Chapter 2

The Mysteries

"Opening a door to the mysteries, hoping to shed a little dark on all the stuff we think we know"


A couple hours past sunrise, the enigmatic peace that had settled over the strange pair of Pokémon was shattered by unadulterated silliness. Or so Kindle thought to himself as he dodged the large, gaping mouth that snapped at him enthusiastically. The Golbat was big, to be sure – no doubt hopped up on Proteins, the way some trainers operated these days – but she was probably a couple dozen levels lower than him and had no type advantage. He could take this overgrown pest apart with no trouble – and he was, in fact, gathering up a Flamethrower in his chest when he remembered.

Enya. There was no way she'd survive the heating of the Charizard's skin when he unleashed his attack. And having her in a battle at all was a risk that the fire-type dared not take. Fighting was not an option, nor fleeing, for a chase was almost as bad as a battle. That left negotiation.

"Sister!" Kindle cried out quickly, dampening his inner flame and ducking his long neck to avoid a poorly aimed Giga Drain attack. Pokémon with wings considered themselves to all be brethren and often referred to each other as such, especially in formal circumstances – such as requests to stop fights. "Sister, hear me!"

The Golbat, a Confuse Ray faltering in her wide-open mouth, keened softly and considered Kindle's plea, which was, granted, an unusual one to receive from an obviously powerful opponent in the midst of a battle. She stalled, flapping her wings vigorously but only in order to hover, and inclined her head permissively. "Speak, brother."

"Thank you," Kindle breathed with relief; both Pokémon ignored the confused shouts of the Golbat's trainer below. "I am – for lack of better phrasing – great with child, sister." Enya, proving that she still held on to the innate sense of theatricality that defined her as a human, chose that moment to begin her piercing litany of wails again.

"Charmander are not that small," the poison-type grunted doubtfully, tilting her head downward, to where her trainer was urging her loudly to keep fighting. "Even newborns."

"She is an Eevee, and she is not mine, sister. Her history is long, and it is one that I do not fully understand myself." Kindle realized that his explanation was suspiciously vague, but it was as close as he could come to the truth without revealing everything. "Please," he continued, barging urgently through the Golbat's sharp look of skepticism – she was probably seriously considering obeying her trainer's commands to battle once more – and raised his voice to be heard over Enya's cries. "Let us pass without trouble. I do not wish to put the little one in danger."

A gasp from the Golbat made Kindle spin about impulsively and tense, shielding Enya from the Screech or Confuse Ray that would surely burst from the other Pokémon's mouth in a moment. When none came, he twisted his neck around and stared at his opponent, who was not, in fact, making any move to attack. Indeed, she was just flapping her wings dumbly, gaping without a sound.

"Sister? Are you all right?" Kindle asked worriedly, though his back displayed muscles still taut with anticipation of an attack.

"Brother. You - that scar. You are the one…you are…you're Kindle, aren't you?" The formality vanished from the Golbat's suddenly higher voice and her eyes shone fervently.

"Um. Yes." The Charizard turned around to face her again. "Have we met?"

"No, but I've heard of you! You're only one of the most famous Pokémon in the world – my trainer and I watched you and your team defeat the Elite Four on his box of glowing images. I saw you get that scar!"

Kindle spared a glance for the large, ragged trail of scar tissue that extended up the deep blue membrane of his left wing. A keepsake from his fight with dragon master Lance's highest-level Dragonite. "Ah, yes. That. It's always gratifying to realize that your most humiliating wound was inflicted on national television."

The Golbat's voice went up another two octaves; soon it would be audible only to others of her species. "It is you!" She exploded into a small loop-the-loop as if her excitement was too much for her to bear while still. "I'm your number one fan, Kindle! I'm Breeze – well, that's my birth-name, my given-name is just Golbat – and you are my absolute favorite flying-type ever. Well, that's not to say that that Torrent from your team isn't quite nice too, but I always preferred the flying-type with wings. I can't believe I'm hovering right here talking to you in real life and –"

"Erm. That's lovely, um, Breeze. May we please pass now?" Enya's complaints were beginning to die down and Kindle wanted to get a move on before she changed her little mind about being quiet.

"Of course! An Elite Four champion would never be up to anything bad!" Her eyes widened in horror, the pupils huge and black with panic. "I'm so sorry about before! I didn't know who you were then, and you can never be too careful, and I'm so so sorry."

"That's just fine, Breeze. Commendable, even. But I should get going – farewell!" Kindle took off in an instant, speeding away from the Golbat as quickly as he had fled Scarlet City. This was not the most glorious, nor polite, leave-taking, but fans – especially die-hard ones like Breeze – always made Kindle uncomfortable. He liked the knowledge that he had defeated the Elite Four. Of the prestige that came of it, he was less fond.

A screech came from behind him and he glanced back reluctantly to see the Golbat diving towards her trainer, who was at this point thoroughly bewildered and cringing away from his overexcited Pokémon. The cool winds brought to Kindle's ear slits a few last parting words: "He said my name, Chris! Kindle. Said. My. Name! Twice, even! He said I'm commendable! He loves me!"


By the time Kindle reached the clearing again, about an hour later, his muscles were beginning to ache just a slightest bit; his scarred wing always acted up after long-distance flights. He landed softly so as not to jostle Enya, who had fallen asleep again, but the vibration caused by his not inconsiderable weight striking the ground startled a Rattata out of the undergrowth. The little purple creature spat a few choice curses at the Charizard and disappeared quickly into the brush; the rest of the clearing was barren of Pokémon life.

It was high time, Kindle decided, to have a team council. Still cradling the Eevee kit to his chest with a fist that was occasionally bumped by the lightly swinging chain and ball that hung around his neck, the Charizard shrugged Enya's bag off of his shoulder and opened a gap in the top with one heavy foot. One, two, three, four, five Pokéballs rolled out with a bit of nudging and lay unassumingly on the ground.

It always interested Kindle that his teammates, some of the strongest Pokémon in all Kanto, could be contained within the same delicate devices that entrapped low-level Caterpie and Geodude. But now, he reminded himself sternly, was not the time to ponder the Pokémon condition. Bending down slightly, he jabbed at the button in the center of the balls one by one where they lay. And one by one, Enya's prized team emerged into the sunshine, enveloped by an unearthly red light.

First out of the ball – as she always was – came Zap, her cheeks sparking in preparation for battle even before the red glow cleared. The Raichu, caught off guard by seeing only Kindle, took a step back and twitched her tail and ears curiously. The first words out of her mouth: "Where's Enya gone?"

Next was Torrent, who towered above the surrounding trees until he realized that he was doing so and lowered his serpentine body to the ground. His blue scales gleamed warmly, as did his eyes. The Gyarados coiled himself up neatly, his mild expression belying his ability to level a town when the mood took him.

Then Mirage floated peacefully from her ball; she didn't move, merely taking stock of the situation. She did this with her eyes closed, her psychic powers roaming the clearing for answers to questions she did not bother to ask. Kadabra were generally not very chatty Pokémon.

Zephyr emerged next, springing into the air and screeching a challenge. After he realized that there was no battle imminent, the Aerodactyl landed heavily, his ancient eyes clouded with confusion, and sniffed the air. "I scent Master Enya in the air; my sight is keen, and yet I cannot see her. Where is she?" While modern Pokémon spoke formally only when custom dictated it, the archaic rock Pokémon's language was, like his body, from a time long ago when covenance was the norm.

Finally, Gale erupted from her Pokéball like she had been waiting to be released. She looped agitatedly once around the clearing before snapping to a halt, nose-to-nose with Kindle. "Where is Enya," the Dragonair asked, her voice taut and unyielding. It was not a question, it was a statement of fact: Enya was missing, Kindle knew where she was, and he would tell her.

When Kindle did not immediately respond, opting instead to glance nervously down at the fist he had cupped to his chest, Gale twitched her tail and, quick as lightning, wound it around the Charizard's long neck. Jerking him closer with her tail, as a human would another by his lapels, the Dragonair spoke through clenched teeth, "Something is wrong with her. I know it; I can feel it here." She dipped her chin to indicate the blue sphere nestled in the curve of her neck, where the hearts of Dragonair beat out the quick rhythm of their lives.

"Hrrk," Kindle responded, unable to formulate full words with Gale's ribbed tail jabbing into his throat.

The rest of his teammates, who had been circling progressively nearer as it became clear that something happened to their beloved Enya, sighed as one. As Gale drew closer and closer to evolution, she became more and more belligerent. This, according to Enya's Pokédex, was a common occurrence for Dragonair on the brink; she would return to her amiable self after evolving. But until then, tolerance was key.

"Erm, Gale?" Zap piped up, punctuating her sentence with a tiny zap of electricity. It wasn't meant to hurt; an attack was often the only way to get the dragon-type's attention when she was in one of her moods. "Gale?" A slightly stronger shock danced up the serpent's body and finally succeeded in rending the Dragonair's attention away from her victim. "Would you quite mind," the Raichu continued blithely, "not choking our trainer's favorite Pokémon?"

An infuriated hiss was Gale's only response, but she gave Kindle one last shake and unwound her tail with reluctance. But that last thrash was the proverbial straw that broke the Ponyta's back: a staccato wailing began emitting from the Charizard's hand. (Kindle winced, his head beginning to throb softly in time with the howls: listening to Enya screech was getting very old, very quickly, but he still could not for the life of himself figure out what it was she wanted.)

"What is that?" Gale, barely a second gone, was back and as suspicious as ever. "What is that?" Her tail whisked around and wrapped around the fire-type's wrist, yanking it away from his chest and towards her. The cries grew louder (Zap covered her sensitive ears with a wince and muttered that someone else could stop the overgrown serpent this time) and Kindle looked with panic from his hand, where a short white tail hung sadly from between his fingers, to Gale's face where sharp teeth were bared in a scowl.

Tolerance, the Pokédex had said. Tolerance was key.

But Enya needed help, and if Gale was going to get in the way of that, tolerance would have to wait a while. Giving in to his instincts, Kindle snatched back his hand and snarled into the Dragonair's shocked face. The growl was not the language of Pokémon; it was less and somehow more than that, a primal snarl that warned the one to whom it was directed to stay away or else. Gale flinched and retreated, her own growl stuttering and fading quickly.

Slightly disappointed in his show of primitivism, Kindle sighed and looked down into his hands, where the Eevee kit was curled up in a display of abject misery. In spite of the Charizard's fearsome looks and short temperament, he really did prefer to settle things through words, as he had with the Golbat earlier.

"Don't beat yourself up, Kindle," Torrent reassured him knowingly, sending Gale a sharp look. "She earned that." Gale hissed but kept her peace; one did not growl as Kindle had without meaning it utterly.

"Indeed she did," Zephyr affirmed, and a light chorus of agreements went round the ragged ring of Pokémon (excluding, of course, Gale herself). "But her question was fair and valid: what is it that you hold within your hand? It sounds like a newborn child." He sniffed the air noisily and exhaled in shock. "But it smells like –"

"Like Enya," Kindle finished for the Aerodactyl. "I know. That's because it – she – is Enya." He cupped his hands together and opened them to the air; the wailing, grown soft after having been ignored, picked up again, strident and needy.

Torrent leaned forward and hovered inquisitively over the Charizard's palms, while Zap sprang agilely to perch his head, still covering her ears desperately but craning her neck to see. Zephyr shuffled closer – he was never at his most graceful when on the ground – and peered at the kit with gentle, amber-yellow eyes. Gale huffed and feigned disinterest, but soon wandered, apparently aimlessly, over to Kindle and his handful. Even Mirage floated forward for a closer look, curiosity warring with the serenity that usually decorated her face.

After a pregnant pause, Zap scoffed. "That, my dearest Kindle, is a Pokémon, and a kit to boot. It may have escaped your notice, lightning-brain, but our Enya is an almost grown human." The other Pokémon began to break apart, in accord with the Raichu's judgment.

"Yes, she was," Kindle concurred, gazing softly at the kit and speaking over her cries, ignoring his team's looks of bewilderment, "before Team Rocket got their hands on her."

"Team Rocket?" Torrent rumbled, back in an instant. Despite his ferocious appearance, he was on the inside what the humans would call a marshmallow, and the rest of his team could hear the apprehensive tremble in his voice. Still, he would fight without a second thought for Enya's sake, and was as fond of Team Rocket and their antics as Kindle was.

The Charizard glanced up, recognizing that he had attention from his teammates once more. "You heard me," he declared defiantly. "Team Rocket." He proceeded to tell the tale of the events that occurred in Scarlet City, speaking more and more loudly as time went on in order to be heard over Enya's increasingly noisy, demanding wails.

There was another loaded silence, broken only by the kit.

Then: "You left Enya in Scarlet City?" Gale screeched. Kindle jerked his hands reflexively back to his chest and shielded the kit protectively.

"No offense, Kindle," Zap shouted from where she crouched, her tiny paws flattening her ears against her head, "but are you on the Candy? I'm serious here."

An indignant growl escaped the Charizard, echoed by the loyal Torrent. "I haven't touched a Rare Candy in ages. I am eight months clean and you know it."

Zap acceded easily to this with a nod but maintained, "A transformation like you're describing, though, is magic, and Team Rocket is not magical."

"Nor even particularly smart," Gale agreed, lashing her tail and narrowing her hard blood-red eyes. A cautionary cuff from Zephyr's wing kept the Dragonair from expressing her opinion on Kindle's intelligence as well.

"How do you explain the necklace, then?" Kindle insisted, jabbing his free finger at the thin chain and ball that hung around his neck. "Or the scent? Scent doesn't lie!"

"We should, I believe, continue this argument at a later time and in a less communal venue," Zephyr interrupted sharply. "We – though, I am inclined to believe, mostly the child – are garnering unsolicited attention." He angled his head to the treetops round the clearing: a Scyther, several Beedrill, a Mankey, a Pikachu, and a small flock of Spearow ducked conspicuously back into the foliage when the entirety of Enya's team followed the Aerodactyl's line of vision to them.

"But what about Enya?" Gale insisted. "You left her! We must go back to Scarlet City."

"Can we make the kit be quiet now?" Zap's pitiable voice piped up and was ignored.

Kindle growled. "I did not leave her! This Eevee is Enya!"

"Later, you two," Torrent interjected. While Gale and Zap seemed to be convinced that Kindle was either insane or scheming – possibly both – the Gyarados appeared to believe the Charizard, or at least to be holding out judgment. Zephyr and Mirage were, as always, inscrutable. "Enya's not totally incapable of taking care of herself without us."

"All right, all right," Kindle agreed readily enough. "We can have this out later. But where should we go? I know for a fact that Enya won't be around to tell us where she had planned to go."

"It doesn't matter!" Zap shouted finally. "Just shut that kit up!" Sparks of agitation flickered over her cheeks and peppered the soil and grass around her.

"I wish I could!" Kindle shouted back, holding the newborn out in his cupped palms. The Pokémon still lurking in the trees scattered frantically at this roar. "I don't know what she wants!"

"You do not know?" Gale asked, true surprise breaking through the cynicism in her voice for the first time in ages. Then the pessimism was back: "No, I suppose you would not, you being a useless male."

There was a token protest from Kindle, Torrent, and Zephyr.

"She is hungry, twister-brain."

"Hungry?"

"Yes. Hungry. You are familiar that hunger, I assume?" Gale twisted the base of her tail into a loose cradle and held it out. "Give her to me," she said, and her voice was soft enough – gentle, for the first time in months – that Kindle complied, astounded. The Eevee kit paused in her wails to purr approvingly at the smooth, cool scales on her fur after Kindle's perpetually warm hands, and while she was thus distracted Gale rocked her lightly, swinging her tail in a small, repetitive arc. The soothing motion – back and forth, back and forth – quickly began to lull the kit to sleep. The clearing held its breath.

"Can you keep doing that? Like, forever?" Zap asked, relief saturating her voice. Zephyr nodded eagerly in agreement.

Gale growled deep in her chest and looked daggers at the rest of her team, though the greater part of her glare was heaped upon the hapless Kindle. "No, because it is not going to work much longer. A kit needs both food and sleep, but you cannot replace one with the other."

"Dex says that newborn Eevee need either their mother's milk – the species of the mother is unimportant, whether she is an Eevee or one of its evolutions – or a special species-specific formula, available at most breeding centers." Zap, her ears no longer the victims of aural assault, had made herself useful. She held in her tiny paws Dexter, Enya's trusty encyclopedic device, wrested from the depths of the canvas bag. Many of Enya's belongings – a Full Heal, a scarf, a coin purse, a little book, a few Hyper Potions, a granola bar – were strewn about her carelessly, evidence of her search for the device.

"Twisters," Gale swore, just as Kindle spat out, "Cinders." After glancing bemusedly at her teammate (had they just expressed the same sentiment about something?), the Dragonair continued, "Are you sure, Zap?"

The electric rodent gave Gale a flat stare and, without looking down, depressed a button on Dexter's inner panel.

Dexter spoke up in his robotically informative tone: "Eevee. Gestation period, approximately sixty days. Newborns require either their mother's milk – the species of the mother is unimportant, whether she is an Eevee or one of its evolutions – or a special species-specific formula, available at most breeding centers. Newborns are unable to thermoregulate and are blind, deaf, and toothless for the first two weeks of life."

Zap smirked and snapped Dexter shut with finality, a lone self-satisfied spark skittering over her fingers. "Yes, I'm sure."

"So we need to find a breeding center," Torrent said, leaning close to the kit in her makeshift cradle, his dangling, whisker-like barbels brushing against her muzzle. She purred and batted at them in her sleep, and the fearsome Gyarados smiled softly.

"Thank you for that statement of obvious fact." The bite was back in Gale's voice, and Torrent yanked his head back. "The question is, where to find one?"

"Scarlet City is out of the question," Kindle said immediately. No one dared argue with the sudden steel in his voice, not even Gale, though her eyes narrowed.

"Nearest breeding center is…" Zap was again proving her worth, leafing expertly through the small paperback that had been wrested from Enya's bag in her hunt for Dexter. It was a guide book to the Kanto region, tattered with use. "We're in this conveniently unnamed forest, right? About sixty miles southwest of Scarlet City?" She turned the book this way and that, squinting at the tiny maps. "The nearest breeding center is about one hundred seventy-ish miles that way." The Raichu pointed confidently between Zephyr and Mirage.

"I suppose we'll keep you around, Zap." Kindle smiled and spread his wings. Zephyr followed suit, and Torrent and Gale quickly readied for flight. The Eevee kit was still nestled within the curves of the Dragonair's tail, which swung perfunctorily beneath the rest of her serpentine body.

Zap scoffed and began heaving Enya's belongings back into her bag. "You know you'll keep me around. I'm the only one with opposable thumbs, remember?" She quickly shoved in the clothing, book, pouch, food, medicine, Dexter, and, after a moment's contemplation, the five loose Pokéballs. She was left with a distended canvas bag easily half again as large as she was.

"Mirage has opposable thumbs." The Charizard held out his hands to Gale, clearly demanding that she return the Eevee to him. She snapped warningly at his fingers. Kindle snarled, nose to nose with his serpentine teammate; she bared her teeth in response, but allowed the fire-type to pluck the sleeping kit from her tail.

Zap rolled her eyes, both at Kindle's comment and his and Gale's interaction. Her deft fingers shut the bag and pulled the drawstring tight. "Mirage isn't really a tactile, book page-turning sort of Pokémon, Kindle." Her voice grew louder. "She's probably too busy being enigmatic to even carry this bag for me."

Mirage's lips quirked and one dark eye cracked open to gleam with mock offense at the Raichu. A blue aura obligingly surrounded the bag, lifting it from Zap's fingers and hefting it onto the Kadabra's humanoid shoulders. Zap exclaimed her thanks and darted swiftly to Torrent, who lowered his neck and allowed her to perch on his massive head.

As one, they took off in a flurry of ridged wings, thrashing tails, and shimmery psychic haze. Though some of them wore scowls, some furrowed brows, and one a miserable grimace, they leveled without thought into their usual flight formation: Kindle at point, with Zephyr and Mirage behind him, and Gale and Torrent (Zap clinging to his head spines) behind them. They quickly disappeared into the swirling white clouds that danced in the air above them, so markedly different from the stagnant smog of Scarlet City's sky.

The Eevee kit slept on, but the miserable grimace was hers.