The Upholder of Duty
Chapter 10: A Stiff Glass of Reality
Unanimous agreement had made it clear that it was very unsafe to stay near the entrance of the mountain-cave of Serafoculaton for long, for fear of discovery, and so Xir'clai had immediately begun planning their swift departure. However, as Agnos had explained so succinctly by breaking into an energetic sprint before abruptly dropping to sleep, they had seen enough that day; it was best to leave business to tomorrow. Thus, the three adolescents had found a secure knoll to hide behind, and done what had been so wrongfully denied to them through the entire day.
The next morning came off to a satisfying start, seeing as it was very comfortable to lie in the grass with the morning sunshine playing over Dragonfire's face – he even noticed vaguely that it was slightly dangerous to have such a staggering amount of vigilance and invulnerability, but cared little. It was nice to just lie there, without a care, starting his own adventure. Sometime when the sun began to come about a quarter of the way up, however, a rude voice interrupted his 'adventuring,' shouting at him for being such a Slowpoke.
"Dragonfire," the voice of a falsely happy Kirlia whispered in his ear, "you can sit there if you want, but it's actually starting to be noon and WE SERIOUSLY NEED TO GET GOING!"
Of course, after the first strains of that melody, sleep wore off unusually fast. Dragonfire opened his eyes to see Agnos in a similar state, wondering how such quantities of light could exist in the universe. Xir'clai, however, was behaving very queerly: while her cynical brooding had held on to immortality, her dancing among the sunny flowers seemed to tell a different story. Psychics, Dragonfire mused; never try to understand them. Though the tendency of Kirlia to rejoice on sunny days was hardly an obscure theme among any culture, it was surprising to see that instinct could override such a determined bad temper.
Her stride was not the only thing that was affected, as the Shelgon soon realized.
"This sounds idiotic, I know," the Kirlia seemed to sing; "and it goes completely against my whole nature, but I can't help feeling such a strange feeling…"
Dragonfire suddenly had the urge to remark scathingly. "I believe you're experiencing a rare nervous disorder called happiness," he muttered.
"Oh, shut up," she snapped good-naturedly, and, though Dragonfire could see no signs of insanity, the faint outline of a fully-formed Drowzee seemed to appear out of thin air, lift a leg, and kick him squarely in the rear, sending him rolling down the small hill that they were on.
Xir'clai went on as if nothing had happened, but Agnos stood there, his mouth glued to the grass.
"What?" the Kirlia asked, turning to face him.
"Did a Drowzee just kick me in the backside?" Dragonfire called from the distance, slightly stunned.
"I saw a Kadabra, you know," Agnos cried back.
"Oh, that was me," Xir'clai answered, completely unperturbed. "You see, when a Kirlia attacks Psychically, he or she often makes little rips in the material of the universe, insignificant – repairable – but bizarre enough while they exist."
That did not seem to comfort Agnos.
"They give rise," she continued, "to certain visions of other places in the universe, heavily edited by the mind to make them more acceptable."
"Whatever you say," replied the two, trying to erase the incident from their minds.
Despite their early start, the companions were heartened by the good weather and the prospects of adventure, and they made quite a distance. Large quantities of map work was essential to Serafoculatonian training, so they knew exactly where they were going. It was only when they exited the field just before their former home and entered the main road that they had their first major check.
The mountain-cave looked horizontally on the road running from the north to the south of Ηoεή, and so did they, coming straight from the main entrance. Thus, they were at a fork in the road; to the north (and eventually to the east), the road led to the great Purtas Forest, which, from the legends, seemed to rival even Virdia in beauty. South and then east was the path for a series of fairly large cities, made for those strange folk who preferred buildings to caves or forests. Directly in front of them was a mass of highlands and woods, no places for civilized creatures to hike through. Granted, a pass had been attempted connecting this and the Great Road, but the ambitious Dugtrio had long given up, and the only good that came out of it was a nice alcove for a small settlement that found the unfinished cul-de-sac at its end appealing.
Recalling History lessons was always so very fun…
"Okay," said Xir'clai, turning to face them both and picking up a stick to use as a pointer, "we all know the geography. To the north is forest, and to the south, as far as the eye can see – "
"We can only see maybe a mile or so, you know," Agnos interrupted. "And the closest city is at least four miles away."
"The mind's eye, idiot ball," Xir'clai snapped. "Not the actual eye!
"Anyway, we have no idea where the kidnappers could have gone, so we'll just have to get an idea.
"Dragonfire," she shot: "what's the major reason for most kidnappings?"
"Uh… I don't know," the affronted Shelgon mumbled. "To sell, as alaves?" He put his hand to his mouth, horrified that he had said such a word.
"Exactly. And Agnos, which way would our typical kidnapper go, if they wanted to sell our typical kidnap victim? Even you can get this."
From the looks of it, Agnos wasn't quite as sure of himself as Xir'clai estimated. Eventually, however, he ventured a guess. "South?" It looked very much as if he had picked at random.
"Well, obviously!" was the reward for his luck. "Have you ever compared the population density of a single city to a forest? Literally thousands of Pokémon live in our very own Serafoculaton, while the entire population of the Insect Forest, before it burned down, was less than eight hundred, despite all its Bug-types. In a city less cultured than Serafoculaton, they would have a gigantic black market to work with.
"For that matter," the Kirlia muttered, falling into a ramble, "we will have to see that forest soon. It comes right in our way, after we get past Litaham City. Won't that be fun?"
Her two companions slowly steered the conversation back to its proper direction.
"So, bottom line, we head south, and check every seedy alley we can find in every city we come across?" It suddenly occurred to Dragonfire that this could be a very long trip.
"Basically," Xir'clai replied coolly, daring him to challenge her decision.
"Sounds good to me," he said, and they were off again.
Despite all the stories Dragonfire had learned about journeys, hiking to distant towns was not quite as exciting as he had thought it to be. There were no hostile highlands, no dark ravines through which they would heroically fight their way; plain grassland stretched on for miles, framed on one side by low-lying beaches looking out to the sea, and deep woods and higher slopes and cliffs on the other. Dragonfire started to wish they had to plow through the forests to their left, if only to add a bit more challenge. While the scenery was nice enough, it became very boring after a while.
Few Pokémon traveled in the northern parts of the road, and thus most encounters with any form of life was when woodland creatures came to the edges of their lands to watch the curious sight. Some civilized beings did have business with these lands, however, and most were friendly enough to enliven the adventurers with talk, for the brief period that they met. Xir'clai was the only one who had spent any amount of time outside Serafoculaton, and even she was little acquainted with the folk around the West Road. Thus, whenever a party of travelers met the three Serafoculatonians, the two groups fell into a state of mutual fascination for each other.
Night fell, and, from the estimates of the last Pokémon they had met, the companions had managed a fourth of the way to their first destination, Litaham City. The problem of food had been bearing dwown on Dragonfire's mind for a while now, but he soon saw that he had nothing to worry about; while they had nothing to cook food with, not even skill, improvisation served them well. Possessing the woodland skill of her kind, Xir'clai was quick to find edible plants and berries from the woods, and Agnos easily gathered a pile of wood and set it to fire with a deft Ember. Using a pot that the remarkably resourceful Bagon carved out of a thick fallen branch, and the cobbled-together memories of their respective parents' cooking, the three of them managed something of passable resemblance to berry stew – at least, if berry stew was no more than a collection of over-ripe berries, boiled in Aspear juice and spring water. Even if they had actually known how to prepare them, spices would take too much time to make, so they had settled with Cheri berries, ground to a paste.
The amazing nutrition and virtues of wild berries, however, was unaffected by the onslaught of bad cooking and assorted enemies of food, and half a dozen plump Sitrus berries in succession banished all the weariness of a full day's march. Indeed, the food was rather more than even Agnos considered enough, and all three of them were ready for a last Sparring match before they retired for the night.
Choosing a small clearing in the woods (it suddenly struck Dragonfire that these ordinary forests could hardly compare with the brilliance of the Hydracomende Gardens), they decided on a casual match, lasting very briefly and using lesser, weaker moves. Boring as the match might have been, it was undeniable that they needed to conserve their energy for their next march. It was vaguely noticeable that this part of the woods was unnaturally quiet, so that every footfall seemed like an earthquake.
The entire procession was rather uneventful. Agnos, as always, focused alone on brute strength, while stealth seemed to serve Xir'clai the best, and Dragonfire chose an unremarkable median. The resulting noise was monumental in the usual brooding silence of the forest, and the fire and commotion could have been seen from miles around, laid-back as the match was.
As the last Downs were exchanged between Xir'clai and Agnos, making Xir'clai the winner, a strange sound seemed to rebound through the clearing and the forest around it, low-pitched and unearthly. It seemed untouched by wholesome influences, and unsettling in its bizarreness, like a creature so very alien to this world that it seems appalling. In a sudden crescendo, it abruptly rose in volume and pitch, until it faded out of hearing.
From out of the surrounding darkness, seven creatures emerged, which few Serafoculatonians had seen and Dragonfire had only once heard of – Lunatone. Their wide, blood-red eyes were dilated in alarm, and an aura of fear itself emanated from their eerie forms.
Who dares to disturb the Crescent of our existence? sounded through the woods, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.
The travelers were rooted to the spot, jarred out of speech, as many voices rose out of the dark.
This land has not been defiled for five centuries…
Who will deny the Forest its quiet…?
Unlucky fools…
Disturbers of peace…
You have not spared us your anger…
We shall not spare you our wrath!
Like a pebble on a placid lake, the spell of silence was broken, as seven roars of confusion screeched in their minds simultaneously, stunning all but Xir'clai. She resisted the attack valiantly, finding the strength in her to yell, "Stop!"
Why should we desist? the woods replied, though the attack paused, as if almost bemused.
"We didn't mean to disturb you!" Dragonfire cried. The haze of agony was lifting.
Intention may be higher than action in your pitiful culture, they seemed to sneer, but such weakness means nothing to our species…
We are of a higher kind than you mud-dwellers…
"That's a step too far!" Agnos suddenly yelled, breaking through their resonating voices. "I'll show you mud-dwellers!" And, as if a straightforward agreement to violence were not enough, he attempted to blast the Lunatone to flames, failing miserably, of course.
All possibilities of peace were gone now, and the three had no choice but to battle it out. They were expert fighters, weren't they?
Agnos rushed at the nearest opponent, his claw raging with dragon fire, as Dragonfire began piling Hardens by instinct, and Xir'clai ordered her thoughts, in a practical edition of Calm Mind. A great swarm of shooting stars began to fall from the sky, as seven metallic meteorites pelted the ground about each Lunatone, surrounding it with an eerie aura, unrecognizable to all three of their opponents. Great piles of Confusion threads began forming beside Xir'clai, ready for her bidding, and she began shooting orders at the Bagon and Shelgon, her advanced mind working furiously.
Light Screens whizzed around the seven Lunatone, warding their every move; a sizable chunk of a nearby lake began rising in answer to Agnos' calling. Dragonfire felt the familiar surge of energy as cyan flame animated his form, flowing from him to the air around him, filling it with his command and his power. Twister air could become very unmanageable, especially when he set it idle for any length of time; but he had to wait for the correct phase in Xir'clai's plan before he could let it free.
All of a sudden, the Kirlia's Confusion armada slipped past the cage of Light Screen, assailing the Lunatone, and the matrix of barriers drew close, forming a flawless dome around the Lunatone; Agnos' great force of water welled around the barrier, and the fiery wind manifested in twin Twisters, taking command of the liquid and roaring to bypass the Light Screen and get at their foes. Xir'clai readied herself to break the dam and release the hurricane…
In a single moment, the Psychic threads feebly evaporated; the Lunatone wrenched command of the Light Screen from Xir'clai, and a screeching burst of Confusion incapacitated the three, as the wrath of the Twisters faltered and died out, scattering the lake water. In the shrill blast of mental agony, the companions were shown their own stupidity: the Light Screen had never been strong enough to bother them, and Xir'clai's Confusion had never truly assailed the Lunatone – in the wilderness, their expert battling skills were nothing. Through the haze, Dragonfire could see Xir'clai still working – what was she up to? Any more battling was useless – before Agnos and the Kirlia huddled around his withdrawn form, and a golden light engulfed him…