Author's Note:
Lemme tell this to you all, my dear readers: school work tends towards making me supremely lazy. As such, you can blame that and a combination of my own subsequent sloth for the lack of updates as of late. 'Tis my apologies…
A Shout-out to gincitri for the Follow, as well as to joycewu333, for pointing out that error! Hey, readers, if there are any silly mistakes like that, feel free to point 'email out!
And, Y-ko, I do not own any fedoras, like that one Snivy from ClicheStorm. I do have this neat-o RED Team TF2 hat, though!
Disclaimer:
Pokémon and any other referential materials found in this story do not belong to me. They belong to their respective owners and subsidiaries, and I claim no ownership of them.
Of Children, Men, and Monsters
Chapter Twenty-Three: Continuing Onwards
Cue music – Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal Version soundtrack – Pokémon Center
"C'mon, Marza! Get up already! It's nearly eight!" spoke a familiar voice to the rather drowsy girl. She grabbed the pillow that she wasn't using and put it over her head in response, still far too tired from yesterday's trekking to really care about much at that moment.
That is, until a heavy weight knocked itself directly into her stomach.
She immediately curled up even more, air knocked clear out of her.
She was wide awake now, though!
After spending several seconds regaining her lost breath, she again responded, this time gasping, "Was… was that really necessary, Oscura?"
Though she was out of sight, she could practically feel the Larvitar's shrug of nonchalance.
"Fine, fine, I'm getting up…"
And that she did, after a few brief moments of stretching. Marza noticed that Lyra was already dressed up in her usual attire and raring to go.
'She does seem like an early riser. Makes sense, considering her general energy-filled self… Better get up early, anyways. Don't want to leave the professor hanging for that long…'
Lyra urged Marza to accelerate her pace in her morning routine, very clearly impatient and eager to be taking off from the Center. Upon being asked as to why she was so wanting to leave as soon as possible, she simply responded, "'Cause I'm keeping Mom waiting on her groceries back home!"
"And you aren't leaving right this second despite the fact that you are evidently ready to go… why, exactly?"
"Well, it'd be jerkish of me to just up and leave without saying good bye, yeah?"
"Then why aren't you just saying "bye" and leaving right now?"
A momentary pause, before:
"… Good point, actually. But the way you say it makes it sound like you want me to leave. I mean, if you really want me to leave, I will…"
Marza was caught between humoring the girl and giving her brutal honesty.
'… Let's see if I can't do both.'
"Okay, I'm going to come clean: I would rather not have you around." The brown-haired girl's eyes turned to the floor sadly, but Marza still continued:
"It is only somewhat because of your clumsiness, though. I can tell that you are a pretty nice person, constant tripping aside. I'm just a naturally solitary person, you see, so the reason for me wanting to separate from you isn't really you being you – it's simply me being me. You get what I mean, Lyra?"
Another brief moment of silence transpired. After this, Lyra raised her head from its downward-tilted position, an understanding grin gracing the bottom of her face.
"Alright. I'll respect your wishes and go. Again, I've been keeping my mom waiting for long enough! She must do what most moms do and cook for her kids! Though, in this case, that'd be singular."
She hopped over to the door of the room, partner and best friaend Marill already by her feet. She made her final comments before closing the door: "Be seeing you later! I think I'll be following Ethan around after he leaves in a day or two, so, with any luck, we'll probably see each other face-to-face again eventually!"
And then she was gone. Marza heard the sliding and clicking noises of the main automated entrance/exit door as it opened and closed for the other lass' passage through it.
After a few moments of being upright, she allowed her torso to succumb to the effects of gravity, sighing tiredly.
"Almost felt like a jerk for telling her that. 'Least I managed to be polite about it, unlike my usual snarky-whenever-possible self…"
The Rock Skin Pokémon, meanwhile, had not taken kindly to Marza's display of sloth, readying another charge at her fellow female's stomach, but was stopped pre-emptively by a hand on the head.
"Yes, I know that you want to get going as well, Oscura. But would you be so kind as to give me fifteen minutes? My legs are still quite sore, and my entire body still feels drained from that walking session. Please?"
The Larvitar glared at her for two complete seconds before relenting, plopping down on the bed herself with a sigh.
"Thanks. Don't let me stop your from exploring around, though. Go and check out the building, if you want… Just be in a place where I can easily find you in fifteen minutes…"
Marza promptly grabbed the covers and dragged them to cover herself up completely, sighing loudly, probably at the feeling of touching the silken-smooth sheets.
The green-skinned Pokémon wasted no time in hopping off of the bed and doing what Marza had just given her permission to do.
Just one problem: There was a knob-operated door blocking her way.
Oscura then leaped back onto the bed and nudged her partner several times. It was only after the sixth that Marza finally inquired as to what the matter was. A point to the door and a pair of puppy eyes was what she got in response.
Marza promptly got up, grumbling on her way to the door before opening it.
"Alright… Door's open, Oscura."
And then she marched right back to bed and resumed her earlier activities – or rather, the lack thereof.
Oscura headed out and into the gently colored building, looking around curiously. She had not really had a large amount of time to take in the entirety of the building last evening, after all!
There wasn't really a whole lot going on, from what the Pokémon could tell. The nurse was busying herself with a book below the counter, and no one else was present. Oscura noticed this only after grabbing onto the second floor guardrail and glancing over it in an attempt to practice and improve upon her stealth, however silly and pointless the action was. After this, she slowly walked down the stairs, as to not trip down them (she had done just that back home once – she could've sworn she felt her horn crack!).
"Oh, hello, there… Oscura, was it? What are you doing down here on your lonesome?"
Oscura simply shrugged, not really having a practical way of communicating at the moment.
"Well, then, do feel free to do whatever you please so long as you don't make a fuss!" she dictated with a kindly smile. Oscura nodded to this statement, not really looking for any sort of trouble (at least at the moment).
She simply decided to take another look around, again lacking in things to do while she waited for Marza. Spotting a few magazines stuffed into a container next to a chair, Oscura settled on getting some practice with her reading skills in, grabbing one that was a bit less tucked away than all the others before sitting down on the chair and got straight to reading.
Or, rather, she would have, were it not for the nearby nurse curiously commenting, "You can read, Oscura?"
A nod. Why else would she be picking this collections of colorful papers up, flashy pictures aside?
… Okay, she kind of answered her own question there.
But still.
"Well, that is quite unusual! This is only the second time I've seen a Pokémon that could do so, in fact! Don't let me distract you any further, though!"
Silence then permeated the building, the rushing of the shower upstairs aside. Oscura sincerely hoped that it was Marza in there and not someone else – reading may be good to learn and master, but for someone Oscura's, age, it grew boring rather quickly.
A few people came – all but one of which glancing at her strangely – and eighteen and a half minutes later, Oscura's partner sauntered down the stairs, still looking a touch tired. Oscura put the magazine away, going over to her and grabbing her attention with a small chirp.
"I saw you, yeah. Practicing your reading, I see?"
The tyke nodded with enthusiasm, eager for some praise. She received it when Marza said, "Good job with that initiative. You'd best keep it up! Now, before we leave…"
She paced over to Nurse Joy's desk, placing the room key that Lyra had left on her night stand on the counter.
"That is the room key. Also, would you happen to know a way to find out Oscura's Moves? Because I unfortunately don't."
The nurse cheerfully said back, "Well, the two most practical methods are luckily both relatively easy. You can either put Oscura in a Poké Ball and hand it with her inside of it to me so that I can check…"
Both of the two other females shook their heads, not exactly comfortable with this.
"… or you can simply open up a Pokédex if you happen to have one and check yourself. Simple, no?"
'… I feel like an idiot for not bothering to fully investigate this thing's full range of functions earlier…'
Upon a bit of perusing in the device she came by an application that scanned Pokémon Move sets. She used it with Oscura, and it procured the following data:
"This Larvitar knows the Moves Bite, Leer, and Outrage. For further information, tap the section of each Move on the screen…"
She cut the device off by turning it off, next saying to the pink-haired nurse, "Thanks for that, Joy. Possibly be seeing you later…?"
The nurse just continued to smile, saying, "Indeed! Have a safe trip wherever you end up going, Marza!"
Said girl just grinned wryly in response.
"I'll try."
And then Marza and Oscura left the Center to resume their little quest in the middle of their significantly larger quest.