Archive of Our Own ^beta

She That Watched Lanakila

A One-Shot Story

Snow in her face. Vina wiped her goggles with a glove, hugging herself against the sharp winds that buffeted this part of Mount Lanakila. The blizzard didn’t quite blind her, but it was a distraction. She kept her eyes focused on the swirling tails of the swift-footed Alolan Ninetales in front, the fox Pokemon moving as if expecting her to keep up the whole way.

Vina could keep up, of course. It just annoyed her because it got more snow on her face.

Glalie floated a few feet behind, her Pokemon partner watching her back. She would growl something at the wild Ninetales, and their guide would bark back in terse, biting words, their harsh tones a match for each other. “Don’t antagonize her,” Vina reprimanded her Glalie, who simply huffed out a mouthful of chilling wind in response. 

They trekked through an isolated part of the mountain, well off the beaten paths, forested woods surrounding them and the night sky twinkling with stars. “Nina tali nine,” the Ninetales spoke over the winds, and Vina managed to interpret her words as something along the lines of them getting close to their destination. Indeed, a sharp decline in the woods came, twisting toward a large icy cavern covered by the thick trees. Vina caught notice of a Sneasel or two watching them from afar, an Alolan Sandshrew as well. An Alolan Vulpix too, near the cavern, who gawked at the intruding human in a thick purple coat.

A second Alolan Ninetales as well, beside the fox cub. Her eyes became slits at the intruder, and she yelled at their Ninetales guide, before startling at the sharp response she was given back. Wariness instantly turned to awe, and for the little Vulpix, the effect was doubly pronounced, her big eyes full of amazement and intrigue. 

No surprise there. Vina doubted they often got human visitors who knew of their patron guardian of the mountain. “Please excuse me and Miss Glalie,” Vina told the pair herself. “I wish to see Kiai’o Lanakila.”

The two stared for a long time, before the guide Ninetales briskly ordered them away. They parted, and Vina stepped into the great frozen cavern.

It was even larger inside, with a few winding halls and many, many Vulpix and Ninetales. A few other Pokemon too, like Sandshrew and Sandslash, or even a Snorunt and a Froslass that eyed Glalie with quiet recognition, Glalie briefly returning the eye contact with a hint of a smile. Most took Vina’s approach with shock, before parting under the command of the guide Ninetales. Vina considered herself lucky — finding an elder vixen like her guide had made this process much easier and less time-consuming. Glalie too could’ve brought her here, but it had been years since she lived here, and she hardly remembered the exact location.

Helps to have a local resident who’s been all over Lanakila and has the respect of her peers.

Lighting was strange. Hung on rocky and frost-covered walls were torches that burned with ghostly blue flames, illuminating the area with dim light. It gave a spectral, icy touch to the area, and hinted at the unusual nature of the cavern. The guide Ninetales paused for a moment at one of the tunnels, flicking her head toward a thin, wrinkled Ninetales, whom Vina turned to at once. The ancient Ninetales had her eyes shut, paws clenched and her body shivering. The guide whispered to her, making her tremble more.

She suddenly opened her eyes. They were pure white, and shaped like galaxies, spiraling and turning like cosmic cogs. “Daughter of man,” she spoke in fluent Alph, in an echo-y voice that clearly wasn’t hers. “What is it that you seek?”

A medium, Vina recognized. “I seek you, oh lady of the mountain, Kiai’o Lanakila,” she said. A rush of excitement and wonder filled her heart, and she forced herself to keep it out of her voice. “I am Vina, daughter of the Lanakila Kukui, and I offer my respects to she who watches over the ancestral home.”

The mention of the ancient tribe clearly caught the spirit’s attention. The possessed Ninetales’s mouth slowly curled into a mischievous smile. “The Lanakila Kukui?” she said, reminiscing for a moment. “Now there is a phrase I have not heard in forever.”

She nodded to the guide Ninetales. “Take her to my chamber,” she said.

The ancient Ninetales suddenly shook awake, eyes returning to normal. A groan left her maw from the stress of the possession. The guide Ninetales barked at Vina and Glalie, before moving into the tunnels, and Vina quickly followed. The gazes of bewildered Pokemon followed her, Vina doing her best to suppress the stupid grin on her face.

It’s happening. I’m actually going to meet her.

The tunnels were long and twisted, maze-like in nature, and clearly meant to confuse trespassers. To her amazement, her guide Ninetales walked straight into a wall, phasing through. Vina followed, bracing for resistance, only to find herself smoothly going through the wall too. An illusion, clearly.

Glalie quietly joined her on the other side. Here the cave turned into a beautifully carved and styled chamber, with chiseled bricks of ice and columns of solidified, hardened snow. Ghostly flames lit up the area in eerie, whimsical light. Most eye-catching of all, a giant throne-like chair of ice stood at the end of the chamber, with a plush seat and icy spikes for its back. And on that plush seat?

“Ah, there you are, little one.”

Kiai’o Lanakila. The spirit, the kami, that ruled the sacred mountain of Alola. Her resemblance to Alolan Ninetales was unmistakable, with her foxy form and flowing tufts of hair-like fur, but the eyes differentiated her. They were like spiraling galaxies, ever shifting and churning, slanted in a way that implied wisdom — in old Kantonian culture, at least. They added a playful and mischievous look to her as well.

Her tails flowed and swished behind her, coated in a radiance of snowflakes and ice and aurora lights. They would seem like one large tail at times, and at other times, they split into what seemed like thousands, Vina hypnotized by its beauty. “Your majesty is even more wondrous in person, Kiai’o Lanakila,” Vina complimented.

“Lede’keo, dear girl. Call me Lede’keo — it is the name I take now.” The great spirit leapt off her throne and, spitting in the face of gravity, floated over with unexpected speed, Vina flinching as she hovered just a foot away from her. “You are quite an adorable young one, aren’t you? Do tell, my courteous little lady, what name do you take?”

The surprising warmth in her voice surprised the human girl. “V-Vina,” she said, clearing her throat. “I am Vina, Miss Lede’keo.”

“Miss? Miss!” A little laugh left Lede’keo, as if it was the funniest thing she’d heard. “You make me feel too old, dear. Far too old for my own good.” She blurred toward Glalie, amused at how the ice golem lowered her eyes in respect. “And you, Nightfrost — oh yes, I remember you. I always remember the little ones who slept on this part of the mountain. Were you the one to tell Vina how to reach me?”

Glalie gave a silent nod. Through her partner, Vina had been able to find the guide Ninetales and communicate with her — she owed her a great deal for that. She offered a grateful smile her way, to which Glalie grumbled and turned away, looking abashed. The guide Ninetales tsked, muttering something that sounded like ‘she hasn’t changed a bit after all’ to Vina’s ears.

“It has been far too long since your kind visited me.” Lede’keo now floated around Vina, who gasped as the spirit’s many tails wrapped around her and tickled her chin. “None remember the old ones these days, the beings that predate man and Pokemon. Though I will confess, I am almost glad for that.” Lede’keo pressed her nose close to Vina’s, sporting a vulpine grin. “To think, the Lanakila Kukui still survives! You do not still hold to the old practices of worship, now, do you?”

Lede’keo, or Kiai’o Lanakila, had once been the patron deity of Vina’s clan. “Not anymore,” Vina cautiously said. “We remember you simply as a guardian figure to be respected and loved.”

A pleased purr left Lede’keo. “Ah, good, good,” she said. “I am happier, being loved instead of worshipped. Such unbridled arrogance I had then, to take on godly airs! Even the Arceus of these days know not to flaunt themselves so — though I do wonder, perhaps they simply fear the old wars with the kin of Giratina?”

A titter left Lede’keo at the thought of it. It was bemusing, how approachable and grandmotherly she was, with little streaks of silliness here and there. It was far from the depictions Vina had heard of the cold, domineering spirit who secretly cared for those under her charge. She’s changed, in a good way, she decided.

Lede’keo moved, tails slipping off Vina’s shoulders to drape themselves around the spirit. “You must have a reason, then, to seek an old croak such as I,” she said with a coy smirk. “Or maybe, you only wish to offer pleasantries?”

There of course was a deeper reason. Vina had questions, for one, so many questions. Was it true that Alolan Ninetales variants gained their form and type as a gift from her, or that she was a former Ninetales that had entirely transcended the boundaries of the physical realm? How had she come to Mount Lanakila in the first place? Did the kami really predate Arceus? Had the old tribes of Lanakila made the mistake of seeing Ninetales as Lede’keo’s incarnations because of her possession abilities? Were the Ninetales’ habits of guiding lost people off the mountain also a means of keeping them away from her?

But questions weren’t the first thing on Vina’s mind. No, there was something more she yearned to ask. “I come from a lineage of shamans, honored Lede’keo,” Vina said, her heart pounding with nervous excitement. “It was said that at one’s coming of age, the shaman would take a pilgrimage to you, to learn the ancient magicks.”

The guide Ninetales pursed her lips as she re-examined Vina, seeing her in a new light. “The tricks of the Lanakila fox,” said Lede’keo, tilting her head to the side. “Yes, I remember this. I taught your ancestors the arts of the blizzard and the aurora light, of illusionary sights and winter delights.”

“Would you teach me too, oh great guardian of Lanakila?”

Lede’keo said nothing at first, and for a moment, Vina worried she had somehow offended the spirit. Then her paw clasped her arm, and Vina felt an inexplicable pressure deep within her. Her soul seemed to respond to it, stirring with otherworldly power.

She felt something shape itself within the core of her body, before jolting outward, toward the tips of her fingers. And there, before her very eyes, frost formed.

Vina gasped, and Glalie let out a curious rumble. The guide Ninetales smirked at their amazement, and a long, high-pitched cackle left Lede’keo, her tails raised to her lips as if sharing a wily secret. “A little time spent with a polite, lovely little child of the mountain, in exchange for an old one’s arcane gifts?”

A wide smile graced the kami spirit.

“I think I would like nothing more.”