Chapter 11: A New Adventure

For a guy that seemed to hate my guts, Poseidon always goes out of his way to check up on me. My first encounter with him was fiery like the pepper he forced me to eat, and now he's chilling out like 'whatever buddy?' If I lived rent-free in his head, I must have gotten the expensive suite. Just get over it, Calvin. This has obviously to do with the party. Just act cool and hopefully he'll play along. "Aren't we talking right now?"

"Don't be cute, you know exactly what I'm referring to." The oshawott pried himself off the fence and got closer to me. He was about to speak but noticed Rose with a large pawfull of letters in one arm and a package in the other. He changed his expression to joyfull one, the first smile I ever saw on him for a while, if not forever.

"Hi! Miss Rosey!" Poseidon said in an unbearably sweet tone. "How's it going?"

"Hello there, Poseidon. Things are going quite swell this morning." Ruby spoke, the box almost slipped from her arm but she managed to latch onto it tighter before it fell. "Sorry, love to chat but I really need to get this mail sorted out. I'll see you later champ."

"Sure. Oh! Before you go, can Calvin come join over at my house for a sleepover tonight? My friends are coming over and I want to invite Calvin along." He said.

The lucario stopped in her tracks and turned her head around. "Sleepover?" She broke into a grin. I can see the gears turning in her head. She thinks that this will be a good opportunity to make strong friends. For what I have to deal with, I hope she's right. "Why of course you guys can sleepover together! We got nothing else planned for today."

If she knew the truth of how Poseidon and I felt towards each other I doubt she let me go, let alone allow me to be near him. I considered giving an excuse but it dawned on me, I never actually had a sleepover, not once in my entire life. I never managed to get one set up. So why not take the opportunity now? Sure I'll have to deal with him - my new 'frenemy' but I can probably ignore him if I try hard enough.

I also liked the others in the group, especially darkness. It could be a good opportunity for old fashioned fun. Or maybe it'll be another mess like last time, but hey, I can always walk away. I wonder if that'll rub Piss-idon the wrong way?

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. So when does this sleepover start?"

"It starts officially at 6 but we're hanging out now at the house, and we're planning to stay there for the rest of the day." The oshawott answered cheerfully in Rose's presence. "What time do you think you can come over?"

"I want to relax for a bit. So I'd say… in an hour, possibly less." I said.

"Wonderful! I'll be sure to drop Calvin off when it's time. See you later, champ!" Rose waved what little of her paw she could muster before disappearing into the house.

"Bye! Have a good time annnnnd she's gone." Poseidon stopped waving and dropped the smile. He gritted his teeth as he rubbed his cheeks out of annoyance. "I hate doing that. My face feels weird now." He muttered to himself.

"So… are we actually going to have a sleepover?" I folded my arms, expecting the oshawott to pull a fast one when I'm not expecting it.

Poseidon rolled his eyes. "The sleepover part is true, it's just that we got more planned before then. We're going on an adventure not too far from the neighborhood. Think of it as a treasure from me to you."

I raised an eyebrow.

"It's not as you think." Poseidon said as if he knew what was exactly in my head. "You got in fair and square. You are one of us now, it's only fair we teach you the ropes. Everyone will be there, including Darkness." He then walked away towards the sidewalk but not before parting with another piece of advice. "You're welcome to steer the boat from time to time, but don't rock it."

I shook my head in disbelief as he finally got out of earshot. "Jerk. How does somebody like that manage to get friends." If I didn't know any better, I would have believed that he was an edge-lord in the making. But it's clear that he has standards of some sort to 'put me under his wing'. He's racist, but at least he's a tolerable racist. Or would that be speciest? I'll think about it when I relax.

I entered the door and was immediately greeted with something red jumpscare and touched by my noise. I gasped in sudden horror as I was faced with… a red noisemaker? The expandable paper retreated to the party blowout held in Rose's snout. She cranked one of those loud spinning things in her left paw as she tilted the golden tophat on her crown.

"The new year's stuff came in today. Have you tried these things Calvin, they're grrreat! I have extras, you should give it a try."

I smiled. What would I do without you.

"Wow, are these the new comic books they're printing now? Huh." I looked down into my thought it was a good idea to pack some of my toys and whatnot just in case I get bored. In addition to my previous collection, Rose gave some of the newer comic books that's hot on the market right now: 'The Case of Five Moons', 'Mystery Dungeons' and 'Pokken Touch.' They were similar to what I read before except the main characters were all pokemon. There were humans in these stories but they'd seem to be on the side. Makes me wonder if they're continuing some of pre-war comics like Y-Men or just remaking them.

"What do you think?" Rose said as we both walked together on the sidewalk.

"I haven't read much but it feels familiar to me." Aside from the content of the pictures, it didn't seem outlandish to me. I know they make tv shows now but what else have they dipped their toes in? "Hey Rose."

"Yeah?"

"Pokemon make movies and video games too, right? How are they handling the stories?"

"Handling the stories? You mean the entertainment business?"

"Yep. Is there anything else different from stories made from pokemon? Or are they just like human stories?"

Rose clicked her tongue and paused for a moment. "I'd say they're similar to the human ones." She answered. "We're familiar with the concept of stories way before the war. But we never really made an actual attempt to craft one before."

"You guys had stories?" I looked away from my backpack curiously at her.

"They were mostly folklore and word-of-mouth. During the war, we got the chance to examine human media, and it inspired us to make our own. Took time understanding certain concepts, but like the technology, we got the hang of it."

"So it's the same as before, content-wise?"

"I'd say so, but they're experimenting with formulas and themes… Or least that's what I heard from the internet. I like to think we might add new genres or add our own spins no one thought before. But who knows, you can only hope."

I zipped up my backpack. "Any recommendations?"

"Hm..." She tapped on her chin. "It's hard to think of some off the bat but I know some movies I thought were pretty interesting. There's the Adventure of Darkest Night, It's supposed to be a horror movie of these two Pikachus being chased by some shadow monster. Sweet Dreams was also very popular from what I heard, it's a romantic comedy involving a chimchar and a banana. It's better than it sounds. And there's the Shattered Skies documentary, it's a documentary about the war but it hasn't been released yet."

"They're making a documentary already?!" My voice cracked for a moment before I shook my head. "They're making a documentary about the war? Isn't too… early for a production like that?"

"The guys making it didn't think so. From what I heard, it's supposed to be a documentary mixed in with acting. There will be actors acting out scenes from real life events with interviews in between. It's supposed to be a big production." The lucario answered.

"Why's it called Shattered Skies?"

"That's an interesting story." Rose snapped her fingers as if she congratulated for getting something right. "Rumor has it that the whole war started when a pokemon threw a brick at a building owned by the corrupt government. Others joined in, the human guards tried to put the commotion down and it escalated from there. In fact, they are starting to call the whole conflict the Shattered War in the schools now. I guess everyone likes the title."

"When is it going to be released?"

"They started production from the beginning of the year but I haven't heard much updates so far. No one knows the release date. But I do know it's being released in the form of a television marathon special. A lot of people I know are looking forward to it."

A television special? For a war they won just recently? I can't think of wars getting that treatment. I guess this is really a big deal. Not that it wasn't in the first place. I don't know much about the war. Well, I think I did but I forgot from the injury. This documentary could shine light on one of the most intense moments in history.

Then yet again, there is likely to be bias. Winners write the history books after all. What I'm afraid of is how they're going to portray my species. I know we were in the wrong but are we going to the monsters and them the heroes that can not wrong. Maybe not, there are defectors and there were innocents on both sides. But there's more that worries me.

Media is a reflection on the attitudes and the values of the public at large. Humans aren't represented much because they probably haven't figured out a way to introduce into a narrative yet. But what if this documentary, Shattered Skies, changes things for the worst. Portray humanity as a whole as sniveling power-hungry psychos because of a bunch of bad apples. Give those that hate us more validation, add more fuel to the fire.

My god is that it? Is it because we'd been technically domesticated by them that we're good now? They could have just used "rehabilitation" as an excuse to make sure we are never going to escape their grasp again. Control… could all of this crap. All this conflict, all the politics, everything… Was it all about control?

I felt a fuzzy paw on my shoulder. I turned to see Rose, concerned. "You okay, bud? You were staring out into space for a moment."

No. That can't be the reason. I'm not doubting there are bad pokemon taking advantage of the system, but I refuse to believe they're the majority. White Fang, the neighbors, Rose. They'd been the most supportive of me. Helped me when there was nothing to gain. What am I talking about? A simple documentary isn't going to change things. I've been too anxious for my own good.

I smiled to reassure her. "Yeah, I'm good. Just thinking about some things. No biggie."

She nodded. A moment later she pointed to a house to the left of us. It was a bit larger compared to the other houses. The colors were more reserved as well, with the walls being beige and the roof a boring shade of gray. What was an eye-catcher was the Halloween decorations that were displayed. Fake dummy's sprawled on the lawn, empty candy baskets… Isn't it December? "We're here. This is the Stonewall's house."

"Poseidon's family knows we're almost at New Year's right? Halloween has already passed." I remarked as we passed several plastic pumpkins to the pathway to the door.

"I'm sure they have a good reason for that. I wonder if Heimlick is in house." Rose said as she rang the doorbell.

"Heimlick?" I asked. She didn't have time to respond as the door was eager pushed outward. In the entrance stood a gengar. He stood there, bowing to us in a casual manner. He moved the eyepatch on his left eye before speaking.

"This is the Stonewall House, what's the trouble?" He rubbed his remaining eye. "Rose? Rose! It's been awhile. Sorry I wasn't able to come to that party you were holding. I had some business to take care of."

Rose did a wave of her paw in the air. "No need to apologize, Heimlick. And I'm doing quite fine this afternoon. I'm here to drop off, Calvin."

"Yeah, Poseidon already told me." The genger opened the door wider and gestured me inside. "Come on, dude. I got pizza rolls in the oven."

"Uh… sure thing, dude." I nodded at the gengar as we both went inside.

"Have fun, Calvin." The lucario hollered as she waved me bye. "I'll come back first thing in the morning. Don't be afraid to call." I chuckled to myself; Rose being subtly paranoid.

"And bye to you, dudette." Heimlick closed the door and locked it. I could have sworn I heard him say "What a chick." before speaking to me. "Sup. So you're Calvin, right? Good to see the little man making some new friends."

He must be talking about Poseidon. I nodded. "Yeah, something like that."

He shook my hand. "Nice to meet you Cal. Come on, the rolls must be already done by now. Do you want any root beer?"

I once read in a book that gengars were usually mischievous, or even malicious. Heimlick didn't carry that aura. He is more reserved than I see in any ghost type before. When was the last time I heard pokemon say dude? "Sure. I love root beer."

We entered the kitchen. Heimlick did a straight bee-line to the fridge and peer inside. "One root beer coming right up. You want ice with that too?"

"Nah, I'm good."

"Calvin?" I heard a feminie voice behind me. I turned to see Swirl sitting by the counter. She was holding a red crayon to a half-finished coloring book. Her smile got wider upon taking a second look at me. "Calvin! You're finally made it!"

I waved. "Hey Swirl. How's my cone doing?"

"Ah just filling out between the lines. I'm doing a good job if I do say so myself." She chuckled. I felt tapping behind my shoulder. Heimlick pressed the cold can of root beer into my chest. He then inserted an oven mitt on his paw, reached inside the oven and pulled out a large tray of crispy pizza bites and set them on the stove. He dumped them all in a small blue bowl by the stove and served it to us, right on the counter.

"Here you go, kids. Enjoy yourselves in the meantime, I got work to do."

"Bye Mr. Heimlick!" Said Swirl.

"See ya, Sprinkles." The gengar winked with his eye and left the kitchen to ourselves. Almost immediately, Swirl eagerly dove for the pizza rolls and began shoveling them into her mouth, after several seconds, she stopped and swallowed. "Want some?"

I stammered "U-Um… I'm not hungry. Knock yourself out." I pushed the thought of her stuffing her face and took a sip. "Nice to finally meet your dad, Swirl. He's very nice."

She looked away from the bowl. "My dad?"

Swirl was looking at me if I spoke in reverse. "Yeah… Mr. Heimlick?"

The ice cream shook her head. "Him? Nah, he's our butler. Dad is out at work."

"Heimlick is your butler? You have a butler?"

"Well… he's not officially one, but dad hired him to look after the house. He'd been a part of the family for as long as I can remember."

For as long as I can remember? Considering it wasn't that long that the war ended he must have been hired during the conflict. Is he veteran? Would explain his appearance. "What's wrong with his eye?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. He said it was an accident but he doesn't like to talk about it much."

In that case, I'd avoid talking to him about it. "I see..." I examined the kitchen more closely after I chugged. The kitchen was larger than the one at home. The appliances were more high-tech and cleaner. This family has some serious dough stored under their mattress. "So what happens now? I heard the sleepover wasn't going to happen for a bit."

"My brother is going to be in charge of it, but he's busy right now." Swirl's face sunken until it spontaneously went happy-go-lucky again. " Oooh! Want to see my room to pass the time?"

"Your room?" I asked. Might as well, I rather be in Swirl's company than her brother. "Sure. Can't wait to see."

"Ok! Forewarning, you might want to grab onto a helmet because my room is going to blow your mind." She chuckled as she leaped from the chair to the stairs.

I rolled my eyes. Wonder what little miss frosty has for me upstairs.

Hey everyone, I apologize if this chapter may seem to be short to some of you. I've been swamped with college work and regular work. But I'm pushing on ahead, just thought I release for the heck of it. Hope you enjoy.