Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds
Chapter 13 — Melting Mask
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The forest offered ample shelter as Team Heavendust took a breather. Lucario clutched his chest, eyes periodically turning to the dark sky above. A light drizzle, and no Lugia.
Togetic took in a mouthful of air. “Are we safe here?” she asked.
Shaymin perched on a tree branch, resting against it. “Should be. Considering the environmental damage he might cause and the unwanted attention he’d attract, Lugia won’t give chase over land. Not unless he’s desperate.”
She hung onto that last word for a moment. Lucario gripped his chest a little harder as he and the others turned to Eira the Vulpix, Gabite’s face as blank as paper. The false vixen quivered, before stumbling with a groan.
Her tails pressed against her flank, eyes squeezed. “Vulpix!” cried Togetic, pulling her up. “Here, lean on me.”
She did, resting just a little against Togetic’s form as she held against her suffering, her fur a mess of darkened blotches. Lucario promptly conjured a pink sphere of aura, diffusing the Heal Pulse throughout Vulpix’s body, and most of those spots faded as the kid’s trembling lessened. The black streaks on her wristband remained, however, a permanent memento, and Lucario felt the nape on the back of his fur rise.
“Oblivion Wing.” Shaymin rubbed her grassy pelt. “Aerodactyl was using a life-draining move, and he had a Dark Aura Ability too. They’re signature powers of the Legendary Yveltal.”
Togetic’s grimace was a strange mimicry of Vulpix’s. “The Death Pokemon?” she said, and Lucario found himself making that grimace too, as did Gabite. There was a Pokemon like that?
But Shaymin shook her head. “The Destruction Pokemon, Togetic,” she said. “No Pokemon controls death itself. Not Ho-Oh or Arceus or Latios and Latias, no matter what tales you’ve heard about their Soul Dews, or—”
A cough from Gabite stopped her rant. “Aerodactyl called himself Oblivion Matter,” he noted. “He could force his will upon fellow mutants. He’s not some petty Abhorrent, is he?”
“Can’t be. Remember the pillars? They’re linked to Lugia’s domain — many Legendaries use the properties of Mystery Dungeons to conceal themselves. Aerodactyl’s activating them to gain access, and plunder something he wants inside. Something too dangerous to be hidden anywhere else.”
Gabite grew twitchy, and Lucario spoke up, delaying the talk he knew was coming. “The power to warp dungeons, right?” he asked. “Wouldn’t you know how that works?”
Shaymin waved the notion aside. “Me? Pfft, maybe one of my elders, but like they’d ever blab about it. Anyway, Aerodactyl’s likely after something like that, and with his powers over Abhorrents, mutating Lugia would’ve saved him time. He must have other feathers with him.”
Perhaps it was just Lucario, but the whole forest seemed several degrees chillier. “Didn’t he say something about a ‘Gear?’” Togetic brought up, curling into herself.
Gabite growled. “An ally. We’re entering a whole conspiracy here.” He took a moment to turn away, caressing his Treasure Bag. “Blasted fiend. All that effort and he just slips away like a Ghost-type. Should’ve remembered I had items.”
Togetic eyed her own bag, dangling to her side. “Should’ve remembered mine too.”
Vulpix hissed to herself, and everyone seemed to remember their wounds, Lucario taking a moment to sit down and brace against the pain Aerodactyl had inflicted. Togetic cast upon them Life Dew, and he mindlessly did the same, the rejuvenating effect of the droplets tingling his rain-soaked skin.
He hadn’t been at his best when fighting Aerodactyl either. His mind had been compromised at the sight of the creature responsible for everything. Everything that had happened so far, and everything that would happen afterward.
He could see it in the others, they were stalling. Trying not to draw attention to the elephant — the Copperjah? — in the room. But they wouldn’t hold out forever.
“Corvisquire!” Togetic yelled, nearly tearing away from Vulpix. “She’s still—”
“Eevee probably has her,” Shaymin consoled her. “Or the Espeon, technically. Darn it, Lucario, when you said he had siblings, you didn’t—”
“I know.” Lucario looked at Shaymin, and she looked at him. Her eyes were pensive, searching him.
A matter of time. Again avoiding the instinct to turn toward Vulpix, his mind spun wild with thoughts on how to handle the greatest setback he could’ve ever faced, only to grasp at nothingness. There wasn’t a single convincing lie he could make up.
“If anyone paid attention, Aerodactyl didn’t alter Rocky Shores,” continued Shaymin. “I’m guessing that when he activated the pillar, it fully destabilized the Mystery Dungeon. Lugia worsened the effect, hoping to take out the Abhhorents inside.”
“And when we got stolen into the dungeon—” went on Gabite.
“Lugia might’ve noticed and made it rebuild itself,” finished Shaymin. “Not too sure. Regardless, Lugia was nearby the whole time, waiting to finish off Aerodactyl from a distance.”
“And then he found himself a different target.”
A numbness clouded Lucario’s head as Gabite finally made his move, folding his claws and facing him. Shaymin and Togetic followed suit. Vulpix seemed to gain an unnatural vigor, pulling her head up to observe with pursed lips.
“Lucario,” said Gabite. “Where do I start?”
“Please don’t,” muttered Lucario. His muscles stung, and his headache stung worse.
Lugia had cast down pink lightning bolts upon them, singling Vulpix out all the while. Everyone felt the Pressure Lugia had placed, but they all knew who it’d been focused on.
How was he supposed to wave it off as a mere happenstance?
Gabite pulled himself up. “I’ve held this off for a long time,” he said, “but no more. I’ll do you a favor and let you explain yourself. Or would Vulpix like to share?”
Vulpix, of course, kept her mouth glued shut. Togetic sensed her anxiety, holding her tight and throwing Gabite a warning look, but otherwise kept quiet. Shaymin watched on, a trickle of pity leaking through her questioning gaze.
“Well?” said Gabite.
He had to pull him off course. “You think I can simply explain this?” said Lucario. “Tell me, Gabite, how comfortable would you be in sharing why you went ballistic in—”
“The barren deserts of Tumbledust Island are brutal places for wild Pokemon to grow up, never mind what some of the dungeons were like. Good for finding food, bad for mental stability. I can’t repay Braixen enough for what he’s done to heal the madness I’ve built up living there. Should I carry on?”
Lucario found himself dumbstruck, more so than any of the others. What— he actually responded?
“I’ll take that as a no. Good choice, Braixen knows what happened the last time I tried to detail my worst experiences as a wild ‘mon.” Gabite took in Togetic’s horrified expression and snorted. “So that’s my secret. Well?”
Utter silence.
“Have it your way then. See, there were oddities surrounding you and Vulpix from day one, albeit things that I could overlook. Your reactions to the use of Elemental Gems and their use in appliances and lights and other wonders, your shared discomfort when being in Berrypark Town for the first time, how Vulpix practically hid in your shadow and seemed confused and afraid all the time, your mention of her being attacked by some Pokemon earlier — concerning, but stuff you can explain away.”
Sweat beads formed on Lucario’s forehead as Gabite arched a brow at him. This wasn’t how he expected this conversation to go.
He hasn’t figured it out, has he?
“But then, things got far stranger. Do you know how weird it was for me to realize the matriarch Ariados, known for fearing superstitious things, was one of your attackers? That she was so invested in bothering you that she came to the cottage yesterday?”
Lucario’s eyes widened. “I didn’t see, of course, but I could tell,” Gabite clarified. “Thought I heard her voice too. I have sensitive hearing, you know — good enough to overhear things like Vulpix whispering in what sounds like a completely alien tongue.”
The jackal learned what whiplash felt like in that moment, his neck cursing his carelessness as he snapped his head toward Gabite. Vulpix’s eyes practically bulged out of their sockets, her body forgetting it was supposed to be shuddering in pain. “Uh, what?” said Shaymin.
Togetic blinked and shook her head. “Gabite, this isn’t necessary—” she began.
But Gabite was on a figurative Rollout, unable to be stopped. “It’s odd, especially with her phasing it out in favor of Pokemon speech, almost as if she couldn’t speak it well before. Not to mention whatever odd connections you have with that Eevee and Aerodactyl — you think I didn’t see the visceral reaction you had toward the bony mutant? And considering it too, it’s puzzling that Vulpix had such a vested interest in Lugia, like it was more than mere curiosity driving her to recall who the Legendary was. You two did know more than you let on, didn’t you?
“I could also bring up how, despite Vulpix getting comfortable with us, she kept giving me wary looks, like she was afraid of my scrutiny. Afraid of me learning why Ariados would harm a child for supposedly no reason.” Despite the stormy sky, Gabite’s eyes flashed like razor-sharp daggers catching the light of the sun. “Afraid of me learning why Lugia sees her as a threat, to the point that he was willing to strike down all of us.”
Shaymin frowned. “Lugia are part Psychic-type,” she muttered.
“Everyone, please—” insisted Togetic.
“And I believe I know the focal point of everything.” Gabite’s eyes fell, and Lucario felt their impact as they came upon Vulpix’s fried wristband. “I get why you stopped Weavile from slashing her little accessory to pieces. She needs it, doesn’t she?”
Vulpix hastened to cover her wristband, her breaths shallow. From the moment Gabite spoke, panic had festered in Lucario’s head, rampaging like a wild Vigoroth, and now he could scarcely feel anything else. Gabite saw too much, pieced together the scraps, and was on the precipice of revelation.
I’ve failed, he thought. Does he know?
“I need answers, Lucario. Let me hear it from you.” Gabite loomed over him. “Vulpix’s not a Vulpix, isn’t she?”
He does.
And the panic drained away, resolution in its place.
Lucario felt the rain, able to count every last droplet that grazed his back. Rising to face his foe, he took in how Eira’s soul left her Vulpix body, how Togetic and Shaymin seemed to break into glass shards at Gabite’s accusation. “I keep things from you for a reason,” he snarled.
“You can’t anymore,” said Gabite.
A quiet anger simmered behind his indifferent facade, tinged with a speck of fear. Lucario’s paws palmed into fists, his knees bending into a fighting position. Multiple plans for an escape route crossed his mind.
Eevee was right. Joining this team was an enormous blunder.
“I get why you’ve hidden this,” Gabite told him. A wind blew past, the forest howling in its wake. “Especially from someone like me. But this has to end, and I’ll see to it that it does. Tell me, Lucario, what’s with you and your kid? Where are you really from?”
“You’re making a mistake.”
Gabite narrowed his gaze, letting the anger spill out. “You still think you’re entitled to hide anything? I see now that you’re keeping secrets about Lugia and Aerodactyl, all because it somehow relates to your kid. Eevee too — he learned what she really is, and that’s why he’s helping you. It’s why Kecleon attacked you both, then had a change of heart and decided to keep your secret. It’s why Ariados continued to pursue her, and why Lugia tried to eliminate her, and us by proxy! What, you think you can cast doom upon us without explaining yourself?”
“There’s nothing left to explain!” Aura sparked in both of Lucario’s palms, his senses taking the full rage boiling in Gabite’s mind, the dazed circles spinning in Togetic’s and Shaymin’s, and the absolute horror consuming Vulpix’s. “She’s done nothing wrong! Mark my words, Gabite, the moment you make a move—”
“Stubborn idiot!” roared Gabite, his claw shifting. “You’ve tested my patience enough. Who are you two? Can we trust you after all?”
“I’m warning you—”
“Why is it so difficult for you to confess you’re caring for an Abhorrent?”
The bone of aura Lucario was forming melted like goop. He stood quiet for a moment, processing the words.
“What?” he said.
Vulpix had paused halfway from tearing herself out of Togetic’s grasp, her face clouded with befuddlement. Gabite looked between her and Lucario, his inner rage converting to uncertainty.
“What do you mean, ‘what?’” he replied. “Vulpix. She’s a very special type of Abhorrent, disguised by the wristband. A runaway important to their cause, I’d think.”
An Abhorrent. Gabite thought she was one of those mutant Pokemon? Lucario wanted to laugh so hard. That was the most ridiculous thing he heard, It made no—
Huh. Actually, he could see the overlap. Far more reasonable to make that conclusion, mused Lucario. Who could believe a human came here, slipping through the towers?
Gabite blinked several times as he read Lucario and Vulpix’s expressions. “Are you toying with me?” he said. “You must be.”
Lucario eyed Vulpix. Vulpix eyed Lucario.
“I’m, uh, not an Abhorrent?” said Vulpix.
“Vulpix doesn’t toy with others,” said Lucario.
“For goodness’s sake, there’s nothing else that makes sense!” Gabite threw his head, waving his arms in front of him. “Why else would you two be so non-judgmental to Abhorrents? Why else would Eevee be your ally? Why would Kecleon—”
He turned around, and now fear was what oozed out of him. “W-what are you?” he said.
And like that Vulpix was back to cowering. Lucario shifted as Gabite began to move forward, but Togetic reacted faster. In a blink of an eye she had released Vulpix and thrown herself in between.
“Stop it!” she snapped, and Gabite pulled back like a wounded dog. “I don’t care about what is and what isn’t about Vulpix!” She then came upon Shaymin. “She’s still one of us, isn’t she?”
Shaymin practically tripped over herself. “Huh? Uh, Togetic, I don’t know if—” she faltered, glancing at Vulpix like she was a complete stranger.
Togetic threw her arms up. “It doesn’t matter!” she said. “Even if a Lugia attacked her, even if Vulpix is some other kind of creature, what of it? What else could she be b-but—”
She faltered too, her gaze quivering as she eyed Vulpix. Then Lucario, a pleading in her face that everything was alright. The jackal could only scowl.
It would’ve been smart if he went with Vulpix being an Abhorrent, but he figured Gabite would realize his assumption couldn’t be true. Nevertheless, he now saw a way to defuse this situation. An opening.
“Vulpix has a condition of sorts,” Lucario stated. “One best left unseen. I am going to ask you all not to peep further into this.”
“Excuse me?” said Gabite. “She—”
But Lucario wouldn’t be on the backfoot this time. “Is that too hard a request for your nosy mind? Darn it, Gabite, I never joined your group to get into all this trouble. You realize what it’s like, protecting a cursed girl from things that don’t understand her?”
“Ariados—”
“Saw something she couldn’t bear, and nearly killed her.”
Vulpix recoiled at his blunt statement, their teammates aghast. “K-kill?” Gabite repeated. “I-I thought she was merely harassing— she wanted to kill?”
Was that not clear before? Maybe murder was more taboo than he thought. “Just her, not Kecleon,” said Lucario when he saw Shaymin’s gruesome expression. “The last time I let people get any details on Vulpix’s issues, that happened. I won’t tempt fate again.” He arched an eye at his squirming leader. “For everyone’s sake, don’t snoop into the issues Vulpix has, because if Ariados and Lugia were any signal, chances are you’ll freak out too at what you see.”
Near-truths. He disliked having to admit so much, but this was needed to hold back Gabite — lies would only fall flat. Please let it be enough, he prayed, avoiding the warped look on Togetic’s face.
Gabite heaved out at once, his tail wrapping close to him. “Kecleon and Eevee know,” he said in a low voice. “Lucario, please, I wouldn’t so much as maim your kid. We’re allies. Togetic’s seen your purity.”
But of course, the dragon-shark kept pushing. “You had reasons not to go into details about your past,” Lucario said.
“That’s different!” Gabite’s voice was shaking, Lucario sensing his emotions breaking up into turmoil. “A Lugia tried to slaughter us! How little trust do we have that you’re hiding so much? Just open up, we can work this through—”
“No!”
Vulpix’s outburst made the whole group jump. The vixen seemed ready to tear up, yet held a steely look in her eyes. “Y-you don’t understand!” she yelled. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t want to put you in danger, b-but I can’t! I can’t let anyone else know! Can’t you accept that?”
She huffed out a plume of icy breath before seizing up, falling face-first. Muffled squeals of agony sputtered from her as she writhed in place. Togetic rushed over but drew back her arm, afraid to touch the vixen.
Her eyes glowed pink, Togetic’s face turning far whiter than normal. She sees, realized Lucario, feeling the same abject horror as his eyes lit up too, peering into Vulpix’s soul.
The sensation of swords disemboweling her from the inside out nearly made him teeter. “H-help,” Vulpix said in a tiny voice.
Togetic held her chest tight. “It’s like she can’t hold herself together,” she said. “Like she can’t, er, maintain her f-form, and it’s killing her to stay this way?”
Beyond the angelic’s shaky acceptance of Vulpix not being quite what she seemed, her words struck something in Lucario. Mismagius’s voice echoed like a blaring siren.
She’s too inexperienced to create such a perfect facade, it’s fascinating. It cannot be healthy for her to keep maintaining it for very long either. Has she not known to take breaks?
Has she not known to take breaks?
“Shoot.”
Lucario scooped up Vulpix, the girl limp in his arms. “If you know what’s good for you,” he told his teammates, “you won’t follow us.”
Togetic wilted, while Gabite and Shaymin listlessly stared on. The jackal bolted off, cursing his idiocy numerous times.
Trees flew by as he hurried, distancing himself from his teammates. His blue aura eyes scanned for Pokemon-free areas, the jackal darting about until he chanced upon a little clearing, secluded as could be. A giant blessing.
There he dropped Vulpix, as gently as can be. Her agony kept growing at an alarming rate, Lucario’s feelers snapping up in fear of what would happen if it wasn’t stopped. “End the transformation,” he ordered her.
Pain couldn’t prevent astonishment from twisting Vulpix’s face. “What?”
“We’re safe here, just do it!”
The girl stared at him through bleary eyes for a short moment, before suffering forced her to obey. Lucario stood back as her form glowed with transformative light, her body expanding and lengthening before him.
And there lay Eira the human, lying flat in her blue dress, with rips in the back where Ariados had punctured her body with Poison Stings. She stared at her hands, foreign to her after close to a week of being a Vulpix.
“It’s gone.” She winced, Vulpix-speech flowing off her tongue as smoothly as ever. “The pain, Lucario, it’s gone.”
Or more accurately, the pain was fast fading. In her true form, Eira’s soul regained a state of tranquility. Ariados didn’t curse her, thought Lucario, she was overtaxing her wristband’s power.
Yet with the threat gone, something else kept his feelers standing tall. Lucario’s gaze snapped to an aura far in the distance — one that blinked as he spotted it, the air in front both human and jackal ripping in the exact same moment.
There Ariados appeared, the tinted red lights hovering over her eyes yet again, along with the Warped Scarf tied to her arm-leg at the back. She shook off her disorientation, Lucario’s heart skipping a beat at her grandiose sneer. Eira gulped.
“How embarrassing,” said Ariados. “Did you idiots not know this? If a Ditto or any other transformed creature stays transformed for too long, the soul rejects their form, and they die. Horribly.”
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Eira the human — was it still correct to call herself Vulpix? — shrunk into herself as Ariados cackled at her misfortune. Though she was much smaller as a Pokemon, she felt many times less secure as a human.
Those who stayed transformed for too long die. The words hit her like a sledgehammer, giving her a splitting headache. One that most definitely wasn’t Extrasensory-powered.
Lucario hung his head. “Mismagius had been giving me advice,” he muttered in a low voice.
Eira blinked, processing the meaning of his words. Wait, Mismagius knew? How? When?
“So Kecleon isn’t the only one who found out about your human?” Ariados made a chiding noise as she faced Eira. “And seeing what we have here, your teammates might be suspicious too. These storm clouds above us, and the earthquake that happened earlier — something big happened, yes?” Her brows furrowed. “Something Legendary?”
Lucario opened his mouth, only for Ariados to hush him. “No, not you, guard dog. Your master knows our speech, does she not? I wish to parley with her. She alone will speak.”
She stared at Eira in anticipation, the undisguised girl stiffening at her demand. Her. Speak alone.
“Excuse me?” said Lucario, his expression turning hostile. “You don’t—”
“I hold power over you,” Ariados stated. “I offered a truce. Do you want me to break it?”
Lucario bared his fangs, and with a start Eira realized she had to step in. “It’s fine!” she blurted, and the jackal paused, throwing her a questioning look. “I-it’s fine, I can—”
She looked at Ariados. The spider stared back like she was but prey to her. A shiver went down Eira’s throat at the thought of speaking to the bane of her existence, but she composed herself, slowly getting into a sitting position. Ariados said it herself, hadn’t she? She only wanted to talk.
And so Eira would talk. “L-Lugia,” she said. “There w-was an Abhorrent, trying to g-get him. We stopped him, b-but Lugia attacked us.”
No reason not to explain when Ariados knew too much anyway. “So now a Legendary seeks your dem*se,” mused the spider. “And your teammates are questioning why.”
Eira looked to the ground. Lucario spat something under his breath.
“It would be a shame if such a credible team found out and reported your existence,” Ariados commented. “This may surprise you, but in hindsight, I’m happy the authorities didn’t listen to my human reports. All they would’ve done is send you away to Their Highnesses’ fortress in the Nexuswatch Islands. You’d be experimented on by Slowking and Shellder, yet kept alive in our lands.”
Ariados skittered a little closer. “I can’t let that happen.”
On instinct Eira scooted back, Lucario raising a glowing fist in warning. “Now, now, didn’t I say I wouldn’t kill her?” Ariados told him.
It didn’t make sense. Eira remembered too vividly how much Ariados wanted her gone, how paranoid she’d been in their first encounter. Now here she was, still wanting her gone, yet disinterested in murder. “W-why?” she stammered. “I didn’t want to hurt anyone.”
Something softened in Ariados’s insectoid face. “I realized that, girl.”
“Huh?”
The matriarch peered upward at the dreary clouds, their rain nothing more than a lighthearted drizzle. “I had time to think. Seeing how you rely on a mere transformation item to stay safe, or how timid you truly are, made me understand you really are a fool child who came here by accident. Not a conventional threat.”
Conventional threat? Eira made a face, before noticing how Lucario’s body seemed to crease into itself. Like he could tell what horrible thing she was about to say.
Ariados noticed. “So your Pokemon servant knows? Human, your coming is a tragedy, made worse by the fact that you’re so innocent.” A pause. “You’re prophesied to destroy Haven Archipelago, ill omen.”
And as Eira felt herself fracture, the spider began to recite.
A human transfigured that doesn’t belong,
Its naive wish to do good gone terribly wrong.
Cold and aloof, deceived by a false song—
Break it, we must, else the world shatters before long.
“That is only one of the stanzas,” Ariados finished. “My esteemed elder Rabsca knew only this one, and the rest I’ve only heard phrases of. I won’t mention them, lest they break you further.”
Eira almost thanked her for that, so overwhelmed was she. Lucario had fallen to his knees, perhaps even more broken than her. A transfigured human.
Me.
“B-but it can’t be!” she said in desperation. “There w-were others! Lugia told me I wasn’t the only human!”
Lucario flicked an ear but didn’t otherwise shift. “And?” said Ariados, the lights over her eyes flashing.
Eira’s head fell. “And that he,” she whispered, “had dealt with them.”
“So it is.” A sigh left Ariados — one of relief, or maybe of pity. “You alone live because he overlooked you, likely thanks to the mercy of your disguise.”
She wished it wasn’t her. This prophecy had to mean someone else. But it describes me, she thought. Me!
And if Lucario was any indication, Ariados wasn’t making this up. Its naive wish to do good gone terribly wrong, Eira whispered to herself, her soul drowned in a pool of umbra.
“The towers protect us not only from human conquerors but also from the fulfillment of a doomsday prophecy,” the matriarch said in her viciously silky voice. “The twisting of the dungeons, the Abhorrents, they were all signs. The breaking of spacetime some years ago, even that must’ve been a sign.”
“Mismagius mentioned spacetime distortions,” mumbled Lucario. A nameless discomfort seemed to cloud his face. “How much had she told me?”
The mention of spacetime distorting stirred something cold deep within Eira, a set of painful memories she shoved away before they broke her further. “T-the breaking of s-spacetime?” she asked, despite herself.
“The Ruptures are but a tangent,” Ariados replied. “What matters is you’re here, human, the naive calam*ty to ruin us all. Killing you off would avert that. But perhaps there is another way.” Whimsy reached her eyes. “We get you off these islands.”
Eira breathed in with a start. Leave the islands.
“It would bypas* the prophecy, if not altogether prove you aren’t the ill omen being described. And it saves me the morality crisis of killing to possibly prevent a bad future. I’m willing to do everything in my power to get you back.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Ariados wanted to bring her back to the human world. Unbelievable. Am I dreaming? she wondered.
“If you truly came by accident, not seeking to cause evil, then I can offer you this opportunity.” Ariados reached out with her leg. “You will swear never to return or let your homeland know of this place, and my village will shelter you until we find your way home. I cannot apologize for my earlier actions — but I can repent.”
Eira’s mind refused to stop spinning, stuck in a state of overload. A prophecy, condemning her as the villain of this archipelago. And then Ariados, who tried to murder her, proposing a deal she couldn’t turn down.
Was it too good to be true? What would Eevee think, if she went with the matriarch instead of him?
Lucario’s dazed expression mirrored her own, his eyes alight with aurasense. His expression was proof enough of Ariados’s sincerity. “I-I don’t know,” Eira made herself say. “I need time to think.”
Ariados frowned. “I am your only hope,” she told her, not knowing the words she spoke were false. “Think on it well, human. If you cannot accept my peace, then you’ve accepted war.”
Her scarf glowed brilliantly, a loud hum buzzing from it. Ariados turned away, and again the air ripped around her, before she warped away. Lucario made a clicking noise as he checked the area, his aura-eyes expanding as they locked into something far off.
“An intimidation tactic,” he muttered. “Being able to do short teleports and also charge up for long-range ones — that Warp Scarf’s the vilest item I’ve ever seen. No way she just conveniently found us in the middle of the forest either.”
At once Eira understood the purpose of the red lights over Ariados’s eyes. “It’s like aura,” she said. “She tracks people with the lights.”
Lucario grumbled at that. He and she stared at each other for the longest moment.
And then it all came out.
“When did Mismagius know about me?” Eira snapped. “You never said a thing!”
“You didn’t warn me Togetic could see the void in your soul!” Lucario yelled back. “How much did you let her know?”
“A prophecy? You hid a prophecy from me?”
“How gullible are you? It can’t be true, it’s all nonsense!”
“And you should’ve warned me! I didn’t know it was bad to stay transformed!”
“Lugia talked to you? And told you there were other freaking humans?”
“Just stop!” Eira demanded. “Stop, please, I can’t! Do you know how much this all weighs on me?”
Guilt bit at her when Lucario did stop, acting like a servant who had slighted her master. Eira pressed her very human hands against her very human face, trying to hold herself together. She wouldn’t break down. Not here, not again.
It took a long moment for her to regulate her breath, a finger tracing her blackened wristband. For a moment she felt the mental switch in her head that would make her a Vulpix again, nearly flicking it, before a pricking sensation made her avert the transformation. A wisp of something wrong rose from her soul, warning her of the danger of switching to Pokemon form so soon.
“I have to be human to recharge the band,” she realized.
Lucario nodded. “And the damage Aerodactyl’s done to it may have shortened its use time,” he said, rubbing his arm. “Vulpix? Er, Eira? There’s a few things I think I need to explain.”
He brought up Mismagius, summarizing how she concealed herself with her hallucination powers, and the things she said to him. The prophecy was the big thing, obviously, yet Eira couldn’t help but fixate on how Mismagius mentioned spacetime distortions. The Ruptures, Ariados had called it. It happened several years ago? she thought. And Mismagius wondered if I came from it?
Her body involuntarily quaked, rocking back and forth. Lucario noticed. “Her talk of distortions, it’s messing with me,” he said, before letting out a restless rasp. “Shouldn’t I know something? Do you?”
Eira did. She feared she did. She considered the timing, the obviousness of it all, how Father had disappeared—
On top of everything else, the memories flayed her. She curled into herself, again blotting everything out. “D-don’t you remember?” she managed to whisper.
Lucario’s frown said it all. He must’ve been a wild Pokemon then, too young to recall anything. Or perhaps he’d blocked out the thoughts. Was it wise to tell him now, anyway? He’d only stress himself for no reason over—
No. No thinking about it. “Later,” she told Lucario. “I-I’ll explain later. My head, it’s— I r-really don’t—”
Lucario understood. He raised a paw coated in aura, and at once the crushing pressure in her chest lessened, relaxation making her muscles de-tense. “Take your time,” he said.
Eira nodded, grateful. She needed time. A lot of it.
There were other things she needed to explain on her end, though. It took a little effort, but she managed, bringing up her talk with Togetic at the dojo, then stating what Lugia did. “He tried to make everyone forget I was here,” she explained. “And then get rid of me. J-just as he did with the other humans.”
A terse grunt left Lucario. He stared into space, contemplative. Thinking about his trainer, perhaps? To think — there might’ve been a chance that Mother, her dearest Mother, had lived only to be struck down by Lugia. It was like frostbite to Eira.
She was the final human Lugia had to hunt down. Maybe she could evade a Legendary, but then what? If I can’t be transformed all the time, she thought, someone else will catch me.
She needed help. And she feared Eevee’s wouldn’t be enough. “Is it better to work with Ariados?” she wondered aloud. “Make an ally out of a foe?”
Lucario’s only response was to resume checking their surroundings for intruders.
----------------------------------------
It wasn’t what Lucario wanted to do, but he walked onward, down the dirt path carving through the forest south of the beach, north of Berrypark Town. Toward Gabite’s home, with a haggard Eira the Vulpix in tow.
More than half an hour was enough to ensure she could safely transform again, with the soul backlash regressed to its earliest state, too faint for Lucario to sense it himself. It was a horrible problem, needing to regularly go back to being human. If the backlash didn’t kill Eira, her getting spotted at an unlucky moment would. Right now, the walls of Gabite’s cottage were ironically the safest place for them.
Ariados, however, could be even safer. It’s a trick, his heart said, but his mind never stopped dwelling on it. Could Eevee ever hope to offer the same level of aid? Could Kabutops? Darn it all, Ariados knew too much to be antagonized, but going rogue on Eevee could come with its own problems.
Speak of the Giratina. It wasn’t long before he and Vulpix came toward a beaten-down road at the side of the forest, leading into Gabite’s land. And as he stepped over trampled patches of grass and broken twigs, he caught wind of Eevee’s agitated voice.
“—best that you stay ignorant,” he was saying. “I’ve seen Vulpix’s true appearance. There’s a reason Lugia tried to slay her.”
“We’ve interacted with her for days,” came Togetic’s peeved voice. “We know better. I’d trust her with my life.”
Vulpix shivered beside Lucario. “Would you?” shot Eevee.
“Why would you think otherwise? You were there when Shaymin and I accepted that there’s good Abhorrents like you. Who hurt you so much that you have trust issues?”
“Our closest friends.”
In the ensuing silence, neither Lucario nor Vulpix could remove the grimace twisting their lips. Eevee’s nature suddenly made a little sense, even down to his dislike of Kecleon being aware of Eira’s Pokemon disguise.
“My siblings and I went into hiding when we were mutated,” explained Eevee. “But we trusted our closest friends with our secret. And at first, they accepted everything. Even promised to get our village to understand what happened and support us.”
A snarl. “Next thing we know, the entire village is upon our hiding place, with our so-called friends spurring them onward to ‘deal with the monster Eevee.’ Friends who genuinely want the best for us, only for paranoia to change their minds. You think you’re immune to that?”
Vulpix’s grimace grew even deeper as she shifted on her paws. “I’d never,” Togetic tried to counter. “I-I’ve seen her soul’s purity.”
“And? Elygem read our minds to prove our honesty. Sylveon’s still hurt from seeing him lead the operation to capture us.” A harrumph left Eevee’s mouth. “Everyone knows you’re here by the way, you two. Get out of there.”
Lucario and Vulpix stiffened at the call-out. They walked forward, right into the open field to find Togetic’s glowing eyes tracing them, Gabite behind her and rubbing the protrusions that served as his ears. Shaymin floated next to a limp Corvisquire, giving them no notice as she watched over her.
For once Eevee was out of the trees and on the ground, a good distance away from Team Heavendust. Faded bruises covered his body like a plague, but otherwise, he had escaped Lugia’s anger unscathed. “Now if there’s nothing else to discuss,” he said, firing a glare toward Lucario, “then I think I’ll be having a private talk with Vulpix’s guardian. If you would be so kind as to not eavesdrop? Looking at you, Gabite.”
Gabite rubbed his ears harder, a scowl plastered to his face. He spun away with half-wild eyes, and Togetic and Shaymin carried off Corvisquire, the trio moving up to the hillside where the cottage stood.
Eevee’s glare darkened several degrees once they had their backs turned. “Interacting with your teammates, the one thing I never wanted to do,” he hissed through his teeth. “I wouldn’t even have dared visit, but Corvisquire’s better off in their care. Real nice of you to bring your team along to handle Aerodactyl, by the way, at the cost of a Lugia catching word of your girl.”
“You didn’t share that story just for them,” whispered Lucario, “did you?”
“Thought you might learn from it. Just how idiotic are you, telling those three so much about us? Telling them your kid has a condition of sorts?”
Even on the ground, the little fox-like Pokemon had a way of exerting a dominating presence, like a wrathful Legendary seeking a reason not to smite someone’s face off. Vulpix buckled under it, but it did nothing to an exasperated Lucario. “I didn’t have a choice,” he said.
Eevee rolled his eyes. “You had a choice, long ago. When I gave you the wristband, I expected you to use it well, not to go running to an explorer team you knew was dangerous to join. What, you still in shock over the shipwreck? Trying to pretend normalcy, that you still have a semblance of your old life?”
Such barbed words hit far too close to home than Lucario would’ve liked, images of his old teammates flashing before him. “You dare?” he said with all the vitriol he could muster. “You didn’t even warn us Vulpix’s transformation had a time limit!”
“That’s why you weren’t here, wasn’t it? Did I need to spell that out too? There shouldn’t have been issues with the timer anyway, and you certainly didn’t tell me she had such issues!” Eevee snorted as he turned his head to the side. “Shut it, Flareon, I didn’t hear you or the others mention warning them about the way transformation powers work.”
For the slightest of moments, Lucario could’ve sworn Vulpix wore a disgusted look. “Regardless, you know now,” Eevee continued. “And you can’t stay, Ariados and your teammates know too much. You need to get to Kabutops before everything collapses, you get me?”
Long had Lucario anticipated the reaction his next words would evoke from Eevee. “What if I told you Ariados wanted to make peace and help us get home?”
Eevee went quiet for a moment. And then seethed.
“She made you a deal?” he spat, stomping over until he was right in front of the jackal. “And you’re considering it?”
“It’s an option! One of our problems gets solved—”
“She tried to kill your girl, imbecile!” Eevee’s tail snapped like a whip, injuring grass blades in its wake. “Have you understood anything I’ve told you? She’ll only cooperate for so long. When Ariados tires of finding some way to get your girl off the islands, what then will she do?”
“I—”
“Listen to me! There’s no one you can trust in these Distortion-twisted islands — the only reason we trust each other is because we’re fellow outcasts who need each other’s help! Kabutops needs your girl, on the off-chance that she can lead to a cure for us Abhorrents. You need us because we can get you home.”
Eevee put his paw down. “So here’s what you’ll do. You’ll tell Gabite that you can’t continue this whole team business, not after what’s happened. You leave immediately, I meet up with you, and then we chart a course to Kabutops, where you’ll be—”
“Safe?” Vulpix interrupted, shaking herself. “Give us a night, Eevee. We need time to think.”
Lucario and Eevee batted an eye at the disguised human. Rather than be cowed from their twin stares, she offered them a frown, hardened and worn-out.
Eevee whipped his head around, the crystalline spikes on his head dimming. “We thought you were better than your guardian, human,” he said. “But have it your way.”
You’ll soon see who you're safe with.
The warnings of Eevee’s siblings rang throughout Lucario and Vulpix’s skulls in discordant waves, startling both as Eevee strode off into the forest. Gone.
It never crossed Lucario’s mind that the other Eeveelutions might agree with their brother — at least, they did in this scenario. And Eevee did make good arguments, to be fair. But he’s irritating, stubborn, and an unapologetic jerk, he muttered to himself. Even Ariados had more tact.
Vulpix dropped her eyes. “Was it wrong to speak up?” she wondered aloud.
Lucario sighed. “A little surprising for you to speak, yes,” he said. “But not wrong.”
He looked over his shoulder, finding Gabite, Togetic, and Shaymin converging on them with Corvisquire still held up by the flying duo. Neither flagged from the weight of the larger Pokemon.
Corvisquire hacked and squirmed before stilling again. Chills went down Lucario’s spine as she cocked an eye at him, almost in recognition, before returning to her spiritless state. “We’re meeting with Officer Toxicroak so she can bring Corvisquire to a preserve, and to report about what happened with Aerodactyl,” said Shaymin. “Your talk with Eevee didn’t go well?”
Shadows covered every inch of Gabite’s face. He tilted his head at Lucario, the jackal waiting for him to speak first.
It didn’t take long. “Unpleasant person to be around, that Eevee,” muttered their team leader. “Lucario? Tell me a little something. Why did someone with your circumstances join the team?”
He deliberately avoided mentioning Vulpix, Lucario noted. The jackal held back a scowl as Eevee’s words continued to ring clear in his head.
What, you still in shock over the shipwreck? Trying to pretend normalcy, that you still have a semblance of your old life?
“My circumstances were recent,” stated Lucario.
“I had a hunch about that.”
“I needed to get my bearings. I hoped for a chance at—” he bit his tongue “—normalcy.”
An awkward somberness spread throughout the group. “We agreed to a week to see how things work out,” said Gabite. “And they aren’t. You’re leaving, right? I don’t know how you could stay if—” he bit his tongue too. “If there’s Pokemon here seeking your death. Is there anything we could do?”
Oh, if only. Lucario shook his head, Vulpix drooping beside him.
“Figures. I’ve gathered up the Poke you’re owed in advance, but you can stay for the night before leaving, if you want. A little apology for blowing up on you earlier.”
An offer to break off the deal and even get some rest at the cottage was all the convenience Lucario wished for. He graciously accepted it, and Gabite hastened to leave, before stopping mid-way.
His eyes drifted to Vulpix before leaping back, as if singed by the action. “Please,” he requested. “If there’s anything you can share — whatever else you’ve hidden about Abhorrents, Lugia — tell us. Aerodactyl’s a big issue, and we explorers need all the help we can get.”
Then off he went, retreating into his cottage. Togetic gave out a grand exhale, turning to Vulpix. Both shared the same distant look.
“I wish it didn’t have to be this way,” said the angelic.
She lowered herself and Corvisquire — Shaymin dropping to stay level with them — and leaned toward Vulpix. “I won’t lie. The thought of you being not quite a Vulpix, it’s a lot to grapple with,” she said with an uneasy laugh. “But you’re still my little sweetheart. You must’ve suffered a lot, you poor, innocent angel, and I hope I’ve done something to illuminate your life in the short time we’ve known each other.”
Her expression twisted. “A young girl shouldn’t have to live in fear of being killed,” she finished. “Stay safe. I love you, no matter what.”
If Lucario found himself twitching from the heartfelt words, Vulpix was altogether discomposed, the kid’s lips failing to produce sound. “Can’t top that,” added Shaymin, her brows creasing. “Crud, what am I supposed to think? It’s just so bizarre that Vulpix’s some—”
Togetic scowled, and the Mythical caught herself, cheeks reddening. “I caused you guys a lot of trouble,” she instead said. “Sorry for that.”
The cottage grounds felt more forlorn than usual as she and Togetic escorted Corvisquire away. Lucario bristled at the sensation, rubbing the spike on the back of his paw for comfort. Eira the Vulpix’s gaze followed Togetic until she vanished into the forest, her tails forming jittery shapes.
“How do I react to that?” she said, squeezing her eyes. “I- Lucario—”
The kid was too unbalanced. “Don’t get distracted, she’d take it back if she saw the real you,” said Lucario.
“I-I mean, maybe—”
But Lucario kept an adamant stare, boring into Vulpix’s skull until she reluctantly conceded. Even if Vulpix had blabbed to Togetic about Eevee, she knew too well not to expose her humanity. They cut it too close today, and escape was imperative.
There was just one thing.
He didn’t know where to escape.
That thought plagued him up until that final night, when he closed the door to his room and laid his head down to rest on his wooly mattress. At the other side of the room and away from the door’s line of sight, Eira had returned to human form again, lying on the second mattress instead of the round cushioned bed. With what Aerodactyl did to the band, it was a necessity — the soul backlash came quicker than before, and sleeping as her Pokemon self could be catastrophic.
That weakness was why they needed the sanctity of walls to guard them. By Lucario’s rather crude estimation, Eira could go transformed for two or three days at the very most before needing to spend a night as a human. A nasty handicap.
Not that you had the wristband when you first came here, he reminded himself. Even without Aerodactyl’s meddling, what would change?
Regardless, this was a complication. They needed security soon, and Eevee promised to give them that.
But Ariados would pursue them if they ran off. Or maybe get desperate and tell people what Vulpix really was, riling up a full hunt against them. Could Eevee protect them against that? It was one thing for people to chase yet another Abhorrent, but a human might be an entirely different matter. Who knows what maniacs would leap at the chance to capture the only real human on this accursed archipelago? he thought.
All that would be avoided by working with Ariados. But as truthful as she was, could she be trusted? And what would Eevee do in response?
It sounded stupid, trusting a spider who had wanted Eira dead over some stupid prophecy thing. And that reminded Lucario of Mismagius, an unpredictable third wheel who told him of the prophecy in the first place. And that humans wield magic.
Madness, all of it. This prophecy had to be wrong, it had to! How could it be real? What would Mismagius do, if she truly believed in such a thing? How would he guard Eira from her? How could he guard her from a prophecy?
And then there was Lugia.
Inwardly, Lucario yelled to the heavens. He couldn’t handle this. He was just a mere Pokemon. He couldn’t make difficult decisions, Adam did that for him.
In that moment, Eevee’s pointed insults pierced his torn heart. I really was trying to pretend normalcy, he thought. Team Heavendust was an excuse to be part of a team again, to have someone else leading me around. To feel safe.
How he managed this long not to be compromised by Adam’s death, and the unknown fate of his former teammates — Torterra, Lanturn, Banette, Duosion, and Dragonair — he had no idea. They’re gone, he thought, grief leaking through. They’re all gone. Adam, what do I do? I need help!
There’d been other trainers before Adam, but none suitable to bond with. He didn’t remember them, only Adam. The first human he truly grew close to.
He should’ve tried harder to save him. A silent whine left Lucario as a stormy sea swallowed his mind, Adam’s yells and frantic splashing drowned out by thunder and the torrent of waves that tossed his body. He was his human’s guardian, and he let him drown!
Then lightning flashed to reveal Lugia, indifferent to Adam’s plight, and Lucario realized his trainer never had a chance. There were other survivors, he remembered. But Lugia hunted them down. He got rid of them.
Except one.
The image twisted, a frightened Eira taking Adam’s place, and Lucario eyed the girl, sleeping in fear of tomorrow. He saw the human she was and the Vulpix she could disguise as, and saw why despair hadn’t claimed him yet.
He lost Adam. But I will not lose another, he resolved, a wisp of aura branding the inside of his clenched fist.
I can’t bear to lose a second human.
----------------------------------------
Eira guessed it was past midnight when she awoke. Lucario had fallen into a fitful slumber, the kind brought upon by constant worrying.
She got up. In her human proportions, the room felt unfamiliar. The cushioned bed she slept on as a Vulpix was now more of a plush seat, and the draped window and nearby desk much lower in elevation than she recalled. Maybe it was a little darker too?
Idly she touched her wristband. A prophecy, she thought.
If Ariados spoke the truth, she was a monster in the making, a person whose goodwill would twist into evil. She didn’t want to cause any calamities, of course, she only wanted to be safe. But who could give her that?
The matriarch obviously came with risks, but Eevee was beginning to strike her as not necessarily any better, and she didn’t know who to rely on. Or how each side would retaliate when they weren’t chosen. Or how Mismagius — she knew too! — and Lugia would factor into everything, or that cruel, cruel prophecy. And what would Gabite do, if and when he figured out her humanity?
She was going to die. She’d been acutely aware she could, ever since she’d been on these islands, but now it seemed too real a prospect. And maybe it has to happen, she feared. How the prophecy must end.
Too many factors, too many ways to go. There had to be another way.
And, well, there was.
Eira shuddered, but held firm to her intent. Her body shifted, morphing from human to Pokemon, and Eira the Vulpix adjusted to her changed perspective. She snuck to the door.
She pried it open, its silent creak too loud in her guilty ears. Lucario didn’t shift a muscle, remaining fast asleep. Please don’t hate me, she silently begged him.
And then she slipped through the door, moving through the hallway, past the living room and kitchen, and then into another hallway. She stopped at its end, where the door to Togetic and Shaymin’s room loomed over her. A final warning not to commit her greatest evil yet.
But she saw no other alternative. Eevee and Ariados could be allies, but they weren’t reliable allies. Was Kecleon? Maybe, but he wouldn’t help them here, she imagined.
She needed new allies to trust. She reached for the handle.
And then pulled her paw back. You can’t, Eira! she rebuked herself.
But I have to.
They wouldn’t understand!
They’ll realize anyway. Gabite will tell them.
Eira, no!
She fidgeted there, paralyzed by the magnitude of her decision. Togetic had thought evil of Abhorrents before. What would stop her from thinking the same of the real her? Her love for me, she replied to her own question.
It’ll do you no good! her voice of reason pleaded. Just go with Eevee or Ariados! Don’t complicate this further!
But Togetic had promised to listen to her without judging. She genuinely cared. Who else? She can help us, she insisted.
You’re insulting everything Lucario did for you, ungrateful girl!
You think I want to do this? she snapped, aware of how silly it was that she was vividly arguing against herself. Sometimes, she was her own best friend — and greatest foe. I’m sorry for going against Lucario, and I’m eternally grateful for him risking everything for me when he could’ve run away and left me to die, but Lucario’s even more lost than I am! It was a good thing when I told Togetic about Eevee, wasn’t it?
That was wrong too! Who cares if that did everyone a favor? For crying out, Lugia wouldn’t have known you existed if—
The door opened.
Ah.
With it being the middle of the night, it took Vulpix a moment to register Shaymin in her hedgehog Land Forme, staring at her like she was the most pitiful abomination she ever laid eyes on. Dark, sickly flowers bloomed on her back.
Eira the Vulpix couldn’t find her tongue, the guilt in her eyes redoubling. She senses gratitude, she recalled too late.
Shaymin craned her snout to look past her, seeing no one else. “I’ve never felt something so disturbing in my entire life. Forced me out of my sleep,” she said, before peeking back into the room. “Togetic?”
The sleepy angelic hovered into view, before her eyelids shot open at the sight of Vulpix. A stubby arm went to her mouth, the gravity of the situation grounding her.
Well, no turning back now. “I, uh,” Vulpix whispered, “think we should talk.”
Togetic slowly managed a smile. She waved her in.
She and Shaymin had a rather lovely room. A flowery-looking carpet, two large cushions beside the window sill that served as beds, and a few mahogany drawers at the side furnished it, with an assortment of potted plants to complete the look, each teeming with vibrant greenery. Togetic’s Treasure Bag laid on top of one of the drawers.
“I’m touched, really.” Togetic’s voice quavered as she escorted her to the middle of the carpet, then darted to a lamp to activate its Electric Gem, coating the room in a dim light. “I didn’t think you had this much faith in me. Lucario doesn’t know?”
Vulpix shook her head. Her nerves ate at her, the false vixen resisting her growing anxiety. She looked at Shaymin, a little frown on her face.
Togetic frowned too. “Yeah, I get it, you guys would prefer that I leave,” the Mythical said in a strained voice. “I just, I don’t know— does it hurt that I’m curious? I know I won’t like what’s gonna happen, and yet—”
“I know, Shaymin. I already feel faint, just thinking about it.” Togetic caressed her forehead, her breath a conscious activity. “Do excuse me, Vulpix. I need a moment to prepare myself.”
Shaymin’s head dropped for a good moment. “Look, I can’t go without hearing this too,” she said. “Please, Serene—”
Togetic whirled around. “Grace,” she spoke flatly.
Vulpix felt her face heat up, sensing the sacredness behind the spoken names. Togetic and Shaymin eyed each other, as if mentally arguing, until Togetic sighed.
“Shaymin is a sister to me, Vulpix. Whatever you can trust me with, you can trust her too.” She threw a stern look at the Mythical. “Don’t act rash with what you learn here. I don’t want a repeat of Jumpluff.”
“Wouldn’t dare.” An unsteady smirk drew itself on Shaymin’s face, one that grew shakier as she eyed Vulpix. “Go ahead, I guess?”
Togetic nodded, withdrawing to give her space. Both she and Shaymin watched with kind yet grim faces, too aware of how heavy a revelation this could be.
Eira the Vulpix had only planned for Togetic to listen first, then enlist her help in telling Shaymin. The presence of both at once made her paws clammy, and she found herself questioning everything. Only now she realized how outlandish the truth sounded. Even if they believed it, wouldn’t the knowledge of a human that got past the warding towers send them into hysteria?
But she couldn’t turn tail now. How could she explain this?
“Sweetie?” Togetic was starting to rub her arms.
Vulpix exhaled. “I’m sorry, I don’t know,” she said without thinking. “I-I—”
“Deep breaths,” Shaymin offered. “You’re fine. Go on.”
“Am I fine?” She was slipping, she realized, and she couldn’t stop. “Lugia and Ariados want me gone for a reason. You both know I’m a monster, deep down. Why else would you be so nervous?”
“Easy, Vulpix, it’s just the stress of the day,” Togetic said in an attempt to calm her. “It’s a lot to take in, and it’s appalling to learn people want you dead—”
It took all of Vulpix’s willpower to keep herself from yelling. “Of course they want me dead!” she said. “Why wouldn’t they?”
“Vulpix—”
“I’m not a Vulpix! I—”
Eira the false Vulpix panted, a cunning thought coming to mind. A different way to show them. “I was a Vulpix,” she lied. “I got turned into a human.”
Togetic and Shaymin grimaced, like the word was poison, and Vulpix felt certain she made the right choice. “Eh?” said Shaymin. “Repeat that part again? A human?”
“I expected something completely different,” added Togetic. “Are you sure? How could you be a human?”
There was an obvious way to show them. Eira transformed.
She was flinching long before the duo yelled and flung themselves to the walls, terrified at the sight of her human self. “V-Vulpix?” said Togetic. “W-what—”
“Y-you just—” said Shaymin.
“Please don’t panic!” Eira cried out, making herself as small as possible.
All three of them breathed in synchronization, recovering from the bombshell of forbidden knowledge. Togetic turned away for a moment, eyes squinting.
“God,” she said. “I wasn’t prepared enough.”
She glanced back, slowly adjusting to Eira’s appearance. The human shied back as she gingerly eyed her arms, her clothing, her hair, everything. Shaymin too took a gander, her expression so lost it needed a map.
Togetic opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again. “Go on?” she choked out.
Well, she wasn’t torn apart already, that was a good sign. “I-it was a Ninetales,” Eira continued, sitting down as she spun her tale. “She wasn’t from around where I lived. I d-did something really bad to her, and she laid a curse on me out of sheer hatred, turning me into what I am now. I didn’t know my kind could use such magic, or do something so cruel.”
Togetic and Shaymin shared a glance. “I had to run away,” Eira went on. “It wasn’t that long ago either. Lucario was the first to find me, and he only believed my story because of his aura powers. Eevee, well, he had been looking for humans, and he gave me the wristband.”
Eira ignored the putrid taste in her mouth, certain that story was convincing enough. Ninetales were said to hold mystical abilities, particularly curses, and were known to be on the vengeful side. One turning her from a Vulpix to a human? It was far-fetched, but still more reasonable than what actually happened.
And Lucario’s mind-reading abilities make it more credible. They’ll believe it, right?
“The ability for a Ninetales to lay complex curses on others is a misconception.”
Numbness spread through Eira when she learned otherwise.
Togetic stared with a face as stiff as her voice. Shaymin held a similar expression. “I-I thought that too,” Eira hurriedly said. “This Ninetales, she was different. She—”
“And a Ninetales can’t turn someone into a being they’ve never seen anyway,” Togetic interrupted her. “A human? They don’t exist in Haven Archipelago.”
“Gabite said you’d whisper in a different language, before gradually using Vulpix-speech,” recalled Shaymin.
Eira broke into a nervous sweat. “I—”
A soft pink light flashed from Togetic’s eyes. “Even your purity wavers. You’re lying,” she said, before backing up. “Y-you’re—”
“—a real human,” finished Shaymin. “From outside.”
There and then, Eira questioned if she ever had a plan to begin with. Lucario would kill her for this. “I-I am,” she admitted.
The cottage sighed.
Eira bit back a shriek as Togetic’s heartbroken fury whipped her. “You were using us!” she said. “Lucario’s just your pawn, isn’t he? Was there anything he did that had nothing to do with you? Were you manipulating us through him? Is your quiet, shy personality all just an act to soften us up?” Her voice cracked. “Were you just taking advantage of my kindness, this entire time?”
In a second the angelic was upon her, grabbing Eira by the shoulders and forcing herself to see her misery. “Answer me!” she demanded. “You tricked my purity sense somehow, didn’t you? What, was all that talk about there being good Abhorrents a trick too? Was everything a lie? Why are one of you monsters here, disguised as one of us? What did you come to us for, human?”
The bitterness in how Togetic called her human stung worse than anything else. What did the prophecy say about her? That she was naive, and someone whose well-wishes would go wrong.
If Togetic had never hated humans before, her fake story gave her a reason to.
“I said to answer me!” said Togetic, shaking Eira. “Speak!”
She couldn’t. Eira twisted away with shut eyes, curling into a pathetic ball and waiting for judgment. She prayed it would be quick.
But nothing came. No attacks. No more yelling. In fact, it was too quiet now. Eira peeked back and—
Togetic was frozen, all her attention on the punctures at the back of Eira’s dress, markings of Ariados’s cruelty. Shaymin too, conflict overriding her deathly expression. They remained that way for a short while.
“Tell me I’m wrong,” Togetic said with a sniff. “Just tell me I’m wrong.”
Eira tried. She choked on her own words.
“Please, tell me I’m making a mistake, that you’re not some kind of demon!” Togetic’s tears fell on her back, each a question in its own right. “Why is this happening? V-Vulpix?”
Anguish. Eira dropped her gaze to the floor, and found Shaymin waiting. The hedgehog shot her a stern look.
“I’m sorry,” whimpered Eira.
“Are you?” Shaymin answered back. “The truth. Spit it out.”
Togetic composed herself, her expression a cross of pleading and scrutiny. Eira trembled as her eyes glowed pink, gazing into her very soul.
The truth. The truth would fix everything. “I-it’s hard to explain,” she stammered out.
“Don’t give me crud,” said Shaymin, “give me the truth. What are you doing here?”
“J-just a minute, please—”
“Stop stalling! I don’t—”
“Let her,” said Togetic, and Shaymin went mute. Eira’s heart throbbed as Togetic patiently waited. Even now, she defended her.
A great mercy. She caught her breath, refreshing herself.
Lucario bashed open the door, eyes ablaze with aura, and struck Togetic and Shaymin.
Eira could barely cry out as both were smashed into a wall, Lucario Force-Palming each multiple times until both Pokemon slumped, under heavy paralysis. Even that wasn’t enough as his paw whirred toward Togetic’s open Treasure Bag, her guardian tossing Stun Seeds to fully immobilize them. “Change back,” he barked.
Before she thought of what she was doing, she was Eira the Vulpix again, Lucario immediately grabbing her now smaller form and racing off. “Why?” Lucario questioned her.
She couldn’t form coherent words to answer. Her mind found itself stuck on the way Togetic and Shaymin looked, like she’d betrayed the last of their trust. Just like how she betrayed Lucario.
What have I done?
Lucario grunted, his aurasense wavering in annoyance, and Vulpix instantly saw why. Gabite stood guard at the cottage front door, wearing his Treasure Bag and waiting for them with a predator’s scowl.
“Heading somewhere?” he said.
“You were just asleep,” replied Lucario.
“Lying awake in bed? That isn’t sleep.”
Gabite rushed at him, a sweep of his tail flinging them back. An orb crashed against Eira, and she screamed as her Vulpix body tore apart, involuntarily shifting back to human form. Gabite screeched, muttering something barely comprehensible.
The wristband was gone from her arm. Gabite held it close, his eyes in a fanatical frenzy at the sight of her. “Giba abi et gabite!” he said, and Eira realized something horrible.
I need the wristband to understand Pokemon.
----------------------------------------
Lucario’s fangs gleamed as he pulled himself up, facing the Gabite blocking their exit. “Just like them,” he was raving to himself, glancing at Eira’s panicked form as if direct eye contact would magically kill him. His claw trembled with the wristband he stole using a Mug Orb, the first accursed orb Lucario ever saw in this hostile archipelago. “She’s the spitting image of them in every way—”
He dropped his head, his voice a hoarse growl. “A human,” he said, his battle stance animalistic, yet filled with crystal-clear lucidity. “You were mocking me when you joked about them at Rocky Shores, knowing you served the whims of an enslaver who breached our towers. One who took the guise of a timid Pokemon who in reality was scouting our homeland.”
This. This was precisely why Eira shouldn’t have blabbed to anyone, but the girl just had to do the stupidest thing imaginable. How could she make such a mistake? If not for him, Togetic and Shaymin would’ve struck her down.
“So this was what Ariados and Lugia sought to slay? No wonder you wouldn’t tell us — it’s our greatest nightmare in the flesh, a sorcerer finding our lands at long last.” Gabite stomped forward, seeking violence. “But I’ve had similar nightmares before, and I will not succumb again. Surrender, scum!”
Never happening.
Gabite slashed, but Detect let Lucario predict the attack well in advance. In one flowing motion, he sidestepped and flicked his wrist, Gabite too slow as the third Stun Seed he stole from Togetic’s Treasure Bag sent him into stasis. In Gabite’s rigid expression of surprise, he thought he saw inklings of the irascible rage overflowing in his red-hot aura.
“Paranoia doesn’t suit you,” he deadpanned to Gabite, carefully snatching the wristband out of his claw without breaking the stun effect. He threw it back to Eira, who watched on with a heavy gaze. “Put it back on, kid.”
Eira blinked at him once, before slipping the band on. “R-repeat that?”
Lucario made a face. What, could she not understand without the item’s influence? “Transform,” he commanded.
Eira hesitated, looking back, and Lucario bit back a curse. How foolish was this girl? “There’s no time!”
“You don’t—” Eira shifted form, thankfully, morphing into her Vulpix self. “Lucario, I could’ve—”
She yelped as Lucario snatched her and ran, bolting out of the cottage. His muscles still felt sore from Aerodactyl, the darkness obscured his vision, and once the Stun Seeds wore off, he knew the pursuit would begin.
Doesn’t matter. My trainer will live yet.