It's true I don't like Lyrl that much. I felt cooped up within the layers of buildings, there was nowhere to play games like pebble dodge, and there weren't teaching sessions to learn interesting stuff anymore. But at least I still had Zeta, and just got to know Porygon-Z. Now? Now there is no one but Vie, Phendrene, Mum, and Vie's older brother Bane. I didn't even get to say goodbye. And after Vie finds Hale, she's going to go back too. So it will eventually just be the three of us: Mum, Phendrene, and me.
I never wanted an adventure like this.
It's not my fault, either. Hale just had to get in a fight with some Trapinch and mess everything up.
I've tried to console myself that I'm finally on the adventure that I've always wanted to go on… but it wasn't going to be like this. I would be a free Flygon, not a Trapinch that is bound to the ground.
Which is also why I don't get why the adults just go and find Hale themselves. They aren't even sure where he is – he only told us about the possibility of going to the forest, but they're taking it so seriously. I suppose it's the only lead they have, but that doesn't explain why they have to bring us.
At least I still have my little bag of random objects, like the black stone, or a book about rare species, or the void cube. They were all but forgotten during my time at Lyrl, but now they're the only things I have left.
Mum says after Hale is found (or not), we're going to go to the Charizard's place, wherever that is. She explained it as good experience for me to see the world, but obviously it's for mainly for Phendrene. Probably to find her father.
Is she my mother or hers?
I don't feel the need to speak much, even with Vie. Nothing is her fault, but I don't want to risk saying anything out of place when I'm still upset. It would be impossible to stay silent forever, so I do respond to her when we settle down the second night.
"Can you tell me the specifics of what happened down there with Hale?" Vie crawls over as I finish a piece of meat.
"I found him when I was wandering around, and he wanted to leave. I tried to stop him but he decided to ignore me and get out of Lyrl anyway." I gather my words quite easily after having a long time to think them through, finding a way to phrase them in a way that is not false but also not overly revealing.
"Okay. I just really hope we can find him."
"Yeah, me too." Not really. I don't want to talk about him. "So, are you still planning to get revenge on the Salamence?"
"Huh? Oh yeah. Not too sure about how, though."
"Revenge? What revenge?" Bane sits up suddenly from next to the fire.
"Didn't I tell you this?" Vie says impatiently to her brother. "You even laughed at me."
"You're serious?" Bane exclaims as he shifts towards us. "Vie… revenge is not a good thing. I still hate the Salamence for killing our parents and brothers, but if you go for them, you'll be just like them."
"Also," Mum chimes in from aside, "it's not all the Salamence that are bad. Just the ones that decide to attack us."
Vie doesn't seem happy about the opposition displayed by the two adults. "Well, do you want other Flygon to die like our family did? I say bringing them down is the better choice." She snorts.
"Just don't do anything rash, okay?" Bane says in a lecturing tone, which I'm not sure Vie likes. "Trust me. At the very least, you have to wait until you've evolved into a Flygon to stand a chance against them."
"Yeah, yeah. Shouldn't you be hunting instead of just lying there?" Vie retorts.
I feel that it's a bit rude given that we're really eating off their efforts, but Bane simply sighs. "Fine," he says before tapping my mother on the shoulder.
Mum, who has definitely been listening to our conversation, stands up as well. It's a slightly odd sight seeing her stand shorter than Vie's brother, even though she's quite a bit older. Sexual dimorphism, I think Zeta called it. "I'll bring Phendrene with me. You two stay here." My gaze follows Phendrene's tail as it dangles off Mum in the evening sky. It's a little mesmerizing in the evening sky, almost as if the two Flygon together is a bit reminiscent of my fantasies of my parents before my father left.
I shake my head. It's weird. Vie's brother is most definitely not like my father.
Vie's voice interrupts my thoughts. "Nova, can I ask you something?"
She seems a bit hesitant in asking, so I try to give a confident reply. "Sure. What is it?"
"You… you're going to leave Lyrl forever, right?"
The implications dawn on me. After we leave, we won't see each other until… until who knows? Maybe never.
"…Yeah. I am."
"Then I'm going to come with you," she says firmly. "If your Mum lets me."
What? "Vie, you…"
"Don't worry, I'm doing it because I want to. I'm pretty sure Hale wouldn't want to go back, anyway. And even if we don't find him… we promised that we'd be together for each other, right? So… I'll go with you."
"But what about your brothers?"
"I can go visit them after I evolve. But I'd never want to grow up in a place like Lyrl! Not without you." She grins a silly grin.
"Vie, I…"
I feel a smile creeping up onto my face, as well. The sensation feels a bit familiar; it feels somewhat like the times we had in the Shallows.
"Thank you," I say genuinely.
"Hey, don't worry about it. Want a game of pebble dodge?" she suggests. "We haven't played it for a while!."
"Yeah, not since we got to Lyrl! I doubt they'd let us. Hold on, let me get the pebble from my bag."
We're both a bit out of practice, but I manage to hit her first by being patient and getting a good feel of the angle. Vie is still like her old self, often using too much power and not aiming it properly.
It's no surprise when she tires out first after several exchanges. "They're so slow, I'm starving!" Vie complains as she crawls over to me after I put the pebble away.
"It's only been-"
I stop at the look of fear on her face at something behind me.
"Dig! Now!" she whispers and disappears underground. I follow quickly.
I find her easily by digging forward a bit. "What's going on? What did you see?" I whisper.
I can't see her expression through the sand anymore but I know there is something wrong. "I s-saw a Salamence. It was flying towards us."
A pit of fear opens in my heart, but I keep it under control. "It's okay, it can't get us down here," I comfort her.
Right after I say those words I feel the earth tremble. The Salamence has landed.
I feel Vie next to me, her breathing fast. Minutes pass with more small vibrations coming through, like the Salamence looking through our camp. Each second becomes more unbearable than the previous with the fear of being uncovered by the Salamence. Why is it even here, anyway? What business does it have in the desert?
Please don't come back, I pray for the others. Hopefully the Salamence will just look at the campfire a bit and leave us alone.
My hopes are dashed by another thud coming from above ground. I climb out, with Vie giving an alarming jerk as I surface.
"Go away," Mum hisses at the Salamence.
Mum is standing across the fire, her eyes locked onto the Salamence, its skin a deadly shade of blue. A Sandshrew is dropped at her feet, under her bloody maw. Phendrene is clutching Mum's legs tightly. Vie has not climbed back up.
Maybe – maybe the Salamence isn't looking for a fight! Maybe it will just go away! After all, it hasn't attacked Mum on sight!
The Salamence starts talking. It's a male voice. "I'm on a mission," he says, giving the impression that he has authority. "Don't mess with me."
"Get on with your mission, then. Leave us alone and we'll leave you alone," Mum returns at him, her gaze not faltering.
"You don't even know what my mission's about. Tell me, do you-" He stops and yowls in pain, shaking his left foreleg which now has blood gushing from it because Vie has just clamped her jaw over it.
"No!" …Vie, why did you do that? We could have got out of this unharmed… But you…
"Dirty little-" The Salamence breathes a flame on Vie, making her drop to the floor. He then knocks her off, sending her to land a short distance from his wound. Mum whispers something at Phendrene which makes her run towards me. Then Mum charges towards the Salamence and rams into his side, sending him skidding backwards.
"Vie!"
I rush over to her. Her eyes are closed but I can still hear her breathing. She's unconscious.
Why did you do it?
"Nova, try and get Phendrene underground!" Mum yells from the side before I hear her grunt in pain. I resist my urge to look over and head over to Phendrene, who is standing still in terror.
Digging a shallow hole in the ground, I yell at her, "Come in!" She comes out of what seemed like a trance and climbs in obediently. "Stay down here." I dig back up and find Vie's unconscious body and try and cover it up as well.
I'm completely fine though. I can help Mum.
But then I raise my head and realize that I can't. They're in the air now. I can't see anything specific with this poor eyesight of mine, but there's growling, occasional blasts of fire. And suddenly some blood splatters on to me.
I stare at the mess of Flygon and Salamence fighting. Mum's in there. She's getting hurt by a Salamence. I can't do anything to help her. I can't do anything to help Vie wake up. I can't do anything as Mum falls from the sky and crashes into a resounding thud, her body covered in…
I rush over to her. She's lying sideways, one of her arms at a grotesque angle, but at least she is still breathing. I don't have time to inspect her further as I hear the Salamence land to the side. He's panting heavily with an equal amount of blood all over him.
"You started this," he says hatefully, "You were the ones that attacked me. Don't expect me to feel sorry for you." And he advances on Mum and me with a limp.
Maybe he's right. Maybe he really would have left us alone if Vie didn't attack him. …That doesn't matter right now. He's going to try and kill my mother. I can't let him. But I can't just go ahead and bite him. Vie's better than me and she still failed. I have to rely on myself now. Think of something fast…
My bag catches my eye. The contents are spilled on the ground, probably because the Salamence went through it. The sunshine reflects off the pointed black rock and glitters. And I know what to do.
I go over and pick the rock up in my jaws. I have one chance. I can do it.
The Salamence stops as if he is curious about what I am doing, running over and taking a stone out of a bag.
I move my head sideways and then back in a quick, jarring motion, while releasing my jaw's grip on the rock. There's something achingly familiar about it, from the game I played time and time again with Vie. It flies towards the Salamence and pierces his neck with a spurt of blood as he gives a bloodcurdling scream. His legs give out and he falls to the ground, his head lolled sideways with the black rock embedded in his neck.
I just killed someone.
No, I have more important things to think about! Mum's injured! I turn to her. "Mum! Where's Bane?"
"N-Nova…?" I hear her hoarse voice."We split up. You…" She coughs up blood, painting her body with even more red.
"Wait! Don't talk." I crawl up to her side and rub my face against her. I don't care if there's blood. "You're going to be okay…"
Wings sound behind me. I jump at the noise, but as I turn around I see Bane.
Where were you when we needed you?
He drops the Sandshrew he is carrying as his jaws open in shock. "W-What happened? Shell?" he asks incredulously. "Why is there a Sala-"
"Shut up! Go back to Lyrl to find someone already!" I yell at him. He takes a few seconds to regain his composure, nods frantically, and flies off.
I don't even know how long it would take for him to fly to Lyrl. But what else is there that I can ask for?
I take a careful look at Mum. Every single breath she takes looks painful. There are scratch marks all over her, some big, some small. But there is a wound far bigger than any scratch mark on her chest…
The blood is still wet. It doesn't look like it will dry any time soon.
"Nova…" She starts to speak again in a weak voice. "He won't be fast enough…"
"You're wrong! He will. You'll be fine."
She ignores me. "Sorry, Nova… I can't stay with you anymore…"
She coughs up more blood. "Shh…" I silence her. I crawl up to her face and nuzzle her bloody maw. "Don't talk, Mum."
"Be good… I love you…" Her voice trails off into nothingness.
No…! Mum can't be dead, she can't, she promised, she…
"Mum!" She's going to respond, I know it.
"Stop it." See? I knew she was alive. She talked. Except… there's something behind me.
I stop crawling under her and look back. Phendrene is tugging my hindleg. "Stop it, Nova," the Charmander repeats.
"You don't understand!" I spit at her.
She wipes some sand from body that got stuck on her when she was buried. "I do. My mum is also dead, remember?" Her voice is not at all what I expected. "She isn't dead yet, but…"
"What?" I crawl back to Mum's body and put my face next to hers. I feel air flowing, however soft it is.
"She's alive… she's alive!"
Phendrene walks up to my side. "It really is happening again."
I turn to her. "What? She's still alive after the Salamence attacked her. She won't die now."
"…She lost far too much blood. It's hopeless."
"No!" I shout. "How dare you say that!"
Phendrene retreats a few steps and lowers her head. "I'm sorry. …I just can't stand this. Why again? It's not fair."
"Don't talk like she's going to die!" I retaliate angrily. "I killed that Salamence. We're all going to be fine."
Her breathing suddenly becomes erratic and I see something drop from her face. "I-I wish you were right, Nova."
Hearing the resignation in her voice is when my heart really sinks. I'm just being deluded. Mum is far more wounded than what I saw of Vie's mother back in the Shallows. There's no way she will make it.
And the perpetrator, Vie, just lies over there in the sand, unconscious. Like an idiot. If she hadn't attacked the Salamence, Mum wouldn't have…
"I found someone else. I thought I could be happy again. But…" She collapses onto the floor. "Why does this have to happen?"
I want to scream as well, to cry about how unfair the world is. But I just feel hollow, knowing that I have done my best in killing the Salamence, and that I couldn't have done anything else. Phendrene and Vie both had theirs taken from them. Now it was my turn.
"Phendrene… It will all right. We'll still be here for each other." More than just to comfort her, it also feels like an attempt to comfort myself.
She just bawls more loudly and holds onto me. I turn a glance at my dying mother. It is really unfair. I still hoped for a miracle, that some divine being would take pity upon me and do something, anything. But they don't exist. They let this happen to so many already. This is just another usual occurrence in this cruel world.
Why…