Eclipsed 36: Before the Embark

Apollo's POV

"Apollo, go to Galaxy's Volcano. Riptide knows exactly where it is. Once you're there, you'll find us in the central room. Hurry, we're leaving the region tomorrow. We're searching for legendaries."

Her message still echoed in my mind.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked as I padded out into the living room.

Firework was giving Plasma her new vest. Blossom's was lying on a couch. The little emolga was giving off sparks in excitement.

"Okay, here's the list of supplies." I read it out carefully. "Does everyone have these items plus some berries for snacks?"

"I think so." Firework answered while picking up Blossom's vest. "Riptide, did you bring-"

"Ice heals!" Riptide exclaimed as he raced to the supply closet.

Geo rolled his eyes. "He always forgets the ice heals..."

We all paused and remembered the time we had to drag him back to the house...literally. Ember looked around, confused.

"Long story." Riptide addressed her as he walked back out, embarrassed.

I cleared my throat. "Let's head out."

"Yeah!" Plasma exclaimed in excitement. She hopped on Blitzen's head.

Everyone began to head out, one by one. I took one final look at the clubhouse, then turned off the lights and shut the door.

The seven of us walked down the street and out of the city.

We hadn't even been journeying for ten minutes when something came up.

"Oh no!" Geo exclaimed. "I left my memory foam pillow on my hammock! Can I go back and get it?"

I sighed. "Geo, it's not important."

"Memory foam, Apollo. Memory foam."

"We're not going back!" I bellowed.

Everyone stared at me, surprised at my sudden outburst.

"Uh...sorry." I apologized shyly.

We continued.

At long last, we reached the volcanoes. Riptide took the lead and guided us into the late queen's home.

The warm hallways felt eerie, like we weren't supposed to tread Queen Galaxy's home. I got over the feeling when I realized how close we were to seeing Blossom.

As we neared the central room, voices of Pokemon got louder and louder. My heart thumped with excitement.

We finally entered the room. Hundreds of Pokemon were embracing with family members. Several Pokemon with the ability to dreamwalk had contacted important people related to the shinies and other prisoners. I saw Ashes wearing a yellow silk bag with a suspiciously egg-shaped figure in it. We made eye contact and he mouthed 'Galaxy's.'

I smiled. The queen had a secret.

Then, I saw her.

She was standing with River, scanning the crowd.

I ran over.

She saw me and sprinted towards me.

We collided, but there was no pain.

"I missed you." Blossom whispered as she stroked me with her tail.

"I really thought you were gone."

"Where's Emb-" Blossom began to ask before her sentence was interrupted by a tackle from the flareon.

"Hate to kill the mood, but sisters before misters!" Ember said sassily while rolling around with Blossom.

I had to smile.

Once they got up, everyone else began to crowd around them. Firework gave Blossom her vest, which she put on with pride.

Everyone made small talk over the next hour while the authorities made sure no family member or friend was being left behind.

"How did you escape Nightmare?" I questioned.

Blossom teared up. "T-There was a ditto...it went in my place..."

My face softened. "I'm sorry it had to be that way..."

She nodded grimly.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a while, letting our minds wander. I thought about my parents.

I was thinking about all the valuables they kept hidden when Crescent's voice brought me out of my daze.

SHUT THE DISTORTION WORLD UP!

Apparently, she tried to contact us before by shouting, but to no avail. The Lunar Pokemon had to resort to telepathy in order to get her point across.

This is a last call for anyone intending to bring a companion. Does everyone have their final party?

No one spoke.

Good. We leave tomorrow at dawn. This altaria- she nodded to a golden bird nearby -will use Mist to conceal our party. Are we clear?

No one protested.

Everyone, get a good night's rest. You'll need it.

---

The next morning, Crescent made sure everything went according to plan.

The altaria, Iridesa, protected our path before dawn with Mist.

Crescent, Ashes, Rainy, Cherry, and Spade led us to the exit.

I gave my home one final look before exiting the realm, into uncharted land.

Except it wasn't uncharted.

We seemed to be in some kind of forest. Everyone looked around, questioning our whereabouts.

"Alright, Fernando, I choose you!"

Everyone gasped. Thankfully, we were still covered by some mist leaking through the barrier. I slowly stepped forward to see a young male human commanding his charmander to use Ember on another human boy's caterpie in the distance.

A Pokemon used Defog to make a clearing in the mist for us.

Crescent advanced to the center. "It looks like we're in Kanto. We only need three legendaries from this region. Only a small number of Pokemon will be able to go search. I think the Eeveelution Rescue Squad should go. They can split up and try to persuade each legendary to join.

"It seems the trainer with the charmander has a town map. In a minute, Iridesa can use Mist again to cover the entire forest while a member of the ERS steals the map. They can hide in the mist and find the Seafoam Islands, Power Plant, and Sevii Islands. Blossom has dreamwalking powers like mine so she can communicate everyone.

"The rest of us will stay here and make plans. Someone will briefly return to the realm every once in a while to check on the state of Nightmare's tyranny. Understood?"

Our little group nodded.

And so we obeyed.