DeliriousAbsol
*Crazy Absol Noises*
A/N - I am so excited to post this, you have no idea. My heart is legit racing.
This story is a rewrite of a Pokemon fanfiction I wrote five years ago called The End. I was pretty stoked at its reception, especially on Serebii's fanfiction forums. However, over the past few years, I feel my writing skills have improved somewhat. This story is pretty special to me, and the concept of rewriting it wouldn't leave my mind. So, I decided to give it a go while my main Sonic 'fic is on hold due to current events. I'm nineteen chapters deep atm, and I've been enjoying rewriting this. I've taken criticism and comments on the old version (as well as taking into consideration comments I've had on more recent works) and been smoothing out the plot, refining areas, and making the main plot-line clearer from the start. I hope everyone reading - those who read the original and those new to this story - will enjoy what I've done here. Please bare in mind that this was originally written during Generation 6 (X and Y), but I've tried to sprinkle in some newer pokemon here and there.
One such comment was concerning the handling of Harlequin's unusual situation. I would like to make it clear from the start that they do indeed have a gender, and their mysterious ambiguity is tied into their own personal plot and backstory.
Blurb: In a world ruled by a wicked hydreigon, the pokemon have been split into groups: Outcasts, Heretics and Darkness. Two Outcasts - a meowstic called Cleo and her small dedenne companion Spark - stumble upon an odd discovery. Something that gives the Outcasts a little hope. Hope that the Darkness will one day be defeated, and pokemon can live in peace once more.
But this discovery comes at a cost. It sends two of Hydreigon's best assassins after them. What unfolds next is a roller-coaster of events that throw our heroes right into the epic battle between good and evil.
Rating - T for Teen (Content warning in spoiler tag below)
(Disclaimer covers the entire story - Pokemon and its characters are (c) Nintendo, Game Freak etc)
Important note to reviewers and readers - Chapter One has been edited and re-posted due to feedback on tone change. All reviews posted before 03/08/2020 will be referring to the original chapter. I've taken feedback on board and improved it for what I hope will be a better reading experience. The 'fun' feeling that was influenced by Slayers and JRPGs has been kept in, while also maintaining the dark overtones of the later parts of the chapter. I hope! XD Happy reading!
Part 1 - Calamity
1 - A World Shrouded in Darkness
Barely a sound rose from the shadows cast by the trees as the setting sun stretched its dwindling rays through the canopy of the winding woods. Just the soft sound of crunching leaves and brittle twigs as Cleo trudged through the undergrowth, keeping her wits about her as any sensible meowstic should. Every confident step was soft and calculated to avoid drawing attention from the wood’s inhabitants, which were few and far between.
A disgruntled groan came from the long fur around her shoulders, followed by the tiny head of a dedenne. “I’d give my whiskers for a berry.”
“Not far now,” Cleo told her companion. “We’ll be at the Guild before sundown.”
“My poor stomach thinks you might be wrong.”
“Your poor stomach will just have to trust me.”
Cleo was no stranger to the Winding Woods, but as the sun rapidly disappeared over the horizon, it was beginning to look less and less familiar. Not to mention her night vision wasn’t exactly her strong suit. As night drew closer, dangers increased. Assassins or soldiers of the Darkness could be lurking anywhere in the shadows. She tapped her satchel, briefly considering drawing her map and deciding against it. There was no sense in risking a distraction, putting both her and Spark in danger. They just had to keep following the path, or what she could see of it beneath its thick coating of rusty, fallen leaves.
“Oh! Oh!” Spark covered her mouth with both paws, alarmed at the volume of her own voice.
The pair turned their heads left and right, ears swivelling back and forth. Silence.
Spark settled back into Cleo’s fur and pointed, keeping her voice no more than a hoarse whisper. “I can see daylight!”
A trickle of light leaked through the trees ahead of them, marking the end of the path and their trek through the woods. Spark wriggled with barely contained glee.
The leaves rustled above them, and Cleo turned her eyes to the canopy, her relief cut short. She felt Spark sink back into her fur, and the dedenne let out a small groan. Branches bucked and swayed as three lithe figures scrambled across them, crimson eyes trained on the two Guild Warriors below.
“That’s great, Spark,” Cleo said, fighting a half-smile. “But your excitement seems to have attracted some unwanted guests.”
“Well, well, well.” One of the three weavile crouched in the branches above them and grinned down. “I spy… with my little eye… two sitting duckletts.”
“Outcasts, too, by the looks of things.” Another fixed his eyes on the sun-shaped badge pinned to Cleo’s satchel strap. “Pretty bold of you to be out in the woods during sunset, eh, kitty?”
Cleo released her bag strap to ball her paws into fists. It wasn’t unusual for assassins to poke jibes at their targets. But things could turn very nasty in the blink of an eye. Psychic energy hummed in her ears. An impulse.
“What do you say, boys?” said the smallest of the trio. “Make it quick, or have some fun?”
“I dunno,” said the first. “It’s been a bit of a slow day.”
Cleo bared a canine. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do to weavile at this range. She felt Spark shift on her shoulder and the dedenne’s fur puffed out.
“You three have picked a bad day to start with us.” Spark shook her tiny fist. “I’ll have you know I’m hungry! And I’m not very nice when I’m hungry. So get down here so I can kick your feathery butts all the way back to the Shadow Lands!”
The first weavile blinked his large eyes in mock bewilderment. “Hear that, boys? The tiny little rat thinks she can kick our feathery butts!”
He rolled his head back and laughed, joined by the other two.
One of them smacked his knee repeatedly. “Big words from such a tiny rodent!” he wheezed.
“What did you just call me?” Spark dived off Cleo’s shoulder and rose up to her full five-inches of height. “Are you making fun of my size?!”
This only served to make the weavile laugh even harder. The boss pointed a sharp claw vaguely in her direction. His eyes streamed with tears and he had to grip the branch with his other paw before he fell clean from it.
“Please!” he squeaked. “You’re slaying me!”
Not the wisest of words. Cleo took a step back, not from the weavile, but because Spark was beginning to radiate static. Cleo knew what was coming next.
A blinding flash lit up the trees, wiping the smirks clean off the weavile troop’s faces. One by one, the weasel pokemon flopped from the canopy to land in a sprawl in the undergrowth. Their bodies sparked and jerked as electricity danced across their limbs.
Spark placed her paws on her hips and tapped her tiny foot. “Who’s laughing now?”
Cleo rejoined her friend’s side and shook her head slowly. “Couldn’t you have gone a little easier on them?”
Spark quirked an eyebrow at her. “This coming from the meowstic who just laid waste to an army of jangmo-o?”
Cleo shrugged her shoulders. “They had it coming.”
“So did these,” said Spark. “Funny though. Hydreigon’s goons can be mouthy, but they usually just attack us. These guys were all bark and no bite.”
Cleo rubbed the fur between her ears. Spark had a point. The dedenne had a short fuse, but Cleo had expected more of a challenge from the weavile. Her eyes trailed back up to the branches and squinted into the shadows.
“Let’s see what they’ve got on them, then, eh?” Spark rubbed her paws together. “Keep an eye open in case there’s more.” She promptly vanished inside the head weavile’s bag.
Cleo stood beside the bag, watching Spark’s tail swish back and forth while keeping her ears trained on their surroundings. It was likely there was no further threat, given no one came to the weaviles’ aide, but one didn’t take risks when the sun was setting.
“Dang it!” came Spark’s muffled voice. “No berries.”
“Is there any gold?” Cleo ventured.
“Oh, there’s loads of that.”
Spark kicked out with her back feet, sending small gold coins rolling across the leaves. Cleo gathered them up and dumped them into her bag.
“And… and this.” Spark waddled from the satchel struggling beneath the weight of a glass vial. “Dunno what it is. Do we take it?”
Cleo took it in one paw and turned it in the light. It was filled with florescent pink liquid. “What is it? Pecha juice?”
Spark grimaced and twitched her whiskers. “Looks a little too… toxic… to be pecha juice.”
“That might just be the bad lighting.” Cleo popped it into her bag and stood up. “Maybe Tinker will have some idea.”
“Yeah, he knows all kindsa weird stuff.”
With Spark back on her shoulder, Cleo headed towards the light ahead of them before it faded with the setting sun. The woods were rapidly growing darker, stretching shadows far back away from them.
When they finally stepped out onto cool, damp grass, the dwindling light was almost blinding after the darkness of the woods. Cleo had to narrow her eyes to get a good sense of her surroundings. The stretch of grass ended at a low, stone wall. What it had once been, Cleo had no idea, but it stretched away to either side, vanishing over the hills. It was possible to walk around, but vaulting it was much quicker.
Just beyond that was a sprawl of wooden buildings. Not permanent dwellings, but those thrown up in haste by pokemon who were often on the move. They would stay here for a season or two, maybe even more if things stayed quiet. Some of the dwellings weren’t exactly buildings, however. Instead, they were wooden carts with taupe over the tops to keep the rain out. Cleo had seen them many times. They were dragged by strong pokemon, and were designed so those that inhabited them could make a quick getaway. Not every pokemon had warmed to the idea. Too many had been seen being blown away in storms, or dragged away by the Darkness. At least wooden shacks stayed where they were, were easy enough to throw up and tear down if need be, and would even last long enough to be returned to should such times arise.
“Stop!”
Cleo lifted her head as a meinfoo rushed towards her. He sported the same sun-shaped badge she wore on her satchel’s strap, indicating he was a member of the Outcasts Guild.
“I’ve not seen you before,” he said. “Where have you come from? What business do you have?”
“We’re travelling warriors.” Cleo motioned to her badge. “We’re hoping to stop by the Guild overnight before we continue our way south.”
“We?” The meinfoo looked past her, standing on tiptoes to see back towards the woods.
“Yes, ‘we’.” Spark poked her head out of Cleo’s ruff, drawing a surprised ‘oh!’ from the guard. “And we’re both very hungry, so if you wouldn’t mind?”
The meinfoo nodded and stood aside. “Of course. The Guild Hall is just that way, in the centre of town. You can’t miss it.”
“Much appreciated!” Spark promptly vanished back inside Cleo’s ruff.
Cleo nodded her thanks to the guard, but as she headed away, something nagged in her mind. “Ah!”
He turned to face her.
“There are three weavile in the woods,” she explained. “They’re only stunned. You might want to apprehend them, find out what they’re doing here.”
The meinfoo sighed and ran a paw down his muzzle. “It was only a matter of time.” He straightened, returning to his professional air. “Thank you. We’ll get on that right away.”
Cleo nodded again and trotted through the town, searching out the familiar banner that marked the Guild. The white flag with its sun emblem waved above the rooftops, a beacon to all who were searching for the Guild for help or work.
“Whew!” Spark declared as they entered the door. “Well, I don’t know about you, Cleo, but I’m heading straight to that dinner hall.”
Cleo absently rubbed her belly. Their rations had run out the previous night, and she was beginning to resonate with her friend’s large appetite. “I might join you.”
As they followed the Guild occupants down the corridor towards the sweet smells emanating from the kitchen, the small crowd parted and a riolu trotted towards them. Tinker, the Outcast Guild’s current leader.
“Cleo!” he said as a smile split his muzzle. “I was actually growing worried. You were expected two days ago.”
“We got caught up.” Cleo paused as the riolu stopped before her. “We actually need to talk to you.”
“Now?” Spark sprawled forwards on Cleo’s shoulder. “Can’t we do this after supper? I’m starting to feel faint.”
Cleo rolled her eyes. “Please excuse her. Food has been a little scarce.”
“Well, dinner is about to start, so feel free-,” said Tinker.
Spark didn’t even wait for the sentence to end. She darted from Cleo’s shoulder and zipped through the crowd, with nothing more than a quick ‘thanks!’ before she vanished amid the masses.
Tinker rubbed the back of his head as he watched after her. “Food scarcity is becoming a growing problem with the cold season closing in. There’s not much left out there for travelling pokemon, as most of it has been harvested before the frost comes.” He turned back to Cleo and met her eyes. “Be sure to take some supplies with you before you leave.”
“I was planning on stocking up.” Cleo kept pace with him as they followed the other pokemon towards the kitchen. “Are you sure you have enough stocks to spare here?”
“We have plenty. It was a good year for the orchard, not to mention the wild fruit and roots growing in the woods. With fewer pokemon living nearby, we didn’t have much competition.”
When they arrived at the dinner hall, Tinker kept moving past it. Cleo faltered in the doorway, and gave a glance inside. Spark was perched on the table, piling up a plate twice her size with a variety of delights.
“Are you wanting to stop here first?” Tinker asked with a hint of impatience. “I’m afraid I can’t discuss your previous mission in there. There are a lot of… local refugees who’ve joined us here. And I fear discussing such matters might upset them.”
Cleo’s ears drooped slightly. She couldn’t deny she was hungry. But… She nodded her understanding and turned from the dining hall. “I can eat later.”
The truth was, the sooner she relayed her mission, the less it would be hovering over her like a dark fog. And the less the chance of Tinker hovering around her like a flea, disrupting her relaxing meal. She followed him through the winding corridor to the end, where one small room sat. The door was ajar, but he still needed to give it a shoulder barge to get it open. The wooden door tore over a wad of discarded paperwork before finally catching on the tattered edge of a cardboard box.
His desk was in an equal state of disarray (or ‘organised chaos’ as he’d call it), and he had to clear a stool of yet more paper for Cleo to sit down.
“Tell me,” he said. “How did things go in Windflower?”
Cleo let out a sigh. “That small town is fine for now. We chased off the jangmo-o.”
“Chased off?”
“A couple were apprehended there,” she explained. “But their Guild is small, you know that. Most of those dragons got away. Although not unscathed.”
“You let them get away?!”
“I was busy helping someone who got hit by a dragon rage,” Cleo explained. “They had no available medic, and they needed help!”
Tinker leant on his paw and tapped his claws on the table top. “The fact those dragons got away unsettles me, Cleo.”
“Then maybe it’s about time Windflower packed up and moved on. They’re too close to the Shadow Lands as it is.”
Tinker rubbed his muzzle and groaned. “That’s not an option I want to enforce on them. You were meant to kill-”
“My job is to look after pokemon who are threatened by the Darkness,” said Cleo. “I wasn’t going to let someone die by giving chase after a bunch of kids!”
“I appreciate that, Cleo,” said Tinker. “But someone else could have done it. Those dragons are a threat.”
“Those dragons are hatchlings.”
“Hydreigon trains hatchlings!”
“Yes, in the Shadow Lands!” Cleo snapped. “He doesn’t send a group of kids off to terrorise a village!” She sighed and dragged her claws through the fur between her ears. “At least having two jangmo-o in custody will hopefully give them much needed information. Whatever they can provide, anyway. At least they’re not terrorising them anymore.”
“If they come back, Cleo-”
“Then they have two of their own as ransom. I’m sure that will terrify those children more than being chased across the town by a pawful of Guild Warriors.”
“Ransom indeed.” Tinker lowered his paw to look at her. “I hardly think Hydreigon will care. If he demands that village wiped out, then it will be wiped out. Just like your home.”
A chill ran down Cleo’s spine and her fur stood on end along it, but she just stared back at the riolu silently. His right eye stared past her, and enough vehemence flared in her to probe him as to how he lost it in the first place. But she swiftly swallowed it down, and the look of surprise and regret that washed over his face made it a lot easier to do so.
“I’m really sorry,” he said. “That was unprofessional of me.”
Cleo just nodded at that and looked away.
“What you did was noble, but you sometimes have to decide if sacrifices need to be made,” said Tinker. “In a war, it often comes to that.”
“Most pokemon wouldn’t call it a war anymore, Tinker. They’d say it’s just the norm. A group of tiny dragons trying to burn down a food storage? They’re just hooligan kids trying to get away with something while claiming they have the authority because ‘their king said so’. Hydreigon hasn’t sent an army onto us in seasons.”
“That’s because we’re losing.”
Cleo fell silent. She rubbed her paw over her face and sank in her seat. Losing… hadn’t they already lost? The Outcasts, scattered across Estellis, struggling to survive in a world where dragon- and dark-type pokemon reigned, ruled over by a horrid pokemon who wanted nothing more than to wipe out every other type completely. No. It was no longer a war. Now it was just survival.
“Outcasts are being picked off day by day, you know that,” said Tinker. “Driven across Estellis while Hydreigon spreads his rule further and further south. I fear you’ve become hardened to this world, Cleo.” He let out a small sigh and his voice softened. “What happened to the meowstic who’d run blindly into an army of Hydreigon’s soldiers just to take out their leader for the sake of a bounty?”
“For one thing, mobs like that are now few and far between,” said Cleo. “I mean, the last assignment you gave me was to take out a group of hatchlings. One blast of my psychic and the lot of them crumpled like flies.”
“Yet still got away.”
“No, those warriors there let them escape. They seemed to have no idea how to handle an event like this! They panicked! That’s how that warrior got hurt in the first place. My job was to take those dragons down and protect other pokemon. I did my job.”
“Your job was to protect Windflower.” Tinker leant against his desk. “And now you’re placing blame.”
“I did my job, Tinker. Those jangmo-o now have a lot to think about.”
Tinker pinched the bridge of his muzzle in two claws. “I’m beginning to think you and Spark may need to consider taking on an extra team member.”
Cleo trapped him in an amber glare. “This again? Tinker…”
“Don’t get me wrong, Spark’s a great ally.” Tinker picked up a small note on his desk and read it. “I’m going to guess she was the one who took out those three weavile in the woods?”
Cleo’s eyes widened. “You heard about that already? That’s why I-”
“Yes.” Tinker wagged the small note at her. “Word gets back to me quite quickly. Anyway, at least consider expanding your team? There are some recent Graduate Warriors who might have actually-”
“What?” She bared a canine. “Picked up my slack and gone after those jangmo-o?”
“To put it bluntly, yes.”
“Well I’m not interested,” said Cleo. “Spark and I work just fine together. She watches my back and covers me against dark-types, especially when I can’t get to them. She watches me, and I watch her. We don’t need another team-mate.”
“And what was Spark doing while you tended to the wounded?”
“Covering me.”
“Precisely.” Tinker sat back in his seat and folded the little note. “I don’t doubt the pair of you work like a well-oiled machine. I’ve seen you do good work in the past. But everyone needs some extra help every now and then. If you take on one of our trainees, it might do you the world of good. An extra pair of paws, and you might learn something.”
Cleo bit her lip and glanced away. “I don’t think so, Tinker.”
Tinker made a thoughtful noise. “Because you fear you’ll need to carry them?”
“Exactly. They’d just be a burden.” She wanted to add ‘just like that group of so-called Guild Warriors who quaked just because a group of hatchlings bared their fangs’ but thought better of it. There was no sense in vexing Tinker any further.
“Well, as far as fighting goes, you two do just great.” Tinker opened a drawer and pulled out a small, brown pouch. “Either way, you defended Windflower, so you still get paid. As for the weavile, there was actually a bounty on their heads. Turns out they’ve been terrorising some of the locals who’ve migrated here. With them out of the picture, the Winding Woods are safe for now.”
Cleo took the pouch gratefully and stuffed it into her satchel.
“I don’t imagine you got any information off the weavile?” Tinker asked. “Any reason as to why they were lurking around in those empty woods?”
“No, unfortunately.” Cleo rummaged in her satchel. “They weren’t in any state to talk. They did have this on them, however.”
She handed the little vial to the riolu and he leant forwards to take it. He turned it in the light, and Cleo noticed even in better lighting the pink liquid was still oddly fluorescent.
“Any idea what it is?” she asked.
“Not a clue.”
“It’s not pecha juice, right?”
“No, I don’t think so. Unless they mixed it with something else.” Tinker popped it on his desk and inclined his head as he stared at it. “I shall have to run some tests on it. Part of me fears it might be poison.”
Cleo’s mouth went dry. She only knew of one pokemon in Hydreigon’s army who used poisons, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t be inclined to give it a try. Was that why the weavile were lurking around the woods? Were they planning on poisoning the pokemon here?
Suddenly she wasn’t quite so hungry.
Tinker looked up at her suddenly and he trailed his eye over her. “You look positively exhausted. Will you be wanting a room for the night?”
Cleo nodded slowly. “Maybe a few nights. I think, after all that travelling, Spark and I would appreciate staying still for a little while.”
“Very well. Then where will you be off to?”
“New City,” she said. “I don’t have plans to go anywhere else, so we might as well head back home. Unless you have other plans?”
“A rest sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe it’ll help you put things into perspective.” Tinker picked up the vial again, no longer looking at Cleo.
Very well. She could tell when she wasn’t welcome.
She pushed herself from her seat and turned to leave his office.
“Oh, Cleo?”
She froze in the doorway, and flicked both her tails sharply.
“If anything happens to Windflower…” His voice was laced with warning.
She turned her head back towards him. “I shouldn’t even have been needed. They have a slaking there who could pick up two of those runts in one paw. If the Guild there can’t handle a group of kids, then we have a problem.”
She slipped from the room and yanked the door closed. But it didn’t slam. Instead it jammed over a mound of crumpled paper.
Cleo lay on her back on a pile of clean hay. The room had only had one nest, so she’d split it in two for her and Spark. The dedenne lay sprawled out atop it, giving off snores that far exceeded her size.
Cleo couldn’t sleep. She pulled out her map, clutching a red pen in one paw. It was a paw-sketched representation of Estellis, dotted with her own paw print writing. The north was mostly marred with red crosses, former territories that had been overrun by the Darkness. Areas that had seen much war and claimed many lives. They were places that were no longer inhabited by the Outcasts, nor inhabited by the Darkness. Just destroyed, and no longer safe for her or any other Outcast to visit or travel through. The further south they went, the fewer red crosses they’d find.
The entire northern part of the map was shaded black, stretching down over a third of the western areas. This was the Shadow Lands. A rapidly growing area that was ruled over by Hydreigon, as he stretched his claws across Estellis. It was inhabited only by dragon and dark-type pokemon, and for anyone else to enter it meant death. Death at the claws of his murkrow flock and weavile fleets, or to be incinerated by flames and dragonfire.
The rest of the western area, and a huge portion of the south was shaded purple. Heretic territory. Those who revered the Darkness and wished to appease Hydreigon, although that had only meant they’d been used before now. Used, then destroyed. Yet the Heretics tried to find new ways to appease him. Cleo didn’t understand it. Desperation to survive, or did they really believe themselves inferior and want to be servants to the horrid dragon?
The rest of the map showed areas still safe for the Outcasts. A small patch of scattered towns and villages, some of which she’d not seen yet to mark them on her map. Her eye fell to a spot just a two day walk from where they were. A huge moorland, trimmed on one side by a forest while the other side was dominated by a mountain that curled around the moors before it stretched away towards the north.
New City.
It wasn’t marked on her map. Even breathing its name outside was a risk. The Darkness didn’t know about it, nor did the Heretics. It was only known to the Guild and those who inhabited it. Only those trusted would be taken there, and those who lived there weren’t allowed to leave without reason. Not that most of them even wanted to. The pokemon were happy to live there, in safety. Unseen, hidden beneath the surface.
She sighed and folded away her map, tucking it away in her bag. She let her arm flop over her face as she stared at the ceiling.
What were those weavile doing in the woods? And why just the three of them? They’d been causing problems, apparently. Had they really been planning to poison this small town?
Just three of them alone wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Guild and all its forces. They must have known that. So it was either a sneak attack, or they were waiting for reinforcements. Or this town wasn’t their target at all?
No, it couldn’t be the latter. Pokemon were terrorized everywhere, the Outcasts just fought back to try and remain safe for as long as they could.
But if the little town was being targeted, it may very soon become nothing more than a red cross on her map.
Harbinger trotted along the rocky outcrop of the Silent Mountains, keeping impeccable balance. His snowy white paws moved one in front of the other, the back ones falling in the footprints of his forepaws making nary a sound. Behind him, the two pawniard twins took more wary steps, jogging to keep up with the absol’s quick pace.
He’d seen it. About a mile back he’d caught glimpse of a village ahead of them, formed of stone buildings nestled around a lake. They hadn’t been there two years before, so they were definitely recent. It had been hard to gauge how many pokemon lived there, but going off the number of houses alone, he guessed around fifty.
Fifty what? Pokemon hadn’t lived in the Silent Mountains in years. Not that it mattered what faction they fell under. All pokemon were the same. All hated and feared absol.
He paused just behind a rocky mound, lowering his head to see past the spray of dried branches poking from it. There it was. The village. Clean, white stone reflecting the moonlight. The lake glistened with stars, rippling and disturbing them as the breeze washed over it.
A couple of pokemon hovered around the lake, gathering water into clay jars. A zangoose and a linoone. In the doorway of one of the houses stood a zigzagoon on its hind legs, steadying itself with its paw. Clearly trying to imitate its parent.
It certainly looked peaceful enough. Well… it was time to introduce himself.
Harbinger crept from beneath the rock, catching the twigs with his bony tail. The rustle was enough to cause the zangoose’s ears to twitch. He looked up from the lake and met Harbinger’s crimson eyes. The zangoose stiffened, his fur flaring along his bushy tail.
Harbinger paused on the edge of the outcrop, his front paw raised. He was looking right down at the zangoose. Unafraid, unlike the feral-looking pokemon beneath him. The linoone had spotted him and let out a wail. She dropped the clay jar, shattering it over the rocks and spraying water everywhere. She dashed back to her house, scooping her curious child into her forearms before slamming the door behind her.
The zangoose flashed his canines. “Get out of here, you omen!”
Harbinger sighed inwardly. It was always the same.
He raised his head high. “I’m only here to warn you of a disaster.”
“Yeah, and you probably brought it yourself!” The zangoose flexed his claws, and the moonlight glinted off them. “I’m not afraid, absol. I’ll carve you up right here.”
It was always the same.
“Fine. Have it your way.” Harbinger turned to duck back beneath the mountain shrub.
Something sharp struck his heel. He stifled a yelp, skittering along the outcrop. The tell-tail clatter of stone told him the zangoose had thrown something. Harbinger didn’t glance back until he was on the other side of the shrub. The zangoose still glared after him, poised to leap into action if Harbinger retaliated.
He had every intention to retaliate. But not in the way the zangoose expected.
Harbinger pushed himself along the outcrop, nudging Scratch and Claw ahead of him. The ground widened out just ahead of them, before moving into a gentle incline further up the mountain. Harbinger sat down and stretched out his back leg to examine his paw. No blood, just a muddy scuff where the rock had struck him.
“So what are we going to do?” It was Claw who’d spoken.
Scratch stood beside his twin, rubbing his pointed limbs together. The sound it gave off was akin to a metal kricketune who hadn’t quite mastered the art of serenading just yet.
Harbinger lowered his leg to sit better and looked at each of the pawniard in turn. Patient, waiting. The dim light reflected off their metal hides, yet they still managed to blend to the shadows. The pokemon in that village probably hadn’t even noticed them.
Harbinger glanced back at the way they’d come. Those pokemon around the lake. He’d told them disaster was coming. He was going to make sure it did.
“Look around you,” he told the pawniard. “What do you see?”
“Mountains,” said Claw. “But what does an avalanche have to do with those pokemon in the valley?”
“I’m not going to start an avalanche,” said Harbinger. “What else is here?”
Claw tipped his head back in thought, and Scratch twitched as he looked at his brother expectantly.
“Rivers,” Scratch finally said, trailing one of his claws over his arm. “And the lake.”
A smile split Harbinger’s muzzle. “You remember those pokemon we saw in the valley?”
Claw nodded, and Scratch stopped his fussing, waiting for instruction.
“Good.” Harbinger stood, stepping gingerly on his bruised foot. “You know what to do.”
The twins saluted and turned, zipping along the mountain slope towards the other side.
Harbinger gave another glance back towards the village. He couldn’t see it anymore. The pokemon there would either flee, or stick around to see if he brought any threat.
A harbinger of disaster. That’s all they saw him as. Just like everyone else. If they were going to accuse him of disaster, then he’d make sure they received it.
Another smirk tugged at his lips, and he followed after the pawniard twins, bounding nimbly over the precarious rocks.
This story is a rewrite of a Pokemon fanfiction I wrote five years ago called The End. I was pretty stoked at its reception, especially on Serebii's fanfiction forums. However, over the past few years, I feel my writing skills have improved somewhat. This story is pretty special to me, and the concept of rewriting it wouldn't leave my mind. So, I decided to give it a go while my main Sonic 'fic is on hold due to current events. I'm nineteen chapters deep atm, and I've been enjoying rewriting this. I've taken criticism and comments on the old version (as well as taking into consideration comments I've had on more recent works) and been smoothing out the plot, refining areas, and making the main plot-line clearer from the start. I hope everyone reading - those who read the original and those new to this story - will enjoy what I've done here. Please bare in mind that this was originally written during Generation 6 (X and Y), but I've tried to sprinkle in some newer pokemon here and there.
One such comment was concerning the handling of Harlequin's unusual situation. I would like to make it clear from the start that they do indeed have a gender, and their mysterious ambiguity is tied into their own personal plot and backstory.
Blurb: In a world ruled by a wicked hydreigon, the pokemon have been split into groups: Outcasts, Heretics and Darkness. Two Outcasts - a meowstic called Cleo and her small dedenne companion Spark - stumble upon an odd discovery. Something that gives the Outcasts a little hope. Hope that the Darkness will one day be defeated, and pokemon can live in peace once more.
But this discovery comes at a cost. It sends two of Hydreigon's best assassins after them. What unfolds next is a roller-coaster of events that throw our heroes right into the epic battle between good and evil.
Rating - T for Teen (Content warning in spoiler tag below)
(Disclaimer covers the entire story - Pokemon and its characters are (c) Nintendo, Game Freak etc)
39 - The Village by the Lake
40 - Trust Issues
41 - Sunset Dance
42 - A Murder of Murkrow
43 - Bad News
44 - Sacrifice
45 - Snowfall
46 - A Sheet of White
47 - Wagons
48 - A Surprise Visit
49 - A Toxic Nightmare
50 - A Village of Petals
51 - Fire Island
52 - Cave-In
53 - Tyrix
54 - Frozen Honey
55 - A Daunting Realisation
56 - A Blazing Battle
57 - Message on the Wing
40 - Trust Issues
41 - Sunset Dance
42 - A Murder of Murkrow
43 - Bad News
44 - Sacrifice
45 - Snowfall
46 - A Sheet of White
47 - Wagons
48 - A Surprise Visit
49 - A Toxic Nightmare
50 - A Village of Petals
51 - Fire Island
52 - Cave-In
53 - Tyrix
54 - Frozen Honey
55 - A Daunting Realisation
56 - A Blazing Battle
57 - Message on the Wing
58 - A Heartbreaking Reunion
59 - A New Plan
60 - Wisps on the Wind
61 - Moving On
62 - Stalker
63 - A Shocking Evolution
64 - An Encounter in the Dark
65 - A Clean Slate
66 - Into the Howling Winds
67 - Caught in a Sandstorm
68 - The Border Woods
69 - Foreboding
70 - Slippery Duo
71 - Swampy Showdown
72 - The Price of Poison
73 - Confession
74 - Tension
75 - The Calm Before the Storm
76 - A Call to Arms
77 - Dark to Light
78 - The Race to Stop Yveltal
79 - The End?
80 - The Beginning
59 - A New Plan
60 - Wisps on the Wind
61 - Moving On
62 - Stalker
63 - A Shocking Evolution
64 - An Encounter in the Dark
65 - A Clean Slate
66 - Into the Howling Winds
67 - Caught in a Sandstorm
68 - The Border Woods
69 - Foreboding
70 - Slippery Duo
71 - Swampy Showdown
72 - The Price of Poison
73 - Confession
74 - Tension
75 - The Calm Before the Storm
76 - A Call to Arms
77 - Dark to Light
78 - The Race to Stop Yveltal
79 - The End?
80 - The Beginning
As this is a war, there is some blood, a fair bit of violence, and character death. I am pretty squeamish myself, so I try not to be overly descriptive. However I feel the need to warn you of this.
Some character backstory will carry its own content warnings which I won't post in this opening thread for spoiler reasons, so please keep an eye open =)
Some character backstory will carry its own content warnings which I won't post in this opening thread for spoiler reasons, so please keep an eye open =)
Important note to reviewers and readers - Chapter One has been edited and re-posted due to feedback on tone change. All reviews posted before 03/08/2020 will be referring to the original chapter. I've taken feedback on board and improved it for what I hope will be a better reading experience. The 'fun' feeling that was influenced by Slayers and JRPGs has been kept in, while also maintaining the dark overtones of the later parts of the chapter. I hope! XD Happy reading!
Part 1 - Calamity
1 - A World Shrouded in Darkness
Barely a sound rose from the shadows cast by the trees as the setting sun stretched its dwindling rays through the canopy of the winding woods. Just the soft sound of crunching leaves and brittle twigs as Cleo trudged through the undergrowth, keeping her wits about her as any sensible meowstic should. Every confident step was soft and calculated to avoid drawing attention from the wood’s inhabitants, which were few and far between.
A disgruntled groan came from the long fur around her shoulders, followed by the tiny head of a dedenne. “I’d give my whiskers for a berry.”
“Not far now,” Cleo told her companion. “We’ll be at the Guild before sundown.”
“My poor stomach thinks you might be wrong.”
“Your poor stomach will just have to trust me.”
Cleo was no stranger to the Winding Woods, but as the sun rapidly disappeared over the horizon, it was beginning to look less and less familiar. Not to mention her night vision wasn’t exactly her strong suit. As night drew closer, dangers increased. Assassins or soldiers of the Darkness could be lurking anywhere in the shadows. She tapped her satchel, briefly considering drawing her map and deciding against it. There was no sense in risking a distraction, putting both her and Spark in danger. They just had to keep following the path, or what she could see of it beneath its thick coating of rusty, fallen leaves.
“Oh! Oh!” Spark covered her mouth with both paws, alarmed at the volume of her own voice.
The pair turned their heads left and right, ears swivelling back and forth. Silence.
Spark settled back into Cleo’s fur and pointed, keeping her voice no more than a hoarse whisper. “I can see daylight!”
A trickle of light leaked through the trees ahead of them, marking the end of the path and their trek through the woods. Spark wriggled with barely contained glee.
The leaves rustled above them, and Cleo turned her eyes to the canopy, her relief cut short. She felt Spark sink back into her fur, and the dedenne let out a small groan. Branches bucked and swayed as three lithe figures scrambled across them, crimson eyes trained on the two Guild Warriors below.
“That’s great, Spark,” Cleo said, fighting a half-smile. “But your excitement seems to have attracted some unwanted guests.”
“Well, well, well.” One of the three weavile crouched in the branches above them and grinned down. “I spy… with my little eye… two sitting duckletts.”
“Outcasts, too, by the looks of things.” Another fixed his eyes on the sun-shaped badge pinned to Cleo’s satchel strap. “Pretty bold of you to be out in the woods during sunset, eh, kitty?”
Cleo released her bag strap to ball her paws into fists. It wasn’t unusual for assassins to poke jibes at their targets. But things could turn very nasty in the blink of an eye. Psychic energy hummed in her ears. An impulse.
“What do you say, boys?” said the smallest of the trio. “Make it quick, or have some fun?”
“I dunno,” said the first. “It’s been a bit of a slow day.”
Cleo bared a canine. There wasn’t a whole lot she could do to weavile at this range. She felt Spark shift on her shoulder and the dedenne’s fur puffed out.
“You three have picked a bad day to start with us.” Spark shook her tiny fist. “I’ll have you know I’m hungry! And I’m not very nice when I’m hungry. So get down here so I can kick your feathery butts all the way back to the Shadow Lands!”
The first weavile blinked his large eyes in mock bewilderment. “Hear that, boys? The tiny little rat thinks she can kick our feathery butts!”
He rolled his head back and laughed, joined by the other two.
One of them smacked his knee repeatedly. “Big words from such a tiny rodent!” he wheezed.
“What did you just call me?” Spark dived off Cleo’s shoulder and rose up to her full five-inches of height. “Are you making fun of my size?!”
This only served to make the weavile laugh even harder. The boss pointed a sharp claw vaguely in her direction. His eyes streamed with tears and he had to grip the branch with his other paw before he fell clean from it.
“Please!” he squeaked. “You’re slaying me!”
Not the wisest of words. Cleo took a step back, not from the weavile, but because Spark was beginning to radiate static. Cleo knew what was coming next.
A blinding flash lit up the trees, wiping the smirks clean off the weavile troop’s faces. One by one, the weasel pokemon flopped from the canopy to land in a sprawl in the undergrowth. Their bodies sparked and jerked as electricity danced across their limbs.
Spark placed her paws on her hips and tapped her tiny foot. “Who’s laughing now?”
Cleo rejoined her friend’s side and shook her head slowly. “Couldn’t you have gone a little easier on them?”
Spark quirked an eyebrow at her. “This coming from the meowstic who just laid waste to an army of jangmo-o?”
Cleo shrugged her shoulders. “They had it coming.”
“So did these,” said Spark. “Funny though. Hydreigon’s goons can be mouthy, but they usually just attack us. These guys were all bark and no bite.”
Cleo rubbed the fur between her ears. Spark had a point. The dedenne had a short fuse, but Cleo had expected more of a challenge from the weavile. Her eyes trailed back up to the branches and squinted into the shadows.
“Let’s see what they’ve got on them, then, eh?” Spark rubbed her paws together. “Keep an eye open in case there’s more.” She promptly vanished inside the head weavile’s bag.
Cleo stood beside the bag, watching Spark’s tail swish back and forth while keeping her ears trained on their surroundings. It was likely there was no further threat, given no one came to the weaviles’ aide, but one didn’t take risks when the sun was setting.
“Dang it!” came Spark’s muffled voice. “No berries.”
“Is there any gold?” Cleo ventured.
“Oh, there’s loads of that.”
Spark kicked out with her back feet, sending small gold coins rolling across the leaves. Cleo gathered them up and dumped them into her bag.
“And… and this.” Spark waddled from the satchel struggling beneath the weight of a glass vial. “Dunno what it is. Do we take it?”
Cleo took it in one paw and turned it in the light. It was filled with florescent pink liquid. “What is it? Pecha juice?”
Spark grimaced and twitched her whiskers. “Looks a little too… toxic… to be pecha juice.”
“That might just be the bad lighting.” Cleo popped it into her bag and stood up. “Maybe Tinker will have some idea.”
“Yeah, he knows all kindsa weird stuff.”
With Spark back on her shoulder, Cleo headed towards the light ahead of them before it faded with the setting sun. The woods were rapidly growing darker, stretching shadows far back away from them.
When they finally stepped out onto cool, damp grass, the dwindling light was almost blinding after the darkness of the woods. Cleo had to narrow her eyes to get a good sense of her surroundings. The stretch of grass ended at a low, stone wall. What it had once been, Cleo had no idea, but it stretched away to either side, vanishing over the hills. It was possible to walk around, but vaulting it was much quicker.
Just beyond that was a sprawl of wooden buildings. Not permanent dwellings, but those thrown up in haste by pokemon who were often on the move. They would stay here for a season or two, maybe even more if things stayed quiet. Some of the dwellings weren’t exactly buildings, however. Instead, they were wooden carts with taupe over the tops to keep the rain out. Cleo had seen them many times. They were dragged by strong pokemon, and were designed so those that inhabited them could make a quick getaway. Not every pokemon had warmed to the idea. Too many had been seen being blown away in storms, or dragged away by the Darkness. At least wooden shacks stayed where they were, were easy enough to throw up and tear down if need be, and would even last long enough to be returned to should such times arise.
“Stop!”
Cleo lifted her head as a meinfoo rushed towards her. He sported the same sun-shaped badge she wore on her satchel’s strap, indicating he was a member of the Outcasts Guild.
“I’ve not seen you before,” he said. “Where have you come from? What business do you have?”
“We’re travelling warriors.” Cleo motioned to her badge. “We’re hoping to stop by the Guild overnight before we continue our way south.”
“We?” The meinfoo looked past her, standing on tiptoes to see back towards the woods.
“Yes, ‘we’.” Spark poked her head out of Cleo’s ruff, drawing a surprised ‘oh!’ from the guard. “And we’re both very hungry, so if you wouldn’t mind?”
The meinfoo nodded and stood aside. “Of course. The Guild Hall is just that way, in the centre of town. You can’t miss it.”
“Much appreciated!” Spark promptly vanished back inside Cleo’s ruff.
Cleo nodded her thanks to the guard, but as she headed away, something nagged in her mind. “Ah!”
He turned to face her.
“There are three weavile in the woods,” she explained. “They’re only stunned. You might want to apprehend them, find out what they’re doing here.”
The meinfoo sighed and ran a paw down his muzzle. “It was only a matter of time.” He straightened, returning to his professional air. “Thank you. We’ll get on that right away.”
Cleo nodded again and trotted through the town, searching out the familiar banner that marked the Guild. The white flag with its sun emblem waved above the rooftops, a beacon to all who were searching for the Guild for help or work.
“Whew!” Spark declared as they entered the door. “Well, I don’t know about you, Cleo, but I’m heading straight to that dinner hall.”
Cleo absently rubbed her belly. Their rations had run out the previous night, and she was beginning to resonate with her friend’s large appetite. “I might join you.”
As they followed the Guild occupants down the corridor towards the sweet smells emanating from the kitchen, the small crowd parted and a riolu trotted towards them. Tinker, the Outcast Guild’s current leader.
“Cleo!” he said as a smile split his muzzle. “I was actually growing worried. You were expected two days ago.”
“We got caught up.” Cleo paused as the riolu stopped before her. “We actually need to talk to you.”
“Now?” Spark sprawled forwards on Cleo’s shoulder. “Can’t we do this after supper? I’m starting to feel faint.”
Cleo rolled her eyes. “Please excuse her. Food has been a little scarce.”
“Well, dinner is about to start, so feel free-,” said Tinker.
Spark didn’t even wait for the sentence to end. She darted from Cleo’s shoulder and zipped through the crowd, with nothing more than a quick ‘thanks!’ before she vanished amid the masses.
Tinker rubbed the back of his head as he watched after her. “Food scarcity is becoming a growing problem with the cold season closing in. There’s not much left out there for travelling pokemon, as most of it has been harvested before the frost comes.” He turned back to Cleo and met her eyes. “Be sure to take some supplies with you before you leave.”
“I was planning on stocking up.” Cleo kept pace with him as they followed the other pokemon towards the kitchen. “Are you sure you have enough stocks to spare here?”
“We have plenty. It was a good year for the orchard, not to mention the wild fruit and roots growing in the woods. With fewer pokemon living nearby, we didn’t have much competition.”
When they arrived at the dinner hall, Tinker kept moving past it. Cleo faltered in the doorway, and gave a glance inside. Spark was perched on the table, piling up a plate twice her size with a variety of delights.
“Are you wanting to stop here first?” Tinker asked with a hint of impatience. “I’m afraid I can’t discuss your previous mission in there. There are a lot of… local refugees who’ve joined us here. And I fear discussing such matters might upset them.”
Cleo’s ears drooped slightly. She couldn’t deny she was hungry. But… She nodded her understanding and turned from the dining hall. “I can eat later.”
The truth was, the sooner she relayed her mission, the less it would be hovering over her like a dark fog. And the less the chance of Tinker hovering around her like a flea, disrupting her relaxing meal. She followed him through the winding corridor to the end, where one small room sat. The door was ajar, but he still needed to give it a shoulder barge to get it open. The wooden door tore over a wad of discarded paperwork before finally catching on the tattered edge of a cardboard box.
His desk was in an equal state of disarray (or ‘organised chaos’ as he’d call it), and he had to clear a stool of yet more paper for Cleo to sit down.
“Tell me,” he said. “How did things go in Windflower?”
Cleo let out a sigh. “That small town is fine for now. We chased off the jangmo-o.”
“Chased off?”
“A couple were apprehended there,” she explained. “But their Guild is small, you know that. Most of those dragons got away. Although not unscathed.”
“You let them get away?!”
“I was busy helping someone who got hit by a dragon rage,” Cleo explained. “They had no available medic, and they needed help!”
Tinker leant on his paw and tapped his claws on the table top. “The fact those dragons got away unsettles me, Cleo.”
“Then maybe it’s about time Windflower packed up and moved on. They’re too close to the Shadow Lands as it is.”
Tinker rubbed his muzzle and groaned. “That’s not an option I want to enforce on them. You were meant to kill-”
“My job is to look after pokemon who are threatened by the Darkness,” said Cleo. “I wasn’t going to let someone die by giving chase after a bunch of kids!”
“I appreciate that, Cleo,” said Tinker. “But someone else could have done it. Those dragons are a threat.”
“Those dragons are hatchlings.”
“Hydreigon trains hatchlings!”
“Yes, in the Shadow Lands!” Cleo snapped. “He doesn’t send a group of kids off to terrorise a village!” She sighed and dragged her claws through the fur between her ears. “At least having two jangmo-o in custody will hopefully give them much needed information. Whatever they can provide, anyway. At least they’re not terrorising them anymore.”
“If they come back, Cleo-”
“Then they have two of their own as ransom. I’m sure that will terrify those children more than being chased across the town by a pawful of Guild Warriors.”
“Ransom indeed.” Tinker lowered his paw to look at her. “I hardly think Hydreigon will care. If he demands that village wiped out, then it will be wiped out. Just like your home.”
A chill ran down Cleo’s spine and her fur stood on end along it, but she just stared back at the riolu silently. His right eye stared past her, and enough vehemence flared in her to probe him as to how he lost it in the first place. But she swiftly swallowed it down, and the look of surprise and regret that washed over his face made it a lot easier to do so.
“I’m really sorry,” he said. “That was unprofessional of me.”
Cleo just nodded at that and looked away.
“What you did was noble, but you sometimes have to decide if sacrifices need to be made,” said Tinker. “In a war, it often comes to that.”
“Most pokemon wouldn’t call it a war anymore, Tinker. They’d say it’s just the norm. A group of tiny dragons trying to burn down a food storage? They’re just hooligan kids trying to get away with something while claiming they have the authority because ‘their king said so’. Hydreigon hasn’t sent an army onto us in seasons.”
“That’s because we’re losing.”
Cleo fell silent. She rubbed her paw over her face and sank in her seat. Losing… hadn’t they already lost? The Outcasts, scattered across Estellis, struggling to survive in a world where dragon- and dark-type pokemon reigned, ruled over by a horrid pokemon who wanted nothing more than to wipe out every other type completely. No. It was no longer a war. Now it was just survival.
“Outcasts are being picked off day by day, you know that,” said Tinker. “Driven across Estellis while Hydreigon spreads his rule further and further south. I fear you’ve become hardened to this world, Cleo.” He let out a small sigh and his voice softened. “What happened to the meowstic who’d run blindly into an army of Hydreigon’s soldiers just to take out their leader for the sake of a bounty?”
“For one thing, mobs like that are now few and far between,” said Cleo. “I mean, the last assignment you gave me was to take out a group of hatchlings. One blast of my psychic and the lot of them crumpled like flies.”
“Yet still got away.”
“No, those warriors there let them escape. They seemed to have no idea how to handle an event like this! They panicked! That’s how that warrior got hurt in the first place. My job was to take those dragons down and protect other pokemon. I did my job.”
“Your job was to protect Windflower.” Tinker leant against his desk. “And now you’re placing blame.”
“I did my job, Tinker. Those jangmo-o now have a lot to think about.”
Tinker pinched the bridge of his muzzle in two claws. “I’m beginning to think you and Spark may need to consider taking on an extra team member.”
Cleo trapped him in an amber glare. “This again? Tinker…”
“Don’t get me wrong, Spark’s a great ally.” Tinker picked up a small note on his desk and read it. “I’m going to guess she was the one who took out those three weavile in the woods?”
Cleo’s eyes widened. “You heard about that already? That’s why I-”
“Yes.” Tinker wagged the small note at her. “Word gets back to me quite quickly. Anyway, at least consider expanding your team? There are some recent Graduate Warriors who might have actually-”
“What?” She bared a canine. “Picked up my slack and gone after those jangmo-o?”
“To put it bluntly, yes.”
“Well I’m not interested,” said Cleo. “Spark and I work just fine together. She watches my back and covers me against dark-types, especially when I can’t get to them. She watches me, and I watch her. We don’t need another team-mate.”
“And what was Spark doing while you tended to the wounded?”
“Covering me.”
“Precisely.” Tinker sat back in his seat and folded the little note. “I don’t doubt the pair of you work like a well-oiled machine. I’ve seen you do good work in the past. But everyone needs some extra help every now and then. If you take on one of our trainees, it might do you the world of good. An extra pair of paws, and you might learn something.”
Cleo bit her lip and glanced away. “I don’t think so, Tinker.”
Tinker made a thoughtful noise. “Because you fear you’ll need to carry them?”
“Exactly. They’d just be a burden.” She wanted to add ‘just like that group of so-called Guild Warriors who quaked just because a group of hatchlings bared their fangs’ but thought better of it. There was no sense in vexing Tinker any further.
“Well, as far as fighting goes, you two do just great.” Tinker opened a drawer and pulled out a small, brown pouch. “Either way, you defended Windflower, so you still get paid. As for the weavile, there was actually a bounty on their heads. Turns out they’ve been terrorising some of the locals who’ve migrated here. With them out of the picture, the Winding Woods are safe for now.”
Cleo took the pouch gratefully and stuffed it into her satchel.
“I don’t imagine you got any information off the weavile?” Tinker asked. “Any reason as to why they were lurking around in those empty woods?”
“No, unfortunately.” Cleo rummaged in her satchel. “They weren’t in any state to talk. They did have this on them, however.”
She handed the little vial to the riolu and he leant forwards to take it. He turned it in the light, and Cleo noticed even in better lighting the pink liquid was still oddly fluorescent.
“Any idea what it is?” she asked.
“Not a clue.”
“It’s not pecha juice, right?”
“No, I don’t think so. Unless they mixed it with something else.” Tinker popped it on his desk and inclined his head as he stared at it. “I shall have to run some tests on it. Part of me fears it might be poison.”
Cleo’s mouth went dry. She only knew of one pokemon in Hydreigon’s army who used poisons, but that didn’t mean others wouldn’t be inclined to give it a try. Was that why the weavile were lurking around the woods? Were they planning on poisoning the pokemon here?
Suddenly she wasn’t quite so hungry.
Tinker looked up at her suddenly and he trailed his eye over her. “You look positively exhausted. Will you be wanting a room for the night?”
Cleo nodded slowly. “Maybe a few nights. I think, after all that travelling, Spark and I would appreciate staying still for a little while.”
“Very well. Then where will you be off to?”
“New City,” she said. “I don’t have plans to go anywhere else, so we might as well head back home. Unless you have other plans?”
“A rest sounds like a good idea to me. Maybe it’ll help you put things into perspective.” Tinker picked up the vial again, no longer looking at Cleo.
Very well. She could tell when she wasn’t welcome.
She pushed herself from her seat and turned to leave his office.
“Oh, Cleo?”
She froze in the doorway, and flicked both her tails sharply.
“If anything happens to Windflower…” His voice was laced with warning.
She turned her head back towards him. “I shouldn’t even have been needed. They have a slaking there who could pick up two of those runts in one paw. If the Guild there can’t handle a group of kids, then we have a problem.”
She slipped from the room and yanked the door closed. But it didn’t slam. Instead it jammed over a mound of crumpled paper.
...
Cleo lay on her back on a pile of clean hay. The room had only had one nest, so she’d split it in two for her and Spark. The dedenne lay sprawled out atop it, giving off snores that far exceeded her size.
Cleo couldn’t sleep. She pulled out her map, clutching a red pen in one paw. It was a paw-sketched representation of Estellis, dotted with her own paw print writing. The north was mostly marred with red crosses, former territories that had been overrun by the Darkness. Areas that had seen much war and claimed many lives. They were places that were no longer inhabited by the Outcasts, nor inhabited by the Darkness. Just destroyed, and no longer safe for her or any other Outcast to visit or travel through. The further south they went, the fewer red crosses they’d find.
The entire northern part of the map was shaded black, stretching down over a third of the western areas. This was the Shadow Lands. A rapidly growing area that was ruled over by Hydreigon, as he stretched his claws across Estellis. It was inhabited only by dragon and dark-type pokemon, and for anyone else to enter it meant death. Death at the claws of his murkrow flock and weavile fleets, or to be incinerated by flames and dragonfire.
The rest of the western area, and a huge portion of the south was shaded purple. Heretic territory. Those who revered the Darkness and wished to appease Hydreigon, although that had only meant they’d been used before now. Used, then destroyed. Yet the Heretics tried to find new ways to appease him. Cleo didn’t understand it. Desperation to survive, or did they really believe themselves inferior and want to be servants to the horrid dragon?
The rest of the map showed areas still safe for the Outcasts. A small patch of scattered towns and villages, some of which she’d not seen yet to mark them on her map. Her eye fell to a spot just a two day walk from where they were. A huge moorland, trimmed on one side by a forest while the other side was dominated by a mountain that curled around the moors before it stretched away towards the north.
New City.
It wasn’t marked on her map. Even breathing its name outside was a risk. The Darkness didn’t know about it, nor did the Heretics. It was only known to the Guild and those who inhabited it. Only those trusted would be taken there, and those who lived there weren’t allowed to leave without reason. Not that most of them even wanted to. The pokemon were happy to live there, in safety. Unseen, hidden beneath the surface.
She sighed and folded away her map, tucking it away in her bag. She let her arm flop over her face as she stared at the ceiling.
What were those weavile doing in the woods? And why just the three of them? They’d been causing problems, apparently. Had they really been planning to poison this small town?
Just three of them alone wouldn’t have stood a chance against the Guild and all its forces. They must have known that. So it was either a sneak attack, or they were waiting for reinforcements. Or this town wasn’t their target at all?
No, it couldn’t be the latter. Pokemon were terrorized everywhere, the Outcasts just fought back to try and remain safe for as long as they could.
But if the little town was being targeted, it may very soon become nothing more than a red cross on her map.
...
Harbinger trotted along the rocky outcrop of the Silent Mountains, keeping impeccable balance. His snowy white paws moved one in front of the other, the back ones falling in the footprints of his forepaws making nary a sound. Behind him, the two pawniard twins took more wary steps, jogging to keep up with the absol’s quick pace.
He’d seen it. About a mile back he’d caught glimpse of a village ahead of them, formed of stone buildings nestled around a lake. They hadn’t been there two years before, so they were definitely recent. It had been hard to gauge how many pokemon lived there, but going off the number of houses alone, he guessed around fifty.
Fifty what? Pokemon hadn’t lived in the Silent Mountains in years. Not that it mattered what faction they fell under. All pokemon were the same. All hated and feared absol.
He paused just behind a rocky mound, lowering his head to see past the spray of dried branches poking from it. There it was. The village. Clean, white stone reflecting the moonlight. The lake glistened with stars, rippling and disturbing them as the breeze washed over it.
A couple of pokemon hovered around the lake, gathering water into clay jars. A zangoose and a linoone. In the doorway of one of the houses stood a zigzagoon on its hind legs, steadying itself with its paw. Clearly trying to imitate its parent.
It certainly looked peaceful enough. Well… it was time to introduce himself.
Harbinger crept from beneath the rock, catching the twigs with his bony tail. The rustle was enough to cause the zangoose’s ears to twitch. He looked up from the lake and met Harbinger’s crimson eyes. The zangoose stiffened, his fur flaring along his bushy tail.
Harbinger paused on the edge of the outcrop, his front paw raised. He was looking right down at the zangoose. Unafraid, unlike the feral-looking pokemon beneath him. The linoone had spotted him and let out a wail. She dropped the clay jar, shattering it over the rocks and spraying water everywhere. She dashed back to her house, scooping her curious child into her forearms before slamming the door behind her.
The zangoose flashed his canines. “Get out of here, you omen!”
Harbinger sighed inwardly. It was always the same.
He raised his head high. “I’m only here to warn you of a disaster.”
“Yeah, and you probably brought it yourself!” The zangoose flexed his claws, and the moonlight glinted off them. “I’m not afraid, absol. I’ll carve you up right here.”
It was always the same.
“Fine. Have it your way.” Harbinger turned to duck back beneath the mountain shrub.
Something sharp struck his heel. He stifled a yelp, skittering along the outcrop. The tell-tail clatter of stone told him the zangoose had thrown something. Harbinger didn’t glance back until he was on the other side of the shrub. The zangoose still glared after him, poised to leap into action if Harbinger retaliated.
He had every intention to retaliate. But not in the way the zangoose expected.
Harbinger pushed himself along the outcrop, nudging Scratch and Claw ahead of him. The ground widened out just ahead of them, before moving into a gentle incline further up the mountain. Harbinger sat down and stretched out his back leg to examine his paw. No blood, just a muddy scuff where the rock had struck him.
“So what are we going to do?” It was Claw who’d spoken.
Scratch stood beside his twin, rubbing his pointed limbs together. The sound it gave off was akin to a metal kricketune who hadn’t quite mastered the art of serenading just yet.
Harbinger lowered his leg to sit better and looked at each of the pawniard in turn. Patient, waiting. The dim light reflected off their metal hides, yet they still managed to blend to the shadows. The pokemon in that village probably hadn’t even noticed them.
Harbinger glanced back at the way they’d come. Those pokemon around the lake. He’d told them disaster was coming. He was going to make sure it did.
“Look around you,” he told the pawniard. “What do you see?”
“Mountains,” said Claw. “But what does an avalanche have to do with those pokemon in the valley?”
“I’m not going to start an avalanche,” said Harbinger. “What else is here?”
Claw tipped his head back in thought, and Scratch twitched as he looked at his brother expectantly.
“Rivers,” Scratch finally said, trailing one of his claws over his arm. “And the lake.”
A smile split Harbinger’s muzzle. “You remember those pokemon we saw in the valley?”
Claw nodded, and Scratch stopped his fussing, waiting for instruction.
“Good.” Harbinger stood, stepping gingerly on his bruised foot. “You know what to do.”
The twins saluted and turned, zipping along the mountain slope towards the other side.
Harbinger gave another glance back towards the village. He couldn’t see it anymore. The pokemon there would either flee, or stick around to see if he brought any threat.
A harbinger of disaster. That’s all they saw him as. Just like everyone else. If they were going to accuse him of disaster, then he’d make sure they received it.
Another smirk tugged at his lips, and he followed after the pawniard twins, bounding nimbly over the precarious rocks.
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