I walk into the Pokémon Center - and am immediately almost bowled off my feet by a redheaded blur. Nolene drags me over to the waiting area, sits me down, looks me over minutely while gabbling - something about green hair and not just us and she's not making any sense -
"Dawn," she finally gasps, settling back on her heels in front of me, "there's something seriously strange going on."
"What? What is it?"
It's then that I get a good look at her.
She's tousled and dirty, her sweater splotched with mud and - I bite my lip, reach out and turn her head to get a closer look at the jagged cut on her face. "Nola, what happened?"
She sighs heavily, and rakes her tangled curls out of her face. "There was a... I don't like to call it a riot, but... eh. Let's... let's call it a really violent rally, I guess - there was a man in robes who was demanding that people release their Pokémon, and a bunch of guys in masks and a -" She cuts herself off, breathing deeply, and I can count every freckle on her face, she's gone so pale. "- Zekrom's bolts, it just hit me - there was a HYDREIGON, Dawn. A - a Mewdamn Hydreigon. It - it didn't do anything, but - where did a bunch of goons get something like that? And why would they bring it here?"
"I don't know - but what happened?" I need more information - I don't know what to think, not yet.
"There was a panic." She shakes her head, scrambles into a chair and slumps back against the back of it. "I got knocked over and trampled, nearly lost Ivy - someone kicked me." She lightly touches the cut, winces, and frowns. "Then this - this guy with green hair - he helped me up, picked Ivy up -" She grins. "She bit him. She never does that."
Her expression grows bright. "The weird part is - after that, he - Dawn, he said something. In Serperior-dialect, perfect accent and everything. I don't even know what it was, exactly, a question maybe, but it made Ivy incredibly angry."
My breath catches and I can feel my eyes trying to pop out of my head. "He - he speaks Serperior?"
"Not just Serperior - Liepard too." She frowns slightly. "He had a Purrloin - or at least it obeyed him. It came out of an alley and it jumped Ivy, and..." She shakes her head, amused. "I had no idea she had it in her, but she threw it right at his face."
"Ivy did what?"
"Threw a Purrloin right into some green-haired guy's face." She rakes a hand through her curls again, stirring up a tiny puff of dust. "He left after that - but he told me I really shouldn't be, and I quote, 'keeping that Snivy from attaining her full potential.'"
"...that is odd." I frown - and then freeze as something she said earlier niggles at me. "... Nola, not to change the subject, but... which way did they go, after the riot?"
The dawning horror in her eyes confirms my fears. "Striaton."
In unison, we murmur, "Cheren."
And then we're up and running, exhaustion and injuries and confusion all forgotten - because our friend is quite possibly in danger, and there is no Arceusdamn way we're leaving him to face it alone.
Nolene is taller than I am, and faster - she's out of sight in minutes, even though I'm running as hard as I can. All I can do is push my burning legs, my aching lungs, to their limit and beyond and hope to catch up.
I look up as a drop of water splashes against my cheek, and realize that the sunny sky has darkened - a storm is rolling in.
I hope that it's just a vagary of the weather and not an omen, and I run.
...
There are two ways from Accumula to Striaton - a winding walking path where young trainers often go to play, and a straight road for those with vehicles. Nolene is waiting where the path splits, pacing anxiously, and she shakes her head when she sees me, shouts over the rising wind, "I don't know which way he went!"
I look left, right, make a snap decision. "You're faster than I am - take the long way; I'll stick to the road. One of us is bound to find him!"
She nods, releases Ivy and a Patrat I don't recognize - the Snivy curls around her neck, the Patrat takes off down the path, and she races off after. They're out of sight again in moments.
Taking her example, I let Godfrey and Zephyr out of their balls, scoop my little Snivy into my arms. "Godfrey, tell Zephyr we're looking for my friend - Cheren, you remember Cheren, don't you?" He nods. "You're so clever, sweetie - can you describe him to her, and tell her it's very important we find him? He might be somewhere along this road." I point down the broad street. "Do you understand?"
He nods again, and then launches into a flurry of excited chirps, rustling back and forth in my arms. Zephyr squeals, launches herself into the air - circles, and darts off down the road. I breathe deeply, twice, hoping to calm my racing heartbeat - and then dash after her, praying to deities I don't really believe in for the safety of my friends.
Overhead, Zephyr is invisible against the clouds - I can just barely hear her excited chirping over the whistle of the wind, the crackle of thunder.
And then she shrills, and dives like a black bolt from the blue - lands on a bush and spreads her wings wide, chattering excitedly.
My heart sinks into my stomach as I muster my last reserves and burst through the brush.
Cheren is lying there, flat on his face, unmoving, the tails of his blue blazer flapping in the storm-wind.
Godfrey scuttles up onto my shoulder, and I can hear him chattering Starly-wise at Zephyr - dimly hear the rush of tiny wings. He hisses, "Help," and I jolt out of my shocked daze, stroke his head, and hasten to my friend's side.
For a moment, I'm terrified to touch him - but then I do, feeling for a pulse at the side of his neck, and I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding when I find it. It's easy to tell what caused this, now that I'm closer - there's a swollen lump on the back of his head, and his black hair is matted with blood.
Someone hit him.
If it's not one of the inciters from Accumula, I'll eat my journal.
Godfrey slithers down my arm as I carefully look Cheren over, making sure he's not injured anywhere else, and when I glance back at him I can see his forked tongue working overtime. "Not here." He hisses.
"What isn't here?" I peer at Godfrey as he curls up in the grass, and frown as I realize that his scales are less vibrantly green than usual in the chill of the wind.
"Fire-blends-in-the-sky." It takes me a moment to remember that, oh, that's Serperior-idiom for Felicity the Tepig's actual name - and I frown as I carefully, carefully turn Cheren over. I know it's a terrible idea, but I'm reasonably sure he didn't fracture his spine by getting lammed over the head and I'm more worried about keeping him breathing until help arrives than anything.
He groans as I finally manage to ease him over onto his back, and I hastily grab him by the shoulders, intent on holding him down. "Don't move, Cher' - someone hit you, one of my Pokémon's going for help. Do you remember what happened?"
He blinks at me through water-freckled glasses, furrows his brow curiously. "...Dawn? Y'got here fast." His speech is slurred, clumsy, and for a moment he lies still, collecting himself - but then, suddenly he tries to throw himself upright, and it takes all my weight to keep him down.
"Felicity!" He gasps - and I grit my teeth.
"Cheren, stay down. What happened to Felicity? Godfrey said she's not here."
"S-some... some guy. In an outfit." He scrunches his eyes shut, shakes his head minutely. "Said something about potential, and how I didn't deserve Felix - she got really mad about that, of course, and then -" He winces. "...guess 's when I got hit."
"It's okay." I frown, reach over to scoop Godfrey up, tuck him into my jacket to keep him warm. "We'll find her, just hold still -"
It's about then that I hear pounding feet, the faint flitter and chirp of a Starly overhead - and I raise my voice in an anxious shout. "Over here! We're over here!"
Zephyr zips out of the sky, lands on my head, and I can feel her shaking with exhaustion as Nolene crashes through the bushes, followed by a couple of men in dark blue pants and white shirts with the universal badge of the healer stitched on their shoulders - a snake wrapped around a rough staff.
Cheren shakes me off, sits slowly up, gritting his teeth. "I'm fine."
"He was hit on the head hard enough to knock him out." I interject. "He's not fine, and thank you for getting here so quickly."
Nolene settles down on her heels next to us, and she's panting so hard she can barely speak. "Happened?" She gasps, Ivy dropping off her shoulder to crawl up on my knee. She takes a poke at Godfrey as he nestles in my jacket, and I shake my head.
"Cheren got in trouble." I pause, wait for her to get her breath, then add, "they took Felicity."
"WHAT?!" Nolene shrills - and then she's on her feet, drags me up with her. "W-we have to go - please see that our friend makes it to Striaton safely? There's - something terrible's happened!"
And then she's running again, and I'm stumbling after her, barely avoiding dropping Ivy and Godfrey, Zephyr peeping frantically and digging her tiny claws into my scalp -
"Where-" I blurt, frantically shoving the two Snivy onto my shoulders, jerking loose to run on my own. Nolene shakes her head, throws herself forward. "Striaton - they - there was a commotion -"
"Think it's them?" I wheeze, and I'm amazed I'm still standing at this point, let alone keeping up the piteous jog that I am - Arceus, I am no distance runner.
Nolene shakes her head, pants out. "Worth a shot."
We run - I use the term quite loosely - nearly all the way to Striaton, stop just outside to catch our breath.
"Where -" I wheeze, and she shrugs.
"Split -" She gasps back.
"To?"
She points wordlessly to the northeast and I ransack my brain to remember just what she's directing me towards.
"What-?"
"Abandoned -" She wheezes, hands on her knees. "- factory. Dreamyard. You."
"Gotcha." I slowly, slowly straighten, hold my breath for a moment - wait for the stars to clear from before my eyes, then let Ivy slither off my arm and coil beside Nolene. I turn, with a little sigh, and start walking. "I'll remember my Pokétch this time - keep yours on."
"Be careful!" Nolene calls after me, and I nod grimly. "You too."
We'll have to be, if someone's willing to go so far as violence.
...
The Dreamyard, as it's colloquially called by the residents of Striaton, was once a laboratory. That was nearly thirty years ago - and as it fell into disrepair, then full-on ruin, more and more Pokémon have moved in. I've heard the place is beloved of the psychic-type Munna, but I'm really not sure; the one time I came here with the Professor and the others, all we saw were Patrat and Purrloin.
I remember it as very peaceful.
That is about the last adjective I'd use for it right now - it's not loud, but the noises I hear put me right on edge; they sound like fighting.
Not good.
Godfrey hisses in alarm as we pass between the trees towards the source of the muffled din, his little body rigid against the back of my neck. "Here. They are here."
He never repeats himself - this can't be good. I peel him from my neck, tuck him back into my jacket, whisper, "Stay quiet, darling."
The last thing I want is for him to get hurt, the poor baby.
I round a tree, and stop dead.
Two men in strange, archaic clothing are commanding easily a dozen Pokémon - mostly Patrats, but also a few Purrloin, and they're closing slowly but steadily in on two tiny figures.
One of them is Felicity, cowering but still radiating defiance, spouting tiny bursts of flame at anything that comes near - the other, though, is new; a tiny, round, pink Pokémon, and it's making the strangest noises, and waves of... of energy are pouring off it, distorting the air, like heatwaves rising off the pavement on a midsummer day.
It's not doing as much as I'd imagined it would - the swarm of Patrats and Purrloins is steadily closing in, and I have no idea what to do - Godfrey would be eaten alive if I sent him in there, Zephyr...
Zephyr's my only other option, and my stomach sinks to my knees at the thought - she's going to die for sure if I throw her into that morass of teeth and talons.
But they're closing in on the poor psychic and Felicity, and I have to do something - I remember my Pokétch this time, hiss a hasty, "GET OVER HERE I FOUND THEM" to Nolene, and then...
Then I do something supremely stupid.
Well, first I recall my Pokémon - if I'm going to get my ass handed to me, I'd prefer they didn't get caught in the crossfire. Then I stoop, grab a reasonably-sized dead branch, and charge forward with a wordless war-whoop.
My first swing knocks a couple of Patrats spinning, the backswing catches a Purrloin mid-pounce, and suddenly the odds are a little more even - the Munna knocks a third Patrat away with a burst of pink light, Felicity brightens up as she recognizes me and suddenly the flames are absolutely flying -
And then the pain hits me as sharp teeth sink into my left calf.
I don't scream, but the bite came at an awkward time mid-swing, and I'm thoroughly unbalanced - I sway, teeter, drop my branch and tumble with a yelp, curl into a ball, expecting another attack any second now, completely unprepared for it -
Suddenly, there's a noiseless, lightning-flash explosion of green. I'm blinded, but I can hear the squeals and yelps of dismay from the Pokémon and the men; and then there's something touching me - not physically, but I'm aware of something new blossoming in the back of my mind.
Throw. Just throw, and ask questions later.
I feel something hard and round and solid drop into my open right hand, clench my fingers around it, and blindly fling it from me.
There's the familiar sound of a Poké Ball opening, and then I hear the sound of pressurized water, and Felicity squealing her angriest squeal, and a strange whistle-crackle-snap that I assume is the Munna, and suddenly the men are adding to the cacophony, yelling in terror - something about... Gay cheese?
Something crashes past me, and it's about then that my eyesight begins to come back.
There's a veritable heap of Patrats, with a few Purrloin here and there, lying in the soft, green grass; hopefully still alive. Felicity looks none the worse for wear, thank Arceus, and the Munna is bobbing happily, nuzzling a larger, even brighter pink Pokémon. The men, thank Arceus again, are nowhere to be seen.
And there's something coming towards me, through the tall grass.
I sit up, slowly, blinking rapidly to clear the flashing colors from my eyes - and suddenly, something small and quick leaps from the grass, tackles me so hard I nearly go back over. I brace myself with one arm, catch the thing with the other - I look down -
And reproachful red eyes look back at me from a familiar, blue, beaked face.
My mouth goes cottony. "LILY?"
The Piplup - MY Piplup, my Piplup who I left in Sinnoh - quacks gleefully, wraps stubby flippers as far around me as she can reach in a hug. I squeeze her gently, suddenly aware of the gleeful grin on my face. "How'd you get here?"
I brought her.
Something tugs on my hair, and I peer over my shoulder, quizzically.
It's a Kirlia who's standing there, mint-green hair fastened into neat little pigtails, bright blue eyes fixed on me like she can see right through me. Hello again! Do you remember me?
I blink a couple more times, squint through the last of the colorful shadows. "...Have we met?"
For answer, the Kirlia steps forward, touches a delicate fingertip to my forehead -
Lake Verity, riding on something soft and fluffy and golden, and then my own voice - "HEY!" and "Aww, was this your accomplice?" and-
I jerk back, startled. "Don't do that!"
Sorry! She smiles shyly. But do you remember me now?
I nod. "Not your name, but you... You were theirs."
The other way around. She shakes her head. They were mine. She minces up next to me, settles daintily into the grass. I've been looking for you for a while now.
Yes, I altered the Dreamyard monkey to Lily the Piplup. It's... a bit easier to work into the narrative - especially considering my actual catch there.
