Chapter VII
What was this place? Every time he tried to get a handle on it, it changed out of spite. Of course, that was when he had a handle on who he was, or the fact that he even existed. The concept got pretty fuzzy at times.
Time. How much of that had there been? Just a moment ago, he'd been somewhere that made sense. But he'd been here forever, and would be here forever. Always just here. Wherever the hell here was. Whatever the hell here was.
The voice didn't help.
Strong. More strong. More enough. Very well. Choose. This choose.
What the hell was it? And why did it hurt so much to hear, or feel, or however it arrived? Who or what was saying it? What the hell were they trying to say? They weren't doing the whole speech thing so well, but then, neither was he at the moment, not even inside his own head.
Wherever that was.
-P-
"It is not getting dark already," Lyra complained, looking up at the soft, glorious spectrum of light spreading across the sky, with the extremely dark blue section overtaking all others, and the black section overtaking that. "Just great. I really hoped I'd be able to clear this today, but I wasn't counting on that damn grass!" Typhlosion just sneezed grass out of her nose, though most of it just instantly incinerated.
The grass along route 210 really was outright ridiculous. It was taller than Lyra, taller than Typhlosion, and a couple of Ranchers had been very pointed about warning her that she was not allowed to burn the damn stuff down.
"That's it, campout time," Lyra eventually sighed. Picking a comfortable-looking tree- and empty-looking, she knew better than to sleep under anything that was liable to drop Pineco or Spinarak on her head- she dug out her sleeping bag, a bag of noodles and a pot. Pouring out a water bottle into the pot, she motioned to Typhlosion. "Can you help me boil this?" Typhlosion whistled out a small flame around the pot, boiling the noodles in no time. She tipped them into the drainer, set over a second pot. She set it down for a moment to give it time to drain out fully- she hated sodden noodles- and dug out the bag of curry noodles. Breeders often fed their Pokémon their own versions of standard Pokémon food, but Lyra had found Typhlosion was one of those Pokémon who just didn't find brown lumps all that appetizing for some reason. Curry noodles were her favourite thing, so once Lyra had drained out all the water into a second pot, she set the curry noodles in that and held it up for Typhlosion to boil. She always had to do Typhlosion's noodles second; the fire-type might love spicy stuff, but Lyra hated it, and she didn't carry enough water at once for two pots. She hadn't managed to land a camping spot near any running water either, which meant that, aside from not being able to refill her bottle, she wouldn't be able to let Gyarados out for long either. Unlike many water Pokémon, Gyarados were both tough and large enough to survive outside of water, but they weren't ultimately at their most comfortable on dry land.
"Dinnertime, guys!" she said, releasing her Pokémon and picking out more dinner-size bags of food. The others weren't as picky about their food as Typhlosion, probably because Lyra had always fed them on Pokémon food. With Typhlosion, she'd first fed her some curry noodles that Lyra'd bought by mistake when buying her own dinner, having only realized out in the wild that she'd completely forgotten to buy any Pokémon food for her new friend. Cyndaquil had taken to the spicy food and subsequently refused to eat anything else, but the others were happy with bowls of Pokémon food, and were quick to chow down once Lyra had poured out their own mixes. Aside from Gyarados, whose mouth was too big for him to eat from a bowl smaller than a child's inflatable swimming pool, and mostly just put his head down for Lyra to throw food into.
"Hopefully, we'll hit Celestic Town by the end of tomorrow," she told them. "That pamphlet Nurse Joy gave me doesn't have any leaders listed in Celestic Town, but you never know. Then after that we have to go through Mt Coronet to get to Eterna City, so I might take some of the Pokémon I want to investigate and send you guys to Mt Silver. Sorry about that, but I'll pick you guys up again in Eterna, okay?"
"Faaa gira," Girafarig crooned, nuzzling Lyra with her nose. Lyra could feel the reassurance. It's fine. Good luck! The others growled, hooted or otherwise voiced their assent. Then Girafarig winked, and for a brief moment, an image of Blue was planted in Lyra's mind. She blushed and gasped in surprise, before nudging Girafarig's food bowl with her toe in irritation.
"Not funny," she grumbled as her Pokémon sniggered, having probably been shown the psychic image by Girafarig as well. "Stay out of my head. Damn psychics." Girafarig giggled again, licking her ear consolingly.
-P-
"Oh, this feels so good!" Crystal sang happily, sinking down into the hot water. Gold tried very hard to look like he hadn't been staring at what was still classed as a one-piece ice blue swimsuit only due to a strip of cloth over the belly. What had Lyra told him about appropriate compliments?
"Nice suit," he said, a little awkwardly, adding on impulse, "it goes great with your hair." He was rewarded with a grin from Crystal, who then grimaced as she untied her hair and dropped it into the water.
"It'll look even better when I've gotten all the sand out of it," she complained rather pointedly, leaning over to get as much of her hair as possible into the hot water. Gold winced and thumped his head off the rock edge of the pool a couple of times.
"Sorry," he apologized for what felt like the billionth time. "I never saw the sign for Lavaridge."
"Well, at least we got that cool fossil out of it," Crystal said with a shrug, leaning her head to the other side to dunk more hair. It was actually visibly losing a brown sheen. "Know what it is yet?"
"I took a photo and sent it to Lyra to forward to Leaf," he said, "but I haven't heard back yet." Crystal slumped a little; disappointment not to hear back about the fossil?
"Lyra knows some cool people," Crystal said brightly. There was something odd about it that Gold couldn't quite put his finger on. "Well, she would. She's really special. Like you." She sounded increasingly despondent.
"So're you," Gold tried to encourage her. "Everybody's special…"
"That's just what people say to cheer up people who aren't," Crystal said, now discernibly upset. "I know I'm not as special as you two, okay? I'm not special. I'm not "chosen". I'm just…"
"Crystal…" Gold said in surprise, suddenly twigging. "Why're you saying that like it's a bad thing? Kris… that's exactly why you kick so much ass!"
"Excuse me?" Crystal said bemusedly, frowning. Gold rolled his eyes.
"Lyra and I both lucked into our first Pokémon," he explained. "My dad's a freakin' professor, it was kind of a given that I'd get a free shot at some cool Pokémon. And Lyra got volunteered by her mom into an errand that happened to require that she have a Pokémon, and stuff just kind of bonded them. But you made a real effort to actually go over to Dad's and befriend Chikorita on your own. You worked at it, at everything you've ever done. Even, hell, especially when you caught those Dogs. Lyra and I picked up some shiny feathers and got taken to see some cool Pokémon. You hauled ass to track down three cool Pokémon, and you chased 'em across two continents until you got 'em. You've never relied on luck or skill or anybody's help. You've only ever relied on you, and, frankly, you're awesome, Kris. You chose, and that makes you way more awesome than anyone who was chosen." Silence fell as Crystal just stared at him, and he felt himself going red. "Anyway, that's what I think," he mumbled, ducking his chin under the water.
"Gold…" she said softly, "Thanks. I… thank you." Then she went a little red herself and started twiddling a strand of damp blue hair, now visibly free of sand. "So… you think I'm more awesome than Lyra?"
"Hell yeah!" Gold blurted out. "I mean, she's a great pal and props to her for ranking first in, like, the world, but she's got nothing on you, y'know?" He paused, aware that he was babbling. "I mean… she's not more important to me than you or anything. I mean you're both my best friends, but, I mean, um…"
"It was me you asked to come check out Hoenn with you," Crystal said quietly, but still smiling, a little nervously.
"Well, yeah," Gold agreed, grinning a little nervously himself. Both of them were probably glad that the hot springs gave them an excuse to be a little flushed.
-P-
"They've been gone for four days and you only inform us now?" Professor Oak cried indignantly. The lesser researchers cowered, trying not to look at where Daisy Oak was crying with her arms around Mrs Ketchum, who shed no tears; she seemed to be at a level of grief far beyond tears. First her husband, a long time ago, then her son, now her daughter…
"A-a mention about Leaf and Harry went out on the Johto radio at first, in case she'd been attacked near the Ruins or something and somebody knew," one of the younger guys plucked up to say. "But nobody knew anything, then Blue turned up… said he got Johto Radio and he'd heard about Leaf, and wanted to go have a look for himself. We… we were all too scared to go with him, after the strange things that've been happening in the ruins… And we thought, he's the strongest Leader in Kanto, a League Champion, surely there would be no help non-trainers like us could give him…"
"So you let him go in alone," Daisy sniffed. "Do you even know what's happened to them?"
"We… we think the Unown have taken them," one of the others suggested. "There are stories, old rumours, that the Unown would carry people off to other dimensions… it's quite common around here for parents to tell their children that if they're bad, the Unown would take them away. But none of us has seen a live Unown before… we didn't realize that the ones in the walls were… they still haven't reappeared…"
"Have the Unown ever brought them back?" Mrs Ketchum asked. Her voice was barely more than a whisper, but they all fell silent to it.
"I… I don't know…" the man said, shamefaced. An older woman fiddled with her glasses nervously.
"It varies from legend to legend," she explained. "Some say that those taken by the Unown were trapped forever in another dimension. Some say that the people were returned almost immediately, or even before they were taken. Some say that they were trapped in the other world for centuries before they returned, like Urashima Taro. Of course, we have no way of knowing how many, if any, of these legends are true."
"Let me see your research," Professor Oak said, sitting down at a nearby computer. "Where were they when they were abducted?"
"They were heading down a corridor we hadn't investigated before," the youngest researcher explained. "There are four hidden passageways, three of which we'd already opened; I think Leaf's friend Lyra opened one, I don't know how. Leaf figured out that the fourth needed Flash by deciphering the Unown text. It opened into a smaller temple chamber, like the other three, but at the same time a larger passage appeared… Leaf and Harry were the first ones to go down it. We don't know what's at the end. The only three people to have gone all the way down haven't come back… we found Leaf's laptop only halfway down…"
Daisy began tuning out her grandfather's detailed discussion with the other researchers, just rocking slightly and rubbing Mrs Ketchum's back soothingly. There wasn't any real comfort she could give her; what on earth could she say?
"Leaf," she kept whimpering at regular intervals. "Leaf…"
She is still alive. Wherever she is, she is not dead yet.
Daisy jerked her head up. "Did you hear that?" she asked. Her grandfather and the researchers didn't hear her, but Mrs Ketchum was staring out of the window.
"Who was that?" she croaked, saying the first thing aside from her daughter's name for some time.
"I… don't know…" Daisy said with a frown. She wiped her eyes, her face setting into determination. "But they sounded like they knew what they were talking about. And I believe them. We have to believe them. Leaf is alright. I'm sure of it. After all, she's no ordinary trainer… and neither is Blue."
She couldn't help wondering why the voice hadn't mentioned Blue, however.
-P-
"Mom, now is not the time," Crystal said quickly, trying to answer her phone without taking her eyes off the battlefield. Az blasted a powerful Hydro Pump at Camerupt, putting the score at 3-0 to Gold. Flannery was an extremely spunky leader not much older than Gold and Crystal, but she wasn't quite in the same class as Blaine, whom Gold, Crystal and Lyra had all fought in his cave over three years ago. Still, she didn't seem too disheartened by the setback, even though it left her with only one Pokémon as she released Torkoal.
Gold had insisted on fighting the leader before they turned in, which gave them an excuse to leave the hot springs not long after they'd had that illuminating but kind of embarrassing conversation. Still, she'd been grinning like a fool ever since. Gold liked her, not Lyra! And, she was rather upset to realize, she was thinking more kindly of Lyra now that she knew that. Best friend since forever or not, she'd been having slightly- okay, really- bitchy thoughts at times about Lyra, ever since she'd started really crushing on Gold. Released by the knowledge that Gold was crushing right back, she really wanted to talk to her best girlfriend. Nevertheless, Sinnoh was a couple of hours ahead of Hoenn, which meant Lyra was probably asleep already. In Johto, however, it was still late afternoon.
"Kris, honey, I just need to let you know," her mom said equally quickly, not intending to be cut off. "My brother's coming over the day after tomorrow with Wilma and Saphy, and I'd really like you to be home when they come over. Saphy wants to see you, and they want to know about Hoenn…"
"The day after tomorrow?" Crystal exclaimed. Gold glanced at her questioningly for a moment before turning back to the battle. From the beating Flannery was getting, it was probably lucky for her that Crystal was more interested these days in wild Pokémon than she was in battling trained ones. "Mom! Gold and I've only covered like half of Hoenn! I wanted to see the rest before coming home!"
"Hoenn's not going anywhere, honey," her mom said placatingly.
"But the Ever Grande League is," Crystal said through gritted teeth. "Gold's gotta get all of the badges within the next month to be able to battle them the next time they meet, and…" I really wanted to watch him do that…
"You only need to come home for a little while, Crystal. You'll be able to meet up with Gold before he goes to Ever Grande."
Crap. She'd used Crystal's full name, instead of calling her Kris. In other words, Mom Had Spoken and the visit was set in stone. Great timing. "… Fine, mom. I might be a day late, depending on ferry times."
"That's just fine, honey, Norman and his family'll be here a few days. Saphy will be so happy to see you! Alright, call me when you're getting it! Love you, Krissy!"
"Love you too, mom," Crystal sighed, hanging up at the same moment Torkoal hit the dirt.
Great, just great. She and Gold were pretty much official, and at that moment she got dragged back to Johto. And either her mom or Saphy would probably manage to drag this development out of Crystal while she was home, too, and as relaxed as her mom sometimes was, Crystal wasn't too sure how well any mom would deal with the idea of her adolescent daughter travelling long-term with an adolescent male companion, childhood friend or no.
Just great.
"Check it out, Kris!" Gold said cheerily, brandishing a flamelike badge. Then he clocked her expression. "Hey, what's up?"
Crystal sighed heavily. Juuuuuust great.
-P-
To all American and European readers: Did you download your 10th Anniversary Mew from the wifi event today? I'm sooo happy
By the way, for those who don't know, Urashima Taro is the star of a popular Japanese fairy tale. He was a fisherman who caught a turtle in his net and released it, only for it to reveal itself to be the turtle princess, who was grateful for his kindness and took him to her underwater kingdom, where she took on the form of a beautiful woman. Taro spent three days there living in the greatest luxury, but decided to go home to see his parents. The princess begged him not to go, but he insisted, so she gave him a box to take with him and made him promise never to open it. When the man got to the surface, nobody knew who he was or who his parents were; when he told people his name, they said that three hundred years before, a fisherman by that name had vanished into the sea. A day in the underwater kingdom was a hundred years on land. Despondent, Taro opened the box the princess had given him, at which point he crumbled into dust. The box had contained his lost years, and aged him three hundred years all at once.
Anyway, the implication here is that some people are taken to another dimension for what seems like a short time to them but is much longer in the world. (This story's so famous in Japan that it's commonly referenced in manga and anime, but since Pokémon's a worldwide phenomenon you're less likely to have come across the story.)
I would never presume to claim Pokémon as my own. I bow at Tajiri Satoshi-sama's feet for its creation.
