Steven followed her out to the dock, his feet thumping on the wood. "Can I come with you this time?" he asked excitedly, taking her hand in his.
Her smile faded a little. "You know you're not old enough. The city is a dangerous place. Besides," she stopped at the edge of the dock, turned, and bent so her face was level to his. Looking very serious, she leaned in.
Steven leaned forward eagerly to hear whatever important message she might whisper.
"Boo!" she exclaimed, darting her free hand forward to mess up his hair.
His surprise quickly turned to laughter. "Lapis!" Pushing her hand off his head, he began to comb it back into place with his finger.
Giggling, she stood. "You can go when you're bigger... and maybe a little braver," she added teasingly.
The Lapras at the end of the dock, eager to join in the fun, flapped its flippers in the water and splashed the two humans. "Praa!"
"See, she wants me to come, too!" Steven said. He threw his hands in the air excitedly.
"She can wait until you're bigger. There's still plenty of room on her back." She patted his wet hair. "Now be good and I'll bring you back a Delcat Delicious."
"Oh boy!" Bouncing on the wet dock excitedly, he began to sing the theme song of the snack. "De-de-de-delicious! Delcatty treeeeaaat! De-de-de-delicious! For you and for meeeee..."
Lapis waited patiently for him to finish before she knelt in front of him again. "Just like always. Stay in the house when I'm gone. I'll be back soon."
"Mhm!" He nodded zealously.
"Okay..." She stepped gingerly onto Lapras's back. "Bye, then."
He waved as she sailed off on the back of her pokemon. The excitement of a future icecream treat slowly faded and his hand drooped. As she became smaller in the distance, he wondered about the city. Every inch of their island had been explored. He could walk from one end to the other with his eyes closed and yet he had never even accompanied Lapis to the grocery store. As he thought about her leaving, he looked down into the rippling water below.
To his surprise, eyes beside his own looked back at him. He had never seen a pokemon like that before; its pink, round face smiled up at him, and frilly arms floated at its side. He slowly waved down at it. It waved back. He glanced in the direction Lapis had gone. She had completely disappeared from sight. "Uh, hey there little guy. Or girl?" He knelt down to get a closer look and it moved closer as well. It was just below the surface now. "Are you lost?" Steven extended a hand to touch it, despite Lapis having warned him in the past about strange pokemon. Clearly it was friendly if it had waved at him, right?
One of its arms quickly wrapped around his. Startled, he tried to pull back. "Woah!" It jerked him into the water. He tried to swim for the surface, but it caught and tangled his arms and legs. Saltwater burned his nose and filled his lungs. Everything went dark.
…
Coughing brought forth a spout of water. Still choking up what he had swallowed, he opened his eyes. Faces came into focus above him, and voices began to accompany them."
"... Just swimming out there in the middle of the ocean?"
"...Frillish can pull them off the beach if..."
"...That's why you never swim alone, Connie."
"Are you okay?"
"Uuuh," Steven pushed himself upright. "Yeah I-" another coughing fit emptied his lungs and left his throat itching. "I'm okay. Where... am I?"
"You were drowning!" The girl sitting next to him answered. "My dad pulled you out and now you're on a boat."
"Ooh." He nodded a little as she handed him a towel. "That makes sense."
"What were you doing out there?"
He laughed sheepishly. "I, uh, fell off the dock at my house."
"There aren't houses out here," the girl said at about the same time one of the adults, her mother, asked "Where were your parents?"
"I don't really... have parents, but Lapis- she just left." Picking at the towel guiltily, he added "I wasn't supposed to leave the house." He turned to the girl: Connie, she must be. "My house is around here." He stood up, wrapping the towel tightly around him, and pointed over the edge of the ship. "It's right over... " There was nothing but water in all directions.
"He must have drifted out a ways," Connie's father said. "Does Lapis have a phone we could call?"
"Mm-m." He shook his head.
"Do you know your address?"
Again, he shook his head.
"What does she look like? Maybe we could find her with a messenger pidgey." Connie suggested.
"I can draw her!"
"Alright. We'll see if we can find you some dry clothes and you can do that." Her mother nodded.
"My name is Connie Maheswaran, by the way."
"Yeah, I know!" He smiled. "I heard your mom say it. I'm Steven Lazuli!"
Bags weighed down her arms as she stepped carefully on the rough brick street. Held farthest from her body was an ice cream treat for Steven. It would be tucked just under the lip of lapras's shell; it was the coolest place she could keep them. A siren sounded somewhere behind her. Paws struck the ground: an arcanine. Heart pounding, she watched it zoom past her current alley. Hard on its heels, an officer followed.
They're not after me, Lapis reminded herself. Still, she had to work to keep at a walking pace. She slid under the wood rail as the brick street met the docks. Under them, just a hop over the stone floodwall, her lapras waited. She lifted her head in greeting. Once she could see her, she usually began to relax.
But not today. A small bird pokemon sat on the sea monster's back: a pidgey with a ribbon around one foot. An icy lump formed in her stomach. They found me, she thought, and her blood ran cold. But as she neared, she saw that the ribbon was red, not pink. Hesitantly, she placed her bags down and held out a hand for the messenger.
A light drizzle had began, and gray clouds had blocked out the sun. It left the city dark, including Connie's house. Sitting cross legged on opposite sides of the living room, Steven and Connie lightly tossed glow sticks to one another."I caught it!" Steven laughed as she looped one around his wrist. "That's one for Steven... and one for Connie."
Connie marked the notepad. She chewed thoughtfully on her eraser. "I don't think we can win if we both get a point every time someone catches one."
"What do you mean?" He threw his hands in the air excitedly. "We're both winning!" A gentle knock at the door interrupted. "Lapis!" Bouncing to his feet, he ran answer it.
Mr. Maheswaran reached it first, and flicked the lights on. Both Steven and Connie squinted at the sudden change in lighting. "Hello," the man greeted.
"I'm... I'm here for Steven," Lapis answered. She was breathing a little harder than normal and soaking wet.
"Lapis!" Steven jubilantly squeezed past Connie's father and hugged her.
She wrapped her arms around him in return, breathing a sigh of relief. "You're safe."
"Yeah, and I made a friend. Look!" He reached over to grab Connie's hand and pull her over.
She held out her hand shyly. "Hi, Ms. Lazuli. I'm Connie. It's nice to meet you."
For Steven, the momentary shock that showed in Lapis's eyes was obvious. Nervous, she took Steven's other hand and pulled him away from her. "That's great, Steven," she murmured, "but we really need to get home."
"Wait a minute," Mr. Maheswaran urged. "The weather out there is a little rough for seafaring. Why don't you stay for dinner here? My wife and I would like to get to know you."
Lapis shot a look at Steven that said that maybe the island thing was supposed to be a secret. He frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry, we can't. I have groceries waiting."
He tugged at her dress. "Please, Lapis?"
"No, Steven."
"But Lapis-"
"I said no!"
He flinched. She hadn't raised her voice like that in a long time. He looked back at the Maheswarans and she led him away. "Wait! I have to give her her bracelet back." He slid out of her grasp and ran back to the door. "Here." He held it out to Connie.
Connie slowly reached back for it. "Is she always like that?" she whispered.
He shook his head quickly. "No. She's really nice!"
Her hand closed around the the band of light. For a second the light it cast made her look exceptionally rosy. "Thank you."
He was left staring for a moment. "Um, Connie-"
Lapis took his hand again. "Steven, we need to go," she repeated. The tone of her voice was one Steven didn't quite understand. He followed her back through the rain.
"Why did you do that?" he questioned. "They didn't even get to see how nice you are!"
"You can't see those people again, Steven," she said quietly. He could hardly hear her over the rain.
"What?" he gasped. "Why! Connie's my friend! We're best friends! We even-"
"Just stop talking about her! You don't know her at all." Her grip on his hand tightened almost painfully.
"Yes I do," he argued. I've seen her before. I know it! The memory just refused to solidify in his mind. "Didn't-didn't I go to a parade when I was little?"
He throat was tight. "No, Steven."
"Yes I did! I had... soap bubbles in my hair." He rubbed his head. It was starting to ache.
"That doesn't make any sense," she argued. She refused to look at him. "You've always lived with me."
"But I remember... I remember it!"
Lapis stopped and he did too. She knelt down, not even seeming to notice the dirty puddle her dress landed in. "Listen to me. You don't remember anything like that. It's not real."
"But I DO remember Connie!" he insisted, frustrated. "We used to play on the beach and have picnics by the lighthouse and-"
"Steven, stop it," she pleaded. "None of that happened. It's not real!"
He shook his head. Just closing his eyes now, he could see it: a distant memory. "It's real, Lapis." He opened his eyes and fixed her with a resolute look.
Her body drooped. She looked like the last puppy left alone in a box on the street. "I know."
"You know? But you said-"
"They're not from this life, Steven. They don't mean anything anymore."
"Wha... What do you mean? What if she remembers?" He tried to sound optimistic, "We could still be friends."
"No... you can't. Most people don't remember." She looked around anxiously. In this weather, no one was around them. "I'll explain everything, but we need to get out of the rain."
...
Lapras rested its head on a broad stone beside them and Steven ate a half melted Delcat Delicious. It wasn't much softerthan they were by the time he usually got them.
"We used to live in a different world, Lapis said quietly. "There weren't pokemon there... but there was magic." She hesitated as thunder rumbled overhead. "...we were both magical beings, and our magic came from gemstones in our bodies."
"Cool!"
She smiled weakly. "Maybe... but the gems you befriended, they weren't good people."
"Why not?" He frowned and ice cream melted down his hands.
"They started a war, trapped me in a mirror, and did many other things. You're not like them, Steven."
"I don't remember any of that..." he said quietly. "Was Connie...?"
"No. She was just a human." She stared down at her hands before her gaze returned to Steven. "But if you found her, you could find the others, or they could find you." Her fist clenched. "They can't find you, Steven. They're still evil people."
"You know them?" What was left of his treat fell as a cold lump on the stone. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want you to know. Not yet. Maybe when you were older you would understand... I took you to protect you."
"You... you took me? I thought I always lived with you! Maybe they're different now! Maybe they're good!"
She looked up, eyes wide. "No, Steven, it wasn't like that! They're not like that! They haven't changed!"
"You lied to me!"
"I was only trying to protect you!"
"I don't even know who you are! Who were you? Did you take me then, too?" he demanded.
"No! Steven-"
He shook his head and covered his ears. Before Lapis could react, he darted away. The child scrambled up the floodwall and ran down the street. Ducking into another alley before Lapis could see him, he hid. What am I doing? He couldn't hate Lapis. He couldn't stay away forever.
But he needed to clear his head.
He ducked behind a dumpster as she ran past, calling his name and apologizing.
A warm, wet nose pressed into her hand where it rested on the arm of her chair. "No luck, then..." She breathed. His reply was a disheartened grunt. Turning from her work, she gently ran her fingers through the tepid fur of his face. It grew hotter as they approached his mane; she stopped before she would burn herself. He let out a hot breath and she leaned her forehead against his. "Don't worry. We'll find him," she consoled. Looking into his red eyes, she murmured. "I want you to follow Pearl's group this time. Check Seesea City."
She straightened back up and the pokemon dipped its head obediantly. Turning, he stalked off. The light cast from his mane faded. She was about to return to her papers when there was a knock at the door. "Come in."
The slender form that entered was familiar. Her footsteps were quiet: graceful. "Welcome back."
"Rose," her voice said, a little too enthusiastic. "Everything is going so well. From our victory in Beach City, it's been nothing but steps forward! After Seesea-"
"I think I know you well enough to tell that isn't why you came to see me, Pearl." She stood and approached her teammate. Her hand rested on the shorter woman's shoulder. "What's wrong?"
Pearl's facade fell, and she looked away. "After Greg visits, you're always in your office..." She smiled insincerely, her nerves getting to her. "For weeks, it seems. I know it's not really that long, but I worry."
"Ohoh, Pearl," she giggled. "You don't have to worry about me." She cupped her cheek in her hand.
"But I do!" she insisted, taking Rose's hand from her cheek and holding it in her own. Their eyes met. "I know what this is about. I always have."
She fought off the sinking feeling and forced herself to speak with confidence. "What I do here doesn't interfere with our mission."
She held her hand to her chest, over her heart. "It's not the mission I'm worried about!" Looking embarrassed, she released Rose and turned to walk off her frustration. As much as Rose tried to catch her gaze, Pearl refused to look at her. "I... I'm scared that this search is going to consume you. Whenever you start to believe that you're close, you're let down harder." Her voice strained. "I don't want to see you heartbroken when..."
Rose's frown deepened. "Pearl, you can't always protect me. There are some things I have to do on my own."
"I just hope that you realize," she said, her voice just above a whisper, "that you might never find him." She looked up with gleaming eyes. Her confidence had faded, but she still looked more like she was checking on Rose's well-being instead of seeking comfort.
Rose met her gaze. "... I know that," she murmured. She looked away from Pearl, her gaze returning to her papers. "But I could never forgive myself if I stopped trying."