A Ballad for Icarus - A Historical Pokemon Quest

Winning Vote:

[X] Cubone
[X] Ask about Ray's banishment.

###

You wake up with a start, standing up so fast that you see stars in front of your eyes. A small cry announces that the weight you felt on your chest was Perun, now on the ground and not that happy about the sudden wakeup call. He looks at you with wide eyes, the cracks in his head pulsing with the same color as the bioluminescent fungus around you.

The cave you're in now is… different. It's still very much a dark and dusty cave, but the energy down here is less intense than above. You look around, finding Sophia on the ground still, looking like she's having the most restful sleep of her life.

Unfortunately for her, she's not going to stay asleep long. A Cubone stands next to her, poking her with its club. It has a rather long tail with a bright blue tip that Sophia is lying on, trapping the poor girl in a stalemate, too polite to actually attack Sophia outright.

"Here," you say, taking Sophia's arm and turning her to free the tail. The Cubone turns around, now free, and finds herself staring up at you, then back down to Sophia. "Sorry about that, we didn't mean to land here. Are you alright?"

Cubone checks her tail, then nods when satisfied that nothing is wrong with it. You can see electricity sparking when the tip touches the ground, small bolts of lightning vanishing in the darkness in fractions of a second. You nod back, looking around once more for your other party member.

Ray is not lying down at all, you see. The hole above you closed, and as she was the final one thrown in by Wilhelm, she ended up stuck with her feet in the ceiling.

It'd be funny if her face wasn't so red from all the blood rushing into it. You point at the ceiling, it's not too far, but you don't want to pull on her unless you know it'll give. "Hey, can you help with that?"

You ask both Perun and Cubone. They look at each other and nod, and you find yourself used as a ladder. Perun is on your head after climbing up your back, and Cubone takes a small leap on top of Perun's head to jump up and smash the club into the ceiling. It breaks apart, releasing Ray, who wakes up from the sudden motion.

You catch her, one arm under her head and one under her knees, slightly kneeling to cushion the fall. She growls as she finds herself in your arms, flailing about and forcing you to let go.

She falls on the ground with a thud, face first.

"You really shouldn't be moving around that much," you say. "It's dangerous."

"That fucking bastard," Ray says, pushing herself off the ground. "That utter piece of shit, how dare he, that staff doesn't belong to him!"

You move aside when she starts swinging her arms around, all the emotion she usually puts under a mask of false sincerity spilling out into movement. "Careful—"

"That stupid priest should never have been promoted, that imbecile!" Ray's fist connects to a wall, and though the loud crack sounds like a broken bone, she does not look hurt or in pain. She turns to you, her finger pointed at your face. "You let him get away!"

You raise an eyebrow, pushing her hand down gently. "I think this has become a bit more complicated than a murder, so maybe we should take a minute to gather our thoughts. There's no need to become enemies at this point, right?"

That does seem to calm her somewhat, but not by much. Her hand comes back again, grabbing your arm, drawing you in close.

"We need to get that staff," she says, her voice low and demanding. Something in her eyes looks off, different from the usual coolness she tries to put on. "If nothing else, if I can't ask you for any favor after this, that staff has to go back to the temple."

"Fine, yes," you say, taking her hand off you. You hate that grip, that feeling of fingers twisting your skin under them. "Let's wait for Sophia to wake up and then we can talk about the staff, just take a deep breath. This isn't productive, Ray."

She walks off, not too far, and without any purpose. The distance is enough for her to be alone with her thoughts and come down, so you turn to Sophia, who now has Cubone, fascinated at her deep sleep, sitting next to her.

"Wilhelm's still up there doing his nonsense," you say, irritated at how easily this man got rid of you. "Sophia, we can't stay here any longer, we have to go."

She does not stir, so you do the only thing you can. You walk up to her and pinch her nose shut.

It takes a good minute, but she starts to wake, gasping for air. You let go, watching as the now slightly blue girl comes back alive. Cubone jumps back in shock, holding her club up in two hands.

"I had such a nice dream," Sophia whines. A moment later, she remembers just how you got here and her eyes light up, now fully awake. "Where's Wilhelm?"

"Up," you say, pointing at the ceiling of the cave. There's paths out and about, though which way is up is going to be difficult to tell. "That staff of his is dangerous."

"It's not his staff," Ray says, back in the fray. "Let's trade information then, who the fuck is he?"

"That's not a polite way to ask," Sophia says. You give her a hand to stand up, shaking your head. It's not the time to fight, and that much is still true now as it was three minutes ago when you said it to Ray. "Sorry, it's been a bit of a day. That man's Wilhelm the Fool, a thief whose organization should only be active in Gildera. And it's… impossible for him to be here, really."

"Impossible?" Ray asks. You frown, thinking back to the man's face. It was undoubtedly him, from the characteristics, his way of speaking, and that stupid mug. "I guess that makes two impossible things then, that staff is a holy relic. It's not kept accessible to anyone, not even the high priest can get to it without the keys."

"Keys?" you ask. "What keys?"

"These," she says, pulling on her collar and revealing a rather ornate, triangular key hanging around her neck. "There's only three of them, and if I still have mine I don't understand how he got to the staff."

"Two impossible things indeed," Sophia says. "Aria and I fought the man over a month ago now, she broke all his limbs and left him unable to hold a spoon by himself, there's no way he's up and about. Rather, there's no way he managed to escape and cross the border. That place is shut down tighter than the royal treasury."

"I guess we'll have to break all his bones again, then," Ray says. You can see teeth as she speaks. "I don't really care about the hows and whys, if he has the staff then he can only be up to no good. It's… not something a person should wield."

The last sentence trails off into a tone you have heard from her only once before. The pain in her voice tells a story. Before you can ask, however, Cubone interrupts you, looking up at Sophia. Sophia looks down, finally noticing her previous victim and giving her a smile.

"Aw, aren't you just adorable," Sophia says, bending down to pick the Cubone up. "Did you take care of us while we were asleep? That's so nice!"

Cubone actually looks somewhat bashful at the praise, scratching the back of her head. She wiggles a bit, forcing Sophia to let go. Cubone lands on her feet, turning to Perun and saying something. Perun nods, then looks up at you and gives you a bright smile. You tilt your head, finding yourself slightly confused at what he's trying to say.

Then Cubone points her club at one of the pathways and begins to walk forward slowly. You smile back at Perun.

"Well, we have our guide," you say, clapping your hands. "So let's go, if we want to catch Wilhelm we have no time to waste."

Ray and Sophia nod. Perun takes to your shoulder, chirping in your ear.

"Inana and Spring will be fine," you say, glancing towards Ray, "and Gumi. Tauros is strong, but those three won't be stopped by it."

"It does feel quite bad," Sophia says, her hand tracing her belt until she touches Spring's Pokeball. "To be separated from him, he's… been with me since I received him from the Guards."

"Yeah," you say, your mouth dry. Sophia realizes just a moment too late, but your own separation from Skiddle is not something you've been trying to dwell on too much. You know for sure that Capella and the others will take care of her, you know for certain you'll one day be re-united.

So you have to keep going, and every step that takes you further away from Gildera will make that reunion all the more sweet. Sophia puts an arm around your shoulder, and you try to smile as she makes a joke you can barely hear.

Cubone leads you further and further in…

###

The cave walls become more artificial again and you realize just how it comes together.

"It's a temple," you say, blinking. Ray stops, turning around with narrowed eyes as she takes a look around. Really looks, rather than stomp behind Cubone the entire time. The fungus hides a lot of it, but if you really pay attention you can see faded murals. Depictions of people, abstract and ancient, so old and in a language that must precede even Ancient Elysium. "This whole thing has been a temple all along."

"It all comes down to faith," Ray says. She's finally calmed down from before, though the sharpness in her eyes and voice has not settled completely. She brushes off some of the fungus from the murals, the cracking sound returning as she touches the wall, and you can see how the images form a greater whole as Sophia makes an excellent Magikarp expression. "But it's predictable, something you can find anywhere."

"Indulge me," you say. She shakes her head, but continues nevertheless.

"Before humans reigned, Pokemon controlled the world," Ray says, tracing over the mural with a soft touch. You can see the image of a giant, humanoid something. "To protect that world of Pokemon, an ancient god created five demigods from his image. Unfortunately…"

Unfortunately humans. You can see the spears in their hands, the staves held up high, the and the three beasts depicted. You see the ancient struggle, the world of before, and after.

"Humans have something most if not all Pokemon don't," Ray says, sounding bitter. "Endless curiosity, a desire to understand and own the world around them. The things they don't understand, the things that they can't control must be destroyed and buried. You're wrong, Aria."

You frown, a tight feeling in your chest as Ray turns around and points at the image of something that initially looked like the sun to you.

"This isn't a temple, it's a tomb," she says. "For a god that we humans have killed and forgot."

"You don't sound surprised," Sophia says, leaning against a wall. Cubone is imitating her, trying to look cool after putting the club next to her as if it were a sword on her hip. "I thought you didn't know about this place?"

"I didn't," Ray says, crossing her arms and looking away. "But it's not a new story to me, it's just told differently on the surface."

Of course, history is written by the victors of a conflict. Or at least the surviving parties. You imagine that the original intention of the tomb was to honor the remains of that dead god, even if it was in conflict with the people who built it. But hundreds, thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of years, can make people forget. Generations move on, and temples are built atop of those tombs.

One man's murderer is another man's hero.

And so the cycle repeats, over and over again, as senseless greed takes and takes and takes.

"Back then, the priest's taught me that the demons had such powerful control over the weather that humans were forced to live in caves," Ray explains. She sounds bitter, as if the realization her faith was built on misinformation had taken something from her that she can't get back. "So the three beasts came and offered their help. Those ancient demons, those ancient demigods, were defeated with their help. In those places where they were fought, we built temples to honor our saviors."

"That doesn't sound completely wrong," you say. She nods. Her issue seems to lie elsewhere. "Though the version is twisted, was it wrong for those forced to live in darkness to fight back against forces of nature? Pokemon and human alike are not all the same, the beasts helped humans, your faith is still true."

"My faith does not waver," she says, nodding. "But the truth has to come to the surface, and I'll make sure it does, even if the temple becomes my enemy."

A shriek to the side makes you jump slightly. You grab the sword from your hip, the shield on your back attaching to your left arm. You see… Zubat.

A lot of Zubat. While you were talking, a group of them gathered above you, and some began to descend. Perun stands in front of you, and though Cubone tries to do the same for Sophia, she looks rather worried at the large group of wild Pokemon.

"Hey, Perun," you say. He turns his head to you, his eyes still focused on the Zubat. "Remember that thing you used to shoot Inana out of the air?"

"Heeee?" Perun asks. 'Yeah, what about it?'

"You think you can shoot down that many?"

Perun shakes his head. Too bad.

"Then I guess we'll do it differently," you say. You raise your shield. The Zubat are large, but not very heavy. You can block some of them. Ray's bag, which always seems to have some solution to whatever problem she is facing, reveals a few stones that glow in a very light blue.

"Follow my lead," Ray says. Sophia nods, drawing her sword as well. "On three, attack with everything you go. They're usually in packs, if we beat enough of them back the rest flee."

You give her a nod as well. After floating around for a little bit, the Zubat swoop in all of the sudden, the large group on the ceiling descending all at once. Just before they reach you, Ray throws the stone up. It creates a loud noise, bad enough that it rings in your ears, and much worse of the Zubat it looks like. A lot of them end up crashing on the ground, Perun hitting a few of them in the air with a beam of condensed lightning.

You see Cubone slam her club into one of the Zubat that lands in front of her. She looks to Sophia, giving a thumbs up. Sophia smiles, then slaps one of the Zubat out of the air with the flat of her blade. No need to hurt anyone more than necessary, after all it's much harder to deal with grief and anger than just plain hunger and annoyance at their nest being invaded.

"Perun," you say, holding up the blade above his head. You don't know if this will work, but you can't imagine why it shouldn't. Skarmory steel is, after all, the shed armor of a Pokemon. Perun grins, standing on both feet to touch the blade with his head, then wraps his frills around it. With a loud shout, he begins releasing electricity, charging up the blade until the blade begins to crackle. "You're a dear."

You ignore the rather annoying pang in your fingers as some of the excess electricity decides to move into your body. The hilt is not metal, so you know you can do this.

"Sophia," you say, sheathing your sword. It's a technique you've seen exactly once, and Silvia has told everyone who witnessed it to not attempt any imitation, on pains of death. "Get behind me."

She does, slapping one of the Zubat to the side and letting Cubone bat it away with her club. There's still a good two dozen of them flying in the air, having recovered fast from the strange gem that Ray used.

You take a deep breath, the sheath of your blade vibrating with all of that power and energy. There's no way you'd be able to do this without practice anywhere but Olympia, where the electric energy is so abundant that everything is filled and touched by it—but you are in Olympia.

And you really wanted to do something cool like this before.

"Lightning Blade!" you shout, drawing the sword from the sheath. It sounds like thunder, and it smells like fresh rain on dry earth. The blade sings as you slash in front of you, the bundled energy releases in a line from the tip of the blade as you trace a path among the Zubat. The lightning explodes forward, the thunderwave hitting six directly and causing them to fall out of the air again.

You don't know what Silvia has, this is eas—and there is the drawback. There is too much energy in the blade, and it has to go somewhere. Rather than swing it further around and risk hitting your friends, you stab it into the ground, releasing all that energy into the floor.

It explodes with such a force that it sends you back. Sophia catches you, sliding back a few meters as she leans forward to make sure both of you don't get hurt. Unfortunately you still haven't moved on from the mural, so those few meters end up sending you both into the wall.

Fortunately, the force of the impact is negligible. You feel a bit bruised, but that's nothing a potion can't fix up in a moment. Your hands… are burnt. Not badly, at least, but the palms definitely require some ointment. Not great, but not bad either. The Zubats turn and fly away, and Sophie lets you down slowly, sliding down the wall to sit down and catch her breath.

Perun looks… stunned. As if he never knew just what kind of power could come out of those little frills. Cubone, too, finds herself rather awed at the sight of twitching Zubat on the ground, paralyzed and quite unhappy with you. They crawl away, rather than fly, and you find yourself having to deal with a whole new problem.

"Pfff-hahahahahaha—" Ray begins to laugh. A genuine, deep laughter that causes her to hold her stomach and keeps her unable to stand straight. "Lightning Blade! HAHAHA—"

You feel your face heat up. "It's… it's what one of the Glastrier captains called it, it became her epitaph…"

"It's so—it's so childish!" Ray says, laughing even louder. The heat reaches your ears, it's not such a big deal is it? What's wrong with shouting the name of your attack? She seems to calm down for a moment, then looks at your sword, still stuck in the ground, and begins all over again.

Sophia starts laughing as well. This betrayal is too much for you, so you just ignore them all and stick your hands into your bag, getting all the medicine you need out for treatment.

They're so mean…

Steel made from Pokemon materials has unique properties. While they suffer from similar weaknesses as the Pokemon they come from, they are also aspected to the elements around them. With the proper training, you can become even more effective at combat.

When the time calls for such a boon, you must be prepared. Spreading yourself too thin will not help you become stronger, so you have to pick your preference:

[ ] Practice with Inana when you have time.
Inana is aspected to Ice. She's the memory of Gildera, of home.

[ ] Practice with Perun when you have time.
Perun is aspected to Electric. He's a reminder of the path ahead, of Sol.

###

The tomb is massive.

So massive, in fact, that your first thought comes true. You're too tired to continue, and so you decide to camp out in the cave, to continue your journey after some rest. It's not hard to start a fire, with Ray's practically infinite supplies of minor elemental stones and some of the fungus which turns out is rather flammable.

The blue flame crackles, whipping left and right as touched by unseen wind. You see Gildera in it, the Glastrier Knights, the faces of your friends. You can see Lissy make a joke, and Silvia hitting her over the head for it. You can see Ruby cooking, their smile so bright as Redwood enjoys the meal.

You can see Capella brushing Skiddle's fur, the Murkrow feather on the horn reflecting candlelight.

"You get that look in your face sometimes," Ray says, feeding the fire some more mushrooms. "When you think of home, you look like you're far away."

She's back to usual, for now. Though she still itches to continue and rip Wilhelm's head off his shoulders, the earlier bout of joy at your expense has removed some of the tension in your group and left Ray as normal, if slightly less cheerful.

"I don't know if it was home," you say. Sophia has already fallen asleep, Cubone curled up next to her. For you, sleep does not come so easily. For Ray, it must be even harder. You can see the bags under her eyes, the tiredness that must be wreaking havoc on her mind and body. "It was, it is, my people. My dearest and most precious friends."

"Home is where your heart is, isn't that right?" Ray asks. You nod, though you see she's not looking at you at all. Her eyes are distant, much like your own must be. And even though she is right in front of you, barely an arm's length away, she feels distant. "We've not had much time to talk, so I barely know a thing about you besides the nobility thing. Well, that and your old order."

You lean back, pushing against the ground and raising your eyes to the ceiling. "You heard about the commander dying?"

"There's nobody who hasn't," Ray says, nodding. Figures, there's no way something like this could stay hidden for long. You just hope that this does not encourage the nobles of Sol to become bolder. "Was that you?"

"No," you say, your voice firm. There's no energy left in you to have a stronger reaction. Perun purrs, his head on Sophia's lap as he drifts off to sleep. "Drake adopted me when I ran away from my family. I owe him more than I could have ever repaid in one lifetime. But… When he died, what was left behind was no longer me. I ran, and I ran, and I ran. I stumbled, I fought with my best friend, and at first I thought I could turn around, but…"

"It's just not the same anymore," Ray says. You nod. "So you don't want to go back?"

"I don't know," you say. Admitting this is the hardest thing you've had to come to terms with lately. "So many things make no sense, so many circumstances have led to this journey, and every time I look back at it I don't understand how I let these things get so out of hand. At first I said it was to keep my friend safe, then I argued about my desire to wander. Now I am here helping you because I can't say no when someone needs me."

"And here I thought it was because you can't say no to a cute girl," Ray says. Her distant eyes take on some shine again. She grins at you, and you can't help but smile back. "Well, fair's fair. You want to ask me anything, Miss Aria?"

You do. It's a question you've wanted to ask since that meeting in the manor.

"Why'd you get banished?" you ask. Ray stills, no breath passing her lips as she becomes more statue than person. It takes a bit for her to answer, and you do want to know, so even as you see the conflict in her eyes you don't tell her it's fine if she doesn't want to talk about it.

"Murder," you say. It's your turn to hold your breath, waiting for her to make a joke about it, to make a mockery of you for even asking and just move on as if nothing happened. She does not, her face still dead serious as she raises it, the blue flame reflecting off her eyes make them shine green. "It's the only reason anyone really gets banished, even blasphemers are more welcome than murderers."

"That can't be the whole story, can it?" you ask. She smiles softly. "Ray?"

"My mother was a priestess," she says, taking out the key from under her collar. "In the running to become the next high priestess, even. If the person in that position is a man, they are Agamemnon. If they are a woman, then they become Cassandra. To me, she was just my mom, Mika of Olympia."

You feel a chill, as if the name had summoned ghosts of the past that now fill the void around you. You inch closer to the fire, wrapping your cloak tightly around you.

"She was beautiful, and wise, and busy all the time," she continues, "but never too busy to come and sing me a song to help me fall asleep."

You don't know why, but you can feel wetness in your eyes. The heat of the fire must be drying them out.

"One day, my uncle came to me." Ray holds up her hands, tracing her fingers over the fire, drawing an image only she can see. "He says 'Ray, your mother needs your help' and I jump up, ready to do whatever she needs me to do. You see, these keys here, they're given to the two candidates. My mother was one, my uncle the other. The third key is held by the eldest cleric, who passes it on before death. It's a balance of power, safety and trust. That way, no one person has the ability to open the vault where the artifacts lie."

You've heard of similar systems before, though the meticulousness feels largely over the top. What would stop someone from simply killing those three and taking it? That's—hm.

"High Priest Agamemnon was… your uncle?" you ask. You try not to frown, you really do, but your mouth hangs open loosely and your eyes are still stinging. Ray nods. What a mess.

"The high priest gives one key to the youngest cleric." She draws that image again, and you really wish you could see through her eyes right now. "They keep the other key for ten years. That is how long Raikou stayed at the temple after killing the demon."

"Then he picks a candidate?" you ask. She nods.

"He gives his key to the person that should succeed him," she says. "So we have two candidates. The youngest cleric at the time, my uncle, who had years to become worthy of the mantle. And the person who the high priest favored, my mother. In the end, the choice is left to the temple. Everyone has a vote, even the children who haven't yet become clerics or priests."

That's one way to create resentment. While it's above you to complain about the ridiculous ways of an old faith, and the rather convoluted ways they choose a successor, it does feel unfortunate that it was siblings who had to fight for the position.

There's a different kind of ache in your heart when you think about fighting your brother.

"My uncle held all three keys on that day, he stole the others." She stops tracing that picture, her hand clenching into a fist above the fire. It flickers away for a moment, then appears again. "He said she needed the staff from the vault to… to be acknowledged as high priestess. So he sent me to get it. He gave me all the keys and sent me on my way in the middle of the night."

That explains her fury about the staff. You can imagine where the story goes from here, but you don't interrupt her. Ray looks almost relieved to tell it, as if it finally has to come out. You know that feeling, after all. To finally tell someone your truth.

"When I got to the vault, nobody was there. Usually there's guards there, but on that day there was a smell in the air and nothing else. So when I entered the vault, nothing seemed off. I got the staff, and my mother caught me."

She laughs, short and wistful.

"She was so angry, I've never been scolded by her before. I let go of the staff, and it exploded on the ground. Electricity everywhere, so much power, so much… destruction. All of it."

"That's… an accident, that's not murder, Ray."

"Maybe not. My uncle was made high priest so quickly, and then when they held a tribunal, he was the one that said I was just a child, they couldn't execute me. So they banished me. In the same vein, as a child, my imagination must be running wild. My uncle? Stealing all the keys and sending me to get the ancient relic? Whatever for, he was going to be high priest anyway! My mother never had a chance."

"Nobody asked how the keys got in your possession?"

"Nobody cared, some said my mother was the one trying to steal the staff, most quietly swept it under the rug," she says. "Because the only candidate left was my uncle, and anyone who opposes him when he just ascended will have a difficult life. They closed their eyes and ears, they sewed their mouths shut. They all knew it was true, they all knew he was responsible, they just didn't care enough about my mother to fight back."

"I'm sorry," you say. You don't know what else you can add. You don't know what to say and how to say it so you can touch someone's heart and take away even a fraction of that grief you can see on her face. "Even if your uncle paid for this with his life, I know it is too little and too late. I'm truly sorry this happened to you, Ray."

"Yeah, well," Ray says. You can see how a joke forms on her tongue, how easy it would be for her to dismiss your words and try to continue as if she hasn't just shared the most intimate details of her life with you. She doesn't. She simply nods. "Thank you, Aria. For listening, and everything else."

You move over to her, reaching out for a moment before pulling your arms back. You don't know what you're thinking, but it seems like your motion was enough to take care of the rest. Ray buries her head in your chest, her arms wrapping around you so tightly you wouldn't be able to remove her without maximum effort.

"That staff has to be locked away," she whispers. Her shoulders are shaking. "Promise me, Aria. Promise we'll succeed."

"I promise," you say, putting your arms around her. "We'll beat the shit out of that asshole and get it back."

There is no way you can't now, not when you know just what kind of reason she has. Even if you didn't hate Wilhelm with your entire being, you'd still kick that man's ass for Ray.

You have forged a new bond.

Even a corrupt institution could not shake her faith, which she shared with her mother. Her uncle banished her, for as corrupt and disgusting as he was, he still could not bring himself to call for the execution of his own niece.

That she stole away with one of the keys became apparent only later. Even back then, Ray was quite quick with her fingers. She will be a valuable friend and ally in the days to come.

The way up is treacherous. Your partners are still up there, likely following the path down to find you the same way as you are going to meet them. There's multiple paths, Cubone says. She draws on the ground with her club, revealing…

[ ] … the path to the left contains a dangerous dragon-like Pokemon.

[ ] … the path to the right contains a dangerous ninja-like Pokemon.

[ ] … the path to the middle contains a dangerous dinosaur-like Pokemon.