"Oh my god, she looks so cute," Scott gasped with wide eyes.
He covered his mouth with his hand and actually blushed, causing Maya to giggle. "That dress of hers isn't new, haven't you seen it before?"
"Well, no, but—she straightened her hair! Look at that hat! She's so cute, fuck." He hid his face in his hands and turned away. They were at a party for the new year, with a flapper-era theme, and as with any sort of challenge, Ree went all out. Maya had been dolled up by her sister's hand, too, but Ree clearly took great pleasure in her own costume. Her tall, thinner frame was well-suited to the straight figure the dress created, and she had not only straightened her curly hair, but had cut it into a more period-appropriate bob.
"Jeez, you're like a dude seeing his bride for the first time." Maya rolled her eyes at him. Scott loudly feigned a sob, collapsed onto her shoulder, and made it her turn to redden. "G-Get off! So squish your girlfriend instead!"
She gave him a shove in her direction, and, laughing, he walked over to the couch Ree was leaning on and threw himself onto it. On his knees on the cushions, elbows on the back, he stuck himself literally into her conversation with a fond smile. "Can I help you?" Ree asked.
"Just looking at my incredibly adorable girlfriend. Carry on."
"Wow, way to ruin the conversation," Carly snorted. "I'm not going to stay anywhere near you if you're going to go get all mushy on each other. Keep in mind your single friends tonight, huh?"
"Here, Scottie, drink this." Ree handed him a glass of something and pattered off after her disappearing friend. He looked down at it. It looked like koolaid, probably mixed with something, but it was red.
Scott stalked her through the party, torn between protective instincts and warm fuzzies, and neither mood was helped with the addition of alcohol. Carly refused to be anywhere near the supposedly happy couple, Maya lost her patience at his cooing over her sister, Jonah was too immersed in defending his Mario Kart title for either of them, and he really wished he could have brought his pokémon to help corral Ree.
Not that she actually needed to be corralled; she had every right to do what she wanted without him. They had plenty of mutual friends. Scott sighed into the fourth drink she'd passed off to him. He had mostly non-trainer friends, and it showed, especially in their social outings. He loved them all dearly, but parties with pokémon were far more fun. They just had to be handled differently.
"Have you been drinking nothing but koolaid mixed with stuff?" he asked suspiciously as he peeked out around the edge of the sliding glass door.
Ree groaned and pointed at him with her fancy cigarette holder. He followed the movement, impressed at her dedication to her outfit, and hardly heard anything she said. Something about doing what she wanted and not wanting a tail and it not being midnight yet.
"You're not drunk enough yet to forget that you shouldn't be downing a bunch of red stuff."
"I'm not drunk enough yet to want your policing. I'll see you in twenty minutes, Scottie."
Midnight on New Year's Eve found the two huddled in one of the bathrooms. Ree was throwing up, only slightly because of the alcohol, and Scott was patiently holding her hat and rubbing her back with his other hand.
Oh well, there was always next year for a party with pokémon.
-.-.-
Chapter Thirty-Five: Ree Majors' Wonderful Journey Of Not Being A Parent
-.-.-
"Coffee?" Maya asked, holding out a styrofoam cup.
"No thanks. Didn't know you drank it," Ree replied. It was still early enough in the morning that coffee sounded nice, especially considering how tired she felt, but she didn't have the energy for caffeine. Maybe she just wanted to mope.
"Started after my sixth badge." Her sister sat down on the balcony beside her and stuck her legs through the gaps in the railing. The morning was overcast and misty, and the city hadn't fully woken up yet. Most of their pokémon were still asleep, but Lala sat between them, stubby legs stuck out, mimicking their pose. The damp morning stuck to her fluff.
"Kev's still mad at me."
"He has a right to be. I'm mad at you, too," Maya said without any real heat. "Yesterday, a lot of that could have been avoided if you hadn't insisted on trying to find us. Or brought him along."
"I didn't bring him along," she said flatly. But she had tried, and they both knew it.
"I could've handled things."
"How? You were as scared as anyone else."
"I'm still the better trainer." At last, there was the undercurrent of anger. Maya sipped at her cup with a glance down at Lala. Ree was sure the whimsicott was actually napping again rather than staring out at the city in a melancholic fashion like her trainer.
"You would've been in that sort of situation, and I wouldn't have known or been there for you. Maria and Sara Grace probably would've gotten away."
"I wouldn't have let that happen."
"How? You don't know how to shoot a gun—"
"Neither do you," Maya said irritably.
"—and it's not like you know any martial arts," Ree finished, undeterred. "All you have is a really strong team. And even now..."
"I could've done something, and even if I couldn't, it's not your job to look after me. You're my sister, not my parent, and even if you were, I'm legally an adult."
"It's not my job, but I'm still gonna do it."
Lala yawned loudly and fell backwards with a sleepy snort. She ended up half-propped against Maya's thigh. Ree watched as her sister's expression became a little less hard.
"You have five badges, right?" Maya asked.
"Yeah. Why?"
"At six, you can legally take on mercenary jobs for the government," she said tonelessly. "Not that they advertise it. You've probably noticed the perks to getting more badges, right?"
"A couple. Not that one, though. What do seven and eight get you?"
She turned back to the grey landscape and swung her feet. "Just more trouble. I guess you'll figure it out. ...You know, there's not as many of us as you'd think, people with eight badges. We have the highest dropout rate for trainers of any major region, and the last four badges are a lot tougher than the first four. They try to keep the numbers low, but between Drayden, Iris, and Marlon... You can choose any of the top-tier badges you want to get, but you can't avoid both."
"I thought Iris was a champion." Ree knew enough to remember that Unova let anyone to beat the elite four and reigning champion have the same title, but she hadn't heard that Iris was still a gym leader. Come to think of it, she didn't know a lot about the last gym leaders.
"She is. But she still helps run the gym in Opelucid, and ever since all the Plasma stuff happened, it's easier to let Alder be the public face again. Honestly, I think the job was too hard for her. I've seen how Alder takes it..." Maya shook her head. "I shouldn't be gossiping. Have you thought about which gyms you'll challenge for your last three badges? Your team isn't very large, and sort of grass-heavy. I can give you some advice, if you'll take it."
"There's one in Mistralton, but they're snowed in. Icirrus is always snowed in. You said there's one in Opelucid, but that's the hard one, isn't it?"
"Then there's one up in Humilau. That's one of the newer ones. Flying, ice, dragon, and water. ...Two major type disadvantages, and the other two are nightmares. Do you want advice?" Maya pressed.
"Yeah, I guess," she replied, since it seemed like she wanted to go somewhere with that.
"Don't jump at Marlon just because he's a water gym leader. He's tough, up there with Drayden and Iris. And he doesn't like type advantages on him. And since you only need three more... Give up one of them. It might be tempting not to throw your team against birds or ice pokémon, but they're easier, trust me. And buff up your team. Don't get another grass pokémon. I know they're nice, I love them to death, but don't do that to yourself. And..." And Maya suddenly had fat tears running down her cheeks.
She didn't cry noisily. In fact, it took a beat for Ree to even process that she was crying at all. The younger sister stared out at the city, bottom lip quivering, tears silently rolling down her face. Ree didn't know what to do. When Maya was sobbing loudly, she wanted comforting. When she left the room to cry, then she wanted to be alone. But this was neither, and it wasn't something the elder was accustomed to seeing.
So as much as it pained her, she let her cry and just stayed beside her. It was Maya who broke the quiet again. "I-I don't deserve my badges," she said with the barest hint of a quaver in her voice.
"Of course you do. You earned them."
"Bo and Edgar helped me earn most of them. All of them were with Bo. My team is smaller and weaker and grieving. I... Alder shouldn't have asked me to help with the Sinnoh delegates." She squeezed her eyes shut, hands fisting on her pants. "He shouldn't have, he knew what my team is now! He knew there could have been trouble. He knew, and he still asked me, because all he was worried about was keeping things quiet...! He shouldn't have, but he did!"
At that, Ree leaned over and wrapped her arms around her. Maya hiccuped and then broke into subdued sobbing. Lala, between them, growled at the sudden squishing and climbed into Ree's lap, then tensed when she noticed what was going on.
Lala placed a small paw on Maya's leg. "...Scott?"
"I want to hate him, Ree," Maya whispered harshly against her neck. She pulled away, avoiding her sister's eyes, and instead looked down at Lala. Her expression broke all over again. "I-I want to hate him so bad."
"You're allowed to. You don't have to forgive him for—"
"It's not that." Maya pulled away from her, and Ree let her scoot over for some space. Wrapping her arms around herself, she said, "I'm too scared to. I know what the elite trainers are like, and I know what the training government is like. It's so, so problematic, and Alder knows that. Everyone knows that. That's why Plasma hasn't fully left, it's why those followers from Sinnoh found root here, and it's why assholes like pokémon thieves and hunters aren't better controlled. What else would I do, if I were in his place?"
Ree didn't have an answer for her.
-.-.-
The morning news had a recap and explanation of the previous day's events. They were clearly trying to pin as much of the blame as they could on the Plasma members, but every bit of footage they showed rang out against it. The foreign kids were hardly mentioned.
Maya had asked if she wanted to say goodbye to any of them. She was being polite, and maybe she did mean well, but Ree didn't want to. They were probably nice kids, underneath all of the trouble they brought with them, but she wasn't feeling adult enough to think about them that way. They were just the trouble they brought with them. Instead, while Maya was gone, she visited the hospital.
Nathan wasn't in Allen's room anymore, but the blond man was awake and chipper. "I was wondering when you'd show up, dearest! I just got the news of our engagement this morning."
"Where's Nathan?" Ree asked, not having the will to care about her poor choice of cover. It didn't seem any funnier then than it had the night before.
"Left with his charges. Where else would he be?" asked his friend in the hospital with a gunshot wound.
He didn't have the loyalty, Lenore had said. Ree understood what she had meant. "...You probably heard about everything?"
"Everything and then some," Allen said brightly. He patted the bed next to him. Ree continued eying the chair, but made no move toward either. "So, you got a name. Where did you pull that from?"
"Is it him?"
"...Probably." At least he was being honest with her. It was enough to let her perch on the very edge of his bed. His chest was wrapped in bandages over a visible wad of gauze pressed against a spot just below his collarbone. "I'm not made of paper. You can actually sit with me."
"You're not made of paper, but you're not made of steel, either. You don't deflect bullets like metal birds."
"Well, no, I don't. But do you want to know a secret?" She wasn't sure she could handle any more, but she nodded. "This isn't the first time I've been shot. It probably won't be the last. Still hurts like a bitch, of course, but it's a little better when you know sort of what to expect. And it's definitely better when it doesn't go through a lung."
"I've seen your chest, you don't have any scars," she replied with narrowed eyes.
"Field operatives get the best medical treatment in the country. And I have my own audino, so I usually get patched up pretty quick."
"...Yeah. Good."
He noticed the way she frowned and tried to pull her over closer. She noticed the way he cringed as he moved his shoulder. "Hey, they'll find Tranjero. It's hard for a psychic to go missing for long. And whoever it is that's taken him will pay."
Ree stiffened. "...Whoever it is?" she repeated numbly.
"Look, I know you know it's been some sort of traitor. You were there for chunks of it and I'm sure you grilled Nathan or Lenore afterwards. Not that you need to know all of this, but I won't play dumb about it if you don't," he chided and squeezed her hand.
So that's why Nathan left. "S-So you don't know who shot you...?"
"No, they got Tranjero first. I panicked and they shot me while my back was turned. Cowardly, huh? But smart. ...Anyway, after that, it turns into a haze of pain and a lot of medication for said pain. I'm sure I'll get fifty billion reports about it later."
He didn't know. He didn't know, and Nathan had run back to his job in order to avoid being the one to tell him. Someone would tell him, but knowing—but suspecting it first—and not telling him... "Uh, yeah, I'm sure you'll have tons of paperwork to fill out about it. There's nothing like filling out forms while bleeding on them, r-right?"
She couldn't tell him. She was an unofficial source, someone he already worried over, and she was too afraid to tell him he'd been betrayed by friends. She couldn't tell the guy who was beaming at her in his own hospital bed, looking far too much like a lillipup hoping to please, hoping to be the one to make her day a little better. She didn't deserve him. She didn't deserve Kev, or Maya, or Harry, and definitely not Scott, and least of all Allen. Tori had been the smart one to leave her before shit hit the fan.
"Hey, why're you shaking?" Allen asked gently, wincing again as he lifted his arm to place his hand on her shoulder.
"I-I can't. This place, and you, and him, and Maya, and I can't do this."
"Hey, hey now, it's okay." He didn't ask her anything else, and she didn't dare try to pull away when his injured side was invested in keeping her there. Her tremors subsided but her guilt only grew. "So, I'll be on medical leave for awhile. And I'm not sure I even want to know what sort of state the organization will be in when I get back. And I know you are snowed out of the north for the season."
"What are you saying exactly?"
"Let's go on a vacation."
Her heart plummeted further. "You're not my dad," she snapped at him.
"But I'm your friend," Allen said with too soft a voice.
"You shouldn't be," Ree replied darkly.
"Fine then," he said, undaunted, "let's pretend this is for my own selfish satisfaction. We go on a vacation together. This means I get to pick a location, and I get to keep you there for an unspecified period of time. I can guarantee the security and safety of you, your team, and your fetus. You can bring along your sister, since she seems like a sweet gal, even if I've only spoken to her for about five minutes. And by guaranteeing your safety and general health, I can give Lenore a break and give her a much-needed vacation. So really, I'm the winner here."
"Stop making sense. There's still stuff in Castelia I have to do... I have to figure out some way to apologize to Kev, and Scott..." Okay, she didn't know what to do with Scott. She still didn't know if he was in the city or not. But to have him so close left her feeling unbalanced and needy, in spite of everything else going on.
"Maybe Kev needs some space. Sometimes friends just need to be alone for awhile, and that's okay. And as for your wayward boyfriend, we can go some place he won't think to go." She should've been tipped off by the way he broke into a wide, shit-eating grin, but alas, she remained unprepared. "And if it makes you feel any better, sweetie, I'll continue being your fiance and this can be our honeymoon. With company."
"Don't you have your own girlfriend to bother with dumb jokes?" Ree said with a grimace.
Allen's expression faltered for a moment.
"Boyfriend?" she backpedaled.
"No, neither."
Please don't let him have a tragic past I'm making worse, she prayed. "Well, uh, whatever then. Go get one. I don't need your babysitting."
"It's not babysitting, it's a vacation! For the poor soul on sick leave. It's for my benefit, remember? Won't you do this for me?"
For being such a generally selfless guy, Allen Pershing could be kind of a dick, Ree decided that day.
-.-.-
Ree alternated between sulking and moping for the entire train ride. Ree and Lenore were both afraid of heights, and since he was on leave, it wasn't like they could teleport. So Allen got his way. Kev got his space. And Ree got pokémon girlfriends running about her compartment in a rather inappropriate version of tag.
"You could try to smile a bit," Maya scolded.
"I could still jump off of the train," Ree replied. Only the smallest class of pokémon were allowed, which meant Mordecai spent the trip in his ball, but the rest of their teams were okay. So it ended up being the girls and their menagerie in one, and Allen and Lenore in another compartment. How cozy.
It was unfair of her to think, but only Whippy seemed to really care about her emotional turmoil. Lala was still enamored with Talia. Harper kept an eye on Unika, which she did need, since she was back in a full-force manic episode. God-fucking-damn me, Ree cursed. Her pokémon needed her. Her sister needed her. Antoine Pollock needed to go deepthroat the barrel of a gun. Or a new Sophia, but she wasn't sure about the logistics of that. Kev needed to be sent a fruit basket.
What else did he even like? She knew a little about his eating habits and a few of his gaming preferences, he had a troubled past with his family, and he doted on his spoink. But what else? How did she begin to apologize to a guy she knew so little about, when she was getting further and further away from him by the second? Giving him some space wouldn't be a bad thing, probably, but it would only be a start.
Scott was easy. She knew how to apologize to him. But he hadn't outright gotten mad at her... yet. Did she have to apologize to him? She sent him several pictures of herself and Maya at the concert, so he could tell she had gone, but she had heard very little from him since. Scott was perpetual, but low-key. She could ignore her festering guilt over him more easily than the other, newer wounds.
And Maya... Maya and Antoine Pollock. Who knew where he was by then. She had seen him, she had seen him, and now he was probably half a continent away. She had no leads outside of his name. He still had Edgar, or at least, she sure hoped so. She'd kill the man twice over if he sold her sister's pokémon and she had to track him down separately.
"Why did he pick Undella?" Maya asked, bringing her out of her thoughts. "It's the off season, and it's too cold to swim in the ocean."
"Hell if I know. He said he just wanted a vacation. Probably the first place he thought of."
"At least it won't be snowy. We've never been there this late in the year, huh?"
"Last year, Scottie and I came out here to visit his dad. It was a little later than now."
Her sister fell silent at that. Ree scowled out the window as she watched the scenery fly by. Lala and Talia giggled underneath her seat, and Whippy was napping on her lap, finally having settled down after the initial shock of traveling by a train. She supposed most of her team would be pretty unused to human methods of travel. She didn't feel like getting them used to flying, by pokémon or plane, since she hated it herself, but maybe it wouldn't be terrible to get them used to other things.
"I'm going to try to nap," Maya mumbled and curled up in her seat. She was barely down before Talia and Lala piled on top of her, cuddling in close. It was hard to tell who was acting as the pillow for whom. "Okay, I guess we all are. Thank god everyone's calmed down now."
"Yeah." The girlfriends were content to snuggle, Whippy was done screeching at the window, and—Ree whipped her head around to look for the main source of the noise in their compartment. No wonder Unika had been so quiet; she was gone. Nearly upending her servine, Ree crawled all over the booth, looking under seats (only finding some of Lala's shed fur), peeking into the luggage racks over their head, even rooting through some of Maya's things.
"Can I help you, Sherlock?" the younger deadpanned as Ree tried to stand on her seat to look in her rack, too.
"When's the last time you remember Uni making noise?" She couldn't find Harper, either. It made sense they'd be together, but the bird wasn't that small. There was no place that could fit both of them and be out of sight.
"I don't know, before that lady checked our tickets?"
"...You go back to sleep. I'll be right back."
Whippy leapt at her as she left, curling around her neck like usual. "Ser!"
"Okay, I guess we'll both be back soon."
Maya gave her a suspicious look, but let her go all the same. Ree quickly shut the door behind her to make sure no other pokémon went missing. She thought about checking in on Allen and Lenore, but it was unlikely Unika or Harper were there, since someone would've returned them by then. And she was still a little sore at him for dragging her (and Maya) out there for the vacation, too.
"Come on, Mister Detective Snivy Whiplash. Servine. Whatever. Let's figure out why Uni ran off, and why Harper hasn't reported back to us yet."
"Ser," he agreed and dropped off her shoulders, landing crouched on all fours. He sniffed at the air, tail quivering, and she had to wonder where he learned to do that. His forked tongue snaked out to taste at the air. That was a little better.
"You're not a tracking growlithe, you know."
He made a sound that she figured was supposed to be a bark.
"Don't be an ass. The only fire pokémon I want is a heatmor." But she smiled, and he grinned up at her because of it.
They walked to the tail end of the train first, with no signs of commotion or squeaking or squawking or whatever they were doing. Because Ree couldn't fathom why they would have left. Okay, clearly Unika snuck out and Harper followed her to either keep an eye on her or rein her back in. But why the tynamo had left in the first place... Not that Ree was suddenly an expert or anything, but she had been incredibly clingy and eager to please during her last manic episode.
They walked back up the length of the train with more caution, but still no sign of either pokémon. She knew they had boarded the train with them. Unika had been as eager to dive into Lala's fluff as ever and she remembered Talia gently taking her out and setting her with Harper.
Just when Ree was beginning to panic, for they had found neither feather nor spark of their missing teammates, Whippy bolted. She followed him without question, although the panic hit her when she realized he made a straight line for a window near one of the connectors.
Sure enough, she caught a glimpse of a grey wing soaring up and out of sight.
"Those two—!" She almost broke the lock trying to get the door open. The wind helped push it open for her, and she wedged herself out onto the narrow platform beside the sheltered connector. "Harper! What the fuck are you doing out here?!"
She was gratified to see that it really was her bird and not some random wild tranquill who happened to be in the area. Unika squealed happily from the safety of one of her feet, though most of the sound was lost in the rushing wind. Ree angled her face so her hair would stay out of it and tried to maintain her glare at them. Sure, she was a little impressed Harper could keep up with the train, and a tiny bit of her was happy to see Unika clearly having fun, and she was getting over the fear that her pokémon had been missing.
Without showing any effort, Harper tilted her body just enough to glide down until they were about even with Ree. She eyed her calmly. "Quill?"
"Don't get cute with me. Why the hell are you both out here and without asking me?"
Harper swung her feet forward and more or less tossed Unika at Ree. The tynamo happily squeaked and nuzzled into the crook of Ree's neck. Harper landed on the railing, hunkering down against the broadside wind. Ree grudgingly offered her arm. The bird hopped onto that and they ducked back into the train.
Unika zoomed around at once, squeaking and sparking at every little thing. Whippy pattered along behind her with clear worry.
Harper pointed at them with her wing. "Tranquill."
"I know you were keeping an eye on her. ...You always do."
She flapped up and settled onto Ree's shoulder, pressing their cheeks together. "Tran. Tranquill-tranquill, quill?"
"I guess she is kind of hyperactive." And an excitable electric pokémon wasn't a good thing to have in an enclosed space, but Ree had already resigned herself to that experience. "I know you just wanted to keep her busy, or entertain her, or whatever you were doing. But you should have asked me. Even if she was the one to slip out, you could've let me know somehow."
"...Quill tran-tranquill."
"We both know I'm lost when dealing with her. With all of you, but especially her. Once we get this little vacation underway, I'll start battling again, so we can work off some of this excess energy. And harpy, I appreciate all you're doing for her, I really do—but you're not her mother. Let me do some of this. Let me help, at least. Let's not have me feeling any shittier about all this, please?"
She didn't respond but pulled her cheek away. Ree supposed that was an answer itself. She whistled to catch the attention of the other two, and they traipsed back to their own compartment. Undella Town was still several hours away.
-.-.-
Ree challenged the universe to find an unluckier person than she, because they were still in the train station when she was recognized out of the thin crowd. By Scott's father, no less. "Ree Majors, is that you? And Maya!"
She went stiff as a board and Maya squeaked beside her. As the man approached them, all smiles and waves, Allen went to move protectively in front of them both—and then fell back with a wince. Lenore took his place, all tallness and cool glare that Ree knew too well. "I'm sorry, can I help you?"
Martin Felton looked up at the doctor, puzzled. Then, back down to the Majors sisters, as if to double check their identity. Ree felt herself break out into a cold sweat, but she still could not get her body to move. "Do you know these gals?" he asked them.
"I'm her—"
"We're her parents!" Allen interrupted with a smile, peeking out from behind Lenore.
Maya facepalmed audibly. Ree groaned at the ceiling. "Stop with the shitty lie right there!" she said, finally jarred into action by the sheer stupidity of that excuse. Honestly, even the newlyweds angle would have been better. ...Almost.
"This is Scott's dad," her sister explained after giving him the most disappointed of looks. "And so, you know, he's met our parents."
"Martin," he said with narrowed eyes. He didn't offer his hand. "Before I was just confused, and now I'm downright suspicious. Ree, Maya, you sure you know these two?"
"Yes, Mr. Felton. ...You don't think we can take care of ourselves?" Maya asked dangerously.
"I know you're a talented trainer, and I'm sure Ree's on target for the same," he said, giving them an uneasy smile for their benefit. "Was just a surprise to see you gals, and not used to seeing you without my boy. Scott's not with you?"
"Uh, no, he isn't," Ree said. She avoided looking at the man and instead stared hard at the back of Allen's skull, willing him to find a different, better excuse to get them out of there.
"These are some of our friends. We met through some training stuff. Doctor Lenore Coracks, and Allen Pershing. Allen's just kind of silly about traveling with three ladies sometimes, you know how those boys can be." Apparently Maya's sense of when to bail out her sister was a little keener. "We came for a short trip during the off season because everything's cheaper and they've never tried alomomola sushi, can you believe it?"
Maya talked the man out of questioning why they were traveling with a doctor and not Scott, and effortlessly got them moving again after an unfortunate promise to have dinner with him later in the week. They were hardly out of earshot when Lenore told her, "I have too tried alomomola sushi, and I do not care for it. I understand your panic reaction to get out of the situation, but I didn't see why you had to drag us down with you."
"That was Scott's dad, doesn't that process with you?" Maya hissed back after a check over her should to make sure the man was well away. "The father of the boyfriend that Ree's trying to avoid?"
"He didn't have any pokémon with him and in her current attire it's not as if he could see any sort of protruding belly."
Ree hunched defensively over her stomach. "It's not protruding yet."
"That was her point," Allen said.
"At least someone was trying to help with the situation. What was with the parents lie, huh?"
"Okay, see it from my point of view. I'm injured and off-duty, and I see a strange man walking towards you, you who I know for a fact are trying to avoid everyone you know. It was a gamble, and I lost, but what else was I supposed to do?"
"Go with the fiance type next time. Don't drag me into your shenanigans," Lenore said sourly.
"Okay, no parents, roger." He backed off strangely quickly, considering how much he enjoyed their various other cover stories.
"Ree, you might want to call Scott. His dad's not gonna keep quiet, and this isn't a big enough town that you can hide. Head him off if you can," Maya suggested.
"How? He'll know we've talked to his dad. He's going to really lose his temper at me—or just break up with me." That pulled her up short. She'd been using Maya as a shield, and before that had simply been avoiding him, but neither of those were long-term tactics.
"That's why you have to talk to him," Lenore said without an ounce of sympathy in her voice.
"...Fine, I'll call him tonight. But I'm sleeping in Allen's room."
"Excuse me?" Maya and Lenore said in perfect unison. Even Allen cracked a grin at that.
"Calling and having a heart-wrenching conversation with my past lover and the father of my unborn child, how traumatic it will be! The only possible thing that will soothe me is lovingly helping my fiance clean his wounds and remind myself why I'm doing this...!" Ree exclaimed, using her best theatrical tone, putting a hand to her forehead like she might faint.
Allen, bless his soul, took her by the waist and let her lean into his chest. "Someone has to support this dear, unwed mother-to-be—"
"Hey now, I'm not keeping it."
"—my fiancee, and it must be me! Because the fact that it's a chest wound has nothing at all to do with your sudden interest in my recovery, huh?"
"Shh, you're ruining the moment, dear," Ree said, patting his arm. (A small, very traitorous part of her was glad to have the feel of someone hugging her again.) Going back to her actress voice, letting Allen all but carry her backwards, she announced with much waving, "Adieu, adieu, my dearest sister and doctor! I must go now to tend to my wounded heart and wounded fiance! Remember me fondly!"
And exit train station left.
Lenore looked somewhat faint. "Did she just..."
"Ditch us? Yeah," Maya said and crossed her arms. "I'm pretty sure I recognize the unwed mother and new fiance thing, but she didn't have to punish us for trying to talk her into being responsible. And after I saved her from Mr. Martin..."
"Dear, I have no idea how you put up with that sister of yours. Nor do I understand why Allen does, but he's always been soft."
"I guess I'm made of tougher stuff. Someone's got to, at any rate. Even if she talks to Scottie, I'm not sure he will for much longer."
-.-.-
"I thought you didn't want the fiance thing anymore, not with your father-in-law in town," Allen said as they walked out into the fresh sea air. Ree sort of regretted when he let her go.
"Fuck, don't call him that. It's not like we're—I'm not married to him."
"But you're joking about being married to me. Goodness, what will people say about the baby."
"Eh, you're both blond, no one will notice."
"Where did the terrible scene come from, anyway?"
"I'm rereading The Fierce Gentleman's Liepard with all of this downtime."
"Can I borrow it when you're done?" Allen asked and Ree raised an eyebrow. He very clearly didn't realize what sort of books she read in her free time. Baby naming ones aside. "I'm facing a lot more downtime than you are in my near future, and you don't want me bored."
"Fine. I'm almost done with it anyway."
"With that taken care of, can I ask where we're going yet? You seem to be walking pretty purposefully somewhere and I don't think it's to the center."
"Sports store."
"Sport—no!" He made a grab at her, but, prepared, Ree released Whippy. The servine curled around her shoulders and hissed at him. "Ree, you're not going to pick up another bat."
"I could be a baseball fan for all you know. I could be the next star batter," she growled, hand tightening on Lala's pokéball.
"This is a vacation, remember? I'm not going to let you go off and arm yourself again! I know the kind of trouble you get into—" He reared back and cut himself off as Whippy smacked his hand away from her shoulder. "How is it you can go from fun time to headache in seconds?"
"I'm only going to buy a bat. Since, because of you, I lost another. It's not as if I'm going to use it here."
"I don't want you to have it again. You won't use it here, so why need it?"
"Because we're in a town and I can get one."
"Ree—"
She turned on her heel and marched off, Whippy curling around to tuck his snout underneath her chin with a smug-sounding sigh. She scratched his neck for being such a good guard pokémon.
"—you come back here right this instant, young lady! I can't run after you like this!"
"I'm not running!" she called back over her shoulder. She missed the banter, too. And she didn't need Sophia IV right then and there. But it'd make her feel better, and with an important call to Scott looming, she needed all the comfort items she could get.
"That's it!" She heard the clack of pokéballs and her knees were knocked out from beneath her. She and Whippy yelped as one and fell back onto something monstrous, cold, and fluffy. Allen's beartic seemed to smile at her from above.
She'd almost forgotten he actually had pokémon outside of Tranjero. She had seen three of them, but never used in a real battle.
"Okay, put her down now, Maria," he said and she flinched horribly. The man, unfortunately, caught it. "...Yeah, that's her name. Funny, isn't it?" he said without the least bit of humor.
"Allen, I..."
"I can still beat you in a battle. That's what you'll respect, right? Brute strength?"
Whippy loyally hissed up at him and his beartic, but Ree shoved his head back down towards her chest. "I don't really want to battle you. I don't really want to talk to Scott, either, or go to dinner with his dad, or half this shit. I also don't think I deserved that tone."
"I don't think I deserve to have my vacation ruined by more violence."
"Don't—!" she began, too angrily. Her eyes fell down to his chest. Not that any of the bandages were visible, but she knew, and he knew. "Don't try to guilt me, I can guilt you right back."
"I'd like to see you try."
She was momentarily torn—she didn't want to fight with another person, least of all Allen, but she didn't want to back down, either. Stubbornness won out in the end. It always did. "Yeah, well, if you're injured, who's going to protect me? Won't be Maya, won't be you. That leaves me."
He made a face like he'd bitten into a nomel berry. "Maybe if you'd stop running off headfirst into danger and needing the protection to start with..."
"Are you blaming me for all this?"
"No! You may have exacerbated things on more than one occasion, but I'd never say you were the cause of your own misfortune. You cause trouble, but you usually don't cause your own trouble, but either way, I want there to stop being trouble in your general vicinity. Is that too much to ask with you?"
"It's just a bat. You're issued a gun, and probably other stuff, huh?"
"Yes, but I'm on medical leave, so—" Allen cut himself short, eyes suddenly bright with an idea. "I know! Ree, I will train you how to use a gun."
"What?!" A gun was only five million times more dangerous than a baseball bat. She felt she didn't need to specifically vocalize that part, and instead gestured uselessly at him. "How can you be serious?!"
"Gun safety is something very important to learn, and if you ever get into some sort of situation that, heaven forbid, involves one directly, I'd rather you know how to be as safe as possible around it." He beamed at her, a full 180 from their argument just moments ago.
"I'm sure I can hear Lenore screaming in terror from here," Ree said blankly. She wasn't totally sure she believed him, but she could not guess what he thought he stood to gain by lying. Or what he stood to gain by teaching her in the first place. Allen seemed to be a lot more pacifistic than that.
"I'll talk to Lenore myself about it. I'll look into some local ranges, and hopefully we can start tomorrow. Is that okay with you? It's only going to be the basics, and only with handguns, but it should only take a couple hours spread over a couple days. We'll have plenty of time to do other vacation-y things."
"Y-Your idea of a vacation is weapons training?"
Allen chuckled mirthlessly. "Actually, exactly that. I was a blast in training, let me tell you. Maybe we can get together with Nathan and—well, he'll have to tell you some stories about me from UFO training. And I can tell you plenty of shit about him."
"Allen..." He began to push her in the general direction of the pokémon center, and she weakly dug her heels in. "Surely you can't be serious about this?"
"I am serious," he said with a wink, "and don't call me Shirley."
"You're a huge fucking dork. But a very lucky dork because I haven't figured out what you're playing at yet."
"Well, you can stew on that tonight after your phone call with Scott." Shit, and she had almost forgotten. "And in exchange for this, you're not going to buy another bat while we're here. Isn't that fair enough?"
"I suppose..." It definitely wasn't just that. She'd bet the fetus inside her that it wasn't. And he was right, she would stew on it.
But first, Scott.
-.-.-
Next Chapter: Ree wises up to Allen's plan and is not happy about it. Allen doesn't like an unhappy Ree. And Lenore's not happy with anything. Harper's gunshy, Whippy doesn't like Undella, Lala comes to a terrible realization, and Unika is about the only one who's happy—wait, Maya is happy too? That's weird, I wonder why?
-.-.-
Author's Note: Hey guys! Just wanted to put in a word here—I have a ! (The link is on my profile page, please check it out!) It's a blanket for all of my writing, and it's, of course, totally optional. But some of the reward tiers involve more frequent updates, and we've already hit those! And updates can get even MORE frequent, or we could even start a new story! Please see the link on my profile page for all of the goal tiers and individual rewards (did you know you can decide character fates or get physical books?). So I'll see you next month with Allen's spectacular plan!