Chapter 5:

No place for a freak

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Meagan entered the burrow dwelling with the box of food and dropped it on the table with a slam, surprising everyone before turning to them.

Karthen was the first to speak, eyeing the box. "You did something, didn't you?" accused the elder.

"Celeste, you're flushing red, what happened!?" asked Alis, clearly concerned though looking lethargic.

"Where have you been, my lady!? And sister is right, you're red like a tamato berry!" exclaimed Emryth.

"Enough about my face!" Hollered Meagan abashedly. "Here, I brought more food. Eat up, but pack some away, we're leaving tomorrow," he announced.

Silence ensued before the room blew up with questions.

"Whaaat!? What do you mean!?"

"I'm tired of this place. Hell, most of us don't even deserve to be here," Meagan answered as he gazed at Emryth and Alis. "It's been how long since you've been here, twelve, thirteen years? All because of what your father did, and by association you were thrown out."

The siblings' gazes fell to the ground.

Meagan turned to the usually silent mother kirlia and her deformed child. "I don't think I have to guess why you were placed here, but it's unfair all the same."

Then he turned to Karthen. "You, on the other hand, have been here longer than most in the town. Your reason here is quite a mystery, so I can't say much. But I'm sure you're sick of—"

"You know nothing!" burst the old gardevoir as he stood up. "I have my reasons for being here and you're undoing everything I've ever done to aid these people!"

Meagan clenched his fist, annoyed though not surprised the old geezer would prove himself a hindrance…worse comes to worst…

"I realize that you care," responded Meagan. "You've shown this time and again. But simply aiding them at the moment they need it and doing nothing about the long-term issue for them is only short of prolonging their suffering. It's been over a literal decade since me and the siblings have been here.

"What are you expecting us to do? Take the aristocrat's tauroshit until we're as old as you? Well, count me out! and it's too late, anyway. I've already created an opening for us, and it'll be the only chance everyone will ever have of escaping this hell before my actions backfire on the entire camp."

The elder's face twisted into a grimace. "By the gods…What have you done!? Tell me!" demanded Karthen. "Or I'll break into your mind and find out for myself."

"Shit…I don't think I have the psionic potential yet to defend myself against psychic attacks, I can't have him finding out who I am! Not while I'm so close to getting the fuck out of here!"

"Are you willing to test me, old man? Careful, you don't know what a curse-mon's mind could do to yours, you might not come back," threatened Meagan, hoping the elder bought his bluff.

For a moment the elder hesitated, but pushed on. "I'm a dying pokémon anyway, I'll take my chances."

Ah, crap—

A shockwave shook the burrow and they both snapped to its source.

"Stop it! Both of you!" shrieked Alis as she radiated psionic energy to get their attention. "Stop fighting and slow down for a moment!"

The ralts child wailed in fright and his mother lulled him into calmness.

Meagan gave Alis his attention while her energy field dissipated.

"Celeste, what has gotten into you? You haven't been the same since the other day. What happened at that pond?" Asked Alis, tearing up in worry.

Meagan contemplated telling her for a moment.

He was well aware that he hadn't been at the camp for even a week. One would think he were rushing things, but the truth was:

Celeste's memories already contained most of the details of the camp layout, including where most of the guards were stationed, and the personalities of some of them she had interacted with.

She had everything she needed to escape and more, assuming she had full control of her psychic powers as a gardevoir before he came along.

But Celeste simply lacked the resolve and nerve to pull it off and take the risks; she cared too much about Alis' and Emryth's safety.

In that sense, she was no better than the old man, and to top it off, her memories even affected Meagan's sense of past time.

It didn't feel like he was here for a few hours, but more like the full extent of eleven years fed the frustration within his core. Celeste's memories from within the inner circle of Elreino where she had lived her first seven years made it worse.

All that, plus Meagan's own memories from a distant past he couldn't care less to remember at the moment…But oddly enough, they had something in common.

He was sick to death of being a prisoner of circumstance and he had already vowed all those years ago to not spend another day as such ever again…

No, it wasn't the time to tell them the truth.

Meagan glared at Alis, challenging her trust.

"It's either sink or swim now. I will only tell my plan to those who are with me till the end."

Again they fell quiet, taking it all in. Even the old man bit his tongue in thought, but of course that didn't last long as he observed him carefully. "Are you prepared to take responsibility for their lives?"

Meagan figured out to an extent who this old gardevoir was and deduced the reason he must've been exiled. His resistance and selfless behavior behind his gruffness all but revealed it.

"Gee, I don't know, were you? Before being thrown into exile along with those who supported your cause?"

Karthen's withered eyelids peeled wide open at that and he gaped for a moment.

Bingo. An activist…

Meagan smirked. "I thought so, don't even think about pulling that shit on me, old man."

Dejected though still clearly reeling in surprise, Karthen withdrew from the room. Good. One less nuisance.

Meagan turned to the rest. "So, what about you?"

Only thoughtful stares met his gaze, until the child ralts broke the silence and pointed at the box. "Mama, I'm hungry," he whined. The mother glanced at Meagan.

"Go on, have some. I won't hold you to obligation if you choose not to come, but I can't tell you the plan until you confirm."

She nodded as she took the youngling to the table and served themselves some of the porridge-like substance.

Alis tugged his hands, searching his eyes for some truth. "I wish to speak to you privately."

He nodded, following Alis to her room, but not before catching Emryth's gleaming eyes on the way as the kirlia fought with himself on the spot, unable to make sense of things according to his palpitations.

It was only several steps through the small hallway before reaching a tiny room of carved rock and 2 by 4 meters if barely even that. A flat slab with the same feathery make shift mattress of the couch sat in a corner with a cubic rock next to it acting as a night stand. Atop the stand was a crudely framed piece of paper with an elaborate illustration showcasing a trio of Kirlias; one bluish, the others green. They seemed carefree, playful, and full of joy.

Meagan stared at it as new memories surfaced while Alis erected and encased them in a shimmering pink barrier lining the room before turning to him. Probably to keep others from eavesdropping psionically or otherwise.

"It's been some time since then," she began, a somber smile forming as she glanced at the illustration herself. "Those were the most memorable times of us three. Nothing to worry about as long as we did our chores…Until you transformed."

Meagan played along and crossed his arms. "You think I've changed since then?"

"Only your demeanor. Others made their envy and scorn obvious, and you became more self-aware and reserved about your metamorphosis." Her smile waned and she turned to him again. "I could never change that about you, no matter how hard I tried. So I accepted it."

"Why are you telling me this now?"

"Because I want to know the truth, Celeste…What did you do? And what happened at that lake?"

That put him on the spot. He already acted so unusually, that anymore breaks of character and he'd lose them. What would happen then? And according to the host's memories, Celeste never lied to Alis, not once...

He crouched low and placed his hands on the kirlia's face. "For a long time, I've wanted the best for us three…and it's time that we changed things. Our freedom is long overdue. I've planned this for years and waited for the perfect opportunity and timing…And now is the time."

Alis clearly hesitated and fought with herself.

Meagan pushed further, embracing the kirlia and looking into her concerned gaze. "Picture us three. You, Emryth, and me…Free. Free to do as we please. Free to go on an endless journey. Imagine all the sights, all the experiences, all the wonder waiting just outside this barrier…Lakes of fire; endless stretches of salt water; mountains of ice; towers of steel; labirynths of caves; dunes of sand, and much more…All for us to enrich our lives with."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The kirlia looked to the side in wonder, before focusing her gaze at the entry. Meagan followed her eyesight. Emryth stood at the entry of the barrier. Alis allowed him in.

Just a tiny push more, thought Meagan, and he would have their psionic support for his plans. He wasn't quite ready yet to fend for himself…This would do it.

"I need you both to trust me, once again…Please. For all our sakes, and if not for me…For each other…for your mother who I know wanted far better than 'this' for the both of you."

The dam broke and Alis shed tears, but smiled and nodded. "I trust you, Celeste," she said with a quiver in her voice.

Emryth piped up with a nervous grin. "I trust you too, my fair lady."

Meagan returned the gesture, and he'd laugh if it weren't for the need to act, though his heart threatened to bleed out of guilt at the sight of Alis' tears.

Celeste's lingering feelings, obviously…How annoying.

The funny thing was, however, he thought…he wasn't even lying.

Not about Celeste's feelings, nor of his description of the region.

"Good. Then in a few hours, we leave camp. So get some rest. We'll need it."

"Didn't you say you made an opening?"

"It will be at a certain time the opening is made, I've set it up to be so. Don't worry, I'll alert everyone."

"Ok…I just hope you didn't do anything too drastic," said Alis with worry tracing her features.

Meagan offered a small twist of his lips. "All I can say is, everything in life requires sacrifices…Now get some rest, my friends."

…At around six am, it was the cusp of dawn bringing color back to the trees and camp, before the commotion began.

Perched on the top of the lodging, Meagan watched as all the gallade guards scrambled to a section of the camp completely opposite of the secret route, all in morbid wonderment of a gruesome site he left for them to find. Then the murmuring villagers followed closely, crowding the area behind the guards in curiosity.

Perfect.

He hopped down, having already woken up their household, and rushed into the burrow ushering everyone to leave, which in the end was just him, Alis, and Emryth, the latter holding a large bindle with some packed goods in them. He could levitate them easily but doing so would alert the guards to psionic activity.

"Are you ready?" Meagan asked.

The siblings gave a firm nod.

"Then let's go."

The trio rushed around the edges of the vacant camp to the lesser known entry. As expected, no guard was stationed there, and the only guard who knew of it in life was serving as a distraction for their escape in death. A bitter irony Meagan found amusing.

They passed into the forest and were just a few meters from going further than they ever have.

Meagan laughed.

Yes! The plan was a success, he thought, it went far smoother than he exp—

The explosive pulse sent the forest spinning up and the ground scraped his arms. He got up as Alis' and Emryth recovered from their fall too.

"What the f—" He froze. In front of them was a perfectly round crater, easily a few centimeters deep, cracked and flattened as dust fell back into it with a hiss.

Levitating above the crater was a gardevoir wearing their hair in a style that resembled a flame, with a single streak of red dye running from the peak down to the left edge of their forehead.

They had a masculine frame, and a grey wooden mask covered all but their eyes that glared down at them in restrained cold fury. His body visibly glowed crimson with malicious psychic power.

According to Celeste's memories this was—

"It's…It's him," said Alis as she trembled in fear.

Emryth heaved in trepidation. "W-we're doomed."

"Ah fuck…"

There was a light pop when the masked gardevoir cocked their head to the side, as though he were inspecting some odd insects beneath him.

"I couldn't help but notice," the gardevoir began with a nasal voice. "That there was a missing shade of blue in the crowd."

It was the warden, Amodius.

"Goddammit! We were so close!"

"Do tell me, because I'm quite curious" continued Amodius. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Out of here, that's where," answered Meagan, furiously rummaging his mind for a way to escape.

"Really? How interesting," he said with a rumbling chuckle. "Perhaps I can see how the two kirlia might benefit, but for you? All I see is suffering. There's no place in this world for a freak, and that's not exclusive to the gardevoir line."

"Says the guy wearing a mask," muttered Meagan.

Amodius chortled at the response. "I'd count it a blessing for you to have been spared death and placed under my care in the camps. You think you're improving your life by running away, but really…"

Amodius lifted his palm and a ball pulsing with raw psionic energy grew from it. He aimed at Meagan. "You're just throwing it away. Leaving the camp without permission ends with your death either way, so why don't you just die here now and spare everyone the trouble of your existence."

The sphere of energy whined as it flew at Meagan. He leaped out of the way, grabbing the stiff siblings. Once more with a bang, everything was a whirl until his back burned with the heat of the explosion and his breath rushed out of his gut slamming against a tree.

"Agh! Shit. Snap out of it guys! We have to fight!"

"H-he's too powerful," answered Emryth, recovering and getting up. "And what's more you don't have all your power back yet. You can barely lift a few berries, let alone fire energy."

"He's right. We have to run," said Alis.

Meagan rolled his eyes. "Running is pointless now, he'll just teleport."

With a zip of light, Amodius was above them once more.

"Just like that," finished Meagan, concentrating on the ground and pulling at the power from within.

"Quite nimble for a sick gardevoir. Next time I won't—"

Meagan shot a ball of compacted dust from the ground beneath Amodius and released it, causing it to burst in his face.

The warden's howl was muffled beneath his mask as he rubbed his eyes. "You bitch!"

"Now! Throw all you've got at him!" roared Meagan.

Thankfully, Alis and Emryth reacted and pooled their energy, coalescing it into a singular brilliant beam that struck Amodius with a shrill screech.

Much to his dread, though expected, the beam pushed and split as though striking a surface in front of Amodius, leaving a cracked luminescent light screen.

Amodius finished wiping his eyes and glared at them once more. "Not bad, you managed to actually surprise me and damage my light screen. But this is where playtime ends." He lifted a clawed hand and Meagan found his throat constricted.

Alis and Emryth both gagged as well from the invisible crushing grip.

"Should I strangle you slowly and indulge in your croaking? Or perhaps blow up your cute little heads? How to decide," he said casually like one were deciding how best to enjoy their meal. "I know! I'll just—"

A brilliant green flash struck him from behind with a zap and Meagan could breathe again, greedily swallowing the air. What was that?

Amodius, with his concentration lost and back steaming from a hot impact, growled as he turned to observe the offender.

Meagan reeled in surprise.

Levitating there was the old man, Karthen, readying another beam on his withered hand. "How embarrassing, making an old gardevoir work more than he should past his heyday," he said to the trio of escapees before gazing at Amodius. "And you should try to take your duties a little more seriously and focus on the chaos back at the camp, like a proper warden should."

"Ha! Please, like a bunch of worthless, half-starved wretches could lay a hand on my gallade soldiers."

Karthen grinned. "Oh? You mean like how a sick and powerless curse-mon killed a gallade guard with a mere stick? Real professional."

Meagan stuttered in surprise. How did Karthen know!?

"There's always a weak link in any organization," retorted Amodius. "That's just how things are."

"Excuses; however, you are correct, and it just so happens your camp is proving to be the weak link of El Reino thanks to my retired comrades."

"What!? Impossible!"

"But it's true." Karthen flicked his wrist at Amodius. "Go on, I'll give you a moment to contact them, but good luck getting an answer when they're all likely to be preoccupied."

Amodius snarled as he put a hand to his temple, concentrating as he attempted long-range contact. His hand slowly came back down as a trembling fist. A wavering plume of hot smoke, lined with flaming sparks crept above the treeline with a rolling spiral in the direction of the labor camp.

"You old bastard. You planned this."

Karthen ignored him and gazed at Meagan. "Go. I'll keep him occupied."

Meagan couldn't believe what the old coot was pulling off. The old prick of a rebel was piggybacking off his actions! "What about you, old man?"

Like a hand brushing a curtain open, a mild pressure manifested in his mind until Karthen's voice rang in his head:

"Concentrate and form your mindscape before entering it, young one."

Meagan did as he was asked, relaxing himself from the initial shock of Karthen's psychic link and imagining a blank space, though minding his own self-image and keeping Celeste's guise, blanketing his personal memories with hers, just in case.

…In a pool of white nothingness stood Karthen, and Meagan entered, stepping in front of him.

"Whoever you are…I don't know what your intentions may be and why or how you're in Celeste's body, but all I ask is that you look after the siblings…Please spare them."

"What are you talking about? I am Cele—"

"She has never once called me 'old man'. That is a human saying. Also your mind feels much differen to hers."

Meagan kept blinking, processing his own words before realizing it. "Shit—"

Karthen shook his head and stopped him with a hand. "I don't care who or what you are…but I sense that you are more puzzled than even I. You reek of arrogance and choleric aggression, yet you're confused and scared about the situation…and unfortunately I don't have the answers. I can only gather that Celeste must be just as befuddled as you.

"So all I can say is, the best course of action is finding out where she is with your body," said Karthen with a heavy sigh. "...Assuming she still lives and is actually in your body."

Megan gulped at that last line and decided a change in topic was at hand.

"What is this place?" He looked around.

"Don't you know? This is the mindscape you created in haste to be host to my mental probe. But do not worry too much, time runs slower here, as long as you concentrate and maintain the current mindscape."

"Right…"

"You'll learn more later, for now, that should suffice…You must escape. I'll hold Amodius off. I do, after all, have some business with him."

"How did you know it was me who killed Romir?"

Karthen frowned and his eyes fell. "Amodius isn't the only one who has eyes and ears in the camp…That's the other reason I know you are not Celeste…She would have found another way."

Meagan scoffed, crossing his arms. "Then she sounds even more naive than I imagined."

"Maybe so. She doesn't have the heart to cause such harm, but she still would have found another way, which is why I can only pray that you are successful in finding both her and a way to return to each other's body."

"Now that I agree with…Thanks for the assist, old man."

Meagan was about to break the connection—

"Wait."

"Yes?"

It was Karthen's turn to cross his arms. "This may be the last friendly conversation I ever have…So before you go, indulge an 'old mans' curiosity."

Meagan raised a brow. "What is it?"

"Let's say you find Celeste, and for some reason, you cannot switch back to your original vessel…What will you do?"

The thought paralyzed Meagan. All this time he was so focused on a solution to get back to his own body, but he never considered the real possibility that this was permanent…

He shook his head. "Sorry, old man, but I don't do 'what-ifs', I deal in facts…And here's a fact," said Meagan, narrowing his eyes.

"Shinies or 'curse-mon', as you all like to call them, are extremely valuable to my kind, so much so that some of us would even kill to possess one."

"I see…" Karthen sighed. "So you're a trainer."

Meagan chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. I'll take real' good care of Celeste when I find her. We humans know how to value rarities."

Karthen deflated even more at that but then gave a subtle smile. "Well, at least she'll be desired instead of scorned…Now go."

…Meagan broke the connection and opened his eyes to the sight of the old man engaged in a psychic stand-off with Amodius. They both floated there staring at each other, with small sparks of energy occasionally shooting out from the force of their psycho-kinetic pressure.

He ushered Alis and Emryth away. "Karthen's giving us a chance. Levitate us out of here!"

"But we can't leave him!" Cried Alis.

"This is what he wants, now go!"

"I…I can't."

Meagan turned to Emryth. "Get us out of here or we all die and waste the old man's efforts."

Emryth, though still shaken, nodded.

The three floated off the ground and sailed into the forest, with Alis wiping away her tears and soon joining in the effort to help Meagan levitate through the woods, he hadn't exactly gotten the hang of it yet.

It was a few minutes before the siblings tired out from their earlier effort against Amodius and landed gently on the forest floor.

The trees in this area were more sparse, and there was a path winding through them, with more dirt than grass parting the bushes from ages of trodding.

This was definitely a route, though Meagan gathered the siblings didn't know that. However, he shared their ignorance of their whereabouts. Which city might this path lead to?

Regardless, they needed to stay off the pathway. "Guys, let's move a little back into the trees but follow the same direction as the path."

They nodded in agreement. Running about in the open as a shiny didn't exactly sound conducive—

"Oh my god! Look, Ross! A shiny!" Came a male shout from behind them.

The trio froze.

The bushes in front of them ruffled and bursting out of it was another trainer, a male teen with short umber hair; his blue eyes wide in disbelief and a grin from ear to ear at his luck. "No way! It's a shiny Gardevoir! We have to catch it, Andy!"

Meagan turned to the trainer behind them. Also a male teen, with a mess of sandy hair, dark eyes, and freckles adorning his nervous smile. He removed a pokéball from his belt, expanding it.

"And with two kirlias as a bonus package. Perfect. Lil' sis always wanted one."

Meagan facepalmed.

"Well, fuck, and now 'this' is happening…"

...