Merric rested atop a hill, gazing out at the small town in the distance. Beutop Town. Some worthless, middle-of-nowhere heap that at any other time he wouldn't even bother with. But this wasn't the first time he had come here. For the past 5 years he would come to check in on one specific Pokémon: a Zoroark named Lea.
Merric and Lea used to be close. They were partners back when Lea was still a member of the Shadewings. But one day while they were on a routine caravan heist, they were ambushed by an Explorer who just happened to be in the right place at the right time. Some Mienshao named...
"Suzume? Yeah... that was her name..." Merric's blood boiled thinking about her. How she just showed up out of the blue. Alone. With all the confidence of a veteran Explorer, but with only a Gold rank badge. And yet she had all the skill to back it up. Even between himself and Lea, she was more than a match for them.
And when she crushed Merric's Shadewing badge... and when Lea tossed Merric his and gave him that stupid smile and wink, with a look on his face that said “I got this”...
Merric shook his head. At this point it didn't matter. Once Merric tracked down Lea to this town, every time he saw him he was... happy. And with that damn Mienshao...
He had thought that maybe, maybe one day he'd get tired of his boring life, leave it all behind and come back to the Shadewings... But now that they've got a kid on the way, Merric knew that wasn't going to happen.
And still... Merric hoped. He'd wait however long it'd take to get his friend back... So that he wouldn't be alone any more...
Okay so sat on this one way longer than I intended, but creature of habit that I am I got sidetracked. A lot. For a month. Whoops. (;; =w=)
But hey! Got it done eventually, and I'm happy to finally introduce Merric!
Merric had been kicking around in my head for a good bit along with Suzume and Lea, and given his importance to the stories I've got planned I wanted to introduce him as soon as I could! Originally I wanted to make his introduction a bit more dramatic, make some art of Lea with a silhouette of Merric looming in the background, or a wanted poster of him with a monologue from Lea in the description, but while finishing up Snacks and a Surprise! , Riku's theme came on and put me in the mood to draw something with some angst.
With what I've already planned out, the stories would mostly focus on his softer side so I figured this would fit him a lot better!
Speaking of, first time putting a short story in the description! Was gonna do an exposition dump like I normally did, but there was just a bit too much to cover while ALSO wanting to do my normal thought process rambles I do. This take place the night after "Snacks and a Surprise" takes place!
And if you're wondering, yes Merric and Lea will see each other again! About 15 years after this, from a chance encounter with Lea and Suzume's son, so stay tuned!
