CHAPTER TWO
Val trotted towards the cottage where she and Jamie had lived for ten years. Before that…..
Hmm… Val frowned. She could never remember what her life was like before they moved to Ambriar Town, which was strange, since she had been twelve years old when they moved.
Maybe Jamie has an answer! She thought optimistically as she bounded home. Her mouth was savory with the tasty Castellicone Sharpie had brough back with a special machine called a freezer, which could keep items cold.
Exactly five feet away from her cottage, she froze. A cold wind swirled around her. With her doomsday sense, she knew that something bad was going to happen soon….
She closed her eyes and concentrated fiercly. She foresaw the cottage bursting into flames, and she herself running from it with a whtie envelope clasped between her teeth. A flash of metal gleamed from behind her….
Opening her eyes, she eyed the creature that was now standing in front of her - Daaga the Bisharp, heir of one of the richest family estates in the known world. Also Loel's brother, although their personalities were complete polar opposites. How Loel got an obnoxious, aggressice, and frankly stupid brother was a mystery deeper than Deoxy's meteorite.
"Daaga." Val said clamly. She knew how to deal with him. She bounded up to him and pulled out a Clever Wing - a special item from Unova. As Daaga clearly needed intelligence, Val thought that it was the most proper gift. "Sharpie just came back to Unova! Do you want this?"
To her surprise, Daaga swiped the item from her paw and smashed it to the ground, turning the glittery feather into a dusty wreckage.
"I don't care about your stupid items!" he roared. "Jamie murdered Loel! And you…..you're in cahoots with him! You - must - die - !"
"Hold on!" Val protested frantically. "Jamie couldn't have murdered Loel! They're best friends!"
"Oh? Then why did I see him next to her corpse?" The Bisharp snarled.
Val glared at him. "You're not thinking this straight! You and Loel are the richest Pokemon in town! There are always assassins out there that want your treasure! I can bet you ten to one that the moment Jamie left Loel's side - probably to come back here, some Pokemon murdered her. Jamie was just there at the wrong place and time! Don't just accuse, Daaga! Let's go ask Jamie!" She spat out.
His eyes gleamed with malice. "I killed him for killing Loel!" he snarled, completely ignoring the Absol's statement. "And now I'll kill you!" He lunged with a Guillotine and would've pierced Scarlet right through if she hadn't foreseen the attack and counterattack immediately with Psycho Cut.
"Y-You killed Jamie!" She cried. She couldn't imagine anyone hurting her poor sweet papa. "Why?" Tears blurred her bision.
"He's a murderer!" He roared, and tried to use Metal Claw on her. Val barely dodged with a last-second Detect.
"Daaga - stop!" Val pleaded as she blocked his Iron Head with a Night Slash. "Let's talk this out!"
The Bisharp apparently did not want to talk things out, as he lunged at her with another Iron Head. Val dodged and the Bisharp slammed into a tree behind her.
Daaga cursed as he struggled to free his head, which had been stuck in the tree. Val decided that it was time to go gather her few possessions and that letter and leave. She would need time to figure out what to do. But one thing was clear - Daaga was out for blood, her blood, and she would no longer be safe in Ambriar Town.
Her throat swelled up and her vision became blurry as she quickly packed some of her favorite things and must-need possessions into a saddle bag. She found the letter on her bed, obviously left by Jamie himself.
Oh...but what was she suppose to do? She didn't want to leave Ambriar Town. Her friends - Laurel, Sharpie, Shoal, Crystalie…..what would they think when they find her missing? Her heart skipped in her chest. Could she really do it? Leave everything behind?
No, Val decided. She would go to Shoal and Crystalie first, to ask them to shelter her. Then she'd avoid Daaga. There was no way that she was going to leave her hometown.
An acrid smell filled her nostrils, and she burst out of the flaming cottage, the envelope clutched tightly in her jaws. She sped past Daaga, who was tossing more sticks of fire and matches into the blaze. She rammed into him head-first and hopped over him twisted body as he struggled to get up.
Tears filled the Absol's eyes as she fled, her home bursting into flames behind her.
~Hours later
"That's horrible!" Val nudged her cup of tea half-heartedly as Crystalie raged on. She was a pretty Vaporeon, with soft purple eyes and graceful movements. But boy, did she have a sharp tongue.
"One does not just kill without evidence!" she stormed on. "Okay, you see one Pokemon dead and you see another beside her - that doesn't mean that Jamie killed her! Maybe he was trying to protect her! Oh, why can't that pathetic little Bisharp actually think things through before flying into a rage and killing innocent Pokemon! One needs evidence before accusation! That is the basis of matters! Evidence! Give me evidence! How I wish I could give him a piece of my mind! He - is - so- dense!" she snapped.
"Crystalie." Shoal said. "You should be a lawyer."
Shoal, Crystalie's husband, was a quiet male Espeon with melchony violet eyes and a shy, shuffling way of moving. He raised his split tail for silence. "I'm sorry, Val, but we can only protect you for so long. And there's no way you can avoid Daaga unless you leave - that Bisharp is rash, yes, but also determined. He'd stop at nothing to kill you - even if he does have no evidence."
"Well, let him come here!" Crystalie raged on. "I'll flay that little troublemaker like a scrap of rubbish!" she bared her fangs and lunged at a throw pillow, knocking over the table with her tail. Glass cups flew through the air, and Shoal barely managed to stop them from shattering against the floor with Psychic.
"Thanks." Val said tiredly. "But Crystalie….really, it's fine. I - I'll leave tomorrow."
Crystalie huffed and scratched at one of the pillows in their large living room. "Oh no you don't! If Daaga even dares to cross this threshold, I'll shred him into a billions little strips of paper maché!"
"Umm…." Shoal eyed his enraged mate wearily. "Why don't we let Val rest in the guest room for tonight? She's almost dead on her paws."
"Fine!" Crystalie fumed. "But if you think I'm letting my dear friend just leave like this, I'll rip you to shreds along with that no-good excuse of a rich piece of dung!"
Val managed a weak smile and slipped into the guest room, where she carefully set down her possessions and shakily opened the envelope.
Inside was a light blue marble-like stone on a bronze string. She slipped it around her neck and touched it. It gleamed softly. She loved stones, and her heart broke to think that this was Jamie's last gift to her.
No, don't cry. She told herself. Find out what other trinkets are in the envelope first.
There was only one thing other than the necklace - a letter written on a rose-colored piece of stationery. She unfolded it, her paws trembling.
My dear Val,
This morning, when I woke up, I sensed impending doom - my impending doom. I was sure something would happen to me, so I decide to come clean once and for all - since I will not be able to do so in Pokemon, as I would most likely be dead.
Valentina de Vaz. You are not my daughter
The note fluttered from Val's numb paws.
You are not my daughter.
How could that be possible? She was Jamie's daughter, Val! Not this...this Valentina de Vaz! It was not….could not be true!
Trembing, she forced herself to read more.
Valentina de Vaz. You are not my daughter. No, you are the daughter of my dear friend Lumisence de Vaz, late chief of the last Absol tribe, Secretia.
As you know, many Pokemon do not approve of our kind. They accuse us of creating chaos, and destroying towns and cities when we are merely able to sense it beforehand, so to say.
Unfortunately, when you were eleven years old, Secretia was targeted by a group of Absol hunters, hunters that specialize in finding us via special equipments and their six senses. Your father decided it was much too risky to keep you by his side, as you are the tribal princess and would most likely be a main target of the assassins, so he told me to hide you away.
At first it went well. I was able to keep you safe. Your father was able to keep the tribe safe. But three months after your separation from the tribe, the assassins struck once more, putting an end to the legacy of Secretia.
I was shocked when I heard the news. I never thought Lumisence and the tribe could be defeated. But there's only so much that we can foresee, and so much more that we can't forsee.
A month after the mass genocide of Absols, they started hunting you down. No matter where I tried to hide you, they were always able to find out where you were.
Then I realized how they were tracking you - your memory. They were able to use a device that tracked your memories, therefore tracking you.
Unable to hide you any longer, I decided to make one last attempt to throw our pursuers off our trails - by taking away your memories. Thanks to an oracle by the name of Athenais, we were able to successfully take your memories and hide them inside a magic pendant, which I then hide in a very safe place. I thought that they couldn't, wouldn't be able to track you down anymore, and you could live a long and happy life, free from those painful memories.
I was wrong.
Yesterday night, I sense that one of the hunters, the descendant of the two leaders that led the group, had somehow found you again. I knew you could not stay here any longer, nor would you have my help to hide you again.
Now, Val, you have two choices.
One: You could keep on hiding from reigon to region, and perhaps you would be able to escape that rentless hunter, although it is unlikely, and you would never be able to rest or be in peace.
Two: Find the magical pendant. I left a trail of clues in case a scenerio like this would happen. Once you find the pendant, you should get all your memories back...and you'll know what to do after that.
Good luck, Val. Love you.
You faithful friend,
Jamie
Friend.
Just a friend.
Val stared at the letter, reading and re-reading it again and agin. This couldn't be right. She wasn't an important or royal-blooded figure like...like a tribal princess. In fact. she despised royal blood. So snotty and up high. So how could she be one of those idiots?
And….mass genocide? Hunters? Assassins? If Jamie was telling the truth, her family had been murdered, her memory had been erased, and now an assassin was on her tail. Just great.
Well, she decided that she would find the pendant. What else could she do? She didn't want to hide forever, and she certainly did not want to die in the prime of her youth. She would find the pendant, take revenge on the assassin, and come back to Ambriar Town. She was going to live a long and happy life after that.
Satisfied with her plan, she sank down under the soft cotton covers of the bed and closed her eyes.
~Back in the living room…
"Son of a no-good, snotty high-life smartnose!" Crystalie stormed on. "By the name of Selkie, my ancestor, I will have that creature crushed to the ground! I'll spear him through the heart! I'll rip off his limbs and feed it to him!"
"Crysta….calm down…." Shoal said awkwardly. "After all, it's Val's decision. We can't intervene, remember? That's what the oracle said."
"The ora-what? The oracle? Oh, doomsday with the oracle! Val is our friend! We grew up with her, went to school together, ate lunch together, worked together...we can't leave her now!" Crystlie raged on.
The male Espeon twitched his tail. "I can see some of the future, Crystalie. I'm a Psychic type, after all. From what I see, we must leave the choice to Crystalie. Let's tell her what the oracle said…."
"I hate your plans." Crystlie grumbled.
"...And give her the first clue." he finished. The scarlet jewel on his head gleamed.
