Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Nina giddily bounced around like a hyperactive Spoink. “Grandma is taking me up Mount Moon. Grandma is taking me up Mount Moon!”

It was her last day in Pewter City, and Melina Ashes suddenly announced that she would bring Nina to a secret spot halfway up the mountain for a picnic before flying her granddaughter back to Cerulean City.

Nina could not tell if her grandmother was doing this to spite her father or if she just wanted to get back at Nina for ruining her surprise yesterday, but regardless, she happily agreed to the trip.

However, as it turns out, there was actually a relatively safer hiking trail that was established on the side of Mount Moon facing Pewter City, with stairs carved into the mountain face as well as railings and everything.

The trail was intended for any tourists that came to visit and leads to an observation deck somewhere on the side of the mountain that overlooks the entire city. But that was not Melina’s intended destination. In fact, about a third of the way through the trail, Melina veered off and led Nina away to a hidden sidepath around a fairly steep cliff.

Nina silently followed along, happy to be brought on an adventure as opposed to going to some tourist trap.

“Do you come here often, grandma?”

“Sometimes,” answered the woman. “I usually Fly where I can then make the rest of the way on foot. But since you’ve been making a fuss about climbing the mountain, I decided to walk instead. I don’t wanna hear any complaints about your feet hurting, you hear?”

Nina responded with a bright smile and an enthusiastic nod. “Thanks grandma, you’re the best!”

Melina chuckled at her granddaughter. “And don’t you forget it!”

The two continued walking, occasionally needing to crabwalk past a particularly narrow path, or squeeze their way through a gap in the mountain. But eventually, they reached a small grove of trees and berries nestled within the mountainside, a rare sight among the barren landscape of Mount Moon.

“Is that…”

Past the grove was a cave, and lining its entrance was a wooden arch painted bright red, with some sort of plaque of Unown letters adorning the middle of the topmost beams.

“Isn’t that a torii gate?” Nina rushed forwards to examine the familiar construct. Torii gates were often associated with religious connotations in her old world, and she had not been expecting to see one in the middle of Mount Moon of all places.

“I would understand if this was Johto, but as far as I understand Shinto imagery isn’t very prevalent on this side of Mount Silver.”

“Tory?” Chimed Melina. “I don’t know what that word means but this here is a spirit gate, or at least that’s what people call it. They say it’s used to separate the boundaries between the spirit realm and the material realm.”

“So different name, but same symbolism.” Nina half listened to her grandmother while she examined the spirit gate in fascination.

The gate was ancient, Nina could tell from how worn down and textured the wood was. But it was also extremely well maintained as evident by the layers upon layers of paint applied onto it over the years.

When she looked close enough, the girl could make out certain spots where the color was lighter than the others. The paint job was like patchwork, as each successive generation dabbed at it every so often with a coarse brush to touch up the spirit gate’s appearance.

“Have you been coming by to fix up the gate, grandma?”

Melina snorted. “Heh. As if. I got better things to do than to coddle this old thing. No, it’s the work of the family that guards this place. You’ll see.” The woman beckoned for her grandchild to follow as she stepped through the spirit gate.

Nina looked up at the gate in its entirety, trying to read the plaque that was on it, but ultimately faltering under the oppressive aura of the spiritual boundary. “If I step through this, will I find myself back in my old world?”

Nina was afraid. There was a part of her that still thought this was all just a dream and that one day she would wake up again in a hospital bed. Only, it won’t be as a three year old toddler, but rather, a recently comatosed Miles.

“Tiin…” As if sensing his partner’s uneasiness, Tini moved in and booped Nina in the nose causing her to giggle in astonishment.

“Hehe… Thanks Tini. I needed that,” said Nina as she booped her partner in return. “No matter what happens, you’ll always be by my side, right?”

“Tiin!” Cried the Dragon in assurance.

“You’re right. Let’s go.” Nina took in a deep breath as she thrust her feet past the threshold and continued onwards, finding solace in the familiar pressure of her Dratini coiled around her.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The inside of the cave was one long and unnaturally smooth tunnel, suggesting that it might have been excavated. “Likely not by hand. Probably an Onix or some other Rock Type Pokemon? But some of this looks a little too natural…”

Visibility was not an issue because there were faintly luminescent moss and fungus dotted throughout. And Melina had whipped out a lantern at some point as well.

“Why are there no Zubats around?” Asked Nina. The bat Pokemon were usually everywhere in these sorts of caverns.

Her grandmother chuckled. “Because this is Clefable turf. Those little pink devils don’t take too kindly to Zubats flying around and leaving their droppings in their home.”

Nina’s eyes sparkled. “Does that mean I’ll get to meet some Clefas today? I hope I brought enough Berries.”

“Heh. Maybe. Those guys are nocturnal so they’re probably asleep right now.” Said the old woman. Nina whined in disappointment.

“But look,” Melina pointed at the wall. “At least you get to see doodles of them.”

And indeed, Nina was beginning to see crude murals of what appears to be depictions of the Clefable line dancing around under a large circle, presumably the moon. As they continued walking deeper in, the murals shifted to show a falling meteorite hurtling towards the dancing Pokemon.

After that, Nina saw images of Clefairy dancing around a piece of rock, with some of them “glowing” to indicate evolution. What came next was a little more perplexing as human stick figures began joining the ensemble.

But just as Nina was pondering the murals, the space lit up to unveil a secret oasis in the middle of what appears to be a large crater, with a pristine body of water to the side and all sorts of vegetation growing in its surroundings.

Amidst all of that was a simple looking Shinto shrine right in the center. Pokemon of the Clefable line could be seen lounging around the religious construct, all of whom were asleep, much to Nina’s anguish.

Within the shrine, in place of an altar, was a massive rock with a thick piece of hemp rope, or shimenawa as is the Japanese term, tied around it in a braided pattern. And in lieu of an offering box and summoning bell, local Pokemon seemed to have surrounded the large rock with a myriad of smaller rocks and stones.

“Is that a Moon Stone?” asked Nina.

“Yeap, in a very literal sense. That there is a piece of the moon that fell down to earth ages ago. See those piles of rocks at the base? Most of them will turn into Moon Stones after enough time has passed.”

“Wait, so are the rocks simply absorbing the ambient energy from the Moon Stone or are they actively siphoning from the source?”

“It’s the former, child.” The sudden reply came from an old lady wearing a traditional priestess garb who seemed to have materialized out of nowhere by their side.

Nina jolted in surprise, but her grandmother seemed unphased.

“Even after it was detached from the main celestial body, the Stone remains connected to its mother in the heavens above, and continues to be nurtured by her gentle light,” continued the priestess.

Melina snorted in response. “Always such a drama queen… Futaba, I see you’re still alive and kicking.”

“Heh.” snorted Futaba in return. “If anything, I’ll make sure to outlive you. You old skank.”

“Says the person looking like melted ice cream.” And indeed, the priestess was old. Older even than Melina, with wrinkled and saggy skin, and a head of white hair tied up in a braid.

“I can outrun you any day of the week, you insolent bitch. And who do we have here? Have you finally decided to bring a worthy successor to me?” Asked Futaba

Melina scoffed at her old friend. “You can go find your own successor, you witch. Just because your family all left you doesn’t mean you have a right to mine. This is Nina, my granddaughter. I’m just taking her to see the sights.”

Futaba laughed. “Ha! Your granddaughter! As if I’d believe that, this one’s eyes are too pure to be one of your spawn.”

“As if a decrepit old Sneasal like you would know anything about purity.”

Nina looked back and forth between the two bickering grandmas, and simply shrugged indifferently before wandering off to get a closer look at the giant Moon Stone.

The girl made sure to take her shoes off before entering the shrine. In truth, Nina did not know if she was allowed in here. If not, then she’ll just use her ultimate trump card of Baby-Doll Eyes to get off with a mild scolding.

With how lustrous it was, the piece of the moon looked more like a gemstone than the boring moon rock that Nina was used to. “I wonder if this world’s moon is the same as Miles’s moon.” Because despite all the technological advancements of this world, the people here don’t seem very interested in space exploration.

In fact, Nina was surprised to learn that no one had successfully made a trip to the moon. Or maybe they did but the feat was never published. “Everyone knew Rayquaza existed, and that guy’s like a cosmic Dragon and all.”

There were satellites of course, but there weren't many. Communication in this world relied on Porygons and psychic tethers formed by specially trained Psychic Pokemon. That’s why Nina’s Pokegear had impeccable reception even in the deepest of caves and why calling out to a different region was so difficult; the network here simply runs on different principles than the radio waves of Nina’s old world. It also meant that everything was more utilitarian than the entertainment driven world of Miles.

“Speaking of Rayquaza, isn’t that the Dragon right there?” The mural was brought to Nina’s attention by Tini’s nudging. She looked up towards the top of the wall to see a very stylized green Dragon flying through the skies and headed towards the moon.

Looking around, she also saw another mural of Lugia, showing the Legendary Bird enveloping a reflection of the moon on water. But before she could continue her observations, she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Nina jolted in surprise, looking behind her to see Futaba hovering over her. “Sorry, I got curious,” said the girl, in a shaky voice.

“It’s fine,” Futaba assured Nina with a smile. “Curiosity is a privilege of the young. It’s not often I get young ones here to visit.”

“Do you live here all by yourself?” Asked the little girl.

Futaba chuckled. “Of course not. Do you not see all those Pokemon napping outside? Taking care of that lot is a full time job, I tell you.”

Nina nodded, choosing not to comment on the part that was left unsaid. “I always heard people say that the Clefable line was descended from the moon, but after seeing the murals here, that wouldn’t make sense. If they indeed came from the moon, then why would they be dancing and praying to it in the pictures?”

“Oh? Quite an observant one, aren't you.” Futaba laughed. “Are you sure you’re that woman’s grandchild?” She asked, but not answering Nina’s question.

Realizing that the woman wouldn’t be willing to divulge any of her secrets, Nina chose to back off, but not before making another jab. “Grandma said that your family left you. So when you’re not around anymore, who will take care of the shrine?”

Futaba cackled. “Ah, there it is. There’s the Arbok’s venom.”

“I’m sorry if I offended you. That wasn’t my intent.”

Futaba gave a listless shake of her head. “No, it’s alright. I have long since made peace with my life. Your grandmother is right, I’m just a decrepit old fool wasting away all by my lonesome. My family did not leave me — I drove them away with my stubbornness. And as for this shrine, well… I’m not the only one privy to its existence. There are others, and you as well now, little girl. I’m sure one of the more foolish of the lot will take it upon themselves to do something.”

“Hmph!” Snorted Melina. “As if I’ll come and clean up your mess.”

Futaba rolled her eyes and pat Nina on the head. “I wasn’t counting on it. Only my successor may peek behind the curtains and learn the truth of this world.” The last part was evidently aimed at Nina, much to Melina’s chagrin and Nina’s frustration.

“As if I’d fall for that. Though I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious.”

“Enough!” Exclaimed Melina. “I brought too much food with me so you might as well come along and join us. There’s stuff in here that even a toothless old Persian like you can chew on.”

Nina held back her snicker. Despite her grandmother’s cold facade, the woman was clearly concerned about the wellbeing of her lonely friend.