March 2024 Raid
“You know... no one is making you come here, right?”
Zephyr had been carefully watching Chase since they set out from camp. Since the last time they’d been to Safe Shallows, not that long ago when he thought about it, he’d taken mental notes about Chase’s behavior. Zephyr had his suspicions, of course, about why he actively avoided the beach or getting too close to the ocean, but he didn’t feel that pressing the issue would be helpful at the moment.
So when Chase said he wanted to come along on Zephyr’s exploration, it surprised him. Maybe he simply got tired of sitting in camp all day, there weren’t many places you could go without passing through Safe Shallows first, or maybe he had some other reason. Whatever it was, Chase had been adamant about coming along. Such an intense aversion wasn’t going to disappear into thin air though; Zephyr felt a bit bad seeing him force himself to go somewhere he clearly didn’t want to go.
“Please... stop making comments about it.” Chase flinched when the loud cry of a wingull fusion rang out across the air. “I know. But...”
When he didn’t seem inclined on continuing his sentence, Zephyr just sighed and shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t so sure Chase was up for it right now, but what could he do?
“Anyway.” Chase fiddled with a piece of his hair, clearly trying to find some sort of distraction. “Why did you want to come out here again?”
“Weeeeell we were too busy the other day, but I thought I saw something interesting... so I wanted to check it out.” Zephyr looked around the area. It was certainly much warmer now that they were visiting the beach during the afternoon and not the early morning, but being so early into spring, it was hard to enjoy the cool ocean breeze. If he were being honest, Zephyr much preferred to be in the mountains than on the beach, but it had its own kind of beauty to appreciate.
“That and I wanted to see what all this commotion was about involving Phione fusions.”
Both reasons were of equal value to him. It seemed like a unique chance to not only see some legendary Pokémon, but even rarer fused legendary Pokémon.
“Phione, huh...” Zephyr just barely caught the words Chase mumbled. He spoke up louder the second time, “You called yourself a Mythologist before. So... rare Pokémon interest you?”
“What, don’t they interest you even a little bit? I’m sure you’ve heard some stories that’ve piqued your interest, right?” He paused. “It’s just that I had the means to make that interest a life, is all.” Zephyr glanced back watching Chase trail behind. He looked better than when they first reached Safe Shallows, but still incredibly pale.
“Right. I guess it was kind of a dumb question.” That wasn’t what Zephyr had meant, but before he could correct it Chase continued, “What I mean to ask was if you used to do this... before, too.”
Over the past few days, the two of them had talked more than a handful of times. For his part, Zephyr had little concerns about being trapped on this island, but he could tell the adjustment wasn’t coming nearly as easy for Chase. He thought maybe asking him about his life before and getting to know him would help, but admittedly he hadn’t talked much about what he himself did before. Other than mentioning he was rather well traveled.
“Sort of.” Zephyr turned his eyes up toward the sky. He stopped walking and Chase, who kept his eyes down most of the time, walked right into him. Neither of them made mention of it though. “I traveled because it was fun, but I would often follow rumors and myths of rare Pokémon. I ended up on a lot of detours and side paths because of it. I even caught glimpses of legendary Pokémon a few times.” He sighed dramatically and folded his arms. “I got into photography and writing to document all of it too. Unfortunately, out here, I don’t have access to a camera... the one I had got ruined when we ended up in the ocean.”
Chase didn’t respond right away letting a silence fall over them. “You mentioned writing. Do you have some journals? A pencil?”
“I do...” Zephyr turned to look at him. “One half full and two empty ones. Though the words in the first one are basically illegible thanks to water damage. I dried the pages out using a fire, though the damage is still present on them too. Why?”
“Ah... well... it’s not a replacement for a camera or anything but...”
“Hold on.”
Zephyr interrupted Chase suddenly and took a look around the area. A noise caught his attention, but he couldn’t obviously see anything in the immediate area. Pokémon were sunbathing on the sand, some were circling the air above, and a few were even playing in the waves, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Then another series of cries rang out, startling the Pokémon in the area. Reacting immediately, Zephyr released Rhea from her poke ball.
“Over there.” Zephyr finally managed to spot a section of the water disturbed by an unusual amount of splashing. It gradually grew closer to the shore, until he could make out some Pokémon fighting just below the surface.
“Feel like joining?” Zephyr glanced at Chase who stood frozen on the sand. Only when directly talked to did he snap out of it and decide to release Peaches from her Poke ball too. Zephyr was mostly joking.
By the time the two of them got to the shoreline the Pokémon fighting in the water were already making their way onto the beach. A handful of Phione fusions scrambled their way across the sand trying to put distance between themselves and the water Pokémon on their tails. Unfortunately, the Phione weren’t quite as versatile on land as they were in the water, and the other Pokémon were quickly gaining ground.
Rhea, ever the protective type, immediately tackled one of the water Pokémon before it could reach a Phione fusion lagging behind. Zephyr quickly realized these Pokémon weren’t fusions, but the “Delta” Pokémon he’d been hearing about.
“Is this... normal?” Chase wondered aloud. Zephyr almost forgot he was there and watched as Peaches joined Rhea in creating a wall between the Phione.
“Well, I guess these Phione are pretty easy targets.” He looked at the group of fusions as they cowered amongst each other. “Still, these delta Pokémon don’t look particularly tough either. They’re more akin to bullies than legitimate threats.”
One of the delta Pokémon, a water type Scorbunny from the looks of it, saw Rhea and Peaches defending the Phione. It suddenly broke away from the group running up to them. Rhea growled, both her fur and feathers standing on end, but the Scorbunny turned around to face the others and began making grand gestures and angry cries. It looked as though it was scolding the others. Zephyr had noticed this particular Pokémon not being as enthusiastic as its peers, but the sudden change did give him pause.
Chase, seeing the Pokémon get distracted and begin arguing with their friend, hurried over to the Phione and gathered the three of them up in his arms. They were surprisingly light but looked startled at suddenly being carried.
“They look okay...” Chase said carefully inspecting them. “If they’re injured, it must not be too bad.”
“Is that so?” Zephyr continued to watch the Delta Pokémon fight amongst themselves. Finally, one of them made a lunge for the Scorbunny and Rhea charged right back tackling the Pokémon before it could do any damage. Offended at the actions of its friends, the Scorbunny decided to join both Rhea and Peaches in driving the other Pokémon back into the water. It was three against three now, but the delta Pokémon, realizing the Phione were no longer easy targets, retreated on their own quickly after. The Scorbunny ran after them, only stopping when they disappeared beneath the ocean waves.
“Easy enough.” Zephyr turned to Chase and the Phione. “Though I don’t think it’s a good idea to just throw them back into the water here. Even if those Pokémon are gone, there might be even scarier ones waiting around.”
“You’re probably right...” Chase knelt down, Phione still in his arms, to give a brief pet to Peaches. “If they’re that helpless, it’s best to find someone who can protect them until they get home.”
Rhea exchanged a few words with the water Scorbunny before she led it back over to the rest of them. The Scorbunny immediately went to the Phione in Chase’s arms and began talking with them. At first the group of Pokémon looked fearful but, as Scorbunny talked, they began to relax more. Chase released them and they cautiously got closer to the Scorbunny.
“Seems like it's apologizing.” Zephyr said. He knelt down and began poking the Scorbunny. “If you’re really sorry, you probably try finding better friends. Maybe you should help the Phione back home too.”
“Scor!” The Scorbunny began swatting at his hand to get him to stop.
“Alright, alright. I don’t think you’re strong enough for that anyway.”
Zephyr and Chase both stood up. The beach seemed peaceful again, no more Pokémon fighting amongst themselves, but there was no telling how long that would last.
“We’ll take them back to camp, then?” Chase asked. “And find someone who can take them home later.”
“Looks like it! We’ll have to be quick though. These Phione are pretty young, it’s best for them to be in the water as much as possible. The sooner they make it back to the ocean safely, the better it’ll be for them.”
“I see...” Chase watched as the Phione, Scorbunny, Peaches, and Rhea all began playing with each other on the sand. The conflict moments ago all but forgotten. “It seems like you didn’t end up finding what you were looking for though huh?”
“Hm? Oh! Right, well, I did achieve half of what I set out to see. To be honest, though, I didn’t think it would still be here.”
“You never told me what it was.”
“It’s-”
A light thud caught their attention. While chasing each other around Scorbunny, probably trying to tag Peaches, tripped over something in the sand falling face first onto the ground. It sat up, its fur covered in sand, and looked at what it tripped over. Zephyr’s eyes brightened, and he hurried over to dig up whatever found itself buried in the sand. It was hardly twenty seconds before he lifted the object.
“An egg! Hah, would you look at that, it really was still here. Must’ve gotten buried in the sand over the past few days... no wonder we couldn’t find it.”
Chase gave a confused look, “You were looking for an egg...?”
Zephyr turned around, proudly holding the egg in his arms. “I spotted it when we first explored the beach, but we had so much going on. And I figured a Pokémon might come looking for it later. Since it’s still here though...”
He didn’t need to say anything more. He might as well take the egg with him. Besides, if he didn't, the curiosity of what was inside would eat at him more than it already had.
“Let’s get those Phione to camp.” Zephyr tried to keep his voice neutral, but some excitement did escape. “As well as this egg and...” He looked at the Scorbunny. “Well why not, you can come too. You’ll probably find better friends that way than going back to the ocean.”
Scorbunny seemed to brighten at the suggestion and began hopping around. No one objected to his suggestion, not even Rhea who still seemed a little wary of the Scorbunny, and Chase picked the Phione back up seeing as Zephyr had his hands full with an egg. Peaches and Scorbunny continued to play their game of tag as they walked back to camp.
“Weren’t you saying something earlier?” Zephyr asked, remembering what happened before they found the Phione. “You were asking about my journals.”
Chase frowned, trying to remember before it hit him. “Oh, yeah, it wasn’t anything important.” He paused, and Zephyr thought he wouldn’t elaborate. “It’s no replacement for a camera or anything... but I have experience with art. So if it’s pictures to remember something you want... I can maybe help? On occasion.”
Zephyr thought it over for a brief moment before grinning. “Maybe. You’ll have to show me when we get back to camp... I think today's events are the perfect opportunity, don’t you think?”
“Ahah... it’s suddenly feeling like a job interview...”