"Sorry about the wait. This little beauty seems to have found its way into the archive…" Pumpkin said as she glared towards the door at no pokemon in particular. Gently dropping the book onto the table, a cloud of dust puffed into existence before dispersing. Clearing her throat, the vixen continued. "I present to you Tutaxeclan's Anthology!"
"Who was this Tutaxeclan fellow, and how are they involved with the formation of Exile?" Vanilla asked. He was fairly certain that the name was quite odd, even for pokemon standards. "Was that one of the two pokemon who had been fighting fighting?"
"Not quite. But that doesn't mean that Tutaxeclan wasn't a bit of a mystery, to be honest." The fennekin answered. "We know that he was a Xatu, and that he was alive sometime before Exile came to be. These," Pumpkin gestured to the old pages in front of her, "are a collection of his known prophecies."
Vanilla glanced at the open book and noticed something that didn't quite add up. "Wait, you said he lived before Exile existed, but this is written in pokescratch. That kind of writing wasn't devised until after the council was formed."
Pokescratch was a form of writing that involved glyphs that could be written and read by the majority of pokemon species on Exile. The First Council had decided that a common means of communication was necessary in order to bring a sense of fellowship to the various pokemon types. There were still a few species that were unable to write the language down on their own, but almost every pokemon on Exile could read it.
"Well, duh. Back in the Xatu's day these would have been passed on verbally. We're pretty sure that we've managed to gather most of them here, but there's always the chance that some of them have been lost to time. And before you ask if they are accurate or not, I'll let you be the judge of that." Shuffling through the pages, Pumpkin singled out a single set of prophecies. "I believe that Reiga wants you to know about this one in particular."
After she rotated the volume, Vanilla began reading the passage aloud.
"Legends to clash, a world, to gash.
War has cost, an island, now lost.
Humans have left, a peace, too bereft.
Elements in stone, a pact, not alone.
Peace is built, an era, till tilt.
Peace is lost, due ambition, small cost.
Fox to roam, a place, no home.
Power to use, a mercy, to fuse.
Sky to tear, a life, does wear…"
"Now, it's sort of vague, these kind of things generally are. But as you can see, the first few lines can easily be seen as the formation of Exile, at least from an outsider's perspective. The forth and fifth lines talk about the formation of the council and the era of peace that they bring." Pumpkin continued, "Line six is where it gets interesting. Now I'm no meowth, but I'd be willing to bet that we've recently witnessed line seven with the absol's coup!"
Vanilla was decidedly less excited. It was easy to see that the next line wasn't as vague as the rest. It was referring to him. The odd look he was getting from Clementine wasn't helping.
Pumpkin, however, couldn't have known that. "There's been some speculation that the line about the fox is an obvious reference to a member of the council families, but I'm not so sure that that's the case. I mean, why wouldn't he mention them specifically? Sure he could also be talking about anyone in this room at the moment, and Reiga actually disagrees with me here, but for all she knows, she could be the fox in the prediction! Though I don't know what power the prophecy could be referring to. A new type of attack, maybe?"
"What about the last part?" Vanilla asked, eager to move on so that he could ask Reiga some questions of his own.
"We don't know. It may have something to do with the same pokemon involved in Exiles creation, since it nearly describes a similar event in the first line. The life in question, and what exactly Tutaxeclan means when he says 'does wear' is up for interpretation. He could even be referring to the fox in previous passage. Without additional lines, we start losing context."
Flipping the page, Vanilla found that the poem's cadence had changed. A different prophecy. "Wait, that's it? It doesn't say what happens after that?"
"Nope. Either it got lost over time, or the xatu made it after Exile was formed. Which is to say, that it's possible that there may be more to this prophecy after this, we just might not have access to it."
Pieces seemed to be falling into place, and the more he thought about it, the more Vanilla didn't like where the puzzle was heading.
"So what do you think? Don't these prophecies spark your imagination?" Pumpkin asked excitedly. Most pokemon weren't interested in her work, and she was liking the thought of a captive audience.
Then it hit him. Vanilla realized the most important piece of the puzzle so far. The xatu wasn't the only one with a prediction of the future. "I've got to go! Where's Reiga?" He said as he jumped to his three good feet.
"Woah, calm down there, Vanilla. What's the matter?" Clementine asked at the eevee's sudden urgency.
All the vulpix got in return was a look of grave concern before eevee headed for the door. "I have to talk to Reiga!"
"What why?!" Pumpkin asked, not fully understanding what the commotion was about.
"I think I know what the last line was talking about…" was all Vanilla managed before he hobbled out of the room.
