I quickly went to the cave, still thinking about the topic I'd discuss in my natural sibling's meeting. But I didn't go all the way with that in mind; I'd try to make the meeting end soon because lunchtime was close, and I started to get hungry. Hopefully, I'd get a new message from Massara saying that there would be a meeting's postponement to after lunch, but it wasn't. I reached the main cave entrance and went into it.
Just in case, I looked at the area designated as my trough for if they left me an assortment of berries. There was nothing. I sighed and continued my way into the depths of the cave.
The meeting room was located in the deepest area of the cave, and to get there, I had to pass through limited access not higher than a meter that led to the intricate tunnels network my family and I called home.
The cave was divided into several sections, each reserved exclusively for one member of the family and connected to each other by the tunnels network—a place where only one of them could feel comfortable, so to speak. A few empty rooms thought for me if my part of the cave was compromised by the storm outside, such as heavy rains o very cold or hot weather, where I could refugee from them, and others thought so we all could eat all together. All those situations were rare, but they were there for the taking.
Unfortunately, there wasn't another way to move. You had to cross other family members' rooms forcefully; not all of them, but several. And I had to go to the deepest one. So, I had to go through at least half of them.
Massara's room was the first one I entered as it was the only room directly connected with mine. The atmosphere in that room was quite mystical, something not so strange if you knew that who lived there was a Pokémon with extraordinary psychic powers. I always liked to see that particular decoration Massara gave based on lilac light balls illuminating the room and several stones wrapped in lilac auras floating around. I had fun pushing those stones and watching them bounce off the walls until they stopped anywhere in the room. There was never a day when I didn't do that. It was too funny.
"Messing up my room again, Nevui?"
I raised my ears when I heard the calm and serene voice of Massara in front of me. The light balls didn't provide all the brightness needed to see what was a couple of yards of you, but Massara made most of them illuminated her entirely, so I could contemplate her. I stared at the red gem she had in the middle of her two white-pupil purple eyes and her characteristic lilac-colored fur. Massara slightly shook her head and groomed one of the two locks of hair that came out under her long ears. She called them whiskers, but they didn't look like it to me. She pushed aside some little stones with the feet and rearranged the tail, leaving its bifid ending in sight.
"I'm sorry. It's just so much fun to watch how something as hard as a rock bounce off the walls," I apologized.
Massara lowered her head slightly, indeed hiding a smile which she didn't like to show all the time. She covered herself in the same aura as the stones and returned the one I pushed back to its old position. "Did I send you a message at a bad time? I sense you're a little upset."
I had always been equally fascinated and troubled with the fantastic psychic abilities of an Espeon like her. She even explained how she guessed the states of not only me but of all the Pokemon in the forest just by looking at them for a few moments. She called it something like emotional energy, a kind of power all Pokemon emit continuously and varies depending on the mood we're in at the time. I didn't understand anything.
"Well, I was talking with Zilgus and the others when your message resonated in my head," I answered. "There was the typical sting I feel when I get it. All my friends know what happens to me when I react to them."
Massara looked at me with inquisitive eyes. "You must've had an intense conversation this morning. Do you need me to help you relax?"
"I'm fine," I immediately replied. "I'd say that a part of it is because of the meeting I'll have with Firia and the others. Do you know why they want to see me?
"I'm sorry, Nevui. You know that I don't interfere in the private affairs of other family members, especially if it's between natural siblings unless it's strictly necessary."
In the family, we were divided into four groups called natural brotherhood, which helped us understand each other a little when something happened to a member. I was part of the largest group, which included Firia and two other brothers. Four in total. Then there were Kiteli and her sister, Massara and his brother, and Faeris, the only member with no brothers.
"Wow, I was hoping that at least you would've sensed something in them that wasn't impossible to detect, and you could reveal to me," I said. I tried to make Massara feel sorry for me, even though I couldn't get it in someone like her.
"I repeat: I don't interfere in the private affairs of other family members. Even if I had perceived something in Firia, my respect towards her would prevent me from informing you."
"And what about what you sensed without using your abilities?" I asked. "What kind of face she had when she sent you for me?"
Massara stayed thoughtful for a moment, remembering the conversation with my sister. Then she nodded as if she agreed with herself. "I didn't see much difference from what Firia usually does. She still had her classic angry face. Although, if I had to add something else other than I sensed from her emotional energy, I'd say that…"
Before Massara revealed to me a glimmer of light that would dispel my questions about the meeting, I shrieked with all my might. That took Massara by surprise, but I doubt she was even shocked by my sudden reaction. I jumped so high that I must have beaten my high jump record again. What scared me was that someone had bitten my tail in such a way that I could see correctly where the bite was. When I fell onto my four legs, I ran away from the place where I was bitten and tried to heal the pain by caressing it.
"Once again, little Nevui has forgotten to watch out for what she has behind. I'm surprised you haven't learned that lesson."
I looked into the darkness that the light balls left after Massara drew them to her and immediately traded my anger fear. There was only one Pokemon that likes to bite my tail.
"I never asked you to give me lessons!" I yelled. Massara lowered her head a little because she was sensitive to loud sounds. "Why do you always do this to me, Synis?"
Some yellow lights glowed in the dark. They were circles and rings going on and off as if they lost strength and regain it instantly. Then, two new red lights cut by a black line emerged from the blackness. Obviously, they were eyes. Synis eyes. The Pokemon moved towards the lightness, and Massara made sure the light balls also illuminated him. It was necessary because his fur was so black that it was impossible to detect him in unlit areas. He lifted his head proudly and extinguished the light from his yellow-circled marks between his eyes, both ears, the four legs, and his tail.
"Because you must learn anyway," he sharply said. "Danger lurks in every corner of darkness. If it's not me, it could be another Pokemon. And this one wouldn't give you a second chance."
It bothered me how sinister he could be, even knowing his element type was precisely that one, belonging to the Umbreon's evolution. "The only thing you get out of it is that I'm more afraid of the dark, not that I'm alert when I'm surrounded by it," I replied.
But Synis continued as if he hadn't listened to me and stopped by my side. He approached his snout to my ear. "That works, too; darkness isn't a place for everyone."
I shook my head, walked away from him, which Synis saw as fun, and slowly walked towards Massara. I had the brilliant idea to take revenge and try to bite his tail, but as soon as I jumped with my mouth open, the Umbreon reacted supernaturally, and before my head hit the ground, he was already next to Massara.
"Too slow… and predictable," he said as if he was still giving me lessons.
I got up, trying to not stay in the humiliation any longer, and cast my most withering look at Synis. I even had my cheeks bloated. "Bully," I insulted him.
That was the word that ended most of the fights I had with Synis as if it was a rule that forced him to stop. However, Synis laughed and practically broke away with his proud and intelligent side to a more friendly one, although he had to make sure his laughter wasn't so sinister and evil.
"What brought you to my room, Synis?" Massara asked, clearly annoyed. "Of course, lecturing Nevui is not usually your priority."
"Certainly. The truth is that I only came to visit you and ask if you knew anything about what's going on today in the cave, sister," Synis said. "I've seen Firia acting weird, and I'm curious. Do you know anything about it?"
"No. And don't even think of hiding in the shadows to spy on others," Massara reproached him. "Matters between natural siblings should only be revealed to the others if they want to."
Synis shook his head as if he'd heard that too many times. "Here we go again… I learned the lesson, okay? Firia has already burned me to a crisp, so I don't forget. Besides, don't try to give me orders that you know entirely that you can't be sure will be carried out.
Synis was the only family member who wasn't affected by Massara's psychic powers, not even the simplest ones such as telepathy. He could block her messages at will—an immense power over psychic-type Pokemon.
"Still, there is something you can reveal to me, can't you?" Synis insisted. "It's no coincidence that Nevui's here."
Massara sighed, understanding his brother wouldn't stop until he got some information. "Firia asked me to send a message to Nevui to meet her and her brothers at the meeting room. Is that enough for you?"
"It doesn't help me to understand what's going on, but it'll do, I guess. Well, our little sister better be on her way, right? Let's not keep her brothers waiting any longer than necessary."
I took that suggestion as a way of telling me to leave. I stared a few seconds at Synis and said goodbye to Massara. Just before I went back into the tunnels, Massara added:
"Remember not to go to the left if you don't want to enter into Synis' room."
"Hey! What's wrong with my room?" The Umbreon complained. "There's nothing unusual about it."
"Except that it's completely dark and only lights up at night," said Massara. "The moon hasn't risen yet."
I left Synis and Massara arguing and went into the tunnels. I barely advanced a few yards and heard a cry of pain coming from Massara's room. Who was screaming was Synis, and the first thing that came to my mind was hilarious. Synis maybe was immune to Massara's powers, but she could use physical elements to beat her brother. Things like rocks.
I was taking the right path as long as the tunnels allowed me to. Soon, I started to notice certain anomalies, such as temperatures dropping or sometimes stepping on shoots. That indicated that I was near Kiteli and Aisa's rooms, covered with ice or weird plants. I intended to take Kiteli's plant path, but without warning, I slipped on the frozen ground and slid without stopping. Luckily, not all the ground was frozen, so I stopped abruptly after skating for at least a dozen yards. I got myself together and checked if I could turn back and go the way I actually wanted to, but the ground was too slippery and didn't give me a chance. I shook off the dust that was left over me and advanced along the path of Aisa's low temperatures.
Aisa's room was the most secluded of all because she loved living in icy areas. Not incredibly, but enough to make the water share its solid and liquid states at the same time, meaning that on many occasions, the air currents inside the cave were uncomfortable for the others because of how cold they became. So, we all agreed to keep it where the cold wouldn't bother anyone without separating the room from the others.
As soon as I passed Aisa's room threshold, I shuddered at the drastic drop in temperature. Outside it was pleasant spring sunshine, whereas here, you had the feeling of entering a perpetual winter zone similar to the peaks of the highest mountains. Her room tried to imitate that atmosphere, with the highest ceiling of all the rooms and stones pretending to be mountains with snowy peaks. There was snow everywhere except for a stone path drawn for whoever had to pass through. There were even small holes in the snow-filled with water and covered with ice.
I didn't like the cold, but I did like the snow. It was a contradictory feeling. However, that didn't stop me from playing with the snow the few times I passed by Aisa's room. Firia could wait that long.
I dug up snow from the path edge and threw it to the side with my legs in the air, allowing some to fall on me and my fur. The cold made me instantly shake off the accumulations of snow on my body and spread it all over the room. The second time I did it, a snowball that had formed unintentionally when I picked it up with my legs flew and hit something that didn't sound like the fake snow-covered mountains.
"Hey, be a little more careful," said a voice. "I almost fell in the water."
I shook off the snow that had fallen on my ears and looked in the direction from which I heard the voice. A few moments later, a Pokemon approached me after circling one of the several holes with ice water in the room. It moved gracefully, even being continually sinking almost half of its four legs. Its sky-blue fur was beautiful and fitted in very well with the icy atmosphere. It had other parts of a darker blue like its back, legs, end of the tail, and the inside of its ears.
Interestingly, all these marks formed rhombuses either from the drawing or the silhouette of the body parts themselves. However, the legs felt more like they were carrying something like extra protection against the cold. I was mesmerized by the pigtails movement that came out from the ends of a kind of thick crown or tiara on its forehead of an equally bluish color, but at a point between fur sky-blue and dark blue markings. The tips of those pigtails had the same rhomboid markings following the pattern of her body. I loved that.
Aisa had one of the most beautiful looks I had ever seen. I really liked being around her and admiring her, even playing with those pigtails that came out from her crown. She called them secondary ears, but I didn't and wouldn't stop referring to them as pigtails. Aisa gave up trying to say the right word a long time ago.
"Nevui? What are you doing here?" Aisa asked. I didn't answer right away and just stared at her darkest blue eyes. She came even closer to me and tapped me on the nose so I would finally react. "I asked you a question, little one."
I shook my head to stop being fascinated by the beauty of a Glaceon's body like Aisa's. "Sorry. I didn't intend to pass through here, actually," I said. "There was a frozen area in the tunnels, and I accidentally slipped and wasn't able to turn around."
"A frozen area, you say?" Aisa looked at the entrance behind me. "I'll go and notify Firia to melt the ice."
"Can you tell her later? Firia's busy right now."
Aisa looked at me and lean her head. "What do you mean by that, little one?"
"I'm heading to the meeting room where she and my other two brothers are supposed to be. I don't think they'll do anything new until it's over."
"A meeting of a natural brotherhood? No one told me of this. I'm more than used to it, though."
Unfortunately, Aisa was the last to know about almost everything in the cave or any family member. Always due to her necessary isolation for having the room that affected the resto the most. I felt sorry for her, but Aisa seemed very calm about it. It was probably because news came to her anyway, and she didn't mind they were a little late as long as they told her.
"You should get going, little one," said the Glaceon with a smile. "You can stay here, thank your thick fur, but I know very well you don't like the cold so much that you have to stay and play with the snow."
My body reacted when Aisa remembered me about my discomfort with the low temperatures. It even gave me directions to leave the room. I understood the message it was sending me, and I set out.
"Oh, I forgot. If you have to go to the meeting room, I recommend you to go through Kiteli's room," said Aisa. "At least I am the first to know about Faeris' situation, and the poor one is still adapting the room to her tastes. I think it's best not to disturb her."
I nodded and continued on my way, this time with a concrete direction. I had thought of going to Faeris' room before Kiteli's precisely because it wasn't customized to her taste yet, and I could get through without being detracted. But if she was working on it right now, I shouldn't interfere. After all, Faeris was the newest member of the family, with barely half a year living in the cave, and knew little about her. I hoped the day when she'd open up to others would come soon, so I could understand a Sylveon because I didn't know much more about her despite being an Eevee in the past.
Because of the isolation, the tunnels that led to Aisa's room were the longest and were noticeable. You didn't need to feel the drop in temperature; it was enough to go through the same tunnel for quite some time. I couldn't specify how long it took me to at least see plants peeking out of the tunnels to Kiteli's room again.
That specific cave's place was like you suddenly went out into the woods. There were bushes and grass everywhere you looked, even little trees that barely surpass seven feet tall—a miniature forest. At first, I wondered how Kiteli could keep the plants alive when they grew on rocks and not on land, and they didn't have direct sunlight. Still, he explained plant adaptation to survive and expand in the environment and what he did to help them: he collected the water necessary by melting Aisa's ice and provided sunlight by an incandescent ball mimicking the sun he created with his power. There always was a miniature sun in the room, so I could see what I had in front of me.
I crossed Kiteli's room slowly; The cold in Aisa's space left me shivering, and the sun was giving me back the heat my body lost. I wouldn't go until I recovered.
While I waited, I walked through the small forest, observing the bushes and smelling the few flowers that managed to born in that environment. And without realizing it, I ended in front of the only land in the whole room: Kiteli's orchard. A place where my brother grew specific plants to use later. He was something like the family's healer, and there were the ingredients he used to treat wounds like cuts or burns. I got curious and examined what he's growing only to see the less showy plant in the room. There were even mushrooms, which my instincts screamed at me to get away from there and obeyed.
Then, it got dark.
The miniature sun extinguished. A typical thing since the power required to shine continuously depleted. I was unlucky that I came to the room right when the sun reached its limit. And the worst thing was that the darkness was similar to Synis' room but natural.
I went blind. I couldn't see anything I had in front of me either when my eyes adapted to the cave's low light. I was frightened to move around the room because I didn't know exactly where I should go without hitting a bush or a tree. I could wait for Kiteli's return, but time ranged from a few minutes to several hours. If I didn't present myself in the meeting room soon, my family would surely activate the emergency state, thinking something terrible happened. And since I didn't want to scare them, I let them guide me by touch.
It didn't go well.
Grass disoriented me, and I tripped over rocks coming out of it several times. In the end, I ran out of luck and hurt myself in the right paw. It was just a thin cut, but the stinging hurt quite a bit, and I couldn't hold a scream. Then I decided not to take another step and called whoever could hear my voice echoing through the tunnels. Massara and Synis were my best assets, but it was Kiteli himself who came to my aid.
My brother entered his room and immediately used his power to create a new sun in miniature and bring back the stray light to the place. He was surprised to see me sit with the right paw lifted so the grass didn't disturb the wound. I stayed between a tree and my brother's supposed resting place.
"Nevui, are you okay?" he asked me.
I didn't know if the question was because he heard my call or noticed my injury. Whatever the reason, he shortened distances and looked at me with his honey-colored eyes. I looked back at him, but I got distracted by the light green lock coming from his forehead, which contrasted sharply with his creamy-yellowed and brown fur. He resembled Aisa, having certain parts of his body gradually changing color to green, such as his ears, tail, and several locks of hair that protruded from his chest and four legs. And those green areas of his body imitated plants perfectly. His ears and tail had small cuts to give more realism and had the same leaves veins of any plant, and the second was even a little wrinkled, trying to make the form of a lightning bolt. I found his appearance strange.
"I'm fine. It's just a scratch," I said.
Kiteli gave me a look of mistrust. "Lift your right paw."
I obeyed and let him diagnose the wound. Seconds later, he ordered me not to touch the floor and left to another part of the room, then returned with a leaf on which rested a greenish ointment. He made the grass formed a small flat surface to leave it on and started applying the unguent to the cut. I felt pain with the first contact of Kiteli's brown and spotted paw on mine, but then came a great relief. Just a minute later, my skin absorbed the ointment, and the wound didn't hurt anymore.
"Next time, don't keep these things from me, okay?" he said. "Even the most superficial wound can be lethal if it isn't treated properly."
I bowed my head in apology. "It won't happen again. I promise."
Kiteli put a paw on me and stroked me. "Part of this guilt lies with me. Every time I'm more assured that I must forbid access to my room, so there aren't accidents like this one when the sun goes out." He stopped stroking me. "You're here because you're heading to the meeting room, aren't you?"
I lifted my head, surprised.
"I found out about it before Massara telepathically communicated with you, even before I made you breakfast," he explained.
Kiteli was always the first family member to wake up. Usually, when the sun's rays just begun to touch the trees in the forest. He said he had a connection with it and could find out everything that was going on in it. I found it hard to believe because Kiteli didn't have psychic powers like Massara, but I also didn't see that impossible after learning he could create miniature suns. I didn't know in-depth everything my brothers were capable of.
"I'll be on my way now that I can see where I'm heading. Thanks for healing me, Kiteli," I said and licked his cheek gently. He dedicated me a warm smile as he watched me leave.
"When you're done with that meeting, you've got your lunch in the usual place," he informed me.
I nodded and resumed my way for the last stretch I had left. The meeting room wasn't far away; Kiteli's room was the one with the shortest and most direct tunnel to the place. In a matter of minutes, I was back in a new space, and this time, it wasn't customized for one family member but for a group of them: my siblings.
The place had hardly been touched up, and it retained its naturalness of being a rocky space in the depths of the earth. However, four elements made that room so important, one of them being its dimension: it was so big that the low lighting dimly illuminated the walls and ceiling. And the lighting was another relevant element, for it didn't come from anything supernatural like Massara's light balls or Kiteli's sun, but from lava. Yes, the meeting room had a pool of hot, bubbling lava with a sort of podium and a walkway leading to an entrance that only could be accessible from the stage unless you were fireproof. The third relevant element was another pool full of crystalline water not far from the lava pool, but it never made contact to generate constant steam. It also had a stage but no walkway. The last significant element was a third area that contrasted with the lava and water pools. It was just a rock platform decorated with strange crystals charged electrically that occasionally sparked. The sight of fire, water, and lighting became intimidating.
I took a few steps and saw two Pokemon talking from the water and lava pools podiums. As I went a little further, I caught their attention, and they completely abandoned the subject they were talking about to focus their eyes on me. Those Pokemon were Firia and Nirusui, two of my three natural siblings.
