Chapter XXII

Entry #59

I suppose I should begin my list of ideas and advice for theft. It turns out, it is actually easier than I had initially thought.

The first step? Become close to the Diplomat.

Know their pattern. Know their secrets.

And, of course, make them trust you.

Oh, Arceus.

What did Steven Stone do to Roxanne?

And how the hell was August supposed to get the map from Roxanne now?

August sat in the Rustboro courts, her head swimming. She couldn't read past the journal entries about Roxanne—something about breathing in those words, hearing it all in Steven's voice as he gently wrote about how he had stolen the map… it made something in her gut curl.

What he did was wrong. What she needed to do was wrong.

Not only was it wrong, but it was twice as difficult now that Roxanne had her guard raised.

The Rustboro courts were nothing like royal palaces in Sinnoh. For one, it was still within the Rusboro Cavern – it was just huddled at the very end of the cave. There was so little light from the torches hooked onto the stone walls that there seemed to be a blue haze across the cave. There was no wind – just a dampness, a staleness to the air as women and men across the courts placed wet towels across their foreheads to keep themselves cool.

Unlike the rest of the cavern, there were beds here. Rather than people sleeping in little huddles, Roxanne had short beds beside a flickering fire. There were even thick blankets sprawled across them.

But that was it.

The ladies were not dressed in fine dresses. They dressed like Roxanne in their cotton blouses and skirts. They still ate on long, flat stones, rather than plates. They still showered in streams outside the caverns, and washed their clothes in salty seas rather than soap. Compared to the royal palaces in Sinnoh, the important people here—the people in power—lived even worse than those in poverty. They had to hunt for their food, had to clean their own belongings, and had to sleep in a cave swarming with heat and sweat.

August could see why it was considered grander than the rest of the cavern, though. She could see why their Diplomat slept here.

Even through the thin layer of light from the torches, she could see the jewels. The streaks of amber against the stone. The pools of shimmering crystals across the ground. The rubies, sapphires and emeralds along the cavern ceiling, gleaming like a set of stars.

August did not know, anymore, if it was morning or night. All she knew was that she was surrounded by loot that her father would have torn of the walls, and that Diplomat Roxanne was staring at her as she gazed around the cavern.

They had offered her a bed to sleep on—the furthest one away from Roxanne. They had given her salty tea and burnt berries that had been cooked above a fire for her. They had even offered her scraps of coconut flesh, and had taken her Pokémon to another chamber to rest.

But no one had spoken to her. They all just watched her with calculating, suspicious eyes.

And August was pretty sure that was all Steven Stone's fault.

"So," Roxanne finally said. "What brings you here, August? To Hoenn?"

August squinted her eyes to catch a glimpse of Roxanne. She was in the same blouse and skirt from yesterday—unwashed and wrinkled. Still, she carried an air of royalty to her, an invisible perfume of grace in her every step.

"I came to visit my uncle," August said. "He lives in Petalburg."

It technically was not a lie.

Still, August couldn't help but raise the blanket ever so slightly and press herself further into the bed.

Roxanne stood over her, watching.

"Did you meet him?"

"Well, yes—"

August cut herself off.

Norman had told her not to tell anyone they were related. Otherwise, they would start to make guesses—they would work out her plan.

"Uncle… Uncle Velibor. Yes. I met him. I left a bit earlier than intended, though."

Uncle Velibor?

August nearly hit herself on the head.

What kind of name was that?

Roxanne nodded thoughtfully. "I do not blame you for leaving early. Norman must have been horrendous. What a vile, despicable man."

August tried not to flinch. "You know Norman?"

"I know of him. I know he is one of the reasons I am trapped here forever."

"It must be… difficult."

Roxanne abruptly glanced at her. "You speak very prim and proper, August."

"Thank you, Diplomat Roxanne."

"It was not really a compliment."

"Oh." August gave a weak smile. "In that case, apologies, Diplomat Roxanne."

There was a weight pressed onto the bed as Roxanne sat beside August and said, "Tell me about Steven Stone. What do you know of him?"

"He is the Prince of Sinnoh."

"Yes."

August's mind scrambled desperately.

What could she say about Steven Stone?

He was my best friend?

I loved him, too?

I loved him, and he abandoned me?

Even though I'm the reason he started this stupid quest in the first place?

"And… he is…the… son of the queen?" was all she managed.

Roxanne's brow arched. "You don't say?"

Not for the first time in Rustboro, August considered hurling herself into the ocean.

"Apologies, Diplomat Roxanne," she said carefully. "As I said before, I am very homesick and—"

Roxanne cut her off with a laugh. Not a real laugh—a bitter one.

"I don't understand that word," she said. "Homesick. How can anyone be sick of being away from the one place they are trapped in for all their life?"

August stared at her. Too baffled to speak.

Finally, Roxanne sighed.

"Frankly, August, I do not trust you."

August frowned. "Have I done something?"

"I am cursed, August," Roxanne said quietly. "I am cursed to live here forever. I am cursed ot never see and learn new things about the world. Steven Stone had told me that perhaps good things would come to me instead of me needing to seek them out. But it was a lie. It was all a façade so he could take my map."

"I am sorry he did that to you."

"Me too."

August tried another weak, pathetic smile as she pointed at the map wrapped across Roxanne's wrist. "At least you got the map back."

"No." Roxanne shrugged. "It recreates itself once it leaves Rustboro. This must be my third copy, since it has been stolen from me twice before."

"Is that not dangerous? Loose copies of the map flying across Hoenn?"

"It absolutely is dangerous."

"Then why would the Pokémon that made the curse…Why would they let it create multiple copies?"

Roxanne shrugged yet again. "Perhaps they want the Sea Temple to be found. By the right person."

August felt herself sit up straighter at that.

Once, she thought that person was her. She was the one who had the vision. She was the one who had it in her blood.

But it felt so far away. So impossible.

"You must get very bored here," August said softly.

"Eat from rocks, sleep on rocks, teach about rocks. What is boring about doing that every day for the rest of my life?"

"Could you read books?"

Roxanne shook her head. "We never collected books. My father collected trinkets and crystals. The only writing we have are the scribes on the walls in ancient writing that I do not understand."

"Perhaps I can help."

"What?"

This time, it was August's turn to shrug. "I was once a scholar."

"Steven Stone told me he was also a scholar."

August nodded grimly. "Yes. He was a scholar. He was…"

The only one who was ever better than her. The one who stole her spot as the crown of the class.

"Yes…?" Roxanne prodded.

Finally, August couldn't contain it. She scowled.

"The bastard stole my spot as the crown of the class."

"Pardon?"

"His parents sent him to Pastoria," August continued, her face hot, her tongue sharp. "Why? Arceus knows. But one day, he shows up, and he answers questions faster than me, and all my friends think he is the handsomest lad in the world, and all the philosophers think he has brilliant ideas tumbling out of his… his… his arse! And it gets worse because—"

Roxanne stared at her, flabbergasted. August didn't dare stop.

"They all forgot about me! I was some nobody! I was the best pirate, and I lost that, then I was the best scholar, and I lost that! And, for that, Steven Stone is a pompous, stupid, arrogant—"

She finally cut herself off there.

Because she knew how she would end it.

A pompous, stupid, arrogant man who was the only one who ever truly saw me.

But Roxanne had finally cracked a smile.

"Come with me, August," she said. "Let me show you the walls."

August stared in awe at the walls.

Though they were part of the same cavern, there was something different to the stones before her. They seemed to shimmer with each breath she took, grey and brown washing into each other as she stopped closer to it. There were engravings in it—words in ancient writing, folding into the stone, shining like starlight.

"This is amazing," August breathed out. "All these stories…"

Roxanne stood back, frowning. On their way to the walls, they had found all of August's Pokémon companions, and the Diplomat seemed convinced that they would somehow tear the words from the walls. Her glare did not once leave August's Poochyena, Mudkip and Wingull. She paid no notice to the Shroomish and Cascoon snoozing on the ground, nor did she bat an eye at the Zigzagoon.

"This story is about a Pokémon from a place that is not in this world," August read out, her hand brushing against the stone. The engravings quivered in response—glowing like gems as she smoothed her fingers over each one. "Deoxys, I think it says."

Roxanne snorted. "If not from this world, then where is it from?"

"The stars, it says."

"The stars—lass, are you sure you can read these?"

August ignored the doubt in her voice. Instead, she traced over to the next set of engravings. They were all written in a language she had learnt about in Solaceon Ruins—the language of Unown. Translating it was easy enough. "This one is about a sea Pokémon. And another one, too—a land Pokémon. It is said they fought over which part of nature is more powerful. It also says the sea Pokémon can summon storms."

"I believe that one," Roxanne said. "That Pokémon could be responsible for the floods after the Hoenn War. It wiped half of Hoenn underwater."

"Do you think that is the Pokémon that placed the curse on your blood?"

"Possibly. I cannot be sure."

August moved over to the next set of engravings. "This story…"

She froze.

It was a story about Arceus.

And yet, it told the story of the eighteen plates—the eighteen plates that had been torn from the Distortion World, and had been cut up into eighteen different slabs of coloured marble.

But that had only happened when August was born—seventeen years ago.

"When were these written, Roxanne?

"Centuries ago."

August frowned. "That cannot be. The plates this story is talking about… they only came to existence years ago, after Queen Cynthia lost her throne."

Roxanne's brows flew up. "What are you talking about?"

"The plates… The Splash Plate… Look!" August darted across the cavern, scooping Mudkip in her hand. "My Mudkip swallowed the Splash Plate that is written about on these walls. The Splash Plate only came to existence two decades ago, though."

Finally, Roxanne nodded. "Do you think the engravings were done by someone from the future?"

"Is that even possible?"

"I wouldn't think so, but…" Roxanne shook her head. "Can you read more about it?"

August kept Mudkip in her hand and moved back over to the engravings.

"The plates are connected to Arceus," August explained. "The same way the maps are connected to the gods of the sea and land."

That made Roxanne gasp out. "How is that possible? The map only came to be a few years ago—how could these engravings, that have been here for centuries, be about them?"

"It says that the map and the plates are connected and work together. In the presence of a map, it says that a Pokémon carrying the plate could communicate their thoughts!"

"Is it true?"

"Well…"

They both looked at the Mudkip in August's hands, the blue plate sticking its pointy edge out from inside Magnus' belly. Then, they glanced at the map wrapped along Roxanne's wrist.

"Say something, Magnus," August said.

"…"

"Anything at all."

"…"

"Please?"

Magnus opened his mouth. August felt her heart skip.

"Muuuud."

August gave a defeated sigh. "I guess not, then."

Roxanne said nothing. But August did catch that the Diplomat was avoiding her gaze.

"Still, this is so exciting, Roxanne," August pushed on. "Look at all these stories. All these legends. The Torch Bearer, The Iron Knight, The Sea Keeper…"

Roxanne raised her hand sharply. "Quiet. Look. They're writing themselves now."

August followed the Diplomat's gaze. Sure enough, towards the bottom of the stone wall, the words were shifting—words dancing alongside each other, waltzing into new letters, skipping across the jewelled walls.

"This cavern is magic, Roxanne," August breathed out. "You live in a magical cavern!"

Roxanne didn't smile back. Her mouth was a firm line before she said, "You believe in that? Magic? Miracles?"

"I don't know. But—"

"I would like to leave. Now."

"I apologise if I have upset you, Roxanne—"

"I have duties to complete."

And that was that.

Still, as Roxanne guided her away from the walls, August couldn't help but catch a glance at the worry—the shaking fear—in the Diplomat's eyes. Like her whole world was changing around her.

August recognised it all too well.

Because, once upon a time, she believed in miracles. And when she stopped, her whole world had turned over.

As Roxanne taught the children of Rustboro, August sat by the border of Vendaturf. The boulders Steven had dropped was still there, blocking her from moving any further. On her side of the wall, a man wailed about losing his lover, about his sweetheart in Vendaturf who he could no longer see.

August ignored him. Instead, she sat in a circle with her Pokémon.

And they began to play their first heist.

"I think it is quite simple," August said. "I am entrusting Solace with the job."

All her Pokémon glanced at her incredulously. Even Solace the Silcoon blinked his giant eye in a way that screamed, Really?

"Solace does not move," August pointed out. "No one will think anything of him. I say we plant Solace near Roxanne when she is sleeping. Then, Solace uses that string to drag the map away from her arm."

Sure enough, on cue, Solace spat out a string of sticky webbing – enough to latch and cling onto any flimsy piece of paper. August watched as Sword the Wingull shrieked while Solace wrapped the webbing around him, dragging the bird to the ground.

It was perfect.

"Solace will give the map to Sword, who will fly out and wait for us with the map in his beak," she explained. "Roxanne will not blame a Pokémon that cannot walk. She will go hunting and search all the people first. Then, the rest of us quickly make our leave."

It was pretty much foolproof.

Except for one little thing.

"Hold on, Solace, why are you glowing—"

And just like that, Solace the Silcoon became Solace the Beautifly.

All of the Pokémon stared at the Beautifly, taking in the large blue eyes and golden tinted wings.

August leaned back against the cavern floor.

"We are going to need a new plan."

Entry #60

Once they trust you, it becomes easier to nab the map.

It just becomes more difficult to face the guilt.