Unbroken Disguise

With Solaceon Town being as small as it was, and its main attraction explored, there wasn’t much reason to hang around. So the group found themselves heading north once more, making their way through route 210 and some very tall grass. Taller than N, in many places, which was a bit of an annoyance. It wasn’t like he’d never seen grass this tall before, but at least Unova’s route 7 had the raised walkways so you could see into the distance and make your way through the route unhindered. This, though…

As he parted two sections of the grass, forcing his way through, he stumbled upon a pair of Ponyta, both of which immediately spooked and ran off deeper into the tall grass.

“No, wait! I’m not a…” He let out a sigh, knowing that it was a wasted effort.

“It ain’t yer fault, N. Ponyta are naturally skittish. They’ve got Run Away as ‘n ability.” Mimikyu reassured him.

“Even if that is the case, I do not enjoy upsetting Pokemon like that. I’m certain they would have preferred their day not be interrupted by a human trouncing through their home unannounced.”

Though he could not truly see them, N got the sense that Mimikyu was rolling his eyes. “I don’ think anyone can really get through this grass unannounced with how loud it is, but if ya really don’ like it then why ain’ ya using the one clear path through the route? It’s there for a reason, or so I assume.”

N frowned. “I’m not going to scramble up a muddy incline for your amusement.”

For some reason, though Mimikyu was correct in the fact that there was a straight path free of the tall grass through the route, the people of Sinnoh had decided that not only were they going to have the path go over a raised portion of the route instead of around it, but they also decided that instead of adding stairs like they do in so many other places, they’d keep that section as a bike path.

A wet, muddy, much too steep bike path. He’d seen a few of them on his travels, but they tended to be out of the way, not smack dab in the middle of the most obvious trail. It was madness!

“Ya don’ ‘ave ta scramble. Jus’ ask Lucas if ya can borrow ‘is bike.”

N raised a brow. “Mimikyu, are you aware of the fact that bikes vary in size? Lucas is… what, ten, maybe? Significantly shorter than me, as well. I don’t think any bike that he might have would be one fit for me to ride.”

That made the Ghost pause. “You may ‘ave a point there. I guess I sorta assumed… hmm…”

He decided to let his companion stew in whatever bike assumptions had apparently been proven wrong. What a strange thing for Mimikyu to be thinking about, but he supposed he wasn’t one to judge what counted as a normal thought given his proclivities.

Pushing through the very tall grass once more, he began his search for Lucas. He could call out for Rotom, and the Electric type would surely guide them together from a levitator’s point of view, but he didn’t think it’d be that hard to get to the boy on his own given the sounds of battle he could hear in the distance.

And then he tripped on something, sending Mimikyu tumbling to the ground and himself face first into the dirt.

“Watch where you’re going!” A voice shouted from behind him.

“Seriously, N?” Mimikyu complained about the sudden jostle.

“My apologies,” he replied automatically. Turning towards the offended source, he found that he’d tripped over a Geodude.

Oh dear. Was this going to be the Oreburgh Gate all over again?

“I don’ understand why Ponyta and Geodude live ‘ere of all places. Don’ make a lot of sense ta me. I mean, even with their control ya’d think grass like this would catch fire, and it ain’ exactly a rocky area like a cave.”

“Hey! I don’t judge your home, pal!” The Geodude glowered at Mimikyu.

“I’m not sayin’ it’s bad, I jus’ don’ get it! This route makes no sense!”

As the pair descended into bickering, N sighed once more.

He didn’t think he was a fan of route 210.

“Psyyyy”

“Psy”

“Psyyyyy”

On and on the chorus went.

“This doesn’t seem normal,” N commented as he waved a hand in front of one of the Psyduck to no response at all.

Having escaped the very tall grass at the start of the route, the group now stood in front of a large gathering of the Water types, the whole lot of which were clutching their heads, repeating their names instead of speaking, and blocking the path forward. There must have been dozens of them, perhaps more than a hundred. For all he knew, there were several hundreds, hidden in the fog that lay beyond the sea of yellow.

Lucas poked one with a stick, so N snatched the stick out of his hand, tossing it off into the woods.

“Nah, this is pretty normal for Psyduck. They get debilitating headaches ev’ry once in a while. I think there was somethin’ special ‘bout ‘em?”

“Bzzrt! Psyduck are known to suffer from headaches at all hours of the day! Periodically they may worsen, and this is a matter of interest to researchers! Strange powers seem to manifest during these events, but to Rotom’s knowledge, it has not yet been concluded if this is an unclassified move or just raw psychic power.”

Lucas looked away from the Psyduck with interest at that description, but Rotom just let out a staticky laugh.

“The powers have not been well documented, Rotom does not know how they are expressed.”

Lucas seemed disappointed, but that quickly turned to determination. Reaching out with his finger to poke at the one before him again-

“Will you stop that?” N smacked his hand away.

Ignoring Lucas’ pouting, N paid attention to the ones knowledgeable on the matter. “Whether this is considered normal or not, it seems distressing to me. Is there any way we can help them?”

“There’s some sorta fancy medicine that’ll cure ‘em, ain’ there? I don’ quite remember the details, but I’m certain there’s somethin’ for it. I dunno ‘ow ya’d get yer hands on it, though.” Mimikyu explained.

“Bzzrt. It is rumored that the pharmacy in Cianwood City produces a secret medicine capable of curing any ailment, but Rotom has never been able to confirm its existence.”

N thought back to his Sinnoh map. He didn’t recall there being a Cianwood on it. “Where is this city, exactly?”

“Johto,” Mimikyu answered.

“Ah…” Well, there went that avenue.

“They should get over it eventually on their own, but if ya really wanna do somethin’ ‘bout it ya could ask Cynthia or some other League schmuck next time we run into ‘em. I’m sure they’d be able ta whip some up real quick.”

N looked at Mimikyu like he had grown a second head. “What do you mean by that? Do you think we’ll just happen to run into them in the middle of the route?”

“Well, no, but we’re bound ta see ‘em again at some point. Seems ta be a recurrin’ thing for us.”

“Just how long do you think this is going to last?” He asked incredulously. “A headache doesn’t last for weeks or months or however long it’ll take us to see some League official, Mimikyu.”

“Bzzrt, it might! Situations like this have been known to last for up to six months!”

N was so shocked that he didn’t reach out to stop Lucas’ poking this time when it started up again, barely noticing that the small yellow feathers lit up with a psychic glow, keeping the boy’s finger at bay.

But, no, that couldn’t be right.

“I’m sorry, I must have misheard you, did you say up to six months?”

“Correct!” Rotom confirmed. “They’ll get over it on their own, and there really is nothing you can do without something like Cianwood’s supposed cure all.”

So people and Pokemon alike stumbled upon suffering Pokemon like this and just left them there for months at a time? That was beyond cruel! “Well then…” his mind raced for a solution, “even if there’s nothing I can do personally then I can at least get them to a Pokemon Center. A Nurse Joy and Chasey will be able to help.”

“Bzzrt. Unlikely. And how do you plan to get them there?”

The obvious answer would be Pokeballs, but N wasn’t some barbarian. “I could carry… well, I could gather up some local Pokemon and ask for their assistance in carrying them.”

“I think Rotom is more concerned about that than yer method of transport, N.” A shadowy hand slithered out from beneath Mimikyu’s disguise, pointing over at Lucas.

N had stopped paying attention to the boy, but he was putting on quite a show. With his finger still pressed against the psychic barrier on Psyduck’s feathers, it looked like he was putting his full body weight behind it, but Psyduck didn’t move at all.

It was like the Water type was frozen in place, just a constantly “Pssyyyyy”-ing statue until the headache went away.

“That… may be an issue,” N admitted.

He shot out idea after idea after that, hoping that he’d be able to get something to stick, to get just one plan to work so he could help these poor Pokemon out.

But it was like Rotom had said. There was nothing he could do. Not without that supposed “secret medicine” at least.

It pained him to leave them suffering like that. But at the end of the day, he was powerless to help.

And so, with that weighing heavy on his heart, they began making their way past the Psyduck and deeper into route 210, weaving through the many, many Psyduck and letting their vision be obstructed by the fog.

Or at least, they tried to.

“Did we turn around somewhere?” N asked. “I know the fog is thick, but I didn’t think it was that thick!”

They must have walked through the Psyduck swarm for roughly ten minutes, just to end up right back where they started.

“Rotom does not know! Your phone does not come with a built-in compass!”

“I thought we were goin’ straight the whole time, though…” Mimikyu joined in.

Lucas pulled out his Pokedex, which apparently did have a compass built into it, and gestured for them to follow behind him.

Something about this situation didn’t sit right with him, but N just nodded and they tried again.

Keeping his eyes on the compass, they weaved through the maze of Psyducks, going north, north, north, south-

“Wait a minute. Why did it suddenly switch to the south?” N questioned. “If we were just getting turned around then we should have gone east or west first, but it just jumped straight to the opposite direction.”

Mimikyu let out a hum. “I wonder if… let’s test somethin’. Try goin’ north again.”

And so they did, turning around and making it a few steps before suddenly the compass pointed south again.

“Bzzrt. Perhaps the compass is faulty?”

Testing Rotom’s suggestion, they kept on walking, even though the compass said they were going the wrong way. Eventually, it was confirmed that the compass was accurate.

They were right back where they started.

“This doesn’t make any sense.” N complained.

Lucas started digging through the settings of the Pokedex, but N wasn’t sure what the boy was hoping to find.

“Rotom, ya don’ have any idea ‘ow those mysterious powers were expressed?”

Rotom buzzed out a note of confusion. “Of the Psyduck? Rotom told you what Rotom knows!”

“Then what if… what if this is the mysterious power?”

“The ‘mysterious power’ a Psyduck gains from their headache is the ability to turn us around?” N asked dubiously.

“Not turnin’ us around, no, but that does seem to be the ultimate effect. I mean more like… some sorta teleportation, or some other reality bendin’ type deal. It’s like ya said earlier, it’s super odd that the compass went north ta south instantly. What if it’s like a teleport, but instead of movin’ us somewhere else in space, it’s jus’ movin’ us. Literally turnin’ us around instantly, in a way subtle enough ya don’ notice. I mean, with all the fog out there it ain’ like you can see the landmarks and notice it, right? Ya jus’ see more Psyduck.”

“Bzzrt, that can’t be right,” Rotom quickly denied. “Even if changes in the landscape would be obscured by the fog, the Psyduck themselves are visible at all times. If Rotom were being instantly turned around then Rotom would notice that the Psyducks in Rotom’s field of view had been changed.”

“Then what if the Psyduck are under the effect, too? Maybe not all of ‘em, but just the ones in yer line of sight. Enough to keep the illusion up.”

“But what would the point be?”

“What’s the poin’ in turnin’ us aroun’ like this?”

Could that be possible?

Pokemon were amazing creatures capable of all sorts of things that blew him away, but Mimikyu’s explanation seemed like a bit much. It was like Rotom said, what would the point be? It sounded like it’d be an energy intensive technique, and towards no apparent goal.

But at the same time, what other explanation was there? N certainly couldn’t come up with anything to explain this phenomenon.

Lucas snapped to get their attention, gesturing for them to follow.

Had he figured something out?

N followed along, the Pokemon at his side, venturing into the foggy field of Psyduck once more, until eventually Lucas gestured for him to stop. “What, you want me to wait here?”

Lucas nodded with a smile, turned towards the north, and then took off in a run. It didn’t take long for his form to be obscured by the fog,

“Is this some sorta experiment?”

“Bzrt. Perhaps he is using Rotom as an observer. Or an anchor point? Separating the group may help to uncover the mechanics of this strangeness.”

It only took a moment for Lucas to be running back toward them, his eyes widening as he slowed to a stop.

The testing went on for a while like that. They wondered if getting rid of the fog would allow them to pass, but even with Lucas’ brand new Defog Hidden Machine, no Pokemon in the party could actually learn it, and no wild Pokemon could be taught it without first being captured, something N wasn’t willing to do. Then they tried going around the swarm entirely by wandering into the adjacent woods and off of the main route, but the trees seemed to loop as well.

Eventually the Shadows took pity on them. “My Lord…” and no matter what anyone might say later on, N definitely did not jump in fright this time, “if you so desire, we could bring you directly towards your destination, or at least far enough forward on the route that this hindrance would be behind you.”

A tempting offer. He’d travelled through Mimikyu’s false Shadow Sneak before, and he assumed that the Shadows’ Pokemon would use something that was at least similar for their transport. That said, though… in reality, he and Mimikyu were following along on Lucas’ path. It felt wrong to just decide that sort of thing on his own, so he posed the question to the boy.

Lucas looked interested at first, but upon realizing that it would mean skipping out on any potential lost items in the area in between, he looked outright offended, and declined the offer.

Feeling defeated, N pulled out his map. “It says here that if we head east instead we should find ourselves on route 215, which leads towards Veilstone City…”

Route 215 was wet.

Every step that N took had the grass squelching beneath his shoes, the ground giving way more than it should and trying to keep him in place with a small bit of suction. Both he and Lucas had umbrellas packed away in their things, but he wasn’t sure how long they’d hold up when the rain was practically pouring off the sides like a faucet.

And the sound. The heavy rainfall was so loud that it was practically all he could hear, though Rotom and Mimikyu’s voices could reach his ears if they shouted. Not that Rotom was particularly chatty at the moment, having tucked his flip phone away into the deep crevices of Lucas’ bag to escape all the moisture.

“You’re certain that we can’t just wait out this storm?!” N asked for what must be the fourth time now, not at all enjoying this weather. There had been a cafe at the junction between routes, and though it was filled with trainers, its warmth, and more importantly dryness, seemed very appealing at the moment.

“It always rains on this route! The storm never ends!” Mimikyu shouted back, not for the first time.

A never ending rainstorm.

N had thought it to be a mere turn of phrase, some marketing gimmick when he’d first checked out this area of Sinnoh’s map. Routes 212 and 215 were probably more rainy than normal, he assumed, likely because of some oddity the mountain ranges caused with the local weather patterns.

But no, apparently they really were never ending rainstorms. Or this one was, at a minimum, though he wasn’t looking forward to confirming it with 212.

It was odd, though. If it literally always rained here, then why was there a lack of rivers or lakes on this route? Surely the aquifers would become oversaturated at some point.

Though even if it sounded implausible, there wasn’t much to be done about it. While this route was unpleasant, they could at least pass through it unlike when they’d hit the Psyduck roadblock.

As so on they trudged, their shoes being ruined more with every step, water seeping into their socks.

He had heard horror stories about what happened to soldiers who went through this sort of thing in the war. League troops found themselves locked in a constant stream of battle in the Laverre swamps, too focused on watching for both the enemy and local Goodra to pay attention to basic hygiene.

He made a mental note to change his socks out as soon as possible.

Lucas, on the other hand, didn’t seem to care at all. He ran through the sodden grass, used the few raised wooden paths as little more than vantage points to spot out places of interest, battled every trainer he could even with the downpour, and collected plenty of soggy items along the way.

N could admire his enthusiasm, at the very least. And in a way, his scavenging was a good thing. Collecting trash from the wilderness meant that wild Pokemon didn’t have to deal with it, and while he-

“N, did ya see that?!” Mimikyu interrupted his thoughts.

N couldn’t see much of anything in this heavy rain, having to actively pay attention so he didn’t lose Lucas. “See what?!”

“There, behind those trees! I wanna say it was a bunch of Kadabra, which seems a bit odd ta me… might be worth investigatin’!”

N watched as Lucas released Bibarel, instructing the normal type to use Cut to clear out an overgrowth patch that was likely set up by the League. That would probably keep the boy occupied for a bit, and he was unlikely to get into too much trouble…

Cupping his hands to help project his voice further, he called out “Hey, Lucas!” He waited for the boy to turn to him, confirming that he’d been heard. “We’re going to have a look over here, don’t wander too far!”

He got what he thought was a thumbs up in return, and so he and Mimikyu ventured off the beaten path.

“So what exactly is a Kadabra?! I don’t think I’ve seen that Pokemon yet!”

Stepping under the tree cover muffled the rain a bit, so Mimikyu replied in a normal tone. “They evolve into Alakazam. Uh… honestly I don’ know much about ‘em specifically, but I figure ya can prob’bly assume they’re like a weaker Alakazam that aren’ quite as prone ta instantly teleportin’ away as Abra are.”

A Pokemon favored by League forces. Lucian’s had seemed quite powerful, and the one he’d watched in a contest had quite a varied movepool. Startling wild Pokemon was never a good idea, but ones like this… well, a bit of extra caution couldn’t hurt.

That said, though, he wasn't quite sure of what to do when the duo stumbled upon a group of them standing in a circle.

Their limbs were jointed like many Bug types, but their hands and feet were clawed, like a Flying type’s talons. Their angular faces featured large triangular ears and hefty mustaches. Large, poofy tails rested behind them. While most of their bodies were yellow, they almost looked to be wearing brown shirts along with some sort of banding around the tail, and there were strange red symbols on their torsos and foreheads.

Each of them held a spoon in hand, held towards the center of the circle, and their eyes were aglow with the obvious tell of Psychic power. Most of them ignored Mimikyu and himself, but the one closest to them stepped away, turning towards them and letting their eyes return to normal.

You are not welcome here. Please leave. A soft, feminine voice projected itself into their minds.

N felt Mimikyu flinch on his shoulder, but the little spirit didn’t speak up about his discomfort with Psychics.

“My apologies, we didn’t mean to disturb you.” N was a bit disappointed that their investigation would end so soon, but unlike most people, he respected the boundaries of Pokemon.

“What are ya doin’?” Mimikyu ignored the warning. “That’s an awful lot of Psychics workin’ at one thing, and I don’ see any obvious effects…”

The Kadabra’s mustache twitched. She toyed with the spoon in her grasp.

What we are doing is none of your concern, one of distortion. You nor your compatriots.

Compatriots? Ah, right, the Shadows were probably lurking nearby with their Ghost…

We’re focusing Rain Dance on the whole route. Another, distinctively male voice, immediately informed them.

The one who had broken ranks to speak with them glared at the circle.

What’s the big deal? I don’t see why it needs to be a secret.

N shared a look with Mimikyu. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting coming into this, but it definitely wasn’t an encounter like this.

Well because-

You’re being-

Just because you have some comfy League gig lined up doesn’t mean you have to act like you have a stick up your-

Every line was in the male’s voice. N wasn’t too familiar with how telepathy worked, but it seemed as if the female was directing her thoughts directly at her… friend, while he was openly broadcasting his thoughts to all of them.

Eventually the female threw her hands up in the air, stepping back into the circle and ignoring them.

Well, that’s me told, the male voice continued. But I respect curious minds. So, look, you didn’t hear this from me, but the whole eternal rain thing? That’s a team of us working around the clock. At first it was just to keep nosey humans away, but as you can tell from the well developed route straight through our land, that didn’t really work out. But then some moron left a pregnant Houndoom in the area, so now we keep it up to politely encourage that pack to stay away from us and hopefully move to a new route forever. We don’t need Dark types around here, the Bugs are bad enough.

N gaped. “Wait, you make this route suffer from constant rainfall like this to keep some Pokemon you don’t like away from you?”

Dude! What part of discretion don’t you understand? Now I’m really gonna hear it! And now she’s probably really pissed so she’ll-

Whatever the Kadabra meant to tell them, the message went unfinished. Not because he had stopped talking, but because he and Mimikyu had suddenly been teleported back out to the route.

Not on the route, mind you. Instead, they’d been left a foot off the ground, leaving them to fall into a heap on the muddy grass.

N groaned out in pain.

“What a bitch!” Mimikyu shouted. “Do you have any idea how long it’ll take me to get this out of my disguise?!”

Rubbing everywhere that ached after the sudden drop, and stopping once he realized he was just smearing mud everywhere, N glanced over at Mimikyu. His normally yellow disguise was now a gross, muddy mess, looking more like an abandoned rag than a Pikachu.

Yeah. That settles it.

N really doesn’t like this part of Sinnoh.

A moment later, the Shadows appeared. “Apologies, my Lord.” They bowed their heads in shame. “We should have acted sooner. Worry not, though, we shall see that they are repaid for their-”

“No.” N shut the idea down before it could be completed.

“...no?” another Shadow questioned.

“It’s our own fault.” Or, really, it was Mimikyu’s fault, with him being the one to poke and prod instead of just leaving immediately like N had intended. “We cannot be hostile with them for protecting their territory.” Not from a human like him, anyway. The whole Houndoom thing was concerning, though, even if he was unfamiliar with that name. “Just…” he sighed, “would you assist us in cleaning up?”

The Shadows shared a look. “Of course, my Lord.”