Chapter 34: The Primary's Master
"Steel, I think we're lost."
The lairon stared up at his trainer with a flat expression on his face. "You think?"
"Um...well, do you know where we are?"
"No. I was under the impression that navigation was your job."
Priscilla sighed. "I knew I should have brought Swift or Zuzu or someone who was good with directions."
"Perhaps next time you should bring more than one pokemon when you leave a city."
"Well...I mean, our list of to-catch pokemon is pretty long, so I thought -"
"What if I faint? And what if something attacks before you can give me a Revive?"
"Then...we're...screwed..."
"Exactly."
"Ugh."
The two of them trudged along, stealing uncomfortable glances at the darkening sky. "Okay, what if we just tried to go back to Mauville City? Maybe it'll be easier than trying to go up north. I mean, it is closer, after all."
"Maybe that would be best."
"Y-yeah..." Priscilla sighed. "I knew I should have waited another month and traveled with Nate."
"Your rival? I thought you said you wanted to take a break from traveling with him, and then regroup after a badge or two, especially since he's AHEAD of you."
"Okay, you know what?" Priscilla snapped, flicking a strand of brown hair out of her eyes. "Let's not talk about that. Just because he decided to crazy-train his pokemon during the off-season and snatch up his third badge on the first day possible and then go out of order and get Petalburg's before Lavaridge's..." She trailed off, kicked a pebble, and groaned. "It just - it doesn't mean he's a better trainer, okay? It just means that he has more time to spend on each pokemon. I have to train way more pokemon than he does."
Steel just sort of shrugged as he began to lumber forward, plodding along next to Priscilla as they began to make their way back towards Mauville.
---
"Okay, I really think it didn't take us over two hours to get from Mauville City to where we were before," Priscilla said finally as she looked around. They seemed to be near the lake they past while leaving the city, and everything seemed pretty green, meaning they couldn't be too near the Route 111 desert.
But neither Priscilla nor Steel could see any sign of the Mauville City sprawl - not even the straggler houses, such as the famed Winstrate House, that crept into the wilderness towards the north.
"It's pretty dark," Steel mumbled from behind his metallic clenched jaw. He tilted his head up to look at the sky, making an uncomfortable creaking sound that Priscilla still hadn't gotten used to. His neck never made that sound when he was an aron, though he assured her it was normal for newly-evolved steel-types. "Maybe we should find a place to camp out for the night."
"Yeah..."
Priscilla motioned for Steel to follow her off the path a bit, holding aside a large palm-like tree so they could find a private campsite.
It was then that Priscilla looked up and saw not a tropical jungle thicket, but an expansive clearing...
With a mansion in it. A large, black manor with a sort of Gothic-style architecture, complete with flying buttresses, ribbed vaults, pointed arches, and a general feeling of imposing grandeur.
It also felt like it housed evil, but that was probably because Priscilla recognized it from one of her daytime nightmares - specifically the one she got when she was staying at Crystal's house in Blackthorn City before she left to capture a Cianwood sunset.
So it didn't surprise Priscilla when two shadowy figures exited the front door of the large mansion and began to walk up the pathway through the neatly-trimmed garden to meet Priscilla and Steel. It vaguely surprised her that one was a small purple mammal, one that sort of resembled a glaceon she saw in a televised Pokemon super contest; however, it did not surprise her that the creature had a red gem on its forehead.
"It's a haelliad," she whispered to Steel, who she heard thud closer to her and lean his helmet-covered head on her leg. "It's gotta be a haelliad."
"What?" Steel croaked, his voice smaller than it had been even as an aron. "It's just an espeon."
"Never mind. Just stay close." Priscilla squinted through the darkness to get a better view of the other approaching figure. She recognized her as the ball gown-clad woman from her daydream, but she never really got a good look at her through her dream vision before.
As the woman approached, Priscilla could see that she stood over a head taller than Priscilla, though her three-inch heels contributed to that. She had dark brown skin and almond-shaped dark red eyes on her angular face, along with a smile that seemed too wide for a human to pull off.
She wore a necklace of red gems around her neck, all of which glinted in the glowing light of the sunset.
It all seemed too familiar, ringing in the image of a pokemon not-so-long forgotten.
As she came within earshot, Priscilla straightened up, bit her lip, and tried to stay silent.
"You wretched little girl," said the woman with a thin smile, her eyes dark and bottomless. "How dare you come upon my mansion so late at night!"
The espeon at her feet stared up at Priscilla with cold eyes. She said nothing, not even through telepathy, but Priscilla could feel a sort of deep rooted malicious intent emanating out from her. She shuffled away from the espeon nervously, trying not to keep eye contact - or, even worse, look at the red gem on her forehead.
"Now," the lady said, placing her forefinger under Priscilla's chin and wrenching it up. "I do hope you'll stay the night, little girl, because otherwise I shall be very angry. Very angry, indeed."
"Y-yeah," Priscilla said as she glanced down at her lairon friend, half in order to check on how he was doing and half as an excuse to look anywhere but in the woman's eyes. "D-don't worry, Steel," she told the pokemon, though she felt more like she said it just to reassure herself, "spending a night here won't be so bad."
Steel said nothing. He just shuffled even closer, the metal spikes on his head digging into Priscilla's leg. It hurt, but it felt comforting all the same.
"So then," the lady said softly, leaning down to look Priscilla directly in her eyes, close enough that Priscilla couldn't look away anymore. "You'll tell me all about your travels, won't you?" When she said this in person, Priscilla's stomach seized up in a way that Darcy could never command. "And I do mean everything. To make up for trespassing, of course."
"Of course," Priscilla repeated, putting a hand on Steel's cool outer shell for support. "Of course."
"Good. Now, what did you say your name was?"
"It's -"
"Go on, little girl. Do not keep me waiting."
Priscilla took a deep breath. "It's Shannon," she said slowly. "Shannon Ngu-Nguyen. I'm Shannon Nguyen."
The older woman nodded slowly, releasing Priscilla's chin and smoothing her dark hair. "Well then, Shannon Nguyen, it is a - a pleasure to meet you. I am Lady Virgillia, and this," she waved a hand towards the espeon, "is Mara."
The younger trainer had to force herself to smile when she met Mara's eyes. "I am directly responsible for the recruitment of 1-Mara..." the text in the grimoire had said. Mara was a haelliad, and not just a haelliad - first of the outsides. A primary.
And hadn't Umiou also written that the primaries held the most power?
By the look on Mara's face, Priscilla didn't feel sure that Mara wouldn't turn that power against her. If anything, Mara looked downright menacing.
"Come inside, little girl," Lady Virgillia ordered in a smooth tone as she turned to walk back towards the mansion. "If you try to run away, I shall have Mara tear you and your little lairon to pieces. She is rather good at that, you know."
Priscilla and Steel took one quick look at each other, then all but ran after Lady Virgillia and her espeon.
---
"Was that meal to your satisfaction?" Lady Virgillia asked as she stepped back inside the ornate dining room, a smile on her face but a glare in her eyes.
Priscilla tried to smile and nod, though she felt more like throwing up - Steel seemed to look the same way from his spot on the floor. It wasn't as if the food wasn't good, because it was. It didn't even seem poisoned, which Priscilla half-suspected when Mara teleported it onto the table in front of her - the meal in question, a platter of assorted grilled vegetables and tofu in a familiar, Sinnoh-style white sauce, seemed perfectly healthy.
It was the fact that Mara stood near the wall, staring at them for the entire meal that made Priscilla and Steel uneasy. Nor did it help that the espeon kept broadcasting "evil thoughts" (or so Priscilla assumed).
But Priscilla didn't really want to tell Lady Virgillia that. So instead, she just said: "yes."
The older woman kept her strained smile, not seeming to react to Priscilla's response. "Now - Shannon, you said it was? Shannon, I'd like you to come join me in the parlor." She glanced down in Steel's direction, turning her nose up at the sight of the beast. "You may recall your lairon."
Steel grunted in surprise, looking up at his trainer with a mix of horror and relief. Although Priscilla didn't want to be alone with (and outnumbered by) Lady Virgillia and Mara, she took out his pokeball and held it towards her lairon. "Don't worry. I'll make sure to release you in the morning."
And with a red zap, she was alone with the residents of the manor.
---
A few minutes later, Priscilla found herself sitting rigidly on a fancy wooden throne-style chair, staring across the room at Virgillia in a similar chair with Mara sitting by her feet.
"Now, Shannon," Lady Virgillia began, leaning her chin on the back of her hand and peering across the room at the little girl, "tell me your story."
"My...story?"
"Yes, the story of why you are here. You see, not many people trespass on my grounds like this, so I assume you have a very exciting story to tell me as to why. If not," she said with a wave of her hand, "I shall have you put to death."
Priscilla gulped. Although Lady Virgillia said it rather casually, Mara, who probably would be doing the killing if it was needed, looked completely serious. "U-um...well...I'm - I'm on a training journey..."
"Go on."
"And I'm - I'm doing a sponsorship program. From - from RCGA, the - the Rustboro City Gym Academy," Priscilla explained, though she couldn't help but stutter under the combined stares of the woman and her espeon. "Um, I'm - I'm trying to, um, g-get all eight of the...the Hoenn badges."
Lady Virgillia nodded, her expression not changing. "And why would you want to do that?"
"Um, so...so I can go to Evergrande City."
"Are you interested in the League?"
Priscilla took a deep breath, prepared to lie for the first time. She glanced at Mara, then: "Yes. I'm - I mean, I want to challenge the League. B-beat the champion. Be-become the Hoenn Champion, I mean. That's why I want all eight Hoenn badges. So - so I can, um, do that."
When Mara's split tail lashed to the side, Priscilla knew she made a mistake. "You're lying," Lady Virgillia whispered, standing up and crossing the room to Priscilla's chair, her high heels clacking on the hardwood floor. She stood over Priscilla for a few moments, towering over the younger girl and making her shrink into her chair. "You want to get all eight Hoenn gym badges, yes, but you do not wish to challenge our highly esteemed Hoenn Champion."
"I - I -"
Then she screamed as Virgillia snatched her hair, pulling it upward with one hand and snapping her other hand around Priscilla's right hand, squishing it against the arm of her chair. Priscilla's left hand was left to twitch helplessly in the air near her hair, too afraid to try and loosen the grip of the Lady.
"You would do well," the Lady hissed, her face close to Priscilla's, "to refrain from lying to me. I am being honest with you, Shannon Nguyen, and it would be polite to return the favor. Keeping that in mind," she added with a twisted grin, "I'd like to remind you that I threatened to kill you if your story did not live up to my expectations. I fully intend to carry out my threat if you do not obey my rules while in my house."
Priscilla whimpered a bit, feeling hot tears roll down her cheeks. She tried to nod, but when that tugged on her hair, it stung her already burning scalp.
It seemed to do the trick, though, as Virgillia's grip loosened. "Very good," she purred, letting go of Priscilla's right wrist and hair altogether and straightening up. "Do you agree to be perfectly honest with me from now on, little girl?"
The little girl in question nodded, holding her throbbing wrist and choking back the sobs she dearly wanted to let out.
"Now," Lady Virgillia began, her grin almost as wide and terrifying as the necklace of red jewels she wore around her neck, "why don't you tell me about some of the objects in your little bag over there?"
Priscilla stole a glance at her yellow backpack, which lay against the wall just a little ways behind her. "What - what do you mean?"
"My dear Mara saw a few items that she found quite interesting," the woman explained as she walked over to the backpack.
"D-don't open it!"
"Why not?" Lady Virgillia asked innocently.
Priscilla squeezed her eyes shut when she heard the sound of a zipper opening. Please don't take the sunset, she prayed. Please don't take the sunset. Please don't take the sunset. Please, God, don't make her take the sunset -
But Priscilla didn't need to worry about the sunset, because Lady Virgillia held a different item in her outstretched hands.
"Why exactly," she hissed, her fingernails digging into the black cover of the grimoire, "do you have our grimoire?"
"I...I...you - a-are you a -"
"Am I a haelliad?" Lady Virgillia asked, mocking Priscilla's tone of voice. "Really, little girl, who do you think I am?" Without waiting for an answer, the woman turned to the espeon across the room. "Put her to sleep and eat her dreams. We shall find our answers much more efficiently with a nice dream eater."
Priscilla had barely enough time to snap her head around to look at Mara before she swooned and fell against the back of the chair, unconscious.