Sheng’s dojo had a few spare rooms to house the trainers of the city, so he invited us to use them for the duration of our stay. The others picked their satchels back up and started moving into the rooms to settle in for the night, but I lingered behind. There was something I wanted to ask Sheng.
“Umm,” I said, fidgeting with my hands as I looked at him. He raised his eyebrows just slightly in reply. “You said I shouldn’t try the stuff Wei was doing without training. Would you be willing to teach me, then?”
“Why do you want to learn?” he asked. His voice was even, emotions unreadable.
I’d been thinking about that a bit already, actually, while I’d watched the wrestlers, so I had an answer prepared. “Partially because I want to do my part for the team. I know I’ll never be as strong as Drowzee or Zubat, but I at least want to be able to protect myself so they don’t have to constantly keep an eye on me when we’re out in the wild.”
“And the other part?”
I looked down and shuffled my feet. “A lot happened earlier this summer, and some of it was really bad. Drowzee’s poke ball got taken and he almost got hurt. Maybe if I’d been stronger, I could have changed things.” I looked back up at Sheng and met his eyes, feeling more determined now. “I don’t ever want to feel that helpless again.”
“We cannot always control who decides our fate,” Sheng said, his voice grave. “And there will always be someone stronger than you.”
“I know,” I told him. “I still want to try.”
He studied me for a few moments longer, then nodded curtly. “Very well. Tomorrow you will join me here in the dojo before the evening class meets. We will see what you can learn.”
I grinned at him, then jumped a little as Florence spoke over my shoulder. “Please, let me learn as well,” she said, and as I glanced back I saw that she was bowing formally. Had she been standing there the whole time?
Sheng stared at her, momentarily at a loss for words. I fully expected him to say something along the lines of ‘it isn’t done!’, but he surprised me. “I suppose there is precedent,” he said slowly. “My father trained alongside the warrior Feng Li for period of time, and everyone knows the legend of Oma the Dragoness. They must have started somewhere. Fine. If you wish, you may join.”
Florence beamed and thanked him, but he simply grunted and moved off to discuss something with his nephew. I fell in with Florence and raised my eyebrows at her as we made our way to the back rooms. “Since when are you interested in martial arts?”
“I want to learn everything that could make me a better trainer,” she replied. “Seems to me understanding how to fight myself should help when training my majū to fight.”
“I guess,” I replied with a yawn. Then I lowered my voice. “Are we still doing watches?”
“No reason to stop now.” She side-eyed me as I yawned again. “Perhaps you should leave the rotation to the rest of us tonight. You look exhausted.”
I shook my head. “No – let’s let my team skip instead. They’re the ones who battled today.”
Florence nodded and we hashed out the plan for who would wake up when. She insisted that I take the last watch, and I didn’t have the heart to push back. It certainly would be easier to sleep through the night and just wake up earlier than usual. We took one room while Isaac and Charity slept in the other, and I only spent a few minutes marveling at how still it felt to sleep on a mat again before I drifted straight off into sleep.
The night passed in the normal way, dreamless and calm. I cracked the sliding door open slightly when it was my turn for a watch, but nothing nefarious was waiting outside. My watch was spent dreaming up new plans for majestic combinations I could try in the future, like a Psychic-boosted Sky Attack that could turn an already devastating move into a collision of stunning proportions. Not that we were ready for that, yet. But we could start small. Maybe if we tried interlacing Hypnosis and Supersonic to render a dangerous opponent insensible…
Soon enough light filtered through the paper walls as the sun rose in the distance, and I started pestering my team to get everyone up and ready for morning routines. Most of Pausso’s cuts had healed overnight, so I removed his bandages and carefully wiped down the few scrapes that still remained. Echo ate twice as much food as usual, which made me chuckle.
“Keep eating at this rate and you’ll be the size of a Golbat before you even evolve,” I told her as I poked at her side gently.
She let out a high-pitched squeak and shrunk her wings up tight into her body. I paused, then raised an eyebrow.
“You… don’t want to evolve?”
She squeaked again, this time in a more moderated tone, and her wing swept out in a wide arc in front of her.
“Oh. You don’t want to evolve yet.” On one hand, her current size and lack of staying power meant that she couldn’t pack a real punch in battle, and evolving would help tremendously with that. But on the other, if she grew to the size of a Golbat she wouldn’t be able to perch on my shoulder or head anymore, and I knew I would miss having her there. “That’s okay. You should take your time.”
She chittered her agreement and, as if she had read my mind, immediately launched herself over to nestle in my hair again. I smiled and reached up to give her scritches, then busied myself with morning chores once again. But the conversation lingered in my mind as we made our way to the field outside to start the morning’s training.
Evolution was a big deal. Maybe Echo wasn’t planning to evolve anytime soon, but what about Pausso? He had gotten so strong recently. Was he preparing to become a Hypno? The thought made me just a little uneasy. It brought to mind the fairy tale about the wicked Hypno who used his pendulum to trick a young girl and steal her away from her home, at least until the brave warrior Empoleon came charging in to rescue her and save the day. But that was just a story! Even if Pausso evolved, surely he’d still be himself.
My starter must have noticed the unease I was feeling, because he glanced back at me over his shoulder and sent me a feeling of curiosity. I shoved the uneasy feelings aside as I smiled back at him and gave him a thumbs up.
I wasn’t going to repeat the mistake I had made about dream-eating. When he evolved we would talk, and he would be the same as before, I was sure of it. Until then, I would simply trust him. And if that was easier said than done… well, that was my problem, not his.
~
Training passed in a blur. Being back on land meant that we could return to our usual routines, and all the Pokemon were excited to have a proper amount of space to practice in again. Sheng and Wei joined us outside after a while and went through their own exercises on the other side of the field. I got distracted watching Hitmontop spin about faster than even seemed possible with fire, ice, and lightning crackling out from the tips of his feet and tail as they spun through the air; in fact, I was so distracted that Pausso had to tug on my mind three times before I realized he needed my help to reset his targets.
Once we were done our group reconnected with Isaac and Charity, and we made our way into the town to start our monster hunt. First we needed to gather information about the attacks that had happened before, and that led us to the local apothecary. The building was modest, but it was nestled snugly in the middle of the town and the wooden steps that led up and into the main room were worn down. This place had clearly been around for a long time.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Inside we found an old woman working with mortar and pestle at a low table. A boy younger than me sat next to her and listened seriously as she chanted words in a voice that crackled like old paper. “Two parts fennel and one part peony, mixed with water and syrup of chilan berry, to make a mix that will ease cramps, especially during menstruation. Now you.”
The boy dutifully repeated her words as she continued mashing the pestle in a rhythmic pattern.
“Good.” She finally stopped her repeated movements so she could look up at us. “Yes?”
Isaac coughed awkwardly. “Ahh, yes. We are here to, ahem, deal with the so-called monster that has been attacking the town. We were told you have information?”
The old woman stared at us for a long moment. Then she sighed long and low. “Jiro,” she said shortly to the boy who sat beside her, “our guests will need tea. Go fetch more water from the well.”
The boy frowned up at her. “But Mistress Esther, we already have water in the back –“
“Oh? Are you the master, to decide such things? Go!”
The boy grumbled lightly as he got up on his feet, visibly sulking. He fetched a bucket from beside the door and left the room, though he shot an unreadable look at us before he left.
The old woman waited until the boy had disappeared entirely before she spoke again. “His brother,” she said in a quiet, somber tone. “Ichiro. My previous apprentice. A bright young lad, uncommonly gifted in medicine. Rarely have I seen one so suited to the requirements of this life.” She sucked at her teeth for a moment, then pushed forward. “He went up the mountain three weeks ago to gather feverfew and kuromoji and never came back. I went looking and found him halfway up the slopes, on the same track we always use. Dead.”
Charity sat down cross-legged on the floor and held Maisy a little closer to her chest. “I am sorry for your loss,” she said, her voice quiet. I nodded in agreement, not sure what else to say.
“What happened to him?” Florence asked hesitantly.
The old woman looked unhappy, but her voice was calm when she spoke. “Broken spine. I found him laying at the bottom of a cliff. From his posture and the markings, I would guess he did not fall; he was thrown against the stone.” Her voice was dry, almost clinical, but her eyes looked wet. “His basket lay by a patch of feverfew a full thirty feet away. Whatever killed him had the strength to throw a full-grown youth quite a distance.”
That… okay, that was intimidating. I dug my nails into my palms and did my best to keep a straight face. We had known that this monster was killing people before. Knowing the details didn’t change anything.
“Did you see anything else?” Isaac asked. He looked more serious now, and he had taken out his notebook to jot down details. “Elemental scars on the cliffside? Territorial markings? Footprints?”
A flash of irritation passed over the old woman’s face. “I was rather distracted at the time,” she said, her voice cutting. “Not exactly in a state of mind to observe details.”
“That’s okay,” I said quickly before Isaac could double down. There were other witnesses we could speak to, which meant this one woman didn’t need to shoulder all the weight. “Could you tell us how to get to the place in the mountains where it happened?”
She nodded, looking slightly more appeased now. “Start at the end of the path by Savoy’s farm. Take the Stantler path up into the mountain until you come to a small creek. Follow the creek uphill ‘til you reach a lightning-struck birch tree and turn right…”
Her directions went on, and on, and on like that, until I was sure there was no way we’d be able to find the original location. But Isaac wrote all the directions down diligently, and when she finished we thanked her for the information.
“It is not thanks I need from you,” she replied shortly. Then she looked directly at each of us in turn. “This monster is not only killing our people. It is killing our very means of survival. I have not dared to send anyone out gathering in the mountains since Ichiro was lost, and we are already running low on feverfew, goldthread, kudzu… too many herbs to count.” Her eyes lingered on me for a moment; then she looked down and returned to grinding away at her pestle. “This apothecary has served as a cornerstone of our town since its very foundation over two hundred years ago, and I know many trading ships only dock here so they may acquire our remedies. I do not wish to be the first herbalist to close this place’s doors, especially when that will surely lead Cianwood on a slow spiral towards death. Please. Find what has done this and bring peace back to our lives.”
A shiver ran up my spine at her words. They seemed awfully melodramatic, yet she spoke so seriously… she really believed what she was saying.
It made me think, not for the first time, that maybe we had gotten in over our heads.
~
We stayed at the apothecary a little while longer to drink bitter green tea and learn more about what to expect in the mountains. The old woman had gone gathering thousands of times herself and was very familiar with the dangers of the hills. There were tricky slopes, falling rocks and falling snow in the winter, and certain places where the ground looked stable but could collapse if you put too much weight on it. Gathering itself presented a whole separate host of problems, as many plants with useful properties looked almost identical to other plants that were poisonous. Even some wild berries were dangerous for human consumption, at least in large quantities.
And, of course, there were wild Pokemon. Many were the same as the Pokemon I’d seen around Union Cave: Onix, Geodude, Rhyhorn, Zubat, Phanpy, and more. But some were more surprising. She mentioned once spotting a creature like an Onix that gleamed in the sun – a Steelix, maybe? She also warned us about a pack of Mightyena that regularly passed nearby, and a solitary red and gray Pokemon that could sometimes be seen meditating on the edges of cliffs. These Pokemon were supposedly dangerous in the way of all wild Pokemon, and it was true that many of them didn’t take kindly to humans passing through their mountain. Being a gatherer apparently meant a lot of sneaking about and running away.
Still. None of the Pokemon she had seen before could have caused the amount of damage this mysterious monster had already managed.
We moved on from the apothecary to talk to the family members and friends of others who had been killed. Listening to the stories was hard, even if we were detached from this community; I didn’t want to think about how much harder it must be to live through them. But I forced myself to pay attention to the details, and I noticed that certain patterns started to emerge.
“It was horrible. Jackson was so strong, always took on the hardest jobs without complaint. He went outside that night to clear his head and the next thing I knew, he had been ripped apart like a plaything. Never seen anything like it.”
“… and it’s all my fault! If we had not fought so much she never would have run out on her own, not by herself when it was so late. Every time I close my eyes I see her again, all mangled and b-broken and… skies above, it’s driving me mad.”
“I told them not to go out walking that night, even the paths are not safe these days. But he always was a showoff, never wanted to listen. Now I have to mind their babe as well as my own, as if there isn’t enough work to do already…”
“No, I never saw the monster. Just heard Renard scream and went running. By the time I got there the creature was long gone, and ‘twas too dark to see where it had run off to. Besides, I was too busy trying to give the old man what comfort I could to go after it.”
First similarity? All the attacks had happened at night. Could that mean the attacker was some kind of nocturnal Pokemon? It was something to consider.
Second, the victims had been killed quickly, and usually through brute force. No one we talked to reported signs of elemental attacks like burn marks or melting ice, and the physical damage made me think we weren’t dealing with a psychic or dark Pokemon either.
Finally, the monster was getting bolder. The first attack had happened on the mountain itself, and the other early attacks had happened right at the edge of the town’s property. But the latest one had happened not far at all from the town’s center. The attacker was using the cover of night to roam the town and find its victims, and things were going to get worse before they got better.
The last interview was different from the rest. Elias Savoy hadn’t lost a family member or friend, but he had found the remnants of four different attacks. Except these attacks had been on Pokemon, not humans.
“I always find’em in the morning,” he told us as we stood together at the edge of the field he’d been working. “Always around the same place, too. Southern edge of the property, right up against the path that separates Myerson’s place and mine.” He grunted as he scratched at his patchy beard. “Is a right nuisance if you ask me.”
I frowned at his description of dead Pokemon being a nuisance, but went forward with the questioning. “Which majū have you found?”
“Does it matter?” I shot him a flat look and he sighed. “A bird, two bugs, and a blue spiney thing. Just the regular pests y’always see this close to the edge of the town.”
That was… lacking in detail, but at least they all sounded like fairly low-level Pokemon. Florence leaned forward, looking interested. “Have you seen the attacker yourself?” she asked.
“Y’think I’m an idiot?” The man leaned to the side and spat idly at the dirt. “I ain’t going looking for trouble with a killin’ creature on the loose. I don’t even go to that corner of the fields anymore.”
“Understandable,” Isaac said smoothly. “Can you describe what state the dead majū were in when you found them?”
Once again, the descriptions weren’t particularly helpful. The bird and bugs had been stamped nearly flat, and the ‘blue spiney thing’ had been half-buried in dirt. The latter could maybe imply a ground type, but it was hard to know for sure.
At least we knew one thing for sure now. This mysterious attacker wasn’t targeting just human beings; it was going after any living creature that came across its path. The more I saw, the more I doubted this was a simple case of miscommunication. No, we had a real monster on our hands, and we needed to know more if we were going to take it down.