LIGHTNOVELONLINE Interlude V: Hope
“Orion, where you go now.”
The buzz of the surrounding drizzle muffled Ana’s tired, heavy words. This weather was much too ugly for her to be left on her own again. Doubly so with her rest last night having been... strenuous. She rationally knew that one day she’d stop getting woken up by single raindrops impacting her shell, but that day sure hadn’t come yet. Ugly as the mountains from which she hailed from might’ve been, at least they weren’t as permanently soggy as this place has been lately.
The Torkoal wasn’t about to chase the Zoroark into the thick of the rain. Instead, she sighed out a plume of smoke as she inched herself further away from the nasty wetness, waiting for either him or Winnie to return. Speaking of.
“He go somewhere again!?” the Breloom whined, carrying the spoils in his arms.
“Yes.”
At least the food had arrived.
Ana looked up just in time to see the small berry be placed in front of her, immediately reaching to bite into it as Winnie sat beside her. “Orion like, see pretty leaf, and chase chase chase, hmph,” he grumbled.
“At least he happy,” she sighed.
As eccentric as Orion was, he had a charm to him, one the Breloom lacked so acutely that she wondered what did the Zoroark even see in him. On the other paw, she knew perfectly that her current crankiness wasn’t helping either. Once life saw fit to finally give them all a break, they’d probably warm up to each other a decent bit. Or, at least, so she hoped.
“He not happy ever!? He always smile, what world wrong he with!?”
The Torkoal was somewhat confident about what the Breloom had just said, but nowhere near as much as she wished she was. It would take time, much more than just the couple of moons they had all known each other for. Orion’s weird, artificial language may have been awkward, but Ana knew that the significance of what it made possible was so much more important than her personal gripes.
Stilted as it was, it had still allowed her to find community and friendship outside the confines of her tribe’s bigotry. Even if they all were to never amount to anything more than what they’ve already been through, she still had the Zoroark to thank for saving her from being forcibly assigned a mate or another.
And for that alone, she was more than willing to put up with any of his quirks.
She droned, “If choice always annoyance and always cheer, I know what I choose—”
*awwwwoooOOOOO!*
The howl hit them both like a Brick Break to the face; the brief confusion soon turned into a worried resolve. Neither of them had known him for long enough to truly know whether it was unlike Orion, but what they knew was that it worried them. Then again, disguising and getting away was the easiest thing in the world for him, and that sure didn’t sound like a distress call—
Before Ana could give it all any more thought, though, she found herself suddenly lifted and carried right into the rain. “WINNIE, WHAT ARE—”
“HE CALL FOR HELP!”
“NO, HE N—”
“WE COME NOW, ORION!”
The Torkoal’s world had turned into a blur of browns and greens as hundreds of freezing stings barraged her body. Each of the Breloom’s leaping steps had her wince, the sheer vertigo threatening to either make her erupt, throw up, or both. Right as she was about to lose the last of her composure, though, everything came to a stop, followed by her being clumsily placed on a soaked patch of grass.
If Winnie had the decency to look down at her at that moment, Ana probably could’ve seared him with her glare alone. “Orion, Orion where you!?” the Breloom shouted.
“Hey, guys!” the giddy words cut the Torkoal off before she could speak up, mouth closing as she and Winnie looked up the nearby hill. It stood out greatly from the clearing before it, and much the same was true of the oak that sprouted from its very top.
And even more so of the Zoroark taking the scenery in from one of its lower branches.
Pretty as the sights were, his friends were more important. Without skipping a beat, he leaped from branch to branch, digging into the bark when needed, and reaching solid ground just moments later—only to immediately slip on the wet, leaf-covered ground, before sliding down the hill on his rear, to the tune of his own laughter. “Ahahaha! Hey, guys, whattcha do here?”
Orion didn’t even bother getting up, taking a moment to get comfortable on the ground instead and checking up on his friends. “You good, Ana?”
“I—”
“Orion, what happen!?” Winnie yelled, confused. “Someone attack you!?”
“What?” the Zoroark blurted, dumbfounded, uncertain where that idea even came from. “I look at view!”
“…and howl?”
“Why no, Ana? Here beautiful! Right what I look for!”
Both Ana and Winnie sighed at the remark, though for different reasons. The former was about to speak up about everything they’d need to check before even considering settling down, but ultimately held back, knowing the latter would cut her off, anyway. “Orion, human village dream again!?”
“Winnie, dear, here all good!”
The Breloom argued back, “Not talk place! Why talk humans, again again!? We make great by us, no humans!”
“Because—”
“^Excuse me?^”
Despite Orion not having heard the voice, spotting the surprise on the faces of his friends got him to stop too, stop and glance over at what had caught their attention. An Indeedee was eying them out, the uncertain expression on her face flip-flopping between concern and curiosity. Some other creature, tiny and pink, was trying to peek out from behind her, shying away the moment any of the three had looked their way.
As hesitant as the other two got, the Zoroark was downright ecstatic. The opportunity to see for himself whether it was actually possible for a Psychic-type to link up with him didn’t come often, and this one was perfect. Trying to keep himself as small as he could, he turned towards the stranger. The Indeedee’s eyes narrowed slightly as she took a couple steps back, only to then raise an eyebrow as the Dark-type... waved at her.
And just sat there.
“He wants you to link with him,” Ana explained. As much as she appreciated the immense ease of communication that telepathy brought with itself, she wasn’t sure how much her elaboration would help. Especially with the inherent absurdity of a psychic even trying to speak telepathically with a Dark-type. It was one of these obvious things that nobody questioned, for there was no reason to question it, and for Orion to insist that it was indeed possible was... entirely like him.
As were his wild ideas turning out to be correct.
Miraculously, the Indeedee didn’t react with utter confusion at the explanation. A bit of focus and three pinches of effort later, Orion felt something jolt in his mind after he’d deliberately lowered his mental guard, adding a heaping pile of fuel to the flame of excitement.
“^Hel—^”
“Greetings, ma’am! It’s wonderful to meet you here; my name is Orion!”
After getting over the sudden voice’s impact, the short psychic finally found it in her to respond. “^Hello there! Is everything alright? I’m quite sure I heard you howl just now.^”
“More than alright, I’d say!” Orion beamed. “We’ve just stumbled upon this beautiful clearing, perfect for a settlement!”
“^A settlement? How so?^”
It was the exact question the Zoroark was waiting for.
He got onto his feet with a wide smile, gesturing towards the clearing as Winnie grumbled into his hand. A reddish sheen covered his paws and eyes as mirages of dozens of wooden huts and human-like houses alike manifested out of thin air. The Indeedee gasped at the illusory sights, too stunned to do more than stand and gawk as the Dark-type explained, “Just like humans do! There’s almost nothing in their towns that we can’t replicate in some way!”
“Or we could keep living as ourselves and not descend to the level of humanity!” the Breloom shouted.
“Oh Winnie, Winnie, don’t be like thaaaat~. I’ve lived with them for a good while; they’re far from all terrible, you know thaaat~.”
The Indeedee gasped, “^You lived with humans?^”
Orion’s smile didn’t even have the time to finish shifting into a smirk before a human manifested from the thin air where he once stood. Light brown skin, long gray hair, an all black outfit. Nobody gathered knew how good of a disguise it actually was, but it sure looked human to them.
“On and off for a few years! Even though they had no idea who I was and I couldn’t talk, they would still help me out all the time! There were places where I could get food, no questions asked, kitchens for use by everyone, and so much empty housing for the taking! There’s nothing there that we can’t band together and recreate ourselves!”
“If it was so easy, some other mons would’ve already tried it!”
“How do you know they haven’t, dear Winnie~?”
Despite the pointedness of the question, the Breloom had plenty of answers to it, all of them wrong. For once, though, it was the Torkoal that got the word in first, “As we’ve discussed, Orion, there are many considerations before we can even start planning such an undertaking.”
“Doncha worry, Ana! That’s what we’ve got our friend here for; she’ll know best. Any reasons this wouldn’t be a good place, Ma’am...?”
“^Autumn. Hmm... none I can think of. There is a human town several hours away, but I’ve never seen anyone from there come here. Haven’t had any encounters with any large predators either, but…. that is a massive undertaking, if I’m understanding it right.^”
“Something for us to spend our lives on, and for our children to relish in the safety of. A place free from either humanity’s cruelty, or the bigotry of insular tribes, a place we can all call home,” Orion beamed. His rousing speech affected some listeners more than others; Autumn’s expression softened into a sad smile as she looked over her shoulder, only for her eyes to go wide.
“If there’s anything we should put our strength and will to, it’s a place like that. And this serendipitous clearing is just about the most beautiful one yet! See, see, even the weather’s clearing up, the Gods are clearly encouraging us to proceed—OH GOODNESS LOOK AT THAT RAINBOW, IT’S GORGEOUS!”
As much as she begrudged Orion getting this emotional sometimes, Ana couldn’t deny that this kind of hope was infectious. There were still so many details they’d need to discuss and agree on, so many risks to be weighed. Those could all be dealt with down the line. But there and now, having something to strive towards was worth more than anything—
“OW! WHAT’S—GET IT OFF ME!” Winnie screeched, snapping Ana out of her pensive mood. A glance upward revealed the Breloom to be thrashing in place with something pink clinging to the back of his head, the Zoroark to be laughing his lungs out about it, and the newly met Indeedee to be trying her best to do something about it.
“^Garret, please get down!^”
“I already like this place.”
