Something was wrong. Deeply, awfully, unthinkably wrong. Everything had been fine as they'd started across the stepping stones, but then two things happened that Blanche couldn't wrap their mind around. First, Candela had, without the slightest warning, turned on Spark with murderous intent in her eyes. Blanche had never seen such ferocity in a human's face before. It was as if Candela were a cornered and terrified pokémon, lashing out in hateful desperation. When Spark tried to stop her, she pulled him over the side of the falls, and then the second thing happened.
Blanche had gone somewhere. They were there on the waterfall, watching their friends drop toward the river below, and then they were somewhere else entirely. Instead of the dark cavern with the roaring waterfall, Blanche found themself in freezing water, bubbles slipping from their mouth and rising toward the glow of ice above them.
They'd been there before, years and years ago. After Candela boasted about the legendary bird that had visited her. She was a liar. She had to be. Though Blanche had never met Joule, they knew his name, knew that he'd gotten sick and had died. Candela, Blanche had reasoned, was reaching out for attention and comfort after her brother's passing. Blanche didn't fault Candela for that. She was still the tough kid on the block, the one with the most passion and drive. It was clear she was going places.
Which was why Blanche wanted to latch onto her, just like Spark, the twitchy boy they'd met at the Volt Academy entry exam, had done. Candela was an "in" to the community of kids in the new and scary town that Blanche's dad had dropped them into. It would be socially beneficial to align with her, even if her attitude was grating and her behavior was erratic and hazardous. Every time Blanche was obliged to tattle on Candela, they knew they were distancing themself even more, but something had to be done. Rules existed for a reason, and not even the queen of the playground was exempt.
This went on for weeks. Getting close, being invited to play, and then ruining things by running to parents or teachers when Candela pulled a foolish stunt or Spark bumbled his way into a dangerous situation. Eventually, Candela had enough.
"You're a traitor," she'd decreed one day when they were playing in the frozen woods.
Candela had nailed Spark in the eye with a snowball, and Spark had started to cry, and so Blanche decided it was time to bring in a grownup. Candela stopped them, stood in front of them, arms akimbo, eyes burning from beneath her wool hat.
"You're just a tattletale and a killjoy. We don't want you here," Candela continued.
"It's OK, Candela" Spark said, sniffling, drying his eyes with his mittens. "It doesn't hurt anymore. Blanche can stay, right?"
"No, she can't," Candela said. "She's just gonna keep telling on us. We can't have any fun with her around. She ruins everything."
"I'm not a… that's not…" But Blanche didn't know how to say it. That "she" wasn't exactly right. That it made their stomach hurt a little, and when they heard it, it was as if the speaker were talking about someone else. "I'm sorry. I won't tell on you again. Please, you're my only friends."
Candela sneered. "We aren't your friends. You'll never be our friend."
Blanche felt the heat of embarrassment in their windburned cheeks, and knowing what Candela thought of crybabies, they turned and ran into the woods before she could see their tears. They couldn't believe they'd thought they had friends. How pathetic. They could never have friends. They didn't understand the other kids. Weren't they smart enough? Weren't they playing the right way? Weren't they polite and sweet? What were they doing wrong? Because they had to be doing something wrong.
At their old school, the kids called them a robot and made silly mocking beeps at them when they walked by. The kids at their new school came up with the same tired jokes. But Candela and Spark didn't go to Volt Academy. They never talked in a computer voice at them. They didn't call them a freak or make fun of them for wearing both the boy's and the girl's uniform, depending on what was comfortable that day. Candela and Spark let them tag along, and that was enough. Their dad was so happy that they'd made friends. They wanted him to keep smiling.
But Blanche really had ruined everything this time. They still didn't have friends, and they were foolish for ever thinking they did. Robots didn't make friends.
A sound like a blast of January wind and a thousand singing bells brought them back to the real world. They'd never heard a pokémon cry like that. Was it even a pokémon?
Blanche heard the crack of the ice before they even realized they were over water. They stopped running and finally acknowledged the small frozen lake they'd blindly raced to the center of. They saw the crack in the ice, but it seemed to be holding firm. They were more concerned about the surreal cry they'd just heard. They didn't want to stay out in the open. They had to go back to the safety of the trees. Just as they turned back toward shore, the ice gave way, and Blanche plummeted into the biting cold water.
The shock of the cold disoriented them, and by the time they'd spun themself back toward the surface, they could no longer see the hole they'd created as they fell through. Just a glowing expanse of ice through a murky screen of lake water.
In their panic, Blanche released the air from their lungs and watched in horror as the bubble of their breath splattered against the ceiling of ice. They were going to die there, under the ice. They'd never see their dad again. This was the end.
Except it wasn't. A long shadow crawled across the ice above them, and then a fist plunged through the surface. Blanche reached for it with stiff, uncooperative fingers and took hold. They were surprised by the strength of their rescuer as they were pulled from the depths. The icy wind slapped them in the face, and they sucked in the most wonderful lungful of oxygen they'd ever breathed as their hero dragged them out of the water.
Candela guided them across the ice on their bellies, distributing their weight evenly as they crawled to shore. Spark was there to tuck his coat around Blanche's trembling body. He breathed warmth into their hair as he hugged them, arms holding them tightly like he might never let them go.
Though it was hard to hear over the chattering of Blanche's teeth, they heard Candela's voice close to their ear. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. You're my friend, OK? You're our friend."
As the three huddled on the shore, a shadow passed over them. Only Blanche seemed to notice it, and they watched in silence as a great, blue bird landed on a half-fallen tree across the little lake. Articuno's tail undulated in the wind like an airborne river, soft and fluid and shining. It stared at Blanche with calm, intelligent eyes. Like it was saying something to them in another language, something they didn't understand yet. Blanche couldn't bring themself to speak. They bathed in the tranquility of the legendary bird, and they knew Candela had told the truth.
Blanche had nearly forgotten that moment. They'd told themself that they'd been seeing things. That being around Candela had been enough to play with their imagination and make them believe that they'd seen a legendary bird, too. Only now, as an adult in trapped in a prison of ice and water, trapped in memory, could they remember the thoughts they'd thrown away. The memory of Spark talking about Zapdos at the power plant… how could they have forgotten that? But it had happened, and they could remember it now. He'd talked so casually about it, and then stopped talking about it altogether. So had Candela.
And so, Blanche forgot. All their stories had been so impossible, so incredible, that Blanche had thrown them out.
But they'd never quite been able to forget Articuno. They could dismiss the memory as personal fiction, but it still stuck to them. That cry echoed in their dreams.
Blanche couldn't afford to waste more time on recovered memories. They were stuck beneath the ice, against all rationality, and Candela wasn't there to save them this time. They could think of no rational explanation. A vivid hallucination? A psychotic break? Was this what death felt like? Memories and cold and fear?
Then, as quickly as they'd been transported, Blanche returned to the cavern, dry and safe and exactly where they'd been standing. They gasped for air and filled their thirsting lungs. Alive and warm and unharmed… but alone. With their heart in their throat, Blanche scanned the dark, raging waters that stretched away from the falls toward a black corridor. Nothing. No flailing limbs among the rapids, no shouts of terror.
Silence and emptiness.
"No…" The word fell from Blanche's mouth and was swallowed in the noise of the river. This couldn't be happening. Candela and Spark couldn't be gone. Their eyes fell upon a soft—edged shape against a rock at the bottom of the falls. No. No-no-no-no-no-no-no…
Blanche sprang back across the stepping stones and scrambled down the jagged slope to the side of the waterfall, tripping every so often in their frantic effort to get to the shape. They called Venomoth from his pokéball and pointed, breathless, at the thing in the water.
Venomoth zipped over the rapids and hovered above the rock that the shape had been trapped against. The bug pokémon cautiously lowered himself to inspect the thing, batting his wings to dispel the spray. His mandibles twitched as he got close enough to wrap his legs around the object and lift it from the water, and Blanche nearly collapsed from relief.
It was the duffel Candela had been carrying, not the body that Blanche had expected to find. Blanche accepted the bag from Venomoth and unzipped it. The tough material had done a decent job of protecting its contents from the water, but some of the items were still soggy, and Dr. Dillinger's communicator wouldn't turn on.
Venomoth's wing brushed Blanche's cheek.
"Thank you," they said. They knew he was waiting for new instructions, or to be returned to his ball. But Blanche wasn't ready to be alone again. "Is it all right if I keep you out for a while?"
Venomoth fluttered in a circle and settled on a nearby rock, where he began to preen. Blanche wished they could be so composed. For all they knew, Spark and Candela were…
No. No thinking like that. They weren't necessarily dead. The situation was bleak, but they'd all survived so much already. Blanche's friends were tough and clever in their own unique ways. All Blanche had to do was find them.
But how? The water was too rough for even someone of Blanche's aquatic caliber to safely navigate on their own. They'd need to rely on pokémon, but they could see that Gyarados wouldn't fit down the tunnel, which appeared to narrow and darken as it flowed. Venomoth certainly couldn't carry a person like a pidgeot with the move Fly could, but he probably could fly through the tunnel solo and report back. A venomoth's ability to see in the dark would be useful for the task. He could trek downriver and report back.
"Venomoth, I have an assignment for you."
Venomoth tilted his head and rubbed his legs together, but Blanche couldn't tell if it was out of eagerness or cleanliness. He'd always been so prim and tidy, even as a fluffy little venonat.
Blanche pointed down the tunnel. "I need you to follow the river and search for Candela and Spark. When you find them, return to me and lead me to them. There may be a safe path I can't see from here. Do you understand?"
Venomoth dipped his head and rapidly blinked his large compound eyes.
"Good. Please be quick. I'm afraid we don't have much time."
Venomoth flapped his lacy wings and made for the tunnel. A pang of guilt compelled Blanche to extend their hand and call out to him again. "Venomoth!"
He circled back, head twitching side-to-side inquisitively.
"Be careful. Stay safe," Blanche said.
Venomoth flapped forward and gently touched his forehead to Blanche's, a simple gesture of assurance. Then, he bobbed off down the tunnel and faded into the darkness, leaving Blanche alone to wait. They hid themself behind a stone ridge, in case the pale strangers returned. There was nothing to do now but watch for Venomoth and wonder. What had happened to Candela to cause her to behave like she had? Were she and Spark still alive? What had happened to Blanche at the top of the falls? Were they going mad? The thoughts threatened to drown them.
Keep it together. Maintain composure. All was not lost. Blanche couldn't panic now. With unsteady hands, they rummaged in the bag for food that hadn't been spoiled by the river. They'd eat and rest and keep up their strength. It was all they could do.