Spoiler Warning: spoilers about Larkspur Lab and some of the people involved there (but nothing about the game projects). The whole Vaeryn saga is made up, so don't worry about that :P
...
In front of me stood the man who had posed for a photo with Lucille and the Sheebits.
I hadn't noticed the resemblance under so many layers of facial hair, but it was painfully obvious now.
He'd aged a little, unsurprising as it had been over ten years since Lucille was last seen.
Vaeryn looked embarrassed and his face was flushed red. He'd caught me staring. "Yes, I'm actually bald," he spluttered, his calm and collected facade shaken. "But I didn't think it fit the mood of the gym..."
With a colossus of effort, I tried to rip my eyes away. I failed.
"Come on," Vaeryn said with his first proper smile. Dire times called for dire measures. "You've never seen a bald man before? What about your dads? Your teachers?"
"Ari, what's up?" Theo asked, punching me on the arm.
I shook myself. "Nothing. It's all good."
I tried to focus on the battle, but my mind wasn't there. Neither was Vaeryn's. He knew that I knew something, and he was trying to figure out why I would know. Only Theo bounced around energetically, commanding his Luchabra with a series of lively yells. Ampharos missed with Thunder, sensing its trainer's distraction, and Luchabra took it out with Focus Punch.
"Well done," Vaeryn said distantly, his guard back up, his gaze never leaving me for more than a second or two. "That was a good battle. You have earned the Apex badge."
I felt the need to confront the con artist, but for once I was having the devil's own time coming up with a sassy opening line. I was getting angrier with each passing second.
"VIKTOR!" a voice yelled from behind us. Theo jumped a mile in the air, and all of us turned to face the new arrival... I gasped, and my own mouth fell open. My eyelids were getting a serious lifting workout. Standing at the top of the stairs, hands on his knees and puffing, was Kellyn.
"Haven't seen you in years, how have you been?" Kellyn continued, not seeming to realise we'd just finished a gym battle. I think I'd stopped breathing by that point. I registered that both Vaeryn and Theo had taken their pokemon back already, leaving only Shalegas floating reticently above us.
Vaeryn stood rooted to the spot, his mouth opening and closing like a stranded fish.
"Hey kids," Kellyn said to us, avoiding my eyes. "Someone at the pokemon centre told me you'd be here. Brian, was it? He was on the phone to Cameron..."
Kellyn lost interest but my eyes narrowed in suspicion. So much for straightening out the maelstrom of horse shit. The deeper I delved, the more turbid it got. I wailed inside.
"So Viktor, what are you doing these days? ...Wait." He'd caught sight of the two shiny badges in Vaeryn's hand. "No way man!" Kellyn would've laughed, if he had been the laughing sort.
Vaeryn's eyes drifted shut. He took a very long, controlled breath. Kellyn's face fell as he realised he'd hit a nerve.
"I go by Vaeryn now." The explanation was delivered with the calm assertion we were used to. "And yes, I'm the leader of Snowbank gym. That's what I'm doing these days."
The corner of Kellyn's mouth twitched. His eyes were distant. "Lucille would love that... Rudi, probably not. I heard what happened with him. Good thing you got out." Kellyn pressed on when there was no response. He cast a glance at me, and I pretended to be absorbed in my phone. "I still don't understand why Lucille never brought it up; she was always vocal about that sort of thing."
Vaeryn's face had hardened in stages during Kellyn's speech, and now resembled the chiselled surface of a piece of quartz. He'd probably be an 11 on the Mohr scale.
I'd heard every word Kellyn said, but processed none of them. I took in the names: Rudi, and Lucille, and Viktor, but I didn't manage to tie it all together until hours later. For the time being, I just stared dumbly at my phone, as Kellyn gave up on Vaeryn and turned to talk to Theo. "I brought something for you and Ari: Mega Bracelets. I figured it's about time, seeing as you're almost at the top of the league now."
I lifted my head detachedly to accept the gift. My mind was still loitering back in the folds of the mystery it was failing miserably to unravel.
"Yeah, thanks Kellyn!" Theo shouted, snapping the bracelet onto his twiggy wrist. "You're the best!"
"Now, you'll need specific stones to actually mega evolve your pokemon; you can buy those at the Belbeach department store when they're in stock. Okay, kids. Vaeryn. I'd best be off. Cam's got a lot on his plate at Omicron."
"See ya," Theo said.
Kellyn nodded to Vaeryn, who didn't return the gesture. He also patted me on the back as he passed, though he stopped short of looking at me.
There was a long silence after Kellyn left. Snowfall was picking up again, and I refused to let myself flinch as the cold flakes battered my face. Theo rubbed vigorously at his arms, trying to keep warm. After a few seconds of this stalemate, Vaeryn stiffly thrust the badges towards us as if the metal was red hot.
"See," Theo said, a self-satisfied grin on his face. "I knew it. You worked for him, didn't you? You knew so much about... about his labs."
"Just say it," Vaeryn snapped, and my head shot up in surprise. "What does it matter anymore?"
He turned away to re-compose himself.
I tried to concentrate on the Vaeryn-Viktor conundrum but my mind wasn't having a bar of it. The insolent ass kept shouting at me: Cameron and Bruno are in cahoots! Trust nobody!
"Take these," Vaeryn said suddenly, his voice having regained some semblance of calm. He held out two chunky objects. "In return, you're not to say a word. Forget about me. Forget everything Kellyn said. I ran and hid because I knew trouble was coming, I knew as soon as Rudi went ahead with the stylus. Why Lucille didn't..."
He shook his head firmly. "I've said too much already. Take these, and stay far, far away. You have no need to be involved. I don't want you, or myself, to be hurt."
My mouth had fallen steadily open. I lifted the jaw back into place.
"Electruxolite for Theo," Vaeryn said, handing Theo the small blue stone. "And Ari, one for S51-A." I was given what looked like a piece of trash. I closed my eyes. Theo was going to pay me out later.
Vaeryn watched on as Theo placed his stone in the folds of Ellie's electric fin. It was a neat fit. I sneaked a glance at the still huffy Shalegas and slipped the metal shard into my pocket.
Vaeryn's stare was unwavering. "We'd better go," I muttered to Theo after a few seconds. "Before we get vaporised."
Theo raised his hand in a doubtful wave, eliciting no response from Vaeryn, before I grabbed onto his arm and dragged him down the stairs.
Once we were outside, Shalegas followed after me though it was still sulking, and Theo balled Electruxo for shelter against the fresh blizzard. I was almost glad to run into Bruno at the pokemon centre. A familiar face, and an easier one to grill.
"Did Kellyn find you?" he asked cheerfully, tucking into a hot lunch.
"Yep," I replied shortly. "Mind telling me what's going on with you and Cameron? You do know Cameron's..." I quickly shut up. Again, I'd almost blabbed in front of Theo.
"Cameron's what? Hey! What are you saying about my dad?" Theo yelled defensively, as Bruno tried in vain to get a word in.
"Nothing," I yelled back, completely smothering the last morsel of Bruno's voice. "I didn't say anything."
"He's a good person," Theo wailed. "He doesn't even tell dad jokes." There was a wicked glint in his eye. "And he'd definitely come visit me if I was in hospital."
I gasped. That was the last straw. "You know what," I snapped nastily. "I'm just going to tell you. Your dad is a bigwig terrorist. I saw him with the blue rangers in the copper mine. He even owns the building where they were breeding Sheebits. Maybe he's the one who's been blowing everything up."
"My dad wouldn't do that!" Theo screamed. His eyes were shiny with tears, which made me more angry for some sadistic reason.
"Oh yeah? Then explain any of it. Go on."
Theo broke down into major crying, and I felt like a huge ass. Of course he wouldn't know either. It sucked having a fraud for a father, and I guess I just wanted someone else to feel bad too.
"Sorry," I said, shuffling on my feet.
"Leave me alone," Theo said, still snivelling. I left him to his misery and turned to face Bruno.
"Ari... I dunno... Uh..." He stuttered under the sudden spotlight, lifting up his hands. Finally, he let out a big sigh. "You know, you're both right," he said, his eyes darting skittishly between me and Theo.
"What's that supposed to mean?" I sniped, my heart sinking. I was so tired of this. I should never have left my oblivious existence in Moki Town.
"Oh no. I... You know, I..." Bruno was floundering.
"You can't tell me? Of course you can't," I said bitterly.
"I'm sorry," he said, turning up his hands.
"Can't believe I expected you to say something helpful for once."
I turned on my heels and stormed out of the pokemon centre, leaving the sniffling Theo and crisis-mode Bruno staring after me. I consulted the GPS on my pokepod. I had to head to Tsukinami Town for my last badge, and I was going to do it away from all of these people and the soap opera my life had become.
I grabbed onto Shalegas's feelers, ready to fly. Maybe I'd go get lost in Venesi City for a few days first.