Chapter 29 - Fogbound
The meeting place wasn't exactly what the hooded figure had in mind. But considering how closely located this was to civilization, it would have to do.
His contact was already waiting for him, impatiently pacing around the clearing. The brittle leaves that had been cooked in the drought snapped under the sound of manifested intolerance, dissolving what would be a night where the five senses had vanished. The mountain forest would sing with life during the daytime, but the hooded figure knew that the world of darkness was black to its white. It was certainly ideal to meet here when the inhabitants of the nearby dungeons were dormant. But regardless, it still seriously irked him that his contact refused to at least meet him halfway. That left him to walk miles across this part of the continent himself, which he had already begun to grow tired of doing so often beforehand.
"Just gotta deal with this a little longer," he whispered to himself as he pushed aside a low branch and finally entered the clearing. "It'll all be over soon."
"Talking to yourself again?" his contact spoke loudly from across the sloped clearing, halting in place and turning to face him.
The hooded figure scoffed at the figure in the shadows, stomping forward to get a better look at his accomplice. "Just hush and give me the report," he growled. "I didn't hike all this way just to toss you crumbs."
An eyebrow was raised at his aggression. "Well would you like me to hush, or would you like me to give you a report?"
"Cut it out, dammit. I'm in a bad mood."
"You should be in a bad mood, you unqualified wretch!" his accomplice hissed, the voice suddenly wielding a pitch of violence. "You've got no place being snappy with me. The entire reason I'm out here in the middle of the night is to correct your blatant failure at subduing our target, so you're going to comply with me whether you like it or not. It is only by the grace of our lord that you are still alive to realize your incompetence."
"What about the other one? The second incarnate?" the hooded figure asked, paying little mind to the insults being thrown his way.
"Our lord has given no orders regarding the other one. We only focus on our target for now, and disconnecting him from his roots in the Tree of Life."
A folded-up piece of parchment was produced and handed to the hooded figure. His contact adopted a menacing grin as it was slowly unfolded, deciding to provide some background.
"I tried the same method you did, and sure enough, he didn't budge. Ah, and I was so close too... I was right there! But he's too smart to let his guard down, and brute force isn't an option with Project Marble still developing. Perhaps if you had realized this sooner and diverted your plans as I have decided to, then we wouldn't be here."
"What exactly am I looking at?" the hooded figure questioned. He had unfolded the parchment and was now trying to make sense of what was on it. His eyes widened. "Are you serious? Are you certain this is the right-?"
The contact continued to grin, snatching the blueprints from the hooded figure's fingertips and disappearing into the darkness with it. The answer would come in a faded whisper that receded from the artificial golden lights glimmering just above the treeline.
"What you just saw detailed exactly how the bastard will be put through hell on earth. Do not dare question our lord's methods."
"But what-"
"In the meantime, you had damn well be ready to do your part. Trust the process."
That was the last the hooded figure heard before he was left alone in the woods.
Lively Town changed while we were gone.
It was too subtle for me to notice for a few days, but finally gave me pause when I picked up on the development of the outskirts. Cobblestone and artificial color-ways introduced themselves to the sandy coast on either flank of the town. An exponentially sloped landscape on the other wasn't slowing it's gradual rise either, and the mark of civilization was easily winning the turf war. I finally saw it today when staring down at the town from the hill by Gentle Slope Cave, noticing that Lively Town's radius had been extended the tiniest bit. I had only spent a couple of weeks away, but the lively activity of the Pokemon here had not reclined.
It had been six days since the big discussion in the chief's office. Despite the weight of what was revealed, no course of action was to be taken right away as Mawile and Ampharos decided they would bide their time and formulate a plan. In the meantime, that left Leah and I to our own devices. Life and responsibility cared little for two weeks spent frolicking across the ocean, and it was Water Continent business as usual for my partner and I.
I was feeling great about that, and so was my vine. It had finally grown back and didn't ache whenever I put it to use, so I was hoping that the daily routine would follow in its image and become natural once more. The transition wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, credited that doing daily jobs in dungeons around the area was second nature at this point. Little missions like this had made up a large majority of my life after all, even when considering all of the breaks in routine due to the unfortunate constitution of my presence in this world. Of course worries about the whole stone dilemma weren't quick to leave my head, but they could perhaps be waned by a stagnant agenda of tasks and exertions with a lot less at stake.
What a naive thought, conjured from my desire for comfort in an uncomfortable world. Putting an end to the normal routine was a revelation that brought itself to light on this day not even a week after arriving back. I should've figured as much; we were dealing with a national crisis after all.
Leah and I shuffled into the headquarters, exhausted from a day hiking the northern foothills and getting caught up in some trouble that really shouldn't have happened to us in the first place. We planned to make the best of the half hour or so we had until dinner by settling into our room and enjoying each others' company. Anything else but relaxing my limbs after a long day of scaling feral obstacles was at the back of my mind at the moment.
"Phew!" Leah exclaimed as the colder breeze of the conditioned indoors hit us on the way in. "Who'd have thought that a rescue mission would turn out to be a trapped monster house? What a summer this has been, right?"
"No kidding," I sighed with a concurring nod. "I guess today was just one big waste of time, huh?"
"Nuh-uh. I learned psyshock in that fight, so it wasn't a total waste," she replied with an optimistic smile. "Oh, and we got rescue points from the Connection Orb too, and we caught the scamming prick who tried to trap us. So misadventures aside, I'd call it a successful day."
I opened my mouth to challenge the relevance of the connection orb points, but stopped myself when I noticed Ampharos was downstairs with Mawile. Crossing through the central room on the first story had brought us near them, and they were standing in the open as the chief fervently explained something consequential to the attentive scientist. He appeared to be distressed at first glance, and sounded all the same when we diverted to approached him out of curiosity. I had never seen the chief this overtly frustrated before, and honestly never thought I would.
"What's going on?" a concerned Leah asked him as we approached.
The chief turned from Mawile and acknowledged us in a manner that was void of the cheer that usually sprinkled itself in his voice. "Oh, good afternoon Team Prism. I was just getting ready to address everyone, so if you'll wait just one moment." He turned in the direction of Swirlix, who was over by the mess hall trying to pull a fork out of her cotton-like body. "My good Swirlix, would you kindly ring the bell and summon the rest of the Society?"
Swirlix was so busy untangling the piece of silverware out of her fluff that, to the chief's dismay, she didn't hear his calling.
"I got this," I said before any form of his impatience could be vocalized. I rolled my eyes at the sight of her struggling form and cupped my hands over my mouth to call out to the crazy chef. "Hey Swirlix! I heard if you ring the dinner bell really hard, you'll get free cake!"
Leah raised her eyebrow at me for a moment, unconvinced that such a half-baked claim would yield any results. But Swirlix proved her wrong when, with bulging eyes, she tackled the dinner bell and nearly knocked it off the wall. A loud metallic ring, more of an unmelodious clang rather than the usual stabilized dissonance, sounded through the building with a clear message. The likes of Buizel and Bunnelby emerged from their rooms, curious to find out what the source of the summoning entailed at such an unusually early time for dinner to be ready. Following them, with some also shuffling down the second-story stairs, were the rest of the members, with Comfey and Brionne trailing everyone. In a matter of thirty seconds, everyone was downstairs in the lobby and forming a group to stand before Ampharos. Me, Leah, and the comically confused Swirlix hopped in and completed the group while Ampharos scanned over the entirety of us.
Again, something was clearly off. He usually revealed himself as slightly unorganized and incidental during morning announcements, with Mawile at his side to occasionally nudge him forward with the daily routine and keep him on track. But there wasn't a shadow of indolence in his eyes at this moment, and for once he wore a purposeful frown. Satisfied with the gathering, he took a deep breath and cleared his throat to speak.
"Salutations everyone," the chief began, his voice stern but thankfully neutral enough to not be unsettling. "I know we don't normally have meetings like this, especially towards the end of the day, but this is very important. You're all probably wondering why I have called you down here."
"Wait, we're not having an early dinner?" Buizel said, not hiding his disgruntlement. Several concurring voices sounded behind him, and an air of discontentment diffused through the room as disappointing realization set in for most of them. Swirlix, meanwhile, was still as oblivious as ever.
"Where's the cake? Where is it?" she demanded of everyone and also no one in particular, glancing all around as if her imaginary dream cuisine was lurking just out of detectable range.
"There's no cake, Swirlix," Mawile broke to her in a flat tone.
"Hey!" Comfey yelled at the chef, cartwheeling twice to personify her frustration. "Why'd you ring the bell if there's no dinner? Huh?"
"Well I thought I was gonna get free cake! Blame the snake!" Swirlix growled as reality finally set in, projecting me a hellish glare that might've indicated a threat to the integrity of my next meal.
Taking advantage of their discord, I innocently stared at the ceiling and shrugged, acting as if uninvolved.
"Attention, my friends, please!" Ampharos's authoritative voice called out over the pointless banter. "I have an important announcement!"
All of us forgot about our insignificant exchanges and stood at attention before the chief. Mawile still stood near his side, but back a few paces to concede him the floor and to hear him better.
"Thank you," the electric-type continued. "Now... I have talked to the Water Continent guard and presented them with the information that we have gathered for finally executing Project Chisel. We have evidence for several suspects, but none stand out more prominently than the legendary Pokemon Volcanion. You all pretty much know this already. The only thing we lack in pursuing him as the perpetrator of these vicious stone disasters is a motive, which could be achieved through face-to-face confrontation."
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go get him!" Buizel blurted out.
"Yes, I'm getting to that now," Ampharos continued, indifferent to the disruption. "Unfortunately, the nationally organized forces on this continent refuse to support the evidence we have gathered and execute an investigation of their own. If we are to pursue this lead any further, we'll be alone and working at the expense of our own assets." The chief looked at Buizel and nodded once before finishing. "But since when has that stopped us? I say this lead cannot be ignored, and at the present moment we are the only Pokemon willing and able."
"Woah, wait..." Vulpix spoke up before anyone could second the motion. "Are you saying we're actually gonna go after a legendary Pokemon? I-I don't mean to sound diminutive, but you all realize we're a rescue and research team, not a military force, right? Doesn't this course of action sound a little insane?" The tone of her voice seemed to speak for her. A couple others in the crowd seemed to agree with her logic, while the rest remained outwardly neutral.
Ampharos chuckled in response, finally showing a bit of his usual self. "Of course it's insane. Why, it would be insane for all of you not to think this plan is insane! But as you know, we typically operate on our own terms whenever we band together for a mission like this. And therefore, if this is what must be done to find the culprit, then we will handle it like we always have. With vigor and also with spirit!"
Several voices cheered, Leah's included, while the remaining murmured some form of acquiescence. Team spirit was one thing, but I knew this was stretching it a bit, so it made sense to me why there might be divided opinions on such an extreme proposal. I remained silent as I mulled over the idea.
"Vigor and spirit are the same thing..." I heard Vulpix mutter under her breath, unenthusiastic about how this was turning out.
"I agree with the chief!" Mincinno excitedly exclaimed, energetically pumping his fist into his open palm. "Now, where can we find this crook?"
"Calm yourself Mincinno," Mawile chastised, holding a hand up. "We still haven't concluded that this Volcanion fellow is our definite enemy. But to answer your question..." She produced a map from the back pocket on her bag, and unrolled it for everyone to see. "I snagged this from one of those lazy goons while we were trying to show them the evidence about Volcanion. They've apparently kept tabs on his home location for quite some time."
Ampharos opened his mouth slowly and gawked at her, unaware that she had done such a thing until now.
"Mawile..." he sighed. "It's going to be hell to pay if someone finds out you stole from the military."
"Oh, to hell right back at them," the steel-type researcher scoffed. "They're just a bunch of uninformed political eggheads who weren't planning on using this information anyway. They won't find out."
Ampharos looked a bit stupefied by the absence of the calculated logical rebuttal he expected to hear. He was never much of a political whiz himself, in large part to distance himself from such feverish emotions. But in the end he did not challenge his most trusted companion for her unconventional means of gathering intelligence. "Well, I suppose that's in the past," he conceded, shaking his head. "Lead the way."
Mawile gave him a cheeky smile and gratefully nudged him as she stepped forward with the printed map. She raised it up into the air for everyone to inspect, holding it open with her off hand. It was really just a picture of the southeastern shoreline and a dotted line drawn through the bridging ocean and into the mainland of another continent. Judging by the scale of the longitudinal lines, it was at least as far as the distance from here to the Air Continent had been. There were numbers and diagrams drawn here and there that detailed ocean currents and sections of land along the way, but overall it was a simple depiction of exactly where we needed to go.
"We can sail across the ocean to the Grass Continent, as shown here," Mawile stated, pointing to the line. "The best path would be circling around the continent to the east coast and disembarking here near Sky Summit. From there we can head southeast until we reach our destination, which should be right here."
She pointed to an odd-looking structure on the map, indicating it was where Volcanion lived. It was drawn as a body of water, definitely a lake, but it appeared to be sitting inside some kind of natural bowl of rock. The image intrigued me, as I never would've imaged such a natural structure could exist while also holding a large body of water. It seemed like the perfect place for a legendary creature to spent its downtime.
Archen, a few paces in front of me, turned back and whispered, "Looks like we're going on another boat ride."
"Your favorite," I mumbled, nudging my partner who was busy listening to Mawile's presentation.
"Huh? Oh, ha-ha guys. Very funny," Leah replied, rolling her eyes and failing to hide a grin. She didn't miss a beat, however, and prepared her own comeback. "You know... maybe we could fly there instead. What do you think Smugleaf?"
She found it incredibly difficult to suppress her giggling and not disrupt the meeting when I shot her my best unamused glare.
While Mawile was going over the course of action again, I glanced around to observe what everyone visibly thought of this idea. Like before, some such as Buizel and Helioptile were visibly excited, while others such as Vulpix and Brionne appeared more than a little nervous. But nobody was in direct opposition, so the matter was settled.
"Well, I suppose that saves us the trouble of tracking him down then," Ampharos said while his assistant stuck the map back into her bag. "In that case, we shall leave..." Now sounding as confident as ever, he struck his signature pose. "...Tomorrow at lunchtime! You are all dismissed!"
"I'll go make dinner! Be ready in half an hour!" Swirlix chimed back at us, already bouncing over into the mess hall to whip up whatever edible art she had planned.
The rest of the Society filtered back to whatever it was they were doing, with Leah and I heading into our room as planned. Even with dinner approaching, the sun was still well into the sky and radiating through the grated windows, and I felt the warmth of the rays coat me as I walked toward the hallway with a heavy mind. The solstice should be any day now. What a summer this had been indeed.
I continued to mull over the upcoming operation, caught somewhere between yearning for answers and feeling conflicted about what we were going to be walking into. Walking back to the room was just as trivial as executing a mission from the connection orb by now, and my subconscious carried my feet while my thoughts remained elsewhere. I allowed the exploration bag to slide onto the floor where it usually found itself following tiresome missions, and then followed suit by unwinding onto my bed and curling my tail up to rest under my nose.
Out of the corner of my eye I spotted Leah, who busied herself by lighting the nearest lantern and then padding over to grab something out of the treasure bag. At first glance it appeared to be a research notebook, but I knew the unruly Fennekin well enough to know that she wasn't keenly interested in literature. She popped a twig into her mouth, shaking her little twig bag and exhibiting a light scowl that indicated she would need to replenish soon. Then she picked up her flower pen and began to write.
"What'cha up to?" I bothered, barely lifting my head to get a better look at her activity.
"Hm? ...Oh this?" she hummed, surprised for a dense moment that she was being spoken to. "This is my diary. I picked it up from the store on the way back while you were buying food."
I cocked my head to the side to rest my temple on the edge of the soft padding. "What would you need that for?"
"To write about my life, of course," she instantly answered with an amused smile. "Y'know, so if I die or something terrible happens, then my feelings and experiences will be recorded here."
"Oh. In that case, might I read it?" I asked her, wanting to test how she would respond.
"Wh-what? Of course not!" she replied nervously, inching the book closer to herself and huffing. "It's supposed to be secret and contain stuff like personal feelings, you know?" When she saw my wordless muddled expression, she rolled her eyes and continued. "Well of course you wouldn't know. It's really a girl thing anyway. I remember Deerling had one too that she wrote in every day."
"Leah, how would you have known Deerling had a diary if it's supposed to be 'secret'?"
Leah inhaled at my question, staring at the ceiling, and stayed that way for a moment before responding. "...I was bored one day, so I took a peek."
My quandary quickly turned into amusement, and I chuckled and shook my head. "Of course you did."
"Well, you know me. I get bored easily," she said, rolling her eyes and giggling. "That's why it's so awesome being best friends with a human from another world. It's pretty hard to get bored with that!"
"Well, for better or for worse," I shrugged.
"Oh, don't be such a downer," she replied with an uplifting smile. "Sometimes you just gotta set your sights on the sunny side of life, and enjoy the journey rather than the destination."
I thought about it for a second and nodded. "I guess you're right."
It was so hard to feel bad about involving her with my ethereal issues when she maintained such a sanguine attitude about all of it. Her appreciation for the atelic moments in life was second to none, and it was starting to rub off on me a bit. I had known from the beginning that it would be the Pokemon that understood my human situation and were willing to help that I could ultimately trust. But true friendship, in my position, should have been entirely unforeseen and was truly invaluable. I really couldn't have gotten this far without her either.
The conversation ended there as Leah busied herself nibbling on her wooden delicacy and jotting down her heart's desires. The sound of pen against paper quickly became a rhythmic ambience to my relaxation, and I resolved to lay in peace with closed eyes so I could rest my head until dinner. These static moments of peace weren't often an abundant luxury at the Expedition Society thus far, so I made sure to take advantage of the little breaks I could get here and there.
It was the moment the sound of a flipping page broke the rhythm that I was reminded of something I had been saving for free time such as this. I sat up and extended a vine over to the desk by the wall, coiling it around a particular book sitting on the edge of the wood. The thick piece of literature weighed the tendril down a bit at first, but a minor readjustment was all it took to comfortably reel it toward me. I lied back down on my stomach and allowed the book I had borrowed from Jirachi to fall open to a random page. I could still remember how he had claimed to have some idea about what was going on with my reversed stat changes in battle, and that this book would supposedly help me understand it. But I just had to find the right page or section, leading to me eventually abandoning the uniform reading I had been doing beforehand. After a few minutes of skimming and searching, I finally located the section dedicated to Snivy at the top of page four-hundred and twenty.
A tiny sketching of a Snivy was illustrated on the page, bearing something similar to my own image. Under it was some needless information about the species' natural habitat and other ramblings that I skimmed over. Then, finally, I found what appeared to be my answer.
The paragraph in question read: "Snivy has one regular birth ability in Overgrow, which powers up grass-type attacks when the user has sustained heavy damage. On rare occasions, however, some Snivy have been recorded to instead possess Contrary, which has been verified as its hidden ability. Contrary reverses the effects of all status changes in battle, including those inflicted on oneself."
Intrigued, I shifted into a sitting position. I remembered hearing about hidden abilities from school; they result from genetic anomalies that could occasionally occur when a Pokemon is born, similar to how 'shiny' body discolorations came to be. It was all tied with the initial genetic values a Pokemon would be born with.
But finally... The description of this ability here was exactly what I had been searching for. I had experienced the effect stated in the text firsthand on multiple occasions with a wide range of variables involved, but now I could actually understand what these weird occurrences meant. The one part that particularly caught my attention was the part about inflicting status conditions on myself with the intention of reversing them. Too focused on being the receiving end of attacks that had this 'contrary' effect, I had never once considered actually manipulating it myself. Could I potentially use this to my advantage?
I reflected over what I had learned so far about Pokemon and their magical techniques and abilities. I felt like there was something that had potential to be incredibly useful about this hidden ability that I must have come across before, but I couldn't quite recall what it was. It would've been nice if the author could've specified exactly what kind of move combinations would work so that I wouldn't have to brainstorm through it myself.
All of my attacks to this point had been relatively straightforward in nature. Efficiently dealing damage was really the only goal, and it hadn't failed me yet even if I wasn't the hardest-hitting Pokemon out there. But with an escalating crisis swirling out of feasible control around me, perhaps it was time for a different approach. Someone like Leah didn't have to worry about such things with her level of dexterity and ranged prowess, but where did my physical attributes land me? I was fast and agile, and my slim frame made evading attacks easier. I could take a devastating hit or two and stay on my feet, depending on the circumstances. My lone grass-typing lent itself to defense and longevity, and my hidden ability proposed a strategic advantage that few enemies might be prepared for. If I could just fill the void on offense... I might be able to have some fun with this.
I spent the next few minutes trying to hypothesize what this ability could possibly be used for from an attacking standpoint. I was excited by the concept of actively breaking and potentially abusing status changes, but I just couldn't quite grasp how I would do it. Eventually my pondering state would become secondary to the jarring of the dinner bell, and lust for nutrition would take its place with little resistance. We were destined to have a hearty feast tonight after all, for this upcoming week would be a time of reckoning.
One night's sleep passed, and it was time to move.
So this was really it then. We were really going to head to Volcanion's domain and put his motives to the test, and only days after he nearly killed us. Those few moments standing in his presence were so surreal that recalling the finer details of the scene was now all but impossible. All I could remember was the excruciating heat of the flames and the adrenaline, followed by the icy chill of impending doom. Did Ampharos and Mawile seriously think we could tackle that kind of force head on with the Pokemon we have? Considering the words of parting that the armored beast had left us with, I wasn't entirely convinced. Chances were there would be no Celebi appearance to save us this time around. The law of averages had been pushed to the limit enough.
Lapras guffawed at Ampharos when he was requested that the entirety of our group be taken to the Grass Continent. The rest of the Lapras liners were busy, and there was no way she alone could carry all of us even with Jirachi, Dedenne, and Brionne staying behind. Forced to seek other methods of travel, we ended up leaving an hour later than projected due to the time it took to secure us a ride on a non-organic vessel.
The ship's design appeared old-fashioned compared to most of the ships in the harbor, and it was hard to miss the rust creeping up the sides of the metal plates and bolts holding it together. A few Society members approached the boarding dock with a range of perplexed reactions as its tiny crew tugged on loose ropes and hauled up their commercial cargo, scouting out where we'd be staying for a couple days. We were really just tagging along to the village they were headed to, which was the same waypoint under the mountain that Mawile had pointed to the evening before, so it was unlikely we would be accommodated like anything close to royalty. Traveling overseas as one large group wasn't common for the Expedition Society, and therefore times where an alternative from the Lapras liner was needed were few and far between.
The captain, an Ambipom with a marble in place of his left eye, insisted his ship could skip across the waters as reliably as he could observe the horizon. That gave us a good fifty-percent chance of survival.
The ship had just enough spare rooms to hold all of us. They were only about a fourth the size of our room at the Society, with second-rate bedding and a single candle for lighting. But getting into uncomfortable situations was just part of exploring, and there was little alternative options for travel unless Jirachi could magically manufacture a bunch of his magical flying machines. Considering my first impression with taking to the skies, I much rather preferred floating along the unfathomable depths of the water.
What ended up really getting to most of us was how boring and uneventful the voyage was; the dreadful calm before a hazy firestorm. There was no doubt plenty to do, as the crew was constantly working and in need of assistance with one small task or another. But it was the mood, rather, that left an eternal itch on our spirits. This was nothing like riding on Lapras's back, since that was at least during a time when we were headed to a new exciting land. Right now, there was just nothing to be excited about. Everyone was somber and locked in, whether they were looking forward to the climax of this journey or they had to force themselves on board.
Leah suffered the worst from the downtime, pacing back and forth before Lively Town had even disappeared over the horizon. Once on the open water, we entertained ourselves with various verbal games that we came up with on a whim, and eventually began mingling with the other Pokemon on the ship for the sake of staying sane through diversity of activity. I talked a lot with Mincinno and Vulpix, who both expressed opposite opinions on the mission but were still equally set on getting it done.
Three daily cycles of this passed. It felt like one drawn-out conscious stretch of tapping feet and breathing salt. The quartermaster called out at one point that land was spotted at the end of this period of time, and everyone rushed to the stern to get a view. But we had been so caught up in our agitation that nobody remembered that we still had a lengthy ways to go along the coast before we actually made landfall, which the quartermaster had to soberly remind us of. Two more days of sailing along with the coast barely in sight would pass before it was finally time to disembark on the west side of the continent.
Towering before us a fair distance into the mainland was a mountain that parted cumulus clouds thousands of meters up into the late morning sky. It easily rivaled Revelation Mountain in magnitude, and produced ethereal beauty that was unique compared to anything I had seen on the Water Continent. We had seen it from the ship as it completed the last stretch towards landing, but viewing it grow larger and larger as we marched forward was simply incredible.
It didn't take long for the crystalline beaches to transform into a grassy landscape coated in pink. A mysterious species of flower emitting an absolutely gratifying fragrance grew together by the thousands. For the entire two hour walk past our waypoint, the majority of our attention would be claimed by these foreign sights of beauty. Not a bad first impression of the Grass Continent for me.
"I assume our waypoint is over yonder?" Ampharos inquired of Mawile as the lot of us walked a path that took us further into the mainland at an angle.
"Yeah, right at the foot of Sky Summit," Mawile supplied, holding the map up at an optimal angle for everyone to see. "It's called Shaymin Village. I've been there once when studying the unique species of Pokemon who live there. It's not very large or highly developed, but it's a great place to relax and enjoy life. We won't be stopping there today since we'll probably be able to make it all the way to our destination by nightfall though."
"What exactly is our destination?" Vulpix asked, speeding up a bit to get a better look. She pointed at the unnaturally-shaped water fountain drawn on the map that had been mentioned before, and looked at the researcher. "It's that strange-looking hill there, right?"
"It's called Fogbound Lake," Mawile corrected. "That's the place."
"Did you say lake?" Helioptile puzzled. "That's no lake, or at least not on the map it isn't. That looks more like an upside down mountain, eh?"
Mawile inhaled through her nose and began one of her patented lectures. "That's because Fogbound Lake is on top of the structure, as you can see drawn here. It used to be hidden by a massive cloud of fog to keep intruders away from the treasure that used to be kept at the top, but we won't have to worry about that. The water is supposedly able to circulate through a series of rising steam and hydrothermal geysers, and by using the relation between pressure and volume, we are able to..."
Heloptile, having the attention span of a single-celled organism, had already tuned out. I did the same, her voice becoming background noise as my thoughts transitioned elsewhere in the midst of my boredom.
At first I grappled with the prospect of facing a legendary Pokemon, as I was sure everyone else was to some degree. It was pretty obvious that this trip likely wasn't going to end with a friendly chat, whether we liked it or not. I wasn't even sure if we had a plan at all beyond pulling up at the doorstep of this thing's foreign lake home and distributing accusations. This was the price of finding the truth, apparently.
Eventually I forced myself to focus on other things to keep myself positive, like the fresh air gliding past my lithe form and the scenic candy that lined the path cutting through the frontier. Bunnelby mentioned to me that the value of real estate on this continent was notably higher than that of any other, and I found no reason to disagree from the sample size I had gathered so far. Even the Pokemon we passed by every now and then seemed to act different in an uplifting way. None of us would have ever thought this place might harbor a volcanic murderer if we weren't specifically here to confront one.
Traveling as one giant group in silence got old before too long. Without the rocking motion and dull surroundings of the ship to enact a psychological influence, moods became stable once more and even those who were nervous about this trip became a bit more animated. We all made small, casual conversation that was thankfully absent of any foreboding that might be felt in the back of our minds about where we were going.
At one point I inquired with Mincinno for his opinion on my hidden ability, hoping he or someone else here who had actually been born a Pokemon might be able to provide some useful feedback. I explained how it worked in detail and witnessed his surprised reaction.
"Your ability does what now?" he repeated.
"Yep!" Leah, who was strolling next to us and listening to my explanation, chimed in for me. "It's saved us a few times, even though neither of us really have understood it."
Mincinno rubbed his chin, impressed. "That's one interesting ability Sage. You might be able to put it to use, depending on what kind of battler you are."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, like-" he began, pausing to think about it. "Like some Pokemon use set up moves to boost their stats before attacking, but you obviously can't do that since you'd just be screwing yourself. So you probably want to find a move that would normally lower your stats instead, and then go from there. You following me?"
"I think so, but-"
"But the problem is that as a Snivy your movepool is pretty shit, for lack of a better term," Mincinno interrupted. "It's something you and I share in common, unfortunately."
I couldn't exactly disagree. Throughout all of the dungeoneering I had been through with Leah by my side, our movepools had seemed to turn in opposite directions. The amount of offensive type coverage I had on command was virtually nonexistent, whereas my partner had three different attack typings at her disposal ever since she had found a TM for grass knot a little while back. She'd always reassure me by saying that I'd pick up a coverage move eventually, citing it was a part of natural selection or something along those blurred lines. But I could care less about biological theories; technically this body wasn't even mine after all. I just wanted to not be so handicapped against fire and flying types.
I thought about it for the next hour or so of walking. Again I felt like there was some way that this ability could help me drastically in battle, almost as if it was specifically meant to be given to me by whatever turned me into a Pokemon. But it was just out of grasp! I began to think back through the memories that I did have access to, perhaps riding on the chance that something might be there. Disregarding any necessary game-changing strategy, my battle style had always been so simple: utilize agility and size to become incredibly difficult to hit, while using my vines and occasionally my tail to cut into my opponents' defenses. It was archaic, but it worked.
I thought back to the times I had spent in school trying to learn what I could about this world, and the various trips into the dungeons around Serene Village with all of my friends. From the time Espurr and I had rescued that Larvitar, to the time Leah and I tried to tackle Revelation Mountain, to the time Ampharos had arrived and we had to return his connection orb-
"Leaf storm!" I blurted. I slapped my face with my hand. "Oh, how could I have forgotten?"
"Huh?" my partner hummed beside me, puzzled by the sudden exclamation.
"Of course!" I continued. All of it made so much sense now. "One use of it comes at the cost of a substantial reduction in special attack," I filled her in. "We learned about this in school, remember?"
"No...?" Leah responded slowly before shrugging. "You know I usually slept through Watchog's lessons." She paused and looked at me though, and I could see the gears in her head start to turn. "Wait, you mentioned leaf storm?"
"Remember when Kecleon tried to sell me that TM when we were showing him the connection orb?" I asked.
Leah thought about it for another second before her ruby eyes flashed with recognition. "Oh yeah!" She giggled and put on a smirk to paraphrase the exchange with the shopkeeper. "I specifically remember you trashing the idea of learning such an 'impractical' move."
"Yeah, I guess I did say that..." I reminisced. "That's unfortunate."
"So with this contradictory ability - or whatever it's called - you could learn leaf storm and you'll hit harder every time you use it?" Leah summed up. "Is that what you're thinking?"
"That's exactly what I'm thinking."
We shared a look of anticipatory glee. I was indeed going to have fun with this.
"See! Natural selection! No wonder Snivy can get such an ability. Too bad you turned that TM down," she said. "Imagine if you'd have known that all along. We could definitely use it right about now."
"Hindsight is twenty-twenty," I answered, shrugging even though I was rather disappointed about it on the inside. "But it doesn't matter much right now anyway."
"I guess," she shrugged back. "It's not like we had the money anyway. Pops would've killed me if we spent all our Poké on one item."
"Yeah, that's true," I chuckled. "...and Leah? Natural selection is just a myth."
"Natural selection is definitely not a-" Leah paused mid-retort to sniff the air and analyze our surroundings. "...Hey, look around."
Glancing around, I took immediate concern to the abrupt changes in environment. What was once an open trail through fields and foothills had flattened out as the woodlands around our group had exponentially thickened. Underneath the bulky spruce leaves was a fine layer of water vapor that began to coat our surroundings and hinder visibility the further we went. Even the sunlight above us was scattered by the ambient fog that barricaded our view of the sky. Everything had changed from regular passing woods to become shrouded in fog just like that, without any warning. It was just as Mawile described; we had entered a cloud of fog constant in shape and volume.
"Hey!" Mawile's voice called from a few paces ahead. "Everyone gather!"
The entire group stopped before Ampharos, whom Mawile was whispering something to while making the occasional gesture at the map. He nodded once when she was done, and turned to face all of us.
"This, my comrades, is the famous Foggy Forest," the chief stated, folding one arm behind his back and making a sweeping gesture with the other. "Supposedly it is home to one of the world's greatest treasures. But as you all know, we are not here for treasure today. We are here for justice!"
Several cheers from our group erupted, disregarding the fact that Ampharos sounded a little goofy trying to hype everyone up.
"Indeed so!" he continued. "We will not waste any more time. The secret of Fogbound Lake has been brought to light before, but the fog still seems to be ever-present. Thankfully, Mawile has a plan."
The steel-type stepped up and commanded everyone's attention. "Alright guys! There's only one method my research has taught me of that can lift this particular fog, and it's not a feasible option for us at the moment. That means we're gonna have to find the lake the old-fashioned way."
"Hold up," Bunnelby interrupted. "How are we supposed to all scale a massive inverted mountain, even if we can find it in all of this fog?"
"There's supposedly a cave system running through the structure known as Steam Cave," Ampharos filled in. "It leads straight to the top where our Volcanion might be waiting. That is our destination."
"I propose we split up into three groups," Mawile said. "Bunnelby, Buizel, Archen, and Comfey will cut through the Forest Path and see where it takes you. Team Prism and Team Carbon will take the trail straight into the heart of Foggy Forest. And then Ampharos and I will cover the area around this clearing and see if anything interesting is here. You all remember what you're looking for, yes?"
Everyone nodded their affirmation.
Ampharos stuck his arm towards the depths of the fog and marched forward. "In that case, initiate Project Chisel!"
The mystery dungeon that materialized within the forest might not have been so tricky to handle if it didn't compact the fog so densely within its borders. Coordinated numbers was usually an advantage in these situations, but we got so caught up trying to stay close that wild Pokemon got the jump on us more times than any of us would like to admit. Visibility was so low that every few minutes someone would walk into a tree or impulsively attack a bush that they conceived to be an enemy. It was only funny the first couple of times; after that we all began to get paranoid. Helioptile's flash only served as a waste of energy, since the bright light would only make it a few feet from his body before it would be dissolved by the surrounding plague of colloids.
Regardless of any obtrusive sensory disarmament, this lethargic pace would not diminish the sum distance covered. Enough of the forest passed by where we finally began to see less trees and more standing water, sometimes even water blocking our path.
At one point Leah was too busy staring off to the side to notice the pool of water right in front of her, and she stumbled in headfirst. I noticed this playing out the moment before and lunged to snag onto her with a vine, but my efforts only served to pull myself in with her. The pool was only a few inches deep and the water felt moderate, but the awkwardness of the situation was overwhelming as we fell on top of each other and desperately tried to hop out of the water. Vulpix and Helioptile got a good laugh in at the sight, while Mincinno simply rolled his eyes and continued forward only to fall into a similar pool a minute later and emerge resembling a cranky Furfrou on two legs.
Eventually the differences in environment would be catalyzed by the end of the dungeon. The path converged into what could only be the true heart of the forest, where the trees opened up into a massive clearing and nature commanded the environment in solitude. Water pooled into ponds all around, the streams' sources originating somewhere in the heavens above that was well-hidden by the fog. It would've been a downright mystifying sight for anyone who didn't know what was supposed to be here, but based on what Mawile's map had shown, it didn't take us long to catch on.
"Check that out..." Leah whispered, amazed by the sight.
Even with the still-prominent fog affecting our sight and the gravity of our visit affecting our morale, we all still paused to take in this serene location. The area was covered in a silence governed by the deafening fog, only being preceded by the soft sound of gravity's influence on the running water. The grass here was a shade darker than what had been seen upon arriving at the shore, with overgrowth likely prevented by the lack of sunlight. It was all so pristine, like being in a cave where the walls were made of shining mist instead of dull granite.
"The lake must be somewhere directly above us," Mincinno stared up into the fog above and declared. "That's the only explanation for this water falling out of the sky."
"Uh, guys...?" Vulpix sharply whispered with bated breath.
I curiously turned to look at her, and saw her gaze transfixed on something gray towards the left-center of the clearing that was sticking out of one of the ponds. The gray hue of the lackluster lighting made it difficult to pick out fine details from anywhere beyond a few feet away, but with squinted eyes I could easily assume it was exactly as I feared. This wasn't my first time seeing this happen in person, but this didn't make it any less gut-wrenching.
A Pokemon had been turned to stone here.
Leah's proficient hearing wasn't enough to heed the nervous Vulpix at first, and she continued staring up in a trance at the endless ceiling of mist. "How do we find that cave though?" she asked nobody in particular. "It's gotta be somewhere around-"
A vine on her shoulder stopped her mid-sentence. She turned to look at me with a blissfully ignorant expression, and I hesitantly pointed at the life-sized rock sitting up at a slight angle in the pool of water and observed as she turned her head to look. Although the Fennekin demonstrated no immediate verbal reaction, I could imagine her heart dropping to her feet the same way mine did upon seeing the chiseled remains of another victim of this madness.
Barring any additional length added by the extension of its twin tails, the deceased Pokemon wasn't any larger than anyone in our group of five. Its lower-body was fully submerged in the shallow pool, but the fine carvings of two tightly shut round eyes and a cornrow-style ovular skull stuck out as a testament to the barrier between blood-rushing life and inorganic rock. The upper halves of the two thin tails that somewhat resembled my own in design were visible above the pond's surface as well, both cemented for eternity in an awkwardly bent position. Identifying the species was a far cry; none of us had ever seen this kind of Pokemon before. I momentarily wondered if the fairy-looking creature was a legendary Pokemon, but the speculation was quickly drowned out by the rest of the traffic racing through my mind.
Our two exploration teams instinctively assembled into a pentagon of frightened Pokemon, each of us staring off into the fog at different angles but with equally encompassing paranoia. There was no clues that screamed this was a recent act of violence, but there weren't necessarily any clues that said it wasn't recent either. Either way, it didn't really matter; we were clearly not treading on passive land.
"Sweet mother of Arceus..." Mincinno whispered, breaking the circle once it seemed like we weren't in any imminent danger to take a few steps closer and get a better look. He did a quick inspection by walking to the edge of the pond and staring at the statue silently, before turning back around and gravely clasping his hands together behind his head. "How's that for evidence?"
"Well, now we know one thing's for sure," Vulpix deducted. "We're definitely in the right place."
"Do you think he knows we're here...?" Leah quivered, sounding not-so-excited to be on this mission anymore.
"Don't say that," I hushed. "We need to stay collected and alert."
I scanned the surrounding area meticulously, searching for the slightest of movements at the edge of the fog's reach. I discarded everything that was in the detailed plan to find Fogbound Lake and adopted a more forthcoming mental approach. For all we knew, we could be getting stalked by this bastard right now. The poor soul standing rigid in the steaming pool of water was enough proof of that.
Mincinno looked around, noticing something was missing. "Hey, where's-"
"Homies!" Helioptile suddenly called from a few dozen feet away towards the back of the clearing. "I found it! The cave entrance is right over here!"
Not realizing I had been holding my breath until now, I exhaled deeply and followed Mincinno as he hastily motioned for us to make our way over. Helioptile's flash technique was just barely visible through the thinner fog of the open area. Eyes peeled, we all cautiously approached the yellow outline of his polished glow, which he took care to shut off once we got within regular view distance of each other.
"Don't suddenly split off from us like that man!" his leader reprimanded, angrily swiping a paw across the top of the electric-type's head. "This place is dangerous."
"Alright, alright, my bad," Helioptile replied, passively holding his hands up in surrender. "But hey, at least we found the magical mountain, eh?"
We all looked up and gazed at the base of our destination. Helioptile had indeed located a wall of rock extending up into the foggy fathoms of the sky, with a gaping entrance running into the mountainside. I walked towards the entrance intending to peek inside, and had to fight the urge to recoil from the feverish humidity radiating from the opening. Whatever gibberish Mawile had to say earlier about the steam in here might've been important after all, because this trip was about to get scalding hot.
"Well then," Mincinno remarked, nodding slowly. "Let's get a move on."
