"There it is! Pinnaleis!"
Selene raised an eyebrow, not that Eve could see. "Really? You said it would take another couple of days to get there."
"I thought that the detours we took would slow us down a day or two, but there it is!" Eve gestured at the horizon. Look, it's far away, but you can still see it from here!"
Selene squinted, trying to see the town. It took around half a minute, as she was still unused to the distances involved in the wild (the castle was tiny compared to the moors and forests of Regilia and Vidnes), but she managed to spot it off in the distance. That thin blue line had to be the sea, and that small dot in the middle was probably Pinnaleis, then.
"How long do you think it'll take to get there?" Selene murmured. "I mean, it's far away, so we might not get there today."
"We won't if we don't get moving," Eve replied. "Let's get going. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a room at an inn tonight. I hope they have a shower or bath, too, since it's been a week since I've had a good rinse. Frigid rivers in winter don't do it for me."
Selene let Eve wax lyrical about the pleasures of society versus the wild. There wasn't much that Selene could add that Eve hadn't mentioned five minutes prior, either.
The wild hadn't been comfortable, not in the slightest. Most of the luxuries Selene had taken for granted in the castle were missing in the wild. There was a perpetual sense of hunger since the food they managed to forage for themselves was trifling compared to the full meals back at the castle. Water was a resource that was a lot more necessary than Selene had realized, given how easy it was to access back ho- back at the castle. They had to chase ferals out of their dens for a safe night's sleep and had narrowly avoided a snowstorm traveling north.
It wasn't comfortable sleep, either. The beds back in the castle consisted of hay and feathers. As such, it was much easier to sleep on them than the cold, hard ground (and the tiny rocks that prodded and poked Selene's wings weren't easy to deal with). Sleep was little and exhausting.
But then Selene would remember what awaited her back at the castle. While the wild was hardly comfortable, its misery would pale in comparison to the imprisonment and torture she would have to deal with for being an accomplice (which she wasn't, not that she imagined they would care). She could adapt to the wild: in a sense, she already had.
A shower would be nice, though.
"What will we do if they recognize us, though?" Eve had visited nearby towns for information, and in doing so, discovered that there was a bounty for her and Culus's heads. There were also 'missing Eevee' reports too, describing Eve (after learning about it, Eve took the opportunity to swipe a pair of shaded spectacles to cover her uniquely colored eyes).
"That's the whole reason we're going to Vidnes, Selene. In Vidnes, the government is pathetic, at least compared to Regilia. Even the old mayor of Pinnaleis isn't in charge of his city!"
Selene raised an eyebrow. "Then who is?"
"Some guy called Kenki," Eve said offhandedly. "He showed up out of nowhere and overran Pinnaleis with an army of bandits and pirates. It was in the newspapers a year or two ago."
"Ah." Selene didn't read the newspaper. "And no one came to drive him out?"
"Well, after he deposed the mayor, took control, and suppressed the rioting, some of the other cities in Vidnes tried to attack Pinnaleis and restore order. The militia they formed failed, though, and since Vidnes doesn't have an army, there was nothing they could do."
"And King Midos did nothing?" Selene questioned. Regilia was close to Vidnes, after all.
Eve shrugged. "Nope. Pinnaleis's trade has been as active as ever, and even then, Pinnaleis wasn't worth going to war over."
Selene looked at Pinnaleis off in the distance with a sense of trepidation. "So, we'll be safe, then?"
"Not absolutely, but it's also not likely that Regilia will be able to find us there. There's friction between Pinnaleis and Regilia, so I doubt that they'll be able to search as effectively for us. We'll take a boat to Illusuria, and they'll be even more limited there," Eve remarked.
Mt. Polymus, the mountain where Eve could evolve, with its abundance of evolutionary stones and rocks (classified into Ice Rocks and Moss Rocks), was inside Illusuria, probably the reason that Eve decided to go there, as opposed to Hovete or some other country. Selene nodded.
Eve adjusted the pair of shaded spectacles to hide her distinctive eye color. "However, I'd prefer to get there sooner than later. I don't want the night to fall and still be out in the wilderness." Eve then picked up the pace, forcing Selene to start flying to keep up.
With the increased pace, Pinnaleis came closer and closer into view. Eventually, they were close enough to see the walls up close. Since they were only in the late afternoon at that point, they slowed down the pace so that Selene could slip on a cloak that Eve had stolen for Selene. After all, since Selene was the only member of her kind, anyone who knew about the wanted posters and could see past their nose would be able to recognize her and notify the authorities.
They approached the great gated wall, and Eve whistled. "Well, here it is! Pinnaleis!" The guards looked at her oddly.
"Can we help you?" One of them, a Toxicroak, asked cooly.
"Yes, you can. Open the gates, if you would."
The guard narrowed their eyes. "Do you have papers?" He croaked balefully.
Papers?
Judging from Eve's frozen expression, they didn't.
"No, we don't," Selene eventually said when it was clear that Eve wouldn't respond. "Is there an issue?"
"Ma'am, we can't let you in if you don't have any official documents," he explained neutrally.
Official documents? In a city run by a bandit/pirate?
"I don't believe we need any," Selene replied, feeling far more nervous than she was letting on (but then, she had experience hiding her nerves. You had to when you were a performer). "I'm sure Kenki will understand."
It was a bluff, in its purest form. Selene was half-convinced, after what she said, that they were going to either ignore her or take offense.
The Toxicroaks' eyes widened. "I see." He murmured. "Kapun, open the gate."
"What?" The other guard, a Deino, looked at him with askance. "Sir, you can't honestly believe that-"
"Kapun, what was the name that she just said?" His senior asked abruptly.
"Ken- oh." The Deino guard looked at her, judging her.
Selene took the opportunity, pressing on. "Yes, I said Kenki. I hope you understand." Hopefully, they would create some reason for her to be here because Selene didn't understand in the slightest and was only pressing on for the sake of pressing on.
"I... but still, why-"
"She's one of the Temptress' Shadow Workers, Kapun." The Toxicroak said abruptly. "She outranks us, so let her and her client in." Kapun slowly nodded, throwing them an odd look before raising the gate.
It worked. Somehow, it worked.
"Would you like us to escort you to Kenki, so that he may see you personally?" The Toxicroak asked.
"No need," Selene replied. "We can find our way through easily enough." If they were to meet Kenki, well, things would go south soon. "Continue as you were."
The senior guard nodded. Selene led Eve through the gate.
When they were out of earshot, Eve pounced on her. "I can't believe we got out of that," she whispered, panic still in her voice. "How did you..."
"I didn't," Selene said faintly, sitting down on the curb. "Never knew I was good at bluffing until now."
"You bluffed that? All those things about me being a client and you being a 'Shadow Worker', you just made them up on the spot?"
"Eve, did you even listen to the conversation?" Selene said irritably. "I just let them do most of the talking, and it somehow worked. I have no idea what they were talking about regarding temptresses, shadow workers, and whatever else, I was just confident, and it worked."
Eve was regaining her composure before looking at herself. "I'm glad they didn't press us for precise information then. If they think we're secret agents or something, then why didn't they ask for a password or something?"
Selene shrugged. "Hell if I know. Let's stay out of their way long enough to get on a boat out of Pinnaleis." A thought occurred to her. "How are we going to get on the ferry?"
"Just pay to get on a ferry." Eve shrugged. "If there aren't any wanted posters of us, we can get on like we're supposed to. We'll only be staying a night at an inn, so we can probably pay a ferry fare."
Selene asked one of many obvious questions. "What is the ferry fare?"
"Find out while I find an inn we can stay in for the night. Let's meet back here in two hours." Before Selene could say a word, Eve left.
In reality, Eve was probably excited about the showers, and Selene couldn't blame her. While showering would leave her unable to fly for a while, it was incredibly refreshing. Both of them needed one after a week in the wild.
So when Eve ran off in search of an inn, Selene just sighed. "Fine," she grumbled, before heading off.
If she needed to know what the ferry fare was, then the best place was where the ferries were. In other words, the docks.
Stopping a random citizen (who looked annoyed at being interrupted in their business), Selene asked where the docks were.
"They're on the east side of town, can't miss them," they answered curtly. "Can't imagine why you'd want to go there, though."
Selene was a little confused. Wasn't Pinnaleis a trading town? If you were a port town, didn't you need to use your port to trade?
Still, they answered Selene's question. Her face and body still covered by the cloak, Selene bowed. "Thank you," she said politely. "I hope the rest of your day goes well."
The passerby's face softened as they nodded. "Yours too. I don't think you'll get what you're looking for, whatever it is, but good luck either way." Before Selene could say anything else, the passerby was off.
There was something off about Pinnaleis, more than the fact that a bandit/pirate ran it. There was a strange heaviness in the air wherever she went. Everyone shuffled along, with no conversations. Most people were busy at work, but people seemed almost resigned in some way.
There was a Grumpig who hauled along a cart with a scowl on his face, yet every few seconds, it was replaced with an expression of despair. A Grovyle did nothing but sit on the side of a curb, well out of everyone's view. When Selene made eye-contact with him, he fled to where she couldn't see him. A little Buneary was attempting to help her mother with a scowl. Yet, there was nothing but an uncanny look of aged resignation.
No one was happy. No one smiled. Everyone was working, or at least seemed like it. It drained at her.
While the air gnawed at her in a way she couldn't describe, Selene made her way to the west side of town. Even if she and Eve wanted to help the situation, doing so would slow them down, and that was if they even could help.
Finally, she made her way to the docks. There, she got an inkling of what the person who had given her directions meant.
There were no Pokemon walking around, no workers at their stations, nothing. As the wind whistled through the empty dock, the passerby's words echoed in her head.
There was no ferry. Pinnaleis's port was now a port only in name. All of the ships were crewless and unused, so there was no way they could use a boat to travel (they needed a crew to man a ferry, so she and Eve couldn't leave on their own). They had no way to sail out of Pinnaleis.
Selene gulped as she thought hard. The ships were still there, and trade was as strong as ever, right? That probably meant that some of the cargo boats were sailing. There would be no paying for a fare, but maybe they could stow away on one of the cargo ships?
Still, she had to find someone. They couldn't have abandoned the docks in their entirety. There had to be someone readying a boat for travel.
Selene resumed her search, scanning the docks for any Pokemon. As she searched, however, the feeling of trepidation grew. Her optimism slowly started fading away as she did a complete cycle through the docks without finding a single Pokemon.
Was there no one here?
Selene decided to switch targets and started to catalog the buildings, trying to enter those that weren't locked. There weren't that many of them, even with the complete emptiness of the dock.
There were a few, though, that Selene managed to budge open (with a little effort). The three buildings she managed to enter were an abandoned administrative building, a security outpost, and a small warehouse tucked into the corner of the docks.
There was no one in the administrative building, and as she stepped through tiled halls, she only heard the click of her foot on the smoothly laminated stone floor. Most of the plants here needed watering, and the reading material provided in small brochures were all dated to at least a few months ago. There was a thin layer of dust cloaking every object, and Selene unfurled her wings to clear the air a bit.
However, in all of the business desks and tables, Selene found the drawers to be locked. Tugging and pulling at it revealed no results. Something had to be stuck in there, right?
Selene tried a few more times before the setting sun reminded her of what little time she had left. She had to get moving, and considering how dusty the halls were, it had been a long time since someone had set foot in here.
The second building she managed to force her way into was the security outpost, though she entered there with a bit more effort. The doors were locked, far beyond what Selene could open, but someone had forgotten to secure the windows. With some effortful jostling, she managed to wiggle it open and stepped inside.
The security outpost, too, was abandoned and empty. Like with the administrative building, a layer of dust caked every surface, and Selene had to flap her wings a bit more to get the air circulating again. Similar to the administrative building, all of the material here was several months out of date. None of it mentioned Kenki. All of the equipment, including any weapon, was missing from its resting place. The security outpost was toothless.
Selene was sure Eve had said something about trade not being impacted by Kenki's takeover. From what she could see, the docks were empty and had been for months. No ferries, no transport. Pinnaleis had nothing for them.
She still kept on with the search. There was still some time before she and Eve were to meet, and she might as well try everywhere. The third building she had searched, the warehouse, had been locked, but the lock was rusty and old. By putting a lot of force on it, Selene managed to bust it open. Trying to ignore the swelling of guilt (this was breaking-and-entering, after all), Selene tip-toed inside.
Unlike the other buildings, Selene noticed that the inside of the warehouse was much cleaner. While there was still a layer of dust, it was only on the bags and boxes of food stacked neatly on top of each other. The floor was well-swept, and the air wasn't musty in the slightest. Selene had the feeling that someone had last entered the warehouse less than a month ago, likely a few days.
Selene did a little more investigating. Most of the items in the warehouse were food, all dried, salted, and stored. There wasn't too much meat, but there were a lot of fruits and vegetables lying around.
Still, there wasn't anything that explained why the docks were empty. While it did give Selene some hope, there were still no boats that she and Eve could use to leave Pinnaleis. With a heavy heart, she left the warehouse, closing the door silently behind her, the lock lying in pieces on the floor next to it.
The streets were empty. Even outside the docks, no one was walking around, chatting, or talking. The more time Selene spent in Pinnaleis, the more she realized how bleak and depressing it was. She felt a deep pang of loneliness bounce around inside of her. She quickened her step, hoping to reach the meeting spot sooner than later.
As the sun continued setting, Selene saw that people were milling about in the streets, but as she came closer, she realized that they were only packing things up in a stoic manner, taking their vending stalls and carts back home. A small, feminine Raichu finished returning stock and closed the shop, turning off the lights. Next to her, an Ambipom selling durable gloves for all kinds of hands silently put his work back. Neither said a single word to each other or her as she passed.
Though there were people, none of them had much energy or joy, or even anger or fright. Even in the more stressful times in the castle, the servants usually showed some emotion, letting something show. All of the people of Pinnaleis showed nothing.
Selene entered the courtyard where she and Eve had split up. There, she found Eve, sitting down with a dark and contemplative look of concern on her face.
"Eve!" Eve's face whipped up, the look of concern falling to a smile. "What's happening? Why is everyone so..." Selene grasped for words, trying to communicate what she had seen through her miserable jaunt in Pinnaleis.
"Selene, we can talk later," Eve said instead. "Right now, we need to find somewhere to hide. It's curfew."
"Wh... curfew?" Selene stumbled. "What do you mean? A curfew?"
"I don't know why, but there's been a curfew law put into place for a while." Eve looked around. "We need to find somewhere to hide. I've been asking around for somewhere to stay for the night, but no one will let us inside."
"What? Why?!" Then Selene remembered. "Didn't you go to find which inn we could stay at?"
"We can't stay at an inn," Eve stressed unhelpfully. "All of them are filled to the brim. Even if we had the money - which we don't, I checked - every single room is full. There's no space for us."
Selene blinked. "How? Why?"
Eve grimaced, not answering. Then her eyes widened. "Selene, hide!" she hissed, dragging her into the alley on the side of the courtyard.
Selene almost protested if it weren't for loud voices that entered the courtyard right after Eve dragged her from view. Selene realized that they were probably the enforcers of the curfew and quieted down immediately.
"Ghasper, what's the point of doing this? No one's going to cross Captain Admer, and no one does anything in the streets anymore. There's nothing to do!" A voice whined.
"Shut up. Use that energy to keep an eye out for any potential stragglers instead of wasting it complaining to me." A darker voice rasped.
"Potential stragglers? There haven't been any for weeks." The other voice scathed. "We're just here to waste time. We rolled over like Lillipups when you guys waltzed into town. There aren't any rebels or people to rob. Just us freezing our asses off."
"That cockiness of yours is how Pinnaleis fell in the first place." The dark voice countered. "You had nothing to protect you. No armada, no navy, no militia. The portion of you Pinnaleisians that rebelled could inspire others, and we need to stop those people before they can get any momentum going. There's nobody more unpredictable than a person who thinks they have nothing to lose."
"Yeah, whatever," the other voice groused. "Keep throwing those proverbs at me until the sun rises. It won't change that we won't find anybody."
Selene couldn't quite catch how the other Pokemon responded, as they had decided to move on. Eve slowly let go of her.
"We need to find someplace to stay the night, so they don't catch us."
Selene gulped. "And if they do?"
Eve looked solemn. "They rob us. They rob us of every penny after they beat us up for staying past the curfew. And if we don't have any money, well, the innkeeper didn't elaborate on that bit." Eve admitted. "There's so much I have to tell you, but for now, we need to find somewhere safe, somewhere no one would go."
Somewhere safe, somewhere no one would go? Selene knew just the place.
"There's an open warehouse at the docks. I broke the lock earlier today, so the person who owns it must think it's secure, along with every other person in Pinnaleis."
Eve glowed. "Nice job! Why didn't anyone stop you, though?"
Selene grimaced. "There's a lot I have to talk to you about too. For now, let's get moving."
Selene didn't have too much experience slinking in shadows. She never really ventured anywhere she wasn't supposed to in Ascendance Palace, and out of fright for someone spotting her, she hadn't gone to any of the towns in Regilia or Vidnes. Pinnaleis was far enough away and isolated enough that no one would recognize her, but now there was an entirely different problem she had to face.
For some reason, Eve was more skilled than she was in shady businesses. She had managed to steal the shaded glasses and had avoided detection when robbing stands of food. Eve had confided in her that she was scared at how talented she was with the business, but Selene didn't have much room to complain.
"Stop!" Eve hissed, and Selene obediently stopped. 30 feet ahead of them, a few guards walked on their patrols, talking leisurely. After they passed, Eve waited a few seconds before letting Selene continue.
Selene remembered the way to the docks, thankfully, and with twenty or so minutes, they managed to make their way there. The pier was even creepier at night, the only light that could be used to see coming from the sky. Selene, strangely, could see somewhat clearly even with the low amount of light.
"Ugh... anyway, where is the warehouse," Eve asked, looking around.
"It's over this way," Selene guided, bringing her to the abandoned warehouse. Just as she had left it, the warehouse door was open, the lock still lying on the ground. Selene pushed the door open, and she and Eve stepped inside.
"Food!" Eve immediately gushed upon seeing the inside, finding a crate of apples and diving right in. "Selene, thank you for breaking in." Selene coughed, feeling a hot stream of shame crawl up her back. She managed to push it to the side, though, when Eve threw an apple her way. She caught the apple and sat down next to Eve.
Selene decided to ask a few of the questions on her mind. "Eve, why is there a curfew? Why are the inns filled to the brim? What happened?"
Eve munched for a while on her apple, savoring the taste, before answering. "Well, I don't know why they decided to put a curfew in place, but from what those guys in the courtyard said, I'm guessing it's to stop anyone from rebelling. As for the inns, well, the innkeeper said that when Kenki (she called him Captain Admer for some reason) invaded, he broke a lot of houses on his way to the town hall. All those people are using their emergency funds to stay in the inns instead of staying on the streets. The innkeepers are keeping them in for cheap money, so they can stay until the houses are complete."
Selene bit on her apple, digesting the information. "How long will that take?"
"A couple more months, I heard. Kenki's not making it easy for them." Eve then smiled. "On the plus side, we can probably stay the night here and catch a ferry tomorrow. Did you manage to book one for us?"
Selene winced. "About that. There aren't any."
Eve paused in the middle of eating her second apple. "Huh?"
Selene sighed. "No one's using the pier. I don't know why, but no one's been sailing any boats. Every building is empty and dusty. When I got directions, the person told me I was wasting my time." Selene snorted. "A ferry? As if."
Eve stopped eating. "Then... we've come here for nothing."
Selene shrugged. "Yeah, I guess." There was a solemn silence. "How are we going to move forward, then?" She asked Eve.
"Find some other way, I suppose," Eve replied slowly. "We'll have to find another way to Illusuria. Maybe in a town not overrun by Kenki."
Selene's stomach grumbled. As she continued chewing on the apple, Eve smiled softly. "That's for tomorrow, though. We've already gone too far to back down now, so we'll keep going." Eve opened another crate and whistled. "And here I was, thinking I wasn't going to get any Aspear Berries." She passed one over to Selene. "Dig in!"
As Selene chewed on the berry and apple, she thought about how being a fugitive had shifted her ideas on comfort. Before living in the wilderness, before the Twin Moon Ball, she would have seen this as incredibly uncomfortable, eating uncooked food on a pile of crates, in an uninsulated warehouse with no cozy place to rest. Compared to living in the wild, though, this was a definite boon. There was food, and there were some places that she could curl up on and sleep. She'd probably be able to wake up somewhat rested. Eve made it more enjoyable too.
But then she thought about Ascendance Palace. How, though she was able to find a small measure of happiness here, she would trade it for the security of the castle walls, the reliability and taste of cooked castle meals, and the softness of her bed. Everything that she had to give up because of him.
Selene tightened her grip on the food. She found it hard to hold grudges, to hate people. Selene could get along with people, and though the remarks about her being a mutant and monster hurt, Selene could shrug it off with ease. She was above negativity, anger, and loathing. She had been so for most of her life.
That was until she had met Culus. She couldn't understand how someone could be so unabashed as him. He had never shown fear and had never pretended he wasn't a monster. Selene had tried to get to know him better, give him something to read while the king forced her to be his host. Culus never responded to her shows of kindness.
After that, Selene had written him off, deciding to let him face Undeath. It was a punishment that gave her chills, but if the king had to use it on someone, Selene didn't contest its use on Culus.
Then the Twin Moon Ball happened, and Culus destroyed Selene's life. He betrayed her hospitality and used her materials to escape. Then he took advantage of her Moonlit Wandering, a dance she loved, and sowed chaos and confusion.
Then, somehow, he managed to implicate her, and from the wanted posters Eve had seen in the Regilian towns, the armies were out for her blood. Singlehandedly, Culus ruined her life and dragged her from a life of comfort and happiness to whatever this was.
Selene had never hated before, but Culus was the perfect place to start.
"Selene?" Selene looked up at Eve's concerned face. "Are you going to finish that? Because if you feel full, I can still eat a lot."
Selene smiled, temporarily banishing thoughts of Culus from her mind. "Oh, no, I'm not done. I was only thinking."
"That's good, thoughts are good," Eve said, not paying attention as she dug around in the cates for something to sate her appetite.
Selene sighed. Eve did make this more enjoyable, after all. If she had been in the castle, the two of them wouldn't be able to be together. Though Eve would be able to take care of herself (probably), Selene would be alone. Even if she didn't face Undeath (and wasn't that a scary thought), she would be isolated from any friends. Selene didn't know anyone who could stand that for long.
Selene took a bite of the apple, content for now.
The door to the warehouse opened.
Selene and Eve froze. Shadowed in the moonlight was the guard that let them into Pinnaleis that afternoon.
"What are you doing here?!"
"What are we doing here?" Helios asked, not for the first time.
Slate gave him an unimpressed look. "Wasn't this what you were looking for when you ran away?"
Helios shivered. "I thought we were going to hunt down Kite! Why are we here?!"
Helios was huddled in a cave, shivering slightly. There was a light flurry of snow dancing outside, coating the treetops with snow. Slate had brought some firewood before the snow started, and at his request, Helios put it ablaze.
For the first few days of their journey, Helios and Slate had been wandering the countryside. Every so often, Slate would make Helios do painful exercise (which made him feel sore in the mornings and which would only get worse as the day wore on).
Then Slate read the weather (whatever that meant) and told him that a storm was coming. Helios didn't believe him at first, but once the sky started darkening, Helios quickly wisened up and started gathering firewood too.
It turned out that Slate was right. As soon Slate found a cave for them to stay in (and once he shoved the resident feral Ursaring out of its den), a blizzard started up, and it had kept on going until now. Slate told him it was settling down, as there were only flurries now, but even then, Helios was sick of standing around doing nothing except training.
Helios took a bite out of something strange that Slate had found while foraging. "Ugh… Slate, this wasn't what I was looking for. Why would I even be looking for this? We're just sitting around doing nothing-"
"We're training, Helios." Slate interrupted. "Training isn't doing nothing. Training is preparing for Kite."
"Preparing? We don't even know where he is? The search parties are going to find him while we starve to death in here!" Helios snapped. "I thought - I thought -"
"You thought that things were all magically going to go alright, didn't you?" Slate said, tired. "How long did you think this was going to take? A week? Two weeks?"
"A month."
Slate snorted. "Not that much better, Helios. Let's list our situation." Slate started making tally marks in the dirt. "We have no resources, no information network, and one-and-a-half fighters. We don't know where Kite is, nor can we find out due to the blizzard. Even if there is no blizzard, we have nothing to give us an informational advantage over the other search parties. Even if Kite were to show up at this cave, we'd have a hard time taking him on. While I would have a solid chance against him, you'd come to high risk, with how weak you are-"
"Ok, I get it." Helios snapped. "We have nothing on our side and I'm a burden."
Slate looked sour. "Oversimplified, but yes. Without any direction to go, we're just sitting ducks. Since everyone's moved inside for the snowstorm, there's no information gathering, and moving in the wrong direction is a bad idea. The best thing to do right now is to get you in fighting shape, enough to survive against Kite."
Helios knew that what Slate said made sense on some level, but it was hard to think reasonably when he was shivering due to the cold, hungry, and aching from training and sleeping on hard rock.
"So, Helios, that's what we're doing here." Slate concluded. "Living in the wild isn't easy. Finding someone slippery like Kite isn't easy. None of this is easy."
Helios glared. "You're having it easier than me. I'm here shivering to death while you're just sitting there."
"I've had temperature resistance training," Slate said lazily. "We were forced to live in a barren and artificial blizzard, made by Abomasnow, for a week. You either get used to the cold or you get booted out of the elite."
"The elite?"
"Everyone who was allowed to become a royal bodyguard. We were trained to reduce our environmental weaknesses. Since I'm a Ground-type, they didn't train me in resisting Sandstorms. Instead, I got Hail practice." Slate sighed. "In the case that you were to be stranded in the middle of nowhere and there was no teleporter on hand, I was trained to handle wilderness survival. Granted, it was only supposed to be for a week at most, with the assumption being that we were to enter civilization at the earliest opportunity, but here we are."
Slate sounded bitter. Helios felt a spike of shame dig its way into his heart. Slate had gone out of his way to help him and was suffering here along with him (maybe he was suffering more than Helios was). Though he could never admit it out loud, in truth, he had expected it only to take a week or two. He thought that Kite would be waiting around the corner. He thought that it would be easier than it was.
Helios hugged his knees. "How much longer do you think the storm is going to last?"
"Maybe a couple more days. We're on the tail end of the storm, I think." Slate then looked at the fire they had set up. "But it doesn't look like we have that much time. We're out of firewood, and of any food."
Up until now, Helios hadn't contemplated the thought of death. Up until now, that thought only came in flashes of fear (usually when facing Lord Black or, more recently, Kite). He hadn't yet considered that he might die to the elements.
"We can't stay here," Helios repeated. There was no comeback from Slate. "We have to leave."
"'Leave'? Where would we go?" Slate replied. "If you want, we can return to society. I'll be fired, and probably put in prison, but you'll be safe and warm."
Helios was a little ashamed to admit that the idea appealed to him. Still, he shook his head. "We've already gone too deep," and that was only because Helios wasn't going to suffer like this for no reason. "We need to find somewhere warm… somewhere with food."
"And where is that?"
Helios faltered. "A… a city," he said lamely.
"So you're taking me up on my proposition? Or do you suggest we can waltz right in and avoid detection?" Slate deadpanned. "Because I have a wanted poster, you know, for kidnapping you."
Helios stiffened. "Wait, what?"
"Oh, you didn't know?" Slate said sarcastically. "It turns out that the crown prince of an allied country disappearing is worrying. And the bodyguard mysteriously disappearing afterward, when everyone is on high alert for spies… well, you can put two and two together, can't you."
"Oh… oh no."
"'Oh no', indeed. If you vouch for me, I might not be sent to prison. 'Might' being the operative word, after all. Can't have any future bodyguards think disappearing with the prince is anything less than awful."
"I…" Helios couldn't find the words to speak.
"Oh, don't worry. If you vouch for me, it would be a far better fate than letting you leave alone, sending you to your untimely death."
"... why did you let me do this?"
Slate sighed. "I don't remember anymore. Something about us being friends or whatever. I don't know what got into me."
Helios didn't say anything. The words wouldn't leave his mouth. Slate didn't say anything either.
"We have to go," Helios repeated at last. "Anything's better than dying here."
"That's true," Slate agreed. "So, where are we going to go?"
Unfortunately, Helios didn't have an answer. He didn't have any idea where to go.
Helios got up.
"Helios?" Slate got up too. "Helios, what are you doing?"
Helios stepped out of the cave they forced their way into and looked up at the snow-filled sky. The snowflakes were falling to the ground at an angle. "The snowstorm is blowing that way, right?" Helios pointed in the direction that the flakes were falling.
"Yes." Slate seemed to understand. "Helios, you do realize that the snowstorm might be bigger than we thought?"
Helios looked at Slate, unimpressed. "We're going to die if we stayed here. There's no choice."
Without looking at Slate, Helios started walking in the opposite direction of the falling snowflakes. Going in the opposite direction of the storm would hopefully get them out of it faster. If they managed to find some food too, then they would survive, and Helios could continue.
And Helios would never be able to live down this failure. There would be no chance of redemption, no honor, and no Slate. This was a risk that he had to take.
"Helios, this is a really dumb idea," Slate warned.
"And so is every other idea," Helios fervently insisted. "Now let's get moving."
"Fine." Slate shut his mouth. Helios felt a blade of guilt stab him and faltered for a second. Wordlessly, Helios continued trekking onward.
As they marched through the forests, which soon turned to barren, snow-covered fields, Helios felt that blade of guilt twist in him deeper. He remembered Slate's typing, which was a combination of Dragon and Ground, both of which were weak to Ice. Helios took a glance back and saw how miserable Slate was.
The farther they went in the cold, with no sign of civilization, the more Helios despaired. Fear chilled his bones, deeper than what the cold of the blizzard was able to do. He had condemned them to this, hadn't he? They were going to die in this frozen wasteland.
"Please," Helios asked, to whom he didn't know. "Please, something." Slate didn't respond or even acknowledge what Helios said. There was no other response either.
"Helios," Slate began, after a further minute of trudging through snowy fields, both freezing. "Helios, we…"
"We… we have to keep going," Helios reassured Slate, or perhaps himself. "If we stop, or go back, we die. There's no food o-or warmth back there. We h-have to keep going." If they kept going then… then…
"Please," Helios repeated, even more unsure. "Just… please…"
Then Helios saw it. Faintly, on the horizon. A small house.
"Slate… do you see that?" Helios asked, pointing to where he thought he saw a house.
Slate peered beside him. "I… is that a house?"
He wasn't imagining it. There was a house (a farmhouse, probably) in the middle of nowhere. What were the chances…?
Helios began walking, "Slate, let's go! We need to get food now." Helios stated, resolute. There, in the distance, was the sliver of hope Helios needed.
"You're going to get food." Slate said, tired, as he followed Helios to the farmhouse. Helios looked at him in askance. "In case you've forgotten, I'm a fugitive now. If they recognize me, we're done."
Right… "And if they recognize me?"
"You look like every other Charmander, Helios. Use plausible deniability."
"What?"
Slate groaned. "Just lie and say that you're some traveling Charmander that was trapped in the blizzard. The wanted posters say that you're been kidnapped and are in danger, so they probably won't suspect you. Oh, and if you have to mention me, just say that I'm nervous around strangers and that I'm waiting outside."
They approached the farmhouse. "Waiting outside? Slate, it's freezing out here!"
Slate held out his hand, and a snowflake fluttered on to it. "I am aware, yes," he said dryly. "But I can dig deep into the earth for myself, so I can keep myself warm. I won't freeze."
Had Helios not been starving and cold, this would have seemed a little off to him, as Slate hadn't done anything of the sort when they were alone in the cave. But Helios, of course, was starving and cold and thus said. "Oh. That's good."
Twenty or so meters from the farmhouse, Slate dug his hole, quickly disappearing beneath the earth. Helios covered the hole with snow so that no one would see it, before walking up the porch of the farmhouse.
He gulped. He had acted, before, when trying to escape trouble from Aunt Hessie and Uncle Theus. One example that quickly came to mind was the whole incident on their first night in the Regilian Castle. This would be just like that. He could do this, right?
He knocked several times at the door and waited with bated breath. Soon, he heard loud footsteps approaching. Helios tensed. Oh, this was a bad idea.
The door slowly creaked open, revealing an exhausted Cinccino. She and Helios spent a few seconds staring at each.
"... may I help you?" The Cinccino offered after some time.
"Yes," Helios squeaked. "I… Food."
The Cinccino looked at him critically. "You haven't been involved in any crimes, have you?" She asked after a few seconds.
Crap. How did Helios mess this up this fast? He didn't even get to lie yet!
"No, ma'am," Helios awkwardly stated. "I've not gotten into any trouble. I've just been…" What was the excuse that Slate told him to use? "Stranded. In the blizzard."
"Really."
"Y-yeah." Helios stammered.
"Why haven't you visited the Smegford Inn, then? They're offering free food and shelter in these trying times, for anyone stranded in the blizzard."
"Really?!" Helios blurted out, a little excited. "Free food?! A nice place to sleep?!" Heaven!
The Cinccino raised her eyebrows. "I… see." She opened the door a little. "Come in. You hardly seem like bad Pokemon."
Yes! Somehow, he had done it.
"Thank you," Helios told the Cinccino profusely, stepping inside quickly. "It's been so cold out there, and I didn't want to stay out there for another minute." Remembering some of the manners Aunt Hessie taught him, he sank into a bow.
The Cinccino chuckled, shutting the door. "It's no issue." The Cincinno's eyes shadowed over a bit. "It's just that, well, recently we've had rather unwelcome guests, and we've gotten into a lot of trouble for it."
"Mum? Who are you talking to?" A young girl's voice rang out from inside the house. A few seconds later, a small Mincinno popped out from the corner of the hallway. "Oh, hello," the Mincinno said after a few seconds.
The Cinccino then sighed and the shadows lifted somewhat. "I'm sorry for her rudeness," the Cinccino apologized. "She's not quite used to visitors yet. I've recently become aware that I've… sheltered her." Helios couldn't take any offense to that, considering the position he was in. "Brush, we have to go through pleasantries when we meet new people, remember?"
The Mincinno sighed. "Fine. My name is Brush." She introduced herself. "There, mum. Are you happy?"
The air grew a little awkward. "Brush, why don't you go back to your room?" Brush's mother suggested after a little while.
Brush rolled her eyes. "Fine," she relented. "Oh, and by the way, the biscuits have cooled off, and they're delicious." Then Brush quickly scampered off.
Brush's mother grimaced. "I'm sorry you had to see that." She apologized again. "It's just that recent events have left her - us - a bit frazzled. That, and we've had to be hospitable to many people over the past few days, and she's worn out her patience. Even I've forgotten my basic greetings," she admitted. "My name is Flair. Pleased to meet you."
"Pleased to meet you, too," Helios parroted. "My name is…" Fake name, fake name… "Heli...an."
Flair raised an eyebrow. "Repeat that, could you?"
"Helian," Helios repeated. "Sorry, it's just been a while before I had to introduce myself," he evaded."My friend and I have been living in the wild for a while now, and I've sort of forgotten the small stuff."
Flair sat Helios down. "Your friend?" she asked with concern. "Is he outside in the blizzard right now?"
"Um, yeah. He gets nervous around other people. Well, people that aren't me. He didn't want to come inside." Helios grimaced. Flair had shifted the conversation on him, and he was now forced to lie. Here went nothing. "He can take the cold pretty well," in his heated hole, "so he told me to come inside and get some food."
Flair had brought out some cups of tea and some of those biscuits that Brush had mentioned. "And I take that you don't take it well, which is why neither of you has visited a town recently."
Helios quickly nodded, thankful that she was closing the holes in his explanation. "Yeah, so I've come inside to get some food for him. We'll probably make our way to the town soon and get a reservation at the inn. He might stand the cold, but I don't think I can."
Flair snorted. "Well, alright then. Just make sure not to eat too many of the biscuits. We'll have... guests... coming over any minute now."
Helios almost choked on his biscuit. "G-Guests?!" What if they recognized him?! Flair and Brush didn't, but someone else could!
Flair nursed a tiny cup of tea. "Well, yes, guests. Lovely people." Flair looked away from Helios.
He decided to dig deeper. "If you don't mind me asking…" he tentatively started. Flair contemplated his statement, before allowing him to continue. "Who are these guests that are coming over." There was a small pause. "I mean, you called them lovely, but you don't seem too happy that they're-"
"The search parties," Flair then admitted.
Helios's mind went blank. Wordlessly, he took another bite of his biscuit.
"I… Pardon me for laying my problems on you," Flair eventually apologized.
Helios swallowed painfully, choking on the biscuit. "N-No problem!" He hacked out. He took a swig of tea (not something he was a fan of, but he could use it to wash down the crumbs and fortify himself). "C-Continue."
"Do you know of the wanted posters that have recently shown up in towns?" Flair started.
"Uh… no?" He fibbed, fiddling with the cup of tea.
Flair looked up at him in confusion, making Helios feel nervous, before coming to a realization. "Ah, I forgot. You've been in the wilderness up until now."
Helios nodded. "R-right." He took another bite of the biscuit. "Um… these wanted posters?"
"Right. Well, there are some outlaws that King Midos has put out. Terrible, terrible people. A murderous Shinx named Kite, a treasonous Gible called Slate, and this… I don't know how to describe it, but it's terrifying."
That… had to have been Selene.
"Well, my husband found one of them, the Shinx, in one of our crop fields."
"I… what?"
Flair sighed. "Though we didn't know it, we - I - nursed a murderer back to health. A few days ago, my husband went into town, saw the wanted poster, and notified the authorities. Then he came back to rescue us, and just in time."
Helios tensed. "Just in time? Were you in danger?!" he stressed.
Flair pursed her lips. "With time to think about it… maybe," she hedged. "Kite was more concerned with robbing us than anything else. He might have killed us so that we wouldn't notify anyone, though he fled as soon as he found out that they were coming here."
Helios didn't respond and instead took a bite out of his biscuit.
Kite was here - no, Kite had been here, very recently. That meant that Kite couldn't be anywhere.
"Where did he go?" Helios eventually asked.
Flair shrugged. "I don't know. He said he was going to Vidnes, but his tracks led to Hovete."
So he lied, then, and the search parties were hot on his tail. How were he and Slate going to catch up?
A gurgle of his stomach made him realize that it had been a long time since he left had relieved himself. Helios stood up. "Excuse me, where's the bathroom?"
"Down the hall and to the left," Flair told him, not looking up.
Helios nodded and headed into the hallway. As he walked through the house, he noticed a small room to the left, just before the bathroom. Deciding that he could wait a minute to relieve himself, he headed inside.
The room was a nursery, as far as Helios could tell. There was a small cot in the middle of the nursery, on which was some blue fur. Kite's fur. There was a familiar scent in the air, which was probably Kite's doing as well. Helios clenched his teeth.
'He was here.' He hadn't thought that Flair was a liar, by any stretch, but this confirmed that she was telling the truth. They had just missed him, and even if the search parties hadn't found Kite yet, it was near-impossible to catch Kite before the search parties could.
Near-impossible… but not completely impossible. Helios had survived the blizzard for a week, and he had lucked out on Kite's location within a couple of days. It was unlikely, but he and Slate could manage this somehow.
Helios looked around the room, but there was nothing that told him of Kite's location. Belatedly, he realized that anything he could figure out from here, the search parties could too.
So Helios left the nursery for the bathroom. Once he had finished and washed his hands, he opened the door to the hallway to rejoin Flair, only to shut the door quickly when he heard someone else open the door.
"Mrs. Risen, may we sit down to speak?" A reedy voice sounded. Helios didn't recognize it, but if Flair told them about him, it wouldn't matter either way.
"Of course, Chief." Flair, as cold and stoic as she was when she first met Helios, responded. "What do you wish to speak to me about?"
"It concerns your behavior regarding the convict, Kite," the Chief continued. "You are aware that Kite is a Black Star outlaw, correct?" A small pause. "Miss Risen, what are you doing?"
"I'm cleaning up, sir" came a polite reply. "If you could wait a minute?"
As Flair cleaned the table, Helios pressed his ear to the door so that he would hear everything.
"Oh, Chief Arche, you're looking at my collection? I've spent many a year collecting them, and-"
"Lacking," he declared, causing Flair's words to die on her lips. "The Count of Bella Mon'arco, Spendilmonidep," here Chief Arche snorted. "The Tales of Eonia?"
"A children's book, for Brush."
"A nine-year-old can read more advanced texts than that fiction," Chief Arche said flatly. "Poor taste, all around."
"... you said something about Black Star outlaws?" Flair eventually changed the topic. "I'm not familiar with the topic."
"Ah. Then you are unaware," the Chief replied, stoic. "A Black Star outlaw is someone who Regilia wants to be captured at all costs. There have only been a few in all of Regilia's history, and they have committed the highest crimes. Mostly, those who have committed regicide or those who have killed Pokemon under diplomatic immunity."
There was a short silence, as Helios waited by the door with bated breath
"Kite was one of them." The Chief continued.
"I figured that out," Flair replied laconically. "What does that have to do with-"
"A Black Star outlaw is a Pokemon to be arrested at all costs," The chief interrupted again, irritation creeping into his tone. "His Majesty has put a royal decree for all able citizens of Regilia to capture Kite. Failing to do so is a crime, with a life sentence."
Another silence stretched. A strange foreboding feeling started crawling up Helios' scales.
"This law extends to everyone Kite has interacted with. You, your husband, and your daughter."
"... you're here to arrest me." It was only a whisper, but Helios managed to catch it. "Our lives were threatened, and for not throwing them away, we're going to prison."
"Excellent, you understand." The chief seemed pleased. "We have already arrested Mr. Risen, based on the memory testimonial given."
"He… you forced your way in!" Flair then shrieked, shaking Helios to his core. Far from the polite and charming woman she was normally, Flair sounded wild and unhinged. "Paran would never betray us!"
"Accurate. He attempted to evade several lines of questioning, which tipped off my deputy. Once we took the risk and entered his mind, his lie of being incapacitated by Kite was shown for what it was."
"I… you… how could you?!" She screamed. Helios's heart was beating fast, as his claws scraped against the wooden door sharply. He felt helpless. He had to go out (he had to stay hidden), he had to help (he would be found). A wisp of cornered fire curled out Helios' mouth as he lay trapped there, torn between two responsibilities. "He wanted to save us, he didn't mean to break the law-"
"We explicitly told him of the law as we prepared for the raid," Chief Paran coldly stated. "He escaped, knowing the consequences of his action. He will face the full punishment for breaking King Midos' decree."
"I… I…" Flair started sobbing.
"Hey, Mum, why'd you scream?" Brush asked, her voice moving to join the others. Helios felt a flash of panic seize him. "Where'd that Charma- hey, what are you doing to Mum!" Brush interrupted herself. "Get off her!"
"Your family is under arrest." The Chief repeated sourly. "Beckens, Ghensin, detain her."
A short silence. "Yes, sir!" Two other voices said. There were more people here.
"Hey, let - let go of me!" Brush shouted. "Mum, what's happening!"
All Helios could hear of Flair was sobs.
"Beckens, Ghensin, take her outside for teleportation. I'll continue dealing with the mother."
"Stop! Stop!" Brush shouted. Helios could hear the struggle from behind the bathroom door. "Mum, help me!" Brush's voice grew fainter and fainter. He… he had to help. Somehow…
… he couldn't move…
… not again…
"P-please, what's going to happen to Brush?" Flair choked out between sobs.
"We'll see." Chief Arche stated shortly. "Article 58 of Regilian law states that a child citizen of Regilia's crimes can't be punished in an offshore prison. His Majesty will personally deal with her. He'll likely show mercy, depending on his judgment of the girl."
Helios only heard more quiet sobs from Flair, which grew softer by the second. The front door opened, and Helios, looking through the window, saw the Chief and his guards teleport Flair, slumped in total defeat, and Brush, still fighting, away.
The last second before the teleportation, Brush's eyes and Helios' connected.
Save us.
And with that, they were gone.
Helios stood there, staring at the falling snow. The inside of his head was full of cotton and lint, and he staggered to the door, before throwing it open. The dark, empty house stared back at him.
Then Helios headed back into the bathroom and threw his head into the trash bag. Only a few seconds later, he threw up everything he had eaten earlier.
It must have been only a few seconds, but it felt much, much longer, and as the last of the vomit fell from his scales, he fell to the ground, crying.
Again.
Once again, he could have done something. But his fear was an impassable wall, and he just sat in the bathroom while Flair and Brush were taken away because of Kite.
Kite.
Angry, boiling tears streamed down his face. Molten snot dripped from his nose, but he didn't care. It was nothing compared to Flair's tears. These tears would stop. Would hers?
Helios would have stayed there for hours, had his stomach not protested. Food. He had permitted evil, and it wanted food. The idiotic organ.
But it grew louder and louder, reminding Helios of what he had come into the house to do. Slate… Slate would know what to do. Slate could help him.
Helios staggered out of the bathroom, went down the hall, and tore open the door, letting in a stream of snowflakes. Helios let them wet his face before he slowly headed down to where Slate had originally dug a hole and tapped the ground a few times. Then he waited.
Soon, a rumbling started beneath him, and Slate popped out of the ground a few seconds later. "How much food did you get?"
"As much as we want," Helios said listlessly.
Slate looked at him with concern. "Slate… what happened in there?"
"The residents were just arrested," Helios replied. "There's food inside, and I don't know when the authorities will come back." Slate got the message and ran inside. Helios slowly walked after him.
Once they were back inside, they went to the plate of biscuits and started working on them. They felt less like baked treats now and more like rocks, but Helios still coughed them down (Slate could throw twelve in his maw at once, which Helios wished he could do).
"So," Slate said between biscuits. "What happened?"
"Kite was here." That word was enough to make Slate pause in his wolfing down of the biscuits. "The people here saved him from death, but then Kite escaped before the authorities learned and could capture him."
Slate swallowed another biscuit. "And they were arrested because of the decree? Oh, wait, do you know about-"
"Yeah, they talked about it." Helios bowed his head. "I… how can I do nothing and have no one care, and how can they try to protect themselves and be thrown in jail for it?!"
Slate thought about it for a minute. "Well, the decree doesn't apply to you, since you're a Dragnian, not a Regilian, and-"
"That's not the point!" Helios raged. "Why-why… why am I so…" Slate said nothing. "Useless…"
Slate looked at Helios with concern. "Are you sure you can go through with this?" He eventually asked. "Is it possible for you to find Kite? With the search parties hot on his tail, with us left behind, with everything as it is… can you do what you set out to do?"
Helios didn't have an answer. He bowed his head in shame and finished off the last of the cookies. "... we should get ready," he eventually said. "We have to get moving."
"So you're still willing to fight then?" For a fraction of a second, Helios heard the disappointment in Slate's voice. "Well, before we get ready, where do you plan on going?"
"I'm not sure. I think Flair… uh, the mother of the family that stayed here… said something about Vidnes and Hovete." So much had happened between that throwaway sentence and now that Helios had forgotten what exactly Flair had said.
"That's not much to go off of…" Slate said. "Hovete seems like the obvious choice since it'll be a lot harder for the search parties to get him in its borders. The search parties have probably already started off in that direction."
"So we're going to Hovete?"
Slate shook his head. "We can't make the trip. There are a lot of mountains between here and Hovete, so the trip is way more dangerous than the one we took to get to Regilia or here. Maybe Kite will survive and escape, maybe the search parties will capture him. Either way, we can't follow him that way."
"So what are we supposed to do?!"
"Well, get a boat there," Slate explained. "There are plenty of boats in Vidnes that go to Hovete. We can catch him as he goes through the border, Helios. I'm sure that Pinnaleis has at least a few ferries going there."
Helios wasn't exactly sure why, but he felt something weird in his gut telling him that Slate was lying, or at least not telling him the complete truth. Helios squashed that feeling down. "So… Pinnaleis, then?"
Slate nodded. "I'll start preparing. We have to be fast, too." And with that, Slate got up, found a bag, and started preparing. Helios soon followed, yet was left the most peculiar of feelings in his stomach.
Pinnaleis… for some reason, he couldn't think about it. Whenever he blinked, all he could picture was Brush's fighting, pleading face.
Save us.
He… he could do it next time, right?
Right?
It's been a few months, hasn't it. Procrastination is one of the most seductive temptresses that can torment me. If you've been patient with me, thank you. I hope the chapter lives up to your standards. If you enjoyed the chapter, please feel free to fav, follow, and review. I always enjoy reading them.
