Tarnished Lands - Realm of the Golden King

[MintyMimix]

"Consider us equals, as individuals who share their life and livelihood with a pokemon partner. We're fighting for a common goal, and as long as we're fighting for the same thing, it doesn't matter if you're a Champion or not."

Aggron watched as Hazel nuzzled into Violet's arms and nodded in agreement. Firstly, that they were gonna show Orzo the door to his own realm, and secondly, that Hazel did have a lovely voice, especially when she got excited about something. "I'll have your back, both of you. With this Golden King gone, you'll have all the time in the world for hugs. And yeah, I'll fight for that."

The vibrating cat-weasel that was nestled in the arms of her trainer had started her engine once more at that remark. She had a modest three purrs per compliment.

Violet flashed an appreciative grin back to Steven as she remarked, "Ultimately, every individual pumps the same blood through their veins, no matter the rank." The girl shut her eyes as she continued, "When I first came to this era and heard that titles such as 'Champion' signified one as above the others, I was afraid that in the hundreds of years that had passed since my time that we had not learned from our mistakes — that we merely changed the names out of those who attained reverence from status rather than being as equals."

Her eyes fluttered open as she looked directly into the eye as said, "But it appears those fears hath been unfounded." Her eyes lowered to the ground then back up to Steven as she slowly raised a fist. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she asked, "This is... how you celebrate solidarity now, correct?"

The Weavile motor settled from a purr to a muffled giggle as Hazel tried to hide her amused expression with her claw.

"To answer your question, though, I can read some things. Like the way the rocks point me to the best food, or the way the trees on a mountain tell me where the wind is the fiercest. Books and stuff, though? That's Steven's strong suit. And Metagross's. They read books about rocks. I just read the rocks." He paused, thinking for a moment. "That's probably not going to help me with this, is it?"

"Wait!" said Steven, fixing Hazel and Aggron with a surprised look. "Aggron, I'd love to teach you how to read print if that's what you'd like! Metagross, too."

Hazel let out a gasp as her eyes sparkled with scientific curiosity. "Hang on, you can read rocks without any instruments?!" She leaned forward in Violet's grasp, gripping a bit too tightly onto her arms as she asked, "When this is all over, could you demonstrate for me? I'd love to run an analysis on what kinds of patterns you recognize within the stonework to guide that method of communication! It almost reminds me of how a Trevenant could look at the etches within the bark of a tree to determine its age and direction of water, or how—"

"Hazel, please—" Violet winced as her partner's claws were putting a bit too much pressure on her skin.

Hazel let out a light gasp and raised her arms up in a placating gesture as she curled her legs inward in shock. Her eyes drooped as she squeaked her out, "S-sorry!" and leaned back into Violet's abdomen to relax herself.

He grated out a laugh as Steven looked puzzled. Ignoring the way his trainer began mouthing something to the effect of, 'People call me weird?' Aggron turned back to Hazel. "Sorry, my claws are too big for your phone. You said something about symbols, though? Want to show me some of the easier ones? I may be big, but I gotta start small."

Hazel mouthed a silent, 'Thank you' to Aggron for the brief distraction as she dug into her pocket for her phone. She swapped to her notepad app as she began her tutorial. "Normally, you have this book icon which lets you use different lexicons, but then there's this smiley face one here that you tap, and..." The dull symbols on the keyboard painted into a colorful canvas of expressions as Hazel continued, "...Ta da! You now have a bunch of symbols you can use instead of words. So you can show if you're happy, sad, angry..."

Violet leaned over and watched on from above, enamored by the technology. Just watching the demonstration made her feel smarter, in some strange way. She quirked a brow at the expressions, however — could one not simply read their partner's body language?

"...And if you can't find what you're looking for, swipe right. I mean that literally! You just, put your claw on one side and... Swipe!" Hazel gave the motion a bit of a flourish that her trainer would be proud of. "It's like turning the page of a book! And you can turn it back the other way too!" As she made her gestures, the array of symbols changed from faces to arrows to even everyday objects.

Hazel then held the phone up to Aggron and said, "Iiiiit might be too big for you to not hit multiple by accident, but why not give it a try?" She then tilted her head to side a bit and addressed Steven, "And I know there's bigger tablet versions of these out there... maybe you could give Aggron one of those? Might have to special order a protective screen for claws like I did, though!"

Violet leaned in and whispered to Aggron, "I was unaware of how to access that symbol feature existed, truth be told... this is all magic to me!"

Hazel's ear feathers wiggled as her sensitive hearing picked up her on trainer's quiet voice. The Weavile smirked let out a snicker that her trainer thankfully failed to notice, but it was visible to anyone else paying attention.

Violet backed away and noted more audibly, "Even so, while that device is an incredible tool of communication, it is, sad to say, not quite pragmatic to use in battle." She shook her head, letting out a chuckle. "We... hath tried. In our first attempt, the referee had thought we were trying to conceal some sort of cheat, and on the other attempt, the opposing Pokémon were more than eager to attempt to swipe at it. I forfeited the match as soon as the risk of losing it was made clear: I was not going to allow anyone to take mine unique connection with Hazel."

"Not to mention how hard it is to text and battle?! I can't exactly split my focus in half, Vi!"

"That as well, of course."

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Her eyes lowered to the ground then back up to Steven as she slowly raised a fist. Her brows furrowed in confusion as she asked, "This is... how you celebrate solidarity now, correct?"

The Weavile motor settled from a purr to a muffled giggle as Hazel tried to hide her amused expression with her claw.

At first, Steven wasn't entirely sure what Violet meant, but when he heard Hazel's stifled laughter, the realization dawned on him. "It's certainly one way," he said with a laugh and held out his own fist, gently bumping Violet's so as to not hurt her with his rings. (Sidney had learned that lesson the hard way.)

"Despite everything this festival has turned into, I'm glad it's given us the chance to meet."

Hazel let out a gasp as her eyes sparkled with scientific curiosity. "Hang on, you can read rocks without any instruments?!" She leaned forward in Violet's grasp, gripping a bit too tightly onto her arms as she asked, "When this is all over, could you demonstrate for me? I'd love to run an analysis on what kinds of patterns you recognize within the stonework to guide that method of communication! It almost reminds me of how a Trevenant could look at the etches within the bark of a tree to determine its age and direction of water, or how—"

Aggron gave a surprised snort at Hazel's sudden interest in rock reading. He never expected it to be such a hot topic (well, for anyone who wasn't Steven), not when she could read far more complex stuff herself. "I don't know what music's got to do with it, but yeah, I just kind of always knew how to read them. I can show you what to look for when we get back to the island."

He could practically feel the excitement radiating off his trainer, and Aggron gave an exaggerated eye-roll. "Don't worry, you're invited to the lesson, too. It just has to wait until then, though."

His gaze fell slightly as he scuffed a foot over the barren ground. "They... don't have much to say here. It's kinda sad, in a way. Like they're empty."


But just as soon as he said it, he quickly shook his head and bore a grin again. "But we don't have to wait to learn about your kind of reading," he said, leaning closer to the phone in Hazel's claws. "Fire away, I'm ready."

Normally, you have this book icon which lets you use different lexicons, but then there's this smiley face one here that you tap, and..." The dull symbols on the keyboard painted into a colorful canvas of expressions as Hazel continued, "...Ta da! You now have a bunch of symbols you can use instead of words. So you can show if you're happy, sad, angry..."

Okay, so maybe he wasn't ready. Those were some awfully big words Hazel was using. "Lexi-whosi-what?" he asked, but then shook his head again as he saw the colorful pictures that popped up on the screen. "Wait, never mind, I've seen those things before. That flouncy water-type trainer always sends them to Steven's nav. They usually have a lot of hearts and some kinda kissy face and--"


"Okay! Uh, well, that's quite enough," Steven cut in. The pallid lighting of Orzo's realm did wonders to hide his growing blush.


Aggron snorted a laugh. "It doesn't matter, those are silly pictures anyway. I don't need those faces to tell Steven how I'm feeling, we get along fine in that department. I guess I'm more interested in how we're talking now. Telling stories. Sharing things. Having a chat, y'know?"


Steven had finished adjusting his collar by now, flustered expression back under control. He gave his partner a warm smile. "I have to agree. Even though we understand each other well enough, being able to talk with you like this has been an incredible experience."


Aggon nodded back, though he chuckled at Hazel and Violet's story about using their phone in battle. "Battles aren't time for conversation. Not like that anyway. You let your horns do the talking then. And when you're in sync, your trainer will feel what you're feeling, too." He swung his snout toward his trainer and cracked a toothy grin. "Steven doesn't need to hear my voice to know how I feel."


He turned his head back to Hazel and eyed the phone screen pensively. "Think I could give those other symbols a try? The ones in your books. I've watched Steven write letters and papers and stuff. Maybe I know more than I think I do?"

Aggron waited for Hazel to swipe back to her regular keyboard before holding out a hesitant claw. "Let's see, uh, this one maybe? And uh, this one I think?"

He clumsily poked at the screen until a string of characters appeared in the box.

Hfr11o

Aggron paused, giving the traitorous device a hard stare. He'd seen Steven start plenty of letters, but no, his version didn't look quite right... He studied it a minute more before sitting up with a shrug. "Heh, so maybe not," he said. "Thanks for showing me this, though. I've got something new to learn now."

But before Hazel could reply, Aggron suddenly perked up and looked skyward. There was no shadow in this eerie light to give away the familiar presence... "Speaking of feeling things..." Aggron rumbled.

Steven calmly followed his partner's gaze skyward. There wasn't any alarm in Aggron's posture, no need to raise any concern. "A friend?" he asked.

"Definitely," said Aggron, tracking the dragon's flight above the group. "Good timing, too. I think he and I should have a chat before the big fight."

It only took Steven a moment to remember the Noivern's name. "Malachai," he said.

Aggron nodded. "He's big and hits hard. What can I say, we get along."

As Aggron shuffled ahead to track down the dragon type, Steven held steady a moment longer with Violet and Hazel. "As much as I wish it didn't come to this, I look forward to fighting by your side," he said, offering a small bow. "It's been a pleasure." Giving both trainer and pokemon one last smile, he hurried to catch up with his partner.

 

[MintyMimix]

At first, Steven wasn't entirely sure what Violet meant, but when he heard Hazel's stifled laughter, the realization dawned on him. "It's certainly one way," he said with a laugh and held out his own fist, gently bumping Violet's so as to not hurt her with his rings. (Sidney had learned that lesson the hard way.)

"Despite everything this festival has turned into, I'm glad it's given us the chance to meet."

"Likewise," Violet replied, nodding her head. She kept her fist held up and stared at it, then asked, "So then, I, er, do, this...?" She tried her best mimic a rather finger twirl gesture from a 'secret handshake' guide she had seen in a video.

Hazel did not have the heart to tell her that the video, and that trend, was already outdated by over a decade.

Aggron gave a surprised snort at Hazel's sudden interest in rock reading. He never expected it to be such a hot topic (well, for anyone who wasn't Steven), not when she could read far more complex stuff herself. "I don't know what music's got to do with it, but yeah, I just kind of always knew how to read them. I can show you what to look for when we get back to the island."

Hazel shook she her head and smiled, "No, no, not that kind of instrument, I mean like ones you use to measure things! You know, like scales, or tape, or a particle collider..."

Aggon nodded back, though he chuckled at Hazel and Violet's story about using their phone in battle. "Battles aren't time for conversation. Not like that anyway. You let your horns do the talking then. And when you're in sync, your trainer will feel what you're feeling, too." He swung his snout toward his trainer and cracked a toothy grin. "Steven doesn't need to hear my voice to know how I feel."

Violet parroted Aggron's words back to herself in a murmur. "When in sync, huh..." She looked down her partner as she felt her heart elevate. Could they, too, one day be like that? To know what they felt without speaking?

For once, Violet was the one who had to withhold her own excited noise.

Hazel still caught on and smiled as she further snuggled into her trainer's arms.

Aggron paused, giving the traitorous device a hard stare. He'd seen Steven start plenty of letters, but no, his version didn't look quite right... He studied it a minute more before sitting up with a shrug. "Heh, so maybe not," he said. "Thanks for showing me this, though. I've got something new to learn now."

"You almost got it!" Hazel responded as she turned the phone towards her to look at the result, "It's meant to look lik—"

But before Hazel could reply, Aggron suddenly perked up and looked skyward. There was no shadow in this eerie light to give away the familiar presence... "Speaking of feeling things..." Aggron rumbled.

The Weavile felt her arm tapped by a soft finger that then pointed skyward. Her eyes trailed the direction as her mouth opened in awe at the sheer size of the Noivern flying above.

Violet's expression was a splitting image of her Pokémon, down to the way their eyebrows curled up in reverence and excitement.

As Aggron shuffled ahead to track down the dragon type, Steven held steady a moment longer with Violet and Hazel. "As much as I wish it didn't come to this, I look forward to fighting by your side," he said, offering a small bow. "It's been a pleasure." Giving both trainer and pokemon one last smile, he hurried to catch up with his partner.

Violet was quickly shaken out of her stupor as she offered a nod of her head in return. "A pleasure as well, may we finally put an end to this madness and return to our homes."

Hazel pulled out her phone once more as her claws furiously tapped onto her notepad app. Violet quirked a brow as she read the all capitalized text in what appeared to be a diary of some sort.

HOLY MOLY I TAUGHT STEVEN STONE'S AGGRON SOMETHING TODAY??? AND WE'RE EQUALS NOW APPARENTLY AND THERE'S A HUGE NOIVERN AND

Violet averted her gaze before she could read any more of Hazel's not-so-private thoughts. A permanent smile remained plastered on her face; some things just never changed.

 

[Flyg0n]

An eerie presence lingers all around....

The farther you travel, there is a sensation of being watched.

Whispers... whispers just at the edge of hearing, but from no direction at all, as if inside ones or head, or perhaps right behind you-

"𝔅𝔢 𝔠𝔞𝔯𝔢𝔣𝔲𝔩 𝔴𝔥𝔬 𝔶𝔬𝔲 𝔱𝔯𝔲𝔰𝔱"

Yet there is nothing there.

Still. Voices, voices impossible to place, some of which even sound like the others...

"𝔗𝔥𝔢𝔰𝔢 𝔞𝔯𝔢 𝔫𝔬𝔱 𝔶𝔬𝔲𝔯 𝔣𝔯𝔦𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔰."​

 

[Flyg0n]

Can Steven really handle this? He's strong but maybe he can't protect us...

"Keep an eye on Odette. She could lose it any time. She's damaged goods."

 

[Flyg0n]

"Uncle Wallace scares me. I can't trust him."

 

[Flyg0n]

That May kid is a real piece of work, have you seen her? I can't believe her Ninetales puts up with her.

 

[Flyg0n]

"I just don't think I could forgive someone like him, you know? Now that I know what kind of person he is."

 

[Negrek]

Orzo's realm--you could tell somebody thought they were hot shit, when they started calling the place they lived a fucking "realm"--was exactly as unpleasant as Nate had expected. You could barely fucking breathe for the dust and the heat and the feeling of foreboding or whatever the fuck. It was definitely the sort of place that boded.

Not that it had any effect on Mightyena at all. She was tearing around like a madmon, kicking up clouds of gritty ash that hung hazy in the air behind her, bouncing in and out of shadows, surrounded by her own rippling cloud of darkness. No amount of spooky was going to stop her from enjoying the return of her powers, not to mention her newfound power of speech. She kept bouncing back over to Nate to relate whatever thought happened to be going through her head, whether it was the fact that the distant castle reminded her of a place she'd seen in a late-night movie once or a joke Raticate had told her once. The pit stop at Clink's place and another dose of magic berries hadn't exactly made her less energetic.

It was weird, honestly. Despite the grim atmosphere, more than a few of the other people around seemed to be feeling pretty good about the situation. Even Nate, trudging along near the back of the group, couldn't muster more than a mild sense of unease. One way or another, you could say that after this... at least it would be over.

Mightyena jogged back his way again, temporarily falling into step next to him. "Maybe we could just not go back," she said, looking around at the dim, off-color landscape like it was the sort of place you could make a home.

"Mightyena..." Nate smiled ruefully. "I mean, you know we can't just leave the others behind."

Mightyena huffed dismissively, but it wasn't like she had a proper answer to that. A moment later she took off again, but this time her running was more purposeful. She was definitely headed somewhere. She was definitely--oh. Oh, no. Why--?

"Hello," Mightyena said brightly, galloping up to the weird kid with the ninetales, who was not among the people looking hopeful about things. "I know you're going to be really busy fighting the hoopa, but afterwards, you should teach my trainer how to understand what I'm saying. Like you do for Spirit!" She glanced at the ninetales and gave a friendly wag. "He wanted to ask you earlier, but he's too shy." Dear God, why. "I don't know if he has much money with him, but I know he could come up with some way to make it worth it for you!"

 

[Flyg0n]

“I just don't think Jack can cut it; you know? Physically or literally. He's just not strong enough. He's not a hero like me and he can't even evolve or anything. I don't need his help."

"Mightyena, stay away from the freak of a Pikachu. It's another one of Rocket's damn weapons."

"That Laura girl is kind of soft. I don't think she's good enough for that Noivern or that she can really handle herself in a fight, you know?. I better be careful not to rely on her."

"Hah! Can you believe that 'Nate' can't even read? How dumb is that? And he lied about his name. Definitely not hanging around him anymore."

 

[Flyg0n]

"I just can't handle someone like Gen. I don't want him as my family, I want normal family."

 

[IFBench]

"I just can't handle someone like Gen. I don't want him as my family, I want normal family."

Those words hurt like a knife to Gen's chest.

Wallace...didn't want him as his family?

Why? Was it because he was an Oshawott? Was it because of his anxiety? Was it because he was from another world?

What if the rest of his family started to not accept him because he was a Pokemon now? What if they cast him out? What if they didn't love him anymore?

That...

That couldn't be true. His family loved him, and it's not any different now that he's a Pokemon.

And...and Wallace loved him as family, too.

He took out his portal knife, and stared at it, stared at the Oshawott reflected in the blade.

Soon, he'd be home again, and he could introduce Wallace to the rest of his family.

 

[Flyg0n]

"A trainer's safety is the sole and absolute responsibility of their pokemon, Laura. I have no envy of Steven, with a partner like Aggron."

 

[Hanafuda]

“You really think so?” Jack asked the Mega-Pidgeot.

“Wuh?” Zack looked confused at his smaller friend.

“You really think I won’t ‘cut’ it?” The Farfetch’d stared down at his leek with worry. There was a strain in his voice as he spoke.

“Say what?”

“Don’t play dumb—you know what you said and you meant it.”

“Jack-o, buddy, don’t tell me you’re hearin’ things in your head now.”

“You know you have a bad habit of running your mouth in the wrong places. The way you bothered Odette and her Pokémon, your battle with Alakazam going badly because you wanted to ‘have fun’, all that flirting… But are you really so selfish that you’d look down on me and say that I can’t be a hero with you? The fact that I can’t evolve shouldn’t matter!”

“Dude…” Zack looked around, still confused, but grimacing. “You sure I said that? Well, I think I’d say that if you and Seb weren’t there to help me.”

“I don’t wanna believe those awful words.” Jack tightened his grasp on his leek, scrunching his face with a look of desperation. “I need to make sure you’re telling me the truth. Zack…”

A few tears started to drop. The Farfetch’d was clearly distressed. When was the last time he ever felt sadness? Maybe this was how Seb felt in that nightmare. But to think that his insecurities would be prodded like this…

“Jack-o…” Zack saw the tears roll down. There was a bit of shock in his worried expression. “I… I-I’m sorry to hear…”

“No…” Jack let his wings go limp, a softer grasp on his leek. He looked at the other individuals around him. “Even if you didn’t say that… Even if it was just a hallucination… I’m willing to believe that someone else said that I’m weak. That they don’t need me. I’m just a Farfetch’d, after all. I can’t even evolve, Mega-Evolve or do anything amazing. I won’t be as beloved as a Pikachu. I won’t be as strong as a Lucario. Heck, I’m not even cute like an Eevee. But…”

“Jack-o, are you goin’ nuts?”

The Farfetch’d raised his leek above him before swinging it down beside him. There was a bit of determination in his grieving expression. “Even if the world doesn’t want me… Even if Seb says I’m worthless… I’ll follow my own path. I’ll ‘cut it’ real good. I’ll cut the Golden King down my way.”

“Jack-o, wait! You’re goin’ solo? What about Odette’s plan!?”

Jack didn’t respond. He put his leek in his beak and started to fly away towards the castle.

“Jack-o!” Zack stretched out a wing towards his small friend in vain. “No, not like this.” He grabbed and repeatedly shook his head. “Gimme a break!” He looked towards his Trainer and called out to him. “Seb! We got a problem!”

Seb turned around and moved away from Wallace towards his muscular bird. “What’s wrong?” He looked worried and surprised.

Zack simply pointed at where the Farfetch’d was flying.

Seb looked in wide-eyed despair and held up his hand. “Jack! No, don’t leave us! What did we do wrong!?”

 

[Dragonfree]

"Hello," Mightyena said brightly, galloping up to the weird kid with the ninetales, who was not among the people looking hopeful about things. "I know you're going to be really busy fighting the hoopa, but afterwards, you should teach my trainer how to understand what I'm saying. Like you do for Spirit!" She glanced at the ninetales and gave a friendly wag. "He wanted to ask you earlier, but he's too shy." Dear God, why. "I don't know if he has much money with him, but I know he could come up with some way to make it worth it for you!"

May blinked at the Mightyena, who was bouncing around eagerly like this was all perfectly exciting. For a moment she thought of Floatzel, but that was a different kind of energetic.

Her, teaching a grown-up Pokémon speech? What a laugh. She wasn’t even that good at it, compared to somebody like Mark. Good enough, had to be to get by as a trainer, but it wasn’t like…

She glanced back toward the Mightyena’s trainer (Mitch?). He looked pretty exasperated. Mightyena was calling him shy but that wasn’t exactly the impression she’d gotten.

She turned to Mightyena, sighing. “Look, I’m… The way you talk is different. It’s not like the Pokémon speech I learned at school. I can understand it anyway while I’m here but I don’t know how.” Just another feature of this world. Why’d she get to have the ability to understand Pokémon speaking totally different languages, but Mitch didn’t even though his Pokémon were clearly desperate to talk to him? “I don’t think I can teach you anything. I’m sorry.”

“Perhaps I could teach you our world’s Pokémon speech,” Spirit mused, tilting her head.

That May kid is a real piece of work, have you seen her? I can't believe her Ninetales puts up with her.

May froze at the strange whisper. Spirit looked up, growling.

But Odette was just walking, not even looking at her, clearly preoccupied with other things. Stupid. It hadn’t even sounded anything like her. “It’s not real, Spirit.”

 

[Flyg0n]

A sound, like a whimpering, terrified squeak. A familiar cry, one belonging to a Zigzagoon... yet it was impossible to say from what direction it came.

[[ @AbraPunk ]]

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Once Gladion seemed settled, Hazel urned to look over the group for one of her own friends.

She found Sleet to be on her own, her teammates occupied without her. That needed to be fixed. Sleet was not always the easiest person but Hazel still liked her.

“Hello, Sleet. How are you feeling? So much is happening very quickly.”

 

[Negrek]

Mightyena's ears perked up at May's unexpected reply. "I talk different?" She turned to Spirit, bewildered. "But I can understand you just fine. What else would I need to learn?"

But after a moment of silence, Mightyena's tail, which had stopped wagging at May's unwelcome news, started up again full blast. "Maybe you could teach me to speak human instead! Then I could even talk to humans besides Nate. That would probably be the most useful thing."

"Don't get your hopes up, Mightyena," Nate said, coming up beside her. "Let's just get through this battle first, okay?" He gave May an uneasy look. Goddammit, he hated it when Mightyena dragged him into awkward conversations like this. It wasn't like he had anything to say to this girl, but just standing around here while the pokémon chatted was fucking weird.

Nate gave the girl a sidelong look, which only grew more intense when the girl snapped to her ninetales about something not being real. Hearing things now? Or maybe always. Maybe that was what was behind the weird running-away thing earlier.

Sure as hell didn't make this less awkward. "Good luck, I guess," he said. "Too bad we never got that battle earlier."

 

[HelloYellow17]

"I just don't think I could forgive someone like him, you know? Now that I know what kind of person he is."

The hairs on the back of Wes’s neck stood up. He snapped his head around to Gladion—but Gladion was simply walking and smiling at Hazel, who had bounded over to chat with someone else.

Gods, was he just hearing things now? Was he really that tired? Or maybe he still didn’t have his head on straight after…after that nightmare…

He shivered. No, he wasn’t going to think about that, not now—

He heard it again, this time in a different, more feminine voice. "I just don't think I could forgive someone like him, you know? Now that I know what kind of person he is."

…Shit. He really was losing his mind, wasn’t he. Wes clenched his jaw and rubbed at his temples. It wasn’t like this was the first time he’d had a horrible, taunting voice in his head, but…it had never been her voice…

“Spi?” Neo chirped up at him, eyes filled with concern. Wes sighed; he’d never be able to hide anything from his Pokémon, not now that Neo was comfortable tapping into Wes’s emotions again.

He look at the Espeon. “You’re not…hearing anything, right? Any voices?”

Neo blinked, then shook his head. “Esp.”

Right. That settled it, then. It was just him. Well, he wouldn’t want Neo or Novo to be hearing unsettling things anyway, and was it really all that surprising if the stress from Hell Island was finally getting to him? The weeks here had felt more like months. (Specifically four months, though he wasn’t sure why.)

He took a deep breath and raised his head, glaring at the castle ahead that looked ever closer with each step. The voice came back again, trying to whisper more uncertainties, but Wes shoved it away from his mind with a growl. You’re not real. Go to hell.

The voice slowly faded away. And Wes felt a small glimmer of triumph. Those ghostly whispers would have to do a lot better than that if they wanted to slow him down.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Aggron suddenly perked up and looked skyward. There was no shadow in this eerie light to give away the familiar presence... "Speaking of feeling things..." Aggron rumbled.

Steven calmly followed his partner's gaze skyward. There wasn't any alarm in Aggron's posture, no need to raise any concern. "A friend?" he asked.

"Definitely," said Aggron, tracking the dragon's flight above the group. "Good timing, too. I think he and I should have a chat before the big fight."

It only took Steven a moment to remember the Noivern's name. "Malachai," he said.

Aggron nodded. "He's big and hits hard. What can I say, we get along."

Aggron shuffled ahead to track down the dragon type.

Malachai heard Aggron's heavy steps easily enough, then heard the change in pace as the stolid titan approached. Malachai's mouth twitched up a little at the unfamiliar feeling of being sought out for companionship by another 'mon. He flexed his wings, and began to shed altitude in a vast loop – rolling to the right, pitching upward, and yawing towards the ground – orbiting the party in consecutively tighter circles until he was within conversational range of his recent acquaintance.

<Aggron,> he sent, cordially. <I am satisfied to see you present for this conflict. May we depend on each other?>

Stray whispers of doubt and misgiving probed at his mind. Contemptible rogue, said the air. Pretentious, arrogant, fraudulent, accused the dust. Broken bastard bat-drake, hissed the shadows.

Malachai rolled his eyes through narrowed lids. Surely Orozoquiselin could do better.