Alec checked his pack and scratched at the back of his head with a pen.
He had most things figured out, preserved foods, bed roll, he'd picked up a few odds and ends that he knew were going to be necessary. A good, solid knife with a sturdy handle had been a must.
The sword he'd picked up, he'd been working on it when he wasn't digging through trash. Repair on the sheathe had been necessary but the sword itself wasn't as badly off as he'd expected. The rust on it was surface-level, ugly to be sure, but it hadn't eaten into the metal itself. It had actually flaked right off with a little bit of oil.
Polishing and whetting the blade rather than just hitting it with a spell to fix it served a very critical purpose. It let Alec get a feel for the blade, the length, the heft, its balance. It didn't match up with any of the legendary blades he'd held in the past but it was still a good weapon none the less.
If it were a bit shorter, he'd be able to affix it on the back of his belt. As it was, he'd found it had to go across his back.
The tassel had been a point he'd debated on for the better part of a day. Alec didn't like it as a matter of course, they got caught on things far too easily. Still, it just seemed to fit the aesthetic of the sword. Finally, rather than cutting it off, he went ahead and cast Repair on it, returning the frayed and faded piece of cloth to a solid, dark blue strip of silk.
It had always made a good end to his day. Alec didn't mind exhausting himself to get his tasks completed and honing the edge was calming, relaxing. The fatigue let him sleep deeply enough to keep the doubts and worries from edging into nightmares.
"Digimon, digital monsters..." Today, rather than repairing scrap or trying to find a PokeMon that wasn't petrified by his presence, Alec was finishing up the tasks of finding a few things. PokeBalls were more expensive than he'd remembered and he'd strongly debated telling the shop clerk where he could stuff a string of 'em before biting his tongue.
There was literally an extra zero on the price tag. He could afford a few, and he did actually purchase three extras, but that had actually taken more money than he'd earned on any single piece of salvage!
"Digimon are the champions!" He was hunting through the stalls set up near the docks where people hawked their foreign goods.
He pushed along slowly on the scooter he'd found and repaired, scanning the people manning their little shops. There were a few folks actively selling PokeMon, representatives for breeders. One stall advertised Snorunt eggs, they had a little sign up top that had a badly drawn rendition of the frigid little snow PokeMon.
"Cha~ange into digital champions. To~o save the digital- World!" And was among the PokeMon that Alec would be avoiding. Snorunt were cute. What they turned into, Glalie and Frosslass, were in the habit of killing people.
One person had a group of little red robins, Fletchling, each kept in individual bird cages. The shrill, screeching chatter as they all screamed at each other and any passers by had Alec passing them without a second glance.
Rude, all of them.
Dejected, Alec turned to leave. He was no Goh, he didn't have delusions of perfection in finding -just- the right PokeMon to partner with... But he had standards.
"-did I tell you about eggs!" But Alec paused and slowed down as he was passing by one of the large cargo ships, something named 'Bountiful Treasure'. Someone was shouting overhead. "I can't take care of any more eggs!"
Watching the ship, Alec saw a sailor stomp up to a guard rail. The man, his arms were probably about as thick as Alec's current thighs, threw something over the edge and into the waters below.
"There!" The man shouted back as he stomped out of view. "Done! No! More! Eggs!"
Alec stared for a second as his brain worked on what he'd just seen.
That hadn't just happened, had it?
No... There was no way someone could-
Alec knocked over his scooter as he sprinted to the edge of the docks, shedding his backpack and rusty length of metal in the process. He jumped over the rope guardrail-
His foot caught, the jump misjudged, and he spun over to hit the edge of the dock instead before he fell into the waters below with a graceless belly flop.
It took a precious second and a lungful of water for the shock to clear but the deep, sudden fury did wonders to clear his mind.
He pushed down, unable to see anything in the murky green waters. He couldn't see the egg. He couldn't see his own hands once he got far enough down. The burn in his lungs and the desperate panic-
Alec shifted, water displaced as something far larger took his place. Midnight black scales burst through torn clothing and the vague impressions he felt before became more solid. He still couldn't see, but now he simply knew.
The few curious Tentacool and Goldeen swam away in a panic as a creature, larger than a Rapidash, slid through the water as though it were air instead.
In the far depths below, a dozen pairs of lamplight yellow eyes watched on in rapt fascination as something so similar to themselves caught up with the dwindling life force and held it gently in claw.
Wings unfurled and flapped, propelling the haunting thing up to towards the surface and out of sight.
Nearing the surface, Alec twisted the magic once more and assumed a lesser form. His clothes, the few still on him, sewed themselves back together in a glitter of golden light. Breaching the surface, egg clutched to his chest, Alec inhaled deeply-
And then began hacking, salty water still in his lungs.
"Man Overboard!" Someone shouted from nearby, a direction Alec started to paddle towards blindly. "To the left, son!"
Alec began to move towards something that had splashed nearby, practically blind with the saltwater in his eyes. His free hand hit against something and he latched on to it desperately. It quickly began to drag him towards something.
He blinked rapidly, tears quickly working to clear his eyes of the burning sting, and the world came back into blurry focus. He'd grabbed a life preserver, thrown by a sailor on the ship he'd been under. As it dragged him towards the ship, he tried to force himself to relax.
Instead he just ended up hacking and spitting up more water.
Several harrowing minutes later, Alec was pulled on to the deck of the ship and he had a chance to properly take stock of his situation.
His shoes were gone. One sock was missing. His underwear was sitting oddly but everything else seemed to be in place, at least. Even his wallet.
"Boy, what in Yveltal's name were you thinking?!" Someone, one of the sailors, shouted in Alec's face.
"...Egg." Alec tiredly gasped, the little flickering life still clutched in his arms.
Next time he had to do an aquatic rescue, Alec was going to go in Dragon. And come back out Dragon. Trying to play nice with reality absolutely sucked and he wasn't going to do this a second time. The locals would just have to deal with him breaking their perceptions on the world.
"It's just an egg, kid!" One of the other sailors tried to berate Alec as he properly stood. "There's lots of PokeMon out there, no reason to risk yourself like that!"
"Don't-" Alec was interrupted, his lungs demanding he work just a little bit harder to get their salty contents back out. More hacking and a bit of vomiting over the guard rail left Alec unwilling to try and continue to talk. Instead he just wanted to leave, to go lie down for a while.
"Son of a-" Another sailor shouted, the voice familiar. "-I just got rid of that damned thing!"
Rough hands grabbed the egg out of Alec's hands, the same sailor from earlier, and the man began to stomp back towards the... Whatever the side of the ship faced away from the port.
Starboard. That was it.
A surge of spite pushed Alec's feet and he interposed himself between the sailor and the edge of the ship.
"Get outta the way, kid." The sailor growled, holding the egg under one arm. "Got enough of these already, don't need no- Urk!"
Alec extracted his fist from between the sailor's legs, grabbing the egg as the man dropped to his knees.
"Critical Hit." Alec growled, starfire burning the water out of his lungs, steam streaming from his lips. His yellow eyes practically glowed as fury pulsed under his skin, right in tune with his heartbeat.
Rather than following through, Alec stepped around the man that was clutching his broken treasure in both hands and began to walk away. Two of the other sailors went to check on their colleague but none of the others got in Alec's way.
He left, unmolested.
Alec wasn't even sure his stuff would be where he'd left it but to his surprise, it was! It had all been gathered together, there was even a PokeMon watching over it. A little black puppy with bony protrusions banding its back, shackling its feet and even acting as a helmet directly over-top the dog's head.
"You do this?" Alec asked the sitting dog.
"Houn!" It barked at him, glaring at him.
Reaching around the creature, Alec grabbed his bag. It took a little work but he managed to fit the egg into it and he extracted a smaller bag. The mage dropped down on the concrete and nestled the backpack against his side before opening the little ziplock baggie.
"C'mere." Alec patted his other side, uncomfortably out of breath. The dog tilted its head in confusion but it seemed to understand when Alec pulled a sandwich out of his bag and tore it in half, offering part of it to the dog.
"Houn!" The PokeMon barked, greedily taking the offered portion.
Cautiously, Alec ran a hand down the PokeMon's back. The transition between short, rough fur and smooth bone was strangely pleasant.
The dog seemed to think so, too, given that its stubby little tail started wagging.
Alec bit into his own sandwich hunk and tried not to pay attention to the flips his stomach was doing.
He could live without doing any more water rescues. In fact, he'd greatly prefer it. But this part?
This part wasn't so bad.
