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Chapter 38 – The Enigmatic Healer
Manny crossed his arms with doubt, flying through the air with his body parallel to the ocean. “Yer gonna have ter explain that one a second time, Rhys,” he said. “They all got ate, but they’re just fine?”
“Y-yes, I promise, they are perfectly safe. More than safe; if anything, they might be getting healed right now.”
Manny felt someone knocking on his spiritual doors. He held his hand out and Star emerged, looking a bit shaken.
“Y’alright?” Manny asked.
“Yeah, sorry, sorry,” Star said. “I was just… sorting things out with Owen and Gahi.”
She steadied her breath, earning a few concerned looks from Manny, and then addressed the others. “It’s true. That was Emily. She’s a wonderful Pokémon, but—well, I don’t know if any of you are going to remember her in a little while. Y’see… well…” Star hesitated. “Actually… I’m a little surprised you’re remembering her at all. Maybe because you guys are all together, it’s starting to…” She trailed off. “…Guys. Do you remember seeing the Lugia at all?”
“Wh—of course! It only took up like half our view!” Manny said.
“Huh,” Star said. “Well… I guess we’ll see how much I can explain, then. See… Lugia Emily… ahh… she’s really kind. So kind that Arceus gifted her a tiny, tiny portion of divine energy—enough to make her a true legend, but not enough to expand that influence beyond her body. She had it on the condition that she’d only be able to use that power to help others—and so, she trained to become the ultimate healer.”
“The healer that… eats people,” Anam said, nibbling his hand. “Does it hurt?”
“If you ask me, it’s pretty cozy.” Star crossed her arms. “And it’s pretty spacious in there, too. Emily’s basically a dense balloon filled with air. Dense enough to still dive underwater, but with all that air in the middle, it’s really easy to live in. Her aura is strongest within her, so… anything that’s inside of her basically can’t get hurt.”
“It’s also quite difficult to escape,” Rhys muttered.
“Oh, yeah!” Star giggled. “Back when you were a real Hunter going after divine energy, Emily was one of your targets!” She shoved Rhys by the shoulder. “She ate you and refused to let you go unless you promised not to fight her!”
“I’m surprised she didn’t force me to make a Divine Promise,” Rhys muttered. “But I suppose we did… chat for a while. Her and that Vaporeon within her.”
“You mean, even your ultimate moves didn’t work on Emily?” Anam said. “Would… would mine?”
“Maybe?” Star shrugged. “I dunno. I mean, Ghost has an advantage over her type, but Em’s pretty exceptional. But I don’t think she’d beat you in a fight, either. Like I said—she’s an ultimate healer. Like, on a scale of one to ten, her capacity to harm is… negative one, I guess? Or close to it. Maybe if she rolled on you it’d do some damage, but…”
“I’d rather not envision this,” Rhys stated flatly.
“So, they’re definitely okay,” Anam said.
“Yeah,” Star said. “I promise—if they’re in Emily’s guts, they’re as safe as you can get.”
“Quite counterintuitive,” James remarked.
“Hrm.” Rhys didn’t like the situation, but he couldn’t deny that Owen and the others, for now, would be in good hands. He focused his attention ahead, toward the expanse of ocean.
“Where are we going?” Anam asked.
“We’re following Emily back to her home base,” Star said. “With any luck, we’ll be able to find her pretty easily. She’s on the other side of the world, so she’s equidistant from all parts of the shoreline. Makes it useful to go to anywhere she can sense trouble. It shouldn’t be long from now. It’s a tiny island that gets flooded pretty often.”
“Water is not still,” Valle said.
“Oh, get over it, you already broke your own vow when Enet made you move your arms. Why don’t you stop being a literal statue, anyway?”
“I cannot.” Valle rumbled angrily.
<><><>
“Solid ground! Thank Arceus!” Owen had half a mind to kiss, but he kept himself calm. “Wait—where are we?”
They were inside of a large, yet shallow cave. It was only ten or so paces from the mouth to the back wall, yet Owen had enough room to fly in the airspace it provided. Behind them was a small beach of white sand. In fact—and a cursory Perceive of the surroundings confirmed this—the small cave was more like a partly hollowed boulder sitting in the middle of a tiny circle of land.
Circumnavigating the tiny island on foot would take about the same amount of time as it would to eat a nice bowl of stew. Maybe one with a good set of Tamato base, some potatoes and onions…
Was Rhys going to make dinner?
“This is my home!”
The sheer volume of the voice shook Owen’s chest and tossed him out of his thoughts. He worried that his heart would stop either from the percussive impact or the surprise. He briefly wondered if he and Gahi, when they had fused, had two hearts.
He spun around. “W-wow, Emily, you’re… big!”
Emily seemed smaller on the outside, but she still dwarfed them all by comparison. Legends often depicted Lugia as a creature at least three times the size of a Charizard, but Emily was much more than that. Five, six times? Owen couldn’t tell. He only knew that he was noticeably smaller than her head and she had to angle her gaze sharply downward to make eye contact with them. Her voice was deep and booming, but it fit for someone of her stature. He felt the innocent kindness it had, though, just like their Heart of Hearts, Anam. Perhaps that was why Zena was reminded of her through their leader.
Still, he couldn’t get over the fact that there was a gaping hole in her belly where she had pulled them out. “Emily, are you okay?”
“Okay about what?” Emily asked.
“Um, Emily, dear,” Amia said, pointing at where her ribcage would have been, “is it normal for you to… just have that wound?”
She didn’t have any bones or blood; in fact, it seemed like the red flesh within was just for show.
“Oh, oops!” Emily said, bringing her wing-arms to her chest. She rubbed at the edges and the hole closed up, like she was shaping clay to patch a wet sculpture. “Sorry! I need to remember to keep that in one piece or people freak out…”
Demitri looked at Emily worriedly. “That doesn’t hurt, does it?”
Mispy’s vines twitched, ready to heal her if there were any residual injures, yet the Lugia’s body was back to normal. Whatever normal was.
“Hurt?” Emily asked, but then something moved up her chest, became a lump on her shoulder, and popped toward the ground.
The Vaporeon, Tanneth, landed with surprising grace for such a drop. “Emily doesn’t feel a lot of things that she should,” she said. “She doesn’t need to eat, or sleep, or… any of that! I dunno why. She’s always been that way. Maybe she’s a deity.”
Emily giggled, rubbing the back of her head. “I dunno about that….”
“It’s… certainly nothing like other Lugia that I’ve heard of,” Amia said. “Oh, wait, but are there other Lugia?”
“There should be,” Owen said. “I think… Then again, never saw one… Either way, Em’s definitely not a normal Lugia. But… is she a Guardian?”
“A what?” Emily asked. “Yeah, I’m totally a Guardian! I’m the guardian of the seas! I keep all the salty water safe!”
“So, the Guardian of…” Zena paused. “The former Guardian of Water?”
“Huh? I mean, I don’t guard all water…” Emily frowned. “I mostly just keep the ocean safer. Not rivers and stuff… Just oceans. But I can try to cover the land, but that’s a lot of land… and I’m slower on land, so it’s harder to help Pokémon in time.”
Owen looked in the air pensively. “…I think we’re working with two different definitions of Guardian.”
Amia nodded. “Um, Emily, do you know what the spirit world is?”
“Spirit… world?” Emily asked. “Like, where Ghost Pokémon go? Oh, no, no!” She bopped herself on the head. “Ghosts aren’t dead. It’s where spirits of the dead go! Right?”
Zena hummed. “I don’t think she’s a Guardian. She’s just… a normal guardian. Er, a non-Orb… protector… of sorts.”
“Hmm…” Owen churred uncertainly. Something wasn’t adding up. But he didn’t have any extra information to work with yet. “I guess we should take some time to recover. Do we have a communicator with us?”
The Charizard sat down against the cave’s rocky walls; the ground had soft bedding to it that was covered in a thin layer of dried kelp. Emily must have taken the time to make it, somehow, or find it some other way to craft something of this size—it was very cozy.
The cold pit in his stomach suggested that this bedding could easily be more of Emily’s flesh fashioned into a soft cushion, but he avoided using his Perception to find out for sure. Some things were best left unknown.
This sentiment lasted for a few fleeting seconds. Owen checked and, indeed, it seemed to be more of Emily, like she lopped off a part of her belly and turned it into a soft cushion. He elected to not inform the others and festered in his own disgust in silence.
“We do,” Amia said, pulling out her communicator. “But it didn’t work inside of Emily—maybe now it will?”
“Doesn’t work inside Emily? That’s weird. Maybe it’s aura-based,” Tanneth said. “Or some other kind of technique. A lot of stuff gets blocked off by Emily… You can’t even use Teleport to get in or out of her.”
“Oh, goodness, that’s… How do you know that?” Amia asked worriedly.
“Someone tried to use Teleport once,” Tanneth said. “I don’t remember who, though. I think it was an Alakazam.”
“You don’t say.” Owen curled his tail around his hips and legs. He finally had time to decompress someplace that wasn’t from his nightmares, aside from the bedding. And in that moment of silence with just his thoughts, it finally occurred to him—this was the first time in centuries that he was himself, at least mostly. His head still felt like a great fog if he tried to think back too far, but his body… He fused, and he survived it; he knew what he was capable of, and all his power. And when he was fused with Gahi, when he finally regained his sanity in that state…
“Heh…” Gahi leaned back. “I guess I c’n deal with second place.”
“Huh?” Owen came out of his thoughts. “What? Were you guys talking?”
Demitri nodded. “Yeah, we were just talking about how you won the race to evolve first. And Gahi’s second. So now it’s just between the two of us.”
“Oh, you guys are racing to evolve? That’s so cool!” Emily pushed her wings together. “I wish I evolved…”
“You… don’t need to get any bigger,” Owen said.
“I forget being an Eevee!” Tanneth said cheerfully. “It was too long ago. Maybe I was always a Vaporeon!”
“Doubt that one, too,” Owen said. “But, uh—about that… Demitri, Mispy, are you guys sure you’re ready to evolve? Gahi went crazy. And when we fused, we both went totally nuts. It took a near-death experience to get us out of—oh, I wonder if my Mysticism is stronger from that…”
“What’s that, dear?” Amia asked.
“Uh—nothing. Anyway, what I mean is, if you evolve, you might get hurt if we don’t keep it totally safe. Because what if, you know…”
“Safe?” Emily said. “Well… if they want to evolve, why don’t they just do it in me?”
Owen wished his Perception extended to the future; that way, he would’ve seen the trap he’d put himself in. “B-back… in you?”
“Yeah! If you need a place where you can’t get hurt, then I’m definitely that!”
“I’ve never quite seen someone describe themselves as a place before, Emily.” Zena chuckled. “I don’t think you were quite this large when I knew you before!”
Emily giggled. “I missed you, Zena!” she said. “I wondered what happened to you! I can’t believe I forgot!”
“I feel the same way,” Zena said. “It’s so odd, isn’t it? But—that’s not important right now. Let’s talk about them evolving. Demitri, from how I understand it, you have the strength of the team, right?”
“Yeah, I think,” Demitri said. “I know that it’s really hard to stop my attacks…. With anything. I think I even break through Protect a little. But I’m pretty slow.”
Mispy nodded. “And I’m…”
“Our defense,” Owen completed. “And that includes healing. And there’s also that technique Rhys taught you about passively charging your Solar Beam… It takes twice as long, but you can do other attacks in between. I dunno if normal Pokémon can do stuff like that. Imagine combining you two…” Owen paused. “What’s with your aura sensing, anyway?”
Amia nodded. “Rhys told me about this a long time ago, dear. Apparently, they tried to give that to you during the design phase, but there’s only so much that you can cram into a single aura at once, if that makes any sense. That was the whole purpose of fusion to begin with—to bypass that natural limit with multiple auras at the same time. So, you got Perception of the physical world and Mispy got Perception of the ethereal world…
“Imagine combining all four of you,” Amia said gravely. “An unstoppable, self-healing, agile, and totally aware creature…”
Owen winced; something between a bruise and a sharp headache knocked at part of his head. “I think… that’s something Star warned me not to think about,” he said. “I still can’t believe Eon did that… We could’ve been killed! Why would he unleash us like that? I definitely don’t think he intended to help us!”
“Yeah, he seemed like a real jerk,” Gahi said. “Hmph. Well, I’ll show him. I’m gonna be stronger’n ever, and I’ll be normal in the head when I do it! Think he’s gonna make me fer a crazy thing…”
Owen laughed. “Yeah! And we’ll make sure that Demitri and Mispy can evolve and stay sane, too. Um… so, Emily, you mentioned that…?”
“Yeah!” She slammed her wing on her belly—the shockwave alone startled Amia, who had been inspecting a mossy rock. “If you guys train and evolve in my body, you’ll be as safe as possible!”
“Hmm… Well… okay. What do you guys think? Do you want to… ugh… I mean…”
“I’m fine with it,” Demitri said. “Mispy?”
The Bayleef nodded. “We can go all-out?”
“Totally!” Emily said.
Owen felt the presence of someone else—no, quite a few others. “Oh,” he said. “I think the others caught up to us.”
“Others? Oh! Your friends?” Emily asked.
“You mean Rhys and Anam and everyone?” Demitri asked.
“Oh, good! We’ll all meet up so we can—um—regroup?” Amia stepped past Emily, who was nearly as tall as the cave on the island.
“Rhys! Anam! We’re over here!” The Gardevoir waved them over, sending a plume of blue fire in the sky to get their attention.
Rhys, the nearest to them, winced with recognition.
Emily waved a huge wing-arm at them. “Hey! Everyone! Over here!”
“I really don’t think you need to wave to get their attention,” Owen mumbled, further alarmed at how large Emily seemed when her wing was above her head.
Rhys landed gingerly and looked down, hands to his sides in respect. He bowed. “Hello, Lugia Emily.”
“Hi!”
“I am Lucario Rhys. I hope… that our past encounter doesn’t leave any sour feelings.”
“…Huh?” Emily asked, tilting her massive head. “What do you mean?” She reached down; Rhys flinched, tensing, but didn’t move otherwise. Her massive wing-arm wrapped around Rhys, two of the finger-like ends holding him like a long pastry. She brought her other wing forward and held it level, setting him on the flat of it. Then, the Lugia squinted at him. “…I met a lot of Lucario… but you do look familiar… Did you need healing?”
“I’d—No, thank you, I’m, I—there’s no need for that. I was the one who… attempted to strike you down, long ago, to take your power.”
“Uhh—Rhys?” Owen said. “Emily isn’t a Guardian. Were you trying to harvest her power just because she had a lot of it? How do you even… harvest that sort of power?”
“It’s difficult to explain,” Rhys said. “I can’t explain it, without you all forgetting again. You see, Emily isn’t just powerful for no reason, she’s the Dragon Guardian. Well… she used to be, anyway.”
“…She’s what, dear?” Amia said.
Rhys grumbled, but repeated himself uselessly. “I just said, she’s the ex-Dragon Guardian.”
Amia looked at the others; they all shrugged.
Rhys ran his claws through the fur of his head. “There is something about Emily that, if I say it, you will forget. It’s as if I didn’t say it at all. It’s because Arceus has made it so—a Divine Decree that no normal person can remember. The Hunters… were personally involved in what became of Emily. We’re able to remember. The Decree was not strong enough to eliminate that from our lives, for how major it was. But if your Mystic power becomes strong enough to defy it, just as you defy some of the other laws of reality, perhaps one day we can tell you.”
Owen paused, glancing at Anam. “Do you remember?”
Anam frowned. “A little,” he said. “I thought she was just a nice Lugia…”
Owen frowned. “Wait, so does that mean Nevren also remembers who Emily is?”
“Yes,” Rhys said.
“And if we become strong enough, we’ll be able to remember what you told us?” Owen asked. “Hmm…”
Rhys nodded. “Perhaps with some help from Star, you’ll remember, too. But as of now? I doubt it.”
“Try again,” Owen said, staring up at Rhys. “Say it again! Who is Emily?”
Rhys rubbed his temples. “The former Dragon Guardian.” He stared and waited for a reaction from the others, yet none came. They all looked at him with blank, expectant eyes.
“…You… you said something, didn’t you?” Owen asked.
“I did.” Rhys sighed.
“Guess now isn’t the time.” Star shrugged.
Emily giggled. “You’re silly! You just stood there!” she said. “Can I pet you?”
It seemed that Emily didn’t remember, either, Owen noticed. He hummed, puzzled.
“You… I would prefer if you did not,” Rhys said, looking away.
“Aww…” Emily sadly set the Lucario down.
“You must be super important, Mister Rhys!” Tanneth said. “I bet you’re a super strong hero, just like Emily!”
Rhys glanced down. “I have to disagree.”
“Huh? How come?” Emily said. “You seem like a nice Pokémon!”
“Hmm…” Owen said. “We probably have to become really strong,” he said. “How strong do you think? Do we have to… be stronger than Arceus himself?”
Rhys shook his head “I certainly hope not. Only a small fraction of his power should be needed to override it. This is especially true for those aligned with Star.”
“…Oh,” Owen said.
“Ohh, that’s right,” Amia said, tapping her ill-defined chin. “Owen, you never aligned with Star or Arceus. You’re… your own alliance right now, aren’t you?”
“I wouldn’t call it an alliance,” Owen said. “I just want to keep my options open. Maybe it’s just my instincts.”
“What?” Demitri said.
“I feel like I don’t know the full story,” Owen said. “Who makes decisions without as much information as they can get?”
“I mean, figure what I see’s enough.” Gahi shrugged. “Eh. But yer real thorough. I’ll trust ya. I ain’t gonna side with either a’them, then, if yer gonna do the same.”
Demitri and Mispy exchanged looks, but then nodded at Owen.
“You know best,” Mispy said.
“Aw, gee, guys…” Owen blushed.
“…Oh, no!” Emily said, straightening. “I have to go! A Pokémon is in trouble.”
Tanneth hopped onto Emily’s shoulder and burrowed into it, melting away.
The Lugia addressed them hastily. “Umm—can I come back later?”
“We should probably get going, too,” Rhys said. “Perhaps another time. Er… Would you mind if we set a Waypoint to this cave, so we can visit later without the travel time? It’s all the way across the world, after all…”
“Oh! Sure! That sounds cool,” Emily said.
“Perfect. I will set up—you can rescue that Pokémon, now.”
“Okay. See you!” Emily didn’t hesitate and jumped into the ocean, creating a wave that washed all the way into the caves. Owen grumbled and raised his tail so his flames didn’t get doused by the sea.
And then the waters calmed, the massive sea guardian sinking into its depths.
“She seemed nice,” Demitri said. “Weird, but nice.”
While everyone else nodded in agreement, Owen glanced at Anam again. All this time, his gooey body felt tense. His Perception gave him another piece of information: It felt almost like Anam was listening to somebody.
“Heart of Hearts?” Owen asked.
Anam jolted upright. “H-huh? Hi! Hello, Owen. Are you feeling okay?”
“Are you?” Owen asked.
Anam grinned. “Totally! Congratulations on evolving, Owen! That’s super cool!” He clapped his slimy hands together, bowing with so much enthusiasm, combined with his incessant giggling, that it fooled everyone else in the room. “I was just thinking, now that you can fly, and fight at your best, think of all the people you’re gonna be able to help! You and Gahi! Fused as the mighty Gawen—you need to come up with a cool name for all the other fusions, too!”
He looked happy as ever. And the others all grinned, too—even Rhys, suggesting that he sensed no strangeness from Anam’s aura. Owen smiled, if only because the Goodra’s was contagious. But he wasn’t fooled.
“Okay, everyone!” Anam said, raising his arms to get their attention. “Let’s go home!”
Deflating with relief after the morning’s chaos, they all agreed.
Owen spared one last glance at Anam before they warped back to Hot Spot. Anam’s aura looked normal, and his smile was wide as ever. But now that he was fully evolved, he realized that perhaps Anam could mask his aura from the others.
Zena nudged Owen’s side.
“Oh—hey, uh, Zena,” the Charizard greeted uncertainly. “Are you okay?”
While Anam’s body type was familiar to him, Zena’s felt foreign all over again. With a pang of frustration, he wondered if it used to be familiar before.
“Hello, Owen,” she said. “I didn’t get to congratulate you directly until now.”
“Oh, yeah!” Owen said, grinning—genuine, this time. “I forgot how much I missed wings. I mean, I guess I never missed them, since I didn’t know I had… you know what I mean.”
Zena giggled. “I think so.”
Owen grinned awkwardly. What else did she want him to say? “Are you tired?”
“What? Oh, I suppose so,” Zena said.
“Oh, that explains it,” Owen said.
Yet she didn’t leave to converse with the others. “…Owen, how are your memories doing?”
“Oh.” They were both masters of a awkward questions, it seemed. “Er, to be honest, I feel really muddled. I think fusing with Gahi messed with it again. But it’s okay! I think they’ll come back eventually. How come? Did I forget something important?”
Zena glanced away.
“Zena?” He fiddled with his claws nervously. “I didn’t forget your hatch day or something, did I? I’m—really sorry if I did. And what a day for it to happen on, too…”
“No, no,” Zena said. “Sorry. I’m just very sorry that you’ve lost your memories again. Hopefully we can recover them. Then it’ll all make sense, right?”
Owen nodded. “Yeah. Then maybe I’ll remember a bit more about you, too!” He laughed.
Zena didn’t return it.
“Zena?”
“Set to go!” Anam said, raising the Badge in the air. Rhys and Demitri did the same, and they all disappeared in a flash of light.
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