Part 8: The Bell
Chapter 60: Doctor Kaiser (1)
Here's the real late-game of Epidemic.
Starting us off, we're going back to the Grove and picking up from where we left off before the memories in the Lost Fict.
I don't own Pokémon.
Somewhere in the dark, a heartbeat begins to race, pulsing with life.
Its beats are few and far between, but the promise of life is there.
...
The Grove
Cruce
"Vay!" I called out to him, the red leafeon browned with scorch marks, laying on his side with all four legs out.
Vay's burnt ears flicked to my voice and his eyes found me. He turned himself, rolling to his chest, not before reaching out with one paw, claws digging into the soil. His back legs must have been injured. All he did was use his front legs to drag his battered body through the dirt and grass. Somebody was behind him, tall and shining, victorious. The brightly colored vulpine, standing oddly on two legs rather than four, took notice of me, fierceness in his blue eyes more resolute than anything I'd seen come from Vay. They spoke to me – no, they screamed at me and told me to back off. They told me I was inferior. He walked forward, the motions so much smoother than his anatomy should have allowed, swaying, a blurry ocean of blue fur swooshing behind his hips. He was very pretty and everything, but that was all surface. He did something ugly to Vay, and that came from an uglier place.
The helicopters from earlier were gone, but they'd dropped off their passengers. From what I could tell, the passengers, human and Pokémon, had some manner of uniform displaying that they were from that science organization – it was either a black, tightly buttoned coat with padding hidden somewhere in the layers of clothing, or simply some manner of accessory, neck-wear or otherwise, that told everybody here they weren't part of the Grove. The only ones who wore nothing were this approaching, hateful Pokémon, and the purple skywisp wielding her ornate wand Symbi – the same that attacked Vay and I. Could it have been that we led her here? Were we responsible for the Grove becoming overrun with these bad people?
It couldn't have been. At least, I knew we couldn't have been responsible alone. Rayse, Pat, and Jirachi were all out there, too, gathering information or whatever, and here they were again. I'm not sure what'd happened in town, but Rayse must have been turned into an eevee just like Vay had been. Jirachi was with her and Diancie, helping the latter recover from a scrap with this other faction. While I'd only just gotten here with Alli and the Pat 'n Emi duo, we were at a loss. All these smells, these scared looks, most of them aimed at the floating white Pokémon wearing the red tie and nothing else. The golden-eyed gaze met mine soon after the white and blue vulpine came my way, and following that, the skywisp. I was the center of attention. My legs froze and my heart stopped. I wasn't so sure what I was smelling. All this Gamma, emotion, and hostility.
"If you don't make a move," the blue and white, bipedal vulpine said to me, tongue thick and skittish with a dialect that sounded like it came straight out of a pub in the UK somewhere – I didn't know. "I might not make an ash pile out of you."
"Me?" I asked, wincing at the vorpal threats. I leaned away, but didn't step back. "Hold up, I just got here. Are we, like, already not cool? Are you, uh, a the bad guy? W-what's... the deal?"
"Bad guy. Pft," the approaching vulpine spat. "What a load of bollocks."
"Tempyae, don't hurt him," the purple skywisp warned, strangely protective. "Remember?"
"Alright, I bloody get it," he growled. "Little knob's lucky he's been alive this long, 'n now he's got one 'o them skywisps over 'im like a mother."
"Too true." the skywisp said.
"Tempyae! Tempy, don't do these nasty things," Rayse spoke up over the murmurs and the fear, the little black eevee's head bobbing as she spoke. "There's too many people doing nasty things and you can't be one of them. That's such butt! C'mawn, flarey!"
Tempyae, huh? Rayse was talking to the guy like she knew him well, and I'd have wagered that skirmish between him and Vay didn't come from nowhere. This guy was a Champion, no doubt. Rayse's chipper, bouncy gallop over to me communicated her excitement to see him more loudly than her disapproval of his 'nasty things'. Tempyae was important to her, just like all the Champions, but enough so to display all of this bubbly excitement even when surrounded by danger – like she was confident in him being a get-out-of-jail-free card. A few hops later and Rayse was in front of me, giving me a big, happy grin and a wildly wagging tail.
"Hiya Cruce," she chirped, and all I could do was cautiously wave a paw forward – she didn't see that. She'd already spun around. Needless to say, the scene started to look more like she was shielding me from Tempyae than anything. She was happy to see him, but why would she have run up in front of me and not, like, glomped Tempyae if she was so eager? Something was wrong. I missed it, if it was in her eyes. She was protecting me. Tempyae was- "Tempy? Tempy, ya got that sassy strut – did somebody make fun of your fur?"
The flareon became still, one hind leg stopped in front of the other. He stood over Rayse, distracted with her – unfortunately, that was all she was to him now. She was a distraction that got all up in his way and, based on that snarl, he wasn't having it.
"Tempoo?" Rayse muttered. Was she hamming it up? Was she pretending she didn't know? Her big red fluffy scarf and her metallic scent – I had it, Vay had it, and she had it. Tempyae was showing very clearly that it was stinging the insides of his nostrils. Rayse tilted her head.
"Unbelievable," the white flareon growled. "Outta the way, you little bloodstain." he commanded, taking a step and sweeping the eevee away with the other foot, effortless and without a second thought. Rayse squeaked, tossed over and rolling until her legs stopped her. I cringed to think how she felt about that, and just at how strong this Pokémon was. This guy was coming my way.
Alli made a noise behind me – sounded like a sharp breath out of her nose. There was a snap, her tail whipping through the air, and then there was a bright blue skywisp bolting past me to the Flux, kicked aside like trash. Either Alli had figured out that was Rayse already, or she was just that chivalrous and had to help somebody in need whenever she could. I doubted neither.
I could smell Tempyae's flowery, almost tantalizing scent over everything else, the larger Pokémon upon me with pity and detestation in his face. I looked back. Patty was there. Emi was burning by her side. I saw their intention – they wanted to come and help, but would that have put me in more danger then?
"What part of don't move did'ja not get?" he finally did growl at me. I froze with my head turned, ear carrying the Bell conveniently pointed toward him. I dreaded the next moment. He wanted it. He was going to take it. I wanted to keep it safe, but I couldn't. I couldn't. I just couldn't. I didn't see him now. Turning away was a bad call. I didn't see what he was doing, but I could feel the heat from him like a furnace, hotter than Emelina's flame. "Zombies, the lot of you."
I'd just presented my bell to him. I pictured him leaning in to take it. All these people watching, doing nothing to stop him. C'mon, really?! Were we making it that easy for them?! They could just come in and steamroll us, then take what they wanted?!
"Could we hurry this up?" somebody asked. I wasn't sure who, but when I felt a weight lifted from my ear, my eyes went wide and I turned to look at the flareon, who met my gaze with both rancor and surprise at the fact that there was, like, a bell there floating between us, and neither of our paws were on it. I reached for it, but it zipped away, up into the air, then stopped, and zipped at another ninety degree angle, heading inward over Tempyae. The flareon turned around. We watched the Bell sink gently into the short paws of the tie-dressed, white... mew, right? That guy was a mew. Was his organization's leader? Holding the shining object, matching the color of his eyes, he hid his mouth beneath it, but I could tell by his cheeks that there was a smile, painting the rest of his face with a shadow. The Bell jingled. "There. No dramatic tension needed. Could have done this from the very start if I'd wanted to."
"Now, Mew," Tempyae began, walking away from me, no thoughts given – not a damn care. "We had our arrangement: I get the Bell, Fausti gets the Flux, and then we ask around for Edge. Come on, then."
The purple skywisp wasn't anywhere to be seen. I gasped. Air rushed by me. The two girls behind me called my name, as I sank into... the ground? No? Where was I going?! Swirling lights, starry background, and blurring imagery all past me by so quickly that it made me sick. It was all a moment, too, and when the moment passed, I was sent flying into the air – air I could actually make sense of, because it was vivid and static; trees, grass, water. Then, something squeezed around one of my arms. It was tight, but not painful. I wasn't falling or floating or anything anymore, but I still felt queasy after randomly getting teleported through the universe.
"Got you," said the lady, showing me her face quite close, and while it was pretty, just like Tempyae, I could only really see ugly hostility beneath it. The skywisp, carrying me in one hand, her Symbi in the other, must'a used it to bypass... space? What was that one?! If I had Tophs with me, he could tell me. The purple-faced, gentle-eyed wisp, wormed her tongue out and scanned me over, while the lower eighty percent of my body was getting a bit heavy. "Hmph. No more running away from home for you."
"What do you mean? I am home! Th-this IS my home," I said to her, gesturing with my free arm as if to show her. We were a little higher up than I would've liked. "Y-you... You tried to nab me before—who are you? And, uh, can you maybe not hold me so high up? Heights, erm... can't do 'em. Oh, gonna barf."
"If I set you down, you'd better not run. If you run, I'll toss you into a nice, cozy dimensional rift. Consider it a time-out? Trust me, you don't want that." she baby-talked me. But why?! She didn't tell me why she wanted me! Instead, she just evaded the question – at least she was putting me down, but now I was surrounded by these organization humans slash Pokémon. I couldn't even see Vay or Tempyae, Alli or Patty 'n Emi. They'd formed a freakin' wall!
"I-I—look, I trust you, right? I don't want-" I gasped lightly as my feet touched the ground a little too sudden. My legs were still sore from punting that rock in the creek earlier. Ouch. "I don't know if—c'-c'mon, please, I gotta have that bell back!"
"Would you relax?" she sighed. I couldn't see where she went – was she behind me? It sounded like it. Something cold touched my back, the skywisp's snout at my side, shushing me like a parent. The object – a hand, I guess – at my back rubbed in quick, comforting circles which, admittedly, felt hella nice enough to calm me down. I pulled my arms in scared, looking around at the towering humans and large Pokémon, ears flat, while this skywisp just kept rubbing my back. "Don't worry, sweetheart. We're gonna get this all sorted out, and then we'll take you home and bring your friends along, too. Just, let me take care of it."
"My friends?! My friends are here! Everything I want is here!" I blared, too intimidated to make eye-contact, even if, as a Flux, I needed to.
"I don't want you getting friendly with the Champions. I know you have your Circle group – they're fine, but," she paused, pulling me in closer to her with one arm, the affection unwelcome, but still preferred over Tempyae's... method. Even with it, I wasn't sure what to think. Was she really hostile? What was she after? It couldn't have just been me. "The Champions are dangerous."
"Yeah, I figured that from that cockney maniac over there – what's his problem?! He hurt Vay and Rayse. Is he a Champion?!" I asked.
"He is," somebody said, a white and green figure swooping down in front of me, all fours touching down to the grass. He was really small, too, spiky green hair, huge windy-like ears – that was the same guy who made Jirachi turn me into this Pokémon. I had his number – I couldn't forget him. "And so am I. It's okay, though."
"No, it's not, 'Shaymin'," the skywisp argued. "Cruce and his friends should not be associating themselves with these people. Flux could spread here soon, and I don't want Cruce to fall under any more than he already has. This is the Champions' problem. Not theirs."
"Fausti, please," the... 'shaymin', sighed. "I don't think this attitude is in any way helpful."
"They're coming with me, and that's final," said the wisp, squeezing me to her. "This is all I wanted from Delta Meadow. We're taking these kids out of this town."
"O-okay. Okay, fine," Shaymin stuttered. "I know what you want to and why you want to do it. I respect your decision, but Mew only agreed to let you have Cruce. I don't think we can protect everyone else here."
"I wouldn't expect anything from you or Delta Meadow," she said, cold. "I'll have my way of doing things, and it certainly doesn't include the Champions. Tempyae did his job – he took care of Rinavay."
That was his 'job'?
Without warning, tensions lifted, the volume of murmurs and gasps, rumbles and names being thrown around. People were clamoring, heads were turning, and arms, had they fingers or paws, were pointed at a familiar scene. In the mix of it all, I heard Vay's voice, aggressive and angry.
"God, he's going to kill him!" somebody shouted.
"Do something! Someone put a round in him!" somebody else said.
"Yeah?! Oh YEAH?! Do it! Come at me! I ain't afraid!" Vay bellowed.
Heart pounding and stomach still churning, I grunted, flicking my tails high and running into the crowd of about three pairs of legs, pushing one or two aside so I could get through. The skywisp called my name from behind, but made no effort to stop me with her Symbi – as far as I could tell, I mean. I didn't get warped into a miniature galaxy when I got away, so things were okay on that front, but she must've needed to see what was happening, too.
Vay was still on the ground, legs injured, but he didn't need them. His vine, reconstituted and deadly with its silver spikes, dripping with thick black fluid, was coiled around the white flareon's neck, buried in the blue fluff garnishing said region. It was digging deep enough for the Pokémon to react without much verbose, strangling him, likely with one or two of the sickly thorns piercing the skin. Tempyae was trying to fight it, choking, gasping for air, his delicate white paws rummaging through his own fur, searching for the cause. He fell backwards, coughing, his kicking body being dragged through the dirt while Vay reeled him in like a prey caught in a snare. I'd wondered why he couldn't just phase through the vine, just as Vay'd done to Shaymin here that one time. Was he too distracted with the pain?
Pain, I thought. Rayse and allegedly Secany all had the Crossblade. Vay and I had talked about the possibility of him having the Crossblade, but he'd never been able to draw it out. At least, to my knowledge.
"Whoa, what—let him go!" Shaymin blared, whooshing by the skywisp and myself, arcing into the air.
"Not a CHANCE! This guy thinks he can step all over us?! This guy thinks he's better than us because we're FLUX?!" Vay yelled, silencing the crowds. "It doesn't MATTER! I swear, the second any of you try and stop me, I'll rip his head off. The second I feel him start to heat up again, I'll cut him open so wide that aaaaall the Flux can get in there and make a new Champion out of him! I SWEAR, you piece of garbage Pokémon, Tempyae!"
Jerked through the dirt and grass, Vay began to crawl further forward as his vine shrank in size. The distance between the two was closing fast, Vay's mouth open, but seemingly biting down on something I couldn't see. Then, a spark, the smell of caustic rust – it stung my throat. Lights raced around Vay's muzzle, particles going wild before uniting, converging to form a solid object. At first, it was a bar, strangely wavy and brightly colored. Then, at the hilt end, two prongs escaped the thing, shaped like the wings of a bird – one was black, the other white. The sequence of lights repeated itself at the opposite end, a single black wing forming on one side of the object's new metallic binding, then a white wing on the other side, the final 'feather' of the wings impossibly sharp. Bursting from both wings was a single spear point, half the length of the wavy hilt itself, translucent, and sparking with tiny lights, hundreds of the little things bouncing off of the blade like it had no more room to fit them – to craft itself out of thin air.
Vay's eyes went wide the moment he realized what he was holding, and it hit him so hard that I felt all the pulses and the phantasmal cuts and abrasions that he must have right now, or maybe that was just what the Crossblade made you feel when you looked at it – when you looked at somebody you cared about wield it and not understand it. It was hurting him. God forbid he even knew what he was biting. It came so naturally to him that he was in shock it didn't up and appear at any time before this. Now that it was here, he was afraid and writhing, but that wasn't about to stop him from driving his point through Tempyae.
"Danithan?!" came a surprised shout. No sooner did I feel the slight strain in my throat and jaw from the expression than I'd realized it was me who made the noise. I'd worked my way through all the vowels so confusedly.
It stopped him. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do. I saw it in the snarl and the aimless gaze. It was all pointed at Tempyae, but his inactivity was, as Tempyae's own actions, speaking louder volumes than anything else. Unfortunately for him, this indecisiveness presented Tempyae with an opportunity for escape – a painful one at that, as he tore himself from the clutch of Vay's vine, a loud rip ensuing, puffs of blue fur flung out from the motion. Tempyae swung his head around, violently tossing and turning on the ground. His paws were still pushed into his neck, but I couldn't see any wound. He groaned in short breaths, an uncomfortable, agonizing sound that ceased when he turned over to his belly, then threw all four paws to the ground. He pushed himself up, momentarily quadrupedal, before resuming his unnatural bipedal stance. Given the new angle at which he presented himself, a long, cyan shining gash rode down his back, half-concealed by the blue scruff around his neck.
"Monster," he growled, still in short breaths, his lively, accented voice tarnished by the trauma. "How DARE you touch me with your filth! If that's what it's come to, you've forced my paw, you damned bloodstain!"
Like before, albeit with much less of a clumsy introduction, Tempyae's body alighted. I couldn't quite see it, as he'd turned around to face his enemy. Standing high, with what I'd imagined was his jaw clamped shut or his paws tightly clasped together, a loud, brief whistle rang, particles of uncertain energy flaring up around the Pokémon, all coming together to complete the same shape Vay had accomplished in his muzzle. A Cross, wielded like an axe, brutish and far less elegant than Vay's. From here, it looked like a worn, black hammer, divots and lines of red arbitrarily running through it. The hammer had two blunt ends bound together by some supernatural means, as those parts of the weapon looked to weigh far more than Tempyae should have been allowed to carry. Poking out from the top of these hammer ends was a large spike, blunt on all four sides – the weapon was an ugly thing unfitting for the Pokémon, like a blacksmith had just taken ore out of the ground and shoved it into an amalgam.
Tempyae swung the weapon, a loud whoosh breaking the air, telling everybody around him that this thing was as heavy as it looked, but he brandished it like it was plastic. I heard a deafening cling, Vay's weapon somehow catching the ugly mess of a Crossblade. The force of the blow was enough to drive Vay back across the dirt a few inches, pushing him dust behind his hurt legs, but he pressed forward into the deadlock, confused vine working around the flareon to make a second attempt at holding him. Both of them were hurt and in literally contagious amounts of pain, but they stopped at none of that to go after one another. These two wanted to kill each other. These two Champions, supposedly brothers, wanted to snuff out the life of one another and leave it at that. That was it.
"Hang on," Shaymin said loudly. I jumped, hardly realizing the tiny floating Pokémon was near me. He went ahead, zooming right onto the battlefield, minuscule in comparison to the other two. "Tempyae, stop! Come on! Fall back – Mew needs to give you the Bell!"
It was the best thing he could tell the other Champion. Tempyae's ears went tall, but he didn't budge from the deadlock. He couldn't, despite clearly having an edge over Vay. Shaymin had Tempyae's best interests in mind over Vay, but I wasn't sure how he'd planned to convince the flareon to back off, even if it was easy enough for him given the condition of Vay's legs.
I swallowed my hesitation, bit my lip with my front teeth, and let myself fall forward. Part of me knew what I was doing, while another part was simply watching red paws catch me, hitting the cold, soft ground. Then, back legs at the ready, I kicked with both of them and it flung me forward for my front paws to catch me once again, clawing into the dirt. Another kick and another catch, hurling myself into the air with each little burst of strength. I was running, and on all fours at that, wind rushing through the fur on my tails, dragging me back, but I fought it. I bit down harder and I fought it, until Shaymin was just a few feet from me. I wanted to call out Vay's name again – Danithan, for what that was worth. Air shrieked over me, a misty flare of white light making my fur stand as high as it could. It wasn't the same air to be caught by my tails. I stopped, deafened by the unusual scream. I looked for a source, staying down on four legs. I caught a glimpse of green and white out of the faint vision on my cheeks, peripherals wide enough to follow it all the way back. That was Shaymin, I thought. I turned, paws scrambling around to orient my body properly. Mew was the focal point, my bell hovering over him, white light extruding from it, violently squeezing Shaymin – I caught a second of that, before the tiny flying Pokémon vanished altogether, the particles making him up condensing into the light itself, leaving nothing behind but a snaking, transparent beam that wormed back into the Bell. The object stayed there, eclipsing my view of the red sun, silent.
Nobody said a word. I couldn't process what happened, let alone the motives behind it. My bell did that? It COULD do that?! I let out an aimless gasp, seeking out Vay, who'd broken from his deadlock with the other Champion. The two of them were as struck aghast as myself, so distracted from their quarrel that even their Crossblades appeared to do them little harm, in spite of being held – I'd imagined Vay to drop the weapon out of his mouth as to say something on Shaymin's behalf. Instead, Tempyae spoke first.
"Oi!" he called. "Oi, what?! Mew, you oughta be chaffin' me right senseless, y' git!"
The white mew appeared absorbed with the ghastly bell, reaching out to it with both small arms, his whole tail coiled around him, running through his legs and arcing up, cradling the object. It was like he cared for it, like he needed to shelter it and, for worse, feed it. He was still, an empty smile on his face curving his big nose.
I took a deep breath, glancing over to a stationary Vay. He was holding up. I turned back, rearing up on my hind legs – honestly didn't know my body could let me run like that, but I took it in stride! Alli and Rayse were creeping up to us, eyes and heads bouncing back and forth between me and the crazy mew. I'd lost Pat and Emi in all the commotion, but I caught Jirachi coming up from behind Mew. She was flying slow, then steady, then she raced onward, her initiative freezing Alli and Rayse before they reached me. She was going for it! Little hands forward, she withdrew her psychic power (or so I'd hoped, from what I knew about her). The Bell started shaking, volatile. Without much else of a warning, it threw itself at Jirachi, the star-headed Pokémon catching the object in her chest, hugging her arms around it, its chime muffled.
"THAT'S our girl!" I heard Emelina say. It drew a grin out of me! Jirachi looked in the direction of Emi and grinned, then held out the golden object in her tiny hands, victorious.
With more aggression than he'd ever presented himself with, Mew rushed the other Pokémon, a white dart throwing itself at her. With a sudden, jarring stop, he turned his body to one side and landed a single paw on the Bell, not so much with the intent to grab it back. Instead, Jirachi let a weak, questioning mewl out, before the Bell unleashed an explosion of the same ghostly white air, scratching my skull and spine with its volume. The thunderous white maw closed around Jirachi, quickly becoming far smaller than the Pokémon it'd consumed. Like before, all evidence of the Pokémon was erased, as the mist retreated back into its birthplace with its meal. Already, a brilliant pink Pokémon was in desperate flight after Jirachi – Diancie, holding a thin straight sword. It looked nothing like a Crossblade. I had little to no time to examine it, before Mew had caught the Bell in his telekinetic grasp, turned with it, and let fly the same force as before. Crying out, Diancie's momentum betrayed her, as she was dragged through the air before she could stop, the diamond-clad princess ensnared by the vaporous, hungry presence. First, her sword flew from her gray hand, her ornate drapery losing composition and mixing with the mist.
"Tempyae, you BLASTED moron! Curse you! Oh, SIMPLY curse you!" she cried, after which she shut her eyes and reached out to the pair of rival Champions, the color and form draining from her.
"DIDI!" Rayse screamed, her short legs fumbling for traction. It seemed like it finally broke her – where she couldn't rescue Jirachi, she wasn't going to stay still and watch Diancie get sucked into the Bell. Alli quickly took her tail in one hand and pulled, the black eevee getting about as far as an inch before being yanked back, tripping over her own desperation.
"Hey, don't worry!" Mew said, uproarious, the Bell's vapors having taken the remnants of Diancie's lavish bands in. Once more, the golden object flew into his paw, sticking to it with a loud jingle. "There's plenty of room for you, too. All of you!"
He giggled, at first coherently, before his laughter became a mess of short breaths. I didn't know what he was going for – the end, sure, but the means? He had to close the distance between himself and us, and while that wasn't too difficult, I figured SOMEBODY would have put up any kind of resistance. But how?! How could you fight against this?! He just turned you to smoke whenever he decided he could! Could I do that?!
Hold up – no. That's not smoke. At least, I don't know, but it's not the point.
Rayse...!
I watched the Fluxed eevee. Thoughts raced through my head, some memories, some guesses.
But how'd this Mew person open it? If it goes to the Paradox, where's... the entrance?
Where's the exit?
The purple skywisp flew right for Mew, Symbi gripped, readying an attack over her shoulder. Fangs bore, her Symbi lit up with a fiery glow, deep magenta, burning bright. Mew didn't even notice it until he'd already flung the Bell at us with not so much as a little flick of his paw. I backed away, searching for some kind of cover. My heart was going. Every feeble jingle it made as it rolled over its strap grew louder, higher in pitch, warping to the sound of a storming gale, its mouth opening again. I let myself fall forward and I ran somewhere, tiny leaps defining my new quickest means of getting around. I didn't know where I was going. I zig-zagged. I searched for anyone else running away, and I caught a brief look of Alli, the deafening roar of the Bell's siphon so toxic that it twisted my equilibrium, the dirt beneath my paws twirling and raising, sinking, taking me wherever which way it bent – it reminded me of a Trip zone, and I could only wish for that right now. I didn't care what was going on with the purple wisp and Mew. Maybe she'd taken him down. Maybe Vay got up and got away. Alli and Rayse, too.
"Why stop there?" somebody said so clearly through the dizzying noise. It sounded like Mew. I swallowed spit, claws pulling up grass roots as I stopped at the Grove's centerpiece tree. I would'a climbed up it, but something pushed me, sent me awry. I stood on two feet, heels against the bark. Alli was after me, her flight interrupted by the pull of the ghostly fingers dragging her back. I'd avoided them. She hadn't. She was reaching out to me with both arms, her Crossblade absent, the look in her face plagued with terror. "I'm a scientist. I live for data. I'd rather see more."
I could see nothing but twisted shapes and silhouettes contorting in the poisonous bedlam of vapors, so fleeting before they blended into the mass, obedient and formless. The cloud was unlike anything that had been displayed before. I gave a loud grunt, meaningless against the roaring vapors, reached with both arms, mimicking Alli, until her hands met my paws, left grabbing around my left, right grabbing around my right. She and I pulled together like death was at our backs, and for all we knew, it was. I was shaking. My eyes stung with tears – or was that just 'cause it was too bright to see anything past Alli? I couldn't tell. I pulled. I kept it up. I kept her hands in mine.
Her hair and her tail were turning to white. She turned back and watched them go, the mass of her body decaying away. It didn't make her any easier to pull, nor did it help that she had more control over the grip than I did – thumbs, after all, where I didn't have those anymore. With that, she gave me a peaceful stare. It spoke to me.
Okay.
If I see you in there after me,
I'm gonna get mad at you again.
I blinked and broke contact, worrying if I'd missed anything else, but the thought she left me with was enough to think over for myself. 'In there', she'd said. 'The heck was that all about?! NO WAY – I wasn't about to let her get off so easy after she'd just forgiven my ass. Then again, I wasn't in control of the grip, made clear by her letting my paws go, all the weight of her light body torn away like nothing. I was afraid for her, but she accepted it, even smiling on the way 'in', while the last of the color in her face swirled away into white, golden eyes mixing into the cloud and flowing away. She was, from what I could tell, an 'outcropping' caught in the vapors that had just managed to reach me. But, she let me go. My paws still out, sore with the memory of her grasp, I watched the white maelstrom devolve and disappear, returning to that one puny point in the dirt.
She was gone.
To Be Continued...
