* * *
PART IX
-
Who Are We, Really?
* * *
One doesn’t escape death easily. And those that do end up paying a different cost one way or another. It had been a few years since Hein left Sisu with those words, when she began messing around with threads far bigger than her. Perhaps a decade. She didn’t remember, and she never thought much of it to begin with. Words of wisdom from a crazy old man, with all due respect. She liked Hein, but his experiences had coloured him.
Yet that sentence had stuck with her over the years. And until now, she hadn’t quite figured out what he meant.
She sat on the sidewalks of the town of Whitepond, up north in the Whitiaran wilderness. The town was made up of thin wooden cottages, sat alongside a ridge that gave a commanding overlook of the surrounding area. Hunters came up with the idea originally, but what remained of the Crest made good use of it. Several of the green scarves patrolled the streets, walking amidst the few civilians that lived here.
Contrary to towns like Tirasford or Snowviary, no commoner wore much in the way of garbs or clothing. Fur got the job done around here, it turned out. Much like the wooden cottages the folks lived in, worked in, and sold their goods in, it was enough. And Sisu wasn’t any different, in that regard. Difference was, she had ectoplasm instead of fur, and a frown for a resting face.
“Everything really went that wrong, huh…”
She groaned under her breath, her voice buried under the wind and the troubles of others. Civilians and Soldiers alike passed by, the former without so much as a glance, the latter with suspicion. The questions of who she was and who she supported didn’t have clear answers. Well, they did, but not from the Queen’s perspective - the Soldiers remaining stood by her word.
But their suspicion was warranted, in Sisu’s eyes. If anything, they trusted her too much. She didn’t even trust herself enough to show her face to the world.
“Thought I had it all planned out. Thought Sefonia could last through winter that long. ‘She’s a tough cookie, livin’ through harsh winters out here!’” She took a hand off her face, just so she could slap it. “And you didn’t even think about her condition? Dragons and ice being like a Rattata and an Arbok? How dumb are you, Sisu?”
She pinched her ectoplasm, fingers twitching while her other hand clenched. She’d been repeating herself for a while. At least an hour, out here in the snow. No one had bothered to check up on her.
Nevertheless, she kept at it for a while, hoping the responsibility sank in. It’s her fault Blitzer and Sefonia nearly froze to death. If Speedy hadn’t spotted them, that crazy coot, she’d be a whole hell more miserable. Imagining what she’d have to tell Hein, Terez, or that Dewott boy to excuse herself.
She shook her head. “Can’t sit here all day,” she said. A passing green-scarved Flareon snickered; she pretended to not hear it, before getting up.
Following the weary street lanterns to the back of the village, a church stood with open doors. Creator worshippers congregated there. Sisu wasn’t an adamant believer herself. But church had more uses than the spiritual. The troubled could always find a place there, even when others shut their doors. Sisu was plenty troubled. And she wasn’t alone.
Past the nave of the church sat a hallway with doors to various rooms. Among them were a school, a private room, and most importantly, a clinic. Though it may resemble one on the surface, the church’s clinic didn’t offer typical medical services. Rather than physical maladies, it treated diseases of the mind. Ailments affecting both soul and body were no exception.
Alas, clinics like this were in short supply in Eravate these days. The purple skies spreaded like the plague, and with it spreaded the black strain.
Sisu opened the door without knocking. The doctor in charge, an Indeedee, wasn’t particularly happy to see her.
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No. Just here to check up on someone.”
The Indeedee shook their head. “You cannot just enter a clinic unannounced. It does not matter how important you fancy yourself. These patients deserve the dignity to recover in peace.”
Sisu tapped her foot. “I’ll have you know, this right here is more important. Last thing I wanna do is drag a big Charizard in here, ‘cause his girlfriend’s died or gone insane. You know I warned about that, right?”
Indeedee scowled at her. “You said she was single when you brought her in. Now you’re telling me she isn’t, Marshadow?” they said, Sisu’s species being pronounced with contempt. Sisu casually stuck her hands into her ‘hair’, causing her horns to merge halfway.
“‘Tis a matter of perspective.”
“Stop…”
Laying on a bed at the far end of the room, Sefonia got up about halfway. She had a tired look in her eyes, flicks of orange breaking through the black vapours trickling off her body. A variety of herbs in greys and blues, a mortar and pestle, a bottle with a slight puddle at the bottom and a thick book sat on a stand beside the bed, the Dragonite’s claws nearly matching it in size.
“Just let her in. I’ll deal with her, you’ve got enough on your plate as is.” The Dragonite stared in between Sisu and the Indeedee, her eyes flicking to one or the other every second.
It didn’t last long, but she could be read like a book. Sisu puckered her mouth. ‘Did I say something funny? Gods, imagine if she remembers Tenebrous. Then she’ll really give me attitude!’
The doctor sighed. “Are you sure about that, young Dragonite? The remedies take time to apply. I don’t even know if you’ll make a full recovery, even if you get all the rest you need.”
“Yes,” said Sefonia while wiping her face down with a claw. “If I can’t recover all the way, then not resting up doesn’t matter, does it?”
“That’s not how it works.”
“Just do us both a favour, please.”
Indeedee begrudgingly obliged, first asking the other patients to forgive them, before leaving Sefonia and Sisu to their whims with one last request: ‘Don’t wake the other patients.’ Sisu swore to oblige with a hand in front of her mouth, lest she’s seen smirking. Sefonia had her figured out, in all likelihood, but she didn’t need any more bad blood.
The door clicked back into its frame, and Sefonia blew air through her nose like a Tauros. “Why are you here?” she said, claws clamping on the bed sheets. “Didn’t you hurt me enough already?”
Sisu folded her arms. “Relax. I’m here to check up on you, y’know.”
“What? So you can see your handiwork?” Sefonia asked. The antennae on her head fell victim to gravity. She raised an arm from the covers, then stretched it out over her head; the scales were all bruised and cut, dry trickles running down. “Here you go. Happy?”
Sisu’s mood soured. The conversation was going south already, just after they’d escaped from there. “Sef, c’mon… look, I know. I suck at planning things. But we’re alive! We ain’t alone anymore, we got all the chance in the world to keep on fightin’.”
The floorboards creaked as something crashed on top, then bounced past Sisu in pieces. She looked over her shoulder. What was left of the mortar and pestle slid against the bottom of the wall, to the sound of groaning patients. Sisu raised an eye at the situation.
‘So much for not wakin’ anyone, huh. Doc’s gonna dip her in holy water at this rate.’
“You’re so damn casual about it, you,” the Dragonite growled, scowling. “Like it’s no big deal that we almost died. You just had to rush this whole plan of yours, right? Couldn’t have knocked out the doormen at the start, right?”
“Do you think Blitzer had forever in there?” Sisu countered, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. “They were torturing him. He’s still in that coma!”
“Do I think Blitzer had five more minutes? Yeah.” Sefonia leaned forward for emphasis, ending up on her side. “Don’t talk like I wanted to keep him locked up for another week!”
“I’m not,” Sisu said. “C’mon, chill. We ain’t enemies. I mean, I don’t wanna be your enemy. We’ve got the whole world in front of us now. Can’t look back at past failures forever.”
The Dragonite let out a hiss, then shirked away, her wings falling into their resting position as she sat up straight, looking out the window.
“I don’t have anything, Sisu. That’s the whole problem here. I just threw my whole life away after it got destroyed. I loved it before, you know that, right? I had the Smaugus, I had a purpose, I had plenty of friends who loved me for who I was, no one who hated me. Maybe Chronos gave me tough love, but he was just one Pokemon… “
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She huffed, slowly raising her claws to her eyes. “Now what am I? I followed you and someone I barely met on a hunch. Just because I had a good feeling about him, I don’t even know why. I’m sick with something no one knows, and everyone else I’ve known is sick, too. Now what am I? A traitor. Everyone who ever loved me wants me dead now.”
The Dragonite sobbed as she hid her face from Sisu, the other patients that might chip in, and the rest of the world. The Smaugus had a rule. No wearing your emotions on your sleeve, for they made you weak. No exceptions. Least of all around those who would condemn your true colours.
“This is horrible… Sisu, I… I threw my whole life away for this. I can’t go back, Sisu. I can’t…”
Sisu watched the Dragonite cry to herself for some time, her horns flickering a little uneasily, but otherwise unmoved. She wasn’t shedding tears herself. No one else in the room was.
“Hey Sef. Lemme get something straight, alright? There ain’t nothin’ more toxic than relationships born out of insincerity. Just obligations. How’d you get into the Smaugus, anyway?”
“I’ve been with them my whole life,” the Dragonite replied, her tail whipping the sheets. “Why are you asking this? Do you think I didn’t love being there? They were my world, Sisu!”
The Marshadow stuck her hands behind her head. “Yeah, they’re your world ‘n all… but were you ever their world? I mean, boss man Ampharos right over there was talkin’ about killing you ‘cause you followed your conscience. Talked about how that fat bastard of a Charizard was gonna mount your head on his wall. Or chew on your bones, something like that. Does that sound like love?”
The Dragonite’s claws dug into the scales around her eyes. “No,” she growled. “Do you think I’m so weak that I’ll let anyone walk over me like that? If anyone tried anything funny on me, I’d break their damn jaw! Even Chronos if he tried, I’d beat him with a claw tied behind my back!”
“You did say everyone wants to kill you now.”
“Y-yeah, right now, but-”
“Sef.”
With little regard for what the Dragonite would do, Sisu hopped onto the bed. She made sure to not touch her bulk at all, a feat easier said than done. Granted, the straw her feet touched on top made scales sound comfy by comparison. A kick, too.
“You know what those friends of yours in the Smaugus got up to, right? Behind the scenes where you weren’t lookin’? It ain’t just Chronos, his broken-toothed wife or that Ampharos. ‘Tis everyone. Maybe not so much before, but your folks are showin’ their real selves now. Blackhearted thugs. Why do you think they put Blitzer through a meat grinder?”
“B-Because-” Sefonia cut herself off halfway. She spoke as if her throat shrunk while her mouth was open. If an explanation did exist, she couldn’t vocalise it. Sisu took it as there not being one.
“Because they’re monsters. Sef,” Sisu spat. “Why do you think they never wanted you to see ‘im? Or make bonds with anyone outside the Smaugus, at all?”
Sefonia removed her claws from her face, gripping back onto the covers. She looked tired. “Rules. But… We all preferred keeping it in house. Telling ourselves no one else would understand us. Why we live the way we do, together.”
“And y’know what that really means?”
“Well?”
“That if someone from outside got to speak with you guys, you’d realise how messed up the whole ‘Smaugus way of life’ really is.”
Sefonia stared at Sisu for a good while, her face souring more and more with each second. Her whole way of life, insulted and slandered. Sisu half expected a punch to the face, or that fiery breath dragons were famous for. Nothing of the sort came, much to the relief of herself and the other patients.
“...Why didn’t you do anything earlier?”
“I’m just one girl. The hell was I gonna do ‘bout the Smaugus? I mean, I knew the truth, but you guys had respect. Worked side by side bangin’ elbows with the Crest for a while. You think I want the government hunting my sorry butt down?”
“But you’re Marshadow.”
“Yeah, and you think Marshadow’s not gonna have any issues? Me versus a thousand goons? Yeah, no thanks.”
Sefonia looked into Sisu’s eyes again, then sighed. “...What do I do?” she asked her.
Sisu just shrugged. “Dunno. Stayin’ here and healing for a bit helps. Alternatively… you should visit Blitzer when he wakes up. He’s still in that coma.”
“Since he evolved…”
“Eyyup. Was pretty damn ugly. But man if that wasn’t awesome, watchin’ that Ampharos get what he deserves.”
The Dragonite exhaled, then turned her snout back to the window, her hand rummaging through the items on the stand beside her. “I just feel bad for him, honestly. It can’t have been easy for him.”
“Uh-huh.” Sisu hopped back off the bed. “You should visit him when he wakes up. Doc says it shouldn’t take much longer.”
“Right, right… I’ll do that,” Sefonia said. “Just let me rest up first, please.”
“Sure will,” said Sisu as she hopped off the bed, then strolled for the door. “You still got time. I did say he hadn’t woken up yet.”
With those words and a wave, she parted ways with Sefonia for now, much to the relief of the Indeedee who sneered at her on the way out. She sighed. Truth to be told, she had to visit Blitzer herself once he woke up.
* * *
The smell of tea drifted into Blitzer’s nostrils. It had a vaguely citrusy aroma to it… at first whiff. Could’ve been anything. Jasmine, mint, forest fruit, to name a few. It’s difficult telling things apart when sleeping.
Nevertheless, the scent passed from nostrils to tongue. It smelled like ten pots were boiling around him, and tasted vaguely nostalgic, like the tea his mother made in the morning. She always did it so lovingly, and could always find the joke in her husband forcing their son to drink it. Their adopted son, who they treated with love. Much like how he treated them with love. They hadn’t got much. But they were happy.
‘Mom…. dad…’
How long had it been since that fateful night on the ice crust? Freezing to death, under attack from half-feral Pokemon who wanted him locked in a pen, driven to the point of passing out. The last thing he remembered was a glimpse of Sefonia’s scales, and an Ampharos taunting him. Mocking him. Laughing at him.
‘You’re good for nothing, you know that, right?’
‘What a glorious escape plan, Blitzer. Brought home one of our biggest enemies and a traitor, who would’ve thought? You can’t even escape properly.’
‘Imagine the look on your father’s face when he hears about this. When he sees you next. What do you think will happen to you?’
‘If I were you, I’d fall onto my hindlegs. Start begging for mercy. You don’t deserve any, but what do I know? Chronos has been leading us for a reason. You better pray your father is kinder than I am!’
‘What a little whelp you are. Your squeals are funny, you know. So wimpy, so whiny…’
He punched, clawed, flamed back. Yet his body didn’t respond. Not a budge, a twitch, not even the slightest growl came out of his throat. A prisoner in his own mind.
Yet tea had never been part of the dreams. That reminded too much of better times, and his mind couldn’t think back of them in any way other than to cope. As wonderful as they seemed, the world had lost its wonder long ago… tea changed things. For a moment, he felt like a Charmander again, waking up and rushing for breakfast, running around Greenfield’s countryside, meeting up with not the nicest friends, even seeing uncle Speedy.
For a moment, it seemed so true. Then his eyes slowly creaked open.
An overwhelming brightness washed over him, shining through the windows into the little room he found himself in. Blitzer rose his head from the pillow it rested on, his mind a groggy soup. Though he put effort in, he didn’t get more than about twenty centimetres up.
“Gnngh… hello?”
Talk about waking up on the wrong side of bed. It wasn’t just his mind that was a mess. His body resembled a bag stuffed to the top by a child, with no rhyme or reason as to what order or where they put the items. Every part of his body either felt bruised, oversized, stuffed and lumpy, and most of all way too big. At least twice as large, from the head all the way to the tail.
‘...Feel like I got stretched by a Machamp…’
It didn’t end there. His tail was about twice as long and cooked twice as hot. Then there were two screens sticking out of his back. His one horn was now two. Plus, he’d bulked up. Rubbing one claw over his belly confirmed the worst; he’d gotten fat. Like he’d been hibernating. So it felt, anyway.
“Bltizer?”
The dragon’s head jittered. He blinked, then gave his head a good shake. “Hello?” he repeated.
“Blitzer? Oh Creator almighty, you’re awake! You’re finally awake!”
Whoever spoke to him sat on a chair in the corner of the room. Or rather, they stood on the chair; as Blitzer’s eyes focused for a change, and the walls of the cottage came into focus, he got to look the person in the eye properly: A Raichu with a mild drawl on his voice.
“Uh… Hello?” ‘How sore is my throat? Everything I say sounds growled…’
Raichu hopped off the chair, then dragged it out of the corner until about halfway through the room, before getting onto it again. “You’ve been out for a while! I thought you’d never wake up! Is it really you?”
Blitzer blinked twice at him, struggling to move the wing-like sheets into a comfy place. “Uh, yeah? It’s me… Blitzer. But who are you?”
The Raichu smirked at him. “It’s been a while, huh… Remember good ol’ Greenfield? Last time I saw you, you were still just a wee Charmander.”
“Wait…” Blitzer’s eyes went wide, before he flinched. It struck him like a punch to the face. “Speedy?!”
Cheeks sparking, the Raichu bowed. “The one and only… Well, besides my son, but he’s a bit occupied right now. And still a Pikachu, so there’s that.”
With a heave, Blitzer swung his legs and tail out of the bed, the latter rolling out over the floor; despite the boards being wooden, his tail flame didn’t do anything funny. “I thought you were dead,” he said, hoping to get onto eye level with him - the Raichu had gotten a lot smaller over the last few months.
Speedy pointed at himself with a thumb. “Thought you knew better than that. It takes more than a raid to put me down!... Jokes aside, that was a horrible day.”
“Yeah…” Blitzer groaned, falling onto a knee. Then onto another. Speedy looked no less small in comparison. What happened to his arms? Or his belly, for that matter. “What happened to you?”
The Raichu’s face soured for a second, a spark passing through his right cheek. “I was about to ask you the same… I mean, you’ve been through a lot, if what the Marshadow lady said is true. But to answer your question, I got arrested. Soldiers knocked my door down. Did the best I could to protect my son, got beaten to a bloody pulp. Some thuggish Garchomp girl was in charge.”
Blitzer gulped. ‘Gareda, huh…’
Speedy sighed. “So yeah, that didn’t end well. Best I could say about my treatment then is that they didn’t take my son away. They arrested him too. Got put on a carriage north, to Luminity, I guess. Then the people escorting us were picked off in the dead of night.” He shook his head, an awkward smile appearing moments later. “Wasn’t expecting that old bastard to come and save me.”
“Do you mean Hein?” Blitzer asked, tilting his head, tail tip twitching alongside. No burns or fire on the floor yet, nor the covers.
“Pfft.” The Raichu scoffed. “We all knew what he was capable of. There’s a reason no one ever raised a finger against him. We’re fortunate he moved in to run a café, not to kill or enslave us. He could have.”
Blitzer’s blood ran cold at the thought. For a brief moment, he thought the Dusknoir was right behind him, grabbing onto his shoulder. Ectoplasm had a unique chill to it, one you didn’t forget easily.
“Y-yeah. He could have. But didn’t,” the Charizard repeated. “What did he do?”
“Knocked the Soldiers cold. Took me aside. Told me I sinned, and that I should head up north. To Whitiara. With my son.” Speedy half crossed his arms before his chest, the tips of his paws touching each other. “I said I wanted to go back, he said it was too late to. I was a wanted man now. And he was right. Nearly got caught again…” he shook his head recounting the events. The way he described had a certain bluntness to it, as if he wanted to forget it ever happened.
“The journey was a harrowing experience. Had to teach my son some nasty tricks to keep us alive. Stealing from farms, all the cheap ways to attack someone. Ferals and Anomalies are no joke.”
“You taught Junior how to steal?” Blitzer asked. Speedy nodded.
“I did. But you’d better ask him how he’s doing when you meet. He’d… Be scared of seeing you now, I imagine.” A nervous laughter left the Raichu’s throat. “To make a long story short though, I met Sisu… Or more accurately, Sisu met up with me. Thanks to her, I ended up in contact with the boss here. A Metagross, name’s Dritch. Got pardoned, and…” he sighed. “It’s a long story.”
Blitzer nodded along carefully, his cheeks puffed up with air. ‘Uh-huh… you’re not hiding it from me that easily, but…’ “Okay, you can explain later, or Sisu can… But what did you mean, Junior’s scared?”
Speedy leaned back into the chair. “Well, you went from being around twice his size, to seven times. Did you not notice you’ve evolved yet?”
“Evolved?” Blitzer forced his head down to give his body a look over. For a fleeting moment, the shock of hearing ‘evolved’ knocked reality out of him. You didn’t believe any crazy story you heard unless you saw it with your own two eyes, least of all a growth spurt into adulthood. Charizard were notorious Pokemon. Arrogant, proud, boastful, heroic, and a host of other stereotypes. But most importantly, they were adults. Grown men and women. Not fourteen year old boys.
Yet Blitzer had the claws. He had the belly. The two horns and the wings. The massive tail.
“No…” he growled. He damn near choked on the word when he heard it leave his throat growled. Once upon a time, he’d get compliments about having a cute voice. Those days had come to a savage end. That word sounded like it belonged to a monster. For a brief moment, it resembled him.
Those dreams that haunted his comatose mind… had they been real?
“I… I can’t have… it’s too early for this, I-”
The Charizard’s whole body began to shake. Dreams- no, memories replayed in his mind. The memories of blue fire, and a bottomless well of rage. Of incredible violence, and bloodthirst. The memories… of murders.
“O-oh, g-gods…” Blitzer croaked out. “I… I k-killed them, d-didn’t I?”
“Blitzer? Blitzer?! Talk to me, what’s going on?”
Speedy hopped off the chair, lightning bolt zipping behind him. He scaled up the Charizard’s leg, tried to pry his claws away from his face. But Blitzer’s horror did not falter, for he buried his eyes under his bloodstained claws.
“S-Sef… Sisu…”
A demonic laugh echoed from far, far away, breaking through the walls as if they were mere air…