Chapter Five
One hour.
That was how long Aria had told them they had until the Gyarados arrived. Arric stood with his friends in the cavern that overlooked the drop off. No matter how hard he squinted, turned his head this way or that, he could not see far out into the dark depths of the ocean. Quin quivered beside him, clutching Hannah who held a protective arm around him. Her face resembled his own, concern and confusion. Why were the Gyarados attacking? Arric had never seen a Gyarados his whole life but he had heard stories from the other Vaporeon at social gatherings. They sounded like giants, with long scaly tails, massive jaws filled with canines so long it made it difficult for them to fully close their mouths. Perfect for chomping down on an Eevee or two.
"Why would the Gyarados attack the Vaporeon?" Bree asked the question they were all thinking.
Grace paced behind them, occasionally glancing out towards the coral village. Vaporeon had started to gather, trident like weapons in hand. Arric had only seen these weapons in a crate bound for the Vaporeon territory when he was younger. It could only mean that this feud had been going on for a while, or there was more to the story than Karn had led on.
"Grace?" Arric questioned her.
She stopped, her eyes fixed on the ever growing crowd of Vaporeon out in the water. The ocean was filled with an array of blues and greens and it would have looked amazing to Arric if he was not so scared. Grace sighed, running a hand through her light brown hair, fiddling with a small tendril.
"A while ago, before I was born, the Gyarados started some feud with the Vaporeon. I think it was over fishing grounds or maybe an accident. The Vaporeon had stumbled on a great fishing ground and had begun fishing there. There were shells the size of your head, fish for ages! It was perfect to sustain us. That was until the Gyarados came along. The Vaporeon were happy to share, Karn had even set up a trade route with them. Until…."
Sighing she placed a hand on the glass as she looked out, a sombre look over her face and a faraway look in her eyes.
"An accident happened. The details are not clear anymore, the story seems to change each time I'm told it but one things for sure that both a Vaporeon and a Gyarados died. One side blames the other and well it escalated from there. They come and attack us every so often to remind us of what we have done."
Her voice twisted to mockery at the end, her eyes reflecting the ocean from the glass. Her hand fell to her side and she balled them into fists. She turned to Arric, tears shining in her eyes.
"I should be out there! Protecting my village! But instead I have to take this stupid Evolution Ritual first when I already know that I can only be Vaporeon!" Her voice quivered, Quin reached out to her to comfort her but Grace pushed him away, dashing away down one of the tunnels.
The mourning sound of a horn rang through the cavern, vibrating the glass. Arric turned to face the coral village, every Vaporeon had gathered now, Karn and Aria at the front. There they waited. The Gyarados were expected any minute, with each one feeling longer as time passed.
"Guys look!" Hannah pointed.
Arric squinted his eyes against the glass, his face pressed against it, its touch cool. In the distance he spotted a large shadow moving towards the village. As it got closer Arric could make out the small group of Gyarados. There were at least ten, each one just as large as the other. Their massive hulking bodies slithered through the water, well muscles limbs at their sides as they glided towards the village. Their dorsal fin hair formed a line down their back all the way to their thick scaly tails, which propelled them forward at an amazing speed. Their large heads, fronted by three pronged fin on their foreheads, contained the large canines that Arric had heard stories about. They were real and even more terrifying in person. In each hand they held their own weapons, ranging from spears and tridents. Some were holding nets with hooks weaved into them.
Arric swallowed the large lump forming in his throat, tearing his gaze from the terrorising group back to Karn and the other Vaporeon. Karn floated facing them, standing as tall as he could underwater, his webbed hands gripped around his trident with pride. He turned to his tribe, yelling out something too them but in the cavern Arric could not hear and he was too far to even guess from reading his lips. The Vaporeon rallied, holding their weapons in the air, preparing themselves for the Gyarados attack.
In an instant, the Gyarados made a dash and were upon the Vaporeon. The village became a battlefield with the Vaporeon using their weapons to guard against the Gyarados and using the water power when they could to hold them back. Three Gyarados opened their mouths, a ball of energy gathering just at the outside before a bright beam shot out, hitting village behind them, obliterating the coral buildings. A few Vaporeon shot out various waves of bubbles and water attacks, pushing some of the Gyarados back. Arric watched in horror as some Vaporeon sunk silently to the floor, clearly wounded. They were scooped up by their comrades and whisked away to safety in the shallower parts of the village.
Arric felt sick to his stomach. The Vaporeon were great in number but the Gyarados were relentless and with each beam they shot, the more of their buildings were destroyed. The Gyarados never came too close to the shallow ends, not wanting to get swamped by the Vaporeon and the Vaporeon could not get too far out without leaving their village unprotected. Some of the Gyarados retreated, looking wounded but there were still plenty to take their place.
Suddenly a large sickening thud came overhead and Arric looked up in horror as he spied two Gyarados hovering above the cavern glass above them. Their massive forms almost took up one side of the cavern itself and Arric screamed as the first Gyarados raised his trident high and slammed it into the glass, watching as it pierced three giant holes, sending cracks streaking out across the front. Water began to pour into the cavern, sending it crashing to the cavern floor. The Gyarados twisted his trident to wrench it free, cracking the thick glass even more.
"Run! Run for the tunnels!"
Grace ran towards them shouting, pulling Hannah and Bree with her. Looking around him Arric found Quin crouched in a corner, his ears flat against his skull with his hands over his head shaking with fear. He grabbed the Eevee, slung him over his shoulder and bolted after the others with Tak close behind him. The group watched in disbelief as the second Gyarados readied his spear, lifting it high above his head.
"Grace we're not going to make it!"
Arric's voice was drowned out by the rushing water roaring around them. He shifted Quin on his shoulder, watching as Grace, Hannah and Bree scrambled to reach the tunnels, the cavern floor was beginning to flood quicker. Arric looked up and watched, as if in slow motion, as the Gyarados spear pierced through the glass, finally shattering under the pressure of the ocean and force, the water washed over them like a tidal wave, swallowing all six of them up and dragging them out into the ocean. Grasping for Quin, he watched as the Eevee slipped through his fingers, whisked away on the currents out towards the coral ocean and the Vaporeon fighting with the other Gyarados.
Scrambling for breath, Arric tried to orientate himself under the water. The salt stung his eyes, there were blurs of blue and green rubbery flesh against blue and white scales as Vaporeon battled with Gyarados with him stuck in the middle. His lungs burned and as he looked to what he thought was the way up, he thought he could make out the moon high above the surface, its wavering form taunting him. His world began to darken around him and the last thing he saw was large blue and white blur heading towards him.
When Arric opened his eyes, the familiar stony ground of his dreams greeted him. He groaned, pulling his hands under him to lift himself up to a sitting position. The fog seemed thicker this time. He could barely make out his hands in front of him. His movement felt slower too, like he was swimming through an invisible body of water. Pulling himself to his feet, he tried to make out the volcano in the distance, the only indication it was still there was its soft light of lava dribbling from the top.
"You can't give up."
A soft voice, almost a whisper spoke to him right by his ear. Arric jumped and spun around but found no one there. The voice sounded oddly familiar, like he had heard it once before but from a very long time ago.
"H-hello?"
Arric questioned the darkness but only silence answered him. Sighing he dropped back to the ground, suddenly feeling a wave of fatigue wash over him. The fog felt like it thickened around him, somehow clinging to him and squeezing him. Flailing he tried to push it off but his movements felt sluggish.
"Arric, don't give up."
Arric felt himself falling to the ground as if in slow motion, watching as the familiar eyes of the creature appeared from the darkness burning with curiosity, the low growl rumbling through his chest and all Arric could do was close his eyes and succumb to the exhaustion that overcame him.
Arric's eyes snapped open and the soft light of the morning greeted him through the silk curtains of his bungalow. Confused and groggy he sat up, finding himself in his huts bed, a soft blanket draped over him. Small cuts littered over his body but none stung or were very deep. Suddenly remembering the Gyarados attack, Arric flung the covers aside and raced outside only to the discover that most of the floating platforms were reduced to floating debris. A few of the huts had been untouched and several of the beach buildings were intact. Arric could only imagine what the coral city looked like. Vaporeon wandered the beach gathering and repairing what they could, while others pulled wreckage from below on to the shore to survey the damage. Arric spotted his friends by one of the beach huts with what looked like Karn and Aria. Waving to them as he made his way over, Grace welcomed him with a tight hug, her face stained with tears and her eyes looked weary. Karn nodded a greeting to him.
"It's good to see you awake. Aria told me you only had minor injuries?"
Arric nodded, "Nothing to complain about. What happened?"
Grace sniffed, wiping her eyes, "After the caverns glass had smashed we were pulled out in to the battle. Any Vaporeon who were close by came to rescue us, dragging us ashore. You were unconscious when Aria pulled you out but recovered quickly."
Arric remembered the blue form heading for him before he passed out. He looked at Aria, who gave him a small smile, "Thank you for rescuing me."
"Anytime young one." Aria nodded before looking out to the ocean, a sad look on her face.
Arric followed her gaze, "Were many injured?"
Karn snorted, his voice thick with anger, "The Gyarados were not here to hurt anyone so we were only left with wounds that won't take long to heal. They have always been careful like that. They were here only to destroy our village and thus hurting our pride and our economy."
Aria leaned into Karn, resting her head on his shoulder and he rubbed her arm comfortingly, "This will cause a major setback for us and I'm afraid I do not have time to accommodate pledge seekers. I'll have to ask that tomorrow morning, you and your friends will have to move onto the Leafeon Tribe."
Grace opened her mouth to protest but closed it, looking out at her tribes' destruction. Tears began to well in her eyes again but she brushed them away. Taking a deep breath, she turned to Karn, "How can we help in the meantime?"
A solemn smile spread across Karn's face and he pointed to a small group of Vaporeon who were repairing the huts.
"You can help anyone on shore. Aria and I will be below the surface helping out where we can there. If you need anything, look for Ilia."
Grace nodded and headed down the beach, Arric and the others quickly following her. Arric fell in place beside her, watching her carefully. He felt sorry for her, everything she had known had been destroyed and right in front of her friends as well. They reached the small group of Vaporeon, one of them, slightly more of a turquoise in colour, looked up from weaving seaweed to create a hold for one of the stilts. Her bright frill dazzled in the sun behind her but her eyes were worn and sad.
"Come to help?"
The group nodded and the Vaporeon stood, wiping her hands on her thighs to rid them of sand.
"I'm Ilia, I'm Grace's eldest sister."
Grace cheeks reddened at the sound of her name and she cast her face away to hide it. Ilia chuckled, it was warm and soft. "If you guys could comb the beach for any of the debris that has washed up and place it in a pile up the beach, I would be grateful."
Hannah and Bree headed in one direction, while Quin and Tak headed in the opposite. Grace and Arric went closer to shore and waded in about waist deep, pulling any of the debris close by and tossing it onto the beach.
"So Ilia is your sister?" Arric asked, pulling a piece of board towards him.
"Yes. I have three siblings." She grabbed a piece and tossed it to shore. "All pledged Vaporeon. My mother and father too."
Arric stiffened in realisation. That was why Grace was so proud to push Vaporeon. Her whole family were pure Vaporeon. It was tradition for her to be a Vaporeon.
He studied her carefully, "So you come from a long line of Vaporeon?"
She looked at him with a questioning glance, "Yes. It is how it has always been. Why wouldn't they want to?"
Arric shrugged, "I don't know, if someone wanted to pledge something else then I figured there would be a lot of pressure on them to follow tradition."
Grace stopped pulling the debris and glared at him. Arric regretted his words instantly but she had already raised her voice at him, "No one has pressured me to pledge anything! I'm proud to want to pledge Vaporeon. In fact, I'm probably the only one here that is even dead sure on who I want to pledge for. At least I'm not the one wondering what is best for me."
'Look I'm sorry." Arric fiddled with a piece of wood in his hands, "I just wanted to make sure this is what you want. I may not know what I want to pledge but if one tribe has been all I know up until now, I can see how that would feel like the only choice."
Grace softened, tossing another piece to the shore and mumbling, "I guess I see your point."
Once they had grabbed what they could from the shallows, the pair waded back to shore, gathered the pieces they had threw and dragged them up the beach to the pile the others had started to make. Before long, as the sun began to set, they had combed the beach thoroughly. Ilia clapped as she came to check on them.
"Wonderful! Grace you and your friends make excellent workers! Vaporeon would be proud to have any of you!"
Grace glared at her but the sound of Karn's voice from the other side of the beach cut her off as they looked towards him.
"I think it is time to call it a night. Let us start a feast to celebrate the last day of our pledgers and to celebrate the hard work we pulled today!"
The Vaporeon cheered, dropping their tools, they raced down the beach towards a large bonfire that had been made with the unusable debris gathered. The smell of cooking seafood with fruits from the nearby forest wafted through the air and Arric's mouth salivated at the smell of it. He had forgotten how hungry he was and was eager to chow down on the food given to him. He sat by Tak, watching the Vaporeon dance under the rising moonlight. Hannah and Bree took Quin by the hands pulling him to the dancing crowd, despite his protests and by the end he was skipping and dancing with them happily, forgetting his fears.
Arric looked over at Tak, "Don't feel like dancing?"
Tak laughed, pointing to his bandages, "Not really one for dancing. Now eating, that is something I can do." He took a large bite out of the fish he held.
Arric chuckled, taking a bite out of his own food while he enjoyed the Vaporeon dancing and singing. After a while it was time to turn in and he headed for his hut. Before he reached the floating platform, he felt a soft touch on his arm and turned to find Ilia standing behind to him.
"Did you enjoy tonight?"
Arric nodded, "Yes. It was amazing how you Vaporeon can be so joyous after most of your home being destroyed."
Ilia's eyes darkened, "It's only because this is not the first time it has happened."
Arric went to question her but she shook her head, a smile crossing her snout, "Don't worry about it. I actually came to ask something of you."
She looked over at Grace who was standing at the shore, pawed feet in the water, staring out over the horizon, a solemn look on her face.
"You see Arric, I know that Grace has only ever spent her life at the Vaporeon Tribe, much like yourself with the Flareon, so it's only natural that she wishes to pledge Vaporeon, since, well, we come from a rather pure line."
Arric nodded waiting for her to continue. Ilia took a small breath, "But I want Grace to choose for herself, not for some bloodline that I and my siblings were forced to take. I mean I don't regret it but sometimes I wonder if things would have been different if I had the choice."
"Wouldn't you know what to choose when you went on the pilgrimage yourself?" Arric asked confused.
Ilia shook her head, "There was no pilgrimage when I was an Eevee. The pilgrimage has only been around recently."
Arric looked at her in shock. How did he not know this?! Vesper had told him this is what they had always done and no one had ever mentioned or acted otherwise when he asked about it.
"Look, I need you to make sure that besides her pride for Vaporeon, that she is willing to at least consider the other evolutions. I don't want her to make the wrong choice that her heart wants." She sighed, "I don't want her to know that we never had a choice. The guilt would consume her."
Ilia patted Arric on the arm and left him to return under the water with her family. Returning to his own hut, he suddenly realised how tired he was. Yawning he crawled into bed and drew the blankets over him. As he closed his eyes, the words of Ilia swam through his head.
Why does it feel like that the Tribe Leaders are hiding something? Why would they lie about the pilgrimage?
Something inside him told him that this was only the beginning to all these questions and Arric knew that he would not be getting any answers until he had visited each tribe. He promised to himself, as he felt the lull of sleep wash over him, that before the Evolution Ritual he would get to the bottom of this once and for all.