Chapter 24: Epsilon's Black Mage!
The next morning, Aurora was again unable to see Kel anywhere. Marshadow had already arrived at her house, not ready to leave, but with a suggestion that gave the group some time. Marshadow suggested that Team Polarna vatra wait until the evening to leave and ultimately climb the iceberg on the night of the day after next. The point of this rescheduling was pure suddenness.
"If there really is a traitor in the conference to whom you told about our departure, then Epsilon will already know about our trip. If we hesitate now, we will force him to clear the way for us, because he cannot stay there forever so as not to arouse suspicion with his true face."
Aurora understood the plan in principle, but despite this she was not necessarily convinced.
"But what if he leaves us a surprise?"
"He will, that should be obvious. But what do you prefer, a meeting with Epsilon himself or one of his fighters?"
This argument was as simple as it was effective, which is why Aurora didn't need to be convinced any further. At the same time, it gave her some time. She was worried that Kel had still not shown up shortly before noon. Had the conversation not been as effective as she herself had thought? What reason did the Arcanine have to distance himself again? She carefully knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Concerned, she opened the door a crack, almost afraid of seeing the worst. But in a rare fit of goodness of fate, none of these bad cases came to pass, quite the opposite. Aurora carefully left the room again, careful not to wake Kel while he was apparently finally catching up on his lost sleep. In theory, she could let him sleep in until the afternoon, now that the plans had changed anyway. It wasn't quite that long, however, before the door above the stairs creaked quietly and heavy footsteps could be heard. When Kel entered the living room, Aurora saw straight away that although he seemed very tired, he actually seemed much healthier already.
"Morning... tell me, how long did I sleep?"
"I could only tell you that if I knew when you fell asleep."
The Arcanine seemed to think for a moment.
"Well... definitely not long after we talked. When you left, I actually tested the Sleep Seed straight away and fell asleep almost immediately."
Aurora replied, slightly amused, confirming her suspicion.
"Then it was about 15 hours."
For a moment, the Arcanine was perplexed.
"What? But... wait, then it's noon already? We wanted to leave early! Why didn't you wake me up! We have to get going right away..."
Now Marshadow joined in the conversation.
"Take a deep breath and calm down, big guy. We changed our plans at short notice this morning to counteract a potential traitor. We're not leaving until evening. So... I hear you've taken my advice to heart, haven't you Aurora?"
She hesitated briefly before answering. Of course she didn't want to hide anything from Marshadow, but a lot had happened that she herself couldn't recall everything.
"Yes... I did."
To her relief, it seemed as if Marshadow didn't need any more information.
"It seems to have worked out quite well."
No more words were said on this topic and the afternoon began and faded as quickly as it came. The evening came quickly and the entire team had already gathered the essentials for this trip and packed them. With the sunset arriving, nothing stood in the way and the team set off. Even though Aurora and Kel had already been to the iceberg once, this was their first real and prepared trip. Somehow this also reflected Aurora's view of the overall situation. On the first trip to the iceberg, everything seemed destined to fail from the start, success was almost illogical. She and Kel were at odds, they had no equipment and knew nothing about the place except that there were Ice Stones there. Now the danger was greater than before, but this time the team was stronger and aware of the risk. And, at least Aurora hoped so, this time no one would let anyone down.
The hike itself was relatively quiet, even though Kel seemed very restless during the night. This time it wasn't due to a lack of sleep, so Aurora suspected that the voices inside him were making themselves heard again. There was not much she could do other than hope that it wouldn't be too bad. They would not rest until the morning, so that they would be able to climb the iceberg at night. To avoid complications during these sleep breaks, Aurora had set off again in the morning and had stocked up on Sleep Seeds. Although she wasn't quite sure how healthy this alternative would be in the long run, she was very sure that it would be healthier for Kel than traveling sleepless and tormented.
The conversations in the group were mostly nothing but small things. When asked, Aurora explained some events that Kel had missed in more detail. It was only when the iceberg was visible in the distance that Kel began to uncover a critical issue again.
"Aurora... do you still believe that Tyrantrum could not possibly be Epsilon or at least on his side?"
To be honest, this was not a topic she wanted to discuss with him any further.
"I still believe that, yes. And if not, then hopefully we will know soon! The Epsilon Committee is not being idle!"
"I get your point but... but just hear me out for a minute, OK? I mean... we met Epsilon on our last trip to the iceberg. Marshadow, did he say why he was there?"
The shadow thought for a moment, but quickly found an answer.
"He just said that someone was coming who was not allowed to reach the tunnels."
Kel only seemed to feel more confident with this statement.
"Epsilon knew we were coming! And Aurora... just think about who knew that we were coming there at all. Tyrantrum and Aurorus. Tyrantrum was the one who even gave us the hint about evolution in the first place."
As much as she hated to admit it, Aurora also saw the logic behind Kel's reasoning. She thought back to the events at the volcano when they had met the fossil. He had spoken to Epsilon there, hadn't he? But then again… neither Marshadow nor she had actually seen Epsilon, just heard him.
"I understand your worries, Kel, but you just have to trust that we will soon find out the truth. And don't forget that you are just as suspicious to the group as Tyrantrum is!"
He snorted reluctantly.
"Yeah, I know. Zeraora, Tyrantrum and I are the main suspects. But has anyone even looked at Darkrai? The guy practically screams that he is up to no good!"
"Even ignoring the Darkrai part, you are just wrong! Zeraora…"
It was too late that Aurora realized that this information was supposed to be confidential. However, when she saw the questioning looks from her teammates, she decided to trust them both, even if it might not have been entirely in line with the committee's wishes.
"Don't tell anyone I'm telling you this, OK? But Zeraora... well, Zoroark gave us information that clearly makes him our main suspect, even if she doesn't believe in it herself."
"Zeraora? I could see him do that, I'll be honest... but my main suspicion remains on Tyrantrum."
The team leader ended the conversation resolutely.
"We'll see who is ultimately guilty. Let's focus on the journey again!"
As said, as done. The rest of the way was also quite calm, even though Aurora had an uneasy feeling the closer they got to the top. Memories came flooding back to her, memories of her evolution. Only when she thought about it did she realize that she had never really celebrated her evolution or anything like that. There was so much stress surrounding it all... The same applied to Kel. When the team first learned about the evolution stones, he refused to evolve at any cost, but when they met him again, he already had been an Arcanine. Aurora was forced to suspect that this evolution had not been a voluntary decision, but did not want to ask now, for fear of awakening dark memories in Kel.
Despite these worries, Team Polarna vatra soon reached the tip of the iceberg. There were still countless Ice Stones in the walls, and the cave seemed almost unchanged. Aurora felt dizzy for a moment when she even saw a white tuft of fur hanging on one of the crystals on the wall. At first glance, this place seemed much quieter this time, but none of the Pokemon present expected it to really stay that way. And rightly so, as it quickly turned out.
"Who could have guessed... Kel, Aurora, Marshadow. So you dare return to this place."
A familiar figure was floating in the air in the middle of the cave. Blue armor, red cape, green eyes, black pupils. Epsilon! So he was still here, despite the group's planning? Well, Kel was confident that things would be different this time around.
"Get out of here!"
An amused sparkle flashed in the Plot Emperor's eyes.
"Or else? If I don't, will I have to watch you abandon your team again? Is that supposed to scare me?"
The words hit hard, but at the same time seemed to strengthen Kel.
"No! I'll never leave anyone behind again! This time I'm fighting!"
While this dialogue was going on, Aurora inspected her opponent more closely. Something about Epsilon was... off. And she quickly noticed the difference.
"Tell me, Epsilon... what's wrong with your sword? Did your old handle break? Or why else would you replace gold with glass?"
Obviously the enemy had not been prepared for this question. Nevertheless, he tried not to show any uncertainty. But by doing so, he also showed the truth behind his appearance.
"Epsilon obviously did not give me the real Feathersword! I had to use a replacement for this illusion. I just worked with what I had!"
Marshadow seemed to understand the meaning of these words even better than his teammates.
"An illusion? Epsilon once told me about you. She called you the "Black Mage". That's you, isn't it?"
The enemy bowed slightly.
"Indeed. the Black Mage, Member of the Plot Elite himself. Epsilon gave me the task of keeping watch here when you didn't show up at the scheduled time. At first I hoped that this appearance would already weaken you. Either you could have fled immediately, fearing a repeat of the events of the last time on the iceberg, or you would have at least been intimidated. But you are more attentive than I had given you credit for, I must admit."
Epsilon's illusion raised the fake Feathersword.
"But it is irrelevant. Your attentiveness may make my task more difficult, but I will still stand here and defend the Plot Armor, as Epsilon instructed me to do. And for that, I will have to destroy you!"
Marshadow did not seem convinced by this appearance, but Aurora recognized that he was just giving her a chance.
"And why do you think you can stop us now? Aurora and I were already able to stop Eternatus. And in terms of power, he is the most powerful part of the Plot Elite."
"Eternatus is all brawn without brain! He let himself be tricked, but I, on the other hand..."
At this cue, Aurora attacked the diverted illusion, which immediately burst due to the Black Mage's loss of focus. Marshadow's diversionary maneuver had thus revealed the Black Mage's true face. And it was almost scary for Aurora how Kel almost seemed to have known that Elementareon's team member was not what he seemed...
Darkrai looked down angrily, gripping the fake sword tightly.
"Damned pests! Who do you think you are, just shattering my beautiful illusion like that!"
When he got no answer, the Black Mage showed amusement.
"Oh, are you three surprised to see me here? Did you think it was not possible for a member of the infallible Team Nordika to stand with Epsilon? But I don't really care what you think."
"So you're the traitor, Darkrai! You're making our search almost too easy! We just started and already got you!"
The member of the Plot Elite laughed, a hint of sadness in his tone.
"You won't tell anyone about this meeting! And even if you could... as if I were the only follower in the league!"
Dark energy gathered in Darkrai's hand as the fight began!