Book 2 Chapter 5: Seaside Village
Absol’s eyes blinked open, and they were back in the warmth and comfort of the library. Mewtwo was seated in the middle of their bed, and she lay between his legs, with her chin on his lap. Arcanine and Zorua flanked them on either side, and Team ACT, Delphox, and a dozen other Pokémon were gathered around, watching and waiting.
Mewtwo’s hands slid from her temples to wrap around her ears, his fingers kneading the sensitive spots at the bases. It felt wonderful, and she pushed into it. Letting Mewtwo into her mind the first time, two months ago, had been frightening. Now, she thought, she could understand why Arcanine valued their connection so much. There was a wonderful feeling of unity, of each understanding what the other meant with a completeness which words alone couldn’t convey.
“Well?” Zorua demanded.
Mewtwo didn’t answer, and neither did she. Her dream hadn’t made any more sense the second time. With Mewtwo’s help, the experience was less frightening and more impersonal; like listening to a story rather than experiencing it herself. Her original vision, and her conversation with Darkrai, both had an obvious purpose and direction which this one lacked. Maybe her initial assessment had been correct, and it was just a nightmare.
Mewtwo’s fingers continued to stroke absently through her fur as he thought. He looked haggard, she thought, exhausted from his time in Buried Relic, and she hoped that she wasn’t wasting his time.
#It’s not a waste of time,# Mewtwo assured her. It didn’t seem strange, any more, when he responded to her thoughts as if she had said them aloud. #I admit that I’m not sure what to make of it. However,, before I suggest anything which might influence your interpretation, I want you to explain what you think it might mean.#
Absol hesitated. It had seemed urgent, two days ago, but now she wasn’t sure.
Mewtwo’s hands stopped stroking. He lifted her muzzle, and leaned down to meet her eyes. #We haven’t known each other very long,#Mewtwo said, #but anything you think might be important is worthy of further examination. Let’s assume, for the sake of discussion, that at least part of your dream was a message,# Mewtwo instructed. #If so, what part,and would it mean?#
Now this sounded like one of his conversations with Arcanine, Absol thought, but if Mewtwo’s method worked for the two of them, there was no reason it wouldn’t work for her, as well.
“I don’t think that the part with the Yamasks meant anything,” she began. “I...I’ve never killed someone before. I know it was necessary, but I keep thinking about it.”
That she hadn’t, personally, killed the Yamasks was irrelevant; all nine of them had agreed with Arcanine’s decision, and they all shared responsibility.
“The fight was awful, too,” she continued. “Mount Mistral was miserable, but in Temple Ruins was the first time I thought we might all really die.”
Mewtwo nodded slowly, his eyes unfocused in thought.
“But the part with Mother and Ninetales, I don’t know. They know I reached Pokémon Square, so why would Mother ask? And what Ninetales said about the sky, that’s not what’s happening, is it?”
#I don’t think so,# Mewtwo said.
“So if the part with the red stars was left over from burning the Yamasks, all that remains is when Mother and Ninetales are hungry and cold.”
Mewtwo nodded again.
“So if it is a vision...” Absol hesitated. “All it means is that we need to hurry?”
Mewtwo was silent yet again. She could hear his slow breathing and the beat of his heart, and her own, and the occasional movement of the Pokémon around them.
Zorua cleared her throat.
#Well,# Mewtwo said, #whether your dream was a vision, or just a nightmare, I agree; we’re not progressing quickly enough. I think that you’ve helped me reach a decision on another matter.#
Mewtwo and Arcanine turned to look at each other at exactly the same moment, and Arcanine nodded once, as if granting Mewtwo permission to continue.
#There is another resource available to us. Our Family is rather unique; there are nineteen more Pokemon, in our world, who are all roughly as strong and intelligent as Arcanine. I think that we are going to need their help.#
Delphox raised an eyebrow. “Why now? We could have used them two months ago when you joined us.”
It was a reasonable question, Absol thought, though it could have been phrased more diplomatically.
Mewtwo appeared unperturbed. #They’ve been quite busy dealing with the situation in our world,# he answered. #There is also considerable risk involved in the transition, and I hoped that it would not be necessary. This is…how I lost Arcanine five years ago.#
Delphox looked away. No one else spoke.
#In any case,# Mewtwo continued, #If there is no other pressing business, I’m going to sleep.#
Mewtwo rolled over and curled up on the cushions, seeming unbothered by the continued activity in the library, and Absol, Zorua, and Arcanine moved to the floor in front of the stove so that their movement wouldn’t disturb him.
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“Arcanine,” Delphox continued once everyone was settled again, “there is another urgent matter, but I think it’s something that your team can handle. Seaside Village missed their scheduled contacts yesterday and today. Bay Town has a team on the way to investigate, and I would like to have your team ready to teleport if there is any trouble.”
“Oh,” Absol said, “Lapras and I stopped in Bay Town to repair his raft. I hope everyone is okay.”
“Nothing has happened in Bay Town, as of this morning,” Delphox said, “Alakazam, Xatu, and I have been taking turns waiting for contact, just in case.”
“How unusual is that?” Arcanine asked.
“How unusual is what, specifically?” Delphox responded.
“Two days without contact,” Arcanine clarified.
“In ordinary times,” Delphox said, “many of the smaller towns go months or years without any communication with the Federation. Even when we first implemented Metagross’s sandglasses and daily contacts, not everyone took them seriously. Since the weather has gotten worse, though, most of them are eager for news. In the last month, no one has missed two consecutive days.”
Under the current circumstances, Arcanine thought, that was unique enough to be worthy of investigation. Anything important in Seaside Village?” he asked.
“You mean part of the Orrery?” Delphox asked.
Arcanine nodded.
“Not that we know,” Delphox said, “but it’s possible.”
“Tell me about the village.” Arcanine said.
“They’re on the northeast coast,” Delphox said, “on a bluff looking out toward Spatial Island. I haven’t been there in decades. Fifty or sixty Pokémon, mostly Water, Rock, and Ground-Types.”
Delphox waved them toward the map beside the door, and everyone gathered around.
“There are three mystery dungeons nearby,” Delphox said, standing on a chair to point with her wand, “Magma Cavern...”
“That’s where Mother met Team ACT,” Absol said.
Tyranitar grinned down at her. “Where your mother and Team Go-Getters rescued us from Groudon,” he elaborated.
“We don’t remember anything resembling the Orrery chamber doors,” Alakazam said, “but, given what you found in Waterfall Cave, we can’t be certain.”
“Spatial Rift on Spatial Island,” Delphox continued.
“Spatial Rift is where Team Poképals met Palkia during the Time Gears crisis,” Charizard explained, “since they revisited it while you all were in Meadow Town, we can be fairly certain that there isn’t a sphere there.”
“And Shimmer Hill,” Delphox concluded.
If the Ice-types they’d fought in Meadow Town had successfully attacked Seaside Village, Arcanine thought, they were already two days too late to help them. Any tracks they might have left wouldn’t last long in the snow. If they had found a sphere and had to haul it out, however, there might still be time to intercept them.
Did the Ice-types have another set of disks? Did they know how to use them, if so? The group that they had encountered in Creepy Tunnel hadn’t been able to open the door, even with Bayleef’s reluctant help.
He thought back to his conversation with Mewtwo a week ago. There was something important that they still didn’t understand. Either the Pokémon in the room with him right now knew a lot less than the Ice-types did about the Orrery, and how it worked, and the dungeons where it was stored, or they knew a lot more.
“I wonder what happened to the raft after we crashed on the beach,” Absol mused, “we’ve been so busy that I never thought to go look. And Lapras, too. I hope he had a safe journey back to Bay Town”
“The raft is gone, now,” Tyranitar said. “It was too badly damaged to repair; someone probably salvaged the lumber.”
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Charizard sat alone at the table by the stove. He was writing something, but Zorua couldn’t see what. Curious, she jumped up on the chair beside him. Charizard glanced up and nodded briefly, then returned to work.
There were papers spread out across the table, mostly in Charizard’s handwriting, but there were some in Alakazam’s, and Delphox’s, and several others that she didn’t recognize. Right now, Charizard was writing something about Creepy Tunnel.
“Is that our book?” Zorua asked. “Absol said you were writing about all the stuff we’re doing.”
Charizard nodded. “Not just your team,” Charizard said, “but everyone involved.”
“Why?”
“Someday, someone might need to know.” Charizard gestured around the room. “Look at all the books that have helped us so far. Some of them are thousands of years old - copied and recopied because someone thought that knowledge might be important. We have a responsibility to do the same. I want to get things written down before we start forgetting.”
“Oh.” That made sense, she thought. She had probably read more in the last few months here than in her whole life before.
Charizard dipped his pen and continued writing. It was the part when they’d fought the Klingklangs.
“It’s not as important as that,” Zorua said, “but can I ask you something else?”
“Of course.” Charizard tapped the ink from his quill and lay it down in its tray, carefully replaced the cap on his inkwell, then looked up to meet her eyes.
“Before he went to Treasure Town,” Zorua said, “Grey said I should ask you why he doesn’t go in town.”
“Hmmm.” Charizard leaned back and picked up his mug of tea. His nose wrinkled in distaste as he sniffed it. He began to set it back down, then he changed his mind and took as sip.
“Ordinarily, I would make a fresh pot,” Charizard said, “but who knows when we’ll be able to harvest more? Frightening, isn’t it?”
Zorua nodded in agreement. It wasn’t only tea that Charizard was concerned about, she thought, but food in general, like everyone else.
“Grey has lived in Pokémon Square almost as long as Tyranitar and I,” Charizard began, “he’s not our most prolific criminal, but probably our most noteworthy. I never understood why. He’d live as someone else for months, working, exploring, trading; he’s a very talented Pokémon. He’d make friends, start a business, fix up one of the unused houses. Then, he’d throw it all away on some elaborate prank. The thrill of winning, I suppose? It seems to be common for the Zoroark line. No offense intended.”
“No,” Zorua agreed, “you’re right. It is, um, exciting thinking you’re smarter than everyone else.”
Charizard nodded. “He was run out of town quite a few times, but always ended up back here. Somehow, no one was ever quite angry enough to kill him. In any case, he wasn’t well liked, and when he came back with Eevee one day, everyone was suspicious. She was as close to feral as I’ve seen outside a dungeon; no manners, no planning, and couldn’t speak at all. I’ve seen ferals wake up in dungeons, but I’ve never seen a Pokémon like that outside recover before; ordinarily, all you can do is try to teach them not to fight. She was also far too young to be exploring.”
Zorua nodded.
“Grey took her everywhere,” Charizard continued, “talked to her like a normal Pokémon, brought her here and read to her for hours. I don’t know whether he saw something that no one else did, or he was just lonely.
“They were at Ampharos’s, six months or so after he’d found her. Pink was just beginning to speak. It was Midwinter festival, I think, we were there, and Team Dragon, and Team Hydro, and a lot of others, sharing a keg of Tropuis’ cider.
“Grey announced that they were forming a team. Feraligatr and Dragonite accused him of taking advantage of her, endangering her unnecessarily by taking her into mystery dungeons, and there was a rather heated arguement. Swampert was quite drunk. I don’t know whether he tripped or it was intentional, but he knocked Grey off his stool.
“Pink went berserk. She knocked Swampert out with a single Take Down, chased Dragonite and Flygon a few laps around the room, then she injured herself attacking Salamence, and Ran Away. They broke most of the furniture in the bar, and Ampharos was furious. Grey, uncharacteristically, paid for everything. That settled the question of physical competency, at least, but it was months before Pink spoke again. She doesn’t seem to have a grudge against Hydro or Dragon, but she won’t go near the bar.”
Finally seeing Grey in his true shape brought back so many memories of her mother. When the two of them were alone together, did he relax and let down his illusion, like her mother had? He must, Zorua thought; it was too difficult to maintain in close contact
What would her life have been like in Meadow Town, if her mother had come home? Well, of course, she wouldn’t have been living in the lodge with Riolu and Treecko, but they would still have been friends. Maybe she would have been nicer to everyone, because mom would have been so angry about some of the things she had done. At least, she would have been more careful and gotten caught less. But then, maybe she wouldn’t have been partners with Riolu, or gotten lost in Haunted Forest and met Arcanine, or helped stop the Ice-types. Then she wouldn’t be here in Pokémon Square, now, helping everyone save the world.
The background noise of Charizard’s story stopped. Zorua looked up. She wasn’t sure how long she hadn’t been paying attention.
“Are you alright?” Charizard asked.
“Yeah,” Zorua said, “Grey, um, he reminds me of mom a lot.”
“What happened to your mother?” Charizard asked.
“I think she must have done something awful, once; something she couldn’t even tell me about. We hid in Meadow Town for like twelve years, then she went out one day and never came back.”
“And no one saw anything?” Charizard asked.
Zorua shook her head, sniffing back tears that wanted to form. “She was supposed to be gone a week or two. After she didn’t come back I went to look for her, but I couldn’t find the scent any more.”
“I’m sorry.” Charizard said.
He reached out a hand to rest on her head, and Zorua leaned into it.
“Thanks,” Zorua sniffed. “Um, thanks for the story. I’ll let you get back to writing.”
“My pleasure.” Charizard smiled. I’m here, any time you want to talk.”
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#Arcanine.# Mewtwo greeted him as everyone began to gather in the library, early the next morning.
“Mewtwo.”
Mewtwo’s face was unusually somber Arcanine thought. Was he worried about the journey, or still exhausted from Buried Relic?
#Some of both.# Mewtwo admitted.
Mewtwo pulled a chair over next to him and began to sit, then pushed the chair away and sat beside him on the floor, instead. Arcanine leaned his muzzle on Mewtwo’s shoulder, and Mewtwo’s arm wrapped around his neck.
“Leaving now?” Arcanine asked.
#In a few minutes. I wanted to discuss some details with everyone, first. And, I wanted to talk to you.#
There was, simultaneously, a lot of things left to discuss between the two of them, and very little which needed to be said. If Mewtwo didn’t return, whatever remained unremembered in his past was just a curiosity, since he would never see the Family or their world again. If he did, there would be plenty of time to reminisce when the Family was here. He didn’t know where to begin.
The mental guards which Mewtwo maintained, both to protect himself, and to protect others from him, relaxed, and their thoughts and sensations began to intermingle. Arcanine could simultaneously feel Mewtwo’s shoulder supporting his chin, and the weight of Arcanine’s head on his shoulder; Mewtwo’s arm around his neck, and his arm around Arcanine’s neck. This, he knew, was why Mewtwo often found physical contact uncomfortable.
Mewtwo’s second time dimension was no longer an abstract mathematical construct. As Mewtwo rehearsed the journey in his mind, he could remember the dizzying turn sideways from his four dimensions into something else that his mind wasn’t designed to comprehend.
#In all likelihood,# Mewtwo said, #with Mew to help us, the transition will be uneventful. If something does go wrong...I know things haven’t turned out how any of us wanted, but I want you to know that all of you have been the best family that I could have hoped to have.#
He couldn’t find the right words to agree, but with their minds this exposed, the meaning was shared, and words were a formality.
#I don’t have much direction to give you. You know what needs to be done as well as I do. Mew may return without me; she has helped us already, but it’s hard to know how much she understands, or what her true interest it. I suspect you’ll see Darkrai again, as well, but he is even more unknown.#
#What happens to our work there?# Arcanine asked. They were closer now than they had ever been before, even in the early years when Mewtwo hadn’t always been able to control his power. He could hear the surface thoughts of the Pokémon around them, like whispers in the background, and feel their positions relative to him.
Alakazam, Delphox, Espeon, Medicham, and Gardevoir were more distinct. Without turning his head to look, he could see all of them, or what he imagined must be their their own mental self-images, in a panorama around himself, and he knew that they could see his as well. He could even, indirectly, perceive Zorua and Umbreon through the collective senses of the rest of the Pokemon in the room.
He had wondered, occasionally, whether the sections of his own DNA that Mewtwo had used to create the other clones had given all of them some miniscule Psychic ability. Was any of this his own perception, or entirely Mewtwo’s?
#We don’t know,# Mewtwo admitted, answering his previous question. #None of our cubs are ready to assume positions of authority, and only a handful of people outside the Family are aware of the full scale of our operation, or my involvement. However, the movement we’ve begun has enough momentum to sustain itself for a time; millions of Humans and Pokemon in mundane jobs at the corporations and governments where we have influence, who will mostly continue to work as long as they continue to be paid.#
Mewtwo shrugged. #If we don’t succeed, here, none of it matters. Delphox is right, we shouldn’t have waited so long.#
Everyone was assembled, now, waiting for them to begin; Zorua and Absol, Growlithe and Electrike, Team ACT, Team Arcana, Team Razor Wind, Team Charm. He began to refresh the exercises, nearly automatic after so many years, rebuilding his mental guards.
#Thank you,# Arcanine thought.
#Thank you.# Mewtwo answered.
Everyone in the room was staring at them as Mewtwo looked up to face the group, and he was sure that their conversation had been intended for everyone.
#I expect to return within two weeks,# Mewtwo said, #Three at most.#
“You’d better come back,” Zorua said, “we need you.”
Absol nodded in agreement. “Mewtwo, be careful. I don’t know if we can do this without you.”
#Whatever happens,# Mewtwo said, #don’t give up. There is more happening here, I think, than any of us know.#
Absol circled the two of them, rubbing along Arcanine and Mewtwo’s back, and ending with her head pressed against Mewtwo’s chest. Zorua pushed between them, and Mewtwo reached down to scratch her ears. It wasn’t long ago, Arcanine thought, that Zorua had been suspicious of him, but working and living so closely together, deceit and distrust were difficult to maintain.
#Anything else, before I go?# Mewtwo asked.
“Computers to automate translation?” Arcanine suggested, only half joking, “With solar panels? Vehicles?”
Mewtwo chuckled. #I had the same thought. I doubt Mew will allow it, but I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I could sneak a calculator through?#
#Well,# Mewtwo continued when no one else spoke, #I’ll see you all again soon, I hope. Even you.#
Mewtwo placed a finger on the tip of Zorua’s nose. His shape blurred for a moment, and Arcanine felt the same disorienting drop that accompanied entering a mystery dungeon. Mewtwo was no longer there. Zorua, who’d had her forepaws on his leg, toppled over.
Zorua rolled to her feet and shook. “I bet he did that on purpose,” she grumbled, then she grinned. “Hey. He does have a sense of humor.”
Zorua’s grin faded and she looked away. “He’d better come back, though.”
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The wind whistled through the boulders around them, carrying the scents of the sea, and smoke, and wet ash. The snow underfoot was crusted over, solid enough to walk upon. Absol shivered as she looked around, hunching down into her blanket. They were near the top of a rocky ridge, sloping down toward the ocean to the east, and a wide valley to the south. In front of her, however, were two familiar faces.
“Buizel! Feraligatr! I didn’t know you were here.”
Buizel and Feraligatr both stared for a moment, confused, before Feraligatr recognized her.
“Ninetales’ daughter! Feraligatr exclaimed. “You’re one of the last people I expected to see. So, this weather is why Lapras was taking you to Pokémon Square?”
Absol nodded.
“I should have known.” Feraligatr’s jaws split open in a toothy grin. “With your parents, you were destined for trouble.”
Absol stepped forward to bump her head against Feraligatr’s outstretched hand, then Buizel’s.
“I hope you all have a solution.” Feraligatr pulled a worn green and grey cloak tighter around his shoulders. “I’ve never liked winter, anyway.”
“We’re working on it,” Absol said, “along with a lot of people in Pokémon Square. I can explain more when we’re somewhere warmer.”
Absol turned to look back at Arcanine and Zorua. “This is my team,” she said, “Team Warmth. Feraligatr and Buizel help fix Lapras’ raft on the way to Pokémon Square.”
“A pleasure to meet you, despite the circumstances,” Feraligatr said. He and Buizel were accompanied by a Golem who seemed to take no notice of the cold or the wind, with an miserable-looking Chingling crouched atop his head. “We’re Team Slickrock, temporarily.”
“Have you been to Seaside Village yet?” Absol asked. “What happened?”
Buizel pointed past her, and Absol turned to look. The grey of the rocky coastline blended into the sea and overcast sky beyond, and it took Absol a moment to find what he was pointing at.
They were near the top of a taller hill, here, looking down onto a lower bluff protruding into the sea. Twenty or so squat stone structures clustered atop the bluff, ranging in size from small cottages to a hall as large as the lodge in Meadow Town. A low wall partially encircled the village. The roofs of several of them were blackened and collapsed, and the walls of the two largest buildings at the center of town had fallen inward in places. No Pokémon were visible, but at this distance, smaller Pokémon would have been easy to miss.
“Oh,” Absol said quietly.
“We saw from the ridge,” Feraligatr pointed back the way that Team Slickrock had come, “and decided to call for help.”
“The roofs are thatched,” Buizel said, “the fire could have been an accident, but that doesn’t explain the lack of activity.”
There was no further conversation as they continued down the hill. Everyone seemed shaken by the destruction. Even if it had been an accident, or if no one was seriously injured, there was going to be a lot of work to rebuild, and they probably wouldn’t be able to re-thatch the roofs until summer.
It was summer now, by the calender, Absol thought. She shivered, sidling over to brush against Arcanine as they walked. They didn’t know when it would be real summer again.
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They met the road at the base of the bluff. As it wound upward, the stunted trees in the valley faded to scrub and bunchgrass. He would have put a town in the valley, Arcanine thought, sheltered by hills on three sides, rather than exposed atop the bluff, but with so many different species of Pokémon, one could find someone who enjoyed nearly any environment.
As they approached, Arcanine saw that the perimeter wall was higher than it had appeared at a distance. While the rock wall was only half a meter, it ran along the top of a berm another two meters tall. The slope was too gradual to be of much use as a defensive fortification, and its purpose was probably as a windbreak.
The road passed through a gap in the wall, and they were out of the wind. Like the perimeter wall, the walls of the houses were bermed with earth so that only the upper third to half of each was exposed. The stone walls were chinked with grass and clay.
The village was eerily silent, save the sound of the wind whistling overhead. He could smell some of the residents, mostly Ground and Rock-types, as Delphox had said, but the overwhelming smell of smoke and wet ash made it difficult to determine how fresh they were.
“Hullo!” Feraligatr bellowed. “Anyone here? Team Slickrock from Bay Town!”
The first two houses they passed were undamaged, though the grass was charred in patches around them. There must have been enough frost or snow on the roofs to protect them from sparks. Their heavy wooden doors were shut, and curtains blocked their view through narrow, recessed windows. The thatch on the roofs was not only tied in place, but held down by long poles secured at both ends. This was a village, he thought, designed to weather harsh winters and violent storms.
“Hullo!” Feraligatr called again. “Team Slickrock from Bay Town, and Team Warmth from Pokémon Square!”
Arcanine turned as a door creaked open beside them. A pair of eyes and a canine muzzle peered out through the crack. Then, door swung open wide, exposing a large, cinnamon-furred Lycanroc and Vaporeon.
“Feraligatr!” Lycanroc exclaimed in obvious relief.
Lycanroc rushed out, and the two of them collided in a rough hug. Lycanroc’s chest and face were patchy with the shorter fur of freshly healed wounds.
“I’m glad to see you.” Lycanroc said “We didn’t know if anyone else knew what happened. Did you find Panphy and Cranidos? They went to Bay Town for help.”
Vaporeon stayed in the doorway. She was glancing around, nervously, not at them, but around the perimeter of the village. Behind her, in the darkness, Arcanine could see two more pairs of eyes.
“We didn’t see them,” Feraligatr said, “but we came cross-country, so it would have been easy to miss each other. Pokémon Square asked us to investigate when they couldn’t reach Raichu. What happened?”
“We were attacked three days ago,” Lycanroc said. “Some Pokémon, mostly Ice-types, snuck into town early in the morning and broke into the lodge. No one was there, but Marowak heard them and called for help...”
It didn’t make sense, Arcanine thought; they’d targeted the lodge in Meadow Town, as well. Why attack the town at all? Had they expected to find more discs? Had they expected a sphere in town?
After a moment, he decided that those were actually both reasonable possibilities. Their continent and some of the nearby islands were, socially, largely self-contained. There was no routine communication with the rest of the world, and, as far as anyone seemed to know, no towns of significance to communicate with. It was plausible that elsewhere in the world, there were spheres which hadn’t been hidden in dungeons, or had been retrieved so long ago that no one remembered the details. There could be a civilization of mostly Ice-types, somewhere high in the northern or southern latitudes, who did keep their spheres in their town halls.
Zorua’s claws on his nose brought him back to the present.
“Hey,” Zorua said, “are you listening?”
“Sorry,” Arcanine said, “thinking. What happened?”
“What Pokémon is six meters tall and looks like a stack of bricks?” Zorua asked.
His team, Team Slickrock, and Lycanroc’s family were all staring at him. Arcanine thought for a moment; the description didn’t match anything he could think of.
“Stack of bricks?” Arcanine confirmed.
“Yeah,” Zorua said, “Lycanroc says there were Snorunts, Cryogonals, a Froslass, and a Pokémon that looks like a stack of bricks.”
“Don’t know,” Arcanine admitted.
His new theory was something that he was going to have to discuss with Mewtwo when he returned, Arcanine thought, and everyone else back in Pokémon Square. Someone had mapped the other major continents, so someone must have ideas for where they could begin searching for other civilizations.
Vaporeon emerged from the house to join them, and stood on her hindlegs to embrace Feraligatr. The two of them and Lycanroc walked side by side, nearly touching, followed by a young Eevee and Rockruff, as they continued down the road toward the lodge. The next house had been gutted by fire, and he could see the charred remains of roof beams through the open doorway.
Arcanine found himself staring at Vaporeon as they walked. Even after five years and losing his memory, there was no way that he could have ever mistaken her for his Vaporeon, but something about the way she moved was similar enough that it was difficult to look away.
They had been so close to having cubs of their own, back on Mount Quena. Another month, and he and Vaporeon and Vulpix and Sandslash would have had two young Eevees and another Vulpix trailing behind them, like Eevee and Rockruff followed Lycanroc and Vaporeon.
“They’ve attacked six or seven more times since then,” Lycanroc continued, “not coming into the village, but firing over the walls from a distance. We’re all afraid to work outside.”
They stopped in front of the remains of the lodge. There were four fresh mounds of soil beside the door, each with a few stones carefully piled on top.
“Raichu was our only Psychic,” Lycanroc explained, pointing toward the second grave. “He didn’t even want to be here - he hated our weather, but he volunteered when the Federation sent the sandglass, so we could communicate. He and Marowak were the first ones to fight, while the rest of us were waking up.”
“Sandshrew, Marowak, Pelipper.” Lycanroc named the other three. Arcanine lowered his head in respect. Rockruff and Eevee each picked up a paw-sized stone from the ground nearby, and lay it solemnly atop Sandshrew’s pile. Humans placed flowers, he thought, or at least they did in books and movies, but the act of placing seemed more significant than the object placed; one final opportunity to interact with a Pokémon one would never see again.
There wasn’t much here to see, Arcanine thought, stepping carefully through the wreckage inside of the lodge. The back wall was collapsed inward in two places, as if something massive had slammed into it from the outside. It must have been their mystery brick Pokémon. The wall was more than a meter thick at the base, and it would have required a tremendous amount of force to knock down.
Through the windows, he could see between the houses to the back of the village, where the perimeter wall was similarly breached. Two Rhydons and a Rhyhorn had begun the slow work of rebuilding.
By the time he emerged, there were half a dozen other Pokémon gathered in front of the lodge.
“Is there a way up?” Arcanine pointed toward the cliff.
“Climbing or flying,” Lycanroc said. “We don’t know how they got around back. We weren’t keeping watch - there’s nothing here worth stealing, and we haven’t had bandits in decades.
“So, what do we do, big guy?” Zorua prompted.
“From which direction have they been attacking?” Arcanine asked.
“Southwest, the last two days.” Lycanroc pointed. “We’re not sure where, exactly. With Raichu, Marowak, and Cranidos gone, we don’t have enough strong Pokémon to pursue them.”
“Mystery dungeon that direction?” Arcanine asked.
“Ah, yes.” Lycanroc said, “Shimmer Hill.”
“What are you thinking, big guy?” Zorua asked.
Arcanine briefly explained his theory. “Bayleef took them to Creepy Tunnel. They didn’t find a sphere here, again, so they’re checking the mystery dungeons. But, may still not know how to open them. They have to know help will come eventually; don’t want to be divided, so they’re probably all that direction.”
“You’re going after them?” Feraligatr asked.
Arcanine nodded slowly.
“What do you want us to do?” Buizel asked.
Arcanine considered for a moment. Feraligatr was old, but still looked fairly tough. Buizel probably wasn’t much of a fighter, but he seemed comfortable in the mountains, despite his Type. Golem would be the most useful in a fight, but would also slow them down, and he didn’t know which would be more important. “Chingling should stay here; need to communicate with Pokémon Square if we don’t return. Rest of you, come with us, or stay to defend; don’t know which is better.”
“There are a lot of them,” Lycanroc warned, “and we could barely damage the brick Pokémon. Are you sure you three can beat them?
“No,” Arcanine admitted. “Nothing else, we find them and follow until reinforcements from Pokémon Square.
“I’ll come with you,” Lycanroc volunteered. “I know the area, and you’ll want a guide.”
“Then I supposes I’m going too,” Feraligatr grumbled. “What would Vaporeon say if I let you get killed?”
Wingull, perched on the edge of the collapsed roof of the lodge, drifted down to land beside Lycanroc.
“I’ll come” he volunteered. “I can see further in the hills than any of you, and...” Wingull hesitated, glancing toward the graves. “They killed my partner.”
“Thank you,” Arcanine said, turning back to Lycanroc. “How long to Shimmer Hill?”
Lycanroc considered for a moment. “Three days, give or take. It’s a winding road, through the hills.”
“How long if stay mostly to the ridges?” Arcanine asked.
Lycanroc frowned. “That won’t save time. The hills here are rough, and we’d be ascending and descending every few kilometers.”
“Most of us aren’t good at range,” Arcanine explained. “Don’t want to be charging uphill with them attacking from above.”
“I didn’t think about that,” Lycanroc admitted. “It will add a day, at least.”
That wasn’t good, Arcanine thought. Figure eight days out and back, if nothing went wrong. They didn’t have eight days to waste. Eight days out of touch with Pokémon Square, and eight nights trying to shelter Absol. They didn’t have a choice; they couldn’t risk the Ice-types escaping with a sphere, if there was one in Shimmer Hill.
He wanted more people. He wanted teams watching Spatial Rift and Magma Cavern, and another team following them. It was a huge risk, even if there were teams available; if he was wrong about where the rest of the Ice-types had gone, he was going to get people killed.
“Chingling,” Arcanine said, “can you contact Pokémon Square?”
“I’m going to slow everyone down, aren’t I,” Absol said.
“Want you along,” Arcanine said, “but won’t be shelter. We have to fight at night, can’t have you in the saddle.”
Absol looked away, tail and ears drooping in shame. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I can do it.”
Arcanine leaned into Absol, resting his chin atop her head, and felt her push back.
“It’s okay’” Arcanine said, “you can help here, too”
“I know,” Absol said, “it’s just...this should be so easy for me, compared to Mount Freeze. It’s so frustrating being helpless.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As they crested the first ridge, Arcanine paused, turning to look back toward town. How safe was Absol there, alone? If he was wrong and the Ice-types did return, the Pokémon of Seaside Village couldn’t stop them, and Absol wasn’t one to run away when others were in danger. They might return in eight days to find another pile of stones in front of the ruins of the lodge.
He turned away. There was nothing else he could do. They were all taking risks, and to ask Absol to return to the safety of Pokémon Square would be both counterproductive to their mission and an irredeemable insult.
The canyons stretched out ahead of them, an interminable maze of grey stone and snow. Wasn’t that the afterlife of Howard’s Cimmerians, he thought; to wander a cold, grey wasteland forever? Better to simply cease to exist.
“Too bad Lucario’s not here,” Zorua said.
“Yeah,” Arcanine agreed.
He had been so excited, months ago, to have Zorua beside him. He wasn’t any less grateful for her presence now, Arcanine thought, but now the group felt incomplete with only the two of them.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Arcanine, Zorua, Lycanroc, Wingull, and Feraligatr passed through the berm and wall around the village and turned to the south, out of Absol’s view. She didn’t look away. That was her team, she thought, and she ought to be with them.
Pursuing the Ice-types could be their most dangerous job yet; Temple Ruins at least had the predictability of a mystery dungeon. What if Arcanine and Zorua never returned? What if none of the expedition did, and she never knew what happened to them? How long would she wait here, hoping, before she had to return to Pokémon Square alone? What if neither Arcanine nor Mewtwo returned? No one else understood their plans well enough to continue without them.
Absol’s eyes stung, and she blinked rapidly to hold back the tears. They were a rescue team, even if the rest of the team had gone on without her, and there was work to do here. Also, when they all got back to Pokémon Square, she was going to make Mewtwo and Arcanine explain everything.
A score of Pokémon still stood in the square with her; staring at each other, staring at her, or at nothing, like she had just been doing. She could smell the fear and uncertainty on all of them. Beyond burying the bodies and the handful of Pokémon who had begun to work on the wall since they had arrived, it didn’t look like they had made any attempt to clean up or rebuild.
It was the opposite of how Meadow Town had reacted, based on Zorua and Arcanine’s descriptions. Meadow Town had had Lucario and Luxray’s leadership, but no one was taking charge here. Meadow Town had also won their fight with the Ice-types, with Arcanine’s help.
If Arcanine had remained here, Absol thought, he would have a plan, and tell everyone what needed to be done, and they would probably cooperate, even though it was their town, because he sounded so confident and competent.
That wasn’t the wrong solution, but it wasn’t something that she was comfortable doing. She also didn’t have a plan, or really any idea where to begin making one. The big brick Pokémon was a mystery. The Ice-types could do almost anything, and how could they prepare when they didn’t have enough strong Pokémon to win anyway?
She couldn’t even set a good example for them. She had abandoned her team, and in a few hours she would be cowering inside, afraid of the dark. Still, she had to try.
“Wh-what can I d-do to help?” Absol asked.
Vaporeon stared at her, her face uncertain.
“I can help keep watch,” Absol suggested, “or clean up, or repair...”
“I don’t know...” Vaporeon looked away, awkwardly.
Even without a plan, Absol thought, everyone knew that certain things needed to be done. If they had been too afraid to even go outside for the last three days, it might seem overwhelming, but they had to begin somewhere.
There were few tasks for which she was worse equipped than moving rocks, but the Rhydons and Rhyhorn were the only ones working, so she joined them. Buizel followed. Between the two of them, they could roll most of the larger fallen stones back to the wall, and pile dirt into a ramp to role them into place. She held them while Buizel wedged smaller rocks around them to keep them in place. She didn’t know if that was the right way, or how they were supposed to fit together, but it seemed better than nothing.
“Absol?” Vaporeon’s voice startled her out of the rhythm of work. She turned around.
A dozen other Pokémon had joined them by now, working on the wall. Despite the frigid temperature, the soil seemed to turn to mud as they worked, and her legs and belly were thoroughly caked with it. Her paws were sore, bruised and scraped and aching from the cold.
“We’re starting a watch, like you suggested. Would you like to join us?
Vaporeon wasn’t just asking to to watch with them, Absol thought, Vaporeon knew just how much difficulty she was having with the rocks, and was offering her a more suitable task.
“Oh, yes.” Absol accepted, “thank you. But, I won’t be able to watch very long...” Briefly, Absol explained her curse.
“That sounds awful,” Buizel said. “Lapras tried to explain, when you stopped in Bay Town, but we all thought you were a little crazy, hiding in the warehouse.”
“Th-hank you again for fixing the raft,” Absol said. “Have you seen Lapras since then? I hope he made it back safely.”
Buizel shook his head.
“Wait,” Rhyhorn said, as Absol turned to follow Vaporeon. “Thank you. You didn’t have to help; it’s not even your town.”
“Oh,” Absol said, “well, I had to do something.”
“We don’t have much to offer in return,” Rhyhorn said, “but you’re both welcome to stay with us while you’re here.”
“You can both stay with us, as well,” Vaporeon offered as they walked. “The Rhydons are good people, but I think you’ll find their house uncomfortably cold and drafty. Ordinarily, we put visitors up in the lodge...”
Vaporeon glanced toward the wreckage of the lodge, then looked away.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They spent the first night sheltered in a copse of scraggly pines near the top of a draw. The surrounding ridge blocked most of the wind, but, more importantly, hid them from view in all but one direction.
Feraligatr hunched down at the center of the group, his cloak held tightly around his shoulders. Lacking fur, it had been obvious all day that the cold was difficult for him. Arcanine shifted closer, and Lycanroc, on the other side, did the same. He wasn’t going to suggest that the tough old Pokémon needed help keeping warm, but if they ended up in a pile by accident, everyone’s pride could remain intact.
Zorua, on first watch, looked over and grinned, and he smiled back. As much as he would have enjoyed her company, Arcanine was grateful that Absol had chosen not to come; she would have been even more miserable than Feraligatr.
“Do you know that Vaporeon?” Zorua asked, unexpectedly.
Arcanine shook his head.
“You were really staring at her,” Zorua said, “it was kinda wierd.”
Arcanine didn’t know how to answer.
“Remind you of someone?”
“Vaporeon on my team,” Arcanine said, “um, before.”
It wasn’t a good description, he thought, but Zorua would know what he meant.
“Oh,” Zorua said. “I bet she misses you, too.”
Arcanine didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t want to lie to Zorua, but he didn’t want to explain, either; particularly not here, with people he barely knew. Zorua would feel bad about bringing it up, and that didn’t accomplish anything.
“Yeah,” he agreed. It wasn’t really dishonest, he thought; she would, if she was still alive.
“Maybe she’ll come back with Mewtwo?”
He wasn’t going to try to answer that. Arcanine lay his muzzle on his paws and closed his eyes. They were there is the darkness, waiting for him; Vaporeon, Vulpix, Hitmonlee, Gyarados, Vileplume, Golduck. Laying so close together, all of the others had to know that he was crying, but he didn’t care.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Vaporeon and Lycanroc’s home was small, but comfortable and cozy, and more elegant than it appeared from the outside. The walls were plastered smooth, and hung with blankets against the cold. The ceiling was wood, as was the floor, worn smooth from countless years of use. The east and west walls each held a single window, short and wide, to allow sunlight in the morning and evening.
A small woodstove sat against the far wall. In front of it was a large rug and a pile of blankets and cushions. Dozens of crates were stacked along the wall, filled with Apples and berries.
“Absol and Buizel are going to be staying with us for a few days,” Vaporeon said. “You two help them get dinner, and let them get some rest.”
“Yes, mum,” Rockruff answered.
“I’ll be back after watch.” Vaporeon said. “They’ve traveled a long way and I’m sure they’re tired, so don’t keep them up, okay?”
“We’ll be good!” Eevee promised.
Rockruff nodded in agreement
The two of them looked up at their mother with faces perfectly innocent. Vaporeon stared for a moment, dubiously, then turned to leave. The door clicked shut behind her.
“Are you a real rescue team?” Rockruff asked.
“Are you going to get the bad Pokémon?” Eevee asked.
“Where did Arcanine get all those scars?” Rockruff asked.
“And why is he weird?” Eevee asked.
“Why are you wearing a blanket?” Rockruff asked.
“Is Pokémon Square far away?” Eevee asked.
“Why didn’t you go with them?” Rockruff asked.
“Well,” Absol began, “that’s a long story, but I think we have time. Would you like to hear it?”
When Vaporeon returned an hour later, Absol had just reached Pokémon Square. The room was chilly, but her belly was full, and she was warm and cozy between one of the larger cushions and an extra blanket on top of her own. Rockruff and Eevee were curled together on another cushion beside her, and Buizel sat against a crate by the stove, all three listening attentively.
“Have they been keeping you up?” Vaporeon asked.
“I’m sorry,” Absol said sheepishly, “I think maybe I’ve been keeping them up.”
Vaporeon smiled at her. She took an Apple from the open crate, and lay down beside Rockruff and Eevee, who both cuddled up against her belly.
She was tired, Absol thought, and Vaporeon sounded tired as well. A lot had happened today, and she wasn’t used to the sort of work they’d been doing on the wall. They would have plenty of time the next few nights to finish. It was a good distraction from worrying about her team, and how useless she felt.
Absol waited a few minutes, in case Vaporeon had more to say, then ducked her head under the blanket. Arcanine and Zorua were both so understanding, Absol thought, when she couldn’t do all the things she ought to be able to do. She knew that they knew that she wasn’t really so helpless. Still, when everything was over, she was going to take them both exploring on Mount Freeze and prove it.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
There were two furrows in the snow in the valley, five meters apart and each about a meter wide. At regular intervals within each track, there were deeper imprints, almost a meter square. The other ice-types had left their own, smaller trails within them. The Pokémon in Seaside Village hadn’t been exaggerating the brick Pokémon’s size, Arcanine thought.
That confirmed, at least, that the Ice-types were headed to Shimmer Hill. It was difficult to judge their age in the snow, but the edges had melted and refrozen so they were still at least a day behind.
“Been thinking,” Arcanine said, “maybe we’re going the wrong place. Sphere in Shimmer Hill and they get it, then what?”
“Well, we take it back?” Zorua’s question was the obvious answer.
“I mean, where do they take it? Mewtwo can’t teleport them, they probably can’t either. They have to haul it somewhere.”
Arcanine turned to Lycanroc. “They follow the valleys from Shimmer Hill to the coast, where do they come out?”
Lycanroc thought for a moment, then shrugged. “Wherever they want. There are dozens of routes they could take, over a hundred kilometers of coast.”
“You think they have a boat?” Feraligatr asked.
“Maybe.” Arcanine said. “Don’t think they’re from this continent.”
“We can beat them to the coast.” Zorua said.
“The shore is rough, here,” Feraligatr said, “Even with a wagon, they’ll travel faster in the valley than we would following the coast.”
“Boat is off shore waiting for a signal, could pass it and not know,” Arcanine said.
Feraligatr and Lycanroc both nodded in agreement.
“Wrong about the ridges,” Arcanine said, “take us the fastest route to Shimmer Hill.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
“Your father was quite famous around here, decades ago,” Buizel paused. “Well, he’s probably even more famous now, I suppose, for his astrology, but he and Lapras explored all the islands off the coast. It was before my time, but all of the older Pokémon still talk about it.”
“Oh, yes.” Absol nodded. “He has so many stories.”
“You should get Feraligatr to tell you stories sometime too,” Buizel said. “He traveled with them a few times, and an Absol - your mother?”
“Grandmother,” Absol said. “Ninetales settled on Mount Freeze to stay with her. Mother says he lived in our cave with them, then.”
Ninetales loved her, Absol thought, loved Mother, but his relationship with Grandmother must have been even more special. “Mother said he moved to the big cave after she died.”
“Are you going to tell us a story?” Eevee prompted.
“We finished my story last night,” Absol said, “we’ll have to start another story. How about when Great Grandmother flew through a volcano to rescue Musharna?”
“Absols can’t fly,” Rockruff objected.
“Of course not,” Absol agreed, “but Great Grandmother did. It was more than two hundred years ago...”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The snow at the entrance to Shimmer Hill was trampled to frozen mud. The scents of dozens of Pokémon mingled together; The Cryogonals, Snorunts, and Froslass that Lycanroc had told them about before, the brick Pokémon, and a few others. There must be thirty of them, Zorua thought, or more. Even with Arcanine and his type advantage, there was no way that they could fight all of them at once.
They had camped here at least a day, she thought; or some of them had, while the others were inside. She could smell urine, and feces, and food, and the imprints of bodies huddled up against the cliff, out of the wind. There was a a faint whiff of something else, too; sharp and acrid, but she couldn’t quite place what it was.
Circling farther out, the chaos resolved into two distinct tracks; one leading northeast, and another southeast. The brick Pokémon’s footprints were just rectangles, and she couldn’t tell what direction it had been walking, but they already knew that. There wasn’t anything special about the first set of tracks, the ones from Seaside Village; they were the same as the ones that they had encountered on the way here. But the second set was slightly different.
Zorua crouched down inside of one of the prints, examining the edges closely. It was hard to be sure on the rocky, uneven ground, but this one seemed deeper than the other direction, and the edges were a little bit sharper. She ran back to the first set of tracks, and then to a different print in the second set. Yeah. It wasn’t a big difference, but she was sure that these were a little bit deeper. The acrid smell was stronger here, too, and now she recognized what it was.
“So they came from town,” Lycanroc said, pointing back toward the northeast, “and left toward the coast south of us.”
Arcanine nodded. “But, with or without the sphere?”
“With it,” Zorua declared, “the brick Pokemon is carrying it. Also, do you guys smell blast seed ash?”
“You’re certain?” Arcanine bent down beside her to examine the same print.
Lycanroc, Feraligatr, and Wingull gathered around, and Lycanroc crouched down beside her to sniff the print.
“I smell it too,” Lycanroc agreed. “It must have walked through the dust.”
“Yup,” Zorua confirmed, “I’m an expert at stealing stuff, remember? Also, this means I was right about the door in Creepy Tunnel.”
“What do you mean?” Arcanine turned to look at her.
“I said we should drill through it, remember? But you guys all wanted to do it the hard way.”
Arcanine stared for a moment, then grinned. “Guess you were.”
“Shall I scout ahead?” Wingull asked as they started off.
“Yes,” Arcanine said, “but carefully. Stay high and remember they could be on the ridges.”
Wingull nodded. He circled above them several times, gaining altitude, then turned eastward toward the coast.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
A shadow crossed the afternoon sun, and Arcanine glanced up. His exhausted eyes needed a second or two to refocus from the ground in front of him to the white shape circling above. Wingull circled slowly downs and alit on his neck, in front of Zorua.
“What did you see?” Zorua asked.
“You’re only a few hours behind them, now,” Wingull said. “You gained a lot of ground while they stopped last night. But they’ll make the coast tomorrow morning.”
“Boat?” Arcanine asked.
“I didn’t see one,” Wingull said, “but there’s nowhere else to go. That brick Pokémon moves fast in the valleys, but I don’t think it can climb the ridges with the sphere.”
Arcanine looked back at Feraligatr and Lycanroc. He couldn’t keep pushing them like this. Feraligatr was too old for this, and he wasn’t built for marching. He was too stubborn to stop, but his pace had slowed considerably. He didn’t know how much farther he could push himself; it was almost three days, now, since he’d slept, and he was beginning to hallucinate, napping a few seconds at a time as he walked. Zorua, Lycanroc, and Feraligatr could all take turns resting in Absol’s saddle, but there was no way for him to rest without stopping the whole party.
Even following in the path of the brick Pokémon’s left legs, he was breaking through snow chest-deep. There were no turns to take; Lycanroc didn’t have the weight for the job, and Feraligatr wasn’t keeping up already.
He couldn’t carry all three, but he could leave Feraligatr behind, take Zorua and Lycanroc, and run to the shore. That was probably suicidal; they would arrive exhausted. There were a lot of tracks, more than the group he and Zorua had fought in Meadow Town, and the brick Pokémon was a huge unknown.
Better to go alone than risk the others. Still suicidal, but if he ran straight for the boat, he could probably damage it enough to trap the Ice-types here until reinforcements from Pokémon Square caught up to them. That seemed like a fair trade, with the rest of the Family arriving to replace him.
They still weren’t certain that there was a boat, or reinforcements from Pokémon Square, or that Mewtwo would return with the Family. If he was fresh, he could harass them for days, attacking and retreating into the canyons, as he had considered doing years ago in Treasure Town. He wasn’t. They wouldn’t be either, but they could afford to sacrifice a few Pokémon in a rear guard. One way or the other, the first engagement would be decisive.
That left him with a relatively straightforward choice; the odds that a few hours rest would allow the Ice-types to escape, versus the odds that a premature attack would fail. Arcanine glanced back again. Maybe a little bit further...
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The trail they’d been following grew thinner and thinner, and finally disappeared into the mud of the swamp. Arcanine stopped to look around. Behind them, Mount Quena’s cone was the only feature visible through the jungle canopy.
Arcanine put another paw forward, testing the ground. It squished and sank uncomfortably beneath his pads. He stepped back and shook the mud from his paw in disgust. He couldn’t remember why he had agreed to this.
“It’s just mud,” Vulpix teased from her perch between his shoulders, “it won’t hurt you.”
“Not going in that.” Arcanine said firmly.
“Come onnnn,” she whined, “we’re going to be late for dinnerrrrr.”
“Enough.” Arcanine growled
She was joking, he knew. There was plenty of prey in the jungle, and they had planned to be out another week, at least. Still, he wasn’t in the mood for this.
“Fine.” Vulpix pouted.
“Vulpix...”
“Are you alright, big guy?” Vulpix’s tone was suddenly concerned. Why are we stopped?”
“What?”
Vulpix’s sharp teeth nipped the tip of his ear.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The glare of the sun on the snow was blindingly bright. He closed his eyes and opened them again, slowly. The rocky hillsides around him were unfamiliar. Where were they, he wondered, and how had they gotten here?
“Arcanine?”
She sounded just like Vulpix, Arcanine thought. At least he wasn’t alone this time.
“Hmm?”
“Why did we stop?” Zorua asked.
“Don’t know,” Arcanine admitted.
Lycanroc and Feraligatr caught up and stopped beside him, and he remembered why they were here.
“Who’s Vulpix?” Zorua asked.
Arcanine didn’t want to answer that. He sighed, and began walking again.
“Someone I used to know.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
“What does the map say?” Vaporeon asked.
Arcanine crouched to let Squirtle retrieve the map from his pannier. She unfolded it carefully, and they all leaned in to look.
“The trail should continue,” Squirtle said, pointing on the map. “We all agreed that Aspear-shaped lake we passed before lunch was this one.”
“There’s no swamp on the map.” Arcanine observed.
“Well, the map is eighty-six years old.” Vaporeon said. “It’s the best I could find.”
“So the swamp is new.” Squirtle shrugged. “How often do you think Humans get out here to check? The ruins won’t have moved. Do we want to turn around now and tell everyone we couldn’t find it?”
Arcanine couldn’t argue with that. Even if he didn’t care about the ruins, he wasn’t going to go back and admit defeat. He sighed and turned back to the swamp.
The mud grew deeper and colder as they progressed, and soon he was wading through chest-deep slush. He took another step forward, and suddenly there was nothing underfoot.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
He couldn’t see. It filled his mouth and nostrils, and he couldn’t breathe. Strange voices shouted above him, muffled through the mud which closed around his head. Instinctively he was backpedaling.
The glare of the sun on the snow was blindingly bright. He closed his eyes and opened them slowly. Again he remembered where they were. He’d rather be back in the swamp, Arcanine thought; at least it had been warm. The snow melted rapidly in his mouth, but he could still taste the mud of the swamp. They had found the ruins, eventually, but it had taken weeks to get the odor completely from his fur.
“You okay, big guy?” Zorua’s voice was worried.
“No,” Arcanine admitted.
“We’re stopping.” Zorua pointed to a boulder ahead of them. “Dig out beside that. I’ll keep watch.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The smell of saltwater and seaweed grew stronger as the hills on either side receded. Arcanine increased his pace, letting Zorua, Lycanroc and Feraligatr fall behind. The valley widened, and they tracks they had been following petered out onto a rocky beach, scoured free of snow by the omnipresent wind.
There was no one there. They were too late. The trail ended at the shore, rocks scuffed from recent activity. The scents of wet wood and their quarry were no more than a few hours old.
He scanned the horizon. Grey sea and grey sky faded together in the distance, but there was no ship. Horizon distance was five kilometers or so at sea level, he thought ; they could be out there, so close, yet completely out of reach.
There was no sign of Wingull, either. It was possible that he was following the boat, Arcanine thought. If so, he was on his own. Even if they knew what direction he’d gone, there was no way to send help.
It was also possible that he was unconscious or dead. They could have passed his body anywhere in the maze of canyons the last few days without knowing.
He had failed, Arcanine thought. Everyone had trusted his plan. Mewtwo had trusted him to lead in his absence.
He should have taken them the fastest route to Shimmer Hill, instead of worrying about ambush. He should have run here from Shimmer Hill, rather than keeping pace with the others. He could have pushed himself just a little harder instead of stopping to rest before the job was finished.
For a moment he was tempted to plunge into the ocean anyway; to swim blindly after a boat he knew he could never catch rather than admit defeat. Exhaustion would claim him eventually, or the cold, and he would drown, leaving this world as ignobly as he had entered it. He wouldn’t have to face his team, or Mewtwo, or the rest of the family when they arrived.
If he was going to go, he had to do it now, before the rest of the group caught up to him. He took a step toward the water. His legs were shaking so badly that he could barely stand. Another step.
“Arcanine!” Zorua’s voice echoed across the empty beach
He stopped, but didn’t turn around. His ears swiveled back, tracking her approach by the occasional click of disturbed stones. Soon, she was beside him.
“So I...guess we...missed them...huh big guy?” Zorua panted.
Arcanine didn’t understand how she could be so flippant. The lives of everyone they knew were at stake, and billions of other Pokémon who at least mostly deserved better than freezing or starving to death. His exhausted mind failed to find an answer.
“Arcanine?” Zorua said, “do you see something out there?”
He was still staring out over the ocean, Arcanine realized. He turned away. It was a foolish idea anyway, he thought. They had far to much work here to do. There was nothing to see. Arcanine shook his head.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The wind picked up the next day, shrieking across the ridges in a curtain of blinding white. Huddled in Arcanine’s mane as they walked, Zorua couldn’t tell whether it was new snow falling, or old snow rising.
Feraligatr rode behind her, crouched low against Arcanine’s back. “I can’t see a thing!” He shouted to be heard over the wind.
Though the ridge was nearly clear of snow, the icy rocks were treacherous enough that they weren’t traveling any faster up here than they had been in the drifts below.
Feraligatr was right, Zorua thought; there was no way they could find Wingull in this weather.
Zorua leaned into Arcanine’s ear. “Arcanine, we gotta stop.”
No answer. She didn’t know whether he hadn’t heard, or wasn’t paying attention.
“Arcanine,” Zorua tried again, more loudly, “we can’t see like this. We have to stop.”
“Yeah.” Arcanine grunted. His plodding pace didn’t change.
A figure loomed ahead of them through the white. She scrambled for balance as Arcanine stopped abruptly, tensing for combat.
The blowing snow parted for a moment, and she saw Mammoswine. It raised it’s head into the wind and bellowed; not a challenge, but a greeting. A smaller figure rose atop his head, indiscernible except for a flapping red scarf.
“It’s Team Icicle!” Zorua shouted to be heard over the wind.
Mammoswine turned away from them and bellowed again. A few seconds later, she heard a faint reply from across the valley.
Weavile waved them forward, and they followed as Mammoswine turned and retreated down the lee side of the ridge.
They stopped beneath a ledge halfway down the hill, and Mammoswine lay down a bodylength in front of it, creating a pocket of shelter. Arcanine lay down as well, and Zorua could feel warmth beginning to radiate from his body. Feraligatr and Lycanroc both pressed against his belly. They were all too cold and exhausted to worry any more about dignity. She joined them.
“I’m glad we found you,” Weavile began, “I was worried we would miss you in the storm.”
“I’m glad too,” Zorua agreed, “I thought you guys were pulling the wagon back to Pokémon Square.”
“We were.” Weavile said. “Alakazam said you needed help.”
Arcanine was uncharacteristically silent as Zorua explained their situation. He had to be exhausted like the rest of them, she thought, but he wasn’t resting, either. Without looking, she could feel him fidgeting, muscles tensing like he wanted to fight, or run.
They really needed to talk, Zorua thought, but she didn’t know what to say. They needed Arcanine; with Mewtwo gone, he was probably the only person who understood what was going on. There was something wrong with him that wasn’t explained by exhaustion, or losing one of the spheres. She had schemed to be team leader because she thought she could control him, but now that it was important, she was incredibly out of her depth.
Team Icicle’s other Mammoswine joined them, and settled beside the first. Zorua, Feraligatr, and Lycanroc finished explaining the situation, and the conversation drifted off into exhausted silence. She was just beginning to doze off when Arcanine struggled to stand.
“Where are you going?” Zorua asked.
“Seaside Village.” Arcanine’s voice was as tense as his body. “Need to get back.”
“No.” she said firmly
Arcanine paused, midstep, confused
“You can barely walk.” Zorua said. “We need to rest, and then we have to find Wingull.”
“Gone too long. Need to be back to Pokémon . Need to prepare.”
Arcanine was pawing restlessly, almost walking in place. Being team leader wasn’t going to be enough this time, Zorua thought. If she didn’t go, Arcanine was going to leave her here and run back alone. She would be fine with Lycanroc and Feraligatr and Team Icicle, but could she trust Arcanine on his own?
“Alright,” Zorua offered hastily, “how about we sleep the rest of the day, and then I’ll come back with you, and the others can stay and search?”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
The sun was setting as they said farewell to Lycanroc, Feraligatr, and Team Icicle. They were all good Pokémon, Arcanine thought.
They weren’t going to find Wingull now. If he’d followed the ship, he was well out of reach and would have to make it back to Seaside Village on his own. If he had been shot down somewhere in the maze of canyons, or gone to ground against the wind, they wouldn’t find him in the snow.
It took them four days to reach Seaside Village. With only Zorua on his back and no one else to keep pace with, he should have been able to do it in two. Zorua was right about that part, he thought; he couldn’t keep on like this much longer. Unfortunately, there weren’t any other options.
It was the middle of the night when they reached Seaside Village. Ignoring the questions of the watchmen, he swallowed a few mouthfuls of snow and flopped down in the lee of the first house. Zorua could explain things; she was good at that. There was nothing that needed his attention until they teleported back to Pokémon Square in the morning; then, unless Mewtwo had returned, everyone was going to expect him to have a plan for what to do next.
He woke to Absol’s tongue on his face.
“Arc-c-ccanine, we n-need t-to t-t-talk.”
The sun had barely broken the horizon. Absol’s eyes were wide with suppressed panic in the dim light, and her breath condensed in rapid puffs of fog. Still, Arcanine thought, she was maintaining control; that was better than he’d done, the last few days.
“I’ve been trying to talk to him for days,” Zorua complained, “I’m not sure he’s even heard me.”
“Arcc-c-can-n-n-ine, p-p-lease,” Absol begged, barely understandable through her shivering, “y-y-you ha-ave to c-come in-n-s-side and t-t-alk-k-k to us.”
As insignificant as it was in comparison to their mission, Arcanine thought, Absol was suffering right now, and it was something that he couldn’t ignore.
His legs were slow to respond, sore from days of exertion and stiff from the cold. The pain in his back returned to his awareness as he began to move, burning up and down his spike. His hindlegs cramped, and he had to sit back down and wait for it to pass. Absol and Zorua watched in silence.
Lycanrock and Vaporeon’s house was comfortably warm, cozy with the scents of Pokémon, food, and woodsmoke. He allowed his legs to collapse on the rug in front of the stove. Vaporeon, Eevee, and Rockruff watched for a moment, then Vaporeon turned and led them outside. Her face was disapproving. She probably wasn’t happy, he thought, that he had left her partner, Feraligatr, and Team Icicle to search for Wingull.
“I mean, it’s bad that they got one,” Zorua began again, “but it’s not that bad, right? I mean, they already had some, so we were going to have to find them anyway, and now we have a clue.”
That got his attention. Arcanine raised his head
“Clue?”
“I tried to tell you last night,” Zorua said, “but you were busy pouting. Absol says they saw a big boat going north along the coast two days ago."
Absol nodded. “It’s hard to tell at a distance,” she said, “but I think it was big enough for all those Pokémon and a sphere.”
That was important. Certainly it didn’t excuse his failure, but it did give them something more to work with. When the Family arrived, they were going to need a plan to search for the Ice-types.
