Chapter 25

Lane and Elisa did not even have the luxury of a slow trip back to the surface to try and make sense of what had just happened. No sooner had the mythical Pokémon vanished from ahead of them than the ground began to shake. More lightning arced from the sphere, reaching closer and closer towards them.

Lane lifted up into the air, flying as fast as she could through a set of oversized bulkhead doors and dragging Elisa along behind her. No sooner were they through than the doors slammed shut behind them.

Lane felt it more than she heard it—a voice that didn't belong to any particular person, though it was practically within reach. "Extreme danger!

Core instability detected! Temporal distortions detected! Evacuate!"

Korina is going to kill us. What they'd done—what Dominic had been trying to do—she couldn't even guess at this point. But there wasn't much time to find out.

"We can't just leave!" Elisa finally looked back, glaring sidelong at Lane.

"Dominic might be back at any minute! He was a celebi, didn't you see? If he comes back all locked in, he might be trapped!"

"We can't!" Lane gestured up at the ceiling. "Can't you hear it? The emergency systems are telling us to get the hell out! Don't you think they know what they're talking about?"

"I don't hear anything!" She looked like she might keep arguing with him, but instead her ears slumped flat, defeated. "So what, out the way we came?"

"I don't see any other choice," Lane answered. She picked Elisa up into the air with her, only this time she didn't keep them apart. Instead she pressed her warm body right up against herself. She wouldn't get bumped into things by mistake. Then she flew, soaring up the elevator shaft, dodging bits of sparking electronics and sections of collapsing walls.

Something was pulling far below, its grip more intense by the second.

Metal squealed and resisted, though from the volume it was losing the battle .

Lane heard more than one terrible crash from behind her, and shuddered with each one.

Is Starfall collapsing? What was that thing, anyway?

It didn't matter how fast she flew, it was taking more and more energy to stay in the air. She whimpered and mewed as she finally made it to the top floor, stumbling onto her face just outside the elevator shaft.

She rolled onto her back, panting with effort. If she'd been heavy before in Earth's gravity, now she could barely get her lungs to inflate. Her heart struggled in her chest, fighting with each beat.

"What's happening?" Elisa asked, bending down beside her. "Lane, shouldn't we keep moving? I think Starfall is collapsing! We need to get out!"

Lane twitched, gasping for breath like a fish tossed up onto the dock. The pressure pulling on her was getting stronger by the moment, couldn't Elisa feel it?

"Crewman: you appear to be imperiled." As before, the voice had no specific source—no speaker's unique identity. It wasn't male or female, young or old. Like a text message, directly to her brain. "The drive section will be frame-shifted to avoid serious damage to this planetary body. You must evacuate or else suffer likely lethal exposure."

"Can't," she answered. She wasn't exactly sure how she answered.

Maybe it was simple desperation, fueled by the darkness clouding near the edges of her vision. "Would if I could."

"Would you like assistance? Please grant your consent."

"Sure. I don't wanna die."

She couldn't even hear Elisa's voice anymore. The other cat curled up beside her, eyes filled with tears all over again. But focusing on the real world was too hard.

"Three individuals detected. ETHICAL VIOLATIONS DETECTED. Please stand by."

Lane couldn't see any more either. She felt Elisa starting to lift her in her gray paws, but couldn't see it. Her world was fading.

Then came a crash, and a roar of light and sound so loud that she shook herself to wakefulness. For a second it felt like her lungs might rip out of her throat, and flames licked at her fur, threatening to burn her to a crisp…

Then came another crack of lightning. Lane gasped, sucking in a mouthful of cool, refreshing air. She lifted up into a hover, and the crushing weight of gravity vanished from around her.

She wasn't on the Starfall anymore. She wasn't in the company of a little gray cat, either.

Lane hovered over a field of grass and moss, with bright red flowers visible in little patches. A chill wind billowed around them, making her ears flatten and tail curl reflexively. For all the jungle's fierce humidity, at least the temperature was comfortable.

Two figures loomed over her, so massive that she'd first mistaken them for the sides of strange trees. But then she looked up, and her embarrassment only grew.

Elisa stood only feet away, still reaching for her with that same desperation and pain on her face. Except she was no longer reaching down towards a cat about the same size, because she was human again. Lopunny stretched and shook herself out beside Elisa, about the same height as her master.

She jerked to full height, covering her chest with one arm. "Lane? Did you just… what the hell?"

The human Lane probably would've thought there was something immensely attractive seeing Elisa this way, surrounded by bright red flowers and wearing as much as most Pokémon ever did. Her kitten-self noticed Elisa's bare feet first, and the fierce chill on the air. Humans weren't meant for temperatures like this any more than she was.

Lane lifted up to her head height, puffing out her chest until she took up as much space as she could. She didn't stare at Elisa, though even as a Pokémon it took a little effort. "I didn't do anything!" she said. "I'm not sure what was happening down in the bottom of the Starfall, but it talked to me.

Asked if I needed help. I told it I did, and…" She flew a quick lap around Elisa, gesturing with both paws. "Here we are?"

"The ship did this?" Elisa shivered once, wrapping her other arm around her chest. "The Starfall was smart enough to undo what Korina did to me. It even let Lopunny free. But it didn't change you back. Why?"

"I dunno." Lane flew up a little higher, getting the best view she could of their surroundings. They stood at the center of a pristine valley, with a glacier

visible to the distant north. Clear water formed a river of clean (and probably almost freezing) runoff that fed the valley.

What she couldn't see were any signs of civilization, not even powerlines or distant aircraft. There was no trace any human had ever set foot here.

Except Elisa, obviously.

She settled back down again, landing on Elisa's shoulder. The human reached up to poke her with one hand, which already felt cool to the touch.

Lane made an almost-purring sound, frowning.

"Not smart enough to fix you, or give me anything to wear. I'm not sure if I think it's powerful or stupid."

"Master, you look cold. Where's the carry-thing filled with extra? You should wear some," Lopunny said. She prodded Elisa in the chest, shaking her head disapprovingly. "Too cold for no fur."

"I know!" Elisa exclaimed. "You don't need to tell me it's too cold. I can…"

Her eyes went wide. "Wait a minute. Lane, are you… doing some fancy mind-trick to let her talk to me?"

"No." She stretched on Elisa's shoulder, doing her best to keep her claws tucked away. That delicate human skin didn't need scratches to add to the cold. "I haven't even been using telepathy." Her eyes widened suddenly, and she squealed with delight. "You can still understand!"

She also wasn't very good at hiding her emotions. She felt a brief surge of excitement, followed by a crash back down to nervous fear. They'd just watched one of their friends die—then Starfall had nearly killed them, apparently. Will Korina finish the job when she finds us? Will she blame us?

That probably should've been Lane's worst fear, but somehow it wasn't.

What if losing her home kills Korina instead? Even after every threat, every torture, Lane couldn't bear the thought of the world's loneliest shipwreck survivor going through even more pain.

Elisa shivered again, this time so violently that Lane tumbled down her chest. A hand snapped up to grab her, before Lane could manage her powers.

"I never thought I'd say this—but I think I'd be better off as a Pokémon right now," Elisa muttered. "Do either of you see anything we can use? I… need shelter."

Lane nodded. "There were some old trees off that way. Forest that thick might have dead wood we can use. I bet I could start a fire."

"Better than nothing." Elisa started walking in the indicated direction.

She didn't even cut straight there, but dodged and weaved between patches of thick grass and moss. There was plenty of rocky ground between these comfortable spots, with rough gravel that made her stop and take each step carefully.

You need shoes as much as clothes.

Lane lifted out of her hands, and not even because human skin was rough on her fur. She circled around once, lifting over her head. “I'm gonna look for something you can wear," she called. "Keep going that way, okay?

Lopunny, keep her safe."

"What else would I do?" Lopunny asked. "Aren't you why she's in danger?"

And Korina said you guys weren't smart. Lane flew off, fighting her own discomfort. But while she felt chilly, Lane at least had a layer of downy fur to keep off the worst of the cold. She would probably outlast a naked human.

Unfortunately Lane and Elisa were both ill-prepared to be out here. The True-Myth Club had talked about all kinds of adventures, none of them had ever thought they would actually happen. She'd always fantasized about ways she could attract a legendary's attention, ways she could test whether they were really smart enough to talk. Things that the myths might've got wrong.

Lane had never considered what she would have to do if she ended up stripped of all her supplies in the wilderness.

If I could change her like Korina did, that would be simplest. But if I could do that, I could change her back. I might even be able to change myself.

Lane still didn't know how to use those powers, if she had them at all.

She certainly wouldn't master them in time to save Elisa from the elements.

She wasn't sure exactly what she was looking for. She heard plenty of wild Pokémon calling to one another. Their voices seemed strangely compelling to her—if she wasn't so focused on saving Elisa, she might've gone following them.

But before she could get too distracted by their calls, she noticed something in the distance. When she looked off towards the glacier, she saw a few lines that just didn't make sense. If she squinted, she could just barely make out the boxy frame of a… weather station, maybe? Even as it got darker there were no lights on inside, which wasn't a good sign for rescue.

But it had walls and a roof, which was more than they had out here.

Lane zoomed back, grinning wider by the second. "Hey, Elisa! I think I found something!"

She had made it halfway to the trees, though the trip was already taking its toll on her. Her skin was covered in scratches, and one of her feet was bleeding. Lane could smell the uncomfortable, metallic taste in the air.

"Yeah?" Elisa looked up, expression defeated. "Please… tell me it's good news."

Lane wasn't sure she had the strength—but she couldn't watch her girlfriend get torn to ribbons like this. She gritted her teeth, lifting the gigantic human up into the air beside her. Lopunny would have to walk on her own—

but she was strong. She'd manage.

Lane floated past her, hovering up to her face. "There's a building by the glacier! One of those… seasonal ranger things, I think. Maybe they left some things you can use!"

"Maybe." Elisa reached out, stroking Lane's back with shaking fingers.

"That sounds great. Are you… really strong enough to hold me up like this?"

"Yep!" she lied. "Now, don't distract me. I don't wanna drop you."