Panne blinked at the hillside. Behind her was a forest of birch trees without end, and above, an impenetrable cover of dark thunderheads. Chilling gusts brushed past her ears and made the leaves shiver with dread. The heaviest of stones had come to rest inside of her stomach. For whatever reason, the Braixen started to trudge up the grassy slope, driven by curiosity alone.
As she drew towards the top, the wind started to taste of salt, and she heard the infinite crash of waves against a shore. What had originally seemed like peak of the hill abruptly fell away right after the zenith. A sheer cliff came into existence, and at the very bottom was a sloshing pit of jagged spires and uneasy ocean. Vertigo gripped Panne so tightly that she got down on all fours just to make absolutely certain there was no chance she'd slip. Apart from the drop, the cliff continued on for another half-mile on either side before curving inland, but the sea sprawled until the very ends of the horizon.
There was something directly above the ocean ahead of her, obscured among the bottoms of mountainous clouds. The longer she stared at the shape, the more it seemed to shift and grow, and the blacker it became. It started to bleed into the horizon and infect the sky near it, casting shadows over the turbulent waves directly below. Before she could tell what was happening, a deafening gale slammed into her.
The Braixen scrambled to her feet and away from the ledge. She squinted against the wind as it whipped at her eyes, unable to look away from the unfolding nightmare. It was as if the storm was about to charge her like a living beast. Panne twisted around and prepared to run for the treeline, but the ghosts of visions passed in front of her eyes and grounded her feet. Swathes of trees ripped up by the roots, torn away by some impossibly powerful force and obliterated absolutely. When she blinked, the forest was still there, though bending feverishly in the wind.
This was an illusion. It was a dream. There had to be a way out. Panne squeezed her eyelids tight and grasped for anything that would connect her with the outside world. An uncomfortable crease in the sheets, the warmth of the covers-Anything! Even still, the grass scraped at her ankles with a disturbing realism. She looked back out at the imaginary ocean and found that the black clouds were very nearly upon her. A mere minute had passed and she could already see water vapors rushing up to meet the birth of vortexes.
Maybe there was a way out in the battered rocks that laid below? All it would take was a single step. If this really was a dream, she would surely wake up after something like that. The longer the Braixen glared down at the sharp spires, the further and further that idea seemed to become, up until she finally collapsed backwards and clutched her chest. She didn't want to die.
A fog of hail descended from the storm like a curtain. She looked to the forest, but those flimsy branches wouldn't do anything to shelter her. She looked to the cliff, yet her instincts pulled her back for fear that she might try to jump again. There was nowhere to hide, and the clouds had crossed miles in seconds. The waves below had become enormous that she could feel tremors as they slammed into the side of the cliff. Even the wind roared like it was the living embodiment of wrath. Thunder rolled in the distance without source, and what little lightning she could see was somehow swallowed by the density of the pitch darkness.
When the water began to rise, it rose fast. The spires were submerged in the span of second. Panne was forced to look away when the rain started to pelt at her. She withdrew from the edge and covered the back of her head with her hands, but the hail cared little and pummeled away. Whimpers of pain turned to screams of agony once the shards of ice grew even larger. All the while, the gale tried its hardest to lift her off the ground and carry her away. It was so cold that the sensation wrapped back around into burning.
There was screaming. More voices than her own, like the world was being drowned all at the same time. She could see it in the back of her tightened eyelids-friends and family alike swept away by a tsunami as black as night. Cities torn from the foundations. Homes buried underneath an icy tide and erased from existence. Wails of grief and fear scraped the insides of her skull. Then, one by one, the voices died out until it was only her own. There was nothing left. The world was over.
The waters suddenly rushed in from all sides. Panne screamed and scrambled to an unstable stand, sputtering on an involuntary gulp of the vile liquid that had tried to sneak down her throat. Her feet felt like they were being dissolved in some sort of icy acid, and it just continued to rise and rise until the waves lapped maliciously at her waist. The current got stronger and her numbed foothold got weaker. Misery was one with gravity. Tears were one with the saltwater. In the abyss she of sky of anguished faces and death. The ground beneath her feet finally weakened and gave way. Her mouth was wide open as the ocean swallowed her whole.
The Braixen shot up and started to choke, mistaking her own saliva for a part of the dream. Her leaking eyes adjusted to what little light filtered in through the window, which had been slammed with a flurry of raindrops as the summer weather took a turn for the worse. The heavy clouds strangled the morning light and cast a gloomy shadow over everything in the room. Gasping for breath and gripping her chest, she twisted around and saw Vallion was still sound asleep, curled up into a peaceful little coil. His nose was clear and his face was calm, untouched by the Spiritomb. She would have sighed with relief, but the residual panic made it difficult to feel anything but paranoid. Ironically, he would have loved this stormy weather otherwise.
She extended a hand to place on his forehead just to make sure he was okay, but froze up in the middle of the movement. The conflict in her head left her arm floating in the air for half a minute until she finally forced herself to finish the motion and placed her palm on the curve of his nose. Vallion didn't even twitch. A pang of bravery urged her to drag her fingers across his face, stopping just past the delicate curve of his cheek. It was such a satisfying gesture that she only wanted more afterwards. But she had to pull away. She would always have to pull away now.
Panne touched her feet to the cold floor and stood up. With one last careful glance out the rain-streaked glass, just to make absolutely doubly sure, she tiptoed to the curtain and pressed out into the hall. The gloom was definitely not limited to just her own room. The entire compound was utterly dim despite the hour, filled mostly with the glow of the dim orange lamps that lined the top corners of the walls. Even the main chamber, which was usually the brightest part of the entire building, reflected only the blurred image of the clouds off its vast floor. It wasn't helped by the fact that there was still nobody around. Actually, now that she was thinking about it, where was everybody? Shouldn't there have been a morning assembly? Did she miss it?
Not a single soul could be seen as the Braixen passed underneath the skylight. Maybe there just wasn't one today. Most of the Society was still stuck off-continent, and now they'd probably be stuck even longer now that there was a storm looming over the ports. Much to her comfort, things got much less lonely when she eventually passed into the cafeteria. Swirlix hadn't even bothered to turn the lights on for breakfast. Archeops allowed his head to droop dangerously close to his food as he held some seemingly dreary conversation with Floatzel. Jirachi had fallen back asleep on the corner of the bench while Kadabra listlessly picked at her food. Ampharos and Mawile weren't present, but they usually preferred to eat breakfast in their rooms, anyway.
Panne just didn't have the energy to be choosy with what she ate. She took a plate and piled it with pretty much whatever came first, mostly steamed vegetables and some beans, then sat down in an empty spot of the table with her patchwork meal. She began to shovel the food down with little regard for taste or pleasure. Eating was a chore-something to just get out of the way so she could get on with gluing together the broken pieces of her previous life. In her contemplative gorging, it took a few seconds to realize that Archeops had flown over to her side of the table.
"Hey, Panne. It's good to know you're alright. I haven't seen you since you left for Serene Village! Though I guess that really wasn't that long ago, was it?" He gave a tired chuckle which was punctuated by the bags under his eyes. Apparently nobody got a particularly restful night. "Where is Vallion right now? Is he okay?"
"Still asleep," she managed between mouthfuls, completely apathetic of every table manner Pops would have yelled at her for ignoring.
"Right. Makes sense." Archeops stared at the bare table before him. "Has he...gotten any of his memories back?"
She would have huffed out her nose if she didn't need to breathe solely through it. Another bite went down her throat. "Nope. He's exactly the way you'd expect someone to be if they were abruptly shoved into a body that isn't theirs and placed in a life they don't remember having. You'll have to meet him yourself."
"Then..." he trailed off. "...What about you? How have you been doing? Wasn't there some kind of ghost pokemon that was after you guys? I dunno, isn't that kinda..?"
Panne locked eyes with the Archeops. "I am literally so afraid of this thing that it makes me angry. It's so terrifying that I feel like I'm being insulted every time I think about it. Like it was specially made to jab at all the things that scare me. I hate it more than I've probably ever hated anything ever, and I'm really looking forward to the day I shove it back into hell where it belongs."
"Um." He glanced around nervously. "Do you need any help right now? With anything?" The sincerity in his tone stuck her in the gut, melting her defiance away in the matter of just a few words. There was just no use in being frustrated about it. These people were her friends.
Of course she needed help. She needed it more than ever. "I just want my Val back."
Thankfully for the both of them, Floatzel scooted down the bench to relieve them of this ruined conversation. Unfortunately, the expression stuck on his face definitely meant that there was an even worse one about to happen. "No offense, but you look like you slept in the middle of a volcano last night."
"Nightmares," was all she muttered.
The water type nodded his head. "Yeah, I figured. You definitely weren't lying about that Spiritomb. I don't even remember sleeping last night, but I do remember waking up like the world was about to end. I'm afraid the day might not be getting better from here, though. There were some deaths last night." When she dropped her spoon on the floor and froze, Floatzel frantically waved his hands in the air. "No, no! It wasn't anyone we knew! I know that doesn't really make it any better, but let's just be objective about this." He squeezed the bridge of his snout. "This may or may not actually be related to your arrival, and I really hope it isn't, but the report was that there were two pokemon found dead early this morning. I don't know what kinds, Ampharos was the one that got the news."
"What? Are you serious?" Panne whispered back, holding her head tight as she glared at the tabletop. "What am I supposed to tell Val? I said that nobody would get hurt if we came here! I...I didn't promise him that, but I was definitely implying that nothing bad would happen!"
"Panne, it doesn't have to be the Spiritomb," Floatzel assured her. "I mean, just take a look outside. It's a total wreck out there! The trees bending into right angles and all that! Anything could have happened. Like I said, I wasn't the one that got the reports, but we shouldn't be freaking out just yet."
Archeops tilted his head, his plumage flaring up. "So it was a Spiritomb that caused all this to happen, then? Huh. That's nuts."
The Braixen groaned and pushed her plate away. She should have expected this from the start. Standing with a jolt, Panne slid out from the bench and started towards the exit, arms wrapped around her own shoulders. "I gotta go check on him. I'm sorry."
"Hey, you-!" Floatzel stopped himself. A sigh fell from his nose. "Go ahead. Just don't lose your head out there. Everything's under control now. We're here."
Just as Panne was about to march out into the hall, a massive form nearly barreled into her as it charged past into the cafeteria. She nearly blasted it down on reflex, stopping just long enough to pick apart the looming form of a Hydreigon. "H-hey! Stop! Hold it right the hell there!"
It took a good three seconds for the dragon to even notice someone had spoken to them, and another two to figure out who it was. "Oh, good! Panne, you're just in time! Could you fetch a boat that might be able to carry the three of us? If possible, I'd like to depart before sundown, but we could work with the evening if that's what it takes." With that, the Hydreigon twisted back around and dashed into the pantry, narrowly missing the top of Swirlix's head.
Panne hurried off after them, but their middle head was stuck deep within the pantry, sifting around the shelves of spices and mumbling to themselves. "Hey! What are you doing?" The Braixen pounded on their back. "You can't just zoom through the halls like that! What if you hit somebody? I was this close from blasting you in the face! What are you even doing in there? Listen to me!"
They backed out with a bag of rock salt in their main mouth. A side head stole it away so that they could actually speak. "What? The Expedition Society surely owns at least a vessel or two. And even if you didn't, there's probably plenty of ways an organization of your status could obtain one. There's not many guilds that have a worldwide presence like yours does."
The Hydreigon tried to fly around her, but she stuck herself even further in their way, her chest puffed out and her arms extended. "You're not leaving until you explain to me what the hell you're talking about. Seriously, you act like everyone can read your mind! Most of us just woke up, we don't know what's going on!"
"Well that's because I haven't had the chance to announce my plan at the meeting yet. Or the chance to announce that there will be a meeting. By the way, everyone, there will be a meeting!" Hydreigon flapped their six slender wings and flew over the Braixen's head, continuing on their original path. "You seemed to be in a hurry to get everything into motion, so I gave you a task as soon as I physically could so that we could get started."
A jabbing pain stuck into Panne's side as she hurried after the dragon. "I'm not about to do anything you say without any explanation. I barely trust you in the first place."
"Hm. Fair enough." Once they were in the hall, Hydreigon ripped open the top of the bag of salt. They began to take handfuls-or mouthfuls, in this case-and randomly throw them at the windows they would pass. "The gist of it is that we're going to go to the Grass Continent. I'm going to be using restorative necromancy to try and recover Vallion's memories. Or at least, that's one of the ideas I had. It's complicated, so I'll have to explain it in further detail at the meeting."
"Excuse me? Restorative what?" Panne had to duck out of the way so she wouldn't get blasted in the face with salt. "Also why are you wasting all of our salt? We kind of need that you know! And somebody's going to have to clean this all up at some point!"
The dragon's response began with a wordless, thoughtful stare, as was the case for most of the questions she asked them. "Ah. It's rock salt! The abomination should have a more difficult time infiltrating this place if we line any possible entrances with it. I know it's been skulking about for quite some time. The Society has a Mismagius member, yes? If they do end up returning, make sure they're aware I did this. That might be awkward later."
Even in the midst of having to deal with this guy, the cloud of irritation readily parted for the pang of worry that stuck into her heart. "So it has been spying on us, huh? Do you know if Val's okay right now? Have you gotten our room yet?"
"Vallion is fine. I would know if he wasn't. I can smell the stench of that accursed creature for miles, but it's not around now. Not anymore." Once they were in the main chamber, Hydreigon pretty much just tossed the salt in random directions on the floor. Half the bag was already gone. "It's out in the city now, blowing through alleys and diving into shadows. Feasting. Plotting. Waiting. No one knows the danger they are in. Even the guard have no idea. All they have are a handful of pale bodies and the hunch that something is very, very wrong."
"So you know about the deaths this morning? Were they really caused by the Spiritomb?"
Into the living quarters they went, still spreading salt through the halls like it was mystical fairy dust. "I can only imagine they were. Ampharos showed me the papers, and the lack of any external wounds certainly matches up with what that thing does to pokemon. The victims were a Goodra and a Politoed. A strange combination, don't you think? Why those two? Why not anything else? The only thing worse than a force of nature is one that can think and hunger. I shudder to imagine the kinds of plans that a horde of crazed minds can concoct."
Panne started to laugh. She tried to stifle the hysteria at first, but it bubbled out of her chest no matter how hard she tried. "Oh Branches of Life. This is so bad. I was really hoping it wouldn't be like this. I really, really was." She clawed at the edges of her face, her ears bent sharply back. "Val's going to freak out, isn't he? He's going to blame himself because we brought it here. It's just going to keep hurting people while we're here."
"Hence why we're leaving so early!" Hydreigon said. They reached down into the bag and found a handful of nothing. Frowning, they discarded the empty bag into a corner. "We can minimize the damage the abomination causes if we set sail as soon as possible. I highly doubt it's going to linger on if the human soul it so desperately craves is on the move. It holds the pieces, but the board is ours."
"Okay. Okay." After a few deep breaths, Panne wiped away the moisture that had formed in the corners of her eyes. "It's something. We can take action. I think I can get us a ship. We'll have to wait for the typhoon to pass, but I can get one. You're sure about all this, right?"
The dragon's shady eyes glanced out the window into the fog of rain. "As sure as I can be. Nevertheless, it's not going to be easy, and we won't be able to actually restore Vallion's memories so long as the abomination is around. If we left today, there's a chance we could buffer some distance between us and it, though! The sooner the better, especially when we're going to be traversing a jungle environment."
"What? Hold on!" she shouted out. "We can't just leave today! As much as I'd love for that to be possible, no ship's going to survive out in waters like that! Are you trying to get us all killed?!"
"Well couldn't we just use one of those new steam-powered ships? I've heard they got remarkable treading power, even in conditions like these."
"What part of 'typhoon' are you not understanding here? It's a death sentence! Do you honestly believe the charter service is going to let us take one of their prized babies out into THAT?" Panne crossed a finger over her throat, her nail catching on the scarf around her neck. "No way. I'm not risking our lives for no reason. We can't help Val if we're all dead on the bottom of the sea."
"Hmph. I've been on ships that have survived worse. Only lost a couple of crew back in the day. Ol' Three Eyes was the best captain I've ever seen, I tell you." The dragon shook himself from the daydream, coughing to the side. "Regardless, I suspect that the winds will be in our favor at the time of launch, so the only thing we'd have to worry about is keeping the ship together. Get something sturdy, if not a steam one."
"We can't just-" Panne bit her tongue. "Even if I did find a decent enough vessel to leave today, and even if there weren't any objections to the matter, there's still bureaucratic bits that have to be taken care of! We don't explicitly own the ships, but we own the service that jointly owns the ships and the docks. Papers need signing, people need informing, inspections need performing-It's a mess! But it's the mess we made to keep this city clean of pirates, and it's definitely not all going to go through on today of all days!
"Ugh. Why does it always have to be so complicated? A vessel is worthwhile only when out on the sea, not sitting idly tied to a pier while its owners balk at one another. Unless you want the abomination to run free among the streets of your city for even longer, this matter cannot wait. You should have enough of a reputation to skip past the formalities and borrow a ship, yes? If we succeed, we will have saved lives."
The Braixen glanced over to her room and watched the curtain sway softly from a draft. What would Val have wanted in this scenario? Something theatrical and heroic? Would he take off in the night, plunging into the raging waters of a tropical storm, just to save pokemon he's never met and will never meet? Probably. But if it put her life in danger, there's no way he would. Unless, perhaps, she were asking the current version of him...
"We can have the meeting after we procure the ship," Hydreigon said. "There's no use in coming up with plans if we're too late to carry them out. And perhaps we should find a captain, unless one of you has enough skill and experience to be able to pilot through this weather. If not, it's best you don't take the unnecessary risks. I'm certainly not implying that this isn't dangerous, but it doesn't have to be as certain a death as it seems, and the advantages we stand to gain from taking that risk could mean the difference when it comes to Vallion's recovery."
"Shut up for a second!" Breathe. Don't get so worked up. This is a mission, nothing less and nothing more. Panne's foot bounced up and down on the floor, channeling all the nervous energy that was swirling inside her. They were going to save people. That's what Vallion would want, after all. "...Meet me down in the lobby after a few minutes. I'm going to wake him up. He deserves to know what's going on and what we're about to do. It's as much his choice as it is mine or yours, maybe even more. I just want him to know."
Hydreigon gave her a solemn nod. "So be it. I need to find more salt, anyway. Let us make haste, and make the most out of today."