Chapter 23: Never Again

"Human, you will release me. Now."

"You said—oh all the gods! We had a deal!"

"I am changing the terms thereof! You will release me—I will fight in this gym—and I will win—and then I will leave. You will release me—or I will fight you, until I die."

They were a pair, Russell thought: one a magnificent animal, dull teal-green and brown and white, with huge sweeping antlers, and the other a young woman, green-haired and brown-skinned, of his long acquaintance. They had left home over a month ago after finishing high school and immediately hit the road to challenge Gaiien's—their home region's—difficult terrain, isolated settlements and world-famous league.

It had proved just about as difficult as anticipated, with a number of their classmates now in the process of returning home due to one suffering a horrific injury, and they had seen other victims of violent attack on the road. More attacks than usual—enough for ranger authorities to close certain remote paths and reiterate recommendations that trainers never travel alone—and with surprising violence. Not just a pokémon engaging in a vaguely ritualistic battle with an intruder in its territory, but a pokémon hunting to kill.

The mooskeg Moriko had battled and captured was too smart. She resented her defeat and resented even a simulation of working with Moriko, let alone obeying her orders. Moriko was coercing her; she wanted the mooskeg, a plant- and water-type, to use her water attacks to blast her way through Russet Town's fire-type gym. She wanted a win, especially after a strange and galling defeat at the previous gym, where he and Matt had been victorious.

"You—" Moriko was saying, "you'll just run away—"

"And it would be my right to do so! But I will not. I will fight, and you will heal me with your magic devices and potions, apologize to me, and I will take my leave. But you will release me now. Reply."

Moriko's body was rigid, hiking boots planted wide apart, fluorescent orange eyes wide and drilling into those of the one-ton animal in front of her. Her right arm moved almost of its own accord; she yanked a hyperball off her belt and held it, trembling.

"Yes," she said.

"Now."

Moriko crooked her arm, which had a metallic green and silver device strapped to the wrist: at her touch its interface appeared, projected just above the pokédex's surface. She pressed a few buttons while the mooskeg watched her with terrible intensity. Moriko held the hyperball to the pokédex's eye. Finally there was a beep and the hyperball seemed to lose color and luster; it was dead, unlinked to any pokémon and unpowered.

Moriko pointed it at the mooskeg and said "Return." Nothing happened.

Instantly the mooskeg relaxed, her hindquarters hitting the ground with surprising weight.

Moriko looked at him and Matt in confusion. Russell raised his hands to show helplessness and was hurt when she frowned and whirled away, but realized that that reaction was to the grin of amusement on Matt's face, beside him.

"Come, human!" They all jumped at the mooskeg's bellow, delivered in entirely a different tone and timbre than the one that had regaled them for several days with insults and threats of violence. Moriko was quite unresisting as the mooskeg nudged her to turn around and begin walking toward the pokémon center exit. "Let us see about this gym!"

Moriko followed, dazed, as the mooskeg fairly skipped up the mountain road to Pyre's gym. Russell and Matt followed, chatting. The road had been cut into the rock: it was volcanic, red with oxides, and the air stank with sulfur. Hot springs bubbled in the trees or higher on the mountainside.

A cave led them into the gym's foyer; it was strung with mine lamps that gleamed bright and faintly reddish. The mooskeg seemed to lose her jaunty attitude, casting her gaze about irritably at the rock walls and ceiling.

"I am fighting the gym leader," she announced to the attendant once they reached him.

To his credit, the man didn't blink an eye at this, and asked for the pokémon's name.

"Vleridin, Thuridin's get, who was Soradin's," the mooskeg said.

"And you'll be challenging at the fourth level?"

"Let him send his strongest, I will—"

"Fourth level," Moriko interrupted, "for the three of us. His strongest is probably his first pokémon who's like level seventy," she added to the mooskeg.

"So?"

"You are level thirty-seven according to my pokédex."

"Sometimes your mouth-sounds convey absolutely no meaning and it is distressing."

The attendant took their licenses and registered them for the next three battle slots. Pyre was currently in a battle, and the attendant directed them to wait in a room beyond. More mine lamps lit the space. The mooskeg—Vleridin—stood irritably in one corner, disliking the cave.

"I'm first," she said, "and then I'm leaving."

"Thank you for your help," Moriko muttered.

There was a rumble behind the room's far door, and then a roar. Matt got up and opened it a crack, the battle noises suddenly coming in much more clearly.

"Wanna spy?"

They moved to the corridor to peek at the battle: Pyre was a distant figure directing a beautiful red-gold feline pokémon against an androgynous trainer with a gabite who was, frankly, stomping its opponent.

"Fleetah," the pokédex said, "the sun cheetah pokémon. A fire- and electric-type, it evolves from servelos at level 28. It is able to match rapidash for speed. They were trained as sport hunters in a bygone era."

"Too bad about that type matchup," Matt said. "She is a beauty."

The fleetah did everything possible to dodge the gabite's ground-type attacks. Her body was a twirling ribbon in metallic gold and bright crimson as she whirled and spun across the field, but her dragon-type opponent shrugged off her elemental attacks easily. Pyre recalled her before any of the gabite's lazy sandwhip attacks could connect; the referee awarded his opponent the win.

The ref waved them forward while Pyre disappeared into his changing room. "Anyone want to go next," she asked, "or do you want me to pick?"

"I'm next," the mooskeg said from behind them. The ref nodded to her.

"Please head to the center of the ring when you're ready. We're doing one-on-one battles today; sudden death, no waiting." She winked.

Moriko followed the mooskeg onto the field. "Do you want me to—"

"Do absolutely nothing? Yes, that would be perfect. Wait—" Moriko startled as Vleridin whirled on her suddenly. "Someone spoke to you about the battle and told you about the person battling, the red one. A different voice than yours or the other humans'."

Moriko held out her pokédex and pointed it at the mooskeg. "Mooskeg, a water- and plant-type," it read aloud. "It evolves from hippocalf at level 19 and into cernunnos with age or a leaf stone. It keeps its antlers year-round and uses—"

"It's a machine," she said, silencing it. "It can recognize pokémon species and give information about them, and it records data about the individual pokémon it sees and adds them to a central database."

"Use it to tell me about the person I fight. Before…" the mooskeg turned her head, watching the door Pyre had disappeared into. "I've never seen someone like either of those two who were fighting."

Moriko blinked. Not so sure now, eh? "The red one was a fleetah, like the 'dex said, and the other one was a gabite, a dragon- and ground-type. Fleetah are from the desert nearby, but gabite are from… from a distant land."

"How many days' journey?"

"The desert is a few days. It would be… weeks, and then you would have to cross the sea, to get to the place where gabite are from."

Vleridin was quiet at that a moment. "Lands beyond the sea… I have heard of such, from birds, from water-dwellers. How many kinds of people are there?"

Pokémon, how many types of pokémon. A voice that sounded like Matt's: implying pokémon aren't people? No… "No one knows. Thousands. Many professors and trainers try to learn about all of them."

Pyre came out of his rooms then, looking like he'd just showered.

"Alright, here we go. Do your best!" Moriko said, trying to be cheery.

Vleridin sniffed. "Please, get ready to watch a master at work." To Pyre: "Are you ready, red human?"

Pyre looked a little surprised, but nodded to the mooskeg. "Thanks for coming," he said politely. He was good-looking, with dark skin and fuzzy black-red hair close-cut, and wore two crossed trainer belts on his hips like a gunslinger.

"Select your pokémon," the referee called out.

"Go, mooskeg," Moriko whispered, flicking out her fingers. She looked at the audience; there were a few people in the largely empty stands, and Russell and Matt were in the front row. Russ waved as she looked over and Matt gave a thumbs-up. The ceiling was bare rock with hanging lights and a camera to document battles.

Her attention snapped back to the field as Pyre's pokémon appeared in red light. It looked like a dinosaur with a rooster's head; it was covered in glossy, colorful feathers except for on its naked legs and thick, spined tail. It had dragonish wings half-covered in feathers as well as forelegs curled against its breast, and bobbed in an avian fashion, turning its head to look at its opponent with one eye at a time.

"Ignitrice, the cockatrice pokémon. A fire- and dragon-type pokémon, it evolves from chicatrice at level 40. They nest in active volcanoes and can often be seen bathing in magma or searching mountainsides for shiny stones or other treasures."

A dragon type. Moriko had to close her eyes for a moment. Yes, that is something that would happen to her after breaking her back going after a recalcitrant, violent, water-type asshole like the mooskeg. Of course.

"It's fire and dragon," she called out. "Water will do normal damage. Watch out for air-type attacks!"

The mooskeg flicked her tail stub to acknowledge this as the ref shouted. "Begin!"

Vleridin glowed blue, her body surrounded by shimmering rings of water that sprayed out into the arena, soaking it. Her opponent squawked and raised a wing to cover itself from the drops.

"Aerial ace, Basil," said Pyre. The ignitrice bent its legs and leaped high in the air, hanging a moment at the top of the arc before disappearing into a silvery line of air-type energy. It slashed the mooskeg powerfully even as she sidestepped.

Vleridin gasped and kicked out with her back legs as her opponent passed, catching it in the back with one hoof. It staggered as a wave of water rippled over the mooskeg's body, joining a blast from her mouth, and it was bowled over by her water pulse attack.

"Dragon tail," Pyre called.

The ignitrice righted itself, the mooskeg soaking it with a quick water gun attack. It started running, zigzagging toward her, leapt, and then pirouetted to strike her with its teal-glowing spined tail. She turned to catch the blow on her side and struck savagely with her antlers as her opponent rebounded. The cockatrice pokémon belched a reflexive gout of flame, but it was muted, damped by the earlier water sport attack.

"Glare," said Pyre.

"Don't look!" Moriko said, as the ignitrice's eyes glowed yellow; a flash of power passed between the two pokémon and the mooskeg stood, held rigid, and took her opponent's following aerial ace attack hard.

"Try nature power!" Moriko heard herself saying, as Vleridin staggered upright.

"What good—" the mooskeg grunted, dodging another rush and pecking attack, "no plants even if—ungh—"

"We're in a cave!"

"Toxic, Basil!"

The ignitrice gurgled and Vleridin flinched away, spattered by purple-black goo. She covered herself in a layer of water, trying to shed it, then bellowed as the ignitrice darted suddenly, sinking its beak deep into her throat.

Moriko grimaced, her shoulders coming up. They formed a dreadful tableau, the mooskeg half rearing up and away, with her opponent gripping her shoulders with its forelegs in a parody of an embrace. Not again, she thought. I deserve this, trying to force—

A ripple went through the sandy arena floor below them, and fist-sized chunks of rocks rose out of it, flying toward the ignitrice, still trailing sand. The cockatrice pokémon screeched as the rock-type attack caught it several smart blows in the stomach and released its opponent. A second salvo cracked it in the head as it skittered backward. It sat down heavily, dazed, and Pyre recalled it even as the mooskeg's final water gun attack came for it, more spray than stream.

"The match goes to Vleridin and trainer Moriko by recall!" the ref called out. More quietly: "Oh boy—"

The mooskeg collapsed, her neck wound bleeding sappy ichor at an alarming rate. Moriko ran up, put a pad from her bag on the wound, sprayed around it with hyper potion.

"Vleridin, I'm going to put you in a ball again—"

"No!" The mooskeg tried to stand, her hooves slipping on the sand, her neck gushing as she heaved.

"Just to get you to the pokémon center! You're dying! Stop moving!"

"Don't—dramatic—" She fell again, heaving, her eyes unfocused. "Actually… actually…"

Vleridin looked directly into Moriko's eyes as she got out a pokéball and pressed it lightly against the mooskeg's flank. "Temporary, okay? I promise."

"Never. Never again," she whispered, and glowed with white light.

Russell and Matt were on the arena floor with some healing items of their own, and Pyre was approaching as well, when the mooskeg started glowing.

Russell squinted. "Evolving?"

"Looks… no…" Matt muttered. "Oh jeez."

The mooskeg's form grew indistinct, seemed to ball in on itself—then rushed toward Moriko, streaming into her chest.

Moriko leapt to her feet and then fell again almost immediately, legs collapsing.

"Mor! Are you okay?"

She shook herself, looking around like she couldn't see anything. Russ ran over just in time to help her rise and then catch her as she lost consciousness.

There is a woman in black on the path. She is searching for something.

Black-robed, barefoot, she kneels in the dirt, touches plants, smells the air.

She disappears, appears miles away. Searching.

There is a woman in black on the path. Light shines; space curves, folds.

A long form, black, winged, rushes above the treetops. Trees bow and creak in the wind.

There is no sound in the wood. Nothing stirs. They know what she is.