In which Flame becomes a portable stove and McMister 'hmms' and 'mmms' too frequently to be anything but annoying.
Read, review, rinse, repeat, enjoy.
"Are you sure? Route twenty-nine is a – ?"
Leo's face was buried in his knees and he was rocking slightly. Julia could tell that he wasn't in his house – a hotel, maybe? The walls seemed too drab of a green to be comforting.
"Y-yes," he mumbled, his voice muffled, "I was j-just taking him for – for a w-walk, and there was a wind, and mom was – mom was – she – "
"Hey, calm down," Julia quickly said to him, feeling uncomfortable. Leo wasn't what one would call a crybaby, but when he did cry, it twisted her heart to watch. "Maybe, if you want to call me back later, when you're feeling better, we – "
"No no no, don't hang up!" Leo protested, pulling the Pokégear closer to his face. "Please, I – I need to tell you – " He coughed into the crook of his elbow before turning back to the screen. Julia felt Jordan's breath hot on her neck as he peered at the screen over her shoulder, but Leo didn't mention him. His eyes looked serious. "These pl-places have some sort of energy. Arcanine got – got all hyped up, or something, and he was totally different. Like, he wanted to fight. Almost like the Pokémon in there." He swallowed, then went on, "If more of them are appearing across the planet, we could be in serious trouble. Everybody. What if all the Pokémon went rogue? Like, think of a tyranitar smashing down a building, or a legendary Pokémon! It would be the end of the world!"
That's hard to believe with what I've seen, Julia thought, hoping the doubt didn't show on her face. I mean, Ilex Forest was bad the first time, but it got easier after that. If more places turned into mystery dungeons, wouldn't we be fine as long as we either stayed away or knew how to safely get through?
"Pokémon going rogue, eh?" That was Jordan, who was speaking now for the first time. He wore a speculative frown. "That sounds kinda familiar." He stared off into the distance, but Julia wasn't done talking with Leo yet.
"You're definitely putting all that on your blog, right?" she asked, beginning to sense that her Pokémon were getting antsy. They wanted to leave the city, as did she. She began walking with the Pokégear, and she heard Fluffy let out an audible groan.
"Y-yeah. When I get home." Leo's eyes were wide, half-crazed. "Oh, gods, now I'm talking about the end of the world." He grinned humourlessly. "I must sound insane."
"'S 'cause he is," muttered Fluffy. Flame shushed her.
"No, no, you've got a point." Julia smiled encouragingly at him. "Put it on your site so people know. You've got a following, right?"
For a moment, Leo said nothing. His grin had melted like warm, sticky ice cream. "I miss Corphish. I miss him so much." He pressed a hand against his forehead. "If he were here, maybe I could keep doing this. He always helped me in the past. I could talk to him for hours, and hours..." Leo shuddered, closing his eyes. "Oh, gods..."
There came the sound of a door opening and Leo suddenly cut the connection. As Julia listened to the dull beeps that signalled an ended call, she realized that she never did find out what exactly had happened. Something to do with his mother? Had she gotten hurt?
"What's up with that Leo dude?" Jordan asked, poking at Julia's shoulder. "What's a mystery dungeon?"
Julia tried to brush his hand away but he continued to poke her. "Flame was telling us at breakfast." Or, rather, trying to tell us. Somebody wouldn't shut up for long enough to pay attention. "It's a place, like Ilex Forest, that turns into a labyrinth and the Pokémon inside it become vicious. Apparently, 'mystery dungeon' is the name for it." The name sounded vaguely familiar when Flame had said it, but the way the words rolled off her own tongue sounded wrong.
That reminded her of the rant Flame had gone on that morning, about them having the same dreams. The image of Flame's confused face as she changed the subject was burned in her retinas. Julia closed her eyes, forcing the thought to leave. Nothing needed to be out of the ordinary. There were just the mystery dungeons, and maybe Team Fury, but besides that, everything was normal. Perfectly normal, just like always.
"Oh, that's right!" Jordan suddenly stopped poking Julia's shoulder, where she was certain there would be a bruise later, and grinned at her. "You went back into Ilex Forest, didn't you?"
Julia blinked. "P-pardon?"
"Your mom told'ja not to go back in," he explained, "but lo and behold, you're mentioned in the papers the next day! You should've seen how pissed she was!"
Julia had forgotten entirely about her mother's request for her to not go into the forest. Now that she remembered it, she flushed with guilt. "But I had to help Bugsy!" she protested defensively. "He called me and told me to come!"
"Suppose he planned a trap, though?" Jordan said, waggling his fingers. "A trap for little girls to fall into!"
That brought on more guilt. It had been a trap, and she had led her own Pokémon into danger by falling for it.
They had exited through the gate by now and were heading up Route thirty-five. There was a bite of cold in the air that Julia hadn't noticed before, and a few trainers up the path were dressed in hoodies with scarves draped loosely their necks. Julia guessed that the drinks in the coffee cups some of the girls held between their palms were pumpkin spice lattes.
"So, as a result," Jordan went on, walking backwards so he could face Julia as he spoke, "your mom was ready to send you home. She was all, 'That Julia is so irresponsible blah-blah-blah!' and, 'She's too stupid and little to go on a journey yet!' but I managed to talk her out of it and so all that I need to do is stick with you and make sure you don't fall off a cliff and die or anything!"
Julia shoved him, lightly, but his words stung. Had her mom really said those things about her? Or was Jordan just being stupid again?
"That sounds fair, I guess," Julia sighed. Jordan patted her on the head, each fall of his hand a heavy thump.
"I'm only gonna stick around 'til I can see if you're capable, Jules," he assured. "Then you can go off on your own. Besides, I have ranger duties I need to do! Each of us'll slow the other down, am I right?"
Smiling slightly, Julia nodded. Jordan gave her an approving smirk and dashed off down the path in the direction of a woman with very generous breasts. Looking away, already feeling embarrassed for him, Julia glanced at the trainers clustered about. Perhaps it would do her some good to challenge some of them.
"Hey, uh, Julia..." Flame approached Julia's side with her head turned away a bit. "Um, about this morning..."
"Hey, you!" a teenage boy yelled at Julia from behind her. "I like how you're showing off your arsenal! Let's battle, two on two!"
Julia sighed heavily in relief and turned around to face him. He had let out a raichu and simipour and was grinning at her questioningly. She glanced at Fluffy, who was already bristling, and commanded, "Fluffy, Sir Majestic Tail, you're up!" The two glanced at each other, then dashed up to meet their opponents eagerly.
"Uh, Julia – " Flame began again, only to be cut off by Julia.
"Can we talk about that later? I need to concentrate right now." Flame stared at her, her eyes full of protest, but she sighed and lowered her head.
Nothing out of the ordinary. Just another day, like every other...
"Hey, hey, shh, it's alright, hon..."
The woman rocked her daughter on her lap, holding her firmly against her chest. Moonlight dribbled in through the wide window with its curtains drawn back, and the yellow light from the hallway was splashed on the carpeted floor from the open door. The girl clutched her manaphy plushie tightly in her fists, her small body shaking with each sob. Her watery eyes were still fixed on her closet, its sliding door slightly ajar to reveal the darkness inside.
"J-Jordan said there – there's a d-darkrai living in m-my closet," she whimpered, curling up against her mother's body. The woman breathed out deeply, then stroked the girl's orange hair.
"Well, you know how Jordan is, don't you?" she reminded, shifting on the bed. "He likes to tell you that dark type Pokémon are bad, doesn't he?"
The girl said nothing, staring at the closet. Then, quietly, she mumbled, "I think the door's opening a little."
The woman looked at the closet, too, then she stood with her daughter held against her hip and walked over to the light switch. The girl blinked hard in the bright light but gasped and buried her face into the plushie's head when her mother threw open the closet door.
"Look, there's nothing in here but your dirty clothes!" her mother exclaimed, laughing lightly. "What a mess! If anything, you've got rattatas living in here!"
Cautiously, the girl looked up and into the closet. Her eyes watered. If there was no darkrai, then why were the shadows in there flickering? Leo had come in and said that her room was definitely haunted! And Leo was never wrong!
"Honey, don't let what Jordan says bother you," her mother said, pulling the closet shut again. "I'll have to have a talk with him later, but – "
"There really is a monster! I keep getting bad dreams!"
The woman sighed, exasperated. She was tired from the recurring late nights when her daughter awoke screaming. "Julia, you only get bad dreams when you think of scary things. That's how Darkrai works – he only wants to scare you. He can't create real nightmares." She set Julia down and stroked her cheek gently. "When things seem scary, all you have to do is pretend they don't exist. Watch!"
She stood up, with her hands planted firmly on her hips, and yelled, "Scary, go AWAY!" Julia put her hands over her ears, but she looked more curious than afraid now. Her mother looked back at her and smiled. "Now, you try!"
Julia looked at the shut closet door, then took in a deep breath and yelled in her loudest voice, "SCARY GO AWAY!"
"That was very good!" her mother praised. "That darkrai must have been scared away for good!" She lifted Julia up and set her back on her bed, then picked up the dropped manaphy plushie and returned it to her. There was still doubt in Julia's eyes, and her gaze flicked to the closet, but it was clear that she wasn't scared anymore.
Julia's mother turned off the light, whispered a 'good night,' and crept out of the room, slowly closing the door behind her. For a moment, Julia remained sitting upright on her bed, then she stood up on the soft mattress and screamed again, "SCARY GO AWAY!"
The force of her shout made her flop back onto her back and she couldn't help but giggle. Then, curling up with her manaphy, she closed her eyes and began to drift off.
"Lisa treated me better than you ever did!"
"Shut the hell up! I don't want you to fucking say that slut's name to me ever again!"
"You don't fucking tell me what I can or can't say!"
Jordan, clad in his blue-and-white pyjamas, stood with his back pressed against the wall, peeking out every now and then. His wooper, McMister, gently pushed his head against Julia's arm. She was curled up with her hands over her ears, her eyes shut as tightly as she could.
"You never cared about our children, did you? It always 'Lisa this' and 'Lisa that!' I'm sick and tired of your bullshit!"
"What about all your goddamn excuses? One night you're too tired, the next you're busy with work or some shit like that!"
"At least I actually work to support the family! And you just keep acting like a fucking freeloader!"
"You bitch!"
Tears squeezed out of Julia's eyes and she rocked forwards and back, pushing her hands against her ears more. Jordan placed a hand on her head and whispered, "It's okay, Jules. Parents fight all the time. They'll make up eventually." His voice wavered and cracked, like a radio being tuned. He wasn't stupid.
Julia began to mumble quietly, her breaths hot on her knees. "Scary, go away, scary, go away, scary, go away..." She started sobbing and her body trembled. In the background, like a TV playing in another room, the two people she loved the most in the world kept screeching at each other. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but she didn't want to. She wanted to erase it. She wanted to erase everything.
Julia sat up suddenly and let out a gasp. But instead of staring down the winding passage of a scorching hot cavern, all that was in front of her was her familiar bedroom wall. She whirled her head around, then sighed and dropped back onto her pillow. Though she dreamt of the seemingly endless caverns and forests each night, not always were they this vivid. Some nights, she hardly had any recollection of those dreams. Never had she awoken in the middle of the night from one, however. At least, not since she was a little girl.
She let her gaze flick over to the heaping mound of plushies piled on the corner of her bed against the wall. When she was younger, she would surround herself in as many as she could – a few at her feet, bordering her legs and body, and one above her head and one on either side to keep watch for monsters. She had outgrown that habit long ago, but she still plucked one off the pile to squeeze in her arms.
Julia held it against her chest, then pulled it back to look at it. It was one of her pikachu plushies; she had gotten it recently from Jordan after he came home from spending time with his own parents. But something about it felt off to her. The precise and accurate size of its body, the way the ears flopped over, the fork in its tail... No, it didn't feel off. It felt...familiar. It made a shiver run through her body.
Then she got an odd feeling. Something wasn't right. And yet it was. And whatever it was was connected to her dreams. And there was something important she was forgetting. Her hands trembled, and she threw the plushie across the room. The feeling faded.
Nothing was wrong. It had just been an odd moment brought on by the suddenness of the awakening from the dream. Julia closed her eyes and let out another sigh, then rummaged through the plushie pile again, looking for something that wasn't an electric type. She pulled out a treecko with skinny limbs and oversized tail, but the feeling suddenly returned, like a shock of electricity. Dropping it, she tried to steady her breath.
Nothing was wrong. There was no reason that either plushie should feel familiar to her. She'd never met either Pokémon in real life, never had a bad experience with them, nothing to scar her. Her mind was playing tricks on her, in this consuming blackness of the night. Julia cautiously took a chikorita. Nothing.
Of course nothing was wrong. Her dreams...everybody got recurring dreams, right? Dreams of searching for something tirelessly, growing closer to the goal each night, each month, each year...
Julia lay back in her bed and wrapped her arms tightly around the chikorita. She pulled the blanket up to her chin, then over her head.
Scary, go away, scary, go away, scary, go away...
Flame cast a sidelong glance at Julia. The girl's expression was just one of annoyance at Jordan, who had been talking with the busty lady throughout the entire battle, from which Fluffy and Sir Majestic Tail had emerged victorious. Did she really not care about the fact that their dreams were oddly similar? Whenever Flame tried to bring up the topic, Julia brushed it off or changed the subject. She couldn't possibly be that dense.
We could be on the verge of figuring all this out, and she refuses to talk about it! Flame thought frustratedly. Doesn't she want to make sense of our situation? Why there seem to be so many links between us?
From the very start, when Julia had taken her to the Hungry Clauncher, Flame had felt like she could open up to her, tell her everything about her past and all her feelings. But Julia wouldn't even tell her why she didn't want to talk about it. Flame wasn't upset or angry, but it pained her to feel like the closeness she felt with Julia was just one-sided.
"Ah, smell that fresh autumn air!" Sir Majestic Tail sighed, trotting with his head held high. "In no time at all, leaves will be dropping all around us!"
"Don't be stupid, Fire-Butt," Fluffy smirked. "It's technically still late summer."
Flame felt her stomach turn as they passed through the gate that led to National Park. It was there that she had found out Fluffy's partnership with Team Fury. She wanted to believe her and Sir Majestic Tail when they said they had had no choice, but doubt still lingered.
"Oh, I haven't been here in ages!" called out Jordan, skipping ahead with his arms outstretched. "I love this place!"
Julia let out a sigh that sounded more like a groan and skulked after him. People only gave Jordan passing glances as he danced along the path. The grand fountain that spurted splashes of water into its basin was filled with Pokémon; mostly water, grass, and bug types. Their trainers were laughing and splashing them, and one little girl had hitched up her skirt to wade about in it with her surskit.
"Let's stop for a snack!" Jordan exclaimed to Julia, rushing over to poke through her bag. She yanked it away from him and snapped, "It's hardly noon! If we really hurry, we can make it to Ecruteak in time for a late lunch!"
Jordan crossed his arms defiantly. "No, we can't. We'll get there at five, at the earliest. We should eat lunch here while we have the chance!"
"Come on, be reasonable!"
Julia and Jordan broke into arguing and, to make matters worse, Fluffy and Sir Majestic Tail seemed to be also angry with each other – or, at least, loud. They were yelling about something or other, but they both wore grins.
Geez, they're like an old married couple or something, Flame thought. She glanced at McMister, but he didn't appear to be keen on talking. He was simply gazing out at the remaining flowers and the beedrills who buzzed around them. Flame sat back on her haunches, still in a state of refusal to use her front paws for walking, and was surprised when the quagsire began talking.
"That ponyta is certainly annoying, hmm?"
Flame blinked a few times, then glanced back at Sir Majestic Tail, who currently appeared to be flirting with an unaffected-looking Fluffy. "I guess so. He's not too bad once you get to know him, though."
Letting out a slow, heavy breath, McMister looked to the carpet of white-grey clouds above them. "He has, mmm, helped me, however."
"Yeah? How's that?"
"Helped me, mmm, to remember."
A wind began to blow softly, causing half-shrivelled petals on the ground to skitter across the ground. "Remember, eh? Just outta curiosity, how old are you, anyways?"
McMister was silent for a moment. "I have been, hmm, with Jordan for seven years, but may have, mmm, lived another year before that. So, in case you had been, mmm, wondering, I am fairly young, hmm?"
"Right."
After that, both of them said nothing more. Flame didn't feel the need to enquire further, and McMister didn't seem to care to tell her more. When Flame glanced over at Julia, the girl had her arms crossed while Jordan was grinning. By the looks of it, he had won the argument. Flame wandered over to Julia and tapped her arm.
"So, what? Are we going to eat lunch soon?"
Sighing, Julia nodded. "Yeah. Jordan's been here before, and it apparently takes way longer to Ecruteak city than I thought. And he says he's brought noodle bowls..." She gestured to the small, brown backpack he had on his back. "...And now that I think of it, I am kinda hungry..."
Flame smiled at her and the girl smiled back. "Food always wins out, doesn't it?" Flame snickered.
"Yeah-heh, well..."
"Well, thank goodness!" Sir Majestic Tail whinnied, tossing his head back as he bounced over. "I am positively ravenous, and those late flowers look scrumptious!"
Scratching his head, Jordan asked, "How do those taste?" Sir Majestic Tail looked taken aback but quickly regained his composure.
"Well, if you are curious, why not sample some?"
Before Julia could protest, Jordan had plucked a petal off a rose and had popped it in his mouth. "Oh, hey, it's not bad at – mmph!" He suddenly spat it out and began vigourously wiping off his tongue with his hands. "Gross! Yuck, yuck, yuck! This is awful!" He gave Sir Majestic Tail a pained look as the ponyta began munching a flower with a satisfied look in his eyes. "How can you eat this stuff? It tastes like boot!"
You've tasted boot? Flame was tempted to say as she stifled a giggle. Sir Majestic Tail shrugged delicately at Jordan and ate another flower. Fluffy, too, seemed to enjoy the taste of half-dead petals, as she had joined in on eating. A park official in a blue jacket gave them a sidelong glance and grimaced, but made no attempts to stop them. Not like the flowers were going to last much longer, anyways. And if they didn't eat them, the stantlers Flame had spotted fleetingly between the trees probably would.
After Jordan had sufficiently wiped all traces of the petal from his mouth, he pulled out two Poké Ball-sized round-bottomed white containers and pulled back the lids of each. There were some hard, pale yellow squiggly things at the bottom of the cup Julia got, and a small package inside, which Julia ripped open to dump its powdery yellow contents into the cup.
"Now take it over to the fountain," Jordan instructed, "and fill it with water. Flame, would you please heat up the cups once that step is done?"
Flame looked at the containers doubtfully. She didn't know how some hot water was going to turn those squiggly things into a decent, half-edible lunch, but if he used these before, he must know what he was doing. Julia obediently took her cup over to the fountain and put it under one of the streams of water before taking it back to where Jordan was. His cup, though he hadn't filled it at the fountain, already had water in it.
Mmm, tasty quagsire water, she thought with a hint of disgust.
"Alright, Flame, heat 'em up!" Jordan said and Flame, slightly annoyed by his lack of courtesy, lit up the flames on her head and rump. The two cups only needed to be held over the fire for a half a minute before the water was steaming. Jordan pulled out a pair of chopsticks for both him and Julia, then stirred the stuff in the cup for a moment before slurping up some noodles with his chopsticks.
Human inventions always weird me out. But it does smell good...
As it turned out, it tasted good, too. The three of them sat on a bench, both of the humans sharing with their Pokémon. After she had eaten her fill, Flame leaned against Julia's body, her eyes closing. Though it wasn't too cold, Julia was shivering slightly. A hand gently stroked Flame's head and she pushed against it. Then, realizing that a human probably wouldn't be acting like a cat while being stroked, she quickly stopped and just let Julia continue to pet her.
When a second hand began scratching her under her chin, Flame opened her eyes to glare at Jordan, who pulled his hand away.
"But you looked so adorable being petted like that!" he whined. "Don't you like being babied?"
Flame bristled and hopped off the bench to face him. In afterthought, she would have looked more intimidating standing on the bench, but it would look silly if she climbed back up.
"I don't mind Julia stroking me, but I'm not a pet espurr or something! Treat me like an equal!"
Jordan blinked in surprise and folded his arms. "Geez, no need to get so worked up about it! You only need to ask! I mean, McMister here..." He glanced back at the quagsire, who was staring off into the distance with a blank expression. "I sometimes forget he's a Pokémon! He's, like, my brother! A really slow, really dense, brother."
McMister just gave him a long, hard look that he maintained for half a minute too long to be effective before staring away again.
"S-sorry," Flame mumbled embarrassedly. "I guess I get a bit defensive."
"No need to worry!" Jordan bent down and ruffled the fur on her head. "I bet you and Jules are like sisters, too, eh?"
Somehow, that made Flame feel even worse. She sank back and looked away. "Not really, I don't think..."
Either he didn't catch her last comment or he ignored it, because he stretched his arms out and announced loudly, "Welp, let's get going! We've gotta lot of ground to cover, and if that sudowoodo's back, we'd better flush him away again, eh, McMister?"
"Since when do you announce when we go?" Julia grumbled, crumpling her cup and tossing it into the nearby garbage can.
"I'm the leader!" Jordan replied. "I say when we charge!"
"I love the human language." Fluffy had somehow materialized by Flame's side, having finished her lunch some time ago. "Pokémon can't use puns. A sad state of affairs, really."
Flame, feeling fairly certain that no pun had been said, thought about it then suggested, "Well, it might be possible in footprint runes."
"Oh, like those in the Ruins of Alph?" At Flame's bewildered expression, Fluffy explained, "Their nighttime security is really lacking for a place filled with traces of an ancient civilization. I think there might actually be some innuendos written there. There's a lot of primeape footprints used, if you know what I mean." She raised her eyebrows suggestively.
Flame did not know what she meant. All she knew was that she suddenly had a longing to return to the Ruins, whether she would be ambushed by furious unowns or not. Preferably the not.
However, that was not on the list of things to do for the day, so she followed Jordan's lead and walked behind him on the path bordering the tall grass in the park. Julia was only in a grouchy mood for a short while but she began to seem more cheerful as they passed through the gate that led out to Route thirty-six. It was a twisty, wooded route with nidorans creeping by through the grasses. There were trainers here and there, but none of them were too strong, save for one girl who had a rhyperior. Flame was tossed about by it like a stray leaf in a gusty wind and all of her fiery attacks were good for nothing. She woke up from fainting to see some odd, pointy object being held in front of her face.
"See, Jules?" Jordan was saying. "Max revives work like charms! Well, that's 'cause they kind of are charms, but you get what I'm saying."
Flame sat up and rubbed her neck. Fainting was an unfamiliar sensation. She hadn't actually been allowed to faint since...since her time with Noah...
The memory hit her like a bullet seed and she flopped onto her back. She couldn't doubt that Noah still wanted her back. But, at this point, returning to him would just about kill her. Her friends, the mysteries, the fun she was having...
"Come on, lazybones," Fluffy bleated, zapping Flame with a bolt of electricity. That got Flame right up to her paws with a pained yelp.
"What gives, Fluffy?!" she growled. "That really hurt!"
Fluffy flashed her a grin. "If you're gonna be a wuss about me giving you a tiny little shock, then don't act like roadkill!"
Flame still grumbled at that but she couldn't argue with her.
The trees were lit up by the warm glow of the setting sun as Jordan cheerfully marched through the arch over the entrance to Ecruteak city. Julia had known that the city was beautiful, but she had not expected it to look quite like this. All the buildings seemed to resonate with an oriental feeling, with their red, slanted roofs and black-and-white panelled walls. Almost every house had a few bushy trees growing beside it with a little lit up lantern standing by the door. The houses were arranged in a very linear fashion, in tidy little rows and columns along the cobbled roads. Even the Pokémon Centre was painted a subdued shade of violet to blend in.
Beyond the rows of houses was a tall, elegant tower. To the left of it were the smaller, charred remains of a second tower.
"This place reminds me of Violet city," Flame commented as her gaze flicked about.
"As elegant and charming as this city appears to be," said Sir Majestic Tail warily, "it does give off a queer aura. I feel as though I am being judged by some invisible being."
Jordan turned his grinning face back to them and said, "If there's anyone watching you, it's Ho-Oh!" He pointed at the tower on the right. "That's Ho-Oh's tower. Legend has it that it sits at the top, waiting for a worthy trainer to come challenge it. And that other tower was where Lugia, Ho-Oh's counterpart, would sit. But it got struck by lightning and burned down."
This legend was forever ingrained in Julia's mind. It was one of Johto's most well-known and well-beloved legend, if not the most. Leo loved it and would never shut up about it, especially after his parents took him to see the Burned Tower. Even Jordan, who was obsessed with becoming a ranger and not much else, would tell the story to Julia many times when she went to bed, sometimes with variations, like when it happened and which three Pokémon died.
According to the official story, three Pokémon, a jolteon, vaporeon, and flareon, became trapped in the tower and burned to death, only to be revived by Ho-Oh's ashes. Those three eeveelutions became the legendary Pokémon Raikou, Suicune, and Entei, respectively. Personally, Julia thought the story was nothing more than just a story; however, she could already see Flame's eyes lighting up.
"Is that true?" she asked excitedly. Jordan nodded in an over-the-top way.
"Yep! And three Pokémon who died in the tower were brought back to life by Ho-Oh as legendary Pokémon!" He raised his eyebrows at Julia's Pokémon, all of whom were beginning to look interested. "Wanna check it out and see if they're still there?"
"Yeah, absolutely!" Flame squeaked, bouncing on the spot. Sir Majestic Tail tossed his fiery mane and shrugged.
"I see no reason why not. Even if they are not present, such a building would be a valuable piece of history and heritage!"
Fluffy seemed to hesitate a bit before asking, "But it's burnt, right?"
"Like a cookie," Jordan affirmed.
"Wouldn't it be kind of dangerous?"
With a mock gasp, Sir Majestic Tail trotted over and patted her back awkwardly with his foreleg. "Oh, Fluffykins, don't tell me you're afraid! You, the arrogant, violent beast that you are, afraid of a burnt tower? Don't be ridiculous!"
However, Fluffy didn't seem to be comforted by that. She let out a sigh and crossed her arms. "Fine, I'll go. But I'm not staying for longer than a few minutes, got it?"
Sir Majestic Tail is right, Julia thought, frowning at Fluffy. She really doesn't have any reason to be afraid.
Suddenly, Flame grabbed Julia's hand and said, "Then, let's go! I want to see this tower!" She began to walk forwards, pulling Julia along behind her. Jordan nodded at them and ran on ahead, leading the way to the tower. Before long, Julia had to pull her hand away from Flame so that they could both jog after him properly; however, Flame fell behind before too long, due to her walking on her hind legs.
Despite that, they all stopped at the tower at about the same time. Julia hadn't seen McMister running, but the next she saw him, he was once again at Jordan's side, looking sleepy as ever. Jordan then led them up the steps to the tower, which looked a lot larger now that they were this close.
"Most of the tourists come in late spring and the middle of the summer," Jordan explained as they walked, "so it ain't too busy right now. Too cold for all them Hoenn people."
The tower had no door, but there was a sign next to the doorframe listing a hefty fee for vandalism, as well as tourist notes in tiny print. Inside, it was dark, though some light dribbled in through the caving-in ceiling. Loose planks of wood and rocks were littered around the floor, and there was a ladder placed in the floor that led to the floor below. That floor was clearly visible through the huge hole in the middle of the room.
"Oh my, oh my!" Sir Majestic Tail exclaimed, shying away from it. "Falling down there would certainly be painful, oh, I'm certain!"
"You talk too much, Fire-Butt," Flame smirked.
Fluffy was just silent, staring at the gaping hole with dull eyes. Julia felt as though there was something she should say to her, but she couldn't think of anything. As she was about to ask if she was feeling alright, someone came up the ladder and looked at the group, a hand on his hip.
"Quite the entourage we have here," he commented. He was a middle-aged man with tidy black hair and a powerful figure. He was dressed in all black, wearing a good-looking suit.
He looks like he should be at an office or a corporation or something, the way he's dressed. What's a guy like him doing here?
"Totally!" Jordan said, grinning. "We like to travel big, don't we?" He glanced back at everyone, who looked far more wary of the man than he did – save for McMister, of course, who was staring intently at a wooden beam over the far corner of the hole.
The man nodded at them and said, "Are you sightseeing here?"
"Yep!" Jordan began to answer, but Flame quickly interrupted, "We're actually trying to see if the legendary Pokémon are here."
Chuckling, the man said, "Unfortunately, they seldom return to this place anymore. I came to see if I could catch a glimpse of them, but alas. Nowhere to be found. So many mysteries these days, wouldn't you agree?"
Flame nodded enthusiastically. "I love mysteries! Oh, have you been to the Ruins of Alph? They should decode all of the messages!"
"Now, now, let's not get ahead of ourselves." The man walked around the ladder and came to stand in front of Flame. "We have not even introduced ourselves." He knelt a little and held out a hand to shake. "My name is Giovanni."
"I'm Flame! And that's Julia, and there's Jordan and McMister, and Fire-Butt and Fluffy."
Gio...vanni? Why does that name sound familiar?
Giovanni then stood and turned to Julia, again extending a hand. "At her introduction, I didn't quite manage to make out your name." He smiled in a slightly apologetic, businesslike way while Julia glowered internally.
Taking his hand, Julia said, "My name's Julia. Pleasure to meet you, Mister Gi – "
A wave of nausea rushed over her and she stumbled to the side. She could faintly make out him calling her name and attempting to steady her, but her vision was going black.
Not this crap again...!
A montage of images streaked across her vision. Two figures in a room, one of them talking on a phone; a boy sitting alone on a bench; a slowpoke with wide, terrified eyes; a red R; an old radio; a boy with crimson hair running away down a path, a hand trying to reach out for him –
She blinked awake to find herself leaning against the wall of the Burned Tower and with both Jordan's and Giovanni's eyes on her.
"Dude, you scared me for a second there!" Jordan gasped, lightly hitting her head with his palm. "What just happened?"
In the moment Julia took to think about her response, Flame piped up, "It happens sometimes. She'll black out and – " She suddenly cut herself off before continuing, "And it scares the shit out of all of us. Are you okay?"
Julia nodded blearily. It had been a while since she'd had a black out. She'd almost forgotten about them completely. But now her mind latched onto the memory of another vision she'd had, way back in Azalea town.
'Giovanni will pay.'
Could this be that same Giovanni? And could that red-haired boy in these visions have been Noah?
Who is this guy?!
Before she could gently ease herself back into the world of reality, a startled cry shattered her thoughts and forcibly dragged her back in. She quickly pushed past Giovanni and Jordan, nearly falling in the hole in the process. Flame rushed to her side and stared over the edge, trembling in horror. At the bottom, sprawled on the stone floor in a growing pool of blood, was Sir Majestic Tail.
He had fallen in.
Funny how I always used to end the chapter on them going to sleep, and now it's almost always a cliffhanger. Man, I hope you readers all packed parachutes.