The wind buffeted my face and blew my fur every which way, releasing any built-up warmth I'd gathered. Gab had told me at some point that Absol lived in remote areas like mountains. So, like, did they just live to suffer? This Absol was not a happy camper. I was squinting even more than usual, eyes dry and blurry. Even the back of my eyeballs felt cold.
As per usual, we kept walking. Gab had gotten off my back to stretch her legs, though the cold made that a tough decision. The rain had stopped and the puddles had dried. While there were some damp spots on the trail, most of the water floated as humidity. It made for paths with a lower risk of slipping, but the cold rivaled the windy plains back home. My paws ached from overexertion. Somehow, the pain made me feel like I was progressing. It felt good, like tearing off dead skin.
I knew I looked stressed. The new addition to my Absol powers was ruining my train of thought. I kept getting distracted by thinking I saw colours. Wait, was that a twinge of blue? No, just my imagination. Some pink there, maybe? Every time I thought I saw something, the colour faded into gray upon looking back. As an Absol, when nothing was colour, everything was.
Near the very end of the road, I got impatient. I leapt the last of the way up top, not wanting to loop another time around. If my thoughts ran too fast to catch, like mice running from a starving cat, I was allowed to pounce with feral intent. Scraaaatch, scraaaatch. I landed with my claws scraping the floor, making me slide for half a second. When I was done being an idiot with the zoomies, the sound of rushing wind returned to my ears. It was full of low moans and high whistles. I shook out my fur. It had been a clumsy scramble, but at least my focusing on something had cleared my brain a skosh.
Gray. It was all gray.
On the peak of the mountain, nothing crackled or spawned. There was indeed no immediate danger. As Kieran had reported, the top was flat and circular, about the length of a classroom. I cussed under my breath.
Damn it! Now, what?
I sat my Absol butt down and waited for the others, though they weren't far behind. Soon, everyone got settled in our own little circle, like it was the most casual thing in the world. I instinctively scooched over next to Micheal as he was the Fire type and I was a Cold As Hell type at the moment.
"Game plan, real quick!" The Litleo shouted over the winds. If I'd still had eardrums after those gale winds, he would've ruptured them. "You see anything?"
Micheal's voice became softer when he focused on me. No! I shook my head. No, I hadn't! No, don't treat me like I'm some dumb sick animal! No, stop pitying me!
You could cut the tension with a knife. Hell, with how aggressive the gusts of wind were, they could've done the job eventually. The fiery tuft of hair on Micheal's head was a washed-out orange in the corner of my eye. Trick of the light or nightmare echo, I supposed. If my sight wanted to go haywire with the colours right now, I was gonna lose it. I refused to focus on that damn scythe.
But, like, I had to. I closed my eyes and tried to replicate the feeling from my dreams. To my surprise, I did notice something, but it was kind of like background noise. Not anything I could use. Still, uh… I noticed it. I'd levelled up in my abilities. Like walking on four legs, it was an unnatural thing my body was just more used to than I was.
I sighed. "I can't tell."
Back to looking for spritzes of colour in this black and white world. It concerned me that I'd be getting my fully functional colour cones when I would finally get back home. At this rate, I doubted I could look at a rainbow without freaking out, which was just cruel concerning the bisexuality.
… man, it sucked when my dumb jokes didn't land.
I walked around, scrutinizing every detail on the floor. There were a few raised rocks and stalagmites here and there, but nothing that jumped out to me. Not like I was going to impale myself by accident on something twice the size of my jump height. The others snooped around as well, and I let out a sigh. Not of relief, just to fill the air.
I glanced to the side—
Brown. Ruddy gold, but blazing bright. It attacked my eye. Before I knew what I was doing, my claws were swiping at a spike jutting out of the ground.
"Lola!" Micheal shouted.
I looked at my trembling, pebble-ridden front paw. The claw marks denting the rock were large and deep, a testament to Slash's strength. A choking silence had enveloped the peak, something that made me aware of how loud I'd been about this. I cleared my throat.
"There was something there," I excused.
To my surprise, though, the stalagmite sunk into the rock floor, and a rumble started from under us. Although my claw marks were prominent, it seemed I'd done something without breaking whatever the level wanted us to hit. Everyone huddled together in surprise. Chloe must've been happy.
My mouth ran dry as I expected a fight. What, was I really supposed to just press a button to spawn the murder machine this time? No one else had noticed it! The center of the platform was split when a circle drew an outline on the floor. It deepened into a hole with staggered platforms as the rock descended. Stairs. It made some spiral stairs.
There was yet another deafening pause as the passage finished forming itself. I heard the wind whistle, a pain in my ears. No hums, no carrion bells, no end yet. The dungeon wanted us to go in.
"Um," Gab stammered. "Are we— do we—"
"There's no way left but through," Micheal sighed. "Dungeon-crawling it is."
"So. It's the Rock stage," Kieran retorted.
If he could stare daggers through someone, I could throw a claymore. And if everyone was going to walk on eggshells around me, I was allowed to counter the energy by being pissy. In my head, that made sense, anyway. I exhaled through my nose with a huff. That silenced whatever snickering Kieran had going on. He looked in another direction.
"Do you…" Micheal mumbled to me, that horrible concern in his eye. "Do you want to sit this one out?"
I counted heads. If I had my type matchups right, Absol and Meditite were the only two Pokémon here without a Rock weakness. I had to go. I shook my head no. I walked toward the secret stairs and the rest followed.
"You have got to be kidding me," Kieran complained. "It's ripping off Indiana Jones too?"
Micheal squinted at him. "That is far from the only movie with trap doors."
"I'd say it's more of a secret passage," Chloe said. Oh, the technicalities.
Why'd we have to go inside this friggin' mountain? That wasn't what mountains were for. They were all outsides, right? Longer caves and tunnels at the bottom, superficial holes near the peak where there was less room. Although the cave had a nice yet cool climate, I was unsettled.
Why were we heading into the maw of a volcano again?
Back home, everything was flat. Present-day Manitoba held the remains of this huge ancient lake, which made the ground pretty uniform. No mountains. No trouble.
No Cave of Wonders with disaster dog Aladdin. Wait—
My step slowed. I'd been taken aback, surprised myself that I could find levity here. All my jokes going up to the peak were really forced, and even I could tell. My brain had just shot that one out without me thinking about it. A reflex, maybe? I'd forgotten I could get human ones.
Gab noticed me lagging behind and waited until I'd reached her, then we continued walking in silence. Her gaze went everywhere as she looked around, except for making eye contact. She gripped a mushroom cluster tight, letting it illuminate her path. I hadn't seen her quite this nervous in a while. I didn't have anything to say to reassure her, though. There was a breeze from somewhere, but not from behind us.
"Woah!" Kieran exclaimed. Micheal shushed him.
I padded over to the opening the Beedrill had spotted. Though the hallway continued down for much longer, that window showed a huge chamber inside the cave. Light beamed down from the ceiling through a hole that opened outside. Must've been where the breeze was coming from. Yeah, that looked like a proper battle arena. It looked like the boss Pokémon had already spawned from another fight, like that jungle with the— never mind that. It hung upside down against the wall, like a bat. But bats were cute. That was a flying lizard with jaws as big as my leg. Luckily, it hadn't seen us yet.
"Aerodactyl," Kieran said, at a stealthy volume this time.
"What makes it so some bosses are already there, but others have to spawn?" Gab thought aloud. A valid point! It wasn't something we were going to ponder for long, though. We needed to determine how to win.
In the cramped hallway, we started the world's most claustrophobic strategy meeting.
Valérie shot her plan out first. "The tunnels go all the way around. We surround this thing and hide while it's flying in the chamber. Long-range moves from our hidey-holes, rinse and repeat, and he's a goner."
"Stick together, remember?" Chloe whined.
"Overridden," Valérie retorted. "This is us being smart, for once."
Micheal coughed. "Yeah, I agree with Valérie," he nodded. "On the plan. On the plan, I mean. Valérie, that's just rude. Let's circle the top level. We can corner the Aerodactyl from there."
Squinting through the opening, I could put together a picture of the chamber and surrounding hallway. The chamber was cylindrical in shape. The stairs behind the opposite wall seemed to continue unimpeded down to the ground floor, joining our side in a spiralling path with openings in the wall every so often. It was a natural coliseum! There was even a big garage door looking hole at the bottom where they'd send in the lions to eat the gladiators. I was suddenly reminded of animal docs about anthills. A shiver ran down my spine. Was the structure natural? Yes. Did it imply creepy critters crawling day and night across this construction site? Yes. Were there any ants? No. There weren't any ants. There were never any bugs. Because this world was weird and uncanny and wrong and—
"Lola? Are you gonna be okay?" Chloe asked quietly. She looked over her shoulder with big, sopping wet eyes. Gimme a break!
"Yeah," I shot back way too fast. Chloe reeled back a little, but gave me a quick nod of approval. I could be more reassuring. "Tell you what. I'll go with Gab. Is that cool, Gab?"
"Sure," the Emolga answered. She was gripping the straps of her backpack tightly, but no wringing of the hands. Good. She wouldn't panic. I liked knowing that she could handle herself under pressure.
Gab and I took the tunnel on the left, and it got small real fast. Although the natural parapet kept going along the wall, I found it hard to register this as an open space. Or even a comfortable space. Sometimes, I felt the ceiling pressing against my back, and my scythe kept bumping into things. It made me flinch every time, not hurting me, but burning away my focus like a grease fire.
When we were in position, I took note of where everyone else was. Yup, all the Pokémon on my team were also ready. We only had a few projectile moves, so the hard part would fall to Gab, Kieran, and Valérie. What we were waiting for now was for someone to start the fight.
"Hayah!" Kieran shouted, the sound echoing faintly. From his direction came a cloud of spikes thrown at the Aerodactyl. Poison Sting.
The attack hit the mark. Its eyes opened.
The Aerodactyl growled and hissed. Its shoulder muscles rippled from strain as it readied itself for a lunge. When it took to the air, the growls turned to shrieks. It beelined for Kieran's spot, and through the opening I saw him try to run down the hallway. And, in one of the stupidest moves I'd seen him pull, he jumped out of the window.
Wait, no! What are you doing—
Well, what were our options? Jump down and have to face a flying monster with the high ground? Fly to fight the things that's strong against things that fly? Or stay in our little bunkers hoping it wouldn't come for whoever attacked it? We were sitting ducks! I was sure Valérie was kicking herself for that idea.
Rocks spawned from around the Aerodactyl as it readied its assault on Kieran. I remembered where I'd seen this motion. The colours were from the dream. The attack was from another boss battle. Ancient Power. Turned out they sported brown tones, fossil patterns, and a bright bluish purple aura. They foamed with colour saturation and moved so fast I couldn't warn Kieran. Ancient Power hit him square in the shoulder.
Slam!
"Agh!" Kieran shrieked. His wings stopped beating and he fell twenty feet to the ground. He wasn't just crash landing, he was also dazed as hell. His chest went up and down with his panting and he moaned in pain after impact. At least, his wings were twitching as he found his bearings on the floor. They still worked. They weren't cracked or broken.
Valérie let out a war cry. She raised her arm as if throwing something. I knew Hidden Power was coming. Well, water was a good thing against the rock guy!
A water orb sloshed through the air and struck the Aerodactyl in the face with a splash. The enemy roared, thankfully buying us some time as it hovered, momentarily blinded. While the Aerodactyl receded in colour saturation, Valérie's attack had shone a clear blue. I'm— I'm sorry, did the colours change because of power levels now?!
It's not supposed to be like this!
Apparently, friendly fire counted as danger. My mouth hung open. All those blips of colour I'd seen in the corner of my eye before… were they real? Monstrous tones spiralled all around me. My scythe buzzed like crazy, and the dream sense was still faintly there in the waking world. No! I wasn't ready!
The Aerodactyl roared in that hoarse and ragged way boss Pokémon did. I finally saw the bright reds on those translucent cubes we'd dubbed "the pixels." The colours flooded in and out of the picture. Red, white, purple, gray. Red, white, purple, gray. Red, white, pur—
Gold and indigo!
Ancient Power was up again. Anyone other than Val and I had a weakness to that, so all the Aerodactyl needed to do was hit the other two thirds of the team. It just needed to get lucky. My eyes narrowed in anger, but then widened in surprise. That attack was heading our direction, and it announced itself by searing its brightness into my corneas.
"Look out!" I shouted, although Gab was right next to me. She screamed and scrambled further into the covered part of the tunnel. As I ran after her as best I could, Ancient Power hit the back wall. The cracks from the impact were right where my head had been, and there's nothing that sobers you up faster than that.
Well, nothing other than a cave-in.
Crk. Crk.
The fissures in the rock grew and grew, and yellows and reds flashed on places where the ceiling would fall— we'd be crushed. There wasn't much space here to begin with! Only one spot was gray, and luckily Gab was racing into its radius. Once she'd crossed the threshold, I barked at her.
"Don't move!" I howled.
She froze. Within the next second, I was also in that small light gray circle on the floor. I laid down and stupidly shielded my head with my front paws. Gab sped to my side, hugging my leg. The horrible wait started—
CRASH!
— and ended just as quick. What was once the ceiling had fallen so fast on the rest of the floor that even I had to adjust my eyes to the lack of light. I shook my head, attempting to steel my nerves a little. The air was dry and full of fresh airborne dust. I could feel Gab's chest against my leg, rising and falling with frightening speed. Her heart was racing— or was that mine? I suppressed a cough.
The enclosed space, the too-clear and loud claws scratching at the wall, the isolation? It was all too familiar. I tried to make a Dark Trap joke, but I couldn't think of anything.
"C-can you see?" Gab whimpered. Right! No Flash, no night vision, no natural light. She must've dropped her mushroom torch. We didn't think of checking her backpack in the moment.
"A little," I breathed. "Keep holding on to my leg."
I inspected our surroundings, and found the rocks to be refreshingly gray. My breathing spiked despite this. The sounds from the battle outside echoed against the walls, which rendered it into an incomprehensible mess. There was danger, but no visual sign of it, and that made me flex my claws on instinct. Seeing only black and white was putting me on edge now. All my senses were locked in a tomb— wait. I missed seeing colours again?! What the hell, brain? Make up your mind!
Gab must've noticed my rapid breathing. "Lola! Lola, it's okay!"
"No, it's not!" I snapped. My throat ached suddenly. No! No crying! "I can't— I can't see outside!"
"There's a wall! Of course you can't!"
"I need to! I'm scared, but we're all scared! It's my fault I— I—"
I didn't know what kind of deescalation technique Gab was attempting, because it sure wasn't working. I knew deep down that nothing could've been done about Henry because nothing had been done. We were living in one timeline, and one timeline only. Learn from your mistakes all you want, but that doesn't make the accidents and oversights un-happen. The dust was a mild inconvenience but it made breathing so much harder. I looked down, and though I knew Gab couldn't see my expression, she'd met my gaze with a shift in her face. Those teary eyes turned urgent and intense. She was trying her best to be calm too. Her grip tightened on my leg.
"I'm so scared all the time, Lola," she shook her head. I knew she wasn't trying to one-up me. "Please. I get it. Talk to me. T-to us. To us, Lola."
I couldn't keep running. I did miss seeing things in colour. Being afraid of them was messed up. I hated feeling so scared. But I was scared! It put some things into perspective for me. If I was this upset, maybe I could trust myself a little and believe that I was in pain. Being here for so long ached and weighed me down. Well, me and the others. Us.
It was December 19th. Six days til Christmas. And we'd left the Earth in mid-November.
Over one month... had we seriously been here that long? Those were weeks of my life spent in a place where I could die at any corner, days I could've been missing on Earth, when all but one minute had caused it.
"I can't go out," I snarled in distress. "There's too much that can kill us."
"A-and it's all around?" She said, leaning her head on my leg. An eternity passed in a second.
I tried to focus on the blacks and whites and… and grays. I needed me some grays. Even a little colour. The smallest variance. I squinted, wet blurry eyes looking at the tiny flying squirrel trying to comfort me. Dark gray, white, yellow. Just right.
I couldn't keep using her as a therapist. She was as petrified as I was. I needed her to feel better, and I needed to just stop crying. Deep in my gut, there was one abstract comfort. It only took an instant to realize what it was before I spoke up.
"I love you. Be my girlfriend?"
The words were wrenched out despite myself. Gab looked back in surprise.
"I— what?"
Oh, God. Oh, God. That wasn't the reaction I expected. Hell, I hadn't expected anything since those words were falling out of my dumb, stupid mouth— that was a surprise to me, too!
In the distance: a battle howl. I squinted through the minuscule holes of light in the rubble. There, with a twinge of purple, was our shiny pterodactyl man. The Aerodactyl wasn't done with the fight, but we weren't down either.
"Talk later," I barked.
"Yup," Gab chirped.
I stretched out my leg to make it easier to climb. "Climb on. I'm slashing us out of here."
I closed my eyes to focus. The spurs on my back legs scratched against the wall, and I struggled to find enough room to build up momentum. No Slash unless I could throw a swing. Unless—
The scythe glowed white on command. Ugh! Why hadn't I thought of this before? Instead of three thin lines as from my claws, Slash from my horn boasted what amounted to an axe. With a scream to brace myself, I leapt forward and swung it against the wall.
When we broke out, fresh air was pounded into my lungs. It was cool and thin and humid, but free of dust. My legs dangled down with no floor under me. With the split second I got while floating, I took account of the Aerodactyl's condition. It was a light, warm purple-gray against dark reds and yellows. Blue and orange and green fizzled in as attacks came in from the sides. They were brighter than the boss.
"Get him!" I shouted. Blinding fast, Gab hopped from my back, to my head, to the winds.
There was a flash of light, and a deep crackle as the bolt hit its mark. While I was glad the Aerodactyl was hit, I had other things to focus on.
I was still falling down from the top level to the floor.
I closed my eyes and trusted the scythe. It was the only thing I could do. The dangerometer sense was loud. Did it jot down all the air currents? It wasn't like I could walk around blind, but little movements here and there formed a surprisingly usable map of potential threats. I twisted and turned strategically, my scythe telling me when to lean into a wind current and when to roll in another direction. It was like dancing!
When I opened my eyes, the colours… the colours were beautiful again.
If Detect was autopilot, this danger sense and navigating the winds was manual. It wasn't Absol intuition. It was all me. That added control brought a smirk to my lips.
I landed on all four feet. My paws and joints stung at the impact, but I was alive. I'd avoided death by falling by maneuvering my way through the air. Woah.
"Has Absol been a cat this whole time?" I mumbled. But then I realized how cool what I'd done was. "Yooooo!"
"Ngh," came a grunt from someone else on the floor. Kieran!
I ran over and put my body between him and the Aerodactyl, although it was busy with the others. I'd just survived a fall down the Tower of Pisa. I could take a Rock attack. "Gab's up there with the backpack," I told him. "We'll get you back up, dude."
"Mm-hm," he sighed. "Just— I'm lying down."
"Yeah. Keep at it. We're here."
When I looked back up, the attack coordination was striking. Valérie had stayed in the same spot as a flightless Meditite, but Gab zigzagged and ping-ponged her way all around the arena. Being lighter than the bulky pterosaur made her faster and harder to hit. And, of course, whenever she flew she socked him with another lightning bolt.
Suddenly, a howl! It was so loud, so shrill, so abrupt that the fur on the back of my neck rose up. But it was good news. The Aerodactyl kept bellowing as it extended its wings, trying to keep flying. It was disintegrating in the air as it fell.
The pixels never even hit the ground. The pterosaur was no more.
"Yeah!" I shouted. The enthusiasm was contagious. Everyone else cheered from their corners, laughed, hooted and hollered, and I was comfortable with the coliseum setting again. We were gladiators and we'd killed the beast! Or, uh, the other gladiator. It wasn't fair, but it was what we'd done so far, right? My heart sunk. A pyrrhic victory, as we'd grown accustomed to.
"You guys need help?" Gab asked us from close to the ceiling. Her voice was small and far away. Man, she'd gotten enough air to glide all the way over there?
"Get him some Orans, but he'll be fine."
"Persim, though?" Kieran yelled. "Can I get a Persim?"
I checked back on him. "Persim? Did it hit you with—"
"For the trauma," he grumbled. "Next best thing when there's no lollipop at the doctor's office."
"We all need Persims, then, brah. Commandment eight: don't eat all the Persim berries."
Kieran was a very brave boy, thank you very much. He was far less stunned by the time the rest of the group had come down. Chloe and Gab had flown to the floor, of course, and that left Micheal and Valérie to climb down the stairs. With a bell and a hum, the portal opened in the center of the rock floor. It wasn't the bell sound from my dream, but I guessed I would figure that one out later. My adrenaline-fuelled brain chose to focus on the euphoria of seeing that portal.
"It's yellow," I stared in awe. "It's yellow!"
I grinned like an idiot, so happy to see what the portals had actually looked like this whole time. This one ranged from daffodil to eggshell to neon to gold to— agh, so many yellows! Gab snickered, but everyone else had the wherewithal not to laugh. Excuse you, no need for wherewithal here! We speak like kids at a sleepover or we die!
I sighed. "Man, the PokéWorld really just made me colourblind until I graduated clairvoyance."
"Kieran, she's back on that again," tattled Valérie.
"And I'm not listening," he answered. He kept doing windmills with his left arm. At least he wasn't wincing that bad anymore.
Micheal was lying down. Poor guy. He didn't do well with nerves. "We can say goodbye to this level now. Thank God."
"Well? What do you say, then?" I chuckled. "Want to say something to the mountain?"
"We beat level nine!" Kieran announced, thrusting his stingers in the air.
"We're halfway there!" Gab yelled for all the coliseum and beyond to hear. That's right! Nine out of eighteen. The echo ricocheted through the cave, unopposed, until—
"Livin' on a prayer!" Chloe belted.
It was so corny I couldn't help but snort.
Gab joined in, only looking away and sighing after a couple seconds. At least she wasn't avoiding me. Only the subject. And hell, even with that bit of embarrassment, was that really the worst that could happen?
… Okay, honestly, I was a bit scared.
A/N:
Lmao noooo don't date her what if she sees your bathtub
But seriously, I've been nicknaming the next part the "stupid romcom episode" since its inception. Stay tuned, although I have a busy schedule so expect around the same gaps of time between parts. I have the great privilege of being the maid of honour at my friend's wedding soon! Wishing you readers a good one.