Chapter 31 - Skipping Stones

At once, the thickness was gone.

While the air surrounding us decreased vastly in density once the open sky was above, the cold front that washed over had a similar effect in upsetting the atmosphere. New winds collided with the steam and forced any vapors upward to condense into the heavens, where a swirling cloud was fixed in a benign loop way above. The temperature plummeted to an almost pleasant standard—a stark contrast from what it had been inside the natural sauna at our backs, which was now reduced to an insignificant rift that discontinued at the expanse of dancing grass and standing rocks.

I glanced up and around, my nose drawing an angled circle to part the thin mist, and consented my breath to fall in rhythm with the gentle inhalations of the others. It was dark now, a few stars visible in limited pockets of the heavens that weren't obscured by the violent display of hot steam clashing with the night breeze. We were definitely at the top of the structure now, for all vertical continuation had halted to this point besides a few inclines and tall trees here and there near the edges. I hardly paid any attention to these details in those first fleeting moments of observation, however, in favor of the luminous display that stole the fresh air out of our throats just as soon as it was made available.

None could miss the ethereal glow at the center of the expanse, illuminating every gentle ripple in the water surrounding it. The massive lake that harbored its source drew a perfect ellipse around the top of the structure, only allowing perhaps a dozen appendages to sprout and filter the water across the grassy perimeter to somewhere off the edge and into the foggy abyss. At a rather pastoral velocity, the water glided over a shallow basin of colorful pebbles and sediment that grew dimmer the further it was from the lake's epicenter. Without question, the waterfalls we had seen at the base of the structure were born from this.

Accentuating the phenomenon was an explosion of color that drenched the sky and reflected off of the swirling fog directly above. I peered closer, my feet carried forward several steps by revitalized intuition. The geyser was absolutely massive, bigger and taller than any building in Lively Town, and I could feel its power even from the safe distance I stood at. It was not a malevolent force, however; it gently rippled through the lake and the air as a soothing reminder that there was something special to be appreciated at the end of every arduous dungeon run... and it glittered! It literally glittered from the red and blue and green and yellows that blinked and flickered and swam through the air and cast their identities into white translucence.

The lights moved with life, drawing lingering auroras through the air. They appeared arbitrarily random at first, but I came to realize that their transit possessed a certain rhythm to it—a symphony for the eyes as hour-long seconds passed. I squinted my eyes to get a glimpse at the artists behind the enchanting display. To the disappointment of my curiosity, the creatures were too far and moving too fast for me to identify from the shore. What I could discern to a fair degree of certainty was that they were not dangerous. In fact, nothing at all here seemed dangerous.

So this is where all of the steam goes. Thie cave is just a means of transporting it here, where it creates... this!

"Alright..." Mincinno seemed to have snapped out of his stupor early, and was surveying every angle of the perimeter that could be made out with the inconsistent lighting. "We'll spread out and cover the area. The perimeter surrounding the lake is pretty large, so make sure to stay alert in case something goes down." He sniffed the air once before continuing. "I'm not sure I like how quiet it is."

With a quick hand motion, the normal-type gestured at Vulpix and Helioptile to spread out. They responded with synchronized nods followed by the two of them heading in varying directions. Vulpix traipsed toward the edge to ensure no enemy was stalking us behind or between the rocks lining the plateau's backside. Helioptile and Mincinno, each heading opposite of one another, chose to dissect some of the less prominent structures closer to the lake. These mostly consisted of smaller rocks and the scrappy bushes that popped up between them here and there. Even as they engaged in this careful task, I caught Vulpix stealing a few too many glances back at the lake, a distracting act that almost caused her to walk right into the face of a boulder. Her two teammates were, for the the most part, unsuccessful in hiding their own admiration as well. It seemed even these three, who had laid eyes on more of this world's land than I had, had clearly not been expecting anything like this up here. The sight's beauty was not lost on anyone.

I scanned the surroundings further. I was finally beginning to adjust to the invigorating atmosphere that so profoundly contrasted the suffocation of Steam Cave, and now perception was beginning to transfer toward surveillance of the new setting. After doing some cursory arithmetic as to the distance around the lake to the far side of the circuit, I likewise turned to Leah and motioned forward. "Come on. We can head around to the far side and check if there's anything."

The Fennekin nodded once and flanked my right side as the walk began. Moving forward on my two legs felt good for the first time since stepping foot on the continent. If nothing else, they would remain loose to prevent stiffness and cramps from the dehydration that had settled as an underlying nag in my throat. My tail now looked like a mess, one that would demand plenty of concern when the time was more appropriate, but even the inconvenience in balance that the injury brought was now at the back of my mind.

It occurred to me that I was hardly brooding over what would happen if an aggressive criminal were to appear here. The very thought, however, was enough to stir up paranoia. The answer seemed so simple and yet so manifold: we'd just... duke it out, right? We knew what we were getting into with tracking Volcanion here, with Mawile getting her hands on government information, and with Ampharos leading us into the belly of the beast. We came here with an objective and we would fulfill that objective: detain our first and only legitimate suspect.

...But how would we possibly fight a legendary Pokemon?

The closest thing I had ever witnessed to a legendary Pokemon besides the initial encounter with Volcanion was the episode at Ancient Barrow, where that Solosis had created a mirage to scare the class. It had been such an extravagant development that it didn't leave enough time to be registered as a deistic threat; once it finally did, it was already picked apart. There had been a stark difference between then and the experience at the Great Canyon, one I knew both Leah and I would rather forget despite getting luckier than we ever could've asked for. We had charged right into the danger and then frozen stiff under an immense amount of pressure, only to be saved at the last second. If there was to be any motivation for walking forward now, it could be retribution for that defining moment that required some foreign fairy to pop out of thin air and correct the misunderstanding. I knew my partner well enough to know that the competitive flame within her was second to none, and it was the frozen memory of that moment that had sharpened her focus on this mission more than the average outlaw hunt. Physically witnessing the rock-ridden corpses of other Pokemon certainly added steam to the initiative as well, for her and I both.

Under any circumstances, this mentality could not have drowned out what had been awaiting us at the end of Steam Cave. Fogbound Lake, in its entirety, was a pristine exposition of nature's capabilities, and showed no relation whatsoever to its prerequisite dungeon. And this was exactly what bothered me: the sudden shift in atmosphere here... it just didn't feel right. It wasn't that I felt like we were being stalked, it was actually the cardinal opposite. If the investigation into Volcanion's capabilities wasn't enough to convince us we were on the right track, then the dungeon did plenty to fill in any gaps. This was it, we had arrived. But was this really it?

If there was anyone else here, they refused to make themselves known. Whether they were using the lake's incredible display as a decoy, or they simply didn't exist and we had been led astray, was the question.

Even with this prospect dwelling in the back of my mind, it was hard not to appreciate what the place had to offer. I imagined Leah must have come to a similar conclusion, as she lagged a full stride behind to maintain view of the potential cover to her right and also the rich spectacle to her left. From my peripherals I observed that both earned their fair share of glances from her in alternation; scrutinization for the former, and appreciation for the latter. Locked in or not, I knew this place was making the overzealous explorer within her do flips.

My focus was set perpendicular to hers, as I found myself mostly concentrating on what lie straight ahead around the bend of the lake. I would also occasionally glance backward to gauge where we were in relation to where Team Carbon had spread out. I knew it wouldn't be ideal to put too much space between us; otherwise we'd risk spreading our numbers too thin. Then again, the swirling air current display above was plenty high enough to have little effect on the plateau's surface, allowing visibility to grow higher than it had been since arriving at Foggy Forest.

Almost robotically, I asked aloud, "See anything out of the ordinary?"

Leah waited a moment before replying. "Depends what you mean by 'ordinary'." She trotted a half step forward in her gait to align the two of us side by side, but her gaze would still remain locked with the lake. Such tender snark was commonplace between us by this point, and yet these words held a certain truth to them. This corporeal tone would encompass every syllable as she continued. "I just don't get it. That dungeon, and that Pokemon turned to stone... how could it lead to- to all this?"

I took it all in exhaled deeply. "I don't know. We can't let our guard down though—" Another glance at the lake. "—especially now that we're so close."

Leah's eyes curved back to the rocks in silent deference. As I scrutinized the perimeter with her, I began to realize that it was rather pointless do so in this part of the plateau. By now we had reached the far side, our other three companions having shrunk to small blotches across to the other side. The amount of potential locations of ambush was notably less than where we had emerged from within the structure, especially considering that any cover would need to conceal the obtuse frame of a four-legged legendary beast. No, there was definitely no way we were being stalked from a distance close enough for a swift kill.

The relief was not lost between us as we stepped into a particularly open area where the smoothed stones flattened out for a fair ways towards the edge, a few trees speckling the backside here and there. Feet calloused from an excessive amount of walking across crag and continent found refreshing solace in the dewy turf that dominated the sediment below.

I glanced back once more, my eyes trimming across the curve of the lake's edge back to where we'd come. Any further progress around the loop would put the massive geyser in the lake's epicenter directly between us and the general position Team Carbon was currently investigating. Given this, as well as the principal exposure of the area, I halted with intentions of doing an investigation of my own. The task was simple at first, consisting of stone-hopping and corner-peeking, but eventually devolved into inspecting cover from longer distances away rather than up close for the sake of staying together. With no indication of results, it started to feel redundant after a while, and I eventually stole some precious minutes to intimately appreciate Fogbound Lake. The eternal light show reflected off my eyes as they finally rested on it for longer than a fleeting second. Finally relaxed enough to marvel at its beauty, I wasted no time doing so, as it practically had been drawing me in the whole time anyway.

What a discovery this must have been for those who lifted the fog however many generations ago! To be the first beings of sentience to see this sight must have been just as overwhelming as it was now; one with the power to beset me in a state of tranquility that overshadowed all of the heartache leading here. The only thing to do was to was take it all in; a moment of inner tranquility.

All inhibition was now crammed to the most neglected corner of my mind. I was at the edge, the earth beneath my feet the rugged line where plush grass met sediment and tide. The eroded texture had been dampened by the water tickling my feet with every short ripple carried across the lake. A pair of paws gently plopped themselves down to my right in the spot where my partner chose to share this moment. There we stood for what felt like hours, small waves rolling within me with every ripple of the water. Perhaps it was gratitude that we had made it this far, or more likely I was experiencing unprecedented admiration for one of the world's diamonds.

A soft sigh graced the air next to me, Leah being the first of us to show some sign of cognizance. My drifting mind reluctantly snapped back to a state of awareness at this, which all but evaporated after a mere glance at my back. I did, however, feel the presence of my partner a mere inch from my side now, the white fur extending laterally from her cheek coming alarmingly close to brushing my shoulder. Was it she that moved, or perhaps I had accidentally shifted in my stupor?

Two syllables of a feathery chuckle escaped her. "...You know, sometimes I would dream about this. Getting to explore the wonders of the world..."

When I opened my mouth to respond, I had to swallow and inhale. Having my breath stolen and trying to talk was not an easy task. "Y-Yeah… I never would've imagined we'd find a place like this…" I shifted in place and exhaled deeply. "I know we're explorers, but… wow."

We shared a mutual, dry chuckle. After a moment of silence, she sobered up her attitude and continued. "In those days where my imagination was my greatest companion, I would dream that someday I'd plant my paw prints on history… a-and make countless friends along the way." Another pause, this one more pronounced to allow for another silky chuckle. "...All the time I would sneak out of the house, day and night, just to see the world, just to feel like… like I was a part of it, you know? I needed that fulfillment, needed that sense of purpose. I was so afraid I would grow up and remain a laughing stock and never make any friends. But..."

She shifted in place ever so slightly, and exhaled deeply. Her uneven breath kissed the wind without friction even as it trailed off, and the soft sound within her embodied release rather than the turmoil I might've expected to come with the sensitive subject. Out of my own respect for the memory—and perhaps even a tinge of lingering guilt—I faintly nodded affirmation. I knew all too well how lonely she had once been.

"But then I met you."

I didn't dare shift my position to look at her, for the sentimentality was much too strong to do anything but concede it control over my limbs. But it was of no consequence; by the sound of her voice alone, I could tell she now wore the subtle smile she never failed to display when speaking from her heart. "I-I know I've expressed how much I love making discoveries and charting the places we explore, but this..." Now she was outright beaming, her face becoming as bright as the lake. "This is what it's always been about for me. Moments like this... they make me feel like the clouds I used to envy."

Her gaze dropped down to her animated feet as she anxiously rustled the damp grass. The pause lasted only a short moment before the lake's gravity lifted her chin back up the epicenter's grandeur. "I just want you to know I'm blessed."

It took me a moment to find a heavy voice, and when I did I almost winced at how it failed to appropriately compliment the glory of the atmosphere. Notwithstanding, a warm feeling tingled down my spine as the sentiment of the moment settled in.

"I... I'm blessed too," I replied finally, taking a deep breath. "It's- it's hard to put into words, a lot of the things that have happened. But... I don't think I'd have it any other way."

The words came out before I could really consider the internal weight they carried. But this time, I wasn't bothered by it. Even following a feud with a seemingly-sentient dungeon, an experience that ended mere minutes ago that still lurked in the back of my mind, I felt an unprecedented peace.

To be content; to find inner peace. Not to escape this world, but to make it my own. This was the definition of happiness, was it not? The nature of my life's goal was well into making this transition, just as it had been gradually doing ever since I got to Lively Town. But here, standing in the mist, at what could very well be the climax of stopping an unspeakably dangerous murderer, I was content with it all. Within myself I had found acceptance in being a Snivy. Whether the feeling lasted or not wasn't important.

I wouldn't trade this for anything.

I looked down at my hands and held them out in front of me. The scrutiny that might have glinted in my eyes was gone, replaced with an indifferent glaze. They had always been mine to wield. Arms, legs, reproductive organs, body frame—everything that distinguished a Snivy was all there, and was all my body had ever known. Maybe it was the events of today that finally brought about this realization of mine, or perhaps it had developed well beforehand and it was simply my own recognition that was delayed.

I smiled. In the midst of supposed danger lurking, I grinned like an idiot. "I mean it. We're gonna figure this stone business out and then—then we're gonna head back to Lively Town and…"

My partner eyed me with anticipation. Her voice came out in a single breath. "...and?"

"...and live."

We're gonna live.

Leah nodded, her cheek fur just barely whisking my collarbone thanks to the dilation of a smile. I simply remained frozen in place, frozen without reason to move. I was beyond questioning why the shift in landscape had been so sudden, why this moment was allowed to happen.

As the night had ticked on, the cascading lanterns swirling around the massive geyser only continued to intensify their luminosity. After staring at it for long enough, I began to realize that there was a certain harmony to the movements, almost like an aerial dance rehearsal designed to please the eye. Curiosity stirred within, and I found myself innately curious as to what it could even mean. I could only imagine what it looked like from within the controlled chaos. It was no matter to me; I was perfectly happy where I stood. I could stare at this forever-

"Hey, check this out," Leah perked up. Never one to stand still for long, she fished her paw around in the shallow tide with little regard for any wayward splashes made in the process. A paw-sized pebble was produced following several seconds of digging, which she held out for me to see. Before I could question the monumental hallmarks a rock must have in order to justify interrupting my blissful trance, Leah had already gotten rid of it. The Fennekin torqued her body to the right and brought her paw back while still balancing on her other three. Throwing her shoulder forward, she released the stone as her front leg followed the forward motion. It made contact with the water before skipping across the surface once, twice, and then a third time before sinking a good fifteen meters from where we stood. I quirked an eyebrow in her direction, and she beamed. "Before we met, I would sometimes sit by the lake by the square whenever I'd get tired of exploring. Skipping stones was a great way to pass the time when I wasn't busy causing mischief."

I smiled and narrowed my eyes at her. "You must not have had much time for it then."

Leah scoffed in a failed attempt to hide her humor, and shoved me just gently enough to not move me from where I stood. I looked sideways at the fake scowl on her face and wiggled my eyebrows.

Her gaze met mine and locked there. The smile on her face was contagious, spreading the fur on her face outwards and giving flavor to the amusement in her eyes. It was mirrored between us for a long moment, locked in time. She playfully raised her eyebrows, and pointed a paw at the fading waves of her thrown pebble. "Oh? I'm guessing you can do better?"

I broke the trance by glancing down at the shallows. "It's just a rock," I replied with confidence. "How hard can it be?"

Uncoiling from within my shoulder blades, my vines met the hawkish air for the first time to fish in the shallow tide for something to match Leah's toss with. I had stood among the sediment littered underneath the shallows for many minutes now, but only now discovered just how broken up most of the stones were, many of them too tiny to even firmly grip with thumb-less appendages. Nevertheless, I found one of a decent shape and size that would hopefully skip across the surface.

Heh… what am I doing? I'm supposed to be solving why stones are replacing Pokemon, not skipping them across the water.

I looked straight up. The steam colliding with the eastern winds had slightly intensified its spiral above the lake, but it was currently no cause for alarm. After a cursory glance behind me, I faced the lake and, with a bit of unnecessary force, chucked my own stone.

Despite not having the vine extended to full extension upon release, the added length, paired with my untrained swing, still gave the stone far too much vertical arc. It descended straight into the water with a pathetic plunk, skipping three times less than Leah's had.

"Ah, damn it," I cursed under my breath, already peering down and frisking for a replacement. "Hold on, let me try again. I think I can-"

A paw firmly nudged me in the ribs mid-sentence. I looked up to question Leah, but held my tongue when I saw her expression had turned to steel. With her other paw, she gestured out towards the water; more specifically, the fading ripples caused by my botched toss. Although not large in size, the ripples contradicted the centrifugal flow of the waves generated by the geyser, bouncing the water in unnatural ways and allowing us to see what now rested on top of the surface.

Given the uneven light, the scattered flakes of gray were difficult to identify just sitting on the water. As the substance drew closer to us from the tide, however, it didn't take but a few seconds to realize what about it had silenced Leah. The fact that it was now sprinkling down from the sky only heightened the sudden tension that thickened the air.

I held my two hands out and cupped some of the falling cinders. The soft flakes broke apart upon contact and settled where I could inspect them. Not that there was much need to; I had seen these before.

"Arceus, these are ashes…" Leah whispered, her tone as gray as the soot crumbling from my tightened grip.

I was already backpedaling from the shore and onto stable ground, urging my partner to follow suit with a sidelong nudge. I hissed with urgency. "C'mon! We need to get the others." I glanced up. "That intel was right. We're not alone here."

I stumbled back to the open green. Leah was already a step ahead, all traces of her sentimental demeanor diminished with the alarming broadcast from above. There we formed for a better look, back to back with tails barely touching, and braced ourselves as adrenaline began its course. Any potential hiding spots—small corners of the landscape drenched in the absence of light, perfect for launching an ambush—were sought out at once and antagonized. The rocks near the edge, although too short to harbor a formidable predator, were still now a whole lot more interesting to the pair of us.

I glanced straight up, intending to seek out a source behind the trickling cinders and determine if the threat might be lurking overhead. What I saw cast aside all prior inhibitions and carved a dismal pit in my stomach.

The tempered swirl from before was now a raging cyclone of thick mist and gases. Although there wasn't a blaze anywhere in sight, its composition vividly resembled that of white smoke. The increased energy rippling through the the heavens, sending a good portion of the gray flakes into an elliptical spin to be thrown around further by the wind currents below. The ashes, while still a major concern, were no longer what worried me the most. They were not the only indicator of danger this time around, all but eclipsed by the sheer malevolence taking place above.

"H-Holy…" Leah breathed. Her tone by itself was enough evidence that she saw the violent exchange of gases above as well.

I briefly chanced a look in her direction, checking behind her to cover her blind side before checking on her immediate position. The fur on the back of her neck was raised, and her knees were bent as if ready to spring to action at a moment's notice. She looked tense and alert, but… there was no denying the undertone of fatigue in her demeanor.

Through my own self-evaluation, I reached the grim conclusion that I was being affected as well. My injured tail became distinctly heavier again, leading to unrest swirling within my gut and added weight to legs that had already been strained. It was similar to when we were stumbling through the previous dungeon; but instead of ticking, there was now only ash and fog to indicate a threat. It was as if the revitalizing sight of the lake had never happened—as if our moment of leisure was a figment of wishful imagination.

"Urgh—what's going on with this place?" Leah panted, a combination of her prior disbelief and a new twinge of fear riddling her tone. Exhaustion was audible and evident with every bated breath. "I-I suddenly feel like I can barely move…"

The unquestionable parallel I felt was one of many red flags screaming that something was very wrong here. My energy was being sapped without subtlety. Energy I thought the lake had confided me only from the magical view—gone. A scowl briefly coalesced across my face. What was I thinking? How could a sight from afar do such a thing anyway? It was all a trick, I should have seen this coming!

Something from within spurred me to action and halted my descent into hysteria. Recognition that the intangible threat was invading our minds had finally broken the seal of its own control, my surroundings once again coming into focus. Still, the struggle persisted.

Focus… Focus! I can't let this thing influence my thoughts any longer!

Taking initiative was the only way. Through a culmination of willpower and fight-or-flight instinct, I forced my legs to move against the intangible tide. Leah, whose expression had drawn grim upon seeing my efforts, matched my haste. We wasted no time extinguishing our remaining supply of energy by jogging back around the lake in the direction where we had come.

"We've gotta regroup with the others, now!" I hissed once we got moving. The words tumbled out as a pronounced restatement of our next move, one that went unspoken with the audible roar of the clouds. Strength in numbers was the only chance we'd have at taking down a threat of this breadth.

I attempted to pinpoint where Team Carbon was at that moment so that a direct point on the plateau could be our goal rather than a broad general direction. My view was tangent with the lake's edge and ultimately insufficient for seeing exactly where we'd emerged from Steam Cave, forcing me to estimate from memory alone. In the uneven light, now exponentially decreased from the blanket of vapors blocking the entire sky, doing so was a near-impossible task. Even the geyser in the center of the lake seemed to have forfeited its influence at this point.

Something peculiar I noticed coerced me to cease my run for a brief moment, and I found myself doing a double-take back at the lake. It wasn't the lights themselves that were dimming; rather, it was the fog that was now obstructing it. Descending alongside with the ashes was a loosely-composed dome that blanketed end to distant end of Fogbound Lake. It held stark resemblance to the same fog that had embraced Foggy Forest below: it was thick, and visibility was hampered to a degree that complicated survival. And it was getting worse by the second.

I extended a vine towards my partner and shoved the tendril between her fur and the strap of her shoulder bag, coiling it once around the fabric. Now firmly locked together, we would move as one unit. No words needed to be exchanged about the necessity of sticking together now. It went unspoken that if we got separated in the cascading fog, it would be all over.

If it wasn't already over before it started.

I looked out again as we ran, tearing my eyes off of the lake and the heavens to try and pinpoint our allies once more. But a grounded fear would finally settle into my heart as I found that the steam cloud had well arrived, and my range had forfeited its fidelity. It wasn't one big body of steam; rather, a permeable mist fell and gradually began to thicken as increased pressure far above condensed more of the vapors downward. Through this Leah and I pushed forward, our speed hobbled by my lack of balance and our visibility and minds clouding with each passing second. I thought I caught sight of Vulpix's tails in the distance, and thought I might've heard Mincinno call out to us—or was that just the fog? The noise? On impulse, I strained my neck to seek answers. Yet I knew full well it would accomplish little.

Too many seconds had passed, and visibility had now dropped significantly lower than it had been even in the depths of Foggy Forest. It was at the apex of its density now, blocking virtually all light from everywhere and painting all directions in a gray blur. Our hampered pace slowed even further from the uncertainty that now laid no more than five meters away. Fortunately, I hadn't led us back onto the rocks in our mad attempt to rendezvous with Team Carbon. Silky grass still composed the ground beneath us, which meant that we wouldn't have to worry as much about where we placed our feet. Still, this single positive paled in comparison to the negatives: we had no direction, we had failed to reach our allies in time, and we had no way to defend ourselves against anything that could be lurking only meters away.

The irony whispered its cruel message through the void that had formed all around. We had crossed the seas and climbed this mountain visualizing ourselves as predators. We were now prey.

I glanced back at Leah, who had been riding my hip the entire time. My eyes met hers and locked there for a heart-wrenching second, the fear in her gaze contagious and striking me down to the soul. We halted our aimless traipse, our view distances eviscerated and movement no longer the safest option in a sea of exigency.

How badly I wanted to pull something off like one of us usually would in moments like these… if we'd ever had a moment quite like this. As if this dome could be diminished by one feeble leaf tornado, and all could be seen again. I didn't realize I had idle-mindedly attempted exactly that until the blades of green had already dissipated up and out of view. The empty results were as foreseeable as our fate.

In a breath's notice, the once-violent currents whispered a final howl that reverberated across a landscape I could no longer see.

Then there was silence. No wind, no echoes of hissing steam from the waterworks within. Nothing. Even my heartbeat faltered, as if it depended on nature's tenor to run its own race. If not for my own thoughts and for the faint sound of Leah's breathing, I'd have thought time itself had frozen.

Then, ending the tranquility as abruptly as it began was an outlandish noise that I equated to a vacuum being filled from air pressure. The sound wasn't incredibly loud—I estimated it was a fair distance away—but it was intense enough for anyone with ears to discern from the lack of sound there would otherwise be. I jerked my head in its direction and squinted, scavenging for more than just an audible discrepancy. Once again my efforts yielded only disappointment; my eyes would only be useful for anything within the surrounding circumference of a half-dozen meters. I would have to listen with my ears now. My acceptance of this was not seamless, but it was entirely necessary given the new unnatural sound that could only mean danger.

I listened harder, tried to concentrate more. Leah placed a foot forward with angled ears… when the sharp vacuum cut off and punctuated with an almost-robotic ding!

My legs, tight as they were from stabilizing my balance in place of my tail, recognized what was happening before my head did. Sending a prayer that the incoming fireball was not aimed low, I threw my shoulder towards the earth and yanked on the vine attached to Leah in the act, the both of us tumbling to the grass just as the fog above us was dyed orange and the vine was pulled free. Stifling a hiss at the sheer rise in temperature, I motioned to get back on my feet before instantly dropping again as another fireball pierced through the fog and streaked across my field of view.

"He's over there!" Leah's voice cut through the chaos. The Fennekin, still prone on the ground as I was, made a crisp gesture at the fog with one paw while reaching behind her with another. She fumbled her paw around within her tail for two seconds, hastily drawing the wand she regularly kept within the fluffy confines. By the time I looked to the alleged direction of our aggressor, she already had the wand raised to her eye, balancing on three paws and pointing it out at the void.

The wand stiffened in her grip, but she hesitated. If she were to fire now, she would be firing at nothing. Any and all sense of direction was once again restricted to memory alone, and there was no sign of anything to advance on or retreat from. Another silence fell upon the landscape, this one less pronounced than the last now that adrenaline was in full effect.

Ten seconds passed. Ten became twenty.

Leah gripped her wand tighter and jeered. "—Shit! Where'd he go?"

Head on a swivel, I dissected each potential angle of attack. It all looked the same once more: white and gray void, fluctuating in a way that felt eerily unnatural. Understanding that this tranquility could be whisked away at any moment paid my fatiguing spirit no favors.

I bit my lip, forced down the panic threatening my respiration, and began to think. We couldn't win like this, there was no chance. We needed to rendezvous with Mincinno's team, or escape the mist, or… or anything that wasn't sitting in one spot. This just gave the enemy time to pick a new angle while we accomplished nothing. There wouldn't be any opportunity to pace ourselves in regards to the environment's prejudice; we would simply need to be faster.

With a silent motion to correct the displacement from the initial attack, I was right at Leah's back once more. My next words were as stiff as my spine. "...You hear anything?"

"I- I thought I heard something really faint from over there, but-" Leah whispered. She pointed her wand in a random direction that held no correlation to where the fireballs came from. "-I think I might've imagined it."

"Can't you... I-I don't know, use your psychic powers to find him or something?" I whispered back.

I received a dry glare that quickly shifted to destitution. "I don't have psychic powers, I'm just a Fennekin." She pressed her lips together for a moment and fought her own accelerating breaths. "If he… If he attacks again, I might be able to get a shot off with my blast wand. But I doubt that will accomplish much." She stuttered and paused, turning her head over her shoulder to glance vigilantly behind her. "...I don't know what to do."

Neither did I. But I just needed to think! This was no simple trek through the woods or hike across a mountain. The enemy we were facing was not feral and feebleminded, not predictable or inept! Every inhibition I'd had—all in reverence towards the might of a Pokemon capable of soul-shattering acts—violently bounced around inside my skull. This was real, this was actually happening right now. This was real, the bastard could attack any-

The silence ended before my thoughts could mingle further. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a faint glimpse of bright yellow that rushed forth and promised chaos. This time I caught full sight of the fireball as it grew substantially larger in my field of view by the millisecond.

Once more my face kissed the dirt a split second before an agonizing heat enveloped the space just above my backside. There had been no time to organize any evasive actions or even communicate the attack, and fear immediately seized at my heart. The unbearable notion that Leah might not have dodged fast enough guided my neck towards her. My heartbeat composed itself again once I caught sight of the aftermath of her own nosedive. Her fur had been dirtied by the sod, particularly on her nose and cheeks, but was unblemished otherwise and had not been burned off.

Not that the Fennekin cared to check on herself anyway. At once, she was back on three paws with the blast wand cast in her fourth. No time was wasted in seizing the opportunity. Three rapid bursts from her wand returned a volley that pierced the fog's event horizon in the general direction of the fireball, each charge navigating slightly different angles. A sharp sizzle could be heard following each discharge, the sound as short-lived as the projectile was in the field of view. All of my prayers that my partner had fired accurately were amplified under the eerie silence that followed.

I found myself back on my feet, but with no intentions to move a muscle further. Once more, with bated breath and knotted legs, I waited for several more seconds. All went still. Even the supernatural tension that rippled through the fog seemed to hold its breath and pause.

Leah's patience did not outlast mine, and another three charges followed from her wand at wider angles than before. They also disappeared and left us with no indication of making contact. A muffled snarl and a breath of smoke from the wand's holder betrayed her intolerance.

Finally, Leah would have no more.

"AGH!" A continuous burst of fire expelled upwards from her maw and dissipated into nothing. "What the hell do you want?! Why are you doing this?!"

The gaseous walls of the landscape rippled at once. The atmospheric pressure ascended further in only an instant, as if conscious of her vocal defiance and preparing to enact its own disciplinary reverberation. What felt like winds constructed of invisible needles coerced around us from all directions, stealing the oxygen from my throat. My poor balance was thrown further into jeopardy. The muscles in my legs burned even more keeping myself upright.

Leah was silenced as quickly as she had exploded. Her protest transitioned into a startled yip—a sound anyone would yield in their weakest moments when subjected to the mercy of a higher authority.

From all directions, the air shattered. "FoOLiSH GiRL! YoU hAVe DeLiVErED thE eMBoDiMeNts oF yOuR LaSt hOpE tO mE!"

Shockwaves carried by the air throttled me with each false syllable. The screeching tone, broken in ways I couldn't have imagined in my nightmares, entered my ears and threatened the stability that remained inside. It seemed like nature couldn't decide which way to toss me from the sheer force that the voice alone commanded; eventually gravity won over and wrenched me to a kneel. I held an arm down to catch myself and prevent a third faceplant. Still, my eyes sank to the earth.

That broken voice…! That's the same… same as…

With hazy eyes, I forced my gaze back up. After blinking away the spots in my vision, I turned to witness a war raging within Leah. She had not stumbled or moved from the middle of the clearing in the fog… but her mortality was unquestionable in that moment. Tension locked her jaw; her tail lashed and her back legs rattled ever-so-slightly. But these were only fine details; it was her eyes that truly betrayed her. I could only see them from an angle, but even from my position there was no misinterpreting the fear in them.

Right there in front of her, now emerged from the unknown, towered Volcanion.

I might've had the mind to question his physical state if my head wasn't such a jungle of disorientation. The basic anatomical structure of my one encounter with Volcanion was unquestionable; that, however, was where the similarities hit a fault. His shell was tainted with a gray-brown tint that ruined what was once crimson, further punctuated by cracks and incisions all over him. His eyes locked onto Leah's, but like a mirror they carried the same hopelessness. Had he gotten a bit smaller?

It was of nobody's immediate concern. Leah balanced on three legs and leapt forward, aiming the blast wand right at the beast's neck. Her quickness surprised both of them, each caught up in their own mental inertia. She lodged the wand right under the rigid joint separating Volcanion's neck from his midsection, completing the motion a half-second before a crimson leg could be raised to stop her advance. With the business end of the weapon pressed against his esophagus—a surprisingly fleshy area—Leah let loose the final charge in the twig.

I was on my feet and dashing forward when the blast connected. Every ounce of energy both Leah and her wand had left was condensed into a whirlwind of fire. A condensed bubble of energy formed where wood met flesh, transitioning to a shockwave that jettisoned white flames into those on either end of the wand. A roar of astonishment mixed with Leah's shriek of defiance. I was several meters far enough to avoid the bulk of the explosion, most significantly the fire that could cripple me further. The shockwave did, however, do plenty to shove me back to the ground.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that the blast had done no favors for Volcanion's already-battered form. But my attention was already claimed by my partner, who had collapsed from the blowback effect and was slow to get up. I already had a reviver seed drawn when I raced to her side. A two-second diagnosis revealed that she hadn't sustained any major injury, minus a few strands of her ear fur. The blast had merely stunned her.

I pressed the seed into the Fennekin's mouth and allowed her to half-consciously chew it in-between strained gasps for air, just as we had done countless times for each other in the past. A few seconds to let the vitamins reach her bloodstream and she'd be back on her feet again. A sickening convulsion rang through the air to my back, not unlike coughing… if the thing being coughed up was a lung.

I pivoted towards the anguished sounds with capitalization on my mind. Volcanion had clearly been caught off guard by the attack; the way his eyes bulged and his voice was stolen and replaced with a clamorous wheeze declared plenty. The signs of weakness gave me a breath of confidence as my feet left the ground in a forward motion. I swung my vines through the air at his throat, where a new shade of crimson had begun to replace the old.

Unfathomably, the legendary beast managed to remain on four feet and gather his bearings before I could dig further into his wound. Even with the damage he had sustained, Volcanion shielded himself with one of his cannon-limbs with minimal effort. I forced the tendrils into the maroon skin to no avail. They barely left a smudge on the surface.

With my momentum going forward, there would be no opportunity to dodge his counter. A gurgled grunt escaped him upon planting his feet into the ground and swinging the appendage in a backhand motion. His haymaker slammed into the side of my body before I could even come to a halt, and my feet left the ground.

A sharp pain split my head into pieces as I was launched several feet into the air. Spots flooded into my vision and a vacuum filled my right earlobe where most of the impact was. The numbness that followed softened the impact with the ground as well as the tumble that followed, yet somehow didn't make the experience any less miserable. My teeth clamped down on the edge of my tongue upon impact, and the unpleasant taste of iron filled my mouth.

For a moment I laid motionless—any impulsive commands to move would've surely been rejected by my screaming body. Transcending the sod that weighed me down was a new agony that spread throughout my skull but was centered internally where the cold metal had made violent contact.

I rolled over onto my stomach, spat a mouthful of blooded-spittle onto the grass, and craned my neck upward. Volcanion, slowed by his weakened state but motivated by his rage, had already begun to advance. Both of his cannons were raised with bad intentions in mind. I stared down the barrels as their outline shined a cyan blue, until their base expanded as if shoving a large mass through. I immediately rolled out of the way; I didn't need a scouting report to tell me to dodge whatever the hell was coming. And judging from the force of the water streams that shredded the soil where I had just been, I had made the right decision.

I used my momentum to roll to a stand and fumbled around in my bag for relief. My hand located the compartment I needed at once. I moaned in relief as the rich flavors of a half-squished oran berry quickly mixed with the blood in my mouth to numb the pain.

"Sage!"

Volcanion had already begun charging up another pair of hydro pumps when a streak of psychic energy pulsed into the side of his head. With a nod in my direction, a revitalized Leah bounded forth and exhaled the flames that had built up in her gut, while I surged forward with hope coursing through my veins. Volcanion outstretched his tendrils to let loose their pressurized contents—one cannon aimed at either of us—yet he failed to connect on either poorly-aimed hydro pump and instead merely veered us off long enough to prevent himself from being flanked.

Regardless, the disorientation in the monster's flat-footed attempt at defense did not escape me. He could maneuver his cannons in any direction he pleased, but his line of sight was another story. Leah and I shot locked eyes across the clearing at the same time—she had noticed it too. A silent plan to take advantage of our speed and size was ratified with a mutual nod between. All we had to do was play our angles right and maybe… just maybe!

The wind howled violently as I circled around to approach again. The crimson giant was already being flanked by Leah sprinting full-speed from another angle, who ducked beneath another hydro pump that split the fog and overshot her by centimeters. Despite the time her distraction bought me, however, the debilitation of a broken tail prevented a timely capitalization, and I only managed to land a single useless vine whip on his back—a papercut at best—before being forced to retreat. Volcanion swung his tendrils like wrecking balls when his personal space was invaded, for his prerogative was one that sacrificed accuracy for power.

Without a moment to consider my actions, I took advantage of his missed flails and lunged again. A leaf blade across the leg and another along his midsection split his sickly-colored skin and drew a roar of pain from the depths of his cursed gut. Leah was on him as well, expelling her fire in precisely-aimed bursts in an attempt to pump her superheated elements into the open wounds of the legendary that we had created together.

To my profound dismay, his reaction towards the onslaught was merely one of impatience rather than the misery we intended to inflict. I barely had enough time to consider his next move before a better-aimed swing sent me tumbling a dozen meters off. I veered to a stop as a limp carcass would, without a move made to slow my skid.

Every hit, every ounce of damage sustained, every passing second endured in this hell was taking its toll. Not even the omnipresent forces that whispered chaotic nothings through the mist were necessary to bring about this fatigue. I was so, so tired; I so, so badly wanted to lay like this forever. A subtle itch formed underneath the fabric cloaked around my neck, and raising a hand to pick at it revealed that I could now barely feel my limbs at all. Sand and sod plastered all over my face and midsection, yet each grain felt miles removed from contacting my skin. Everything felt so far away…

A familiar feminine cry derailed any thought of surrender. Leah's pursuit of vengeance was blurred by misty eyes, but little resolution was necessary to understand the context of her actions. For a moment, just a single hopeful moment, it looked as if her nimble movements and swift flamethrowers would be too much for the beast, whose body had become multiple shades of crimson at this point: liquid and solid.

Reality would overcome the last hope remaining within me. Volcanion's flailing leg finally tripped Leah onto her nose and shattered the momentum she had gathered. There was really no chance for her to dodge the point-blank hydro pump that followed. The attack seemed to drown out my desolate cry, yet it could not drown out the timbre of the fire-fox's temporary agony. Nor could it drown out the deafening thud of the limp body of my dearest friend landing next to my own.

The state she was in from a visible standpoint broke my heart. Only moments ago she had braved the onslaught of a legendary beast. Only moment ago she had been standing beside me by the lake. Now she lie several meters away, an unmoving lump of soaked fur. Every spark of resistance in her snuffed by one hit...

"Le- Leah…" I tried to push myself to a stand, and collapsed in the process. If I could just—

"SiLEncE, HUmAn! yOuR fATe iS sET iN sTOnE!"

Dissonance rang through the atmosphere and spiraled with the gases, but it was just ambient music to every distraught nerve. My only focus was on the lifeless Fennekin who laid a cruel distance away—just a bit too far for me to reach. Her eyes were shut, so with my own I scrutinized her for any sign of life. Any sign of life… anything…

"yOu WiLL roT aWay aNd bEcOmE aSh jUsT LiKe tHe rEsT oF yOuR woRtHlEsS KiNd wiLL!" The voice ricocheted off the walls of my skull. "dO yOu noT rEaLizE yOu Struggle aGaiNSt wHaT iS iNeVitAbLe?"

Volcanion—controlled directly by the demon—arched his neck and expelled waves of fire in my direction, eliciting a sound of crooked agony from himself as the flames passed through his marred throat. With strength I did not know I still had left, I shoved myself into a roll towards my partner. Hot danger burned up the air occupying where I had just been, yet the assault did not stop there. The attack's entrails began to lick at my tail and, as I failed to roll out of the way fast enough, caught a chunk of my midsection in the blaze.

My scales registered rolling across the mud out of the hazard; the bridge of my nose registered resting to a halt on something soft and soaking wet. But my vision had turned a confusing shade of green, and my mind was too occupied trying to figure out why. There was no substantial rush of pain, yet I knew it had been enough. I refused to look at the damage. For all I knew, there wouldn't even be much there to look at.

Instead, I looked down. I had rolled right into Leah, right into my final resting position. Her eyes, closer to mine than they had ever been, had fluttered open. They remained grey with the taint of defeat. Only the green of my scarf reflected off of her eyes now. Her own scarf was just as blinding for me, almost as if it was producing a glow on its own.

"I'm sorry…" I tried to whisper. Whether she could hear it or not was a mystery to me. She tried to mouth something back, but her voice and my ears failed to transact.

A sort of peace enveloped me in that moment… perhaps resignation? If we were going to die, we might as well die intertwined: fur by scales, blood by blood, scarf by scarf—

...Wait, what? I squinted back through the boundary of reality: Leah's scarf really was glowing. It's brilliance blazed with such luminosity that I instinctively forced my eyes away as though it were the sun.

Volcanion now stood directly over us, glowering down with his corrupted physique, prepared to finish us off. Yet every fathom of the green flames erupted from his maw moved in slow motion. Everything in that moment was muddy and unclear. Was this what it was like to die for a grass-type?

The glow of heaven's green danced with the glow of the approaching flames, conceiving a harmony of life and death. Hugging Leah close, I squeezed my eyes shut and resolved to never open them again. The saturating sensation of the Harmony Scarf echoed through my empty veins one final time as the blanket of fire descended.