Chapter sixteen has now hit the shelves! It's a somewhat shorter chapter than they have been lately, but what can I say? It's just what the plot demanded. The next chapter might be a bit of a longer wait, mainly because I intend to make it significantly longer than this one. (A potentially breathtaking twist is coming.)

I would like to thank everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, and followed this tale. Thank you to After-t13 for doing the latter. And with that, here's the chapter.

Current music: Reactor - Billy Talent

LUCAS' POV

What felt like seconds later, I awoke with very little pain at all. Everything was somewhat hazy, as though I were being pumped full of pain medication. Yes, that seemed logical.

It hurt to open my eyes, though, thanks to the sheer amount of effort required. Perhaps I truly was in a hospital - that would make sense after a car crash into a ditch.

But wait…where were the hospital sounds? If I couldn't see anything, I would at least be able to hear things like heart monitors and IV machines beeping, right? And it would probably be a lot cooler than the heat I found myself in.

"I'm awake" I groaned. Opening my mouth wasn't much easier than opening my eyes, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone else heard me.

In response, there was only more groaning, except not from me this time. I was finally able to see, and I found that I was looking straight down at a hard white surface.

No wonder it was so hard to see - there was nothing to see here! But why?

The surface rocked up and down every few seconds, making my stomach churn at the bigger drops. It didn't take long until I felt nauseous.

"Ugh…my aching head" a female voice moaned. "What happened to us?"

I grimaced as I felt what must have been a pickax being taken to the inside of my skull. The agony was so great that I leaned over and vomited.

Once I'd emptied my stomach, and saw that a nearby Litleo was also retching, I noticed that I was on my hands and knees. Perhaps that shouldn't have been surprising, but why had I woken up this way?

"I was in a car accident…" I choked out. "Drove into a ditch…woke up here…I still feel like shit."

The Litleo turned to me with a gasp. "That's exactly what happened to me!"

"Janelle Wilson, right?" I asked, feeling some energy return to my body. Now that I had another lead as to what was going on, the adrenaline was returning.

The Litleo nodded. "And it seems you're a Litleo now too, Lucas."

I didn't want to believe it at first. Yes, the drive had been stressful, but hanging out on Earth with Janelle had been pleasant. If I were no longer human, that could probably only mean one thing.

"We're back in the Pokemon world!" I shouted hoarsely.

Janelle looked like she would slap me upside the mouth. "Would you please shut your big mouth? We don't know who else can hear us, or even where we are in the Pokemon world!"

After that I was much quieter as I pushed myself into a slightly taller position. And that's when I saw the choppy waves of the ocean.

"I think I know," I said. "We're in the Fulan Sea again."

"Why are you so confident, Lucas? We could be anywhere."

Looking out at the horizon, I saw a stretch of forest that looked oddly familiar. But then I remembered that between us, only I had been there, not Janelle.

I shook my head. "I don't think so. Look at the land in the distance. You don't know this, but that's Chilly Waters, where my adventure in the Pokemon world began."

Janelle frowned. "I know now."

"Don't be like that, Janelle. Let me figure out a way to get to shore without swimming. Because it's way too far to swim."

That was an understatement. In my current condition, I doubted I could even have jumped out of the boat, let alone propelled myself through the open water to safety. That's how depleted I felt.

"Okay then" the other Litleo replied. "So how do you propose we do that? The wind's not exactly favorable."

"Well, this seems to be a small motorized dinghy, not unlike the one we took last month to get away from the Wind Festival. I figured out how to pilot that one - if I can do the same for this one, we'll be golden."

"Sounds like a plan" Janelle said, though she didn't seem thrilled about it.

"Indeed, it's all we can do. Let me just sit on the bench and turn the engine on."

Getting into a seated position on the plank was easier said than done. And it wasn't without risk - if I fell out here, I was likely to drown. But I managed to do it eventually.

I wrapped the coil around my wrist and pressed the button. The engine sputtered for a few seconds, then ceased. But it didn't propel the boat forward; if anything, the dinghy had lost some steam.

"Fuck!" I exclaimed.

"Don't swear, Lucas," Janelle instructed me. "You can figure it out - I have total faith in you."

But that made it worse, not better. The pressure was ratcheted up to an even higher level. If I screwed up now…no, I didn't even want to consider it.

Well, I tried again, and I received the same result. The engine just didn't want to cooperate with my commands.

"Just do it, Lucas. Nothing is impossible."

"Well, this might be" I shot back. "How about we each grab an oar and row there?"

"But that's a long way," Janelle protested. "Wouldn't it be worth it to try the engine one more time?"

"Do you have any better ideas?"

She sighed, evidently having relented, and worked her way onto the plank beside me. She grabbed one of the oars attached to the dinghy and began paddling on her side; I did the same on mine.

At first, we didn't make much progress. I had a few skills, but using a rowboat wasn't one of them. I'd simply never had the practice, despite having grown up near any number of rivers and lakes.

That said, I'd need to learn fast; that much was for sure.

For a few minutes, it seemed like we were simply going in circles. I grew dizzier and dizzier, to the point where I feared I would puke my guts out if this went on much longer. The bobbing up and down didn't help either.

Fortunately, we were eventually able to right the ship, and then everything was peachy keen. At least, that's what I would have liked to say.

"Paddle inward, Lucas! I've got the outward paddling down!"

"I'm doing that, dammit! Work on your own strokes, Janelle!"

That's just a small sample of the instructions we hurled at each other over the next hour as we paddled the dinghy closer to shore. It was an incredibly gradual process, yes, but as long as we made it back alive, I'd end up with nothing to complain about.

"That beach…isn't it covered in rocks?" Janelle asked after a while.

I gave her the "judgy side-eye" look. "Ya think? Your eyes aren't lying to you, are they?"

Janelle frowned. "Uh, no."

"Exactly. Trust your own eyes, Janelle. We're going to have to walk ashore on jagged rocks, and it's going to hurt like hell. But it's worth it - once we reach the village, the townspeople are the nicest you'll ever meet. Except for Arkoon, that is."

As the rocky beach seemed to fade into the realm of possibility, and no longer appear like a mirage, the currents grew somewhat calmer. The wind died down, and it felt excellent to be in the shade of the pine trees rising from the soil on the ground.

The trees themselves were not nearly as vibrant as they'd been the last time I had arrived in this world. Moss hung from the branches, giving each of them a rather "ghostly" aura. (I use the word aura figuratively here, given that I wasn't the type of Pokemon that could sense literal aura.)

"This is Chilly Waters?" Janelle spoke up as the dinghy ran aground and promptly began to deflate.

I shrugged. "What were you expecting? It's a Pokemon-only village, Janelle, it's not going to be New York City."

"Hey, I heard that, you know" announced a gruff voice coming from some distance to the right.

I turned in its direction to find that Chief Leopold stood on the beach not far from us. A trace amount of blood lay on the stones where his feet had presumably been cut, and there was even some blood on his face. He reminded me somewhat of pictures of Jesus on the cross.

Not only was he clearly suffering physically, but his expression was one of emotional anguish. Leopold was hunched over like there was a weight on his back.

"I'm sorry, Chief," I told the Village Elder. "I…didn't think you'd be there to hear."

Leopold snorted. "That's why you should always speak as though there are others around you. You never know when people are watching."

When I didn't say anything, Janelle spoke up. "I'd like to apologize on Lucas' behalf, sir. I didn't think - ".

"There's no need to apologize, Janelle, nor do you have to call me sir. Let's just get this deflating vessel above the high-tide line, and then we can chat. I'm sure we'll have much to talk about."

The last time I'd walked on this beach, I'd felt rather out of it. I hadn't noticed just how uncomfortable it was to move across the stones with no foot protection (and fur doesn't count as foot protection.)

But now? I was gasping with every step. We headed into the forest, at which point my feet mercifully no longer risked getting skewered every few seconds. And Leopold spoke to us.

"Lucas, Janelle, it's been six weeks since you two vanished. A lot has happened since then, most of it bad."

My heart sank to the bottom of the ocean. If I kept worrying about two worlds, I'd go insane before long. But to know that I'd abandoned the Pokemon world for a whole month and a half - let's just say that it didn't sit well in my stomach.

"What's wrong?" I blurted out.

Leopold laughed without humor. "I would say everything, but it's not that simple. With Zeraora gone, things change gradually enough that it's easy to convince yourself that everything is fine if you don't know better. But the three of us do know better, and that's the problem. If they'd stand up to Seablast, we'd be in a much better position."

When neither of us spoke, Leopold continued. "Look at the trees, for instance. It's barely rained once since you've been gone, and it's showing."

I looked up at the canopy and indeed saw that it seemed a lot sparser than it used to be.

"So what happens now?" I asked. "Drought, isn't it?"

Leopold nodded. "Drought comes with its own complications. It makes it harder to grow crops, though the land in this village is far from fertile to begin with. No, the main risk we run here is fire."

"Fire…so close to the sea?"

"Yep. Flame put 'mon where we are now, and it can put us back down too. We're very vulnerable to a forest fire; some would say we're overdue for it. And it's going to hurt."

I shivered at the thought of all the trees around me being turned to mere husks. Of course, there were plenty of other horrors that came with a wildfire, which I hoped never to experience.

"That really sounds terrible, Leopold," Janelle said. "Do they know how long it will be until it happens?"

"We don't know" the Village Elder replied. "And that's perhaps the scariest part. It might happen today, it might happen tomorrow, it might not happen at all if we get more rain. But the downpour we need hasn't been forthcoming."

We stood there morosely for a few minutes, just staring at each other, as I massaged my paws against the dirt. It was no small relief to be in the middle of the forest rather than on those sharp rocks.

"There's more," Leopold continued.

My jaw dropped like a bowling pin that fell victim to a strike. "Yes?"

"We should probably take you two into a quieter part of the woods for this" the Village elder responded. "We don't need to alarm the other villagers more than necessary."

Personally, I'm not sure what he'd say that would be more alarming than the potential for a forest fire, but okay.

Leopold led us deeper into the forest for a considerable distance, to a section of woods in which I'd never ventured. There were no buildings here, and the trees had been allowed to grow however they wanted. It was almost perfectly wild, thick with pine and spruce, and yet each tree appeared bone dry. They felt parched too, because we had to brush up against each one due to the lack of space.

When we reached what passed for another clearing, the elderly Pyroar turned in our direction. And he sighed, clearly bracing himself to deliver some bad news.

"Our intelligence has determined some key information regarding Zeraora."

"That's hardly bad news, is it?" I asked.

"You guys have intelligence? Like the FBI or CIA, but just for Chilly Waters?" That was Janelle's voice, not mine.

Leopold nodded. "To Janelle, yes, we do have an intelligence agency. They've given us some knowledge that we wouldn't have otherwise, very valuable indeed. Especially right now; we could really use knowledge."

Turning to me, the Village Elder frowned. He wasn't exactly young to begin with, but he now appeared downright ancient. The burden of the last six weeks must really be weighing on him.

"The bad news is where Zeraora is being held. The Seablast Corporation - one of the largest mining companies in the world - they've pulled out all the stops, it seems."

I thought back to my not-too-recent dream. I'd seen the churning dark gray sea, the Mythical Pokemon chained up at the summit of a rocky island. The location looked ominous enough, but it was probably far worse than that based on how Leopold spoke about it.

"What do you mean?" I asked, afraid I already knew the answer.

"Well", the Village Elder responded heavily, "the Seablast Corporation, as you can imagine, has a lot of money. And with money comes power, because like it or not, we live in that sort of world. They've been able to buy up a series of islands in the northern sea, an archipelago hundreds of miles east of Sinnoh's mainland."

"Sinnoh", I mouthed.

Leopold nodded. "Yes, Sinnoh. The northernmost continent on the planet Nexus. Contains several major cities, but they're pretty far spread out from one another."

"That must be a long way away," Janelle said, her mouth agape.

"Indeed, it's quite the distance," the Village Elder replied. "And you can see the genius of it - without, or even with a giant, advanced vessel, only the most experienced mariners can hope to navigate Sinnoh's Eastern Archipelago with their lives intact."

"Seems like an obvious place to keep Zeraora chained up." That was, once more, Janelle speaking.

"Yes, and that's another reason the plan is genius. It's three-dimensional chess to hide a Mythical Pokemon in the last place anyone would look. But it's four-dimensional chess to hide them in the first place people would look. That way, everyone will think it's too obvious, so there's no way Zeraora could be there, and they won't search that region."

"Wow" I mouthed.

"Yes. We've got sources around the world - quite unusual for a small village such as this one - and they've told us that Zeraora is most likely being held atop Thunderhead Mountain in the archipelago. It's a jagged, oddly-shaped peak in the center of the island chain, nearly nine hundred miles southeast of Snowpoint City."

I shivered at the thought of being so far north, so distant from anything familiar. Zeraora must really be going through the mill at this very moment.

"So what do we do?" Janelle asked. And I had to applaud her - the best thing to do when faced with such a problem is to enquire about how to solve it.

"It's quite simple," Leopold replied. "A quest will need to be undertaken in order to save Zeraora from its prison."

Now, to me, the word quest had a specific connotation. It implied something mystical, something thrilling, something that would fill the adventurers with wonder.

But one look into Leopold's eyes was enough to tell me that this quest would involve a great deal of pain. Perhaps there would be nothing but pain involved, and to what end?

Saving the world, of course. It's that simple.

"I do not use this language lightly", Leopold continued, as though reading my mind, "but nothing less than the fate of the world is at stake, or at least all Pokemon. A mass extinction event is quite possible in the future if we do not succeed."

"That's a lot to put on our shoulders" I responded.

The Village Elder narrowed his eyes. "I didn't say you two would be the ones doing it. In fact, it's probably best if people originally from Nexus were the people doing the honors."

"Screw that", Janelle snapped. "How can you tell us that, and then say we shouldn't be the ones to do it? That just doesn't make any sense!"

"She has a point, you know!" I all but yelled at Leopold. "If you're going to threaten dire, drastic consequences for the whole world, and then tell us we can't help save it, we're not exactly going to take kindly to that!"

The old Pyroar sighed. To this day I'm not sure, but I think I heard his bones creak.

"Well, there's a lot more to it than that," Leopold replied. "There are logistical issues involved, such as how we're going to fit everything we need on our vessel. Will we refuel at any points? And if so, how are we going to keep the mission secret from those on shore?"

"Why would it need to be a secret?" Janelle asked.

"We don't want to create unnecessary panic. The average person might not have much control over what happens to Zeraora, so there's no need to worry them about what they can't control."

I shook my head. "I think we should tell them if we get the chance. With how crazy it seems the weather has gotten, someone is bound to connect the dots."

Leopold appeared to be weighing his response, but he didn't get his chance to answer. This was because pounding footsteps could be heard fast approaching us.

Oh no, is that Arkoon?, I wondered, my heart pounding furiously. Even if he wasn't officially sanctioned to kill me, there was little to stop him from mauling me and claiming to have used more force than he meant to. (That asshole probably blamed me for the numerous disasters, too.)

"Hey, Leopold, are you going to declare a state of - what the?"

I gulped, while at the same time breathing a sigh of relief, that the voice was gentle enough to belong to Sionne rather than someone who meant me harm. In fact, that's exactly who it was.

"Now, Sionne, please calm down" Leopold instructed the much younger Pyroar. "There's no need to be so dramatic about their return. It's not a big deal."

"But it is a big deal, Chief!" Sionne shrieked. "They were gone for a month and a half, and now they're here again!"

"Well, people come and go all the time. Everyone needs a break every once in a while." Leopold wasn't fooling anybody.

"Listen here, Leopold: The next time I warn them about danger, you had better not accuse me of crying wolf! Because I'm not!"

"I never said you were crying wolf" the Village Elder shot back. "I said you were being unnecessarily paranoid. There's a difference."

"But I was right!" Sionne exclaimed. "I was right and you were wrong, Chief, and you know it!"

This was a very different Sionne from the Pyroar who had taken me in that first night (which, in the grand scheme of things, wasn't that long ago.) If the situation weren't so dire, I would have wanted a bucket of popcorn, to watch the argument like it was a movie.

But this wasn't a movie. It was real life.

"Sionne, maybe now isn't the time for such an outburst" Janelle told the female Pyroar. "Don't you think you should calm down?"

Sionne glared at Janelle. "On the contrary, I feel like screaming at you both for not taking my advice. Why didn't you listen to me, huh? Because you needed a special couple's night out?"

"It wasn't that at all," I insisted, my face turning hot. "Please believe me, Sionne."

"It just hurts to know that you two don't even value your own lives enough. Casualties from that disaster were heavy, and you and Janelle could easily have been among them!"

"Really, Sionne, that's enough" Leopold interjected. "Now, when Lucas and Janelle have mercifully returned to our home, we should celebrate, if only briefly. It's not the time to relitigate all of their mistakes."

Sionne still looked like she wanted to protest, but she knew she was now outnumbered three to one. Instead, she simply crossed her forelegs the way a human crosses their arms.

"Fine," she said gruffly.

"That's more like it", Leopold responded, "though you could be kinder, considering that they just got back. You must be very relieved, right?"

"I mean, I suppose I am," Sionne told him. "It's just…it's been a long day."

"It's early afternoon."

"I don't care. I just want to be alone for a bit, okay?"

And with that, Sionne turned tail and stormed off into the distance. Within seconds, she was no longer visible amidst the thick clumps of spruce trees, just hidden somewhere in the forest.

Now that the three of us were alone, I spoke up.

"What's going on with Sionne? She was so friendly when I first met her."

The Village Elder let loose a great sigh. "Sionne has her own demons to deal with, I suspect. I'm not the type to say that it's none of your business…but it's none of your business. Leave her alone; it's been a rough month for her."

"I can tell" Janelle snorted, though not in an amused manner.

I wasn't going to confront her about it, but I couldn't help but wonder if Sionne was privy to information that the two of us lacked. It would sure explain a lot.

SIONNE'S POV

I ran off into the woods. I do not know how far I traveled before I crumpled to the ground.

It wasn't out of physical exhaustion; given the level of stamina most Pokemon have, I could have kept on jogging for who knows how long. The tyranny of distance wouldn't stop me.

No, it was emotional exhaustion that plagued me that afternoon. As I looked up at the forest canopy, I kept replaying the events of that fateful evening in my mind. I think you all know which evening I'm talking about.

Why me, Arceus? Why me?

Of course, the Creator wasn't going to answer my prayers. I'd grown accustomed to that truth long ago, although that by no means meant that I had to like it. I wasn't going to cry over it, but none of this seemed fair at all.

That's because it wasn't fair. Sometimes there's so much misfortune in your life that it breaks you, and those who say "everything happens for a reason" are kidding themselves.

As I stared at the nearest tree, looking over how dry the bark was, I felt tears form in my eyes. I'd lost so much already - losing Chilly Waters too would be too much for me to bear.

There's still hope for rain. We can't consider it lost yet.

"Sionne?"

That voice didn't belong to Leopold. It was someone else entirely - a female possessing a far higher-pitched voice than mine.

"Janelle?" I snapped.

"I just wanted to check in on you. It's not okay to leave you alone like that."

I rolled my eyes. "I'm eighteen, Janelle. I don't need a babysitter. Did Leopold tell you to come here?"

The Litleo shook her head. "He didn't. In fact, he implored me not to."

"Then why did you do it, huh? If you were going against both of our wishes, why bother?"

"Because I couldn't not make sure you were all right" Janelle replied. "I know we argued a lot back there, but I hate not having closure."

How could I explain to Janelle that for the last six weeks, I hadn't been able to get an iota of closure out of the situation? To assume that her and Lucas' lives had just ended through a horrible crime was horrific, yes, but it was also unsatisfying.

"I can't give you that closure, Janelle," I told her. "Until your final breath, you'll have to live with the knowledge that you put our friendship in limbo."

The Litleo flinched at those words, and honestly, I was probably a bit too harsh. I may regret the precise words I used, but I don't regret the message I sent with them.

"I didn't mean it that way" I said, trying to do damage control. "I just-".

"You weren't ambiguous at all, Sionne," Janelle shot back. "You're blaming me for suspending our friendship. I can't just let that go."

I twirled my ponytail-styled mane over to the other side of my body. Then, I narrowed my eyes further.

"Janelle, do you know how horrified I was when you and Lucas went to the Wind Festival? Do you have any idea how I must have felt when I learned of the fire there, and how you'd gone missing?"

"Did you feel responsible?"

"Hell yes I felt responsible! I thought I was doing everything I could to save your lives, but it wasn't enough!"

Those words clearly had an effect on Janelle. She stepped backward, giving me an odd side-eyed look. And then she said the following:

"You're not trying to guilt-trip me, are you?"

I sighed. "Look, Janelle. I know things you don't know."

In response, the Litleo simply rolled her eyes. "Nobody can know everything, Sionne. Of course you know things I don't, just like I know things you don't."

"That doesn't matter. At all" I said. "My point is that if you had information I did, you'd feel a lot guiltier."

"Okay, so you are trying to make me feel bad. It's not my fault Zeraora was imprisoned, Sionne, as much as you want it to be."

I hated to play this next card, but I felt as if I had no other option. If Janelle only knew the truth…

"Look, Janelle. I know what they are doing to Zeraora. And it's horrific."

Janelle looked as though she'd just been slapped by someone she cared about. She curled her mouth into a bewildered expression and visibly grimaced. And as she stared at me right between the eyes, I saw a Litleo who was stunned that I'd say something like that.

"How can you know that?" she bellowed. "Are you fraternizing with the enemy or something like that?"

I wanted to say "absolutely not", because that would be the only way to get Janelle off my case. I also wanted that to be the truth. Just picturing Zeraora's plight atop Thunderhead Mountain was enough to make my rage explode; it did not matter if I cared about some of the people involved.

But I couldn't say that, because it wasn't true.

"Look, Janelle. Is that truly important?"

She pushed her lower lip out at me. "Are you just dodging the question, Sionne? How could you have inside information about the plot to kidnap Zeraora?"

I sighed. I didn't want to tell Janelle the truth, simply because I was scared of what she might think. But I felt that if we both faced disaster in the near future, I at least owed her honesty.

With all the gravity of the largest planet in the solar system, I looked directly at Janelle and said, "Because it's close to my heart."