Pokémon: 20 Deaths: 4
The paths past the hall were carved out of rough rock, and were so long and twisted so often that Saylee gave up trying to figure out what altitude she was at, or where she was in relation to the village. There was only one path, which Saylee and Mary followed in silence, and at the end of it…
…was an underground lake. It was vast and still, the cavern dark and full of silence.
Saylee had not expected that. Were they higher than the lava flows? Or below them? Or near them? Saylee wasn't even sure that she was in the same mountain any more.
Across the water, she could faintly see a cluster of burning dragonfire torches. In the dim blue light she could see a wooden bridge extended towards them, but it was old and crumbling. It had collapsed entirely in the middle. Saylee walked as far out on the rotting wood as she dared and knelt on the edge of the bridge, peering into the dark water. Mary joined her, waving her glowing tail over the water so that they could see a little. Magikarp were swimming back and forth, hundreds of them, maybe thousands. They weren't tightly packed, but Saylee still couldn't make out the bottom of the lake. It was too deep.
The lake was so eerily quiet that Saylee nearly jumped out of her skin when she heard a pebble fall into the water. She looked up to see a couple of baby Dratini peering at her out of a small cave. Then the long, elegant tail of a Dragonair wrapped around them and tugged them away from the cave mouth.
"Ooft," Mary muttered. "This place is creepin' me oot. Let's get a shift oan, eh?"
Saylee nodded, releasing Gabriel and Tobias. Without Nider, Gabriel was their only way of crossing the water. If they were going to give Diana—and Nider—proper death rites, she wanted Tobias with her.
"Go towards those lights, Gabriel," Saylee said, climbing up his blood-red back.
"Lights…" Gabriel said, beginning to swim. He held his head stiffly so as not to dunk Saylee and Mary into the water. On the way across the water, Saylee told Tobias what had happened.
"I wish he had some remains," Tobias said sadly. "Even the hat. Then we could bury him with Diana. I think he'd like that. He was real upset when she died."
"I know," Saylee said. She clenched her fist, digging her nails into the scar on her left palm.
In front of the shrine was a large whirlpool. Before Saylee could stop him, Gabriel swam into it, powerful tail propelling them through the swirling waters without being sucked in.
"…did he even notice that?" Tobias said in awe. Saylee wasn't in the mood for smiling, but she let out a relieved breath and hugged Gabriel's head before directing his attention to the wooden shrine steps, which were broad and extended down into the water.
"Well done, Gabriel," Saylee said, disembarking on the shrine steps. Gabriel smiled as she stroked his crest. She was never quite sure how much the damaged Gyarados knew or understood, but he could tell when he was being praised and made a happy rumbling noise not unlike purring. Saylee returned him and turned to the shrine doors. In the light from Mary's tail, she could see intricate paintings of storms and dragons in blue and gold.
"So d'ye knock or whit?" Mary asked. Saylee raised her hand, and hesitated.
"This is the shrine of the dragon clan," she said. "They value strength and respect above all."
"Sounds like a pretty fine line to walk to get both of them," Tobias said. Saylee nodded, knocked on the door, and then pushed it open and strode inside.
A blond young man in a floor-length, shimmering silver robe stepped into the entry hall to greet her. "Clair sent me," Saylee told him. "I'm to meet the Masters."
"I'm afraid that the Masters are busy," the young man said stiffly, but his eyes flickered briefly to the door next to the one that he'd come in through. It creaked open and a Dratini peered through.
"The lesser Masters might have other matters to attend to," the Dratini said, "but the High Master is most welcoming to any guest of the Lady Clair's and would be most please to see you."
"Well, I would, had my eyes not long ago deserted me…" a dry, raspy voice called out of the door. Saylee walked through it, Mary and Tobias in tow. She pretended not to see the faces they were making at the silver-cloaked acolyte.
The room was small but filled with incredibly lifelike statues of dragons. Saylee could recognize glittering carvings of Dratini, Dragonair, Dragonite, Kingdra and Gyarados, but there were a dozen others that she didn't even know. One had a gold star in the middle of its forehead above a broad, mouth full of sharp alabaster teeth. Two looked like huge insects with ruby eyes. Another had three heads. All of them looked vicious.
At the end of the room, past all of the statues, was a high podium on which sat the oldest man that Saylee had ever seen. He seemed little more than a skeleton, with sunken, veiny skin that was white as bone and a bushy moustache and beard that were whiter still and long enough to drape off of the edge of the podium in front of him. His eyes were open and moved slightly when she walked towards him, but the pupils and iris were both pale grey, the sight long faded out of them. He was wrapped in a snow-white cloak. Two gold-cloaked attendants sat at either side of him. The Dratini curled up at his feet, and he reached out and stroked it gently on the head, moustache twitching up in a smile.
"Master Ryujin?" Saylee asked. She went on one knee in front of him, feeling like respect was probably the side to start on in this scenario. "My name is Saylee, of Kanto. I came to bury the horn of my Dragonair, Diana, amongst her ancestors' bones. Lady Clair promised that if I defeated her, I would have the right to do so myself."
"Ah, Clair… the child is cursed with arrogance," the old man sighed. "Not without cause, it must be said, but still… no doubt she assumed that she could not lose."
"Lose she did," Saylee reassured him. "Though… though not easily. My Nidoking lost his life to the lava…" she swallowed back the lump in her throat. This is not the time for tears.
"Your voice is thick, child," the old man said. "Do you weep for your lost servant?"
"He wasn't a servant," Saylee snapped. "He was my friend, and he died trying to put another friend to rest, and I refuse to let that be wasted."
"You will not speak to the Master so disrespectfully!" One of his aides snapped.
"I'm not part of your clan," Saylee snapped back. "I'm just here for the sake of my dead friends. I beat Clair for this, I beat Lance more than a year ago, and if I have to fight you too, can we get on with it?"
The attendants looked incensed, but the old man laughed, a hacking laugh that soon descended into coughing. "Ah, forgive me… away, I'm fine," he muttered to his aides as they leaned towards him. "Fire… it's good to see fire in the young. Fight me? I'm old, child, the dragons I once fought alongside older still and no doubt now kings in the dragon caves at the mountain's core. Your prowess in battle is undoubted, child. You defeated my granddaughter, with much to be prideful of and a little more pride; you once defeated my grandson and heir, who returned to us from the dead. It was you, too, who defeated Team Rocket twice, no?"
"Not on my own," Saylee said uncomfortably.
"And whoever could do such things alone? It is your spirit I sought to test, child, and I find it strong too." He nodded thoughtfully.
"So are we gettin' tae send Di aff noo?" Mary asked. Tobias nodded and then looked sharply around at the door behind them.
"Did we not tell you of this already?"
"You again," Saylee muttered, looking around at the geisha stepping through the door. It was the same geisha that she'd seen in the Icy Path, she was fairly sure. She was wearing the same yellow obi, which between the heavy makeup and otherwise identical clothing was the only way to tell them apart. The lady just bowed her head to Saylee, smiling, before performing a rather deeper bow to Master Ryujin.
"You Dragonlords must always see a thing yourselves to believe it," she said to the Master. "Come, let her pass. Surely she has had enough of waiting to grieve. Those of Kanto are all too practiced in that art."
"My staff," Master Ryujin commanded, holding out his hand. One of the aides produced it and placed it into his hand. It was carved with a Dratini and Dragonair winding their way up the wood towards a Dragonite perched on top. With the staff and his aides' assistance, he climbed to his feet. He was far taller than Saylee had expected. "Come, girl. You have something which needs committed to this sacred place?"
"Her horn and a pearl," Saylee said, following him as he stepped down from the podium and through a door that one of the aides slid open.
"Keep the pearl. It will guard you," the elder said. "Bring the horn. Have you prayers for her, pray them now."
Tobias flew down and began muttering to the cracked horn. Mary joined him, having learned some of the prayers in Lavender. Saylee and the geisha followed the old man out of the shrine. He tapped the staff ahead of him, apparently finding his way largely by memory.
A walkway went straight over another great, roaring whirlpool. "O waters, we return your child unto you," Master Ryujin intoned. "Care for and keep her and set her unto her rest." He nodded at Saylee and pointed into the swirling waters with his staff. "Cast the horn into the whirlpool, child."
Saylee gripped the horn and stared down into the water. Then she dragged the point of the horn across the scar on her left palm, cutting it open and staining the horn with her blood, ignoring the way it made two of her fingers twitch.
This is the best I can do, Nider, she thought, holding the horn out over the whirlpool. The closest thing I have left to a piece of you. I hope you can know that you're going to sleep among dragons. How badass is that? And Diana… I've brought you home, like I promised. Please forgive me that I brought you back dead…
She dropped the horn into the water and watched it whirl away and vanish into the dark water. Diana… Nider… goodbye.
"What is the meaning of this, grandfather?!"
"Another child who would do well to learn respect," Master Ryujin muttered as Clair stormed towards them, looking furious. "She earned her right, Clair."
"She's an outsider!" Clair argued.
"Not the first to earn a right to this place, child," Master Ryujin chided. "Any knight, outsider or no, has the right."
Clair was starting to resemble a Gyarados, she was gaping so much. "Grandfather, do you truly mean to knight her?"
"Her spirit and comrades are strong," Master Ryujin said placidly. "She has won many a mighty battle, including against yourself and Lance, and her grandfather too, according to Arthur, a knight himself. She won the love and allegiance of a Dragonair—can you not see how that pearl shines in her hands?" Saylee looked down sharply at the pearl in her hands. There was a slight, shimmering light in there, but it had always been there. It was warm in her hands, but that might have been from her clutching it in her hand. "Indeed, in years past, knighthoods have been conferred for less. Well, Saylee of Kanto?" he said, placing a hand on Saylee's shoulder. For all that his hand felt light and brittle, his grip was surprisingly strong. "Is there a more specific place from which you hail?"
"Just… Kanto," Saylee said. She couldn't think of anything more specific than that. Vermillion, where she'd been born? Pallet, where they'd settled? Viridian, where her father… No. "I'm from Kanto. Just Kanto."
"Then I shall bless you as Sar Saylee of Kanto," Master Ryujin said, touching her on each shoulder and then her forehead with his staff. "I pray for your dragon's rest."
"Grandfather, you must be joking!" Clair shouted. "Even I haven't been—!"
"Yes, and perhaps it would do you good to think on why instead of throwing a tantrum!" Master Ryujin snapped. "I am old, not senile! You and your dragons are powerful indeed, but you all flaunt your power as if you were a proud child rather than putting it to use where it is needed! When Team Rocket was on the radio, what action were you taking? What would Lance think if he saw you like this, hmm?"
Clair paled. She turned sharply on her heel and strode off.
"That's proper brilliant!" Mary said, hugging Saylee. Tobias did the same.
"You're a knight, just like your granddad and all those cool people in Lucy's movies!" he said excitedly.
"Thank you very much," Saylee said, hugging them back. She buried her face is Mary's shoulder. "I don't deserve it…"
"Those that think such are often those that most do," the geisha said, smiling at her. "Well then, Sar Kanto… you must come by the dance hall and allow us to celebrate for you!"
"I don't think that's necessary," Saylee said, bowing to Master Ryujin and making for the door. "Maybe I'll go visit Ethan when I get out of here…
"I see," the geisha said, smiling widely at her. "Our doors are always open to you, Sar. Go in peace."
Saylee glanced suspiciously at her, then headed back through the shrine.
{}
"I should probably apologize for how I acted back there."
"Clair," Saylee said, surprised to see the Dragonlady waiting for her halfway down the passageway. "I don't really want to talk to you right now…"
"Because Haralda killed your Nidoking?" Clair asked, following Saylee as she tried to walk past the Dragonlady. "I warned you beforehand that that could happen. Your Nidoking seemed ready enough to risk his life for your Dragonair's sake. That's respectable."
"That doesn't bring him back." I should've made Nider switch out with Gabriel. That Hydro Pump wouldn't have bothered him. I was just too stupid, too scared, too afraid for a Gyarados in a volcano… "Nider made his own choice. I know that. Still, I'm his trainer… it's my job to point him right, and I-I failed him…" she walked a little faster, determined not to let Clair see her cry. She wouldn't give her that.
"What a snivelling…" Clair shook her head. "Is that it? Is that what you have that I don't? I've worked so long to be knighted…"
"You watch it, you fuckin' brounfluff," Mary snapped, sparking angrily. "Wan mair word outae yous…"
"Saylee deserves to be a knight," Tobias said loftily. "You, on the other hand…"
"It's a great honour," Saylee said. "I guess… I don't know. It just feels like words…"
"Yes, it means nothing to you, doesn't it?" Clair said bitterly, striding forwards to stand in Saylee's path. "Did you know that Lance was knight at fourteen? Fourteen? He's always been so powerful, and I… I've never been good enough…" Saylee had to stop. She couldn't get past Clair without physically pushing aside, and she didn't want to start another fight. She was also surprised by Clair's expression. Her pride had cracked, and she looked lost.
"I heard that you were betrothed," Saylee had to ask. Clair nodded.
"When we were children," Clair said wistfully. "I can't really remember a time before I knew that I was going to marry Lance when we grew up, or a time that I didn't want to. He's always… had a particular charisma, with humans and dragons both. Even when he disappeared… others gave him up for dead, but not me. I knew he was alive. He's always come back from the worst of fights. And I've trained so hard to be good enough for him…"
"Well, congrats, you're as willing to kill as he is, well done," Saylee snapped. "Most impressive thing I've seen him do is drag himself here alive after being caught in that explosion…"
"He nearly did die," Clair growled. "He thought he was going to, that was why he got Aaron to fly him back here first… but I didn't let him," she added firmly. "I wasn't about to let him die when he'd just come back…"
"Yes, it's terrible when you lose someone you care about," Saylee said, shouldering past Clair. Clair bristled, reaching out to grab Saylee's shoulder, but stepped back when Mary sent a warning crackle of static at her.
"Don't start on that again," Clair snapped instead. "I did warn you, and anyway, he died a death to be proud of. Everybody dies. There are worse ways to go."
"I know," Saylee said. "I'm sure if I'd asked long ago, Nider would've thought that falling into a pit of lava while fighting a dragon was pretty cool. He could well be proud of dying to lay Diana to rest. That'll still never change the fact that he is dead and I miss him." Twenty-four. From Wilma to Nider.
Tobias flew into her arms, hugging her. Saylee hugged him back and sharply picked up her pace. This time, Clair didn't try to catch up with her.
{}
{}
Hands up who else sobbed like a baby at the ending of X and Y. Aaaaaazzzzz… and the poem/lyrics over the credits… I really cried. Now TO COMPLETE THE POKEDEX! GOTTA CATCH 'EM ALL!
