Arc 1, Chapter 20: On Thin Ice
by owryintheblindforestDumas had a tough stretch in front of him.
Not only would he have to track down Haruhi and Amadeus in order to get the Ultranecrozium back, he’d have to do it entirely in secret. And he needed to work quickly, or else they’d likely find somewhere good to hide it. It wasn’t like there was a shortage of those up in Northerner’s Territory. If they did, he’d likely never see it again. Moreover, Amadeus and Haruhi disappearing could become a problem in of itself if they did not return quickly, given Teru’s already-confirmed death. If the court date came and went without them showing up, it would lend credence to the idea that he murdered them.
Dumas groaned as he scanned a map of the North in his private study early in the morning. He’d initially picked Gorod Vershin as the city they were most likely to travel to, but he was starting to doubt himself. It wasn’t the largest city up north, after all. Staden av Nya Början was much larger, and nearly as disconnected from the guild. More than likely, it was just as good a candidate. On the other hand, it would be a massive pain to search, owing to it’s large size. It could take days for a single spy to comb through the place, and he didn’t have the manpower to dedicate to a single city.
A knocking at the window.
“Come in, Fudo.”
Fudo opened up the window and climbed through. For a moment, he looked confused. “I, uh, don’t see any teleporters in here.”
“That won’t be necessary, Fudo.” Dumas tapped a small piece of metal attached to a keychain. “I have other means of getting around.”
“That dinky piece of scrap?” Fudo asked. “What is that?”
“Future tech,” Dumas replied, voice completely even. “It’s a teleportation device I managed to bring with me from the future. It’s come in handy over the years.” In reality, he’d made it just this morning with the medallion, but he couldn’t risk Fudo knowing what it could do. He needed Fudo to cooperate, and the last thing he needed was to give him a reason to believe Amadeus. “It’ll send you to Gorod Vershin if you click the button, and take you back if you click it again. I want you back here at exactly four in the afternoon, got it?”
Fudo picked up the keychain and stared at it for a while. Dumas took the opportunity to use Self Esteem to check his memories. By accessing short-term memory, he could see what he was thinking in the moment. He seems to be buying what I’m saying right now, but his resolve his shaky at best… Perhaps unsurprisingly, Fudo proceeded to voice his concerns.
“Sir, are you absolutely sure I should bring them in by any means necessary?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I don’t think it’d be good if I hurt them. Besides, don’t you only need the crystal? If you could use it to make all of that energy, you’d prove your innocence, right? I could just steal it off of them with my Magician ability.”
Now that I think of it, he’s right. I do only need the crystal, after all. Still, if I can’t get everything set up before the court date, it’s not going to look good. I’d rather not cut it so close… “The court date is going to happen whether or not I manage to use the Ultranecrozium. Haruhi and Amadeus need to be here by then regardless of what happens.” I suppose what I’m saying technically isn’t a lie… that deadline is there regardless. “You must bring them both. Ideally with minimal injuries. I should clarify that I wasn’t implying you should hurt them. I apologize for that.”
Fudo seemed to cheer up a bit after that. “Alright, sir. I’ll do my best.”
“Remember, be back at four exactly. I hope you’ve got something to tell the time?” Dumas asked, handing Fudo the keychain.
“Never leave the house without it,” Fudo said, pulling out a pocket watch. “This thing’s gonna take me here, right?”
“Yes, it’ll take you right here. Good luck.”
Dumas watched as Fudo disappeared in a flash of light. He heaved a sigh of relief. In the very least, it seemed like he’d convinced Fudo to help him out.
Now he got to move on to convincing everyone else. Fun.
He stepped out into his office, and started organizing his desk. Nobody had felt the need to search his office and study just yet, but he had a few tricks he could pull with the medallion to hide any evidence, just like he had with his house. For now, though, it didn’t seem like anyone wanted to go looking. Which was good, since the private study in particular was a candidate for hosting the machine he needed.
He didn’t get much time before he had to deal with more scrutiny today, though, as a knocking started on the door to his office.
“Come in.”
Midori opened the door to the office. “The Guildmaster wants you. Now.”
“What’s he up in arms about now?” Dumas asked.
“He didn’t say, but I don’t think it’s very hard to guess.”
“Fair enough,” Dumas replied, getting up from his desk. “I’ll be sure to answer all of his questions.”
“Yeah, you’d better.”
“Don’t sass me, Midori.”
“Just go pay the guy a visit before he gets angry with you. You know what happened.”
Dumas quietly exited his office, and made his way to the throne room. There, Tokugawa was already standing in the middle of the room, arms behind his back, staring Dumas directly in the eye. Dumas could feel the pressure from his gaze, but now, more than ever, he could not fold under it.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes, and I believe you know why.”
“This is concerning what happened yesterday and the day before, correct?” Dumas asked. “I assume you’ve heard my account?”
“I have, yes. Although I’d like to discuss what happened more… precisely. Now then, I’m inclined to believe the idea that you had the best of intentions, but there are a few details I’d like to confirm.”
“Of course, sir.”
Tokugawa pulled out a sheet of paper. “First and foremost. Among other things, Amadeus claims that you are another version of him. This detail was corroborated by Akihiro, Ryo, and Fudo. Akihiro in particular claims to have initially gotten that information from you. Is this true?”
I don’t have a choice… “All true, sir. I fail to see how this changes the nature of the case, however.”
“You claimed that Amadeus’ account was completely fabricated. Is that true, or are there parts of it that are factual?”
“None of the events that Amadeus claimed to happen that day happened, sir.”
Tokugawa paused, as if giving it some thought. “You chose to withhold the information regarding to your relationship with Amadeus. Why?”
“It was personal information I thought unnecessary to confirm, sir.”
“Did you know this when I asked who he was in our background check?”
“I only had a theory at the time.”
“But you later confirmed this with Amadeus himself?”
“Yes.”
Tokugawa sighed. “Quite frankly, you should have come to me with this information. But let’s continue. Amadeus and Haruhi’s account also claims you told them directly that you are responsible for The Light that Burned the Sky. Is this true?”
“As I have said, I made no such claim. That part of the story is completely fabricated.”
“Not the entire story? Are parts of it true?”
“Parts of it. Rest assured, the part about me joining some kind of cult are not.”
“Mayumi Umbreon. Akihiro claims that she initially accompanied Amadeus and Haruhi to Hakken no Machi, before leaving for Haruhi’s home town. A background check revealed that she runs a dojo certified by our Guild there. Is this the same person that was with you in Háo de Xiǎo?”
“I haven’t gotten the opportunity to confirm that, although nothing would lead me to believe she isn’t.” Dumas sighed. “With all due respect, sir, why are we doing this? Most of this could’ve been done with a proper interrogation.”
“Dumas, you don’t seem to realize that someone died.”
“It was a freak accident, sir. The chaos of the situation caused his death.”
“Whether or not you killed him is not the primary issue. The issue is that you invited the three of them to a secluded area, and what you did there was alarming enough that they felt the need to actively combat you in order to escape. There was a struggle. That is a fact.” Tokugawa paused, as if for dramatic effect. “It’s entirely possible you’re innocent, and all of this will blow over eventually. Perhaps they overreacted to a similar demonstration of the crystals to the one you gave me. But it’s also possible that you are guilty.”
“Sir, this is ridiculous—”
“I wasn’t done talking. Dumas, I want to believe you. I really do. You’ve done some incredible work over the years. But if all of that was a cover for creating a second city-destroying incident in Hakken no Machi? You had better believe that you will never see the light of day again. Perhaps even executed. Do I make myself clear?”
That was clear from the beginning… Dumas had to restrain himself from making a snide comment. “Yes, sir.” Must be nice being able to lord over everyone else like that…
Tokugawa exhaled. “Now then. Mayumi will be summoned to Hakken no Machi for the sake of the investigation so she can testify about your past, particularly about the relationship she had with you. I’m sure you have no objections to this?”
“None at all, sir.” Shit. Now that she’s coming here, I won’t be able to silence her to avoid suspicion. If anything happens now, that’ll hurt my case… I may have to move up my timetable. Her descriptions of who I tended to hang out with would nearly confirm my guilt… I have to be quick.
Amadeus groaned as he awoke for the day. The bed he’d slept in that night wasn’t particularly comfy. In the very least, it didn’t feel like it cost 500 Poké a night. It smelled strange, too. Honestly, I should’ve just used the sleeping bag.
Hazily, Amadeus looked around the room. Haruhi was dead asleep on the bed. Judging by the sun outside, it was roughly the same time of day that they arrived yesterday. We have to get moving…
Amadeus started rifling through the travel bag they’d packed everything into. I still don’t understand this ‘bigger on the inside’ nonsense… How do they do it? Eventually, he located the money. The inn bill would be nearly all of what they had… but it would have to do. They’d be mostly scavenging what they needed from mystery dungeons, anyway. In theory.
Amadeus turned to Haruhi. She was still sleeping soundly. It had been a while since they’d slept in the same room, so he wasn’t sure if this was unusual for her, but he could’ve sworn she was normally up right around the same time he was.
…She stank of charcoal. She doesn’t bathe often, does she? He jumped over to her bed and shook her awake. “C’mon. Up and at ‘em, Haruhi. We’ve gotta go now.”
Haruhi groggily lifted her head, and squinted at Amadeus. “Good morning…” She yawned. “Did you have to shake me?”
“…I don’t know, how else was I gonna wake you up?”
“Be loud? Or just take off the covers, maybe?”
“Whatever, Haruhi. We gotta go soon.”
Haruhi stretched. “We gonna stuff bread into the bag, or what?”
“I don’t think the Sigilyph who runs this place is gonna like that.”
“It’s complimentary, right? He won’t mind,” Haruhi said, rubbing her eyelids.
“…Fair enough.”
“Yeah. Now pass me that scarf, it’s gonna be freezing outside.”
Checking out went relatively smoothly, all things considered. The Sigilyph didn’t even notice when they took nearly a third of the bread that he’d put out. After that, it was just a matter of figuring out which way led them further into Northerner’s territory.
“khen yuh shee it?” Amadeus asked through his teeth, holding the map with his mouth.
“I could lift that with psychic, you know,” Haruhi pointed out.
Barely… “Jhust shay whuch way…”
“That way,” Haruhi said, pointing off to her right. “Now can you please get the map out of your mouth?”
Amadeus hastily stuffed the map into the bag. “Done. Let’s move.”
“Whatever you say…” Haruhi said, sounding a teensy bit annoyed.
The city streets were marginally more busy than yesterday. In the very least, it didn’t seem like it was less busy. Amadeus found himself scanning the crowd aimlessly. Something about the fact that it was mostly shiny Pokémon made it slightly more interesting to do so. It was a nice way to ease the stress, anyway.
A pair of ice types, a Beartic and a Weavile, were sipping cold drinks. Evidently, this was what northerners considered warm weather. Admittedly, it was still the summer.
Some water types were playing in the river. Amadeus wasn’t terribly sure how they could even stand water that cold, but it was nice to see.
On the other side of the river, quite far from Haruhi and Amadeus, A Braixen was asking something at a stand. By the looks of it, they were shopping for something. They just happened to not be shiny.
Wait a minute…
Amadeus stared at the Braixen for a little while longer. They seemed familiar.
Fudo? Why is he here? Shouldn’t he be back home? Why…
Amadeus remembered what Fudo said to him the morning after he learned Samantha died.
Oh, Arceus, Fudo is Dumas’ spy. Shit… “Haruhi, let’s pick up the pace.”
“…What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I… Just feel like we need to get a move on.” Why aren’t you telling her you might’ve spotted Fudo? Bah, it doesn’t matter, but… “I feel like Dumas might figure out we’re here.”
“It’ll be fine…” Haruhi assured him. “Just keep your head down…”
Eventually, they were relatively far from the city. It wasn’t anywhere near as big as Hakken no Machi was. The city was receding over the horizon within a few hours.
Of course, they had to keep moving. At some point, they made the decision to stray away from the main river.
The hours went by, mostly in silence. Every once in a while, Amadeus and Haruhi would find a good enough topic to carry a conversation.
“What kinds of things did this Z crystal stuff get used for, anyway? In your time, I mean,” Haruhi asked. “You vaguely alluded them being used for fighting and electricity, but not much else.”
“Uh, let’s see…” Amadeus said, racking his brains. “Well, they did get used for making weapons quite a lot. I don’t think anyone really fought without them… In fact, you couldn’t, because you’re fighting with fighter ships most of the time.”
“Is there really just… nothing in space? No air, you just choke to death?”
“It’s actually much grizzlier, but I don’t remember how exactly. Something like blood boiling while your body inflates like a balloon as all of the air gets sucked—”
“You can stop describing it now, that sounds gross.” Haruhi made a ‘bleh’ face. “But seriously, what else did the crystals get used for other than weapons?”
“Some people used Ghostium to bring themselves back from the dead.”
Haruhi stopped in her tracks. “I’m sorry, what the hell? That’s insane.”
“Well, I’m pretty sure the technology cost an arm and a leg, but yeah. Just slap a collar on, don’t break it, and you get eternal life. There was this one politician who’d been there since the ship first launched, actually. Dude was nearly a thousand years old.”
“It’s been around for nearly a thousand years and it’s still not cheap to make?”
“I mean, it requires a lot of Ghostium, which is… pretty common… Actually, you know what? Let’s not worry about that one. There’s also making clean water from Waterium. There was an entire complex on the Expedition IV just dedicated to producing all of the water that the whole ship used for basically everything.” Amadeus paused. “…That’s everything I can think of. I don’t know a whole lot about that stuff.”
“Crazy…” Haruhi muttered.
“I bet my sister would know a whole lot more, though,” Amadeus added. “She’s really into all types of science stuff.” Samantha… “Come to think of it, wasn’t she in Nōgyō No Machi for a while? Do you remember her?”
“Honestly? I can’t say I really got to know her that well. I wasn’t nearly as close to teacher back then, because I didn’t really need her yet. I only talked to her, like, once.”
“Oh…” Amadeus fidgeted with his pin. Admittedly, he probably shouldn’t have brought it.
“She seemed nice,” Haruhi added. “I just didn’t really get to know her that well. I know that she helped Misaki out with soap-making a bunch. And she was… is quirky the right word?”
“Quirky?”
“She always liked to grandstand whenever she was explaining something. Maybe charisma is a better word? I don’t know. She liked flexing her knowledge, that’s for sure. I feel like Teacher and Sakura were the only one that really would’ve gotten to know her personally, though.”
Amadeus was silent for a moment. “Then she went up north and…” He trailed off. Dumas killed her. All for some stupid mission. But Dumas is…
“Let’s not worry about that,” Haruhi said, interrupting his thoughts. “We gotta stay positive is we want to survive up here, right?”
Amadeus took a deep breath. “Right.”
The silence that followed lasted until later that night.
“Brrrr…” Amadeus heard Haruhi mutter. “It’s so cold out…”
By now, the sun was well on it’s way to falling behind the horizon, and it had gotten substantially more difficult to see. Amadeus figured they could probably keep going for another hour or so, but they would need to set up a tent, and who knew how long that was going to take?
“Wanna make camp here?” Amadeus asked. “We need to set up a tent for the night.”
“I was waiting for you to ask that…” Haruhi muttered.
Setting up the tent went shockingly smoothly this time, owing to the two of them having actually practiced after the trip to Hakken no Machi.
“See teacher?” Haruhi asked, addressing someone who wasn’t even there. “We can set up a tent.”
“I don’t think she can hear you.”
“Okay, but imagine if she could. She’d appreciate this, surely.”
“I mean, I don’t doubt that…” Amadeus said, dragging his sleeping bag into the tent.
“It’s progress, and that proves we’re getting better at this,” Haruhi said, doing the same. “C’mon, let me have this.”
“Okay…” Amadeus said, tucking himself into his sleeping bag. “Good night.”
For a while, there was only the sounds of rustling and Amadeus and Haruhi tried to find a comfortable position to sleep in. Eventually, Amadeus lay on his side. Amadeus could feel his eyelids getting heavy, drifting closer and closer to a restful sleep. Slowly, his breathing started to even, his body started to get still.
Then Haruhi decided to snuggle, pressing her entire body up against Amadeus’ back. From within her own sleeping bag.
“G-gah…” Amadeus said, reflexively jolting in place. Now he was wide awake.
“S-sorry, I was cold… I just thought that maybe, like last time…”
“Y-you could’ve asked before you did that!”
“I… please?”
“O-okay, just… don’t do that without asking…”
After a while, Haruhi and Amadeus relaxed back into place in silence.
“Can I get in your sleeping bag?” Haruhi asked. “I feel weird feeling you through, like, two layers of sleeping bags.”
Amadeus paused, feeling… flustered? “S-sure.”
Somewhat awkwardly, Haruhi worked her way into Amadeus’ sleeping bag, and then snuggled right up next to him. Her body was quite warm, as it had been last time. She still smelled like charcoal, if a bit less so than in the morning.
“Why do you smell like charcoal?”
“I have charcoal soap from home.”
“Oh, right, from Misaki…” Amadeus paused. “Wait, how’d you get it to last over a month?”
“I got some delivered from home, obviously.”
“…That’s what those packages were?”
“Yeah.” Haruhi suddenly gave Amadeus a strange look. “…Does it smell bad?”
“What? No, I just… thought it stood out a bit?”
“…What?”
“Nevermind…”
An awkward pause followed.
“This is nice, right?” Haruhi asked. “Just… cuddling together out in the woods, nobody else to… uh, never mind. Forget I said that.”
This is so awkward…
Eventually, they both fell asleep. Admittedly, Amadeus found himself liking sleeping this way.
Earlier that morning, Fudo Appeared in Gorod Vershin, mission in hand. All I have to do is track down Haruhi and Amadeus, right? Then they can come back and all of this will be over. Ultimately, Fudo believed in what he had to do. He didn’t want something to happen to Amadeus and Haruhi, and he didn’t want to screw up and risk his chances at forming a proper team for the guild. So he had to find them. Simple enough, right?
All of these things and more raced through his mind as he made his way closer to the town. For some reason, the teleportation keychain had taken him well outside of town. Still, it didn’t take too long to get there. As soon as he did, he started making his way over to what he assumed was a shopping district.
“Ey, kiddo!”
Fudo turned his head. The voice came from a shiny Granbull, who seemed to be manning a stand selling trinkets of some kind. “You want a souvenir?”
Sure, why the hell not? I never go this far north. “How much you selling for?”
The Granbull held up a small Vanilluxe doll. “400 Poké. How about it?”
Man, for a doll? Eh… But he might know something… “Sure,” Fudo said, handing over the money. He studied the doll for a moment. Admittedly, it was very well made. Is this meant to be that one Hans guy? It’s so detailed… “By the way, this might seem a little out of the blue, but did you happen to see a Fennekin and a Shinx together today or yesterday?”
The Granbull scratched his chin thoughtfully. “I think the guards near the park were saying something about that. You family?”
“Sort of.”
The Granbull snorted. “Well, you can ask them about it. Don’t know what you’re so interested in, but good luck with that.”
“Thank you, I’ll head there straight away.”
Fudo eventually found the park in question. It was large, and more closely resembled a forest than a part of the city. Still, it was clearly within city limits, so Fudo could only assume it was the park in question. After wandering around for a while, he eventually found what looked to be a guard. A shiny Bisharp, who looked to nearly be falling asleep.
“Excuse me, sir!”
The Bisharp got up with a jolt. “Erm, yes?”
“Did you happen to see a Fennekin and a Shinx together around here yesterday?”
The Bisharp scratched his chin. “I assume you mean a non-shiny Fennekin and Shinx?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Hm… I believe I might’ve seen a pair like that sometime yesterday. I believe they were talking to the old Dunspace that hangs out near the center. I could look into it, if you want.”
“No thank you, sir, I’ll find them myself.” Fudo ran deeper into the park, eventually finding said Dunsparce sitting down under a tree.
“Hello there,” Fudo said, leaning down to the Dunsparce’s level. “Did you happen to see a Shinx and a Fennekin yesterday?”
“Oh, I did, kiddo!” The Dunsparce’s voice was hoarse, but otherwise chipper. “They were staying at my friend’s inn, so I got to talk to them a bit. Played a game of chess with them, in fact. You see—”
Bingo. “Thanks. Where’s your friend’s inn?”
The Dunsparce seemed deeply disappointed. “…Oh. These two important to you, or—”
“Very important, yes.”
The Dunsparce looked down, disappointed. “Well, if you must know, it’s 470 yabloko street.”
“Thank you, sir.”
Fudo made haste to the address he’d been given. Hopefully, if they were still here, an inn would make a great setting to sit down and talk to them calmly. By the time he made it to the inn, it was already one in the afternoon.
“Excuse me, sir?” Fudo asked the Sigilyph at the desk.
“Interested in a room?”
“Uh… no. I was just wondering, does there happen to be a Fennekin and a Shinx staying at this inn?”
The Sigilyph’s eye widened. “They checked out early in the morning. Are you family?”
“Uh, yes. I was worried about them…” Early in the morning? They might’ve left the city already. How long have they had to travel? Four hours? Five? Six?
“Well, not much I can do to help you with that, unfortunately. They could still be in town, if you’re willing to look.”
“That’s fine, you’ve been a good help.” Fudo quickly dashed outside of the inn, and checked his pocket watch. I only have a few hours left… I’m fairly certain they would’ve gone deeper into Northerner’s Territory, but it’s hard to say exactly which direction they decided to travel. Either way, I need to be back at exactly four… Might as well try and determine that much.
Fudo left the city quickly, and started looking through the snow around the town to see if he could spot any tracks. He followed the river bed for about an hour, but found none. Eventually, he had an idea. Now that I think of it, isn’t going nearby the river kind of obvious? If they’re worried about being found, then maybe…
With barely any time left to spare, Fudo made his way deeper into the forest. After a long while, he eventually found what he was looking for. Two pairs of tracks, one Fennekin, and the other Shinx.
There it is… Fudo glanced at his pocket watch. Twenty minutes to spare, no less. Well then, I can only assume that they’re trying to get further away from the river. Probably don’t have a destination in mind, just trying to hide as best they can. In any case…
Eventually, Fudo used the teleportation keychain to get back to the Guild, right on schedule. When he appeared in Dumas’ study, the man himself was right there waiting for him.
“Fudo,” Dumas said calmly, “Find anything?”
“They were definitely in the city this morning, sir. They seemed to leave for deeper in Northerner’s territory.”
“Perfect,” Dumas said. “I’ll start sending you to towns in that general area tomorrow. You’re dismissed.”
“Actually, sir, there is one more thing…” Fudo said, continuing the conversation. “Er, where’s that map you had?”
“Right here,” Dumas replied, pulling the map out. “What did you want to add?”
“I’m fairly certain I found tracks belonging to Haruhi and Amadeus outside of the city.” Fudo pointed to the part of the map just below the river, closer to the mountain range. “They seem to be getting further away from the river, so they’re probably headed somewhere around here.”
“Stellar work. Now head home before your parents suspect something.”
Later that night, Fudo was sitting on his bed. He’d evaded questions from Fudo and Ryo well enough, but there was a lingering unease he couldn’t shake. As if something was terribly wrong about all of this.
He pulled out the doll he’d brought. It somehow looked even better without much light falling on it.
He looked down to Amadeus’ now-empty bed. Surely this was what was wrong. Amadeus wasn’t here. He should be.
Fudo put the doll in Amadeus’ bed.
Don’t worry, buddy. I’ll get you back, safe and sound. There’s nothing to worry about…
Two days passed.
Amadeus was getting tired.
The ground beneath his paws was starting to feel almost painful from the constant walking. His body was starting to ache. He and Haruhi had been walking almost constantly since they’d set out into the wilderness, and they’d yet to see any signs of civilization. In theory, that was a good thing. It meant they’d be harder to find. In practice, however, they needed food, and they hadn’t even found wild berries or a mystery dungeon.
They hadn’t stopped except to sleep and eat.
“Can we stop, Haruhi?”
Haruhi looked back at Amadeus. “Did you want lunch?” She asked. They’d been trying to maintain three meals a day, but that was starting to look dicey. They needed someplace to restock eventually, or they wouldn’t last another week. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
Amadeus wasn’t hungry, though. “I just wanted to stop…”
“Oh, okay…” Haruhi replied. “What’s the matter?”
“Just… tired.”
Haruhi gave him an odd look for a moment, before sitting down in place. Amadeus thought nothing of it and looked through the bag for a moment. Taking a piece of bread was tempting, but he had to fight that urge. Where’s the nearest town, anyway? Amadeus pulled out the map and placed it down on the ground. It had been all but impossible to track where they’d gone since leaving Gorod Vershin, but they’d more or less maintained the same direction the whole way. We’ve gotta be pretty far from the river by now, right?
It seemed like there were a handful of towns in the general area, but it was hard to say if they were nearby any of them.
Amadeus put the map back into the bag. “We’re lost.”
“Isn’t that the point of moving away from the river?” Haruhi asked.
“We’re not going to last out here.”
“Amadeus, you’re going to get us killed with that attitude.”
“I—” Amadeus stopped himself and took in a deep breath. “We need food soon.”
“We can hold out for what, a week?” Haruhi asked. “We’re fine. We just gotta ration a bit if it comes to that. We’ll find a town to hide out in eventually, right?”
“Or we could starve.”
“No sense talking about it. Either it happens, or it doesn’t. That’s all there is to it.”
“I just— listen, I’m scared, okay?”
Haruhi walked over and put a paw on Amadeus’ shoulder. “We’re gonna be okay, and that’s final. Alright? I’m not gonna let this get any worse than it already is.”
Amadeus didn’t know how to feel about that.
A while of walking later, a memory drifted up.
Amadeus was being yelled at in the living room of his family’s home. Samantha and Aubrey weren’t home, but Amadeus’ parents were. He wasn’t supposed to be home this early. A Luxray towered above him as a Flareon watched on in uncaring silence.
“Well, why haven’t you?” Amadeus’ father asked.
“I was going to, I just—”
“Just do it? How hard could it be to go up there and ask?!?” his father nearly yelled.
“B-but—” Amadeus stammered.
“LISTEN TO ME!” his father interrupted, pouring an almost impressive aggression into his words. “Every time you don’t go in there and look into colleges, I want you to hear me telling you to go there! Do you understand me?”
“I-I-I—” Amadeus stuttered, shriveling to the floor, unable to even look at his father.
“Amadeus,” his mother started, “You realize how you look right now, right? It’s rude to be looking somewhere else, you know. Eye contact. We talked about this. And stand up, for Arceus’ sake.”
His mother’s interruption briefly calmed down the frenzy of emotions in the room. His father looked to his mother briefly, and back to him. “No breakfast next morning. Now go to your room.”
Amadeus locked himself in his room.
He normally would be at his apartment, but he’d been here for the sake of a special occasion.
His birthday was today.
They hadn’t even celebrated yet.
“One, ten, one hundred, one thousand…”
“Amadeus!” Haruhi yelled, shocking Amadeus out of his stupor.
“What?” Amadeus jumped. “Is something wrong? Are we being attacked? Are—”
“No, dumbass. Look!” Haruhi pointed to what looked like clouds off in the distance. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?”
“…Clouds?”
“No. Smoke. Look closer.”
Amadeus stared at it for a moment, and realized she was right. And it was clearly quite a lot of smoke. “Oh, wow.”
“Well?” Haruhi asked. “It’s clearly a factory of some kind. Maybe there’s a town nearby! We can restock here, maybe stay a night or two! I told you we’d be fine!”
Amadeus’s mood instantly improved. Now I feel a little silly… He followed behind Haruhi, spirits a little higher. “Why do you think there’s even a factory out in the middle of nowhere, anyway?”
“If I had to guess?” Haruhi asked. “Probably sends power elsewhere. Maybe this was just a really good spot to build one.”
“Makes sense… Maybe there’s a mine nearby?” Amadeus suggested.
“That sounds likely, yeah,” Haruhi agreed.
“The important part is that we get to sleep in a bed tonight,” Amadeus pointed out.”
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to that now, too…” She laughed. “And after you said we were going to starve out here. What did I tell you?”
“You were right, no need to rub it in…”
“You should trust the process more,” Haruhi said, snout higher in the air than strictly necessary.
“Yeah, yeah…”
After a while of walking, it was clear that the smoke was rising pretty far in the distance.
“How long have we been walking?” Amadeus asked Haruhi.
“An hour, maybe?” She responded. “It can’t be more than a few more hours away, can it?”
“I guess not…”
“It isn’t very far away at all, actually,” A third voice said.
Amadeus and Haruhi whipped around to see Fudo, of all people, right behind them.
“Fudo?” Haruhi asked. “Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be home right now?”
Fudo sighed. “You guys… You know you have to appear in court, right?”
“What?” Haruhi asked, almost offended. “You know Dumas is trying to kill people, right?”
“I—” Fudo started, before taking a breath and starting over. “Listen, this is all one big misunderstanding. He’s just trying to use it for the betterment of—”
“He’s making a bomb and he said so himself!” Haruhi yelled, smoke rising from her mouth. “He killed Teru! He tried to kill us! Do you honestly believe him over us?”
Meanwhile, Amadeus’ mind was racing. Oh no, Dumas got to him, didn’t he? Heck, he’s probably been on Dumas’ side since the beginning! He’s Dumas’ personal spy, after all! Fudo’s after the Ultranecrozium. He has to be! He wouldn’t be here otherwise! Uh… crap. I don’t want to fight Fudo… “Fudo, listen! You’re being tricked! Dumas is bad news!”
Fudo seemed almost surprised at their protests, as if he hadn’t expected this. After a moment, he responded. “Guys, I know you’re scared, but—”
“You’re the one who should be scared, Fudo! He wants to destroy your home!” Haruhi nearly screamed. “Why are you believing him so easily?”
“But… he’s done so much for the city,” Fudo replied. “Why would he be trying to destroy it?”
“Because it was all a lie!” Amadeus replied. Somewhere deep within his soul, he felt guilty. “He was going to destroy it from the beginning!”
“That… can’t be true,” Fudo asserted.
The silence that followed was palpable. It was as if the air itself had been coated in a wave of dread. As if the three of them knew that what was about to follow didn’t need to happen, but would anyway, because there was something truly irreconcilable between them. Fudo’s face looked at first pained, and then resolved as he pushed that pain aside.
“Sorry,” He began, brandishing his wand, “But if you guys don’t come home, I’m not gonna be able to graduate from being a trainee. I have to do this.”
“N-no, you don’t!” Amadeus begged. “Fudo, please!”
Fudo immediately grabbed hold of Amadeus with Psychic. “Again, I’m—” He didn’t get to finish that sentence.
FWOOOM!
Haruhi immediately fired back with a flamethrower, which Fudo seemed to handle for a split second, before recoiling and releasing his hold over Amadeus. The second he did, Haruhi shoved Amadeus to the side.
“Run!” She shouted.
“But—”
“He needs the crystal and you have the bag, just do it!”
Amadeus didn’t think about that for much longer. Instead, he did as he was asked, and ran. He ran, fast and hard. He didn’t even think about the town. He just ran. All the while, he felt terrible.
You abandoned her
Coward
If she dies, that’s on you
All of this is your fault
Eventually, he started to slow down, and composed himself for a moment. How far is the smoke? The answer seemed to be that it was much closer. He didn’t even notice how close he was to a river now. …She’s still back there. Amadeus checked the bag.
The crystal wasn’t there.
Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit
After the smoke cleared, and Amadeus was long gone, Haruhi took the opportunity to yell at Fudo some more.
“Fudo, you have no idea what you’re doing! If Dumas gets his paws on that crystal, people will die!”
Fudo was clutching the paw holding his wand. “Well, that hurt like crazy, I’ll give you that. But I’m not here for the crystal. In fact, I’ve got it right here.” To Haruhi’s disbelief, Fudo pulled out the Ultranecrozium crystal with his free paw. “Getting this from you just now was as easy as using Psychic. But I need both of you back home. And if you’re not gonna come willingly, then—”
Haruhi was not in the mood to hear Fudo play bad cop.
FWOOOM!
Haruhi put quite a bit of extra effort into the Flamethrower this time, forcing Fudo to drop the crystal. Without hesitation, she used Flame Charge to dash over to pick the crystal up with her mouth, and made a mad dash away from the scene.
Fudo definitely had to teleport out here, which means he’s on a tight time limit. He’ll have to go back pretty soon. So long as Amadeus and I are out of the town early enough in the morning, he won’t be able to follow us very well. We’re probably not going to be able to restock, but that’ll have to do. I just need to find Amadeus right now… Haruhi could move pretty quickly with Flame Charge, but she’d still be vulnerable to Psychic. That was fine, though, since Fudo would have to be able to—
Fudo grabbed hold of her with Psychic.
“You’re not getting away that easily, Haruhi,” Fudo said, now clutching both of his paws and wincing from pain. “Just calm down and help me look for Amadeus, okay? I just—
For the briefest moment, Haruhi felt something she’d only felt twice before. “SHUT UP!” Haruhi screamed, a veritable wall of fire falling out of her mouth, physically knocking Fudo backwards with it’s sheer force. Fudo slammed into a tree directly behind him, which immediately started to fall. Distantly, Haruhi realized she tried to make the tree fall.
Fudo hit his head thrice in rapid sucession as the tree collapsed on top of him. For a single, terrible moment, all was quiet.
Haruhi immediately rushed over to Fudo. “Nononononononononono, Fudo please, oh Arceus…”
Thankfully, he was still breathing. That relieved Haruhi, but only a little bit. He was bleeding from the head. If I leave him here, he’s going to die… The tree was partially on fire, too. Haruhi quickly put it out as well as she could, and started pushing the tree off of Fudo. It was massive, and heavy, but she managed. Immediately, she started dragging Fudo by the fur on his collar.
Don’t die on me, dammit! If you do, then…
Amadeus was now frantically running back the way he came. I can’t let Fudo have that crystal! If he does, he might be able to—
Amadeus’ nose caught the smell of charcoal.
Haruhi!
Amadeus ran as fast as his legs could carry him towards the scent, hoping to see Haruhi and not a burning tree left in her wake. C’mon, C’mon, C’mon…
Eventually, he saw her dragging what looked like Fudo along the ground with her teeth desperately.
“Oh my Arceus, what happened?”
“Amadeus!” Haruhi yelled, turning to see him. “He’s hurt bad! We need to make it to the town and get him a healer!”
“What about the crystal?”
“I’ve got it in my tail! Don’t worry about that, he’s gonna die!”
Shit… Amadeus, seeing no other choice, ran over to help. With any luck, they’d make it to the town by sundown.
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