It was a quiet day at the base and Sylpheed was in a panic because of it. "They'll be fine." Irukan said.
Fringe looked up from the job board, seemingly confused. "Did something happen?" he asked, walking over to stand beside the two.
Bancho rose from his seat and explained to him, "Flocon, Ohm and Frukkshin haven't yet returned."
Fringe flinched at the statement, but did his best to hide it, Sylpheed was quiet, showing very little response. Fringe pulled Bancho aside and asked him, "Do you know where they might've gone off to? I know they were together."
"The beach." Bancho answered with a nod.
Fringe, almost as if he were picking up on something nigh undetectable, said, "I doubt they're dead, maybe if they went off alone. But Frukkshin and Ohm, they're some of the best fighters here." he gave him a smile though something about it seemed off.
Bancho nodded, his visage softening a slight bit. "Then they're most likely near there." He scratched the back of his head in thought, but came up with nothing more than that.
Fringe relented for a moment before saying, "Well, I did have information for him, but that might have to wait." he turned towards Sylpheed and Irukan. "I need you two to go to La Troisieme Quartiere and look for any signs of the three of them." he turned his attention back to Bancho and stated, "You and I will search near to the base."
Sylpheed looked up before nodding slowly. "Yeah." she said.
Irukan cast a worried look towards her. I've never seen her in a state this bad. she thought as she let the Lurantis slink past her towards the door.
The four of them split without parting words as they exited the building.
Irukan and Sylpheed hailed a taxi to get to where they needed to go quickly.
As they rolled down the street, the Dragalge took the time to gaze out the side of the cart. "They're alive, I know they are." she said in an attempt to comfort Sylpheed.
The Lurantis was unresponsive to her. Her face was saddened and it took a few moments before she finally spoke, "How do you know?"
Irukan leaned back. How do I know? she thought, she didn't doubt her own words but she couldn't quite explain why. "I would know." she said, and that was the only way she could explain it, she just knew, she felt that they were alive.
Sylpheed seemed to brighten up a bit at this statement, she gave a sorrowful smile. "I guess you're right." she said. "I guess it's like how I was with you." she idly clicked her claws together as she spoke, the chitin making a small clicking noise.
Irukan flinched at the statement. "Yeah." her voice was quieter than before. I suppose she's not wrong. She… damnit, she gripped the edge of the cart so hard she thought the aged wood might splinter under her clasp. I owe so much to her. Why? Why can't I just comfort her, just this once? She thought as she grit her teeth.
Sylpheed went silent at her companions body language, Irukan looked like a cobra, poised and ready to strike. "Irukan, what's the matter?"
These words seemed to calm her down. She couldn't explain it either. No. She very well could explain it but she refused to let herself remain on the matter of how it affected her so.
"I'm not sure." she lied, and she hated those words that she said. Damnit, if only. If only I could tell them everything. She thought bitterly as tears began to stream down her face.
The taxi ground to a halt as she finally regained her composure. She disembarked wordlessly. There was nothing else she had to say on the matter.
A few moments passed before Sylpheed began to walk. Irukan followed her. "There has to be something we can look for. Some trace of them that we can follow." Irukan said, her voice was nervous.
Sylpheed said, "They may have gotten injured." Her emotions seemed to partially mirror that of the Dragalge's.
"Injured?" Irukan seemed to mull over that statement until she finally said, "A hospital maybe? But where?" She looked around and saw that the streets were narrow and packed with pokemon. There was now way they could find the right one, not in these conditions at least.
Sylpheed was already on it. "We need to get to higher ground." she said ass he began weaving through the crowd.
Irukan couldn't help but let a small smile cross her face as she followed behind the Lurantis.
Entering into an alley, it wasn't long before the two started climbing the side of a building.
Once they were on top of the roof. Irukan began scanning the area for any possible signs of a struggle. "Fringe said they were going to the beach, maybe we can go there and work forwards." Irukan said, though here eyes continued to scan the street, Ninetales stuck out due to his ghastly appearance and bright blue coat. He should be easy to spot for her trained eyes.
Sylpheed piped up a reply, "Yeah," she seemed a touch happier though. "This was kinda like the time we first met."
Irukan visibly flinched though there was no way for Sylpheed to know, her gaze preoccupied with how they might cross the rooftops. It wasn't exactly legal for them to be up there, but no one really bothered looking up or if they did, they didn't really care.
Sylpheed pointed a claw. "If Soma's right. If we jump the gap between the building and the next, we should easily be able to see the beach." she said. Her voice was still quite soft, but she seemed fine to raise it somewhat to catch the attention of Irukan.
Irukan peered over and nodded her silent agreement. Just like when we first met? She thought as they jumped one after the other. A solemn expression plastered itself across her face. In a sense perhaps. But, this time I'm not… no. she shook the thought out of her head before she finished it. If knowing exactly what would come next was enough to let a tear slide down her cheek, finishing it was bound to disable her.
Landing on the next roof over. The brick shingles of the barely slanted roof proved a bit loose, as Sylpheed nearly fell as one slid out from beneath her, she caught herself with her claws and kept going. Irukan lunged forward to catch the shingle before it could injure anyone on the streets below. Setting it roughly where it should've been.
Sylpheed looked back for a moment, she didn't say anything, but a remorseful look fell across her face. Irukan sighed and caught up to her.
From here they could both see not only the crowd of pokemon finding their way down the streets, but that the beach was sectioned off. A blockade of Falinks had been formed as the brass spoke to the gathering audience of pokemon.
They didn't need to get any nearer to the scene to know this was exactly what they were looking for. "They can't be too far now." Irukan mused as she looked up and down the streets.
Sylpheed followed suit, though she moved over by one building to try and get a better viewing angle. Getting down on her knees and raising her claws to block the sun from her vision she scanned the streets below them.
Irukan grunted after a few moments and called over, "I don't see any awning that might indicate a clinic, nor do I see Ninetales." She stood up and adjusted her back a bit.
Sylpheed nodded in time as she jumped back over to stand next to the Dragalge.
Irukan turned over to face her and sighed. "They're nearby, if there was any death involving Ninetales, word would have gotten out by now." she said. "There has to be a clinic nearby."
Wasting hardly a moment, Sylpheed began to walk around the perimeter of the building. She was mumbling to herself, possibly in thought. It wasn't long until she idly caught sight of a fire in motion.
She got down in her previous scanning position and motioned Irukan over to take a look. The Dragalge slithered over and squinted. If it was Frukkshin she'd catch the glint off of his helmet. However the shadow of the building prevented her from completely confirming that.
She grunted before saying, "He'll cross an alley just ahead, we'll know for certain once he does." as she jumped the rooftop back to the old building. Irukan figured she had time so she lifted the shingle on the opposite side and put it back into place, after all, it wasn't her issue that the roof was a bit creaky.
By the time she returned there were only moments left before he crossed the thin sliver of light. Once he did there was the confirmation from a glint of sunlight bouncing off polished metal.
Irukan smiled. "It's him alright." she said as she began to work on climbing down from her perch.
Sylpheed perked up as her ally's words touched her ears, she got up and immediately followed Irukan down.
Once they were on the street, they only had to look for his flame. A warm light of sorts to guide them through the crowds of pokemon on both sides of the streets.
It wasn't long before they found the trio, bandages criss crossed them here and there but they could walk.
Frukkshin had Flocon slung over his back like a throw rug. With Ohm following close behind. The Ampharos being the first to pick up on their arrival. "Irukan? Sylpheed? What are you two doing here?" he asked.
Irukan sighed in relief. "I'm glad to see you're all alive." she began. "Fringe needs to see Ninetales, he didn't really tell me why though." she motioned towards Flocon as she said this, who gave a weak grunt in response.
Sylpheed seemed to wince at their appearance. "It seems like it didn't go too well." she said as they all began to walk back.
Flocon smiled weakly. "Yeah, the surprise attack was pretty terrible." he said, then chuckled. "But I have to admit, the ocean was breathtaking." he said.
Irukan couldn't help but smile internally at what was being talked about. Perhaps he didn't have the best time of things, but I'm glad to see he's focusing on the positives. She thought.
Frukkshin couldn't help but turn his head and laugh a bit. "Glad to see someone came out of that feeling good." he said as he began to focus forwards once more, trotting along at a pace that was comfortable to him.
Ohm sighed. "Fringe must've been worried sick." he muttered sorrowfully. The statement seemed to be aimed at himself more than anyone else.
Irukan couldn't help but shrug and say, "What matters to me at the end of the day is that you're alive." she gave him a pat on the back. To which he responded quickly with a cough.
Ohm's ears fidgeted a bit as he sounded, "Yeah, yeah." in response. He seemed a bit irritated but said nothing more on the matter.
Sylpheed looked back behind them, possibly to make sure that there was no one following them, and mentioned, "The mess at the beach then…" she didn't finish her sentence.
Frukkshin nodded. "Not exactly the best for a tourist attraction, luckily tourist season isn't for a couple of months." he said with a bit of a joking half-smile.
Flocon perked his ears up at that, though he didn't really speak due to the pain it brought him in doing so.
Sylpheed noticed this and said, "It gets busy around summer and spring. Though I think the city is much prettier once winter comes."
Flocon unsteadily raised his head, he had to know. "Winter?" he asked.
Irukan sighed and muttered, "I'm surprised that concept isn't racking around in your head." She remained silent for a moment before finally saying, "Well, that's the time when it starts snowing of course."
Irukan looked over and saw the confused look Flocon was giving her so she decided to tell him a bit more, "When the first snowfall comes, it's like nothing else, I'm sure you'll love it. The snow flakes—little crystals of ice—falling from the sky and the gentle chill in the breeze, never too cold like the late winter." Her voice sounded entranced by her own words, vaguely excited even.
Flocon smiled a bit and remarked, "I must say that I look forward to seeing it then." before letting his head droop back down and sighing. Letting himself rest a bit.
Ohm couldn't help but let a thin smile cross his lips as he remarked, "I'm sure you'll love it Ninetales." he muttered something to himself as he finished his sentence.
The Amapharos was on the opposite side of Frukkshin, so Flocon simply huffed and said, "Thank you Ampharos."
Ohm waved his fin and told him, "You know what? You did pretty good back there, call me Ohm from here on out, full name's Ohm H. Volta but don't worry about that." he gave a small, "Hmph." and a smile even though there was no way for Flocon to see it.
That didn't stop his tails from weakly wagging in response. "Then call me Flocon, Flocon Septembre." he said.
Frukkshin couldn't help but smile as he looked back at Flocon, then at Ohm. "Well, that's certainly one way to lift his spirits. Don't you think Flocon?" he said with a cocky grin.
A few moments of silence passed by them. "Hey, Flocon, nothing to say in response?" Frukkshin asked as he bucked up slightly to get the attention of the Ninetales.
Flocon shook out his head as he sounded, "Huh?" he raised his head and told him, "I think I blanked out for a moment there. Did you say something?" he gave a nervous smile as he spoke.
Frukkshin turned his head forward and sighed, saying, "Don't worry about it."
"He was just being an asshole." Irukan chuckled weakly as she said this.
Sylpheed couldn't help but give a half-joking response, "Frukkshin, you're so mean sometimes." she crossed her claws and tried to hide a chuckle.
But Ohm had something far different spelled across his face. He stroked his chin for a moment, his brow furrowed with concern. "Flocon, are you well?" he asked.
Flocon smiled internally as he said, "I've been better, just making a slow recovery is all." He gave a somewhat weak cough at that. "We'll just have Sylpheed fix me up when we get back."
Ohm sighed and said, "Yeah." Though he didn't seem like he was fully prepared to drop the conversation altogether he looked more than ready to at least set it aside for the time being.
It was only a few minutes later that they got to a place where they could hail down a taxi to take them back to their base. Though Frukkshin opted to walk on the side. "Saves money, and I get a bit of exercise." he told them.
Once they returned to base, Sylpheed, Irukan and Ohm helped load Flocon back onto Frukkshin's back as he carried him up the stairs.
With only minor complaints and minimal issues, they all stumbled through the door.
After they all had a moment to settle down, Irukan said, "Fringe and Bancho were going to search near base, I'll go out and find them." before anyone could do or say otherwise, she had left the building. Leaving only four pokemon in the base.
Sylpheed took Frukkshin aside to offload Flocon so she could get to work. And Ohm—with nothing else to do—followed them to the medical bay.
Taking a few moments to offload Flocon and get him comfortable, Sylpheed said, "Alright, this will sting." as she slowly unwrapped the bandages off Flocon.
A few moments passed and Sylpheed didn't do anything, a confused look crossing her face. There was quite a bit of scabbing and scar tissue as she brushed his fur aside to get a better look, that was to be expected. But everyone turned their head when she asked, "I may not know much about Ninetales. But do they normally have these dark patches?" She looked up in genuine confusion that told all of them that she wasn't joking.
Ohm rose from his seated position to take a look, the smell was repulsive, but he couldn't take his eyes away from it. It couldn't have been a winter coat, Flocon was an Ice-type. Ohm took a moment to feel it, Flonon winced in response but let him brush it.
It completely confirmed the suspicions of the Ampharos, it was too wiry to have been a winter coat. The fur was dark indigo in color and seemed to go in a long stripe before suddenly ending. "What does this mean?" he asked mostly to himself.
Almost as if he were possessed by some sort of ghost, Ohm's face twisted into one of horror as he slowly turned to Flocon and asked. "Would you mind if I checked something?" his words were slow and tense.
The Ninetales gave him a somewhat concerned look. "Sure?" he said.
Ohm slowly walked up to the Ninetales and brushed the cold fur on his neck aside for a moment. His breathing was tense as he dared to brush aside the final strands.
Wiry fur.
In a streak across his neck.
Passing across the windpipe.
Ohm froze up. Slowly, he pulled his fin away.
Before the soft fluff fell back into place, he saw the same color of Indigo fur that he saw on Flocon's back.
Frukkshin and Sylpheed gave him a worried look. "What's the matter?" Frukkshin questioned.
Ohm tried to cover up what he saw with a simple, "It's nothing." but it was clear to all three of them that something was wrong.
There was a pause before someone finally spoke up, "Look, if there's something bothering you, now's the time to say it." Frukkshin slowly rose to his feet to stand beside Ohm as he spoke. His flame emitting a much gentler heat than it did yesterday.
Ohm looked up at him, staring directly into Frukkshin's eyes. He took a moment to think. A conflicted appearance slid across his visage. He waited for a few moments, not sure how to respond to the comforting smile Frukkshin was trying to give him until he finally found a way to speak up, "It's that thing I saw two days ago, the one I was telling you about at the beach… I'm not sure how to say it, but here it is."
Ohm walked over to Flocon, who gave him a curious look in response. "There was more than just a chill breeze. There was a… something at the very least, it looked like Flocon, but it was ghastly in appearance, as if it were dead." Ohm glanced down to see the oddly flecked eyes of Flocon staring back at him curiously before continuing, "There was a gash deep enough to sever the windpipe, and Flocon has that same indigo fur right where it was on that vision. I didn't think much of it at the time but it can't be a coincidence. But what does it even mean? Because I certainly don't know." he sighed and let his fins drop to his sides, signaling that he was finished.
Sylpheed lightly brushed away the fur where Ohm went to investigate, and sure enough, it was just as it had been left. Frukkshin leaned over and nodded, it was no illusion, the fur was real.
"What does this even mean?" Sylpheed asked, they all turned to face her, the same question hanging off their tongues.
Frukkshin mulled it over for a few seconds before stating, "I wish I had the answer to that… but I know this much: this is much bigger than we originally thought." he turned to Flocon and nodded. "But I'm willing to continue and I'm sure everyone else is too." his voice became much quieter and calmer, soothing even before he said, "Don't worry Flocon, we'll figure this out. I'm sure everything will turn out fine, you just gotta stick with us.."
Flocon gave a light wag of his tails before asking, "Then, what next?" his brow furrowed a bit, a bare whimper escaping his maw.
Frukkshin chuckled and said, "Come now, let us worry about that for the time being. You need to worry about yourself every now and then."
"And how do I do that?" Flocon asked with a tilt of his head. "Isn't that selfish?"
Ohm sighed and said, "Being selfless all the time is difficult. You got beat up out there yesterday, and the day before that wasn't much better for you. Look, just take some time to relax for once, you're safe here." He crossed his fins and gave him a small smile.
"I'm not sure I get it." Flocon's ears drooped down as he said this. "It just doesn't feel right to me."
Sylpheed hummed a bit before asking, "Well, what is right to you?"
Flocon paused, he took a moment to think about it. "I'm… not sure." he couldn't find an answer. Or maybe not that, he gulped as he thought, I don't know what that means, I always thought of right and wrong as objective. Does it really change depending on the pokemon?
Frukkshin chuckled. "Well then, take some time off and find your truth. Figure out what you believe in, that's something I can't help you with." he said with a warm smile.
Flocon laid back down and relaxed his muscles. "I'll keep that in mind. If you're ready to patch me up Sylpheed… I'm ready, I think." he sighed as his tails drooped off the side of the table he was on, the tips barely brushing the floor.
There was a long pause as Sylpheed's claws were enveloped in that familiar green light. "Just tell me if it becomes too much." she said before lightly touching him at the wound.
The soft throbbing pain became sharp and powerful as Flocon stifled back a yipe. Sylpheed waited a few moments before moving to another wound. Then another. And another.
And soon enough she had them all healed up, no matter how agonizing it was to do so. She sighed and said, "If there was a better way to do this, I would go out of my way to learn it." She seemed to be in a bit of pain herself over the sight of her allies in a bit of shock, their muscles still not having fully relaxed.
As they began to slowly rise again Irukan came back through the door of the medical bay. "They're back now. Fringe asked for Ninetales, Frukkshin and Sylpheed." before exiting just as suddenly as she entered.
Flocon let out a breath. "I felt my heart jump into my throat." he said.
Ohm gave him a funny look before asking, "You mean 'out of my chest.' Right?"
"I think that would be much more painful." he said.
Frukkshin couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter. "Well, we shouldn't keep him waiting." he said as he began walking out of the room.
Sylpheed looked at Flocon, shrugged, and walked out.
Ohm and Flocon shared a look before the Ninetales jumped down from the table, following the two of them closely behind.
Coming to the door of Fringe's office, Frukkshin tapped the door a few times with his horn. Flocon gave him a studious look as he did so. I guess that's how. he thought with a sigh, Frukkshin giving him a somewhat confused look as all of that happened.
Fringe opened the door and studied each of them individually before he said, "Come on in, there's a lot to talk about." He opened the door a bit more to let them pass through.
When the three got situated and Fringe got back to his desk, they finally began. Fringe casually pointed towards Flocon and said, "I'm not about to scold you about disappearing, however, I'd ask that you take more care in the future."
Flocon remained silent, instead responding with a nod. Though, he seemed to loosen up a bit as he heard those words.
"As for what this is about: it has to do with Ninetales himself and his particular typing." Fringe said as he sat down in a chair and leaned forward, his head resting on his ragged hands.
Frukkshin replied, "His Ice and possibly Fairy-typing I assume? I've wondered about it too." he seemed to be speaking respectfully, however the bluntness threw Flocon off.
Fringe nodded and waited for a moment or two before continuing, "In more recent years, forms have started to arise, pokemon that look incredibly similar to others, but differ in enough ways to identify them as a subspecies of sorts." He got up and pulled a small booklet from a drawer in his desk and set it on the table and told them with a thin smile, "Ohm recommended this book to me. The term is Subspeciation, it occurs in many ways, you may have heard of Z-Move Potential, and Mega Evolution, these fall under the same umbrella." he paused for a moment.
Sylpheed took the break as a chance to ask a question, "This, uh… you know what I'm going to say, why does it happen?" she cocked her head.
Fringe chuckled and replied, "It seems to be some sort of trait, passed from generation to generation. Not only that, but it has been noted that most pokemon that have experienced Subspeciation are… hm, how do I put this?" he muttered as he groped his chin. "They seem to have unstable emotions. More like a feral pokemon than a domestic one."
Flocon cocked his head. "Then how do I fit into this?" he asked. He craned his neck to look at the cover of the book as he spoke.
"Well, I'm not sure if you've noticed," Fringe began as he motioned towards Flocon. "Ninetales here doesn't seem to fit any of the descriptors that could be used to identify them. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it, but if an Ice-type Ninetales had been observed prior, it would've been mentioned at some point." he cleared his throat for a moment before continuing, "This means that there's one of two options, either Ninetales is some part of an undiscovered tribe of Ice-type Ninetales, or that there's something very special about him. Once again, I'm not sure what any of this means, other than that there's something happening." he breathed out and leaned back, indicating that he was finished.
Frukkshin chuckled lightly under his breath. "It seems like every time we take a step forward we end up in more darkness than we started." he remarked.
Fringe nodded. "Quite." he stated before turning back to Flocon. "I've managed to find someone who'd be willing to cover for you if you went into La Premiere Quartiere, I'll start getting the plan together. Unless there's any questions or concerns, you are all dismissed." he stated.
Frukkshin and Flocon nodded, getting out of their chairs to grab a job off the board for the day. Flocon turned back to see that Sylpheed remained seated. "We'll get ready, you'll know where to find us." Flocon said as he followed Frukkshin out of the room.
Sylpheed nodded and turned back towards Fringe and asked, "I remember that you were given a job to hunt down Flocon, who was the client?"
Fringe adjusted in his seat. "I never considered that…" his voice trailed off as he tried to recall who gave him the job in the first place. "Let's see, I believe it was a Noivern. He took a strange interest in Ninetales, claimed that he was the cause of the murder. I didn't really get a name from him." he explained as he leaned back in his chair.
"Noivern?" Sylpheed pondered aloud. She tapped the underside of her chin with a claw before saying, "At the cafe there was a Noivern in that group. I remember Flocon taking a strange interest in him as well."
Fringe waited a moment before tilting his head to the side. "Cafe?" his voice trailed off as he tried to place this information before saying, "Wait, I remember now, I must've gotten side-tracked when I asked it. You're saying there was a Noivern there as well who also took an interest in Ninetales?"
"Well, there were three others aside from him, a Reuniclus, a Mawile and a Staraptor." she explained. "All of them seemed to know Flocon, one way or another."
Fringe leaned back. "Odds are he's the same Noivern, he may not be, but it seems to be likely. Thank you Sylpheed, I believe we have another thread to follow."
The Lurantis nodded as she left her seat. "I'll be off then." she said as she exited the room.
After they all left, Fringe leaned forward in thought. "If what Irukan told me earlier is true, about that cold wind and seeing another Ninetales. Then something is happening, I'm not sure what it is or what it means, but whatever it is, it's far greater than anyone could've imagined." he grabbed a stack of papers and exited his room for the time being. He waited a moment before muttering, "It may be time for drastic measures. Who is this Noivern? And what are his allegiances?"