Well, here I go with chapter ten. You know, I've never had a story get this far before. It feels pretty good! Now, this is very important, so don't skip to the story just yet. As of the end of this chapter, Anomaly crosses over with Buwaro's Tales of Flame! It's not completely absolutely life-dependant necessary that you read both stories, but damn it! You should anyway! Otherwise, you miss half the fun!
It's never a healthy thing to bottle up one's emotions. When anger and rage grow to deep, they can explode outward and tear apart the people and things around us. One good way to vent these frustrations is to take a break and indulge oneself. The relief of stress can ease the pressure on the emotional dam just a bit. But the best way to cut yourself some slack is always, always to talk to someone. Above all else, releasing your fears to someone else's ears is the best way to heal. So isn't it just right that we should also take the time to listen to the problems of others?
The first thing Evetwo did was wait for darkness to fall and go to the human town. She stuck to the secrecy of the trees and tall grass for a while before approaching a darkened house on the edge of town. A quick psychic check told her that no one was home, and she quietly let herself in through a door that conveniently unlocked itself. Deep down, she knew breaking and entering was wrong, but what harm could it do to just look around? She allowed herself a moment for her eyes to adjust, and then looked around her. A family lived here, one with small children, and she almost stepped on a stuffed toy that had been left on the floor. She stared down at it for a moment before heading farther into the house. If it weren't for the scattered toys, the place would have been immaculate.
There were framed photographs hanging on one of the walls of the... living room, that was what it was called. She glanced at them briefly; they all had the same smiling, happy family, cased in soft wood under hard, cold glass. Eve turned away from the smiling faces and moved on to the next room. Kitchen. She remembered kitchen. Kitchen was where the family gathered on holidays to talk and laugh and cook. Kitchen was warm and friendly, with hand-drawn pictures hanging from the... refrigerator... on colorful, oh, what where they called, magnets? She looked around and sure enough, there was the appliance, humming softly, with the children's artwork papering the lower half, easily in reach of tiny arms. Eve walked over and pulled open the door, silently remembering the names of all the foods. There was a carton of milk in the door, and she noted rather sourly that Mew had not come to see her at all yet, even though she had promised she would.
She took the carton with her as she explored the rest of the house. The next room was called study, or maybe library. It had walls full of books, and a... computer? on a desk. There were no toys in this room, but there were pieces of art here and there; it was a place for adults. Evetwo walked over to examine the books on the wall. Up high there were books on philosophy and science and business, but down lower, again where little arms could reach them under close supervision, were children's picture books and fairy tale stories and lots and lots of books about Pokémon. She picked one up and shuffled through it for a moment before replacing it and turning to find something that might be interesting to read. As she moved, she felt her tail bump something, and there was a resounding crash behind her.
Oops.
Evetwo turned around to examine the source of the noise. There was a wobbling pedestal behind her, and the remains of what must have been a costly vase on the floor. She kicked at the remains with her feet. Well, there was no hope of salvaging that. Frowning, Eve pulled out a book that looked promising and moved out of the library. It was a dangerous place to have a tail.
There was a large wooden staircase next. Making her way up to the second floor, Eve looked resolutely ahead of her so she wouldn't have to see the photographs lining the walls here, too. There were more rooms upstairs, three bedrooms and a... bathroom. The bathroom wasn't of much interest, so she looked around in the bedrooms first. There was one with two small beds and many more toys, and one with lots of books on the shelves and a few plush Pokémon dolls. The second room had something of use and interest in it- a bright red bag. Eve picked up the 'backpack' and shook the contents out of it before putting her milk carton and book inside. Very handy, she decided as she moved into the largest bedroom. There was a large quilt on the bed, and she ran a hand over it contemplatively. It was soft, and it would make a good addition to her den back in the cave. Eve pulled it off the bed and made her way downstairs with the bulky load, accidentally knocking a photo off of the walls in the process. She glanced back at it for a moment, and then kept going. Better to just get out of this house while she had a chance.
Once safely under cover outside, Evetwo stopped for a moment to look back at the house she had 'explored' one last time. It looked peaceful; no one would know she had been in there until they got inside. The family would be a bit distressed, but eventually they'd go back to their lives and forget about the mysterious break-in. Lucky bastards...
Scowling to herself, Eve headed back to the island. Maybe a nice swim would make her feel better.
For six full moons now, Dewgong had kept an eye on the first of the stranglings. It had appeared in the middle of the night on an island that was little more than a hunk of rock reaching up out of the water, and the Seels had wondered how it intended to live in such a barren habitat. But by morning, the rocks had transformed into a lush, livable island. That was the first clue that there was something a little bit unusual about this Pokémon that none of them had ever seen before, and they watched the island constantly to see what it would do. The strangling, for it's part, kept to itself. It never tried to talk to any of the Pokémon that lived on the surrounding islands. It left its island only at night. Usually it would come back before morning, but sometimes it stayed gone for days at a time. It was always, always alone.
At first, the strangling had alarmed the Seels. What manner of creature was this, that it sought such solitude? Dewgong understood, of course, that some Pokémon liked to be alone, but for the naïve little Seels, so fond of company, this new thing was a mystery. One day one of the pups, overwhelmed by his own curiosity, got too close to the new island, to the new Pokémon, and the creature had looked down at him with such malice that the poor pup had had nightmares for days afterwards. Going near the creature or it's island brought on the same wrathful gaze every time, and yet sometimes, when Dewgong could get close enough, she'd see it looking wistfully up at the moon and wonder if maybe, just maybe it didn't really want to be alone after all. But it would not be approached, and finally the Seels gave up and kept their distance.
And then, quite suddenly, there were two.
The appearance of the second strangling caused even more alarm than the first. How many of these things were there? Many of the Seels thought it best to find another island, in case still more of them came, but Dewgong pointed out quite firmly that the first of the two had never actually harmed them, so why should the second? Finally, at the insistence of several of her offspring, a compromise was reached. They would wait one full moon and see what the stranglings did before making a decision as to what to do about them. And in the meantime, Dewgong would keep watch.
And so she did. She kept watch as the larger taught the smaller every day at twilight. Day after day for several, they would go over the same things, and Dewgong realized that the new addition was little more than a pup, and a very mischievous pup at that, when it started coming back to the island with things taken from humans. It was a curious little pup, too. One day, heading back to its home, the young strangling stopped above the water just off of the Seels island, and watched them. It watched as the older Seels fished and the younger ones played on the slides of ice that they made with their ice beams. As it watched, its face took on the same look of longing that she'd seen on the other so often. Dewgong was about to approach the young one when it turned sharply in the air. The larger, older of the two had appeared, and was looking down on the little one from higher in the air with contempt in its violet eyes. The little one looked back at them one last time before going on back to its own home.
The very next day, skirting around the stranglings' island, Dewgong saw the little one trying to fish. It darted about under water, swimming after a Magikarp, only to have to swim back to the surface for air after a couple of minutes. Finally, the fish seemed to become aware that it was being chased, or maybe it just wanted a change of scenery, because it darted off faster than the strangling could catch it. The little strangling watched it leave before letting itself bob back to the surface and just float there, an inept fisher, but content nonetheless as the waves rocked it back and forth. The spectacle was amusing, and Dewgong decided that if she ever got a chance, she would talk to the strangling pup. Now was not the time, however, because high on the rocks, the older stood watching the younger play in the water. Dewgong headed for home.
Her chance came a few nights later when the first one left, leaving the pup by itself. Night fell, and the little one journeyed away from its island alone. Several hours later, it came back laden down with things it had undoubtedly taken from the humans, and Dewgong set out after it. There were several hours of darkness left, and it might decide to swim tonight.
Sure enough, the strange pup came down to the water soon after it had landed. Dewgong watched, amused, as it tested the water with one foot before jumping in with it's full body. It came up gasping for air and shaking from what must have been an icy shock to one who's body was intended for land. Chucking to herself, Dewgong swam up towards the strangling from the side. "Hello, little one."
The strange Pokémon spun around, wide-eyed. It was larger than Dewgong, but in the water that hardly mattered- the seal knew she had the advantage if it came to making a quick getaway. Fortunately, it didn't seem as though it was going to come to that, because after a long, silent moment, the Pokémon nodded its head. "Hello."
The Seels had suspected psychic, had been next to certain, in fact, but Dewgong was still just a little bit taken aback by the boldness of the telepathy. Nonetheless, she nodded in reply, taking a moment to examine the strangling up close for the first time. It had soft features and a delicate voice. It was a girl. "You're alone today, little one. How come?"
There was a soft grumbling, as though the creature didn't realize she was speaking telepathically when she said, "I'm not little," and then, louder, "I just am, I guess. I don't really know."
"You friend didn't give you a reason for leaving?" Dewgong was more than a little surprised. Had the first really left with no explanation, even as often as it stood watch over this little one?
The strangling shook her head. "He didn't, and he's not my friend, either."
Dewgong smiled gently. "You sound lonely, when you say it like that." The psychic looked startled, and Dewgong continued. "I see you watching the pups from time to time. You should come visiting tomorrow."
"Maybe..."
Dewgong turned to go, and then looked back. "What are you called, little one?"
The strangling looked uncomfortable. "They call me Evetwo... or just Eve for short..."
A human name. How interesting.
She wanted to visit the Seels, she really did. Eve curled up in her nice soft bed, but sleep wouldn't come. Finally, she got up and went outside. Grabbing a few large apples, she climbed to the top of the rocks and sat watching the sunrise. She needed to weigh her options carefully. It wouldn't be nice to put the cute little Seels in danger because she got lonely. After all, she had to be somewhat responsible, right?
Eve still wasn't sure what to expect as she approached the little island where the Seels lived. Deep down, she was pretty grateful when Dewgong swam out to meet her as she hovered above the water. The older, larger Seels were wary and slightly suspicious, but the younger ones were friendly. She watched them as they slid into the water on beds of ice, talking quietly to Dewgong the whole time. The old seal told her about the Sevii, how many islands there were, how many were safe and how many housed humans, and what kind of Pokémon lived on and around them. She didn't ask any questions that the clone didn't want to answer, and was patient when Eve got distracted watching the babies. She made Eve comfortable, and soon the psychic found herself telling the old seal things that she knew she really shouldn't. She told her about being born in a lab, about the people who were kind to her and the people who tormented her, about the strain of dealing with the only other one of her own kind. She couldn't say everything she wanted to, certain things just had to be left out, but just telling someone about some of it made her feel better.
As the sun grew higher in the sky, Eve noticed one little Seel watching her with interest. Dewgong noticed as well, and called the baby over. His eyes were wide. "Are you really from the mainlands?"
"I suppose I am," Eve told the youth, "But I don't know much about them."
"Oh. That's cause you're just a kid like me, huh?"
"I'm not, either!" Evetwo couldn't quite hold back an indignant squeak. Why did everyone insist on thinking of her as a child?
The Seel just laughed. "You should come make ice slides with us! It's a lot of fun!"
"I don't know how."
"I'll teach you," the little seal offered, clapping his flippers excitedly. "It's more fun than listening to Grams yammer all day!"
"Well..." Eve glanced at the Dewgong, who just nodded. "Okay, then."
Learning ice type moves proved to be difficult. After a whole afternoon of trying, trying again, and then finally taking a few discreet peeks into the Seels mind to figure out just what she was supposed to be doing in the first place, Eve managed to produce a thin stream of ice before the technique gave out. She comforted herself with the knowledge that it was probably more than Mewtwo knew how to do, and besides, she could only get better at it. And besides, now she had something she could claim she had worked on so hard instead of going to the human island. It wouldn't be a complete lie, and to the best of her knowledge he didn't read minds the way Mew did to catch her. Unless he had just been not telling her things, in which case he was a jerk...
At first she considered napping for a few hours before heading to the human island, but the longer she waited, the less likely she was to find any safe houses to explore, so Eve took off soon after the sun set with her new backpack. All of the houses on the edge of town had some form of occupant, human or Pokémon, and she realized rather disappointedly that word of the previous night's break in must have spread. She was about to give up when it occurred to her that if everyone was at home, who would be in the actual town to see her if she would decide to explore there?
As it turned out, town was not as empty as she had hoped. There were a few general stores on the island, and apparently a ship had come in or something, because they were all unloading freight to stock their shelves. Perched on a grocery store roof, Evetwo watched as boxes were unloaded from trucks that pulled in from the docks with the goods. Every so often they would open a box to inspect the contents, and then Eve would peer over the edge with greater interest to see what was inside. At one point, she actually managed to filch a few bottles of soda pop when the workers had their backs turned, and then later a whole small box of candy bars joined the soda in the bright red backpack. She was attempting to 'liberate' some canned fruits when her focus wavered, and the cans ended up scattered all over the place behind the store. Eve watched with a tired interest as the busy working men stopped to pick up the cans, a few of them trying to place the blame on one another, before deciding that it was about time to go home and get some sleep. Otherwise, she really would get caught!
The next morning, Eve had planned to indulge herself by staying in her nice little nest of blankets the whole afternoon. Unfortunately, around mid-morning, that plan came to a screeching halt when someone just had to show up earlier than she'd figured. Eve stayed huddled in her blankets glaring silently at Mewtwo as he looked around at her new acquisitions. Finally, he sort of shook his head. "What manner of idiocy have you been into this time?"
"Go away..." This was too cruel to have to wake up to first thing. Eve tucked herself deeper into her blankets, peeking out at him from her warm cocoon.
Mewtwo said nothing at first, instead studying the candy wrapper at his feet silently. Then, finally, he turned away. "I have to sleep now. Stay out of trouble."
Evetwo stuck her tongue out at his retreating back.
All that day, she sat and practiced her new ice technique. She didn't want to risk leaving the island and getting the lecture she knew was to come added on to. So instead, she flicked small rocks out into the water, and practiced hitting them before they landed. She also talked to Dewgong, and to the little Seel that came by with Dewgong to say hello. It felt good having a couple of friends.
The second day, Mewtwo came out of his room, and sure enough he had a lecture ready. Evetwo sat and listened to him only half-heartedly. Finally, he seemed to give up on actually making her listen and stormed out of her room angrily. Maybe the fact that she had picked up her book and started reading had something to do with it.
The third day, training started again. Eve resisted the urge to throw an ice beam into Mewtwo's face when he commented on her weak shadow ball. It would be smarter to save that for when his back was turned. Mew turned up that night with a jug of milk and an appology for being away for so long. Eve gave her the silent treatment for a few hours before finally giving in. At least Mew appologized for being away.
The fourth day, Eve woke up rather depressed early in the day. They hadn't left the island at all since Mewtwo got back, and he'd put up another stupid barrier when she tried to go on her own. She sat up and looked around her little room for a while, toying with the idea of just having a chocolate bar for breakfast, before getting up to go out to pick some fruit. Standing in the opening to the caves, her whole body froze up at the sound of unfamiliar voices outside. Two Pokémon were on her island that didn't belong!
And here we go! The first network crossover starts now! This is gonna be fun!