SENTRET: Sentret the Sentret (Sentret, Sentret)

It was a beautiful day. Sunny, but the wind would every so often push a collection of clouds across the sky to cover the sun, casting the town in a delightful shadow. And, just when you might think the shade would be too chilly, the brilliant sun peeked out once more to bathe the world in its rays. Lombre sat alone at a small table, a smile playing on his face, appreciating the warmth as he nursed a cup of juice in one hand. It had been a long week. Fruitful, sure, but long. Working delivery along the river was no easy task, but moments like these, appreciating a cool drink after the work was done, made it all worth it. He raised the cup to his lips.

"Do YOU know where my dead parents are?"

The Lombre stopped, drink in hand. Cautiously, he turned his head to see a Sentret with a notched ear staring up at him intently. His brow furrowed. "...Come again?"

"That juice looks so good!" The Sentret replied with a big smile, pointing up at his cup. "Can I have some?"

"No you cannot," was the curt reply, "and you didn't answer my--"

"I want to sit with you! Why is there only one chair here? Can I sit on the table?" the Sentret continued, scurrying around the Lombre's seat before starting to climb onto the table.

"Stop that." Lombre pushed the bushy-tailed Pokemon off the table, and recoiled from the touch. Its fur was matted and much dirtier than he had expected, a sheen of grime now covering his fingers. He stuck his tongue out and wiped his hand on the grass. Clearly this was some sort of street urchin, an unruly child with no sense of decorum. It was trying to get some money out of him, no doubt. He'd have to be careful. "What exactly do you want from me, child?" he asked, keeping his drink close to his chest.

"Hunh?" The Sentret turned around, its mouth full of some kind of wrapper.

"Wh-what are you eating? Spit that out right now!"

The Sentret spit out the paper and wiped its lips. "It was garbage. I eat garbage. It tastes good."

Squinting his eyes, the Lombre decided to ignore that statement. "Look, I don't-- what do you want, kid?"

The Sentret looked at him in confusion. "Huh? I don't want anything from you, I just--" its eyes grew wide. "OH YEAH! I'm looking for my dead parents!" He leapt up on the table once more, excitedly. "Have you seen them? They look like, um... different from me!" It pointed at its own face, as if hoping the dissimilarity would help.

Lombre rolled his eyes, gently nudging the small Pokemon off the table. "No, I'm afraid I haven't seen them. I'm sure your parents are around here somewhere if you look hard enough, they're probably looking for you too..." he waved his hand in the direction of the rest of the town dismissively.

"Uhm, actually I'm looking for my DEAD parents, thankyouverymuch," the Sentret corrected him.

A huff sputtered out of Lombre's mouth. "And why, pray tell, are you looking for your parents if they're already dead?"

It was Sentret's turn to roll its eyes. "Um, because they might NOT be dead? I just think they probably are." It spoke as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Lombre sighed. He didn't believe a word this kid said, but it looked like he would be sucked into its make-believe world whether he liked it or not. "Alright... Please, tell me why you think your parents might be dead. Go on. Enlighten me."

The floodgates had opened. Sentret began, "Well it was just a thought that I had! Ever since we got that new house they were always super scared and looking out the window and telling me that if i heard anything weird I should just hide under the bed, and whenever I did hear something and hid under the bed it just turned out to be the Kricketot next door, but eventually I heard a REALLY big something and it seemed like hiding under the bed wouldn't help against something so big and so I went into the other room and there were a bunch of big huge dudes there and I didn't see my parents anywhere so I said 'what's going on? where are my parents?' and there was this big ol' Honchkrow guy who said something like 'your parents are going somewhere far away, kid' and I thought that the wording of that was sorta suspicious because there as this one time I had a pet Oran berry and I loved it so much but after a few weeks it was gone and I asked my parents where it went and they said they took it to live on a farm that was really far away and I remember I had a friend once at our old place who told me that when parents say that it means that the thing that's living on the farm is actually dead and they just don't want to tell you, so I think maybe my parents were dead and that big ol' Honchkrow guy didn't want to tell me for some reason even though I'm way old enough to know that kind of thing now. That friend of mine was a Magby. Or maybe a Slugma..." the Sentret stopped and gazed wistfully out over the forest, as if trying to remember something other than the identity of its old friend.

"You had a pet Oran...?" Lombre began, but stopped himself. To continue that thread would lead to madness. He took a curious sip of his drink, looking down at the Sentret. "If you really want to find your parents, why don't you tell the guild? They love to help people with this sort of thing!" he offered helpfully, hoping this would send the child elsewhere.

The Sentret flopped over onto the ground. "I haaave! I told them about it, like, 30 times but the jobs always disappear from the board after like, half an hour! So now I have to take matters..." it clutched its fist to its chest dramatically. "...Into my own hands."

Lombre opened his mouth for a snarky response, but stopped. He passed by the job board every day on his way to the river. He had seen postings for a missing pair of Furrets many times, always at the front as if they had just been put up. He had always wondered why the job never seemed to be taken, and why it seemed to move around the board. Was that..?

He shook his head. "W-Well I'm sure it's just... poor organization on their part, kid. Why don't you go back to that house of yours, hm? Maybe take a bath? You certainly need one..." he muttered under his breath.

"Can't," it replied, still laying motionless on the ground. "It burned down."

Lombre was about to laugh at the absurdity of the claim, but stopped himself once again. Three months ago. There WAS a fire. Miraculously, only one building was destroyed, a couple of others only had minor damage. They claimed it was an accident, that the building was for storage, but in all his years in moving cargo neither he nor any of his colleagues had stepped foot inside. No one in town had. That had always gnawed at him.

The lily pad-clad Pokemon looked down at the Sentret with a hint of wonder. It laid still, watching at the clouds passing overhead. Everything it had said sounded like the inane ramblings of... well, of a child, and yet his own experiences seemed to verify its outlandish claims. Perhaps it was a child's silly rationalization of a traumatic event, and yet...

He had finished his drink at this point, but Lombre found his lips dry as a curious feeling bubbled up inside of him. He looked out past the small juice bar at the rest of his village. Wind gently wafted drapes and grass as Pokemon, good Pokemon, went about their casual days. It was a small town, a sleepy town, that had never held anything beyond its surface. Was it possible there was something more there? How could there be anything else other than what he saw? Either this street urchin was very good at evoking an emotional response, or he was telling the...

...No. Lombre couldn't take that chance. He had a family that relied on him. If this Sentret was being completely truthful, then there was something very sinister in the shadows of his own backyard, maybe even in the guild, and if there was, he didn't want that coming down on him. Yes, better to remain ignorant. He couldn't get caught up in the misadventures of some child, fictitious or no.

But... there was one thing he could do.

Lombre sighed. "Okay, look kid. I can't help you, but... some other people might be able to. There's a town just west of here, Capim town. You'll find the Clover Guild there. A friend of a friend told me about them, they operate, erm... outside typical guild rules."

The Sentret's notched ear twitched and he looked up in awe. "Ohhh... do you mean they're allowed to kill?!" He asked with shiny eyes.

"No." Lombre stated. "They sort of, eh... used to be human?" he explained, quizzically. He wasn't sure if it was all a gag or not, but at the very least he was glad it wasn't in his town.

"Used to be human?!" the Sentret repeated, smitten by the idea already. "I totally know what those are!"

Lombre hummed in approval. It was obvious the Sentret didn't know what they were. "Yes, of course you do. So you must know that all those humans had special names right? Strange names other than the name of their species?"

The Sentret nodded vigorously. "Yeah! Yeah I know what that word means too! My human name was, uh," its lips contorted as if trying to conjure up the perfect name, going through sound after sound, syllable after syllable until finally arriving at "ssssSentret! My human name was Sentret!"

Lombre smiled sadly at the Sentret. "...Yes. Yes it certainly was. Good choice."

Sentret the Sentret scrambled up off the floor, its tail rising high into the air as it saluted the Lombre. "Thank you mister! I'm going to go right over to Capim town because my dead parents are DEFINITELY THERE!"

"I didn't say that--"

"So long!!" Sentret yelled as it ran off, picking the wrapper back up off the ground and shoving it into its mouth. "Ehm guhnneh meyyss yeuh!" It shouted, spittle flying out wildly as it chewed.

Lombre watched in consternation as it ran off. Then, after a second stood out of his chair to shout "WAIT! THAT'S... east..." he slumped back with a sigh. The kid had survived three months on its own, supposedly. He'd be fine, he'd find his way to Capim somehow. He wasn't worried about the kid, so why did he feel so... ugh. Dammit. He was supposed to relax today, wasn't he? He looked at the droplets of juice left in his cup. He was done with work, he had his end-of-week drink, so what was this feeling...

...It was a beautiful day. Sunny, but the wind would every so often push a collection of clouds across the sky to cover the sun, casting the town in a ominous shadow. And although sometimes there would be so many clouds they blended into the sky, you knew the clouds had to be there.

What else would cast such a large shadow?




!!!>>SENTRET UNLOCKED<<!!!
Sentret the Sentret is a feral child. Bright eyed, bushy tailed and far too trusting. Will jump off a bridge if all his friends do it. Eats garbage. Is easily distracted. Also easily impressed, thinks every other person at the guild is the absolute coolest. Fearless, more from not comprehending danger than any sort of bravery. Will talk too much if you let him. Chronic idiot. Only vaguely interested in finding his dead parents.