Ch 27 - Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes
"At long last, we have attained a means of transportation fit for someone of my standing." The Prince reclined in the back of the wagon, watching the Mudsdale haul them along the dirt road.
"We're only doing this for the way there and back," Rune reminded, sitting down uncomfortably close to the Prince. The awning only covered a small portion of the wagon, so the two were forced into an uneasy peace to stop the sun from melting them.
"It's no fun getting driven everywhere anyways!" Kibo smiled at the two Pokémon hiding in the shade. "Walking lets you see everything that driving wouldn't let you notice."
"This is still kinda slow though," Zar whined, staring off the right side of the cart.
"Yo, I think we're coming up on Rougepoint Mesa," Blizz pointed out, looking off the other side.
In response, Kibo and Zar jumped over to his side, observing the mountains of red rock jutting up from the ground.
"I do not believe it would be productive to relive those memories," the Prince advised, not leaving the safety of the canvas covering.
"Yeah but the Flygon and…" Blizz trailed off, looking at the Mudsdale hauling their cart. "And the other guy got arrested. Plus, everything worked out in the end, right? No way we would've been able to find Hydreigon without that."
"Do not glorify that prison," the Prince responded coolly. "It is only by coincidence that we were able to identify Hydreigon's whereabouts. And should I point out, if Lucario and Fanita had not intervened, the battle would have killed us."
"Ehh, it's behind us anyways." Blizz waved away the Prince's concerns, before walking back to the other side of the cart. Now, rather than an endless expense of red sand, he could enjoy the view of an endless expanse of ocean instead.
Not wanting the topic to linger on the fight against Hydreigon any longer, the Prince went to his normal conversational fallback: complaining.
"Now, remind me once again why you unilaterally decided that the Cascian Archipelago is an ideal vacation spot."
"Well like, the Terrae guys said they wanted to go check out Gremis Keep first, so that meant we could either go to Cascia or head back to Breach Mountain for our vacation."
"And we could not have simply gone to Gremis as well?"
"…Okay yeah, maybe hanging out with Mira and those guys would've been fun. But we gotta have our own thing. Can't just copy them."
"So you decided to go to an island archipelago that is virtually inaccessible to Pokémon incapable of swimming or flying."
"Don't worry, I got you guys covered!" Zar held out an assuring thumbs up to the rest of the team.
The Prince sighed, not assured in the slightest. "We shall see."
The Mudsdale looked back at the explorers in curious silence. They weren't exactly the most normal passengers he's ever driven, but he's dealt with way weirder ones.
After a few more hours of watching waves break along the shore, feral flying types gliding overhead, and Kibo occasionally checking the map to point out whatever dungeon they were walking past, they finally arrived.
Arrived being a strong word. Their final destination was a small port that overlooked a series of islands a good distance off of the coast. The port itself was a dock attached to a small wood shack, featuring a sign above it that Blizz still didn't know how to read.
There were also a few small, wooden sailboats lying in the dock, plus a Lapras who looked like they were sleeping.
"Here you are, now get out." The Mudsdale came to a suspiciously abrupt stop, though none of the explorers let that dampen their mood.
Blizz, Kibo, and Zar vaulted over the railing of the cart; the Prince and Rune took the much more calm approach of climbing down the steps.
"You'll be back here in a week, right?" Kibo asked Mudsdale as he waited for the less enthusiastic members of the group to climb out.
"That's what you paid me for. Don't make me wait." Seeing that the Umbreon and Vulpix had finally climbed out of his cart, he started up again, walking down the eastbound road towards Gremis Keep.
"He was funny," Zar commented.
"He was rational," the Prince stated as he walked over to the stand. "This is a rare trait for someone to possess here."
Blizz ran forward, catching up with the Umbreon as they approached the shack. A Wartortle sat at the open window, idly reading through a magazine.
"Yo, we wanted to get a boat out to the archipelago," Blizz said, fishing through his bag for some Poké.
Wartortle set his magazine aside to look up at the Treecko. "Ferry ain't back yet. Y'all better make yourselves comfy, dunno when it'll be here."
The Prince physically recoiled when he heard Wartortle speak. Somehow, the accent was stronger than even Kibo's. For his part, Kibo just cocked his head.
"…Can you give us an estimate?" Rune asked, after a brief moment to decipher Wartortle's words.
"No ma'am. Ferry gets here when it gets here."
"You do not operate under any form of a time table?" The Prince asked.
"Ferry gets here. When it gets here."
"…This is ridiculous." The Prince turned away, walking back to the docks.
Blizz looked to the ships docked, before turning back to the Wartortle. "And uh, how much to buy one of those?"
He paused, looking up in consideration. "10 grand. Don't think y'all got that much."
The Treecko sighed. "Damn, guess we're stuck then."
Throughout the entire conversation, Zar stood off to the side, though her grin slowly grew wider. Only when Blizz uttered his cry of resignation did she gently tap his shoulder.
"What's u- Oh right, that. You uh… cool with doing that?"
"Yep! Just leave it all to me, I'll get you there in no time!" Zar ran off behind the shed, trying to keep herself out of sight of the Wartortle. Blizz followed her, leaving only Kibo at the booth.
"Thanks for all the help, sir!" he said at last.
Wartortle just looked down at him, finally picking up on the Jangmo-o's accent. "You a West Islander?"
"No sir, Nova Town."
"…Y'ain't born there though. Definitely a West Islander."
Kibo relented, not wanting to get into an argument. "Well, if you say so."
"There are countless ways we could have swam to the archipelago, and you have somehow managed to find the single worst one." The Prince clung onto the feathers of the Lugia they were currently riding, as it glided just above the ocean.
"Even you know that's wrong," Rune commented. "It's fast, and you're not getting wet."
"The benefits do not compensate for the amount of attention this configuration draws."
"Okay but when are you ever gonna do something like this again?" Blizz was attached to the side of Zar's head, letting the occasional wave crash into them as they glided. "This is rad."
"And what would you do if someone were to notice that there is a legendary Pokémon among them? Did Zar not conceal her true identity from us for over a month because of concerns of being outed as a legendary?"
"Don't worry, Lugia's are psychic too, so I can sense anyone who's around!" Zar assured. "And right now it's just the five of us, plus some ferals underwater."
"And what of that boat to our left?" The Prince pointed out to the ocean, where the outline of a small sailboat could be made out slowly floating away from the group. It was hard to make out the details from here, but it appeared to have a striped black sail.
"Uhh... hold on everyone!" With that as a warning, Zar dived beneath the ocean's surface.
They sped up significantly, swimming diagonally away from the boat. Blizz was firmly adhered to Zar's head, while a pink hue surrounded Rune and Kibo, keeping them in place.
Being a dark type, the Prince was not quite so lucky. He desperately clung onto Rune and a group of feathers, looking quite annoyed through the entire process.
Thankfully for him, the dive only lasted for a few seconds before Zar made a sharp turn up, taking to the sky.
From their new position, the boat was just a speck on the water. It also helped that said speck seemed to be sailing away from them.
"Okay, we should be clear from that now," Zar explained as they cruised through the sky.
"Was there no possible way you could have warned us?" The Prince complained as he coughed out seawater.
"She did though," Kibo commented.
"That was not an adequate warning." The Prince shook himself out, stopping the water from dripping off his fur. "In any case, it is evident Zar's psychic abilities are subpar, if someone was able to sneak up on us as such."
"Well... it could've been a dark type," she admitted, sheepishly. "Then I wouldn't be able to sense them."
"Hmph." The Prince busied himself by looking out at the ocean.
"Wonder who that was though," Kibo asked. "There wasn't anyone at the docks."
"They're probably just coming back from the islands," Rune offered.
Kibo nodded. "That makes sense."
The Prince allowed himself to become slightly more enthusiastic than normal as the island chain grew closer and closer.
They could make out four different islands, three of which were surrounded by sandy beaches. The western island was covered in thick jungle, with a series of buildings and settlements mostly dotted along the beaches.
The eastern island consisted primarily of grassy plains and farms, though a few concentrated regions of jungle could be found near its center.
The northern island appeared to be nearly uninhabited, featuring jarring red cliffs adorned with brightly colored plants. There was, however, a dock on the northernmost point.
The fourth island was a fair bit different than the others. Rather than an inviting sandy beach, the entire coastline was covered in jagged rocks. Equally intimidating was the giant volcano in the center of it all. While it didn't appear to be active, the mass of gray stone jutting out from the ocean was still kinda disconcerting.
Zar began a much more gentle descent, flying down to a secluded beach on the northern island where she could let her passengers off and transform.
Blizz was the first to get off, jumping onto the beach. "That was awesome, we gotta do stuff like that more often!"
Prince was second, only because he could not afford to position himself so close to the edge. "It most definitely was not, and we will be taking the ferry on our return trip."
"So now you're no longer above peasant transportation?" Rune teased as she slid off of Zar's wing.
"I think we oughta do both," Kibo added as he jumped off. "Need to see both sides to know what we like more."
Once all four of them were on land, a soft glow surrounded Zar, before she turned back into her normal shiny Treecko disguise. "That was fun though! Most of the other legendaries don't need to be flown around, so I don't get to do it that often."
"I can see why they do not rely on you," the Prince snarked before walking towards Kibo, who sprawled their map out on the beach. "And have you identified where we are?"
"Yep! We're on North Island!"
The Prince looked at Kibo with a blank expression that hid untold amounts of mild irritation. "I could tell. Is there anything of note here?"
"Well uh... there's a few mystery dun-"
"Absolutely not. Where are the resort settlements that this region is famous for?"
"Oh! I know!" Zar volunteered, inserting herself between the Prince and Kibo. "So North Island has a really nice one at the dock, but Lele says that one is really expensive."
Rune looked to Zar with concern. "Wait, who's Lele-"
"Then there's West Island, which is the main vacation spot!" Zar pressed on, completely ignoring Rune. "It's too busy though, I don't really like it. East Island is where all the locals live. They really don't like tourists there, been wanting to go there for years. Though..." She looked between Kibo and Rune.
"Is something wrong?" Kibo asked, cocking his head.
"You guys look just like locals! A lot of Jangmo-o's and Southern Vulpixes live here, and Kibo's accent is almost a perfect West Islander! The rest of us just have to not speak, and they'll think we're one of them. And then we can see all the cool-"
"No." Unlike Rune, the Prince's statement did manage to stop Zar. "I will be going to the most expensive vacation resort that my share of the budget will permit me to stay at, and I am not to be bothered until it is time to depart, or there is a dire emergency."
With that, he began to walk away from the remaining explorers, heading north towards the only dock on the island.
"...Damn, it took him like, 5 minutes to split away," Blizz commented. "I really think he's starting to become a team player."
"...Well, we can still check out the East Island without him! Come on guys!" Zar jumped back towards the ocean, glowing for a moment before turning into a Lapras this time.
Blizz stepped forwards about to climb on, though Rune spoke out, causing him to pause.
"Wait, even if Kibo's the only one of us who speaks, and you transform into a local Pokémon, wouldn't Blizz still stick out?"
Zar deflated slightly, sinking a bit in the water as she did so. "Oh... right… With Blizz they'd figure us out immediately."
Blizz looked at his teammates. "Ehh, don't worry about me, I'll go find something to do. You guys have fun."
"We can't do that to you though," Kibo argued. "We're a team!… Most of the time."
Rune nodded. "Prince abandoning us is one thing, but you're not anywhere near as bad as him."
Blizz shrugged. "Yeah, but like, you guys can actually go do something cool. And it's not like you're gonna be there for the whole week, right? We'll hang out once you've seen whatever the island has."
"Well..." Kibo kicked the sand beneath him. "Alrighty, if you're okay with it."
"For sure," Blizz confirmed. "Though uh, would be cool if I could get a ride to the volcan-"
Rune cut him off. "No."
"...If I could get a ride to West Island?"
Zar nodded. "Definitely! Hop on!"
After Blizz got dropped off at the dock and waved off his friends, he began to wander and see what was around.
The city had a much more artificial feeling than Nova Town, which was weird given that he could see the giant jungle deeper inland from virtually every street.
But still, he could practically feel the touristy-ness. From the overpriced food stands, to Pokémon standing on every corner trying to sell some "traditional" knick-knack, to ads talking about cool and exciting ways to spend your weekend, there was no doubt this place existed only for travelers.
The vibe was oddly familiar to him.
Thus he kept wandering, trying to pinpoint exactly why this place made him feel that way.
Sure, Scizor's warning about remembering his past was still fresh on his mind, but if the Resonance was gonna get him, it probably would've done it by now, with what he recalled at Breach Mountain. So really, what was the harm in adding one more memory to the list?
Yet try as he might, the ambiance and local scam artists revealed no new secrets to him. At this point he was convinced the stupid, vague sense of familiarity hanging just outside his ability to remember was the worst part of becoming a Pokémon.
It didn't matter how many times he watched the tourists be stupid, or see the boats offload more people who have no idea how to deal with the snow-
—
How the hell was it the middle of a blizzard and cars were still driving up the mountain? Like yeah, if they were halfway up when the storm came in, it'd make sense to just send it rather than drive all the way back down. But the stream of people just hadn't stopped coming.
A part of him wondered if he was making things worse. Convincing some dude who worked for the resort to fire up a ski lift despite the weather was probably attracting some idiots who were way too confident in their skill.
Ehh, screw 'em. No better time to fly down the mountain than the middle of a blizzard.
He adjusted the straps on his snowboard as the end of the lift came in sight. Doesn't matter how many idiots try to copy him, he's gotta earn his title somehow.
—
Blizz was left staring out into space as the memory played in his head. This was… different. At Breach Mountain, he was like an outside observer looking in. Here, he felt everything. The storm crashing against what little skin he left exposed, the way the lift rocked ever so slightly, and holy fuck he remembered what he was thinking.
It didn't have all the context he'd like, but the last bit struck a chord with him. He'd have to earn his title… He didn't need the Prince around to tell him what that was referring to.
Maybe the name Blizz meant a bit more than he thought.
At some point between zoning out and now, he found himself facing the docks, where there was a ship that definitely wasn't there when Zar dropped him off earlier— the one they saw on their flight over, with the striped black sails.
It was tied up and unoccupied, which meant Blizz had no idea who actually owned the craft, though now he was curious.
If Zar was right, it would have to be a dark type, since that's the only Pokémon who could evade her detection.
That… narrowed it down a lot. Unsurprisingly, a tropical sunny island paradise is not the premier vacation spot for Pokémon who like to stick to the night. Aside from the Prince and some sleeping Southern Rattatas, he hadn't actually seen any dark types since he got here.
Would it be the best idea to walk up to the next dark type he finds and ask "hey, are you the guy on the ship who might have seen the Lugia flying overhead?" Probably not. But the Prince and Rune weren't here, so it wasn't like anyone was gonna stop him.
Though after a few unsuccessful hours of exploring the city and searching for dark types, the sun setting forced him to give up. He resigned himself to the closest inn, a small building made of clay a couple blocks away from the coast. It wasn't the best, but probably a hell of a lot cheaper than wherever the Prince ended up.
As Kibo, Rune, and Zar pulled into the port, they could immediately tell that the East Island was completely different from its western counterpart. There were virtually no paved roads, and the buildings looked like they were actually lived in, not just showpieces.
It sorta reminded the three of Nova Town, in a way.
"Remember, Kibo's the only one who can talk," Zar stated as her two teammates climbed off of her. "We can say you guys have amnesia, that way they won't be suspicious."
"But wouldn't that be lying?" Kibo asked, to which Rune gave him a blank stare. "Well I know it's not lying, but that doesn't seem very honest."
"You'll be fine," Zar assured. "I heard they're really friendly if you're not a tourist."
"Which we are," Rune whispered.
"Don't worry about it. I'll catch up with you guys later, go find something cool!" With those words, the fake Lapras swam away, leaving Kibo and Rune with a vaguely uncomfortable feeling as they began their trek through the settlement.
At a minimum, none of the locals seemed to pay them much mind. The streets weren't quite as busy as the West Island, so occasionally a few Pokémon would poke their heads up and look at the duo, before deciding that whatever they were doing before was more important.
Rune felt a bit on edge, a sentiment Kibo didn't quite seem to share. It was the same feeling she had back when Fanita ambushed them, or in the cave where they first met Zar— Someone was watching them.
Yet no matter how many times she looked over her shoulder, she couldn't see anyone. She forced herself to stay calm. Kibo was with her, and Zar would be joining them later. If there were any issues, they'd be fine.
Probably.
Kibo soldiered on, not picking up Rune's anxiety at all. They slowed down as they approached a large tent building, with equally large banners on the side covered in footprint runes. He stopped in front of them, trying to decipher the text without bringing out his badge.
"Hmm... Oh! This is Golisopod's Guild!"
Rune vaguely remembered hearing about Golisopod's Guild at the Guilded Games. Everyone said that Golisopod's was the worst guild in Varin, and while she did feel like that was sorta rude, looking at the tent that served as their headquarters gave her a pretty good idea of where they were coming from.
"Can I help you?"
The two Pokémon turned to see a Toucannon looming over them, who didn't look particularly friendly.
"Oh, sorry ma'am," Kibo apologized with a sheepish grin. "We were just looking at the guild here."
Rune nodded, probably a little too aggressively.
"...I've seen the two of yous at the Guilded Games," Toucannon responded, coolly. "Nova Town's guild. Y'ain't from here."
"Well uh..." Kibo looked to Rune for support, not having any clue what to say. "We were looking around. We wanted to see what this place was like."
"East Island ain't for tourists," Toucannon said, leaning in closer to Kibo. "...Though you got a hell of a West Island accent."
"...Thank you m'am?"
Toucanon didn't seem the slightest bit perturbed by Kibo's discomfort. "Where's you originally from? Vulpix too."
"That's the problem, we don't exactly know." Kibo silently gulped, as he mentally prepared himself to tell a half-truth. "We got amnesia, don't know where we're from. Joined up with Lucario's Guild to try and find out."
"Two of you are species only found in Cascia, with a Cascian accent, wanderin' around Cascia." Toucanon walked ahead of the two, into the guild. "Come with me, we'll try and get you sorted."
Kibo and Rune shared a nervous glance, before the Jangmo-o followed behind. If she was with the guild, then she'd have to be somewhat trustworthy, right?
Rune didn't quite agree. But right now, the only thing worse than blindly following a random Toucannon is separating herself from yet another teammate. So despite her concern about literally every part of Zar's plan, she tailed behind Kibo.
The interior of Golisopod's Guild was just as interesting and unique as the exterior. Which was to say it barely resembled a guild hall, save for the mission boards planted in the dirt floor at the corner of the tent.
Toucanon continued her walk forwards, stepping through a flap of fabric that concealed a smaller room within the tent. At the center of this room was Golisopod, who was writing something at his desk.
After knowing Lucario for so long and having seen Hydreigon, it felt really weird to Rune to see a guildmaster actually doing paperwork for their guild.
"Guildmaster," Toucannon called, pulling Golisopod out from whatever document he was working on. "Got a puzzle here. These two say they got amnesia, don't remember a thing and got West Island accents."
Golisopod slowly examined Rune and Kibo. Kibo forced himself to look Golisopod in the eyes, while Rune kept her gaze firmly on the ground.
"Lucario's Guild," Golisopod said at last, breaking the silence. "…What do y'all remember?"
Kibo gulped, praying that this lie wouldn't have to go too much deeper. "Well I woke up out around Nova Town, helped the sheriff arrest a ground type, and worked with the department till I joined the guild."
Golisopod shifted his gaze over to Rune. "And you?"
"She's a similar story," Kibo explained, stepping in for Rune. "Some uh… explorers had to rescue her from a mountain near Nova Town. Didn't remember a thing."
"Was I askin' you?" Golisopod glared at Kibo, forcing the dragon type to back off. "Vulpix, you remember anythin'?"
Rune forced her gaze upwards. The bug type looked much more intimidating now that he was towering over them.
"I'm sorry sir, she has a hard time talking to strangers." Kibo stood up, speaking in a much more even tone. "We've known each other since we woke up, more or less. Anything you'd wanna ask her I'd probably know."
Golisopod looked between the two. Kibo was standing firm, returning Golisopod's gaze, while Rune was slowly nodding. "...Y'all take a tent for tonight. We'll see what we can do tomorrow."
Just as soon as they entered, Toucannon ushered them out and to an empty tent attached to the guild.
"Guildmaster's interested," she explained. "You twos gonna stay here tonight, we'll get ya tomorrow morning."
Before either of them could ask any questions, Toucannon vanished, leaving the two moderately bewildered former humans on their own.
"…Thanks for that," Rune whispered.
"I was terrified," Kibo admitted, his voice shaking slightly. "You see how big he was?"
"At least we're not on his bad side." Though they had a tent to themselves, Rune doubted she'd be getting much sleep tonight.
As the moon began to rise over the tropical island, the Prince took a slow sip from a brightly colored drink at his side.
He idly watched the waves break against the beach a short distance ahead of him, enjoying the solitude of the beach at night. Just a few hours ago, it would have been packed with tourists, shouting and splashing and being a general nuisance. Now it was just him and a few feral Pikipek flying overhead.
His sense of peace was disturbed by the sound of footsteps crunching against the sand behind him. He immediately looked to the source, ready to get away as soon as possible if it was someone he recognized and didn't want to deal with.
The first thing he noticed was that it was, in fact, two Pokémon— one was walking, while the other seemed to be floating off the ground.
He recognized the one who was walking as an Absol. And while he knows that there are more than one Absol in Varin, he found it very unlikely that it would be anyone else.
The second Pokémon was completely foreign to him. It was pink with a vaguely humanoid shape, though it featured a large purple tail that somewhat reminded him of-
Oh.
The Prince took a deep breath, considering what to do here. They haven't seen the Umbreon yet. It's not too late for him to fire up his Midnight Gem and get away from here and whatever they're talking about. He could act like he did not see anything, and simply enjoy his vacation independent of the nonsense that the conversation was certain to bring.
Alternatively, he could break his self-imposed isolation to inform one of the others that Absol is here, alongside a Pokémon that bears a suspicious resemblance to Zar's true form. This way, he would have done his part as a "team player", then can wipe his hands of it and go back to his vacation.
But simply telling them a mystery Pokémon is on the island is hardly valuable information. And with the way the moonlight was shining down, the two of them were casting a rather large shadow on the ground. With the gem, he could follow them without either of them knowing and listen in on their conversation.
He took a deep breath and came to a decision. He was not going to involve himself in any nonsense this week. Listening in and reporting what he heard to Blizz is not technically involving himself.
He dipped into the shadow of the chair he was sitting on, merging with the shadow of Absol.
"And Hydreigon is completely secure?" The mystery Pokémon asked.
"He's been placed in a maximum security cell within Nova Town," Absol answered. "To say nothing of the fact that he had transformed himself into a husk."
"I see… And what of the young Yveltal?"
"I am working with Lucario and Scizor to identify a new guardian, though he continues to only propose Pokémon from the human group."
"Hmm… I agree we should not take the chance on any of them until we are certain the crisis is over and that they will remain."
Absol stopped walking, looking down at his paws. "And we are certain the crisis is still ongoing?"
"If Calyrex's word is to be believed."
"Yet I have not felt any impending disasters around Nova Town or Tenea City since Hydreigon's arrest."
The unknown Pokémon turned to look at Absol. "…Does that imply you have felt something since our arrival here?"
"Yes, though it is not the same magnitude I've felt before. Certainly not the apocalyptic crisis that the humans were sent to solve. It is more like…" He froze mid-step, starting to piece things together. "As we were sailing over, you did not sense anyone's presence, correct?"
The Pokémon nodded. "I did not detect the psychic signature of anyone aside from ferals."
"…Is it possible that you cannot detect the humans, due to their unique circumstances?"
He shook his head resolutely. "With the exception of Umbreon and Zorua, there is nothing unique about the humans that would allow them to evade my detection. And as I understand it those are not the two who would cause your sense for imminent disaster to go off."
"That…. Yes, I am mostly concerned with Treecko."
"Then let me assure you, there is no way that I would fail to detect an individual like Blizz while we were in transit."
The Prince scowled from his metaphysical form. Whoever this Pokémon was, Absol seemed comfortable sharing all of their personal details with him. While Blizz was not particularly inclined to keep his true name a secret, the Prince knew for a fact that Blizz never shared that with Absol directly.
There was also the secondary point that the Pokémon seemed to prefer using true names over species, though that didn't seem quite as critical for the time being.
Completely unaware of the Prince's silent contempt, Absol continued on. "Hmm… I understand, though it is odd that the feeling is near-identical."
The Pokémon brought a hand to his chin. "It is possible that they are in fact here, and simply arrived before us."
Absol shook his head. "I doubt it, they would have had to take the ferry, which has been running infamously behind schedule as of late. If you believe they are not in the vicinity, then I will trust you."
"In any case, the feeling of an imminent disaster is a cause for concern, regardless of the source. If you need any assistance, do not hesitate to ask."
"I am grateful, though I wouldn't want to further worsen your relations with the other legendaries."
The now-identified-as-a-legendary Pokémon looked up at the sky. "I appreciate your concern. However, most of the others have placed their scrutiny onto Mew, who is still missing. So long as their focus is elsewhere, I will be able to evade their detection if it is needed."
"Let us hope it doesn't come to that," Absol concluded.
"Agreed. Shall we reconvene tomorrow?"
"That would be preferable."
The Pokémon nodded, before floating back some distance away from Absol. "Then we shall see each other then."
With a flash of purple light, the Pokémon vanished, leaving Absol and the invisible Prince behind.
"…He needs to stop allowing himself to be treated as a doormat," Absol muttered to himself, before continuing on his way.
A/N: Here we are again. Because FFN is annoying, I couldn't include the full chapter title in the actual chapter title, which is way it's up at the start of the chapter.
Once again, still behind on writing, so the 3 week gaps will continue.
Ch 28: Take a Chance on Me - 9/3/22