A typhoon came by recently, resulting in suspension of classes, so I managed to churn this one out before school starts again. Pre-Chapter Notes:
- It's actually fairly uneventful (this chapter), unless you're Omega Zekrom, in which case, maybe not so.
- Team Nightmare is living up to their name. As usual.
Azura gripped the hilt of her metal rapier, prepared to unsheathe it any moment. The rustling in the bushes got louder. And louder, and louder, and ever closer…
"Osha?"
The grovyle blinked, then relaxed visibly at the innocent-looking oshawott in front of her. "Oh, it's just a hatchling…" she peered down at the otter pokemon, her stance relaxing. "Who are you?"
"Osha–" it grinned up at her. "Osha! Oshawott!"
Azura shrugged. "Whatever. You're not who I'm looking for, so–"
"Oshawott!" the otter said in an insistent tone, jumping up and down in place. Azura stared down at the hatchling, before simply turning around and walking away. Or, at least, attempted to, as the oshawott latched onto her leg and refused to let go. Azura felt a vein pop on her forehead – she didn't have time for this.
She shook the otter off, resisting the urge to just kick it away, and tried to walk away once more, increasing her stride a little bit. However, the oshawott persisted, wrapping its stubby arms around the grovyle's leg and puffing its cheeks in determination.
Signing in resignation, Azura picked up the oshawott and held it up at arm's length away from her. It blinked in surprise, then giggled and squeaked in delight. The grovyle rolled her eyes and set it back down on the grassy ground, much to the oshawott's dismay.
"What'cha got here, Azuzu?" Momo had somehow floated behind her and was watching the oshawott's interaction with Azura with interest and amusement. "Pretty cute kid. Who owns her?"
"I don't know," Azura replied slowly. "She just popped out of nowhere and tried to follow me. Or stop me. Either of those two."
"Mm." The mismagius bent down from her spot on her shadow ball to peer at the oshawott curiously. It giggled and bopped noses with Momo, before scampering to hide behind Azura. The mismagius, slightly taken aback, grinned and straightened up in her comfortable seat. "Well, I like her. Why don't we keep her?"
Azura glared disapprovingly at Momo. The purplette groaned and opened her mouth to whine loudly before they were cut off by a sudden rustle in the bushes once more. Azura tensed, Momo stiffened, and the oshawott flinched.
Again, who – or rather, what came out was not who any of them expected.
Somewhere, an axew was throwing curses to the wind and yelling something about being murdered by the Queen. The cubone by her side slipped away inconspicuously.
Izumi blinked open her eyes blearily. They felt moist, but she hadn't been crying (as far as she knew, anyway), so…
" –Ah, right!" The wave… and the water shard… and Felicity!
The piplup sat up so quickly she should have gotten whiplash, but there was nothing around her. She was in what appeared to be a forest of some sort, but…
"HARUKAAA – oh dear Arceus, it's another random stranger in my house. Who the fuck are you?" A green-haired seventeen-year-old stared down at Izumi like she was an unwanted pest. "More importantly, actually, why are you here? And how in the name of Arceus did you get here anyway?"
"H-Huh?" was the only thing Izumi could stammer out.
Mirai sighed. "Fine, let's start with introduc – HOLY SHIT!" the axew gaped at the forest before her. It looked like it had just survived a flash flood – but just barely. "What in the name of shit happened to my forest?! I'm going to murder something! I'll murder something before Satsuki murders me!"
"What? Huh?" Izumi cried out in complete and utter confusion. She directed her gaze to where Mirai was looking and widened her eyes at the scene. It was true; many of the trees were bent, broken, and/or lying on the ground in a dead pile of branches and leaves. "Oh, it must have been the flood…"
"What flood?" Mirai snapped, turning to face the piplup. Izumi recoiled under her gaze, causing the axew to grit her teeth and soften her expression a tiny bit. "Fine, I'll ask nicely. What is this flood you're talking about?"
"Um… I summoned a wave of water during a battle, you see," Izumi said. "And it washed both me and my opponent away to different places. So… I guess I ended up here."
Mirai's eye twitched. Izumi backed away rather quickly, but the axew simply pinched the bridge of her nose and counted in doubles. Once she had calmed down (somewhat), the axew let out a sigh and crossed her arms firmly. "Hey, girl. You know how that, currently, I'm babysitting this little kid and she just ran off?"
Izumi shook her head. Mirai continued anyway. "Well, now you do. To pay me back for all the damage you made on my forest, you're in charge of looking for that oshawott. You know what one looks like, right?" The piplup nodded. "Okay, good. I dunno if she went too far, but just keep your eyes open. That's your payment for wrecking my property."
The piplup opened her mouth to protest. Mirai shot her a glare and Izumi immediately closed it.
"She's not dead. She's not dead!" Yume screamed. Her vision was blurring considerably, and her legs started wobbling dangerously. In seconds, she had dropped to her knees, crying and shrieking, no, no, no, she's not dead she's not dead not dead not dead not dead –
"Get a hold of yourself," the monotonous voice ordered. Yume glanced upwards as best as she could, catching a glimpse of Doku's hard face before she dropped her gaze to her lap. "One ally down means nothing. We still have the Bloody Lucid–"
"She was our teammate!" Yume screeched. "She was our teammate and she died and now – now you don't even care!"
"Stop acting like a child."
"I'm not acting like a child, I'm acting realistically!"
The toxicroak gritted his teeth, his patience wearing thin. Deciding to direct his attention to something that wasn't a mess of snot and tears, he turned over to the purugly's limp body. She was most definitely dead; something Doku had expected. At least he had actually prepared for this. Kneeling down, he snatched something up from Neko's hand, wrenching it free from her grip and holding it to his mouth. With a big breath, he blew the whistle.
It rang sharp and clear, cutting through the hot noon air like a hot knife through butter. Even after the initial sound, it echoed throughout the field, like a melody dancing through the treetops.
"What the hell was that?" Yume asked, voice cracking. "Some sort of fucked-up funeral service for cats?"
"Are you stupid? Of course not," Doku said. "It's something to make her come back. Isn't it, you stupid purugly?"
Silence.
"You're not seriously calling her ghost, are you?" Yume deadpanned, wiping away a few stubborn tears.
"You know what they say," Doku said, shoving his hands in his pockets as the whistle dangled from his neck by a thin string that had most definitely not been there before. It was white, almost invisible, and didn't look like normal string. "Cats have nine lives, yes?"
"Nobody actually believes that tauros shit, do they?" A high-pitched voice drawled.
A gray figure stepped out of the shadows of the tree, curling tail bobbing behind it. A smile sprang up on both Yume's and the glameow's faces as Neko licked her paw. "Now, I believe I have a little bone to pick with our favorite lizard. And I think I know just the thing…"
A plume of fire just narrowly missed the grovyle as she jumped back, stumbling slightly on the slippery terrain. The area had somehow been drenched with water and was making it infuriatingly hard to run through without tripping every five seconds. To her advantage, though, the charmeleon in front of her was having trouble as well.
And when she said 'charmeleon' she really meant 'charmeleon… as in the actual charmeleon, scales and all'. There was the horn on its head, the sharp claws that could tear flesh, the tail with the flame burning brightly on the end, and that look in its eyes – Azura blinked rapidly. That's right – that charmeleon, she'd remember it – him – anywhere –
"Momo, Elion, stop!" she shouted. The mismagius that had teleported behind it abruptly stopped the charging of her Dark Pulse, blinking in confusion, the gliscor beside her similarly befuddled. Azura crept closer to the charmeleon cautiously as it snapped and snarled at her, brandishing its claws and making swiping motions at her threateningly. It didn't seem to recognize her at all…
"Ray? It's me…" she whispered, trying her best to go for soothing. It seemed to work; Ray the charmeleon in his Other blinked, his tail flame flickered a little, and his arms dropped slightly. "It's me, Azura. You know me, right?"
"Az… Azu…" He snarled again, his tail flame flaring up as he slashed over at the grovyle, his claw eating only air as Azura jumped back. The sudden motion caused Ray to leap forward once more, opening his jaw wide as a stream of fire sprayed out.
Azura ducked under the Flamethrower, wincing as stray embers licked at her skin. Being a grass-type wasn't exactly her favorite thing right now. "Ray, calm down. It's alright. It's alright…"
He was swimming in a sea of darkness. There was no other life there besides him. And, as far as he knew, his one destination was the door in front of him.
The green one – no. The pink – no! The gr – pink – green! Green! No – pink!
It was rapidly changing colors according to his thoughts, and he didn't know which one to pick – the green one? Or the pink one? The pink one promised safety, life, no death, please no death, not death not death not death. To whom the death would be given to he wasn't sure, but what he was sure about was that he didn't want death.
The green one promised togetherness.
Was that it?
There was more…
He was sure there was more…
The green one promised…
Promised…
The door turned pink.
"They're still alive," Miyuki breathed, her eyes the size of saucer plates. "Oh, my Arceus. Oh, oh my Arceus, they're alive."
She choked back a sob as she rushed forward into the wreckage immediately, scooping the nearest pokemon up in her arms – it was Emiko, scrapes and burn marks and chunks of clothing missing all over, but alive. Alive.
Sakura, Caitlin, and Lyon were scattered all over the ruined hidden area, checking up the pokemon for injuries and if there were any casualties. To their immense horror, only Kip and Sid were found; Zeni, Quil, Barrett, and Wani were nowhere to be seen. Miyuki carried the flaaffy in her arms into the broken, chipped wheelbarrow she and Lyon had painstakingly dragged over, then pushed it over to where the police apprentices and the treecko were waiting.
"Zeni and Quil and Wani and B-Barrett aren't here?" Miyuki cried out, visibly troubled over this. Sakura nodded meekly, her gaze fixated to her shoes as Caitlin crossed her arms, deep in thought. Lyon looked incredibly nervous about all this as he looked at the scenery; clearly something had happened here.
"Something did," Caitlin said, mouth not moving as she glanced over at Lyon. The treecko blinked, obviously oblivious to the fact that the riolu was mute. "The Bloody Lucid came over and screwed everything up. They probably removed that poison from their food, too, so that plan's dead and buried." She frowned. "You said you killed Neko, though, didn't you? That's at least one problem out of the way…"
"We left Azura, Momo, and Elion back at the campsite," Lyon said slowly. "I don't know if they went elsewhere, but…"
"More of you pesky things, hm?" A voice deadpanned. Everyone snapped to attention, tensing as they cautiously scoured the area for the source. Footsteps padding on ruined pavement alerted the four to the mightyena by the entrance. "I thought I had gotten rid of you all… it appears not. Well, no matter." His swords appeared in both hands, and a grin crept onto his face. "This shall be fun."
Haruka, despite being only a few days old – a week, maybe? – knew that something like a great big lizard growling and snapping at the other green lizard who was nice to her wasn't something good.
'Auntie Mirai always said it. I think. Usually it makes pokemon stop…'
The oshawott waddled over unsteadily towards the red lizard, who stopped its growling and turned to look down at Haruka, huffing through his nose and sending an ember towards her. She flinched, but tried not to look scared. 'Not scared. I'm not scared! I'm a water-type! I'm Mommy's daughter! Not scared, not scared, not scared!'
"F-Fuck you!" she shouted, doing her best imitation of Auntie Mirai. She had to make her voice a few octaves lower, though, and a lot louder. "Stupid big lizard! Um – die, die, die! Mommy will–" she faltered. What came after that again? "Mommy will murder you!"
Judging by the way the red lizard's eyes grew wider, Haruka supposed it had worked. She suppressed a smile of victory, then immediately screamed in fright when the lizard's jaws burst into flames and it lunged toward her.
"Ray, no!" the green lizard shouted. Haruka's name wasn't Ray, so maybe the red lizard's name was Ray? It sounded likely. Ray didn't seem to listen to the green lizard, though, as he didn't even twitch when the green lizard called for him. Haruka stumbled on a tree root and tried to crawl on the grass, but Ray's – no, the charmeleon's jaws were coming closer, closer, closer –
"YOU ARE NOT FUCKING KILLING MY NIEEEECE!"
Haruka looked up just in time to see a great big stream of purplish-bluish-whitish fire come out of her Auntie Mirai's (she recognized it from the green hair) outstretched palms, hitting the charmeleon head-on and sending him crashing to a tree trunk. Thankful for the protection, Haruka sped to hide behind the axew (that was what Auntie Mirai called herself. Right?) and peered out to spy on the red lizard.
Ray looked like he was definitely pained from the… Dragon Rage, maybe? Whatever it was, it hurt Ray and Ray didn't look happy about that. The charmeleon staggered to his feet, some of the charred scales falling off – Haruka supposed that even fire-types couldn't resist her Auntie Mirai's awesome Dragon Rage attack. Ray leapt forward again, fangs aflame and tail flame burning ever brighter as he launched himself at Auntie Mirai, causing both of them to topple over and roll around on the grass, snarling and biting and shooting both fire and dragon-type embers at each other.
"Who the hell is that?" Haruka could hear the purple ghost asking, sounding… what was the word? Amused? Something like that. "… Oh, no. You're not possibly–"
"I'd like some fucking help here, if that's not any trouble!" Auntie Mirai shouted, just barely managing to avoid getting a mouthful of flames. Growling, she snarled, "You piece of – I'll show you how fire can hurt!" Then she spat out a stream of similar flames from her mouth, hitting Ray on the forehead and causing the charmeleon to get even more agitated. Haruka could sense this wasn't going very well.
"Stop hurting him, you barbarian!" the green lizard shouted, stomping over to where Auntie Mirai and Ray were and pushing the axew off of him. Ray growled and pat out a few embers at the green lizard, who winced and wiped them off her skin stubbornly.
"What the hell d'you think you're doing?!" Auntie Mirai exclaimed. "Wasn't he trying to kill you guys?!"
"No! He's just – ugh! This isn't important right now!" the green lizard pushed Auntie Mirai away (Haruka bristled at this) and held the charmeleon in place, ignoring the embers he blew as best as she could. "Ray. Ray, calm down. I don't know why you're in your Other, but whatever made it happen, it's not here anymore. Calm down. Calm. Down."
Ray's struggles slowed. The embers grew weaker. He drew his claws halfheartedly on the green lizard's skin, and his eyes were wide. The green lizard looked like she found out the secret to the universe as she continued, "What is it, Ray? What's troubling you? What's so important, so frightening, so Arceusdamn horrible that you reverted to your Other? Did someone make you? Were you forced to?"
"Azu… Azura…" He mumbled, sounding halfway between a growl and a resigned murmur. "Hurt… death… I fight… you… safe."
"I don't really know what you're talking about," Azura (that's probably her name, Haruka thought) said slowly, her voice lowering to a whisper. "But I think it was something nice, and I also think that's all that matters. My opinion probably doesn't matter right now, but it does for me, and another opinion of mine is that you calm down and get back to the Ray I know."
The atmosphere settled down. The charmeleon had gone completely still, the only part of him barely moving being his chest as he breathed heavily. Then,
"… Okay."
A glow started coming from Ray, who Azura instantly let go of. The charmeleon sunk to his knees, panting tiredly as if he had just run some sort of marathon, and started… transforming, or some sort. His body had become totally enveloped in the bright light, and the pokemon in the near vicinity had to shield their eyes from the glow.
Once the light had faded, what had once been a savage charmeleon with molted flames dripping down its fangs stood Ray. He had scrapes and bruises and openly bleeding cuts, and his breathing was quite labored, but he was alive. And, Haruka thought, that was all that really mattered for Azura at the moment.
She lunged at him, nearly sending them both toppling to the ground, wrapping her arms around him in the tightest hug Haruka (and probably everyone else) had ever seen, burying her face in the crook of his neck. She whispered something unintelligible, but by the way Ray let out a quiet chuckle and hugged her back, Haruka could guess what she had said.
"I missed you."
Maybe it had been a good idea to follow that green lizard who Haruka had thought would die, after all.
"Melodrama isn't my expertise," Mirai dryly said. "So hurry up and make up with your boy-toy already."
"Shut up," came the muffled reply.
A chuckle came quickly after that, sounding slightly nervous. "I'm glad you think of me like that, Azura, but she's got a point."
"…" Mirai could almost feel the glare coming off of the grovyle. "Fine." Azura reluctantly detached herself from the charmeleon, though the axew could clearly see the way her touch lingered a second too long on his skin. "I'm Azura, that's Ray, the annoying floating idiot over there is Momo, that's Elion."
"Cool, I even get a super-special title!" Momo grinned.
'We have an idiot,' Mirai thought. It alarmed her a little on how she immediately thought of Makou.
Elion the gliscor waved from his spot by the tree. "Nice to meet you."
"You too." Mirai sighed. "I'm Mirai… Sakamoto. This is Haruka." She gestured to the oshawott behind her. "And there was this piplup called Izumi who I met a while ago, but I dunno where she went now."
"Izumi?" Azura raised an eyebrow. "Where is she?"
"I just told you I don't know where the hell she went," Mirai repeated with an irritated tone.
"Izuzu, huh?" Momo whistled. "Didn't think she'd come this far… wonder what happened to her, huh?"
"She got swept away by a flood," Mirai said.
"Oh. Thought so."
"At least we have a lead. We can look for her later," Azura said, pinching the bridge of her nose. Really, she had just gotten her partner back after he had attacked her in his Other, and he had been missing for who-knows-how-long. Couldn't she be allowed to maybe hug him for a very long time and not let go until she's sure he won't disappear again? "For now, you're coming with us."
"…" It took a while for Mirai to figure out that the grovyle was pointing at her. "… Wait. What? Me?"
"Yes, you." Azura rolled her eyes, not even trying to hide it. She noticed the axew's eyebrow twitch. "We'll explain later when we get to where we need to go, alright? Please don't be difficult now."
"Why should I listen to you anyway?"
"I hate this question," Elion muttered under his breath. Momo nodded in agreement.
"… Oh," Ray said. "So you're Mirai, huh?"
"…" The axew's eyes widened. "And you're… that dude in my dreams. Ray?"
He grinned toothily. "Hello."
In the blink of an eye, Mirai had stomped over to the charmeleon and grabbed him by the shoulders, pressing her face a little too close to his. Baring her teeth, she managed to ground out, "You give me some answers right now and maybe I'll come with you."
"Depends on the subject matter," Ray replied easily, keeping up a light, airy tone despite the very imminent danger right in front of him.
"… Good enough." Mirai shoved him away from her, causing the poor charmeleon to topple over and land on the grass on his rear. Azura pulled him back up just as the axew took a very comfortable seat on a rock. She then grabbed a branch, blew a dragon flame on its tip, and smirked as it caught on fire easily. She jabbed the branch at the group of pokemon in front of her, the flame just inches away from Azura, who tried not to flinch. "I think it's interrogation time, don't you?"
Telluric Cave
Shido shivered. "Cold."
"Yes, we know that," Ember said, forcing the words out from chattering teeth.
The group had just gotten through Telluric Path and, seeing as dark was quickly settling around them, they set up camp in the small cave similar to the one they had teleported in just this morning. Ember had made the fire, while Makou and Freya made themselves useful and gathered some firewood. Satsuki had volunteered to keep watch for half the night, despite many protests and halfhearted attempts on making her change her mind. The suicune seemed quite intent on keeping watch, though, so they eventually left her.
Taylor let out a breath, watching as it became visible in the air. His wings curled around his body even more, the rufflet doing his best to conserve body heat. "Did anyone pack some extra heavy clothing?"
Leone, Freya, and Cheeka all raised their hands. They all looked like they were just about buried in blankets, layers and layers of clothing, and earmuffs on all three of them. "Not sharing."
"How the heck did all of you manage to say that at the same time?" Nevertheless, Taylor extracted another hoodie, this one grayish from his bag, wrapping it around himself in an attempt to keep out the cold. Judging from his still-violent trembles, it didn't work.
"Dinner's ready!" Makou called, walking out of one of the small caverns the cave itself had. She, along with Ryuuko and Satsuki, seemed to be the only ones not at all affected by the sheer cold. The sentret held out a plate of croquettes, most of them laden with meat they had collected from the Wild Pokemon they had killed on the way. None of them seemed at all troubled by the fact that they were eating one of their own. "Here, here, here – no getting extra just 'cause you helped either, Ryuuko!"
The zorua rolled her eyes, hiding a pout, and put up an illusion as she munched absentmindedly on the croquette she held. Shido tilted his head and easily saw the extra two pieces she had.
"… Mirai got herself into a lot of trouble once more, it seems," Cheeka deadpanned, holding two fingers to the side of her head as she established the telepathic link with the axew once more. "She found some strange pokemon in the near vicinity of your base and is currently interrogating them for something-or-other. She's making less sense than usual."
"Makou-esque sense?" Taylor asked. He grimaced at Cheeka's nod.
"Haruka almost died, it sounds."
Everyone could clearly hear the sound of Satsuki's ribbons snapping to life.
"… Well, she's alive, though. For now. Said something about a cubone coming over for a visit as well, though she has no idea why."
Shido and Ryuuko eyed Satsuki carefully to make sure she wouldn't stand up and run all the way back to Post Town during the night to personally chop Mirai up and make them eat her for breakfast. At the sound of the cubone's visit, however, Freya jumped up, nearly sending Leone face-first into the fire in front of him. "Cubone? What's his name?"
"… Erm…" Cheeka scrunched up her face, visibly trying to keep the telepathic link intact. "I can't hear very well. Tri… Tri-something. Trischtsesse?"
"Tristesse!" the buizel sprang to her feet. "Oh no oh no oh fucking no. This is not good. Not good at all."
"How come? Is Mirai in trouble?" Shido asked in alarm, struggling to get on his feet. "We have to – to – to help her!"
"It's the Rampaging Gods!" Freya practically shrieked. "I cannot believe they're in Post Town already! Fuck everything ever!"
"The Rampaging Gods?" Leone shouted. "The fucking Rampaging Gods?" He dropped to his knees. "Holy fucking shit I can't believe this."
"Stop cursing," Makou said, voice still somehow sounding cheery. "What's so bad about them?"
"They're with Nightmare sorta!" Freya said, her speech getting less and less understandable. "I mean they're kind of like… allies with them? Not really, what's the word…?"
"Acquaintances with a common goal," Satsuki muttered from her seat in front of the cave. "They are rather dangerous. What happened to Mirai?"
"One of the non-threatening members of the RG came over and helped her clean her room a bit, so she says," Cheeka says, obviously not believing whatever the axew had said. "She doesn't seem to be hurt, but she lost sight of where the cubone went. Oh, and he played a bit with Haruka too."
Satsuki stood up this time. Then, after a moment of contemplation, she sat back down and seemed to start plotting ways on… whatever it was. Shido didn't particularly want to know.
After that, there was some light chatter, and the group eventually fell asleep. Ember threw another branch at the crackling fire in the center of the little circle and curled up inside his sleeping bag.
"… You're one of them, aren't you? You look rather familiar…"
"… Defenders."
"Oh, yes. I remember you, way back then…"
"Yes. Anything you need?"
"Not particularly. Except, perhaps…"
"You're still rather far… three days, or four."
"Anything of note?"
"… Lawrence is still here."
"I see… and Felicity?"
"We're not quite sure…"
"… Alright. You may go, now. You have my appreciation… I never quite got your name."
"… Quil. I take my leave, my Lady."
Word Count: 4500+ words. Not bad!
I forgot how one writes an author's note. Anyway, I think I deserve to take the rest of the day off... anyone of you who's watched the new anime this Fall? Akame ga Kill! is pretty good.
Okay, so. The mystery of the missing and/or dead pokemon is shown, Neko is somehow a glameow and (if you couldn't tell) in her Other. As is Ray, for some reason, though it appears that he calmed down enough... and Haruka seems to have picked up some no-no words from her Auntie Mirai. And at the end, Quil appears! So he's alive after all. And he's reporting to... someone. I don't know if it's obvious or not, so feel free to guess.
Up next: I don't know. Interrogation time between Mirai and Azura and co., the second day of the Great Glacier expedition, um... maybe Izumi makes an appearance, or the Rampaging Gods (who Freya and Leone are freaking out over for some reason). Stay tuned!
Marei, 7/17/14