Approaching the Mystery


Akiko

"Are we almost there? My fur's not designed to keep warm when wet."

I didn't want to sound like a little kid on a long road trip, but I really was getting cold, and if I glanced to the side, Branden was wearing a longsuffering expression that said he felt the same way. Someone had finally told me that Branden was a Skiddo, not a Gogoat.

"Arceus, I hope so," Carakka muttered, glaring at Skipper right along with Mystike.

I knew why; I couldn't make out what he was saying, but the Yanma hadn't shut up during this whole time, probably out of nervous energy. I couldn't think how else he was able to talk and fly at the same speed at the same time.

Springslip was looking tired. Actually, I could barely see her behind Branden, but the splashing water from her tails wasn't being consistent anymore. Since we'd started, Troy had moved, and was riding on Branden's head. This was largely because Schwilk couldn't technically swim. The Shellos had stuck himself to the bottom of Skipper's boat. Troy looked bored, and Kenshin kept looking up and back at Silvercloud.

And the Swablu-hybrid was lagging behind and losing altitude. This was worrying Chance and Bridgetta; they'd chosen to ride on her back because they'd wanted to avoid getting wet.

"Almost-there-yes, according-to-my-chart-we-should-be-able-to-see-it-in-another-five-minutes." Skipper spoke loud enough for me to actually make out the words this time.

Schwilk poked his head out of the water. His color didn't look all that great. "See it in five? And when will we be there?"

Skipper stopped talking. That wasn't good.

After a minute where the only sounds were the waves, the splashing of Springslip's tails, the hum of Skipper's wings and the soft "Maa"-ing of the flock in the boat, I prompted, "Skip?"

"Thinking-of-our-worst-off. Silvercloud-never-crossed-ocean-before, not-used-to-weight. Schwilk-saltsick, raised-freshwater."

So that's what's weird about his color right now.

"Springslip-never-fought-seawater-and-pushed-weight-simultaneously. You-and-Branden-getting-chilled, dangerously-so. Allielle-and-I, best-off." He stopped, took a breath, and finished, "…After-sight, Allielle-and-I-could-make-it-in-ten, passengers-somewhat-worse-for-wear. The-rest…might-not-make-it-at-all."

Images rushed through my mind. Springslip stopping from sheer exhaustion, with Branden freezing as a result…Silvercloud's wings giving out and sending her crashing into the waves with both cats still on her back – and I doubted any of those three could swim…

It was probably the thought of poor Silvercloud that did it. I squirmed onto Allielle's head and shouted at the boat. "One!"

Wooligan jumped from somewhere in the mass of wool. "Maa! What?"

"Do Joltik know String Shot?"

"Yaa! All do, that'sa firster!"

Allielle whispered, "That word 'firster' usually means they're born with an ability."

"Then I have a plan! Have five Joltik come over to me! Schwilk, help them make the jump!"

Schwilk groaned, but he held his odd hand up as Allielle swam up next to him. Five tiny yellow dots jumped from somewhere in the flock to his hand, to one of my ears, and then they ran to spread out a bit better on my head.

"Great, now, is there still an even number in the boat?"

I could almost see the electric current shooting along through the flock. Then a zap extended out and tagged one of the Joltik on my ear and that one crawled almost into my ear and answered, "Yes."

"Skipper, move the boat around so you're right in front of Branden!"

The hum of his wings took on a bit more urgency as he heaved to, and lined up in front of Branden.

"Put a little more distance…good!" There was about another Skiddo's length between Branden's nose and Skipper's tail, taking the obvious height differences into account. "All boat-Joltik, divide even and choose two Mareep closest astern on either side of the boat! Wooligan, let me know when they're ready!"

"Yaa…" More electrical current running, and then he finally called, "They're ready!"

"String Shot – connect the stern of the boat to Branden's horns!"

"I guess I don't move, huh?" Branden sounded vaguely sarcastic, but he didn't argue that much as Troy backed up to make sure he didn't get hit.

Loads of thin webbing shot from the boat, wrapping about the Skiddo's horns until they looked white instead of black.

"Springslip, you just rest. Troy, get behind Kenshin and go true form, she needs something to hang onto."

That took some maneuvering, but Troy got into that position, letting his tail fall into the water and twisting around so he could hang onto the waistband of Kenshin's pants. Springslip grabbed hold of the Eevee's fluffy tail and her own propeller-tails stopped twirling.

I swung my own tail at Skipper. "Go! I've got this – you just get them to shore!"

"Aye-aye, Akiko. See-you-in-a-few-minutes." His wings revved faster than before, and they started cutting water again, towing Branden and Springslip.

I glared up at Silvercloud. My idea involved the Joltik first being up there with the cats, but I didn't think they could jump that high. "Joltik. Do any of you mind getting swatted? That's all I can think of for getting you up to them."

The one inside my ear spoke again. "That's fine, but make sure you have your aim right – we can't swim any better than she can." And by "she," I figured the speaker meant Silvercloud.

"Okay, let's do this!" One jumped onto my tail and I started bouncing it, judging the weight and measuring the gap and how both of us were bobbing in the air and water. Finally, I bapped the little guy up, calling, "Joltik flying your way, Chance!"

That took some careful doing, but all got up there. "Now, Joltik, you need to use your String Shot to make a rope from the middle of the saddle straps down to me again. Can you do that?"

There was no answer, though I didn't expect one. After a minute, though, I saw a cord coming into form below Silvercloud. Squinting carefully, I saw the five Joltik I'd bounced up twirling around at the ends of their strings, spinning around each other to make the stronger cord.

"Allielle, you've got to aim so we catch that cord. I don't want them to be in the water for long."

"Got it."

We waited until they were about six inches away from the water. Then she swerved and I hooked the rope with my tail.

The Joltik, having been clacked together, swung the rope up so I could grab it in my teeth and then ran to their original positions on my head. I dropped back down into the Frillish's arms and muttered, "Gho, gho, gho!"

She took off, much faster than she'd been going before, and I soon felt the rope go tight. Peering back over Allielle's shoulder, I saw that Silvercloud was keeping her wings stiff enough to take being pulled along like a kite…barely. She was weaving badly, though on one of her weaves I saw that Chance was out of the saddle and on her shoulders, clearly trying to steer a bit better for keeping them in the general direction of up. It left me wondering what Bridgetta was doing; probably shivering in the backseat.

Thanks to my holding the rope, I was stuck facing backwards, so I never did see the island we were going to while we were approaching. I was glad that Skitty apparently have stronger necks than humans, because that was still a strain. At least it was keeping my mind off the cold water.


We'd just about reached the shallows when Silvercloud's wings gave out. I morphed to true form, whipped my tail around and started winding it around the rope, trying to reel them in so that they would at least have splashdown in three-foot-deep water.

I…think I succeeded. Chance came slogging over in his true form, towing Silvercloud by the rope – which was at least keeping her face out of the water – and carrying Bridgetta, who was still in Pokemon form and spitting mad about being wet.

Carakka and Mystike took charge of the Swablu, hauling her out of the water and trying to get her fluffy wings dry again. As I returned the five Joltik to the flock, I took stock of what else was going on.

Troy was studying his tail somewhat ruefully. Apparently Springslip had just about tugged a couple of handfuls of fur out. And speaking of Springslip, she was lying on her back gasping for breath…sure enough, with a handful of Eevee fur in one fist. Schwilk was lying more on his…stomach, I think, and he was groaning. The whole flock of Mareep was clustered around Branden, who was still a Skiddo. This was apparently strategy, and they were trying to get his legs warm again. I wouldn't have been a bit surprised if there was one underneath him.

I tapped one of the Mareep on the ball of its tail, and it turned to look at me. Just going by the face, she looked to be about six. "Excuse me," I shrunk back down to a Pokemon, "but could I get some of that warmth?"

She picked me up and hugged me into her chest, which was equally woolly. I looked around a little from my now fuzzy viewpoint and finally spotted Skipper and Kenshin. "Kid, can we go over to those two? I need to be part of their conversation since this outing was my idea."

She toddled over and I started listening.

"I-got-you-this-far, but-I-don't-see-how-a-boat-can-be-useful-inland. Would-much-rather-stay-with-my-ship, wait-for-you-to-return."

"Skipper, you don't know who's running around on this island. You could get attacked, and your boat wrecked as well."

Skipper paled, but drew himself up. Drew himself up off the ground, even: his wings had started humming, and that lifted him up on its own. Before he could say anything, I spoke up. "A compromise."

Both looked at me.

"Skipper, we'll hide your boat so that no shia'liin or ptera'shals can see it, and you come with us. You are a faster flyer than Silvercloud, and something might come up where speed is the key."

"Hm. Hiding-can-be-hard-on-a-boat, especially-in-wild-settings. Still, I-suppose-minor-damages-are-preferable-to-some-splintered-planks. I-will-come."

"Good." I climbed onto the Mareep's shoulder and looked around.

There were enough trees near this stretch of beach to make a good hiding place for Skipper's boat, but as a forest extending inland, it was thin. And there was a large structure that I could see over the trees even in my small form, that looked somewhere between giant building and old dormant volcano.

I pointed with my tail. "Is that the Institute?"

Kenshin turned and looked up himself. "Yes. We'll have to go there to learn what's going on. And we'll have to stay low."


The boat was hidden, Silvercloud, Springslip and Schwilk had just about recovered from their ordeals, and we all took our Pokemon forms – with the exception of Allielle, who had chosen to become a human instead – and crept off towards the Institute.

The going was slow. Allielle wasn't all that fast as a human because she hadn't really practiced with it, but she'd have been even slower as a Frillish thanks to the absence of legs. Plus, Schwilk was…not all that fast either, being a slug. And on top of that, none of us had particularly long legs in Pokemon forms. Silvercloud was perched on Branden's back, because her wings were still sore and still damp.

We'd tried to impress the need for silence on the flock, and…well…it kind of worked. The flock wasn't completely silent; every now and again we'd hear a quiet "maa" from somewhere in the mass of wool, quickly silenced.

Skipper was scouting ahead, trying to burn off some of his nervous energy – did he ever run out? I could end up tired just by watching him!


Time had no meaning when the sun didn't technically rise and set, but we finally made it to the large door without incident.

It looked gigantic when we were all Pokemon, which probably in truth made it about nine feet tall. It was made of stone, or something that looked like stone.

Skipper buzzed around to us. "Wasn't-seen, didn't-see-anyone. Overconfident, they-don't-expect-anyone-to-try-to-stop-them."

I cocked my head and considered. "Now, we still don't know if the Institute has technically fallen. Someone should go in and scout around. Just scout, not fight…hopefully. Any volunteers?"

Silence met my query.

Then Branden only said one thing: "I can't. If there's going to be any sneaking involved, I'm incapable of it in any form."

Allielle nodded ruefully. "Same here, actually."

Schwilk agreed with Allielle. "I'm not fast, and I can't be fast even if I grew legs. Even if I went, you'd be waiting too long for me to come back. Even a tiny Joltik could get back faster than me because it's got legs."

Skipper's wings buzzed. "Sneaking? Would-be-gone-by-the-time-someone-came-to-investigate-the-noise, but-still, too-much-risk-to-send-me."

Bridgetta shrugged. "Do a tail-twist?"

That made no sense to me, but Chance took her paw. "Of all the hybrids here who even have tails, yours is the only one that employs that lovely design."

It was Wooligan, of all people, who had a viable suggestion. "We can al'ways do tha countin rhyme."

This was greeted happily by the rest of the flock.

I shrugged. "A counting rhyme is the best idea, I guess. Um…I'm new here. How does a counting rhyme work among hybrids?"

Chance grinned at me. "A circle is formed, and the rhyme is chanted while a wave is moved around the circle. Usually, humanoids," he waved at the still-human Allielle, "hold their arms out and have their left hands resting on the right hands of the one next to them, or vice versa, whichever way they're going to have the circle go, and at each beat their left hand flips across to slap onto the next person's left hand, or the other way around, and the wave moves that way. If the hybrid has a tail, they arrange themselves to have their tails smacking against each other around the circle. If they want to, they arrange themselves so that their backs are in the circle."

I laughed a little and shook my head.

Kenshin looked at his bladed arms. "I guess…I'll be taking human form."

I morphed back to my true form and looked at Wooligan as everyone else took on either true form or even human, depending on how painful or easy to do a hand-smack would be otherwise. "You represent the Mareep, so who's going to stand in for the Joltik?"

"Ahh…" He tapped his ear. "One daasn't want ta change back jus' yet." Then he looked at the flock. "Let's teach ya th' rhyme we use an' pick a stan'-in a' th' same time."

Fifty-nine Mareep-hybrids bounced into a circle, got to two feet, took hold of each other's hands so they wouldn't lose their balance, and all tilted their tails to the left.

Then they started chanting, while I tried to pay close attention to the words and less attention to how each tail-ball swung to hit its right-hand neighbor in beat to the words.

"Bug an' Dahk, Dragon, Spahk,

Faced naa foe jus' yet.

Fairy, Fightin', Fire, Flyin',

Batta-ground is set.

Ghost an' Grass, Ground an' Ice,

Touch a' danger adds some spice.

Normal, Poison, Psychic, Rock,

Take a timeout, set th' clock.

Ir'nhide, Wata-slide,

Nows'a time we will decide!"

The rhyme hadn't gone around the full circle when the last syllable's beat was smacked. In fact, the last tail to swing didn't hit its neighbor's tail – it swung around and tripped up the unfortunate from behind, and the little boy fell down with a yelp of "Maa!" instead of actually finishing the word himself.

I helped the little boy roll over again. He was probably about seven. "Okay, so you're representing One the Joltik, since Wooligan's representing the Mareep flock."

"Maa-kay."

We got into our own circle while the remaining Mareep just sat down next to the door with the four who had no choice but to sit out.

The circle was going to run clockwise: Me, Troy, Kenshin in human form, Silvercloud in human form, Wooligan, Carakka in human form, Chance, Bridgetta, Mystike, Springslip, and that little Mareep I didn't know the name of. I started tapping my tail on the ground, giving the beat. The Mareep had probably used their electricity to signal when they were going to start, but normal people needed a beat. "Five, six, seven, eight…"

We started the chant again, circling from me.

"Bug and Dark, Dragon, Spark,

Faced no foe just yet.

Fairy, Fighting, Fire, Flying,

Battleground is set.

Ghost and Grass, Ground and Ice,

Touch of danger adds some spice.

Normal, Poison, Psychic, Rock,

Take a timeout, set the clock.

Ironhide, Waterslide,

Now's the time we will decide!"