Ch. 9 NEMOUSU秘OUS

“Say, Adrian?” Faith asked, her white paws sinking into the sand. “Do you wish to talk?”

“Anything wrong?” Adrian asked in turn, his green eyes fixed towards the sea.

Faith lowered her gaze as her ears flattened back. “I want to apologize.”

“Huh?” Adrian blinked and turned around. “For last night? I knew that you’re defensive about Kyle, but—”

“It’s more than that,” Faith explained, her six tails lowering. “Since yesterday, when A-Tales and Saria truly revealed themselves to us, I’ve been reflecting on our own friendship. And I realized that I haven’t been a good friend at all.” She rubbed her face a bit. “Especially when David told me about how your family disowned you.”

Adrian’s eyes shifted. “I know. He told me that he told you. I didn’t want you to know since I didn’t want your pity. Silly of me, I know.”

“I understand,” Faith said, tears rolling down her cheeks. “And now I know just how tasteless those ‘jokes’ about you should be another Eeveelution like a Vaporeon. I shouldn’t—I shouldn’t—”

Adrian’s ears flattened down, and he patted her on the head. “To be honest, I try to hear it not as an insensitive joke but as a challenge. That it was worth losing my dad’s love along with my family just to be a Flareon.” He sighed. “Though he always said that I was more suited to be a Vaporeon instead and, sad to say, he does have a point.”

Faith nodded, rubbing the tears away from her face. “So, what do you plan to do about it?”

Adrian turned back to the sea once more. “I talked to Saria last night about getting some help, and she suggested a kitsune mage called Glorfindel. He could transform me into a Vaporeon if I asked.”

“A-Tales mentioned someone like that as well,” Faith admitted, and Adrian’s ears twitched. “But please, don’t turn into a Vaporeon.”

Adrian hummed for a few seconds. “I feel a massive pull to the water, even if it made my decision those years ago pointless. And since we’ve been getting into adventures, I haven’t done much but hold you back. I’m not sure if the hits I do make actually registered.” He shook his head. “Perhaps it was best if, rather than acting spitefully back then, I should’ve acted smart.”

Faith rubbed her chin for a few seconds. “Spite? I thought that you did it out of love.” Adrian’s tail fluffed up, but he said nothing. “But whatever your reasons, I know that you haven’t held me back. In fact, this is what I was talking about not being a good friend to you. If it weren’t for you, I would’ve died a month ago. It doesn’t matter if my one attack did the job; you’ve done everything from planning out to locating to even fighting alongside me against Jirachi. You also made up that plan to save Arkanilacum from Maya’s rampage, and even if you didn’t expect that I would shrink during the battle, it would’ve been worse without you. Even last night with that Lucario, Kyle if he is that Kyle,” Adrian’s left paw twitched, “you realized how to stop him. And I can go further back on how you’ve supported me if you want me to.”

Adrian closed his eyes. “Sorry. I don’t just wish to help through planning out, spotting patterns, and such. I want to fight by your side as well, but even David would put up a better fight.”

Faith, with more tears rolling down, hugged Adrian from behind, causing him to blink. “And you think becoming a Vaporeon would suddenly make you a better fighter? Or a better Pokémon?” Silence hovered over them. “You don’t need to change your looks just because you feel that it’s better on the other side. All you really need is to shut out any doubts, learn from your mistakes and limits, and improve yourself.”

Adrian turned around, feeling the tears rubbing against his back fur, and rubbed her head. “Those words.” He shook his head. “Let me think about it.”

“Alright,” Faith said, rubbing her face once more and wiping away the tears. “Thank you. And once more, I’m sorry for everything. I will do my best to make up for it.”

“Thank you. And I forgive you.” Adrian smiled a bit as he half-dragged Faith away from the beach, where A-Ninetales and Saria lay. “And, from the looks of it, our ride has arrived.”

“Huh?” Faith turned to the sea even as David yelled a bit, joining them as well with his feet wet.

In the distance, hovering over the ocean, it looked like a large Flygon, yet it looked off. Its ‘skin’ has a shine that reminds Faith of steel, and the wings don’t seem to move. As it approached closer, its actual size of three hundred feet became apparent, along with its ‘eyes’ being a glass of some kind and its two green antennae having a pair of red dots on its ends.

This metallic Flygon lowered onto the beach, balancing its feet-paws against the sea itself. Faith blinked at that until she noticed the red outlines on its fixed wings glowed a bit, with it emitting some kind of energy. Then, on its belly itself was some kind of faint outline of what looked like a door before it slid up with a hiss, with mists pouring out.

“Ah,” A-Ninetales said, he and Saria already shrunk down to twenty feet.

“What?!” David said, stumbling back.

“Dramatic,” A-Ninetales said with a shrug.

Seconds went by as a thin bridge extended forward, crashing into the sands itself, and strange beings stepped out from it. Faith, Adrian, and David’s jaw dropped, wondering if these beings were the anthros themselves. They had body shapes and parts that reminded them of a Pokémon, but something else as well, such as a grey-furred anthro who, if changed to light brown with spikes on his neck, would be a dead ringer for a Lycanroc. Or another anthro that looked like a Delphox but with paler fur and smaller ears. And even another anthro that reminded them of a Skuntank but with a soft black coat instead of purple.

Yet, the most unusual was the one who walked down the center.

This anthro looks like a Ninetales with such full tails, but has five instead of nine. His fur was bright green, which ended with black by the elbows and knees, but his head looked like golden hair, unbrushed but still fitting on him. He also wore something on his chest and legs made of some kind of threads, with the top being dark red and the bottom being black. His blue eyes looked over the group, spotting the three, and he smiled as he clutched onto a thick brown stick that’s just as tall as himself at six feet.

The green one stepped towards the Pokémon group and bowed as the other anthros spread out around them.

“It is wonderful to see you again, Daren and Saria,” he said in a soft voice, with him standing upright and rubbing the orb-like end, which looked like a curved balanced mix of brown and black and with a black and brown dot on the other side. “I do not recognize the others. Let me introduce myself. Call me Glorfindel.”

Faith blinked, her heart skipping a beat, as A-Ninetales said, “Same with you, Glorfindel. As for the others, they are Faith the Vulpix, Adrian the Flareon, and David the Zoroark.”

“Er, hi,” Faith said with a nervous smile.

“Hello,” Adrian said with a nod.

David waved with a shrug.

“How fascinating,” Glorfindel said while bringing his free hand against his chest. “I am a kitsune mage, exploring other worlds and even universes to learn and understand the magical crafts. Though I must say, Daren, your timing is impeccable.”

“Huh?” A-Ninetales said, tilting his head.

“Just as soon as we left to pick you and Saria up, The Second Capitol was about to be attacked,” Glorfindel explained, and Faith felt a chill rolling down her spine. “Where they come from, I do not know. But, from what radio reports said, the giant Pokémon appeared out of thin air.”

“Huh?” David said, tilting his head.

But Glorfindel lifted up his staff, and a green orb appeared before them, shining bright. Soon, it expanded before them, unfolding as it shifted in shape and brightness. Faith stood back, the 3D images before them displaying such massive buildings that made the one from Kucheat Town look tiny. Even so, the structure at the very center paled all others, with it so tall and massive, encompassing a fourth of the city itself, that it doesn’t seem to end with the image. She even wondered if it was a building or something else, like a ‘perception filter’ meant to cover all of the continent itself.

And surrounding this massive city was twenty Pokémon, all of them half the size of the buildings. Faith blinked in horror and amazement, not even seeing any anthros within the image at all.

“The Pokémon here are around six hundred feet tall,” Glorfindel said, spinning the image around. “As such, as soon as I left The Second Capitol an hour ago, I got word to hurry up to get you two.”

“I assume that you aren’t powerful enough to fight back against them,” David said, shaking his head.

“On the contrary, given what I heard and what I can do, I could’ve turned around and stopped them myself,” Glorfindel said, and David glared in response. “Of course, what delayed us from coming an hour earlier were regulations—”

“I don’t care what reasons you have,” David said, flexing his claws. “What I know is that you willingly chose to not help—”

Glorfindel twitched his staff a little, and David’s mouth became shut, with him rubbing against it, his eyes wide. His claws dug into it, pulling a bit a string before his hands and feet were restrained as well. He fell down, grunting and growling, even as Adrian went to his side, helping him lean up.

“As I was about to explain,” Glorfindel said with a sigh, “there are a ton of paperwork and regulations that prevented me from using the full extent of my powers. Seemed they were just as nervous about magic as they are about the macro technology they created. And I am nothing more than a humble guest, trying to play by the world’s rules as I learn from it.” David glared some more, his eyes bulging out. “Do not worry, my angry friend.” Glorfindel leaned down and rubbed David’s chin a bit. “There are anti-macro defenses up and deployed as well, which I helped upgrade. And I doubt that any damages that happened would be anything I can’t fix.”

David relaxed, though his glare didn’t fade away, and restraints disappeared. “I hope that you’re correct. But, still, how do we get them there as fast as possible?” He gestured to A-Ninetales and Saria. “Especially since they can’t fit into those doors at that size.”

“Ah, maxed out your badge’s containment again, Daren?” Glorfindel asked, and A-Ninetales nodded. “It’s good that I’ve prepared for such an occasion.” He dispelled the 3D image before waving his staff around, a badge, an exact duplicate of the one A-Ninetales wore, forming at the center of it. It expanded in size, becoming just as large as the original one before hovering it to A-Ninetales. “This badge not only has a far superior excess energy container but also has a way to ‘shed’ excess energy without growing.”

“Care to explain?” A-Ninetales asked as he removed his old badge and replaced it with the new one.

“With this, you can channel the energy to recreate plants, forests, and even lakes,” Glorfindel said, lifting his staff high as a red energy transfer from the old to the new. “Just focus on what you want to create, and it’ll happen.” He pointed his staff to the left, and one of the coconuts flew off, landing several feet away from the tree. “Give it a test.”

“Interesting,” A-Ninetales said as the A on the badge glowed, and he shrunk down to his average size. Then, he turned to the coconut and lifted one of his paws, a green ball forming in front of it. It soon fired out, hitting the coconut, but instead of exploding into bits, the coconut dug into the ground itself, a sprout forming from it. Next, the shoot grew taller and taller, becoming yellow, and the leaves expanded. The coconut becomes a fully grown tree in a few seconds, more significant than the others around it. “Amazing.”

Faith gave out a wide grin, her eyes like stars. “Arceus, that is awesome!”

“That is pretty cool,” Adrian said with a nod.

“Cool and all, but you only solved one of two problems,” David said, waving his arms at the twenty feet tall Saria. “Especially since this is as small as she can get!”

“Yeah, which did cause a tight squeeze when I came to this universe along with A-Ninetales,” Saria admitted, her fur flattening. “Their universe hopping room was barely big enough for me to crawl out from. But, to be honest, I doubt that I’ll be able to join in unless I ride on top of this Flygon mech like last time, and even then, I agree that I won’t go back to the anthro continent unless it’s to leave.”

A-Ninetales’s ears flattened back. “Such a shame.”

“There is no need for concern,” Glorfindel said as the others turned to him. “I’ve been researching ways to help channel your Absolite powers, and I believe that I found a way. It’s time to put the prototype to the test.”

Glorfindel extended out his staff as his eyes closed, his fingers closed to his chest and spread out. The art smelled of oil for a bit, with Faith’s fur fluffing out, as a green light formed above the staff’s head. Yellow and blue joined along as it became encompassed with silver, the air becoming heavy. The light then faded away, and an object, an exact duplicate of A-Ninetales’s badge, appeared where it shined, though rather large, larger than Faith and Adrian’s bodies put together.

He flexed his fingers, and the badge floated over to Saria, her eyes shining with wonder. It soon landed against her chest, the green A glowing in response, and her body shrunk in size. The others took a step back as she shrunk down to three feet eleven, the air becoming heavier. At that size, the A stopped glowing, and she panted a bit.

Saria stepped forward, her steps wobbly. “This feels weird. And it feels like I have a rope wrapped around my neck.”

Glorfindel gave out a huge grin. “It’s working!” He lifted up his staff, and a green bandanna formed above it, soon hovering around Saria’s neck and wrapping itself up. The badge for a second removed itself off of Saria and attached itself onto the bandanna itself. “A little gift from me so that you match with Daren.”

Saria blushed as A-Ninetales nosed her cheek. “Lovely, isn’t it? And now we can chat like this.”

She laughed and nosed his cheek back. “I’m still taller than you, silly.”

“And of course, the reason for how I did it is quite simple. So simple, in fact, that I wished that I thought about it long ago,” Glorfindel said while leaning against his staff. “I looked back into my notes, and I realized that the Absolite emitted a sort of magical wave, which was why it kept you from shrinking smaller than twenty feet. Creating a badge that acts as counterwaves nullifies the magic, allowing you to shrink back to normal. Though neck pain isn’t something that I considered. Perhaps it could cause a buildup of power rather than a cancellation of it.”

“It’s something to iron out,” Saria said, cracking her neck and back. “But, would they still accept it?”

“I talked to the mayor of The Second Capitol,” Glorfindel explained with a foxy grin. “And if I managed to shrink you to a more ‘manageable’ size, they’ll not kick you out from this world.” Saria nodded, and he turned to the others. “And now we have five regular-sized Pokémon, all obeying the rules. So we can head over now.”

“Hopefully, with it still intact,” David said under his breath.

Glorfindel spread out his arms, his muzzle pointed upwards, before bowing low to his knees. Faith raised an eye before A-Ninetales and Saria walked past him on either side. She gave out a yip before she ran into the giant metal Flygon, with both Adrian and David by her side.

Glorfindel lifted himself up, emitting a sigh before he approached the other anthros, one of them paled face. “See any Pokémon nearby?”

“No sir,” The pale-faced anthro said. “But that’s not what concerns me. I got a radio update back from The Second Capitol. It said that all of the anti-macro defenses went down after taking down five of them.” Glorfindel blinked, with sweat forming on his eyebrows. “However, even stranger is that the report said that a pair of anthros, both foxes with one a male and the other female, are in the fight itself. Not only that, but they are winning.”

“What?” Glorfindel said, rubbing his chin as he rubbed against the sand. “Impossible. We need to get back there as fast as possible and find out what is going on.”

Maya gritted her teeth as she watched the last of the anthros walk into this Flygon machine, the very last being a green multi-tailed being. Even as its doors closed, she felt the urge to climb into the machine itself, perhaps hide by disguising herself as an anthro. After all, all of the hidden secrets, especially the macro tech, were just one ride away.

And yet, she turned to Kyle laying there, unmoved since that light came, and she gritted her teeth. She owed him nothing, but something within her pulled her to stay. Perhaps it was because of fear that if he woke up and she disappeared, he would hunt her down until she died. Or maybe fear that, even with the illusion device, that Ninetales would see through her.

She shook her head before slamming her paw against Kyle’s side, and she blinked. She pressed it against his chest, and her face turned white and blue. His body, cold as though frozen, and she stepped off of him.

“What happened?” Maya said before hearing a low hum.

She turned back, and the giant Flygon machine hovered itself back to the air. It soon spun around and zoomed to the sea, becoming smaller the longer she stared on. Maya growled, spitting before turning back to Kyle, lying as though dead.