Chapter Twenty

The Abandoned House

Rarutos

I had barely slept all night. The explosion had come not long after our meeting ended, and even after everyone calmed down and returned to bed, my thoughts refused to stop whirling in circles around my head. The problem of Sutanu had bugged me at first, but during the explosion a wave of black thoughts and emotions had struck me. As far as I knew, it had happened to everyone; I was the only one, however, who had found something familiar amongst the thoughts.

Perched on the edge of Marisa's bed, I dragged a comb through my wet hair while I pondered the strange poem. It had been so long since I last thought about it, but the explosion had somehow brought it back.

A hand fell on my shoulder. Selena had given up on drying her own hair and was gazing at me intently. I knew her well enough to know she was wondering what I was thinking about.

"(Last night I remembered a strange poem,)" I explained. "(I heard it first when I was a Ralts, while I was in the Veilstone City Pokémon Center. It was in a dream. Something strange about ash and shadows…)"

"What's going on?" Marisa asked, back from whatever she had been doing out of the room. She kicked the door closed and made as if to leap onto the bed, stopping just in time when she noticed Sutanu asleep in the place she would have landed.

I repeated my words in telepathy as Marisa sank down on the floor. She nodded thoughtfully and I hesitated, wondering if I should recite the poem.

"What was it exactly?" Marisa asked, answering my silent question.

I sucked in a deep breath. "Through water, through ash," I chanted, "shadow of a rash, inhabited by night and emptied of light."

My trainer blinked, staring into the distance. "Sounds like a riddle to me," she murmured. "What sort of dream was it in? You never actually told me."

I struggled to remember. "I was surrounded by dark shapes, begging me to help them. I asked where they were… and that's what they told me…" Suddenly my mouth was dry. I had always thought they had ignored me, but suddenly I realized they had given me the answer in riddle form.

Marisa seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Maybe Mark can help us," she suggested. "Come on, we're meeting him for breakfast again."

This time I was only too eager to toss aside my comb and follow.

---

"I'm leaving," Mark announced once we were all sitting around a table.

Marisa's mouth fell open. "What? But we need you!"

"You're fine by yourselves."

Marisa shook her head impatiently. "Not with battling. I mean we need your help to figure something out. See, Rarutos suddenly remembered a dream she had before we met you. It had a poem in it that sounds like a riddle."

Mark shrugged. "I'm not that good at riddles, but I guess I can try. What was it?"

I repeated the poem and Mark stared into the distance, drumming his fingers on the table. "Say the first line again," he said.

I repeated the line. Mark stared down at his hands, twisting the fingers as though turning the words around to see them properly. "Through water… maybe something sent over the sea, or brought from there. I have no idea about the other part."

"What about 'shadow of a rash'?"

Mark shook his head. I recited the rest of the riddle while he stared at the table, looking as though he was trying to burn a hole through it with his eyes.

"Could mean Shadow Pokémon," he said finally. "Inhabited by night… plus the word 'shadow' in the second line. It seems like it's hinting at Shadow Pokémon. 'Light' in the last line could be referring to love and hope, which Shadow Pokémon are emptied of."

Marisa clasped her hands together excitedly. "Brilliant! But, wait…"

She turned confused eyes to me. "Didn't you say you got that riddle when you asked where they were? But this is just saying what they were and maybe where they came from…"

I shrugged. "There might be more than just that part. I might've only heard a bit of it before I woke up."

Marisa pursed her lips and returned to discussing the poem with Mark. Suddenly I felt restless. Sliding off my chair, I started to leave the café and found Eruri by my side.

"(Mind if I come?)" he asked.

I shrugged and kept walking, too distracted to remember that I liked him. He kept pace by my side as I wandered down the street, trying to keep out of the humans' way.

"(What's on your mind?)" Eruri asked.

"(That poem. There has to be something we're missing. Can you figure it out?)"

He shook his head. "(I'm not the riddle-solving type. Uplifting words and encouragement are more my thing.)"

I noticed a lump of brick lying on the sidewalk. "(Was this from the explosion last night?)" I wondered aloud, bending to pick it up. My fingers had barely touched it when a blinding light flashed before my eyes. I froze and suddenly the darkness rushed in, blinding me to the world.

---

(A flood of images, in quick succession, raced before my eyes. A white Pokémon sprang from atop a wall. Smiling, a beautiful young woman bent down, reaching out to something just out of sight. Bound and gagged, an old man struggled on the floor. A young boy with haunted eyes fled from men on motorcycles. Shadows hid a hunched figure as it desperately rattled the bars of its cage. Only one thing was clear to me; all of these humans and Pokémon were connected to Shadow Pokémon.)

---

"(Rarutos? Raru!)" Two hands shook me desperately as I shuddered on the ground, my eyes wide but not seeing anything outside of my own mind.

---

("Through water, through ash…")

(The room was plain and grey-tiled. A human stood with his face in shadow, a lethal black whip in his right hand. He raised it over his head before bringing it down, causing the hunched figure before him to scream in agony. Cries of desperation and terror filled the air as a nearby door swung open, carrying the stench of sweat and blood through the room. On the floor, a weakened Pokémon struggled against its shackles, straining toward freedom even as the last rays of hope were extinguished from its heart.)

("Emptied of light…")

---

Eruri's terrified face swam into view over me. I suddenly realized I was lying on my back on cold concrete, clutching the lump of brick to my chest. I blinked several times, clearing the stars from before my eyes as Eruri helped me to sit up. Suddenly my stomach lurched and I shoved him away just in time.

"(Emptied of breakfast too,)" I gasped, wiping my mouth.

"(What happened?)" he demanded.

I shook my head to get rid of the screams echoing in my head. "(A vision. It's been a while since that happened. I'm fine,)" I insisted, pushing away his hands.

-It's time-

"(What was that?)" I said loudly. The voice had come out of nowhere; it was familiar, but there was no one around who could have spoken the words. It was as though they were an after-effect of the vision.

I glanced at Eruri, who looked alarmed. "(There was a voice. I think it was in my head,)" I explained.

Eruri was looking concerned. "(Maybe we should get back to the others…)"

Distracted, I nodded. "(Sure. The others. Let's go.)"

We resumed walking, Eruri trying to support me despite the fact that I continued to push him away. It wasn't long before I realized that neither of us had been paying attention when we left the café. I had no idea where we were.

-Keep moving-

I ignored the disembodied voice. "(Do you know where the café is from here?)" I asked Eruri apprehensively.

He shook his head. "(There are too many people around for us to be able to sense the way,)" he added as I prepared to try. "(I think we'll have to try and find our own way.)"

My hand closed subconsciously over his as we began to weave through the crowds. It was like walking through a forest of legs; a forest that was continually moving, threatening to trample us if we stopped or made a wrong step. There were more humans in this city than I had ever seen anywhere, even in Veilstone City.

-Run! Hurry!- the voice hissed.

I broke free of the masses and darted into a less crowded side street, dragging Eruri with me. Both of us were out of breath and I could feel his pulse pounding wildly through his wrist. A wave of fear seized me as I remembered his disability.

-They are near… she is near-

"(Let's rest a bit,)" I suggested anxiously.

Pale-faced and beginning to tremble, Eruri shook his head. "(Let's not. We've been away from the others for too long. They might leave the café to look for us, and then we'll never find them.)"

"(Should I carry you?)"

He grinned weakly. "(I'll be all right.)"

We had barely begun to make our way through the street when a flash of movement caught my eye. A white form dropped down from somewhere above, landing barely ten feet from us. She was a distinctly feline Pokémon, her eyes wide and curious, a serene smile on her face. In a flash I recognized her from my latest vision.

"(Kirlia boy and girl are lost?)" the kitten purred. "(Nina will help. Follow Nina!)"

She turned and, tail in the air, strode away on all fours. I glanced at Eruri and we set off in pursuit.

"(Why are you helping us?)" I asked the Meowth. Eruri was beginning to take shallow breaths and I wanted to keep my mind off his crisis. It wouldn't help him if I started panicking.

Nina glanced over her shoulder at us, a gleeful glimmer in her eye. "(Nina sees all,)" she intoned. "(Nina wants Kirlia boy and girl to find boy and Aura.)"

I stopped dead. "(What?)"

"(Nina is gatekeeper. Nina knows all.)"

Beside me, Eruri sank to the ground, breathing in ragged gasps and shaking wildly. A slight frown creased Nina's mouth and she pounced, landing on two legs before Eruri and placing her paws on his shoulders.

"(Kirlia boy will close his eyes,)" she commanded. "(Kirlia boy will listen to Nina. He will close his eyes and breathe deeply.)"

Eruri looked barely seconds from losing consciousness, but he obeyed. Nina bowed her head until the gold coin on her forehead was level with Eruri's mouth. As he drew a deep, shaky breath, the coin began to glow.

My own mouth fell open in shock. Nina was beginning to purr softly, her eyes closed as the light from the glowing coin flowed down Eruri's throat. His breathing steadily became easier and his shaking slowed. Finally he opened his eyes, completely healed.

"(How did you do that?)" I gasped. Nina leaped away from Eruri, beginning to lead the way on all fours again. Perplexed, the older Kirlia and I began to follow.

"(Uh, we're not looking for who you think,)" Eruri said as we walked. "(We're after a boy and a girl with another Kirlia. Do you know where they are?)"

"(Nina knows not,)" Nina sang, succeeding only in convincing us that she did know but didn't want to take us there.

She came to an abrupt halt before an old, abandoned building. "(Kirlia boy and girl will wait here but will not go inside. Nina will bring other Kirlia. Maybe girl will follow too.)"

"(You said you didn't know where they were!)" I cried, but Nina wasn't listening. Her head was hidden in a half-dead bush near the building. She yanked a silken scarf from amongst the foliage and shook twigs off it, letting the sunlight catch the variety of beautiful colours woven into the garment.

She draped it over one forepaw, gazing at us briefly. "(Do not go inside. All will be lost if Kirlia goes inside too soon.)"

Before I could say anything else, Nina had grabbed the scarf in her mouth again and was racing away with it fluttering behind her.

---

Selena

The human voices had long ago faded into the background. I lay slumped in Marisa's lap, my head resting on her arm, half-asleep from boredom. The conversation seemed to be going in circles.

Suddenly Marisa's words broke through the monotony. "Where's Raru?"

"I think she left with Eruri," Mark said.

Marisa clambered to her feet. "They should be back by now. Do you think something happened? What if Eruri has trouble breathing again?"

I was gazing intently at Mark, waiting for his reply. His mouth tightened to a thin line. "Maybe we should go after them."

At that moment a distraction bounded into the café, ricocheted off a wall and sprang onto the table between Mark and Marisa. I barely registered the creature itself; my eyes were firmly fixed on the rainbow scarf in its mouth.

(My scarf! It's torn and dirty, but it's definitely the one Emerald gave me! But I thought Tyler still had it…)

I reached for the scarf and the Pokémon leaped out of my reach, backing away toward the door and still waving the silk temptingly. I dived off Marisa's lap and began to chase it out of the café. Marisa's yells barely registered in my mind; all of my focus was on the flash of colour ahead of me.

Humans and Pokémon sped past in a blur of movement and sound. Footsteps pounded behind me but I poured on the speed, my hands grasping at the dancing rainbow and barely missing it. My own breath rasped in my ears.

My feet left the ground and suddenly I was flying, clutched in Marisa's arms and moving faster than I could have run alone. "We'll catch it," my trainer panted.

Suddenly I spotted two familiar shapes ahead, standing outside an abandoned building. The rainbow streak shot past them and I dimly heard it screech something through the scarf in its mouth. Together all of us crashed through the soft, rotting wood blocking part of the doorway, tripped over something a few feet inside and landed in a tangled heap.

I was the first to disengage myself, crawling across Marisa to grab the end of the scarf. The catlike Pokémon holding it immediately let go, its eyes opening slightly. "(When the time comes, follow Nina,)" it whispered. "(Nina will take silent Kirlia to the human boy she loves.)"

My heart leaped. An image of Will flashed through my mind and Nina nodded, then pretended to be unconscious.

(How will I know when the time comes?)

Marisa groaned and struggled free of the heap. "Well, that was fun," she commented, "aside from the ending."

At that moment Mark jogged through the door, stopping just short of the fallen bookcase that had tripped everyone else. "Eruri! There you are!"

He scooped his dazed Kirlia out of the Pokémon pile. Rarutos struggled upright and stared around.

"What is this place?" she asked.

Marisa lifted me into her arms. "An old building no one wants?"

"Or maybe a desperate attempt at a last adventure together," Mark suggested, glancing sharply at Rarutos, "staged by someone who doesn't want me to take Eruri away from her."

Rarutos blushed. "It wasn't me! We were lost and suddenly this creepy Meowth leaped out of nowhere and led us here. She said she'd bring you all if we waited, so we did."

"If you were lost, why didn't you teleport back to us?"

Rarutos was silent for a moment, then her face reddened. "Oh. I guess we're so used to walking that we forgot we could."

Mark glanced at his watch. "Look, I have to get going soon. I promised my parents I'd be there to visit them by Thursday and it'll take a few days to get back to Snowpoint."

"What day is it now?" Marisa queried.

"Sunday."

My trainer snapped her fingers. "That's right! It's too easy to lose track of time when you're a trainer. Anyway, don't worry, I can handle Rarutos. Just say hi to your parents for me!"

Mark eyed her suspiciously.

After a moment of silence, the cheery grin vanished from Marisa's face. "I miss my parents," she admitted. "When you mentioned yours, I suddenly remembered that."

Mark nodded understandingly. "Just because you're a trainer, it doesn't mean you can't still visit your parents. Maybe you should drop by while you're travelling."

"I will. Thank you, Mark."

Marisa smiled again, determination in her eyes. "Maybe I'll do that right now! Want to come with us?"

"I have to get moving. But maybe we'll meet again sometime down the road. Maybe then we can have a battle."

Mark winked at us and smiled kindly at me. From his arms, Eruri threw a meaningful glance in Rarutos's direction, accompanied by a whisper of telepathy directed at both of us: "Meet me at midnight by the fountains."

The younger Kirlia opened her mouth to respond, but Mark had already turned and was jogging away. Rarutos turned to stare up at Marisa, who was watching silently.

"(Psst, silent Kirlia. Follow Nina now.)"

The Meowth was sitting up now, her eyes bright and tail twitching. The moment our gazes met she bounded away, slipping through a hole in one of the walls. I launched myself out of Marisa's arms, stumbling slightly on the landing, and followed.

"Selena! Where are you going?"

Behind the wall was a staircase of rotting wood, which speared my feet as I climbed. Heavy footsteps announced Marisa's presence behind me. Wood crunched loudly and she yelped, but there was no time for me to stop and look back. Nina's tail was vanishing through a doorway and I had to push my shaking legs to their limit to keep up.

The place was a maze of doorways and dusty furniture. Finally I lost sight of Nina. Gasping for breath, I stumbled up the last step of the second staircase and fell to my knees, letting the equally exhausted Marisa grab me again. I pointed one trembling hand at a nearby doorway and Marisa wearily responded, shifting me to her hip and approaching the half-open door.

She pushed it further open and immediately my eyes fell upon the Meowth, who was approaching a young Riolu near the doorway. Nina smiled eerily and the Riolu's eyes widened.

"(Master! This is the Pokémon that helped me last night!)" he cried excitedly.

Marisa moved further into the room and stopped dead. A collection of dusty chairs and sofas were scattered about and a door against the wall had fallen off, revealing a stock of canned food inside. One of the cans was lying nearby with tooth marks imprinted in it. The far wall was mostly taken up by a huge window, which was covered by a sheet clumsily nailed along the top.

The Riolu was not the only inhabitant of this dilapidated place. Asleep on a sofa was a fawn-furred creature which vaguely resembled a fox, or possibly a dog or cat, but which I had never seen before. A familiar bouncing pig snored in a corner. On the floor between two sofas crouched two more unusual creatures, playing with wooden blocks. One of these was a Riolu with unusual colouring, the other a Lucario with a powerful aura of cold-heartedness and one arm in a crudely-fashioned sling.

The two humans drew my attention the most. Both had been sitting on the unoccupied sofa and conversing quietly, but they had stopped as we approached. One was clearly Emerald, her beautiful dress torn and her hair full of dust. The other was someone I had not seen in weeks but who I had missed more every day. He was dressed in faded, baggy clothing that he had clearly found here, but his exposed arms and face were so filthy that he looked like he was made of mud. His hair was longer than ever, and also more matted and greasy. But his eyes were the same, the eyes that widened in shock when he saw me and filled with alarm when he noticed Marisa and Rarutos.

Will leaped to his feet, torn halfway between running to me and reaching for something to defend himself with. Marisa and Rarutos were still frozen to the spot, but I wrenched myself free of my trainer's grasp. Emerald stood up to watch as I crossed the room and threw myself into Will's arms, hugging him with all my strength, letting my tears spill over and dampen his new clothes.

(Thank you, Nina. Thank you for bringing me back to him.)