Chapter Text
Ilex Forest.
Under the starry summer sky, the night was alive. Mars felt the creatures of the forest watching her as she trod over the soil of their home, as softly as she could. Hoot-hoots in the trees, Oddishes between the bushes. A thousand eyes and ears among shifting shadows, shying away from the harshness of her flashlight as she used it to navigate.
The forest was beautiful. The luscious green of day had given way to a softer, quieter spell. Silvery light breaking through the inky canopy. Wind murmuring among the leaves. The home of one of Johto’s many legends, shrouded in eerie magic.
It was a shame.
“This place gives me the creeps.”
Mars’s inner conflict turned to annoyance. “Shut up, Harry.”
“I mean it", her subordinate replied. "Feels like every fucking bug in the place is spying on us. Can we get this over with already? This uniform is itchy as hell.”
“It’s fireproof , is what it is. You know, to protect you? Unless you would prefer to get barbecued along with the forest.”
“This is a bad idea”, another grunt complained. “We’re messing with a legendary Pokemon-”
“Mythical.”
“Nobody asked , Percy. We’re barging through its home, provoking it to show up-”
“I mean, yeah. That’s kind of the point.”
“Oh, okay. So I’m the only one who has enough brain cells to be scared?”
“I’m kind of scared”, another admitted.
“Well, I’m not scared. I only wish that uniform was a little more comfortable.”
Mars pinched the bridge of her nose. What was she, their mommy? “It’s not that bad”, she told her team, in the same patient voice she used to employ with her baby brother when she needed to soothe him. “Quite straightforward, really. We set the place ablaze. The guardian of the forest shows up to protect it. We throw the master ball at the little shit, then carry its mythical green ass back to the base. Simple.”
She thought of their temporary base, its entrance hidden in plain sight in Goldenrod. She thought of the people who would walk over it the next days, oblivious to history getting made underneath their feet.
“Well, let’s get on with it then”, was the grumbling response.
Mars nodded.
Cyrus had timed the attack in his usual precise manner. It was dry season, which made their job a little easier. The timing was also calculated to minimize the likelihood of getting detected. The festival of legends, taking place every summer in honor of Ho-Oh and Lugia, ensured the absence of most locals from Azalea and Goldenrod that night: most everyone had gone to Olivine, whose turn it was to host the festival this year.
Mars signalled her team to clear up an area and collect some dry material to pile up on it: branches and leaves. They had a can of flammable liquid to help the process - one of Cyrus’s ruthlessly efficient concoctions.
She still expected this to take a few tries. A vibrant forest wouldn’t just succumb to fire immediately, dry season or not.
She lit up the pile. A weak flame burst out, then immediately dissipated.
Mars frowned. It was one thing for healthy vegetation to slow down the spread of the fire, and quite another for the fire to not start at all.
She tried again, this time with a dosage of Cyrus’s concoction. A tiny spark licked the wood, then died on contact. Mars checked the branch. There wasn’t even a superficial burn.
“The forest is watched over by its protector.” A quiet voice behind her. It belonged to one of her grunts, but it spoke an echo of the warning of the locals.
It unsettled Mars, but she shook off the feeling. “Bullshit. It’s a bunch of dead plants doused in liquid ignition, for fuck’s sake. It’s not above the laws of nature. Celebi is powerful, but not that powerful.”
So she tried again, and again, and again.
Half an hour later, it had become clear that the forest had no intention of obeying the laws of nature. It seemed more inclined to do its own thing, and “its own thing” seemed to involve a certain unwillingness to get burned.
Exhausted and irritated, Mars kicked the can to its side, spilling its entire content over the ridiculously large pile of dead leaves she’d made her team amass. Then she shoved her lighter to the heart of the pile and kept it there, biting her lip to stifle the pain of the burn against her own skin.
When the flames shot their heads towards the moon, she jumped back.
“Finally” , she said. The fire was dancing, hungry. “Now, everyone pick a branch and let’s spread-”
Green light exploded from the ground.
Mars shut her eyes tightly. Blinding beams swarmed through her eyelids, almost forcing them open. Her hands shot up by themselves to cover her eyes, but the light was still getting through, merciless. She fell to her knees, forehead touching the ground, and prayed for it to end.
When it ended, she opened her eyes. Standing on shaky legs, she turned her flashlight on the now dark spot where the fire had given way to the explosion. The fire had disappeared. In its place, under the dim illumination of her flashlight, she saw a healthy young shrub: it covered the soil as if it had always been there, the aroma of its flowers spreading through the night air.
“Mars.” She looked behind her: her team wasn’t in better condition than her. The voice addressing her was barely fighting its crack. “We have to leave.”
Now thoroughly shaken, Mars agreed. She thought of Cyrus with some sadness. She regretted failing him, but she was not afraid of his reaction. She was safe. In all the years she’d known him since he had taken her under his wing, he had never been mad or disappointed in her.
And he always had a plan B.