Sorry it took so long. Life gets in the way.
Let me know how it is. I appreciate all of your comments and will try to respond to everything. Love you all, and have a good night.
A Second Journey
Chapter 16:
Vermillion City
I wish I could tell you that our battle was amazing. I wish I could tell you that the battle between Surge and I was amazing and awe-inspiring. I wish I could tell you that our aces, both primed for battle, duked it out in the streets of Vermillion with unmatchable grace and skill.
I can't, however. The Boy and Champ— Surge's Electivire— squared off against one another and prepared to charge. They both primed their attacks and advanced on one another with the full intent of beating the other senseless.
They covered the distance between each other in an instant. Lightning surged across the concrete as if a living thing, and the Boy met it with gusto. Electricity met the Iron Tail and was redirected into the ground. The street cracked, and a tremor was sent through the city that sent some of the watching Trainers to their knees.
Surge smiled. I did as well. Manic grins rested on our faces and predatorial teeth shone in the light of our monsters' moves.
Then a whistle came out. It cut through the din of destruction and grinded into our ears. Both Surge and I instinctively winced and ducked, and right over our heads flew a steady stream of fire.
I turned. Glaring resolutely at us was an Officer Jenny. Her full blue police outfit stood out amongst the forest green fatigues of Surge's Trainers. Her navy button down was tucked securely into her skirt, and white gloved hands rested on her hips.
Beside her, her rather large Growlithe snarled at us. It wasn't particularly menacing, especially next to Surge's gargantuan Zebstrike that was still out. Whether it knew how unthreatening it was meant very little. The little Fire-type still growled at us as if it were the most ferocious beast to walk these lands.
"Surge!" Jenny bellowed. Her coal eyes seemed to be on fire as they damn near burrowed into the man. Despite being nearly twice her height, Surge still shied away from meeting her gaze. "What did I tell you about causing disorder in my streets?"
Surge, to his credit, did not back down completely. His gruff voice did not waver as he replied to what was essentially his subordinate. "It ain't disorder, Jenny. It's a Pokémon battle. Kids do it all the time."
If she Officer heard Surge's retort, she definitely didn't act it. She continued talking the instant he finished, as if his words were a mere formality. "I am so tired of having to come down here personally to stop your little power fantasies! You're the damn Gym Leader! Have some restraint!"
Surge made to answer, but what he said was drowned out as I turned to our Pokémon. Champ seemed cowed by the presence of the law enforcement. The roar of power generators turned into a low hum as the powerful Electric type inched away from the still snarling Growlithe.
My Boy, however, just looked confused.
"U-boi?" he asked, turning to me with a tilted head and wiggling ears. I shrugged. I had no idea what was happening either.
"I don't care who it is that walked into town," Jenny said as I tuned back into their conversation. Her words were muffled as they came through grit teeth. Her foot tapped incessantly on the ground. If she were a Pokémon, there would likely be an Earthquake. "No one is strong enough to warrant you bringing out your freaking—"
Her words cut off as she turned to me. The fire in her eyes dimmed for but a second before fully igniting again.
"You," she said. As she turned from Surge to address me, I could see the man sag from where he was standing ramrod straight. "Weren't you locked away in Pallet Town?"
"Why does everyone assume that I couldn't leave Pallet?" I asked. I rolled my eyes when she didn't respond, instead choosing to continue glaring. "Fine. I'm on a journey. Happy?"
The Jenny's eyes scanned my body, taking in everything from my ripped jeans to my wrinkled button-up.
"Aren't you a bit old to be going on a journey?" she asked. The frown on her face was almost cute. I smiled, something that only made her frown harder. That, in turn, only increased my smile.
I'm a sucker for the Jenny's, okay? Get off me.
"The world could always use more adventurers to walk those uncharted roads."
The Jenny didn't seem impressed with my tagline. She eyed me one more time before huffing. Putting her fingers to her lips, she whistled, and instantly her little attack dog rushed back to her side.
"You," she said. A gloved finger pointed at Surge, and the man's spine turned iron once more. "No more battling in the streets. If I catch you, or your little lightning storms, out of your Gym today I'm sending all of my paperwork to you."
I'd never seen Surge afraid before, and that hadn't changed. In that moment, however, I had seen him hesitate, and that was already impressive.
"Yes, ma'am," he said. Jenny nodded at his acquiescence.
"And you," she said. Her finger rounded on me even though her eyes were still set firmly on Surge. "I don't want to hear anything from you. You were a nightmare a decade ago, and you are still a nightmare now. I will not have you stirring up any fantastical thing on my watch. Are we understood?"
My mind drifted back to the lighthouse and the monster storming towards it, as well as the Disaster Child that was currently tumbling his way towards here. A part of me wondered if there was any way for me to stop it.
Another part of me knew that it wasn't technically my job to.
"We are understood," I said. Jenny continued to stare at me. I could tell that she was looking for some kind of deceit. She didn't seem to find any, as she just huffed and turned away. Her puppy padded after her, adorably vicious eyes taking one last look at us, as if committing our faces to memory.
We watched her go, Surge and me. Once she was comfortably out of sight, we turned to each other.
"So," the giant started. His voice rumbled around the emptied street, that was how big he was. "Want some coffee?"
No, I didn't, but my anger was abated, for now. Surge's battle lust seemed to have cooled as well. If there was ever a time to talk to the Electric Pillar, it was now. I nodded, and the man turned.
Looked like we were going to the Vermillion Gym.
XxX
You remembered in the games, where Surge hid buttons in trash cans and had a gate of running fucking electricity? It's nothing like that in real life. Surge would never do something so stupid.
I mean, buttons in trash cans. Who thought of that? If you wanted to get past Surge's literal fucking death trap, you had to beat all of the Trainers on duty that day.
Yes, the "Lightning Gate" was real. No, he did not put up gates to stop you from touching it. Yes, you could seriously injure yourself if you touched it. No, Surge had not heeded any requests to take it down.
If humans weren't built so sturdy in this world people would have died to the mechanism. As it stood, they were only sent to the hospital, where cutting-edge technology fixed any damage they may have taken in a day.
If you were stupid enough to touch the thousands of gigawatts of electricity, however, Surge did not accept a second challenge from you. Your name, and your face, was put on a list, and you were not allowed in the door.
Surge, as much of a muscle-brain as he was, valued intelligence above most things. He was dense, but not ignorant, and knew where his faults laid. Surge prided himself on being able to surround himself with the talent he did not possess. He knew that he wasn't the smartest cookie in the jar, so he surrounded himself by intelligent types.
Surge was smart enough to know that he wasn't that smart. If you weren't smart enough to realize that you shouldn't touch a wall of running electricity, then you weren't worthy of his badge.
"Kids these days aren't what they used to be," the giant said. He more collapsed in his chair than sat in it, squishing all of the air out of the poor fabric. He opened the beer with the thumb of the same hand he was currently holding the can and relished in the sound of the fizz. He took a drag from it, the can looking tiny in his gargantuan mitts, and drained the whole thing in a single pull. He reached over and opened another can in seconds, but this time nursed it.
"The times aren't what they used to be," I replied. I was still on my first beer, having only taken a sip. "We aren't in a war anymore."
"You were never in a war, boy," Surge responded, his sharp eyes narrowing at my comment. The heat of his true anger wasn't there, however. "Then again, a war against nations isn't all that more horrific than a war against the untamed wilds, is it?"
His laugh was deep and echoed around his office. As far as offices went, it was much tidier than Daisy's. There was an old couch situated against a wall, with holes and stains littering every part of it. Surge took up practically the entire thing by himself, which was fine by me. I didn't want to sit in it anyway. Flanking the couch were two filing cabinets, one of which was propped open by the overflowing paperwork leaking out of it. There was a fridge over on the opposite side, and next to it sat a trophy case that showed off several trophies and medals of honor.
Off on the far wall, there was a desk with a chair. Behind the chair was a large open window with orange curtains. There were burn marks, likely from stray electric attacks, eating holes through the fabric. I had a feeling that Surge liked it better that way.
"I charted what I could," I said. I pulled the only other chair in the room, the one behind his desk, over and sat in it. I took a sip of the beer and grimaced. It was horrible. I wouldn't serve this in my bar if I had the choice. "It was dangerous at times, but I had nothing to fight but the instincts of wildlife. I don't expect it to be any worse than the horrors of war."
Surge took a look at me, and I would have liked a grudging respect in his eyes. All I got, however, was a blank stare.
"You take those words out of a textbook or something?" he asked. He took another pull at the can and, like last time, finished it in one go. He tossed the can, missing the trash can but hitting the rim, before cursing. He ran his hand through his hair, exposing a few gray among his blonde strands, before cracking open another can. "I don't need no more respect for my work. I got enough ass-kissers. What I need is a good fighting buddy."
A smile came to my face. "And you chose me? I feel honored, Surge."
"Don't be," he said, though I could hear the humor return to his voice. "You were just the closest." Another pull, though this time he didn't finish the can. "How've you been, Gimult?"
"I've been better," I said. I looked at my can again. I'd sipped it to about half, agonizing the entire time. Continuing to sip at it would only prolong my pain, so I took it to the head. I drained the can before tossing it behind me. I missed as well, but that seemed to be okay. "But, you know me. I adventure."
"I also know that you stopped," Surge responded. He leaned forward, the shifting of his weight forcing terrible sounds out of his old couch. "My people tell me that you have barely left Pallet."
"People?" I asked. "You have people on me?"
"At this point, you should be more surprised if I didn't."
That… was a fair point actually. We nodded, before leaning back in our seats. To my supreme horror, Surge cracked open a new can for me. I took it because it was the polite thing to do.
"So why are you here?" he asked. The grimace on his face would have been intimidating if I were any younger. Now, it just looked natural. "What magnificent horror dragged you out of retirement?"
"I'm a little young to be in retirement."
"And I'm a little old for your bullshit. Either answer my questions or get the hell out."
I stood, ready to do just that. A hand large enough to grab my entire shoulder and some of my arm pushed me back down.
Surge sighed. "I forgot that you're exactly the type to take the second option. Why can't you play along, ever?"
I smiled. "Things are more fun this way."
"And you wonder why most Gym Leaders try to keep you from their cities."
We shared a laugh at that, filling the tiny room with sound. My laugh was mostly drowned out by his own, but it was still nice to revel in such an intimidating man's reverie. Eventually the laughter died down, but his question did not go forgotten. The gigantic man leaned forward, his smile still lingering but an intensity that bordered on piercing.
"Fine," I sighed. "I'm going on another adventure."
Surge frowned, as if I had told him that I was trying to kill his puppy. "That does not bode well."
"I'm not going to do anything in particular. I'm just traveling around."
"You were just traveling around on your first adventure too. Then you set foot in Lavender."
It was my turn to frown. "There was no way I could tell that the Pokémon Tower would react that way."
"And Cinnabar?"
"An honest mistake."
His jaw tensed. The can in his hand groaned under the pressure. "And Vermillion?"
"I wasn't here for that one."
"And if you had been, then things would have gone better."
We stared at one another. When no words passed between us, we both turned to our drinks. We both sipped, my drag taking off the top layer of fizz and his draining half the can, before lapsing into a silence. Below us, back on the ground floor, the constant crackling of electricity clued me into the gym battles taking place below us. Mimey gave me a mental nudge, letting me know what was going on.
"The Imp is practicing electrical moves while watching the other livewires," he said. "It confuses me as to how he knows these moves."
"You and me, both," I thought back, then cut the link. Mimey would still be in my mind, he always was, but to a lesser degree.
"So what adventure you on?" Surge asked. He shifted on the couch, moving his back against one of the arms while draping his leg over the other. Only he was big enough to take up an entire couch on his own. "What legendary creature brought you back into our nightmares?"
I chuckled. "Would you believe me if I told you that it was a kid?"
An eyebrow raised, and I had to say that seeing genuine surprise on the man's face was a novel experience. "You had a kid, Gimult? Now that's a new one. Is that why you are a Waterflower now? You got to one of the Sisters?"
Now it was my turn to be surprised. First, because the information about my adoption had circled the rounds so quickly, though, considering who Surge was I shouldn't have been too surprised. Secondly, because Surge assumed that I had knocked up one of them.
Having those kinds of relationships with the Sisters felt wrong in ways I just couldn't describe. I mean, they were attractive and all, but they were… Sisters.
"No!" I sputtered, something that caused the giant to laugh once more. I couldn't say that I ever remembered having such a casual time with the man that he could laugh so much. "They adopted me. I'm their brother now, not some sort of baby daddy!"
My face felt hot, and that was something that I couldn't hide. I felt Mimey's amusement through our link, though I shut him out before he could glean too much of the conversation.
"Oh, haha!" Surge bellowed. "My informant was really sparse with the information. All he told me was that a man named Gimult had been registered as the fifth Waterflower. My apologies."
I glared at the man, but to him I might have seemed a Litten. He laughed at my misfortune once more before setting his beer down.
"I meant nothing by it, Adventurer," he said. "But I am concerned about this kid. What's so special about him?"
I debated lying, I did, but there was really no point in it. If Surge wanted to know something, he would, and no amount of hiding would keep it from him. He never divulged his methods, but they were ironclad. It wasn't a matter of if you were keeping something from the man, only how long.
"Have you ever heard of a Trainer by the name of Ash Ketchum?" I asked. Surge's forehead creased, but he did not seem confused.
"One of Oak's bunch," he finally said. "Right? The old Professor refrained from sending out Trainers from his village. That he's choosing to do so now is surprising. His grandson was a given. Gary Oak has been running through gyms as if his life depended on it. The other Trainers, however…"
I nodded. Oak told me about them. Lily Verdant, David Vansu, and a third kid that simply went by the name of Scarlet took Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander, respectively. Gary got an Eevee, while Ash got his Pikachu. Those were the only five Trainers that Professor Oak sent out in years.
In the anime, Ash made it seem like he was the only delinquent to miss a ceremony that every run of the mill Trainer got to participate in. Little did we know that Ash was guaranteed a starter. He was one of the five children sponsored by the man.
"Ash has been taking it slow," I said. "But he's been enjoying his adventure."
"And you decided to follow him?" Surge asked. He scratched at his beard stubble.
"I find that he's a little prone to danger."
"Flint tells me that he's a little slow, but his ability to think outside of the box is impressive for a baby."
"I have it on good knowledge that he will impress you more than that."
"Oh?" Surge asked, a bit of curiosity peeking through his voice. "You mentoring the kid?"
"I'm not even sure if he knows I exist."
"Then what's going on here?" Surge asked. He sat up from his seat, torturing the poor couch whose springs must have been made out of Tyranitar hide. "What's so special about him?"
There were a lot of things that I could have told Surge here. I could have told him that I saw talent in the boy, and I wanted to make sure that that talent didn't peter out before its time. I could have told him that he really was my protégé, and I was just keeping an eye on him. I could have even told him that Ash was a pet project from Oak and I was doing him a favor.
But against Surge none of that seemed to matter. Ash's secret didn't seem important in the grand scheme of things. If he was fated to do as he would, then he would do it. I didn't feel the need to lie.
So I didn't.
"Ash is the Chosen One," I said. I was met with the reaction that I expected.
"The fuck is that?" Surge asked. He picked up his beer and drained the rest of it.
I deliberated on the proper way to answer this. No matter what I could think of, however, it would only raise more questions. I decided the easiest way would be the straightforward one.
"He's going to meet a lot of Legendary Pokémon and save the world."
Surge, the man that he was, did not blink an eye at this information. He rolled his jaw a few times, but that was it. "So he is your protégé."
"I assure you that he has not been influenced by me in the slightest."
"Then how do you know that he is going to run into Legends?" Surge asked. "You see it in his eyes? Smell it in his breath? I know that for you, running into godlike Pokémon ain't a big deal, but for the rest of us mortals seeing those kinds of rare Pokémon even once in our lifetimes is a blessing in itself."
I chuckled, putting the acrid liquid to my lips.
"Call it a hunch, or a blessing of some Legends."
XxX
The rest of the day passed in that way. Surge and I talked about the state of the world since I sequestered myself away in Pallet. Unova was opening up more, as was Alola. The relationship between Kalos, Hoenn and the Indigo League was as stable as ever, and even some fringe areas not governed by a Pokémon League, like the Ranger Unions, were starting to flourish.
"Guess your time adventuring actually paid off," the gruff man said, before shooing me from his room. He had gym battles to prepare for and hadn't had the time for me. With a promise to come back later for a battle, he summoned a Gym Trainer to escort me out of his gym.
"We have a hotel already booked for your stay, Mr. Gimult," the Trainer said. His voice cracked as he spoke, belying his true age despite how relatively tall he was. An Elektrike yipped at his heels, following with an overenergetic gait. So, it was a puppy, still.
I was not five steps out of the Gym when Free descended from the sky. He landed on my head, chirped twice, then made himself comfortable. Two steps later, Mimey appeared. The Boy was sleeping soundly on his head.
"The Imp tired himself out practicing Thunderbolt," he said. "No matter how hard I ask, or how deep I dig, I cannot figure out how he had come to learn the move."
I turned to the little puffball, whose snores were soft but easily heard in the dying din of the city. Being so small, his entire body shifted as he took deep breaths in his sleep. I reached to pet him, but Mimey urged against it.
"There is still ambient electricity," he communicated. My fingers stopped just short of the boy's fur.
Maybe I could pet him later.
We continued walking. The sky was a deep orange, and I could already see the purple of dusk creeping in. I nodded, then pat my Boy on his head. His fur was slightly spiky from all of the electricity, but it was still soft overall. Best of all, the lightning had dissipated.
"Some mysteries just can't be solved, my friend," I said. Mimey grunted but didn't say anything else. I turned to the paper that the Gym Trainer gave me and read the name of the hotel.
"High Ritz," I said. "Well, it isn't the fanciest, but they do know how to be discreet."
We made our way there in the waning light. I heard Mimey and Free chittering to each other using their Psychic powers. It was more of an echo in my ears than actual eavesdropping, a byproduct of Mimey and my own's constant connection, but it was amusing, nonetheless.
"This city is different from what I remember," Mimey said. His eyes traced buildings and shops that weren't there the last time we set foot in Vermillion. He turned to a particularly tall bit of scaffolding, the beginning of a skyscraper, and marveled at it. "Humans are so interesting. They change all the time."
Free responded, but it wasn't something that I could piece together. Bug-types tended to have addled, chaotic minds at the best of times, which made them anathema to Psychics. Butterfree, with their innate Psychic inclination, however, were a bit easier to handle.
Or so I was told. To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure of the relationships between types myself. For instance, Dark-types hate Bugs as well, though I could not fathom why.
"Well, the machinations of humans might make sense to you, who flutters amongst their civilizations on a whim. For the rest of us, however, their movements make very little sense."
"You could ask," I suggested. The two turned to me, and then gave me the equivalent of a mental cold shoulder.
"Perhaps we could converse with a native Mindseeker?" Mimey suggested, his fingers rubbing at his chin. "Maybe they would know why some humans seek to change their nest so often?"
Free buzzed back, apparently done with Psychic conversation.
"Perhaps," Mimey responded, rather cryptically at that. Together with the Boy's half-asleep coo, that was all I got in the way of conversation before stepping foot into the hotel.
All things considered; I should've expected the Surge grunt that manned the reception desk. An older one, he seemed to be beyond the need for active training, but not good enough to escape Surge's regimen as of yet. I showed him the paper, and the man didn't even blink. He slipped a key off the wall behind him and all but threw it at me. I caught it, slipped it in a pocket and made off.
No words between us, but I think I preferred it that way. I'd had enough conversation for the night. I walked past the reception desk and up the stairs to the second floor. The hallways were lit fairly well, with lamps on the wall in the shape of candles. The doors were a deep brown wood of some kind, as was the floor, with a red carpet running down the middle of the floor.
It wasn't the fanciest hotel I'd ever been in, but I'd never been comfortable in the super fancy ones. If you ever thought that you would enjoy living the rich life and dipping into the luxurious, then you would be right. The first time. You would be right the first time. Every time afterward and it just feels gaudy and unnecessary.
And a waste of money.
Do your wallet and your conscious a favor and get a decent hotel. Shell out a little more money to get something better than a ratty old bed and a toilet, but not enough to empty your savings, and you'll have the best time of your life.
The key turned smoothly in the lock, and my team was in our hotel room. In the Pokémon world, rooms are typically made to accommodate the dangerous creatures to a certain extent. The ceiling was high, at least twice as high as roofs were in my old world. The carpet was likely fireproof, and there was even an empty tank in the corner that I could fill with water, should I have any Water-types to free.
Granted, nothing much bigger than a Goldeen could possibly fit in there, but most Trainers didn't raise anything much bigger than a Goldeen anyway.
Free didn't waste any time. He unfurled his wings, which he had to keep very close to his body, and took off. Even in the larger expanse of the room, his wings were almost scraping against the walls. He landed on a perch that was situated just above a window and chirped.
Free wasn't the type to stay inside, but we hadn't had time together in a while. I guess he was staying with us tonight.
"U-boi!" the Boy yelled. He popped off my shoulder, and I rolled my shoulder. It had been some time since I travelled with both of them using me as a human taxi. I would have to get used to it if they were both to stay with me on the journey.
"The Imp is going to prank you at some point tonight," Mimey supplied. His eyes glowed blue as he watched the Boy scamper around the room. The little brown furball was sniffing at anything and everything he could. When he ducked into the bathroom I heard Mimey do a mental sigh. "He isn't sure how he is going to prank you just yet, but when he finds out he is likely to devise plans for the rest of us as well."
I chuckled. "Can you smack him down when he tries?"
Mimey side-eyed me. "My barriers are to protect me, and me alone. Erect your own barriers if you want to avoid his machinations."
And just like that, my best friend lumbered off to the corner. His hands glowed, and the closet door on the far side of the room opened, spilling out pillows and blankets that the Psychic was going to mold into his fortress of comfort.
I sighed, before reaching for my shirt. I pulled it off without bothering with the buttons and threw the inside-out garment over my knapsack. My ratty old shoes were taken off between steps, and I collapsed into the bed. The sheets smelled like detergent, just as I liked them.
It wasn't the softest thing I ever slept on, that would be a Mareep, but it was definitely better than my own bed. I lie there, head half buried in my pillow for a few minutes, with nothing but the incessant rummaging of the Boy as he rushed around the previously tidy room.
I just knew that when I got up I would see nothing but a ruined battlefield where my hotel room used to be. Right then, however, I was too exhausted to care. It must've been obvious, because Mimey took this time to reestablish our connection. I felt a prickle near the back of my mind and sighed.
"You are anxious," he said. "I could feel it even before I reestablished."
"Was I that obvious?" I asked, the words coming out, not through my mouth, but through my thoughts.
"To the point that even the oblivious little Imp could feel it." I heard him fluff some pillows and shift some sheets. "He was on his best behavior all day."
I remember the little rascal attempting to maim one of the Gym Trainers while he was practicing his Electric moves. That didn't sound very best behavior. Though, to be honest, that he didn't hurt anyone all day was an accomplishment in itself, so I supposed that he did a good job.
"Do you feel like telling me?" Mimey asked. I raised a mental eyebrow.
"You could just look for yourself."
Our connection went silent for a few minutes. The Boy cracked something in the bathroom. I was dearly hoping that it was something replaceable.
"Is it something that you feel like sharing?" Mimey asked. He was a decidedly monotone kind of guy, even in our mental conversations, but what he didn't get across in inflection he got across through pure emotion. I felt his concern. I also felt his hesitation. He wasn't going to push this if I wasn't feeling up to it.
And I really wasn't feeling up to it.
"Maybe tomorrow," I said, fully knowing that 'tomorrow' was a day that might never come. If I knew that, then it was likely that Mimey knew it as well. Still, he did not push.
"Then tomorrow," he said. And just like that the connection went silent. I could still feel him there, lingering on the edge of my consciousness, but he kept his distance. If I reached out, our minds would connect once more, but right now we were as far away as we could be mentally.
If I had to make it a metaphor, it would be like us sitting on two separate sides of the same sofa or hanging out on opposite sides of a room. To be honest, I appreciated it. I wanted my thoughts to be my own for a bit. I could trust Mimey with anything, but I just wanted to stew on these thoughts on my own for a bit. And he respected that.
I moved on the bed, properly positioning myself so that my feet weren't hanging off the edge of the bed. I stuffed my arms underneath the pillows after properly covering myself with the bedsheets. It was… nice. For the night, I had nothing to worry about but my own thoughts, and with that, I could finally think on the things bothering me.
Daisy was married. Flint was a good dad. Giovanni wanted to hire me, and Marissa worked for him. So much had changed when I stopped paying attention to it. For some of them, it was small. I hadn't expected Marissa to work for that jackass, but she had also never showed up in the anime, nor were we ever told about the kind of people who worked for Giovanni besides the idiot trio and Bart and Cassidy.
Flint, however, was a surprise that I wasn't prepared for. Why was I so sure that Flint would behave how he did in the anime? I had traveled and interacted with him and his wife for nearly a decade. I should have at least guessed that I could have influenced him.
And Daisy… Daisy was still on my mind. She was… she was married. Even just thinking it was hard to do. Daisy Waterflower was married. She could have been married in the anime, but we never knew of it. Violet missed me and Lily was mad at me and they were all so different.
My actions in this world had lasting effects. I knew this, but—
My thoughts were interrupted as a loud bang rang through the room. I bolted up only to get knocked back down by a little brown bullet. Soft, tiny paws hit my chest, and a felt something wet spread from the point of contact.
"Boy?" I asked, voice incredulous as I tried to make sense of the things in the dark. The little scamp was kneading his paws into my shirt, something he hadn't done since he was a cub.
Something was up.
"Why are your paws wet?" I asked. I reached to grab him and, surprisingly, he let me. I picked him up, my hands as big as his entire torso, and held him above me. Then I noticed the wet pawprints coming from the bathroom.
"But I didn't hear you turn on the shower…"
His little smile was all I needed.
My cries of rage probably woke up every person in the hotel. The little git scampered out of my hold, cackling all the while. Toilet water was tracked everywhere, only further leading to my exasperation. Free chirped happily from above, where he watched safely on his perch, and even Mimey sent me a faint mental tone of amusement.
I chased the Boy and resolved to think on those heavy things later. I still had my team, and while it wasn't all of them, it was enough.
