~~~ Chapter 27 - Scoot ~~~

Professor Rowan,

When I heard Dawn had left for Mt Coronet, I flew out as soon as I could. Glad I got there when I did, too! Rangers followed up, answering the call of mass outbreak; helped rescue some crew that Galactic took all the way up. Sidney and Grimsley both arrived from Hoenn and Unova after all the action. They shooed ghosts and pulled some bodies out before closing the doors. We need to find a way of turning off whatever in there’s hooking the labyrinthe into the distortion.

I’m baffled, what did the Galactic numbskulls think Cyrus was trying to pull? Looker and Dawn were right about the slimeball, at least. The chains were holding Palkia as I landed. Next moment, they were broken! You should have seen Cyrus’ face. Priceless! The archaeologists took pictures and videos, it’s great. Dawn missed Giratina pulling the slimeball away into a portal, closing it behind them.

What happened with the chains? Maybe they aren’t that great after all? Maybe a thousand years and their magic’s pretty much gone? Maybe the destruction from Empoleon’s fight with that mega absol caused them to lose power. The timeline aligns with the testimony of the duo from Kalos that Looker questioned, at least.

Speaking of Looker, he and a bunch of Sinnoh police arrived at the base of Mt. Coronet, questioning everyone that had been at Spear Pillar. Got a couple arrests out of it, but for the most part everyone had viable alibis. Mars, Jupiter, and Charon all ran off the moment the chains broke. Pity.

Looker’s got a whacko claiming that the Lunar Duo sent him there to fulfill some divine mission. Was the guy that gave Dawn some trouble in Arceus’ “chamber.” Even so, her empoleon’s a monster and soloed that mega absol. Poor thing’s still in the pokecenter. I’m picking it up for her when the nurses say it’s fully healed. She’ll be out of commission for a few days.

Overall, I’m not really sure what to make of the whole situation; no idea what Cyrus was trying to do that doesn’t sound absolutely megalomaniacal. By now, he’s probably long gone, down with the distortion sickness. I was worried for a bit that Cyrus’ stunt would tick Palkia and Dialga off, but once Cyrus was gone, they just left, as if they knew this was going to happen. Which… They probably did, now that I think about it.

— Barry

P.S: That absol had two mega stones on its neck. Two!

P.P.S: Yeah, seeing the Creation Trio in person was pretty cool. Still, I wouldn't recommend it. The passive Pressure made it hard just to breathe.

~~~

At Lebi’s parting words, I paused.

What was I supposed to say? Cebi never showed herself during Lanky and I’s excursions through the forest north of the professor’s seaside town. Unless she was somehow banned from that block of time? Bonk and Leaf huddled in the pack of swaddly, our vision danced in the vibrations of the air. My new little sewaddle softly cried. Scent of cherry conditioner entered the air as I stumbled.

Krokorok and the Scraggy both ran to Sundresser-girl’s side.

Lebi’s willing to lie to get what they want.

And why me? Why not literally anyone else?

Maybe it’s because Cebi told Lebi that you wanted to be important? What had our southern squidfriend said?

Ugh, now I was questioning whether I really could consider Cebi a friend. Both Lanky and Sundresser’s phones lit up with their own obnoxious, grating alarms.

I had made Lebi mad, and their emotions seemed honest enough…

Emotions aren’t thoughts. Lebi still lied to you, I thought.

About what, though?

Not telling you everything.

Right.

Sundress-girl recalled her ‘mon into their pokeballs, and after a quick conversation with Lanky, left us outside, all ten of us reeling from the vibrations, my new, injured sewaddle cried at the hyperstimulation.

Ghosts and birds flitted about the sky. Lanky was calling us to go inside. From the distant commotion, pokemon by the ocean were probably giving the sailors a bad time. I wasn’t about to try and have Lebi heal the child… Didn’t think I could trust them to do anything nice for them. Leaf and Bonk had found their way to the bottle of conditioner under the tree I’d set the kid. Leaf was inspecting it. I climbed back up the tree. Lanky had seen what Leaf and Bonk were ignoring him for, ran over and pulled it away. I pulled the healing child off the branch, observing their face.

Lebi had taken some kind of gamble and lost the roll in a way they hadn’t expected for this particular cosmic game. If I could, by sheer happenstance, surprise a sleeping Celebi, or do something Lebi couldn’t predict, then they aren’t all-knowing. Or, they had some other, more half-baked, motive in mind. It felt obvious: I wasn’t actually needed to keep reality stable, no.

Lebi can literally stop time. There was no good reason for them to rush me. What if distortion fucks with causality? I questioned myself. Doesn't make sense, she clearly stopped time while you were in distortion once already.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Salty anxiety rolled off Lanky since he saw us leavanny gravitate toward the smell of the artificial cherries.

Why didn’t we go follow the girl and go help? The kid had no badges. Didn’t know how to ride a bike and probably couldn’t swim, and I didn’t know any moves that could help. I guessed I could try using my string shot to make a bunch of rope? Or web? Make an umbrella of leaves in case people are stuck in the rain? More than that, I was moving slow. That excursion and the cold mountain air hit me hard. I barely even wanted to walk.

Leaf clicked, a woody aroma of anger sliding off, protesting with moans of his own as Lanky took the bottle away. I pulled the child off the tree, setting the leaf-sash I had them in around my neck, their fake little sewaddle-face nuzzling into my thorax. Just because I don’t want to be “save the world from total destruction”-level of importance, doesn’t mean I don’t want to be kind-of important… really.

I hopped off the tree. I’d have to think of a name for them. Lanky walked inside, taking the cherry conditioner with him, Leaf and Bonk both following him in. I gathered up the three remaining swaddlies and marched them inside. When Lanky closed the door to the gym, the vibrations of the sirens entered the background noise, and we all laid down in our trees, relaxing.

My silk had completely restored, but I was tired, choosing instead to rest in a tree, catching skylight sun, the child pulling their little leaf over their head like a hoodie, resting. We weren’t bothered by any wandering ghosts. Lanky became absorbed in his pokedex, watching what I assume was a livestream.

I drifted off, resting on a tree limb with my little ghost of a dragon child, to the sounds of bonk and the leaf wrestling with each other in their own small mock-fights. They must have tasted how much rest I needed.

Lebi wanted me to…stop the girl? Best I could have done was stall. Even if I went for the kill on her penguin... I did have a type advantage over water, I guess, but getting tagged by an ice beam would end it all right there. If she pulled out another pokemon, then there probably would have been no way.

If distortion can fuck with causality, then… then there’s some limit to their time-powers and foresight.

Back in that large, empty room. I faced off against the empoleon and its trainer, dressed in that pink jacket and skirt with a white beanie. The absol and its trainer were behind me. It would be a short fight, but I had to stop them.

Why?

Stop them any way that I could. I was slow from the cold in the mountain air. The bird behind us watched from in front. The penguin launched itself to the left, just the girl recalled her pokemon, and tossed out an alakazam. It lifted me in the air, right as it was slammed by the absol, claws dripping in darkness. The bird took off, lifting me into the air. I had stopped them at least. The bird drove me into the ground, pecking me in the face though my armor, and clawing at my blades.

Did I stop her?

The smell of berries entered the atrium room. Lanky was calling us over for food. I rustled, brushing off my arms, specks of dust floated in the air, glinting in the light. Sewaddle-child in tow, I stumbled to the ground. The sun was directly over the skylight. Begrudgingly, I stepped out of the light, and toward our meal, child in sash rolling sleepily, face still covered with their leaf.

Lanky watched his pokedex. The sirens outside had stopped sounding, at least. Leaf, bonk and the swaddles all stared at me and the new member of our nest. I paid them no mind, waking the child and popping them a few berries to munch, before eating my own. I couldn’t trust the child with the humans—they’d been attacked.

All the ghosts in that room had been attacked and pulverized. By a human. If I took them to a pokecenter, would they be healed?

Would they be taken away from me?

I gave the bug another berry. Lanky’s video had gone silent. I ate another berry. Everyone around was silent, rolling tones of earthy confusion. I pulled the child close, pulling my bowl of berries away from them.

Clicking in defiance, No! I won’t let you!

Bonk turned back to their food, but Leaf and Lanky and the rest of the swadlies stared. I took a bite of my berry, slowly scooting back again, now several feet away from the group. Lanky pointed his pokedex at me; I fed the babe again. Lanky turned back to his pokedex, and all the swaddles all lost interest.

I went back to eating and feeding my adopted kid, returning to my thoughts, energy from food restoring my feelings. It seems that enough time had passed we were probably past the point where I had left the mountain, especially judging by the fact Lanky was spending more time pushing on his screen than watching whatever news reports were running.

We all finished our food in silence, Leaf trying to get into Lanky’s bag, before being shooed off by our trainer.

We’ll try that stuff later.

The kid wiggled, letting out a burp. Fruits and veggies weren’t exactly growing off the vine inside the labyrinth. Had they only ever eaten distortion?

My little sewaddle wiggled, shimmering in slight waves of red, black, and yellow before returning to its form. Leaf approached, stepping over the swaddlies after finally giving up on getting into Lanky’s bag, tapping his antennae gently into the sewaddle’s leaf, giving off a curious, waxy smell as he did.

The child wiggled some more under the ticklish attention, before pulling their leaf back over their head. They’d been hurt pretty bad. I’d be sleeping too.

If I ever actually got into a serious fight with a ghost, what could I actually do? It’s not as if I knew how to empower my own attacks. Even my razor leaves were just hardened leaves I’d picked up off the trees. How would I actually hit any ghosts? I hadn’t even bothered fighting any while running through the labyrinthe.

Leaf observed us, before returning to play with the eight growing swaddles. Together, we rested in the afternoon sun, until the door buzzed and minutes later, Skorupi’s owner, sundress-girl walked in, her smell of sweat and exhaustion pervaded the room. It had been a hard day for her.

Together the child and I slept until we both awoke in time for dinner, greeted by the glow of our favorite little skorupi, emanating their excellent violet glow, keeping a respectful distance, which was nice. Krokorok gave us the evil eye, but otherwise left us alone. Child still in my sash, we ate dinner. Lanky and the girl eyed Leaf and I as we ate.

Leaf gave me some of his food, which I accepted. I was tired and hungry after that cold day. My abdomen shivered at the very thought of being stuck in that ice-cold mountain. Our portion was a bit larger as well. I took a couple bites of some chopped bananas, the child still resting and repairing from our surprisingly long day of adventuring. Other than a few sniffs and stares, we ate in quiet, lethargic peace, bits and glints of nightly dust flaked off into the air.

The girl approached me, slowly cautiously, her pokemon following her as she approached. She was shaking, nervous sweat rolling off. She reached out, proffering her hand. I returned the favor, offering her my left blade. It was covered in shiny fruits and juice, but pretty thin. I must have shaved pieces off in anxiety as I ran around the mountain. Her hand was shaking as she rubbed it across my leaf. She said something to Lanky, who took note and also slowly approached. I was about to pull my arm away, when she let go, the two of them turning to inspect the leaves around my head, the ones that I’d pull together to make my helmet.

They both rubbed, small pieces of orange-ish brown rolled off their hands, crumbling to dust and rolling to the ground. “Eeeaaa,” I moaned, getting annoyed at the space invasion. Lanky softly intoned, wiping some that kind of orangey brown stuff off my leaves. Lanky took a closer look at the sewaddle resting in my sash, before I started scooting back.

Whatever they thought they had seen, they decided to let us be.