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Equilibrium	By : jvperric Category: Pokemon > General Views: 12587 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Nintendo does. I make no claim towards any of the copyrighted intellectual property contained herein. I am making no money from this story in any way.

Chapter List
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*****Chapter XIII: Desperate Measures*****

Special care must be taken on Routes 309 and 310. To the west lies the outer basin of the Firestone Desert. The only safe entrances and exits are at map markers 1, 2 and 3 on Map 2.4. It is inadvisable to enter the desert anywhere else, and impossible to leave anywhere else without Flying-type Pokémon, due to the high stone walls that form the desert’s perimeter. Communications are equally problematic, owing to the high concentration of chaff in the desert air.

—Sederan Trainer’s Manual, 7^th edition, pp. 233

*****

“It wasn’t there?”

“It hasn’t been there for a hundred years. You know that as well as I do.”

“But it was somewhere in the Spire. What did the Sentinel say?”

“Nothing. He wouldn’t speak to me. Only hung his head in shame.”

“We’ll go, then. He won’t refuse us audience.”

“And me?”

“Find out if any ships went near that island. We’ll be in contact.”

*****

Jason squinted as the first rays of dawn crept through his window and into his stateroom. He groaned. Dawn, he thought, and no sleep to show for it. It was not entirely true; he had drifted off…once, for a few minutes perhaps; else he had been awake, staring alternately between the ceiling and the sleeping white form beside him. His stomach growled and his eyelids were heavy; sleep stayed cruelly just out of reach, taunting him. More coffee, he supposed. That, or I need to learn to walk and sleep at the same time.

He stood within the small stateroom and dressed, snatching clothes blindly from his pack. The little red light on his Pokénav was blinking with a message from Mira: Breakfast, third deck, port side ballroom. Landfall in two hours.

The timestamp was thirty minutes past. He silently gathered up his things, finally reaching for Gallade’s—Gardevoir’s, he corrected himself—Pokéball on the nightstand. It was the same as before, red and white with a black band around the equator, but he saw something different in it. Or maybe that was just him. Jason shook his head and recalled his Pokémon before shouldering his pack and leaving the stateroom. The corridor was long and narrow, and for a moment Jason wasn’t entirely sure what deck he was on. Second state deck, he remembered, and went towards the stairs. They turned back on themselves five times before he reached the third deck, with its ballrooms and sundecks and pool open to the sky. He made his way past a group of children heading to the pool and found one of the doors into the port ballroom. Where it had been a dancing hall the night before, four dozen tables had been set up, almost all at least half-filled, and a buffet table stretched the length of the room on the far wall. There were few people in front of it; almost everyone was already eating, and new trays hadn’t yet been put out.

He didn’t mind the picked-over food. Jason took a large plate and loaded it with scrambled eggs with sharp cheese cooked in, two slices of smoked ham, bacon strips, sausage links, a blueberry muffin, orange slices, some buttered cinnamon toast, and two pancakes before emptying the contents of the nearest coffee maker into a mug. He piled on some topping packets and placed four energy supplements for his Pokémon in his jacket pocket. Mira was at a table in the corner, a bit detached from the others, with a stained tablecloth where Ralts had dribbled her food down her chin as Mira fruitlessly tried to feed her. Jason sat down on the opposite side of the table.

“What are you, eating for two?” she asked, looking at the small mountain of food on the plate in front of him. Jason had eaten half his eggs before he responded.

“I didn’t sleep well,” he said, flicking a bit of egg from the side of his mouth. “I need some energy.”

“You’ll need a stretcher if you eat all that.”

“Well, where’s your food?”

“Oh, don’t even offer to share, that’s lovely. I finished eating before I messaged you, when the food was still hot,” she said, offering Ralts another spoonful of jam from her plate. Ralts grabbed the spoon and smeared it all over her face. “I’ve been trying to get this one to eat ever since.”

If Jason minded the food being cold, he gave no sign. He was well into his pancakes when he said, “Get one of the energy supplements over there. Recall her and press it to her Pokéball. It’d be a lot…cleaner.”

“This is good bonding,” Mira said, wincing as a glob of jam hit her cheek. Ralts squealed with delight.

“Snap a picture for the scrapbook, then, and get the supplement. Otherwise you’re going to run through shirts very fast, once her aim improves.”

Mira frowned and took the spoon away. Ralts’ eyes welled up. Big red eyes, Jason thought, as she disappeared into her Pokéball. He shook his head and continued with his breakfast. Mira watched him in disgusted fascination as he ate it all.

“Where did it go?” she asked, frustrated, when he finished. Jason leaned back with a satisfied grin. “I can’t eat like that.”

“You don’t have a metabolism that’ll kill you by forty,” he said jokingly, sipping his coffee. “Can’t eat like that every day, anyway. Just needed the calories. We’re hoofing it from Shortide, right?”

“Unless you got a Pokémon you can mount between last night and now.”

Jason’s mouth thinned to a line. “No.”

“Walking it is, then. We have about an hour before we reach the port. I suppose I’ll go relax on the forecastle. Care to join me?”

“In a few minutes.”

Jason sat for a while at the table, twirling his knife handle-up beside his plate. A long silence came over him, and despite the bustle of people around, Jason Sato suddenly felt very alone. Alone at the table, alone on the ship, alone in his thoughts, which kept drifting back to the night before. He had said foolish things and done even more foolish things, but they had been said and done, and he had to live with them, if they ever came out. Besides, he thought, there were more important matters at hand, not the least of which was the small bright pearl in one of his hidden jacket pockets. He took a deep breath and left the table, holding his pack in his hand, swinging by his feet.

He walked to the forecastle in a daze, pressing against the wall when people made to pass him. Eventually he shouldered his bag and found the deck where Mira sat, playing with her Pokénav, detached from its wrist strap. She nodded in acknowledgement when he sat down beside her.

“Don’t tell me you went back for seconds.”

“What? No, no. Just thinking.”

“There’s a nice change.” Mira began typing something on her little screen. “I guess we’ll skip getting something to eat in Shortide.”

“Might pick up something for dinner.” He lay his head back in the chair, closing his eyes.

“Mmn.”

They kept their own company for a while, and then Mira released Zangoose and Ralts for companionship. Ralts nuzzled up at her side while Zangoose curled into a ball, draped over her knees as he dozed.

“I should have some small Pokémon,” Jason said, smiling. “All of mine are liable to break this chair if they tried that.”

“You’ve still got space on your team,” Mira said through a yawn. Jason dropped the conversation after that.

*****

“What did you turn up?”

“Nothing. The Sentinel was no more willing to talk to us than he was to you.”

“What a shock.”

“This is serious, Nadine. Both Core Gems gone. Two different sources on the other side of the world said the same thing. We don’t have the option of losing them.”

“When you come down from your soapbox, I might have something to tell you. From a ship.”

“What is it?”

“Are you through haranguing me?”

“Yes, yes, now what is it?”

“The Fruitful Shepherd brought two Trainers, a boy and a girl, to the Air Spire three days ago and picked them up a day later. Near as I can tell, that’s the only ship that went anywhere near the place, other than mine. Those are their fishing waters.”

“Did they get names?”

“No, but listen. The captain did say they weren’t from around here. It’s how she got so much out of them for a simple charter. And it so happens that I hosted two Trainers, a boy and a girl, from the mainland the other night. The boy got a Core Badge out of me.”

“Names?”

“Better. Here are their profiles. And use some discretion. The girl is Swath’s cousin.”

“Didn’t know he had any.”

“Yeah, he can explain it better. I checked my tapes. They caught the Serperior into Shortide.”

“Then we’re done here.”

“Come back any time, Ivan. I do so love your company.”

*****

Shortide City was not a large settlement, once you got off the coast. The harbors were built up enough, to be sure, but there was precious little city to boast of besides. Even the Pokémon Center was built right on the shore and had a dock attached where Trainers could bring their Pokémon in from the water. They stopped off there, strolled the open air market for a half hour, and then set off down Route 308, towards the Great South Intersection that led to Ballada City to the west and Route 309 and Darsky City to the north. Another, rougher road ran southeast, towards the ruins of an ancient monastery.

“Want to go sightseeing?” Mira asked as they approached the intersection, a large plaza cut out of a clearing in the surrounding forest.

Jason turned back to open his bag, but closed it after a moment. “Yeah, sure. We’ll take the left.”

And so they did, cutting left when they reached the crossroads. The trees that lined the path grew thicker the further south they went, until it was one long, dense unbroken stretch of green and brown. The road, as far as it could be called a road, gradually went from a paved path, to a straight line of dirt wide enough for three to walk abreast, to a single-file suggestion of a road marked only by the thinner grass that grew underfoot. It twisted and turned back on itself more than once, and in most places you could see only a dozen or so meters ahead before it wound out of view.

“All right,” Jason said, still walking. “That should be far enough.”

Mira cocked her head. “We’re not at the monastery yet.”

“We’re not going to the monastery.”

“What else do you think is on this road?”

“Nothing. We’re doubling back. We’re being followed.”

“By who? How do you know?”

“By the same two guys that were following us from the Pokémon Center in Shortide. I kept looking back on Route 308 and they were always behind us. Come on, get off the trail.”

Mira followed him into the underbrush, taking high steps over the bushes and gnarled tree roots jutting up from the ground. They were a good ways from the path before Jason was satisfied.

“What now?” she asked.

“Watch. Stay down and silent.”

It was several minutes before they heard anything, but then the unmistakable sound of dirt trod underfoot reached them. It was faint, but getting louder as they waited. Two men came into view, but they were too distant to pick out any specific features.

“Is that them?” Mira whispered.

Jason nodded and watched them continue on. They followed the path and were eventually out of view and soon after earshot, but Jason did not move. Nearly ten minutes passed before he got up and motioned for Mira to follow. They started northwest, moving slowly through the overgrowth, until Jason led Mira back to the road and they took up a brisk pace back towards the intersection.

“You’re pretty good at skulking around,” Mira said, adjusting a strap on her bag.

“Spent a lot of time avoiding my dad at the foundry in Duskwind. Granted, I was usually hiding behind a giant cauldron rather than trees, but the principle is still the same.”

“Oh. I used to do something similar. Hiding, I mean.”

“Yeah? Why’s that?”

“Better than getting hit.”

Jason paused, watched her continue on the road, then caught up with her. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be. You weren’t the one hitting me.”

Mira said no more, and Jason let it lie. Soon enough they were back at the intersection, where the sun had started its westward descent. They stopped there, among the other travelers.

“Should we keep going all the way back to Shortide?” Mira asked.

Jason shook his head. “That road’s too exposed. Open fields on either side. The road to Ballada City’s not much better, plus there’s the jungle to the south and the capital to the northwest. Too much restricted movement. Best to go north like our original plan, I think. Route 309 pushes up against the Garagin Range to the east, and it’s got the desert on the west. There’s nowhere to hide.”

“Nowhere to run, either.”

“Darsky City isn’t far. We won’t make it there by nightfall, but definitely before noon tomorrow. Maybe Regirock could dig out an alcove on the mountainside for us when we need to bed down.”

“That’s a good idea. And then we’ll get the Fire Gem?”

He sighed, starting along the north road. Mira followed. “Firestone Desert is vicious. A lot can go wrong down there with no way to communicate to the outside. I’d feel better about going in if battling the Darsky Gym isn’t too bad. Plus we don’t have any Water-types except for Sharpedo, but without open water it won’t be much use.”

Mira had to agree. They pushed themselves hard up Route 309, letting Lucario out for company and to look back at the road behind them every so often. Once they were away from other travelers they changed their clothes, too, and after about an hour Mightyena relieved Lucario of sentry duty.

Jason checked his Pokénav. “They have to know we lost them by now. They’ll be coming back.”

“I wish we knew who they were.”

“Trainers looking for a match, maybe. Or Scion, or anyone else. Doesn’t matter. I don’t want them following us.”

Rufflet came out to soar back and scan the road, and some time after Staravia did the same. Zangoose walked with them for a stretch, and then Gardevoir. By then the sun had dipped below the Firestone Mountains that divided the desert into east and west.

“How are you feeling, honey?” Mira asked Gardevoir.

‘Wonderful,’ he said, beaming. He walked between Mira and Jason, occasionally swaying into his Trainer’s side, but otherwise he kept pace with them, his gown trailing behind him in the wind.

Jason’s Pokénav rang every so often, but he silenced it when he saw his father’s number on the screen. Gardevoir became awash in the anger radiating from him, and inched himself closer to Mira as he walked. She gave off much happier feelings, and he felt his mood lightening as he focused on her.

“You keep going, I’ve got to figure out how to block a number,” Jason said, taking his Pokénav off his wrist and fiddling with it. Mira and Gardevoir kept walking.

“So did you talk to him?” Mira asked when they were some ways ahead.

Gardevoir nodded happily, almost bouncing. ‘Last night. He was good about everything.’ He looked back and smiled.

“Good, I’m glad. So are you going to stay like this full-time?”

‘I’d like to. I guess if I needed to I could shift back for a little bit, but I don’t like the way that body feels. This one is so much better.’

Mira nodded as Jason caught up to them. “Done and done. We should make camp before it gets completely dark.”

When they found a suitably quiet stretch of road, Mira released Regirock and had him cleave out a large chunk of the cliff face on their right. When they had an alcove deep enough for them to lie down comfortably and still have some space between them and the entrance, Regirock stopped and sat beside the road, consuming the earth it had excavated from the mountain. They released their other Pokémon and Jason began setting up their fire pit. There was no wood to burn, but they had a cooking candle, and a pair of chemical light sticks that they hung from the metal tray the food tins rested upon. Most of the Pokémon gathered around Mira on one side of the fire pit, but Gardevoir clung to Jason’s side as he heated the food. He chanced some affection, nuzzling his cheek to Gardevoir’s while the others played.

Lucario sat beside Mira, playing peek-a-boo with Ralts while her Trainer held her, and Zangoose and Mightyena tussled by the cave entrance. Rufflet and Staravia were perched on Regirock again, but the golem no longer seemed to mind. It stretched out one arm to give them more space to roost.

“It’ll take longer to cook with that candle,” Mira said. “Don’t we have a fire kit?”

“We do, but I don’t want to end up getting smoked out of here. No smoke signals, either. Surely you can wait a few more minutes for dinner.”

Mira shrugged and went back to Ralts. The little Pokémon looked at her older counterpart across the fire pit, cuddled up to his Trainer. She cooed and gurgled, putting her hands out towards Gardevoir.

“I think she wants you to hold her,” Mira said.

‘Me?’

Mira scooted around the cooking meals and gently placed Ralts in his arms. Gardevoir cradled her against himself, and Ralts curled around his front sensor, her small horn connecting with it. He slowly rocked her back and forth, humming something that sounded almost alien to the humans. When Ralts had fallen asleep, Gardevoir handed her back to Mira and went back to Jason’s side.

“What was that?” Jason asked.

‘A lullaby. I learned it from my parents.’

“It sounded...unfamiliar,” Mira said.

‘That’s because you’ve never heard it.’ Gardevoir smiled. ‘If you had it sung to you every night it would sound familiar.’

“What does it say?”

‘I guess I could translate it for you. It won’t sound as good, though.’

He sang it for them again, in his own tongue, and then mentally, with the best translations he could find. Some words still slipped past the humans.

“It’s nice,” Mira said.

“What was that one word? Demsi?”

‘Demisi,’ Gardevoir corrected. ‘It means goddess.’

“Isn’t Arceus supposed to be male?” Mira asked.

‘It isn’t Arceus. It’s our deity.’

The night went on. They ate, Mira played with Ralts while Jason’s Pokémon all cuddled up to him, and the light outside their little alcove slowly disappeared. Before long Jason and his team drifted off to sleep. Mira and the others quickly followed them.

*****

“I don’t need to be here. I’m fine.”

Erica paced around the office, her hands flitting over the walls. Dr. Werend watched her from her seat against the back wall.

“I don’t think you’re being entirely honest with me, Ms. Cole.”

“They stuck me in here because of Xavier, didn’t they? It’s not like we’re any big secret.” Erica slumped onto a couch in the corner. “I guess you’re going to tell me how sick I am?”

“Whatever consensual relationship you have with your step-brother is no business of mine.” Dr. Werend shifted in her seat and pushed up her glasses. “Dr. Liss asked me to speak to you because of your gynecological exam on Friday. You had a great deal of trauma. She thinks you were raped.”

Erica’s shoulders tensed and her legs snapped shut. She frowned. “I wasn’t raped.”

“You’re a terrible liar, Erica. You always were.”

“You think you know me because we had a few classes together, Emily. You don’t. I wasn’t raped.”

“I don’t think that because of college,” Dr. Werend said. “Your voice is faltering, your body language is closing up, and you won’t look me in the eye.”

Erica looked up and gave her a hard glare. “The cuts and bruises are from Xavier. I like it rough.”

“I’ve already spoken with him. He didn’t do that.”

“Fine, I do it myself. I need to feel in control.”

“You’re the operations manager for our medical subsidiary and have fifteen hundred people working under you. There’s a forty-strong combat team that answers directly to you. You have control. If you’re going to lie, please do it convincingly.”

She bit down hard on her lip, crumbling under Dr. Werend’s gaze. “Who are you protecting?”

Erica began to cry.

*****

Morning was slow to come to their side of the mountain. Regirock was the first to wake, though no one could rightly say if it had ever gone to sleep or, indeed, needed sleep at all. Regardless, Regirock sunk its massive stone hands into the ground to absorb the earth, and the resulting noise was sufficient to rouse everyone else. Rufflet fell from the rock he was perched upon, squawking and madly flapping his wings. He fell into Lucario’s side, causing him to yelp and kick out, knocking over the metal trays above the fire pit. Zangoose and Mightyena awoke and began to hiss and bark at that noise. Gardevoir instinctively clung to Jason and Ralts began to cry. Staravia hopped about around them, clicking his beak.

Jason and Mira shook their heads when all the Pokémon had been calmed down. “Maybe we shouldn’t all sleep in such tight quarters from now on,” Jason said. Mira nodded in agreement.

When they had all eaten, Regirock dropped a handful of dirt over the fire pit and they set out. Mightyena and Zangoose elected to walk with their Trainers first. As they got underway, Zangoose made a playful attempt to ride Mightyena. She growled and threw him off.

“Ow,” he said, flicking dirt from his tail. “You could’ve just said ‘get off.’”

“If you want to ride me, you were a little too far up.” She waved her rear at him, gave him a wolfish grin, and loped off, trailing behind Jason. Zangoose blushed and pulled a clod of dirt from his fur before running to catch up, purring and rubbing against Mira’s leg when he did.

“Aww, aren’t you sweet this morning,” Mira said, reaching down to pet him. “This part of the road is a lot smoother than the one yesterday.”

Jason nodded. “We’re getting closer to Darsky City. See the gray stretch of sky up on the horizon? There it is.”

“Do you want to try for the Shadow Badge?”

“Maybe. Might be better to try the desert first. I guess there’s no harm in putting Lucario up against some of the Gym Trainers—”

A blade of air hissed down from the sky and struck the ground in front of them, throwing up chunks of earth large and small. They brought their hands up in front of their faces while Mightyena and Zangoose took cover behind their Trainers’ legs. The strike also brought up a huge plume of dust, leaving them momentarily blinded. A loud, high screech pierced the silence that followed.

“What happened?” Mira asked between coughs.

“Wing Attack,” Jason said.

There was a low thud, accompanied by a violent shaking underneath their feet. Zangoose lost his footing and fell on his rear.

When the dust cleared, they saw two men clad in black combat suits, each with a bandolier of Pokéballs slung over their shoulders. An unusually large Dragonite stood behind them, snorting and pawing at the ground.

“Dragonite have a class three restriction,” Mira said as Zangoose clambered back to his feet.

“Scion,” Jason muttered.

The shorter man with the longer hair spoke. “You doubled back yesterday. Not far enough.”

“What do you want?” Jason was as tense as Mightyena, her fangs bared and her hackles raised.

“The Air Gem. Now.”

They stood dumbstruck for a moment. The taller man released a Gabite and Staraptor, both exceptionally muscled for their species.

“We know it was taken. We know you have it and you don’t know what you’ve done. Now hand it over.”

“You’ve lost it,” Jason said, reaching for Gardevoir’s Pokéball. Mightyena stalked up beside him, growling with her ears pointed back. “Those Gems are just a myth.”

The taller man jerked his head at his Gabite. “The Zangoose.”

Gabite began advancing towards Zangoose and Mira, but looked back when Dragonite roared and unleashed a beam of light from its mouth.

“NO!”

Dragonite tried to pitch its head up when its Trainer shouted, but not fast enough. The Hyper Beam loosed and struck the mountainside above them to the east. A massive chunk detached with a deafening groan and came flying down the mountain…

…right at Jason and Mira.

They had no more than seven seconds before the mountaintop came down on them. Jason looked to his left. Mira was still looking up at the newly made boulder careening down at them. Beyond her was the guardrail on the side of the road, and then the drop to the desert beyond.

He felt his legs moving. Mightyena bounded behind him. He grabbed Mira around the waist and kept going. Zangoose darted under the guardrail. Jason summoned all of his strength and jumped over the rail with Mira in tow. He landed on the far side. Mightyena crashed into his back. Zangoose was tangled up in his feet.

They fell.
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Equilibrium