Chapter 30

It was night in the strange field where humans were forbidden to go.

That was no problem anymore, now that there were no humans around.

After a whole day of little green and white bodies crowding close to Elisa, questioning her so vigorously about the outside world that their voices blended together—Lane finally got them to leave her alone. There was only one way to do it: carry Elisa and the pokéball back up to the ruined house.

"We're leaving at sunrise tomorrow," Cedar said, the only one who dared leave the field behind. "You have to come. I'm responsible for a helpless kitten left alone. So sleep a long time, we're flying a long time."

"We don't need protecting," Lane snapped. "I'm a firstborn, that's what you keep saying. Aren't we strong?"

"One day," Cedar agreed, flicking his short tail at her. "But you needed help from humans, remember? That is not strong. So wake up at sunrise and come with us. It will be easier if you copy your friend. Be green so no one watching can see you flying with us."

Lane nodded, drifting towards the door a little further before stopping in place abruptly. "You're not afraid of humans. Who do you not want to see you?"

"Not us, you." Cedar circled her once, nudging her tail with his nose.

"What was your mother thinking, sending you out so confused? I can't teach you—she might be mad at me for it."

"My mother is dead," Lane said, glaring at him. "And my sister never tells me anything. Just once, could someone please actually answer my questions?

Why would I be in danger? Who cares if I'm up here?"

Cedar looked thoughtful, then pressed down on Lane's shoulder. They landed together in the empty garden in front of the old observatory, on a blanket of reedy green moss. Lane deposited Elisa beside her, though she

wasn't forced to. But she would probably want to hear this, now that she'd been properly dragged into it too.

"If I tell you, do you promise to fly with us tomorrow?" Cedar asked. "You don't leave until the migration is over. You look like us, and you fly like us, and you stay safe until I find your sister."

A high price to pay. But despite Elisa's pleading glances, Lane didn't hesitate. Just now, finding Korina sounded wonderful. "Yes," she said. "I agree."

"Well, I'm the oldest here," Cedar began, settling down onto his haunches and pulling her close with a paw. "So I know the story better than anyone. I don't know what parts of it are really true, and which parts are only a little bit true.

"A long time ago, there was nothing but dead water and dead rock. It stayed that way for a long, long time… until the firstborn came. No one knows why you came, only that you were stuck. There was nowhere else in the universe you could be, so you stayed here. You used your powers to make the world more alive, so you could live somewhere nice.

"Powers were stronger back then, much stronger than today. If the ocean was too deep, or the land was too bare, you could become a new thing to fix it. That's where lots of us came from. My clan and I helped make the world green. And when our job was done, we decided we liked it so much we would stay.

"That was fine for us—everyone likes the world to be green. But some of the others decided to stay too, and that's where the trouble started. Power like this is inside you—it changes how you think. Eventually you get too much, and you can't think about anything else."

"Legendary Pokémon?" Lane suggested. Some parts of this story did seem to match what she'd seen on the ship. Hopefully some of Starfall was still down there, not just exploded. "Humans believe that too. That mew are the last surviving common ancestor of all Pokémon."

Cedar rested a paw on her mouth. "Hush, kitten. It's my story, and this is the important part. See, most of the firstborn had changed by now, and didn't ever change back. The… legendaries, didn't want to stop what they were doing. Instead of following the plan, they wanted to keep doing what they were good at. Keep creating new land, keep burning things, keep freezing the planet colder and colder… you see the problem."

She nodded, but didn't interrupt again. This might be an apocryphal story, or it might very well be their first real information about legendaries.

Only Korina could tell her. If she's ever willing to talk to me again. We destroyed her home.

"Forever after, the firstborn had a new job: keeping everyone in line. You did it for a long time, but it's a hard job. Sometimes you lost, and sometimes you died. Living here is hard for you… I don't know why. Eventually you were all gone. Now those primal forces are free to go wild whenever they like. So far nothing really bad has happened, because other Pokémon stop them. But with you gone, they know they can push further and further. As long as they don't do too much damage, they're free to destroy.

"That's why you have to hide," he finished. "They like the world the way it is. They want the firstborn to be the not-born. But not all of us agree. Some of us settled in one kind of power or another, but not so far that our brains broke. Like us." He puffed out his chest, spreading his wing-ear-things proudly.

"There might be a few more who still remember you. Under the ocean, up in the mountains, high in the trees… most of them are gone."

"These legendary Pokémon are so worried about being confined, so why did they let humans grow so much?" Elisa asked. Her voice was smaller than it had been, high and squeaky. But it was still her, under all that.

For as much as they say mew are the ancestors of all Pokémon, it seems like humans are more likely to change. How does this not happen more often?

"Because you gave up all your powers a long time ago," Cedar said, waving a dismissive paw. "In those early days. Where do you think the power came from? Some had to give it up. They probably thought they'd get it back, but they didn't. They don't think you're a threat. If you make something that gets in their way, they break it."

That seems doomed. Even if the legendaries are still too powerful right now, they won't stay that way forever. "Can you change Elisa back?" she asked.

"Can you make her the way she was?"

Cedar took off, scattering dust and debris around them. "There you go asking silly questions again. We told you so many times already, no. We won't do that. We gave her a gift, we won't steal it from her now." He turned, doing a few complex rolls in the air. "We fly tomorrow. See you at sunrise!" He soared off, vanishing down the slope to the field below.

"They're so powerful and advanced," Elisa muttered, glaring after him.

"But they sleep in the dirt and live in the grass. Doesn't that seem like a contradiction? Shouldn't they be more civilized? Like mew… Korina was a borderline psychopath, but she lived in a house and slept in a bed and ate hot food."

"I should never have taken us to that convention," Lane muttered, pawing awkwardly at the ground. "We'd probably be at home right now, playing Pokéventures Online. We'd still be human. Not getting tangled up in all this… that we can't even understand."

Elisa watched her for a few seconds, expression unreadable. Lane could probably press if she wanted to, but now that she'd changed, Lane felt the same instinct to avoid her mind that she sensed around the other shaymin. A subtle compulsion towards politeness. "I don't know, Lane. If you asked me a month ago if I would risk life and limb to see all my favorite Pokémon for myself—to meet them and actually talk to them, I would've killed for it."

She nudged the pokéball with her nose, then jumped back as light overflowed from inside.

Lopunny appeared before them, eyes scanning the area around her.

"Elisa?"

"Down here," she answered, voice defeated. "I'm here, Lopunny. Next to Lane. I'm the plant this time."

"Oh." She looked down, uncomprehending for the first few seconds.

Then she scooped them both up into her paws. "Was this the danger?"

"They were the danger," Elisa grunted. "Just help me inside, please. And make sure nothing sneaks up on us. There were three Team Rocket people and two Pokémon that must be out there somewhere."

They didn't sleep in the master bedroom as before, for that exact reason.

But the upstairs had a little closet with a lock that still worked, and more importantly a window they could open. Lane dragged a few of the old blankets upstairs, and they curled up together in the gloom.

Elisa's fur no longer felt rough against Lane's skin. If anything, it was the first time she'd ever felt completely comfortable to curl up next to Elisa. Her companion was having a far worse time, by contrast. Every few minutes she shifted and squirmed in bed, struggling and failing to find a comfortable sleeping position.

"How are you supposed to sleep with a stupid hump instead of a back?"

she grunted, startling Lane into dreary wakefulness. "Being a cat was easier."

Too bad you weren't one too. This would be easier. Lane didn't know what to say, so she just licked at her fur the way Korina would've done. At first Elisa glared back, but after a few seconds she fell silent again, grunting in dissatisfaction.

"It's not fair," she said. "Everyone calls you kitten."

"I'm getting used to it," Lane said. "The nickname, I mean. It's not the worst thing I've been called. Better than 'freak' or 'failure.' At least they're friendly when they say it."

"Oh sure, that's what you meant. It's the nickname." Elisa pulled free of her, climbing up onto Lane's back. "Lane 'I wouldn't change back' mew. I get it."

Lane rolled onto her back, grinning. "You were complaining about Dominic, weren't you? I know what you were thinking. Well, now you're tangled up in this mess too. The True-Myth Club has lost its entire senior staff to Pokémon."

"Sure. A time traveling legendary of power and mystery. Or maybe even the origin of life on Earth, with mastery over all forms and all moves." She backed up, standing in the shadow of the fading moonlight. "Look at me now, Lane. I'm pathetic. I don't feel any mythical powers."

She sniffed, voice cracking. "The only thing I feel right now is that I miss the sun very much, and I wish it was warmer. I've read about Shaymin. You know what we do? Purify air. I'm a glorified HEPA filter."

"Cedar didn't seem like an air filter. Did you see how easily they beat those people after us? They fought off a helicopter like they weren't even trying." Lane retreated a step or two, adjusting her legs, then pounced, rolling with Elisa until they smacked against a pillow and finally came to a stop.

"Besides, I think you're cute. Even if the Shaymin won't change you back, someone else might. Korina might be able to. Or if Starfall is still there, we could try that. It worked before."

Elisa squirmed under Lane's paws, but wasn't strong enough to push her away. In the end she just flopped to the side, sighing in exasperation. "If you say so, Lane. It's good to be optimistic. But this doesn't feel… it doesn't feel the same. I can't explain it. But what Korina did, it was like a mask. I was still myself underneath. I don't know what I am underneath right now."

"Elisa," Lane answered, hugging her again. "We'll figure out the rest as we go along."