We arrived back at Coumarine City rather early, and I hardly even noticed with all my the thoughts that circulated in my head. I knew Abigail was a good trainer, yet I didn't know what gyms were like... and if I was the reason she failed, I wouldn't know what to do with myself after. Then again, it could've also been one of the easiest things ever, but I highly doubted it.
I was surprised I hadn't seen the building already if it was in the same city... although remembering that there were two parts to this one place made sense. It must've been on the other side for me to have not seen it, or so I thought. That seemed like the most logical explanation, anyway, because I am really observant for an Umbreon.
I stopped in my tracks when I finally looked up to see Abigail missing and Eliana the only one with me. I took a sniff of the air, and it was still salty from the sea as usual... I honestly don't know why I expected it to change, to be honest.
"Where's Abigail?" I asked.
"You weren't paying attention, were you?"
I shook my head left to right.
Eliana sighed, "She said that she was gonna get some guy she knew to make some sort of soup out of the Magikarp I caught, so she took it and carried it to get him to prepare it."
"Oh right..." I said, completely forgetting about that fish up until then.
Looking around, I could tell that we were by the hotel again, only after taking a better look at my surroundings, however. I can't believe I almost forgot how this place looked.
"So... she just left us here, outside of a hotel where we can get shot by hunters or the like? Are you joking?" I sighed, thinking that Abigail must not have been the brightest star in the sky.
"It's called trust, Nova, and who'd wanna attack me or you anyway? We'd mess them up, am I right?" Eliana playfully pushed me, but it resulted in me almost falling down from her sudden boost of strength.
"W-woops, sorry... I didn't know I was that powerful now... I didn't even try to push you much."
"I know," I growled under my breath, getting back up fully from the ground and walking over to the side of the hotel atop the hill where we were the other night, Eliana following me along the way.
"I did say I was sorry..." She sighed, trying to stare at me with her sparkling yellow eyes, but I looked away and instead watched the ocean below us, and observed the ships moving up and down from the unbalanced waters while they were docked.
"I can make it up to you if you want..." She purred, walking closer to me until pulling me into a sudden kiss as I glanced at her.
She was a bit small for a Luxray, and I've seen Luxrays before, so our height wasn't really that big of a difference, but... she was a good kisser, I admit.
I held the kiss for a couple more minutes, savoring every moment of it before she broke it.
"No one's around to see us right now, so we can do it again, right?..." She whispered seductively right before pushing me gently back onto the ground, her scent becoming more apparent in this position.
"But what if Abigail comes back and sees us? It could mean trouble, so we shouldn't really be doing this right now..." I suggested.
"Oh... that is true." She groaned in boredom, sitting down as I got back up.
"Maybe some other time, though?... You're a Luxray now, so everything about you should be somewhat different... and I wouldn't mind finding out those differences myself." I smirked, then winked at her and began to walk off.
"Where are you going?" Eliana asked, beginning to follow me again like if she was my pet.
"Go back," I replied, "I'm just going for a little solo stroll, that's all."
"Okay, b-but be careful..." She sighed, then walked back up the hill and sat down, allowing me to walk off on my own at last.
I hadn't felt that free since I lived in the forest, walking around on my own and such. I could still feel Eliana's eyes on me from the hill, and well, other people that walked by stared at me a bit weirdly too, probably just because it's off to find a lone Umbreon roaming around a city. I didn't let them bother me, however, and continued to explored on my own.
The city smelled like salt all the time, sure, but in all fairness, I thought it was pretty beautiful sometimes, especially in the afternoon, which was the current time when I began my stroll.
I took a closer look at the ships that lined up and moved on the small waves of the ocean, which was nice. I also saw the Monorail Station again when I was walking down the path of the hotel... it never really interested me that much. I didn't really like my experience with the Monorail simply because it's a bit loud for my ears, crowded with people and moves to be fast to ever be considered comfortable.
With the ranting out of the way, I guess the only thing it's good for is it's purpose to get from one place to another, so putting aside the little flops here and there is maybe the best way to go.
Walking more though, I found something a bit... interesting to say the least. Two abandoned stands... a bit odd, just because in a sort of busy-ish place like this, people should be using the stands to sell things. Pokemon in the forest always told me people had greed in them, so why didn't they? I entered one of the stands and examined it, playing around a little and not really paying much attention to what I was doing.
It was my fault when my heart skipped. Underneath one of the little areas under the stand, presumably to rest the stand owner's legs under, was a message.
It read:
The Night Watchers See All.
The message was scratched, and the handwriting was a bit ragged, but recognizable. I panicked when seeing this and hit my head on the side of the stand while trying to run off and back away, falling down to calm down a few minutes later.
I... I didn't understand what a message like that meant, or what it signified...
I don't know. It's just... really odd to find that in a stand.
After coming out of the one with the message, I reluctantly- at first, checked the other one to make sure it didn't have a secret message too.
Nothing.
Crawling out of the last stand, I was literally spooked. So spooked that I went back to where Eliana was... and then I noticed that Abigail was back.
"Nova," Abigail said in a child-like manner, almost as if she was mocking me, "where have you been off to, huh, huh?"
I was in too much of a daze to notice that she picked me up until I was actually put back down. If she had nuzzled me, I didn't feel it. It was almost like I was in a total state of shock and uneasiness, even more than when Eli evolved.
"Oof, I should be a bit more careful when handling stuff like this..." Abigail had a bowl in one of her hands that was a bit large for me, and most likely medium size for her. She held it carefully in her grip, re-adjusting how she held it to be more careful.
Eliana was going crazy over what she had in the bowl, going closer to Abigail, staring it down and moving her tail like a clock on steroids.
"I want some- I want some- don't you Nova? I know you want some..." She did a small jump, which made me laugh a bit due to how funny it looked.
"Eliana, be careful! I don't want it to spill!" Abigail retreated inside the hotel and pushed the door open while Eliana ran after the bowl.
I stood there outside for a while and thought. So many thoughts. They were... oddly peculiar this time around, though. They were unsynchronized... and unbalanced. Almost chaotic if I were to go that far. They could've driven me mad in mere seconds...
I chose to resist it and shook my head, groaning at the sudden headache. I walked inside the hotel and went up the stairs, the door to Abigail's room already opened... widely too. 'She's so irresponsible', I would say if that didn't sound like it came from my parents... the lame-o's.
I tried to close the door behind me and succeeded, then turned around to see... them. And by them I mean, them.
"So we're back at the hotel... and you're still a slut," Akira peeked at Eliana then yawned, covering her mouth with her paw, "boring."
Eliana growled, tackling Akira onto the bed and holding her down in her strength, the Braixen struggling to get up.
"G-get off me," Akira got one of her hands out of Eliana's grip and punched her right in the cheek, sending her collapsing off of the bed and onto the floor.
Eliana growled again and got up, "Fuck off!"
"..." Abigail just watched, and so did Annabelle. She then put the bowl down and took a deep breath in and out.
"As soon as you come out of your Pokeball, you begin to cause fights..." She got up close in Akira's face and pointed her finger at her.
"You better watch it, Akira... because you're starting to split my team apart, and even though I chose you as a starter, I can easily take you out of my party in one-two- and three. So watch it."
...
Akira paused still.
The most silent of all silences spread after that, engulfing the whole room in quietness. Abigail got back to taking care of the bowl soon after... but she was fuming with anger.
I'm pretty sure by the reaction of everyone else that this was the angriest she had gotten before, or it at least had to be in the Top 3.
She had been so cheerful when Akira won... and now this. A total 360 in just a few hours.
What fun.
