ocean blue, island sunset

1: Stray and Silver Waves

The ocean stretched outside the large glass window, blue and glittering like diamonds. The infinite expanse of it perhaps would've impressed a lesser man, one that hadn't seen greater treasures in his home, or one that hadn't forgotten how to see the value in things they couldn't buy. Still, it was relaxing to watch. Somehow. Maybe it was its constant motion, the way that it could never be exactly the same twice.

The parlor door opening behind him broke through the room's silence. Small, hesitant feet tapped the tile, giving their owner away.

"Yes, Alcott?" he said slowly, and he smirked a little when he heard his assistant jump.

"S-sir," she stammered, stepping forward slightly. "We were conducting further experiments on Subject: Frost…"

He hummed a little in approval, and she continued, her stutter worsening with every sentence.

"B-but… There were c-complications… And, um…"

He clicked his tongue, rolling his eyes a little. "And what, Alcott?" he snapped, turning around to look at her. Her face had gone white as a sheet and she wouldn't meet his eyes, while her hands shook so much that he could hear the paper she was holding as it crinkled. "We can handle an unsuccessful experiment," he reminded her, and she nodded.

"Yes, b-but…" she trailed off again, silent. He only had to take one step forward before her words tumbled out of her mouth in a panicked frenzy.

"Thetestsubjectescaped!"

She immediately seemed to curl up in defense, holding her papers in front of her face as if they'd shield her. Her boss paused. "Could you run that by me again, Alcott?" he spoke slowly.

She gulped, pulling the paper down from her face ever so slightly, enough that he could see her eyes darting around as if they were chasing an erratic speck of dust. "The test subject… The result of Experiment: Frost… E-escaped, sir…" she said.

He did nothing for a moment, still processing what she had said. There was too much to consider, like what the implications of this failure could be, how many people were responsible, if he could he afford to fire anyone, if he could he afford to let Frost get away…

He closed his eyes with a deep sigh. "What exactly happened?" he asked. Alcott looked over her notes.

"Well, f-first, Froslass rebelled," she said, "And practically took over Subject: Frost. It f-fought its way out of the lab and the whole structure, escaping t-to the outside…"

He stared at her with narrow eyes. "Outside?"

She nodded nervously.

"Out into the middle of the ocean?"

"It flew, sir…"

He gave the outside view a passing glare. "So we were unable to control Froslass?"

"Yes sir…

"Can anyone?"

Alcott frantically flipped through her notes. "According to its file, th-there was one that was able to control it in the past…"

He watched her out of the corner of his eye. "And who would that be?"

She gulped. "Its trainer… Subject: Mimic…"

His gaze moved to the ground. As he turned away from her again, he weighed his options. Mimic was incredibly hard to deal with, but at the risk of his research being revealed to the public…

"Call Mori," he commanded, and Alcott gave a little yelp as she jumped to attention. "Tell him to bring Mimic here if he wants my support to continue."

"Yes sir," she said quickly, leaving just as hurriedly. He let out another sigh as the door slammed shut.

"If Frost talks," he muttered to himself, "she dies."

Fading sunlight blanketed the forest as if it were alight with flame. In the few minutes before the nighttime creatures began their routine and the daytime creatures ended theirs, there was a moment of silence broken only by rustling leaves.

"Is that enough?" Atsushi grunted, pushing dry leaves into a pile. He glanced over at the Cubone next to him, who had declined work in favor of finishing off his dinner of soft berries. The Pokemon looked from him to the leaf pile, narrowed its eyes, and shook its head once. Atsushi groaned.

"But all the leaves are falling apart and crumbling…" he mumbled. "It's impossible to make a good bed out of leaves at this time of year. Why don't you burrow or something?"

Cubone shook its head again without even looking up. Atsushi frowned. "Please pull your weight."

Cubone's only response was to grab a berry out of his pile and toss it at Atsushi, not-entirely-accidentally hitting him in the center of his face and sniggering. Atsushi rubbed his nose but munched on his dinner anyway as he continued to pull leaves into their nest for the night.

An abrupt noise split the air above them. Atsushi turned his head skyward just in time to catch a glimpse of a frantic flock of Pidgey, fleeing the forest just north of them, crying out urgently.

"Wonder what spooked them," murmured Atsushi. He jumped when Cubone stood up suddenly, waving his bone club around. "What's wrong, Cu-!" he was cut off as the Pokemon grabbed his hand, pulling on him and squeaking frantically. Confused but trusting in his friend, Atsushi moved to his feet and let Cubone lead him, hunched over so he could continue to hold his paw.

Only then did he hear the buzzing.

Atsushi paled. In one swift motion, he scooped Cubone into his arms and began running. He had heard that sound before, and he knew what made it. A quick glance behind his shoulder confirmed his suspicion; a swarm of Beedrill rushed through the treetops, eyes practically glowing with anger, brandishing their fierce stingers like swords.

But another sight caused Atsushi to stop in his tracks. Cubone struggled in his arms, squealing as if asking why they'd stopped running. Atsushi looked down at him, eyes wide and face lined with panic.

"There's a man back there!"

Running ahead of the group of Beedrill, a man sprinted wildly. Cubone tugged on Atsushi's threadbare shirt, pointing in the opposite direction of the bloodthirsty swarm. Atsushi hesitated.

"We can't just leave him!"

Cubone nodded frantically, effectively communicating that yes, of course they could leave whatever idiot that had walked right into Beedrill-infested woods to his fate. Yet, despite his protests, Atsushi set Cubone on the ground.

"We need to see if we can call off their attack!" he called out. "Try using Growl, Cubone!" Despite his attempted air at confidence, Atsushi shook like a hunting Vibrava. Cubone shook as well, but he put all four paws on the ground and let out a trembling growl.

The man rushed towards them, only coming to a stop when he tripped on a stray tree root and fell flat on his face directly in front of them. Atsushi jumped, a schoolboy squeak escaping his lips. "Louder, Cubone!"

The Pokemon shot him a glare, and Atsushi could practically hear him shout that he was doing the best he could. But he whipped back around, opening his mouth wide and emitting a louder growl at the now-too-close-for-comfort Beedrill.

The swarm seemed to slow. Again, Cubone growled, his small tail lashing back and forth. Atsushi resisted the urge to nervously chew his nails into bloody stumps. The Beedrill halted entirely, the noise of their buzzing wings filling the air like helicopter blades.

Once more, Cubone growled, lifting himself up to swing his bone club for good measure. Slowly, and to Atsushi's extreme relief, the swarm began to recede. He didn't care why; it could've been thanks to Cubone, or they were far enough outside their territory that the Beedrill didn't care anymore, or they decided that stabbing two humans and a Cubone to death wasn't worth their time. In any case, Atsushi finally allowed himself to take a breath as the Beedrill turned their backs, their noise fading into the sound of the wind.

"Great job, Cubone," he said, patting Cubone's head. The Ground-type Pokemon nodded, crossing its small arms.

A feeble groan on the ground in front of them reminded Atsushi of their other problem. He stumbled forward abruptly, falling to his knees next to the man and shaking his shoulder.

"Hey, you okay? Did they sting you? What did you-Cubone that's not helping!" he shouted. Cubone shot him another small glare, but refrained from hitting the man with his club a third time.

Atsushi looked down at the man again, who was suddenly glaring at him with as much intensity as Cubone. Atsushi jumped back in surprise.

"Why'd you save me?" he grumbled into the dirt. "Can you imagine how liberating it would be to be stabbed directly in the heart by a Beedrill?"

Atsushi's look of bewilderment caused him to strongly resemble a Psyduck. "I… No? And, you were running away…"

The man slowly picked himself up, stretching out his back with a pop, brushing dirt off his coat and suit. "Well, I suppose I was," he admitted nonchalantly, "But I only wished to be attacked by one Beedrill. The swarm was too much; getting hit multiple times in regions that aren't vital would only be pointless and painful."

"That's…" Atsushi sputtered, searching for the right word. "… Messed up."

The man raised one eyebrow.

"I'm right though, aren't I? It would be better to be stabbed once than multiple times, right?"

Atsushi's eyes darted around. "Uh, yes! I mean no! I mean…" He shook his head as if to clear it. Standing, he picked Cubone up into his arms once again. "You were… Trying to get killed?"

The man grinned. "Why of course!" he remarked brightly, as if he had just said something like "What a lovely day we're having!"

Cubone exchanged a look with Atsushi, who picked his head up and smiled nervously. "I'm just gonna go, then…" he said slowly, backing up. The man turned to look him in the eye again, causing Atsushi to jump a little. Whoever this was looked him up and down, and Atsushi squirmed a little, self-conscious of his dirty face and tattered clothes. With unreadable brown eyes, the man looked back towards him.

"Do you live out here?"

Atsushi only hesitated a moment. He nodded, hanging his head, as if his homelessness was his fault. As he understood, it was.

The man placed his hands in his coat pockets, a gentle smile forming on his lips. Atsushi still didn't trust his eyes, though; they were too guarded, yet abyssal, as if they held a world of secrets.

"What's your name?"

Atsushi blinked, lifting his head. It had been so long since anyone had asked him that. He forced his name out gradually, almost having to remember it as he went.

"A-Atsushi Naka… Nakajima." He hated his stutter.

The man continued to smile, holding his hand out. Atsushi stared at it as he would a foreign object.

"Well, Atsushi Naka-Nakajima," he chortled, "Call me Dazai."

Atsushi looked back up at him discerningly, still holding tight to Cubone with both arms, who reached out his nose to sniff Dazai's hand. He withdrew it, chuckling.

"No handshake then, eh?" he said. "Anyway, Atsushi, I'd like to make you an offer. You'd get money, fame, and a place to stay. How about it?"

Atsushi raised an eyebrow while Cubone let out a small growl. "What's the catch?"

Dazai continued to smile. "Nothing. Oh, but you'd have to come with me to Alola. Is that a catch?"

Atsushi balked. "Alola?!" he repeated. "That's thousands of miles away!"

Dazai shrugged. "I suppose so," he said.

Cubone looked ready to beat him senseless. Atsushi almost felt like letting him. "This sounds an awful lot like a kidnapping."

Dazai chuckled again, which didn't help Atsushi's anxiousness. "Would a kidnapper offer you a snack?" he asked, reaching into his coat pocket.

"Um, yes," Atsushi said, drawing back still. Dazai paused for a minute.

"Hm. I suppose they would," he said, but quickly smiled again. "No matter. You can have this," he beamed as he pulled a plastic-wrapped bun from his pocket and presented it to Atsushi. "I was going to eat it myself later, but you look hungry."

Cubone managed to wiggle one arm free and wasted no time in swatting at Dazai's outstretched hand with his bone club. Dazai opened up the package, casually breaking a piece off of the bun and sticking it in his own mouth.

"See? Not drugged," he said, pressing the treat forward again. "No Sleep Powder or anything. You'll like it."

Atsushi looked down at Cubone. The small Pokemon met his eye, grunted a little, and turned back to Dazai. He sniffed a little at the treat, stretching his neck forward. After a moment, he stopped, snorted again, and Atsushi could feel him relax in his arms. Atsushi exhaled slowly, and he gradually reached one arm forward to accept what Dazai offered. After peeling back the wrapping as best he could with his arms still around Cubone, he lifted the treat to his lips.

Flavor burst inside Atsushi's mouth. His eyes widened in wonder; the bun's sweet filling spread over his tongue like a taste of heaven itself, and the soft bread's texture felt as if he were biting into a cloud.

Dazai smirked as Atsushi wolfed down the bun, only pausing to pick pieces off and hand them to Cubone. "I take it you enjoy it?"

Atsushi nodded vigorously. "Whuff ith thith?" he said through a mouthful of bread and syrupy filling. Dazai chuckled.

"Malasada," he said, "And there's plenty more where that came from, back in Alola."

Atsushi licked his lips as Cubone poured the stray crumbs from the wrapper into his mouth. Finally, after he had licked all the filling from around his mouth and teeth, Atsushi peered up at Dazai and asked expectantly, "So when do we leave?"