I've Lost My Past, But Found My Future
Alright! Virgil time @sugarglider9603!
Oo so originally I was going to have this be a really big chapter including Virgil getting caught.. buttttt it's already super long, so it's going to be a part two. Also hahah, I post like three in a row and then this one takes several days :')
I just.. I saw the opportunity for soft Moxiety making flower crowns and I took it, hope you enjoy!
Also fun fact, today (8/21/19) is fanfiction writers appreciation day!
Edit- adition of art (8/22/19) this will be appearing in every fic now, and I will be adding it to the older ones as well :)
Ao3 link
Ao3 series link
Part 2 Part 4
Master post
Words: 2,417
Summery: 'Just below their room sat a few tipped over metal garbage cans, something small and dark looking in all of them, sniffing. It's tail sank down in disappointment as it backed out the last one, not finding what it was looking for, and Thomas couldn't help but gasp.
The pokemon heard as it's head head shot up, ears pricked in fear as it stared back. Roman flicked his tail against Thomas' arm as the Eevee felt something, something he knew the trainer would be feeling as well. Thomas flinched as his mind snapped back in place, ready to call to the creature, but it was already running back into the forest.
And in a matter of moments, the dark furred Eevee was out of sight.'
Making it through half a forest usually means a bit of rest is deserved, right?
Well of course, until you see another soul piece outside your window.
Now, how are we going to befriend this one? Flower crowns? Patton is on the job
Thomas smiled as the path below his feet broke the tree cover, placing him and his team in a large clearing. He did love camping out in the woods, the wind whistling songs throughout the night and the stars danced above, but something about sleeping in an actual bed brought home back.
He stared at the Pokecenter that (from what he read) laid near the middle of the woods, meaning they where about half way through. The sun was still up yes, but was silently sinking closer to disappearing below the thick tree tops.
"Come on, almost there" he reassured Patton who, unlike Roman and Logan who where walking on either side of Thomas, laid across the trainers shoulders, attempting to stay awake either till they reach the Pokecenter or a campsite was set up. Thankfully for the silver Eevee, they entered and booked a room in a matter of minutes. Thomas softly set him down on the bed, slipping off his glasses as Logan jumping up next to the human, giving him a 'thank you' chirp as he pawed off his own pair before curling around his partner. Thomas had to bite his lip to stop the squeal trying to erupt at the soft cuddles, the slightly larger dark silver Eevee laying a tail over the other, heads set next to each other as purrs erupted.
Thomas sat on the bed as he pet Roman, who had plopped into his lap after the trainer had changed into pajamas. The two Eevees had been a part of his team for some time now, Logan even assisting with the last gym battle. He glanced happily at the sleeping two, glad that they felt the connection as strong as Thomas did.
The quiet spell though was brokens as a few quiet sounds of metal on metal crashed outside his second story room. Thomas blinked in confusion, Roman paddling curiously behind the trainer as he opened and looked out the window.
Just below their room sat a few tipped over metal garbage cans, something small and dark looking in all of them, sniffing. It's tail sank down in disappointment as it backed out the last one, not finding what it was looking for, and Thomas couldn't help but gasp.
The pokemon heard as it's head head shot up, ears pricked in fear as it stared back. Roman flicked his tail against Thomas' arm as the Eevee felt something, something he knew the trainer would be feeling as well. Thomas flinched as his mind snapped back in place, ready to call to the creature, but it was already running back into the forest.
And in a matter of moments, the dark furred Eevee was out of sight.
______________________________
Thomas stared tiredly onto his breakfast plate, touched as much as Thomas had slept last night. So, naturally, the plate was basically still full.
Roman was having the same issue, eating a bit before leaving the bowl of pokefood to the other two.
Neither could get their minds off the dark Eevee as it dashed back into the forest, obvious fear fueling each limb. They explained what they saw to Logan and Patton, but the shinies hadn't had that much contact with other pokemon, let alone an Eevee in a different forest.
They packed up and, after thanking the Nurse Joy, continued back into the forest.
Thomas' mind flicked back to last night, remembering the Eevee had ran away this direction. He wondered if the Eevee had a home out here, or if it was running back to the town. If it was the second option, the kiddo had a long two day journey ahead.
Roman nuzzled his cheek in understanding, Patton giving a small chirp of reassurement from his other shoulder. He felt Logan brush against his leg in comfort, feeling the anxiety come off in waves.
"Thanks guys" he laughed, giving Roman and Patton a few skritches, feeling Logan hop up onto his messenger bag. He gave a few to Logan before continuing down the path,
not noticing the violet eyes carefully watch the trainer walk away. A skitter of paws, and the curious pokemon followed.
______________________________
Thomas giggled as a purring Roman attempted to playfully swipe at a Butterfree, failing by a couple of feet as the Butterfree just fluttered higher. During their walk through the woods an enormous field of flowers caught their attention and before he knew what was happening, Patton was already playfully bouncing through them.
It was a wonderful sight, emerald green grass poked between hundreds of thousands of flowers, the rainbow spectrum shining off every petal. Delicate green stems dug into the rich soul as Butterfree, Combee, Cutiefly, and so many others drank nectar and fluttered in the sun. Zigzagoon, Oddish, Rattata, and more species of pokemon hopped around in the bright sun shining happily, gladly playing with Roman and Patton. A bright blue sky shone upon Thomas and Logan as they sat watching the others, soft white puffy clouds lazily drifted away by a warm breeze.
Since night had not been far off from the horizon as they found the place, Thomas set up the tent by a crystal blue pond as the Eevee's went around assuring they meant no harm. The stars shone brightly as more nocturnal pokemon came out, Thomas even catching Logan laying down on a large rock right by the ponds edge, staring wistfully at the sky as stars reflected in water. It was so peaceful Thomas had stop and watch as not a single ripple disturbed the water, waxing crescent moon shining far above, draping its light across the dark silver Eevee's fur.
Logan was still out there as Thomas fell asleep, but by morning was curled up on Thomas' chest with Patton and Roman.
Patton pawed at leaves from Oddish's head "so these are plants, but they've always been there?" He wondered, fascinated. The Oddish giggled and nodded as they heard a Vileplume call for its family. The little one hopped away, waving a leaf in goodbye and Patton chirped one back. He looked around exited, now who should he play with next-
Gray eyes met Violet.
Patton stared at the Eevee, remembering the description Thomas gave them
"It was dark outside, but over the trashcans there was a light. It looked like a dark brown furred Eevee, not a shiny dark grey like Logan but a darker Roman. I swear I saw saw Violet eyes stare back before it ran off."
Before the Eevee could repeat its actions Patton bounced happily over to it "hi!" He greeted excitedly.
"U-uh hi" the Eevee mumble shyly, shrinking back.
Patton took no offense "do you wanna play?" He asked, surprising the other "or pick flowers? Oh, or I can teach you how to make flower crowns! I was teaching Roman but he had kinda a hard time with it" the Eevee looked conflicted, not wanting to sadden the Pokepuff in front of him, but..
He glanced at Thomas "um.. sure, but c-can we stay away from the trainer?" Patton saddened only for a moment, before perking back up. He had wanted to introduce the Eevee to the others, but it was still a wild pokemon, and even most of the wild pokemon out playing with the Eevees stayed away from the human.
"Sure!" The Eevee seemed to relax a bit, following Patton to a patch of purple, light blue, red, and indigo flowers. He saw that Thomas noticed them, but was staying away with a smile.
"By the way, I'm Patton" he commented, showing the Eevee how to braid the stems together with their paws and teeth. Eevee looked up from a purple and light blue crown that was going well "you have a name? Does your trainer know?" "Oh, he gave me the name. He asked if I wanted one, and I liked it!" Patton grabbed another red flower, skillfully weaving it in "I think he asked Roman if he wanted a name too, when they first met" Patton flicked his tail to the bandanna wearing Eevee, currently pawing at the water in curiosity. Hearing his name, he popped up and looked around, only for his gaze to lock onto the dark furred Eevee in excitement.
He bounded over "hey!" He greeted, softly tapping Patton's head, who giggled in reply.
He plopped down next the silver Eevee, curiously staring as the dark furred Eevee shrunk in a little more. Patton sighed, flicking his tail at Roman as he returned to his flower crown "Roman, it's rude to stare" the Eevee blinked, not even realizing the action he was doing as he was enchanted by the others unique eyes.
After a bit, Patton sprang up holding his flower crown in his mouth, yet.. it seemed too big to fit on an Eevee. "Be right back" his muffled voice told the two as he trotted over to the trainer.
Eevee glanced up at Roman, who was uncurling having taken a nap against Patton, before turning to finish his flower crown to avoid eye connection. He'd never been good with others since.. her, only connecting with his family, like their souls were somehow connected. But then..
He remembered falling into a crate as he attempted to grab an apple, and then another crate being placed on top. He remembered hearing the cries of his family as the truck drove off, watching his family shrink smaller and smaller through a hole as the truck zoomed faster and faster.
As the crate opened to air he leapt out, only to appear into a place he didn't know. He'd realized at that moment he had to search for them find them again, running off before a human could grab his scruff. He could lose them, he couldn't lose his past.
He tied the last flower in place as Patton came back, only..
He froze as the human sat down next to Roman, now wearing a familiar flower crown. Another Eevee sat next to Patton, curiously tilting his head at the wild pokemon.
"Hey kiddo" the human spoke softly, as though sorry if he scared the Eevee. Ha, a trainer being sorry "just wanted to say hi, I didn't know why you ran off the other night so I was a bit worried" his voice sounded genuine, perhaps even happy for something, but Eevee didn't know if it was true.
Something though, for the first time, told him it was.
The new Eevee blinked behind his glasses "I see Patton has taught you how to make those flower crowns. An impressive feet for someone to learn with paws" Eevee shuffled to a sitting position "its not.. that good" he mumbled, poking the messy braided flowers.
"But it is!" Patton cried, jumping up causing Eevee to jolt back in fear "sorry" he apologized. "Really it is" the mystery Eevee commented, blinking as he realized something "I'm Logan by the way."
"More like Logay" Roman muttered "though truly, you did a splendid job. In all my attempts I haven't achieved the ability to even braid two flowers together" Eevee nodded, shyly but curiously looking at the trainer. He stayed quiet, legs crossed grinning like a Chansey until the Eevee's eyes met his.
"I'm guessing at least Logan introduced himself" he laughed "I'm Thomas" Eevee nodded, conflicted feelings raging inside.
"Hey bud, do you have a name?" The Eevee blinked in shock, needing the ground. He couldn't help but drop his ears as he shook his head, a tad ashamed. Thomas just smiled encouragingly "would you like one?"
Yes. He couldn't lie, he'd always wanted a name, but never felt the courage to name himself or admit this fact.
"you have a name? Does your trainer know?" "Oh, he gave me the name. He asked if I wanted one, and I liked it!"
But this trainer.. he had asked before he named the others. He could have forced one, whether they wanted it or not. Maybe..
Slowly, he nodded.
"Alright hmm.." Thomas seemed to actually think hard, as if this was the biggest decision he'd ever make.
What if it was really bad? What if he didn't like it but the trainer wanted to keep it so he was forced to know that that was his name for all existence? What if because of this the trainer would say he belongs to him now and force captures him and-
"Do you like the name Virgil?"
The Eevee stared. Virgil.. Virgil.. he..
Virgil looked up and nodded.
Thomas smiled, giggling a bit. He instinctively went to go pet Virgil, but stopped his hand. No, that wasn't his pokemon, and the poor little one acted extremely frightened.
"Sorry" he sheepishly apologized, thankful his hand didn't get far enough to scare the Eevee. It blinked at him before picking up a purple and blue flower crown. Huh, Patton must have shown him how.
And sure enough, the small Eevee cautiously walked forward, placing the flower crown on the light gray Eevee. It backed away and chirped, before turning away to the forest, yet..
It seemed to struggle, as though unable to move a paw away. Virigl shook his head before flicking his tail in goodbye, dashing off into the forest.
The Eevee's around him cried out at Thomas, wondering why the trainer let the pokemon leave, but Thomas just smiled.
"I know he'll come back" he softly said to no one in particular, the Eevee's looking at him in curiosity. He lifted his head up, staring as a small cloud passed above.
"It's his choice if he'll join, but I know it. Our puzzle piece will come back."
The purple eyed Eevee watched the team pack up, laughing together as Roman one last time inspected the water and Logan pushed him in. Virgil skirted around the pond, dashing to the other side of the forest, watching the team finish and continued walking down the path.
They didn't notice the dark furred Eevee follow from the shadows, connected souls carving his path.
'I've lost my past' he couldn't help but think, watching the team exit the forest. He darted after them, watching the team enter a Pokecenter. He curled in the shadows next to the building, front doors in view. Because he knew, somewhere in him, that this connection was to strong to run from. He didn't want to run from it. He smiled for the first time in a long time, curling up. 'Yes, I've lost my past
but found my future."
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In which the tower of the sky is explored
First: In which the human is transformed
Next: In which the god of the sky is fought
Previous: In which the gardevoir speaks to the human once more
“Keahi, Tsuki, there’s something you need to know.”
Pushing past her disappointment of waking up before finishing her sentence, Nelvana got up and headed down the stairs to join the others. The smell of breakfast wafted up to the second floor, letting her identify the scent of the full meal before even seeing it. This warm and sweet aroma did nothing to rid her of her stress, however, and as she cued in to listen to the conversation downstairs, her stomach flopped as she realized Alex had started telling the others the news about the future without her.
“You’ll w-what?”
Nelvana paused about halfway down the stairs, her silent footsteps having not alerted the others to her presence yet. Regardless, she appeared to have had convenient timing in entering this discussion, as Alex had finished explaining the issue, leaving just the reaction to work through.
“Does Nel know?”
“Yes, I told her last night, before we went stargazing. It was my decision to wait to tell you, so you wouldn’t have to sleep on it.”
Keahi stared ahead, her eyes already clouded, filled with emotion. She was standing in front of the counter, her back now turned to it as she focused on the conversation. Alex was standing across from her, his expression somber. There was a stool right behind him, but he hadn’t even pulled it out from under the island table. Tsuki was to his right, her back to the stairway. Nelvana couldn’t make out her expression from her angle, but she could see the absol’s muscles tense under the long fur.
“I-Is there something we can do to stop this from h-happening?” Keahi asked.
“I spoke to Gardevoir about it,” Nelvana spoke up.
The trio spun around to look at Nelvana in surprise, and even Alex flinched at the unexpected voice from the stairway. Now having announced her presence, she walked down the rest of the stairs to join the others in the kitchen area. She pulled out a stool beside Tsuki, and hopped atop it.
“Nel! You’re up!” Keahi exclaimed, hopping closer to her partner. “Alex said…”
Nelvana sighed, “yeah… and it’s true, if that’s what you’re wondering,” she replied, “I spoke to Gardevoir about it, and she’s going to try to get one of the legendaries to help us.”
“Really? So, you’ll get to stay here? That’s great!” Keahi leapt forward now, hopping up onto the stool with Nelvana to the best of her ability. “I don’t want you guys to leave…” she murmured, nuzzling her head to her partner’s chest.
“Yeah, none of us do…” Alex responded, “it’s good that Gardevoir agreed, let’s hope she’s successful.”
Tsuki nodded in agreement, but didn’t add on her own comment to the ending conversation, simply giving a soft smile to the new addition to what had felt like hopeless news.
“Either way,” Alex continued, “we’re going to do this.”
“Of course,” Nelvana agreed, wrapping an arm around Keahi to help keep her partner balanced on the stool with her.
Keahi exhaled, “yeah.”
“Do you think the teleport gem will be complete by now?” Tsuki asked, stretching and standing back up.
“I think Xatu was supposed to let us know when,” Alex answered, “lets us have time to breakfast, at least.”
Keahi let out a hum of agreement, slowly squirming away from Nelvana and hopping back down to the ground to continue making their morning meal. The cubone paused for a moment, before following her partner to the counter to help her with the cooking. Alex let out a sigh, a thin smile appearing on his expression for the first time on that morning, and he finally pulled out the stool behind him to sit down. Tsuki stood around for a moment, her eyes narrowed in a pensive state before she padded over to see if she could assist with breakfast as well.
“I guess there would be no harm in going to the Hill of the Ancients now,” Nelvana announced at the end of their meal, turning their conversation from simple tabletop small talk, back to business. “We can at least hang around there and wait for it to be finished. They should be close to done soon anyway,” she continued.
“Good point, might as well get ourselves ready and out there,” Alex agreed.
“O-Okay! I’ll contact the B Squadron then, they wanted to be there to send us off at least,” Keahi chirped.
“We still have everything prepared from last night, correct?” Tsuki asked, pausing for confirmation before continuing. “Then I’ll be waiting outside,” she finished, stepping away from the others and out the door.
Alex was the next to head outside, and while Tsuki was patiently sitting beside the mailbox for the others, he went around the back of the house, looking around the area underneath the window on Nelvana and Keahi’s side of the bedroom. The other two exited the house soon after, and after expressing confusion about the grovyle’s disappearance, Tsuki lead them over to join him at the back of their property.
“Hey Alex, what’re you doing over here?” Keahi asked, approaching their teammate closer.
“I believe… we had a trespasser last night,” Alex muttered, taking careful steps around the grass.
“We did,” Nelvana confirmed.
Tsuki’s fur bristled, “we did? And on the rare night I actually sleep… of course…” she huffed.
Alex spun back around to look at Nelvana, “you did notice it? I thought you were asleep, talking to Gardevoir?” he questioned.
“Yeah, I was. And whoever our intruder was, was using dream eater,” Nelvana answered, crossing her arms. “They didn’t get anything though, thank Arceus. Psychic shield saves the day again,” she added, “gave me a headache though…” she muttered under her breath, too quietly to be heard by the others.
Keahi let out a sigh of relief, “well, that’s good at least. But someone really broke in? And only Alex was able to wake up to search around? That isn’t the best security…” Her voice ended back to disappointed.
“Well, it doesn’t help that Nel was in dream space and on the rare occasion Tsuki sleeps, she sleeps deep,” Alex commented, still searching around through the grass. “Plus, we did a lot in the day. I was only up because I’m used to being more alert in the night.”
Nelvana let out a dry chuckle, “yeah, looks like it was a rough night for all of us,” she said.
Before anyone else could say anything, Alex suddenly let out a cry of triumph, reaching into the grass and pulling out a torn purple patterned scarf. It was mostly a dark violet, but there were some lighter stripes of lavender zig-zagging across it.
“A scarf?” Nelvana responded, stepping closer to look at it. “Ugh, smells like Gengar. Looks like we found the culprit.”
“Gengar? Again?” Keahi groaned, following her partner over to Alex.
“Can’t say I’m too surprised,” Alex chuckled, “haven’t seen him with this before though…” he muttered, “hey Tsuki, you probably have the best nose out of all of us, wanna take a sniff to confirm our suspicions?”
Tsuki nodded, joining the others circled on the back lawn. She leaned over to the fabric Alex was holding out, and her nostrils flared as she took a quick sniff of the scent still lingering. Cringing, she stepped back again, wrinkling her muzzle in disgust.
“Yeah, that’s Gengar,” Tsuki hissed, “this thing reeks of his disastrous scent.”
“Looks like a mobile scarf. Let’s the user walk through walls,” Keahi commented, “…which honestly makes things more confusing. Why would he be carrying around a mobile scarf? He’s a ghost-type.”
Alex laughed again, “maybe he never learned how to actually use his abilities. Disappointing,” he sneered, “anyway, I doubt he’s coming back for this, and it looks pretty useful. We should hang onto it.”
“Yeah! They’re really rare, I’ve only ever seen one before now. Probably not worth as much since it’s torn, but it would still work,” Keahi added.
“What’s the catch?” Tsuki questioned, “I know how these scarves work, they have their downsides to go along with the strengths given to the user.”
“Uh… I think you get hungrier when you use it?” Keahi replied, “I’m not actually sure. No one really talks about the downsides when selling them, that’s for sure.”
“Of course, it’s a business strategy. Let your customers know something is wrong with the product and they’re less likely to buy it,” Alex said, “we’ll just have to figure this thing out later. Let’s get going.”
Stuffing the scarf away in the bag, Alex bushed his hands off each other before leading the way down the path. He was eventually passed by Nelvana and Keahi, who had been to the Hill of the Ancients before. The distance, of course, hadn’t changed from the last time they had gone out this way, but compared to their recent expedition, this few hours walk felt much shorter than it really was. The rocky scenery, however, was still just as beautiful as they remembered, and once again they paused a couple of times to properly show Alex and Tsuki the sights as well.
“Hey, I forgot to ask this before, but what was Gardevoir’s message, anyway?” Keahi asked Nelvana, the pair watching as their teammates explored, only a few feet away.
“Oh, it… She wanted to tell me that she was actually who turned me into a pokemon, and probably gave me amnesia,” Nelvana answered, swinging her club to rest on her shoulder.
“What? Really?” Keahi blurted out.
Alex looked back at the pair, “what?” he questioned curiously, approaching them.
“Yeah, it was Gardevoir,” Nelvana nodded, “she believed a human was needed to save the world, and when I showed up…”
“But how?” Keahi responded.
“Ninetales offered some of her power to her. And considering Ninetales could turn Shinobi into a pokemon, it kinda makes sense that it was her that gave Gardevoir that power,” Nelvana continued, “Gardevoir didn’t expect the amnesia to happen though. The theories currently are that it was either a side effect that Ninetales failed to warn her about, or just… not being able to use that sort of power properly for whatever reason.”
“Ah, that does make sense, actually,” Tsuki, who had wandered over to join the conversation as well, commented, “Ninetales is a being of incredible power, all contained in those tails of her’s. She must have sacrificed some of her power for Gardevoir to use for you.”
“Huh, I guess so…” Alex muttered, “something about that doesn’t sit well with me… but I guess there’s no sense on dwelling on it now. It’s good that we finally know that now,” he sighed, “let’s get back on track here, shall we?”
Nelvana nodded, heading back on the path again. The others followed swiftly, and they continued on their way, conversation bouncing around, lingering on the topic of the dreams before shifting back to mission plans.
Their easy journey was cut short when Xatu got in contact with Keahi through telepathy, informing them that the teleport gem would be completed soon. They group picked up the pace, clearing the dungeon on the way and making the rest of the way to the warm canyons where the psychics were gathered.
Xatu and Alakazam stood side by side at the edge of the cliff. Xatu standing tall and straight, his back turned to the entrance to this cliff, looking off in the distance, like Keahi and Nelvana had seen him in the first visit. Alakazam was hunched beside him, his right arm wrapped up in bandages from his previous battle. He turned to look as the quartet arrived, while the other remained idle.
“Ah, you’ve arrived,” Alakazam murmured.
“Alakazam! Er, how are you feeling?” Keahi greeted, eyeing the bandages.
“I am… doing alright,” Alakazam replied, shifting his arm slightly in displeasure.
Now Xatu turned to face the group, his expression solemn, eyes carrying an unusual tiredness. But his beak curved up to a smile seeing Team Galaxy, and he approached the rescuers.
“It is good to see you two again, and with allies. That will be beneficial,” he hummed, “an absol? It has been many years since I have seen one of your kind. I am honored to see you to be joining us in preventing disaster.”
Tsuki blinked, her eyes widening in surprise at the compliment before settling back down in a polite smile, “thank you, Xatu. I am glad to help.”
“So, the gem is ready then?” Alex asked.
Xatu nodded, “indeed, it is. Our task was made simpler from some assistance we received.”
“Some assistance?” Keahi repeated, tilting her head to the side.
From deep in the canyons, a small, pink pokemon suddenly flew out, flipping in the air before fluttering down to the others with an excited grin stretched across her freckled face.
“Surprise!”
“Ceebee!” Alex exclaimed, his face lighting up at the sight of this new arrival.
Ceebee giggled, and dove at the grovyle for a hug. Alex easily wrapped his arms around the smaller pokemon, while she simply buried herself into his embrace. The pair didn’t stay locked together for long, and Alex let his friend flutter back into the air.
Nelvana watched them curiously, finding herself recognizing Ceebee in the same way she had recognized Alex when she had seen him in Pokemon Square many days ago now. Alex had told her about their third group member briefly; the shiny celebi they had befriended to help in their mission. He hadn’t said that much about her though, and he certainly had never bothered to bring her up to their other teammates. It felt odd, that despite recognizing her friend, she knew that if Alex hadn’t mentioned her at all before, she couldn’t have even known the celebi’s name.
“I told you I’d be back, didn’t I?” Ceebee teased, “where’s Nel? And who are your new friends?” she questioned.
“I’m here,” Nelvana responded, raising her hand and waving it slightly before stepping closer to Ceebee.
Ceebee let out a gasp, looking over the cubone, and then a squeal before diving in for a hug, with Nelvana this time. Nelvana was taken aback for a moment, but found herself quickly relaxing with the mythical pokemon and returning the hug. They lingered a bit longer than the last hug, but not by much, and they let each other go again. Ceebee didn’t go far this time though, and placed her hands on the sides of Nelvana’s skull.
“Wow! You’re a cubone now!” Ceebee exclaimed, “I almost didn’t notice it was you! But your soul is still the same!” she continued, letting go of Nelvana and beginning to fly around her. “How did this happen?” she asked.
“Uh… kind of long story?” Nelvana replied, shrugging awkwardly. “But, uh, a Gardevoir was given the power to turn a human into a pokemon, because she knew the meteor was coming and thought a human was needed to stop it, so she used the power on me,” she explained, “…and it kinda backfired.”
“Backfired?” Ceebee repeated, pausing in the air and glancing at Alex before looking back at Nelvana.
“She has amnesia,” Alex sighed, “she still recognizes us, and she’s still the same, like you said. And I already recapped her on everything. But…”
“Oh…” Ceebee’s smile fell slightly.
“I-It’s okay though!” Nelvana assured her, her grip tightening on her club slightly in anxiety. “Alex is right… but he’s also right that I recognize you, and I know we were friends, and… and I’m really glad to see you again, Ceebee.”
Ceebee paused, thinking silently for a moment, before smiling again and nodding, “alright. Sorry if I seemed doubtful there, Nel! It’s good to see the both of you again, really. I missed you guys,” she said, “actually, if you’d like, I can see if I can bring back your memories!” she suddenly exclaimed.
“Really?” Keahi blurted out, forgetting that she hadn’t actually been introduced to this new arrival yet. “Wait, are you the one making their psychic shields then?” she added.
Ceebee looked back at the other two teammates, “yes, that would be me! My psychic abilities aren’t the best, I must admit, but clearly it did its job nicely even with the distance!” she chirped, “I should be able to recover your memories, it depends on how much they were affected by another psychic-type,” she continued, turning back to Nelvana.
Nelvana blinked, the thought of actually being able to remember her past again rushed up to her, “it would be great if you could try,” she replied.
Alex nodded quickly in agreement, and so Ceebee approached Nelvana again, this time gently pressing her hands against the cubone’s forehead. Before Nelvana could ask if it would be easier if she removed her headgear, she could feel the presence of the celebi in her mind. It was an unusual feeling, and she almost instinctively tried pushing it away the force prodding in her head. But she tried forcing herself to stay calm instead, knowing who this was, and that it was okay... It didn’t last for too long, and the presence disappeared as Ceebee backed away again.
“I’m sorry… this looks to be some sort of effects from a curse,” Ceebee told them, “an indirect effect… but I still can’t get through it,” she murmured, and then offered a small smile again. “On the bright side, it seems to be a short-lasting one. A lot of it has already started to fade from its original effect.”
Nelvana couldn’t help but feel disappointment sink in, and then disdain at herself for letting her hopes get up so easily. Taking a moment to glanced at the others, she realized from their expressions that they had felt the same way. Everyone had been hoping that Nelvana could get her memories back.
“It’s alright,” Nelvana sighed, “I mean, it was worth a try. I’m no worse off than I was a few minutes ago anyway,” she assured, “we should probably move on anyway… These are our teammates, Keahi and Tsuki!”
“Oh! Teammates?” Ceebee repeated, obliging the idea to change focuses and looked over at the torchic and absol. “It’s nice to meet you two! I’m Ceebee the celebi, Nel and Alex’s friend!”
“The celebi?” Keahi repeated.
“Yup!” Ceebee giggled, “that’s me!”
“You’re… kinda small,” Keahi commented, freezing as she realized what she had said. “N-Not that that’s bad or anything! I just… wasn’t expecting it? I’ve read about you before, or I guess your kind as a whole, but I guess I was expecting you to be closer to the size of other legendaries.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that! I get it a lot actually,” Ceebee admitted.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Tsuki said, bowing her head slightly to the mythical. “I don’t believe Alex has mentioned you before though,” she added hesitantly, glancing over at the grovyle.
“W-What? You didn’t tell them about me?” Ceebee gasped playfully, turning to face Alex. “I’m so hurt! You wouldn’t tell them about your other friend!”
Alex chuckled, rolling his eyes, “sorry, you know me. I usually keep things a secret for as long as possible.”
“Even if they don’t need to stay a secret,” Ceebee added, sticking her tongue out at him.
“When did you even get back here, anyway?” Alex questioned.
“Just last night, actually!” Ceebee answered, “I was going to go find you two right away, but then I found out that Xatu and Alakazam were working on this, and decided I could surprise you when you came here!” she explained, “speaking of, thanks for not spoiling that, you two,” she added, giving a nod towards the other two psychic-types. “Oh! Actually, there was someone else here who helped, we should… where did he go?”
“Who else helped you?” Keahi asked, looking around.
“A ghost-type pokemon… We received help from him as well. Gone away now, it seems…” Xatu murmured, “A gengar, to be precise,” he added.
“Gengar?” Keahi repeated in surprise, “it’s that same Gengar, isn’t it…? Why would he have come here?”
“And why did you let him?” Alex snapped, glaring at Alakazam. “I can excuse the other two, but you know what that slime ball did. What if he tried sabotaging the gem?”
Alakazam’s expression hardened, “he wasn’t going to do that. I am unsure of his motives for helping, but he did. You should be thankful for that; the more help, the better.”
Alex pressed his lips firmly together, glaring at Alakazam for a few more moments before silently looking towards the canyons. He wasn’t willing to keep arguing with the psychic-type anymore.
“You know that gengar…? What did he do?” Ceebee asked quietly.
“Long story,” Alex huffed, “we can explain during the mission, if you really want.”
“With that out of the way…” Xatu spread his wings open, a small green gem appearing in the air, which carefully floated in front of him. “I present you with the teleport gem. This carries the energy for five teleports, which may be used all at once or one at a time,” he announced, “Nelvana. Accept it!”
Nelvana stiffened at suddenly being directly addressed in such a fashion, but recovered quickly, stepping towards Xatu and collecting the gem in her hands. She could feel it buzzing with energy on the palm of her hand, almost as if it would just bounce away and disappear.
“In my vision… I saw the future; the planet’s paralysis. Where time has stopped… and the sun no longer shines. A cold and dark future, filled with suffering,” Xatu whispered, and shuddered. “It terrifies me. Please… promise me that you will do everything you can to prevent this from happening. Never give up. Never shy away from the danger that awaits you.”
“I promise,” Nelvana replied, offering Xatu a soft smile and hoping he could see it in her eyes.
Xatu visibly relaxed, “thank you. You three, you have faced that future, and have already done great things to try preventing it. For that, I already must thank you. You are incredibly brave. And you two, who join this despite the dangers ahead, I thank you as well.”
Keahi smiled, “you’re welcome, Xatu. We’ll all do our best.”
“Then, you should not delay it any longer,” Xatu responded, “go up to Sky Tower! Go up and do your best, as you promise! It will be fraught with danger, but we believe in you all. We will all be awaiting you here.”
Nelvana nodded, “thank you Xatu.”
Team Galaxy crowded closer around Nelvana, and the teleport gem. She rubbed the item gingerly, studying its emerald color, and lighter patterns etched around it which glowed and hummed, almost in anticipation to be put to its use.
“Team Galaxy,” Alakazam said, “before you leave, there is something I must tell you,” he continued, and then exhaled. “As the leader of the currently highest ranked team, it is my special honor to announce that Team Galaxy is officially a gold ranked team. Well done.”
Keahi’s eyes lit up, “really? Thank you, Alakazam!”
“Now then, you should head off then. You have more than proven yourselves lately to take on this mission, and we wish you the best of luck,” Alakazam responded.
“Oh wait, one last thing! If our other teammates come along, just let them know we say hi but already got started!” Keahi added.
Alakazam sighed, “very well then.”
Nelvana nodded again, to the two psychic-types, then looked back at the teleport gem in her hands. Despite having never used such an item before, she didn’t feel unsure of what to do with it. She curled her fingers around it, closing her eyes and focusing on its power, connecting it to Sky Tower, and to her teammates. It glowed brightly in her hands, basking the group in its light, and then the quintet disappeared from the Hill of the Ancients.
They reappeared a bit above where they wanted to be, and ended up falling down a few feet down onto some clouds. Unlike how clouds should act when something touches them, these ones stayed solid and supported all five of the pokemon landing there.
“Woah…” Nelvana gasped, having landed on feet and was now slowly wandering around, taking everything in in awe. “It’s so pretty up here… and calm,” she whispered.
Keahi, who did not land as easily as her partner had, scrambled to get back onto her feet to join Nelvana in looking around. They had landed on the flooring of clouds outside of Sky Tower. The entrance to Sky Tower, and Sky Tower itself, stood a few meters in front of them. The huge spiral puff extended further up into the sky, high enough that it blended into the clouds around it and couldn’t be seen. If one were to peer over the edge of their current platform, they would be able to stare down at the land below, being able to make out the warm canyons of the Hill of the Ancients, and even further out to the forests like Tiny Woods, and even the shrunk houses of Pokemon Square itself.
“Look at this view!” Keahi exclaimed, “we’re super high up!”
“I guess this would be a good time to ask; does anyone have a fear of heights?” Nelvana questioned, looking back at the rest of the team.
Alex laughed, joining the other two closer to the edge so he could peer down at the landscape below as well, “I’d hope not, after we already got up here.”
“I’ll be alright, these clouds feel solid enough,” Tsuki added, sitting up and kneading the white puff below her gingerly.
“As nice as this view is…” Ceebee began, beginning to flutter back up into the air after falling down as well.
“We should get in, yeah,” Alex finished, turning back around. “Since when did you rush things, anyway? I’d expect you to want to linger and enjoy the sights.”
Ceebee smiled, “yeah… it’s so pretty here. I got to see the sunrise and the stars and… and all the colors… it’s amazing here,” she murmured, “but, we still have a job to do, and we’re already cutting things close,” she sighed, “besides, if you aren’t going to rush us, someone has to!” she teased, flying in front of the grovyle for this last comment before zooming back off towards the tower.
Alex chuckled again, rolling his eyes and following the shiny pokemon. Tsuki stood up and followed them as well, ultimately deciding not to take a look at their view from up in the sky. After a couple moments, Keahi turned around to go join the others, and so did Nelvana.
“I’m assuming this is just another dungeon thing, but it is awfully easy to breathe up here. You’d think the pressure would get to us at this height,” Nelvana commented as she joined the others.
“Yup! It’s a dungeon thing! It’s a bit odd that it’s working outside the dungeon, but maybe this counts as a special floor…?” Ceebee responded, “like, you know when you go really deep underground and you’re still breathing fine? Works the same up here! If the dungeon didn’t let anyone breathe, it wouldn’t have any dungeon pokemon to use, now would it?”
“Speaking of dungeon pokemon,” Tsuki replied, “what kind of foes should we be facing here, anyway?”
“Probably nothing much, just some fliers that wandered in here or something. This isn’t easy access, so not many can be affected by the sickness,” Keahi guessed, “then again, I doubt any of them could be rescued easily either…”
“I spoke to Alakazam and Xatu about it while we were working on the gem. Apparently, there are more ghost-types than flying-types here,” Ceebee said, and then clapped her hands together. “How about we go ahead and find out then? Not like sitting around here is going to answer that question!”
“Really excited for adventure, aren’t ya?” Alex teased, but took the lead into finally entering the tower.
“I mean, yeah! I haven’t been able to do anything with my friends for so long! It’ll be nice to do a dungeon together again! And with new friends!” Ceebee chirped, spinning around in the air as she followed.
Keahi giggled, “glad to see you’re excited about this!”
“Oh, Nel, you still have the teleport gem, right? I can put it into the bag now that we’re done with it,” Alex said, turning back to look at the cubone.
“Right! Here you go,” Nelvana replied, handing the grovyle the gem. “I, uh, think it’s out of charges now though,” she added, looking at the now dulled emerald stone.
Alex studied it for a moment before putting it into the bag, “hm… I guess Xatu did say it only have five charges, right? We just used them all at once.”
“Wait, so how are we getting back down from here?” Keahi questioned nervously, her feathers fluffing up defensively.
“Uh… we’ll burn that bridge when we get to it,” Alex muttered, turning back around to go into the dungeon.
“Maybe Rayquaza will let us back down,” Nelvana offered, glancing at the worried torchic.
“Yeah…” Keahi agreed quietly, “alright.”
The first floor of Sky Tower was rather… expected in appearance. The ground remained clouds, as did the ceiling and the walls. Sunlight seeped through the thinner clouded walls, giving the area a muffled warmth. Despite being indoors, this is possibly one of the lightest dungeons they had been in, especially compared to the many caves they had traveled through. The white, puffy clouds gave it a much calmer atmosphere as well.
After wandering for a few minutes down the long wandering pathways, Alex brought out their dungeon map to check on their progress, only to stiffen in surprise at the blank page.
“Something’s wrong with our map!” Alex announced to the team, which gathered back around to take a look for themselves.
“It’s… blank?” Ceebee commented.
“It isn’t supposed to be blank. It’s a dungeon map, Keahi ‘n Nel got it from the guild when they teamed up. When you’re in a dungeon, it tracks your progress for you on each floor so you don’t get lost,” Alex snapped back.
“That’s quite unusual…” Tsuki muttered, “has it ever… malfunctioned before?”
Keahi shook her head, “it’s an enchanted map, it doesn’t glitch like the badges do. There must be something else directly affecting it…”
“Well, I don’t sense anything, I’m afraid,” Ceebee responded, “we’ll just have to do without, which is fine! We used to do it like that all the time! Nel has a good sense of direction, and I can make a mental map!”
Nelvana exhaled, and then smiled, “alright, that should work alright… still pretty odd that the map isn’t working…” she murmured.
Even with this early setback, they continued. Quickly making it onto the next floor without much other difficulties. Their first dungeon pokemon greeted them right away on the second floor, though, it was less expected. Neither ghost nor flying-type like they had predicted, but a forretress, a bug-steel-type. Those in front of Keahi stepped aside to let her get rid of the foe with a quick flamethrower before continuing on their way again. The next opponents they ran into were no less unusual, with shedninja, lunatone, and even some masquerain, to name a few.
“This dungeon is really weird…” Nelvana commented quietly, the others responding quickly was various signs of agreement.
Without the aide of their dungeon progress to remind them of where they had been before, they were forced to rely on other sources such as Ceebee’s supposed mental map, and Tsuki’s sense of smell. Unfortunately, the clouds seemed to be slowly morphing and changing with the passage of time, dispersing any scents and blocking away paths that had once been there, just to be confusing to the group.
While they could handle the dungeon pokemon for now, despite them being oddly aggressive compared to the dungeon pokemon fought in the past, they knew they would be headed into monster houses soon, and if not, then hunger. And they hadn’t packed food for any extra pokemon joining them. This extra challenge, as small as it seemed, was becoming evident that it could become one of their bigger obstacles with how much longer it was taking on some floors.
Regardless, no one complained aside from a few comments whenever a particularly bad annoyance popped up every now and again, and they all pressed forward. Cool breezes carried wisps of clouds that swirled around them before merging into the foundation of the tower, while the sun continued to creep into each room to provide them with warmth and light up in the lonely skies. Alex began telling Ceebee about what she had missed in the present, with Keahi chiming in, and even Nelvana and Tsuki eventually; filling the halls with their cheerful chatter, to help keep them going through the struggles.
By the sixth floor, they had run into a few of the ghost-types that Ceebee had been warned about. The main culprit of this, were the shuppets. Tricksters that would hide in the walls, only popping back out to attack quickly before disappearing away again, still in combat which didn’t let Alex follow with pursuit, but out of the way of most retaliation. The creepier thing about that was that the clouds would never move in response to any of the ghost-types hiding in them. The walls would remain still, and the ghost-types would just sink inside of them. These opponents usually had to be solved with an elemental move, like Keahi’s flamethrower or ember, but after the fifth shuppet they had encountered, Alex wanted to try something new.
“Alright, how about we put this scarf to use,” Alex announced, bringing out the purple mobile scarf, tying it loosely around his knuckles. “We’ve wasted too many better moves trying to put them through the walls, let’s just do this the way it should be,” he hissed.
“Go ahead, let’s see how it works!” Nelvana encouraged, even stepping aside and gesturing the grovyle towards the wall the most recent shuppets had disappeared into.
“What’s that item?” Ceebee asked, hovering down to Keahi to ask her in a whisper.
“Mobile scarf, let’s you walk through walls,” Keahi answered courtly.
Alex tightened the torn fabric on his knuckles more, before stepping forward, and through the wall, disappearing like the ghost-types had been doing. The rest of the team waited in silent anticipation for the grovyle to return, Ceebee’s antennae twitching as she watched the wall silently with the others. There was a shriek, one they had grown familiar to with other shuppets being defeated, and then Alex stumbled back out into the hallway, letting out a sharp gasp upon exiting where he had been.
“Alex! You okay? How was it?” Nelvana asked, approaching her partner.
Alex coughed, tugging off the scarf and putting it back in the bag, “augh, it was really hard to breath in there,” he panted, “but… otherwise alright, I guess. Actually… I’m surprisingly, hungry? I guess you were right on that part, Keahi,” he added, “we should probably use this more sparingly though.”
“Yeah, no arguments there. Did you have to hold your breath the entire time?” Keahi asked.
“No,” Alex scoffed.
“You looked pretty bad coming out though,” Tsuki commented, which Alex scoffed at again.
“Well,” Nelvana sighed, “good to know for the future at least. I mean, we wanted to figure that out when we first picked that up, and now we know its setbacks.”
On the next floor, a new obstacle arose in the form of the weather. Rain began pouring down from the ceiling above, soaking everyone quickly while also hampering their sight even more. This, combined with the map issue, would make this floor the hardest to navigate thus far.
“Alright, let’s stick extra close here. Wouldn’t want to get lost,” Alex ordered, receiving no objections.
They had only wandered down a few hallways, before hearing an unfamiliar voice calling out to them from one of the puffy walls.
“H-Hey, excuse me!”
It was a duskull, a new pokemon to this dungeon, who presented themselves by floating out through the adjacent wall and through the rain, closer to the quintet. Everyone spun around to face this new arrival, making sure to keep their guards up. This particular duskull had cracks through its skull through the right socket, and its red eye light only illuminated the left socket. Upon spotting them, Alex’s lips curled up in a snarl.
“W-Wait! I’m not going to attack you!” Duskull insisted, waving their arms at them and backing away slightly. “I wanted to talk to you!”
“You’re not a dungeon pokemon?” Keahi questioned.
“Nope!” Duskull chirped, approaching the group carefully again. “Actually, none of us are! This isn’t a dungeon,” they told them.
“W-What? It isn’t?” Keahi blurted out, jumping in surprise.
“But… it feels like a dungeon,” Nelvana responded hesitantly, “I guess that explains why the map didn’t work…?” she added quietly.
“That’s the trick. This is our sanctuary, so if it’s disguised as a dungeon…” Duskull trailed off.
“Then less people will come here,” Tsuki finished, “that’s… actually pretty ingenious. Did Rayquaza put this together for you all?”
Duskull nodded excitedly the best they could, which was basically just shaking themself up and down, “yup! Master Rayquaza put this together for us so we could be safe up here, and away from the pokemon down below! In return, we fight off any travelers for them!”
“Master Rayquaza?” Alex repeated, stiffening more.
Nelvana shuffled her feet, recalling how Sableye had referred to Dusknoir and Dialga as their masters. This thought stirred a bit of anxiety in her, and she suddenly understood why Alex was staying away from Duskull.
“Oh, yeah… everyone around here calls them that, I just do out of habit now. The others here don’t like it when I drop the title… But I don’t think of Rayquaza as my master, they’re more of our guardian!” Duskull insisted, “sorry about that! Anyway… I’m supposed to be fighting you… but I don’t really want to.”
Keahi tilted her head to the side, “why not?”
“Because! I think you must be here for something important, right? I can’t remember ever getting a group like this coming around here… Do… Do you need to talk to Rayquaza?” Duskull responded.
“Yes. We need their help with something very important,” Ceebee answered, slowly fluttering closer to Duskull. “There is a disaster coming that will cause the unthinkable if we don’t stop it. It is a meteor, falling to this world to hit tonight. We need Rayquaza to destroy it to save everyone, could you help us with that?” she continued hesitantly, though as calmly as she could.
“Oh! Of course I can help you out! I’m not that good of a fighter… but I can lead you through the floors! Yeah! I can be your guide for you, if you all want,” Duskull offered.
“Yeah, that… that will help, right guys?” Nelvana replied, glancing around at her teammates.
Keahi nodded, “we’d be glad to have a bit of extra help here! Everything helps! And hey, maybe you can talk down some of your friends as we pass by too so we don’t have to fight everyone!” she agreed, “wait… all those pokemon we fought, what happened to them?” she suddenly asked in alarm.
“Oh, don’t worry. There’s a protection system for us. When we’re defeated, we teleport to one of our safe pockets to recover. I won’t be showing you where though, those locations are secret!” Duskull chuckled.
“Good to know,” Tsuki replied, nodding. “Anyway, I agree that having the extra assistance here would be nice. The air here right now is thicker than some snowstorms I’ve have to walk through, and our pace hasn’t been as quick as we’d prefer,” she continued.
Alex sighed, releasing some of his tension with it, “alright… let’s do this then. Welcome to the group, Duskull,” he said, “thanks… for agreeing to help us with this.”
“No problem! Alright, follow me then! Right this way!” Duskull chirped, floating ahead.
Distrust hung in the air at the sudden ally, especially from the time travelers; but true to his word, Duskull lead them up the next set of stairs to the eighth floor of Sky Tower.
“This is so exciting!” Duskull exclaimed as he waited for everyone to get up the stairs. “I’ve never traveled with people like this! And you guys look really cool, and nice!”
“Oh, thanks!” Keahi hummed, “by the way, we’re Team Galaxy! I’m Keahi, and that’s Nel, Alex, Tsuki, and Ceebee!” she introduced, waving her wing at each member as she mentioned their name.
Duskull gasped, waving his arms around excitedly, “you all have names!”
Nelvana blinked, “yeah…? Do you?”
“No! Barely anyone here does… But I want one! It gives you a sense of uniqueness that you don’t get by just being called by your species name, and I want that,” Duskull responded, “but I can’t think of anything… How did you get your names?”
“Nel is pretty good at thinking of names for others,” Ceebee offered, “maybe she can think of something for you! Do you want to try naming Duskull, Nel?”
“Ah…” Nelvana paused, stiffening slightly. “Uh, Edgar?” she suggested hesitantly.
“Edgar?” he repeated, “I like it! Thanks, Nel! I can be Edgar now! This is great; I finally have a name!”
“Glad you like it,” Nelvana replied, rubbing the deeper cracks in her club.
Edgar now, continued leading them through the hallways and the rooms towards the next set of stairs. Unfortunately, their good fortune and high spirits were cut short when entering the room with the stairs, and having several pokemon jump out from the walls and ceiling.
“Duskull,” a lunatone hissed coolly.
“O-Oh hey Lunatone, everyone!” Edgar greeted nervously, “it’s okay, you don’t need to spring a monster house! These guys are good!”
Another duskull floated up beside Lunatone, “ah… Duskull, always so foolish. Don’t you know why we can’t let anyone go visit Master Rayquaza?”
Edgar floated nervously in place, his red eye light shrinking slightly, “t-this is important though! We could all be in danger if-“
“Duskull,” Lunatone silenced, “do not fall for them. You aren’t to trust outsiders.”
“But if you just listen to-“
“Duskull! Silence!” a masquerain snapped.
Edgar fell silent, floating closer to the ground in submission. Team Galaxy froze, watching the sudden turn of events go down in front of them, and the harm that was coming from it to their new ally.
“Hey, you guys shouldn’t be so rude to him,” Nelvana growled, “he’s just trying to be helpful.”
“We don’t need to listen to your group,” the other duskull rumbled, “you don’t belong here.”
“Well maybe you should listen,” Alex snarled, “because we have some important things to say.”
Lunatone floated closer to the group, to Edgar, “listen… it’s still okay to come back to us, you aren’t a traitor yet. You can still make a choice, side with Master Rayquaza, or with these land walker filths.”
“…they’re on Rayquaza’s side though…” Edgar murmured.
“Make your choice,” Masquerain pressured sharply.
Edgar’s eye light darkened, and he fell silent for a few moments, hovering in the air blankly.
“I’m staying with Team Galaxy. They aren’t bad pokemon, they’re here to help,” he insisted firmly, looking back up at the monster house team.
“TRAITOR!!!” Lunatone shrieked, their eyes lighting up in a powerful energy.
Rocks appeared around Lunatone from out of nowhere, which they launched at Edgar. Edgar let out a yelp, diving into the ground and disappearing into the shadows. All the other pokemon in the room leapt into battle in the small, restrictive area. Nelvana lunged forward at Lunatone, tanking the rest of the rock throw attack as she got up close, proceeding to punch the pokemon with the force of brick break. They got knocked back slightly, and before they could recover, she came at them again with the same attack. This time, they went unconscious, and disappeared in a beam of light. Everyone else picked a target, and began fighting as they had done in other monster houses.
More pokemon kept appearing out of nowhere, from all angles, trying to swarm the group. Edgar hit a different lunatone with shadow sneak, before floating over to the stairs at the end of the room.
“Guys! We should hurry! Come on, up here!” he called.
After a moment of hesitance and to knock out the pokemon they were currently up against, Team Galaxy obliged, hurrying up the stairs over to Edgar. Moments after Ceebee flew up with the rest, a forretress used explosion, destroying the room almost entirely, clouds being dispersed everywhere. They decided not to look back, and the sextet hurried through the next floor; until they were sure they weren’t being followed by that mob anymore.
“So… those were your friends?” Alex questioned, taking in a sharp breath.
“Y-Yeah… sorry, they can be a bit… forceful sometimes,” Edgar muttered, “I… I really hoped that they would be more accepting, but… I knew they wouldn’t. I was just being too optimistic. I’m sorry.”
“Those are some bad friends,” Alex snapped, “they shouldn’t be trying to force you and pressure you to do what they want.”
Nelvana nodded, “yeah… that isn’t how friends should act. They wouldn’t even let you speak,” she added, “and, you don’t need to apologize for what they did. It wasn’t your fault. If anything, we should apologize for contributing to the problem by being here.”
Edgar paused, thinking this over, “well…” He looked over at Team Galaxy, his eye light shining brighter than before. “Thanks… But I think I’ll need to think this over… think them over… In the meantime, I’m still willing to help. I really did make my choice back there. I want to stick with you guys, even just for your mission here.”
Tsuki smiled, “and we thank you for that. Take the time you need to think this over, we understand it’s a complicated situation for you.”
“Yes,” Ceebee smiled, “we’re really thankful for you being so willing to help us. It means a lot. Not many would be as friendly as you have been to us.”
“Yeah! And don’t worry, we’ll stick with you,” Keahi chirped, “we just met, but you’ve already helped us a lot! We’re willing to help back in any way that we can.”
“T-Thank you…” Edgar murmured, “you guys are really nice… thanks.”
While that event certainly brought up the group’s trust for one another, the other habitant’s aggression sharply increased. No longer could they simply walk the long way around someone they didn’t want to bother fighting, if anyone even heard the group, they would be hunted down. This feeling of being chased brought up tensions. Nelvana especially had it, and she wondered if Alex and Ceebee felt the same as she did. The feeling that someone was watching you at all times, that there was no safety and that you were being constantly hunted. But the anxiety lessened with the reminder that they still had each other, and that they could face these problems together.
That they weren’t alone in these battles.
Nelvana found it odd, to have such a large group. Despite not liking crowds, or large groups of people in general much, she still found herself comfortable here. She trusted her friends, and cared for them. Her heart ached as she realised how much she would really do to keep everyone safe and happy. It was an odd realization to come to.
Edgar continued to be a useful guide, knowing where the stairs on each floor were and being able to direct the group to it; even if the hallways were slowly being altered in the wind. As he said when he had first teamed up with the group, he couldn’t contribute that much in battle, but he did what he could with pesky moves like confuse ray and will-o-wisp, to cause foes to become hindered and simplify the job of being defeated for the others. Even if he couldn’t fight, the team could agree individually that he was incredibly useful in and out of battle.
Team Galaxy continued their way up the floors of Sky Tower, going as fast as they could with all these battle interruptions. They ended up taking a quick break for some apple snacks for everyone, Alex muttering with frustration how dungeons made you hungrier faster and it just wasted supplies under his breath.
They had finally reached the twentieth floor, and were greeted by a solrock. They had seen other solrocks, of course, but this one appeared more docile and calmer, resting up against the wall with their eyes closed.
“Hey, hey look, it’s a solrock,” Alex whispered, silently creeping towards the resting pokemon.
“What are you doing…?” Nelvana questioned in a hushed voice, holding her club close to her.
“Dude! We didn’t get many solrocks in the future, remember? Just lunatones…” Alex responded, “they really do look like the sun…” he continued in awe.
Ceebee stiffened, “be careful-“
Solrock suddenly opened their eyes, shooting up into the air in surprise, and preparing a rock slide attack, sending it at the grovyle. Alex scrambled out of the way in time, and lunged at Solrock in retaliation with his leaf blade attack, knocking it out in one hit.
“Jerk!” Alex snapped, “I was admiring you!”
Ceebee burst out laughing, “you kind of deserved that. You should have been more careful, Alex! You know better than to get distracted like that!” she mocked.
Alex rolled his eyes at Ceebee, glaring at her before continued on down the path like nothing had happened. After that reaction to the celebi’s teasing, Keahi and Edgar couldn’t help but snicker as well.
Another pokemon that caused the sextet troubles was a dusclops that had begun following the group much beyond what Edgar insisted was supposed to be their territory. Like the shuppets of lower floors, this dusclops enjoyed hiding in the walls and only attacking for a moment before hiding again. It didn’t take long for this to grow tired, and they began brainstorming ways to deal with this annoyance properly. Throwing in elemental attacks blindly through the clouds didn’t seem to be working as well as before; Dusclops was staying safe and away when they hid in the walls.
“Edgar, you can go through walls too, right? Why don’t you try going in there and dealing with this guy?” Keahi suggested, looking over at the duskull.
Edgar shook his head, “no… dusclops are really strong, they’re my evolve after all! I can’t handle that alone; you guys know I’m not really good at fighting anyway.”
“Why not just lure them out instead?” Tsuki added.
“No… I think Edgar is right, it definitely wouldn’t be fair to end Edgar in there alone, even if just to lure out that… dusclops,” Alex muttered, “we can’t risk them knowing pursuit and knabbing you when you retreat, or some sort of attack like that.” He shuddered at the thought. “We do still have the mobile scarf though; someone could go with Edgar,” he offered, bringing back out the mentioned item.
“Woah! You said that was a mobile scarf, right? Sure it isn’t a… reaper cloth?” Edgar exclaimed, zooming in to look at the fabric up close.
“Nah, we already tested it and everything. It’s a mobile scarf, let’s you walk through walls,” Alex responded, holding up the mobile scarf so Edgar could see it better. “I mean, I didn’t think about it before, but it does kind look like one, doesn’t it…?”
Ceebee snatched the torn fabric out of Alex’s hands, “look! The purple is slightly more saturated than a reaper cloth, and it’s darker too. Plus, the light purple is striped, while a reaper cloth has a more ‘camouflage’ pattern on it,” she explained, pointing at each design difference to Edgar as she mentioned it.
“Oh! I guess you’re right then,” Edgar replied, “I haven’t actually seen a reaper cloth before, so I just assumed based on what I heard. Whoops! I shouldn’t do that…” he laughed.
“Sorry if we got your hopes up,” Nelvana murmured.
Alex looked over at Ceebee, and then grinned, “is you taking that you volunteering to look for the dusclops?” he snickered.
Nelvana sighed, “I’ll do it if we’re going to make such a big deal about it.” She swiped the cloth away from Ceebee. “At this rate, Dusclops is gonna come back and just attack us again while we’re distracted,” she huffed, pausing for a moment before deciding to wrap the mobile scarf around her knuckles like Alex had.
“You sure?” Alex questioned, his smile falling.
Nelvana shrugged, “yeah, it’ll be quick.”
“Alright, good luck then!” Keahi chirped.
Nelvana nodded over to Keahi, took in a deep breath, and stepped through the wall. Edgar didn’t wait long before following her, disappearing into the clouds as well. This time it took longer for the pair to return than it had when Alex had gone in after the shuppets, but not by long enough to start raising concerns.
After about a minute, the pair returned. Like when Alex had returned before, Nelvana exited the wall and immediately was gasping for fresh air. She crouched forward, resting her hands on her knees and panting for a couple moments before standing up straight again, taking off the scarf, and passing it to Alex.
“How was it?” Alex asked.
“Battle went fine… they were just like the other dusclops we’ve seen ‘round here,” Nelvana answered, “but being in the wall itself… well, uh, it was as you described. Hard to breath in and hunger inducing.”
“Hm… Edgar, you didn’t feel that, did you? Does that mean this is an effect of the scarf, or of just not being a ghost-type?” Tsuki murmured.
Edgar tilted to the side, letting out a long hum as he thought, “um… if I had to guess, I’d say it’s a ghost-type thing, because we don’t actually need to breathe, so we don’t feel that pressure as much?”
Ceebee nodded, “that makes sense! It would be a bit odd for a scarf to make it hard to breathe anyway.”
Nelvana brushed off her hands, joining up with the group. Now that she had caught her breath, she was proceeding to act as if nothing bad had happened, and that she was alright. Alex offered her a quick snack of an apple slice remaining from an apple they had cut up earlier in their journey, which she hesitantly accepted after some pressuring from Keahi, and they pressed on down the path again.
Further still into the tower, they continued. The pokemon of the early floors no longer followed them up here, leaving only the stronger pokemon such as flygon and aerodactyl to be fought. Fortunately, while the strength of the individual pokemon grew, their numbers thinned, meaning that the entire group of six could group up to take down on or two foes at a time, making things much simpler.
Finally, finally, they managed to climb their way up to the twenty fifth floor of the tower. It had been hours since their journey through Sky Tower had begun, and they had arrived to the safe floor. The statue in the center of the room, as expected, was of Rayquaza. The huge, long dragon legendary was stretched out, reaching towards the ceiling, the structure balanced carefully at the end of their tail.
“We made it!” Keahi exclaimed, “this is it! How many more floors after this, Edgar?”
“There’s nine more floors, and then we can see Rayquaza,” Edgar answered softly, “no one has spoken to them in a long time… I haven’t even seen them myself.”
“We’ll probably have to fight them. That’s how it usually goes with legendaries,” Nelvana told him, “we’ll try talking first, but…”
“Yeah… I understand,” Edgar replied, “I was thinking it over as we got closer to here, and I understand how important this is, and what the chances are that Rayquaza won’t listen to us right away. But… are you confident that you can win?”
“Yes, yes we are,” Alex responded confidently, “we’ll beat Rayquaza, and be able to tell them about the meteor so that they can stop it.”
“I really hope so,” Edgar murmured.
Ceebee smiled at Edgar encouragingly before continuing, “anyway, we should take some time to rest here before continuing, since this is a safe floor. Based off how long it took to get here, we should still have plenty of time to complete this dungeon and beat Rayquaza. It will be good to catch our breaths while we can.”
“Agreed,” Alex replied, leaning up against one of the walls.
“Alright, Team Galaxy…” Keahi grinned softly. “This is been a long journey, and I’m really proud of us. Let’s keep doing great things here, okay?”
“Of course,” Nelvana responded, “we’re going to do this.”
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