Four new chapters today, which include Danielle's find. I recovered the information from my backup and now the story is going to continue as usual! Sorry to say, but this is actually the midpoint of the story, so enjoy!
Celestic town was very quiet, and very welcoming upon arrival. Despite the fact that the knee-high fog gave it the appearance of a ghost town, there were people outside who didn't seem to notice it. Across the small street we were walking on, I spotted a diner, and we quickly went inside and got ourselves seated. Tea was on the house.
"Calvin, are you okay?" Mesprit asked. "Your hands...."
When I tried picking up the cup of tea, by hand started trembling irregularly. So, I used two hands. It didn't really make much of a difference.
I sighed. "Just a bit...nervous."
"About what?"
"Well, when Giratina told me the good news, I was quite happy that I was right on the money," I said. "But now reality is starting to kick in again."
"What do you mean?" She asked.
"I mean," I went on. "I have no idea how we're going to save these missing people."
"Hey!" She whispered. "We have come too far to get sidetracked, Calvin. If your mind is set on saving these missing people, then go for it. I mean, you haven't been to Eterna City yet, so you have to look around, gather information, and formulate a plan. And you'll have me for backup."
"That's true."
A young female waitress came by to take our orders. She had a striking resemblance to Danielle, and it made me studder on every line I pronounced for our order. She blushed and walked back to the kitchen.
"What's gotten into you, Calvin?"
"She kind of reminds me of Danielle," I said.
"How did you guys meet in the first place?" Mesprit asked. "You and Danielle?"
"Oh...wow," I took one large gulp of tea and revved up for the story.
"It was December of 1998. We were making some final adjustments to the restaurant, and preparing it for business for the New Year."
It had been six years since we moved to the beautiful city of Alto Mare. That meant six years of me raising Molly, and an extra two for being a husband. But unfortunately, my lifestyle was slowly starting to become a little boring, so I invested some time and money, and acquired a lot in the city to build a restaurant. The place that had occupied the restaurant before was a small two-story furniture store. Chairs and tables were saved to make for new restaurant furniture, and everything else was used to make what is now the bar, and some of the ceiling art and light fixtures. The second floor was used for my office. A little place to get away from all the commotion. When the restaurant was finished, Molly put together a name, "Il Posto Per Godere", which when I found out, meant "The Place to Enjoy" in Italian. This attracted a number of civilians who today, are my regular customers.
I drilled the sign into an empty space on the wall in front of the restaurant. Just two more weeks until the 1999 unveiling, and my first day of management.
"Calvin, don't you think it could've gone a little higher?" Emmy asked.
"Emmy, you know I love you, but," I took a deep breath. "Does it really matter?"
"Alright Calvin," She walked inside. "But don't complain to me when your customers complain to you about it!"
She left me, feeling a bit clueless. The mailman walked up to me.
"Mr....Winthrop?"
"Yes, that's me," Apart from the utility bills, there were two letters that interested me. One, a letter from the city inspector that green-flagged my restaurant for business, and another letter from a Daniel Stewart. "Hey Emmy, check this out," I walked inside. "I got a letter from a....Daniel Stewart, do we know him?"
"Calvin, he's a she," She said. "It's Danielle Stewart," I thought the extra "L" and "E" was just a fancy way of saying 'Daniel'. I'm glad she wasn't there to hear that.
"Dear Mr. Winthrop," I read. "I visited the city not too long ago as a tourist, and I saw this restaurant under construction. I was wondering if you were interested in having your first employee before unveiling next year. I will return on the 17th if you're interested. Sincerely, Danielle Stewart."
"Today's the 17th," Emmy nodded. "You knew?"
"I was here overseeing the construction, and she walked by, and we started to talk," She said. "She said that she was all the way from Saffron City, and I was quite shocked myself," So said the return address. "She's bound to be prepared for an interview, so you better get prepared yourself."
Emmy and I were up in my office. The walls had been redone, keeping some of the old patterns and designs like much of the other buildings across the city. There were bookshelves from the floor to the ceiling, and oddly enough, they were packed with books. The original owner must've had an obsession with old books. The rest of the furniture lay scattered around, some original, some of my own draped in cloth to prevent dust from getting on them.
"Emmy, are you okay?" I asked.
"Of course, why do you ask?"
"Your skin is pale," I said. "And yesterday you were coughing, are you sure--"
"Calvin, stop worrying," She buttoned my blazer, thus cutting off my circulation. I hadn't worn this suit since our marriage eight years ago. "I'm fine. Now you have an interview to attend," She kissed me. "I'll be up here if you need me."
"Daddy, the lady's here," Molly called from the door.
I followed Molly back downstairs. There was a teenager, maybe eighteen or nineteen, leaning against a table in a gray pants suit. Her hair was a mixture of brown and black, and at the time, barely inched past her shoulders. Her skin was slightly tanned to compliment her hair and her eyes--I'll never forget them--they were hard to see from a distance, but when I got closer, they were blue. Something about them spoke for her emotions, and right now, she was really nervous.
"Here she is, daddy," Molly said. Then she walked up to Danielle. "Can I call you Dani? It sounds weird calling you Danielle."
"Sure you can, I don't mind."
Molly walked back towards the stairs while I shook hands with Danielle.
The waitress came by again, bringing our orders. We began to eat.
"Her interview didn't last long," I said. "I wanted her to prove herself worthy for the job during the first week of business. I really think she deserved more than a job working "behind the counter", but unfortunately that's what she asked for."
Mesprit finished her breakfast, and she was sitting quietly, waiting for me. I looked at the waitress. She hadn't even gotten back to the counter yet. I ate fast what would give me a cramp later and paid for the bill and we left. Eterna City, barely from what I could remember, was directly to the east, and was a little more than four miles away, which translated to about two and a half hours at our pace. A short walk down the route, and we spotted a cave entrance. I looked up, and the mountain range concealing Mt. Coronet stood like a wall, almost as if protecting Eastern Sinnoh. I released Typhlosion.
"It could get dark, so you should lead the way." He ignited the flames on his neck and walked into the cave. We followed.
"Back when I was born," I'm guessing that she was referring to when Arceus created her. "I used to wander these caves endlessly. They criss-crossed through the mountain like a maze. One day I got lost and I didn't know how to get out, and I ran into two Medicham. Azelf must've heard my cries for help, because she came to rescue me. We've been friends since that day."
"How did you meet Uxie?" I asked. "It's not a 'trio' without him."
"He and Azelf met by accident, so she's been nice enough to make him our friend, but...."
"She has no respect for him?" I chuckled.
"Up until she apologized."
An hour and a half later, the light finally appeared at the end of the path. We exited the cave. Eterna was definitely in sight now, but was at least another mile away. Our stay there was going to be at least a few days, so I needed to book a room at a hotel. I released Staraptor.
"Scout the city and see if you can find anything suspicious," He took to the sky. "Giratina said he saw a weird building here, he just didn't say where."
"What do we do in the meantime?"
"Call Molly."
"Isn't Eterna that city with the big statues of Dialga and Palkia?" Molly asked.
"Yeah," I said. She obviously knew this too, from past experience. "We should go there to waste time."
"Waste time for what?" She asked.
I lowered my voice to a whisper. "Giratina gave us a lead as to where Danielle might be."
"That's great," She said. "When you rescue her, tell her that I'm okay."
"I will," Mesprit nudged my shoulder. She obviously wanted to talk to Molly. While they got lost in the moment, I turned around. Staraptor was standing at the front doors of the pokémon center, waiting for me to notice him. I walked to the doors. "What did you find?"
He pointed me in the right direction, and urged me to follow. I couldn't leave Mesprit behind, so instead I released Mismagius. "Mismagius, you always know how to find Staraptor. Can you lead Mesprit to him after she's done?"
She nodded. Staraptor took to the air, and I followed him from the street.
We hid ourselves behind some crates, which were stacked up behind the building Giratina was talking about. It looked almost exactly like the one I saw in Veilstone. "Big corporation involved in some shady business."
We ducked. Two guys were carrying a teenage boy through a loading dock. They were wearing those gray and black clothes, and they instantly remembered this from the ones I saw in Veilstone. Just seeing them with that kid pissed me off.
'What do they plan to achieve by kidnapping all of these people?' From the looks of it, it wasn't anything good. I was curious to find out. ''We're going to have to find a way inside...but not now,'' Maybe at night, when security was low. "Come on Star, let's meet up with Mismagius and Mesprit."
We left the building. Staraptor took to the sky again, spotting the two and leading me towards the statues of Dialga and Palkia. Tourists were gathered around the statues, fascinated by them and taking pictures. It didn't make a difference to me, because I usually saw the real ones up close on occasion.
"Calvin! Over here!" I spotted Mesprit waving at me. I walked over. "So how did everything go?"
"We've got to get a closer look," I said. "There's not much to see from the outside of that building."
I got us some drinks and we sat on the steps leading up to the statues. A plan I formulated on the way back was very simple through my eyes: Mesprit and I would walk into the base undetected because of her invisibility, maybe through the loading dock; the front door seemed too casual. We would then search the compound for the missing teenagers, rescue them, and escape undetected. Hopefully. In that wave of teenagers, I should find Danielle, and from there I could work out my apology.
"You make it sound so easy," She giggled.
"It'll be easier if it works."
"Well you've got my vote."
She threw her drink in the garbage and stood up. I hadn't even gotten to half of mine and she was already done? "Mesprit, how do you keep doing that?"
"Um, you might not want to know," She said. "Anyway, when is this going to happen?"
"Give me a day, I need some preparation."
The day rolled by. I wanted to be alone for a bit, so I gave Mesprit my credit card and she ran off towards a group of stores. Mismagius followed her so that we could regroup later. I walked through town, looking at the light posts that I passed. Once again, there were flyers of missing people on them. Their lives would be saved, no doubt, but as I thought about it, it didn't make sense for me to prepare for an entire day while they were being tortured, or dragged into whatever sick plan those gray-black suited men had in store for them. I turned around, and walked to the hotel and checked in. The sound of the bell from the elevator said that it was my floor, and I got off and walked to the room. Mesprit approached me from the opposite direction, bare-handed. Mismagius followed from close behind. "There you are, Calvin."
"That was fast. You sound disappointed."
"There was nothing to buy," She said. "I bet it would've been better in Veilstone."
"Mesprit...we have to go today."
"We're leaving already?"
"No," I groaned. "We have to work my plan tonight."
"Why the sudden change of date?"
"I've been thinking," I continued. "Anything can happen in the next 24 hours if we don't find those teenagers."
"That's true....well I'm ready for some action if you are."
"You're the best."