[ti]location[/ti] THUNDERFALL SHRINE

Saint chewed his lip. “Are you sure about this?”

The Mantyke floated around his head, giving him a full view of its little smile. It was the second Mantyke he’d obtained, one that had been sitting idle in his box save for when he’d let it out with the rest of the team for check-ups and play time. And it was happy, yes—but it was a monotonous existence. Saint was reminded of Slushie, and how the vulpix, too, had yearned for change.

But this wasn’t the same. Visiting the shrine would not offer Mantyke a new form, or new life.

Quite the opposite, at least in Saint’s mind.

Impatient, Mantyke turned around, and Saint hurriedly grabbed it out of the air.

“Please listen to me! This won’t let you fly higher—or, at least I don’t think it will.” He tried to pull it back down, and it whined. “You will be exalted. Do you know what that means?”

<Yes!> Mantyke chirped. <I will be free! I will reach the heavens!>

Saint wanted to throw himself into the sea. “No! You’ll be gone. Do you understand?” He had never done this before. He didn’t think he would ever need to, but Mantyke continued to struggle against him. “If you want to fly, I can evolve you into a Mantine! Wouldn’t that work too?”

Mantyke thrashed harder. <No! I’ll still be stuck here, floating like a balloon! I want to fly.> It grew quiet, for a little while. <I want to be a part of something greater than this. I thought I would be, if I joined you.>

Saint tensed. He held Mantyke close to him, looking at the shrine. “… A day. Could you wait a day to think this over?”

<Half a day. No! An hour.>

Saint rested his chin on the Mantyke’s little head, and miraculously, it didn’t push him. It took a long time for him to say, “An hour.”

They waited an hour.

And even longer than that.



The shrine glowed prettily in the end, the altar clear where Mantyke’s pokeball had lain.

Saint EXALTED MANTYKE TO THE SHRINE

Adarsa groaned. He was on reduced, right? Dustily, he flipped open his UI. Yes. Reduced pain threshold. So why did it hurt so much? It felt like he'd been hit by a truck.

He'd never been hit by a truck, but this was probably the amount of pain someone would be in if they were. Gingerly, he got to his feet again, dusting himself off. Maybe- maybe he could wait a while, before going back. Mars was strong and capable, wasn't he?

“And this is Thunderfall Shrine,” Kazuki explained. “It’s the shrine for the giant fuckoff bird called Zapdos. The one I made for you is smaller, but you can still grow up to kick his ass one day. Are you listening?”

The baby zygarde paused from where it was crawling over a big juicy apple, peeling itself off to beep at him incoherently. <.- ... ...!>

“Is this how you’re going to talk?” Kazuki asked, frustrated. “Or is this just the worm version of baby speech?” He shook his head. “Why am I even asking… just eat your lunch.”

<. .- - . .- - . .- - . .- -> It lay back down on the apple, resuming its crawl. Kazuki watched, arms crossed and sitting in lotus position, as if observing a koi pond as Leech finally arrived at its destination: the hole. Or rather, the leafy stem of the apple, if that leafy stem was actually two blinking eyes.

The beady eyes glared, and Leech glared back. A small mouth opened from the beak-like end of its face, and it very slowly tried to eat its opponent.

The applin closed its eyes and smacked it. Leech cried out, shriveling back.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Kazuki growled, nudging Leech with a finger. It had the same effect as trying to peel off adhesive, Leech immediately clinging to his skin and refusing to let go, like a child with a warm blanket. “Leech, get off! If you can’t even take an apple, nature is going to select you for compost in the sky!”

The applin rolled its eyes, spending the rest of the afternoon watching Giant Idiot try to unpeel his crying leech from his hands.

The shrine was not close to the Dune District, especially not on foot. Even with RUNNING SHOES, Alicia Westfield would be on her own for far too long. She didn't stand a chance on her own. The return trip aboard Granmarg would be much faster than the trip on foot, thank the Great One.

As the blonde approached the Thunderfall Shrine, his hair stood on end, as though lightning could strike him at any moment. He had already survived a lightning strike in the Surge Steppes. The voltage here felt like it would be even more merciless, as though the bolt was anything but natural. Divine, even. Taking a deep breath, Josh put his hand against the metal spire, bracing himself to receive a small "blessing" from the legendary Pokémon the shrine was erected to.

Small, green recovery numerals cascaded near him as a surge of static locked his muscles up. He felt like he was going to be fried any moment, the static making every pore on his body rise. Just as he felt like he was about to be struck by lightning, the intense tingling feeling ceased.

Clicking Granmarg's Poké Ball, Josh released and quickly mounted the Mudsdale. "Let's go! There isn't much time to waste!" With a solemn nod, he responded to the rider's jabbing knees by getting up to speed as quickly as his muscles (and parameters fueling them) would allow.

It had been a while.

Kazuki sat atop one of the crushed skyscrapers, watching the massive pillar of metal sticking out from the floodwaters. He didn’t see any familiar faces, and with his pokemon still tucked in their pokeballs, he opted to wander the perimeter.

Despite the open space, the thrumming ozone, his steps felt like they echoed in this place. It crawled over his skin like static, and his curiosity did not last.

He hopped away from the spire after a quick tune up, deciding to find something for his time.