Fairy 6.17: Fairy Tales
Pixie
It's nice having someone who's only here for you. Skysong has her mate and Shirona and her "daughter" and whatever Liar is. You just have some of her attention. Now someone gives you all of theirs. It's like Kalani. Except Sitrus also doesn't want to own you or tell you what to do. Almost better. She's not cold, though, and while she isn't ugly she's also not beautiful.
You don't trust her. Not entirely. You can't after even a nine-tails hurt you. But she's nice. For now. Three of your tails are swishing just from talking to her.
"What do you want in life?" Sitrus asks.
Skysong asked you that question a long time ago. You don't think you're answer has changed. "I want to be loved." It didn't work last time. Or with Avalanche. But someone will love you.
It's possible to love you.
"Is it not enough to love yourself?" Sitrus asks.
You swish a fourth tail, this time from deep thought rather than happiness. Is it? It doesn't feel the same. Is it as good to wrap your body in your own tails as it is to be wrapped in someone else's? No. There's no protection. No love.
"You do love yourself, right?"
"Obviously." Why wouldn't you? Just because you were kicked off the mountain and abandoned by human after human and then a second nine-tails? Just because you've never done anything big? Why wouldn't you love yourself? Why wouldn't someone love you? Why wouldn't…
Why can't you be loved? Why aren't you ever good enough?
Sitrus doesn't notice you're unsure. Good. You don't want to deal with that.
It was bad before. Eggbreath never liked you and now she's unreasonably big. And she pushed you around in front of everyone. Now they probably think they can do that. Then Bloodrage came back just to dump his stupid bird on Skysong. You should probably give it a new name. Something particularly embarrassing.
It comes to you when you see Eggbreath charging forward with the bird sitting on her head, flapping his wings like he's the one moving. Birds. So dumb. He can be Flightless. Because he can barely even do the one thing birds are supposed to.
It takes a while for you to find him without Eggbreath or Skysong. That's necessary. Skysong would keep you from fighting and Eggbreath would fight you herself. They're off doing whatever they do together. Left the rest of the team to wander around a field near the floating city. Now you're alone and can teach Flightless and everyone else that they can't push you around. You're better now after a few eggs from Sitrus. Moving doesn't hurt. You can even run. Ear hasn't come back. Sitrus doesn't think it will.
You flick the remaining one in annoyance. Some things feel far too loud. Some things too quiet. Now the ocean feels very, very close with waves crashing right on top of you, but if you turn around it feels far away. Your ear keeps trying to swivel to catch sounds and it just can't. You have to move your entire head. Sometimes even your entire body. How dare Kalani do this? She… she lost more than you, in the end. And you still hear her neck snap in your nightmares.
Flightless looks up as you approach. You don't know where Eggbreath is. Don't really care.
"You. What do you want?" So annoying how you can understand him now. Skysong put him in the mind link. You couldn't think of a good reason she shouldn't. Even Sitrus wanted it. You aren't sure how to answer him, either. You want him to stop thinking you're weak.
"Fight."
He spreads out his wings. "Finally."
You nail him in the chest with an ice beam. There. That should be enough. Just a bird. He shrieks in surprise and looks down at the mass of ice on his chest before glaring and charging. What? Fine. You widen your eyes and try to put him to sleep. He misses a step, almost trips, and keeps charging with his eyes half-closed. No! You run to get a little more distance and he follows. If that's what he wants. You turn back around and shoot another ice blast at his feet.
He stops. Looks down at the ice with slow blinks. Then he looks back up at you, hisses with clear eyes, and starts to thrash. It looks like… did Eggbreath teach him one of her tricks? Close combat, Skysong calls it. You pull and disable that before he can hurt you. But the ice is already broken and he's charging in too fast to dodge or throw up a shield. Pain erupts in your shoulder and you blast out cold in all directions as you yowl. He just strikes you again.
No.
You are not losing.
With a mighty growl you prepare one more ice beam and shoot it straight into his dumb, ugly face. You keep roaring until his face is covered in frost and icy patches. There. Serves him right. Stupid bird. He panics and starts bashing his head into the ground to break the ice off. Funny to watch. You walk away to get some distance in case he goes in for another try.
He doesn't. Just looks at you with a predator's gaze. "When can we do that again?"
What?
"I need to think. Then we fight again," he says.
Is he… what? "Why?"
"So that I can learn to fight ice users."
"That's not what this was about."
"What?"
"You can't mess with me. That's what you should have learned."
He keeps staring. "Have I done something to you?"
"No. Not yet."
"Huh." He turns and starts to hop away. "You're weird. Let's fight again after the trial."
You liked him a lot better before you had to share a trainer.
Eventually you find your way back to Sitrus. She takes one look at your shoulder and gets concerned in the way that she does. "How did you hurt yourself?"
"The bird."
"Cuepiltia," she murmurs. "What did he want with you?"
"I fought him. Won. Proved that I could."
And now she gets annoyed in the way that she does.
"Why did you have to prove that?"
You like Sitrus. Better than the other pokémon around Skysong. She still doesn't understand. "Showed that I was strong. That I can win. That I can do things."
"And do you need that to love yourself?"
You huff. Obviously. "Why would I love myself if I'm no good to anyone. If no one else does? If everyone keeps pushing me away? That's just… I'm useful. I love myself. Everyone else should."
"I admire how you've kept going, no matter what happens. A lot of people wouldn't. It's admirable. You should be proud of it."
"What was the choice? Die?" You've thought about it. Almost let it happen before Firemane. No. You had to live to prove that it was wrong. That none of this should have happened. You had to…
"Sometimes that's the choice that people make."
Fools. If they die, they reject themselves. Prove that everyone was right.
"You know there are people who care about you, right? Me. Cuicatl. I'm sure there would be others if you let them."
"Why? What have I done for them?"
"Love doesn't require you to do things. It just requires you to be."
You sit down. Do your best to push cool air through your fur. It's getting unbearably hot at this time of year. Soon you'll have to go back indoors or find Skysong to take you into your ball. You look out at the beach. Fine sand that gets in your fur. Salt water that soaks it. Bright sun that burns. The humans love this place. This? This is agony. It must have been specifically made to torture your kind.
"What should I be, then?" you ask. Maybe someone comfortable here. Then Skysong could bring you more places. You could better pretend like she can give you a home. Maybe you could even make yourself into something worse, a not-vulpix, something like Eggbreath. Something that could find a home where there never was or will be one.
"You have to figure that out yourself."
No. You don't want to be here. Don't want to be someone who wants to be here. You're Pixie, Sixthborn of Avalanche, Firstborn of Kalani. You're not giving that away for humans. For anyone.
"I want to be home."
She steps forward so that her shadow falls on you and blocks out the worst of the sun. "You can make homes. For yourself and for others."
Here? In this terrible place? Really?
"You can tell Cuicatl and I what you need to feel at home. We can help."
Everyone tells you not to be a pain. Don't be annoying. And now Sitrus says that you should bother her or Skysong about everything that feels wrong like she can change the weather—
Well, her mate's cloud thing can.
Would he?
"I have an idea."
This is your best idea.
There's not quite enough snow to fully bury yourself in but you can still lie down on your back and spread out your tails and feel the cold breeze running over your belly. You focus and add more snow around you until it's nearly up to your chest. Eventually you'll need to figure out how to do this yourself. The nine-tails can and you will not be outdone by a living cloud that just bobs along with everything.
But this is very nice.
You will be polite to the cloud.
Someone jumps into your snow pile and sends it flying up and out. You make a very dignified and not at all scared screech of protest before looking at the culprit. Oh. Flightless. The bird dove right in and is flapping his wings around in it. "What are you doing?"
"Playing." He pauses, thinks, and then uses a wing to flick snow into your face. You close your eyes and just lick it off. "What's wrong with that?"
"Birds don't like snow."
"I do."
He really is a true Flightless. You spit a gob of snow into his face. He blinks, caws, and lunges in for another fight. It's less serious. Neither of you really use moves or claws, just trying to force the other down into the snow. The cloud just twirls in midair nearby.
Growlsleeper laughs. You ignore her and focus on the game. Which you win. Obviously.
Skysong wakes up and can't get back to sleep. She offers to take you on a walk. For once it's at a reasonable time when the sun is less bright and the air is cooler. This is a good thing. If you woke her up more—she might get annoyed and leave. You could ask her. Sitrus says so. Would she…
"Can we do more night walks?"
She hums. "Maybe? Not on the trail. I need to sleep through the night there. If I'm already awake in the city, fine."
It's maybe something. Not a yes, not a no. You'll press again later.
The streets of the floating city sway beneath you. The ocean salt is everywhere, the spray getting stuck in your fur and clogging your nose. The moon's reflection on the water is pretty. But it's not calm and clear like light in a mountain spring. Constantly broken up, shaking, reforming, breaking.
A shadow blocks out the moon's reflection. Something approaches. Something big. You growl and Skysong stops walking.
It sounds like a bug. It's far too big to be a bug. It smells far too sweet, like flowers pressed together. There are fur-like hairs on its head and constantly beating wings behind it.
"Ah, you! I had been looking for you!"
She's looking down. To you. Not to Skysong.
For some reason you can understand her. Even though she isn't speaking a language you know. A trick. Like Skysong.
"Why?"
"I had a question! You have nine tails but have not ascended. Why?"
You can't help but look back at your tails. You have eight. A ninth growing. About halfway done. Not a full nine as you count them. That's not what's important.
"Ascend?" Does she know how?
"Evolve, grow, embrace your heritage, become more. Whatever you wish to call it. The difference between having nine tails and being a ninetales."
"Can't. I'm not on the…" Kalani. Eggshell. They were kicked off the mountain, too. "How do you do it?"
She giggles. It's uncannily human. "Nuh uh! Not just going to tell you out of the goodness of my heart."
A bargain, then. Is the information worth paying for? You could get it from Openliver. Eggshell. Maybe even Sitrus would know. You don't need to bargain for it. You couldn't even use the information yet. But the idea of growing, of finally being truly strong and beautiful, it could drive you to it. If you were desperate. You will not seem desperate.
"What price do you want? I do not need the answer from you."
"Aww, you're no fun." She holds a thin black limb to her mouthparts. So, so human. "Maybe I should tell you. Tapu Fini placed me in charge of the island's fairies in her absence. But the humans want something different of me. They want me to test their challengers to see if they are worthy. Take the test. With or without your human. Prove yourself worthy. Then I will give you the information you seek."
Skysong finally speaks. "You're the totem, then?"
"Oh? You can understand me? Tell me, human, what is your name?"
"I don't know yours."
"An exchange, then. Very well. I am The Swift Lady of The Meadow, Ascended Fairy of Alola. Now, what is your name?"
"A daughter of the Harbor Queen."
"That's not a name."
"It's a title. Like what you gave me."
"Fair, fair. Yes, I am the totem of the fairy trial. Will I be seeing your companions in battle?"
"Soon."
"Excellent, I look forward to it. Goodbye, Daughter of the Harbor Queen. Goodbye, fledgling fairy. When next we meet, I shall hold nothing back."
Fledgling fairy.
The nine-tails have powers that the vulpix do not. Powers over light. Curses. Fairy magic, although Avalanche never called herself a fairy. Is that why the totem knows how to ascend? There's only one way to find out.
"I'm fighting in the battle." You can't leave this to chance or to someone else. You have to take it for yourself.
"If Sitrus approves."
Not a yes. Not a no. You will press Sitrus. Surely she will understand.
Sitrus is sleeping on the first solid ground outside the city. Can't sleep in the building because the blissey there keeps following her around and huffing and neither of them can work. She doesn't lie down. Just sort of sits and closes her eyes. She sleeps a lot. All the night, some of the day. Skysong says it's because she's old. Sitrus laughed when you told her but never gave the real reason.
It's probably because she's old.
"Sitrus." Her eyes immediately fly open and focus on you. She glances at Skysong behind you but you have most of her attention. As you should. "Can I fight in the trial?"
Her mouth opens, closes and opens again. "Why do you want to?"
"The bee who runs it said that she'd tell me how to evolve if we won. I want to fight."
"The bee… ah. Yes. And you're certain she knows?"
"She said she did. They can't lie, right? Fairy stuff."
"Depends on the fairy. It's more self-imposed than anything."
"Oh." Good. You wouldn't want to be forced to tell the truth. That sounds terrible. "Can I fight the bee?"
She sighs and finally stands up. "You still don't have full mobility and have hearing problems, but you won't aggravate the injuries taking normal hits. Assuming you take normal hits. This has historically been an issue, yes?" She glares at Skysong. Oh. She blames her for the bird thing. Why does everyone always do that? You wanted to fight and weren't strong enough. End of story.
"It's the final trial. They won't hold back."
Sitrus looks back to you. "Do not take physical hits." She looks up to Skysong. "Do not put her on the field until physical threats are dealt with. Vulpix are better at elemental attacks."
"Will do."
Sitrus and Skysong hold their gazes in a staring contest. But Skysong always wins. Sitrus blinks first. "Can I speak with you alone?"
"Yeah. Pixie? You okay with your ball for a bit?"
You don't want to. You want to know what Skysong and Sitrus say about you when you're not around. Do they actually like you? Are they just pretending? Maybe. But if you want to fight and learn and ascend, you'll have to do this.
"Yes."
You don't know how long it takes. Time is strange in the snow world. You don't bury yourself. Don't know if you'll have the time. You just pace, paws stepping lightly on the surface. They're talking about you. Making decisions for you. And you don't even know what they're talking about.
Maybe it's not you. Skysong and Sitrus have things they talk about. But why couldn't you be out for—
"You may fight if you feel you must."
Sitrus gives one final harsh glare to Skysong before walking off to find another sleeping place.
Skysong starts to take you back to her own bed without a word. And you? You're a little scared. This is your first real fight since Kalani. Since the bird before her. But if you want to learn the secrets of the nine-tails you'll have to do it. You'll have to be as strong as you say you are.
It's not until Skysong's asleep with you curled up beside her that you notice the saltwater on her face comes from the eyes and not the sea. And she's been quiet since…
…what did Sitrus say to her?
"Oh, miss, uh…"
"Ichtaca."
"Right, that." The captain shrugs. She's a strange human with a strange plant odor clinging to her skin and clothes. Her hair is many colors at once and her reactions are a little slow. How odd. "You leading with the vulpix? If not, you should withdraw her before the trial starts."
"We had a talk with your totem. This is Pix's fight as much as mine. She should be allowed to watch as long as she does not misbehave
You talked to Skysong. She agreed to let you stay out if she could. That way you could see the fight that determines if you will ascend. It makes you feel better. In control.
There's a buzzing sound as the totem zips into the field. A pulse of feeling, confidence?, surges through you. "She will not. We negotiated. If the fledgling fairy breaks her word, I will handle the punishment."
You shiver. She sounded really, really eager when she said that. Whatever her punishment is, you don't want it.
The captain just stares at her before shrugging. "Alright. If Wendy's okay with it. Let's get this show on the road."
The battlefield is one giant board that rises and falls with the waves. You and Skysong stand on one side of the dock connecting it. The captain stands on a dock off to the side. The other humans are on wooden stands somewhere behind you.
The totem—Wendy—cries out and a deep groan answers from beneath the waves. Something bursts out, spiraling around itself and sending water flying around. A ghost. Like Liar's. They hit hard enough to break rock. You don't want to fight it. A much softer murmur answers the ghost. Also familiar. A rock-fairy. Like Bloodrage has.
"Dhelmise and a carbink," Skysong murmurs. "Not the worst." She reaches towards her sash and pulls out the middle ball. Eyerock forms above the arena.
All of the opponents can float or fly. That could be a problem. Leo and Coco and kind of Flightless can't and they like hitting up close.
There's a small movement at the edge of Skysong's mind. Giving orders. Eyerock tucks its arms in under it and starts to charge. Wendy rushes off to the side. She's a lot faster than you would have thought. Hard to even keep track of her. The ghost rises higher to see what happens and the rock—the rock gets hit. Hard. And goes spinning backwards. Eyerock keeps charging and wraps on of its weird hands around the rock before starting to curl its fingers in. The rock lurches away with a tearing sound before Eyerock's other hand wraps around it.
Some of the metal pieces on the board start pulling themselves out of the wood and floating. What is that? Eyerock? Why? No, there's a ghost feeling around them. Wendy flits right by you and a layer of string, no, web, slowly drifts down to the ground.
Eyerock holds the rock in one hand while pummeling into it with the other. It doesn't seem to do as much. And the rock looks… shiny? You think you remember Bloodrage's rock doing that in a fight.
"The rock is doing something! So is the ghost!"
"Iron defense. I know. What's the ghost doing?"
Before you can answer the metal flies into Eyerock and screeches as it tears across its armor, leaving surprisingly deep scars. Is the ghost that strong?
{What just happened?} Skysong asks.
You tell her.
She says one of the angry human words.
{Poltergeist. Bad.}
"Why?"
{Carbink is making themselves harder to hurt. Dhelmise is hurting Noci. Ribombee is laying webs. We're getting outplayed.}
"Just attack the ghost or the bug?" If the rock is hard to kill she should attack something else.
{Can't. Rock hurts you, Leo, Cuepiltia. Need to take care of them now.}
Eyerock turns around and charges again. At the ghost. With the carbink still getting crushed in its hands. Dust flies off the rock where Noci's claws are. It's still very shiny.
Wendy suddenly stops in the middle of the arena to look at it. She trills something you can't understand and gets moving again. The dhelmise tries to get underwater but gets clipped. There's a bang when metal hits metal and then it's entirely below the water. Eyerock turns around surprisingly quickly and flies away.
There's a lot more web on the field than there was before. That could maybe be bad. The floating pokémon won't care. You will.
"Do you think carbink care about being underwater?" Skysong asks.
They're rocks. Rocks don't like water. Right?
"Yeah. That's what I was thinking."
Eyerock dives towards the edge of the platform and slams the carbink into the water. They start punching down, over and over, keeping it under.
Wendy stops abruptly and begins to screech. The pitch moves up, down, somehow side to side. Skysong covers one ear with her hand and presses the other to her shoulder as she reaches for the ear coverings stored on her belt.
"Going to need—nanamiqui."
What?
Movement in the corner of your vision. Eyerock fishes out the carbink, now with cracks in its steely skin, and throws it straight at Wendy. She manages to dodge the rock, but then Eyerock rams in behind it and clips her with a punch. The fairy rushes away but there's a trail of blood in her wake. Eyerock stops and tries to track her as the metal and wood beneath them separate and float.
"Ghost!" you bark.
Eyerock hears you and starts to move, but the wood just follows after them. A few things happen right after each other: the rock fairy stops in midair and starts to charge back towards Eyerock, skin glowing. Eyerock slams a hand into it. The hand… loses? The fingers are bent at odd angles. The other hand digs into one of the cracks, fingers placed together, and starts to spread them out. The rock hisses in pain right as the ghost's attack reaches Eyerock with more horrible screeching. Eyerock shudders and lets go. The rock fairy floats to the floor and covers its eyes with its floppy ear things. The captain (forgot her) makes the carbink disappear in red light.
"You did your job. Thank you," Skysong says.
Eyerock seems to nod as they slowly fall down to the remaining platform. Skysong withdraws them before they hit it.
The battlefield's a mess. The middle is ripped up and thrown around the rest of it. Some floats in the water. What's left has sticky webbing all over it. The rock fairy is gone. Was this worth it?
{Have to hope so.}
Skysong reaches back up to her sash and pulls off the blue one. A dive ball, she'd called it. Shattered Eyes forms on the platform. Good. Bugs webs probably don't bother a bug. The ghost floats back into the air and Shattered Eyes charges. He does a good job running. Steps around some webs, cuts others with his claws.
Wendy glows and a beautiful ball of shimmering light forms in front of her. "Light attack," you tell Skysong.
{From the fairy?}
"Yes."
You'd seen Kalani use it. What did the humans call it…
Moonblast.
It hits the last segment of Shattered Eye's armor and forces him off track, getting wrapped up in some of the string. He ignores it and keeps scuttling on towards the ghost.
"Why attack the ghost?"
{Can't have it on the field when you fight.}
Oh. That's sweet. She's doing this for you. It's. Unexpected. Nice.
The ghost spins and a long vine stretches out. Shattered Eyes jumps to the side and it comes down where he was, splitting open the board in a blast of splinters. Yup. You don't want to fight that. Good idea, Skysong. He leans back over and slices off the end of the vine with his biggest claws. Then, he jumps. It's a good jump. Almost as good as yours. He lands on the ghost and immediately starts cutting everything he can find.
It does not like that. At all. The emotions and spirits in the air go wild as it starts to spin around, faster and faster, as more and more of the plants get cut. Shattered Eyes has to stop cutting and just hang on. It works. Until Wendy comes back and dumps yellow spores on top of him. He tries to jump up and get her but just gets hit by the spinning ghost and launched back onto the platform. Webbing latches on to his back and tries to hold him down.
{What happened?}
"Ghost started spinning. Wendy dropped powder on him. Now he's covered in webs."
Skysong growls. "Can you get up?"
Shattered Eyes folds in on himself and pulls his body up, slowly. Way slower than you're used to him moving. A moonblast hits him in the chest and he wobbles before getting back on all fours. He seems weak. Part of his armor is chipped off where he got hit. Bad. Bad bad bad. You don't want to fight the ghost yourself.
He still moves. More of a walk than a run, but he moves forward. Even rises onto his hind legs, and when a vine whips towards him—darkness lashes out and the ghost floats back, stunned.
{Sucker punch. Big damage if he gets attacked within a half second. Leaves him stunned if no one does.}
Shattered Eyes manages to jump onto the ghost. Even then it feels weak. Slow. Wrong. He slashes more plants and leaves the metal more exposed, but he barely even tries to hang on when a moonblast hits him in the back and he gets thrown into the platform again.
"You did well. I'm proud of you. Always," Skysong whispers before withdrawing the bug. Her hand hesitates on her sash. "Pixie, do you think you can jump well?"
You want to say yes. Of course you can! But. The fight isn't going well. Lying might make it worse.
"Still a little hurt."
She nods and her hand shifts down, to the last ball. "Cuepiltia. Let's do this."
Flightless takes shape and flaps his way down to the floor. He's very careful not to land on the webs. Finds an open spot where another plank had fallen. Smarter than you'd thought he would be. But he does like snow so he isn't stupid.
"Tailwind."
Flightless screeches and the sea breeze slows to a halt. You don't miss the salt in your nose. It's nice running through your fur, though, if you can just not think about the salt it's putting into it.
Another ball of light forms in front of Wendy as the ghost rises into the air and… glows? The plants glow. Not the metal. And they seem to be slowly regrowing and reconnecting.
"The ghost is healing."
{I was worried about that.}
The wind comes back in a new direction. It's weak at first but steadily grows. Wendy's moonblast hits into a shield of light as Flightless cries in victory. Protect. He learned it recently and he's already gotten good. Better than you. Should you ask for help? No. Not from a bird. Even if not getting hit would be nice. Safe. Would make Sitrus happy.
"Is the web getting blown off?"
It's rising into the air. Blowing around. But it isn't going all the way off, no. You tell her.
"Shit," she mutters. "Need to teach him defog."
As the winds get stronger and stronger, Flightless launches himself up and… flies? What? He's not very good at it compared to Eyerock or Wendy or any other bird, but he does fly over towards the ghost. Wendy starts shrieking again and your ear clamps down as far as it can go. Are you getting hurt like this? You don't feel too much worse but it's annoying and maybe dizzying.
One step forward and you almost fall. Yup. Dizzy. If you want to win, you should go into your ball.
You flick Skysong's leg with a tail. "Need to go in now."
She looks nauseous. Even with her headphones. Still reaches to her sash with a shaking hand and sends you back to the world of snow.
Was that the right choice? Now you don't know what's happening. Will Flightless win? Get hurt? That ghost was hitting really, really hard and he's small. You hope he doesn't get hurt. It was nice playing with someone else in the snow. You'd ignored him before when he was Bloodrage's but he isn't that bad. You could accept him.
Will the fight be over entirely? Will you get to do anything at all? Is Skysong saving you to the end because she doesn't trust you to fight. You flop onto your side. This was a mistake. You're already feeling less dizzy. But now you're worried and it could have been seconds or minutes or hours out there. The fight could be over. Nothing could have happened at all.
Even with the sun and the salt and the wind it's a relief when you come back out.
You immediately realize that everything is different. The ghost is gone. So is most of the platform. It's broken to pieces, just planks floating in the water. Half are flipped over with no web. Was that on purpose? Who broke it? The ghost? Eggbreath. The air smells like Eggbreath. Probably her. Wendy is floating over the wreckage. Her wingbeats are slower. Her antennae are drooping. The fur beneath her head is stained green and blood is still seeping from a cut.
"What happened?"
"Cuepiltia hit the totem hard. Coco took care of the dhelmise. And the platform. Sorry. I know you… can't jump well."
The boards aren't that far apart. You can do this. You have to.
For ascension!
You blast out an ice beam and Wendy flits out of the way. Still fast, even if she's hurt. Light forms in her hands and you have to jump off your platform onto one that's wet but not sticky. It explodes behind you and splinters coat your fur. A few even push into skin.
That's Wendy's strongest attack. She only didn't use it against Eyerock, who is psychic and weak to bugs like Skysong, and when Flightless blocked moonblast. You could disable it now. Make her use her weaker attack.
Skysong would be hurt…
You shouldn't be dizzy if you have to jump. Won't disable that one. Now you need to slow Wendy down so you can hit her. Sleep. You widen your eyes and put energy into them. For a moment Wendy dips down. Then she sprays powder in front of her and ducks inside. There! That's the trick that got Shattered Eyes! You reach for that and pull.
A cloud of spores above you. Ocean around you. Half the platforms will make you stuck if you hit them. Hard battlefield. You need to get a hit. Soon. How?
{Extrasensory?} Skysong suggests. {Won't knock out. Might hurt?}
Good idea. Not an attack you've trained much lately, but Kalani taught you and… something good has to come of that. You find her mind again and start bashing it. Her wingbeats get weird. Too fast, then too slow. Suddenly she darts out of the cloud and starts spraying webs all over you.
You try to attack back with an ice beam but you're startled and she's quick. It goes wind. Before you can attack again she pulls back and charges another moonblast. Need to jump! You try to move your paw but now it's stuck. No jumping. Protect?
{Protect}
The ball of light glows brighter and you throw up your shield.
Nothing hits it. The moonblast is still in front of Wendy.
No. She. She tricked you! And now you won't ascend. Won't be smart. Beautiful. Strong. Someone who can be loved.
You drop the shield. The attack crashes into you and pushes you into the water a half-second later.
At least Wendy seems tired. Hurt. Her wingbeats are slower and her head is drooping as she floats above you.
"It was a valiant effort, fledgling. But you have not yet learned the art of deception. At this time I cannot…"
The art of deception. She's not attacking. Just talking.
Skysong held the fairy hostage. Told you the best way to deal with their words is to cut through.
"…as per custom, you may return and try again in—"
Her eyes go wide. She tries to dodge but with no time and slow wings she isn't fast enough. The ice hits her wing and freezes it. Wendy tries to flap the other but it's no use. She crashes into the water.
You swim to a platform.
Her kind can't swim. She turns red and disappears as you shake yourself off.
Maybe you aren't a good enough fairy for her. But you won. That's all you needed to do.
It's two nights later when Wendy finally approaches you on a night walk.
She crosses her arms and glares at you.
"I had already closed the match," she says. "Alas, the trial administrator believes that the match only ended when you were withdrawn or knocked unconscious. While I am loathe to acknowledge a victory that broke the spirit of the game, she insists that I much."
You roll your eyes and splay out your tails. "I never surrendered. And I tricked you. That's what you wanted."
She huffs. "Fine. So be it. Miss Ichtaca, this is not information humans are privy to. I must ask you to leave."
Skysong bends down to unclip your leash. "Will you be okay?"
"Yes." If the stupid bug tries anything you'll freeze her again.
She ruffles your fur and strokes your ear before standing back up and sending out Eyerock. "Use the link to tell me when you're back."
Wendy waits until she's a long ways away before speaking.
"Very well. I promised you a story."
A very long time ago, Alola was born when a rock pushed itself out of the sea. It was empty at first. Just lava and stone. Then some of the ocean life hauled themselves onto its shores. They were Alola's first inhabitants, but they did not live there. Only visited the edges.
In time birds stopped on the island on their way across the ocean. They brought seeds with them and the first plants grew. In time the birds and the lapras brought more plants and creatures to eat those plants. Beasts of stone crawled out of the stone and lava to join them.
The first humans came from beyond the stars. Some were just humans as we know today. Some were more, with gifts of mind, magic, soul, or body. Some were much, much more, if they were even human at all. These were the island's first gods. Its first rulers.
The most relevant to you is The Lady of The Frozen Peak, Pol'iahu. She froze the mountain and brought many of her own pets and children to inhabit it. Her favorites were her foxes, the ninetales. She fought on their behalf and as they grew in number more and more of the largest island fell under a never-ending frost.
Then the second gods came, also from the stars. There were four of them. Each claimed an island and fought the gods there. On the largest island there was a great war between the Tapu of Strength and The Lady of the Frozen Peak. The pokémon split into sides. Most sided with Tapu Bulu out of fear of the frost. The ninetales, of course, were loyal to their master and mother.
After two years of vicious fighting, Pol'iahu admitted defeat to avoid seeing more of her children lost in a war that was slowly turning against her. In the peace deal she agreed to confine herself to her mountain and freeze nothing else. The ninetales, powerful spreaders of the snowstorm, were banished there as well.
In time there was strife on the mountain. You doubtlessly know more about it than I. The ninetales grew more and more resentful of their mother with every tragedy, for she had surrendered and left them to slowly starve rather than risking combat for the chance of glory and expansion.
More gods came. A brother and sister. The Tapu fought them and lost. The first lunala to inhabit these islands roosted near Pol'iahu's mountain, and the ninetales chose to worship her rather than their mother in the hopes that the moon would allow them to expand.
Before this came to pass, solgaleo and lunala were supplanted by Xerneas and his worshippers. In time he will be supplanted as well.
"Where did you hear this?" And how haven't you? Someone would have told you about an old god.
Maybe one tried to. The nine-tails in the cave, he asked you why the nine-tails couldn't spread snow beyond the mountain. Is this the answer?
"The florges in the meadow. Tapu Fini confirmed it. I am an elder beyond elders of my kind, but I was not alive when what I speak of came to pass."
An elder beyond elders. "How old are you?"
"I have now seen the rains come and go twelve times."
Oh. Not too much older than you are. Bugs. Is it even worth living at all if you'll die so soon?
"Then lunala lets us ascend, now?"
"No. Pol'iahu."
"Why? We abandoned her." Nine-tails do not forgive disobedient kits. They are thrown off the mountain. Or… or they have their ears bitten off. The mother of the nine-tails must be the same.
"You would have to ask her. Or your own kind. She's still on the mountain. I know that much. Find her and she may grant you ascension."
Wendy leaves shortly after. She still doesn't seem to like you or that she had to tell you anything at all. That's fine. You have more than enough to think about.
Once you have nine full tails you will climb the mountain. Before then, you're going to need to speak to more nine-tails. The one in the cave. Maybe the one Kalani was mad at? The one who… had kits… with an eevee.
There's hope, now. A way to grow. A direction to go in.
Even if you don't know the details, it's more than you had.