Arven glanced at the oven. From this angle, he couldn't see inside of it, but he could see the vent pointed at the open window. Its normally steady billow had turned into a tiny line of smoke. Arven abandoned his other ingredients and hurried over. The warm red glow inside the charring wood had gone dark and cold. Arven grabbed a piece of kindling and prodded at the logs, only to witness the fire's final puff of extinguishing smoke.
He hung his head in defeat. "You had one job," he muttered to Ash.
"Oops," Ash said with a nervous laugh. "I didn't mean to forget it. Your story was just so interesting." When Arven didn't lift his head, Ash dropped the casual approach and said in a more sincere tone, "I'm really sorry."
"It's okay," Arven sighed. "I just...need to relight it."
He knelt down and pulled a short but thick branch from the wood pile and bushed the mostly-burnt logs to the side. A few good smacks and they crumbled apart. In the cleared oven space, he pulled in the logs that hadn't been fully consumed yet and added a couple fresh ones into a haphazard square. Then he dropped the branch into the center and grabbed several more to add, along with some straw for fresh tinder. He hoped he might uncover a few remaining sparks to reignite the fire but no luck. Looked like he was doing this on his own.
The biggest downside of describing Scovillain as his Source was people expected him to actually start a fire without tools. Which meant even though he kept flintstones in the kitchen, when anybody needed one, the rocks would conveniently disappear from Arven's stash. Today was no exception. Arven peeked in the box where he usually kept them and came up empty. He sighed and looked back at the tinder pile he'd created.
Well, it wasn't the first time he'd had to fake re-starting a fire. And Ash, in his experience, would be easier to fool than most. He went into the vegetable stash and picked out a large brown mushroom. He cut it in half, then ran the blade of the knife back and forth gently across the sliced surface, shaving the top layer into a fine fungus-based fluff. It was a trick he'd learned from Atticus's crash course in survival, and it had helped him out quite a bit so far.
To be convincing, the fire had to catch quick. Ash wasn't scrutinizing him like Bridge or Senator Vital did from time to time. With his back facing Ash, Arven closed his eyes and called out in his mind, reaching across the barrier between humans and Pokémon:
"Ting-Lu? I need some help here."
Ting-Lu was quick to respond. If he'd been listening in to the events so far, no doubt he found Ash very interesting. Then again, maybe he was just bored and eager for conversation. Ah. You need an Earthquake?
"No."
Are you quite sure? I am skilled at Earthquakes.
"I just need a flintstone. Mine got pilfered again."
This time there was a long pause before Ting-Lu replied, You know I am not the best at producing rocks.
"Yeah, I know."
You're going to give yourself a headache if you keep pulling on my powers to make rocks. You know, you have not tried to make a single Earthquake since we got here. I think it would be therapeutic for you.
"I've got an audience right now. Can we argue about this some other time?"
Ting-Lu sighed but relented, and Arven felt a warmth spread from his palms to his fingertips. This was by far the hardest thing to get used to in this universe. It wasn't enough to know what Pokémon moves and abilities were called anymore. He had to visualize them well enough to turn Ting-Lu's raw power into an actual effect. Arven imagined a shoreline with a tall white cliffside in the background. Sand was an easy visual connector to the ground-type energy. He conjured up the sensation of each footstep sinking into the darkest sand while a wave receded. As the smell and feel became vivid in his mind, a blob of reddish light glowed in his hand. Next he slowly shifted his mental image to a pebble beach, with layers upon layers of small rocks hit by the surf. He visualized the contrast between his feet in the soft sand, and the awkwardness of stepping gingerly across piles of smooth rocks. The blob of light shrunk down and condensed, becoming more and more solid until Arven could squeeze it tight. The store of energy from Ting-Lu drained quickly, but Arven kept his focus until his hands no longer felt warm. He slowly pulled back his fingers and saw to his pleasant surprise that he had, in fact, materialized a rock.
"Uh, excuse me?" Ash said, waving his hand. He'd gotten up from his spot by the oven and was practically looking right Arven's shoulder. Arven had been so focused on getting Ting-Lu's power to work, he hadn't noticed Ash move.
"F-fine!" he said, rotating to block Ash's view. Then, with the fresh chuck of flint in his hand, Arven quickly brought the knife's steel blade against it. A spark burst out and caught on the shaved bits of mushroom instantly. Arven dropped the rock and knife as smoothly as he could manage, then cradled the smoking mushroom in both hands as he carried it to the oven.
"Aww...I could barely see what you were doing," Ash whined.
"Nothing special. Just made some fire in my hand," Arven muttered in return. He did feel a little bad about lying to a kid he'd just met. But Senator Vital and Bridge knew what striking flint actually looked like. He'd fooled them so far, but then again, they'd rarely seen him start a fire in person. He needed to get better at this if he planned to keep up the facade.
Ash seems nice enough, he thought. I can always level with him later, once I'm sure he won't tell anyone. He fed the infant flame into the oven, where it caught the ends of straw quickly and soon set the remaining tinder alight. Then he pulled his hand back out before the fire decided to add his fingernails to the fuel.
"Wait. So you're doing that thing Damo-sorry, the thing Bridge does?" Ash asked excitedly.
"Yeah. Badly," Arven answered, assuming "that thing" meant "using a Source's ability." He fed the flame some fresh kindling to keep it growing strong. With each cluster of sticks and twigs, the fire cackled and spread, licking the logs and settling into place. Arven glanced up at the exhaust to see a healthy flow of smoke flowing out of it once again.
I wouldn't lie if I didn't have to, he reassured himself. But nobody can find out about Ting-Lu. Not yet. It's just too risky.
Ash, for his part, wasn't looking at Arven with the least bit of suspicion. In fact, he barely watched Arven at all. Once the fire got going, Ash watched the oven's flames with a wide-eyed expression. "Weird," he said, his voice distant.
"What's wrong?" Arven asked. "The fire bothers you or something?"
Ash shook his head. "No. Well, sort of. I'm not afraid of fire. I mean, I had a Charizard that threw Flamethrowers in my face all the time."
"Jeez!" Arven winced at the image of that. How was this kid not covered in scars? Moreover, how was he even alive? Arven had heard of Ponyta that didn't burn people they trusted, but he couldn't imagine a Pokémon that both trusted someone and regularly threw flames at them.
"No worries, it was how he showed affection," Ash said. "What I meant was, I'm not scared of fire, but I've never found it too interesting, either. Kinda boring, really. Looking at it now, though...I dunno...it's like it's trying to tell me something. Like I have a connection with it."
More likely you have a connection with Charizard, Arven thought, though he didn't say it aloud just yet. It took him nearly a month of practice to channel Ting-Lu's powers with any consistency. This kid came in out of nowhere with no regard for time-travel safety, no knowledge of the world, and he could just...do it?
Life was seriously unfair.
"Anyway, I'll, uh...get changed like Bridge asked," Ash said and headed down the stone steps out of the kitchen.
Arven nodded and went back to assembling the evening meal. The second round of loaves would go in soon, then the veggies last. So it was more waiting and being alone in his own head.
If he thought about it, maybe experience wasn't the relevant factor when it came to channeling a Source/Pokémon's energy. Maybe it only had to do with how easily you bonded with Pokémon in general. Arven would admit that back home, he didn't change his team up much, and the members he did have took a while to get close to. Wild Pokémon weren't fans of him, either.
Of course, even if he had somehow ended up here bonded with his pal Mabosstiff, it was still a dark-type. Not an ancient one with Legendary powers born out of human terror, but...he would not have made friends easily with it. Possibly he wouldn't have made friends at all. If anything, he should count himself lucky that Ting-Lu's secondary typing let Arven fake his way into the senator's service.
He sure didn't feel lucky. The memory of his loyal friend left an aching in his chest, and he refocused on his work to pull himself together. Someday he'd get back home to Mabostiff. And everyone else. At least people of every time and place appreciated a good chef. He amused himself with thinking of how Penny or Nemona would handle themselves in his situation. Or what skills they would offer the people they found in exchange for shelter and other necessities. Bet Nemona would roll up her sleeves and become the world's best potter or something in like, a two-week period, he thought. Penny would probably ignore everything in Sada's notes about not disrupting the past and somehow invent a computer in the third century.
By the time Ash got back upstairs, Arven had the meal nearly done, and the delightful smell of roasted vegetables and seasonings filled the small space. He rotated the ancient-style paninis just the right way on each plate, added a spring of basil for garnish as well as an extra pop of flavor, and quickly carried them out to the dining hall. Ash begged to carry something, too, and Arven reluctantly handed over one of the plates and told Ash to place it in front of Bridge. Impressively, he did so without even a hint of a stumble. Whereas Arven stubbed his toe on the leg of the table. Had he been carrying two plates, he likely would have dropped them both. For the second time, he kind of appreciated having Ash around.
He made a mental note to thank him over their own meal-Arven rarely ate with the senator or Bridge for that matter. There was a societal hierarchy that had to be observed and all. But much to his disappointment, he ended up eating alone back in the kitchen. Senator Vital was extremely interested in talking to this strange newcomer. He'd been the same when Arven first arrived, so perhaps it was nothing unusual. But seeing as how it was Arven's hard work on the table, breaking etiquette to let the cook eat with them wouldn't have been so bad, right?
#
That night, Arven struggled to fall asleep. It was weird having someone else in the room with him, for one. Also, Ash not only fell asleep instantly, he snored worse than Mabosstiff when it had a cold. Arven debated about shoving some hay in his ears to dampen the sound, but somehow, that didn't seem like it would end well. Instead, he lay awake, his eyes locked on a dark ceiling he could barely see, and dreamed about home. About his friends. Thinking of Penny earlier now reminded him of the Team Star bosses. Not the type of people Arven had expected he'd make friends with back in Paldea, but life had gotten pretty weird back then. What would they do with their lives if they were here? Let's see...Giacomo would be a bard of some kind...Eri would just tear some trees down out in the wilderness and survive on her own. Ortega... Arven strained to think but despite his sincere efforts, he couldn't picture Ortega doing anything other than getting himself impaled on a stick, courtesy of the warrior-level shepherd girl from Arven's second time stop.
And since that image was even more unpleasant than Ash's snoring, Arven buried his face in his arms and forced any wandering thoughts out of his head until he finally drifted off to sleep.
#
"Pepper! Pepper, wake up!"
Arven jolted out of bed. He had no idea what time it was, and the basement room didn't have any windows. But even the early morning sun would always cast a few shafts of light down the staircase. Now the stairs were totally dark. Something must have been horribly, unspeakably wrong for Ash to wake him like this.
"What's wrong?" he asked, reaching forward and trying to get his bearings. He was pretty sure he smacked Ash's hand once or twice. But eventually he did find the wall. His fingers traced the layers of brick as he made his way to the stairs.
"I can't believe I was so out of it-I didn't even realize!" Ash said. "The Jewel of Life! Has this version of Michina gotten the Jewel of Life yet?"
Arven stopped moving forward, but he kept his hand on the wall just in case. "The...what?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as quiet as possible.
Ash mimicked the lowered volume at first. But the more he talked, the more he got himself worked up. "The Jewel of Life. It was given to the people by Arceus back when I visited. It was made of the plates of Grass and Earth and Dragon, and-"
"There's no Arceus here," Arven groaned. "Or if there is, no one's seen or heard about it. Whatever happened in our universe didn't happen here. So go back to bed and stop being paranoid." He began to work his way backwards, bumping into Ash a second time.
And Ash was very much not going to bed. "If they haven't gotten it yet, and the crops are still healthy, that means..." He paused before his voice
"The meteor hasn't hit yet! We need to evacuate everyone!"
"Will you keep your voice down?" Arven hissed. He didn't mean to sound so dismissive. But claims of some distant meteor paled in comparison to the immediate threat of being kicked out for disrupting the castle staff in the middle of the night.
"Will you quit complaining about my voice when the whole city is in danger?"
Arven open his mouth to reply, but too late.
"What's all the ruckus down here?" a woman's voice called from the top of the stairs. Arven recognized her at once as one of the senator's personal attendants. Not the type of person to get on the bad side of. Not at all.
"Um, everything's fine!" Arven said.
"No, it's not!" Ash yelled. "Michina is gonna get hit by a giant meteor!"
"Excuse me?"
Arven winced. The attendant had a temper, but he'd never heard her quite that hacked off. He reached out and grabbed hold of Ash by his arms, forcing him to sit down on the straw mattress where he'd been sleeping.
"Ow!" Ash cried out. "Hey, watch it!"
"You are seriously going to make us both homeless if you keep this up," Arven said through gritted teeth. "I don't know how to explain it more clearly. This is not the same place you visited before. The same events will not happen."
"The people look the same," Ash pressed. "The town's name is the same. Even Marcus-ugh, even Senator What's-His-Face is still an important guy here. You can't know for sure the same stuff won't happen!"
More footsteps shuffled at the stop of the steps. Now it was Bridge's voice that called out. "Boys? Is everything all right?" The question wasn't unkind, but it had a distinct warning tone to it. The subtext was clear: either tell me something that's actually important or shut up, go to sleep, and don't you dare disrupt the staff like this again.
Arven swallowed hard. He hated to admit it, but he had no proof that events from their universe were separate. In fact, the evidence seemed to suggest otherwise. But surely any events that directly involved Pokémon wouldn't be repeated here? How could they?
Then he realized this was exactly Ash's fear. Arceus was a fickle Pokémon at best, but it had been known to rescue people from natural disasters. What happened if such a disaster occurred, and no Pokémon were there to stop it?
"Everything's fine for now," he called up to Bridge. "We're really sorry for the disruption. We'll both get back to sleep straight away."
The attendant huffed, and Arven caught snippets of Bridge speaking to her in a calming tone. Probably asking her not to mention this incident to Senator Vital tomorrow.
Ash started to object, but Arven shushed him until the adults' footsteps shuffled away and back to their own chambers for the night. He released the breath he didn't even realize he'd been holding. "Look, maybe you're right, and maybe you're wrong," he said. "But you can't convince people there's a problem by yelling at them in the middle of the night when everything else around them looks fine."
"So how do you convince them, then?" Ash whispered back.
Like I'm the expert there or something? Arven sighed. "I've brought a bunch of history books and stuff with me. Let's look up when this meteor hit Michina in our universe, and maybe that'll give us some hints about what could happen here. Okay?"
Ash grumbled in response to this but he did, eventually, agree to return to his bed and wait for morning. Arven had a sinking feeling that he wouldn't be getting much help with the meal prep tomorrow.