(Tom - One Hour Later)
We had all been separate for the hour. Mr. Pix said that since we were going to be fighting against one another we should be apart. I didn't much agree, but there wasn't much I could really say.
During the course of the hour, I had thought about my plan to fight Vinia. It certainly wasn't going to be easy in any regard - while I definitely had the Type advantage, she had much more experience than I did and was probably working to solve the issue of her type advantage. I needed to think as much as she did to be able to win this fight.
I found myself nearing Naetle, whose frightened demeanor was masking the fire buried deep within his eyes. I could tell that as much as he was worried for his safety from Catal's brutality, he was as pumped for his match as any other pokemon.
"You're up first, Naetle. Are you ready?" I whispered to him as I neared.
Naetle cracked a large smile, "You bet - I'm as ready as I'll ever be." Naetle shook himself. "One measly Pawniard isn't enough to scare me - not after what I've been through."
"What have you been through, anyway? You're always talking about it but you never seem to properly explain it. I've been trying to find it out for the past few weeks," I casually mention to him.
"It's a bit of a secret. I don't think I'll be able to tell you right now."Naetle delayed.
"Alright." It wasn't much of an answer, but I'll probably be able to learn after both of us become Venturers.
Now that I think about it, Glacia's curiosity really has been rubbing off on me, huh? Before I met her I couldn't care less about the secrets of other pokemon. Well, food for thought, I guess.
All the way inside of the arena, Mr. Pix cleared his throat and waved us over. Slowly the class trickled to the arena, and after two minutes the class was paying attention to Mr. Pix.
All of. Sudden Mr. Pix started shouting. "CLASS, ARE YOU READY FOR THE BIGGEST TOURNAMENT OF YOUR LIVES?" He was blowing out the ears of the classroom with the number of decibels he was spewing.
"Maybe…?,", one of my classmates timidly said. He shrank back when he saw everyone's eyes on him.
Mr. Pix grinned. "Well, I'm glad to hear that!" He gestured to the arena. "Now, let's start! The first match of the quarterfinals will be… Naetle against Catal. Both of you, head up here right now."
Catal and Naetle then made their way to the center of the arena. Soon, Naetle's strong and stout form was directly facing Catal's lithe and slender one.
Naetle, for the first time I ever saw him, looked scared - but then he wiped that the fear off his face and regarded Catal with intensity. Catal looked bored beyond belief.
No one was betting.
"Ninth round - Naetle against Catal - begin!" With that, Mr. Pix leaped out of the arena.
Naetle immediately began to charge at Catal, firing a barrage of Razor Leaves at him simultaneously. Catal smoothly sidestepped the leafy flurry and held out his blades. As Naetle charged in with a Tackle, Catal promptly walked around the attack and brought his blades down on Naetle's back. Naetle fell to the ground, tears forcefully forming in his eyes.
Catal looked at Naetle sobbing form with a flat and unamused stare. "Naetle," he asked, voice falsely polite. "Give up. We both know you don't have the ability to defeat me. All you'll do is worry your friends and injure yourself. You're not the one I want to fight right now, and you'll just waste my time. So save us the trouble… coward."
Coward was the last thing I would describe Naetle as. Yet somehow it hurt him more than the slash marks Catal made, pulling more sobs out.
Naetle slowly pulled himself up and glared at Catal. "I… I won't run… not anymore… I'll… defeat you..."
Catal scoffed. "Big words for someone who's crying as we speak." He wearily pulled up his blades. "Let's just get this over with."
Naetle charged at Catal again, cloaked in a green shroud. That had to be Overgrow, his ability. Was he that tired already?
Catal smirked condescendingly. "Naetle, you never learn." He proceeded to walk out of the way out Naetle's attack and held up his blades again. As Naetle passed by him, he slashed at his back.
Naetle, however, did appear to have learned. As Catal slashed he twisted around as fast as he could and caught the blade in his mouth.
"Arghhh! Let go!" Catal futilely ordered. Naetle had none of it, though, and kept up his powerful bite. Green energy flowed out of the blade and into Naetle. Naetle slowly brought himself up, shaking at first but soon stabilizing.
"How do you like… Absorb…" he huffed, spitting out Catal's blades. Catal growled and started to furiously slash at Naetle, boxing him in. The advantage he had gained previously, however, was gone. Naetle was fighting on par with Catal now and was damaging him as much as he was being damaged.
"Stay… still!" Catal ordered Naetle, who was all too happy to oblige. Catal attacks, however, did nothing to a purple-enshrouded Naetle. As his attacks went consecutively on, they did less damage. After a few minutes of this, the only marks Catal could make on Naetle were tiny little scratches.
Naetle grinned ferally. "Absorb time~~" The Ghost energy from Curse was bringing out the sadistic in him. It wasn't his fault, really. Ghost-type energy often brought out the worst of Pokemon - unless they were a Ghost or Normal type.
Naetle was jumping around, trying to catch Catal in his jaws. However, as slow as he was, Catal was able to dance around him with ease, and was looking… (bored?)... as he did so.
Catal jumped to the edge of the ring. Suddenly everybody knew what he was going to do. Naetle jumped at him, a green glow cloaking his maw. Catal sidestepped the attack and kicked Naetle out of bounds.
Naetle immediately picked himself up, raring to go, then noticed where he was.
"Ninth Round Winner: Catal!" There was a smattering of applause at this. The match had been much more even than the previous matches and was a true spectacle of talent and strategy.
Well, what we thought was strategy at the time, anyway. None of us knew how prevalent those "strategies" actually were.
The lack of brutality from Catal and the excellent fight restored everyone's spirits. Naetle slowly walked over to us, his head hanging from a despondent shame.
"Ivan, Lyli, you have ten minutes to prepare for the tenth match. Good luck."
As Glacia and Vinia eagerly discussed the match, with Merla being prompted to respond every few minutes or so, Shift and I decided to speak with Naetle.
"Naetle… that was really good!" Shift spun, his high-pitched voice carrying on. "You had him on the ropes a couple of times!"
"Yeah…" Naetle smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. Shift, however, was pleased and told us he was going to discuss the match with the other three. After a few seconds, Naetle and I were alone, even with everyone else surrounding us.
"Tom… can I talk to you in private… I have something I need to tell you." Naetle asked slowly, looking strangely vulnerable. Ignoring the ticking clock to the next match, I nodded. Naetle led me away from the arena, away from everyone else.
(Vinia)
Our chatter came to a close, as we finished discussing the match. Well, it was a discussion in the loudest of ways.
Shift, surprisingly loud, began to argue with Glacia. "All I'm saying is that if there were no boundaries to the fight, Naetle would have won."
Glacia looked skeptical. "Okay… but what if Catal used Fury Cutter or something? Pawniards can learn that, I think, and Catal looks like he might be able to use it."
Shift shook his head. "No way - if Catal knew Fury Cutter, he would have used it to disrupt Absorb… or something."
Glacia looked unimpressed but grudgingly nodded. "Yes, I suppose that would make sense," she said slowly. "Still, I can't help but think that Catal would have won no matter what Naetle did. Naetle just doesn't seem strong enough to defeat Catal."
For such a timid pokemon, Shift was incredibly fervent in his support for Naetle. Shift continued the argument, even when Glacia looked like she was regretting what she was saying.
"Tenth round - Ivan against Lyli - begin!"
Our heads whipped around as Mr. Pix announced the start of the match. In the time of our long and drawn out debate, the class had gathered around the arena - the ten minutes were finally up. Shift and Glacia dragged themselves away from their arguments to watch the match.
It wasn't much of a match, though. Ivan had type advantage from the get-go, and she used it to great effect. None of Lyli's attacks could even phase Ivan, and Ivan's speed and bulk allowed her to land incredibly powerful hits. Lyli frantically dodged around all of Ivan's attacks, but it wasn't enough, and she was clipped by a stray Rock Throw. From there, it only took a few seconds before she lost her balance completely and was hit by a barrage of attacks.
Ivan hit her with a final Tackle, knocking her clean out of the ring.
The crowd cheered. Despite the plainness of the battle, it was still a battle, and everyone knew Ivan wouldn't seriously hurt Lyli beyond the scope of the battle. It simply wasn't in her nature, unlike Catal.
"Tenth Round Winner: Ivan!" Mr. Pix called out. I felt a little sorry for Lyli, as this was possibly the worst matchup for her in the tournament, but there's luck for you.
"Tom, Vinia, you have ten minutes to prepare for the eleventh match. Good luck."
When Mr. Pix said that, something inside of me withered up and died. I'd forgotten that he was going to be my next opponent.
Tom…
I still wasn't able to understand my emotions when it came to him. Sometimes I greatly desired his presence, wishing that he would stick by me always. Other times I despised him to the greatest degree, wishing he was never born and hoping he would go as far away from me as possible.
Honestly, he made it incredibly hard to stay composed around him. To think, I had caressed him when I first saw him, then nearly spit in his face when I first talked to him!
No, no, stay focused Vinia, stay focused…
I use those ten minutes that Mr. Pix gave me to meditate and calm myself down. There'd be no point in acting like an in-the-heat Primeape. I remember the Hippopotacratic Oath.
Thou shan't cause harm to thy convalescents nor to thy allies.
According to the Oath, I'm not allowed to hurt my patients or my friends, except when I'm in a battle with them. The matches would be allowed, as would any Mystery Dungeons I go into, but nothing else.
As usual, remembering the Hippopotacratic Oath helps me regain my self-control. The ten minutes end and I open my eyes and walk onto the stage.
Soon enough, Tom heads onto the arena as well. He looks fatigued and tired and doesn't make eye contact with me. I briefly wonder if I should look into his mind with my own, before scratching it - it wouldn't work anyway. Still…
No, no. Remember, Vinia - self-control.
"Eleventh round - Tom against Vinia - begin!"
I immediately open up with a Double Team, surrounding Tom with eleven copies of myself. I then command the copies to create an illusion of Disarming Voice, before firing one of my own. I haven't shown this move to anyone before, as I was waiting for the right moment. This seemed like a good time.
Pink waves of energy erupt from the clones' mouth. These do nothing, of course, but they'll clearly be distracting, and they'll mask my own Disarming Voice so he can't disrupt it.
Tom, however, makes no move to dodge or even block the waves. He just lets the waves soak into him and barely reacts, his eyes off in a faraway place. Even when my real Disarming Voice hits him, he doesn't react.
A white-hot rage fills me as I look at him. Oh, he's going down…
I Teleport close to him and fire a Confusion point-blank at him. The force knocked him over several feet away. I shiver in delight as he falls over. Good, good…
Tom finally picks himself up, and, as if waking up from a trance, notices where he is. "Oh, has the battle started?"
Then he gets blasted by a Confusion. He gets pushed to the edge of the line, and I eagerly Teleport close to him to finish the job.
Then fire. Lots and lots of fire.
I jump away from him as a vortex of flames erupts from Tom, surrounding him in a cloak of fire. I curse loudly, some of my classmates looking at me in askance as I do so. Of course he does something like this - of course!
I slowly walk backward as the vortex expands, and I see Tom's face look at me in pity.
A cold, hateful rationality sets into me as I consider how to beat Tom into the ground - I won't be satisfied with a ring-out not now. Full-force antagonism, baby!
I Teleport into the ring of fire and send a Confusion toward Tom. Tom blocks it with an Astonish, confused etched onto his face. Then he flinches as I send a Disarming Voice at him, which I quickly follow up with a series of Confusions. With every Confusion that hits, I whittle down Tom's defenses.
I push him to the edge of the ring, ready to grasp my sweet, succulent victory. Tom will be forced to stand his ground, and won't be able to move from this spot as I attack to victory.
Then I see Tom's face. Though despairing, he still faces me with determination, tongues of fire leaking from the pores normally concealed by wax.
All of my hate and pain converts to sorrow and guilt. What… what am I doing? I… the Hippopotacratic Oath… no… stay focused!
But my energy drains away, and I stop attacking. My psychic and fairy energy stop responding. Desperate and helpless, I try pushing Tom, to shove him out. But even though I outweigh him, I can't muster the energy. Tom doesn't use any moves either.
Suddenly, Tom grabs me. A blush wreaks itself across my face as I try in vain to escape.
Then Tom throws me out of the arena.
I land in the grass to the side of the arena as the mindless crowd cheers at my utter humiliation. Yet, somehow, I can't find it in myself to blame Tom.
What is wrong with me? I can't stay in one of two minds about him. I either love him or hate him, and I can't control which one I'm in. Even now, as I try to rekindle the antagonistic fire I held, I can't.
"Eleventh Round Winner: Tom!" Mr. Pix's voice rings out, intermingling with Jenga and Catal's jeers.
"Glacia, Merla, you have ten minutes to prepare for the twelfth match. G-good luck." A quaver strikes in Mr. Pix's throat. I bet he's regretting the decisions he's made.
Much like my mood, the class depresses. As they proceed to disperse, I dejectedly walk over to Glacia and Merla, hoping to distract myself. Even when Tom tries to strike a conversation with me to apologize, I continue to move forward - his attempts, though sweet, enticing, and obvious, only furthered to dig out the cavity in my chest.
"... no, Lady Glacia! It would be wrong of me to even think of harming you!" Merla, much louder than usual, was begging Glacia to let her give up. "I will forfeit and allow you to continue to the next round!"
"Merla," Glacia looked slightly irritated. "Mr. Pix will be irritated - he's using this as a partial exam, remember? You have to do this - think about your score!"
Merla, in response, gave a chilling glare to Mr. Pix, who was overhearing the conversation. Mr. Pix meeped and speed-walked away. Despite myself, I grinned.
Glacia, seeing that her reasoning wasn't eliciting the response she wanted, decided to go with another route. "You know, Merla, for the most part, this tournament has been easy for me." This statement was said with ease and confidence, and Merla clearly believed, judging by the pride on her face. "I have yet to see anyone actually test my abilities, and I'll be sad if I don't see anyone do that."
"I know what you're doing, my Lady." Despite herself, Merla grinned. "But alright, if you must insist."
Glacia sighed in relief, and so did Mr. Pix. A few minutes later, Merla and Glacia faced each other on the arena. Around us the class was tense. Rai, who was supposed to face Merla in the first round, was shaking full-force. I didn't really see why, as he had the abilities needed to combat Merla skillfully. To each their own, I guess.
Mr. Pix, now much calmer, jumped out of the ring. "Twelfth round - Glacia against Merla - begin!"
There was a large silence in the arena. My classmates began to cover their faces, peeking out for a second or so.
Glacia shook herself, smiled, yelled, then charged.
Merla began throwing Embers around the arena. Every time Glacia looked like she was about to get past Merla's freezing defenses, Merla fired another cold Ember, forcing Glacia to back off. And not without good reason - from where I was standing I could see the patches of grass Merla hit with the Ember freeze over.
While Glacia tried desperately to dodge all of the embers Merla was now throwing at her offensively, I saw Merla spitting String Shot from her mouth. She wasn't aiming it at Glacia, so I assumed she was going to use it for another purpose.
In fact, it looked like she was building something.
Finally, Glacia managed to weave out of the various traps Merla set for her and used Quick Attack to close the distance between the two. With a cry of triumph, Glacia used Tackle on Merla...
… to her mistake.
Merla pulled up what she was constructing - a large net - and threw it at Glacia. Glacia, mid-jump, couldn't dodge, and soon found herself tangled in the web-like structure. Merla then proceeded to fire a torrent of liquid silk at the airborne-but-trapped Glacia, pushing her back several feet to the edge of the ring.
Glacia struggled as a blue fire began to erupt from Merla's horns. Soon, Merla was… levitating?
Then, incredibly, Merla began to fly to Glacia. She was clearly using the flames ejected from her horns as propellers, and it looked like she was about to ram into Glacia.
Then she missed.
Merla flew straight over Glacia and the boundary line, landing in the chilly grass and scattering my frightened classmates.
Everyone held their breaths as Merla slowly pulled herself up, Glacia struggling to escape the net off to the side.
"Whoops." Merla said, her face as stoic as ever. As no one reacted, she turned to face Mr. Pix. "Whoops." Her voice was harder.
Mr. Pix's voice trembled. "Twelfth Round Winner: Glacia!"
Merla nodded, then walked past the parting crowd and the boundary to dissolve the web Glacia was trapped in. Soon, Glacia was free and was walking back to our little group.
"Lady Glacia, you were amazing in that battle. I had no chance against you. It was pure luck" Merla recited in a monotone. She didn't seem to be aware that we knew the jig was up, arrogant in her nonexistent acting abilities.
Then, impossibly, Merla noticed something, and a quaver of genuine fear entered her voice, her eyes turning vulnerable for a brief time. "Lady Glacia, are you… crying?" Tears were streaming down Glacia's face, coloring her fur dark.
Glacia turned to Merla and smiled. "Merla, I'm so proud of you. You showed your strength, and you beat me fair and square. I'm… I'm sorry you lost, though."
Merla brightened under Glacia's smiling gaze. "It's alright, My Lady." Tom then engaged Merla in a conversation, distracting her. Glacia's smile cracked, and her emotions poured through. I didn't need my horn to tell what she was feeling.
Regret.
Hate.
Jealousy.
Anger.
Sadness.
She… she lied to her. To Merla.
Mr. Pix began to speak. "I will randomize the matches again for the next set of matches. The competitors will be Catal, Tom, Ivan, and Glacia." He wrote in the book he had in his hand, waggled his finger, considered something, then continued.
"Here are the matches: Thirteenth match: Tom against Glacia. Fourteenth match: Catal against Ivan.
"Tom, Glacia, your match begins in an hour."
The group was separate for that hour. Glacia began to avoid Merla, who was confused and scared. Shift was hanging around, fretting, while Naetle was simply avoiding any form of conversation. Tom went away to practice or something. All in all, we had been divided.
I almost wanted to chase after Tom and give him a walloping (my rage had come back) but managed to hold myself. I read the emotions of our classmates, who were understandably nervous. Many of them were hoping that Ivan would come through, as she was the only Pokemon that wasn't intimidating, a bully, or a Ghost-type.
Realistically? She had no chance whatsoever against Catal. Ignoring type differences, which a lot of Pokemon have fallen to in this tournament, she had nowhere near the power needed to fight Catal and his overwhelming brutality. She would collapse in agonizing pain not too long in the fight, mark my words.
Mr. Pix was wringing his hands. I could tell he lost control of the situation long ago and was regretting holding the tournament in the first place. Nobody was going to win today - nobody.
Soon, the hour was up. Tom stepped onto the arena, looking faintly nervous, while Glacia held a core of rage within her. She was probably going to use this fight to restore the last vestiges of her pride and unleash her frustrations.
"Thirteenth match: Tom against Glacia! Begin!"
Glacia started the match with a Shadow Ball, and I realized that was how she would be forced to inflict any damage, thanks to Tom's typing. Tom, for his part, dodged the attack and let it blow up behind him in an explosion of crackling purple energy.
Glacia was nowhere near done though. She began running at Tom full-tilt, charging a Shadow Ball during a Quick Attack. It looked like Tom had a counter-measure, though. He began to fire Embers in her path, constantly forcing her to make a sharp turn away from him. Tom was holding Glacia at bay like this, even though she was still charging the Shadow Ball.
She twisted and fired the Shadow Ball. Tom dodged again, and I began to see frustration and anger develop on Glacia's face.
Suddenly, a devious smile appeared on her face, and I began to worry for Tom. Glacia used Quick Attack again, to close in on Tom. Tom fired more Embers at her so that she would slow down, but she jumped straight over them.
Landing next to Tom, she used Sand Attack.
What happened next shocked many of us. Tom began to cry and doubled over in pain. Glacia mercilessly kicked more sand into his wax, which caused him to tear up. There was no sympathy in Glacia's eyes at this point.
Tom scrambled backward, panic in his eyes. Glacia charged a Shadow Ball and hit him, sending him nearly over the line.
Then, rings of fire erupted outward from Tom, in a rhythmic pulse. Glacia dementedly grinned and leaped straight through the fire, singing her fur. She used Sand Attack again and flung more dirt at Tom, where it seeped into his wound.
The cry was haunting - and then I began to despise Glacia, for taking this too far. The hate Glacia was radiating was awful, causing me to recoil. I looked around, and while my fears were reflected in most of my classmates, there were exceptions. Catal was smiling slightly, while Jenga too had a demented grin on his face. And Merla…
We all thought Merla was our friend. But on her face… radiated nothing but pure joy.
Then something miraculous appeared. As Glacia was desperately trying to push Tom out, a glowing orange ball appeared in the air. As the scuffle went on underneath it, it slowly pulsed, making most of us wonder what it was. Mr. Pix seemed to recognize it, though.
The glowing orange ball then split and flowed into the combatants. Rolling around over their skin, it seeped into them.
Then Glacia was the one to scream, a high-pitched whine ringing through the air. Wounds began to create themselves on her skin, and I wondered just what Move Tom had used on her.
The move, in addition to hurting Glacia, seemed to have healed Tom, because the wounds inflicted throughout the course of the tournament partially vanished. Soon Tom began to fling Embers and Smogs at Glacia, who was frantically dodging the assault.
"Stop!" The battle petered to the stop. But it wasn't Mr. Pix shouting this - he looked as baffled as we were.
Merla, face livid, regarded Tom with hatred. Any friendship she had with him was clearly swept under the rug or forgotten - she regarded him with the same hateful intensity she now showed Catal (who, incidentally, looked like he was just awarded a million Poke).
"I'm tired of this charade. Any more attacks, Tom, and I'll make you wish you were never reborn." Nervous whispers grew louder and louder around the arena as Mr. Pix lost any resemblance of control, fretting nervously.
"Merla…" Tom spoke under his breath. He shook his head, the goopy wax flung everywhere. "No, Merla - it isn't right."
Merla's eyes, if anything, hardened even more. "Forfeit now… or else." Any friendship was gone now.
Tom's eyes searched Merla's, begging for any respite. I could tell he found none. Then, after a minute, he shook his head. "No." He faced Glacia, his heart resolute. "I'm taking this to the end."
Merla crossed the arena line, her horn flaring a heartless cyan as she began to spin fibers of frostbitten silk.
"Merla… stop." A small whisper crossed the arena. My ears perked up - it was… Glacia?
Merla stopped dead in her tracks. "Yes, my lady?" Her voice rung out, eager to please.
Glacia faced Merla with deadened eyes, holding nothing but contempt. "Merla," Glacia's voice softly spoke, every word threaded with malice, " do you think I'm incapable? Of… not being able to win?"
Merla hurriedly backtracked. "N-no…?"
Glacia's eyes grew colder than Merla's. "Then why are you here? I didn't ask for your help… and I certainly didn't want it." Glacia dismissed her with a loathful look. "Leave, you bother… I'm going to finish this Arceus-cursed fight."
Merla gaped with shock. I took the chance to Teleport in and Teleported her out, facing no resistance. As I pulled Merla back, the ferocious battle continued undaunted, ghostly energy and flames being flung everywhere as anyone with a modicum of common sense slowly backed away from the arena.
Merla's eyes were glassy, her mouth hanging open. Using my horn, I could tell that she was still trying to come to terms with the awful things Glacia had said to her. To anyone else, it would seem like paltry irritation, but to the socially inept Merla...
What is this about? Glacia was never like this before - even when she was at her angriest, she held a great amount of self-restraint (much more than I had shown earlier anyway). But this…
I had accidentally insulted Glacia's pride before when we were studying together. I had told her that the esteemed "education" she must have received clearly lacked in some areas. Of course, I regretted it, but Glacia was still the angriest I had ever seen her.
That paltry anger was nothing compared to what she was like now. The Eevee on the stage looked like Glacia, fought like Glacia, even sounded like Glacia, but wasn't Glacia - not the one I had spent time with.
I tried to use my horn to delve into her mental state (ignoring the rules placed before me), but my probe kept disappearing before I could tunnel too deep into her psyche. The probe would simply dissipate as it neared her, which was driving me insane.
Wait… disappearing psychic probes… unnaturally violent behavior (for Glacia)... altered personality.
This means one of two things. Either there's a Zorua masquerading as Glacia for some reason, or…
I scanned the crowd, looking for glowing hands. In the back, I found Catal, blades glowing black, watching the match with amusement. As the battle wore on his blades grew a darker and darker black.
I recognized the move he was using, and it filled me with a hateful rage.
Torment.
"M-mom?"
"Yes, sweetie?"
"W-what are you doing? It looks like you're h-hurting him."
"Oh, don't be silly, Vinia. He enjoys this."
Screams of ecstasy alternated with shouts for mercy as the Gardevoir alternated granting the Garchomp Euphoria and using Torment.
"Mom… this is scary."
"Leave then. You've hung around long enough already. Go and play with your dolls or something - if you won't help, or even be quiet, then you're nothing but trouble."
"... yes, mother."
I bit back the memories. Now wasn't a good time for them, in any case.
"Merla… Merla…" I shook Merla because I needed help for what I was going to do. I didn't think she was going to object, either.
She snapped out of her trance listlessly. "What…? " She spoke to me, tired and jaded.
"Look." I pointed to Catal. Merla looked at Catal with indifference. Not for long, though, as she too noticed his hands. The apathy in Merla's eyes gave way to an unyielding fire.
"Torment…" she whispered. It looks like she recognized it too - probably from her Catal-serving days. She started her jets, but I put a hand on her head.
"I'll Teleport us there. Ember at his back when it's exposed, got it? He probably won't stop using Torment even if we threaten him, that's probably his bread and butter after all." Merla nodded. I grabbed some of Merla's fuzz and Teleported to the back of Catal
Merla didn't spend any time hitting Catal with a barrage of flames. Upon being hit, Catal cursed and whipped around, Torment stopping as he did so. He and Jenga soon faced Merla and me.
"Well, looks like the traitor is back. Come to turn back to our side?"
Merla began to spit at him. "Never, you vile creature." She began to shoot Ember after Ember at him. Catal dodged with grace, though, laughing all the while.
"Oh, dear… looks like I hit a nerve, didn't I? I just made it a bit more fun, you know. Everyone with half a brain could have seen the effect your forfeit had on her pride.
"What?" Merla stopped the onslaught, looking perplexed.
"Isn't it obvious? You could have easily won that fight, within a few seconds too. Everyone realized you went easy on her and pretended to lose. You fooled no one."
Merla's eyes widened in shock, before shaking her head, steeling her stance once more. "Quiet, liar."
Catal chuckled. "Oh, a liar. Not in this case - you heard what she said. 'I don't need your help, Merla.'." The little circle we formed grew silent. "Everyone heard it. I didn't make her say that - Torment only brings what's inside out to be beared to all. She felt it, though she didn't say it."
Merla was silent, her eyes steeled. Her heart betrayed her though - I could sense the panic and denial roiling around inside her.
"Either way, there's something far more interesting going on. Look." He pointed to Glacia. I didn't take my eyes off of him at first, but when my classmates started gasping I chanced a look.
Black fumes started to emanate from Glacia. The battle had paused, as all of a sudden Glacia fell to the grass convulsing. Everyone fled as plumes of the unsettling obsidian mist flew upward. Glacia began to convulse, her fur discoloring slightly, turning from tan to a navy blue. Tom tried to help her up, battle forgotten, but once he came into contact with her he recoiled as if struck by a hot iron, his wax darkening.
Merla began to emanate panic in incredible amounts. I looked at her and saw memories of nightmares being awoken. Some of the mist traveled to where we were and while all I felt was a chill, Merla started to convulse as well.
Everything was going to Distortion in a flash. Mr. Pix was running around like a headless Ducklett, all of my classmates had fled to the Base, Catal was laughing his head off, and my friends were being tortured.
All I could do was stand there.
Well, until the black fog began to roil around me as well. I could tell that it was looking for a sign of weakness, anything to enter me. I could tell that if that happened…
I tried to blast it away with a Confusion. It did nothing.
The fog encircled closer, and I began to wonder if it was all going to end here.
Then, out of nowhere, Naetle came charging in and hit me with a full-force Tackle. I pulled myself up from the ground he had knocked me into, scared that he had been possessed by the mist. One look at his face told me this wasn't the case.
"Naetle, what is this?" I begged for answers.
Naetle turned to me, fright evident on his face. "I think… it's Dark-type energy!"
"What?"
Naetle nodded. "I think that's what it is - I've felt it before."
Well, I had felt Dark-type energy too, and it was nothing like this. Still, it was a better guess than whatever I had thought.
I had a solution, too. I fired waves of Disarming Voice at the mist, which began to dissipate. It works!
Five minutes and some Disarming Voices later, all of the Mist was gone with the wind. Tom and Glacia were recovering from the mist, their hides' pigments returning to normal. Merla began to recover from her fit and was breathing heavily.
The tournament was over, of course. There was no prize for winning, no necessity for a victor at all. All of this was so that we could entertain ourselves before the big Dungeon tomorrow - the nightmare it had turned into was not intended. Mr. Pix interrogated each of us separately, to see what we knew about the strange mist that had enveloped the arena. None of us could answer.
The class was dismissed. Naetle and Shift headed home. Tom went to eat some food and regain some of his energy. Merla and Glacia went off somewhere, probably to make up or something.
I was alone.
What a victory.
(Glacia - The Next Morning)
I woke up, feeling just as tired as I had been when I went to sleep.
What happened yesterday… afterward, I had apologized to Merla, and she tearfully accepted it, but I couldn't shake off the guilt that surrounded me. I had… said those things. Those awful, awful things.
Normally, those words wouldn't affect a pokemon. They would have enough self-esteem and independence to move on and even forgive.
Merla, though? She was still recovering from her lifelong connection to the Miasma. Her emotions were brittle and fragile, and I'm everything to her - one wrong word from me, and any sort of progress she makes disappears in a poof of smoke.
And what I said was definitely a wrong word. I had thrown aside everything she sacrificed to me and said that I didn't need her. For someone who had pledged their life to help me, it would be like losing an arm.
Part of this is my fault, I think. In the castle, I had more servants than I knew what to do with. Other than Sharon, I could boss around anyone I pleased, and they would have to catch any and all of the fallout. The future is hardly like that - I have to take responsibility for my actions.
Merla reminded me of the past. She would have been my lady-in-waiting, my personal servant, and closest confidant. She was the closest thing I had to home, and I relished in it. I took full advantage of her as well. I didn't send her to do my dirty work, as I would have if Merla was mentally stable, but I took Merla and her patience for granted.
I can't be doing that anymore. Merla has her own form of agency, and I can't rely on her to do whatever I want her to do, whether it's through an interpretation I didn't particularly like or anything else, really. While I've been her friend, I've also been using her and making her dependant on me.
That has to stop.
Call me lazy, but Merla has to change, not me. I can't grow the patience of Arceus, not when Catal is around and Merla still needs me, not fast enough. I would eventually snap at Merla again - it's simple probability. Merla has to weaken her dependence on me so that when I eventually snap at her again she can recover more reliably.
Merla needs friends.
Tom had made some headway earlier, but yesterday cleaned all of that away. They'll try to rebuild that relationship, though. I have faith in them. I'm pretty sure Vinia will try to do the same, and Naetle and Shift are likely to help as well.
Is that enough?
I shook my head and got out of the nest. Time to get ready for the dungeon.
After packing my bag and hauling it outside, I found Merla waiting for me. She wanted personal space, even though I could tell she wanted to be closer to me than ever. Vinia was there too, her eyes staring off into the horizon.
I coughed. "Vinia?"
She came back to Naixe. "Wh-what?"
"Are you two ready?"
Merla and Vinia nodded.
I hefted the bag, its weight heavy. "Then let's leave."
We met Tom, Shift, and Naetle at the arena we were at yesterday. Marks of yesterday's tournament still showed although any last trace of the Miasma was gone thanks to Vinia's Disarming Voice. The rest of the class was there too.
Mr. Pix finally showed up - but he didn't seem to be very happy or well-rested. I wonder how many nightmares he had suffered last night thanks to the tournament.
"Hell… Hello, kids," he half-heartedly spoke, nearly all of his usual cheer missing. "T-today will be your final exam. You'll have to face a Mystery Dungeon and return by dusk to become a full-fledged Venturer. Well, only some of you."
There was a smattering of concern at this. What did he mean, only some of us?
At our inquisition, he explained. "You remember the other exams, right? The written exam, the emergency situation, the tournament? Those were all used to determine whether you would be capable of holding your own in the Mystery Dungeon. They, essentially, were the test you had to take to be able to take this test.
"And not all of you passed."
There was concern spread out among my classmates.
"The following list of students are the ones who have failed thus far."
Mr. Pix began to rattle off names. I realized, with a start, that none of the Pokemon that had made it into the entry level of the tournament were able to pass.
The preliminaries weren't there simply to make the number of tournament participants form a power of two. They were there to weed out a third of the entire class.
Cora noticed this as well. "Hey! No one from the preliminaries passed!"
Mr. Pix turned around to her. "Yes - that was the point of the tournament, after all. Think, Cora - the tournament was an exam, even though I didn't actually watch the preliminaries. It didn't matter how well you did in the preliminaries - as long as you won and passed into the entry level, you would pass the exam."
"Then what was the point of everything afterward?"
"To make the pairings for today's exam. I chose Pokemon with matching or complementary skill sets for today so that you could work well together."
That was a strike in everyone's face. Someone like Rai, who didn't even fight, passed, while Cora, who was a strong fighter in her own regard (not as strong as me, but still), was eliminated.
Mr. Pix noticed the apprehension in the air and chuckled weakly. "Oh… you thought that everyone who got past the preliminaries passed?" There was a pressing silence. "Thought that I had chosen randomly?" The silence grew. Vinia shifted uneasily next to me.
"Nope! Those that got byes were chosen beforehand, not because of any innate skill but because of Captain Falcon's decision. He made it so that each pokemon who received the automatic pass would have something to contribute to the Base whether they passed or failed the test. Take Vinia, for instance." All eyes turned to her.
"She has been training consistently with Ms. Kiss to become a Healer. Even if she doesn't become a Venturer she will still be a productive part of the Base. She didn't need to take the exam, because she's stuck with this Base either way.
"Stop has spent countless hours learning how to create fortified arenas like the one beneath your feet. Lyli has trained to be a messenger, allowing her to ferry messages to other bases quickly. Shift and Rai will help manage the electricity the Base uses.
"Bamel and Kase handle ventilation and the plumbing within the Base, making sure that we have access to water. Kaori is Mrs. Kiss's apprentice, helping her in the library constantly. They are the ones who allow the Base to stay in one piece. If those currently in charge of these utilities you take for granted… 'leave', they will be the ones responsible. This is the least we could do."
The class was silent. The Pokemon who Mr. Pix had called out by name began to look green, as they realized the price they paid for the bye. They were chained to the Base now - they would be forced to stay here and help with the grunt work for as long as they worked here.
"Why didn't you tell us?" Vinia's voice rang out, cracking at points. "I-I just wanted to learn how to heal! I don't want to be forced into doing this!"
Mr. Pix's eyes shone with fake warmth. "Well, Vinia, if we told you would have to take over one day, you would have left while you still could. Now, though?" He shook his head. "You're with us. Permanently."
He turned to the rest of the class. "Oh, and I didn't tell you about passing the preliminaries being necessary to pass the exam so you kids couldn't politick and cheat your way to victory. We came here to test your abilities, not how popular you are."
Some kid found his voice. "W-what about what you said three days ago. How we fight in the tournament, our placement…" He suddenly caught the double meaning. "E-eight groups of three! You said eight groups of three!"
Mr. Pix acted as if he hadn't heard him "Those who received byes won't be taking the exam, and neither will those who failed in the preliminaries. As those two groups each consist of a third of this class, sixteen of you will leave now." He turned to the kid. "Nobody ever said I couldn't lie, kid." Suddenly, my image of the friendly, kind Mr. Pix was left by someone who had no compassion, someone who only cared for his appearance.
The class dissipated. Only the eight left from the preliminaries - Catal, Jenga, Ken, Ivan, Merla, Tom, Naetle and I - remained.
Mr. Pix stretched as if to work out a few of his muscles. "Well, they're gone. Time to tell you what the final test is. What actually will happen is something different than what I told you three days ago." He stopped to chuckle to himself, muttering 'eight groups of three'.
He snapped himself out of it and continued. "You still will be going through a Mystery Dungeon - that hasn't changed. A lot of other things have, though - you will be working in groups of four for the test. We've decided your four-man teams already. The three pokemon you take the test with will be those you work with for the majority of your career. "
"If you manage to get through the Mystery Dungeon you were given all by yourselves in the allotted time, you will graduate to become Venturers." Mr. Pix pulled eight scarves from the inside of the bag he was carrying. "These are scarves that will change to a specified color once you've entered a Mystery Dungeon. Your job is to return these scarves to me, with its new color, by sunset. Escape Orbs and Pure Seeds are still illegal to use. If you use them the scarf will change color - that will signify you've cheated."
"What's stopping us from dyeing the scarves ourselves to cheat?" Tom asked, raising his waxy hand.
Mr. Pix smiled. "Tom, the color change isn't in the pigment of the scarves. The scarves were enchanted by a Mismagius from another base. They have enchantments to show the true color of the scarves outside of any pigment, and they have properties you won't be able to tamper with. Don't bother trying to cheat - we've done this for more years than you've been alive.
"Either way, I've decided the teams you guys will be in for the exam. Team A will consist of Catal, Jenga, Ken, and Ivan. Team B will consist of Glacia, Merla, Naetle, and Tom. Team A will travel to Castle Rock for their exam, while Team B will travel to the Abandoned Tower." He tossed each of us a Map as well as a blue scarf. On the Map was marked a tower one and a half hours away.
"As I said, you have to finish by sunset. That gives you… twelve hours? Either way, your test starts now. Good luck." He yawned. "I need to go take a nap.
(Five Hours, a Trip, and a Mystery Dungeon Later)
We crawled out of the dungeon, exhausted beyond all reckoning.
After Mr. Pix dismissed us, we left for the Abandoned Tower. The walk was tense - nobody knew what to say after all that had occurred that morning. A third of the Pariahs wouldn't be able to become Venturers, simply because they had volunteered for the Base on their own time.
Arriving at the tower, we spared no time entering.
It. Was. Awful. The Dungeon was nowhere near as simple as we had wished for. The tower was filled with Ghost, Dark, and Flying-types, which we all had trouble with.
After three hours of Venturing, we made it to the top of the tower. The Mystery Dungeon closed behind us, and we were left with our now green scarves.
"Huh… that was… awful…" Tom collapsed. After our battle yesterday, a lot of his pain tolerance had left him. Every time he cried out in pain, I winced. He wouldn't be hurting so much if I hadn't flung that dirt into him.
Earlier in the Dungeon, Tom told me that the Sand Attack had hurt so much because it wasn't an attack. Tom's wax could redistribute the force behind physical blows and tank special moves like nobody could, but moves like Thunder Wave and Sand Attack could leave him helpless due to them not attacking him directly.
Wax, when taken away from a Litwick, usually doesn't nullify or reflect blows - it just cracks. A Litwick's spirit allowed the wax to gain special abilities, increasing its defensive capabilities.
Moves like Thunder Wave and Sand Attack weren't registered by Tom as attacks, however, and he unconsciously let them through any of the wax's shielding properties. Since he did have something akin to a nervous system within the wax, the dirt and sand that made it into the wax would be like sandpaper, and it interacting with the nervous system, Litwick's brain - not pleasant at all
It would take a week or two for him to expel all of the debris inside him, he assured me. He would be more vulnerable during that time, and nowhere near the painless powerhouse, but he could still fight.
When I asked him how he knew all of this, he told me he had 'sources'. I desperately wanted to know what 'sources' but held my tongue.
For a short while, we sat on the pinnacle of the Abandoned Tower, just trying to catch our breaths. Even Merla was winded and exhausted. On the final floor of the Dungeon, there was a Monster House.
"Come on, guys! We went through every other tunnel, so the last Staircase must be up ahead.
*Bodies crash to the floor*
"Monster House!"
"My Lady, I'll fight them off!"
*Hundreds of bodies began to drop from the ceiling*
"My Lady, we should run!"
*A long, long run later*
"The Staircase! Quickly!"
I'm pretty sure we laid there for at least an hour, just trying to get our breaths back. It was nice, just standing there without any fear from the Dungeon. Of course, Tom had to ruin it.
"How are we going to get back down?"
Nobody answered.
Ugh… right, we had to return to the Base with our new green scarves to prove we actually did it - and by sunset as well. Luckily, it was only noon - we had six or seven hours left before we failed. Given that we have a one and a half hour walk, we have five hours of leeway to get down from here.
"Does… anyone want to have lunch?" Naetle half-heartedly asked.
No one had any objections. Even Tom had some food, saying that he needed material for his "biosynthesis" (it didn't look like he knew what that meant). We had plenty of food from the Dungeon, so we passed him an apple and dug into our assortment of berries. I wish there was some meat in there, but beggars can't be choosers.
After we had filled our bellies and rested for about thirty minutes, we came back to the problem at hand.
"We can't go back the way we came - the Mystery Dungeon will capture us again, and we'll have to go through the entire Dungeon again in reverse." Tom noted.
"Yeah, but there's no other way down, is there? We're alone on the top of the tower." Naetle reminded me.
I sighed. "Yeah… we can't climb down, there are no foot-holds."
Tom was pondering. "Climbing is impossible, and going back through the Mystery Dungeon is the absolute last resort." Tom sighed. "This wouldn't be a problem if we had Vinia around to Teleport us to the bottom."
"Well, I don't think we can ask for her help - not at this point." I snarked.
Naetle looked a lot brighter, all of a sudden. "Yeah, but Tom has a point. We have plenty of time, so all we have to do is figure out a more unconventional way to get down. Let's think of other ways we can move."
"Ways we can move?" Tom asked, confused.
Naetle nodded. "Teleportation is a way of moving. All we have to do is get down from this tower - it doesn't necessarily have to do with walking or running."
"What, like swimming or flying?" Tom asked.
Flying… Flying…
"Merla, when you fought against me yesterday you used your flames to rocket yourself forward, right?"
Merla nodded. "It came to me in a dream."
Clever. Merla's beginning to learn subtlety, keeping my power secret. She was the only other pokemon who knew for certain that I could enter other pokemon's dreams. Vinia suspected something, I imagined - I asked her if she had ever been in a prison before. Thinking about it now that might be bad for other reasons, but it's too late now.
Tom leaned forward, interested. "Can you do it again?"
In response, Merla shot upward a few meters with blue flames spouting from her horns before gentling falling down.
"How much can you carry?" Naetle asked.
"I haven't tested that yet." She replied tersely. "I've only now just gotten used to flying."
"Well, I weigh the most of all of us, so if you can carry me we'll be able to get down."
I nodded. "Merla, try and lift Naetle."
It turns out that Naetle was too heavy to lift - and so were Tom and I. Merla, it turns out, couldn't lift more than double her body weight. As she had to lift her own weight as well as her bag, she wasn't able to lift us at all."
"Well, while Merla will be able to take herself down, we can't follow." Tom said, irritated. Merla's face remained stony.
Damage control. "Tom, we have to accept that. For now, we have something we can use to get Merla down."
Tom huffed. "Well, what else can we do? Make parachutes?"
What?
"What are parachutes?" I asked.
"Parachutes are… they're like…" Tom was scrambling for words. "They're like the sails of a boat or the wings on a Flying type. They catch the air so that you fall down faster."
I… would have never thought of that. "Do know what they look like"
"Like an upside-down bowl, but we have nothing to make them out of." Tom explained.
"That's not true. " All eyes turned to Merla. She had been withholding herself for most of the conversation. "I can make things out of my String Shot. They have to be able to be formed from strands of fiber, but I can make things out of it."
Oh yeah, String Shot. It was how she trapped me yesterday. Funny how I forgot about that. "Well, how much can you make?"
She sighed, vexed. "It's not unlimited, but I can probably make enough for what Tom is describing."
"Yes! That's gr-" I was in the middle of cheering when Naetle interrupted me. Merla gave him a large stink eye but he continued undaunted.
"That's great and all, but how are we going to fill the spaces in between?"
"We empty our bags and use them as patches? I can pull off a bit a wax and use it as glue" Tom suggested.
I interjected at this point. "We should hurry. If we're going to make this… parachute… device, we should do it now. Time is passing."
So with that, we started building. Tom drew a rough diagram with a stick and I could see how it would work.
Merla made an incredibly long strand of String Shot, and we fashioned it into a rectangular net with four strands coming from each corner. We tore one of our bags and used it to cover the hole, before gluing it with Tom's wax (he said it was painless, which was concerning).
Soon we had something resembling a parachute. It was close but not quite similar to the drawing Tom had made.
"Well, we're done." I said, wiping my brow. I chanced a look at the sky and felt panic seize me. The sun was lowering in the sky, and in a few hours, it would set.
"Guys, we should leave now!" I pointed to the sky.
Tom shook his head. "We have to test it, to make sure it'll hold up our weight."
So we tied it around Naetle and had him jump off the turret of the tower onto the platform we were on. It held up and slowed him down, but not by enough. His stout legs buckled, and that was a strange sight.
"I don't think this will work, it's still going too fast." Naetle said.
We were running out of time and were out of ideas.
"What if…" Merla spoke up, her voice weak. "What if… I were to support you with my flight?"
We didn't have a better idea, so we tried it as well. It went much better the second time around, and Naetle came down at a controlled speed.
Once he landed with Merla, he immediately ran to the edge of the tower. With a leap, he jumped off the tower. A few minutes later, he landed at the base of the tower. Merla flew back up with the parachute and I went next.
After I hovered down similar in the manner I did in Merla's dream, the process repeated with Tom. Soon, we were all safely on the ground.
The sky was beginning to darken - we had spent too many hours wracking our brains trying to escape the top of the tower, more than we had actually traversing the Dungeon. We ditched the parachute and ran as fast as possible to Jeden City.
We made it with only a few minutes to spare. Only the tip of the sun was left remaining in the sky as we rushed into the base. Mr. Pix was waiting in the arena he had dismissed us in.
"Congratulations!" He seemed to have rested well, the monster. Sending us off to a Mystery Dungeon while he caught up on the sleep he missed - how dare he!
"You have made it in just enough time. I can see that your scarves are the requisite green, so you pass!"
I sagged to the ground. Finally, after all this time, I had made it. I mean, I was forced to by Captain Falcon, but that hardly seems important. Next to me, the others relaxed as well.
"Well, time to get up. We still have things to be doing!" Mr. Pix was obnoxiously cheery.
"W-what about our Teams and stuff, and badges, and…" Tom began to stammer, but Mr. Pix cut him off.
"Look, Tom, that's where we're going. Captain Falcon is going to be waiting for us, so we best get a move on."
Suppressing my flash of irritation, I joined the others and followed Mr. Pix to one of the mission rooms.
Inside Captain Falcon was waiting. There was a cold warmth in his eyes if such a thing exists. He spread his arms wide. "Congrats! Your four are half of our graduates this year. The other four made it here an hour ago, but it doesn't matter - what matters is that we have a few more pokemon in our Base!"
"As of this day forth, the four of you will be known as Team Ness!" With that, Captain Falcon clapped his hands. Our scarves shimmered and sparkled. "Look, you even have pretty scarves!" Sure enough, our scarves were embossed with a silver picture of a milky sphere.
Captain Falcon was charming and upbeat - unsettlingly so. He left no place to enter the conversation, prattling on and on about our duties. Eventually, he went off on a tangent.
We walked through the base without interruption. Mr. Pix showed us to some of the facilities we could now use, including the storage units kept by the Lock-Keepers and some files in the library the Venturers had sole access to. I couldn't be bothered to pay much attention, though.
Finally, we entered the residential area. Mr. Pix led us away from the tunnel that led to our old rooms and brought us through a new path of tunnels. We finally arrived at a pair of pristine wooden doors.
"These are your rooms. Merla and Glacia will sleep in the room to the right, while Tom and Naetle will sleep in the room to the left. You are expected to defend your own rooms as Venturers - your possessions are now your responsibility, so if they are taken we will do nothing to help."
Definitely going to use the storage. Probably.
"Every morning there is a briefing in the Amphitheater for Venturers. You are expected to go to them now. In the meetings just try to fit in, and you'll do fine. After the briefing you can do whatever you want. There is a Mission quota you will have to fill for a month, scaled by the difficulty of the missions you are taking. Any questions?"
We were silent.
"Great. Now I'll be seei-"
"Mr. Pix, I have a question." Naetle asked, his voice subdued.
"Yes, Naetle?" Mr. Pix replied, shifting his weight around.
"What will happen to those that received byes. You know, like Vinia and Shift."
The smile fell off Mr. Pix's face for a fraction of a second, before being plastered on again. "They have their own facilities now. They were introduced to them earlier today. They didn't seem to mind that much."
"Are they allowed to take missions?" Naetle asked, quickening his voice.
"Yes, they're allowed to take missions, but nothing above C rank missions, and certainly not if they have no replacements."
"Oh…" Naetle frowned, looking miserable. Mr. Pix began to look rather uncomfortable.
"Well, I'll be leavi-" Mr. Pix began to leave, but Naetle interrupted again.
"Why?"
Mr. Pix's smile grew strained. "Why what, Naetle?"
"Why is the system like this? Why tell them they can't become Venturers after training them for a year to become one? Why tear away their hopes and dreams when all they wanted to do was help after school? Why?" Naetle's voice was rising, growing more hysterical by the second.
"Well, that's just how things are around here. The system has been in place for a long, long time, Naetle, and it's worked for this long. We can't tell them they won't become Venturers, because they'll object and cry and stuff, and hey, we didn't have to train them." Mr. Pix chuckled. "It's just the way things are, Naetle."
Naetle just sat there, shell-shocked. Mr. Pix finally decided to leave. Before he left, he said one last thing. "Oh, and kids?" He grinned. "Remember what Wigglytuff always said - smiles go for miles."
With that, Mr. Pix left.
The hallway was silent for a time.
"... not like this…" Naetle muttered under his breath, rage infused in every syllable. "Wigglytuff… he wasn't like this… he wasn't like this at all…"
I decided to step in. "Naetle, we know you're angry, but please try to calm down. Getting angry… it won't solve anything." I felt the sting of hypocrisy.
Naetle shook his head. "Wigglytuff… he wouldn't have stood for this… I won't stand for this." At that, he began to run away. I tried to stop him, but he barreled past me…
… straight into Merla's silky fibers. Merla must have laid a trap when she saw the situation escalating, thankfully.
Naetle struggled to escape, but Merla's fibers were stronger than he was - that was shown earlier today. He gnashed at the strings with his teeth, but it did next to nothing. At last, he petered out and stopped struggling, most likely still tired from our test. "Merla, can you let me go?" Merla shook her head, cross.
I decided to speak up. "Naetle, we… understand your concern, but we'll get in trouble if you attack our teacher. Everything we've done until now will be pointless. We'll fix this together."
Naetle sagged, looking tired beyond belief. "Fine… I won't attack…" He looked positively miserable. Merla pulled him out of her trap, and he walked back over to us, sitting down in the middle of the hallway.
"He… I can't believe it… I just…" Naetle began to stammer, angry tears in his eyes. "Only a third of our class could follow this dream. I… I don't think I could have let myself win if I knew that I would be crushing somebody's dream…" Naetle wiped away his tears. "Mr. Pix is nothing like Wigglytuff - Wigglytuff would be ashamed to hear that Mr. PIx was trying to emulate him."
"Well, we don't know for sure. Wigglytuff lived thousands of years ago, and nobody knows what he actually was like since everything about him was passed down in legends." I argued reasonably. "Wigglytuff was in The Tales of Eonia, and he was described as never having his smile leave his face."
Naetle shook his head. "He was sad sometimes, and he cried. He would always fight for what was right so that we could smile easier. He would smile as much as possible, yes, but he wanted to spread positivity. Mr. Pix just smiles to pretend he's like Wigglytuff."
Naetle turned to face us properly. "Wigglytuff was stupid for most things, and obnoxious, and naive… a-and he fell asleep in the weirdest of places.. but he would never trample on someone's dreams, just because it was a tradition! Never in a million years!" Naetle swore.
The hallway was silent. Then I addressed something. "You're making all these claims about Wigglytuff, but I don't think any legends talked about how obnoxious Wigglytuff was, or how he slept. Are you just making that stuff up?"
Naetle vehemently shook his head. "No!"
"Then how do you know this?"
Naetle began a cold sweat. "I… I…" he tried to delay. "I…"
Tom stepped in. "Naetle, just tell them. We're a team now - I think you should trust them."
My eyes widened. A secret - how many of those did this team have?
Naetle nodded. "Yeah… you're right Tom. I'll tell you guys my secret." He looked around. "Not here, though. Pokemon can still hear us."
We walked into our room. It was clean and reminiscent of our old room, but I didn't pay much attention to it. Naetle stood by the wall. He took a deep breath, then began to reveal.
"I… am like Glacia." He admitted. "I am from the past; a time-traveler."
You could hear a pin drop in the room. My breath was stolen away from me.
"You came here in a Dimensional Hole, right? Was it like a big, blue disk that was wavy with alternating bands of light blue and black light?"
Shell-shocked, I stepped back. I had yet to tell anyone what the Dimensional Hole looked like, or even that it existed, only that I stepped through it. That he knew what it looked like as well…
"Looks like I'm right. The reason I know what a Dimensional Hole looks like is that I came here through one too."
"What time period?" I asked, frantic
"Uh… what?" Naetle asked, tilting his head
"What time period did you come from. I came from around 2000 years ago - when did you come from?"
"4000 years ago."
That was farther back than I was! Then I realized something. "That was around Wigglytuff's time period! Are you saying you actually met him!"
"I was one of his apprentices, Glacia. Do you think I lied about what Wigglytuff was actually like? Why do you think I laughed whenever Mr. Pix falsely praised Wigglytuff, saying that he was handsome and stuff?"
My eyes widened. "Wait, in the legend of the Temporal Grovyle and the Lustrous Celebi, Wigglytuff aided them in finding the Gears of Time and-"
"Time Gears." Naetle interrupted
"What?"
"Time Gears. They were called Time Gears, not Gears of Time."
"Oh…" Suddenly a lot of the legends I learned from The Tales of Eonia began to look fabricated. Wigglytuff was one thing, but… they were called Time Gears?
I shook my head. "The Temporal Grovyle and Lustrous Celebi traveled millennia into the past to meet Wigglytuff. Did they ever tell him how to go back in time?"
Naetle shook his head. "My partner and I did."
I was confused. "W-what? How?"
"How to travel back in time or how did we tell him?"
"Both!"
"My partner and I told Wigglytuff because we had traveled back in time. I've been through Dimensional Holes twice now - the first time was traveling to the nightmarish future 3000 years ago and the second time to the present day."
I sat down, tired. "Let me think about this, please." Naetle nodded, and I sat down.
Naetle was a time-traveler? He knew Wigglytuff? He knew the Temporal Grovyle and the Lustrous Celebi? He's time-traveled twice now?
Calm down Glacia, easy girl. Focus on what's important.
"How did you go back in time, to your old time?"
"The Passage of Time," Naetle succinctly answered. "Celebi has time-travel abilities, so she opened the Passage of Time for us and brought us back in time."
"What is the Passage of Time?" I pressed further - I had to know - this was the biggest lead I had so far.
"The Passage of Time is what Celebi uses for long jumps in time, to go back in the past much farther than she had previously. My partner, Grovyle, Celebi and I jumped into it to save time."
"Why aren't you in it, then? The legend?" I asked, the words spilling out.
Naetle began to look frustrated. "I don't know! My partner and I were famous in our time, but 4000 years later and no one knows our name!"
I was about to continue on a tangent, but Merla exasperatedly steered us straight. "Naetle, where is the Passage of Time? We need to know."
Naetle made an aggravated growl. "I don't know! I know that 2000 years ago it was in Dusk Forest, but Dusk Forest doesn't exist anymore!"
My eyes widened. More proof that he was from the past - he knew that Dusk Forest existed. Most of the landmarks from my time were gone, the only exceptions Vast Ice Mountain and the ruins of Eonia Castle. Dusk Forest was lost with time, and I lamented its passage.
To know that someone else knew it existed…
Merla was irritated. "Then what can you do that could help us?"
Naetle grew silent. "I don't know," he whispered. "I'm still trying to find my partner - he was with me when I time-traveled the second time, and I don't know where he is. I became a Venturer so that I could go across the Rings and search for him. I need him - he's helped me this entire time."
Merla dismissed him. "We don't need your partner, we need the Passage of Time."
Naetle shook his head. "We need him - he's always been there for me. I was a coward before I met him, and I've relied on him for everything. Before I time traveled, we were incredibly strong. We took down Mespirit and Dialga together."
My mouth gaped open. Mespirit? Dialga? They took down legendaries?
Naetle continued. "My partner has a special ability, called the Dimensional Scream. It allows him to look into the past and future. I can't think of a better ability to help us right now when we're so lost."
Tom stepped forward. "Alright, that settles it. It's getting late, so here's what we're going to do. We're going to find Naetle's old partner, find the Passage of Time, and get you two back to the past! Who's with me?"
The room echoed with determination.
Tom pointed to the door connecting our rooms. "Glacia, Merla, get to sleep. We have to talk about this tomorrow morning."
I was too tired and elated to object, and so was Merla (although she was more reserved than I was). We finally had a lead. I finally had a lead. Suddenly the month I spent here at the Base felt less like a waste and more of an opportunity.
I turned to Merla, a smile ripped across my face. "Come on, Merla - let's go to sleep. Tomorrow's a big day!"
A voice crackled from the orb. "I placed all of those you were interested in on the same team, Father. I will have to contact my daughter as soon as possible and get her to coax the group into joining. It will be difficult, as she doesn't particularly like listening to me, but I'll manage."
"How do you plan on doing that, Night?"
"I'll have Falcon send her on a mission to the prison. She'll have no choice, and I can use the opportunity to turn her to our side. We will have only a short window, but I can manage."
"Great. If we can pull… Team Ness, was it… on our side, we'll have an advantage."
"Father, I understand why you want the girls, but why the boys? I don't understand why you are so fixated on the Litwick… well, other than having the same evolution family."
"That's none of your business, dear. I don't particularly care for the Turtwig, but Tom… I have to see him in person. Anyway, tell me how the project is going."
"It's going fine, Father. Nyx has been sending me plenty of negativity to work with, so it's been growing well. In fact, I had #624 test it earlier today in secret, on Glacia. It was a partial success."
"Are you insane?"
"I asked Catal the same thing. I told him to use it on a random Pokemon, hopefully on a baby so that it goes by mostly undetected. Luckily, it was only a partial success. The Miasma was dealt with on-scene - Vinia's doing - so there were no permanent repercussions."
"I see… other than the Miasma disappearing, what happened."
"The Inversion was well-underway until Vinia interfered. Your predictions were correct, father. Merla reacted badly to the Miasma, and Glacia's skin was undergoing pigmentary alterations. It was stopped and reversed, though. I don't know what would happen if it went to completion."
"How was it stopped"
"A Disarming Voice."
"Alter the Miasma to resist any type that might have a type advantage against it. It will be difficult working with it if any Fairy, Bug, or Fighting-type moves can dissipate it."
"Understood, Father. Shall I leave?"
"You may leave. Before you go, tell me… how did Tom react?"
"The Litwick?"
"Yes, how did he react?"
"Poorly. His skin discolored as well, at a much faster rate. I'm still trying to figure that one out."
"..."
"You already know why that happened, then. Why Tom's skin discolored."
"I have a working theory. I have to meet him face-to-face to know for sure."
"Well, alright then. I'll arrange a meeting."
"Excellent."
The orb turned off. Nyx turned to face him. "Father, what happens if Venture Bases not under your control find out? What if they figure out that Night is controlling the Captain."
"That's what minions are for, dear."
She huffed and flicked magenta hair out of her eyes. "If you send them away, I won't get to hear any of them scream."
"Well, you have your own personal prison. Get your fix from them."
The Inverted Gardevoir pouted. "My prisoners have already gone insane already. Too much negativity is bad for your brain apparently."
"This is why Night and I have told you to balance it with positivity so they will remain sane enough to continue to give you negativity. You drained your well too fast."
"Hmph."
"Well, go kidnap some pokemon from a couple of towns over and have them be your new prisoners. Send your other prisoners to Night, she'll know what to do with them."
"I think I'll just buy some from Henka, he always gets the good ones first." She stood up and Teleported away. "Oh, and thanks for the extra life energy, I needed it."
"Whatever, dear." The Inverted Chandelure turned off his dark-orange light and brightened the room. "I'm going to go to sleep"