “Let’s get you over to the infirmary.”
The purple Pokémon would walk away, not really turning to check on whether it was following. That was fine, though, because it was. Walking like this was definitely something it could handle, and while it tripped and fell a couple of times, it’d push itself back up onto its feet and start moving again. The Pokémon was further and further away each time it fell, but… it could still see them, at least.
As the two Pokémon walked, it pondered this turn of events. It found another Pokémon. It… it was a Pokémon. Somehow, it knew this much. It felt even less alone now, knowing that wherever it was, it found a Pokémon just like itself. And now, the two were heading to some place called “the infirmary”. Would it meet more Pokémon there, too? What would that place be like?
It buzzed with anticipation and excitement as it walked, for it was happy to be alive.
Blessed are the rich
May we labor, deliver them more
Blessed are the envious
Bless the slothful, the wrathful, the vain
Blessed are the gluttonous
May they feast us to famine and war
As it walked, trying not to fall too far behind the purple Pokémon, it took in its surroundings.
The pair had left the beach by now, following a dirt path through a field of grass. Looking down, under its black paws, the hot sand had given way to something brown, something cooler and more compact, not quite as soft. Dirt? The path was interspersed with the occasional small plant, which felt noticeably different as it trampled on them at times.
Looking around… grass. Stretching as far as the eye can see. There was the occasional remarkably large plant – trees? – and even sparser, little craters filled with water. And off in the distance in front of it was… actually, it didn’t know, but it didn’t seem very natural.
…Somehow, it felt uneasy, but it trusted the purple Pokémon.
…
The further they went along, the more obvious it was that they were approaching some place where other Pokémon lived. A… town? A town. There were buildings of varying shapes and sizes, and, squinting, it could see some larger Pokémon. This excited it a little, but… even moreso, its unease also grew.
As it entered town, the soft dirt path giving way to hard cobbled pavement, it’d quietly look around, taking note of the different Pokémon-shaped buildings, and Pokémon themselves, that surrounded it, fidgeting with its paws a bit as it slowed its pace. So many different kinds, different colors and sizes, most about its height, some double it, some the size of its paws, and a small handful towering over the buildings around it…
And just like the purple Pokémon, they all could make sound.
It was nearly impossible to hone in on any one conversation, all of the Pokémon’s voices melting into a loud cacophany of raw noise that assaulted its ears. It felt overwhelmed, incredibly so, and suddenly it wanted to catch up and get close to-
Where was the purple Pokémon.
Where did they go.
Frantically, it looked around, turning and twisting its body, standing on the tips of its paws, trying to locate the Pokémon it had placed its trust in and decided to follow. Its eyes widened, its heart rate quickened, and in turn, its breathing picked up. Where were they? Where’d they go?! Did they leave it behind to fend for itself in this crowd? Why…?
Soon it was just too much to handle, the Pokémon reaching up and pinning its ears against its head, trying to block out the sound, whimpering quietly as it squatted down closer to the pavement. Its mind raced, its heart pounded, it was even hyperventilating a little bit, it didn’t know what to do or where to go or where the purple Pokémon had gone or where it was or anything! Ohhh, it shouldn’t have fallen behind at all, it should have jogged to catch up back on the path, what was it going to do now, it needed to get out but it couldn’t remember which way it had come from-
Suddenly, a paw grabbed its left arm, yanking it in a certain direction. It yelped, hastily looking up at who would have been doing that, only to find… the purple Pokémon.
Its heart still raced, it still felt overwhelmed, but seeing a Pokémon it at least recognized helped a little bit.
Allowing them to drag it away, the pair would very soon find themselves at a modestly large building. It wouldn’t get a chance to look at it in more detail before it was dragged inside, through the curtain that made up a door. Once the two were inside, the purple Pokémon would let go of its arm and step away from it, shouting into the rest of the building.
“HEY! Is there a doctor here? I brought in someone that needs help!”
In response, another Pokémon would approach the pair, being about double its height. They were like a “living” version of the plants outside, their arms tipped with what looked like flowers, their left blue and their right red. “I’m sorry Addy but you know you can’t just barge in and-” Her objections would be cut off as soon as her gaze settled on it.
“He wandered up to me on the beach,” the purple Pokémon said, ignoring the objections. “He won’t talk, and he acts… weird. Can you help?”
The plant Pokémon continued to look at it before sighing. “…I already know you won’t let me say no… Alright, I’ll take it from here. Thank you, Addy.”
“Thank you, Roserade.” The purple Pokémon turned and started to leave, already walking towards the door. “Now if you'll excuse me, I have sand to brush off!”
It looked after the Pokémon as they left. Why were they… like that…?
“…of all the Pokémon for you to meet first…” The Roserade muttered this under her breath before focusing her attention on it, bending down slightly to meet its gaze properly. “Don’t worry, little guy, I promise not everyone’s like that.”
It avoided her gaze, unsure whether to accept direct attention from a stranger.
“…” The Grass-type stood up straight again, holding out a flower-hand for it to take. “Come along, little one,” she said gently, “let’s get you cleaned up first, okay? You’re covered in sand…”
Almost as if to confirm, it looked down at its body. It took a moment for it to realize but, sure enough, its body was covered in many specks of sand. And now that it knew that… it really wanted them out.
“…Noo, don’t-”
Not quite registering the Roserade’s objection, it clenched its eyes shut and shook its entire body, the black appendages on its face whipping around its head, sand flinging off its body and getting everywhere in its surroundings, including the plant Pokémon itself.
The Grass-type froze for a moment, registering what had just happened, before shaking her head with a sigh. “Iiii’ll need to clean that up later…” Again, she held out a flower-hand for it to take. “L-Let’s not worry about that for now. Come along.”
It looked at the flower-hand, then up at the Roserade, then back down… then reached for the flower-hand with a paw. There wasn’t any reason not to trust her, right? She could clean it up, and… maybe help it figure out where it was. As soon as it did, a pair of vines would gently wrap around its paw, as if to actually hold it, and while it shuddered a little bit at first, it still decided that it’d trust the Grass-type regardless. The Roserade lead it further into the building, up the stairs, to check it over for any injuries and start filling up the bathtub.
It turned out a bath was very much needed. The water wasn’t salty at all, and stepping out of the tub, it felt reinvigorated, its tail swaying back and forth a little as the Roserade started to dry off its fur with a towel, before it took the towel and finished the process itself.
As it stepped to leave the room, though, it’d take note of a mirror close to the tub, instead going up to it and just… looking itself over.
It already knew it had blue fur, and white solid bumps on the back of its paws. But it didn’t know it had orange eyes. It didn’t know about the black solid “mask” around its eyes and the top of its nose. It barely knew it had those little black dangly things on the sides of its head, and reaching a paw up to touch it made them tingle a little bit… eurgh, maybe leave those alone.
That’s what it looked like…?
…That’s what it was…
“Is everything alright, little Riolu?”
…Riolu? Was that… what it was…? It looked up at the Roserade with an uncertain expression, one that the Grass-type would return in kind.
“…Hmm… come along, we should have a little talk about things.” Like before, the plant Pokémon would reach out with the same flower-hand, which it’d accept, and she’d lead it out of the bathroom and towards a small room, with a set of small cushioned chairs in front of a wooden desk that was about its height.
“Have a seat, little Riolu.” It would, hopping up onto the closest chair, its tail hanging down from the opening in the back as it looked up at the Roserade, who went around the desk and sat down in the chair behind it.
“So… let’s start with some questions, okay? Where are you from?”
…Where was… it from…?
The Riolu broke eye contact and looked down at its paws. That was honestly a good question: where was it from? The very first thing it remembered was waking up on the beach…
The Grass-type frowned. “…I… think I understand… l-let’s come back to that, okay?”
The Riolu looked up again, paying attention once more.
“What about your name?”
…Its… name…
What even… was that…?
It tilted its head.
“…Like… like the Purrloin that helped you? Her name was Addy.”
…It looked down again.
Its name.
What was its name?
…Where was it from?
What… did it do…?
The more questions entered its mind, the more it’d settle in that… it didn’t remember anything. It frowned. Its mind truly drew a blank whenever it tried to recall anything before it had woken up on the beach. Anything before that was just… gone. If there even was anything there, before.
And the more it settled in that it didn’t remember anything, the more terrified it became. If it didn’t know anything from a couple of hours ago or prior, then… what did that mean? Its heart rate picked up again. Was it just born there, on the beach? That didn’t make sense, so surely not, but… but if that wasn’t the case, what was? Why didn’t it know what kind of Pokémon it was, why didn’t it know what it looked like?
Why didn’t it know?!
Its breathing quickened and its heart race continued to accelerate, before suddenly the Riolu felt constricted. Something had grabbed it. At first it’d yelp and squirm, try to break free, before realizing that… that it was the Roserade…
…
It hugged back with a whimper.
“It’ll be okay… I promise…”
The hug would continue for about ten seconds or so.
…It nuzzled its face into the Roserade.
It needed this.
The Grass-type would break the hug soon enough, looking directly into the Riolu’s orange eyes. “…So you don’t remember… anything, do you?”
After a second or so of hesitation, it… shook its head. That was the truth, after all, as terrifying as it was.
“I was hoping that wasn’t the case…” she said with a frown. “But I know what we’ll do for now, okay?”
She did…? It looked at her with an anticipatory expression.
“I’ll care for you for another day or so, make sure you’re able to move around on your own… and then we’ll go to the guild together, see what the guildmaster thinks.”
Guild? Guild…master? It tilted its head.
“…Right, you… don’t know what those are.” She sighed. “Basically, the guild helps Pokémon who are in danger, and the guildmaster runs the guild. I’m sure it’ll know what to do, okay?”
That made sense, and… sounded fascinating, actually! It must’ve reflected in its expression, the Roserade giggling a little. “We’ll worry about it tomorrow, hehe. Come along, it’s best you have a good meal after everything you’ve been through.”
A meal… its stomach did hurt a little bit… It’d nod and take the Roserade’s flower-hand again, and the two walked together towards the kitchen.
Blessed are the rich
May we labor, deliver them more
Blessed are the envious
Bless the slothful, the wrathful, the vain
Blessed are the gluttonous
May they feast us to famine and war
The Riolu found it difficult to sleep that night, tossing and turning in the guest bedroom. Part of it was excitement for what’d happen the next day, going with the Grass-type to the guild to get an idea of what to do next, but… an even larger part of it was it trying to remember anything.
It had no name. It had no hometown.
…It had no identity.
It was bothered deeply by this, its mind racing practically all night.
Who… was it…?
…
The Fighting-type didn’t get any more than a few hours of sleep, but despite that, as soon as light began to filter through the window, the pup was already getting out of bed. It thought it was the only one awake, pushing through the curtain door and heading downstairs… but once it was down there, it was surprised to find the Roserade already waiting.
“Good morning, little Riolu,” she said with a smile.
It wouldn’t return that smile.
“Any luck…?”
…After another brief attempt at recollecting anything at all, it shook its head.
“Not surprised, I guess… How’d you sleep?”
It didn’t answer, avoiding its gaze. The sigh from the Roserade presumably meant that was all she needed to know.
“Well…” For a moment she fumbled over her thoughts. “…Let’s… go out for some breakfast and head to the guild, then. The sooner we do, the better.”
It made eye contact again and nodded. Indeed, the sooner they got there, the sooner it could get some proper help.
Compared to yesterday, which was quite warm, today was noticeably chillier – not to the point where it’d be shivering, of course, but enough for it to take note. And thankfully, it was much less busy today, although it wasn’t really able to place why that was; perhaps it was because it was still early? Regardless, holding the Roserade’s flower-hand, the two Pokémon made their way… well, somewhere. The Riolu was more or less walking along with the Grass-type, not really knowing where to go, taking in the town proper now that it wasn’t being overwhelmed.
There were plenty of buildings, of many different shapes and sizes. Most were generic wood or stone structures, though some were shaped like the heads of what it could only assume were different kinds of Pokémon. It didn’t think further of it, really – just a neat thing. That buildings could look like living Pokémon, even though they didn’t live.
As for the Pokémon themselves, there were many different kinds just like yesterday, but now it could actually examine them without feeling overwhelmed. Most were on the ground, like the yellow jagged-tailed mice, or the large brown horseshoe-horned deer, or the small grey canines; some flew in the air, like the white-and-blue bird with a large bill, or the large green Pokémon with diamond wings and goggles, or the black-grey-and-white birds; and even more seemed to be almost like wisps, eerily floating above the ground. So many different kinds… admittedly, it was quite content how it was, staying firmly on the ground. Though, why was it a Riolu specifically and not any of the other things?
…Perhaps that wasn’t important. It was fine with how it was now. Aside from… no, don’t think about that.
The Roserade guided it to a particular building, presumably for whatever “breakfast” was. Before they even went inside, it could smell something distinctly… nice. Really nice. And ultimately, once the two entered and took their seats, it… well, no, it didn’t actually become very clear still what this was. The smell made its stomach growl, though, so it was probably related to food… a hypothesis that’d be proven true as eventually the Riolu’d be provided with a bowl of what the Grass-type described as sweet pudding. It tasted wonderful, and it scarfed down the entire bowl. Was it very filling? Perhaps not, but this was enough to wake it up the rest of the way at least.
With that done… Onward, to the guild! It was actually rather excited for this, bouncing around a little bit next to the Roserade as the two went, which elicited a guild from the plant Pokémon. “You must be excited, aren’t you, little Riolu?” It nodded; of course it was, this could be the key to figuring out who it was, where it came from, and- stop thinking about it.
It wouldn’t be more than five minutes before the two arrived, finding themselves in front of a building larger than even the infirmary. Characterized by a large, open entryway, it was made entirely of stone, painted various shades of purple and blue that made it look like the night sky; the top of the building was a dome shape, with a strange-looking cylindrical protrusion coming out of it at an angle. It looked at that, wondering what it was, until it was out of view as they entered the building.
Entering the building, the two would find themselves in a rather large, circular lobby of sorts. A pair of wooden benches adorned both the left and right sides, and a pair of Pokémon were using the benches on the left as a spot to chat (not that it could really focus on the conversation, with how much new stuff there was to take in). Looking up, the dome could be seen, made of colored glass that depicted what seemed like… three Pokémon…? One blue, one pink, one yellow… In the right-hand corner was a desk, a small white-furred Pokémon standing behind it – and, in fact, the two were approaching the desk, the Pokémon smiling as it greeted the pair. “Hello, Roserade! Who’s this with you?”
“About that,” she mused, looking down at it, “I was hoping to speak to Guildmaster Azelf about him…”
“Oh? Is something wrong?”
“Yes, he… it seems he woke up on the beach, and he doesn’t remember a thing.”
“Ohh, I see-” The white-furred Pokémon looked at the Riolu with a frown, with it avoiding eye contact. “Okay, it should be upstairs.”
“Thank you, Cincinno.” She looked down at the Fighting-type with a concerned gaze. “Come along, little Riolu…”
Just behind them to their left was a stairwell, and that was their next destination. Heading upstairs, the two would find themselves in a hallway, lined with doors for the various Pokémon that worked here. Not… not that it could read any of them… Thankfully, the Roserade could, with her reading the signs under her breath. “Secretary, ambassador, head of intelligence… security… guildmaster! Here we go!~” The Grass-type pushed open the door and walked inside.
Before it followed, it paused, noticing a small black bird Pokémon on a small perch in the corner. The bird appeared to be wearing a hat, and its crimson gaze pierced into the Riolu’s own. The two stared for only a second, the Fighting-type shivering as it followed the Roserade inside.
The two had entered what seemed to be a remarkably lavish office and living space, split into two halves. The left half, installed with hardwood flooring, had a desk similar to what the Roserade had, but made of glass, with various papers, books, and utensils sitting atop it, and a cushioned two-seat bench of sorts on the floor before it; and the right half, with fuzzy light-blue carpet, was a living space, with a small bed, a fairly large wooden bookshelf crammed full of different kinds of books, and what seemed to be a rectangular wooden box with a lid on top. It couldn’t help but wonder what was inside…
“Hello?” the Roserade called out. “Guildmaster Azelf? Are you-?”
“Yup, right here!”
Who- …Where…? It looked around. That voice… where did that come from?
As if to answer its question, a Pokémon flew out of the box – so that’s what was inside! – flying a paraloop in the air before circling around the pair. It watched the flying Pokémon briefly at first before getting slightly dizzy and looking down at the floor to stabilize itself. The Pokémon would stop soon enough, allowing the Fighting-type to properly look at it: most of its body was a greyish-blue, its head a brighter, more proper blue. Its head and twin tails were encrested with red gems, and it gazed at the Roserade with unnervingly yellow eyes and a silly grin as it greeted her. “Hiya, Roserade! What brings you here on this sunny day?”
“…Guildmaster, this is serious-”
Guildmaster? Wait, this was…?
“Hehehe, sorry!” the Psychic-type apologized, twirling a couple of times. “You know how it is, being cooped up in here for so long!”
“I… Yes, but listen, this is important.” Letting go of the Riolu’s paw, she gestured towards it with the same flower-hand. “This little Riolu was brought to the infirmary from the beach. Poor guy doesn’t remember a thing…”
“Not a thing?” The fairy’s playful demeanor quickly evaporated in lieu for a frown. “Nothing at all? Do they even know their name?”
“Doesn’t look like it… he won’t even say a word…”
…At this point, the Fighting-type sort of glazed over what the two Pokémon were talking about, their voices sort of melting into raw noise, its gaze and focus wandering to the rest of the room. It wouldn’t really go anywhere beyond a couple of steps, but its gaze wandered about, the Riolu not really paying attention for a few moments. It wasn’t until the strange Pokémon addressed it directly when it blinked and refocused, turning to face the Psychic-type.
“…Hehe, hello!” The fairy booped the Fighting-type on the nose, it backing up a couple steps in reaction, putting both paws up to its face and wrinkling its nose. “I was asking whether you’d be willing to stay here for a while, so I could tutor you. What do you think?”
…Stay… here…? But what about… It looked at the Roserade, who immediately frowned.
“I’m sorry, little Riolu, but… I’m so busy, I’m not sure I could raise you very well. And I can’t think of anyone else…”
That made… a little bit of sense. A little bit. It exhaled through its nose before looking over at Azelf (right, that’s what it was called) very briefly, before avoiding eye contact.
“I understand if you aren’t sure,” the guildmaster said, fully dropping its silly tone of voice at this point to focus on how serious things were. “It’s a very sudden question, especially after we’ve just met… but I’m determined to help in any way I can regardless of your decision. I can only imagine how terrified you must be…”
…It just sort of whimpered slightly in response. That was true. It was terrified… but it wasn’t sure if it could trust anyone else, outside of the Roserade, and maybe the purple Poké– Addy, maybe Addy. Then again, the Grass-type trusted this guildmaster Pokémon, so… maybe it could trust it, too…?
…
Yeah. It could.
It nodded, albeit slowly.
Azelf smiled warmly. “Thank you for trusting me. And,” it turned to face the Roserade again, “thank you for taking your morning to help it, Roserade.”
“Of course!” she said, bowing. “Anything to help a Pokémon in need.~” The Grass-type walked over to it again and leant down to meet its gaze again. “And you’re always welcome to visit the infirmary anytime, okay, little one?” She gave a little kiss on the forehead and, unsure how to react, it backed up and wiped the kiss off with a paw, staring at its paw with a confused look; the Roserade simply giggled in response, before standing and nodding towards the Psychic-type. “Thank you, Guildmaster. I’ll be off now.”
With that, the Roserade left the room, closing the door behind her, leaving the Riolu and Azelf alone there. The Psychic-type sighed a little bit at this, seeming… a little less than thrilled, oddly enough.
“Quiet again…” After a brief moment, though, it twirled around to meet the pup’s gaze again. “…But that’s alright, because you’re here, hehe.”
That was… fairly cheesy, but it honestly couldn’t help but smile a little at that.
“Say, do you… know how to talk?”
It shook its head.
“I see! Well then, that’ll be our first lesson!”
…
It shook its head again, its smile disappearing.
“Oh? You… don’t want to? Why not?”
It just sort of looked directly at Azelf with a… distinctly uncomfortable expression. The psychic frowned in understanding.
“…I see. How aboooout…” It paused for a moment to think. “How about reading, then? I could help you read the books I have over there,” it proposed, gesturing towards the bookshelf.
Its gaze followed the Azelf’s gesture towards the bookshelf and, intrigued, the Riolu approached it, taking in how many books there were before taking one off the bookshelf and turning to face the Psychic-type again, nodding with a slight smile.
“Perfect! Alright,” it exclaimed, taking the book and holding it up in the air, “this will be our first lesson!”
It smiled again, wider this time. This Pokémon was… weird, but fun!
They’d spend the next hour stumbling through the book.
Blessed are the rich
May we labor, deliver them more
Blessed are the envious
Bless the slothful, the wrathful, the vain
Blessed are the gluttonous
May they feast us to famine and war
