So…that happened!?
Good for him. He always wanted this :P
Guardian gasped as he summoned a riolu and caught a lucario in his strong arms. The voice was a little deeper but still absolutely recognisable, and then the lucario fainted in his arms.
Things immediately began to happen.
"Is that BLOOD!?" Rai shouted, spotting the drape of red and drying blood dyeing the yellow part of Sean's fur a murky orange.
Guardian's hands also touched the stickiness, and he lifted a hand in mute shock, droplets of blood smoking on his fingers as Sean had, long ago, given him permission to use his if a situation demanded it. This was Sean, no question about it.
"Guardian, stop staring at him!" Mane was the next to speak, voice almost echoing in Guardian's head. "Guardian, look at him!"
Guardian blinked and restarted. "Sean needs help!" He pulled out an oran-soaked mess of fabric and tied it around Sean's neck as firmly as he could risk. "This blood is everywhere, pressure…pressure…."
There was also a cut on Sean's chest. While it wasn't deep and shouldn't have bled much at all and definitely not for very long, it was stubbornly oozing blood like the cut on his neck was, and so Guardian bandaged that too.
There was a gleaming silver sword that Sean had dropped after appearing, spotless and drinking in the morning sunlight, its silver surface almost swimming when the eye was upon it.
Guardian gathered Sean up into his arms and immediately hated the limpness in which Sean's limbs hung in the air. He stared sadly at his friend, Sean's eyes closed and his breathing short and rapid.
Rai and Mane had undergone some silent eye-to-eye communication as Guardian bandaged Sean, the metallic scent of blood filling their noses and stinging their eyes. And maybe just tearing up for other reasons.
How did this happen?
What did Sean mean with what little he had managed to say?
How did he EVOLVE?
"Hillcrest Town should be close by," Rai said, speaking up as their communication was finished.
"We'll run ahead and tell them to expect you," Mane added.
Guardian looked down to them with a mixture of surprise and gratefulness. "You…are you sure?" The question that wasn't spoken was far louder. Are you really stopping the search for Scout for this?
Rai and Mane nodded. "He's in need now," Rai said firmly, Mane looking sadly at Sean. The Silver Bow sill clung to Sean's leg, less luminous than it used to be.
Guardian nodded, wishing for Scout's safety, and then they departed.
Sean woke with a weary start. He jerked as if he'd just been on a roller-coaster that had suddenly stopped and cracked his eyes open, stinging as dark walls and unfamiliar beds greeted them.
He took a breath, his mouth feeling painfully dry, and he smacked his lips, wanting water. His head ached something fierce; his neck did too, check, back, everything hurt really as he was realising.
He groaned as he sat up in bed, trying to catch his bearings and figure out what had just happened.
His ears wouldn't stop twitching, the tassels…wait!
Sean turned his head right towards a darker corner of the room, squinting his eyes. "Is someone there?"
In the light of the moon, he saw something glinting just in time. He shrieked and darted to the side, flinging himself off the bed as an icicle buried itself where his head just was. He gasped in pain as he landed on his aching body and scrambled, shouting out. "SOMEONE HELP!"
His attacker made a soft 'tch' of annoyance, and the bed was pulled out of the way to reveal who it was. Weavile glared down at him with contempt in her eyes as another icicle formed in her claws; she pointed the other one and froze his left leg to the floor, and pounced with the icicle.
He swung out with a Bone Rush and cracked it on the side of her surprised face and knocked her into the wall, breaking the ice around his foot and scrambling back, aura flaring, tassels shivering in the air. The pain was ignored as the fight or flight reflex kicked in, and Weavile scowled at him.
"The First Fallen, Indeedee, sends her regards," she grit out and throws the icicle, Sean taking it on the arm before breaking his window and jumping out of the room. Right as a clamour caught his ears along with several sources of aura.
It was getting too much. He tried to turn it off; he hated aura so much, it was such a headache to his human head. He didn't know how to deal with it; he began to stagger.
"Sean!" Guardian bellowed, crashing into the room to find it a disaster. Audino followed him, cursing out whatever had just happened to his patient in the middle of the night.
Sean was trembling as Guardian reached him, pulling out an icicle from his arm. His head raised to meet Guardian's, utter terror clouding his features before he fell into Guardian's arms and burst into shaking sobs.
"She's here, she's here," he babbled, panic gripping his heart like a vice. "She mentioned INDEEDEE! SHE MENTIONED HER! She's here. She's here!"
Guardian's eye was sweeping the room, crackling with dour fury as Audino finished making sure nothing else was in the room and came to Sean's aid.
Sean flinched severely when Audino drew close, but this was a male and was pink, and he took Sean's injured arm anyway and began running his hand across it, gentle pink light stymying the bleeding and taking away the pain.
He pulled up a seed and gave it to Guardian. "Have him take the sleep seed," he suggested, easily able to tell that he was not going to get anything into Sean's mouth without losing some fingers in the process.
Guardian slowly sunk to the ground, holding Sean and whispering assurances that he was safe, no one else was here, just them, he was safe, he was safe, he was safe. He managed to get Sean to swallow the seed and continued holding him until he was asleep.
"I'm staying in here," Guardian said. It was no question, and even Audino did not argue. Guardian carried him to a different bed; his one was icy and had glass shards on it, and stood a dangerous vigil, almost daring anything else to even try and give him an excuse.
For the first time in a long while, his fingers were twitching erratically, and it took his impressive self-control to restrain the bubbling fury crackling through his body like there were fireworks in his veins.
He slowly clasped his hands together and remained by Sean's side as the sleep seed's effect wore off. Tell-tale by Sean stopped lying so still and beginning to squirm and grimace. But he didn't wake up, and as long as he didn't, Guardian wouldn't wake him.
Guardian scarcely even blinked until the sun had risen, Audino had returned, and Sean began to stir properly. He gave Guardian a mixture to stir into some water and have Sean drink when he was able and brought Rai and Mane in as well.
When he saw Guardian was still there, Sean almost cried and drank the mixture without complaint, sighing as his pain began to recede.
He sat up in bed, holding his head and taking deep breaths as Guardian rubbed his back.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Audino asked. "Last night."
Sean twitched but managed a nod. "Y-Yeah, okay. I just woke up suddenly, feeling…weird; I sat up and then noticed someone was…in the room." He pointed to one of the corners of the room. "A weavile."
Rai and Mane frowned deeply.
"I just barely managed to avoid a thrown icicle and fell off the bed. She came to attack me and froze my leg, but I knocked her off and then she ran since you guys had arrived. Thank you."
"You said she said something?" Guardian probed gently.
"And…what did she sound like?" Rai asked.
"What did she…sound like?"
Rai nodded, and Mane said. "We ran into Team A.W.D when we were coming to Hillcrest. One of them is 'Lady Weavile', and they're a bunch of crooks."
Sean frowned. "I'm not really sure how to describe it; it all happened so fast. But…she did say that 'The First Fallen, Indeedee, sends her regards' before jumping out the window."
Guardian stiffed. "She said that?" he asked. "Exactly that?"
Sean nodded, and Guardian rose up and drifted over to the smashed window and glared out of it like it would answer him.
"…Guardian?" Sean questioned.
"What is a First Fallen?" Mane asked, equally as puzzled.
Sean pulled at the sheet over his lap. "Keira mentioned it, really briefly, the last time I saw her."
"They were a dangerous group of Shadow Pokémon," Guardian answered. "There isn't much history to be said at all. Little of it was written as written language didn't exist at the time. Just old hearsay and legends. Are you certain?"
Sean nodded. "And…that would make sense because of what Indeedee, no, her name is Nelia. What Nelia said to me."
Guardian glanced to Audino and then away from the window. "Are you up to describing what happened yesterday?"
"It was just yesterday?" Sean asked, almost smiling. He shuffled back on the bed. "I feel like I could have slept longer."
"You'd lost a lot of blood," Guardian confirmed. "…the cuts resisted Audino's Heal Pulse somehow. We just had to bandage them." Sean lifted his paws and felt, finding those bandages. They were likely due for a change, being somewhat bloodstained.
Sean slowly let his paws drop to the bed and glanced at the four concerned pokémon staring at him, and took a breath. "I ran into Indeedee…Mayor Indeedee." Rai and Mane's eyes went wide. "She said she'd received the call for help and had used an entercard to come and help us look." Audino and Guardian hissed. "We spoke for a bit, and I…I told her that Saniya and I had a possibility to purify Shadow Pokémon."
He glanced away. "After that, she just…just attacked me!" he shouted, still pained and confused over the rapid change. "She tried to choke me, and I couldn't break her hold. She took my bag, and I only barely managed to grab a blast seed to use! She was going to kill me and kept on saying she 'might explain' later. Later. AFTER she killed me."
Guardian's hands clamped down on part of a bed, squeezing it between his fingers.
Sean took a few calming breaths. "I…I was able to figure out who she was. Who she really was. Nelia. The same person that Violet was calling for." Tears had touched his eyes now, and he felt something deep inside him ache. "I tried to tell her that Violet said she forgave her, but she just laughed at me and th-then…."
Sean had said Violet had sacrificed herself for him.
"She revealed that she'd turned Violet into a runerigus, let me go, and had Violet hunt me over the whole night, trying to kill me. I had to run and not stop because every single shadow seemed to have her in it."
Audino had found dozens of smaller, healable wounds over his body that had distressed Guardian a great deal.
"I managed to survive the night, and I used the Silver Bow and my memories of everyone to evolve. Violet, she, she seemed to latch onto my aura and 'came back'. She said that she would die without whatever power source Nelia was giving her, but with my aura, she was able to have a different source. Nelia showed up and split us up and went back to trying to kill me."
"I fought her as hard as I could, but she…she was unbelievably strong; it was like fighting KEIRA again!" His voice broke on the word. "Oh yeah, SHE DUG UP KEIRA'S GRAVE AND MELTED HER BONES INTO A SWORD!"
Guardian recoiled severely as everyone else in the room gasped. Rai and Mane pressed close as Audino took a few moments to compose his expression, having turned away. The silver sword lay in Audino's office, and he quickly walked out to see if it was still there.
Sean continued breathing heavily, almost hyperventilating, until Mane hopped on the bed and pressed against him, his inner fire a soothing warmth that Sean pressed back against.
Audino came out with the silver sword carefully held. "This?" he asked, disgusted.
Sean nodded. "That was Keira," his voice broke again, and Audino handed it to Guardian who's hand burst into cold fire.
"Then let her go back." He pressed a blazing finger to the flat side of the blade, but then his finger went out. His eye flickered in shock and tried again, but the sword seemed to drink his attack, its surface swimming.
"Nelia said that it was a powerful weapon," Sean managed. "Among the most powerful in the world even. I don't know what exactly it does, but she tried to cut my head off with it." Guardian nearly dropped the sword. "And it goes through Protect with ease; I used it on her own Protect."
"How did you survive that?"
A smile managed to shadow on Sean's face. "Keira taught me Endure," he said proudly. His eyes fell on the blade with pain. "I think she'd be proud that I used it to survive."
"I was able to bounce most of it off with Endure, but she still cut my neck and chest with it."
"Which I couldn't heal," Audino said, frowning. "My Heal Pulse did nothing. Along with the continuous bleeding, this weapon is a dangerous one."
"It must be destroyed," Guardian said; Sean nodded, but Rai spoke it.
"Does it work on…Indeedee?" he said the word like he couldn't believe the syllables.
Sean blinked. "…yeah. I was able to get it off her, and she actually was wary of it for a moment. Well, she distracted me by attacking Violet and then nearly killed me again, but Violet came in and attacked her, activated an entercard, and tried to drag her into that nightmare dungeon, but Nelia somehow… shadow'd it? She was able to suppress it, but only by hanging on. Violet told me to run, and Nelia tried to talk her out of it."
Sean wiped his face. "Last I saw before the rollcall orb finally grabbed me was Violet's body beginning to break as Nelia got mad. I think Nelia killed her for turning against her and helping me."
"No," Guardian said immediately. "Violet did not die because of you."
"I-"
"Only the killer takes blame," Guardian said firmly. Sean's eyes met his before glancing down with a shamed nod. It wasn't easy to accept that, even if Guardian was absolutely right and he knew it.
Mane kept on holding close to Sean until he relaxed, and Rai padded up. "Indeedee?"
Sean nodded.
Mane snarled. "I knew something was 'up'. No one is that helpful if they haven't got something else in mind."
"I thought the explanation about gratitude made sense," Rai said quietly.
"It did," Mane agreed. "I believed it too."
"A Shadow Pokémon?" Guardian asked. "One who claims to be a First Fallen?"
"The," Sean corrected. "Weavile said 'The First Fallen'."
"There were more than one," Guardian said.
"And she must be the last," Sean said. "Keira missed one."
"Or it's a copycat," Guardian said darkly.
"It was like fighting Keira again," Sean said again, pausing Guardian. "She held me in a Psychic that was stronger than Saniya's ones. I only survived because she wanted to force Violet to kill me. I broke her arm, I think, but otherwise, she was far too much for me. I only survived because of the rollcall orb."
"Don't… don't think like that," Guardian said soothingly. "You've done amazing to survive. You're safe now."
"Weavile was here," Sean whispered.
"And so am I," Guardian growled, but it was a protective one that made Sean smile. "We'll get new rollcall orbs and make sure everyone is safe. Alright?"
"Alright."
"For now, you need to have something to eat," Audino said, determining now was the time to butt in. "You lost too much blood to skip meals."
"Is it going to be meat?" Sean asked somewhat warily.
"Will that be a big problem?" Audino asked carefully. Sean considered it for a moment, Rai and Mane shared a glance.
"No," he settled on. "Just…really well done."
Audino nodded and busied himself elsewhere.
As Audino left, the four pokémon gathered. Three around Sean's bed. "I…I fear we may need to go to Giratina for advice," Guardian said slowly, achingly slowly. As if every word was a boulder he had to lift and set aside.
Rai and Mane did not reply to that.
"We'd need Saniya," Sean pointed out, feeling exhausted.
"She should be done by now," Guardian said hopefully. "And back in Treasure Town."
"We could ask…oh wait, the Psychic Network is down."
Guardian nodded. "Indeed."
The four sat in silence for a while.
"Sean can't go alone," Mane said. "He's way too weak at the moment." Sean bristled at the implications, but Guardian rested a hand on his shoulder, and he calmed.
Rai nodded and stepped back. "We'll give you some time to yourselves," he said a little stiffly, and he and Mane left the room.
Sean groaned and fell back against the pillow. "Why is this happening?" he asked.
"I don't know."
"We can't just leave…Scout," Sean said, almost warily.
Guardian was looking as tired as Sean felt. It was hard to tell with a dusknoir if you didn't know where to look. How his sensor flopped slightly, his eye squinted, and his arms hung.
Scout was his son.
"…will you be comfortable for a short while if I go speak to them?" Guardian asked.
For a moment, Sean wanted to say no. But it was daylight, and Audino wouldn't be far. He nodded. Guardian gave him another pat on the shoulder before rising up and floating after Rai and Mane.
He found them laying together with their necks against each other, laying their heads on the other's shoulder. It was a very tender moment that he didn't want to interrupt, but he had to and knocked as he floated into the room.
"Yeah?" Mane asked, not pulling out of the embrace. Rai was not facing him and did not speak a word of greeting, but his tail flicked once.
Guardian slowly floated in before lowing into the floor. "I am sorry to intrude," he began.
"Are you?" Mane asked.
"Yes, I am."
"Make it quick then; we got other things planned to feel better."
The words bounced off Guardian, and he finished lowering down. "I remember when I first held Scout in my arms," he said to Mane's confusion. "It was a ghastly scene I won't describe, but he was so small, so helpless. I picked him up, and he was as light as a feather. He needed food, milk probably, but there was none of that available."
"He was such a curious child. Everything you want in a child. Excitable, kind and loving. He wanted to play all the time, I managed to procure some string someday, and we spent months simply playing with that. He always had questions and wanted to cuddle on anyone who'd led him on their lap."
"…Why are you saying this?" Rai asked.
Guardian bowed his head. "I was knowingly ready to end the world for him. It was a selfish desire of my own not to die, but it was a decision to end the very world itself for him. It was very difficult to change that way of thinking. To sacrifice everything and everyone for him."
They didn't respond.
"I felt ready to fight Arceus Itself if It refused to bring him back as well. At the moment, I want to tear this entire continent apart to find him, summon every ally and friend I ever made across my time here, cash in deals, offer favours, incite utter rampant chaos to find him and bring him back."
He slowly raised his head. "But…Scout didn't want me to end the world for him. He wanted me to trust that things would be okay, even if we disappeared."
He covered his face with a hand, holding his head and hiding the tears in his eye. "…he wouldn't want me to risk Sean for him."
Those words were left to hang in the air for a while until Rai began to uncurl from Mane and faced The Great Guardian. "…I understand," he said.
Guardian couldn't smile, but he'd put one forth if he could. "Thank you. As…much as this is for me to consider, I'm going to have to trust that Wigglytuff and Saniya are right about Soothe and that she won't hurt him."
The most bitter pill to swallow, trusting the character of someone dubious and believing that things can work out even if you aren't there to ensure it.
Rai teared up. "I just…helpless," he admitted, pressing heavily into Mane's warmth. "Last time something like this happened…Scout was all alone against Darkrai, and we were badly injured. Even though she helped him, after that…Mane and I were just helpless. The town got attacked, and we had to hide behind the front line, run and hide and only fight when needed to. He was fighting the whole day, saving everyone he could, distracting those ferals and making them chase him instead of us.
"Scout just continued to throw himself into worse and worse things." Rai was crying now. "He promised he wouldn't get himself killed again, but he almost broke that promise, and we couldn't do anything!"
Mane's composure cracked as well. "What are we even doing?" he demanded. "We're just running into rocks and trees. This is the same as last time when he went into the Dream while we just laid about needing to recover and doing NOTHING. Everyone else is doing big things. Striker's getting the Lake Trio to help. Saniya is learning how to purify Shadow Pokémon. Sean just survived Indeedee and has learned all this stuff, and you're going to get Giratina's help! What are WE doing?"
"What are we doing?" Rai whispered, burying his face in Mane's fur. Mane licked his shoulder, trying to be comforting.
"…When time fell," Guardian said quietly, after hearing all of that. "When Dialga itself fell. When the world became still…Rai, you walked through a collapsing dimension and placed the final gear to restart time. Mane, in a realm under the control of a mad god, corruptive space bent into malevolent will, you broke that false dimension and freed the world itself from the grip of perpetual purgatory."
He shook his head at the idea that they did nothing. "Everyone plays their part. That's the most anyone can ever ask of you, me, Scout, or anyone. I will never forget that when the chips fall, the hour is lost, and the time to act is upon us. Both of you have always been able to be counted on."
They raised their heads at him, grateful awe on their faces.
"It's not right to compare yourselves to others," Guardian continued. "To look at another and wonder why you aren't as good, as accomplished, strong, or doing as much. Team Sunrise…we had to live and become like this."
He raised his hands. "Our very lives were shaped around finding and navigating the twisted path to changing history—a world-changing enterprise in a dead and frozen world. We had to learn so that you didn't. This is our strength. We can form the path, but we haven't been able to walk it on our own. It's the strength of the pokémon of this time that completed it."
Rai glanced away. "I still wish we could do more."
"Even though this is really nice to hear," Mane added, a pleased smile dancing across his features. He did like to be reminded of his victory over the Dream. The smile faded. "But it…it does make sense that you guys are better at working out this stuff."
"It's what we had to learn," Guardian confirmed. "Perhaps we should have tried to teach you, but it's not an easy thing to have lived to learn. Changing history was in part to stop the pokémon from having to live in such a way."
"You don't always think like this, do you?"
He shook his head. "No, with our bonds and a great deal of therapy from Azumarill, breaking this train of thought in safer times has been possible. But, as things yet again seem to be becoming dangerous, it's not hard to slip back into it. As long as we have you to pull us out of it again once it is finished."
Rai and Mane smiled.
"Don't think that what you are doing isn't important," Guardian added softly. "Scout is still everything to me. But…I know I can count on no one better to make sure he is okay."
He leaves Team Ion with determination in their eyes, but once private, he took a steadying breath and braced himself on a wall out of view of anyone.
His twitching fingers leave scratches on the walls as the only memento of his trial. It would almost pull a chuckle from him at how far he's come since he was The Great Dusknoir. To trust anyone else with Scout would be an impossible thing to imagine back then.
But he did trust them, even if it was hard.
Guardian returned to Sean and began to prepare.
"Good, now do it again."
Scout squeezed his eyes shut and focused on the unique sensation of pulling at a piece of himself and separating it. It was similar to the method of creating a Shadow Ball, except different in every feasible way.
Besides the fact that it felt similar, which was enough of a link in Scout's head.
He opened his eyes as that piece of him seemed to fade, leaving him feeling breathless for a short moment and a mite more tired. Opening his eyes, he met his own.
"Hey, what's up, doc?" Scout's double said in a heavy accent.
"…Do you have any explanation for why it sounds like Meowth from Team Rocket?"
"Besides copyright?" Soothe asked, doing a 'bang' motion with her finger and striking the copy with a concentrated Dazzling Gleam, causing it to pop into nothing. "Nope. Plus, that's not the best impression I've heard."
"How many have you heard?" Scout shot back, rubbing his temples. "And for the matter of the point, how do you even remember what he sounds like? It's been how many years for you since you watched the anime?"
"Can't forget a voice like those three," Soothe said. "I still can't believe you did the motto, though." She acted as if she wasn't jealous, but it was obvious that she was. "Or beat up a pikachu."
"I've taken down plenty of chu's."
"Regular Meowth in Boots here, everyone."
"How do you remember THAT?"
She didn't answer him. "Again."
Scout groaned. "Whyyyy?"
Soothe did not show much approval for his whinging. "Again, Scout. Do it again."
He closed his eyes with a nasty look and pulled at that energy source again. He'd gotten the basics of the move easier than Soothe had, she explained. Likely due to always having been a pokémon, so while the notion of manipulating these esoteric qualities they now had still rung strangely in his head, his body was still able to respond to it with a more natural ease.
"On the plus side," she had said. "Since it was difficult for me to learn anything, I should be able to teach it pretty well."
And she had. As Scout opened his eyes again, he once again had a copy of himself standing before him. The Substitute clone was semi-solid, Soothe had picked it up by the scruff of its neck in demonstration the first time, and it hissed and swiped at her pitifully.
It was not so pleasant watching her destroy it with something resembling glee, but she just said. "Might as well get used to the idea. And, hey, it's better than me doing this TO you."
Somehow that wasn't the comforting sentiment she had maybe meant it to be.
The clone was solid enough. Manifesting it was fairly simple; getting it to do things was more difficult. He'd managed to get it to talk and a few times make swipes at Soothe, but nothing more.
"A sufficiently powerful Substitute can make some attacks, but it'll start to break down and disappear the more it uses it. It only has so much of that Infinity Energy' Power' stuff to animate it, so using its limited energy limits its time even more."
"Should I make them stronger?" Scout asked as she destroyed yet another one with a single shot. "I know you can make them more durable."
"Yeah, but then you need to expend more of your own energy to do that," Soothe replied. "It's this or that. If you use more energy, you may be able to team up with your clone or have it pretend to be you for a little longer. But once it breaks, that's a big amount you've given up for just a bit of time. There's pros and cons to both sides, depends on the circumstances."
She tossed him a sitrus. "Since we're training, focus just on making brief ones. You didn't immediately start cutting yourself and putting all your blood into it when you learned Shadow Ball, right? That came later."
"I never did that much."
"Sure." She nodded, agreeing completely.
He frowned at her but moved on to making a new one.
Soothe watched him train, giving occasional biting comments or directions to the next step. Forming a Substitute was just hour zero of the whole experience. Getting them to move and act on their own was a much more interesting use of their time.
"I don't get how I'm meant to move them," Scout panted, hours later after getting the talking down pat. He was really full of sitrus and hated even the thought of something sour anymore. "They go a few steps and then just stop."
"You're thinking too much." Soothe tossed him another. "Make another one."
He groaned, didn't eat it, and did as asked. "I don't get what you mean about thinking too much," he complained. "You said I have to direct them. How am I meant to do that without doing it?"
"It's not the same as talking," Soothe said. "The Substitute isn't you, nor is it some little avatar to control. I think you're holding them back."
"What do you mean?" he asked as the Substitute turned to Soothe and, with effort, pulled two of its digits down to waggle the middle one of its paws at her.
"That," she said, cracking a smirk. "It's something of an 'automatic' thing to go. If you're trying to direct them, then it's not automatic. How about this, close your eyes."
He did so with some reluctance.
"Now, just follow my voice."
"Follow?"
"Walk towards me with your eyes shut," she said, voice changing as she moved. "Ask me to speak, questions or just 'where are you and I'll let you know. Okay?"
"I don't like this," he said, feeling unsteady.
"Tough luck."
He held his arms out carefully and began to walk. "Where?"
"Here." To his left, he turned and stepped on a twig that snapped.
"Where?"
"Over here," she said, she was moving…how was she moving without him being able to tell? His ears were almost as good as hers; maybe, her steps on the grass should be easy for him to detect.
"How are you moving?" he asked, waving out with his arms when he nearly lost his balance.
"Keep it up, and I'll tell you."
He wanted to open his eyes badly, but he was sensible enough to not. "Where?"
"He…re?" Her voice was different, curious. "Scout, training's done." Her voice was suddenly deadly serious, and his eyes snapped open. His Substitute came scampering back with an apple in its mouth, but Scout didn't really notice that he'd succeeded in what Soothe was trying to get him to do, as his eyes were on Soothe.
She was staring up into the air with a piercing gaze, and he followed her eyes to see-
A sudden Dazzling Gleam fired out like a rifle and struck right through a flying chatot, drawing a cry of pain and alarm and causing them to fall.
"Wha, CHATOT!?"
Soothe hissed, pulling a wand out of her bag and swiftly waving it at the falling pokémon before it recovered, paralysing its wings and causing it to collide with the ground before her.
"GOTCHA!" Soothe yelled, pouncing on the squawking bird.
"Soothe!" Scout yelled in alarm. "Hang on, what are you?"
"It's him," she said, cutting all the air out of his lungs in a pair of words. The chatot stopped struggling in her hold, and his eyes sharpened, recognising who had shot him.
"We really need to meet under nicer circumstances," he said, and Scout felt as if all the blood in his body trickled into his paws and then out completely. That haughty sniff, curled voice, and measured words.
"Chatot?"
Trill stopped having a silent powerplay glare-off with Soothe and glanced at who else was with her. "…Scout," he said. "You…you look different."
For a moment, Scout was a cream-coloured meowth again, in a storeroom with Chatot counting seeds and berries.
Then he was back to where they were, leaping onto Trill with cries and tears.
"Chatot! You are here! You are alive! CHATOT! I'M SO SORRY!" Scout bawled into the stunned chatot's feathers as Soothe grumbled for a moment, being forced into this weeping pile by sheer location of holding Trill down. She stood it for a moment before grabbing Scout and pulling him free.
"You shouldn't," she said, pressing down on Trill's chest to hold him down. "Not until we get moving."
"Moving?" Trill barked.
"Yes," Soothe growled. "Because if you're here, I bet She is too?"
Trill huffed but also nodded, and she pulled him up, Scout scrambling behind her for balance amid this rocking boat of emotions tossing him back and forth.
"Wha? Buh? How?" he asked.
"Questions can be asked later," Soothe growled. "Get me the wand."
"W-Why?"
"DO IT!"
Scout snatched her paralysis wand up, hesitated, then waved it at them twice.
"No," he said shakily, lowering the wand as Soothe positively tried to murder him with eyes. "We're talking now."
"She could be anywhere?" Soothe grit out through a stiff jaw.
"Yeah, so if we just run in a blind panic, we might run INTO her."
That actually hit home, and Soothe's eyes flicked off him.
"Chatot, what's going on?" Scout asked, voice trembling as he said his name again. "I…." What could he even say? Sorry for changing things to the point where he died? Happy that he's here, even if that means he's an undead shadow monster?
Trill seemed to understand what he wasn't saying, and while he couldn't nod, his eyes flicked as if he was. "… you're well informed. Soothe has told you?"
"Everything, I…think."
"Yes," she grits out. "I haven't kept anything from you."
"Indeedee?"
"She's said that," Scout admitted, feeling a nail in his heart. Indeedee had been so kind and helpful, and if she really was…then they really were in danger all over again.
"Very well," Trill said. "Indeedee has figured out, correctly I see, that the two of you have combined forces. An alert for what Audino had done was called out across the continent before Indeedee crashed the Psychic Network. She came here in an effort to find you."
Soothe swallowed, fighting the paralysis for a long moment. Her arm began to move.
"I'm going to release you two, okay?" Scout said, noticing.
Soothe put a glare as he carefully approached and delivered a gentle Scratch to them both, breaking it.
She immediately snatched the wand from him, and he retreated quickly in case she attacked him. She looked about ready to but swallowed it.
"Continue talking, Trill," she said, fingering the wand dangerously.
He stretched his wings and then did a flutter, which brought a smile to Scout's face as he remembered Chatot always doing that to organise his thoughts or call attention. It was almost his way of clearing his throat or saying 'uh' when thinking.
"She has…destroyed Blackstone Village," he said, bringing a horrified expression to Scout's face. "With that horde of Shadow Pokémon and has charged a shadow'd version of Guildmaster Clefable to take whoever revives and follow after Pyroar and Luxray's horde that are approaching Treasure Town as we speak."
Scout felt his stomach drop all over again. "She's…going to attack Treasure Town!?" he yelled. "With SHADOW POKÉMON?"
With a disgusted grimace on her face, Soothe shook her head. "Typical," she spat. "If this can be trusted," she added, glaring at Trill, who glared back.
"You brought me to her," he said bitterly. "Anything I have to say comes from your actions."
Soothe actually recoiled. To Scout, he didn't really see it. He didn't know her well enough to catch the pinching of her expression for a moment and the way she brushed the fur on her belly down. But Trill had known her much longer.
"And have you hurt anyone?" she asked.
"I've had to watch them be hurt," Trill said, eyes suddenly squinting. "My own apprentices' blood is on my talons."
"What?" Scout whispered, horrified.
"She's killed Corphish and Loudred," Trill said quietly.
The words he said, Scout could not believe them. Would not believe them.
Trill saw his expression and cringed. "I'm sorry, Meowth."
Scout slowly closed his eyes, Dugtrio started flashing through his head. With one returned, two more were lost.
When he opened them again, they were streaked with tears, but they didn't fall. He'd deal with this pain later. "How did you get here?"
"Indeedee used Runerigus and her entercards to create a path to this area, and we arrived most of the day ago. She's brought me along to act as eyes in the sky to find you two, but also because she wants me close by. I am not to fly far from her."
"So, she is close by?" Soothe demanded, immediately agitated and looking in every direction she could. "Is this is a trap?" She gripped the wand hard enough to bend it.
"No, I took a chance and fled from her a few hours ago," Trill explained.
"Why should I believe that?" Soothe asked as Scout brightened up past the tears.
"Wouldn't you?" Trill asked.
She paused. "…Now I would. Most of the time I was stuck with her, she spent breaking-" She suddenly cut herself short there, and Scout saw the flinch this time. "I spent getting foiled. But, at the start, I tried…."
She eyed him, not sure if he was to be trusted or not. Well, not in the first place, but in this circumstance, it was trickier.
"To ensure my loyalty, she suppressed it," Trill added, no question as to what it was between them. "So, I feel the closest to myself as I can. After…my chance became clear, I took it." There was something almost regretful in his eyes, and there was also something he wasn't saying. But he wouldn't say it, it just…it just wasn't the time, he told himself.
"You'll only get a couple of weeks at absolute best," Soothe said. "Dammit, why did Jirachi have to be his Super self?" she cursed, Trill not really getting that one.
"This is good, though, isn't it?" Scout asked.
"That SHE's nearby?"
"That we have Chatot," Scout countered. "It was the plan anyway."
"Not this quick," Soothe cursed. "I don't know how to handle him."
"I am right here, you know?" Trill drawled. She glared at him and waved the wand.
"Soothe!"
"He cannot be trusted," Soothe retorted, stomping over and picking him up. "But, we're not just letting him go."
"Are you kidnapping me?" Trill said, stunned.
"I kidnapped that one." She nodded towards Scout. "What's one more?"
Scout gave him an apologetic look. "Yeah…."
Trill cleared his throat importantly. "Meowth it…it is good to see you, aside from the circumstances."
Scout smiled, and then his eyes became shiny as tears overcame him. "CHATOT!" He jumped forwards and pulled the frozen bird into a hug and sobbed into his chest, to Soothe's disgust. The impact of the hug managed to break the paralysis, and to her further discomfort, Trill returned it, humming a soothing tune.
Soothe permitted it for a few moments before once again forcing them apart.
"Okay," Scout said. "STOP doing that."
"No," Soothe said, affixing Trill with a disgusted look. "Because it's a fake gesture and the exact reason why I didn't let him go to Treasure Town."
Trill shivered, fluttering his wings again. "You have no right to dictate what others do, how does that make you different from-"
"Don't. Finish that."
Trill paused and considered his words. "…You are right; I shouldn't say something like that."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Don't hug Trill, Scout. He doesn't feel the same way; he can't."
A muscle in Trill's head twitched. "At least I am TRYING," he snapped.
"I tried too!" Soothe replied. "Tried for a looong time before Indeedee cut it all out of me. Every time I thought I could maybe get out, or be something, or just have someone who could care about me, she-"
She cut herself off again.
A muscle bulged in her neck, and Scout stepped back until Soothe took a very long breath. A crackle of something purple crept around her fur, snaking up her spine and along her ears before she breathed out, and it faded.
Scout took another step back; that was the first time he'd seen a proper reaction of this kind from Soothe. Suddenly, her position of danger felt a great deal more real to him, a visible reflection of the Shadow within her.
Trill was also standing very stiff, almost like he was hit by the wand again, but as Soothe relaxed, so did he.
"That's curious," she muttered. "Having one of those. I wonder if that means you're okay." She glanced at Scout appraisingly. "Or if you both just piss me off so much, I begin to lose my control over It regardless. Let's not count you fine just yet."
He set his jaw, but she was turning away.
"Since Scout has already said too much," she said, leaving Scout feeling judged for crimes he did not commit. "I might as well pile on. We've got ourselves a truce, one that you are confirming the wicked bitch helps a lot with."
"That was almost something nice you just said," Trill drawled.
"Whatever, it's time to re-evaluate our position," Soothe said. "Beforehand, it was a very shaky 'maybe' that we'd be able to get you. But not only are you here, if you can be trusted, you've got more time than ever to act on your own before the madness takes hold." She smiled grimly at the idea. "And you left on your own power, so that's nice."
"I am ready to help," Trill said slowly. "I have seen the depths of her depravity and cannot stand it any longer."
"Trill…." She shook her head. "You've only seen the start of it."
"…Either way, I will not suffer more." He quirked his head. "Why were you coming to rescue me?"
"The only one strong enough to take Indeedee on is probably Rhythm," Soothe explained. "And as long as she has you, she can hold that over him."
"He would fight," Trill said.
"Like he fought me?" Soothe replied, causing his beak to snap shut. "Rhythm is a lot of things. Brave, smarter than he seems, strong. But he's too kind. He couldn't kill me. And he'd do anything for you."
Trill couldn't really refute that, now could he? He'd asked Rhythm himself in the dead of night why he had let Soothe go, and he knew in his heart of hearts Rhythm would do the same for him. Despite their promise to each other.
"What was next then?" Trill asked. "After me?"
He received blank looks. One from Scout and a cool look from Soothe that he recognised as her, thinking quickly to cover her ass, face. "You hadn't planned ahead?" he said with disappointment immeasurable upon this ruined day.
"We didn't think we'd get this far this soon," Scout defended, quieting when Soothe smacked him on the head. "What was that for?"
"I was thinking of an excuse to make us not look bad," Soothe snapped.
"I think he could tell."
"No one can prove that."
"I could," Trill said flatly.
"He couldn't," Soothe assured, and both of her hostages rolled their eyes.
There was a moment of lightness that pulled at smiles before grim reality returned with milk and cigarettes from the store. "Indeedee is going to attack Treasure Town?" Scout asked, and Trill nodded. "We have to go NOW then, warn them."
"And play into her plans?" Soothe spat bitterly.
Scout stared at her with wide eyes. "You'd just LET THEM DIE?"
"The town is strong," she grits out.
"From what you've said about her, not strong enough!"
"Why is she attacking the town?" she asked Trill sharply, and he sighed.
"To draw you two out," he replied, and she gestured to Scout in a 'told you' pose.
"I don't care," Scout said as sharp as his claws. "I don't care if that's what she thinks we'd do, and we're playing into her hands. I am NOT allowing the town to be attacked and do NOTHING about it."
"Could Rhythm be in town?" Trill asked softly.
"He was part of our team," Scout replied, glancing at the ground. "Helping us look for Soothe. I don't know; he's probably still with Rai and Mane."
Scout sniffled, still missing them fiercely and staring firmly at the ground.
"…How has Rhythm been?" Trill asked cautiously. Soothe was just not talking at the moment. "Indeedee has only…told me the bad things she'd picked up off the Psychic Network."
Scout winced. "He…." His awkwardness was pretty telling to Trill. "He wasn't doing okay for a while, I was…gone through most of the worst of it, though, and no one wanted to really talk about that time because of losing…you and me and everything else that happened."
Swallowing, Scout continued. "But he started getting okay more recently, taking charge of the town, keeping spirits up and helping everyone. Having Armaldo to help take some of the load was big too. He's been okay with us. He misses you, though. Both of you," he added.
Sighing at the mention of it all, Soothe dragged a hand down her face. "What are we going to do then?" she asked. "I don't think we should go. As much as it sucks, this is literally what She wants us to do. Going there isn't going to make much of a difference."
"Any difference matters," Scout protested. "And we can warn them! There's an escape tunnel now; start getting people away. There are so many civilians and non-fighters there. There are children, Soothe."
"You don't know how much more damage Indeedee will be able to do once she has us for whatever plan she wants." She had caught and was still trying to determine what it meant about Trill saying Indeedee was, in fact, after both of them. Not just her. Not just Scout. Both of them.
They stared each other down for a long moment before turning to Trill; he was the third person here. Who did not look happy at being the obvious tiebreaker.
"You're kidding," he said flatly. "You want me to add my part?"
"Seems we're a trio now," Soothe said dangerously calmly.
"I can't tell how many hostages are here," Trill protested.
"That depends on your answer, I guess."
Trill turned his beak up at her and fluttered. "I…I will need some time to think about it. Both of you make good arguments, so if I am going to be this decision-maker, I am going to evaluate the pros and cons myself until I come to a decision."
It was so jarringly like old times in the guild that Scout almost glanced over to smile at Rai and Mane, but neither of them was here.
"I'm so happy you're here," Scout said.
"Don't suck up!"
"You threatened him."
"You're reading into it."
"How is 'depends on your answer' not a threat?"
"Oh, you'll see a threat from me when you hear it."
Trill shook his head at them as they argued
This was going to be a very odd time, wasn't it?
"We should move," he barked. "I know the direction I came from, which was where Indeedee is. I can guide us away."
"If we can trust you," Soothe said, almost playfully. Scout dared to nudge her for the comment, and she nudged him back with force. "Go on then, Trill. I at least trust you."
Scout gave her a filthy look for sucking up and chased after them. "Wait. Up!"
A very odd time.
Sean will be okay. But Keira somehow continues to find ways to upset him even now. Pity blood transfusions are a little much for this level of technology, was tempted, tempted, but no. He's a luc now; he's tough.
What's that? Your Sean is evolving!
Dun-Dun-Dundun-Dun-Dun!
Congratulations, your twink has evolved into a twunk!
Also, Scout finally got to hug bird dad again. That was nice.