"Where are you going?"
Halfway through stepping out onto the porch, Michael turned around and leaned against the doorframe. "I was going to talk to the people at the Pokémon Center about my project. I'm hoping they can let me use their storage terminal to test it, and I'd do a demonstration of what I have so far."
"What about work on the house? I thought we could start today." Latias swooped down the steps to float at eye-level with him.
"Someone," Michael smiled as he loaded that word, "slept in today, and then took her sweet time eating. I figured I could make some progress on this and get back before we get into the swing of things."
"House work before machine work. Said so yourself two days ago. You were right. House needs work. But now machines first?"
"People are asking for it now. It's not just about me anymore."
"Say that again when house falls down." Michael laughed. Latias did not. Silence stretched just long enough for him to get the hint.
"Alright. Look, I'm only going to be gone a couple hours." He sounded apologetic, but Latias felt he remained unyielding. "We'll start as soon as I get back, okay? We need to figure out what we have to get first."
"I'll go with you then."
"I don't think that's a good idea."
A shimmer passed over Latias' body as she bristled, her light-bending plumage ruffling with her displeasure. "Proximity strengthens bond. Use strengthens bond. Good practice. It'll be beneficial."
"The technology that revealed you to me, that's standard in every Pokémon Center now. Refined versions, too; they'll know exactly what you are right away. I won't straight tell you not to come, we went over that last night. I just don't think it's wise. I don't want to put you in that kind of spot."
Bobbing side to side, Latias still wanted to argue, but he had a point. "Fine. One condition! Get supplies while you're out. I'll make a list."
"Deal," without hesitation.
"Yes!" Enthusiasm flooded Latias' mental voice. "Thank you so much! I'll get started right away."
"Hey, no problem." Latias had already shot upstairs before he finished his sentence, and the final word came though their mental channel.
Securing paper was easy; the desk in his bedroom was well-stocked. Locating a pen proved more difficult, until she remembered that one of his sat in the drawer in her cavern home, the one she took from the study his second night here. She darted out the balcony door and down the bluffs to retrieve it. In its drawer, the wrinkled paper beside it momentarily drew her attention. Michael knew she had it; she would have to ask him about it some time. A time she was less busy.
She already was aware and dutifully recorded some of the issues she'd known about for years. The balcony door's inability to close all the way was the first item on her list. Others she had to seek out. With some she couldn't pinpoint the source of the issue, and started recording these mystery problems on the back of the page. By the time echoes of Michael's voice entered her mind, she had filled half the page on both sides with her awkward blocky script.
"Hello, can I speak to a manager for a moment about your storage system connection?" Michael's hollow voice filtered back through the mental channel. He must have reached the front desk of the Pokémon center. Several seconds passed before, "I heard you have occasional connection issues during bad weather; I think I have a solution." A much longer silence ensued. Latias took that opportunity to place her list and pen down on the kitchen table and float up to where the machine sat. Michael had mentioned performing a demonstration. Watching the machine at work was an opportunity Latias did not wish to pass up.
Sitting in the middle of the room on the plush carpet was Flufftail. A quick sweep of his emotions revealed anticipation, alongside the unique satisfaction of someone who knew they were doing their current assignment well. Michael's machine hummed diligently in the corner of the room where he first set it up. No longer on the floor, the machine's display sat atop a strange box. The clear front panel of this box was divided into two squares, each with a bright blue light in a corner. Two pokéballs sat inside.
The ghostly echoes of Michael's voice returning interrupted her investigations and contemplation of the fox's emotional state. "Hi, I'm Michael Schalde. I wanted to speak with you about hosting a local storage network." After a long delay, "I have some temporary hardware already set up. I can demonstrate for you, if you'd allow me to access this terminal here and connect to it. May I?" A string of high speed gibberish simmered under the surface of the telepathic channel then, just out of reach of Latias' ability to retrieve. She frowned as she tried to pick out any hints of what was going on. Flufftail cocked his head. One of the blue lights on the box's face turned yellow.
With a hellish shriek the Ninetales exploded into light, a glowing blur smeared across Latias' vision pointing to one of the posts in the corners of the room.
By the time her senses returned, nothing remained to show that a pokémon had been resting there most of the day. She darted over to the display, blinking through the afterimage of the Ninetales' violent disappearance to see the readout. In the corner of her eye, she noticed the yellow of the two lights now shone green. A message blinked in a large box across the top of the readout; 'REMOTE ACCESS AUTHORIZED'. The main section of the display contained several lines.
[RECALL ID: 7D6CCF98FDBED6EB]
[7D6CCF98FDBED6EB LOCATED: ZONE 0]
[EXECUTING RECALL CELL 1]
[SUCCESS. CELL 1: READY]
"As you can see," Michael's voice returned to her mind, "there is one pokémon loaded into this system, under my name. I'll retrieve it now." Though she wasn't able to make much sense of the messages on the screen, the last line indicated whatever Michael intended to do worked. If he could see Flufftail on his end that meant Latias didn't just witness a tragic death. As she sighed with relief, the green light ticked yellow again. One of the pokéballs in the case disappeared with a much more subdued lightshow, and the colored indicator which couldn't make up its mind finally settled on red. "There we are."
She tuned out Michael's voice as she turned to look at the corner of the room where Flufftail had been sucked up. It was the same scanner-pole that stood there when she helped Michael set up this machine. One that revealed her nature to him. If it could just suck up a pokémon from anywhere in the area…
Latias blasted out of the room so fast that when she arrived back at the kitchen table downstairs, the gust of her wake blew her list off its surface. Retrieving it with shaking claws, she tried to settle her mind. Her own name carried by Michael's voice stopped her from totally succeeding. "Latias? I'm done here, if you want to get me that list."
"Oh. Yes. I'll be there shortly. Park next door, meet you there."
When she folded her arms against her body as she always did for high-speed flight, she made sure the list was tucked between her forearm and chest. She ignored Michael's confused reply as she left the house by the balcony and streaked off towards the main part of town under cloak. She kept telling herself that Flufftail would be there when she arrived; there was no reason to be worried.
When she came to a stop over the park, she saw Michael sitting on a bench, facing one of the island's many freshwater ponds. Sure enough, a cream-colored vulpine swam in its waters. Relief at seeing Flufftail safe overrode confusion about a fire-type voluntarily immersing itself. Latias found a small cluster of trees to hide in, and her illusionary human form flickered into existence around her when her emotion-sense confirmed there was nobody nearby.
"Everything go well?" she sent to Michael as she walked out of the trees, a thoroughly pointless question if the overwhelming flow of satisfaction, confidence, and pride around him was any indicator.
"Perfectly." He stood at her arrival, and accepted the list she handed him. Looking down at it, "you uh, you write like, well, a pokémon."
"Most pokémon can't write at all."
"This isn't much better." Latias let her relief at Flufftail's safety, and Michael's vast reserve of good cheer, fuel a burst of telepathic laughter in response. Michael flipped the paper over, then held up the reverse side to Latias, pointed to it, and quirked a brow.
"Didn't know what was at fault. Wrote down anyway to not forget."
Flufftail walked up to the pair, and Latias dipped low to the ground as her illusion crouched in front of the fox. She took its head in both her claws. Happiness had replaced the Ninetales' anticipation, and the satisfaction of a task in hand was now satisfaction of a task completed. Latias felt as if she'd been set up.
"You sounded distracted when I called you." Michael looked down at this touchy-feely display with hands on his hips. "Something wrong?"
With as good a mood as he was in after his little experiment, Latias couldn't bring herself to burst his bubble with how much it had terrified her. Her illusion looked up at him and smiled, "nothing. Just had to get out."
"Ah. I was wondering why you didn't just send me the list through my head. I'm going to stop by Nola's place; I told her I'd keep her updated. Why don't you come along, take your mind off troubleshooting for a while."
"Fine by me." The three started walking back the way only one of them had come.
The tourism throng was in full swing in mid-afternoon, but fortunately the café wasn't far; to reach it they only had to skirt the edge of the downtown area where the commotion lay. Off the beaten path and well outside meal times, the Tide Street Café proved empty as they entered.
The same woman staffed the cash register as the day before, emanating palpable boredom. The majority of this boredom resolved into cheerfulness as Michael entered, along with a small collection of other positive emotions. As Flufftail entered behind him and Latias pulled up the rear, another measure of boredom resolved into displeasure, along with a degree of agitation. Still, when she greeted them it was with an upbeat voice. "Welcome to the Tide Street Café! You're… Mike, right?"
"Sure am. Is Nola around? She wanted me to keep her updated on something."
"Yeah, I'll take you to her." The girl looked down at the Ninetales then, failing to keep a frown from her features. "I'll have to ask you put the pokémon away, though."
"Lay off it, Cathy," Nola's voice came from around the corner. She appeared with a cup in one hand and a book under the other arm. "There's no customers around, the man's fine." Cathy said nothing, but Latias felt her displeasure only build. "Michael, this is my daughter Catherine. She runs the place now that I've fully given myself to living in the past." She sat at a nearby table, placing the book down. Its title, revealed; 'Manisees: The Settler Era'. "Cathy, Michael. You already know he stopped by yesterday. Back there is," Nola frowned, "Anne, I think your name was? It's been awhile, before yesterday," Latias nodded and waved as Michael took a seat at the table Nola chose.
"Hello!" Cathy responded, looking between the two. "Can I get you anything?"
"No thanks," Michael said, then turned to Nola. "I spoke with the staff at the Pokémon Center today. They agreed to help me test a storage system. I threw together some hardware last night and configured it this morning."
Nola's eyes bulged. "You finished it that fast? How much sleep do you need, boy?"
"Oh no, it's definitely not ready. Just enough to show off." Michael thought for a moment. "I think I got about four hours."
Latias' head spun around so fast her body drifted after it, and she had to make sure her illusion didn't follow suit. The man told her to rest up only to get half a night's worth himself. Guilt reared in her mind; she had slept far later than she intended, when she could have been helping him.
"I'll get you a coffee, on me," Cathy immediately retreated to the kitchen
"You said you could help me with parts yesterday," Michael said after he tried and failed to prevent Cathy's departure. "I was wondering if that offer was still on the table."
"Well, there's a couple things. Pokémon have a big presence in life on this island, and there's a couple groups who are willing to help with projects that improve their wellbeing. You might be able to convince one that this qualifies. The other avenue would be the communications slush. The island allocated a good sum of money for an undersea cable project to the mainland that fell through. Now it's set aside for grants to help communications facilities on the island. The satellite station used a bit of it to help fund adding a third dish to their array." She looked to Cathy as the younger woman returned with a small tray. "You're lucky I just brewed a pot," Nola said as she took a sip from her own cup.
"Think you can point me towards them?" Michael said as he added enough cream and sugar to his cup that Latias wasn't sure it qualified as coffee anymore.
"I'll get some information together to send to you. Don't work yourself to death."
"Please don't!" Latias agreed.
Michael shrugged while taking a big swig from the cup. Putting it back down, "I'll be fine. Been through worse, in my line of work. When you get rung up for 4AM service calls where a delay can cause a medical emergency, you learn how to go without. They just called me a workaholic."
"Personally, I think you're insane," Cathy said, watching him drain the cup in record time.
"I'll go take my insanity somewhere else then," he said as he stood. "Nice to meet you, Cathy. I'll be looking forward to that info, Nola. Thanks again."
"No, thank you! You're doing our island a big favor," the older woman said, beaming.
"It'll be nice if it becomes a favor I don't have to pay for. Speaking of, you sure you don't want me to pay for this?" Michael looked to Cathy, who shook her head negative. "Alright then. I'll stop by again when I hit a milestone."
"Hopefully not too long!" Cathy called as they left. Most of her earlier cheerfulness had left, but a measure of distaste remained. Behind Latias, Flufftail fixed Cathy with a strange look as he exited last, his mind simmering with a measure of his own disdain. Latias wondered how much the Ninetales picked up on the woman's emotional state. Because how feelings read so plainly for her with her sixth sense for them, she forgot how adept some other pokémon were at reading body language.
"Four hours?" The illusion fixed him with a hard stare to match her telepathic tone once they started back down the street.
"I feel fine, seriously. That was some good coffee though, maybe I should come here regularly."
"Hardly coffee after what you did. Don't deflect. Four hours!"
"Maybe I was stealing energy from you through our bond? Y'know I could get used to this real fast if I could use you as a sleep battery. Either way, you slept enough for the both of us. You think four's bad, try fourteen."
"That's not how this works! And about that, I…" She trailed off, unsure what to say. She eventually settled for, "Sorry."
"Don't be, you needed it. Listen, Ms. Cute'n'fussy back there isn't the only shopkeeper who doesn't like pokémon around. Can you take Flufftail back to the house? I won't be much longer." The Ninetales disappeared into its pokéball, a display not nearly as bright or loud as the event in the machine room. Latias flinched anyway, but managed to keep her illusion from doing the same.
"Be back soon," she sent as she accepted the ball. He turned to walk down the street, and she turned to walk into the gap between buildings. There was nobody around, but it never hurt to be safe. She dissipated the illusion, leaving only her invisible body, and took off back towards home.
The mechanics of the pokéball mystified, and now slightly frightened, her. She ended up placing Flufftail's on the bannister of the second-story staircase, for Michael to handle when he got home. By the time she had given up on it, a steady stream of numbers and fractions and nonsense words filtered into her mind in Michael's voice. In even a single day, his voice didn't sound as hollow as it did yesterday through the link. The small token of progress pleased Latias greatly.
True to his word, Michael returned within an hour. He walked heavier, and not just because of the two large bags he carried. Latias relieved him of one – and almost fell out of the air from the unexpected weight – while he trudged over to the kitchen table and sat heavily in a vacant chair.
"You look awful. Are you alright?"
"I think I lost my second wind. Or my third, I wasn't counting."
Latias vocalized a worried sound while she transmitted, "I told you four wasn't enough!"
"I'll make it up tonight, I swear," he said with his head in his hands. She delivered Flufftail's pokéball while he rested, and he let the Ninetales out onto the floor across the kitchen. "Aw, you didn't let him out, poor thing." Then, rallying a bit of strength, he picked himself back up and leaned his chair back to snatch a bulky device from a smaller nearby table. "Need to make a call first, talk to the guy managing the system here already before I set up my own to replace it."
"But it's so late. Will they be there?" Latias asked, floating around to his side.
"Guess I'll find out." Michael looked over to Latias, then gently pushed her away. "Transmits video, you might want to stay out of the frame.
Latias let him push her, gliding away even with the slight force Michael applied against her chest. She wasn't sure where the cameras could see, so kept her distance despite her curiosity. From the device's base slid a small tray with a keypad, and Michael punched in a code. After flipping a lid-like top open, the dark screen within lit up and displayed an idle animation as the call connected. A short moment later, the face of a severe-looking man replaced it.
"Kanto pokémon storage system," the man said in a polite tone that clashed with his appearance. This incongruity vanished a moment later, and Latias could see even separated by the angled screen and without her emotion sense that the man grew unhappy. "What do you want?" followed in a flat tone
"Steve! Haven't heard from you in a while," Michael returned a far warmer greeting. "What are you doing there, I thought you were still at the plant?"
"Shit happens. Why'd you call?" Latias wondered if it was possible for a human to look any more displeased.
"Is Bill in? I'd like to talk to him about Manisees Island."
Steve looked away from the display for a moment. "He's out 'til nine tomorrow."
"Oh, alright," Michael said, sounding a little disappointed. "I'll call back tomorrow. Thanks for the help!"
Instead of saying farewell, Steve reached up out of frame, and the call went dead.
After a few moments of silence, Latias send, "I told you so. How do you know him?"
Michael slumped in his chair as a measure of tiredness reasserted itself. "He worked under me at the Pokémon Center. He was let go when they installed the machines I built, but I hired him to help build them when I started the business."
"He looked very unhappy."
"Probably just had a rough day," Michael replied. "He takes his job way too seriously."
"He looked unhappy with you, specifically."
Michael shrugged. "Not sure what it'd be. I felt we got along really well, as long as we weren't talking about pokémon battles."
Latias was thinking of ways to ask him to elaborate, but he broke her concentration by making an obscene racket while he shuffled around in one of the two large bags he brought home. "Now let's see what presents I brought for you…"
"I already know. I heard you while shopping. Fascinating, though unintelligible."
This brushed away the remainder of his exhaustion, rousing him fully back to alertness. "I didn't say a damn word in there."
"It's the shortcut I mentioned! I did mention…?"
"As if I'd be able to remember right now," he said, with a hand to his forehead. "What's the secret?"
"Pick something out of the bag. Read a word off it aloud."
Michael reached into the bag at his feet and pulled out a box of nails. "Galvanized."
"Now sound it out. Just in your head."
"Galvanized."
"Perfect!" Latias responded. "Now pick another word. Don't tell me. Sound it out in your head."
Michael flipped the box over. "Eight-dee."
"That's not a word."
Eyes wide, Michael looked back up at where Latias hovered across the table. "Well hell."
"Last night, you showed me scenes. Used the mind's eye. Now you use the mind's voice."
"Last night wiped you out. Does this drain you as much?"
"No. You use same parts of brain. For me it requires same effort. Passive level; skimming the surface."
Placing the box back down, Michael used his freed hands to rub his eyes. "Why couldn't you tell me this last night?"
"You didn't know the right word. Only can use words you know. This is not speech. I take words from your mind. Assemble them. Make them sound good." Latias sent a short giggle before, "This is technically hallucination."
"And, what, hearing me narrate my shopping trip inspired a way around my lack of knowledge?"
"More or less."
With a gusty sigh, Michael leaned back in his chair. The wonder of a new discovery was already fading to frustration, Latias felt. "So I have even less privacy than I thought."
Latias tilted her whole body in the air, an exaggerated head-cock. "Pardon?"
"I thought I could at least keep my thoughts to myself. But now I can't even do that, if I think too loud."
Latias snorted. "Thought could keep body to self. But now screaming disintegration box."
Michael looked down at her before tilting his head back again and rubbing his temples. "So you saw that. The baffles, there's no… It was just supposed to be a prototype. It's missing all the stuff that makes using it comfortable that a pokéball has. Those poles are really just a bunch of pokéball guts on sticks. They're just much louder and brighter because I never installed the limiters and such that reduce that."
"That was a momentary fright. Not what I meant. That machine can see me. It can steal pokémon from room. You could take me with it."
"I'm not going to. I have no need nor desire to. I gave you my word on that."
Latias floated up over the table, bringing her nose close to his forehead where he now rested his head in his hands. "The capability scares me. I won't enter that room. I believe you, though sometimes skittish. Don't believe the machine, but you. I trust you with my body. You trust me with your mind?"
A small smile crept to his face when he rolled his eyes up to meet hers. "Yes, I trust you. You're already taking a risk bigger than I would in your place."
"When the link improves, can block. Clayton kept things from me often. Your mind must acclimate. Until then; trust."
"That's not the point. Well, it's a minor point. Maybe privacy is the wrong word; you already learned last night what I want to keep hidden from most, people look at a broken man differently. How about protection; yours, not mine. Last night was a good night for me. Usually I can't look at that picture without having to fight the urge to destroy it. Sometimes, the urge to destroy myself. But even on a good night it was enough to frighten you terribly, through how you taste feelings or whatever it is you do. What happens when I have a bad night, find myself in a bad way?"
"Then I will endure. This will not always be fun. It shouldn't be. I have bad moments too. When channel improves, you might see. A good bond goes both ways. Don't think you're locked out long." She closed the final distance and nudged him with her nose. "We hurt in similar ways. We can help each other. And when it's bad, we talk. We hear all fights and disagreements. Maybe even all unpleasantries deep down. That's just the nature of it. Please just stick with me. I promise it'll be worth it."
Slowly, he lifted both hands to cup her head, like she'd seen him to do his Ninetales when lost in thought. A part of her railed against yet another comparison to his pokémon, but only a small part. His emotions were an open book; resignation, thoughtfulness, lingering frustration, even hope. None of a trainer's trademark possessiveness or domination.
After a moment in his gentle grasp, she even managed to relax.
"Whatever you are, it's really something special. I've never had something like this mind thing before. It's new and I don't know where it's going. But if you're willing to help me like you said, the least I could do is stick with you. Maybe I'll be able to return the favor someday." He looked up to the ceiling. "I have no idea how they priced something like this into the cost of the house."
"Funny how it brought us together. It must be a misery magnet."
"Maybe it'll keep us depressed until we finish working on it."
"Maybe." She closed her eyes, head still in his hands, and pushed herself forward slightly to nudge his forehead again. "But maybe it can wait. Just a day."
"You sure?"
"And your awful machine can wait. Tomorrow we can work on this."
"I think I know just how to get away from it all."