Chapter Nine: The First Step
Boreas awkwardly nodded a greeting at Aqua and felt the corners of his mouth twitch involuntarily. "Hi."
Aqua looked about as pleased to see him as she might have been to see half an insect after biting down into a piece of fruit. "What do you want?"
Boreas took a deep breath and nervously glanced about the square. "I've been thinking about what you said-"
"That's a first."
"Erm. Yes, quite. And I think you might have been right."
"Do you now?"
"So, you know, I want to say I'm sorry for how I've treated you lately. I... Suppose I really don't show how much I value you nearly enough."
Aqua raised her eyebrows. "How much you 'value' me? What am I, the boat?"
Boreas blushed. "Sorry, poor choice of words. The point is: we've been together for seven years, and you're not just my wife, but by this point you're basically my best friend too. And I don't really treat you much like either. Because I've been thinking, and you were right. I do just sort of expect you to follow me around and agree with me and stuff, and that's stupid and wrong. So I will do my best to stop doing that and pay more attention to you." Boreas coughed nervously, thoroughly embarrassed at how wooden his apology had sounded.
Aqua looked at him, her face unmoving.
"And, er, as for the other thing," Boreas continued, "I-I suppose that sometimes my ego is a bit big, yeah, and I do sort of automatically play the hero. I try to get as much of the glory as possible for myself, but I'm going to try and be better there too. In fact, I asked Larissa and Sofia to come along and help us track down the Shadow!"
That gave Aqua pause at least. "Don't you think they're a bit young?"
"You're absolutely right, of course," Boreas said sycophantically, "and I told them that. But they convinced me it was ultimately their own choice. Besides, remember all the stuff we went through when we were their age? Remember the war? Narrowly saving each other from Diego at Dragonspiral Tower, Victory Road and the great battle at the League, and- No, hold on, they're even younger than that. I guess when I was as old as Larissa, I had only just met you. Jumping off a boat to go talk to the pretty Vaporeon on the rock, remember?"
"Don't try to change the subject," said Aqua, though she couldn't hide a tiny smile. "You were apologising for being an insufferable smug jerk, not reminiscing."
"Right, right. Look, I'm sorry about being such a grandiose git, and I don't expect you to forgive me on the spot, but let's be friends again, shall we?" he smiled his most fetching smile.
He was startled to find Aqua stony-faced again.
"Or... Or at least we can work together to stop the Shadow, right?"
"Right," said Aqua.
"In that case, won't you join me at Sofia's place? We need to discuss where to go next."
"Sure," said Aqua, "but don't think you're done with just an apology. Actions speak louder than words."
–
They were gathered around a small table with a map of Fournaria on it in the parlour of Sofia's house. On the map, they had marked the various places they knew had been attacked and the ones they suspected had been attacked in an effort to find out anything about the Shadow's intentions.
"I can't see any pattern," Larissa said. "They've attacked places all over Fournaria."
After some silence, Sofia said: "There's one pattern: the places they attacked were all remote and days away from anywhere else."
"Except Capinha," Aqua said.
Sofia smiled. "So clearly, it was attacked for a different reason than the other towns. It was also considerably larger than the other towns."
"Smart thinking!" Larissa's smile at her friend was positively radiant. "So what does that mean?"
Sofia shrugged. "Maybe we should go back there to find out?"
"The brigadier is giving it top priority," Boreas said. "It'll be crawling with constables, so I doubt we'll discover anything they haven't found yet. We're better off investigating one of the more obscure places."
"Well," said Sofia, extending a hand to the map, "then how about we gooooo..." she absent-mindedly waved it about before settling on a spot deep inland. "Here!"
"Marchesa?" Boreas read the name. "Can't remember much about it."
"I can," Aqua said. "I read up on it. Barely three dozen pokémon lived there, and we're not even sure that was attacked. It's on the slopes of a volcano that recently erupted. It could just be coincidence."
Larissa frowned. "You mean no-one knows what happened to it? Surely someone must've checked on it? It may be small, but that's still three dozen lives lost."
Sofia nodded, pursing her lips and opening her eyes wider in a comical expression of agreement. "It seems to me the odds of a whole town used to living on an active volcano's slopes perishing in an eruption are pretty slim. If I'd been them, I'd have made sure I had some escape route."
"I agree with Aqua," said Boreas. "It's quite possible Marchesa's disappearance is just coincidence."
"I don't know," said Sofia. If it walks like a tree, mewls like a tree, and tastes like a tree, it probably is a tree." She looked around obliviously. "What are you all laughing at?"
"Nothing," Larissa giggled. "Anyway, you've got a good point."
Boreas shook his head. "I don't think it's worth going to the other end of Fournaria just to find the town was caught in the eruption."
"Um, well then," Larissa pointed at the map, "why don't we go to Egodia instead? Unlike Marchesa, we know it has been attacked, it's pretty large, it's not that far off, and it's coastal."
Boreas raised an eyebrow. "What has coastal got to do with it?"
"Good point," Aqua said. "Having the sea right there would make the trip more fun at least."
"Sure, for you, but Larissa is a fire-type, and so-"
"And so she can still enjoy the sea, thank you very much," Larissa interrupted. "As long as I don't have to go into it, I don't mind it."
"Anyway," Boreas said, "I think going to Egodia is our best plan. Everyone agreed?"
Sofia clapped her hands enthusiastically. "When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow?"
–
Larissa stood in front of one of the large homes that had been refitted to house the refugees temporarily, wishing Sofia was here with her. But the Kirlia was busy packing Zygarde-knew-what into her giant backpack. So Larissa would have to say goodbye alone. Usually she quite liked coming here, but she didn't feel like saying goodbye. She softly knocked on one of the doors, hoping everyone was out.
Unfortunately, Bellefleur opened the door, her old floral face lighting up as she saw Larissa. "Larissa, dearie, come in, come in! They're playing around in the garden, come, I'll take you to them."
"Thank you." Larissa followed her through the familiar corridor. Most of the rooms had two beds in them to allow all the refugees at least some space. They proceeded to the garden, which was large, grassy, and relatively unkempt. Larissa's brothers were playing around with some sticks, making a big stack of them.
"Look who it is, dearies," said Bellefleur.
"'Rissa!" Proteus ran at her and hugged her, while Neso and Triton were a bit too busy with their game.
"Hi 'Rissa," they said, focussed on keeping the stack of sticks from falling over.
"Hey there," Larissa petted her little Cyndaquil brother on the back. "How are you lot? You haven't got yourself in any trouble since yesterday, have you?"
"No," Neso said quickly. "Do you want to play with us? The sticks are actually-"
"Where's Sofia?" asked Triton.
"She's a bit busy today," said Larissa.
"-and we have to make sure the aliens don't-"
"Shame," said Triton. "I like her. I want to play with her again."
"Me too," Larissa said. "But you see, the reason she's busy is that she's packing. Because we're leaving tomorrow."
"-and then WOOSH, or maybe AAAH and- What?!" he accidentally knocked over the sticks.
"Where you going?" Proteus squeaked.
"Don't worry," said Larissa. "I won't be away for long. We're going to Egodia with Boreas and Aqua to find out more about the Shadow."
"Why?" said Neso.
"Well, because Egodia was attacked, just like Diamarina. And we're hoping we can discover something useful."
"But-but it will be dangerous!" said Triton.
"It won't," said Larissa, though she suspected she might be lying. "There will be no-one there, and we won't be pursued this time. Hey, why are you crying, Proteus?" she gently petted him.
"I-I-I dreamt the Sha-Shadow was going to kill you!"
Larissa picked him up and hugged him. "That's not going to happen, I promise."
"But he al-already killed mummy and daddy! And now you'll die too!"
"Do-do dead people dream, Larissa?" Triton sniffled.
"Now, stop it." Larissa had to do her best not to break down herself now. "Nothing is going to happen to me, no matter what you dreamed."
"You promised you'd come by every day," said Neso.
"I promised no such thing. I said I'd come by often; but this is important, don't you see?"
"And I guess we're not important to you..."
Larissa rolled her eyes. "Don't say that, you know it's nonsense. But stopping the Shadow is extremely important to everyone."
"So you're just leaving us alone? You're the grown-up, you're supposed to take care of us..."
"I'm not leaving you alone. Hasn't Bellefleur been taking good care of you?"
"C-can't you take care of us?" Proteus squeaked.
"No. I may be older than you, but I'm hardly ready to take care of kids. I'm your sister, not your mother. Besides, I've got all of Fournaria to worry about. Speaking of, I've got more to do today; I'll see you when I get back."
Neso ignored her and went back to playing with sticks, while Triton and Proteus hugged her.
"Please, 'Rissa, stay here... Don't die."
–
"Wake up, wake up, wake up, 'Rissa, it's time to wake up!" Larissa opened her eyes in shock and found herself looking into Sofia's enthusiastic forest-green eyes, the Kirlia's weight pressing on her abdomen.
"Yes, I heard you!" Larissa said sharply. "What time is it?"
"It's half past seven in the morning, b-but more importantly, it's time for adventure! Today we're going to-"
"Half past seven? Then what in the name of Raikou's bogies are you doing waking me?! We don't leave for hours!"
"I know, I know, I know, but grandfather is leaving soon!"
Larissa rubbed her eyes. "And what's he got to do with it?"
"Oh, didn't I say? He wants to talk to you. He asked me to wake you up!"
"I see," said Larissa. "And did he suggest jumping on top of me and screaming me awake or was that your own brilliant idea?"
Sofia blushed and got off her. "S-sorry, I- er- I may have got a little too enthusiastic. I'm just excited we're leaving today... Sorry..."
Larissa couldn't help but smile as she got up. "It's alright, just be more gentle next time, okay? Your enthusiasm is one of your more charming qualities, but not for waking up to. Anyway, did your granddad say why he wanted to talk to me?"
Sofia shook her head. "Just that he wanted to talk alone."
"Well, I'll go see him, then." Larissa walked to the parlour. At least Sofia had woken her up properly: her heart was racing and she barely felt sleepy any more at all. As expected, Sofia's grandfather was waiting for her, sitting in his comfy chair.
"Good morning, Larissa."
"Not really, so far," she replied.
"Hmm, yes, I'm sorry for having you woken up so early, but I had to talk to you before I left for work."
"What about?"
The old Weavile sighed, and concern made him look even older than he was. "I want to ask you to look out for Sofia's safety."
"Doctor, I'm sure nothing will-"
"Now, you can't be sure nothing will happen. And that's why I'm asking you to make sure she will be alright, hmm? You know what she's like; she can be far too curious and rash for her own good."
"That's true," Larissa said, "but why are you asking me?"
"Because it's quite clear to me you're the most responsible person on this little expedition. Besides," he smiled, "I expect you would want to keep her safe even if I hadn't asked you, wouldn't you?"
Larissa nodded. "Yes, I would. I will protect her with my life."
"No need to be quite so dramatic about it, young lady; just ensure she runs away from danger rather than towards it."
"Will do, doctor."
"Well then," he got up and called Sofia into the room. "Time for me to go to work."
Sofia rushed into the room and hugged her grandfather tightly. "Grandfather, don't worry about me. I'll be back before you know it."
"Just you be careful and listen to your friend, hmm?"
"I will, grandfather, I will!"
"And don't stay away too long; vacation doesn't last forever."
"I know. Bye, grandfather."
"Goodbye, child." They let each other go, and the old Weavile walked out the door.
Sofia turned to Larissa immediately. "I made you some breakfast while you were talking, to make up for being such a dingus earlier! Why don't you go back to bed, and I'll serve you the breakfast there?"
"No thanks," Larissa said, "you woke me up far too well to want to go back to bed. But thanks for the breakfast anyway."
They ate breakfast together, and Larissa soon forgave Sofia for waking her up so rudely. Another hour or so later, it was time to leave. They met Boreas and Aqua on one of Praeclara's many squares, and began to go south. First through the city, then through the unusually open fields south of it, one of Fournaria's few flat areas. Idyllic farms and the occasional small thicket made up the landscape here.
On the journey's second day, the landscape became progressively rougher again as they left civilisation behind and went through dunes and forests, over rocky shores and past small rivers. The journey was a lot more fun than their flight to Praeclara had been. They weren't being chased and had no-one to worry about. Even Boreas seemed nicer and a bit less smug to Larissa, though maybe she was just getting used to him. However, there was an unmistakable tension between him and Aqua, though they remained perfectly civil and friendly to each other.
It was a few days to Egodia, but Larissa was never bored thanks to Sofia. Her fear for what the Shadow might be up to and what he might do to Fournaria, regret for leaving her brothers the way she had, and grief for her parents were all forgotten whenever she was with her, replaced with a wonderful, almost floaty sensation. Sofia's big, foresty eyes, her sweet laugh, and her quick wit brightened Larissa's every day. Only when she was alone did her worries and fears return to her. So, naturally, she spent as much time as she could with Sofia, and fortunately the Kirlia seemed to enjoy spending time together just as much.
As they neared the end of the journey, they walked over steep white cliffs with a magnificent view of the sea. But the impressive scenery seemed to change in a subtle way when they finally reached Egodia, on top of those same cliffs. It had probably been a pretty, happy town once; now it was a ruin, made even more desolate by the uncaring ocean it looked down on. An unpleasant silence, the silence of a graveyard, hung heavily over the place. They walked into town, the remaining buildings looking down on them like tombstones.
"Well," said Aqua, her voice wispy and small in the oppressive silence. "We're here."
Boreas nodded. "Now we see if we can find any clues here, I guess. I don't know what we're looking for, but anything could be relevant. Let's split up to cover more ground."
At the first crossing, they did so. Larissa walked off in a direction of her own, letting the silence swallow her. The street was broad, and littered by the remnants of smashed and burnt market stalls. Her mother had had a fruit stand just like that one. Larissa had never even seen her body; she simply hadn't come back from the initial fight against the invaders. She tried to put it out of her mind, but every collapsed or burnt house was a grim reminder of the worst day of her life. Did someone watch her parents die in there? How many children had lived here? The only good thing about the place was the fact that the bodies had at least been removed and buried properly already. No such closure would ever be given to the dead of Diamarina; most of them were rotting on the bed of the new lake now. Or maybe some had floated down the river and ended up who knows where?
"'Rissa?"
Larissa jumped and was ready to fight, but it was only Sofia.
"S-sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. I just thought... In a place like this, you'd need some company."
"That's not necessary," said Larissa, her heart racing and her throat dry. But then she sighed and lightly touched one of Sofia's hands with her front paw. "...But very welcome. Thank you."
"Don't mention it... To be honest, I feel horrible in this place myself, so I can imagine what it's like for you..."
They continued together. For once in her life, Sofia was silent, but her mere presence was enough to make Larissa feel better. Though it felt like grave-robbing, they entered a few houses, which was easy enough because most doors had already been kicked open. Sometimes, there was a spoiled, half-eaten meal. Often, there were toys and plushies. There were often bloodstains, in one case even a dark red carpet-like stain that ran from inside, through the broken door and ended outside. Most houses had photos of happily laughing pokémon who had no idea their lives would end far sooner and more violent than they expected. In the fifteenth house, Larissa couldn't help but stare blankly at a photo of two happy Alakazams with five tiny little Abras floating around clumsily around them. The photo lay on the floor, next to a deep red footprint.
The soft touch of a hand on her shoulder. "C'mon, Larissa. Let's get out of this awful place."
Larissa meekly followed Sofia, no will left to do anything else. They walked through the empty streets, grass and moss already beginning to grow. They got to the cliff's edge, a few dozen metres away from town, and sat down, looking out over the ocean once more. Sofia put her arm around Larissa, who rested her head on her friend's shoulder, her curls tickling slightly in her face. They didn't say anything to each other for ages. Larissa was aware Sofia was crying, and rubbed her leg in silent support. Despite how miserable she felt, Larissa somehow didn't feel like joining in. If anything, it was all too ghastly to cry about.
Far away, near the horizon, a Wailord leapt out of the water. It slowly rose into the air, made a graceful parabola, and fell back as if in slow-motion, landing with a gigantic splash, the sound of which only reached the girls after a few seconds. "Incredible," Sofia whispered.
"At least something good came from coming here..." Larissa sighed. "We found nothing... Wasted our time..."
"Well," said Sofia, "I d-did actually find out something."
Larissa took her head off her friend's shoulder and looked at her. "You did?"
She wiped the last tears away from her large eyes. "I don't know if it's relevant, but I think most of the pokémon here were psychic types."
Larissa frowned. "We saw only psychics on the photos... But that's only a few pokémon; could be coincidence."
"Ah, but every house in town has rectangular doors that open sideways; the kind bipeds use. Most psychics are bipedal. I also saw meditation circles; and the Shadow has targeted psychics before. Also, most of the toys were the kind I used to play with when I was young; they're designed to help develop a child's psychic powers. Well, n-not that they worked well on me, but-"
Larissa couldn't help but grin. "You. Are. Brilliant!" she hugged Sofia tightly, delighted she had discovered something useful.
Sofia giggled. "W-w-well, I suppose maybe I am. I hadn't really thought about it."
"Don't move," said a harsh voice.
They looked up, startled. They were surrounded by pokémon. The only way out was off the cliff. Larissa's heart ignited with rage. If she was to die here, she'd make sure she took as many of these monsters with them, make them pay in some small bit for all the death they had caused.
"Don't," Sofia whispered in her ear, and Larissa decided to wait. They let go of each other and turned around, but Sofia kept a hand on Larissa's front paw.
"Where are the Vaporeon and the Glaceon?" spat a bulky Blastoise.
"S-sorry," Sofia said, with an admirable attempt at innocent ignorance, "we haven't seen your friends. W-we only just got here. Say, do you know what happened to the town? It's in an awfully messy state, and-"
"Shut up," the Blastoise snapped, and Larissa could barely hold herself back from leaping onto him and biting through his throat. "It doesn't matter; the others'll find them."
"G-good," Sofia said, her grip on Larissa's paw very tight and sweaty. "Good luck! Say, did you see that Wailord-"
"Kill the Quilava," the Blastoise ordered. "Take the Kirlia alive."
"No!" Sofia said vehemently. "Don't hurt my- my Larissa! You're making a terrible mistake! Y-you want to capture me alive, b-but if you kill her, I will die too!"
"That's sweet," the Blastoise said.
"I'm not joking around here! It's b-because we've got a very strong bond – she's more than a friend to me, more than a sister even – and I'm a powerful psychic and I'm in permanent contact with her mind, which means that if you kill her, the psychic backlash of our bond breaking would be enough to overload my mind and kill me!"
"What a load of trash," said the Blastoise.
Sofia was squeezing Larissa's paw so hard it hurt. "It isn't! Please, you have to b-believe me; I don't want to die! All you need to do is take us both alive, and then I can b-be of whatever assistance you require!"
Larissa opened her eyes as wide as she could and spoke in a passable imitation of Sofia's rapid, stuttery way of talking: "Yeyeyeye, s-see? I'm now speaking to you through L-Larissa; that's how strong our b-b-bond is, andandandand have you seen these cliffs, I think they m-m-might contain many very interesting fossils, we should have a look and-"
"Enough!" the Blastoise yelled. "Take them both, we can sort this out later!"
Before Larissa could defend herself, there was a loud sound, a bright flash, and blackness.
–
"Psst, lady, you have to hide."
Aqua looked up in surprise at the dodgy voice. She could see no-one in the street, but she could guess he was inside the half-collapsed house she was walking past. "Hello to you too. I'm Aqua, and you are?"
"No time for that now! Hide in here! Quick!"
Aqua wasn't planning to hide, but she was curious about the voice's owner, so she walked into the house, on her guard for an ambush. "Hello? Oh, there you are." A nervous-looking brown, bipedal crocodile was waiting for her.
"About time," snapped the Krokorok. "You got no time to waste; you have to get out of here. They're looking for you and that Glaceon."
"Who are?" asked Aqua.
The Krokorok rolled his eyes. "You know who. The Shadow himself wants you two caught."
Aqua squinted. "Does he now? And how do you know what the Shadow wants?"
"Right," he rubbed his neck. "I'd hoped we'd get to that part a bit later on. I know it, because I work for him."
"I see," Aqua said calmly.
"But not really, lady. I'm a defector, see? I'm warning you, because if the Shadow wants you caught that badly, I figure you're a threat to him and I should help you."
"How brave of you," Aqua said coldly. "Betraying the Shadow, my my, I am thoroughly impressed."
"Look, lady, we got no time for this! There's a squad out there looking for you and that Glaceon of yours and-"
Aqua suddenly realised what that meant. "You're right, we don't have much time!"
The Krokorok followed her outside. "Smart thinking; what way did he go?"
Aqua sped through the streets. "Boreas can take care of himself; it's Sofia and Larissa I'm worried about!"
"Kirlia and Quilava being all sticky with each other?"
"Yes, that's them! Did you see them?"
"I did, but they were surrounded by my colleagues already. You're too late; you and your husband need to get out of here!"
"No, we need to help-"
"Lady, they'll be dead by now. Get your husband, and get out of here. We've got well over a dozen troops in here, and Lubyanka herself will arrive with more soon!"
Aqua suddenly turned to him. "What did you say your name was?"
"Obnard."
"And why in the name of Kyogre's dorsal fin did you join the Shadow in the first place?"
He rubbed his neck. "'Cause I wanted to fix Fournaria, didn't I? All these leeches are always talking about how great the Unification was and how much it did, when it was the worst thing that ever happened to us. The Shadow promised us we'd change things. How was I supposed to know he was evil?"
Aqua rolled her eyes. "Clearly that was very hard to tell."
"Hey, don't judge me. I decided I had to stop him the moment I was ordered to kill everyone in Capinha!"
"So you were responsible for that?"
"No! Now are you going to listen to me or what? You need to get your husband, and you need to flee! Lubyanka will be here in an hour!"
