Disclaimer: Arch: 8 D Screwin' with peoples' brains, one fanfic at a time. Lol, but thank you; I find it very complimentary that I managed to change your thoughts on them : ) Arthur: I am shedding manly tears of happiness at your comment. ; w ; Tri: Oh God, they have torches, too - A - And yes, I do believe it is. Lunary: I would have had her burying the others, too, but she sent Mytho's body downstream and Kaito's evaporated. And yes, Asher's story was…messed X D And the incense is kinda creepy, now that you mention it. Oh, you would LOVE Mai, believe me ; ) Ebaz: Your review made me jump up and down; thank you : D Phoebus: Thanks for adding this to your faves! Do review when you have the time! Olih: Yep, that's what the songs about ^^ I just tweaked it to make it fit more. Thank you so much! And I'm so sorry, it killed me to write about him that way ; A ; STEVEN BABY WHHYYY White: Thank youuu. I'm a sucker for sappy stories, too : 3 Mitsy: Asher lost one pokemon in the fight, and yes, aggron finally succumbed to tiredness after crushing the fourth pokeball. That's why Li is still alive. Mysterious Onlooker: I think I remember you; you reviewed once before, didn't you? Or was that someone else? In any case, thank you very much for your review : ) Platinum: Thank you! That means the world to me. Willy: Thanks for the fave/ alert- reviews are also loved!
Important Notice: Since I've reached a hundred reviews thanks to all of you lovely, lovely people, that means I'll be doing a Questions and Answers for this fic! There is no amount to the number of questions/ comments you can submit. The characters you are allowed to direct the comments/ questions to are as follows: Odile; Damion; Asher; Odile's team (including boxed pokemon, such as Cullen); me, the authoress; and Li, Asher's absol. Questions/ comments won't be used if question is answered in fic/ is directed towards a character that has since died. Enjoy!
You can submit your questions/comments anytime now. So please do : ) EVEN IF YOU HAVE ALREADY ASKED QUESTIONS, YOU MAY STILL DO SO IF YOU THINK OF MORE.
HEY EVERYONE, I POSTED ANOTHER STORY: VIOLET HILL: A PMD3 STORY. IT IS A DARKER RETELLING OF THE PMD3 STORY, AND I WOULD APPRECIATE IT VERY MUCH IF YOU WOULD CHECK IT OUT.
…but don't abandon this fic, because then it would get awfully lonely ; w ;
The song for this chapter is (if you want to get into the mood of the story): 'Spinning' by Jack's Mannequin.
Chapter Seventeen: Spinning
It was strange to go through a daily routine after hearing a story like Asher's: it was just another piece of evidence that proved that life kept going, whether or not you were ready to. Even coaching Magnus to speak properly seemed less annoying, pushed aside by thoughts of crushed pokeballs and corrupted champions.
"I can have breakfast?" I said, pronouncing each word slowly and carefully.
'I can has breakfast?' Magnus echoed.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, I shook my head. "I can have breakfast?" I repeated.
'I can has breakfast?' Magnus said again.
Rolling my eyes, I slid the plateful of kibble towards him in defeat. "Take it, you oddball."
'Om nom,' he purred, his tail thumping against the carpet as he drooled over the food. 'Om nom nom.'
My other pokemon chuckled before continuing to eat their meals, all of them huddled around the furnace. After parting with Asher at the tower, my team and I had spent the night in the self-proclaimed cheapest motel in Solaceon; still, I barely managed to scrape the money together to afford it. If the motel hadn't offered free food, we wouldn't even be eating breakfast.
Sighing, my eyes refocused on Magnus, only to find that his once-full plate was now completely empty. Frowning, I did a double take.
'Your face is so much lulz right now, girlfriend,' he informed me.
"What, did you inhale it?" I asked, completely baffled.
He wagged his tail in reply.
Shaking my head, I decided to let it drop, and lifted myself to sit on the arm of the couch. The capsules that lay atop the coffee table shuddered as I rested my feet beside them, their newly-painted surfaces gleaming under the lights: after eating, I had decorated the pokeballs of the newer members of the team using the last of the paint I had bought in Oreburgh. Checking to make sure that they had dried, I clipped them back onto my necklace, and slid the chain down over my head.
Magnus appeared at my shoulder, dopey eyes round and blinking. 'What now, girl?'
"Well, we'll wait for the others to finish their breakfast…" Withdrawing my phone from the pocket of my jeans, I scrolled through my photos until I found the one I had taken of the unown alphabet that had lined the walls of the cave. "And then I think we're going to take a little tour of the ruins."
A smile spread like molasses across his muzzle. Then, to show his appreciation for my plan, he belched in my face.
The light of Tesserae's flames skittered across the dank walls of the Solaceon ruins, and we waited as the explorer we had just won against examined the picture of the unown symbols on my phone.
I stroked her back. While exploring the ruins, Tesserae had won against a fair few explorers and history fanatics; we already had enough money to pay for dinner and a handful of pokemon-friendly medication, if not more. So when the explorer had explained how he had no money to offer, I took it in stride.
"Ah," murmured the explorer, drawing my attention to him. "Yes, these are easily recognizable; they spell out part of a well-known myth."
"And?" I leaned closer. "What do they say?"
"'From the blood of Knowledge, Willpower, and Emotion two can be tamed, and from their disharmony the opposite shall arise'," he recited, handing my phone back to me.
My mouth curved downwards. "What does that mean?"
His grimy spectacles gleamed, shining grayly in the gloom. "Knowledge, Willpower, and Emotion represent the lake spirits of Sinnoh."
"What about the other two it talks about?"
He shrugged. "You'll have to forgive me; it's been years since I've studied the legends of Sinnoh."
I ran my fingers along Tess's flank once more, still frowning. "That's okay. Do you have any idea who would seek this sort of stuff out, though?"
He fiddled with the tip of his beard. "Only fanatics; even researchers such as myself would go to a library, unless we were afraid of being seen in public or had an urge to examine the symbols in person."
"Well, thank you." Though not completely satisfied, I had to admit that it was better than nothing. "You helped- oh!" Grimacing apologetically at the explorer, I flipped my now-vibrating phone open. "Hello?"
"Odile!" My name was followed by the crackle of static, and I winced, holding the receiver away from my ear. "Hey, Odile, where are you?"
"Damion, must you scream into the receiver?" I sighed, speaking quietly so that the fluttering in my ribcage wouldn't transfer to my voice. It was so strange to speak to him, knowing that he still thought Asher a murderer: knowing that he had no idea about the gym leaders' political system, or even that Odette had died. Knowing that he didn't know anything.
"Sorry," he said, unabashed. "But seriously, where are you?"
"Solaceon." Then again, his father worked as a higher-up in the Frontier- what if he was aware of what kind of people they were? What if he was planning on taking over for his dad once he was old enough? It would ruin him. "Why?"
"Well, I've gotten the Death Machine redone, but decided to hoof it to Pastoria so you could give it a whirl. Thank Arceus you're still in Solaceon- I stashed it behind some persim bushes by the ruins for you."
"First off, it's probably gotten stolen by now; you should know that from the last time you hid something in a bush. Secondly, I refuse to ride that stupid thing again." No matter what his plans were, I needed to tell him about what I had learned about Asher. And together, we had to figure out a way to spread the word about what really happened.
He laughed. "It's a lot safer now, I promise: most of the gears were replaced."
Apparently realising that I wasn't going to hang up, the explorer lifted a hand in farewell before descending the stone steps that led deeper into the ruins. I returned the gesture, and then went back to patting Tess with my free hand. "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt, then."
"I knew you would." The silence was filled with more than just static, and I could practically hear his hesitation. "What's up with you, Odile? You sound worried."
"I…really need to talk to you." Wincing at how my voice rose, I tried to lower it again. "Where are you?"
"Just outside of Pastoria." There was another pause. "What do you need to talk to me about?"
"Asher."
His change of tone was instantaneous. "What did he do?"
"He didn't do anything, Damion, that's just the thing. I know it sounds crazy, but-"
"Wait, O, I can't hear you." As if to reinforce his words, the static increased in volume. "Those Team Galactic goons have set up some weird transmitters around here, and I think it's screwing with my reception." There was some more crackling. "Did Asher hurt you?"
"No. No, Damion, he didn't hurt anyone-"
He started to say something, but there was a burst of static, and the line went dead. I lowered the phone from my ear, and decided that I was going to have to settle with texting him.
We were wrong about Asher, I typed. I'll tell u the rest in person. Call me when u get the chance. Then, because that didn't seem like enough, I finished with, Be careful around Team G.
Hitting 'Send', I stuffed my phone back into its pocket, and breathed in the stale cave air. Tesserae whinnied, the firelight of her mane glancing off of her eyes.
"I guess we should be going," I said, clearing my throat to rid it of the thickness in it. "Veilstone City is next up- and after that, Pastoria."
Tess leaned her head to the side, as if asking me what was wrong.
"I'm just praying that Damion doesn't do anything stupid concerning Team Galactic," I told her, beginning to head up the stairs that led to the entrance. She followed after me. "He'll get himself killed someday, I swear."
She gave a sympathetic snort, and I shielded my eyes against the winter-cold sun as we stepped outside. Looking around for the telltale gleam of a bike, what I had just said rang hollow in my ears, and my throat swelled.
"He'll get himself killed," I repeated. And just like that, other voices surfaced in my memory, cluttering my head.
'You remind me of my niece. She also had old soul eyes. She died on her journey, after running away with her boyfriend. He was a foolish, headstrong boy that was destined to die from the start. She ended up taking the fall for him.'
'I know it hurts now, but you've always been so much better at the emotional stuff than me. You'll be okay.'
'You always lie to yourself about things like this. I don't think you've noticed, but you do.'
'When there's someone you love like that, someone you can't live without, you have to tell them before it's too late. Don't let yourself realise it when it's too late, when there's nothing you can do.'
Tesserae whined softly at my change of tone, and I shook my head, trying to dislodge the memories. "Sorry. I guess that talk with Asher… put some things into perspective for me." Burying my hands in the pockets of my jacket, I exhaled, frosty air spilling out of my nostrils. "I guess I really have to buckle down, huh?" I said, more to myself than Tess. "Not just on the gym challenges, but everything else, too. I can't just keep travelling forever. By the summer's end, I have to decide what I'm going to do after this." Another puff of breath rose in the air, this time in form of a humourless chuckle. "And Damion and I really need to talk."
Tess's eyes creased in a smile, and she trotted over to a bush. I followed after her, only to find myself staring at a polished black bike with a cartoon skull spray-painted below the seat.
"The more things change, I guess," I sighed. Returning Tesserae to her pokeball, I ran my fingers along the handlebars.
It wasn't as if I had yet another epiphany of how I needed to grow up- those were in the past, and all I could do now was build upon them- but I realised, with a small quirk to my mouth, that, though my steering was shaky, it wasn't as if I needed training wheels anymore. It wasn't as if I needed someone to be there whenever I took a stand, made a decision.
It wasn't as if I needed Damion here to ride this thing.
So I swung one leg over, and kept the other one on the ground. I thought back to days when the summers were hot and I could only count up to twenty.
Then I pushed off, and my feet fumbled on the pedals as I cycled to Veilstone.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Remind me to never do that again," I growled at no one in particular, shakily dismounting the bike. The cartoon skull grinned at me, and I would've kicked it if it wasn't for the fact that I didn't want to ruin the new paint job. "No matter how poetic I'm feeling, and no matter how confident I might be, remind me that I hate bikes and that I can never remember where the fucking brakes are."
"Odile?" I turned at the sound of my name, and saw Lucas standing a little ways away from me.
"Lucas." Surprise leaked into my voice as he walked over, an infernape following close behind. "What are you doing here? I thought you were in Floaroma."
"I was." He sounded bewildered. "What are you doing here? I thought- I mean..."
A frown tugged at my mouth. "I'm taking the gym challenge, remember?"
"Right. I forgot. Sorry."
Peering at him, I felt my frown deepen. "Lucas, are you okay? You look like hell." Although a pang of guilt went through me for being so blunt, it was true: dark circles sagged under his eyes, and his face was white and pinched.
"I'm fine. Totally fine." He gave a limp smile, as if being shocked earlier had drained him of energy. "I just haven't been sleeping well, I guess. I've been going around Sinnoh doing research, and it's taken a lot out of me."
"I'm sorry to hear that." We both looked away, focusing on separate tiles of Veilstone City's main street. "Is that Jeremy?" I asked, gesturing to the infernape.
"Yeah." The infernape snorted, looking as if he hadn't retained any of the playfulness he had had as a chimchar. "He's all grown up now."
A chilled wind blew between us.
"Look, I was just about to go challenge the gym," I began, trying to shake off the awkwardness. "If you wanted to come with-"
"No." I jumped at the firmness in his voice, and he backtracked meekly. "Thanks, but I can't. I have to go finish up on my research."
"Alright." Startled, I tried a smile. "See you around, Lucas."
"Sorry, Odile." The smile he shot me was miserable, and I saw him close his eyes as he turned away and began striding down the cold stone sidewalk.
Hatter popped out of his capsule, the steel bars on his flippers glinting the same colour as the city around us. "That was strange," I remarked, watching as Lucas's retreating back grew smaller and smaller in the distance.
He nodded in agreement.
"C'mon, let's go," I said, rubbing his beak with one hand as I began walking the bike down the sidewalk with the other. "There's no point in worrying about him."
Still, Hatter's chirp was as anxious as my tone was.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
Less than half an hour later I found myself in the Veilstone City gym, which was filled to the brim with fighting-type pokemon: meditites, medichams and machops dominated the floor, all equipped with movesets built to K.O normal-types.
And Hunny was wiping the floor with all of them.
"Thank you, you, and you," I said as I passed the gym trainers, collecting my reward money as I went. Winry trotted along in front of me, teeth bared in a grin as our buneary delivered yet another knockout kick to his opponent's jaw.
"Hi, challenger." A girl that looked to be a year or two older than me descended from the rafters, landing on the balls of her gauze-wrapped feet. Winry hissed in surprise. "My name's Maylene, and I'm the gym leader here."
Deciding not to ask why she was on the rafters in the first place, I held out a hand for her to shake. "I'm Odile."
She took it, her grip surprisingly limp. "It's nice to meet you." Despite her friendliness, Asher's words rang loud and clear- 'The life of the gym leaders and elitists is full of politics. They may not seem like it, but they are as cutthroat as any policymaker; it's all about champions connecting with champions, and leaders playing their cards right in order to move up in their position.'
"Can we start the battle?" At my words, Hunny bounded up to us, paws lifted in a boxer's pose. I lifted him up in my arms.
She reached back to scratch at her short pink hair. "Of course." Distancing herself from me, she pulled a capsule from her waistband. "Fair warning: I take battles very seriously."
"So do I." Swallowing my nerves, I took a breath to steel myself. "Winry, start us off."
She snickered, tail lashing in anticipation.
A pucker formed between Maylene's brows, and the first pokemon she released was a meditite. "You're Odile Rella, aren't you?" she asked, and her pokemon hovered closer, its flat black eyes narrowed in calculation.
"Yes." Winry feigned moving left, and then lunged. The meditite floated away, clapping its hands in a Fake Out to cause her to flinch back. It then followed up with a Drain Punch, which Winry easily dodged.
"Gardenia told me about you." At the mention of Gardenia, Winry growled. Her claws slid from the pads of her feet, and in one practiced motion she side-swiped the hovering blue pokemon. Its blood spattered the floorboards. "You're much more direct than she described you," she admitted, picking at the bandage on her nose in what looked like embarrassment.
"And how did she describe me?" The meditite's eyes flashed violet, and it released a Confusion that hit Winry dead-on. She managed to shake it off, and headbutted the meditite in the stomach.
"Indecisive. Naïve. PMSing." She winced. "Then again, she probably told you that herself."
"More or less." The meditite's body hit the floor hard, and Maylene nibbled on her bottom lip, wasting no time in sending out her machoke.
"I… I haven't been a gym leader as long as the others, but I've been around long enough to notice that she does that to everyone. Don't worry about it." She cracked her knuckles, shifting her weight with a nervousness that surprised me. "Machoke, Drain Punch!"
"Winry, Return!" My pokemon dissolved in a flash of white light, and I ordered Hunny forward in her stead. "It did bug me- it crushed me, actually. But it helped me, too. If she hadn't said what she said… well, I don't want to think of who I'd be now." Hunny darted forward, narrowly missing a downwards punch from the machoke.
Her brown eyes widened. "I don't get how you can say that; I'd flip if anyone bashed me like that."
Despite my best efforts, I couldn't keep up my serious front: a smile wriggled its way onto my lips. "I did flip: I had a complete meltdown, and then proceeded to make some incredibly stupid mistakes. But I've come a long way since then- all because of what she said. Now, Hunny, Dizzy Punch!"
Bouncing up, Hunny socked the machoke in the jaw, and aimed a kick to its chest on the way down. The machoke reeled back, toppling almost instantly. She's a gym leader- aren't her pokemon supposed to be tougher than this?
I could see her grit her teeth all the way from where I stood. "Sorry; I wasn't paying attention." Withdrawing her machoke, she sent yet another pokeball spinning into the air. "I'm focusing now, I swear."
A lucario materialised, instantly at the ready. Ordering Hunny forward, I saw the lucario look back at Maylene for direction. "Drain Punch," she said.
"Try and trip it, Hunny," I called. Enduring the hit, Hunny's foot flashed out, but the lucario was too quick: it danced out of the way before my plan could be put into play.
"Aura Sphere!" she commanded. Clapping its hands together, an orb of light grew between its palms, which it then hurled at my pokemon. Hunny dodged, sending himself into a dive-roll.
"Aim for its feet!" I shouted. If Hunny could twist the lucario's ankle, then the speed that it relied on would no longer work in its favour: all we needed was to get one kick in, and we'd be good.
The lucario looked back at Maylene again, who seemed to be choking on words. Taking advantage of her hesitation, Hunny launched himself at the lucario's leg: the kick connected, and there was a sharp crack as our opponent fell to one knee.
Maylene made a low noise in the back of her throat. "Lucario, get up!"
"Hunny, finish it off with a Jump Kick." The lucario didn't struggle as Hunny readied the final blow: it simply kneeled and waited, closing its eyes indifferently.
"Get up!" Maylene repeated with a kind of hopeless desperation.
In reply Hunny's foot met its face with astounding force, and it fell softly sideways, not making a sound as it fainted.
Taken aback by how easy the win was, I stood as Winry and Hunny celebrated, bumping noses in their version of a high five. From across the gym, I watched as Maylene balled her hands into fists, her face crumpling in frustration.
And I watched as she began to cry.
She lifted both fists to her face, and covered her eyes with them. My pokemon stopped immediately, ears pricked with curiosity and concern, and I hastily returned them to their capsules before rushing over to her. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked.
"No, I'm not at all," she whispered, her voice breaking. "I haven't won any battles for months. My pokemon don't even like me anymore. I don't know what to do."
Acutely aware of how the gym trainers were staring, I put a hand on her shoulder, at a loss for how to comfort her. "Maybe you should take some time off," I suggested. "Maybe you're pushing yourself too hard."
She shook her head, spraying teardrops. "I can't. Sensei died- he's the real gym leader, not me." Her sigh was watery. "I don't know what real strength is, or what it means to be a trainer."
"You can't define either of those; there is no real strength, and no one can say what it means to be a trainer. Those are both up to you." I looked into her face, which was already bloating with tears, and felt pity lance through me. "Look, Maylene, I know it's hard- I know it all seems impossible at times. I know life seems impossible at times. But that's why you have to keep pushing forward." I gave her a little shake. "You said your sensei is the true gym leader- well, make him proud. Prove to him and yourself that you can be a gym leader, too. If you can do that, then I think you'll know what it means to have real strength." A small, melancholy smile shaped my mouth. "As for what it means to be a trainer… well, I'm sure you'll figure it out for yourself. I'm still figuring it out, myself."
She lowered her hands, blinking at me. Then she gave a loud sniffle, took the hand that I had on her shoulder, and pressed the badge into it.
"I would've given you the badge for that speech alone," she said, cracking a tearstained grin. "I don't get what Gardenia was talking about- that was the smartest, nicest thing anyone's ever said to me." The wetness on her cheeks glimmered. "Thanks for that."
"You… are really welcome." A mixture of pride and sympathy inflated my heart, causing a tightening sensation in my chest. "Thank you, too."
With wet eyes she went over to her lucario, who she helped sit up. I stared after her for a moment before turning, stowing the badge away in my bag. My shoes clacked on the floorboards as I exited the gym, pushing the double doors open to allow a blast of icy air to greet me-
Only to find myself face-to-face with Lucas.
"Odile, please, I need your help," he begged, the words spilling from his lips the instant he saw me. Tears clung to the tips of his lashes, and helplessness was carved into his face. "Please, Team Galactic stole my pokedex- they went into the storage unit a block from here, and I'm too scared of them to go alone-"
"Lucas, calm down." Bewildered, I took a step back. "What happened?"
He took a shaky breath. "I was going to go get something to eat, and then I was jumped by these two guys; I think they were the ones that attacked you, me, and Prof. Rowan back in Jublife. Please, Odile, help me; I don't know who else to ask-"
"Lucas, I will, don't worry." Recovering, I nodded at him.
A tear ran down his cheek. "Thank you." He backed up, calling, "If you need to rest your pokemon, go ahead- I'll meet you near the unit."
"Alright." He turned and began running, arms pumping like pistons. Hefting my bag's weight, I started jogging in the opposite direction, vowing not to make him wait too long.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
"Thank you," I told the nurse, retrieving my pokeballs and beginning to clip them back onto my necklace. Once I was finished I hit the streets running, threading my way through hoards of people to get to Lucas faster.
I was nearly at the storage unit when my cellphone rang.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Odile?" A gruff, familiar voice returned.
"Prof. Rowan?" Catching my breath, I slowed, nearly coming to a stop.
"Your mother stopped by a few days ago, and gave me your number; I thought that I would call to check in on how your pokedex is filling up," he answered. "I hope you don't mind."
"Not at all." The amount of people had diminished quickly, and now it was only me walking along the grimy backstreet of Veilstone. "It's coming along great, thanks. I'm already in Veilstone."
"Is that so." There was a slight hesitation. "Have you come across Lucas, by any chance? He hasn't reported back to me in quite a while."
"I just saw him, actually. And what do you mean, he hasn't been reporting? He's been collecting research data for you." My footfalls were painfully loud in the quiet, rebounding off the alley walls.
The silence on the professor's end was as heavy as deadweight. "I have asked him to do no such thing: he left without telling me anything right after we returned from Jublife."
My steps were slowing even more now, even as I went to round the corner. "He told me he was going to go visit relatives in Floaroma."
A chill ran up my spine as I spoke the words, and it was at that exact moment that the storage unit came into view, looking as if it hadn't been lived in for years.
"Odile," the professor said slowly, with growing dread, "Lucas doesn't have any relatives in Floaroma."
And it was then that a great weight crashed upon my head, sending me sprawling headfirst into unconsciousness.
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO
A/N:
Flamer + Writer's Block= Neglect. I am so sorry for neglecting this fic.
I am going to Hawaii for a week or so, but after that I'll be revising the earlier chapters. : )
Also, REVIEW. Haa, I wish I could see your faces right now… you guys thinking Lucas was a good guy… *rolls on floor laughing*
EVERYONE PLEASE CHECK OUT THE PIC THAT ARTHUR DREW: JUST TYPE IN 'DEATHMACHINESHIPPING DEVIANTART' INTO GOOGLE AND IT'S THE FIRST THING THAT POPS UP. ITS SO ADORABLE.
Spinning, by Jack's Mannequin: From Odile's POV.
'I'm keeping quiet 'till there is no more sirens
Lately it's been hard to keep the hinges on with all the noise'- Odile trying to cope with everything that's been thrown at her.
'I'll find my words when there is no one talking
The room is spinning I have got no choice'- How she's trying to find her inner voice among the 'noise' of other peoples' opinions and points of view.
'Be patient I am getting to the point'- Talking to Damion.
'I can't remember when the earth turned slowly
So I just waited with the lights turned out again
I lost my place but I can't stop this story
I've found my way, but until then
I'm only spinning'- How she's beginning to find her way.
'I'm keeping quiet til the phone stops ringing
Lately it's hard to disconnect, I just want something real
I've found the words if I could just stop thinking
The room is spinning, I have got no choice
Be patient, I am getting to the point.'- Again, finding herself.
'Spin beneath the rooftop
Hold on, wait until the room stops
Spinning'- How she's trying to hold on as everything she thought she knew falls apart around her.