John's POV
"...uhmmm...Tasha? Tasha Sing?"
The man in black twitched in annoyance, but kept his smile. "Yes, that Tasha. I'm her father, and I've heard my daughter has been meeting with you?"
"Uh..." I didn't know what to say. On one hand, I was confused by the contradiction in Tasha's previous statement of being an orphan, and on the other hand, scared by the man's friendly yet menacing outlook. A man that looked like he belonged to the secret service coming up to me? Who wouldn't be frightened by the thought? With all the stuff I've been through in the game so far, it wasn't unlikely.
"Don't be frightened, this will be over quick." If that was supposed to calm me down, it wasn't working very well. "I just want to know where Tasha Sing is, and if you don't know, then the place you last saw her. Please, as her father, I'm desperate for any information you have." He removed his sunglasses to reveal his brown eyes, and the combination of his stern gaze and voice stunned me right there.
I just stood there face to face with this complete stranger for what felt like a few minutes. I wanted to help the man, get him back with his daughter and Tasha with her father. But something was holding me back. Some gut feeling that told me it was stupid to trust some random guy saying that he's someone's father (it does sound silly when you put it that way, no?).
"Uh, the last place...I guess would be here." I said uncertainly, hoping my tone wouldn't give me away. "After I brought her here, she just left on her own."
"Tch. And here I was, thinking I would find her so soon. Don't you know to call the police when dealing with orphans like her?" The sudden aggressiveness caught me off-guard, and I felt shame in my stomach at the truth of those words. I just looked down while the stranger dug his hands into his pockets.
"Here." He pulled out a small card. "If you ever see her again, call the number. I need her back, I really do." I could see the hand around the card tense and felt even worse about my half-lie, but I still didn't trust him. I took the card with a shaky hand and read it over:
Philip Sing
Eglington Rehabilitation Program
Manager
Tel) 1-905-349-2348
Eglington...I remember that name now. That town where I suffered daily from its school. From what was written, I took a breath of relief when the thought of its living condition was going to get better. Unfortunately, this guy was the manager! I was even more confused at who to believe now!
"Don't lose that card. Knowing Tasha, she's still around DulcetDrift here. The faster I can find her, the faster I can get back to work." With that, he put his glasses back on and turned to leave.
I took a step back in the house and closed the door. That was Maria's cue to make herself known. She hovered down the stairs and looked at my hand with the card. "Who was that?"
I read the card again, in case I misread it the first time. "Philip Sing, manager of the Eglington Rehabilitation Program." I smiled at the idea again, and Maria read my mind.
"Eglington? The town you were at last time?" She lost her curious tone a bit, and she had a wary look.
"Yeah, that place." I confirmed for her. "He's also Tasha's dad."
"Wait, what?" she said bluntly. "A dad? I thought she was an orphan? They're not supposed to have parents, are they?"
"Yeah. I thought she was telling the truth last time, but he sounded serious when he said he's her father. They're both Chinese and had the same eyes, so it sounds likely."
Maria didn't look too convinced. "You don't really think he's her father, do you?"
I sighed in exasperation at the possibility. "At this point, I don't know what to think. He sounded real desperate to find her, any father would. But if he's her dad, than she must have a legit reason for leaving him."
"So her story was all a lie?"
I shrugged my shoulders and started walking into the kitchen, ready to cook lunch. "Possibly."
Maria didn't take too well with my answer. "Grrh...all this vagueness is pissing me off. That girl finally opened up to you, and all you got was some BS."
I began to feel uncomfortable at those words. I told that girl my secrets, and she fed me nothing but lies? I gripped at my empty hands in silent anger at this, and used them to pull the refrigerator door open to start on an early lunch. Grabbing a bag of bread, ham, cheese, and a jar of strawberry jam, I laid them onto the table before opening the bag.
"Think we should visit her?" I grabbed 2 bread slices and stride over to the toaster. "We're free for the weekend, even though I still have some homework left." I smiled sheepishly while pushing down on the toaster's lever.
"Visit her? You mean at Nio's place? She doesn't have a home now, does she?" Maria asked while fetching a butter knife across the table and opening the jar of jam.
"Yeah, Nio's our best bet finding where she is. With all the free time she has as a runaway, I bet she's tracking down players right now. She would definitely be interested to hear this." While waiting for the bread to transform into toast, Maria decided to start lunch without me by taking the knife and digging out a glob of jam out the jar. After that, she did what was obvious-lick the mouthful of jam off the knife.
I grimaced a little in disgust while smirking in delight as I saw her face change. At first she smiled at the sweetness, but then her face started to sink in like when one eats a really sour candy. She started coughing at the overload of sugar, and I was laughing out loud while grabbing the now-finished toasts.
"The hell are you thinking, eating jam pure like that?" I chuckled as I juggled the piping hot bread between my hands and making my way to the table.
"Sorry! I just took a quick whiff of it and it smelled so good I just had to try it!" She smiled cutely while licked her lips and shuddered. "Ugh, that was waaay too sweet!"
...
After that, we walked out to get to Nio's. One slight inconvenience however; the streets, which were usually so quiet and empty, were filled with people.
The further I walked away from home, the volume of people increased. I was not used to so much people in a single street at a time. Not just me, but Maria as well. As you could imagine, everyone at a 10-feet radius was staring directly at her. Now I was really regretting not bringer her in a Pokeball. She tried to turn herself invisible, but all that did was make everyone around scream or get even closer to us, both results bad for us. Eventually, she dropped to act and just tried to stay close to me as possible while trying to look intimidating. It wasn't working.
Me, on the other hand, just ignored them and their questions as best as I could. I was used to being lonely from my school days, and pretending the talker didn't exist was easy, but with dozens of them surrounding us, my anti-social skill were put to the test. I quietly growled from my growing agitation. Was there some kind of attraction or fair near here today?
"No way..."
"Yes way..."
"That can't be a Misdreavus? The Pokemon, you know?"
This was enough for my sighs to turn into a roar. "Loo-"
"YEAH! I AM! YOU GOT A PROBLEM WITH THAT?"
Hearing that sudden outburst, I ended up with my breath stuck in my throat and coughed at the ground, clutching my stomach. Maria saw this and came close to my face. "John, hey, you alright?"
She got so close to me and her abrupt change in tone made my face heat up like a kettle. I ended up taking a step back to make some space. "Yeah, yeah!" I muttered between further coughs. "Yeah, I'm good."
Clk!
I flung my head up to find to source of that sound. That sound of a digital camera clicking at whatever it was pointed at. My entire body began to burn up from the embarrassment. Having people ogle at us at their leisure was bad enough, but taking pics, it was going directly from his camera to the internet in an hour.
"Fuck it." I whispered to Maria. "Let's run!"
Her nod was all the permission I needed to make a mad dash to Nio's place. I turned around and saw that all her small battles with Mac and Mitsune at the school were paying off. She started off slow, but she quickly gained speed, and in a few seconds, she gained the lead. All the way, we had people either staring or following us from behind, or both.
Dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit dammit! This is what I get for listening to Nio's suggestion of keeping Maria out! God, I'm going to get hell for this!
It wasn't too long through the discord of shouting, pointing fingers, faces, cameras and phones until I arrived at the familiar doorstep. I was too tired from my brief sprint to care about manners, and as a result, banged my fist onto the door instead of lightly with knuckles. After about a second of non-response from it, Maria took the hyped-up initiative and banged her head onto the door instead. Hey, she didn't have arms, she was as freaked out about this as I was, and we were running on adrenaline trying to get away from the mob. Can you blame her?
"Alright, alright, God, I'm coming!" I heard it coming behind the door among the various questions in hushed voices from the crowd behind me. The door pulled back and Nio was looking agitated to alarmed as soon as he looked at the crowd behind me.
"Damn! Come on in, quick!" That wasn't necessary-we were in before the door was half-way open. We took a few breaths, and for extra measure, he went to a couple of windows next to us and closed the curtains over them. "Mind telling me why you brought so many friends over?" I heard him sarcastically ask.
"Don't look...at me...Streets were filled...with people..." I panted out before taking my shoes off.
"Damn, man, you ran all the way here?" I looked up and saw Alex with a bottle of water, and besides him his Lucario.
"Light? What are you doing out?" Maria asked him. I can't remember the last time I saw him. Alex kept talking about how he's out scouting DulcetDrift for any suspicious activity and more importantly, Pokemon. It was rare seeing him in a house, let alone Nio's.
"Nio wanted us over to show us something." Light said in his deep voice. "He thinks that the government might be onto Alex."
"Light, I told you to call me 'Gavin' a dozen times." Nio chuckled, if not in annoyance.
"I would rather call you 'Nio' than 'Gavin'. Besides, I only call ones by the first name if they have earned my respect." Light snapped indifferently.
"Uptight canine." As uncomforting the mood was, I laughed along. Alex and Light, however, had poker faces.
"Careful, Gavin." Alex warned him. "I'll take jokes like that, but don't let Light hear them. He can get pissed real easy when I'm not around."
I stopped laughing and took a look at Light, and the atmosphere just got a bit heavier for some reason. It's true-he kept his paws to himself, but Light looked like he was going to strangle Nio despite his lack of fingers. Nio noticed this too, and lightened on the giggling. "Okay, sheesh. Lighten up."
"I'll never 'lighten up' when it comes to Alex." He said shortly, and grabbed the water bottle from Alex before chugging the rest of its contents down. After that, he walked into the kitchen to throw it away.
After such a tense moment for me, Maria struck up another small talk. "Man, what's with him?" She murmured under Light's ears.
"He's uh...he can get sensitive when it comes to me and him." Alex explained in the same hushed manner. "Hard to believe he and I could actually get along, but he's a nice guy. Just stay on his good side, and he won't Aura Sphere your ass." That was grim but a light enough warning to calm me down. "Don't worry John. Nothing's touching you while Light and I'm around."
"Yeah, we sure could have used some help dealing with the mob outside. What's that about, you know?" Maria said in a bitter tone. "They were all over us!"
"Simply put, they're from the Internet." He answered while scratching his head. "Those videos we showed you, remember them? Word's spread that the Pokemon from the Internet were from DulcetDrift."
"So what are they, tourists?" I said exasperated at such a ridiculous idea.
"Not just that. I doubt people would just come here on rumors alone. Someone's tipped them off."
"What!" I accidentally yelled out, but didn't regret it. It just showed how scared I was. Someone's purposely trying to expose us, the game, and Nio? This obviously wasn't going to end well.
"We're guessing it's the same guy that allowed this into the news." Nio grabbed a newspaper from a table practically wrapped in them. I took it and it didn't take long for the truth to sink in. The front cover had a young girl with black hair running away. On the ground next to her, a yellow Pokemon with 2 brown stripes on his back, and a red circle on each of his cheeks.
"Aw hell. That's Tasha!" Maria and I simultaneously yelled out in surprise. "Oh that's right! Speaking of which, where is she anyways?"
"She said she went to get some lunch. I offered to go with her. Hell, even lent her some money and invited her to come here, but she just flat-out refused." Alex answered, and a thought clicked in my brain.
"You don't think...she's purposely getting herself caught? She could be working for the same guy who posted this!" I told them.
"That's what we thought. This paper came out yesterday, and we didn't do any kind of work that day. Tasha has a nice plan, working for the government to make nice money while advertising Pokemon, but this is not how I want it." Nio said irritably. "We need to know who's been letting these pics out to the public and contact him right away."
"Oh that's right!" I jumped in realization, and dug into my pockets. "Gavin, here. I got this card from some guy claiming to be Tasha's father. You think he's involved?"
Alex and Nio read over the card thoroughly, and handed it back to me when they were done. "Possibly." Alex finally answered. "I've heard of the project. Trying to fix everything wrong with Eglington. Delinquent gangs, poor housing, business."
"So, basically, everything that screwed up my life there." I finished sullenly. I looked at the card again, hoping that the project would work out. Everything that made me like I was prior to Maria was that place, and I wanted it either fixed up into shape or burned to the ground, to the last rubble. "But that aside, you think Mr. Sing got those pics of Tasha himself?"
"Definitely." Nio answered immediately. "But I've seen how Tasha works: fast and independent. I doubt she would purposely model herself for him just because he's her dad. I sure wouldn't." He passed me and Maria a glass of water, and I looked around to see where he got it and noticed that we were so busy talking that I didn't realize I was walking behind Nio as he talked. "We need Tasha to see this. Alex, you got ties to the government. Can you find out what this is about? But before that, bring Tasha here."
"Of course." With that, he ushered Light with him and went to the front door. He unlocked it and grabbed the handle, making my insides turn to rock.
"No there's still people-!"
It was too late. A collage of questions, cameras, smartphones and heads were all I saw from the entrance, and before anyone could stick their foot in the doorway, Light was quick enough to slam the door on their faces.
"Well...shit." Alex uttered after taking a breather to take in the volume of people out there. "Looks like we won't be leaving the house for a while."
"The hell you are." Nio countered. "You got to go out there and find Tasha. Your Light's the only one who can track her down."
"Wait." Maria cut them off, thinking about what Alex said last time. "Alex, you said you could use Aura, so why do you need Light? You can find her yourself."
Alex suddenly looked down and stuttered at his words. "It's true that I can control and detect Aura, to an extent. But..." He hesitated, trying to find the right words. "Light can track others way better than I can, and living in this world with people living in every corner and my cover in the government, I'm not in much position to practise. In short, it's too risky."
"Fine then." Light said. "I'll leave through the back, try to distract the mob. Alex, you use your PokeNav to find the girl. I'll divert them far away enough to get you at least an hour's head start. I'll come back here when I'm done." He started walking back into the house.
"Light wait!" But he wasn't listening. He opened the door (again, without any fingers, how does he do that?) to the backyard garden and jumped up to the roof. A second later, we heard some screaming through the front door and some scuffled feet later, not a peep was heard from behind it.
"Damn him." Alex muttered, but good-heartedly. "He thinks just because he's got the cool powers of a Pokemon he can order his trainer around."
"Well then, he must be really worried about you then." Nio commented.
"Both of us are." Alex opened the front door, and to our relief, no one was there. "I'll be back soon. God, this is one of the times I wish the PokeNavs came with a cellphone function..." and with that, he left the house.
...
"Pffft." Nio laughed as he closed the door behind Alex. "If Arceus planned to give out cellphones, too, then that would just promote people to team up instead of killing each other."
The 3 of us stayed quiet for a while, and I drank the forgotten glass of water in one go. "Do you really think Arceus set this game up just so he could kill us all?"
"I know, he sounds paranoid, but it's for good reasons." Nio answered. "I originally thought his plan was what I said earlier, get Pokemon to kill humans. But now, at this magnitude of things, people are going to start killing people. My team of scientists and builders are the only ones who know of the portal's plans. Anyone would pay billions and kill billions to get them. Was this his plan all along?"
"And despite of the dangers of going out with our Pokemon out like you suggested, we're still trying our best to lead normal lives." I continued solemnly. "Is this really a good idea? I swear, some days, I have trouble sleeping because of what can happen if we draw even more attention to ourselves. We'll be ostracized, and people would kill to get their hands on Pokemon."
"We were lucky." Nio confidently told me. "Lucky we live in such a quiet town as DulcetDrift, but now the government's going to take matters into their own hands. They'll try anything if it means securing Pokemon. I'm so sorry to drag you into this John."
"Please, Gavin." I looked away, embarrassed with this sudden honesty. I walked into the living room and grabbed chair, but didn't sit down. "I had a choice, before the game, that I could avoid this. But I took it anyways, for what? Protection from others players? To protect the world from Arceus? No, I was just caught up in the moment like a damn pre-schooler with his new toy." I gripped the wood harder, remembering that night, and realizing the idiocy of my actions.
No, don't think like that! You took the risk, and you can't take it back now. Man up and follow through.
"But it's too late to run away from it all, isn't it. I'm not letting go of Maria." I said with more life in my voice. I relaxed my arms, and let them fall limp down my sides. "Speaking of which..." I glanced at the said-ghost-type without moving my head. She looked petrified, but here eyes showed that she was thinking, deeply, about something. "You've been pretty quiet, Maria. You want to share your thoughts on this?" I asked with a grin.
She snapped up at the sudden question. It seemed that she was used to being ignored in deep talk like this that she was in her own little world. It was amusing to see her look around and try to remember what the question that passed through one ear and out the other was. "Huh? ...Oh, oh! Oh, um, sorry, what were you saying?" She finished after failing to come up with an excuse to remember or dodge the question.
"Maria, try to stay with us. This topic involves you most of all, so I suggest you participate the most in this." Nio laughed out.
"Oh! Uh...sorry. I'm just...thinking to myself. Got carried away." was her explanation, with an abash smirk added.
"Really?" Nio said with an intrigued look. "Share with us, what were you thinking of that got you so wrapped up?"
Maria looked away to the wall, before facing back at us with a serious look. That said, I was ready for whatever possibility she had come up with. I felt Nio tense up too. "But first, Mr. Ni- I-I mean, Gavin, where's this portal you're making?"
Nio didn't move, but the gravity in his eyes was increasing. "Eglington."
"WHAT!" I screamed out again, but remembered that we were supposed to be mature about this, and shrank a little after my outburst. "I, I mean," I stammered, staring straight at Nio's indifferent gaze. "Why? Why make it there? That place has got to have the lowest Human Development Index in the country! Why there?" If this project is all about changing Eglington, than the government will find it for sure!
"It's because the living conditions are so poor I chose there." Nio answered earnestly. "You should look the town up, John. That place now has the lowest population rate in the country because of its low HDI. Most of its original inhabitants now moved away, far from it. It was the perfect place to set up my project. But now..." Nio sighed. "This...Eglington Rebabilitation Program's thrown a wrench in my plans. But I can't stop now, and I definitely can't stop the government from finding out the portal. I've got it hidden, but it won't be long until they discover it." I was looking more stressed than Nio. I was unconsciously biting my nails, a habit I thought I dropped years ago.
"Well, ignoring that," Maria marched on, irritated by this shocking reveal. "Let me continue. It's mostly about this portal, anyways. What are its statistics?"
I was temporarily dazed with that question. Statistics? What statistics? "Ah, you mean, its qualities?" Nio asked back happily.
"Yeah, how it works, and what it runs on."
"Well," Nio said while putting a hand to his chin. "The scale depends on its practicality, and I can't tell you the specifics, especially the scientific facts, but so far, it's about the size of this house, although the size depends on the end product. To compare..." He thought for a while in silence, thinking of a good, familiar object to compare his invention to. "Imagine this penny," he said, plunging his hands into his pants and pulling out a brown penny. "is you. That clock behind you," he pointed to said-clock, a black circular one. "is the size of the portal."
I imagined the comparison of the two round objects, and caught a glimpse of a giant, chrome machine with various wires and pipes attached to it, reaching the height of a telephone pole. "Damn..." I said in a hushed voice at what I was imagining. "Isn't that a little, big?"
"It has to be." Nio answered. "The portal's supposed to be universal, meaning anyone can traverse with it. Imagine that Onix you met, Maria." He looked at her, making her float back, startled. "That Onix, if it was alive today, would be the size of this house. I need to be able to let the Onix pass through freely. But the size is not the hard part." He pursed his lips at the attempt to explain. "The portal will run mostly on an extreme voltage to turn it on, but to keep it going, stable, it needs...something more."
"More, like what?" Maria asked in a hushed voice.
Nio bared his teeth, and he was looking startlingly similar to the couple weeks back when he was about to hit me. "Listen, no one, not even Alex, not even my scientists, know about this part of the portal. It runs on something that even I don't understand, but I know it works...somehow."
"How do you know that?" was the obvious question for this statement.
"Arceus told me, before he sent me to this world, the part that my portal was lacking before. He told me how to use this, but...it's a...desperate attempt, at best." He confessed, albeit grudgingly, as I could see him balling his hands. He looked up from his fist to us, and to my surprise, a look of begging was on it. "Please understand, John, if I don't want to divulge this information to anyone, at least just yet. It's...if word gets out of this, then-"
TAP!-TAP!-TAP!-TAP!
The noise was soft, but alarming enough for us to perk our head into the air. It didn't take long to find the source; I looked to my left and saw a Lucario by the back door, tapping on the glass window with his steel spikes.
Wait, Light? He's back? That means-
DING-DONG! DING-DONG!
Every one of us jumped at the sound, and Maria actually yelped "EEEK!" at the doorbell. I, being the one closest to the door, reached it and pulled it open, revealing the black-haired Tasha and Alex right behind him.
"Alex told me what's going on. And let me tell you right now, I can't, I repeat, I can't go back to him." She said before any one of us could utter a word. We just stood there stunned at what she was talking about until Maria broke the silence.
"The hell are you talking about?" She asked rudely. "We didn't even say anything."
"What I'm talking about," Tasha answered with equal disrespect. "is that I'm not going back to this Philip guy."
"Going back? So you are his daughter?" Alex asked, closing the door behind him as the pair took off their shoes. Light saw this through the window and took it as a sign to get in himself. He opened the door and walked in the house, closing it behind him along with the curtains.
Tasha snarled at her screw-up, but nothing can be done about it now. "Yes." She growled under her breath. "But that bastard, that good-for-nothing, believe when I say all these things because they're true! He only wants me back because of the publicity I get him!"
"You mean this?" Nio walked across to the table and got the newspaper. He opened it to the front page, and instantaneously, Tasha was pointing at it like a kid pointing at a toy behind the counter.
"Yeah that!" she practically screamed out. "That's the last pic he took from me before I left him! And by left, I mean running away from him while he thought I would stay in the street block!"
While Nio and Alex continued to question her, I was busy trying to collect my thoughts. All these inquiries and their responses were too much more me to handle at once. But as much as I wanted to tell them to slow down to keep my head from spinning, I didn't want to interrupt their interrogation. They needed answers, and they were getting it. I'm surprised Tasha wasn't just annoyed with this, but had a smile!
Just how much information was this girl holding back?
...
The next day, Alex told us what he and Nio planned together last night. He said he would find Mr. Sing personally and spend the rest of the day digging up information about the rehabilitation program.
"Is that a good idea?" I asked him around the table. "Light said something about the government, including Mr. Sing getting fishy with you. Is it wise to be so aggressive?"
"There's no other way. We're running short on time, and I might get some opportunities to know him better, most importantly, how his daughter's involved in all this." Alex answered.
"Wait, you think actually using his daughter to...what, advertise this project?" I said incredulously.
"Yes." Nio answered for Alex. "After the rehabilitation, he needs to fill the town with people, and what better to attract attention than Pokemon? Don't worry about the girl, though. Tasha promised not to rat us out, in exchange for our promise to not rat her out."
And that was that. Hearing such a risky plan from him, that takes some serious guts. He's got a lot weighing down on him. The game, Pokemon's lives, the portal. How's he going to make it out of this alive?
All of this was too much for me, and I felt so damn helpless! I gripped my pencil so hard I could see cracks in the yellow paint, signifying its brittleness. As desperate as I was, wanting to do something with this matter, I couldn't think of anything, and this time, instead of slamming down on the table, I got up and threw the pillow on the bed at the wall. It took everything I had to keep my stress to a growl as I felt my skin prickle at the gravity of the situation.
"Woah, you're looking pissed." Maria joked, coming down from the attic. "What's with you? It can't be just your homework, is it?"
"Well, it's just that with the media attracting more and more people, there's bound to be a time when everyone's going to start thinking we're celebrities. That means we're going to become prime targets for the government. That's when we're going to be hunted down by people instead of Pokemon." I said to her, still fuming.
"I know, but that's why we got to stay low." Maria caught the grim in the air, and came closer, not looking away from me. "John, just try to calm down. Don't kill yourself over this."
As basic as those words were, they did a pretty good job of doing just that. I took a few more deep breaths and my face started to cool down. "Thanks. I needed that." With nothing more, I didn't know what came over me, but I wrapped my arms around her in an embrace. This was rather embarrassing, but thankfully, no one was watching, and we took our time just staying togeth-
DING-DONG! DING-DONG!
I immediately broke apart from her, and while she did look a little pissed, the arrival of a guest was more important. Before anyone could respond, I was dashing down the stairs to reach the door first. Luckily everyone was on the second floor, and the staircase was closest to my room. I grabbed the handle and opened the door to reveal...Tasha.
She was the last person I expected to see, but what came from her mouth was something I never expected to hear from her.
"Listen, I may be interrupting, but I need to ask a favor: can I crash in here for a while?"
...
Whew, chapter 30 up! This took me a fair share of my weekend, enough to screw up my schedule with homework, that's for sure!
Anyway, you know the drill-read, and review on what you've read, and tell me what you expect to see next time! (a lot of things, now that Tasha's staying with John, of course!)
