The Guardian - part 5

    Once it made its conclusion, the Guardian responded with robotic confidence, “I was tasked to guard the tower within your city, for reasons I cannot currently access. The other units are much like myself, and hold other pieces of the data we store as a whole. It would seem that they have been displaced. The data I currently hold suggests that my focus was on this location, as I hold many complete records of this area and the dungeons below it.” The Guardian seemed to go through the questions asked of it with mechanical efficiency. Not much charisma, thought Cassidy, but at least it doesn’t waste time in telling others what they need to know.

    Not a soul had expected such a proper answer, leaving them all to stare in awkward silence. Oddly, it was not Chelle, Cassidy, or anyone else to break that quietness. Instead, it was the Guardian once again. “There is a city in the desert, accessible by a dungeon under this general area,” it said, peeking down at the grass below. Of course it wasn’t directly below… was it?

    ‘Desert city’ it said. Cassidy knew it by name, and he was glad that the route between them had been blocked off for some time. He was convinced by this point that the Guardian wasn’t trying to trick them, but it spoke in such a stuffy way. Plus, he realized something else as he heard various Pokemon deliberating behind him at various volumes, and decided to quickly change the subject. “Hey! Listen up!” the young Floatzel yelled above them, attempting to grab as much attention as possible. “We’ve got a lotta Pokemon here who did everything they could! How ‘bout we get ‘em all properly initiated?”

    As distracted as Chelle was by the newly-activated fountain of knowledge, she glanced toward Cassidy and nodded in agreement, “Yes. We mustn’t forget who made this possible.” She turned to the crowd and hovered high enough that most of them could see her and called out, “Potential Researchers you are no longer! If you are one of ours, step forward and be proud! Today, you helped subdue and preserve an ancient, sentient creature, and that is no small accomplishment. From this day on, you are welcome in our facilities as one of our own!”

    Cheers emanated from a significant chunk of the crowd. Cassidy gritted his teeth at this, but didn’t openly show it. He wouldn’t be outdone! The Floatzel stood, but was unable to gain the same sort of easily-spotted vantage point as Chelle did. His ability to be much louder without remorse certainly got the point across in a similar way, though. “Explorers! You ‘n me were the line that held when it looked like we were gonna lose our city. I don’t care if ya did it by bein’ quick or just by bein’ a big lug like my buddy here,” Cassidy paused, ribbing Luke in the side with his finned elbow, “you let a big thing swing at ya with the intent to kill, just so it wouldn’t take a swing at anybody else, an’ yer always welcome with us if that’s how ya like to roll!”

    Another round of cheers made Cassidy feel a little more secure, like he’d done something right that perhaps made up for his earlier mistake with his little brother. Then, he was struck with the idea to look about. What about the Hunters? Where was their little speech to fire up their new members? … Where were their leaders at all?

    “Reconstruction should begin immediately. Discussion of the desert city will be scheduled for a later date,” the Guardian stated, minorly shaking the ground as it turned itself and began to walk in powerful steps back to Andalusst proper. Most of the other Pokemon followed suit, with a number of them seeming to slink off somewhere. Must have been Hunters. Maybe they avoided calling attention to themselves with a group cheer on purpose. Cassidy was never a fan of trying to analyze people like that.

    For a few unpleasant moments, Cassidy was left alone with Archimedes, who had lagged behind seemingly in thought. The floating Inkay bothered him so much. He never floated anywhere far enough away from someone else’s face, he spoke in terms that Cassidy couldn’t understand half the time, and he just plain didn’t like him.

    “I do wonder what set the Guardian against us…” the Inkay muttered within earshot. It was the first sentiment from the weird little jelly thing that Cassidy could ever agree with.