Tsaimath
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WO. Ch. 141 - Preparation
🕑 Added 2022-12-01 21:23:20 +0000 UTCClosing yet another book, I let out a soft sigh. Next to me, Aura was quietly meditating, his eyes opening from time to time to glance at me. Over the last couple of days, Aura and Vio had been the ones mostly accompanying me while I was reading, simply because their temperament was the most suited to quiet contemplation. I had tried having Su with me, but he had just ignored me, only acknowledging my existence when pressured. It didn’t feel like we were spending time together, more that we were forced to spend time in the same space. There was no feeling of companionship and, so far, I had failed to get Su to open up to me. I could pressure him into accepting physical contact but as time went on, I began to wonder if the reluctance he displayed wasn’t just him being a surly feline but something genuine.
On the other hand, Charm didn’t mind the quiet times so much but he wasn’t a fan of the library, and, to be honest, the books would most likely have told me that they weren’t a fan of him. He had to constantly be vigilant, making sure he didn’t accidentally singe or scorch any of the books, making him wary and preventing him from relaxing, at all. As one of the locals had put it, he looked like a Glameow in a room full of rocking chairs.
Thus, the bonding between the two of us had been focused on the outside, either during the occasional walk around town or around the plateau Snowpoint City was built on. So far, I hadn’t descended the mountain again, though I had wandered across the plateau to get a glimpse at the harbour, watching a couple of fishing boats, trying to see whether I was able to see some of the rumoured, massive Pokémon living in the sea.
“Well, Aura, I don’t think there’s a lot more to find. So far, the books are consistent in what they tell me. I only wish they would tell me more,” I quietly complained, looking at the notes I had taken. There were a good dozen pages, taken while reading a few dozen books over the last two weeks, and later condensed down into a single page. A single page, that wasn’t even completely full.
The details were varying wildly, from the completely unbelievable to the mundane, making me distrust them, leaving me only with the general descriptions and those were, curiously, consistent between the different accounts. Alone in the forest, getting lost in the mist, glowing lights, returning after more time than they had perceived had passed, new knowledge related to their area of expertise somehow deposited in their brain but in turn, a perceivable hole in their memories, those were consistent with varying degrees of fancy in the accounts.
Nobody could really define the exact memories they had lost, but the reports were consistent in describing that sensation of loss. One had even found some clues to their personal loss, due to a diary, written in their own hand, describing a romantic relationship, including a tearful and rather hard breakup - A relationship he had no memory of, after returning from Lake Acuity.
Sadly, such records were rare, meaning I couldn’t even try predicting whether that was an outlier or a common event. I could only prepare for the worst, by writing down the connections I had made in the six months I could remember, hoping that notes would allow me to regain them if the memories were taken.
“Guess now is the time to talk to the others. They’ve been patient, but I know they want to get on with things,” I looked over the page one last time, before standing up, Aura moving along with me.
He followed along as I returned all the books I had been reading to their respective shelves before heading out, towards the eastern side of town. There, between the harbour and the town itself, were the local fields where Claire and the others had been working to earn some extra cash while I had been busy investigating. Their job was a mix between farmhand and guard, making sure that no wild Pokémon were attracted by the noise and bustle of the harvest, while also lending a hand whenever needed. From what I had heard, the job itself was quite hard but, in turn, also well-paid, giving all three of them a nice bonus. In addition, there had been talk that helping would be seen favourably by the Gym-leader, to the point that sometimes the Gym-task was to simply help out for a while. Due to the location of Snowpoint City, their harvest season was apparently quite short, meaning they needed all the help they could get.
When I reached the field, it was quite the sight. The people were using a mix of manual labour and Pokémon-powered tools, with some of the equipment looking quite scary, at least to my unaccustomed eyes. Sure, having a Tauros to pull some sort of large, mechanical contraption was one thing, but the entire thing was moving and I thought I could see some odd-looking Pokémon within the mechanism, driving it. I had never seen Pokémon like those before but was too far away to get a better look, let alone scan them with my ‘dex.
It took a while, time I spent playing with my Pokémon, first with Aura, later with Charm, but finally, the day’s work was done and everyone started heading back. Claire and the others came over to me, their eyes showing curiosity.
“So, missy finally crawled out of the library? Thought you’d give up on the journey and become a Professor instead,” Lucas joked, his face an exaggerated grimace of mockery.
“If only,” I replied, my own, mocking expression firmly fixed on my face. Not as exaggerated as his, I simply lacked the talent for that, but good enough to make sure he knew I was joking as I continued, “If I wanted to do that, I would have simply stayed in Sandgem and convinced Professor Rowan to kick you out. Would have been trivial given your…” I paused, keeping my expression mocking as I studied his body, “qualities,” I finished, getting a giggle from Claire.
“Yeah, yeah, you didn’t come here to flirt with Lucas. What brings you by?” Cliff asked, his own deadpan delivery near perfect and only an iron will, forged in countless battles, allowed me to keep my face impassive, even as I wanted to scold him for calling my interaction with Lucas flirting.
“I wanted to talk with all three of you and the easiest way to do so is catch you here. Otherwise, I’d have to hope that you all come back to the Pokécentre directly, or things would have been annoying,” I explained, getting nods all around. The previous, joking mood was now gone, they must have noticed my serious tone.
“I’m done with my research and will head into the forest tomorrow,” I told them, their faces wincing in concern.
“Are you sure that you want to go there? Chasing a myth?” Claire asked, her voice filled with worry. “Even at the best of times, going into the wilds alone is dangerous. What happens if you get hurt? You are a good trainer but you need to sleep.”
It was a discussion we had multiple times before, none of them were enamoured with my plan but every account about the successful meetings I had found was consistent in this. The person meeting the Uxie had been alone in the forest. Groups simply didn’t meet the Uxie, or there was something else in play. But going in a group seemed to be impossible.
“I need to,” I simply insisted, knowing that Lucas and Cliff had similar thoughts to Claire. “Imagine that you had lost everything. Only worse, you don’t even know what you have lost,” I tried to explain, having told them the vague outline of my story before. Not about witnessing the meeting between the three Lords, but that I had no idea where I came from or who I had been.
“Professor Carolina is convinced this is my best chance to recover my memories or at least a part of them. I need to know who I am and where I came from,” I repeated the same, old argument, knowing that they couldn’t feel that raw need. They felt I was risking my future. I felt that only by knowing my past, I would be able to make the future I wanted.
“We’ll be waiting for you,” Claire promised and moments later, Cliff and Lucas nodded in confirmation, “So please, don’t make us wait too long. We want to get back south before the winter,” she added, a sad smile on her face.
“Not in my hands,” I reminded her, “But I’ll be sure to ask the Uxie to make the arrangements,” I grinned, inviting them to dinner before I would be heading out, wandering into the forests around Lake Acuity. Searching for a myth.
