In Ruins

Chapter Eight

The sun had finally had its share of the day and was crossing the sky with rapid descent. Golden rays tickled the edges of all of the objects in Satoshi's vision. It was like everything, being bathed in the corners by light, was fraying on the edges into outstanding, overpowering light.

Had Satoshi still been in his room in Pallet town, he would've spent the time staring after it, but he had no love of beauty in him to make such a concession. Instead his thoughts churned with confusion and stress, the product of more trying days than even this one alone could account for. The ache in his muscles further flummoxed him, being obviously unpleasant, yet welcome. It was the distinct tension wrought by adventure and mystery, and it was one he had only in the past hours come to realize he had missed.

Shigeru, though, didn't seem the least bit nostalgic of adventures past; honestly, he looked like he was about to choke on the lump inside his throat, but was determined to row the boat straight through to shore all the same. Satoshi had no choice but to row at Shigeru's pace, which annoyed him somewhat, as he was feeling his nerves and - adventure or not - he wanted to get the confrontation over with.

In a rather disagreeable silence of their own thoughts, they continued paddling back towards the island, Satoshi for his part wondering how it could take so long to travel such a seemingly short distance - how far away was the horizon, anyway?

By the time the island was swarming over their vision, they began to hit the shallows at last. And abruptly Satoshi realized that the twin lights he had seen flickering in the distance were torches. They were being held by -- Satoshi strained his eyes -- Haruka and Professor Ookido (or, the Chieftain, rather). The pair of flame-topped staffs shone more vibrantly than the sun, which had retreated behind the island of Alph, and given it the same preternatural glow around a silhouette.

"Shigeru, they've... they've waited for us!" said Satoshi, shocked. "Do you think that's good?"

Instead of responding, Shigeru merely stared past Satoshi, and dug his oar into the water ferociously.

"Do you think that it's bad?"

Still, no response. Satoshi huffed softly and tried again.

"Shigeru..."

"I heard you!" he snapped.

"Geez, sorry for interrupting," said Satoshi, sarcastically. Bastard, he thought uncharitably. He wasn't too much of an idiot not to realize that Shigeru was in a mood, and besides, their boat had gotten to a depth of water that was easy swimming range from shore. And, he realized, snapping back to the present, that Haruka had moved. She now stood in the waves up to her knees, holding the wet bottoms of her dress, and the openness of the gesture was really just so much like his Haruka that he knew immediately that everything really would be okay.

He dropped his oars, stood up, and the boat rocked.

Shigeru grabbed him by the pant leg. "What are you doing!?"

Satoshi ignored him - quid pro quo, after all - and waved his arms over his head.

"He-e-y!" he called out. "Ha-ru-ka! We're back!"

As Haruka ran past the edge of the water, smiling, Shigeru felt a stronger flash of fear than if she had run up with a dagger and warriors behind her. He hadn't realized that he'd come to expect the worst until he wasn't - for once - the recipient of it.

"Haruka!" shouted Satoshi through cupped hands. "We got stuck out there!"

Shigeru tried to look nonchalant. "Satoshi, you can wait until she gets here, at least, before telling her everything."

He got the impression from the set of Satoshi's shoulders that if it had been anyone else, he would've just been given the finger.

"I know, I guessed," Haruka called back to Satoshi. She was now wading towards them with bigger and bigger strides. "I'm glad you made it back before nightfall!"

Satoshi pulled his oar in from the water. "What do you think she meant by that?" he wondered.

There were a million different possibilities racing through Shigeru's mind, and most of them weren't very positive. Shigeru shook his head. "I don't-"

He was cut off again.

"Haruka!" Satoshi called out brightly. "Were you waiting for us all afternoon?"

"-think it's a good idea to say anything just yet," Shigeru finished, shoving his foot against the side of the boat in irritation.

Haruka reached out and grasped the helm of the boat. She looked up at them with a strangely hopeful expression. The clear water lapped around her torso as if it were trying to swallow her up.

"You were waiting for us!" crowed Satoshi.

Haruka answered him slowly. "Well, um, we kind of knew about the wall already."

"Woah, wait a second." Shigeru swung around so quickly that the boat lurched. "What do you mean 'you knew'? What's going on here?"

"Yeah," Satoshi added. "Yeah, that's right! If you knew about the wall, why'd you make us paddle all the way out there?"

"I'm sorry. It wasn't my decision, exactly..."

"Haruka!!" whined Satoshi, rubbing his upper arms. "I am sooo tired because of that!"

She looked away. "I'll, um, let the Chief explain it."

"Soon, right?" pried Shigeru, looking at Haruka's eyes but unable to make contact with them. Instead she stood there with an averted half-smile, playing with one of her hair pieces, and the hair that had gotten wet and come to fall out in parts. It gave him an uncomfortable feeling.

Predictably, Satoshi was the furthest thing from discomfited. He was getting out of the boat and joining Haruka in the water. With her outer tunic floating around her knees, she really made a pretty picture. Satoshi, on the other hand, looked rather like a twice-drowned rat, his hair still damp from the swim earlier and clumpy against his forehead... his cheeks slightly sunburnt and salt-chapped and flushed from excitement, shining.

Shigeru frowned.

He wasn't feeling good at all.

Being on the shore was as pleasant as it was unsettling. Shigeru felt like he should still be swaying back and forth, rocking with the tide. Instead he felt like a confrontation was boiling between him, Satoshi, and the representatives of the island whose beach they had just come upon.

There were a few awkward niceties. As soon as they were over, Shigeru took control of the conversation.

"I suppose it's nice to meet with you again. But seeing as we just ran into an invisible wall when trying to leave an island that we never meant to be at in the first place, I think we have the right to hear everything right now. Because it is obvious that you know much more than you are willing to tell us, and since we've told you everything we know, you should do the same," said Shigeru. That did seem reasonable enough to Satoshi, and he said so.

"Well, um..." Haruka dithered.

The Chieftain put a hand on Haruka's shoulder, and his shell bracelet clattered noisily. He began speaking to her in a low voice.

Shigeru made a move as if to clear his throat and interrupt, but Satoshi grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him away. "Come on, Shigeru, let's get our boat pulled in. I know that Haruka will tell us everything in just a moment."

"After barbecuing us, maybe," Shigeru grumbled, not really listening.

"Oh come off of it," Satoshi laughed, and shielded his eyes from the setting sun as he looked out towards the vacant, distant sea. "By the way, Shigeru... did you see what happened to our boat? I don't see it anywhere!"

"Huh?" Shigeru took a moment to return to the present. "Well, your first problem is that you're looking in the ocean. I think two of the people who had been helping out the Chief took it ashore."

"And you think that people as helpful as that are planning on eating you?" wondered Satoshi.

"Being helpful is hardly a sign of upright moral character," said Shigeru ominously.

"You're such a cynic."

"So you noticed," replied Shigeru, half-interestedly. His eyes followed the scantily clad men with a bit of quiet appreciation. When they had finished their task of safely dragging the boat away from the shore line, they returned to the group, eying Satoshi and Shigeru with just as much curiosity - and distrust - as they had eyed them.

Upon their arrival, Haruka and the Chieftain finished their conference so abruptly that Shigeru had to keep himself from flinching in surprise.

"We'll tell you everything," the Chief announced. "But, let's sit down first."

"Right here on the beach?" asked Satoshi, looking at the ground with skepticism.

"Of course not," he answered jovially. "You don't think we were standing on the shore, waiting for you for hours, do you?"

Satoshi, Shigeru noticed, was trying to scowl but couldn't quite pull anything off more than a pout. It almost made him feel better.

At the Chief's words, as if having received a direct command, the two guards once again jumped to attention and ran to the edge of the beach where towering hibiscus plants cast long shadows over the white sand. Shigeru immediately noticed a patch of cleared hibiscus, with a basket-woven throne placed in the center. He watched curiously as the the Chief's aides picked up several discarded bamboo poles and stuck them firmly into the ground beside the chair, twisting them deeply into the sandy dirt there.

The sunlight was almost completely faded now.

The group began moving towards the clearing of plants. And then, completely by accident - and unawares - Satoshi stepped on one of the hibiscus flowers. For a split second, Shigeru was certain that blood would appear. It didn't, and he caught his breath.

That, however, Satoshi noticed and his annoyed countenance dropped as he came over to Shigeru's side. "You look kind of pale, Shigeru. Wanna sit down?"

"We were doing that anyway," said Shigeru, averting his eyes to the ground. Fortunately, his eye caught on a sort of grass pillow. He grabbed at it and quickly settled himself on top. The moment he did so, one of the tribesmen was shoving a bowl of hot herbal tea into his hands. Satoshi took a seat beside him and received the same. The silence stretching between the party was steadily approaching awkward, and Shigeru resisted the urge to fidget.

Oblivious as always, or perhaps just truly bored -- Shigeru was hesitant to give him too much credit either way -- Satoshi broached the subject first.

"So..." he began. "What's going on here anyway?"

"Why would you think there's anything 'going on'?" huffed the Chief.

"No need to playact," muttered Shigeru into his tea. He wondered if it was laced with poison. Oh well; too late now.

"Well for starters," Satoshi began, "You don't seem surprised that we're back here even though you told us to leave this morning. You were waiting for us to return tonight, weren't you?"

Haruka at least seemed embarrassed to Shigeru's esteem, but the Chief nodded rather impassively as he replied, "Yes, that's certainly true."

"What!" Satoshi exclaimed. "Why didn't you just say so?"

Haruka patted him consolingly, and Shigeru scowled; the Chief caught it and raised a wiry eyebrow.

"Shigeru-san, if I'm not mistaken, you do not seem to be surprised," surmised the Chief.

"That's because I've figured you out," said Shigeru, affecting his most haughty expression - one he'd learned from the mirror image of the man in front of him now. "You gave us the boat and sent us out as a test. Not-" Shigeru pointed an accusing finger at Satoshi, "- as a physical test, though. You wanted to see if our arrival signified-" he dropped his finger, but sent an accusatory glare at the assembled party in its place, "- to see if our arrival signified that your isolation was over."

Haruka clasped her hands over her mouth, and Satoshi leaned in abruptly towards Shigeru. "Whoa, Shigeru, what--?"

Shigeru, however, paid them no attention; his eyes were locked with the Chief's. The venerable man affected no response to the intimidation tactic, except for murmuring 'what, indeed' as he folded his hands and rested them on his large belly.

"It's true," he said at last. "For many generations, our tribe has made its home on the island of Alph, and Alph alone. Yet since the time of our ancestors, no one has left Alph until the time that they passed on into death and are sent out to sea. The two of you are the first Outsiders to come to us in all of that time. You can imagine our surprise, and our concern. We had come to wonder if there was truly an Outside after all, or if it was a legend."

"You mean you've lived here all your life?" Satoshi gaped. "But it's so ismall/i!"

"Satoshi, you honestly think that would matter to them? They've never known anything else."

"You must understand," interrupted Haruka, bowing her head slightly to the Chief before continuing, "we never pondered the size of Alph or our world too deeply before. It's just that since the two of you have come, we are worried. For the first time, we realize that we've been trapped."

"And now, so are we," said Shigeru, grimly.

Satoshi shivered like he was cold, and rubbed down his forearms quickly. "It's weird," he said distantly, "If we got in somehow, there's got to be a way out..."

"That would make sense, yes," said Haruka thoughtfully.

"What is the reason that Alph became isolated?" Shigeru addressed the Chief suddenly. The dim something that had struck him, in the back of his mind, was coagulating into an idea - a possibility. "Do you know; are there legends or anything?"

"Of a sort. Haruka, perhaps you should best answer that question," said the Chief.

Haruka shifted rather uncomfortably on her cushion as all present company set their eyes upon her. She looked up at the boys rather hesitantly.

"I suppose I should first tell you that my role here, at Alph, is as a priestess-"

"Priestess!?" spluttered Satoshi.

"- and I commune with the Protectors and relay their messages to us."

Again, Satoshi had to interrupt. "Who are the Protectors? What do they do?"

Shigeru cut in before Haruka could answer. "Don't get off track. Answer my question first. Why did this place, this island, become isolated to the point that there is a iwall/i around it?"

"It was made for protection. We wanted safety from enemies, good weather, abundant health, peace, food without famine or farming necessarily..."

"A perfect world," surmised Shigeru. "Admirable, but impossible. There's no such place."

"The legend goes that the protectors could not give us a perfect world, so the Protectors gave us a 'separate' one instead."

"Why does that remind me of something?" Satoshi tapped his chin with his index finger. "I feel like I've heard that before..."

"Because you ihave/i heard it before," said Shigeru. Even as he spoke the words, he realized it was true. He turned his attention to Haruka. "These Protectors you speak of... you say you commune with them. Does anyone else speak to them but you?"

"Not directly; no."

"But they speak to you?"

"Yes, in a way... we do communicate."

"How?"

Haruka flushed, looking distinctly trapped and unsure of what to say. The Chief seemed to give her a very appraising look, as if he knew her thoughts. Not having that luxury, Shigeru folded his arms and filed the moment away for future consideration.

"I go into a trance," said the priestess. "They... show me images. Other times they simply sing."

Satoshi nearly fell all over himself. "Singing!? When the earthquake happened, I remember that there were voices singing!"

Shigeru looked at him for a moment, then locked his eyes with Haruka's. Satoshi made a noise as if affronted by the blatant disregard.

"They don't speak to you with words, do they?" asked Shigeru.

She swallowed. "No..."

"And it's because they can't, isn't it? The Protectors aren't even people. Am I wrong?"

Her lips parted in the shape of a tiny 'no.'

"Wait, then what are they!?" Satoshi cried out.

"They're pokemon." Shigeru's eyes flashed. "Haruka, you don't have to tell me, because I already know. The Protectors aren't people or even gods. They're pokemon; and specifically, they're the Unown."

This time, she did not protest at all.

A short chapter, just so you know that there is more on its way. ;) And the slash. That's going to start, too.