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 Terra Pluviam
The world returns around us as the light dies down. I take a look at our surroundings, on guard against any potential interference.
We are alone in the meadow. Standing before me and Pirth is the cobbled black-and-white rock entrance to Checkered Chasm. To the Cave of Truth where we just were, and to the Cave of Ideals where d'Alin, in his naive disobedience, is trapped.
We need to rescue him, if it's not too late already. This is worse than I could've imagined..
"Pirth I-"
It's not a tap, and it's not even a step. It's almost a kick. It sends me staggering away. I look back at my brother in a wince of pain. "Owww. What is wrong with you, Pirth? I just saved us. Now we–"
"Althi," he asks, "what did you do? What did you do?"
"I just told you, I saved us. That zorua was trying to trick us." I say as I pick myself back up. I hate that I don't sound fully confident in my own words.
My jolly brother is nowhere to be seen, instead replaced by this pensive behemoth that stands over me. "That was Arimis. We-I need to go back for her." His voice cracks. "I-I made a promise I'd be by her side. I-"
He looks around aimlessly, trying to figure out where he was. I approach him. I gently press my paw against him, letting him know I'm here. He flinches, and I look at my paw, then at him. No, not cold, no freeze. He's just afraid.
I grow angry. They always make him like this.
"Pirth," I coo, caressing my paw against his leg, trying to reassure him. "You don't understand. It's okay. Ever since you were a baby at the orphanage, they tricked you. Zorua especially. Don't you remember Zeezee?"
My tongue grows bitter upon saying her name. "Her voices always tricked you when you were a baby. Remember?"
Pirth frowns, uncertain. "But-but that's her and I–"
"Pirth, listen to me. You can't go in alone. You'll just end up split in two like the dragapult. You understand that? Don't you trust me?"
Pirth does a little trot back and forth, but he nods his head. Good, listen to your sister.
"Okay, now listen carefully. We need to go to Shuropak. Together. Let me ride on you so we can go faster."
"But why?"
"Pirth! Don't you get it? There's some conspiracy against us. Against d'Alin. They're going to try to hurt him. Capture him."
The vision flashes once more – or is it a memory? It doesn't matter, it's the Truth, regardless – of d'Alin about to be cut down by Sneasel as he lies on the floor, gasping for air between bloodied breaths.
Or kill him. I realize. The zorua cut the vision off before I could see the full treachery of Team Brave. He... he might already be gone.
"I don't think so, Althi, that can't be. They defended me earlier. They saved all our lives in the monster house."
"I know so, Pirth. Any good you think they did was a ruse. I saw my vision in the Cave of Truth, after all. I just hope it hasn't fully happened yet."
This seems to convince him, and though he is hesitant to do so, he kneels down to let me hop onto him.
I make a swift, single leap and use my paw to grab a tuft of his white fur. I feel the cold beneath it, where the Articuno feather is safely tucked away.
Just like Ruined Roost, I remind myself. I can't let this happen again.
"Now Pirth, we need to ride. Fast. We don't have time to lose. I'll guide you, as usual, alright?"
He stands up and I hold on tight to maintain balance. We rise above the ground, and I feel the wind blowing from Shuropak's direction. I look at the horizon and see the storm far off in the distance, but steadily approaching. I look back towards Checkered Chasm. My worry grows. "Let's ride, Pirth."
After a hesitant gallop he makes headway at full speed, and the rush of air blows by me, forcing me to squint as I look and guide Pirth through the small hills and winding road through the forest which separates the meadow that surrounds Checkered Chasm from Shuropak. I don't know what we'll find there, but we need whatever help we can get to take on Team Brave and that zorua if it doesn't escape with the orb like I gave it the chance to.
The zorua... my thoughts linger on it. Why didn't I strike it down when I had the chance?
I push that thought away. I know the answer to it, and I didn't want it to keep fooling me even if it was a million miles away. They did something to Arimis, and I intend to save her.
The vision flashes in front of me once more. Sneasel's claw finds its mark. I see red. d'Alin dies in front of me once again. I let out a rogue tear. Or avenge her.
One thing, however, remains on my mind, another thought like the one before it that I have to push away to focus on rescuing d'Alin: Why did the Cave of Truth call Pirth a super-leafeon?
After some moments of us riding, Pirth looks back towards me, his mouth in plain view. Were the moment not serious, I'd laugh at the absurd sight of a sawsbuck galloping while looking away, even though he is blind. After a bend, I ask, "Yes, Pirth?"
"Althi, about Arimis."
"The zorua," I correct.
"I was thinking and I-"
I gently but firmly cut him off. "You were tricked, Pirth. They do that to you. It's okay, I'm here to protect you."
He seems to ponder my words for a moment, but he continues to speak. "I do remember Zeezee. After a while I realized when she was using her vocal illusions. I could hear through them. They had a particular sound to them. It's because I have really really good ears, I think, because Arceus blessed me."
My worry slowly but surely rises. "What's your point, Pirth?"
"N-now that I think about it, I remember Arimis' voice in my head. It sounded not exactly like that, but different from my own or yours or Arceus' or anyone else's. It had a unique kind of tone to it, like Zeezee's."
I exhale in relief. I wasn't wrong. It is an impostor. I don't know why I even dared to doubt myself.
I comb Pirth's plush mane and say to him, "That's good, then we'll make sure to–"
"No, Althi," I see him say between heavy breaths as we rush full speed towards Shuropak, towards salvation. "The voice I heard now was the same as always. Arimis' voice has always been like that."
Chris Christodoulou's Once in a Lullaby
I stare, as still as the broken stone statues I had seen as a pup, at the spot where Althi and Pirth had stood a fleeting second ago. I remain frozen as that one second turns into many, as those many turn into a minute, and those into a dozen more. My ears ring a static buzz in my state of disbelief.
All this time it takes me to process what just occurred before me, the still air of the Cave of Ideals feeling sharp in my nostrils. It takes one heartbeat more from accepting what had just occurred for the comforting numb of the shock to give way to grief.
I am exposed. I am alone in this Cave. I feel more vulnerable than ever. I need some way to cover myself up.
I close my eyes and focus once more. I grasp at the imagery I had shed a fragment of an hour ago and, in a draining expenditure of energy, I wrap myself once more in that lovely, perfect image.
Doing so at such speed is especially exhausting, but as I reopen my tired eyes and glance at my paw, a truly beautiful pink with a tinge of serene, purple hue, I finally feel safe again.
Back beneath my illusion, beneath my espeon fur. Back into what I belong, where I can be worthy of love and care. Except...
I know it's not so, I admit to myself, the words I said twelve, fourteen minutes prior. I feel grief appear as a pain in my chest. I can't take back those words I said earlier, those thoughts I felt, that I knew to be true.
I wouldn't have taken that leap of faith if I didn't believe in the conclusion I had reached. That the real me wasn't looking back at me in here.
But I am hurting. I am alone. I just want someone to hold me, to hug me tight like my father did so long ago when I was so young and innocent and blissfully ignorant, to tell me he'll take care of everything and to not worry, and to sing a lullaby to guide me into a peaceful sleep as the sun would rise.
But I can't have that. All I have is her.
She can't hold me. She can't speak to me. But at the very least, she can look at me and I can lose myself within her. That would be best, I counsel myself, to take this pain away.
I know I shouldn't. That it is wrong. That to do so will only hurt me more. But I feel a gasping emptiness within my chest, and I desperately wish for a distraction so that I might not feel much of this at all.
I give in.
I slowly turn my head away from the spot I had been staring at, the mark of my abandonment no more that a flash of light a quarter of an hour ago, and look behind me. Carefully, gently, weakly, I shift my body until I am sitting once more and staring into the face of the espeon whose comforting watch has this whole time been waiting for me.
I let out a smile and she does too. I watch her as a tear forms under her wet eye and dances around her mouth, and I can taste the bitter salt of it as it travels the course of the lip and, finally, upon reaching the end of her downturned snout, falls, causing the crystal clear water to lose its perfect image.
The pain grows, and I watch her gasp for a quick, missed breath as she fluctuates in and out among the gentle, rolling ripples.
Why? I beg, why can you not be me?
She just looks at me with sadness and grief that matches my own. That pain I felt within me, in the center of my chest, grows evermore. I see her raise a paw to it, trying to scratch at it, to feel and fill that growing emptiness, but it is to no avail. It continues to rise, and she keeps scratching helplessly at her chest, desperately, trying to get rid of this horrible, empty feeling until I feel a sharp, quick pain.
I look at my paw. The now-exposed rubedo-red is amplified in its dissonance by a small bright crimson. I immediately look back at her. I see a small red bead just like the jewel adorning her head slowly grow on her chest, bigger and bigger until it rolls down, staining her pristine fur.
More tears wet her cheeks. I'm sorry, I tell her, reaching out my paw to hold her, to comfort her. I'm so sorry I hurt you.
I touch her paw to mine. She reaches as well and touches me, but the crimson red encasing my paws bleeds into the water, and the water becomes tainted by it.
Wait I plead, my heart racing as she is enveloped by the red. Wait, don't go.
I push my other paw into the water, trying to grasp her, but it only serves to spread the corruption more, the blood impossibly spreading further and further.
No, don't go too. Please! Don't leave me!
The emptiness within me grows, entering my heart from my chest and pumping it all throughout my body, everywhere from my forelegs to my tail.
In frustration I throw my paws against the bloodied water, making it splash against my fur. I feel my illusion shimmer because of this, but it doesn't matter. She is gone.
No! I cry out in frustration as the despair and emptiness deepens. I splash the water again. She is further obscured by red.
Come back! Another splash of frustration, more water strewn against me. I cannot help it. More splashes, over and over again as the despair transitions into desperation. The grief coursing through my veins forms into what I had felt once before, when I first learned my father and my uncles were criminals and of deeds they had done: a howl, a rising release of pain and despair that forces its way from my gut up to my throat and unto my tongue.
I try like last time, that fateful night, when d'Alin said he was going to leave back to his world, to release it. I have never been able to speak, not even able to mimic the creation of a sound in the world beyond the minds of others, so it remains trapped within me behind my teeth, unable to be released.
So I cry instead, as that's all I have left.
I turn around, my vision misty, to look at the pool on the other side of this Cave, but it too is somehow stained red.
I look between the two, towards the passage forward. It beckons for me. Somehow I know, by instinct, that if I go far enough, the blood will not yet be there. That I would be able to see her again.
The objective of the mission is further down, I reason with myself, so I must proceed.
But I do not. I know that if I stand up, if I walk further down, if I see her again, I will not be able to leave her. It already hurts far, far too much right now.
If I continue, I realize, I will not be able to help myself; I will forever remain in the Cave of Ideals.
As an espeon, I add, the desperation and grief within trying to guide me towards relief. But I know, deep down, no matter how much I wish it, that is not who I truly am.
Somehow, I manage to remember that my soul lies beneath my blue eyes, not my purple ones, that my soul is really linked to my black fur, not my pink illusion, a beauty that supposedly exists, one that I have yet to see and likely never will.
I cry more, and the illusion over my face may as well not be there at all.
I know I need to return, that to remain here is a blissful end, but an end nontheless. I think of d'Alin. Do I wish to abandon him? I think of Garchomp and the star that appeared among the nebula that fateful night on that ship. Do I really wish to never see its light again? I think of my father. Will I truly abandon my duty to undo what he has done?
Before I can give in, before I can stand up and walk further into the Cave, I rub the escape orb beside me. I cannot continue down without losing myself. I have failed this mission.
Light begins to emanate from the orb, enveloping me, steadily overwhelming my vision, scattering the light of my illusion. It is not too late, says the despair, enticing me to push away the escape orb, to abandon all I have for a blissful end. It takes every remaining bit of willpower within me to continue my grasp of the escape orb beneath my paws.
But one last moment, one last time before the white light of the orb blots out the white of the cave, I look one last time at the bloodied waters in futility.
She is not there, nor do I think I shall ever see her again. What I do see, however – and I do not know if it is a trick of light – is a spot of sapphire-blue in the sea of red. It is simultaneously the color of the sea and of the sky; it is both the color of a vaporeon's fur and of the sad eyes passed down from my father to me.
The world shifts around me. I leave her forever behind in the Cave of Ideals.
Chris Christodoulou's Nocturnal Emission
Even though we're strong, Pirth and I cannot take on Team Brave alone, I remind myself through gritted teeth as I have to remain composed in the presence of this… necessary evil. I saw what they're capable of, how quickly they incapacitated d'Alin. Weavile, Sneasel, they're two sides of the same coin regarding their corruption into a deeper darkness than any pokemon alone could conceive of. We need all the help we can get. Still...
I break away from my thoughts and stare at the obstagoon named Bow looming over me, who is too busy thinking about the entire situation I explained to notice my glare.
This doesn't feel right. I just can’t trust them.
I try to wonder if the series of coincidences since our flight is just that or something darker. We entered into the walled city of Shuropak without any problem – in fact, the guard had practically bowed as we rushed in, no questions asked except for an odd glance to me. The town was seemingly abandoned, which a passing ponyta explained was because most 'mons were at the massive stepped temple dedicated to Landrous that towered over the town. Even the local explorer's guild by the name of Seuson was almost entirely empty, its members apparently helping to reinforce the levees of the nearby river under the shadow of the impending storm.
All that was available to help – I was under no circumstance going to the corviknight roosting grounds where the Clover Guild's lackeys were – was a travelling Rescue Team by the name of R.O.T. Their leader, Bow, turned and looked at his teammates, a rillaboom and toxtricity. The latter of the two made eye contact with Bow, and I saw the words of "reminds me of Arcade" move across his lips.
Bow affirms this then turns back to me. "M'kay miss, I think me and my mates understand what you're sayin'. There's a sneasel and ribombee pair that have got your vaporeon teammate hostage? And they should be expectin' to reappear from that nearby 'Checkered' dungeon at any moment now?"
Before Pirth can speak up, I press my leg against him firmly, releasing a bit of cold to make sure he knows not to speak. He moves his leg away in a bit of surprise, but I look at his mouth and it remains closed in a frown. I have no choice and it hurts me to do so. I'm sorry, Pirth, but I can't have the tricks they played on you jeopardize this rescue.
"That's right," I reply, but waver on whether or not to tell them about the zoura; I consider again what Pirth said during our run here. Is he just confused about Arimis' voice?
My heart feels heavy as I reminisce over the pain I've gone through in guiding Pirth and myself through this world as we grew up. I know what I've seen, and I've never seen a zorua that can learn psychic; I've never seen a zorua that can communicate telepathically; I've never seen a zorua that could possibly be worthy of being anywhere close to Arimis. It can't possibly be her.
My reasoning is sound, regardless of what Pirth thinks he might have heard. Frustratingly, my doubts do not falter. Then the vision of d'Alin, lying on the floor, blood staining his pristine blue fur, ice shard lodged in his neck, flashes before my eyes once more. Focus! I need to act NOW!
I remind myself that Arimis is somewhere, and while I will find her, right now the priority is rescuing d'Alin, and that the zorua I stupidly let escape is in on this too. I look back at the obstagoon.
How he became a Rescuer I'll never know, but I don't have any other choice, do I? I let out a sigh of frozen air, and my body shivers in both coldness and turmoil. What I do know is what the Cave of Truth showed me. That d'Alin is in danger, if... if not already gone. Bow here needs to know, too, if he is to be any help.
"There is a zorua, too, that... tricked me into letting it escape. It's disguised as another teammate who was left behind at the guild, an espeon. If it's there, it'll try to trick you, try to convince you that it's her. You can't believe its lies."
Once again I have to signal to Pirth to not speak, and as I do this a memory of Arimis flashes before my eyes. I remember her the last day we had together before we left to the Clover Guild. It's the last time I am certain, now, it was her and not some impostor.
She was happy d'Alin was around, though I couldn't figure out why. I remember seeing her as the sun was setting, after her midday nap, at the rear of the ship. She just stood there and let the wind rush through her fur; that was the happiest I saw her in a long time.
I asked her to join me and d'Alin at the bow of the ship, but she was so happy she said no. I don't remember exactly what she said; all I recall was how she was content to let her beautiful pink coat bask in the evening sun as the wind rushed through her fur.
She is worthy of being called beautiful. That zorua that stole words meant for Arimis? Never.
I harden my heart and accept the reality of the situation, the facts driving me towards a bitter rage. Arimis is gone and there is a zorua in her place. I cannot let this stand.
I turn back to the obstagoon. I don't have any other choice; if it comes down to the lesser of two evils, I need to be strong enough to do what's necessary. Even if it means working with one of them. To try to save d'Alin, to avenge Arimis? Anything is worth that cost.
But it's the teeming fury within me, one that makes me shiver and exhale condensed air, that guides my words. "Bow, if the zorua is still there, I want to deal with it myself."
The obstagoon seems puzzled but nods all the same. "Alright, miss, then we've got no time to waste. How 'bout ya hop back on Pirth here and rush back. I'm fast enough to keep up with the two of ya, but Ito and Larson here will have to play some catch up."
"Alright," I reply, trying to remind myself that although working with an obstagoon is far from ideal, there is a definite evil out there that must face justice. "Let's go now."
Chris Christodoulou's A Placid Isle of Ignorance
I lifted myself up from the floor, slowly, trying to not get any more blood on me.
"Jesus Christ," I said, "this is so gross."
Sneasel let out a laugh, a departure from her somber tone just moments before. "Next time you should've watched where you were going instead of pretending to swim while walking!"
I took a step back from where I tripped on a semi-transparent tail and fell onto a ghastly appendage and tried to wipe myself clean; I dipped my paws in the cool water and scrubbed my fur the best I could. While I managed to get most of the red stain off of my body, it was all transferred to my paws.
"Damn, you wouldn't happen to have soap, would you?" I asked the pair, looking at them. I saw that, while Sneasel wasn’t pleased at the scene in front of us, she was by no means extremely uncomfortable unlike her partner.
Booker’s eyes were looking everywhere but at the remains of Drew, and he held his antenna – *does he smell through those? – tight. After he suppressed a gag, Booker gave me a look of empathy and managed to speak. "Since we got flown in here and were going to overnight in Shuropak, we didn't think it was necessary to pack that. The Inn would've had what we needed."
"Great," I muttered as I kept trying to wash my paws to no avail, "They're gonna be like this until we head into town."
As Sneasel passed by me and carefully approached the remains, Booker floated off her head and stayed back. She took note of this and turned towards us. "What? Why're ya both so squeamish? Back when I was with my tribe, we had to hunt for pokemon all the time. This ain't nothin'."
"I'm just not really used to seeing this kind of thing, even after, uh, an 'experience' in Grass. It just feels out of place, this being Mystery Dungeon and all."
Sneasel looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. "I think you mean 'a' Mystery Dungeon. Unless you mean those games you humans liked to play.”
I shot a glance at Booker. “They know their world is a bunch of code?”
“I-it’s been two years. B-besides, I think there is some kind of d-disconnect between reality and the games.”
I looked at Sneasel now. “And you aren’t bothered by that?”
Sneasel shrugged. “You humans are a buncha fairy tales. It goes both ways for us, too”
I tried to focus on the sensations of my body. This felt real, of course, and not at all like a video game. I guess it does go both ways… it’s not like I would be able to do anything if I was in the Matrix.
We all turned and looked at the scene before us, a rather unpleasant one of mix-matched appendages and blood covering the entire passageway. Oddly, the waters were not bloody. They must've cleared out of all the blood by the time we arrived, but the dry parts of the cave are still disgusting.
I told this to Sneasel and she stayed in the submerged center the best she could as she analyzed what this half of Checkered Chasm had of Drew. The awkward silence of the two of us watching Sneasel trudge through the massive remains prompted me to try to make small talk with Booker.
"So, uh..." I whispered.
"Yes, d'Alin?"
"You’re real? Not some NPC"
"I’m real, yes.."
"Okay. Me too."
More awkward silence.
"So..."
"Y-yes, d'Alin?"
"Are you two a thing or..?"
"Oh, uh, y-yes."
"Oh. Cool."
More silence ensued. Goddamn. For being this tiny bee you'd think he'd be good at small talk.
"So..."
Booker, silent, merely looked at me.
"Sneasel is how much taller than you?
"A-about four or five times larger."
"Wow, that’s crazy."
Another beat, more silence save for Sneasel who muttered a bit too loudly that Drew should've eaten less. I looked at her, then at Booker.
"So, uh, Booker, considering the size difference..."
He looked at me and said, “I’m sorry?”
“Well, you know…” I said, my tail automatically wagging in the water abashedly as I eyed him up and down and then did the same to Sneasel.
Upon figuring out that curiosity was about to get the best of me, his eyes widened. "Please, d'Alin, don't–"
"How the hell does it work when–"
"I FOUND IT!" Sneasel declared, her echo reverberating in the passageway and overwhelming my question. Booker approached her and replied, doing both a bit too quickly. "G-great! Can you bring it over here so I can make sure?"
Sneasel lifted up a triangular horn the size of her. Wow, that's massive. I wonder how they're gonna tie that to Pirth.
I felt a bit of shock. Arimis, Althi, Pirth. I wonder how they're doing.
As Booker looked over the dragapult horn from as great a distance as he could, my thoughts flowed as freely as a river. Did they figure out they were in the wrong Cave too? Did they know from beginning? What kind of visions did they have? Hopefully seeing your Ideals is better than facing the cold, hard Truth.
A fleeting thought appeared, wondering if any of them were tempted to remain like we were. I was loath to admit I briefly wondered if one of them did. No! Of course not! They wouldn't abandon us.
My mind shifted to Althi.I hope she, at least, was able to calm down about this whole Sneasel situation. I turned to look at Team Brave, and saw Booker in Sneasel's claws as she held him over the horn for a better view. I couldn't help but let out a small smile. They're not anything like Althi thought.
"Are you sure there's no other parts to it?" asked Booker.
"Nope, I checked every last bit. This is the only horn piece on this side of the Dungeon," said Sneasel.
"Okay, d'Alin, I think we're r-ready to leave now," said Booker.
I looked down the hallway. It was tempting to go deeper. "There were no reports of anything further in, right?"
"N-nothing that I remember, no. I still don't know why Drew decided to come here."
"The big dummy was a big dummy, what else is new?" Sneasel said before turning to me. "You mind using your escape orb to get us out of here?"
I nodded and approached the duo, then pushed the escape orb out of the empty space I stuffed it into on my scarf tied around my leg, it occupying the space where I stored the aspear berry I used on Althi after the monster house. It fell to the floor of the cavern with a resounding thud.
"Okay, stand nearby," I said, waiting for Sneasel to drag the horn over and, once she and Booker were beside me, I rubbed the orb vigorously. As I did so, my stained paws polishing the surface, I felt a bit of energy from within me automatically flow from my foreleg into it, causing it to glow brightly.
Oh, so that's why my water gun activated the orb in the monster house.
The rapidly intensifying light replaced the black of the cavern with a blinding white and I felt the world shift around us as a feeling of weightlessness enveloped me. We left the Cave of Truth behind for good.
Chris Christodoulou's Moisture Deficit
The light faded away, and I was met with the meadowed surface outside Checkered Chasm we entered a few hours earlier.
Immediately I was hit by an extremely alien feeling and felt compelled to raise my head skywards and deeply inhale – which I did on account of being in a minor state of shock after having just teleported out of the Mystery Dungeon – and smelled extremely faint traces of petrichor. I felt my ears twitch as my head automatically turned away from the setting sun and towards the east, towards Shuropak.
"About three hours," I said without thinking.
"What?" Sneasel asked.
I blinked and, suddenly, my mind felt clearer. "Christ that was weird." I looked back to my companions. "Uh, sorry. I think that was my instincts taking over. I think we're a few hours from that storm hitting us."
Booker and Sneasel simultaneously looked past me towards the eastern horizon.
"I see," said Booker, who looked nervous "maybe we should send one of us to go retrieve Percival and that other corviknight while another one of us waits here."
“What, not a fan of the rain?” I asked.
He shirked. “N-no. As a ribombee I can’t stand it.”
Huh. Funny how both our bodies react differently to the same thing, I thought as Sneasel reached up and gently patted her partner to reassure him. I was about to offer to go on account of not wanting to separate Booker and Sneasel and the fact that the latter was currently holding onto a horn the length of her whole body, but I recalled Althi's commands moments before we separated.
If nothing changed since the last time we were together, then the last thing I'd want Althi to see is Booker and Sneasel without me nearby.
I told Booker and Sneasel that they could go and I could stay behind and wait for my team, but Sneasel, who was looking around, spoke up. "I think your teammates already beat us to the punch, d'Alin."
She pointed a claw past me, and I could see sitting by a small pond in the distance, at the edge of the clearing, a pink figure. Arimis.
"I guess Althi and Pirth went and Arimis stayed behind for us. I'll go chat with her," I said as I started to make my way over.
I heard a soft thud and turned around; Sneasel had let the dragapult horn fall to the ground. "What?" she said, "it's not like it's going anywhere."
I did the best impression of a shrug a quadruped could do as Booker and Sneasel joined me. As we approached the pond, I could tell something was wrong. Arimis, who was normally extremely observant and would've called out to us by now, relayed no thought to my head. I turned towards Booker and it was clear that, even with the little he knew her, he too could tell something was up.
I picked up the pace and Booker whispered for Sneasel to do the same. Arimis couldn't have possibly not heard the rush we made towards her, but she remained looking into the water all the same.
We stopped as we neared her. Her bowed head turned only slightly, and I could make out her white illusory pupil meet with mine. Hello d'Alin, Booker. I say hello to Sneasel as well.
While Booker stayed atop Sneasel and relayed Arimis' thoughts, I took a step in her direction. "Arimis... are you alright? W-where are Althi and Pirth?"
She turned away from us and looked at the pond. I saw the surface ripple. I am alive, d'Alin. I'm just looking at myself. At who I really am.
"What?" I said.
Surely you both figured it out, did you not? That I was wrong about the Caves? That the colors were inverted.
"Y-yeah, Ari, we figured it out. We saw those hallucinations Booker mentioned..." my voice trailed off as I recalled my own hallucination. "They weren't the most pleasant, unfortunately."
I took a step closer towards her. "And what about you? I'm hoping you at least saw something pleasant."
Her face quietly shimmered more, the only sound being that of our breathing and of water droplets hitting the pond. Oh, d'Alin, I saw the most beautiful thing I could have possibly imagined.
She glanced at me once more, and I was so surprised to see hostility in her eyes I took a step back. I left it behind so I could join you up here.
The hostility melted away when she got a better look at me and realized my paws were bloodied. I heard her voice speak in my head, now with more urgency. Are you injured?
"No, no! I'm perfectly fine. Just stepped into some, uh, remains. I cleaned myself off but dug it into my hands- er, paws in the process," I said as I dipped them into the water, scrubbed them together, and pulled them out sopping wet and still stained. "See?"
She merely nodded and resumed her defeated posture, albeit with guilt now in the mix. I needed to know just what happened down there. "And where are Pirth and Althi? Are they alright? Are they in Shuropak–"
I believe so, yes. They're likely on their way to enact their plan against Team Brave and, now, myself.
"Myself?"
"P-plan?" asked Booker.
I shot him a look and cursed at myself for not being able to clear my face of worry. "N-nothing to be concerned about."
Nevertheless, Arimis continued. The plan, Booker, that Althi had in mind. The one she realized d'Alin wouldn't follow. To abandon you and go to Shuropak. To mark you as traitors and to get rid of you.
I was in a state of shock and said nothing as Booker who – after confirming with Arimis what he heard was, in fact, true and getting over his own display of surprise – carefully, with an edge of fear in his voice, relayed this to Sneasel. She was unsurprisingly furious.
"What?! You just mean that this whole damn time she's been lying to our faces? She thinks that we're out to get d'Alin? That all humans are bad?"
Her eyes which managed to contain a sharp fury stared daggers into me. "It would've been nice to know, d'Alin, that the leader of your team is out to get us. Just what the hell is her problem?"
I am.
We all looked at her, and she continued. I caused us to not complete the mission. Pirth and Althi used an escape orb. I followed soon after. The other half of Drew is still in there. We failed.
Arimis looked at me once more and I could sense from the thought she was speaking to me alone. She knows what I am, d'Alin, beneath. She hates me for it.
I was rendered speechless. Sneasel wasn't.
"Wait," she said, reacting angrily to the message Booker relayed to her as she raised an accusatory claw at Arimis. "What, that’s it? We risked our lives and dealt with those horrible visions, and we’ve apparently got that half-brained glaceon and her stupid sawsbuck brother out to get me and my partner, and now you’re just gonna quit? After all we went through, you ain’t even gonna finish your half of the job?"
I heard Booker mutter something to Sneasel and she seemed to calm down at that, but just for a moment. Arimis gave no response, and this silence caused Sneasel to take an angry step towards her. "Hell-ooo? Do you not hear me? You failed and that's it? You just cry cuz you're too weak to go on?"
I looked at Sneasel. "Alright, that's enough."
Booker, please tell Sneasel I apologize for leading us to failure, by being too weak to proceed.
Booker hesitantly relayed the message. Sneasel snarled at Arimis. "Seriously? Listen, I ain’t mad that you failed. I’m mad that you’re sitting here and moping like a wimpy little baby. Nothing pisses me off more than someone that wallows in all their dumb self-pity and never does anything to fix it.”
"Sneasel, cut it." I snapped.
She shot a glance at me, and her ear-feather wobbled in the air for the split-second pause before she spoke. “"No! What matters to me isn't even that. As long as you can say you'll try to get stronger, I can forgive all that. Nothing pisses me off more than someone that wallows in self-pity and refuses to help herself change and improve," she said as she closed the distance towards Ari, now towering over her. "Just say that and I can forgive you."
Arimis shirked back at Sneasel, taking a step closer to the pond, but she shook her head, refusing to look up. I could never change. I am doomed to forever be like this.
I looked at Booker and he looked at me. We both came to an understanding: to not relay this to Sneasel. She, unfortunately, picked up on this.
"What did she say?" she asked us, though we both remained silent.
She looked at me. "Well?"
Tell her, Booker, please.
"Don't," I said.
"Tell me what she said, Booker."
Booker begrudgingly obliged the two, and I saw Sneasel take a step forward again. Arimis kept her distance, stepping back.
“Sneasel, back off,” I warned, taking a step towards them.
I heard Booker whisper something to greater effect, and she stopped taking another intimidating step towards Arimis, but not wanting to lose her balance she took a small step instead. A small one, but a step nonetheless.
Arimis, now looking fearfully at Sneasel, took one more step back away from her. She slipped on the edge of the wet pond, her pink paw glimmering red as it made contact with the damp grasses that provided no purchase for her.
She tried to overcorrect as her hind leg barely missed dipping into the pond, but that caused her to lose all her balance. Sneasel tried to reach out a hand to help her up, but Arimis shirked away from it as well, and this caused her to tumble into the pond.
No thought came to me during the instant she fell, but her eyes met mine, and they were abound with fear. They disappeared as she fell in and was completely submerged; water was thrown into the air and a rogue droplet or two splashed onto me.
Oh shit.
I ran to the pond to try to help her as she quickly surfaced again, but she refused, instead scrambling up the side further from us. She stopped and looked down at herself, then at Sneasel, Booker, then myself.
I followed her eyes as they looked at Team Brave. Sneasel and Booker both had their mouths agape, though I heard a breathless “wha–” escaping Sneasel’s mouth. Booker almost stumbled over in shock, but regained his footing with a quick buzz of his wings. They made no movement as they looked jn shock at Arimis.
I turned my eyes from them back to her, and I saw her blue eyes fully widened and her body shivering, likely from a combination of the cold water and her disguise washed away. Although her eyes were wet, I could see it was a mix of fresh spring water and salty tears, the latter being filled with despair. It hurt to see her this way.
“Ari–” I tried to say, but the brave and resolute Arimis was gone, lost in the waters below, and all that was left was a sniffling, hunched over zorua that wanted nothing to do with any of us. She let out a silent bawl of tears before leaping away from us, making a beeline towards the woods.
"Wait!" I called out, "Ari, wait!"
This seemed to snap Booker out of his surprised trance. “A-Arimis! It’s okay! You d-don’t need to b-be scared!” he said, joining in on my pleas.
It was pointless. I tried to follow her, but by the time I reached the treeline she had completely disappeared into the thicket, her dexterity more than I could keep up with in a pursuit through the dense grove anyways.
I stood there for a moment, waiting for her to reemerge, waiting for her voice to appear in my head. All that happened was the wind whistling by me, carrying a slightly stronger scent of petrichor. The winds rustled the grass of the meadow behind me and the leaves of the forest before me.
I spoke in a whisper. “I asked you to back off, Sneasel.”
I turned back and looked at Sneasel. She just ignored what I said as she met my eyes and said, “She was a zorua the whole time? Did you know that d’Alin?”
I couldn’t get rid of the venom in my voice. “‘Did you know that d’Alin?’ Yeah, I did. Why did you think I told you to back off?"
She didn’t like that I just mocked her, but she still tried to be apologetic. "I-I didn't know."
I closed the distance between us. "Of course you didn’t. That’s the whole point of a disguise, dumbass. I told you to stop and you didn't."
Sneasel didn't my continued disdain towards her one bit, and she quickly dropped her remorseful tone. "What, so I'm supposed to listen to you now?"
"No, you're just supposed to not be a total asshole. Going and intimidating someone when they’re vulnerable and crying isn’t very welcoming of you, now is it?"
She raised a claw at me. "Not telling your teammates that they're in danger and pretending everything is okay is worse, you dumb fish."
"Just apologize and admit you screwed up by not listening to me when you should have."
"Apologize? What, to you? Why do you deserve an apology? You're not Arimis. You must be some kinda control freak or something."
That got under my fur far more than I'd like to admit. "And yet you wanted to lead this expedition? Why is the stupid sneasel that's about as smart as a hillbilly making decisions? If you just listened to what I said, this could've been avoided."
Booker tried to speak and calm the situation, but his voice couldn't overcome Sneasel's. "And who made you the leader that I have to listen to? Cuz I totally didn't."
I raised an accusatory bloodstained paw at Sneasel, inadvertently flicking some water into her face. "No one did. You should just stop when someone asks you to instead of pushing for things you're too damn stupid to know about."
"Oh that's right, maybe that's why you think you're the leader all of a sudden," Sneasel yelled as she stepped up. I saw Booker look away from me to my right and he tried to point and say something, but Sneasel's voice rendered him effectively mute. "Cuz Althi is a damn psycho that's out to get us and we're probably gonna have to fight her!"
Booker tried to speak again, still looking off to the side, but now it was my turn to speak over him. "If only we had some help! Great job getting rid of Arimis! Now all that's left is to deal with those two before things get even more out of hand."
A moment of silence lapsed, and Booker used it as an opportunity to finally be heard. "Th-they're here."
Sneasel and I both turned ninety degrees towards where Booker was facing. Another breeze came by, and though the scent of petrichor was steadily getting stronger, this gust was far colder than the last.
At the left of the path stood Pirth, legs trembling and out of breath from having run to-and-fro with as much energy as he could muster. An obstagoon stood at the right of where the meadow and path met, equally out of breath and looking at us with deep suspicion but, also, surprise.
Between the two of them was a glaceon, standing with her head raised skyward, her white pupils looking down at us flanked by an adamant teal-blue. Her mouth was a scowl, and her hair-like flaps blew in the wind. The look she gave me was one of utter disdain, and I couldn't help but feel small beneath her gaze as she shed a tear.
"Where is d'Alin?" she asked me.
"Huh? Althi, what are you talking about? I'm right here."
This made her only more angry, and although the obstagoon and Pirth both attempted to step forward, Althi told them to stay back with a newfound confidence mixed with fury. She spoke once more as her eyes looked me up and down. "Enough. Drop the ruse. There's only one reason I can think of that would explain why you'd pretend to be him: he's not around anymore."
I looked back at Sneasel and Booker who looked at me with confusion. Crap, clearly something is wrong.
The ribombee tried to speak up. “A-Althi. I d-don’t know what you think happened, but–”
He stopped, and turned silent as he realized Althi couldn’t see what he was trying to say, so I said it in Booker’s stead as I turned back to my Team’s leader. "Althi, I don't know what you think is happening, but you need to take a step back and think this over."
"I'm done falling for your tricks, zorua. I know what the Cave of Truth showed me! I-I wish it wasn't true. I don't even know why I gave you the chance... I know what you really are."
"Athi, what happened back there? What did you do to Ari?"
"What did I do? What did– Wait. Why am I even arguing? I'm done. I've known it was you this whole time. You must've not known I have exceptional eyesight," she said through tears as she stepped forward and the air condensed around her. "I saw your dripping wet paws the moment we arrived."
"W-what?"
I was only able to hear her ensuing whisper, raw and choked with pain, because it was carried by the brisk wind. "They're blood-red."
Damjan Mravunac & Chris Christodoulou's Surface Tension Returns
A terrifyingly fast burst of ice-type energy I could barely make out flashed out around Althi, and she growled. "You don't even know her full name, do you? It's Ari-mis. I knew it from the start, from the moment you opened your mouth. And-and you're asking me what happened to her? I saw everything. You... you all killed her, and now you killed d'Alin too."
"Althi," I said, my breath almost leaving me out of sheer incredulity, "you're fucking losing it. I'm me."
It didn't matter. Me denying whatever she said made things worse. The grass beneath her feet grew a layer of frost. The air condensed around her. She looked at me with fury as she stepped closer. "Stop. Lying."
"Althi," I took a step back, "what're you doing?"
Her angry eyes looked to my left, at Booker and Sneasel. I saw the latter, seeing what was about to happen, open her claw as if to summon a shard of ice.
NO!
I immediately took a step between the two and, still looking at Althi, spoke aloud. "If you do that, Sneasel, it'll all be over. Don't please. I'll take the hit."
I heard a grumble, but couldn't make out what it was. It didn't matter; there was no offensive escalation from our side, thank God. That didn't stop Althi from looking at us with unabashed fury. The wave of condensed air moved forward. A sort of faint screen appeared around us, and I presumed it was one of Booker’s moves.
It's alright, I can take it. I can get hurt.
I held firm, felt my energy bubble outwards from me and coalesce into the scaled and translucent Acid Armor that materialized over my fur – even if it wouldn't do much against this kind of attack– and watched as the frosted air didn't hit, but rather stopped in front of me and formed a circle around us. I looked to my sides and behind.
Nowhere to go.
I looked back at Team Brave, and I saw them whispering, readying to something. I heard Sneasel tell Booker to fly away, but I spoke with haste. “If you do that, she’ll probably think you’re escaping and attack. Please, Booker, don’t.”
He nodded and seemed to brace for an attack, and Sneasel grabbed him in her hands and held him tight. That didn’t stop her from shooting me an angry look. I turned away from her and looked back at my friend.
"Althi!" I yelled, "what're you doing?! It's me dammit!"
"Stop! Stop pretending to be him!" she yelled, shaking her head in denial. As she did so, I could see bits of ice below her eyes glinting in the setting sunlight. "Where is he really? Where is Arimis really?"
"I-she ran into the forest."
Althi looked at me with a flash of recognition. "Y-you think she's here? She tricked you, too, didn't she?"
"Althi... she told me you knew, don't you? She said you found out what she was."
"W-what?"
"Althi," I say carefully, calmly, hoping my tone will somehow reflect in my lips, "She's a zorua. She's always been a zorua. We just didn't always know."
Althi bore a look of even greater rage as the condensed ice tightened around us, and its pinpricks almost touched my fur. Even though I didn't touch it directly, even though I was guarded by Booker’s screen, it still sent a sharp wave of pain through my body which caused me to wince. Freeze-dry, I realized. Holy shit.
Worse, I felt the pain and malice imbued in the air. This wasn't like us sparring. This was vastly, terrifyingly different. This was real.
"Enough of these lies!" Althi cried, "if that were her, she'd still be here. But-but she's not... and it couldn't be her anyways. It's-it's just not possible."
Althi began to weep, and more ice sparkled. "The visions are the Truth, don't you get it? You're dead, d'Alin. They killed you. They killed her. She was beautiful, don't you know that? She was beautiful and they couldn't stand it."
A voice rings true amidst the chaos. d'Alin...
Holy shit, Ari. What the hell is going on? I scanned the forest, looking for anything, any sign of help, of Arimis, and hopefully – There!
A pink dot watched us carefully, from behind Althi's peripheral vision. I am sorry. I-I didn't mean for any of this to happen, I should just go forth and–
No! Wait, just wait a second, Ari.
My eyes darted back to Althi, and I spoke carefully. "If Arimis was here, Althi, wouldn't that prove that she's alive? That whatever shit you saw was the Cave trying to trick you?"
"By Arimis, do you mean that zorua?"
I couldn't help but growl at Althi, like a goddamn animal. "It's her, Althi, yes."
She thought for a moment, and her eyes darted to her brother then back to me. They looked hurt. Her response was colder than the air that further tightened around me, almost choking me and Team Brave. "If you're really you, d'Alin, then the Cave tried to trick me. It doesn't change the fact that Team Brave can't be trusted. It doesn't change that I'd still have to find out where Arimis is and how it stole her voice."
"Althi–"
"I'd get it to tell me what it did with Arimis, one way or another."
Chris Christodoulou's Aurora Borealis
Althi's words send a shiver down my spine. I am rendered immobile.
d'Alin's eyes dart to me once more. Ari, don't.
The cold air tightened around him, I saw him wince in fear. Booker, Sneasel, they both likewise bore a look of fear. I couldn't see Althi's face from this angle, but I could sense the malice radiating off her. I wondered if she enjoyed it.
I wish to remain here, hidden, away from conflict, away from Althi and the world and all the pain that leads to. But to let them get hurt? Because of me?
Doing what is right is all I have left.
I find strength – fleeting though it may be – within myself and take a step forward, causing the brush to shake. I feel the branches dig into me. Pirth, who is behind his sister, turns to see me. d'Alin notices and his eyes rapidly dart to me once more. Don't do it.
Another step. The obstagoon and Team Brave both see me, but none move, frozen still as if under Althi's spell.
Please, Ari, I'm begging you to not let yourself get hurt because of me.
I'm hurting so much anyways. I'm so empty of anything aside from pain. Is it possible to feel more? I doubt it. I take another deep breath, another step out of the brush.
I see Althi more clearly now then ever. I cannot see her face, but I see her body. It is as teeming with power as it is with pain.
The world is still.
I reach into her mind once more, pushing through the flurry of emotions: anger, hope, confusion, sorrow, and – even if she'd never admit it – fear. My willpower to do anything is fickle, but I find strength upon recalling d'Alin's words, that I am the same bit of stardust he cares for, illusion or not. I am still me, even now. I remind myself.
His words regarding my inner beauty – even if they were true – do nothing for me when they ring within. But his earlier words, those spoken beneath the star of Garchomp that night long ago, that of stardust and who I really am, those are enough.
I project the words I AM HERE to Althi.
Shock is what she feels next. A touch of hope, joy that d'Alin is alive, confusion about Team Brave, about what hallucinations she saw. She scans the area, and she catches d'Alin's eyes flash towards mine. She looks my way. She sees me. Her eyes bear a wild look, one of victory.
I've got you.
Hatred dominates all other emotions. I feel scared. I reflectively take a step back.
Another flash of energy surrounds her, another wave of condensed air forms, and it in an instant appears before me. I close my eyes and brace for impact, but just like with d'Alin she has it surround me.
I open them again. She is looking at me, past me, within me, all at once. Her white pupils waver unmistakably, and I don't need to reach into her mind with my extrasensory to know she is in doubt.
She speaks slowly. "No tricks, zorua. Answer me directly and that is all. What did you do with Arimis?"
Did you not hear d'Alin's words?
The snap-dried air tightens around me. I flinch.
"Directly you damn sneak."
I-I-
No. You won't accept whatever I say. You need reason. You must ask yourself what d'Alin told you.
I am rewarded for this by the further strangling of the noose around me. I have to hold myself close as I start to cry.
"Enough with that. d'Alin was tricked, too. The last time I remember Arimis being around for certain was before we reached the Clover Guild. The difference between you two is beyond night-and-day."
I feel empty. Althi, that was me, too. I've always been me. Why can't you see that?
Chris Christodoulou's They Might As Well Be Dead
I breathe. Heavily. Quickly. The zorua still hasn't broken its illusion. It holds onto it for dear life as if it's the only thing shielding it from justice. It won't do any good against me. How could it? I've seen the Truth.
"Your lies mean nothing to me, zorua."
The zorua's body quivers at my words, and I see its illusion shimmer around the eyes.
I see frustrated, tired, exhausted runes appear before my sight, pale imitations of Arimis'. But I can make out an edge of hope in them. You said aboard the ship, correct? Back from Grass, after our debrief with the Federation on Ruined Roost? After you and Pirth and d'Alin evolved in Eeveelution forest? That you knew I was unmistakably Arimis then?
I tighten the ring around it once more in rage. "You proving you hurt Arimis to study how she speaks, what she knows, all that means nothing to me."
The runes, more frustrated, more weak, appear, but somehow with more hope than before. But, don't you recall when you and d'Alin were at the fore of the ship, and I at the rear? And when you invited me to join you?
I feel my body waver. "So what?"
Do you not recall why I declined? Please, please remember.
I don't know what compels me to humor it, but I do. The memory flashes before me once more. I see it clearly and almost feel like I'm there, the wind rushing by and the brine of the sea in my nostrils.
Arimis opened her eyes to look at me with her white pupils, just like mine, when I asked her to join us. Her fur danced in the wind and alongside the rays of sunlight. Her gentle runes that flashed before my eyes back then reappear once more.
No thank you, Althi. I prefer to not get wet.
My heart stops, the memory fades, and I'm back in the meadow. I turn away from her and d'Alin and Pirth and Team Brave and Bow and the world. I look down at the grasses of the field. The blades by my feet are frozen over.
No. NO. NO! I must be misremembering. I have to be. That can't be Arimis.
I look at the zorua.
It's not her, I resolve. It can't be.
If it was, then that means everything I said below, down in the Cave about Arimis–
No. A zorua could never be such things. None of them could.
And the insults I hurled at it? At the zorua when it donned its true form?
No. I could never tell such things to a friend.
I harden my heart. Arimis is gone and there is a zorua in her place. It-it's trying to trick me. I cannot let this stand.
I return to the zorua cowering before me. I regain my composure and my hostility within a second. "Good try," I tell her, trying to let the venom I feel for almost falling for its ruse seep into my voice. "You almost got me."
I tighten the ring around her, and she merely bows her head downwards, in supplication, as there is nowhere else for her to move. I have her right where I want her. I don't know why she doesn't fight back, though.
She still pleads. Why, Althi. Is it really not possible? Is it so impossible for me to have done all that good you said I did?
I maintain both my silence and my vice around her. She looks up at me as her pathetic illusion shimmers, and I see traces of red and black around her face. Am I really not able to have done all that because of who I am? Don't my actions mean anything to you? Am I incapable of doing good?
...Can I never have a pure, beautiful heart like you said?
I say nothing.
Please, please just tell me. Please tell me I didn't leave her behind in the Cave for a lie.
I still don't know what to say to her, so I continue to stare her down.
The runes are follow are sad, full of despair. Fine. So be it.
An eternity passes. I see the air surrounding her brimming with energy waiting to be unleashed. The runes reappear once more, but this time they are without hope. Do it.
I blink and break from my trance. What?
Do it. Strike me down. Truly, Althi–
Anger flashes through me now. Just shut up and let me–
The runes feel empty, void of anything but pain. –If you really believe that I am not able to ever do right, if I'm incapable of convincing you of that, then just rid yourself – no, the world – of me. I'm a worthless liar anyways. So do it.
I-I know the Truth. I mentally argue, everything I've known and experienced tells me what is right and wrong. I can't just throw it all away.
The illusion around her downturned face is fading in and out. Then do it. Don't you understand I'm nothing then? I'm just a terrible, evil dark-type that can do no good? If that's your Truth, then so be it. Put me out of my misery.
I feel myself start to cry angry tears. I can't be wrong about everything. I just can't be.
DO IT! I DON'T WANT TO BE HURTING ANYMORE, ALTHI, SO JUST DO IT.
The illusion around her face is gone. Arimis' ears are still that of an espeon, as are her twin tufts of fur that adorn her cheeks. But the espeon’s face, it's gone, shimmered away because her face is soaked wet with tears. Instead of short, pink fur I instead see the red dots of fur above her eyes, and all around them is thick fur colored between grey and slate-blue, almost black. Her red eyelids are drooped downwards, exhausted, but I see her blue eyes pointed right at me, just like when I had her repeat my command to d'Alin.
But this time, they are a deep, oceanic blue and mired with tears.
My vision is so excellent I can somehow see myself in the watery reflection, alongside the storm behind me, though it’s all tinted a hollow blue. For a split second, the way I stand, the storm looming behind me, forming a sort of frightening crest over me, I look like a monster.
Is that how she sees me? Is this what my friend thinks that I am? My heart freezes over at the revelation. No, the world itself is frozen, unmoving, completely still as everything I know, everything I've done, comes crashing down upon me in an instant.
I scream, a wave of anger flowing through me. I close my eyes and I-I–
I release the stored up energy as I weep. I collapse, falling to the grasses of the meadow. They freeze under the touch of my fur. My attacks around d'Alin and Team Brave and Arimis dissipate. I cry and cry and cry, the tears of frustration, anger, confusion, and–
No I think, with my last remaining bit of resolve and strength, just not that.
Time passes, I don't know how much, of me lying on the glade, alone, sobbing. Eventually I feel a hoof press against me, and thankfully I'm too exhausted for even my heart to leap in surprise. I slowly raise my head.
My brother, Pirth, looks down at me. "Althi," he says, carefully, "I'm going to go get the corviknights to get us back to Capim, okay?"
I stand up. I feel empty, like I cried away my essence. "No, Pirth." I look around me. I see Team Brave looking at me carefully. d'Alin and Arimis, together as well, don't look at me. Well, Arimis doesn't. She is sobbing, and I see d'Alin's hand clip through her back as her face shimmers. He glances at me. His eyes betray a look of confusion, pain, and disdain, all directed at me, before they turn back to Arimis.
All my fault.
I turn around, past Pirth, and look towards the path we took. Bow, Ito, and Larson of R.O.T all look at me carefully, but their lips are unmoving.
The deep, endlessly-chilling freeze that remains within me is melted away by the heat of shame. "I'll get them myself. Just... sit here and recover. Don't worry about me."
I walk, deservedly alone, down the path to Shuropak.
It gives me time to think.
Chris Christodoulou's Coalescence
The ride back to Capim Town is silent except for the sound of wind rushing by me. Even Arceus is silent, since he decided to stop talking once we left for Shuropak. I guess he was as along for the ride as I was.
Even though it's just me and my sister being carried by the corviknight hired by the Guild – Arimis chose to accompany d'Alin and Team Brave on the flight back – I'm forced by my blessed super-leafeon body to prop part of myself over the basket carrying us. All part of His divine plan for me to stomp and murder all the deerling and sawsbuck.
Right Arceus?
My attempt to get Him talking doesn't work, and I got to admit I'm pretty uncomfortable by the silence I'm experiencing. I feel most comfortable when there's at least two voices talking at once, preferably arguing, and right now there's none. All that's left to do is realize that I broke the promise I made to Arimis.
I didn't stand beside her when I promised I would, and that caused all this to happen.
I let out a heavy, tired snort. No wonder Arceus doesn't want to talk to me right now.
Joining the heat of shame I feel is the heat of sun against me, though it's not much so I know it's setting soon. Even though Althi said she didn't want to talk, this is the last chance we're gonna have until tomorrow.
I gently nudge my sister with my hind leg, and I feel her shift and say, "What, Pirth?"
I turn my snout towards her voice. "Are you okay?"
A sigh. "I think you can guess the answer to that."
"O-oh," I say, not knowing what else to say. After a bit I start thinking about her and what's going on in my sister's mind. So after another nudge and another confirmation, I ask. "What're you thinking about?"
"Pirth I... I don't know where to begin."
"That's okay. A, uh, lot happened today. For both of us."
A bit of time passes before I hear her response. "That's a bit of an understatement, Pirth. There's a lot on my mind."
“Is there one thing that you’re thinking about in particular?
"Pirth, I have so much going on, so many things I have to figure out."
"Well, that's okay."
More silence, but Althi breaks it. "There is one thing I think I'm decided on, though."
"And what's that?" I ask, having turned towards her.
"We failed the mission. Because of me. Because of me we couldn't go on. I-I can't handle being here."
"I don't know what you mean."
"I-whatever. My point is, we failed. I have no idea what's going to happen to that pervert next door and those annoying dreepy, and I don't know what is going to happen to us."
"I don't know if anything will happen to us. Don't Explorers have tough times with missions a bunch? Especially when we got assigned to this really weird Mystery Dungeon."
"I-I don't know what to think anymore, about so much. I just… The one thing I do know is how I feel, right now about us. About the Guild. About our place in it."
"Althi..."
"And how I feel is, well, out of place. I don't belong there. We don't belong there. Team Eevee, I mean. All their jokes and sayings that are just alien to me. To all of us. And after all this, after what happened? I don't know if I can be around them. I know they'd start to stare at us, whisper about us in ways that you can't see and I can't hear...
"Don't you feel the same way, Pirth?"
I take a moment to think. "No, I don't, and I don't think Team Brave are the kind to spread rumors. Besides, I kinda like it here. Er, there. Arceus once told me we have to educate the retards of the world first since they're more susceptible to Giratina's corruption, and there's so many there, more than anywhere else!"
Althi just sighs. More quiet, and I feel the sun finally be put to rest for the day. I figure we're done talking, and I look back over the basket and try to figure out what exactly happened. The wind whistling through my ears fills my head with a nice noise as I think. Was Arimis different? She had some colored spell on her? Someone mentioned that Arimis had different colors? Does that mean being colored is worse? Even if that's the case I don't care, but Arceus might.
More wondering, then I reach a resolution. Once He reappears I'll have to tell Him that even if He's a white supremacist, that the other colors are alright, too.
As I try to further decipher the mysteries of the universe, I hear my sister's voice again. It is wavering, and I can offer no response back. "I-I need to sleep on it still. Maybe something will come up before I tell it to d'Alin, maybe my mind might change, but I'm pretty sure it won't. I-I think I made a mistake, Pirth. I don't think Team Eevee can stay in the Clover Guild any longer."
Sneasel's apology finishes just as the long night of winter overcomes the short, brief day. I thank her and, of course, forgive her. Unfortunately, d’Alin is quick to dismiss it. He lifts his head from the ball he curled himself into to "try to sleep" and I see his eyes poke out over his fin. She can apologize all she wants, it doesn't change how she intimidated you and caused you to fall into the pond. Besides, she only apologized because Booker insisted.
I cannot help but grimace at this. She was genuine. I just think she didn't want to apologize in your presence, d'Alin.
He rolls his eyes. That makes sense since I'd just tell you it's not genuine. I'll still hold this against her. She hurt you, and I don't forgive that easily.
This is exhausting. That sounds exhausting. How can he be so blind? I forgave her, and that should be enough.
Not for me.
And what of Althi? Should she apologize, should I refrain from forgiving her?
He shifts, then returns to his attempted sleeping position. He covers his face with his fin once more. That's different, and you know it.
How? Is not the principle the same?
I don't care. We know Althi. We hardly know Sneasel, and the little we do know is that she's a complete asshole. End of story.
He cannot see me sigh. He does not see the tear roll down my face. Why do you have to be so full of hate, d'Alin? I wonder but do not ask. A shiver rolls down my spine...
It makes you too much like Althi.
My thoughts unsurpisingly turn to her. I can scarcely make out the corviknight flying beside us in the night sky. What are we going to do about... us?
There was now an unmistakable rift between all of us, one that needed to be mended. Even with d'Alin beside me, I feel more alone than ever before. I sigh and curl into a ball and hold my tail. My illusion doesn't line up, but I do not care. Everyone here knows what I am.
A pang of realization strikes me. I jolt up, enough to make d'Alin stir and to make Sneasel stop nodding off and focus on me. You alright, Ari?
I merely respond that I am, but I search for Booker's mind and find it, awake, thinking.
Booker, are you there?
I can make out a surprised movement from within Sneasel's claws. I see Booker's head peek out, then hear my name echo in his mind. ...Arimis? I'm up.
Chris Christodoulou's & Malvi's And They Murmur Not
I pause for a moment, trying my best to put it into words. I cannot speak to Sneasel, but please, could you ask her to not share the knowledge as to what I... am.
Booker looks at me and I sense a mentalic sigh. Of course, Arimis. I don't think she or I would've shared anyways, but I'll be sure to let her know.
He glances at d'Alin, who is still curled up, but still awake judging on how he tosses and turnes.
I'll... I'll let her know later.
I looked longingly at d'Alin, my heart with woe. Why does he have to be this way..?
I am left to my own devices once more as the flight continues under the light of the moon which on occasion breaks through the clouds, but with my nighttime vision I can make out Booker trying to look at me through the dark. I wonder if he's forgotten I can see exceptionally well in the dark.
Arimis..? I sense.
I am awake, Booker. This... this is my natural waking time, after all.
Yeah, about that.
I wait as he gathers his thoughts.
I'm sorry about what happened. Back there, I mean. I'm sorry you had to go through all that.
I can't help but smile. Thank you, Booker.
Um, if you don’t mind my asking, why do you disguise yourself? If you’d rather not share the reason, that’s okay.
I hesitate for a moment, the only sound that of the wind passing over us, the flap of Percival’s wings, and the groan and sway of the basket. It seems to rock d’Alin and Sneasel to sleep, and although I can see Booker begin to nod off, he still awaits my response.
So I tell him. I tell him how I discovered my father was an outlaw, a murderer. I tell him how upon hearing of this I ran away from home, only to discover that no one trusted an unspeaking zorua. How I had to disguise myself as something else – an espeon I ran into I had realized was the perfect illusion for myself – to survive.
He watches with concern as I come to the conclusion that to escape his crimes is not enough, that I need to instead try to make the world a better place, to overturn the crimes my father committed and that I inherited by being his daughter, my vow to join an Exploration Guild.
Where I met d’Alin, Althi and Pirth. And despite everything, despite d’Alin’s encouragement, I still couldn’t accept myself. Especially now.
Finished, we sit in silence for a moment before I hear him call out my name. I enter his mind to communicate. I-I hope it's okay if I tell you about me. About my experience since you told me yours.
I reply in the affirmative, and Booker's thoughts run free.
When I first came here, I hated my body. I wasn't capable of doing anything; I wasn't able to fight, I felt like a detriment to Sneasel; I was just helpless. Even with her encouragement and help from KFC, it took me a year to even learn to fly. It still is strenuous when I try...
He looks at me, and a beam of moonlight shines through which allows him to catch a glimpse of my face. My point is, Arimis, is that even though I was at odds with myself, I was able to overcome my obstacles. You... you're a really strong pokemon. I know that you can do it as well. I'm just sorry to see you sort of where I was. I know things might seem rough right now, and I don't completely get what you're going through–
I look away, over the edge of the basket, towards the other corviknight.
But things will get better. I know they will even if it doesn't seem like it right now. You just have to take things one step at a time.
I look past the corviknight, at the sky and moon and stars.
Thank you, Booker. I truly appreciate it, I think, though my thoughts hardly relay how much his words mean to me.
I hear Booker let out a tiny yawn as I receive his parting thought of Of course, Arimis. If you ever feel down, or if you want to talk about this some more, I’m available.
I shall keep that in mind, Booker. And please… when it’s just you and I, feel free to call me Ari.
Booker receives that a moment before I sense his mind drift off and join d’Alin and Sneasel in unconsciousness. The words of my new friend echo in my head. One step at a time?
I look down at myself. My paws are pink, as is my body. But this isn't who I am, is it?
I am surrounded, but I am simultaneously alone. The zephyrs of the night rush by, and the moonlight feels natural on my dancing fur. The sun is an acquired love, but still its warmth is extinguished by the cool of the night sky.
Some surge of confidence returns in me, the feeling regrettably alien, no doubt a holdover from that lone moment within the Cave of Ideals when I found the strength within me to reveal to my friends who I truly am.
I... I don't know when I will feel that again, that self-confidence.
If I ever will.
That surge of confidence I feel now, I realize, is not the Truth. The Truth is that this is has always, inextricably been who I am. No trick of light can overcome the darkness that lies within me.
But what I feel now is a lone, single droplet of acceptance of that Truth. A teardrop of peace with that fact.
d'Alin's words of who I truly am, that I am the same bits of stardust regardless of how I look, echoes within my mind.
I can see myself as the stars above, shining dutifully through the night, providing watch over a tired, young zorua making her way towards some unknown destination.
No, I'm mistaken. It's not the sky, but rather a clear, still body of water reflecting it. It's Capim Bay, where I was a night ago, a lifetime ago.
I am the still, calm sea reflecting the stardust above.
I let the drop of inner-peace flow, and it hits the surface. It makes a small, miniscule ripple, but a ripple nonetheless. It is enough.
The ripple rises, careens over the surface, and leaves a wake. I let the wake flow through me. I open my eyes and glance at my paws. Naturally – without even smoke being produced, somehow – I feel the illusion slowly shimmer away.
The pink of my paw gives way first to vermilion, then grey-blue, slowly flowing and cresting until it reaches the tuft of black fur upon my chest. Past that, it slowly rises above, and towards my head, then over my snout, and I see the world with my eyes at last.
I see the corviknight beside me. I can sense Althi's unsleeping mind, conflicted and racing.
My mind can't help but flash back to what she thought in the Cave of Ideals when she saw me, the real me.
Disgusting.
The ripple fails. No, it recedes, the entire ocean does, retracting violently, rapidly.
The illusion returns, my shield from the pain, from the hurt, returns, and covers me once more. My eyes – who knows what d'Alin sees in them? – are thankfully the first to go; the windows to my soul dutifully guarded by light from hateful perusal. My crest of midnight-black fur disappears, too, and so too do my arms. My tail is returned to that of an espeon, now.
Stop, I command myself, in vain, to try, but the illusion falls. Thus I use the last bit of remaining willpower, that last modicum of self-peace I don't believe I shall ever feel grace me again, and grasp desperately onto it with my paw.
I close my eyes, and the receding subsides. I hold them closed for eons, in fear, until I invariably open them. I am back to being an espeon.
Save for that paw.
I look at my right paw, which I used to grasp that last bit of confidence, acceptance. It is vermilion still. I hold on, desperately, for what feels like hours, with my right paw steadfast in its retention of this one, small step towards peace at last.
Finally, eventually, I relax, and that grip is released.
The illusion does not take over. My vermilion paw remains there, beside my pink illusory fur that covers all else. My true self, who I am – even if just a single paw – remains for the world to see. I promise to myself, no matter what, to never let it go.
I sigh. Around my face, once more my illusion shimmers. I cry a single, lone tear of joy.