Shedding Skins

Chapter Twenty Five

Prohibition

"Forrest?" I said into the darkness. I figured out that we were in a room, but the lights weren't on. I saw a brief flash of light and managed to catch a glimpse of Raynor and his Gallade teleporting in after us.

"Yeah?" Forrest replied, voice still hollow. I heard a crash, followed by a series of choice curses, courtesy of Raynor, before the lights flickered on overhead. We were in a messy, cluttered bedroom. Posters of famous trainers covered the walls and clothes and other objects lay strewn everywhere. There was an unmade bed, a table with a T.V sitting on it, a wardrobe and little else.

"Where is this?" I asked, trying to figure it out.

"My house. My parents left it to me when they moved to Hoenn," Raynor replied shortly. He was still quite clearly unhappy with me. I didn't blame him. It then occurred to me that this was probably Raynor's room.

"Hey, is -" I started, but I went silent rather abruptly. Above, the bed, something was hovering. It was a round, black face, with two disproportionately large, white eyes and a twisted grin. I noticed that it had two small, sharp fangs protruding from its upper jaw. The floating black ball was surrounded by a ghostly purple fog. I found myself frozen with fear.

"That's just Hate. He's a Gastly. He prefers to haunt my house when he's not with me," Raynor explained, returning his Gallade.

"Is that even legal?" I asked.

"Of course not," he replied, a ghost of a smile on his face. "Now, come on. There are places we have to be," he said, walking out of the room and then out of the house. Forrest and I quickly followed.

"Where are we?" I inquired, looking around. I didn't recognize the place.

"Cianwood. It's the safest place in Johto just now," Raynor told me. I got the feeling that he wasn't as annoyed with me anymore.

"Why?"

"Just wait for a minute," he said. We continued to follow him as he made his way towards east Cianwood. As we approached, a beach came into view. There was bright yellow sand, and dark water that reflected the night sky. I noticed a handful of Krabby scuttling sideways across the shore. I also saw a lone Shuckle sitting there, poking its head out of its shell and looking around.

"In here," Raynor indicated the Pokemon Center that we had just reached then walked inside. We followed him. It was more crowded than I had ever seen any other Center. We followed Raynor to the back of the Center, until we were close enough to see the front desk. Several things caught my attention then.

The first was that the nurses, surgeons and other staff were all sitting behind the desk, tied up and gagged. The second was that a familiar red haired, confident trainer was presently climbing up on top of the desk. He put two fingers to his lips and let out a shrill, sharp whistle that caught everybody's attention.

"Listen up!" He barked. The crowd did as he told them. "Almost every person on this island is a trainer. The staff and the few non trainers have been tied up but won't be harmed," he went on.

"Why?" Someone shouted angrily from the crowd.

"Because people are angry at trainers at the moment," he shouted back.

"Why's that?" Someone else shouted.

"See for yourselves," Tyson said, pointing a remote at the huge plasma screen T.V on the back wall of the Center. A picture suddenly appeared on it.

"Seventeen police officers killed and many more injured," the newsreader read out. There was a chorus of gasps from the crowd.

"They've conveniently not mentioned trainer deaths," a tall, blonde trainer shouted out. I noticed that she was wearing fingerless gloves and had eight badges pinned to one of them.

"It is a tragedy that has certainly shocked the nation. Now some words from Kiera Fallow," the newsreader continued. I recognized her as a politician who had a lot to do with the laws regarding training.

"Aside from those police officers, dozens of civilians also been killed during the riots that followed the incident in Blackthorn City. Due to that, we are imposing a ban on training, in order to protect the people of Johto," the politician said gravely. There was an immediate uproar in the Center. All around, people were shouting and screaming their rage over what had just been announced.

"Shut it!" A voice roared from up front. Another three figures had climbed up on the front desk along with Tyson. Raynor was one of them and the tall blonde trainer was also there. The trainer who had just spoke, however, was a man in his twenties. He had a bright red Mohawk, a lot of piercings and wore a wifebeater with a pair of faded jeans. I didn't recognize him.

"Watch this," Raynor called to the crowd, gesturing to the T.V.

"And now some footage we obtained from the Blackthorn riot," came a voice from the T.V. I immediately noticed the subject of the video - Reece, the Leader of Blackthorn Gym.

"You're under arre-" a police officer started but he didn't get any further, as a Cacturne backhanded him across the face with one spiked arm. A dozen police officers all converged upon Reece, brandishing their nightsticks. A Drapion picked up one police officer in each of its huge pincers and threw them over the crowd. A Bastiodon then formed a ball of light in its mouth and spat it at the nearest group of police officers. The flash cannon attack exploded with a flash of bright light, causing the police officers to all stagger back, roaring with pain while they clutched at their temporarily sightless eyes.

"Backup!" One of the police officers almost pleaded. Just then, though, Reece returned all of his Pokemon and released a Xatu. He put a hand on its back and they disappeared in a flash of light. The video then ended. Tyson switched the T.V off.

"All trainers are safe in my city!" The Mohawk trainer bellowed. What did he mean by his city?

"Are you the new Gym Leader?" Somebody from the crowd called out. That would explain it.

"Yes, I am. I'm L.J," he introduced himself to the crowd.

"What about the training ban?" Someone called out.

"It won't stick," the tall blonde trainer answered.

"Yeah. There are a lot of us and we have the Elite Four and the Gym Leaders on our side," Tyson agreed.

"Maybe the Frontier Brains as well, but we're not sure where they stand," Raynor added.

"You forgot someone," came a strong voice from the door. Everyone simultaneously turned to see who was there. I managed to get a look at him by standing on a chair to see over the crowd. It was an old man. He was mostly bald, although he had a little white hair left. He wore a pair of half moon glasses and a pristine looking grey suit. He also walked with the aid of a wooden cane. Despite his age and his cane, he looked in no way fragile or weak. In fact, he looked quite the opposite.

The crowd was suddenly alive with whispers. "Who's that?"

"Never seen him before."

"That's Pauli Grey."

"I thought he retired."

"Wasn't he a Gym Leader?"

"Yeah, one of the strongest."

"You all know that they're going to lift this ban when they realize trainers aren't going to go quietly?" He asked the crowd. The retired Gym Leader just emanated wisdom and experience from every pore. He was like the ultimate veteran trainer and his mere presence simply demanded a great deal of respect.

"Yeah," the tall blonde trainer agreed.

"I have spoken to the Frontier Brains. They have agreed to take action if the situation gets worse, but at present, they will remain neutral," the old trainer informed everyone. This seemed to raise the spirits in the room, if only a little.

"What do you mean by that? Can the situation even get any worse?" A trainer shouted out. Pauli looked at the trained as if he was an idiot.

"Of course it can get worse. The government could declare war on trainers, and - being so poorly organized at the moment- we probably would not win."

"Everybody, grab a key and take a room," L.J called to rest of the Center, as though he didn't want Pauli to say any more. "There are enough in here to hold everybody just now, but you'll need to share when more trainers arrive," he added as the crowd started surging towards the front desk to get a key. Forrest and I made sure to get rooms next door to each other before we filed up the stairs with the rest of the trainers.

I turned the T.V on, collapsed onto the bed in my room and released my team. Naja was still wearing his translation collar. I took it off of him and put it in my bag, since it was clear that it was annoying him. I checked the time on my phone after that, and found that it was two in the morning.

It had been such a long twenty four hours. First, I had got my third badge from Lee. I found it hard to believe that happened only early afternoon the previous day. I had then threatened the intelligent looking trainer on route thirty-eight, which I still felt bad about, I had just been distracted by the riot, which had started just after it.

The riot had also happened, when I had nearly died more than once. Naja and Ares had killed a person each, but that was in self defense, and I hadn't done it myself, so I didn't feel as bad about that. I had met back up with Forrest, albeit in a different way than what I had expected. Then Cainwood, the training ban and Pauli Grey turning up. It was quite a series of events.

I couldn't believe that the government had put a ban on training. I wasn't sure what I would do if the ban was permanent. I figured that I would keep training anyway, illegal or not. It had become far too big a part of my life for me to just give up. In fact, it wasn't a part of my life anymore, it was my life. L.J had mentioned that more trainers would arrive, although when they would do so, I had no idea.

I had a though just then and took out my phone before starting to type a text message. In all of the confusion, I hadn't got in touch with Marnie.

Where are you? Are you okay?

I sent it to Marnie and put my phone away. Nothing to do really but wait for her reply. I knew that Johto was in a bad way just now. If I thought about it, I knew that there was a very real chance that she had been hurt, or worse. However, I didn't, even for one second, expect that she would be hurt. Other people got hurt, not people I knew.

I noticed that Naja was looking at me, somewhat expectantly. I reached into my bag and put on the translation headset. He let out a hiss, but it was translated into English by the headset.

"I would like to know what is happening," the voice said into my ear.

"What is going on here?" Cerletti's voice echoed inside my head. Ares just buzzed into the air and stuck himself to the nearest wall, blissfully unaware of the situation.

"Training's been banned, and I don't know what's going to happen," I said to the two of them. Cerletti gave a small gasp but Naja remained impassive. Ares just flitted over to the wall next to the bed, about a foot away from my face. I couldn't help but smile a little at his senseless antics. He gave a small buzz.

"Wall...Solid..." A rather high pitched voice said into my ear. I recognized that it was Ares' translated speech. He gave another buzz.

"Window...Closed..." Came his translated speech again, as he dashed over to said window.

"Door...Locked..." Was he checking to make sure the room was secure? I deduced that he was not as stupid as I had assumed he was.

"Nothing we can do except wait," I told the other two, since they could understand me. I flicked through the channels on the T.V until I found an old sitcom that I was quite fond of. I also held the egg, paying attention in case it moved. I did, but it also made a sound. I couldn't tell what kind of noise it was - I had never heard anything like it before.

"Guys! Did you hear that?" I asked Naja and Cerletti. Naja gave me a bored look, but Cerletti had the decency to at least look interested. A second later, Ares perched himself on the egg.

"Egg...Not good...Keep eye...On..." Came his translated speech. It was starting to sound more than a little deranged.

There was definitely something not right about this egg.