I'm back. Pretty quick, I know. Shhh… Don't question it. It's just a short introduction into the BIG event that's happening next chapter. I'm sure all of you can't wait for it.
You know you can't.
Chapter Twenty-Nine— Good in Black
"So you're not going to say what was wrong yesterday are you?" the Rocket member asked.
"I shall curse you for all eternity for making me remember. And no, I'm not going to explain the mortifyingly horrific experience I had the undeserved, severe misfortune of witnessing."
"Geez, now I really wanna know what it was."
"And you will never find out. I plan on locking it into the deepest, darkest reaches of my mind where it will never, ever be found again."
"Would you tell me, David?" Bianca asked.
"Bianca, I don't mean to sound rude but, you are the last person I would ever want to find out. Even though I don't want anyone to find out, you are on the very, very bottom of that list. It's for your protection, not mine."
"Oh."
"Please believe me, I'm not trying to be mean in anyway about this. I just cannot let anyone know. I wouldn't be able to go on living afterwards."
"It's okay, David. I understand."
"Thank you."
With our short conversation finished, we finished packing up and started to walk towards Veilstone City. It was a short route, but we had to be extra careful, if any of Vincent's goons saw us, it would be much harder to infiltrate their headquarters.
Both the Rocket member and I deemed it was better to choose the more paranoid plan and camp in the forest instead of staying at the Pokémon Center. We couldn't trust anyone in the city, not even Nurse Joy.
Unlike May, Bianca didn't have a problem with this, which surprised me a little. Being with two guys out in the forest, with no other people, and a good distance away from the city…
Not that I would even think about doing anything. And you can damn sure bet that the Rocket Grunt wouldn't live very long afterward if I found out he attempted anything. The fact that she trusted me that much though was nice.
Although she probably just didn't even think about it.
What upset me greatly though, was that I was unable to correct the problem of my X-ray glasses being able to… see through more inorganic material than they should. For some reason I had yet to determine, trying to configure the glasses to not see through every possible material I could think of that was used in clothing caused the glasses to be unable to see what they were supposed to. Although, my theory was that the problem worked on the molecular level. The glasses had to see past certain atoms to make it appear that they weren't there, allowing me to see through objects such as walls. However in order to make sure that I wouldn't see through people, these six elements: oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus; had to be unaffected. Meaning I can't see through them. Luckily, most things that have those elements wouldn't be a problem. All life, including plants, I can't see through. Rocks, I can't see through. And a few other things that won't hinder me at all. Oxygen and nitrogen are clear anyway, so I didn't need to worry about them. (Else we would be able to literally see the air. Wouldn't that be a pain?)
But apparently, clothing was too much for the glasses or me to figure out. I would correct one problem and seven more would appear.
So I gave up. I simply don't have the time to figure this out.
But, this means I can still see through clothes…
These damn glasses are probably the reason I'm so overly conscious of anything of that nature. The sooner I can be done with them, the better.
I'm either going to have to not use the X-rays at all—which would make finding the key card almost impossible—or bear with the fact that I can see though clothing.
I'm going to hate myself even more after this. And I'll have to keep a note to remember to remove that feature from these glasses. In the wrong hands it could cause a lot of trouble. Like any of you aren't thinking about what you could do with them. Weirdos. You know you always wanted to see what happened to that little light in your refrigerator when you closed the door. I can tell you right now, it's not that intriguing.
I focused instead on recalibrating my targeting system. Wasn't too hard, but I must really be unable to throw straight because I still couldn't hit my bull's eye (a new one I carved into a tree with my finger, the metal one, when we got here.)
"I'm really not made for anything athletic are I…?" I sighed. "Oh, well. Least with the mechanical arm some things are easier. That's about as far as my strength goes though. There's always that one stubborn screw…"
"Hey, David?"
I jumped. I was just talking to myself after all…
"Uh, yeah? What is it Bianca?" I asked, turning around.
"Would you… come take a walk with me?"
Why's she askin' this all the sudden?
"Uh, sure."
We began walking—me following Bianca—with no real obvious destination. I eyed her curiously.
"So… What is it?" I asked after we walked some distance.
"Nothing. I felt like we should walk together. Since you're going to be gone a while."
"Well, it should be too long. I mean-"
"Don't say that. You're stopping the leader of the whole organization of Team Rocket. It's not something done so quickly."
"R-right. S-sorry."
"You're going to be safe, right?"
"Well, of course. I have to come back. You know, for Riolu, and you, and… Hmm." I paused. "Just you two I guess…"
"But you're coming back?"
"Yeah. It's not like I'm going to die or something."
She didn't say anything.
"Look, Bianca, it's fine. I go in, get to Vincent, take care of this once and for all, and leave. It's that simple."
"It's never that simple."
"That's not the point. I'll be fine. I'm not going to die. I'll be done before you know it and then we can do whatever in peace. Maybe I can try to be trainer, challenge the gyms or something."
"And see Ash and the others again?"
Why'd she ask that?
"Uh, sure."
"Okay, but you better be safe. I won't forgive you if you don't."
"Alright, alright, I get it."
"So you sure we can't just battle through all of them?"
I sighed in agitation.
"Yes, I told you, that won't work. That would never work."
"Well, you're gonna be crawlin' in vents and stuff again right? Do you really want to do it wearing all that?"
He was gesturing to the new jacket I bought (by bartering with some foreign berries) which I was now wearing over the old one. So I was wearing two jackets, the scarf, a long sleeve shirt and an undershirt. Have I mentioned my hate of the cold?
"Okay, so it's a little bulky. At least I'm warm. How are you in that paper-thin uniform?"
"Actually, I'm quite warm. This is a different version of the uniform made to be thicker for colder weather like this."
"Well isn't that nice?" I asked, not particularly interested.
"Hey… I just thought of something. What if you had a uniform for a disguise?"
"Well, I suppose that could help. But we don't have one."
"Duh, I'm wearing one," he answered, gesturing to himself. "You could wear this instead of all that and be just as warm, and if anyone sees you, you can pretend to be one of them."
"I don't want to wear your clothes, that's just weird."
"I wear clothes underneath it."
It was still weird, but it would help me get around a lot more.
"Er, fine. Give it here; I'll try it on at least. This is so weird…"
A few moments later, I came out dressed in the uniform. I kept my undershirt on, but the uniform pants fit loose enough to fit over my pants without the uncomfortable feeling of wearing two pairs of pants. The uniform did keep me warm, but my neck felt a breeze that ran a chill down my spine. I kept the scarf. The hat however, was a little big, but wouldn't be too much of a problem.
"At the expense of saying it a third time, this is weird."
"Not bad, you look good in black. You could almost be a member."
"I'd rather not know that. And everything looks good in black, including people."
"It's settled then, you're wearing the uniform."
I groaned in irritation. At this rate, I'll lose all my dignity before this operation is done. Just a few more preparations, though, and I'll be done with all of it.
XXX
Special thanks to bpv2 for following and Killer999 for following and favoring AVFAL.
It's on the bottom this time!
Aaannnnd something's wrong with me…
