The Day a Vaporeon Drowned
Whenever Vince took a swim in Prauvy Lake, he liked to flip his back toward the ground and look up at the water's surface. It layered against the blues and whites of the sky, making them waver and ripple with a liveliness they didn't really have. It had become something of a game for him - a challenge to see how long he could hold his breath, watching the warbled clouds as they drifted to faraway places.
He held still, letting himself drift. His world was muffled, reduced to the compressed creaks of the water around him.
"V…ncen… Vin…! …cent!"
Vince could make out a shape, leaning over the edge of the pier next to him. He was being called home.
He grinned as a plan hatched in his mind. With a waggle, Vince started an upside-down doggy-paddle, narrowly avoiding even a single paw broaching the surface. Carefully, he aligned himself with the ledge of the pier. Then, with a firm kick…
"Waugh!"
Wet Eevee and dry Eevee collided as Vince pounced upon his poor, unsuspecting brother. They rolled and sprawled onto the wooden pier in a heap.
"Hehehehe!" Vince kicked his legs against the ground, flicking droplets forward as he giggled. "I totally - hack! - got you!" He spit up a little.
"Goodness…" His little brother, Finn, huffed as he stood. "I suppose you've 'gotten' me indeed, dear Vincent." Although he tried very hard to sound proper, his voice was unconvincingly squeaky.
"Aw, even when I surprise you, you're still gonna talk like that?" Vince whined, rolling over.
"It's quite fun! You'd like it too, if you ever tried it."
"No way!" Vince sprung to his feet and shook, not caring in the slightest that he further splattered Finn in the process.
"Agh!" Finn stumbled backward, dodging the water as if it'd make him melt. "Well, in any case, Dad says we're going to depart soon."
"But didn't Cecilia just get here?"
"I don't understand it either. But Mom wanted me to fetch you." Finn pranced down the pier like a proud fashion model on the stage.
Vince reserved his extra speed until they were back on dry land. The moment there was room to pass him, he zoomed around Finn, sprinting along the shoreline as fast as his little legs would take him. Cecilia, the sweet Petilil, was shyly playing around without really swimming - and there, behind them, was his mother, chatting away with Cecilia's.
"…hard to measure how we're doing when all we have are books to follow along with." Cecilia's mother, whose name Vince hadn't bothered to learn, rested on her knees and leaned low to better match the height of his mom. "At least you have your other kids to measure your progress, Urith."
"Well, they chip in too. Finn already taught Jace how to read, and Ez is picking up numbers quicker thanks to - Oh, there you are!" She turned to Vince as he came barreling in, watching him with gentle red eyes.
"Hi Mom." Vince skidded to a stop, collapsing in front of her. He knew the drill - his mother grabbed a towel and draped it over him, drying him off with her own paws.
"Vince! You know Urith's been waiting minutes for you to come back, don't you?" the Lilligant lightly scolded.
"But he did come back, didn't he?" she countered. "Vince is reliable like that. I can always count on him."
Vince hardly paid any attention to what they were talking about. Tucked under a towel, rubbed and patted dry by his own Umbreon mother… It was enough to make any Eevee forget about the world and purr away.
If he had a say in the matter, he might never get up.
"Sir! Ah, sir, are you alright?"
There were three reasons why Vince took almost seven seconds to respond. First, the Vaporeon wasn't used to hearing somebody address him. He had seen nobody but dungeon pokémon for miles, and thus hadn't spoken to a single person in the past few days. Second, he hardly had the energy left to get off the ground and speak to him. Third, there was no honest answer he could give that was good.
All that time, and the only thing Vince could muster was a slurred "Yeah." A big sign with an arrow pointing at him saying 'nothing to see here' would have been more convincing.
"What are you doing this far out?" He was certainly referring to the trail that Vince just so happened to collapse on the side of. "Don't tell me you came all the way from the tavern."
Vince thought he had heard something about the next town over having a good bar. "I wish I did."
He sighed. "Well, I'd be doing myself a disservice if I failed to help a potential future customer in need! Let's get you back on your feet."
Vince lazily craned his neck over his shoulder, finally getting a look at the stranger. He was green, with yellow markings on his face and a red stripe on his chest. A Kecleon, he was pretty sure. He carried two leather bags by the straps over his shoulders, similar to the one Vince wore on his side - except the Kecleon was sagged down by their weight, while Vince's was as light as the air it contained.
The Kecleon approached him, crouching down to pick him up.
"You really don't have to do that," Vince weakly protested.
It wasn't enough to stop the stranger from digging his hands under him…and feeling his ribs visibly poking out of his skin.
He gasped loudly. "Oh my goodness, look at you! When's the last time you've eaten?!"
Vince couldn't meet his concerned gaze. This wasn't a conversation he intended to have with anybody. "I ran out of food…two days ago, I think."
That answer only made the Kecleon work harder to pull him off the ground. "This just won't do. Nobody deserves to starve out in the middle of the wild! I'll get you fed, free of charge!"
Vince watched the trees pass him by with half-lidded eyes. He was embarrassed to even be in this position in the first place, needing random passerby to fulfill his basic needs for him. But he wasn't in a position to protest.
After all, this was what he had asked for.
While Vince and his siblings were all still Eevees, their parents had sat them down to establish a family tradition. Following in the footsteps of previous generations of Pontidunt, each one of them would pick out their desired evolution at thirteen years old - no younger, no older. The two sold this as a way to guide them through their life-changing decisions individually, without splitting their attention between children. It wouldn't be until later that Vince realized buying even one type stone ate a massive chunk of their harvest profit, and this was their parents' way of handling the cost.
The others were indecisive about their plans. Finn had studied all of the evolutions to the point that he agonized over his inability to be all of them. Jace mostly shrugged it off, boldly claiming he'd figure out his form choice once he hit thirteen. Ez wasn't ready to make a decision at all, still content with being an Eevee.
Not Vince. He knew exactly what evolution he wanted - and what he'd do with the newfound power.
On the other side of Prauvy Lake, a small mansion loomed over the rolling hills of Raupstance. The family that owned it weren't farmers - in fact, Vince had never seen any of them carrying out a job. His dad told him they were city folk that retired here for the silence.
It wouldn't be a big deal if their daughter, Peri, wasn't such a brat. That Chespin was always making a mess of things with her posse of once-sweet kids. She loved to gossip and jeer at any drama that caught her eye - or worse, create it herself.
There was nobody in Raupstance that she picked on more than Finn. Any time he crossed paths with her, she'd go straight to mocking his tone. Finn hadn't even said anything mean to her - she was just insulted by the way he liked to talk. Finn lacked the heart to do anything but protest her with logical arguments that she always ignored. It was a one-sided rivalry that got old fast.
Vince had decided years ago that, as soon as he evolved, he was going to shut her up once and for all. He didn't care if being a Vaporeon was a type disadvantage - he was determined to overpower her with his early evolution. All he needed was the right excuse.
He didn't have to wait long. Shortly after he absorbed a water stone's power, Peri stooped to her lowest.
Finn's eleventh birthday had just passed, and as a playful gift, Vince had saved up to buy him a monocle. He was so enthused by it that he had started wearing it every day. The next time the two of them encountered Peri's clique, trying to clear out a field for own play, she made a point to insult it.
"I truly do not see the problem," Finn remarked. "There is plenty of space on this field for both of us. Certainly you could play your little game while I continue my reading, couldn't you?"
Peri marched up to the Eevee. The chains of a half-dozen necklaces and bracelets, proof of her status, jingled as she walked. "Really, you should be thanking me for hiding your fashion disaster. Like, seriously, a monocle? You look like a supervillain's stupid sidekick. Maybe save it for a costume party!"
Her friend group, surrounding her on every side but her front, laughed with her.
"Hey, cut it out." Vince stood next to Finn, lowering his stance and swishing his dorsal tail to intimidate the Chespin. He would not allow her to mock Finn for a gift he gave him.
"Vincent…" Finn's ears drooped at the sight of his aggressive pose. Without realizing it, Vince must have drawn out the Eevee's smarmier side, based on the glare he gave Peri. "It's amusing how you feel threatened by my apparel. You've adorned yourself with all sorts of jewelry, but all I need to match you is a single-"
Peri slapped Finn in the face.
She knocked the monocle clean off, loosing the chain from his neck fluff. If it weren't for a clean landing in the grass, it easily could've bent or broke from the impact.
Okay, that's it.
Vince lunged at Peri. He pushed her to the ground, pinning her with one forepaw. His other reared back, aiming to return the slap, claws extended for good measure.
Peri's friends squealed and screamed, wholly unprepared for a fight. They scurried away, likely to tattle to an adult instead of helping themselves.
The Chespin herself did not capsize so easily. She blocked his slap with an arm and kicked him off, putting some distance between the two of them.
Vince grunted as he planted himself. "Phineas, get out of here," he said, sparing only a quick glance at his stunned brother. Finn obeyed, grabbing his monocle and taking a few wary steps back.
She cackled as she got back on her feet. "Aaw, look! Here comes big bro to save the day! Isn't that just adorable?"
"Shut up." Vince jumped and whirled, lashing his tail in her direction. Swift stars formed in his tail's arc and fired into the air, homing in on Peri.
The Chespin curled up and rolled around, letting the slope of the field take her away. When the stars popped against her shell, they just knocked her around harmlessly, like a kicked ball. As soon as the last star hit, Peri uncurled, facing away from him.
About ten spines launched from her back across the field. Vince dove away, but one nailed his side. He yelped - the needle jammed between his scales like a Beedrill sting.
The Vaporeon charged at her, closing the distance. Peri guarded herself with her hands, but that was just what he wanted. His fangs clamped down on her right arm, just above her wrist.
"Agh!" In a mix between a yell and a gag, Peri spat a seed at him. The moment it touched him, it exploded into a thread of vines that binded his forelegs and rooted into the dirt. When she pried her arm from his grip and backed off, he couldn't follow.
Vince fell forward, muzzle slamming into the ground. He thrashed, flailed, and kicked, desperately trying to wrest himself from the vines. They only tightened at his resistance, sapping his strength.
His eyes went wide. The Vaporeon had come into this fight assuming that evolution alone would be enough to overcome her. He was wrong. He had no answer for this.
More vines grew from behind Peri's neck. Any attempt to fire another Swift - or, embarrassingly, spit a glob of water - was thwarted by the ruthless pain of getting whipped from every angle by those vines. Vince tried to count how many he took in this position, but by the sixth one, he could barely think.
By the time the vines finally released him, he didn't have the strength to fight back anymore. The battle had barely begun and he was already down.
Peri panted loudly in front of him. Vince's bleary vision could barely make her out. She snuck a scoff between breaths. "I figured it out. Hah… You're the one who bought him that thing, right?"
He groaned. "What does it matter…?"
"That's why you only fought me now, and why the bookworm got the guts to talk back. For once, I insulted you." Peri loomed over his side. "And here I thought the Eevee was thin-skinned!"
Vince struggled, trying to roll back onto his feet. That wasn't true! He wanted to fight her back when he was an Eevee. He held off all this time because he was waiting to evolve, so he'd be strong enough. It wasn't just because he was afraid of her gossip!
…Right?
Peri kicked him, snuffing his dream of getting back up. "If you really wanted to scare me away from your brother, you could've tried beating me up years ago. But you're not really committed to being tough at all. You're just a wimp who got cornered!"
Vince couldn't muster a reply. He wasn't really sure how much Peri knew about his family, beyond what she learned to bully Finn with, but it was true that the Pontidunts weren't really fighters. His only experience was playful no-stakes spars with his siblings. There was no real way to train in a place like Raupstance.
He was stupid to think evolution would magically make him a better fighter than Peri. He didn't lose because of his form - he lost because he was Vincent Pontidunt.
"Peri, that is enough." His vision cleared up enough to see Finn insert himself between the two. The Eevee's monocle glinted sunlight into his eye. "You've already won. Your blustering has no purpose here."
The Chespin just shrugged, showing off the scratch marks his fangs had left on her arm. "Well there's no point now. Everyone else ran off, and I gotta go clean up." She turned and slowly walked away from them. "If you wanna prove me wrong, stick around and we'll have a round two."
Finn stood tall, seeing her off. Once she was gone, he turned around and studied his body. "Oh, Vincent…"
Vince laughed weakly, trying to bear the pain of the splinter and the whip marks. "Sorry, Phineas."
"You have nothing to apologize for." The Eevee dug his head under his side, trying to right him to a standing position using his whole body. "You fought valiantly."
Vince wobbled on his feet, trying to regain the strength to walk. "Thanks. It doesn't really mean much if I can't win, though."
"Nonsense!" He led Vince down the field, back toward home. Their parents would surely patch him up, although the Vaporeon was certain they'd be mortified. "Even if the strength of your body failed you, you showed the strength of your heart. I'm grateful that you at least tried to assist me."
"Right." Vince stared at the grass as he walked. His 'heart' hadn't taken him far. Was it really worth that much?
When the stranger Kecleon, whose name he learned was Clarke, carried him into his brick-built home, Vince was too tired to take in the interior. It wasn't until after Clarke supplied him with a generous helping of meat and berries that he was lucid enough to study the house.
The walls of the Kecleon's living room were lined with bookcases, but rather than books, they held trinkets that glittered and sheened in the sunlight from the windows. The green carpeted floor was finely kept without a single stain in sight. The couch was so deeply plush that Vince was certain he'd fall asleep on it if he relaxed too much. The table Clarke placed his food upon was made of glass.
While Clarke disappeared into his kitchen to get him more water, the Vaporeon slowly took a lap around the room. He couldn't get a good look at the top rows, but there was enough to admire on the bottom shelves. Jewelry, finely-woven clothing, and all sorts of fancy apparel were interspersed with stranger items, like a tiny globe whose stand was withered from age, or a Wonder Orb whose colors were an unrecognizable rainbow swirl. There was even a rusted sword mounted horizontally in a wide case.
He couldn't imagine just how much it cost this Kecleon to own so many expensive-looking items. Clarke made Peri's money look like a joke. But compared to that Chespin's parents, he sounded like somebody in his early thirties, far out from retirement. What exactly did he do to-?
His tail smacked the side of a bookcase.
Vince gasped, watching helplessly as low rattling filled the room, treasures wobbling from their quick disturbance. Most of it settled back into place, but something on a high shelf rolled and rolled, like a flicked marble. The worst case scenario - he dislodged something!
"Oh, goodness!" Clarke returned just in time. He dashed past Vince and grabbed the thing from the shelf's edge before it could roll off. "That was close."
The Vaporeon grit his teeth, recoiling into himself. "Sorry. Ugh, I haven't even been here ten minutes and I almost broke something of yours."
Clarke laughed. "Most of my collection's been through far worse than a little knocking around! You'd have to try much harder to hurt anything here."
Vince sighed to himself. This was far from the first time he accidentally knocked something over. He had the finesse of a Revavroom speeding down a mountain. Vince had been fired from enough jobs over it that he really shouldn't have been let off so easily, but Clarke didn't know that, so he just kept his shame to himself. "Where'd you even get all this stuff?"
"Most of what you see here was sold or traded to me," Clarke explained. "I've gained an eye for these things since I became a retailer. You'd be surprised what travelers like you are willing to part ways with!" He turned to the sword. "Like this saber, for example. I told him that he should find somebody else to repair it instead, but he insisted he didn't need it anymore! I've been meaning to find somebody who could restore it - I can tell it was beautiful in its heyday…"
Clarke rattled on, telling the tales of how his living room became a hub for all manners of weird and wonderful. Vince stopped paying attention after the sword, not because he was disinterested, but because he had become fixated on something else.
Clarke was still holding the round object that nearly fell from the bookcase. Just as he thought, it was fairly marble-like, much smaller than a Wonder Orb. But Vince was taken aback by how deeply dark it was. Save for a tiny white claw-streak along one side, it was strikingly black. It may as well have been sucking in light like a vortex.
Eventually, Clarke noticed his distraction. "Has King Nero's Pearl caught your eye?" He turned his palm so that Vince could get a better look. "I can't blame you. It's one of my finest catches!"
Vince shook his head and met Clarke's gaze. "Nero?" Why did that name sound familiar?
"Have you never heard that myth?"
Right, now the gears were turning. "I think my brother told me about that one a few years ago. I only remember that it was bad."
Clarke leaned back and hummed, trying to recollect the story. "It's an almost five thousand year-old fable from the west coast, back when it was still a kingdom. The story goes that this pearl belonged to a Passimmian tyrant named Nero - and he dyed it with his own blood."
Vince's fin-ears flicked. "His blood? Which was…black?"
"Nero was competing with his brothers and sisters to prove himself worthy of his parents' throne," he recounted. "He started as a frail boy who was easily trampled over, unsuitable as a leader. Then, he left home and disappeared in the mountains for years."
Vince clasped his muzzle and stared at the floor. "What happened to him?"
"He returned a changed pokémon. Nero became ruthlessly strong, harsh of tongue, and determined to take what he wanted. He challenged all of his siblings at once in a fight to the death, all to prove his right as King - and he won. The wounds they left him with oozed this color." Clarke stared into the pearl. "Nero told the people that embracing what made him bleed black gave him the power to rule."
The Vaporeon slouched. Now he remembered completely - this discomfort was exactly how he felt all those years ago. "Phineas ranted about that story for a week. He wouldn't like knowing that it's real." After he thought it over again, he added, "Well, 'real'. That can't be actual blood."
Clarke smirked. "It's probably not. But that doesn't change that it's a genuine artifact!" He lowered the pearl to meet his eyes, showing off the thin cut. "See this long gash here? It was made by Nero's great-grandchildren, who disavowed his iron-tailed rule. I scoured all the local libraries to prove it's real - the cut matches the artistic recreations exactly! That poor seller had no idea how much this was really worth…"
The Kecleon's earnest excitement made Vince perk up again. "And now you get to show it off to all your guests."
"Oh, no, I don't plan to keep it here," he said. "I intend to sell it. I like my odd trinkets, but this is far too valuable not to hand over to a museum! A hundred thousand poké plus the goodwill of protecting history is a hard deal to pass up."
Vince's jaw dropped. No, he couldn't have heard that right. "A…hundred thousand…?!"
"I'm still in the process of having the exact price appraised." Clarke put the pearl back on the shelf where it belonged. "I'm supposed to show it to the museum a few towns over in a month or so. You're actually pretty lucky to have seen it - this might be the last few weeks it's in my possession!"
He was too busy balking at the price tag attached to that pearl to give Clarke a proper response. That much poké would pay for two months' worth of food and then some. Several nights in warm hotels, instead of by campfires or in alleyways. A wash for his dirtied hood. Maybe he could even buy his way into odd jobs to make even more money.
A horrible thought crossed Vince's mind. No, scratch that, a stupid thought. The kind that you banish to the corner of your brain and cringe at years later. He should have dismissed it as quickly as it arrived.
But it lingered. As Clarke let him rest on his living room couch and watch the sun set outside, Vince kept silently chewing on the idea.
Long shadows crept over him. It was getting dark - but not as dark as that pearl.
Vince was hopeless as an employee. He couldn't even make it as a farmer. The penalty for his nonexistent skills, he thought, was the starvation he faced on his travels. But maybe there was a way forward that he'd been ignoring all along.
Maybe the answer was to take from others.
"What do you mean, you're leaving?"
A confused Jace spoke on behalf of all three of his siblings. Vince had gathered them all on what they liked to call 'the gossip hill' - a secluded woodland incline just past the edge of the family farm, away from the ears of their parents. Usually their private talks were about more menial, lighthearted things, like news from faraway places that Cecilia passed on to them, or Peri's latest insult. This, however, would not be such a simple conversation.
"Not right now," Vince clarified to Finn, Jace, and Ez, "but when I turn eighteen next year."
"Only a year? That's rather soon," Finn said. The Flareon seemed more curious than concerned, studying him through his monocle.
"Yeah, what gives?!" Jace's straw hat, held in place by the holes for his ears, bobbed forward as he lurched in reaction. "Why's it gotta be your birthday exactly, Vincent?"
Vince hummed. "It's the first day that I'll be an adult."
"You realize your birthday's right before planting season, right? We'll be down a whole Pontidunt right before the busiest time of the year!" Jace reared forward. His yellow fur, bristled by static, seemed as sharp as his tongue.
He sighed. Each year, it felt more and more like they had started inviting Dad to these meetings. Vince could already picture the Manectric standing tall, asking him, "Are you sure it's right to make other people take care of your responsibilities?" The nasally Jolteon didn't have Maki's air of authority, but the message was the same.
"Yeah, and the next season is growing, and the one after that is harvesting," Vince argued. "There's always a job to do. And let's be honest, you're not really losing that much without me, Jason."
Jace gawked, stunned by the stinger he laid in that sentence. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Why are we even arguing about when you'd go?" Ez whined. She was usually the last of them to get a word in - she had to physically plant herself in front of Jace to cut into their argument. "I don't get why you wanna leave at all."
Vince turned his head away. "It's not like this is the first time I've talked about it." He had spent many afternoons, evenings, and nights on this hill, musing with the three of them about what it would be like to live in a city, or in a weird place like a cave, or in the world of the latest fantasy book Finn was raving about. Vince framed them like fleeting idle thoughts, so he didn't hold it against them that they hadn't taken his ideas seriously until now.
"Yeah, but still." Ez's ears lowered and her violet eyes shimmered. "I spent all these years helping you learn to be a Vaporeon. You don't even want to stay and do the same for me…?"
He grimaced. Ez had only become an Espeon a few months ago - the full extent of her psychic power so far was flicking her single earring up and down like a door knocker with her mind. Vince really did want to help her learn real moves, the same way he figured out his in their play-fights. But…
"As if I'd be of any help!" Vince exclaimed. "I can't protect you all from bullies. I barely set a good example. I'm just… I'm not good enough!"
His yell echoed against the branches above them. Finn, Jace, and Ez were stunned into silence. Shame crept over Vince as his own words were repeated back to him. It felt like he was admitting to a dirty secret.
Ez broke the silence. "Vincent," she stammered. "That's… That's not-"
"I understand now." Finn finally spoke up. "This is about the incident where Dad yelled at you the previous month, is it not?"
Vince knew what he was referring to. Just as he did every year, Maki tasked each of them with planting a particular row of crops. But Vince had become distracted by daydreams of working a different job, and accidentally drifted into another row, planting them in the wrong place. Maki had become exasperated when Vince admitted to it - he couldn't fathom how somebody could make such a rookie mistake after doing that very task for seventeen years. Frankly, Vince couldn't fathom it either.
"It's not just that," he admitted. "These kinds of things keep happening. You guys have called me a klutz enough times that you know it's true. There's so much I want to do, but I'm not getting better fast enough. And I thought, maybe if I left home and experienced the real world, I'd…"
Finn sat down in front of him, straightening himself up. "Vincent. If this is truly something you believe you must do, in order to become the person you wish to be…then I implore you to do it. Jason, Ezekiel, and I would be failing our duties as your younger siblings if we held you here."
"But Jason and Ezekiel are right," Vince said, whapping his tail against the grass. "It's not fair that I get to go out and leave you all behind."
Ez padded up next to Finn. "I really don't want you to go. But…"
Jace snuck up to the Flareon's other side. "Listen, I'll take care of the crops with Mom and Dad. You gotta do what you gotta do."
"It's not like we will be separated forever." Finn's fur rustled as a gust of wind seeped between the trees. He looked skyward, at the night sky concealed by the long branches above. "We've shared so many memories under these stars. Even if you drift away from us, that fact will not change. We will still sleep under the same sky."
Jace peered smugly at Finn. "How long have you had that speech ready to go?"
Finn scoffed. "Longer than I am willing to admit."
The levity broke Vince's sorrow, and he chuckled lightly. "Thanks, guys." He leaned in, huddling with them. "At least we have a year left. Let's make it a good one."
Night had fallen by the time Vince started to act on his idea. Clarke had given him a guest bedroom for the night, but Vince slinked out of it as soon as he was sure Clarke was asleep. Like a child sneaking a midnight snack, he slowly crept back into the dark living room. The only noise he made was a deliberate whack to the bookcase he hit accidentally earlier.
Just as before, the pearl was knocked from whatever held it up. Vince splayed himself out in front of the bookcase as widely as possible, trying to body-block its fall. It ended up bouncing off his side and landing harmlessly on the carpeted floor.
All he had to do was take it and leave.
Vince turned, reached for it…and stopped. His whole body was trembling, especially his paw. What was he doing? Clarke had earned this pearl fair and square, and he was just going to take it for his own gain?
He'll be fine without it, he tried to assure himself. He has a job already. If you don't take it, you'll go back to being half-dead somewhere right after Clarke sets you loose.
But that didn't make it right, or okay. Theft was theft. Vince was trading Clarke's livelihood for his own. What kind of Pontidunt would he be if he betrayed somebody's trust?
Ugh, he was still just standing there like an idiot! He already knew this was what he had to do. Why was he letting morals eat him up when it was a matter of survival? Vince had traveled so far to prove he could become stronger, but look at him! Peri was right. Even after a year's worth of journeying, he was too much of a wimp to do the one thing that would save his-
"Is everything alright in here?"
He took too long.
Clarke's eyes flicked from him, to the shelf, to the pearl on the floor. His eyes widened, and his jaw opened. Vince could see the dawning horror on his face, mixed with a twinge of regret. The Kecleon had told him more than he should have.
The Vaporeon drew a deep breath. His choice was made the moment he knocked the pearl off the shelf. Vince would not accept his own cowardice.
He scooped it up into his hood and made a break for the front door.
In seconds, Vince was sprinting down a street he'd never seen in a town he'd never been to before. He was used to being in unfamiliar places, but not with this much pressure. The way forward was dimly lit, with barely more than moonlight and some street lamps to guide him. His slim chest heaved and his heart pounded as he sprinted down worn dirt pathways away from the center of town.
"Wait! Please, stop!" Clarke's distant begging was nearer than he liked. The Kecleon had home field advantage - while Vince stuck to the clear roads, Clarke took shortcuts and moved through the yards of houses and businesses he passed. Whenever he glanced behind him, he saw a warbling blur of colors. Clarke was trying to camouflage himself.
Still, Vince outsped him. Clarke couldn't keep up…at least, not alone.
"Help! Thief! I've been robbed! Help me catch the thief!"
At this time of night, there weren't a lot of people wandering the streets. Vince had been forced to dodge one or two passerby, but otherwise he had been free to run. But the moment the two of them turned into a busier street, Clarke screamed for backup. At least a dozen eyes ahead were on him in an instant.
Vince skidded to a stop. He was sandwiched between the townsfolk and Clarke - if he didn't change things up now, he was done for. His eyes flicked from side to side. On his right was just more houses, but on his left was an opening into what looked like woods.
A small forest. Vince had probably run through more of these than all of them combined. That has how he'd lose them.
He ducked into the trees. There was no path to guide him, but he didn't need one. He weaved between trunks, barely giving up any speed. With each passing minute, the yells of Clarke and the townsfolk grew more distant.
At the other side of the woods, Vince found his lifeline. Before him was a wide pond, seemingly devoid of witnesses. An aged wooden pier stretched over the still water.
None of the pokémon he had seen were water types like him. He could stay under for hours without needing air. This was where their chase ended.
He barreled across the pier and jumped.
Splash.
The still water gave way. He dove downward, submerging himself completely.
Nero's Pearl came loose from his hood, flying forward in the water. Against the darkness of the night, he could barely see it.
Vince swam under it and turned himself belly up. Far above him, the moon and stars rippled with a liveliness they didn't really have. In the center of his vision, the pearl obscured his view, its darkness even dimmer than the night sky.
He held still, letting himself drift. His world was muffled, reduced to the compressed creaks of the water around him.
"V…ncen… Vin…! …cent!"
Vince could make out a shape, leaning over the edge of the pier next to him. He was being called home.
There would be no answer. He could never go back. Not anymore.
Vince curled himself around the pearl and sank.
This was it. After a year that was agonizingly long and frustratingly short at the same time, Vince's eighteenth birthday had finally arrived. While the whole family spent the morning sharing a celebratory meal, the joy was undercut by the reality of what came next. By nightfall, the Vaporeon will have left Raupstance behind, and began his travels across the world.
The whole Pontidunt family was gathered around him on the front porch of their quaint wooden home. Vince's bag weighed down his side to the point of nearly tipping him over, filled with everything he would need on the journey. As soon as he was ready, the Vaporeon could simply move forward and depart.
The waterworks from his siblings came quickly. Ez whimpered softly into his side. Jace, equally teary-eyed, laughed away his despair, demanding Vince write letters home about his adventures from time to time. Finn was as composed as ever, certain that he was destined to do great things.
Vince hugged, petted, and cared for them all. He tried his best to stay strong - he had already bawled to himself about parting ways with his three oldest friends in the months and weeks leading up to this day. He thought he could handle it, at least for long enough to be out of their sight.
What he wasn't prepared for was his parents. His dad looked down upon him with an earnest smile, exuding a proudness the Vaporeon rarely saw. "Vince," he started, "the road ahead is going to be challenging. The world is big, and dangerous. But you can't allow yourself to crack under the pressure. I know I've said this so many times, but… Hold to your morals, and you will make it out okay."
Vince nodded. He wasn't bothered by Maki being a broken record - one final reminder couldn't hurt. "Right. Thanks, Dad."
"Before you go…" His mother reached for something she had hidden under a chair on the porch. She dragged the soft black piece of fabric along the floor with her paws. "Finn helped me buy this hood for you. It's made with a special kind of silk, designed to melt and reform in the water, just like you do. It'll shield your eyes from harsh sunlight, warm up your head on cool nights - but more than anything, it's something to remember us by." She picked it up with her forepaws. "Would you…like me to put it on you?"
Vince's muzzle quivered. He could hear his own long tail swish against the ground. "Sure…" He lowered his head.
Urith jumped, and in a single motion, pulled the thing over his head, giving it a resting place on top of his neck frills. She practically pounced on top of him, and in an instant it had become a tight embrace.
That was when Vince finally gave in and cried. The very last time he'd feel his own mother's touch… It was pitiful how much he depended on it. "I love you," he whispered, voice wavering.
"I love you too," she answered softly. "We all do."
Vince clung on for longer than he should have. It gave everyone else time to sniffle with them. Not even Finn and Maki's stoicism could beat out the weight of finality.
"We should…all head inside," Finn choked out. "Let's not delay Vincent any further."
Several heads nodded, and a minute later, the Vaporeon was alone. As he dried his tears, he backed up to get one last full view of the Pontidunt household. He had lived here for his entire life, up until now. Vince was sure he'd be homesick for weeks.
But he couldn't forget the reason why he had to leave. This tiny town had given Vince principles to be proud of, but not skills. He was so much weaker than he could be. He had to find someone, something that could steel his body and mind. The world had the answers he was looking for, Vince was sure of it.
Once Vince turned around and faced the road out of Raupstance, he resolved to never look back until he found those answers. One day, he would return home a better Pontidunt.
Vincent Pontidunt drowned in that pond. There would be no funeral, and he would not be missed by anybody but the household he grew up with. The version of himself he pictured in his mind would never be realized.
The Vaporeon that dragged himself onto the shore hours later was somebody else. He wasn't a farmer, an older brother, or a softie. He was a criminal. He acted alone. He took what he wanted.
But if he wasn't a Pontidunt, then who was he?
The answer was obvious. He'd given up all that he was to take ownership of the pearl. If he belonged to anything, it was the inky blackness that gave it its worth.
It was Cent O'nero who slinked into the night, his reward concealed in the folds of his hood. Clarke had nearly caught him in the act - his exit was sloppy because of his inexperience.
For once, he was sure he'd do it better next time.
