Interlude 2: Convergence

Soot clung to Yellow's paws with every step she took, clinging to the fur between her toes and staining her paws black. A chilly breeze cut through what remained of this part of the forest, unimpeded without foliage. A handful of enforcer teams fanned out around the jolteon, some with noses low to the ground in search of suspicious scents. Above, a few fliers drifted in wide circles, looking for abnormalities.

Less than a half-moon ago, a wildfire had ripped through the Silken Woods, burning so fiercely that nothing remained. The local rescue teams had already come through a quarter-moon prior, searching for survivors. Now it was the enforcer's turn to investigate the cause. The fact that it had taken this long to get teams on the ground was an embarrassment. Especially given that an expedition team had gone missing in the wake of the fire. Which is why she'd come all the way from headquarters herself to investigate.

In front of her, a staravia landed crossing a wing over his chest. "Enforcer Yellow."

She dipped her head. "Speak."

"The flyby suggests that the fire started in a clearing up ahead. There's some damage to the trees near there that suggests signs of a struggle, but we suspect most of the evidence was destroyed in the blaze."

"Thank you. You are dismissed." She moved to walk around him, but he hesitated, staying in her path. "Yes?"

"Well… it's just that my buddies and I saw an arcanine headed this way from the opposite end of the damage. He kind of looks like that private detective who comes around sometimes, but given the… you know, situation we're in right now, I wasn't sure it was a good idea to risk an approach. We just thought you should know."

Maneth? Yellow stood still for a few heartbeats. "Thank you. I'll head for the clearing now. Were there any others already there?"

"Just The Sniff-it-Outs."

"Go ahead and tell them to take a break but stay nearby. I'll take care of the Arcanine if they show up."

"Will do." With a running start and a couple wingbeats, the staravia took to the air, circling once before flying ahead.

Yellow followed behind at a light trot, intending to give him time to alert the team. It gave her time to think. If the arcanine was Maneth in disguise, they'd have to find someplace private to talk. No one here had a high enough clearance to know his true identity, let alone the conversations he had with her. If it wasn't him but someone with unsavory intentions, her appearance alone would likely be enough to spook them away.

But by the time the jolteon reached the clearing, the other pokemon were still there, gathered around a single spot on the far end. Apprehension sent spikes of static and sparks racing through her fur. She had to force the feeling away before it could get out of hand.

"What's going on over there?" she called, sprinting across the clearing. Not far beyond them, she could see a handful of trees that looked like they'd been splintered apart by an explosion. Possibly the cause of the fire.

The members of The Sniff-it-Outs, a houndoom, a houndstone, and a growlithe, stood in a tight circle, the staravia from before with them. They parted at the sound of her voice, revealing what was worrying them: a pile of charred bones, half buried in the ash.

"We just found these," the houndoom said. "We're not sure… but these look kind of like treecko bones, don't they? Some sort of reptilian pokemon, at least."

"One of the missing explorers was a treecko, wasn't she?" the growlithe asked.

Yellow kept her jaw set in a firm line. "You are correct. The missing team is treecko-charmander duo. Go get a sketcher to draw up an image of the scene, and a mon to gather up the bones. We'll have them taken back to headquarters for identification."

"Right."

"Understood."

"Yes, Mam. Although…" The growlithe nosed something else towards Yellow. "We also found this. We weren't sure what to make of it."

The item in question was some sort of container, Yellow thought. But it had melted beyond recognition. She couldn't figure out what kind of material it was made of.

"Take it with you. We can try to figure out what it is later."

Yellow turned away, focusing her attention on the splintered trees. Remains suspiciously similar to one of the missing explorers, found near signs of an explosive attack… She didn't like the implications. But they'd only found one set of remains. There were two pokemon missing. And it wasn't like they hadn't come across a handful of remains already. Wildeners lived here, after all. Or used to, she guessed. Some were likely unable to escape the flames.

Shaking her head to clear it, she kept walking. "I'm going to find that arcanine and see if they're who I think they are. If not… they've got a lot to explain, snooping around here."

Without waiting for a response, she took off, racing into the trees.

Alone, she had a moment to think about the damage she'd seen. The radius of the explosion was concerning, longer than she was used to seeing. She didn't want to speculate what was capable of causing this type of damage. A lesser god, perhaps. Or a very powerful mortal.

Her feet hardly touched the ground, each pawstep muffled by the ash. The acrid stench still hung in the air, muffling her sense of smell. She thanked the stars it hadn't rained recently; the only thing worse than ash was wet ash.

There, in the distance. Among the grays and blacks and whites, the arcanine's orange coat stuck out like a sore paw.

Yellow approached cautiously, sniffing at the air. The arcanine was male. He walked like an arcanine. But did he smell like one? It was difficult to tell with the ash clouding her senses.

Of course, just like he stuck out, Yellow did, too. And it didn't take long for him to look away from the tree he was pacing around and notice her.

"Yellow?" the arcanine asked.

"Maneth?"

The arcanine jerked his head in the direction of the tree he had been investigating. "You better take a look at this."

After only a heartbeat of hesitation, Yellow raced over. The tree looked like it had been cut clean diagonally, though it had since burned. The remains of the trunk lay on the ground. A few other trees near it were destroyed in much the same way.

But it wasn't the trees that concerned her once she reached him.

He took a step back, giving her a clear view of the decomposing corpse of a charmander.

"Forest fire wouldn't burn hot enough to cremate a charmander," he said, putting a paw over his snout to try and dampen the stench. "Not likely to kill one either. This one looks to have met a grisly demise. Maybe the cause of the fire though."

"Not likely, given the scene I just came from. What in Arceus' name are you doing here, Maneth. No, don't drop your illusion. There are other teams around."

The illusory arcanine took a step back. "I was on my way to investigate something for Progne. But when I saw the state of this forest, I wanted to see if I could figure out what happened. Any idea?"

"Not yet. We know it happened a little over a quarter-moon ago, though. Two explorers went missing around the same time. Looks like we found them. Or what's left of them, at least." She nudged her paw towards the charmander but didn't dare touch it. Dealing with grisly scenes like this was never fun, and this was on the tamer side. She'd have to send the sketcher this way, next.

"Damn. All this destruction to kill just one explorer team? Seems like overkill, doesn't it?"

"Perhaps, but we don't know yet whether they were the target or just collateral damage." Not that it mattered. An explorer team was dead. A young one, at that. Pokemon that had a bright future ahead of them. She remembered their initiation ceremony, how the charmander's eyes had lit up as Blue presented her with her normal rank badge. Yellow felt rage roiling inside, threatening to unleash the beast she knew she could be.

"Hey! Hey, Yellow! Calm down. Your sparks are going to shatter my illusion."

Her sparks? Oh.

Yellow took a deep breath. "Sorry." She sat down, running a tongue down her paw in anticipation of washing behind her ear, only to stop, curling her lip at the acrid tang of ash. "What were you doing for Progne?"

"Progne sent me out on an investigation mission," Maneth explained. "They said they felt Celebi's presence but were unable to make contact with him. They wanted me to see why Celebi showed up now of all times. And why he chose to appear where he did."

Celebi? For a moment, Yellow forgot about the dire situation they found themselves in. "And where was that?"

"Near the base of Mount Domo. The specifics are difficult to triangulate, but there's only a few villages in the area, so I thought I might start with those."

"Mount Domo, huh?" Yellow closed her eyes, thinking for a moment. "How long ago was this?"

"I was told to leave… about a quarter-moon ago, now."

"I see. I probably wouldn't have been in to hear any delivered news…" She closed her eyes, thinking. He was probably in a hurry, but it wouldn't hurt to play things safe. "Tell you what. I want you to come back with me to headquarters. It's a little out of your way, but we can reach out to see if anyone in the Unified villages has seen anything out of the ordinary. If not, then it narrows your search to unincorporated villages."

"And there's not many of those in the region," Maneth concluded. "I only saw two on the map. Theran and Malkin."

"Rocorn isn't incorporated either," Yellow said. "Not yet at least."

"Understood. I'll mark those down." He paused; Yellow suspected he was busy at work pulling his map out under that disguise. "Do you think this might be related?"

"Related to what?"

"Right, you're not fully filled in. Progne also lost contact with Tinny, not long before Celebi appeared. They hadn't been able to reestablish contact since."

Dread churned in Yellow's belly. "Do you think someone is targeting the gods?"

"I don't know, but Celebi appearing, Victini disappearing… And this fire. In fact…" A rustling came from the disguise as Maneth pulled out his map. The disguise did as well, dropping it on the ground. "I think… Progne told me roughly where they lost contact. They didn't ask me to investigate that right now, but… this isn't too far from it. Within a day's travel for Tinny, I'd guess."

Yellow fought to control her sparks. A massive fire. A missing god. A dead expedition team. "This… may be even more serious than I thought."

She glanced up as a shadow passed by overhead. It was that staravia again, come to check on her. She tilted her head up and let out a yip to call him down.

He landed at her side, recoiling at the sight of the charmander corpse.

"Have the team come over here. We'll need the sketcher to draw up this one, too. Investigator Blitz will stay here to mark the spot until they arrive." She flicked an ear in Maneth's direction.

"Will do. What about you?"

"I need to speak with the psychic on duty and get a bulletin out. Whatever happened here is a sign of serious trouble. We need all teams on high alert."

She pushed past the staravia, forcing herself to walk until she was a good ways away before breaking out into a run.

Yellow should have known better than to hope there would be no more fighting after they unified the continent. But now serious trouble was on the horizon, more serious than she suspected any mortal pokemon had ever dealt with.

She had made a promise to protect the pokemon relying on her. Now was the time to make good on it.

Elsewhere, an encampment of strange, otherworldly pokemon sat in an alcove sheltered by high, rocky walls. The shadow of Mount Domo loomed in the distance, only a few days' journey away. A few pokemon, those who suspected they could pass as natives, stood along the perimeter, watching for actual natives to scare away or kill for supplies.

In the center, a white leporid darted between the tents, making her way to the main one at the center. She kept her long, blue-and-white–striped tail wrapped tightly around her waist.

At the entrance to the main tent, two pokemon — a porygon and a short-eared umbreon — stood guard. The umbreon stepped forward first.

"Warabbit Waisha, what business do you have with Our Lady?"

"Bad news from the courier, I'm afraid," Waisha said with a shake of her head. "I need to speak with her immediately."

The umbreon turned to the porygon, who stilled for a moment.

"She is free at the moment, but you must hurry. The evening report starts in twenty minutes."

Waisha involuntarily shivered. She never liked the way that porygon spoke, but the way its voice became so stilted when telling time was exceptionally creepy.

But the answer seemed to satisfy the umbreon. "Better you than me," she said, stepping aside.

Waisha rushed inside, skidding to a stop as her eyes adjusted to the darkness. Why was their leader insistent on keeping things dark? Then she saw a wave of sparks at the end of the tent and understood. One of her deputies was already there. His body snaked and slumped around her waifish form, barely having the strength to move. The Lady had explained that he wasn't built for this world. Or that it wasn't built for him. One way or the other. Regardless, without the infrastructure to support him, he was slowly dying.

"Waisha, was it?" The Lady asked, her claws snaking down the deputy's slender form in the dim light. "Why are you here?"

Time to steel your nerves, Waisha told herself, taking a deep breath. "First off, some good news. I heard word from Commander Zaid that Mina has fully subdued and integrated Victini. We're ready to move to the next phase of the plan."

The Lady quirked her head, her antennas barely visible threads in the darkness. "Good, good. But that would have been covered in his report. Why are you really here?"

"Well," Waisha began, gulping. "I just spoke with the courier. He said he's lost connection with Remer. The last message he sent before disappearing was an SOS." She hesitated, wringing her paws together. "Between that and the previous report, there's reason to believe that Susana's team may have been compromised."

Silence. The deputy groaned and shifted around The Lady. She shushed them, running her hand between his cords. "Did she report any electricity or electric types in the village?"

"I'm… sorry?"

"Any electric types. Don't be daft, now."

It took Waisha a moment to understand. "Oh, one, I think."

"It'll have to do." The Lady's eyes flashed in the darkness. "Thank you for the confirmation. I will speak with Commander Zaid and have him put in the order to move out first thing in the morning. Our target will be Theran Village. Then, depending on Susana's report, the mountain beyond. You are to speak of this to no one for now, understand?"

"Of course, My Lady."

"Good." The Lady leaned back on her cushion, bringing her hand up to her deputy's spiky head. As Waisha slipped out of the tent, she could hear her speak, voice soothing and serene.

"I will do everything in my power to find you a better energy source," she promised. "No matter what. You just need to hold on for a little longer, okay? Once we have enough of the gods' power on our side, we will shape this land to suit our needs. I promise."