Chapter Five – Crossings

hsets: /con. gov. nebyllin/geography/provinces/south-ophria/8675364

Province Information: South Ophria

South Ophria is the most southerly province of Nebyllin, comprising the southernmost part of the Nebyllish mainland and the Firland Peninsula to the west. Crossings is its capital and largest city, formerly a major garrison of the Rescue Federation and sitting at the intersection of two major rivers. Agriculture is South Ophria’s largest industry, comprising over 80% of its yearly output. The main methods of travel throughout South Ophria are by ferry and road.

South Ophria is bordered by Terrabondace to the north, and North Ophria to the northeast. The Province is home to a rugged subtropic biome, housing everything from foggy coastal mountains to low-lying marshes to sunny farmland. Its coastal barrier islands, forming the Wet Banks, are some of the most diverse and notable in all of Nebyllin, ranging from sandy beach deposits to tangled mangrove marshes.

While the Eastern Mainland is well-travelled and populated, the western Firland Peninsula has relatively little connection or population density due to its mountainous terrain, lack of development, and isolation from the rest of the province. Towns in this region are small and undeveloped, but the peninsula is renowned for its untouched natural splendour. Numerous abandoned forts and castles can be found along Firland’s coastline and barrier islands, relics of its time as an Annex of the Rescue Federation.

ⓘ It is advised to take heightened caution around Mystery Dungeons in Firland, due to an uptick in rapidly strengthening Dungeons throughout the region.

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5.

Crossings

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The morning breeze rustled Espurr awake. After a long day yesterday, she’d fallen asleep not long after hitting the straw in her bed, and had pleasant dreams. She felt the wind touch her nose, calmly bringing her out of dreamland and into the real world. She yawned and stretched, for perhaps the first time in the past few days feeling truly rested. Her sleep had been peaceful, and not filled with talking hydras or strange dark places, and that was a blessing.

Blinking her eyes open, she noticed the door of the school clinic was ajar, the source of the breeze that was coming in and disturbing her cosiness. Next to it, moving a few bins around, was Audino.

“Oh,” said Audino. “You’re up. Good. I was just about to wake you.”

The pink pokemon moved a bunch of bins to the table near the medicine cabinet as Espurr stretched.

“How come?” Espurr asked groggily, still rubbing the sleepiness out of her eyes.

“We’re taking you out to town to get you registered,” said Audino. “Get you some school supplies too, if you’re going to be hanging around.”

Hanging around… Espurr didn’t expect she was going to be hanging around for too long. She was just here until she found out what was lurking around the village limits. But more importantly…

“What town?” she asked, reluctantly stepping off the bed at Audino’s behest as the nurse packed one of the bags that hung from the wall next to the door, and put her bright, wide, flowered hat on her head. “Aren’t we already in one?”

“This one’s a proper town,” said Audino, adjusting her hat and rifling through the bag. She grabbed a pouch that jingled, stuffing it inside before closing the flap. “You’ll see when we get there. Oh, and we’ll be going by water, so make sure you strap in for a long haul.”

By water…

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It took Espurr a couple minutes to make sure her lavender fur was all brushed straight, the fluffy curls atop her head somewhat tamed and the leaf-green sleeve around her bad arm tucked tight. Audino gave her a small blue ribbon that went in a bow neatly atop her head. She had a bright orange apple and a strange blue fruit to eat for breakfast, which tasted like a strawberry and had the texture of a grape. Then it was time to venture into the outdoors, the chilly morning breeze nipping at her fur as she followed Audino down the pine tree path and towards the town. It was still pleasantly cloudy, the morning fog glowing blue and orange in the light of the rising ocean sun.

The town square, deserted in the early morning, was near a beach, bordering a still bay that widened up into the sea beyond. Audino led Espurr down past the acorn-houses and onto the bay, towards a wooden pole that was sticking out of the sand. Espurr jumped back as the water in front of her suddenly began to bubble, parting around a wide blue head with orange fins.

“You rang?” asked the amphibian pokemon, head poking above the waves.

“One trip to and back from Crossings, please,” said Audino, rummaging in her bag. She produced a few shiny golden coins from her pouch, handing them out to the pokemon. “This should cover the fares.”

Espurr vaguely remembered Crossings from… the map! She remembered Serenity Village, etched in small black words halfway up, on the other side. They were going inland?

“This is Swampert,” said Audino to Espurr. “He’ll be ferrying us to and from the town.”

“Hi,” said Espurr with an awkward wave of her arm that wasn’t broken. Marshtomp didn’t respond with anything but a grunt. It made her want to shrivel up. Clearly, she hadn’t gotten the hang of talking to others yet.

Swampert took the coins in a large slimy webbed paw, looking them over before nodding. “Alright, then.” He dipped underneath the water, resurfacing with his back in plain view. A saddle sat atop it, with a few adjustable harnesses. “Hop on.”

Swampert’s back was slimy, but he was fast. Espurr, frightened, with only a couple straps around her chest and waist protecting her from certain death, clung on for dear life as the pokemon sped across the ocean with the speed of a dolphin, slicing clean through waves and weaving through currents. They made a wide bow around, heading into a wide, murky river that snaked deeper inland. Audino seemed much more relaxed than she was, only making sure the bag was safe and that Espurr hadn’t lost hold. Espurr was terrified—how had no-one slipped off and fallen into the ocean before? She tried to ask Audino, yelling over the wind, but between the rippling breeze and the crashing of the waves, her words were lost to the wind.

“What?” asked Audino over the sound of the rippling sea. Espurr could barely hear her either.

It was only about 30 minutes before the water pokemon began to slow, however, and then Espurr saw it – in the distance, quickly getting closer, the bank of a large bay was coming into view. She could see in the distance tall, colourful buildings, rising far above anything in Serenity Village.

They stopped at a pier, atop an enclosed beach near the bank of a river. The water seemed to bend and part gracefully for Swampert, letting him skid onto the shallow waves before sliding to a stop on the beach and lowering his broad back, allowing the two of them to disembark.

“We’ll be heading back in a couple hours,” said Audino to Swampert once the straps had been undone and they were safely on the beach. Espurr felt dizzy on her feet and like she could hug the beach, if it wasn’t too large and sandy. She never wanted to do that again!

“Take your time,” said the water pokemon, who’d already gone back to lazily floating in the shallow beach water. “I’m not going anywhere.”

And silently, he slipped back underneath the ripples of the river bank without another word.

“Where is this place?” asked Espurr as they climbed the uneven stone steps from the beach up towards the rocky hill above. It didn’t seem far away from the village at all, but it looked like a whole different world…

“Crossings,” said Audino, adjusting the bright, floral, wide-brimmed hat she was wearing. “The largest city in the province. And it just so happens to be where all the good shops are.”

As they walked up the steps, the rock giving way to clean white cobblestone, Espurr’s eyes widened, struggling to take in the view. Crooked, three-storey shops selling shiny blue orbs and polished sticks with runes stocked their wares out front, while others were advertising fresh berries and fruits, as well as large gummy-like things the size of loafs of bread piled up in wooden containers. Pokemon of all shapes and sizes were heading to and fro in droves, looking over all the wares and haggling with market vendors, and some were holding up fliers for their own stores. The smell of baked goods teased Espurr’s nose, and she noticed a cosy-looking bakery decked out in lovely shades of orange, foods all displayed in the fancy windows out front. It was filled with glowing, diamond-shaped pastries and massive loaves of bread and little cookies iced to seem like white and purple butterflies. She’d barely finished taking in one sight before another caught her eyes and ears, turning her head another way. She’d never seen something so lively and bright before!

Walking through the streets with colours and wonders and smells that never seemed to end, they soon came upon a building that seemed to dwarf all the others, built like a large, domed castle with vibrant cobalt roofs and a ridged clock tower at the top of the building’s highest spire. It sat in the middle of town, buildings parting ways for it, and at the top of the massive, studded archway, in large, engraved text, read:

SOUTH OPHRIA DEPARTMENT OF REGISTRY

As they approached the building, they stopped near the giant entrance archways. Espurr got sudden dubious vibes off Audino, like she was hesitant to enter.

“Here’s our first stop,” she said after a pause, adjusting her hat again and leading Espurr onwards towards the building.

The atmosphere changed immediately once they were inside, the white cobblestone of the town shifting to clean marble floors. The hall was built like a massive cathedral, the arched windows of domed roof sending light into the pristine pillars and corridors below and stretching so much higher than Espurr could have ever imagined. Just the height made her head spin! She felt the urge to stand in the centre and spin around while looking at the top until she got dizzy. But Audino pulled her along, heading for the desk.

The only sounds bouncing around the acoustic halls were the clacking of mechanical keyboards, the closest one ‘monned by what Espurr inferred was a slakoth from the card on the counter reading ‘assistant Slakoth’.

“Can I help you?” he asked tiredly, lethargically clicking buttons on the keyboard with his long claws. The keyboard was hooked into a strange blue orb, which projected an image onto a translucent panel in front of him.

“We’re here to get this one—” Audino tugged on Espurr’s arm “—registered.”

“Name, town?”

“Espurr,” said Espurr, prompted by Audino. “Serenity Village.”

“She’ll be with the school,” Audino added helpfully.

The slakoth nodded, then yawned.

“This way,” he said lazily, scooting back his stool and hopping down, heading further into the building. “We take the photos over there.”

The photo stall was in the back, surrounded by the massive hall on all sides, and it consisted of a bunch of white panels, a lightbulb, and another blue crystal orb attached to a stick. Espurr was made to face the bulb and the orb as the slakoth struggled to snap it down to an appropriate height.

“Brace for the light,” he said, and with a high-pitched whine and a few clicks, the orb apparently took her photo. Bright light flashed her. She gasped and turned her head away, squinting.

“No!” cried the slakoth. “We’ll have to take it again now!”

Espurr felt annoyed as the pokemon repositioned her like a floppy rag doll. What a strange camera…

Someone very loudly cleared their throat. Espurr, who hadn’t been expecting it, looked over curiously. Approaching them was a very large, dusk-coloured, striped crocodile that stood on two legs. He wore an official-looking white scarf, and there were cuffs attached to his wrists. On his nametag: Krookodile.

“Audino, of Serenity Village, yes?”

Audino suddenly stiffened up, adjusting her bright floral hat again. Espurr couldn’t help but try to listen in, even as Slakoth dragged her by her good arm to get a shot of her from the side, adjusting her annoyedly. Was this what Audino had been fretting about?

“Yes, sir,” said Audino hurriedly.

Krookodile sighed. His form was shrouded in lime tiredness and annoyance. The colours still messed with Espurr’s head. “Funny coincidence. I was just about to have your presence sent for in the mail.”

Audino stayed composed; Espurr could tell it was taking effort on her part. The negative aura reeking off of her was singed a deep blue.

“That’s just as well,” she said. “I thought it would be a decent time to pay a visit.”

“Signing on another student?” asked Krookodile, his eyes landing on Espurr. Espurr tried to look like she hadn’t noticed, and like they weren’t boring holes into her. “Your establishment is under scrutiny right now. Do you really want to change the variables so close to your inspection date?”

“Last I checked we were within our rights to take up to twenty students with our current staff,” said Audino. “This makes fifteen.”

Espurr heard Krookodile ‘hmm’ affirmatively.

“Yes, technically you are,” he said. “But now to business: in light of your school’s recent performance and your hosting of the regional cup, we’re going to be increasing surveillance at Serenity Village.”

“How come? I don’t believe there were problems with our initial signup,” said Audino, nervous. “No-mon came to check then. What changed?”

Krookodile sighed.

“The board, after reviewing your merits and student roster, doesn’t think your school is qualified in spirit to host the cup… or for the status of state school. Did you know you take the minimum amount of students to qualify? And frankly, given the previous trouble that was reported to us before, along with the relative lack of discipline you have handled the students involved with since then…”

Students involved with… The gears in Espurr’s head were beginning to turn. She tried her best to at least keep one ear on their discussion, as Slakoth forcefully adjusted her into a position where she could see them and checked to make sure she wasn’t turning back around. Did that mean… Tricky?

“…You’ll understand why the province board has begun discussing whether your school should continue to receive state funding,” Krookodile finished. He was staring Audino into the ground, but she was doing her best not to succumb to it. She was cracking a bit. “As the intendent assigned to your district, I am mandating extra supervision for the duration of your hosting up to and including the inspection.” He somehow found a way to lean in closer. “And I should hope you’ll be keeping things running spick and span. Just the way a government-funded school should be.”

Audino couldn’t do much more than nod quickly.

“Yes, sir,” she said. “Everything will be done on time just as planned.”

“Excellent,” said Krookodile. “Don’t disappoint me.”

He looked over at Espurr.

“And I do hope your…” he trailed off, twirling a set of claws around as he searched for the word. “New student blends in soon enough.”

“She will,” said Audino quickly and hurriedly.

Krookodile snorted, doing his tie up with his claws.

“Then I will leave you to it. Expect authorities to get in touch a month before the competition.”

And then he walked off. Audino was clearly shaken. Espurr could see the dark, deep green. She looked like she wanted to faint, but was restraining herself for the sake of not causing a scene in public.

“Who was that?” asked Espurr, once he was gone. Audino, though she had nerves of steel, looked quite agitated, but even though it might have not been the best time, Espurr had to ask.

“That was Krookodile,” said Audino. “He’s the superintendent for the district Serenity Village is in. Don’t pay him any mind; he’s never seen the right side of the bed before.”

Flash. Another photo out of nowhere, making Espurr groan and jam her eyes shut from the unexpected flash.

“No-no-no!” exclaimed the irritated slakoth. “We’ll have to take it again now!”

All Espurr could do was sigh apologetically. She just didn’t like camera flashes!

As the vigoroth turned her around and took her picture from behind – flash – Espurr’s eyes peered through the cracks in the panels, and fixated on a large statue that was being wheeled in on the other side of the building. It was surrounded by official-looking pokemon, all wearing pristine white scarves, as well as Krookodile, so it had to be important… The statue was of a large, rodentlike creature with a long, thin thunderbolt tail, ornately detailed and built to scale. If Espurr didn’t know better, she would have said it could have come to life at any moment. Was it possible to sculpt that level of detail? It looked beyond what handiwork was capable of, almost… alive.

And why would they be carrying some statue in like it was some big secret?

There was another thing she noticed too. Lurking in the building, watching them go and trying to pretend like he wasn’t, was a large, yellow, sheeplike creature in an emerald-green cape.

Flash. The picture was taken.

A green cape. Striding towards her through the ghostly fog.

Flash.

She remembered.

“What were you looking at?” asked Audino, as the slakoth ushered her off the platform.

Espurr, her heart still pounding, turned back to look at the place she’d been peering now that she was in a clear place.

“There was—”

But the statue was gone.

They must have really wanted to get it out of there, hadn’t they…

“Hmm?” asked Audino, looking where Espurr was.

“It’s gone now,” said Espurr.

And so was the ‘mon in the green cloak.

All in all, it took about ten minutes to get the photos and the papers written. Espurr had to sign a few papers and stamp a paw-print in black ink. She’d get a paper in the mail deeming her as with a school in a few weeks.

Their next stop, a few streets away and back into the languid mess of colours and noise and light, was a small, two-storey bookshop named the Crooked Book Nook that seemed to lean ever-so-slightly against the buildings on either side of it. It was almost claustrophobic from the ground floor, bookcases leaning over them like they were sagging from the weight of all the different tomes. Despite that, the shop was well-lit, the first storey an overlook decked out with windows that illuminated the many shelves and tables below. Audino read the signs hanging from each aisle, looking for the correct section.

“You’ll need one for dungeoneering class, and one for botany…” Audino trailed off, leaving Espurr to her own devices as she searched. Espurr’s eyes widened, glimmering with excitement. Finally, a library! Books being her past time, she couldn’t help herself from going through the shelves with glee, eventually gazing at some of the ones on display at a table off to the side.

The books here weren’t like the books she had back home, she quickly realised. Many of them seemed almost alive, or enchanted – one book, How to Enchant Things, was covered in runes that seemed to glow with energy, while another, A Light in The Dark, shone bright light off its pages when she opened it. Half blinded and looking away, Espurr groaned and quickly snapped it shut. How were you supposed to read a book like that?

After the last two, she didn’t really want to mess with the one titled Teleporting for Dummies.

“Need help?”

Startled, Espurr nearly dropped the book as she looked up. There was a ‘mon in front of her that was hot pink from head to toe, except for their light-pink arms and the giant, poofy bangs that hung from their head. Was it hair?

“No, I think I have it sorted,” she said nicely, setting the book down on the table. The creature looked down at it.

“Hey, I’d advise you be careful in this section,” the pink ‘mon said causally, leaning against a bookcase and folding their arms. “One time we stocked a book called The Disappearing Act, which actually disappeared after you sat down and read it. Another time it was The Explosive Guide to Explosives, which… well, needless to say, those weren’t exactly bestsellers.”

“Why would anymon… make books like that?” asked Espurr, somewhat shocked. Weren’t books supposed to be for reading?

“Beats me,” the ‘mon shrugged. “I just help sell ’em. But if it’s worth anything, Campfire for A Rainy Day actually makes for a pretty good campfire. It’s waterproof, too. Anyway, acquaintances can call me Tinkaton. You?”

“Espurr,” said Espurr. “I’m from Serenity Village.”

“Ahh, right,” said Tinkaton. “Then you must be here for schoolbooks. They’re all the way on the other side of the bookstore—”

“Got them,” said Audino from behind, cutting into their conversation. She had three large books in her arms, which Espurr read the titles of: Do’s and Don’ts of Mystery Dungeons, The Book of Berries, and An Abridged History of The World. “Let’s go ahead and pay for these.” She looked at Tinkaton. “Mind ringing us up?”

“Sure thing,” said Tinkaton, hopping behind the counter. “You’re here for the afternoon?”

“Just another hour, actually,” said Audino. “We have to get some more dungeon supplies for exams later.”

“Well, see ya in a few months at the competition,” said Tinkaton. “Our school’s been training.”

They left the bookstore through the same crooked doorway they’d entered through, emerging back into the bustling, sunny marketplace.

“I’m just going to make one more stop,” Audino explained, turning around the corridor and off the main street, into a more residential sector of town. She stopped Espurr there. “You wait for me here; I’ll just be a minute.”

And then she was off, leaving Espurr to her own devices off to the side in the large, crowded main street.

All of a sudden, the city seemed so much noisier. The currents of the crowd moved against her, threatening to sweep her away, and before long she was moving along with them, just at her own pace. She took in the sights as she went – what looked like a large, walking sunflower was pushing around a cart with colourful bundles of normal flowers, and a dog made entirely of… bread? Was selling various pastries to whoever would buy one.

Her stomach grumbled a bit. Oh, how she wished she had some pocket change…

There was one ‘mon who caught her eye, just from how much he stood out from the rest of the crowd. He was yellow from head to toe, with a neck almost like a short giraffe, but on his back lay an earth-green cloak, and he seemed to be loitering around quite suspiciously, almost like he was on the lookout for someone.

Wait, he was the sheeplike ‘mon at the government building… It wasn’t Espurr’s business to get involved in anything shady, but she wondered exactly what his deal was. He seemed so out of place…

And he was looking straight at her.

Immediately, she switched into ‘walk away and look inconspicuous’ mode. He must have seen her back in the building. There was no other likely explanation.

There was one wall that two blue monkeys with sponges were cleaning off. It was sectioned off from the public with tape and made of brick, and covered in some kind of drawing that stretched up two stories tall – a black flag with diagonal red stripes converging near the bottom like crossed swords. Above it, etched in dripping white paint, were the words “For Nebyllin!”

“Ugh,” said one of the townsmon, who had stopped with a few others to look at it just the same as Espurr had. “Can’t believe that’s here.” There were several ‘yea’s and mutters of agreement from all around him.

“It’s a shame, really,” muttered another, a large, rotund, purple ‘mon with a massive mouth and a top hat. “All that nonsense ought to stay up North.”

Espurr looked in their direction.

“What does it mean?” she asked.

“Best children don’t concern themselves with things like that,” said a third, a large, orange, boar-like ‘mon who wore a belt of construction tools around his torso. “They’re a bunch of frauds and loonies, that’s what.”

The rest of the murals from there didn’t seem to grab as much attention from the locals. It seemed like Espurr couldn’t pass a building on any of the streets ahead that wasn’t covered in some sort of art. One of them, in what she assumed was one of the lesser city squares, was grander than the rest. It stood out from the others, weathered and nearly two storeys high. The oils on brick immortalised the image of a blue otter and a yellow mouse standing at the edge of a cliff, combining beams of light from their paws that were aimed at a colossal snowflake in front of them. She had no idea what it meant. Only a golden plaque on the front gave her any clue.

“The Heroes of Paradise”

“There you are!” came Audino’s voice out of nowhere, and Espurr looked back to see her running up, her flowered hat almost lopsided. “I thought I told you to stay in one place!” she admonished Espurr.

“It was only a street…” said Espurr.

“One street too many,” said Audino. “Stay in one spot next time!”

Espurr pointed up at Audino’s hat, which was beginning to slip off. Audino looked up, and adjusted it. She pulled something out of her bag, and lumped a pastry into Espurr’s paws. It was one of the ones that bread-dog was selling.

“Thought you’d be hungry,” she said.

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School was nothing remarkable that day. Espurr was more tired than usual – getting up to go to Crossings had meant she’d gotten up a couple hours earlier than she normally would – and was thankful when it finally ended. She felt like faceplanting into bed the moment the sun went down.

For detention, Watchog made them clean the classroom after school. Which meant plucking weeds, polishing the teacher’s desk, dusting the blackboard, and finally – putting away the supplies that had been left out during class.

“Hey,” she said to Goomy as the two of them were packing up. Goomy looked at her, helping jam some of the school supplies back into a bucket.

“Y-yes?” he asked.

“Do you know who the “Heroes of Paradise” are?”

Goomy looked like he was thinking hard for a couple seconds.

“I-I heard a-b-bout them, b-but I don’t know wh—”

“I know!”

Tricky seemed to pop out of nowhere, practically shrieking the words with excitement. She also knocked over the school supplies Goomy had been stacking. Goomy melted a bit with a sigh. Espurr felt bad for him. Tricky was a bit like an annoying rubber chicken – endlessly annoying, and never where you wanted her to appear.

“Where did you hear that?” the fennekin asked, panting obliviously. “Huh? Huh?”

“I saw it today,” Espurr said with a hint of annoyance, helping Goomy restack the supplies. “And since you’re here, can you help us restack these?”

Tricky carelessly lopped one thing back into the nearby bin with her tail – not at all where it was even supposed to go! – and then began spewing word vomit.

“The Heroes of Paradise are only like, the most famous heroes in the modern day!” she began. “They said for years and years, there were all these wars, like, between the North and South. And then seventy years ago, the most dangerous blizzard ever engulfed the world. It was caused by the Bittercold! The Bittercold was the amalgamation of everymon’s mean thoughts, it just all created a storm and that storm threatened to wipe everymon else out. The Heroes of Paradise were the ones who defeated the Bittercold and stopped the storm from lashing out and destroying everything!”

“Huh…” Espurr’s mind was already turning gears. A Bittercold… was that what she was looking for? Could that be the monster she’d been sent here to defeat?

“Where are they now?” she asked. Dead, she assumed.

“Oh, they’re up North,” said Tricky, spreading out her paws. “In a big city named Pokemon Paradise! They say it’s so big that you can walk for hours and never see the end of town!

“They built it,” she added sagely.

“A-anyways, I have to go h-home now,” interjected Goomy, who had cleanly put everything back in the bucket while they were talking. It was the last thing to put away. Yawning, he bid them goodbye and began to slime off. Tricky yawned.

“Yeah, me toooo…” she whined. “See you later, Espurr!” she waved as she pranced off, leaving Espurr completely alone to put the bucket away in its proper place. At least there wasn’t that much inside it, so she could lug it along with one arm. And she could think as she worked.

The entire exchange simply left Espurr with more thoughts than brainpower to dissect them. She didn’t see anything like a Bittercold these days. And since the Heroes of Paradise were still alive… why couldn’t they handle it? Why had she been brought here in their place?

What was so wrong with them?

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Music of the Week!

Diagon Alley and the Gringotts Vault / Wand of the Phoenix – John Williams