Chapter 15: Aftermath

Shirou smiled as Nurse Joy bowed to him. “Don’t worry, young man. Yagi will be fine after a little healing. He had a single cracked rib, so he’ll need a tad more iron in his diet for the next couple of days.” She gave him a smile in response.

Shirou moved to respond, before his voice was cut off as a black-and-pink missile collided with him. “Ah! Illya!” Shirou said. “What’s wrong?”

“... Apparently nothing. I was overreacting to you being taken away from me,” Illya remarked, before sighing and checking her brother over for any injuries, hissing when she saw a cut on his cheek. “Wood splinters?”

“Maybe a little. My aura’s already patching them up,” Shirou replied. “We ran into… something out there. An overpowered Lopunny, as some sort of test.” He pursed his lips. “I think I failed.”

“No, you passed.” A familiar voice called from the entrance of the Pokemon Center, a sheepish looking Eevee-like Pokemon giving them a quick bow, the two human figures behind her stepping into view as she continued, “Sorry about all of that, if it’s any consolation, Astolfo is going to be utterly inconsolable about hurting your partner to that extent. Partially because he prides himself on moderating his strength, mostly because he’s just like that.”

Illya’s suppressed temper flared. “You did–” she hissed, before she was interrupted as Akari stepped forward, a flare of pink forming around her before she jabbed the small girl in the forehead. “-erk?” Illya swayed.

“Calm Mind into Baton Pass. You should be familiar with that,” Akari said softly. “I think I owe you an apology, Illya.” She looked up at Shirou. “As for you, young man. That feeling, of being in over your head and needing to flee for the sake of yourself and others? Hold on to that.” She said grimly.

“I’ve seen too many people get in over their head and refuse to leave, kids.” The second figure commented, crouching down to give what had to be her Pokemon a quick pat on the head, “It’s always a tragedy, especially when you find that they had a Pokemon registered to them that could have let them escape, but it’s obvious they chose not to.” The woman with dark pink hair grimaced. “Corpses can’t ever talk again, and you two are ‘important’ enough that sooner or later, you’ll run into trouble that you’ll need to run from.”

Shirou frowned, then nodded once. “So… you wanted to either force me to flee, to remind me it was possible… or to batter me and my team enough that we’d learn the lesson the hard way.” His voice was low, even as Illya blinked.”

“That’s… pretty much correct.” Misora said.

Shirou nodded, then bowed at the waist. “Thank you for the lesson.”

Illya shook her head. “SHIROU, don’t–”

“He’s not disregarding his life, if that’s what you’re afraid of,” the Pokemon at her side chimed up, “I’m guessing he’s taking this as a martial arts lesson from the school of hard knocks. Besides, before you doubt us, girlie, Misora had an ACE level healer on standby.”

“That– that doesn’t matter!” Illya snarled. “You get a lesson, sure! But why do it like this?”

“Because I’m a person who’s used to handling things with more… seasoned heroes.” Akari sighed. “You two are very young for those llama-touched. And I… well, I didn’t moderate things enough, or consider you when I was planning things for Shirou.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Marley was a last-minute addition, to keep you occupied while I asked Misora to harass Shirou. I didn’t even intend to be here, but then I realized the plan was… insufficient.”

“Oh…” Shirou remarked, looking at his sister, “Oh…” Immediately, he wrapped his hands around Illya, pulling his older sister close. “I’m not going anywhere. They were trying to help me realize that my place is here with you, your team, and my team. Because in the past, I think I would have stayed, become one of those corpses that Misora-san has seen.”

As he continued to hold his sister, one of the balls on her belt popping open, Fubuki wrapping one arm around her mistress’ shoulder. “Easy, my lady. We are all safe, Shirou is right here. No one is leaving you, or shall be taken from you.” She eyed the two elder trainers. “In fact, one could argue they were trying to prevent him from leaving you.”

“We were, yes.” Misora stated with a sheepish grin, only to frown as Illya continued to break down, “Well shite. Oi, Heroine, did you account for trauma his family could potentially have,” She paused as Illya broke down into sobs, “scratch that, clearly has when you asked me to do this?”

“I had an inkling. Not the full picture, though,” Akari said softly. “I am… so sorry, Illya.” She frowned, looking aside. “...this conversation is getting personal. Ah, Miss Joy–”

“Quiet room is down the hall,” Joy said primly, eyes narrowed. Beside her, Chansey frowned at Akari.

“This is why you don’t piss off the Joys, kids,” Misora deadpanned, before nodding towards the pair of kids, “Alright, come along now. I’d rather the public not do something monumentally stupid like record your breakdown and post it online.” Mana shot a look at one douche in a pink collared shirt, the man slowly lowering his phone. “That’s right. Though bold of you to attempt that in a Pokemon Center. I’d applaud your guts, but I think the nurse wants a… conversation with you.”

Joy simply shook her head, pointing back at the quiet room. “Please stop causing a scene in front of my desk, thank you.”

Akari gave a small smile as they filed into the room. “I miss Pesselle,” she sighed. “It’s hard seeing her face everywhere…” She shook her head as they  sat down in various chairs, Shirou and Illya curled up on a couch. “Shirou, thank you for your show of maturity out there. And for understanding the lesson, as ham-fisted as it was.”

“It wasn’t a big issue,” Shirou answered diplomatically, shaking his head, “At least, for me. In the future, please consider Illya’s feelings on the matter.”

“I’ll take that into account, kid.” Misora shrugged, Akari giving a small nod of acknowledgement as she did so. “That said, I suppose it’s time that the Heroine talks to you two about your rewards for this.”

“Before that… who are you?” Shirou asked delicately. He shot a look at the distinctive normal type at her side. “I’m sure I’ve heard of you before, but I don’t believe we’ve actually met.”

“Hibiki Misora. ACE Trainer. Interacted with your sister online in the thread you, your sister, some friends of yours, and a few others share as ‘rookies to keep an eye on’ within Sufficient Battling,” she answered cheerfully, nodding towards her normal type. “This is Mana. Mana is a Primeon, and is a Normal Type evolution of Eevee. Mana’s also a Mystery Gift, like your Eeveelutions.”

“Hiya! Pleasure to meet another pair of outworlders,” the Primeon chirped, bowing theatrically from the ‘waist’. “You guys are far more fun to be around than the fallers we ran into in Alola.”

“That’s nice,” Shirou answered, then leveled a glare at her trainer. “Now, I’m not entirely mad you attacked me, Ms. Hibiki. However, you did break Yagi’s ribs as part of your test, and I will want you to apologize to him directly.” Shirou paused. “He may ask your… Lopunny? For training.”

“I’ve got no issues apologizing to the scrappy one,” the ACE trainer nodded, looking Shirou directly in the eyes, “I was planning on doing it anyway, and Astolfo will want to offer his own as well.” She paused. “Though I can’t promise any training. I’m on vacation, and I only helped out miss heroine here because she promised me a reward I couldn’t refuse for my time.”

“...he’ll ask. You probably won’t be able to refuse him,” Shirou replied drolly. “Now, Illya.”

“... I don’t think Lady Akari would have done this without reason, but I’m going to still be angry at her.” Illya declared after several moments of uncomfortable silence, “If anything, you should have let me know there was a test ongoing. I wouldn’t have protested if you’d just let me know.”

“I think Marley did, though…” Akari sighed. “I forced the task on her, and then she handled it badly. Still better than what could’ve happened.” She ran her hands through her hair again. “Still, I should’ve checked first. We managed to head off the violence foreseen, but there will be a next time.” She stood and walked over, crouching before Illya’s chair. “Illya. From what my Xatu saw, you would’ve tried to curse Misora if this had been sprung on you. What drives you to that level of rage?”

“... That’s… a good question,” Illya answered, pausing to gather her thoughts. “I think it’s because when I’m placed into a life and death situation, everything but surviving goes out the window, and I’ve always been a magus before a Pokemon Trainer before.”

“There may be more than that. Illya… I think you may need some help.” Akari said softly.

“Is that my cue?” A small pink being with two swinging tails popped into existence behind Akari, looking at Illya.

“... Did you seriously call Guardian Mesprit for this, Lady Akari?” Mana grimaced, suddenly sitting much straighter, “No, don’t answer that. These two have that curse, don’t they? Like you do, and like my trainer does to some extent.”

“Oh yes. These two are part of a whole mess of events in their birth world, and that mark carries here,” Mesprit said casually. “I think great-grandfather is planning on having them stir up some things to help the actual troubleshooters when they show up later. Tilting the odds in the favor of His proper Chosen Ones.”

“Oi, Misora, we should probably start following these guys,” Mana muttered.

“No, we are on vacation. I will send a message up the line, and then we’re going to go to Hoenn and spending at least a month in Lavaridge,” Misora shot back.

Illya peered into the yellow eyes of the floating Pokemon. “Wow, a Legendary.” She blinked, “You’re a lot less… grand and terrifying then I was expecting, but I also assume that’s because you aren’t trying to be like that right now.”

“I mean, I can go all raw emotion and all that, but great-grandpa will get mad. And no one here deserves to end up an emotionless husk.” Mesprit’s tails waved. “Anger, grief, joy, pain, sorrow… you are of the fae, which always feel strongly. And yet you buried all you felt under Ice, the other half of your nature.” Mesprit slowly rotated upside down as she spoke. “You feel too strongly, and do not have constructive ways to deal with those emotions when they come. Fortunately, I have ideas.” She turned, facing Akari. “In return, I require the standard payment.”

“Ice cream, poffins, or eclairs?” Akari shot back.

“Yes,” Mesprit said, then turned back to Illya. “Though, I will not agree unless she does.” Mespirit tilted her head. “Consent is extremely important. Something I will be discussing with you later, Akari.”

“Can I have some time to think?” Illya requested, frowning, “I’d like to discuss this with my Pokemon and my brother first.”

Shirou coughed. “I think you should accept.” At Illya’s raised eyebrow, Shirou shrugged. “You’ve told me to accept rewards and aid when offered. And this is something you need.” Shirou’s brows knit together. “You’ve vacillated a lot on how you want to treat the old man. And that’s just one of the things I’ve noticed.”

Given her slow, hesitant nod, Illya obviously agreed to some extent, before she frowned, “I don’t really appreciate having this sprung on us, miss Akari. Please don’t do that again. But, I suppose I will accept your help, Lady Mesprit.”

“Excellent. We will have our first talk this evening, if you are up for it. I will need to attune one of my plumes so you can call me when necessary.” Mespirit darted over and wrapped Illya in a hug. “Mother was right, these are nice!” she murmured before teleporting away.

“... Well, that happened,” Mana grumbled, stretching luxuriously as she stood, looking towards her trainer.

“No shite. I suppose this is what we get for getting involved with Lady Akari and those that interest her.” Misora shrugged, before sighing harshly. “Alright kiddies, I’m going to go check into the Pokemon Center. I’ll be here for a few days while she -” The ACE trainer pointed her thumb towards Akari - “gets my reward ready.”

“I’ll send you the GPS coordinates and time for the meetup point. Even if you can’t convince one of them to join you, time spent in Flower Paradise is always relaxing,” Akari agreed as Misora left the room, then turned to the children. “As for you, kids, I only have a ‘reward’ for Shirou prepared, but I’ll have one of the clans deliver an apology to Illya as soon as possible.” With a nod to herself, she pulled an incubator out of a pouch on her back. “This is an egg from one of the Pokemon I traveled with for a time. She and her mate entrusted it and another to me saying that I would find Ice and Fire to give them to. Mesprit’s assessment means that I’ve found both of them.” She gingerly handed Shirou the device, the egg within a burnt orange with red, wavelike patterns. “Take care of the Pokemon within. It’ll be some time before they hatch.”

Shirou swallowed, taking the incubator from her, closing his eyes. “...it’s an old soul, but he’s been waiting. For his trainer.” He opened his eyes again, even as the egg wiggled very slightly. “Thank you. I’ll take good care of him.”

Akari nodded, then headed for the door. “I still think this test was necessary… but I am sorry for how I executed it.” She bent her head. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to get chewed out by three ancient beings, and then possibly their grandfather.” With her piece said, she headed out through the doors.

Illya looked over Shirou, who was gazing intently at his new egg. “...we’re going to have to keep him from spending hours a day caring for it, aren’t we?” Fubuki nodded absently. “Heh, at least he’ll have another anchor to keep him honest. And we’ll have another new friend to care about, given the vibes I got from Lady Akari.”

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Illya stared as the white stag-like creature greedily nommed the pie she’d set on his shrine, utterly ignoring her. “Is… is this the grace of a Noble Pokemon?”

Marley snorted. “He’s a greedy dork.”

“Sacrilege– ooh, this is a very good pie,” Wyrdeer said, before looking over at Illya. “I heard what happened recently, and your origins. We’ve not had another faller take the trials.” He paused, a pink rectangle appearing over his horns, before being flicked to Illya. “Good luck with all the others!”

With deftness she had not had months ago, Illya caught the plate, staring appreciatively at the rather unassuming but powerful item before bowing towards the Lord, “Thank you, Lord Wyrdeer.” She turned and walked back to the waiting group.

Shirou cleared his throat before speaking to his sister. “I’m a little surprised you accepted it so easily.”

“What, the Mind Plate? I’m not going to protest my task being easier after yesterday.” She answered, shrugging as she avoided the impulse to glare towards Marley again. “Besides, it’s harder to hold a grudge when you clearly needed and probably still need the lesson that they helped teach you.”

“I suppose. Did your talk with Mesprit go well?” Shirou asked, even as the mixed group of humans and pokemon walked back toward Oreburgh.

“Well enough. She identified a lot of my… problems quickly. We’ll be having another session next week while I work on the things she told me to work on,” Illya stated with a frown, sighing at the lack of a certain Pokeball at her belt. “Did you ever figure out what Ritsuka and Matilda wanted to do when they said they couldn’t come with us this morning, by the way?”

Shirou shook his head. “I dunno. Ritsuka didn’t say, and Yagi doesn’t know either.”

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Matilda blinked in appreciation as she sipped from a teacup held delicately in one of her ribbon-like feelers, “This is… shockingly good. How long have you been learning to prepare this blend?”

“A long, long time. It was a pain until I figured out how to manipulate the latent psychic energy that all of our species have some access to. It’s not useful in combat beyond some minor tricks, but I can have more fitness than human hands, so who’s really winning,” Mana replied with a vulpine grin, delicately pouring Ritsuka a cup. “Speaking of. Do you need me to hold that for you, Ritsuka? I’m happy to do so.”

Ritsuka frowned at the glass in front of her, before extending one wing and hooking one of the talons on the handle. Pulling it back, she bit the lip enough to take a sip. “I’ll adapt.” She huffed.

“Watch out for that pride, sis.” Matilda said fondly, before setting her cup down on the floor, “Speaking of, we requested to speak with you for a reason.”

The Primeon nodded, making a show of slowly putting down the pot of tea, before she took a sip from her own cup. Then, she spoke, “You wanted to ask about the oddities of being a Mystery Gift, yes?”

Matilda’s tail flicked. “All four of us– speaking for our siblings with the other kids as well– have grown and evolved really quickly. That’s not even getting into whatever’s up with Ritsuka.”

The draconic Eeveelution sniffed. “Gender is just a construct, I simply let my body follow my mood. It’s not difficult.”

“Oh good! One of you already figured out how to use Arceus’ Light,” Mana exclaimed with a chirp of satisfaction, before frowning at the baffled looks on both of their faces. “Wait, did you seriously not remember that you, and most Mystery Gifts, are essentially created on the spot by Arceus?” The Primeon shook her head in disappointment. “Shame. Anyway, doing something like that has consequences, and that’s why most trainers will never see one in person for most of their life, let alone receive one.”

She paused, grumbling something about the state of the education system, before fishing out a pair of glasses from one of the bags lying around in the room and setting them on her brow, “Alright, so. You are Mystery Gifts. Some of you may have dregs of memories from a life since past. It really depends on where the Llama in the Sky pulled your soul from, or if they simply decided to create one ex-nihilo. You also contain within you a fragment of a fragment of divinity, mostly due to how the good ole divine being that rules over this universe functions, but that’s not really the point of this lecture. Anyway, that ‘spark’ is responsible for your rapid growth, especially when your bonded is threatened, and even more so when you genuinely become attached to them and love them, and that bond is returned.” She paused, peering over her glasses towards the pair of Eeveelutions, “With me so far?”

“...so I can’t change the world for gender-fluid people everywhere?” Ritsuka said forlornly, dissolving into mumbles and thinking.

“So basically, we have another reserve of power other Pokemon don’t. Interesting,” Matilda said, then perked up. “Hang on, if it’s divine power, can we do miracles?”

“That is essentially what Ristuka is doing when they shift sexes, though they are tapping into a latent principle of our species in general, so far as I can tell. It wouldn’t be that casual if it wasn’t something that all Eevee theoretically could do,” Mana nodded, before frowning. “Hmm, well, I suppose I should clarify a bit. Define ‘Miracle’. You’re probably working off a different definition than I am.”

“Something impossible to occur via the accepted or normal rules of reality?”

“Right, those miracles. To an extent, we can change the rules. A normal type evolution for our species probably shouldn’t have happened under the conditions it did for me, though I am rather frustrated I still can’t figure out what the condition should have been.” Mana coughed, blushing as she realized she’d gone off on a tangent.

“Anyway, a Dragon Type evolution shouldn’t have happened for Ritsuka under the conditions that it did for her. And a Sylveon should not be able to learn Aura Sphere faster than a Riolu could, nor how to manipulate her Aura to the same extent that a newly made Lucario can.” Mana explained patiently, taking another sip from her tea before she frowned at the pair, “Speaking of, Agate likely became a genius through sheer force of will to keep up with her trainer. And Ren seems to have an almost absurd level of sensitivity towards grudges and general ghost type energy. But with them, it’s hard to tell, because I haven’t observed them in person.”

“So both exaggerated, empowered growth and widened movepools.” Ritsuka shook off her funk as she mused. “Is there a natural tendency to… share this power? Yagi’s been growing by leaps and bounds, and Fubuki’s adapted to ghostly energy shockingly quickly.”

“Yes and no. Misora, as much as I love her and think she should have been, isn’t chosen in the same way that your bonded are, so I can only speculate to some extent, but it has to do with the bonds we share with our trainers and team,” Mana began, before she winced. “Keep in mind that these are quite literally theories and speculations that I’ve made through observing my team and other teams that I know have a Mystery Gift on them, but yeah, I think we share a bit of our divinity with our team. Never more than we have, and for what reason that is I’ll never really know, but I do know that in this reality, Arceus does, to some extent, choose their heroes.” She frowned, before shaking her head, “I can’t really say for sure though. It could very well just be Yagi pushing himself beyond his limits to keep up with you, Ritsuka, and similarly for Fubuki. It’s one of the few things I’ve never been able to decisively figure out.”

“Okay then. So it might be our team, might be us, might be our trainers,” Ritsuka acknowledged. “I suppose we should just be careful with whatever new teammates we pick up.” She frowned. “So does that mean I’m going to be the only Wyrmeon ever, or do you think other Eeevee will figure out how to evolve? I’m too awesome to be the only one.”

“There’ll be other Dragons of our kind within the year, I’m sure.” Mana snickered, blinking at their shocked looks, “What? The evolution requirement can’t exactly be strict, given how our evolutions tend to come in pairs or trios. It’s probably something to do with a close connection to a dragon, along with an intense bond. That or learning a dragon type move along with a bond, but we can’t exactly learn dragon type moves.”

“Why not, it seems… oh, right.” Ritsuka said. “Normally, Sylveon can’t learn Aura Sphere. I guess learning Dragon Claw was abnormal, too?”

“Yep.” Mana shrugged, glaring at her empty teacup before shrugging and refilling it, levitating a bottle of something obviously not intended for minors out of one of her trainers bags and adding it into her cup. “Also, I’d recommend that you look into Legend of the Tree of Life. Not the one in Cameron, the ancient ones that predate most of human history. You might find some of the texts rather enlightening.”

“Oh? Do share,” Matilda murmured, flicking two of her feelers to scoop up a pen and pad of paper.

“Right. Give me a second to mentally compile everything I know about an ancient civilization whose records are so fragmented that I can barely make them out,” Mana grumped, frowning as she pulled out her trainer’s phone and unlocked it, browsing through something before her eyes lit up, “Right. So, how familiar are you with the Bedtime Stories about Teams of Red and Blue, Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky, Tales of the Gates, or the Tales of Life and Darkness?”

“Illya’s research mentioned the legends of Time, Sky, and Darkness. But I’ve not heard of the others, and I don’t know any of the details.” Matilda murmured, sipping her tea.

“I think Yagi mentioned the Tales of the Gates. And he talked about living up to the example of the Red Team once when we were talking about heroes.” Ritsuka offered.

“Right. I’m not all that surprised by. Sinnoh has the Time, Sky, and Darkness preserved the best, and the Lucario Kingdom remembers all the legends.” Mana nodded, turning her attention away from the phone floating in front of her to look at her fellow gifts, “So far as I can tell, those legends are one hundred percent true. They’re also the only instances we have of a human faller becoming a Pokemon,” Mana remarked as if she hadn’t just said something most scientists thought impossible. “It’s a common theme that all of them share. One human-turned Pokemon. One native. Two friends or lovers standing against a calamity that threatens the world.”

“Interesting. Though not applicable. Illya is a human, and she seems to have lost interest into turning into one for fun,” Matilda mused. “If you are bringing this up, there must be a good reason, though.”

“Indeed. That would be because the Heroine and Hero of the tales told about the Tree of Life were… scientists at heart. They recorded much of their research into phenomena like fallers and mystery gifts in the journals they left behind.” Mana’s expression turned bitter. “Not that many remain. I’ve had to gather most of my knowledge on the topic from what little scraps I’ve managed to scrounge while traveling with Misora, along with my own experiences.” She shook her head. “Anyway, not the point. The point was, they wrote something about ‘an inherent ability for fallers and mystery gifts to go beyond conventionally accepted limits’, and referenced something about the Plates of Arceus in it as well, and it’s been driving me utterly batty trying to figure out what the hell those two lunatics were rambling about without seventy percent of the context I need.”

“Forward me your research, if you are willing. Illya and I may be able to help… and if you are amenable, Toshaka Rin may also be of aid.” Matilda’s tail flicked. “Magi are used to working with fragments from the past.”

“Oh good… Right fuck, I was talking about the tree of life,” Mana groaned, having finally realized she’d gone on an utterly massive tangent. “My point for all of this was that the Tree of Life existed at some point, and was tied to a legendary that was said to know a rather absurd amount of information about Life. They might have answers about our abilities that we’d never be able to find on our own.”

Ritsuka sat up. “Are you offering us a quest? A sidequest?” She asked excitedly. “Might be a long-term project, though…”

Mana smirked at the question, “Yeah, I am. Find me more manuscripts about those legends, or the Tree of Life, and I’ll send you a bounty of at least 25k. I know that new trainers are often strapped for cash, so consider that motivation to keep an eye out for em.” The Primeon paused, cocking her head to the side, “Send either photos of them or the actual physical product to Misora and she’ll know what to do with them, and I’ll inform her how much I owe you for each discovery.”

“Excellent,” Ritsuka said, then whapped Matilda with her tail. “No, we’re not going to go shopping around for a better deal.”

“Correct choice. I’m overpaying you a lot,” Mana stated with a glint in her eyes, nodding towards Ritsuka, “Think of it as an apology from me if you’d like, but the real answer is that I have a lot of money sitting around in a bank account that I have no use for, and I’m morally against letting that money sit there for no reason.”

“...wait, Pokemon can have bank accounts? Maybe I should open my own. Save some of Shirou’s money for a rainy day,” Ritsuka mused.

“Technically you can’t have an international account, but depending on the region, local laws can have you recognized as a citizen, and therefore open an account.” Mana shook her head, “Alternatively, absolutely no one is going to look too deep into an account bearing a nickname set up by your trainer, and if they want to give their Pokemon full control over an account they set up, that’s not on the banks or the governments.”

“I see,” Ritsuka nodded, then stood up and trotted to the door. “I need to go check on Yagi.” She paused. “Mana? I believe we will be friends someday. Not yet. But please keep in touch.” She nosed the door open and trotted out, nails clicking on the stone beneath her feet.

“No problem. I look forward to getting to know another Mystery Gift,” Mana called after her, waving her paw as Matilda stood and left as well, waiting for several moments after the door closed to sigh, placing both paws against her face. “Oh thank Arceus I didn’t fuck up my first impression.”