“I am not going on another bridge,” Keo said, stomping a paw petulantly. “I’m not going through whatever that was again.”
It was the next day. He, Gideon, Valerie, Weavile, and Dexter were all standing on an asphalt road just outside of Nimbasa City, Pokemon walking past them to get into the city of amusement. Valerie sighed, folding her arms. “Look, Keo, I’m not the biggest fan of the idea either, but we need to get to Mistralton. And it’s either that or swimming.”
“I am not equipped for swimming,” Dexter immediately volunteered. “Also the river is a good, far distance from ground level.
Keo shuddered. “Ugh. But I am not going on a bridge,” he said, stomping a foot again. “That’s final.”
Weavile glanced at the other three Pokemon before shrugging. “Welp.” He walked over to Keo and picked him up, slinging him over his shoulder. Turning to the group, he grinned. “Alright, if there’s no further complaints! The bridge should be down right now,” he said, even as Keo began protesting very loudly. “We should be able to get through it fairly easily.”
“I heard there were trains!” Keo complained as they walked towards the big red bridge at the end of the road. “Why can’t we take those instead of going through a mystery dungeon?!”
“Simple, bucko,” Weavile said, flicking his ear. “They’re still building the trains.”
“I did a bit of research,” Dexter chimed in. “Just about the only finished railway at this point in time is the Nimbasa-Black City line, and it is notoriously unreliable due to people- not wanting to go through a mystery dungeon. Not even sure there is a line from Nimbasa to Driftveil yet.”
Keo glared at him from Weavile’s shoulder. “I didn’t ask.”
A yellow Tatsugiri was sitting on an old office chair in the booth next to the bridge. “Excuse me,” it hailed as they approached. “Are you folks trying to reach Driftveil?”
“Technically Mistralton,” Gideon said, jostling the familiar weight of the Treasure Bag. “But yeah.”
“I’m to warn you that there’s insanely high Anomaly activity right now,” the Tatsugiri said. It squinted at the screen embedded in its building. “I’d usually stop people from going through, but I don’t think the bridge can be physically lifted without it sustaining some kind of damage.” It glanced at the Treasure Bag Gideon was holding and relaxed. “Oh, right, you’re explorers. You can go through, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
“Great! Thanks!” Weavile dashed up the bridge ramp before Gideon could even open his mouth to reply, causing him to have to run after him.
“What the heck was that for?” Valerie asked, panting a little from the sudden sprint.
“Because if one of you had corrected that guy, we wouldn’t be here,” Weavile said. “Besides,” he said, looking around at the bridge, “it can’t be that bad.”
“Uh huh,” Dexter said, unconvinced. “How long until this thing turns from a bridge into- I dunno, a warehouse or something?”
“After we’re off this thing,” Weavile replied, his footsteps echoing off of the tile floor. “They change pretty slowly, so we can hurry up if need be.”
Valerie coughed and held her hand up to her face. “What smells like chemicals?”
Gideon reflexively inhaled and choked on the almost overwhelming smell of bleach. “Yeah, wow that is bad.”
Weavile stopped and looked around at the tile walls that surrounded them, weaving further ahead in some sort of twisted facsimile of a bathroom, or maybe a pool. “…Ah.”
Keo groaned in agony. “You jinxed us. Great job, man, you jinxed us.”
Dexter looked at all of them worriedly. “Um, okay, so, try not to breathe too much. I detect that the fumes in here are toxic if you are exposed to them for too long.”
“You don’t say?” Weavile covered his mouth. “Ugh, this place hurts to breathe.”
It did. Gideon took a small breath and felt the latent chemicals in the air burn his lungs. “Gotta get out of here,” he mumbled.
Keo rolled his eyes. “It’s an Anomaly. That was always the plan.”
They wandered through the weaving tunnel of white tiles, the air smelling stronger of bleach the further they got in. After another minute, they turned a bend and entered a room.
It was very, very large. A massive pool stretched down almost the entire middle of the room, which was still paved in white tiles. A confusingly blue sky shone through large gaps in the walls that made Gideon vaguely think of windows, illuminating the pool room.
And, of course, there were Pokemon in the room, as well.
Gideon felt his stomach sink as he watched a faceless Mudkip lazily swim around in circles in the pool, seemingly without a care in the world. The tiles under the water were bleached of any color, making the water look more yellow than it really was. The air felt like it was almost entirely composed of chemicals at this point, making it hard to breathe at all.
“Alright,” Weavile said in a quiet voice. “Faceless Pokemon. Shut up.”
They didn’t need to be told that twice. They quietly walked around the pool, trying not to make too much noise. Or breathe in too much. The air was a toxic fire.
They were almost around the edge of the pool when they met a slight speed bump.
“Kiddie pool,” Dexter whispered. “One at a time.”
The space in between the kiddie pool and the deep pool was not that large, and it made Gideon nervous. Weavile walked along it first, Keo looking bored of the whole ordeal. Valerie followed, and then Dexter, and then it was his turn.
He took a deep breath— as deep as his burning lungs would allow him to, anyway— and tried to run across the small gap.
It would’ve been fine if there hadn’t been a puddle of blue soap on the floor.
Gideon slipped, landing hard on his stomach. The flight recorder slid out of his bag and into the kiddie pool with a loud splash.
——
Lucy blinked as a bright red flare seemed to appear in her vision.
She was riding the train to Nimbasa— doubtless Weavile had done the same— when the signal appeared. Her bionic eyes told her that it had an identification number of some kind: Flight 963 or something.
It disappeared as suddenly as it had showed up, but the signal echoed through her mind. Find me, it seemed to say.
She rubbed her temples in an attempt to prevent the start of a headache. “Weavile, what are you doing?”
——
“Signal detected,” Iron Leaves announced suddenly.
Azazel looked up from where he had been “meditating”. He wasn’t sure how to meditate, but sitting on the ground and clearing his mind seemed to do wonders. But any thoughts that he had cleared came rushing back as he jumped to his feet. “No.”
“Flight 963’s flight recorder has fallen into water around Driftveil Drawbridge,” Iron Leaves continued. “As it has remained stationary, it is not likely to have been lost in the river. Hypothesis: the thieves of the black box let it fall into water.”
Azazel didn’t need any more convincing. He jumped onto Iron Leaves’ back as it started bounding across the landscape at terrifying speeds, towards the disappearing signal.
——
Dexter jumped violently. “Get that out get that out getthatoutgetthatoutGETTHATOUT,” he whispered frantically. More splashing noises echoed throughout the room as the faceless Pokemon took notice of the very loud noise.
Gideon, without thinking, plunged his left arm in after the flight recorder. He hissed through his teeth as the water burned, the smell of bleach unbearable from here. Water wasn’t supposed to do that!
He ripped the flight recorder from the water with another splash and practically jumped across the kiddie pool, skidding a little with the landing. The other four were waiting at a hallway, frantically beckoning him as the splashing sounds grew louder.
He ran.
They ran through the hallway, their footsteps echoing far too loudly for comfort. Behind them, more footsteps bounced off the walls, like they were being followed. Gideon panted, the air still burning. His head was starting to feel funny.
They all stopped in dismay. They had hit a dead end. Gideon looked at the dark pit in the middle of the tiles with trepidation. “We gotta go through there?”
The footsteps behind them grew louder. Weavile glanced behind them and his eyes widened before he jumped without comment. Gideon looked over his shoulder to see a faceless Gyarados slithering after them, the thing looking horrifying without a mouth. Or eyes. Gideon jumped down the pit, not caring what happened as long as it WASN’T FACING THAT
Gideon hit the ground, which was sloped for some reason, and slid across the ground, holding onto the flight recorder for dear life. The tiles beneath him were slick with some kind of soap, causing him to slide farther than usual. He pushed himself upright, his white paw slipping against the tiles. Valerie and Dexter came sliding towards him, both of them scrambling to get upright.
They were in a semi-circular room with slides. Seven slides, the colors of the rainbow, led down to who-knows-where. A sign hung from the ceiling, reading “Pick one!” with a smiley face that seemed very out of place.
Gideon shuddered. “I hate these places.”
Valerie walked up to a slide curiously before backing off. “Not that one,” she said. “Smells like poison.”
Weavile walked up to a different one before going through similar motions. “Ugh, they all smell of that.”
They quickly went around all the slides, the bleach smell emanating from them burning their lungs. However, they all stopped at the green slide, which didn’t seem to have any smell at all.
“Do you think it’s a trap?” Valerie asked nervously.
“Quite possibly,” Weavile said. “But I don’t think-“
“-jumpjumpjumpjumpjumpJUMPJUMP!” Keo screamed frantically from Weavile’s shoulder.
They all dove into the slide just as a Hyper Beam hit the wall above them. Debris followed them down the slide— chunks of tile and mortar— as they landed in water. Not chemicals. Water.
It would’ve almost felt refreshing, if the shards of ceramic hadn’t followed them into the wading pool. They quickly scrambled out, watching more and more chunks of wall come skittering down the slide.
“Wow.” Gideon was speechless. “Um, thanks, Keo.”
“Uh huh,” Keo squeaked, standing up on shaky legs. His eyes were wide and he was breathing erratically. Gideon didn’t blame him.
Weavile looked around and pointed. “Hey, look!”
A mural of a blue sky was painted on the tile wall, the words “RELAX AND REFRESH” above it in bright orange paint. The wall shimmered and wobbled slightly, like it was some kind of portal.
Keo, without hesitation, dove through it, the wall rippling like water. The rest of them shared a glance before following his example, stumbling out onto grass. Somewhere.
They all breathed deeply of the fresh air, the cleanliness of it a luxury after what they had just gone through. Gideon’s mind cleared and he had the presence of mind to put the flight recorder back in the Treasure Bag.
He froze as he noticed his left paw.
It had been bleached completely white. He stared at it until Valerie noticed and walked over to him. “Is everything alright?”
He displayed his arm. “Um. Well, it doesn’t hurt…”
Valerie’s eyes widened as she took his arm and studied the bleached spot carefully. “Gosh,” she said eventually. “Now I’m glad we didn’t fall into any of the pools. Does it hurt?”
“No, but…” Gideon shrugged. “Eh. It’ll grow in gray again.”
Dexter let out a shuddery sigh. “Of course the flight recorder would fall in, though. It hit the water, and- some kind of beacon activated. It sounded like a blaring alarm.”
Gideon glanced into the bag with trepidation. “Hopefully that’s not too big of an issue.” He took another breath of clean air and looked around. “Wait, where even are we?”
Dexter’s face was replaced by a loading screen for a few seconds before it reappeared, looking surprised. “Wait, we landed just outside of Mistralton! On Route 7!”
The rest of the group stared at him. “How?” asked Keo faintly. “I thought we were gonna have to keep going for another two or three days.”
“Anomalies have this odd habit of dumping you wherever,” Weavile said. “But hey! I’m not gonna say no to a free shortcut.”
Dexter had wandered a small distance from the group, seemingly looking for something. “Hey, guys!” he called. “I found the road!”
A dirt path wound its way further into the route, the little bit they could see around trees proudly displaying grass that was taller than even Weavile. The other way seemed more barren, but Gideon could barely make out buildings around the trees.
“And that should be Mistralton City,” Weavile said with a grin. “Wow, we got here awfully quickly.”
Gideon hefted the Treasure Bag, the flight recorder a comforting weight against his side. “Good, we can finally get this read.”
“That reminds me,” Weavile said. “How come you’re dragging that thing around, anyway? I gather that it’s some kind of information thing, but…”
“Ah.” Gideon shared a glance with Valerie before rubbing the back of his head in an uncomfortable manner. “Well, me and Val kinda… woke up in the middle of a plane crash.”
This garnered well-deserved stares from the rest of the group. “We took it along so that we could figure out what happened,” Gideon continued, fiddling with the end of the bag’s straps. “We, um, also… have no memory before waking up there.”
“That’s not what you said before,” Keo said accusingly. “You just said that you ‘found it on your travels’.”
“Well, um, we kind of did,” said Valerie sheepishly as she put her hands behind her and rocked back on her heels. “It just, um, never really seemed relevant to bring up.”
Weavile glanced at Keo. “I feel like you’re glossing over the whole ‘memory loss’ part.”
Keo rolled his eyes. “Listen, I’m not stupid. Clueless, confused by normal things, no idea who they are or where they’re going? Yeah, I figured it out a while ago.” Gideon wanted to kick him.
“The plane crash is news to me, though,” Dexter said worriedly. “You probably should have just left the black box where it was. Why did you take it?”
Valerie looked at Gideon, who looked blank. “I’m- not entirely sure, actually,” he said. “I just knew I had to find it, for some reason.”
“Well, we weren’t thinking too clearly when we woke up,” Valerie laughed. “Remember how freaked out we were when we found out we were-“
Gideon realized what she was about to say quicker than she did and coughed very loudly. “That’s probably enough standing around, we gotta go get this read.” Valerie looked at him reproachfully for a second before she opened her mouth and shut it again, comprehension dawning on her face.
Weavile grinned as they walked towards the road. “Can’t believe you’d interrupt her like that. Sounded like it was going somewhere interesting.”
“It- really wasn’t,” Valerie said, her face flushing a little.
“Yeah, you were going to say something,” Keo pressed.
“It’s not that important,” replied Gideon. The finality in his voice indicated that the topic was over. Dexter didn’t say anything, but glanced between the two of them knowingly. That’s almost worse, Gideon thought ruefully.
Mistralton City was more of a town than an actual city, but it had earned its city status due to the very, very large airport the town was built around. Gideon thought he spotted tiny greenhouses around the edges of the airport, but it was hard to tell. While it was certainly busy, it was nowhere near as busy as Nimbasa City had been. Pokemon walked from building to building, quite a few of them with baskets of fresh looking vegetables that made his mouth water. But most of them were bound for the airport, or their own homes.
“Alright,” Weavile said. “Who in the world do we ask for help?”
“Someone at the airport, probably,” Dexter said, looking at it. The control tower stood tall against the blue sky, the glass reflecting the very thin clouds that wisped along it. “I kind of want to explore, anyway.”
The large revolving doors spun easily to let them in, revealing a polished floor that nearly reflected the Pokemon that walked along it. There were far fewer people here, even though the building was well lit by windows spanning the entire width and length of the building, proudly displaying the planes that sat on the runway.
Gideon looked around and spotted a front desk, which he made his way toward. It was quite taller than him, but it seemed like a stepladder had been provided for this very purpose. He scrambled up it and onto the counter, the Treasure Bag a heavy weight against his side.
The Pokemon that was working behind the bench, an Intelleon, looked at him and his approaching companions curiously. “Welcome to the Mistralton Airport. Is there anything I can help you with?”
Gideon pulled out the flight recorder and set it on the counter. “Can you read this?”
The Intelleon stared at it blankly for a second before putting on a headset and pulling down the microphone. “Hey. Yes, it’s me. Is Charles in? Someone’s come by with a black box.”
It nodded as it received a response that no one else heard. “Alrighty, I’ll let them know.” It put the headset mic up again. “Alright, the long and short of it is that the ‘mon who usually reads these isn’t in at the moment. If you’re curious about its contents, then you can go stop by his house on Route 7; he has all the equipment there. Daft bloke,” it added in a mutter, “but he’s good at his job.”
“Okay, thanks,” Gideon said, putting the flight recorder away. He hopped down and rejoined the rest of the group as they left the airport again.
“More walking,” Keo groaned. “It’s always more walking.”
“Comes with the territory,” Weavile said, putting his hand behind his head as they walked out of the city again. “So we’re assuming that this guy’s house is on the path?”
“Eyup,” Gideon replied. “I’m not wandering around the woods and getting lost. Worst case scenario, we just wait at the airport for the guy to show up.”
They followed the dirt path down the route, around the tallest patches of grass Gideon had ever seen. Oddly, planks were suspended above the grass with poles, for some reason. Gideon vaguely thought about trying to walk on one and shuddered a little. They looked hard to balance on at best.
A tower loomed in the distance. It seemed to spiral up into the sky, a faint fog hovering at the base of it. “Celestial Tower,” Weavile said, pointing it out. “I’d stay away if I were you, it’s where the dead are buried.”
Keo glanced at it. “It’s kind of pretty.”
“Eh.” Weavile shrugged. “I can see the appeal, but it’s not my thing. I prefer places that are less likely to get me haunted.”
They followed the path, turning away from Celestial Tower. After a minute or so of walking, they found a house.
It was a simple building, consisting of wood logs and a gable roof. Gideon walked up to the front door, and, after a moment of hesitation, knocked.
“One minute!” a male voice from inside called. There was a thumping noise before an Indeedee opened the door and looked around at the group. “Oh, hullo. What’s all this?”
“Are you Charles?” Gideon asked.
The Indeedee nodded. “Quite sure, I am.”
Gideon pulled out the flight recorder. “Can you read this for us?”
The Indeedee’s eyes lit up. “Can I!” He snatched it up before returning indoors, leaving the door open as an invitation which they cautiously took.
The inside of the house was simple. Two beds sat in a corner, with a kitchen and dining area situated at the far side of the room under a window. What drew the eye was the vast amount of equipment to one side of the house. Lots of black screens with tiny white text that Gideon could hardly read, and generally just things that were too hard to describe. Charles was busy disassembling the black box with practiced ease. “Shut the door, would you?” he asked distractedly. He whipped out a small cylinder of some kind as Valerie obliged before hooking it up to his collection of computers, sitting down in an old office chair.
Instantly, white text appeared on all the screens. Charles stared at the screens for a moment before turning to face them. “Where’d you find this hodgepodge?”
“A plane crash,” Keo said sarcastically.
“What I mean is that this data is- unexpected.” Charles glance at the screens again. “No aviation logs. There’s only a bit of the information, the rest of it is right useless.”
Gideon walked up to the screens. A lot of it was, in fact, unreadable gibberish to him. “Are there any logs just prior to the crash?” he asked helplessly.
Charles scrolled through the text for a minute. “Hm. Looks like.” He carefully read through it before his eyebrows leapt up his face in surprise. “Good lord. This plane was flying just as the Convergence hit.”
Everyone shared shocked looks as he continued, “The pilot mentioned something about a dark spiral over the sky in the distance before both the engines blew out. Where’d you find this, exactly?” he asked again, turning to Gideon.
“Just outside of Black City,” Gideon said.
Before he could say anything else, Keo spoke up. “Wait, wasn’t the Convergence three years ago?”
Charles nodded. “This-“
“I saw that plane crash,” Keo continued, interrupting him. “How was it hit by the Convergence? It only crashed a few days ago.”
Charles looked at him before scanning the logs. “Ah. I’m… not sure.”
“How…?” Valerie asked faintly.
Charles shook his head. “I know bugger all about the Convergence- my job is aeroplanes.” He tapped the cylinder at the end of the box. “Looks like the beacon’s been stuck active, too.”
“It has?” Dexter asked blankly. “There is no signal coming from it.”
“Ah, none you can read,” Charles chuckled. “But detectable with the right equipment.”
Weavile sat up suddenly. “Hang on,” he said. He took off his backpack and slung it underneath the bed, where it landed with a jingling of coins. He opened the door and stood in the threshold for a few seconds before turning to the rest of the surprised group with a grin. “I’ll be right back. Gotta do something. If I’m not back in- oh, about two hours, there’s an address in my bag somewhere that I’ll probably be at.” He stepped outside, shutting the door.
There was silence for a moment. “That’s odd,” Keo muttered. “But I can’t tell why.”
Charles returned to the screens again and scanned through them. “Hello! What’s this?”
Gideon looked at the screen to see nothing he could read. “Gibberish?” he supplied half-heartedly.
“That’s where you’d be incorrect, my good Minccino,” Charles said. “This is purportedly a way to ‘revert’ Pokemon into humans.”
There was a stunned silence. “What…?” Valerie asked.
“These methods are right daft, of course,” Charles continued. “Something about harnessing the void, which is a proper idiotic thing to attempt. What the hell is information like this doing on a black box?”
——
Weavile walked outside, his grin fading. She was nearby. Looking for him, probably.
He had no intention of paying off any of his debts- as far as he was concerned, Vrasco could stand to lose the money.
He made very sure to walk all the way down the route, as far away from the house as possible. He came to a stop at the foot of a staircase which led up into Twist Mountain. He wasn’t going to run away- he knew his sister too well.
Weavile waited for what felt like an eternity. He felt her getting closer and closer before stopping, and then getting closer again. He collected a Poke from his crown and waited, flipping the coin nervously. It was a habit he had developed in Black City- people were less likely to engage you if you were throwing Poke around. You could have a lawyer.
His grin faded back into place as he heard footsteps on the dirt behind him. “Heya, Luç,” he said without turning.
“Weavile.” Lucy’s voice was the same as it ever was. Cold.
He turned to face her. Her eyes had been replaced with bionics years ago- first to rectify an accident, then for a matching pair. She watched the Poke go up and down with a glimmer of… something. He hadn’t seen her in a few years, and she had only grown harder to read. “I’m here to collect,” she said evenly.
“And I’m here because you’re not getting a cent,” Weavile replied, flipping the coin back into his crown. He wasn’t sure what she had been expecting.
She didn’t exactly sigh, but the motions were there. “Then I’m to drag you in until you can pay.”
His grin grew wider. “Man, we both suck at being adults, huh?”
Lucy moved into an aggressive stance. “Don’t give me that.”
Weavile shifted his weight, ready for the imminent attack. “It’s true.”
Lucy dashed at him with blinding speed.
He dodged, sticking a leg out so that she would trip. She went down in a roll and came up again. “Already?” she said, rolling her eyes as she swung at him.
Weavile parried the swing with his arm. “I don’t wanna hurt you, Luç.”
She managed to get a hit in, knocking him backward. “You can still run.”
He grinned. “We both know that can’t happen.”
Around and around they danced, each attempting to strike and being parried by the other. Weavile didn’t want to hurt his sister, but she held no qualms against hurting him.
“You’ve gotta- fight back, Weave,” she panted, striking at him again and being parried. They were both exhausting each other, evenly matched.
“I’m not- gonna hurt you, Luç,” he gasped as he barely dodged another punch. He rolled backward to avoid a kick and came up sucking uselessly at the air. His arms and legs burned. They were evenly matched.
Almost evenly matched.
Lucy struck at him again, her blow landing true. He stumbled backwards and collapsed, still gasping for air. Lucy stood over him, hesitation glittering in her eyes. “You can still run, Weave.”
Weavile raised a claw, laughing a little. “You win.”
“You don’t know what they’ll do to you,” his sister insisted, even as she raised a claw.
“Just do it,” Weavile begged. “You know what they’ll do to you.”
Lucy hesitated just a moment more before swinging her arm down.
Weavile didn’t even feel the blow as he went unconscious.
——
Iron Leaves was walking down the path of Route 7, towards the signal.
It had disappeared shortly after it had first detected the alarm, but it never properly turned off. It had watched as it had jumped from Driftveil Drawbridge to just outside Mistralton City with some consternation, but it had accordingly changed course.
Azazel rode on its back in silence. They both knew what information was on that box, and why Azazel craved it.
“Azazel,” Iron Leaves said. “What do you plan to do after you acquire the information?”
“Return the world to how it was,” Azazel replied as if it had asked a stupid question.
Iron Leaves considered this. “That seems like a difficult task.”
“Doubtlessly,” Azazel said. “But I am willing to see it through.”
“You have always been this ambitious?” it asked.
Azazel smiled a little. “But of course. Even when Dexter and Coumans were on my tail, I always came out ahead. Always.”
They turned down the dirt path, the multi-colored sky watching in anticipation as they approached a small house. Azazel dismounted, put on his best polite face, and knocked on the door.
Now they waited.