A/N - Sorry for the slightly late update. We had a busy weekend. This weekend will be busy too, so the next update will very likely be Sunday.
Thanks for all reads, reviews, faves and follows! =D
Part 3
Claws clipped Enigma's ears as he slipped into the ground. It chilled around him as a coating of ice formed over the hard, trampled dirt. Kera turned, twitching both her ears to follow his shadow. Enigma emerged a foot away from the weavile and tossed a shadow ball. She leapt, letting it explode beneath her feet. The eruption seared the tip of Vixen's tail and the nikkit yelped, twirling to face them. Her partner, a gabite, took the chance to clamp his jaws over her ear. She squealed, yanking her ear free, and rounded on Enigma.
"That wasn't fair!" she wailed, narrowing her eyes at the banette. She smoothed out her sore ear with a paw. "Stick to your own fight!"
Enigma chuckled and melted back into the floor, but Kera gave the nikkit a quick apology before turning to spot her friend. Her ears twitched for Enigma's bell and she honed in on him as he darted from the ground, flexing his claws. She raised her own to block him and grunted as she staggered back from his blow.
"Yanno…" She panted and scooted away from him. "That bell gives ya away."
The weavile raised her claws and rushed towards him. Enigma gave her a playful grin and warped backwards, slipping through the wall just as Kera swung a throat chop. Her claws sparked against the stone and she yelped, shaking them to remove the pain. Enigma strolled back through the wall and smirked at her.
"You cheat." She returned it with a playful grin. "You know I can't do that."
"None of you can." He raised his paws in a shrug. "If I can go where you can't then my bell doesn't matter, does it?"
"It's still a blatant warning to ya targets," she said.
"Not if they can't see me," he teased.
Kera flicked her claws towards him, dusting his fur with ice. He tutted and melted back into the floor. As Kera honed in on his bell again, Enigma let out a little chuckle. He leapt back out of the shadows close to her back and when she turned she was forced to re-calculate her move. Her claws glowed with ice and she stepped back to launch it.
"You know," Enigma crooned, "your eyes sparkle when you think you've got me."
Kera stuttered, her eyes widening as a blush emerged under her dark fur. Her attack dusted his fur with chilly air and he laughed, falling back from her.
"What-" She swallowed, her entire body tense. "What on earth was that?"
Enigma chuckled and tucked his paws behind his head. "Didn't you know I could be captivating?"
He burst into fits of laughter as Kera's blush spread to her ears. She smacked his arms repeatedly but it only made him laugh harder.
"You should see your face!" he wheezed, falling to his bottom.
"Shut up!" she squeaked, hugging her arms. "Ya caught me off guard, that's all." She paused and gave the giggling ghost a sideways glance. "When on earth did ya learn 'captivate'?"
"I've always known it." He wiped a tear from his eye with a claw. "I've just never had a use for it before."
"We've been trainin' for over a year and only now ya decide to wave that card?" She shook her head and offered a paw to tug him to his feet.
"Eh." He shrugged and folded his arms. "I like to keep you on your toes."
Kera tutted and raised her claws. "Shall we continue?"
She still seemed breathless and uncertain, but Enigma nodded and stood back, preparing to fall into a shadow sneak. But Niana clapped her paws and roared over the chaos of the training pokemon.
"Right! Sun's rising!" She clapped again, the sharp noise ringing across the room. "End of session! Get some dinner and go to your nests!"
The group broke apart as they filed from the room, chatting among themselves. Enigma and Kera followed after a shelgon who was boasting to everyone around her that she was close to evolving. The only one who seemed impressed was a male fraxure who nodded at every word.
"I'm so glad she called an end to that." Kera stretched her paws over her head and yawned, flashing her sharp canines. "I'm absolutely exhausted."
"Really?" said Enigma. "I'm not feeling it."
Kera fixed him with a raised eyebrow. "Well ya look shattered."
Enigma smirked down at her and she twitched the feathers of her right ear and looked away. It was a habit she'd developed since she'd evolved and he'd since learned she only did it when she was feeling nervous.
"If ya try'na impress me, it ain't workin'." They stopped outside his room and she aimed a punch at his stomach. "Get some sleep ya clown."
"I slept two days ago," he whined. "Come on. Play chess with me."
Kera leant against her own door and rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Enigma. I told ya. I'm exhausted."
He gave a mock sigh and shook his head. "Fine. I guess I'll have to find something else to do instead of lying awake waiting for you to get your eight hours."
Kera rolled her eyes again and groaned. "Fine! Wake me at sun high. I'll get up and entertain ya for an hour or so."
He caught her playful smile as she turned towards her room and returned it. The weavile waved a paw as she bade him 'good day', and Enigma turned towards his own room. He froze with his paw on the door handle and bit his lip.
After spending over a year in the Shadow Lands, one would think he'd be used to spending the waking hours alone. But it was getting worse and worse as time went on.
He sighed and looked down the corridor. Jex and Niana wanted all the trainees to sleep during the day, but they'd been much more relaxed towards him. Insomnia wasn't a common condition among pokemon, especially the kind that persisted throughout one's life. He gave Kera's room one last, longing glance, then turned to head outside. The corridor was long and wound around the horse-shoe shaped building until he found himself standing in the cool warming-season air. The sun painted the horizon a vivid pink as it poked itself over the horizon. Soft rays were already reaching out to warm what they could reach of the dewy earth. Sharp caws and honks spread through the air as the murkrow flock returned to roost across the Shadow Lands and the Border Woods.
Enigma followed a familiar trail around the edge of the barracks towards the lake. A weeping willow stood beside it, dipping its branches in the stagnant water. Its branches were decked out with fluffy catkins and surrounding it was a stretch of small circular leaves that reached out across the water. Yellow blossoms were waking across it, and those that were fortunate enough to find themselves in the light had uncurled their petals.
A large blue shape lay beyond a wall of stiff stems holding up cream, tufty flowers. Ripwing stretched himself out on a large flat stone and scratched under his chin with a hind claw. Alone again… Ripwing was often alone. Enigma rarely saw the salamence with any other pokemon. He'd seen him with Boomer, the noivern leader of the noibat swarm, on a couple of occasions. But Ripwing often seemed to distance himself from the other members of Hydreigon's army. The banette wondered if this was why he found the salamence approachable. The salamence spotted Enigma and gave him a small nod. Enigma perked up and trotted around the edge of the lake to join him.
"Good morning," Enigma announced, drawing an amused growl from the salamence.
"Huh. Shouldn't you be sleeping?" Ripwing lowered his leg and spread his wings, lying flat on the warm stone. "Let me guess… you can't?"
Enigma shrugged. "Isn't that always the way." The banette joined Ripwing on the flat stone and perched on the edge, dipping his feet in the cold lake.
Ripwing watched the ripples spread out from Enigma's claws and gave a small grunt. "You've almost reached your adult height now, I see?" The salamence reached for a small pebble from the edge of the lake. "The last time I saw you was the end of the cooling season and you couldn't even touch the water. It always amazes me how fast you mammals grow."
Enigma turned his head towards him. "What do you mean?"
"Compared to us dragons you guys grow super fast, and have super short lives to match," Ripwing explained. "I've seen it happen so often in my three hundred years. You mammals shoot up in size in the first year or so, then you slow down and it takes half of a dragon's hatchling years until you're covered in grey fur." The salamence laughed and shook his head. "The only pokemon that age any faster than you are bugs and birds."
Enigma was still processing the first part of Ripwing's observation. His eyes had widened and he stared at Ripwing, slack-jawed. "Three hundred?!"
Ripwing leant his head on his paw and grinned. "And I'm still classed as young."
Enigma mouthed the word 'wow' and looked out across the lake. "So dragons live a long time then?"
"Yup!" said Ripwing. "Our previous leader had been ruling the Shadow Lands for more than seven hundred years before our gracious lord took over."
Once again, Enigma detected a hint of malice in Ripwing's voice. He turned to look at the salamence but Ripwing was eyeing the pebble as he turned it in his claws. As much as the banette wanted to investigate it further, he decided to avoid the topic. He quickly glanced at the trees. The murkrow were still flocking over the Border Woods, screeching their caws as they tried to find each other.
"So if dragons grow so slowly," he said, "is that why there aren't any other hydreigon or salamence?"
"No. That's not it at all." Ripwing flicked the pebble into the air and caught it again. "Right now, you've hit your adolescent stage, right? That means you're driven by your hormones."
Enigma tried to fight back a blush, but Ripwing ignored it.
"It's the same with dragon-types," the salamence went on. "But with us it works differently. The challenge hits in. We want to compete and lord it over the pack. But only one can become the alpha and reach their final evolution. If an adolescent dragon wants to overthrow his current leader he can only evolve to challenge them if he senses a weakness. And only one will be left at the end of the battle. The other will either be exiled or killed." He paused and met Enigma's eye. "That's exactly what happened with the previous Hydreigon. Our current leader sensed a weakness. His father didn't want to push his reign further across Estellis, so he challenged him and killed him. Now his son rules the Shadow Lands and most of Estellis, hiding behind his followers while he resides in his castle only emerging to remind us he's still ruler."
Ripwing flicked the pebble across the lake and it landed with a plop near the middle. Silvery shapes flashed beneath the surface and Ripwing slapped his lips. He pushed himself up and watched as the flashes of silver drew closer. Then he shot his head like a dart into the water, snapping his jaws shut around one of them. Water cascaded off his head and his catch as he dropped it onto the warm stone. A lumineon flailed in a desperate bid to get back to the water, but Ripwing stilled it with a firm bite of his jaws.
Enigma stared down at the fish in shock. Ripwing looked up at him and nodded to it.
"Wanna join me?" he asked. "There's enough to share."
"Share?" Enigma licked his dry lips and shuffled uneasily. "But… it was alive…"
"So was all that dried meat they feed you in the barracks," said Ripwing with an amused glint in his eye. "Where else did you think it had come from?" When Enigma said nothing, Ripwing motioned to the fish. "The only difference here is this is fresh. Much better for you. Not to mention you know where it's from. That dried meat could have come from anywhere." He shrugged and turned to his catch. "But if you don't want any, I won't force you."
Ripwing lowered his head to tuck into his meal, and Enigma felt a lump rising in his throat. He felt sick. The only pokemon he'd ever seen killed were his parents, and then that absol leader. Whether or not fish had the same level of intelligence as he did, they were still pokemon right? Suddenly his meals of meat and berries seemed a whole lot darker. In a bid to tune out Ripwing's breakfast, Enigma let his gaze wander around the Shadow Lands. More pokemon had woken up and he spotted various diurnal dragon-types flocking to where it was warm. Haxorus and garchomp spread out on the warm soil where the sun hit, nattering to each other and their younger kin.
"Wait a minute." Enigma turned back to Ripwing. "If dragons don't reach their final evolution often then why are there so many among the assassins and soldiers."
Ripwing flashed his canines in a grin. "Because they don't need to prove anything to each other. They just want to get stronger to please Lord Hydreigon, not to lord it over their own pack. To be honest, it makes things a heck of a lot more peaceful."
Hydreigon… so had something good actually come from his rule?
"It still happens more than you think, though," Ripwing went on. "Look at Boomer. He's the only noivern in his swarm. And how many salamence do you see? I had to leave my old pack cos the silly shelgon kept trying to challenge me." He chuckled and shook his head. "I often wondered if that's why our previous leader took me on as his ace."
A small smile spread across Enigma's face at the thought of hundreds of smaller dragons trying to overthrow the massive salamence. Ripwing seemed rough at first glance, but he'd soon learned he was an oddly gentle creature. Especially in the Shadow Lands. Enigma gazed out at the castle, leaving the dragon to eat his meal in peace without him staring. Now the sun had risen the huge castle was much clearer. At night it was a tangle of black thorns against the night sky. During the day he could see the moss clinging to the paw-carved ebony and onyx stones.
"You said Hydreigon rarely ever leaves his castle," said Enigma. "Did the previous Hydreigon do that?"
Ripwing licked grey scales from his lips and followed Enigma's gaze. "No. He was much more active, and protective of us all. He'd mix with his followers and even dine with them. You ask me, that's exactly how a dragon should lead his pack." He lowered his head to take another bite of his fish. "He was happy with the way things were."
"Really?" Enigma raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah. He didn't want to claim the Shadow Mountains. He was happy with you ghosts just living there in peace. I mean, you share the same fate as us, right? Feared 'cos you're unpredictable." Ripwing snorted and fired a glare at the castle. "His son, however… he'd wanted change since the day he became a zweilos. He couldn't understand why his father didn't pursue the ideals he'd grown up learning about. As far as our previous leader was concerned, he'd already embraced those ideals. We had it all here. A place where dragon- and dark-types could live without the persecution of other pokemon. That was the point. He never intended to wipe them out entirely, just to push them back a bit."
Ripwing had dropped his voice to hushed tones. Enigma glanced up at the branches of the trees around him. The murkrow weren't nesting by the lake. They didn't like how sunny it was compared to other areas of the Shadow Lands. They clung to the shade, concentrated around the castle or towards the Border Woods. The flock of them still hadn't settled. They swerved towards the sky, their caws loud over the silence the morning always brought. Then they swooped, spearing the canopy.
Enigma pushed himself up onto one knee as he watched them vanish. "They're fighting something? I thought they were coming in to roost?"
"The murkrow?" Ripwing turned his head towards the woods. "Yeah. Just before sunrise they found the remaining absol pack. They were hiding at the edge of the Border Woods, just outside the Shadow Lands."
"The absol…?" Enigma searched the edge of the Border Woods.
It was more active than he'd first thought. Howlinger paced back and forth with his houndour pack, his head low and tongue lolling. His envious eyes flashed red whenever he looked up at the murkrow.
"Hydreigon won't let him go," Ripwing explained. "He doesn't want the Border Woods torching so soon after the last chase. A bare canopy lets in too much light." The dragon lunged his head towards the remains of his breakfast and snapped it up.
Enigma wondered if he'd even noticed the bones. Ripwing's avoidance of the title 'lord' hadn't fallen on deaf ears.
"So he's killing the last of them?" Enigma asked.
"Of course he is." Ripwing's tail swished as he looked back up at the woods. Enigma noticed his movements had become smoother, and warmth radiated off his scales. "They found a little hatchling hovering outside an old burrow. They'd taken shelter there." He settled back down on his rock but he kept an eye on the flock as it swelled in the air again. "The absol had barely had a chance to recover." He sighed and his eyes turned distant. "I knew Blight. She was a good leader."
Enigma's only memory of the absol leader was the glare he was convinced had been aimed at him. He shuddered at the memory and hugged his arms around himself.
"Didn't they cause that landslide though?" he asked Ripwing.
"Are you kidding?" Ripwing snorted, narrowing his eyes at the banette. "The only reason we didn't get a warning about that landslide is because it was sudden! Even an absol's keen senses aren't without fault. That cliff was sodden from the snow and rain. There was no way it would have held. She sensed it and then it caved in before she could warn anyone else. Her priority was to get her clan out of the way, like any good leader." He fixed Enigma with a piercing stare. "Do you know what was found once the rubble was cleared? Two absol casualties. Sure there were some of ours, too. But Blight didn't want to bring disaster on us. That massacre was driven by nothing more than superstitious paranoia."
Paranoia… like the persecution of his own kind?
"I saw it," said Enigma quietly. "The absol being driven out."
"Did it remind you of anything?"
Enigma stared back into the dragon's eyes, trying to work out if he was testing him. But he felt Ripwing already knew the answer.
"Are you asking me if I remember Hydreigon killing my parents?" Enigma asked.
Ripwing nodded.
Enigma dug his claws into the soil. "Vividly."
Ripwing closed his eyes briefly and stared into the lake. "Huh. This is what I mean. You grow up fast. A dragon hatchling wouldn't have remembered." He flashed a glance at the banette. "I wonder how much of a flaw that's going to be in his plan?"
"You're questioning my loyalty now?"
Ripwing shifted to rest his head in one paw again. "Questioning your loyalty… and where would that be? Here with the dragon who murdered your parents… or with that little weavile I see you hanging around with?"
Enigma felt his blush return and he shifted uncomfortably. "What are you getting at?"
"I've seen you together," said Ripwing. "You know full well what the rules are among the soldiers and assassins here. If you want to prove your loyalty, then you're meant to abide by those rules."
"I am." Enigma's gaze wandered back to the barracks.
"Sure. For now," said Ripwing. "You're young. You wouldn't be the first to fall down that hole. But trust me, it never ends well." Ripwing nodded towards the castle. "Those rules aren't in place to protect you, Enigma. They're in place to protect our leader. Family and loved ones are a gaping wound in the wall of soldiers and assassins that are assigned to protect him. All it takes is for one of our enemies to poke at it and you'll be screaming out all of Hydreigon's weaknesses before daybreak. He wants rid of those wounds as much as our enemies want to find them."
Enigma jerked his head around towards Ripwing and anger flashed in his crimson eyes, taking the salamence by surprise. "Are you saying he'd hurt Kera?!"
"That depends," said Ripwing firmly. "If keeping you obedient through fear is what he needs to do then he'll exploit your weaknesses to do it."
A cold chill ran through Enigma's body and he felt himself begin to shake. "Why are you telling me all this?"
"Because I know where your loyalties lie," said Ripwing. "You want to fight for what's right. That much became clear when I saw what book you chose from the library." The salamence narrowed his eyes and lowered his voice to a near whisper. "Be very careful, Enigma. Because I won't always be around to help you."
Enigma stuttered for a moment. "What… what do you mean?"
But Ripwing's attention had gone to the murkrow flock again. They were in a frenzy, swerving away over the canopy into the distance. More of their kin had joined the fray, swooping from their roosts at the edge of the Shadow Lands to pursue their targets deeper into the woods.
Ripwing turned back to Enigma, but the banette could tell his friend's attention was divided. "Tell me, Enigma. Are you planning to stay here? Are you loyal to Hydreigon?"
Enigma shifted and his feet brushed the water until the cold bit through his fur. What was Ripwing getting at? The banette glanced up at the flock of murkrow as they swelled and spread above the canopy of the woods. Was the salamence testing him? If Enigma told the truth, would he be killed by the dragon he'd assumed was a friend?
The banette met Ripwing's eye and forced himself to remain stoic. "Yes."
The corner of Ripwing's mouth twitched and he looked over Enigma's shoulder towards the barracks. "I know your mate is. Or was. I suppose it depends if her loyalties have shifted in favour of you."
"She's not my mate."
"Don't remain here for the wrong reasons, Enigma." Ripwing pushed himself to his feet. His voice was no more than a whisper. "You'll only regret it. It's possible to leave, and if you choose to, I can help you. But you'll have to decide fast."
Enigma's jaw dropped and he stared up at the dragon, speechless.
"I can't stand by while the rest of my friend's clan is being murdered," Ripwing went on. "I've regretted every day I didn't rush to help her out of fear. It was bad enough watching that abomination destroy your home and family. Fear. I'm a coward, and I need to change that." He paused to glance up at the murkrow, then looked Enigma in the eye. "I've tried to remain loyal for the sake of my former leader. But I know he wouldn't have agreed with this pointless murder. It's your choice, Enigma."
Hope welled in Enigma's chest. He could leave. Just like that. But it soon waned as his thoughts went back to Kera. He sank on the stone and glanced away from Ripwing's probing stare. "I can't leave Kera behind."
"Would she come with you?"
Enigma was silent as he thought over that. Would she? He'd seen how excited she was in the rallies, how she always addressed Hydreigon as 'lord' without fail, how she was so keen in her training and eager to fight. Yet she was willing to call Enigma a friend…
"I honestly don't know," he said quietly.
Ripwing's soft gaze washed over him and the dragon spoke just as quietly. "I don't think she would."
When Enigma looked back up, Ripwing was watching the murkrow once more. The mightyena pack was fleeing through the woods, much to Howlinger's frustration. Ripwing's tail swished over the ground, stirring up dust. With a heavy sigh, he gave one last look back at Enigma.
"Then I guess this is where I leave you," said Ripwing.
Enigma stood up, his heart racing. "You're actually leaving?"
"I have to," said Ripwing. "I owe it to Blight. If I can save what's left of her pack… then I want to do that." He took a deep breath. "I hope it will be my redemption."
Enigma's heart twisted and a sense of loneliness washed over him. He watched as Ripwing tested his wings in the sun's warm rays.
"Are you sure you don't want to join me?" the salamence asked.
"I can't," said Enigma. "Not without Kera."
Ripwing glanced over his shoulder towards the barracks. "I can't wait for you to convince her, Enigma. I need them to believe I'm assisting." He nodded to the murkrow. "I've hung around for long enough just trying to get warm."
Enigma nodded his understanding and shuffled his paws together. Was he really turning down an offer to flee the Shadow Lands? His heart ached and he found his eyes wandering back to the barracks.
"Very well." Ripwing spread his wings and Enigma took a step back. "Please… be careful. You've already lost enough."
With one beat of his wings, Ripwing was in the air. Enigma barely saw him leave as he took off like a rocket towards the Border Woods.
'Fighting for what's right'… Enigma bit his lip. What was 'right'? Ripwing had given him an offer to escape a land filled with evil… and he'd declined because of Kera.
...
Enigma was still re-living his conversation with Ripwing when he went to wake Kera. It was after sun high. He'd lost track of time, and he hoped the weavile wouldn't be annoyed with him for causing her to almost miss out on her second half of sleep. When he slipped through her closed door like mist he found to his surprise that she was sitting up in bed, watching him. A playful smile spread across her face and she bounced off her nest to land before him.
"It's so cool when ya do that!" she squealed.
Enigma blinked with surprise. The weavile's excitable smile and playful glint in her eyes seemed to chase away the cloud that had been hovering over him since morning.
"So… Chess?" She grabbed his wrist. "It's in ya room, right? Let's go!"
Enigma found himself half-dragged out of her room to his across the corridor. The weavile stopped at his door and pointed a claw at it.
"Go on! Do it again!" she demanded.
Enigma blinked at her and shook his head. "Why are you so keen to see me do this today?"
"I dunno." Kera watched him as he slipped through the door. When he opened it to let her in she continued, "I'm just really excited after our battle this mornin' when ya, like, blocked my attack by phasing through a wall."
Enigma was already on his knees, dragging the chess board from beneath his bed. All the pieces toppled about on it and Kera joined him to scoop the rest from among the scraps of his mother's cloak. The wooden pieces were made up of nidoking, nidoqueen and their family. Blue and pink nidoran made up the various pawns, and to keep in pattern with their colours the two opposing forces were blue or pink. Kera had joked on many an occasion that her nidoqueen was the wrong colour, but as far as Enigma knew, no pokemon their age had ever even seen any members of the nido-family.
They set their pieces up and sat opposite each other to begin the game. But Kera's mind was blatantly occupied with other thoughts. She kept making ridiculous moves that meant Enigma soon had taken many of her pieces. A few of them had even been recruited to his side, and he raised an eyebrow at the weavile as he watched her move her knight (a young nidoran wrangling a tauros) into an obvious trap.
"You are really sloppy today," he said as he charged into it with his nidorino.
"I'm sorry." She chuckled and twitched her right ear. "I'm just thinkin' about battle strategies."
Enigma inclined his head on one side. Part of him wanted to ask for more details, while the other was running over Ripwing's questions about loyalty.
"I just think," Kera went on, unprompted, "that when we both graduate we could be teamed up together, right? You an' me."
Enigma's heart began to race. He'd never thought about that before. His thoughts had just been on getting through each lonely stage of the day. He'd never thought about what might happen should he actually pass his training classes. Kera wasn't looking at him. She held her nidorina, turning it in her paws as she searched for a safe spot to move it to.
"I mean, we work well together, right?" she went on. "I think we should probably come up with some strategies that'll really wow Jex and Niana."
"Hmm." Enigma scratched his mane as he watched her place the nidorina right in the path of his nidoqueen. "Perhaps a better strategy than your current chess game?" He kicked over her piece with his queen and snapped it up, flashing her a playful grin.
Kera slapped her knee and swore. "How didn't I see that?!"
"Come on, Kera." Enigma sat back on his paws and looked at her. "Where is your head today? You usually beat me at this game."
She toyed with her ear feathers and waved a paw. "I'm sorry, Enigma. I can't clear my head. I keep thinkin' about how we could mix ya ghost skills with my sneak attacks and bring 'em together for our exam next season."
Enigma almost toppled over. "Exam?!"
"Oh come on!" Kera's eyes widened and she met his gaze. "Surely ya knew about that! If we pass, we'll go onto Elite classes! We'll be close to graduatin'!"
Enigma grit his teeth and looked away. It was starting to ring a bell, but he'd clearly dismissed it.
"This is whatcha get for just goin' with the flow," said Kera. "Maybe we should talk about it rather than playin' Chess, eh?"
Enigma sighed and looked back at her. It wasn't really how he wanted to spend his time with her. "Go on. What do you need to know?"
"How ya do it," she said. "How'dja, like, just go through walls like that?"
He shrugged. "I just can. I don't know how it works."
"So ya can do all these cool things like warp to new places, go through walls and sneak through the shadows… and ya don't have a clue how ya even do it?"
"Nope."
Kera rolled her eyes and fell back on her paws. "Then we need to figure that out, don't we."
"Not really," he said. "You want to co-operate with them, so we should look at that. You can already follow the sound of my bell. Can't we work with that?"
"Probably." Kera was keen again, leaning forwards on her knees. "That sounds pretty cool, actually! We could come up with a signature move. You come from one way, I come from the other, and bam! We hit our target at the same time! They're bound to miss at least one of us."
Enigma chuckled and shook his head. "That would never work."
"Yeah it would." Kera flashed him a grin. "They'll miss a sneaky ghost for sure! Ya'll pop up behind 'em and take 'em by surprise."
"It would make more sense if I surprised them, then you leapt out as a second surprise."
"Ya want me to go in for the kill, then?"
Enigma opened his mouth to reply but nothing came out. The kill? No, he didn't want that at all.
If Kera had noticed his falter, she didn't say anything. Instead she leant towards him, eyes sparking. "So can ya phase through anythin', then? Anythin' solid at all?"
He nodded. "Pretty much."
The weavile bounced on her knees. "Do it to me!"
"Eh?!" Enigma scooted back slightly.
"C'mon! If I'm gonna team up with ya then I wanna know if our targets can feel it! If not then ya'll have a huge advantage!"
"No!"
"No?" Her eyes widened. "Why not? This is important!"
"Kera, ghosts don't phase through other pokemon," he told her. "It's our law."
"Law?" Kera scoffed.
"It's the same for all ghost-types. Such acts were forbidden centuries ago!"
"Oh come on!" She threw her paws in the air. "Ya trainin' to be a freakin' assassin! Who cares if it's forbidden or not!"
"I do!" he exclaimed, causing Kera to reel back in surprise. "It could be seriously dangerous! There's a reason it's forbidden! It's not just some taboo thing to phase through someone else. If my kind were still alive I could be put to death!"
"But they're not are they, so who cares?"
Enigma stuttered, staring at Kera in disbelief. Regret clouded the weavile's face and she wound her claws together.
"Oh yikes. I'm really sorry, Enigma," she said. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."
How else was it meant to sound? Enigma looked away from her and clenched his jaw. Suddenly, for the first time in his life, he actually wanted to be alone.
"What I meant was it don't matter anymore." She shuffled over the chess board to join him, scattering the pieces. "No one's goin' to hurt ya for tryin' somethin' that could have benefit."
"What benefit?" he scoffed. "If something went wrong I could seriously hurt you."
"I know that!"
He met her gaze, dumbfounded. "You're not acting like it."
"That's cos I trust ya!" She sat back on her heels and flashed him a grin. "I don't believe ya'd ever hurt me. And if anythin' does go wrong, it'll be my fault for askin'! Besides." She chuckled and lowered her voice. "I don't think ya could hurt anyone if ya tried. Although, I won't tell Lord Hydreigon that."
He narrowed his eyes, exhausted with the effort of arguing with her. "Kera…"
"Just my paw!" She stuck her paw out before his face and twitched her claws.
"Kera, please!"
"C'mon!" she pleaded. "Just once an' I won't ask again. Promise."
Enigma let out an exasperated sigh. Just once… He stared at Kera's outstretched paw and bit his lip. How was he even considering this?
"You won't ask again?" he met her eyes.
Kera shook her head. "Like I said. Promise."
Enigma sighed again and raised his own paw to hers. Just once… then he'd never have to do it again.
He let his paw turn to mist and drifted it through Kera's. Her fur tickled his paw, then it was surrounded by warmth. The weavile's eyes widened and he felt his own heart skip a beat. A strange pulsing sensation spread through his paw; steady, but the shock of it made him fall back on his tail. It was a huge effort not to suddenly retract his arm. His heart raced at the fear of hurting her. The rest of his surroundings seemed to fade away as he kept his full focus on his paw, watching he shadowy mist travel through to her other side. Only a beat of time had passed, but once he'd drawn back and materialised it felt like a lot longer. Too long.
He shuffled back against the far wall and clutched his paw to his chest as he stared blankly past her. But he could still see her excited bounce as she scampered over to him.
"That was amazin'!" she said. "I didn't expect it to feel like anythin', but I felt ya pulse!" She paused and chuckled, settling down before him. "Not as sneaky as I'd hoped, but eh. We could make it work."
Enigma rubbed his claws over the fur of his knuckles. It felt filthy but there was nothing on it.
"Makes me wonder what it would be like if ya just walked right through me."
Kera's words made his spine stiffen and his eyes darted to hers. The coldness behind his stare made the weavile recoil.
"Don't you ever make me do that again," he warned.
Kera raised her paws in defeat. "A promise is a promise, ghost dude. But a girl's free to wonder, right?"
Enigma didn't reply. He stared down at his paw, barely even recognising it anymore. It felt so detached and alien.
"Are ya okay?" Kera's small voice betrayed her concern more than her words did.
"I want to be alone for a while," he said.
Kera's ears drooped and she fell back onto her haunches. "I really shouldn't have forced ya, should I? I'm so sorry."
"It's not just that." He flashed a canine and looked away from her. "You don't even seem to care about what I believe in. Or that my entire species were slaughtered-"
Kera leapt towards him and placed a claw over his lips. He jerked back so abruptly his head bounced off the wall and he winced.
"Shush," Kera whispered. She cast a glance towards the door and released him. "The walls have ears. Be careful whatcha say." He caught her gaze, and all playfulness had left her eyes. When she continued, her voice was barely audible. "It's not that I don't care, Enigma. I don't understand." She paused and wound her claws together, glancing aside. "I was raised different, okay? I have no idea what it's like to have ya family torn away. But… at least ya actually have memories of ya parents."
Enigma's breath caught in his throat and he found it impossible to look away from her. Were there tears in her eyes? He felt his anger fizzle out and he closed his eyes with a sigh.
"I'm sorry," said Kera.
"It's fine," Enigma grunted.
"No it's not. I shoulda been more careful." Kera paused for a moment and shifted with unease. "I know ya wanna be alone." She pushed herself up and nodded to the door. "I'll leave ya for a bit."
As he watched her go, he wanted to call her back. The door closed behind her, and he absently stroked the back of his paw. Her sad face, along with her words, lingered in his mind. It was as if she was hiding something, that there was more to the weavile than he'd realised, and he found himself desperate to go after her.
...
Kera had seemed different as the next week tumbled past. She'd been cheerful, but full of questions about Enigma's origin. She'd bombarded him with questions about his parents - their names, if they cooked for him, what they did, what they were like. Even questions about life in the Shadow Mountains. Enigma couldn't answer them all. He'd forgotten a lot of it over the past year, but he tried his best, and he found himself enjoying talking to her about it. She spent hours after training had finished just talking with him, finally falling into her nest at sun high. Her tiredness caught up with her, and the dark rings around her eyes began to resemble his own.
After a few clumsy moves resulting in Kera's concussion, Niana insisted the weavile spent a day resting. Enigma ached with guilt. He'd warped out of the way, sending Kera tumbling into the wall. But the weavile scolded him for apologising and left him to join Vixen and a liepard named Kit.
The two quick pokemon ran circles around him the rest of the night and he actually slept that day.
He woke up well before dusk. Five hours was a decent sleep as far as he was concerned. He pushed himself from his nest and stretched until his spine popped. He thought about waking Kera, but given how exhausted she'd been he decided to leave it and get her at dusk instead.
His eyes fell on the stack of books beside the bed. Dust blanketed them, making the covers of the top-most books almost impossible to read. He was one of the newer members to the barracks, but it wouldn't always be that way. Sooner or later others might be needing the training manuals.
He gathered them up one by one to pop back into the storage closet. Then he found the book he'd removed the dust jacket from. His eyes widened as his heart picked up pace. The book from the library! He scrabbled to find it, knocking the books over in his desperation. Ripwing's words echoed in his mind. 'I know where your loyalties lie. You want to fight for what's right. That much became clear when I saw what book you chose from the library.' If the salamence was right, then Enigma had to make sure that book never found its way into the paws of another assassin. If they knew he'd brought it into the barracks, then he'd be skinned alive.
He found it still wrapped in the dust jacket for Assassination 101. He let out a sigh and fell back onto his bottom. It was all there. The battle between Xerneas and Yveltal. As he begun to remove the jacket he decided against it. If he needed to keep it hidden, then there was no sense in removing it. If he'd managed to bluff Jex and Niana, then he'd be better off keeping the dust jacket on. He tucked the whole thing under his bed and pulled the scraps of his mother's cloak over it.
Done. He returned to tidying the books away. It took four trips to the storage closet. He stopped in his doorway, cradling five books in his arms. His room seemed a lot smaller without those stacks of books next to his nest.
On his way back from the closet, voices echoed down the corridor. Jex… and Yurlik. Enigma dropped his density and stood against the wall, straining his ears to listen in. He couldn't quite catch it, but his heart was racing. The honchkrow wasn't here for him again, was he? He hadn't overheard his conversation with Ripwing?
Enigma closed his eyes as the horrible, dark thought that Ripwing had been captured washed over him. He clenched his claws into his scarf and held his breath. Yurlik's arrogant voice was blocked out as the main door closed. All he could hear was Jex, talking in a low voice. Claws scraped over the dry earth as the scrafty made his way back up the corridor.
Enigma pressed himself against the wall as Jex's mohawk bobbed around the corner. The banette almost popped back into physical form when he spotted the pokemon accompanying the scrafty. A small, shaggy fox-like pokemon skulked along behind him, head held low. Blue markings blazed on their head and paws, and bright blue eyes wet with tears glistened in a face of black fur.
A zorua? He'd never seen one like that before. Zorua were grey, with red markings. Not black and blue.
Curiosity welled in Enigma's chest and he turned his head to follow the pair.
"We're a mixed bunch here," Jex told the zorua. "If poison's ya speciality then ya'll be addin' some surprises to our trainin' sessions."
If the zorua had heard him they didn't show it.
Jex continued on idly chatting as the pair vanished around the bend. Enigma crept along after them, desperate not to lose them. His bell grated in its metal casing, and he tried his best to silence it to no avail. He lagged behind Jex and his new charge, straining his ears in case they vanished into one of the rooms. Enigma didn't feel like waltzing through the rooms of the other assassins to find the strange zorua. He'd encountered raging dragons and grumpy dark-types too many times to count during his short time in the barracks.
Just when he thought he'd lost them, he picked up Jex's voice behind one of the doors, two down from Enigma's room. The door handle wobbled as the door clicked open, and the scrafty's voice became much clearer.
"Look, I understand yer scared, but ya here now," he said. "Ya might as well make the most of it. Trainin' starts an hour after dawn. I'll send someone in to get ya."
Jex closed the door and turned towards Enigma. The banette pressed himself against the wall before the scrafty walked into him. But much to his surprise Jex stopped right beside him.
"A little tip," said the scrafty. "If ya gonna spy, either remove or silence that bell."
A dry chuckle escaped Enigma's throat and he solidified, leaning back against the wall with his arms folded.
"I couldn't help it," he said. "I was curious."
Jex gave an amused grunt. "I can't say I blame ya. Our new friend is a bit of an odd-ball." He paused, looking the banette up and down. "Thinkin' about it… ya might be just the one to help him settle."
Enigma's eyes widened. "Me?"
"Yeah. Ya see any other ghost-types here?" Jex folded his arms and smirked. "Ya more of an odd-ball than he is. He seems nervous, and apparently doesn't fight. He caught Yurlik's attention in the Border Woods and was snatched up to be recruited here. Lord Hydreigon loves the idea of havin' a poison user as an assassin."
"Poison?" Enigma's muzzle creased with confusion.
"Aye. Like I said, odd-ball. I wouldn't be surprised if our new little friend becomes one of his aces in time." Jex glanced back at the closed door. "Go on. See if ya can get him talkin', eh? I can't get so much as a squeak outta him."
Enigma watched Jex strut back down the corridor, then he looked back at the door to the zorua's room. Why was he hesitating? It was just a small zorua. This one didn't look much older than a hatchling.
Enigma shrugged to himself and slipped through the door without touching the handle. The zorua was curled up against the wall, as far away from the bed as they could get. A messenger bag lay by their tail, and one paw was clutched around a strange orb hanging from a piece of black thong. Tears streaked their cheeks with salty trails, and their tiny body shook with sobs. Enigma felt a twinge in his chest. He'd been just like that when he'd arrived, snuggled in his mother's cloak as the reality set in. Had this zorua met a similar fate? Parents murdered before their eyes, then snatched up to start a new life in the miserable Shadow Lands?
Perhaps Jex was right. Perhaps they were more alike than Enigma could have ever imagined.
The banette crept across the room towards the bed, his bell jingling with every footstep. He flopped onto the hay and the zorua's ears twitched. Their eyes flashed open, trapping Enigma in a pair of sapphire lights. The zorua scooted backwards before they'd even managed to sit upright and flopped onto their side, flanks heaving.
"Huh. Interesting." Enigma chuckled and leant back against the wall with his paws tucked behind his head. "I don't think I've ever come across a single dark-type who's scared of me."
The zorua's eyes trailed over his body and their jaw went slack as they broke into a terrified pant. Their eyes widened until the whites of their sclera showed, and their blue paws scrabbled over the floor in a feeble attempt to scurry away. Enigma feared for a moment that the zorua might faint from sheer fright.
"Come on, you've got nothing to be scared of." Enigma gave the frightened dark-type a friendly grin. "Hey, with all the training I've endured today, one dark pulse off you could put me in a coma." He closed his eyes and chuckled at his own dry joke.
The zorua diverted their eyes and, still panting, lowered their head onto their paws. The vulpine's posture was stiff, but they'd begun to calm down at least. Or were they just exhausted? Enigma couldn't work it out. He inclined his head on one side, taking the small pokemon in. Their muzzle was oddly pointed, perhaps due to their young age. The shaggy coat blanketed a tiny frame that, in the pokemon's current position, showed their scrawny spine poking out around their pointed shoulders.
"So what are you doing here?" Enigma asked. "I can only assume you haven't joined willingly?"
"I…" The zorua clasped their tiny paw tighter around their pendant. "I was kidnapped."
Enigma's ears stiffened. Just as he'd guessed. His own memories flooded back, screams as shadows flitted back and forth through the darkness desperate to flee the inferno of dragon fire. Nausea flooded his stomach and he fought to bring himself back to reality, fixing his full attention on the unusual zorua.
The zorua shifted uneasily and their pupils turned to pinpricks under his gaze. "Why are you staring at me?"
Their voice was oddly high, as if it hadn't quite broken yet. It cracked with the hoarseness from crying and fresh tears trailed down their cheeks.
Enigma shook his head sharply and diverted his eyes to the door. "Sorry. I was just… well, you're clearly young. You'll probably forget all about it in a few seasons."
A lie.
The zorua stiffened and huffed through their nose. "I doubt it. I'm probably no younger than you."
"How old are you?" Enigma asked.
"Five seasons."
Enigma raised an eyebrow. Older than he'd expected. He'd have guessed two or three at most. "You're still younger than me."
"Really?"
"Yeah, add a year on that kid."
The zorua's ears twitched with amusement and they pushed themselves up onto their haunches. They batted the pendant closer to them as they idly rolled it on the floor. Their eyes had turned distant as they watched the light reflecting off its glassy surface.
Enigma watched the zorua, curiosity gnawing at him. The fox's tiny paw fumbled at the end of the black string, snatching it in their claws only to drop it repeatedly.
"So what am I meant to call you then?" he asked. "I'm assuming you have a name."
"Tell me yours first."
"Enigma."
The zorua flashed him a sideways glance and he noticed extreme distrust clouding their eyes. But they shrugged and returned to their pendant. The string slipped through their claws again and the zorua muttered something before answering Enigma.
"It's Harlequin." They lowered their head to grab both ends of the black string in their jaws.
"Too long." Enigma watched as he realised what the zorua was trying to accomplish. "I'm gonna call you Harle."
He warped from the bed to land beside Harlequin. The zorua let out a squeal of surprise, dropping the pendant to the floor. Enigma snatched it in his claws and tossed it towards the bed. In one fluid motion he landed back on the hay and snatched the pendant from the air.
Harlequin shook their fur as they realised what Enigma had just done. Their livid blue eyes locked on him and their fur bristled along their spine.
"Give that back!" they hissed.
Enigma let the pendant hang by its thong, twisting back and forth slowly in his claws. It was an unusual thing. A glass ball surrounded by a golden ring. A blue and white band curled inside the glass, and he had the strangest feeling he'd seen it somewhere before.
A flash of black seared his fur and exploded off the wall behind him. He jerked his head around towards it. The dirty yellow wall smoldered where dark energy had hit it, leaving a large black mark. He looked back at Harlequin, his crimson eyes wide. The zorua bared their canines and a low growl left their throat. The fur around their tail bristled as they held it low to the ground.
"I said give it back!" The zorua's eyes flashed with blue fire.
"Calm down, Harle." Enigma sighed and swiftly knotted the two ends of string together. "I was just tying it for you."
He tossed the pendant back to the zorua and it landed at their feet. They stared at him for a moment, stunned, then looped the pendant around their head so it hung just below their thick ruff. They mumbled something that might have been an apology and flopped onto the floor.
"Tired, huh?" Enigma slid from the bed and landed with a soft jingle. "Well you've had a long day. I guess I'll let you get some sleep."
As he plodded across the room he could feel the zorua watching him. "Long day is an understatement."
Enigma paused by the door and looked back at Harlequin.
"Why are you being nice to me?" they asked.
Enigma faltered for a moment. What did he say? It was because Jex asked him to be? Or because Harlequin reminded Enigma of himself when he first arrived here?
The banette chuckled and rubbed a paw in his mane. "I dunno. 'Cos you're a kid?"
"I'm not a kid."
Enigma raised his paws in a shrug. "We're not all monsters. Get some sleep. I'll see you during training."
He slipped through the door and took a deep breath. The air in there had felt stifling. Cold chills washed over him as he stared back at the door. That zorua… Something seemed off about them. Their attitude towards that stone… It suddenly hit him where he'd seen it before and his head began to spin. It was exactly like the ones from that book!
...
Daylight streaked through Enigma's window, trailing over the pages of the open book. Enigma scanned the pictures of pokemon going to battle against Yveltal's forces. Those leading troops did indeed have similar stones to Harlequin, but they each carried two. Enigma couldn't work out what exactly they did. They seemed to change the forms of the holder, but why did they need two? Did Harlequin have two?
Claws scraped against his door and the handle rattled. Enigma jerked his head up and his heart pounded. He leant over the edge of his bed, swinging the book back beneath it. He'd just dragged the scraps of cloth over it as the door was released from its catch.
A slender black muzzle nudged its way into his room, followed by the scraggy form of that unusual zorua. Harlequin kicked the door shut with a hind paw and sat down heavily, shifting their paws in the dust. They still had their messenger bag with them, and it scraped over the dry ground with every small movement.
Enigma sat back against the wall and tucked his paws behind his head. "What's wrong? Can't sleep?"
Harlequin shook their head, keeping their gaze on the wall. "No." They licked their lips and cast a brief glance his way. "I guessed you couldn't either. 'Cos… you know… your eyes."
Enigma absently rubbed the dark rings beneath his eyes and shrugged. "I'm used to it." He frowned at the zorua. "How did you find me? I never told you my room."
"I used my nose."
Enigma grunted. He still wasn't sure about this zorua. They sat hunched by the door, shivering as they took everything in. Why bring the bag? And what would they have done if Enigma actually had been asleep? Jex had said something about poison…
"What do you want?" Enigma blurted.
Harlequin recoiled and jerked their head back to the door. "I… well… you tried to help me earlier. And… well, I threatened you. I wanted to apologise." The zorua took a deep breath and forced themselves to look at Enigma. The effort seemed to pain them. "I feel trapped here. I… I don't know what to do."
Enigma stared at Harlequin, and the zorua flinched under his gaze. He didn't have any reason to believe they were lying, but something about the zorua just seemed… odd.
"To be honest, there isn't much to do," Enigma told them. "You could try to escape, but you wouldn't make it out alive."
Harlequin stiffened and lowered their head, ears back. "And I guess you'd stop me?"
Enigma didn't answer that. He scratched behind his ear and stared past the zorua to the door.
"Well… what do you do?" Harlequin asked. "What exactly happens here?"
Enigma shrugged. "I train. Go for walks. Hang out with Kera."
"Kera?"
"She's a friend of mine," said Enigma. "You'll probably meet her later." 'Especially if you keep hanging around me,' he added mentally.
Harlequin made a noise akin to an 'oh' and looked back at the door. "I guess she's asleep."
"Yeah, she's not exactly an insomniac."
Enigma stared at Harlequin for a moment longer, then dropped from his bed to approach them. Harlequin's eyes darted towards him and the fur along their spine bristled. They raised one paw, ready to bolt.
"So what are you going to do?" Enigma asked, stopping a foot away from the vulpine. "Are you going to look for a way out, or are you sticking here?"
Harlequin's voice wavered. "Why are you asking me?"
"Hydreigon chose you 'cos you use poison." Enigma shrugged. "Were you an outlaw, or a dark-type waiting to be noticed?"
Harlequin pulled their ears back and their white canines flashed behind black lips. "What would it matter to you? You're not even a dark-type!"
Enigma stood up straight and tucked his paws behind his back. A smirk played at his lips as a fire lit up in Harlequin's eyes.
"You're just pretending!" the zorua snapped.
Pretending? Oh… the little fox had no idea.
Enigma chuckled and shook his head. "This coming from a zorua?"
Harlequin had risen to their feet and glared up at him, their head held low.
"You get fired up fast," said Enigma. "I was only asking you a question."
"You were probing," Harlequin snarled.
Enigma raised his paws in a shrug. "And you've told me all I need to know. You weren't brought here willingly."
Harlequin's jaw went slack and they stuttered. As Enigma chuckled, the fire left the zorua's eyes and they inclined their head on one side. "What's so funny?"
"I didn't think a zorua would be so easy to read."
Harlequin bristled and swished their tail.
"So…" Enigma relaxed and smiled down at Harlequin. "What do you want to do since you can't sleep?"
"Well they'll want me when night falls, won't they?" Harlequin grunted. "So I probably should sleep."
"We could take a walk?" Enigma offered. "It might help tire you out."
"Wait, what?" Harlequin's eyes flashed to the exit and they pushed themselves back from Enigma until their tail brushed the door. "You… you want to walk with me? After all that?"
Enigma shrugged again. "I don't exactly take offence easy, Harle. You're not the first one to snipe me for being an oddity in this place."
The zorua looked away and their shoulders sagged. Enigma thought they'd muttered an apology but it was so quiet he missed it.
"So are you coming?" he asked.
Harlequin glanced up at the window and huddled into themselves. "I… I don't know."
"All right." Enigma shrugged and made for the door, placing a paw on Harlequin to move them. "I'll just get us something to eat then."
The words were barely out of his mouth as a sharp bark tore through the room. Harlequin jerked around, and Enigma felt sharp teeth fasten around his paw. The pair leapt apart and Enigma was winded against the wall. He stared, wide-eyed, at the zorua now cowering at the far side of the room. Their back was arched, fur bristling, and their tail tucked so tightly between their legs that it vanished in their belly fur. The zorua's eyes were ablaze, their pupils nothing more than pin-pricks.
Enigma cradled his paw and glanced down at it. Tiny red welts spread over his fur and he clutched it to his chest.
A low whine came from Harlequin and they closed their eyes briefly. Was that regret? "Don't ever touch me!"
A dry, humourless laugh rose in Enigma's throat and he wiped his paw on his scarf. "Noted."
"I… I should leave." Harlequin dragged themselves to the door, their tail still tucked tightly beneath them. Enigma moved, keeping a wary eye on the zorua. "I've not…" Their voice choked. "I've not had a very good day."
As Enigma watched the zorua reach for the door handle he couldn't help but wonder if their words were a huge understatement.
"Hey."
Enigma's voice froze Harlequin and they glanced back at him, still trembling.
"Wait here," Enigma told them. "I'll get us some snacks."
"Why?" Harlequin whined.
"Eating always calms me down," Enigma answered. "And I get the feeling you could use company."
The zorua fell back from the door and landed on their haunches. They looked away as Enigma left the room. As he stepped out into the corridor it was like a breath of fresh air. He glanced back at the closed door, standing there like an ominous gateway. He could still see the livid flash of blue in his mind as the zorua's jaws fastened around his paw.
His claws twitched at his sides and he considered for a moment waking Kera. Did he really need back-up? Something was very odd about that zorua. He couldn't help but feel they were hiding a lot more than that mysterious stone indicated.
It didn't take Enigma long to rustle up some snacks for him and Harlequin from the pantry at the back of the barracks. It was always locked, but he slipped his paw through the wood and flicked the catch open on the other side. At this time of the day no one was awake to stop him. He quickly bundled various dried meats into a pouch, along with some oran berries that were well past their best. When he returned to his room, Harlequin was back by the far wall, huddled into a loaf on the floor. Sapphire eyes watched the banette as he settled down against the opposite wall and unfolded the pouch. The tension that filled the room made Enigma feel as though he was moving through tar. It made him desperate to improve the atmosphere, or flee, and he was beginning to lean heavily towards the latter.
"I'm assuming you're a carnivore," he said as cheerfully as he could. "But I brought some berries just in case."
Harlequin ventured forwards in a low crouch and sniffed at the oran berries. "They're all dried up."
"They're from last year's harvest."
Harlequin snorted and slumped onto the floor.
"Help yourself," Enigma told them as he took a bite from a piece of jerky.
Harlequin watched him with distaste and glanced towards the window. "No thanks. I'm not hungry."
Enigma stifled a sigh and dropped his meal back onto the pouch. His eye wandered to the gaping darkness beneath his bed and an idea sparked in his mind.
"Do you play Chess?" he asked.
Harlequin quirked an ear and a puzzled look crossed their face. "Do I play what?"
"Chess." Enigma scrambled across the floor and dragged the board out from beneath his bed. "If not, I can teach you. It's fun, and a great way to pass time."
As he dragged the board and its pieces towards Harlequin, the zorua looked on with great interest. Their eyes seemed brighter, scanning over the pieces as they toppled off the board. Harlequin scooted a nidorino towards them with a blue paw and inclined their head on one side.
"Nidoran?" The zorua looked up at Enigma.
"I think it's a nidorino, actually," said Enigma has he set the pieces up on his side of the board.
"I know that." Harlequin's eyes turned dark again and they retracted their paw as they looked over all the pieces. "I'm just confused."
"The nidoran family is large," said Enigma. "And they live with status among their clans. I'm assuming that's where the inspiration came from."
"It's not that," said Harlequin. "Hydreigon wiped out all the poison-types, and the nidoran family is believed to be extinct. So why would he allow you to have this?" The zorua nudged their nidoking and it toppled onto the board.
Enigma stared at the zorua for a fleeting moment then returned to setting up his pieces. "I can't say I've ever really thought about it. Do you want to play or not?"
Harlequin shuffled their feet and gave a stiff nod. "Okay. It might… take my mind off things."
Enigma watched Harlequin as they tried to set their pieces up in the same pattern Enigma had. He couldn't help but wonder what 'things' Harlequin wanted to forget, but he didn't want to pry. His eye wandered to the stone that swung around the zorua's neck as they picked up the pieces one by one in their jaws. Could it have something to do with that?
He reached over to swap Harlequin's king and queen, and the zorua gave an embarrassed grunt and rubbed their forepaws together. Enigma flashed them a grin and sat back one one paw. With the other, he pointed out what all the pieces were and what they did - Nidorino could only charge forwards or backwards; the Nidoqueen could go anywhere on the board in a straight line; the Nidoran could move one square forwards at a time and that was it. Once he'd explained all the pieces and the aim of the game was to take or trap the opposing Nidoking they could begin.
Enigma was surprised at how fast Harlequin picked it up. He found he didn't need to explain the rules again to the zorua much at all. Their sapphire eyes lit up as they focused on the board with a calculating air. The zorua missed nothing. Pretty soon, Enigma found himself backed into a corner. Many of his purple pieces lay scattered around Harlequin's feet as the board swiftly became dominated by the zorua's blue ones. They hadn't needed to recruit any of his. Enigma had barely even dented their army save for a few Nidoran and a lone Knight.
Enigma watched as Harlequin's remaining Knight leapt over the head of one of his Nidoran to claim the last of his Nidorina. The zorua didn't meet his gaze as he looked up, and a dry chuckle left his throat. He could definitely see what had caught Hydreigon's eye. The zorua was bright and didn't seem to miss any details.
"I think you might have beat me," said Enigma.
Harlequin looked right at him and sat up straight. "Do you give in?"
Enigma leant forwards to look over the board. Was there any way he could recover? It didn't seem like it. His King was trapped on three sides, and if he moved it then it would only lengthen the game by two more turns before Harlequin had it penned in completely.
The banette sat back on his paws and laughed. "Yes, I think I give in. Well done. Anyone would think you've played before."
Harlequin said nothing as they scooped their pieces back into their starting positions. Enigma found himself doing the same, collecting up his pieces which Harlequin batted his way with their bushy tail. The banette's eye wandered to the strange stone again, and he cleared his throat to get the zorua's attention.
"That stone," he said, nodding towards it. "What is it?"
Harlequin looked down at it then returned to adjusting their Nidoqueen in its square. "I don't know."
"So you just… happen to have it?"
Harlequin shrugged. "It belonged to a friend. He said it was an heirloom."
"So why do you have it?" Enigma felt he knew the answer.
Harlequin stiffened and they placed a blue paw over the strange stone. "He was murdered."
The zorua's eyes had darkened again, and that heavy air pressed down on Enigma once more. Murdered… he could still hear his mother's screams whenever he thought back to his own past. It was a dark reminder of why he wanted to leave. And here was Harlequin carrying a similar burden…
"Oh." Enigma licked his lips and idly toyed with the hem of his scarf. "So I'm guessing he was an outlaw?"
"You could say that," Harlequin snorted. They took a deep breath and tucked the pendant into their ruff. "He was an absol."
Blight's crimson eyes flashed in Enigma's mind and he sat back up so suddenly he knocked the Chess board, sending the pieces tumbling across the floor. Harlequin leapt back and stood with one paw raised, their flanks heaving.
"An absol?" Enigma blinked and settled back on his paws, trying to calm his suddenly racing heart. Why did Blight haunt him so much? Was it because he hadn't moved to help? He'd only been a hatchling… what could he have done? He looked up into Harlequin's frantic eyes and took a steadying breath. "Sorry. You just surprised me, that's all."
Harlequin snorted through their nose. "So you hate them as well? A bit hypocritical of a ghost, isn't it?"
"That's not it at all." Enigma narrowed his eyes, trying to hide his nerves at that haunting memory of Blight glaring at him.
"I wouldn't be surprised if you were one of the ones who chased them away!" Harlequin snapped.
"I didn't have anything to do with that!" Enigma snapped back. "You're forgetting I'm a trainee here. They don't send us on missions!" He paused and tugged at his scarf. "I know they were found recently, but I wasn't involved."
"You knew about it?" Harlequin's lip curled and they raised their head. "And you didn't do anything to help?!"
Enigma narrowed his eyes at the zorua, a fire burning in his chest. "This isn't a productive discussion."
He snatched up the board and scooped the pieces onto it to slide it back beneath his bed. Harlequin watched, their cold eyes like fire on his back.
"We were meant to run away together." The zorua's voice was small, and the ice lacing it had melted away.
Enigma looked around at Harlequin, but they were staring at something only they could see.
"Even his clan didn't want him anymore," Harlequin went on. "He'd been exiled for sneaking out. They told him he was a risk, that it would be his fault if the Darkness found them. They stripped him of his name." The zorua took in a trembling voice and slumped onto the floor. "He called himself Harbinger, a name given to cursed exiles."
"But absol don't bring curses." There was doubt behind Enigma's voice, and Harlequin's ear twitched at it.
"I know," they said flatly, giving him a pointed stare.
Harlequin closed their eyes and fastened their paw over the strange stone. "He was… the only good thing in my life." A sob wracked the zorua's small body and they screwed their eyes shut. "And the Darkness took him away."
Tears streaked down Harlequin's face, pooling onto the dusty ground. Enigma felt helpless. All he could do was watch, silently. He dug his claws into the ground as he glanced at the door, wondering if he should just leave. After a short while he became aware Harlequin had stopped crying. They lay in the same position, claws clutched around that odd pendant. The zorua's back rose and fell with deep, steady breaths and their head lay on one side as if it had slipped off their paw.
Dwindling daylight stretched through the window, highlighting the zorua's vivid blue markings. As night drew closer, Enigma didn't have the heart to wake the zorua. Surely they could miss just one day of training? They were in no fit state to join in anyway. Not just yet. Enigma feared if Harlequin brought up the absol attack to anyone else, the zorua would mysteriously vanish so no one would hear of it again.
...
Thanks for reading! Please R&R! =D
