Brianna woke me up.
"Hey, get up."
I groaned and rolled over, breathing for a few seconds before lifting my head up. The sunlight was harsh and too bright, and I hissed and covered my eyes for a second before letting the eyes slowly get used to the light.
"How early is it?" I whispered.
"It's around nine, nine thirty, maybe. I figured that we couldn't just sit here and sleep all day, we need to train! Come on! Up and at 'em."
It took me a few more seconds, but I unzipped my sleeping bag and climbed out of it, pawing through my pockets for my Pokeballs. I had two now, and they were almost identical except for the scratches on Tina's old ball that made it distinguishable.
I turned to Brianna.
She was already holding her Pokeball in her hand.
I stretched, hands going high in the air.
"Train?" I asked her.
She grinned.
XxXxXxXx
I figured that I had better start taking the training thing more seriously- or, at the very least, give it more effort than I currently was.
This was the start of giving it more effort.
I had released Tina, and left the Abra in its ball for now. I probably wouldn't even be able to release it for a while until I figured out how to control it and make it not leave. Until then, it was staying in the ball. I didn't want it getting out, especially after how lucky I'd been, catching one that fast and that easily. I wasn't catching an Abra twice.
"Tina, come on! You can do it," I assured her. "Last a little while longer."
If anything, this reminded me of the training that Ash had done with Pikachu right after he'd first lost to Brock. I had Tina sitting in the same moving river that Brianna was having Ciri shoot flames over. With her dual weakness to water, though, soon it had already weakened her, and she was getting tired.
All she had to do was sit in it.
I remembered how easily she'd lost to water attacks.
That wasn't enough. She had to get stronger. I knew she wanted it- she just didn't know that she did. I figured stuff like this would be fine as long as I didn't get her into actual battles.
I could raise her endurance, her strength, her resistance to water attacks. Things like that. Maybe help her with her speed a bit too. Some actual training might do me some good, and I was a little anxious to see where it would get me.
"L-Larvitar," Tina groaned. I could see her wincing in the water.
She had to last.
"This isn't all, Tina. Try to use Rock Slide a few times," I said.
I knew that was the move she had the most trouble using, and because of that, I was going to make her use it. She had to be able to use her attacks wherever and whenever. The only time I wanted her to not be able to attack was when she was unconscious.
"L-Larv!" She shouted, and raised her stubby paws towards the sky. It took a few moments, certainly longer than usual, but eventually, large chunks of rock tore themselves out of the ground. They rose in the air, spinning. I was a safe distance away, and so were Ciri and Brianna. Even if she lost control and dropped them, no one would get hurt.
The chunks weren't as big as they usually were which was no surprise. I couldn't expect her to improve that much that quickly. That would be ridiculous. I was happy enough with her being able to do it while standing almost chest deep in the river like she was.
The chunks wobbled in the air, and for a moment, I thought she was going to lose control. She did not. The chunks rose higher, and higher still, and then one unfortunate tree was struck down by ten or twelve miniature boulders that pelted it without mercy.
After that, Tina only stood in the river and breathed. I could tell just using that one move while in the river had completely exhausted her. She didn't move, she didn't make any noise, she didn't even complain. She sat in the river, breathed, and did nothing else.
I didn't bother speaking for several minutes, and let her rest. Brianna hadn't noticed because she was training Ciri.
I then noticed Tina falling over in the river, and recalled her with my Pokeball. No wonder she hadn't been making any noise- she had passed out because of exhaustion, and she would probably not want to train for at least the rest of today, which I didn't blame her for.
No, what I did instead was help her out.
I set her ball down near the riverbank and walked a good distance away from the river. I made sure to keep it away from my camp, too.
I started digging a hole with my hands in the dirt.
After a few seconds, Brianna stopped training Ciri and walked over to me.
"What are you doing?"
"Digging a hole for Tina. She's tired. I think eating will help her out- it always does," I said. I didn't bother saying anything else, because I was too preoccupied with digging. I tore grass out and then did it handful by handful of dirt. It took me a few minutes, but I dug a small hole to place Tina inside of. My nails were black and my hands and arms were dirty, but I didn't care. If it would help Tina- and I was pretty sure it was going to- then being dirty was a small price to pay in comparison.
I fumbled for her Pokeball and released her inside of the little dirt pit that I'd dug her. Satisfied, I pocketed my Pokeball and walked back over to the river, placing my hands inside it and washing it clean over the course of another few minutes. My nails were the hardest part. The dirt everywhere else just washed away after a few seconds.
Not my nails, though. I had to scrub and really get under them to get clean.
"Ciri, use Flamethrower!"
I turned to the side and watched Brianna trained Ciri while I cleaned myself. There wasn't much else to do, so I might as well watch her train. Her training was a lot less intense than what I'd made Tina do, but I figured that what I was doing was just as important. I knew that her resistance to Water type attacks would be important in the future, and I might as well start sooner than later when it came to that.
One other reason that Tina had collapsed so early, though, was that she was evolving. That was the only thing I could think of when it came to that- it was the only thing that made any sense. It was probably sapping a lot of her energy to even do it.
I noticed that she was even grayer than she had been before, and that she was, even if marginally, a little longer and taller. Her arms and legs were even stubbier and shorter than normal, and I was almost sure that she was beginning the full transformation into a Pupitar, because she was starting to retract her arms and legs. She was starting to form into the shape.
"Ciri, use Flamethrower! Again!"
Ciri opened her mouth, and shot a graceful flare of fire. It was a long, scarlet orange plume that extended for a good twenty or thirty feet at least, maybe more. The river was practically steaming because of how hot Ciri was making it. I knew that by touching her before that even her inner body temperature was much hotter than normal, but even from over here, I could almost feel the heat of the flames.
Brianna stood right next to her, sweating the whole time while she gave Ciri commands.
Ciri's white tails flicked and moved around while she listened. She panted, but she didn't stop. I knew that she could be good if Brianna would just put her foot down- and if I had to intervene to make that happen, then so be it. At the very least she was listening to Brianna nd not being as spoiled anymore, so that was a huge improvement from before.
A few more minutes of me watching Brianna and Ciri passed, and then I heard a moaning from the pit I'd dug with my hands. I turned around and walked back to the hole, and there she was- turning inside of it, groaning. Eventually she opened her eyes and stared up at me, with her mouth open and her chest moving up and down slowly. She was still fatigued.
Once she could move, she started eating dirt, and it didn't look like she was going to stop for a long, long while. She ate more than I'd ever seen her eat before- and faster. Much, much faster, too. A lot more desperate than I'd ever seen her before when it came to eating.
I left her alone to what she was doing and just paid attention to Ciri and Brianna for a little while.
I had only been gone maybe ten or fifteen minutes when it happened.
I heard a loud grunt from the hole she'd dug, and then complete silence.
When I walked back over from the river, Tina was hardly even there anymore. Instead, what was in her place was a silver-gray husk that looked like it was expanding. It had no arms and legs, and for the moment, it wasn't moving, eating, or making any noise. It looked like it was growing, instead.
I recalled her into my Pokeball. I wouldn't bother her for a few days, now. She needed to rest and she needed, above all, to have some time alone to evolve. I wasn't going to have her train, battle, or try to do anything else when she was in a state like that. It wasn't fair to Tina- not to mention that she wouldn't even be able to do anything, anyway.
I stared at the Pokeball for a moment before I miniaturized it and shoved it in my pocket next to the Abra's. I still hadn't named it yet- and until I could at least get him out of his Pokeball without him teleporting away, I didn't think that I would. I wanted to get a feel for his personality first, at the very least.
I walked back over to Brianna and Ciri, who were still training.
"She's evolving," I said.
"What? Really?" Brianna asked.
"Yep. I saw her start to change right before my eyes, so I just recalled her into the ball. I'll let her have plenty of time to do it inside of the ball," I said.
"Wow, nice. I'm a little jealous. You're going to have a pseudolegendary, eventually," she said.
"That doesn't stop you from catching more Pokemon and becoming a better trainer, too," I said. "I mean, I'm not hardcore about this thing, but I think that I want to be at least good, or decent. I probably won't be the best, but if I can even form my own team like I want to, that alone would probably make me happy," I said.
"I'm not sure about what to catch, though," Brianna said, frowning.
"Just catch whatever. You can work on their strengths and weaknesses once you have the Pokemon. I know for damn sure that Jack's Mareep is going to be really strong once he gets out of the hospital and starts to train it. I think it's all about dedication," I said.
She nodded.
"Yeah, it is… I'm just a little nervous about the whole thing," she said.
"What, training? Why?" I asked.
She sighed.
"Because I've done it before," she whispered.
I frowned in confusion.
"What are you talking about?"
"When I was…" she gulped, and it looked like she was trying to force the words out.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," I blurted out.
She shook her head.
"No, no. This… this has to be said," she said.
"When I was around fourteen, I set out for the first time trying to become a strong Trainer. Back then, I had a Vulpix. His name was Miri, and I loved him," she said.
"Once I felt that I was strong enough, I left the town, and headed north, to train. I spent a good few weeks getting to the first city. It was just me and Miri, in the wild together, but I never minded it. It was nice."
"And, back then, I knew this kid. His name was Jason- I'd met him at the first city that I'd come across. Jason," she said, spitting the name, "might as well have been my first friend. He was certainly the first person that I'd ever really trained with that was my age. He had a Totodile as a starting Pokemon, and he always beat me whenever we battled, but I didn't mind. We had a good time together, and we were good friends- just friends," she added, glancing to me.
"The Rockets often recruit as young as they can," she said.
"Jason was a Rocket," she said.
I didn't say anything, but I stared at her. I continued listening.
"The Totodile? It wasn't even his- he'd stolen it from some kid who was just starting out. I don't know why he didn't do it sooner, but one day, he challenged me to a battle. I accepted, because I thought it was just some friendly competition- we did it every day, nearly."
"The battle went as it usually did, and I was losing. I tried to burn his Totodile and then attack with physical move so I wouldn't play to Totodile's strength of resisting the Fire type, but I still lost. That part was fine- I was used to it," Brianna said.
"Only… when Miri fell to the ground, and started coughing, Totodile didn't stop," she said.
"When Miri stopped moving, it still didn't stop. It kept hitting it with Water Gun. By then, I was already crying, asking what was wrong with Jason, why was he doing this, there was no point… he didn't even talk back to me. Like I wasn't worth responding to," she said.
Brianna now had tears running down her cheeks.
"I had caught other Pokemon by then, a few at least. He took all of them. I didn't even try to fight back. My money, he took that too," she said.
"He just- he just- just recalled Totodile and walked away, with a smile. I tried to get Miri to a Pokemon Center, but the closest one was far away because we were still in the wild. By the time I'd gotten there, Miri had stopped breathing. The Totodile had hit him with water until he'd killed him," Brianna said.
"After that, I made it to the Pokemon Center, and after- after they told me Miri was gone," Brianna said, sobbing by this point, "I called my parents. They sent me money and I took a plane from the city back down to Girk Town. I went back to school, didn't say anything. I've never thought about leaving since," she said.
I didn't say anything at first. I stayed silent and rubbed her back while she cried.
Ciri had come over about halfway through and rubbed her head on Brianna's legs- and Brianna stroked her head while she cried.
"Are you sure you want to go with me?" I asked.
"You don't have to come with me if you don't want to," I said.
She sniffled a bit, and then answered.
"Of course I want to go," she said. "The question is whether I'll be able to bring myself to leave or not," she said.
"Well, you know that Jack and I aren't with the Rockets," I joked, but it didn't do any good. It hardly lifted her spirits up at all.
"Yeah I know that, but- I just worry," she said.
"I don't even understand how you had the courage to come with me and Jack the first time that you did," I said.
It didn't make much sense to me. I know that I'd be scared a long time afterwards if something like that happened- especially from someone that I trusted.
"It was a long time ago," she said. She'd stopped crying, but she still didn't seem like she wanted to move yet. I didn't ask anything of her. We would stay like this as long as she needed.
"I… It's more about the fact that time had passed than anything else, but I had sort of liked you a little bit, even from the start, and there was an inherent trust there, with you and Jack. I just knew that you wouldn't do anything," she said.
"What if you were wrong?" I asked.
"What if I we had been rapists or something else- you already said that you had told your parents, but still. What if?"
She grinned up at me beneath her curtain of red, frizzy hair. Her eyes were still wet, and her cheeks stained with tears.
"Life is all about taking risks. Some of the best things only happen because you take them," she said, and then she pushed me onto my back, jumped me, and started kissing me.
Ciri, who I could see out of the corner of my vision, rolled her eyes at the both of us and made some sort of noise before wandering off to some other area. I didn't really know where she was going, and at that particular moment in time, I wasn't exactly paying that much attention to Ciri, either.
At first, I thought she was going to stop, but it didn't seem like she was going to, and I tried to push her off, repeatedly. I didn't want her doing what she didn't want to, even if I definitely wanted to.
"Brianna, you shouldn't-"I tried to say, but she pushed herself onto me even further and kissed me deeper. Things were getting more… frisky, than usual, but when she started to undo my pants, though? That's when I knew that it had to stop.
It wasn't that I didn't want it.
"Brianna, you don't want this," I said.
She started to pull my zipper down.
It was that I knew she was going to regret it later. I wasn't going to have sex with her just because she was feeling bad.
"Brianna, you need to stop," I said, managing to free my mouth from hers. Her hands stopped unzipping my pants and rested on the side, having gotten the zipper halfway down.
She rolled over and lay down on the grass next to me. Neither of us said anything for several moments, but it ended up being her that spoke first.
"I'm sorry," she said. Her voice was laced with sorrow. I could tell that she was still depressed, even if she wasn't as bad as she'd been before.
"It's not your fault. Although I am surprised about what you just… did, there," I said.
"I'm not going to make you do anything you don't want to do," I told her. "Especially considering how you just were. I really don't think you were thinking, about, well… anything," I said. I heard a soft giggling from next to me.
"I'm pretty sure I was thinking about something… even if it was just one thing," she said.
I couldn't help but to blush.
I grabbed her hand, which was next to me, and squeezed it.
"In all seriousness, though, I'm not going to take advantage of you like that. I don't even know why you wanted to, but… I don't think you really want it," I said.
She sighed, and wiped at her eyes with her sleeves.
"Yeah, I know… I just wanted to do something, think about something else, and you were right there and well…" she said, trailing off.
"You don't have to say anymore," I said.
I still didn't understand, though. I had never got that- I'd heard about it before, but I'd never thought it would happen to me. I'd read some things on the Internet before, about women trying to have sex when they were sad or depressed. I never expected to experience it, though. Especially from her. From what I heard, it was to… validate yourself, through sex. And that was the saddest part. I sighed, and turned to Brianna.
"Brianna," I said, and she turned to me, still wiping her eyes dry. She offered me a small smile, but I could tell how nervous and easily breakable it actually was. After a few seconds of hard staring, it disappeared, and she met my stare with lips set firmly in a line.
"You don't have to prove anything to anyone," I told her.
"I thought it would make me feel better," she said.
"Why?" I asked her.
Without missing a beat, she turned her emerald green eyes towards me, and opened her mouth. At first, she struggled with it- I saw the fear, the worry in her eyes.
Then she just said it.
"Because I love you," she said.
Then she whispered something else that I didn't hear. I didn't ask what it was.
It was strange to hear that from her.
We'd barely known each other for a week- not even, hardly.
And then she went and said something like that.
I wondered if she actually meant it, but then I looked at her.
In the morning sun, she was truly beautiful.
Her frizzy red hair ran down far, her emerald eyes seem to shimmer, and there were still tears inside of them. Her eyes, pointed at me.
Even the way she sat, although she'd rolled off of me, it was a lot closer than was necessary. She was still touching me with her arms.
She meant it.
"I love you," she repeated.
I wanted to lie, at that moment.
I wanted to say I loved her back, but I wasn't sure that I did yet. I was glad that she did, but I wasn't going to lie to her. That would probably be the worst thing that I could do, at this point. So, instead, I told her the truth.
"I know," I said.
And she smiled.
XxXxXxXx
After the surprisingly emotional morning, Brianna went back to training Ciri, and I decided that, out of anything, the best thing that I could do was try to cook lunch. I couldn't release Abra and Tina was transforming. So, I tried to prepare food as best as I could.
We had rations, but they weren't exactly the best things to eat, far from it. They were dry, old, and they tasted terrible. It was just one of those things that you bought en masse to have something to eat in case of the chance that you found no food, or ran out of the good stuff. Because we were only going to be out for a couple of days, though, we'd managed to bring some decent stuff with us.
One of things we'd bought was suspiciously like ramen from my world. It was cooked in basically the same way- boil water in a pot, then boil the noodles, and then add flavoring and just stir it for a little while. So, a little while before lunch, Brianna had Ciri light a bunch of firewood we'd gathered on fire, and I filled the pot with water from the river.
I tended to it and boiled the noodles after the water in the pot was at a rolling boil. Then I took the little flavor packet and dumped it in there, and stirred it with a little plastic spoon that I'd bought, too. I had everything we needed out here, and I was glad that I'd packed well, as I found myself using more and more of the stuff as time went on.
I made a larger serving because both Brianna and I would be eating from it. It was going to stay nice and hot for a while, so I left it to simmer on the fire while I went and got Brianna so we could eat.
Ciri looked more tired than usual. It looked like Brianna had made her really give it her all. When Brianna saw me, she smiled.
"Lunch is ready," I said.
"Great," she said, and she sat down to eat it with me.
We only had three bowls, and we had to wash them after every meal. We hadn't really had a good dinner, though, and I knew that she must've been hungry, because I knew that I was. I took a spoon and filled both bowls with a generous amount of broth, as well as the noodles, and the other random pieces of meat and vegetables in the soup.
I passed her a bowl and a spoon, and we started to eat. It was a quiet, nice, early lunch. There was no talking, besides one or two compliments from her on how good the soup tasted and how well I'd cooked it. I knew Brianna had some Pokemon food on her, and she set the bag on the floor and let Ciri eat from it.
Ciri wrinkled her nose before letting out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sigh, and I couldn't help but laugh at her. I knew that she was probably used to treats, and not used to eating this kind of food- probably better for her than treats, but certainly a little blander tasting. She didn't complain any more than that, though, and I saw her shove her muzzle in the bag, so she obviously didn't have an actual problem. She was just being spoiled.
I finished my soup much faster than Brianna, shoveling it down my throat. I exhaled, and then got up, and kicked dirt over the fire that was still smoldering. I wouldn't even need it again until night. I'd just take the dirt out and put more logs in there, then. I took my bowl and spoon and left it on the side, and waited for Brianna to finish, leaning back on my hands.
"That was good," I said, and Brianna nodded, slurping up some of the noodles.
"I was surprised," she said.
I frowned.
"Why?"
"Because I didn't think you had much of a cooking ability at all," she said, sticking her tongue out at me. I only grinned and laughed at that.
"Well, you were obviously wrong," I said, standing and stretching.
"Yeah, yeah," she said, waving her free hand.
My mind remembered the morning- how she'd reacted, what she'd said.
I sighed.
"Brianna, are you alright?" I asked.
She looked confused at the question, but answered it nonetheless.
"I'm fine. What are you talking about?" she said.
"This morning," I said, refusing to dance around the topic.
Suddenly, to Brianna, the soup bowl was very interesting. I could catch the slightest hint of red heating her cheeks. She drank the last of the soup, and her spoon clinked in the bowl as she let it hit the bottom. She got up and set it to the side where my bowl was.
Then she coughed.
"Brianna, we need to talk about this," I said.
"It isn't right to try to use sex to try to make you feel better-"
"Why not!?" She yelled.
I reared back a little, surprised by her ferocity. It wasn't like her usual personality at all.
I continued anyway.
"Because, that isn't what it's for. Not like that. Not to mention, like I said this morning, you would regret it- would've regretted it. That, above all else, is what I don't want the most."
"I- I don't even have protection!" I said.
"So, you're saying you don't want me?" she asked.
I had to tread lightly, now. She tried to look like she was standing strong, but really, she wasn't. I'd never made her for such an emotional girl- obviously, I was wrong.
There was something else that was bothering her. It couldn't just all be me.
I shook my head.
"That's not it. That's not it at all. It's… it should be more than that," I said.
This was hard, to explain it to her. I didn't understand why she was being like this.
She nodded.
"I get what you're saying… it's hard to deal with it," she said.
I had a feeling she wasn't talking about what I thought she was, right there.
"Deal with what?" I asked. Maybe I was too quiet, or she had chosen to ignore my question- either way, she didn't respond.
I heard a sob, then two more.
As she turned, I saw a few tears flying through the air, glistening.
"I'm going to go train Ciri," she said, and practically dragged Ciri along with her, who was still eating her Pokemon food. She gave a loud squeal of indignation, but she didn't stop Brianna, who was still making her come along.
"No- Brianna, wait- ah, damn it," I said, slapping the side of my leg.
I sat down in the grass and sighed.
I should probably just give her some time by herself.
But damn it was I bored. I couldn't train or spend any time with Tina because she was evolving, and I couldn't let Abra out of the ball yet because I was scared that it would just teleport away- rightfully so. I would barely have any time to react. It would almost certainly get away. And I didn't want to lose my precious catch, so I didn't open the ball.
I could go out and try to capture another Pokemon, but I didn't want any weak Pokemon on my team- if I was going to make a team at all, I was going to make a good, strong one. I resented the fact that Pidgeotto had died, but like I'd also mentioned before, I didn't really feel that much for him besides the initial shock and rage because I had only had him for such a short time. And I didn't know the Pokemon in this area anyway, and I didn't want really want any of them. I decided I would just have to find something to do.
In my boredom, I started wandering away from camp.
I kept my Pokeballs on me, but left everything else behind. The forestry was not that thick, and it was noon, so it wasn't like it was dark or anything. I knew the area fairly well, but I had yet to take in the small details. The first trip out here had been to get to Girk- and then, catching Pokemon, and now, this trip, catching Pokemon and training them.
I was rushing past, and ignoring, beauty.
I decided to take it slow and just explore. It was much better than doing nothing.
I eventually came to a small copse that I entered, and after walking inside it for a time, I came to a tiny clearing that housed a few trees that were occupied. On the base I saw piles of dead grass and trees- and, following the source upwards, I saw a family of Taillow resting in the tree, inside a nest they'd made. There was one larger male Taillow- at least, I assumed it was male- and what I was sure was female, because of the color difference- and, last, a few eggs that they guarded. They watched the entire clearing with wary eyes.
When I stepped into it, the male let out an indignant squawk and flew at me, beak out, ready to peck. I was ready to defend myself, but he didn't try to hurt me, yet. He continued to squawk and make noise, trying to drive me off. He flapped his wings and waited in the air in front of me. I took a few experimental steps backwards and watched to see what he would do.
He relaxed slightly, though it was still clear that he would rather not have me here at all.
"I'm not going to hurt you, or your children," I said. He chirped instead of squawking.
"Taillow."
It was a softer, gentler cry that came from his beak. He seemed much calmer once he deemed that I wasn't actually going to try to do anything.
It relaxed more and more as time went by and I continued to do nothing to it. Eventually, it stopped 'guarding' the clearing and flew back up to its nest with its mate, though as it had before, it still kept a watchful eye on me.
I took a few steps towards the tree, and it didn't react. Figuring it wasn't going to freak out, I started walking around the clearing.
The other trees were empty- they didn't have birds nesting inside of them. The entire place seemed more peaceful than the rest of the forest, though- it was beyond strange. I only started having the feeling once I really got into the clearing.
After a few minutes walking around inside it, I realized that it was much, much bigger than it had appeared originally.
I wasn't sure how that exactly was possible until I saw that, from the opening of the clearing where I'd been standing before; the trees blocked the actual size of the entire thing. They got in the way and made it seem much smaller than it actually was.
I decided to go to the center of the clearing. It took me a few moments but I moved through a few trees and pushed past branches, and staggered into the middle. What I saw both shocked me and left me wondering.
There was old stone shrine directly in the middle of the forest. It looked aged, worn, and cracked, and it looked like no one had taken care of it in a very long time. I couldn't even make out the shape of it anymore- it had, at one point, had small and tiny details carved in, but it looked like a weathered lump of rock more than anything else, at this point.
The clearing suddenly felt a lot older- like it had existed forever just to protect and hide this shrine. On top of the shrine, leaves and plant matter covered a lot of it. It felt like no one had visited it in ages- eons- I couldn't even say how long.
It felt wrong that it was ignored. I felt like I… owed it something.
I walked over to the shrine and started brushing off the leaves and the plant matter, doing my best to clean it up with what I had- my hands, basically. At the very least, I got a lot of the leaves and other stuff off of it, and I brushed some dirt that had been crowding around the base of it. Once I'd finished, I stood up and looked at my handiwork.
As I did so, I heard an indignant, angry squawk- much, much angrier than before. I turned to see the Taillow launching itself at me, and I ducked to avoid catching a beak in the eye or the face. It banked hard right when it passed me and came back for another crack at me.
I was a little scared of the Taillow. Sure, it was just a Taillow, and I could most likely defend myself, even if I was on my own, but still. Pokemon were several times stronger than humans even in their infant forms. I wasn't sure what it would actually be able to do to me.
I wasn't going to get maimed for a stupid reason like this, and I grabbed my first Pokeball I felt in my pocket and tossed it at the ground, intent on having Tina protect me from this rabid fucking bird. I realized my mistake as the Pokeball left my hands.
It wasn't scratched.
I was throwing Abra's ball.
I swore, and tried to dive for it, but it was no good- it hit the ground and opened up, and the Abra was released. The yellow fox-baby thing levitated in the air, and I wondered that, maybe, it wouldn't teleport away.
"Wait!" I said, "Help!"
It turned around, and I could almost swear that I saw guilt in its face.
Then it teleported away, and I yelled.
The soft gunshot sound rang out inside the clearing as the Taillow dove for me a second time.
"FUCK!"
I dove for the ball and shoved it in my pocket, and grabbed my OTHER ball, and threw that one. A much grayer and larger Tina without arms came out and even though that was extremely weird, I didn't bother questioning it.
"Tina, help!"
She let out a deep yawn that sounded like a moan or a roar. She launched herself, and with great accuracy, managed to smack her body into the Taillow, who was promptly knocked out. Then she yawned again and turned sleepy, bleary eyes towards me.
"L-Larv?" She asked.
"Thanks," I breathed, looking at the fallen Taillow. I recalled Tina immediately, and sat in the clearing. I moved towards the Taillow.
It just looked bruised. It was clear that Tina had used good control of her strength, because with how strong she was, against a little bird like Taillow, she could've really hurt it. And it didn't deserve that. It was only defending its territory- and, in a way, I was really the one that was the problem, because I was making it feel threatened.
I got up and went back to the shrine.
It barely had a shape, but whatever it was- I still couldn't tell- it certainly wasn't human, that was probably the only identifiable characteristic about it. As I looked at it, I heard another squawk.
The female Taillow was diving at me, now, and I reached for Tina in my pocket again, but then I heard more noise, and I looked behind me.
I saw an army.
An army of Pokemon.
Sentrets, Rattata, Pidgey and Pidgeotto, more Taillow and other birds as well, maybe even a Spearow or two in there. A Butterfree there, and a few more Mareep, too. They looked much angrier than even the male Taillow had.
I backed up slowly, my body pushed against the shrine.
That was probably the worst thing I could've done.
I wasn't sure that Tina could fight off all of these by herself, even if they were baby, untrained Pokemon. She was weakened and tired by her evolution, not to mention extremely outnumbered. I was still going to try, though.
I reached for my ball, and-
"All of you! Stop!"
An angelic, booming voice echoed throughout the forest. Immediately, all of the Pokemon grew calm and they didn't move- a few of them even appeared to be ashamed or guilty. I whipped my head around, trying to locate the source of the voice.
Even though it was loud, the voice was still graceful.
"He has a right to be here, just as any of you do- he is not here to defile."
What was it talking about? Was it talking about the shrine?
A light, bubbling giggle whispered itself from the trees, and then it continued talking.
"I appreciate your need to defend me, but you know of my power. It isn't like he could do anything, even if he wanted to. You may leave," it said.
It sounded like a chastising mother, more than anything else. The assembled Pokemon let out a few coos and began to depart.
A few of them stayed, and laid around the shrine. I could tell that, even though they were at my feet, they weren't lying by me- I just happened to be next to the shrine.
"Oh, my, were they angry. My feisty little children- well. My father's children, really. We all are His Children, ever since The Time of Contemplation."
"Who's there?" I shouted in the forest. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared.
Another soft giggle, as light as the wind, but as loud as thunder- it sounded like all the trees were speaking at the same time. I couldn't see what was talking.
Where was it?
"Don't worry," it said. "I'm not going to hurt you. In fact, I'm glad someone dusted off my shrine. That one isn't taken care of anymore," the voice said. "Well, a lot of them aren't. That's just one neglected rock among hundreds."
It sounded sad- maybe a little wistful, about a time past, something that used to be.
"And- and. What's this?"
For the first time, I heard shock and confusion in its voice- and then anger.
"Oh, of course he did."
Then, the tone switched back- back to caring, back to considerate, and it was probably even softer than it had been before.
"Are you alright?" It asked me.
"I can feel your pain- the men, those men that you killed? You don't like it, do you?"
I froze up. Voice stammering, I called out into the trees again.
"Who's there!? How do you know that?"
I heard a soft sigh flow from the leaves and branches of the copse around me. I could swear that some of the trees that were surrounding me moved.
"You really don't know?"
I furrowed my brow, confused and frustrated.
What the hell?
"What the hell? Of course I don't know! I can't even see you," I said.
"Would you feel better if I showed myself?" It asked.
I nodded.
"I think so. It's a little nerve wracking talking to the air around me," I said.
Another giggle burst forth from the vegetation of the trees.
"I suppose so, is it not? I forget how easily mortals are frightened," it said.
"Very well, I shall reveal myself. You're lucky, you know- I have not shown myself to a traveler of my wilds in a very long time- quite long, in fact," it said.
Two trees at one side of the copse parted, and out from it flew a green body. It was going so fast that I couldn't tell what it was- at least, I couldn't, until it stopped.
It looked like a green fairy, or something, with antennae on its head and-
No way.
I took a deep breath, and looked closer, before sighing.
"Celebi, huh?" I asked.
"That's Lady Celebi to you," it said.
I frowned.
"I always thought you were a guy, or genderless. That's what-"
"The games always said?" She finished for me.
She put one of her small thumbs on her chin, staring me in the eyes-
"Oh, so that's it. From another universe and, in that one, they're- fictional?"
"Pokemon are fictional? Interesting," she said.
"Hey! Answer me. Why do I have to call you Lady? And how do you know all that?"
"Well, Lady as a sign of respect, obviously," she said, still staring at me.
"I am the Goddess of the Wilds and the Forests, after all," she said.
"Wait, what about Shaymin?" I asked.
She made a face.
"What about my son? He's not in charge of much," she said, waving a hand.
I sputtered.
"Shaymin is- he's your son?" I asked.
"Of course he is. I guess you could just refer to them as minor legendaries- the weaker ones. A lot of weaker legendaries are either children of the stronger ones- whether they were born the normal way, or created through a Legendary's power," she said.
"I'm reading your mind, by the way. That's how I know all of this," Celebi said.
"Hey- I didn't say you could do that. Get out of my head!" I demanded.
She shook her head.
"I was just curious. Don't get all mad over it. I'm done anyway," she said.
"So, I guess Legendaries are real, huh?" I asked.
She made another face.
"I'd like it if you used my title," she said.
I sighed.
"So, Lady Celebi, Legendaries are real, huh?" I asked.
She brightened and nodded immediately.
"Of course they are. I had no idea my older brother had a hand in this, though," she said. I could feel my eyes widen and my fists clench at what she was implying.
"Palkia?"
Again, she frowned.
"Lord Palkia, actually-"she tried to correct me, but I cut her off.
"He's no lord of mine," I said, fists clenched.
She frowned.
"I won't ask you to refer to him in respect. Perhaps that was too presumptuous of me. But yes, he was the one that brought you here. If I remember right, he and Dialga had a bad altercation a week ago, roughly. Maybe a little more," she said.
"I knew it!" I yelled.
"I knew that he had to do with how I was brought here. I'm his responsibility. I want to be sent back," I said.
"What about Brianna?" Celebi asked me.
"How do you- oh, right, mind reading. I forgot. Well, it's sad, but… I don't belong here in the first place. Can you contact Palkia for me?"
She went silent for a moment and closed her eyes.
I could feel it in the air around me- a concentration of energy. A god's- goddess', actually- power. She was looking.
Only a moment later, she opened her eyes, and what she said infuriated me.
"I can't find him."
"What?"
"I said," She said, "I can't find hi-"
"I know what you said. How can you not find him? You're a goddess, or so you say. Just use some of your power," I said, waving one hand, frustrated, "and find him. It can't be that hard!"
She sighed.
"It is if he doesn't want to be found," she said. "He's more powerful than me. I suspect that he's trying to hide from Father because of what he and Dialga have done- he and Dialga are probably both hiding, I imagine," she said.
I laughed.
"This is great. Now I can't even ask him where Terry and Matt are," I said.
Celebi sighed again.
"I must admit, Daniel. I don't actually owe you anything. You're talking to a goddess here, you should remember," she said. There was some anger and danger in her words.
I was too furious at the time to care.
"I don't care what you are! If you actually read my mind, then you'd know that I never believed strongly in God, and if they actually exist, then they should be taking a more active role in the world. Hey, yeah. That's it," I said, not noticing Celebi's expression changing, "Where were you a few days ago? When the Rockets attacked? Where were you with your godly powers then?"
She narrowed her eyes. Celebi was growing angrier still.
"I owe humans nothing. They were a creation of Father. Why should I defend those who tarnish and destroy my wilds? Especially if the fight is between humans and not Pokemon," she said, dismissing my problems.
"I go to great lengths to make sure I don't interfere- this was a dictation of Father a long while back, to all of the Legendaries. He wanted to see how humans would progress without their gods intervening. Sightings are only by our choice, and we really shouldn't even be doing it. But we never reveal ourselves to large groups of people," she said.
"What if I just lead people here, huh? What then?"
She smiled at me.
"No one would believe you," she said.
I turned my head away and grit my teeth.
Celebi was right, no one would.
"I am not completely omnipotent and omniscient like Father is, either," she said, and I heard some regret in her words as she spoke. "Believe me when I say I would not allow such slaughter to occur. Loss of life without meaning is truly frustrating," she said.
She glanced upon me, and, just for a second, I felt strangely at peace.
Then, it was gone, and she started to speak again.
"I feel sorry for you, Daniel. I cannot help you find Palkia. And my Father takes trips off on his own- sometimes, for years. I do not know where he is either. I can, however, offer you one thing," she said.
"What?" I asked, skeptical.
"I can tell you're a good person, Daniel," Celebi said, and I stared at her as she continued, "So I'll offer you my protection whenever you're in the wilds. It's my domain, and I decide what goes on in here- just like Groudon owns mountains and volcanoes, and Kyogre owns the sea, I own forests and everything like it," she said.
"Do we have a deal?" She asked me.
"Why are you doing this?" I asked.
She sighed.
"I feel some slight responsibility. Even though I'm not supposed to show myself to humans, you've already been through an ordeal because of my brother- I swear, even though he's older, he's the most childish sometimes- and I feel like I should help you, even if only a little bit," she said.
"If you know of everything that ever happens in the wilds," I said, "then where are Terry and Matt?"
She shook her head.
"I've never felt them yet. I promise to contact you if I do."
"I have things to see to," she said. "Goodbye, Daniel."
"Wait! I have other questions!" I said.
Maybe I could ask her about what to say to Brianna?
She shook her head.
"I have things to do, like I said. And some answers you must find on your own. For now, just continue training, and live well. If I ever get any information, the second you step into the wilds, I'll inform you of it," she said. Then she raised a finger to her cheek.
"This feels fake," I said.
"It's not," she said, shaking her head.
"And your Abra is coming back. He feels guilty," Celebi said.
"What?" I asked, but she was already leaving.
A great wind blew through the trees. I felt myself fading- and I fell over, extremely drowsy. I somehow managed to not fall asleep, but by the time I lifted my head, Celebi was gone. I sighed.
I looked at the shrine and brushed some leaves off of it.
"Legendary indeed," I muttered.
XxXxXxXx
It was a few minutes later that Abra teleported back. I could hardly believe it- a soft gunshot, and then the yellow fox baby was floating in front of me. I could even see how it felt, sort of- its ears were pressed against its head, though it made no noise. It floated in front of me, and I swear I could hear something in my head.
At the same time, it was shuddering, though. Violently so. After a few minutes, it stopped- I think it was feeling the aftermath of Celebi even being there. As a psychic Pokemon, it could probably feel it stronger than anything else.
I heard the soft muttering in my head again.
Was Abra trying to talk?
If it was, it wasn't loud enough. I slowly walked towards it, trying not to scare it. When I raised a hand, it flinched, and it probably wanted to teleport away- but instead, I lowered it onto its head and stroked it, comforting Abra.
It barely made any noise this time- the smallest of squeaks, and then it was silent again. I stood in front of it and watched it for a few seconds before I picked Abra's ball off of the ground. I motioned to the ball, then to Abra, and I swear I could've seen its head nod.
I pressed the ball against it and pressed the button, opening the device and sucking Abra inside of it. I pocketed the ball and sighed.
What was I going to do now? Even if I knew that Palkia had brought me here- which I was already almost completely sure of- that didn't help me if I couldn't find him or talk to him. And I hadn't gotten any new information on Terry or Matt.
"Damn it," I muttered, as I started walking from the clearing, going back towards the camp.
At the same time, though, I had a Goddess' protection- and all because she felt sorry for me. That part annoyed me a little, but still- I was pretty sure that the protection part could only be a good thing.
I continued walking, but another thought came to mind as I mulled over the conversation with the Legendary that I'd just had.
If Arceus- Father, as she called him- had told them not to talk to humans, had she just broken a divine rule, or something? Just to talk to me?
I shook my head. In this world, it was hard to make sense of anything.
If she had, though, I guess she deserved a bit more gratitude than I gave her. I had been pretty disrespectful to her, thinking it over- but I'd been so angry about Palkia that it was hard to concentrate on anything else.
I realized that I'd never said thank you.
I was still in the Wilds, could she hear me?
Better to try than to do nothing, I guess.
"Thank you," I said, whispering to the trees around me.
I heard a giggle in a wind that blew by, and then the forest was silent again.
XxXxXxXx
It took me a little while to make it back to the camp- longer than I remembered, for some reason- and then by then, it was already past one, closer to one thirty, estimating by the sun in the sky. I'd gotten better at that since arriving here- especially because for a little while, that had basically been the only way to tell the time.
When I got to the camp, with the fire pit with dirt kicked over it, Brianna was still nowhere to be found. I sighed and walked over to the river, looking for her in her usual spot.
She wasn't there, either, and even though it was probably nothing, I started to panic, even if only slightly. I had heard a few too many horror stories inside of the Pokemon Center for me to not be scared when someone I was just with an hour or two ago went missing inside of a Route or a forest.
"Brianna?" I called, yelling it out to the forest. I got nothing in return, and I sighed. I decided to back to the camp, and wait for her there. She could take care of herself, she probably wasn't in trouble.
There was a nagging feeling in the back of mind, though, that wouldn't go away.
What if she is in trouble?
I shook my head.
She could take care of herself- she'd probably come back in an hour or two, and everything would be fine.
XxXxXxXx
It was two and a half hours before she came back.
Two and a half hours. Let me repeat that one more time.
Two and a half hours.
The second she came stumbling through the brush, dirty and tired, I ran over to her, both angry and concerned, though I couldn't tell which I was more of.
"Where the hell were you?" I asked her, as I looked over her body.
She was pretty dirty. Mud specked all over her clothes, and different kinds of leaves stuck to both her shirt and her pants. I could even see a small twig barely hanging on to her pants leg at the top of her ankle.
Ciri wasn't at her side- instead, she'd recalled her. I could tell by the bulge in her pocket.
She sighed.
"I was… well, Ciri and I were training by the river after I… walked off," she said, trying to dance around the subject of how she'd left, "and then I could've sworn I saw a Chikorita. I always wanted one ever since I was a kid, so I ended up chasing it for a couple of hours," she said.
"Well, did you catch it?" I asked.
She sighed again.
"No. It got away," she said. "I barely ever had my eyes on it the whole time. I'm starting to think it was just another Pokemon that looked like Chikorita, and that I got excited and wasted a bunch of time for nothing," she said.
I ignored what she just said, and instead went for what I felt that I needed to say- for the both of us.
"Are you feeling better about what happened before?" I asked.
I almost felt bad bringing it up, but it had to be said.
She was sheepish, and she twirled a finger around her hair before answering.
"Sort of. I feel bad about what happened- both about how I acted, and what I tried to push you to do- especially when you weren't comfortable with it. I… I don't know why I tried to push it so much," she said.
She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"It's… it's alright," I said, raising a hand to caress her shoulder.
Her frame shuddered, but she didn't move.
I heard her say something again, but again, I didn't hear it, only noise coming from her mouth.
"Did you say something?" I asked her.
She looked up, smiling, tears running down her eyes.
"No," she said. "I didn't say anything."
XxXxXxXx
After she'd come back, I filled her in on what I'd seen when I'd taken that walk away from camp for a little while.
"So, you're telling me that not only were you brought here because of Palkia," Brianna said, giggling, "you also met Celebi, and now she protects you because she feels bad for you?"
I nodded.
"Why are you laughing?" I asked.
She giggled again, before stopping.
"I don't mean to tease you, Daniel, but… you sound like a liar," she admitted.
I sighed.
"I know, but I'm telling the truth- actually, let's see," I said, standing up.
"Celebi! Can you show yourself so that Brianna knows I'm telling the truth?" I yelled.
Silence.
I sighed.
"Lady Celebi?"
Still, silence. I sighed.
"She said she had things to do," I protested, but I still hung my head. I knew how stupid I looked.
"I could still take you to see the shrine," I said.
Brianna shrugged.
"We might as well. There isn't much else to do. Lead the way," she said, standing up.
XxXxXxXx
She stared at the rough, worn, old shrine. It had taken a little while, but I managed to find it again.
"Wow, you weren't lying," she said.
"Is it really her shrine? There's really no detail because of how old it is, but she said it was," I said.
She nodded.
"I've seen younger better ones when I was with… Jason," she said.
"This matches it pretty well. The details are missing because it's been weathered by wind and rain for so long without anyone out here for hundreds of years… to be honest, I didn't even know there was a shrine in this forest," she said.
"I'm going to report this to the Church in town," she said.
"The Church?" I asked, confused.
"The Church of Arceus. They'll have people go out here and start restoring the statue. This kind of stuff is really, really important to them," she said, running a soft hand over the rough, weathered stone.
I frowned, remembering something.
"What is The Time of Contemplation?" I asked.
Brianna turned, raising her red eyebrows at me.
"How do you know that? Did you read that somewhere, or hear about it, or…?" She asked, trailing off. I shook my head.
"I told you, I talked to Celebi. She mentioned it while we were talking. What the hell is The Time of Contemplation?" I asked.
Brianna sighed.
"Maybe you really aren't lying," she said.
"What is it?" I asked, persistent.
She sighed again, before answering me.
"Supposedly, Arceus was either born from an egg when there was nothing else in existence, or He was always in existence. Either way, He was the first, and he created everything else. The time before he did this is called the Time of Contemplation," she said.
"So, he contemplated?" I asked.
She giggled.
"Wow, your powers of deduction are unmatched. Yes, he sat there and thought about the negatives and positives that creating life would bring. The stories differ, because there are different versions, but most agree that he sat there for what must've been eons. At the end of it all, he decided that it was worth it, and so the world was born," she said.
"That's sort of interesting," I said. "In a religion on my world, God created the world in six days, and rested on the seventh. Arceus seems pretty indecisive," I said.
She laughed.
"Maybe," she admitted. "If he's real, though, I'm glad he made the right choice," she said.
"It's so hard to believe half of the stuff that you say," she said, still running a hand over the rough gray stone.
I shrugged.
"I'm not lying. It's your choice to believe me or not," I said.
"I do… sort of," she said. "It's hard to believe everything that you say, but I still believe a lot of it. If anything, I know you're a good person, and that helps your credibility along," she said. I nodded, then paused for a moment and brought out Abra's ball out of my pocket.
"Oh yeah, did I mention this?" I asked, tossing the ball onto the ground and catching it on the bounce back up.
Once released, Abra floated in the air and stared at Brianna, who gasped.
"How did you get him to stay without teleporting, or anything like that?" she asked.
I grinned.
"I didn't. The first time I threw his ball was by accident- like I told you, he teleported. I forgot to tell you that he came back because he was feeling bad that he'd left me when I needed him, even though I was never in any real danger because of Celebi- and yeah, it's a he by the way," I said, nodding towards the floating Abra.
Brianna just stared at him for a few seconds. It didn't seem that Abra was nervous towards her staring, but it still looked right back at her while she did so. I grinned again.
"Is he really that interesting?" I asked.
She shook her head, smiling.
"It's not that. It's just that you usually don't get to see an Abra so close. I think that might be the only way to do it, actually- the way you did it," she said.
"What, have a Legendary tell me when he's coming back?" I quipped.
She giggled.
"Stop being a smartass. No, I think the only way to do it is to have it… trust you," she said, reaching out with one hand slowly and resting it on the Abra's head before she started petting it. I heard very little noise besides a few tiny squeaks from the Abra. He was a fox-thing, so that made sense. I just figured a psychic Pokemon would be able to speak sooner.
Then it did.
"Abra," he managed to say, though it was really quiet and hoarse and it only served to point out just how weak his vocal cords were. He obviously used his brain and his powers for everything. I wondered if Kadabra and Alakazam lost their voices after living for a while, and had to only speak through their minds. It would make sense.
"He's so cute," Brianna gushed.
I nodded.
"Yeah, I guess he is," I said. He turned to me and didn't say anything, but he stared into my eyes. It was weird- it wasn't the same thing as looking at Tina, or even some other Pokemon. While other Pokemon could think and they certainly had feelings- they were sentient, no doubt- Abra was different for reasons that were hard to explain. As I stared into his eyes, though, I think I was able to figure it out.
He was smarter.
It was really just that simple.
There was a difference between something like an Abra- who would one day evolve into an Alakazam, something much, much smarter than I could ever hope to be- and a Larvitar, who would eventually evolve into a Tyranitar. Tina wasn't stupid- as she got more mature, she'd probably even get a little smarter. It wasn't the same thing as something that eventually would be a genius, though.
Hey.
That was the perfect name.
"I know just what I'll nickname you," I said, reaching forward and petting Abra on the head. He nuzzled into my hand a bit, but didn't move. I saw his ears flick forward, and he dropped a bit in the air before he raised himself back up to his previous height.
Right when he did, though, I heard something in my mind.
What?
It was so small and soft that I could hardly hear it at all. It still surprised me, though.
"Einstein," I said, still petting Abra.
"I'm going to name you Einstein."
"Who's that?" Brianna asked.
"Einstein was a famous scientist from my world. His contributions to science are hard to overestimate. Not only was he a genius of his field, he's considered by a lot of people the smartest man who ever lived. His intellect was basically unmatchable. His name, these days, in my world, means the same thing as genius in the dictionary," I said.
"Wow," Brianna said. "Sounds like you're giving Abra here a compliment," she said.
I shrugged.
"When he's an Alakazam, that name's probably going to be too little of an actual estimate of how smart he'll really be- when he has five thousand IQ or whatever. Still, I think it fits him, and it's what I used to always name by Abra in the games," I said.
"Well," Brianna said, still staring at Abra, "I think it's a good name."
I nodded, then got the Pokeball and recalled Abra inside. I knew that they had to sleep like eighteen hours out of the day, and I'd seen him already starting to get drowsy. His eyes hadn't been open, but he'd been paying attention, so I figured he'd been awake.
I put the Pokeball back in my pocket and motioned to the entrance of the clearing.
"Want to go back?" I asked.
Brianna nodded.
XxXxXxXx
We made it back to the camp in record time and spent the rest of the day talking. We didn't do much else. It was boring for the rest of the trip, and we woke up the next day, ready to head home.
We had breakfast and then promptly set out.
Overall, I was happy with this trip. A lot had happened over the past two days, and I was eager to get back to the hospital and relate a lot of this stuff to Jack. He didn't like being kept out of the loop, like he said, and I planned on keeping him inside of it if I could.
We made good time, getting back to the town by a little after noon. We ate lunch right before we got back, and Brianna split up from me for a bit with the intention of going to visit her parents. I waved her goodbye and we agreed that we would meet back up at the hospital in less than half an hour to visit Jack and tell him about what had happened.
We were going to have to rest up for a week or more- probably more- while we waited on Jack to heal up. That wasn't even mentioning the fact that I didn't really want to leave town and start exploring outwards without having Tina evolved.
It was more for safety than any other reason, but I was being a little paranoid- and even I recognized and accepted this. The sad part was that even though I realized I was being paranoid, it made sense to be. After I'd barely survived the attack with the Rockets- and Jack had come even closer to death than I had- it had made me more scared than I cared to admit.
I hadn't thought about the Rockets in a few hours, but every time, even lately, the guilt still resurfaced whenever I thought of them- as did the fear. I wasn't going to let it control me, though, and I wasn't going to let it win, either.
Having an evolved Pokemon with me when we went on our first large trip would help me feel a lot better, so that's why I was going to wait. In all honesty, it was probably for the best. Jack could use as much time as he could get to rest, anyway.
I stopped in the Center for a time, going to my room and changing the bandages on my right arm. It was still a little sore, but it was healing really well, and the wound was almost completely closed. I was almost certain that in a few more days I wouldn't have to wear bandages anymore because it would be fully healed.
Once I cleaned myself and took off a quick shower, and then changed the bandages, I wasted no time in leaving the Center again, and making it a point to rush for the hospital to meet up with Tina there.
She had seemed better the next day- she wasn't as emotional, and I didn't see her crying anymore. She even smiled a little more. I still felt that there was something that she wasn't telling me. What it was, I couldn't tell. I could see it in her eyes, though- most of the time, she refused to look me in mine, or she looked a different way while she was talking.
It didn't bother me much, though, because I figured that it couldn't be anything that was really that important. If she wanted to tell me- and only if- she would tell me when she was ready. Not everything about her was my business.
Brianna was standing in front of the hospital when I got there. She'd already changed her clothes, as had I- just for hygiene reasons. I was wearing some different t-shirt and a different pair of pants, and from what it looked like, she'd just gotten another pair of denim pants and changed her shirt. Her attire was mostly the same as it had been on our most recent excursion.
When I ran up to the entrance of the hospital, she smiled at me.
"Hey," I said, wheezing as I came to a stop in front of the doors. That was one thing that I knew I would have to work on as a trainer- my own endurance. I tired far too easily and it would be bad, if, for any reason, I needed to run and I couldn't. It's what I got for being lazy and lying around, playing video games all day. I wasn't fat, but don't count on me to run a mile.
Even Brianna seemed a little more durable than me- probably because she'd trained and went on long walks/runs/hikes before. She knew how to pace herself and was used to the feeling, most likely. That was the excuse I was going to give to save my pride, at least.
"Hey yourself," she said, laughing. "Did you run all the way here?"
I nodded, too tired for words for a moment. I gasped for air like a fish out of water.
"Yeah, I," I said, coughing for a moment, "I did. I need to start running anyway, I… I get tired too easily," I said, bending over and putting my hands on my knees.
She nodded, agreeing.
"I think so too," she said, before she walked inside. I took a few more breaths before following her, still hot and looking forward to the air conditioning inside of the building.
I pushed through the door and followed her inside, sighing as the cool air hit my body. A few of the people in the lobby stared at me and gave me weird looks, but I ignored them. I followed Brianna to the elevator. We usually used the stairs, but I didn't feel like it this time, probably because I was still wheezing from running all the way here.
We hit the button for the floor that Jack was on, and waited. We were the only people in the elevator- it didn't seem that there were many people in the hospital today.
The elevator music here was weird. It wasn't as calming as the music from my world- maybe just another difference. It sounded closer to classic rock than anything else. It was actually connected to a radio station, from what I could tell.
"So," Brianna asked me, as we were going up, "how do you think he's doing?"
I shrugged.
"Fine, probably. He's bored out of his mind for sure, though," I said.
I knew Jack well enough to know that.
It took a minute, but once we hit the floor that Jack was on, we stepped out of the elevator and made for his room, wasting no time. I knocked on his door, and then stepped inside, and was followed by Brianna. When we entered, Jack was already awake, though he looked drowsy.
"Did I wake you up?" I asked, as I sat down next to him. Brianna took a seat as close to me as she could, and smiled at Jack, who was still tired.
"Maybe- yeah, you did," he said, pushing himself up to a sitting position in bed.
"So, how have you been?" I asked.
He nodded a few times- he almost looked like a bobble head.
"I-I'm alright, you know? It's just I'm still a little out of it. It's not exactly happy, you know. You'd be surprised what taking diluted Chansey Egg and pain medication at the same time does to you. I'm-"he said, stopping for a moment, holding his stomach.
He took a deep breath, and groaned
Then he pointed to it.
"I'm in and out of the bathroom all day, I- I got stomach problems. Nausea, gas. It's usually mild, but sometimes it flares up, and that sucks. My stomach is still healing. It's a lot better than it was, but I'm gonna need to stay here a little while longer- based on what they tell me, anyway," he said.
He was sweating a little, and he ran a hand across his forehead before wiping it on the sheets, and falling back onto the bed, lying down, head on the pillow. He wrapped himself in his sheets, then kicked them off, before repeating what he'd just done another two or three times. "You're really hurt bad, huh?" I asked.
He nodded, coughing, turning pained eyes towards me.
"It's- it's not as bad as it looks, but yeah. It's alright, though. The nurses have been saying my tolerance towards Chansey Egg has been going up, which is good for me. It should mean fewer problems for me while I'm healing. I got shot in the stomach, Daniel. It's not going to be pleasant, healing. It'd be ridiculous if it was," he said, groaning.
"Yeah," I said, watching him, trailing off.
It was strange. Maybe he'd been hiding it somehow the times before, or, maybe, I'd been an asshole and just didn't notice it until this visit, but he seemed a lot more like a sick person than the other times. Before, he'd just looked hurt, and tired, but now? He was coughing, sweaty, and groaning every thirty seconds. I saw his hands make their way to his stomach more than once, clenching and grabbing at it.
It was a stomach wound, like he'd pointed out- most likely, there had either been complications that had popped up and his condition had worsened to this, or it had just taken time for the doctors to notice everything that was wrong with him. That and the Chansey Egg that he'd mentioned. Diluted? What did that mean? Was it too strong to be given to him pure?
"Well, it's kind of funny," I said, trying to take his mind off of the pain, "you've only missed more stuff while you were here."
Jack groaned.
"I knew it! I knew that it would happen!"
I only laughed.
Jack threw his hands in the air in frustration, before sighing.
"So, what happened?"
I filled him in on everything that had happened, including Celebi. It took me a few minutes, but I eventually told him everything. After, he was silent for a moment before speaking up.
"So, an Abra?"
I nodded.
"And you saw a Legendary?" He asked.
"Yep," I said, nodding.
He turned to Brianna.
"You didn't see this, right?" Jack asked her.
Brianna shook her head, her red frizzy hair shaking back and forth as she did so.
"No, I didn't see anything. Not anything about Celebi, at least- I've already seen the Abra. I'm having a hard time believing him, to be honest," she said.
Jack nodded.
"I believe him. I know that you wouldn't lie about stuff like that," Jack said.
I grinned.
"Thanks man."
"It's no problem," he insisted. He moved around a little bit in the bed, and coughed again, wiping his forehead.
"What exactly did he say? Celebi, that is?"
I shook my head. I'd only told him that I'd met Celebi. I didn't tell him about the specifics, or the conversation that had taken place between us.
"It's Lady Celebi," I said.
"She's a girl?" Jack asked, confused.
"Yeah- but that's not the thing. It's Lady Celebi because it's like her title or whatever," I said.
Jack shrugged, and then sort of nodded.
"Well, if she is a goddess, then… Lady Celebi, I guess," he said.
"Yeah, I called her that too, at least while I was talking to her. I think I might as well pay her some respect, considering what she said she was going to do for us," I said.
Jack raised his brow.
"What did she say?"
"Well, she confirmed that Palkia and Dialga had a fight a little while ago. She said it was the thing that brought us here."
Jack swore.
"I knew that it was them. I knew it."
He sighed.
"Well, did she mention Terry or Matt, at the very least?"
"She said she hadn't seen them. Because she's the Goddess of the Wilderness- or so she told me- she can see everything inside of the wilds. I think that means that they ended up in a city or something like that," I said.
"Well, that's good then, right?" Jack asked. "At least that means they didn't get eaten by an Ursaring or something. They're probably still out there."
I nodded.
"Yeah, that's the positive way of looking at it. We also still have no idea where they are, at all. We don't know where Palkia is either, and I have no idea how to find him."
"The last thing she said she was going to do- and this is why I'll show her some respect- is she said that she felt guilty about what her brother did, and that she would offer us protection in the wilderness."
Jack raised a brow.
"Protection?" He asked.
I shrugged.
"Yeah, that's what Lady Celebi said. So, maybe if we get attacked or something, she'll intervene. That's what I'm guessing. I don't know to what extent, though."
Jack grinned.
"Well, that's a load off, right? We have something pretty strong on our side."
I nodded, though I wasn't completely sure.
"… Yeah, I guess," I said. "It kind of felt fake, though," I said.
"What do you mean?" he asked, frowning.
"It's just…" I said, trailing off, frustrated at my inability to articulate what I wanted to.
"I feel like she won't actually come true on her promise… if she said she was a goddess, and that she shouldn't be interfering in the first place, then making contact with me at all was bad enough, right? What about showing herself to fight- and showing favoritism? Wouldn't that be even worse?"
Jack shrugged.
"I wasn't there, man- you were."
"You should just trust her," Jack said, before he coughed again.
"I mean, if you really saw her- and she told you about some stuff, and it seemed like she was on your side, then why would she lie to you? There's no point to it," Jack said.
I shook my head.
"Maybe I'm just over thinking it," I said.
Jack yawned.
"Probably, dude. What about you, Brianna?"
Brianna turned to him, waiting.
"What do you have to say about this?"
She shook her head.
"I don't know. I can't even decide if I believe you two about coming from a different world. One huge thing like that was already enough to consider- but now, this? This is the kind of thing that people lie about all the time. There's always some idiot trying to sell a tape to the news with real Celebi information," she said.
I sighed.
"Don't worry about it, Brianna. I see where you're coming from. It's not like I have proof- I lost the DS when we came here," I said.
"Convenient, if you ask me," Brianna said. She wasn't being condescending, though- only truthful. It was more than a stretch, and I knew it. I couldn't blame her for not believing the boy that cried another world- and then, only a few days after the boy had said that, the boy that cried Celebi.
"Yeah, I know," I said.
Jack shrugged.
"Like I said, Daniel, I don't think you should worry about it too much," he said.
"There are more important things to worry about for now. We should be focusing hardest on trying to find Terry and Matt, and not much else," Jack said.
"That, and training- that's my two cents, Daniel," he said.
I nodded.
"I know… it's just, it's hard not to think about it," I said.
Jack gave me an understanding smile, and then he coughed again.
"I'm surprised that I even managed to catch that Abra," I said.
Jack nodded.
"You're one lucky bastard, that's for sure, Daniel. I could hardly believe it when you told me. How did it not sense you?" Jack asked.
"I was as quiet as I could possibly be. I just tried to focus on other things when I was catching it. I almost threw the damn ball blind, at least mentally. I made sure that catching it wasn't at the forefront of my mind- I figured that it would sense that. Instead, I just looked at the trees, at the grass, the ground- whatever. Anything but the Abra," I said.
Jack nodded, then coughed again.
"Yeah, it makes sense. I think I want to try to sleep some, guys. So, not to be rude, but could you get out?" he asked.
I nodded.
"Yeah, yeah… that's not a problem. Try to rest if you can, Jack," I said.
Brianna gave him similar words of encouragement and then we left the room quick, heading back toward the elevator. The entire time, my brow was furrowed.
Brianna frowned.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked.
I shook my head.
"It's just… I'm worried about Jack," I admitted.
Brianna rolled her eyes.
"The medical care is very good here, I'm sure he'll be fine," she said.
"I know that… but it still doesn't sit well with me. Before he seemed better, and now that he's taking so much Chansey Egg, he's like that- all coughing, and sweaty, and… well, he said that he was throwing up, too- that can't be good, either," I said.
She put a hand on my shoulder as we walked towards the elevator.
"Trust me, it's not anything new. I remember when I was nine or ten, I got sent into the hospital for the first time for real. I broke my leg in a really bad way- I fell on it in one of the worst ways possible, basically. It was fractured in like five places. I was just like him when I was taking the Chansey Egg- trust me, I remember. Lying in bed all day like that, yuck. The symptoms will fade soon, and he'll leave the hospital fully healed. That's just how it is," she said. We walked through the elevator door as it opened and pressed first floor.
"Does it really fully cure anything like that?" I asked.
"Almost anything, yeah. Diluted Chansey Egg is really good for treatment over a few weeks. Pure Chansey Egg can heal you in a matter of seconds, but most hospitals only use it in the ER when someone is going to die. Otherwise, they don't touch it," she said.
"Why?" I asked.
"A few reasons- first, by the way, pure Chansey Egg is addictive to a degree, which they don't want. It also can heal your body the wrong way, and you'd just need surgery again later, anyway. If they introduce it to the body while it's diluted, not only does it speed up recovery immensely, but it also gives the body needed nutrients and stuff like that. It's just really good for you if it's diluted, but pure, not so much. Sometimes it can be too much for a person's body," she said.
"Chansey Egg Overdose?" I said, with humor in my voice. It was a little hilarious, and hard to believe, besides. Brianna glanced over at me.
"I'm serious," she said. "It's hurt people really bad before."
"Has it ever, you know… killed anyone?" I asked.
She nodded.
"It's extremely rare, though. Still, better not to take the chance. Humans aren't supposed to actually be eating the egg in the first place. Chansey usually just give it to other Pokemon- and their bodies are much stronger than ours. I mean, your Pidgeotto got shot up, but it was really young and pretty weak for a species. It's all in perspective- even as a Larvitar, Tina wouldn't have been really hurt by bullets. And if your Pidgeotto had grown into a Pidgeot, the bullets would've barely harmed it either."
I nodded.
"I guess that makes sense. Still, overdose? I guess that's why they dilute it, then," I said.
"Yeah, it goes through this whole process with water, and stuff. They crack the egg, take the yolk, and then cut off a small part of it as a dose. Then water gets added and it gets treated a lot with more water and time before they ever actually give it to anyone," she said.
"The Egg that Jack is being treated with is probably like thirty percent pure or something like that. Anything over fifty can start to be dangerous for the human body," she said. "Especially when you're trying to heal," she added.
I chuckled.
"You sure learned a lot in Pokemon School, huh?"
"I wanted to be a nurse not too long ago- for humans, that is. I was reading about this kind of stuff a few months back," she said, as we reached the first floor and started heading out of the hospital.
I raised my eyebrows at that. A nurse, her? It actually fit, though, once I thought about it- she was caring and nagging enough, and that fit the bill alone. One thing didn't fit, though.
"Why did you stop?" I asked.
She turned to me.
"What?"
"I asked, why did you stop?"
She shrugged.
"Different things- I was a little naïve about what the job actually entailed. Things like that. Not to mention that it just sort of fell out of interest. I'm not really sure what I want to do anymore," she said.
"Well, you're coming with me when we leave, right?" I asked.
She nodded.
"Well, maybe you'll figure out along the way. You can still try training, you know," I said.
She nodded again.
"I know… it's just hard to decide. I'll figure it out somehow," she said.
I grinned.
"I know you will," I told her.
XxXxXxXxXx
Brianna and I split ways for a little while after we left the hospital, and the entire way to the Pokemon Center, I had time to think about what I was going to do next.
Tina would evolve soon, hopefully, though I was in no rush after I'd seen how Jack had been. Once he was ready, we would all leave and go north. I wanted to see more of the world, and traveling increased our chances of finding Matt and Terry- at least, I thought it did. If there weren't here, then they had to be somewhere else.
And the only way to find them was to look.
With that, the only thing really left to do was wait.
XxXxXxXx
Time passed, as it usually did.
Brianna reported the shrine to the Church, and there was someone going out there every day, restoring it. They'd been really happy to find it, apparently. From what they said, in their own words:
'A Daughter of Arceus is extremely important to the Church.'
I spent a week going out, and training. Brianna came with me once or twice, but she was more distant ever since we'd come back from the two day trip. We didn't spend any more days in the wilderness- we took to staying close to the city so that we didn't have to do that. I couldn't tell what was up with her- she seemed more emotional than usual- really, just sadder than she'd ever been.
For most of the time that I'd known her, she'd been a mostly soft-spoken girl, but that didn't mean sad or unhappy- certainly not like she was right now. No, she'd always seemed quietly cheerful, and happy about what was around her.
At least, that was how I'd always seen her.
Maybe I'd been horribly blind for the first few days of meeting her.
I tried to talk to her about it more than once, but I never got anything from her- not really. She'd either ignore the question, prance around it like a fucking land mine, or worse, she'd just tear up, and I'd be forced to stop due to guilt.
At the same time, though, it tore me up to see her like this.
She became clingy, and although nothing like that racy time we'd had in the forest happened- where she'd pushed me down and tried to take off my pants- it was almost worse in a way, because whenever she was with me, which was a lot, it was almost like she never wanted to let go of me.
Whenever I was in town, not training, she was almost always there- and she even came out to train Ciri with me three or four days that entire week.
The time I spent out there was mostly trying to get Einstein stronger. I had… checked, later, and he was indeed a boy. I had him square off against Ciri more than once, and tried to develop his abilities, but it was slow going. Frustratingly slow, actually. I kept at it, though, because that was the only way that anything was ever going to happen.
It was on the seventh day of that week that anything interesting happened with Abra's training.
It was the first time that I'd really heard him speak.
All along, I could hear little words and thoughts in my head, that I knew weren't my own. I knew they were Abra's, instead, but I couldn't really make anything out. They were too quiet and unclear for that. I had him Teleporting a lot and trying to use Confusion- barely picking up a small rock in the process- but that was about it. I had no idea how to train a psychic Pokemon.
It appeared that the mental stimulation and work I was giving him had to be enough, because that day was the first day that I ever heard him speak.
It was just me, alone, a few miles out of town. Brianna hadn't come with me that day, and I was enjoying it more and more. I didn't hate Brianna or anything. The opposite, actually. It was just that I needed some me time. She was always on my arm, always talking to me, and though I enjoyed spending time with her as I had been, when it became twenty four seven, it almost felt like a job or an obligation, instead of a relationship.
The daily training trips were good ways to get away from that. Even if she came with me, she was focused on something else than kissing me. Nothing major had happened since that day, but she'd become even more affectionate over time. It didn't seem like it was going to change, and so I accepted it. Enjoyed it, even.
It had been in the middle of a Teleporting and Confusion routine when he'd first spoke to me.
I'd been pushing him hard- maybe too hard, really- and he'd spoke out against it.
"Teleport!" I yelled.
A soft-gunshot, echoing through the forest, and he moved a few feet to the right. It wasn't one teleport that drained him. It was the next repeated forty after that I had him do.
I could see his heavy breathing, the way his frame quaked and shook. His levitation even seemed to waver.
"Again!" I said.
A soft gunshot, echoing through the forest, and he moved a few feet to the left.
I continued going on about it for a while more.
"Again!"
"Again!"
"One more time!"
It was probably around the twenty third Teleport when he spoke.
Cut it out.
He didn't Teleport that time. He levitated in the air, and took a breath.
I need a break.
My jaw fell open, and I wrestled for words, flabbergasted.
"You can talk?"
I heard something like a snide, condescending snort in my mind, and then a response.
Of course I can. You're just too dumb to hear.
I was too surprised at the moment to be angry, but I did point out the alternative, and insist it.
"I'm pretty sure you're just too quiet and soft to hear," I said.
"I've been hearing you in my head for probably a week now. Quiet little words and thoughts in my head. That was you, wasn't it?" I asked.
Yes, it was.
"I knew it," I stated. "What made it different this time?"
I was tired.
I nodded, sort of. I could understand it. He didn't want to train anymore.
I just expected to happen at a more interesting time- in the middle of a battle, maybe. Right when he had something that he really needed to tell me?
Maybe I had watched too many TV dramas. It would happen when it happened, and that just so happened to be now.
"So, do you want to go back into the ball, or-"
Yes. I need to sleep.
That was the other weird thing about Einstein. I knew that Abra slept a lot, but holy crap, it was like taking care of a baby at times. He slept eighteen hours a day and my schedule for training basically revolved around him waking up at a certain time, and then going to sleep a short six hours later.
It was just about that time.
"Alright," I said, reaching inside my pocket and grabbing my ball.
"I didn't expect you to be able to speak so early," I said.
Yeah, well, I'm not like a human.
Obviously. He was going to develop faster, especially now that he'd really gotten a start, finally. It would likely be a while before he evolved, but his mental capacity would probably never stop growing, now. That's what I'd gotten from some stuff on Abra at the library. I'd read up on them once I'd caught Einstein.
I heard a chuckle in my head, but I didn't respond to it. He apparently found something funny. I threw the ball at him and sucked him inside, and put it in my pocket.
Then I headed back to town.
XxXxXxXx
I headed for the Center as soon as I got back into town. I was tired, and I was going to take a nap. It was probably too early for it, and it would probably mess up my sleep schedule, but screw it. It wasn't like there was anything else to do.
When I got to my room, I found Brianna there, sitting on my bed, waiting for me.
I smiled at her as I walked in, and closed the door behind me.
I sat down on the bed next to her.
She did not look happy.
It looked like she'd been crying, so I put a hand on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
I kept my smile up even though I actually didn't feel like smiling. There was something wrong. She could've just been being really emotional again, but I didn't think it was like that this time.
She sniffled, and then she spoke.
"I have something I have to say," she said. She sounded like she hadn't had anything to drink in forever. Her voice was scratchy and it cracked.
"What?"
She let out a sob, and then sniffled.
"I've been lying to you," she said. "There's... I never told you the whole truth about Jason. We…. He was…" she said.
"What? What is it?" I asked her.
She hung her head.
"We were in a relationship," she said, crying. "I… he was my first. I- I never told you, I don't know why, but I felt that I had to tell you now. I've been worrying about it all week, but with Jack looking a lot better- I checked on him today, by the way- I figured that we were going to leave pretty soon. I wanted to say it before we left town," she said.
She looked miserable. Her red frizzy hair didn't look the same- it looked ragged, not frizzy. It wasn't the same, and I could tell.
"So, is that it?" I asked.
She looked up, her face a red mess of tears and self-hatred.
"You're not mad?" she whispered.
I chuckled.
She wasn't stupid, but she was naïve. I guess I was too, though, so it was alright.
"No. Why would I be?"
She wiped at her face with her sleeves.
"I-I don't know. I think I build things up in my head too much," she said, giggling.
"You think?" I asked her.
I hugged her and pulled her close to me, and for a few moments, nothing else mattered. I could feel her body shake, and then stop- and then, again, it shook. And this time it didn't stop. She cried for a while, but when she was done, I could tell just by looking at her that she felt a lot better.
I didn't want to ruin her day.
But I had to ask.
"Brianna, what did Jason do to you?"
She gasped, her breath hitched in her throat, and she looked over at me like I'd uttered a blasphemy. Then she turned her stare from me, to the floor instead.
"It was more that he betrayed me than anything else, I guess," she said, her voice low and quiet.
"I… I trusted him, and he took that trust, and mangled it, and crushed it. I guess that's what it was. I remember coming home. I cried the whole way. The worst part was I couldn't understand why he'd done it," she said.
She fell quiet.
"Go on," I said.
"I… I didn't understand it. He was a Rocket, right? That meant he could've just robbed me from the beginning, and just left me there. But no, he didn't do that. Instead, he… pretended to love me, let me gain Pokemon, friends of my own, and let me work for my own small tournament and battle winnings. He let this go on for months, and then he did it," she said. She sniffled again.
"The only thing I can think of this that he did it, on purpose, to hurt me," she said.
It was hard to see her like this and the longer I looked, the longer I watched, it only made me angrier, and made me hate Jason more.
The memory of the Rockets came back, and it almost made me sick, but instead it fueled a new desire- the memory, it fueled a desire to do to what I did to them, to Jason.
It's interesting, isn't it? How humans can hate each other so much? Here I was, listening to my girlfriend crying about her past boyfriend, and even though I could be understandably pissed off at him, it didn't necessarily give me the right to kill him. Yet here I was, hands clenching the sheets, imagining ripping them- and him- apart.
Why did people have to be like this? Hurt each other so much, over things so stupid, so trivial. Things that didn't matter- money, possessions. Stupid fucking things like that.
No, I knew what I was going to do.
If I ever met Jason, I was going to kill him.
With my own hands.
If I had to, I'd have Tina pin him down and help me strangle him to death.
It was what he deserved.
Even though it scared me to think that way- that I would do it- I believed I could.
There was no doubt in my mind that in the years that Tina hadn't seen this guy, he'd probably been busy doing the same thing to other people- breaking the hearts of other girls, probably killing people himself, beating, stealing from others.
"Daniel?"
"What?"I asked her. I was so concentrated on my violent vision that I had hardly been paying attention to her.
"You aren't going to do anything, are you?" she asked me.
I shrugged.
"I'm probably not going to seek him out personally because he's just a grunt and that would be too hard, but if I somehow found him by chance, well," I said, staring straight ahead at the wall of the Pokemon Center.
"He won't get away," I whispered.
I wasn't sure if she heard me.
It felt good… to say that. It was almost disgusting, but my rage and hate easily overpowered my comparatively weak morals. I'd been in a similar line of thought back home- I always thought prisons should have much worse conditions- not to mention that the death penalty should've been faster and should have been active in every state.
Of course, back then, I was just some dumb kid in America. I had no power, and no will to actually do those things. But, after the Rocket Attack… once I'd came to terms with what I'd done, the idea seemed to appeal to me.
The idea that I could just… kill bad people.
If someone attacked me in the wilderness, and no one else was around, no one was there to enforce the law. Just dump the body in the woods. Pokemon will eat it.
It was a horrible way to think, but I couldn't help it.
And, all of it, really, was the Rocket's fault.
Maybe they just dredged up hate and anger that was already there, or maybe I was just feeling normal human feelings that most people felt every once in a while, only amplified because of what they'd done.
In the end, though, it didn't matter.
Because now I hated the Rockets.
"Daniel?" I heard a voice ask. I turned to Brianna, who was staring at me, trembling.
"You're scaring me," she said.
I sighed.
I couldn't ignore it, though.
It was bubbling up inside me.
The very idea of it, their arrogance, their… the way they handled everything, it rubbed me the wrong way.
And I couldn't hold it in anymore.
"I'm sorry," I said. "They just… they make me so angry!" I yelled.
"How could they do that to people!?" I shouted, and though I was scaring Brianna, and that made me feel terrible, I didn't want to stop now.
I wanted to let it out.
I couldn't stop now. Not now.
"They're just… they just make me want to..."
I let out a scream of rage and punched the bed- and then, in frenzy, did it again and again. It didn't hurt or feel satisfying, but I felt like I had to hit something, so I did.
"Why? WHY?"
I shouted at the roof. I almost wished that Arceus would come down and tell me why.
"WHY? TELL ME WHY!"
Even while I was shouting, though, I knew that there was no reason why.
Well, there was, but there was no actual reason.
Greed, corruption, and the desire for power- these were the reasons why. But they were such shitty reasons to hurt people, to kill people- all over money, all over possessions.
I breathed heavily, and l glanced over at Brianna.
She was staring at me, trembling.
"…Daniel?" she asked, trembling.
Was she actually scared of me?
Any residual anger and hate faded away as I watched her terrified eyes staring at me.
"Brianna, it's not-"I said, reaching for her, but she flinched back.
She flinched back from me.
Her brilliant emerald eyes shone with water, and her red hair fell around her as she moved backwards on the bed, away from me.
My jaw dropped open, and I didn't say anything.
Any residual anger and hate instead turned into shame.
Then I hung my head.
"Brianna, I'm…" I said, trying to find the right words.
"I'm sorry for scaring you like that, but you have to understand… I…"
I forced out the words, even though I didn't want to.
"The thought of it, the mere thought, makes me so furious. I can't believe how they hurt me, they hurt Jack! They hurt you! And it… it infuriates me, beyond belief. I'm sorry if I scared you, Brianna, but… if I ever see them, I'm certainly not giving them any kind of break," I said.
Brianna gave the tiniest of nods, and moved closer towards me.
"Did he… did he ever hit you?" I asked her.
I was, of course, talking about Jason. The way she flinched, that reminded me of what abused people would do. It was the same movement- the flinching back.
She nodded, wordlessly.
"This went on for a while before he actually robbed and left you didn't it?" I asked.
She nodded.
There was no rage left, so I didn't get angry.
What I got instead was curious.
"Why? Why stay with him?" I asked.
It didn't make any sense.
"M-maybe because I loved him, idiot," she said. "Like I love you," she said, and then she kissed me.
I was surprised by it, but I didn't pull away. I let her go as long as she wanted to.
When we pulled away from each other, her cheeks were tear stained, but her mouth was smiling- and, God, her eyes.
Her eyes were beautiful.
"Are you alright?" she asked.
"Are you?" I countered her.
She nodded, clutching the sheets of the bed.
"I think I will be. I still feel bad for lying to you, though," she said.
"Don't be. Past relationships aren't really any of my business, anyway," I said.
I knew that I had just contradicted myself, but she'd been the one to tell me- I hadn't pressured it out of her or something. Not to mention that the guy was scum, trash, and deserved to die anyway. I would just be giving him what he had coming.
"I'm glad you finally said this, though," I admitted.
She raised her eyebrows, appearing confused.
"I thought you said that you didn't know," she said.
"I didn't know the specifics, but I could tell just from the way you were acting. You were being more mopey and clingy than usual all week. I just never asked you about it because I figured that it was something personal. And I was right," I said.
I didn't like being right.
XxXxXxXx
Brianna and I both calmed down after that, and it seemed that the discussion had been the best for both of us.
It was a little while after that when I decided to let Tina out of her ball for the first time in a week.
"Is this far good?" Brianna asked me.
I turned to her, breathing hard and sweating even harder.
"Yeah, I- I think so. Let's stop."
We'd walked for a while, and it seemed to be getting hotter- not anything surprising, because if the seasons of this place and the seasons of home were similar, it was getting closer and closer to summer.
I dropped down and sat in the grass for a few moments, catching my breath. We wanted to go a decent distance out of town before we released her, if only because we wanted her to have some room to try out her moves now that she would probably be much stronger.
After we'd rested for a few minutes, we were ready.
First I released Einstein.
The red beam shimmered as it left the Pokeball, and then formed into the yellow, brown armored fox that I'd come to know well through the past week
Without moving his mouth, he spoke to both of us.
Tina? You're releasing her?
I nodded towards Einstein. Brianna grinned.
"That is so cool! He talks now?"
The snarky reply came immediately.
I've always talked. You've just never listened.
It was weird to listen to a psychic Pokemon speak. They didn't use their face or any part of their mouth or anything, so it was already really, really weird, but that wasn't the end of it. It echoed throughout the mind, and the words didn't seem to fully face until a few seconds after the being was done speaking.
Also, it was impossible to ignore, and you could always hear it.
Because it was coming from inside you- you were hearing it from inside your own mind, through the telepathy- it was impossible to tune out or ignore. You can ignore people talking, loud noises. I've done it before. This was different. It demanded your attention.
And, because you could never ignore it, you could always hear it. I could hear distinct, different sounds- as he spoke, I could still hear Brianna talking. It was really weird- it felt like my ears were listening for two things at once, and even though they could that, it felt like they were limited. It was going to take some time to get used to.
So, are you going to get on with it?
"Yes," I told him, glaring. He was sarcastic and snarky- something that I'd figured out about him as soon as he managed to talk. I'd only heard a few sentences from him, and already, he was like that. It was interesting though- that he had a personality.
I tossed the ball onto the ground and caught it as it bounced back up. I'd done it so many times by now that it was an almost unconscious action. It wasn't really hard for me to do at all.
Tina had formed and been released before the ball even entered my hand, and she looked different.
For one, she was bigger.
She wasn't at my shins anymore, oh no. As a Pupitar, she was closer to my waist than anything- assuming she was upright and vertical, and not on her side like she was right now. She was a lot longer than she was as a Larvitar, and much less cute, too. She looked at me with dark eyes from inside of her shell and let out a groan.
"Pupitar."
She was entirely silvery-gray, now. The black pock-marks in her shell were still there, along with ones above her eyes that looked like eyebrows, and on the top of her head, her body formed into something similar to a crest, which was really the fin that had been there when she was a Larvitar.
"Hey, Tina, it's been a week since you went into your ball. Things have happened since," I said. She barely moved at all, but the movement she did make- a slight shake of her shell- helped me realize that she'd heard what I said.
"Most notably, I caught this Abra," I said, motioning towards Einstein, who was still floating in the air, facing Tina with his eyes closed.
"I call him Einstein. He's part of the team now," I said.
She gave him a look that seemed to hold no real malice, but also no real kindness, either. She turned back towards me- and even inside the darkness of her shell, I could make out that her eyes still held joy at seeing me.
So, she hadn't changed.
That was good.
With groans that could be considered cheerful if they didn't sound like a person dying, she inched her way over to me on the ground, carving a small trench in the ground. When she reached my leg, she nuzzled against it, brushing against my right hip with the top most part of her shell.
I reached down- and was almost careful to touch her. Tina had never been, and never would be soft, but I was wondering whether or not she'd gotten rougher because of the transformation. And I didn't feel like scraping my hands because I pet her hard and fast like you would a cat.
I carefully caressed the hard shell. It was rougher. It felt like sandpaper.
She let out another groan, only a little higher pitched this time.
"Pupitar," she bellowed.
I sighed, and then grinned.
"I'm never going to understand you, you know that?" I told her.
She said to do it again, Einstein said.
"Really?" I asked him.
It made sense, though, and I was already starting to feel stupid the second the words came out of my mouth. Of course he could understand her! It wasn't like he wasn't a Pokemon, too. I heard a sigh inside my mind.
Of course.
I rubbed her rough shell again, and she nuzzled into my hand, almost like a child would if a parent was ruffling their hair- only, she wasn't annoyed by it.
"You're feeling stronger, aren't you?" I whispered to her.
"Pupi! Pupitar!" she grunted.
Better than ever, she says, Einstein said.
"Good," I said.
"We're going to be setting out from here, soon," I said, this time speaking to Brianna.
"As soon as Jack gets better, right?" she asked.
I nodded.
"It shouldn't be too long, I don't think. He's probably feeling a lot better," I said.
"Why don't we go see?" Brianna asked.
I grinned.
XxXxXxXx
One of the benefits of owning an Abra was that Einstein could Teleport us. He'd gotten strong enough to do it, even if he couldn't really battle anything yet. It only took him a few seconds to gather enough energy to transport the three of us and all of our bags and things back with him to the Center, although after that, he went to sleep because he was tired.
Once he'd Teleported us back to the Center, we wasted no time in making a beeline for the hospital. Once inside, we rushed towards Jack's room, as fast as we possibly could, at least.
We opened the door and found him lying inside, as he always had been.
"How are you feeling?" I asked him.
He looked up as soon as we walked inside, and then grinned when he heard what I said.
"Hey, Daniel! I'm feeling a lot better," he said, glancing at his surroundings.
"It's a good thing, too. I was about to fucking go crazy in here. It's so boring, you have no idea. You were only in here for a few days, but not me," he whispered.
"Do you think you could leave?" I asked.
"I don't know about what I think, but I feel a lot better. My wounds are closed, my blood's back up, and I'm not having any more digestive problems anymore. I'm even walking a lot better than a week ago," he said.
"I'm going to call your doctor in here," I said.
I wandered around a bit until I found a nurse, and then asked for where the doctor was- only to confirm that he was out for lunch this time of day, because it was noon. I went back to Jack's room and told him and Brianna this. I told them I'd be waiting in front of the doctor's office- which took me a little while to find- and then I'd convince him to look over Jack.
He came back maybe thirty minutes later, all of which I'd spent staring at the wall.
The second I saw him coming for the door, I got up and shook his hand.
"You remember me, right? Daniel? I was a patient of yours?" I asked him.
He gave me a look over, and then nodded.
"You're friends with that Jack boy. We released you not too long ago, right?"
I nodded.
"Yeah, and now I was hoping that the same could be done for Jack. He says he's feeling a lot better," I said.
The doctor chuckled and shook his head.
"I'll be the judge of that."
The doctor walked back to the room, with me and tow, and inspected Jack. It turned out that Jack actually was probably as good as he said he was, but he was still issued a few antibiotics and vitamins he'd have to take for a few weeks just to make sure that no other problems with his stomach ever popped up again. The doctor prescribed the medication, and then we left with Jack finally out of the hospital.
The first place we went was the Center, and we walked there this time. I knew that Jack wanted to see his Mareep after all this time, and he had his license and training card.
When we arrived at the Center, he got out his Mareep, and he and his electrical sheep had a nice little reunion, which included Jack getting shocked by static electricity from the Mareep's wool.
I spent the last of my money on supplies when we went out to stock up for the trip right after that, and with our packs full, and with a map purchased, we stopped at Brianna's house for her to say goodbye to her parents.
They were less than thrilled.
Understandably, after what had happened last time- even though they didn't know all of it- they didn't want to let Brianna go.
From what I heard from Brianna later, some things were said on either side that they'd both probably regret.
It ended up with her storming out of the house, and her father following her and yelling- who we all ran away from.
She dried her face by the time we reached the northern gate of town- because we would be traveling north. I got out my map and plotted our next location we'd be traveling to.
There was a much larger town to the north- Cherrygrove. The location of cities and towns weren't all the same, although some were similar. Girk was actually more south than Cherrygrove, but Violet city was still right by Cherrygrove. Things like that.
So, with our destination set, we started walking, and left Girk behind. It'd probably be at least a week and a half before we made it to Cherrygrove, but I wasn't intimidated. We were finally going to start traveling and searching for Terry and Matt, which is what I'd been wanting to do the entire time.
With a few steps out the gate, and the sun shining on our backs, we started walking.
It felt like everything from now on was going to be alright, but I couldn't help but feel that it wasn't true.
For now, though, I was going to concentrate on the journey.
And I was going to take things as they came.
XxXxXxXxXx
That's the chapter. Really late/ extended release, I know. I hesitated on releasing this one for a while for a variety of reasons- one, there's a lot of relationship stuff in this one, and I was wondering if I should release it or not, but damn it, I'm doing it anyway.
Two, I wasn't writing for a few days because of laziness and also a lack of direction to take. That's obviously been resolved.
After having read the chapter, you can probably guess that a lot of secrets have been revealed, things have progressed and been discussed, and specifically, the relationship between Daniel and Brianna has been advanced-hopefully, for the better, right?
You'll have to see.
I think that's it. I'm really happy to get this one out.
See you until next time.
