Chapter Three: Silence

With Every Legend, There's a Beginning

Silence surrounded me. No gunshots, screams; we just stared at each other, both unsure of what was going on. Just like the Stantler and me, examining each other quietly while unmoving. My attacker wasn't who I thought it would be. In my head, I pictured an angered middle-aged man who didn't have anything left to live for, but I was taken aback by this sight. Was I seeing this correctly? Was I dreaming?

No, I wasn't; this was real. My attacker was skinny, dangerously so. Weaponless, for what I could see, and she was the same height as me; the average teenage girl height, I assumed. She was no threat. But what did she want?

She turned her head and eyed the pond; her brown curls cradling her dark skin. "You bathed in my drinking water," she said, sarcasm hinting in her tone. I breathed out, the tightness in my chest and throat releasing.

"I'm…Sorry, I didn't realize."

"Right. Anyways, are you hungry?" She approached me with her hand extended, "I'm Ellena."

"Cynthia," I wanted to say I wasn't hungry, and that I would be continuing alone—I needed no help; but my stomach growled, "and I'm starving." I shook her hand. My stomach always wins.

"Grab your stuff and come back to my camp." She said. She was completely calm, which comforted me. Obeying her, I grabbed my bag and followed a short distance to another small clearing. There was a tent and the remains of a campfire, along with big back pack. Ellena got a few things out of her bag and handed them to me. I looked at them. They were dried berries. She plopped a few in her mouth a sat across from me. I stuffed a few in my mouth and melted at the savory sweet taste. Dried mago berries; they were delicious.

"So how long have you been out here?" I asked after I had finished my handful.

"I don't know. A week, I guess, but most of it was spent traveling from Oreburgh." She answered.

"Oreburgh? So there is a way to get there from here."

She nodded. "It doesn't take long to get there, either. You're almost to the mountain."

If I was almost to the mountain, how come she was gone a week? "Then how come it took you so long to get here from Oreburgh?"

"Who said I came straight from Oreburgh? I did some sightseeing, don't you know." She laughed. "I'm actually on my way back. That's where you're going, I'm guessing?"

"Yeah, I'm headed there."

"Then I'll take you myself." She looked up at the sky. "…In the morning." She continued. "I want to at least spend one night here before going back."

Not questioning her, I nodded. I sat back on my elbows. Ellena seemed not talkative. Just like me. I had no interest in talking really. I asked my questions. Ellena laid back and looked at the sky, something I had always loved doing.

The question that seemed to pop up in my mind the most recently came again: why do I trust this girl? I shouldn't trust her or anybody, except Pete, he's my exception—only exception. So why am I trusting Ellena? Well, she did try and help me, she fed me, she's helping me get to Oreburgh, and she just seems to be trustworthy. Like Jamie. You can just tell she's trustworthy. I convinced myself.

"So where are you from?" Ellena asked, bringing me back to reality.

"Celestic," I answered simply.

"Do you have any Pokémon?"

"Yes." I quickly bit my lip. Was that a safe thing to say? Well, I mean, if she suddenly tried to attack me maybe she would think about me having defense… Even though I hadn't even looked at Gible since the day I got her. Now my urge for just looking at my Pokémon was strong. But I couldn't just whip her out, right? "Can I let her out?" I asked, feeling like a little kid asking her parents for permission.

"No one's stopping you." She shrugged.

A smile tugged at my lips. I reached into the handy pocket of my bag and let her out. She came out and made some kind of happy coo. Her eyes were huge, like she had never seen the world before. But…She was kept in her Pokéball for a long time…Now I felt horrible; what I horrible Pokémon owner I am.

Gible stared at me for a moment with her mouth agape. She looked like she had the first time I saw her: Blue and short; sort of menacing. Then she turned away from me and started running for the woods. "No, Gible!" I yelled, and she turned around and cocked her head at me the best she could manage. "No." I calmly repeated.

"Is she hungry?" Ellena asked.

The feeling of being a horrible owner came back to me and I bit my lip. "Probably… She's been in her Pokéball for days…" Years.

Ellena wasn't appalled or anything. She just nodded and pulled something out of her bag. It was in a wrapper. She unwrapped it and threw the thing toward my Pokémon. Gible looked at it wide-eyed before opening her mouth and scooping up the bar, and a mouthful of dirt, and chewed quickly before swallowing.

"What was that thing?" I asked.

"A nutrition bar. That'll fill her up for another day or so." She lay back down again.

Focusing on Gible, I realized this was the first time I had been around a Pokémon. Except for Stantler. But, this was my Pokémon; the Pokémon that was going to get me to the League.

This was the first time I thought about battling. Really, really thought about it. I'm not even sure how much time went by, because I was engrossed in thinking about winning. Battling, winning; everything that had to do with it. Now I realized what I was out here to do. It wasn't to have aching ankles, be hungry and thirsty, or to meet these people, it was to be a trainer; a real trainer. And I was looking at the Pokémon who I would train. I probably needed to start training, considering in a matter of days I would be battling gyms. I looked over at Ellena, who was so quiet I wondered what was on her mind.

"Ellena?"

"Yeah?" She sat up.

"Have you ever trained a Pokémon before?" I asked.

She nodded. "Yes. I have one in Oreburgh. Why?"

"Then would you help me train Gible?"

She thought for a moment. "Sure." She shrugged. We stood up at the same time and walked over to Gible. She looked up at us and backed away…Then darted for the woods again.

"What? Why can't you do it!" I said, and Ellena crossed her arms over her chest and gave me a look.

"Because it's your Pokémon, Cynthia." Her tone was firm and instructor-like; I didn't realize I was signing up for a legitimate trainer lesson when I asked for her help, but that's what I got.

After an hour or so of Ellena telling me about commands, and trying to get Gible to stop wanting to run way, she suggested we use a boulder nearby as a target. She told me to give Gible a command, and I objected.

"I don't know what to say!"

"You're overthinking it. Your Pokémon need to know you and listen to you." I started to object some more, but she cupped her hand over my mouth. "Just do it!" She took her hand away and I fought the temptation to roll my eyes.

"Gible," I said, trying to make my voice sound strong and commanding, "Tackle, now." I pointed to the boulder. Gible just stared at me. "See? I did it wrong!" I looked at Ellena.

"No, you're a born natural. It's her." She nodded towards my Pokémon. Great.

After a long line of failed attempts, Gible took a nap. No matter how loud I screamed at her, it didn't affect her sleeping—or snoring—and that just made Ellena and I very frustrated. "She's not a Gible, she's a Snorlax!" I yelled, and Flying Types flew from the nearby trees.

Once she woke up, Ellena had another idea: We coax her with food. If she truly was part Snorlax, this could be extremely successful.

"Gible, Tackle that boulder, then you get this." I held up another nutrition bar, a smirk planted on my face. She ran for the boulder and jumped on top of it—Ellena and I both gasped with excitement—then snatched the bar from my hand with her little claw; another failed attempt.

We failed for another few hours. By the time we stopped Gible was halfway tackling the boulder, which Ellena said was better than nothing; I agreed, mostly because I was tired of training. The sun had already set and we were around the campfire. I put Gible in her Pokéball out of frustration. She must hate me…I'm not too happy with her either. I thought as I put her in my bag. Shaking my head, I curled up with Ellena's extra blanket and looked up at the cloudless sky; the dark blanket dotted with shimmering stars. As much as I tried to focus on that, and not on my day of training, it was to no avail.

"Today was just a bunch of failed attempts." I muttered through my teeth and shook my head again. How was this trainer thing going to work when your Pokémon doesn't want to train?

Ellena must have heard me, "don't worry about it, Gible will come around. This was your first time, it'll be easy from now on. We can train before we leave in the morning."

We did end up training the next morning. We had awoken as early as I had the first morning in my katta tree, which was dreadfully early, but I didn't mind. Personally, waking up wasn't that hard for me. My grandparents were always early risers, and so I learned from them.

After more failed training attempts with Snorlax-Gible, we started to make progress. "Gible, use Tackle!" I commanded in my most serious voice. Gible actually ran and tackled the boulder. Then she pounced backward off of the boulder and back into the attack position. I smiled. "Again." Gible did it again perfectly, making my smile widen, but then she hopped up on the boulder to look at me eye-to-eye. She didn't look at me the way she did when I let her out of her Pokéball yesterday—a look filled with gleam and wonder—now it was more of a hatful glare.

Ellena praised the two of us, and patted my shoulder and Gible's head. Smirking, I turned and walked over to my bag. Gible was in my peripherals, and I noted that she was watching me carefully. Looking at her, I unzipped my bag. An alarmed expression crossed her face, and I paused. I pulled out her Pokéball, and a growl rumbled through her. The sound was deep and threatening, and it reminded me that she was a tough Pokémon—who could hurt me if she pleased. "Gible, come here." I said gently, yet with superiority. She hissed, something that Dragons often did, and jumped off the boulder. Her gaze left me and went to the trees, and just as her body started to move I whipped the Pokéball at her, and she was covered in light beams before she could make a getaway. "Nice try," I said to the Pokéball, and I could almost swear I heard a hissy growl.

We gathered everything up; I helped Ellena put away her tent as she covered up the campfire. I asked her why she was doing it, and she shrugged and answered: "Safety reasons." I didn't question her, since technically we were on illegal ground, but I couldn't help but be wary of the fact she was knowingly breaking the law, too. I knew I wasn't some large threat, but she could be, right? Not to me, but to Sinnoh. Or maybe I'm just crazy.

"How do you know where to go?" We were walking down a slim path, leading to a mountain I could see in the close distance. On both sides of the pathway there was heavy brush, probably nearly impossible to push through, and the dirt path in-between was seemingly manmade; even though this was illegal ground.

"Because Oreburgh made the way. Our Gym Leader Byron secretly had this path constructed, right under Lea's nose, so those of us brave enough to venture out could. Only a group of us knows about it, so get that information on the down-low if you don't mind." She said as we approached the mountain. There was a large hole at the base, and we entered with no hesitation.

It reminded me of the ruins back home. Dark, damp and had an unexplainable smell. Ahead of us was a tight path; Ellena took the lead.

"Oh, so Byron promotes illegality?" The words tumbled out, and my tone was more sarcastic than I wanted.

Ellena stopped and turned; giving me an annoyed look. "Excuse you. No, he's not like that. You don't live there, you have no right to judge. Byron only did that for the group of us begging him to." She continued walking, and I chomped down on my lip; regretting what I had said.

"You're right. I'm not judging. I had no place to say that. In fact, forget I did." She nodded, and I went back to following her. Thinking back to what she said, the way she kept saying 'group of us' stuck out, and had me wondering what she meant exactly. Group of us? Group of what? I thought, and then she stopped abruptly.

"What?" I whispered, hearing the sound of flapping wings followed by weird noises.

"Zubat. Come on, let's not disturb them, the last thing we want is a battle with your Gible who doesn't listen."

"But she would attack them." I defended my Pokémon. I wanted to battle these Zubat.

"No, Cynthia, she's a beginner, these guys would KO her." I frowned when she said KO. Gible wouldn't be knocked out. The urge to yell out "Come and get me Zubats!" grew strong. But, Ellena and I sneaked through the rest of the short cave.

Once we exited the fresh smell took over me. We were back in the forest. There was a lot of tall grass around the area. The trees and grass were deep-green and very pretty. Some flowers were patched around the area, too. "Are there Pokémon around?"

"Yes, lots. But none we'll be battling." Ellena said and rolled her eyes; I returned a glare.

We kept on walking through the forest. One thing I noticed was the rocks. Boulders and rocks covered the area and the ground was dirty and gravely; cliché Oreburgh traits. Soon, we came to an electric fence. It towered over us and it seemed like the barbwire that looped around its top glared at us.

"How do we get in?" I asked, feeling brainless for not knowing anything.

"Like this." Before I could stop Ellena, her hand reached out and grabbed the fence. My body shuttered, expecting her to be shocked to death, but nothing happened. "No electricity," she explained as she lifted the wire. She motioned with her hand for me to go in, so I did, and then held it for her as she ducked in. On the other side of the fence, there were a few feet of practically empty forest and then the large dirt streets of Oreburgh started. Right on the edge of where the streets meet the forest—the end of the forest that was obviously there to try and hide the fence—there was a large, berryless bush that we squatted behind.

Ellena started whispering: "You must know that most of the time, Oreburgh is crawling with guards. It's vitally important that we're not seen. Okay?"

Nodding, I said, "okay, but why?"

"Leaving is very bad. It's punishable. Do you want to be punished?" I shook my head, feeling like a child, and she continued, "exactly. Follow my lead." She poked her head around the bush, and so did I. The streets were lined with tiny houses; all squished next to each other. Over the roofs I could see the orange obnoxiousness of the Center, and next to it the gym that stood a story over all the small shack-like houses right in the middle of the town. Off to the right, at the edge of town, I saw a large group of people seemingly walking up from underground. "The mine workers are getting off on lunch break, which means the guards are on alert. We'll have to wait until they go back." She moved back behind the bush and sat, getting comfortable.

Staying where I was, I took in the town. This was the first time I had ever been there, and even though it was small, something about it was captivating; maybe the fact that it was all so new to me. "I didn't realize how small this place is." I muttered, my eyes gliding over the homes and everything again.

Ellena nodded. "Yeah well, being the poor town of Sinnoh, we do what we can. That means having ugly houses."

The houses were dark wood, almost black, and had gray shingles covering the roofs. "They look fine." Said I, trying my best cheery voice.

She scoffed. "Yeah, right. We're probably the laughing stock of Sinnoh. Our ugly shed homes and dirt roads. Look at our gym! Even that is unappealing."

The gym was black and orange. She was right about that; it wasn't very appealing, but I didn't dare say anything. I could tell she was about to shoot into rant mode.

"We can't afford anything any better. The Center has the most outdated stuff the Golden Cities could find. We had a Mart, but it closed a few years back because no one could afford their insane prices. Now the building isn't there because they tore it down to expand the mines." Her rant went on. At this time she reminded me of Jamie; someone who could speak her mind so quickly and fluently and wouldn't stop until she was done. She talked about the towns unappealing appearance, and then moved on to the mines. She said something along the lines of: "Our mineworkers are forced to work."

"What do you mean?" I cut in. She blinked as she came back to reality.

"Our miners are forced to work, and we don't even get at least some of the jewels or gold or coal or anything. All our findings are shipped to the Golden Cities." She explained.

"But the mineworkers get paid well, right?"

She shook her head then laughed. "Like Lea would give us his precious money! Our mineworkers get paid so little they can really only feed themselves… And they wouldn't be full at the end of the day! But mostly everyone has a family, so people starve. A lot of people die here because of that. It's kind of a normal thing, a person dying of starvation, unfortunately. We can't grow crops or anything here, no good soil."

"Then how do you eat?!" I asked quickly. Then it hit me: Pokémon meat. At first I didn't say anything, the thoughts turning my stomach, and when I was ready to yell she answered me.

"There are a few berry plants out here and a group of us goes out and collects more berries from back there." She pointed behind us. "And the guards are allowed to sell certain things to us in the Center, so if we can afford grains and herbs and sometimes special things we can buy from them."

"So you don't eat Pokémon?"

She looked wide-eyed at me. "What?! No! Of course not! Besides, there are no meaty Pokémon around here. Only Geodude and Wurmple. Have you ever had Wurmple? I haven't. I heard they have to be prepared a certain way to be eatable because of the poison in their systems. I don't eat Pokémon meat, anyways."

Proudly, I said: "Good, because neither do I. I'm a vegetarian." She nodded, and looked back at the town.

"Looks good to me, we should go." We stood, and she lead me to a nearby house. She knocked gently on the door, and I heard footsteps cross over to the door. It creaked open, only enough for half of the ladies face to be exposed.

"Ellena?" Her voice was quiet, and her eyes widened. She opened the door for us and we entered. Honestly, I was a bit hesitant at this whole situation. All I was waiting for was my opportunity to find out who Pete was. "Ellena!" The lady yelled, and Ellena clamped her hand over the woman's mouth.

"Shhh! The guards can't know I left." She whispered, and the lady nodded.

"I know," she said once Ellena moved her hand, "I just missed you. I'm so glad you're back." She pulled her into an embrace, and I saw Ellena relax as she did so. The woman looked nothing like Ellena. She had jet black hair, olive toned skin and light eyes. She looked a little too young to be her mother—which she obviously wasn't her mother—but I couldn't quite pinpoint an age for her. "Oh!" The lady broke the hug and put her hands on Ellena's shoulders, "your parents! They'll be so happy to see you. And Essie—oh the poor thing—she's been so sick. I've been taking care of her when your mom leaves to find some work, we've been worried about her."

A grim look crossed Ellena's face, and she was silent as she slumped over to the bed in the corner and sat down. Many thoughts swarmed in her mind; I could tell.

The woman looked over at me, "hello there. I'm Sake, Ellena's mom's friend." She slightly laughed.

"I'm Cynthia," I returned a smile and looked at Ellena. "Are you okay? Why don't we go see Essie?" I suggested.

It took her a moment to answer, "I'm fine. It's just…Sort of hard to go see her."

"What do you mean?"

"Well…I left in an odd moment…I was living here with Sake, and when I left it was right after a huge fight—disagreement, I guess I should say—with my family. It feels odd going back." She looked at me gloomily. Her eyes were teary.

"Ellena," Sake sat next to her and wrapper her arms around her. "It's okay. They've missed you. Me and your mom have talked about it over and over, she understands now. You just needed to give her time to process…" She looked over at me as if she was remembering I was there. "It's just fine, Elle, Essie wants her big sister." She hugged her and patted her arms soothingly.

"Okay. Let's go." Ellena rose up and walked out of the house. I followed her. We walked a few houses down and up to the front door. Every house looked like a replica of the other; I don't know how Ellena knows which house is which.

We walked through the wooden door and saw a lady sitting on a bed. A little girl, skinny as a bone, sat up quickly in the bed. She had the same spring-like brown curls as Ellena and the same flawless dark skin.

"Ellie?!" The girl asked wide-eyed.

"Yes, Essie." Ellena whispered. Her eyes filled and almost spilled over with tears as she ran to her sister and hugged her tightly. "I'm here, I'm home, and I'm not leaving like that ever, I promise!"

The lady threw her arms around the two of them. She was sobbing. "Ellena, sweetheart, you're…" She couldn't continue due to her hysterical sobs. I felt awkward standing there. I stepped back a few paces. Something big obviously happened. It would be best to keep my distance.

"I love you, Mom." Ellena said as she got out of their embrace. "And…I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry. I didn't understand before now but now I do. Sake told me all about the rebels and I completely get it." She wiped her eyes with her orange apron.

Ellena nodded as she fought back tears. "Essie," she said turning to her sister, "How are you feeling?"

"Better, Ellie, much better." She grinned at Ellena and revealed a missing tooth. She giggled.

"Essie has been feeling better today, but she hasn't been well." The mom said. She sighed and walked over to the huge pot hanging over a fire pit. She glanced in it. "I hope you guys will be hungry. This will be done in three hours or so. Hopefully your dad will home by then."

"Why shouldn't he? Isn't he normally home by now?" Ellena asked.

"No, not recently. He's had longer hours. Apparently they haven't been mining enough coal. Last week he didn't get home until after we were in bed! It's a shame."

"And Byron isn't doing anything about it?!"

"Ellena, if the Golden Cities or Lea says so, Byron can't do anything. You know this." Ellena shook her head then scoffed. A few minutes went by before she spoke again.

"Is he in the mines now?" She asked.

"Yes, he is. He didn't even get to come home for lunch…" She bit her lip and gave Ellena an odd look.

Ellena became wide-eyed; reading her mom's expression perfectly. "Alright." She struggled to keep calm. She looked at me and motioned for me to follow her. We walked out of the house.

Being thoroughly confused as to well, everything, I asked: "What was all that about?"

"Well, Cynthia, my dad didn't come home for lunch and I'm worried about him. I need to check on him!" Her strides became quicker and longer.

"Wait, I need to talk to you." I said, thinking of Pete. But then I didn't even want to ask about Pete, suddenly I was more interested in Ellena. Questions among questions flew through my mind.

"Later, okay?" She started sprinting. I followed on her heels, not saying a word, and adrenaline started coursing through me. Getting the strong feeling that something extremely serious, and dangerous, was about to happen; my mind set on the situation at-hand and nothing else.

The mine opening was large and it dipped down. It was pretty steep, so we skidded down it. The mine wasn't like the ruins or a cave, it was musty and everything was painted with coal dust. The miners were all looking at us strangely as they dug into the walls. All you could hear was the clinging and clanging of the workers.

But I didn't have much time to get a good look around, because then the bomb went off, and everything was silenced.

*This chapter has been hardcore edited/rewritten