Chapter 33 - Not Tomorrow Yet
"The moon has been a-rising, and the stars in golden guising, adorn the heavens bright~"
Not much had changed about the open landscape besides the arbitrary winds that blew in from the north. With them drifted Ampharos's chipper tune, carried back to serve as an ambient concert for conversations and thoughts conceived from boredom. The chief's singing was no more proficient than his ability to navigate, but the benefits of the breeze meant it hardly mattered. Nobody was arguing that the chilling effect was a blessing beneath the unrelenting sun. It cooled the sweat on the bridge of my nose and ever-so-slightly made the journey home more bearable.
In retrospection of that morning, it occurred to me just how difficult it had been for my body to adapt to the time zone shift. It had been bad enough for my sleep, worse than I'd anticipated. It then occurred to me that I was probably just dead tired to begin with, but for the sake of self-esteem I chalked it up to something that was out of my control. It hadn't really mattered much when dawn rolled around, since either way I'd have slept for a week if given the opportunity.
Other than waking with heavy legs and a lingering disbelief for the events that had transpired at Fogbound Lake, not much of my morning had been executed out of routine. In robotic fashion, Leah and I had laid half-awake until Mawile called everyone to attention, ate our idea of a traveler's breakfast after the chief's debriefing, and then began the day as our minds finally overpowered the pleas of our bodies to lie back down.
More often than not, beginning the day meant taking on missions or dealing with a pressing issue back in Lively Town, where one could walk outside and, if they felt like it, could complete a day's worth of work in volunteering alone. Today, however, pushing forward meant we had to return home. We had to walk… and walk, and walk some more. One foot in front of the other. Our goal was reaching the coast near Sky Peak, where hopefully the crew of the ship we'd hitched a ride on had kept their end of the bargain and waited for us.
The path was level and the surrounding environment provided more than enough scenery to ward away the worst forms of boredom, but even these things hardly mattered after hours of doing the same thing. Sometimes, I found that traveling between locations was the entire appeal of a journey. This was not one of them. Homesickness and fatigue overtook the excitement and fulfillment of completing mission, and a dampened mood had settled over the group. It didn't help that completing this mission had hardly brought any excitement or fulfillment to begin with.
I supposed it was a good sign that Leah had been ready to tackle the day from the moment she'd forced herself out of bed. Whether it was from our talk, from the night's sleep, or just from Leah being Leah, she had carried herself with contagious energy that gradually got me up and going too. And while most of it had faded now that hours of walking had passed, I owed her whatever incentive I had to move… as well as to answer the barrage of questions that an undeterred Helioptile lobbed my way.
"Bruh, where did you say you got this dope scarf again?" As I walked, Helioptile scuttled around me in order to view my neck from every angle possible, at one point pushing my tail out of the way so he could see it from directly behind. "You got them from that Serenity Village place, was it? Damn, you think you could take me there so I can get one too? You'll totally do that for me, right?"
Overwhelmed, I shot a pleading glance in Leah's direction. To my dismay, she never saw it. She was too busy fending off an equally-curious Vulpix, who was set on scraping every last detail out of her involving what it had been like to walk on two legs.
Fortunately, Mincinno happened to notice my dilemma and made sure to give his teammate's ear a stern tug to open me up a little breathing room.
With a small, grateful smile sent the normal-type's way, I turned to Helioptile and shook my head. "Sorry, but I don't know where you'd find any more of these. I…" I noticed I'd been fingering the cloth subconsciously, and I could not help but run my eyes over the sharp and mild greens that composed its design. "…To be honest, I still don't know what they're made of."
Mincinno scratched the fur under his chin and sighed. "I dunno if I'll ever understand what I witnessed up on that lake, and I'd be lyin' if I said I didn't care to have that kind of power for myself. It's a shame we don't have more of these life-savers." Without missing a beat, his concern evaporated with a hearty shrug. "It just is what it is, I suppose."
"What matters is that it was enough to beat the creature at Fogbound Lake," a new voice—Mawile's—cut in from behind. I cast my eyes back to her, but she'd already paced forward to match my stride. Her eyes did not meet mine; instead they settled on my neck. "What you're wearing is clearly more than your average tissue. It's not unheard of for certain apparel to provide useful buffs in the wild, but nothing on this scale has ever even been considered, let alone documented."
Even as we walked, she did not hesitate to stick her nose only a few inches from the contents of my neck, adjusting her spectacles to further investigate whatever mysteries might be hidden in the unwrinkled garment. A bit unnerved by her unbridled display of interest, I slowed my pace just enough to put me a full stride behind her. She adjusted by simply turning to walk backwards while never removing her eyes from my neck.
"Uh, I guess that's good, then," I replied. "This thing did save us when…"
I shot another glance over at my partner. Vulpix had gotten momentarily distracted by Buizel and Comfey, allowing Leah a minute of peace. Her head hung a few degrees and bobbed up and down as she walked. She only half-concentrated on the road before her and was otherwise lost within the confines of a somber daydream.
"…when we were about to die."
For the first time since approaching, Mawile looked me straight in the eyes, allowing me a good look at the bags that had built up underneath her own. "Sage, what exactly happened to you before the chief and I arrived?"
"We… Well, we fought Volcanion. And we lost."
I frowned. Everything had happened less than a day ago, but the events leading up to my transformation had become a blur. When I attempted to recall specific details, all that came to mind was a complicated pudding of misfortunes in no particular order, none of which I knew had been particularly pleasant to experience nor were pleasant to reminisce over now. Surreal. That's what it had been. Even now, it all felt surreal.
Suddenly self-conscious of how I'd trailed off, I swallowed my misgivings and gave the best answer I could.
"The scarves started glowing, and then Leah and I evolved. I don't know how long it took or what caused it, but it happened when we were moments from being killed… or—or maybe we were killed for a moment there. I don't know."
The night before, Mawile's reaction to witnessing the scarves in action had been a clash between heavy concern and unquenchable intrigue. The answer I gave now brought both of these reactions back, with more of the latter being displayed in the way her eyebrows ticked upwards.
As she fell back into stride beside me, she resumed her prior activity of boring holes into my scarf with her eyes.
"That's… not good," she sighed. "Obviously, that's not good. I'm sorry the chief and I led you two into that. No matter your age or your role in the Society, it's our job to keep you safe. You should've never been in that position."
Our forward march maintained the same rhythm it had for hours. The conversation, on the other hand, ground to a halt after that. The way Mawile paused afterward—or perhaps it was my adamance not to respond—left her apology suspended in the air indefinitely.
I hadn't thought much about the nature of the mission so far, and for good reason. There had been plenty of adversity, plenty of fear—that much I had expected going into this. Hell, I could've expected those things going into any mission with stakes like these. But…
I glanced back in the direction we'd come from. Fogbound Lake had shrunk substantially in the wake of our exit; it was now barely distinguishable among the other hills and elevations in the visible landscape. Even without the fog having fully re-concealed it, the plateau would've been impossible to distinguish if not for its unique shape. Had we really walked this far already? It amazed me how benevolent it looked, as if it were just another mountain lining the horizon. As if nothing worth remembering had happened there. As if we hadn't been led right into a fight we couldn't have possibly won without a saving grace that we didn't even know we had. As if Project Chisel's first excursion had been worth the risk of attempting.
The silence between Mawile and I doubled in weight.
If she noticed the displeasure I failed to hide, or cared, she didn't show it. Instead, she took up a prospective tone so she could express what she'd been aiming to bring up in the first place.
"All that aside… we have learned something vital on this trip," she said. When I still didn't answer, she ignored the resulting pause and continued. "We've learned that our culprit is not the average serial killer, and I think it's safe to say we've learned that greater forces are at work than some volcanic rock formations."
I raised my eyebrows. Mawile's proposal about the… what had it been? Igneous rock formations being the key to uncovering the mystery, or something? That theory had been wrong, or at the very least didn't come close to telling the whole story. Not when this ghost of a culprit knew more about myself than I did, and not when it knew we were coming to Fogbound Lake before we arrived.
Mawile's elaboration echoed my thoughts. "That thing knew you were once a human, Sage. That thing knew where we were going and when we were coming, and I wouldn't be surprised if it even knew why. I'm… gonna have my hands full when we get back, as you can probably imagine. I've already thought up a couple of theories about what could be going on, although right now I've decided to regard mostly everything with a grain of salt." She adjusted her glasses and let out a sound between a sigh and a huff. "…I hate doing research when things are this vague."
"Mm." My eyebrows still remained raised as I stared at the road before me. Try being me, lady, I thought. Vague is all I've ever known.
I believed her about wanting to keep Leah and I safe. Her apology for leading us headfirst into a brawl with a legendary Pokemon seemed sincere enough. But that wasn't enough to settle the pit of fear that had manifested in my gut as I reflected over the trauma I'd been subjected to. The issue wasn't a physical one; virtually all traces of my injuries were gone, erased forever by my scarf. More than once, my subconscious found itself juggled around the idea that perhaps it was all just a dream.
But no, it definitely hadn't been a dream, and I definitely hadn't recovered from it. At least, not mentally.
I couldn't shake the undeniable truth that we'd been tasked with a suicide mission. The way I saw it, it was simple. If we were going to get out of this mess alive, there was no room for error, especially regarding something as vital as personnel decisions. Splitting up to save time, for one, had been a horrible idea with equally-horrible results. And even then, what kind of army would've been needed to take down Volcanion? Had it not been for the Harmony Scarves—wild-card factors that nobody even knew of until they were needed—then what kind of walk back to the shore would this be? Would it be the mournful march of a group leaving behind those who didn't make it? Would I have been one of the fallen?
That wasn't even a question. Of course I would've.
As I sought him out with my eyes, I became audibly aware of Ampharos's singing abilities (or lack thereof) once more. He was literally skipping as he walked—not with the same enthusiasm he might boast on any less-exhausting trip, but with enough to question if he was truly capable of worrying about anything that wasn't two feet in front of him.
A smile formed on my face, but it was entirely without joy. It was the type of amused smile born from a depressing joke, and it swiftly disappeared when the very thought made me realize just how much confidence I was losing in the Society. The damage wasn't irreparable, but it was enough to ruin my mood and consider myself disgruntled. I just hoped the esteem Leah held them in would hold up, and the feeling would pass.
A fit of animated teeth gnashing from the jaws of a visibly-impatient Mawile stripped me of my thoughts. She held her gadget out and tinkered with the screen while using the jaws on her head to shade herself from the sun's glare. When it failed to work for a minute, she muttered curses under her breath.
Finally, her face lit up as the device found the signal she was looking for. With the static hum that followed came a familiar, steely voice.
"Ma…wile?" Jirachi's voice filtered through the speaker, sounding like a broken-up version of his usual self.
"Jirachi?" Mawile answered immediately. "…Hello? Why'd you call?"
It sounded like Jirachi tried to speak again, but this time it was impossible to tell what he was saying. His words fizzled out and became incoherent in the midst of an increasing amount of interference. Several more seconds passed with the expectation that the enigmatic disturbance would come to an end. All that remained, however, was a low-pitched static.
"Jirachi? Are you there?" Mawile called again, to no avail.
"Maybe the signal is bad?" I mused. "It was usually like this for Leah and I back on the Water Continent. Jirachi could be having the same issues we did."
The historian wiped the sweat off of her own forehead and rubbed her chin. "…Perhaps that could be it. Although, the radio signal isn't supposed to consistently be this bad for him, especially not in the middle of Lively Town where all the radio towers are." She shook her head. Her second set of jaws gnashed a couple more times to personify her impatience further. "I'll have Dedenne talk to the folks in charge of it when we get back. Those minimum-wage government workers need to get their heads out of their—"
Another fit of static from the gadget interrupted her. Jirachi's voice sounded off once again, struggling to maintain some degree of understandability. Mawile gripped the gadget and held it closer.
"Ca… o… ear… me? M… wile? Mawile!"
"Affirmative, Jirachi, I hear you."
"…Oh, thank the stars! I've been trying to call you all friggin' morning! Those minimum-wage electric-types need to get their… agh, that's not important right now." The voice filtering through the speaker was still riddled with background static, but it was at least now coherent enough to make out. However, by no means did it sound normal; with each syllable was an unnerving weight of desperation that was unlike the lackadaisical, sleepy attitude that Jirachi typically wore on his sleeve. "Listen, there's something far more urgent than cellular speeds that needs to be addressed. Like, now ."
Most of the other Society members had picked up on the ruckus and had fallen in line around us. Ampharos abandoned his march and tune upon realizing there was something more interesting going on than the open road before him, and fell back a dozen paces so that he could listen in. Leah glanced back at me as her ears perked up, and trod over to my side to hear as well.
"Go on," Mawile urged, leaning her face closer to the gadget.
"While you were gone… how do I put this." Jirachi's voice broke up a bit, but I wasn't sure whether it was the connection or just hesitation on his part. "…there was a terrorist threat made to Lively Town."
Nobody said a word. Barring a couple of muffled sighs from Mincinno and Archen, nobody even breathed loud enough to be heard. Several of the Society members appeared shocked to an extent, but the general group reaction seemed to be one of mere inconvenience or annoyance. I was no exception; after all that had happened to us, some terrorist threat might as well be deemed trivial.
Just wait until we tell you what happened to us.
But Jirachi wasn't done. "The threat was a written note… well, a bunch of notes actually. They were presumably scattered around Lively Town sometime in the middle of the night, intended for Pokemon going to work early the next morning to find." His voice was momentarily replaced by the sound of crumpling paper. "Lemme see here… most of the threat is gibberish and I'm not going to bother reading it over the radio, but what's important is that it closes by saying 'those who struggle against the hearts of darkness will be turned to stone'."
If Jirachi didn't have our attention before, he did now. A collective gasp rang through the group, and faces pressed closer together to crowd around Mawile, who gripped the gadget firm. For the time being, the march along the road had ceased entirely.
"Because of the nature of the threat in tandem with all of the Pokemon dying, the government is sending two high-profile teams from the northern ports to investigate," Jirachi continued. "I think they've finally decided to start treating this like a serial killing."
"Hmm. Good," Ampharos mused. "We could use all the help we can get."
"That's not all…" Jirachi began again. "Th… re was som…"
His voice broke up once more, reverting back to nonsensical static.
"Agh, again? Are you kidding me?" Mawile groaned. She held the gadget up as high as her stubby arms would allow, twisting and turning it at a myriad of different angles in the slim hope one of them would catch a fleeting radio wave. After a full minute of this passed, including one instance in which she nearly dropped it, she finally gave up. Putting the unresponsive device back in her bag with a prolonged sigh, she folded her arms and tried to distract herself with putting one foot in front of the other.
Ampharos placed his paw on her shoulder. "Hey, it's okay. Just bad timing," he attempted to reassure her, although he looked no less rattled himself. "If we must, we can inquire about it when we return."
With his eyes hardened and his mouth set in a line, he added, "…which means we should probably get back as quickly as our feet can carry us."
"Pleasure doin' business, ye wankers!"
With one final glance at the sack of money Mawile had handed him before undocking, the one-eyed Ambipom captain strutted back onto the deck of his ship where he began barking barely-coherent orders at his crew.
Three days traveling back across the sea had little more to offer than our previous journey, which unfortunately meant it was no less boring. Everyone knew that any attempt to re-contact Jirachi was hopeless, for the archaic radio towers on the Grass Continent and the slightly-less archaic towers on the Water Continent could not extend but a few miles into open waters.
Thus, I'd spent the bulk of the boat ride entertaining myself with my own thoughts, running back through the events of the journey and then running back through the events of my short life. Then I'd retrace my steps back to the present day once I eventually hit that unconditional wall in my memories, and then do it again. Only rarely would I allow myself to mentally exit the past and probe into the future, as unclear as it was.
Leah had done the same, or so I couldn't help but assume. She would frequently occupy herself with the sound of her own twig-chewing within the condensed storage closet that served as our quarters. When her jaws got sore, she'd bury her head in her paws and think about whatever it was she thought about. She had been as resistant to moving as her stomach was to the ocean's cradle, but where could she have even moved? There had been little for her and I to do but work and rest anyway, since horseplay had been adamantly outlawed by the captain after Bunnelby accidentally sent Buizel through a wall in the first hour. The energy we'd woken up with outside of Foggy Forest had, ironically, been exhausted by the act of doing literally nothing worthy of interest.
However, by no means had this lackadaisical mood been exclusive to us. Whenever I would visit the deck to grab something to eat, not a single Society member moved at the brisk pace that they might otherwise consider an organization-wide trademark. I supposed that if our greatest enemy wasn't death, then it was surely boredom. And with that realization had come the realization that I loathed sailing.
Things would finally, finally pick up when the lookout—a skinny Tyrogue with a high-pitched voice—declared from his perch that he'd spotted land. Everyone rushed to the front of the boat, craning necks to see over one another and then cheering when they eventually caught their first glimpse of the port. I didn't cheer; I lacked the impetus to do so. But I did sigh a deep, relieved sigh upon seeing the colors and shapes of Lively Town gradually materialize.
All I could do after stepping foot onto the moist wooden planks was take it all in. We'd only been gone a week, that much I knew, yet a month or two surely had to have passed. Progressive fatigue naturally played a part in this, and perhaps even a bit of my own growth that took place in such a small span of time. But, as I had stepped off the boat to inhale the salty breeze and take it all in just like many times before, I concluded that it was actually the town's growth that made it feel like so much time had passed. The construction on the southern side of the peninsula had remained one of Lively Town's consistencies since I'd first laid eyes on it from afar, and long journeys allowed me to appreciate how the city limits were noticeably manifesting over time.
I glanced anywhere from the dormant ports bordering the civilization's edge to the bustling beaches that began where the docks ended. I glanced to the west, down towards the roads that led to the main square with a little bit of walking involved. Pokemon moved around us at differing speeds to run their errands, most of them paying little mind to the ship that had just docked or to those of us who had disembarked from its higher deck. The occasional pedestrian would recognize us and wave, but most seemed adamantly focused on their own business and moving along without any interaction. More so than usual, actually, and with what seemed almost like urgency.
At first glance, everything was still no more or less lively than I remembered, but I could not help but feel that the atmosphere had shifted a bit. Jirachi's report of a terrorist threat came to mind, but it seemed hard to believe that it would have such an effect after three whole days.
Did something happen?
Leah and Vulpix stepped up to either side of me as I stared on. Their gazes followed mine across the bulwarks of the eastern port and down to the southern structures that were actively being worked on by a number of unidentifiable Pokemon. Leah rotated a shard of wood with her tongue and made no other sound while Vulpix hummed.
Vulpix lifted a paw and ran it through the fluff on her head. She wore an uncharacteristic grimace as it came back damp with sweat. "Good grief, it's hot today!"
Leah looked like she was about to tease her friend for being an ice-type, but she seemed to conclude that her own typing wasn't helping her much either.
"Whew… are Lively Town summers typically like this?" the Fennekin asked nobody in particular. She tried to fan herself with a paw, but abruptly stopped when the humidity only seemed to make it worse. "Serene Village has gotten hot enough in the past to make some of the water and grass-type villagers complain, but it never got bad enough to make me uncomfortable. Certainly not like this."
Vulpix blew a rush of cold misty air out of her nose, although it did little to cool the surrounding area. She shook her head at her hopeless attempt and exhaled deeply. "I dunno, but it's never been this icky since I've lived here… Ha-aah, let's just head towards the headquarters already. The sooner we find out about this government stuff, the sooner we can get the big fans out of the storage closet and cool ourselves down. We all deserve a long nap, especially you two."
"You know…" I began. "It was also unusually hot on the Grass Continent. Have they been experiencing a drought too?"
I decided to take Vulpix's suggestion and begin making my way towards the Society building.
Vulpix just shrugged again as she began to follow. "I sure hope not. I've got some family over there that hate anything to do with the outdoors."
"And… remember the Air Continent?" Leah added. "There was a drought going on there too when we first arrived, which was almost—what, like a month ago now?" A moment of silence passed in which she glanced up at the sky and followed the clouds with her eyes. "I might've never been too engaged when we took geography, but I think I learned enough to know that this shouldn't be normal."
"I remember the Sand Continent being this bad, but that's normal over there," Vulpix said. "I want to chalk all of this up to climate change, but… if this is what climate change is really like, then I don't want to live on this planet anymore."
As we walked at a lackluster pace, I noticed the rest of the Society had already made it a fair ways across the docks. I tapped on a daydreaming Leah's shoulder and pointed it out, to which she immediately darted past me to catch up. Vulpix and I shared a quick glance of admiration for her energy, and then jogged to catch up with her. In our efforts to keep up with her (begrudgingly for a very sweaty Vulpix), we ended up passing most of the Society members, whom none of which seemed to be enjoying the humidity either. Up the stairs and past the first stores on main street we jogged, occasionally tossing out an apology in a random direction when one of us would bump another Pokemon unintentionally.
As I ran and continued to re-familiarize myself with the town, the ominous feeling returned that something more significant than the passage of time had affected something. Nothing had changed structurally, but I already knew it wasn't that. Not all of the old smells drifted through the air, making the salty ocean winds clog up my nose quicker. The sounds of commerce were a fraction of what they usually were. There were less people out in general.
Perturbed, I began observing the present townsfolk as I passed them. A Golduck marched across the street casting a glance behind him every few seconds; a Lampent closed up shop in the middle of what was supposed to be rush hour; a mother Pyroar briskly made her way to a branching road with her cub in her mouth, sacrificing the quality of her baby's ride for extra footspeed. As I made my way past Sylveon's bakery, which was normally a marquee commodity at this time of day, the absence of its trademark aroma was just as demoralizing as the 'closed' sign glowing through the window. There was no mistaking it. The change in atmosphere wasn't just my imagination…
Surely it had to be the heat.
For that very reason, I was more than pleased when our dash through town finally came to an end. The sweaty pair of Vulpix and I would eventually catch up to an equally-sweaty Leah, although certainly not because the Fennekin would ever consider slowing down unless she had to. We dodged the last few pedestrians in our way to finally reach her, where she stood before a wall of crowded townsfolk that at first glance appeared to be several layers deep. By now the boardwalk was well at our backs, as was most of the east side of Lively Town and all of its commodities. Right in front of us was where the town square was supposed to be, but we currently could not see it over the crowd that blocked our way.
"What in the world is going on?" Vulpix lamented, barely audible above the hundreds of other voices mumbling and grumbling about whatever was holding them up. To hear each other better, the three of us formed a huddle and stuck our heads close. "The square is never backed up with traffic like this. Like, ever."
"I wonder… maybe someone collapsed from the heat?" Leah suggested.
Vulpix thought about it for a split second before shaking her head. "No, even if that happened, the whole square wouldn't just get blocked off like this… Ugh, I don't want to circle all the way around to the other side of town just for that side of the square to likely be blocked too. Do we just wait?"
I tried to peer over and get a look, but to no avail. Even when I tried to ask some of the surrounding Pokemon in the back, those who bothered to respond were just as confused as I was. All I gathered were rumblings about a 'crime scene', but that hardly helped.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mincinno make his way up to us, along with Helioptile and Bunnelby who trailed a bit behind. The normal-type took one good look at the wall of Pokemon and whistled.
"Something must be going on, or must've happened recently," he speculated. "The police never hold up Pokemon like this on a regular day."
"Darn. I sure hope nobody's had a heat stroke," Bunnelby winced.
"It's not unlikely, I'm afraid," a new voice—Buizel's—commented. With him approached the remainder of the party that had traveled overseas, most of which sported surprised looks of their own at the unusual crowd of Pokemon blocking the entrance to the square.
Mawile walked up and crossed her arms. "Well, this is new."
I ran through ideas in my head, but the crowd of impatient Pokemon was too daunting to just force my way through in a manner that didn't involve unnecessary violence. It was difficult not to feel self-conscious of my own lack of innovation, especially that, in light of previous events, this dilemma bordered on trivial. Of course, not that anyone else was jumping forward with suggestions.
I was a drop of sweat away from suggesting we find another route when Leah's eyes lit up.
"I've got it!" she blurted. Leah shrugged off her bag and brushed her tail across my shoulder. "Wrap me up with your vines and lift me above the crowd."
My initial reaction was to narrow my eyes. As though expecting my wariness, she already had an elaboration prepared on the tip of her tongue.
"Hey, it may not solve the problem, but knowing what's going on will make a huge difference."
"It's not that," I scratched the back of my head. "It's just… I've never really lifted anyone before. I don't want to drop you."
"Oh, well…" Her ears flattened a little. "I mean, I trust you. You won't have to lift me very—"
"MOVE!"
I jumped out of my scales at the explosion of sound somewhere at my back, although I knew perfectly well who had wielded the hyper voice that nearly knocked me to the ground. Fighting to regain my balance, I whirled around to witness the majority of the crowd—now completely silent—facing a very heated Swirlix.
"You're blocking me from my pastries you treasonous delinquents! We're on official ~ burp ~ business here!"
Many of the Pokemon in the way regarded her with some degree of displeasure, but any prospect of challenging her advance died as soon as she mentioned food. It was no secret in Lively Town that the Expedition Society's chef could be a force if given the right motivation, with her motor being her stomach. Thus, a path was immediately cleared wide enough for our group to file through one-by-one.
"Ooh, that was easy!" With her nose held high and her tongue dangling out of her mouth, Swirlix hopped her way through towards the square.
Coddling one of his still-ringing ears, Ampharos waved the rest of us after her. Everyone began to file through the crowd, with me ending up towards the back of the line. As I got closer, I caught a glimpse of those ahead of me and saw that everyone had to hop over some sort of barrier. The police tape strung across the front explained its purpose, but only left up to speculation why it was there or what it was blocking out—or in.
Eventually it was Leah's turn, who bounded over without issue. Then it was my turn; as I walked up, the barrier slanted up to just above my nose, tall enough to block my view but short enough to be hurdled without the need to use my vines. After wiping my hands off on my bag, I reached up, gripped the top of the barrier, and shoved myself over.
Right away, as I scaled the tiny wall, I saw it. In the midst of a chaotic scene, it was impossible to miss.
In the middle of the square stood two life-sized, stone-cold statues of Pokemon.
"You've got to be kidding me," I hissed under my breath.
Everything happening around the victims told the rest of the story. The scene was a mess, with Magnemite hovering around and flashing their police lights, occasionally buzzing at those in the restless crowd who could see over the barricade. Crime tape was strewn all over the place, tangled up among various equipment that either belonged to the police force or the handful of Pokemon—local detectives, I assumed—that were there. The only thing about the scene that wasn't animated were the bodily remains of what had caused it in the first place.
Most of the Society was stunned. Brionne covered her eyes while Buizel placed an arm around her, looking just as stunned. Bunnelby appeared to be light-headed. Even Swirlix's confrontational demeanor reverted to wide-eyed silence. Hands and paws were placed behind heads and covered open mouths. Gasps and curses were muffled. I supposed it made sense; most of the Society hadn't witnessed one of these crimes in person before today, so their reaction was hardly different than mine had been. For better or for worse, the shock factor had mostly been exhausted for me by this point, but the sight in front of me was still repulsive enough to avert my eyes.
Leah's reaction was to stare down at her paws and purse her lips. With a shake of her head, she muttered, "Why here…?"
I spared a glance up. Even at the moderate distance I stood at, the Pokemon who'd been turned to stone didn't strike me as familiar. One of them stood on two legs with clinchers for hands and the build of an arthropod, while the other stood tall on four legs and had slim zig-zag formations across its body that vaguely resembled lightning bolts.
Mincinno rubbed his chin, analyzing the scene for what it was worth at face value. "That's a… huh. I'm pretty sure the one on the right is a Scizor. The other one's got to be a Zebstrika. I've seen one of 'em before."
"I remember you had some kinda beef with a Zebstrika that stole food from us in a dungeon," Helioptile followed up, before tilting his neck a bit and scratching the dome on his head. "But, hold up, that was on a different continent… Are these two species even native?"
"Pokemon can always travel here like I did," Vulpix replied. "Although, I've never even seen a Scizor before. I wonder where these two poor souls were from." She sighed deeply; her disdain for the heat seemed to be all but forgotten now. "I hope their families are doing alright…"
I tuned them out. Despite my earlier attempts to look away, they had been futile. All I could focus on now was the two stone Pokemon.
The way they stood so still made the smallest details of their bodies stand out more, emphasized by their host becoming literal exhibits to be viewed. The absence of color, absence of essence, absence of life separated them from the pebbles and slabs of the square despite being reduced to a state of matter that wasn't fundamentally any different. Even more uncanny was how their facial expressions didn't express fear or dread or resignation. Instead, they looked like they weren't even given an opportunity to react. Boom, dead. That's what it must've been like.
Somewhere in my peripheral vision I saw Ampharos firmly engaged in conversation with the town's chief of police—a Magnezone that, despite having a face made of metal, still managed to pull off looking sleep-deprived. Mawile had a notepad out and was taking notes, glancing up at the statues every so often and shaking her head. Jirachi had made an appearance at some point too, and after talking briefly with Mawile, began to float his way over to us. He waved as he approached and I waved back.
"Team Prism, Team Carbon," Jirachi greeted. "Well… damn. I bet this isn't the first thing you wanted to see when you got back."
"Ya think?" Mincinno snorted. Then, in a more serious tone, he added, "Do you know anything about what happened? The 'who's and the 'when's?"
Jirachi bobbed his head from side to side as if he was juggling his answers. "Hrm… not entirely. But that's why I'm out here. I'll explain what I know after we get everyone situated back at HQ." He then turned his attention to me and Leah with a brighter look on his face. "—and you two, curiously enough, have a couple of guests."
I quirked my eyebrows. Guests?
Leah echoed my thoughts. "We've got guests?"
Jirachi just shrugged. "Yeah. A couple of Pokemon came in from the west looking specifically for you two. They got here last night and seemed to know you personally, so I decided to let them use a couple of the empty rooms instead of casting them out to find some pricey hotel. I told them you'd get back around this time today, so they should still be there." He looked back towards the building in the distance, where a few of the Society members had already begun walking towards. "I'm gonna help the chief as much as I can out here, so you two can head over to HQ if you want. You look like you could use some rest anyway."
Leah and I shared a glance. Without a doubt, our assumptions were identical: Pokemon from Serene Village might've come looking for us. I'd become so caught up in my work with the Expedition Society that I had totally forgotten the threat of a search party! Not that Leah and I were criminals, nor that we were legally bound to anyone. Right?
No. I shook my head. No, that would be ridiculous. Anyone who tried to drag us off somewhere else would have something else coming.
With this principle in mind, Leah and I began to skirt across the edge of the crime scene, dodging the occasional Magnemite. We kept walking until we were out of the square and on the sloped path leading to the headquarters.
As the breadth between the distant building and I began to shorten, my mind picked up speed. Never mind what our guests wanted; what about the who? It had been a month—no, a month and a half—since Leah and I joined the Expedition Society. In hindsight, the hike through the Sheer Mountains had been treacherous one, and could easily have spelled disaster for any villagers who tried to chase our trail unprepared. Nevertheless, I wasn't willing to bet that the village didn't possess the assets to put a single search party across the range in a timely manner, especially when Nuzleaf made various trips to Lively Town anyway. Maybe… maybe it was him? I was anxious to see him and, if nothing else, apologize for abandoning his home in the way I had. Maybe I couldn't apologize to everyone, but at least I could apologize to him or whoever else it was that came to visit.
Driven down the cobblestone path by curiosity, Leah and I made our way towards the headquarters at a brisk clip. It did not take long for familiar landmarks of the path to surface, and soon the majority of the building was visible over the benign slope that the road took upwards. Not a word was shared between the two of us when the intensity of our thoughts would stifle any conversation, and when the distance to cover to the headquarters was dwindling by the second. I could already see the windows on the second floor. Before I knew it, the rest of the building had rendered completely.
A bated breath caught in my throat when I first saw who was waiting outside. His stature was what I identified him for first, with the smaller details of his stocky build serving as the evidence needed to recognize him in full. He stood right in front of the door, facing perpendicular to Leah and I and appearing to stare at nothing in particular.
No way… It is him!
Leah was already bounding forward. "Nuzleaf! It's—it's you!"
Without a thought, I was all but riding Leah's tail in an effort to keep up. Nuzleaf turned around at the sound of her voice, but he only had a moment to react before we were upon him.
"My goodness, there you are young Sage!" Nuzleaf cheered. "You look— oof!"
Leah crashed into him and wrapped him in a hug, stealing the air from his lungs and reduced his greeting to a chuckling wheeze. "Wh-Why I reckon I couldn't f-forget about you too, Leah."
Not to be left out, I ignored the ache in my vines and wrapped around him from another angle. Partly resting my chin on his shoulder, I whispered, "It's so good to see you again…"
"It's good to see you too, kiddo…"
There, standing out in the sun, we shared the sweatiest, most drawn-out group hug imaginable. I pressed my nose further into his shoulder and hugged him and Leah in tighter. Seeing Nuzleaf and hearing his voice did not compare to this embrace that reanimated every dormant memory of his hospitality. For a moment, it was like I'd never left.
All things had to come to an end. Nuzleaf broke off first, looking a tad exasperated from having two bodies practically leaning into him. Despite that, the body heat shared among us in that exchange seemed to bother none. Leah and I stood at attention before him while he looked us over from head-to-toe.
"Why, y'all look… y'all look like entirely new Pokemon! All—" he gestured at us with his arms and beamed. "—All geared up and official!" Then, he leaned forward an inch closer to inspect my arms and Leah's legs. "Is it just me, or have y'all been working out?"
"You could say that," I chuckled. With a wayward glance back towards the square, I added, "There's always way too much work to do here."
Leah nodded and smiled wide. "One way or another, it's been a blast so far!"
"Well I'm mighty glad to hear that. I admit, I really, really underestimated y'all," Nuzleaf said, placing his hands on his hips. The pride on his face was gone as soon as it appeared, replaced with a flush of concern. "…Though, I reckon I really did worry a whole bunch about y'all. I knew in my heart that I couldn't stop you from travelin' the country chasin' your dreams, but a father figure's still gonna do some worryin' anyhow."
My heart dropped. Of course, there it was. The inescapable guilt, the opportunity cost of the pivotal decision I'd made. Each encounter with my faceless, intangible, demonic enemy since leaving had convinced me further and further that it had been the right choice, almost enough to convince me that abandoning what could've been a home wasn't worthy of keeping me up at night. Almost.
Leah was staring rather intensely at a particular pebble on the sidewalk; her excitement had also vanished like ice on the sizzling sidewalk, or had at least been suspended from thoughts of home. I could imagine the volumes Nuzleaf's comment about worrying had spoken to her. I had not been the only one who left a father figure against their direct instruction.
"I do hope y'all have been careful with these stone incidents goin' around," Nuzleaf continued, seemingly unaware of the guilt poking around inside of me like a thousand needles. "I-I caught a peek of what happened earlier this mornin' in the center of town. Have you two kiddos… or, I reckon I shouldn't call you that anymore… have you two explorers been tasked with trackin' down the perpetrator?"
As Nuzleaf glanced towards the square, I noticed just how desatured the leaf on his head had become. It had wilted at a downward angle so extreme that it had become an undesirable compliment to the illusive bags that had formed under his eyes. At first glance he looked fine, but when I squinted it looked like he hadn't slept in a week. Keenly aware of the heat and its effects on both of us, I waved him towards the front door and held it open.
"We can all explain ourselves to each other in just a moment," I answered as I made my way inside. "For now, let's just get out of the sun."
"Never thought I'd see the day where I'd prefer the indoors…" Leah said as she allowed the first rush of cooler indoor air to gently settle over her. No traces of guilt lingered in her voice; a good sign.
"I swear, I've never had to work so hard travelin' across the range before. I was sweatin' buckets!" As Nuzleaf took his stepped inside, he relished in the indoors in the same fashion Leah did. He fanned himself for a moment to get all he could out of the limited comfort the first-story air provided, not caring one bit that it was only a few degrees cooler here than it was outside.
As soon as I entered, I scanned the assembly room for Dedenne in the hopes that she'd be able to fill us in on some of the details of what was going on. It was no secret that we'd missed plenty in the past week, and impatience had already begun to gnaw at the back of my mind to find out anything I could. Unfortunately, the communication expert was nowhere to be found in the immediate room. I did an extra circle around the room out of respect for how easy it was to overlook the rodent's petite form, but concluded that she was simply not in the room.
"It's coldest on the second floor room since we regulate the temperature to keep the Nexus from overheating," Leah told Nuzleaf. With the swagger of a tour guide, she held her nose up a few degrees higher than usual and smiled proudly. "We usually don't let guests up there, but since you're technically family then we can make an exception."
Nuzleaf wiped his face and, unable to conceal his amusement, chuckled at her antics. "Sounds mighty fine to me."
"Your turn to unpack, Smugleaf," Leah said. "In the meantime, I'll go and update the Nexus."
As anxious as I was to catch up with Nuzleaf, it was not enough to argue the rotation of chores established between Leah and I. It had been my idea, after all, to rotate tasks when preparing for and completing a mission. With an affirmative nod in her direction and a grateful nod received back, she shrugged off her shoulder bag and tossed it my way. After withdrawing a twig from her knapsack to occupy her gums, she zipped it up halfway and tossed it as well. I strained to catch both with my arms and, after securing them along with my own baggage, turned toward the residence hallway.
The quiet of the building was particularly conspicuous as I set foot into a hall void of activity. Even the uproar a few blocks away was not enough to penetrate the walls and meddle with the silence inside. This was a relaxing contrast from the usual chaos, even if I knew it only to be temporary. It was no vacuum, but for once I could actually hear my own footsteps.
If not for the sunlight peeking through curtains and doorways, I'd have thought it to be nighttime. Returning dead tired from an inland mission around noon was unheard of, especially when I considered just how pronounced this exhaustion was. For an extended moment, the prospect of sleep—or even lying down in my bed and relishing in the act of doing nothing—was nothing short of tantalizing. I hadn't gotten a good night's rest since the last time I set foot in this building, and even then I always had a fairly strict schedule to follow that showed night owls no mercy. After dealing with the heat, the stress, and the physical fatigue that came with the long distances and with curling up on a cramped boat for days at a time, I was about due to collapse.
As I sought out the entrance to my room, I shook my head. I'll have plenty of time to collapse into my bed later, I reprimanded myself. There's still daylight left and I still need to find out what happened while I was away.
There it was. Third room to the right. I approached and felt the genesis of a yawn in my throat. Adjusting the bags to keep my weight balanced, I parted the curtain with my arms and prepared to slide Leah's bags over to the far wall.
I took a single step inside and froze.
It took my brain a moment to register that someone else was in the room, and a heart-stopping moment longer to recognize who it was. But despite that she sat at the desk on the far wall appearing to be focused on the collection of maps scattered there, I knew my entrance was no secret. The loudness of the yawn I was unable to withhold was enough to be certain. Although, not like that really made a difference. She'd probably sensed me the moment I stepped foot in the hallway anyway.
I thought I tried to say something, but I couldn't exactly remember how. In an instant, the weight on my shoulders was nothing in comparison to the weight in my chest. I'd daydreamed about this moment in my head a hundred times—what I'd say, how it would go—but I suddenly found myself a prisoner of nerves, unable to do anything but stare uselessly at the back of her head.
Uhhh… what do I say? What do I—
"Did you forget I could read your thoughts?"
Her voice startled me so much that I dropped Leah's bag of twigs, spilling a dozen of them onto the floorboards.
Espurr scooted her seat out and rotated it enough so that she could turn towards me. She looked me over for the first time in weeks. Although I didn't show it, I immediately became self-aware of how I probably looked: sweaty, confounded, and on the verge of keeling over from exhaustion.
I had to live with how I looked, for now, and focus on who was in front of me. Finally able to see Espurr's face, I returned her stare as best I could. The dimensions of her eyes had always been her defining trait in the time I'd known her. They always had a certain magnetism to them, impossible to break from. Now, I could barely bring myself to meet them.
"Oh. Um, n-no, I didn't forget." I cleared my throat. "You just surprised me, that's all. H-How've you been?"
Espurr opened her mouth like she was going to speak, then closed it for a moment before opening back up to reply. "…I've been doing good. How about you?"
"Same. Just been really busy with… uh, explorer stuff, I guess."
Espurr nodded once and distracted herself with the textures on the wall. "That's good."
Awkward silence. Painful silence. The walls seemed to close in on me from all angles, pressuring me to say something. This was my room, I was the one who left her, the spotlight was on me to take the initiative in this conversation. That's what friends did, right? Make conversation. Espurr and I were definitely friends.
Right?
Maybe I could pry for details about her journey, or offer her a tour or perhaps some food. Maybe I could ask how the other school kids were doing or inquire further on how she was doing. Maybe I could apologize for ditching her and thank her for coming all the way over here after the fact. Try to explain myself further than the vague nonsense that I'd dropped on her way back when. Ask if anyone back home hated me. Ask if she hated me.
Instead, I blurted, "Did you trim your fur?"
I never envisioned myself asking such a question until it was already done. Espurr raised her eyebrows at me, less from the nature of the question and more from its suspect timing. "…Really? That's what you want to know?"
"…"
Like a guilty child caught stealing, I really didn't have anything to say. Once that became clear, Espurr ran her paw through a strand of fur on her chest and nodded slowly, all while maintaining eye contact. "Mhm… I did trim it. It had gotten so hot that I couldn't sleep comfortably… I'm glad you noticed."
Keeping my composure was physically painful while still inwardly recoiling from the stupidity of my initial question, and I afforded myself a mental slap. What a dumb thing to ask! In light of this, I provided the most neutral answer I could. "Ah. Well, it suits you."
"Thanks."
The ambiance of the silent building returned, but I was beginning to think it wasn't such a nice contrast from the usual noise after all. The only person I could ever recall apologizing to for anything significant was Leah, and in those situations I always found myself receiving an apology in turn. Now it was just me. Even if this betrayal was mundane on the surface, even if I hadn't said anything or done anything malicious, it hardly made a difference. It was the invisible monster in the room that neither of us wanted to acknowledge.
Now, at the worst time, I was coming to terms that apologizing was not my skill. Holding a conversation with awkward circumstances apparently wasn't either, especially when even granting Espurr the liberty of an eye-to-eye exchange pushed the limit of my willpower. A horrible feeling of transgression spread across me like an ocean, and my efforts to remain stoic began to feel more pointless by the second.
Espurr broke eye-contact. Something on the ground caught her eye—Leah's twigs, scattered across the floorboards.
"How's Leah? I just barely heard her voice from down the hall." Her eyes traced from the twigs to me and then to the doorway. I wasn't sure if my imagination was playing tricks on me, but I could've sworn the diminutive tension in her voice had eased up a little bit, if it was ever there in the first place. Yet it hardly did anything to dispel the tension that had my nerves under lock and key.
"Oh. You know, she's been—"
"Hey Sage!" Leah barked from down the hall. "What's taking so long?"
I could hear her footsteps approaching at a rapid pace, making my own footsteps prior sound feathery in comparison. I sidestepped out from in front of the doorway to avoid being run over when she inevitably barged in.
"Nuzleaf wants to catch up with y—" Leah cast aside the doorway curtain and instantly stopped in her tracks.
"Hi Leah. You look well." Espurr put up a paw in greeting and wore the tiniest hint of a smile. Part of me wanted to lighten up at the sight of Espurr finally giving some ground on her stoicism, but the impasse of not being the one to bring it out of her made me feel even worse than before.
"E-Espurr! You're here too!" In contrast, Leah's smile was anything but tiny, as was the impetus she vaulted forward to hug her old classmate. Thankfully, Espurr had the mind to take a step back and better absorb the ball of fur leaping to embrace her.
"E-Easy there! I'm happy to see you again too!" Espurr chastised, but only half-sternly.
Leah gave the feline's shoulders a tight, affectionate squeeze, then released her and retreated back my way. She twitched her ears at the spilled bag of her snacks and huffed. "Aren't you usually the one who says we shouldn't leave our stuff scattered across the floor? You're lucky I'm not picky about these twigs, Smugleaf, because you got 'em all dusty."
"Oh… my bad," I said with a shrug. The twigs were the absolute last thing on my mind right now. I hadn't forgotten that Nuzleaf was still waiting upstairs, and that there was still plenty to discuss with him. If anything, that would be my avenue to escape this thorny scene. "…Say, we should probably head upstairs."
Leah twitched her ears in agreement. "Jirachi already came back, and the rest should be returning right about now. I think the chief wants to get everyone caught up with each other in just a few minutes."
She picked up the last of her twigs and tossed them back into her bag, which I held open. Right on cue, footsteps filled the hallway outside followed by familiar, sluggish voices. The sounds of curtains parting and baggage being discarded with varying levels of care finally ended the quietude.
"Sorry Espurr, we'd love to catch up with you, but there's been…" Leah glanced between us and searched for the right words. "…an emergency, I guess you could call it, and our chief wants to address that before anything else."
I rubbed the back of my head. "You… can come with us and meet everyone if you'd like."
It was more of a request than an offer. Espurr regarded me for a moment and hummed to herself. Copious thoughts of rejection immediately flushed through my head, and I began to wonder if inviting her to a room with so many Pokemon would be too overwhelming. She may have been the last Pokemon I'd call insecure, but it wasn't like she grew up accustomed to a populated environment like this. Not to mention I had a pretty good feeling that the meeting wouldn't be the merriest time for introductions.
The way Espurr strolled up to stand before Leah and I was enough to assert that the awkwardness was mostly long gone. "I'd love to. Thank you." She looked no less stoic than usual, but the undeniable interest in her tone dismissed most of my doubts.
"Awesome!" Leah beamed. "Let's head up there quickly then, I wanna be towards the front!"
The Fennekin was true to her own word by vanishing out the doorway before I had an opportunity to speak. Not that I would have disagreed; a similar fire burned within me to learn what Project Chisel's next steps would be.
I held the curtain open for Espurr. "Ladies first."
All she granted me was a wordless nod. Without a word of my own, I followed suit. As we began to walk down the hall, she hesitated for a moment so I could take the lead. My footsteps were far less pronounced with the onslaught of ambient conversation and other such noise, which I utilized to cover up a prolonged sigh.
Okay, so maybe the awkwardness wasn't entirely gone after all. There was no one to really blame but myself, though, since I'd probably be hurt too if I got left behind like that. I understood why I wasn't her favorite person in the world at the moment… not that this understanding made me feel much better about it. Solace came in knowing that the burn would surely wane at some point, hopefully sooner rather than later. It had to, it just needed a little time. For Arceus' sake, this wasn't the right time to be worrying about this anyway.
As I'd crossed into the main lobby and began to climb the broad steps, my speculations refocused on the task at hand. So much had happened in only the past half-hour that I hardly had a sliver of time to process it all, and it wasn't even over yet. My nameless enemy was truly proving itself to be omnipresent, turning Pokemon to stone practically on my front porch while I was halfway across the world.
One particular hypothesis wouldn't leave my subconscious alone. Perhaps… perhaps there were multiple of them? Not that I knew what "them" even constituted as, of course. But surely it was still a thought to keep around, especially since there wasn't much I knew about the heart of this crisis to begin with. Volcanion had once been an enemy of the crisis, after all, and yet had been corrupted (or infested?) and turned against his old cause. Perhaps we were dealing with a virus?
It was a miracle I didn't walk into anything given how deep I'd been rooted in my own head. My legs had carried me up the stairs and weaved me through the half-filled crowd of Society members, all the way to Leah's side. She sat patiently at the front a few feet from where Nuzleaf stood, and flicked her tail in greeting when I strolled up. Espurr placed herself on my other side, inconspicuously eyeing the other Pokemon in the room.
Ampharos, Mawile, and Jirachi were discussing something by the Nexus, but my attention was transfixed by the two unfamiliar Pokemon standing towards the back of the room. One of them was a Vaporeon, the other a Simisage, both recognizable by their prominence in certain dungeons I'd been to prior. But these two Pokemon were obviously not ferals; both donned large bags and badges that dismissed any doubts about whether they belonged in the room. Still, their gear did not deter the gathering Society members from casting curious, sidelong glances their way. It seemed no one else recognized them either.
After what felt like ages, Ampharos concluded his discussion with Mawile and Jirachi before taking his place in front of everyone, gadget in hand, similar to the morning announcements typically conducted downstairs. He kept squinting at the crowd, unwilling to begin until he was absolutely certain everyone was present. When it became painfully clear that nobody was missing, Mawile nudged him in the ribs to start.
"Oh—I see. Everyone is here. Excellent." Ampharos leaned back to set his gadget down on the circular table surrounding the Nexus.
Then he placed his arms behind his back, scanned the crowd and cleared his throat. "Comrades! As we've all become aware, this has been a confusing morning. There is a lot to cover, including what happened on the Grass Continent as well as on this one in the past seven days. So, we're going to get everyone up to speed in chronological order, starting with what happened here.
"Firstly, though, I'd like to introduce you all to some fellow partakers in putting an end to the stone crimes. The reason they are here will become clear in just a moment."
Ampharos nodded at the two new Pokemon, who stepped forward together. The Simisage eyed the crowd and cleared his throat.
"Greetings," he said. "My name is Agent Naismith Simisage, and this—" he gestured to his companion. "—is Agent Brooke Vaporeon. We are Team Genesis, representing the Water Continent Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, and we are visiting to investigate a terroristic threat made against the city of Lively Town roughly three days ago."
I furrowed my brow. They had names they used in public? It made enough sense given that their profession likely relied on having the proper credentials and identification. Still, it sounded so odd not referring to them automatically by their species name. Perhaps it was just a custom where they were from?
Archen softly whispered to someone behind me, "I thought there were two teams coming…?"
I could just barely hear the flightless bird from a couple rows up, but somehow the Vaporeon heard him too.
"Two teams did come," she hissed, piercing into him with an iron stare. The way she spoke brought about a tension that made the scene back in my room not feel so bad in comparison.
Jirachi levitated forward to mediate. "That's—yeah. That's what I was gonna get around to mentioning." He cleared his throat and faced the crowd. "Two top tier rescue teams were assigned to come down here on an investigation, but… um, unfortunately, one of those teams happened to consist of… the victims in the square."
Oh.
A pin drop could be heard. Neither Naismith nor Brooke looked higher than the front row's feet now, both locked into a respectful, hardened silence. The rest of us didn't speak for the same reason, if the shock alone wasn't already enough. Jirachi's choice of past tense struck the chord hardest, and even harbored an insignificant spark of dissatisfaction within me. We were supposed to be the ones looking for ways to return these victims back to normal, and that required assuming they weren't already dead.
"…I was able to get my hands on a police report," Jirachi spoke up. He produced a handful of stapled papers and began to flip through them. When he found a page that suited his needs, he began to read off of it. "While scouting around town, Agents Zaire Scizor and Crystal Zebstrika of Team Patriot were presumably ambushed from behind sometime before dawn this morning. They were first discovered by Kangaskhan who had woken up early to open her cafe. Nobody else has reportedly been harmed, and there are no known witnesses. Umm…" Jirachi flipped through a couple more pages. "…Oh, and there was a warning letter pinned to the Scizor's head."
The shock factor that came with all these details had worn off for the two remaining agents. The sunrays that pried through the windows and declared it was long past dawn were a symbol of that. Even still, the solemn looks in their eyes made them appear no less shaken up despite having had hours to soak this in. Anyhow, the Simisage found it in himself to speak up again. "Yes… But this letter was different from the ones three days ago, wasn't it?"
"Yes indeed," Jirachi said. The letter in question was already in his hand. "It says here that—goodness, this handwriting sucks." He squinted at the words and read them slowly. "Alright, it reads 'There is no place in the world you can hide. Not in the heart of the city or the corners of the country. You will all become stone soon. If you wish to struggle against the inevitable rather than submit defeat, come to the summit of Showdown Mountain and prove why you should live.' And… that's all it says."
The lack of a specified threat made no difference in how forcefully my heart fell. I hadn't even touched down on this continent but under an hour ago and already we were being beckoned to the top of some mountain for the same reason we left a week ago. Like this was some wild game of chase! It took a fair amount of my self control not to groan loud enough to interrupt, if not scream instead.
"So…" Bunnelby began. "We've got a location, which is a step in the right direction. It's probably a trap, but—"
"It's absolutely a trap," the Vaporeon icily cut him off. "There's no question about it."
"I'm sure the perpetrator believes they've got the upper-hand… which is why we're going to go and investigate it ourselves," the Simisage declared. Any trace of his prior mourning had vanished; filling the void was an authoritative tone that screamed strictly business. "Showdown Mountain is roughly a day's journey from here. Therefore, my partner and I will travel there on foot and scale the mountain. If this enemy is there like they claim to be in this cowardly letter, we will apprehend them and bring them into custody."
With an agreeing nod, Ampharos went to shake the Simisage's hand. "We appreciate your assistance. In that case, we can rest up today and prepare to leave tomorrow morning."
Naismith simply stared into the chief's eyes with his own narrowed. "Did you say 'we'…?"
Ampharos parted his lips for a moment before nodding again. "…Why, of course. We tend to work toge—"
"I believe there's been a misunderstanding," Naismith cut him off. "I appreciate you providing us with the evidence you gathered from the crime scene, but make no mistake. There is no 'we' in this equation. My partner and I traveled from the capital of the continent to complete an investigation, not to meddle around with the local law enforcement. We were specifically recommended not to involve the Expedition Society at all. The only reason we are here is because you possess valuable evidence."
Ampharos's arm never moved, indefinitely suspended in one-half of a handshake. Even when it became clear the other hand would never join his, he still held it out and stared blankly at the grass-type. "Are you dead serious, or…?"
"Uh, did he sound like he was joking?" Brooke snorted. "Look, we'll cut to the chase. We already know about your little excursion to the Grass Continent. We know you people somehow got ahold of private government records in order to conduct such an aimless mission. You should count your blessings that you haven't already been arrested for that." The Vaporeon stood as tall as she could to emphasize the badge on her chest. "Why don't you people stick to your geography lessons and leave the detective work to us? We have lives to save."
The tension in the air was now an unnerving harbinger to violence, but I hardly had the mind to mediate things when my blood had begun to boil so hot. Were these clowns serious? Nothing could justify such arrogance, prestigious rank or fallen colleagues be damned. They had never faced the power of this enemy in battle. I had, they hadn't. My fists clenched tighter; if only these two knew what we'd encountered on the Grass Continent, they wouldn't be so keen to handle it like they were running errands on the weekend.
"With all due respect, I don't think you realize what you're getting into," I hissed. "Volcanion was possessed by this enemy—whatever it is—and nearly killed several of us."
I was instantly conscious of Espurr's and Nuzleaf's stares boring into my skull. I tried not to think about the copious explanation I owed them by telling myself this wasn't the time, which wasn't exactly a lie anyway. I was already well caught up in something else.
Naismith regarded me with intrigue for a moment, then raised his eyebrows to the ceiling in amusement. "…Really, eh? Because the Grass Continent officials who investigated the scene reported that Volcanion was found turned to stone—a victim of mass murder, not the murderer himself."
"Th-That's because he turned himself to stone! Several of us saw it happen!" Mawile snapped. She looked like she'd about reached her boiling point all the same.
The tension in the room seemed to hardly affect the infuriating pair of government agents. Brooke even seemed to think it was funny.
"We refuse to believe that," she stated bluntly. "It defies all common sense and isn't supported by any evidence gathered by the officials. This is precisely why investigating is our profession and not—"
"Alright everyone, let's relax for a moment. This is discussable," Ampharos intervened. He stood between Team Genesis and the crowd now, sternly glancing between both.
Naismith was already shaking his head. He grabbed the warning letter and police report off the table and tossed them in his bag. "I'm afraid it isn't discussable at all, Ampharos of the Expedition Society. Your group has often been described as high-end law enforcement around here, yet our companions were killed practically on your front porch while you were off using the Bureau's records to conduct an illegal mission. If you feel the need to discuss this, then I'd start with your lawyer."
"Hey, we kinda need that police report!" Jirachi called out to Naismith, who had begun to walk towards the stairway.
"Consider it confiscated."
As he continued to make his way around the crowd, Naismith reached back into his bag and produced a black, plated device that in some respects resembled the gadget in my own bag. He impatiently tapped on the screen a few times, then tossed it back into his bag.
"As per the investigation, authorized by the Water Continent Bureau of Criminal Intelligence, I have placed a federal embargo on Showdown Mountain."
When nobody reacted, the Simisage turned around and rolled his eyes. "…Which means that until the investigation is concluded, anyone caught traveling or taking missions there will be arrested and tried for tampering. Only my team and the aerial reconnaissance I've requested are authorized in that area until I decide otherwise. Have I made myself clear?"
Mawile dropped the canteen she'd been drinking from and spit out some of the water in her mouth. "What?!"
Now there was a reaction from the crowd, and I was no exception. The same urge I once felt so often to slap Pancham in the face—something I thought I'd outgrown—resurfaced in the depths of my shoulders where my vines lay dormant. A puff of smoke redirected my attention for a moment; Leah had to bite her cheek in restraint to not produce an all-out beam of fire instead. I took sight of the anxiety on Espurr's and Nuzleaf's faces, and felt a pang of sympathy in the midst of the adrenaline-fueled anger that burned through my veins.
Ampharos held his arms behind his back and said nothing, although the disdain in his eyes was impossible to hide. Jirachi's jaw hung open in speechless disbelief. Swirlix nearly choked on whatever it was she was chewing on, and for once her eyes grew the size of dinner plates for a reason other than food. Dedenne's voice hit an unprecedented pitch as she angrily squeaked her frustrations over the noisy crowd. Mincinno looked about ready exhaust his wide repertoire of curse words, if not surpass talking entirely by allowing his physical attributes to speak for him. Fortunately his teammates had the mind to position themselves between him and the government agents, although the looks on their faces told me they were no less upset than he was.
"Oy! Like hell we can't go there!" Mincinno protested. "Who says we can't?"
Brooke only snickered as she made her way after her partner, who had already down the stairs. She tapped the badge on her chest one last time and shook her head. "We say. And we mean it. This isn't some child's game, so it would be in your best interest to stop playing hero."
"Better question—" Buizel sneered as he took two steps forward. "—who's gonna stop us?"
Brooke eyed him up and down and scowled. "The police, dumbass. You think you're above the law because you draw maps? Think again."
"Brooke!" Naismith called from the bottom of the stairs. "Quit wasting time with them!"
A condescending glare was enough of a parting shot for the Vaporeon. She spun around and stepped her way down the stairs after her teammate, thrashing her tail in front of Buizel a couple times as she went. He had to take a deep breath not to strike her outright, and I released a deep breath of my own when he didn't.
The distant creak of the downstairs doors opening and closing echoed up the stairwell and off the walls for a few seconds, and then everything fell to silence. For the following minute, the low hum of the Nexus dominated the room.
I wasn't breathing heavily or anything, but after all of that I felt like I should've been. I had barely even known anything about a 'government', and now we were being told we legally weren't allowed to travel to a dungeon. I supposed all it would come down to was waiting to see if those two pricks were up to the task. If they succeeded, then everyone would win. And if they failed—when they failed—then at least we'd have an avenue to move forward and investigate further.
Between the two, I had no clear preference.
Everyone was surely having similar thoughts, but nobody was jumping to speak their minds. Instead, uneasiness had completely hushed the room, covering it like a blanket. Only a washed up display of Leah's agitation remained on her face, but the way the fur on the back of her neck pointed towards the ceiling told me all I needed to know about how she felt. Espurr and Nuzleaf, on the other hand, were struck speechless by the simple fact that they didn't know what the hell was going on. I had to restrain myself from breaking the silence with a groan; this mess was not a good first impression of the Expedition Society.
It would be Archen who broke the silence instead. "Did that… just happen?" he said while rubbing the top of his head.
"Do they even have the power to do that on this continent?" Vulpix whispered.
Mawile shook her head, her gaze transfixed on some geometric point on the wall. "As much as I hate those political pricks from the north… yes, they do have that power. Investigators with the proper credentials have the authority to temporarily monopolize mystery dungeons for an investigation. The law was ratified about a decade ago, but it happens so rarely that we've never had to deal with it until now."
The researcher took notice of the handful of odd looks she was receiving, and shrugged her shoulders. "…What? I went to law school for a few years."
"So what are we gonna do then, huh?" Mincinno interjected. "Just sit around when our target is staging a meeting for us?"
Ampharos closed his eyes and shook his head. "I… do believe I need some time to let this sink in. Tomorrow we will revisit Project Chisel, but today there's little to be done about it."
He took his usual stance in front of the crowd and, despite the grim circumstances, held his chin high. "Comrades, I promise this isn't over! Get your rest and your nutrients, because you're going to need them sooner rather than later! I'll be in my office if anyone needs me. Mawile, meet me there in an hour to go over some things if you'd please."
With his final word punctuated by a salute, the chief made his way down the hall and out of sight.