You pause, staring across the clearing at the overgrowth of forest that separates the new construction from the ghostly remnants of the old power plant's burned-out shell. The tall grass just beyond the clearing sways hypnotically in the breeze. As you watch, a pair of eyes – glowing soulless orbs of greenish-white light – peer at you through the grass...
As the sun comes up, flooding the room with natural light and chasing the shadows away, you finally manage to rouse yourself from your half-asleep stupor and get up.
Raptorch wakes up as you push yourself off the floor, your body aching from the stress of spending a night on the hard floor, and gives a questioning sound. You lean against the bed and look around, trying to reorient yourself to the room that's suddenly too bright and cheerful for the situation.
It's hard to juxtapose the bad memories with this room, but you still feel a sense of both dread and claustrophobia as you look around.
You quickly gather your things and leave. One thing is for sure; you can't stay in that room another minute. Simply looking at it is a reminder of all the things your mind saw fit to replay during the night.
Bealbeach is practically deserted at this early hour; most of the residents are probably sleeping in, exhausted from a night of partying. You see a few people snoring on the beach, and wonder if they're sleeping or passed out.
The Ranger HQ is almost as empty when you slip inside. You can see a couple Rangers in the back, and just a single receptionist up front; she smiles at you as you enter. "Good morning."
"Morning," you say in reply; nothing good about it. "Is, um... is Kellyn here?"
She blinks once, momentarily taken aback. "Well, yes... he's almost always here," she replies. "But he's in his office right now, and he usually doesn't like to be bothered this early in the morning – unless there's an emergency." Her inflection rises on the last syllable, making the last part come out almost as a question.
You sigh and shake your head. "No, there's no emergency. Just, uh... make sure he gets this back, please." You slide the key card across the desk to her. "Tell him... tell him I said 'thanks'."
"Certainly," she says, her cheery smile faltering just a bit as she studies you; clearly she's trying to put a name to the face. "And you are...?" she finally ventures.
You stare at her in disbelief. Your first arrival at Ranger HQ was met with such hoopla that you're honestly surprised she doesn't remember you. Then again... this is a different person than was behind the desk the last two times you'd been in, so maybe she missed out on the great "Kellyn-is-a-father" ordeal. You can't help but think that maybe it's for the best.
"He'll know who it's from," is all you say. You quickly turn to leave before the tears can betray you.
"Oh!" she suddenly exclaims, her voice bringing you to a stop just as you are about to step outside. "You must be Chief Kellyn's kid! I'm so sorry I didn't recognize you – I work the night shift, so I didn't get a chance to meet you when you came in. But everyone told me all about you!" She giggles nervously. "I have to admit, I was just as surprised as everyone else – I didn't know Chief Kellyn even had—"
You shove the door open and leave the building before she can finish her sentence. If you hear one more Ranger say "I didn't know he had a kid" again, you're very likely to start screaming.
You're halfway to the Gym when you hear Raptorch let out a squawk from somewhere behind you. The translator in your bag – you left it on again – immediately picks up the distant sound. [Slow down, wait for me!]
You obligingly stop and wait for Raptorch to catch up to you. "Sorry."
[What's wrong?]
"I just..." You shake your head, trying to figure out how to say what's on your mind. "I'm sick of this place," you finally say. "Between Dad and that damn power plant... I just want to get the next Gym Badge and move on."
Raptorch looks around the empty streets. [Early morning... will they be awake?]
"If they aren't awake yet, they will be soon enough. I'll wake up the Gym Leader myself if I have to."
Raptorch lets out a low worried trill. [Something is wrong with you, I don't like this... are you angry?]
You shake your head. "No. I mean..." You let out a weary sigh. "I don't know, maybe I am. But not at you. I just think we'll all be better off if we leave Bealbeach as soon as possible. I don't want to be this close to Dad or Epsilon anymore... I don't think you do, either."
Raptorch shudders. [Bad scary place.]
"Exactly. So let's go challenge the Gym so we can get out of here."
[Okay, good plan!] Raptorch nuzzles your hand and looks up at you affectionately.
For a brief moment, your mind flashes back to the nightmare of seeing him emerge from the reactor core, corrupted by the radiation. You quickly shove the thought out of your mind, and remind yourself that you'll never let that happen to him.
You give Raptorch's head a little pat, and he trills happily. Taking a deep breath, you head for the gym, your loyal companion resolutely at your side.
A/N: Thanks for reading! And thanks again to Dynamite3539 and the three anonymous FB users who beta'ed this - I really appreciate the help!
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