Pokémon: 19 Deaths: 3
"Good morning, dear. Or afternoon, rather. Did you sleep well?"
Saylee scrabbled for her glasses. "Thank you," she muttered when someone pressed them into her hand. The first thing she noticed when she put them on was a dreamcatcher, and she stared at it for a moment, reorienting herself. Then she looked over at her visitor. "I slept very well, thanks. And you are…?"
It was an elderly lady, pale-skinned and white-haired. She had silver-rimmed glasses, tightly curled hair and a neat, calf-length white coat. She was sitting next to Saylee's hospital bed with a backpack sitting in her lap, peering over her glasses at Saylee. Her dark red eyes twinkled when she smiled. "My name's Helen Pryce, dear."
"Pryce… oh, are you related to Sir Arthur Pryce?" Saylee asked. "The ice master?"
"He's my husband, dear," Helen said, nodding. "Have you met him?"
Saylee shook her head. "I've only read about him… I researched some of the prominent trainers in Johto when I moved here."
"Looking for Team Rocket connections, dear?" Helen said. "Don't look so surprised, you're big news. 'Saylee the Kanto Spy', they're calling you on the news. You and your Pokémon invaded the Rocket base back home in Mahogany, too, didn't you? I was one of the hostages being held down there. I owe a lot to your Golem. Without her, we all would have died."
"I'm glad you're alright," Saylee said.
"I wish I could say the same for you, dear," Helen sighed, looking at Saylee's IV drip. "Well, I suppose it's lucky you're alive, anyway. Arthur will be pleased, too. He's been hoping to battle you since you drove out Team Rocket, you see. These days, he rarely gets to battle a trainer of high calibre!" She laughed. "Don't think his age will drag him down! Nothing else ever has!"
"I'd be excited to battle him when I'm out of this bed," Saylee said, scowling at her IV drip herself. "I understand that once you and the other hostages were freed, he kicked all the Team Rocket ass he could find."
"Language, dear," Helen said mildly, "but yes, that was so. He participated quite enthusiastically in the rounding up of those awful thugs here in Goldenrod too. Kudos to you for defeating the leaders, however, dear. Speaking of which… I understand that you've met my son Giovanni?"
"Your s—" Saylee's eyes widened and her jaw dropped a little as she stared at Helen Pryce. Scrambling for something to say, all she could think of was, "—so that's how Team Rocket knew about that underground hideout…"
"Gio must have had notes about it somewhere, or people still working down there, because nobody else in the town knew about it," Helen sighed. "Too bad Gio wasn't there. I don't approve of physical disciplining of children, so I must never have given him a good sound thumping as a child, but he's an adult so I'd certainly like to give him one now…"
"Join the club," Saylee said dryly.
"Must be a family trait," Helen said, smiling ruefully. "When Arthur and I came here to help deal with those awful Rockets and started asking after the young lady who rescued us in Mahogany before vanishing one evening, I met a nice young man who told me something interesting. Gio's been hiding my grandchildren from me!"
"Um, Silver, anyway," Saylee said. "I don't think he knew that… that I'm…"
"Still too hard to say, is it, dear?" Helen said sympathetically. "It's all right. Cursed memories… they've fooled around with everyone's lives. I mean, I have given birth to and raised three children, and I only met one of them at all about ten years ago. We didn't know if Gio was alive or dead; we only had photographs of him. Oh, and a letter. It said that things in Kanto were getting dangerous and he was sending his wife and son to Johto, but they never arrived… must have been on their way when whatever happened, happened."
So that's why Mum and Red were at the docks in Vermillion… "We didn't have anything… I only just found out that he's… my father…" the word tasted awful in her mouth, but she had to say it.
"It'll get easier to accept if you can say it," Helen said sympathetically. "Yes. Giovanni is your father, and my younger son. And you're my granddaughter. You've got a grandfather, aunts and uncles, and cousins too. Wyatt and Lucy are about your age, come to that."
"They are? Wow…" Saylee rubbed her eyes. "It's a lot to take in, but… I'm only just realizing that being… being Giovanni's daughter means more than, well, being Giovanni's daughter. I've never had any family except Mum and Red, and now…"
"I'm not going to pile everyone in here to meet you," Helen promised. "Take your time to get used to it. I promise that, to the best of my knowledge, nobody else in the family is a criminal psychopath."
"…Between Giovanni and Silver, I think I've already had the worst of new relatives," Saylee admitted. "I think I'd like to meet everyone. Eventually. Maybe not right now…" she yawned widely. "I just woke up, why am I still tired…"
"That happens when you're healing, dear," Helen said, patting Saylee's hand. "Tell you what. Arthur will want to visit you too, soon, but I'll tell everyone to hold off until you're out of hospital. You should come back to Mahogany when you're out, then you can meet your family."
"I'd like that," Saylee said, squeezing Helen's fingers. The old woman's hand was wrinkled and soft, and very warm.
"You ought to bring your mother and brothers, too," Helen continued. "I'd love to meet them. Are they in Kanto?"
"My Mum is, so it might be hard to get her out here safely…" Saylee said. "Silver's here, though. He's my younger half-brother. I have a full brother, Red… but he's been missing for a long while."
"Oh, no!" Helen gasped. "Oh, that's terrible. Have you any idea where he is?"
"East of Ecruteak, west of Kanto, that's all I know…" Saylee sighed. "But Morty had a vision. He said I'll find Red in the snow."
"Well, Arthur says it's to be a snowy winter, and he's never wrong when it comes to the cold…" Helen said, digging into the backpack. "If you're planning to go traipsing around in the snow, you ought to have these. I just finished them and I'd like you to have them. I've missed seventeen of your birthdays, anyway…" She handed a soft bundle of yellow wool to Saylee.
"Thank you!" Saylee said, unfolding it. Most of the wool was a long yellow scarf, but as she unwound it, a pair of lighter yellow gloves fell out, along with an orange wool hat. It had a bobble on top. Saylee blanked that out in favour of cuddling the scarf. "It's so warm! Is this Mareep wool?"
"Flareon fur," Helen said. "Wonderful stuff, isn't it?"
"Thank you so much," Saylee said, trying on the gloves. They were actually a little big on her, but warm and soft all the same. "This is wonderful. I really… thank you." She pressed the scarf to her face. Her eyes felt very, very hot. She was mortified to realize that she was crying. "I-I'm sorry, I don't know why…"
"Don't worry about it, dear," Helen said, patting her shoulder. "It's all been a bit much lately, I'm sure. Don't try to bottle it up. It'll do you good to let it out and have a good cry." Saylee could only nod helplessly, crying into her scarf.
"Sorry about that," she sniffed a while later, wiping her eyes off with the back of her hand. "…I do feel a little better, though."
"That's the way," Helen said, squeezing Saylee's shoulder. "A lot's happened recently. You gained some family, lost your poor Dragonair…"
Saylee nodded, feeling a lump rising in her throat again at the mention of Diana. "Diana… I promised I was going to take her home to Blackthorn…"
"You still can in a way, dear," Helen said. "We gave her remains a proper funeral, but we kept her horn and one of her pearls. You probably ought to take those back to Blackthorn so she can have a funeral in their style."
"Thank you," Saylee said, nodding and wiping her eyes again.
"Lee? Are you okay?"
Tobias was peering around the door at about head-height. Mary, Carrie and Hernan followed him in, looking in confusion at Helen.
"I'll leave you with your friends, dear," Helen said, zipping her backpack closed and standing up. "It's wonderful to meet you, and I expect I'll be back with Arthur quite soon. Do look after yourself until then."
"It's good to meet you, um…"
"Call me Helen until you're ready, dear." Helen smiled brightly at Saylee and left.
"Who was that, Saylee?" Carrie asked curiously.
"Her name's Helen," Saylee said, hugging the scarf, "and she's…"
"Hey, new stuff!" Nider said, stomping into the room. "What's this?" He picked up the orange hat, peering at the bobble. "Nice! I'm stealin' this!" He stuck the hat on top of his head, stretching it over the knobbly scales and smaller spikes. The orange hat clashing with his purple skin was so ugly, and seeing Nider in a bobble hat was so utterly ridiculous, that Saylee burst into hysterical laughter.
"Nider, ye cannae jus' nick Lee's stuff!" Mary chastised him.
"No… 's okay…" Saylee choked out, doubling up over her stomach. She desperately tried to get her laughter under control; it was starting to make her throat hurt. "Oh, wow… thank you, Nider. You can keep the hat. I needed that."
"So who was that woman?" Hernan asked suspiciously. "Was she upsetting you?"
"No, no," Saylee insisted. "I've just… a lot's happened lately. But y'know, not all of it's bad. After all, it looks like I have a granny now!"
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"Lyra! You're alive!"
"Hi, Ethan," Saylee said, putting down her book as the exuberant kid ran into the room. He was grinning as widely as ever and looked unaffected by his ordeal in Goldenrod. Marina was, as ever, in tow; she was taller than him now. "How are you?"
"We're okay, thanks to you and your boyfriend!" Ethan said happily. Saylee was glad that Blue wasn't in the room because that comment made her go red enough. She pointedly ignored her visiting Pokémon sniggering at her. "Thank you so much! I'm sorry you got hurt, though," he added guiltily.
"Not because of you," Saylee promised him. "So, Marina, how does it feel to be an Azumarill?"
"Powerful," Marina said happily. "And I can swim really really deep now!"
"Anyway, I wanted to give you something to say thank you," Ethan said, digging into his pockets. "I found it in the Underground. A Rocket tried to take it off me, that's how we wound up fighting. Here!" He held up something silver and shimmering. "Isn't it pretty?"
"It is," Saylee agreed, holding it up to the light. It was a long silver feather. It looked fragile and translucent, but felt very strong, as if Saylee couldn't tear it if she tried. It also seemed to glow slightly. When Saylee looked back at Ethan, she was startled to see his eyes had turned the same shade of silver.
"I'll put it up with your other feather for you," Ethan offered, climbing up to stand on Saylee's bed and affix the strange silver feather to her dreamcatcher for her. When he looked down, his eyes had returned to their usual brown colour. Had Saylee imagined it? "There!"
"That's very pretty," Marina agreed, watching the dreamcatcher spin slightly.
"Thank you," Saylee said, "now get down! My attending nurse will freak if she sees you standing on my bed in your shoes!"
"Oops!" Ethan hopped down and brushed some dirt off with his hand. "There! All clean!"
"That's very sweet of you, Ethan," Saylee said, looking at the silver feather. "Thank you. Now, you've not met Carrie, Hernan and Chaz before, have you?"
"It's nice to meet you," Ethan said politely. "Wow, you all look tough!"
"Tough as they come," Saylee told him. "We fought Team Rocket together. You know, Ethan, there's a secret that I haven't told you, but I can now that Team Rocket are all arrested. Want to know what it is?"
"A secret? Yeah!" Ethan said excitedly. "That sounds cool! What is it?"
"My names not Lyra," Saylee confessed. "I'm Saylee, and I'm… a spy from Kanto, here to stop Team Rocket!" It was an exaggeration, but it was cute to see the way the kid's eyes bugged out.
"You're a real spy? Like on TV?" he said excitedly. "Wow! I just knew you were cool! That's so mental!" Then he frowned sadly. "But with Team Rocket gone… are you going back to Kanto?"
"Not yet," Saylee promised. "I'll be here a while. Come visit me the next time you're visiting your grandparents, okay?"
"'Kay!" Ethan said happily.
"Ethan, your grandparents are waiting for you at the department store, remember?" Marina said.
"Oh, yeah! I'd better go!" Ethan said, rushing off. "Bye, Lyra! I mean, Saylee! Get well soon!"
"Is that kid a human or a Ponyta?" Hernan asked, watching Ethan run off.
"What's this?" Tobias said, flying up to peer at the shimmering silver feather.
"I have no idea," Saylee said. "Ethan found it. Apparently Team Rocket was trying to take it. I can't tell what it's from…"
"If they were trying to steal it, it's probably worth money," Chaz said, sniffing it. "Or it's from a rare Pokémon. Does the Pokédex have anything to say about it?"
"I don't know," Saylee said, pulling out her Pokédex and setting some search parameters. "Hmm… it's not quite the right colour for a Swanna or Wingull feather, and neither of them live in Kanto anyway…" she scrolled through some more options. "Actually, the closest colour match is… Lugia."
"Lugia the sea god Lugia?" Mary said in surprise, staring at the feather. "Whit the hell's that daein' here?"
"I have no idea," Saylee said, thinking of Ethan's eyes briefly turning silver.
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Special shout out to WyldClaw for being review number 100, and to all of the others who've read and reviewed thus far! Thank you so much! It means the world to me that people enjoy reading these stories as much as I like writing them :)
