Meeting Felicity, the Blind Soothsayer

Your vision started to return to you once more. Your vision felt dimmer than usual. It was then that you realized that you’re no longer in the cave. At least not the same cave as before. You look around and see that your surroundings are stone, but dimmer as the only light source you see is torch stands leading down the path in front of you. You let out a yawn in response to waking up from your sleep. Wait, sleep?! When did you fall asleep?! You recalled beating an infected Salamence before he disappeared and their was this bright light.

You got up and looked and saw that everyone was still with you, but their sound asleep. You tried to wake them up, but no matter how hard you shake them, they won’t even twitch. ‘Why aren’t they waking up?'

You were growing concern for them and moved away a bit, only to feel your back pressed against something flat, unintentionally bumping your head. You rubbed the sore spot and turned around, only to not see anything that caused you to stop. You brought your left paw up and cautiously walked towards the pathway and felt some **** pressing against his paw, denying him further advancement. You look back and saw light at the other side of the path and tried to move there, but an invisible wall blocked your passage as well.

“What is this?” You asked yourself, trying to **** yourself past it. “Some kind of barrier?”

“Why yes it is.” A voice spoke up from behind you.

You jolted from the unexpected voice and turned and saw a figure standing behind you. You walked towards the figure, but you still couldn’t get past the barrier. You are able to see that the figure was at your height and wearing a white hood covering their head, though the figure has long ears due to them filling the slots on the hood. The hood only covered their head and not the rest of the body; as you can see their modest form, but you’re unable to tell due to the considerate darkness. You get nervous at the figure who stands there, wondering why are they here.

“Nervous? I can understand that.” The figure speaks with a soft, feminine monotone voice. “Here, let me reveal myself.” The figure lifted its paws, showing them to be a dark red-brown color as they held the hood and pull it back, setting it behind their head.

Your eyes stare into the chocolate brown eyes of a Vulpix. “So you and the group are the ones who bested the illusion?” She asked, looking over you and the group. You were surprised at how could she know about the Salamence when you didn’t noticed anyone tailing them. “You all don’t look in any way dependable, but I suppose looks don’t matter.”

‘Wow, how rude.’ You thought, somewhat annoyed at that response as she turned around, her six tails trailing behind her. “Follow me.”

You were somewhat confused at how can you follow her before you tested it again and found you can move past the point you were stuck with.

“What? Did you think I was keeping that barrier up?” She stated with a slight snicker.

You blush a bit in embarrassment as you spoke. “What about my companions?” You took another look towards the others and a little while longer to your sister, **** about leaving her like this. “No need to worry, they’re asleep, and they’re safe.” The Vulpix spoke to you. “She wants to speak to you alone first.”

“Who?”

“The soothsayer. Isn’t that why you came this far?” She stated, growing impatient with you. “No more questions and just walk with me.” She started walking towards the lot area.

You took one more look at the others before walking, following the fox. If they were supposed to be trouble, they wouldn’t brought you here after all.

“What’s your name?” You asked politely.

“I think the male is supposed to introduce himself first.” She stated in a teasing tone.

“Good point. I’m Rai.” You introduced yourself.

“Better. And that is a nice name, even though you are a Raichu.” She stated, showing a smile at you. “I’m assuming your sixteen… seventeen?”

“Eighteen.” You tell her.

“Ah, I was close.” She nodded. “Nina. I’m nineteen. So that makes me a year older.”

You follow the Vulpix as you moved down the lit pathway. “How long have you two been in here?” You asked the Vulpix.

“A couple weeks. It’s well hidden from the infected roaming around outside.” She stated, keeping her head forward as they walk.

“What happened to your parents?” You asked next, and you saw that Nina's face turned from a calm disposition to one of sadness.

“They already turned when I found them. I'm the only child of the family. This was a couple months ago."

You looked downward, wondering why did you ask that question considering there's a very good chance someone of their age losing their parents from this. "I'm sorry, that was insensitive of me to ask that."

Her face returned to her neutral, calm look. "It's fine. I've actually taken the time to train myself. Battled some infected that gotten near." she stated, making a ball of flame in her paw. "I resolved to never allowed what happened to my parents happen to me."

You stare at the flame in amazement. It is small, but you can feel the heat even from the distance where you are. She is clearly strong for someone her age.

"That's very impressive." You stated, amazed she was able to recover from the situation quickly. You were about to ask her something else before you felt your hind paw land on something soft. You look down and see that instead of the hard cave floor, your hind paw is resting on a part of a carpet. You looked up and saw various shelves lined around the cave walls containing jars of various liquids, powders, and other substance you can't recognize, though others contained flower petals, various furs and other things. Other shelves carried berries, fruits, vegetables, and different kinds of spices which you deduced to be for cooking. A few various shaped mask lined on some walls. Some looked pretty cool, as well as a little creepy as you examined them. Looking at the center of the area, you can see a table with a large bowl in the center. Clearly whoever stays here with Nina made themselves comfortable.

"You've traveled very far to get here. Haven't you?" A feminine, mature voice spoke out to you. Your eyes looked towards the source and saw a tall figure kneeled down near a small pot over a flame, facing away from you, taking a ladle full of liquid and pouring it into a cup. between them. the figure was hooded as well, though was wearing a more quilted robe, covering their whole body instead of just their head like Nina's.

"Erm.. Yes, I have. And it's not just me. My sister and my friend just barely escaped from our overrun town." You stated, walking towards the figure. "My name is Rai. You must be the soothsayer?"

"That depends. Are you a friend or foe?" the voice spoke out, filling a second cup. You clearly recognize her voice to be the one who asked for their help and the one who's thought came to her before that light shined on them. You have a lot of questions to ask her, but you have no intentions of antagonizing her, especially if she may know a thing or two about the infection.

"I'm hoping that we can be friends, or at least avoid being foes. There's too many Pokémon losing their lives or mind to this."

"That we can agree on. You must've been exhausted considering you all slept through the rest of the day and night." The figure turned and faced you, lifting her hood away and showing that the figure talking to him was a Ninetales. Though instead of a luxurious golden-white fur they would have, this one's silver-grey, though still luxurious and beautiful as it matches her arms as you see her whiteish eyes. Her tails move majestically through the air despite there being no wind, with the tips being a pale blue. You were mesmerized at the sight it took a moment to recall what she just said.

"That long?!" you exclaimed in surprised at the news. "It was getting near sunset when we reached the top, but I didn't know we slept through the the entire night. Your illusion was stronger than we expected." You stated seeing her walk off for a bit, using psychic to place the cups onto the table.

"I'm sorry for the stunt, I'll explain myself in a moment, but for now it was for a good cause." She stated, moving to sit on one of the pillows. "Was light shining at the entrance?"

"W-Well yes, but couldn't you just go there and take a look-" You couldn't finished as you lightly gasped, your words paused as you sat down and gotten a closer look at the fox's face. Her facial look was much older than how your parents look, you could guess that she was an elder. What really got your attention was her foggy white eyes. It was completely covered the iris and can barely see the pupil. "You're blind..."

"I'm not." She stated calmly.

"Huh, but your-"

"I simply can't see. One doesn't need to rely on your sight to see your surroundings. Though I guess it's hard to understand for a Raichu who can see to understand." the Ninetales muses, giggling at the fact she was correct. "Though I do admit, I sometimes get envious at how others describe the looks of various things and colors. My mind can picture the figures that appear near me and I can sense their auras, but I can't distinguish the full picture." she stated, a tinge of sadness in her calm, soothing voice.

"I'm sorry." you stated as she picked up her cup and you did the same.

"Why? There are many worser conditions than blindness Rai. I'm fortunate to be able to hear, smell and taste and move myself." The Ninetales stated as she takes a sip from her cup. You looked at yours a bit nervously before doing the same. She wouldn't the need to bring them in here if she wanted to. You winced at the taste, coughing a bit at the strong bitter taste. Though you do feel quite calm and feel quite energized.

"It's an acquired taste, but the aftermath is satisfying." She stated.

"You're not wrong there." he stated, taking another sip. You place the cup on the table after you finished the concoction. "While I enjoy the hospitality you're giving me and bringing us here, but can I change the subject and ask you a few questions-... Err..." You paused as you never asked for the Soothsayer's name.

"Felicity." she introduced herself. "And feel free to ask me anything."

"Okay Felicity. Well, why did you send us up that mountain? Why did you lie about there being a Salamence?" You asked her, "I feel like a fool bringing my companions in danger for nothing."

"For nothing... Is that what you believed?" Felicity asked you. "One who resolved to find out the mess of this infection and put an end to it?"

You jolted when she brought that up. "I'm starting to believe that it was a mistake. All this and I'm putting my sister in constant danger..."

"There will be danger everywhere, even in relatively safe places." she stated, gathering some supplies. "While the Salamence you face wasn't real, there was one tormenting this village some time ago."

You blink at those words, you see that she places some powder into the bowl and there was a reaction as the ingredients ignited into an amount of smoke. You stare at the sight in shock as it floated into the air and started taking form of a large dragon attacking some huts. "It appeared in the middle of the night, started attacking and smashing our villages, eating some while **** the a few for later..." Felicity explained as the smoke started to reshape into a different sight. "We retreated into this cave, seeing as it was too small for the infected to enter. We were safe, but too scared to go out. I've seen it lurk in a cave up that mountain as it rest and hunts. Sometimes it gets normal ones, sometimes infected, sometimes it catches one of our own who tried to gather supplies to help settle in here. It doesn't happen to often, but it still hits us hard." Felicity continues to explain while the smoke shifted to the another picture. "Few days later, one grew tired of being scared and decided to make a posse in order to slay the infected dragon to prevent it from preying on the village. I predicted the future of the outcome and saw tragedy and attempted to warn them, but they wouldn't see reason from their desperation and anger. Soon all but me and my granddaughter were left in the cave as they headed to the beast's dwelling."

"Nina." You spoke and she nodded. The smoke shifted and took a form of the Salamence rampaging against the **** as you noticed Felicity shaking a bit with Nina approaching her, placing a paw on her shoulder, hoping to ease her.

"Some were lost due to other infected attacks, but when it got to the Salamence... The beast was ferocious, striking them... eating them... no matter how much it ate, it didn't stop... Sometimes the vision haunts me whenever I go to sleep." Felicity stated as you shivered just trying to picture the carnage before you gave up before it can effect you too. "By some miracle, they managed to defeat the dragon, weakening it enough to when it swung for one, it missed and fell down the mountain to the ground and it lay still at the other side of the mountain."

Hearing that the beast can no longer torment anyone else gives you faint relief, but can guess that the rest who survived didn't get to relish in the victory for long.

Felicity must've been able to sense your thoughts as she added. "No sooner that the Salamence fell and they tried to make it back, their conflict attracted a large group of infected to them. Few in numbers and weaken from the strenuous battle, they were easy pickings... all that effort just to fallen prey at the end..." The smoke subsides and drifted off as she finishes her tale.

Your paws curled into a fist as you take in all of that. With how Felicity described, they were **** and reckless, didn't think of a plan, just tried to overwhelm it with their numbered and they unfortunately paid the price. "I'm sorry for the loss."

"Thank you for your concern, and listening to an old one's tale." Felicity stated as she looked behind you. "Thank you all as well." The shiny Ninetales added.

You got confused as you turned and saw that everyone was awake and waited patiently behind you just as you felt someone move to your side and saw your Pachirisu sister sitting near you.

"When we got up, we saw you weren't there. Nina lead us here when she started her tale." Rachael explained.

"That's rough, haven't heard anything like that before." Vargus stated while Neku looked at the Ninetales for a moment before lowering her head in respect.

"I acknowledge what happened to you was something no one should go through, but why you put others through quite an ordeal?" Felix stated, not sounding angry, but still quite annoyed at the news.

"After a few days that they never returned, I had another vision. A group of Pokémon, standing united against a growing shadow that threatens to swallow our world in darkness." Felicity explained, "Although the forms weren't clear, I didn't know who it was. It was then I occasionally sense a group of Pokémon, non-infected as they didn't have an overwhelming hunger and lust approaching, with a goal to stop this." she explained as you and the others blink at this.

"Though seeing you and others before coming by with the same goal, I felt that I needed to test them, and you."

"Test?" You asked confused at the meaning of it.

"Going on a quest that will save billions of lives is a selfless and noble deed... If one has the courage and resolve to brave the dangers and strain of it is admirable." Felicity stated, cleaning the bowl of ash before placing different various ingredients into the large bowl. "However, there are other survivors, other victims who are suffering as well, who lack the strength to stop it. Those who seek to stop this must be united in a common goal. To look out for others as well as each other, work together to overcome great odds. How can one say they wish to save this world, and yet would turn a blind eye to someone in need? Even potentially saving their life?..." Felicity asked Felix, who looked down unable to answer the question. "I must say, I didn't expect to hear that the group that was coming from the camp up there to be quite young. Though they do say the future belongs to the youth."

"You heard about us?" You asked and she nods.

"I occasionally got notifications from runner scouts who traveled through various camps to pass off info. They're quite capable as they're fast and agile." she explained. "Now seeing as you beaten my illusion, you wished to know my information about the crisis."

"You know something? Please tell us!" You stated, unaware that you're leaning your front on the table when you spoke until Rachael had to pull you back.

"Please remain calm, Rai." the Buneary stated, though she does have hope in her eyes from those words as well. You sheepishly blushed until you composed yourself.