Episode 9: Faernia's outcasts

It took a while for things to calm down, but eventually the authorities gathered around the remains of the protest and got to work with putting out the fire, sealing off the area, and ensuring that this part of the city was safe. Despite their late arrival, Ariala remained in the same spot she was when Tapu Koko left, staring into the ruined remains of the temple with a blank expression.

"Princess! Are you listening to me?" Naomi shouted in her face, finally snapping her back to reality. Even then, she merely flinched, shut her eyes, and then shook her head to dismiss her current thoughts.

"Vincent. Do you know where those protesters came from?" Ariala asked.

"Princess! You really haven't been listening at all!" Naomi shouted again, to which she cringed. "This is terribly unlike you. We are returning to the castle right now."

"Naomi- urf, this is why I didn't tell you. I refuse to return to the castle, especially after this event," Ariala argued. She stood up and slipped her fan into its pocket. Vincent and Nier folded their arms and watched in interest.

"Why would you refuse? We have a safe carriage prepared to escort you to the meeting point with Rune. Do you know how much of an uproar you caused when we discovered you weren't in your quarters?" Naomi stomped a hoof. "You as well, Vincent and Nier. As her highness' personal retainers, you should know better than to drag her out on such an ordeal. Your actions can be seen as treason!"

"Hey hey, hold on a second. Treason? Lady Nier's too perfect to perform such an act. I'm sure she has a perfectly valid reason for leaving with the princess this way!" Meowth stepped in. Nier smiled at him, and giggled about something.

"Both of my retainers objected to my plan many times until I threatened to leave on my own terms. Them being here is part of their desire to protect me," Ariala informed. "But there is no turning back, now. I have seen too much, already."

"Seen too much?" the Ponyta coughed.

"That protest, the loss of control over my darkness, and the reactions of Tapu Koko – I need to see more," Ariala clarified. I don't want to believe it, but my nightmares are leading towards premonitions. Until I can confirm what is really happening, I shouldn't decide on a solid course of action.

"See? It sounds like her highness and the beautiful Nier are being like the angels they should be. Nothing but praise for their brave actions and desire to protect the Pokémon of their planet!" Meowth preached as he swiped his overly flashy gold cape aside.

"Charle! You're not helping!" Naomi cried.

"Oh but I am. Whilst I'm sure the Pokémon greatly appreciate your aid, you are much safer and better off helping from within your quarters, your highness. You need only give orders and we subjects will be at your service," Charle said.

"Good. Then you will allow me to leave," Ariala replied. There was a pause.

"Except that, of course. Your safety is most important, after all," he grew quieter.

"Oh come on you guys! I've never left the castle ever since the kidnapping. That was ten years ago. I am twenty-one years old, now. Don't you think it's stifling to keep me locked up there?" Ariala raised her voice. "Do you honestly expect me to live my life in ignorance, and still have the ability to rule an entire planet? Let alone marry the prince of our opposite?"

"We are only trying to protect you," Vincent answered quickly. He still had his eyes shut and arms folded.

"Pardon?"

"We are only trying to protect you. I understand your warrant to see the world of Faernia, but when I agreed to those terms, I did not think you would want to get involved with anything like those protestors," he unfurled his arms to face her. "Pokémon outside of Faernia's civilization can be dangerous and unpredictable. There are many unknowns out there that we still don't even know how to deal with, but they don't affect us since we have the blessings of the gods, the Tapu."

"My duty as crown princess requires me not to ignore those Pokémon or situations. Whether life-threatening or not, I wish to get involved in these grave matters first-hand. They destroyed a temple without warning and threatened to do so to the others. That kind of threat isn't to be overlooked," Ariala reasoned.

"That's our Ariala. Nothin' like the princesses of fairy tales or any of that!" Nier giggled.

"Fairy tales… I hate that phrase," Ariala sighed.

"As I promised when I became your retainer, I will do my utmost to protect you and help you in your endeavours, but I can only advise you against this with all my being. We don't have much time until the meeting with Rune, either. Will you really follow the protesters in hopes of negotiating with them?" Vincent explained. Nier giggled again, for some reason.

"What's with you two all of a sudden? What're you planning?" Naomi asked.

"My decision remains the same. I wish to know the truth of the outside world, and refuse to remain sheltered any longer. Before meeting with Rune, I would like to speak to Tundra," Ariala said. Vincent exchanged nods with Nier, who put her paws on her chubby hips.

"Those protesters came from an indoor city called the Stardust Treasury. It's a dead-end city built as a place of respite for the outcasts of Faernia," Nier explained.

"Wait, Nier!" Naomi gasped.

"The Pokémon that live there are, well," Nier completely ignored Naomi's outburst. She started playing with her ear with a paw. "The Pokémon that live there are those rejected by the Tapu."

"Rejected?" Ariala said quietly.

"That's enough. You've said enough!" Naomi shouted, stomping her way in between everyone. "Ariala, you are coming back to the castle right now! And your retainers will see punishment for this."

"Even if you do that, I'm just going to leave again and find out how to get to that city. There's no turning back now," Ariala replied. It's almost as if they're trying to keep something from me.

"I think I know the princess enough to know that she means that, Naomi. You can't change her mind when it's made up like this," Charle added. He covered his front with his cape, posing coolly.

"Thank you, Charle. So why don't you come with me if you want to protect me that badly? Come with me and help supervise what happens." Ariala suggested.

"Wait really, Ariala? Naomi?" Nier slumped.

"And Charle? You know what he's like around Nier," Vincent said.

"But they're not going to leave us alone, either. We're just going to keep squabbling like this unless either of us gets our way," Ariala replied.

"Yeah but, they're annoying," both Meowstic said in sync.

"Would you rather we fight for our way?" she said.

"N-no! That won't be necessary," Naomi hopped back a little. She gave the proposal a long round of thought, making noises as she pondered her options. All the time she stared at Ariala and her retainers, clearly unhappy with it all. "Okay, but on one major condition. And as crown princess, protector of your Pokémon, you must honour this promise to your dying breath. After you have seen the issues at the Stardust Treasury, you will return to the meeting point to meet the prince of Eris."

"I accept. That was what I was planning to do in the first place," Ariala nodded.

"And that means you're coming with us as well, Charle. We will need your power," Naomi said.

"Hey, I won't pass up a chance to protect my lovely lady Nier," the Meowth shrugged.

"Oh please. 'Cos I need protecting," Nier said.

"Of course you do, especially in a nasty place like that. Fakers like Vincent are only asking for trouble," he snickered. Vincent rolled his eyes and walked off.

"Fakers?" Ariala tilted her head.

"Yeah, he's a fake Pokémon, right? Some sort of fusion between two Pokémon. If you didn't choose him as a retainer, he would be exiled from Faernia already. And he knows that. You pity him, Nier!" Charle remarked, and pointed at her.

"The only thing I pity about Vincent is that he has to put up with you," she shrugged. Charle reacted with an unfathomable shriek. He flinched back before pointing both paws at Vincent.

"That's not true!" he remarked, posing vigorously. Every word had unnecessary emphasis on it, and every pose had at least a finger pointed at the poor Meowstic hybrid. "There, is no way, that I, the great warrior defender, Charle, am below, this freak accident of unnatural nature!"

"We should get going immediately. Will you two lead the way?" Ariala said.

"Right now? As in, right this very instant? You don't want to get transport or anything?" Naomi asked.

"Naomi, the purpose of this pilgrimage is to experience the world. Protecting myself with personal escorts is unnecessary," she reasoned. She started walking off in a random direction, and Vincent dashed over and turned her around.

"U-uh er, princess, that's the wrong way," he said. She blushed a little but smiled at him, accepting his correction.

…

Hours passed and silence had fallen between the group. Naomi had managed to convince Ariala to get a carriage, but it was only a small one suited for bringing her entourage with her. Right now, Ariala was riding on the Ponyta's back while she sprinted across the plains of Faernia, pulling that carriage along.

The carriage was a wooden traveller's caravan to house the group and a few of the cat soldiers from the Cat's Brigade. Their weapons and symbols of importance were hidden within, so to all eyes they looked just like any other group of travellers.

They had been chatting for a bit when their travel started, but now, Ariala was rigid and stern. She barely moved as Naomi galloped along, not reacting to any bumps or discomforts that occurred during the ride. Her face was intense and just as unmoving, not even visibly breathing, and her hands gripped Naomi's reins as tightly as her three stubby fingers could manage.

She wasn't angry about being forced to travel with guardians; that argument had long since blown over for her. The dark events of her nightmare had been playing through her mind continuously for the past half an hour, now coupled with the unsettling words Tapu Koko had left her with.

"That wasn't why I came here. I sense it. Destructive dark powers were released right here, and very recently, on planet Eris. The next time I see that kind of power, I will eradicate it and any who exhibit it."

She knew exactly what he was talking about, and perhaps, her retainers knew as well. But deep down, she knew more about it than anyone on Faernia, and had never once dared to share that information with another Pokémon. It all happened ten years ago, and yet, the truth was fresh in her mind, tearing away at her conscience. She always felt guilty for keeping it secret, but now that the Tapu clearly had doubts for her, she felt vulnerable for having that secret. It had been ten years, and now it was as if the danger of that secret could surface at any moment.

At last, she made a movement and stuck her right hand out. It pulsed with dark energy, excreting a dark, gaseous substance around her arm. A low, eerie sound came with it, and the sounds of the others shifting in discomfort told her that they had immediately sensed the release of this dark power.

"Ariala?" Naomi said in concern. Ariala stopped releasing the energy. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine," she spoke softly.

The power looked as disgusting as ever, and the thought that it was somewhere in her body, constantly brewing and waiting for its chance to come out sickened her. Jyararanga had kidnapped her to seal that power within her, warning her to never abuse it. She barely had control over it in the past, but thanks to Vincent and Nier, she could hold it in. So what had made her lose control when she attacked Tundra? Why did she release so much energy that even Tapu Koko had been alarmed of it?

Another memory played out in her mind, the image of a young Oshawott pierced by a monstrous hand of just as disturbing texture. Had that little girl survived just as well as she had? Did she have control over the darkness as well? Was she the one on Eris that had released enough darkness for Tapu Koko to detect it?

"Ariala!" Naomi cried, snapping her out of her trance. She was able to gallop at full speed and speak without huffing or puffing at all, which was always impressive to the Clefable. "Are you listening? We've been travelling for a while now. Are you okay to keep going?"

She let out a sigh and changed face at last. She was famished, bone dry thirsty, the wind gave her a chill, and her legs felt stiff from the amount of time she had spent sitting in one place. She shook her head and glanced at her allies, giving them a warm smile. "Actually, we should think about food. It's been a while."

"Oh finally, I thought you'd never say that!" Nier sighed hoarsely as she slumped back in her seat. "I'm so hungry I could pass out!"

"Why didn't you say that earlier? I have snacks. You need only ask, my lady," Charle said.

"You couldn't tell? Her stomach's been singing for quite a while," Vincent snickered.

"Very funny," she rolled her eyes

"Was it? I couldn't hear it," Ariala admitted, blushing at the song of her own stomach sounding out. Naomi giggled as well and began to slow down.

They had been following a road that ran through the plains the whole time. Plains and fields of crops were all that passed, and between all of that, a few herds of Pokémon in the distance. Those Pokémon barely paid them any mind besides a glance, minding their own business just as the Pokémon in the city did.

"We made good progress today, anyway. We could reach Stardust Treasury within a day if we continue at this pace," Naomi remarked. She didn't go far off the road, and stopped in a patch of low grass. Ariala was about to get to work on untying the ropes from her, but was quickly stopped by a few of the cat soldiers and Charle.

"Please, allow me, your highness," they proposed, essentially taking over the entire chore of setting up a camp, leaving her to sit and watch with a bothered face.

Nier, Vincent, and Charle spent the time bickering with each other over who would protect the other. Naomi fretted over every little thing that the princess did, from the fruits she chose to eat to whether she slept in the caravan or in a tent. It was nothing new to her, and by the time night had fallen, she was so sick of it that she had given up on doing anything about it.

One advantage she knew she had as a Clefable was her ability to keep quiet. Even though Vincent was on watch duty, she knew she could easily sneak out of the caravan and go wherever she wanted. If any danger somehow came, she could hear it coming from miles away and escape before anything could happen. She didn't need guards for this.

And so, in the darkness of potentially midnight when everyone else was fast asleep, she did just that: snuck out of the caravan and skipped off amongst the fields to get some time to herself. After today's battle, she was fully expecting some sort of danger to approach her. But despite standing right out in the open of the fields, nothing was there at all.

It's just as safe as the royals told me. I can sense feral Pokémon, but they're all asleep. I could sleep out here if I wanted to, she thought to herself, staring around at it all. Clouds still covered the sky, blocking out the stars. Accepting that she was alone, she stuck out a hand and expelled the dark energy again, surprised at how luminous it stood out in the night, and how loud a noise it made in the silence. That didn't stop her from hearing footsteps of someone sneaking up on her however, so she quickly hid it and spun around.

"You know, I don't blame you for wanting to get away from it all. Pardon me, but I can't let you roam too far, especially if you're playing with that," Vincent said.

"It's fine. Thank you for your concern," she sighed. There was a pause.

"We're still in the Tapu's domain. So even the feral Pokémon that choose to live outside of towns and cities have all the vegetables they can eat," he began as he slowly walked to sit beside her. "Once we leave the domain however, you'll see the truth of it all."

"The kind of Pokémon that follow Tundra. May I ask why you know so much about that?" she joined him in sitting down.

"If you'll allow me," he replied, and she nodded. "I have a rather long history with it. I met Nier in a place that was connected to the Stardust Treasury. But it was a place where I was sealed… for a thousand years."

"A thousand years?" she gasped.

"I lived in a village called Crescent Fields. I wasn't anything special to be honest, but I was in training to become the protector of the village. At that time, we had heavy faith in the Tapu just like we do now, but things were hardly as advanced. We barely even had weapons," he recalled. He turned up at the sky. "I spent everyday training tirelessly with my surrogate father, who I was allowed to call Lin. But on the day I was supposed to take over the role of protector, we went to our village shrine to pray to the Tapu for my future."

"Did something happen?" she tilted her head at Vincent's sudden pause. He looked like he was holding back a tear, and wiped his face as he looked back down.

"I don't remember. The last thing I remember is falling down into some kind of underground ruins. Next thing I know, Nier found me sealed in some kind of technological ball in those same ruins. I had lost the ability to use my Pokémon attacks, and she said I looked like an Oshawott fused with an Espurr. She was an Espurr back then, too," he turned to Ariala. "Everything I ever knew had been replaced by what we have now. When I finally learnt the date, I learnt that I had somehow skipped through time, through an entire millennial calendar. It was only Archanea seven-fifty when I prayed; suddenly it was Thracia seven-fifty when I woke up. I had truly skipped forward one thousand years."

"Thracia seven-fifty is when we met," Ariala pointed out.

"Yes. Nier was exactly my age and wanted to travel to see the world. I had no knowledge of the world and needed to adapt. It was a win-win situation for us both, so I took the task of training her while she showed me around," he continued, snickering at the memories. "Next thing I knew, we both grew stronger, evolved, and were wed. But we didn't want our time spent training to be wasted, so we joined the royal guard after settling in the Tower of the Tapu."

"And that's when I appointed you as personal retainers. I had just come back from the kidnapping, so I was pretty frightened. But now that I think about it, I picked you because you look like a Dewott. Rune was still in my mind back then," Ariala said. "So you have seen much of the world around?"

"Sorry, I sort of went off on a tangent there, didn't I? But that was the main reason why we went to become soldiers. We wanted to make changes to what we had seen. The very first place we wound up visiting when left on our journey was the Stardust Treasury. There, my thoughts of the Tapu's teachings and followings changed. I won't try to give you any thoughts. I know it's my duty to protect you, but I'm honestly more than impressed by your personal decision to see the world yourself. I want you to develop your own feelings on this pilgrimage and make your own choices to what you believe in. As a friend, I'm happy to let you do this."

"But you will advise me when something comes up, won't you?" Ariala asked.

"I will. But keep this conversation between us. Tomorrow, I'm your retainer again, and this conversation never happened."

"You have my word," she smiled. "And thank you."

"Don't mention it. But what's on your mind, though? You definitely seem to be bothered, ever since your darkness erupted against Tundra," he asked. Ariala perked up and looked away, making sounds of nervousness and discomfort. "Would it be best if I didn't inquire about it now?"

"I'm sorry, Vincent. But yes. It would be best," she said. The way things are going, you'll find out soon, anyway.

Vincent didn't say anything more, so she got a moment to settle down and sit again. She still stared at him though, particularly distracted by his whiskers. A warrior from one thousand years ago. I never would have imagined that I had such a unique friend by my side. What he and Nier know about the world has obviously changed their perspective of everything. Will mine change as well? As princess, is it okay for me to have these fears and thoughts about the gods that protect us?

She slowly turned away to look up at the sky. Two moons were peeking through the clouds, letting off an eerie, luminous but colourless glow that hurt to look at. "I can't even ask the gods for guidance on this matter."

…

The next day was just as uneventful as she was used to. Ariala was once again made to relax whilst her friends worked to prepare breakfast, dismantle the campsite, and set up for travel again. Soon enough they were back on the road, where this time her appearance wasn't as troubled as yesterday. Ariala concentrated forward with a plain look, trying not to let her thoughts distract her.

Yesterday had been relatively cold and cloudy, but it seemed like the further they went, the colder and cloudier it got. She was sure that it was just midday, yet the sun hadn't been visible once due to heavy clouds as far as the eye could see. This was even with the dusty wind that made her shiver.

At the same time, it soon came to her attention the reduction in the amount of life around. They were still amongst fields and plains of grass, but now those were not much more than short grass and weeds occasionally sectioned off by hedges or fencing. There were no flowers or plants or even trees, and the herds of feral Pokémon were smaller and less frequent. It almost looked as if the colour was draining from the world as well. One thing was for certain, the fields weren't green.

"We're approaching the border of the Tapu's domain. We're almost there to Stardust Treasury," Naomi announced. Ariala faced forward again, catching sight of a distant silhouette resembling a building directly in front.

This is it. The meeting with the Pokémon that were rejected by the Tapu, she told herself. "Refresh my memory again. The calendar of Etheria shifts to a new title every millennium, right?"

"Yes… that's correct," Naomi said quietly.

"Why so?" Ariala asked. The others were clearly confused. "I'm curious. I never actually learnt why."

"Every one thousand years across both Faernia and Eris, the title of our millennium changes. We differentiate the titles this way so that we can pinpoint prominent periods of history and timelines correctly," Naomi explained. "It makes it easier for scientists and historians to make calculations and predictions as well, since they can make correlations between events on both planets with ease."

Nier pouted and folded her arms. "Ugh. Maths stuff."

"What does this have to do with maths?" Vincent wondered.

"It's all complex wordings and calculaty and- ugh it sucks, okay? Why couldn't we just keep counting the years from the beginning?" she said.

"That would actually be worse. Our numbered years would reach unprecedented numbers, and we would have to manually label time periods and generations by the years in which they took place," Naomi continued. "Giving each millennium a title enables us to just call each millennium by that title. For example, if I was to refer to the last generation, I would mention Archanea, followed by the year number."

"Whilst our generation is Thracia. So if me and Prince Rune get married this year, Pokémon in the future would remember it taking place in the year Thracia seven-sixty," Ariala stated.

"Correct. It seems like you're studying, your highness," Naomi smiled.

"I really am just curious how the names get decided. As far as I know, the millennial titles just seem to get universally known. Is there some monarch that decides it?" she replied.

"Good question. They all sound like fantasy names from some game series or something. Archanea, Gaiden, Thracia… it's gotta be some nerd naming it all," Nier smiled.

"The stars decide it in conjunction with the last generation on the nine hundred and ninety-ninth year of the millennium. Supposedly the whole process is called 'Astral Genealogy'," Naomi said.

"That's even worse! It's definitely some nerd coming up with it, I'm convinced," Nier said.