Chapter 9
Zane flopped down on the single bed and propped his walking stick up against the bedside table. Lily sat down on her bed in the opposite corner of the room and started filing some papers away in a thick folder. Zane looked around the small plain room cheerfully, what was with this mood of his all of a sudden?
"Hey you, don't go looking so happy in here, you better not be getting any ideas". Lily scowled at him from her corner as she sealed the folder back up and slipped it underneath her bed.
"Ahaha no not at all Lily! It's just so great being out of the vault, and this world I can now be a part of...it's everything I dreamt of my entire childhood".
Lily stared strangely at him, "I still don't think you fully comprehend just how dangerous the wasteland is..."
Zane grinned, "I will take a dangerous and exciting existence over vault life any day!"
"If you insist" Lily shrugged. Zane continued to smile, hoping to look more confident than he felt. His stomach churned as he thought of the Onix he'd encountered within a minute of leaving the vault, not to mention the other two Pokemon. He wanted to explore the wasteland, fight and capture these creatures, for the sake of the dreams that had been snatched away from all of his fellow vault dwellers, he owed it to Violet to live his life to its fullest, so why was he breaking out in a sweat, why were his hands shaking just thinking about leaving the safety of Megaton?
"We still have a few hours left in the day Zane and there a few things we need to do before the shops all close". Zane snapped back to reality, Lily was counting what appeared to be paper money while packing a bag.
"Where are we off to?"
Lily zipped her bag up and started to leave, "Clothing store and saloon, come on". Zane hurriedly shuffled out of bed and limped after her. They made their way back up the hallway and into the main laboratory of the Oak residence. "Goodbye Liliana!" A random scientist called out. Lily mumbled a reply and strode out the door, Zane struggling to keep up with her pace.
"Aah so, do you always have a spare bed in your room in case outcasts turn up at Megaton?" Zane panted desperately; hopefully a conversation would make her slow down a little. Lily shook her head, "That bed was taken up until today by my brother".
"Your brother? ...Blue or Aaron?"
"Blue".
"Oh...he's a real charmer".
Lily cocked her eyebrow at him, "yeah and you were in the same room as him for about 30 seconds, I grew up with that!" Zane laughed; maybe this explained her largely cool demeanour, someone easily flustered probably wouldn't last a minute with Blue.
After a few seconds of silence Lily glanced back at him curiously, "How come you didn't consider Gold?"
"Oh nothing clever, I bumped into him just as I was leaving the infirmary while he was rushing to the lab; I just assumed then that he didn't live there".
"That's an interesting assumption to make" Lily replied unfathomably, returning her gaze forwards. Their walk took them back down the slope and into town, on second observation Zane noted that despite the dilapidated nature of the housing, they all provided sufficient sheltering from the rain at least; the roofing everywhere seemed to be much newer than the walls and doors.
"Here we are" Lily beckoned to a slightly larger wooden house that read CLOTHES in striking white paint, though peeling in places. Well, at least it doesn't mess about, Zane thought, as they entered inside. A small bell tinkled as they opened the door, signalling their arrival to the shopkeeper, already preoccupied with another shopper.
"Liliana!"
Zane stared as a giant of a man, his dark skinned frame nearly touching the roof, abandoned the shopkeeper and lumbered across the room towards them.
"Oh Mr. Simms, what are you doing here?" Lily stuck out her hand to shake but the man swooped down and picked her up in a tight embrace.
"Oh look at you, all grown up, you know I remember the time-"
"Mr. Simms, please, I can't breath-"
"Woops, sorry there Liliana, guess I just don't know my own strength" he chuckled. "And who might this be?" His attention turned to Zane.
"Uh..." Zane began, the words wouldn't come out, this man towered over him, was he a mutation?
"This is Zane...from the vault" she added in a hushed tone.
"Ah yes, I should've guessed, welcome to Megaton Zane, I'm the Sheriff round these parts, Lucas Simms, but you can just call me Lucas" he chuckled again, winking at Lily. "No mister required".
"Y-yes, of course...Mr. Simms" Zane stammered.
Simms let out a booming laugh, "well, I tried my best".
"Excuse me sir, your hat".
The shopkeeper walked out of the corner of the dimly lit room and presented Simms with a large cowboy hat, which he put on immediately.
"Now that's better ain't it?" He reached into the pocket of his duster and produced a large wad of money, tossing it at the shopkeeper. "It's all there, don't you worry mate, Liliana, Zane". He tipped his hat and strode out into the sunlight.
"What can I do for you now Miss?"
"This guy here", Lily dragged Zane in front of her by the ear, "desperately needs some new clothing, I'd say, one casual set and one wastelander set, thank you".
"Hey! I do need some harder wear for roaming the wastes, but what's wrong with the casual clothes I have on now?" Lily looked Zane up and down and sighed deeply.
"Where to begin? You're wearing a paper-thin, baby blue, vault-issue, bottom of the barrel, shredded to pieces, jumpsuit! It smells, it's faded, I think I can see blood stains on it; you're a slob for even thinking about keeping it".
"Yeah, but its only casual clothing right?"
"And" Lily continued, "I'm sure you don't want to draw any more attention to yourself than needed. We have many strangers that travel through these parts, what declares that you're different from the rest to the townsfolk is your vault suit...now stop complaining and choose some clothes!"
"Ok ok". Zane wandered reluctantly over to a section of clothing and sheepishly picked out the first item he saw. "Is this ok?"
"No"
"You didn't even look!"
"Yeah and neither did you, try again".
Zane muttered under his breath and flicked through the clothing on the rack, I'm looking for something comfortable, average looking, probably not something white... Zane pondered for a few moments while Lily breathed down his neck to make sure he was contemplating his choice.
"What about this then?" Zane produced a pair of blue jeans and a plain black t-shirt. "Does this pass the normality test?"
Lily sighed, "If anything they're probably a bit too clean, isn't there anything a bit more roughed up?"
Zane looked again and produced an identical pair of jeans except it had a few cuts down the right leg and was frayed at the bottom.
"Perfect!"
Zane sighed in relief, "And the wasteland clothes?"
"I got that covered. Excuse me Mr. Sullivan, just the wasteland regulars in his size please".
"Right away Ma'am", the shopkeeper ushered Lily over to the counter and picked up a bundle sitting beneath it. "They're selling faster these days, everyone wants to go out and catch a Pokemon for themselves...I remember when interaction with the abominations was taboo...that'll be $60,000 please".
"Is that really ok? Zane questioned worriedly as Lily tossed the shopkeeper two bundles of notes.
"Yeah it's fine, uh, long story short: inflation".
"Oh ok, thank you!"
"Don't mention it"
Zane awkwardly changed into his new jeans and t-shirt and exited the store with Lily. "You're bandaging is secure right? I don't want you bleeding all over the clothes I just bought you"
"Yeah yeah, don't worry I'll pay you back for them one day, saloon now?"
"Mm, I'll introduce you to some of the more distinguished Megaton residents, being a friend of the Professor is a good way to start making friends and losing the 'vault' tag. Then we'll drag that old coot back to the lab so he can finish the latest update for the Pokedex database".
They trekked through another section of Megaton now, passing the site of the unexploded bomb at a distance, a group of 20 or so still huddled around the preacher. Lily looked up at the faint noise of the sermon, but looked away indifferently when she located its source. "Have you met them already?" Lily asked Zane, noticing he couldn't help but observe what they were doing.
"Yeah with Rose, they tried to make me drink that water"
Lily shuddered and kept walking away from the site, Zane trailing behind her, still struggling on the crutches.
"Is it really alright for me to meet people so soon? I thought you didn't want me being noticed as the guy from the vault?"
"This is why I'm introducing you now, better to befriend them and be a familiar face when they catch on that you were the vault refugee rather than when you're complete stranger to them, bad things are happening at the moment and anything 'new' isn't exactly welcome".
Zane said nothing, for every kind person he'd met here; the perception that the town would reject him had only been reinforced. Where were all these prejudiced townsfolk that people kept referring to?
"And here we are, Moriarty's Saloon, the only saloon in the entire South West". The path of houses they'd been walking along opened up to reveal large shabby building with what looked vaguely like bison grazing around the side.
"Are they...?"
"Yep" Lily took her Pokedex out of the bag and flipped it open, aligning it with the Pokemon in front of her as if she was taking a photo, and pressed a small button on the top. The screen on the Pokedex lit up as a camera on the front began scanning its surroundings. After a few seconds a detailed picture of the Pokemon appeared on the screen with a prompt to 'access data'. Lily pressed another button next to the screen, and a recording by the Professor began to play:
"Tauros, normal type Pokemon, found commonly throughout the continent, with extremely large herds dwelling in the centre plains. Mild mannered and peaceful on the surface, its rage and ferocity knows no bounds when it is provoked. A popular new-age food source as an A-grade clean meat".
Another prompt flashed up on the screen, asking if further information was required, Lily pressed the button to confirm:
"A rampaging herd in the open fields provides a near certain outcome of death, recommendation to tackle singularly or from a strategic vantage point. Its horns and hooves are easily capable of breaking both human and Pokemon bones; a sneak attack on the legs would glean the best results in combat, although any captured Pokemon with sufficient armouring shouldn't have a problem dealing with Tauros' relatively low pain threshold".
Another prompt appeared on the screen but Lily closed her Pokedex and put it back in her bag. "It's just nutritional stuff about the meat, you wouldn't be interested".
"Can I go near them?" Zane had especially liked the part about them being mild mannered.
"Yeah, maybe don't touch them for now though, you're beat up enough as is".
Zane moved slowly closer to the Tauros and one turned away from him, Zane noticing that each had three tails rapidly flicking through the air.
"We don't actually have all day..."
"Oh r-right, yeah"
Zane froze on the spot for a moment, but then decided he'd inspect them up close another time and tailed Lily into the saloon.