Disclaimer: Olih: I've run out of ways to say thank you, ORZ. Still, thank you from the bottom of my heart! Romantic: I'm so glad I managed to pull a few heartstrings! Rawr: Thank you! And yes, Mytho, my poor baby ; m ; Whiterose: *Gives you a tissue* Arther: Hahaha, that's such a great idea! I totally should have had Odile call him 'Mythy' at least once. Jack: Go for it! They're so fun to write! Midori and Owen: Thanks for adding me to your favourites!
Song for this chapter: 'Confessions in the Moonlight', by Joe Hisaishi.
Important Notice: I've decided that if I get a hundred reviews before my team reaches Canalave City I'll do a fun Qs and As session. So be awesome and tell me what you like, dislike, and what I could improve upon in your reviews!
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Chapter Nine: Confessions in the Moonlight
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
My attempts at sleep were riddled with thoughts, with pain and memories and tears that soaked the pillow through. I tried to block them out, but no matter which way I turned they were there, accusatory and undeniable.
…"She nearly failed the battling simulations at school."…
…"Useless!"…
…"I shouldn't be nicknaming you. It's better not to get attached."…
…"Honestly, do you know how selfish you're being?"…
…"You know, you're kind for such a grumpy-looking pokemon."…
… "Really, aren't pokemon supposed to protect their trainers?"…
A choked sob escaped. My eyes felt swollen and everything hurt: my knees, my neck, my head, my heart.
"I was wrong," I whispered. "Pokemon aren't supposed to protect their trainers; trainers are supposed to protect their pokemon. It's their responsibility." The darkness caught and held my words. "I'm sorry that I wasn't responsible, Mytho."
Sorry. The word left a vile taste in my mouth. Sorry was what you said when you stepped on someone's toe. Sorry was what you said when you bumped into a stranger on the street. So what was I supposed to say when I had my pokemon's death on my hands?
I yanked the covers over my eyes, praying that sleep would come, but it never did. In the end I got up and picked my clothes up off the carpet, taking them to the sink to try and scrub the bloodstains away.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
By the time morning came, clouds had rolled in. The light that filtered in through the lobby's window was gray. I shivered a little, the cold air stinging the skin that the rips in my pants left bare. My eyes and head ached from fatigue; on top of that, my throat felt more bruised than ever, and my scraped knees were painful to touch.
Stifling a yawn, I stepped through the Pokecenter's front entrance- and turned my head to see Asher Oshiro walking out from the other set of doors.
He looked exhausted. Bruises had blossomed along his jawline, and shadows were etched under the curve of his eyes. His hair stuck out in tufts, as if he had slept poorly. He had a rumpled map in one hand, and his suitcase in the other; his absol trotted behind him, the handle of his violin case clenched between her teeth.
A slow flush of guilt swept through my body, coloring my cheeks red with shame. Those bruises, that miserable look on his face- it's all because of me. Even Li's injured. If he didn't already hate me before, he certainly does now. The thought brought tears to my already prickling eyes.
Murmuring something to Li, Asher turned his head—and locked eyes with me. I could tell that it was an accident immediately: his eyes widened in surprise, and whatever he was saying to Li trailed off.
I swallowed hard. He'll just be annoyed if I try to apologize. The best thing I can do is just leave him alone, I told myself. Shouldering my messenger bag, I averted my eyes, and started off down the path leading out of Floaroma.
There was a sigh from behind me, followed by the crunching of leaves that signaled Asher walking behind me. There was only one trail connected to Route Five, and awkwardness slid up my spine when I realized that we would be travelling the same way. Another wave of grief swamped me: if Mytho were here, he'd help ease my insecurity, and probably give my ear a slap for being so meek. The space on my shoulder where he used to sit was painful in its emptiness, and a lump rose in my throat as I crossed the bridge that was still specked with his blood.
Trying to distract myself, I reached into my bag, searching for my Xtransceiver. My next stop was Eterna City, but I needed to pass through Eterna Forest to get there. My teachers had mentioned its labyrinthine layout, so using the map feature on my Xtransceiver would probably help. The last thing I wanted was to have to spend the night in the woods.
My fingers finally bumped against my Xtransceiver, and I pulled it out. Moving over to the side of the path, I leaned against the nearest tree, using the shade it provided to better see the screen. I powered it on, and messages flooded the screen.
O?
I'm in Eterna. R u heading there? We can meet up
Hey, why'd u hang up?
Would u answer already
If u don't answer I swear to Arceus I'll call Livia
K I called Liv and she's freaking out. Don't be mad u brought it onto yourself
ODILE
Dammit Odile
I was just about to type out a reply when the screen went blank. Surprised, I tried rebooting it, only to remember that I hadn't charged it last night. It must've run out of power.
Damn, I won't be able to use the map, then, I realized. Dropping it back into my bag, I rifled through my belongings, hoping to come across a spare map of some sort. No luck. All I could find were my extra pokeballs and a container of crackers that I had packed before leaving.
Groaning, I leaned my head back against the trunk of tree. What do I do now, then? I guess I have no choice except to go in blindly…
A growling sound caught my attention. I glanced over to see Asher kneeling on the ground, his suitcase open in front of him. He was frowning down at the contents, the map still clenched in one hand.
The growling started up again, and it took me a moment to realize that it was coming from Li's stomach. Letting out a small, almost apologetic noise, she butted her head gently against his arm. "Sorry," I thought I heard him say. He rested his free hand on her horn. "We'll head back to town so I can buy more food for you."
The uncharacteristic softness in his voice made me bite down on my lip. Dipping my hand into my bag once more, I pulled out the container.
Should I? Well, it's worth a try, I suppose.
Steeling myself, I walked back down the path, fingers twiddling nervously with the lid of the container. I stopped a few steps shy of Asher, gnawing on the inside of my cheek.
Tipping his chin up, he met my eyes, his expression more curious than cold.
"Um… hello again." Feeling embarrassment heat my cheeks, I held the food out in offering. "Cracker?"
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Ten minutes later we were walking down the trail. I had his map stretched open in front of my face while he trailed behind, feeding bits of cracker to Li.
"Is Li your only pokemon?" I asked, slowing my pace so that I could walk beside him.
I watched as he broke another cracker in two, tossing half to her and popping the other half into his own mouth. "Yes." His eyes clicked to mine, and he looked as if he were about to say something, but seemed to decide against it.
"You two seem really close. Have you known each other for a long time?"
"Yes."
"Am I bothering you?"
"Yes."
Muttering an apology, I quickened my pace. Tears welled.
From behind me, I could hear Li make a reproachful sound. There was the sounds of a scuffle and a muffled "Ouch,", followed by a "Fine." A moment later Asher appeared beside me, his hair sticking up even more than it had earlier. He was scowling, and a faint redness had spread across the tops of his cheekbones. "Hey, look… Wait, are you crying?"
"No. I just have something in my eye." My voice wavered.
"Oh, for the love of…" He exhaled loudly. "Why do you always cry so easily? Even when I first saw you back in Jubilife, you looked like you were going to burst into tears…"
I scrubbed at my eyes. "I've always been like this, okay? I already get enough crap about it at home; I don't need to hear it from you, too."
"Okay, okay. Arceus, just knock it off, okay?"
Despite my best efforts, a few tears escaped. "That's a horrible thing to say!"
"Ugh!" Startled at his outburst, I looked over to see that his face was entirely red. He was glaring off into the middle distance, his brows creased. "I'm sorry, alright? I'm really sorry, so please stop crying." When he caught me staring, he averted his eyes. "Look, if you want to know so badly, then yes, I've known Li for a long time. Close to three years, now. Technically, she's not my pokemon- she just follows me around; I haven't caught her with a pokeball- but she doesn't seem to mind the nickname I've given her." He turned his face away. "There. Satisfied?"
"Yes." Taking a calming breath, I mopped up the rest of my tears. "Isn't that unusual, though? Absols are classified as disaster pokemon; don't they only come down from the mountains to warn people of natural disasters?"
He glanced back at Li. "It's not only natural disasters- absols have been known to foreshadow any type of tragedy." His eyes clicked back to mine. "You seem to know a lot about them. Are you training to be a pokeologist?"
"No." It was obvious that he was using the conversation to keep me too distracted to cry again, and I was grateful for it. "I was going to major in Liberal Arts, actually, but I made some stupid decisions and got myself caught up in this mess."
His eyebrows rose. "How do you plan to go to college, and end up a trainer instead?"
My sigh rose up into the air, the same colour as the clouds above. "It's a long story."
"We have time."
"Why should I tell you anything about myself when you keep refusing to tell me anything about you?"
Though it was only a slight change in expression, I noted that his frown disappeared. "Why do you want to travel with me, even though I'm being such a dick to you?"
"Because my Xtransceiver died, and I need your map." I paused, drying the last of my tears. "Plus, if Looker comes back then I can use you as a human shield."
His lips turned slightly upwards. "So are you going to tell me how you became a trainer or not?"
"Alright, but don't say I didn't warn you…"
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
By the time I had finished, a light drizzle had begun to fall. Asher blinked at me, his eyelashes beaded with water.
"You have awful luck," he said eventually. "Too awful, almost."
I tucked a damp lock of my hair behind my ear. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you find it suspicious?" His gaze was sharp enough to cut glass. "You and your boyfriend stumble across those two men at Lake Verity, and suddenly Looker and that researcher are after you? What are the odds?"
My cheeks warmed. "He's my best friend, not my boyfriend. Other than that, you have a point. The researcher seemed to know me, but she definitely knew you. She looked to be around our age, and had bright red hair. Do you know anyone that looks like that?"
"No." His frown deepened. "Speaking of, you said that she was part of 'Galactic Industries'. What is that?"
"I only heard about them a few days ago, but apparently it's a new company. I don't know what they specialize in, but I attended a speech of theirs, and their talk of the Old World was fascinating." I lifted my eyes up towards the skies, and watched as the cold began to turn the rain to snow. "The things they were saying were disturbing, though. They seem to think that the world has changed for the worst."
"People are always scared of change, even if we've had centuries to cope with it." Interest lightened the gray of his eyes. "You're interested in the Old World?"
I felt myself begin to smile. "Yeah, History was always my favourite subject in school." I loved hearing about the world before nuclear radiation altered the DNA fabric of plants and animals. I would've liked to see squirrels before they evolved into pachirisus, and plants like ferns and poison ivy before they morphed into Grass-type pokemon, I wanted to say, but knew that he probably wouldn't care.
It may have just been a trick of the light, but I thought that his expression seemed a little less guarded than it had been before. "History used to be one of my favourites as well. Is it true that Eterna Forest used to be an Old World city?"
"Yes. It used to be a city called 'Rome', or 'La città eterna' in Italian, which was one of the Old World languages. After nature reclaimed it, it was renamed 'Eterna Forest'. It's a popular tourist site in the summer months." I cast another look up at the sky. "With the way the climate's changed, though, I doubt it'll be very busy now."
As if on cue, the forest came into sight. The ruined husks of skyscrapers pierced the tops of the trees, murders of murkrows swarming like black clouds above.
"I've heard it's filled with ghosts," he said. Li padded up to walk beside him, giving him what I thought was a concerned look.
"What, are you superstitious?" I asked.
He paused, and, instead of disregarding my question, gave me a heavy, searching look. "More like I'm afraid of being haunted," he said before brushing past me, leaving me staring after him in confusion.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Tendrils of mist crawled along the forest floor, seething around our feet like breath. The trees moaned and creaked, their branches quavering in a nonexistent breeze. The cries of murkrows rebounded dissonantly off the trees, rising in a wailing chorus of the damned.
But none of that mattered, because I had just caught a buneary.
"I can't believe it," I gasped, hugging the pokeball to my chest. "I've always wanted a buneary!"
"I'm so happy for you."
Still embracing the capsule, I spun around to face him. "You didn't even try to make that sound convincing," I accused.
"Oh, believe me," he sighed, "if I cared any more, I'd pass out."
Ignoring him, I called out my newly-caught pokemon. It materialized one centimeter at a time: the light travelled from its tufted ears down to the pads of its feet, its fur the colour of brown sugar. Round eyes blinked up at me, and a smile broke out across my face when its button nose twitched.
"Buneary: The Rabbit Pokemon," my pokedex read out. "Its ears are always rolled up. They can be forcefully extended to shatter even large boulders. Gender: male."
With his large eyes and yellowish tufts of fur, I knew exactly what to nickname him. "I'll call you Hunny," I said, the joy at catching him momentarily chasing away the deep-rooted grief I had been feeling all morning. Carefully, I leaned over to run my fingers across his head. "I love you already!"
"Before you start making out with it, let it be known that rabies are common among forest-based pokemon."
I scowled, but couldn't think of a retort. I settled for just returning Hunny to his capsule. "Anyways, since you're the one with the map now, which way are we heading?"
He scowled back at me. "Well if you hadn't run off after that pokemon, maybe I'd know." Running a hand through his already mussed hair, he peered down at the map. "I believe we're here," he muttered. Then, to me: "Just keep walking to the right for now. And try not to go chasing any more pokemon."
"No promises," I said under my breath. He rolled his eyes, but didn't comment further as we travelled deeper into the forest.
It was a quiet place: the trees seemed to leach all sound, and our footfalls were swallowed up by the undergrowth. The ground was incredibly uneven, and there were times where Asher had to help me climb up a particularly steep crest in the landscape. "It's because of what's buried beneath us," I said in answer to his puzzled expression. "The forest has grown to cover some of the smaller buildings, and things like cars and trains. We're walking on rooftops right now."
He looked down at the forest floor, his thin face solemn. I turned my gaze upwards, taking in the scenery. The forest itself seemed sad, the branches heavy with memories; leaves cast shadows across our skin, and they would rearrange themselves with every icy gust of wind that blew past. We walked past skyscrapers strangled by vines, their windows filled with the nests of Bird pokemon.
"It's beautiful."
Asher's voice snapped me back to attention. "What?"
"It's beautiful," he repeated. I glanced over to see him staring up at the remains of an old fountain, the rusted spouts eaten away by time. "It's beautiful how life kept going, even though the city was destroyed." He tilted his head towards the budew that had made their home in the dried-up fountain, huddled underneath the cover it provided.
I stopped. His lips were turned down not in one of his angry scowls or frowns, but in gentle melancholy: his jawline looked soft in the twilight the forest provided, his eyelashes hanging low over his eyes. As I watched, he stretched one long-fingered hand towards the budew, who gave small squeaks of curiosity.
"You didn't strike me as the type to appreciate beauty," I said, and regretted it instantly: looking as if he had just remembered I was there, he gave himself a slight shake, and straightened. The watchfulness reappeared on his face, though I thought a tinge of sadness still remained.
"We've wasted enough time talking. Come on; let's try to get out of here before nightfall," he said, and I was left with no choice but to follow after him as he strode on ahead of me.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Nine hours had passed. Asher sat on the remnants of what looked to have once been a church, judging by the cross that poked up through the forest floor. "It's official: you have no sense of direction whatsoever."
"You're the one with the map," I said, gripping my elbows in an attempt to stop shivering. Night had fallen, and the temperature had dropped with it- the once light snow fell heavily now.
Seeing me shivering, he got to his feet and shrugged off his jacket, draping it over my head. "The map is useless, considering that when you ran off after that buneary I lost track of where we were."
"Well, you're the one that refused to ask for directions when we passed that hiker earlier." I tried handing the jacket back to him, but he shook his head. Caving in, I slid my arms through the sleeves and huddled in the oversized material.
"Let's try to find some even ground so we can set up camp for the night," he said. Li made a noise of protest, trotting up to butt her head against his knee. "Hm?"
She jerked her head to the left, the violin case swinging from her teeth. I followed her gaze, and nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw it.
A manor- an ancient one, by the looks of it- was somehow still standing. The paneling was in shambles, the doors overridden by fungus.
"It looks like we won't have to set up camp after all."
I turned to gape at him. "You can't be serious. It would be unsafe to sleep in there."
"It would be more unsafe to sleep out here; we'd be a lot more vulnerable to wild pokemon." He started heading towards the house, not even bothering to listen to my reply.
Huffing, I stood my ground for a moment before reluctantly following after him. "I'll end up running out of there like a zubat out of hell," I warned him.
"I can imagine that."
"You won't have to in a minute."
We stepped over branches and broken glass as we made our way to the front doors. My heart was pounding slow and hard, sweat beading on my palms. Fear snaked around my vocal cords, ready to squeeze a scream from me at a second's notice.
He put his hand on the knob. "Asher, wait-," I began, but it was too late: the doors were swinging inwards, revealing the blackness within, and my arms flew up to cover my face.
An awkward silence spanned between us when nothing happened.
"…If you're this jumpy about me opening a door, then what will you be like when we actually get inside the house?"
I stayed silent, too busy peering around the foyer to reply: it was cavernous, with a ceiling that stretched into darkness and a chandelier that long-broken crystals swayed from. Twin staircases spiraled upwards, and a doorway flanked by two statues sat between them. The walls were filled with newspaper clippings, yellowed and deteriorated.
"The only thing you should be worried about is that there might be wild pokemon nesting here," he continued. "And even then, they won't bother us if we don't bother them."
I dug a flashlight out of my bag, and flicked it on. I swept the beam across the room, illuminating the dust particles that swirled through the air like stars. "Actually, what I'm really worried about is how this place is still standing," I said. "It must be from the Old World- those statues are of wolves, not houndooms- but for some reason it wasn't swallowed up by nature like everything else."
"People must be maintaining it." He held out his hand, and I gave him the flashlight. "Why, though?"
"I have no idea." He approached the newspapers, his back to me. "This place must be important, though. I'm going to go look around."
"We shouldn't split up! That's how horror movies start."
"Relax. Li will stay with you," he said. The absol dipped her head in agreement, placing the violin case on the floor. Her red eyes were luminous in the gloom, and they blinked up at me with a peculiar sort of kindness.
"Fine," I sighed, but he was already gone.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
There are cities drowned beneath the waves of the Kanto Sea: apartments and skyscrapers break the surface like underwater volcanoes, I wrote. The ocean's floor is cratered with cars, and luvdiscs make waterlogged houses their homes, the sidewalks as empty as the cracks that run between them.
{New York is the new Atlantis.}
"Oh, there you are." Asher's voice startled me from my thoughts. Li looked up from where she had rested her head on my lap, blinking sleep from her eyes. "What are you doing up here?"
I closed my journal. "Enjoying the stars; you can see them really clearly from here." It was true: Li had nudged me up one of the staircases, and I had found myself in the attic. The roof had given away over time, leaving a huge patch of the sky visible.
The wooden floor creaked when he settled himself beside me. "Is that a diary?" he asked, plucking the journal from my hands.
"Hey! Don't just take other people's stuff," I cried, making a grab for it. My shout caused a few nesting zubats to take off into the night.
Using our height difference to his advantage, he held it calmly out of my reach, and flipped through the pages. His lips moved soundlessly as he read out some of my writings, and I reached for it desperately, embarrassment heating my cheeks. "Give it back!"
The beginnings of a smirk had begun tilting his lips, but when he saw my expression it was wiped off his face. "A-Arceus, I'm sorry, alright?" he said, dropping the journal back into my hands. "Don't cry."
"I wasn't going to." The stars cast everything in a soft, candlelit glow, giving me just enough light to see that a blotchy pinkness had spread down his cheeks and neck. He always freaks out when he thinks I'm going to cry… does crying make him uncomfortable?
Turning his head away, he leaned over to scratch Li's neck. I glanced down at my journal, which had opened to show two of my haikus.
what do you do when
you know that you won't turn out
the way you wanted?, read the first one.
you count to ten and
count the stars, and all the ways
you might fall apart.
"Sorry for yelling," I sighed, shutting the book. "It's just that this is my private journal. It's where I write my feelings down, and what I do when I need to stop thinking for a while." I bit the inside of my cheek. "Which must sound really stupid."
He was quiet for a moment. I saw him cast a look at his violin case, which Li had brought up with us. "No, I get it." The boards underneath us groaned as he shifted his weight. "Do you write stories, or just… snippets of things?"
"Just snippets," I said. "I don't have anything worthwhile to write a story about."
He shifted again, the pinkness not quite yet fading from his face. "Do you know any Old World stories?"
He still spoke gruffly, but it warmed me a little to see that he didn't completely hate me. "I know a few. Let me think." I canted my head back to look at the stars: they were so beautiful, and seemed so near. They twined through the air like strings.
"Oh! I just remembered one." I turned so that I was facing him. "It's not a story, really, but it's one of my favourite Old World legends."
He raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead, then."
"There used to be a myth about soulmates. It was thought that destined lovers were connected by an invisible red string that was tied around each of their pinkies, regardless of time or place or circumstance. It was said that the string might stretch or tangle, but that it would never break." I smiled sheepishly. "I don't know why I like it so much, but it's stuck with me ever since I read about it in one of my textbooks." I glanced at him. "I noticed that you have an Old World violin. Is it a model?"
"No, it's real. It's been in my family for generations."
There was another beat of silence. "Do you know any Old World songs?" I asked.
His eyes met mine. "Do you want me to play one?"
I perked up. "Would you?"
Shrugging, he leaned over to pop his violin case open. "It's not as if I have anything better to do."
I watched as he stood and got his instrument into position. Li's head lifted, and her dark tail thwumped against the floor in a happy rhythm.
"Okay." He took a deep breath. Guiding his bow to the strings, he began to play, and I felt my mouth drop open.
A slow, sweet song filled the air, the notes rising and falling in an almost bittersweet tune. The notes hung like smoke in the air, twining and overlapping in gentle harmony.
He played for a few minutes, eyes closed, his expression utterly absorbed. There was something about his face that made me want to write about him: he was different when he was playing, and it showed. It was like he became the music he was playing.
The sound of someone clearing their throat snapped me out of my trance. I looked up to see Asher staring at me, eyebrows raised. "Well? What did you think?" he asked.
"You play really beautifully," I said, and it was the truth. "Are you a travelling musician?"
Just like that, any hints at friendliness were gone. I could practically see his guard go up again, a veil crashing down over his eyes.
Li purred a sad noise as he crouched, placing his violin carefully back into its case. He bent his head, his coppery hair falling forwards to hide his face. "Is that really what you think?"
I blinked. Air swept in through the rafters, littering our hair with bits of snow. "What?"
"Why else would you-," he started to say, but bit off the words. "Forget it." He turned away sharply. One of the particularly moldy floorboards shrieked in protest.
"Watch where you're walking," I warned, taking a step towards him. "The floors here are-"
The sound of wood giving way rebounded off the walls. I screamed in shock and fear as the floor splintered beneath me, and I fell.
"Odile!" There was a thunk as Asher dropped his violin case, and a hand gripped mine tight enough to hurt. Pain clamped around arm as I dangled in midair, and I gasped, swinging my other hand up to grip the floor. Splinters dug into my palms. "Hang on," he grunted, hoisting me up. I kicked my feet, groaning as I tried to get an arm up.
Crack.
His scream joined mine as we toppled, the rest of the attic floor falling away. Darkness whistled past me-
"Gasttlyyyy."
Plumes of violet surrounded me. I fell, hitting my back against something that caved beneath me, but after lying in pain for a moment I realized that I was still alive. It was hard to breathe- coughs wracked my entire body, forceful enough to make me think I was about to vomit- but I was alive. That fall should have killed me.
"A-Asher?"
The response was weak, but there. "Odile."
"Are you okay?"
I heard him cough, and then groan. "I just fell from two stories up. What do you think?"
"Fair enough." I struggled into a sitting position, and found myself staring into the face of a gastly. The dusky vapors that made up its body seethed around its body, only a few shades lighter than the darkness of the house. It bared its long teeth at me in a grin.
"That gastly must have saved us, for whatever reason." I looked over to see Asher on his hands and knees, looking dazed. He gave another small cough. "Their bodies are made up of poisonous gases; that's probably why we're both coughing now." Seeing my look of alarm, he added hastily, "It's only fatal in larger doses; we'll be fine."
The gastly's grin turned a notch brighter, and it nodded, looking proud of itself. It floated around us as Li came dashing down the stairs, nearly knocking Asher over.
"I'm fine," he growled, and shoved the absol off.
What did we land on, anyway? I glanced down to see the broken remains of a dining table beneath us. "Thank you for saving us," I told the gastly, resisting the urge to cough again. "Thank you so much. You saved our lives." I blinked, remembering what had transpired before the fall. "Asher, what did you mean when-"
Not waiting for me to finish, he got to his feet, and walked off. Li nipped at his heels as he went.
I watched him go, heaviness pooling in my chest. What did he get so upset about? I wondered. It came out of nowhere, too…
My thoughts were interrupted by a tongue running up my cheek. Nose crinkling, I looked over at the gastly, whose tongue was lolling from its mouth. "Would you like to travel with me?" I asked it. "You seem to like me, for whatever reason."
Grinning, it came to nuzzle the side of my face. "It's decided, then. It's nice to meet you… Kaito."
I hope I won't kill you, too.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
The next morning was stiff. Asher refused to talk to me, even after I had tripped and caught a bidoof by accident.
Eventually, Eterna City came into sight. We walked down a series of docks, since most of the route was taken up by a large, man-made pond: goldeen and poliwags swam through its clear waters, scattering when we neared.
Eterna City was smaller than I had expected, and busier. People in masks of silver and gold packed the streets; banners stretched between every ivy-laced building, bearing the name of some sort of festival.
All of a sudden, my feet were swept out from under me. I fell to the ground, smacking my already sore elbow against the cobblestone. A forehead banged against mine, and me and whoever had crashed into me ended up in a tangled heap of arms and legs.
"Jeez, sorry," groaned a voice that I knew all too well. My eyes flew open to find a familiar face millimeters from mine. "My bad."
"Damion?" I gasped.
His eyes- still their same warm hue, tawny and sun-specked- opened, his lashes fluttering against my face. He gaped at me before rolling off, yanking me into a sitting position shortly after.
"Odile!" he exclaimed, hardly seeming to believe it. Seeing him felt like air filling oxygen-starved lungs; the relief of him being here was so great that I forgave him instantly for ditching me before. I reached out to hug him, but his eyes had slid away from me and had locked on something over my shoulder.
Confused, I twisted around to see Asher standing behind me. His lips were set in a thin line, and a fine tremor shook the hand that was clutching his violin case.
I looked back to Damion, watching as emotions played across his face: disbelief, doubt, and then, finally, horror.
"Damion?" Dread coiled around my heart and squeezed. "What's wrong?"
"Odile…" His eyes flicked to me, where they rested with a deep-rooted panic. "Why were you walking with him?"
"We travelled together for a bit."
Damion took a deep breath, and even before the words registered I could feel my heart drop.
"Odile, I remember seeing that guy's face in the news. He's Asher Oshiro, the runner-up-Champion in Hoenn. And he's wanted for murdering his pokemon team."
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
*Edited.
A/N:
Enormous thanks to Ebaz for helping me with this chapter! Not only did you edit and give opinions, but you also went through a lot of trouble to pick a song for Asher to play, which ended up being the 'Swan Lake Suite'.
Also, even though I met Kaito after Gardenia's gym, I decided to rearrange the order a little in order in enhance the plot.
Pokemon obtained in this chapter:
*Hunny the buneary. Met in Eterna Forest, lv. 11. Quirky nature, capable of taking hits. Happily eats anything. Ability: Run Away. Named after a character from Ouran High School Host Club.
*Kaito the gastly. Met in the Old Chateau, lv. 17. Impish nature, hates to lose. Likes sour food. Ability: Levitate. Named after a character from Vocaloids.
*Bieber the bidoof. Met on Route 205, lv. 12. Impish nature, somewhat stubborn. Likes sour food. Ability: Simple. Named after a teen idol that I dislike, since I dislike bidoofs and I just thought that nickname fit.
Confessions In The Moonlight, by Joe Hisaishi: Although it's an instrumental, I really thought that both the title and the mood of the song itself really fit Asher and Odile's conversation in the attic. Another runner-up for this chapter was The Forgotten Robot Soldier, also by Joe Hisaishi, since it fit Eterna Forest amazingly well. If you haven't already heard it, I would beg of you to look it up.
