One day I might get around to writing Alex's experiences in Orre.
Might.
Such an innocuous little thing; sitting there like any other pokéball in existence, hiding what lay within from the world.
Alex tisked, turning his head to stare at anything that wasn't the pair of balls. It was one thing to know that his greatest nightmare was in the region, it was another to have it be so close- and so personal. The worst of it all-
"Of course the Orrite succeeded," June sang quietly, leaning against the wall. Her arms were crossed, and though there was a small, professional smile on her face, he knew that underneath her arms her fists were clenched tight. The only one of them in the know who wasn't phased was Whitney, and that was perhaps by virtue of not having personal experience with the horrors of Shadows.
"Mr. Collens, I don't understand. Why were we teleported here so quickly?"
"It's that gift you received," Whitney told Willa. "It's a pokémon. A dangerous one."
Estelle and Willa shared a glance.
"It's one of the worst exports of your region," Alex said, staring directly at Estelle.
Her eyes widened minutely. Anger briefly surged across her face before it was carefully hidden. "I want nothing to do with it." She flicked her ball away from her, the thin marble noisily rolling across the table.
Alex stopped it with a finger, a violent snarl twitching its way onto his face for naught but a moment. "We never expected you to."
Willa made a questioning noise, a sense of unease starting to appear.
"Tell us," June asked, "what do you know of Orre?"
"They're a region within the heavily unexplored continent to the south-east, sharing a wilderness border with southern Kalos, western Unova, and northern Ferrum." At June's prodding gesture, "In recent years, they're most known for their slowly recovering wildlife, following a period of heavy inter-regional strife within the area from actions made by the previous generations." Once more, June waved her hand. "Er," Willa glanced at Whitney, the woman giving a reassuring nod. "It's also heavily speculated that heavily illicit materials of some kind were generated within the region a decade and a half ago, resulting in a total lack of communications that were brought back up for a few years but fell through for about a year before resurfacing."
"We can't say anything more without giving away international secrets, and considering what Alex has been telling me about you I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually, but that?" Whitney pointed at the solitary pokéball, a standard level thing that had no right holding what it did. "That's part of the reason Orre's gone dark."
June spoke up right after Whitney, not giving the girl any time to rest. "So the question we have for you, Willa Proulx, as a Senior's level Trainer with a regional set of badges and working on your way towards completing another, do you wish to take on the burden that ball contains? It is a terrible, terrible thing, and though the International Pokémon Association has been working hard to contain it, we cannot be everywhere at once."
"If you decide not to, we won't fault you," Alex added quietly. "What that ball contains means more than a simple pokémon. It would be a test of whether or not the eight badges you've received were actually earned, and not just charitably given. Estelle knows exactly what we're talking about, and she immediately refused further association." He moved to grab the other pokéball, his gloved palm burning at the touch. "Give either of us, Whitney or myself, your answer after the holidays. But remember: you're only a teenager. What this ball has- what it represents, it's not something you're meant to deal with."
"So why give us the choice?" Estelle ground out, her voice far more vicious than he'd ever heard from her.
"Because you're teenagers," Whitney answered softly. "In this crazy world of ours, how many choices do you actually have?"
The two of them stiffened towards June's kadabra, one of the common side effects of still being unused to telepathic communications. "Put this out of your minds for now," June continued. "If you still have any extra pid, feel free to use it for yourselves." A small smile, so gentle, so real.
Whitney waited until the warbles of their teleportation faded away before speaking. "June, you okay if I borrow your kadabra? I want to grab some ice cream from the gym while we work on the next stage.
June gave a dismissive gesture, the act eliciting a happy 'thank you' from Whitney. "So." A few moments of silence passed before either of them spoke again. "Thoughts on handling either of them?"
Alex raised his right hand, Estelle's 'gift' clenched within- the only one they had any kind of approval to work on for the time being. "I have my hands full with both Artemis and Pinnacle right now. Good as I am, I don't think I can handle a third, especially around all the kids. Maybe in another life."
June let out a breath of laughter. "That's what I was thinking." She gently pulled the pokéballs out of his grasp, pocketing the two of them and hiding them out of view. "I'm glad we don't need to worry about those kids anymore."
"Correction, you don't need to worry about those kids anymore. The elder eeveelution trainers refer to themselves as heroes, even if jokingly. If they stumble across something, I can't say whether or not I'll have to come to the rescue.
She nudged her elbow against his arm. "I'm sure you'll do fine. Sticking as close to them as you are, I doubt they'll get into anything too troubling before you can stop it."
"I'd rather they never got into anything troubling at all."
June let out an ambivalent hum. "You know my psychiatrist says that you're hiding things from me."
"What?"
"Everything I tell her, she says that you must have had something happen to you in your childhood to make you want to protect kids so badly."
Alex shook his head, unsure as to where she was going with this. "You know I'm a proponent of the age limits."
"I know. I tell her that you were part of the original tests back in Hoenn, but she just keeps making these non-committal sounds."
"Sort of like how you did earlier?" He japed.
"Did I?" She made a similar sound, amusement tugging at her lips as she leaned closer. "Well, I suppose you could say that she's a good influence."
"Careful, Love," he whispered. "Whitney's still supposed to be coming back."
"Want to bet she'll join us?" She whispered back.
"I'd lose that bet," he responded.
"Make it anyway..."
The two of them stayed like that for several moments, only separating when the beginnings of a warble began.
"Hey, you two lovebirds behave while I was away?"
"The definition of virtuous, Miss Milton." June winked, her arms brushing up against Whitney's as she grabbed some supplies out of her hold. "Eat while we work or take a moment first?"
"Let's relax a little while I get everything together," she replied, giving a toothy grin. "Alex, you like mint with cake batter, right?"
"Lightly mixed," he added.
When did this happen? June's raised brow asked.
I forget when, his shrug answered.
"Oh, you're actually mixing them?" June turned around to watch Whitney work away at the mix, the woman making quick, practiced movements with each slice and turn of her spoons.
"Yeah, turns out one of my trainers worked at an ice cream store that does this, and she ended up teaching all of us how to do this. The table isn't as cold as its supposed to be and the freezer doesn't hold at the right temperature, but the movements get the work done."
The rapid clacking continued for several seconds before Whitney set down a bowl of ice cream in front of him with a smile. "Know what you want, June?" Whitney pulled a few tubs towards her workspace, deftly pulling out a spoonful of each flavor out before mixing them slightly, only to pause and sprinkle a few shakes of various toppings onto the concoction before mixing it once again.
"I'll take a gamble with a mocha and pecha mix." June slid the relevant tubs closer with a finger, an amused smile on her face.
"Deep mix or you want to be able to taste how it compliments each other?"
"Partial mix for now. I'll try the full mix another time."
Pop pop went the lids, click clack went the spoons. "That a promise, Starlight?"
"Considering I'll be around the area for a good while, most definitely."
Alex hid a smile, only letting it blossom when he brought another spoonful into his mouth. It was nice to know that the two got along, and though a small primal part of him writhed at that fact, the greater part simply accepted it. From what he'd seen they had good chemistry, and with Johto being in the center of the IPA's boundaries odds were June might get permanently stationed in the region.
The moment the two sat down they immediately entered a conversation regarding a few civilian fashion lines; though their preferences differed immensely (June preferring business casual while Whitney wore things more sporty) there was still the occasional overlap where they needed the style of the other. It was a bit of a shame that he couldn't really participate in the conversation, not unless they took a turn into suppliers.
Being a wandering Trainer, he'd eventually made the step past repairs and gone into creating his own clothing. In the few cases where the materials required specialized machinery to work, all it took was a commission form and a few weeks from a business back in Nacrene before the order was delivered. Stock clothing was sufficient in a pinch, but only you could know what parts of your clothes took the most wear and tear. It was when the conversation started dying down and Whitney collected all the dishes that he spoke up.
"So about the next phase..." he started, making sure to have their attention. "As I'm sure you both remember, Umbral's been scouting a few warehouses over by the commercial ports. Until recently I figured it'd just be something for the police to handle, but then Caitlyn noticed one of the workers at the distribution center had a tiny little soul tracer that Umbral can attach."
Whitney frowned, uttering his name warningly.
"Nothing dangerous, I promise. It's the same thing like an electronic tracker." He nodded towards June, receiving an amused but non-supportive shrug in return. "But between knowing who we can start building relationship webs for and going through old footage to corroborate interactions, it's going to take me at least another day or two."
"Which means at earliest, you'll be able to go after them at the start of the weekend," June remarked, meeting his eyes.
"Can somebody translate for the person that's not a secret agent?"
"If we decide to act in three days, it's going to be pay day," Alex answered, turning to look at Whitney. "With money in their bank accounts, people tend to go wild. Clubs, movies, parties, you name it. It's not going to be the kind of affair that the Solstice will bring, but it'll be enough that there'll be plenty of people around."
"And that means we'll have to be quieter than we were expecting..." Understanding slowly dawned on Whitney's face. "Shit..."
"Shit indeed," June shook her head. "Alex, I'm assuming you'll need some of my team?"
"Moia, and maybe Gwydion if she's willing to listen to me."
"I'll make sure to let them know."
"Whitney, you need any help figuring out your team for this?"
"Bit of help would be appreciated, Alex. Lolo and AA I know can manage this, but I'll have to look at the rest of my teams to figure out who I can bring. We'll be running through the underground, right?"
"Possibly. I'll have my team do some more scouting, figure out which places we ought to hit up."
"Alright, We'll meet up in two days then?" Whitney asked, starting to gather her supplies.
"Or sooner, if we have to. I'll let you guys know."
"Sounds good." Whitney offered a quick smile and one fingered salute, the warble of a teleport sounding off right as she tilted her hand away.
"Alex."
He turned to face June, concern instantly flooding through him at her serious expression.
"This problem isn't going to go away any time soon. Reports of trainers losing control of their pokémon have been growing over the past few months. If we don't get to the bottom of this soon, the League might have to make a public statement about things."
Alex sat back down and sighed. "Yeah... that's what I was thinking. Worst case scenario, something might happen at the upcoming Conference, won't it?"
"If we don't hurry." June pulled a chair closer and sat next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. "Which way are the kids heading after Ecruteak?"
"Olivine, out to Cianwood, and then backtrack to Mahogany."
"That's good," she muttered. "Stay away from the mainland and all the major cities. You know if you guys take your time you could probably take part in the Whirl Island festivities."
"Is this for me, or for them?" He questioned, slowly phasing the kadabra's presence out of his mind.
"For them," she answered. "The elder Kalosians are a bit too nosey for their own good, and the younger ones are still novice enough to think they can handle anything that gets thrown at them. I'm sure they respect you enough, but what happens if you're not there?"
Alex chuckled. "Weren't you just saying that I'd arrive before things got too out of hand?"
"But how long would you beat yourself up over what did happen?" June shifted, taking a hand in hers. "We can't save everyone, Alex." A soft, breathy whisper, so quiet that someone might have mistaken it as a long sigh.
"That doesn't mean we can't try."
/ - /
"No, no it doesn't."
Sneak, sneak, sneak, aaaand pause!
...sneak, sneak, sneak.
Oh, were only he a simple rattata! Or even a meowth! To be one who was native to the area and not as beauteous as he. Alas, not all beings could match up to his exquisite form; of lean muscles so wonderfully defined by a lifetime of exercise, and just the slightest amount of squishiness gained from lazing about. If he were a simple rattata, no one would bat at eye at him, and how terrible that would be!
"Yes, how terrible indeed."
Morgan snickered quietly. While his monologues were always perfect for killing time and staving off boredom, having an audience made it all the better.
"Please do not make me reduce how much attention I give you. If something were to happen, we would need to respond immediately."
"Oh no, then I would be forced to fight off hordes and hordes of angry trainers, all by my lonesome. Truly, what a terrible fate." Morgan dashed across the street once the sound of footsteps faded away. This late at night, people didn't really have much a reason to be hanging around the docks, but humans were weird. Sometimes they'd stay up late one day, wake up with less than a full sleep cycle and start the day early, only to fall asleep sometime in the middle of the afternoon and not be able to sleep properly the following night.
If there were to be humans here, it was probably because their bosses' boss demanded something of them. Or they just had to work night shift. Either way, it was a bridge to be crossed eventually.
"Take the next left."
Morgan slowed down his pace, humming in acknowledgement at the simultaneous 'silent' prodding that came with the instructions. Having someone be telepathically connected to you was weird, no matter which way you put it. Sure, it was nice and all, but his mind was his own. Others shouldn't be rambling around in there where they can see everything that he was and is- that was personal.
...no matter how long he knew them.
"Stop here for a moment."
The gentle rumble of a truck ambled past, the streetlights illuminating the words on the side to be of one of Johto's various shipping companies.
"That's not a mark, is it?" He asked.
"Not for us, no. June will probably be interested in it though."
Ah, June. Alex's chosen, even if the two of them didn't acknowledge it. They were good for each other, and even after all these years they still managed to get along. It wasn't uncommon for human couples to split apart barely a season into their relationship, so for them to still be friendly, even with their culturally unorthodox behavior, was upliftingly surprising.
"Road is clear."
Really though, this endeavor would be so much easier if it was raining. A darkened sky, the muffling of his movements, at the very least something that would easen up this whole affair.
"There's the building. Strange, there doesn't seem to be anybody inside."
"This late at night, were you expecting otherwise?"
"The other locations had at least one guard or stray. For nobody to be here..." The sensations of concerned musings made their way across the mental connection. "Scout the building for me?"
"Did you even need to ask?" Morgan reared back, launching himself forward with some lightly empowered steps before racing up along the wall. Halfway up, water enveloped his form, turning into an aqueous whirling drill that shot up and over the roof. Once there, his proper form snapped into place, barely a droplet out of place. "Am I good? Or am I good?"
"You're a show off, is what you are."
Morgan snorted, padding over to one of the AC units. "As if we all aren't."
"You specifically are a show off, Morgan. The rest of us simply take pride in our visuals. You take it a step further and make it your raison d'etre."
"But Caitlyn, my dear! One such as I, a marvel of my species, should endeavor to ensure that all know of our might!" He pressed a paw against the protective grate of the unit. "Hold that thought." In less than a breath, Morgan transformed back into that viscous fluid, slipping past the metal and flowing through the tubing. It was a frankly disgusting affair- vents were so rarely cleaned- but if it was what Alex required, then so be it.
Five turns later, with a small portion of his being having accidentally fell behind and dripping down a vent, Morgan brought his form together, sticking his tongue out in disgust at the grimy sensation suffusing his entire being. "I demand a bushel of pomeg berries when I come back. No- three!- bushels of pomeg berries!"
A sigh. Among the oddest of sensations to receive. That exasperation could be so visceral was incredible. "Yes, yes. I shall bring it up with Alex."
Morgan sniffed in mild offense, banishing the thought once he took stock of his surroundings. "Alright, Caitlyn. I have no idea what I should be looking for." No shiny semi-spheres on the ceiling. No shiny plaques on the doors listing what went where. Just small, matte labels beside the doors that showed their numbers.
"Have you forgotten already?"
"No. But cut me some slack! This work is boring. Just let me get to the fun part already," he groused.
A groan. Number three for things that were strange, number one for best things to elicit. Wait no, number two. Number one was moans. "In lieu of anything that we can immediately act upon, our goal is to map out the interiors of any potential marks. The Trainers can cross-reference deliveries and movement of any humans, but without us providing them this info they might linger too long."
"You always tell the best of stories, you know?"
"Flatterer."
"And an honest 'mon." Morgan padded down the steps, glancing up and down the hall. "Getting some distinctly 'useless' vibe from this place."
"Mn. I'm feeling the same. Wait, wait. Go back to that door you just passed?"
Morgan very intently back stepped, sitting down on his haunches when the door was once again in front of him. "Oh please tell me this is the part where I get to knock some humans unconscious."
"...perhaps. This building links up to an old path that leads to the underground. It's been around for almost a century, but maybe..."
"Running time?" He pressed his nose up against the doorframe, feeling around for a crack he could slip past. Hrm, it would take a bit of time, and he'd be stuck with the sensation of being pressed down on for the rest of the night, but hopefully the treasure within was worth it.
"Take it slow. We don't know if they created a hide out down there."
"Ooh, ooh! Tell me I can flood the place if they did!"
Another frustrated sigh.
Morgan: 10,000, Caitlyn: 300.