Chapter 68 - Through the Mist III

A wail pierced the air, the water, and Delia’s very soul, rippling through everything. Every note urged her to surrender, to let herself be pulled into the abyss where shipwrecks face eternal darkness.

This… Dhelmise. It was no Gyarados. Nor any monster she was familiar with.

Silhouettes of kelp emerged from the deep, wrapping around Fractal’s neck, creeping over her body and climbing over the bumps in her shell. They all watched, paralysed. Despair turned to silence and resignation. A kelp tendril snaked around Delia’s ankle. She felt its damp coldness through her tights. Not even drowning yet, and she already felt like she couldn’t breathe.

And then…

Clack, clack, clack.

Everyone turned.

Clack, clack, clack.

Shelly trembled in Delia’s arms. The sound was like a divine call, shaking them from their stupor.

Clack, clack, clack.

The world lit up with the rainbow flash of an Aurora Beam. The Lapras’ cry felt almost surreal. Delia glimpsed the others—Celeste, struggling against the seaweed binding her arms, Lori similarly ensnared, and Aria biting frantically at her trainer’s restraints.

They were all fighting. Except Delia, who’d never asked for any of this.

“Forget me, Aria, shoot those things with Swift!” she could hear Celeste yell.

Another Aurora Beam cast a brief light, revealing Aria’s confusion. Before the rainbow lights faded, stars shot forward, only to fizzle out against the encroaching darkness. Celeste kept yelling about creatures in the fog—blurry, wriggling—what?

Delia tore her gaze from Celeste to Shelly, who’d gone eerily still. The seaweed, thickening by the second, wrapped around her shell, trapping her. Desperation replaced resignation as Delia clawed at the tendrils, trying to free her Pokémon.

Another flash. Red this time. Above, Glalie grunted, and Cryogonal’s chains rattled.

The more Delia pulled, the tighter the seaweed constricted. “Come on, Shelly,” she muttered. And then… strike.

A flurry of stars, carefully aimed to avoid her hand, struck the seaweed around Delia’s Pokémon. Shelly’s eyes snapped open, wide and urgent. Another Aurora Beam lit up the sky, revealing the terror in Celeste’s face before she turned back to the fight.

Blasts from Cryogonal, Glalie, and Lapras parted the mist, revealing an enormous anchor shape hovering by the water. It’d cleared enough to show the rusted chain holding the creature together and the rotten wood of the wheel, morphing into ghostly kelp that dipped into the water and drifted around. It was an extension of Dhelmise itself, like monstrous tendrils reaching towards them.

The Ice Pokémon’s attacks didn’t touch the ghost, however. No barrier surrounded it, but something absorbed the blows. Delia couldn’t explain it, nor could she understand why Lorelei insisted on fighting.

Aria barked.

During the last few moments, she and Celeste decided it was a good time for an argument. Celeste insisting they attack “the wriggly things,” while Aria snarled back, finding nothing to target. In frustration, the Eevee shot stars at Dhelmise, but they dissipated without effect.

“You can’t attack a ghost with Swift, Aria…” Celeste muttered. Before she could say more, a jolt, followed by Fractal’s loud cry, rattled them. The Lapras’s neck bent, pulled down by kelp. Tendrils tugged at her shell and even Delia’s ankle.

Dhelmise was finally pulling them down.

“Cut everything,” Celeste yelled, pointing to Fractal’s neck. The Eevee launched a Swift, just as a red beam pierced the mist, revealing Powder.

The Lapras rocked violently. Leading Celeste to rise to the occasion, while Delia clung to Shelly, pressing her tightly against her chest. An Ice Shard cut the seaweed around her ankles and as Lori’s Pokémon charged at the looming ghost, she could see stars and shards slicing through the plants.

Aria and Powder couldn’t handle all the kelp, but they gave Lorelei some breathing room. The tendrils attacking Glalie and Cryogonal shifted towards the Eevee and Vulpix—and consequently everyone in the Lapras. Delia braced herself as a particularly violent tendril came her way. It shattered one of Powder’s ice shards into a million fragments, but another one deflected it. Half a dozen ice chunks then speared the weed, driving tendrils to the same spot, now dangerously close to Celeste.

Light beamed ahead, revealing a smirk on Celeste’s face. Her next command was a whisper.

“Swift.”

Aria leapt from her back, raining down shooting stars brighter than the aurora. They cut through an entire bundle of tentacles, marking their first victory.

But it was short-lived.

The light hadn’t even faded before the severed kelp began squirming back to life. Lori finally called off her offensive then. “Freeze the water,” she commanded her Pokémon. Even Powder joined in. Ghost-types might handle the cold, but the seaweed was more grass than death. Lori, finally prioritising caution, called her Glalie to raise a barrier around them.

“Now what?” Celeste asked.

Lori kept her gaze fixed on the monster. “We keep fighting,” she replied, though her usual resolve wavered.

Delia watched Celeste stumble forward, a Pokéball already in her hand. “Force isn’t working.”

“Takes a lot to put a Pokémon like that to sleep…” Lori began, realising Celeste wanted to call her Slowpoke. “What—?”

The sound of rattling chains interrupted her. The horrifying silhouette loomed closer, and for the first time, Delia saw its eyes—or what looked like eyes. Carved circles covered in glass, one broken, the other like slits, or the needle of a compass, glared at them.

“It’s just like the picture…” Celeste breathed. “How?” She turned to Delia. “Same carvings, same everything… why isn’t there variation?”

Delia just shook her head.

She hated this.

All of this.

“Not the time, Celeste,” Lorelei snapped, then barked commands to her Pokémon. “Fractal, Sing, cast your voice out of the barrier. Diamond, Confuse Ray.”

Another red beam shot out as Celeste released her Slowpoke. She told her other Pokémon to keep cutting, then calmly joined Pat’s side, deliberately whispering, “Yawn.” Delia noticed the sudden lack of urgency, but what truly shocked her was how everyone kept fighting despite the odds.

It felt like the Gyarados all over again, but worse.

She still didn’t know how they survived that day, but miracles didn’t come twice.

Delia curled around Shelly, closing her eyes. Better to die quickly than let this drag out. She could feel the unnerving stillness around her. Air didn’t move in the barrier, and the many ice types in there made the temperature drop dramatically.

Or maybe it was the fear and the ghost. Delia didn’t care.

All she wanted was for the terror to end. The anger to fade. She didn’t want to die feeling like that.

It was supposed to be a one-week trip. She’d escape her suffocating town, enjoy the beach, unburdened by duty, grief, or expectation. Why did she have to like being away so much? Why did she have to step onto the deck of that ferry and meet Celeste?

One single act of recklessness led her here.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad. She liked the Sevii islands. The festivals, the bakeries, the beaches. Meeting Olga was amazing. She’d finally done something different, something she actually cared for.

But she didn’t like any of this.

Was this really how her life was meant to be? Why couldn’t all weeks be spent exploring quaint market towns, making ice cream, and watching fireworks at a beachside festival?

A large splash made Delia turn her eyes back to the battle. The rattling chain around Dhelmise’s body came loose, detaching the anchor from the wheel. The wheel rocked side to side like a ship in a storm, while the chain stretched out, its ghostly metallic anchor lurking somewhere in the dark ocean below.

Lori’s Lapras kept singing, though Delia couldn’t hear the melody. She could see Glalie focusing all his energy to keep the barrier up, and the one Pokémon actually attacking—the Cryogonal with the Confuse Ray that somehow could pass through the protective barrier—was accomplishing nothing. Celeste, on her side, had lost all patience, and now frantically yelled for both her Vulpix and Slowpoke to use Disable.

Dhelmise glowed with psychic energy. Was that right?

Well, what did Delia know? Maybe this thing knew a Psychic-Type move, or maybe it wasn’t even a Pokémo—

With a sudden, terrifying force, the anchor shot up and slammed against the barrier. The noise was deafening. The ice around them shattered, allowing the seaweed tendrils to grab the barrier’s sides. Water splashed everywhere. The tendrils writhed, making countless screams echo around them. Another swing, and the anchor crashed down, submerging them into the ominous ocean.

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The barrier, thanks to Silver, still held, but now what once seemed impenetrable, had cracks which allowed water to pour in at an alarming rate. Without protection, the seaweed would drag them down one by one, and there’d be nothing their Pokémon could do.

Delia couldn’t see or hear much. All surface sounds were gone, replaced by yells from Lori and Celeste. Their words blurred in Delia’s terror. The gist of it was clear, however. They were in a sinking bubble, and Glalie was no psychic to lift them back up. They had to drop the barrier and let Lapras carry them to the surface. And they had to do it now before they sank too deep.

Yet they kept yelling.

Celeste recalled Aria and Powder. Lori shook Delia’s shoulder.

“…now… Hold on to Fractal… Shellder can’t carry you.” The words were fractured. All Delia could do was cling tighter to Shelly.

This entire plan seemed mad. The seaweed tendrils would catch them. Better to stay protected inside their bubble. Inside their shell… Even as they sank and ran out of air.

Warm tears fell down her cheeks. Lori talked to Celeste urgently. Their arms grabbed her, one on each side. Delia tried to speak. “I’m not strong like you,” she wanted to tell Lori. To Celeste, she wanted to say blind bravery and wishful thinking would get her killed sooner than later.

Her lips didn’t move.

Instead, she widened her eyes as Celeste’s grip tightened. “Hold your breath.” The words hit like a tidal wave.

Quite literally.

Glalie dropped the barrier, and the water, cold as death, surged over them with overwhelming force.

On their backs, Celeste’s Slowpoke used Water Gun to counter the pull of the water. Glimpses of Cryogonal, spinning like a saw, cutting anything that dared get close, shone through the ripples and darkness.

Delia closed her eyes and clung tighter, not to Lapras or the others, but to Shelly. Always to Shelly. The water’s pull was relentless, and letting herself drift seemed easier.

To others, it might seem like that was exactly what she did. She drifted, desperately tugged by the needs of those around her. Trying to please the Professor, Olga, even Celeste’s mother. Saying yes to everyone. Avoiding conflict, trying to maintain control.

She wasn’t an idiot. She knew she couldn’t please everyone.

And yet…

Here she was, proving them right. Being pulled up by others, swallowing mouthfuls of water, letting the cracks show.

She coughed, then she gasped. Somehow, they were back on the surface. Celeste and Lori kept shouting. Delia couldn’t hear what. She lay on Lapras’ back, curled up, scared, with salt on her breath. Shelly’s shell, cool and wavy under her palms, was the only thing that made her cling to hope. Everything else was a blur of spinning motions. Glalie struggled with putting up a new barrier. Wind and hail began blowing—was that Celeste’s doing?

It was cold.

Delia didn’t want to die cold.

Was it silly to want to feel safe and warm? To want others to feel the same?

She remembered this feeling from years ago. Her mother had made a cake. A new recipe—the best Delia ever had. It was the summer after she turned twelve, when she and some other kids from Pallet were setting off on their journey. The Professor was there, Spencer too, though he’d only just started at the lab. The entire town came to see them off. Kids, adults, everyone. They all talked about badges and battles. Funny, considering none from Pallet made it very far. Delia had just been excited about going to the big city, all on her own.

Her mother hugged her, told her to have another piece of cake, to have fun on her journey. She said Delia was meant for greatness and reassured her that she could handle the restaurant on her own.

That was the last time Delia saw her mother.

Celeste rocked her shoulders. When Delia’s eyes refocused, she saw the anchor swinging at them again. Whatever barrier Glalie had managed to put up shattered as they were pulled back. Lapras wasn’t attacking anymore; she was outright running.

Even Lori realised there was no fighting this.

“We need help with the Protect,” Celeste said, her voice almost drowned out by the rumbles of attacks. Hail fell from above, and Powder glowed with fairy energy. Aria and Lori’s Cryogonal kept cutting as many seaweed tendrils as they could. Even Celeste’s Slowpoke seemed alert, blasting things away with his own Water Gun.

But something resonated deeper within Delia. Something beyond the wish to care for others. Beyond recapturing an old feeling. Something simple and genuine, festering since the whole ordeal with Team Rocket.

What Delia wanted, most of all…

Was a break.

Clack, clack, clack.

The sound was barely audible in the chaos, over Celeste’s voice, over the attacks, but Shelly opened up. Their eyes met. They were of the same mind.

Delia straightened and held Shelly even tighter. She didn’t give the command, but it came all the same.

Protect!

Delia widened her eyes. The anchor was coming at them again. She didn’t even blink as it connected with the invisible wall. Everything rattled, and they were hurled a few yards back, but the barrier stood, now supported by the combined efforts of Shelly and Silver. The Glalie grunted, nodding in acknowledgment but clearly straining.

How long had this battle been going on? Part of her felt like she’d been trapped in the mist forever.

She pressed her back against Lapras’ bumps, trying to give Shelly some space to work.

By Lori, Celeste was… focusing on the wrong thing again.

“Maybe the wriggly things are controlling the Dhelmise!” she shouted, but the others pointedly ignored her. Even her Pokémon knew it wasn’t the time. Or most of them did. As soon as Celeste opened her mouth, Aria shot her a loud, reproachful snarl. Then, instead of getting back to cutting, the Eevee widened her eyes and cried out. Vehemently.

Delia flung her head in the direction Aria was looking, half-expecting to see some sort of wriggly monster. Instead, she saw daylight. The others soon caught sight of it, too. The mist had thinned into a veil, revealing green vegetation and vibrant red roofs outside.

They… actually made it.

Another jolt rocked them downward. Shelly shrieked, as if feeling the impact herself. More grass tendrils shot up from the water, their ghastly shrieks drowning all other sounds. They coiled and grabbed the barrier, pulling, rattling, nearly tearing it apart.

Delia could see the others clearly now. Celeste, drenched with wet clumps of hair falling over her face, was heaving. Her eyes desperately searched for a way out. The one word that came out of her mouth was “cut.” “Cut, cut, cut,” she grew louder, just pointing to the kelp. Not that she needed to. Aria, Powder, and even Pat, who were visibly tired, kept attacking. Lori was still as a rock, but Delia could see her nails digging into her palms as she urged her Cryogonal to unleash all kinds of slashing moves.

Lapras was panicked, unable to swim away, and had resorted to unleashing beam attacks in desperation.

They were so close…

Delia took a steeling breath, fixed her crumpled shirt, and ran a hand through her hair, trying to put it together.

She hated this and wanted to rest. Not dead, at the bottom of the cold ocean, but warm and safe in a bed.

Could she help them fight? No. Shelly was already doing all she could with Protect. Fighting wasn’t her strength. Delia was good at making sweets, and at making lists. Most of all, she was very good at untangling messy knots and bringing order to chaos.

“Celeste,” she said, bracing herself as she got close to the other girl. “Coordinate with Lori.”

Celeste blinked. “What? I’m…”

Delia stared into her eyes. “You don’t have the power to deal with this, but if you did, you’d could do better than yell cut,” she gestured around. “Think outside the box.” She turned to Lori, louder. “I’m sure Lori will follow your lead.”

Lorelei just glared at them coldly.

Neither of them got it, did they?

They were like seasoning put out in the wrong boxes. Lori, the accomplished trainer, wanted to solve everything on her own, barely acknowledging the support she was getting. She was overwhelmed and straining. Celeste was too unfocused, either by the “wriggly things” she kept seeing or by sheer panic. Delia had seen firsthand that when Celeste properly worked on a problem, she came up with very good ideas.

“Spikes!” Celeste suddenly yelled.

Or sometimes she spat nonsense.

“Spikes…?” Lorelei said slowly, but with some interest.

Celeste wobbled upright and pointed to the Protect. “We need to create a barrier around the barrier with spikes. It might slow down the tendrils.”

Lori’s eyes lit up. “Like in my story with Bruno… the ice crown.”

Celeste nodded. “But bigger. Then we make a run for it.”

Lorelei turned up, not fully meeting Celeste’s eyes. “Good idea.”

Delia smiled weakly, watching them spring into action. Lorelei quickly instructed her Lapras, Cryogonal, and even Powder. Celeste recalled Aria and Pat, muttering about reducing weight to help Fractal’s speed. Delia couldn’t bask in the glory of her management skills for long, as everything moved incredibly fast.

A word from Lorelei set it all in motion.

Suddenly, a burst of light illuminated the rising spikes. The seaweed shrieked, stabbed back or frozen and destroyed. Delia glimpsed the wooden flooring of a pier and the distant volcano. The fog thinned into a tiny veil, and she could almost taste the end of this.

As Fractal darted forward and the world expanded, Delia closed her eyes.

The wind on her cheeks and the light seeping through her eyelids gave her hope, but then another wail, too profound to be of this world, pierced her mind.

It all came crashing back.

The doubt…

The worry…

The guilt…

The fear…

The anchor.

She opened her eyes wide at the impact, seeing ice and pieces of their protective barriers shimmering in the brightening sunlight before they dissolved into nothing. Lori’s Glalie fell on top of Lapras, weighing and slowing them down. Shelly was completely out, too.

Hail and snow churned the waves, maybe giving Lapras a slight boost, though not much. Cryogonal shimmered darkly, colliding not with the anchor, but with the chain that tied the two parts of the ghost together.

Another wail, even more profound, echoed, but Delia couldn’t see if it had worked.

All she saw was an explosion, again more psychic than ghostly.

The waves grew larger than anything Powder’s wind could produce. Delia became acutely aware of Celeste and Lori recalling their Pokémon. Only Shelly and Fractal remained out, the Lapras desperately trying to steady herself on the waves.

They were quickly moving toward the island now. Hopefully to land gently on the wooden pier, but more likely to the concrete ground beyond. They were going to crash. The wave kept rising and the break—

Delia tightened her grip on Shelly and begged for another Protect.

She begged to feel safe and warm again.

The wind wept on her cheeks. First incredibly fast, then slower.

She saw the faint glimmer of Protect first.

Then she saw the ground—

—*——*—

Delia grabbed Shelly close, just moments before they crashed onto the concrete, the protective barrier shattering into fragments of light. The force of the collision sent them tumbling, but the Protect had absorbed most of the impact.

Her mind reeled, struggling to form coherent thoughts. All she knew was she needed to hold on to Shelly. With another thump, it all went black. When she regained consciousness, she wasn’t sure how much time had passed. Shelly was licking her cheeks, and there wasn’t any worry in her Pokémon’s eyes.

Delia’s head hurt… had she hit it?

As she stood up, a flood of emotions crashed down—worry, anger, guilt. She ran a hand over her damp clothes and hair, checking for injuries while trying to regain some semblance of order. Her backpack lay nearby, torn open, contents spilling out.

She scrambled to it, desperately trying to put things back inside as orderly as possible. Her scraped and bloody hands reached for the sleeping bag rolling open.

She should’ve tied it better…

She should’ve never left the boat…

She should have never left Pallet…

Celeste’s voice called out nearby. She was shouting for Lori, who Delia only half-noticed was still unconscious. Her breaths quickened, and she didn’t dare look back at the ocean.

And then…

A flash? A blur? Something tiny floated by her. It wriggled and vanished in another flash.

It was strange.

She blinked a few times, feeling her heart calm. Her hands slowly let go of the sleeping bag. It rolled open again. Shelly cried in delight when Delia petted her, and a smile crept onto her lips.

It seemed silly to be so worried, didn’t it?

The smile turned into laughter.

“D-Delia?” Cee’s voice rang in her ears. Her eyes were wide, still panicked. Lori was coming to, scrambling to her fallen Pokémon. She seemed as worried as Cee at first, but Delia noticed Lori’s muscles slowly relaxing as she realised they were all safe here in Cinnabar.

“It’s okay, Cee,” Delia grinned.

“Okay?” she glared. “That… thing, it’s…” She turned to the ocean, blinking at the clear water and blue skies. “It’s… gone?” She looked dumbfounded.

Lori snorted. “Everything is okay in Cinnabar.”

Celeste shook her head. “No… it… I…” She fell back, holding her arms and panting heavily. “Come on, that ghost was hell-bent on killing us… It… must be lurking…” She stared at her own shadow for a while, then shook her head. “Dhelmise is out there and…”

She kept on talking, but somehow, Delia just felt like giggling.

They made it.

Ahead of them, Cinnabar rose beautifully, with red-roofed buildings and intricate constructions carved out of volcanic rock gleaming under the bright sunlight. The volcano stood tall and mighty among the lush green vegetation, every colour pulsed with life. Delia took a deep breath and smelled the flowers in full bloom.

Finally, gone were the troubles and worries, blown away by the gentle breeze. For the first time in years, Delia felt light. She felt like laughing, and the messy locks of hair blowing over her eyes were like comforting strokes.

“…so many questions! Why was it here? How’s it just gone?” Celeste kept talking.

Delia did not know the whys and the hows.

In Cinnabar, she knew but one thing.

Here, it was paradise.