Spiteful Murkrow
Early Game Encounter
Glad to hear that, it's a bit of a balancing act sometimes to make sure that the elements that I want to have come out from different places make it to the surface, but based off of this, it sounds like I'm at least not doing a terrible job at it.
Well, it wasn't really in my interest to be lazy about it. One of the things that I decided early on was that all of the popular views of Legendaries in Fledglings should be "off" in some way, since it's a world that has by and large been without their influence for centuries and it's hard to really chase the 'self-exploration' angle when someone can literally tell you everything and anything about you.
As such, all of the ways of viewing Legendaries in this fic represent ways that pop up in the series and fandom taken to their logical extremes. The Marked's in particular happens to pull heavily from that strain which tends to cast them as impersonal and capricious forces of nature above the petty concerns of mortals.
Well I'm happy to hear you're enjoying them, they'll both be around for a long while in this fic.
Ah yes, this fic is riddled with little nods and gags like those. Sometime down the road, I might take a stab at listing/charting them out, but for now, I leave them to astute readers like you to tease out. ^^
Well, it's a fun fic, and imitation is supposed to be the sincerest form of flattery and all that.
Anyhow, when I said that I'd only get one chapter out this month back in 2015, that was a bit of a half-truth. I do only plan on getting out one chapter in the normal flow of things this month, but...
Being the lazy writer that I am, I decided to package my stab at the FanFiction Quarterly Issue 3 prompt as a special chapter, that is a few weeks late for the maximally appropriate time of the year. This one will be a bit longer than usual, but no apologies for length here since this is more a standalone one-shot as opposed to an integral part of the 'current narrative'.
Special thanks for this special chapter goes to the normal crew of Tangent128, Virgil134, and solovino, with my deepest gratitude to you guys who continue to read and write reviews in response to this thing.
The first chapter of the next block will be out by the 31st in my timezone, barring any major shakeups in life, but that's then. For now, let's have some fireworks.
As the sun made its earliest setting of the year on Tromba Island, Marley and Teja's burrow overlooking Bluewhorl Town was abuzz with activity. Inside, a Nidorina, Nidorino, and their ten kits crowded around a crude table in the main chamber of the burrow for dinner. Their already tight room was even more cramped than usual that night, with a spread that had been carefully scrounged together in the days leading up to the Winter Solstice. The customary gummis and greens were there, jostling for space alongside an uncharacteristically large assortment of berries and pastries.
On top of that, the food and the simple glass jars that normally provided light had to share table space with a large number of paper lanterns tonight. All about the table, colorful and gaudy constructions sat by each of the ten kits, tied with string to carrying sticks and filled with glow-moss. A crude mountain competed for room with a rude house, a ship alongside a paper Leppa Berry. One particular lantern featured two goldenrod stars at opposite ends of a circular strip of paper enclosing a gap between them.
Fortunately, the food was being cleared off the table at a faster than usual rate, thanks in particular to the star-shaped lantern's owner, who was halfway through inhaling a leaf of lettuce.
"Slow down, Nida!" Teja urged, nosing the Nidoran's shoulder. "Take some time to savor your food!"
"But Papi, it's New Year's!" the blue spike ball protested in between a mouthful of her greens. "Lanterning starts at sundown!"
After all, this was no ordinary night, it was Año Nuevo Trombense, the longest night of the year. The night which marked when one year's moons gave way to the next, and in which the town did its best to try and defy its natural darkness. Children such as Nida and her siblings did their part to also spread light to the long night, going door to door to their neighbors with their gaily-colored papercrafts...
And there were other things for the children to look forward to as well.
"Yeah!" one of the younger purple Nidoran squeaked. "If we take too long, we'll miss all of the candy being given out!"
"And we won't be able to open our presents unless we get our lanterning done!" another interjected.
"Besides, Ms. Hariti said she'd give extra sweets to the Pokémon that sang at her door tonight!" The conversation quickly devolved into excited chatter as one after the other, the rambunctious spike balls began to plead and whine about "Mami, can we go-?"
Thump thump thump
Only for their racket to be cut off by the sharp thumping of a Nidorina's foot against the ground, followed up with a piercing glare.
"After dinner, then you can get candy," she huffed. "And not a moment sooner!"
Marley's words were met by a series of disappointed groans and folded ears as the young Poison-Types reluctantly, but swiftly returned to their meals. The Nidorino and Nidorina looked at each other and sighed. Teja shook his head with a bemused smile as he turned to Nida, who was still busily gulping down her food.
"Don't get yourself so wound up, Nida," the Nidorino chuckled. "It's a special night of the year! Why rush through it?"
Just then, a pair of voices came down the burrow's entrance. One the chirping voice of a Swellow, the other the young, but rough voice of a Druddigon...
"Nida?" Kiran's voice called out. "Are you in there?"
"Yeah!" Crom shouted. "You're ready to go lanterning, right?"
Nida's ears perked up as she heard the sounds, and quickly whirled her head towards the voices.
"Coming!" she exclaimed. The Nidoran hastily inhaled the last few bits of food spread out before her, and grabbed the stick of her yellow star-shaped lantern with her teeth. As she turned from the table with the five-spoked papercraft, a Nidorina's voice stopped her dead in her tracks.
"Eh?!" Marley cried. "Where do you think you're going?!"
Nida folded her ears back and screwed her eyes shut for a moment before turning around and setting her lantern down. Nida had been waiting all day to go off lanterning with Crom and Kiran and they were right there.
"But Mami!" Nida whined. "I'm done eating!"
"Aren't you coming with your brothers and sisters like last year, mija?" Teja wondered, tilting an ear back quizzically. All eyes turned to Nida, who shifted uncomfortably and sheepishly.
"B-But I'm old enough to go without them, Papi!" she protested. "And Crom and Kiran are from my team!"
"Just what will your siblings think of that?" Marley countered in a scolding tone, only for one of Nida’s older brothers to chime in:
"Eh, it's okay," he answered. "More candy for us that way!"
"Yeah, Orino's right," a blue Nidoran added. "Three of us can watch the younger ones just fine!"
The last of Nida's elder brothers blinked and flicked an ear puzzledly, before turning back to the female Nidoran.
"Wait a minute, Ani," he asked. "I thought we were sneaking o- Ow!"
The purple spike ball was answered with a swat at his flank from Orino, who mouthed a hasty 'shut your yap, Dorin' as the voices of Nida's teammates made their way back down the burrow again.
"Nida? Are you down there?"
"If we're getting in the way of something, there's no shame in letting your old Team Captain know!"
Back in the chamber of the burrow, Nida and her mother traded an awkward silence with each other, the Nidorina giving a glowering frown.
"You will spend at least some time with us, won't you?" the Nidorina pressed. "It is New Year's."
"I will, Mami!" Nida squeaked. "I'll be at the shrine later like I promised! I even already talked it over with Kiran and Crom!"
The Nidorina's scowl lingered a little longer, before it finally gave way to a sigh and head-shake.
"Ay. Fine," she relented. "But behave yourself out the-"
"Gracías Mami! Gracías Papi!" Nida squeaked, bounding away from the table with her lantern. The Nidoran called up a "Coming!" to the voices above, and bounded up the passage to the surface, coming face to face with a young Druddigon poking his head and upper body down the family's burrow.
"Ah! There you are, Nida!" he cried. Crom pulled himself out clumsily, brushing his crest up against the burrow's walls on the way out. Nida poked her head out and crossed the threshold of the entrance onto the mat outside. The stars and the moon had already started to poke out into the twilight sky. Even so, the burrow’s exit was lit up more than normal that night, due in no small part to a small collection of candles set out and already lit for the occasion. There, the young Druddigon hastily dusted some dirt off of himself as Kiran hopped over and passed a lantern over to Crom… which looked like a misshapen white egg with two blue spikes attached to it.
"Erm… Crom?" Nida questioned, flattening out her ears. "Is that your lantern? What's it supposed to be?"
"It's the Protector's head!" he cheered. "I made it myself!"
Nida gave an askew glance and stifled a giggle at the rather misshapen likeness of the Protector before shaking her head. The New Year was in part a night in honor of the Sea Guardian, but it was also a night to be a little silly and childish for young Pokémon. What harm was there in being a little silly with one's lantern?
"We weren't rushing you, I hope," Kiran chirped, as he craned his head down to Nida’s.
"Nah, it's fine," Nida insisted. She looked around at the trees and mats about the neighborhood. The reason why everything seemed so much brighter than normal immediately became clear. On her family's mat, on the mats of her neighbors, and at the base of the trees, there were jars filled with lit candles and glow-moss. In the branches above, lanterns and colorful paper ornaments had been hung from the branches, some along streamers which zipped from treetop to treetop.
"Who'd want to stay cooped up in the burrow on a night like this?" the Nidoran asked, giving a cheerful tilt of her head.
"Hehe… I guess we should get started, Kiran," Crom chuckled. "After all, lanterning only goes on until an hour before midnight!"
Out at sea, just over the horizon, a two-masted caravel with golden sails and gray designs resembling an Aggron's head from above, prowled along the waves. The sails' designer and metal helmeted captain of the craft peered through the lenses of a crude scope fashioned from bamboo. In the distance, the ships in the sleepy town were moored firmly and were largely unattended. There were a larger number of indistinct shapes shifting around the docks than would be expected for a small town normally, but that most likely had something to do with the glinting lights of myriad lanterns visible in the scope.
The site of his crew's next target, all of it there for the Iron Fleet's taking. As Hess took the scope down, the lights of lanterns shrank from view, leaving behind the fuzzy sight of an island with a mountain with a fog-shrouded face poking over the horizon.
"Those lights really do make seeing what's going on easier," he said with a low grunt, shoving his scope into one of the three waterproofed pouches he carried on him. "Couldn't have picked a better time for a night raid-"
"What on earth is taking so long with this detour?" a chittering voice whined. "It doesn't take that long to get to Aisle Town!"
"Relax, Veikka. We've got plenty of stuff to tide us over!" a rougher voice answered back. "Why between the lanterns and the grog, we've got everything we need for the best view of Kenobi's fireworks from the Andaku Docks!"
"Watching fireworks?" a dog's voice scoffed. "Bo-oring! Some of us here can make some! Like this!"
Hess' face fell, and he turned around just in time to see a Growlithe spitting up an ember into the air in front of a Gabite and Trapinch. The three Pokémon were gathered around some paper lanterns illuminating a game of cards with drawings of Pokémon on them. Further out on the deck more lanterns were spread out, and in the background some cheery-sounding deckhands were twining strands of them around the rigging.
"Oi! Knock it off and stop slacking off!" the Aggron angrily bellowed, stamping against the deck of the wooden craft. The ship rocked a few times and the partying Pokemon came to yelping stops as they turned and reluctantly faced the scowling Steel-Type.
"For crying out loud, Tromba's just over the horizon!"
"Wait a minute, Tromba?" Hess' Floatzel first mate asked. "Hess, isn't this a bit overkill for a detour?"
"Yeah, you said we were going to Kenobi!" a Sableye protested. "I thought the entire reason we were leaving Orleigh at all tonight was because our fencing spot at Aisle Town had the better fireworks!"
"We will!" Hess growled back. "After we pick up a haul from Bluewhorl to fence at Andaku!"
The faces of the gathered golden-scarved Pokémon fell as skeptical murmurs flitted about the gathered brigands.
"A holiday raid again?" a Jigglypuff muttered.
"He's not serious, right?" Pekka whispered to an unamused-looking Pyry. The Gabite and Trapinch's murmuring died down after a Ledian cleared his throat and fluttered up.
"Um, Captain? You do remember what happened the last time we raided during a holiday with fireworks, right? The one on Boisocéan earlier this year?"
Hess caught himself and froze for a minute as memories seared into his mind from the raid in question. He subconsciously pawed at his scarf and felt a round lump underneath. He peeked down and caught the reassuring sight of his lucky charm, a marble-like stone sphere with gray, helical swirls on it. He'd been told ever since he first got it from that fortune-teller back in his Aron days that as long as he had it, it would guide him safely back home, and it had never failed him.
He reminded himself of the times he'd slipped out of the maws of exile to the Wastes wearing it... How he survived that nasty business with that barbaric Marowak wearing it… How he'd won his beloved Mistral Marauder in a card game (and dodged getting his armor turned into ship cladding thanks to a less-than-sober wager)... All of them while wearing the little stone...
Besides, even if that raid on that lousy swamp was hairier than normal, it did have some good come out of it. Always a handy thing for the biggest and toughest Pokémon of the Iron Fleet to point out.
"S-So what? We had a bigger haul than normal that time!" the Aggron countered. "And our ship-burners got to show those treehuggers not to mess with us!"
"Oh, right!" Elty yipped, the Growlithe's ears perking up energetically and his tail wagging. "That was the raid where I blew up that hulk!"
Elty’s comment brought back scorching memories that were joined with groans of displeasure from the other gathered pirates.
"Yeah, along with us," the Floatzel spat. "If it weren't for those tree bugs getting distracted by all the fires those shells started, we'd probably be out in the Wastes right now!"
"And we could always raid this place tomorrow! It's New Year's!" a Sableye whined. "If we don't turn around right now, there's no way we'll make it to Aisle Town in time to see the fireworks!"
"Wait a minute, 'New Year's'?" the Jigglypuff asked. "New Year's isn't for another two moons! It's the Winter Solstice!"
"You're both wrong," Pyry interjected. "It's Lyhtyjuhla!"
The crew quickly devolved into arguing about the proper naming of the night festivities according to their homes' varied traditions. Hess put a claw over his face and shook his head. After a brief moment grumbling about 'recruits these days', he decided he had quite enough. The Aggron sprang up from the deck and came back down onto its timbers to rock the caravel and jolt some sense into the gathered Pokémon.
"I don't care what you call it," he roared. "Take that paper clutter down and wait a few hours! We're raiding tonight and I'm not giving out shares of loot to bums that don't pull their own weight!"
Some uneasy looks intermingled with glares came from the gathered Pokémon, which quickly evaporated after Hess shot a glare of his own back. He may have been a 'bottom feeder' captain who had to stitch his crew together from the rejects of the other crews on Orleigh, but in piracy, sometimes the situation called for reminding one's underlings who the biggest and toughest Pokémon around was.
"If anyone wants to pick a bone with that, they can tell it to my stony hide!" the Aggron growled. A wave caught the ship and made the Steel-Type brush one of his legs before easing into a tense, charging-ready position, daring his crew to try him.
The Mistral Marauder might not have been a mountain peak, but it was still their Aggron captain's domain. And it was evident from his demeanor that like others of his kind, a trespass on his domain was an invitation for confrontation with the much larger and stronger Steel-Type. Some coughs and nervous excuses floated about as one by one, the various members of the crew sullenly headed off.
The lanterns were taken below deck, the cards and rum put away, and the different Pokémon returned to their station. Hess grunted satisfiedly as his underlings returned to the practical work of preparing for the raid on Tromba, and turned to tend to a few loose ends of his own, gesturing to the Ledian among the crew as he passed.
"Oi, Kichiro," he grunted. "Don't head off so fast."
"Captain, it's 'Keiichiro!' Kichiro's the dweeb I used to mug for his lunch back in school!" the Ledian buzzed back annoyedly.
"Yeah, yeah," the Aggron replied with a dismissive eye roll. "Just follow me off to the prow a moment."
Hess led the beetle off down towards the front of the bow, where the sounds of the crew at work faded away, and the escorts were distant enough to be out of earshot if things were kept mum enough.
"You've got that powder trick of yours, right?" Hess asked in a low voice, tapping a claw against his chin.
"I know there's supposed to be a bunch of shops and a big ceremonial bell onshore, but I can't get a good bead on anything that's not right next to the shoreline in this light. Think you can slip a signal or two into that town's light show to mark out the good stuff for us?"
Back in Bluewhorl, Nida, Crom, and Kiran made their way down the lanes of the little hamlet. The town had been decked out with decorations much as the clump of trees up the hill had been. A cluster of candlelit jars under a window here, a string of paper decorations from an eave there, and more candle and moss-lit lanterns riddled about than a Nidoran could shake a spike at.
As the hours went by, the three passed impromptu light shows by entertaining Fire and Electric-Types artfully throwing around embers and sparks, rowdy sailors who traded stories of their exploits of the past year over swigs of berry juice, and most importantly…
♫ In my paw I have a light ~
That will glow the entire night ~
I'll sing here, and I'll sing there ~
That way I'll get a decent share! ♫
Doorway after doorway of lit houses and shops about the town, much like Melissa's cubical shop and abode before them. As was custom for Bluewhorl's children, Crom and Nida brought their lanterns along with them. When they found a promising house, they would rap at the door, sing a ditty about their lanterns or chasing away the night's darkness, and…
"Excellent execution, children!" the Porygon droned. She then nudged forward the main attraction, a dish with two brown sugar cubes in it. Nida and Crom scooped up the sugar lumps and deposited them into a pair of simple sacks that had grown swollen with sweets from throughout the night.
"Thanks, Melissa!" Crom cried.
"Feliz Año Nuevo!" Nida added.
The two scampered down the lane, Kiran taking wing after the two and settling down in front of them at a crossroads. As the children stopped to set down their lanterns and inspect their loot, Kiran took a few moments to preen some feathers under his wing before turning back to his charges.
"Well, I think that's every house along this lane," he chirped. "So where are we off to next?"
"Hrm, what about this crossing lane here?" Nida suggested. The Nidoran pointed down the left lane, which was lined with simple wood and thatch huts with lit doorways. There was one very visible exception at the front of the lane where a Corphish and a young Tropius with bubble and apple-shaped lanterns stood at a door trying to peer in through darkened, glassless windows.
"Aww, he's not home," the Tropius muttered. The two shook their heads and went off disappointedly to the next house down the path to try their luck drawing the occupants' attention. As Crom watched the pair move on he tilted his head curiously.
"Wait, isn't that Calino's house?" Crom asked. "Wouldn't Bracket and Patricia know better than to go there? He's never at home or in his shop after sundown on New Year's!"
As the Druddigon finished his words, the team chanced to see a crowd of chattering young Nidoran pass down the lane, Marley at the head. Crom cast an uneasy glance at the Nidorina when he saw her and her children stop at Calino's door.
"Oh, don't be so sure about that, Crom," Nida answered, shaking her head bemusedly as her mother shook her ruff, tensed her spines in front of a window and flicked one through the glassless aperture.
Thwip!
Crash!
The sound of shattering clay rang out inside, quickly followed by an irate Kecleon's voice and storming footsteps coming from inside.
"Oi! What do you kids think that you're doing?!" it growled. "Don't think that you're not going to pay for-!"
The door flew open, and a red-scaled Kecleon poked his head out, only to begin to flush white when he saw that on his doorstep was the form of a waiting Nidorina.
"A-Ack! Marley?!"
"Oh, so you are home, Calino," she harrumphed, flaring her ears and rolling her eyes. "You wouldn't mind being a dear and giving the children some candy, would you? It is a local custom here."
Crom and Kiran respectively put a claw and wing over their faces, and sighed as the young Nidoran with Marley began to pester Calino with questions about where his lights were and whether he would listen to them sing. Bracket and Patricia had turned from down the lane and were staring at the unfolding scene. So that's what Nida meant... the lizard was here on Tromba for New Year's after all! The three watched as Calino squirmed a bit, then cleared his throat as he attempted to offer an excuse for the lack of candy at the door.
"Uhm, well… I'm sorry, but I didn't set out lanterns because I didn't have any candy to give out this year!" he explained. "Maybe try again next year?"
"Oh that's fine, the children accept orbs, too. I'm not sure how things work where you're from, but we Trombenses are very flexible about adapting traditions," the Nidorina cheerily countered, making a subtle nod of her horned head to lightly prod at the chameleon's belly. The Kecleon paused and screwed his eyes shut, shaking his head.
"I'll… see what I can do," he grumbled.
The Kecleon ducked into his house and after the sound of some rooting around, came back with a small bowl of Cheri Berries, begrudgingly bringing the bowl of unsweetened fruits to the doorway.
"Alright, alright, here you go, but no singing!" he hissed. "The last thing I need is for a bunch of other kids to know I'm-"
"Too late!" came a chittering voice from up the lane. Bracket and Patricia entered from behind Marley and her children, eager to get their fill of candy at the darkened house. Then came the neighbor Poochyena, and a young, excited-looking Meowth kitten. As Calino buried his face in a claw, Nida looked over to her teammates.
"Come on, let's get some too," she offered.
"Well, I don't think that it would hurt," Kiran murmured, as some glittering light passed overhead. The three looked up and saw that a Bug-Type was scattering glowing dust up in the sky, probably a sailor seeking to get in on the lighting fun. As the bug flitted away, Kiran noticed the Continent Tower's Traveller beginning to slip behind the moon and paused.
"We should probably start heading off after this lane if we're going to watch the fireworks at the shrine though," he warned. "It's getting late, and it does take a bit of time to travel the path out there."
"Right!" Nida answered. "So then let's hurry up and get our share here and do one or two more lanes before we go!"
The three then darted off to join the growing crowd of pushy and demanding children forming in front of Calino's doorstep. Every now and then as they waited, they'd look up towards the fog hanging from the mountain above, their little minds beginning to drift to the bluff up the path to the Mystery Dungeon.
After Team Traveller wrapped up their lanterning and began their ascent up to the town's shrine, Hess continued to watch the flickering lights of Tromba from the prow of his ship out on the open water. He impatiently tapped his claws against the rough planks that formed the railing. His underlings had done their duties as commanded, if in sour moods over working on the night of New Year's. But no matter, it was something that could be mollified with loot and liquor he'd hidden aboard for just that sort of celebratory occasion…
Once Kichiro got back that is. Hess began to turn away when he chanced to notice a sparkling trail just above the water. A cry went up from a Seadra in the water, and his gaze settled upon a Ledian coming to a stop on the railing. As Pokémon on the deck and in the sea below continued their busywork preparing for the imminent raid, Hess spoke up to the Bug-Type in a gruff voice.
"What took you so long, Kichiro? Your first sky trails faded out five minutes ago!"
The Ledian buzzed annoyedly and flicked out his wings in a huff.
"Oi! You try picking out details from the sky at night!" he spat back. "And it's Keiichi-"
The bug was caught off by a low, rumbling growl, and saw that the captain was giving a piercing glare. He blinked and gulped, before hastily amending his words.
"Err… right, what I saw when I made those markings..." the Ledian said. "Well, for starters, most of the shops in that town are clustered in a square right by the docks, including a bank towards the edge of it. But it's kinda crowded right now. There's a couple things further inland, and I spotted what might have been a 'tee-yem' shop on the way back-"
"Crowds aren't an issue," Hess interrupted. "Nothing clears them out like a little panic and a good charge. And the defenses?"
"There's a guild on the bluff over the town to north," the Bug-Type explained. "And the Company outpost is on the other side of town in some glorified hole dug into a hill."
The Aggron paused and put a claw under his chin. They were going to be barging into someplace with defenders flanking them on two sides? The level of exposure was uncomfortable, but on the other claw… they'd kept bigger settlements at bay long enough to mount a hit-and-run in the past.
"A little risky, but… if we had a distraction," he began. "It could buy us enough time to clear out that square. Saw anything of that sort?"
"There's a Day Care up the creek," Kichiro answered. "I saw a school too not too far from the Company Outpost, but there's no way it's open at this hour."
That could work! If a couple of teams went up to that Day Care and sent some potshots around, it would scare the town into thinking his crew had come for the eggs there. Egg theft was a dirty business that the Steel-Type had no intention of ever dipping his claws into, but the fear of it was certainly distraction enough to provide a feint for their real targets.
"The Day Care will do," Hess grunted back. "And that bell?"
The Ledian buzzed and muttered something exasperatedly under his breath before looking back up at the Aggron captain.
"Nanda?"
"Tromba's supposed to have a big bell made of iron," Hess responded. "You didn't think that I'd want to just leave a tasty treat like that behind, did you?"
"Uhm… well, with a big bell like that, they probably keep it under a roof around town," the Bug-Type offered. "Don't you think it would be hard to miss?"
"Hm. Fair point," the Aggron answered. "We'll be counting on you to mark a landing site for us out there, so don't mess it up!"
"Yeah, no pressure there," the Ledian grumbled, before flitting off back for the island.
Hess turned off to the blinking lights on the horizon as the Bug-Type's droning wings faded with increasing distance. Kichiro's earlier trails in the sky over Bluewhorl from his first pass over the town had already dissipated and his more recent ones were following suit. Now was as good an opportunity his crew would get to make their move. He hopped back down to the deck, and after giving the boat a sharp rock from the force of his landing and drawing the attention of his crew, he bellowed out to them.
"Oi! Look alive! We're going in!" Hess shouted. "We're gonna need a distraction team to go up a creek and scare a few kids so the rest of us can pick the central square clean!"
Some murmuring went about the crew, which Hess presumed to be discussion among the pirates of who'd be going on what team. With that, the Aggron backed up behind the railing, charged, and vaulted over it.
Sploosh!
And dove into the sea below. The Steel-Type felt the water wash over his body and rose back up to the surface. The metal lizard wiped some seawater from his eyes and turned back to his ship's deck.
"Everyone else, either get in the water or in the air! If you're not helping me with the initial rush in, you're on defense!" Hess roared up to the deck. "Rodion, guide the ship in, and make sure your buddies in the water keep the local fish from getting too close to the hull!"
The Floatzel tilted his head skeptically, before sighing an "Aye, Captain" back. As the first mate dove into the water, Hess saw that a wall of skeptical glares and grumbles was growing among the Pokémon aboard and in the water around him.
"Are we seriously doing this?" Pyry whined.
"It took Kichiro this long just to scout the island," Pekka added. "Maybe raiding tonight's not such a good idea."
"Yeah, why don't we just rip off a ship on the way back to Kenobi?" the Gabite asked.
"Hey! I don't like water that much either!" he roared. "Get the ship moving or I'll wash you off the deck and you can swim the rest of the way to shore!"
The gathered brigands stared at the Aggron in the water, and then at each other. Some disappointed groans went out as they begrudgingly got into position. All in all, as intolerable as the present turn of events was, it wasn't worth picking a fight with such a strong Pokémon over. And it could be made worth their while…
If they had something to show for it at the end.
The winding path from Bluewhorl town up to the shrine was lit that night, lined with dozens upon dozens of candles and lanterns that had been painstakingly set up over the course of the day before. Their light allowed Team Traveller to see what the night normally hid from their eyes, the flowers among the bushes, the swirls in the little pebbles along the path, and the shifting forms of ferals further off in the undergrowth.
The lights lead the three to the path's final destination, a simple wooden shrine on a seaside bluff. Behind them were the lights of Bluewhorl's lanterns twinkling off in the distance, the Moon and stars glittering above, a beautiful sight that came only once a year…
"Hahh, hahh…"
Not that the three Pokémon had much of a chance to stop and enjoy them on the way up. Halfway up the path, Kiran noted that the Time Lord's Traveller, the one whose crossing of the moon marked midnight, was about to slip out of view behind it. From there, the rest of the way up became a mad dash up the trail to try and reach the shrine before the Traveller popped out from the moon's other end.
Panting and exhausted, the team finally arrived at a seaside bluff where a bonfire had been lit and a great array of lanterns hung from temporary wooden racks. Surrounding them were the faces of townsfolk who had chosen to see the full panorama of the town's fireworks display that only distance could allow. There were stranger faces without scarves that watched curiously, if cautiously from the fringes.
The figures were met with curious and guarded glances back, and occasionally a piece of candy or fruit would be tossed over by a more gregarious and courageous child from the center. Even with the lingering wariness, Tromba's Protector was also Protector to these ferals too, and it was custom for the town not to begrudge those who came in peace to share this night devoted to the local sea god.
"Hey!"
But more importantly, it was also the place where Crom's parents and his brother had been waiting for them. The form of a waving Fraxure bobbed and weaved through the crowd, and darted up to Kiran and his charges. Gwenith plodded along after him with a yawning Cenn latched onto her wings for a sleepy piggyback ride.
"We were wondering when you and your Hunter friends would show up!" he cheered, giving a nuzzle at his elder son's snout, leaving him to blush and snort flusteredly.
"Daaad, you're embarrassing me," the young Druddigon whined. Only to be answered by the deeper voice of a grown nettle dragon from within the crowd.
"Remember that your father doesn't have that long of a shore leave to fluster you like this in front of your teammates," Gwenith gently reprimanded, before shifting her gaze over to Kiran. "He wasn't too much of a handful tonight, was he?"
"Nothing that I haven't seen with a team in the past!" the Flying-Type warbled back. "Why, they were 50% less rambunctious than I was expecting based off of past experiences!"
"We still got a lot of candy, though!" Nida cried. "Look at it all!"
Gwenith peered down at the sacks that her child and the little Nidoran held before her, and noticed that unlike previous years, they were almost filled to the tips of their brims... For now. She would have to be careful to keep an eye out to make sure that the little scamp didn't eat too much at once overnight.
"Well, they've certainly been to a lot of houses tonight," the Druddigon murmured. From his perch on her back, Cenn's sleepy eyes were still able to detect the large hoards of sweets in his brother's bag, prompting him to stir a few rumbles of dissatisfaction.
"Moooom! Why does Crom get so much candy?" he growled.
"Aw, don't worry about it," Pladur reassured. "Your old man will make up the difference when the shops open tomorrow morning!"
Gwenith shot an unamused look over at her mate, which drew a sheepish grin and quiet "It's only once a year, isn't it?" as Kiran scanned the crowd. He had found one of his charges' parents but...
"Hrm? I was sure that Marley would already be-"
"Hola a todos."
Nida turned around and saw her mother waiting behind her, lowering her head to nuzzle her child. The young Nidoran squirmed a little and turned back, only to see that Crom was no longer beside her.
"Huh?! Crom?!" she squeaked. "Where did you-?!"
And saw that her teammate had ducked behind his mother, his brother now alert and wide-eyed and tightly gripping the shoulders of his mother's wings. And along with her two children…
"J-Just wanted to get a little closer to the kids, that's all! I-It's a New Year's Resolution!"
… was the anxious, wary glance of her mate, peering from behind Gwenith's opposite flank, much to the sighing annoyance of the mother Druddigon.
"Will 'getting over fears of friendly Dragon Busters' be one too, dear?" she sighed. Marley tilted her head curiously at the dragon family, before deciding that the new year's proceedings were perhaps best done with their own respective families.
"Come on," she prodded, nudging her daughter with her muzzle. "Your papi and siblings have been waiting."
Nida waved off her teammates and followed after her mother, the various faces around shifting by until her gaze came to a waiting Nidorino. Nearby, nine spike balls were impatiently jostling with each other for a better view of an empty crate. Nida recognized it as one that had been used to lug the parts of the lantern-racks up from Bluewhorl.
"You made it just in time," Teja said. "Looks like Hatteras is about ready to kick everything off."
"Hrm?" she asked. "How can you tell, Papi?"
Just then, the form of an elderly Ampharos sauntered his way over to the crate, donning his 'mayoral' scarf for the occasion. After casting a glance at the moon, he climbed atop it and turned back to the crowd, clearing his throat.
"As we watch the last moments of this year depart us, it is only fitting that we dwell on what has passed," Hatteras bleated. "On the good times and the ill. On those who have departed us, and those whose journey with us has just begun. On our lives, and those who came before us."
Some murmurs went about the gathered Pokémon as they took a few moments to heed their Mayor's words. Reminisces of flashes of grace and glory floated about, intermixed with low whispers of past sorrows and regrets. The Ampharos then stamped against the crate underfoot and continued on with his speech.
"Our ancestors had many an occasion to despair and let themselves be swallowed by the ashes of time. They saw the heavens turn against the Protectors of old and cut them down," he said, his voice carrying a grave and solemn tenor. "They saw the grasp of life on our world evaporate beyond this Cradle that the providence of Arceus has given us. They saw plague, famine, war, and unspeakable sufferings come to their shores."
Nida shifted uncomfortably at the Ampharos' words. The Company's tribute after each harvest and the raids they had endured that year were already burden enough. At times, it was hard to imagine that there had been years in the past that were even harder to bear for the humble Pokémon of Bluewhorl, and that there might be more such years lurking in the future. The Nidoran watched as Hatteras lowered and shook his head, before turning back to the crowd.
"In spite of all that, they also saw flickers of light in our world's long night, and clung stubbornly to them. To the hope that our Protector, the great Guardian of the Seas, would one day awake, and help to reclaim the world that was lost for their descendants," he spoke, the grave tone melting away in favor of a sanguine tenor. "To keep their hopes alive even if they couldn't see the light at the end. The hope that if they stood firm, the day would come when dawn broke on our world's night once more."
Mumbles of "That's right" and "And we'll keep their hopes going, too!" floated about. Hatteras' speech usually didn't change too much between years, but in some ways it was comforting. To be reassured after each year and its trials, that there was something greater still coming. And of course, his customary finish...
"That is why to this day, we hang these lanterns, we light these candles, and defy the darkness in this longest of night of the year. To show our slumbering Protector that we haven't forgotten about it, and that we eagerly await the day when we can pay it tribute face to face!" he cried, raising a paw into the air. "So then, how about we put away these little children's lights and put on a real light show?"
And in return, came an unmistakable, unanimous shout that rang down the sides of the mountain that Winter Solstice night.
"YEAH!"
The Ampharos smiled and nodded, as he wagged his tail back and forth. The red jewel on it began to blink out flashes of light, which carried on off into the faraway darkness.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the town's harbor, an Azumarill floated lazily on the surface near the edge of a group of local sea Pokémon. As the school took advantage of their aquatic physiologies to bob and circle expectantly, a carefully watching Chinchou looked off in the distance, waiting for the mayor's signal to blink from the mountain.
"What's taking him so long, Angie?" the Azumarill grumbled. "The Time Lord's just about to pop out from behind the moon! It's almost the new year already!"
As the water mouse continued pestering the hapless fish, a small, but distinct light began to blink off in the direction of Tromba's interior. The Chinchou watched, and quickly realized that the flashes were in the same signaling standard that approaching ships used by night.
"Oh! That's it!" she bubbled. "That's the- Huh?"
The pair felt a disturbance in the waves, and turned around to see what the matter was.
"Outta my way!"
Only to promptly get smacked by a faceful of surf for their efforts.
An Aggron swiftly barreled past the two, leading a pack of swimmers and covering fliers in tight succession as a golden-sailed caravel lumbered along in their wake. The Aggron watched as a school of Pokémon up ahead was tossed about by his rogue wave, and as in most settlements, their ranks were primarily a matter of quantity over quality. Most froze and then darted under the surface at the sight of the golden-scarved prowlers and their great, cruel-jawed leader slicing through the water for them. A few attempted to hold their positions, only to be picked off by attacks from the Iron Fleet's marauders and left listing and groaning in the water. The surprise, the confusion, and the panic ruined any efforts the harbor Pokémon had to band together.
Why, it was like taking Gummis from a hatchling! The docks were now plainly in sight and only half a minute away swimming. The ship was picking up pace into the harbor, and soon the Iron Fleet would have their true prizes on land for the taking.
"S-Stop!"
Hess felt a wet smack that sent him off-balance in the water and a particularly sharp jolting pain that shot through his body. The Aggron righted himself, whirled about, and saw the now-ragged looking Azumarill and Chinchou he had run down earlier. The sea rat and fishy little twerp had managed to tough out the wave he sent their way earlier. The sea was not Hess' element as a Pokémon, but judging from the blank, petrified look on the Azumarill's face and the nervous blinking on the pathetic anglerfish accompanying her, they didn't know that.
"Oh, you two picked a real smart fight!" he growled.
After chancing to feel some small rocks glance against him from the disturbed water below, the Aggron circled around, and cut through the water with a faint aura forming on his body, attempting to call forth a barrage of rocks off the seabed at the Water-Types.
Unbeknownst to Hess, from the ledge of the Tromba Island Guild, the resident Teleporters were waiting alongside a pile of vaguely spherical objects wrapped in simple, rough paper. Each came with a fuse soaked in propellant, which lead into a mass of Blast Seeds glued together along with mixes of various berry powders for coloring, the typical means of fashioning fireworks in the Cradle.
The Psychic-Types' own abilities had been similarly tuned for the night's performance ever since they were notified of their duties a few months ago by Hatteras. While teleporting allowed for placing stray shells high in the air, the three quickly discovered in their practice sessions that pooling the telekinetic force of a few Confusions was similarly effective. As a bonus, Hatteras and Melissa had even arranged for them to learn from a "tee-yem 73", though much to her consternation, Pataki was the only one of the lot to truly master the Thunder Wave enchanted in the magical plate in time for the night.
The Elixirs the local apothecaries provided to restore their moves' elements sat atop the reference chart for flashed messages on a nearby stump. There were the fireworks shells that were stacked neatly beside them, and most importantly…
Overhead, the night sky for the shells to light up was as clear and unperturbed as all the light and color coming from Bluewhorl's lanterns allowed it to be.
All that was left was for Angie to relay Hatteras' signal to ring in the New Year from the harbor's water below. Except, when the Chinchou's message came, the pattern seemed different than expected. After hopping over to check the reference chart, the Natu realized the Water-Type's flashes carried an additional message came along with the expected signal.
"Aim just over the water at the harbor's edge?" the little bird murmured, trading a puzzled look with his Kadabra colleague. "But you won't be able to see the full burst that way!"
The fox-faced Psychic paused and shrugged, before looking down at the firework shells. "Maybe Hatteras wanted us to warm up the crowd this year?" he asked.
Pataki shook her head and turned to the fireworks next to her. "Oi, don't question it! The entire town's waiting on these fireworks!" she barked.
The Kirlia pushed over three of the shells, lit the fuse with a weak spark from her hands, and with the aid of her companions, levitated it above the ground. The three psychics spent a short moment synchronizing their breathing and thoughts before finally flinging it off with a collective shove, sending the shell sailing up in an arc and down towards the darkened water below.
Down at the edge of the harbor, Hess' rocks cut through the water and flew out in a spray of stone and sea foam. As the disturbed water settled down, the Steel-Type scanned his environment, but beyond a few bubbles leading towards the shoreline, he couldn't find a trace of the two Water-Types. Further ahead, the remaining harbor Pokémon were frantically ducking under the surface, which prompted the pirate captain to take a moment to crow over their swift surrender.
"Ha! Some first line of defense you wimpy fish are!" he roared. "I've seen stiffer resistance from-!"
From the corner of his eye, the Aggron noticed a faint, burning light which was arcing in his direction. The captain thought nothing of it, until a golden-scarved Seadra suddenly yelped out of startled shock.
"Ack!" the seahorse cried. "Incoming fire!"
Hess looked up, and saw the light. And another, and another. On closer inspection, the first light was circling a round sphere and drawing nearer and nearer to the sphere's edge. As the fire reached the first sphere overhead, his eyes widened and his limbs stiffened as he realized exactly what the airborne objects were and why the locals had all suddenly swam for cover.
"Aw, sh-"
(Continued in next post)
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