NOVEL WEB Chapter 52 - Back Again Mt. Pyre
Chapter 52 – Back Again Mt. Pyre
Xatu are an interesting species of Pokémon. Their precognitive abilities trumped those of any other psychic type. They had the ability to see past and future events with amazing clarity. Naturally all of them without a single exception completely refused to share any of their findings, not even to their trainers. Though the species as a whole agreed to loosen up some of their self-imposed rules for benign things like weather forecasting and love fortunes. Basically, anything humans could find out on their own with a little bit of effort. I managed to find a loophole in Xatu’s logic by accurately predicting a handful of future events, making the bird believe I had some precognitive abilities of my own which allowed me to join their exclusive club. After joining I was quite baffled by the fact that Phoebe’s family Xatu just loved gossiping about future events but couldn’t partake in its favorite hobby due to the species’ strict rules. Now every time the two us met up; we ended up talking about major global events.
‘That giant meteoroid is still set to crash five years from now?’
“Indeed, but ever since we had that talk three years ago, events surrounding that time period have become blurred. With the falling meteor being the only constant. I must ask thee… has thou told anyone of our conversations?”
‘No, although they say just a single flap of a beautifly’s wing can drastically alter the course of history. Just the two of us talking about what lies ahead might have changed future events.’
I wasn’t planning to elucidate Xatu on all the changes I had planned for the future. Doing that would probably get me into trouble with all the precognitive psychics the world over. For some reason or another as long as it wasn’t an extinction event, they all agreed to take a hands-off approach regarding any major events. They did not want to risk derailing the world’s safe future no matter how many tragic events that could have been prevented.
“Before we met it was widely agreed upon that the orbs would be stolen but now even that has come into question.”
‘This is all really interesting, but I think the two girls over there are starting to get impatient. I’ll be staying up on Mt. Pyre for two weeks we’ll have plenty of chances to catch up.’
“That is acceptable.”
Flannery and Phoebe were experienced enough with Psychic type Pokémon to notice the signs of mental communication. Xatu and I, staring silently at each other for a hot minute, did not pass scrutiny and they were starting to lose their patience. Especially since Xatu was supposed to be our ride to the top of Mt. Pyre.
She left six of her newly caught houndour with old man Jack counting on him to send them over with the safari’s transfer machine. I myself was inclined to keep Shuckle with me until we were situated on Mt. Pyre so I could have a lengthy and private conversation with my grandparents. They didn’t have a phone and I didn’t want to make the girls wait until nurse Mary could get grandma out of her cookie store.
In the meantime, my newly acquired safari ball would stay minimized and inert leaving Shuckle in stasis. To discourage and prevent trainers from walking around with more than six team members the Hoenn league association kept tabs on the amount of Pokémon you had with you in real time. Since old man Jack had to register those safari balls to my person before we took off into the reserve, the league now knows how many Pokémon I have on me. When we got back to the main entrance, I had to choose whether to lock up Shuckle or Houndour’s poké ball and since one of them was going to be a permanent stay on my team the choice was made obvious.
Xatu flew down from his tree branch and gracefully landed on top of the soil in front of us. The bird Pokémon assertively motioned for the three of us to hold onto one of his offered appendages. Phoebe, having grown completely comfortable with the act of teleportation, nonchalantly grabbed hold of Xatu’s left wing while the two of us gingerly touched the bird Pokémon’s right wing not wanting to accidentally pull out any feathers. Once the psychic type confirmed that we were all holding onto him our surroundings radically shifted from the haunted forests surrounding the safari zone to the base of Mt. Pyre. The exact same spot that me and my grandpa come to visit every year.
“Wait, why didn’t Xatu take us all the way to the top!?”
“The air gets staler the higher up you go, usually the body needs time to adjust to the lack of oxygen. That’s why the two of us will be climbing all the way to the top. If we get teleported there as we are right now there’s a chance, we might faint from oxygen deprivation.”
“How far is it…?”
“About six hours by foot.”
“…”
“See you two at the top! Bye bye!”
Phoebe, whose body was already well adjusted to living on top of the mountain, could just have Xatu teleport her all the way to the top without going through the hassle of climbing the mountain. By the time that me and Flannery finished up our conversation the ghost type specialist had already gotten Xatu to teleport her back home.
“Egon… All we do is walk. Isn’t there some kind of elevator service?”
“I don’t think so…? I have seen some of the older visitors make use of flying type Pokémon to get where they need to go. Honestly the climb is much easier compared to the one you have to do to get all the way to the top of Mt. Chimney.”
“But Mt. Chimney has a cable car!”
“And Mt. Pyre has a fully paved stairway at a medium incline. Best of all, the Pokémon living here do not mess with any of the visitors that are here to pay respects to their loved ones. Besides… when we get to the upper levels, I can show you where I met Rena for the first time. Her family must still be living in the area so having her with us will surely raise the chances of you getting a Ninetales’ approval.”
That casual remark mollified Flannery somewhat. Now that she had gotten herself a taste of what it was like to capture a Pokémon on her own, I could imagine that she would be eager to repeat the process. Nothing beats gaining a new companion and starting the bonding process I knew that from experience.
“There are a bunch of tourist traps at the bottom and each stall has unique merchandise you can’t find anywhere else in Hoenn. You want to go have a look before starting our climb?”
I acted as a guide while showing Flannery around the various stalls. The only items I was interested in were those delicious ragecandybars I bought the first time I visited this place. The stalls had a wide variety of wares for sale their most prominent products being incense and talismans Flannery didn’t have much interest in the latter, but she was interested in buying some incense. While my fellow redhead was haggling with the incense seller, I couldn’t help but eye up one of the many dusk stones being sold.
‘I’ll eventually need one for Orin but those pricings… I can’t afford it. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought that silver bracelet for Rena.’
“Egon! Look at what I bought! The kind saleslady says that when I light this pure incense near our camp during bedtime wild Pokémon will leave us alone.”
“That’s great Flanny, the quality of these products are second to none. This’ll be a great investment for your own solo journey through the routes. Let’s get going. I am also done looking around.”
“But you didn’t buy anything!”
“I was just browsing for any future purchases I am planning to make. Now that I know what they have I’ll be sure to come back when I have accrued the required funds.”
“If the stuff you want to buy is Pokémon training related you could always use grandpa’s money.”
“There’s no hurry besides he’s already paying for my team’s supply of food. That’s already more than what most sponsored trainers get.”
After Flannery got done buying all the knickknacks she was interested in I led her to the mountain’s grand staircase. The thousands of steps closely resembled the sceneries from those kungfu movies where hopeful initiates had to prove themselves by endlessly climbing in order to demonstrate their willpower. Naturally this staircase wasn’t endless and most trainers have developed a great deal of stamina by trekking through the routes. Usually, the only ones interested in making the climb are trainers who want to catch a specific Pokémon and people who are visiting a specific grave.
“So, this whole place belongs to Phoebe’s family?”
“Yeah, the Hoenn league association made a deal with her ancestors a long time ago giving her family the right to manage this place in perpetuity. With a few caveats of course.”
“Caveats? Like what?”
“The mountain needs to be open for all visitors and they can’t charge them entry fees. Naturally the visitors must also be kept safe from any wayward and hungry ghost Pokémon.”
“How!? There must be thousands of them living here.”
“The family has a bunch of old Pokémon who belonged to their lineage at some point living on the mountain. They keep the younger ghosts in check and as a matter of fact I am pretty sure Rena’s mom was bonded to Phoebe’s great great grandmother. Ninetales can live up to a thousand years and that’s not even mentioning all the ghost types the family must have trained over the years.”
“Vuuuul!”
Rena happily joined in on the conversation when the topic switched over to her mother.
“So… Rena’s mom is actually a granny!? There must be a bunch of vulpix and ninetales living on Mt. Pyre if she is that old.”
“Not as much as you would think. Like all canine Pokémon, mating season occurs only once a year and coupled with the fact that she lives on a remote mountain surrounded by ghosts that would surely lessen the odds of her finding a suitable mate.”
My adorable fox Pokémon was suddenly less enthused to let us continue on in our conversation.
“Pix Pix!”
“Procreating is a perfectly natural biological process. There’s no need to act squeamish Rena.”
“Vuuuuuul!”
“Alright, I guess it is different when we are talking about your own mother. Still… you need to know this stuff later on. Picture this scenario: you are out on a nightly stroll and suddenly come across a very mysterious Zorua. You share a tree stump with only a single bowl of berries. Obviously, he’s going to try to swipe all those berries for himself but instead he takes one of the berries and roles it over to your side of the stump offering you the first morsel. A classic bad boy dark type he’s rough around the edges but you know with just some slight tweaking he’d make for the perfect prince charming.”
As I was playing out the scenario from lady and the tramp, Rena’s breath got hitched obviously vividly imagining the scenario in her mindscape. Her escapade with that Zoroark gave me some insight into the type of Pokémon she liked. Strangely enough my story also seemed to have stoked Flannery’s imagination. The girl was keenly listening in on my made up bogus story.
“Finish the story! How does it end?”
“Pix! Pix!”
“When the two of you are older. This story’s ending is for a more mature audience.”
“Pix!”
“Fineee… at the end of this romantic evening a bombirdier brought the two of them lots of little kits to look after. The End.”
“That’s a cop out! Give us the true ending!”
Despite the excessive nagging from both my little fox and Flannery I resisted the urge to give them a satisfying ending. Rena wasn’t a little cub anymore and by Pokémon standards she could be considered a budding young lady. That however wasn’t the case for Flannery, and I’d be damned before I was picking up any angry phone calls from her grandfather.
The three of us continued on like that for another couple of hours until it was time for our lunch break. We were getting closer to our destination. By my estimates it’d take another hour or two until we arrived at Phoebe’s family mansion. Coincidentally we were closer to Rena’s family home than to Phoebe’s old folks’ home. Which led to certain disagreements within our traveling party.
“Pix! Pix!”
“I know but we’ll be staying here for at least the next two weeks, maybe even longer. You’ll have plenty of time to visit them.”
“Vuuul!”
“Egon what’s this all about…?”
“Rena insists on visiting her family first before we make our way to Phoebe’s place.”
“No way! I want to shower! All this exercise has made me all sweaty.”
“You are capable of sweating? You live adjacent to a volcano I haven’t even seen you perspirate once.”
“I lived there my entire life. Of course a little bit of heat doesn’t faze me!”
‘Strange… external heat doesn’t affect her the way it should, but exercise does? Is her skin made from some kind of isolation material?’
“I think… we should visit Rena’s family first. We’ll get in a quick meal and make the proper introductions. This will only take us another hour at the most.”
Our next course of action having been decided, we left the staircase and went off the beaten path. Rena acting as our guide, she more than anyone else, would be able to show us the proper path without intruding on another Pokémon’s territory. Having spent a good chunk of her life living on this mountain made her an expert at recognizing territorial marks. The Pokémon that lived here would not bother anyone who stuck to the staircase and surrounding graveyards, but our tacit protection would be brought into jeopardy if we intruded a wild Pokémon’s home. We continued venturing through the tall grass for a while before encountering a familiar looking Pokémon.
“Ling….!”
There in a small clearing resting on a flat piece of rock stood a bell-shaped Pokémon.
“Whoa! A Chingling what a remarkable find. Do you know how rare it is to find one of these in the wild? Their species are known for living in old temples and the like, so it wouldn’t be strange encountering one on the mountain, but only on the top of the mountain’s shrine. This one must have accidentally wandered off.”
Before I had the chance to interact with the bell Pokémon Flannery did something unexpected.
“No! We can’t waste any more time gawking. I know how you operate Egon! You are going to bring this one along and grow attached!”
“That’s nonsense! I just have a healthy appreciation for Pokémon. You should be more like me and stop to sniff the roselia from time to time!”
“…”
‘What?’
“She isn’t wrong…but I do like that part about you.”
‘I guess she’s right but that won’t stop me from finding out what’s up with this stray Chingling.’
“Heya little buddy. How come you aren’t with the rest of your family at the summit?”
“Ching! Ching!”
Chingling didn’t seem powerful enough to communicate with me telepathically which led me to believe this one was either pranked by a ghost type or was undergoing some kind of self-imposed trial.
As expected the bell Pokémon gave off behavioral ticks similar to a child that had lost their mother inside a large crowd half confirming my suspicions.
“Me and my companions are off to visit a skulk of vulpix and ninetales. You are welcome to join us and we can take you to the summit after we finish.”
The little bell Pokémon got all excited rattling the clapper inside its body. It wasn’t the loudest of sounds but we were still off the beaten path so free game for any ghost types that wouldn’t mind messing with us upon discovering our location.
“Let’s calm down, Chingling, this is still ghost country. We wouldn’t want to attract the attention of any mischievous specters.”
“Ching…”
With that I used my one free hand to lift the Pokémon before depositing Chingling on the top of my head.
“Just stay there for now, this way you’ll be the first to spot any incoming ghost types.”
“Ching Ling!”
We continued on our way but I quickly realized that it was quite hard to keep Chingling from making any sounds. The species’ whole biology was centered around performing sound-based moves. Just moving too quickly would force the passenger on my head to produce jingle noises. Luckily judging by Rena’s current emotional state we weren’t that far off from reaching her mother’s residence. Just as we passed a familiar looking Medicham who was minding his own business being stuck in a meditative state. We spotted the outline of a very well kept and sunlit cave. Rena dashed forward yipping loudly without any heed.
“Pix! Pix! Pix!”
It didn’t take long before the cave’s residents took notice of my excitable little fox Pokémon. Out came Ninetales accompanied by two little cubs. This exact same scene caused my nostalgic brain to think fondly on the first time I met Rena at this place. While I was thinking about past events Rena and Ninetales collided into each other, the both of them eager to reconfirm their parental bond.
“Nineee!”
“Vuuuul!”
Rena was in the middle of getting an impromptu tongue bath not wanting to interrupt her special time. I began setting up the picnic blanket and cutting board while my fox Pokémon was kept busy. Flannery on the other hand tried to sneakily endear herself to the two grown vulpix who watched on as their mother poured affection on their long-lost sister.
“Ssshhh hey there cuties my name is Flannery.”
“Pix?”
I was determined to stay out of her way even though she gave off serious predator vibes. After I finished setting up the picnic blanket and all my empty bowls I was ready to begin dicing my final stash of berries. I was expecting this to be the last day before we ran out due to the fact that we had extra mouths to feed. Regrettably Shuckle was still stuck in his ball but before the bug type had to be locked up I made sure to give him an ample supply of berries to house inside his shell.
“Hey Rena, ask your mom if it’s okay for me to bring out the rest of the team. I could use the extra hands to make lunch.”
“Pix!”
My own fox Pokémon complied asking for her mom’s permission with a series of yips. Ninetales, being naturally curious about her daughter’s teammates, consented to my request with a single nod of the head. Without further ado I unlatched the six other poké balls strapped to my waist with a flick of my wrist minus the inaccessible safari ball.
“Come on out everyone!”
Bright flashes of light revealed my other partners. Since this area of the mountain belonged solely to Ninetales I was confident enough to let Victini roam freely out of her ball. The chances of us running into another person at this height was vanishingly rare.
“Vi Vi!”
“Rupt!”
“Vess!”
“Arf!”
“Lit!”
“Nitan!”
My ever-sociable teammates quickly introduced themselves to Ninetales and her kits. Trying to leave a good impression on the ancient Ninetales. Numsy gave her a single glance, let out a huff and moved to the other side of the picnic blanket, content to rest until lunch was served. Glove picked up Halo and presented her to Ninetales before respectfully standing aside letting his charge work out the minutiae of socialization herself. My bigger team members seemed to have developed less eager personality types settling for watching over the little ones on my team. Houndour was the rowdiest, recognizing the elder Ninetales’ might but still wanting to touch noses with her little ones. Just to make sure her continued overeagerness wouldn’t offend Ninetales I called her to lay by my side as I prepared our food. The rest of my team members were young enough so that I was fairly sure that Ninetales’ motherly instinct wouldn’t perceive them as a threat no matter what they got up to.
“Vi Vi?” “Those tails, can I touch them?”
“Nine…?”
I have become fluent in Vulpix after taking care of Rena for so many years. So, I could for the most part understand what Ninetales was saying. She seemed perplexed rather than offended by Victini’s request.
“Vi!” “Rena lets me touch hers. Can I? Can I?”
I was fairly sure Victini was making a faux pas by asking to touch Ninetales’ tails on their first meeting. The species was very peculiar about who was allowed to touch their tails. There were numerous tales of people getting cursed by a Ninetales for pulling on one of their tails without permission. Weirdly enough this Ninetales seemed fine with letting my overly rambunctious Pokémon do as she pleases. One yip was all it took for the rabbit Pokémon to be head deep inside one of her luxurious tails.
“Vi…” “Bliss…”
Rena showed signs of being embarrassed for her friend. Understandably not many friends would go out of their way to dive headfirst into your estranged mother’s fur. While I was busy preparing everybody’s food plus some extra depending on whether or not Rena’s family wanted to eat along with the rest of us. I kept thinking about possible nicknames for Houndour, I liked selecting quirky names for my Pokémon and after contemplating for a while I decided on the perfect one.
“Houndour I was thinking that I should give you a nickname. Everybody else on the team has one and I’d like to think of you as more than just another member of your species. What do you say?”
“Ruff!”
“Perfect! What about Ginger?”
She thought about it but ultimately decided that she didn’t like the name letting me know by shaking her head sideways.
“You want a more serious sounding name? Hmm… how does Raven sound?”
“Arf!”
The more edgy sounding name seemed to have gained her approval.
“That’s great! From today onwards you shall be known as Raven.”
20 minutes later*
The picnic started off on a positive note. Everyone gathered around the blanket to start enjoying their meals. Before Rena had a chance to take her first bite her mother Ninetales insisted on checking the quality of food. Rena’s bowl was a mix of dry tasting berries, special ordered food pellets designed for fire type canines and a cut of mystery meat. Ninetales sniffed the bowl before taste testing it by taking a small bite from every component.
“Nineee!”
Judging by her elated expression it seemed my cooking skills have gained her approval. This was the same recipe I swiped out of Mr. Moore’s ledger; tailor made for his own Ninetales. Naturally I was confident that it tasted good. Ninetales, obviously satisfied by the food I was offering, yipped to her other two children to come join us around the picnic blanket. The extra portions of food I prepared now coming in handy. One of the two I recognized as the same little sister I previously encountered back then, she was still cream colored with only a single tail just having been born. Now she had a full coat of red fur with a vulpix’ trademark set of tails. The other one wasn’t quite as mature as her two older sisters only having three tails cream colored with patches of red fuzz growing in.
‘Flannery has no chance with the younger one. Ninetales wouldn’t let her immature brood out of sight.’
The two Vulpix also started sniffing the makeshift bowls. We didn’t have any extra so Glove helpfully smashed two large rocks until they had bowl shaped indents to put the food in.
“Say what do you normally eat around here? Aside from berries I mean.”
“Nine!”
“Wow that’s ehm… I presume only the ones who are about to pass away from natural causes?”
“Nineee tales!”
That last part was a tad harder for me to translate so Victini helpfully clarified the situation for me.
“Pokémon come here when it’s their time. They make the trek and wait for one the local dusclops to ferry their souls over to the spirit world. Ninetales is usually the one who is responsible for cleaning up their mortal remains.”
Was it strange that I felt a sense of relief knowing that Ninetales wasn’t the type to actually hunt her own food. The species dietary requirements necessitated that they eat meat on occasion, but it felt weird to me picturing Rena or the rest of her kin jumping hapless zigzagoons from the bushes.
Eagerly jumping towards another topic I filled ninetales in on my plans for the next two weeks.
“Me and my team are staying here for a couple of weeks. I am trying to train up Rena so she can develop a special ability. Do you know of any places on the mountain where the sun’s rays are unrelenting?”
“Nine!”
“Further up but humans aren’t allowed to visit the summit.”
“Ching! Ling!”
At the mention of her home Chingling started getting excited making ringing sounds.
“What do you think Chingling? Do you think I’ll be able to get permission to train up at the summit? Maybe you can put in a good word for me with the Pokémon living there.”
“Ling!”
“The loud one says that the Pokémon do not get involved in the decision making. A pair of elderly humans ultimately decide who is allowed up at the summit.”
‘Those people should be Phoebe’s grandparents. Maybe I can get up there if I swear not to go near the area where the two orbs are being safeguarded.’
“Vuuuul!”
“You want to stay over at your mother’s tonight? You must have missed her very much, come here you!”
“Pix! Pix!”
I couldn’t help but give her a few ear scratches. Rena was acting very adorable and childlike. Being in close contact with her mom for the first time in a year must have triggered the part of her brain that still wants to be pampered.
“That’s fine I’ll come pick you up when it’s time to train. I am betting your little siblings must be curious what their big sis has been up to this last year.”
We finished up dinner and both me and Flannery recalled our teams. Leaving Rena behind felt weird but I knew I would see her again on the morrow. After stuffing the last bowl in my backpack, we set off.
“See you tomorrow!”
“Vuuuuul!”