Lake Lucid, 50 Days Before the Fall
As far as Honovi was concerned, the Alphs probably never came this far; all of the lore that her mother knew implied that the old city had been a staple of its time and that a lot of people had business in the 'city of sigils'. Old Books that her grandmother had kept stowed away referred to the sigils as 'Unown' and that they were integral to the majesty of the city and performance of spell magick that ranged from sensing and tracking all the way to phasing like the spirits did. Her mother was gentle but firm in her insistence that the legends were true. Honovi didn't really know if she was honest, and the numerous failures on her end didn't do much to reassure her either. Honovi's sense of the ethereal was there, but to actually manifest it was a different task entirely.
Honovi sighed. If she had thought of it, she would have asked Morty to spill the details on how far his understanding of Alph customs really went. He had been hesitant to ask her about what she had 'seen' when they had first met; she wished she could tell him now.
For all of the commotion surrounding such a famous man, Honovi didn't really understand William Day. Haunter had managed to sneak some information back to her and for having such a high position, William was reckless.
He was also Honovi's kind of person. She doubted if William had communicated anything to the other leaders let alone Morty. But the seer had also been gravely concerned about Marus and Honovi couldn't blame him; Marus's rage had been difficult to stomach. Haunter had come back to her too about the band Morty had asked her to tail and he had even brought back a few strands of hair from each of them save the scary tan one.
He was the one that had said something about 'mastery' and showcased the ability to Virgil and the rest of the group, bypassing type energies that none of them could believe. To master two souls is to master the One, had been a phrase Honovi had read in an old grimoire her grandmother had left behind after she died. Her mother stowed it away when she had caught her reading it and had been extraordinarily prickly about it ever since. Honovi felt a shiver in her bones at the thought. That could only be excitement that things were coming together now.
Haunter popped into her vision with a wide grin and a laugh.
Ah, so much for the excitement I guess.
Honovi adjusted herself. She had been sitting still in the brush for too long and the static in her legs had started to really get to her. She had been staking out in the woods on the edge of the resort, namely on the more rugged and underdeveloped side of the lake to maintain habitat, though trails had been carved through for recreation. Honovi stuck her tongue out at the thought. It wasn't like any of those blueys would actually get their hands or expensive clothes dirty anyway. They were missing out as far as she was concerned; sleep was much better outside.
It also gave her a strong view of the other side of the lake, the same space that had been used for one of the stands for the 'Ruddy Rummage' or whatever the blueys had been losing their minds about. There had been amorous couples straggling away during the event and Honovi had made sure to be swift when she diffused their attempts via Haunter, threatening curses from a hiding place or Scolipede blatantly sprawled about. All three methods left them scurrying.
This time though, the lake was quaint and along the lake's edge she caught sight of two of them. She could easily place one of them as Virgil, and the other one was the scary tall one again; his name never quite seemed to stick but his presence certainly did. He looked inflexible, dense and strong and it was obvious to Honovi that he could swipe her aside if she ever got into a scrape with him. Virgil's Dewott, or "Ace" as Haunter reported back to her, was stretched out in the grass a little ways from them.
There was another Pokemon, Honovi noted, that belonged to the other one and was wrapped under a raincoat scrawled with some kind of writing she couldn't quite make out. None of them were paying attention though. She grinned a toothy grin.
Good thing I don't plan on getting caught. Haunter cued in too. "Haunter, do you think you could get a little more information for me?" Haunter responded with a playful salute, then he spiraled into thin air but left one his hands on her shoulder. She knew him well though and the first place her eyes fell was on the water surface. It was faint, but Honovi could see a pale discoloration in the lake as Haunter worked his way into the thin layers of the surface.
Haunter's touch was cold, a different experience for her, which meant it could possibly have been a death sentence for someone else. It was better that it was her than anyone else; she was his anchor after all. The Pokemon in the raincoat stirred suddenly and his focus honed in on the lake. That in itself caught Honovi's attention. Haunter's anchor had warmed up just a slight bit and Honovi could hear Virgil's voice rippling from the anchor.
"...caught his attention…!" Honovi's eyes flicked over to gauge Haunter, who had just about made his way to the opposite shore.
"Shifty shift, Haunter." It had been a hushed whisper into her anchor and it teemed in response. That was a good sign.
"It seems like Pioggia doesn't quite trust the essence of the lake." That was a stern remark unequivocally not Virgil and much clearer than the first one. Honovi flashed another glance over to Haunter's position. He had shifted a little more over to the left of the shoreline, closer to both trainers. Pioggia, the raincoat, took a slow step forward then. Honovi cocked her head slightly, curious, but Haunter felt what she had been thinking and that was to keep as much distance between himself and Pioggia.
"Does your Buizel ever take his raincoat off," sounded Virgil's voice. Honovi didn't get to hear the rest; the tune that had come into her ears had been soft at first. Then, melodic. It was voice; it was song. As if it knew she were listening now, the voice dropped in range, enough for her to hear a distinct difference. It was a low, rippled sound that came next but it was maintained, mixed and accented by the same melody from earlier. The voice found its stride and sifted onward from there.
Honovi was jarred away from the voice as she felt an impact, a small burst of some kind that knocked her off her feet and into the brush face first. For a moment, she lay there dazed and trying to piece together how she had gone from observation to face first into foliage. She sat back up a few moments later and reached to check on the anchor.
And found that the hand was gone.
Dread tightened her throat as she realized that the impact that had knocked over had been Haunter's body dispersing. Honovi rushed back to her perch. One moment, she had eyes on Haunter, picking up what little bits of info she could to being face down in the dirt with no signs of Haunter. But there was no way that Haunter would have let himself stay in the water for too long; that's what the anchor had been for. Her eyes scanned the lake for any signs of him on the surface but caught a glimpse of Pioggia.
The Pokemon's paws were in the lake. His eyes were closed and he sat still as if he were in some kind of trance or meditation. Honovi's eyes flicked down to the water where the Pokemon dipped his paws and found them luminescent, shimmering with teal-turquoise of clear lake water. Honovi watched it fan out two, six, twelve feet in radius, covering a sizable portion of the lake. She could see the light traveling down into the depths, illuminating countless Pokemon as it touched them. A few of them had even come up, moving over to pay their thanks while others simply showcased their appreciation by turning arcs in the lake before diving back under.
The light dimmed into darkness and Honovi drew her attention back to Pioggia, some part of her shaken but another infinitely curious. Pioggia pulled his paws from the pond, placing them over his knees as he squatted. There was a subtle rise and fall of the Pokemon's chest. At that same time, the melodic voice had returned and it dawned on Honovi just then that the voice that she had heard had been Pioggia. Pioggia's motions reminded her of her Alph practices that she wished she knew more about, and Honovi had enough common sense to understand that Pioggia was a healer and an outlandishly good one too.
Pioggia submerging his paws must have told him that Haunter had been using the lake to get closer to the two trainers. Honovi remembered that Pioggia probably had had an inkling that something was a little off beforehand and was called to the lakeshore before even thinking to submerge. Tailing the group that these belonged to was going to be a headache.
She shuddered.
There was a subtle 'pop' a little to Honovi's back left and she turned and found her Haunter there. Honovi nearly screamed for joy.
"Haunter," she gave a hushed cry and dove in for a hug, only to pass through and land harshly in foliage. Honovi was quick to recover and turned her focus onto Haunter. He had had a close call. His breathing was heavy and he was noticeably labored. She could see that Haunter had phased into a solid completely, and he must have really strained to pull himself back together from trace gas; she was safe to hug him now.
"I'm so sorry!" She hugged him again. "I was so scared… But, I'm not gonna let that happen to you again…!" Haunter didn't respond to that, and Honovi drew back to make sure he was okay. She found him staring over to the other side of the lake again, expressionless. His eyes were set directly on the Buizel.
Pioggia.
The Buizel returned the sentiment, or something like it. The agreement between Haunter and herself was that they drew as little attention as possible and Honovi doubted heavily that Pioggia could see the two of them directly. She was sure he would have drawn attention to his trainer by now. Her face tightened. She had gotten some information, but not nearly enough. Honovi could make out that whatever the two of them were talking about, it had to be important, and Honovi needed to know. She had nearly lost Haunter in the process and that left her both shaken and frustrated but she had to do something.
Her Haunter had brought her to him and he pointed back over to the lake and at first, she didn't quite understand. She had even explained to him that he had nearly died but he insisted; he was determined. He frowned at first, then sifted through as many expressions he could manage, most of them cycling between his split second frown and a few interpretations of anger. At one point, he had even twisted into air like he did earlier but reappeared almost instantly, like teleportation. It dawned on Honovi then.
Teleportation!
Honovi unhooked one of her poke-balls and turned to Haunter.
"Are you sure about this?" Haunter nodded. His hand had already placed itself back on her shoulder; she smiled softly at the chill. "Okie doke. Let's do it!" She slipped a thumb over the button and it snapped to life, the light abating to reveal a girlish little thing, horns adorned about her head resembling hairpins. It would be a much better aesthetic than 'horn', Honovi thought.
Honovi was impressed when the only thing Haunter had left for Kirlia was an annoyed glare, especially when Kirlia had haggled her in the cutest way possible, to wear one of the flower crowns she had always took to making.
"Kirlia, I'll need you to do something for me, okay?" she nodded excited. "I'll need you to stay here." she frowned and Honovi could see the Pokemon's lip quiver. "No no no, please don't do that…!" Honovi had said that a little loud and passed a glance back across the lake. Sound carried far here. Virgil hadn't noticed, but Honovi could tell that the other one, like his Buzel, was on alert. The more Honov kept an eye on him, the more interesting he became. "Look," she said, turning back to Kirlia. "I only need you to stay here for a few minutes. Me and Haunter are gonna' go float, and we need you here to bring us back. We'll be right back." The Pokemon tilted her head and Honovi knew what that meant. Honovi gave the Pokemon a reassuring smile. "I promise." Kirlia smiled with a fervent nod. Honovi turned her attention over to Haunter, signaling him with a thumbs up. Haunter responded with a curt nod and spiraled into air. Honovi could feel the chill on her shoulder pulsing, seeping into and expanding through her entire body. A deep purple mulled over her eyes and she followed him only seconds later.
She floated calm through the lake's surface layers and Honovi took a glance at her arms and hands just to be certain. Her arms were tinted with shades of Haunter, which meant everything had gone well. She couldn't think of anyone who would have been okay with hiding inside of a ghost, especially not one made up of poison. What those people didn't know was that it meant her body shared the same kind of interesting things as Haunter's; she was, for however she could last, a ghost.
And they have dove right back into the same attempt that Haunter had tried earlier, fastening into the thin layers that made up the surface of the water. She felt a faint bubbling move throughout her body, which meant that Haunter had thinned himself across the surface again. She reached to tap her shoulder; she sighed in relief when she felt that the anchor was still there. Honovi felt a cool swish, Haunter wadding over the water. He slowed to a stop and Honovi could hear the voices again.
"I think you should tell her." Virgil.
"I think you're looking into it…" That was the other trainer.
"You say it's platonic, but if you ask me…You really do pay a special kind of attention to her."
"Playing matchmaker to keep your mind off Juliet?"
"Hey, that's low!" A laugh. "But,not just that. I guess…I'm just trying my best to lean into you guys…I've…never really had friends like this…" Honovi wrinkled her nose at the remark. Virgil had changed a lot since she had started following them. He wasn't nearly as volatile and that was good, but the information here was boring, Honovi had been expecting more from how expressive everything had seemed from the other shore. Honovi heard a small click.
"Really Ryuu,"she heard Virgil sigh, exasperated. "The camera?" Honovi perked up. She had finally gotten the name of that scary looking trainer. Ryuu chuckled.
"Almost anytime is a perfect time. Almost."
"For all of your photos and stuff," Virgil paused. "Do you think you have any authentic moments of any of your Pokemon doing the mastery stuff?" Honovi's breath caught.
"Weren't you the most skeptical?"
"Well, a little but…I saw it with my own eyes and…you're strong. Really strong. I've practiced with Jaret a few times now and…you guys are just on an entirely different level."
"You saw the battle between me and Jaret. Mastery isn't something for friendly practice matches."
"I know, I know but still, I think it might be a good idea to look into it."
"It's not worth it."
"No?"
"No. You've seen my eyes and how strange they can be. I'd rather you not get involved with it."
"Why not?"
"Because we're friends, Virgil. And I'm not fond of harming my friends. Mastery brings on a different kind of pain that I don't think any of you understand."
"How bad is it…?"
"The strain of recovery could tear muscle from the bone if you're not can make the body very weak…old." Honovi nearly blew her cover then, but held back. Ryuu was most certainly a person of interest. "Besides, the additional side effects could–" And then he paused.
"...Are you okay, Ryuu?" And then, Virgil's voice picked up. "Whoa, h-hey..! Ryuu!"
"...I'm fine," He peered at the water, directly where Honovi was hiding. His gaze was unflinching and Honovi noticed a peculiar discoloration in his eyes, a swishing mix of purple and red and Honovi felt a shudder, the bad kind, run up her spine; it was almost like he could see her. "Just a little chilly…" His eyes flicked out across the way and Honovi couldn't quite see to what. She reached for the anchor at her shoulder, found that it was still there, and leaned her head into it.
Her sight had changed, and she had become able to see the landscape in fuller range. She immediately turned to see where Ryuu had turned his attention to: It was at Pioggia and his paws were steeped in the lake again. The shudder came back; panic. "Pioggia, if the Path of Seas is speaking, then feel free to answer." Honovi saw Pioggia's hands flash once before she could see nothing at all.
She hit the ground hard,knocking the wind from her lungs. Again, she lay there to catch her breath. It was quite a bit longer than the first time, but this time she had actually been there to experience it. Honovi had to blink a few times before her sight began to stabilize, blinding white gradually receding into shapes and colors. The first thing she had seen was Haunter floating over her, expression utterly racked with worry. Honovi managed to crane her head a little over to the side and found Kirlia next to her too, face also contorted in concern. This was one of the rare times where the two of them weren't fighting about something.
It had been painful to hoist herself up too, but Honovi figured it could have been much worse if she hadn't set up her escape like she had. When Honovi found that she couldn't reach out too far to pat Kirlia on the head, the Pokemon jumped on her lap to hug her instead. Haunter had joined in too. He was far too relieved that she was okay to care about Kirlia.
"I'm okay guys…" Honovi's voice was hoarse from strain. "But…how about we never get caught in an Aqua Ring like that again, okay?" Honovi managed a glance for the third time over to the other lake shore. Both of the trainers had gone, which meant that Pioggia had taken her out of it for a little while although she had no idea how long.
She had found out a lot more than she had been expecting, Ryuu and his 'mastery' being at the forefront of it all. It had also crossed Honovi's mind that technically, Morty had wanted her to follow Virgil and his friends because of Marus. Marus's split from Virgil essentially left her a free agent, or at least, she should have been tailing Marus instead. Even so, Honovi had found herself a new focus. That Pioggia was a powerful healer and his trainer, Ryuu, was very strong.
And strange. He had stared directly where she and Haunter had hidden, and Honovi had used herself as a bonding agent to keep Haunter from dissolving if he stretched himself too far. They were each a light mist between the layers of the surface of the water; it was impossible to see them.
But he had, and the swishing magenta in his eyes had given him the ability to see the both of them, and he had cued in Pioggia, who for some reason hadn't been able to sense out Haunter's presence in the water a second time. Ghosts were unnatural beings, even for Pokemon; Water was life-giving and deserving of worship by Pioggia's standards. Honovi's mother would have been convinced that the lake had spoken to Pioggia. Honovi was pretty convinced herself.
Honovi was also convinced that she would be needing to pay more attention to Ryuu especially. She had pushed too hard, and both her and Haunter had gotten a little too ambitious. Had it not been for Kirlia's Teleport, then she might have been dissolved right along with Haunter. She shuddered, a good shudder. That Ryuu had quite a few secrets that he wasn't willing to part with, and Honovi knew it had something to do with mastery and the city of sigils. What Honovi found even more titillating was a keen sense of camaraderie when she looked at him and the swirling in his eyes: The colors of Sigilyph were not lost on her. Perfect, she thought. Absolutely Perfect.
