It took a long time for Silvan to calm down. How long they cried for, they didn’t know, nor did they care. Eventually, Kentarous carried them to what looked like a very, very ancient room. It looked completely out of time, wooden floors with a thick layer of dust, a wall of books, a table with scattered papers and a lamp that he lit with a small flame, lighting the room up. It was out of place in the massive mine, but in it was a cot. Kentarous placed Silvan on it, and laid down on the ground next to them. In his Sky Forme, he was far too large to fit next to them on the small bed.
Silvan wiped their face and was silent for some time as Ken had put them down. They felt exhausted again, like back in the hut before Snowpoint City. Their paws still had spots of missing fur, even now. Pokemon healed fast, faster than humans by far, but even this was long.
“That move you used…” Silvan’s voice was very rough, “what…”
“Leaf Storm,” Ken said simply, their tail swishing a bit in the dirt. “I’m not at a high enough level yet to learn my signature move, Seed Flare, so for now, that’ll do nicely for a strong grass type move.”
“Oh…” Silvan didn’t know much about all of the many moves that Pokemon could learn, only that the move had been incredibly powerful. Their body ached from the whiplash of the wind, but they were happy to be in pain rather than dead.
“You saved my life again.”
“You kinda saved me too,” he shrugged, like it was no big deal, “I’m not Pokeball protected. I asked Haru to capture me, but she said she wanted me to have the chance to find a human like her someday. But frankly, I honestly just don’t want to.”
It had been a shame. Kentarous would’ve been very happy to become Haru’s Pokemon - heck, he knew that many Pokemon would. Being owned by a Pokemon Knight was an honour.
Silvan felt more tears trickle out. They were always being saved by someone, or helped, yet here they were, embarking on a quest that felt so fruitless. There were only four evolutions to go, and what if they never evolved?
Then all the help they had gotten, all the kindness they had been shown, all the lessons they had learnt…
… would be for nothing.
Kentarous looked worried as Silvan began to cry again, “hey, what is it? Was it something I said?”
“N-no…” they managed to get out as tears ran down their face again, “I just… I wish… why am I always being saved? Why can’t I just…”
They hiccuped and ground out, “why can’t I just not fucking suck for once?!”
Silence stretched between them as Silvan’s sniffles seemed to echo in the stillness of the room. Kentarous got up and gently bumped his head against Silvan’s wet cheek, startling them.
“You don’t suck. You’re just growing up.”
Silvan blinked at that, both confused and surprised, and Kentarous’s smile was gentle, and for a moment, Silvan remembered that even though Ken was a new adult just like they were, he was still hundreds of years older.
“No one really stops growing, but between when you’re a kid to when you’re like, middle aged? You’re always learning and you’re always growing. Sometimes humans and Pokemon alike mature slower or faster than others.”
“But you? You’ve only just started your life, Silvan. Of course you’re going to suck.”
Silvan spluttered a bit at that, and glared at him, “now who's being rude.”
Ken snickered, “I’m not wrong. But you also have your own strengths, too. You just need to remember that.”
Silvan looked at their still damaged paws, and sighed. It was hard to see themselves as strong when reality had come crashing down on them like a metric ton of bricks.
Kentarous stood up and shook himself, and what looked like sparks of light flew from him. Just like Silvan, it seemed Ken also shed a bit of glitter from his star-kissed fur.
“Now come on, let’s get out of here and get back upstairs, yeah?”
Silvan was about to agree with him before their ears stood on end. It was there, in that ancient room, that they finally sensed it.
“Wait.”
“Hm?”
“The Steel Gem… it’s nearby!”
“Huh?” Kentarous blinked and stood up tall, “really?”
“Y-yeah…” Silvan shook themselves as well and jumped off the cot. They looked around the room - there was a large cupboard to the left. They went over it and rubbed their paw of the very thick coating of dust on it. Their foot felt bumps and ridges on it.
“Ken, could you please blow the dust off this, please?” they asked.
Ken walked over and obliged, flapping his wings a couple of times to blow the dust away. This did have the other effect of throwing dust into the air, causing both of them to sneeze.
“Ugh,” that was stupid. Silvan shook themselves of the dirt as Kentarous snickered. They allowed it - it had been a bad idea.
The cabinet had an intricate puzzle on the front - there was no visible keyhole in it - only the pattern and mechanisms that must’ve been the ‘key’ within it. There were four ridges that looked like holes, and there was an indent right in the middle that was larger than the rest. Maybe a button?
“This is ancient,” Kentarous was in awe as they looked closer at it, “it’s written in the Ancient language, as well.”
“Can you read it?”
“Yeah! It’s super easy~”
“Ugh,” Silvan groaned. Kentarous merely snickered again before he read it out loud.
“Come day and night,
Light and dark,
Beneath fire and ice,
Lies a heart stronger than steel.”
Silvan blinked at it. They and Ken looked at each other, then back at the puzzle.
“How the heck are we supposed to figure that out?!” Kentarous said in almost outrage, and Silvan had to hide a snicker this time.
“Day and night…” Silvan thought about that. It could mean different things - a literal interpretation was times of day. The other… Silvan looked at Kentarous.
Was a Pokemon that represented night and day, either or, or both.
“Light and Dark…” Silvan felt over the puzzle as they took in the shapes with their paw. Once again a reference to night and day, but the holes were in the shape of a circle. Maybe this time, it was not the time or the day, but elements?
The only problem was, while the Dark element existed, there was no such thing as the Light element. And the types that were strong against dark types were Fighting, Bug and Fairy.
Fighting types were considered strong and proud, and supposedly on the side of ‘good’. The element purely on its own assigned itself to a certain degree of purity, and only turned when mixed with the dark type.
Bug types all existed in the ‘light’ - the sun. Nocturnal bugs were rare, but that type too also represented light and dark.
And Fairy… they shuddered at that. They knew personally how bright and how devious their own typing was. Thinking about the Fairy Crown incident again made the fur on the back of their neck stand on end again.
“Beneath Fire and Ice… that one is obvious.” They looked up at the roof. They were quite literally beneath fire from the volcano, and ice from the snow.
And the last line was obvious - the Steel Gem.
As Silvan thought, they looked at the holes in the puzzle for a little bit longer. If there was indeed a Steel Gem in here, then wouldn’t it make sense for the Gems to potentially be the key? Silvan opened their bag.
“What are you doing?” Kentarous asked as Silvan began to get gems out.
“I think I might know the answer to the puzzle,” they said as they got the gems out. They were very lucky they had each of the four elements.
“The Dark element,” they had to thank Darkrai for letting them keep the Gem. “Where does it say ‘Dark’, please?”
“Oh! Here,” Kentarous pointed to a spot where the text was, and it was right next to a hole. Silvan placed the Dark Gem in it. It was right at the top.
“Light?”
“Here!” Kentarous pointed to the left.
“Hm…” Silvan thought for a moment. If the Fairy Gem went there, then…
“Where is ‘Fire’ written, please?”
“Here,” Kentarous pointed to the right, near the next hole.
Silvan paused to think once more. Fairy types resisted the Bug type and the Fighting type, which meant…
“Maybe… if Fairy Type means ‘light’ against ‘dark’...”
Silvan placed the Fairy Gem on the right, the Bug Gem on the left, and the Fighting Gem on the bottom, opposite the Dark Gem.
“Now…” they turned to Kentarous, “could you please put your paw in the centre?”
“Me?” he blinked. “Why me?”
“You’re a Pokemon who represents day and night,” Silvan explained, “I think… it might open if you do it.”
Kentarous looked for a moment, but he shrugged and did as he was asked. He figured it couldn’t hurt to do it.
And just like that, when Kentarous pressed on the centre, the lines and words of the puzzle glowed a soft blue light. Both Pokemon jumped back with surprise as the puzzle rotated with a groan and a clunk, as though it had not been opened in a very, very long time. When the door was open, the gems in the door all fell out, which Silvan quickly collected before they both looked inside. Kentarous brightened the gold on his body to see inside too.
It was a metal doll of some kind. Silvan blinked at it - the chest piece of the doll was open, and in it was the Steel Gem. Both Pokemon looked at each other again, and then back at the doll. It looked very similar to a Pokemon Silvan had seen in a book before, but it was very different. Inside the cabinet were meticulous notes and books in delicate, ancient paper that was thick and sturdy, bound together with Tauros leather.
“Wow…” Kentarous exclaimed as Silvan carefully took the books. They didn’t dare open them for they were worried they would turn to dust, so they very, very carefully put them into the subspace of their bag. It was a good thing that humans had invented subspace technology - inside it, time froze. It was how trainers managed to carry around berries, milk and curry ingredients without them spoiling.
“You’re not gonna read them?” he said as Silvan shook their head no.
“I’ll give them to Haru if I see her again.”
Silvan turned their attention to the gem. It was firmly stuck in the doll, but there were no life signs coming from it. No… anything. Still, it felt very wrong to take the gem, and yet…
Silvan put their paws on the Gem, expecting something, anything, to happen. Nothing did. They began to yank on it, nothing still. With growing confidence that it was all fine, Silvan tugged more on the gem, even going so far as to put their hind legs on its body before pulling as hard as they could.
With the force, the Gem was finally free, and Silvan yelped as they landed hard on their back. Even worse–
“Oh crap–” the very heavy doll began to fall, but luckily Kentarous prevented it from falling on them and shoved it back into the cupboard. It closed with a loud snap.
Both of them panted with the effort. Kentarous looked at the shiny Gem Silvan held in their paws and smiled, “well look at that! See? Told you you had strengths. I never could’ve solved a riddle that complicated~”
Silvan managed a grin at that, their chest swelling a little with pride. It had been a while since they had felt their usual confidence. They sat up and held the Steel Gem with a small smile. It had been a literal life threatening effort, but they finally had it.
Their smile slipped, though. Just like all the others… they didn’t feel a connection with this Gem either. Still, they got out their crown, placed the Gem within it, and placed it on their head.
Nothing happened once more.
“... no luck?” Kentarous offered as Silvan slowly took the crown off their head, and they shook their head.
“No.”
Kentarous looked sad as Silvan put the crown and gem in their bag. It had been even more of a crushing let down than the others.
“Silva—”
“Can you fly us out of here, please?”
Kentarous took in their body language. Their ears were low, their bag was on their back, and they were trembling. He could tell that Silvan was trying very hard not to cry, their emotions too raw from before to hide.
“Yeah… of course…” He walked forward and knelt down. Silvan climbed up onto Ken’s back as he walked out of the room and stretched his wings. With a mighty flap, he began to fly up to the entrance of the mine, Silvan holding on tight.
He could feel their shaking on his back, but for the sake of their pride, for once, Kentarous remained quiet as they flew out of the mine and into the night.
Eden slumps to the ground defeated
Dysnomia: Come on let's try a few more. Up up.
Eden: hhhggggggguuuugguuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.....
[ Eden has failed to master the move SCRATCH ]
[ Notes from Dysnomia:
- Once again.. even seems weak from just a bare basic standpoint.
- I have been cut with paper easier than this grown mans claws
- I know there is a difference between normal scratching and the move... but I forget what its name was at the moment... gods dammit...
- .... are they naturally blue or does he paint them?... ]
Silvan was quite silent as they made their way to Iron Island. There would be the location of the steel gem, and with it, an evolution to Merida Falcheon if they managed to resonate with the element.
After that was only three more evolutions - The Little Red Riding Hood Flareon, the Tiana Paleon, and the Megara Obliveon. Of the four left, they really wanted to evolve into Falcheon the most, but with only four left…
Silvan shook their head - they didn’t want to think about it too deeply. It was starting to give them a strange pain in their chest they had never felt before, and didn’t understand.
They rubbed at their chest, and Kentarous noticed it. He peered at them, “you ok?”
Silvan grimaced - not a discussion for now. Ken seemed to understand, and nodded as they pulled into port at the island. They both waited until everyone else had gotten off before they both finally did.
“Phew, that took a while!” Kentarous stretched his arm over his head and started walking towards the entrance to the highly industrial area, “too bad I couldn’t just fly or something. You ok, Silvan?”
Now that they were alone, Silvan shook their head and rubbed at their chest. The feeling wasn’t going away. Kentarous watched them and said, “your chest hurting?”
Silvan nodded.
“Are you anxious?”
“Anxious?” they finally spoke up, the word foreign in their mouth, “I don’t have anxiety.”
“Don’t have to have anxiety to feel anxious sometimes,” Kentarous shrugged, “it happens!”
Anxiety? Them? Silvan knew that mental health was nothing to joke about, but they didn’t think they’d be feeling anxiety. It was certainly not a sensation they were used to, at least outside of a terrifying incident like nearly dying. Thrice.
Or meeting Darkrai. That qualified.
Still, they knew they had to soldier on even in the face of it, and so Silvan took a deep breath, let it out, and looked ahead at the sight before them.
There was a complex ore mining rig present over the entrance to the mountain, but it looked as though the mine itself was inactive. The island itself was quiet from human industrial sounds, though there were trainers about. Silvan was grateful even so for their human disguise, though part of them was starting to wonder how on Earth they had managed to just… gain it.
Who had granted their prayer?
They and Kentarous walked forward to the entrance of the mine. There, they were able to separate from the humans and finally had the freedom to turn back to their usual selves. Both of them let out sighs of relief at that.
“Ugh. Walking is so tiring in those bodies…” Ken complained as they stretched. Silvan had to agree.
“So, where do we go from here?”
Silvan wasn’t sure; “let’s just look around for now.”
They were sure that eventually, they would pick up some kind of sense of where the Gem was located. For now, the best they could do was look around.
The mines were deep, and there was scaffolding everywhere. It made it easier to get around, at least, and also gave Silvan the chance to enjoy a place they never thought they would explore.
While Challengers Cave had some human construction in places, it wasn’t a mine like this was. Nor was it anywhere near as deep. Silvan held some contempt for humans, but they had to admit, their resourcefulness when it came to extracting what they needed from the Earth was quite amazing. They could see where the humans had taken the ore and also where Pokemon had reclaimed it.
Speaking of…
There were many around, and Silvan tried to keep to themselves, however there was one problem.
“Wow, look at what the humans did!” Kentarous exclaimed as they continued walking, “it sure makes walking around here a lot easier, huh?”
Not only was he chatty, he was attracting attention simply by what he was - a Mythical of the very region they were in!
“Kentarous,” Silvan hissed, “can we please keep a low profile?”
“Why?” Ken blinked at them, “no one’s bothering us.”
“Yet,” Silvan emphasized as they continued, passing a large group of Geodude and its evolutions as they continued their own building of their homes and nests. Silvan was quick to bypass the area, knowing that Pokemon were territorial around as such. Kentarous got the hint, at least, and followed.
“Still,” he continued once they were clear, “Pokemon usually don’t get too aggressive if we just walk past!”
“Not in my experience,” Silvan grumbled - the next large open area had Onix and Steelix, which Silvan very quickly took a beeline right around the bend towards the next incline downwards.
“I’ve never had any trouble,” Ken was watching the Onix, and as one turned to growl at him, they stopped still when they saw the Shaymin, who waved, “hello!”
Silvan whipped around as the Onix grumbled something and turned around reluctantly, and they were very quick to grab Kentarous by the paw and drag him off, “Silvan–!”
“You’re a Mythical of this region, Kentarous!” Silvan growled at him, “you’re revered by normal Pokemon! I’m not - I’m just an Eevee to them!”
“But… you told me that Fairy Tale Eevee have special powers over other Pokemon,” Ken detached themselves from Silvan’s hold and trotted beside them, “so why the worry?”
“I…” Silvan sighed, “I discovered that it only works if the Pokemon in question are younger than I, weaker than I, or are receptive to it. It doesn’t work on every Pokemon I encounter.”
“I… was arrogant to think that. And… let's just say I learnt the hard way.”
Kentarous listened on, rather fascinated with the whole story.
“I’ve never had any trouble, but I guess it never occurred to me that it was because I’m a Mythical Pokemon,” he shrugged, carefree; “I just thought it was ‘cause I’m nice!”
“And loud.”
“Rude,” Kentarous huffed, “maybe you would get what you wanted more if you were nicer!”
“Oh, trust me,” Silvan growled out, “I’ve learnt that very thoroughly.”
“Hmmm~” Kentartous looked smug at that. Silvan glared at him in return.
The day dragged on as they explored more of the higher up floors. They were still nowhere near the bottom of the deep cavern - Silvan had no idea how many floors there were in this place, but it seemed to go on forever.
Most of the Pokemon here were Onix, Geodude and Golbat, along with their evolutions. Occasionally, they spotted a Riolu and Lucario, along with a Mawile here and there. Silvan was surprised not to see many more steel types here.
There was a trainer here and there, out there training against each other, or challenging some of the wild Pokemon. Silvan avoided them like the plague, but just when they thought they were in the clear–
“Holy shit, it’s a Shaymin!! And a shiny Eevee!”
Silvan outright snarled, a reaction that got a startled yelp from Kentarous, along with the human’s loud words. Over and over, they had had to deal with humanity and their insistence of throwing balls around, and so, this time, right as a Pokeball went for Kentarous, Silvan readied a Swift.
“UEEVEE VA VEEE!” They shrieked at the humans, firing off a Swift, and throwing the ball back. What they didn’t anticipate, however, was the loud crash against the rocks the attack caused. And they had been right on the edge of the path.
“Get them!” The trainers yelled even so, sending out a Bozong in response. “Use Hypnosis!”
The Pokemon did, and both Kentarous and Silvan flinched at the attack, feeling tired. Silvan tripped, and Kentarous yelled for them as they fell off the side of the path.
“SILVAN!”
The Eevee woke up pretty quickly as they fell through the air, straight down the shaft. They screamed as they fell - they knew no flying moves. The trainers even ran to the edge as they saw Silvan fall, along with–
“I’M COMING!” Kentarous had jumped off the ledge!
“YOU CAN’T FLY RIGHT NOW!” Silvan bellowed as the ground deep deep below was rapidly coming into focus. They flailed in the air, the fear of death grasping them hard around the throat. The terror was overcoming them, making them almost miss the sound of Kentarous powering up a move, his body glowing.
“MIIII–!!” Air and leaves flew from him as a massive gust of air shot down around them straight at the ground, leaves flying down much faster than their body was. A backdraft from the attack threw wind back up at Silvan’s back, throwing them upwards into the air and straight into Kentarous’s now much larger Sky Forme.
Silvan had become so wrapped up in their adventure to forget that in winter, the days were far shorter, especially in Sinnoh, and in response…
“Sunset!” Kentarous was grinning from ear to ear as his wings flapped, landing them safely on the ground below. Silvan was staring at him, breathing hard - the panic of nearly dying was making blood pound in their ears and their body was shaking all over. They could barely process the shock of everything that had just happened in rapid succession to process that they were actually safe, flat on the ground, and no longer falling through the air.
Kentarous peered at them, still holding Silvan as he stood on his back paws, the gold parts of his body glowing softly in the darkness. He seemed completely unbothered by what had just happened, as though he knew they would be okay, but Silvan did not.
If he hadn’t been there, this time around, they would most definitely have died. All because they had reacted in temper to those humans.
Because they were sick of having capture attempts made on them, even if they wouldn’t have worked. No wonder their mother had done what she had done…
All of it was too much. They had nearly died by being frozen solid in ice not so long ago, and the encounter with Darkrai had shaken them to their foundations.
Tears began to leak from their eyes. The feeling of needing to cry while on the boat had only amplified, and now, they disregarded inhibitions and threw their arms around Kentarous’s neck as they began to howl on his shoulder. Kentarous was startled by this initially, but it didn’t take him long to relax and let Silvan cry their heart out. He gently pet their back slowly as they did.
“You’ve been through a lot, huh…” he offered softly into the silence, aside from Silvan’s crying.
