When I reached the top of the ladder I could see the birds-eye view of Ecruteak City, and the city looked beautiful. From this angle the fighting in the streets was hidden; my eyes were drawn instead to how cozy the russet-topped buildings all looked in the late-afternoon sun, how vibrant the green trees were, how intricate the designs of the sand gardens below appeared to be when seen from above. It made my fingers itch for paper and pencil, to see if I could capture at least a little bit of the picture below me.

But there was no time for that. I stepped up onto the roof and turned around to see that Finnegan had already intercepted a monk that had been doing something on top of the tower. The monk looked fairly young and scared, and he was clutching a small instrument, some kind of flute perhaps. The general had grabbed him by the back of his robes and was marching him past the tall rod that proudly rose from the middle of the roof as the two other soldiers climbed up behind me.

“The ritual has concluded,” the young monk stammered as the two of them approached the rest of us. “You cannot stop the spirit of sea and sky from coming now.” I peered closer at the instrument in his hands and cocked an eyebrow. It was some kind of ocarina, but it looked like it was made of bone.

Finnegan’s mouth twisted up in a wry smile. “Thank you for doing the hard work for me,” he told the monk, who blinked back at him in confusion. Then he turned to the soldier who had come up the ladder before me. “Take him back downstairs, keep him out of the way.”

The soldier saluted and quickly made his way down the ladder, and one of the others prodded the monk into climbing down to the floor below. That left just four of us up on the roof. But the guard assigned to me was still breathing down my neck and had taken it upon himself to tighten the rope around my hands again. I didn’t think I’d stand much chance at stopping Finnegan in our current circumstances.

And was it just my imagination, or was the wind starting to pick up?

Finnegan must have noticed that I looked nervous, because he smirked and walked up to me. “Well, Trainer Monroe?” he asked in a gallingly cheerful voice. “Have you decided that you are willing to talk after all?”

I’d approached the problem from every angle I could think of while walking up all those stairs, but it was useless. I had nothing. “I could go with one of your mining teams,” I said hopefully as I glanced up into the sky. There had only been a few wisps of cloud above us before, but now the clouds were gathering together in a foreboding way. “It’s not too late, we can still leave.”

Finnegan shrugged. “Tight-lipped to the end, eh? I can respect that.” He turned around and walked towards the center of the roof, speaking loudly so I could still hear him over the wind. “You will assist the mining teams when this is done, and do much more besides, as I still have use for these devices. But for now, I have a more important task before me.”

I heard a crack of thunder come from off to the west and looked out in that direction. Where before the skies had been clear there now hung a massive storm cloud. No – it wasn’t hanging in place. It was moving faster than any cloud should ever move, and coming right towards us.

Even as I first noticed the storm I could feel the temperature drop around me. It had already been breezy up on the roof, but now the winds whipped about more relentlessly. I huddled into myself instinctively to shield my body from the cold. Fat raindrops started to splatter against the stone landing that we stood on, and I winced as a dab of cold water hit the back of my head and slid down my neck.

Then, with shocking speed, the main part of the storm hit us. Suddenly rain was sleeting down in a torrential downpour that soaked through my clothing in seconds. The winds were now incredibly powerful, and one actually lifted me off my feet slightly before a different wind forced me back down to the ground. After that I hastily crouched low, trying to present a smaller target so I wouldn’t get blown off the roof, and I could see that the others had done the same thing.

A horrible feeling of pressure came out of nowhere and slammed against me, forcing me onto my hands and knees. It felt like gravity had just grown twice as powerful as usual, and I had to strain to lift my head and look up. Something briefly darkened the sky above me, though it passed by alarmingly fast; then a giant, shadowy shape descended onto the far side of the roof, indistinct through the pouring rain.

Oh, who was I trying to fool. I knew what that shape was, and I was terrified.

“Lugia!” Finnegan screamed into the wind and rain. He had been forced onto his knees like the rest of us, but he still held his head as high as he could. “Will you hide like a coward? Or will you show me your true self?”

I gaped at him. He was utterly insane; there was no other explanation.

Yet somehow, his taunt worked. The shadowy figure shifted, and without warning the rain and wind that had been relentlessly pummeling us stopped. I looked around, trying to blink water out of my eyes, to see that the skies immediately above us had cleared and showed blue up in the distance. Yet a circle of raging storm clouds still surrounded the building, and the clouds climbed high up into the sky. We were in a peaceful hole in the middle of a storm.

Now that the skies had cleared, I could see Lugia in all its splendor. I had seen paintings and carvings before, of course, but they were nothing compared to the real being. For one thing, the legendary Pokemon was huge – not as tall as an Onix, perhaps, but it made up for that with a wide wingspan and an imposing presence. For another, it looked shockingly real. It was all sleek feathers and hard plates, like a regular bird mixed with some kind of armored beast. Lugia had leaned down to inspect Finnegan, and its eyes were intelligent and ancient in a way that made it feel not like a Pokemon or a human, but like something else entirely.

I’d only seen eyes like that once before.

The crushing feeling of pressure had lessened and the winds were gone now, so it was possible to stand. Finnegan got up onto his feet right away, and he had a poke ball in his hand. My stomach twisted as I realized that, yes, he was actually going to do this crazy thing.

“Ha!” he shouted as he tossed the poke ball forward. It was a good throw, too, with power behind it that sent it spinning straight out towards Lugia’s chest.

A bolt of lightning flew sideways out of the surrounding storm clouds and intercepted the poke ball with a brilliant flash of light and a booming clap of pure noise. I closed my eyes and moved instinctually to cover my ears, but my hands were still bound together; they couldn’t move far enough apart. I had to blink several times before my eyes adjusted enough that I could see again, and once my vision cleared it revealed that Lugia still stood before us in exactly the same pose as before. A charred lump on the ground in the middle of the roof was all that remained of the poke ball.

Lugia slowly extended and lowered its head so that it was right above the fallen lump, then sniffed in a huge stream of air. The Pokemon paused, then made a low humming noise in the back of its throat.

I was distantly aware that the soldier assigned to watch me was now cowering with his hands over his head, and that the other soldier had disappeared down the ladder. I very much did not want to be in this situation either. Yet Finnegan was undeterred. His mouth moved and he must have said something, but my ears were still ringing from the lightning strike and I couldn’t hear what it was.

But I could see perfectly clearly when he drew his sword in one hand, palmed an empty poke ball in another, and charged at the legendary Pokemon.

I shouted in horror, yelling for him to stop, but it did no good. I could only stand there and watch as Lugia pulled its neck back up and looked down at the general with no emotion whatsoever. The Pokemon slightly flexed one of its wings and two slices of air gusted forward. One slammed into Finnegan’s sword hand, yanking the weapon out of his grip, while the other buffeted his other side, tearing away the poke ball he held and the satchel tied to his belt. Both were blown to the side of the roof, where the poke ball fell away over the edge and the satchel caught on a decorative piece of stonework.

When I looked up again, Lugia had gathered a brilliant blue light in the back of its throat. A moment later that light erupted from its mouth in a massive vortex of air and light that soared across the rooftop and collided with Finnegan, illuminating his whole body. I could feel the shockwave of power coming off of the attack, but the air around me barely even stirred; whatever this was, Lugia had localized it to only hit Finnegan.

The attack ended and the general fell to the ground. I looked at him and immediately felt sick. His body just looked wrong, crumpled somehow, and his face was bleeding from multiple places. I looked away immediately, but it was too late; a little voice in the back of my head was already quite confident that he was dead. Actually dead. Lugia had killed him with a single attack.

The solider who had been behind me was gone – he must have run away as soon as the attack happened, and how could I blame him? After seeing exactly what a legendary Pokemon was capable of, I badly wanted to run away too.

But. Finnegan’s satchel had escaped the blast, and it was hanging there just a few feet away, right at the edge of the landing before the roof turned to sloping tiles. Pausso’s ball was in that bag. So were all the balls that held the other trainers’ Pokemon. Hoppip, Natu, Sudowoodo, Piloswine, Misdreavus, Corsola, even Ledyba; I couldn’t just leave them all behind, not when all it would take was a single gust of wind to tear the bag away from the roof and send them all plummeting to the ground below. Would our homemade apricorn balls be able to handle such a fall? Unlikely. So I kept as low to the rooftop as I could and crept forward, hoping that Lugia wouldn’t notice me.

I should have known better.

The giant Pokemon had been staring down at Finnegan, and it had looked almost contemplative. Now it snapped around and focused on me. Lugia’s eyes narrowed, and I froze in place, horrified, as it reared its head back. Bright blue light was gathering in its throat again, and this time I really was going to die, there was no way I could dodge this or make the Pokemon stop, and no one was left to come save me –

From atop the building’s rod came a tiny screech, barely audible over the whirring sound that came from the growing power of the attack. Down flew a small shape that must have been clinging to the top of the metal rod before. The little Pokemon winged down in front of me and hovered in place by beating its wings quickly, screeching defiance at the legendary Pokemon that stood before it.

I couldn’t do anything but blink in shock. It was the Zubat from before, the one Finnegan had tried to attack. The one I had saved.

In front of us Lugia paused for a moment with the energy of its attack still whirring in its mouth. Then it tilted its head upwards and released the attack into the sky, where it tore apart some of the clouds that had meandered away from the storm still surrounding the tower.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Then Lugia took two giant steps forward, tilted its head back down to look at us, and spoke.

Why do you intervene, little one? The voice that soared through my mind was a pleasant tenor but not masculine at all, and somehow it felt ethereal and steadfast at the same time. It sounded the way a horizon looks, like the edge between two worlds.

The Zubat squeaked and chittered a few sounds. It – no, she, something told me this Zubat was female – still flapped her wings steadily to maintain her place in the air. I thought about offering her an arm to land on, but decided against it; I didn’t want to do anything that might set Lugia off again.

Strange. Lugia now turned to look directly at me, and I gulped. You come here with those who would desecrate this tower, yet you protect my kin when they are in need. Why is this?

I looked at the tiny Zubat, who had finally settled down on the stone of the landing in front of me. Then I looked up at the giant creature out of mythology who stood sprawled across the roof. “Your kin?” I croaked out in disbelief.

The plates on Lugia’s back slowly lifted up and settled down again as it kept looking at me. All who dwell among the clouds and below the depths are as kin to me, it thought.

Okay then. “I didn’t want to come here, and I tried to stop Finnegan – “ I had to pause and swallow briefly as a wave of nausea washed over me, because saying his name reminded me that just like that he was dead – “Finnegan and the others. They made me come anyway.” I looked down at Zubat and rubbed my arms. “And I couldn’t let them hurt anyone in the tower. So I did what I could.”

Lugia kept staring at me. Why did you not flee like the others?

I awkwardly gestured towards the satchel that lay off to the side, so close yet so far. “My Pok – uh, my partner majū is in there, in a poke ball. So are many others. I needed to make sure they wouldn’t fall.”

The legendary Pokemon looked over at the satchel and tilted its head to the side. A bright blue aura suddenly surrounded the satchel, and it lifted off of the carving it had caught on and up into the air. The bag levitated over to hover in front of Lugia. Then the opening loosened itself and the poke balls came out one at a time. Each ball floated in front of the Pokemon’s head briefly, then moved off to hang at some point in the air. I had to clench my hands tight when Pausso’s poke ball came out and was examined. Lugia was a protector of Pokemon; surely it wouldn’t hurt him.

These are peculiar, Lugia thought after it finished investigating the last of the balls. I can sense that they contain souls, yet I do not see how. What have you done to these majū? That was accompanied by a new darkness that sent a tingle straight up my spine.

“They’re okay!” I said hurriedly as Zubat squeaked in alarm. “They’re inside the balls, but they can be let out!”

Now Lugia looked to me again, and it felt like those ancient eyes could see right through me. Explain.

So I did. I told Lugia about apricorns and tumblestone and our experiments with poke balls. I told it about how we’d been called to Violet, and about Finnegan’s betrayal. I described the general’s plan to capture a legendary (Lugia let out a low, angry hiss at that revelation) and hastily told the Pokemon that I did everything I could to try to stop him.

“But he wouldn’t listen,” I finally said. “He tried anyway. And – well, you know how that worked out.” I very pointedly did not look at Finnegan’s body, which still lay in a heap further back on the roof. I was pretty sure if I looked at it again I’d throw up.

During my explanation Lugia had sat back and preened the feathers along its side casually, like it was nothing more than an oversized bird. That was odd to see when compared to the easy way it held all of the poke balls motionless in the air, and the circling storm, and the feeling of pressure that still weighed down the air all around us. Now the Pokemon straightened up and looked towards me. These are unsettling developments, it thought. You humans play with forces you do not understand. Who knows how this may change our world?

I briefly considered telling the Pokemon that actually, I knew, because I came from the future. Then I tossed that idea away. I didn’t want to give Lugia even more of a reason to be interested in me. “Majū and humans have worked together for a long time,” I said instead. “This can help strengthen those bonds.”

That assumes – Lugia’s mental voice cut off abruptly as it looked up into the sky, as if it had sensed something. A moment later, I felt it too. An overwhelming feeling of happiness and peace settled over me like a blanket. I felt calmer than I had in days, since before this whole mess with Violet City had begun. And I felt confident, sure that I could convince Lugia that I meant no harm.

I felt these things strongly, but at the same time the more analytical part of my brain was running in overdrive. These feelings, they weren’t coming from me. They were coming from outside of me. Was this another one of Lugia’s powers? It didn’t feel like it. It felt more like –

My question was answered as a new figure flew into sight in the open circle of sky above us. This figure was another giant bird, but red and gold where Lugia was blue and silver. For a moment the bird hung overhead so that I could see its brilliant plumage shining against the sky; then it started circling downwards slowly, gold mist trailing from its tailfeathers as it angled itself towards the landing behind me.

I barely felt capable of breathing. That had to be Ho-oh. One legendary was terrifying enough, and at least I’d known it was coming, sort of. But two? Worse still, I couldn’t feel properly scared; I just felt that eerie unexplainable happiness that made me want to skip about and give everyone a hug. The feeling was so incongruent when compared with my thoughts that it was starting to give me a headache.

I felt something nudge my foot and peeked down at the ground. Zubat had pulled herself along the rooftop with her wingtips and now huddled against my shoe as she shivered. Maybe I wasn’t the only one feeling overwhelmed about two legendaries showing up on the rooftop. Without thinking about it I leaned down and picked the Pokemon up, cradling her body carefully in my two tied-together hands. She squeaked and partially folded her wings back, letting me hold her nestled against my chest. It took real effort to stand up again, because the pressure on my body had increased once more; not quite as bad as when Lugia had first appeared, but bad enough that I almost couldn’t stand upright.

Ho-oh landed on the rooftop with a loud thump and the building creaked unhappily underneath me. I got the sense that it had only been designed to hold one giant mythological bird, not two. Still, the roof held, so that was good.

Why come here now? Lugia asked flatly as it let its wings droop downwards. This threat does not call for both of us.

Ho-oh shrieked a raptor-like cry, and a wave of emotions flew through me: annoyance, nostalgia, and a faint and refracted feeling of intrigue. It was like when Pausso sent a feeling to me, but tenfold – no, a hundred times as strong. And behind it all there was still that feeling of indomitable happiness that had me grinning like a lunatic and hardly able to think straight.

In other words, it felt weird.

Busybody, Lugia snapped in an oddly petulant mental tone. Yes, I learned something of interest. It does not concern you.

The other bird ran its talons over the tiles of the roof underneath it, creating a horrible scraping noise. Then it looked down at me, and I stared back with wide eyes. Ho-oh’s eyes were like Lugia’s, yet different; they had a liveliness to them at odds with Lugia’s calm. Just like with Lugia, Ho-oh seemed to look straight into my soul.

Then the mythical bird looked back up and a new set of emotions rushed through the world: determination, excitement, and a raging curiosity.

You and your changes. Lugia thrashed its tail back and forth as its eyes narrowed. The world is suitable as it is. Why let the humans run rampant over it?

In response Ho-oh crooned softly and waved its beak down towards me. No, not just towards me – towards me and the Zubat in my arms. I was overwhelmed by a feeling of hope, and a patient expectation of greater things to come.

… I suppose. Let us discuss this further elsewhere. Lugia raised its wings with a snap, and over the course of a few short seconds the storm that had surrounded us shrank into nothing. At the same time the poke balls that had hung so casually in midair slowly lowered to the ground, settling into a neat pile cushioned by the satchel from before.

Ho-oh made a short, clucking noise, and a fresh wave of happiness swarmed over me. Then it launched itself up into the sky, leaving a trail of gold dust behind it.

Lugia looked like it was going to fly off too, but it paused first to look at me. Take care when you choose to meddle in the affairs of majū, child, it warned. Then it too jumped up and soared into the heavens with a few mighty flaps of its wings.

For perhaps ten seconds I just stood there, holding Zubat and watching as the two legendary Pokemon flew off towards the north together. The feeling of pressure and unrelenting happiness had dissipated as soon as the birds flew off, and it left the world feeling a little duller, a little more ordinary. Only a damp roof, a smattering of gold dust, and a few stray feathers gave any sign that two legendaries had been there moments before. Honestly, I didn’t mind. I could use more ordinary in my life.

Then I jolted back to myself as I realized that finally, after everything I’d gone through, I could set things right again.

I ran forward to the pile of poke balls and bounced my hands up into the air impatiently, trying to get Zubat to fly off. Instead she crawled up my shirt and onto my shoulder, where she clutched her wingtips against the wet fabric of my shirt to hold herself secure. I didn’t have time to wonder why this wild Pokemon was being so clingy (and in my heart, I was pretty sure I already knew). I was too busy shifting the one red and white poke ball in the stack around so I could get the right side to face up. I sucked in a breath and angled my hands so I could push the button.

A burst of light came out of the ball and formed into the shape of a Drowzee right in front of me, and he was okay, he didn’t look hurt at all. Pausso let out a little bray as I rushed forward and looped my tied-up hands over his head, hugging him as tightly as I could. I could feel him in my mind again, and he felt more surprised than anything else; then that was overcome with a feeling of relief as he wrapped his stubby arms around my sides, hugging me back.

“I’m sorry,” I said as soon as I could speak. My breath was coming out in little sob-like sounds and my eye were wet, but I wasn’t crying because that would be stupid when I was happy, and for real this time. “I should never have returned you without asking first. I won’t do that again, I promise.”

Ḁ̷̮̇c̷͓̈́c̴̘̯̈́̍e̶̝͈̐p̵͚͌̇t̷̮̒͆é̵̬̯d̸͔̪̄̕, Pausso thought. İ̷̠̒ ̴̦̒̏ t̷͎͈̽r̶̬͌ÿ̸͔́͂ ̵̭͆͆ ĉ̴͙̪͊o̵̖̓m̶̺̑m̷̱͆͜ú̵̼͓͝n̶͇̙̒ì̷̫̅c̵̗̀a̸̭̎ͅt̷̻̎è̸̩̩̒ ̴͖̊ b̶̨͈͠ȩ̴͔̃̀t̸͙͝t̶̠͗́e̷͚̖̎r̸͉͆.̶̧̊ ̸̹͒̈́͜ Ă̷̗̇ǹ̶̼̿d̶̟̟̋ ̸̆̂ͅ l̷͔̤̇̆i̴̮͆̀s̶͙̒̊ț̸̨͛̎ẻ̸̢̤ņ̸͓͘.̷̲̾̾ͅ

My head immediately started throbbing with a mild headache, but I didn’t even care. “It’s a deal,” I said with a watery grin. Pausso snorted in agreement. Then he let me go and backed up, looking around us. His eyes widened when he looked in the direction where Finnegan lay.

I made the mistake of looking at the body again. Then I had to spin around and fall to my hands and knees so I could retch up the pitiful contents of my stomach. That finally got a reaction out of Zubat; she chittered in surprise and launched herself off of my shoulder, flapping over to cling to one of the stone statues on the side of the roof instead.

Pausso eyed Zubat with suspicion, then looked me over with obvious concern. W̷̧̟̉͘h̵͉̃a̵̛̖͇̔t̶̹̓̕ ̷͓͙͗ ḣ̴̳a̵̹͛ṗ̸̜p̷͓͊e̵̦̽n̷͇̏̎ẹ̴̒̔d̴͙̻͛͋?̵̧͎͂̍ he asked in a hushed mental voice.

I spat to try to get rid of the horrible taste and wiped my mouth against my sleeve. Then I shakily walked forward towards the pile of poke balls so I could try to shove them all into the satchel with my tied-together hands. After a moment Zubat flew forward and squeaked at me. When I paused and looked at her, she darted forward and bit at the rope that bound my hands. I jumped in surprise, then grinned in a lopsided way when the rope came undone, giving me two hands to work with again.

“I’ll explain on the way down,” I told Pausso as I rolled all the balls into the satchel, then cinched it closed and tied it securely to my belt. “But for now, let’s get moving. We’ve got a city to save.”