The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.
Genesis 6:5 NIV
Chris Christodoulou's Out of Whose Womb Came the Ice?
The dungeon once more shifted around me, causing the stairs below my paws to give way to a solid surface. The surrounding darkness dissipated, and with a jolt I found myself in the next floor of Checkered Chasm.
This floor's the same as the past ones, I told myself as I took another step forward, my paw stepping into the cool, blue water that pooled into the center of the room. My finned ears twitched in recognition of the sound of a droplet of water falling from the ceiling and onto the water below, breaking the still surface by creating a ripple that lapped up to my paws.
I inhaled the cold, sharp air and – although it still felt unmistakably ancient – it was no longer oppressively stagnant.
Then this floor is different.
Was that it? The air is no longer stagnant? I wondered, trying to ponder why this floor felt different and, simultaneously, eerily familiar.
Pirth and Althi appeared by my left, and Team Brave's Booker the ribombee and Sneasel the... sneasel to my right. I felt a familiar presence – Arimis – surface from directly behind me, against the wall where the floors were not submerged beneath the shallow, bioluminescent waters of this Mystery Dungeon.
I scanned the room, and made quick note of what else had changed.
The cobbled black-and-white walls of the previous floors of the dungeons had given way to a neutral and dull grey that appeared to be fixed firmly between the two extreme tones. I also realized why the air was no longer still, and at this revelation my heart skipped a beat; a gentle breeze emanated from the lone passageway out of this room – like the previous floors it was wreathed in inky black shadow that hindered all visibility – akin to the peak of Ruined Roost. Indeed, the whole room reeked of familiarity of that damned place.
If I took notice then that means–
I glanced to my left and took a good look at the glaceon leader of Team Eevee. A flash of recognition crossed against her face, but she looked at me and that faded away almost as quickly as it had appeared; it was instead replaced with a smile imbued with confidence. I thought I saw the smile waver as her eyes moved behind me towards Team Brave. I followed her gaze and looked at them as they scanned the room; I was grateful they were usually so alert since it had led to them hearing the sounds of combat and coming to our aid on the previous floor. They didn't seem on-edge, however, as thankfully for them they had no deja vu to worry about.
I looked at Pirth who appeared stoic, then back at Arimis. We made eye contact, my eyes staring into her dark-purple eyes that covered the real ones beneath. Ones that I prefer, I mentally added. Her illusory white pupils wavered for a moment, quickly contracting before returning to their normal state, a sign I had quickly picked up when we first met that she was deep in thought.
Recently, however, Arimis being deep in thought was typically not a good thing.
Ari, is everything alright?
I'm not certain. Althi seems... more amicable towards Team Brave after the Monster House last floor, does she not?
I looked at Althi as she spoke. "Alright everyone, let's get through this floor. As Booker said, this should be the midway floor. Let's get through to the end in one piece so we can discuss the next steps without having to worry about ferals. Since you saved us back there, Team Brave, would you care to do the honors of leading us?"
I turned back to Arimis with a glance after Althi’s display of kindness as if to say "obviously so" as we formed a line with myself and Ari at the rear and Team Brave at the fore.
Arimis' eyes darted from me to Althi then back to me once more as I turned around to start our journey through this floor. I sensed Arimis gathering her thoughts but she then said nothing, so for the moment I didn't press it.
As we walked, I let my tail drag on the pool of water, enjoying the sensation and creating a small wake that almost lapped up to the side of the dungeon that Arimis quickly trotted along to maintain pace with the rest of the group. After a minute of walking, I saw her look at me.
Don't you think her attitude shifted rather... uncharacteristically quickly?
I felt my fins instinctively fold back as I cringed.
It's unpleasant to think that Althi changing attitudes so quickly is out-of-character for her but... yeah, this is Althi we're talking about. Why does this worry you though?
We turned a corner in the hallway, the grey walls still the only sight aside from my teammates that emerged from the shadows.
I... I believe she is doing so purposefully in order to lure Team Brave into a false sense of security.
Another corner. I used this as an opportunity to look at her. She was, of course, completely serious.
You doubt me.
I hesitated.
It's tough to believe but...
I glanced at her. Already she had lost eye contact, instead looking down to the ground. I uttered a curse under my breath.
Ari, you trust me enough to hold your secret, right? That you're a zoura?
The careful reply of I do came.
Then it's only fair I extend that courtesy back to you. I... I think if you put so much trust into me, then you deserve someone that does the same for you. I'll take you for your word–
We turned another corner, and I thought I saw through the dark shadow an entrance to the room. What I do know I saw was Althi, in front of Pirth and myself, looking straight ahead at Team Brave. At such quick a glance I was unable to read the emotions on her face.
–even if it means accepting something I'd rather not be the case.
We proceeded straight, and I prepared myself to ask Arimis what we should do, but before I could get the thought across Sneasel's voice echoed out. "I think we made it!"
We entered a massive grey chamber whose grey walls jutted upwards towards the shadow-obscured ceiling. The pool of water in the center of the circular room was, unlike all other rooms, perfectly still; no droplets of water fell from above causing no ripples to mar the surface. Beneath the water, unlike before where the bioluminescent blue made it difficult to see the floor below, the water here was crystal-clear, letting us see through.
The rocks belowthe surface of the water were the same muted grey as the surrounding walls save for the center, where a square arrangement of square, black-and-white tiles contrasted sharply against the surroundings. We looked around the room and saw no ferals, as was the case for the entire floor.
I guess this dungeon really did save all its energy – whatever that might mean – for that monster house. Thank God for Team Brave coming in.
I shook my head and looked at Althi. How can she still not trust them?
She spoke, drawing the attention of everyone as she looked at the underwater tiles before turning to Booker. "Booker, I was told you're one of the Clover Guild's best researchers and that you were as up-to-date as possible about our knowledge on what comes past this floor and Drew's whereabouts. Could you please brief us on all that?"
Booker was too small for me to see well in the low-light of the cavern and I didn't know if him being a bug prevented it, but I'm sure that – were he human – he would’ve blushed at Althi's kind words. But before he could speak, however, Althi spoke once more as she turned to Arimis and gave her a smile. "You're too small for me to read your lips so I'll have Arimis tell me what you're saying."
"O-okay" I heard Booker say as I watched the two female members of Team Eevee make eye contact before Althi turned away from Arimis and towards Booker. Ari still kept her eyes on Althi.
The ribombee, after a moment of sorting through his memories, spoke. "Well, from the information a-available to the Clover Guild, Checkered Chasm splits off into two areas from this point: the Cave of Truth and the C-Cave of Ideals. It's supposed to split us based on what we value most.
"As for identifying which Cave is which, I think Arimis made some mention earlier about the h-honorifics used in the Mist Continent?"
At this our eyes shifted towards Arimis, who was looking fully at Althi. She took a moment to process what had been said, turned from Althi to all of us, and looked flustered; I could see her illusion betray a blush.
Her thoughts echoed in all our minds save for Sneasel's. Y-yes. Well, I know of the names that those in the outlands of Mist called them, not that I was an adherent to those beliefs.
She paused as if to emphasize this latter point, and although I had no clue what any of that meant, I supposed that there seemed to be some stigma regarding being associated with that group. As I made a mental note to ask Ari about it later, she continued. Reshiram, the dragon associated with Truth, was often referred to as the Vast White. Zekrom, who is associated with Ideals, was titled the Deep Black. Considering the nature of this Chasm, I believe it is fair to presume that both the Caves of Truth and Ideals will correlate with the respective colors.
At this she glanced at Sneasel, who spoke up. "Yeah, Booker and I already talked about that. Him and I are pretty sure we're gonna wind up in the Ideal side together—cuz we got some pretty strong ideals we wanna make real, y'know? And we’re pretty sure we can handle whatever the dungeon throws at us, so whoever gets put with us is in good claws.”
“The threat of h-hallucinations is a concern, though,” said Booker. “We don’t know what we’ll see—assuming we see anything at all. W-we’ll need to be on alert so we’re not led astray."
"Perfect!" came Althi's reply, skirting over what Booker said. "Now Booker, would you mind telling us the finer details about the dragapult horns? It is sort of accepted that Drew is, well... gone."
"Y-yeah," Booker said, "well, since the dreepy with Ikarus are supposedly unable to sleep, we think that–"
Booker's explanantion was cut off by a thought ringing in my head.
d'Alin, I-I am relaying a message from Althi to you and Pirth; this is her henceforth: Keep continuing pretending to pay attention to them and–
I glanced quickly at Arimis who I saw struggling to transmit the thought. I saw her face at Althi who, though still looking at Booker, gave a nod to Arimis to continue. So she did. –also keep pretending to fake your acceptance of them. We have them fooled; they don't know any better.
At this I couldn't help but turn away from Booker's description of dragapult horns I couldn't pay attention to anyways to look at Althi. She took notice and I mouthed to her "What the fuck are you talking about?"
Her smile faded a bit, and the thought of d'Alin, come on. Don't tell me you still buy their silly facade?
I turned to look at Pirth, who seemed just as confused as me. I refocused on Arimis. Ari, is this what you had thought Althi might be up to?
Yes, and I-wait, I…
Oh.
Arimis eyed Althi pleadingly and the glaceon stared her back down. They locked sight for a moment until Arimis, who lost the struggle, turned away and looked down at her paws. Although they were nearly the same height, Althi standing in a sort of silent triumph as Arimis faltered under her gaze made the former seem twice as tall.
“Is e-everything okay?” I heard Booker’s voice echo.
We all turned towards him save for Althi, who did so only after seeing us. He and Sneasel noticed we were all staring at each other instead of paying attention to them. Booker looked worried for our sakes, but Sneasel bore a look of intrigue.
“I-I sensed from your auras that there was a lot of anxiety. I hope you feel okay about continuing on the mission.”
Sneasel, who gave me a long glance, said, “Maybe they’re just grossed out by hearing about what happened with Drew.”
We all nodded at that, and Booker seemed to understand. He nodded as well and said, “I can relate.”
Althi then spoke up. “Yes, we’re just… talking through Arimis here about our concerns. We didn’t want to scare you, but if it’s okay we’ll continue.”
Sneasel said, “I don’t care if you say it out loud. I’m used to this kinda thing.”
Althi flashed a smile, and with all this context I could see it was undoubtedly forced. “We can just keep it to ourselves. For Booker’s sake. So if it’s okay to take a break, now I’ll make sure the team I am leading understands my concerns.”
Booker raised no objection and Team Brave stepped aside as Althi's eyes shifted towards me, and the stern authority in her teal-blue eyes that faded away while she talked with our fellow Explorers returned as the a thought came from Arimis.
This is word-for-word, as Althi insists.
Ari I–
She ignored my thoughts and continued as I stared at Althi. Well, continuing. d'Alin, the plan is as follows, and you will obey. I don’t want Booker risking trying to know what we’re planning, which I am doing for all of our sakes. For our protection. To prevent the mistake of Ruined Roost from happening ever again.
Both Althi and Arimis took a breath in sync before they continued.
Let's hope those two are right about their lofty ideals. If any one of us gets caught in the Cave with them, you’re to use the escape orb to make sure you don’t get caught and attacked all on their own. You’ll run to Shuropak nearby and get a Team to help apprehend Team Brave once those two emerge. The other three will continue on their own and retrieve the dragapult horn so we can prove our worth to the Clover Guild.
I dared to entertain the thought. And what if they get separated, and it’s two of us to one of them? They’ll be no… threat, right?
Evidently my thought was relayed since I heard back. Booker? Not at all. That pathetic little human can’t do anything on his own. Sneasel, though… well, you know her type. If you can’t apprehend her, use the escape orb and leave her in the Cave. Your safety is more important than the mission.
This is insane.
"Althi," I mouthed, "you're totally out of line. I don't know where you–"
In the corner of my eye I saw Arimis flinch, and that made me stop. I looked at Althi and couldn't wipe the anger from my face. Still, that didn't stop the thought from coming.
Listen to me. You don't know the life I've lived. You don't know what I've put up with to protect myself and Pirth growing up. So I can understand your naivety. Maybe dark-types aren't all bad. My experience says otherwise, but I'm willing to give it a try someday. But now? With one living with humans? As a sneasel? d'Alin, I'm here to lead us and protect us. You do, of course, remember what happened in Ruined Roost… don't you?
I just stared at her as if to dare her to say that again, and she stared back in acknowledgement. No, Althi. You don't know what happened.
I looked at Ari. A zorua saved us all.
But Arimis didn't relay my thought – didn't even look at me – and instead shirked even more as Althi stared her down. My friend – perhaps who I was closest to in this world – just looked down in shame under Althi's stare, refusing to look at either of us as I could see from Althi's glare her demanding Arimis relay her thoughts, word-for-word.
So she did.
I know dark-types, echoed Ari's mentalic voice in my head, and all they are is a bunch of liars, cheats, and deceivers. Deep deep down that's always been the case with them. In times like these, when our lives are on the line, you can never trust one.
I looked at Arimis and could've sworn her illusion began to shimmer around the eyes, but just for a moment. I readied to speak, but Ari's voice – a weak please don't, d'Alin – forced me to bite my tongue.
I wasn't used to the sharpness of the teeth and fangs this new body had, even after a month. The metallic taste of blood danced in my mouth.
It came as no surprise to me that Althi's vision – which is exceptional – caught sight of my anger. What was unexpected, however, was her longingly looking at Arimis who relaxed – apparently relieved of duty – before Althi sauntered over to me.
She came close and I felt her cold breath tingle against my ear fin as she whispered with a heavy sigh, "I'm sorry, d'Alin, that it has to be this way. I really am. I know you see the good in others where I don't. You're an idealist like that, and that's why I'm worried you'll wind up with them. I just... I have to use these harsh words because of the dire situation. I've lived through life and I know what I'm talking about. All I need is for you to trust me. Please? Can you promise me you'll follow through with the plan?"
I looked over at Arimis. She seemed exhausted, lost in her thought.
You stupid idiot, I told myself as I let the lie leave my lips, as I took the easy way out.
I swallowed blood before I spoke. "Okay, Althi, I promise to do as you ask."
She donned a smile, and although she was no doubt satisfied with having gotten me to agree to her, the smile wasn't smug. Worse, it was one of pure relief.
She genuinely believes this...
I looked back at Pirth to see if he followed his older sister's suit, almost having forgotten about him. His snout seemed to be in a grimace, but he offered no objection to Althi's plan.
Booker, I then realized, finished his instructions on which were the most essential pieces to gather, and Althi responded with her false fanfare. "Thank you, Booker! I think with that we're all set to go, right?"
I put on a facade and nodded in agreement. Another lie, another easy choice instead of the right one, another regret.
Team Brave agreed, and Althi walked up to Pirth and drew a handful of escape orbs. "My team's contingency," she said to Team Brave, who took it at face value. She handed one to each us and then stepped onto the checkered tile in the center.
The entire cavern began to shake.
It's starting.
Pirth and Team Brave hurried to the tiled center, their claws and hooves splashing and throwing up water. Arimis, thankfully, avoided it, but still remained at the edge as the ground continued to shake. I stepped onto the tiles and looked back at her, and she looked at the water that stood between her and the next part of the Mystery Dungeon.
Ari, you can do it. No one's paying attention to the floor.
With that I saw her close her eyes, take in a breath, and in two bounds she gracefully jumped from the edge of the cavern to the center. She made a large splash which caught the attention of Team Brave, but I stepped between them to cover her paws.
I looked down. They shimmered red. I looked at Arimis.
She didn't look at me. I didn't even stand up for her, so why should she?
Ari, I thought, trying to emphasize her name and hear my thoughts as the shaking persisted, I just want to say that I'm sorry and I–
Don't apologise, d'Alin, for my own faults. It's–
She was cut off in surprise as the shaking started to be accompanied by a flood of white light and black shadow that began to gradually intensify.
Oh God, here we go... Ari!
I turned to her and could barely see her, the white light almost blinding me and the shadow existing right beside it blotting out my vision. I thought I saw black and red appear, and I wondered if the light and shadow was somehow overcoming her illusion. I wanted to say something so I could go onwards through this Mystery Dungeon without feeling so goddamn guilty. Given the limited time, I just let my thoughts flow as freely as a river.
I'm sorry I'm not strong enough to do what's right and stand up for you or Sneasel. I-I won't let it happen again. Althi has her own misgivings, but I know who you really are, and it's not your own fault. You're made of the same bits of stardust, illusion or not, that I care about.
I tired to think of else, some positive note to leave for her before we likely split. The last thing I saw in the chamber before the white light made seeing painful and the black shadow simultaneously made it impossible was the her illusion shimmering, letting me catch a glimpse of one of her true eyes that stared wistfully back at me.
A-and your eyes! There's a human saying that they're the windows to the soul. And when I see your eyes – the real ones, the sapphire ones beneath – I see the real you. I know that the real you has–
For a moment my sight was overwhelmed. It became hard to think, and I tried to mentally scream to overcome the wave of sensory overload.
–has a beautiful soul, regardless of what you, or Althi, or anyone else says or thinks. You should be proud about that, Ari! I'll see you–
The shaking stopped. My vision turned from mix of blinding white and abyssal black to only the latter. All I could see was darkness.
Chris Christodoulou's A Placid Isle of Ignorance
But that was just for a moment. My eyes rapidly adjusted and I was able to see the same empty, ambient grey that was on the previous floors of Checkered Chasm.
–on the other side.
As my eyes continued to adjust, however, I could see that this floor was different. Moreso than even the last. No longer were the walls checkered or even grey. They were composed of a smooth, black rock that my paw slid right off when pressed against it. No longer were there large rooms and thin hallways, just a single wide passage that had pooled water in the center and had the edges, like the previous floors, jutting out. No longer was I with my team. As predicted, it was Team Brave's Booker and Sneasel who looked around expectantly at the passage and, upon seeing no threat, turned to me.
I let myself breathe a sigh of relief.
Booker's voice echoed along the hallway, making the tiny ribombee sound louder than he really was as he observed the surroundings. "Black, like Zekrom. Th-then that must mean this is the Cave of Ideals."
Chris Christodoulou's Once in a Lullaby
The sound of droplets falling from the ceiling into pools of water no longer resonates in my ears as the jagged white passageway is completely and overwhelmingly silent.
I stand in the center, with the two flanks along the wall flooded by water; an inverse of the previous floors. I, of course, avoid them entirely.
To my front are my teammates Althi and Pirth. d'Alin, however is gone, though his words still echo in my head. Pride..? A-a beautiful soul..?
I reach out once more, searching for either his mind or Booker's to speak into, or at least Sneasel's to sense its presence. I find none of them, nor do I detect the vague colors of their auras.
The Caves aren't merely disconnected; they're separate dungeons entirely.
maybe they’re just grossed out by hearing about what happened with Drew”
"You can't reach out to d'Alin?" asks Althi, worry present in her tone.
I attempt to allay it with my response and, for the moment, drive d'Alin's distracting thought away; we have a mission to undergo, after all. Nor can I sense Booker's mind. It would seem that wherever we ended up is far removed from wherever they are.
"And for them, that'd be the Cave of Ideals?" says Althi.
Considering we are in a Dungeon of white, the color associated with Reshiram and, thus, Truth, I believe that to be so.
"White," Pirth says longingly, letting the words slowly roll of his tongue. "I like the sound of it. That's what you guys call a color, right?"
"That's right, Pirth. In fact, your, uh, super-leafeon antlers and coat are white."
Althi looks at me and I can hear her call for me in her mind. Arimis?
Though I'm reluctant to do so, I answer. Yes, Althi? How can I help you?
You know how you can show images in my mind, like runes? Do you think you could show Pirth color?
I think about this for a moment, then answer. Possibly? I don't expect it would go well. I'm sure you recall when I accidentally spoke once. It was too much for you to handle, and showing Pirth images is likely to lead to... trouble.
I look up and down the very sawsbuck-like super-leafeon body of Pirth, who is still trying to comprehend the incoceivable concept of colors. "So... my Arceus-given coat and antlers are white? In that case I'm willing to bet that He is white, too!"
In many traditional depictions, yes, Arceus is predominantly white.
Pirth holds his head up high as he declares that, henceforth, "Since Arceus is white and I am white, clearly it is the supreme color of the universe."
"Okay Pirth, sure, I think we-"
"I am a white supremacist now."
"Look, we're getting off topic," says Althi, cutting off her brother. "Right now, we need to go on with the plan. d'Alin should've used the escape orb and gone to Shuropak to get help in apprehending Sneasel and Booker like he promised. The faster we can go and find the dragapult horns, the more likely we'll be able to make sure that Team Brave doesn't escape justice."
"Justice? Did they do anything wrong?" asks Pirth.
"Not yet. It's just a matter of time."
With that, Althi turns ahead and walks at a quick pace, leaving Pirth and I behind for a moment where we exchange looks of concern; the joy of Pirth being the best of all the colors was no longer on his face, instead with worry being the foremost emotion I could see.
I took this as an opportunity to check in with him, but before I can initiate, I hear my name ring out in his mind.
...Arimis. I don't understand what Althi thinks is happening, but... Team Brave isn't out to get us, are they?
I start my walk forward to catch up to Althi. I hear Pirth's hooves against the dry ground as he follows behind me. I don't believe so, Pirth, no. I'm just afraid your sister is, well...
I look at her. She trots along hurriedly, wasting no time.
...I think Althi is scared.
"I think so too," Pirth admits, and hearing his booming voice startles me, almost making me jump. I nearly forgot that Althi cannot hear.
"I'll talk to her," he says, trotting ahead of me rather easily considering he is twice my size. "Just give me a moment to think and to consult with Arceus about what to say."
I'm grateful Pirth is blind as he likely would not have been pleased with the face I involuntarily made upon hearing that last statement. Regardless, I send him a mental acknowledgement. As we walk forward in relative silence through the central white rock – I give the the water beside us only cursory glances, as I have no desire to see through my disguise at what I truly am – I allow my mind to wander.
I thought about the journey of Team Eevee, from when I was accepted into the Wigglytuff Guild over a month ago, and when I met d'Alin and then Althi and Pirth the next day.
I recalled how I spent the whole night, normally a sleepless one, slowly deciphering d'Alin's strange mind and seeing him face that terrible dream.
I reminisced about d'Alin's words concerning who I was, that I was myself – somehow made of the same beautiful dust that composes the stars above – and that I was, to him, admirable.
That under my illusion I was, somehow, beautiful. Worthy of pride.
But that can't be.
I remembered just moments ago when I served as Althi's mouthpiece, an associate to her attempted betrayal of Team Brave. How Althi forced me to say the words which I hated to admit, but were undeniably true.
That I'm a cheat. Deceiver. Liar. I stand among my friends in disguise as an espeon, not what I really am, what I long to be. Even in this Cave of Truth I can't–
"Stop."
Althi's voice breaks the silence. We all hold still, and my heart drops.
D-did I transmit those thoughts? Did I accidentally–
"I-I said stop," Althi's voice rings out once more, this time with fear evident in her tone. I step beside Pirth, up to the edge of the dry part of the passage, to get a look at her.
I see her legs quivering. Her head is not turned towards me, nor is it pointed forward into the depths of the Cave of Truth; it is instead reared downwards, looking at seemingly nothing.
No, not me.
Althi..? Are you alright? I will the runes to appear before Althi's vision.
It seems to work, and she looks back at me, between the legs of Pirth. Her eyes are mired with tears. She seems to both see me and not.
"Arimis," she begins, "be honest with me. Do you think d'Alin... he lied to me?"
I am a liar. A deceiver.
I pause for a moment.
But am I capable of something more? Something unlike my father? Something beautiful?
I take a breath and I answer Althi in earnest. Her eyes widen. She turns away from me and looks at the passage before us.
"No, no no no."
Did I make a mistake?
Althi, what's wrong?
"We-I-d'Alin. He-he didn't stick to his promise after all. He's in danger."
She looks at nothing once more, and I send the thought of Calm down, focus on me to her, but it was as if I had miraculously managed to speak; it fell on her deaf ears.
I attempt to walk past Pirth, but he jolts around and almost kicks me; I have to take a startled leap back. Now he speaks. "What did you just say? Of course I'm His top guy. Who in Arceus' blessed name are you?"
He turns again, his ear twitching at the sound of something I don't quite hear. He speaks again, this time saying, "But I need to spread His wisdom on why deerling and sawsbuck are really Giartina's agents in disguise. I can't do that stuck here, retard."
My attention is redirected as Althi lets out a sob and another plead.
Clearly something is going on here – the hallucinations Booker mentioned? – and Althi is experiencing something terrible.
I look up at Pirth, who seems to be speaking to no one but not being too bothered by it. I fear for whatever attempts to enter Pirth's mind; he can hold his own. Althi is clearly in greater distress.
Pirth, however, is moving aimlessly in place, blocking the dry part of the passage. Althi, stares at nothing, quivering at whatever hallucinations assail her. My only way to her is though the sides.
So be it.
I take a breath and step onto the water. My paws are wet.
Althi still doesn't look at me.
Another. Pirth whirls around once more and I have to give him a wide berth.
Althi is still turned away.
One more step, and I look down to see my paws are in fact shimmering, the water breaking the illusion of light.
I–
Who are you?
I freeze, but there is no outside force that renders me immobile; I do so only because a wave of sheer euphoria – unlike anything I have ever felt – washes over me.
I am standing in the middle of the water. My paws are wet and the color of vermilion, and I expect to see the same as I always have in the reflection; my paws red and my true face.
But in my reflection, my paws remain the purple-tinged pink I disguise them as.
I look past my paws, down at myself. At my very being.
I feel... content?
No longer do I see the sad, blue eyes of the zorua I have come to despise, the true self that is the harbinger of all my sins, the root cause of my deception and falsehood.
The world, momentarily, fades away – d'Alin's echoes are no more than a distant, irrelevant memory – as I stare eye to eye with a gorgeous and serene espeon.
For the first time in my life, I do not see through my illusion. I feel it shimmer, but the reflection – she – does not.
A single, joyous tear falls rolls down the espeon's face – from the edge of her magnificent dark-purple eye, right under the white pupil keenly observing me, beside the small, perfect nose and over the silent, austere mouth, down to beneath her immaculate snout – and towards me in free fall.
It creates the only ripple in the surface of the water this Cave of Truth has ever known.
Chris Christodoulou's A Placid Isle of Ignorance
I looked to my right at Sneasel as we proceeded down the passage, and she maintained eye contact with me as she spoke. "Yeah, that's seriously what happened."
I let out a chuckle. "I just can't believe that the very first thing he did when he got here was to ask all the female Guild members if 'they were into pseudos.' And he harassed you specifically?"
Sneasel growled. "Yeah, he said that me having a 'double type advantage' over him made things hotter. Blegh! Again, this was all on his first day here, and he ignored that Booker and I are together. I mean, the Clover Guild already has Cyndaquil to deal with, but at least he's not nine feet tall. Cyndaquil doesn't think he's all that hot in combat either.
"Drew, though, thought cuz he came here as a powerful pokemon – not strong, by the way. Strong is attitude, Drew had none of that, just power – he could do whatever he wanted. When no one wanted to join his team, he tried to fight some other members of the Guild. Lliam had to put a stop to it. Nobody likes him… there's a reason the only other pokemon that would hang out with him is Ikarus."
Ikarus, the alchemist that's in the room next-door.
I spoke up. "Is his reputation as bad as I've heard? That he's some kind of pervert?"
Sneasel's voice resonated though the hallway. "I heard he does creepy stuff, but Booker just thinks they're rumors. I heard a passing mention about some potion he was thinking of making for Booker so maybe we'll meet him soon, but I'd rather avoid him while he's taking care of the dreepy."
"The ones we're here for? That came in with Drew?"
"Y-yeah," chimed in Booker, "I know we have a mission to do, and I hope they don't, well, die like Ikarus reported they might, but I don't really like them either."
"Why's that?" I ask, angling my head slightly upwards to catch a better glimpse at the ribombee seated on Sneasel's head.
Sneasel looked up at Booker with a slight chuckle, and he said, "When Ikarus first came here and we introduced ourselves, two of the Dreepy c-came after me. I remember one was called Lust, and she, uh... g-got a bit too c-close for comfort."
"Yeah, let’s just say she lived up to her name,” Sneasel said with a small chuckle. "I don't think she's the type to take 'no' for an answer, but I managed to scare her off."
"A-and there was another really big one… Gluttony, I think. Twice the size of the others. I'm p-pretty sure he t-tried to eat me..."
Sneasel let out a hearty laugh at that. "Now I know that one won't be messing with you again, not after I took care of it. Though I think Drew didn't like them even more than I did. I guess they just bothered him, but I think he blamed his own stupid decisions on them."
At this I was unable to help raising an eyebrow. "Well why are you helping? If they're a nuisance and tried to, uh, bother Booker, why even take this mission?"
"Well, n-not only did Macom recommend us for this mission, but we always try to help out newer members of the Guild," Booker said.
Sneasel piped up. "Yeah, and it's a great way to see if whoever joins wants to be stronger. There are a bunch of mons here that don't seem to wanna get strong even if they're weak, and that bothers me more than anything else."
"Still, it's good to show that we're still one Guild by working together. That we have each other's backs," said Booker, though he paused for a moment before continuing. "E-even if we start off on the wrong foot."
A wave of hot shame ran through me, and I said nothing. Booker chimed in once more and said, "But it's alright! Working together helped Althi w-warm up to us."
My shame doubled; I couldn't offer any other response aside from a "yeah."
An awkward silence settled over us, but I was relatively content in the silence. We pressed onward, no longer on guard since there hadn't been any ferals this entire passageway. We walked for another few minutes. The only sound came from my and Sneasel’s paws splashing in the water, along with my tail dragging behind me. As I was enjoying the cool sensation, trying to let it domante the guilty pit in my stomach, a faint whisper suddenly broke the rhythm.
"...ain he...."
"What?" I asked, turning to Team Brave. They looked at me in confusion.
"I didn't say anything," said Sneasel. Booker echoed this.
"Sorry, I thought I heard something. I was never the best at hearing as a human and, uh, these finned ears are better for hearing underwater than outside of it."
We continued walking again, but I was once more hounded by another whisper, the voice familiar but neither Booker's nor Sneasel's, nor anyone else's from Team Eevee.
Whose voice it was I couldn't at the moment recall, but it sounded clearer than before, deep, and with an eerie desperation readily apparent.
"Remain here."
Chris Christodoulou's Once in a Lullaby
Nothing else exists, nothing save for the beautiful creature before me.
I hesitate for a moment to call her my own reflection. If I allowed such a wild thought to enter my mind, I fear the espeon would be alarmed by such an outrageous assertion. At such a bare-faced lie, she might run deep into the recesses of her mirrored world, never to return to me. I have no desire to risk her departure, but…
But I cannot help myself. How can I? Is this not what I have so desperately longed for? So to the espeon staring back at me from the water, I refer to her in my mind, with both desperation and auspiciousness at once, as...
My... reflection.
She does not disappear.
No, I do not disappear.
I see her hold her head up high upon that realization, her eyes sparkling with pride.
No, that's me doing that.
I feel my illusion shimmer once more, but that hardly matters. That's here, in the Cave. For the very thing I've longed to be, in the world opposite our own, no illusion shimmers for her. For me.
I see my eyes water, reflecting the ambient light in an impossibly magnificent way. Oh, how these eyes are such an ardent mixture of lilac and evening sky. How wonderful it is that these eyes have supplanted those... those terrible ones.
My father's eyes, as deep a blue as crimson a red his claws are, stained by the blood of his crimes. I wonder how many tears those blue eyes shed whenever he realized I had uncovered the truth and left him. Terrible.
The eyes of that other, past self, a terrible heir to deceit. Why do those eyes have to be the color of an endless flood-wave of rain, a storm that would wash away illusions of what I long to be; that I could be different, free of the guilt my father passed down unto me. Terrible.
A malicious color that always hounded me when I wished to see what I forever wanted, a despair-ridden sapphire-blue that was–
That d'Alin said was beautiful.
I blink. I am still looking back at myself; I have not lost sight of who I long to be. She is still with me.
But I hear d'Alin's name once more. It is Althi's voice. It rings with despair.
Please, please don't leave me, I think as I quickly glance towards Althi. My heart drops. She is still in tears, looking fearfully at nothing. I can see the air around her is chocked with frost.
I take a step towards her, but stop and turn around.
Relief washes over me. I am still here, looking back at me. I want to remain there forever.
But...
I close my eyes. An epiphany strikes: the colors the Dragons surrounded themselves with was their opposite.
A sob starts to form in my chest. I look once more at her, the espeon staring back at me.
She's not actually me, is she? This... this is my Ideal self, not who I really am.
My heart breaks and another tear falls rather easily by cause of the previous ones already having carved their path in joy, though this one has none within it.
I was wrong about the Caves; of course I don't deserve for this to be so. This is too wonderful to be my Truth.
I will myself to look away from her and her intoxicating allure, towards Althi. One step, then another – these horrid paws are red with water, and thankfully I have enough reason remaining to shake off to dry – before I am beside Althi.
The air is frigid. I let out a shiver as I raise myself to my hindlegs and reach out a paw. I look at it, at the illusion.
It fits over the red paw and black fur I hide perfectly, indistinguishably as I gently touch her shoulder blade and let out a thought.
Chris Christodoulou's Double F-ing Rainbow
Sneasel – no, Weavile – wears a massive, evil grin as he – it's Sneasel again – forms an ice shard in her claws. It glows brightly against the jagged black rocks of the surrounding cave.
It doesn't matter who it is. The intent is the same. The claw moves forward and the shard is released. It glints in the air as it sails towards d'Alin.
Weavile laughs at Pirth is he is thrown to the ground, the shard digging deep into his side. The blood stains his white coat and light-brown fur. I run towards him. I thrust my paw against his fur to try to keep him down and safe, though it's no longer a sawsbuck's but instead a deerling's. His pink flower seems less vibrant than I remember.
He isn't wearing his blindfold. His grey eyes are brimming with fear, tears pooling beneath. I use a paw to gently wipe them away.
I blink. The fur my paw is pressed against is now short and blue. A droplet of water falls onto it, giving him energy. d'Alin pushes himself up, the newest ice shard – one among many lodged into his side – is no longer crystal-clear but instead caked in bright-red blood. Past him I see Sneasel, smiling and twirling another in her claws. It sends a shiver down my already-cold spine.
"d'Alin, stay down!" I cry.
d'Alin faces them again, ignoring me, swaying under the pain they inflicted onto him but standing with me against them. He and I both look up at the other human, the one that proves d'Alin is the exception to the rule.
Booker is sitting on top of Sneasel’s head. Somehow, despite his small stature, he is looking down at us. At me. I can see him from here whispering something in Sneasel's ear, and her grin widens, somehow, even further. Impossibly so.
She's a twisted, evil creature of some kind, just like I always knew. She can hardly even be called a pokemon anymore. She's beyond that. Just pure darkness – already bad enough – guided by the whispers of an otherworldly being.
Just like in Ruined Roost.
But Sneasel remains Sneasel, not Weavile, as the ice – it's so strange how they can twist the same power I use for good into something so wicked – forms once more in her claws, each little ice crystal sickly forming into another terrible dart.
Weavile... he's dead, I realize, but she's not. She's still here.
She looses the dart once more, with Booker whispering to her, guiding it to where it would hurt a fellow human the most. It strikes d'Alin, hitting him in hisfin at the end of his tail. It makes him flinch, trip, and fall over.
He raises his head skyward in what I think to be a howl of pain as he claws at his tail and grabs it. He raises it towards himself and I see it clearly. The shard is sticking out both ends of his fin. I run up to him. I put my hand on him and press down, trying to keep him from fighting against the inevitable. Blood pools beneath him, but he opens his eyes. They see right past me.
I try to plead with him. "d'Alin, stay down. Please, they'll keep hurting you."
He struggles against my paws, but he somehow finds the strength to push me off, as if I'm not even there. Realization hits me. I'm not. I'm here in the Cave of Truth. What I’m seeing, what the Cave of Truth is showing me, is the Cave of Ideals.
He staggers forward, looking at them. His lips don't move in response to me; he can't hear me. But I still have to try. "Please! d'Alin, stop. Please. You can't fight them. Use your escape orb. Get out of here!"
Booker leans into Sneasel's ear once again, and in one swift motion she forms a shard of ice that glistens between her claws before she throws it at d'Alin.
"STOP! Leave him alone!"
It hits him in the neck, where his right foreleg meets his throat. My heart sinks down, and so does he. He lies on the floor tries to speak, but blood only gurgles out of his mouth. His blue fur is now more red than anything else.
Wet despair freezes as it runs down my face.
"You're killing him! He's one of you, at least!" I plead with them now. I know it's a fool's errand, but I try anyways. "He's a human. Let him live! Please! I'm begging you!"
I know somehow they hear me. Sneasel and Booker both grin wider as they hear my cries for mercy. They just don't care. "PLEASE!"
You can't reason against evil, but I try anything to help him, anything to save his life. I turn to him. He's unmoving, on the floor, but at last his eyes reflect my own hatred for them. He knows; finally d'Alin knows what I know.
They can't be trusted. Ever.
He tries to get up again. He can't. His eyes tear up more, and I see my reflection in them. I look terrified. Weak. I approach him and try to soothe him, but me looking like this only makes him scared.
"d'Alin, why? Why didn't you listen to me? Why did you break your promise?" I ask. His white pupils finally focus on me, and say with every waver and motion, "I'm sorry, Althi, you were right."
Tears pool under them as if to admit that "I should've never trusted them."
Water droplets start to hit him more quickly, one after the other. My vision is blurry. "It's okay, d'Alin. I'm here to protect you."
I turn back to Team Brave. The duo are right in front of me. I walk between them and d'Alin and shout. "Leave!"
They take another step. I flinch.
"Go away!" I demand between sobs.
They refuse to listen as the world around me becomes impossibly cold. I ready an attack; my heart is pounding so much I feel my body shake with each beat.
"Please, please go away." I beg them.
They walk past me. I try to stop them, pressing my blue paws to halt them, forming ice around my claws and swiping at them in desperation, but nothing happens; they pass right through me.
I'm not here.
I'm helpless to act, only watch, as Sneasel's claws glisten, absorb the black shadow from the surrounding rocks, and dive for d'Alin's throat and–
A paw, a tangible one, soft and careful, touches my shoulder as the runes forming the words Stay with me, Althi appear before my vision, the runes stronger and more adamant than the ones that had flashed moments ago. It's enough to make me remember I'm in the Cave of Truth.
My heart jumps. Arimis?
I feel my body release a wave of cold, and the paw on my shoulder disappears. But I follow where it went, away from the vision, looking past the dark cavern d'Alin is trapped in as the rocks around me shift from black to white alongside the blink of my eyes.
Chris Christodoulou's Once in a Lullaby
Arimis is now standing in front of me, her paw held back in worry. I see a spot of blood on it.
My eyes focus on the blood on her paw, staining her pristine pink-and-purplish an alarming red. A pang of guilt rolls over me. I... I hurt her.
"Arimis, I-I didn't mean to–"
She follows my eyes and towards her paw. Alarm rises but is then immediately suppressed. Oh, this? It's truly nothing to fret over! Look!
She rapidly shakes her paw in the air then presents it to me once more; the red spot I saw was gone. See? It was a mere pinprick; fortunately I have excellent reflexes and was hardly smarted. No more... red.
I breathe easier now that I know that the blood was just a lone drop, and she appears to as well. My sigh releases a cloud of condensation that floats between us before dissipating.
I know I intend to train with her eventually and doing that could cause some injuries, but it's completely different, knowingly sparring and fighting for your life. There's some mental acknowledgement that makes one feel – hurt – vastly different from the other.
I think about how I almost hurt her badly with my highly-emotional state. I'm sure that me being like that is more like fighting-for-my-life combat and not sparring, so I need to be more aware.
With the word "aware" echoing in my mind, I feel a sense of calm flow through me, but that's only for a moment. I recall who wasn't aware of me just moments ago.
My heartrate rises once more. I turn around quickly to where I was facing, down the hallway where the craggy black rock turned white.
d'Alin and his attackers are nowhere to be seen. I start to look around furiously. I was just with him. Where is he?
I tremble, and I let out an involuntary gasp. What did they do–
Althi, the runes appear, firm and bright in my vision, whatever you saw was merely a hallucination.
This does not ease my worry whatsoever. I turn to Althi and speak. "What do you mean, 'a hallucination?' I know what I saw! W-we need to hurry and save him! I-I saw..."
The words hang on my tongue. Do I say what I saw? Won't that make the vision real?
But-but it is real. We're in the Cave of Truth, after all. I just hope above all else it hasn't happened yet.
I hurriedly explain my vision to Arimis as she calms down Pirth who was apparently hearing things, and by the time she turns back towards me, a frown dominates her usually-neutral face. Contemplative, she looks beside her into the water. At her reflection.
I can see both pairs of her purple eyes lock on to each other. I think I see her fur beneath her eyes waver between pink and black, and I have to wipe my eyes since I clearly still have tears in them. When my vision is back to normal, she is looking back at me.
The runes that appear in my head are feeble, weak; they seem to have hardly any strength to them, just like Arimis.
Althi, we are in the Cave of Ideals, not Truth. I was mistaken.
Ideals? But that means–
"No," I answer, "that... that can't possibly be the case, Arimis. Didn't you see what I saw? This is what I know to be true. It's not possible for us to be anywhere but the Cave of Truth."
She turns away from me and looks down once more, but not at her reflection. She closes her eyes before she asks, Pirth, the voices you heard. What did they tell you?
I turn to my brother and I see him say, "Well, there was some confusion initially. It was weird to hear someone else inside my head that wasn't you or Arceus, but a voice came and told me that this isn't the Cave of Truth, that it's actually the Deerling-and-Sawsbuck-Hate Cave. And that if I stayed here I would be able to–"
And the voice... did it call you a super-leafeon?
A snort let out a small puff of air. "Of course. It even admitted I'm Arceus' number-one guy. The voice was weird, talking about staying here, not going back to the Guild full of retarded humans who wouldn't get the intricate concept of Arceus as our–”
Arimis' white pupils return to meet mine with an air of vindication. I hate to admit it, but this annoys the living shit out of me. I say, "So what, Arimis? Pirth thinks we're in the 'Deerling-Kill' Cave?"
"Deerling-and-Sawsbuck-Hate Cave!" came the jolly interjection at the corner of my eye.
But... but to be called a super-leafeon, Althi. You and I both know...
I turn towards my brother and emphasize her name in my thoughts. Arimis. Yes, yes I know. But–
Then it was not the Truth he heard, but rather Ideals. I presumed that the color of the cave would correlate with the color of Reshiram or Zekrom, but it seems that they are inverted. As this information is laid bare before me, I recall now the passing mention how Reshiram is in a mountain made of Black and Zekrom one of white.
But that can't be so, Arimis. It just... it can't be we're in the Cave of Ideals. That would mean...
I pause, only for a cold anger to rise within at such a ludicrous suggestion. Do you think my ideal is to see d'Alin die?
The shock I feel at even thinking such a thing seemingly reverberates and echoes around us as the Cave feels even more still. I can feel the surprise in the runes that appear which say, I... I don't believe so. I mean, no, not at all. But... it might merely signify that you wish to be proven right about what you think about dark-types.
"What," came my cold words, "do you think gives you the right to say that, Arimis? Do you know what I've been through? The life I've lived?"
N-no I–
I interrupted the bashful runes. "Do you think I want to not feel comfortable around some other pokemon? That I have to be on guard wherever I go? No. But I have to. To keep us safe. You don't know how they hurt me, Arimis."
I turn and look at Pirth. He's frowning, clearly upset at Arimis' idiotic reasoning. "How they hurt Pirth."
I look back at Arimis, whose head is turned downwards in some sort of shame while her eyes look up at me – just like when I told her to relay my message to d'Alin. I feel bad, but I have to tell her. I continue. "How they hurt us. Team Eevee and Team TwinStar. How they killed Garchomp. And fine, maybe not all dark-types. But ones like Weavile and Sneasel? Ones that have been made especially evil?"
I hold my head high as I declare, "Humans are unpredictable – even d'Alin is different from us – but he's good. The only good one. Weren't you there with us at the Guild? Don't you remember how the three of us felt uncomfortable? So out-of-place even though this is our world and not theirs?"
I look down at Arimis and realize I'm basically standing over her. I return my posture to how it was, I step back and give her space; she uses the room to recompose herself.
"Arimis I-I don't understand. I thought you were just nice to d'Alin since he's so innocent about the world. I saw how you reacted when I talked about them. You've been alive almost as long as I have."
I approach her as she still is looking down. I raise a careful paw and gently place it on her, just as she did for me to comfort me when I was seeing my vision of the future.
Her fur is softer than I would've ever thought for an espeon.
She jumps back in alarm.
The runes GET AWAY FROM ME burn into my eyes, and I step back in pain at the unexpected bright flare.
"Gah! What was that for, Arimis? I'm only trying to comfort you. I–"
No.
The runes stood firm now before my eyes, taking a second longer to disappear than usual.
You... you are mistaken, Althi. I am sorry. But you are wrong.
"About what?"
Arimis looks back at me, and her eyes contain fury. Everything. Team Brave is not out to kill d'Alin. Your life is not the monolith of experience. I am not on your side regarding dark-types. I never was.
"So then what? I know what I saw."
You... you saw your Ideal. I doubt you wish d'Alin to be dead, Althi; I know you care for him as much as I do. But... but what you saw, you want more than anything to be right about how you see the world.
"That's ridiculous! How I see the world is the Truth! And you know what else is? The vision I saw. We need to go now to save him, if it's not already too late. I say we forget about the mission since his life is on the line. We use our escape orbs and high-tail it to Shuropak."
Althi, you did not see the Truth. You saw–
I yell, angry tears streaming down my face. "I know what I saw! I saw my friend dying and I saw myself being unable to do a single. Damn. Thing. Not anymore. We need to–"
NO.
The sheer brightness of the rune, the overwhelming presence of it bit into my mind, causing a slight pain. I closed my eyes and it was still there. But the runes that followed were so weak I had to keep my eyes shut to see them.
Don't you think I wish we were in the Cave of Truth? Oh, Althi, how I wish we were. It... it would be so much better were that the case, if what I saw were so. I saw beauty, magnificence, everything I ever wanted in my miserable life...
But... it's not real. I have to accept that. You need to as well.
I open my eyes and see Arimis isn't staring at me, but instead looking down at her reflection in the pool. The water ripples from a teardrop.
"I can't do that, Arimis. I will not accept that my supposed ideal is d'Alin dying at the hands of Sneasel and Booker."
Arimis' eyes lock with mine. I see her frustration that she doesn't seem to just understand that–
I stop speaking once I realize the runes appear once more, and they're so delicate that if I don't pay attention to them, they'll disappear without a trace.
Why, Althi? Why do you hate us?
I pause for a moment. "Us?"
They. They're not all bad.
I can't help but snarl as this is brought up again. "You don't know the life I lived, the things I've experienced."
Nor you mine, came the runes, with challenge.
"And what kind of life did you live, Arimis? You came to the Wigglytuff Guild evolved, didn't you? They barely took us in, probably out of pity since we're orphans. You told us you ran away from home. We never had a home to begin with. You know psychic, right? You can read minds? I'm forced to read lips instead.
"And above it all, I've dealt with them my whole life, from birth when I was bullied up to when Pirth was born and he was bullied, and beyond that when we first set out in the world just before you and I met and the few possessions we had were taken from us in the middle of the night. What other type is nocturnal, huh? Of course when I confronted that absol, she denied it."
I am now practically spitting my fervor. "You don't know anything, Arimis."
I– I know who I am. I know also that d'Alin – not us – is in the Cave of Truth.
She's still on with this wrong-Cave stuff?
I decide to entertain the notion. "So?"
Perhaps... perhaps if d'Alin can see some good, some beauty, in dark-types, then perhaps there truly is some of that within them, even if we cannot see it.
"d'Alin," I declare, trying to hold back laughter at such an absurdity, "sees good where there is none."
Arimis winces at this but quickly responds. And what of you? And Pirth? What then?
I cannot help but scoff. "In them? Please. I–"
The runes appear once more, any confidence that they once bore replaced by a desperate, weak, pleading shimmer. Don't... don't you see any good in me, Althi?
This catches me off guard. Where is this coming from?
"O-of course I do, Arimis. How could I not?"
Do I have a– a beautiful soul?
I was struck at Arimis even questioning this. Were her parents umbreons or something?
I couldn't help but recalling how she had been by our side since the beginning of Team Eevee's journey, how she had saved the lives of me, Pirth, and even d'Alin at Ruined Roost. How she saw the evil in Weavile before even I did and tried to warn us. How I was too forgiving to listen.
I relay this to her – though I made sure to omit the last part since she seemed sensitive about all that right now – and as I do so I try to reach a paw out towards her once more, though I do it slowly and deliberately. She sees it and shirks away, so I let my paw fall back to the white and rough ground. I wonder what someone's done to make her like this...
I continue. "Arimis I...You stood beside us on all our missions. You I would no doubt call a friend. You having a good heart is something I wouldn't dare question. I..."
I think about myself. About my burdens. I sigh. "Arimis, I-I wish I could have a pure– as good and beautiful a heart as you. I don't know any pokemon more worthy of working with, of calling a friend."
The pokemon known for her alignment with the sun nods her head. She, slowly and tiredly, looks once more at her reflection; she hovers a paw over it waiting and nearing the surface, until for a moment it is still. Then, a ripple appears. I look at her paw. Even though it's minuscule, I don't feel any less guilty that it's there since it's my fault.
A droplet of blood once again stains Arimis' paw.
Chris Christodoulou's A Glacier Eventually Farts
I floated underwater aimlessly, though I knew precisely where I was: the docks of Capim Town. Past the crystal-clear, unmoving waters of the sea I could see the green, layered city in the world opposite my own, the occasional rogue candle still burning bright through the night. The docks were right above me, though the sturdy wooden pillars of this particular pier had no ships tied to it.
It was calm. Peaceful. And not at all real.
"I know this is a hallucination," I told the voice, "this is too similar to my dream."
But not entirely. Unlike the dream where the sun was obscured by the storm – or now no longer obscured even by clouds – here it was night and the moon was full, just as it was yesterday, causing the other stars to be spotty. I even saw, there just at the edge of the horizon, the star Arimis had pointed out to me. Garchomp's star.
"Well?" I asked, impatient. While it's pleasant to exist in this state after evolving, I know I'm here for some reason.
"You don't know," came the reply, the voice as deep and all-encompassing as the ocean I swam in, "'Why are you here?'"
So you read minds, huh? Of course I know, and I'll tell you, I thought as I reoriented myself, making myself float upright rather than upside-down. I locked my sight onto that bright, shining star. That's why. Because I made a promise. To do good, to act and make the world a more just place.
"That's your excuse."
"What?"
"Why are you really here, d'Alin?"
"I just said why–"
"No, you did not. Need I say it on your behalf?"
I paused for a moment before speaking. "Who are you?"
"So be it. You are here because you want to change – have wanted to for a long, long while – and this is a fresh start."
I tensed up.
"Because up there, you couldn't stand yourself, your place in the world. You didn't belong. You sought escape from the pain, from the turmoil. You wanted a new life."
"So what," I continued, "if I wanted to escape? If I choose to remain? I'm justified in doing so. I would've returned if I was needed. If anything, I'm trying to make this world a better place. Here my actions actually mean something."
I looked back up to the surface. It was still the calm waters of Capim Bay with the backdrop of yesterday's nighttime sky, but it suddenly felt different, as if a third presence had joined the voice and I.
"These actions you take, they make you different?"
"Well, if I act differently, if I don't repeat my mistakes, then–"
"Oh, d'Alin. Do you truly believe that you can start anew in a new world, this new body, when you still act the same?"
"...I don't act the same."
"You might take different action, but if you do so for the wrong reason, if your intent is as self-serving as before–"
My mind shifts to the words I said to Ari. I meant everything I said, but... Why did I really say that?
"–are you truly acting in the name of good as you so believe?"
I was silent for a moment, and the two other presences remained still as well.
"d'Alin," a heavy, fatherly sigh shook the world around me, but somehow the surface of the waters remained still. "Remain here, in the peace of this Cave. Do you have the strength to change who you are even though you've failed before?"
The words hung over me for a moment before continuing. "What will you do when you come to realize that the very choices you made that drove you away from the world above will taint this new one?"
I shook my head and grinned. "Some hallucination, huh? This is one fucked-up Ideal you're showing me, you stupid voice, lying to me just to get me to stay here. You think I want to just float around aimlessly, for eternity? I can deal with pain." I said as I rose towards the sky, looking for some way out, likely by surfacing. I was slow, though, as I could've sworn I could make out some familiar shadow hanging over me.
"My Ideal is being a better person, doing good deeds, not doing fuck-all forever."
The whisper was solemn. "You are mistaken, d'Alin. You are not in the Cave of Ideals. You are in the Cave of Truth."
I stopped short of breaking the surface, waiting. My heart beat in sync with the gentle motion of the ocean moving around me. Is this really Truth?
The voice sounded tense, in pain, and it spoke hesitantly, as if speaking the truth as one last gambit to protect me from something I couldn't possibly see. "Yes, d'Alin, I agree; it's easy to accept pain when it's done in the name of bettering others. That type of pain is worthwhile if it can work to make the world a better place. After all, to rebuild one must first tear down the old. But... if the foundation is flawed – if the act of reconstruction is set in selfishness rather than selflessness – then in the end you will only cause pain."
"I– I said I could handle pain."
I gathered up resolution within me. Although it seemed wanting while I stood against the voice, I mustered up as much confidence as I had – I wondered how much of it was false – and spoke. "I will be able to handle pain. I'll act and do good. I won't fall for whatever it is you're saying. I'll do no evil like you think I will."
Another sigh of resignation reverberated in the waters around me. I could sense the voice had given up. I smiled, smug. Good, I'll return. I'll do what I know to be right. I can overcome whatever it is this hallucination thinks it knows about me.
I saw the shadowed figure once more in a moment of clarity, it peering down from above me but seemingly looking past, towards something I couldn't see. A lone droplet of water fell from the sky and caused a ripple, breaking the calm surface of the water.
The voice called out one last time in a sad, parting whisper. "You fail to consider the pain your flawed actions will bring unto others, d’Alin."
The ripple spread out over the surface and it left in its wake a pitch-black shadow that blotted out the familiar figure that looked beyond me. The black void rapidly seeped into the water below like a droplet of blood spreading and contaminating the water, turning everything darker. It proceeded to grow and surround me until it completely enveloped me, trussing me into immobility and covering my face as my vision was blotted out.
Chris Christodoulou's A Placid Isle of Ignorance
The inky shadow receded, replacing the oppressive darkness with the smooth black walls of the Cave of...
Where am I after all? Truth? Ideals?
I half-expected that whispered voice to speak once more, but no response came.
Wait. Booker, Sneasel, where are they?
I looked around and saw no one beside me; I shifted my body and made a splash as my tail whipped around frantically.
"Hello?" I called out, my worry growing. "Booker? Sneasel? Are you there?"
"d'Alin?" cried out Sneasel's voice from behind, "I hear ya! Me and Booker are over here!"
I hesitated for a moment and looked around. The walls were black, like Zekrom, like Arimis had said. Ideals, but...
I proceeded forward, hurrying my pace and running as fast I could – on four legs it still wasn't something I was yet used to – making a series of loud splashes that resulted in a guarded Sneasel looking at me once I got close enough to break through the vision-blotting shadow of the Mystery Dungeon. She held one hand outstretched towards me and one towards her chest. I didn't see Booker perched atop her head.
I took a moment to catch my breath. "Sneasel," I said, "are we going in the right direction?"
I looked around some more and still didn't see the bug. "And where's Booker?"
Sneasel frowned and opened up the claw close to her, revealing a ribombee tucked away. He looked at me and spoke. "H-hi d'Alin. I th-think we are. You were behind us and when we realized we saw..."
"Hallucinations," Sneasel completed. “They screwed with our senses. When I realized that you had been left behind, we both saw… visions. I grabbed onto Booker when that happend.”
I looked at the two questioningly, and they looked at me back; Booker stood up in Sneasel's hand and said, "Th-that was the Truth you saw, right, d'Alin? I-I’m asking since I think that’s what we saw."
I contemplated what I saw. Was it really the whole Truth I hallucinated? I'd hate for that to be so but... it certainly was far from Ideals. If they think so, then, well, it's likely the case.
"I believe so," I admitted, "since it was far from what I’d imagine my Ideals to be. Also I, uh, felt the urge to... stay? Here in the Cave, I mean."
They nodded in agreement and took a long glance at each other. Although they both seemed weary, it seemed they found solace in each other's presence. Booker spoke up. “Y-yes. We saw a Truth, of us being separated, our b-backgrounds being too inherently different. The Cave… it wanted us to stay here, t-to avoid us facing the possibility of b-being separated.”
Sneasel, after giving Booker an understanding smile, looked at me with pride. “But we don’t need to stay here, even if that was the Truth. We trust each other enough to overcome our differences and to have each other’s backs. We’re a team.”
I thought about what I saw. They seem like they came back stronger from that, even if they faced some unpleasant reality. But me? Definitely not...
"Well," I suggested, pointing forwards at the murky passageway, trying to deflect any question they might’ve had about my own vision. "This was an... interesting detour but, should we move on to the main reason as to why we're all here?"
Chris Christodoulou's Once in a Lullaby
I look at my paw, the real one underneath the facade, the small speck of water that tore through my illusion revealing a shining crimson in stark contrast against the surrounding white of the Cave of Ideals.
I look past my paw at my reflection, and the espeon I see is holding her paw up too, but there is no imperfection staining it.
I close my eyes and dare to consider. But is it truly an imperfection?
d'Alin's words of my eyes ring within my head; Althi's confirmation pushes what I allow myself to think. Am I truly beautiful? Is there something more than just darkness beneath all this light?
I'm made of the same stardust either way.
The water droplet falls off of my paw and back down to the small pool beside me, causing a minuscule splash. It, even so small that it is, causes a cascade to emerge, sweeping along the cave until pulled back down by the surface tension. With the water gone, my illusion – on instinct – returns. My paw is a singular pink once more.
I take a deep and silent inhale of breath, and decide to take counsel with myself, continuing to speak to the espeon before me; it is surreal, as if I am speaking with another person entirely.
Oh, Ari. Why are you even considering this? We've finally made it, have we not? After so long of wallowing in misery, now we can wash away all that pain. We can be what we always wanted to be.
But... I know it's not who I really am.
But you can change who we are! Don't you wish to wash away the sins you inherited? That you perpetuate? We can finally stop being a zorua. Finally we can wash away the crimes of your father. Finally we can discard all your misgivings that you've done to arrive here. Finally we can be an espeon.
I look at her. Closely. I study the reflection deeply, and see that there is no doubt that the face I see is perhaps the most beautiful one I've ever come across. Every single detail is precisely how I imagined it, from every subtle tuft of hair to the very colors catching the dull light of the cave. Even the red bead atop my head gleams in the same immaculate way I conceived of it. But the eyes.
They are purple, not blue. I look deeply into them, and there is no doubt they are, at first glance, alluring. Enchanting, even. I find myself on the verge of being lost in them, disappearing compeltely within them and their magical, thoughtful gaze.
But they are not the ones d'Alin complimented. On the contrary; the elegant purple guards the world from that sad, sapphire blue.
d'Alin... he said there is beauty within me. That my soul is beautiful. Does that not matter more than outward appearances?
Does it to you? The beauty within you still exists, as an espeon or as a zorua. With one, however, you can be happy. With the other, you doom us to everlasting guilt.
Why? Must I carry my father's burdens?
Do you believe that is all, Ari? Look at what you have done! You have lied to those you trust, putting up this disguise. The very deeds you ran away from you have committed. Worse, not to strangers, but to those who trust you. Remain here and it will be a disguise no longer. It will be you.
But can I truly wash the past away? Is it not immutable? If I remain, what will become of that beauty someone else sees within that I can hardly fathom to exist? Am I never to see it, forever doomed to see this false one?
No answer came, and when I looked away from my reflection, she too looked away from me, towards Althi and Pirth who were standing and silently watching. Pirth's ears flicked and Althi’s eyes longingly gazed and both had an air of concern about them.
They truly care for me. d'Alin truly cares for me. That, I think, is the true beauty, the one d'Alin said he saw. The propensity to care for another more deeply than yourself. I tell myself.
Correct? I ask, but get no response.
I turn and fully face my teammates. I take a deep breath.
What is this feeling rising within me, this rising confidence I've never felt before? Why is my heart pounding so?
I feel my body shake from a mixture of fear and anxiety. Am I to do so? Finally?
I need to be sure. I reach out and send runes to Althi and a voice to Pirth. Truly, do you believe I have a pure heart?
They remain unmoving, watching, but Pirth and Althi in unison utter an "I do" with nothing but sincerity and care for me in their voices.
This does little stave off the nervousness within me. What it does, however, is tilt the scales of two possible futures before me, one pink-and-purple, the other black mixed with red alongside a dash of sapphire.
My eyes are the windows to my soul, are they not? Is that were my true beauty lies?
I focus on my teammates. Then please, allow me to provide you a true glimpse.
Although I am resting upon my haunches, I try to sit up confidently by straightening my back. I hold my head as high as I can muster. I try to put on a grin of self-sureness, to show that I am, perhaps, proud to show my teammates – no, my friends – who I really am. I feel my bushy tail wag by a combination of both apprehension and anticipation.
Still I cannot help giving one last glance to my reflection, at the espeon staring back at me. She is no doubt beautiful, but that beauty is a superficial one, is it not? I wish for my friends to see the true me. The pokemon they truly care for, not some trick of light.
I turn back towards Althi and Pirth, and try as I must, even now I cannot seem to separate my two forepaws from being held against each other in my bout of anxiety.
After a moment of eternity as grand as the sum, I let my disguise fall.
I feel the light surrounding me begin to shimmer wildly as I no longer press forth my energy into maintaining it – something I have become quite efficient at but is nevertheless more draining than maintaining no an illusion at all – and as the whole of the disguise purposefully fades away, the released energy forms into a smoke, not fading in and out as it would with an accidental and partial interference with the light I cast around myself, but rather the whole being slowly released from my long and tired grasp.
A relief washes over me, slowly crawling its way up as the smoke forms around my forepaws, then my tail, alongside the rising ring of smoke that eats away at the illusion covering me. As the false pink recedes in the smoke's wake, what remains is no more trickery, no more illusion: the first part of me to see the world unveiled are my paws of vermilion red.
My tail is next, its dark, blue-grey fluff no longer rendered invisible for the little which overlapped with the split tail of an espeon, and it feels especially great to free from the grasp of the illusion – it is far less draining to cover one type of fur with the appearance of another rather than rendering a body part wholly invisible – and as the smoke slowly crawls up my back and up my arms, the rest of my dark fur sees the rest of the world for what feels like many lifetimes, not having been seen since that starry night where I showed d'Alin who I truly was.
The smoke crawls up my neck and reaches my midnight-black crest, and another wave of relief, reprieve from long maintaining this tiresome illusion – washes over me.
The smoke now obscures my vision as it completes washing over my crest and crawls up my face, and I am left for a moment where I see only the light before me dissipating away, the lies and deception, truly, being lifted and carried away by the smoke.
As the smoke clears over my eyes, letting me see Althi and Pirth with the sapphire blue I – perhaps finally – might accept as truly my own, I look at first Pirth, whose towering stature catches my eyes first.
Of course, my blind sawsbuck friend looks at me with the very same expression as before the smoke rolled over my eyes – one of placid ignorance as to what I have done. I cannot help but let out a smile – when have I last smiled? It feels as if there is no longer a weight trussing me and pulling me unto the earth – as I realize this entire reveal is entirely irrelevant to Pirth.
He has known me from the onset of our time together not by appearance, but by who I really have been; by my thoughts and actions. All this time, and I've neglected to realize that Pirth has known the true me all along.
I let the joyous grin remain as I turn my gaze from brother to sister.
It falters as the only emotion I can see on Althi's face is one of absolute surprise. We lock eyes for a moment, and I see her white pupils open, then close, then open subtly once more, continuing this song and dance for what feels like eons. Still she says nothing, and I have nothing to say.
One eternity is overtaken by an another, and upon the passage of the third I am tempted to dive into her mind, to see what else lies within aside from surprise. I fear for the answer, but I... I...
A fourth eternity comes to pass.
I cannot help myself; I must know.
I enter Althi's mind.
Chris Christodoulou's Aurora Borealis
I sense out the emotion I deeply hope is not her very first reaction aside from surprise: anger, hatred, fear, despair? To my relief, I find none of these, and immediately feel poorly of myself for thinking so lowly of her. I then look, my heart soaring, for what I might hope she would feel on my behalf: pride, joy, relief?
I find none, either.
I dive once more, searching not for specific emotions but rather gauging how she feels. After another eternity I find the feeling and am overwhelmed by it; it is all she feels towards me.
It is exemplified by the lone thought appearing before her mind's eye.
She-it... it tricked me.
I look at the creature before us with nothing but contempt as my surprise recedes.
I see how its head is held high in triumph in deceiving us, its entire disgusting body on display as if mocking me.
Its nasty blue eyes look right at me as it smiles at me, laughing because it got me to say so many nice things about it while it fooled me into thinking it was Arimis. Every compliment I threw its way about her emboldened it, and it did this one last trick to mock me.
As always.
This... this explains everything. Why it didn't want to step into water. Why it completely flipped out when I tried to touch it. Why I saw red earlier when its paws stepped into the icy mush. Why psychic didn't look how it always did before.
I saw the vision of d'Alin getting cut down flash before my eyes. My heart started to pound. I shivered. There is no doubt, then. This is the Cave of Truth after all. It tried to trick me, to make me think d'Alin was okay, that I wanted him dead. That I wanted to see him in pain. For what? To know what I knew from the beginning?
But why? Why did it try to protect Sneasel? Try to ruin the plan of escape?
Realization slapped me across the side of the face, and I winced at the pain of the Truth.
This is a conspiracy of all humans, all from the beginning. Ever since we got into that Guild where they sent us on this "unofficial" mission with another team. Designed to split us up. Designed to trick us.
I lock eyes with the thing standing before me and Pirth. Its eyes put on a mocking display of hopefulness – Why? To make fun of me even more? – and I saw the false hope waver and wither away under my gaze.
It sees, doesn't it, that I won't stand for this. It knows I won't let it win, I won't let them get d'Alin. I won't let them get Arimis ei–
I stop thinking, the pounding of my heart making it impossible for the moment. I feel my body temperature lower as I come to the realization that this isn't Arimis, and that therefore she isn't here. So, where is she?
An emotion rises within me. No, wait that can't mean–
She wouldn't abandon us. Arimis? Never. Everything I said to this pretender was real; she was loyal and smart and–
She knew. She knew about Weavile. She must've known about them too. Then, then they–
I take a step backwards, I can't help it. What’s this feeling that courses through my veins, that makes my legs weak, makes it almost impossible to stand? My eyes water.
It can't be. They couldn't have possibly–
I feel it rise within me, the nasty feeling almost as wretched as what stands in front of me. Uncertainty? Despair? No, it's fear. I'm feeling sca–
NO. Anything but that. Never again that. I need to be strong. I need to do what's right.
I gather up my strength and manage to whisper, my body shaking from what I hope is the cold. "What did you do with her?"
The zorua flinches at my words, its little ears falling back and its wagging tail stopping. It doesn't like that I know its damn ruse, huh? It picks itself up from its sitting position, uncrossing its little paws, and takes a step back too. Its eyes begin to water. Just like me. It's... it's mocking me. It's eyes dart from me to Pirth, then back to me.
Althi, I-I don't understand?
The runes look just like hers. I realize. Sickeningly identical. A pit in my stomach grows. She wouldn't work with them. Never willingly. She knew. She knew and they hurt her for it.
My tears turn angry. It still wants to pretend to be her?
"What," I command, regaining my footing and stepping towards it, "did you do to Arimis? Where is she? Where is my friend?"
I feel a nudge from a hoof and can't help but yelp and jump in surprise. I quickly take my eyes off of the pretender and look at my brother. He is terribly confused. "Althi," I see him mouth, "what's going on? What's wrong?"
I huff and quickly turn back to the zorua. It hasn't made a move against us, not yet. I speak to Pirth while staring down this adversary. "There's a zorua here, Pirth. It tricked us. They – the Guild of humans– they hurt Arimis. They're going to hurt d'Alin."
I try to hold back tears. "They're trying to hurt us again."
The zorua feigns another look of despair, enough to almost make me feel bad for it, of all things. Almost. Its eyes look at Pirth pleadingly. It tries to trick him, now. To turn him against me.
Another nudge. I continue to stare down the zorua and ready myself to attack. I feel my body temperature drop, the energy within flowing through me. Another nudge. I don't look at Pirth while I speak. "Pirth, it's trying to trick you. Don't listen to its lies."
A harder nudge, almost a step, pushes me down. I look back up at Pirth. His face is oriented towards me with a sad look on it. "Althi," he bemoans, "I don't get what you're saying. This is Arimis. I don't know if she is a zorua or not. But the way she walks, the sound of her footsteps; its the same. The voice I hear, it's the same. It's her."
My doubt rises for a moment, but reason prevails. She's trying to get to us.
I turn to the liar and yell at her to stop, to get out of my brother's head. Runes appear in front of my eyes and I shut them. I can still read them, and they dare to say Althi, it's me. This has always been me.
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" I scream, the cold energy rising but I keep it bared behind my teeth; I hold back from unleashing the power of my voice against her. Why? Why am I falling for its lies? I ask myself.
Still, I don't attack like I should. Even though I recognize that I'm acting foolishly, I hesitate. I hate my indecision. So I make one. "Pirth," I say, "listen to me. We need to get out of here."
I just know he objects, but I don't bother looking at him. I keep my eyes on the trickster. "You," I warn, as I slowly sidestep towards my brother. "This is your chance to leave us and never come back. I will fight you if I see you again. Be grateful I'm giving you this chance."
It raises a red paw at me, as if to reach for me. Still trying to trick me. Damn pathetic little thing.
"So go deeper into the Cave of Truth and get your stupid horn. I don't care. But I will get Arimis back. I will protect d'Alin. No matter what you try."
The runes appear, ignoring my warning. You... you told me I had a good, pure heart. Can't you still see that, Althi?
Please. If you just look at my eyes you'll know it's me.
I've had enough of these tricks and mockery. I grab the escape orb from Pirth's saddlebag and rub it, activating it. It begins to glow, and I make sure to stand close enough to Pirth that it will take us both. I glance at the zorua again – making sure to avoid its eyes, to not do what it wants – in worry that it'll attack us. It's still not moving.
For the last time in the Cave of Truth, the runes appear. Althi, please, don't leave me...
The fear imbued in the runes and present in her stature – I still refuse to look at her eyes – seems so genuine I instinctually, like a mother for her freshly-hatched baby, grab a second orb and roll it towards the zorua. I regret it immediately since now it can run away and warn others, but it's too late to take it back. A tear rolls down my face in frustration and anger at myself. Once again, it fooled me. Everything might be lost because of me. NEVER AGAIN.
It looks at me and I can sense it try to plead with me again, but it doesn't matter. The light from the orb is too bright to bother seeing what lies it has to say. I feel Pirth start to move, to try to approach the zorua, falling for its tricks. I wrap myself against his leg and feel the white soft fur above the hoof press into me.
We are enveloped by light, and we leave both the Cave of Truth and the liar within behind.
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