Act 2: Interlude 3

Barely hiding his boredom, Octillery quashes the urge to twiddle his tentacles and appears at his ‘teammates’.

He, Ninetales, Grovyle, and the newcomer, Corvisquire, all stand in a unfastened circle within the moonlight streaming in from the lodge room window. Within the beds only a few yards away, each Lee and Brendan are deep in slumber.

Since Corvisquire has joined the merry band of misfits only a few hours in the past, tensions have been excessive, solely simply now starting to loosen after Ninetales quietly known as for a gathering. She and Grovyle have introduced the raven in control on what he is missed since his abandonment weeks in the past, whereas Octillery has been content material to face again and observe.

As attention-grabbing an expertise as being a ‘educated’ pokemon is, Octillery’s crew is proving tiresome, and the returning Corvisquire isn’t any exception. The raven tersely launched himself to Octillery, then defined the rationale for his absence to the crew, a lot to Grovyle and Ninetales’ poorly hidden sympathy. Octillery himself would not perceive the problem. Demise occurs. Why be so upset over it? Particularly when one lacks management of the scenario? Octillery needed to shake his head. Had Corvisquire saved his previous coach, apparently the boy would have been on borrowed time anyway. Higher he have died so that point and assets aren’t wasted on him. Octillery didn’t voice his criticism aloud, understanding it could earn him no favor.

His eyes flip to Ninetales and Grovyle, then over to the mattress the place Lee and Younger Shinx lay asleep. The person and cub are completely lifeless to the world, satisfied of their safety.

Grovyle is perhaps his favourite by a large margin. The Grass-type is aware of the worth of not opening one’s mouth when there’s nothing of import to say, and when coaxed, is surprisingly shrewd on the subject of video games of the thoughts. Octillery has, dare he say, loved being round this one? Novel, however like all novelties, Octillery expects it to put on off.

Younger Shinx, he can not say, however contemplating her origins and favored place within the lap of Lee, Octillery expects her to develop into one thing placid and spoiled. She is going to persist on her coach’s good graces, no matter her personal potential. How distasteful.

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Octillery dares not let his eyes linger on the fox, lest he entice one in every of her seemingly random suits of ire.

Ninetales is harmful. The unnatural becoming a member of of minds has addled her in Octillery’s eyes. The mind is however meat between the ears, and meat can suffocate. It might crush. It might die. Meat has limits. To ask a flesh certain pokemon to understand the true ideas of a being as illogical and unsound as a human? That may be a activity greatest left unfulfilled, but Ninetales does so each day and suffers for it.

The fox pokemon is much from the strongest pokemon Octillery has ever seen. She is just not even shut, as by the years, Octillery has witnessed precise monsters in motion, the type bested solely by Legends. The Valley of Metal performed residence to some such pokemon, ones who may reshape the panorama of their fury. Pictures flash earlier than his eyes, moments of peril the place solely his thoughts and talent carried him to security. There was no preventing again in these instances, solely fleeing and plotting for a greater technique of engagement.

No, Ninetales is just not the strongest, however her unpredictability may make her probably the most harmful he is ever met. She is ailing, so he’ll watch her rigorously.

His personal distaste of them apart, Octillery’s teammates current an intriguing puzzle. What, precisely, drives their loyalty to Lee Henson? Octillery is aware of his personal loyalty and theirs will not be the identical. Lee Henson gives him meals, safety, and the prospect to make use of his hard-earned expertise and honed thoughts, however at the price of obeying one much less clever than he. If not for Lee being a bit sharper than the typical human with a number of attention-grabbing insights, Octillery would have extra closely thought of declining the membership prolonged to him.

Most pokemonkeyword being mostgrow their expertise and may at an accelerated tempo beneath a human’s tutelage. A human gives safety and assets to hone one’s skills in a cushty method, one freed from the vicious cycle of the wild. Nonetheless, the pokemon round Octillery will not be most pokemon. Be it probability or a concerted effort from Lee, the octopus pokemon’s friends are a minimize above the remaining.

What defines them? What drives them? Why bend the knee?

Corvisquire carries himself with a horrid savagery held down quick by chains of civility, and it is plain after just a few hours of acquaintance. Beneath the flowery phrases and beak raised in superiority is a beast, one that will rend a foe right down to the bone merely for the pleasure of bloodshed. A beast of decadence is he, who would slay one other solely for leisure. And but, he bows his head low to Lee Henson, returning to his bonds freely.

Grovyle is one who would thrive no matter any circumstances, and one Octillery can be cautious of within the wild. His talent is matched solely by his drive to rise to new heights, to shed any and all weak point. His prowess is the type wielded by alphas who sire a dynasty, full of offspring who unfold their very own will with the facility gifted by their sire. Each minimize is clear, each motion is certain, and each iota of his being is devoted to not himself, however to a human.

Ninetales Octillery doesn’t even know the place to start with such a wreck of a pokemon. In no world can the thoughts of a human overwhelm a pokemon, so what Lee has performed to have such a dogmatic defender is past Octillery. They deal with each other in the identical method mammals may their mate within the peak of spring, but they refuse to copulate. It is such a contradictory mess that Octillery can solely chalk it as much as some type of cognitive injury.

Once more, he wonders. What defines them? What drives them? Why bend the knee?

If there are really defining moments in life, then they should be the moments of peril, Octillery thinks. When one faces their very own mortality, their eyes are compelled open, be they closed in ignorance or conceitedness. He would know, as his earliest recollections had been of bloodshed. He remembers these moments vividly.

As a typical Remoraid years in the past, simply two weeks hatched, he and his college of fellow fish fled up the mouth of a river from the open ocean, working from a Tentacruel and his cohort of Tentacool. Primal terror compelled them up the waterway and in opposition to the present, as many had been already misplaced to the stinging tentacles of their predators. Those who tried to struggle fell the quickest.

This proved to be a blunder. The shallow water compelled the Tentacool to abate of their pursuit, however the college swam into the territory of a river Feraligatr and her progeny.

A rating of crocodilian pokemon dove into the water at their mom’s instruction, surrounding the varsity. Gnashing jaws almost claimed Octillery’s life there, however in his peril, his thoughts whirled, his coronary heart hammered, and the drive to outlive took maintain. The panic and terror, each inside himself and mirrored within the eyes of the varsity, laid a numbing cloak over him that will by no means once more rise, and with the numbness got here lovely readability. At that second, he recalled how laborious he should struggle in opposition to the drive of any water spewed from his maw. A plan neatly clicked into place amid that second of lucidity.

Swimming to the floor, he aimed downward, and fired off a Water Gun, propelling him out of the churning water and onto land. He landed going through the river, treating him to the sight of the chaos inside. His gills burned and stung, however he took one other breath and fired Water Gun once more. And once more. And once more. Till he heard no extra splashing or snapping jaws.

To today, he is not certain how far his flight carried him, however when he flopped again into the river and took in deep breaths of blessedly clear water, he was alone. No different Remoraid had escaped, and a lone Remoraid is little greater than a morsel to bigger pokemon. The dire scenario revealed itself to him in a flash of horrible realization, like a clap of thunder and blinding lightning.

He was weak.

With no fellows to cowl him within the veil of the various and completely missing as a person, an ignoble finish awaited He couldn’t outrun or overpower his foes, however the numbness as soon as extra soothed him.

His thoughts had received that day, and he would want it perpetually extra as his path grew to become clear.

So started his life with naught however his personal ingenuity to depend on. He examined himself and the world round him, studying its guidelines and limits. He noticed others, realized from them, then refined their expertise to suit his wants. Within the early days earlier than his evolution, he realized to talk as others did, saying exactly what potential foes wished to listen to so he may go the few keen to speak unmolested. Appearing grew to become second nature in these instances, and the instances shrank in quantity as he grew. Earlier than lengthy, he wasn’t compelled to speak a lot, as speech and violence grew to become instruments of equal effectiveness. As time marched on, he started to crave extra. Extra expertise, extra experiences, extra foes, so he may be taught from them, then conquer them in defiance of nature, proving to himself his place on the planet. His place as one thing higher.

Trying again upon that fateful day, Octillery can not lay blame upon the mom Feraligatr, or her hatchlings, and even the Tentacool who drove his college into the river. Nature is as honest an arbiter as they arrive. The weak die, and the sturdy eat the weak. It’s a cycle that solely the extraordinary like himself can escape. That day was the catalyst to creating him into who he’s as we speak, in spite of everything, so how can he look upon it bitterly?

Ninetales would not rise to the taunt, as an alternative persevering with on as if she did not discover. “We 4 are a crew, but not often can we come collectively as one. When time permits, I want to meet like this extra usually exterior of coaching and meals.” Ninetales scans every of them with a extreme eye. “I have been instructed that I am not probably the most approachable.” She falters, her swaying tails halting for a split-second. “I want to rectify that. As Lee’s proper hand, I ought to be anticipating the well-being of everybody simply as he does, and I want to help the place I can in that capability. This might be a studying expertise for everybody, so I ask for criticism the place relevant,” she says, sending a pointed take a look at Corvisquire.

The raven’s crimson eyes widen, then he units his face into stern neutrality and nods, no indicators of tomfoolery current.

“A sound plan. I will be blissful to do my half.” Grovyle nods his head in settlement, a touch of a smile on his face.

All eyes flip to Octillery, and he has to suppress the urge to glare. ‘Vexing.’

He doesn’t need extra idle speak. That is the very last thing he desires. As soon as extra he’s tempted to go to his ‘coach’ and request freedom, however he crushes the whiny urge. If he leaves now, he’ll be abandoning his efforts to seek out out what that was when Ninetales described Lee again within the Pokemon Heart. He desires to know what compelled its well past the nice numbness, for it is a complete unknown to him.

He who learns, survives, in spite of everything.

A cheery grin is compelled onto Octillery’s face, even when that solely accounts for an upward crinkle of his eyelids. “After all! I might be glad to assist,” he agrees, not which means a single phrase.

The expertise right here, being a ‘educated’ pokemon, is just not wholly disagreeable, however his loyalty and theirs will not be the identical, and he desires to know why. He can tolerate extra irritations for meals, data, and engagement within the meantime.

Ninetales smiles. It is a small factor. “Thanks all. I have never anything to say, so-“

The fox is interrupted by Lee’s telephone buzzing on the nightstand. Within the mattress simply toes away, Lee grumbles and stirs, however would not awaken.

Rising to her paws, Ninetales silently steps over to the nightstand, snaking a tail out to elevate the telephone and peer on the display. Utilizing her nostril, she faucets within the unlock code. (1138, Octillery dimly remembers. Lee’s thumb idly twitches in such a sample generally.) After utilizing her nostril to swipe over to Lee’s messages, her eyes widen. “It is from Zinnia,” she says, voice hushed. “Magma might be transferring in-“

“-two days. The ultimate parts are arriving for meeting, and I want so that you can be there with Tabitha to make sure nothing goes awry. Tabitha might be commanding the operation, however he will be overzealous, and in want of a grounding aspect like your self. A neighborhood lieutenant has a contingent of fodder prepared as labor and foot troopers as nicely.”

In a secluded Lavaridge park freed from any buildings to echo off of, Courtney listens to the phrases of Magma Chief Maxie over her telephone. Excessive above, Swellow flies in lazy circles, her sharp eyes and ears retaining look ahead to any interloper or eavesdropper.

“Understood, Chief Maxie,” Courtney murmurs quietly. “I might be there.”

“Good” Courtney can nearly hear Maxie’s smile. “You’re invaluable Courtney, keep in mind that.” Courtney’s abdomen grows heat on the phrases. “How goes your pet challenge?”

“I’ve made my provide to Brendan Birch,” she replies. “I instructed him simply sufficient to sway him, and to plant doubts about different loyalties. I plan on contacting him as soon as the volcano operation commences, to supply him an opportunity to see what Magma is actually about,” she says, conviction coloring every phrase, and her forehead furrowing. “I do know he’ll make the proper selection. He and I are the identical.”

“They know who I’m, Brendan,” she lied to him, watching as his eyes grew wider and wider. “They did not inform you. I really feel as if it’s best to know who I’m, and what Magma stands for.”

Henson and Draconid have not discovered her out but. Swellow would have warned her in the event that they hadbut the lie will drive a wedge within the group. It must occur if Brendan is to make the proper selection.

Brendan sat there, shocked into silence. Mendacity to him felt dangerous, invoking a painful twisting in her intestine, however Courtney hardened her coronary heart. It is all for a very good trigger. They’re alike, she and Brendan, and he’ll perceive.

“And if he would not?” Maxie drawls, freezing Courtney in place and dragging her from her reminiscence. “What’s going to you do?”

“I” She hesitates. “I do not-“

“What. Will. You. Do?” Maxies interrupts her, and this time every phrase is laced with a horrible hazard that makes spots bloom within the edges of Courtney’s imaginative and prescient.

A shiver runs down the girl’s backbone, and her eyes fall to her footwear. She dares not disobey the unstated order. “I’ll do what is important for Magma.” She forces the phrases previous her lips.

Maxie is silent for a handful of seconds. Then, “Pi-gamma-delta-delta-alpha.”

“Seven, eight, seven, one, 4, three, 9, eight, zero, 5, one.” The reply to the cipher falls from Courtney’s lips in excellent order.

“That’s all, Courtney.” Maxie sighs. “Don’t make me remorse granting your depart for this challenge.”

The road goes lifeless, and the telephone in Courtney’s hand reboots of its personal accord. When the telephone turns again on, there isn’t a log of the decision that came about a second in the past.

Courtney shudders, then appears to be like up at her Swellow.

Excessive above, the hen pokemon stares again down with laborious eyes.

Tough is the trail of the righteous, it appears