.20

"Kecleon's was completely sold out of everything last week, I've never seen that happen before. Pokemon are buying in bulk and stockpiling everything, we can't get the materials we need to keep our bakery open. Law enforcement is completely gone after the Guild collapsed. The shop across the street from us was just robbed, and no-mon was able to do a thing about it. That could be us next time. It's getting bad."

~ Citizen of Baram Town

~\({O})/~

18.

Revelation Mountain

~\({O})/~

Capim Town ~ Grass Continent

~Quilava~

Capim Town was only a poor village on a poor continent, even if Quilava had come to call it home in the years he had lived there. He had spent almost ten years in that village, and in all that time the explorer who had visited three days ago was the first off-continent visitor they had had in a year.

So Quilava didn't understand why 'mon from Mist had come here.

The Demetrius and the Gardevoir—Mechanical machinations created by the pokemon on Mist—both stood proudly in the waters off the bay of Capim Town, and the beaches had been blocked off by pokemon who had come out of those ships. All the villagers had flocked to the cliffs off the side of the bay to get a good look (there was a fletchling taking discreet rounds every so often and filling everymon in on what was happening), but Quilava preferred to stay in the town, far away from whatever was happening on the beach.

Were they allowed to fence off the beach? Quilava had no clue. But it wasn't like there was anymon in their village strong enough to stop them.

He could still see the ships from in town—that was how large they were. He turned away from them and began to stroll further inland. Maybe he'd go hunt something to make up for that long-lost fish. Everymon was up on the cliffs, so he wouldn't have any competition. Bison meat sold for a lot; the Kecleons were always willing to buy them for good money. Scoring himself some meat for his rumbling belly and a good purse-full of poke on the side sounded like a plan—

"'Ey, Quilava!"

Quilava looked to the left, although he didn't need to to recognize that voice—it was Duskull, the town crier.

"Quilava!" Duskull yelled. "the others sent me! They said there's somethin' you should see!"

"Ain't in tha mood. Leave me alone." Quilava began to walk towards the town exit and awau from Duskull. He was going to go hunt a bison to make up for that fishing incident last week. Yeah, that sounded good. The butcher would pay something hefty for a large cut of meat.

"It's abou' the thing that caught you while you wen' fishin' last week!" Duskull yelled back at him.

"I don't wanna see it," Quilava said.

"I really think ya should!" Duskull yelled.

"Wha's so important that ah have to come up there an' see it?" Quilava groaned, turning around.

"It's Lugia."

Quilava was silent for a moment. He could not believe the words that came out of Duskull's mouth. Lugia? The creature that moved the storms at its very whim? That was an old sea myth! And Duskull expected him to believe that Lugia had crashed into the ocean and nearly swept him out to sea?

Well, what did he have to lose? If the whole town was there, perhaps it was worth taking a look after all. At worst, Duskull was in for a good thrashing.

"…Alrigh'. Show me." Quilava turned around, waiting in place expectantly. Duskull wasted no time turning around and heading back up the hill.

"I's this way!" he called back. Quilava had to take the bridges there instead of floating like Duskull did, but he had a general idea of where Duskull was going. Reluctantly, he followed.

The cliffs off the coast offered a much better view of the ships than Quilava could have gotten from in town. All of Capim Town was currently gathered at the edge, looking over at the ships parked below. Quilava marched up to join them, led by Duskull.

"He's here, he's here!" Duskull announced excitedly, doing a spin in the air as the others turned around to look at Quilava.

A fletchling perched on a tree branch, leaning forward and whispering something into the head zangoose at the very edge of the cliff. Zangoose nodded wordlessly, and then Fletchling flew off.

Quilava marched up to the edge of the cliff, and looked over at the ships. If he was going to be all the way out here, then he might as well make it worth his time. Sure enough, he spotted something being hoisted up between the two ships. Something that did look a lot like…

But that was ridiculous. There was no way that was Lugia.

But it was.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village

~Espurr~

Slowly coming to. A loud rattling noise jarred Espurr out of her slumber. She sat up in a jolt, looking around wildly, trying to piece together what was making that noise. Her vision sharpened and adjusted to the night, eyes settling on the bookcase.

And just like that, the hauntings began again.

The room had gone silent, and the bookcase was still. Espurr silently stood, weary joints and muscles complaining. She ignored it, scanning the room for that dark figure again. Pancham's tale wandered through her head briefly, as it had for the past week. The ghost she kept seeing in her room… it was dumb. She shouldn't be putting stock in ghost stories, especially ones from Pancham. But even so, she remembered what Watchog had muttered about ghosts back at the school. Could it be… a crooked 'mon?

Whatever it was, it seemed to be gone now. Only the thin drapes that swayed like ghosts with the breeze outside moved. Falling back on her rump in the straw bed, Espurr rubbed her eyes and let out a yawn. A loud sound made her jolt again, jumping to her feet at the unexpected noise and casting her eyes to the bookcase.

It was violently rattling, shaking in place and creating loud noises just like the dresser had before. That was the last straw. Espurr was tired of this. Crooked 'mon or not, maybe she could locate it and just boot it out instead. Taking a breath and drowning out the rattling, she closed her eyes and let her sixth sense take over.

She couldn't see with it. Not the way she could with her eyes. But she could feel. Reaching out with her sixth sense was like seeing the world through touch, touch that painted more and more of its surroundings as it went. And she could feel right away that there was something in this room with her. It shone brightly in her mind's eye, allowing her to locate it and let her mind's grasp close around the entity. And then she yanked.

It yanked back, but Espurr was prepared for that. She didn't let go. She pulled back. And slowly, from behind the shelf, she extracted with her mind's grip a single lone blue flame. It hovered in the air statically for a second, desperately trying to escape Espurr's psychic pull in whichever direction it could. Espurr was able to keep it in place for only a few seconds before she lost her grip and it zoomed out the window, flying right through the drapes.

Espurr ran up to the window, pushed apart the thin curtains, and watched it go. By the time she spied it, it was just about gone. She saw it fly down the square's south exit and disappear from view. The flame seemed familiar to her, like she'd seen it somewhere before. But where… ?

The adrenaline left her soon after the excitement did, and she began to feel weary again. Unable to put her paw on where she'd seen the flame, Espurr retreated to her bed and curled up in it again. The thought crossed her mind: What if it came back? But her mind grew foggier and foggier as sleep claimed it once again, and soon she was out like a light.

In her dreams, something came, and only then did she realize where she had seen that flame.

~\({O})/~

The incident with the treehouse had made a lasting impression upon Espurr, Tricky, and all the others. It had been just about a week since, and none of them had gone on any adventures or dared to venture outside the bounds of Serenity Village in a while. Even Tricky was less jumpy and energetic than usual, and today she wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Audino had left early on a list of appointments, and she wouldn't be back until after the sun had gone down. That meant Espurr had the run of the house to herself, and no supervision for the day. She donned the exploration bag she'd become used to wearing, grabbed an apple on the way out, and ate it on the way down to the south side of town.

The Crooked House. That was the only place outside Espurr's dreams she had seen one of those flames before, and she intended to investigate. It was close to the hill with the big tree but not past, and near enough to town that if the beheeyem came looking, she'd be able to flee and get help before they caught her.

The house stood on its lone island, isolated from the rest of the world by nothing but a lake of water and a rickety old bridge. The ominous clouds of mist circling that island and only that island were stronger today, thicker, more powerful. They were reaching further across the lake now, tendrils that were slowly but surely snaking out over the water in all directions. Looking at it made Espurr shiver. But it wasn't like she could go back. If it was coming to her room, she needed to get to the bottom of it.

She also remembered where all—snap—most of the rotting spots were. She only snapped one board on her way across the creaking bridge, and was able to keep her balance on the tilted planks easily. They each felt like they'd break away as she stepped on them, but she stepped carefully and lightly and they held her weight.

It got colder the closer she went, an unnatural chill that felt deeply wrong when the path just behind had been so warm. It seeped into her bones and filled her with dread, made her feel cold from the inside out. It felt so strongly like she should be anywhere else, that she shouldn't go any further.

Doubt seeped into her mind. She didn't know if it was hers or from the house. How did she know she was on the right track? The mist cloaking the island veiled the outside like a blanket. It felt like a trap, waiting for her to walk in before it closed behind her.

But then her foot sank into mud instead of stepping on wood. Espurr looked down and then back at the bridge that stretched out behind her. The bridge felt longer, the coldness stronger than ever. She could still go back. A stray thought in the back of her head pushed its way to the front: she wished Tricky was with her. Some company would make her feel less afraid, and Tricky usually knew what to say to lighten the mood.

But Tricky wasn't here; Espurr was, all alone. A decision she was regretting with all her might. Maybe she could go back and find Tricky… but then she'd be too tempted not to come back. She grit her teeth, ignored the cold, and trudged forward through the mud. She'd do a brief investigation, and then be gone. Anything to get the ghosts out of her room.

Walking around the island, she nearly tripped over it again. The strange device she'd seen last time, a pair of engraved cards on some kind of smooth surface embedded in the ground. Espurr got on her paws and knees, inspecting it closely. The colors were dull, the cards made with some kind of metal and engraved with markings that looked less like writing and more like paths… for something.

Whatever they were, there was too much mud on the console for them to properly slide back and forth. That left them stuck in the middle. Espurr reached a paw forward, doing her best to clean the muck off the surface. It wasn't clean when she'd finished, but she managed to get enough off so that the cards would slide. She tried sliding them one way, but they didn't want to go that way. So, she slid them the other.

Nothing changed, but she could have sworn it got colder right there and then.

The house was the same as ever. Two stories tall and a steep attic, shingles that were falling off and a crumbling chimney. Windows that had been bashed in and boarded over, walls colored brown by the erosion of paint and clinging mud. The entire house was at a crooked slant, the foundation on one side crumbling and letting the building lean into the mud. But Espurr was quick to notice that the front doors, dirty and decrepit, were missing their boards.

She trudged closer to the porch, stopping at the porch stairs. She knew those doors were sealed up. This wasn't the first time they'd vanished. It was the most supernatural thing she'd seen of the house. Even though she didn't want to investigate, she had to.

She marched right up to the Barrow's front doors, and in the absence of knobs that had long ago fallen off, pushed against the wood. They didn't give. Espurr pressed harder, putting both paws on it. She pressed as hard as she could, and then all of the sudden the rotting wood of the doors snapped forward and she fell straight onto the Barrow's dirty entrance.

Espurr rolled to her feet as quickly as she could. The doors had broken apart! Calming her beating heart, she stared into the Barrow's depths, trying to discern something out of the darkness within. It was dark, so black that everything beyond the front doorstep seemed to disappear into a void, sealed away beyond darkness. It was quiet, an absence of sound that not only lacked it, but sucked away any sounds that went in. Espurr experimentally clapped and didn't hear an echo. Then she caught a scent. A stench, a strong one, that reminded her of something that is dead and rotting. It was stronger than it had ever been, so strong it made Espurr retch on reflex.

She stumbled away from the door, falling on her back against the porch and catching her breath in large heaves. Her trance was brokEN. The place… the place was a…

Coming here was a mistake, a big mistake. She needed to leave, now.

Stumbling down the porch doors and practically flying across the mud, Espurr was halfway across the bridge and taking hasty steps when her ears picked up the sound of somemon whistling off-key to themselves.

Nuzleaf. Espurr didn't have time to properly make her way to land and hide before Nuzleaf walked into her line of vision. Before she could do anything else, he'd already seen her.

"Hah?" she heard him exclaim. He looked angry. "What'r you doin' on there?! Get off!"

Cowed, Espurr silently did as he said. Nuzleaf grabbed her arm once her feet had touched dry land, and began to drag her off in the direction of the village, mud-caked fur and all.

"Come with me," Nuzleaf said. "We're gonna have a talk."

~\({O})/~

Village Square

Nuzleaf walked into the Village Square with Espurr in hand, who was struggling to keep up with Nuzleaf's longer legs and brisk pace. He dragged her to a portion of the square far away from the shops, and then crouched down in front of her.

"I don' wanna ever see you goin' near tha' thing again, you understan' me?" he said. "You can go into any mystery dungeon ya want, I don' care, but you stay away from tha' place. Understan' me?"

"…Fine," Espurr finally relented after half a minute of Nuzleaf giving her a look that rivaled Watchog's signature glare. She wasn't going back anyway, not after what she'd seen, but she felt indignant at being told not to go back there. Like she didn't have any sense.

"Good," Nuzleaf said, returning to his normal self in an instant. He stood up straight, and stretched. "Glad we coul' settle this peacefully."

He began to walk off, but Espurr followed.

"Wait," she said. "What's in the Ancient Barrow? And why were you over there, if it's such a bad place?"

Nuzleaf stopped. He was silent for a brief second.

"…I was checkin' something'," he said, and then he began to walk along once again. He didn't answer the first question. Espurr followed.

"I'm coming along," she said matter-of-factly.

Nuzleaf shrugged. "I won't stop ya," he said. "Just stay away from that house."

~\({O})/~

Simipour's House

"I think we've put this off long enough," Audino said, following Simipour around his small, square house as he walked. A four-directional archway at the top was all that separated the different rooms in the house from each other, leaving it open for Audino to tail Simipour wherever he went. "You weren't having these fatigue problems two weeks ago; you need a checkup."

"What use was the last checkup?" Simipour yawned, discreetly fleeing from the bedroom to the kitchen. Audino followed him. "I feel fine. I appreciate your concern, but it is wholly unneeded here."

"I insist," Audino said firmly, stepping in front of Simipour before he could leave the kitchen.

"As do I." Simipour sidestepped her and walked into the living room. He sat on the couch that was next to the window and stared at her through eyes that were barely open. "You're wasting your time."

"That may be…" Audino said, sitting right next to him with her bag. "But so are you."

Simipour shrugged stubbornly. "I am content to sit right here on this couch for the entire evening."

"Perfect. Then you'll be content to sit on that couch while I give you a checkup."

"Not in the least." Simipour gave her a frustrating smile that made it clear he was not going quietly. Audino sighed and tried to keep it from becoming a groan of frustration.

"Fine." Audino dug in her bag, pulling out a piece of paper, a swanna feather quill, and some ink. "If you can't be bothered to care about your own health, then put the minds of those who do care to rest." She scribbled something on the paper, then thrust it to him.

"I'm prescribing you a cup of lum berry tea daily. That should calm your nerves and help you sleep easier. I'll be back in a few days to see how you're doing."

Simipour yawned. "I've been sleeping just fine."

"Do it anyway, starting today. Just before bed."

And with that, Audino packed up the quill and ink, rose from the couch, and walked out the door. Simipour looked at the piece of paper in his hands. He yawned again.

It was worth a shot.

~\({O})/~

Serenity Village Outskirts

~Espurr~

Espurr followed Nuzleaf as they wandered southwards once more, with not a word exchanged in between them. When Espurr passed the Crooked House, surrounded by all that unnatural mist, she glanced at it with a shiver. Nuzleaf walked right on by, quickening his pace so that they both outstripped it quickly.

At some point, not long after they had passed the town limits, Nuzleaf suddenly veered off the path. Espurr watched as he picked up a couple of the bushes and set them aside. When she passed them, she realized they were fake. Nuzleaf took her down a hidden path that the bushes concealed, walking deeper and deeper through the foliage until a strip of green forest was between them and the path.

"Where are we going?" Espurr finally asked, once they had walked a fair bit away from the main trail. They had outstripped the trees now, and were walking on plains of mud and patches of grass that were foreign. Nuzleaf pointed above them both, at the large mountain that outclimbed all the others in the near distance.

"See tha'?" he asked. "Revelation Mountain. Tha's where we're headed."

Espurr looked up at Revelation Mountain. She had seen it several times from a distance, the larg grey peak that stretched above all the other brown ones, but never up close. It had been lost on her before just how large the mountain was. It didn't look like it was even possible to scale it in a single day.

"I haven't heard of it," Espurr settled on for her next words. It was a minute before Nuzleaf responded.

"Revelation Mountain is an ol' village tale," Nuzleaf said as they marched up the path. "Legend says there's somethin' at tha top of tha' mountain, somethin' we were never supposed to lay eyes on. So tha's why every day, one of us village 'mon stands at the base o' the mountain an' keeps guard. No-mon's ever been up there."

"Are you standing guard?" Espurr asked.

"I ain't," Nuzleaf said.

"Then what are we doing?"

"I'm gonna go see it. Wha's at tha top o' Revelation Mountain. I've been all over tha other Con'inents; left this place with a friend when I was still a child. Figure there's still one more con'inent left in me."

"Why this one last?"

"Why?" Nuzleaf shrugged. "Well, I fel' like it. I was young. I wanted to go explorin' abroad. Travelled to the Grass Con'inent, travelled to tha Mist Con'inent, travelled to tha Air Con'inent, and saw all the sigh's to see."

He pointed up at the mountain again as they walked.

"Tha' mountain—tha's my last expedition. My las' mission before I retire for good. I wanna scope ou' the area today. See wha' I need to climb it."

Eventually they reached a plateau where the ground became slightly muddy, and ahead of them was a spring. Nuzleaf bent over and took a drink from it with his hands.

"Drink. It's clean," he said. "Water 'round this mountain's always clean."

Now that Espurr thought about it, she was unquestionably parched. She silently took a drink from the spring herself too.

The mountain only got larger the closer they approached it. It was already so large that Espurr couldn't even see the peak when she looked up, and by the time that they were at the mountain's base she could only see the steep cliff that formed the lower mountain.

At some point, Nuzleaf halted, and so did Espurr.

"We're here," he whispered sharply. "Go an' hide."

Unsure of what to make of that command, Espurr hid behind a bush. Nuzleaf walked ahead, and if Espurr peeked over the leaves of the bush far enough, she could just see the bright-yellowish outline of a pokemon standing in the distance.

Hippopatas.

"Hmm?" Hippopotas turned around at the sound of somemon trudging through the muck towards her. She turned around to look at him, her eyes widening as she caught sight of him waving.

"Mornin', neighbor!" Espurr heard Nuzleaf call jovially as he walked towards her.

"Iz something ze matter?" Hippopotas asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Nothin' much," Nuzleaf said. "Only tha guardin' order got switched around. I'm today; you're tamorrow, all tha'."

Hippopotas' eyes widened.

"Vell…" she said. " I DO have important farming to do…"

"Go for i'."

Hippopotas didn't need any more encouragement than that. She happily trotted straight back down the path, and Espurr had to quickly change her position so that Hippopotas didn't notice her on the way down. Once Hippopotas was only a speck on the path back to the village, Nuzleaf ushered Espurr back out. Espurr quickly walked up the join Nuzleaf, and looked at the path that lay ahead of them both.

"Bes' ta get a head start," said Nuzleaf, and with that he began to hike up the large, steep incline that lay ahead of them. Espurr sent a brief glance back towards the path that lay behind. It would be so easy to opt out now…

But there was no point. She wouldn't get an opportunity like this again. And so she began to tentatively follow Nuzleaf along the rocky path upward instead.

~\({O})/~

The Hill With the Tree

~Tricky~

As much of a born explorer as Tricky usually was, after last week's encounter no-mon had wanted to go into a dungeon again. They'd exhausted everything to do in the village, but Espurr insisted that they couldn't go outside the village again until they were sure that the Beheeyem weren't going to come back again. She was shaken up too, but all this sitting around all day made her antsy and bored.

So after frolicking around in the woods on the path to the School Grounds, she lay on her back in the grass by the large tree on the hill, staring up into the sun through the tree's canopy. The sun was high up in the sky and shone directly over her, but the light was filtered through the tree's leaves and branches and didn't blind her nearly as much as it would have otherwise.

At least she could spy the village from here, which meant it wasn't too far from the village… right?

Voices in the distance met her ears, and she lazily looked up from her spot in the shade of the tree to see the two pokemon she wanted to see the least strolling down the path: Pancham and Shelmet.

They hadn't seen her, at least not yet. It looked like they were goofing off between themselves, laughing loudly and jabbering words Tricky didn't care to hear. Pancham was picking up rocks for his slingshot.

Tricky sighed out a puff of angry smoke and pressed herself further down into the grass. She didn't need another day out with those two—just thinking about them made her begin to heat up inside with anger. If they just passed her without knowing she was there at all, then she could go back to forgetting they existed and her day could be good again.

It was too late. She stuck out like a sore paw amongst all the dark green shrubbery and flowers; Pancham and Shelmet spotted her almost immediately.

"Hey, look, it's the troublemaker!"

Pancham and Shelmet jeered at her from a distance. Tricky tried to blot it out. She was seething, barely keeping it together. Why couldn't they just leave her alone?

A pebble whizzed high over her head and thwacked against the tree branch. Tricky had to look once that happened. Pancham and Shelmet waved at her from below on the path.

"Hey!" Pancham called. "We're over here, loser!"

That was it. Tricky leapt up from her spot amongst the grass, sped over to Pancham and Shelmet, and before either of them could even register that she was charging towards them she had already bowled Pancham over and pinned him to the ground.

Pancham looked up at her with a sudden shock in his eyes that she hadn't seen in ever. He didn't even try to push her off. Good. She wanted him to feel shock. Behind her, Shelmet angrily yelled something in his high, almost squeaky voice, but she didn't hear it.

"Say you're sorry," she spat in Pancham's face with all the vitriol she could muster.

"For what?" Pancham frantically asked, like he was innocent. "All I did was shoot a ro—"

"For all of it!" Tricky snapped. "You tied me up in a tree and hit me with rocks! You tricked me and Espurr so you could laugh at us later! You're mean all the time!" With each accusation, she pressed her paws further into Pancham's chest and leaned in further. "And now you're just hanging out with everymon like nothing's wrong?"

Pancham seemed to regain some of his former wit just long enough to respond. "You're saying I can't hang out with pokemon if I wa—"

"No!" Tricky yelled in his face. "I'm not letting you walk away. Apologize!"

Pancham didn't say anything, but the insulted look he had on his face spoke volumes.

"Do it!" Tricky growled. "Or I'll roast your face off."

Shelmet, who had been sitting frozen where he was the entire time, finally mustered up the courage to say something.

"Get off him!" he cried, inching forward with his shell, but a single look of Tricky' bared teeth stopped him in his tracks.

"And you too!" Tricky said. "You just help out whenever he's being mean! You're no better!"

Shelmet couldn't meet Tricky's eyes, but stayed silent the same as Pancham.

"You're both bullies!" Tricky accused. "You're mean, gross, dumb pokemon who like to torment others for fun! And you better apologize now. Both of you."

"Alright, sorry," Pancham said, in the most dismissive tone that suggested he was not sorry at all. "Now get off of me, loser."

Tricky's eyes narrowed. Pancham's widened—

Tricky put every ounce of anger, vitriol, and hate she had into her next attack, and spewed a torrent of red-hot flame into Pancham's face for an entire five seconds. Pancham knocked Tricky off of him, getting up to his feet and immediately turning tail. He scurried off without Shelmet towards the village, hiding his face with his paws. She even heard him sobbing as he went.

With Pancham gone Tricky turned back to Shelmet, who immediately looked frightened.

"S-sorry," he muttered in a voice meeker than Goomy's, and hopped off as fast as he could in the direction Pancham had gone.

Tricky watched the both of them go, neither of them daring to look back at her as they ran.

Somehow, her victory felt hollow.

~\({O})/~

The Demetrius

~Ninetales~

The statue had been stored on the Gardevoir, because there was more storage room on the Gardevoir then there was on the Demetrius. The Gardevoir was making a quick return journey to Mist to drop off the statue, where it could later be transferred to Cloud Nine for further inspection, but the Demetrius—and everymon aboard it—had stayed behind to comb the bay off Grass and search for any more anomalies of the same vein. Ninetales had stayed behind with them. He knew he was needed to sign a thousand sheets of paperwork back on Cloud Nine, but paperwork ground him down and the Demetrius was his personal ship anyway. A day on the high sea might take some of the stress off before he had to return to his real work.

Something tapped Ninetales on the shoulder. He quickly glanced to the left to see what it was , but there was nothing there. Or something had been there. Ninetales inwardly smirked. He knew this game. A tap came from his right shoulder. Ninetales turned his head to look right, then whipped it left at the last second—

—He was promptly half-tackled to the deck by a sylveon. Barely stopping them both from tumbling over the deck of the ship with his tails, the two pokemon lovingly nuzzled one another.

"I thought you were supervising the Gardevoir," Ninetales chuffed once they had finished.

"And I thought you were going to do paperwork," Sparkleglimmer purred back.

"I won't talk about the paperwork if you don't talk about the Gardevoir."

"Deal."

"Ah… excuse me?"

Both Ninetales and Sparkleglimmer looked up from their nuzzling. A lone phanphy sat in front of them; looking almost a bit flustered.

"Yes?" Ninetales asked before Sparkleglimmer could scare him off. He knew she had a short temper.

"I thought you should know…" the phanphy began uncomfortably, flapping its ears in nervousness. "We found another one."

The chains of the pulley creaked, jangled, and ever-so-slowly rose. A few pokemon in the water gave the go-head, and the pokemon pulling the chains up on-deck gave it another heave. Ninetales and Sparkleglimmer followed the phanphy onto the rear deck of the ship, where another statue had been half-pulled out of the water.

It was Rayquaza. Ninetales' heart sank. This statue of Rayquaza had the same horrified expression upon its face that the statue of Lugia had had, and after hearing about what had happened in Pokemon Plaza Ninetales was loath to believe that this was somemon's idea of a large-scale joke.

Sparkleglimmer didn't have the same reaction as Ninetales, but she hadn't lived as long as he had. Most pokemon hadn't. Ninetales had even talked to Rayquaza once, purely by chance one day when the legendary had decided to take a rest break on Mt. Freeze. He was a bit too proud, but he had a cultured sense of literature (he hoarded old human books) and was a fairly decent pokemon, as long as you earned his respect first and didn't insult him in any way, shape, or form. Seeing him like this hurt Ninetales more than anymon else on that deck probably knew. He lowered his head in silent mourning.

Then he felt the sadness briefly leave him, and he glanced left to see Sparkleglimmer's feeler on his back. She had a slightly worried look on her face, so he forced himself to cheer up for her sake. Now wasn't a time for mourning anyway.

"How much storage space is available on the Demetrius?" he asked. The phanphy looked up, glad to have something to have orders to occupy its nervousness for the present time.

"The cargo holds were emptied of all but essential supplies before we set out," said Phanphy. "Approximately three of the four storage holds, sir."

Ninetales took a deep breath and nodded solemnly. That would hold Rayquaza.

"We're turning around," he announced. "Store Rayquaza in hold B and set course for the Mist Continent."

"I had paperwork I needed to do anyway," he muttered on the way out.

~\({O})/~

Revelation Mountain

Greenery ended where Revelation Mountain began. Espurr followed Nuzleaf up the hill, which quickly became a rocky mountain pathway once they were up far enough. Nuzleaf moved with a newfound energy that Espurr had never seen in him before, walking and hopping gracefully between the rocks of the pathway and shimmying away from its edges expertly. Despite having gotten faster over the last two weeks, Espurr found it hard to keep up, especially as the path got narrower and she had to take care not to fall off the cliff as they went on.

They walked for hours and barely scaled the base of the mountain. A couple of times Espurr nearly slipped and fell, but she quickly recovered herself and continued onwards. The path wasn't that steep or narrow yet.

Soon, the sun was it its highest point in the sky, and they were high enough up that the heights would have made Espurr woozy if she cared to stare at them. She was making a point of not looking down. She quickly hurried to catch up with Nuzleaf, who was briskly hiking up the trail with not even a pant of exhaustion.

She cleared her throat as they walked, trying her best to keep a respectable pace with Nuzleaf.

"It's a long climb up," she said. "I was hoping you might tell me why no-mon ever goes near the Ancient Barrow. So we don't get bored while we climb."

Nuzleaf, effortlessly hiking up the slop ahead of them, didn't spare a look back at Espurr.

"Even I don' know that," he said. "I jus' know whenever I go near tha place, I get this feelin'. Like it's evil. Like it shoul' be left well alone. Everymon jus' leaves it be for that reason. Only reason it's still standin' is 'cause no-mon's brave enough ta tear it down. No-mon wants ta look at tha place. And tha's all I know." And then he continued hiking again without a word.

Soon, Nuzleaf stopped up ahead. He stood outside the entrance of what was obviously a very large, very dangerous mystery dungeon. Espurr could see it in the little things, how the path just ahead of them looked off in all the wrong ways and the air sky seemed to ripple.

"So it's a mystery dungeon," Nuzleaf muttered to himself. He thought for a moment as Espurr studied the dungeon entrance. It was just like Poliwrath River. The place was stronge, it exuded evil; she could feel it. And this far up the mountain, if they ever got trapped in there… no wonder this place was guarded.

"…I know wha' I need now." Nuzleaf turned around. "We're goin' home."

That was a good idea. Espurr agreed.

~\({O})/~

Village Square

It was sundown by the time that Espurr and Nuzleaf walked back into the village square. Nuzleaf scratched the back of his head.

"Well…" he started. "Ah… Good run today. We'll go again next month when I have guard duty; soun' good? Maybe you can bring your fennekin friend along for tha ride too."

"Perhaps," Espurr said. If she knew Tricky, Tricky would love that.

And then they parted. Nuzleaf walked back west, and Espurr entered Audino's house. The day had been more exhausting on her than she realized, and she quickly made herself cozy with one of the few books in Audino's house that she hadn't read. Which happened to be a cookbook, but beggars couldn't be choosers.

Espurr was reading about how to properly roast different types of berries when Audino walked in the door and set her bag down next to it. She collapsed in the chair next to Espurr, letting out a prolonged breath of weariness.

"And what did you get up to today?" she asked after a minute.

"I climbed a mountain," Espurr said matter-of-factly, turning the page of her book.

Like Espurr had expected, Audino didn't even blink—much less take her seriously. "Did you now?"

"I also went ghost-hunting and explored a haunted house," said Espurr.

"Sounds like you've been having fun," Audino said. She still wasn't taking Espurr seriously. "It's been appointment after appointment for me. That principal is nearly as stubborn as his second-in-command sometimes…

"Have you been going out with your friends lately?" she asked to change the subject.

"Not much today," Espurr said. "They were all busy."

Espurr didn't know that for sure, but after yesterday she was pretty certain they hadn't been planning any get-togethers.

They sat together in silence for a while, Espurr reading and Audino silently trying to keep herself from nodding off.

"You know what, I'm too tired to cook today," Audino finally said. She got up from the chair, stretching. "Fancy a visit to Kangaskhan's?"

~\({O})/~

Café Connection

The Café Connection was the only building still lit after dark. Espurr followed Audino into the building, where the sudden change in lighting temporarily blinded her. She had only been in the building once before, and never at night. It was mostly quiet, but there were still enough pokemon in the diner for there to be an audible amount of noise in the background at all times. Audino walked up to the counter and took a seat, bidding Espurr to do the same. It was only once she had sat down that she noticed Watchog.

Audino noticed as well. Silently, she edged Espurr over and attempted to sit a little farther away from him. Watchog looked at them, taking a sip of his drink.

"What?" he asked flatly. "Got a problem with me?"

Audino didn't answer that.

"Your problem." Watchog took another swig from his drink. Audino took a deep breath.

"How's guarding the school been?" she asked with veiled politeness.

"Painful," said Watchog. "I've been seeing things around the grounds since day one. Blue flames. Couple of days ago somemon broke into the library. I think there's a thief in the village. And mark my words, next time they show up I'll be ready for them."

He punctuated his statement with another swig of the drink. Audino fell silent after that, but the tension between them was beginning to draw purple scribbles all over Espurr's brain. It was suffocating. She got down from the stool, unwilling to be stuck next to the two teachers any longer.

"I'll be back soon," she said, before Audino could open her mouth. "I just want some fresh air."

Espurr walked down the restaurant's aisle, looking around idly as she went. She didn't recognize any of the customers around, nor did they pay attention to her.

"Hey!"

Espurr spun around at the sound of the high-pitched noise. Usaring waved animatedly at her from a nearby table, pieces of food stuck in between her claws.

"Uncle—" she began, referencing a larger, gruffer ursaring with darker fur. "This is one of the pokemon who helped me evolve in that dungeon the other day! Say hi!"

Uncle frowned, an eternal look of apparent displeasure on his face. He stared at Espurr flatly.

"Uncle," Usaring urged with a grin, elbowing Uncle a little. "Say hi."

There was a moment of silence. Uncle grunted at Espurr, then returned to his meal. Usaring laughed it off immediately after.

"He's like that with strangers a lot. Anyway, it's nice to see you! And thanks for the other day! I hope that toothpaste came in handy—"

Ursaring clamped her claws over her mouth immediately after saying that. She glanced at Uncle to see if he had caught that or not. Uncle simply let out a sigh, something between disapproval and defeat.

"It'll come in handy at some point," Espurr said, blanching nervously before Uncle's demeanor. Stares directed in her direction always made her crack, and Uncle's looked like he was two seconds away from growling at somemon. "I was just about to get some fresh air. I'll go do that now. Bye."

With that, she scampered off in the direction she had come, heading out the café door.

"…Weird kid," Uncle said, after she had left.

Espurr walked outside the doors of the café and leaned against the wall. She let out a breath of relief, closing her eyes and rubbing her head to ease the beginnings of a headache.

"It's weird to see you out late."

For the third time that day, Espurr jumped in startlement. She looked around to see Deerling sitting nearby.

"What are you doing out here?" she asked.

Deerling snorted. "Mum doesn't care where I am, as long as I'm not holed up in my room all day. I take her up on it sometimes. What about you?"

"I live over there." Espurr pointed towards the house on the other side of the square.

"I guess you're neighbors with Pancham, then."

"And Shelmet," Espurr added.

"I'm not as interested in Shelmet."

"…So you're interested in Pancham?"

"H—" Deerling dug her front hooves into the ground in embarrassment. "You know I didn't mean it that way!"

She snorted and kicked away a pebble next to her.

"Listen," she said. "Something's been bugging me about the sleepover last week, and I wanted to ask about it. Sorry if this sounds weird, but… that 'mon in the story you told. Was she you?"

Espurr's blood drained.

"…What if she was?" was all she was able to muster for a response.

"Is that a yes?" Deerling asked, undeterred. Espurr was cornered, and she knew it. If she said nothing or made up an excuse to leave, it'd look suspicious, but she'd waited too long to be able to pass it off with a 'no'.

"Maybe," Espurr finally settled on. She didn't see the point of hiding it much longer. "How did you figure it out?"

"Helps that I don't actually know anything about you before you turned up with Tricky last week of school. And those 'mon that attacked us. The beheewhatever. Those were also—"

"Yes," Espurr cut in. "They weren't supposed to get this close to the village, I don't know how they found me."

In hindsight, it was an inevitability that the beheeyem were going to find their way here. The chilling realization was setting in that Espurr didn't have any plan of action for when that happened.

"So you've been keeping a lot of secrets from us," Deerling said. That made a sudden wave of indignation rise up in Espurr.

"Who said it was your business to know my secrets?" Espurr asked, unable to keep a tone of anger from leaping into her voice. "My past belongs to me."

Except it didn't. She'd like it back right about now, please and thanks.

"Listen," Deerling said again, and this time her voice lowered down to a growl. "I don't know what's going on, and frankly I don't care." She jutted a hoof into Espurr's chest fluff. "But keep it far away from us."

"I don't think I can promise that," Espurr said, trying to look unperturbed.

"Why. Not."

"Because I don't know what's going on either."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Deerling hopped to her feet, glaring angrily at Espurr. "Just like you 'didn't know' about the beheeyem?"

"Those beheeyem are after me and that's all I know," Espurr swiftly retorted, taking a graceful step back. And you're supposed to be a fabled savior of the world, which means that somehow, this world needs saving. Espurr left that part out. "They're after me, and only me. If I tell pokemon, who says they won't come after you too?"

Deerling's rage was palpable enough that Espurr could swipe at it with her paws. But Deerling looked to the side anyway, and twinges of doubt among the red eating at the corners of Espurr's vision told her that Deerling knew she had a point.

"Urrgh…" Deerling collapsed on her haunches with a defeated growl. "I wish we could go back to before the last two weeks ever happened."

"Well, we're here anyway," Espurr said. "There's no point running."

"So what are you going to do when those beheeyem things come around again?" Deerling asked. "And I'd better hear you have a plan, because I'm not going to be the one saving everymon's tails if you get caught."

Espurr didn't have gabite's exploration bag with her, but she knew its contents by heart. At the least, she had something to defend herself with if it came to that.

"I'll come up with something," Espurr said.

Deerling looked like the next words she was about to say were knives on her tongue. "And… you'd better tell Tricky too. You two hang out often, she deserves to know."

Espurr nodded. She hadn't seen Tricky today… she'd say something tomorrow.

Deerling got up and walked around Espurr, heading to the south.

"Have a good night," she said bluntly in passing. Espurr watched her go, then leaned against the wall of the café. She stared up at the night sky, looking at the sliver of a crescent that was the moon. It was a little brighter than she remembered it being.

A plan…

~\({O})/~

Cloud Nine

~Sparkleglimmer~

Lightning flashed, but it was half a minute before thunder crashed. Sparkleglimmer didn't like the look of the clouds on the horizon. She knew it was only a storm—Cloud Nine had weathered many storms before—but something about that storm unnerved her. There wasn't much that could unnerve her. Turning her gaze from the window that offered a front-row view of the dark, building clouds, she picked up the rest of the paperwork Ninetales was supposed to sign tonight with her bottom ribbons and used the top ones to shut the door of Ninetales' office behind her as she walked out.

It was a Sunday, and many of the facilities on Cloud Nine were closed, which left the place completely deserted. There would be no-mon hurry-scurrying around (at least, not above deck), so Ninetales had wanted to do his paperwork in the frigid cold sea air. When Sparkleglimmer had asked why he never used his office anymore, he said working outside reminded him of Mt. Freeze.

She walked across the large park that made up the massive front deck of Cloud Nine, where Ninetales lounged near the edges of the deck. How all this greenery reminded him of that barren old mountain, she would never know. His ears twitched as she approached him from behind, and that was how she knew that he knew she was there.

"You forgot these," she whispered in his ear, neatly setting the paperwork beside him. Ninetales was busy reading through a ledger of documents he had probably been putting off for weeks, but he hummed in acknowledgement to let her know he was listening. Sparkleglimmer took a seat beside him, looking at the storm system that loomed in front of them. Lightning flashed. Thunder crashed a little sooner this time.

"I don't like how that storm looks," Sparkleglimmer said. "I think we should go inside. You wouldn't want to get caught in that with all your paperwork."

Ninetales looked up from the ledger he was almost done reading through, glancing at the clouds dismissively.

"It's nothing but a storm," he said. "We would get blizzards ten times worse on Mt. Freeze in the winter."

There were times when Sparkleglimmer almost wanted to club Ninetales over the head with something, and this was one of them. Did he not understand that you couldn't just sit in a thunderstorm and do paperwork like nothing was happening? Ninetales turned back to his ledger, and it was clear that his mind was made up. Sparkleglimmer glanced at the storm ahead. She heard the thunder crash almost simultaneously with the lightning.

Sparkleglimmer took a deep breath, then discreetly planted her feeler on Ninetales' back. The air began to hum, and a few black sparks flickered around the tip of her ribbon. Before Ninetales even had a clue of what was happening a sense of calm spread through him, and the normally astute look on his face became dazed. In the state of calm that Sparkleglimmer had him in, he'd be more susceptible to suggestion. Sparkleglimmer didn't like to do it in public if she could help it, but the situation called for it.

"This storm is awful," she breathed in his ear. "You want to get inside before you're caught in it."

Ninetales slowly nodded. She removed her feeler, and slowly Ninetales began to return to his normal state of mind. But the suggestion was still there. Nine times out of ten he would follow it.

True to her predictions, Ninetales stood up, gently picking up the paperwork with his mouth. He began to trot off towards the central government building in the distance, his tails lazily swishing behind him as he went. A few sheets of paperwork still lay on the ground in front of Sparkleglimmer. Sparkleglimmer sighed. For somemon who claimed to have a good memory, he was very forgetful.

Thunder crashed. Sparkleglimmer didn't see the lightning, but the sound of the thunder kicked her into gear. She picked up the sheets of paperwork Ninetales had left behind in her ribbons, then walked after him into the building.

The telltale whir of the engines under the deck began to start up once again, and within seconds the airspace around Cloud Nine had a slight sheen to it. Sparkleglimmer glanced out the window as they passed it. The protection fields had been raised. That meant the storm was too close for comfort. Or, it meant that they'd be going through it. Knowing the muk-head who was in charge of steering this thing, probably the second one.

After Sparkleglimmer's intervention, Ninetales had been more than happy to finish the paperwork in his office. And it was just as well, because the storm raging outside was severe beyond belief. Even from here, Sparkleglimmer could hear the howling of the wind and the telltale crash of thunder from outside. She couldn't help but glance out the window at the storm, as if seeing what was happening instead of just hearing it would help her feel better about it.

The outside was pitch-black, illuminated for only a second at a time by flashes of lightning. She could see countless black flakes of dust swirling around in the clouds, like debris picked up from a dust storm.

"It's only a storm," Ninetales muttered from his desk. "Only a storm."

Whether that was meant for her or himself, Sparkleglimmer would probably never know.

She turned her attention back towards the window, her ears zoning in on the howling of the wind. It no longer sounded like just wind to her. It sounded like there was something in the storm, shrieking and howling in the background. Because surely that high-pitched scream that had just reverberated through the clouds wasn't the wind whistling through something.

"Only a storm…" Ninetales muttered to himself.

Thunder crashed again. Sparkleglimmer didn't see the lightning. She didn't want to anymore.

~\({O})/~

Audino's House

~Espurr~

Slowly coming to. Espurr awoke in her straw bed, gazing up at the roof of her bedroom. It must have been the middle of the night, because the room was as dark as ever, and Espurr could barely see a thing.

…Wait. That wasn't right. It was never this dark at night. There was always some moonlight filtering in—hadn't the moon been especially bright tonight?—or at least the glow of the luminous moss streetlamps outside to offset some of the darkness. This darkness was like being trapped in a box. Something was wrong.

And so, using her knowledge of the room's layout to navigate, Espurr headed for the window to see what had happened to all the light. Gazing out through the window's crossbars, she saw nothing but more blackness. Impossible blackness. Darker than the doors of the Ancient Barrow, darker than the night sky, blackness that she had only seen in one place before.

And then it all clicked for Espurr. This blackness was familiar to her. She knew where she was. And that meant…

At Espurr's will the walls of her bedroom began to crumble away, disintegrating into nothingness until she was left standing in the middle of the blackness.

This was the Dream. It was back.

They came. The voices, whispering all around her, spinning up into a massive vortex that towered over her and was somehow blacker than the blackness itself.

And then the louder voice, the one that had been taunting Espurr every time she had entered the dreamscape, spoke in its cacophony of raspy howls:

…Hello.

~\({O})/~

Music of the week!

A Quiet Life - Marco Beltrami