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A Yearning for the Mud
Chapter Fifty-Two – Comeback


In the dizzying moment of their teleportation, a crack of thunder startled Wallace who lost hold of Reed as they appeared in a field outside of the clinic. Reed spun and slammed, shoulder first, into the grass while Wallace thudded heavily onto his butt. His right leg jutted out like a pocket knife and his knee screamed in sudden pain. Hearing a wallop behind him, Wallace craned around to see Cole lying on his back, rolling from side to side like a stunned squirtle.

"Cole. You should have stayed back," Wallace said, watching Cole flip onto his side and struggle to push himself up with only one arm.

Reed muttered something that drew Wallace's attention in time to see dusclops fire a shadow ball in his direction. Wallace threw his arms over his face, but saw elgyem position himself in the way. With a swing of his stout arms, elgyem erected a purple half-dome of light that took the brunt of the shadow ball, but shattered on impact.

Through the gaps in his arms, Wallace watched the fragments of the shield fizzle out into the darkness as Reed pulled a poké ball from his pocket and hurled it in his direction.

With a wave of his arm, elgyem knocked the ball off course and sent it tumbling to the right where it burst open. An equine pokémon took shape from the light, its dark coat concealing most of its size in the dusk, though Wallace could make out lighter patches around its muzzle and coating each of its legs.

"Mudsdale, use high horsepower," Reed commanded.

Following a stomp with its front hooves, Mudsdale charged forward, rattling the earth beneath Wallace as he watched the pokémon gallop toward him.

"Move!" Cole yelled.

Wallace struggled to get to his feet before something dark whizzed by and beamed the charging Mudsdale in the head. The impact didn't seem to deter it, but once what Wallace realized was another poké ball hit the ground the explosion of light seemed to blind it and throw Mudsdale off course. The charging pokémon swerved to the side before it slid to the stop in the grass and righted itself. Its dark eyes focused on Wallace before they took in the sight of another pokémon on the field.

A strong odor drifted off a dark and shaggy pokémon covered in brown fur with two long off-white tusks that looked to be chipped and carved on in some spots. Wallace recognized it was a mamoswine by its white and blue facial markings that reminded him of ski goggles.

"High horsepower again, don't stop unless it's crushed!" Reed said. "Dusclops, shadow ball."

Wallace spared a look at Cole who'd managed to sit back on his legs and pressed his fist into the grass, forcing himself to stand. "Will, use ancient power."

Wallace's hand fell to his pocket, his mind weighing his options, he didn't think any of his team could stand up to dusclops. Without much time to make a decision, he watched dusclops fire the murky ball of energy between Mudsdale and the mamoswine. Elgyem wasted no time in bringing up a circular barrier between them that took the shadow ball and shattered immediately.

"I can do this all night!" Reed said as his Mudsdale charged for Cole's mamoswine.

The tusked pokémon roared as its body glowed with a light that seemed to trigger a rumble in the earth. In Mudsdale's path jagged boulders emerged, piercing the ground one after another as they headed for Mudsdale who didn't bother stopping. Crashing through each stone obstacle, Mudsdale sent rocks and fleck of stone flying across the field before it slammed into the mamoswine.

Wallace flinched at the sound of the impact, their skulls colliding before the mamoswine lowered its head and managed to work its tusks under Mudsdale and hoisted it off the ground.

"Will, use freeze-dry!" Cole said.

"Mamo!" The light that encased the mamoswine became focused around its tusks that began to steam. The mamoswine opened its mouth and without warning fired a harsh blue light into Mudsdale.

"Mudsdale, use stomp, break its tusks," Reed said.

Through the glare of light that seemed to be forming patches of ice and crystals along Mudsdale's mane of locks, Mudsdale curled its leg up and snapped it down, crackling it against one of the mamoswine's tusks. A shuddering snap rose Wallace's skin to bumps as the mamoswine's tusk snapped off halfway near the base.

The loss of support freed Mudsdale enough so that it could wiggle its way free and smacked the ground. Mamoswine cried out, its attack halting as it backed away, but it quickly focused and fired another blast at Mudsdale.

Another crack of thunder echoed from the heavens before a pat of water smacked the crown of Wallace's head. The drop chilled him as he watched Mudsdale's neck and body become encased in sheets of ice.

"Dusclops, take out the lights," Reed said.

Shivering as a few more raindrops found him, Wallace watched dusclops become with the ground and vanish from sight. A chill brushed him as he tried to follow the dark spot on the ground before he heard glass shatter and the outdoor clinic lights go dark. Slivers of light from inside the clinic did little to light up the field once the outer lights were gone and Wallace found himself in near-total darkness as lights around the field started to pop and die out.

Light from the mamoswine's attack bathed the area in a futuristic blue glow before the field was illuminated in flashes by streaks of lightning that touched down in the distance before one touched down on a nearby tree. Wallace flinched from the blinding light that carved itself into his eyes and exploded bark and branches off the tree.

As the light faded the ground started to rumble. Mudsdale stomped down in four steady beats that shook the ground before it charged forward, directly into the mamoswine's attack. Wallace heard the pokémon collide with another solid thunk before he heard the mamoswine cry out followed by a loud thud against the ground.

"Elgyem, light," Wallace said, his heart pounding against his ribs as elgyem's hands lit up green and covered the field around them in alien green light. Wallace found Mudsdale turning in his direction and Cole's mamoswine lying on its side several yards away.

Cole cried out and rushed to his pokémon's side and in his periphery, Wallace saw dusclops join Reed at his side.

"High horsepower, Mudsdale," Reed said.

Wallace and elgyem dove out of the way as Mudsdale charged for them, but Wallace lost his footing on the slick grass and face planted. Damp grass worked its way into his mouth as he slid to the stop, the gallop of hooves passing him and slowing as the sight of a braided tail vanished into the dark outside of elgyem's range of light.

The pounding of hooves started again and Wallace watched Mudsdale's head bleed out of the darkness into elgyem's light. He had barely enough time to get his feet under him and propel himself out of the way again as Mudsdale charged past.

"Wallace, are you okay?" Cole asked as he recalled his mamoswine.

"Fine!" Wallace grunted through a pain in his chest from hitting the ground again. "How do we stop it?" Wallace fought back the urge to cry out when the ground started shaking again, harder than before and the chorus of hooves closed in on him. Elgyem flew in a short circle in front of Wallace and the light reflected in Mudsdale's eyes which gave Wallace enough time to lunge back across the grass. He panted as he slid through the grass and now mud as Mudsdale charged past, seemingly unable to stop on a dime.

"Wallace, it's weak to water, use your totodile," Cole said.

"He's not strong enough!" Wallace said, his eyes straining to catch first sight of Mudsdale.

"Do you still have the candy I gave you?"

The pouch of candies from Cole suddenly weighed twenty pounds in his pocket. He touched a hand to his back pocket before a hand on his shoulder froze him in place.

"Gotcha."

Wallace's skin prickled, but before he had a chance to react, an arm wrapped around his throat and hoisted him off his feet. Elgyem turned, his green light fading as glinted of purple lit up around them, but before he could attack a shadow ball struck elgyem from behind and sent him careening to the ground.

"Now hold still," Reed said, tightening his hold on Wallace.

Wallace's hand gripped spastically around his waist, brushing the hilt of the knife he'd taken from the chapel. He'd just wrapped his fingers around it when he felt Mudsdale's hoofbeat getting nearer. With a flick of his arm, Wallace whipped the knife upwards and felt the impact it made on Reed's arms. The boy hissed and Wallace was free. He dove forward to the ground and blindly scooped elgyem into his arms and darted to the side.

He'd barely missed Mudsdale, still able to catch a whiff of the pokemon's heavy scent. The smell was that of living on a farm, manure, mud, and hay. But as Mudsdale passed him he caught something else on the pokemon, some metallic and harsh.

He listened to Mudsdale's charge grow fainter the closer he ran toward the bits of light he could find from the clinic.

"We can do this all night, Wallace. My Mudsdale will only get stronger the more mud this field gathers," Reed said, his voice almost an echo across the field.

Wallace paused near the clinic as he spotted Cole propped against the far wall, clutching his arm. "Cole!" he said rushing to his side. He faltered at the sight of Cole's bloodied arm and a small pool of blood forming below him.

"I – I'm losing it," Cole breathed, his head bobbing from side to side. "We gotta get out of here."

"We are. Are you okay?" Wallace said as he crouched and laid elgyem across his knees. The psychic-type looked up at him with hooded eyes and weakly flashed his lights. "Can I get some light, please?"

Elgyem nodded as he pulled himself off Wallace's lap and his green lights illuminated the area around them. In the glow, Wallace could see how pale Cole had become, the blood on his arm dripping like black goo.

Digging in his pocket, Wallace pulled out Wink's ball and released him unceremoniously onto the mud. The water-type trashed for a moment, the damp grass and mud entertaining him for a moment.

Wallace plucked the drawstring pouch from his pocket and stuffed his fingers into the opening and pulled out some of the small hard candies. He rattled the pouch which earned Wink's attention and once he held the candies up Wink fell into position, his jaws opening in anticipation. Quickly, Wallace popped the candies into his mouth and watched them get devoured in seconds.

He studied Wink for a moment, waiting for something to happen, but the sound of hooves stopped him before he could pull out another candy. "Stay close," he said as he stood up and managed to get a few more candies stuffed into his palm before Mudsdale appeared. The ground trembled with incredible force that nearly cost Wallace his balance as he managed to lunge out of Mudsdale's range. Cole did the same, though with less grace as he ran a few steps and then collapsed into the mud.

Mudsdale crashed, full charge, into the front of the clinic, shattering glass as it blew through several of the front windows. Wallace tossed the handful of candies at Wink who gobbled them down without hesitation. He poured a few more into this palm the hoofbeat drew his attention inside, Mudsdale was charging again.

Wallace got up and ran to the edge of the building as Mudsdale burst through another set of windows and back onto the field. Turning, it beat its hooves against the ground before it charged for Wallace. In the corner of his eye, Wallace watched dusclops take solid shape at the edge of his visibility with Reed at its side.

"Elgyem, send Mudsdale over there," he said, swinging his arm in Reed's direction.

Elgyem jolted up in the air before his green light died and the darkness enveloped them all. Two flashes of purple lit up the field with enough force for Wallace to see that Mudsdale was gone and for a moment the pounding stopped before it resumed in the distance.

Following the light of elgyem's teleport, Wallace caught a glimpse of Mudsdale's charging body going full speed at Reed and dusclops. Elgyem returned to his side as a burst of yellow light exploded beside him.

Wallace heard Reed swearing as Mudsdale's charging stopped and heard a soft click at his side following a beam of light that illuminated circles on the ground. "Wallace?" Andrew's voice asked from beyond the light.

Elgyem flashed back to Wallace's side and a moment later the front of the destroyed clinic was bathed in green light as well as the sight of Andrew, Honey, and Eleanor standing in front of the rubble.

"You came back," Wallace said, relieved and ready to collapse.

"Of course we came back," Eleanor said as she studied the area around them and found Cole lying facedown in the mud. She rushed to his side and struggled to roll him over then sit him up. "He's losing a lot of blood," she said.

Wallace moved with Andrew to the other side of the destroyed clinic front to Eleanor. The wounds on Cole's arm were indistinguishable from his flesh since the blood had covered everything. "Let's go," he said, recalling Wink.

"Wallace!" Reed yelled from across the field.

Eleanor grabbed Wallace's hand as she wrapped an arm around Cole and Wallace grabbed Andrew's hand, but Andrew was focused on the field as Reed came into view. Reed was flanked by his pokémon and walked by holding his cut arm across his chest.

"Another reunion!" Reed yelled from the distance as he took shorter steps toward them. "Are you leaving? We just got started, stay a while. Andrew, I think you've got an interesting piece of this puzzle you've been hiding, right?"

"Give it up," Andrew shouted back. "I told him already. I know you're a liar. What you told me about your parent's business was a lie, Wallace told me the truth."

"How can someone in the dark shed light on anything?" Reed asked. "If you want to know the truth, you'll have to hear it from me."

Wallace gritted his teeth as Reed's words. Something was missing from what he learned in Po Town, and Reed knew he didn't have the full story and it was his greatest weapon right now. "Let's go," he said, again.

"Honey, teleport us back," Andrew said.

Wallace watched Reed throw his head back, laughing before yellow light swallowed them and suddenly the dark cold of the grounds was gone. His feet connected with a hardwood floor and damp musk hit his noise.

Wallace released his hold on the others as he took the sight of his surroundings. The cabin was broken up into four corners with a grimy diamond pattern tile of browns and yellows connecting them. Ahead of him, a strong fire had been started in a small fireplace that Garret and Astrid were sitting in front of. Around the room, he noticed several new faces to their group.

In the right corner, Nat and Serena were sitting on the edge of a log bed on top of a quilted bedspread while Rosanna and her friends sat at their feet in a circle, hands clasped together. But beside Nat, Wallace found Cosmo sitting with his legs crossed on the bed, his head down.

Wallace slid past Andrew and Eleanor, who sat Cole down on a wooden shelf and started to tear away at the bloodied remains of his sleeve, to make to the far corner of the room.

Cosmo's head lifted as he approached, his blue-purple eyes wet with tears. "Wallace," he said.

"Welcome back," Wallace said, standing uneasily in front of Cosmo and Nat, mostly the latter. "I'm glad you're here."

"Because there are more people to bring Don back now?" Cosmo asked, smiling. "I'm kidding. I'm glad to be back. Fun fact, there's no sky on the other side. No space, no stars, no nothing. It's not a place I would recommend anyone visit."

Rosanna snorted a laugh as she nudged Cosmo's leg. "You space nerd, is that all you can think about?"

"Wallace, can we talk?" Nat asked, peeling himself away from Cosmo and nodding to the far window. Wallace bobbed his head and on weak legs wandered in that direction, passing Neo and Kit who were sitting to the side, with Kit scribbling short responses onto a piece of stained cardboard using a crayon.

Serena joined them at the window and settled on the sill, latching herself onto Nat's arm as he spoke. "Last time we talked I said a lot of things," Nat said.

"You threatened to cut my team in half, literally," Wallace said, choosing not to allow vagueness between them.

"Yeah, well, you were working with the Orphans, so," Nat said, smugly shrugging. "Who can blame me? Especially after you pretended to care about my family."

"Nat," Serena said, laying a hand on his shoulder. "He does care."

"I know, I know," Nat said, eyeing Wallace up and down. "Reed. Is he?"

"An Orphan? No," Wallace said. "He's something worse. I'm afraid to figure out the rest. For now, the Orphans aren't a problem, I think. Chara, he's the ringleader, he wants Reed out of the picture as much as we do. One of the girls I found out was working with Reed, so I imagine once Chara gets his hands on her she's as good as dead. The other girl was taken, James is dead, and that just leaves one," he said, though the image of Katherine flashed through his mind, the mysterious woman that seemed to have Chara by the reins.

"One Orphan. Do we know who they are?" Serena asked, stroking Nat's arm.

"No," Wallace said. "I thought it was Reed, but Chara said it wasn't."

"You talked to that freak? Wallace, just how close are you to these people?" Nat barked.

"I made a deal with him, to trade Don's safety for Reed," Wallace said. "All of our safety actually. So, for now, I have to be close to them, because Chara is the only one I think who can take Reed down." Though, if Reed was capable of capturing Chara, he wondered if he'd put his faith in the right place.

"Be careful," Serena said. "This was only possible because of you; we need you to finish it too."

Wallace nodded before he looked out the window behind Serena. Although most of the windows seemed to be covered by branches and vines, he could make out a smattering of stars through the gaps. "Nat, Cosmo said the other side didn't have a sky. What was it like over there?"

Nat blew air through his lips and shrugged. "Just dark and empty. Imagine a graveyard in the movies. It's quiet, empty, foggy. I saw some other people there, but it was endless. We would try to stick together, but it was like the ground kept switching things and moving us away. You could be talking to someone, blink and then they're gone, like fifty yards away, and then you're running to them, but never getting any closer. We would see these holes opening up and people being dropped off. I didn't know what was happening, or that my brothers were gone until I came back."

"He said time moved differently there," Serena said.

"Serena said I'd been gone about a month," Nat said, nodding. "It felt like hours since Reed took me. There's no sun, no moon, just darkness."

"Hi?"

Their attention shifted to an extremely tall young man standing nearby. His hair was platinum blond and buzzed down on the sides, but left long on the top and was tousled and hung over a pair of icy blue eyes that pierced through Wallace.

His golden fawn skin was clear and smooth, and a small golden nose ring caught Wallace's eye. "Sorry, I just wanted to say hi. I'm Madden Grant. My sister, Madeleina, you've met her," he said, pointing back to Madeleina a few steps behind him. "I wanted to thank you for helping to bring us all back. I think I speak for everyone when I say how cool that is of you." Madden wavered awkwardly, like a children's toy that was designed to wobble but never actually falls over. "Bump?" he asked, holding his fist out to Wallace.

Wallace eyed the fist for a moment before he tapped it with his own. "Sure?"

"Nice," Madden said grinning.

"I'm sorry about him," Madeleina said, stopping at Madden's side.

"Well not everyone can be as cool as you little sis," Madden said, draping an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close. "But we can try, maybe somebody I'll be like you when I decide to grow up."

"As much as I miss you, you stink," Madeleina said, prying his arm off her. "You need to shower."

"I was thinking we could make a trip to the city, Laverre isn't far from here. We can rest at the center, eat, get supplies," Wallace said. "I just need to take care of my team first and whoever wants to go we can form a group." Wallace stepped away from the group and made his way back to the front of the cabin where Andrew was staring at the ceiling.

"This place brings back memories," Andrew said as he leaned against a dusty bookshelf that separated the right side of the cabin.

Wallace bit into this lip to avoid saying anything. The urge to bring up Arlette was on the edge of his tongue, but he wasn't sure Andrew knew Arlette had journaled their trip to this cabin and the events that occurred and he wasn't sure this was the best time to bring them up.

"Eleanor, can you get Cole onto the bed?" he asked as he moved into the small kitchenette to his left.

"Sure," Eleanor said. "The bleeding has mostly stopped, but I'm worried about it getting infected." She gripped Cole's waist and hoisted him up, earning a deep groan from Cole who seemed to be dancing between consciousness.

In the kitchen other than the small fridge, Wallace found a dirty countertop that sat between a dusty and cobweb filled sink and a range that looked like something his grandparents might have owned. On the floor behind him, Wallace found the supplies they'd taken from the clinic.

He opened a few bags until he found pokémon food and medicine. Under the counter, he found more cobwebs and dust, but among the useless rusted utensils and scraps of trash, he found a few pans and a few bowls.

"Here, we can wash them," Andrew said as he shuffled past him and twisted the knob on the sink faucet. The pipes rattled in protest, but eventually sprayed out a stream of questionable colored water. "It's safe. This place's utilities are kept on because it's a popular stop for trainers. It's kind of become a natural attraction for pokémon to visit and make homes in, but Laverre keeps the power going regardless."

Skeptically, Wallace threw the pans in the sink and let the water flood them. While he waited for Andrew to give them the best scrubbing he could, Wallace emptied one bag of food into another and pulled the pouch of rare candy out and dumped a bunch into the empty bag. He smashed the bag against the counter and then with his hands until the candies inside were crushed enough and Andrew laid the bowls out for him.

He filled the largest bowl with food and a mixture of rare candy and released Ariados and Mila to have at it. He filled another bowl for Wink and Tyrogue and let them eat on the counter before he made a separate bowl, free of rare candy, for elgyem.

Pulling out the poké ball he'd gotten in Alola, Wallace tapped the locking mech and let it open in his palm. A vine of vibrant flowers exploded from the ball, Wallace counted at least eight of them, before he released they were connected to a small green pokemon with an orange face and stubby arms that flailed wildly until it managed to grab the end of the flower trail it was holding with the vine from its head.

He heard a few gasps from around the room, and an impressive one from Neo, as the pokemon floated around him. "Fey?" it hummed.

"I've never seen a pokemon like that before, must be an Alolan native," Neo said, adjusting his glasses. Solemnly he looked to his wrist, the space for his tablet seeming like a missing limb in the presence of a new pokémon.

"It's Comfey," Serena said as she and Nat moved away from the window. "Pretty popular with nurses for their healing ability. Also, really popular with little kids because they like to collect flowers and gift them away as gifts."

"Great," Wallace said, unsure of what to make of the pokémon. He picked up a few pieces of food on the counter to get its attention and eventually the comfey took the hint and settled on the edge of the counter, snagging a few pieces of food from Wink.

"So, what's the plan?" Alice asked from her place with Nicki beside one of the windows. "We just hide out here, until when exactly? Are we even safe here?"

The eyes in the room that were focused on Alice while she spoke shifted immediately to Wallace who swallowed a lump in his throat. "We need to keep trying to bring people back. We know how now. We know that once they return everyone's memory of them will return. The more people we bring back the easier this should be. So, maybe pair up? Rosanna, Cosmo, and Nat, work on bringing Don back. Kit can help too. The rest of you, we can make a small trip to the city to get a few things."

"Do you mind if we come?" Aleigha asked as she shot up and pulled Alita with her. "She needs to use the bathroom and there's not really a real one around here. Maddy, are you coming?"

Madeleina shook her head from her place beside Madden. "I'm going to stay with my brother. Thank you, Wallace, really" she said. "I can't explain what it felt like to see him again, to know something was wrong from so far away, and to have him back. It puts my mind at ease, thank you."

"You did all the hard work making the connection, Maddy," Serena said before her eyes darted to Wallace. "No offense."

"None taken," Wallace said, glancing at his team that had scarfed down most of the food before he touched his own stomach, unable to remember the last meal he ate. As he recalled his team he looked over the room at their faces. "Anyone else hungry?" he asked and the room erupted in unison agreement and enjoyed a short burst of laughter that slowly died into small talk before Andrew gasped behind him.

Wallace whipped around and turned his attention to the door. The wooden rows that made up the cabin door were melting and melding into one another as a spiral pattern warped them before hands and a face emerged from the spiral.

"I was going to knock again, but that joke was only good once," Reed said, smiling as his body emerged through the door. "Did you think you could access the other side and bring people back without me noticing?" Reed asked. "I'm one with the other side, I can tell when and where portals open. You can't run from me."

Without a second thought, Wallace lunged forward at Reed who opened his arms to him. "Elgyem!" he said as he stretched his arm out to make contact.

Reed grinned and swayed back out of range and Wallace tripped, collapsing at his feet. He threw his body forward a jolt and latched onto Reed's ankle as elgyem's power filled his vision with purple light. Behind him he heard others calling his name and screaming for him not to go, but as they were ripped from the room, it was too late.

The boys spun through the air in a field over campus again and rain pelted Wallace's back as they fell. Reed kicked, struggling to free Wallace's hold of his feet, while Wallace struggled to figure out which way was up. Once he realized they were falling far and the solid ground was waiting for them he released Reed and in a flash, he was out of the sky and appeared just inches from the ground before he landed onto the grass.

Looking up he found Reed pinwheeling through the air before a dark shadow detached itself from his body and shot to the ground like a rocket. Darkness spread over the ground as Reed reached it. Rather than breaking his neck like Wallace had imagined, Reed vanished into the earth and the darkness closed in on itself before it shot up from the ground like a fountain and Reed emerged from the shadow.

Reed flared his nostrils and pulled a poké ball from his pocket and spun it on his palm before he tossed it down. "Dusclops, get rid of elgyem," he said.

Dusclops pulled itself out of Reed's shadow and with its hands held out flat gathered energy for a shadow ball. Dusclops fired it and elgyem raised a shield just in time to deflect the first ball, but the second one shattered the purple shield and sent elgyem flying back.

"Elgy!" Wallace cried, ready to run rescue elgyem before he saw the pokémon Reed had released.

Hypno, an eerily human yellow pokémon with thick and dirty looking fur around its neck and a swinging medallion in its fingers. Wallace's eyes fell to the medallion and his concern for elgyem fell to the wayside as he began fixed on the swinging, back and forth, without fail and without losing its rhythm.

"Wallace, to myself want do I to really you explain," Reed said, his voice tumbling through Wallace's mind as he focused on the medallion that had begun to spin amid its swinging. "Stubborn right always you're you so but you're think."

"You told poor sleeping haven't a little birdie lately been Wallace me," Reed said. "Hypno, use hypnosis."

With a gentle flick of the medallion, Hypno spun it faster on its string and sent ripples through the air that homed in on Wallace.

Wallace felt himself swimming in the jumble of Reed's words as his body became weightless. He lost sight of Hypno's medallion and instead was staring at the black mass of sky as his body fell and connected with the damp grass.


AN: I hope everyone is doing well in the monstrosity that 2020 has turned into. Stay safe, mask up.

End of Chapter Fifty-Two