Chapter 34

Lane levitated the doors shut, plunging the room into gloom. There was still a single shaft of sunlight shining straight down from an opening in the roof, but that was all. It was quite a flimsy door to be between her and a crowd of half a hundred people.

Lane settled onto the ground, rising up onto her hind-legs. That was the first part of being human, right? Standing up. She concentrated, trying to feel her old body the way she'd felt being a shaymin. But there was no one to copy in here. She certainly didn't feel like that Lane anymore.

"Shaymin!" called someone from the crowd. "Were you displeased with the offering? We marked the seasons. Filled the plateau with fruit waiting for you."

"Your offering was… great!" Elisa said, confidence faltering. Could the crowd understand her? Lane no longer had any point of reference for what humans heard. "But I need your help with something. It's very small, but…"

Lane watched through a narrow crack in the shed. Somehow, impossibly, the crowd seemed to understand. Was Elisa speaking English? How would she even tell the difference, if she could understand both languages herself?

"Any minute now, Lane," Dominic said. "Before someone realizes who flew in here."

Lane nodded weakly. "I'm trying! You do it if it's so easy!"

Dominic rolled his eyes. "You can't be serious. It's the modesty thing, isn't it? You're naked right now, and you're going to make a big deal about it?

I don't even have a sex, you get that right? It's not like a guy is…"

When she didn't react, Dominic lifted, spinning around on the shelf so he was facing the wall. "There, princess. Do you feel better? Transform away."

What are you talking about? Another wave of confusion swept over Lane, mixed with desperation. Elisa was stalling, and the longer she did it, the more restless the crowd became.

"An emissary of mine is waiting inside the temple! They need something to wear for a long journey. We have to go and… help. People far away."

Maybe changing isn't the problem, it's what I'm changing into. Lane didn't even have a photo of her old self anymore. But even if she had, it wouldn't have felt like the real thing. Maybe it would be easier to be something closer to what I am now.

"Why would I want you to look away?" Lane asked. "We've shared hotel rooms at more conventions than I can remember."

"When you were a guy," Dominic said. "I won't turn around until you say.

Not that it isn't stupid… I don't even have a sex. Pretty sure Celebi only reproduce with horrible time accidents and unsuspecting victims."

It was all the confirmation Lane needed. She might not be able to feel the human self she thought she should be—but what about the one she was?

For the second time, Lane felt a sudden, terrifying stretching. Air blasted her hair out in all directions, and she caught one hand against the wall to steady herself. She wobbled, but didn't fall. "How'd I do?"

She turned, eyes scanning for the mirrors against the back wall. There was one on either side of the shrine, facing outward.

Lane froze, staring at her reflection in shock. Some part of her had been expecting what she found waiting there—but even so, this was far stranger than being a Pokémon. Without the alien body of another species to confound how she felt, she was suddenly overwhelmed by things that should've been, but… weren't.

The reflection staring back at Lane could've been any trainer he'd seen over the years, old enough to have been out on her own. Her hair was familiar pink right down to the roots, already braided into a gigantic ponytail with a slight clump at the end.

I transformed a mew tail into my own hair. What's the biological mechanism for that?

"Uh, Lane?" Elisa poked her head inside, cracking the entrance just enough. "You mind telling me what kind of clothes I should be asking for?"

Lane spun to face her. She lacked the instinct to cover her chest—or anything else, after spending weeks as a Pokémon. Just so long as no one outside could see her. "Something that fits," she said. Her voice sounded older now, but… not anything like it should. "I don't know girl's sizes."

Elisa didn't stare nearly as long as Lane had. Instead, she mostly looked confused. "That's not quite what I was expecting."

"Me neither," Lane said, honestly. "But you asked me to manifest a power I've barely used to change into something that's barely a Pokémon. I'm doing my best!"

They might've flown south for hours yesterday, but Lane didn't feel paticularly warm anymore. Once I get some old pictures or something this should be easy. I can still be me, Korina promised.

The next few hours were a blur. Lane waited nervously in the shrine while clothes were brought—a festival gown, like those so many others were wearing. Dominic refused to leave the shine where so many could see, so she held out a little longer for an oversized backpack, roomy enough for both her friends if it came to it.

By then, Elisa was actually having fun. Even after shrinking back down to her smaller self, she enjoyed the attention, grinning at the locals as they showered her with sweets as big as her head.

Some of the attention was for her, though none of it was quite as embarrassing as the simple reality that she was wandering around a village full of strangers wearing an ostensibly sacred dress.

"How did you come to know the protectors of Galea?” one girl asked.

About Lane's own age, or at least her new age. "She just… summoned you here? Where from?"

No one had even bothered to ask about her hair, though she had caught some wondering why it wasn't white or green. The chosen champion of the shaymin ought to look more like them, shouldn't she?

"We flew south from Sinnoh, I think. North of any of the big cities." She blushed, adjusting the silks over her chest. "Listen, I know this is probably a weird question to ask on such an important day, but Shaymin and I have an important… Look, do you have an internet cafe?"

The girl glanced from Lane to Elisa and back again. "Why?"

"Because I need a computer to send some money from my account to your Kanto Union. I need a train ticket, and something I can wear when I leave this place. Assuming I haven't been declared dead yet, I should have plenty left over for that. I was saving enough to get home, and that was gonna be a long flight…"

"Hey, Rob, Harris! The chosen of our god needs help!" Strong hands took her by the shoulder, pushing her to the front of the crowd. She wasn't even sure who was manhandling her anymore. "Tell them what you told me," the girl urged, from not far away.

Lane told them. She didn't get specific about any of the details, only insisting that her and Shaymin would be traveling together on an important mission, and that they were going in secret.

Not that there's a chance in hell this doesn't make it up onto social media somewhere. The real question is whether anyone who isn't from this place believes that a real shaymin was involved.

No one in town bothered to show her to an internet cafe after that.

Instead, they tried to shower her with gifts, drowning the three of them in clothes, gear, and food.

Lane refused most of it, suggesting that their trip would require her not to have more than she could carry. But considering what she'd been through, she wasn't going to turn down a little charity.

There was no shaking the gnawing feeling in her gut that Lane herself was going to regret accepting their gifts—but at least for now, she shoved it aside.

Besides, it wasn't like they weren't getting something out of it. As they paraded her from shop to shop, Lane posed with their owners for a photo, holding the increasingly-exhausted Elisa in her arms.

But she wasn't too proud to accept, particularly when they reached the village's single modest hotel. "There are no trains coming until tomorrow," said the owner, a woman so wide she was using sheets instead of silk for her costume. "Please, you must stay with us."

Lane took one glance at the crowd still following her, and nodded eagerly. "Please. Do you have hot water? You would not believe how much I've been craving a bath."

"After the day you've had, sweetheart, I can imagine." She tossed Lane a key, attached to an oversized ring held in the mouth of a carved wooden fox.

"Go on upstairs. I'll make sure the offerings make it to your room."

Lane's eyes filled with tears at the invitation. She sniffed, nodding thankfully to the innkeeper. It didn't matter that the carpets were faded and the sheets looked stiff. Stepping into that hotel room for herself might as well

be stepping back into her childhood home and smelling Mom's snickerdoodle cookies baking in the oven.

It was obviously the nicest room in this place, maybe the only suite in the squat little motel. But it was a palace to her.

Lane bent down, settling Elisa onto the bed in front of her. "That wasn't quite what I had in mind. I sort of imagined… running to the train station, and driving off to save Korina right away…"

Elisa looked up, yawning exaggeratedly. "Would if we could, Lane. I was listening with my good ears—cuz I still have them, and all—I didn't hear a single train all day. Little place like this is lucky to have a connection at all. We might've had to wait a week like in Cayari. We got lucky on the timing."

Lane nodded, then froze. Time… Dominic! She peeled the backpack from her shoulders, opening it slowly. She expected to find nothing at all inside. Her friend wouldn't have endured a whole day locked in there, would he?

Lopunny's pokéball was still nestled into the bottom of the bag, along with a few of the refreshments Lane hadn't finished. Perched just atop them, glaring daggers at her, was Dominic.

"You're here?" Lane jumped, almost dropping the bag in the process. "I thought you would take off somewhere!"

Dominic buzzed out, glowering at them both. He looked a little worse for wear, his skin wrinkled and browned near the edges. "You think tossing a few water bottles in at me counts as making sure I'm okay? That was the third worst thing I've done in the last six months." He buzzed past them both to the sink, turning it on and sticking his head under it for a few seconds.

"Why'd you wait?" Lane asked, following him to the bathroom. She hesitated beside the bed, scooping Elisa up with her. They'd bathed together in Starfall, might as well continue that here. Being the star of the village was probably dirty work. "Just pop back into the backpack tomorrow or whatever."

Dominic emerged from the flow, shaking himself out and glaring at her.

"You're trying to rile me up, aren't you? Saying things that dumb. Lane… it's called spacetime. It's hard enough compensating for the planet's orbital motion. Do you honestly think a sprout like me can compensate for the motion of a backpack, which I don't even know will stay empty?"

He didn't wait for an answer. "I don't know what you owe me after that, but you two owe me."

"You could've come out," Elisa said, grinning. "The whole village loved me! I could've made them love you too."

Lane bent down over the tub, twisting the knobs until it started to fill.

She dumped in some soap while she was at it, until the bubbles smelled nice.

Not unlike Cedar, when she thought about it. Could they make soap out of flowers?

"That isn't how it works," Dominic said. "I know you two are still new at this, so… try to think. Shaymin are known about. You're powerful, sure… but also common, in a way. By the time this story makes it anywhere, it's going to be a Pokémon trainer with a shaymin visiting their town. No one has to think about that story for very long. It's interesting, and maybe they try to track down your trainer's licence, see where you got it. By the time that goes anywhere, we're in Saffron and we've either found Mewtwo or been killed by him. The girl you're pretending to be doesn't exist anymore."

He buzzed over to the bath, perching defiantly on the windowsill. It was foggy privacy glass, otherwise Lane would feel much too afraid herself.

She hesitated for a second, then untied the gown, slipping it off her shoulders. I'm not too embarrassed, you'll see. Why should I be shy about a body that isn't even really me?

Her face was bright red as she settled Elisa on the ledge beside the tub, then fiddled with strange underclothes, before finally climbing into the water.

She closed her eyes, squealing with joy as the warmth enveloped her.

Dominic was waiting when she surfaced, glaring at her. "I know changing doesn't rot your brain, Lane. Shake the air out and listen to me. I'm teaching you young that way you'll understand this a few centuries from now."

"I'm listening!" she insisted. "Honest! But this is the first time I've had running water since you blew up Starfall, and the first time I've been human in over a month. I get to enjoy it."

"Fine." He slumped onto the ledge beside Elisa, his winged back to her.

He barely even glanced at her nudity. "Shaymin are common," Dominic said slowly, as though he was explaining all this to a child. "But we're myths. It isn't just clubs that will want to find us, Lane. If anything even remotely dangerous takes an interest in you, I'll have to run. I’ll learn about whatever terrible things they do, and not be able to help."

"First of all, I'm not common," Elisa said. "You should've heard all the nice things everyone had to say about me today. We saved this town from

starvation over and over again. We're wonderful." She balanced near the edge, stretching her paws towards Lane. "Catch me?" She didn't wait for confirmation, just jumped.

Lane squealed in surprise, but managed to stop Elisa from splashing completely under the water. She held out her arm, letting the Pokémon clamber onto her chest, where she could wash her white fur but keep her leaves well above the water.

"But you talked about older us," Elisa continued. "Bragged and bragged about all the things you knew. So doesn't that mean we make it out of this?"

"It… would have?" Dominic said, voice suddenly nervous. "If I didn't interfere. But now I'm here, so… I could change that future."

"Or maybe you're the reason we see it in the first place." Lane sloshed over to the side of the tub, watching him. "You know things, and you've been helping. Without you, we might die."

Dominic turned back, nodding slowly. "There's the tragedy. Time is not inevitable. But tinkering at all means the future I saw might not happen anymore. That's not so bad when there's something broken you want to fix.

It's worse when you see something good."

"We'll make it, Dominic." She reached down, running one hand along Elisa's back. The Shaymin relaxed in her arms, apparently appreciating the attention. They could appreciate a gentle pet the way cats did. "Insane as all this is… we're back together. We can do this."

"We can run a club dedicated to Pokémon that most people don't think are real," Dominic said. "That isn't the same as saving those Pokémon from extinction. If you know what you're doing… good for you. I don't, and I've been trying to figure it out for years."

"Oh, I don't have a clue," Lane said. "But figuring it out as I go is more fun.