Vargus the Croconaw

Seeing that the Croconaw had amber eyes, you start to look relieved, but then you remember your encounter with that Scrafty and his thugs, making you grow cautious.

“You alright there? That was a real close call, thank Arceus that I was able to hear the commotion.” The Croconaw asked, placing your hand on your shoulder.

“Umm.. yeah. Thanks for the help, but don’t take it the wrong way.. Why did you help? You don’t even know me.” You asked, skeptical about him taking a gamble to help an non-infected. For all intents and purposes, you can easily attack and beat him, despite how battered up you look.

“Well if you wanted to attack me, I’m sure you would’ve done so by now.” The water type pointed out. “Plus, that look in your eyes suggest you aren’t one of those psychopaths who would attack and eat other non-infected Pokémon.”

“Hm, you make a point. Well, thanks again. I suppose that you would-” just as you were speaking, you can feel your vision blurring and your body swaying.

“Hey, are you alright? You don’t look so good.”

“I’m okay.. I just…” you can see your vision blurring as everything went dark.

When you wake up, you find yourself in a large tent. You see that you’re in a sleeping bag and that you’re bandaged at your side, with some blood at your right backside. ‘I was hurt? It must’ve been when I fell off the bridge…' you can see that there’s your bag next to you along with someone’s bag next to yours.

You see that your tent flap was opening before the same Croconaw was entering and saw that you were awake. “Oh, you’re already awake?! You been **** for quite awhile that I expected you to be out all day and night after the injury I found on you. What happened?”

“You know that chasm at the spot to the left where you found me? Me and my group were trying to cross it when infected Pokémon were coming for us. I ended up on the side the infected are and had to drop to avoid them.” You answered and then looked at him in confusion. “Wait, I was out for some time? How long was I out?”

“A few hours.” The water type answered.

“Hours?!” You repeated as you carefully went and looked that it was dark out and that you were in some kind of cave behind a waterfall. “Oh man! I can’t believe it’s gotten so late.”

“Easy there, your wound is still fresh, what’s the matter?” the Croconaw asked.

“My group made it to the other side, we were going to a certain area as a marker before we continued on. They must be worried about me.”

“You did mention about you and your group trying to cross a bridge. Where are you going?” the Croconaw asked.

“Well…” You paused for a moment before looking at him. “We’re actually on a journey to figure out how this infection happened and put a stop to it.”

That made the crocodile stare at him with a surprised expression. “Are you crazy? There’s no telling where you have to go or what can happen to you. You know they’ll eat you right? Also, you look around my age, being 18 as I am.”

“I’m aware of the risk, being young, 18 as well, and I don’t know how far I’ll have to go, but I can’t just wait around and hope that someone can fix this.” he stated, taking a look at his medallion. “Me and my sister had lost our parents to the infection. I don’t know what’s gonna happen to them if we don’t hurry, so I have to do this, for them, my sister and all the victims that were lost to this.” he said getting up.

“Your sister?” the Croconaw asked in wonder.

“Me and my sister were **** on the road from our home. I’m looking after her along with my childhood friend. I intended to go it alone from camp, but they came with me. Sure, the idea's pretty dumb, but at least I know they’re okay.”

“It really sucks that a child is **** away from their parents. I left home a couple years ago to find a place of my own until this mess happened, I don’t know how they’re doing now.”

“Must be rough.” You said to him before you got your bag. “Well thank you for the help, but I have to get going now.” You were about to leave, but the Croconaw grabbed your hand.

“I get that you’re worried about your sister and friends, but going out at night in your condition is suicide. If you’re confident in them, they’ll be fine. You need at least a night’s rest to fully recover.”

You grumbled about not knowing if they’re okay, but considering you can still feel pain at your side, you won’t make it far if you encounter an infected, so you relaxed.

“We’ll leave tomorrow morning when you’re ready.”

“We?” Rai asked, confused at what he means by that.

“Well if you’re going on some crusade to travel the region to find the way to stop this madness, you need any help who’ll offer it. Plus being alone sucks, I like to see more places around here. You already know I’m pretty good in a fight, what reason do you have to not let me come along?”

“You have a point there.” You said as he thinks about the situation. If he wanted to hurt him, he could’ve done so the second he lost consciousness, and it would be better to have more people on this quest for better manpower.

“Alright, just make sure to not push yourself and work together when we join up with the others.”

“You won’t regret it.” the Croconaw said, and the two shake hands. “Oh by the way, my name is Vargus.”

“I’m Rai. Nice to meet you.” You introduced yourself. While you did hear him chuckled a little, he keeps a friendly smile.

“That’s a nice name.” he said with a genuine tone as you both decided to rest. “And don’t worry about any infected finding this place. It’s very covert.”

“Alright. See you in the morning Vargus.” You said as you got the sleeping bag from your pack and decided to rest through the night.

((Vargus has joined your party))

1. Rachael and Neku's POV