Chapter Nine: Summer Storms
After building up and teasing the residents of Sunyshore all day, it took only a matter of seconds for the storm to kick off, and within minutes the city was soaked.
Winds rose from the ocean and tore through Sunyshore, slamming against walls and windows, whipping up tornadoes of rubbish in the middle of streets, threatening to tear the roofs off buildings. Thick, heavy raindrops lashed the pavements, saturating everything and turning the few grassy areas into brown patches of mud. The few people that had been out had retreated firmly indoors, and anyone gazing out their windows found it difficult to imagine someone staying out in this weather.
That is, unless, you were someone with no home to go to.
Bastard bloody rain! Cynthia thought angrily to herself. She hid in the shadows around the corner from the library, watching through the constant grey stream of rain as the last librarian hurriedly locked the door. They were all going home now that the storm had started and it appeared no one would be making the trip to the library today: it looked completely dark inside, exactly like it had been the first night Cynthia had arrived. She remembered those few short weeks ago, arriving in Sunyshore after weeks of travelling, expecting her task to be simple from there on only to have her hopes crushed straight away.
She had found a way inside and planned on locating and taking the book and disappearing before morning, but Cynthia had quickly realised that there were too many books to search through, that she could spend all night looking and still have nothing by sunrise. Quickly, Cynthia had been forced to change her plan. She had known all alone she would not be able to ask the front desk about it, as she did not have the full title, knowing it was simply an encyclopaedia. She also did not have the time to go searching through on her own every day, and, if Cynthia wanted her mission to go undetected, checking it out under a real library account would be the best way to disappear. Encountering Viktor and earning his trust had been the thing Cynthia needed to locate this book, and she had become certain that the book would be in her possession by the end of her first week.
However, that was when she had thought that this mission would be simpler. Cynthia was running out of time to legitimately hang around Sunyshore, as Viktor would return to school at the end of August and her holiday would be expected to end then as well, yet they were no closer to finding the book. Cynthia was not going to ruin everything, and when she had seen the library emptying of all its staff, she had decided that now was not the time to play by the rules: she did not care if she had to steal the book anymore, if someone realised it had been taken and her grandmother and Mr Adiem somehow found out. She had come too far and sacrificed too much to give up now, and with Viktor's advice in mind and an empty library to utilize, Cynthia would not pass up the opportunity to finally end her quest.
The librarian finally moved away, running down the Luxray flanked stairs with an umbrella over her head, sprinting off into the storm in the other direction. The veil of rain and the darkness of the storm made for perfect, natural camouflage, so Cynthia simply stepped out from the shadows and made her way towards the three storey building. As she did not want to be too noticeable, Cynthia had chosen to go through a window, and though she was tempted to throw a rock through it to vent her frustration, both at the lack of success and Minerva's insults, there were much easier methods.
"Hello Gabite," the blonde said grimly as her Dragon-Ground type formed before her. The Cave Pokemon appeared displeased with being summoned in such horrible weather, but Cynthia needed an extra pair of hands. "This window only has a catch holding it in place, no locks or anything like that. Would you mind using your fins please?" She asked.
"Gabite Ga," Gabite mumbled, annoyed but willing to do anything for his trainer, and he moved to the window, pushing his right fin through the gap and raising it up. The catch was easily released, and Cynthia and Gabite heaved the two windows open.
"Thank you!" Cynthia said with a beam, and Gabite mumbled as he easily heaved her up so she could crawl through the window. She landed on the carpet with a slight thud, and quickly found it was no warmer inside than it was outside. However, her coat was damp from the rain, and Cynthia took it off and tossed it over a chair. As Gabite heaved himself inside, Cynthia found one of the librarian desks and grabbed onto a torch.
A ghostly yellow glow emerged when flicked it on, casting its light across the empty, still library floor, sending shadows crawling up the library walls. Living on the streets and travelling on her own had made Cynthia resilient to things like this, but it was still an unsettling feeling being alone in such a massive yet confined space like this, and the chill of her damp clothes did not make things better.
"Come on Gabite, we are going to the back room," she said, moving forwards through the small collection of desks and chairs gathered near the wall. They past the photocopier and children's area that had a different, much more unpleasant aroma to it than the rest of the library, and soon came across a tall, thick wooden door next to a series of encyclopaedias that Cynthia had checked out earlier that day. It seemed silly that she had not considered looking through the back rooms earlier, but she had never had the chance before either.
"Damnit, locked!" She cursed as she tried for the door handle, irritated to think the book could be right behind this piece of wood.
"Bite!" Gabite cried, and he lashed out with his left leg. Cynthia gasped as the blue blur kicked the door right off its hinges, sending it clattering back against the wall opposite and tearing out a chunk of the frame as well. She turned and looked at her Pokemon, remembering the little Gible that use to get beaten up by her sister's Vulpix, and Gabite, and smirked as Gabite merely shrugged off his actions.
"Looks like we better find the book then," Cynthia said with a smile, and chortled to herself as she led Gabite into the back room.
It smelt old and musty, an aroma as if something unpleasant had died here and then gotten wet. Cynthia turned on the light switch near the door and the ancient bulbs flickered to life above her, casting amber light that made it appear as though the room was on fire. Several wooden shelves lined the corridor-like room, jammed with books that were either damaged, out dated or simply not popular enough to keep in the main section, leading towards cabinets and cluttered tables at the end.
"This book was published in 1930," Cynthia informed Gabite as she lifted up the nearest book, a hardback that was barely hanging together. "Seems to have never been opened since then though," she added as a cloud of dust rose up in the beam of her lamp. She gazed around at the piles of books, wondering how many of them had gone untouched for decades, and if one of those was hers, simply hidden in plain sight beneath a coating of dust."Come on then, let's get to work!" She exclaimed, and turned to face the shelves on her left. Cynthia felt optimistic now that they had found this room, and she was reassured that she would find her book as she began flicking through the piles before.
There was a pile of adventure novels from the fifties, outdated fact books on Pokemon with hand drawn images, a broken copy of a popular fantasy book and several encyclopaedias, but not the one she was looking for.
"Any luck for you?" Cynthia asked Gabite, but he shrugged back and she sighed, turning back to her piles. She had not expected the book to simply be laying there with a note on it saying 'Here you go!', but as she moved further along the row of shelves, searching through a never ending pile of dirty, dusty books, her task began to look more daunting by the minute.
Why did I have to go chasing after a book on the side of the country?, Cynthia thought as she moved to the next shelf. Ever since she had arrived in Sunyshore and discovered the library, Cynthia had been replaying that conversation all those weeks ago in the dark moments when she wondered if this had been worthwhile: she had gone to complain about her sister and her boyfriend hogging the television, but walked into her grandmother's study to find her ranting to a Mr Adiem.
"What do you mean you don't have the book? Where is it? … A library?! A LIBRARY!? Which one, Sunyshore? … My god Adiem, you are a foolish man! Are you aware what would happen if some random member of the public finds this encyclopaedia? This book has information that could alter history, change the very world we live in, it would bring down strategies and plans that have been in the works for four decades! … God, just shut your whining up for five minutes, alright? Now, what is the book called? World Encyclopaedia… P? As in the letter…"
Cynthia had slipped away before her grandmother had noticed, disappearing to her room and packing a bag before anyone had the chance to notice. She had spent years living a lonely life in Celestic Town with only her Pokemon and an unbearable and loveless family for company. There was nothing to do, nothing to aim for, nothing to set her sights upon… but going to Sunyshore, finding a book that could alter the world, it would be the adventure of a lifetime, and Cynthia had always yearned for an adventure… something that could change her life forever…
She paused in her thoughts as came across a dated Sinnoh map book and smirked at the irony as she tossed it aside to the pile of useless books. She had left in such a rush, so intrigued and desperate to get away, that she had taken off without a map herself. Cynthia had lived rough these past weeks, quickly running out of the food she had stolen and struggling to sleep in the wild in the unbearable humidity of the forests. It had been the adventure she had wanted all her life, and for a while it had been fun, but as time ticked on, she could only wonder how well thought out this plan really was…
The shelves suddenly disappeared, being replaced by a filing cabinet and a table before the small room ended. Cynthia had become so lost in thought that she had not noticed the shelves had run out, though she was well aware she had not yet found the book. Optimistically, she opened the cabinet, the metal box squealing as it rolled on rusted wheels, but there was nothing inside. Getting concerned now, Cynthia flung the next two open, desperate to find something, but they were both bare except for rubbish and discarded sheets of paper.
"Have you found anything yet?" She snapped at Gabite, and the Dragon shook his head, nearing the end of his rows as well. "GAAAAAH, THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE!" Cynthia screamed, and she angrily waved her arm across a shelf, sending piles of books soaring through the air, broken pages falling out and damaged covers coming loose. Yet Cynthia did not care for the mess she had made, and she turned and slumped against the cabinet, as a million doubts began to rush through her mind. Had this all been pointless? There was no sign of the book anywhere… What if Mr Adiem or her grandmother had had it moved right after that conversation? Had she thrown away her life, travelled roughly for weeks across Sinnoh, simply to live in a children's playhouse, manipulate the only person that had been kind to her for years and vandalise a public building? Cynthia had wanted an adventure, but this was rapidly turning into a life-ruining waste of time.
"What am I doing Gabite?" Cynthia muttered, twisting her hair angrily and nervously around her fingers. "The book probably isn't here and never was in the first place! God, why did I even leave Celestic? Did I really think finding a book was going to change anything? We… we should just go home, there is nothing for us in Sunyshore…" she mumbled, but paused as a single thought crossed her: nothing except Viktor…
"Bite Ga Ga Bite," Gabite suddenly said, and Cynthia looked up, feeling defeated and confused, wishing she had stayed in the rain rather than come here and have her dreams shattered. However, she lit up when Gabite pointed at the middle section of a second filing cabinet, which groaned but did not open when he tried to pull at it. Cynthia realised that it had been locked, and her heart began to beat rapidly with excitement.
"Pull it!" She commanded, overcome with excitement, and Gabite smirked and easily tore the cabinet away. Cynthia eagerly approached it as the Cave Pokemon placed it on the ground and stared inside: hidden away at the back, barely disguised by piles of old paper, was a single, thick, leather bound book that had no place being there. Cynthia reached out, hand shaking, mind racing, and grasped the book, knowing that this was it… this was the book she had travelled the country to find.
"Ga?" Gabite asked, leaning in to see. Cynthia raised it up towards the light, trying to make it what it said in the dim light. The cover was simple, with just brown leather and gold writing, identical to half the encyclopaedia's she had looked through. The book was titled The World Encyclopaedia 1938, the text taking up the entire cover. Cynthia brushed her hands down the spine and knew there was more, and she slowly turned it to find the same words across the spine, right above a big, gold 'P' at the bottom…
"This is it…" Cynthia whispered, struggling with the shock, but a smile quickly spread across her face. "THIS IS IT!" She yelled, and leapt up with a scream of delight, throwing her arms around Gabite and pulling him into a hug. The Cave Pokemon hugged her tightly back and Cynthia laughed, feeling the happiest she had felt in years; she had accomplished her goal, and now she stood the chance of finally changing her life… but then a clap of thunder sounded so loudly it seemed like the roof might cave in, and Cynthia jumped, snapping out of her happy thoughts as the lights began to flicker on and off.
"We need to go before the storm gets worse," she mumbled, to which Gabite simply nodded. Cynthia picked up the books and placed them back onto the shelf while Gabite put the cabinet back in its spot in a feeble attempt to disguise their actions, though anyone that knew the room would work out what had happened quickly. The two left as another blast of thunder roared overheard, putting the door in its spot before making for an exit.
The storm had gotten worse while they were inside. The front doors had not been locked properly and were now flapping about, crashing and banging into the walls as they let the elements in. Wind roared through the library, sending bits of rubbish and loose paper soaring around and blowing the nearest curtains off their racks. Cynthia looked up at the giant stained window as she went for her coat, and hoped it did not get damaged; the mixture of colours was still beautiful even with the charcoal clouds looming in mass outside, and it was the only good thing about this library.
"We will just go out there!" Cynthia yelled, the wind so loud that she had to shout to be heard. She and Gabite sprinted towards the doors, their feet squelching over sodden carpet, and rushed out into the roaring storm.
The wind howled and thunder roared as they stepped onto the Square, which looked as though it may flood from the amount of puddles already forming across the concrete, though the veil of rain was so thick that Cynthia could barely see a few feet ahead let alone the shops opposite. Her clothes, which had barely dried while they were inside, were quickly saturated once more, becoming heavy and cold as they clung to her body.
I should have stayed with Viktor, Cynthia thought as she was struck by a blast of freezing wind. She tucked the encyclopaedia into an inside pocket of her coat before racing down the staircase. Lightning flashed, briefly illuminating the Square, which only went to prove how dark it had become, and Cynthia only remember it should be lunch by the grumble of her stomach.
"The playground will be too wet, I think, but I am sure there's a cave near the playground, we can go there!" Cynthia yelled to Gabite as she began to move across the Square. "We will need to hurry, but be careful, I don't want you getting –"
"GAAAA!" Gabite suddenly roared, the sound a mixture of surprise and anger that sounded above the roaring wind. Cynthia froze and turned in concern, reaching instinctively for a PokeBall; she knew something was wrong, that this was not just some simple shocked cry at falling over. Through the grey mist of rain, she could see Gabite struggling against two figures that were grappling for his arms, and Cynthia was stunned to think someone would just attack them in the middle of a storm like this.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" She yelled and ran forwards, pulling out her PokeBalls for Swablu and Horsea, ready to use them if necessary. However, when Cynthia got close enough, she was stunned to recognise the figures standing on either side of Gabite….
"Hello there, you little bitch!" A tall, muscular teenaged male sneered at her, though Cynthia was not sure which one was Tom and which was Jack. They stood there smirking, dripping wet with see through, saturated clothing, but neither of them seemed to notice or care though as they focussed on holding onto Gabite's arms. Cynthia wondered why the Dragon had not broken free, but then she realised that the wannabe surfer on her right had placed a knife right up against his throat.
"Let him go," she hissed, trying to think of a way to end this without Gabite getting harmed. It seemed so odd that only a minute ago she had been revelling in the joy of getting her book, but now stood in the middle of a storm, so close to having her oldest friend taken away.
"Don't think we can't see what you've got in your hands!" The one with the hairier chest, which Cynthia thought was Jack, sneered. "If you send a single Pokemon out I will split his throat open and send Machoke out to deal with you!" Cynthia knew that some Pokemon could be harmed with weapons such as knives, but was not sure if Gabite was included in this category, and this was not something she wanted to find out. Reluctantly, Cynthia dropped her PokeBalls back into her pocket, and the two boys beamed.
"Good girl!" Tom said with a scoff-like laugh. "If you just listen to what we have to say, no one will get hurt!"
"Well, maybe just a little," Jack added, and the two began to laugh, making Cynthia feel sick. She wished now that she had considered taking a bonus weapon with her when she had taken off, thinking she would only ever need her Pokemon should trouble arise. The laughter quickly died down, barely audible anyway above the roaring wind and pounding rain, and the two began to advance towards Cynthia with Gabite wedged between.
"Now listen here you little cow! You embarrassed us quite a bit when you defeated us the other week!" Tom growled. "We both lost dates, and people are still mocking us over it. Do you know how annoying that is to have everyone you know laughing about the fact some little bitch beat you in a battle?"
"Is that what this is about; I embarrassed you?" Cynthia scoffed, taking a cautious step backwards. "What are you going to do; throw some pie in my face in public, get me to slip on a banana, make things even?" The two boys exchanged furious looks, and before Cynthia had even blinked again, Jack swung out and slapped her across the face. The blow was enough to send her stumbling, nearly slipping on the wet concrete. Cynthia was shocked, but she could only clutch her stinging face as the two teenagers advanced aggressively towards her.
"Actually, we thought you needed to be taught a proper lesson!" Tom snarled. "We can't have little bratty tourists like you coming in and acting like your better than us now, can we?" He pulled the knife away from Gabite's throat and pointed it towards Cynthia. Fear ran through her body; Cynthia wanted to scream and run, but she could only stare at the knife in shock, unable to do anything. She had no idea what they were going to do, but she was on the verge of tears, cold and terrified, and Cynthia wished now more than ever that she had never left home in the first place…
"TACKLE!" A voice screamed, and Tom suddenly yelled out as something smashed into his right leg. He stumbled forwards, dropping the knife, and Cynthia snapped out of her fearful state. She swooped down and grabbed the weapon before Jack could, but when she straightened back up Cynthia found Tom was wildly swinging his arms about, trying to get at a red blur that was thrashing against his face and chest.
"What the hell," Cynthia mumbled, unable to comprehend the bizarre scene occurring before her. Something blue shone out of the corner of her eyes, and Cynthia turned to find Jack screaming as a light blue beam was blasted into his chest. She gasped as his wet shirt began to freeze, attaching itself to his body. Jack gasped for breath and flailed madly at his shirt as he tried to pull it free, but it was rapidly becoming solid.
Hang on, Cynthia thought suddenly. She looked between her two attackers in shock as they struggled to fight back, and she could not help but notice there was something very familiar about this…
"RUN CYNTHIA!" The same voice from before screamed, and she looked through the rain to see Viktor standing a few metres away, clutching Feebas in his hands as the Fish Pokemon finished unleashing his Ice Beam. Without a second thought, Cynthia slipped the knife into her pocket and ran forwards, leaving Gabite to pick up the speedily flailing Magikarp who had slapped Tom into submission. Viktor began running as well, and within seconds they left the Square behind and were sprinting down the storm darkened back streets, the drains already overflowing but shielded from the wind by the mountain of rock. Cynthia was so stunned by the fact Viktor had saved her that she was not sure what to say or think and simply looked at him in shock. Viktor saw her expression and smiled, even though he was completely saturated as well.
"If you are shocked by that, you won't believe what I just found out!" Viktor shouted gleefully. Cynthia raised an eyebrow before beginning to laugh, unable to think of anything else she could do, merely stunned and relieved by the events of the past half hour.
"Oh, I think I can top that, don't you worry…"