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Chapter 18:
"Don't you recognize me?"
"W – what did you say?"
I glanced down at Barie's pink paw on my ruff. Then, I looked back up at his handsome face with wide, astonished eyes. He smiled at me in a charming, almost suave manner as he turned his paw upside down. His paw moved up from my ruff and reached the bottom of my face. He proceeded to caress my chin in a gentle manner.
"My, you look positively charming when you're confused," he gave me a small wink as he chuckled. All of a sudden, his paw dropped from my chin down to my legs. He picked up one of my front paws and held it up to his face.
"How about I give you a first hand demonstration of what a Sylveon can do?"
Before I could even react; he leaned his head down and pressed his mouth down on my paw in a smooth, quick motion.
"E – eeeeeh?!" My eyes widened into the size of dinner plates when I felt him kiss my paw. I tried to shake his face off my fur, but as I tried to move my paw. I discovered that, all of a sudden, I somehow couldn't move. An electrifying sensation exploded out from where he kissed me, and caused every single strand of hair on my body to stand up like pine needles.
He raised his head up from my paw and gazed right into my eyes. He put his paw on the front of my ruff, making me I stare into his eyes. As I looked into his beautiful, baby blue eyes, the world around us wavered and melted away. The colors of the sky, buildings and ground melded together into a pastel – like mixture of colors. Eventually, the only thing I could see clearly in this painterly world was Barie's handsome face.
Our faces were so close that I could feel his warm breath against me. A part of my brain told me to shove him away, to stop him from getting any closer. But I detected an unnatural, sweet – smelling fragrance emanating from his mouth. The strange aroma he was giving off was so... so intoxicating that it blanked out my mind as soon as I took a single whiff. Although I wasn't quite sure what it was, his scent had reminded me of something familiar and comforting...
"H – hold on..." I was shocked at how weak my voice sounded. In my desperation to regain control, I grasped the paw he had on my chest. But, it was a futile effort. Barie just reversed our paws, making it so that he was the one holding onto my paws instead. I could feel his soft, silky fur press against my coarse, brown fur. Somehow, just the presence of his paw on mine seemed to intensify the intoxicating scent coming from him. I felt my breathing become ragged and uncontrolled as his smiling mouth neared my own.
One of his soft, pink feelers moved up to my face and, with a gentle touch, brushed my eyes closed. Then, I felt the feeler curl around and press itself against the back of my head. It began to inch my face closer and closer to his, enveloping me further within his fragrant aura. For some odd reason, I could feel the feeler emanating a familiar warmth. It was the same warmth that I felt... when Blue put my ribbon on my ear...
Wham!
Then, all of a sudden, the fragrant scent and the warm mood surrounding us vanished. I stood there in a daze; my eyes blinking rapidly as my mind scrambled around to try and make sense of what just happened.
Thump!
My head sluggishly moved over to where the sound came from. In my blurred vision, the world was still colored in pastels. I could just barely make out a tall, blue smudge wobbling around me. In the distance, I saw Barie lying on the dirt several feet away.
An urgent sense of worry overcame me. Why was he on the ground? Did he get hurt? Who hurt him? With all these questions wimming around in my mind, I took a step toward Barie, my paws already reaching toward my Explorer's Pack. However, the large blue smudge from before suddenly barred my way and tightly grasped onto my shoulders, preventing me from moving. It shook me around like a rag doll, making my head bob up and down in my daze.
"Wake up!"
Who's voice was that? I can't seem to recall who it was. But it sure sounded familiar, somehow. From behind the blue smudge, I could just barely see Barie twitching in the dirt. I need to go help him. I can't just leave him there on the ground like that. This stupid blue smudge needs to get out of the way.
"Fée! It's me, Blue! Don't you recognize me?"
The smudge was talking to me again, but I ignored it. I needed to go and get Barie back up on his feet. Maybe he'll reward me if I go assist him. I think I'd like that...
"Ouch! What the heck are you doing?"
Anger filled me as I tried to bash away the smudge with my head. I headbutted it as hard as I could, wanting to knock it down and get it out of my way. After all, I needed to go help Barie!
"Ugh... I'm sorry about this, Fée..."
Thwap!
All of a sudden, stars exploded in my eyes as a sharp blow struck the top of my head. I cried out in shock at the rising pain in my head. Crouching down onto the ground, I clutched the top of my head with my paws as tears welled up in my eyes.
"Are you back to normal now? Sorry if it hurt, I tried to hold back as much as I could."
"Heeh...?" Blinking away my tears, the pastel – filled world around me was beginning to vanish. Buildings and roads slowly rematerialized from their former, blurry selves. And the blue splotch that was in front of me...
"B – Blue...?" I coughed as I saw my friend's face in front of me. His outline was still blurry and unfocused, but at least I could tell that it was Blue, rather than an unfocused smudge. I reached up with my paw and touched his chest to make sure that he was actually there. When I did so, I heard him release a deep sigh.
"Whew," he threw his arm around me and pulled me into a hug, "you're back to normal."
"Back... to normal...?" I muttered, still feeling dazed and confused, "What... what happened to me?"
Blue let go of me and placed a paw against my forehead, "You sorta... went a little strange when that guy touched you earlier."
"Strange...? How...?"
"He wrapped his ribbon... things around your head, and then you kinda just fell silent. Then, your face went really red," Blue jabbed a paw at the mound of pink fur on the ground ahead of us, "you weren't acting like yourself at all."
"Eh?" I stared at the fallen Sylveon with confusion written all over my face. I patted my face, and sure enough, Blue was right. It was sizzling red and hot. At first, I wondered why I was blushing so hard, but then; as my dulled mind began to slowly wake up, my bewilderment gradually transformed into horror. I sat down and clasped my paws over my mouth as I began to recall exactly what had happened just a few seconds prior.
"No!" I cried out in a horrified panic. I understood completely as to why my face was redder than a Tamato Berry. Had a few more seconds passed before Blue interrupted us, I might've... I might've...!
I glanced down at my paws. Even now, I could still faintly detect his scent lingering on my fur. Disgusted, at myself and at him, I dropped my paws onto the dirt and tried to scrub the scent away as hard as I can.
In the distance, I heard Barie groaning in pain as he recovered from being sent through the air by Blue. He looked stunned as he stumbled around, trying to regain his balance. His immaculate fur was now mussed up with brown dirt, and his ribbons were all jumbled up and tangled around his legs in a mess. Seeing him in such a disarray made me feel a little pity for him, but my sympathy quickly vanished when I remembered what he almost did to me.
"My, my..." he said as he delicately brushed the dirt off his pure white fur with his ribbons, "this is the first time I've ever had a man punch me in the face like that."
Crack.
Suddenly, a sharp noise rang out from beside me. I looked up and saw Blue cracking his knuckles with a scary look on his face.
"I wouldn't mind giving you another one," Blue cracked his knuckles one more time and folded his arms, his burning red eyes practically firing daggers at the dapper Sylveon smiling at us in the distance. He took a heavy step forward. His presence was so menacing that it was actually making me feel a little scared as well. Nervously, I glanced over to Barie to see what kind of expression he had on his face.
"Now that was a superb blow..." amazingly, Barie still had his suave smile plastered on his face. He returned Blue's glare with a casual smile. He raised up one of his paws to his face and rubbed the red mark that Blue had left on his cheek, "My, did I accidentally trod on one of your paws, Blue? I didn't imagine that you'd get so angry over a little tease like that."
"What the heck did you do to Fée?" Blue shouted. He pointed a paw at the pink Pokémon and stated, "You're another one of those Pokémon that can use psychic powers, aren't you?"
"Psychic powers...?" Barie looked a little confused at Blue's sudden accusation. He held up one of his ribbons and examined it with his paw before shaking his head at us, "I believe you're mistaken, my overprotective friend." He let his ribbon fall from his paw, where it then curled itself around his neck. He smiled at Blue and gave a small bow, "All I did was show her the powers of a Sylveon."
Blue had a skeptical look on his face, "What do you mean by that?"
Barie took hold of his bow tie with his paws and straightened it out, "As I've said before, my dear Blue; I am a Sylveon." He gestured to his head with the end of one of his ribbons and smiled, "As a Sylveon, I do not have the capability to harness any sort of psychic ability. Now, if I was an Espeon instead..."
Suddenly, he paused in the middle of his words. The savvy smile on his face slipped slightly while the ribbon beside his face appeared to wilt a little. He looked away from us for a moment and held his paw up to his mouth. An aura of confusion washed over Blue and I as we stood there, wondering what he was doing.
He must've noticed our questioning gaze as he quickly coughed and turned his head back to face us, his suave smile back on his face as if nothing had happened. Straightening out his bow tie again, he held his paw up and said in a cheerful tone, "If I was an Espeon, then I probably be just as attractive as I am now."
I narrowed my eyes at the chuckling Sylveon. Something felt off with his last statement, although I couldn't quite put my paw on it.
"Then..." I clasped my paw over my mouth and blushed, "what you did to me earlier..."
Barie shook his head and winked at me, "There's no need to worry, Fée. I wouldn't have gone any further than just a little tease." He gazed at me with a sly expression on his face and held one of his ribbons up to his mouth, hiding his smile, "However... if you wanted a little more, then I wouldn't mind showing you the full extent of a Sylveon's powers..."
"N – no!" I ducked behind Blue and covered my face, "I – I'm not interested! No!"
"What a shame," Barie dropped his ribbon and shook his head, "but I can understand why." He sighed as his eyes drifted over to Blue, "I suppose I've been... ah... late to the party." The Sylveon chuckled in an enigmatic manner, making Blue and I glance at each other with questioning looks on our faces.
"Nevertheless," The Sylveon placed his paw on his chest and bowed his head with his eyes closed, "I am sorry for what I did, truly, I am." He turned his head up and looked at me. His suave smile was gone, and in its place was a small frown, "It was not my intention to make you feel uncomfortable, Fée. Believe me when I say that all I was planning to do was tease you and your friend."
The Sylveon held up one of his paws with his head leaned down. It was a sincere apologetic gesture. I gave Blue a nervous glance as I wondered what I should do. Even though what he did to me was fairly... shameful, it wasn't anything too bad or injurious. In the end, it was Blue who interrupted it. So we never would've of known just how far he would've taken that... tease.
"I... I forgive you," I spoke with a sigh as I placed my paw on his. Although I still wasn't exactly sure as to what the right answer was, I figured that there was no reason as to why I should continue holding onto a grudge. Despite his... forwardness, Barie really did seem like he was sincerely sorry about his actions.
"Thank you, Fée," the smile on the Sylveon's face returned. It wasn't his previous, super – suave smile, but rather, it was more like a smile between friends. In fact, his current smile seemed to have made him look a little bit more handsome than before. I quickly turned my head away from the pink Pokémon, feeling a blush rising up in my face again.
"Don't be mistaken. I'm still keeping my eyes on you," I saw Blue take Barie's paw after mine. He still had a serious expression on his face, "if I ever see you hurt Fée again, then you're going to face my wrath."
Barie shook his head as he withdrew his paw from Blue's grasp, "I would never think of hurting a woman, much less a friend." The Sylveon sat down and straightened out his bow tie, "But... I am quite jealous of the two of you."
"Jealous?" I echoed in a puzzled voice.
He held one of his ribbons up to his mouth. From behind the strip of pink, I could see his former sly smile returning to his face as he tried to hide it. The Sylveon chuckled deeply as his gaze flitted between Blue and I; his eyes carrying an uncomfortable knowing gaze behind the blue.
"It's nothing," he said in a muffled voice behind his ribbon, "don't worry about it."
The Sylveon began to chuckle to himself once more while Blue and I looked on in confusion.
"You said you were once an Eevee before, right?"
It was a few minutes after the whole fiasco with Barie had passed. Blue and I had resumed our trek toward the Main Plaza, but this time, the Sylveon had decided to tag along with us; citing that his destination was in the same direction as well.
"Indeed I was," Barie spoke with a prideful voice, "I fondly remember the days where I had a nice, bushy ruff around my neck, just like yours." He closed his eyes as he used his ribbons to brush his thin, soft fur, "I used to spend ages every day cleaning and grooming it. Could you imagine my horror when I finally evolved and discovered it missing around my neck?"
Feeling self – conscious, I looked down at my fluffy ruff. Despite my best attempts to clean myself after my adventure with Blue in the Beach Cave, I could still feel several grains of sand and chunks of dirt buried deep inside my thick fur. Not to mention, large portions of my fur were still matted and stuck together thanks to all the seawater I was splashed with.
"If you would like," I jumped up with a start when I heard Barie speak again. He was watching me examine my messy ruff with an amused look in his eye, "I wouldn't mind helping you clean your fur. I am quite confident in my grooming skills."
With his ribbons, he directed my eye toward his own pristine coat of white and pink. I couldn't help but feel jealous over just how pretty his fur was. Despite how he was slammed into the dirt earlier by one of Blue's punches, he still looked very clean and well – kept.
"It... it's fine," I quickly shook my head as I rejected the handsome Sylveon's offer, "I'm an explorer... I'm supposed to get dirty."
"Ah well," Barie shrugged, "the offer's still on the table if you ever want to reconsider." He glanced over to Blue with a sly smile on his face, "Who knows? You might even be able to impress a certain someone with a new look..."
"It's fine!" I shouted again, realizing what he was implying, "I don't need any grooming!"
"Alright, alright. There's no need to shout." Barie said with an amused chuckle as I grumbled in frustration. It was bad enough that Blue would tease me when we're alone, but now there's someone else as well. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Barie give me a sly, knowing look. This guy... he's so annoying! Puffing my cheeks out, I turned away from Barie in a huff.
"So, am I correct in assuming that the both of you are explorers?" He asked, "It's what you said earlier, but just so we're on the same page here..."
"That's right," Blue answered for me, "Fée and I both became explorers just this morning."
"My, that's quite an impressive feat!" Barie spoke with an admiring tone, "Back in Unity City, we rarely have explorers quite as young as the two of you."
"Wait, you're from Unity City?" My curiosity was piqued. I rarely, if ever, hear anything about other towns or cities outside of Treasure Town. My previous annoyance was quickly doused by my rising eagerness to hear more, "Does that mean you moved here with the crowd yesterday?"
"That's correct," Barie said with a nod, "it was quite a mess, to say the least." One of his ribbons fluttered around him and began to dust off his fur, "Dust, dirt and sand were flying everywhere. I must've carried an entire pound of grime on me by the time we were allowed past the gates."
"Why did you decide to come to Treasure Town?" I asked, ignoring his grumbling, "I mean, isn't Unity City this big, fancy city filled with all kinds of Pokémon? I heard that the place is massive – like almost twice the size of Treasure Town," I turned to Blue and made a wide gesture with my paws, "and I also heard that the buildings in the city are made of strong stone and tough metal! And they're like giant towers that stretch all the way up into the sky!"
Blue didn't reply, but he did chuckle at my enthusiasm. Undeterred, I continued to describe to describe to him the things I knew about the city.
"I once overheard some Pokémon talking about how if you stand at the top of the tallest building in Unity City, you can even touch the stars with your own paws!" I glanced up into the skies and reached up my right paw, "That's incredible, don't you think?"
"Touching the stars... huh?" Blue mimicked my action and reached up with his own paw, "That does sound rather amazing. I'd like to try that someday."
Happy that Blue also shared my desire, I circled around him and gave him a bright smile, "Me too!"
I looked over to Barie to see if he agreed with what I said as well. To my confusion, he wasn't looking at us. Instead, he seemed to be interested in his paws all of a sudden, and his mouth was covered by one of his ribbons.
"I suppose it's good to dream big..." I heard him mutter under his breath as we continued to walk together. He shook his head and dropped his ribbon from his face, revealing a small, strained – looking smile.
"What do you mean by that?" I was a little surprised at how depressed he sounded. Tilting my head in confusion, I stared at the Sylveon with questioning eyes, "Am I wrong?"
"No... you're more or less correct," replied Barie as he turned to look at me, "Unity City does have a lot of... good sights, I suppose. It's just a little interesting to me to hear what others think about the place."
He let out another sigh and sped up his pace, leaving Blue and I behind in an aura of bewilderment. We glanced at each other, both of us were wearing the same confused expression on our faces. Just what did Barie mean by that?
"Wait!" I shouted as I ran after the Sylveon. I reached the pink Pokémon's side and panted out a question, "C – can you tell us what you know of Unity City, Barie? I'm curious!"
Barie stopped and looked at me. One of his ribbons swirled up beside me and laid itself on top of my head. With a smile on his face, Barie shook his head.
"My... I think I'd rather not have someone as innocent as you hear about the place from a jaded old Pokémon like me," said Barie in an encouraging voice, "you are an explorer, right?"
"Y – yeah..."
"Then you should find out on your own. Form your own opinion with your own eyes." He grinned and patted me on the head with his ribbon.
Although I felt a little disappointed, I could understand the meaning behind his words. Barie chuckled and curled the ribbon around one of my ears. With a quick tug, he pulled my head in close to his again. He leaned his muzzle near and whispered into my ear.
"Though Fée..." He spoke in a deep, sensual voice as he held one of his paws underneath my chin, "...I wouldn't mind telling you everything about myself... in private, that is..."
Feeling the temperature rise up in my face again, I quickly leapt away from the seductive Sylveon. The ribbon he had around my ear unraveled and snapped back to him, as if it was a spring coil.
"No way!" I seethed, annoyed that I fell for another one of his 'teases." Frustrated and angry, I turned away from Barie and walked back to Blue's side, but not before sticking my tongue out at him and spouting, "Jeez, I never should've asked you anything!"
"My, my," Barie chuckled as he curled his ribbon back around his own ear with his paw, "I just adore teasing you, Fée. You're so much fun to play around, unlike the Pokémon back at the city."
He threw his head up into the air and breathed deeply. With a chuckle, he held out one of his ribbons toward Blue and I and gave us a wink.
"Well, It's been fun being around the two of you," he held his paw over his bow tie and bowed, "but, I'm sorry to say that I must be leaving now."
"Hold on, you're going?" I stopped and turned around at the Sylveon, "Why?"
Barie chuckled and held up his right paw into the air, "I have somewhere I must be. It's actually quite important." He shook his head and smiled, "I was supposed to be there about a few hours ago. But, I consider meeting new friends to be much more important than something like that."
"I see..." I said in a quiet voice. Despite how much I disliked his teasing, I couldn't help but feel a little sad at the prospect of a friend leaving. Even Blue, for all his anger at Barie earlier, looked a little disappointed.
"But don't worry," Barie said as he walked up to Blue and I, "I'm quite sure we'll meet each other again another day." He held out a paw and winked at Blue, "After all, I'm sure you're anxious to give me another punch, right?"
"Heh..." Blue grinned as he grasped Barie's paw firmly, "only if you manage to seriously anger me again."
"My, my... that's something I'll have to remember to avoid," Barie returned Blue's grin as the two of them shook their paws.
Barie let go of Blue's paw and sauntered over to me. He held up his paw in front of me, asking for a handshake as well. At first, I was a little hesitant. What if this was another one of his tricks to embarrass me?
"There's no need to be afraid, Fée," he said with a knowing smile, "I've had my fill of fun for today. Let's have an amicable farewell between friends, alright?"
"...alright," sighing a little, I decided to let bygones be bygones and forgive him. I placed my paw on top of his and gave him a smile. "Goodbye, Barie."
"My, what a lovely smile." Barie said, making me blush once more. He let go of my paw and stepped back a few paces, but not before pausing and giving us a bow, "Goodbye Fée, and you too as well, Blue."
"This isn't goodbye," Blue remarked as he folded his arms in front of his chest "we'll meet again, like you said."
"Of course." The Sylveon gave the two of us a bright, shining smile before he turned around. He held up one of his ribbons as he spoke his final goodbye.
"I'll be looking forward to seeing the two of you again in the future."
After we parted ways with our new friend, Blue and I eventually made our way back to the Main Plaza. The morning had given way to noontime, and as a result, the sun was now hanging right over the town. Strange, just a few weeks ago, the days were cool and balmy, and now everything feels searing hot.
"Whew..." I heard Blue take a deep breath as he leaned against the stone walls of the fountain, hiding himself within the shadow. Taking my place beside the Riolu, we both sat down together and let the ambient mist from the water cool us down. Blue reached beside him and withdrew the packet of Pecha Berries from his Explorer's Pack. He broke the small, pink berry into two pieces.
"Take a bite, Fée," he said as he offered me a half of the juicy berry, "it's sweet and minty. It'll cool down your mouth."
"Thanks, Blue," I smiled as I accepted the Pecha half from my friend. Taking a dainty bite out of the berry, I let the sweet juice wash over my tongue and dribble down my throat. He was right, the berry was pretty minty. I opened my mouth and took a deep breath.
"Eep!" The sudden rush of air made me feel as though I just swallowed a ball of snow. I quickly clamped my lips shut and waited for the pain to recede from my teeth.
"Feels good, doesn't it?" Blue snickered as he swallowed his half of the berry in one gulp. He showed me his pink – stained teeth as he smiled at me. I gave him a playful shove in response.
"Hehe..." Giggling at his antics, I leaned my head back against the wall and let my aching teeth recover. I stared into the sky. The sun was still shining bright, but it looks like a few clouds were inching their way over to block the searing hot rays. I turned over and poked Blue in the arm to grab his attention.
"Blue, let's get moving once the shade sets in," I pointed at the meandering clouds up in the sky, "once we're out of town, we can check out that letter Duskull gave us."
"Sounds like a good plan," Blue put his arms behind his head and scooted further into the shade, "I wonder why it's so hot all of a sudden. It wasn't this bad yesterday."
"Well, I guess Summer finally arrived," I replied while making sure Duskull's letter was still in my pack, "I'm honestly a little surprised that it took this long for the air to heat up, since Spring has been over for a while ago." I grinned at Blue and joked, "Maybe the Summer is trying to make up for lost time by suddenly turning up the heat like this."
"Summer... huh?" Blue mumbled as he leaned back with with his eyes closed, "I think I like the heat. It's a lot better than being freezing cold all the time."
"All the time? What do you mean by that?"
Blue yawned and fell silent. Leaning in close to his face, I picked up the faint sound of him snoring. I stared at him, stunned. I picked up one of his paws and wiggled it about. Did he really just fall asleep, just like that?
Sighing, I dropped his paw and shook my head. Well, at least if I wanted to wake him up, there was a whole fountain full of water behind us...
Darkness filled Blue's vision as he opened his eyes. Once more, he found himself lying down in the middle of the snowy abyss. Like before, he could see nothing in the distance but inky, black darkness. The ground was still covered in a thick layer of snow, and the sky was filled with an innumerable amount of immobile snowflakes.
"Here again, huh?" Blue sighed as he shoved himself off the powdery snow. He felt his head bump against several snowflakes as he stood up, shattering the fragile little things into millions of sparkling fragments. He dusted the chilly, white particles of snow off his fur as he scanned his surroundings.
Nothing had changed. The road of snow stretching out into oblivion, the frozen flakes hanging in the air, the piles of undisturbed snow that straddled the side of the road... Everything was just as it was before.
Blue brushed aside a curtain of snowflakes in front of him as he walked down the snowy path. He didn't know where the path would lead him, but he knew that as long as he followed this road, that thing will appear. He felt his blood begin to boil as he thought about his last encounter with that mysterious creature.
There wasn't anything he could've done against that monster. Blue recalled how the creature managed to throw him around like a ragdoll made of straw by just roaring at him. He remembered how his one, and only attempt at fighting back resulted in his arm nearly being absorbed into the beast's carapace.
Blue clenched his fist in anger. If he met the creature again, what could he do differently this time? It was a monster with overwhelming power and presence. Furthermore, it was a beast that he couldn't even find a way to fight back against. Was the thing even a Pokémon? What could he do? What can he do?
He stared down at his shaking fist. If his punches were worthless, then he would have to find a different way to fight. Blue dropped his arm and looked around him for something that could help him. A weapon, a tool, anything would do. To his frustration, all he could find around him were piles and piles of snow and glittering snowflakes.
Blue slammed his paw into the freezing snow, irritated at its lack of use. As he withdrew his paw, he noticed that some of the snowy powder clung to his fur. An idea surfaced in his mind as he examined the white particles on his paw. Bending down, Blue began to scoop up the snow beside the road. With great care, he packed the loose snow into a tight, icy ball.
Holding up his creation to the sky, Blue weighed the snowball in his paw, judging its density and weight. Feeling that the ball was a tad too light, he packed a few more layers of snow over it until it felt just right in his paw. He tossed it up into the air and watched it shatter several snowflakes before returning to his grasp.
Would such a thing even work on a massive creature like that? Blue considered the possibility of making more snowballs until he had a decent stock of them to pelt at the beast. But, as he continued to mull over his plan, he felt the ball begin to dribble cold water down his fur. Blue sighed as he let the snowball slip off his paw. It hit the ground with a wet splat as it exploded into chunks of wet snow.
If his fists couldn't harm the beast, what use would a little ball of packed ice and snow do against it? He would have better luck trying to blow wind at the creature's feet with his mouth. Resigning to the fact that there was probably nothing he could do with the snow, Blue left his melting creation behind as he resumed his walk down the lonely road.
As he trudged toward his inevitable fate, Blue took his time to take in the sights around him. Or rather, the lack of sights. Although he had been here before, he never really took the time to wonder what this world was. Who created this lonely world of ice and darkness? Why was he here? What was that creature that brutalized him?
The more questions he created, the more irritated he became. He wanted answers. He didn't want to just walk down this road while juggling multiple unknowns inside his mind. But, there was simply no one else around to tell him anything. He was all alone in this empty, desolate world.
Every once in a while, Blue felt a strange, nagging sensation at the back of his mind. It felt as though something was trying to get out. With every step he took, the nagging feeling would intensify slightly, giving him a slight migraine. Eventually, the migraine transformed into a full – on headache. Blue grimaced as he clutched the side of his head. He was getting tired of this feeling.
Eventually, Blue saw a familiar mound of black looming in the distance. Taking a deep breath, Blue let go of his head and prepared himself for another round with the creature. The pounding inside his head had intensified to such a degree that he could barely stand the noise emanating from inside his skull. But, he had no choice to endure the pain.
After all, the creature had noticed him.
The beast reared its head back and unleashed its terrifying roar. The force of the roar was like a tidal wave plowing through the air, upending the snow on the ground while shattering every snowflake in its destructive wake. The creature glared at the now – kneeling Riolu with its glowing eyes. Not a single scrap of mercy would be given here.
Blue forced a confident smirk onto his face as he struggled to get back on his feet. The sheer volume of the roar sent the pounding inside his head into overdrive. Thousands, perhaps millions of drums were now present inside his mind, all beating at full force. His eyesight was fading, his breath was labored, and his muscles were creaking in pain as he strained himself to hold a fighting pose.
"Come on... you beast..." Blue gasped as he watched the creature stalk toward him, its eyes glinting like stars in the darkness. He held up his right paw and clenched it into a fist, "I'm... I'm ready for you this time..."
Within seconds, the beast had reached Blue. It towered over the Riolu like a great monolith. Its black carapace gleamed in the darkness, illuminated by the dim light emanating from its eyes. Blue could see his own exhausted face reflected in the beast's body, like a disturbing, full – body mirror.
"What...?"
But, what he saw wasn't what he expected. He had seen his own body before. He was short, blue and fuzzy. The reflection wasn't. He had small arms, small legs, and a childish face. The reflection didn't. The only thing he and his reflection had in common, was the fact that they both had burning red eyes.
Temporarily forgetting the dangerous situation he was in, Blue reached up with his paw and touched the side of his face. His reflection mimicked his motion and also touched its face. He moved his paw over to his muzzle, which his reflection gladly did as well. It was unmistakeable. The reflection was his.
It was his reflection, and yet, it was not.
But, he recognized the mysterious individual inside the mirror. Even in his state of amnesia, he knew who that was. He reached toward his reflection with his paw, and his double did the same. A familiar dragging sensation overwhelmed Blue when his paw came in contact with the beast's carapace. It was as if he had stuck his arm into a pit of sludge. Eventually, his arm vanished into the mirror, all the way up to his shoulder.
From the other side of the mirror, Blue could see his double smirking. Strange, was he smirking as well? Even stranger was the fact that his reflection was no longer reflecting his actions. It was standing in the center of the mirrored world, staring at Blue with a strange smile on its face. Then, all of a sudden, it held up its own right arm and presented it to Blue.
There was no mistaking that their arms were similar. Yet, several crucial differences existed between the two of them. But, as Blue tried to get a closer look at what his double's arm looked like, a sudden jarring noise from above him forced him to close his eyes out of pain.
An odd force began to emanate from within the beast's body as it roared once more. All of a sudden, Blue was ejected from the beast's carapace, blasting him away and into the air. Blue flew into the snow, sending white scattering all around him. Coughing up snow, Blue scrambled back onto his feet and grabbed onto his right arm with his other paw. He turned back to the beast, and saw that his double had turned his back to him.
"Don't go!" Blue rushed up to the beast's carapace, disregarding his safety, "Please, answer my questions! Where am I? What happened?!" His double stopped for a moment, but it didn't speak. Instead, the reflection just shook its head and began to walk away.
"Answer me, damn you!" With a furious howl, Blue slammed his fists into the beast's body. A loud splattering noise rang out as his paws sunk into the black carapace. Unfortunately for Blue, his actions had little to no effect. Soon, his reflection vanished into the darkness, leaving the Riolu alone and frustrated. Growling in anger, Blue pulled out his paws from the beast's carapace. He contemplated jumping into the mirror to catch his double.
Another ear – splitting roar exploded from above the Riolu, scattering his thoughts, and sending him back onto his knees. Blue covered his ears in a vain attempt to block out the sound. He looked up at the creature, and saw that it had reared back and onto its hind legs. It was nothing more than a miracle that the creature had stayed passive for as long as it did. And now, the miracle had vanished, just like his reflection.
Two monolithic legs hovered above, waiting to crush him. Once more, there was nothing Blue could do but close his eyes and await the inevitable.
"Alright sleepyhead. It's time for you to wake up!"
Wearing a mischievous grin on my face, I held the water – filled berry pot over Blue's snoozing face. Then, with a quiet giggle, I tipped over the clay pot and spilled the icy cold liquid all over him, drenching his face and splattering all over his fur.
"Bweh!" To my delight, the effect of the water was immediate. His eyes sprung wide open as he felt the chilly water on his face. He sneezed and sat up, spitting out the water that got into his mouth. I acted as innocent as I could as he looked around with a confused expression on his face.
"Good afternoon, Blue," My voice had a certain prideful tone to it as I nonchalantly put the berry put back inside my pack. I leaned over to his face and grinned, "did you have a good nap?"
"Wha... what?" Water dripped off his bewildered face as he tried to make sense of what was going on, "Where am I now?"
I tried to stifle a giggle with my paw as he wiped the water off his face. Blue really can't handle being forced awake, could he? Shaking my head, I backed off from him and let him slowly return from the realm of dreams.
"You fell asleep, silly," I said as gave him a playful nudge on his forehead, "don't you remember? I said we should get going once it gets a little bit cooler."
"Oh... oh right," Blue put his paw on his forehead as he took a deep breath. He looked like he was finally waking up, "right... we're going to find that Panacea... right..."
His reaction was a little strange. I tilted my head and gave him a worried look. Blue's breathing was erratic, and his chest continued to heave in and out as if he had just finished running a marathon. His right paw was twitching in a disturbing way. My previous gaiety was quickly being replaced by a sense of worry.
"Blue...?" I asked him in a quiet voice. I reached forward and held onto his other paw, trying to calm down his errant twitching, "Are you feeling alright?"
"Huh?" Blue replied with a surprised look on face, pulling his paw away from his face. I noticed that his eyes were still opened quite wide, and his pupils were dilated to an almost extreme size.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Concerned about his condition, I put my paws around his face and tried to get a closer look at his eyes. In response, Blue tilted his head down, trying to keep his eyes away from mine. Despite the icy water I poured on his face, his cheeks felt burning hot.
"...I can't remember," Blue spoke in a small voice. He pulled away my paws and shook his head, "I suppose I might've had a nightmare, I guess."
"You guess?"
Blue shook his head again and held up his right paw. He directed his eyes toward it, staring at his own arm with an unfathomable expression on his face.
"Is there something wrong with your arm?" I put my paws on his arm and pulled it closer to me, curious as to what he was looking at, "I don't see anything wrong with it."
"Mmh..." He made a thoughtful noise and dropped his arm back to his side, "It's weird... for some reason, I couldn't feel anything in my right arm."
I smirked at Blue and shook my head, "You were leaning on your arm earlier, Blue." I pointed at the stone wall of the fountain behind him, "It probably fell asleep along with you."
"Huh," Blue glanced at his arm again, "makes sense."
"What kind of nightmare did you have?" I asked, wondering about his dream, "Was it scary?"
Blue folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. For a moment, he fell silent as I assumed he was trying to recall the events in his dream. But, eventually, he opened his eyes and shrugged at me.
"You can't remember?"
"Not a thing," Blue said with a shake of his head. All of a sudden, he smirked and placed his paw on top of my head and began to mess up my fur, "maybe you washed away my dream by spilling all that water over me, Fée."
"Errgh!" Annoyed, I brushed his paws off my head. Now my fur looked all messy and unkempt. Well, it was already really frumpy before, but that was beside the point. I sent him an angry glare as I puffed out my cheeks to show my irritation, "Well it's your fault for being so hard to wake up any other way, Blue."
"Heh, I can't help it," he said as he brushed a water droplet off the top of his muzzle, "what can I say? I'm a heavy sleeper."
I gave him a sly grin and took out one of the berry pots in my pack "Then that means I should prepare water every time you decide to sleep. Otherwise you might just end up snoozing the entire day away."
"I'd like it if you could find some other way to wake me up actually..." Blue grumbled as he eyed the berry pot in my paws. I giggled and gave him a playful shove.
Putting the berry pot back inside my pack again, I looked up into the sky. As I expected, the sun was now hidden behind several puffy clouds, casting a cool shade over the land. If we were going to depart from town, this would be the perfect opportunity. Throwing my pack's strap over my neck, I stood up and stretched my legs.
"Come on Blue, let's get moving," I turned toward Blue, who was still sitting on the ground, yawning. "the sun wont stay cooperative forever. Let's go on our expedition before the temperature rises again."
"I don't know..." Blue had his playful grin on his face again as he struggled to stand on his injured leg, "I rather like the heat. It's a lot better than the cold, in my opinion."
I wormed my way underneath his right arm to support him. I shot him a withering look as he used me as a crutch to stand back up, "That's because your fur isn't as thick as mine." I shook my ruff to emphasize my point, "If you had this thing around your neck, maybe you'd think otherwise." Huffing, I began to drag him away from the fountain and toward the town gates.
He chuckled in response to my plight. He curled his arm around my neck and patted my fluffy ruff, "Why don't you turn into a Sylveon like Barie then?" He suggested with a smirk, "That guy had fur almost as short as mine."
I snorted, "Would you like it if I evolved into something annoying like Barie?" Despite the irritated look on my face, my question to Blue was genuine. Unlike Corphish, who could only transform into a Crawdaunt when his time came, I had much more choices in store for me in the future. And today, I've discovered that my number of potential evolutions have increased by one.
To be honest though, I don't really know what kind of Pokémon I'd like to become when it was my turn to evolve. I remember when I would pore over books on evolution all the time when I was still a young girl. Even now, I can recall word – by – word what the book said.
'I could become tranquil as water, fierce as the raging thunder, passionate as a flame, silent like the darkness, radiant as the light, expansive like nature or steadfast like a glacier.'
But now that I think about it... what was a Sylveon supposed to be? It didn't match up with anything I've ever read in Mr. Mime's library. I held my paw up to my mouth and mulled over what it could be. I never did get a straight answer from Barie earlier. I stuck out my tongue in disgust as I recalled how he acted earlier. Maybe the power of a Sylveon was to be a giant, annoying pest.
"To have you become like Barie, huh...?" Blue's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. I glanced up at him and saw him cupping his other paw under his chin. Underneath, I could see a faint smirk present on his blue face.
"You're not seriously considering it, are you?" I grumbled at him, already feeling annoyed.
"Heh... maybe I am," he moved his paw away from his face and onto my head, showing me his smirk in full. He tweaked my right ear, making the ribbon flutter a bit, "you already have a ribbon on your ear. All you need is one more on your chest, and you're halfway there."
"Ha, ha," I gave him a sarcastic laugh as I whapped him in the side with my ears, "if that's the case, you better find me another ribbon."
"I don't think I have enough money for another one," he replied in a serious voice, "you might have to wait a while for that."
"...you're not seriously considering it, are you?" I said again. He sounded like he was actually serious about giving me another ribbon, "I'm fine with just having one, Blue. In fact, I should be giving you something in return."
"In return?"
I nodded, "Since you mentioned money, I assume that you bought this ribbon for me?"
"Uhm..." Blue scratched the back of his head with a sheepish expression on his face. Bingo.
"Well," I spoke with a prideful voice as I flicked my tail up, "I know what I'm doing once we're done with this expedition."
Blue gave me a questioning look, but I ignored it and continued onward. Giggling to myself, I pondered what kind of gift would be best suited for my clueless friend.