The Lilipup

They were a child, having come in a few weeks ago. A Lilipup by the looks of it, with a long stick in her hand and many scratches on her face. She stomped right in through the cathedral, up to the altar, and pointed her stick at Rokas.

“I am you!” she shouted, catching the attention of many other visitors.

Rokas laughed. “And you are me!”

She frowned. “No, I am you!” she shouted again, climbing right onto the altar. Rokas reached out for her, to catch her before she hurt herself, and took a smack right in the face with her stick. “Let me go!” She flailed, smacking him again, but he wouldn’t let go.

“I can’t let you up there, child!” He grabbed her stick, shifting her to his left arm. She growled. “I don’t want you to hurt yourself. Do tell, what brings you to the temple of Arceus?”

“I said, I am you!”

“But if you are me, then what am I?”

“Me!”

Rokas clicked his tongue and set her on the ground, only to be whapped in the shins by her stick. At least there were some layers between it, but she had such a strong arm! “Is that all you had to tell me?”

“No!” She pulled down her sunhat, wiggling her tiny ears. “I...found my home! Cause only Regirock lives in this big castle!”

“Shh, shh.” Rokas kneeled down, taking one of her hands in his. She immediately grabbed at his golden pendant. “Some people are praying, please let them.”

“What’s that? I should know!”

He hummed, looking her right in the eye. “Praying is when you address a deity.”

“That sounds boring.”

“Then you are not me!” Rokas started to laugh. He took another hit to the shins, this time from her foot, and he reached down to lift her up again. She barked in his face, wrestling to get out of his grip, but he started to point to some of the stained glass windows. He realized that he could feel her ribs. “You see that right there? That is Arceus, the creator of all. And those are some of the ancient priests. I knew them.”

The Lilipup pouted, crossing her arms. “Then what’s that one?” She barked at him and crawled around to sit on his shoulders.

Rokas turned around. “That is a priest as well! She was a Leavanny, a great cook. These ones are the first ones. I remember when Arceus came down, and granted us all these pendants as a sign it is always there for us.”

Without missing a beat she kicked it with her foot, grabbing it between her toes. “It looks dumb. I wouldn’t wear that.” Her stomach growled.

“But I do, so that means you aren’t me!” Rokas moved down the steps from the altar and headed down one of the long hallways. The girl screamed that she wanted to go back and see the windows. “Ssshh, child. I’m not going to hurt you.”

He grabbed her by the shoulders and lifted her over his head. At a door at the very end, he pushed it open and a placed her on the ground. She sat down, crossing her arms and pouting.

“Melinda, is there any extra bread rolls? Or cheese? Or, well, fruit or anything really.” Rokas knelt down beside her. “I don’t think she’s had anything in a while.”

And so a cheeky grin crossed the Pignite’s face and she swept around the room to pull out various trays. She and Rokas pulled the child up to the table. They sat beside her as she devoured anything they gave her, but they didn’t give her so much as to make her pass out. She went on and on about how she was gonna be the best Regirock, to which Rokas would only shrug at Melinda’s confused look, and she fell asleep a short while later.

The next day she was gone. The bed they had put her in was empty and their food stores had been completely replaced. Rokas wasn’t going to question it because many odd things happened at the cathedral each week, but...their stores had never been replaced like that before.