Chapter 10: In Which Rowan is Nearly Mugged by Spacemen
Andrea looked at Jubilife in the weak light of early morning, the city a half hours walk away at most. She and Lucas had left Oreburgh as soon as her Pokemon had been healed the day before, Lucas recommending Eterna City as the best place for Andrea to get her next badge at. This meant they had to go all the way back to Jubilife and through another town and some, according to Lucas, huge forest. The lengthy sounding trip would, Andrea hoped, give enough time for her Pokemon to become strong enough to avoid a repeat of her first gym battle against the next gym leader.
"So, should we stock up before we head off or do we just stop at the Pokemon Center so you can tell your parents where we're going?" Andrea asked, breaking the early morning silence.
Lucas, in the lead as was becoming normal, looked back at her sleepily. "I told them before we left yesterday. We should stop and buy some more food before we head out though." He yawned before turning back to face the direction they were heading.
"Sounds good," Andrea replied. They had only woken up about an hour ago and while they had traveled together Andrea had found Lucas was at his least talkative around that time. Not that she minded, it was something she normally enjoyed, but the morning was unnaturally silent to her ears, so she turned her attention to the Eevee perched on her shoulder.
"How you feeling?" She asked. The day before, after Eve and the rest had come back form the nurse, Eve had been complaining about feeling funny and having a headache. The nurse had assured Andrea that there had been nothing wrong with the Pokemon when Andrea had asked, although she had given the teen an odd look for asking the question in the first place since the Eve seemed healthy enough.
"Better. I still feel a bit off somehow, but it's going away. It was way worse right after that battle with Cranidos, " Eve replied.
"Well, if you start feeling bad again let me know," Andrea informed her in a concerned voice.
"I will," Eve assured her.
They continued their walk with Andrea talking to Eve and Lucas focusing on getting them to their destination. They soon entered the city limits, passing some trainers on their way out of town who greeted the two tiredly before heading off in the direction Lucas and Andrea had just come from.
"Oh no," Andrea said when they had only walked a short distance into the city.
"What is it?" Lucas asked, looking around frantically, trying to figure out what had warranted the look of horror that had just crossed Andrea's face.
"Look," Andrea said, pointing ahead of them in the direction of a man in a brown trench coat. "It's that crazy 'Looking' guy, or whatever he called himself."
Unfortunately for the two teens, Andrea's gesture had apparently caught the detective's attention. Smiling as if he had just run into two old friends who he had not seen in years, Looker came over to the two of them.
"Ah, my friends of justice. Is sad that you come on such a day when evil roams this city. Do not close your eyes to the evil that is here. Come find me if anything unusual is seen." Before Andrea or Lucas could say anything, he was already walking away from them, throwing last minuet instructions to them over his shoulder. "Remember, Looker is always there to stop the evil that is Team Galactic."
The teens watched as the man disappeared into the crowd that covered the city even at that early hour. When people started jostling into them, Lucas brought himself back to reality and tugged at Andrea's arm, signaling that they should start walking again. Shaking her head as if to clear it of the odd encounter, she followed after Lucas.
"What was that all about?" Andrea eventually asked as they walked farther into the city.
Lucas just shrugged. "I have no idea. But maybe we should keep our eyes open. For anything out of the ordinary."
"I for one am not going to walk around look over my shoulder because of the advice of a lunatic," Andrea said with a snort.
"He is odd," Lucas agreed.
They passed the Poke Mart on their way to the store with traveling supplies for people when Andrea called to Lucas to stop. "Just remembered I need to pick up some more potions," she informed him.
"Well, why don't you get what you need here and I'll go and get the rest of the stuff we need," Lucas suggested.
"Sounds good," Andrea replied, already heading for the Poke Mart's entrance.
"And stay inside the Poke Mart. I'll come get you when I have the supplies," Lucas told her.
"Why? I'll get done before you and-"
"No, you stay here," Lucas interrupted her. He had learned that the best way to deal with Andrea's stubborn personality was simply to be stubborn right back. Still, he expected a bit more argument from the older teen than what he got. Instead, Eve said something to Andrea, causing her to sigh in frustration and assure Lucas that she would stay in the store until he came to get her. Lucas briefly hesitated outside the Poke Mart after Andrea had went inside but eventually went off to complete his own task after convinced himself that if anyone could keep Andrea in check it would be Eve.
Andrea entered the small, blue roofed building grumbling to herself. She stopped when Eve told her to stop whining or get a sense of direction, but not before getting in a comment about pushy fur collars.
Walking over the pleasant blue and green tiled floor of the Poke Mart, Andrea headed for one of the shelving units in the center of the store. The shelving unit was filled with neat little rows of different Pokemon related goods, many of which Andrea had yet to learn the use for. Still, she reasoned, passing up the row of yellow plastic bottles labeled Antidote, if she hadn't needed it yet why get it? It would just add more weight to her pack. Eventually she found the small bottles of Potion nested between the larger Super Potions and some little boxes with Revive written on them in large letters.
Andrea garbed ten of the Potions, wishing she had taken one of the little baskets at the front of the store as she tried to hold her merchandise in her arms without dropping anything. Everything ended up tumbling out of her arms once she had reached the counter, although the lady at the cash register made no comment on her customer's apparent lack of common sense when it came to basics of carrying things while shopping.
"That'll be 3000 Poke please," the cashier said pleasantly after she had rung everything up. Andrea had to get her pack off and dig the money out but she found the money quickly and was soon shoving the potions into their designated pocket.
Stepping away from the counter, Andrea looked around the store in the vain hope that Lucas had showed up already. As she had known, he was still not back and she was still stuck in the store unless she wanted to listen to Eve scolding her. Still, the lady at the cash register was stating to watch her intently as she continued to hover in the store after making her purchase and she really didn't want to stay in the place anyway…
Without a further thought Andrea headed out of the store into the bright sunlight and loud noise of the city.
"Andrea, you're supposed to stay inside the store," Eve reminded her testily.
"I'm just going to stand out here, okay?" Andrea said, scowling.
"I really don't believe you."
"Look, I'm taking off my pack again-move so I can get it off-I'm putting it down next to me, I'm leaning against this wall right here. Sure looks like I'm staying here." Following each statement with the action, Andrea was soon leaning against one of the Poke Mart's walls, watching the people in the crowd walk by. Eve just sighed and resettled herself on Andrea's shoulder so she could watch the people in the crowd too.
Both watching the crowd, neither missed the two oddest specimens of the human race they could remember seeing pass by. One was male and the other female, with the only way to tell being the fact that one was wearing some kind of odd dress version of the white and black uniform the two wore. On the chest of the uniforms, like some sort of company advertisement, was a large, yellow G. The uniforms were not the oddest thing about the two people in the crowd, who had hurriedly moved past Andrea and Eve's place near the store. It was instead their hair, short, bright blue bowl cuts for the both of them, although the female's appeared a bit longer.
Andrea and Eve continued watching the two until they turned a corner and the trainer and her Pokemon lost sight of them. Andrea just shook her head at the absurdity of the two as Eve commented, "What's up with the spacemen?"
"How should I know?" Andrea asked, going back to watching the crowd.
"Blue hair and spacemen outfits," Eve mumbled, shaking her head in amazement at just how weird humans could be before she went back to watching the crowd as well.
As is normal in big cities, Andrea and Eve saw a good smattering of other oddly dressed people walk by, although none quite came close the utter ridiculousness that was the two people with the blue bowl cuts. The two were commenting on a girl who had just walked by in some kind of pink dress with a skit that was puffier than anything the two had previously thought possible when Lucas showed up.
"I got here as quickly as I could," Lucas said when he was within hearing range. Andrea just nodded as if that was to be expected and took the plastic shopping bag Lucas handed her. With more care than she had taken with the potions, Andrea put her half of the provisions into her pack before placing it back on her shoulders.
"Let's get going," Andrea said, starting to lead the way out of the city, going in the correct direction for once. Lucas soon took the lead though, not wanting to wait for Andrea's sudden luck with directions to run out and end up lost.
They made there way through the city, heading north. On their way they ended up passing a large, cube shaped building with a set of huge satellites at the top, people coming in and out in a constant flow. Andrea asked what the place was, which resulted in one of Lucas's longwinded explanations that could have easily be summed up as: It was the Jubilife TV station. Andrea just tolerated Lucas and his lecture, reminding herself she needed to stop asking the boy questions unless the answer would give her knowledge of some dire importance.
An example of one such question, Andrea decided as she looked down an ally, was the one she was just about to ask. Lucas couldn't take forever answering it either, an added bonus in her mind.
"Hey, am I seeing things, or is that Professor Rowan about to be mugged by a couple of spacemen?" Andrea pointed down the ally at a small group of three, two members of which had blue colored hair.
The look on Lucas's face when he saw the scene could, to Andrea, only be described as comical. Before she could even start wishing for a camera though, Lucas was rushing over to the ally that housed the Professor and his assailants. "We have to go help him," he said urgently to Andrea before taking off.
Andrea followed over at a slower pace and arrived in time to hear the end of the spacemen making their demand. "…So you can give us the research willingly or we'll make you give it to us," the male of the two was saying, the female nodding in agreement.
"Oh, and just how do you plan to do that?" Rowan asked, arms folded, having yet to see the arrival of his two rescuers who stood back, listening to what was going on.
"We were thinking of extending our hospitality and bringing you to our base," said the female, bringing out a Pokeball. "Of course, if you don't want to take us up on that offer, there are…other means of persuasion we could try right here, although more painful, I assure you."
"Professor! Are you okay?" Lucas shouted, having heard enough of the conversation. The Professor, along with his assailants, turned their attention to the two standing behind them.
"Go away little children, this is grown up stuff we're talking about," said the female, frowning at the two. It was that comment that made Andrea decided that she was not going to leave the entire situation up to Lucas unless he desperately needed help as she had been planning but to instead get involved herself.
"Ah, Lucas. And Andrea too. What a pleasant surprise," Rowan commented as if he had met the two young people out on the sunny street and not while he was being menaced in some out of the way corner of the city. "I had heard you two would be passing through here again from your parents Lucas but I did not expect I would run into you."
"Shut up old man," snapped the male spaceman.
"Oh, just go away you ass. Picking on old men, honestly, can you be a lamer thief? And you two aren't exactly dressed for getting away unnoticed," Andrea pointed out as she rolled her eyes, fed up.
As the male spluttered in indignation the female turned to Andrea, angry. "Listen here little girl. We are members of the notorious Team Galactic, destined to rule this world one day soon. It is the best interest of everyone, especially meddlesome little children who could easily get hurt, to mind their own business and let us go about ours."
The woman turned away from Andrea as if the only threat she posed was that of the young child she kept calling her. "Now, Professor, are you going to cooperate? If you do not we will not only be forced to use drastic measures to deal with you but also the two children behind us that you apparently know."
Rowan just smiled slightly before he spoke. "Now see here young woman, there are a few things I think you need to know before you start making threats. First, threatening people is not the way to get what you want. Second, I believe from now on you should both learn to choose your words more carefully when speaking to people since you seem to have offended some of us here and I think that was a very bad idea." Here Rowan looked past the female to Andrea, who was scowling at the woman's back, fingering two of the Pokeballs on her belt as if considering releasing the creatures held within. Smiling a bit more broadly, Rowan continued. "And thirdly, you two are dressed ridiculously. Honestly, how can you even consider setting good examples for younger generations by walking around dressed by spacemen lacking a fashion sense?"
Both of the Galactic grunts, fed up with the lack of respect they were receiving from the people who should be in utter fear of them, released their Pokemon, prepared to take out the children and kidnap Rowan and general make themselves more secure about their bad-guy-ness.
Rowan watched as a Glameow and a Stunky were released before he nodded in the direction of Andrea and Lucas. "I believe you two can handle this. I'll just watch if you don't mind."
"I should have seen this coming," Andrea said, stepping forward. "You get them all mad then leave the clean up work to Lucas and me." Despite her words, Andrea was smiling, although when the two Team Galactic members saw that smile they began to wonder if they were about to take on more than they could handle. They soon reminded themselves that they were members of the mighty Team Galactic and both had their Pokemon turn to the bothersome brunet and the Eevee that had just jumped off of her shoulder.
"Come now Lucas, help Andrea out. The two of you can take on these poor examples of the human race on easily enough," the Professor said from his safe position behind the two poor examples and their Pokemon.
"Oh, uh, right Professor, right away," Lucas said as he quickly stepped up next to Andrea, nodding his head. Bringing out a Pokeball, he released an orange, otter like Pokemon who materialized next to Eve, twin tails spinning like a motor briefly before they came to a halt.
"Ha, you two think you can beat us?" the male Galactic team member asked, laughing.
"Prepare to face defeat kiddies. And I hope you said goodbye to your Pokemon because we're taking them once you loose," the woman informed them, grinning.
"I'd like to see you try," Andrea said, grinning right back. "Eve, tackle one of them."
"Buizel, water gun and aim for Glameow."
Eve charged Stunky as Buizel opened his mouth and shot a stream of water at Glameow. Both Pokemon were hit by the attacks, Stunky being sent crashing into the side of the ally, Glameow left soaking after being hit by the blast of high pressured water.
"Stunky, screech," ordered the man.
"Glameow, scratch that Eevee's eyes out," ordered the woman.
The little skunk Pokemon opened its mouth and let out an ear piercing scream that had Pokemon and humans alike covering their ears. Eve crouched down on the ground, paws pulling her long ears down. Buizel was covering his ears as well and even Glameow was trying to block out the noise. Once Stunky closed its mouth however, Glameow rushed foreword and raked a set of razor-sharp claws down Eve's face. The Eevee, who had been experimentally releasing one ear, reeled back with a cry of pain. Buizel, under Lucas's command, shot another water gun at Glameow, sending the cat Pokemon skidding backwards with a hiss.
"You okay Eve?" Andrea asked worriedly.
"Fine, fine," Eve assured her, opening her eyes to find they were still working. She had a stinging pain going down half her face however and wanted to return the favor to her attacker.
"Glad to hear it. Use bite on that Glameow thing then."
Rushing forward, avoiding a sweep from her opponent's claws, Eve sunk her teeth into one of her opponent's delicate back legs. When Glameow hissed loudly Eve, vindictively, bit down harder. Busy consecrating on Glameow, both Andrea and Eve missed as the male grunt ordered Stunky to use scratch. They did noticed when Stunky joined the fray, slashing his own sharp claws through fur and flesh down Eve's side. Eve released her opponent quickly after the attack and hurried back to stand near Buizel.
"Quick attack on Stunky Buizel," Lucas ordered.
"You do the same to Glameow," Andrea told Eve.
Both Pokemon rushed forward as a lightening fast pace, ramming into their opponents and sending them crashing backwards. Both of the Galactic grunts ordered their Pokemon to use furry swipe, sending one each after each of their opponents. Stunky went after Buizel, swiping at the orange otter with his claws and hitting his target three times, leaving long red gashes on the other Pokemon's body. Glameow went after Eve, getting in four hits and adding more of Eve's own blood to the Eevee's fur.
"Bite."
"Water gun."
Eve went after Stunky, tackling and pinning the other Pokemon to the ground before biting deeply into one of his flailing legs. Buizel shot another stream of high pressure water at Glameow, causing the cat Pokemon to hiss and gladly, once the order was given, to use scratch on the water Pokemon. Once the attacks were over, the Pokemon backed up near their trainer's, eyeing each other as they stood there panting.
"Shit," Andrea mumbled, surprised that the Team Galactic members were putting up a reasonably good fight.
"I have an idea Andrea," Lucas said slowly to his partner.
"Let's hear it then," Andrea said impatiently, keeping her eyes on the battle.
"Well, Buizel knows this move that could hit both of them at once, but, well," Lucas hesitated, wondering if his suggested would end up sounding ridicules when he finally got it all out.
"Spit it out," Andrea snapped.
"Well it would hit Eve too," Lucas finished hurriedly.
"I can handle it Andrea," Eve, who had been listening to the two trainers talking, said confidently.
Andrea frowned deeply, folding her arms over her chest, before she sighed. "Well, if it's the best you can come up with to end this quickly…"
"It should end things," Lucas told her, sure he was right.
"Well, go on then. Eve try to at least avoid some of the attack if you can."
"Okay, here it goes," Lucas said. "Buizel, sonic boom."
Buizel's twin tails began to glow as the Pokemon rushed forward and jumped in the air. The tails began to glow brighter as Buizel flipped over in the air, brighter still as the Pokemon neared the ground, finally hitting the ground with a flash. A brief pause and suddenly the ally was filled with noise far louder and more painful to the ears than any screech attack.
Both Glameow and Stunky were downed when they were hit by the mighty wave of sound while Eve was left stumbling around and looking disorientated. As the Galactic team members recalled their Pokemon Andrea hurried forward and scooped up Eve, who was still trying to re-orientate herself after the attack.
The two Team Galactic members shoved past Andrea and Lucas, turning back to the two once they had reached the ally mouth. "Just you wait," shouted the female, voice shaking with rage, "we'll take over one day and you'll regret this. When you're lying injured somewhere with your Pokemon stolen, you'll regret this."
"I'll believe you when you can back up those words," Andrea shot back. With a last shout of "You'll regret this," from the male the two rushed off, leaving the Professor and two teens alone in the ally.
"Splendid job you two," Rowan said once his two would be muggers had vanished. Walking up to the two, he put a hand on each of their shoulders, something that earned him a glare from Andrea. "Truly splendid job. You did very well Lucas. And I can tell you've been training with Eve Andrea." While he was talking he started leading them out of the ally, leaving Lucas to quickly recall Buizel with a rushed congratulation to the water Pokemon.
"Why are you in Jubilife anyway Professor?" Lucas asked as the old man lead them in the direction of the Pokemon Center.
"I was asked to speak at the Trainer's School. I had some time afterwards and was looking at some of the tourist attractions when those two delinquents cornered me in the ally. Good thing you and Andrea showed up when you did."
"Who were those goons?" Andrea asked. "They said they were from some Team Galactic, right? Who are they?"
"I am not sure," Rowan replied with a frown. "I have heard rumors about an organization with…unpleasant plans for this world, but this is my first encounter with them. I must say though, their group's name is strikingly familiar to that of a major power company in the region. Odd…" Rowan trailed off as he frowned, thinking.
With a small shake of his head his smile returned and he brought himself out of whatever dark thoughts he was having. "Well Andrea, I see you have two new Pokeballs on your belt. What did you catch?"
"A Pidgey and a Shinx," Andrea replied, shifting the weight of the now sleeping Pokemon in her arms.
"The Shinx has evolved already," Lucas added dutifully, wanting to keep the Professor fully informed.
"Really?" Rowan said, sounding pleasantly surprised. "That is wonderful. And since you two are here I can safely assume that Andrea was able to obtain her first badge?"
"Yeah, I got it," Andrea said with a nod, a tinge of pride in her voice.
The small group stopped outside of the Pokemon Center, having to move out of the way when the doors slid open and two happily chatting trainers came out. The three of them watched the two disappear into the crowd until Rowan turned back to the two teens. "I have heard some interesting things Andrea," he began slowly.
"I suppose they have something to do with talking to Pokemon," Andrea said.
"Yes. It truly is fascinating. Now, Lucas said you could only talk to your Pokemon, is this still true?"
"Yeah," Andrea replied, shifting her feet. The line of questioning was making her a bit uncomfortable and she simply wished the old man would leave her alone about one of the many things that made her different.
"If this changes, please let me know. I was thinking, maybe this is a skill given to you by the Pokemon of the lake. It is possible, since it is like a form of 'knowledge' you get from this skill." Rowan seemed to be voicing his theory about Andrea's gift more to himself than anyone else, although Lucas was listening intently.
"The reason I can understand my Pokemon is the least of the things I want to figure out," Andrea commented, lowering her voice as a lone trainer left the Pokemon Center they were standing by.
"I suppose it would be," Rowan said with a nod. "Well, I must thank the two of you again for your help before I leave you. Oh, and Andrea, Dr. Maple said if I ran into the two of you I was to tell you to stay out of trouble and listen to Lucas so you don't get lost." Smiling, Rowan said good-bye and left, ignoring the indignant noises Andrea had started to make after he had given her the doctor's message.
Lucas waved as the Professor left, bringing his hand down and sighing once the old man was out of sight. "Well, I'm glad the Professor is okay," he said as the two of them entered the building.
"Whatever," mumbled Andrea.
"We'll have to head out tomorrow for Floaroma now though, it'll be too late to really make any good distance after we get our Pokemon back," Lucas commented as they headed up to the counter to hand the Pokemon that had battled the Team Galactic members with to the nurse. The pink haired woman smiled as she took Lucas's Pokeball and the sleeping Eevee, leaving the trainers to find a seat and wait for their Pokemon.
"Fine," Andrea said, leaning her head back against the wall and closing her eyes. "Wake me up when Eve gets back." A few minutes later her breathing had slowed and when Lucas said her name questioningly there was no response.
Lucas just shook his head and reached for one of the magazines on the table in front of them, glad to see they were different than the ones at the Pokemon Center in Oreburgh.
~~**~~**~~**~~
The sky had turned dark hours ago and the fire had become nothing more than glowing embers awhile back. Stars and a waning moon shone down on the ground, giving their poor substitute for the light of the sun under which the Pokemon of the night lived their lives. Those same Pokemon could be heard moving around in the darkness around the small campsite set up by the two trainers near the exit to the Ravaged Path, small chirps and rustles and squeaks in large enough abundance to keep awake anyone who was not exhausted by a day of travel.
Andrea shifted on the sleeping bag she was sitting on to make the ground more comfortable as she kept watch. Her back was to the small glow that had once been their fire and Lucas slept a few feet away, not to be disturbed from his slumber until his watch came up in a couple of hours. Andrea debated checking her Poketech to see the time but did not want to ruin her night vision with the watch's glowing screen simply to see how long she had until she could go to sleep.
Next to her on the sleeping bag a tight bundle of brown and tan fur snuffled slightly before shifting in its sleep. Gently, Andrea reached out her hand and stroked her sleeping Pokemon's fur, watching the night without fear.
When they had started traveling, Lucas and Andrea had soon gotten into the habit of Andrea taking first watch and Lucas taking second. When multiply trainers traveled together, Lucas had explained when they first started out, it was best for them to spend part of the night on watch. Have someone keep an eye out for any Pokemon hungry enough to raid human packs for food or keep an eye out for the far less frequent and more dangerous human thieves. Also, Lucas had added, there were increasing reports of wild Pokemon attacking trainers unprovoked and, hey, you couldn't be to careful, right?
Andrea did not mind sitting up for watch, always enjoying it until she had to deal with the consequences getting up the next morning. The night held no fear for her because she was confident if she could not handle whatever came to menace them her Pokemon certainly could. She moved her legs, to keep them from falling asleep, and went back to stroking Eve, staring into the night with-
-fear. A young Andrea clutched the wooden staff, a good foot or two bigger than her, to her chest, repeating to herself that everything would be fine, as if the simple repetition of her hope would make it come true. Standing near her, also keeping guard, and showing less fear, was a large black dog.
Her aunt and uncle, the two people who had taken her in when her parents had died when she was younger in some terrible incident no one talked about, had decided that Andrea, a girl of ten, could help keep watch on the important heard of cattle that the traveling group they belonged to cared for. The cattle were more important than some little girl who got lost to much and was more trouble than she was worth in these hard times, especially when the two adults would rather sleep than take their shift on guard duty.
Andrea jumped when there was the sound of movement in the darkness behind her, heart pounding heavily in her chest. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief when the low, unworried "Mooo," of one of the cattle followed the sound. The dog moved slightly next to her as she clutch tightened on the staff.
Things would not be so bad, the fear filled brain of young Andrea reasoned, if people had not gone out of their way to warn her of the "monster" that lived out there. Yes, she had to worry about the roving bands of human thieves and slavers, of course, but she should really worry about the monsters, creatures whose numbers had been steadily increasing since the time of the Last and Great War. Creatures that could breathe fire and rip her to shreds and, her uncle had told her with what had appeared to be particular relish, quite willing to eat her should she ever run into them.
The young Andrea had been warned about the "monsters" since she was old enough to understand the concept and, while she had never run into any herself, even when she got lost in the wilderness, she feared them with a deep, cold terror that filled her entire body. It did not help that people really did seem to disappear sometimes, nothing left but a torn, bloody scrap of clothing and the signs of a struggle in the dirt.
Young Andrea's heart began to race again as she heard another noise in the depths of the darkness, a noise that-
-turned out to be Eve worriedly saying her name, paws on Andrea's thigh as she looked up into her trainer's face. Andrea tired to shush her, rubbing her behind the ears, telling her to calm down, everything was fine. Eve did not listen to her trainer's words however, continuing to worry and fuss over the girl that she said had only moments before been sitting stiffly and unresponsive, staring off into space and looking as if some unnamed horror was about to come out and eat her.
"One might have been," Andrea mumbled distractedly, trying to remember where she had put her pack so she could take out her headache medicine. Like with the other two times she had been struck by a moment from her past she had a head splitting headache that made her wonder if remember her past was really worth it.
"One what might have been what?" Eve asked suspiciously, stopping her tirade.
"Just something. Don't worry about it." Andrea said as she found her pack in the dark and began digging through the pocket that held the headache medicine. She did not want to talk about her memories, even with her Pokemon, who she trusted and liked more than any of the people she had met so far.
"Andrea, you are telling me what you remembered right now," Eve commanded as Andrea swallowed the pill, wishing it would work instantly. "Actually, you're telling me everything you remember. No, you're telling me, and Zora, and Roz. You can tell them the entire story at the same time. They're not going to care where you're from, before you give me that excuse."
Not waiting for the protest she knew would come, Eve walked over to the side of the sleeping bag closest to the remains of the fire and picked up the belt containing Andrea's Pokeballs in her teeth. The normal Pokemon dragged the strip of leather in front of her trainer and dropped it. Sitting in front of it and looking at her trainer sternly, she said, "Let them out."
"Eve, I really don't think-"
"Do it," the ball of fluff snapped. The command seemed to bypass her brain and go straight to Andrea's hand because the girl soon found herself looking at two sleepy Pokemon.
"Yes?" Zora asked through a huge yawn as she stretched.
"Andrea has some stuff to tell all of us. She's been keeping things from us," Eve informed her two companions, each word chilly and directed more at her trainer than the other two Pokemon.
"Who stepped on your fluffy tail? And what could Andrea possible have not told us that's got you so pissed, so early?" Roz asked, yawning herself.
"I already know part of it," Eve said. "I'm going to let her fill you guys in on the details, but, basically, she's not from here."
Eve was still shooting angry looks at Andrea. Andrea was going to defend herself, but decided not to. She knew why Eve was so angry. The Pokemon felt betrayed, she was sure, as if Andrea did not trust her enough to share this important part of her life with her. That was not the case of course; Andrea just didn't want to make her Pokemon finally realize that she was to weird or to crazy or to different to be worth the effort of sticking around for. Andrea wasn't sure if she could handle any of her Pokemon thinking that about her and so had told the other two nothing about how she had ended up in Sinnoh.
"I thought your accent was a bit different from that of other people," Zora commented, as if some great mystery that had been bugging her had just been solved, "Where are you from then? Kanto, Hoenn, Johto?"
"None of those places," Andrea replied, not looking any of her Pokemon in the eyes. Dam it, why did Eve have to go and tell them? She could not lie to them, not about this, not about anything really.
"You got to be from one of them," Roz told her.
"Well, I'm not," Andrea said slowly. "Look, guys, it's not a big deal. How about you just go back into your Pokeballs and back to sleep?"
"Oh no, I'm curious now," Roz said with a shake of her head.
"This does sound interesting," Zora commented, sitting down in a comfortable position next to Roz.
"It is, trust me," Eve grumbled from the seat she had just taken on the Luxio's other side. Andrea tried to protest some more but in the end she was out voted and forced to tell them her story.
Andrea told them what she knew, which wasn't much, and everything that was suspected, which was considerably more. She told them about the laugh and the beating and the bird and the guard duty with its monsters. She told them about her plan to find out the rest of her past and about how she no longer wanted to find out about a way home, although knowing why she wasn't there anymore would be nice. She told them about everything and the entire time she looked intently at her lap.
When she was done she shifted nervously on the sleeping bag, and, simply so she could put off looking at her Pokemon a bit longer, she finally checked the time on her Poketech. There was still an hour and a half until it was Lucas's turn to take over the watch. Finally she could put it off no longer and she looked up at her Pokemon.
Eve was looking at her with sad eyes, while Zora and Roz just seemed shocked. No one said anything.
Andrea felt, now that they knew everything, she should make two of her Pokemon the same offer she had Eve when the Pokemon had first found out. "If you guys don't want to stay with me because of this, I'll completely understand. You just have to, like, tell me."
"You're kidding right?" Roz asked, sounding insulted.
"Yes, why would we want to leave?" Zora asked, also seeming a bit hurt that Andrea had thought they would leave her. As the two voiced their indignation, Eve sat with a smug look on her face, silently saying I told you so.
"Now, about these monsters…you think we could beat 'em up?" Roz asked after she and Zora had continued on a bit about how they were not leaving, even if Andrea turned out to be some space alien or something.
"Now why would we fight them?" Zora asked.
"Because they sound tough," Roz answered, making it sound as if Zora had missed the obvious.
"I don't think so, manly because I'm from a different world, so the monsters must be too." Despite the fear that the monsters had given her in her memory, Andrea smiled now as Roz talked about them, felling safe again.
"I mean, like, hypothetically do you think we can beat some creature of the night ass?"
"Stop being such a bloody minded idiot Roz," Eve said.
"I'm just wondering," the bird Pokemon huffed.
"I'm sure you guys could," Andrea said with a smile.
"Don't encourage her," Eve groaned.
Her Pokemon had taken everything she had told them well, almost as if they had somehow known it all along. Everyone was acting normal, a fact Andrea took as a great comfort.
"Well, you two ready to head back to bed?" Andrea asked after Eve and Roz had argued a bit more, Zora looking on with amusement.
"Are you sure you don't want us to stay up with you?" Zora asked solemnly. Despite the joking that had just occurred over the topic, the electric Pokemon could tell Andrea was still a bit scared after what she had remembered.
"No, I'm good," Andrea said with a shake of her head. "There's nothing to be scared of here, especially since I've got you guys."
Roz puffed up a bit at the praise and even Zora and Eve seemed pleased. With a quick good night Andrea recalled Roz and Zora, Eve joining her on the sleeping bag to look out at the night with her.
"You can go back to sleep," Andre told her, running a hand along her Pokemon's back.
"I'm not tired anymore. I'll stay up for the rest of your watch with you."
Andrea just smiled into the darkness and continued to pet her Pokemon, calm once more.