Chapter 5
An Uneasy Campfire
Content Warning: Suicidal thoughts and ideation. Proceed with caution.
Nina and her newfound companions ran as far from Treasure Town as they could. They went further and further out into the darkened wastelands, eager to get away from the Dusknoir and his cronies that were almost certainly hunting them down.
After a while, however, Nina found herself growing annoyed at Robin’s speed—or rather the lack of it. Nina had run far greater distances than the ground they’d just covered in her past flights from Shuranabi, but the way she couldn’t keep pace with her own Grovyle partner was startling.
On top of it all, the stamina of this ‘human’ left a lot to be desired too. Nina was only feeling slightly winded by the lengths they had crossed across the wastes, yet Robin was panting heavily and clutching her side, having gained a stitch from all the running.
How in the world has she stayed alive all this time? I thought humans were meant to be legendary heroes! Yet this one struggles at a simple run!
“Quit lagging behind!” the Ninetales growled, flashing her teeth at Robin. “There’s no reason why I should have to contend with your slow speeds! At this rate we’ll all be caught because you can’t keep up!”
She turned to keep running, but found herself facing Lifis’s open claws.
“Back off, you!” the Grovyle growled. “No one gets left behind!”
Nina only gave a huff in response, half-tempted to lash an ember at Lifis, as Robin came to a panting stop next to them.
“We’ve….come…far…enough…” Robin wheezed, leaning against a dead tree. “Can’t we…take a break…?”
“Take a break?” Nina scoffed. “I’ve heard that talk before when running from Sableye with others. Every time it ended in bloodshed. If you want to be mauled by them, then be my guest.”
Robin, still panting, clutched her chest, winced at Nina’s words, but Lifis shook his head and scowled at the Ninetales’ standoffish words.
“We can afford to,” he insisted. “We left them behind a while back. There’s bound to be an alcove we can hide in.”
They had reached the edge of the wastes, where the land began to climb. The path zigzagged up the hills ahead of them, reminiscent of an old trail over them that was thankfully still intact enough to traverse across, in spite of crumbled edges that made the trail frightfully thin at points. Nina could leap over them, and Lifis could too; but to the Ninetales’ surprise, the human proved adept in spite of her windedness, leaping over gaps just as nimbly as her Grovyle partner.
Nina could at least take a crumb of comfort from their surroundings: there was a Mystery Dungeon inside these hills. Abundant Pass, or at least that was what Nina remembered it being called back before time stopped. It scarcely resembled that the last time she saw it, with how the planet’s paralysis meant it was nigh on impossible for plants to grow. It, like seemingly everywhere else in this bleak world, became barren once all the existing plants had been picked, and it only grew a small handful of berries thanks to the inherent energy of Mystery Dungeons.
Maybe Lifis has a point. We could
use that to our advantage, the Ninetales considered. Even before time collapsed, Mystery Dungeons had always been haunts for Pokémon on the run for a
reason. Just as outlaws used the ever-shifting nature of the Dungeon to hide from the authorities, so too would it be more difficult for Shuranabi and the Sableye to track them down in there.
“That Mystery Dungeon ahead should hide us well enough,” Nina said. “We’re going up.”
Without waiting for an answer, she started up the hill. However, before they could make it more than a few steps, Robin called out from behind.
“Hey…! There’s a place there.”
Nina turned to look back and see Robin pointing to a small hidden clearing next to a number of petrified trees. Judging by her panting, she was still winded from all the running.
“We don’t need the Mystery Dungeon…That should be big enough for us to hide in.”
Nina was tempted to bite back a scathing response, but chose not to. The clearing did look out of the way enough, and in Mystery Dungeons there was the risk of ferals cleaving them through if they dropped their guard. Plus, Lifis
did say they had left Shuranabi and the Sableye far enough behind…
“...I’d rather keep going,” muttered Nina. “But fine. A rest before the Mystery Dungeon would do us good. Besides…”
She looked Robin up and down, eyes narrowing and hackles raising slightly.
“I have more than a few questions for you,
human.”
The human frowned, but otherwise showed no aggression.
“I’m not gonna hide from questions, don’t worry.”
The Ninetales cast a doubtful glance at Robin as all three of them moved to the alcove, where remnants of a fire were visible by the dug-out ground and cold ash that remained. A faint sniff from Nina detected a slight smoky scent, indicating it had been a few days since a fire had been lit here by the last venturer, whoever they might be.
Nina settled in quickly with the others. Robin and Lifis went and gathered bundles of firewood and flint stones, and with a breath of embers from Nina, the three of them had a fire going. The warmth was welcomed by all, its warmth and light combating against the cold that came with the darkness of the world.
The human took some berries in their pouch and stuck skewers through them, beginning to roast them upon the fire. Nina said nothing at first, watching the human with judging intent.
Lifis folded his arms and spoke.
“...I thought you had questions.” Lifis raised a brow at the Ninetales. “Skitty got your tongue?”
Robin gazed at the Ninetales from the corner of her eye, not saying anything. Nina shifted her position, her tails curling around her side to catch more of the heat from the fire.
“I
do have questions for her. And I have ones for you, too,
Grovyle,” Nina replied. “I was merely watching her first, to make sure she wasn’t bearing any ill intent. I didn’t survive this long by blindly trusting everyone I came across.”
Lifis snorted at that response, and Robin scowled, shooting a glare at Nina.
“For the record, if I wanted to kill you, you’d have never left that beach we found you on,” the human fired back. “An arrow through the head tends to make short work of a lot of ‘mons.”
Nina gave a low growl at that threat, but Robin wasn’t fazed. Though as the human took her bow and fiddled with it, it did make Nina curious…
The Ninetales’ gaze drifted between the two weapons that Robin had wielded during her engagement with Shuranabi. Along with the bow, a quiver and knife sat by the rock along with the human’s satchel. They looked surprisingly well-kept, she thought, and though few Pokémon wielded weapons, this human seemed rather meticulous to that end.
She must not be very strong if she’s relying on those. Only weaklings would make use of them.
“I’ll start off simple, then. Two questions first.” Nina’s declaration drew Robin’s and Lifis’s gazes, as the human continued to twirl the skewers on which the berries were being cooked. “Who are you two? And-” She let her gaze fall on Robin for the next question. “And what are you
really?”
Robin gave the Ninetales a disapproving look, as though the question had been stupid.
“My name is Robin, and I’m a human. ...I thought you’d have figured that already from what Shuranabi said.”
“And to save you a question for later, I’m Lifis,” the Grovyle chimed in. “The two of us are adventuring partners together.”
Nina looked between them. This duo appeared quite the awkward mismatch - as they would when one was distinctly not a Pokémon. Both were bipedal, but that was where the similarities ended. Green scales with one, pale flesh with the other. One employing weapons while the other used their natural abilities. A human paired with a partner wasn’t unheard of before, but surely it hadn’t looked
this odd in the past.
“...Hmmm.” Nina stared curiously at Lifis. “Why partner with a human?”
“Why not?” Lifis frowned. “You got something against humans?”
“A human isn’t one of us,” Nina replied, before turning back to Robin again. “To see a mythical creature like you walking amongst us isn’t natural, even despite the state of the world. How do I know you’re not just some Ditto in an elaborate disguise?”
“Because I’d be using powers like that if I was.” Robin’s peeved look didn’t abate. “But I’m not. I don’t have any special powers like you Pokémon do. So I have to get creative.”
She held up her bow, and gestured to the knife and quiver, laying there beside her.
“I know how to craft,” she went on. “Me and Lifis hunted down the materials to make them. There’s gems and emeras lying in Mystery Dungeons that I collect, and I enlist the help of an Alakazam enchanter that gives my weapons elemental power. Like my knife.”
Robin reached over for it and held the dagger up. A pinkish light emanated from it, giving the blade a sheen as though it were newly forged.
“You see that light coming off it, right? That’s fairy energy there. It slashes like one of your moves, and works well on ‘mons like Sableye. It won’t last forever - I’ll have to get it enchanted again at some point - but it’s served me well in my time here,” Robin explained. “Same with my bow, where it enchants the arrows to have a ghostly energy to them. Quite handy when your biggest enemy is a ghost like Shuranabi is.”
Nina stared at the bow and knife, finding a begrudging impression coming through her. Maybe the human wasn’t as hapless as she’d thought.
“...I see,” the Ninetales murmured, straightening her tails behind her. “Next question, then: how did you end up here as a human?
Without becoming a Pokémon?”
That question, Robin seemed a bit more hesitant on. She took the berries off the fire and handed the skewer to Lifis. The gecko took it and began nibbling on it. Nina glanced at Robin warily as the human composed her answer.
“...I wasn’t born here,” she replied gingerly. “I was summoned, by a voice.”
“Summoned?” That drew Nina to attention. “By who?”
“I don’t know.” Robin shrugged, idly putting more berries on another skewer before roasting them as well. “They asked me questions in a void. The weirdest stuff, like, ‘Do you want to be taller one day?’ or ‘You see a big, comfortable bed, what do you do?’. Like a fever dream. I couldn’t feel my body or anything.”
The human’s brow furrowed at the memory.
“Things got a bit weird from there. The voice who asked me those questions just…
stopped. Almost like they were suddenly interrupted partway through,” she explained. “The next thing I knew after that, I was falling, falling and falling. I must’ve lost consciousness, because next thing I knew, I woke up in this world.”
Nina quirked her head. This sounded like a completely fantastical story. Some alien creature summoned from another world, who woke up in here? It sounded bizarre…yet she
had heard of such a tale before.
“It sounds like the Air Continent’s calamity,” she murmured. “There was a human from another world who was summoned there to solve a world-ending crisis, some three hundred years ago. They managed to pull through on it by requesting Rayquaza’s help and destroying a falling meteor.”
Her tone turned bitter as she gestured to the ruined state of the land around them.
“…Clearly the gods weren’t listening when this calamity came about.”
“I’ve heard about that, yes. Lifis told me stories about the human, ‘Finn’ or something like that,” Robin said. Her hand kept steady as she rotated the skewer. “But I don’t know why I came here like this. Apparently the human who was brought to the Air Continent transformed into a Pokémon - a Treecko. Yet…” She gestured to her own body. “Here I am, clearly
not a Pokémon.”
That was strange, alright. There would definitely have been more of a hullabaloo if the human from all that time ago showed up like this, Nina thought. So how could this have happened, where no transformation had taken place?
“Maybe some interference with the process happened?” the Ninetales suggested.
“Could be.” Robin kept an eye on the skewer as she spoke. “But if I was sent here by some god to avert some world-ending calamity…then I’m pretty sure I know what that calamity is.”
She looked around her, biting her lip at the petrified trees and dark skies. Lifis brought an arm to her shoulder to comfort her.
“To think it’s been about a year already since I found you,” Lifis remarked, polishing off the last of his skewer. “Time sure does fly…even if it is stopped at the moment.”
Nina shrank back in surprise.
“A year? You’ve been here a year?”
“Yep. I woke up in a dead forest, surrounded by dead trees and floating rocks.” Robin took the skewer off the fire, analysing it. The berries were slightly burnt in patches, but nothing that was inedible. “Aaaand immediately, Primal Dialga was on to me, sending Shuranabi and his Sableye after me, wanting me dead. Good thing a certain someone happened to be in the right place at the right time.”
She thumbed in Lifis’s direction.
“I found her and helped get her to safety,” the Grovyle said, taking over. “Never expected to see a human in the flesh. But…whatever form they take, an ally’s an ally.”
Nina recalled something like that being said to her before at some point, by one of those many faces she’d forgotten over the decades. ‘The enemy of my enemy’s my friend,’ or some such. She would’ve seen that way once, but she was too burdened by many cynical years to see merit in such a saying.
But fine. Let’s see their take on it all.
“Allies, huh?” Nina sat cross-pawed. “Was that why you were hunting me down in Treasure Town, then? Sounded like you were trying to find me specifically. Why else would you be out there? That place is all ruins now.”
Lifis blinked in surprise at the deduction, while Robin only shrugged.
“...Guilty as charged,” Robin said. “We need help right now before we can put our plan into action.”
“You’re an enemy of Dialga too, aren’t you? Shuranabi wouldn’t have attacked you otherwise,” the Grovyle mused. “Some folks speak of this Ninetales that wandered the wastes and attacked anyone who dared stand up to her. But…you know what they say about enemies of enemies. And if we teamed up, then…”
Nina supposed she could see Lifis’ logic. It was a very common strategy, one which had been the building blocks of alliances past and present, and one that she’d even used herself at times. She was aware that some knew of her, and some chose to shun her because they didn’t want to be associated with a fugitive and thus be hunted down by Shuranabi.
It wasn’t the first time she’d been given an offer like this, including by Pokémon who’d used some of the very same words Lifis had. In her more youthful days, she’d even accepted a few of them and team up with one party after another in the hope of one day vanquishing Primal Dialga and bringing the world out of this dark age.
But that was when she was still young and naive. When she had hope in her heart that the evil of Primal Dialga and Shuranabi would fall. By Ninetales standards, she still had much of her life ahead of her, but after three hundred years of failure after failure, it was hard to see a point of going on. She stopped trying centuries ago, since every time she came across types like the human and Grovyle before her, she’d always find herself with one thought:
Another pair of foolish optimists.
And to think one of them was part of that prophecy, yet they were spouting this time-worn dreck? Familiar scepticism flashed in her eyes as she narrowed her eyes at Robin and Lifis.
“So what’s your plan, then?” she huffed. “Platitudes and sharing enemies can only take you so far. I’m no friend of Shuranabi myself, but
why should I side with you? What makes you any different from everyone else who’s gone after him or Primal Dialga in the past?”
Both Robin and Lifis looked at the Ninetales with confusion dotting their faces.
“Do I…need a reason?” Robin asked. “Why would you not want more allies?”
Oh, great. The Ninetales’ tails lashed.
She’s one of those.
“Tch! Just like I thought,” Nina scoffed. “You’re trying to form some kind of resistance against Shuranabi, aren’t you? In which case, forget it! I’ve heard your talk before, and it all ends the same way!”
“What are you talking about?” Lifis’s confusion only grew.
“‘It all ends the same’?” A defensive look came into Robin’s eye. “What kind of attitude is that to have?”
“The kind of attitude you’d have if you’ve seen what I’ve seen,” the Ninetales growled. “You wouldn’t know. You’re too young, both of you. But I was there when time collapsed, and I’ve seen
generations make futile attempts to keep up hope in this darkened hell,” she said. “I can’t even begin to tell you the number of resistances to Dialga rise and fall in the blink of an eye, all because the people behind them don’t know a hint of a strategy!”
Nina grit her teeth as her hackles raised and tails lashed, her fire burning inside with her anger beginning to bubble within.
“You’re all the same! All full of empty words of determination and false hopes that fall like houses of cards against Shuranabi’s conniving ways!” she snapped. “They learn nothing from their failures, and all they do is repeat the same strategies that are doomed to fail, again and again!”
“N-Nina?” Robin’s eyes flashed with almost a hint of fear at just how angry the Ninetales was, while Lifis held up an arm in defence. Nina’s whole form shook in frustration, and she slammed a paw down.
“
Nothing you’ve said has been any different than all those others before you!” she spat. “Shuranabi has eyes and ears everywhere - hell, he could be listening in on this conversation as we speak! And Dialga himself’s more powerful than anyone in the world right now! He’s a
god gone mad!”
Nina’s teeth were bared, in full snarl at boiling point, and the flash of doubt in Robin’s eyes and shock on Lifis’s face was encouraging. Finally they were seeing their idiocy unravel!
“Three hundred years. Three hundred
damn years! You’re only two people! You honestly think you can make a shred of a difference when no one else could?!”
Robin shrank back from the increasing fury and frustration of the Ninetales bubbling to the fore. Nina’s words had made their impact, and for a second, a look of doubt flashed on the human’s face. The berry skewer lay limply at her side, as the fire continued to crackle, breaking the quiet that came in the aftermath of Nina’s outburst.
Nina panted hard in the aftermath, eyes wide with surprise that she had let her emotions burst like that, like a Typhlosion’s Eruption. But she had made her point, and judging by the shifting look on Robin’s face, hopefully that stupid over-optimist would see it too.
For gods’ sake, why can’t any
of them be different?! How can they still have this sort of childish idealism after three hundred years
of this hell?! I’m sick of their half-baked platitudes! I’m sick of them raising my hopes just for them to crumble to nothing! I’m sick of this damn world! I just—
Before she even realised it, tears began to form in her eyes, as the fire within her began to ebb.
I just want this to end! To never have to hear about ‘Primal Dialga’ or ‘Shuranabi’ again! To not have to keep running! To not have to wallow hopelessly anymore! To finally be able to just lie down and rest!
Rest… her mind turned towards a persistent vision of how she’d get it. She’d be on some cliff face—in Treasure Town or gods-knew-where at the edge. And then she’d jump. She’d keep falling, falling,
falling with the ground
hurtling towards her at an alarming rate. Then she’d
hit it, her blood would pool out from her body and grow cold with it, but she wouldn’t feel it. She wouldn’t feel anything at all.
And everything would finally be over.
Nina suddenly snapped to attention, her hackles were raised and her breaths uneven. She’d had that vision many times, and no matter how hard she tried to bat it away, it just kept coming back, over and over.
…No, no, no! Even if it’s an out, I can’t possibly take that path! I can’t! I can’t! I can’t! I…I don’t want to die…
Her whole body shook with fear at those dark thoughts, that they were invading her mind again.
“Are you…crying?”
Nina didn’t realise she had started to hyperventilate, and Robin and Lifis had both noticed. The human’s earlier doubtful look was gone. There was worry etched on her face, and she’d brought her hand to her chest.
She’s…pitying
me? Nina stiffened, and averted her gaze.
“I don’t need your sympathy.”
But she couldn’t hide her tears as they continued to fall and her vision began to swim.
“...Three hundred years of this dark world, huh?” Lifis murmured.
“Geez…I’ve only been here a year, but I’ve seen some things.” Robin’s voice poured with sympathy for the Ninetales. “To be here for so long…God above…I’ve heard Ninetales can live a thousand years, but I’ve never seen one for myself until you.”
Nina said nothing, gritting her teeth and silently begging the tears to stop flowing. She didn’t need this, not from these
children, these stupid idealists.
Crying…just like old times. Gods, I’m still that pathetic coward all these decades later!
Lifis looked slightly uncomfortable, watching the Ninetales crying her eyes out. One look at Robin implied his discomfort, as if to say, ‘Handle this, please.’ Robin seemed to understand in an instant.
“People shouldn’t be condemned to a world like this.” Robin shook her head. “Especially when there’s near immortal Pokémon like you around.”
“Stop pretending like you know my troubles!” Nina hissed, her tears still flowing.
“I’m not acting like I do,” Robin replied. “All I can do is assume. And from what you’ve told me, it must’ve been utter hell.”
No more. No more! Nina thought, shaking her head desperately. She didn’t want to give the human another reply. She didn’t want to hear any more of this. She didn’t want to be here anymore. She just wanted to leave this damned clearing behind and run away into Abundant Pass - at least she’d be quick to lose them then.
“... All the more reason the plan’s gotta succeed, then.”
Nina, her muzzle stained with tears, glanced curiously at what Robin had said as she blinked the tears out of her eyes. As much as she wanted to bolt there and then…maybe she could at least hear the human out.
“... What
is it, then? You haven’t told me all this time.”
Robin seemed to fiddle with her bow as she considered her words.
“...You’re right. I hate to say it, but we’re not defeating Primal Dialga.”
What? Nina blinked in shock. That was a new admission. Was the human…giving up here and now?
Robin glanced down and sighed.
“As much as I hate to say it, the two of us wouldn’t have a hope in hell defeating him. He’s simply too strong.”
“Yes…We are well aware of just how powerful Dialga is.” Lifis clenched his shoulder, as if clutching a phantom wound. “It’s a fool's errand. So…we thought about this for the longest time with our friends and came up with something.”
Lifis looked over to Robin, who nodded at him with a small smile on her face.
“We’ve gotta go back,” the Grovyle continued. “Back to the past, before the world fell to ruin, and correct what caused time to spiral out of control.”
Nina tilted her head curiously. That was…new. A much different path than what other resistances tended to take.
“...Tell me more.” Her voice was weak from the tears, but maybe there was something in their plan, judging by how Robin and Lifis nodded to each other knowingly.
“It’s related to Dialga,” Robin went on. “Once he was a god just like the others: Palkia, Arceus the Creator and the rest of them. But for whatever reason, long ago…Temporal Tower and his domain, in a place called the Hidden Land, began to collapse, and that was what caused time to go haywire.”
“Therefore…” Lifis added. “If we were to prevent it from collapsing in the first place, then time would be saved, and the world wouldn’t have to end up in this dark state.” She gestured to the world of darkness all around them.
As much as she hated to admit it…Nina couldn’t deny it was a plausible plan at the outset. But it needed far more scrutiny if it was going to succeed.
“...It’s easy to say things, you know.” The Ninetales sat back down, paws crossed. “But how are you gonna prevent time from collapsing? Tall talk like that’s usually what scuppers plans of resistance.”
“Not this one,” Lifis refuted, joining back in. “The Time Gears. We’re gonna bring them to the altar atop Temporal Tower and use them there. We’ll stabilise time that way.”
“The Time Gears?” Nina’s ears pricked; it had been a good while since she had heard of those fabled objects. “...They’ve become useless now that time’s stopped. We all thought they would keep time stable back then. Apparently not.”
Something else then occurred to her, and she frowned at the duo.
“How would you even find them in the first place?” she asked. “They were sacred objects with their locations shrouded in the utmost secrecy. You’re not just going to leap into the past without knowing where they are, are you?”
“We’re not
that unprepared,” Lifis scoffed. “Robin and I have spent the past year scouting all over the Grass Continent to find out where they are. It’s taken a lot of work and effort and avoiding Shuranabi and ferals alike…”
“But we managed it. We know where all five are located.”
Robin dug into her satchel, pulling out a map. On it showed a rough sketch of the Grass Continent’s layout, with mountains, forest and lakes roughly scribbled. Judging by its creases, it had seen its fair share of use. But on that map were five distinctive Xs, with arrows and annotations denoting the locations in scrawled letters.
TREESHROUD FOREST
BOULDER QUARRY
FOGBOUND LAKE
QUICKSAND CAVE
CRYSTAL CAVE
Nina peered at the map curiously. A number of those Mystery Dungeon names did pluck long forgotten threads in her memory.
“We’re ready and raring,” Robin said, folding the map and returning it to her satchel. “Once we get to the past, it’ll be a cinch getting them!”
Nina didn’t feel so sure. Something else stirred in her memory, of just how sacred the Time Gears were in the past. Objects that were practically myth, and said to be instrumental in keeping the world together, so much so that pilfering them would be one of the highest forms of sacrilege. And if these two were planning on doing just that and thinking it would be a cinch, as Robin said…
“You are aware that you’ll bring down the wrath of the entire Grass Continent on yourselves by taking them, yes?” The Ninetales’s tails twitched irritably. “No one, not even the most desperate or nefarious outlaws, ever dared to take the Time Gears from their spots. I can’t even begin to imagine how much of a bounty you’d have on both your heads afterwards.”
Nina expected a reaction of shock from either human or Grovyle, but to her surprise, both of them gave her a stone cold expression.
“I know. And I don’t care.” Robin said. “If all the world is gonna become my and Lifis’ enemy for trying to save it… then so be it. It’s not like it’s any different than what we’re already going through right now. But unlike now, we’d actually have a hope of victory.”
“And besides…” Lifis added. “After we’re done, we’ll vanish anyway. If we’re all going to die in the end, at least going out restoring the world will be one worth dying for.”
Vanish.
Die in the end.
Dying for.
Three parts that made Nina stiffen where she stood.
“Hold on,” she interjected, praying that she’d heard wrong. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, did we not tell you? Yeah…this might be a hard pill to swallow.” Robin considered her words - the pause proving unnerving for Nina - before shaking her head and coming out with it.
“If we restore time in the past, this timeline’s gonna be erased. In other words, this world and everyone in it’s gonna be wiped out.”
It was as though an icicle had struck Nina’s heart.
“Wh-What?”
Nina’s ears pinned back after hearing the human’s explanation. She just
knew there was a catch to Robin’s plan. It had actually sounded promising - going back to the past to correct it, instead of making do with the barren present. But this? This was a sting in the tail, alright, and she could feel her heartbeat quicken. Lifis spotted this and immediately leapt to her next point.
“We’ll be making a better world for the people of the past,” the Grovyle said, quickly attempting to save face. “If we succeed…then the people won’t have to suffer this. They’ll be able to live their lives normally, without everything fallen to ruin like we’re in now.”
Robin then pointed to Nina before continuing.
“Hell, you were
there when everything fell apart!” she said. “Weren’t there others you remember back then that you wish could’ve kept living normal lives back then?” She pointed to Nina. “Weren’t
you happy back then, before time collapsed?”
I wish, Nina thought. Her cowardice had done nothing but shackle her, and having no parents to lean on for comfort didn’t help at all. Happy? When was the last time she felt that way, apart from the satisfaction of ripping bandits apart?
“I can’t remember the last time I was happy,” she confessed, crossing her paws again. “I lost my parents to an earthquake, and when I kept trying to join Wigglytuff’s Guild, time and time again I kept baulking and running away. By the time I plucked up enough courage, time had stopped and the world was falling to ruin. Then…I lost my teammates to bandits because I was too weak to protect them. Some dreams fulfilled there.”
She winced, flashing her teeth in a pained gesture.
“I have no right to have survived as long as I did. I should’ve died that day with the rest of them. I killed countless over the centuries to keep living. ’Kill or be killed’ – that’s what I lived by all this time! …But for what?”
Nina could feel her heartbeat begin to quicken and her words became strained with building emotion. She heard a gasp of horror from Robin and caught an uncomfortable look from Lifis.
“I sometimes ask myself, ‘Why me?’ Why do I keep running? Why have I lived when all those others didn’t? Why don’t I just jump from one of the cliffs here and forfeit my life?! At least it would be on my own terms and not at Shuranabi’s hands!”
The tears of frustration were beginning to well up once again. Her paws shook, a sense of shame coming over her as a feeling of
weakness crept upon her, one she’d grown to despise.
“I can’t…I can’t escape my own weakness…! Why…W-Why can’t I just…?”
Flashbacks to all she had experienced in this dark time came back to her–
The sky flashing between day and night as time fell into chaos.
The bloodied bodies of Sam and Raijin.
Her own thoughts of how she’d end her miserable existence.
Nina shut her eyes tight.
Just stop. Stop. I don’t need this! I don’t need this! Pathetic...Just like that snivelling Vulpix I once was!
“Nina…” Robin bit her lip. “I’m so sorry you’ve suffered like this. Here…it’s not much, but…”
The human rose to her feet, and through blurry vision, Nina saw her bend down and felt Robin’s arms wrap around and–
Hug her.
The Ninetales stiffened. She hadn’t felt a touch like that in so long. The last one to hug her had been Matrona all the way back when, and the Kangaskhan had been towering with thick arms, her warm motherly embrace being exactly what Nina needed back then to get over her grief.
Robin’s hug wasn’t anywhere near as binding and the feel of her cold pale skin and scratchy cloak was awkward to the touch, certainly much different than Matrona’s scaly hide. But it had the same effect, that closeness and caring bringing back that same feeling the Kangaskhan always gave her when she cried back as a Vulpix.
Even here and now as a Ninetales, Nina broke down crying once again.
“It’s okay.” Robin’s soothing voice came out as a whisper, but it was loud to Nina’s sharp ears. “We’ve all suffered, but you’ve suffered worse than anyone else has. It’s alright to cry…”
It wasn’t alright. Not to Nina. She should’ve grown as a ‘mon, not bawling like a little kit in this alien’s arms. She needed to be
strong. There was no place for the weak in this world. It had taught her that in the bluntest, harshest terms long, long ago.
But was what she had really strength? Bottling up her emotions behind a stone cold front until they burst out of her? Running from one kill and hiding place to the next until she wore herself out and this darkened world finally claimed her?
No. No it wasn’t, even if she didn’t know what she still had left. She couldn’t even keep herself from crying, no matter how she quietly begged for her tears to stop. All the tears she thought she’d cried out of her centuries ago were now coming back to the fore.
Robin kept her embrace and said nothing, as the Ninetales hiccuped and sniffled, occasionally stealing glances for the exit as a part of her just wanted to run away. She didn’t need this anguish, to be reminded that the pathetic little Vulpix she thought she’d buried back with Sam and Raijin was still a part of her even now. Especially not in front of this Grovyle and human she’d only just met.
And yet…said human was showing a great deal of care to her. Patting her on the back, uttering those sympathetic words, and keeping her embrace up. Shuranabi and the Sableye could’ve ambushed them there and then, but Robin didn’t seem to care. It was the sort of thing a loyal friend would do, but here she was, doing it in spite of them only having known each other for a few hours.
Why? was what Nina wanted to ask at that moment. But she was too choked up to speak. She sniffled, as the tears mercifully began to die down.
“...It would be a waste to just end your life in vain.” Robin partly released the hug, but still knelt in front of Nina with her hands on the Ninetales’ shoulderblades. “But if you want to die on your own terms, wouldn’t you rather do it by changing it for the better? Even if you weren’t happy in the past…what about everyone else around you back then?”
It was that thought that gave Nina pause, as she took long deep breaths to try and calm herself down. Not for her sake…but for Matrona and her little joey. For Sam and Raijin, those teammates of hers that didn’t have to meet such a grisly end. For everyone else in Treasure Town who had watched the world fall to ruin with her on that day.
Were they a cause worth dying for? To avert calamity and give them all a second chance?
“You said it before,” mumbled Nina, looking down and not making eye contact. “That we’d all die anyway…”
“Yeah. Even me and Lifis.”
Robin then gave a small, sympathetic smile.
“I’ll admit, I…I’m scared too, when that’ll come to be. But we’ve made up our minds. We made a promise, me and Lifis, to change history. We’re committed to this cause, and if it’s for the world and everyone in it…then we’ll give our lives for it.”
The human took her hands off the Ninetales, bringing them back to her sides. Lifis then walked up, and he and Robin extended their right hands forward.
“Will you join us, Nina? Will you join our promise and change history with us?”
Nina looked at the pale outstretched hand full of calluses, along with the set of green claws next to it. This human shouldn’t have been alive in this world. But it wasn’t just those weapons and her Grovyle partner that had kept her in the land of the living, the Ninetales realised; it was the dogged determination that wouldn’t let go until she had fulfilled her goal of saving the world.
And by the look in the Grovyle’s eye, Lifis seemed to be the same; one to never give up until his goal had been completed. They were willing to help her, and looked to stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside her.
It’s been so long, but… Maybe… Maybe this is one cause I can get behind.
Nina lifted up her paw and placed it in Lifis’s claw and Robin’s hand.
“Very well. I’ll join you in your quest.”
Robin and Lifis smiled as the three of them shook on it.
And for the first time in gods-knew-how-long, Nina wasn’t alone again.
