(EMERGENCY NOTE: Be sure to reread the very end of the previous chapter ("Cut"). I changed it a little and this chapter doesn't directly address it for dramatic reasons.)

Disable

I am ashamed to say my experience with women has often been lackluster at best, I feel extraordinarily confident that the primary reason Lauren didn't want to enter the swamp had less to do with getting mud on her shoes and more to do with the incessant swarms of yanma. Imagine the feeling of joy when you realize a bunch of four-foot-long bugs think your skin smells like the sweetest thing in the whole swamp.

Was it a swamp? Maybe it was a marsh. Both are types of wetlands, I think. This place was pretty well forested. What was the difference? More importantly, why was I thinking about that instead of figuring out a formula to turn some of my potions into bug repellant?

Probably because I had the best bug repellant I needed in my pokéballs. Amazing how quickly those yanma scattered when pillows of flame spewed into the air. Kinda shocking the ugly trees never caught fire, though. Sure, it was much safer when I didn't have to worry about being surrounded by fire and accidentally burning down a whole town I was headed toward. But I hadn't expected the swamp air to consume the fire like that. Even a few flaming yanma were extinguished immediately by the intense moisture leaking from the swamp water.

And that was only half of why I looked so dirty and disgusting. Every time I turned around, Reggie was digging by the base of another tree, flinging mud and grime in every direction around him and making my nice boots look like novelty grimer-themed slippers. When I was pelted from behind and heard another sloshing sound, I found Reggie buried haunches-deep in another giant hole in the muck.

"Reggie! Stop! Heel, boy! Seriously. I'm glad you found that TM and that yellow-and-black pokéball and even that weird hard candy, which I'd be nervous about keeping if it weren't vacuum sealed. But I'd really like you to stop throwing mud at me!" I turned away and grumbled under my breath that I'd leave him behind if he didn't keep up. The loud splashing sounds followed by hot breath on my bad and a gross, wet nose on my shoulder told me Reggie was close behind again. Maybe I'd finally get out of the swamp before he could find something else to dig up.

Fortunately, after an hour and a half of sloshing around, I found myself in a rather large clearing where high walls marked separation of nature from man. The walls were sheer, too, and sturdy. I'm not sure even a rhyhorn could get through there. I couldn't really hear anything on the other side, but I did get the impression there was something big going on. Some sort of hustle and bustle over there filled the air with a sense of excitement. There was no telling from here how long it would take to walk around to find an entrance, but I couldn't foresee climbing, either.

For reference, it only took me forty seconds to find a gate, big and made of something solid like iron. Just when I figured the only option was to knock, some guy opened a small peephole and commanded, "Stop! State your business." At first, I only saw a giant nose poke through the hole. I mean, it looked like a boomerang covered in skin, or like a fleshy sail taking the wind. Seriously, though, it was one huge honker. But then he pulled his face out of the peephole and I could see his eyes—black and beady, but overall much less concerning than his massive proboscis.

"My business is nose of yours. Er, I mean it's none of your nose." I huffed in hopes of catching my breath. Suddenly I couldn't focus on speaking without that guy's nose butting into my thoughts. Giving up the battle, I just said, "Well, it's snot."

Those beady eyes narrowed closer together. I wasn't off to a good start. "Why are you here?" He didn't sound angry, but rather his tone was steady.

"I actually don't have a real reason. I came down the mountain from Argentum City today and thought I would come by to see what the town has to offer."

Those eyes searched me up and down for a moment, taking in the view of my clothes.

"It's a little muddy out there. My pokémon won't stop digging and flinging swamp water at me."

For a moment I saw the nose again as it said, "You look more like you fell in."

Apparently I didn't hide that fact as well as I thought I did. "Soaked" wasn't exactly the right word to describe my clothes. More like I used swamp water for conditioner. I tried to make up for my appearance with attitude. "A swarm of yanma caught me off guard. They came out of nowhere. Pretty sure I swallowed a few."

The guard informed me, "They're good protein. What in God's name is that thing?" I followed his gaze to Reggie: all four hundred pounds of him with his overly pronounced shoulders and full, raggedy mane. The flames licking the tip of his tail also drew attention, plus I put a sigilyph feather behind his ear because it looked cool.

"You've never seen an immolion before?"

"Pokémon are not allowed inside Stannum Village. You may come in, but you must surrender all pokéballs, and we will not open this gate until your big cat is withdrawn inside one."

"Yeah… I heard about that." But somehow the warning didn't make me any more eager to do it. Just hand over Reggie and Siggy and Elly and Conch to some villagers who were afraid of pokémon? The idea was preposterous!

The guard obviously noticed my hesitation. "You'll receive a signed claim ticket for your belongings along with a value exchange in the event your pokémon are not returned to you in the same condition you seal them."

I suffered another harrowing moment of hesitation before I finally drew Reggie back inside the pokéball. I came all this way, after all. Why not go look around for just a little while? "I spent fifteen years without a single pokémon by my side. I can handle one day. Let's do it."

"Okay." A slot opened in the wall, like a pocket made out of the same material as the wall but with one open side at an angle. "Place all pokémon including any empty pokéballs in the slot, please."

"Seriously?"

"Just a precaution. The gate doesn't open as long as someone still has pokémon with them. Too much risk. I'll take them, open the gate, and you watch me seal them in the silo."

"You have a silo?"

"For all visiting pokémon, yes. Just place your supplies in the slot and you can see it." I could see the guard's eyes as he awaited my decision. It was one thing to say I wanted to come in, but it was another thing to disable myself by giving up my only real means of defense.

I disconnected my satchel from my belt and slid it into the slot. "Guess I'll have to count on my disarming wit and offbeat charm for now." A sudden pang of guilt struck me deep in the chest as the slot disappeared and the gate opened. Access to a small village surrounded by a swamp, and all it cost was my pokémon.

Once I stepped inside the gate, the village overtook me. There was a lot less empty space than I expected to see. A lot of buildings clustered together in front of the gate. Most of them were single-story, though a couple of them popped out overhead at a striking two stories high. They could have been residences, or maybe a storage unit. Every building was closed up, which was weird for daytime.

"What's going on in town?" I asked.

"Everyone is at the stadium for the football game," said the guard. A quick look around showed me how right he was. I didn't see anybody wandering, but I could hear shouting a short distance away. The village was heavily wooded, but on the inside of the gate, I could make out the stadium lights beside the outer wall.

"Did you want to watch me lock your pokémon in here?" His question reminded me about what he was doing now that he had my pokémon. I turned in time to see him open a small silo—like a tune-shaped storage shed with a beveled roof and a really big lock on the door. He dropped my satchel in what looked like a locked deposit box one might find at a bank, and then he sealed up the door to the silo again. In his hand he held a tin statuette of a soldier. "Satisfied?"

"I'll make do. You realize this thing means nothing to me?"

"That's the idea. Return it when you leave the village and your pokémon will be returned to you. Outside the gate, of course."

"Of course." I looked away and pointed. "How long ago did the football game start?"

"Less than twenty minutes. You haven't missed much yet."

"Aren't you disappointed you don't get to go?"

With a slight wince, he said, "I'll see the highlights later. You go on and enjoy it. After, you'll want to find lodging at the tavern. You're too young for the adult drink, mind you, but they have beds available upstairs."

"Thanks. Any other advice?"

"Do you like football?"

I shrugged. "It's okay."

His expression turned to pity, like he was seeing a man off to his own execution. "Do better than that if you don't want to suffer for it."

How cryptic, and definitely frightening enough for me to walk away. It was one thing for the Elder to give me vague threats back in Natrium, and that was how Brooke and I communicated with one another. But I was all alone in a strange village I'd never visited before. I was so far from home, and the sense of loneliness was compounded by the fact that we were surrounded by swamplands that provided very few tourists. The lifeless streets didn't help much. Plus, I think I may have caught something in the swamp.

When I found my way to the stadium and heard more clearly the wild commotion I had heard outside the village walls, the hurt in my throat dulled a little bit. I guess the smell of stadium hot dogs was all I needed!

The stadium wasn't all that big until I realized that absolutely everyone in town except for the gate guard was present. I had assumed he was exaggerating when he used the word "everyone," but he was right. The north and south ends of the stadium were just tunnels for the two teams to enter the field of play. As soon as they did, I started to assume the real reason the people of this town remained separate from everyone else was their fashion sense. One team wore uniforms with neon yellow with powder blue while their opponents wore red and green. Festive colors, sure, but hardly right for football. Watching the uniforms run around like someone with internal bleeding threw up on a football field. I took a seat all the way in the back of the stands right next to the wall.

The teams actually played pretty well, I think. Football isn't really my sport so I can't guarantee either team ever scored or completed the objectives of the game. Nothing could be clearer, though, than the fact that the fans were completely obsessed with the game. Every single time one of the guys in the black-and-white prison outfits threw a yellow bean bag on the field someone in the stadium would stand up and pitch a terrible fit. And when one guy threw a fit, there was inevitably another guy who would come back at him and get in his face. I'd never seen so much saliva exchanged between two people who weren't kissing.

Suddenly someone slipped into the seat directly beside me. The shock was that she popped in unseen from behind me. "Don't you love small town folk? Their problems are so simple."

"Charlie?" It was Charlotte Ellie, the girl mayor of Argentum City—the one who was just arrested by the Marshals Service of Perioble. She wore a white camouflage tank top with a black hoodie and gray cargo pants. Her hoodie was matched by a black baseball cap turned backward. Not a bad ensemble when compared with the orange jumpsuit she ought to be wearing by that point. "How did you get here?"

"I came down the mountain same as you."

"Probably not the exact same way," I commented. "More importantly, why aren't you in handcuffs? Did you kill Marshal Ray?"

"First of all, the plan was never to kill him," said Elliott. She stuck her finger in my face. "I broke the seal on Slash's pokéball so that he could follow me and break me out after the tranquilizers Ray filled him with wore off. That plan was shot right away when you decided to capture him. Admittedly I was furious at first and just wanted to throttle you, but when I had a chance to calm down and think about it, it's sweet that you were trying to protect him for me."

"So how did you get away without him?"

"It was the strangest thing. Ray just suddenly stopped, unlocked my cuffs, and told me to get lost."

"Yeah," I scoffed. "I'm sure that's exactly what happened."

"Believe what you want." She showed me a great ball that looked remarkably like it came from the batch I bought in Cuprum. She winked and said, "Thanks for your help, sweetie."

"What? How did you get that? I put that in the silo with my other pokémon."

"It was like breaking into an unlocked closet."

"No, it wasn't. I watched the guard lock up that silo tighter than a bank vault."

Elliott shrugged. "I borrowed the keys. I couldn't let them disable me by taking away my pokémon." She pulled from her shoulder an olive green backpack and opened it. "Here's a little 'thank you' gift for taking care of Slash for me." She took a quick look in all directions and, when she was satisfied no one cared about us thanks to another yellow bean bag on the field, handed me my pokéball satchel.

"Are you crazy? These people will go nuts when they realize I have pokémon with me!" Admittedly, I felt much better having everyone back with me again, but the town prohibited pokémon by law and tradition. Having them with me made me nervous.

"Only if you let them know about it." While I checked the contents of my satchel, she leaned over and kissed me quickly on the cheek. "Thanks again. See you around." With that, she stood up and hopped over the back side of the bleachers. It was a good fifty-foot drop, but she managed to snag one of the supports on the way down and swing just long enough to slow her descent. When she let go of the support, though, her feet were too far forward; she hit the ground and took a backward tumble onto her butt.

"Exactly as you planned?" I called out.

"Shut up!"

Thanks to Kurono-Angel for contributing Elliott to the story. Intrigued yet? One hour in the village and Gus is already breaking the rules. Will he turn in his pokémon to the silo guard, or will he hang on to them? How did Elliott escape from the Marshal? Next time, Gus will learn a little about Stannum's history, including the origin of the statue he holds from the silo.

Trivia: Immolion = immolate + lion. Other names I toyed with include Inferleo (which I rejected because it was too similar to Infernape), Fryon (which I rejected because it's too easy and it sounds odd), and Holocat (which would combine "cat" with "holocaust," which is an immense fire, but the name was rejected because it sounds weird and brings to mind one of the worst events in history).