PART FOUR
Paradox
Floragato and Klawf, a strange combination but Giacomo's seen weirder.
Girl's blasting through his crew like nothing, no one's got an advantage over her, that Floragato is too fast and that Klawf is too sturdy. But it's the Floragato that shines against Giacomo's Pokemon, turning into a dark Tera type to counter his Pawniard and Revavroom, too fast to get hit by Pawniard, and too much flinging rocks at Revavroom that it kept the poor modified Pokemon from attacking.
Giacomo lost, fair and square. He's upset but deep down he's very impressed by the cheerful girl before him.
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Mela calls a day later.
Weird girl with a Floragato and a Bombirdier, the cat turns into a fire Tera type and demolishes her fire types like it was nothing. "Speedy little cat," Mela mutters multiple times during the call but even Giacomo can tell she seems a bit amused by the whole thing.
"A fire Tera type?" Giacomo asks, suddenly confused.
"Yeah."
"Weird…could have sworn the cat was a dark Tera type."
"Huh. Maybe she's got another Floragato."
"A whole bunch of cats! Ha! Wouldn't be surprised!" Giacomo laughed.
He remembers that horror story about a former student from Naranja that had too many Magikarp on his team, until they weren't Magikarps anymore, couldn't control them and they ate him one day. It wasn't a very scary story.
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One of the grunts told Giacomo about the airship they saw near the area around Asada; airships weren't common in Paldea but they weren't all that, except that airship was being guarded by a bunch of Magnetons…and a Beheeyem.
Giacomo wasn't too worried about the Magneton but he couldn't say the same about the Beheeyem. It wasn't the Pokemon itself that was bad, no, wild ones were dangerous, yeah, but those owned by criminals were worse. He's heard about poachers using the Pokemon to alter memories to steal rare Pokemon…fortunately, the memory loss never lasted long but the Pokemon would be long gone by the time anyone remembered they existed.
He's sending some messages to the other bosses; sure he's not a boss anymore but they haven't kicked him out yet…and a message to their old boss, a part of him, wondering if they'll answer at all but figuring he doesn't lose anything by giving them a head's up.
Penny was surprised when she got Giacomo's message.
It's to the point, like always, "Weird airship…magnetons and a beheeyem hanging around it…asked the others to check it out. suspicious."
The girl has been so busy keeping an eye on that goofball Juliana. Should have figured she wouldn't be using that phone Penny gave her at all but at least she knows where that crazy girl is at all times, and the girl does answer when Penny calls, odd questions and all included.
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Penny read Giacomo's message again.
Airships aren't suspicious, true, but one surrounded by Magneton and a Beheeyem is cause for concern. Sure, Beheeyem are not bad Pokemon but you could never tell, wild or not, they were dangerous, especially if used by criminals.
That accident from six months ago involved a girl's mind being manipulated, if what Penny found was true. And now, there's a Beheeyem going around, flying over Paldea, a girl missing, dead, and Giacomo's message on her phone.
Penny types a message, gets a response seconds later, "hey boss. welcome back" . The girl smiles. Yeah.
Friede and Roy stare at the drawing on the ground.
It's an amazing drawing of…Roy's not so sure, it's blue, a lizard, electricity all over, has the shape of a Cyclizar if Friede's observations are correct.
Roy wonders what inspired Liko to draw that blue Cyclizar.
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Friede has a few theories on why Liko is drawing the oddest Pokemon, thinks that she's trying to recall something, but what, no one is sure. No one wants to think she's trying to remember the Pokemon that hurt her in the mines but they couldn't discard that possibility.
Yet the Pokemon look so off, metal and stone, too futuristic, too ancient.
Nothing makes any sense.
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Sprigatito had disappeared along with his trainer.
Roy remembers looking all over for the grass cat, calling out his name, along with Fuecoco, who cried and cried for her little cat friend. Wattrel, too, went around, flying all over, trying to find the cat, at least, get him back home, get someone back home to Liko's parents…to, to…
…no, it's not important.
Arboliva was of no help.
It had disappeared along with Liko.
And the Pokemon of the pendant…what about the Pokemon in the pendant? Was it with Liko…? What? What?
Roy didn't know.
Eri met up with Ortega at Ruchbah Squad's base. Her Caph Squad had moved into Ruchbah territory, mostly at the suggestion from Giacomo, better two bosses than one, if anything were to happen with those airships flying around.
Big Boss found out that one of the airships, the Brave Asagi, was out there looking for a missing girl but there was nothing of that suspicious airship, nor of the ones that came later.
"It's probably poachers," Ortega told Eri, as they made their rounds around the Ruchbah base. A few of the grunts had gone to Montenevera to get some snacks and food the other day and had reported one of the ships.
"Big Boss doesn't think so…" Eri frowned. "The adults don't seem too worried…"
"That means they're not paying attention," Ortega grumbled. "Wouldn't be the first time."
"Hmm…"
At least, that weird girl had stopped trying to challenge their bases.
No one knew how the boss had convinced that girl to stop but she did, telling Atticus that she had to go and fix a doggie, whatever that was supposed to mean, and disappeared into the thicket.
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Giacomo did wonder if those airships flying over Paldea had made themselves obvious for a purpose.
Common folk would notice them once and be on their merry way, not noticing anything out of the ordinary, not caring at all for a rich asshole flying over the region. Ortega could confirm those airships weren't for pleasure, that much he could tell even from the ground. The Brave Asagi had the better look, had the wear and tear of something in use, something too old to be new, too new to be old, a personal mark that you couldn't find in a factory.
People tended to ignore the plain, versus the colorful; Giacomo could certainly say he would have remembered the Brave Asagi better than whatever hunk of junk flew above his base that fateful day…and now there's more airships in the sky, and he's only sure they're not the same airship with the Magnetons and Beheeyem because they have a bit of blues and grays and greens in one, whites and reds in the other, small differences no one would notice if they weren't looking and…
…a message from the Big Boss interrupts Giacomo's thoughts.
He reads, "a pokemon is attacking one of the airships above casseroya" .
The strange woman takes note of Lucca, blinks, nods, and with a smile says, "Ah. Yes. You have the same face."
"Excuse me?"
Tyme has noticed Lucca behind them, holding a random book in hand, staring at the woman that wears scarlet and violet. Lucca glances at her coworker, not sure what's happening.
"The same face," the woman repeats. "That's what the girl looks like, I'm sure. Your face."
For a moment, Lucca suddenly feels faint…before power overtakes her, and she's grabbing the stranger's shoulders, shaking her, almost screaming, asking about her missing kid, trying to be held back by Tyme as everyone around them take notice, students, teachers, Pokemon alike, but the woman in violet and scarlet remains calm.
"Yes, yes. That face…Liko is the girl's name, yes?"
"Yes! Yes! Where is she!? Where's my daughter!?"
"Please! Miss Lucca if you could…!"
But Tyme is ignored.
"It's curious. I have forgotten too many names…Humans are so difficult to understand, yes?"
It's that last remark that stops the shaking, quiets Lucca and alarms Tyme, but no one else seems to have noticed, confused mutterings left behind by the sudden calm.
Tyme is fast, grabbing Lucca and the woman by the arms, and whispering something to the woman in the front desk, before dragging the two women up the stairs. A door slams shut seconds later, and the Entrance Hall comes alive, only to be rendered mute by an angry librarian's cry of silence.
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The lady is not human.
Lucca doesn't fully understand, but Friede, on call, his face on the screen, is understanding.
The lady is the Pokemon of the pendant, at least a part of it, she corrects.
"Humans are…too delicate," the woman begins. "You break so easy…the child broke too but alas not for long…my power fixed her, mended her, not completely, no…but enough for her to exist again."
Lucca's trying not to lose her composure.
…Liko had been killed, there had been no what ifs, no buts, just death at the end.
"But restoring her, and with my powers so little, we slept…until we awoke," the woman shrugged. "What woke us from our dream, I cannot say…but the child ran off, followed by her loyal companion…away, away…by the time I recovered bits of myself, the girl had disappeared."
Ah.
The berries hadn't been for Liko, they had been for Sprigatito…but…did Sprigatito know what was happening to Liko? What that Pokemon from the pendant had done to her?
"You…you can't find her? At all?" Friede asked from the Brave Asagi, somewhere in the skies of Paldea.
"My power is…restricted," the stranger explained. "The form, as you see, is an illusion…the child took too much power to mend, and once she was restored, she ran off…to where? I cannot say, only that a cry for help is all we heard, and that's all she can truly remember…ah, but time, you understand, feels different when we close our eyes."
"W…what do you mean?" Lucca asked, grabbing her arm, pinching skin, trying not to cry in relief, grief, happiness, all of the above because Liko was within reach.
"The cry was…an echo, yes?" the stranger says, tilting their head. "An echo that has sent the child away…"
"...and what did you mean about the girl not remembering her face? Are you saying the young lady changed appearances, too?" Tyme asked, concerned.
"Yes…but a new face gives no new memories, and her mind is all over…past, present, future, all in-between, perhaps the child remembers the face of those that broke her, perhaps she decided that hiding would bring her peace but…"
The stranger sighs.
"...those Pokemon she's drawing in the sand…what are they?" Friede asks.
Lucca didn't even remember Liko's drawings, not with Liko so close to coming home.
"Memories," the stranger answers, smiling. "Wishes, torn apart by the past, pages of a future coming to pass…I have met many strangers…seen their dreams…but perhaps those drawings are her dreams…only a dream she can remember," the stranger shook their head. "But the child…you must find her, yes?"
"Why!? Is Liko…!"
"Perhaps," the stranger interrupts, shaking their head again, staring at Lucca. "But the child is already confused, yes? To remember too quickly would upset her…but to see those that harmed her would overwhelm her…the power she carries, she cannot fully control, you understand? She might…"
A crash, and the door of the office opens, everyone stares at Miss Raifort, who with panic in her eyes, says, "There's a Pokemon attacking an airship above Casseroya Lake!"
Lucca glances at the stranger, who's shaking their head again and whispering, "Oh…poor child. She's seen the monsters that broke her…how terrible, terrible..."
They found her.
Sneaky little thing, Hamber thinks, watching from the screens as the child, dirty, bloody, clothes ripped in places, runs away from the lake, clutching her head, shaking, shaking, as Floragato runs after her. Hamber remembers the girl's face, remembers where his Steelix cut the body, almost in half, the jacket, cut clean in the middle, but there's nothing there anymore.
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Master Gibeon had not understood why the pendant had lost its power the moment Spinel gave it to him, but now that Hamber was staring at the girl, alive and well, dirty but breathing, he understood.
The pendant had tricked Spinel, changed places, so to speak, found its way to that girl's pocket as her mind guided her to her doom, and with it, her revival.
Hamber sighs.
The girl would probably die a second time, he has no illusions about that fact…for it's the power that Master Gibeon...
Something shakes the airship, breaks the screens except for one where the girl has stopped running and she's staring right at them, head tilted, no emotion on her face…the airship shakes again, again, shouting, alarms, danger, danger.
Hamber doesn't know fear until he sees it scratching the roof of the airship, tears the metal apart, pokes its head inside and roars.
It's a Pokemon wearing a Suicune's face.
Deep in the crater, inside the forgotten lab, screens come to life, all glowing with a different scene, all showing Pokemon rising from the sand, come to life, metal, stone, past and future.
A man in a lab coat stares at the screen, eyes glowing red.
"Terapagos…what is happening?"
Outside the lab, the crystals began to crack, sparkle black.