Kat laughed even more at Victor yelling after her. I shook my head but took off after them, laughing with Kat. We raced out of the ruins like that, Kat leading the way and Victor and I in a head-to-head race for second place. He was having problems balancing Serotonin in his arms and I could hear him muttering quietly under his breath.
However, the one-day old baby was trilling happily, waving his arms in the air and clearly enjoying the speed. I wonder if Kat and I had something to do with that, running everywhere when we'd first gotten his egg.
We ran through the guard house, receiving strange looks from the attendants as we passed. Outside the house, there was a short packed-dirt road that ended abruptly into grass. This route didn't seem as well maintained as the other ones' I'd seen. The trees encircled the route, pushing in so close that I would have almost called it a forest.
Kat continued to race onward, leaving Victor and I to catch up. I took notice that cliffs and plateaus rose up on either side of the trail, and the ground became slightly uneven and rocky.
"Hold it!" A raspy bellow came from the woods on the left of us, causing me to jump, misstep and almost fall. I recovered quickly, standing in a ready stance. Kat dropped into a defensive crouch, facing in the direction of the yell, her, Kaitou and Hayai ready for an attack. Victor gave a short cry and lurched, but managed to stop just before he barreled into Kat.
"Who's there? Come out of the woods." Shimmer was in a ready-stance, prepared for an attack. An old man walked out of the woods, hands held up in a peaceful sign. About 50 years old, with crazily spiked white hair and dark clothes.
"Whoa, calm down sonny. Didn't mean to scare you, but this route has become dangerous of late, especially for kids. I can't let you through."
"Don't worry. We can take care of ourselves." Kat grinned and showed the badge pinned to her coat. "So, we'll be going now, okay?"
The old man shook his head. "Normally, that'd be all well and good. But there've been a lot of strange things happening in the canyon ahead, recently. So, I'm sorry but I can't let you pass." He waved at the path ahead with a hand, which I noticed was severely arthritic. The fingers were long and crooked, almost like claws.
"Listen, we're fine. Look, I have a badge too." Victor pulled out a case and flipped it open, showing the Zephyr Badge. Kat looked at me expectantly. I sighed and pulled out my own Badge case. Victor's eyes widened, seeing the filled case.
"My goodness! Eight badges!" The old man gave a low, impressed chuckle. "You must be quite the trainer.
I shrugged. "I guess. You said that there have been strange things happening, right? Like what? And when did it start?" A troubled look passed over his face.
"Well, it was about a week ago. The canyon started feeling different. It was like a presence had moved in all of a sudden. Trainers have started disappearing. On top of that, Pokemon started popping up left and right, one's that definitely don't belong here. Dark types appearing in the middle of the day and Ghosts, too. And then there's that one Pokemon…a very odd looking creature. Purple skin, with claws and gems for eyes. It's like nothing I've ever seen before."
"I never heard of a Pokemon like that before." Victor admitted. Kat nodded an agreement.
"I have." Victor, Kat and the old man looked at me. "It sounds like a Sableye, a Ghost/Dark type from Hoenn. I can't think of what it'd be doing here."
"Who knows? Maybe another abandoned Pokemon. Either way, it explains why there are Ghost and Dark Pokemon appearing suddenly." Victor commented. "Well, old man, thanks for your concern. We'll be on guard and keep our eyes open."
Victor walked away, up the path towards the canyon. Kat and I followed, leaving the old man sputtering.
We started to walk off, and I turned back to thank him for his concern. My breath caught in my chest. There was no one there. Not even an impression in the grass where he'd stood. A chill so cold went through me like I'd been dropped in ice water.
I fell in step behind Kat and Victor, Shimmer by my side. I decided not to bring it up to them, but kept my eyes open and watching. The old man, who- or whatever he was, was right about one thing. There was something very wrong here.
It wasn't long before the mouth of the canyon was visible. I noticed there were no trainers in the area, but the atmosphere was heavy and tense, almost predatory. It sent more shivers up my spine. Victor was picking his way carefully over the ground, trying not to jostle the baby too much. However, Serotonin started squirming in his arms, trilling loudly. Victor jerked in surprise. "What? What's the matter with him?"
Kat looked at the little baby for a minute. "He's just tired. Babies sleep a lot when they're first born." She grinned suddenly. "Try singing him a lullaby. That'll put him to sleep fast enough."
"What? I'm not singing him to sleep!" Serotonin started crying louder, causing Victor to wince. He tried to 'shush' him, but that only made the poor baby cry even more.
"Victor, you're going to have to do something or he won't stop crying." Kat scolded. Victor tried to glare at her, but with a baby crying in his arms he didn't look particularly intimidating. Kat snorted, obviously our minds on the same thought.
"Just hum and rock him. You don't have to sing, just something that has a somewhat soothing melody." I advised him.
"Can't I just put him in his Pokeball?" I would have said Victor's voice was almost a whine. Kat just glared at him, telling him without words exactly what she thought of that idea.
He gave a look that was half glare and half grimace, but started gently rocking Serotonin back and forth, humming under his breath. After a minute, Serotonin stopped fussing and started dozing off. Victor looked so uncomfortable with the whole situation that I had to look away to cover my laughter.
Kat seemed to find it just as amusing and didn't bother to hide it, giggling though she kept it quiet enough to not bother Serotonin's nap. Frankly, I was surprised that she could be so happy and amused after having to give up a Pokemon that was supposed to have been hers. I can honestly say that I would have been extremely upset, if not down right angry.
It wasn't long before the gorge rose up right in front of us. It looked like any other canyon I'd seen: golden yellow stone, rising about 60 or 70 feet above our heads, the floor a mix of sand and pebbles. But again, there was the heavy air hovering through the chasm. And I wasn't the only one who noticed.
Kaitou jumped up onto Kat's shoulder again, curling around her neck, eyes shifting warily. Shimmer's walk changed from relaxed to guarded. The fact that he could sense the aura more acutely than the rest of us made him all the more on edge. Serotonin was, luckily, asleep; he felt perfectly safe in the arms of his 'mama'. Hayai walked closer to Kat, ears perked and eyes shifting. Seeing the Pokemon so uncomfortable didn't put me at ease at all.
The whole thing didn't really lend itself to light-hearted conversation or really any conversation at all. Walking into the valley, the sunlight didn't reach the bottom of the ravine, leaving shadows to fall over us. It was also several degrees cooler than it should have been. I could easily believe that there was two or three dozen ghosts hanging around.
"Anyone else think there's something wrong with this whole area?" Victor inquired softly. I nodded.
"It feels like there's something watching us." Hair on the back of my neck stood up, the silence was oppressive and my shoulders tensed to the point of pain. Finally, I just couldn't take it anymore and grabbed one of the Pokeballs from my belt. "Chaos, come out." A flash of red light and the white and black Pokemon was facing me, waiting for an explanation. "Chaos, keep an eye out for anything unusual, alright? There's something not right about this place."
"Absol." With Chaos and Shimmer, both very experienced battlers and used to being on look-out, I felt much better. What's more, they had certain abilities that made them more likely to sense something that other Pokemon wouldn't, and faster too.
Chaos took point while Shimmer brought up the rear; I took left side and Hayai flanked on the right leaving Kat and Victor, or more importantly Victor and Serotonin, in the middle. I also kept one hand on Tsuki's Pokeball. With the feel of the area, the old man's warning, and the disappearance of the man himself, I was taking no chances.
As we moved deeper into the canyon, I noticed several shadows that seemed deeper and darker than they should have been. One seemed to be shaking slightly and I focused on it, waiting to see if it would move.
"-enri. Henri. Henri!" A sharp tug across my chest and on my neck as my bag became a leash that almost toppled me backwards. "Seriously, Henri! Pay attention, would you?" Kat gave another sharp tug on the bag. "Look over there." She pointed ahead of us, a little to the left.
At first, I didn't know what she was trying to point out. All I saw was rocks and more shadows. A sudden gleam in one of the darker shadows caught my eye, drawing it to the crouched shape in between the rocks. Once I saw it, the shadows seemed to melt off and I could clearly see the Sableye, peeking from behind the stones, with gemstone eyes and a wickedly sharp smile.
"The Sableye!" Victor exclaimed. The bejeweled Pokemon's grin grew even wider and it jumped out from behind the boulders into the open. It was thin and crouched over and the blue crystal eyes gleamed in the semi-twilight of the canyon.
"Joule! I need you!" Victor didn't even bother to keep his voice down, releasing the Electabuzz confidently.
"Victor! What are you doing?" Kat tried to keep her voice down, for Serotonin's sake, but that was something she seemed to have trouble with when she was angry. However, Victor didn't seem to have the sense of self-preservation that most intelligent humans did; he ignored her.
"Joule, use Shock Wave!" The electric Pokemon obeyed immediately, sending several waves of electricity towards the imp-like Pokemon…which promptly melted back into the shadows. I just barely managed to track the darkness as it flitted across the ground to appear right behind Joule.
"Again!" He yelled, which would have been a fine move because at close range it would have done a lot of damage. But Joule had to turn around to use the attack and when the Sableye jumped up, using Joule as a springboard and literally vaulting over her back into its' original place, she had already unleashed her attack…directly at us.
Kaitou and Hayai guarded Kat, protecting her from the attack. Kaitou used Thunder Punch to draw the electricity to his fisted paw and then run it harmlessly into the ground, not one spark straying anywhere near Kat.
"Shimmer! Chaos!" I could only be happy that my Pokemon understood me as well as they did and could anticipate orders. Before I could finish calling their names, both were moving.
Shimmer moved in front of Victor and used a version of Aura Sphere that we had perfected for situations like this. Instead of creating a ball of Aura and blasting it towards the foe, Shimmer shaped a circular shield and used the spiraling energy to deflect attacks. Chaos created a second barrier of defense between the attack and Serotonin by physically putting himself between Shimmer and Victor.
However that left me with no protection, whatsoever. I dodged to the left to avoid the attack, but a stray bolt managed to get me in the right shoulder, which went almost instantly numb. I had to give Victor credit for having such a powerfully trained Pokemon.
Victor cursed at loosing sight of the rare Pokemon but didn't push Shimmer or Chaos out of the way. When everything died down, I saw Victor desperately searching for Sableye.
"Beyeyeyeye." The laugh came from the left. Looking up, I could see it on a small ledge, just above our heads, laughing into its' hands. It clearly enjoyed watching the chaos it caused.
"Joule! We're going after it!" Victor ran up to me and shoved Serotonin into my arms, rudely wakening the baby and causing him to start wailing. "Here! It's not safe right now." He then took off after the dark Pokemon. At the cliff face, he wrapped his arms around Joules' shoulders, clinging to her as she jumped and followed the Sableye up the cliff.
"Victor!" Kat yelled after him, clearly infuriated. I didn't bother yelling after him. Instead I shook off the paralysis in my arm. Serotonin was crying fiercely and in an effort to make him stop, I dug out the Soothe Bell Mr. Pokemon had given me and looped it around the Egg Pokemon's neck. The musical chiming of the bell seemed to distract him from his crying, luckily, but he still wasn't happy.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the shadow I'd been watching earlier darken and solidify. It was a Haunter. The expression on its face was dark and truly terrifying. Behind it a Gastly and Misdreavus materialize. A quick scan to my other side showed another Gastly and a Gengar, about 30 yards away and closing in. Ghosts in the middle of the day, just as the old man had said, and we were surrounded.
"Chaos, Kat. Shimmer, with me." I motioned Kat over to me and deposited Serotonin into her arms, much to her shock. Thankfully, Serotonin didn't make too much of a fuss about it, but he did spend most of the last week in Kat's arms, anyway.
"Henri? What are you doing?" I 'shushed' her with a gesture. She glared at me.
"Take Kaitou and get on Chaos, now. We're following Victor's example." A look and I saw that the Ghost-types were only 20 yards from us.
"How can you say that? I'm not going to do that, not with Serotonin here. That's seriously dangerous." She snapped at me. 15 yards.
"Well it's not going to be any safer down here, if they have any say about it." I waved my hand at the ghosts behind her. Any other time, I would have laughed at the expression on her face but right now I was trying to keep us out of danger. "We need to go, now." She nodded and unceremoniously scrambled onto Chaos' back, Kaitou on her shoulders. Hayai, however, growled at the Ghosts, challenging them.
"Hayai! Return!" Kat forced the brave fire-dog back into her Pokeball.
"Chaos, go, now!" I ordered the Dark-type, wanting to get the baby out of harms way as fast as possible. He quickly followed Joule's footsteps up the side of the cliff, surefooted and confident.
I waited until they reached the top before following with Shimmer. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders, same as Victor, and with a sudden jolt we were scaling the cliff. This wasn't the first time I've had to do this and if you weren't prepared for the shock, you could easily dislocate your shoulders.
As Shimmer climbed, I looked down to see if the ghosts were following. Luckily, they weren't. In fact, the Haunter was surrounded by the other ghosts, unable to escape. As I watched, the Haunter attacked. It missed, and the other ghosts closed in. Out of the corner of my eye, one more shadow started moving. Before I could make out what it was beyond blond hair and a flash of violet, Shimmer gave one more giant leap and we cleared the edge of the cliff.
At the top of the plateau, Kat had already slid off of Chaos' back. She looked a little green, not surprisingly. Riding on a Pokemon is something of an acquired talent and scaling a cliff wall wasn't ideal for a first experience.
A quick survey of the area proved that the top of the plateau was even rockier than the ground. Victor was over on the other edge, still battling the Sableye but he now had his Larvitar out. It was 2 against one, one on either side of the Darkness Pokemon, and they still couldn't land one hit on it, though Victor seemed to be calling out just about every combination of attacks that he could think of.
Picking our way across to Victor was a little harder than it looked, the small shifting rocks promising sprained and twisted ankles if we misstep. Just as we got close to him and, consequently, the edge of the cliff that overlooked the sea and a bed of jagged rocks, Victor called out another attack.
"Aftershock! Use Iron Head!" The small green Larvitar glowed white and rushed its' foe. This time I couldn't even track the Sableye as it dodged and disappeared. Aftershock smashed straight into a jutting rock. There was a sickening crack; a large series of fractures appeared, radiating from the stone; the earth shifted a fraction of an inch.
There was a moment of silence. Then the ground underneath us crumbled away, and we fell.
"Ahhhhh!" Multiple cries of fear, the sound of rocks crashing into each other, it was terrifying. Stones flew all around, digging into my back; one stone caught me across the cheek. I couldn't catch more than glimpses of Kat or Victor, and I couldn't see Shimmer or Chaos at all. We were rushing towards the water and jagged rocks, and there was no way to stop. But maybe…
I grabbed a Pokeball from my belt, releasing Tsuki.
"Tsuki! Use Surf!"
Immediately, I heard the rushing of water. Looking down, I saw the tide rising rapidly, creating a huge wave. Wrapping my arms around Tsuki's neck, I swung myself onto her back and clung like a burr, bracing for the collision.
Cold water swirled around us as Tsuki dived into the wave, rocks falling everywhere. It was disorienting and I trusted Tsuki to get us to safety. She weaved in and out of the rocks, swimming as fast as she could away from the cliffs, surfacing every so often.
After what felt like an eternity, Tsuki breached the surface and didn't dive back down. Looking around, all I saw was the sea. There was a thin line of golden brown that I think was the cliffs, but I couldn't be sure. Other than that, and a few grey rocks off to left, there wasn't anything else. No Kat or Victor. No Chaos; no Shimmer.
A surge of worry rushed through me. With Kat's arms as burned as they were, it would make it a torture to try to swim in the salt water. On top of that, there was no telling if they'd been hit with falling rocks. Either of them could have a concussion, broken bones…there were any number of injuries that a rock slide could cause. The possibility of drowning was very real as well.
"You're gonna end up hyperventilating, carrying on like that." I whipped my head around and saw a girl sitting on one of the gray rocks. Pink hair, wet and pulled into a loose ponytail; blue eyes, bright with amusement; sky blue and black outfit, also wet. How had I not seen her there? Tsuki swam up to the rock. There was barely room for one on it, so I stayed on Tsuki's back.
"You were worrying about your friends, right? They're fine." She waved her hand at the cliffs. A bunch of questions came to mind and I just asked them as I thought them.
"Who are you? What do you mean? How do you know that?" She gave a short laugh.
"Micah Steele, I mean they're fine, and because I was watching. That answers all your questions, I believe." I nodded reluctantly.
"I'm Henri. How were you watchi-" She brandished a pair of binoculars in my face. I made out the brand of 'Devon Co.' on the top. I racked my brain before remembering that "Devon" was a major corporation in Hoenn.
"High-powered binoculars." She pushed them at my chest, and I had to grab them or risk them falling into the ocean. "Look 15° North-west, max zoom."
I quickly followed the directions and saw, with perfect clarity, Victor and Kat with all the Pokemon. Even from this far, I could see Kat berating Victor over something or another and that made me laugh. They were sitting, obviously worn out, on a wooden dock of some kind. Shimmer and Chaos, both sopping wet and none to happy about that fact, were pacing around, looking for me. Monsoon sat, scaled skin gleaming, next to Victor; he looked like he wanted to protect his trainer from the white-haired girl's wrath, but was coming up short. All in all, everyone was fine. I sighed in relief and gave the binoculars back. Then a thought came to me.
"Why were you watching us?" I looked at Micah suspiciously. She didn't look dangerous, but then looks could be deceiving. Take Kat for example. Micah caught my look and started laughing.
"Don't flatter yourself. I wasn't watching you. I've been staking out the area, trying to figure out what's been going on recently." She glanced up at the sky. "It's going to get dark soon. There's a Pokemon Center about 3 miles that way." Waving her hand off the south. "You should grab your friends and head that way as soon as possible. You don't want to be caught out at night right now."
She stood up and stretched, allowing me to see the rest of her clothes. Black waist jacket covered a sky blue tank-top, black shorts with blue stripes on the side, black hiking boots, blue belt which held 4 Pokeballs, and what looked like a grappling hook.
"Do you need a ride back to shore?" Manners ingrained in me from a young age made me ask. But she was shaking her head before I even finished my offer.
"Thanks, but no. I can take care of myself." I wondered if she was going to swim back to shore. I didn't have the chance to wonder long, as she let out a shrill whistle. Instantly, a Pokemon rose from the water. Skin as blue as the water, flat with an easy 6'ft wing span, the Mantyke zipped happily back and forth through the waves.
"Come on, Tinni. Time to go." Micah climbed carefully onto the Kite Pokemon's back, kneeling. The baby stayed still only long enough for its' trainer to climb on. Once it was sure that Micah wouldn't be dislodged, it zoomed away, off in the direction that its trainer indicated.
"Come on, Tsuki. Let's get the others." An echo of Micah's words, I noted humorously. I pat Tsuki's neck affectionately, noting how her scales gleamed in the failing sunlight. She sang a few happy notes and started swimming towards the wooden docks I'd seen Kat and Victor on.
Even without the help of a wave behind us, Tsuki was able to reach the docks in about 10 minutes. Shimmer was, of course, the first to notice my approach. After 9 years as partners, he was finely tuned to my presence. He called out happily, distracting Kat from scolding Victor, who was again holding a sleeping Serotonin. She grinned, with a good deal amount of relief, and waved.
"Henri! You're okay!" I nodded, jumping off of Tsuki's back as soon as the dock was close enough.
"Yeah, thanks to Tsuki. She's the one that got me out of there safely. Why are you yelling at Victor, Kat?" I asked. Even though I was fairly sure of the answer, Victor seemed a little too relieved that Kat was distracted, and that was just no good. The question caused her to round on the black-haired boy again.
"We've been discussing his fitness as the parent of a baby Pokemon, haven't we?" Kat's glare intensified as she spoke. Victor stood defensively but he didn't look her in the eye, indicating that he knew he was in the wrong.
"Ah, I believe that I have a few things to say on that matter as well." Victor bristled at that and glared at me. I noted that he had no problem meeting my eye.
"Well don't! I'm fairly sure I've heard it already, all right?" Kat growled at him, but I cut her off. I spoke with chilled, quiet voice that wouldn't disturb Serotonin.
"No, it's not alright. Because I know that you haven't heard what I have to say, and you will listen." I stepped forward, using what little height advantage I had on him to my benefit.
"I may not know much about new-born baby Pokemon, but I know enough about Pokemon in general to know that your actions this afternoon was beyond mistreatment. Serotonin will only evolve and grow stronger if he feels that he can trust you. That will never happen if he thinks that you'll causally toss him aside whenever it is convenient for you. In fact, it will undermine his confidence so badly that he could fall into depression. If I even think that will be the case, I'm telling you now; I have no problems forcing you to give him right back to Kat. It would be a lot better for him than to have to deal with that kind of systematic neglect. Understood?" Victor nodded, slightly pale and clutching Serotonin to his chest.
I wasn't blind. I remember the way Victor had carefully tucked the baby in just the night before. In the ruins, despite his desire to find rare Pokemon, he had been extremely cautious, taking care to pick his way though the ruins so he didn't jostle the Togepi. Even earlier, placing Serotonin with me was just his way of getting the baby out of a potentially dangerous situation. Even in such a short period of time, Victor had grown to care about the baby Pokemon as any parent would. Now made aware of the possible effects of his actions, I honestly thought he'd be excellent at raising Serotonin, just as long as he was willing to listen to helpful and well-meaning advice.
"Good." I stepped back and caught sight of Kat's face. It was torn between shock, satisfaction, and amusement, which told me that I probably wasn't nearly as intimidating as I was trying to be. Kaitou jumped onto her shoulders, curling around her neck. A flicker of pain passes through her eyes, and I saw how her arms tensed.
"Let's get your bandages changed, Kat. Then we need to head to the Pokemon Center." I dug in my bag, thanking Arceus that it was water-resistant, pulling out fresh bandages and bottles of water. Victor looked at me, while Kat held her arms out.
"There's a Pokemon Center around here?" I nodded at his question, pulling the soaked bandages off of her arms. With the water, I gently washed the remains of the salve away. The skin was still exceedingly red, but it did seem like it had done some good. I pulled out more Rawst berries and some leaves that the Head Sage gave me, giving them to Shimmer to mix.
"The Center is about 3 miles that way." I pointed south. "We should get there in about a half-hour." I quickly wrapped her arms as soon as Shimmer applied the paste. "We'll have to change your bandages frequently, Kat. It doesn't do any good for you to get an infection from dirty bandages." She nodded, but glared at her arms anyway. I knew she didn't like the way the bandages restricted her movements.
"Well, we better get to that Pokemon Center. That's enough excitement for one day." Victor announced, returning Monsoon to his Pokeball. I nodded, packed my things, and returned Tsuki and Chaos both to their Pokeballs as well. And we headed off.
I had estimated that we would reach the Center in a half-hour. In fact, it barely took 15 minutes. The dock, which I realize was more of a bridge for fishermen, ended directly behind the Pokemon Center, though most of the building was concealed by the surrounding trees. Only its red roof was visible above the tree-line.
Inside the Pokemon Center the mood was rather subdued. There were a few trainers scattered around the lobby with their Pokemon, wary and on guard. Voices were hushed and quiet, rarely getting to normal speaking tones. Nurse Joy weaved in and out of everyone, tending to them and offering kind words to trainer and Pokemon alike. I did notice that she looked at the clock often, but then, Micah had said that it was a bad idea to be caught outside at night, and sunset wasn't far off.
"Hey, blue-hair! Henri! Over here!" Micah's already familiar voice called over the noise of the other trainers. She was sitting in a spacious cushioned alcove, surrounded by her Pokemon. There was Tinni, in addition to a Bayleef, a Flaafy, and a Pidgeotto. The pink haired girl waved us over, and I saw no reason not to join her. She grinned.
"I was starting to wonder if you'd make it. These are your friends?" She looked at Kat and Victor, and Shimmer and Kaitou.
"Yes. Micah, this is Kat, Victor and my partner Shimmer. Guys, this is Micah Steele. She's the one that told me about the Pokemon Center." Kat smiled, looking at Micah's Pokemon. The Bayleef squealed, rushing at Kat for attention.
"You're the one who chose Chikorita the same day Victor got his Totodile. I remember you were standing outside the lab before dawn." Micah looked closely at Kat and then laughed.
"Oh! You're Prof. Elm's assistant. I thought I'd seen you from somewhere. Chika is still as over-active as ever, as you can see. This happy girl is Tinni. Hawkin is the hypervigilant Pidgeotto and Pharos is the lazy Flaafy over there." Each Pokemon came over at the sound of their name, introducing its self to us. Pharos held out a paw to me and I shook it, grinning at the very laid-back air he exuded.
Nurse Joy walked over to us. She didn't look well; with dark circles under her eyes and pale skin, she looked exhausted. Nonetheless, she gave a welcoming smile.
"Hello there. I'm glad you've made it here safely. Micah told me to expect three more trainers, but she couldn't tell me how many Pokemon there would be. Still, I've prepared a late dinner for you all, if you'll just follow me."
My stomach growled, reminding me that we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Glancing at the others' faces, I could tell they were just as hungry. Micah looked just as hungry. I guess she must have been out on that rock all day or at least most of the afternoon. We followed Nurse Joy through the Pokemon Center while Micah praised our guide.
"Nurse Joy is an amazing cook. She could be a professional chef if she wanted to be. It's like nothing you've ever tasted." Nurse Joy laughed lightly.
"You're over-exaggerating, Micah. It's true, I love to cook but I wouldn't give up being a nurse for anything. I love caring for Pokemon even more."
The room that Nurse Joy led us to was roughly the size of the lobby, a long rectangle. It had a small kitchen in the back of the room, while tables filled the remaining floor space. A Blissey scurried back and forth through the kitchen grabbing plates, utensils and other necessary dining implements.
I could smell the rich scent of miso soup, combining with the spice of a curry and it made my mouth water. On top of what I could smell, I saw fruit, salad, a pitcher of iced tea, a pot of hot water for hot tea, and lemonade.
We release our Pokemon. I scooped Kyun up immediately. It would be night soon and then Kyun would be lost to the world. He would be the first one I'd be tending to tonight. Meanwhile, Uebu and Denka inspected Hayai, before welcoming the fiery puppy with smiles and cheers. Tsuki, Kyun, Aluriel and Drake also studied her, before settling down besides Kat's and Micah's Pokemon, enjoying the company of new friends.
My Pokemon seemed to have no problem accepting each new addition, as our group continued to grow. I watched Chika run up to Monsoon, excitedly. She seemed to have no fear of the moody Croconaw but then, they were raised together at Prof. Elm's lab, so I guess it was only natural.
It took a while, but we managed to get all 14 of our Pokemon settled down and fed. I felt a surge of approval, seeing Micah putting her team as first priority as well.
Just as I was about to sit down to my own food, I caught Kat trying to 'sneak' Shimmer tea again. I grinned. She'd been doing it off and on the entire trip, whenever she thought I wasn't looking. This time, I figured I wouldn't let it pass.
"Kat." I made my voice out to be scolding, and schooled my expression to one of disapproval. She jumped, and a look of something vaguely like guilt crossed her face. I shook my head, grinning, and handed her a tin. "Use this instead. It's a Coba-Starf Berry blend. It's his favorite." She blinked a few times, gave a sheepish smile and took the tin.
Dinner was wonderful. The food was every bit as delicious as Micah had bragged, and I was helping all my Pokemon and myself to seconds and thirds. It was, however, not a quiet affair. Kaitou seemed to have discovered a new game of swiping the other Pokemon's food as well as the people. Now, with most of the Pokemon, it wasn't such a big deal. They knew that Kaitou was just playing, and they weren't bothered. Things were fairly calm; until Kaitou tried to take Aftershock's food. The little Larvitar took huge offense to that, and started to chase the thief. Both Kat and Victor were trying to get their respective Pokemon settled down, though they weren't having much luck of it. I pulled out some Poffin treats, and started bribing Kaitou.
"Kaitou, if you calm down and leave Aftershock's food alone, I'll give you these Poffin." I barely had time to react as the little normal type climbed up me, and swiped the little pastries from my hand. He was gone in the flick of a tail, back on the floor.
We watched as Kaitou bounded over to Aftershock. Before the Larvitar could decide to try to attack him again, Kaitou offered him several of the Poffin. Aftershock watched him dubiously, before taking them. There seemed to be a bit of a truce between them as they sat together, polishing off the rest of the Poffin.
"Is it always this crazy?" Micah laughed. Kat grinned.
"Oh this is pretty calm, actually." Kat glanced at me. "You really shouldn't reward him for causing trouble, Henri." I smiled.
"I don't think it's a big deal. Besides, he likes my cooking, so he's okay in my book." She snorted. A sudden thought occurred to me and I looked at Micah. "Micah, you said you were staking out the canyon, right? Did you find out anything?" She nodded.
"Yeah. Roughly 6 days ago, when I first passed through the canyon, I heard noises." I tried to say something, but was cut off. "Not Pokemon noises. Machinery, people's voices, construction. I thought it was really odd, seeing as there wasn't anyone else in sight. Unfortunately, when I tried close-up investigation, I got chased away by a flock of Murkrow. So I started watching from afar. That rock you found me on gave me the best vantage point. I saw people, dressed in black, setting up some kind of device. Small, boxy; it had an unfinished look to it, a lot of wires sticking out everywhere. It did have the Silph logo on it. Whatever it was, once it was turned on, that's when the ghosts started showing up. More and more everyday, until it was a swarm. Then, sometime yesterday morning, they all packed up and left. Not a single one stayed behind to deal with all the ghosts. Careless scientists, if you ask me." Victor nodded.
"It does make sense, though. Silph has been known to do field testing on new devices. How else would they know if the thing works or not. And a device that can make Pokemon swarm? It would be so much easier to catch rare Pokemon that way. Pokemon swarm, for one reason or another. They disappear after a while, not such a big deal, really."
"Well, most people aren't very comfortable around ghosts." I glanced at Kat and Kaitou out of the corner of my eye. Kat caught me and stuck her tongue out. "I didn't think it was fantastic to be chased by that Haunter up a cliff." That threw Micah into a fit of giggles. Still, Victor was right. Swarms dissipated after a time, so there was no reason to worry.
The rest of the meal was rather peaceful, and night came on fast. We were all exhausted after such a long day. Nurse Joy helpfully showed us to one of the spare rooms, just down the hall from Micah.
Kat quickly made her floor-nest, curling up with Hayai at her side, Miki at her back, Uebu, Denka and Kaitou positioned in various places on top of her. Victor was giving Serotonin one last feeding for the night, while my Pokemon bedded down as well. I was about to do the same, but after scaling a cliff, then a rockslide causing me to fall into the ocean, I was filthy. So I took one wistful look at the bed, grabbed my spare clothes and headed of towards the showers, calling over my shoulder to inform Kat and Victor where I was going.
The shower itself only took me about 15 minutes or so, and I was walking back to our room before too much time had passed. I noticed that as somber as the Pokemon Center had been during the day, it became almost frightening at night. There was a current of anxiety running through the hallways. I wondered how long it'd been like this, but I could only think that it started the very same time that the canyon had been invaded by the same energy.
Voices carried through the still air, coming from the main lobby; Nurse Joy's and a man's. I headed toward the voices, keeping close to the wall. Peaking around the corner brought the man, or rather older teen, into view. Wild blond hair captured with a purple headband, a black sweater over white pants, with a red-tipped purple scarf completing his outfit. He had the air of strength and confidence combined with a honest, kind face and mysterious purple eyes.
"…it wasn't quite as successful as I would have liked, Nurse Joy. I had the Haunter surrounded, but there was a rockslide and it managed to get away. Even if I do capture it, I'm not sure how much of the problems is being caused by that one Pokemon alone. There's something else disturbing the ghosts." He looked out a window, as if the night had answers. "Something has to be stirring them up for them to be gathering like this. Still, I won't leave until I've dealt with that Haunter. It seems to be agitating the situation, if nothing else. " Nurse Joy seemed both worried and relieved at the teen's news.
"Well, no one's ever been able to determine the reason Pokemon swarm. Hopefully, it'll calm down soon. I trust you to take care of the ghosts, Morty. Once they're gone, people will start traveling through again…"
I crept back down the hall, towards our room. Nurse Joy obviously hadn't know that there was going to be scientists doing field experiments practically outside her Center. I didn't know if it was mandatory for such notifications to be sent out, but it seemed like a common courtesy to me. Still, Nurse Joy had taken actions, by calling in that Morty guy, to set everything right.
"I don't know, Shimmer. Things seem just a little too… I don't know, off about this whole thing. We're making an awful lot of assumpti-…"
It was then I noticed that Shimmer, who hadn't come to the bathroom with me, was walking quietly at my side. When had he shown up?
"Shimmer, what are you doing? Why aren't you with the others?"
I got a look for my questions.
"It's not like I'm going to get lost in the Pokemon Center, Shimmer. It would have been fine if you had stayed with everyone else. Ah, well, never mind. As I was saying, we're making an awful lot of assumptions about this whole thing. There's something off, but…" I shrugged helplessly.
My partner nodded in agreement, which always made me feel better. Shimmer was more aware of… well, everything. If he thought something was off, then I wasn't being paranoid. I was about to ask Shimmer what, exactly, he'd sensed from the canyon, but I stopped when an odd scent started wafting through the hall. The sweetness of it made me realize exactly what it was: Aromatherapy. I raced to our room and saw a dimming ray of yellow-green light from under the door.
'What in the world could have happened in a half-hour that Miki had to heal someone?'
Despite my worry and anxiety, I opened the door carefully; I didn't want to startle anyone into attacking. To my shock, there was…nothing. Everything was perfectly fine. The light was off and Kat and Victor were both asleep. Hayai and Chaos looked up at my entrance, and seeing that it was me and Shimmer, went back to sleep. Not a worry at all.
The anxiety fell away, replaced with exhaustion. All the weird happenings today had me freaking out over the littlest thing. The sweet scent of Aromatherapy filled the room, pleasant and not at all overpowering. In fact it was relaxing, taking away all the stress built up over the day. Bless Miki; this must have been her intention. Tomorrow, I was going to spoil the Leaf Pokemon rotten.
I picked my way though piles of Pokemon, taking care not to step on fins, tails, or paws. Scooping Kyun off my pillow, I collapsed on the bed and fell asleep in seconds.
I woke up tangled in blankets, with Kyun trilling in my ear. I could hear Victor and Kat already up and moving, along with the chorus of Pokemon noises as the fourteen of them woke as well. I struggled with my blanket for a minute or two while the other two laughed.
"Good morning, Henri." Kat couldn't keep the amusement out of her voice. Not, mind you, that she really tried, either.
"Morning, Kat." I cheered myself silently as I finally managed to kick free of the blanket trap. Shimmer handed me my glasses, allowing me to see more than just vague colors. Kat and Victor were both dressed and ready for the day, and I saw Kat scratching at her bandages. I sighed, and swatted her hands away from her arms.
"They'll scar if you scratch at them. Let's change them, but you can't go scratching them, Kat." I got out new bandages, berries, water and leaves.
"But they itch. And I can't hardly bend my elbow, either." I laughed at the tone in her voice and started unwrapping the bandages.
"And who was it that went after a fire-type? And who was it that said that it would be no problem, that Kaitou would help? You'll just have to deal until it gets bett…er?"
I grabbed Kat's arm, gently turning it this way and that. The pale blue paste was dried, flaking off bit by bit, and the bandages were slowly unraveling under my hands. But…there were no burns. None of the damage, which had been bright furious red just yesterday, remained.
"Henri? What-….hey! My arms are healed! Kaitou, look!" She showed her healed arms to all her Pokemon, celebrating. Victor came up, grabbing her arms, confirming what I'd already seen.
"But…but how is that possible?" Kat jerked her arms out of Victor's hands, and happily tore the rest of the bandages off, positively gleeful.
"When I came back to the room, Miki had used Aromatherapy. I could smell it." I packed up my medicine and bandages, as I obviously wasn't going to need it. Confusion warred with happiness that Kat wasn't hurt anymore. I settled for amused bewilderment.
"Miki! What a good girl!" Kat threw her arms around the Bayleef's neck. Victor still had a look of disbelief on his face.
"I didn't think that Pokemon healing moves worked on people." I nodded in agreement.
"Neither did I." Shrugging, I turned back to Kat. "Maybe you should go and wash that paste off, Kat." She grinned, rushing out the door with a great deal of enthusiasm. Her Pokemon, caught up in her excitement, trailed after her, cheering. As soon as she was out the door, I started changing into my travel clothes.
"Most other Pokemon moves can be used on humans. Sing, Confusion, Sleep Powder. I can only assume that a move like Aromatherapy could work on humans, if the need was great enough. And Miki loves Kat, so I understand her trying her hardest to help Kat get better."
Victor sighed, running a hand through his hair. He opened his mouth, but Kat burst back into the room, grinning.
"What are you still doing in here? Come on Slowpokes, we've got to get to Azalea Town!"
"Kat, do you even know how to get to Azalea?" The black-haired boy sounded exasperated. He knew the answer before he'd asked.
"No. Directions are Henri's department. He knows how to get there. Right, Henri?" With hands on her hips and a knowing smirk, Kat was a picture of self-satisfied confidence. I entertained the notion of telling her I didn't know how to get to Azalea, except her good mood was infectious. I laughed, instead.
"Yeah, I know how we can get there. We have to go through Union Cave. But first, I think we need to feed the Pokemon."
With a nod, she lead the way to the dining room while I finished getting ready, brushing my hair into a loose ponytail as I followed behind her.
"Will you quit messing with your hair? You're acting like a girl!" I glared at the other boy.
"At least I know what a brush is! And how to use soap!" In retaliation of the 'girl' comment, I stomped on the heel of his sneaker, causing him to pitch forward, on to the floor. He glowered at me, picked himself up and dusted off. "Also, you can't say I'm acting like a girl. Kat doesn't know what a brush is either."
"Kat hardly qualifies as a girl."
"I heard that!" We both winced at the yell, and the glare that followed.
'Good ears.' I heard the snickers of my Pokemon around me and I glared at them. "Traitors." Which just had the lot of them laughing even more.
The dining room had a few of the fishermen from yesterday, along with some other trainers I hadn't seen, but Micah wasn't anywhere to be found. When I asked Nurse Joy about it, all she could tell me was that Micah had left as soon as the sun had started rising, just like every other day before.
Kat's enthusiasm to get to the next Gym carried us through a fast breakfast. Even the Pokemon were pumped up. 30 minutes after waking up, we were walking out the door of the Pokemon Center. Seeing the canyon, red-gold in the rising sun, made me think of something.
"Hey, Victor. Did you want to try to catch a ghost-Pokemon in the canyon? It's not often that a swarm like that happens, after all." He shook his head, and headed off towards Union Cave, muttering something about 'Sprout Tower', 'stupid Sableye' and 'sick of ghosts'. I shared an amused look with Kat.
As far as I knew, Union Cave was a small, fairly straight-forward cavern. It would be hard to get lost in. It didn't take long to reach the cave entrance and, as luck would have it, Micah was there with Hawkin at her side. She waved, seeing us.
"Hey guys! You on your way to Azalea, too?"
"Yeah! I'm going to go get my next gym badge!" Her enthusiasm caused Hawkin to take flight with a loud screech. He circled above Micah, glaring at Kat. Micah giggled, and called Hawkin back down to her side.
"You too, huh?" Micah sighed. "That's my goal, as well." She didn't look particularly happy about it, I noted. I said as much. "Yeah, well…" She shrugged. "It's my dad who wants me to be a Pokemon Trainer, not me. I don't care about badges, or any of that."
"So, what do you want to be?" I understood parents wanting you to do what they always wanted you to, but I couldn't imagine not being myself.
"A Pokemon Ranger, like my brother Nathaniel. I want to go to the Pokemon Capture School in Almia. But Dad doesn't want me going that far away. He still thinks of me as 'his little girl'. He has my brothers constantly checking up on me, and they don't want me going out of the country either, even though one's living in Almia and the other two have been as far as Sinnoh and Hoenn." She started pacing back and forth, ranting.
"Dad didn't even want me to get a Pokemon, so I had to sneak out and get one myself. How can he expect me to watch as all my brothers get Pokemon and not want one myself? It's ridiculous!" Micah growled, kicking the ground forcefully. Then she took a deep breath and calmed down. Turning back to us, she smiled.
"So now, I've got to complete the gym challenge. Prove that I'm old enough, strong enough to travel so far away. You're taking the Gym challenge too, right Kat? Then you're my rival!" Kat looked beyond confused.
"What? Rival?" Micah nodded.
"Yes, rival. All good trainers have a rival. And you're mine. We should probably battle now, but we gotta get though Union Cave first. No need to exhaust our Pokemon before traveling. So instead, let's battle on the other side of the Cave. I'll race you there! First person to reach the other side can set the parameters for the match, alright? And to make it even better, we'll take separate paths! You go through the cave, while I take the high road, over the cave!"
"Hey! Wait a minute!" Micah wasn't paying attention, already throwing her grappling hook above the cave. A loud, metallic 'thunk' resounded as the hook hit a boulder, securing the rope.
"Ready, rival? Set, go!" She started scaling the rope like a Mankey. We watched for a second, before Kat yelled.
"Well, what are you waiting for? She's not going to win this! Let's go!" And for the second time in two days, she raced off, into Union Cave.
