It was days more of traveling to reach Horizon City. Even on major, safe roads, and avoiding mystery dungeons, it wasn't an easy trek. The entire journey's length was stretching far past what they had anticipated; their bags were getting empty and their canteens were getting light.
When they finally saw it, a wave of relief washed over them. Buildings taller than any of them had ever seen before became visible to them. Even from the distance, they were amazed by their magnitude, and they only seemed to grow and grow the closer they got.
They walked with renewed vigor to reach the city itself. The closer they got, the more they saw pokemon around them who were also coming to and exiting the city. Eventually, they saw a massive sigh which greeted them: "Welcome to Horizon City! The future is on the horizon." it read. Once again, they let out a sigh of relief.
"We're here," Pannen said.
"Good. My legs are getting really tired," Elijah complained.
"We're at the city, but we're not at this 'P.P.F.F.' place yet. We'll have to walk around this place to reach it," Leah said.
"Oh great…" Elijah's voice reeked with exhausted sarcasm.
"Don't be too down, we have a whole new world to explore here!" Ishmael said. "C'mon, let's go!"
"I'm sure we can ask around to figure out where the foundation is, let's just head towards the really tall buildings right now," Pannen said.
Once more, they began walking forward. This time, they walked along concrete sidewalks instead of cleared roads or raw earth. At the edge of the city, most of the buildings they saw were made of drywall or concrete, but the odd building made out of stone or wood was still present. Countless different storefronts filled the streets, too many for them to stop and look at.
The city was much more noisy than the countryside was. From the moment they set foot in between the buildings, there was never a moment of true silence. But after a while, they were able to forget about the background noise. Most of the pokemon there were taller than them, but they were all moving around with a place to go and didn't seem to mind the four small pokemon walking through (many didn't even notice them).
As they walked across the concrete sidewalks, Leah began to speak.
"I definitely knew I'd visit this city at some point in my life, but I expected it to happen way later in my career as a guild member, certainly not this early," the espurr said.
"Well, you're welcome for that. We wouldn't have gone here if it wasn't for this journey," Pannen said.
"Certainly nice to reach a place more civilized than going town-to-town in hillbilly country, eh?" Leah said.
"Well, we'll have to see," Pannen said.
"I-..." Elijah had begun to speak, but quickly stopped as he felt there wasn't much of a point to respond to what Leah had said.
"I don't mind the country," Ishmael said.
"Yes yes, I'm aware," Leah said. "Anyways, I am glad I've read about this city in advance. I just didn't think I'd be needing that knowledge so soon."
"What do you know?" Pannen asked as they all continued to walk forward.
"So this city used to be called 'Ulfreton' not too long ago," she began explaining. "This city and this entire region used to be under the ownership of House Breach when they were still around, and the city was named after the house's founder.
After House Breach got struck down, they got replaced by another group named House Roots. Obviously a lot of things needed to be changed, so one of the first orders of business was to rename the city into something much more in-the-times."
"That's good. Whatever they do, I'm sure it'll be an improvement for this city," Pannen said.
"Pretty much. They also removed all of those statues of the old founders and such. Apparently there were some pretty big ones that had to be taken down."
Elijah raised his head at that. "Isn't that like… destroying culture?" he asked.
"Yeah, that's the idea," Leah squinted, giving a 'are you stupid?' look at Elijah. "Get rid of that bad culture so something good can actually come of this place."
"It's just some stone statues, nothing much," Ishmael said.
Once more, Elijah didn't see a need to continue talking, so he left it as that.
With the new information, they looked more intently at their surroundings. Many of the stores had the word "Horizon" at the start of their name, others began with the word "new", "New Fizzies", "Horizon Groceries", or "Horizon City Pawn Shop". Another store was named "Adorkable Wares"- all decidedly modern sounding words. As they came onto an intersection, they saw the street signs label it as the intersection between "Roots Road" and "Forward Avenue".
"Seems that the city wasn't the only thing renamed," Pannen commented. "I know we're still on the edge of this city, but nothing here has an old-sounding name. I mean, the change in leadership only happened a few years ago, right?"
"They must be pretty busy at reshaping this city to something new," Leah remarked. " I'm sure they would have abandoned this city to start fresh with a new one if they could have. They're stuck with the hand they were dealt with, though."
As they spoke, the four walked past a few painters who were halfway done with painting over an old building with a new, distractingly bright shade of green paint. Each of them glanced at it, but they kept moving forward.
With the new insight, Elijah started looking closer at all the signs and billboards around him. One read "Support the P.P.F.F.! Be on the right side of history today!". He kept looking at the different signs and billboards to see what they had to say. Most of them just had vapid words sprawled across them: even an advertisement had more meaning as those had the purpose of selling a product. Yet, there was one sign in particular that stood out to him and caused his eyes to lock onto it.
"We should be getting some more direction…" Pannen said.
She spotted a bisharp who was just standing around and looking around him, not busy or moving like everyone else was. Pannen approached the man. "Excuse me, do you know where we could find the P.P.F.F. in this city?" she asked.
The bisharp looked down at Pannen. "The P.P.F.F. is everywhere, here," he replied.
"Well, do you know where we could find the headquarters?"
The bisharp lifted his arm and pointed down the street. Notably, it was not in the direction of the city's center where the tallest buildings were collected. "It's due that way. Just keep going in that direction and you shouldn't miss it," he said.
"Thank you, sir!" Pannen said. She then turned back to the other three. "C'mon guys, let's keep moving."
Leah and Ishmael walked forward to close the distance again, but Elijah remained still, looking at the sign that had caught his attention.
"Eli?" Pannen said.
"Oh, sorry," Elijah finally looked away from the sign.
"Let's get moving."
"Right."
Pannen, Leah, Ismhael, and Elijah began moving in the way the bisharp had pointed to them. As they moved, Elijah glanced one more time at the sign that had captured his attention. It hung right in front of a large medical building, and it simply read "Nurses for True Pokemon."
Walking across the concrete sidewalks wasn't any less exhausting then traveling the open plans was. In fact, it might have just been worse. It felt like the buildings went on forever in every direction.
No matter how old the buildings and streets around them seemed, the names seemed modern and blunt, and the signs for them were pristine and new. If not for the cracks in the stone and the oxidized copper, it felt like the whole city was brand new. For what was left visible, at least. A couple of times, they could see demolished buildings, and one point they even saw a building covered in a large cloth. Stopping to ask someone for directions seemed pointless to try, everyone was busy going wherever they were going.
It took a few minutes of walking down those roads, keeping their eyes peeled for what they needed. But once they saw it, they immediately stopped in place. There was no mistaking it.
In the midst of the city and smaller buildings, there stood a massive concrete monolith. The building towered high, and on each side was a massive grid of perfectly spaced windows. On the front of the building, a sign of massive red letters read "POKEMON PERSISTENCE & FREEDOM FOUNDATION". If not for the sign, all four of the walls on the brutalist structure would have been symmetrical. Around its base was a massive metallic gate that alone towered several times taller than them and covered all sides except the front.
In front of the monolithic building, there was a large copper statue of an absol with a pocket watch connected to a chain on her neck, accompanied by a plaque which read "Eno Gabrielson". Surrounding the copper statue was a circular garden where dozens of flowers were planted. The letters of the sign and the flowers around the statues contained the only colors to be found on the structure.
The four needed to pause to take in the imposing sight. They tried counting the rows of windows to gauge how many floors, but it became difficult at the higher floors.
"Why would they need such a large building?" Leah asked. "How much would this cost to construct?"
"How would that even be built?" Ishmael asked.
"I honestly don't know myself," Leah admitted.
"Well, it's certainly making itself known," Pannen said. "Come, let's head in and start asking for help."
"I'm not sure I want-"
"Eli, just come," Pannen said. "This is the only lead we have to finding Aika right now, so we have to take it. I don't care if the building looks scary."
"Well… okay," Elijah relented.
They approached the building, walking to the left of the copper statue and into the entry point on the gate. They scaled the stone stairs leading to the building to finally reach the structure.
The doors were gargantuan sheets of glass, but they had handles at multiple different levels to let species of all different sizes get entry. Ishmael grabbed the handle and pulled the door open as he had the most strength among them. The entryway was dense with pokemon, and the lobby even moreso. They glanced around at all the pokemon there, they were talking with each other but there were so many conversations floating around that it was impossible to focus on any particular one. Among all the people there, one thing remained consistent: not a single one seemed to be happy.
Pannen saw a counter with a line of pokemon separated into stands. Among them, there was a pawmi that wasn't occupied. Pannen took a breath to ready herself. If anyone could help them, that pawmi was the best chance.
She approached the pokemon, the other three following behind. "Excuse me, could you help us out with something?" Pannen asked.
"What do you need?" the pawmi asked.
"Have you seen another female minccino named 'Aika' come through here recently? Like in the past few days?"
"We have a lot of pokemon who come in and out of here, I don't have a list of every last one," she responded.
"Well do you know where we could find Hunter?"
"Hunter the human slayer?" she asked.
"Yeah, it would really help us to meet him."
"I'm afraid I can't help with that," the pawmi said.
"Let me handle this, Pannen," Leah said.
Pannen stepped out of the way to let the espurr walk up to the counter.
"Hello, I am Leah, a member of Nidoking's guild in the town of Eastflame. We're looking for Hunter as he is a former guild member and we have reason to believe he has some information we require right now. Due to his the title of the 'human slayer' and how the P.P.F.F. is made for standing up against humans, it seems there is a connection in goals. Hence, we presumed that this organization could have information for finding him."
"Hang on, you're from the guild?" the pawmi asked, eyes widening.
"Why yes, I am," Leah said proudly. "I'm the daughter of the former guildmaster, in fact. These three with me are also the children of the pokemon who worked together to bring down Armin."
Pannen and Ishmael nodded their heads, Elijah did too a moment later.
The pawmi looked at them for a moment, she looked at Leah's scarf and thought about the pokemon who took down Armin. She realized there was a strong possibility they were speaking the truth.
The pawmi turned around and gestured to another pokemon behind her, obscured from the view of Pannen and her team. "Can you handle this, Phineas?" she said.
"Gladly," a masculine voice responded.
A moment later, a door opened and a serperior wearing a uniform came out. All four of them looked to the serperior as he approached them. "Hello there," he said. "My name is Phineas, and I'll be accompanying you now."
"Are you able to help us?" Pannen asked.
"I believe we can both help each other~" Phineas said.
"Thanks for handling this," the pawmi said before she left her chair and began walking off to another part of the building.
"It's important, I'm trying to find my sister, and I think that Hunter can help with that," Pannen said.
"Oh my, I'm sorry to hear that. I do hope we can be of some assistance to you," the serperior said. "Though this lobby is rather noisy. Let's go somewhere where we can both hear each other easier." With his tail, he pointed towards a door in the room's side which led to a wide hallway.
Pannen glanced at the door, then gave a look to the other three that signaled for them to follow.
The hallway was clean, the floor was made out of a very thin gray carpet. As they entered, they could immediately hear the ruckus of dozens of voices being muffled out. Phineas the serperior continued slowly moving forward, prompting the four to walk along to keep up with him.
"This building is pretty huge," Leah remarked.
"In comparison to the importance of our goals, this building is puny," Phineas said.
"You really put high importance to this, huh?" Pannen said.
"Of course, it's one of the most important movements in history," Phineas said as they all continued walking and slithering forward. "But before we get to that, I must ask about you. Did I hear correctly that you are the children of the pokemon who took down Armin?"
"We sure are!" Pannen said. "I'm the child of Locke and Tamin, so is my brother here. Leah is the daughter of the old guildmaster, and Ishmael here is the son of Dewott and Mienshao."
"My my, I'm honored to be in your presence," Phineas said. "This meeting between us must be fated. This whole organization is effectively carrying the torch off of your parents' accomplishments."
"Finally, someone who gives us respect," Leah said.
"But it's more than that, we've come all the way out here for a reason," Pannen said.
"What would that be?"
Pannen took in and out another quick breath. "I have another sibling, her name is 'Aika'. But it turns out that her biological dad isn't Locke like it is for Eli and I, her biological dad is Hunter the zoroark. When she learned this, she took off in the night to try and find him since he went missing. So the four of us went on this quest to find her and get her back home.
We lost her trail, so we figured we would come here to find where Hunter himself is. Because if we find Hunter, we can then get Aika to come to us."
"Wow, going all this way to find your lost sibling. You have remarkable determination."
"Yeah! We're heroes."
"You are," Phineas told her. "You've come to the right place. This is the house of a hundred heroes, and I can guarantee there are people here that can help you."
"Oh thank goodness."
They reached the end of the hallway and made a ninety degree turn to keep walking down another hallway. This one looked almost identical.
"If you don't mind, give me a moment to introduce myself," Phineas said. "I've been working as one of the faces for the Pokemon Persistence and Freedom Foundation, it's something I've done for a few years now. I work to introduce more people to it and its importance. I am quite amazed that people like you four came right to me. Almost always it's me having to go elsewhere to spread the word."
"I see," Pannen said.
"Yes, it's not an easy job, but it's an important one," Phineas said. "It took sssome practiccce to not be conssstantly talking like thisss. That was a hurdle for my species, but I got used to it. Worth the effort to be sure."
"I think we met someone with the same job as you in another town," Leah said. "Back in Harrenburg, someone was putting up fliers and told us about the foundation."
"Yes, that was one of us," Phineas said. "It's not easy spreading the word, but it's a task that must be done. We have to take a stand against evil humans wherever they appear. We don't want another Armin, and we don't want another Burning of Prenarch."
"Oh yeah, that guy told us about the 'Burning of Prenarch' massacre," Pannen said.
"You know about it?" Phineas said.
"Yes."
"I was there when it happened," Phineas said grimly.
"You were?!" Pannen said.
"Yes…" the serperior looked forward. "It wasn't the nicest of towns, but it was still something. That was until the day four humans pretending to be P.P.F.F. members showed up to lay waste to the town. It was… I fail to describe how horrific the event was. People tried to fight back, but it was hopeless. Even children were killed in that."
"That's terrible, I'm very sorry to hear you went through that," Pannen said.
"Thank you. And that's why we can never forget the importance of the foundation. True pokemon stand tall now, but it hasn't been that way through the rest of history. Eno wasn't the first, all throughout history true pokemon have been killed- or worse- by humans."
"I see. I wish you only the best in your endeavors," Pannen said.
"This foundation is certainly larger than I would've expected for something only a few years old, so you are certainly off to a strong start," Leah remarked.
"I'm sure you can do it!" Ishmael said with an outside voice.
"How did you survive that day?" Elijah asked.
"Hmm?"
"I'm just surprised you managed to survive that, given some buildings were set on fire and you're a grass type," Elijah said.
"I'm much tougher than I appear, I can assure you."
"Alright. I guess I'm just…" Elijah was going to say 'I am surprised only seventeen people died if they were attacking randomly', but he stopped himself as he realized that sounded terrible. "Nevermind."
"Even if all you do is spread the word to tell others about us, then you will be giving your part to help," Phineas said.
Just then, they heard footsteps quickly running across the hall behind them to get closer. They turned around to look at it, and it was the same pawmi earlier, and she looked urgent.
"Phineas!" she called out.
They all stopped moving to look at her. "What is it?" the serperior asked.
"I raised the news about them coming into here, and the founder says they want to meet them!"
"Really? These four?" Phineas said.
"Yes!" the pawmi confirmed. "I told our superiors about how the children of the pokemon who defeated Armin just entered, and that made it all the way up to the founder who says they want to meet them!"
"Really?! Pannen said.
"Yes, and we shouldn't keep them waiting!"
Phineas looked at the four. "My my, I knew you were a big deal, but it seems even I underestimated your importance," he said to them. "You've got a summon. It's best you answer that as soon as possible."
Pannen turned to Elijah, Ishmael, and Leah. "Guys, this is perfect. If anything is able to help us, it's going to be the founder of this place!" she excitedly told them. She turned back to Phineas. "Where can we meet them?"
"They're at the top of this building. Come, I can guide you there," Phineas said.
"I don't know, this all seems rather sudden-" Elijah said.
"Eli, come. This is as promising as it can get," Pannen told him. "Come, we should get going."
"Let me take them from here, Phineas. I can travel with them easier," the pawmi said.
She pointed to a nearby door in the hallway. They all went over to it and she opened it up to reveal a stairwell on the other side, with the stairs being sized to allow small species like them to easily scale. Each of them began going up at a hastened pace.
The building seemed large on the outside, but the inside seemed even more gargantuan. The stairs seemed to just keep going up and up no matter what. They eventually had to slow down simply because they were getting tired, the stairs going upwards was even harder on them then days of traveling across the country.
Windows were present on the stairs, and through them they could see the surrounding buildings as they seemed to get smaller and smaller, and the pokemon on the streets seemed to become outright puny. But there were also windows inwards into the building, which gave them glimpses into other rooms. Many floors contained what was to be expected: offices for work, lounge areas, and meeting rooms. But others weren't as normal. There were clear storage areas for containing countless objects, and some floors had open areas with running tracks and full color training dummies. Elijah noticed them and even stopped for a second to take a closer look, though he didn't bring it up with the others.
After a long walk up, they finally made it to the top floor as the stairwell ended. The pawmi opened a door up into a much smaller hallway. This place was far cleaner and nicer than the ground floor. It didn't look like it was out of some office or administrative building, it looked like an entryway of a house.
The pawmi turned around to look at them again. "Let me talk to the founder alone to inform them that you're here. Then, I'll let you in."
They all nodded to confirm, and she went into a door. They sat down on the hallway's chairs to finally rest their legs after a hard climb upwards. They were so far into the sky that it was hard for them to imagine. They all breathed in and out to relax after the climb.
Eventually, the door opened again and the pawmi came out. "The founder is ready, please come in," she said.
The pawmi stepped to the side to give them room, and each of them walked inside.
The room wasn't just an office, it wasn't even a large office. Inside, there were different segmented rooms, several tables and cushions, vases, wall decorations, a kitchen area, and many containers. It was an entire living space, a massive apartment at the top of the structure.
In the room, there was only a single other person: an absol with a green hairpin on the top of her head.
"Hello there. I am Sesha Gabrielson. I have no doubt that you've heard of my sister."
End of chapter 17.