Suzy’s POV
***
Suzy stared out of her little peep hole to reality and groaned. She could faintly hear the telltale sounds of her trainer sawing her way through Petalburg Woods through the thin shell of her ball.
May forgot to let her out again, didn’t she?
An active training session, where Emilie was learning to do new things, and she was stuck in her ball.
Listening to buzzsaws and lawnmowers.
This was premium mocking territory. How the hell was she supposed to deal with Emilie’s Tauros Shit moves if she didn’t know what all the little gremlin could do?
Screw this.
She pushed out towards the opening and forced her energy out into the world, aiming for a single spot right next to the palm tree. She supposed she should be grateful that May left her balls in such a way so that the opening was pointing out. Blind releases were always a damned pain in the ass.
Suzy slammed face first into the tree she was trying to appear next to and groaned. Why the hell were normal releases so annoying? The damn bug can do this, no problem. He does it every mealtime!
Stupid Samie. Can’t wait for him to evolve. Let’s see how much free food you get when you’re out of the adorable phase.
Suzy clucked out a single grunt of pain before sliding down the tree towards the ground. She turned towards her trainer, ready to yell at her, and froze.
“Sergei,” Suzy whispered. “Get out here and snap a photo really quick.”
The ghost phone phased through May’s pant leg before resting just at eye level. “Who do you take me for?” An image of Lea and May curled up against each other, Lea’s back against the tree, appeared on Sergei’s screen.
Suzy leaned back. “When the hell did you do that?”
An image of a Whismur holding a finger up to its mouth appeared on screen. “I was quiet and stealthy, two things you apparently know nothing about.”
She opened her beak, before glancing back at the sleeping trainers and snapping it shut. “Whatever, I don’t suppose you know which way the gremlin is, do you?”
“You know, for a pair of Pokémon that claim they can’t stand each other, you sure do hang out an awful lot.” Sergie floated closer as the words appeared on his screen.
Suzy’s beak remained closed as she lifted an eyebrow and rotated her claw in front of her in a get on with it motion.
“It’s not as fun if you don’t engage with the banter. Just head toward the falling rain. Apollo and Lucas are probably with her.” Sergei floated back to May as soon as the final words played out across his screen and phased back to his usual spot.
So much for extra company. One of these days she was going to ask how he did that without waking her up.
She turned toward the downpour and winced. Why did May’s mate have to like water so much? Water fucking sucked, and she just KNEW that little gremlin wasn’t going to make her a psychic umbrella.
Suzy ducked down and sprinted through the clearing, wincing as the cold air ruffled her feathers. The border of the storm came all too soon.
Apollo flew at its epicenter, continuously diving and flying back up again. He was probably working the muscles around his wings. Suzy winced at the sight, realizing the waterfowl was picking up altitude a lot slower than usual.
Her mobility increased when she evolved, she supposed others weren’t quite as fortunate.
“What on earth are you doing here, featherhead?” Emilie called out.
Suzy whipped her head around and smirked. Good. Princess was hanging out at the edge of the storm. She didn’t have to get wet.
“What, too high and mighty to grace this lowly peasant with your presence?” Suzy asked.
The ball of water Emilie was levitating in front of her violently expanded at the quip, soaking her in the process. Emilie groaned before lifting her other hand up, and moisture lifted up from her skin and condensed down into a decently sized sphere. “Yeah, so buzz off. I’m trying to focus, and your existence is a distraction.”
“Deal. I wanted to watch little miss perfect screw up her techniques, and that’s what I’m going to do.” Suzy chuckled at the glare she got. For as strong as Emilie was, Suzy couldn’t help but think that her attempts at being intimidating were more adorable than scary. “Besides, you really think your opponents aren’t going to be just as distracting as I am?”
Emilie scoffed. “No one is as distracting as you are. Now shut up. I’m trying to focus.”
The orb of water instantly shrunk down, and Emilie lifted her other hand out to grab the rain and pool it around her. Sweat dotted her forehead as she stared intently at the ball in front of her. It expanded as soon as the rain condensed into a slightly more solid form.
“Damn it all.” Emilie threw her hands down, and all the water she had control over got hurled into the ground.
Suzy chuckled. “You can be such a kid sometimes.”
The glare was back. Legends, it was like watching a nine-year-old throw a tantrum after they didn’t get their way.
“Like you’re one to talk. Do you have any idea how hard this is?” Emilie asked. “I have to focus so hard to keep the water compact. I can’t let up for a second or it blows up, but I can’t stop doing other stuff or I get wasted.”
“Wouldn’t this all be way easier if you were... like six inches taller, give or take?” Suzy asked.
Emilie growled. “If you’re not going to say anything helpful, then-”
“Lea’s already letting you in.” Suzy smiled happily at the psychic type. “How long do you think it’ll take her to bring you back to her room and read anime while eating imaginary baked goods.”
“Watch anime.” Emilie tilted her head and looked at me like I was an idiot. “You watch anime and read manga.”
“What’s the difference?” Suzy asked.
“Manga is a book and anime is the show and none of this is important. Stop distracting me.” Emilie frowned and turned away from me.
Suzy ran in front of the psychic and giggled when the midget turned away again. “Look, you were working on barriers before? Just put the ball in a barrier. That’s probably easier than trying to keep them compact on your own.”
“That’s not...” Emilie trailed off, before looking down at the ball of water. “That might work. If I manage to get the stupid move to actually work, at least.”
Suzy grinned cheekily before ducking down. “Legends above, you’re hopeless.”
A rain cloud moved away from the others and Suzy glared up into the sky as she started getting pelted. She jumped away, and groaned as the cloud followed her.
“Oh, reallll mature,” Suzy muttered.
“I just needed to remind you of your place.” Emilie grinned as she directed her own personal rain cloud.
Suzy darted straight for her, and Emilie sighed as the cloud stopped.
“What, don’t feel like getting wet?” Suzy asked, a smug grin on her face. “I’m honestly surprised you aren’t copying Apollo’s ability to figure out how to use Rain Dance yourself. Don’t you suck at it?”
Emilie’s left eye started to twitch. “I already did that.”
Suzy backed away as a soft grinding filled the air. “And?”
“It didn’t help.” Emilie bit out the words as though they caused her physical pain. “Could we drop this?”
Suzy froze. “Wait, so summoning it isn’t the problem?” She tilted her head before leaning back in realization. “Wait, are you seriously so bad at dancing that you can’t-”
“I SAID WE’RE DROPPING IT!” Emilie punctuated the phrase by throwing water directly at Suzy’s face.
She ducked down, barely avoiding the assault, before frowning as an odd sound filled her ears. She looked away from the gremlin towards the center of the typhoon.
Both Apollo and Lucas were currently dying in the middle of the field, their mouths open in laughter and shared glee as Lucas did his best to hold Apollo up with his cloth handle.
Suzy grinned as she panned her view back over to the munchkin, who was currently more red than white.
“I don’t get how you’re supposed to move your body in time to a beat that doesn’t exist, and I keep tripping over my feet, and the whole move’s just stupid. Ugh.” Emilie turned her face down towards the ground. “Can we please drop it.”
Suzy looked up to the sky and pretended to think about it for a second before wincing, wondering at what point teasing turned into bullying. “I suppose I can let it go for now, though I fully expect you to show me later. It’d be good for a laugh, and I might be able to help you not be ass.”
“Joern’s already given up on me. What the hell do you think you can do?” Emilie asked, her eyebrow quirked up.
“I dunno, but I can try.” Suzy shrugged. “I can’t have you being all weak and shit, it makes me look bad when I eventually punt you into the ground.”
A blood vessel throbbed above Emilie’s eyebrow. “You couldn’t just... leave it as you being nice, could you?”
Suzy snorted.
“Fair enough.” Emilie sighed before falling back into a sitting position on the ground. All the water she had been controlling fell into the soil below, lightly saturating the ground as she let out a sigh. “Can we be serious for a bit? I... need to ask you something.”
“Are you ever not serious?” Suzy backed away from the resulting glare, genuinely scared for the first time since coming into the clearing. “I kid, I kid. I can be serious. I ooze seriousness, in fact.”
“Sure you do.” Emilie sighed before looking up, directly into Suzy’s eyes. “You were listening in when Lea told May about her dream, right?”
Suzy’s grin immediately slipped off her face. “Yeah, some weird icy room that turns everyone into popsicles. What about it?”
Emilie nodded. “Lea thinks it’s just a weird dream, but I’m not so sure. I-”
“May’s already taken precautions.” Suzy sat down in front of the psychic type and nodded, the grass around her smoking slightly as she did so. “That’s actually what Jasmine and Wally are out buying. The poke mart here has something on sale that’s supposed to instantly thaw you if you get hit by an ice type move.” She snapped her claws. “Just in case things go extra bad before Gawain can evac the squishy humans in a worst-case scenario. May’s taking this trip very seriously, so don’t worry so much.”
Emilie sagged in place before grinning at the fire type. “How the hell does that work?”
Suzy winced. “No idea. May tried explaining it to me when she saw it in the online catalogue, but it all sounded like gibberish.”
Emilie nodded. “Yeah, that sounds about right.” She giggled before fixing a firm stare at Suzy. “Just... be out and about as much as you can, alright?”
“That was the plan.” Suzy grinned. “Nice that you have so much confidence in me, but I suppose it makes sense. I am-”
“A fire type.” Emilie cut me off with a grin. “Which means you can’t be frozen. Your biology is the most useful thing about you, funnily enough.”
“As opposed to you, who’s not useful at all.” Suzy met Emilie’s grin with a glare.
“That’s just grade A copium, right there,” Emilie said.
“What?” Suzy tilted her head, before glaring.
Emilie face palmed. “Don’t worry about it. I need to remember who I’m talking to. Fire bird make fire. Is good. Do it lots of times. Understand.”
“I’m going to punt you to another training ground.” Suzy lamented not having teeth to grind as her beak clicked shut.
“You may try. It will not go well for you.” Emilie made no motion to move. She just sat there, and stared at me with that stupid, smug ass grin.
“God, you’re a pain in the ass.” Suzy pushed herself up off of the ground before turning back to the clearing where May and Lea were. “Thanks for trusting me to keep everyone safe.’
“If you mention it to anyone, I’m dying your feathers purple,” Emilie promised.
“...I’m going to be honest, that sounds bad ass. I wonder if I can match my fire to that in color.” Suzy brought her hand up and channeled a small ember.
“Trust me, you can’t burn that hot.” Emilie shook her head. “You do not WANT to burn that hot.”
Suzy shrugged before clenching her fist around the fire. “I’ll take your word for it, nerd. Guess I’ll just have to keep your secret, then.”
Emilie smiled, before nodding and standing up. “I... suppose I should thank you too, then.”
Suzy leaned back before putting her hand up against Emilie’s forehead. “You feeling alright? You’re being way too nice.”
Emilie shoved the hand off and glared. Ah, we’re back to the cute glare. “Quit being you and accept the thank you.”
Suzy leaned back. “I-”
“ACCEPT IT!” Emilie shouted.
Damn, managed to make her lose it twice in one session. Today’s a good day.
“Fine.” Suzy nodded quickly and backed away from the small psychic ball of angry energy.
“Good.” Emilie looked up at Suzy and grinned. “Wanna sp-”
“Yes, please.” Suzy launched herself forward as soon as the words left her mouth, her claws hitting open air as water started to pool around her.
***
Normal POV
***
I looked out at the world through bleary eyes and tense. Dark cave walls once again filled my vision, and a body not my own slowly started to lift itself from the stone floor. The trickling water flowing through the dimly lit cavern drew our shared gaze towards a small stream, and I held my breath as we moved closer for a morning sip.
We were in a different subsection of caves this time. The ground and rocks were normally colored, at least for the area, and the stream seemed to split the cave cleanly in two.
We stuck our head down into the flowing water and lapped a couple of sips. I could feel the frigid water going down my throat before pulling back and looking at the river.
A moderately scarred face stared back at me. I now realized that my earlier assessment was incorrect, only a single eye took in the long violent cut across our black face. A listless white iris peeked out behind the faded wound, and hair noticeably didn’t grow on that side of the face.
A sigh heaved through our body, one that I didn’t prompt, and our body moved of its own accord once again, turning away from the river and back toward the hall leading out of the chamber.
She was late. Again.
I didn’t know where that thought came from or who she was, but the voice filled my veins with ice.
A single, white spot entered my vision, before quickly increasing in size as our visitor came barreling down through the long stone hall. She was noticeably larger than the tiny little thing I had seen in my last dream.
This was a dream. Right. Of course it was a dream.
This did not feel like a damn dream.
Watch.
“I’m so sorry, dad. Mom and I were talking about stuff, and she started talking about some stuff going on in the village and I got distracted and-”
“Enough.” The voice was gruff and harsh, more gravelly than it had been in the previous dream.
The younger Absol winced, before snapping her mouth shut and standing at attention, her posture rigid as her eyes traced my movements.
We walked back and forth, looking the little one up and down. “You’ve grown.”
“Yeah, that uh... happens when you don’t see someone for a few months.” She broke her stance before looking me in the eye.
We didn’t break contact for a good long while. A deep rumbling emanated from my mouth, and I looked away, kicking at the ground.
“Sorry about that. I’d be around more, but-”
“You don’t have to apologize.” The smaller Absol kicked at the ground herself. “I understand. Mom... doesn’t make it easy for you, does she?”
We sighed. “No, she doesn’t. I can still make more of an effort. I’m sorry.”
The smaller Absol got closer and bumped her head into mine. “I said don’t worry about it. I’m a big girl. I can deal.”
We laughed. “I suppose you’re right, but you’ll have to give me a bit to get used to that. My little Sol, all grown up.”
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Sol blushed bright red, before looking away. “Dad...”
A deep chuckle filled the cave. “What, too old and cool to be called that anymore?”
Sol stayed quiet for a bit, long enough for her blush to fade. “I suppose it’s fine... if it’s just us, at least.”
Another laugh filled the cave. “Thank you, Sol. I appreciate it.”
The playful mood died down quickly as Sol once again stood up straight, her shoulders squared as we inspected her.
“You’ve not been slacking in your physical exercises, I see,” we said.
Sol growled. “Only thing Mom will let me work on.”
“She has her reasons, as I have mine. Do you feel it? The strong sense of danger, the overwhelming darkness that envelops our future?” We turned and started walking further into the cave, back towards the small river.
“Unfortunately, yes. I do.” Sol sighed from her place behind me, her feet keeping in step to mimic my movements as closely as possible.
Good, she remembered.
“Have the attacks waned?” we asked.
The duplicated footsteps ceased. “Kind of? Random psychics are popping up every few weeks or so as opposed to every few days. They’re getting stronger.” A dry chuckle filled my ears. “Mom said she actually had to try against the last one. Still don’t know why whoever’s doing this is sending psychics into the meat grinder like this. They have to know how fucked-”
“Language.”
“Their chances are.” Sol powered through the complaint without stopping.
We growled lowly before turning and facing the youngling. “I doubt getting the sword is their only objective at this point. If we were dealing with garden variety thieves, they would have adapted their strategy.” We laid down on the stone floor and stretched our back. “They have adapted a bit if they’re giving your mother troubles.”
“I can’t tell if they’re getting stronger or if Mom’s just getting older. She won’t admit it, but I see her slowing down. I was a bit worried to come out here today, but the sense of impending doom wasn’t as bad as it usually is, so I figured it’d be fine,” Sol said.
“That’s good, at least. Go ahead and light us up, would you? My eyes don’t see in the dark as well as they used to.” We winced slightly. “Well, eye.”
Sol nodded before lifting her head into the air and opening her mouth. A small orb of light slowly started to expand outwards, emitting a brilliant white light that shone with a heat so intense that we backed away slightly. The resplendent orb slowly rose up into the ceiling, illuminating the entire chamber in faux sunlight.
We preened under the light for the first time in months, a smile tugging at our lips as the aches permeating our shared body seemed to lessen. “Ah, my little Sol, how I’ve missed this. You brighten even the darkest of days.”
“Dad, stop being corny and help me master Night Sl-” The words died on her tongue as a loud explosion rocked the cave, rattling the room and causing a few rocks to fall from the ceiling.
“Down.” We rammed into Sol, knocking the both of us out of the way of a particularly large falling rock.
The two of us darted forward, making our way out of the larger room and into the smaller, sturdier hallway as the chaos unfolded. Before we could say anything else, though, an overwhelming sense of dread filled the essence of my being. A clawing void chewed at my thoughts, blocking out all sense and reason as a premonition overwhelmed my senses.
“Mom!” Sol uttered the word in a whine, before darting through the hallway.
Without even realizing it, we were quick on her heels, following her towards a cave we had long since been banished from.
A hand grabbed my shoulder, and I jerked up, ready to punch someone in the face. I fell back down as May’s grip held true, and I winced as my head hit the back of the tree we were leaning up against.
“Ow.” I rubbed the small bump on the back of my head before looking up to see Wally, staring down at the two of us with a grin.
“You two look cozy. How goes ‘training’?” Wally raised an eyebrow as May let loose a loud snore right in my ear. “How do you sleep through that?”
“Practice. May, get up. Jasmine and Wally are back.” I nudged her shoulder before looking around the clearing.
The bright sunny day had been replaced by orange hues and dim red rays, and the cold was starting to set in. Legends above, it felt like so little time had passed in the dream, but the whole day was practically slept away.
Why did I still feel so tired?
“Mah... don’t wanna,” May mumbled into my hair.
I sighed, before looking back towards Wally and freezing. Gwen was out of her ball.
“Wally, I want you to think about what you’re doing.” My tone was quiet and shaky as Wally grinned at the pair of us. “Don’t make me force choke you.”
Wally started chuckling through his respirator. “I’m sorry, my master, but it’s the only way. We’ll be here till the sun sets completely if we wait for you to get her up.”
“Don’t-”
“Water Gun, low power. Try and hit May as much as you can.” Wally quietly ordered.
‘No promises.’ Gwen’s grin morphed into an open maw and water surged forward.
Fucking fucker fuck that was cold!
“I’m up!” May screamed as she jumped up and away from me.
“Screw you, you blue Pikachu wannabe!” I screamed as I bounced up. Damn it, why does my hair retain water? At least my coat blocked the rest of this.
Gwen shot me a glare and puffed her cheeks out as I wrung out my locks, but Wally called her back before she could fire a second shot.
I opened my mouth to yell, but quickly closed it as an ominous force of evil permeated the clearing. I turned, and leaned back as May stalked forward towards our green-haired friend.
“Wally, I’m going to-”
Wally disappeared just as May got close enough to strangle him, and my girlfriend screeched as he appeared just to the left of me.
“Good job Gawain, you’re getting much better,” Wally shouted as he angled his head up towards the tops of the palm trees.
I arched my head and froze as the Kirlia came into view. It felt like my heart fell into my damn stomach as the psychic type disappeared, reforming next to his trainer with a pleased look on his face.
Wally tilted his head my way and grinned. “Pretty cool, huh? I’ve been having him practice ever since I saw Brawly’s Gallade teleport all that sand. It was a bit bumpy at first, but the practice has really helped.”
I sucked in a deep breath and tried to calm down. It was just Gawain. Just like Emilie was just Emilie. These weren’t Pokémon I needed to worry about. Just calm down.
Wally tilted his head at me before blanching and lifting up Gawain’s poke ball.
“Wait!” I lifted my hand. “Just, give me a moment.”
May was suddenly right next to me, her eyebrows knitted together with a frown. “You sure?”
I took a deep breath before staring back at Gawain. ‘I’m sure.’ I pushed those two words out to everyone.
Wally and Gawain both leaned back. “How-”
“I managed to meditate and work through some stuff.” I swallowed before giving my best smile. “It hasn’t been easy, but basic communication has been... mostly fine.” I winced as Emilie teleported to my shoulder and gave me a look. “With a few hiccups.”
“A few hiccups, she says.” Emilie shifted to look at Wally and Gawain. “How was shopping and where’s Jasmine?”
Wally snapped to attention. “We got the stuff, and they should be fairly straight forward to use. I still think this is a lot of money to spend on Lea’s nightmare, but-”
“It’s my money, so shove it.” May glared balefully at Wally, channeling a bit of the malevolent aura she had when she first woke up.
Wally seemed unfazed. “Yeah, yeah, it’s probably good we got these anyway. Nice little safety precaution for Ice types in the wild. Jasmine wanted to find Wayne, and I imagine-”
‘I have seen things. Things that cannot be unseen.’ The words were distant and haunted, a stark contrast to the now visible grass type as he entered the clearing.
Emilie’s eyes glowed blue for a brief moment before she gave the grass type an unimpressed stare. “They kissed for like, four seconds. Quit channeling your inner Lea and calm down.”
“I resent that.” What really sucked is I heard an echo of those exact same words in Joerns voice as I said that.
We glared at each other for a moment before a bit as the couple in question entered the clearing.
“He’s got a pretty good feel for how the attack’s supposed to work, and he understands how the element should be used.” Wayne smiled at the grass type. “Really impressive for a single day of training, honestly. Nuzleaf was impressed.”
‘He lies,’ Joern complained. ‘That prick trash talked the entire time we were out there.’
“Yeah, well, for him, that’s what impressed looks like.” Wayne backed up slightly at Joern’s glare. “Killjoy.”
Jasmine just looked at the scene and grinned. “I’m glad you had fun, babe.”
Apollo flew in, with both Lucas and...
“Suzy?” May asked.
The fire type rubbed the back of her head. ‘I wanted to stretch my feathers a bit, and watching the gremlin trip over new stuff was fun.’
‘How many trees did you ram into when you were learning Aerial Ace again?’ Emilie asked.
Suzy snapped her beak shut and glared at the psychic on my shoulder.
‘That’s what I thought,’ Emilie said.
I moved to tell the two of them to play nice but froze as I looked up at the sky.
The clear, starry sky.
Apollo shot me a grin before raising his wing up in salute. ‘Reporting for duty, cap. Dry as a red stone under the summer sun.’
“Great work, Apollo. I look forward to having you out all day tomorrow,” I said.
Apollo nodded once.
I stared further back towards Lucas, who was being uncharacteristically quiet. The ghost had buried itself into the ground, his edge a solid five inches into the dirt, and the eye that adorned his hilt was half lidded. I lifted up his ball and recalled him.
‘Aye, that one worked hard today. Speed training’s a bitch even if you are used to it.’ Apollo nodded again before looking at his own ball. ‘I wouldn’t mind a bit of nap meself. If that’s alright, captain.’
“I think you’ve all earned it after today.” I lifted Apollo’s ball and recalled him. “Brawly’s not going to know what hit him by the end of this week.” I looked over towards Joern, who shook his head. I didn’t even bother asking Emilie.
‘I don’t think any of us were ever doubting that, Lady Lea.’ Gawain uttered each word slowly, his tone scared as he broached my mind with his own.
I turned to give the psychic type my full attention, my fists clenched at my sides as I beat down my rising heartbeat. ‘Thank you, Sir Gawain. I appreciate the vote of confidence.’
Gawain nodded once, before smiling at me. ‘I’m glad you’re bouncing back so quickly. Many of us were quite worried when you cut yourself off. I... missed our talks.’ Gawain looked away shyly. ‘Brawly doesn’t hold a candle to the trials you’ve already conquered. I know my presence in your mind is still a problem for you, but I needed to say that, and I’m happy you’re doing well.’
‘You’re entirely too sappy, you know that, right?’ Emilie asked.
‘Ah, my lady, I hate to say it, but one of us has to be.’ Gawain shot my starter a cocky grin.
A smile spread across my face, and my heart finally started to calm down.
Are you giving these two your approval, mini me?
‘Thank you, Sir Gawain, but I fully intend to have both you and Emilie in my head as often as possible. It’s more fun that way.’ I smiled widely at him before shooting Wally a mischievous smile. ‘Have a bit more faith in your queen, hmm?’
Gawain dropped into a deep bow. ‘Forgive me, my liege, if I spoke out of turn. Such thoughts were foolish of me.’
Gawain disappeared in a bright red light as Wally joined Emilie in glaring at me. “Really?”
My earlier grin still hadn’t left my face. “What can I say?” I bumped Emilie once in the forehead. “I missed these guys.”
***
Emilie’s POV
***
Emilie looked up at the night sky and sighed, happy to be away from the dinner downstairs. Wayne and Jasmine seemed determined to celebrate their last night above ground for a while.
It was all so loud when all Emilie wanted for a bit was quiet.
She should be happy right now. Lea’s taken a giant leap forward in her recovery. Her teammates were making great strides in improving themselves, she was learning new ways of using her powers and moves...
Why did she feel so down?
Emilie groaned as another presence appeared beside her. Great, the idiot.
“Good evening, my lady. I see you’ve taken a similar liking to the night sky.” Gawain looked up and grinned. “A boundless sea of stars, truly a sight to behold.”
“Yeah...” Emilie sighed before giving Gawain a look. “Thanks for helping with Lea. She seems a lot calmer now.” Admitting that felt like a punch to the gut. She’s on edge the whole time we’re in the training ground, but a few cheery words from this cosplaying knight was enough to get her to ease up?
It was so stupid.
Gawain laughed. “Nay, I just gave the final push, I believe. Your presence, your continued determination in the face of adversity was what helped guide our liege to the place that she could make the jump. I just... offered a hand over the cliff.”
Emilie scoffed. “Yeah, right. Only thing I did was give Lea heart palpitations.” Emilie glared back up at the sky. “Just another in a long list of screw ups.”
“My lady?” Gawain leaned forward.
“I feel lost.” Emilie wasn’t sure if she was telling this to Gawain or herself. “I don’t know what to do.”
Gawain just started laughing.
“What the hell’s so funny?” Emilie glared pointedly at the cosplaying knight.
“My lady, I can say with absolute certainty that you’re never lost. For as long as I’ve known you, your path has been your own. As long as you walk it to the best of your ability, your path should be clear.”
Emilie glared down at her fanny pack before tossing Gawain a look.
“And no, that has nothing to do with you evolving. So what if you’ve had a few setbacks? You’ll bounce back three times as strong and hit four times as hard.” Gawain held his fist out in front of him as he finished speaking. “Take it from someone who knows.”
Emilie sighed before leaning back against the roof. “Self-deprecating humor isn’t like you, Gawain. It also doesn’t suit you, so don’t start now. Leave the teasing to me, got it?”
Gawain preened. “Your words are far too kind, my lady.”
Stupid cosplaying hedge knight. “Yeah, whatever. My ‘path’ has been ass for a bit. I could barely do anything to help Lea in the cave, I lost us the gym battle, my best friend is scared to be around me-”
“Yet we’re all still here, raring up to dive into the great unknown.” Gawain smiled. “Excuse me for speaking out for turn, but self-deprecation doesn’t suit you either, my lady.”
“Ugh, fine. I guess a princess can’t have a pity party in peace, huh?” Emilie smiled.
“I would be remiss if I allowed such a thing to continue, yes.” Gawain shifted his gaze back out to the sky and smiled. “And don’t worry so much about our journey. Should Lea’s vision come to pass, I’ll have us above ground before May’s purchase even comes into play.”
“I believe it after that display earlier. You’ve improved a lot from when you teleported Wally in the center.” Emilie hugged her legs closer to her chest.
“I had a good teacher. Your tips helped a great deal.” Gawain shifted his gaze back to Emilie. “Don’t be so quick to write off your own achievements to focus on your failures. I’d probably still be floundering without your help.”
“Yeah, and now you can do tricks that I can’t. That Psybeam was awesome.” Emilie’s gaze briefly shifted to a glare. She winced before looking away.
Gawain laughed. “I think you’ll find that move far easier than you think, my lady. Do me a favor, and just do what you did earlier while you were training.”
“You peeked!” Emilie’s glare was more permanent this time, and a faint psychic aura flowed from her.
“I picked up the image from your surface thoughts, and I apologize, but please. I think you’ll be pleased with what I’m about to show you.” Gawain backed away from the angry psychic type as the words left his lips.
Emilie let her glare linger for a moment longer before sighing. “I don’t have any water.”
“You won’t need it, just... focus on a single point and visualize a sphere,” Gawain said.
Emilie raised her hand up and did just that, she leaned back and almost lost it as a multicolored sphere formed at the end of her hand.
“Now push, preferably towards the night sky.” Gawain leaned back and grinned.
The single sphere stretched out and thinned as the beam instantly launched itself upwards, the attack slowly fading as the light reached out towards the moon.
“I... just did that.” Emilie muttered.
“Correct, and one handed too.” Gawain closed his eyes and smiled. “Still one upping me, I see.”
Emilie didn’t respond, she just looked down at her hand, before a single, wide grin started to spread across her face. “Thank you, Gawain. Oh, I have so many ideas now. I want to test so much. This could lead to so many cool new ideas for combo attacks. I-”
“Why are there like three different anime fight scenes playing out on loop in your head right now?” Gawain asked with a frown. “I tried not to look but they’re so loud it’s hard not to.”
Emilie blushed bright red. “Shut up!”
“Yes, my lady.” Gawain replied automatically.
Emilie opened her mouth, closed it, then sighed. “We need to work on that. It’s not fun if you don’t banter back.”
Gawain tilted his head, looking lost.
“Never mind.” Emilie lifted her arms up and stretched before waving. “I think I feel Lea moving towards her bed room. Thanks for the help.” Emilie looked away. “This talk hasn’t been... horrible. Thank you.”
“Thank you for talking with me, your highness. I’m glad we talked.” Gawain went silent afterwards.
Emilie sighed, before teleporting down. She supposed that would do, for now.
An image of a rough and tumble kid, insulting her to her face and challenging her to a duel played through her mind, and she winced. It was still a far cry from what it used to be, but she supposed this wasn’t terrible either. As much as she missed the kid, the knight was slowly starting to grow on her.
Even if it was different, the path Gawain walked was one she could at least respect.
It was the least she could do, for her first friend.
***
Normal Pov
***
I sat up in my bed and glared at the rising sun. Guess taking a five hour nap really screwed with your ability to sleep soundly through the night. Still don’t know how May managed. I think I got three hours of sleep. Maybe.
It didn’t help that I was afraid to close my eyes. It was surprising, honestly. I fully expected to see another Absol dream, but nothing. My shoulders sagged at the thought. The next dream like that was probably going to be pretty bad.
I glanced worriedly at the locked poke ball on my end table, before shaking my head. These dreams were just that. Dreams. No way in hell could I pull thoughts and memories from a dark type of all things.
I turned away from the ball and stared down at May, taking a brief moment to take in her sleeping face.
I was going to have to sleep alone for a while, wasn’t I?
Legends above, that was going to suck. My own personal furnace was leaving me to go hang out in a stupid cave in the middle of a cold wave.
At least it was warming up slightly. That had to be a good sign, right?
I sighed, before going about the long, arduous process, of waking May up.
***
“You’ve all got everything, then? Provisions, equipment, safety gear-”
“Lea, for the last time, yes.” Wayne glared at me as we stood before the opening in the cliffside. “You act like we can’t just have Gawain teleport back up if we need something we don’t have. We’re fully decked out, and we’re wearing your funky friendship bracelet.” Wayne waved his hand around.
If the damn thing worked as advertised, a gas would be dispensed at a certain temperature, and sublimate the ice, turning the solid structure into a gas, and freeing the frozen individual.
How the hell that worked, I had no clue, but I memorized May’s explanation. The potential side effects were minor burns and dehydration, and I had water and salve in my backpack.
Breathe in, breathe out.
“I’m sorry, I just-” I turned to look into the cave and froze, the dark chamber feeling all too familiar to the stuff of my dreams. I swallowed down a lump in my throat and turned back to look at May’s smiling face.
She reached forward and squeezed my hand. “You okay?”
“Yeah, uh. You were right.” I winced. “I definitely wouldn’t handle being down there very well.”
“It should just be for a few days. We’ll be fine. I’m coming back above ground for your rematch, Steven or no, so don’t worry so much.” May gave my hand a squeeze. “We’ll be fine. The strongest thing currently on record in this cave system is a Sandslash.”
“Yeah, cause the rangers keep such a good record,” Jasmine mumbled.
Wayne elbowed her at my sudden tensing.
Suzy exploded out of May’s poke ball and slammed her clawed fist into her other hand. “Busken.”
I turned toward Emilie, who shook her head. “Nothing to translate. Sometimes we just like to say things as a battle cry.” She shrugged. “I don’t get it either, it’s probably a smooth brain fighting type thing.”
‘Your mother was a whore, and your father smelled of Figy Berries,’ Suzy said.
“Really, you don’t know what copium means, but you’ve got Monty Python references on standby.” Emilie glared at the fire type.
I turned and gave May a knowing grin.
“I was bored the other day, and Suzy’s warm and fluffy.” May’s face was red.
“I’m mostly just annoyed you didn’t invite me. I’m always down to rewatch those movies,” I said.
“Can we move on to the whole diving into the abyss thing?” Wally asked, before walking over and giving me his phone.
“Thanks.” I smiled before turning to May. “If you don’t call regularly, I’m assuming something terrible happened and I’m going down to get you, claustrophobia and past trauma be damned.”
“I know, I remember our deal.” May leaned forward slightly. “I’ll miss you too.”
“Alright, I think that’s our cue to leave and give these two some privacy.” Jasmine slapped her hands together before dragging Wayne into the cave.
“Ack, Jasmine.”
Wally lingered for a moment before reaching out and patting me on the shoulder. “I’ll make sure everyone comes back, so don’t worry about us. That’s a vow, and a knight always keeps those.”
I chuckled. “Thanks, Wally. Go on ahead, I don’t want to hold you guys up.”
Wally let his hand linger for a moment, before nodding, and following after the bickering couple.
I turned back towards May. “So this is goodbye, huh?”
“Don’t say it like that.” May scrunched up her nose. “I’ll call every night, at a minimum. Probably more if I’m being honest. I’m already dreading trying going to sleep tonight.”
“You and me both.” I chuckled before letting myself get pulled down.
I still wasn’t used to this. I wasn’t sure I ever would be. My brain just didn’t work right when our lips met.
I pulled back and sighed. “Stay safe and come back, alright?”
May pulled back and nodded. “I will, that’s a promise.”
She turned before walking away, her body slipping into the dark.
I sighed before turning to Emilie and opening my mouth. I froze as white fur flitted across my peripheral vision, my heart pounding so loud I could hear it.
In front of me stood a single, familiar, white furred shape. A jagged scar running down his face, cutting directly through his eye. The Absol smiled at me, before turning, and I leaned back as I saw a large, bloody hole in his side. The creature faded into mist as it turned away.