Pokémon AU: Dimensional Travelers

Chapter 12: It Gets Worse...

 They arrived in Dendemille Town on the ninth of December. They entered the hostel... though it was more like a fancy AirB&B. It had lovely and beautifully decorated rooms with a fireplace for warm fires, a sitting area with a decorated Christmas Tree, hooks for stockings, everything they would need; including and not limited to two extra rooms for offices and a base of operations. The Landlady was wonderful, although she mistook Mitsuki for a different Mitsuki--the missing Bushida daughter. 'Tsuki politely explained the situation and mentioned that it wasn't the first time she'd been mistaken for this missing person.

To say Gladion's heart sank would be an understatement for how he felt about her statement. He felt like something had pierced his heart straight through. It gave him massive heartaches that he could barely explain--could barely explain why this mattered so much to him--even though there was a valid explanation in his theory.

They were able to work in peace for a few days. Each morning the Dimensional Travelers and the Aether Siblings would set out on ride Pokémon to scan the surrounding area for any anomalies in the landscape. Mitsuki shared a Corviknight with Leah, Maria rode around on a Venomoth, Chloe took to the skies on a Charizard, Josh on a Flygon, Heather a Metang, Lillie on her Altaria, and Gladion on his trusty Noivern. Each of the Dimensional Travelers were given Ultra Guardian Uniforms, or at the very least modified versions of the uniforms which are modified Riding Gear. With this special gear, they could communicate with Mission Control--Lusamine--Aether Paradise if needed, and each other as well as withstand the cold of the mountains and reduce damage if they were attacked. Magearna gave them a vague direction, using a compass rigged to her Soul-Heart and the usual beam of light pointing in the direction required. But each day, they would return empty-handed.

It got worse.

On Tuesday the Fourteenth, Gladion fell ill. Seriously ill. Without him they had no sense of direction should Magearna fail, since he had spent years studying ancient methods of travel as a pastime, and during his six months away from home, he used the stars to guide him around the islands in addition to maps. The Compass was rigged to track Professor Mohn, not the cardinal directions. Even more stupid, if the Rotom Phones could not find the global magnetic field they could not track cardinal direction either.

Mitsuki learned this the hard way.

When she found out Gladion was ill--with a dangerously high fever and many other symptoms of a bad flu--she panicked and ran off into the woods to cry for a bit, needing peace and quiet that the hostel couldn't provide. When she received the text from Lillie that he was being transferred to the local hospital for treatment and she should come say goodbye, her heart wrenched. But, the next text made her laugh through the tears.

Gladion had managed to wrestle his phone from his mother by using his Pokémon's cleverness and texted Mitsuki. In his delirious state, he'd made several spelling and grammar mistakes that made him sound like he had a very bad hangover. But, he got the point across.

"Hahaha! *Hic, sniff* Okay, okay... I-*sob* I'm coming... Ummmm... which way is back?"

Kyra and the rest of her Pokémon looked around with her, surrounded by snowy woods. As a Lucario, Kyra was able to pick up on the auras fairly quickly, even though her master tried to use technology to solve the problem and failed. "'Tsuki~Sama, I believe the way out is that way. I sense Gladion's Lucario's aura coming this way."

"Okay, I gotcha... Ooh~ I sense it too. Lucario! Over here!"

His jackal-like head appeared over the snowy bushes. "There you are. Come now, and quickly!"

"We're coming!" She picked up her hat, retrieved her Pokémon, and followed Lucario back out into town. She carefully patted her bag, making sure the Eggs tucked away inside were safe and warm in the bitter winter cold.