Water Veil Cove

[Sinderella]

"Yeah, you could get lost in all the damn possibilities of 'yellow psychic'," Odette agreed. "Which is why, for now, I'm trying to stick to what's on the island. Somebody has an Alakazam, one of the staff members has a Hypno, and Blair has the Grumpig. Keep the pool small before we start considering that some asshole 'mon might be portaling or flying in to fuck with us. Unless you've got some other hypothesis I'm not considering."

<I'm of the opinion that neither of you humans, nor your partners, are involved in these misdeeds. Let us combine our efforts. If each of us makes some investigation towards the truth, we can compare our findings and reach justice sooner.>

She snickered at the exchange between Laura and Malachai. "Well, to quote my demon, I like the way you think," she said. "I've certainly solved mysteries better in groups. Keeps me from going down the wrong Buneary holes." A pause. "Though we should definitely try to keep the island intact. As much as barreling through the place might do," she said somewhat sarcastically, "best not risk tainting evidence."

[Tearing the place apart is a metaphor for a good idea I am thinking. I am wanting to find the people. I am not thinking I am the only one who is wanting that, too. Then they could be telling us what was happening.]

Again, she snickered. "You're definitely not alone there," she assured. "But the approach should start gentle. We should only start getting aggressive when there isn't any cooperation. And I'm not anticipating a lot judging by what the officer told me, so...I'd say to hold off."


"̸T̶h̷a̶t̸'̴s̶ ̶r̸i̶c̵h̷ ̴c̶o̸m̸i̴n̸g̶ ̸f̸r̵o̸m̵ ̷t̶h̸e̷ ̴o̷n̷e̴ ̷w̵i̶t̴h̶ ̷s̴e̸v̵e̵r̶e̴ ̵a̵n̸g̸e̷r̶ ̵i̴s̶s̸u̴e̵s̸,̵"̸ ̷ Odile cracked


"And who's fault is that?"


That was the first thing that got even the slightest giggle out of her in the past hour.

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Laura nodded, pursed her lips, and shoved her hands in her pockets. "Yeah... Don't know if that means we can trust everyone on the boat, though. Heard there was some guy who went off about killing people and attacked someone. But... at least I—"

She felt her heart push at her ribs. C'mon, just have faith.

"I'm willing to trust you guys. You... You seem decent. So I'll let you know whatever Mal, Sleet and I find out." She fished out her phone and pulled a sheepish expression. "So... Groupchat?"

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Yeah... Don't know if that means we can trust everyone on the boat, though. Heard there was some guy who went off about killing people and attacked someone. But... at least I—"

Gladion shook his head, disheartened. “Well, just because he’s not this serial kidnapper doesn’t mean he can’t be a serial killer. And hey, maybe we’ll get lucky and those two problems can ‘solve’ each other. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Hazel watched curiously as Laura pulled out her phone. [Group Chat?]

“Would let us contact Laura and Odette at once,” Gladion explained. “It’s a good idea. Just…”

He looked between Laura and Odette. “How’d you two get into the network? Do I just put a password in or somewhere?”

 

[Sinderella]

"I'm willing to trust you guys. You... You seem decent. So I'll let you know whatever Mal, Sleet and I find out." She fished out her phone and pulled a sheepish expression. "So... Groupchat?"

She agreed with Laura. She got good feelings from this group, though she might have been a little biased about Gladion. She would trust her Gladion with her life, so hopefully this one wasn't much different...

She fished her phone out of her pocket again. "Groupchat sounds good to me."

He looked between Laura and Odette. “How’d you two get into the network? Do I just put a password in or somewhere?”

She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "Mine just never stopped working, which is weird. Usually at events like this I don't have service. But now I'm on my boyfriend's plan and the fucker must have some crazy coverage, I guess..."

 

[unrepentantAuthor]

Laura peered at Gladion's device for a concerted minute. Looked like network logins worked a little differently in his universe. Nothing unfixable...

"Think I got it for you," she said, with a nervous laugh. "I'm sending you a message... there. You see it?"

The phone buzzed. Nice.

"Okay, cool, uh... What next? Maybe we should investigate the trainers with yellow psychics...?"

Malachai warbled delicately. <We would do well to consider the myriad ways in which they might be implicated, but not guilty. We could also investigate the administration of this Festival, the scenes of various disappearances, such as the scizor boy's room, or even seek out the reputed legendary pokémon on the island to speak with.>

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion was nervous giving Laura his phone, but it wasn't like she was going to go through it or anything. She just hooked it up and oh it was that simple. He was supposed to be good at this stuff. "Sweet."

He'd never been in a groupchat before. This was neat.

"Okay, cool, uh... What next? Maybe we should investigate the trainers with yellow psychics...?"

"Our vigilantes have already shaken down the guy with an Alakazam, which... fair, I guess. Yellow teleporting psychic that leaves no footprints. But it didn't go well. He's... understandably defensive. I'd be the same if someone accused Hazel. We might be better off to let the others handle making enemies. They're gonna do it one way or another, I'm pretty sure of that."

<We would do well to consider the myriad ways in which they might be implicated, but not guilty. We could also investigate the administration of this Festival, the scenes of various disappearances, such as the scizor boy's room, or even seek out the reputed legendary pokémon on the island to speak with.>

[I think it would be good to be finding where they were being taken from. Or if we were thinking we could be escaping, where they were taken to. Gladion and I are good at getting out of places.]

Gladion translated the first two sentences before stuttering and cutting off. "Nope. Let's stick to finding to things normally, okay?"

[But if we ended up there we could be getting out. We could be surprising them.]

 

[Sinderella]

<We would do well to consider the myriad ways in which they might be implicated, but not guilty. We could also investigate the administration of this Festival, the scenes of various disappearances, such as the scizor boy's room, or even seek out the reputed legendary pokémon on the island to speak with.>

"I have yet to see any of these so-called mythicals since we got here, so I am aching to hunt one down and see what might be up," Odette mused. "I'm just not quite sure where to start with that."


"̶J̶u̶s̶t̶ ̶c̸a̵l̸l̶ ̸t̶h̴e̷m̴ ̵u̵p̸ ̶o̶n̵ ̷t̸h̴e̴i̸r̴ ̵c̶e̶l̴l̴ ̵p̶h̵o̴n̵e̴s̸,̷ ̵f̶o̶r̵e̵h̴e̴a̶d̵.̵"̶


"Okay, are you in a shitty mood or not?"

When the bat didn't respond, she sighed. "I already tried speaking to Blair and given her Hatterene's response, I'm hesitant to do so again so soon. Don't want to get on anybody's bad side."

Yet. She wouldn't say that, though.

"I know everyone and their mothers are going to be hunting down the chick with the Hypno, so I want to avoid that route for now. And it sounds like Gladion already spoke to the one with the Alakazam..."

She tapped her lip. "Mmmmaybe we could keep asking around? Perhaps some of the trainers from that first group have some internal beef and would be willing to rat on one another if they know more than they're currently letting on."

Gladion translated the first two sentences before stuttering and cutting off. "Nope. Let's stick to finding to things normally, okay?"

She blinked in surprise as Gladion's sudden outburst. She couldn't understand any of what Hazel had said otherwise, so she decided to just...assume it was something out of pocket. Unintentionally.

"To be fair, the circumstances here aren't really normal, per se," she said. "But keeping as normal as humanly possible would be nice. I think I'm going to go against my normal disposition and try to feel out some of these other trainers. And try my best to see if I can locate one of those mythics..."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"There's still two as-of-yet-undiscovered locations the first two were taken from. I think finding that would be a good start. I guess having forces of myth on our side would be good, too." Hopefully they don't take issue with Hazel. She's a little... blasphemous. Depending on who you ask.

"Honestly, I don't know much about any of them. Mostly. There's..." He trailed off.

[Manaphy?] Hazel asked.

Gladion shrugged, acting indifferent. "Yeah, Manaphy I guess. Probably no help here. Unless we gotta steal someone's biometrics. One way or another, we've got a few ideas to work with."

<><><><><>

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion's last trip to the cove wasn't exactly relaxing, but the spot itself was lovely. Even if doing something helpful to the search would be better, he was feeling too tired and burned out to bother.

So, he opted from something nicer. The cove had a soul-healing effect, or perhaps that was just from watching Hazel enjoying the water. He watched from the shade of a tree on the shoreline, sipping away at an iced tea he'd brought in hopes the caffeine would do him some good.

Unpleasant questions still itched at the back of his mind, but for the most part, he was at ease.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion recognized the fruity-looking guy who arrived as the one he'd bailed on during the arrival day. Awkward. Maybe there was still time to form an escape, he hadn't been spotted yet. Sure, Hazel was still in the water but she'd follow if he left. Surely this guy would not question the totally normal wild chimera...

Yes. The man closed his eyes- was he praying? One way or another it was the perfect chance to escape what would otherwise inevitably turn into a painful social situation. He'd just quietly slip away and... fuck that prayer was only a few sentences. Was he praying to a Manaphy? He'd heard some ancient cultures used to do that, maybe the guy was from the distant past. Especially because he didn't seem to know they were gynandromorphic.

Still, it wasn't too late to pretend he'd been getting up for normal, non-evasive reasons. Come up with a reason to excuse himself. Like...

"Oh, hey. You want me to give you some space to pray in private?" Smooth. Acting like he'd be doing the guy a favour by leaving. Which really, he kinda was. Painful awkwardness was known to cut both ways.

Noticing the interaction, Hazel came up from the water, her coat dripping. "Hi Hazel." And now there will be questions...

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Oh damn, the guy was just pausing, hadn't even finished yet. It really wasn't his lucky day.

"Huh. Looked like I disturbed you to me, sorry. Thought you were done. I just... figured it'd be rude for me to run off again. Didn't expect a show or anything."

Hazel took a step back so she could fit Wallace in her limited field of view. [You are pretty.]

Gladion chose to translate that as "She likes your outfit."

He tried to think of a way to broach the subject he was curious about properly. "So, uhh... When we first met, I thought I might've heard of you before, but now I know we're all from... different worlds, so y'know... And I met someone who recognized me when I'd never met her before. Have you... had any issues with... that? Like, other people... I don't know how to phrase it, it's too weird."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I'm flattered. Thank you for the kind words... oh, I don't think I got your name."

"My name is Gladion. She is Hazel."

"I met a version of one of my precious loved ones. In many ways, he was similar to the version I know. In other ways, he's lived a very different life from the one I know." He smiled. "But deep down, he's still my friend, and I want to do everything I can to protect him from... everything."

"Ah." Gladion's face reddened. Fucking hell, that was even more awkward than the Odette situation. "I see. I think I'm in the opposite situation, and I'm trying to figure out how to approach it, so... Does he know you? Or, no, I'm prying. My apologies."

Gladion fell silent. In an attempt to save him from himself, she started signing to give him something to translate. [Are you knowing Manaphy?]

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion could guess what the translations of Gourádon, Kaióga, and Rekkoúza. It seemed like it should also be easy to assume that they were talking about the same Manaphy, but with a Lokásoúvia mixed in there, there was no being sure. Like, why would some associate Manaphy with childbirth? Or family, really, but especially childbirth. Because though he could technically picture a way that a story could involve both the powers of Manaphy and childbirth, but... Wow! He suddenly wanted to picture literally fucking anything else right now!

It took him a moment to recover from that psychic damage that dealt him, but he responded before the silence grew too long. "I'm sure your church'll forgive you if you can't meet normal expectations on the disaster-island." Or they very well might not but in that case they're probably not worth being around. "The water's edge is always lovely, but really I've got less of an affinity for it than most seafolk. Didn't happen to end up with any of that type on my team, but Hazel loves the water so I've a reason to go."

[It is the water being very nice,] Hazel signed in response to Victoria's question. "Hazel's here for the water, I'm here for the calm and familiarity. Hell of a day yesterday, I'm still recovering."

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"I-I'm very sorry. I have a tendency to ramble when my emotions are running high. I have a deep respect for Manafí. They helped me through a lot of my gender identity issues as a young teenager—you see, there's several Runekyō texts that indicate that Manafí is somewhere between male and not, alteration between male and female and neuter language, and that resonates with me on a personal level—and they've given me strength through many recent, personal tribulations. Lokásoúvia is the patron of love: platonic, physical, familial, romantic... all kinds of love. And Kaióga is the patron of the sea and shipbuil—"

"Don't worry about it, I just zoned out for a second. Something unrelated." He hesitated, feeling nervous. "I... We don't have those stories about Manaphy where I'm from, but we have our own. They were a comfort to me, too." His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "Similar reasons, really."

A slight smile pulled at his face. Even though this was a safe conversation, he was glad he'd allowed himself to have it anyway. That wasn't something he'd have said any day. Maybe his emotional defences had been worn down by everything else yesterday. "On a normal day I might be able to ramble about nonhuman sapiences or something, but honestly I'm still half asleep... and it doesn't really apply here one way or another. My world seems to be far below average in that regard."

[It is?] Hazel asked.

Gladion stroked her still-wet coat. "You're pretty exception. Back home, at least. That's why it was interesting to me."

"Well, they've been very understanding of my situation. My family as well. My grandmother wants me to prove myself to as many people as possible."

He offered no response...

That's understandable. Sootopolitans have a similar affinity, though, for example, my niece doesn't have any Water types, either. She doesn't seem to have a type preference; it's just her and her Altaria." Wallace smiled a sad smile. "I miss her."

"Neat... I'm sure you'll see her again. We'll get out of here." I hope.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Do share these stories. I would love to hear them... only if you're comfortable, of course."

Gladion bit his lower lip. He wasn’t looking to get too deep into it. Looking back, those stories felt clumsy. Or perhaps they were only clumsy as a means to express what he’d been feeling but hadn’t the words for. But he was okay to talk about it a little. “Are you aware of Heart Swap? It’s a psychic technique associated with Manaphy. Takes two people and exchanges their consciousnesses between their bodies.”

"I-I-I don't mean to imply that I think badly of you. Quite the opposite, actually. The kinship between you and Hazel is admirable. Truly a beautiful I just... I have to make my family proud. And Sootopolis City. And Hoenn. When I accepted the offer, I saw it as a way to show myself to the world and to prove myself to my family. And Sootopolis City. And Hoenn.

“I understand. I mean, I guess I don’t really get it in the firsthand sense. Not really a public figure myself. Or a family person. Long story.”

 

[Shiny Phantump]

"Interesting. Haven't heard that one."

Hazel cooed. [I think that is sounding very... interesting.]

Gladion absentmindedly scratched her. "Yeah," he said, even though the idea did not sound nearly as fun and appealing as it did in his childhood.

 

[Shiny Phantump]

Gladion lead the group from the Cafe towards the cove, feeling like perhaps this had become a larger affair than was really necessary.

Maybe he should've been more discreet, but it was too late for that now. Which, in turn, meant there was some pressure on him to turn up actual results. He just had to cross his fingers and hope for a Manaphy encounter. And to hope that the Manaphy in question actually had something useful to offer, which really was an even bigger if in his mind than than the sighting itself.

"So..." Gladion scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "This is the spot, I guess..."

Hazel waved a talon at the ocean. [Hello! Are you here?]

 

[MintyMimix]

[You know you should apologize.]

"Apologize for what?" Violet whispered to Hazel, as the group entered the cove. Violet's eyes still had the bags underneath them, but they were more alert than in the Magma Caverns. The cooling air of the cove and prospect of encountering a mythical Pokémon had given her a nice boost of energy. "'Tis not mine fault that the man believed in his conviction of you not being able to speak over basic literacy."

[That attitude is EXACTLY why you need to apologize! You shouldn't insult someone because of something like that!]

"Why don't you talk to him, then? Oh, wait," Violet sneer-whispered, rolling her eyes, "I'm sorry, that's right; Pokémon cannot communicate with people, and I'm just a bard at the local tavern. Silly me."

[We're having a talk when we get back to the dorms, missy. Now look sharp; we don't want to be rude to the others or Manaphy!]

Violet huffed, but decided to plaster on a smile as she looked over the others on-site. Her smile wavered as her brows raised in confusion at what she saw. Gladion was there, sure, but he had been accompanied by a... moss Pokémon of sorts, and several other trainers and Pokémon. Just what kind of strange worlds were they all from?

Hazel was quick to identify the variant of the Sylveon as shiny, but had a difficult time trying to ascertain just what the moss one was. Her curiosity yearned to learn more — for science, of course.

"Ahem, well, while we are waiting for a sighting, mayhaps an introduction is in order?" Violet cleared her throat and took a short bow, "Greetings again to those we have met, and a pleasure to make the acquaintance to the rest of you. Mine name is Violet, and my companion is Hazel." Realizing the potential folly of her introduction, she corrected, "That is, the Weavile is named Hazel. No relation to anyone else."

Hazel gave a wave for the Pokémon, as well as held up her phone with a wave emoji [👋] in her other claw.

 

[IFBench]

Gen was huddled next to Wallace, not saying a word. He was going to maybe meet a Mythical Pokemon. A real Mythical Pokemon.

That...

He began trembling, holding tightly onto his uncle.

 

[Negrek]

Nate probably should have thought harder about what it would mean that the weavile kid had gotten a text message about the legendary: that probably everybody with a fucking phone got the same message, and that they were then all going to show up and want a piece of the action. It looked like half the people on the fucking boat were here--Nate recognized Wes and Odette, and oh goddammit there was another of the champions, plus more people he'd seen in passing but managed to avoid thus far.

So there was no chance of getting anything useful out of this encounter. If the legend even was there to begin with, and it wasn't scared away by like a dozen people stomping around, making noise, it wasn't like he was going to get any chance to get close to it by himself. Much less catch it. Not that he was going to go that route unless he really needed to.

He'd head down there with the group, see if the legend appeared, and if it did, he could pay it another visit himself, later. Alone. He just needed confirmation on where to find it.

Looked like the weavile and the cave asshole wanted to do introductions. How about no? Nate stayed well back behind her, and the rest of the group, too, and gulped down more of the coffee he'd stopped to grab at the cafe before everybody hiked out here. What a long fucking day.

Of course, Mightyena wanted to just get in there and talk to everybody. Nate could tell. She seemed particularly interested in some hulking taloned pokémon wearing some kind of heavy-duty armor over its face, or a helmet, or Nate didn't even know what. He was only lucky that she was worn out after the cave excursion and didn't have the energy to just bound into the fray and get acquainted.

Nate reached down and scratched behind her ears. "Let's just watch for now, okay?" he said. "I know you're tired out. Don't want to go too hard on this."

Mightyena made a faint noise of acknowledgement, but Nate wasn't so sure she was going to take what he'd said to heart. Let the peace hold for another few minutes, though. That was all he asked. He really wasn't in the mood to make any new friends today.