Chapter 29: Sacrifice
By the time Vrinda and Indira reached the stone bridge from Mountain 3-04 to one of the joining mountains, Priscilla could see why Indira was so keen on running away.
Behind them, something was writhing around on the peak of Sunset Mountain, and Priscilla swore she could see a golden staircase crumbling into nothingness.
The escaping trio dashed into the tunnel, and Priscilla welcomed the quiet darkness of the rocky mountain's insides.
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"We can take a break down here," Indira said after they exited the tunnel, gesturing with her tail to a small, shallow ravine in the side of the mountain. "You can catch your breath and switch your medicham out for someone else. She might have to take you down the mountain to Cianwood City later, and you don't want her to stumble."
Priscilla glanced at her medicham, who looked a bit queasy at the idea of slipping on the descent to Cianwood. On the tram ride up from the town, they had watched out the windows - they saw the steep drop down to the beaches below. They wouldn't stand a chance.
"A break might be good," Vrinda admitted. "Just sayin'."
"Y-yeah. Um, return," she said quietly, zapping her trusty medicham back into her ultra ball. "I guess Jet would be pretty good..." Reaching into her backpack, Priscilla pulled out a familiar safari ball and released a familiar yanma. He glanced up at her worried face and gave her a reassuring buzzing sound.
Priscilla wanted to feel reassured - her best friend (because Jet had to be her best pokemon friend now. Who else could she let it be?) was out with her. A small, very much not reassuring thought passed through her mind - that a certain ghost pokemon would have been a much better choice for an evening companion - but she chased it away.
"Now," Indira said with a voice much calmer than Priscilla felt, "take out the grimoire. I'm going to try and tell you as much as I know - as much information as will be helpful to you - in case something happens tonight."
Her words felt eerily similar to the last thing Celest said. Priscilla gulped back the urge to vomit and pulled out the grimoire, squinting down at the pages to try and see them in the dim dusk light. "Um, here it is."
Indira seemed to have no problems with night vision. She merely lifted a claw to the book and daintily turned the pages until she reached the one she wanted: the page listing all the inside and outside haelliads.
When she did, Priscilla could have sworn that more names were crossed out since she last looked, but she blamed it on her eyes. It was getting pretty dark out, after all.
"Now, I want you to listen very closely. The key piece of information that I have relates to locations," Indira hissed. "I have a very good idea about where each haelliad has to reside, and I can usually tell where the dead ones passed away. But I must warn you - not all of them listen to the rules." Her tail flicked angrily. "I cannot account for those who disobey."
"But -"
"Don't speak - we need to do this efficiently. How good is your memory?"
Priscilla and Jet exchanged a worried look. "Um, I think my memory's okay," Priscilla said, still looking at Jet. "Um, Jet - do you think you could, um, help? Y'know, to remember stuff?"
The bug nodded slowly. He had a fairly good memory, but that wasn't the problem. Even if he remembered something that Priscilla forgot, how would he be able to tell her? She could barely understand his "yes" and "no" - how would he be able to convey something more complicated than a yes-or-no answer?
But he kept his worries to himself. Begrudgingly, he knew that he would be there for Priscilla if she faltered in whatever she had to do. Hadn't he been there for her since the very beginning? (Save for her little disappearing act in Mount Coronet, but that didn't really count.)
"I - I think I can remember," the trainer said to the feline haelliad, "w-we won't forget."
The cat narrowed her red eyes, glaring at the little girl and making her feel small. "Very well. Can you see the lists?"
"Um," Priscilla began, taking out her Pokedex and turning it on. As soon as the lists appeared on the backlit screen, she smiled a bit. "Yes."
Indira took a deep breath, her red gem shining dully - Priscilla couldn't tell if it glowed on its own, or was merely reflecting the light from her Pokedex screen. "Zenith," she began, and Priscilla took a deep breath in anticipation. "He has to stay under cover of water and earth."
Priscilla let her breath out. That wasn't helpful - she already knew that. She saw from the very beginning that he lived behind a waterfall. But she said nothing, not wanting to anger a creature as big as her and with much sharper teeth and nails.
"Nadir," she continued, "she must stay close to that which she is sworn to kill. Darcy," Priscilla's throat tightened, "is chained into that which we serve. Shyama had to stay inside a living forest of darkness - he died in Eterna City, Sinnoh."
Priscilla winced, remembering all too well the ripped-up corpse in Eterna City. She then winced again when she heard a low moaning coming from Mountain 3-04.
"Badr must run forever on a road of moving water. Georgiana lived near those plunged into dreams, and she died in Canalave City, Sinnoh. Hallam had to stay near where the earth breaths, and he died near Mount Stark on Sinnoh's Northeast Island."
The moaning came closer, rising in pitch. Jet took to the air, hovering nervously next to his trainer.
"Farran was placed near where time stood still, and he died on Mount Coronet's Spear Pillar shrine. Kynaston was to fly in the skies of the north when ice fell from the sky - he died a few kilometers north of Mount Coronet's peak. Lyrisa is to never stay in one place, nor stay in one form."
Jet tried to tell Priscilla that something was getting closer, but she was busy trying to remember Indira's location information in case it actually became useful.
"Wystan was to follow those who were destined for victory and aid them in their most difficult choices - he died in Lake Acuity's cavern. Beatrice was forced to follow the sun around the world - she died in Johto's golden city."
"A-and the outsides?" Priscilla asked, giving Jet a confused look. She couldn't understand why he seemed so jumpy - the moaning wasn't that much closer, was it?
"I regret to say I do not know their exact roles," Indira said with a sigh, "but I do know that Vael died in the Lake of Rage, Hamako died in the Olivine City Lighthouse, and Umiou died in Azalea Town's Slowpoke Well - all of them in Johto. I expect to die here, in the Cianwood Range." Priscilla once again gulped back the urge to vomit, but Indira continued in her standard monotone."Mara left Johto when Beatrice died. Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit were chained to their caves, and I expect they will die there, as well, if they have not already. Celest died in the ocean north of Johto. The remaining live in Hoenn."
Priscilla frowned. "Hoenn?"
"Yes," the cat replied with a flick of her tail. The moaning was getting louder, and it was clear to both Jet and Priscilla that Indira heard it, though she tried not to show it. "There is one other thing you should know before you leave."
"W-what?"
"You know that if a haelliad dies, those below in ranking inherit the higher position, correct?" When Priscilla nodded, Indira continued: "what you probably do not know is that no matter how many die, we still retain one key characteristic of our original number - our pair. You see that there are twelve of us in each list? We are linked to the corresponding number in the opposite list. For example," Indira said with a slight head gesture towards the lists on the book, though Priscilla could only read from the screen due to the lack of sunlight, "I was originally fourth. Therefore, I am linked to Shyama, who was also fourth."
"Yeah," Priscilla said, not entirely sure where Indira was going, "is that important?"
"If one specific number dies," Indira replied in a much more indifferent tone than Priscilla felt appropriate, "the other cannot live long."
The girl with the Pokedex felt the pit of her stomach drop away. Shyama was dead - his name had been struck-through ever since she won her first badge back in Eterna City. "So - so you -"
But Priscilla couldn't finish - the sound of the tunnel behind them suddenly caving in cut her off. Immediately, Indira was up, scrambling back towards the trail leading to the tram station. "You must run!"
Jet took off ahead of Priscilla, who had to pause to put away her Pokedex and the grimoire. As she dashed off after her yanma, she suddenly realized that Indira was hanging behind. "Indira!"
"Run! I will follow!"
Jet screamed for Priscilla to follow him, and finally she did, stumbling over rocks made invisible by the dark. Every time she glanced behind, she saw Indira's hyper beams, pay days, icy winds, and night slashes tearing at a giant, amorphous foe.
She kept running, following Jet's frantic attempts to use his signal beam attack as a sort of makeshift flashlight. When she fell, she tried to pull herself up and ignore her bleeding knees and keep running.
Then she heard Indira scream and scratch at rocks, and she turned just in time to see the cat thrown over the mountainside.
Three seconds later she heard a sickening sound, one in between a thud and a splatter.
And then their foe surrounded her and her dragonfly, breathing in on them and choking their souls.
Priscilla squeezed her eyes shut, trying to breathe and failing.
"Help," she wheezed. "P-please - Zen - D-Dar -"
Jet wriggled against their opponent, seeing a flash of blue before he lost control of his wings and fell to the ground next to his suffocating trainer.
