From the Vast (Pokémon Fanfiction)

Autumn was left speechless after her daughter had departed for her duties, uncertain how open she should be with Anne. One thing was clear, though—she wanted to cheer the poor girl up, especially with how her mind felt like it was withdrawing more and more by the minute. Maybe a few pats on the arm could work—

Anne recoiled the moment the Indeedee touched her, letting out a sound somewhere between a whimper and a gasp. She stared at the Psychic-type wide-eyed as her brain played catchup, feeling self-conscious about her abrupt reaction. “~O-oh, sorry Mrs—~”

“^Shhhhh, it’s okay, sweetie. My fault for not asking first,^” Autumn reassured. Her words soothed Anne’s mind before it could start tying itself into knots again. She nodded with a shy smile as her arm returned to its previous spot within Autumn’s reach. Once there, the Indeedee went for it again, her motions slower, more telegraphed, and much more effective at calming the girl. “^There, there, I’m here Anne. If there’s a way I can help let me know, okay?^”

Anne nodded along automatically, before pausing to actually consider the Indeedee’s words. Her gaze roamed away from the psychic as she gathered her words, mumbling out, “~C-could I ask some questions?~”

Autumn responded with a beaming smile and a nod of her own. Being able to climb on the bed would be useful for this; there should’ve been a footstool around or something… welp, guess not.

“^Of course! Answers are the least you deserve in here after all this. Actually, lemme try—^”

Before Anne could ask what the little psychic was going to do, the grandma answered for herself. Her old body didn’t appreciate the minor display of athletics as it attempted to climb onto the edge of the bed—and neither did her old mind that had to help her with a touch of telekinesis.

Autumn might’ve made an awkward, clumsy joke out of herself, but with it being enough to break through some of Anne’s anxiety, she didn’t regret it one bit. The girl did tense up once she realized her giggles were noticed, but it wasn’t anything that couldn’t be helped by the Indeedee getting in on the joke and laughing, too. “^Oh don’t you worry, Anne. I know full well I made a bit of a show of myself, hah!^”

“~Yeah, heh.... Umm, as to the question... wh-where are we?~”

Autumn hesitated, unsure how much of their secrecy was now fair game with the girl. Eventually, she settled on ‘all of it’—they wouldn’t be sending her away anytime soon, anyway. “^Well~, we never agreed on a name for this village; none of them sat right with Orion, hah. I know it’s smaller than your human town, though, and nestled in between two of them.^”

Anne’s eyes shot wide from behind her glasses as she leaned in and whispered, “~L-like, an entire village? A village of Pokemon?~”

“^Mmmhm~!^”

“~Wow...~”

The girl’s mind couldn’t help but think back to a book she’d read years ago, its plot so similar on the surface. A secret Pokemon society away from prying human eyes, rescuing abused mons and fighting criminals. She’d read and re-read it so many times the spine started to wear out. And with her being too self-conscious to bring it up to Mrs. Graham, eventually she just stopped borrowing it to not accidentally break it.

Granted, a prehistoric-looking settlement in the middle of the forest didn’t have the sophistication of a futuristic underworld, but Anne would take Aria and Autumn over every single character in that book combined.

“~That’s... I-I had no idea places like that really existed. I-I remember reading a fictional story about it, but just that...~”

“^Yep, we sure exist! I don’t even think we’re unique or anything—if we could make it work in such a tight bind between two human towns, then there have to be many more in more accommodating places.^”

The mention of a bind between towns made Anne think of what that actually implied. She didn’t remember the local geography perfectly, but she could still try sketching out the broad strokes. Hopefully, it’d be enough for Autumn to point at where this magical place in the woods fit in the area. “~O-oh, in between Mylock and L-Lillywood? Like this—~”

Autumn was left taken aback at just how quickly Anne’s thought process sped up in the few seconds that followed, jumping between a few increasingly anxious topics. The little one wanted to show her something, but in order to do that, she had to pull it out of her bag. This made her shuffle over to the edge of the bed, shifting the blanket before her and her immobilized arm before admitting the inevitable to herself.

The reasoning behind each individual action was completely lost on Indeedee, and so was Anne’s anxious resignation at the end. Confused, she slid over and asked cautiously, “^Is everything okay, Anne?^”

Anne’s gaze was glued to the covers as she ‘umm’ed and ‘eh’ed for a moment. The awkward search for words took Autumn off guard with how out of nowhere it was.

“~I’ll have t-to put my clothes on...~”

Sounded difficult without one arm, but nothing the Indeedee couldn’t assist with. “^Okay! Let me know if you need any help with it.^”

As confusing as Anne’s anxiety was, the blank, deadpan stare she gave the psychic grandma in response only dumbfounded her even more. The two remained at an impasse before Autumn spoke up again, raising an eyebrow in return.

“^Is something wrong?^”

“~I-I... okay, right, I forgot. Umm... c-could you leave the room while I do it?~” Anne asked, her words as clear to Autumn as the intent behind them was hard to understand.

She was about to ask for an explanation before sensing just how much of the girl’s anxiety was tied to the mundane-sounding part of putting clothes on. Sure, Anne’s clothes were both more plentiful and fancier than anything anyone in the village wore, so maybe they had some cultural importance? Or were a ceremony one did on their own, like Celia’s secluded rituals?

“^Alrighty, I can do that. Shout if you need help Anne, I’ll be waiting outside.^”

Autumn felt palpable relief fill the girl’s body in response, cementing her decision. She would have to talk about all this with Aria later, but for now, there was no harm in giving Anne her privacy. The moment the Indeedee stepped out of Anne’s impromptu room and stood guard, she heard cloth being shuffled and items rattling about. As good a confirmation as any that her anxiety had something to do with being watched.

Maybe it was related to her holding the covers to her front, too? Something to ask her about once she was done, either way. Autumn was in no rush, watching their healers either chat with or tend to the other patients in their clinic. The mysterious human in the next room over was brought up a few times, but the mix of emotions was much fear as it was good wishes.

Eventually, the Indeedee closed her eyes and started humming to herself to burn time—only for a low, croaky, feminine voice to break her impromptu meditation soon after, “Autumn?”

“Good afternoon, Esther. Is something the matter?” the Indeedee answered in her physical voice.

“You have been standing like this for a while now. Is there something wrong with the human?”

“No, no, she is just putting on clothes, and asked me to step out until she’s done.”

The Indeedee opened her eyes to reveal a Blissey staring her down. Surprised that the human had woken up, annoyed that she wasn’t kept in the loop about it. “I wasn’t aware she woke up again. Well, once she is done, let me know. We ought to take another look at the mess of her arm and see if it needs any further intervention.”

“Hah, your expertise coming in useful again after all these years?”

“I wish it wasn’t,” Esther grumbled, taking Autumn back.

The Indeedee didn’t like the tone of it one bit, making her prod further. “Well, from what I and Aria have been talking with her so far, she’s been nothing but sweet.”

“From my experience, many a human are until they’re in a position where they can be terrible without suffering repercussions.”

“That’s a rather cynical way to look at it all.”

“And one I have experienced more times than I can count,” the Blissey asserted, making Autumn renege. Only one of them had the lived experience necessary to form an opinion like this, and it wasn’t the Indeedee.

“Right, right, my bad. Well, I certainly hope that she’ll be an exception to that rule, then. If you don’t mind me asking a question, though...”

“Hmm?”

“Could you have a clue why the whole clothes thing had her get so anxious and ask me to step out?”

Esther blinked before chuckling under her breath. It might’ve been decades since she’d last seen a human—until this whole mess began—but she wouldn’t ever forget respecting patients’ privacy being drilled into her back at the human hospital. “Ah yes, the human so-called modesty,” she began, trying her hardest not to roll her eyes. “I think it is a cultural thing. There’s some big rule against the front or the groin being visible without any coverings in their society. Or just the groin in case of males. I’ve no clue what the reason is for it—I’ve seen what’s under these coverings plenty and it’s about as normal and mundane as I am. Some fatty lumps for females on their front, and the usual set of bits between the legs. More exposed than with most species, so that may be why? I genuinely have no idea.”

As their chief healer gave her answer, Autumn listened in on what was going on in Anne’s room. The shuffling noises had mostly ceased by then, but the girl hadn’t given them an all-clear yet. Hell, she only got more annoyed by the moment.

“I see... well, don’t see a reason to disrespect it if it’s that important for them. Though, she’s been at it for a while now. ^Anne? Are you alright?^” Autumn called, switching to telepathy halfway through. Her words startled the girl, resulting in several drawn out ‘umm’s and ‘eh’s as she shuffled around the bed.

“~Oh no no, just c-can’t get this stupid knife to go through, ugh...~”

Anne’s response left both Autumn and Esther dumbfounded. The Indeedee almost went back there and then before asking again, more urgently this time, “^Anne, what’s wrong?^”

“~Nothing, just I-I tried to tear this sleeve a-and… *sigh*, you can come in.~”

The girl’s clarification cleared up precious nothing, but a go-ahead was welcome much the same.

Esther and Autumn stepped in to a messy sight on Anne’s bed. At least some of her dress-up had gone successfully, as evidenced by a sock-clad foot dangling from the side of the bed. Upper body clothing was clearly the main obstacle, its left sleeve trying to be torn open with the big girl Anne had gotten from… somewhere. Unsuccessfully.

“^Goodness Anne, what were you trying to do there?^” Autumn asked.

The girl looked away in embarrassment at the situation, more so because Autumn having to step in, as opposed to the mess on her bed. “~The cast won’t fit through, so I-I tried to cut the sleeve open and c-couldn’t manage...~”

As straightforward as the explanation was, it still left questions. Autumn walked over to inspect the knife, utterly confused by its presence there. Esther, however, took it upon herself to solve the problem directly. Anne gasped as the Normal-type grabbed the shirt’s left sleeve and tore it open in her hands, leaving only a thin strap to rest on her shoulder.

“~Oh—like this! T-thank you... M-Mrs. Blissey?~”

Human speech was one of these sounds that had only grown more grating in hindsight for Esther, but she couldn’t deny that being thanked, so honestly and innocently, felt rather nice. The Blissey settled on a curt smile, equal parts forced and genuine, and a small bow.

“^Her name is Esther, Anne. But, the knife—were you carrying it with yourself in that bag? What for?^”

“~Thank you, Mrs. Esther. A-and, um... I...~”

Needing help with tearing a sleeve open was embarrassing, sure, but the topic ahead was even worse in that regard. Autumn regretted asking, about to clarify that Anne didn’t need to respond before the girl went ahead anyway, “~I-I was scared... thought that I c-could at least try defending myself with a knife like that if I-I ended up on the street...~”

Autumn’s comprehension of Anne’s explanation was limited by not entirely understanding the meaning of ‘ending up on the street’. That wasn’t an obstacle Esther faced, though, melting through much of her hesitation. Even the Indeedee understood the desire for self-defense, which… made little sense either. At least, until she remembered how weak humans stripped of all their inventions were said to be. The mental image of a child waving a knife much too large for her hand for intimidation was just… sad.

“^Oh, dear... I’m so sorry.^”

“~It’s okay now, d-don’t worry Mrs. Autumn! It was silly of me to bring it, I-I know...~”

“A bit, but I doubt you’d be able to get a hold of a gun. Autumn, could you tell her we’ll be looking at her arm, and it might get bloody?” the Blissey asked, her mumbling, squeaky voice catching Anne off-guard.

Autumn was there to convey the gist, thankfully, “^She’s saying that they’ll need to take a look at your arm, and it’ll be rather bloody.^”

“~O-oh...~”

The Indeedee barely needed her sixth sense to realize how spooked that idea made Anne. She wanted to suggest something else before Esther cut in, “I think if we slide the bed a bit, we’ll be able to use the curtains as a divider. Yeah, that’ll work. Tell her to finish changing and then we’ll get to it.”

The Indeedee passed the message on before leaving the room with Esther. She felt the relief and triumph that shortly followed, calming her down as the Blissey got ready. It took Anne a bit longer than expected to get ready again, and once the two women stepped back in, Autumn spotted the reasons for the delay—a few items scattered beside Anne, away from her broken arm.

Before the elderly psychic could even offer help, Esther sprung into action, reaching down and dragging the entire bed, patient included, about a foot or so. Anne gripped to the bed tight at the sudden motion, but couldn’t get a word in before the curtains around the bed were rolled down. A bit of fine-tuning later, the Blissey had them just down enough to obscure her arm from the girl’s perspective, while avoiding any further slack.

In the meantime, Autumn scooted over to the bed’s other side, not particularly caring for the bloody sight underneath the cast, either. Comforting the human through the checkup—now that was up her alley. As her hand was being stroked, Anne got a good feel for the weird sensations coming from her broken arm. The entire limb was still almost completely devoid of any feelings—slight coldness once the cast was taken off aside. Before she could grow distraught, thinking about how messed up her arm must be now, Autumn distracted her with a topic from earlier, “^So, what was it you wanted to show me Anne—and what are those?^”

Despite how self-explanatory the slightly chewed large format notebook and an equally worn down pen were for the human, the chubby psychic was clueless about them. Anne didn’t realize that before she got into it, flipping the pages until she found a large enough clean spot for her drawing and explaining, “~Oh, just my notebook and a pen. S-so, this village is like—~”

The bird’s-eye sketch of the surrounding area did little to clarify Autumn’s confusion, including about how Anne was even drawing it. Her thick, rectangular canvas looked like it was made of an uncountable number of smaller, hair-thin rectangles, most already drawn on.

A closer inspection revealed the short stick in Anne’s good hand to be adding black lines onto the sheet with its every motion. The color made Autumn think of decals being burned in wood, but with none of the associated warmth or smoke. As the human worked on her under-explained idea, the Indeedee’s attention shifted to the sketches in every corner of the opened pages. More than a few Fennekin, two drawings of an Arcanine roaring and sleeping respectively, a lovely drawing of some small insect creature buzzing around, and… all of them looked really pretty.

Much of the exact detail was absent, sure, likely owing to the limitations of the medium and Anne’s tools. But what was there was clear enough for Autumn to make out what species she was looking out, what they were feeling, and especially what they were doing, each pose livelier than the last.

It wasn’t the most intricate artwork even in the borders of their village, but that didn’t make it any less aesthetically pleasing. The Indeedee was so entranced by all the tiny sketches to where it took Anne tapping her paw to catch her attention after she was done, only for the psychic to speak up, “^Goodness Anne, these are all really pretty!^”

The girl shrunk and blushed at such a direct compliment. She tried her hardest not to move as her gaze darted all over except at the Indeedee. “~Th-th-thank you! I’m glad you like them! If—if you want I can draw you too, Mrs. Autumn!~”

The reception of Anne’s art and the offer that followed were equally unexpected. The girl didn’t expect her meager artistic skills to ever get appreciated this much, especially not in a village of mons who could all do much more impressive things.

Meanwhile, Autumn got downright giddy at the opportunity to be depicted by someone so skilled. “^Oh, I’d love to! Should I try a specific pose, or—^”

“~This one works q-quite well, if you could hold it! N-need experience with more unusual poses like this, anyway...~”

The realization that her arm was having a surgery done on it less than two feet away from her didn’t have room to settle into Anne’s mind as she got into her element. With every line drawn, more of her shakiness and anxiety evaporated, until only the flow remained. Autumn watched close as a large empty spot in the girl’s notebook was filled up with her likeness—or at least, with what would become her likeness.

Bit by bit, the handful of basic geometric shapes became so much more than just angles and lines. One circle turned into her waist and got more of a definition, another became her head and horns, a small cylinder became her upper arm. Many gradual changes, all smooth yet skillful enough that to the Indeedee it might as well have been magic.

Occasionally, Anne’s left shoulder twitched before she reminded herself of that limb being out of service. It made her put the enchanted stick down and bring her good hand up to her eye, muttering something about perspective and horizon as she stuck her fingers out in all sorts of ways.

It really let Autumn notice how weird her hands were.

She was far from unused to defined hands—Aria’s and Marco’s were firmly on the more intricate end of the spectrum, with quite a few degrees of freedom. They paled compared to Anne’s, though, and it wasn’t even close; both in terms of the number of fingers and their flexibility. And with that came the less-than-pleasant realization of just how thin and sinewy they were. The individual bones that underlaid them were much too visible for comfort, making Autumn feel squeamish. If nothing else, Anne was getting as much use out of them as possible, giving her a very intricate and accurate grip of her stick.

Her immense focus helped, too.

It was enough for her to not even notice Esther wrapping up their handiwork on the other side of the curtain. She was done most of the way with Autumn’s sketch by then, with only the surrounding detail left. The window with someone peeking through it, the creases on the covers, the corners of the irregularly shaped room, even the specks of dust in the air.

And then; she was finally done. “~Alright, I-I think I’m finished! W-what do you think, Mrs. Autumn—oh?~”

It took the girl until now to consciously notice the curtain having been pulled up and her cast replaced with a new, slightly less bulky one. As she blinked through her confusion, the Indeedee gasped at seeing the completed sketch, “^Anne, this is gorgeous! I’ve never seen myself drawn like this—this is incredible! I can’t thank you enough for this, sweetie.^”

While Anne attempted to not combust in a fluster at the Indeedee’s praise, her exhaustion began to creep up on her. After a few groggy blinks, her attention shifted to the sour pick-me-up juice from earlier—or rather, the empty bottle that once held it.

“~It’s really n-nothing, it’s just a sketch, so much missing detail and oversimplification—~”

“^But it looks so nice! I’m sure most of our artists could even learn a thing or two from you~.^”

That particular compliment had Anne blush bright red and glance away. She was equal parts embarrassed and giddy at Autumn’s words, trying to figure out how much of an exaggeration it was.

Her body answered with a drawn out yawn.

“^Aww, tired?^” Autumn giggled.

“~No no, I-I don’t think so at least. I didn’t f-feel tired before...~”

“^That’s what Heal Pulse does to you, honey. I’m sure some of Holly’s concoction will help you push through that—oh?^” The sight of an emptied cup made the Indeedee try to telekinetically weigh the bottle, predictably finding it empty. No matter, she knew exactly what to do. “^Sounds like you need a refill, then! Would you want me to get you some while you nap or just rest in the meantime?^”

Nap, not really, but rest... Anne could use some of that, yeah.

The idea of not having anyone around that could understand her was a bit worrying, yes, but forcibly distracting herself away from it was as good an antidote to that as any other worrisome thought. Not perfectly, but well enough to last her until the psychic grandma got back—

Anne blinked in confusion at feeling her hair being ruffled without any physical touch. She looked around the room before it finally clicked together at the sound of Autumn’s departing giggle. And then, it was just her, with clothes this time. Trying to just close her eyes and clear her mind had drowsiness creep up on her fast enough to almost knock her out there and then. Instead, she tried a different approach, reaching into the side pocket of her backpack and pulled out the stashed book; the makeshift bookmark of a card left bent from handling.

Suffice to say that a crime thriller about a murderous, vengeful Gardevoir had lost all its scare factor after her chat with Aria. Especially with it having been more comforting than anything she’d experienced since her grandma was still around. And with Autumn acting much like her grandma once did, too…

A-anyway—it was really hard to take any of that book’s events seriously now. It left her giggling as she started flipping through the pages to where she’d last left off—before seeing the shadow being cast on them move, making her look up at the window.

How long has that Dartrix been staring at her for!?

The Rowlet family had always sat in a weird spot for Anne, right between ‘cool’ and ‘very intimidating’. They looked neat, but the mental image of being shot or impaled by one of their quills sent chills down her spine every time she read their entries in the dexes.

On a rational level, it wasn’t any more dangerous than the myriad of other methods of hunting or self defense almost all mon species had available to them; she knew that well. It just felt… so much more viscerally unnerving in a way Anne had a hard time explaining. Kinda like her father when he started waving his service gun around—

Her train of thought was interrupted by the grassy owl leaning in closer after being spotted. It then took the gun analogy to another level by waving its loaded wing at her, its expression inscrutable. Anne had no idea what the gesture implied and was too scared to think of what to do in response. Maybe if she’d just waved back, it would leave her alone? As opposed to other terrifying possibilities, such as interpreting it as her own attempt at intimidation.

Neither, as it turned out.

Anne flinched backwards with a yelp as the Dartrix breached the magical window and perched on the edge of her bed. It spoke up in birdsong, not stopping even as it eyed her out from all sorts of angles. She could only imagine it was trying to speak to her, and hoped it would get the clue soon after. As scared as she still was, the lack of any aggressive displays slowly melted through her fear, bit by bit.

Thankfully, the bird seemed to be aware of having accidentally spooked her. The movements that followed were much more telegraphed as it inched towards her, steps clumsy from inexperience. Its head craned as it scanned over her book and notebook alike. Anne hoped she’d be able to speed its visit along by holding up her most recent scribble for it to get a better look. Its reactions were lively, if nothing else—loud, drawn out chirps as it looked all around, before its attention snapped back over at the girl, much to another, smaller startle.

Her reaction made it pause, one wing stroking its chin as it clearly tried to think through something. It even looked… quite cute while doing so, even if Anne was still unnerved as hell. Soon after, it finally settled on a plan of action, taking the girl aback even if she couldn’t disagree with the results. Before she could react, the owlet hopped the rest of the way over and… hugged her.

For a few long moments, all she could do was freeze as her brain played catchup. Once it had caught up to what was going on, not even it could deny how clear the gesture’s intent was. It was all scary, but… it—no, they—seemed to mean her well. After letting go of the notebook, she returned the embrace. The grassy birdie was much warmer to the touch than she would’ve thought. Even their cooing really sounded like they were trying to comfort her.

“~Th-thank you...~”

She felt them perk up at her words as her eyes grew damp. For a while, she just held them like this, relaxing to the backdrop of their incomprehensible bird noises. Their hug wouldn’t end up lasting all that long before they hopped back a couple of paces and smiled at her; the expression clear despite their unemotive beak.

“~D-did you come here to check on me?~” she asked. As expected, they only responded by tilting their head. Anne didn’t let that discourage her, lightly bowing to show her gratitude instead—and giggling at seeing it be returned moments later “~Heheh. Wonder if...”

Struck by an idea, Anne grabbed her notebook before flipping through the pages in search of another spot large enough for a sketch. The birdie watched with interest all the while—until realizing that they were the one the girl had just started drawing.

The realization caught them off guard, leaving them looking around the spot in search of the right spot to perch on before settling right in front of Anne—on her legs, even. Once they landed, they struck a pose of either waving at her or showing off their wing.

Quite a difference in possible connotation.

“~Hmm... I-I think I can salvage this, yeah—~”

The pen whizzed over the lined paper as the Dartrix began to take form on the page. At some point, Anne didn’t even need to glance up at them anymore, filling the detail in from memory. Once the birdie had caught onto that fact, they finally lowered their aching wing and leaned in, cooing at the progress of the drawing.

Right as Anne was getting into shading, though, loud bangs from nearby startled both her and the owlet alike. The Dartrix couldn’t get more than a couple of confused chirps out before the noises got more defined, turning into loud squeaks and honks. They sounded like they came from right around the corner—before the unexpected guest showed themselves.

A Dartrix watching her through the window was one thing, at least they were covert in their… curiosity. Something that couldn’t be said in the slightest about the bouncy, bubbly Azumarill that half-stepped, half-hopped into the room. Anne only got a brief glimpse of the gourd and a tied bundle in their hands before they got to speaking—and didn’t stop until the owlet chirped in.

Their silence ended up being very temporary, though at least once it had resumed, it was aimed the other way; loud honks towards the room’s exit answered with quiet, panting squeaks. The source of the latter emerged moments later; Anne feeling bad at seeing Autumn completely out of breath like this.

And with the little psychic came clarity.

Anne’s mind itched as the Indeedee focused on providing a translation for them all again, following up with a telepathic comment as she caught her breath, “^There, there Holly, she can hear you now! I told you that you didn’t have to run—^”

“There we go! Now,” the freshly identified Holly spoke, “here ya go, Anne! Your meal.”

The Azumarill’s delivery was grasped by Autumn’s green shimmer and hovered over to the bedside table as the psychic sighed in exasperation.

“~Th-thank you! Wait, d-did you make these?~” Anne asked.

“Sure did! Your personal juice blend and a hearty batch of cookies. Ya needed a proper welcome gift in here!”

Cookies took Anne aback in particular. Even the mention of the treat evoked memories of a better, safer time, making the girl shake a bit. “~Th-that’s—that’s so nice of you. I-I—~”

“Doncha fret about it Anne, my pleasure! Ya sure deserve an actual welcome after all the dumb worrying the scouts were doing earlier.” Holly brushed off. Anne wasn’t sure what the Azumarill meant, but was more than content to just appreciate the gift.

Still, she really wanted to return the kind gesture, somehow. “~But, I-I want to pay back—~”

“Hush hush now! I mean it when I say I’m glad to do this. I don’t ever need anything in return, sweetie.”

“~H-how about a drawing?~”

For once, the Azumarill was the confused one in the room. Anne clarified by bringing over her notebook for Holly to get a better look. The rabbit’s eyes turned wide as saucers as she scanned the pages, commenting, “Hot damn we’re got an artisty girl in here! Jovie’s gonna have a field day with you sometime, hah!”

“^Maybe let’s not rush ahead that far into the future Holly...^” Autumn chided.

“Right right right. Anywho—prolly best I haul myself back over to the pantry, hah! The rush is gonna pick up anytime now—you take care of yourself Anne, stop by sometime once you’re better!”

With the encouraging words dispensed, the Azumarill turned on her heels and headed out. Her tail bounced on the carpeted floor as she turned the corner, calling out towards someone unseen, “Hey—”

Her greeting got abruptly cut off, dumbfounding Anne for a moment. It was probably just a limitation of Autumn’s translation or something. The Indeedee, on the other hand, smirked at the Dartrix still perched on Anne’s legs, asking with a voice equally chiding and curious, “^Blossom~?^”

“Good afternoon Autumn! I-I—umm...” the owlet chirped back, searching for words. Anne sure didn’t expect their translated voice to sound like a teen only a couple of years older than herself. Autumn broke into a quiet chuckle, shaking her head as the Grass-type replied, “I wanted t-to check up on her!”

“^And how is she~?^”

“She—”

The realization that the lanky, pink artist could now understand her took its time to hit Blossom. Once it did, though, the Dartrix wasted no time hopping towards the girl and speaking back up, excited, “Aaaaa hi! My name is Blossom! How do you draw so nicely!?”

Anne couldn’t resist laughing at the question; the owlet’s earlier excitability made all the sweeter. “~I’m A-Anne! And hehe, I’ve b-been drawing for a few years now, had a lot of practice w-when I was younger.~”

As simple and obvious as the answer was, Blossom grew even giddier at hearing it. Her curiosity soon spread to other items, especially the medium on which Anne’s art took place.

“That’s so cool! What is that stick you draw with? It looks so weird! Oh oh oh, are you gonna be staying here!?”

The mostly drained, clear pen was as boring as it got—for Anne, at least. Its brass tip shone faintly as the girl held it up for the owlet and grandma to see, which, combined with the translucent material, made it look downright magical. Right as Anne was about to get into the weeds of how the simple device worked, the follow-up question made her freeze in uncertainty.

“^So far all the signs are pointing to ‘yes’, Blossom, Anne will likely stay here for a while,^” Autumn answered. Her words weren’t entirely confident, but it was enough for the human girl to go ahead with showing off her tool.

“~A-anyway. This is a pen. It lets out a tiny bit of ink when I move the tip over a surface. Doesn’t even have to be paper,~” Anne explained. She proceeded to demonstrate that fact on herself, holding the pen with her teeth to draw a crooked line on her right hand. After making sure both Blossom and Autumn had seen it, she rubbed the spot against her chin to smudge it off, to limited success.

“It comes off, r-right?” Blossom asked.

“~Yeah! Well, not from paper, b-but skin eventually just sheds it. I-I think that’s how it works...~”

The mention of shedding skin confused both listeners. They only really recognized it from the handful of reptiles living in their village. And, sure, they shed fur and feathers too, but that was these and not… skin. The Dartrix chirped, alarmed, “Y-your skin falls off!?”

“~W-what!? No, I-I mean—it’s like when just a tiny bit of it falls off, l-like hair, and regrows back.~”

Autumn and Blossom sighed in relief at the clarification. Whole body skin shedding would’ve made the mysterious humans even weirder—not to mention sounded incredibly painful.

“Ooooohhhh. And this white thing? How does it break down like this!?”

“^Blossom, I think we should take it easy on Anne. She’s had a very, very long day so far.^”

As much as Anne wanted to object to Autumn’s words and explain the little she knew of how paper worked, she couldn’t deny her own exhaustion—especially after a quiet yawn cut her off right as she was about to speak. She had no choice but to wordlessly admit defeat, acknowledged by Autumn with a wink as she poured the girl some more of Holly’s concoction.

“Awwwwhh, okay... O-oh oh, Anne, you’re from that nearby human place, right? I think I’ve seen you before!” Blossom said.

Autumn stared blankly at the Dartrix admitting to venturing to the village her mom had told her not to go so blatantly. Anne was stunned too, but for different reasons—thinking back, she remembered overhearing a couple of kids mentioning having seen a weird brown and white bird on a lamppost a few weeks back.

The mental image of Blossom being so curious about their middle of nowhere she flew all the way over just to see it made her chuckle.

“~Yeah! T-though if you’ve seen me outside, I-I was wearing a gray hat and had my hair t-tied up like this,~” Anne spoke as she scooped her hair into a messy ponytail, making the Dartrix nod even harder.

“Yes, like this, I remember you now! I-I never thought we’d ever see anyone f-from there in here, teehee,” Blossom giggled, glancing out the window toward the human village—and froze at what she saw, her voice aghast. “Wh-what’s all that smoke?”

The cue had Anne lean over and Autumn climb onto the bed to see for herself. A massive plume of black smoke was rising from Mylock’s direction, its sheer size worrying.

“~Looks like something’s b-burning—~”

*rumble!*

The aftershocks of a distant explosion were too weak to do more than rattle Anne’s cup a bit, but the sheer tension accompanying them almost made Blossom panic there and then. “W-what was that!?”

“~I-I don’t know! I’ve no idea what’s even b-burning,~” Anne shouted, wanting to look over at Autumn for reassurance—but couldn’t. Regardless of how hard she tried to move her head or eyes, her gaze was frozen facing the plume of smoke. The confusion of it all quickly gave way to terror, making her cry out, “~M-Mrs. Autumn, what’s g-going on!? I-I can’t l-look away!~”

“What do you mean,” Blossom asked before her voice was cut off, scaring Anne further.

Whatever comfort the girl might have previously felt had given way to fear, making her hyperventilate as the Indeedee spoke up again, somber and apologetic, “^Anne, I’m sorry for all this, b-but this is important. I need you to... think back, back to the dearest memory of Ember you have, and focus on it. Can you do that for me?^”

With all the fear gripping Anne, it was hard to reminisce about her and Ember. She still tried her hardest, though, and eventually memories started flowing. Their fondest moments together, their hardships, every single instant of comfort they ever shared. In no time, it didn’t even feel like she was the one looking back anymore. The flashbacks felt like a thread being pulled out of her head with more force than she could’ve ever managed alone; each vision was completed by another perspective.

From the beginning, to the end, and much, much too intense for either the weary human or the chubby psychic. Just a few seconds later, Blossom was left chirping in panic at suddenly seeing four people faint all at once,

“Help!”