Grass Continent ~ Amp Plains

[Namohysip]

"I won't hold you back?" Cal asked, and then, after some hesitation, she nodded. "A-alright. I'll come with you. Besides, we're supposed to be really durable. This should be no problem for us!"

Sour, amused, said, "If that's your choice, then continue north at a walking pace. I'll be sending Onion to catch up with you to guide the rest of the way. Good luck... And if you see Cream again, tell her I send my usual."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Sure thing, partner!" Luz exclaimed, apparently to Cal, to Sour, and to herself.

She set off without hesitating, swinging her arms with loose energy. They were onto something after all, against all expectations!

 

[Namohysip]

They walked, as instructed, for quite some time, and Cal eventually spoke to break the monotonous boom bursts in the sky. "I thought this was gonna just be some aimless wandering before giving up and going home," Cal said, looking back to see her light footprints. "We've probably been walking for half a day by now." No hunger, no fatigue. It really did remind Cal that she wasn't really a Charmeleon. "Hard to tell under a sky like this..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz checked her badge for the time since her last report-in on the groupchat.

"Yeah, not quite that long. But a while. Plenty of time to think. I don't much intend t'give up, whatever we find today. Yer welcome t'keep pace with me as long as y'like, of course. You're good company, partner."

She snapped her digits a moment after a peal of thunder, timed exactly with the strike of lightning from further off. She grinned to herself. Wouldn't it be something, to 'fuel the sky'?

"Yer pa is pretty powerful back where he's from, right?" she asked. "Chinwaggin' with Legends even before all this. Have y'got some kinda..."

She pawed her mouth, hummed.

"D'you wanna have power?" she asked, at last. "An' the responsibility that comes with it?"

 

[Namohysip]

"...I dunno," Cal replied simply. "I guess I want to help people and, like, do something with myself... but I dunno if I have the same kind of ambition that Dad has. And I dunno if he wants the power he has back home, either. The Wishkeeper half of him definitely has those responsibilities and it seemed like, y'know, he was prepared for it. But the 'him' he is now... Well, pff, who am I talking. He's a Heart. That means he's one of the thousand strongest and good-spirited Pokemon in the world by default, or something. Think of it like a more mundane Poppin' Arms--the Guild of Guilds or something."

She kept pace, pausing occasionally for the booming thunder to subside.

"I guess that's pretty cool. I guess I just wonder if I'm the material for that sort of thing sometimes. And when you talk about power, it sounds so... heavy."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz shrugged. "I figure real power has t'be heavy. Like, I'm made from stories about a hero who's brave an' bold and wild, but seein' all the wrong as gets done by powerful individuals makes me think that it takes somethin' special t'be strong in that way an' stay strong in the other way, y'know? Doin' what's right, if'n y'know what that even is."

She strode forwards, and focused just a little harder on what her 'fur' ought to look like when soaked-through. On how to be more real.

"The stories say she's good 'cause it's in her nature, but the way they describe Zeraora Luz... Well. I guess I'll never know. I just can't help but wonder if bein' good ain't just on you, but on the world, the people around you. Maybe it's easy to stay good if everyone loves you for it."

 

[Namohysip]

"Easy to stay good... if you get good back, huh. That's true..." Cal hummed. "I guess if Owen was always mistreated or something by those he helped, he might, you know, stop doing that. Kind of like the things Bahamut says about the way he was treated in all the worlds he visited. Or... how Brisa is treated by her town."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz's reply caught in her throat a moment, but she forced them out all the same.

"People don't treat Brisa right where she's from. I got plenty of her memories up here," – she tapped her head, conscious that the memories were actually in the stone her chest concealed – "an' that's somethin' I can say fer certain. The problem is how stable it all is. They don't harm her, they don't spit on her, they don't do none of that. They're polite. But they ain't welcomin'. So Brisa just does her duty, season after season, an' they give her what they owe her and nothin' more'n that. She'll keep goin' that way fer her whole life, I expect."

Luz laughed, and it was a strange sound, at once amused, ironic, and terribly, terribly sad.

"I think I'd do the same, if I were given her life."

 

[Namohysip]

"I don't know if that's true anymore," Cal remarked. "Owen used to be the same way. Same life over and over, the duties and the reciprocation from those he trusted, but it was all... I dunno, it was a mask for what they were keeping from him. And once he found that out--just a tiny little change--suddenly..." She searched for the words. "Suddenly everything fell apart. Now he's looking for a new normal. Nothing's normal back home anymore, maybe never was..." Cal smirked. "I think he's happier, though. In a weird way."

Someone was sprinting after them. Looked like a smaller, spry Luxray with a large mane. That must have been Onion.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Maybe all it'll take is a tiny change," conceded Luz. "Y'know, a tiny change actually happened, just a day or so before Briz woke up in Veritas City..."

Her attention turned to their pursuer.

"How d'ye do, stranger? Might ya be Luxray Onion? Well met!"

 

[Namohysip]

"Hey!" Onion said back, stopping only once he was a few paces ahead of them. "You guys made good progress! The place to Zeraora's rumored abode isn't far from here... But, you're sure you want to go?" Onion's face turned a little grave. "Adventurers have tried to travel here before, and now that it's no longer a Dungeon, to fall here spells death if you don't have a way out. It's happened before. You'll meet your ancestors before you know it."

"Joke's on you, I don't have any," Cal mumbled under her breath.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I ain't worried about that," said Luz, beaming. "I mightn't be mortal, anyway! An' I got bravery written into my very nature."

And her only ancestor was Luz Escarpa.

"C'mon, let's get on!"

 

[Namohysip]

They made quick work of the rest of the travel, idle chatter passing the time. Onion talked about their usual travel routes, the strange Charmander sightings in what little remained of the Amp Plains Dungeon, and of course asking how Cream was doing in the Mystery Continent. Apparently, to most of the world, it was aptly named, perhaps because of how far and away it was.

Eventually, Onion stopped at the edge of a clearing where the charred trees gave way to a wide and open field of gray grass. "They say that Zeraora left a message in the middle of this field somewhere," Onion said. "Or that she's just watching here and hanging out. She likes the isolation, maybe. But uh... the way she tries to stay isolated is pretty extreme if that's true..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"I've been pretty darn social from the day I hatched," remarked Luz. "No idea if th'Wanderin' Light was as social as the tales described. They tell of a gal who'd show up to every party, but be gone before it was over. Sure seems like yer gal here ain't a party animal."

She walked into the bleak clearing without fear. She'd take a look, first. Then maybe she'd start calling out.

 

[Namohysip]

"You need me around?" Onion asked, though he wasn't advancing.

"I think we'll be okay," Cal replied, following Luz.

"Alright. Be careful." He started back, though his body language suggested he was going to linger.

"Mmm..." Cal shook her head. "The skies seem really thick here. Are you sure this Zeraora is really here?"

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Ain't sure at all, but I gotta try," replied Luz.

Time to call out.

"Zeraora of Cibus!" she cried. "I am a zeraora with no history, seekin' a future! I ask you to speak with me!"

Worth a try.

 

[Namohysip]

No response.

Cal wasn't surprised, but it still felt discouraging.

But as they continued through the field, the wind seemed to pick up, and the electricity in the air crackled more intensely. Cal growled and tried to brush it off herself. "I can't hold my form like this," she mumbled.

But to Luz, there seemed to be something else about the electricity. Something that perhaps only a fellow Electric could understand. It seemed to be communicating something--the sparks themselves held a message.

Turn back now, or face mortal peril. If you wish to seek me, then risk it all on your pilgrimage's final trial.

Lightning struck the ground at the top of a faraway hill. The sound came a split-second later, quite literally blowing off Cal's face.

"That was a big one!" Cal said as she tried to press her faceparts back together.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Luz halted for a moment, and put a paw on Cal's shoulder.

"Zeraora is speakin' t'me through the electric terrain. She ain't too friendly. Cal, are y'sure y'wanna come with me fer this bit? Startin' t'think I might genuinely be in danger. Which, y'know, I'm fine with. But I gotta pass the warnin' on."

 

[Namohysip]

Cal finished reforming her face. "N-no," she said. "If we got this far, I'm coming with you, alright? We're supposed to be indestructible anyway..." She steeled herself. "I'm ready to go. I'll follow your lead..."

The skies rumbled challengingly...

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

"Alright, darlin'. I'll look out fer ya."

Luz gave Cal's shoulder another squeeze, and kept on.

Bring it, Zeraora of Cibus.