Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Altered Bonds
{VOLUME TWO: TORRENTIAL TEMPESTS}
......
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.
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Chapter 18 — Calm Before the Storm
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It was the dawn of Eira’s ninth full day on Haven Archipelago. Nine days since the dreaded night that left her shipwrecked here. Three days after she had fought Aerodactyl, survived Stringed Forest, and had her secret revealed to Team Heavendust. Two days since they spoke with Kecleon, Mismagius, and Porygon-Z, and later faced Lugia and Ariados.
Two days since she had truly befriended Togetic and Shaymin. And right now?
“Hah! Called it, she’s clearly taller than Gabite!”
Eira the human was standing straight in the duo’s room, feeling like an ugly weed getting a mugshot. And severely questioning her relationships.
“I mean, sure, Gabite’s gonna be a hulking beast when he evolves, but still!” Sky Forme Shaymin was leaning against one of the mahogany drawers and rattling the plants atop it as she slapped the wood, unable to hold in her giggles. “See, Togetic? I told you! Oh, this is the funniest thing ever, I can’t—”
She wheezed and laughed harder, much to Eira’s humiliation. On a plush cushion atop the flowery rug in the center of the room, Togetic looked up from the book she was reading, her expression flat. As if she too was questioning her relationships.
“It’s too early for this, Shaymin,” she muttered.
Eira let herself be drawn to the huge crack in the wall that blemished Togetic and Shaymin’s room, the one Lucario caused. The first time she willingly showed her human self to the pair, it’d been a tragedy.
Today was the second time, and it was a comedy — at her expense. Eira’s fingers rubbed against the blue cloth strips Togetic had kindly bought for her that she’d sewed onto her dress, covering spots where Ariados and Gabite had torn it open.
She shouldn’t have caved in when Shaymin pleaded to see her human self again.
She should’ve waited another day to mend her dress, to give herself an excuse.
She—
“Do humans use feet or centimet*rs? I’ve heard humans grow gradually like animals — I’m guessing you still have room to grow, yeah? How much taller are adults?”
She wanted to throw Shaymin out the window.
Eira stared down Shaymin, reddened cheeks contrasting with her desire to fire lasers out of her eyeballs. The reindeer only grinned, if at least sheepishly. “Just curious. You said we could ask literally anything—”
“I know,” said Eira, barely holding back the sourness in her voice. Why hadn’t she been more careful with her wording? “Both, yes, and depends.”
“Depends?”
“I-I mean, men are generally taller than women, and it can depend on the region too. Women in Kanto are around my height, for example, and women from Johto, Sinnoh, and Alola are only a little taller. In Galar, well, they’re on the tall end—”
“Point being you’re tall amongst your peers?”
Forget laser eyes — Eira really, really wanted to cast the human equivalent of Disable on Shaymin, maybe even a Spite. “Can we please quit talking about this?” she said.
Having had enough of the conversation herself, Togetic shut her book, tossing it to the side of her cushion. “Shaymin, you’re embarrassing her,” she scolded. “It was bad enough when you made her talk about her age.”
The distress in her voice made Eira wince. Even after a whole night to sleep away, the angelic was still bitter about that topic. “Togetic—”
“Twelve!” Togetic spread her arms wide as she whirled upon her. “I knew you were of age, but I expected seven at most! Three years my senior, and I’ve been calling you ‘sweetie’ like you were some child?”
Shaymin snorted. “I’m close to Eira’s age, and you still call me ‘princess’ sometimes—”
“Put a scarf in it, sister, that’s completely different!”
In a way, Eira almost preferred Shaymin making her height-conscious. Learning she was older than the rest of Team Heavendust? That wasn’t too upsetting — she already figured Lucario was young for all his gruffness, and it made sense the others were rather youthful themselves. Pokemon grew up fast.
Togetic did not take it the same way, however. It very much hurt the angelic to learn she’d been doting over someone older than herself, and it hurt Eira to see her in such a state. “Y-you’re still more of an adult, you know,” Eira said, sitting down cross-legged. “I don’t mind—”
“I mind!” Togetic caressed her forehead, turning away with a groan. “Even Mythicals don’t mature so slowly, for goodness’s sake.”
Since Team Heavendust had learned her secret, Eira had spent quality time with the duo, talking about herself and the human world. And it sometimes led to shenanigans like this. Apparently the differences between Haven Archipelago, the human world, and Pokemon and humans themselves were harder to grasp than she thought, even without the details about culture and technology.
She had been in the middle of writing down several pages of notes for Porygon-Z two nights back, to help him remember the human world and what it was like, and Togetic and Shaymin had requested to take a look. Big mistake. It was a miracle she managed to crawl out of their room in time for bed, after all the flabbergasted questions they kept throwing at her.
Just explaining that she was half-Alolan and half-Galarian was enough to warp their entire worldview. Apparently Pokemon from the archipelago couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that humans didn’t have ‘regional forms’, yet called themselves Alolans or whatnot. Or that they inherited a mix of traits from both parents, or that all humans, despite their enormous range of different appearances, counted as the exact same species.
Even now, Eira could feel the duo’s gazes upon her — Shaymin boldly doing so, Togetic peeking from the side of her eyes — silently judging her appearance. Dark brown eyes and shoulder-length hair, tawny brown skin, five-fingered hands with fingernails, blue dress, black leggings, shoes, anything and everything. Dungeons were a familiar sight to the pair, but she was a real mystery. A truly otherworldly being.
She was to them what an Ultra Beast was to an Alolan. “I must seem so strange to you,” she murmured. “Don’t I?”
Shaymin and Togetic exchanged looks. The angelic hummed, before getting up, walking toward Eira with slow, rigid steps. She extended an arm toward her, and she gingerly did the same.
Togetic clamped onto her fingers with a wince, before relaxing at the touch. “Skin,” she said, her nub feeling the human bones beneath, then moving toward her palm, rubbing it. A wistful smile spread across her face. “Soft, smooth, sensitive skin. Pleasant to the touch.”
Her gaze briefly slid toward the crack in the wall, before back to Eira. “You’d think a monster wouldn’t feel like this,” she added. “Like a person. Someone with fears and dreams of her own. All I had to do was reach out, and I would’ve seen past the strangeness.”
Eira could almost hear the self-loathing in her voice. She nearly assured her, but Togetic redoubled her hold on her fingers. “I’m fine,” she said, changing the subject. “I’ve never heard you speak in your own tongue, you know.”
No, Team Heavendust hadn’t yet. “Why would I? You wouldn’t understand,” said Eira.
Togetic and Shaymin blinked. Then rolled their eyes. “You’re teasing us, I know it,” said the latter.
Eira’s lips drew themselves into a playful smile.
“Stinking p*lygl*t.” Shaymin lightly smacked her. “Making fun of us for not being bil*ngual.”
Sometimes, their talks led to awkward situations — but other times, it led to nice moments like these. Eira laughed, a good-natured laugh free of the burdens of her cursed fate. “What if I said I know more than two languages?”
“Trilingual? Shut up.”
Another laugh. Eira threw Shaymin an asking look, and she obliged, grabbing a pen and paper atop the drawer she rested upon and placing it in front of her. Various phrases were scribbled upon, like the Tapus, Solegalo, Lunala, Ultra Beasts, various human regions and locations, and so on. She scribbled two new words onto it, before showing it to the duo.
“Alph and Omewa?” said Shaymin.
The two main languages of the human world. Eira committed to memory the way Shaymin said both words, trying to replicate it with her Vulpix tongue. “A-Alph’s based on Unown letters, and most people know it. But regions like Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh have Omewa, which—”
“You learned from your travels, yeah?”
“Uh, not exactly.”
Eira wrote another phrase, which Togetic read. “Malie City,” she said.
“It’s where I lived in Alola.” A moment of gloom poked Eira at the thought of her old home, before she dismissed it. “It’s influenced by Kanto and Johto’s culture, and has a lot of immigrants from both regions who speak the tongue. I picked up on some words when I was young—”
“And traveling gave you some practice?”
“Uh, yeah. I’m not the best, but— [I can speak well enough.]”
Eira carefully spoke in the Omewa tongue, Togetic and Shaymin paying attention to the way it sounded. “It does have a different cadence to it,” noted Shaymin. “Light, elegant, and with a fluid flow, if you ask me.”
“And even more confusing,” added Togetic. “At least Alph makes me think of how the Unown alphabet would probably sound, if us Pokemon spoke it.”
The group stared at the paper Eira held, littered with words akin to both Alph and classical Unown script, words that both of them read and understood. “And to think we share that alphabet,” Shaymin said, pawing her cheek. “And several other old human customs and sayings. Crazy, that.”
And eerie too. The idea of humans roaming the archipelago centuries ago made even more sense in light of such facts. It amazed Eira, yet unsettled her.
It’s like home. And yet nothing like it.
“But it’s a good coincidence for you, being able to read the archipelago’s Common Unown script, so that’s cool.” Shaymin hovered over Eira’s right shoulder, arms crossed as she leaned upon it. “I guess we do have a lot in common, huh? You know, Togetic and I used to travel lots too.”
Togetic smiled. “It’s how we met.”
“Yep. And you know how awesome it is to have somebody else who actually knows some deep stuff about Ultra Beasts? Lots of people won’t even bother learning more than the bare minimum about Legendaries!” Shaymin leaned in, her petal scarf tickling Eira’s neck and her head positioned beside her ear. “You’re probably the coolest human I could’ve ever met.”
A pun. The Pokemon language was an exceptionally different beast compared to Alph and Omewa, breaking the rules of sentence grammar in favor of pitches, lengths, pauses, and most notably, pure emotional weight. It was chaotic and full of nuances that made her head hurt, her wristband a saving grace in recognizing all the little cues she had to watch out for. Words were meaningless, for there were no true words, yet impossibly, there was meaning.
But yet with the archipelago’s shared writing system and expressions as an influence, the Pokemon language still accounted for things like puns. Hence when Shaymin called her the ‘coolest’, Eira could hear both meanings. One was the informal compliment she gave.
The other was her actual joke. Eira the human swatted Shaymin off her shoulder, the reindeer laughing at her annoyance. “Get it? Coolest?” she teased. “Oh, I’m so making a whole gag out of this.”
Togetic covered her face in exasperation. “You’re the worst,” Eira said, her tone dry as a desert.
“Course I am! I’m doing my job as a friend!”
It’s like home. And yet nothing like it.
Despite herself, Eira couldn’t resist a scoff at Shaymin’s comment. A light, pleasant scoff.
But it’s good enough, isn’t it?
There and then she admitted it to herself: being with Togetic and Shaymin felt wonderful. It felt therapeutic. For all the burdens she felt, for all her fears of an archipelago that feared her, a prophecy that doomed her, and a Lugia that sought her destruction, they seemed so distant. The looming danger of Abhorrents seemed trivial. Even the loss of her Mother, dearest Mother, was an agonizing wound that burned less than it should have. As if her heart was beginning to heal.
Mother would’ve been overjoyed to see it. Who had she ever made friends with, other than Mother? How long had it been since she bothered to make meaningful relationships with others? She no longer had Mother, yes—
But I have Lucario. And Togetic and Shaymin.
Friends.
Togetic was holding her hand again, her white nub resting against her palm. The angelic smiled, as if in a quiet question, and Eira smiled back in an answer. It put both of them at peace, for each their own reasons.
Togetic let her arm slide down, tapping on the charred wristband resting against the cuff of her sleeve. “Eevee gave you quite a useful disguise,” she remarked. “It must mean everything for a powerless human like you.”
Shaymin blinked, as did Eira. She raised a finger, pulling on the depths of her soul, and Togetic twisted out of the way as she conjured frost from its tip.
It was a feat she thought to be impossible for mankind. And yet it wasn’t. Lugia, the Abhorrents, even the prophecy — none of it could trump this miracle.
Humans do have powers.
Togetic scoffed. “You know what I meant, sweetheart.”
The sass in her voice amused Eira, but she kept her focus on the ice she’d formed. Hers to use.
She touched her soul, examining it. Unlike her Pokemon self, no feedback about Abilities came to her. No moves. No typing. But she still sensed her well of energy, potent and brimming with novice will.
Level 14. I still have a Level? thought Eira.
And she felt herself. As a human, not a Vulpix. The difference was inexplicable, but somehow she felt it all the same. Even her pool of magic felt altered. And although she had no typing, nor the natural cold her Alolan Vulpix self held within, she still felt a faint attachment to Ice. As if she was drawn to the element in particular. As if she had an affinity for it, like human psychics did for Psychic-related powers.
Human psychics.
“I know I said my kind didn’t have magic in the human world, but—” Eira’s face scrunched up as she realized the conundrum she was headed toward. “But there’s a few rare humans that can have psychic powers. O-or other supernatural abilities, like aura.”
Arched brows rose on Togetic and Shaymin’s faces. Eira quickly explained what she found in her soul, before addressing the questions bubbling up in her mind. “It’s weird that I still feel my Level,” she stated. “I never heard of a human having that. Or anyone with any kind of Ice powers, either.”
The duo gave each other thoughtful looks. “You never tapped into your spirit before you got your wristband, right?” asked Togetic. “Maybe only a select few humans can do it?”
“More like the few that didn’t need to be taught by a Pokemon.” Shaymin’s face scrunched up in vexation. “Though if they learned on their own, maybe they don’t actually know how to feel her spirit, or their Level? And they just tap into their energies on pure instinct?”
“And why only specific abilities and skills? Why not other elemental powers?”
“Maybe the rest keep quiet about it or something? And anyway, why don’t humans get inherent types, yet they feel a connection anyway? What does that mean?”
Eira wondered too. And she wondered what answers Mismagius would have in store for her. Today was the day she’d start teaching her magic, wasn’t it? It’d only been two days, but the wait was beginning to kill her. The questions she had! To have elemental powers as a human, it was frightening, yet she couldn’t suppress her wonder either. Her desire to learn.
Real magic was possibly the only thing more amazing than being a Pokemon.
“Hey, hit me real quick.”
Eira shook herself, blinking several times at Shaymin. The floating Mythical had her paws crossed, waiting on her to follow her bidding. “S-sorry?”
“Your magic.” Shaymin flicked the melting ice off Eira’s fingertip. “Hit me with it.”
Both Togetic and Eira looked at her like she was dumb. Attack Shaymin? Why would she want to—
She wants to see how much it’ll hurt.
The trio tensed at the mind-speak, then lurched as an icy blue head of mist popped out of the floorboards, the icy bangs on the sides of her head unnaturally still despite the sudden jerk of her movement. Glaceon, one of Eevee’s many ghost siblings, pulled herself out and stretched her body, before taking note of the others’ startled faces.
Oh, and sorry for barging in. I should’ve knocked first.
A pause.
Figuratively speaking. I can’t interact with doors without using moves. But again — Shaymin wants to feel how strong your magic is.
And like that, Shaymin was acting like Glaceon had always been in the room all along. “You heard her!” she said, poking Eira. “C’mon, I’m not afraid of a little super-effective damage! Ice me!”
Togetic shook her head, but moved aside anyway, leaving Eira with her insistent friend. Could she do an actual attack? She had played with her ice a little, but she never did any real training. She might make a mess, trying to cast spells she didn’t know how to form, or—
“I said to hit me, wimp! Do it! Throw something at me, if you humans have any spine in your backs!”
The taunting did her in. Eira sighed, reached into her soul, and flicking her hand as if to throw an Ice Shard, shot a bolt of frost.
It was slightly inaccurate, but it caught Shaymin on the paw, the reindeer tensing at its cold bite before cackling. “Stings a little,” she remarked, “but I could take a lot of those. You mind doing the same thing as your Vulpix self?”
Eira pursed her lips, before acceding, flicking her inner switch and bracing against the vertigo of transformation. Her hands became her forepaws, six tails sprouted from her back, and her chest filled up with cold might. Eira the Alolan Vulpix shook herself, taking in the feel of her vulpine body, before summoning an actual Ice Shard.
Just one shard, with much better accuracy. This time Shaymin did reel from the strike, brushing the fur where she’d been plinked by the ice. “Really felt the Ice element that time,” she said.
“Same-type energy boost.” Togetic caressed her cheek, losing herself in thought. “Pokemon are deeply connected to their elemental types, but humans aren’t. It’s like me trying to use Ancient Power when I don’t have the corresponding type.”
Or maybe, her spirit isn’t compatible enough yet?
Glaceon’s words drew the room’s attention. Eira had to learn magic, but we know to use it straight from the egg, she stated. The elements are part of us, but for humans, it’s a foreign tool. Maybe she’ll develop her type as she progresses?
“That doesn’t explain why humans normally have specific kinds of powers though, like psychic control. Or aura, which I don’t think belongs to any one type.” Shaymin grumbled at the thought of it all, shooting Eira an unamused look. “Like really? Did you have to throw in that little curveball about rare magic humans in your homeland now?”
The vixen shrugged, considering all the theories the others had given. It was strange, really. Why didn’t humans use other elements back in her world? Was it just easy for human psychics to be discovered because people were used to finding them, along with aura users, or was her Ice attachment something unique to her? And again, why didn’t other humans with supernatural abilities talk of Levels and such?
What’s the difference between them and the old human wizards of the archipelago?
So many questions. So much she didn’t understand. “I-I should speak with Mismagius,” said Eira.
Togetic and Shaymin slowly nodded. “Wacky witch might know something,” the latter said, before gesturing to Glaceon. “You know, I don’t think I’ve seen any of you without Eevee. Is anyone else going to pop in?”
Hm? Glaceon looked at her vacantly, before shaking her head. Oh no, it’s just me. Eevee’s talking about news and travel plans with the guys yet again, and I don’t know, I just got bored and felt like popping in here. Overhearing you guys talk about ice magic and stuff made me curious, and I kinda wanted to interact with somebody other than Leafeon for a change, and Espeon’s for some reason letting me have a conversation with you all—
Glaceon blinked, her face turning sheepish. She dropped her gaze to the wooden floor.
Am I being a bother? I-I can leave if you want.
Togetic, Shaymin, and Eira the Vulpix looked at each other, before Shaymin shooed her concerns away. “Stay if you like, nobody minds,” she stated. “You haven’t heard too much about human stuff yet, yeah?”
I, uh, haven’t heard much. Nor the others—
“No big deal, I’m sure we can get you caught up. Anyway!” Shaymin darted back to Eira, the Vulpix rearing up at both her sudden speed and at the sinisterly goofy face she wore. The face of a madwoman with inane questions she wanted to fire, like cannonballs into the hull of a fisherman’s boat.
“You said you humans have a lot of forms of entertainment, right?” she said. “Nonsense about illustrated magazines and moving visual images on screens and good ol’ fashioned novels? Lots of different ways to convey stories? You’re into stories and stuff, am I right?”
Eira sweated a little. What was the punchline to this? “Y-yes?”
“Any stories about yours truly?” Shaymin’s eyes glittered with childish curiosity. “About Shaymin? I mean, I’m a sucker for old myths and legends, but what kind of crazy fantasy tales do humans make up these days about my kind?”
Togetic and Glaceon lended an ear, growing a little interested in the conversation. Eira’s heartbeat slowed, if only a little — it wasn’t the worst question she could’ve been asked. “Well, uh, I really don't know too much about Shaymin myths,” she admitted. “Lucario might know more, I guess? But I think there was this television show about a Shaymin magical girl—”
Television? asked Glaceon.
“Big screen for moving visual images.” Shaymin pointed Glaceon to Togetic for a further explanation, before sticking her nose into Eira’s. “A magical girl, eh? Like some kind of superhero wizard Shaymin or something?”
Eira the Vulpix stared at the Mythical’s expression. Her heartbeat picked up again.
I’ve said too much, haven’t I?
“M-more like she can transform into a magically powerful version of herself? Something to do with being blessed by Arceus to, um, fight the forces of the banished Giratina.”
Glaceon and Togetic perked at this, their intrigue but a candle flame to Shaymin’s burning fascination. “A spin on the age-old feuds between the two Legendary clans, and one of my kind’s the hero? Crud, now I kinda want to see for myself. And this transformation — what is it, just a souped-up Sky Forme or something? I suppose my flying self is pretty magical compared to my Land Forme, ha.”
Having never seen the show, Eira couldn’t really answer, but at least Shaymin was enjoying herself. A small joy. She could probably file this away as one of her nicer moments—
“So that kinda makes you a magical girl too, yeah?”
Eira felt her icy cold freeze up her brain. “Uh, what?”
Shaymin’s smile was too wide. She prodded at Eira’s wristband. Eira stared at the wristband.
The one she used to transform into a Pokemon. An innately magical creature.
“I—”
No—
“T-that’s not—”
I can’t be—
“Shaymin—”
Her tails shifted toward her face, partially obscuring it. Frozen sweat glistened on her forehead, horror possessing Eira whole.
“Oh my goodness, I’m a magical girl.”
Shaymin’s yell of triumph gave her a start. “Magical girl buddies!” she cheered, yanking her over until their cheeks were smushed against each other. “C’mon, it works! We’ve even both got awesome magic items to make us magically cool!”
Which was actually a magical girl thing, to Eira’s distress. “But I-I have magic as a human too!” she cried, grasping at straws. “It shouldn’t—”
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“Nah, it counts! Togetic, look, the magical girl squad’s here to save the day! Strike a pose, Eira!”
Somehow, someway, Shaymin had found something that bothered Eira more than commentary on her human height. She threw pleading looks to a flummoxed Togetic, in dire need of a non-magical girl to save her. Then Glaceon, who seemed possibly traumatized by the ridiculous pose Shaymin was making that was, infuriatingly, too close to what a magical girl would do.
Is this normal? Glaceon asked.
Togetic slowly turned her face away and made what sounded like silent prayers, leaving Eira to fend for herself. “Hey, try a pose!” Shaymin insisted. “Just once! It’s not that bad!”
“I-I don’t—”
“One time, for your fellow magical girl! I’m not asking for—”
“Shaymin, no!”
If there was a silver lining, at least crippling embarrassment from a friend was nowhere as bad as being condemned by a human-fearing archipelago and a prophecy.
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Even now, everything felt like a fever dream to Lucario. His tail brushed against the too-fluffy rug in the living room, his paws clamped onto the wood of the table atop it, and his eyes swished back and forth, scanning the window near the second floor stairway at the back, the familiar yet odd refrigerator at the kitchen side-area, and the hallways of the cottage. Then they returned to Gabite and Eevee, the former beside him with a newspaper beside him, and the latter sitting on the table, messing with a map and his tail fidgeting. As if the Abhorrent felt just as out of place as he did.
It still hadn’t processed in Lucario’s head that this cottage was his home and sanctuary. That he had a place here. That Team Heavendust were their allies.
That any of this was happening.
The jackal let himself be drawn to the map, as if focusing on it would make things more real. Far from it, however, seeing the scale of Haven Archipelago and its many islands only made his head swim even more. Most notable was the cluster of landmasses floating around a central area with a simple sketch of a castle atop it — the Nexuswatch Islands. Grassbranch Island was located at the upperleft corner, and to its right and above the Nexuswatch Islands was the mountainous Cragpeak Island, with a snowy shield-shaped region further off to the right that was fittingly called Tundrashield.
At the bottom of the map, from left to right, was the sandy world of Tumbledust, the overgrown Junglebush, and the gloomy Blitzfield. And to the left and right of Nexuswatch was the marsh-like Swampblot Island and the weathered lands of Shardmyth Island, respectively.
Eevee’s paw had run itself ragged, tracing lines between Swampblot and Grassbranch. The eight crystals spiking out of his head like a crown of gradient colors, one for each of his spirit siblings — the price of his Abhorrent mutation — sparkled from the faint light of a dawn sky, pouring in from a window. His eyes would dart on occasion, scanning the cottage walls with a hint of trepidation.
Far better than how he’d been yesterday, when claustrophobia seemed to be the Abhorrent’s personality. Being a monster in a former enemy’s home does that to you, thought Lucario, before taking note of Gabite’s own shifty gaze. Though I suppose the same goes to him.
Housing a human clearly had been a difficult adjustment for Team Heavendust’s leader, even if practically nothing had changed. Having an Abhorrent guest only put him further out of his comfort zone.
But he’s trying, noted Lucario. And so is Eevee.
Discomfort wasn’t enough to stop the two from talking business. Their goal? To get him and Eira to Kabutops, who’d keep them safe for the remainder of their time in Haven Archipelago. To get to him, they would use Flowerpond Trails, a Mystery Dungeon in the southern pathway in Grassbranch Island with a hidden pathway they’d use to warp to Swampblot Island, bypassing the threat of Lugia. And from there, Eevee would guide them toward Kabutops’s secret lair.
They already had discussed this yesterday. Right now Eevee and Gabite were finishing up on finding desirable routes to take, allowing Team Heavendust to hit up a few major towns where they’d hopefully find others willing to take on the Abhorrent menace, while staying on track to reach Kabutops. “Of course,” Eevee was saying, “you’d hardly need to make so many pit stops if Team Elementri can do the recruiting for you.”
Team Elementri, Gabite’s allies, were slated to arrive today according to a message the dragon-shark had gotten from them. “I’m planning just in case Lugia acts early and we can’t meet,” Gabite said, a deriding huff leaving him as his claw poked the newspaper at his side. “Though I doubt they’d let that happen. I can already imagine the questions they’ll pepper me with.”
Lucario huffed too, frowning at the newspaper. ‘Scoop: Team Heavendust as Heroes of Stormsoaked Shores’ was amongst its headlines, with profiles given of its team members, and eyewitness reports of how their group had been rushing out of town to stop Aerodactyl from taking down Lugia.
Unsurprising that people had sussed them out, and very unsurprising that the article put a little focus on Shaymin’s Mythical nature. At least there were no footnotes on the Stringed Forest rumors, though he did not appreciate the attention called upon him and Eira the Vulpix being newcomers to the team. Or well, the attention in general. With news about the near-disaster at Stormsoaked Shores apparently catching like wildfire throughout the whole archipelago, why wouldn’t news about the explorers who stopped it?
“I suppose the fame would help with finding yourselves volunteers, at least.” Eevee briefly smirked at the thought of it. “How much of a net gain is it, having your explorer friends helping out?”
“Plenty,” was Gabite’s reply. “Everything counts against Aerodactyl and the other Abhorrents. Team Elementri’s a veteran group—”
“Oh, I get that. But what of her?”
Eevee gestured toward the hallway leading to the ladies’ bedroom, and Lucario felt a pit form in his stomach. Eira — the disguised human. His protege, and a giant liability in this archipelago, even discounting the whole prophecy nonsense. It had been a huge blessing that after everything with Team Heavendust, she had made it out alive. But could such miracles repeat themselves against another explorer group?
Gabite rested a claw on his chin. “Braixen is a bit of a sleuth himself, I admit, just as good as I am. And he’s rather protective of me. He knows about my traumas—” he rasped and shook off haunting memories, human horrors that Lucario felt tempted to glimpse with his aurasense, yet refrained in fear of what he’d see “—and he would assume the worst about a human being in my team. I could get away with telling them about you—”
“Excuse me? You’d tell them about me?”
“If Togetic can talk me down from reacting violently to your existence, Abhorrent, I can do the same with Braixen and the others. Hardly much to lose by doing that. A human, though? Too dangerous. And between Lugia and the Stringed Forest rumors, Braixen’s bound to hear something about her.”
What went unspoken was the solution: a cover-up story, to keep Eira concealed. And judging from Gabite’s expression, Lucario sensed he already had come up with a few ways to divert Braixen from the truth. Here’s hoping it’ll be enough.
“More people knowing about us, how perfect.” Eevee grumbled under his breath, tail sweeping across the table. “Whatever. Blab about me and my siblings if you dare, but if things backfire and the human’s compromised—”
“Don’t sweat it, Abhorrent, I don’t fumble around like Lucario here does.” Gabite elbowed the jackal in question, who rolled his eyes in response. “I’ll handle my friends. You deal with your stuff.”
“Yeah, yeah. What about Mismagius?”
The witch who knew of a prophecy detailing a transformed human that’d shatter the archipelago. “Gabite spoke with her about our travel plans,” Lucario said with a sour note. “She means to join us.”
A tsk. “Figures.”
Lucario hardly liked it either. But Mismagius was rather insistent on keeping tabs on Eira, and on teaching her everything she could. He didn’t know what to make of such an oxymoron, — that Mismagius intended to give magic to the very creature she deemed a threat. And he didn’t know what to make of Mismagius herself.
But how do you shake off a Pokemon like her?
Eevee folded up his map, managing to tuck the parchment into his neck-pouch. “Everything’s out of my control now, isn’t it?” he said. “Putting up with you explorers, dealing with an angry Lugia and some messy convoluted plot with Abhorrents that I want no part of—”
“Do I look like I want anything to do with you or your fellow monsters, or a prophecy-condemned human?” A half-feral glare touched Gabite’s eyes, the dragon-shark throwing his head forward. “None of us are in control. We’re all hung by strings, and it’ll be a fortune if any of us puppets can steer the pulling where we want to.”
“Flowery language from a former wild ‘mon.”
“I try.”
The twosome grew listless, Lucario seeing how they stared into distances far beyond the confines of the cottage. Far into the past that was, the future that could be, and how they converged on the present. They quietly questioned — perhaps to each other? — how this exact, fleeting moment of time came to be.
How two strangers from outside their archipelago washed ashore, in defiance of the towers.
How everyone’s secrets were spilled to each other.
How their unusual alliance sought to reach Kabutops, in hopes of thwarting a prophecy and finding a cure for Abhorrents.
How they’d need to outrun a Lugia they crossed.
And never mind the Abhorrents, who sought to infiltrate said Lugia’s lair. And somehow, they had to stop it.
They.
Lucario scowled at the thought. How many would volunteer to help stop the Abhorrent menace, when mutation was the likely cost? Who’d dare approach them? He himself couldn’t stomach the thought of a third encounter with Aerodactyl, not when the last two had cut it close enough. And Mew? A Mythical Abhorrent? Who wouldn’t cower at such a nightmare?
But it sickened him too. He wouldn’t be there to help Team Heavendust either, not with Eira in his care. He’d unjustly leave them to fight something that’d ruin the archipelago just as much as any prophecy. Coward, his inner voice told him.
Puppets aren’t cowards, Lucario replied.
Silence. And then pain.
An overload of sensory garbage pounded against his feelers and leaked into his skull, Lucario dropping to one knee at the otherworldly turmoil he sensed from nine linked souls. Eevee had ripped apart into a half-melted, trembling goop of endless void, buzzing static clouds cloaking him and white spiral-shaped eyes staring into the Distortion World. His crystals slowly dripped off, turning into slugs writhing down his body, with a few sprouting eyes and staring just as he stared.
Gabite was spouting gibberish, his body poised in a fight-or-flight reaction and his eyes dilated. One of his fin-blades inched toward Eevee, and the Abhorrent’s neck snapped apart, Gabite stumbling back as Eevee’s head dangled to one side like a broken jack-in-the-box. His paws — claws? Flippers? Spider legs? — pounded against the table.
Seconds passed. And then the static faded, and Eevee’s body reformed into his normal, panting self. Lucario exhaled at once, shaking off the nausea he felt from the lingering, toxic touch of Distortion Frenzy. “Could’ve done with a heads-up, Eevee,” he grumbled.
Gabite too was panting, a claw upon his heart. Footsteps sounded, and Lucario glanced to find a worried Eira the Vulpix arriving into the living room, followed by Togetic and Shaymin. “Uh, what happened?” asked the latter. “Glaceon was with us and she went poof—”
I’m fine, I’m fine! Just a little Distortion Frenzy, it happens!
A frazzled Glaceon manifested before the group, Eevee putting on a grim smile beside her. “Superb timing for you all to show up,” he said. “Alright, I know this is sudden, but that frenzy we went through? Thing is, my siblings and I were just thinking about something that’s been bothering us like mad, ever since our talk with Ariados two days back. You mind telling us if you saw any weirdness happening around Stormsoaked Shores’s entrance when it broke down? Dimensions twisting, up becoming down — anything like that?”
Heavy question. And certainly not one the girls had emerged from their room to hear about, nor one Gabite seemed to like. With all their ongoing troubles, the topic was one they had entirely forgotten about.
And Lucario wished it could stay that way, for the recollection flayed him. “We were in it,” he mumbled.
“You were?”
You were?
Eevee had leapt to the edge of the table, nose nearly crashing into a startled Lucario’s, and with Glaceon only a short distance back. “Big primordial soup of insanity? Yeah, dungeon went kablooey from the outside and dragged us in,” Shaymin said.
“Left us all sapped by the time it reformed,” growled Gabite. “Not a fun feeling.”
“S-something yanked me inside,” added Togetic, cringing as she gingerly touched her side. “I-it was a shadow thing, and it did something to me in there. I think it left a mark.”
It had. Lucario faintly remembered, but he had seen Togetic with a swollen bruise that day. “A shadow thing,” muttered Eevee, rubbing his fur as if feeling for scars that didn’t exist. “We might’ve faced those too, come to think of it. Things that left weird scratches all over my body.”
Hard to remember when you’re going into a Distortion Frenzy in a literal distortion, commented Glaceon, her brows arching as she thought about it. I-it wasn’t that much different, was it? The dungeon breaking, it felt—
“A little like our Distortion Frenzy?”
Chills. Everyone turned to Lucario, the only person other than Eevee’s family who could know such a comparison firsthand. “A little,” he agreed.
Both had a sense of maddening warpedness, after all. And a sickeningly toxic touch too, though Distortion Frenzy was more like the feeling of acid burning you into formless ooze, while the broken dungeon made you feel like you were breathing in poisonous fumes. Not to mention that one was an internal sensation that ruptured the body, and the other, an external pressure that scarred the mind.
And yet still, it wasn’t far off. Why wouldn’t there be parallels? The Abhorrents and the shards that manipulate dungeons are related, after all.
“Uh, t-the dungeon tentacles?”
Eira’s voice. The vixen girl was pawing the ground, the urge to speak overriding her clear discomfort. “I-I think the tentacles had eyes. They tried dragging me underwater, and I-I saw.” Stares swarmed her faster than they swarmed Lucario, and she shied back. “B-but maybe it doesn’t mean anything?”
Gabite’s forehead creased. “Dungeon traps shouldn’t have eyes.”
He stood and began to pace, shaky claws clasped behind his back. Once he looked toward Shaymin for an explanation, and she instantly averted her gaze, uncomfortable. Eevee sighed.
“I know the whole point of me bringing this topic up is because I’m seriously worried about what was up with that dungeon break,” he said, “but eyes? You sure that’s a problem?”
“I practically grew up in dungeons, Eevee, I know what I’m talking about,” Gabite spat back. “But fine, forget the eyes. What about the shadows then? When a dungeon breaks apart, and there’s still something there, what do you say about that? You think some poisonous proto-dungeon atmosphere can leave physical wounds on us?”
Eevee wilted, unable to refute that. Glaceon shuddered, and Shaymin scrunched up her face further. Togetic copied her, averting her gaze too — not out of sheer confusion, Lucario realized, but out of reluctance to speak. As if the duo had realized something, but feared to say it aloud.
Eira caught it too. “Togetic?” she said. “W-when I first told you that I was human? You said you were ‘expecting something else.’” The angelic jolted a little at the statement, and Eira pushed on, picking up steam. “When Lucario told you Ariados tried to kill me, because she ‘saw something she couldn’t bear,’ you didn’t really question it much. W-what did you think I was?”
Good memory, the girl had. Togetic squirmed at her question, and Lucario took advantage. A long-suffering growl left his throat, grabbing the room’s attention.
“Has anyone here,” he said, “neglected to tell my girl and I that anomalous dungeon monsters lurk in your spatial dungeon anomalies?”
Grimaces. “They’re not supposed to be alive,” Gabite said, glaring twice as hard at Shaymin.
T-there’s stories about that kind of thing, though, Glaceon added. Eevee?
Eevee’s eyes went vacant for a moment, Lucario getting the impression he was quietly debating with his siblings, before he opened his mouth. “Heard a few during my search for humans,” he muttered. “Warped forces that were very much alive, preying on passerby in dungeons. Thought it was just junk though, like the prophecy—”
“Missing Ones.” To the group’s surprise, it was a downcast Togetic who spoke, the angelic avoiding the slack-jawed expression Shaymin threw at her. “I-I’m told it’s an old term Legendaries used for unknown spirit creatures that aren’t Pokemon. Particularly living dungeon monsters.”
A terrible admission to Lucario’s ears. “There’s a term?” cried Gabite, throwing his arms onto the table. “Excuse me?”
Shaymin managed to force her lips into a dull frown. “Gabite—”
“You knew this whole time about things lurking in the dungeons? I asked you questions—”
“Gabite, you can’t expect me to—”
“M-my humans? Were you keeping information from me about—”
“Your humans aren’t spirit monsters!” yelled Shaymin. “And I’m not supposed to blab about super taboo stuff like this! Give me a break, Gabite, all Togetic told you was a dumb term! It’s not something people have to worry about!” Her voice faltered as she reflected on her words. “It’s not supposed to be something people have to worry about.”
A disquiet fell upon the group. Lucario took note of Eira’s distress, the girl ashamed of her own role in sparking the conversation, and raised a palm glowing with aura. He caressed her with comforting emotions, the false vixen half-heartedly accepting the spiritual touch.
Togetic was slipping an apology to Shaymin, who shook her head at her. “Not your fault,” she said, before speaking to the others. “But uh, yeah, there might be things in dungeon space. Didn’t ever think the stuff in Stormsoaked Shores was one of those, though — thought it was just erratic dungeon behavior. Not living monsters of old.”
A deflated sigh left Gabite, his eyes darting toward Lucario’s glowing paw. “The tentacles?” he asked. “Did they have an aura?”
Never had Lucario thought he’d so badly want to go back to Stormsoaked Shores. The thought of there being something more to the tentacles, it ate at him. Alas, if there was something, he hadn’t picked up on it last time they were there. And with Lugia around, I can’t go back to the beach to check, he thought. Do the eyes really mean something, though? And what exactly was with the shadows that snatched us into the dungeon, darn it?
More than ever, he wondered how deep the rabbit hole was, and just how interwoven dungeons were with the Abhorrents’ goals. Of the deeper meaning behind the entities they faced in the dungeon. Of how the dungeon’s breaking, and the altering shards, appeared to be connected to Abhorrents and their Distortion Frenzy.
How does the mutation tie into it all?
Seeing Lucario had no response, Gabite sighed, waving the matter away. “Save it for later,” he decided, before Shaymin could say anything more. “I’d rather if we had Braixen’s team to talk this over with.”
Slow, weary nods from everyone. Eevee took it as his cue to hop off the table, Glaceon trailing him as he strode toward the front door. His paw pulled the handle, the door swinging to the side, and Eevee breathed in the fresh morning air outside.
“Well, I don’t want to hold you up longer,” he said. “You go handle your explorer business, yeah?”
We’ll get back in the afternoon, added Glaceon. Uh, have fun learning magic with Mismagius, Eira? I’d love to hear about it later. I mean, we all would, but me especially! And all the other human stuff too!
Lucario couldn’t help but catch how Eevee’s lips curved at Glaceon’s enthusiasm, finding pleasure in her newfound interests. Team Heavendust watched as he left, Glaceon bursting into wisps that retreated alongside him. “You heard him, we’re wasting daylight,” said Gabite. “Do your thing at the dojo, ladies. Lucario and I will be at the Explorer Board with Porygon-Z.”
Togetic and Shaymin nodded at this, the former rushing back to her room to retrieve her Treasure Bag. Gabite excused himself to do the same. That left Lucario with Eira and Shaymin, the two side-eyeing each other.
“A dungeon monster?” she asked. “Me?”
Shaymin snorted. “Somehow made a little more sense to me than a human.”
Eira hummed, inching toward an amused Lucario. He smiled at her. The girl found the strength to smile back.
It fueled the warmth in his mending heart. The disguised girl was a comfort to him, a soul to care for in the wake of Adam’s demise, and that of his old Pokemon teammates. It pleased him, seeing that the silent worry that’d been creasing her face was as far away as the human world was — the result of Togetic and Shaymin’s company, no doubt. It had done wonders for her, warding away all of her fears, prophecies and monstrous forces alike.
Friends were such a good thing to have. And it seemed Togetic and Shaymin wouldn’t be the only friends she’d make. “Talking about human stuff with Glaceon, huh?” remarked Lucario.
Eira’s smile dropped. “Uh, yeah,” she said, tracing lines over her partly-charred wristband. “Do you think I count as a magical girl?”
Lucario went rigid. What?
“Since I can transform into a magic creature and all?” Eira hastily added. “I-I mean, I don’t know if you know what a magical girl is—”
“I do know,” Lucario said, vaguely recalling his old teammate Duosion’s description of young girls that used magical alter-egos to fight villainous forces. He eyed Shaymin, who had begun drifting to the side with an awkward expression, and held in a fatherly sigh. “What were you telling Shaymin?”
Eira blushed, realizing her use of human speech to keep Shaymin unaware of the conversation wasn’t working out so well. “T-there was this show about this Shaymin chosen by Arceus to fight Giratina—”
“‘Petals of the Angel Gracidea’?” To both Lucario’s surprise and Eira’s, he knew exactly what she was talking about. Funny thing too, considering their Missing One talk. “The one about Giratina and his shadowy eldritch forces?”
Shaymin batted an eye. “Uh—” said Eira.
“Torterra mentioned Adam reading that once, said it was a classic book series from an acclaimed Sinnohian writer. They adapted it into a show, huh? Never saw it myself, and I joined Adam long after he finished the books, so—”
“The show has a book series?”
Eira’s pained whisper dug into Lucario like a thicket of thorns. “Uh,” he said.
“The show has a book series. A-and it’s a classic.”
And the girl could not read it, not in this archipelago. Lucario dared to nod, and Eira groaned her heart out, a bookworm in dismay. Slowly she turned upon a stiff Shaymin, vixen ears flat and her expression somber.
Togetic returned right at that moment, Treasure Bag hung around her shoulder as she caught wind of Eira’s mood and the one indirectly responsible. “Shaymin?” she cried, before scowling at her friend. “I wasn’t even gone for a minute!”
“I-I didn’t do anything this time!” Shaymin replied with a vigorous shake of her head. “It’s not my fault!”
The two argued, Lucario feeling his nape burn from the awkwardness. Gabite returned too, brows furrowing at the commotion and Eira’s void-filled stare, and Lucario signaled not to ask.
Small correction: friends were usually a good thing to have.
----------------------------------------
The girl got better, and soon the group made the journey to Berrypark Town. Lucario spied the gates from afar, amidst the meadow fields and rolling hills, and took a moment to bask in its humble glory.
It had been relatively quiet since their encounter with Lugia and Ariados. Two days wasn’t enough time for the Legendary to enact any plans, it seemed, and thus far there’d been no sign of danger. That could change like the sudden flash of lightning — and their group had been prepared with emergency escape plans, just in case — but for now they could hold their breath.
No trouble from Ariados either. The matriarch had seemingly put her villagers in line, an act that Lucario begrudgingly had to appreciate. The rumors that’d been spread had been mostly curbed at this point.
The only real nuisance? Nosy folk. “How many Pokemon you reckon will pester us this time?” Lucario asked Gabite.
To the side, Shaymin had paused her quiet conversation with Togetic to roll her eyes, while Eira the Vulpix settled for a brief frown. “Depends,” was Gabite’s curt reply. “Gossip’s probably gonna spread a little with the news articles going around.”
“Are we ever going to talk about our role in Stormsoaked Shores?” asked Togetic.
Gabite made a disdainful noise. Pretty much everyone in town could tell they’d been the ones to stop Aerodactyl, but that didn’t mean they’d have to admit anything. Give an inch, give a mile, thought Lucario with a smirk. Story of my life right there.
There’d been people asking questions about the dungeon’s unexpected transformation, or the fight against Aerodactyl, or whether they actually saw a Lugia or even the mysterious Mew. To Lucario’s chagrin, one jittery yet inquisitive Swadloon even asked about Stringed Forest and whether really Eira was, in her words, ‘something more than just a Vulpix’. Gabite had to keep them all at bay, be it through denial, refusals to talk, or insisting on privacy.
Lucario couldn’t help but wonder if Ariados had to deal with any pesky townsfolk snooping into the events at her village. And if Team Elementri gets a whiff of what happened there, he thought, what then?
But they’d handle them in due time. Right now, he and Gabite had to first see if they were around, and they had to follow up with Porygon-Z. They had sent him several papers of notes Eira had written down, and chances were the Faller might have recovered something useful as a result. Or at least he’d have a few questions. And of course, Eira would be with Mismagius.
Learning magic.
The stuff of tall tales. Lucario wasn’t oblivious to the silent buzz in Eira’s head — the buzz of anticipation. Every one of her steps betrayed her tense eagerness, like a hesitant moth drawn to a flame. She feared it’d burn her, yet she wanted to touch it all the same. What would Mismagius do to her, when all was said and done?
I really need to stop fretting over everything. As Team Heavendust walked through the towngate, its guards Granbull and Houndoom acknowledging them as they stepped aside, Lucario let himself breathe. It was a clear, storm-free day, the sun radiant and cheerful, and he let himself absorb that cheer.
And then he sensed something was off in Berrypark Town. Too many people were up and about on the streets at this time of day, yet there was no roar of voices talking over each other, only the hiss and silent buzz of whispers passing between them. A couple glanced at their group before muttering on, voices chilled, concerned, and yet strangely relieved all at once. “What happened here?” Shaymin muttered, Togetic and Eira sharing uncomfortable looks and Gabite arching a brow at the uncanniness of it all.
Lucario mulled over the oddness for a moment, before he caught Granbull and Houndoom coming over, matching Gabite’s stride as they flanked him. “Realized we might wanna warn y’all,” the former quietly said. “Got us a itty bitty commotion rumbling through these streets here.”
Ah, but of course. Trouble. “More rumors floating about?” said Gabite.
“Nah, nah, nothing like that. Out of the ordinary, this case here. Us two lousy louts couldn’t ever have seen it coming—”
“Yet we clearly should have,” Houndoom said with a posh scoff. “Whole bunch of rubbish goes down with a stinking Abhorrent and a Lugia, and we think the big guys themselves are gonna sit this one out?”
“They always sit these darn cases out, Houndoom, when have you ever seen it be otherwise? Nobody could’ve expected—”
“A Legendary, mate! You think Legendaries aren’t enough to rouse them from their throne in the Nexuswatch Islands? When’s the last time you ever heard a peep about Legendary fellers poking their heads out of the hidey holes they love cozying up in?” Houndoom coughed, giving Shaymin a sheepish look. “No offense upon you, milady.”
Team Heavendust eyed each other with perplexed looks, before Houndoom’s words sank in. “Uh, their throne?” Shaymin asked.
“Nexuswatch Islands?” said Gabite.
Granbull and Houndoom smirked, before craning their heads to the side. Lucario followed their gesture, catching notice of some motion at one of the streets in the distance. People were shifting to the edges with wide eyes, as far away from the middle of the road as they could manage. It was like a wave’s current, sweeping through the street and spilling over to adjoining areas as others followed suit — and with it, a veritable silence that only allowed the most scarce and sacred whispers.
It was like they already knew what was to come. They had seen low tide turn to high tide, and now high was returning to low. And before Lucario’s eyes, the tide shrunk away to show the once-submerged trouble it had hidden.
For there they were. Five figures. Officer Toxicroak was one, and to Lucario’s bewilderment, Porygon-Z was the second, his beak curved in a smile. Beside them, a silent Aegislash floated — a ghostly gold blade with a single purple eye and two cloth-arms with tassel-like fingers, bearing an ornate shield. A guardian keeping watch for his masters.
Yes, masters, for they were two in one. A personage Lucario found himself trembling at the sight of. Their Highnesses.
A Galarian Slowking, a large pink-and-purple creature with a medium-sized tail and a black cloak draping across his body. And his Shellder, a purple mollusk Pokemon outside of his shell and clamped over Slowking’s head like a crown, obscuring his face save for his droopy smile. A green gem sat between Shellder’s eyes, which shifted about with calculative cunning.
Those eyes fell upon him, and Lucario broke into a sweat. The Slowking’s smile widened.
This is bad this is bad this—
Gabite elbowed him, making him straighten with a start. “No stray thoughts,” he growled. “Blast it all, Their Highnesses are the last two people on this planet you’d want to lay bare your thoughts to, you hear me?” He threw the others the stink eye, particularly E— no, Vulpix, whom Togetic was already giving sharp warnings to.
Houndoom and Granbull had already pulled away the moment Their Highnesses had noticed them. Toxicroak went quiet as the kings strode off, Porygon-Z raising an arm to his beak as Slowking approached Team Heavendust. Shellder’s eyes slid away from Lucario and latched on to Shaymin, the Mythical bearing a stiff lip at his and Slowking’s royal presence. It troubled Lucario, yet relieved him at—
Shellder’s eyes darted back to him. Lucario stifled his line of thought, and Shellder’s eyes went back to Shaymin.
Lucario dared peek at Vulpix. The kid refused to acknowledge his gaze, only staring at Their Highnesses with equal parts respect and fear. And likely other emotions, forcibly buried in the deepest recesses of her head.
Team Heavendust.
Shellder’s gnarled, hissy voice was an assault on Lucario’s mind, the jackal recoiling at the way it sounded and how it latched so sharply onto his mind. We see you have two new members, he spoke. A pleasant surprise, and certainly a cause for celebration. But not as much as your accomplishment at Stormsoaked Shores. You spared a Lugia from the nefarious schemes of Oblivion Matter.
“A name not unlike those the Missing Ones would adopt.” Slowking’s aged voice was a few pitches deeper than Shellder’s, with more of a pleasant, smooth tone to it, yet haunting all the same. “An intriguing coincidence.”
Shaymin jerked her head with a start, a nervous tension buzzing amongst the group. Lucario could almost feel Slowking’s brow arching, despite Shellder covering it from view. “You honor us, your Highnesses,” said Gabite, visibly trying not to react to Slowking’s statement. “You heard of us in the news?”
Heard? We know of you, Team Heavendust. We know of you, Gabite. You were formerly with Team Elementri, before you split off to go solo. We know that three months ago, your Togetic and Shaymin duo joined you. Gabite unconsciously stepped back, making Shellder give out a wicked cackle. Nothing much beyond that, we assure you, unless you mean to open the depths of your troubled mind to us. We have been reviewing your explorer records for a long time, you see. Why would we not, after all?
Shellder returned the brunt of his gaze upon Shaymin, making her wither. A Mythical, he whispered with eerie wonder. Beings of legend, once plentiful in a time before Calamitus struck, now faded into obscurity since the woes of the Forbidden Age. Seldom have we seen your kindred, not in these many decades of rule. But things begin to change, do they not? And we have paid attention, close attention, to these changes. How much would you know, we wonder, of these changes? Of things like warping dungeons, or the Legendaries and their flagging attempts to maintain their secrecy, or in other things that the commoners show little appetite in knowing? Of the Missing Ones?
Shaymin paled with each word, each odd phrase, that Shellder mind-spoke, her paws clamping up and her eyes darting around. Shellder only chuckled at the gesture, however, Slowking giving a lazy wave of his claw for Shellder’s sake. “They do not hear,” he assured her. “The public, the news, they speak in rumors and gossip, but we know you handled the Aerodactyl. Primal Gear the Mew as well, if our intuition is right. Who else but you?”
Silence. Nobody from Team Heavendust dared to utter a word. Lucario certainly couldn’t bring himself to say a word, even if curiosity over the things Their Highnesses said made him want to. What would he say after all? Could he say something, without betraying himself or offending the figures before him?
Their Highnesses waited for what seemed like eternity, before collectively shaking their heads. “They are uncomfortable,” said Slowking.
Anxious.
“Afraid.”
Terrified.
“They think we would bite their heads off.”
They are not ready to talk.
“A pittance.”
But it matters little.
Slowking gave a cheery hum, stepping back. “We will be here a short while, to investigate the most extraordinary circumstances that occurred here,” he stated. “We are certain your Explorer Board has things handled, but all the same, these are matters that deserve a kingly touch, would you not say?”
Arms folded behind his back, he strode back to Aegislash, whispering a few words to him before resuming an inaudible discussion with Toxicroak and Porygon-Z. Both shot them glances, one apologetic and the other worried, before they strode off into another street.
Team Heavendust slowly turned to each other, faces on the verge of rupturing into tiny pieces. And then the crowd jumped them, converging like a swarm of Falinks upon them.
“Hey! What did they say—”
“Are you alright?”
“—do something to you? What did Their Highnesses—”
“They’re here for Lugia, aren’t they?”
“Are they going to handle the Abhorrents?”
“Did you face the Mew? When was there a Mew?”
“ —recognized you were the explorers who stopped Aerodactyl, didn’t they? They knew!”
Too many voices, too many people. Lucario folded his ears, stepping beside Vulpix — or was it safe to call her Eira again? — to block the townsfolk from shoving their faces into hers. Gabite grumbled as he tried to shift his way out of the crowd, and Togetic and Shaymin shared worn-out faces.
Granbull and Houndoom were shoving people out of the way, yelling to break it up, but to little avail. And then the crowd parted, looking in every direction and muttering in confusion, as if suddenly they didn’t exist. A Raboot looked straight through Lucario, failing to see him only inches away, and scratched his head before scampering off.
“A little assistance?”
A dry snort left Lucario’s nostrils as he spun toward the culprit, a Mismagius overseeing the whole situation with a humored expression. “Ah, our illusionist benefactor,” Gabite said, putting on a half-smirk. “People, I tell you, they’re such a hassle.”
“I suppooooose a wild ‘mon like you would know,” Mismagius replied. Her cloth-arms rested against her cheek, a grain of annoyance hidden behind her usual frivolousness. “So bothersome, Their Highnesses. They are too curious for my tastes, and inconvenient to have around. They spoke of things most unsettling to you, hm?”
Shaymin grumbled. “Missing Ones.”
Mismagius nearly allowed herself a frown at the statement. “Ah,” she said. “Stormsoaked Shores, I presume? You said nothing of it before.” She drank in the group’s expressions for a moment, before tsking. “A discussion for another day, if you must question an old lady of her own limited knowledge. Burdensome topic, that one.”
Lucario wouldn’t complain against that. “This illusion trick of yours—?” he asked.
“I presume you won’t all join me at the dojo, yes? The illusion will hold for a while — go where you must.”
Lucario gave the wandering crowd one last look as Granbull and Houndoom yelled out warnings not to pester their explorer team further about confidential matters, before he and Gabite nodded. Mismagius then turned upon Shaymin and Togetic, the two warily staring but choosing to stay silent, and then upon Eira. The false vixen managed a queasy smile.
A mirthful glint shone in the witch’s eyes, her glee refracting off the red jewels on her body. “Care to join me, dear?” she asked. “We have plenty to cover for your first lesson.”