Patience was gone.
Just a short time ago, Glace had been standing on the watchtower with him. She had been attempting a conversation with him before finally giving up and telling him her true reasons for seeing him. He had been listening to her, taking all of the information in silently and with little more response than the occasional nod.
Now he was nowhere to be seen. He had flown away, just like that, silently and unceremoniously. The spot he once used as a perch now lay empty. Now only Glace stood atop that watchtower without a single clue of how she wanted to react.
He didn't want to merge back together, that much was obvious. He wouldn't have left if he intended to help Glace. But could she have done anything to make it so that he might have wanted to go with her? Was it the small talk? Had she not talked to him enough to make him comfortable around her? She had only spoken to him for a few minutes before she finally cut to the chase, and even then, their conversation wasn't pleasant. She was honestly surprised that he hadn't told her to leave after she brought up his former name.
Should she have spent more time with him before revealing his true nature? Should she have pretended to befriend him and spend more time pretending that she wanted to understand him? Should she have invested many days, if not weeks into developing a faux friendship with him so that he would have a reason to listen and perhaps consider helping her?
It's too late for that now, Glace. We're just going to have to accept that we messed up with Patience. But maybe we can try what you were thinking with the next fragment we go after.
Glace sighed as she rubbed her temples with the blunt side of her claws.
I thought you said you wouldn't be responding to my thoughts unless I direct them toward you.
Oh right… sorry. You just sounded like you were really upset about everything and I wanted to let you know that it's okay…
Except that this isn't okay. Patience is gone. We lost this dimension's fragment and we have no idea where he went or if we'll ever see him again.
Well we're probably not going to be able to chase after him, I know that. You'd have to be able to fly if you wanted to ever catch up to him.
Which I can't.
But I don't think that Patience is going to disappear forever. I think we will see him again. In fact, let's wait here a little while and see if he comes back. He's got a job here, doesn't he? And he seems like a really diligent Pokémon who wouldn't abandon his shift all day. I think he'll come back here after a few hours or so. So let's just wait here and see what happens.
Glace looked down into the forest sprawled out before her. She saw no Pokémon emerging from its depths, though she knew that probably wouldn't be for long. There would be an influx of Pokémon that wanted to enter the city in due time. She imagined today was the same as any other day.
She then looked behind her to see a piece of paper lying beside a small ink pad. Upon grabbing the paper and looking over it, she saw that there were multiple lines of scrawl upon its surface. But much to her surprise, she found she could read the scrawl. Patience's dimension had the exact same written language as her own dimension. She could clearly read the multiple species listed on that parchment along with a city of origin and reason for visiting the city without any difficulty.
I would have thought that this dimension would have had different symbols in their written language.
Well I'm not an expert at dimensions or anything like that, but I think they're the same because some dimensions are really similar to each other. Like my dimension has quite a lot in common with your dimension and Patience's with how your society works. At least, from what I've seen so far. A different dimension doesn't exactly have to mean everything looking really different and weird, like something you'd see after you eat way too many oran berries.
Maybe.
Glace glanced over the information on the paper a couple more times before looking back at the forest. She still didn't see any Pokémon in her sights.
I think I'll stay here and wait for Patience, like you said. But I'll do his job for him too, while I'm here. It'll give me something to do while I wait for him.
Really? Even though you thought it was super boring?
It is boring, but someone needs to do this. I have a feeling that Patience's supervisor won't be pleased once he sees an incomplete list. I don't want his supervisor to be upset with him.
Aww. That's really nice of you to take his place. I didn't know you could be so sweet.
Glace didn't respond. She only sat down and peered through the gaps of the barricade surrounding the watchtower's pinnacle. She still didn't see any Pokémon, but didn't avert her gaze this time. Eventually someone would appear, and she would have to question them. It would be easy though. She just needed to ask where they had come from and why they were visiting. Then if she deemed them safe, she would allow them into the city and write down their answers to her questions along with their species name. It seemed simple.
She couldn't help but wonder why Patience never wrote down the names of any of the Pokémon, however. She knew that there had to be multiple amounts of a single species in the city at a time. Names would certainly make it easier to verify who exactly was in the city, and this wasn't a dimension where Pokémon only went by their species name. Patience was proof of that.
Maybe writing names was useless. Maybe the ones at the Guard Guild knew that anyone could use a fake name. Or maybe it was just like in Glace's dimension where someone was allowed to change their name every time they evolved. Tracking down Pokémon through names would be pointless in that case. Perhaps the species name and their supposed last location was enough to keep track of all the Pokémon entering the city. You couldn't change your species that easily unless you were a Ditto or of the Zoroark line, and even then, there were always hints. Rarely could Ditto ever get every single detail about a Pokémon correct. They would always have something off about their forms, like an Oddish with tan leaves or Bulbasaur without spots on its forehead. The Zorua were similar in that they always kept their tail in all their forms, no matter how hard they tried. So if a Pokémon refused to let you see their backs, they were probably a Zorua in disguise.
It was the Zoroark that were the most tricky. They could perfectly replicate any form they saw, right down to their voice. It was quite possible to never know you were talking to a Zoroark when they wanted to deceive you. However, there was one way to know if you were speaking with a Zoroark. One reliable way that Glace's clan leaders had taught her.
Their shadows would never change. If you ever had even the slightest of suspicions that were talking to a Zoroark in disguise, all you had to do was peer at their shadow and you would see their true form in that dark outline. Of course, the Zoroark knew this as well, so they stayed out of brightly lit areas where the sun might cast their shadow. They stayed in the shade of trees, in the dark corners of the streets, and inside buildings where the sun couldn't hit them. So if you ever saw a Pokémon that refused to come out into the light or stayed far away from any illuminating orbs in the night, then they were probably a Zoroark.
Of course, Glace had never met a Zoroark. They never seemed to live anywhere near where her clan ventured to nor did any ever live in Granite Town. So for all she knew, everything her clan leaders was a lie. But she highly doubted that. They had been correct with everything else they had taught about species and how to treat them.
"Never let a Raticate's teeth anywhere near you. If one of them ever bites your claw, you might never be able to use that claw again. Strike it from above if you ever hunt one down."
"Lone Litleo are never to be bothered. They are usually alone because they're preparing to become Pyroar. They may even evolve when you fight one. Run away if this happens. You will slowly burn to death if you stay."
"Grumpig are nothing to be intimidated by. They can't enter your mind and manipulate you. However, don't bother coating your claws in ice; their body fat protects them from the cold."
Hey, I think I see someone, Glace.
Glace peered at the forest's entrance with squinted eyes. As it turned out, Sonata was right. There was a tall, elegant Pokémon of green and white emerging from the forest and making its way to the city. Glace only had to study it for a few seconds to know what it was. One of the dojo instructors had been the very same species.
"Gardevoir, why are you coming to this city and where did you come from before?" Glace called down.
Glace had to pause after she finished yelling. It felt wrong to be yelling so loudly, to speak anything above a borderline monotone. She couldn't remember the last time she had to yell like that.
When the moment passed, Glace brought her attention back to the Gardevoir to find that it had stopped. It now looked up at her, watching her with its red eyes that contrasted so greatly with the rest of its face.
"You're not that Tranquill that's normally here," the Gardevoir spoke plainly in a surprisingly male voice.
"No, Patience isn't here right now," Glace returned. "I'm filling in his shift."
"I see. Well good for you for doing that. He needs a break. His thoughts always sounded so dreary whenever I saw him up there."
"Why do you want to come he-"
"Yes, you want to know why I'm here. I won't say anything more. I'm a resident of Lilac City. My name is Ryle and I just returned from a visit to Rose Village."
Glace studied the Gardevoir further. From her distance, she couldn't tell much about him. She wanted to believe that he was telling the truth and that it was okay to let him into the city, but Glace didn't know for sure. She couldn't see any flicker in his eyes from so far up or a resistance to put his arms behind his back.
Just let him in. He's okay.
You don't know that.
Nah, he's okay. I've seen a lot of shady Pokémon thanks to a lot of enemy base infiltrations. He's not a bad Pokémon. You can let him go.
"Fine, you can go inside the city," Glace decided.
"Thanks."
Glace watched the Gardevoir go past the watchtower and kept an eye on him until he made his way into the city. He didn't do anything noteworthy throughout his entire stroll, only walking at a steady, lax pace, as if he didn't have a single care in the world.
When the Gardevoir disappeared into the city, Glace took out the paper lying on the ground near her and wrote down all of his information right below Patience's last entry. Afterwards, she set the paper down and resumed her watch over the forest.
After several minutes passed and not a single Pokémon emerged from the forest, Glace brought her gaze up to the sky. She could still see the dimensional hole tearing through the endless blue, its ethereal mass twisting and slithering around with such vigor. She couldn't help but wonder why the colors within the tear hadn't spilled out into the dimension, consuming the forest with its eldritch taint. That had happened in Sonata's dimension already, if her hypothesis proved to be correct, and that tear had been in the sky of this dimension for a few days now. Glace didn't understand why there didn't seem to be any anomalies occurring in this dimension if so.
She supposed it didn't matter in the end, however. All she needed to care about was Patience. He was her only reason for being in this dimension. She didn't have anything else to be concerned with in this dimension.
At least, not anything at the moment. There was the fact that this dimension would collapse if she didn't convince all of her other selves to join with her, but she didn't need to worry about that now. She couldn't. She had a feeling that she was nowhere close to finding all of the fragments.
She couldn't worry when she was nowhere close to reaching her goal.
Glace brought her gaze back to the forest. She still saw no one amongst the sea of trees, nothing to stand out amongst the seemingly endless green and brown.
He has to hate this job. He has to. He can't enjoy sitting here all day.
I'm pretty sure nobody likes this job. I know the sentry at this one guild I visited a couple times found it boring even though he never said anything. He hated floating below the ground, waiting for Pokémon to recite this poem so he could let them inside.
But why wouldn't he go with me? He's stuck here in this job; I know he is. I offered him a way out from this boring job, but he still rejected me.
Probably has something to do with the fact that you said he'd lose his body if he went with you… I don't think a lot of Pokémon would be willing to go along with that, no matter how unhappy they are with their life situation.
I shouldn't have told him that. I should have only said I needed him to come with me and that I could give him the freedom he wants. I should have convinced him to leave this dimension and then tell him what I really need him to do.
Glace still couldn't believe she had told him everything after such a pitiful amount of small talk. She could have done more to make him more comfortable around her and prone to believing the earth-shattering information she had to drop on him. After all, she remembered her encounter with Sonata and how poorly it turned out. She knew she couldn't replicate that if she wanted any chance of success. She had to be cautious about how to approach the fragments with the truth about who they really were.
It should have been easy. She knew how to be cautious. She knew how to strategize and follow a plan carefully, no matter what unexpected events could ensue. She had done it too many times in her clan days. She diligently followed the plans she gave to her clan mates when was old enough to lead the hunts, no matter what happened. Even if her teammates fled when the Gogoat they were hunting suddenly struck two of them and knocked them out instantly, she remained committed to the plan.
And yet, when she saw how apathetically Patience gazed at the dimensional tear and how oblivious he truly was to the destruction it would bring, she couldn't resist. She couldn't stop herself from telling him everything.
Why? Why had she done that?
Glace stared out into the empty forest for a long moment, taking in the lulling green. It wasn't long before it began to grate on her, sending waves of discomfort through her body that made it almost impossible for her to sit still.
She needed to leave. She couldn't stay up here. The more she stayed here, the more her mind would wallow in those self-loathing thoughts. It was the consequence of having to perform a task that involved low stimulus; your mind wandered. It would think of anything it could while you stayed chained down to the job until you could go home. It craved excitement, craved stimuli. So when it didn't have anything to focus on and process such as a hunt or a fellow Pokémon's conversation, it would delve within itself. It would ponder and it would analyze anything it could find deep within the subconscious, and it would bring up thoughts that you didn't know you had. Sometimes this led to good; Glace knew this was the foundation of meditation. Through isolating your mind from everything else except itself, you could find thoughts within yourself that held answers to dilemmas that might currently be plaguing your life.
But not always. Sometimes the mind would uproot the thoughts buried deep in the darkness that you kept there because you didn't know how to face them. It would bring them into the light and force you to view them. Once you saw them, you couldn't escape from them. Your mind wouldn't put those dreary thoughts back into your subconscious so swiftly. It would keep them at the front of your mind, not knowing what else to do. Maybe it wanted the stimuli it received once you saw these thoughts. Maybe it was the mind's way of forcing you to confront these thoughts you feared so greatly. Glace had never bothered to understand it; she had never been fully interested in the strange workings of the mind.
But she did know she wanted to leave. She knew that if she left the watchtower right now, she could escape from these thoughts. She could find something else for her mind to focus on. Performing Patience's sentry duty did nothing to help her, possibly even making her situation worse with how she couldn't even complete any of her thoughts. And yet, she knew she couldn't leave. She knew Sonata spoke the truth; Patience would be back. He seemed far too diligent to abandon his post for too long. He latched his everything to this job even though she knew he hated it.
She needed to stay here and wait. She needed to keep doing Patience's job even though it didn't offer her mind much to think about. He would come back soon.
He had to.
Patience had long left Lilac City by the time his wings ached. He had flown past the great forest he was to tasked to watch every day, the mountains in the far horizon, and the valley that sat behind them. He had even sailed over all of the neighboring cities in the vicinity, including Daffodil Town, the one furthest from Lilac City.
Now Patience found himself gliding over a lake as clear and as brilliant as crystal. Birch trees sprouted all around it, surrounding it and casting their yellow leaves onto its surface whenever a strong gust blew. Their leaves drifted about the lake lackadaisically, only rushing through the water whenever they landed in the river that bled directly into the lake. Rocks protruded out of the water along the lake's edge, collecting so much moss and leaves around their mass that they took on a greenish hue with only specks of grey to be seen in the gleaming light of the afternoon sun.
But what Patience noticed most about the lake was how quiet it was. Even though he could see the red outlines of Magikarp swimming just beneath the water's surface and the Eevee with its Leafeon mother resting beneath a birch near the lake's edge, they didn't make any sounds. They didn't even notice him flying so high above.
The Tranquill settled himself in the highest branch he could find. Once he wrapped his talons around the white bark and folded his wings back into his body, he gazed out at the sun. He saw how its light glistened on the lake's surface, shimmering and sparkling like a diamond. He felt he could bask in the sight all day, the radiance never blinding him no matter its brilliance.
But he knew he had to get back to Lilac City before sunset. He couldn't avoid his sentry duty forever. It was already bad enough that he had abandoned his post. The guild wouldn't like to that. They probably wouldn't be too harsh because he was such an outstanding sentry, but they would still be upset and scold him. They would no longer see him as the epitome of a perfect sentry. They would always remember him as the Tranquill that abruptly flew away in the middle of his shift for seemingly no explainable reason.
No one would ever look at him the same way ever again. He would no longer be deemed as reliable.
He would become a disappointment.
The very thought of that made Patience's innards twist and turn in on themselves. And yet, while the very thought of letting down his guild did irk him, there was another thought that fervently worked to dominate his concerns. It was the very reason he had flown away in the first place.
He was a fragment of someone whole. That was the Weavile had called him; a splintered soul in the form of a Tranquill. And not only that, but if he didn't go with her, then the strange anomaly in the sky would destroy his dimension. She had dumped all of that on him at once, as if trying to shatter his entire perception of life and fling him into an existential crisis.
Everything she had stated sounded completely ludicrous and something only a lunatic would ramble on about. There was absolutely no reason to believe anything she had said. After all, how could they possibly be the same being when they had nothing in common? He was a Tranquill, a creature of the sky and she a Weavile, a creature of the land. What kind of entity split itself apart into two very different Pokémon? Not only that, but she had offered no proof to their supposed connection. She hadn't shown him her dimension and she most certainly hadn't explained who their original self was. She had known Patience's true name, a name no one knew him by anymore, but she really could have been someone from his fading childhood memories. It was most certainly more plausible than her being another version of himself.
And yet, her words had been brimming with a frightening amount of clarity. Her words had been like the first gust of wind that he had caught under his wings. He remembered how he had finally grasped the concept to use his wings and tail in unison to take off after a whole day of struggling. Once had done that, the wind had swept him off his feet and brought him into the air. It carried him above his beaming parents, above the hay roofing of his home, above the Noctowl's nest in the knot of a tree near his neighbor's home, and above the hills sitting behind the town. It brought him higher and higher, pulling him out of gravity's hold.
It was at that moment that he finally saw the spaciousness of the world for the very first time. All of the Pokémon that once towered over him became the size of Joltik. The buildings that took so long to venture through had become like the seeds he snacked on throughout the day. The ancient trees that that had survived countless fires and seemed to pierce the sky became nothing more than the mere twigs that Patience often saw feral flying-types make their nests with.
Everything, no matter how monumental it might seem from the ground, was completely insignificant in the end. Everything that stood on the planet was nothing more than a single stone in the great and beautiful mosaic that Patience knew to be the entire world.
That Weavile, just like the wind on that day so long ago, had forcibly thrown out all of his previous beliefs about life and crammed all of this disorienting new information down into his mind without a single care of what would happen to him afterwards.
If he was a fragment, then many murky aspects about himself he could never fully grasp suddenly became alarmingly clear. For instance, why had he never bothered to search out for his true parents? He had known for quite some time that his caregivers were not the ones that hatched him. Neither one of them had been an Unfezant and they had even told him quite early in his childhood that was adopted. He should have felt a longing to understand his origins, to know why he had been in that forest all alone, his parents nowhere to be seen. But he hadn't. He had never found it within himself to wonder who had created his egg. It never seemed important to him. If he was a fragment, then it all made sense. Of course he never would have cared to find his parents; he never had any in the first place. He lacked that innate desire all sentient creatures craved to understand where they had come from and why they existed in the first place.
Then there was the fact that he couldn't remember the last time he felt intensely emotional and passionate about anything. He of course enjoyed adventuring when he was younger. He could still remember how much his heart soared with him as he flew over the land and took in all the beauty of the world. But when he could no longer be that adventurer and doomed his life to that of a sentry, he never found it within himself to leave his position. He knew he could have. Every time he woke up, he knew that he could tell the guild that he wanted to stop being their sentry and move onto other ventures in life. They would have been distraught and surely miss him, but they would have let him go. They couldn't force him to continue something he no longer wanted to commit to.
And yet, he never did. He never found it within himself to quit. Though his days filled with banality and the years slipped by so swiftly, he never felt the overwhelming need to leave his position. He couldn't muster any sort of energy to quit and become the adventurer he had cherished being in his youth. If he truly was nothing more than a piece of a whole, then perhaps it all made sense. Maybe he was missing a crucial part of himself.
After all, when he stood on that watchtower every single day, why did he never think of anything more than what he saw directly before him? Why did his mind never wander to places far beyond, or even to the very skies that his kind belonged to?
Why did he no longer feel a rush when he spread his wings and soared through the blue yonder?
Why did everything he eat, whether it be the plain seeds he bought from the market or the exquisitely prepared Clauncher served at the finest of restaurants, seem to be nothing but mass to stop the growling of his stomach?
And why, when he looked out at this beautiful lake and saw how marvelously the sun shined down upon the water, could he not appreciate any of it? Why did it not feel any different than gazing out into that forest?
Patience ruffled his feathers and closed his eyes. He slowly breathed in and out, all while focusing on the blurry red that was the back of his eyelids. All of the questions brewing within his mind slowly settled down, softening from loud, rowdy thoughts to muffled whispers, and then finally to silence. He took a moment to appreciate the quiet that was now his mind.
And then, he asked himself the question he had been too afraid to answer for far too many years.
Was he happy?
Glace's day had been quite long. There had been about twenty Pokémon in the entire time she had taken on the sentry duty, all of which were fairly easy Pokémon to recognize. There had been a Tangrowth that wanted to visit his grown hatchlings after not seeing them for a few years. There had been an entire group of Jumpluff that were there for a great party of sorts for many wind-travelling enthusiasts such as Drifblim and other Jumpluff. Then there had been a Smeargle who claimed to be a traveling artist who came to sell a few paintings he had on hand.
The list went on, but they all had one thing in common; there was nothing to suspect about any of the Pokémon. Not a single one of them seemed shady according to Sonata and so they were granted access to Lilac City after a quick exchange of information. Glace didn't even think she had said more than thirty words to any of them.
Now it was nearly sunset, and Patience still hadn't returned to the watchtower.
Glace rubbed at her eyes with the back of her claws and resisted a yawn. Her muscles felt stiff from sitting at the edge of the tower for so long and yet her brain buzzed with antsy energy. She couldn't wait to get up and leave that tower after being stuck there for so long.
However, she didn't know if she could actually leave the tower. After all, she didn't know where else Patience would appear. She didn't know where he lived. She knew she could ask his guild where his home lay, but they might not tell her where he lived. After all, they would have known that she had seen him. Surely she could have asked him herself where he lived, so why would she bother asking them for the location of his home? The watchtower was the best place she could find him.
Still, did that mean she had to sleep at the tower if she ever wanted to find him? It didn't seem particularly comfortable to lie on hard metal the entire night.
Patience will come back, won't he? I don't want to wait here all night for him.
I hope he does. I mean, he hasn't come back yet and that doesn't look good but… I mean, what else can we do?
Maybe we really should go ask his guild where he lives. Maybe we can make up an excuse that he wasn't feeling very talkative because he was working and we wanted to visit him when he's not so busy.
I think that might work, yeah. But let's just wait until it gets dark. You know, give him one last chance and everything.
Yeah, alright.
Glace knew that the sun would set in just a few moments, so she wouldn't have to wait too long for Patience to come back. She could tolerate that much time even after how utterly mind-numbing her entire day had been on that tower.
The Weavile gazed at the mountains so far beyond her reach and watched the way their shadows dipped into the forest as the sun set behind them. She could see the shadows slowly stretching toward her, as if they wanted to wrap her up in their grasp.
One second, she saw the calming darkness settling over the forest. And then the next second, the massive shadows turned into an entire sea of ghost-types. There had to be hundreds of them, all packed more tightly together than a school of Remoraid. It was almost impossible to distinguish each ghost from another with how all of their bodies held the same shade of insidious ebony.
Glace quickly stood up.
Sonata, what is that?
Sonata didn't respond. Glace saw the ghosts encroaching toward her frail tower like a great tsunami, their otherworldly eyes shining with a brilliant light that could have held the very sun behind them.
Wait. Are those the ghosts I saw in that one memory of yours?
The ghosts flooded into the tower. Glace backed away from the sight and raised her claws.
She could only watch as more and more creatures descended into the tower. They wasted no time in surrounding her completely, circling her like a pack of Houndoom around a hapless Eevee. She felt the temperature drop several degrees as they surrounded her. And though the cold normally couldn't affect her, she felt her entire body shudder. She felt her stomach twist itself into a knot and her heart beat so fast she was sure it would leap out of her chest.
Sonata!
The ghosts wasted no time in bombarding her. They flooded into her sight, bleeding their taint into her vision so that she could no longer see anything but an abysmal black that offered no hint of salvation.
Sonata! Answer me!
Oh! Gah, I didn't know you were seeing this!
The darkness abruptly vanished.
No longer did Glace find herself surrounded by hundreds of demonic creatures that had surely intended to steal her soul. Now she only found herself on the lonely watchtower, the only darkness being the shadows deep within the forest. And even then, they were the harmless, innocent shadows that brought no harm to anyone. Most certainly not those unsettling ghost types.
Glace took in a few, raspy breaths before rubbing her eyes. When she opened them again, she still found that there were no ghost-types. Whatever they were, they were gone now.
Just what was that, Sonata?
Don't worry, it's not real. It's not real… they're not coming back or anything. They don't live in this dimension…
But what just happened? What was I seeing?
A um… a memory of mine.
Glace sat back down before holding her head in her claws. She rubbed at her temples with her claws.
It didn't feel like a memory. I actually felt those ghosts around me.
Well it was a pretty bad and scary memory. It felt real to me too. And seeing that huge shadow and the sun setting behind those mountains… well it just reminded me a lot of what happened all those years ago.
Sonata, what exactly were those things? Tell me what I just saw.
They're… well, I actually don't know what they are. But in my dimension, those things come out the second the sun sets and they go around and they… they hurt people all night long. Not physically, usually, but like they'll mess up your mind. Like this one guy lost the wall between his conscious and subconscious so he constantly has all these crazy thoughts in his head. And then someone else lost the ability to feel any happiness at all. And then someone else has these constant nightmares about being killed by these Hydreigon over and over again in the worst ways possible. And the only way you can hide from them is to find shelter. They won't follow you inside a house or a burrow for some reason.
And they come out every night?
Yeah. Every night for a long time.
That sounds terrifying. I can't imagine not being able to go out at night.
Well, it's how it is where I am. Nobody can really do anything about it. My guild was trying to find a way to get rid of them but we haven't had any luck so far. But maybe they figured something out after I left…
And I imagine that you had an encounter with them at some point?
Sonata wouldn't respond. Glace could practically feel her shifting uncomfortably within her mind. It felt very similar to something crawling under Glace's skin, something that Glace forced herself to ignore.
Is this why you didn't want to leave your dimension for a while?
… The ghosts weren't the only problem we had there, but they were a big part of it. I was a big help with getting rid of them. Maybe not as big as some other people I know in all those guilds… but still pretty big. Downf… I mean, my leader trusted me with a lot, and he was a very important guy.
You don't have to hide his name, you know.
I know. But I don't want to think about him if I can help him. Leaving him was one of the hardest things I had to do, and I've done some crazy, near impossible missions for him.
For just a moment, Glace felt a painful twisting in her chest. However, before she could clutch at it, the feeling faded, and she felt empty. She couldn't even feel the panic that had taken over her when the hallucination manifested itself. Every emotion that truly belonged to Sonata had completely vanished.
But anyway, I'm sorry about that. I was okay before with it being night here since the whole sky wasn't filled with those ghosts and there was plenty of light, but just actually seeing the sun setting and having it look so similar to what happened before… I guess you can say it was too much for me. If I was still in my dimension, the psychics would probably label me as having The Unforgotten.
Glace only sighed deeply in response. It had been quite a while since she had been that frightened. However, she didn't entirely regret the experience. She had learned more about Sonata thanks to it after all. Perhaps not too much, and it was more an elaboration on information she had already known about, but it was something.
Even still, she couldn't help but ponder over how very real that memory had felt. She could still remember those ghosts' dreadful chill seeping into her body and the brilliance of her eyes. It was more vivid than most of her dreams. Why was that? Was Sonata's assimilation allowing her access to more than just the Noivern's thoughts?
"You're still here."
Glace looked over at her side to find yet another surprise awaited her. It took her a moment to make sure that she wasn't having yet another hallucination.
There, perched on the very edge of the watchtower, stood a very familiar Tranquill. His expression seemed as bland as always.
"Patience," Glace said as she slowly stood up. "You're back."
"Yes, this tower is where I perform my sentry duties," he stated simply. "I couldn't leave it forever. Apparently you didn't leave after I did though."
"No, I didn't. But I got all of the Pokémon that came by while you were gone. I wrote them down on that piece of paper you use. So your supervisor won't be upset. I imagine he won't even realize you were gone."
"You didn't have to do that."
"I know I didn't. But I did it anyway."
"I see. Well thank you for taking over my shift while I was gone. I appreciate that."
Patience fluttered down to the paper Glace spoke of and gazed down at it. Glace could see him subtlety moving his head as he read through the lines, occasionally nodding to himself. He didn't seem the least bit bothered that Glace was there with him despite what had happened earlier that day. There was no stiffness in his posture and not a single feather on his body seemed puffed out. Even his wings remained comfortably tucked into his body.
"You did a good job," Patience stated as he continued to glance through the paper. "You even followed my format. "
"Thanks," Glace said.
Silence fell over them once again. Glace could feel her heart beating in her chest now. She knew what she needed to say to Patience. She needed him to understand that he needed him to come with her to the other dimension and stop the destruction that would soon to ensue. But she didn't know how she was supposed to do that. How was she supposed to convince him to abandon everything he ever cared about and go with her to retrieve their other selves? How was she supposed to change his mind when he clearly wasn't on board with the idea before?
What was she supposed to do? How was she supposed to correct her mistake and help him understand how much she needed him?
What options do I have? What can I say to him that-
"I thought about what you said earlier with us being fragments of someone else," Patience said, still keeping his eyes on the paper below him.
"Oh… you did," Glace said after a short pause.
"Yes. I thought about everything while I was away. It was a lot to think about it, but I feel that I understand everything better now."
"And what do you think?"
Patience lifted his gaze and brought it over to Glace. She noticed that there was something different in his eyes. In the light of the fading sun, she no longer saw a dull, empty shell of a Pokémon. A vague sort of somberness glimmered in those eyes.
"Everything you said, even though it sounds almost impossible to believe, makes quite a bit of sense to me," he replied. "If I can be honest, I've always felt that there was something missing in my life. Some integral part of my being that I never had. I never felt miserable or anything like that, but there was something that I lacked that I should have had. And after everything you told me, I finally figured out what it was.
"I was missing the drive to do what I wanted. I always did whatever anyone told me to do, never once thinking about myself. I became patient because I never felt the need to assert myself and go do what makes me happy. I relied on everyone's expectations for me to live. I thought that by doing what everyone else wanted and by not disappointing them… I'd have a good life."
The Tranquill sighed deeply and shook his head.
"But the truth is, that never made me happy," Patience went on. "Doing what I'm told to do for everyone else's sake… doing things because that's just how I should be… I never should have expected to be happy with any of that. But I went with it because I couldn't find it inside myself to fight back. And if I really am a fragment like you say… well then maybe that would explain why I never could fight back. Maybe one of the other fragments took that part of me with them."
"So you do believe what I told you then," Glace replied.
"Yes, I think so. I still have trouble believing a few things, but maybe they'll make sense in time. But for now, I do think that you and I really were one being at one point. When I look at you, I do admit that I see something very familiar that reminds me of myself, even if I can't quite grasp what it is."
"It's alright. You don't have to understand everything completely. Even I don't. We can only keep moving forward and try to understand everything piece by piece."
The Tranquill nodded. However, he only shared a gaze with Glace for a moment longer before he abruptly broke off their stare and fixed his gaze onto a tree to her side. Glace could see him scratching at the metal ground with his talons.
"If I can be honest, I think the part that I don't understand the most and what made me doubt you… well, it's the fact that you're a girl and I'm a boy," Patience stated hesitantly. "It didn't sit well with me for a number of reasons…"
Glace couldn't help but laugh a little at the thought. She couldn't believe that she hadn't noticed the one major difference between her and Patience before. Of course he had a difficult time believing that they were one being when that was so. Their physical appearances vastly differed in more ways than one.
How did she honestly not pay attention to that? Why hadn't she found it to be a problem? Sonata had explicitly said Patience was a male long before they went after him, and yet she had accepted the information with no issue whatsoever. She had never considered that just maybe Patience would find that to be an uncomfortable thought.
"I guess you're right," Glace replied. "Well honestly, I don't know why we're different in that way. But then again, I don't know why all of us look so different in the first place. Weavile and Tranquill are nothing alike."
"I suppose that's true," Patience stated simply. "I don't know why I found the species contrast more acceptable than what I mentioned earlier. It was a silly difference to be doubted by, honestly."
"It's fine. I think your thoughts were valid. I wish I could tell you why we're so different, but I really don't know why myself. And I have a feeling that our other selves are going to be even more different than the both of us. It makes you wonder what our old self was thinking when it split us up."
"Maybe our original self thought it would be an amusing thing for us to react to when we found each other."
"I don't see how it would be amusing. If anything, it would make it even more difficult for each other to believe one another and merge back together. If we were all male or all female it would be easier to believe that we're all one being, even if we're all different species. But if some of us are male and some of us are female, I can imagine some of the other fragments might have a difficult time believing everything."
"Well, maybe our original self was just a massive jerk who did all of this to make assimilating each other even more difficult. Maybe the dimensions aren't even falling apart; maybe it split itself up in such a complicated and contrived way so that it can laugh at how we all react to each other."
This time Patience laughed. It was quiet and he mostly kept it under his breath, but Glace could hear a genuine laugh escape from his beak. Glace couldn't help but smile at the sight.
Well at least he's got a good attitude about this whole thing. Who knew he could be so light-hearted when he seemed so dead inside? I guess that goes to show that nobody is actually who they appear to be.
I don't think it's that, Sonata.
Oh? What do you think it is?
I think that he always had the potential to be this way. I feel he could have always been a cheerful Tranquil . However, one of us fragments took that from him. When our old self split apart, we took that ability for him to be this way. So, I think that right now…
… He's finally becoming whole.
That's what I think, yeah. I don't know for certain, but that's the impression I get right now.
Well it would make sense. He did say that he felt like some part of him was missing. Maybe by being around us, he's getting that part of himself back.
Patience stopped laughing and brought his eyes back to Glace. She noticed that a bright, hopeful light now glimmered in his eyes.
"You told me that you wanted me to come with you to find the other fragments," Patience then stated. "Well, I've thought about it as well, and I think I'd be quite fine with that."
"Really?" Glace asked, barely able to resist shooting him a bemused glare. "I would appreciate that, but you do understand what that means if you come with me, don't you?"
"Yes, that I'll be leaving this dimension behind and that I'll never see it again. I understand that part completely. And I don't mind it either. I'm fine with leaving behind this life I never actually enjoyed and going with you to the other dimensions. I'll almost be like the adventurer I always wanted to be if I help you find the others."
"So you understand. Alright. In that case, if you do want to help me, then-"
"However, I did want you to answer a question before I do go with you. If you can answer them truthfully, then I'll help you find the others."
"Alright, I can do that. What do you want to ask me?"
"Who were we before we split apart?"
It took a moment for Glace to process what he had just asked. She should have anticipated the question, but for some reason, she hadn't. Or rather, she didn't think that he would actually ask her the question so bluntly.
"I don't know," she answered cautiously. "I saw whoever it was in a vision, but I couldn't tell who it was. It was shrouded in shadow. It talked to me, but it wouldn't show me what it looked like."
"I see," Patience replied quietly. "Is there anything you do know about it?"
"Not much I'm afraid. I only know that it had to be very strong if it was able to split itself up into all of us. I imagine it was a deity of sorts. I can't imagine a mortal Pokémon being able to make all of us."
"And you really don't know why it split itself up into all of us either?"
"No, I don't. I don't know why it made all of us when it needs to be whole in order to stop the dimensions from collapsing on each other. I imagine there was a good reason, but I don't know it at the moment. I'm hoping it will make more sense as I find the others."
Patience nodded, but said nothing more. Glace knew that nothing she had said sounded all that convincing, but she had truthfully spoken everything she thought. It wasn't as though she could lie to Patience either; once she assimilated him, he'd know everything inside her mind. He'd be able to see all of her memories and thoughts at will and there would be nothing she could do to stop him.
She could only hope that the ambiguity of their situation didn't scare him off, despite him promising to go with her regardless.
The Tranquill kept the silence between them for a moment longer, and then finally made his way toward Glace until he stood right before her. Glace had to resist backing away from him. She didn't like his sharp beak being so near to her.
"Thank you for your answers. I have nothing else to ask you," he told her.
"Did you have anything you wanted to do before we go?" Glace asked.
"No, I'm fine. Admittedly I could tell my guild that I'm leaving and won't be returning... but I can't seem to muster up the courage to tell them that. I still don't want to appear as a disappoint to them. So I can only hope they'll come to understand my decision once they realize I'm missing."
"They will, just like the ones who knew me in my own dimension. And if not, they will learn to move on and accept your decision. You won't be a disappointment to them. No one ever stays in one place for the rest of their lives. Everyone has to leave one day."
Patience nodded, but not without some hesitance. He paused for a moment, gazing at something over Glace's shoulder, and then took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
"I'm ready to go with you now to the other dimensions and become our old self," he said. "I hope that in finding our other selves, we'll figure out who our old self was and why it made all of us. I really don't want to go into this blindly without understanding our old self."
An iridescent light suddenly washed over the Tranquill's body. Glace watched as it completely consumed his entire being, taking his avian shape and reducing it to a blob of ethereal energy that shifted its shape and form with every second so that it had no discernable shape.
It wasted no time in merging with her, seeping into her body and becoming one with her soul.
However, unlike when she had assimilated Sonata into her being, Glace didn't feel a terrible pain shoot through her skull. Though Patience's essence sent a shudder down her spine for just a moment, it didn't hurt her in the slightest. There was no darkness to fill her vision, no tears to be shed, and no strange visions to fill her mind.
If anything, the experience felt oddly comforting, as if she had eaten a dozen oran berries after being famished for many days and nights.
The feeling did disappear after every bit of Patience disappeared from the watchtower and went into her soul, but much to her surprise, she wasn't left completely empty. She felt Patience's presence within her, a great mass of relentless energy becoming one with her mind and soul. And as he became her, giving her his everything that he ever was and ever could be, she felt a great power rise out of the depths of her heart. A power that made her feel as though she could sprout wings right there and take off into the sky.
Glace grinned from ear to ear as she reveled in this wonderful feeling, this newfound strength that she had never known existed within herself. She could feel all of her muscles jittering with her other self's energy as they became one.
So this is what I was missing out on this entire time. This is was what I used to be… no, just a fraction of it! If I would have had this power before, I could have been the amazing leader I was supposed to be. I could have been everything that I ever wanted to be…
Now hold on Glace, don't go all power crazy right now. The last thing I want you to do is let this all go to your head. So let's just calm down and remember why we're finding all the fragments in the first place.
… We need to find everyone to become whole and stop the multiverse from destroying itself…
Right. Exactly.
… Right.
Glace took in a deep breath, calming her nerves and soothing the rampant energy coursing through her. Though she still could feel her newfound power rushing through her veins, she forced herself to ignore it. She couldn't let it overwhelm her. She had a job to do, a duty that she promised Patience and Sonata she would fulfill.
She stared down at her claws as she slowly curled them into her palms.
Patience, are you there?
I think so. I'm not entirely sure what to make of being inside your mind and no longer having a body, but I can hear you at least. And please, call me Yore.
If you say so, Yore. How do you feel?
I'm not entirely sure how I feel. I don't feel anything in this strange place that's your soul. I can't move, I can't breathe, and I can only see your claws… but it doesn't feel unpleasant at the same time.
Oh don't worry about that, you'll get used to it! Just give it a few hours or so and this place will feel like a second home to you.
An uncomfortable shiver ran through Glace's core. Glace held herself as she waited for the feeling to pass. It took far longer than she had anticipated.
… You're another fragment living inside Glace.
Yeah! I'm Sonata. I met Glace before she met you. I'm the reason she knows all about the fragments in the first place. I told her all about our old self and how to find you and everything. You can say that I'm her guide.
So you are… is there anyone else here?
Nah, we're the only ones here. You were the very first fragment Glace went to go find. But if things go well with the rest of the fragments, then we won't be the only ones for long. Speaking of which, Glace, I think it's time we go find our next fragment.
Right now?
Yeah! I mean, we're on a roll here! We got Yore with almost no problems. We shouldn't take a break when we're doing so well.
I'd say that there were a few problems…
Well he still agreed to come with us without trying to hurt us and without being gone for too long, so I'd say we did a great job.
You two thought I was going to hurt you? Glace, is that why you were raising your claws like that when I was glaring at you?
Yes, Yore. It wasn't anything personal however. I only have had a number of unpleasant encounters with flying types and whenever any of you seem even remotely ready to attack me, I get on edge.
I wouldn't have hurt you though. I honestly haven't fought anyone in a single day in my life.
I didn't know that when I first met you.
Well anyway you guys. I think we should get out of this dimension. We don't really have anything left to do here. We should go to our next fragment. I already have a good Pokémon in mind. I get this weird feeling that she'll be tough to talk to… but I think we'll be okay.
You want to find another girl fragment. Are you certain that I'm not the only boy fragment?
Oh don't worry, I'm sure! There's like… five other guys. But don't worry; we'll go after some of them soon. I just think that this fragment I have in mind is our best bet right now. It's this gut instinct, you know?
I'm afraid I don't, but you seem knowledgeable about this, so I won't bother trying to argue. It is relieving that there are other male fragments however.
Yeah, no need to worry Yore. No need to worry about anything at all. All you need to worry about is if Glace is going to go dimension hop or not right now.
Glace chuckled a little. She could practically feel Sonata's tension building within her, growing stronger and stronger with each passing moment. It made her head spin and she found she could no longer hear any of her selves' words. Glace was sure that if she didn't decide soon, all of that pressure might explode within her and send Sonata and Yore flying right out of her soul.
What an amusing thought.
Alright, let's get going. Tell me where to go, Sonata.