Book 2 Chapter 4: Respite
So, it's been a long time. I think I started writing this chapter more than a year ago. Stuff happened. For a while, I didn't know if it would ever get finished. I'm not promising regular updates going forward, but...I'm hopeful. If anyone is still here and interested, thank you.
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Zorua felt the familiar scents and sounds of the manor wrap around her as the door creaked shut behind them, stone and smoke and hot food and dozens of Pokémon working and living together. Zangoose and Sandslash, working on something she couldn't see on one of the big dining tables, looked up and nodded in greeting, and Ampharos stopped mopping to wave. She smiled back.
This was home, just like the lodge back in Meadow Town, only instead of being tolerated, she was welcomed. If she wanted to be honest with herself, that probably had more to do with her own attitude than anyone else's. Her friends were here, her team was here; all that was missing, she thought, was Lucario. No; Treecko was missing too, and her mother. Zorua stumbled and caught herself. Her eyes stung. The nap they'd had outside Temple Ruins hadn't been nearly long enough.
In front of her, Arcanine was limping again; she wasn't sure how long he had been. Even if all of them were exhausted, there were half a dozen other Pokémon in the manor who could heal him, if he wasn't too stubborn to ask.
They were halfway across the lobby when she looked up again. Growlithe and Electrike were there, shoulder to shoulder in the doorway of Team Mighty's room, watching them. She wasn't stupid enough to challenge Arcanine like this, was she?
Growlithe averted her gaze as they approached, eyes flickering around the room before settling on the floor in front of her. Her tail drooped, passive, but not submissive. No, Zorua thought, Growlithe didn't want to fight; she wanted to talk. Zorua looked away. She didn't have the patience for Growlithe's problems right now; whatever she needed could wait until morning. Even as she thought it, Zorua realized that Absol had already veered to meet them, and she, shoulder to shoulder with the larger Pokémon, was being guided in the same direction.
Growlithe's head and tail remained low, paws kneeding nervously at the floor as they approached. Electrike's gaze shifted appraisingly between the three of them. Her ribs were already beginning to fill out, and her coat was regaining it's sheen. Though she was the smaller Pokémon, her confidence made her the more imposing.
Growlithe took an unaccustomed step back as they approached, and Electrike moved instinctively forward, her hackles beginning to rise as she angled protectively between them. Zorua and Absol stopped. They all looked at each other in awkward silence for a moment. The two of them probably looked a bit rough, Zorua thought, but they couldn't be that bad.
"I'm sorry." Elektrike stepped back, looking slightly embarrassed, and shook her fur flat.
Absol stared for a few seconds. Her mouth opened and closed and opened again before she found the words to answer. "Did...you want to talk?"
"Yes." Electrike nodded. "But, ah, it can wait for morning."
Zorua and Absol rejoined the others. The stove was burning in the library, and the room was pleasantly warm. Wordlessly, Arcanine flopped down on their bed. Absol curled up beside him, and so did she. Rather than return to their own rooms for the rest of the night, Team Raiders and Team Charm followed them into the library. The six of them pulled the remaining cushions into a semicircle in front of the stove.
She understood the urge to stay with the group, Zorua thought, to stay with the activity. She wouldn't want to be shut in one of the small side rooms with just her team right now, either; she wanted to see and hear and smell all the other Pokémon in the manor, a constant confirmation that they were home and safe and not still trapped in the interminable corridors of the dungeon.
Tyranitar and Charizard watched for a moment and left, returning a few moments later with the bedding from their rooms. No one cared to remake beds, so the six of them ended up in a heap all together. No one seemed to mind.
Alakazam joined Team Easy and Team Arcana, still working on their translation of Instruments of Creation by the pale blue light of a Luminous Orb. Their soft voices and the rustle of pages was comforting and familiar.
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All of the teams from Temple Ruins were slow to rise the next morning. Arcanine could feel Absol and Zorua moving and stretching beside him, and Mewtwo's lingering scent told him that the psychic had joined them sometime during the night. He could smell breakfast from the other room, and the pleasant floral scent of Aromatherapy. His stomach growled, but somehow it didn't seem worth getting up for.
Arcanine watched through half-closed eyes as the other occupants of the manor gathered in the library after breakfast. Team Raiders and Team Charm were just beginning to stir as well.
He knew that there was important work to be done, but everything seemed distant and impersonal. His head throbbed, and the muscles along his spine ached with the pain of a hundred half-remembered scalpels, but the sensations seemed to belong to someone else. The conversation washed around him like a stream parting around a boulder, a pleasant sound, but devoid of meaning.
Was it a lingering effect of their time in Temple Ruins? Was that how Team Mighty felt, lingering around the manor, still wanting to be part of the group, even if they could no longer understand it's purpose?
He woke again. The sun was several hours higher in the sky, and his mind was clearer. Alakazam and Delphox were talking, and the plate of now-cold baked Apple slices on the floor beside him smelled delicious. He could feel Mewtwo waiting, so he gulped his share. Zorua and Absol grumbled and grunted as his movement woke them. It wasn't quite enough to be satisfying, but conserving food had been his idea, he thought, so he couldn't complain.
#Ah, you're back with us,# Mewtwo said as soon as he had finished. #We were just about to volunteer you for something.#
His back wasn't feeling any better. Arcanine stretched slowly, carefully, and hobbled over to sit beside Mewtwo. Team Razor Wind were all there as well, returned from Treasure Town; Zangoose raised a hand in salute and grinned at him. Scyther and Sandslash nodded in acknowledgment, and he returned the gesture.
"Buried Relic is dangerous," Delphox was saying, "by all accounts, it's even more difficult that Temple Ruins. With Dragon and Hydro away, I'm not sure that we have the teams to do it safely, and if anything goes wrong, we can't count on Wigglytuff Guild for help."
"Chatot and the remaining Magnemites absconded the day after you left," Zangoose interrupted the conversation to explain, "along with Duskull and most of the money in the bank. Wigglytuff is still nominally guild leader, but Team Poképals have been managing operations."
Arcanine noddedhis thanks for the news. Zorua and Absol finished eating, and joined him beside Mewtwo. They both looked tired, still, but not nearly as dazed as he felt.
#That is why I will be joining them myself.# Mewtwo said.
A mystery dungeon with Mewtwo, Arcanine thought? That was something worth getting excited about, even if all he really wanted to do was spend a few more days asleep in front of the stove.
#No.# Mewtwo shook his head. #I'm sorry, Arcanine. I would enjoy it as well, but we need your team for another task.#
Mewtwo sensed his disappointment, and reached a hand over to rest on his shoulder.
#I think that there will be other opportunities, yet, for us to fight together.#
"Yes," Delphox continued, "there's a clue to another location which I believe we've overlooked; the Ice-types. Around the same time they were reported near Meadow Town, we received a report from River Town of similar activity."
"Oh!" Absol interjected, "we did, didn't we. We've been so busy, I forgot about that."
Delphox nodded. "So had I, until a few days ago. A lot has happened since then. But, they were correct about a sphere near Meadow Town, so I think River Town bears investigation."
Delphox turned to Alakazam, who met her gaze with hesitation. Whatever Delphox had planned, he thought, Alakazam didn't agree.
"There are three dungeons within two days walk from River Town," Alakazam picked up the story, "Serenity River, Waterfall Cave, and Grassy Marsh. None of them are difficult, and they have all been thoroughly explored. If there was a similar door in any of them, it would be commonly known."
"Probably," Delphox agreed, "but no one has been there looking for just this thing. It might be we'll notice something no one else has."
"Serenity River will also put you uncomfortably close to Treasure Town," Alakazam said. "In any case, all three dungeons have a significant amount of water. This is a job for Team Hydro or Team Sprouts."
"We've been in Grassy Marsh," Zorua said, "and there was definitely not a huge stone door." Zorua looked to Delphox and Alakazam, and then to Mewtwo. "If they're so easy, why do you need Arcanine?"
#I need all three of you,# Mewtwo said, #because I'm certain that if there is anything to find, you will. I think this door may be much smaller than the ones we've found before.#
Everyone was silent for a moment, and they all knew that the matter was settled.
"I have two things to help you," Delphox took the lead again, "first, some reading; Grey has found accounts of all three dungeons for you. She pointed to where several books were laid out on one of the tables.
"Also, a Drought Orb. Are you familiar with how they work?"
"Kinda," Zorua said, "but I've never used one."
"It will dry up all of the water in the dungeon," Delphox said. "The effect lasts an hour or two. When it ends, the dungeon will begin to refill. The speed varies; some dungeons refill quickly and violently, while others take days. Unfortunately, we don't know how it will work in any of these. I would suggest that you would get the most use from it in Serenity River, but I will leave that choice to you."
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Growlithe and Electrike were curled up next to each other when Absol and Zorua went to meet with them that evening. Absol felt guilty about not following up with them earlier, but after waking late, it had been another busy day. Searching through previous accounts of the upcoming dungeons and planning their search occupied the rest of the morning, and then reviewing Team Arcana's progress with the translation and helping them with research claimed the afternoon. Arcanine had been restless and distracted all day, and she didn't know whether it was a lingering effect of the dungeon, or what he'd had to do with the Yamasks, or if something else was bothering him.
Absol and inhaled slowly and deeply as she entered the room. Elektrike's scent was already thoroughly mingled with that of Growlithe and the Mightyenas in the room; the kind of mixing which came from not just living together, but grooming and cuddling together. That was good, she thought; whether she stayed or not, that was what Elektrike needed right now. Team Mighty had a way with Pokémon in need – or, at least, with lonely female field-group Pokémon.
There was another new scent in the room as well, and Zorua recognized it before she did.
"You've had your egg!" Zorua said excitedly.
Growlithe nodded, smiling, and Electrike wriggled aside and she could see it, nestled in the blankets between them. About the size of Zorua's head, the shell was striped orange and black. Absol bent down to examine it more closely. The shell was firm, but soft and leathery, and felt warm against her nose.
Instinct told her to curl up around the egg, to keep it warm against her chest, but there wasn't room between Growlithe and Elektrike for her to join. She stepped back to let Zorua have a closer look as well. When Zorua had finished, Electrike slid back into her former place, covering it completely.
"We wanted to thank you," Electrike began as Absol and Zorua settled into the blankets beside them. "Everyone here has been so kind to us. Team ACT, Team Mighty, Aromatisse...Tyranitar invited me to join the watch, and Delphox sent messages to the whole Federation to help find Glameow and Lycanroc. I know you all have more important things to worry about, but everyone has still taken time to help us."
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They were all silent for a moment. Zorua could feel Electrike's weight shifting as she stretched out a hindleg to prod Growlithe's flank. The two of them had rehearsed this, she thought, while they were all away. Growlithe had something she wanted to say as well, but was too timid to say on her own.
"I...I want to, um, thank you too." Growlithe began hesitantly. "I know I haven't been very nice and I don't deserve it, but everyone has helped me so much-"
Growlithe stopped abruptly, as her voice caught on an indrawn breath. Absol leaned over and began to groom between Growlithe's ears.
"I don't want to be like my mom," Growlithe continued, more calmly, "and I don't want him to be like me. I want him to be strong and smart and brave, like you guys..." Her voice trailed off as she looked away.
"Of course we'll help!" Zorua offered immediately. She looked to Absol for confirmation. "Right?"
Absol nodded in agreement. "Growlithe, you don't need to be afraid to ask. I think everyone wants to help.
Growlithe didn't answer, just nuzzled her face into Absol's chest. Zorua watched for a moment as Absol continued to groom Growlithe, then began to knead Electrike's back. Electrike yawned and stretched, pushing back into her paws in obvious pleasure. They were in no hurry to get back to the library, Zorua thought; Arcanine and Mewtwo were still outside, talking about whatever it was that they talked about. Were there secrets that they didn't want to share with the rest of the manor, or memories from Arcanine's past? Was it science from their world that she wouldn't understand anyway? Arcanine would probably tell her everything, if she insisted, but that didn't seem like the right thing to do. He didn't ask what she and Absol and Growlithe and Team Mighty did together. If it was something that they needed to know, Arcanine would tell them.
Above them, the wind whistled through the crack around the window. Zorua shivered, though the room was warm enough that even Absol looked comfortable.
"Are you gonna be okay in Serenity River and Grassy Marsh?" Zorua asked, "They're all outside."
"I think so." Absol said "It can't be as bad as Mount Mistral. As long as we have shelter at night."
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The wind picked up again, pelting them with countless tiny ice crystals scoured from the hill outside the courtyard before whipping through the treetops behind them with a roar like the turbines on Team Rocket's airships. Arcanine squinted, lowering his head against the assault and letting his ears fold back against his skull, but didn't look away. He was only slightly cold. As long as he was relatively dry, his thick coat provided excellent insulation.
"Why are they all on this continent?" Arcanine wondered, instinctively raising his voice to be heard over the howling of the wind, though he knew it didn't matter, "or even this world?"
Mewtwo didn't answer immediately. His eyes were closed and his face serene and motionless as he faced into the storm, as if he couldn't feel the wind which ruffled his his short fur and flattened his ears, or the rime which grew along his muzzle with each breath.
Was it a test, he wondered, or was Mewtwo actually enjoying himself? Either way, Mewtwo had led them here, their accustomed perch on the wall, and he wasn't going to be the first to suggest that they move somewhere more sheltered. Perhaps Mewtwo was testing himself instead; consciously regulating his body temperature and reactions.
#Sometimes,# Mewtwo said, his psychic voice as calm as his face, #we can see that events are related, even if we don't know what is the cause, and what is the effect. Were the tools of the Creation Pokémon placed where we could find them, or did their presence make this world more suitable for life? Were they placed in mystery dungeons for a purpose, or did the dungeons form under their influence?# Mewtwo's voice softened, and Arcanine didn't need to look to feel his grin. #The Torchic or the egg?#
A rhetorical question to answer a rhetorical question. The answer didn't matter to him anyway, Arcanine supposed, and was probably beyond any of their understanding. What was important was that they had a job to do, and people relying on them.
#Actually,# Mewto continued, #Team Arcana made quite a lot of progress in their translation while you were away. There appear to be several elsewhere in the world, though we're still working on precise locations.#
A crack echoed across the courtyard as a branch on one of the remaining Apple trees lost its battle with the wind and snow. Arcanine turned reflexively to look. Mewtwo didn't move.
"Hydro and Dragon will be back in a month or so," Arcanine said, changing the subject slightly, "Find one in these dungeons, can have it back in a few days. What then?"
#I do have a theory now for how it works,# Mewtwo said, #unfortunately, we won't be able to test it until they return with the planets.#
Arcanine waited, knowing that he didn't need to prompt Mewtwo to continue.
#The principle of sympathy; there is a connection of some sort between the models, and the planets which they represent. I believe that the movement of the models, when they are near each other, affects the movement of the corresponding planets. The Orrery itself is a timekeeping mechanism; when all of the models are mounted, the planets are constrained to their proper positions.#
"Like replacing the Time Gears in Temporal Tower," Arcanine suggested.
Mewtwo nodded.
"So," Arcanine said, "need all thirteen to work."
#Ultimately, yes. The system is far too complex for us to regulate manually. We may be able to make some gross adjustments with fewer planets, but unless we have Earth, I'm not sure that it will matter.#
Arcanine shivered, but it wasn't from the cold. The thought that any being, even Mewtwo, could manipulate whole planets so casually, was terrifying.
#It is, isn't it,# Mewtwo agreed somberly. #I could be wrong. I could miscalculate and kill all of us. But, I don't see that we have a choice but to try. As much as we're trying, we're not progressing quickly enough.#
Silently, Arcanine agreed. "You said all of the planets were affected?" he asked.
#Yes,# Mewtwo said. #Earth and Luna the most by far; our mystery object passed quite close.#
"How, if they don't have all the spheres?"
#I don't know,# Mewtwo admitted.
There wasn't much more they could usefully speculate, now. Umbreon and Espeon might have more answers, by the time they had the spheres from Mount Mistral and Temple Ruins to experiment with. What would have happened four years ago, he wondered, if Team Poképals had only replaced some of the Time Gears?
#There's another thing,# Mewtwo said, #and I...need your advice. We don't have the manpower to keep going at the rate we have been; every sphere that we find deprives us of at least one strong team for weeks or months, and the remaining dungeons aren't going to be closer or easier.#
Arcanine nodded; he had been thinking the same thing. But where were they going to find more Pokémon strong enough and reliable enough to lead further expeditions? Most of the world's renowned teams were already here.
#Most of this world's teams, yes.# Mewtwo agreed.
It took Arcanine a moment to realize what Mewtwo was suggesting, and he shivered again.
"Can you?" Arcanine asked, "safely? Still don't remember what happened..."
Arcanine hesitated. He didn't want to say it; there wasn't any way which didn't sound like an accusation. Mewtwo knew what he meant. When you lost me.
#Arcanine.# Mewtwo began, hesitantly, #I... blocked your memory before we came here. It's not an easy journey – not for me, at least. Partway through, you woke up. You had no idea who I was, or where we were, and, understandably, you panicked. I panicked, and lost my grip on you.#
"Still don't really understand where...when..." He trailed off; none of the languages he knew offered a good word for the relationship between their timelines.
#Otherwhen?# Mewtwo suggested, his lips curling upward in the hint of a grin.
It took Arcanine a moment to process the reference, and he grinned back. "Makes you Lord, ah..."
#Kalvan,# Mewtwo supplied. #What Piper called paratime is close enough; though he got a lot of the details wrong.#
Mewtwo leaned back, his hands on the inner edge of the wall behind him. For several minutes, the roar of the wind was the only sound. Arcanine waited, patiently, knowing that Mewtwo would continue when he was ready.
#Say that you have two parallel lines in Euclidean space,# Mewtwo began slowly. #Each line exists in it's own, unique, one dimension. If you're a one dimensional creature, you can look in either direction on your own line...we'll call it plus or minus 'x'. You can't look over to the other line - that direction doesn't exist for you.
#But say we plot those parallel lines on a Cartesian plane - two dimensions. At any point on one line, there is a perpendicular line - in the plus or minus 'y' direction - which connects them. This remains true no matter how many delta-x lines there are; one delta-y line connects all of them at each value of 'x'.
#We can think of time the same way. We can travel in the plus or minus 't' direction on our own timeline. Only plus 't', for most people, most of the time, but that's not important. We can't look over and see the other timelines parallel to ours, but for any value of 't' there's still a line - we can call it delta-u, which connects all of them.#
Arcanine nodded slowly. It made sense, he thought, in a theoretical way.
#The difficult part is learning how to look in that 'u' direction,# Mewtwo continued, #I've tried to show the rest of the Family how, in the last few years, but it doesn't seem to work for them. Maybe that's part of being Legendary - access to that second time dimension. I still don't understand how you landed in the correct timeline on your own; you should have continued to drift in 'u' space.#
#So, no,# Mewtwo said, returning to the original question, #I can't bring them over safely; not quickly enough to be useful. Mew can, if she's willing to help, but that carries its own set of risks.#
Arcanine nodded. Even if Mew had been helping so far, there was no guarantee she wouldn't change her mind, or lose interest partway through. On a cosmic scale of time, even Mewtwo's life was inconsequential.
#Even if nothing goes wrong on the way here, will Mew be available when we're ready to return? She doesn't understand time like we do; the urgency we feel. It could be months before she answers me again, or decades, or never.#
"Work you're doing there is important?" Arcanine asked, though he already knew the answer.
#Yes.#
"But only if we succeed here?"
#Yes.# Mewtwo answered again.
"Think I would take the risk," Arcanine said.
#I think so too,# Mewtwo agreed, #but that's part of the problem. They'll agree because I'm asking, not because of a considered evaluation of the risks. No matter how I try to explain what we're getting into, they can't really understand what I'm asking of them until we get here - any more than you did five years ago.#
"They'll agree because we trust your judgment," Arcanine said. "Mewtwo, they know you wouldn't risk them unnecessarily."
Finally Mewtwo released whatever mental exercise he had been using to maintain his composure in the storm. His head drooped and his shoulers sagged, and he grimaced in the onslaught of the wind. Mewtwo's hand rested on his shoulder, then slid slowly down his back, tracing from scar to scar.
#This is all my fault, you know,# Mewtwo said softly, #Everything Team Rocket did to all of you. Everything that you've gone through here. I don't understand how you can still trust me.#
"No," Arcanine said firmly, "Remember better now. We were all complacent on Mount Quena. Remember when everyone was hurt after the fight with Rocket, and I only thought about myself. You did what needed to be done."
Mewtwo leaned into Arcanine, burying his face in Arcanine's mane. Arcanine wrapped a foreleg around him, and allowed his body temperature to rise until he could feel the ice coating his fur begin to melt. Even as the world's most powerful Psychic, Arcanine thought, Mewtwo had to be cold out here with his short fur.
#This is no place for civilized conversation,# Mewtwo eventually said, #Shall we continue indoors?#
The library was still busy, despite the hour, so they settled in the kitchen. There was a fire build in the stove, waiting to be lit, and trays piled with berries and herbs on the counters; Ampharos, or whoever was cooking for the Pokémon at the manor, preparing for breakfast tomorrow.
#If I'm correct so far about how the Orrery works,# Mewtwo resumed their discussion, #I think we can make some guesses about what our enemies, whoever they may be, have, and what they know. What do you think?#
A Mentat question, Arcanine thought; this was an old game, for the Family. Mewtwo would say that there was no such thing as perfectly logical reasoning; one always began with some intuitional assessment of what was reasonable, what was important. Mewtwo already had answers. If he arrived at similar answers, it validated Mewtwo's conclusion. Or sometimes, as with Giovanni, they were all wrong together.
"At least one other party has spheres," Arcanine began slowly, "probably including Earth, if if was most affected. Probably knows at least as much as we do about how they work, but if all it takes is moving them nearby, could have been accidental. Can't know whether the Ice-types caused it; possible they're in the same situation we are. Might even think we're responsible; could explain their violence."
Mewtwo nodded. #That's reasonable. Anything else?#
"Occam's Razor; should prefer theories with the fewest other parties. One party gives us only the Ice-types; they did it intentionally and want to prevent us from interfering. Accident is unlikely; Pokémon would admit a mistake and ask us for help."
Arcanine paused a moment, thinking. "That doesn't work. Something had already gone wrong before they attacked Meadow Town. Knew more than we did, could have collected the other spheres before revealing themselves or using them. Probably two other parties; one to act first, and one to interfere."
Mewtwo nodded slowly. That didn't mean that Mewtwo agreed with his deduction, Arcanine thought, just that he agreed that it was reasonable.
#There is one other interesting bit of information." Mewtwo said,"Meowth has been monitoring the situation while I have been away, and Mew tells me that she has observed no further change in the orbits of the planets. What do you make of that?#
Again, Arcanine paused to consider the possibilities. The ice in his coat was melting in the warmth of the manor; soaking deeper into his fur, or dripping to the floor around him. A similar puddle was forming around Mewtwo. He wanted to shake, but, he thought, Ampharos wouldn't be happy if he made any more mess here.
"Could support the accident theory. Or, the Ice-types had spheres and lost them. Or, something forced them to begin sooner than intended, and they need the rest to finish. But...all of those theories have the same problem; why haven't we seen them again?"
#That is an interesting question, isn't it?# Mewtwo agreed.
It was a question that they probably wouldn't be able to answer, Arcanine supposed, until they did see the Ice-types again.
Arcanine yawned. It was late, and he and Mewtwo both ought to be sleeping if they were going out again tomorrow morning, but there was one more thing the two of them needed to settle first. He couldn't think of a good way to broach the subject. He didn't need to, because Mewtwo already knew what he had really wanted to talk about out on the wall, and Mewtwo had been avoiding it too.
#You're still unhappy about Buried Relic, aren't you,# Mewtwo said. It wasn't really a question.
Arcanine nodded. "Safer if I come with you."
#Team Charm, Team Raiders, and Team Razor Wind,# Mewtwo said, #You've fought alongside all three. You would trust them with your life, wouldn't you?#
He trusted them with his own life, Arcanine thought, and maybe even Absol's and Zorua's. That didn't mean he trusted them with Mewtwo's.
It was more than that, though. Buried Relic and these lesser dungeons didn't have to be done at the same time; there were plenty of other Pokémon who could have searched Grassy Marsh, Serenity River, and Waterfall Cave while they were in Temple Ruins. He was sure that Mewtwo and Delphox had arranged it this way intentionally. He was being sent away again.
#Arcanine,# Mewtwo said, #I'm worried about you. Can you tell me, honestly, that you're ready for another dungeon like Temple Ruins?#
For a moment he hesitated, then Arcanine shook his head. He couldn't lie to Mewtwo. As much as he tried to ignore it, he hurt. His back, as always. His wrist, from Growlithe's tantrum. He wasn't as tough or as fast as he should be, and he wasn't healing as well as he should.
#I'm exhausted too,# Mewtwo admitted, #but it's a different kind of tired. I can't stare at books any longer; I'm a Pokémon too, and I need to fight something. Arcanine, these dungeons are important, even if they're easy. If anyone else came back with a negative report, I would still have doubts; I know you will find whatever is there to find.#
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"Grassy Marsh first?" Zorua asked, "Arcanine, we know there's nothing there."
"Mewtwo and Delphox are both smart Pokémon," Absol said, "if they think it might be there, it's worth looking again, isn't it?"
Arcanine nodded. "Don't think there is either, but I agree. Also, it's the smallest."
Zorua might be sure, but he wasn't. His attention had been on Zorua, on their last visit, and neither of them had been looking for anything more than ferals to fight.
There ought to be three moons among the remaining spheres, if someone else hadn't already found them; Luna, and whatever Jupiter's and Saturn's were called. Those would be small enough they might not have their own rooms. Alakazam was right; someone would have documented a door the size of the others they had found, but a smaller compartment might have gone unnoticed or unremarked. Each disc was four centimeters or so in diameter. If the ten planetary orbits and three lunar orbits were discrete, the door had to be at least 132 centimeters across.
"Don't think this one will be a big door," Arcanine said, "maybe a niche in a wall or floor, or a chest."
Zorua didn't answer immediately. She looked like she wanted to continue the argument, but she shrugged instead and looked away.
"Alright, big guy. Somehow you're normally right about this stuff."
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Other than the very end of Mount Mistral, this was the first opportunity they'd really had to use Arcanine's saddle. It was cozy inside, with a blanket across the top to keep the heat in and the night out, and Arcanine's body heat beneath her. There wasn't any room to move her legs, and the constant motion of his long strides made her a bit queasy, but at least it was a lot warmer than Lapras' boat.
"Doing okay in there?" Zorua asked, her voice muffled through the basket and blanket. She was sitting on the front of the saddle, outside the basket. Even encumbered with both of them, Arcanine could keep a faster pace than Zorua could.
"Yes, thank you!" Absol called back.
"Good. Arcanine thinks it's another hour Grassy Marsh, and there's a burrow outside we can sleep in."
She was glad they wouldn't be running all night. The saddle gave them a few extra hours at dawn and dusk, but Arcanine would need to stop and sleep as well.
Mewtwo and the teams accompanying him would be inside Buried Relic by now. They were all strong Pokémon; a more capable expedition than any she could recall in any of her parents' stories or any of the books they had read in the library. She was still worried about them. They ought to be there to help.
The combination of motion and warmth was making her sleepy. For a while she fought it, feeling guilty about sleeping while Arcanine was working. Eventually, she decided to give in. It wouldn't make a difference to Arcanine if she was asleep or awake.
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Grassy Marsh was more pleasant with all of the water frozen over, Zorua thought. Though it was colder than their last visit, they were able to stay mostly dry. There weren't many ferals around today, either, but there were tracks in the snow, and holes in the ice where they must have entered and exited the water below.
This was dumb, she thought; they were wasting their time here. Mewtwo hadn't been here, and he didn't understand that it was just a swamp. Arcanine wasn't assertive enough, and she should have argued instead of just accepting everyone else's decision. She was supposed to be team leader.
"Wonder if the orb works on ice, or just liquid water," Arcanine mused.
"Do you think it might be underwater?"Absol asked.
"Probably not," Arcanine said, "other places were all similar; stone room, inside, the altars, lights. They had...intent? Someone made them to be found by people like us. But possible. Don't find it in the other dungeons, come back here and try."
Absol and Arcanine were walking really slow, Zorua thought, looking around like they were expecting the door to jump out and surprise them. Since they had to be here, she could scout ahead, and maybe they'd get though a bit faster.
A jet of water splashed across her back. Zorua stopped, looking around for its source. Fifty meters to her left, a Wooper ducked behind a stone.
With an angry snarl, she gave chase. The attack hadn't even hurt, but now she was all wet, and she was going to be cold, and why were they even here?
When she reached the stone, the Wooper wasn't there any more. There were more stones, though, lined up off to either side of the first one. They weren't just ordinary stones, either; they all had the same uniform, oval shape, like they'd been carved that way.
With a running start, she made it to the top of the next menhir in line. There were a lot more stones. The ground had been too uneven for her to see from below, but from up here, she could see that they formed a broad circle, a hundred meters or more across.
They hadn't noticed anything like this last time, Zorua thought, but like Delphox said, they hadn't been looking, either. Maybe no one knew how things in mystery dungeons got the way they were, but this looked intentional to her.
"Hey guys!" Zorua called, the cold and her frustration forgotten, "come look at this!"
As Absol and Arcanine started toward her, something blue moved at the edge of her vision. She'd forgotten about the Wooper, too. The Water Gun caught her squarely in the chest. Claws scrabbled for purchase on the curved stone, and then she was tumbling down its side.
Zorua landed on her side. It wasn't that far to fall, but the impact stunned her for a moment. Where was that Wooper now? It would be pretty embarrassing if it was still conscious when the others got here.
A Mud Shot splattered off the side of the rock above her, pelting her with globs of foul-smelling mud. She darted after the Wooper as it turned to run again. The space between them closed surprisingly quickly, and when the Wooper turned to attack again, she was ready. Darting forward, her jaws closed around its neck. It squealed as she shook it, then went limp. She let it drop.
Zorua looked down at herself and remember where she was. She was cold, and wet, and sore, and she smelled like a swamp, and this dungeon was stupid.
"Are you alright?" Absol asked behind her.
Arcanine was grinning when she turned around, and quickly tried to hide it.
"Fine," she growled.
Zorua sat down and began to clean herself. She grimaced as she spat out a mouthful of mud; it tasted just as terrible as it smelled. Arcanine pushed her over, and began to groom. His hot tongue and breath felt wonderful, and she rolled onto her side and stretched out to let him work.
It wasn't very long ago that he'd cleaned her up on the ledge outside his cave in Haunted Forest, Zorua thought. Three months? So many things had changed since then, that it felt like another lifetime.
Arcanine's huge tongue worked fast. In a few minutes she was mostly clean and dry, and warm enough to be excited about the rock circle again.
"This is the kinda thing we're looking for, right?" Zorua asked, "Maybe there's something here?"
"Maybe." Arcanine nodded in agreement, "let's look."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
It took them three hours or so to thoroughly search the henge. There was nothing there. Arcanine hadn't expected there to be; it wasn't the right environment.
Mewtwo and Delphox's reasoning was sound. If the Ice-types had been looking nearby, there was probably something to find. He didn't want to be there any more than Zorua, but it was better to be as thorough as practical now, than have to drag the team back through the swamp in a few days if they didn't find the fragment in Serenity River or Waterfall Cave.
A long breath melted the snow from a pair of scraggly pines and set them ablaze, and they gathered around to dry off in the heat. The cold alone wasn't bad, but their fur and Absol's blanket were slowly accumulating moisture as their body heat melted the snow.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"We have to jump through that?" Zorua shouted to be heard above the roar of the waterfall. Her expression wavered somewhere between fear and disbelief.
Beside her at the edge of the cliff, Absol shared her doubt. From here, the pounding water appeared impenetrable, and there was no indication of an opening in the cliff behind it. If they weren't knocked out hitting the rocks, the force of the water would drive them deep into the pool below to drown. Not even a water type could swim against that current.
"Team Poképals made it." Absol shouted back.
She had read the whole account aloud to Zorua and Arcanine three nights ago, before they left Pokémon Square. In the comfort of the library, it hadn't seemed such an impressive feat. It was only water. She was larger and heavier than either of them had been, and almost certainly a stronger jumper. If they had made it through, she would too. She could understand risking one's life on a vision, and saw no reason to doubt their account, but all of her instincts recoiled against the jump.
"Maybe Arcanine should go first," Zorua suggested, "If he bounces off the wall, he'll be the easiest to see."
For a moment the three of them stood silently, then Arcanine took a few steps back, his body tensing as he prepared for a running leap.
"Arcanine!" Zorua interrupted quickly, "I was joking; you don't have to do it."
"No," Arcanine shook his head, "I should go first. If I make it, Heat Wave should be visible through the water."
"What if it's not?" Zorua objected, "then we won't know."
"Then don't jump. Don't see me in the water, assume I'll exit at Hot Springs."
Arcanine's face was grim. He didn't trust Poképals' story, she thought. At least, not enough to be confident. He was going to jump anyway, because someone had to do it. He tensed again.
"Wait," Zorua said, walking in front of him. She grinned and stretched her neck up toward him. "Kiss for luck."
Arcanine bent down. Their noses touched, and he rubbed his cheek against Zorua's body. Absol followed Zorua. They butted heads, and Absol kept going, rubbing her face through his mane and along his side. Arcanine's tail brushed across her back as they parted.
Arcanine's argument why he should go first was reasonable, Absol thought, but she wasn't certain that she was okay with it. The image of his body washed up on the rocks downriver forced its way into her mind, and it was physically painful. She loved Mother and Ninetales and all of her friends back on Mount Freeze. She loved Team Mighty and Team ACT and Mewtwo and Growlithe and Zorua and Lucario and all the other Pokémon helping them, and she would have worried about any of them making the jump, but suddenly the idea that she might not see him again was more terrifying than any amount of rushing water. She had to go first.
"Be fine," Arcanine said before she could find the words to voice her objections, "See you inside"
A few running steps, and Arcanine was airborne, the water parted and closed behind him, and he was gone.
Absol and Zorua waited a second, two, three, glancing between the waterfall where Arcanine had vanished, and the white water in the pool below. Absol glanced down, and saw Zorua looking up at her, eyes wide with fear.
Five seconds. Neither of them moved. Seven. Ten. Fifteen.
The waterfall lit up orange from within. The glow was bright at the center, clearly visible despite the reflecting sunlight, and they could see that a narrow strip at the center of the torrent was barely more than a mist of fine droplets. Zorua pressed against her shoulder.
"Well," Zorua said, "that doesn't look so hard. See you inside."
The frigid water hit her like a Surprise Attack, but in an instant it was over, and she was inside. Zorua and Arcanine ducked away as she shook, and then Arcanine was pressed against her, steam curling from his fur in lazy wisps. She was shivering uncontrollably and her legs felt weak, and Absol didn't know how much of it was from the cold, and how much from the sudden relief of tension.
Absol allowed herself to sink to the ground. Arcanine wrapped around her back and began to groom her, and Zorua stretched out against her chest, just like the first night that the three of them had slept together.
All three of them were nearly dry when they started down the path, but she had only taken a few steps when Zorua turned abruptly in front of Arcanine, forcing him to stop.
"You're limping." Zorua accused.
"It's fine."
"It's not fine," Zorua said. "Where Growlithe bit you, you hurt it again landing, didn't you."
Arcanine nodded.
So, Absol thought, that was probably why he had been so slow to signal his landing.
"When were you going to tell us?" Zorua demanded.
Arcanine didn't answer, but his face eased as her Moonlight flowed around them.
"It's never going to heal all the way, is it?" Zorua asked.
"Maybe not." Arcanine shook his head. "Don't know."
"I'm sorry," Absol said. "We should have stopped her, even if Mewtwo said not to."
"Don't know," Arcanine repeated. "Worked, didn't it?"
"I guess," Zorua agreed, "but why?"
Arcanine shrugged.
Absol didn't know either, but he was right; Growlithe had changed after their fight. Somehow, that had gotten through to Growlithe in a way that all of her own and Zorua's efforts hadn't.
The feeling she'd had in front of the waterfall, Absol thought as they continued into the depths, was that why Arcanine always rushed into danger first? Not because he was brave, or protecting them, but because he was afraid of being the one left alone if someone else didn't survive? Or maybe that was just two ways of saying the same thing; that he cared more about other people than himself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Absol felt the familiar falling sensation as they passed through the stone pillars, and knew that they had reached the end of the dungeon. The rocky path widened ahead of them, illuminated in a warm, reddish glow, like a welcoming fire. She shivered, leaning into Arcanine's side as they walked.
"Well, that was easy," Zorua proclaimed, ahead of them, "I probably could have done it myself."
"Of course!" Absol agreed with a grin.
No one was keeping time, but she thought they must have been inside most of a day. They had searched every side path, just like in Grassy Marsh, and even swum every pool and channel. Despite his Type, and obvious dislike for being wet, Arcanine was a strong swimmer. She watched from the shore, frustrated at her inability to help with what would have been, a few months ago, an easy task for her.
She could see the source of the light now, an enormous ruby crystal at the center of the room ahead. Around it, hundreds of smaller crystals glittered like stars, their patterns changing with each step. After their exhausting trek up and down Mount Mistral, and their five days in Temple Ruins, these easy dungeons felt like a game. She could almost imagine that she was back on Mount Freeze, exploring with Sylveon and Poochyena and Furret, instead of trying to save them all from a curse she still didn't understand.
The path opened up into a cavern twenty or thirty meters across. Arcanine stopped at the center of the room, raised his head, and let out a puff of flame. All around them, from the walls and floor and ceiling, thousands of spots of shone in answer, reflecting the warm light of his flame back in a rainbow of hues.
"Oh, Arcanine!" Absol gasped, gazing around the room in wonder, "it's beautiful! "
Arcanine was grinning broadly as the light faded. Absol didn't think that she'd ever seen such an expression of pure joy on his face before. Whatever secret problems he and Mewtwo worried about, however much he hurt, whatever awful things he kept hidden in his past, for those few seconds, it was all forgotten.
She leaned into him, pushing her head up under his chin. He pushed back.
"That was amazing, big guy!"
Zorua trotted back to join them. On her hindlegs, with her forepaws on Arcanine's throat, she butted her head under Absol's chin. For a few seconds longer they stood together, silently enjoying each other's presence.
"Yeah." excitement lingered in Arcanine's voice.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Arcanine hesitated for a moment as his teammates spread out to search the dungeon's final room. The last few days had been enjoyable, exploring with his team. It felt like the first times Zorua had visited on his mountain, before they all got caught up in this mess, or their casual forays into the jungle around Mount Quena. Even if their mission was important, even if the weather was unpleasant and the dungeons were wet, he could ignore for a while the danger they all faced and enjoy the present. Mewtwo was right; he'd needed this.
If the sphere was here, he thought, he already knew where it was hidden. At the center of the back wall, behind and above the glowing red crystal, there was a dark patch of wall which hadn't sparkled back when he had illuminated the room. After he opened it, they would have to go back to Pokémon Square and trying to save the world.
"Well that's cheap," Zorua's complaint interrupted his reverie.
Arcanine turned to see her scratching at the wall beside the entrance.
"They're not even gems," Zorua continued, "just little flakey bits."
Arcanine smiled as she shook the glittering dust from her forepaws, and turned back to the crystal. There was work still to do, and they didn't have time to waste on his woolgathering.
"Don't touch it," Absol cautioned as he approached the crystal, "remember what happened to Team Poképals."
"I remember," Arcanine confirmed.
It was there, just above his head; this close, he could see the top half of each circular indentation illuminated red by the crystal, while the bottom half was shadowed. Arcanine stood up on his hindlegs and dragged his claws along the border of the carving until he found the edges of the door. The gap was subtle, but it was there, a rectangle roughly two meters across.
It wasn't surprising that no one else had reported it. Team Poképals and all the other Pokémon who had explored the dungeon would have missed it, enraptured by the glow of the crystal and the glitter of the walls. No one who did notice would have considered it important beside the illusory wealth around them, unless they remembered the pattern from the large doors in another dungeon.
"Did you find something, big guy?" Zorua asked behind him.
He blew a brief flame, illuminating the outline for the others to see.
Holding them one at a time with both forepaws, Arcanine carefully fit each disc into its hole. Absol stood beneath him, ready to catch any that he dropped. He didn't think this short fall would damage them, but there was no need to take chances. Zorua pranced around and under them, too nervous or excited to sit still
There was a click from within, and the door moved beneath his paws. Arcanine stepped back. A sliver of yellow light appeared at the crack, growing as the door swung slowly open to one side, until the whole room was illuminated.
"It's the Moon!" Absol exclaimed, "Arcanine, I recognize the continents!"
"How are we gonna get it back?" Zorua asked.
"I don't think we can," Absol said.
"No." Arcanine shook his head. "Need a team with hands, and something to protect it in the river."
"So, does this mean we don't have to do Serenity River?" Zorua asked.
"Probably nothing there," Arcanine answered, slowly, "but, everyone will still be in Buried Relic. May not be another time when we're not needed elsewhere. Do it now, we know for certain."
"Well," Zorua said, "since you and Mewtwo and Delphox were right, I guess I'm not grumpy any more. Lets do it."
Absol nodded in agreement They stared for a moment longer, then he pushed the door closed. The three of them stood side by side, waiting for their vision to adjust to the renewed darkness. The only thing left for them to do here, he thought, was trigger the flood to wash them out. That wouldn't be pleasant at all.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The smoke curled around them as they ascended the stairs, stained crimson from the light of burning bodies below. At the landing, Absol turned to look back. The flames crept hesitantly across the pile of Yamasks, flickering and sliding, as if they were so repulsive that even the fire didn't want to touch them. A lone wail rose from the pile, high pitched and faint. Another joined it, and then another, until the whole pile of voices merged together in a single deafening scream. Absol turned away. Arcanine was right; she didn't want to see this.
Something wrapped around her hindleg as she started up the stairs, cold and damp and sticky like wet cloth. She kicked, reflexively, but the grip didn't loosen. Another one wrapped around her other hindleg. She twisted around, slashing at them with her horn, but the limbs flowed like smoke, reforming as quickly as she could sever them. Her claws dug gouges in the stone as they pulled her toward the edge.
She shouted for help, but her voice was lost in the screaming of the Yamasks. The others passed her, oblivious. Gallade, Rhyperior, and Roserade disappeared into the square of light at the top of the stairs, then Gardevoir, Lopunny, and Medicham. Zorua and Arcanine didn't even look at her as they passed.
Arcanine vanished into the light, and she was alone with the Yamasks. Suddenly, there was no more stone beneath her hind feet. She tumbled backward, pawing desperately at the edge, but the grip on her legs pulled her inexorably downward.
The fire was both searingly hot and numbingly cold, but she was through it in an instant. Bodies squirmed against her, invisible in the darkness except for their eyes. With every touch, the remaining warmth drained from her body. They covered her, crushing, suffocating. She flailed, trying to claw her way back to the surface, but they weren't solid enough to hold onto.
She was below the pile now, looking up at the bodies; a thousand red eyes stared back at her like bloated, evil stars, edged in the ghostly blue flame of the aurora.
"Do you see it?" Ninetales voice was bodiless in the darkness beside her. "A new sky, for an eternal night."
"Did you ever make it to Pokémon Square?" Mother asked. Her voice was tired and sad. "It's getting awfully cold in here; I don't know how much longer we'll last."
Absol turned to look. Mother was beside her now, and Ninetales as well. They were both gaunt and emaciated, like Elektrike in Magnezone's prison, their eyes hopeless and their coats thick with frost.
"We tried, Mother," Absol pleaded, "We tried, everyone tried."
"I know, dear."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Two pair of eyes watched her in the darkness. Absol stared back for a moment, confused, trying to resolve the dim shapes around them into Mother's and Ninetales' familiar faces.
She blinked once, and again, as her mind slowly caught up to recent events. She was in the traveller's burrow near Hot Springs, and Mother and Ninetales were hundreds of kilometers away.
Her blanket was tangled around her legs. She kicked, reflexively, shuddering in revulsion at the memory of the Yamasks wrapping around her. Zorua scrambled out of her way.
"Are you okay?" Zorua asked. "Did you have another vision?"
"I think...it was...just a dream," Absol realized that she was panting. She closed her eyes, and forced herself to breathe slowly and deeply until she regained control.
"The Yamasks were burning in the pile in Temple Ruins, and they dragged me in, and Mother and Ninetales, and..."
She didn't want to explain now. She didn't know what it meant, or whether it meant anything at all. She circled several times, and lay back down on top of her blanket. There was no way that she was going to get back to sleep. The burrow, which had been cozy and comfortable before, seemed cramped and stifling, and Arcanine's and Zorua's bodies pressed against her felt like the squirming bodies of the Yamasks. Arcanine tried to groom her, and she wriggled away.
She wanted to go outside, and run until she was tired, and lay on her back in the snow and watch the stars like she had done at home on Mount Freeze, but she knew that she couldn't. She wanted to be free of this awful curse and her helplessness.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Zorua asked.
"No," Absol admitted.
"Can we help?" Zorua asked.
"Can we go now?" Absol asked in response.
"Go where?"
Absol hesitated. She needed someone more knowledgeable, but none of the Pokémon from whom she would have sought advice were available; Mother and Ninetales were on the other side of the continent, and Mewtwo was probably still deep in Buried Relic. She wanted to be back in Pokémon Square, but Arcanine's logic for exploring Serenity River next was still sound.
"I suppose Serenity River," Absol said.
"We only slept a couple hours," Zorua objected, "it's, like, midnight."
"I know," Absol agreed, "I'm sorry. But...I need to do something and there's nothing else I can do in the dark."
"Alright," Zorua said, "up for a run, big guy?"
Arcanine yawned and stretched and rolled into a crouch.
"Are you sure you didn't have another vision?" Zorua asked as they secured the straps on Arcanine's saddle.
"I don't know," Absol admitted, "I need to talk to someone; Mother, Ninetales, Mewtwo. I don't know."