Éternel
(adjective)
—French for "eternal", "everlasting", "timeless", and "endless"
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Shauna woke up at two minutes to nine AM to the sound of Celestine screaming.
That alone was not really all that unusual. Celie suffered from what Shauna called "constant nightmare syndrome", and she had a habit of whimpering and sobbing in her sleep, something that Shauna found incredibly concerning but Celestine brushed off casually. (It probably had something to do with the conversation she'd overhead between her Mom and one of the Professor's assistants, a blonde guy named Dexio, and the mention of PTSD, shh it's a secret don't tell anyone) Once, during the week that Celestine had stayed in the Gabena house, Shauna had woken in the middle of the night to agitated shouting in unintelligible Kantonese, sharp enough pierce the darkness and Shauna's dreamland. Her Mom had handled it, in the end, and Celestine had apologized with a deep, reverent bow for the outburst. That night, Shauna had seen traces of primal fear in Celestine's eyes and tears clinging to her lashes, though her plastic smile and sweet apologies had tried to mask it. Shauna had to wonder what Celestine dreamed about, and how something like that could scare someone who put up such a fearless front, someone who was so experienced and well versed in all the dangers of the Trainer's world.
It made her wonder what Celestine had seen, and what she had carried with her from Kanto.
Well, Shauna was a decent sleeper and the Kantonese babble that came from Celie in the middle of the night didn't bother her much. Serena and Mint were all but dead to the world the minute they shut their eyes, and while Delphi's sensitive ears made him more prone to waking and worrying—and he had woken her up in the middle of the night, eyes wide as saucers with fear and concern—but Shauna had assured him it was nothing to worry about and that Celestine would only make a larger scene if she was woken up. Elaborate Kantonese apologies and all. That had pretty much smoothed out the problem and Shauna could ignore most of the whimpering and mumbling that spilled from Celestine's lips.
But this was different. The shout was not one of fear, but one laced thickly with pain and alarm. The shout alone made her eyes open, but the tone of it made her frown. Celestine and pain didn't really mix. The Kantonian had an alarmingly high tolerance for pain, as testament by the time Shauna had tried to get Celie to ride Mom's Rhyhorn, Johnny, and Johnny had bucked her. Shauna remembered the first Johnny bucked her and when she landed, she'd bruised her tailbone and her side and tweaked her shoulder and it had hurt like hell, but Celestine had landed in an even more awkward position that had probably twisted her legs and she just winced and stood up like it was nothing, even if she did limp a little.
Shauna sat up, blinking, and fought back a yawn. When her vision focused, the sight before her was not what she expected.
Gold. The sun must have risen sometime in the middle of the night—oh, no, wait, scratch that it was morning. Pale, buttery sunlight filtered in through the window, and the sun had risen up over the dark, distant horizon of endless Santalune Forest and it was this big, blinding ball that hurt her eyes. Shauna had to squint, because, y'know, you can't look directly at the sun even if it's early morn— Wait. Wait. Who opened the window? The curtains fluttered in a light breeze that totally explained the chill in here, but Shauna distinctly remembered that it was closed last night. And it looked like the lock had been picked at. Oh, jeez, was Shauna responsible for that? She hoped not. She hadn't signed any liability papers. At least, none that she remembered...
Disheveled. Celestine was on the ground, wound in a cocoon of her own blankets and long black hair from the waist down, groaning. The pear leaves that had been gathered up and placed on the nightstand last night were now all over the floor like an organic confetti mishap, and a lot of them had gotten caught in Celie's bushy mane. Both pillows were crooked—or, one was crooked, teetering halfway off the mattress like it was about to fall off. The other was closer to the foot of the bed, and Delphi was standing on it, blinking over the edge with a groggy sort of concern for his new Trainer. Now, Celie talked in her sleep, but to Shauna's knowledge, she didn't toss and turn, at least not that much, otherwise they would have had this problem a lot sooner, the thump of a body hitting the floor loud enough to echo in Shauna's house.
Perched. A sunburst orange bird, muscular and sleek, was balanced itself on the wooden bedpost at the end of the bed. There was quite a presence about it, one that was bold and fierce and powerful, brilliant yellow markings accenting its dark eyes and powerful black wings. Noticing Shauna's attention, the Fletchinder shrugged unapologetically and started to massage his ash-grey stomach feathers with his charcoal-colored beak. Well, that answered the question of why the window was open and the lock was loosened—not broken, hopefully, prey to the Leviathan—but raised a whole slew of new questions. What the hell was Alistair doing in their room? Did Cal send him, and if so, why?
Pain. Celestine sat up, a cascade of Kantonese curses spilling from her lips as she glared up at the bird, her blue eyes wet and blazing with pain. Her bangs were askew, and Shauna could make out a bright red mark on her forehead that made the Hoennian wince. Oh, god, that better not be what she thought it was, because if it was, she was kicking Calem's ass. Who sent their Pokémon to physically attack someone, like some sort of violent-o-gram? Jeez, Shauna knew that Cal could hold a grudge and he could be a real pain in the ass about stuff like that sometimes, but wow, this was a new low and she honestly didn't expect him to sink to sending his bird to dish out vengeance to people he didn't like.
From the couch, Serena groaned and sat up. Her hair, loose and not constricted by her ponytail, dripped down to her collarbone in sleek honey waves, though it was admittedly frizzy and sticking up awkwardly on one side. She rubbed her eyes, yawning. "What's going on? What time is it?"
"Uh..." Shauna felt like she should help out Celie first, because, y'know, she just got pecked in the face, which probably fucking hurt, but the Kantonian was already on her feet and rubbing the tender spot with a scowl, shrugging off pain once again. With that issue sorta resolved and Serena impatiently awaiting an answer, Shauna made the decision to glance over at the digital clock on the nightstand. "A lil' past nine."
Serena straightened, the sleep vanishing from her face in favor of wide-eyed alarm. "Quelle!?"
To Shauna's knowledge, "quelle" meant "what" and Serie had a habit of subbing Kalosian for Common, like, thirty percent of the time. It must be a Snowbelle thing, because Cal did it too, sometimes, but he always corrected himself after. Shauna yawned and rubbed one eye with her fist. "Why? What's the big deal?"
"The big deal is—"
"You were supposed to be up at seven-thirty," Alistair interrupted in that smoky baritone of his. Jeez, Shauna could still remember when he was a cute little Fletchling that liked hanging around on Cal's shoulder, all innocent and chirpy and singing sweet songs on sunny days. But that was ages ago, back when they were eleven and things were so much simpler. "Your ginger friend looked ready to blow a gasket."
"Seven thirty?" Delphi gasped, sounding scandalized.
Celestine scowled as she stood and tried to untangle the wrap-around of the sheets and her inky hair. A few pear leaves fluttered to the floor in the struggled. "Who the fuck wakes up at seven thirty in the middle of the summer?"
Serena looked mildly offended. "When you work at Laboratoires de Sycomore, you expect you deal with insane hours. 'Scuse me for being a morning person."
Celestine looked at Serena like she had started pull dancing while singing opera. The blankets slipped off her hips and fell to the ground with a muted thump, dislodging more pear leaves and sending them fluttering like butterflies. "What is wrong with you Kalosians?"
Serie ignored the remark and instead whirled around to shoot Shauna a chilly glare that made the Hoennian reel back. Oh, wow, must run in the Rousseau family, those death glares, yes siree. Could stop a tidal wave in its tracks, it could. "Shauna! Didn't you set the alarm!?"
Shauna looked away and starting rousing Mint as an excuse to avert her eyes. The Chespin was sprawled out on the pillows, drooling a little bit. Shauna really hoped she wouldn't have to pay dry cleaning expenses. "Uh... I was supposed to set an alarm?"
"Shauna!"
Mint rolled onto her side and groaned. "Dammit, why. Do you hate sleep?"
Shauna rolled her eyes. Lazybones Chespin. "Only at nine AM, Mint. C'mon. Get up."
"Screw you," Mint growled, curling up tighter. "I was having a nice dream..."
The door slammed sharply. Shauna turned to find that Serena was gone and the couch was now vacant. Probably gone to change. Honestly, Shauna didn't see the problem with changing in front of people, unless one of those people was the object of a crush or something like that.
"I think my job here is done," Alistair announced, stretching his wings out. His muscles rippled, wicked powerful. A real testament of just how good a job Cal had done training the Fletchinder. "Meet you all at the lobby, ladies."
Delphi peered up at the bird, looking a little annoyed. "Why did you even do that? It was incredibly rude."
"Payback, mostly." Alistair offered an avian shrug, noncommittal. Then, as an afterthought, "A little for amusement."
Celestine's glare could rival Serena's. "Go tell your Trainer to screw himself with a cactus."
"Hard to do that when all we have are juniper bushes in the area," Alistair quipped flatly. He took to the air, soaring out the window with a few strong flaps and a light, "Adieu, ma loulouette."
Celestine turned to Shauna with a puzzled frown. "What does that mean?"
"Uh... 'adieu' means 'farewell'," Shauna answered, hopping out of the bed. The carpet felt gross under her bare feet, stained and worn and torn. "And... that last part, I dunno. Hell, I've lived in Kalos almost ten years but I never learned the language."
Celestine shrugged. "Hey, my mom was Kalosian and she tried to teach me when I was a kid, but I never got the hang of it. Actually, the one who actually picked it up was Cer— Where are you going?"
Shauna had scooped Mint into her arms and was halfway to the door when she paused. "I was gonna go talk to the guys and maybe rip... Cal's ear... off... What were you saying?"
"About what?"
"Learning Kalosian."
Celestine gave Shauna a dubious look. "That I sucked?"
"No. No, the other thing."
"What other thing?"
Shauna may have only known Celestine for a handful of days, but she knew better than to pry. She shook her head. "Never mind. You and Serie get dressed. I'm gonna go try and calm Trevor down."
"Aren't you in your pyjamas?" Delphi asked, his brows scrunched up in confusion.
"Yeah, but a sleeveless flannel shirt and long pants is more decent than a set of lacey undies."
Celestine was bending down to collect the discarded bedsheets, but that comment made her head snap up and her face flush scarlet. "Shut up!"
Shauna laughed and winked and slipped out the door just in time to avoid a pillow aimed at her face.
The kitchen and dining area were just through a doorway, so the lobby smelled heavily of buttered bread, a smell that Shauna had heavily come to associate with Kalos in general. Man, this region loved its pastries. Or "pâtisseries", as they were called here. Ah, that wasn't the point.
She could see the guys occupying a table in a far corner of the dining area, where the food had been spread out in an awkward attempt at a colorful display and plastic tables and chairs occupied the majority of the space, from her vantage point of the lobby. It looked like Tierno was trying to engage Calem in conversation, but the Trainer looked like absolute shit—his chin propped up with his fist while he struggled to keep his eyes open. Realizing that he was being largely ignored, Tierno started to a get a little annoyed, which was rare for the usually laidback dancer, and Calem responded while looking apologetic, but their words were lost in the distance. Meanwhile, though, Tierno's Corphish Phillipe was more successful in his pursuit of a dialog with Hayami, who was perched on the edge of the table and eagerly peering down at the other Water-Type. Their conversation was much more animated and amicable, though Hayami mirrored her Trainer's subdued demeanor. Off to the side and standing, radiating the utmost impatience, Trevor tapped his foot rhythmically, while his Pikachu Clair, sitting nearby Hayami, balanced calming her Trainer down with munching on a half-eaten croissant. Poor Clair's efforts looked pretty fruitless from where Shauna stood.
The sight of a furious Trevor DuPont was almost enough to make Shauna duck behind the reception counter and never come back, but she sucked in a breath and held her head up high as she strolled into the room like she owned the place. Confidence was key, after all.
Trevor locked onto her the moment she entered the room. "Where have you be—"
"Calem, your bird came into our room and pecked Celestine in the face," Shauna announced, because it was easier to deal with Calem than Trevor. Cal was the one in the wrong here and at least he would be less scary than Trevor on the subject of punctuality.
Calem bolted upright, eyes wide with alarm. From this distance, Shauna could make out the dark shadows clinging to his grey eyes. Jeez, someone hadn't gotten much sleep. "He didn't."
"Yup. Right on her forehead. She screamed bloody murder and woke us all up." Shauna turned to smile apologetically at Trevor. "And I was supposed to set an alarm, apparently, but Serie didn't tell me? Lypámai."
Trevor glared. Wow, everybody she knew could send death glares, which really said a lot about Shauna's choice in friends, didn't it?
Calem, meanwhile, groaned and let his face sink into his hands. "Goddess, why? Why would he do that?"
"You didn't send him?"
"Hell no! I don't want to make things worse with her."
Shauna blinked. Okay, wow. Calem Lafayette was being mature. Go figure.
Thankfully, Tierno LeBlanc was there to set her straight. "He and Celestine got tangled up in something else. I'm trying to get him to talk about it but he keeps shutting me down."
"I told you, it's not my place," Calem snapped, raising his head.
Shauna felt the urge to groan rise up in her throat, but she tamped it down because she needed to be diplomatic, especially considering Cal and Celie had no plans on being diplomatic towards each other. She pet Mint's head, the Chespin was still dozing in her arms, to help distract her. "Goddamn it, Cali, what'dya do now?"
Calem's jaw dropped. "Why do you think I did something?"
"'Cause you're petty and antagonistic."
He held his hands up. "Look, I'll admit, I didn't handle things with Lavieaux all that well yesterday, but I'm gonna try and be more civil from now on."
"Based on the fact that you sent Alistair to peck her," Trevor deadpanned.
"I didn't send him! I have no idea why he did that!"
"Here's your chance to ask," Clair squeaked, licking crumbs from her paws. "He's comin' in through the window."
It was true. Alistair swooped through the suspiciously open window—like, seriously, why was it open?—and landed daintily on the back of Calem's chair. Shauna still couldn't wrap her mind around the strength in the Fletchinder's wings, how each wingbeat could slice the air.
Hayami was the first to react. "Is it true you assault Lavieaux Celestine-san earlier?"
Alistair sighed, deflating a little. "Okay, look. She deserved it—"
"I don't care," Calem snapped. Hayami and Alistair both straightened, stunned by this, and exchanged bewildered glances. "Don't ever do that again, do you understand?"
Alistair blinked, shrinking back a little. And he had good reason to be startled. Cal didn't raise his voice with his team. Not unless he was incredibly pissed. (Shauna wondered if sleep deprivation was making his temper shorter than usual—it seemed a likely explanation). "O-Okay."
Thankfully, there was no time for the tension to sink in because Serena rushed in, fully dressed in a white button-up blouse, a pleated blue miniskirt, leather boots, and black tights. Shauna really had to wonder how the blonde was so well put together all the damn time. The Hoennian wasn't as into fashion as was Serie, but that didn't mean she wasn't interested in clothing as a whole. She just didn't get how Serie had so much money to spend on fancy clothing. Maybe because she was working a full-time job in a well-funded facility under a generous employer. Yeah, that probably had something to do it.
"Hey." She raced over, her blonde hair tied back into a braid that bounced with each stride. "Trevor, I am so sorry we're late—"
"It's fine," Trevor said, waving his hand dismissively. "Shauna already explained how she screwed up with the alarm."
"Screw you," Shauna huffed. She may not have set an alarm, but Serie hadn't mentioned anything about setting on in the first place, so how was she supposed to know if no one told her?
Serie sighed. "Did she also mention what happened last night?"
A wave of cold, frigid horror went through Shauna just then as she pictured Cal and Trevs's responses. Tierno would be fine with it, she knew, but dear Eon Twins Calem and Trevor.
"What happened last night?" Trevor asked.
Oh my god Serie no, Shauna thought desperately. Parakaló, Serie, parakaló.
"Shauna outed us to Celestine."
"Se misó!" Shauna wailed, slipping into a seat and slumping into it. She buried her head in her hands, too fearful of their reactions.
"You outed us!?" Calem cried.
There was the sound of chairs clattering, metal and plastic crashing into itself, and Shauna looked up to see Celestine—fully dressed in a low-cut maroon crop top, pre-ripped skinny jeans, and high-heeled black leather boots—her eyes wide like a Deerling in headlights as she tried to pick a chair up off the ground, where it had been knocked over. Delphi, on her shoulder, mirrored her expression, but his eyes were fixed on Celestine's clumsy attempt at navigating the fallen chairs. The moment attention fell on her, she dropped the chair and bolted, stumbling and tripping over chair legs, out to of the room.
Honestly, Shauna couldn't blame her.
The door slammed behind her, and Celestine pressed her back against it with a heavy sigh, the surface of the wood cool against the exposed small of her back. It was fair to assume that the aftermath of last night would rear its ugly head, but she just didn't want to be a part of it.
Calem had sounded furious. Celestine imagined those steely grey eyes on her and shuddered. The last thing she wanted was to make things worse, and if Alistair's little prank hadn't done that (Serena was very insistent that Cal wouldn't pull something like that, spiteful as he was, and it was probably the Fletchinder's idea in the first place. "He has an Impish nature," the blonde explained), then this certainly would. She wished she could go back and pretend it had never happened, but the world didn't have rewind button.
"What was that about?" Delphi asked. His breath was warm against her cheek.
Celestine pulled away from the door and edged closer to her bed. The sheets were still hopelessly rumbled, despite her and Serena's best efforts to clean the room up earlier. Eventually, Serena told the Kantonian to leave it, because every second they delayed would only piss Trevor off more. It had felt wrong to leave it, but Celestine really hadn't had a say in the matter.
"It's... complicated. I'll tell you when you're older."
"...does this mean we're not getting beignets?"
She sat down, sweeping her curtain of hair out behind her like a cape to keep from sitting on it. Frankly, she didn't know what "beignets" were, but they were probably a pastry or bread item of some kind. Maman used to say Kalos was famous for two things—flowers and baked goods. "Probably not, kiddo."
Delphi paused for a while, then he jumped off her shoulder and landed deftly on the sheets. He peered up at her with big, sad eyes. "What about croissants?"
"Delphi, until they settle things out, we're not going to be eating anything—including beignets or cressants."
"Croissants."
"That's basically what I said."
"Your accent gets in the way."
"Dammit, I don't— Never mind." She rested her jaw in her fists and hunched over, propping her elbows up against her legs, and cast him a sidelong glance. Compared to the timid Fennekin from yesterday, this Delphi was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, bright and talkative. "So, did something happen today that put you in a good mood?"
"Huh?"
"You're awful chatty, compared to yesterday."
"Oh!" Delphi sat back on his hunches, nose twitching. "Yeah, I just. After the pact we made last night, I figured I should be more optimistic, y'know?"
"Eh?"
"Well, yesterday, all I could think about was how you weren't what I'd imagined you'd be, and feeling sorry for myself." His ears dropped a little, momentarily, and he averted his eyes—but then he snapped back to her and there was a gleam of determination there that had been absent yesterday. "But then I realized that probably wasn't fair to you. My job as a Starter is to be a leader for the team, and having a poor attitude is bad form. I mean, I know you said we're not keeping... uh, Max, right? But I just figured that I'd better start sooner rather than later, and since we're both trying and all... I mean, Oncle always said that life was unpredictable, but not in a bad way, so. I dunno, maybe we could make a really great team."
A flush of pleasant warmth went through her and she allowed herself a small smile. "Well, that's good to hear."
There was a knock at the door, breaking the spell. Celestine stifled a sigh as she stood, making her way to the door and opening it. Probably Shauna or Serena, wanting her to come and talk things out with the boys.
That wasn't the case, though. To her surprise, it was Tierno who was standing on the other side, leaning slightly against the doorframe. When she hesitated in surprise, the dancer drew a friendly grin and waved a little.
"Hey," he said.
"...hi." Well, this was awkward as hell and heaven and everything between. Celestine shifted awkwardly, caught between the urge to duck under the bed and sinking into the ground. This would not end well.
"Are you okay?" Tierno asked, sounding a little concerned.
She realized with a jolt that, despite his size, she was an inch taller than him, even without her heels adding another two inches. Three entire inches, and she had to peer down at him a little. Okay, wow.
"Celie?"
"Gomen," she blurted. "I sort of forced Shauna to tell me and I can understand how that might have been insensitive and... Yeah."
To her surprise, Tierno burst out laughing. Celestine shot a bemused glance at Delphi over her shoulder, then turned back to the dancer in bewilderment.
"Something I said?"
"No, no." Tierno straightened a little, a shade of amusement still in his voice. "I'm not mad about that. Shauna already explained that you were cool with it and it doesn't bother you or anything, and I honestly don't care. I mean, it's not like I'm hiding it or anything."
"But Calem and Trevor—"
"Well that's them," Tierno said with a dismissive wave. "Don't worry about them. They'll cool off. Figured you'd be staying here in the meantime, and I just wanted to know if you wanted me to grab you something."
"That's..." Celestine didn't know what to say. It was so nice, so sweet, and it was directed at her, of all things. "That's very sweet of you. Arigato."
"No prob. So what'll it be?"
Celestine faltered. It occurred to her that she knew nothing about Kalosian breakfast foods. "I supposed they don't have okonomiyaki, do they?"
"Huh?"
"Yeah, thought so." She forced an awkward smile. "Just. Use your best judgement, I guess."
"They've got some honey cakes."
"Sounds delicious."
"Okay, I'll be right back." Tierno gave a little wave before retreating.
She leaned against the door and crossed her arms, forcing herself to relax. He'd said he wasn't mad, so there was no point in feeling so awkward and tense and yeah, maybe the only other time they'd really interacted there had been others present—not to mention the dreaded Alistair Incident three days ago. But if she was going to go on this Journey, then she needed to get used to people, to little random acts of kindness like this. Just because it had been a long time since she'd interacted with someone who either wished harm upon her or was completely indifferent about her well-being, didn't mean the whole world was out to get her. There were some people who didn't know about her, erm, "condition", and maybe wouldn't care, and some that were just genuinely nice regardless.
And... it wasn't bad.
The sound of paws meeting carpet made Celestine glance over her shoulder. "What're okono... what did you say earlier?" Delphi asked as he padded over.
"Okonomiyaki. They're basically Kantonese pancakes."
"...huh. I thought everything was fish over there."
"Kind of, but—"
The sound of flapping wings interrupted Celestine. They weren't Alistair's wings—not strong and whiplash, capable of rending the air with a single beat. Not, these were clumsy and quick, not deliberate in the slightest, untrained and unmastered. The Kantonian stifled a sigh as she turned to the window, still open, and sure enough, a mottled brown bird emerged, fluttering over to the bedpost and radiating annoyance as he perched.
"You are impossible to find," was the first thing out of Tanner's beak. Celestine stifled a groan and pressed her temple against the door, trying to muster patience, as he kept going. "It's incredibly rude, y'know. I was looking for you all morning, and I couldn't find you fucking anywhere. So I asked this Fletchinder—he looked trained and Trainers don't usually come around these parts, y'know? So I figured he might know you, or his Trainer might know you—and let me tell you, he was incredibly rude about it. Called you a bitch and half, and I was all like, 'well that's the future Champion you're talking to', and he just gave me this look, like he thought he was so much better than me.
"God, those damn phoenix wannabes are so goddamn arrogant, like, oh look at me, I shoot fire and I'm faster than you—well guess what, sparky, my line has way more stamina than your flashy, good-for-nothing line. And I mean there's nothing wrong with being fast, but when you burn up all your energy—ah. Burn. Hah. That's funny. But, anyway— Uh...what was I talking about again?"
"...I don't know. I stopped listening again," Delphi admitted sheepishly.
"Why are you here," Celestine drawled.
At this, Tanner straightened. "Right! I wanted to see how the kid was doing."
"Fine. I haven't let him out of his Ball yet, but I was thinking of doing it later today."
"Sounds good," the Pidgey said proudly, as though he were the one who'd thought of it.
The sound of knocking made Celestine jump. Tierno had returned with a paper plate of glazed, honey-colored tea cakes and blinked at Tanner.
"Um," the dancer began, "should I call the owner?"
"What? Oh, no, no." Celestine tried to smile and it felt weird. She really sucked at smiling today, didn't she? "I, uh. Met him yesterday. He wants to join my team but I already made a catch, so he's gonna follow me around until I come to a new area and catch him—but he won't go near the Forest."
"Why would I?" Tanner said loudly, and Celestine stifled a groan. "It's fully a big, predatory Bugs that can pick you off if you want to. You should never underestimate Bugs, I tell y—"
Celestine tuned him out after that and turned back to Tierno. "Gomen nasai, Tierno. He can go on like this forever."
"S'okay. Trevs does this, sometimes. Shauna too, actually. And Cal can rant for hours, so, I'm used to this." Tierno handed her the plate, and she smiled and thanked him, kneeling down to give one to Delphi. The Fennekin licked the pastry up at lightning speed, his tongue wet and warm against her fingers. "You're gonna catch him on Route Three then?"
She glanced up at him. "Eh?"
"Route Three—Ouvert Way. It's just beyond Santalune Forest."
Celestine blinked. "It's a separate Route?"
"Yup."
It wasn't like that in Kanto. The Kantonese Route Two fully encompassed Viridian Forest, beginning and end, and a path even wove around the Forest for those who didn't want to waste their time navigating the dark, shadowy labyrinth. But this was not Kanto, and she had no idea why that was so hard to wrap her head around.
"...oh." She glanced over at Tanner, still yacking, and stood. Took a honey cake into her hands and bit into it—it was cloyingly sweet, too much sugar and the bread had gone cold, a little stale. She swallowed with some difficulty. "I guess that settles it, then."
"Celestine!"
A shout form the hallway made Celestine jumped. Tierno flattened himself against the doorjam just as a blur of green and brown and tan bolted into the room. Delphi was a little less lucky, and he got caught and bowled over by whatever it was, his foxy yelp splitting the air and nearly bursting Celestine's eardrums.
They rolled for a bit and knocked into the nightstand, and for a moment, Celestine was worried the lamp would topple over, but luckily it didn't. The tumble revealed itself to consist of not only Delphi, but Shauna's Chespin Mint, who had the Fennekin pinned on his stomach. She looked frazzled and her chest heaved a little as she panted.
A beat of silence.
"What the hell?" Tanner chirped.
"Celestine!" Mint leaped off Delphi and immediately latched onto the Trainer's leg. The force of the Chespin barreling into her nearly had Celestine toppling over and she had to grab onto the door for support. "Please tell me he hasn't asked you to escort him through Santalune Forest."
"He hasn't."
"Good. You're coming with Shauna and me."
"What?"
"The pathways in Viridian Forest and Santalune Forest are almost identical," Tierno explained, causing Celestine to turn to him. "See, after the Crimson War, Kalos sent men to help clean up some of the damage done to the Routes—which made sense, 'cause I here a lot of the battles were fought on Kantonese soil—and Kanto sent Kalos a few statues in return. Like the big fountain on Route Four, that was made in Kanto. Anyway, Kalosian hands made the trails in Viridian Forest, and they later made the trails in Santalune Forest. Basically—same lumber company, same pathway, and if you can navigate one, you can navigate the other."
"And you're from Viridian City," Mint added, "which is right next door. So you're practically a bona fide escort."
"Um..." Celestine felt obligated to point out that she'd only ever gone into Viridian Forest once when she was twelve and had promptly gotten lost. She never had gotten all the way through, but she held her tongue and continued eating her honey cake. As she chewed, a suspicion bloomed in her head and nagged her. She turned to Tierno. "Were you being nice to me because you wanted an escort?"
"I was being nice to you 'cause I'm nice in general and it seemed like you were having a hard time," Tierno answered, sounding only slightly offended. "I guess that would've been a perk... But it looks like Shauna's kinda called dibs."
Celestine felt a twinge of guilt for suggesting it and hid it by scowled down at Mint, still clinging to her calf. "...looks like it."
"C'mon!" Mint said, tugging the Trainer by her boot and succeeded in lifting her leg off the ground. "We're leaving soon!"
Celestine yelped and clung to the door for balance, trying and failing to shake the Chespin loose. Luckily, Celestine had finished off the honey cakes and only had an empty paper plate in her hands. "M-Matte! Doesn't Shauna need to change out of her pyjamas?"
"Serie brought her stuff to her and she changed in the bathroom, now c'mon."
Long story short, Celestine managed to free herself from Mint's grip with some help from Tierno and Delphi. Tanner left and said he'd meet them on Route Three, something Celestine was admittedly dreading. They did some last minute fixing up of the room before checking out. The entire group had congregated in front of the rest stop, all broken off into their own groups.
Shauna—fully dressed, true to Mint's claims—and Serena were both talking to Trevor, who seemed much calmer than when Celestine had last seen them. Calem was off to the side, seemingly trying to mediate an argument between Hayami and Alistair, each perched on one shoulder and trying to converse through their Trainer's head, much to his annoyance.
Mint immediately bolted to join her Trainer. Celestine, meanwhile, shot Tierno an apologetic look and made for Calem.
Hayami and Alistair, noticing Celestine's presence, quieted, and Calem tensed, eyes dark and suspicious. It sent a shiver of dread through Celestine, and she hesitated. In a moment of weakness, she convinced herself this was a bad idea and almost turned away. She didn't want to do this. She didn't want to know what he thought of her, of her "condition".
Delphi's cool nose pressed against her cheek. She turned to him, startled. He had resumed his place on her shoulder, perching like he belonged there, and maybe he did. The look he gave her was one of encouragement, one that said don't worry I'm here. And it warmed her, because he didn't even know what this was about, and yet he was still giving her moral support.
I dunno, maybe we could make a really great team.
She took a breath to steel her nerves and stepped forward.
It was awkward—her heels made her slightly taller than him, so she had to look down just a little, and it made her uncomfortable. She had to force herself not to look down at her feet or over his head or off to the side as she announced, "I need to talk to you."
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look, about what Shauna said—"
"What? Oh, forget that. I don't care." When he dropped his hand and shot her a dubious look, she rolled her eyes. "It's really not my place to judge. You're you, I'm me. End of story. That's not what I want to talk about."
"...Alistair this morning, or yesterday?"
"A little of both," she admitted, feelingly oddly sheepish. She'd always hated confrontations of the verbal kind. Too many landmines to navigate. "And... something else."
"I bet she's worried about whether or not I saw her underwear," Alistair said.
Celestine's eyes snapped to the Fletchinder and a pang of dread and mortification overcame her. She hadn't even considered—
Calem shot his bird a firm look, which his Froakie mimicked. "Alistair," Hayami hissed, the way someone would say behave.
"Hey, if she didn't want any peeping toms, she shouldn't be sleeping in lacy pink lingerie." Alistair paused just long enough for a wave of mortification to wash over her and her face to flood with heat, for Calem's jaw to drop and for Hayami's eyes to narrow and for Delphi's ears to stand upright. Then, to put a cherry on the embarrassment Sunday, he added, "Rather tasteful, by the way."
Time slowed. Celestine's face felt hot, blazing hot. Calem whipped his head back to face her, and his jaw started to move, but there were no words, there was no sound, only a pounding in Celestine's ears and beyond that, white noise.
She saw her hand move before the action even registered.
Smack.
And just like that, time went back to normal. Celestine whirled around and she heard her hair smack something, but she didn't care. She couldn't see her expression, but it was probably furious enough to match the inferno of outrage and humiliation blazing inside her.
"SHAUNA WE'RE LEAVING!" the Kantonian shouted, storming off, and she didn't once look back.
The last time she'd been this embarrassed, Celestine had been ten and some perverted kid had thought it was funny to yank her skirt up. She'd kicked him in the shin, hard, and had sworn off all skirts but the school uniforms—and even then, she wore spats underneath from that day onward.
And still, Shauna insisted she was overreacting.
"It was probably just Alistair being a bitch," Shauna said, jogging in order to keep up with Celestine's brisk, anger-driven pace. "Cal doesn't do that sort of stuff. Ever."
"I was publicly humiliated," Celestine spat. Off to the side, Delphi spat an Ember at another Pidgey, training while Tanner and Max flew over head and Mint encouraged from the sidelines. The Fennekin proved to be fairly self-sufficient, despite his mediocre battle performance the other day.
"You were publicly humiliated yesterday and you didn't slap anyone."
Celestine stopped and turned sharply on her heel, levelling Shauna with a glare that could melt steel. "I don't care."
But Shauna shrugged it off and sighed. "Okay, I guess you just need time to cool off."
The Kantonian felt another surge of irritation, but tamped it down and said nothing—only huffed and kept walking.
At their pace, they would make it to the Forest within the next hour. The trees loomed ahead of them, deep and dark and lovely, foliage a mosaic of emeralds and jades and olive greens. It was beautiful, and the sight sent a stab of nostalgia through Celestine. If she stared at it too long, she could imagine branches stretching high overhead, leaves burning bright green under the Kantonian sun—aptly named Viridian.
She averted her eyes to the surrounding grass, where Delphi had bested a Bunnelby with little difficulty. He noticed her staring and perked up, panting a little, but his ears tall and straight and his tail swaying happily.
Celestine tried not to think about the last time she'd been this close to a Forest. She tried not to think about the last time she'd been on Kanto's Route Two, about the last time she'd been in Viridian City—about how much everything had probably changed since she set foot in it fight years ago. Viridian City was, after all, always in flux, always growing, always becoming greener and brighter and busier.
"Hey!" came a voice. Celestine snapped to attention. The speaker was a boyish kid in a loose orange T-shirt and beige shorts and a backwards blue hat. A Field Trainer—a Youngster. "Either of you two girls League Trainers?"
"Technically speaking, yeah," Shauna answered before Celestine could stop her, "but neither of us're really taking on the Gym Circuit."
"Doesn't matter," the Youngster said. "If you're registered as League Trainers, then I hafta battle you. Field Trainer contract n' all."
Shauna blinked and Celestine sighed. "Delphi!" the Kantonian called, and the Fennekin perked to attention. "C'mere!"
He bounded over, sleek and golden in the sun. The tip of his tail looked like an open flame—but it was not alight, she reminded her self. No flames, no scales, no claws. Just sunny yellow fur and oversized ears and big, innocent amber eyes. "Oui, Trainer?"
She jerked her head towards the Youngster. "You up for a Trainer battle?"
A chance to make up for his poor performance from yesterday. He would probably jump at the chance—and he did. He bristled and his eyes blazed with excitement, and he even need to yip out "yes!" before he bounded out in front of her, taking a battle stance.
The Youngster grinned and sent out a Zigzagoon, which was as bristly and bright-eyed as its Trainer.
Shauna loudly announced she would ref and bounced over to the middle of the makeshift battlefield. Mint, Max, and Tanner caught up soon after.
Non-Reaper, Celestine reminded herself as Shauna announced the battle to commence.
The Youngster ordered a Tackle. Celestine had Delphi retaliated with an Ember. As flames soared and the combatants blurred with motion, she couldn't help but think back to her early years, to the first time she fought pesky Normal-Types with a fearsome Fire-Type partner.
But it was different now. Time had passed and things had changed and starting over was hard.
But it wasn't bad.
The trees hugged each other the way an old friend would, and they fit together like the pieces of an old puzzle some god had decided to solve on a whim and left for humanity to take shelter under. Only a few daring slants of sunlight managed to knife through and dapple the earth in subtle, wan shades of gold. It was like the blanket you pulled over your head in the middle of the night as a child, warm and dark and safe.
Except the air was crisp and cool and the shadows were so deep Celestine felt like she was being swallowed whole. Not that she would mind being swallowed up, not by this Forest, this place where the wildlife chirped and chattered and hummed, all abuzz and alight with curiosity—who are these strangers? they asked, Are they strong or weak, cowardly or resilient?
Santalune had the same feel as Viridian, the same oldness and dark mystique that all the Old Forests—remnants of when the regions were wild and not yet civilized by the Leagues—seemed to carry. Perhaps the air of the Old Forests were universal, oblivious to the boundaries of nations and languages and cultures.
And Celestine could understand how the paths of the two, Viridian and Santalune, might be seen as similar, for the ground of both Forests dipped and bobbed and rose up, hills and valleys and a twisting path that deftly navigated them all. They were eerily similar, but not identical. Santalune was much more serpentine in comparison, because while the trees in Viridian Forest were all ramrod straight, the trees here coiled and unwound, as if frozen in the throes of a festive tribal dance or yielding to the force of some great, invisible storm. They were also much older, their trunks thicker and the branches reaching higher—they were gargantuan, larger than life, and it made Celestine feel tiny in comparison.
Even the paths were different. Whereas Viridian had been clearly manmade, too straight and free of any intrusive roots and made up of pale, loose sand that had been placed by human hands and gave away easily underfoot, the path of Santalune was much more natural. In fact, it was less a path and more a winding strip of land in which the sticks and fallen branches had been cleared away and set aside in too-neat piles, the only real hint of human intervention, and where the grass chose to grow a little less thickly, revealing the soft, dark earth underneath. Thin, spindly roots emerged from the ground, crisscrossing and spiderwebbing, more complex than the human nervous system, and that was something that Viridian had lacked. There had never been any undergrowth in Viridian, instead a thick layer of fallen leaves and enough bright green ferns to make up for it, but here the undergrowth was so dense and dark that Celestine couldn't see five feet through the thicket—and the trees had many heads, blooming and parting from a single trunk like the mythical hydra.
The trees parted around the path, rising around it like a ribcage, like old twisted bones. They were too warped for the analogy to be exact, but Celestine thought, as she trotted down the path at a leisurely pace, that it still felt as through she were walking along the Forest's spine, vertebrae by vertebrae. On either side of her and all around, it was as if a great pair of lungs were breathing, expanding and contracting—and there was a heartbeat, something subtle and soft but somehow deafening at the same time.
Celestine breathed in, tasting earth and sunlight and shadow. The air was the same, though, and the color as well. Most of the trees were wrapped in rough, archaic brown bark—though some adorned themselves in emerald moss like luxury robes—and the canopy ranged in enough hues of green to rival any rainbow. A few patches of moss cut through the dark earth, like some deity had grown bored of the one color and had spray painted a few choice areas with vibrant green. It was exactly like the Viridian Forest in that sense, the way the pathway wound out in a labyrinthine fashion and the way the trees stretched high over her head.
As she hopped onto a particularly thick root, belonging to an old, larger-than-life tree, she felt like she was twelve again, a young girl with a taste for adventure plunging into the mysterious Forest for the first time.
"A-Are you sure this is a good idea?" A young girl, somewhere between nine and ten and with her hair pulled back into high pigtails, peered up at her older companion with wide, fearful jade eyes.
Next to her stood an older girl, twelve or thirteen and tall for her age. She tossed her high ponytail over her shoulder and grinned down at her younger companion. "Of course it is. Why wouldn't it be?"
They stood at the entrance of Viridian Forest, which was large and dark and beautifully mysterious, thriving and burgeoning and so green it burned your eyes. The trees parted around a single dirt path, which the two occupied, hands clasped together and fingers interlocking.
"Because you don't get your traveler's permit 'till tomorrow!" the younger protested. "And it's full of gross Bugs!"
The older bent down a little, her inky bangs dripping into her sapphire eyes. "What, you don't think I can protect you from Bugs?"
At this, the younger bit her lip. "I didn't say that..."
"'Cause that's real mean of you—doubting my abilities as a Trainer."
"I didn't mean to—"
The younger was interrupted by the elder bursting to laughter. The elder cupped a hand to her mouth, grinning mischievously through her fingers. "Jeez, I was just kidding. But really, don't worry. Me n' Draco'll protect you."
"...really?"
"Yeah, really! Now c'mon!" The elder released her companion's hand—such a simple act, fingers slipping through fingers and suddenly the contact was gone, a fatal mistake—and bounded off into the woods, the trees and the shadows swallowing her whole. "Ikuso!"
"M-Matteo!" the younger cried, racing after her companion. "Come back! Neesan!"
"Hey Celie!"
Celestine jumped and nearly lost her balance, but luckily she was able to grab hold of the tree trunk and regain it before she fell. It was hard enough to balance on the root with heels and sudden loud exclamations would not help in any way, shape, or form.
The Kantonian whirled around to face Shauna, who was standing at the base of the tree roots. She looked even tinier in comparison to these unnaturally huge trees, and Mint, Delphi, and Max looked absolutely miniscule.
Tanner had left them the minute they entered the Forest, so Max had taken to perching on Shauna's shoulder, reveling in her presence while his parental substitute was absent. Mint was, as ever, was cradled the nook of Shauna's crossed arms. Delphi stood dutifully close to Celestine at the base of the root, his tail wagging happily—he'd been in a good mood ever since they'd beaten that Youngster outside the Forest.
As it turned out, mercy money changing hands was normal in Kalos, even during Non-Reaper Battles. She'd gotten a small amount of cash for the win, something that was pleasantly surprising and quite pleasing at the same time. It almost made her want to battle the Field Trainers stationed here in the Forest, and with Shauna offering to heal up her team with the healing items Grace-san had given her, it was hard not to seriously consider the possibility.
"Shauna, don't do that," Celestine snapped.
"Sorry! Can you come back down? I don't wanna get neck cramps having to look up at you."
"Okay, okay," Celestine relented. She hopped down from the root, landing deftly in front of them. Delphi's warmth brushed up against her shin. "By the way, there's a fork in the road a few miles down, just like in Viridian. It's almost eerie, actually."
"Yeah, I hear the paths are supposed to be super similar," Shauna chirped, which Tierno had already told Celestine. "Any idea which one we're supposed to take?"
"If it's like Viridian, then we have to take the right path," Celestine said. "But just in case, I think I might have seen a sign, so, I guess we'll see."
"Guess we should go see then!" And with that, Shauna skipped over to the main path. Celestine sighed and followed after her, Delphi at her heels.
Speaking of heels, Celestine stopped dead the moment she set foot on the path. The high heels of her boot sunk a little into the damp, too-soft earth. She lifted her left foot up, only to wince at the mud that clung to the sole of her boot.
"Well, damn."
Shauna stopped and turned. "What's wrong?"
"I shouldn't have worn heels today."
Shauna grinned triumphantly. "Told you."
Celestine narrowed her eyes. "Urusai."
"Yeah... I dunno what that means, so..."
"It means 'shut up'."
"Oh." Shauna blinked. "Why don't you just say 'shut up' in Common?"
Celestine ground her teeth and said nothing.
"Oh don't be such a Grumpy Gus," Shauna said. She drew her mouth into an exaggerated pout, mocking Celestine's irritation, and the Kantonian frowned at the provocation. "C'mon! You get a new teammate here."
"That doesn't help if I can't walk properly," Celestine growled.
"Just take off your boots," Delphi said. He had trotted a little ways ahead, but stopped and glanced over his shoulder back at them. The way his tail stood erect and swaying was almost beckoning.
"See? Problem solved." And then Shauna was bounding away before Celestine could protest.
It seemed there was no other option. Celestine stripped off her boots, wincing at the sensation of wet earth that was almost mud but not quite on the soles of her feet and between her toes.
Ugh. I picked a bad day to not wear socks.
Tossing her boots over her shoulder—like hell she was putting them in her bag, Storage Key be damned, they were too muddy to even entertain the idea—she trudged forward.
Unfortunately, she hadn't thought to wear any socks under her boots, so her bare feet ended up sinking into the soft give of the cool, damp earth. She winced—the ground felt far too flat without her heels, and the way the cold bit into soles of her feet was entirely unpleasant.
Wearing heels could give Celestine the illusion that the only reason she was so tall was because of the stiletto heels on her boots. But now, with those heels removed and the damp earth sucking at her feet, that illusion was gone. Her feet were flat against the ground and the trees were the same size as they were without her shoes. She was just as tall, her legs still awkwardly long and stilt-like, and it was wrong. A girl should not stand at six feet tall without any help. A girl should not be able to feel the cartilage in her joints knitting itself back together. A girl should not have foreign chemicals in her veins that made her see twisted shadows and made her nerves scream with agony.
A human should not be like this.
"Is that the sign up ahead, do y'think?" Shauna asked, snapping Celestine from her reverie.
"Mm?" Celestine looked up ahead. What had been a dark smudge on the horizon while she'd balanced on the root was now coming into focus as they came closer. A decrepit wooden sign, by the looks of it, and the only real evidence of human presence within the Forest. It was still too far away to make out the words, though. "Oh. Yeah, it is."
Shauna hummed thoughtfully, and then glanced over at Celestine with a particularly mischievous glint in her mint-colored eyes. "Ten bucks says it tells us to go left."
"I already told you we're probably going right."
"If you're so confident, then put your money where your mouth is," Mint said, adding her own two cents in. Shauna turned away and did something that Celestine thought might have been a high five, but it was hard to tell from behind.
Celestine rolled her eyes. "Just because I'm confident doesn't mean I'm willing to bet."
"Sounds like you're not too sure," Shauna singsonged. Max, not understanding it to be bait, chirped a similar tune.
"Taunt me all you want," Celestine said. "My will is too strong to succumb to your gambling tendencies."
"You say that now, Lavieaux, but mark my words—I will corrupt you."
Celestine rolled her shoulders in her sockets, but said nothing. The word "corrupt" sent a twisted pang through her.
Shauna took the silence in stride though and skipped up ahead—the virtue of reasonable footwear, Celestine thought enviously—and reached the sign first. Celestine was still catching up, so she didn't hear it, but she did see the way Shauna's posture slumped and the way she tilted her head back in exasperation, which spoke of a despairing groan. On the Hoennian's shoulder, Max chirped in confusion, rather bewildered by the
"We're going right, aren't we?" Celestine called out as she picked her way down the path. There were roots all over the place and they were too-hard against the almost-mud, almost like bones. Needless to say, it was uncomfortable enough to slow her down.
Shauna grumbled unintelligently.
Celestine caught up, and she couldn't help feeling a little a little smug as the words came into view. Over an arrow pointing to the left, the words "Advanced Trail (1-2 Badges recommended)" were carved into the wood. An arrow pointing to the right had the words "Novice Trail (0-1 Badges recommended)" placed above it.
"Hey!" Delphi peered up at the sign, still at her side. He glanced up at her, mildly impressed. "You were right!"
"Of course I was." Celestine flashed Shauna a smirk that the Hoennian did not see, still staring at the sign in despair. "Geez, Shauna, I thought the whole reason you wanted me to accompany you was because I knew my way around Viridian, and that Santalune is almost identical."
"What?" Shauna straightened and whirled around, blinking. "No. What made you think that?"
"Well, Mint said—"
"And you listened to her?"
"Hey!" the Chespin said indignantly. "No need ta be rude, now!"
Celestine frowned and studied Shauna's face. The brunette seemed genuinely perplexed. But if that wasn't the reason, then... "So why did you want me to come, then?"
"I wanted to talk to ya, silly."
Dread stirred in Celestine's gut. "About Calem?"
"Mmm... I was actually thinking more along the lines of your anime preferences," Shauna said. And then she started trotting down the right path in almost merry fashion.
Celestine stood for a moment, blinking, dumbfounded—when she realized Shauna was already about a foot ahead and Delphi was abandoning her to follow the Hoennian, she scrambled to catch up. "W-Wait, what?"
"Anime preferences," Shauna said cheerily. "Like, what kind do you prefer? Shounen? Shoujo? Seinen? Josei? Ooh, yaoi? Yuri?"
Celestine simply blinked still processing the fact that the only reason Shauna wanted to travel with her was to talk about anime. Like they couldn't do that at a more casual place instead of a Bug-infested Forest, where some particularly powerful Pokémon hid in the deeper bowels, where the trees cast deeper shadows and a sign was posted, boldly labelling "Danger".
"What's anime?" Delphi asked, padding steadily at Celestine's side.
"Kantonese animated shows and movies and stuff," Shauna answered.
"And the bane a' human existence," Mint sniffed.
Shauna gawked at her starter. "How can you say that?"
"Because the minute ya got into, it became an obsession, it did," she said. "And have you seen some of the stuff on 4chan? Fangirls like you have way too much time on your hands."
"Screw you! I don't even own a 4chan account."
"Can I hava go at fanfiction then?" Mint deadpanned. "'Cause that is one juicy vein."
"Hold on," Celestine said, cutting Shauna's stuttering attempt at a retort. "You wanted me to come with you so we could discuss the nuances of Kantonese animation?"
Shauna looked absolutely relieved at the change in subject. "Yes. So—I really like Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Princess Tutu, but I didn't know if you would like that, because, well, I mean they are kinda cutesy looking, but the stories are great. Oh! Sailor Moon is good too! But my favorite is Day Break Illusion, which is seriously underrated, and—" She suddenly turned back to Celestine in alarm. When she turned her head, the side of her pigtail nearly knocked Max off his perch. "...it's not racist to assume you like anime because you're Kantonese, is it?"
"Is it racist to assume you like the beach because you're Hoennian?" Celestine countered.
"I do like the beach," Shauna said.
"...and I like anime."
"What was the point of that?" Delphi whispered to Mint.
"Humans," Mint answered cryptically with an eye roll.
"Great!" Shauna chirped, ignoring the starters' exchange. "So what's your thing? Sailor Moon? Yuri On Ice? Evangelio—"
There was a rustling in the bushes that made the girls stop—the whole Forest rustled and moved all around them, and this was particularly loud, too close. Celestine squinted at the undergrowth, glimpsing a flash of pale, pastel blue through the green-brown foliage.
But then the out-of-place color disappeared with a particularly loud rustling. And then it was gone. They stared at the bushes, waiting for something to come that never did. Max even fluttered off Shauna's shoulder and chirped inquiringly at the shrubs, but still, nothing.
After two minutes of waiting, it began to feel ridiculous.
Celestine turned away and started walking. The sooner she got out of this place, the sooner she could go back to walk on solid, less-muddy ground and clean this gunk off her feet. "Max, c'mon."
Max cheeped.
"So, you gonna answer the question?" Shauna asked, skipping after her. "Favorite anime?"
"Kill La Kill," Celestine answered offhandedly.
"Really? Never heard of that one."
Celestine stopped dead, the air around her turning dark and cold and lethal. She whirled around, her long dark hair flying out like the swing of a katana, and Shauna stopped dead at the flintiness of her blue eyes.
"How the literal fuck," Celestine said slowly, enunciating each word so that the bladed edge in her tone was even more prominent, "have you never heard of Kill La Kill?"
Shauna took a step back, eyes wide. "W-Well..."
"It is literally one the best anime in existence," Celestine went on, her tone not changing. "It has an amazing plot, a great cast of unique and memorable characters, a lightning-fast pace with only one real episode of filler that doubles as character development, a badass protagonist, defies the girls-can't-fight trope, portrays an awesome and iconic weapon, has amazing fight scenes, deep thematic content, and a heart-breaking ending that will leave you in tears. All the marks of a great anime and it has it."
Shauna paused thoughtfully. "...wait. Isn't that the one with the angry girl in the black g-string-suspenders combo?"
There was silence. The trees rustled and the birds chirped and everything moved except for the foreigners who had dared to wandered into the depths of an Old Forest.
"...it's a kamui," the Kantonian said softly. "It is composed entirely of life-fibres, which are parasitic, alien organisms which give the host incredible power but run the risk of completely overwhelming them. The resulting outfit has very little skin-on-skin contact in order to avoid this."
"It looks like something a stripper would wear," Shauna said, seemingly oblivious to Celestine's lethal glare.
"It's called coincidence."
"Nah. I think it's just fanservice."
"Why are they arguing about this?" Delphi asked Mint.
Mint wriggled out of Shauna's arms and landed feet-first on the ground. With a sigh and brushing off invisible dust, she answered in a deadpan, "'Cause they're fangirls, kiddo, and fangirls're the scariest thing in the world."
It was another ten minutes before the sound of movement halted the debate. Mint's vines lashed out, catching a shape in mid-air and bringing it to the ground. When the Trainers came over to inspect it, they found a little bird with grey wings and a head the same sunburst orange as Alistair's feathers.
"Ooh, a Fletchling," Shauna said, leaning in.
Celestine, meanwhile, decided to be pragmatic and pulled out her PokéDex. She arched a brow when she read that it evolved into a Fletchinder. Interesting. "So how do you want to do this, Shauna? Rock, paper, scissors? Coin flip? Wh—"
"Dibs," Shauna said. At some point while Celestine was talking, the Hoennian had pulled out a Poké Ball—which she chucked at the struggling form of the Fletchling. It vanished in a flash of pale light, and the Ball shook before going still. "Whoo-hoo!"
Celestine blinked. "Why."
Shauna glanced over at her. "What?"
"Well, maybe I wanted it," Celestine said. And wouldn't it be cool if she had a Fletchinder that could someday rival Alistair? See if Calem was so smug about his precious bird then.
"Ya already got a Flying-Type," Mint pointed out as she withdrew her spiny vines. "And one in reserve!"
"And its line gains a Fire Typing," added Delphi, "which I already have—without evolving."
Celestine smothered a pang of indignance and kept her gaze trained on Shauna. "You won't even use it, anyway. You'll just end up WonderTrading it."
"And maybe I'll get a Crobat for it."
"Highly unlikely," Celestine retorted. "People don't just give away ultra-powerful Pokémon, especially not Crobat—"
"Hey guys?" Delphi piped up. "Any idea where Max went?"
"What are you talking about? He's right—" Celestine broke off. She did a quick scan of the area, and though the path remained just as dark and damp as before, and the leaves were just as green and the shadows just as deep and the wind tossed the branches in exactly the same way, something was irreplaceably and undeniably wrong.
There was no sign of a little tan-and-brown bird.
"—shit." Her second day of training, and she'd already lost one of her Pokémon. Not good.
Hakase was going to kill her.
Shauna was looking too. "Well he couldn't have gone far."
Celestine cupped both hands to her mouth and tried not to sound desperate as she called out. "Ma-ax! Maaaaax! Where are you!?"
"He prob'ly flew off while you guys were debating anime," Mint grumbled.
"Maybe he got tired of listening to it too," Delphi muttered back.
Celestine eyed the undergrowth—thick and luscious and so, so perfectly dense. A little bird like Max could easily get swallowed up by the green leaves and the tangled branches and what appeared to be thin, stubby thorns. "Dammit."
She ran up and plunged into it without a second thought.
She heard Shauna cry out in alarm, but hardly thought anything of it. The undergrowth blurred into a sea of branches lashing at her legs and stubbing her toes on hidden roots, thorns tearing at her jeans. It came up to her thighs, practically swallowing her too-long legs, making it difficult to run—and it was not a dignified sight, her tripping and scrabbling through the thicket, thick branches seemingly grabbing at her, trying to trap her and keep her in place but she resisted. Like hell she was surrendering to this place.
She fumbled for Max's Ball as she ran, bringing up his status screen—a GPS locator, to be more precise, one that could locate the occupant of the Ball within a fifty-mile radius. Luckily, Max appeared to be within fifty miles, because a blinking green dot indicated his location.
North, according to the compass in the bottom left corner of the status screen holograph. Celestine had no idea which way was north, but she ran, and her position relative to Max's was marked by a blue arrow. And the blue arrow was getting closer, so that must be good, right?
Yes, definitely good, Celestine decided, even though juniper bushes bit into the fabric of her jeans and and tore the denim open and left shallow slashes in her pale skin, which closed and vanished almost immediately. Ah, the joys of instant healing. Like that would defend her against the burs getting lodged in her clothes.
Something changed about the Forest as she followed Max's beacon. It was not subtle, but she paid no mind to it at first, brushing it off as unimportant. But as she went deeper, it only grew more and more prominent and eventually she had to stop and take a look around to truly process what she was seeing.
All around her, the trees stood like columns of an ancient temple—they had gotten straighter, thinned into a single trunk—but the roof was no longer a canopy of a thousand emerald shades. Rather, it was a ceiling made entirely of a dusty brown, pulpy substance, the surface of it of it rough and papery in appearance, with knots and stylized whorls. It arched over the trunks like a dome, anchored by curved beams that gave the whole thing a spiderweb look around the edges, but within the spiderwed-esque border, it was solid and opaque, and a thousand yellow conical shapes were suspended by near-invisible threads.
Each cone had a pair of large, triangular black eyes, too shiny and too bright to be anything other than insectile. Frigid horror flooded through Celestine as she gazed up at those hard, glossy eyes, and the realization of what this place was hit her like a hammer of ice to the head. She had never seen one in person, only reading about in the thick, glossy pages of Regional Geographic or her junior biology textbooks—and one time she'd seen a wasp's nest that had formed in her school over summer vacation, all the papery, dusty brown whorls and combs and how those nasty little bastards flew out just when she was about to get close and made her shriek—but this was bigger, more real. A full-scale version that made all the pictures and stories she'd heard seem small in comparison. She nearly dropped her boots, still in her hand, and Max's Ball, and nearly fled in sheer terror. Rumor had it that once you stumbled upon one of these things, there was no coming back.
Oh Birds.
Rustling sounded from behind her and it took all of Celestine's self-control not to leap ten feet in the air and bang her head on one of the Kakuna—Kakuna—hanging from the nest's ceiling as she whirled around.
But it was just Shauna, waving desperately and struggling to catch up. The thicket that only came up to Celestine's thigh practically swallowed the Hoennian from the waist down, and her breathing was absolutely laborious as she approached. Mint was in her arms again and Delphi was on her shoulder.
None of them had the sense to look up as they approached.
"Geez, don't do that," Shauna protested as she caught up, panting. Celestine opened her mouth to say something along the lines of shut up, but Shauna kept going—"I get that you're worried and all, but that's no reason to run off without saying something! I mean, it's really rude—"
Delphi cut her off with a fearful bark. While Shauna had been talking, his eyes had been drawn to the base of one of the beams, and his gaze had traveled up, up, up, until at last he was staring directly at the Kakuna and their papery ceiling.
"Whatcha lookin' at—oh." Mint followed Delphi's gaze and her eyes went round at the sight.
Shauna looked up too, but her eyes were wide with wonder and not fear. "Whoa! What is this place!?"
"A Beedrill nest," Celestine hissed.
At this, Shauna's body immediately went tense. Mint seemed to shrink, and Delphi whimpered.
"What do we do?" Shauna asked. Her voice had dropped to an uncharacteristically low volume, and there was an odd tremor to it that did not fit her at all.
Celestine wracked her brain for the survival rules she'd learned in Viridian's Trainer School. It all mostly boiled down to the same thing, though—don't freak out the deadly bugs that could impale you on a whim—but, hey, it was better than nothing.
"Be very quiet," she answered with a soft intensity, "and make no sudden movements. Let's move."
From then on, they were much more careful, picking their way through the sea of undergrowth—juniper bushes, ferns, brambles, bracken—with the utmost precision. It was eerily silent, the usual lifeful noises of the Forest not reaching here, in this place where countless had likely met their demise. Beedrill were notoriously territorial, and hardly fond of letting trespassers go.
Celestine's heart thumped against her ribcage at full intensity. At this rate her breastbone was going to end up bruised, but with her being what she was, that mattered little. She eyed the Kakuna, all glaring at her from high above her head. They looked extremely pissed.
"Why are they just staring at us?" Mint whispered, sounding as unnerved as Celestine felt.
"...they're pissed because they can't do anything," Celestine realized aloud. "They're just stuck, suspended over us, but they can't reach us."
"Can't they evolve at any minute?" Delphi asked warily.
"No. Look—they're smaller than normal." Back in the Trainer's School, one of Celestine's classmates had been an aspiring Bug Catcher, who had been eager to inform the class about the biology of Kakuna and various other Bugs. Many of the other girls had been disgusted, preferring to train Meowth and Mankey, but Celestine had been the odd one with a Charmander and a thirst for knowledge that transcended her dislike of creepy crawlies. "It's still way too early for them to evolve. In fact, they probably just evolved from their Weedle stage recently."
"So they can't just evolve and come after us?" Shauna asked.
"No." With the thought of immediate danger gone, she momentarily tore her wary gaze off the Kakuna to eye the radar on Max's Ball. They were still going in the right direction, at least. So why did something still feel off, not quite adding up?
"Oh. Good."
Celestine looked back at the glaring Bugs. And then, as she looked around at the vast, papery expanse, she realized what it was that wasn't making sense. "...there aren't any Beedrill here."
"Yeah," said Delphi. "Thank the Goddess."
"No... Beedrill are usually very protective of Kakuna after the evolve," Celestine explained, apprehension swelling in her chest. "They rarely leave their side... so why aren't there any here?"
Max's Ball beeped. Celestine tore her gaze off the premature Kakuna and looked back at the radar. The dot indicating Max had gone from green to yellow. Green meant relatively healthy, if not full health. Red was critical condition, and yellow was danger.
The Forest blurred with a sense of urgency. What if Max had come through here, excited the Beedrill and fled, and maybe that was why the Bugs had chosen to abandon their nest? It made sense—Beedrill were notoriously unforgiving and relentless.
"Oh, God," she said, and started running again.
It was not a dignified sight, her stumbling and tripping and barely keeping her balance, but still she ran, relentless. The nest vanished into the distance, replaced by bright spots of sunlight that dabbled the bushes. Gradually, more and more sunlight filtered in through the trees, and soon enough Celestine had to squint, the brightness harsh against her eyes—which had adjusted to the Forest's darkness.
The sound of distant buzzing filled her ears.
She ran harder.
The undergrowth suddenly stopped, vanished abruptly. Below her, the ground fell away into a shallow cliff with a too-steep drop. She stumbled and slipped, skidding down the incline, earth coming loose under her bare feet—roots banged against her toes and heels and stray plants lashed at her shins. Gritting her teeth, she landed sloppily, her ankle twisting awkwardly—Sonovabitch—but she ignored it and kept running.
Sunlight fell in splashes across the ground, bigger and bigger as the buzzing got louder, highlighting the sparse patches of grass and moss that dotted the ground like someone had sewed them into the ground, like a woodland quilt. The trees thinned into a grotto, and Celestine stumbled to a halt. Her body immediately paid her back for the abuse, lashes of pain ricocheting around inside her like a thousand Ping-Pong balls, but she hardly noticed.
Beedrill clogged the sky like a plague, a hundred writhing yellow bodies all jostling each other as they vied for space to fly. Their buzzing was incessant and whining, so loud and obnoxious that it made Celestine's eardrums throb. Long, deadly stingers bobbed overhead on the very end of their black-striped abdomens, wings pale blurs of movement. Celestine couldn't even count how many long black limbs there were above her head, thousands upon thousands—and a third of them segued abruptly into deadly needles, gleaming white stingers that could puncture steel with little to no effort and go through flesh like warm butter.
One of the stingers overhead dripped venom. The droplets landed with a hiss, inches away from where Celestine stood.
She did not move, did not flinch, only stared.
Beedrill swarms were the stuff of nightmares in Viridian. Cautionary tales were told of ill-prepared Trainers who wandered into the Viridian Forest and never return. One of the more gruesome ones Celestine had heard was a folktale about an arrogant young lord who endeavored to eradicate the swarm, despite the fact that it had never attacked humans without provocation. The end result varied from version to version, but the one Celestine was most familiar with was that the lord's corpse was found with a million puncture wounds, a true testament to the ferocity of a Beedrill's Twineedle and Fury Attack moves.
An angry swarm was death to any mortal who encountered them, period. And though there was a voice in Celestine's head that reminded her she was an exception, it didn't stop her heart from pounding louder and faster than she ever thought possible, a thunderous drone in her ears that almost drowned out the Beedrill's wings. Her body locked up, blood running icy cold. The acidic taste of fear flooded her mouth. Her head spun, dizzyingly close to debilitating terror, and she wanted to run, run, run, get the hell out there, she needed to get out of here before these things killed her—
An alarmed, warbling chirping shattered her thoughts. Celestine's eyes snapped to the ground—her neck ached from having to look up for so long, and the sudden movement sent a flare of pain down her spine—and they widened at the sight she was met with.
There were quite a few Pokémon species that Celestine was unfamiliar with, and this was one of them. It was ape-like, but very slender to the point that it was almost skinny. From the waist up, it was a shade of soft, pastel blue save for its tan face, and a cloud-like puff crowned its head. Its feet, arms, and lower body matched its facial color, and its eyes squeezed shut—yet that did nothing to hide the ferocity and raw defiance wrought on its face. Its arm was raised protectively, a gash carved into the limb and weeping some translucent, viscous fluid that in no way looked healthy.
But what Celestine was more focused on what the little brown shape huddled behind the odd primate. Max—curled in on himself, eyes round afraid, feathers ruffled to the point of bristling, his little body trembling in terror.
Time came to a standstill. Celestine was moving, but she was the only one—everything else was frozen, suspended, unmoving.
Her feet moved, stepped forward. One, two, faster, faster. She was running. One hand had a tight grip around Max's Ball, and the other was hyper-aware of the leather material of her boots.
She was in front of them, suddenly. A hundred pairs of ruby eyes, hard and polished like jewels, were trained on her. Gazes burning under her skin, fire and acid.
Her arm moved without her consent. She was watching, but not doing. It didn't click, didn't register, not really. The arc of her boots—swinging—it was surreal.
The crack of heels meeting hard exoskeleton brought her back to reality.
The Beedrill she hit went careening to the right, colliding messily into another one, and they collided into another—and on and on, it kept going until almost thirty of them had crashed to the ground in a writhing pile, wild and disoriented and extremely pissed.
All eyes locked onto her. The rest of the swarm bristled with barely contained fury, their eyes gleaming with crimson light.
A chill passed through Celestine and her boots slipped out of her hands. When they landed, she could see a mucus-like fluid on the steel-plated toes.
She took a quick glance at the Beedrill pile—the one on the very bottom was struggling much more weakly than the others to untangle itself. There was a small dent on the side of its head that wept a sticky, milky green liquid.
Ohhhh—
The swarm raised their stinging arms and poised to strike.
—shit!
Current Team:
Delphi, Male Fennekin (Lv 7)
Docile, Takes plenty of siestas
Ability: Blaze
Moves: Scratch, Tail Whip, Ember
Met: Vaniville (Aquacorde) Town
Max, Male Pidgey (Lv 6)
Naïve, Very finicky
Ability: Tangled Feet
Moves: Tackle, Sand Attack
Met: Route Two
Author's Notes:
Aaaaaaaand that's it. Betcha weren't expecting a cliffhanger, were ya?
Inspiration for the forest scene comes from the walk my PE class took in the woods outside my school the day I started writing this. It was really inspiring and helped me create such vivid imagery.
Translations (Hoennian = Greek, btw):
Ma loulouette—an affection French term, feminine, with the root being "loupin", meaning "wolf". It refers to a feisty woman, in particular.
Lypámai—Greek for "I am sorry".
Parakaló—Greek for "please".
Se misó—Greek for "I hate you!".
Matte—Japanese for "wait".
Matteo—Japanese for "hold on".
Ikuso—Japanese for "let's go".
I really don't have much else to say so, that's all for now,
Luna out