Kittle Chronicles - Cuervo Caballero; A Premier!

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*Forte’s Haven, Kittlescor.*

 *Some random tavern within the town.*

A sea of people filled the tavern, most of these customers being pirates and criminals of all sorts. More than half of them were mindlessly drunk, loud, and laughing as they celebrated their days of successful looting and sailing.

Sitting at the far end of the bar, a lone Zoroark let out an exhausted sigh. If only he were here for celebration like the rest of the tavern’s patrons. However, he was here to relieve the stresses of his daily port job. Because he worked locally in Prattleton Wharf, he was a regular at this tavern as far as he knew. Often was he found sitting in this same spot at the edge of the bar, usually with nothing but a pint of beer.

While sitting there, the Zoroark kept an eye on those who entered the tavern, as often those who entered were looking for trouble; It’s why he always sat in the same spot of the bar, where he didn’t have to watch his back and one of his sides.

“Hmp...no trouble today? Thank fuckin’ goodness…” He grunted to himself, going completely bottoms-up on his beer pint. Once all the alcohol was gone and entering his system, he slammed the pint down on the bar, shaking his head.

*Fuck...there’s gotta be more ‘ta life than this shithole of a country…*, the Zoroark thought to himself. *If only...I could afford ‘ta leave…*

The Zoroark’s head was in the clouds as another smaller group entered the tavern. Things quieted down slightly as this specific group entered, although most people seemed to not care.

Although not everyone in the tavern seemed to know them, the Zoroark recognized the group instantly; They were not necessarily anyone noteworthy, just a random group of mercenaries that he had helped with a few mischievous acts once or twice.

The mercenaries quickly made notice of the Zoroark and walked over to him.

“‘Aye! If it ain’t our old pal!” One of them chuckled.

The Zoroark stayed silent, keeping a stern face on those who approached him.

“‘Yahahahar! I can see it on ‘ya face, ‘ya remember us, doncha?”

“...yea, I do. Wha’ of it?” The Zoroark grunted.

“We hoped ‘ta find someone here that we knew, matey! We need someone of skill ‘ta help us with a very specific job, and we’ll pay handsomely!”

*Pay handsomely?*

They now had the Zoroark’s for attention, his claw leaving the pint that it had gripped close and tight. This sounded like an opportunity, but not quite one that he understood.

“I ain’t remember y’all given’ out gold for jobs. Wha’s got ‘ya so stumped tha’ ya’ve stooped tha’ low?” The Zoroark asked, sitting up a bit now.

“We’ll talk outside. C’mon.” One of the mercenaries said, waving him along as they exited the building.

While standing up and getting out some coins to pay his tab, the bartender looked over at the Zoroark. Him being a regular, the bartender--who was a Noivern--knew him decently well and knew whenever the Zoroark was about to get into some crap situation.

“You’re...actually g-going with them…?” The Bartender asked a bit nervously, not even noticing the coins that the Zoroark put down.

“...Don’t parent me, we’ve talked ‘bout this. If they’re lookin’ ‘ta lure me inta’ trouble, then i’ll deal with it, Junjou.” The Zoroark responded quietly yet harshly. The Noivern nodded, although he was unable to hide his worry. Looking around for a moment, the Noivern then pushed the coin back to the Zoroark.

“D-don’t worry, i-it’s...on the h-house…” He told the Zoroark, managing a smile through his worries. “Just...p-please be careful! I..don’t w-want to see you h-hurt, or...e-even worse, Raven. Just come b-back saf-”

“Junjou! I’ll be fine, it’s not the first scrap I’d be gettin’ into anyway!” The Zoroark growled, raising his voice a bit. “For the last time, stop tryna’ baby me! Also, I told ‘ya to not call me tha’. It’s *Cuervo*. Not Raven.”

“R-right, Cuervo...s-sorry...i’ll see y-you around soon…” The Noivern nodded, managing another smile.

“What?” Cuervo asked, raising an eyebrow with his arms folded. He was outside with the mercenaries now, and they had just explained the situation they found themselves in.

“‘Ya heard us.” One of them said to him.

“‘Ya wan’ me ‘ta take someone out, and it’s jus’ one person givin’ ‘ya so many problems?”

“‘Das correct.”

“...who the fuck is this person, anyway? If ‘yer offerin’ to pay for this job, this must be someone of importance, yea? I ain’t lookin’ to be a wanted criminal throughout Kittlescor if tha’s gonna be the result!”

“Settle down ‘n listen.” The mercenary’s leader said as she moved closer to him. “He’s powerful for some reason ‘n has the power ‘ta take out most of our ranks clean. It’s a miracle for us tha’ he chose ‘ta spare everyone tha’ we’ve sent his way. ‘Ya’ll know exactly who he is. He lurks around Ripyard Coast all the time, ‘specially at night. He’s got this goofy lookin’ mask on too, ‘ya can’t miss him.” She explained. “And we’re willin’ to pay quite a bit of coins…”

She then pulled out a small satchel, stretching it open to reveal quite the amount of money to him.

Cuervo took in the information, rubbing behind his head a bit. The thought of this was a bit much for him, however the pay seemed to be promising. Yet, he couldn’t shake the thought of offing this guy, whoever he was, especially considering that no matter how many people these mercenaries sent his way he let them all see the next morning. Cuervo had taken lifes before out of self-defense and in drastic situations, but never as a job…

“Listen...I’ll try ‘n put ‘im in his place, tha’ I can promise. But...I ain’t ‘bout ‘ta go around slittin’ someone’s throat for little-to-no reason.” Cuervo explained, keeping his firm attitude despite his apprehension.

“Leave him alive, but teach ‘em a lesson, and we’ll pay ‘ya half of this satchel.” She bargained with him.

“...fine, deal. I’ll try.” Cuervo finally, reluctantly agreed.

Roughly half an hour later, Cuervo was making his way down the coast, heading towards Ripyard Coast: A beachfront littered with countless shipwrecks of various sizes and ages. It was a place that those who couldn’t defend themselves often strayed away from, as this part of the coast was usually populated by wandering bandits and pirates. Cuervo had a suspicion that even though his target was located here that he wasn’t some ordinary bandit.

Upon getting there, the area was pretty much just as he remembered: Littered with splintering, decaying wood, shipwrecks all over the place with both half and full shits, layers of dangerous rocks in the water out in the distance, and the heavy stench of salt water.

Cuervo looked around, not really in much of a mood to take a stealthier approach. Most of him just wanted to get this over with as fast as he could anyway. A bit sloppily, he decided to scope out a few of the shipwrecks nearby to check if the target was hiding among them, and this was about the only thing he would do quietly.

*Nothing…*

 *Also Nothing…*

 *Nope…*

 *Empty!*

 *Grr…*

By the sixth noteworthy shipwreck down the coast, and half an hour of thoroughly searching through the wreckages, Cuervo had yet to find a trace of his target. Getting frustrated, he shook his head and began to wrap up this disappointing “investigation.” Just as he was turning around to head back home, Cuervo did notice something odd nearby.

The coast nearby was obviously sand, but this section near Ripyard Coast led into a grassland shrouded by a wooded area that spanned a few miles. On the border where the sand met the dirt and grass, he noticed much of the grass was drenched and soggy within a small radius. A detail like this would be hard to notice on the sand, especially when the water was right nearby, but with the moonlight and the grass, this detail stuck out like a sore thumb to Cuervo.

*There’s no way a radius this big would come from the ocean,* Cuervo thought to himself. *Too far up the coast, and it hasn’t been raining. This guy must know some sort of water move...and--hey! Wait a sec...I see another splotch in the woods! He must have been fighting and went over this way. Finally, this is getting interesting!*

Cuervo looked around before starting to follow the highly segmented trail. Surprisingly, for being quite dangerous as the mercenaries told him, this guy wasn’t too smart at covering up his tracks. It was quite a glaring flaw in his escape plan…

The “chase” continued through the woods for roughly 10 minutes. The outskirts of the woods still allowed for decent moonlight to enter through the trees, however the deep woods was a different story. It was quite dark and visibility was at an all-time low; Cuervo didn’t particularly mind as a dark-type, and had enough experience navigating in the dark.

Dirt paths within the deepwoods branched more often than what one would normally consider comfortable for traveling. However, yet again due to the splotches of wet dirt every so often, Cuervo had a general idea of which way to head. Eventually, the trail led him...between a fork in the path. Rather than just going down one of the split sides, the target went straight forward. Going a bit more cautiously down this impromptu pathway, Cuervo noticed that the water trail quickly began to die out in the taller grass, and eventually he was surrounded by what seemed like a wall of trees so tightly packed together that they were equivalent to a sturdy wall. He was blocked from all directions by this tree wall, except for the direction that he originally came from.

*He...cornered ‘imself?* Cuervo wondered, looking around. There was no longer a trail to follow as far as he could see. *There...ain’t blood or anythin’...so he couldn’t’ve gotten caught, right?*

Looking around more, this area was quite dark even for a dark type to have proper visibility. He tried to use his tactile sense more than his vision now, observing the trees for anything noteworthy as he had some speculation as to what had happened. Surely enough, after feeling around the dark of the tree, something peculiar got his attention on one of the trees on the side. The park felt damp when all the others felt dry…

*Hmm...it’s damp, but ain’t hardenin’...it can’t be blood... It’s gotta be jus’ water tha’ soaked this bark. So, that must mean…*

Bending his knees, Cuervo wasted no time leaping up and starting to climb the tree. It wasn’t particularly tall but he still took the climbing slow as to not make enough loud noise to draw attention to himself. As he got to the top of the tree, he looked over into where the trail was cut off by the wall of trees…

To the Zoroark’s surprise, what met him on the other side of the wall was a grotto in the forest. There were no trees, just open space nearby in a small area, and one would be able to easily see it with access to a bird’s eye view, an option unavailable to most as far as Cuervo knew. Moving into the grotto area, he landed quietly in the soft grass, looking around. There was a small path leading up to a bigger, circular area, and within the area a figure could be seen.

Cuervo quietly made his way down the path, getting ready to defend himself if needed. The area was surprisingly tame and beautiful, littered with flowers and the grass was all cut to a certain length. Once in the circular area, Cuervo kept most on guard as the figure was standing right before him, facing away from him.

Based on the tail, the figure was a Feraligatr without a doubt, although his clothes were very resemblant of a Kittle citizen. It was weird, Cuervo never remembered a Feraligatr, or anything of the line, in Kittlescor recently. Maybe this guy just hid in the shadows more often than he was given credit for?

The Feraligatr stood in front of something. It seemed as though he knew Cuervo was a few feet away, but didn’t bother acknowledging his existence.

“...leave my grotto…” He suddenly said. His voice wasn’t the most intimidating, but he sounded...hurt. In fact, it sounded as though he was suppressing a sob. “Let me...grieve in peace, damn it…”

Cuervo was thrown off by being addressed, but…grieve? Why was this wanted guy in the middle of grieving? Nothing about this seemed to make sense to the Zoroark.

“...Tell me why ‘yer wanted by mercenaries ‘n i’ll leave ‘ya be.” Cuervo responded, still on the defensive. Yet again, the Feraligatr addressed him but refused to look in his direction. It audibly became harder for him to hold back sobs.

“...if I’m wanted for...stopping them from...hurting innocents in need...then let me be wanted…”

“Innocents in need? So...they were tryin’ ‘ta rob townspeople? As usual?”

“..not even the rich, corrupt ones in Fortee...just poverty-stricken people like everyone else who...are suffering because...of things out of their control…”

“I...see…”

Cuervo grunted and rubbed his own head. Much as he didn’t want to immediately believe the Feraligatr, he knew these mercenaries. They had done stuff like this before. And now Cuervo felt like an idiot for being persuaded by money. He himself has his fair share in the past of looting those who were just in much need as he was, but even had swore that off after awhile; It didn’t feel right when there were others who were wealthy, profiting off the poor fighting amongst each other.

“So…’ya were tryna’ stop them..alone? Tha’s foolish…” Cuervo commented

“And yet, I survived...and fended them off…” the Feraligatr responded.

“Tha’s...okay…so now wha’ the hell are ‘ya doing here? Can ‘ya *please* connect the dots for me so thin’s make some fuckin’ sense?”

The Feraligatr grunted and stood up a bit more. Finally turning back to face Cuervo, his face was mostly obscured by a dark blue, wooden wolf mask. The only part truly visible on his face were his eyes...and they were puffy and red with tears. Not saying much, he stepped to the side.

Moving aside, Cuervo came closer to peer into the night. What he ended up seeing was a crudely made grave stone.

“Oh…?”

He looked over at the Feraligatr, who nodded and put his arms up to show he wouldn’t harm Cuervo. The Zoroark nodded and came a bit closer, reading the name on the stone.

*…”Emma”...That name. It...couldn’t be...**her**, right?*

Although Cuervo didn’t have much time to dwell on the thought, he remembered someone specific in the town. She was a kind hearted Greninja, who was known throughout this part of Kittlescor and helped everyone she could at every turn. Her warm personality was infectious back then. And nothing would make her smile more than talking about her best friend, a water-type who didn’t like going out in public much, even with her. It was why she often took food back to where it was she would head once leaving the tone, it would be for him. Many people speculated if this friend of hers even existed. But that didn’t matter…

One day, tragic news spread across the area: Emma had died in combat while defending someone else, presumably her friend. Her body had been found but not her friend, who everyone assumed survived. When the person who found her body came back with someone to see if she could be resuscitated. However, when they arrived, the scene still had splattered blood and the like, but her body was gone. The common myth was that her friend took her away and buried her somewhere.

Cuervo’s body shook a little as he looked at the grave stone, standing up. He didn’t know Emma too well, but he, along with everyone else, was still devastated by her death.

“...E-emma…? *Tha’* Emma…?” Cuervo asked shakily, looking over at the Feraligatr.

The Feraligatr remained silent, tears welling in his eyes as he nodded. Hearing her name even brought him pain.

“‘Ya…’ya were...the friend she...always talked ‘bout…” Cuervo conjectured. “No one...even though tha’...’ya were real…”

“...I am…” The Feraligatr sobbed, trying to keep his composure as much as he could. “I...made a promise...t-to her in her...l-last moments, and...to this day, i-it’s been feeling like...i’ve been failing her..no m-matter how hard I try…”

“Hey...listen.” Cuervo said, offering a smile. “She talked...only great thin’s ‘bout ‘ya. I’m sure ‘yer doin’ fine with tha’ promise. So...who even are ‘ya…?”

“My...name is Brandon. I’ve been in Kittlescor my entire life, but mostly stayed hidden. I came...out of hiding more when...I-I lost Emma a few years back, but...I’ve not gone more than traveling in night shadows..”

Cuervo nodded and looked around. It didn’t take much for him to make a decision now. Brandon definitely wasn’t his enemy, and he wasn’t exactly seeing these mercenaries in a better light than he did before.

“Listen...I hate ‘ta interrupt ‘yer grieving, but I think it’s best ‘ya stay on guard.” Cuervo explained to Brandon. “These mercenaries ain’t fuckin’ around. They want ‘ta send a lot of people ‘yer way...more than ‘ya can handle at once probably…”

“Right…” Brandon said, shaking his head and trying to get a bit more serious. “But...how am I supposed to trust you, huh? You came here for me...on their behalf, didn’t you?”

“Well...yeah, but I-”

“Cuervo? He’s ‘taa weak ‘ta kill ‘ya, ‘gatr boy!”

A voice interrupted Cuervo’s explanation as footsteps were heard slowly approaching them. Both Brandon and Cuervo instinctively moved closer to each other as if they were surrounded, getting on the defense.

“He’s no joke when trackin’ down a target. So he led us ‘ta ‘ya, ‘n now we can finish the job!”

Cuervo growled and shook his head.

“Damn it…! I got played. No one’s gonna make a mockery of me!”

After a moment, there was a small glow coming from nearby that made things much easier to see. Looking over, Brandon was holding an odd looking dagger that was not only glowing, but it looked to be made of ice.

*Ice…? It can’t be...but, if Brandon’s fought these guys off multiple times before...maybe I’ll jus’ have no choice but ‘ta trust him..!*

Cuervo put his hands out and suddenly, out of the darkness, a weapon began to form in his arm. After a moment, there was a Scythe in his hands, made purely of dark-type energy, and it looked quite deadly.

“‘Ya wanna fight? Fine! It’s been a ‘taa lon’ since Caliginous has seen a decent battle!” Cuervo shouted into the area, to those that surrounded them.

He then looked over to Brandon again.

“I’m not gonna be carryin’ ‘ya through this battle, ‘ya hear? Try not ‘ta die…!” Cuervo told to the Feraligatr, who nodded with a grunt, his grieving completely paused for the meantime.

“I don’t plan on it, Cuervo…” Brandon responded, looking around the area. “I’ve...still got a promise to keep...and I’m not about to drop here before i’ve fulfilled it..!”

“Gahahah! Tha’s wha’ I like ‘ta hear, man. I like ‘ya!~” Cuervo laughed.

“Alright, let’s fuckin’ tussle…!”