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Chapter 67
The following morning, the talk went much more smoothly than Char had expected.
Char began the next day's meeting by announcing the new changes to the team. Otto seemed thrilled about Tallie's new role, saying that he looked forward to serving under her. Ray was shocked at Tallie's sudden reappearance, but congratulated her all the same and started asking her all kinds of questions about which foods she liked and what her greatest feats of the Black Division were. He even tried to hug her, but she jumped back and evaded him.
"I do not appreciate being pounced on! As your newly installed superior, I could set a restraining order on you!" she squawked, and Char honestly couldn't tell if she was sarcastic or serious. But Otto nudged her with his small wing and said, "He is always like that, you will get used to it over time. I recommend that you let him hug you whenever he wants. He only wants to express his cheer and to garner trust."
The Talonflame narrowed her gaze at the Raichu and said, "You're the oldest one here before me, so how come you're the most immature?" But she reached out with her huge wing and gave Ray a token pat on the head, as though to concede an apology for shirking away.
Ray pouted, crossing his arms. "Hey, hugs are not immature! They're very important," he insisted, nodding sternly at her. "Everybody needs hugs. Sometimes Pokémon just don't like to admit they want them."
But introducing Tallie as the new co-leader wasn't the part Char was worried about.
As the two birds bickered with the Raichu, Char glanced at Eva, and was met with a supportive gaze accompanied by a proud, interested flick of her tail. It seemed the days had passed when the Espeon would attend the morning meeting half-asleep and uncaring; today Char felt his fire and his confidence strengthen just by looking into her deep, attentive eyes. Though she spoke no words to him, neither with her mouth nor her mind, she communicated a clear message: I will go wherever you go, do whatever you do. I will never leave your side. I will listen to your every wish. I am yours to command, my master.
That level of support from a single Pokémon… it made Char feel really good. Really, really good. Almost uncomfortably good.
For a moment, he caught himself following a stray thought:
That was the same way Saura and I trusted one another a long time ago…
Wasn't it?
It seems so long ago that Saura and I were very close. This is the way I used to feel about him before the Watcher hit him.
What's so different about Eva, then?
But he couldn't doubt himself, not when Eva's eyes were fixed on him, radiating pure spiritual strength.
She'd promised him repeatedly, every time he expressed the slightest doubt, that she'd never get between him and Saura.
There was something in particular she had said to him the previous night, sometime before they had fallen asleep:
"When he comes back – and I know he will, I think it is inevitable – he will have his bed back. And he will have his best friend back, just the way he left you. And never will there be a nosy Eon to disturb your time together. If that is the vow I must take to earn your trust, then you have my undying word. I serve my master without reservations."
And she had said this as he leaned against her, idly stroking her fur. It had always felt so strange to treat a sentient creature like a pet. And yet… the Espeon didn't protest at all. She encouraged it even, cuddling to his side and positioning her head beneath his claw at every opportunity.
Maybe she just likes headrubs, Char figured, the way Ray likes hugs.
He wasn't going to complain. Petting Eva had a great calming effect on him. The comfort helped him to put his thoughts in order… almost as good as Saura's voice did.
Or perhaps better? It was hard to tell.
Either way, he wondered why he was feeling shaky about the announcement in the first place. He knew Eva would stand up for him. That's what partners did.
"There is something else," Char announced, cutting off the banter. "Another change to our team."
Ray blinked. "You hired Zona, didn't you?" he guessed with a sly grin. "Please tell me you hired Zona!"
"Not yet," Char said, taking a deep breath and smothering his insecurity. "I have decided that, until further notice, Eva will be filling in for Saura. That is to say… She and I will be talking a lot, and… she'll be staying in my room. At least until Saura comes back. We'll be… close friends, I guess."
Char held his breath to gauge the reaction. Otto stared blankly at him, Ray looked a bit surprised, and Tallie…
"So what?" Tallie said, sounding a bit irritable. "What makes that newsworthy?"
Char instantly felt nervous. "What do you mean?" he said, trying to straighten his face.
"Is it normal to announce changes in friendship on this team?" Tallie questioned. "Are we all assigned personal consorts here? What difference does it make who your friend is?"
"Actually, it does kind of make a difference on this team," Ray said. "Char has… well, he will tell you when he's ready, I think. There's kind of a reason he needs a personal companion."
Tallie blinked. "Oh, so I'm guessing there's some secret everyone here but me knows?" she said dryly, casting an imposing glare down to Char. "Mind filling me in, O valiant leader?"
Char gulped, trying to keep his fire still. He felt Tallie's gaze burning on his tail. He was well aware that she knew all of the flickers and dances of a fire-type's ember too intimately, and that she would know all of his secrets in due time merely by paying attention to his tail flame.
"It's kind of a personal thing," Char said meekly. "It's also kind of weird. I guess I can tell you, if you insist, but I… just don't call me crazy until you hear me out, alright?"
Tallie scoffed. "Pah, I've heard things you wouldn't believe," she said dismissively with a flit of her tail. "I'd be surprised if you could tell me something I haven't heard before. So let's have it, then. Try me."
Char glanced at Eva. She is agreeable, I think, Eva reported. Her thoughts are unpredictable, but now seems to be the best time. Go ahead and tell her.
Char nodded at her, then gave Tallie a strong glare right in the eyes. "My secret is that I'm a human transformed into a Charmander," he said confidently. "All my memories of being a human are gone. I'm here for a reason, but I don't know what it is yet. That's why I need a partner. They're here to help me fit in with Pokémon in Ambera."
Tallie's eyes widened, but only for a minute. Char blinked, and her smug expression had returned.
"Oh, so you're one of those," Tallie quipped, nodding in understanding. "You think your soul is a human? I've met your kind before. I've also met Pokémon who think they're Arceus on the inside. I've met Pokémon who think they've died a thousand years ago and got reincarnated as something else. I've met Pokémon who think they're Mew trapped in a transformation. And you know what? I've served under all of them. Thinking you're a human on the inside is relatively tame. Sorry, but you're going to have to try better than that to shock me."
"B-but wait," Char tried, choking on his tongue. "I'm not – I can – I really am…"
"Shut it," Tallie snapped, waving her wing at Char. "Look. I don't care, got it? Your soul is whatever you decide it is. I don't care. If it helps you to tell yourself that you're human, good for you. Just as long as you don't expect special treatment, and you let me treat you like the Charmander that you look like, I don't see how this has any bearing on the way you run the team. Understood?"
Despite the sour look on Eva's face, Char gulped and nodded at the Talonflame. "Yes, of course," he said, nearly stumbling over his words. He decided he wouldn't push the matter right away. If he and Eva needed to convince her, they had better ways of doing so. Hopefully.
"Well, is that it?" Tallie squawked, looking at her new teammates. "Is that the extent of the meeting? Just the new hire and the friendship drama?"
"Oh, no, we're just getting started," Char returned. "Today's a very important day, as I'm sure most of you are well aware," he said, standing tall and pacing as he addressed his teammates. "In our hunt for the Iron Town thief, we've designed an operation to help us figure out what the thief is really after. Operation 'One Bite' is to be performed tonight, at six o'clock by human timekeeping. Kecleon has his merchandise ready. By noon, we need to meet with Kecleon and agree upon the three locations for the items to be set, and have the notices printed and posted in Iron Town so that the thief will see them. Then we'll have six hours to have all the arrangements in place, and we'll get to see what the thief picks."
Tallie looked intrigued. "Now this sounds exciting," she said, twitching her tail. "Anything I can help with?"
"As a matter of fact, absolutely," Char said, nodding at her. "Our plan requires the cooperation of a Pokémon who can teleport. Tallie, you just came from Flamewheel, I know you have connections with a lot of Pokémon. If I gave you until noon to find someone to help us, could you?"
"I can do anything," she answered smugly. "In fact, I know a few teleportation users I could ask. One of them might be a bit snippy about it, but we'll see if we can bribe him. Just give me a representative of your team – I mean, one that's more easily recognizable than me, and I'll get you someone. Just tell me where to put them."
"Perfect. Otto, you go with Tallie, do whatever she needs you to do," Char said. "Ray, you go talk to Kecleon and tell him about the locations we had in mind. Now, on top of all of this, I've promised the crowd another round of interviews. So Eva and I are going to hang back here and get through some more candidates. Marrow should be by anytime, and I'd imagine the huge long line won't be far behind."
Tallie glared sternly. "As your second officer, will I get some sort of say in the recruits you hire?" she inquired.
"Yes, we are planning to hold tryouts," Eva said, cutting in. "You will have your say when you can see them in action. Char and I will conduct interviews merely to weed out the chaff."
Overassertive hothead, she added quietly to Char.
Char acknowledged and congratulated Tallie for completing ten days' worth of missions at once, and discussed with her some of the candidates he was considering. When the meeting concluded, Team Ember dispersed with the orders Char had assigned, ready to get the day started early.
When they were alone, Char cast a glance at Eva and said, "I'm not going to have trouble with you two, am I?"
"Only as much trouble as she wants to have," Eva said, sticking her nose in the air. "Pardon me for being melodramatic, but I don't believe in being so insensitive when my master opens his heart to me. The nerve of her, to disregard your humanity as a mental illness! Tonight, I will make sure she has nightmares of humans throwing Pokéballs at her."
Char sighed, almost ready to chuckle. He slid down to sit against her side, touching the fur on the back of her neck. "Nah, let's not resort to that just yet," he told her. "I like that she's cynical. Sometimes I don't mind being questioned, you know? Sometimes it helps me think if I have to explain myself."
"I do not mind her questioning either, but I do not like her attitude," Eva huffed. "She'll start wanting to run the whole team herself if we're not careful."
Char shrugged. "Well, maybe she'll be able to take over for me if something happens," he said. "Maybe that's why I feel like I can trust her."
Otto and Tallie stopped to rest on a stone windowsill overlooking one of the division's central chambers. The upper corridors of the base were quiet as the elite teams still slept. Otto peered down to the lower floor, seeing that the breakfast crowd hadn't yet formed. The base was eerily barren beneath the orange torchlight; only the earliest of the early birds were up at this hour.
A ways down the hall, Otto spotted the door to Team Flamewheel's chamber.
He turned to Tallie, noticing a flicker of reluctance in her golden eyes which she quickly hid behind a blank glare. He understood why she hesitated; there was certainly an awkward element to meeting with the team she'd just abandoned and having to negotiate with them.
"Is there a teleportation user on Team Flamewheel?" Otto inquired.
"Yes," she replied absently, twisting her head to stare at the faraway door. "He's probably the best pick for us, but he's not going to be easy to convince. I'm trying to think of what to tell him."
"Why do you keep telling Char that you can do anything?" Otto blurted, tilting his head. "I don't understand. Nobody can do anything. For instance, you can't lift a mountain with your wings."
"Not with that attitude, you can't," she said. "As far as you're concerned, maybe I can lift a mountain with my wings."
Otto nodded. It seemed that there was some danger of Team Flamewheel being unreasonable, but he felt that Tallie was someone to be trusted.
He looked at her again, admiring her stature. What a magnificent bird she was, and what perfect posture! Surely, he thought, she stood taller than even Syr, and had a larger wingspan. And with such meticulously preened feathers, indicative of a perfectionist, or someone of high self-esteem.
How proud, how assertive she was, how certain of the things she believed. She must have seen so much of the world, had experience in so many battles… and now, she was one of them, lending all of that knowledge and experience to his team. Her inferences suggested an IQ of at least eight stars. If she truly was as multi-talented as she claimed, eight and a half stars was the minimum.
Her record of successes and failures remained unknown, but if she had accomplished ten jobs in one day, it was probably much higher than he had predicted. She looked to be at least thirty years of age. If she had accomplished ten missions each day of her life (Accounting for six years as a hatchling, and six more years of training at which her daily success rate might have averaged to five missions per day)… that came to over seventy-six thousand missions she could have potentially completed. Incredible! He could be standing beside a bird with a record more breathtaking than a three-degree nosedive.
He shook out his feathers. He hadn't felt so small and childish since he'd stood in Syr's shadow. Or perhaps since that day so long ago, that day when he met Char and his intelligence sparked to life for the first time. It was the fire that had drawn him to Char's side.
How strong he must be to carry a piece of the sun upon his tail, he remembered his feral mind thinking. I want to be strong, like him. He must teach me to have my own fire.
And now, Tallie offered her companionship, carrying inside of her the same Ember that lived within Char. In a way, it was like having the best qualities of both Syr and Char, the two Pokémon he most admired, combined into one Pokémon. It was an honor to have her there, to call her a teammate.
I have so much to learn from her, he thought.
He observed her, wondering what she thought about. Perhaps she simulated conversations between herself and Prince. Perhaps her fire was bothering her; her eyes looked similar to the way Char's would when his tail flame's patterns suggested worry.
He wondered if now would be a good time to ask her an important question.
"Can you solve a riddle?" he suddenly said.
Tallie blinked. "What riddle?" she said dismissively.
"A former team leader has given me a riddle, and I have pondered it for many days, but I can't figure out its meaning," Otto explained. "I think he was trying to give me advice. If you are not too busy, of course. I understand if you are considering important thoughts."
"Well, I can try," she grumbled. "Hit me."
She is paying attention to me, he realized. This is an incredible opportunity! I must not misspeak.
He tried to remember the riddle word-for-word: "Once upon a time, there lived a Lucario who could not harness the power of aura; he was the weakest, most inefficient soldier the world had ever known."
The two birds stared at each other for a prolonged second. "…And…?" Tallie said.
"Nothing. That is the extent of the riddle," Otto said. "Although I have an intelligence quotient of over eleven stars, I fail to see its meaning."
Tallie chuckled. "It's obviously referring to the leader of the Emerald Division, sir Lucario of Team Regret," she said with a disgusted sneer. "And yes, it sounds accurate. Biggest weakling in the Lucario lineage, if you ask me. That's one boss I'd never want to have. Big baby. He rules by whining the loudest. I'd rather be boiled alive in syrup than work for the Emerald Division, personally. At least as long as he's in charge."
Otto stared blankly down at the lower hallways of the ninth floor, the orange firelight reminding him of the sunrise from his feral days. "The leader of Team Regret," he echoed, deep in thought. "But I still don't understand what message Syr tried to convey." He ruffled his wings dejectedly. "It is strange how a riddle which is only two sentences long could pose such a challenge," he sighed.
Tallie gave him a sharp glare. "That's because what Syr gave you is not a riddle," she said. "It's a fact. Lucario was born without aura and is a terrible weakling. That's statement of fact. No puzzle, no riddle. You can see that, can't you? A riddle is for entertainment's sake. Facts are there to support conclusions. What conclusion do you think Syr wanted to support?"
"I don't know," Otto chirped. "He was talking about how he trained me and he said that he still wanted to tell me things before he died. I don't see any other correlation."
The Talonflame gave an irritated sigh. "Maybe Syr was trying to say that you're so busy overanalyzing everything that you always let the rat get away, huh?" She hesitated for a moment. "…Figure of speech, not a real rat, a figurative one," she added cautiously.
"I am familiar with that figure of speech," Otto said, staring down into the lower chamber at one of the main bulletin boards. "Perhaps… he meant that I am missing something to my being. Like Lucario, perhaps there is something I am lacking, which makes me a weakling…"
When Tallie didn't reply right away, Otto turned to see that she'd flown away and was already rapping on Team Flamewheel's door.
How insolent I must seem to her, he thought, clutching the windowsill tightly with his talons. How dimwitted she must think I am. Ah, to think it was not a riddle at all? Why did I not consider it from that perspective before? Why has my mind failed me at the precise moment I could have demonstrated my intelligence and gained her respect? I will be nothing but a nestling in her eyes if I do not show her otherwise.
It is vital that I impress her somehow. I cannot let her merely be my commander. Only as a confidant will she teach me what she knows, the way Syr has.
Try harder. Do not fail. You are no longer feral. You have no excuse.
He set his thoughts aside for the moment and followed her.
"Out of the question," Kabir said. "Simply out of the question."
The fuming Talonflame flew over the one-armed Smeargle's head to cut off his exit. "Don't walk away from me," she shouted. She almost called him boss, but had to choke the word down at the last minute.
"Listen to me. This would be a one-time thing. Very simple. Char only needs four one-way teleports with fixed destinations… If you do this for him—"
"What Char needs isn't my problem," the Smeargle said, waving his hand at her. "And you aren't my problem anymore, either. We had to hire birds from Silverwing to cover for you. And on immediate notice, at that. Have you any idea what they are billing us? Hm? Prince and I trusted you. You said you would join this team for the long haul. After what you've burdened us with, I feel that it's fair to say I don't owe you any favors."
He stuck up his nose and walked around her, his long tail trailing across the floor and shifting over her talons. "The answer is no, for two reasons. One, because I am so busy that I really should be sending you an invoice for the time wasted on this conversation, and two…"
He looked at his shoulder. A scowl formed on his face.
"I am not a native user of teleportation. I haven't even attempted a jump since the one which cost me an arm. A jump that was made out of desperation, I might add. On principle, and at the risk of losing the only arm I have left – or worse, my tail – I refuse to teleport without the aid of a compass."
"Well, we can make you a compass," Tallie offered. "Easy. It can be done in four hours, maximum."
"Then let me ask you this," Kabir replied, still looking away from her, "It seems to me that I would need to carry these items with me through the void, correct? If I am holding a compass, what hand would I use to hold Kecleon's treasures, hmm? You didn't think this out too well, did you?"
He walked away, his tail snaking across the floor behind him. "Tallie, I will say the same thing to you that you told me just yesterday. Find someone else. End of discussion."
The Smeargle forcefully shut the door to his room, leaving the two bewildered birds standing in Team Flamewheel's hallway all alone.
Tallie ruffled her wings.
What a brat.
Well, at any rate, that went better than I expected. He really could have chewed me out a lot worse than he did. Pah, ex-managers, why are they never reasonable?
Otto cocked his head and stared blankly at her. "So, your plan has failed?" he inquired.
"No, no, my plan hasn't failed," she hissed, hobbling past him. "It's just… not finished yet. C'mon, let's get out of here. No reason to stick around. You've got a psychic club here in this base, right? We'll try them. There's got to be someone in this ridiculous underground fortress that can do what we want. We'll find them. I'll go straight to Alakazam if we need to."
Team Flamewheel's hall was the very last place she wanted to be. She knew there were others she could ask. Sandstone had some psychic-type friends she had considered asking about. But it wasn't worth the trouble. The climate, she felt, was just not right for her presence. She needed to be elsewhere.
Tallie was used to dealing with all sorts of teammates, and all sorts of managers. She knew how to stay on everyone's good side, and keep everyone agreeable. Usually.
That was the secret to her success, after all. It wasn't what you did, it was how you looked doing it, which determined how you were judged. It was important that no matter who would look at you, they would always see a striking, flawless, accomplished bird who was capable of meeting and exceeding all expectations.
If she lacked in a skill, she'd simply pretend she had that skill until it became real. She'd learned a lot of skills in this way. It was a very reliable mindset. Sometimes she really did feel she could do anything.
This image, this reputation, was very important. As long as she held it, opportunities would gather around beneath her like wayward rodents, free for the picking. Everyone would like her. Everyone would respect her. And in the Black Division, everyone did.
Here, not so much. It didn't seem to have worked on Team Flamewheel. They were too busy running around with their heads cut off to appreciate the overqualified bird who'd drifted in on the wind, and so she drifted out just as quickly.
It was working on Char. That was good. Char sounded like a promising partner. First to put her in real charge of something, too. A new opportunity. One she couldn't lose. She would impress him.
But this bird, this little tagalong that had been swarming him ever since the mail route mission… he was something else. Was she impressing him at all? Did he respect her? She didn't even know how to read the little guy. But she wanted to look good in front of the Pidgey. She felt it was important, somehow.
Tallie realized she'd been standing in place for a moment too long when she heard the sound of a door, and out came Canniah from her bedroom. Yes, it was the famous Arcanine who'd somehow miraculously survived the Silver Division slaughter when she was, for all purposes, supposed to be dead. It was a miracle. Nobody knew how she did it.
Of course, she'd learned that only because she'd read a history book the day before applying to transfer to Flamewheel.
Tallie watched as Otto shirked away from the giant Arcanine, who was nothing but a wall of fire-colored fur to such a little winged rodent. She smirked in amusement, seeing him so startled… but her smirk faded when Canniah shot her a look of disdain.
What do you want?! Tallie tried to say with her eyes.
Canniah averted her gaze, narrowing her eyes upon the intimidated little Otto.
"Sorry. The old dog hasn't been himself lately," she said, shooting a scowl at Kabir's door.
"Oh, I don't know about that, sounded pretty typical of him to me," Tallie shot.
"You've only known him for as long as we've been assigned to the canyon," the Arcanine said in a fake-gentle tone. "Kabir is a very thoughtful and diligent Pokémon when he's not in a state of continuous panic. But I don't expect you to listen to me. It's not like the well-being of our team is of any concern of yours anymore."
Alright, let's get out of here, Tallie decided, heading for the door.
Otto, however, didn't seem to take the hint. "Who are you?" he asked. "I do not remember seeing you before."
"Oh, that's just Canniah. She and Prince are lovebirds," Tallie said, stepping closer to the door and looking more eager than ever to get out of her former team's hall. "Now can we please get going?"
"Have you recently arrived from the canyon?" Otto guessed.
Canniah shrugged. "Prince doesn't want me involved with the canyon," she said. "Prince has gotten it into his head that he doesn't want me to die, so my job is to stay here and look after Lily. But I don't mind. I can understand why he feels that way."
"…Otto, let's go," Tallie urged again, scraping the door with her talon. "We don't have much time! We need to get moving before the whole base wakes up!"
Canniah opened her mouth, hesitated for a second, then said, "…Actually, wait a minute. There's something I think I want to tell you."
Yes, but there is nothing I would like to hear from you, Tallie wanted to say. You are one of the last Pokémon in the world who would concern me at the moment.
Instead, she only said "What is it?! We're on a very tight schedule today. Char has us doing something very important."
"I know," Canniah replied to her. "I heard everything. Listen, you may have burned your bridges, but you haven't burned Char's. I know that if Prince were here, he'd want us to spare some time to help him. So I think that's what I'll do. Come with me."
She stepped into her room and motioned for the birds to follow. Otto was quite eager, and Tallie had to choke down a pillar of flaming wrath before she hobbled in after them.
Tallie was surprised at seeing the interior of the Arcanine's room. Although it was just as small as her new room, there was something oddly mythical about all the trinkets and artifacts on the shelves. On the highest shelf, sitting on a pedestal, was some kind of stone claw that looked like it might have once belonged to a very large statue of some unknown Pokémon. She figured it was part of the Rayquaza statue that had been broken in the war. It was a symbol of the Silver Division, after all.
Yet, what use did such memorabilia serve to such a resistance team? None, that's what. Unless it was enchanted or served some functional purpose, possessions were pointless, amounting to nothing but things to lug around the world with you, slowing down your progress. Tallie decided a long time ago that she would never claim ownership of anything. It made life much more simple when you were expected never to stay in one place.
Once they were inside, Canniah pawed the door closed and pounced onto the bed. She kept her eyes fixed on the door and spoke in a hushed tone, "Now, what I'm about to tell you, you can't tell this to anyone else. Nobody else knows about this besides Prince. You especially need to make sure Kabir doesn't find out. But… the truth is that I know how to teleport."
Tallie spread her wings in fury. "You? You can teleport?" she squealed, astounded. "So what are you telling me?! All that flying I did, back and forth, back and forth to the canyon… you're telling me you could have done it?! I don't believe this!"
Otto was astounded as well, it seemed. "You are not a psychic," he blurted. "How can you claim to teleport?"
"Well, it's… It's just, I don't know," Canniah said candidly, ignoring the Talonflame's outburst. "It's something I've always been able to do. I may have learned it from the egg. I've tried asking others of my kind, but nobody has ever heard of an Arcanine with the power before… or any fire-type, even. I guess I'm special."
Oh, now this was one sure-fire way to ignite her rage – hiding things that could have made a difference. Something had always rubbed her the wrong way about this Arcanine, and now she knew why. She was a filthy liar! She'd been a filthy liar the whole time. That's what that smug look had always been in her eyes. She was hiding things. She felt superior.
Good riddance. She was glad not to have Canniah as a teammate anymore. She couldn't stand for teammates to hide such huge, life-changing abilities from her, not when they could have saved so much trouble!
"That's how you survived, isn't it?" Tallie said, seething with anger. "The massacre. The famous massacre. Vallon… He—"
She shut her beak quickly, realizing the truth.
"That's the problem with telling anyone," Canniah said sadly. "Everyone here thinks Vallon died to save me. When… the truth is that I saved myself. I'd rather let Vallon be remembered as a hero. I use the power, I use it every day. But Prince and I agree that it's best if we didn't let word get out. There would be too many implications that might tear our team apart, and it's Prince's job to make sure those kinds of things don't get in the way of our work, and I can't help but to agree with him."
"What about Kabir's arm?" Tallie said pointedly. "You mean to say you could have prevented that, too?"
"I wasn't around at the time," she said distantly. "That night Char called the Watchers in on Rayquaza's Clutch, I was away on business. But if I were there… probably. I guess it's just another reason nobody should know."
After that, Tallie was torn between glaring bitterly at Canniah, or refusing to look at her. Otto did most of the talking, although she wasn't sure if Canniah even deserved to be spoken to.
What kind of scum of the torn earth hides such an incredible power from her teammates?! The nerve! Where would one even begin? How many disasters could she have averted all on her own?!
But Otto didn't even seem to care. There he was, babbling on and on as though he had no earthly idea of the implications of what had just been said!
"Are you skilled with the power?" Otto inquired. "Can you perform it reliably?"
"I haven't lost a limb yet," Canniah said. "Might have lost a few hairs every now and again. And I wouldn't dream of jumping as far as Basin Canyon all at once," Tallie didn't miss the stern glare she received on that note. "…But if it's just a trip around Iron Town that you need, that's easy. No problem at all. Just as long as you let me see where I'm jumping first. Or if you can afford to make compasses for my jumps."
"We accept your conditions," Otto said excitedly. "We may also negotiate terms of payment, but know that we cannot pay you for your service until Kecleon pays us for catching the thief."
"Fine by me," Canniah said. "Again, all I ask is that you don't tell anyone we had this conversation. Of course you can tell Char, and I'm alright with Kecleon knowing, he's a very professional Pokémon. But I hope you understand, I'm not sure if I'm ready to be the cause of our history books having to be revised. It's too much to handle, especially with all the stress we have going on right now."
"We accept that condition as well," Otto said. "I offer twenty-thousand gold for your service today."
"Whatever works best for you," she said. "Knowing Prince, he probably wouldn't tell you to even worry about the money. I know he told Char to ask for help whenever he needed it."
"I believe that it is important to Char that we pay for your assistance," Otto said. "We want to accomplish the first advanced mission of Team Ember. Accepting free help from non-teammates may compromise this ideal, that was done under our own competence. So we will promise to pay you once Kecleon pays us for the success. Is this a deal?"
"Deal," she said. "But maybe not tell Kabir. He's the accountant, and he'll get suspicious if he thinks I filled in for the job that he just turned down."
"Then it will be given to you under the table, or perhaps in the form of a gift," Otto said. "Perhaps we can manufacture a different role for you to play so the reason for the money cannot be traced."
"Again, whatever works best for you," she said with an amused chuckle.
Canniah turned to the Talonflame still stewing at end of the room.
"I sense enmity between you and Tallie," Otto said. "Will you be capable of working together?"
Canniah chuckled warmly. "Oh… don't worry about Tallie," she said. "After all, she can do anything. Isn't that right, Tallie?"
Nope.
Nope. Not gonna fall for that one.
The Talonflame took a deep breath. The fire had almost overflowed, but she forced it back down.
I will not stoop to that level.
Raptors do not stoop. They RISE.
Tallie folded her wings and put on her best smug grin. "Of course I can," she said.
She looked at Otto, the impressionable little chicklet, who seemed quite satisfied with her response. That made her happy; if she didn't look good in front of Canniah anymore, she at least wanted to look in his eyes.
And her own eyes, too, for that matter.
Tiny Meadow
Saura found he couldn't enjoy the pure, crystal-clear autumn weather.
As a soothing breath of the wind rattled the leaves of the nearby forest, Saura walked the perimeter of the meadow he'd always called home. His siblings were already hard at work rebuilding it to its former beauty. The previous day after his encounter with the mysterious Redeemer, they found all the little saurs busy gardening.
They'd trimmed the grass around Saurlee's garden. Someone had made a little path of smooth stone leading up to it.
He wanted so badly to feel at home, to finally be at peace. He wanted to become accepted as one of his own family again.
But his home, and the family who lived there, weren't something to be enjoyed. Right now, it was something which needed to be protected.
He watched the sunlight sparkle in the few crystalline dewdrops which still remained on the highest stalks of grass. He knew they would evaporate by noontime. It wouldn't be for at least six more weeks when the first frost would strike.
A frost that his family might not live to see.
He crossed the newly-grown thistle patch. Great spheres of orange-and-blue spikes cluttered the meadow floor, looking more like weapons than the flowers they were. He carefully treaded, weaving a path around them.
At the edge of the forest, a wild Rhyhorn peacefully grazed. It shared a passive glance with the Bulbasaur.
At the very west corner of the meadow, Saura encountered his youngest sister walking circles around a patch of soil. It looked like she was hard at work on a second garden. It was turning out a lot like the first one, the one which Saurvor had shown him a few days prior, but that was fine. Symmetry was an important part of art. And she was so young; if she only knew how to design things one way, it wasn't something he was going to criticize.
"Hey, brother!" she shouted, withdrawing her vines from the soil and waving them in the air. "Hey! Look at this! How do you like it so far?"
Saurlee… she looked so happy, so innocent. Such a little seedling beaming with sunlight, with so much potential.
Was she really about to die? Was she really, unbeknownst to her or to the rest of her family, living out the last days of her life?
How could that be possible?
"It looks nice," Saura said, forcing a smile. "Are you going to make it different than the other one?"
"Maybe!" she said. "I don't know yet! I'm just kind of… doing what the earth tells me."
Ah, yes. That was what dad always told them. Gardening is about doing what the earth tells you. Sometimes it gives you a plan. Other times it seems to make up the plan as you go. But if you're keen, you can always listen to the earth and let it tell you what it wants to look like. That's what dad always said.
"Hey, Saurlee…?" Saura said, without really wanting to.
"Yeah?" said the tiny Bulbasaur, nudging a pile of copper-rocks she'd collected from the ground.
He knew what he wanted to say.
Saurlee, promise me something. Promise me you won't die.
Promise me you're going to run away from the danger. Even if the danger is attacking the rest of our family, just… run away, okay?
Do you have the courage to run away from your family if you need to?
You have so much potential to be such a great Pokémon.
I want you to live.
Instead, he just said, "I love you, Saurlee."
"Aww. Love you too, big brother!" the little one said, scampering up to him and grasping him tightly into a vine hug. "Aww, you're sad. Are you okay?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," Saura lied. He was always so good at lying. Especially that particular lie. He knew how to say it with a perfectly straight face.
Inside, his thoughts circled in panic.
How am I going to save you, Saurlee?
How am I going to save mom and dad and everyone else, too?
What's coming to kill us? If it's not the Master, then what is it?
Is there really something more dangerous and fearsome in this world than the Master?
Can I really stand in the way of something worse than the Master? Just a little Bulbasaur like me?
The tighter he held his little sister, the more his thoughts aligned.
No. Saura, you can't think like that anymore. You're going to do this. They're too precious. For once in your life you're not going to run.
You're going to save them. You're going to save all of them.
You're going to find out what's coming and stop it.
You're going to be that hero for them that the Redeemer said you were.
Because you love them.
Without knowing what was fated to happen to him, everything was an enemy. The wind, the grass, the sky… none of it could be trusted.
Would death come from the sky? Would it come from underground?
Would it chase them if they were to run?
Was it some kind of a virus? Poison-types didn't get sick. Was there some kind of a virus that was able to infect poison-types and make them sick enough to die?
Was it already killing them?
He didn't know, but he knew it didn't matter. Whatever it was, it was going to go through him before it would hurt any of the others.
"Are you going to help me with this garden?" Saurlee asked so innocently.
"Can't," he replied. "I have a lot of work I need to do. And I need to start on it right now."
Iron Outskirts
Eva watched as Kecleon set the golden apple upon the final pedestal, far outside of town.
She looked at the sky.
What a bright and shining day, she thought.
What a perfect day. I've forgotten that I could feel so happy about the simplest of things.
She watched as the Talonflame, her newest teammate, flew overhead and obscured the sun for a moment.
She could get used to having the Talonflame around. Tallie was pushy, yes, but from what she'd seen in her mind, she knew how to see things for what they were. Tallie had a superb sense of lie detection, but it didn't come from a grasp of the mind's workings, like the Espeon. It didn't come from knowing how to spot the tells of insecurity or the slip of the tongue. Rather, Tallie could spot lies only because she knew how to spot the truth; those hawk-eyes of hers saw straight through the scattered webs of politics and idealisms; they focused unwaveringly and brazenly on reality.
Not unlike Otto, she thought with some amusement, but perhaps with more heart.
She would be useful to keep around, if only because she would take so much of the burden of running Team Ember off of Char. That burden was only growing.
They'd interviewed six new candidates that day. Most were too young and clearly not fit for the task, save for just one who'd stood out… a Snivy girl who seemed to be wise beyond her years and hiding interesting thoughts just beneath the surface of her memory. They were unusually airtight secrets; Eva had tried unsuccessfully to worm her way between the cracks and uncover them, but it was too difficult at the proximity they had been standing. She would need to touch foreheads with the Snivy if she wanted to learn more, and that was always very inconvenient and difficult to keep secret.
In any case, Char promised her a tryout, and that was yet another candidate thrown into the growing pile of potential new teammates, all of which would, quite unfortunately, compete with her for Char's attention.
Yes, it wasn't the sunlight that made the day bright. It was her human! Her wonderful, wise, caring human who had chosen to trust and accept her as his closest friend. Her partner.
She didn't think this day would come, especially with all the time he'd spent around that Bulbasaur. They seemed so impossible to separate. And it didn't help that Saura had some sort of inherent distrust of her – perhaps not an undeserved distrust, but an inconvenient one nonetheless. So, it was a sudden and wonderful act of fate that he'd quit the team when he did, leaving Char in need of someone else to trust, someone with exactly her credentials.
Someone who'd served a human before. Someone who knew exactly what a human needed from his Pokémon.
Now that the day had arrived, she never wanted it to end. And if she had anything to do with it, it never would.
She couldn't stop looking at him. He was small, yes… But he was so human, so very human. She could tell by the way he walked, by the way he looked at things, by the way his eyes moved as he considered and judged his options. She could tell by his budding leadership potential, the first petals of a deep and special wisdom sprouting from his naiveté. She recognized the way he spoke assertively, as though he was just starting to realize that he owned everything he laid his eyes upon, and that the world was his to mold and shape in whatever way he liked.
There were so many things she wanted to tell him.
I would make this world bend to your will, my master.
I shall stay at your side for all times, and make sure no harm comes to you.
I will deliver to you the whole world, and we shall share it.
My master.
But that was for later. The first thing she needed to deliver to him was this renegade thief.
A teleport user had been found in one of the last places she had expected: an Arcanine, of all things. She was unaware they were capable of learning to teleport. Perhaps they harbored some sort of divinity within their embers, something which brushed against the spiritual plane in a way other fire-types could not. Even so, she found it strange that in all her years, this was the first she's heard of it.
Even after so long, she thought, Ambera keeps finding ways to surprise me.
The plan was moving in the right direction. Soon, the thief would make his move, and Eva would see through him, knowing just what sort Pokémon he aspired to be simply by revealing which treasure he found the most important.
That would be the moment the thief would hold no more secrets from her, the moment she would have enough information to design a flawless plan to trap him.
If the thief picks the apple, he is a hedonist. Those are the easiest to pick out of a crowd, and also the easiest to fool. Their minds are empty. He could be lured with another apple. We could place one in a large crowd, and I would find the thief even before he dons the shadow mask, just by singling out those who lust for its taste.
If the thief chooses the reviver seeds, I can assume that he is insecure, and fears death.
…Fear of death. How very rich.
There would certainly be a number of options in that case. I might consider tricking the thief into believing that one of the treasures he's stolen has poisoned him with a rare illness, and that he must turn himself in if he wishes to be cured. I might even find someone to curse the item with a suitable annoyance.
I worry that the thief would choose the diamond. In that case, I know that I am dealing with someone intelligent and forward-thinking. Someone versatile. I could still catch him, certainly, but our trap will require more effort to construct.
Ah, how thrilling this is! How wonderful life is once again, now that I have such an immediate purpose, and someone to share it with.
I will make my master just as happy as I am.
Char was speaking to his client. The Kecleon. The thief who could not stand to be out-thieved. What a hypocrite! But that was, understandably, the business he ran. It was not a business which welcomed competition.
"Do you understand what you need to do?" Char asked the Arcanine.
"Got it," she said. "I know where the waypoints are. Given the distance, I can blink all of the things away in three seconds or less. Since I can't teleport into the base thanks to the security system, I'll drop them all in Cliffisde Academy and Kecleon can run off back into the base with them."
The waypoints had been chosen: The diamond was put on display in the busy administrative district of Iron Town, under the guise of an art exhibit with some other fake glass diamonds set up beside it. Pokémon would be passing it frequently, some stopping to admire its size and clarity.
The reviver seeds were set against the Bonsley Memorial at the center of the park. Kecleon put them in a small sack underneath a layer of plain seeds, making it look to the passerby as though someone accidentally had forgotten to take their bag of birdseed with them.
And finally, the apple was positioned outside of town, in a barren zone where it was unlikely that a wild would come along and eat it.
Ray was watching the diamond, and Otto the seeds, until Tallie would flash the signal from the top of the town's biggest structure, the Iron Spire, indicating that they were all to leave the precious items unguarded and free for the taking.
"And these waypoints must be clear of external matter, correct?" the Kecleon said. "Would it injure you to teleport where something already exists?"
The Arcanine nodded. "Well, there is a margin of error," she explained. "The space-wave can push small things out of the way, just as long as they move easily. If there's another Pokémon where I'm teleporting, they'll just get bumped aside. It's the immovable things that cause problems. If I teleport into a wall, part of my body might get petrified in there. It's like… imagine if large ship were on a collision course with an insect. It's more likely than anything else that the insect will get swept aside into its wake and not be seriously harmed. But something that's rooted to the water, like a rock or another boat, it could damage the ship."
That is not a bad analogy, Eva thought.
Given the word, Tallie lifted off into the sky to station herself at the Iron Spire, a place they had chosen where she could easily see all three of the treasures at once. Originally, the plan was for members of Team Ember to station themselves outside of each item and watch it carefully, and for Otto to patrol the sky and watch for the signal that one of them had been taken. But Tallie's eyesight was four times sharper than his; she could see from one end of Iron Town to the other if stationed at the right position. With her at their disposal, Eva adjusted her plan at the last moment.
That meant that Char, Otto, Ray, and herself had very little to do until the thief would make his choice. It was decided that they were to gather with Tallie at the top of the spire and find a way to pass the time.
Well, most of them were. Ray had an errand he wished to run, one that he had been meaning to run for many days, and Char gave him permission to do it once Tallie had given the signal to leave their stations. It was only a few blocks north of the diamond display, at any rate.
Eva felt a shiver of anticipation. She knew the thief was watching from somewhere. She could sense it! There was no other explanation for why the thief hadn't ambushed them for their priceless treasures yet, as he usually would with Kecleon. It meant the thief was playing along, playing right into her little game.
Ooh, manipulating Pokémon was so much fun! Especially at such a grand scale. Eva really couldn't wait to see what would happen next.
As they waited for Tallie's signal in the sky, Eva looked fondly at Char, wondering how he felt.
Earlier, there had been something strange about his mind. Some strange flicker of dread or uncertainty had colored his waves.
It seemed as though he was reflecting on the Call. Worried it would cause him pain or catastrophe, perhaps the way it had with Saura.
It was around noontime. "The Call, the Call," his mind kept repeating. But he was not having an episode, not as far as she could tell. He may have been merely having an involuntary reiteration of a painful memory. But it was causing him great stress, like a suppressed panic attack, and she worried for her master.
She wanted so badly to enter his mind, to link herself with all of his thoughts and sort them out into a nice, harmless order, just for him him. She so badly wanted to hear him say to her, just as he had said to Saura, "I have no secrets from you."
But… no. She couldn't simply intrude upon his mind. That wasn't right. Her master had not given permission to pry into his most intimate thoughts, and she'd even assured him time and time again that she was upholding her promise and honoring his privacy. She couldn't betray him in such a petty way, especially when one day soon they might link minds together, sharing their hearts and souls with one another, and sharing a bond much, much deeper than he'd ever shared with Saura.
It was going to happen. She was going to make it happen. She was going to convince him to open up willingly to her. But it would take many small steps, the first of which was to prove herself reliable.
That's what humans liked in their Pokémon, she knew. Reliability. Fidelity. And she knew she could be just the Pokémon he always wanted, the Pokémon he would never want to let go.
Char caught her glance, and smiled back at her. The sun seemed to shine more brightly.
Iron Town
The clock tower upon city hall chimed, indicating 6 P.M. by human standards. The evening life had started. Restaurants were flooding with business, entertainment parlors had opened, and Iron Town was bustling with chatty, hurried citizens.
Far in the distance, above Iron Town's tallest and most majestic monument, a ring of fire appeared in the air. Like a firework, it remained only for about ten seconds, then faded away.
Tallie's signal. The signal that Ray could finally leave his post.
Finally, Ray could begin on a mission that he really wanted to start on much sooner, but time just wasn't cooperating. The red letter they'd gotten from Xatu didn't help much either, nor had all the interviews. But this night, there was finally an opportunity to get away from resistance missions, and go after something much more important:
His inheritance.
Three million golds. That was mind-boggling. How'd his brother earned so much? Golds were more valuable than Poké, the currency used by most of Ambera. Golds were bought and traded only by underground societies like the resistance divisions or in the very treasuries guarded by the Master. Golds often never even changed hands, even among the division; most of them were kept locked up in a giant magical safe somewhere behind Persian and only vouchers for the golds ever traded for goods.
Three. Million. That was more than twenty million Poké, at least. What could he buy with that?
What couldn't he buy?
For starters, he could buy more than enough equipment for Zona, Leo, and all the other teammates he was soon to have. That was going to be a fun shopping spree.
But that was a question for later. He didn't have to worry about lugging around three million in gold coins. Right now, all he was after was the compass – a tiny worthless little thing, but a key to the treasures his brother had left him.
Teleport compasses, as he had learned from Canniah, were small trinkets enchanted to direct a teleport user from a specific place to a specific place. They were designed for teleport users who needed to warp somewhere they had never seen before with their eyes. Making one was a very meticulous process: it would need to be physically carried from the starting point to the ending point, then teleported back to the starting point, three times. Then it would permanently "remember" the path through space and convey that path to any teleport user who held it. As a side effect, it also prevented accidents caused by teleporting into things: if the teleport destination became blocked off, such as with an avalanched cave or a newly erected building blocking the destination, the compass would simply cease to work.
Compasses were designed before portals and, unlike portals, could be traded around and hidden like keys to secret places. Also unlike portals, they only worked one-way; if a safe round-trip was desired, two compasses would be needed. Since portals were extremely expensive to install and required several layers of deeply-woven spatial magic, teleport compasses were still commonplace to psychic-types who needed to use them on a regular basis.
But perhaps the most interesting part about the compasses was that, in order to make a successful warp, one would need to be standing near the place the compass was first enchanted. Only teleport users who knew of the correct starting location could find the destination. That's why Rautzen had left him the riddle, "Stand on the stone where you stood on my shoulders." It was a place only he would be able to identify. So even if he were to lose it, he could rest knowing that it couldn't be stolen.
He would get Canniah to take him. He would end up in some city, supposedly not on the map. That's where his brother's treasure could be found.
Three million golds.
The sparks flew in his heart every time he imagined swimming in so much money. It was like one of those dreams where he won the Iron Town raffle. He always knew he was dreaming, and looked for ways to take the money out of the dream and into real life.
Holding his bag close, he surged through the crowds on the street and found the Iron Town safekeep house, a place where Pokémon deposited their valuables to be protected by some kind of ancient magic that was impossible to break into (and apparently broke intruders into tiny microscopic particles if they tried).
One place I know the thief isn't going to try breaking into, Ray thought with a smile.
That's when he was hit with the line. There was a long, winding line of Pokémon in front of him, all wanting to get urgent business done for the evening before the Watchers would come to chase everyone off the streets.
The attendants seemed to move like Slowpokes.
Aww, c'mon! Ray cried, hopping in place. The one chance I get to finally come get my brother's compass, and all these guys in front of me? What's going on?! Why isn't the line moving? Why is that Floatzel arguing with the teller?! Why can't Pokémon take care of their problems before they get in line?
Ahh, the mission will be over by the time I get out of here… C'mon, c'mon! Move it, you guys!
He almost wished he'd been standing in Kecleon's line. Kecleon always gave him precedence if he made it look urgent enough.
After what seemed like two hours, Ray finally stood in front of the teller: a very tall, bored-looking Liepard sitting upright in a chair. And wearing glasses. A rarity among Pokémon, to see glasses. Perhaps they were magnifying-glasses, meant to read indecipherably tiny text upon paper.
"State your business…" he said.
Lightning had been bouncing from limb to limb for so long, Ray felt numb all over. "Hi! I'm… Ray. Kouun. Raikouun the Raichu. I'm uh. I need my compass."
"…Excuse me?" said the Liepard.
"Okay. Um… Ah. Sorry. Sorry. I need to, um…"
Ray looked down at his bag. The eyes of the long line of Pokémon behind him were bearing down on his back.
"Alright, so I had a brother. His name was Rautzen the Raichu. He left me something. It was a compass. It would have been a long time ago. I'm here to pick it up."
Without saying a word, the Liepard moved some things around under the desk, settling on some papers and reading them.
"It looks like the fee has already been paid by the depositor," said the teller. "I need to ask you a few questions to verify your identity."
Ray was becoming breathless. It was so close. He could feel it.
"What type of Pokémon was your childhood hero?"
"Scyther!" Ray shouted louder than he meant to.
More silence. The Liepard's eyes scanned the page.
"What was the name of your first pet?"
"Oh, uh… Wooly! It was a Mareep who kept walking by the den… It wasn't really a pet, but we named it."
A long, drawn out silence. The Liepard wrote something.
"What is your mother's name?"
Ray's heart stopped. All the spark in his veins turned ice-cold.
"I uh… uh…" he stammered.
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know.
I don't know. Did Rautzen know? Did he ever find out? Did he forget to tell me?
No… No no no no. No. No.
No. Rautzen, why… why would you…
"Answer, please?" the teller said, still in the same, unenthused voice.
"I uh… I don't know!" Ray blurted, feeling just about to break into tears.
"Good," said the teller. " 'I don't know' was the correct answer. At least, that's what was written here."
The tears came out as laughter. It was very loud laughter, but he couldn't help it. He rolled onto his belly and let it out, pounding the floor with his fist, right there in front of the blank-faced Liepard and the annoyed customers still lined up behind him.
Yep. Good ol' Rautzen. Ray knew just where he'd gotten his sense of humor from. This must have been part of the inheritance; one last, great joke to enjoy in his memory.
A very mean joke, but a great one nonetheless.
"Are you quite finished?" the teller asked.
When he could breathe again, he climbed back to his feet and pulled himself back up to the desk. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm here."
"It seems that would be all," the teller said, flipping a paper over. "Seems you are who you say you are, sir Raikouun."
"Huh?! That's all?" Ray cried. "Really? Just… just that?"
"Just that," the teller said, sliding off his seat to all fours and disappearing behind a door. "One moment, please. This might take a while."
It took a while. It took a very, very long while. Almost two hours, it seemed.
Well. It could have only been a few minutes, but it sure seemed like hours.
The Liepard returned, holding a small bag in its mouth. He slithered back into sitting position at the desk, inverted the bag, and a small ring-box fell out.
"Thank you for your business," the teller said mechanically. "NEXT!"
Ray fumbled with the little purple box, finally finding a tiny latch and opening it. Inside was something that looked like a silver coin, with the inscription of a sun-dial on both sides. That was it: a small, boring, worthless little circle of metal.
"Yessss!" Ray cheered to himself, dropping the precious compass into the bag and darting for the exit.
He couldn't believe it was that simple, but there it was: the key to three million golds. Now all he needed was a teleport user like Canniah, and he could find it.
He rushed out the front door of the keep-house, ready to race to the top of the Iron Spire and tell Char the great news…
But as soon as he stepped out of the front door, something caught his eye on the opposite side of the street.
It was like a living shadow. A dark, amorphous blob of stormclouds stood across the street from him. Townspeople passed it by as though it was nothing, but Ray's eyes lingered on it, getting the feeling that it was staring at him.
"Oh…" Ray said, stunned. "It's… it's you."
Ray didn't have much time to react before the shadow rushed at him.
Iron Spire
"Nothing?!" Eva demanded.
"Still nothing," Tallie replied. "I swear, if you say that one more time…"
"I understand, but there is a small issue of the setting sun," the Espeon said urgently.
Tallie turned her head. "…Nope. Unless there's some illusion trickery going on, all three of the things are still where they started," she said. "By the way, Espeon, might I remind you that if this plan doesn't work, it wasn't my idea in the first place. Whose idea was it, hmm?"
Eva opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by the sound of a screaming rodent dashing up the stairs as fast as his legs would carry him. The sound heralded the arrival of a very distraught, very panicked Ray, his eyes streaked with red.
"Char! Char! Chaaaar!" he cried, bursting onto the spire tower's roof. "Char! The thief! I saw the thief!"
Char gaped for a moment. "You did? Where?"
"HE STOLE MY COMPASSSSS!" Ray cried, collapsing onto Char and showering tears upon him. "He… he… he stole the whole bag!"
"Oh…" Char said, taken aback and trying to keep his balance as the Raichu leaned on him. "I'm… I'm sorry. I'm really sorry. But… it's alright, Ray… You know we'll just get it back when we catch the thief, right?"
The desperate Raichu sniffed loudly. "That's—that's not all," he bawled, barely able to speak. "There was… in the bag… Char… the bag… I… I forgot…"
He took a deep breath, looking at Char with deep, regretful eyes.
"The—the frozen flame was in the bag, Char… the thief stole it."