AN: Hello everyone!
K: How's things? Today we'll be looking at our temporary team member from last chapter, so there isn't all that much progress to be made.
SV: Sorry about that, but the little guy they found last time needs a conclusion too.
P: Roll on the chapter! They don't own Pokemon.
As Ashley bolted off towards Cerulean, Volta holding tightly to her shoulder and the strange Pokemon being held up by the girl's hand, Misty and Brock turned.
"There's something odd about her." Brock observed.
"I've noticed it too." Misty confirmed. "Back in Viridian, when we first met, she seemed to understand Volta perfectly, and again when he heard you being attack by the swarm of Zubat. Ves wasn't out then, and the first time we didn't even have her."
"Maybe they're just good friends?"
"She admitted in Viridian that they'd only met that morning." She told him. "She was good with Strike too, and Torna. Swift she calmed down when I startled him, and he willingly came with her almost straight away."
"What about Ves?"
"She hasn't really spoken about her at all, and I'll admit I want to know how she met Ashley. But it's eerie, almost. She's really good at finding her way around in the dark, understands Pokemon perfectly even when they've just met, and is really evasive about so much."
"How so?" Brock seemed confused.
"In the cave, you asked about her tests with the Togedemaru and how she understood what they were saying if she didn't have Ves. She froze, like she was trying to find an excuse."
"So, you think she's hiding something."
"I think she's hiding a lot of somethings. In Pewter at the center, I asked about Sinnoh, since she comes from there, and I saw her bracelet flicker. I've noticed she has a little crystal pendant that she wears. It's not a big gem, and I swear that flickers blue as well. She knows way more than she should about Pokemon, and I never got a real explanation for how she helped Torna after she was attacked. And she practically refuses to talk about Sinnoh. She'll talk for a bit, but always finds some way to get out of the conversation."
"Think we should ask her about it?" Brock seemed sceptical about her observations, and Misty didn't blame him. He'd only met Ashley the day before, and even though Misty had only known her for a little less than two weeks, she'd had more time to notice some of those smaller giveaways. Still, she shook her head.
"No. If she wanted to talk about it, she wouldn't be so evasive about it. I don't blame her for dodging around it, either. I've not known her much longer than you, and I didn't want to share why I didn't want to go to Cerulean, and that's pretty small."
"Still, understanding Pokemon is a rare talent." The Rock type trainer mused. "And if she's good at dodging around the issue like you say, then it's something she's learned to keep a secret."
"Your point being?" Misty inquired.
"Sometimes, with secrets like those, it's best to tell people you travel with, because it stops them from getting suspicious about it."
"I guess you have a point. Still, let's not press the issue on her. She'll tell us when she's ready." Misty looked over at the forest behind her. "I think I'll go see if I can do some fishing. What about you?"
"Not sure, honestly. Might just go look around inside the cave again." The two trainers split off, preparing to waste time until their friend returned.
"Hey Ashley!" A cheery voice welcomed her. "How's things?"
"Hey Crysta." She replied. "Thing's are great, thanks. We started our journey and I've got a pretty good team. How's your work going?" Ashley liked Crysta. Her cousins had introduced them when she was a kid, the twins being eight, and Crysta herself being fifteen. On the days her aunt couldn't keep an eye on them, Crysta did, and they'd all liked her. She wasn't sure how long after she'd moved that Crysta had started her researcher job under Professor Rowan, but she'd done it as a favour while in Hoenn, just after the first Sinnoh league.
"Quite well. I'm in Violet City at the moment, where Sprout Tower is, because there's quite a lot of Gastly in here. I'll be going to Ecruteak through a shortcut to speak with the gym leader there, then getting a train from Goldenrod to Saffron."
"Heh, maybe we'll meet in Saffron or Lavender Town."
"I'll try for that. So, what brings my friend to me?"
"Do you think Strike would mind if I borrowed him for a while? I've got to head back to Pallet to see the Professor."
"Well, I shouldn't think he'll have much of a problem with it. Still, if it's a researcher you need…?" She raised an eyebrow.
"We were trying to figure out what this little guy is." She reached up to her hair and pulled the small Pokemon out, where he seemed to be pretending to be a hairclip. "He's not from Kanto, from what I can tell, but we can't talk with him. I got Volta, my Pikachu, to try, but no luck." Crysta peered through the screen at the flat, green Pokemon for a few minutes.
"I can't say I recognise it. Sorry. Professor Juniper might know, but it'd be faster for you to fly over to Pallet." She took a Pokeball from her belt and put it on a transporter. Briefly moving her hand, and thus obstructing Ashley's view, she sent the Pokeball with her Flying type over. "There's Strike. When should I expect him back?"
"Probably tomorrow. I'll go drop this little guy," She put the small Pokemon back in its position on her head and took the Pokeball as she spoke. "With Professor Oak if we can't find out today."
"Alright. Is there anything else you need?" The Adept glanced over at the crowded desk of the Pokemon Center.
"If you hold on a moment, I'll get my team back and you can borrow Ves. She'll be pretty helpful with your research."
"How so? What kind of Pokemon's Ves?"
"She's-" A ping cut her off. "Hold on." Leaving the call for a second, she went over to get her team and the two eggs. Volta helped to put the containers in her bag, before sitting on his normal spot at her shoulder. Going back to the seat, she released Ves. "This is Ves. Ves, do you think you'd mind heading over to help Crysta with her research?"
'Crysta?'
"Crysta's Strike's trainer, remember?"
'Yeah, I do. And sure, why not.'
"Thanks." Returning her and putting the ball on the transporter, she smiled. 'Have fun with telepathy.' She directed at the ball, before sending it over.
"Ok, a Beedrill. Why would a Beedrill be helpful for me?"
"Send her out." She waited a few moments for the little bee to be released, and she waved a stinger at her friend. Obviously, telepathy can't be heard through a screen, but Crysta's jump was enough to tell her that Ves had spoken.
"Well, it's nice to meet you too, Vespine." She looked back at the screen. "Why do you have a telepathic Beedrill?"
"We don't know either. Apparently she was born with the skill, but didn't really get it down until about a year ago, when I first met her." Ves must have added some comment behind them, as Crysta laughed.
"Just like you, Ashley. But thanks. We'll head up to the Sprout Tower, and maybe you can talk with some of the Ghost's there." Ves saluted, probably cracking some type of joke, and Ashley grinned as well.
"Keep her over there for a while if you want. I'll ask you if I need her back, and you can just send her to the Professor. He'll get her to me."
"Thank you. I'll keep her safe." Vespine rolled her eyes behind her.
"Please do. Bye." She waved, and both her friends on the other side returned it before the call ended. She stood and stretched, picking her way across the crowded center quickly. "So then, ready for the homeward flight?"
'The both of us will be in your bag, out of the way. You'll be the only one who enjoys it.' Volta reminded her.
"The bag's got more room than you'd think. You'll be fine." Heading out of town, she found a clear space and released the shiny Staraptor.
'Hey Crysta, what'd you need?' The bird asked, yawning behind a wing.
"You to notice that it's not Crysta would be a good start." Ashley joked, making him jump.
'Wha-? Ashley? Why?'
"I need a lift back to Pallet Town, and Crysta didn't think you'd mind giving me a ride. It also gave me an excuse to let her meet Ves, so currently she's helping with the research."
'I see. So, why're we heading back to your home, then?'
"I need to talk to Professor Oak about something I found." As she spoke, Volta reached up to take the Pokemon in question from her hair and balance it carefully on his own head, before reaching down to open the bag. "You be careful in there. Don't break anything."
'I won't, don't worry.' He replied, dropping down. She closed the bag after them, and Strike chuckled.
'Well, climb on. I'll get you there as fast as I can manage.'
"Don't tire yourself out too much." She warned, climbing onto his back. "You'll have a chance to rest when we get there, but there's no reason to exhaust yourself."
'Couldn't you help with that?' He asked, rising into the air with a heavy flap of his wings.
"Probably, but it wouldn't be much. My Aura healing isn't that bad, but it's not as good as it could be. I haven't had much time to practise it, and that's not even counting the fact that my travelling partners don't know about Aura. I never really thought to learn it until about two months before I left, so it's slow going." She admitted.
'Right.' Banking slightly to catch an air pocket, the two soared across the forest that went past Mount Moon and would eventually connect to Viridian Forest. 'So who's the other teammate? I'll assume you're still travelling with Misty.'
"Yeah, I am. It's Brock, the gym leader from Pewter."
'Huh. Why's he traveling with you? Shouldn't he be running the gym?'
"I asked about that, but he seemed kinda hesitant to answer. I just let it go." She shrugged. "It's not my place to go demanding answers like that when I don't want to tell them some things myself. Well, I did to Misty, but if I hadn't we'd all be stopping at Cerulean, which she wanted to avoid anyway."
'Oh? How come?' Ashley spent the next few minutes explaining the events that had occurred in Mount Moon, while Strike turned himself to the left to start going southwest, heading almost directly for Pallet Town.
"So we're heading back to Pallet to see if Professor Oak knows what this Pokemon is, and where it comes from so we can get him back home."
'Fair enough. I assume the little green thing that was in your hair pretending to be a hair clip is the Pokemon?'
"Yeah, it was. It's in the bag with Volta right now."
'Well, you won't need to wait long. Pallet Town's just over there.' He nodded forwards. 'While I haven't been going at full speed, it's not that much of a distance to cross in the air. On the ground, going directly for it, I think you'd likely be going for about a week.'
"Good to know." She mumbled, looking around in Aura Sight at the sky. There wasn't really anything of note to be looking for, but she liked to see the Pokemon flocks in the sky more than she liked finding Pokemon on the ground. On the ground, the Aura given off by the surrounding areas tended to get in the way, and while it only really hid the Pokemon who were single typed and whose patterns blended in with the other colours, it was still a little annoying. In the sky, nothing got in the way, since there wasn't a signature for anything up there aside from Pokemon, and there weren't many of those. A flock of either Pidgey or Spearow, and on some rare occasions Pokemon from other regions might be spotted, but there was little around. "I guess we're heading down, then?"
'In a second, yeah. Might want to hold on a little. You may be able to break your fall a bit with Aura, but I don't want to find out if you can do it from this high up, and I doubt you do either.'
"No, I really don't." She agreed, holding onto his neck as he started to descend. "Hopefully the Professor won't mind us dropping in like this."
'I shouldn't think so. Your aunt'll be happy to see you, that's for sure.'
"What are you planning on doing while you're here?"
'Not sure. If the Professor still has that Dragonite of his, I might spend a bit of time talking with him.'
"Yeah, Dragonite's still around. He goes off sometimes, so he might not be there right now, but it's pretty likely that he will be."
'Good.' He slowed down to almost a crawl, then shifted to land, slightly heavily, in the field near the door. He furled his wings, letting her slip off, quickly opening her bag before running over to the door. Volta peeked over her shoulder, the little green Pokemon on his head, and the Professor opened the door.
"Ashley? What're you doing here?"
"I borrowed Strike from Crysta to get lift back, 'cause there's something I want to show you."
"Ok… Why didn't you just call me?"
"Because I wanted to show you face to face." She held up a hand and looked over at Volta and the little Pokemon. "Come here, you." It crept onto her hand and looked up at Oak, before looking at her and flashing a few times. "Yeah, this is the Professor." He sat up and flashed again, like it was a greeting.
"Say, who's this?" He asked, stepping aside to let the trio in.
"We were hoping you knew." She replied, letting Volta jump off her shoulder and follow her inside. "We can't figure it out. I don't recognise it, and it doesn't seem to be a Kanto Pokemon."
"Hmmm…" He took it from her hand and put it on the side, next to a computer. "Has your Aura revealed anything?"
"No type to the Aura signature, looks about as plain as humans do." Ashley informed him. "Also, no translation. The little flashes are all we get, and it doesn't translate with Aura. Pokemon don't understand it either."
"I see…" Oak sat down at the computer and started scrolling through the Pokemon list he had- a special one that included images, if not information, of Legendary Pokemon, courtesy of Mew. "I don't think there's anything in this list that looks remotely like this little guy does, so either Mew didn't know about it-"
"Which is unlikely, since she made all Pokemon." The Adept put in.
"-Or it's not a Pokemon." Oak finished, glancing between her and the Pokemon.
"When I asked, it said it was sort of a Pokemon. Far too much pantomime was involved." She said.
"Right." The Professor started scrolling again, and Ashley drew up a seat next to them. "We're at the conclusion that it isn't a Kanto Pokemon, so we can remove that from the options."
"We also don't think it's from Sinnoh or Unova, since Crysta didn't recognise it either." Ashley told him. "It might be a Legendary from one of those regions, though I'm doubtful of that, because I know a lot of those, maybe all of them."
"Right. So we'll cut them out too, but that still leaves us with a lot of Pokemon to look at."
For the next half hour, the two slowly scrolled through the list of Pokemon. They crossed off most of the common Pokemon, or ones that looked drastically different to the small Pokemon beside them.
"I'm beginning to wonder if at this point we should just put the Legendaries on and work through that." Ashley sighed, leaning back in her chair.
"Speaking of them, did you actually call any of your friends when you needed an answer to this?" The Professor asked, shooting her a glance. She shook her head.
"Didn't have a chance to. I can't really contact Sui, Rai or Entei, since I don't have a method to and they tend to roam around, and I last spoke to Mew in Pewter, and she told me that she wasn't going to be at the Tree for quite a while, since she's got jobs to do."
'When'd she say that?' Volta asked, from his place next to the tiny Pokemon.
"Just before she left. You weren't around, since you were with Misty." The Adept replied.
"Well, that's that idea out the window."
"Even if I could message the Beasts, it'd be going to their home, and since they act as a sort of messenger for the Legendaries, I probably wouldn't catch them anyway."
"I wonder where they all are…"
Misty had been fishing in a stream near to the cave entrance for about forty minutes. Normally, she would have chosen to head deeper into the surrounding forest to find a better stream than the small trickle of water she was at, hopefully one that was near a lake, but Brock was still in Mount Moon, and likely would be for a while, so she'd rather stay near the entrance so he could find her again. It was a shame, too. Since she'd grown up in Cerulean, she knew quite a lot of the good fishing spots around the area that had good Pokemon in them. She thought she'd seen a Feebas before in one of the spots, but it was so far away that there was no point in going. The fact that it was close to town had nothing to do with it.
Actually…
Misty reeled in the line again and stood, slinging her bag over her shoulder. She hadn't seen a Pokemon in the last ten minutes anyway, so she might as well move. There was a decent enough fishing spot a few minutes walk away, a fairly large pond that lead to a longer stream that would cross close to the entrance to Mount Moon and meant that Brock would still be able to find her, even without knowing much about the area. Folding the fishing rod to let her hold it easier, she headed over to the stream just downroute of the pond, which was often the place with better Pokemon anyway, and cast out the line. Sitting back against the tree that she'd picked for her to relax on, and watched the bobber float peacefully in the water.
"Perhaps I should let Staryu and Starmie out…" She mused. "Maybe in the pond. They might scare the Pokemon away if they float about in the stream for too long." So saying, she pinned the pole upright on a couple of conveniently placed rocks and fished the two Pokeballs from her bag, keeping an eye on the bobber at the same time. Walking up to the pond, the bobber still in her line of sight, she released the two starfish Pokemon and patted them on the head. "Hey guys. I'm doing a bit of fishing at the moment, so you guys can have fun for a while." Both of them made cheerful noises and dove into the pond, splashing their trainer with slightly green water. Misty yelped, then laughed. "Sorry I can't join you guys, but I'd like to focus on fishing for a while. Plus, now's not the time to get soaked through." Neither of her teammates seemed to pay attention, too busy happily chasing each other and repeatedly firing Water Guns in a little bit of a water fight. Giggling at the enthusiasm of the two, Misty headed back to the fishing pole and pulled it from the rocks, leaning back against the tree. Letting the bobber float calmly, her attention was drawn back to the game they were playing. Both Pokemon were pretty accurate with their shots, something which came from practise and innate instinct of them. On the occasions that they did miss their attacks, they would never travel far, hitting the trees and falling to the ground. One of their shots flew past the trees, and a startled bark followed. Blinking in surprise, Misty pinned the rod back onto the rocks and ran over, just as the starfish were getting out of the pond to see what had happened. Pushing away some of the bushes, she gasped at what she saw.
A quadrupled, dog-like Pokemon stood on the other side. It was mostly a light, watery blue with a white underside, and its coat had several white diamond shapes adorning it. Its face was also white, and a massive crystalline protrusion crowned its head, a dark blue in the shape of a hexagon, with two smaller protrusions at the sides. A purple mane waved across its back from just under that blue marker, and two white tails floated like ribbons on a phantom wind. At the redhead's gasp, it fixed its ruby red eyes on her. It cocked its head, then shimmered slightly with a blue aura before speaking.
'Who might you be, human?' It said, in a feminine voice. The shock of being spoken to by the creature froze her voice for a moment, but Misty shook herself.
"I'm Misty. Me and my Pokemon were playing here when we heard your shout."
'Ah, so that's who hit me.' It mused, sounding more amused than annoyed. Misty was glad about that; the Pokemon seemed to exude power, and she didn't like her odds of winning if it decided to attack. 'You should be proud of your Pokemon. That was a powerful Water Gun.' It stretched slightly, then stepped forwards. 'If you will excuse me, I must get back to my duties. Good day to you.' It leapt, soaring over their heads easily, and running onto the lake. To Misty's surprise, it ran across the water, following the stream downwards and leaving the water in its wake crystal clear. It bounced over her fishing pole too, and left barely any ripples on the water below. All three of them stood stock still for a few moments after it vanished from their sight, staring in the same direction.
"I wonder what sort of Pokemon that was…" Misty muttered, before walking back to the fishing rod. Directing her attention towards her Pokemon, she called over her shoulder, "Try and be careful where you aim, you two!"
"Eh, probably nothing important to us." Ashley shrugged, then leaned forwards again. Something caught her eye, and she pointed it out. "Say, what about this?" It was a black, snake-like Pokemon, with multiple green spots and an entirely green underside.
"Hm?" Oak looked over at them. "Ah, you mean Zygarde?" Unnoticed by the both, the Pokemon perked up.
"Yeah. I remember Mew mentioning that Zygarde had little creatures that could act like spies and helpers, like a hive." The little green Pokemon flashed repeatedly, nudging her hand. She looked down. "Is that what you are? A little Zygarde spy?" It nodded, flashing.
"Well, that at least tells us where it comes from, if not why it's here." The Professor sighed, turning off the computer and leaning back. "So, how to get it home?"
"Well, it could just stay with me until we see Mew or one of the Beasts again." She offered. The Pokemon flashed once, sliding onto her hand. "I'll take as a yes, then." It seemed to laugh, flashing repeatedly. "So, what should we call you?" It, as well as Volta, looked up at her, confused. "Well, I can't really just keep calling you 'it' or 'the Pokemon', can I? So what could we call you?" They thought for a minute.
'We could just call it Zygarde, if it's a part of that.' Volta put forwards.
"We could, but that runs the slight risk of someone knowing what a Zygarde is and making things dangerous for us all." The Pokemon went over to the computer and poked it on again, then, having watched the two of them use the machine and figuring out how it worked, clicked on Zygarde's picture, bringing the name up. It wobbly stood up on the tip of its 'tail', covering the name so it left a little bit for them to read. "Zy?" Ashley read, looking at the small Pokemon. It nodded, then fell over flat. "So we should call you Zy while you're with us?" It flashed. "Well then Zy, welcome to the group, at least for a while." The newly named Zy cheered, crawling onto her hand.
"So how will you get a message to Mew?" Oak asked.
"I'm not sure. I reckon it won't take more than a few days to get to Vermillion, then a few more for Celadon. For Mew, 'a while' could be a month, or it could be three days." Oak winced, remembering one incident of that vagueness the pink Legendary could have when it came to time. "So I'll wait a while, then message the Tree when I get to Vermillion. If something comes up earlier, Torna knows where Rota is, so I'll send her along with a message and some stuff to keep her going, have her leave the message and come back. Mew'll come along the second she see's it."
"So why not do it now?"
"Because I'd rather not have an overly excited pink Legendary show up in the middle of a gym battle, a crowded area, or honestly with my friends." She deadpanned. "If I need her urgently in the next three days, or if she doesn't answer the first message in a day, then I'll send for her with Torna. I doubt Zy will mind having to stick around with us for a while longer than expected, even so. Isn't that right?" She looked at the little Pokemon, who flashed and nodded.
"I suppose if Zy doesn't have a problem with it, then that's fine. Are you going to catch it then?"
"Can't. Pokeballs don't work on it." She took an empty one from her belt on put it down. Zy, getting what she meant, crept down and poked the button, which summarily refused to activate. "We tried it when we decided we were going to come here." Ashley put the Pokeball away and transferred Zy to her hair, where it proceeded to retake its disguise as a hair clip.
"Well, given that you're here, do you mind if I take a look at those eggs you got?" The Professor suddenly got very eager, and she laughed.
"Sure, just be careful with them. I'm going to go and drop in on Aunt Delia while you do, then we'll head back."
'Ashley, please pass on the message that if he does anything to those eggs, I'll shock him into next week.' Volta said, sparking threateningly. With a mostly hidden smile, she did, then looked back at Volta as the Professor flinched, taking off her bag to get the eggs out.
"We should start training you guys in Aura properly. Being able to translate yourselves would be useful."
'Even though we won't be using it until you chose to tell Misty and Brock about your Aura.' He reminded her, as she put the containers on the side and put her bag back on.
"I'll get around to it." She said shortly. "We'll be back in an hour or so. Volta's threat stands. See you then." Letting Volta jump up as they left, she sent a message to Strike, who was flying around the back of the ranch. 'Gone to see Aunt Delia, be back soon.'
'You said that about Misty and Brock, but you told me about Aura straight away.' Volta pushed. 'How come?'
"It's easier to trust someone with that kind of secret when they can't run and tell others." She replied, somewhat tightly. "At least, not anyone that might get me killed. From what little I know, most Pokemon see Aura Adepts as inherently trustworthy, since Riolu and Lucario have the same power and sense of justice. And while there are evil Adepts in history, they're pretty rare. Even then, most of the time Adepts have a Lucario partner who tells them if the path they're walking on is a bad one."
'I guess that's fair.' He allowed. 'Even just understanding Pokemon is a talent that most would want control of. I think they'd probably be just as bad for someone with a rare talent like Aura.'
"When Mew gets here to deal with Zy, I'll have her scan over them. I'll decide based on that." Knocking a few times on the door to her aunt's house- though she'd come to think of it as her house over the last few years- she smiled at her partner. "I will do it, eventually. It just might be a while."
Almost an hour and a half later, Ashley, Volta and Zy walked out of Cerulean again, heading back towards Mount Moon. They'd spent an hour at their house talking to Delia, who had spent the first few minutes of their visit cooing over Zy. When that hour was over, the three had headed back to the lab to pick up the eggs and get ready to go. Unfortunately for them, the Professor had had other ideas, questioning Ashley about the eggs and Ho-oh, which she did her best to answer. She couldn't say much, and resorted to just telling him about the encounter they'd had with her (The Professor had had another field day when she'd told him that the Ho-oh they'd met was female, despite him already knowing that Legendary Pokemon did in fact have genders, thanks to spending five years with Mew and the Beasts randomly dropping into the lab.) and talking a bit about the Lugia that one of the eggs had come from. After that, is was simply a matter of packing the eggs away and waiting for Strike to get back to their end of the ranch, which he did when Ashley sent a telepathic call for him. Volta and Zy had gone into her bag for the trip back, which Strike had taken at a much more leisurely pace than the flight there. They'd passed over the forest, as well as the spot near the Mount Moon entrance, quite low, but still high enough to be out of easy calling distance. Ashley had spotted Brock waiting at the entrance, and chose to use Aura Sight to find Misty if she wasn't there when she got back from sending Strike over.
Upon landing outside of Cerulean and returning Strike, as well as letting Volta and Zy out of the bag to resume their normal positions, she'd made a quick trek back to the Pokemon Center, where Crysta had sent back Vespine in exchange for Strike, saying that she was grateful for the help and was thinking about getting a Natu or some other Psychic type to translate for her. Ashley had recommended Eevee for an Espeon, and gone on to tell her about a few places in Johto where she'd heard Eevee were fairly common, like the Safari Zone. After a few more minutes of chat, they'd rung off, leaving Crysta with a promise that Ashley would tell her about Zy when they next saw each other. Now that they were leaving the city, they were all quiet, not really having anything to say to each other and just enjoying the peacefulness of their surroundings. Mount Moon's entrance wasn't all that far away, so Ashley had taken to occasionally flickering into Aura Sight to see if Misty was back with Brock. Luckily, she was, so they wouldn't need to go hunting for her in the forest.
"Hey Ashley!" The Water type trainer yelled, waving at her. "How'd things go?"
"Great!" She called back, running slightly to get over to them. "We figured out what the little guy is, and I think I know where it comes from."
"That is good news." Brock said. "So what's the deal?"
"It's a Zygarde piece. Zygarde's a Pokemon from Kalos, thought to be a Legendary. It's one of the few Legends that people actually know a bit about, since it has a static home in a mountain there. It normally stays in a cave, and it has little pieces that act like helpers or spies, keeping an eye on the world around it. Some folks over there actually call them a Zygarde hive, because they act kind of like insects." Belatedly, Ashley realised that she might be crossing into the territory of knowing more than was safe, and switched topics. "I've got a friend that might be able to get it back home, but they're away at the moment and I don't have a number to call for business. She should be back from that trip in about a week, so Zy's sticking with us until then."
"Zy?" Misty asked.
"We decided we needed to give it a name of some kind to use while it travels with us, and calling it Zygarde could be risky, if someone knew what it was. It decided on Zy itself."
"Say, what does this Zygarde thing look like, anyway?" Brock asked.
"There aren't many pictures of it, but there's enough bits that I could try and draw one, given a bit of time." She lied, almost flawlessly. "I'll start it tonight, if you'd like."
"Sure. Are we bothering to camp, or shall we drop into Cerulean to stay overnight?" All three of them looked at Misty, who shrugged.
"I don't mind going." She replied, a slight quaver in her voice. "I'd rather not, and I'm not going too close to the gym, but we can head that way." Ashley smiled reassuringly at her friend.
"Don't worry. We've already arranged to do the gym battle elsewhere anyway, so I'm fine avoiding it." The trio started walking, chatting together about what they'd done.
"Actually... Ashley, you know a lot of Pokemon, right?" Misty asked, during her story.
"Yeah…?" Suddenly slightly cautious, she nodded.
"Well, Starmie accidentally shot a Water Gun through the trees, and it hit a Pokemon. It don't know what it was, and it never mentioned, so I was wondering if you knew."
"I can try, but… wait. Did you say it never told you?"
"Yeah. The Pokemon flashed blue for a second, although that could just be a trick of the light, and then it spoke and I could understand it." Misty explained, then looked suspiciously at her. "Why? Does that mean something?"
"It might." She replied quietly. "What did it look like?"
"It was quadrupled, mostly blue, but with a white underside. It's paws were completely blue as well, and it was a light blue, like really clear water. It had white diamond shapes, and a darker blue hexagon with two spikes on it's head. It had a purple mane and two tails that floated towards the front of it's body." The redhead rattled off. For a second, Ashley froze, but she shook it off quickly, hoping that neither of them had noticed.
"I don't think I know a Pokemon like that." She quickly lied. "At least, not of the top of my head. I'll think about it tonight, and maybe after I finish patching a rendition of Zygarde up for you out of the blurry pictures I've seen, I might try and do a drawing based on what you described just then and you can tell me if it's right in the morning." Unnoticed by the Adept, her two companions traded a glance.
She's hiding something. Misty thought. Something she really doesn't want us to learn about. I wonder what it could be…? Across from her, Brock was a little more studious.
She stumbled when Misty mentioned that the Pokemon spoke to her, and when Misty described it. She seemed to know a lot about Zygarde, too. Even if a lot of people in Kalos know about it, she still knows a lot, even able to draw it. And with what Misty told me about her ability to understand Pokemon as well as she does, those odd eggs she has and refuses to talk about, and the fact that she won't talk about Sinnoh much… There's definitely something going on with her, but I don't think there's any way to force her into revealing it, either by confronting her directly or tripping her up so she talks about it. In the Aura User's own thoughts, she was bothered by something slightly different.
I don't know how long I can keep this up. It's only a matter of time before one of them gets suspicious, then both of them likely will. I need to hope I can call Mew as soon as possible, to get them checked over and see if she reckons they're trustworthy. Mew may act like a child, but she'll get the job done. Until then, I'll just have to try my best to mislead them into thinking there's nothing odd until Mew gets here. Glancing up at the sky, she noticed it was close to sunset and spoke, breaking the others from their reprieve. "It's getting dark. Come on, let's hurry up." Both her friends gave their agreements, Brock much more readily than Misty, and they hurried on, banishing their suspicions from their minds, at least for the time being.
Far away from this group of travellers, a small shape rustled in the bushes. Unlike the group, the thoughts on its mind were panicked. It's been three days now. So many of them are sick, and we can't figure out why. The creature in the bushes coughed and stumbled. Even I'm starting to feel the effects, and so's Mel, and she's not even a Pokemon! The Pokemon stomped, a small, muffled noise in the silence of the fast approaching night. We need to figure something out, and soon. Please, Mew or Arceus or whatever other god there is here, send us something to help. It shuffled off, a slow pace that was occasionally halted by coughing and wheezing.
AN: Oh dear.
K: Things don't look good for Ashley. Her teammates are starting to get suspicious of her.
P: Why're you so worried about that? There was a sick Pokemon at the end, and it might be serious!
T: Calm down Pix. I think we all know that's set up for something, and given that Shadow's the person writing, and the fact that it's a decently major hint at the end of the chapter, it's probably set to be resolved next chapter.
K: Moving along from that, I like that we're keeping Zy the Zygarde hive member on the team until further notice.
SV: Yeah, it'll be sticking around for a good couple of chapters. If anyone didn't figure it out from last time, and didn't get it here, Zy is a Zygarde Cell.
P: However, due credit to ivystar and TheDoctor1998, for recognising it to be a Zygarde piece at least, although not a Core like you said.
T: Shadow was pretty confused about what Squishy had to do with a Zygarde Core, since she still hasn't watched the Kalos anime yet.
SV: I'm waiting for a long holiday so I can watch it all in one go, or as close to it as I can get. I do know a fair bit, and I was only confused for a second, Trix.
K: Right. Anyway, Shadow, I believe you wanted to mention a few things?
SV: Yes I did. Something I've mentioned over in my most recent chapters for both New Beginnings: Second Start, and Child of Mew. In my chapters, there are often little hints and nods to future events that I like to add. The bit at the end is a larger one of those, but more often they're tiny things that you need to spot and won't make sense at the time. I like mysteries, and I like writing mysteries because I like to read what people think. Some of the Child of Mew chapter ends and the thing with Zy was one of them. There aren't many in this fic, because it's mostly linear and follows a story without the need for mystery. I'm putting this here because I want to see what you can make of them.
P: Also, we'd like you to know that we lost internet access for two days, so that's why this chapter's late.
K: Other than that, I don't think there's much to add. The profile is getting the new updates as per usual, and hopefully you're more aware of the little secrets in our fics.
SV: So we'll see you all next time!
