Hey everyone! Just starting AP week, but I somehow managed to get this up! Seriously, I dunno how I did it. I'm probably going to edit quite a bit of it later this week though. :P
Anywho, I ended up splitting Chargestone Cave and the stuff around it in half, mainly because I needed to add in a bit of background drabble and...You'll see! Oh, I hope I did okay, N refused to cooperate with me...
But please enjoy!
"Aww, Bree, you're so much better than me!"
Bree blushed and scuffed the ground while Bianca returned her defeated Musharna.
"Hey, I'm not that strong," said Bree. "I mean, look at Simon; he's about to drop. You really have gotten a lot better too."
Cheren stood up from the park bench where he had watched the battle with him pokemon, having taken a break from training. "But Bree, you and your pokemon defeated Clay earlier today, so none of you were at full strength."
"Yeah! You'd totally cream me if you and your pokemon were all fresh and raring to go. But did you really need to say, Scowlyspecs?" Bianca stuck out her tongue at her friend; he groaned and rolled his eyes in response.
"I'm simply stating the truth: With five badges, Bree is stronger than the both of us right now. Which is why I've got to train!"
Smiling as they walked to the pokemon center, the sun sinking into the multicolored Driftveil Bay behind them, Bree said, "Come on, seriously. I'm not like Champion Alder or something. I just...We gotta get stronger to stay together!" With a wave of her hand, she dismissed the topic. "So Bianca, what did you do today?"
"Oh, oh right!" She bounced a bit in excitement, her beret falling over her eyes before she readjusted it. "Have you seen the mall? It's like, unbelievably huge! And I got a Moon Stone to evolve Munny, and he seems happy too," Bianca said while Bree nodded in agreement; she had noticed how much more self-confident the pokemon had become after his evolution. "Oh! And I got something for both of you too!"
Cheren held open the door for his friends. "Really? May we see it?"
A finger held up in his direction, the owner of that finger handed over her pokemon alongside Bree's to the nurse before speaking. "Let's eat dinner before I show you, 'kay?"
Interrupting Cheren's nod of affirmation, the nurse announced over the intercom, "Trainer Bianca Noir to the front desk, please."
"Huh?" Her friends following, she walked over to where the nurse was standing. "Excuse me miss, what's wrong?"
The nurse tapped a few keys before turning the computer screen over to the three trainers. "Your Musharna isn't on the pokemon registry."
"Oh!" Bianca's hands flew to her mouth, her cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "I'm, like, so sorry."
"It's okay," said the nurse, who slid a packet and a pen over the counter. "Just fill out this form and hand it in."
Contrary to stereotypes, governments were neither ineffectual nor stupid. It was perfectly common knowledge that while many pokemon were relatively harmless, just as many were able to wreak mass havoc. Therefore, every region had a national registry and approval list. Pokemon on the list, essentially any pokemon that could cause serious physical, mental, or monetary damage, could only be kept by trainers who had proven themselves capable of handling dangerous creatures. This was usually done by earning several gym badges. Any pokemon on the list also needed to be registered to that trainer through the local governments, so that pokemon centers and gym leaders could easily keep table on them. Though the specific pokemon on the list varied by region (imported pokemon needed a whole slew of permits and the like that caused enough redundancy and paperwork as it was), there were general trends throughout each region.
Bree looked over the list as Bianca filled out the form (Name: Bianca Annabelle Noir. Hometown: Nuvema. Trainer ID: 83145. Pokemon: Musharna. And so forth.). Powerful fire, electric, and fighting types like Conkeldurr and Eelektross were on the list. Most dark types and any poison-type whose venom would pose an actual threat rather than an annoyance (i.e., nearly all poison-types) were present as well. Munna, Gothita, Solosis, and Woobat weren't on the list, but their evolutions were, along with every other psychic type in Unova. All the ghost and dragon types in the region were listed as well. So was every species of steel type pokemon, even relatively harmless ones like Ferroseed and Klink. The incongruency was not lost on Bree, and she turned to another nurse to ask why.
"Because," explained the nurse, "Steel-types have very specific dietary requirements. They can get by on scrap metal for a while, but to stay healthy they need pure ore and iron supplements. They can get expensive, and nobody wants to give their pokemon malnutrition because they can't afford to feed them. So this type is on the list so that we can ensure that the trainer is able to properly care for his-or her-pokemon."
"Oh. Okay." Her fingers closed around the bottle of supplements. Neither Bianca nor the nurse she handed the forms to noticed the troubled look on Bree's face, or the pained frown as her slim fingers brushed Simon's pokeball.
Then Bianca, ever cheery, tapped her on the shoulder, took Cheren by the hand, and dragged the both of them out of the pokemon center and onto the street where dinner awaited. The moment was gone.
They sat cross-legged on the suite's beige carpet, their pokemon played and rested around them, and their bellies were full.
"Oh wow," said Bree to Bianca, holding the sleek fabric in her hand, "This scarf is awesome. Thanks!"
Bianca hugged her friend. "Haha, thanks. I just saw it and was like, this is totally perfect for my best friend Bree!" She broke the hug to rummage through her bag and give another package to Cheren, who opened it carefully.
He blinked at the two items that dropped on his lap. "A mystic water and a water stone?"
"Yeah," Bianca explained. "That's called the Panpour package. When I went to get a moon stone to evolve Munny I looked for a leaf stone for Corn, but they were all out. I found this, though!"
"Bianca, this..." Cheren trailed off, looking at the water stone, an expensive evolutionary item, while Marina and Corn peeked over his shoulders. "This is...Wow. Thank you."
She blushed, the pink tinge making for an interesting contrast with the blond of her hair and green of her hat. "R-Really, Cheren, it was...It was nothing..." Averting her eyes from his, she instead decided to make a studious inspection of the carpet.
Marina, meanwhile, took a long at the water stone that Cheren had offered to her. A brief conversation with Corn, and she batted away the item; the blue stone landed next to Cheren's right foot. He picked it up, a quizzical expression on his face. "Marina, why don't you want to evolve? You'll be so much more powerful."
Bree closed her eyes, shook her head, sent her mane of dark chocolate hair flying every which way. No way. No way had she just heard and understood what her friends' Pansage and Panpour had just said to each other. Her pokemon was one thing, she was starting to accept that (and on the fringes of her memory, she could remember understanding Eric's yips and whinnies as well), but other pokemon too?
Still...There really was no other explanation. "Marina," she started, "I...I think she wants to wait for Corn, for you to get a leaf stone, Bianca. That way...I think they want to evolve together."
Bianca squealed. "Awww, that's so romantic!" She squeezed her Pansage in a tight hug; the monkey laughed as she buried her head in his green fur.
Cheren, however, picked up on Bree's hesitancy, the confusion in her words. "How do you know that?"
Her fingers trailed a pattern in the carpet. "I...I heard them speaking to each other. But," she quickly defended herself, "I don't think it's like N speaks to pokemon! I mean...At least I don't think so."
"Whatever," muttered Cheren, his arms folded as he looked out the window into the night. In Nuvema, the sky would be speckled with stars. In Castelia, the city lights would take their place. Here in Driftveil, the smog made everything hazy. "We should get ready to go to sleep, and plan for tomorrow. Now, since I still need to defeat Clay, I'm going to be a few hours behind you, but-"
Bianca, lying flat on her back, raised an outstretched index finger in the air. "Can we talk about this after I shower? I'm all sweaty and gross."
It was a testament to the level of comfort among the three of them that Bree, Bianca, and Cheren felt at ease using the bathroom all at once. As Bianca showered behind the solid yellow curtain, Cheren shaved off the sparse scraggled black hairs on his lip and chin, his body's pathetic attempt at facial hair, while Bree brushed her teeth.
Bianca raised her voice over the kssh of hot running water pounding down her back. "So you'll see us in Mistralton in the evening?"
"Yes," Cheren promised, leaning in close to the quickly fogging mirror so he didn't accidentally cut the sensitive skin below his nose. "I checked the train schedule and if you go through Chargestone Cave, which I would if I were you, you should make it to Mistralton by dusk. Don't worry about me."
"Okay," she chirped from behind the curtain. "Bree, this is gonna be so fun! And Cheren, don't worry, I'll wait for you outside the cave."
A squeak from the turning knob, and the shower turned off. Bianca's bare wet hand emerged from the curtain to fumble at the fabric of a nearby towel when Cheren, with a reddened face, stood up and left the bathroom without warning, his razor left uncapped by the sink. Covering up the razor, laughing to herself, Bree followed her friend out of the bathroom so Bianca could get dressed in peace.
Blankets drawn up as protection against the night chill of late autumn air, Bree, still awake, looked over the side of the bed to see Simon curled up in the warmth of Kaylee's fur, and the bottle of ionized iron supplements on the nightstand. The words of the nurse, the possibility of a malnourished Simon, buzzed in her head. Bree rolled over and pressed the pillow around her ears in an unsuccessful attempt to drive the images out of her mind. She didn't want to think about it.
The train that ran through Route Six had several stops after that, including Mistralton proper, but Bree and Bianca decided to walk through Chargestone Cave instead. It would be a lot more fun to walk through than forests tainted with factories and polluted streams, the smoggy air tinged with pesticides and burned fuel.
Bianca had run off somewhere outside the cave, leaving Bree on her own.
"That's odd." An large web was spread across the entrance of the cave, blocking her entrance. Approaching the web, Bree noticed her hair begin to tingle and stand on end.
"Oh great, I'm stuck here."
Simon, looking at Bree, smiled. Let me handle this. Sure enough, his sharp claws quickly shredded the web; the Drilbur was completely unaffected by the electrical shocks.
"Thank you, Simon," Bree said, looking around at the plateau. A large sign was noticeably placed outside the cave, warning people to turn off their electronic devices before entering the cave. Sure enough, barely a few feet in, her Pokedex fizzed and sparked and shut itself off before short-circuiting.
Bree, bathed in blue light reflected off the crystals, moved slowly through the cave. Simon moved even more slowly, running his long sharp claws down the electrified rocks, his eyes wide as he chittered softly to Kaylee and himself. Eve perched on Bree's head, squawking at the zaps of discharged electricity and chasing after tiny Joltiks. Kazumi, for some reason, seemed to be unusually wary and guarded. Her keen eyes shifted back and forth, her whiskers twitched, her paws played on her shells, ready to attack at any moment.
She had just lost sight of the entrance when three emaciated figures flashed into her vision. Bree screamed, Eve toppled off her head and onto Simon, Simon threw off the Archen and flashed his claws, Kaylee guarded Bree with a snarl and Kazumi actually yelped before baring her fangs and flashing her shell blades.
Bree stepped back and came up against a smooth cool rock, cursing herself for not carrying a can of pepper spray on her. She felt primal fear as she looked at the three bent figures with the seemingly flat dead yellow eyes-that sparked with predatory instinct. Her heart pounded, her knees wobbled, her breaths came fast, short, and shallow. With their white hair, yellow eyes, stooped figures, protruding ribs, curled hands, and oddly bent knees, they seemed almost inhuman. Bree suppressed an involuntary shudder.
One of them, a bit taller than the other two, beckoned towards Bree. The trainer couldn't help but feel like a Sewaddle about to become an Unfezant's lunch. He whispered, "...Come," and she felt as if the cool metal of a blade was pressed against her spine. Bree walked forward; she didn't have much of a choice.
Quickly, far too quickly, so quickly that she had to withdraw Kaylee and Kazumi because they couldn't keep up, they brought her deeper into the cave. They backed away, allowed Bree to adjust her eyes to the dim lighting. The first thing she saw, apart from blue on blue, was N, curled up on the floor, playing with several Joltik.
"Lord N," another interrupted, "We found her." Again, without any warning whatsoever, they vanished.
N waved at Bree, a wide grin on his face. "Hi Bree," he said as he stood up; several more Joltiks were attached to his shirt and one of them jumped to the brim of Bree's cap. "Aw," he said as she yelped, the Joltik nesting in her hair, "She likes you."
Eve's eyes locked on to the little spider and Bree returned the Archen before she could pounce. She had absolutely no time for N's shenanigans. "What was that," she said.
N tilted his head, green-gray eyes staring at Bree in befuddlement before dawning in understanding. "Oh, that was the Shadow Triad just now. They're...Well, I dunno what they are, but Ghetsis enlisted them to help with Team Plasma."
Oh great, more creeps. But N ignored her, and kept rambling, his hands splayed on the charged rocks, a dreamy look on his face. "Chargestone Cave," he said, "I like this place. It's...It's beautiful, but in a different way than you are. Formulas express electricity, and their connection to pokemon...If there weren't people here to hurt these pokemon, this would be an ideal place."
She ran the palm of her hand along the stones, felt static prickle up her arm. "Yeah, it is really nice here and...Did you just call me beautiful?" Again, against her better judgment, Bree found herself drawn to whatever the boy king might say next. Sure, he was shaping up to be really handsome now that he was filling out with good food and was no longer so unhealthily pale, but still! The guy had a screw loose, or more like several.
N looked down, twiddled his thumbs, a little smile playing on his face. His cheeks reddened and he changed the subject. "You've been chosen," he blurted. "Did you know that?"
That got her attention. "Chosen? What are you talking about?" Did he...Did he really think that he was a king? And that the fairytales and myths and legends were all real? What was he, seven? Eight? Bree herself had stopped seriously thinking she was truly the characters she played make-believe as with her friends years ago. Years ago, the last time that had happened, when Cheren and Bree had pretended to be King and Queen with Bianca as Princess, Bree had apparently never taken off the metaphorical crown (which was actually a bunch of vines looped around her head, but she digresses). At which point she demanded that her mother bow to the queen, and at which point her mother had had a very long talk with a seven-year-old Bree about how no, the little girl was not a queen and never was and would never be, and make-believe was different from real life. It had hurt back then, but it had to be done.
But N...N seemed to truly believe. Knelt on the ground, the boy king stroked Simon's smooth head. "He's from here, did you know that? Drilbur, you seem happy to be back home." He regarded Bree with a smile, a slightly rueful, almost apologetic one. "You've been chosen, though whether or not you'll be a Hero..." He shook his head. "I...After I told Ghetsis about you," not that he had much of a choice, "He had the Shadow Triad, Zero, Epsilon, and Theta, find out more about you and your friends."
N should have noticed the sudden chill in the atmosphere, but he didn't. "Cheren Shiro is recklessly and dangerously pursuing the ideal of strength, uncaring about how he is pushing his pokemon, while poor Bianca Noir is facing the sad truth that not everyone can become stronger," he paraphrased. Looking up, seeing Bree's face take on that flat blankness again, like back in Nimbasa, N gulped.
"...My friends?" Her voice was flat again. N learned quickly, and he backed away.
Sure enough, Bree's explosion was particularly loud and colorful. "MY FRIENDS? You had your creepy-ass Shadow creepers spy on me and MY FRIENDS?"
With a whimper, the boy king seemed to curl into himself. This wasn't working out like he wanted, not like how he wanted at all! He'd taken a look at some of the books that he'd heard girls swooning over and calling so "romantic," which apparently had something to do with making girls queens and how he felt whenever he was around her, forced his way past the stultifying prose, and came to the conclusion that girls must like it when guys follow them and try to learn more about them. Which was why he didn't protest too much when Ghetsis told him about what he had already commanded the Shadow Triad to do. And he was curious.
...He just wanted Bree to like him again. N liked it when Bree liked him, even if it made him feel like his insides were full of Larvestas.
N held up his hands in preparation for a rain of blows, babbling desperately, "L-Look, Bree! It wasn't me, it was Ghetsis who came up with the idea and-"
"DO YOU THINK I GIVE A FUCK?" Bree was on a roll now and there was no stopping her. Simon merely gave N a death glare. "See, this is the problem with you guys, you do really creepy things and you steal our pokemon and I don't think that 'meanies' should keep pokemon either, but you don't give the rest of us a choice! And now you're stalking me and my friends? You sick fuck, keep your shadow creepers away from me, and ESPECIALLY keep them away from my friends! I don't even care anymore if you're some creepy pervert who's had those freaks take pictures of me in the shower and rubs one out to them every night! Well, of course I care, but that's not the point! What I'm saying is to keep! Away! From! My! Friends!"
Each word was accentuated by a finger jab to his skinny chest. N hung his head, green wisps spilling over his eyes. "What are you..." He shook his head. Everything about Bree was so confusing; he'd never be able to sort it out. But he was getting upset. And a King should never never never let his emotions run rampant. "I..." His hands balled into fists; his voice choked back a scream and a whine. "Team Plasma will be waiting up ahead. Ghetsis wants to see what kind of trainer you are." He turned to leave, stomping his foot on the ground, but couldn't resist one last jab. "And you're a meanie too," he called back without turning his head, "If you're gonna take your Drilbur from his home again! He's gonna be an Excadrill! People are meanies who don't let their steel types live where they can eat right! If you don't let him eat right you're a huge meanie!"
N didn't know it, but his last comment actually stung. She looked down at Simon, who was busy extending a middle claw in N's general direction.
She picked up the Drilbur, tapping his nose with a smile. "Heh, Simon, you're the best."
But. Bree couldn't help but look at his claws again, see how shiny they were becoming. She had gone on the internet that morning, had seen how expensive iron supplements were, especially the ionized ones. And she had looked at pictures of malnourished steel types. They weren't pretty.
Bree sighed and continued deeper on into the cave, the little Joltik hopping off her head and scuttling off into a little crack in the ground. Her head hurt, and her heart hurt. Simon...As much as she wanted to be with him, his health was so much more important.
What should she do?
The turning gears of the Klink made a metallic whirring clunking noise. Bree still couldn't believe this was a pokemon.
Jiang jumped out of Bianca's arms and began running on pokemon as if the gears were a treadmill. Bree and Bianca couldn't help but laugh as the Mienfoo slipped and faceplanted on the ground. Nonplussed, Professor Juniper continued studying the pokemon.
Bianca then frowned, turning back to the sobering news that Bree had just told her. "So, like, this Ghetsis guy has a bunch of ninjas stalking us?"'
"Basically."
Her brow furrowed and her lips moved as she tried to put a positive spin on these events. "It's okay," Bianca finally said, "Because since I'm not as strong as you or Cheren, they'll leave me alone! And Cheren's awesomely awesome, and he's not scared of ninjas!"
"Yeah," Bree bantered, "He'll kick their ninja butts and send them crying home to their mothers!" But inside, she wasn't too sure. N may have been unnerving, with his rigid views and social ineptness, but the Shadow Triad was like Ghetsis. They were downright scary.
"Bianca," A lime-green beret popped up from next to the Klink at the sound of its owner's name. "Will you be okay by yourself? I need to go find N and beat the living crap out of him."
Bianca nodded eagerly. "Yeppers! I'll be fine! Besides, I've got my pokemon and Professor Juniper."
At this point the professor looked up from her papers and said, "It's okay, Bree. Team Plasma is quite subtle in many ways; I don't think they'll try anything with someone as high-profile as me around."
Bree nodded, sighed in relief. "That's good. I...I don't want any of you getting hurt because of me."
The professor smiled, putting Bree at ease. "Like I said, we'll be fine. Bree, just do what you've got to do. But-" and here Aurea Juniper became uncharacteristically serious, "-Please, do not put yourself in a dangerous situation, especially around Team Plasma. Not only your friends, but also your mother and I would never be able to live with ourselves if you got hurt because of them."
"...Okay, Professor. I understand. Kazumi! Kaylee! Simon! Eve! Let's go!" Eve clinging to her forehead, Kazumi and Kaylee running along on either side of her, Simon burrowing adjacent to them, Bree and her pokemon ran deeper into Chargestone Cave, seeking out Team Plasma and N.
About half an hour later, Simon stopped. Holding up one clawed hand, he sniffed the air. Two large mounds of earth made their way towards Bree and her pokemon. Two Excadrill burst out of the ground. Bree staggered back; Kazumi, Kaylee, and Eve moved to defend her from the potential threat.
But Simon ran forward, throwing himself into the arms of the two Excadrill. And what he was saying needed no translation. It was universal.
Mom! Dad!
Bree sat down hard on the ground as Simon embraced his parents. Taking them by the claw, he led them to Bree and her other three pokemon. The larger, male Excadrill inspected Bree's other pokemon; he paid special attention to Kaylee, who alternated between barking excitedly and abashedly averting her gaze from Simon's father. His mother listened patiently to Simon's long tale, then looked at Bree. Again, the language used between parents was universal.
Thank you for helping my son.
Bree smiled crookedly. "Hey, no problem. Simon's awesome." And then the awkwardness of the situation began to dawn on her.
Simon was home. This whole time, the reason the the Drilbur had been traveling with Bree in the first place was because the Wellspring Cavern was no place for him to live and he had nowhere else to go. But now Simon was home, and with his parents. If Bree forced him to go with her, then what kind of trainer, what kind of person was she?
N's words raced around and around in Bree's mind. As much as she hated to admit it, he had some good points. Abusive trainers should not be allowed to keep pokemon. Pokemon shouldn't be forced to travel with people, not if they don't want to. And Simon...He was home. He seemed happy here. How long had he been separated from his family? How could she tear him away from them again?
And then...And then there was the evolution. Excadrill. A steel-type. The Chargestone Special. Again, for what seemed like the umpteenth time that day, Bree looked at the ionized supplements Clay had given her. Enough for a month or two. But what about when they ran out? Could she afford to raise Simon, to keep him healthy for the rest of his life?
...She didn't know. Bree didn't know if she would be able to take care of Simon. She. Didn't. Know.
And if she couldn't take care of her pokemon, then she had no right to. Though she loved Simon, though the parting would hurt...If she couldn't keep Simon, or any of her pokemon, happy and healthy, then she shouldn't keep them at all.
Then, if she truly loved them, she would let them go.
Bree wiped the tears from her eyes, stifled a sob. Getting down on her knees, she wrapped her arms around Simon's smooth skin in a final embrace. Behind her, Kaylee whined. Though she didn't know exactly what was coming, she had some general idea. Confused, Simon looked at Bree.
"Simon," she sniffled, "I love you so much. All of you," she said to the rest of her pokemon, "I love you all so much."
"Which is why...Simon...I...I don't know if I'll be able to take care of you when you're an Excadrill!" Her voice cracked, and it was all Bree could do not to break down sobbing.
But she had to do this. As painful as it was...It was for the best. For Simon. And he was what was important.
"Simon...I think you'll be happier...With your family."
A/N: DUN DUN DUN.
Yep! Talk about a cliffhanger! Yes, I had this planned from the start. I hope this turned out okay...
Well...See ya next week! *Dodges thrown produce*