Past M8.1 - Behind Golden Eyes

Red Velvet M8 – Where the Light Ends

1 - Behind Golden Eyes

The evolution scroll lay rolled up on the thin carpet of the large room, one of the many temporary dorms offered to the Pokémon who had been sent to the past. The crisp parchment was bound by nothing but a thin string, just begging to be cut open. Perdita hooked a claw under the weak bindings, hesitation holding back the quick and easy swipe that would sever them. Should she? Or should she not? The Nidoran groaned, drawing back and lowering her head, reconsidering her situation for the umpteenth time.

Up to now, she was still stuck in the past with people she hardly knew and a dark Zoroark tribe posing a looming shadow over all of their hearts. Tonight, that very tribe was expected to breach the border of Tao Village, and every able-bodied Pokémon in the vicinity was to take up arms and fight the bloodthirsty illusionists. Even with scores of powerful individuals in the village, Perdita wasn't sure if they stood a chance. The members of the tribe were driven by a shadowy force that was stronger than all of the Tao villagers combined, and the village could use a newly-evolved Nidorina to aid in the charge.

Perdita knew that evolving would help her fight better in this time of strife. If she chose to evolve now, she would become considerably stronger, and that would give her a better chance against the Zoroark tribe, aiding Tao in the process. The opportunity was literally right under her snout.

If that were the case, then why was Perdita so apprehensive? Why did her paw freeze every time she reached for the scroll, and why did doubts slam against her thoughts? She needed this. She needed this if she wanted to survive the inevitable slaughter tonight.

She shifted in her seat, noting how the cold and dim lantern light cloaked the scroll with an orange glow. It was already pitch black outside, and the attack would come soon. She had to make a decision soon.

Perhaps Perdita just didn’t want to offend Stian. It seemed quite rude to evolve without his consent, since he was her boss (and partner). The circumstances clearly called for it, but would he acknowledge that? Would it upset him and send him into one of those horrifying fits of sadism? Or would he shrug off his assistant’s dead-weight apprehension with a graceful flick of a tail and a tinkling laugh?

What would Stian have thought? He was just too damn unpredictable.

Just as Perdita was about to reach for the scroll again, the flapping of a cloth broke the silence, and the Nidoran pushed herself up and turned to the source of the sound, ears perked. A Mantine had pushed aside the drapes hanging over the entrance of the room, and the striking gold of his eyes immediately caught the reddish light of the lanterns. He glided into the room, long tail swishing behind him as he landed next to Perdita with a soft gush of air. “Everyone’s out preparing,” he said as he did so. His voice rang a bell in Perdita’s mind, but she couldn’t place a paw on it. “What are you doing in here?”

“…Woah, wait, do I know you?” Perdita glared at the newcomer cynically, pulling her evolution scroll closer to her protectively. She didn’t quite remember this guy, and she wanted to go back to her decision-making as quickly as possible.

The Mantine seemed taken aback for a short moment, but a small flash of exasperated (and…annoyed?) realization found him, and he whimpered instantly, “It’s me, Eliot…”

“Eliot?” Perdita echoed incredulously. “Dude, what the hell!” She left her scroll at her side and whirled around to face her newfound companion completely. Wide brown eyes examined him up and down. The Mantyke she had come to know in this confusing journey to the past had evolved, and an air of maturity and grace now seemed to rise from his skin of dark liquid silk. A long river of a tail sprouted from behind him, curled on the ground like a translucent shawl. When she had first met him, she thought him a reluctant child. Now he was...just different. “You evolved.”

“Yeah,” agreed Eliot in his usual hesitant, docile manner, like he was constantly afraid that he would get punched for whatever he was saying. His voice, though, had deepened by a note or two, enough for Perdita to feel like she was talking to a complete stranger. It was like he had suddenly hit puberty in one night, yet hardly changed at all, at heart, at least. It was as fascinating as it was creepy.

“You used a scroll?” asked Perdita, failing to hide her awe. She nestled her own scroll closer to her pinkish fur.

“Mm-hm. I’m not really on a team though, not officially, but they said the scrolls were for anyone who helped, so they gave me one, too.”

“You decided quickly.” The words tumbled carelessly out of Perdita’s mouth, smeared with a hint of jealousy. She looked down at her scroll, brow furrowed, wishing it would be as easy for her to make up her mind already. “I’m thinking of evolving, too, but I dunno. I don’t feel ready for some reason.”

“I sort of used my scroll on a whim,” Eliot defended uneasily. “I really don’t think I should have.” Eliot looked away, but instead a spark of light caught on his eyes, setting them on golden fire. Were they that color before?

“Why not?” Perdita pressed, hoping Eliot’s opinion could help her out in her own dilemma.

Her Mantine companion stayed silent for what seemed like ages before whispering with a wisp of forebode, “Dad.” He treated the word like other Pokémon might treat the name of the Zoroark tribe they were to face that eve. Something dark, something that could be listening at that very moment, seeping in like blood from the walls. It was nothing like the casual manner he’d used when he mentioned his dad before, when he and Perdita were writing letters to the present.

Perdita was curious now, and couldn’t help but keep prodding. “What about him? What about your dad?”

“Well…Uh, I’m not supposed to evolve. Not until he retires and I’m ready to take on the family business. It’s a clan tradition, but I guess I just forgot about it. I even tore the ring I’m supposed to wear to show that I’m next in line. By accident, of course.” Perdita recalled the red ring of velvet that Eliot had worn around one of his antennae as a Mantyke; she did suppose that he was too big for it now. He seemed quite fidgety about it, though, so it must have been something big. “He’s gonna be…real mad. Not that evolving would make a real difference. I bet he’s furious enough that I snuck out.”

Perdita had been nodding along for the past few sentences, but that statement caught her off guard, and her ears perked up as she blurted out, “Wait…He doesn’t know that you’re here?!” Eliot had never seemed like the rebellious type. In fact, he seemed like the complete opposite—a docile, shy little boy.

“No. I got fed up. So I left. But it isn’t proving to be a very good idea, is it? I’m gonna have to go home eventually and face him, or else he’ll find me first, and I really don’t want that.” His tail swished restlessly, and his sun-like eyes were fixated on the carpet. “Dumb decisions, every single one of them.”

Giving her scroll a hesitant glance, Perdita imagined a huge Mantine looming over Eliot’s smaller frame, a disappointed look on the elder’s face. She then pictured the same expression on Stian’s face, fangs bared, ready to strike. Perdita inwardly shuddered, pushing the scroll under her temporary sheets with a heavy sense of finality. She didn’t know what would make Stian angry, and she didn’t want to find out. Better safe than sorry, though she supposed that fighting tonight in a weaker form was no safer than the other option.

Still, dying valiantly fighting against murderous creatures of darkness was better than having to face Stian’s own dark side.

Eliot’s shockingly gold eyes followed Perdita’s every movement, but he offered no comment on her choice. Instead he flapped his fins lightly, floating above ground once more. “In any case…” he murmured, voice surprisingly dismissive, “I imagine the fighters on the borders need all the help they can get. It’s about time I head out.”

“You’re fighting up front?” Perdita smoothed her blanket over her treasured scroll, turning to watch Eliot leave with an eyebrow raised. He never failed to perplex her. She had thought he was shallower than the fountain in town square, yet just now he had proved to her many times over that there were sides of him she couldn’t even begin to imagine. She just hoped they were nothing like Stian’s, else she wouldn’t be able to sleep soundly, imagining Eliot killing her in her sleep.

“Yeah.” The Mantine faced her for the briefest of moments, a shadowy smile playing on his lips. “I don’t think you saw any of this coming, did you? I’m sorry about that. I don’t think I quite know myself, either.”

“Eh? Hey, wait, you…” Perdita blinked, but Eliot had already been swallowed by the churning darkness outside. The evolution had changed him somehow, in more than just appearance and voice, after all. Was it the eyes? They might have been that color before, just too small for Perdita to notice. Still, the bright amber seemed to hide some kind of haunting behind them, something about Eliot’s dad and the weird traditions his family had.

Whatever Eliot’s story was, Perdita had no time for it.

There was a bigger task at hand. The Mantine’s secrets were very much intriguing, but Tao Village, at that moment, had no time for intrigue. Perdita had decided to remain a Nidoran, and that was it. She could already hear the cries from outside and the pounding of hurried footsteps. It seemed that the border had been breached, and Perdita didn’t intend to stay indoors and continue moping over philosophical ponderings on evolution or Eliot’s uncannily hidden background.

“They’re here! They’re here!” screeched hysterical voices outside, and Perdita hastily switched off the single gas lamp that lit her dwelling space and ran outside, forcing her heart to stoop pounding and ignoring the shadows that swallowed her up.

The war had begun.