Author's Notes: Thanks once again from the reviews. I'm glad you liked the battle, Keleri. I'm glad that I did it well. Could you be more specific about errors, PNEK MEKS? I would be happy to remedy them, but I don't know where they are.
The next few chapters may not be put up at my usual rate, as I will have restricted access to the computer for a little while.
Chapter Nine: The PlanA stray beam of midafternoon sunlight came slanting lazily through the forest's canopy, meandering around tree limbs and birds' nests until it struck the face of a slumbering Spearow. He shifted somewhat in his sleep, uttering small murmurs and shoving his face farther behind his left wing without awakening.
Though the sunbeam didn't bother the sleeping Pokemon, the visitor that arrived at almost exactly the same time did. An Ekans coiled its way out of a nearby Oran berry bush, slithering out onto the scruffy patch of grass that surrounded the Spearow's tree. Craning his neck up, he searched the tree's upper branches until he located the Spearow, a black lump clutching a high-up limb. The Ekans flicked his tongue out in annoyance as he saw that the bird Pokemon was asleep.
"Wake up, Seth," he hissed loudly. There was no response.
"Wake up, Seth," the Ekans tried, this time louder. The Spearow stirred, grumbling, and pulled his head out from beneath his wing, opening his eyes.
They were immediately assaulted by the errant sunbeam, causing him to squint them with a curse. Seth shifted his weight around on the branch, turning his body to face down towards the Ekans. "What the hell'd you wake me up for, Trevor?" he snarled.
The Ekans didn't bat an eye and replied coolly, "Urgent news, Seth. Not even you would want to sleep through it. The others are coming."
"Yeah, sure. There's always something urgent right in the middle of my afternoon nap, isn't there?" the Spearow growled, then irritably turned his attention to preening himself. His feathers were terribly scraggly and disheveled, and Seth's short beak only seemed to be pulling and prodding them into further disarray. Trevor patiently curled himself into a spiral and settled down to wait.
Soon enough, there was a rustling in the Oran bush and a Togepi waddled out of it. She awkwardly swiveled her cumbersome body around to take in the scene. "Good afternoon Trevor, Seth," she chirped politely.
Trevor greeted her with a nod and Seth looked up from his now thoroughly entangled chest feathers long enough to give her a "'Sup, Jess." The Togepi trundled over to Trevor, once tripping over a twig but rolling back onto her feet and continuing cheerfully enough. She eventually sat down next to Trevor, leaning up against the trunk of Seth's tree.
The final two expected parties showed up together, pushing their way through the Oran bush side by side. One was a Houndour, eyes squinted against the bright midafternoon sunshine streaming through the forest's canopy, and the other a Nincada who skittered along, faceted eyes winking in the light and throwing distorted images of the world back to the observers. "Hello Satoran! Hi Malkendro!" Jess trilled happily.
"'Bout time," Seth observed caustically.
"Greetings, friends," the Nincada chirred as he reached the tree and took the spot next to Jess.
The Houndour forewent any greeting and plopped down next to Trevor without a word. The four turned their eyes up to Seth, who was still sitting on his tree branch. "We're waiting on you, Seth" Trevor explained with a hint of annoyance.
"Yeah, whatever," Seth replied, but he opened his stubby wings and leapt off of the tree branch. He made an awkward descent, flapping madly, and landed hard between the Houndour and the Nincada. "There. Now we're all cozy," Seth observed. "Why don't you be so kind as to inform us as to why we're all here, oh great leader?" he sneered at Trevor.
"I called a meeting because I received very important news from Allekendro late this morning. I thought it necessary for us to convene immediately to discuss it," Trevor explained.
"Likes his fancy words, doesn't he?" Seth observed in a cutting whisper.
Trevor continued speaking, unperturbed. "Allekendro told me that this very morning Jeremy escaped the forest."
This statement was enough to silence even the surly Seth. The four Pokemon were stunned and could only stare at Trevor at disbelief until Seth rediscovered his voice. "Yer pullin' my tailfeathers," he chortled. "That little rat? Come on, you gotta be jokin'."
"Yes, how did this come to be?" the Nincada buzzed incredulously.
Trevor looked around at his skeptical comrades as he spoke, noting their reactions to his words. "Early this morning, Jeremy made an attempt to escape into the meadow. Naturally, the Persian Nishivma, who stands guard over that area, caught him before he could go more than a yard and chased him back into the forest once more. Jeremy then set out for a walk through the forest, as is his custom. Nishivma followed, being suspicious of his intentions and thinking that he might try to escape once more. In a stroke of luck, a Pidgeot-riding trainer landed on the beach as Jeremy was passing near to it. Seeing her to be a very competent trainer, Nishivma slunk away to hide deeper in the forest, where she thought that she would be out of danger. Jeremy saw his chance and ran out at the trainer to try to distract her and prevent her from entering the trees. Seeing her mistake and not having the courage to deal with the situation herself, Nishivma ran to the Mistress for help, telling her of Jeremy's actions. Naturally, the Mistress was furious, and she set out to remedy the situation herself. She arrived too late however; the trainer had departed the island, Jeremy with her. That is all that I know."
The Houndour spoke for the first time since his arrival. "What proof do you have of this? Allekendro is not the most trustworthy of informers."
"I trust him this time, Malkendro," Trevor replied. "Allekendro may be a trickster, but he was extremely excited as he told me the news. He seemed hardly able to believe it himself. I have not seen nor heard from Jeremy all day, despite the fact that he normally passes near my lair on his way to the stream. And what would Allekendro gain from misleading us?"
"A great big laugh, that's what," Seth replied acidly. There followed a heated debate between the members of the circle as to the credibility of the story. Seth and Malkendro strongly opposed trusting the information, and Jess and Trevor argued in favor of Allekendro's trustworthiness. The wise Nincada, Satoran, sat quietly and considered the issue.
Once the debate had died down, he spoke in his soft, hissing voice, "I believe that Allekendro spoke truly. Cunning and slippery though he may be, he is, in the end, working towards the same goals that we are."
"I still don't trust 'im." Seth snarled, though he did so with less conviction than before.
"Fortunately, the credibility of Allekendro's tale is easy to ascertain. We must simply seek Jeremy out at his nest. If he does not return there after several hours, we can be almost assured that he has managed to depart. That confirmed, we may assume that the rest of the story is also true. We may then take action accordingly," Satoran finished, completely unfazed by Seth's usual interruption.
"But exactly what should we do?" Jess piped up.
The group fell silent again, deep in thought.
"I think that Jeremy was on to something," Trevor said finally. "If what Allekendro said is true, he tried this morning to escape into the meadow." He didn't need to describe the meadow in any way; the other listeners knew exactly what he was talking about. "It might hold the key to our freedom. After all, it is the one place on the island where the Mistress' power does not extend. If we can find out why, then perhaps we can eliminate the curse altogether."
"How can we find out, though?" Jess asked uncertainly. "We're watched constantly. Jeremy was lucky; we may not be. Investigating the meadow properly could take months, or even years. We don't have that kind of time."
"Why not?" asked Malkendro. "So far as I can tell, we have all the time in the world. We've been under the Mistress' spell long enough; why should anything change?"
"Because it is different now," Jess explained. "One of the Cursed has escaped, something that hasn't happened in the over ten years that the Mistress has been ruler of this island. She's sure to take some sort of precaution to ensure that it doesn't happen again, and she'll be looking for ways to recapture and punish Jeremy, as well. We have to try to act fast and see if we can somehow distract her from the chase and give Jeremy time to inform the world of our plight."
"And how exactly do you propose to do that?" Malkendro pressed.
"I don't know," Jess replied irritably. "That's why I asked."
"We should first confirm Allekendro's story," Satoran reminded the group. "After that, I suggest that someone keep watch over the Mistress'. Perhaps if we can discover her plans for recapturing Jeremy we can prevent her from implementing them. Finally, I suggest that we ask Delriaron for council in the matter of the meadow. He may be able to point us to the source of its strange powers, or at least tell us more about it."
"Delrairon?" Seth scoffed. "You ask that phony for the time of day and all you get is some load of bull about how time has no meaning. Ask him about the meadow and we'll be trying to puzzle out what he said for months."
"Delrairon may be somewhat unhelpful, yes," Trevor agreed, "But his council is better than none. He is very wise, though he veils his wisdom in smoke and mirrors."
"Which makes him wiser than ever," Satoran pointed out gently. "If the Mistress were to discover how much he really knows, she would never allow him the freedom that he currently has. As it is, she finds him amusing, and guards him little."
"It's settled, then," Malkendro growled, growing tired of the conversation. "I shall search for Jeremy."
"I'll watch the Mistress," volunteered Trevor. "I can move more silently than any of you."
"And I shall speak with Delrairon," Satoran added. "He knows me well. He may tell that which he might not so willingly tell you."
"What about me?" Seth yelled, not really wanting to do any work but certainly not wanting to be left out.
"You can go back to your nap," Trevor replied. "We'll meet back here at the same time tomorrow. Then we can see what information we've gathered and maybe start to formulate a real plan."
"Let us hope that our search is successful," Satoran chirred softly. "Farewell, my friends." He turned and began to scuttle back towards the bushes.
"I think that I may go and talk to Allekendro," Jess mused. "I know that it's not part of the plan, but I am interested in listening to his story again and seeing if it matches up with the account that you gave us, Trevor. Maybe it's true in that Jeremy escaped, but I have a feeling that he may have embellished the details a bit. Goodbye, everyone." Jess stood up in the awkward manner of Togepis and trundled away.
Malkendro left as he had come; without a word or any warning. Trevor was the last to leave. He turned to Seth. "You will be here tomorrow, correct?" he asked warningly.
"Yeah, yeah, sure," Seth grumbled. "It's not like I've got anythin' else to do." He watched gravely as the Ekans slithered back the way he had come. He flapped awkwardly back up to his perch and resumed preening. He mumbled pensively to himself as he proceeded to further muddle his feathers, not really paying attention to what he was doing. "I don't like it," he observed. "Something doesn't smell right here. Over a decade and no one escapes, only to have someone make it out now? It just doesn't make sense."