Chapter 23

Lane probably shouldn't have been so excited about something so simple as a bath. But with as busy as Korina had kept her the last week or so, there had been very little time for anything quite so relaxed. Granted, the process of taking Elisa along made the trip a little more complicated, since she had to levitate the other cat through the air.

Despite more time for practice, Elisa hadn't yet mastered anything as dramatic as levitation.

"Are you feeling better?" Lane asked, as they finally touched down beside the bath. She held one paw under the controls, and the basin began filling up. Unlike any human facility she'd ever used, this one took less than a minute to fill and was always exactly the right temperature. It even smelled like perfume. "About your powers, I mean."

Elisa stumbled a few steps, resting one paw against her forehead. "I, uh…

I don't know if it ever gets better. Until I evolve. Do you think humans could evolve? It probably wouldn't be a good thing if I did, would it? That could make getting back even harder."

She took a few steps towards the water, aiming one hand down into it like a gun. Lane opened her mouth to ask why, but she didn't get the chance.

There was a flash, then suddenly water exploded in a spectacular sphere of light and energy.

She summoned a little bubble around herself, letting the moisture shower down off its sides before lowering it again. "Letting it go like that?

Barely makes a difference. I need to go outside and just… explode. Let it all out for a bit without anything I can break. Then I'll feel better."

"Helluva attack," Lane said, shaking out the water. Silly—she was about to get soaked anyway. But some instincts were hard to ignore. "I wonder if Korina thinks you're my bodyguard. Maybe that was the real reason she made

you so powerful. Dominic is cute, but I don't think a bug is gonna protect me if I get into trouble. You might."

"If I feel like it." Elisa rested her paws against Lane's back, then pushed.

It was almost a human angle, and Lane wasn't prepared—she slipped right into the water with a splash.

She poked her head up seconds later, glaring at Elisa. She almost retaliated with her powers—but maybe she shouldn't surprise a bomb, even if she deserved it. "That wasn't very nice. I'm a legendary, you know. How many people in the True-Myth Club have been looking for a cat like me their whole lives? Do you really think that's okay?"

Elisa settled onto the water's edge, letting her legs hang into the warmth. She looked so human, except she was missing any of the obvious human traits. She didn't look like Elisa anymore. "I dunno. I expected your friend would want all of us to be legendaries if she's so worried about it."

"Careful what you wish for." Lane swam over to her, then tugged on her leg with her paws. Lane wasn't very strong that way, and couldn't get much leverage. But at least Elisa would see it coming. It wouldn't surprise her into exploding. "Korina wants mew to survive. If she had made you into one, it would mean she would never let you go. And I mean it, she's stubborn. She's been living in this dead ship for… a really long time. I think maybe centuries."

Elisa slipped into the water, standing up to her waist. She watched Lane, before settling in just beside her. "You think she's going to do that to you? Hold on and never let go?"

"Yes," Lane said, without a second's hesitation. "She won't have to work hard at it, either. I never would've wanted mew to go extinct. If I'd known before, I would've done everything I could to stop it. Even if that meant joining her here."

Elisa watched her with those wide, unblinking eyes, silent for almost a minute. "She wasn't just fucking with us? You really do want to stay like this?"

"It's not… not that simple," she finally said, voice a fearful squeak. Elisa's feelings weren't as easy to read as they had been seconds before—was she trying to hide them on purpose? She was another psychic, maybe there was a way to do that. "The True-Myth Club always wanted to find mythical Pokémon.

Learn more about them, maybe even take pictures one day. I know how pathetic it sounds, but that was the only thing I ever cared about. I want to help mythical Pokémon. And this way… I kinda get to cheat. Helping as a

Pokémon when I need to, but human when I don't. Once I figure out how to transform."

"Are you learning?" Elisa asked. Her voice was flat now, strangely emotionless for her. "How close are you to turning back into your old self?"

"Not sure. Korina won't even start teaching me yet. Feels like she wants me to learn the simpler stuff first. Are you saying I should try it on my own?"

Elisa took a few steps away, spreading her paws in the water. "Transform is just a move, right? Copy an opponent's Pokémon, right down to their moves.

So copy me. Or I'd take being male espurr if you can figure that out. But that might be too hard for a first try."

Despite Lane's admission, she still sounded inviting.

"I'll… try." She gritted her teeth, then started drifting in slow circles around Elisa. It was one of the abilities so commonly known about mew that even regular trainers sometimes talked about it. If she could only reach it…

Unfortunately for her, just wanting something wasn't the same as understanding how it worked. After a few seconds she splashed down into the spa, defeated. "No good. I'm sure I'll figure it out with a little more practice, but… not yet."

"I figured." Elisa reached down with a paw, running it through the fur of Lane's back. She relaxed at the touch of someone both familiar and safe. She didn't even have to think, just drifted for a few minutes in the warmth of the spa.

"Oh, there's soap that way." She finally sat up, pointing. "It sprays you when you get close, so cover your eyes. It stings."

"Crazy how advanced these Pokémon were," Elisa said, a few minutes later, after they'd both been fully cleaned. Maybe this was the real secret to Mew's soft fur, because even her companion seemed to be getting softer in the bath. "Just one of the machines that run this place could probably revolutionize the world. Do you think Korina would let you take something?"

"No." She sat up shaking the water from her eyes. "Not a chance. Right now Korina has a very low opinion about humans. I don't know what happened exactly, but I think someone… made something? Or there was a mistake with…" Her eyes went wide. "It couldn't be the same creature that the historical society thought was haunting Saffron, could it? It did look kinda like a cat. And if it's related to mew, that would explain some of the powers it was supposed to have. And why Korina was so sour about it."

"Not sure what that changes if it's true," Elisa said flatly. "Unless you think it would help us escape. Would it take our side against the mew?"

Doesn't matter. I'm not fighting Korina unless I have to. It wasn't just that she was sure to lose, though she still felt that was as true as ever. She didn't want to be responsible for Korina's pain. Only if she forced Lane to defend her friends.

"No," Lane said instead. "I don't think so. Korina said humans created a monster and almost ended the world. If she's scared, then we should be even more afraid."

"Too bad." Elisa clambered from the water, shaking herself out like a cat.

So maybe she had inherited a few Pokémon instincts after all. She crouched on four legs, only rising after letting a shiver pass from her nose to her tail twice.

Lane levitated past her, spreading out on the patch of ground that drew in moisture and rolling around once. She sat up a second later, fur puffing up.

But it was dry, that was the important thing. "Over here."

Elisa followed, and soon had doubled in size just like Lane. She started giggling, and Lane found the sound contagious. She tried to brush down her fur with her paws, but it didn't work. It never did.

"It's probably time for dinner by now," Lane said, levitating back up into the air. "We don't want to keep Dominic waiting. He might think that we're—

"

Elisa giggled again, standing up. "Don't think I haven't considered that too. I think espurr can have eggs, but you really are a kitten, so… I'm just gonna guess we'll have to wait. Figure out how to change, Lane. You have no idea how lucky you are to have a girlfriend who will put up with this much. Followed you out into the jungle, went on an epic quest to keep my memory, let myself get changed into a cat with you. Relationship goals, just saying."

"I know." Lane nuzzled up against her, then lifted into the air to fly back.

"I don't deserve you, no argument here. If we can still be together when this whole thing is over, then… I'd like that."

"We'll see what 'over' even means," Elisa muttered, folding her forelegs together. She jerked slightly as they started to levitate, though she didn't kick and struggle the way she had the first few times. She didn't bother resisting, just held still as Lane flew them back to the mess hall. "It will go a long way if

you can still be your old self. That's the man I fell for. Brave, determined, stubborn… guess those are the same thing." She giggled again.

She trailed off as they drifted into an empty mess hall. Dominic wasn't sitting at a table with a tray of flowers. There was no empty tray waiting in the washing machine either.

"Does Dominic know how to find his way back here?" Lane asked, tail curling around her back legs. "He didn't go off without knowing how to get back, did he?"

"He flies off all the time," Elisa answered, a little annoyance returning.

"Believe me, he can get back. Serious case of wanderlust on him since he got those wings. I bet he went looking for the exit. Do you think our overlord would come crashing back if we tried to go out?"

"So long as we don't run, no. She gave us permission to go back to the surface."

"Well, find him then!" Elisa gestured off the way he'd gone. "Just sniff for sweetness and nectar. He spills it all over himself with that stupid tongue, and you can only get so much when you lick it off."

Lane could smell it. On the surface she could've done even better, feeling for the presence of another mind. But the walls of Starfall were resistant to her powers. The more closed doors and walls separated them, the worse her senses became. "Correct me if you smell something different," Lane began, setting off down the trail. "And keep your powers under control. This way isn't safe."

She could only hope Dominic hadn't learned that the hard way.