Ch. 8 At the End of the Road

Morning came, the Kucheat Town’s fires gone out over the night even as smoke and steam covered the sky. Faith shook her head, her eyes red as she followed Adrian and David through town, getting around closed streets. They passed through plenty of Pokémon wearing badges, though only a few of them seem interested in repairing the destruction. Instead, they stood in front of mass groups of local Pokémon, keeping them from leaving for one reason or another. Faith winced, hearing smashed glass from nearby but no other Pokémon interested in stopping it.

“Fourth one already,” David said, walking past a smashed Mawlie statue with ropes around its waist.

Adrian shook his head. “Pokémon here are mad, not just because of the destruction, but because of the poor responses. Especially since the leadership here are more interested in keeping its secrets than helping them out.” He turned to the side, spotting a Magnezone arguing with a Sandshrew about leaving while carrying a notebook. “At this rate, either chaos runs the town to the ground, or the leadership finally swallowed their pride.”

David nodded as he grunted. “At least we can get out of here, but not before I get a word from my dear Amber.”

They walked to the very edge of town, where a building in a shape of a massive Dragonite with two mailbags slung around its chest stood. Various Dragonite flew in and out of it as they entered through the doorway, with Faith sighing. Along the great walls hovered several Dragonite, picking up mail and stuffing them into the mailbags before flying away, their antennae twitching. Near the center of the building, a desk stood where a few Dragonite take or give letters or packages from the Pokémon in line.

Faith and Adrian stood near the entrance, not saying a word, while David walked over to the line. Despite the long line, which held thirty Pokémon, the line went down fast, with Pokémon getting or giving their messages a minute after talking with the desk. Several minutes of waiting passed before David reached the desk himself, and he rubbed his hair-mane a bit.

“Hello. I am David the Zoroark, owner of Zoroark Wonder Orbs back in Arkanilacum,” He said with a grin. “I am here to see if any messages came from there from Amber the Zoroark.”

“Alright, give me one second,” the Dragonite said, and she hovered to the air with her tiny wings. She went to the walls, looking over the letters and packages before picking one up and hovering back over to the desk. “Aright, just give me your signature and paw print, and we’ll be good to go.”

David nodded and, with an inked claw, wrote down his signature in a series of scribbles. He cleaned it up before inking his entire hand-paw and pressing it on the paperwork. The Dragonite looked it over and gave out a nod before handing over a brown package.

“Here you are. Have a wonderful day.” The Dragonite said, and David left, joining with the others before they left the building.

A few minutes passed before they reached the southern gates of Kucheat Town. Various Boltund stopped them before a few Slurpuff sniffed them and their bags out. Then a couple of Luxray looked at them over, each one frowning. A few more minutes passed before they nodded, and the gates opened. They walked out of there, with David sighing as he tugged his package close.

With a claw, he sliced open the package and unfolded it, with him blinking. He reached out and pulled out a pair of earrings, one red and the other blue, and pulled them against his chest for a second, with him chuckling. He reached into the package again and pulled out a piece of paper, tossing the empty container up and letting Adrian burn it. He read out the letter, giving out a small smile, and he stuffed it into his hair mane.

“What did she say?” Adrian asked, snickering at David’s blush.

“She wished me loads of love and luck on this journey,” David answered while rubbing the back of his head. “She figured that I wouldn’t stay put once more even as you two went on another journey and that she’ll take care of things. So don’t worry,” he rubbed Adrian’s head a bit. “We have plenty of back stock for the rest of the season, and besides, she is assisting in this sudden election.”

“That’s rather sweet of her,” Adrian said with a nod even as David clipped on the earrings, the blue one on his right ear and the red one on his left. “Not to mention giving you the earrings as well.”

“Yeah, though personally, I think she likes to have the earrings like this because of some stuff the anthros left behind,” David said, rubbing his red earring a bit. “She always loves red.”

“What do you mean by ‘stuff the anthros left behind?’” Adrian asked as one of his ears folded to the side.

“You remember A-Ninetales taking about deities in this ‘multiverse’?” David said, and Adrian nodded. “To explain, there are pamphlets left behind that showcase how the anthros see the universe in a spiritual sense, a great deal of them contradictory with each other. One that struck Amber is the belief that this universe was a mistake born from a fake god. And that, to free ourselves from this fleshly cage, we should take the knowledge of good evil, and, through a fusion of such opposite ideals, we can be as gods. The red and blue earrings are meant to symbolize the opposing opposites that needed to be combined.”

“That,” Adrian said with a pause, “doesn’t make any sense. Especially since the true opposite of red is green, and the opposite of blue is orange.”

David laughed, patting Adrian’s head once more. “That’s what I told her. I also told her that, even if we can somehow become gods, I didn’t think that some good and evil fusion would be the way, that it’ll be just like combining fire and water. Still, she insisted, and I just let her believe what she wanted. At least she isn’t pushy, and she made it clear that these earrings are more out of love than of faith anyways.”

Faith shrugged before turning to the distance, where two massive beings lay on the ground. Even from this distance, they looked small, but their large size became apparent as they approached closer. By the time they were within a hundred feet, both A-Ninetales and Saria stood up, at about twenty feet tall. They soon approached the three, the ground not shaking much when they came.

“Good morning,” A-Ninetales said with a nod. “How was your stay at the hotel?”

“Eh, went better than I expected,” David answered with a shake of a mane. “The building wasn’t as damaged as the north end of town was.”

“Yes,” Faith said, her throat sore, and the others turned to her. “Sorry. Didn’t sleep too well last night. Lights that weren’t flames or even emit that much heat, beds made out of stuffing, metal, and wool, and the entire room as white as it can be just felt off-putting. I don’t wish for anything like that at home.”

David squinted at her even as A-Ninetales rubbed his chin a bit. “I don’t blame you,” A-Ninetales said just as David opened his mouth. “You’re so used to how things are back there that anything else just felt off-putting. Though I’m afraid that you’ll have to get used to it once we reach the anthro’s continent.”

Faith shuttered even as David sighed, shaking his head. Soon, both A-Ninetales and Saria gave out a stretched paw, and, with a forced grin, Faith hopped onto A-Ninetales’s paw. Then, she turned to the others and opened her mouth, only for Adrian to hop onto Saria’s paw. David turned from side to sigh and, with a shrug, joined Faith.

Soon, they were lifted up onto both A-Ninetales and Saria’s heads, and they hopped onto them. But as soon as they landed on them, both massive Pokémon vibrated a bit. After that, they grew in size, with the individual fur becoming much larger to Faith, Adrian, and David. David rubbed one of the strands as it expanded until it stopped, with both A-Ninetales and Saria standing at a hundred and fifty feet tall.

Afterward, they turned south, and, with a grace reflected from yesterday, they walked with not even a footprint left behind. One of A-Ninetales’s tails hugged Saria’s tail, and she blushed a bit. Soon, she nosed against A-Ninetales’s cheek, and he blushed as well. Then, they laughed and walked some more.

Yet, even as the beautiful view came to them, Faith’s mind was muddled with confusion. She turned her head to Adrian, who wasn’t looking back, and her heart felt a pang of regret. She thought that he should stop holding out for her all this time since he should’ve known that her heart belonged to another. And yet, now that he seemed to leave her side—her head left hot at this point—the pain was like Kyle disappearing years ago.

“Is there anything wrong, Faith?” David asked as he patted her head.

“Huh?” Faith blinked for a few seconds before she shook her head. “It’s nothing. Just taking in the incoming forest.”

David stood silent for a few moments before he said, “It is beautiful.”