Aaaaand this chapter really should have only taken a few weeks but it took a few months as usual. Enjoy!
~Chapter 49: Human and Legend~
It felt kind of surreal being back at the same cabin we’d stayed at for two nights following the attack on Indigo. The ranger union was still busy enough that they didn’t have anyone stationed out here, so Ajia was able to pull some strings to let us stay here for a few nights. It was a reasonably secluded spot that would let us actually talk with the Legendaries discreetly, so it was the ideal place to meet up and make plans.
The sun was low in the sky when I arrived via teleport, and the air was thick with the calls of bird and bug Pokémon from the forest. I let my team out to join the others, and the sheer volume of Pokémon out was a bit staggering. Rudy and Darren had left most of their teams here while they went shopping, which meant we had around two dozen Pokémon all scattered about the campsite. The less sociable ones had wandered off into the forest, but the area was still packed. Pichu and the two Raichu ran circles around Arcanine, who was trying her hardest to ignore them. Aros had challenged Aerodactyl to a race and was being soundly thrashed. Ebony and Jet were playing a game where the former would spit an Ember and the latter tried to put it out with a Water Gun before it could hit the ground—which would have been a lot more concerning if Feraligatr weren’t napping nearby. Ajia and Starr were sitting at one of the outdoor tables watching something on a tablet, occasionally laughing.
There was a flash of light, and Rudy and Darren teleported into the yard, both deep in a heated discussion with the energy they normally reserved for really stupid debates. Each of them was carrying way too many grocery bags like they’d been trying to out-carry the other. Alakazam walked next to them, levitating several bags over his head and lifting them just out of reach whenever Weavile tried to grab them.
“Look, I’m just saying, there’s literally no way that Glen is gonna lose to Trini in the semifinals,” Rudy snapped, sounding almost offended.
“Trini’s team has a Gyarados,” Darren replied simply.
“So?! You saw Glen’s Gengar take down a Gyarados in round 3!”
“Yeah, but Trini’s team actually
supports Gyarados with status, and Glen doesn’t have an answer to that. One Dragon Dance and it’s a team wipe.”
“Look, I’m telling you, I’ll bet actual money on this,” Rudy kept going heatedly.
Darren raised an eyebrow. “How much are we talking?”
The two of them dumped their grocery bags unceremoniously onto the picnic table, letting the contents spill out. I spotted… lots of marshmallow bags. Probably more than anyone ever needed, although given the sheer number of Pokémon here…
Starr sifted through the bags, unimpressed. “Did you two buy any
actual food, or…?”
There was a tearing sound as Weavile finally succeeded at stealing one of the bags from Alakazam only for her claws to tear clean through, sending marshmallows spilling out over the grass. Jet and Ebony immediately abandoned their fire hazard game to start vacuuming up the fluffy white lumps.
“Look, this is like the third time we’ve camped here and we haven’t made s’mores once,” Rudy said indignantly. “I’m pretty sure that’s actually illegal.”
Darren held up one of his bags with a deadpan expression. “I got hot dogs in case we want something slightly more filling than marshmallows.”
Starr gave a reluctantly impressed nod. “That’s slightly better. Though you better have got some toppings for those.”
He looked down at the groceries helplessly. “Uh… I got mayo?”
“Ajia, we’re going to the store right now.”
As the evening went on, everyone got to work cleaning out the firepit. Venusaur sliced up some dead trees with Razor Leaf, and with half of our teams competing with each other to carry more logs, we soon had more firewood than we knew what to do with. Ebony insisted on being the one to start the fire, and then we all got to work roasting hot dogs. Starr poked fun at me for eating mine plain while she’d buried hers in enough toppings that you could hardly tell there even
was a hot dog.
Afterward, Rudy was quick to break out the marshmallows, and everyone either crowded around the firepit or bothered the various fire-types in our midst (with Arcanine burning them until people stopped asking her). Jet and Ebony were having a contest to see who could fit more marshmallows in her mouth while Weavile cheered the two on. And after several minutes’ insistence from Firestorm, Chibi finally, reluctantly accepted a s’more from him with a suspicious look.
For a long moment after taking a bite, the Pikachu didn’t say anything. He just sat there with a look of surprised bliss on his face. “*This is… good,*” he admitted quietly before devouring the rest of it.
More s’mores were passed around and half the party soon had chocolate smeared on hands, claws, or faces. Rudy regaled everyone with more details about the unofficial League finals, including the fact that he’d apparently gotten to talk with gym leader Brock the other day.
“I think it’s cool that the community is coming together like this,” Ajia said, sounding impressed. “Especially since it’s almost like the League is just trying to sweep things under the rug.”
Darren gave her a curious look. “Jade mentioned you were volunteering at Indigo. Found any good info?”
Ajia laughed. “I never said I was looking for info! But no, we haven’t found out much. The League HQ wasn’t really anywhere near the parts of the tournament site that got hit, so we haven’t had many opportunities to see what’s going on there.”
“*I offered to sneak us in,*” a raspy voice piped up from next to Ajia. The bushy-maned fox, Zoroark—appearing as his actual self for once, rather than an illusory form.
“It wouldn’t be a good look,” Ajia said, rolling her eyes like she didn’t know what to do with him. “We’re saving that for a last resort.”
Zoroark scoffed, licking a sticky mess of marshmallow and chocolate from his bright-red claws. “*As if we’d get caught.*”
“What about the Legendaries?” Rudy asked excitedly. “You’ve heard what they’re doing, right? Moltres never tells me anything.”
Ajia smiled. “Mew’s been busy touching base with everyone after the disaster, making sure no one else has been targeted, stuff like that.” She paused for a few seconds, eyes flicking to the side, most likely talking with Mew. “She’s about ready to join us with the others, by the way. Any objections?”
Starr raised her hand. “Yeah, how about the fact that I was enjoying my evening Legendary-free.”
Ajia rolled her eyes. “I’ll let her know we’re ready.”
After about a minute, Mew suddenly appeared in a flash of light, along with Lugia, Ho-oh, and Moltres, all standing in the clearing and towering over everyone else. They were
immediately mobbed by a large chunk of the party all crowding them and looking up in awe.
This was the first time we had the patron Legendaries here with us since the Hoenn mission. Ho-oh had apparently flown to some distant land across the ocean to the east. Lugia had been sleeping at the bottom of the southern sea. And I honestly wasn’t too sure where Moltres had been.
<You know, we usually have our own meeting spot. It is considerably calmer and quieter than this,> Lugia said pointedly.
“Did you want everyone to show up there instead?” Ho-oh asked, sounding lightly amused.
<No.>
The phoenix chuckled, then turned to look over the whole group. “I’m pleased to see you’re all doing well. I trust you have been resting and recovering from the great ordeal when last we met?”
“Hell nah. Been busy as heck,” Rudy replied in an upbeat voice, jumping up from the picnic table and running over to the legends.
“So I’ve heard,” Moltres commented dryly, tossing its head. I got the suspicion that Rudy had been bombarding his patron with tales from the unofficial League.
<I have not heard much from you,> Lugia said, fixing me with a stare.
I flinched. “I’m feeling a lot better now than I was the other day,” I admitted. Than I was this morning, even. But the others didn’t need to know that part.
Lugia relaxed slightly. <That is good.>
Moltres turned to face Mew, cleared its throat and said, “Per your request, I have been self-isolating since the enemy may have a particularly high reason to target me.”
“Hey, if anyone attacked you, I’d know,” Rudy pointed out, folding his arms. “It’s not like you’d be on your own.”
“I said as much, but Mew insisted,” Moltres replied simply, closing its eyes.
Starr raised an eyebrow at Rudy. “You’re really getting into the whole chosen thing, aren’t you?”
“It’s serious business,” Rudy said, giving her a hard stare.
She shrugged. “Guess Moltres chose right then.”
“Regardless,” Moltres went on dryly, “I am interested in arriving at a course of action that does
not require indefinite quarantine.”
Right. That was part of the reason we were meeting up. Coming up with a plan for where to go from here. Between the attack on Indigo and the Hoenn mission, we were just reacting to the Rockets. Unless we came up with some way of learning their plans, or weakening their forces, or strengthening our own, we’d never come out ahead. And none of us were in a hurry to experience that kind of crushing failure again.
“So,” Moltres said, settling itself into a comfortable position away from any grass or kindling, “let us hear what some of that human ingenuity has to offer, hm?”
My face fell. They weren’t expecting us to already have a plan fully formed, were they?
Ajia rested her chin on the back of her hand, thinking. “Recently, we’ve only been able to react after the Rockets make a move. I don’t think we can expect to come out ahead that way.”
“Obviously we should take the fight to them, then!” Rudy exclaimed, tapping a fist to his palm.
“How would we do that?” I asked. Sure, it was kind of what we’d done on the Rebellion. But we’d had Stalker’s resources back then. It would be a lot harder without them.
Mew idly twirled her tail around herself. <I don’t believe it’s wise to go picking fights unnecessarily.>
“We’ll need a means of gathering information, then. That’s what our human allies are for, yes?” Ho-oh asked, glancing around at everyone earnestly.
I could try asking Stalker what all he knew about the Kanto Force’s plans. Although the idea of talking to him was incredibly unappealing on every level. Also, I still hadn’t told anyone that I’d gone to meet with him, and I didn’t really want to. Especially not Ajia or Starr.
“We could think about infiltrating?” Rudy asked. “Where’s the main hideout now?”
“Cerulean base is currently their main hub,” Ajia said, tenting her fingers. “It’s not as centralized as Viridian was, and most of their manufacturing is outside of town, but—”
“How exactly are you supposed to get into a base?” Starr asked, folding her arms. “You don’t have a working Rocket ID anymore. None of us do.”
Ajia shuffled a foot against the pine needles. “Well, I know you won’t be happy to hear this, but there’s always Lexx…”
Starr scoffed. “There’s
no way a Johto ID will work at a Kanto base after the stunt Sebastian pulled, get real.”
“*IDs are optional,*” came Zoroark’s muffled voice from under the picnic table.
Starr squinted at the fox, taking a few seconds to piece together the fact that he’d volunteered to help. “Do you
honestly think they wouldn’t have prioritized getting illusion cancellers after that Mewtwo stunt? I know they’re expensive as all hell, but come on.”
“Do you have any better ideas, then?” Rudy asked, glowering at her.
Ajia clasped her hands in her lap. “You could come with us, maybe show us—”
“No thanks,” Starr replied immediately with a scowl.
I rubbed the back of my head awkwardly. This was getting a bit heated.
“You did say you’d help us,” I pointed out carefully. “Maybe we need to… level on what that means, exactly.” I didn’t want to imply that she
had to or anything, but…
Starr was quiet for some time. “Look… this rebel crap is still a bit new to me. Obviously, I’m gonna help out if it’s desperate or whatever, but going out of your way to cause trouble is another thing entirely.”
Ho-oh glanced back and forth between all of us, pensively running a talon across the ground. “Sometimes taking action is ideal. Sometimes waiting and listening. It is always difficult to discern which is better.”
“Yeah but we
just said that we gotta take the fight to them or we’ll lose,” Rudy said exasperatedly. “I don’t want anything like that League attack to happen again, you hear?”
Starr let out a huff and rotated herself on the picnic bench so that she was facing away from the others. I turned myself so that I was facing the same direction, tapping my fingers on the table while I tried to think of what to say.
“I don’t like the idea that you’ll be charging into danger,” Starr muttered quietly. “I don’t like thinking about it. You shouldn’t have to.”
“I know,” I said. Hesitantly, I reached out a hand to hers and held it until she squeezed back.
Despite the tension on the human side of the camp, the Pokémon side of the camp was still cheerful and energetic, which was kind of a weird contrast. Some of them were crowded around the Legendaries—mostly Rudy and Darren’s team, although Pichu had somehow managed to climb to the top of Lugia’s head without getting shaken off. Lugia seemed content to let her stay, while Pichu was just glad to have the highest perch.
Searching for some way to start the conversation again, I turned to Mew and asked, “How’d everyone take the news of what happened in Sootopolis?”
<They weren’t as surprised as you might think,> she replied. <They’re used to the idea of humans causing problems with the legends.>
Well, that was depressing. Was it too much to hope that
any of them had had good experiences with humans? I didn’t
want to believe it was just a given that humans were nothing but trouble for them.
“How many Legendaries do you know?” Rudy asked, scooting forward in his seat. “Do you know all of them in the country? In the
world?!”
Mew chuckled a bit at his enthusiasm. <I spoke with all the legends I’m acquainted with in Sinnoh. Three of my friends there have had troubles with humans before. But nothing recently.>
I tilted my head, feeling a bit uneasy. They’d had problems with humans before…?
<It’s nothing to do with Team Rocket,> she added quickly, upon seeing my face. Her tone sounded reassuring but I honestly wasn’t sure how reassuring it was. People
other than Team Rocket were messing with the legends? We were having a hard enough time with just the
Rockets.
“What about here? Is everyone accounted for?” I asked warily.
<Well, there is one thing,> Mew replied hesitantly. <I was unable to locate Suicune or Zapdos.>
A chill came over me. “You don’t think they’ve been captured, do you?”
Mew put a paw to her chin. <I don’t believe so. But there’s no way to know for sure. While I can usually locate the others, if any of them really wanted to avoid me, they could.>
That would be a problem. “Don’t they need to pick a chosen?” I asked. If they were stuck in hiding, how would the chosen pact ever be completed?
“Perhaps that is what they’re off doing—locating a chosen,” Ho-oh mused.
<That is far, far too optimistic,> Lugia said, giving the phoenix a hard stare.
<There’s also the issue that naturally they’ll be trying to avoid the human threat,> Mew added thoughtfully. <So they’ll be more elusive than normal.>
This whole time, they’d had to dance around the Rockets’ forces to avoid being captured. How much easier would it be if they didn’t have to worry about that? And, as I had to keep reminding myself, that was
technically possible, but no one had brought it up yet.
…It was worth a shot.
“Last year,” I began slowly, “Mewtwo said that he captured himself, so he was immune to capture.” I could already feel Lugia tensing up. I braced myself, then asked, “Couldn’t the rest of you guys do that?”
<No,> Lugia answered immediately.
I stared up at the dragon-bird, utterly perplexed. “Why not?”
<Why would I willingly accept the device that is designed to enslave us?> Lugia replied dryly.
I stared. “You’re acting like the Master Ball
itself would brainwash you. That’s not how it works; they have to program it to do that after the capture.” I wanted to add a ‘wouldn’t you know that better than the others?’ but thought better of it.
<Yes, well… I’m not even convinced that it’s foolproof,> Lugia said dismissively.
Okay, now it was just being difficult on purpose. “You can’t catch a Pokémon that’s already been caught,” I said firmly. That was just a fact. But suddenly I found myself doubting it anyway. Well… if the Rockets had invented a way around that, we’d have heard, right? That’d be a pretty huge deal.
“You know, it wouldn’t even be a Master Ball, right?” I offered. “It would just be a regular Pokéball. Super easy to break, and you could hide it somewhere the rest of us don’t know about, and never tell us.”
Lugia narrowed its eyes. <We are going to stop talking about this right now.>
I stared up at it incredulously. This was kind of an important topic! And Lugia just wanted to drop it without even considering? What the hell.
My Pokegear buzzed. I grabbed it and read a text from Ajia that said, “I’m gonna have Mew try to talk to them later.”
I made eye contact with her. “Okay,” I texted back.
I didn’t like the idea of putting it off ‘til later when it had already been this long, but… it seemed like we didn’t have a choice.
“Right, so… if you guys aren’t doing that, you’ll need a plan for dealing with the fact that
both Rocket forces just added another legend to their ranks,” Starr went on. “You’re gonna
need some way to compete. They’ll be augmenting their strength. Powerups, equipment, that sort of crap.”
Right… the Rockets’ Legendaries all had battle equipment during the last mission, and there had been way too many instances where they’d been faster or stronger than they had any right to be. That was no doubt part of the reason why they’d trounced us.
“Was anyone else surprised by Articuno using Water Pulse?” Darren asked suddenly.
I blinked at him. “Huh?”
“When the Rockets were attacking Team Aqua. Some of the Magmas tried hitting it with fire, but it put out the fire. Just seemed weird is all,” he said, shrugging. But it was never just that—he was implying something.
And now that I thought about it… Entei and Raikou’s Shadow Ball. While I could hardly pretend to be a Legendary expert, that really didn’t seem like a natural ability for the guardian of storms or volcanoes.
Lugia paused, thinking hard. <I am quite familiar with Articuno’s techniques. I have never known them to use control water before.>
Ajia let out a deep sigh. “I was afraid of something like that. I think they’ve been using TMs on their Legendaries. That’s especially concerning since they just got Rayquaza. Most dragons can learn an incredible variety of elemental moves. Why would the most powerful dragon in existence be any different?”
Oh geez. Yet another way that the Rockets could use their resources to have the advantage on us. Why was this strategy meeting only making things seem more hopeless?
“Why don’t you do the same thing?” Darren asked simply. “If the free Legendaries also have TM moves, they’ll be a lot more prepared to take on the Rockets, wouldn’t you say?”
Lugia tossed its head indignantly. <No. I know how TMs work.>
I stared incredulously. Now Lugia was finding some way to reject
TMs of all things? Did it plan on going along with any of our ideas at all? “…They just let you use new moves,” I said flatly.
<Yes, thank you for that one, oh dispenser of wisdom,> Lugia said with an eye roll. <TMs work by emitting a wave that permanently modifies the energy signature of the target. I do not wish to have my energy signature defiled. Would you allow anyone to tamper with your genetics?>
“That is not the same and you know it,” Ho-oh said, waving a wing dismissively. “Energy signatures exist to be modified. Reproductive Pokémon can even pass on their life experiences. It’s quite fascinating.”
Lugia rolled its eyes again, but from the hesitation in its mind, it was clear that it knew Ho-oh had a point but simply didn’t want to admit it. <Fine. Which ones are compatible?>
It took me a few seconds to realize that the dragon-bird was addressing me. “Oh, uh… I don’t know. I mean, no one’s ever tried to use a TM on a Legendary—besides Team Rocket—so it’s not like there’s a handy list of which ones you can learn. I guess we’ll just try them one after another until one works?”
Ajia tapped a fist to her palm. “Alright, sounds like we’ll need to pick up a few TMs. I’ll make a trip to Celadon, they’ve got the best selection.”
“I’m going with you,” Starr replied immediately. When Ajia gave her a surprised look, she added, “Look I don’t get to go to Celadon often enough, and I’m bored as hell with the Indigo volunteering. I need this.”
I figured the trip was going to wait until tomorrow, but within half an hour, Starr was dragging me off the couch, insisting I come with her and Ajia. So we teleported to Celadon City’s mega department store. After two weeks of mostly hanging around Pewter City and its outskirts, the bright lights and relentless crowds were a bit overwhelming. I vaguely followed Starr around the store, occasionally leaving to check on Ajia, who spent the whole time pacing in front of the TM shelf.
“I mean, at the very least we should get copies of the most common elemental moves,” she muttered to herself, running a finger past endless rows of discs. “Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam… probably Rock Slide… Oh, and Protect.”
That seemed reasonable enough… and then my face fell the moment I laid eyes on the price tag. “50,000 pyen?? Seriously? Where are we supposed to get that kind of money?”
“Look, the non-reusable ones are a tenth of that,” Ajia said, gesturing to another shelf. “We’ll get a reusable Protect and a few disposable copies of the others.” Even that was still a lot… but I wasn’t about to protest since it wasn’t my money.
It was supposed to just be in and out, grab the TMs and go, but Starr spent an extra half hour dragging us all over the seemingly endless floors. Ajia kept coming up with new strategy ideas, but it wasn’t like we could just buy everything our teams needed. We didn’t have the limitless resources that the Rockets had.
“God, it’d be nice if we could just steal some of the **** we need from the Rockets,” Starr said as we left the store, bags in hand. “Remind me why we can’t do that again?”
“You were the one who didn’t want us going in the base,” I pointed out.
“Don’t need to,” Starr replied with a scoff. “Just make Lugia steal a supply truck or something. Should be easy.”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Ajia said cheerfully, with the kind of tone that indicated she had no intention of doing so.
Around 9pm, we teleported back to the cabin with all our purchases, and within ten seconds of Ajia announcing our return, we already had a mob of Pokémon crowding around us. Half of them were deterred by the fact that none of the bags held food, and the other half left once we explained that the TMs were meant for the Legendaries. Thus began the task of deciding which disc to use on who. I really had no idea where to even start. Flamethrower? It was hard to imagine Lugia breathing fire, but who knows—maybe it was possible?
“Are there any moves you’ve ever wished you could do?” I asked Lugia.
<My present skills have been more than enough for any occasion,> Lugia replied airily.
Yes, well… overcoming any obstacle through the sheer power of
being a legend wasn’t really an option when the opposing side had Legendaries. Not that I felt like saying as much.
“So you’ve got psychic powers. You can also control water and air… maybe something like… lightning? Or ice?”
<I’ve never particularly felt the desire to wield either of those things.>
I let out a groan. “I’ll just pick something, then.”
Rudy was a lot quicker than me. He’d just returned, dropping a small stack of TMs on the table. “None of these worked.”
Darren picked up the disc on the top of the stack. “You thought Moltres might be able to do
Ice Beam?”
“Well, how are we supposed to know if we don’t try! And it’s not like
they know either,” he muttered indignantly, gesturing to the Legendaries. Moltres quirked an eyebrow at him.
“I guess I could try it,” I said with a shrug before Darren handed over the disc. The plastic wrap had already been removed and the pull tab yanked out. I turned to Lugia and asked, “Want to try this one?”
<Do as you wish,> it replied dismissively, swishing its tail.
I rolled my eyes. It could’ve at least pretended to care.
“Well, here goes.” I pressed the button and the disc inside whirred to life. I was about to ask Lugia if it was working, but I didn’t even need to. The blank look on its face was sign enough. Not only that, but through our link I could actually
feel the sense of calm contemplation that had overtaken the legend.
When it was done, Lugia shook its head to clear the haze. <Which move was that?>
“That one was Ice Beam.”
<Ah. Yes. I am familiar with that move.> Lugia closed its eyes in concentration before exhaling experimentally. Tiny bits of ice crystals formed in its breath. <Excellent. I will master this move tomorrow. You will accompany me. I imagine you are more familiar with the technical details.>
I rubbed the back of my head. “I mean. I guess so?” Sure I’d seen the move used and all, but none of my team could do it, so I’d never had to drill anyone on it. Maybe I could find an online tutorial or something.
Darren was helping Rudy narrow in on options that were more likely to
actually work for Moltres. Ho-oh was watching them and occasionally offering suggestions. Meanwhile, Ajia and Mew hadn’t actually touched any of the TMs that they’d helped buy.
“What moves are you two going to try?” I asked them.
<There’s no need,> Mew said, smiling. <I’ve already learned them all.>
It took a few seconds for her words to sink in. “Wha—all of them? Every TM?”
<My energy signature is compatible with all elements, and all known techniques that use them.> She held up a paw. Wisps of flame clung to it, flickering into strings of electricity and then fading into glimmers of ice.
I blinked at her, wide-eyed. “Does… does that have anything to do with the stories that Mew was the ancestor of all Pokémon?”
<I don’t know. Perhaps one of my distant past lives actually was,> she said offhandedly, with the kind of tone you’d use for something perfectly mundane.
I stared blankly. “Past… lives?” What was that supposed to mean?
Mew frowned. <Oh. You… didn’t know?>
I couldn’t think of any other response, so I just shook my head.
<It’s so easy to forget that humans wouldn’t have any reason to know that,> Mew mused to herself. Then she smiled faintly and said, <We’re not immortal.>
…What? Of course the Legendaries were immortal. Everyone knew that. They’d been around for… since… all of recorded history. Stories, records of them, going back for eons. Every civilization across the globe had them. And there had never been any sightings of multiples, at least not for the ‘true’ legends.
<Our bodies wear out just like any other living beings,> she went on. <It’s our energy signature that persists indefinitely. When we die, the energy from the body condenses into an egg, which forms a new body.>
I paused, struggling to sort through my endless questions. “So you’re reborn when you die? How often does that happen?
<About five hundred years, give or take.>
For real? That was so much younger than I’d been expecting. Here I’d been thinking they were thousands of years old, and—
And then it hit me. “Wait, but that means… none of you are the same Legendaries that existed in that war 3000 years ago?”
<Correct.>
Seriously? That changed
everything.
“Are you the same person as back then?” Darren asked.
A noticeable pause followed. Several of the Legendaries glanced at each other, looking uncomfortable. Mew pondered the question for a bit before answering, <We have the same life force as our predecessors, so presumably the same spirit as well.>
Lugia continued, <But we have no memories from those lives. And our personalities are shaped by our life experiences just like any other being, so… no, I wouldn’t say any of us is the same person.>
Mew sighed exaggeratedly. <Must you always follow the most boring interpretation of the world?>
<I’m just being realistic,> Lugia replied defensively. Mew gave the dragon-bird a playful thwack with her tail.
I couldn’t stop repeating it in my head. Legendaries weren’t immortal.
No wonder it felt like they had no idea what was going on half the time. No wonder they didn’t know why the pact existed or why the seven patrons had been selected. They literally weren’t around back when the legend was written!
“Can you be killed?” Rudy asked. He must’ve climbed Moltres’s back at some point, because that’s where he was sitting now.
Moltres turned its neck 180 degrees to face him, looking amused. “Ha! You have some nerve to ask something like that.”
He shrugged. “Just curious.”
The firebird gave a small snort. “Well, yes. Of course we can be killed. Our bodies might be sturdy but they can still be damaged. That much should be obvious by now.” It paused and then added, “The same thing happens when we die regardless of the cause of death, by the way.”
The Legendaries weren’t immortal, they could be killed, and they weren’t even
around when the legend was written. It felt like my brain was going to break from processing it all. Others seemed to be taking the news a lot easier—particularly some of the Pokémon.
“*You’re not that old!*” Pichu exclaimed, patting the top of Lugia’s head.
<I’m still over 300…> the dragon-bird replied, sounding disgruntled.
“*I would’ve thought the Legendaries were like… five…
ten thousand-thousand years old.*”
“*More than that,*” Weavile piped up.
“*Pretty sure numbers don’t go higher than that,*” Pichu replied matter-of-factly.
The rest of the night passed with relative calm. The Legendaries continued to get heckled by the Pokémon on all our teams. Darren broke out some card games and thrashed the rest of us so badly I thought Starr might flip the table. There was some light sparring, and Feraligatr eventually had to put out a small fire or two. The relaxed tone was strange. It felt like we should have been doing more. More training, more strategizing. More preparation for the next disaster, whenever it came. But we deserved this. I deserved this.
Tomorrow I’d be helping Lugia learn Ice Beam. That was a surreal thought. A hundreds-years old legend, getting help from a human. It was even weirder to stop and think about the fact that they had to just… go along with writings from well before they’d even existed.
I’d been caught up in events way bigger than me. They’d been
born into events way bigger than them. We weren’t so different.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The wind whipped my hair wildly as Lugia and I soared low over the ocean at a breakneck speed. My eyes scanned the island below, searching for anything out of the ordinary. A flash of red feathers, the glint of green scales—anything. Nothing so far…
And then I saw it—a tiny glimmer of yellow flame, barely visible in the stark afternoon sun.
<Below us!> I called.
A jet of red-hot fire shot upward, and I held on tight as Lugia barreled to the left. My teeth rattled, my head spun, but I managed to stay on. I still didn’t
like the feeling of riding Lugia. Keeping a grip on its waterproof feathers was a pain, but I was getting better at it. I would’ve killed for a flight harness, but Lugia didn’t exactly like the idea of
advertising that it had a rider. At least falling off wasn’t that scary anymore. All the training with Aros had paid off.
Orange wings, approaching us. Firestorm had taken flight, quickly closing the distance to fire another Flamethrower at a closer range.
<Below again, coming up fast!>
Lugia pivoted instantly, firing a torrent of water that easily quenched Firestorm’s flames. It could have blocked the attack with a psychic barrier, but we didn’t want to over-rely on barriers when attacks from actual legends could overwhelm them.
Dragonfire rained down from above. I glanced upward and immediately regretted it as I got a faceful of sun. Ugh. Well, even if I couldn’t see him, Aros was ready to attack from above, and Firestorm was still in position below. Caught between two sides, no way to counter both without a barrier. So Lugia just flared its wings to slow down, causing both attacks to overshoot… or maybe the attacks would have missed anyway. Hard to tell.
<This isn’t terribly effective if they insist on missing,> Lugia pointed out.
<They don’t want to hit
me, obviously,> I said.
<Are they under the impression that I would fail to adequately defend you?>
I was definitely not going to answer that. Lugia seemed committed to being miffed about it either way.
While we were focused on them, where was… I glanced over my shoulder and sure enough, there was Swift, wings poised for an Air Slash. I called him out and Lugia swept its tail to the side, sending a rush of wind to intercept Swift’s Air Slash. The Pidgeot dove just in time to avoid the worst of it. But a second blast of wind knocked Aros and Firestorm’s flight paths askew, the latter tumbling head-over-tail until he managed to right himself just before he would’ve hit the sea.
Aros was close enough that I could actually see him now—including the crackle of sparks from his back. My breath froze. Lightning—couldn’t deflect that with wind or water.
<Dive!> I yelled, already tightening my grip.
Lugia threw its wings back and we shot downward, just in time for the narrow bolt to go shooting well past us. That time there was barely any delay at all. Lugia was responding to my thoughts way faster than before. The training was working.
<You’re still fully voicing your thoughts. It would be faster if you just aim your intent at me.> Well, that was a buzzkill.
<I’m… not sure how to do that?> Aiming thoughts at someone was hard enough with words to guide me. I didn’t even know where to begin if it was just abstract intent.
While I was puzzling over that, Firestorm drifted closer to us, his movement slow and inoffensive compared to earlier. “*When’s lunch?*”
I glanced at my watch. 2pm. We’d been at this for a while…
“We can take a break now,” I replied.
<I do not require one,> Lugia said.
I rubbed my eyes. “No, but the rest of us do.”
<Very well.>
Lugia landed on the rocky shoreline and I dismounted. My arms were a bit sore, as usual with prolonged aerial training. It always seemed like I didn’t notice it until taking a break. I retrieved my bag from where I’d stashed it among the rocks and pulled out lunch for me and my team. As we ate, we discussed training, the League, news they’d heard from Rudy or Darren’s teams, gossip from Pokémon competing in the League—normal stuff. It was easy to forget that an afternoon training with a Legendary was anything but normal.
A strange fog surrounded the island. The air within was clear, the sunlight uninhibited. But anyone on the outside wouldn’t be able to see a thing. Lugia had said that any ships approaching would get turned around. And any fliers overhead would just see the sun’s glare off the water droplets. Some kind of psychic trick, I supposed. Lugia apparently had a lot of techniques to avoid having to deal with curious humans. It had proudly told me how it developed the techniques by itself.
While the rest of us had lunch, Lugia passed the time circling the island underwater, occasionally breaching the water inside a swirling waterspout before plunging back into the sea with a mighty splash. I wasn’t sure if it was doing that just because we were watching, but I had to admit it was a cool spectacle.
After he’d finished eating, Swift took off and soared low over the water’s surface, trying to keep pace with the giant seabird swimming below. Chibi took up flinging small rocks into the air with his Iron Tail for Firestorm to hit with small, concentrated fireballs. Aros and Stygian had gone exploring the island, chasing each other up and down the craggy terrain, poking into small caves, and heckling a few of the local Slowpoke. I found myself automatically wondering where Jet had gone before remembering that she was still hanging out with Rudy’s team. I felt a weird sting in my heart at that thought.
After some time, Lugia burst out of the water and did a few loops in the air before landing on the shore near me. Sunlight glimmered off the water streaming down its waterproof feathers. There was something sort of graceful about the fact that Lugia was equally at home in the air and the water.
“Back when we first met, we were underneath these islands, right?” I asked.
<Correct. There is a labyrinth of caves beneath the islands. Countless divers have attempted to explore them. None have reached me. By my design, of course.>
I leaned back against the rocks, stretching my legs in the sun. “Is this your main home, then? Do you have others?”
<There are many seas south of here that I frequent. Various island chains. I once spent a great deal of time exploring the ocean on the far side of the world. But that was years ago. And I’ve decided I prefer this one.>
It suddenly hit me that I really had no idea what it was
like being a Legendary. Wild Pokémon spent a lot of time surviving (and… humans did too, come to think of it). But what was it like not having to bother with stuff like that?
“Are there… any things you like doing?” I asked. It was probably a stupid question. But then, I was still getting over the news that the Legendaries
hadn’t been around for thousands of years. They hadn’t seen and experienced everything that life had to offer.
Lugia hummed, mulling the question over. <I enjoy traversing the powerful, warm currents through the southern seas. I can easily lose myself in their embrace. Sometimes I go about mapping the layout of the seafloor in my mind. Losing myself in tracing every detail. It’s such a complex system. I’ve tried diving to the deepest depths that I can find. Finding new places to go even deeper. I once spent five years at the bottom, pushing myself to project my mind, my psychic field outward from myself, as far as it could possibly go. Leagues away.>
I stared. “You can sense things that far?”
<Not at the moment. After months of meditation, certainly.>
It was pretty hard to wrap my head around that kind of time scale. Meditating for months was just… mind-boggling. I couldn’t imagine how that wouldn’t be boring. Then again, I guess mapping the seafloor was a lot to process.
<That’s an excessive example, however. Usually I just meditate long enough to guide the nearby currents and storms in my sleep.>
I tilted my head. “Do you really control that stuff? What would happen if you didn’t?”
Lugia paused, as though it hadn’t considered that before. <I suppose… the ocean currents would still flow without my wings, but… I still think of myself as a caretaker of sorts. It is… something like self-expression, for me. I know the others feel the same with their domain.>
It was weird thinking about the role that the Legendaries played in the world. There were still so many things I wanted to know. About their lives. About their past. About the legend. There were a lot of things that
they didn’t even know. And the chosen pact was designed 3000 years ago, before any of them were born…
“Can I ask something?”
<Regarding what?> it replied, sounding somewhat guarded.
“It’s about the whole chosen thing. There are a lot of things I’ve been wondering about.”
Lugia relaxed slightly, mulling things over in its mind. <I can’t say everything, and I also don’t know everything about it, but I’ll say what I can.> It still seemed uncertain, but that was probably as good a reaction as I was gonna get.
I shuffled a foot against the gravelly sand. Where to begin… “Okay, so… the pact between human and Legendary… it needs all seven of you to go through with it, right?”
<Correct.>
“What happens when you do?”
Lugia hesitated. Discomfort drifted from its mind. <I’m not sure. I believe Mew knows. But they might be putting on an act for the rest of us just so we’ll feel more reassured. From what I can tell, it will make things easier for us in the war.>
Really?
Lugia of all people was alright with something so vague and unexplained as that?
<I
really wish I had more information than that. Trust me.>
Ah. So it wasn’t okay with it after all.
I leaned forward, resting my chin against my palm. “Okay, so you, Mew, and Moltres are the only ones to have made a pact so far. Aren’t there only a few months left for Zapdos, Ho-oh, Suicune, and Raikou? Isn’t that… dangerous?”
Lugia glanced away. <It is a cause for concern, yes. Although Mew seems confident that the way the fight is currently progressing has a high probability of yielding more chosen candidates.>
Really? Well, that sure was a lot more confidence than I felt. “You put a lot of trust in what Mew thinks, don’t you?”
Lugia drew itself back, ruffling its feathers. <I dislike Mew’s blind optimism. I wish they were more straightforward and didn’t accept things without explanation. But… yes, I trust them.>
Definitely a hint of embarrassment there. Probably best to change the subject. “So why can’t you just grab any human who’s fought Team Rocket to protect the balance? There’s gotta be a decent number of them.” Hell, Raikou had referred to the entire Rebellion as interlopers once.
Lugia shook its head. <That’s not enough. Remember, there needs to be some sort of connection between the human, the legend, the conflict, and the other interlopers. The threads of fate surrounding them must be sufficiently intertwined. Something about making a proper bond for when things get really ugly.>
“‘Threads of fate’?” I said incredulously. Lugia had been pretty adamant that fate had nothing to do with being chosen.
<Just poetic language,> it said, waving a wing. <It’s obviously something more real than fate. I just don’t know what it is since I didn’t come up with the system. And whoever did was very careful to avoid saying how they did it.>
Huh. Until now, I hadn’t really properly considered the fact that whoever wrote that legend obviously must have been hoping we’d succeed, right? It didn’t make any sense. Why would someone supposedly trying to help just…
decide not to give us all the information we needed?
“So you can sense which humans have threads of fate crossed with yours?”
<Correct. That is how we located our chosen candidates. The threads between you and me were especially bright after that night in Viridian City.>
I flinched, trying not to remember it. “What does that… feel like?”
Lugia paused. <You know of creatures that can see colors of light beyond what the rest of us see?> I nodded. <This seems similar to that, only if the light was rarer. Like a tiny glimmer of heat in an otherwise void. No, more like strands of heat.>
Weird. So all that stuff about interlopers and locating the strongest candidates… they could just straight-up
see it. That was a lot simpler than I would have guessed.
“So what about Raikou? I never heard anything about when it was captured, and no one seems to want to talk about that, even though it’s kind of important. How will the seven unite without it?”
Lugia exhaled slowly. <We had to free Moltres. We’ll make it our priority to free Raikou as well, now that we finally have time to plan. For one thing, several of your group know the human who took them. We can use that to our advantage.>
The human who took Raikou—Lexx. And Lexx was working for…
“…Did anyone ever consider Sebastian a candidate for being chosen?”
Lugia froze. At first, I wasn’t sure if that name would mean anything to it—by its own admission, it was bad with human names. But then a heavy feeling took hold. It knew. It definitely knew.
<There is something very strange about the human Sebastian,> Lugia said slowly. <He gives off an
overwhelming feeling of being tied to the legend. More than anyone I’ve ever seen. But there’s something… wrong about the feeling. It’s the reason why none of us approached him to become his patron. Otherwise we might have, before we learned he was willing to capture us for his own ends.>
“‘Wrong’? What does that mean?”
<I cannot explain it. But I know it as surely as I would know something to be hot or cold.>
Well that was… unnerving. Did he know? Should I tell him? What would come of it? He’d told me all about the fact that he’d tried to turn other people into chosen candidates, but never mentioned anything about himself. If he’d wanted to be chosen, he would have said so, right…?
Lugia shook its head. <We should resume our training. I want to practice that ice technique now.>
Right. We were here for a reason. Couldn’t just waste the day thinking about stuff I had no control over. I stood up, brushed the sand from my jeans, and grabbed my phone from my pocket. “I’ve got an online video here. Took forever to load; the signal’s really bad out here.” I held up my phone with the screen facing out.
Lugia squinted. <Am I supposed to be able to make out what is displayed on that miniscule screen?> it asked dryly. I was about to come up with some kind of reply, but it went on, <No matter. You will have to relay the relevant information then.>
I sighed. “Alright.”
The video was well-made, and the Glalie instructor clearly knew what he was doing. The video was even narrated by him directly (with subtitles), as part of a growing effort to make YouTube more accessible to Pokémon. But that said, something told me the actual process for refining an Ice Beam would be a little bit different for a user with… more limbs.
I could load a different video, but that would require going back to where I could actually get a signal. Didn’t wanna bother with that. We’d just have to wing it.
“What have you got so far?” I asked, looking up at Lugia.
The dragon-bird drew its head back, bright blue particles gathering in its mouth. The energy slowly condensed into an orb, growing larger and larger until finally, it shot forward, breaking into pieces and leaving trails of frost scattered across the sand.
“That looked alright,” I said.
Lugia huffed. <Don’t patronize me. You know how it is meant to look.>
I flinched. The idea of correcting Lugia still just felt… viscerally uncomfortable. “I mean, I guess it’s kind of scattered, like snow. It’s supposed to be a focused beam. It shouldn’t break apart, it needs to hold its shape until the impact point, and
then break apart.”
<Perhaps I can psychically force the energy to hold its shape,> Lugia mused.
Something already told me that wasn’t going to work, but Lugia tried it anyway, gathering another round of icy energy and launching it forward. A psychic glow flared up around the beam, but the two energies just exploded outward, dissolving into blue particles trailing upward.
Lugia scowled. I took that opportunity to avoid its gaze and glance back at the video, scrubbing through the timeline. “The instructor says to compress the energy inward to the smallest point. That’s the only way to get a concentrated beam.”
<How is that meant to work? Cold is the absence of energy.>
Seriously? Did it want me to look up the physics on how ice moves work or something? I scrolled down and—thank god, the video description actually explained some of the details. “Uh… it says here you have to… configure your energy signature for the ice element, which is… characterized by a negative pressure? So even though you’re pouring infinity energy into the beam, it’s actually pulling heat from the target, which makes it seem cold.” What was any of this. “And for Ice Beam specifically, the uh… ‘void point’ has to be as small as possible, or else it just pulls heat from the surrounding area and loses strength.” I paused, feeling like an idiot. “I don’t have any idea if that’s helpful, but—”
<It is.>
The dragon-bird fired several more beams, each one slightly different than the last—some thicker, some brighter. Some trailing snow, others raining shards of ice. The beams kept their shape, but the impact point wasn’t freezing over the way it was supposed to.
It probably wasn’t a good idea to say this, but: “It’s okay to not get it right away.”
<Maybe for you.>
I winced. Lugia must have realized its words had stung, because its feathers ruffled awkwardly. <That was… not meant to be a slight. I just cannot afford to be lacking. The enemy is powerful and relentless. My power is no longer sufficient, so my skills must be.>
I hadn’t really thought about it like that before. Lugia had always seemed so… confident in its strength. Even last night…
<It’s been years since I’ve had to learn to use my power in new ways,> Lugia went on, its tone airy and offhanded, like it was merely thinking aloud. I felt its mind digging deep into its memory, like swimming through a distant past. A time of discovery, exploration, and experimentation. A time when everything was new and exciting.
“What’s it like? Having that much power?”
It was a stupid question. Still, Lugia paused in surprise, like it had never considered it before. After several seconds’ thought, it replied, <It is… as natural to me as breathing. I can’t imagine not having it.>
Lugia attempted to focus the ice into a beam once more. The beam swerved, missing the target completely.
<At the same time… there is also the pressure to use that power correctly. To figure out what that means.>
Another beam. A wave of snow cascaded over the rocks.
<It’s frustrating, the feeling of being inept at something. Of wanting to force the skill into being through willpower alone.>
Another beam. Waves of cold radiated out from the impact.
<But it’s also… new. It’s different. Interesting.> Lugia glanced toward me. <I’m told that humans excel at both new and different. You’re so weak compared to Pokémon, and yet your lives are filled with such… novelty.>
Another beam. Spires built up from the impact point, glittering in the sun.
<Normally, if I wished to hone my powers, I would spend years meditating upon them. But we do not have that kind of time. Humans live their lives so quickly. You must learn quickly as well.>
It took me a few seconds to realize Lugia was trying to pay me a compliment. Unsure of how else to respond, I rearranged my face into something that hopefully looked grateful.
“It looks like it’s coming along. There’s a bit here that talks about how to control the way it reacts with the target.” I said, scrolling down further. “I just wish at least one of my Pokémon knew Ice Beam. They could’ve demonstrated.”
<It’s a shame that we do not have Articuno here,> Lugia said offhandedly.
I blinked. Lugia’s tone was casual, like that fact was merely an inconvenience. But there was an undercurrent of heaviness lurking underneath.
“What was Articuno like?” I found myself asking, without really knowing why.
Lugia started slightly, as though it hadn’t expected me to ask. <Articuno was…>—it struggled to find the right words—<Kind. Supportive. They saw beauty in almost anything. Their mastery over ice was enchanting. They could make the most dazzling displays of wind and snow.>
I could feel a distinct pressure from Lugia’s mind holding its feelings back. Little bubbles of emotion rose to the surface anyway, despite its best efforts.
<I did not always see eye to eye with them. I had to hold my words, to not say things I might regret. They were always so sensitive.>
A heavy feeling took hold in my chest. As obvious as it seemed, this was the first time it had really hit me—the Rockets enslaving the Legendaries wasn’t just wrong because it was a crime against nature or something like that. It was wrong because the legends were
people. I’d been thinking of it all this time in such a backwards way. Still seeing each of the legends mainly as a force of nature and not… a person. A person who deserved to exist and be free, just like everyone else. A person who had others that cared about them, who’d been hurt by their loss.
I could feel that ache in Lugia’s heart. And instead of getting help from someone it had known for literally hundreds of years, all Lugia had was some small, weak nobody that hadn’t even lived a tenth as long.
<Articuno would have made a fine patron. They would gladly have taken a human under their wing. I don’t understand why they could not have.> Lugia’s mind crackled with frustration. Now, more than ever, it wished that we had answers as to why the seven patrons had been chosen. At least I knew why I’d been picked. But Lugia… Lugia had inherited a legacy from 3000 years ago, and didn’t even know
why. A legacy that it didn’t feel like a proper fit for.
“I’m sure that Articuno would be proud of the effort you’re putting in. Learning its element like this?”
Lugia didn’t respond to that. It just stared off to sea, idly nudging some of the fallen snow with its foot.
I rubbed my arm. “Mew could probably help with the whole Ice Beam thing. I really don’t know much.”
<No,> Lugia said immediately. I tilted my head, nonplussed. It ruffled its feathers, mind awash with embarrassment, realizing that it had answered too quickly.
<I will work on it with you.>
~End Chapter 49~
A sense that we understand him better, but that there's still a whole heck of a lot that we're missing.
