The fighting continued on and on, but both Pokémon weren’t even tired. Hippowdon was slamming and crunching and kicking Sliggoo like it was nothing, but Sliggoo’s hard shell protected it from most damage. Hippowdon had taken a few hits after that perilous Dragon Pulse, but Sliggoo just didn’t seem to have its heart put into it- even after growing enraged.
Rain started pouring from the skies, mixing in with the sandstorm and creating a thick slurry coalescing on the swamp ground. Water Pulses gathered around Sliggoo’s mouth between getting tossed around, where it’d blast Hippowdon before using Shelter to get back into its shell. On its side, Hippowdon was a monster possessed. It was unstoppably smashing Sliggoo around like a rag doll and, if the latter’s strategy was to simply wait Hippowdon out until exhaustion, it was going to eventually crack.
Arezu, Dewott, and I watched from afar. Amidst Hippowdon’s sandstorm, all we could see were silhouettes.
Sliggoo emerged into a handstand and swung its shell like a club into the side of Hippowdon’s face. Hippowdon was smacked aside but reared with a brutal swing of its head, sending what looked like wet sand all over Sliggoo’s shell. I heard a vicious crunching noise and the two silhouettes merged into one tumbling mess.
“You okay?” I noticed the upset look on Arezu’s face.
A violent flash of purple lit up the emotion gathering in the redhead’s eyes. A bellowing roar from Hippowdon eclipsed the sound of the resulting explosion and a blast of wind shot through our hair. “It’s just… so violent…”
I turned back to Hippowdon having latched Sliggoo’s shell in its mouth, where it was slamming it into the ground over and over. “Yeah…”
Damned girl was more upset at two Pokémon fighting than when I had been attacked. What dumb logic…
“Can you make it stop?” Arezu’s question had me frowning in bemusement.
“Why would I do that?”
“Because this isn’t catching Sliggoo. It’s torturing it!”
I couldn’t follow. “It needs to be weakened so I can catch it.”
The sound of clanging metal reached our ears as Sliggoo performed that handstand move again to slam into Hippowdon like a Hammer Arm. A follow-up Water Pulse further pushed it away. I now saw the meaning behind Arezu’s lack of concern over Sliggoo chasing us. Unless being tossed around, I noticed that it never actually moved of its own volition. Outside of its attack range, escaping it would have been a joke. “Akari. Stop this. Please.”
“And then what?” I snapped. “Recall Hippowdon only to get my face blasted off by a Dragon Pulse when I get close? I need Sliggoo fainted!”
“At what cost?!” Arezu cried back. “This is just mad! I’ve never seen anything like it!”
What about when it was attacking those Diamond Clan guards?! Where was her sympathy then?! How hypocritical could she have been?! “YOU were the one who led me to it!”
“I thought you were going to stun it like you did Hippowdon. Not… THIS!”
“You thought wrong! This is just what it’s like in Unova! It’s Herdier eat Herdier out there!”
“This. Isn’t. Unova!”
“Fine!” I bellowed, grabbing Hippowdon’s Poké Ball and recalling it. Immediately, the winds stopped and the whirling sand dropped lifelessly onto the ground with a shower-like hiss. All well still. Even Sliggoo, who’d been perpetually forced into its shell. Even the air seemed frightened to move. “Happy?!”
Dewott tugged at my leg and I jerked back. “What?? What do you want?!”
“He’s trying to calm you down,” Arezu’s voice had lowered now that the orchestra of fighting had stopped. “You’re an entirely different person, Akari.”
Entirely different person! “Shut up. You don’t know a THING about me!”
“Is Rei really that important to you?” Arezu kept herself infuriatingly calm in the face of my frustration. “I’ve seen people react the same way as you before. Friends. Acquaintances. All after they’re faced with the loss of something dear.”
“I-…” was I doing this for Rei? Maybe partly, but it was my fear of disappointing the closest person I could call a mother that motivated me. Was it… selfish, to think that way? Was I treating my friend as a mere means to an end, when any normal person would’ve been worried sick over him?
“What would your parents tell you if they saw all this?” Arezu asked.
I snorted. “My parents can’t TELL ME anything. They’re dead.”
“…” I expected platitudes and worthless apologies, but Arezu simply limped past me and waved me towards her. “Come.”
“What?”
“Let me show you MY way of befriending Pokémon.”
“Arezu, wait!” I cried, but she ignored me and limped towards Sliggoo as if completely unconcerned about death. I swore under my breath and followed behind her. If she was going to get herself killed, the least she could do was shield me from the oncoming Dragon Pulse.
But that Dragon Pulse never came. Instead, Sliggoo had collapsed over its shell like a lifeless husk and some sort of tremors were rocking its gooey body. Wet sand started to cling to my shoes as we drew close, but Arezu powered on through it like it was nothing. “There, there,” Arezu patted Sliggoo’s shell and it barely raised its head. “Take this.”
Arezu gave Sliggoo a potion she had been carrying on her, and the gooey Pokémon tenderly inhaled the leek-wrapped parcel before gazing up at her with soulful eyes. Now so close, I could see that what I had mistaken for stupidity was actually just sadness. Those dull eyes weren’t dumb- they were clouded with some sort of… grief. “Sliggoo is the last of its species,” Arezu told me while keeping her hand on its shell. “The Holm of Trials used to be rife with Goomy until a year ago. Something happened overnight, and the guards at Bogbound woke up to find that Sliggoo’s children and its mate, Goodra, had vanished. That mound it sat upon used to be its nest. Now, it’s Sliggoo’s mourning site.”
“Okay.”
Arezu scowled up at me. “Really? That’s all you have to say?”
“Oh, don’t play that with me. YOU were the one who took me to fight it and now you’re playing all high and mighty?”
“You looked distraught,” Arezu averted her eyes back to Sliggoo. “I thought that letting you capture Sliggoo would let the two of you bond. You seemed… close, at least somewhat, to Dewott. I didn’t think you were so callous about Pokémon.”
“Callous,” I repeated in disbelief. “Says the girl who sat by while Rei and I fought dozens of Graveler and Rhyhorn on Bolderoll Slope. How is this any different?”
Arezu remained quiet. Funny that, how she doesn’t have anything to say now. What a joke. “I guess I’ll catch it now,” I brandished an empty Poké Ball and raised my eyebrows, silently asking her to move out of the way.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Arezu complied and I gently tossed it onto Sliggoo’s form. With a sucking noise and a flash, the now fill Poké Ball fell onto the sludge. I’d expected little resistance, but when it suddenly shook violently, I felt a surge of dread at the sight. “Arezu…”
With a snap, Sliggoo broke free from its Poké Ball and turned to face me. Violence was in its eyes and it no longer looked so lifeless anymore. With a gurgling screech, it opened its mouth and a bright flash of purple coalesced within its throat. “Oh, jee-!”
I threw myself to the ground as Dragon Pulse roared over my back. A wave of heat crashed onto my prone form and I gritted my teeth at the sudden spike in temperature. When the attack finally flamed out, I darted to my feet and looked around for Arezu.
The redhead had fallen backwards in surprise and was struggling to get up, but Sliggoo had turned its feral gaze onto her and was gathering another Dragon Pulse aimed straight for her. “No!”
I sprinted to her and roughly started to drag her out of the way just as the Dragon Pulse shot forth. Utilising the attack like a beam, Sliggoo carved upwards and the violent energy just barely missed my leg as it tore through the earth. We fell onto the ground again with a crash. I heard Arezu cry out next to my ear.
A shifting noise. The sound of scratching metal.
With a scream of exertion, I grabbed Arezu’s arms and rolled with her out of the way as Sliggoo slammed its hardened shell into space we had just been moments ago. I scrambled to my feet. Grabbing Arezu’s arms once more, I started to heave her up onto her leg, but she was heavy and couldn’t find purchase with her able limbs. My surroundings started to brighten. Purple eclipsed the world around me.
Dewott cried out and I heard a slashing noise. Sliggoo’s gurgled cry was cut off when another Dragon Pulse fired uncontrollably into the air as its head was knocked away from us. Another gurgle, and I turned just in time to witness Dewott getting slammed into the ground by its shell. I screamed.
Sliggoo turned to us and its shell blurred. I braced myself for the bone-shattering agony that was oncoming and wailed as the shell connected with a metallic clang. But it never hit me.
Instead, that giant Lilligant held Sliggoo in its blade-like arms, blocking the attack from hitting me. I watched our rescuer shake from the effort at holding Sliggoo back, but it eventually thrusted it back onto the ground with a screech. Arezu went limp in surprise and she fell back onto herself. “Lilligant! It’s you!”
Sliggoo started to gather another Dragon Pulse in retaliation, but an explosion of spores flew straight into its maw while it sucked in air. Within seconds, Sliggoo slumped over. Still. Just like that, it’d been effectively disabled.
“Lilligant!” Arezu shoved off my attempts to help her and finally used her walking stick to support her climb to her feet. “I- I don’t know what to say! Thank you!”
“For the love of Hisui!” Contrarily to this happy reunion, I was snarling at Arezu to make sure she knew I was mad before trying another Poké Ball. Slightly weakened with its expenditure of energy and asleep, Sliggoo barely put up a resistance and the Poké Ball hissed in success. Finally! I didn’t even feel satisfaction at catching the thing, though.
Lilligant was staring at Arezu with conflicting emotions. The redhead kept still and silent as it extended a trembling limb towards her limp leg and-
Jerked away. With a slight whimper, Lilligant turned and leapt towards the distant hills surrounding the marshland. Arezu raised her hand in protest, but it was already gone.
“You could’ve gotten us killed, you idiot!” I yelled at her.
“Lilligant… why?” Arezu muttered, unaware of my anger. “I know it wasn’t your fault.”
“Hey!” I grabbed her arm and forced her to look at me. “Just what was that peace-loving CRAP?! We almost died because you wanted to buddy up with Sliggoo, you stupid girl!”
“Wha-? I didn’t expect it to react that way to a Poké Ball!” Arezu finally started to acknowledge me and her face twisted defensively. “How could I have known?!”
I pulled a face. “Uhh. Maybe because it was violently mauling Hippowdon before you forced me to recall it!”
“Stop it!”
“Why would you ever approach something like that! I could’ve died trying to save you!”
“Just. Stop!”
“And now it’s going to hate me like Hippowdon and I’ll have to play these stupid games to manipulate it into doing what I want instead of-”
“JUST STOP!” Arezu screamed straight into my face, sending spittle into my eyes. “I made a MISTAKE! A MISTAKE! I’m freaking SORRY! Everyone expects everything from me and I JUST MESS IT UP! OKAY?! Is that what you wanted to hear?!”
I would NOT let myself be intimidated by her. She could shout as much as she damned well wanted! “Yes!”
“Okay,” Arezu looked away. “Then that’s it.”
“Good!”
I mean, what on earth?! Talking me into fighting Sliggoo and then preaching about violence or whatever, then purposefully putting herself in harm’s way to prove an invalid point… just what was this girl thinking?!
Ugh, whatever. I have what I need. Two powerful Pokémon to help me be less useless. And now? I just needed to somehow find Rei.
Arezu and I didn’t feel like talking when we got back to the camp. I made myself alone and checked over Dewott. Getting smacked over the head with Sliggoo’s shell did a number on him, but he was fine in the end. I think Dewott knew I was simmering underneath. He kept quiet and docile, giving me my distance. I let him stay out of his Poké Ball since he wasn’t bothering me.
The next day, we headed back to the Diamond Clan Settlement. Arezu and I never spoke, save for the occasional and forced discussions over how to avoid certain Pokémon or navigate certain terrain. You’d have thought the way back would be similarly easy to the way there, but nope. The world wanted to be difficult.
Upon our arrival, Adaman told me that Irida had been spotted flying around the Cobalt Coastlands. He seemed convinced Rei was being held there- in the northern section of the bay deep within Pearl Clan territory. I told him I was going to find him. With Rei and I’s Pokémon, we should be able to take on Irida and escape. “I highly doubt that,” he’d said. “But I like the determination.”
Oh, shut up.
I left without saying farewell to Arezu. Adaman’s grin followed my descent down Bolderoll Slope like a Gastly who’d just gotten what it wanted. He was pulling my strings, I knew. Manipulating me into something. But I didn’t care. My decision was to go save Rei, not his. And if he was expecting me to do something somehow for him in the process? Then I was sorry to disappoint… not.
The way to the Cobalt Coastlands was a beachside path that snaked eastwards from the southern portion of the Mirelands. Which meant, after I’d just ventured always down to the Holm of Trials, that I’d have to go back down all over again. Which was great. Fantastic.
At least I was alone. I had my scatterbang and a spare Poké Ball. I had Dewott for water. I knew how to scavenge food for myself. I had the see-all and kill-all Hippowdon and a lonely but violent Sliggoo to defend me if things got dire. I was set.
I was invincible.
Night drew by the time I got to the seaside. I was glad there weren’t any Croagunk who ventured onto the beach. Because they don’t like sand, I guessed… that reminded me of Laventon. How would he feel when he returned to find I had left the Mirelands? Would Cyllene be with him, or would she stay at Jubilife? If she did go with him…, would she see my disappearance as defiance? Maybe I should’ve left a note…
For dinner, I helped myself to a few chesto, aspear, and leppa berries. Of the three, I’d only ever eaten leppa berries before and preferred them to oran berries due to their slightly tangier taste. Chesto berries were surprisingly smooth but also had a dry and lipid aspect on the tongue. I found aspears were my favourite of the three, though. I LOVED sour things and the juices within aspear berries were pinchingly sharp.
I had used my spare Poké Ball to store the berries within. They were useful for that in the field and even Laventon mimicked me on occasion, much to my vanity’s pleasure. The only issue was that I only had one empty Poké Ball, so I wasn’t able to keep much. I’d have to backtrack to climb some berry trees tomorrow before setting off. Dewott could go kill something in the ocean for us, but I’d survived out in the Unovan wilds on forestry greens, so it was a familiar pleasure to me.
On the subject of Dewott… I reluctantly gave him a couple samples of my berries to try for himself. I knew leppa berries weren’t at all good for healing, but Laventon once said most of Galar’s berries were regenerative or whatever other fancy word for that term was, so I hoped aspear and chesto were good for health, too. I… got a little bit of enjoyment out of watching his reactions to the new food. I’d only ever given Dewott cheri, leppa, oran, and nanab berries before- being the only ones I could gather from the Obsidian Fieldlands without venturing north towards the terrifying Ponyta. Watching him scrunch his nose up to aspear berries was amusing. We had opposite tastes in berries, I guessed.
I had no bedroll to sleep on, so I just layed out my gifted Diamond Clan hoodie underneath me and slept on the sand. Back in Unova after my village had been decimated, I had to sleep on the forest floor on top of twigs and leaves and flaky soil. Half the time, you’d be lucky not to get bitten by Zubat during the night and you’d have been even luckier to avoid any of the diseases they transmitted through their saliva. I’d been bitten five times back in those woods, but no illnesses. One of the children died to fever after getting bitten just once. Luck of the draw, and he lost. There were three, then two. And then the other boy died on the boat to Hisui. There were two, then one. Me.
A cold breeze assailed my skin through the holes in my clothes, but I was used to that as well. I could hear… Remoraid, I thought… in the water and the dried-up husks of washed up Magikarp littered the tidal line marred onto the sand like a child-drawn mark upon paper. Breakfast for tomorrow, if I could start a fire and find one fresh enough to safely eat.
Under the curious eyes of Murkrow watching me from the marshland’s deadened trees, I drifted off to sleep.