Chapter 10: Departure At Dusk

Tori opened the door to the closet, taking out a small, unused journal. With a huff, she closed the door and skittered back to the kitchen, finding Ruby and Gabi packing up some of their own items.

“I’m taking this” Tori announced.

Ruby looked up and nodded. “Okay. H-How much else is left?”

“Not much, I think.”

Gabi yawned. “Gugh, should’ve slept a little more today. You two ready?”

“Not yet” Ruby blurted. “I’ve got books, m-magazines, a blanket, a few bits of medical supplies and back-up money, but I’m struggling to find the bow Tori gave me a few years back.”

“Don’t tell me you lost it” the Whimsicott groaned. “Well, if you’re gonna go look for it, can I at least help you?”

“I g-guess… sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

Tori and Ruby shuffled back to the guest room, finding it mostly bare, except for a small glint of pink on the windowsill. Tori drifted towards it, thieving the bow off the perch, and giving it back to Ruby.

“How did you miss it?”

“I-I’m not sure. I guess I was just in a rush and forgot?”

“I hope this isn’t a common occurrence.”

“Again, s-sorry.”

“Whatever. Raya and her new boyfriend are almost here, let’s be quick.”

The two returned to the kitchen, finishing the rest of their packing until the doorbell rang from across the hall.

“That’s them!” Tori shouted, zooming to the front door.

Immediately as she peeked outside, she was met by two familiar faces, a Sinistea and a Banette, levitating three bags behind them.

“Welcome.”

“We came here as soon as we could” Raya chirped. She giggled a little, before leading the Banette behind her down the hall, bags floating behind. “Lovely place y’all have.”

Tori shut the door, catching up to them. “Thanks. Who’s… this?”

Raya spun around mid-float, coming into eye contact. “This is Cyril. We met recently.”

“Raya’s got a big heart, especially for me” Cyril cackled. “You can trust I’ll have great care in her.”

“Like I’d let you not!” the Sinistea teased.

“I’m better than that dipshit. You know that.”

“Oh, cheer up babe.”

Tori cringed slightly, before moving ahead of them to the kitchen. Meanwhile, Gabi slipped Ruby’s satchel over the Cherrim’s shoulder, making sure it was comfortable and tight enough.

“Hey, you said you’d let me help her this time” the fairy whined as she approached them, catching Ruby off guard.

Gabi avoided eye contact, snickering. “It’s not a big deal, Tores.”

Tori let out a frustrated groan, before glancing back to Cyril and Raya. The two ghosts floated forward slowly, whispering between each other.

Ruby stiffened her posture. “So, I guess we’re heading out now?”

“Not like we have much time anyways. The sooner the better.” Gabi whipped a key out of one of the bags and levitated it into Cyril’s palms. “Take care of the house; hell knows when we’ll be back.”

“Yes ma’am” the Banette smirked.

Gabi ignored him. “All of its yours unless we return.”

“Everything?”

“Yup. Don’t try looking around, you won’t find anything valuable.”

Raya smiled in thanks. “So where did you three say you were going?”

Ruby flinched in her spot, but Tori quickly jumped to improvise.

“We’re going on vacation!” she exclaimed, trying to bite a smile only to end up with a half-smirk. “Leaving the continent too! Just us uh… going to a popular spot near some ruins and relax, and maybe buy some souvenirs there while we’re at it.”

“Oh cool. What’s the name of the place?”

Tori froze.

She hadn’t thought that far.

“Can’t remember” Gabi continued. “But that’s not important, right Rubes?”

Ruby nodded. “Y-Y-Yeah.”

“Well, we’re kinda in a rush, so we should head out now. C’mon girls.”

Gabi drifted toward the door, with her and Tori’s two bags floating behind. Ruby followed, Tori giving a small apologetic wave as she drifted behind.

The Whimsicott sighed. “See ya.”

“Have a good trip!” Raya shouted.

Cyril faked a smile as he waved goodbye to the three of them. Right as Tori shut the door, she glanced back and saw him giving the stink eye, with his mouth in the form of a grin and his free arm around Raya’s side.

“Creepy mon” the Whimsicott hissed.

Gabi snorted. “Don’t worry Tores, it’ll get interesting from here, I’m sure. From now on, we worry less about who’s taking care of our house and instead what adventure lies in the near future.”

“I still don’t trust that Banette. For fuck’s sake, I don’t trust any of Raya’s boyfriend choices anymore. This is the third damn time.”

“It’s also not our problem anymore.”

“I’m… surprised to hear that from someone like you.”

“Okay?”

“I dunno, you’re just… more imposing when it comes to this stuff? It’s weird seeing you let go so easily.”

“Whatever, we don’t have much time.”

“Fine.”

Gabi floated down the front yard towards the street, Tori shuffling behind. Ruby stood frozen at the porch, looking up at the stars through an opening of her outer layer. It was fascinating, and in a way, beautiful. The night was quiet and somewhat windy, but not windy enough to feel overbearing. The moon was close to half-full tonight, sending a shiny glow over the sky.

Looks like I don’t really have a chance anymore.

Ruby lowered her head away from the sky and down to Gabi and Tori, who waited patiently ahead.

No time for second thoughts.

She took a step forward, standing between the other two.

“I think I’m ready now” the Cherrim huffed.

Tori smiled. “Great. Let’s get going!”

We do this together.

 

~

 

Mallku placed the large map onto the kitchen table, unrolling it with a sigh.

This is gonna be a hectic night.

He looked back up to Victini and Mai, who watched him from their side. Victini seemed mostly undisturbed, as with the Mienshao to the right of them, who focused intently, furrowing an ambitious glare.

The sounds of Ari and Jirachi yelling at each other could be heard in the basement, muffled out by the concrete walls of the bunker.

“What was going on down there?” Victini asked.

“The usual” Mallku answered. The dark type rubbed his eyes, groaning. “Augh… where were we?”

“You were talking about our routing?” Mai replied.

“Thanks. Uh… can you help me with this?”

Mai moved to Mallku’s side of the table, shuffling in quiet steps. She looked over the map he had set down, surveying it with her paws pressed on the edges to keep it from rolling back up. Ink drawings of two continents took up most of the space aside from the ocean around them, with a red line drawn from the middle of one continent and ending near the northern tip of the other, being the focal point of the paper. A few other small icons, resembling landmarks and points of interest, were also littered across the page in black ink, with one or two being intersected by the red line.

“Nice shit you got here” Mai remarked.

“It took me a while to find something like this that matched what we needed. Everything except the red line was there when I got it.”

“Where’d you find it?”

“Stole it from a shop. Not proud about it, but it was way too expensive even if I wanted to buy.”

The Mienshao smiled, giggling. “Don’t worry, I won’t pester you about this one. Your secrets are safe with me.”

Victini nodded, folding their arms. “We’ll be out of here in a few hours anyways.”

Mallku huffed. “You said it, Vic.”

“In only a matter of time, we’ll have our revenge. We just need to push forward for only a small of time, and before we know it…” Victini raised their balled fists, cheering. “Freedom for us! Freedom for everyone! Freedom from Arceus! Freedom from this accursed chain he’s dragged upon us all!”

“Keep up the enthusiasm, kiddo.”

“Think about it Mall! We’ll be heroes, spread by word of mouth as the ones who saved the world by killing its creator, who has done nothing but punish and punish and punish and make everyone’s lives miserable.”

Mai scoffed. “I think you’re getting too ahead of yourself.”

“Whatever” Victini mumbled, looking away from her. “I’m just so fucking tired of this. Held up inside a basement for a year with mortals when I could be out there living life like how I was meant to be.”

“I feel ya.”

“You understand my pain.”

“I do. But reckless explorers die the earliest. We can’t just push our way through every obstacle the way you want to now.” Mai sighed. “I’ve learned from the worse.”

Mallku nodded in agreement. “We have experience, regardless of your position, Vic. Being unable to age and having some sort of god-given power for free doesn’t make you any more better at tackling this sort of stuff.”

“We’re not just defeating one mon either. Who knows if there’s more to what we’re facing.”

“More?” Victini repeated. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t think Arceus would willingly throw himself into a fight against twenty other mons and let himself lose. He has guardians of some sort, doesn’t he?”

“Yep” Mallku chirped. “I’m sure Victini knows who they are. Not that we do.”

The small psychic nodded. “As far as I’m remember, Dialga and Palkia are his left and right guards, and Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit are his secretary, in easy terms.”

“Ah, those.” Mai looked up from the map, watching the door that led into the entrance hall. “Is anyone here yet?”

Right as she said that Lucy and Andesine shuffled inside, carrying two satchels on both of their shoulders. Lucy looked around the room until she noticed the three mons standing at the table, to which she floated forward.

“Greetings” the Chandelure announced, gesturing in the form of a joyful spin.

“Heyo” Mai replied, waving a paw. “Lucy, right?”

“Yes indeed.”

“Ah, great that you made it here. We were just talking about planning for our trip, mind helping us?”

Lucy floated next to Victini, eyeing the paper laid across the wooden table. “Fine work of art here. Cross continent travel, ooh how interesting. How are we expecting to navigate the ocean?”

“In a ferry” Mallku answered. “Large enough for twenty. Assuming we keep on pace, we should reach the dock town a day early.”

“Intriguing. How about rations and general supplies?”

“We’ll be traveling for at least a month, as far as I’m aware. I think I have enough food to last us a while, but not enough. Even with the money I’ve saved up, I still expect everyone to pitch in what they can. I’m not just handing out free food for nothing, after all.”

“Of course, of course. Andesine and I brought some stuff with us, but not much. Though of course, we’ll be ready to help out when necessary.”

“Thanks. Now, onto travel.”

Mai let out a small hum. “So we leave tonight down this path…” She moved a paw across the page, following the red line. “Reach New Barcelona, take the ferry here, cross the ocean and end up at Lycan’s Dock… and then we… travel through the desert aimlessly? I don’t see any landmarks along the red line, past the shore.”

“We’re kinda trying to go through as little towns as possible” Mallku sighed. He traced his claw to the northern section of the second map, tapping it on a small mountain landmark. “Doesn’t say it here, but this is Mount Coronet. Must be outdated. Regardless, this is the most important part of our journey. Jirachi said it’s the only way mortals can access the Hall of Origin.”

“Oh, what’s that?”

“I’m not sure, I’ve only heard about it from Victini, Jirachi and Heatran. It’s apparently some sort of giant platform above the tip of the mountain, somewhere above the clouds, where the gods communicate in person.”

Victini nodded. “But you can’t get in unless you have an Azure Flute. Jirachi and I lost ours when we got kicked out.”

“Interesting” Lucy replied.

Liz walked up the basement stairs, smiling as the other four noticed her. The Roserade bolted forward, standing between Mai and Mallku.

“Whatcha’ll up to?” she chirped, leaning against the wood.

Mai smirked. “Not much. Just talking.”

Liz peered at the map placed atop the table, taking in the different places scattered across the two continents. “This looks fun. Are we doing much dungeon crawling?”

“No” Mallku blurted.

“Oh, okay. Sounds a little boring in my opinion, but I can deal with it.” Liz winked at Mai, before walking away, towards the entrance hall. “I hear chatter in the tunnels. Sounds like mons arrived.”

Lucy’s flames burned a little brighter, growing ever so slightly. “Let’s see, let’s see, we shall see” she whispered, following Liz away from the table.

Victini sighed. “I guess I’ll go check on Jirachi and Ari. Hopefully they haven’t killed each other by now.”

Mai squinted in confusion. “But wasn’t Liz just-“

The psychic left before she could finish her sentence.

Mallku stiffened himself into a better posture, groaning. “Goddamn it my back hurts.”

That caused Mai to smile, staring away from him. “Old mon.”

“You heard nothing.”

“I heard everything.”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake. You’re making me feel worse than I need to be.”

Mai glanced towards the entrance hall, watching as Todd, Proteus and Louis shuffled in. She stood there for a moment, staring at nothing in particular, until she eventually got up out of her frozen state.

“This is going to be a fun ride.”

The Mienshao moved slowly, stopping next to Liz on the other side of the room and jumpstarting a conversation with her. Mallku drew his eyes away from the rest of the mons in the room and slouched on the table with his arms folded under his head.

Should’ve slept in today.

I’m gonna need as much energy as I can tonight.

Yawning, he tried to close his eyes and rest, only to be immediately awoken by a familiar, childish voice.

“Mall? You there?”

“Let me sleep!” the Weavile grumbled.

Jirachi crawled onto the table, looking at him with discomfort and confusion. “You were supposed to sleep before sundown.”

“I was busy packing up.”

“You couldn’t’ve done that the day before?”

Mallku yawned. “Augh… I’ll be fine even without sleep. Maybe I’ll eat a Chesto Berry or something before we head out.”

Jirachi sighed. “You better not collapse mid-way.”

“I won’t. And that’s a fact.”

The psychic scowled, avoiding his eyes and crawling off the table. “Whatever.”

“I’m being serious.”

“If you were truly serious you would have slept when you could.”

“I was doing more-important things. Didn’t have time to rest.”

“And you won’t now, either.”

“Better than leaving late.”

Jirachi smirked. “We’ll see about that. I’ll let you drowse for now, but don’t get mad at me if I bother you later.”

“Deal.” Mallku let out a final yawn, going back to sleeping in his seat.

~

 

The three of them were promptly embraced by the multiple pokémon who had already arrived beforehand. Ruby singled out Proteus first in the haze, despite the lighting from the candles around the room being difficult to get used to again. The Galvantula grinned under his bandanna, signaling others to make room with a wave of his pedipalps.

Todd and Louis moved to the right, giving a small area for Ruby, Tori and Gabi to squeeze through. Chatter drowned out the Cherrim’s thoughts as she met up with Proteus again later elsewhere in the room, away from others.

“Good to see you again!” he said.

Ruby tightened her petals, assuring her bag secure as her eyes jumped from one spot to the other. “I-It is.”

“So, what’ve you been doing this past week?”

“O-Oh, uhm…” she sighed, sweating nervously. “Not much. I did some packing, f-finished up my job, and said goodbye to my aunt.”

The bug seemed to be half-attentive, nodding and humming at every word. “Pretty similar to mine, kek.”

“I-I guess.”

“It’s been a pretty good week, even if it was boring.”

“I wish I could say the same.”

Proteus straightened, letting out a bit of stiffness in the form of a small static, which bounced off his hind legs. “Y’know, I think this ‘big mythical controversy’ Andesine told me about was a good change for all of us. It’s only been two weeks and I’ve already met such great friends.”

Friends?

“You consider us friends?” Ruby blurted.

Proteus stared at her, puzzled. “We aren’t?”

“N-N-No I just didn’t th.. think it would be so quick.”

“Oh. Okay, kek.”

Proteus’s chuckling caused Ruby to wince.

“S-Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize! I know it can be hard at first.”

“Th-that’s weird coming from you.”

“Is it?”

Shouldn’t have said that. “Y-You’re just much more sociable” she explained. “I mean… you make it look easy.”

The Galvantula lifted a pedipalp to his chin, just above his scar. “Hmm… that’s not something I’ve heard before.”

The two mons looked at each other, equally confused in different ways.

“Anyways, about what Andesine told me” Proteus continued. “Apparently the gods seem to fight a lot. I guess that’s what power does to ya, huh.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“It does make sense why we’re involved though.” He grimaced, coming into full realization. “Jirachi doesn’t seem to think highly of us…”

“D-Do you… think they only see us as a group of useless mortals?”

“Nah. Maybe not useless, but definitely not a big sacrifice worth worrying over.”

“Huh?”

He waved a pedipalp over the room like a scanner, pointing to all the pokémon who seemed mostly oblivious, making conversation. “Y’know Ruby, I don’t think my guess is too far off. Both of us, you see, we’re not professional fighters, but we still got involved regardless, meaning that any other mon could have gotten in too. The power requirement wasn’t high. That, and I don’t think we’re going to have much importance in the scheme of things, either.”

“D-Does that mean…”

Proteus nodded, lowering his bandanna, his tone becoming more serious. “Be careful. And if you notice any weird behavior, tell me. Mallku, Jirachi, Heatran, Victini… they could betray you at any moment, watch your back.”

Mallku!?

“A-And we’re just going to keep it between us? Shouldn’t I… shouldn’t I tell G-Gabi and Tori about this-“

The two of them crept farther towards the back of the room, sticking to whispers.

“Sorry, Ruby. But know that you can trust me. We’ll have to keep this between us if we want to make it out alive, kek.”

Ruby tilted her head slightly in confusion. “We’re running?”

“Nah” Proteus responded. “We’ll stick to see how this goes for now, but we can bolt in the night if things get scary. Just remember, they don’t treasure your life, or mine, or anyone else’s. We’re just a bunch of pawns ready to be thrown at the enemy, and they couldn’t care less if we die, so we shouldn’t have to care about them anymore if they mistreat us.”

She nearly jumped out of her skin. “W-Wait I-“

“Keep this between us. If our discovery gets shared to them, they’ll probably punish us in some way.”

“No b-but-“

“Sorry to break it to you. Anyways, I’m going to go check on Todd.” He turned around, crawling towards the other side of the room. “Stick this between us for now, got it?”

I…

A wave of guilt overshadowed her in that moment, leaning farther in as the bug left.

I can’t just keep this to myself.

She took a step back.

The fact that Mallku might just throw us away when the time comes-

She took another.

Just… pawns?

She could feel herself trembling, breathing slowly as her petals tightened a little more.

I shouldn’t have fallen for this stupid offer.

She took another step back, smacking against a mon and tripping. Her vision became blocked as she tumbled to the floor, bag crushed under her as someone shouted out of sight. She squirmed as claws gripped her side and pushed her upright. She looked up, met by the freakish glare of a teal, winged pokémon she didn’t recognize.

Ari gave her the stink eye. “Next time, watch it.”

The dragon reached down despite his massive size, nipping the strap of her bag and awkwardly placed it on her side, neither caring nor ignorant of the fact that it was the wrong way around.

“S-Sorry” Ruby blurted.

Ari sized her up, trying to get an idea of what he was looking at. “You’re not gonna spread pollen on me, are you!?”

“Huh?”

“Well? You’re some sort of plant by the looks of it. What do you do, try to attract every living bitch you see and spread your disgusting seeds on them? Yeah no, touch me once and you’re getting your shit beat.”

Ruby was at a loss for words.

“Listen” he snarled. “I never gave enough of a fuck in the first place to be transported to some degenerate’s dream made for kids and drop-out college students who don’t spend their time socializing outside the house.” There was a hint of anxiety in his breath, repressed by anger. “The more days I spend in this shitty paradise the more I see how fucking awful it is. I don’t want my ass pollinated by whatever dreaded monstrosities live down here, only to be eaten and served like a turkey at my uncle’s shitty Thanksgiving dinner.”

“I’m sorry I-“

“Stay the fuck away. I don’t want to know what vile or gore-distraught habits you or any of your species practice on the daily basis.”

Ari’s wings relaxed as Ruby winced, taking two steps back.

“I-I won’t” she promised. “I’m not feral, I swear. I’m a civil mon just like anyone else in this meeting.”

“Good” the Roaring Moon hissed. “Sorry, I haven’t had therapy since I got here. At least I still have beer in hell, hah! Don’t know what shitty things I did to deserve to be here in the first place.”

Ruby straightened, looking him in the eyes.

“Aside from being bisexual, probably” he joked. Ari relaxed, looking down at her with heavy contempt. “So what kind of Neopet are you?”

“Neopet?”

“What. Fucking. Species.”

“Ch-Cherrim” she rasped.

“Strange as hell name. Don’t know what I was expecting.”

“Sorry?”

He turned away, glancing around the bunker, towards other mons who were engaging in friendly conversation with each other. “Someday I’m gonna end up killing myself, ahahaha. Maybe I’ll go down like a pathetic idiot like most of the people here, or maybe I’ll die like I’m worth something, as if that’s anything other than nonsense. Or maybe I’ll do it myself, heh.”

“Goddamn it, where is therapy when I need it…” he muttered under his breath.

Ruby shuffled away, noticing the dining table and deciding to move towards it. “I’m g-going to go now.”

“Sure as hell you should.”

The chatter from other conversations died down as she walked away, but her focus was much more targeted towards reaching the end of the room, noticing a familiar mon there. Mallku drowsed in his seat, snoring completely unaware as she approached. Ruby widened the gap in her outer layer to pat him on the arm, but he simply grumbled and shooed her away with a light stroke of his claw.

“Mall?”

“Busy sleeping.” He yawned, smacking his lips.

“S-Sorry.”

“Is it already time?”

“I think so.”

Mallku sighed. “Fine. Give me a second, I’ll carry you in a bit.”

“Carry…?” Ruby repeated.

He raised his head, eyes snapping open at the sight of Ruby. His claws recoiled back, pupils squinting in confusion. “Oh! Sorry, I thought you were Jirachi for a second. My bad.”

She tilted her head slightly, wincing. “You didn’t get enough sleep?”

“Yep.”

“Okay. I just… thought I’d check on you. Didn’t realize you were sleeping.”

“It’s fine” Mallku muttered. He stood up, looking around. “Where did… they go?”

“Who is… they?”

“How about this.” He leaped over the table and raised a claw, squinting for any signs of Jirachi in the small crowd. “We’re about to leave. I’ll call everyone’s attention if you go make sure we have the proper head count. Make sure we have uh, eighteen. Can’t quite remember the exact amount, but it should be close.”

Ruby nodded. “Sure.”

She fixed her strap and moved through the room, counting to herself as Mallku yelled across the room, echoing through the walls and down to the basement for Heatran and Victini to hear.

This is going to be a tiring night she sighed internally.

Hopefully Proteus was wrong.

Hopefully.