Chapter 16: A New Lesson: Part 2
"Ah… so that's why the hills are popular around here." I only jogged up the first bump or two and became transfixed at the beautiful scenery around me. Luscious flowers and green grass sprawled all over the earth. This alone automatically made this the best school I've been to thus far; too many people littered in the school's backyard. In fact, they didn't even feel comfortable letting us out and about as we were located near a bad part of town. Good to know I won't have to deal with that anymore… hopefully.
I did some of the kids as well but they either sat on the grass, commencing their own makeshift picnic, playing tag, or simply rolling themselves on the slopes. Nothing that can point me to space knights.
As the fields were too wide for my taste, I decided that sticking to the tops of the hills would be a good idea. I saw more kids, both pokemon and human, playing together with abandon. It brings a smile to my face.
I still had amnesia. Wolfie says jogging my memory would help out a lot and while I have been practicing at home with Rose on the issue, there are still things that allude to my displeasure, but I got a better picture than what I had before.
One of the better, or rather bitter memories I clearly remember was how people reacted to the whole event, the war. Like me, when we got news that the pokemon, who had been at our sides since forever turned against us… it felt like a prank. People hoped that it was an out-of-season April Fool's joke or just a huge misunderstanding. But the report kept coming. More pokemon joining the ranks lead to more areas being taken over which eventually lead to the government to announce their declaration of war.
It was a shock to everyone and caused many controversies. Some of the most vehement people eagerly supported our government when it happened. They cried out with their signs and lined up to join the military. Heck, I even know some people who destroyed some of their pokemon memorability and turned in their pokemon as a sign of solidarity to the war effort. There were others that opposed the war of course, but they were always shamed back into line or they just suddenly disappeared without a trace. I don't remember which side I was on, those days are still blurry.
Families and friendships between our species were shattered back then, I fear it will be permanent but… here I'm reminded that maybe it was for the best. Sure it had caused a lot of pain but it worked out again right? Humans and pokemon are becoming more acquainted with each other in this day and age. Yes, I know this is mostly due to the influence of the Sanctuaries and people like Rose but still.
Forgiveness. That's what it all boiled down too. How can we grow together as a community when we can't move the sins of our forefathers? The perpetrators, the vicious, have been removed from the top but there was plenty of misery congesting at the bottom. I ignore that, to take a breath and shake hands with a former enemy in spite of what they have done… I admire that. It's what we need to push forward. Just gotta keep pushing.
"Oh… so that's where you've been." I spotted the purple rock as Darkness mentioned. It was more like a boulder in actuality, it must have been the side of the car from this distance. So what am I supposed to do here? Do I just wait for a guy to come get me? Are there instructions on the rock that I have to follow? Eh, I really wish she and Leafy would've explained what to do. Would have save me a lot of troub-
I twisted my ankle the wrong way and fell flat on my face. Before I can react I feel my entire body roll and slide down the earthy slope. I couldn't help but scream, I wasn't hurting but this motion was really rubbing me the wrong way. I feel sick.
Thankfully, it didn't last that long as I found myself at the foot of the rock in seconds. I had no bruises, surprisingly but there were a couple of green stains on my pants. Gotta have to clean that before next class. I got up and approached the rock and touched it. The paint was quite old with some of it chipping in some place. I also found some fake flowers and a couple of plastic eggs buried slightly on the sides of the rock. Where did these come from? Was it the knights?
"Woah. That looked like it hurt. You okay?" I heard a male voice behind me. I turned and saw two children, a guy and a girl, carrying small sticks and wearing yellow bandanas on their heads.. They had a makeshift bandana over their head with a black mark under the eyelids. The boy carried a frisbee while the girl carried a piece of wood, holding them like shields. If these weren't space knights, I wouldn't know what is.
"Um… yeah, I'm good. Just lost my footing." I explained. I brushed it off, I didn't want to make a bad impression. "I was uh… taken back by this thing here." I said as I tapped on the rock.
"Yeah, we get that a lot from the new kids." Said the boy. "The school held an easter egg hunt a long time ago and must have forgotten to clean the paint. I don't mind though. I think it looks cool!"
"Rocks can't be cool, Toby." Said the girl, suppressing a sigh. "It's not even real rock. It's just plastic."
"Oh, come on sis. You're making me look bad in front of the new kid." Quipped the boy before turning to me. "Say, you are new here, right?"
Brother and sister? I do see the resemblance. They kind of remind me of Swirl and Poseidon. "Yeah, this is my first day actually. How'd you know?"
"I heard they were gonna accept new students and I haven't seen you around before. See I told you I was right!"
"Yes, you were totally right. Now that we're sure that's fine, can we get back to our kingdom? Horror Glass is expecting us."
Yep definitely space knights. Now it's my turn to make a move. "Kingdom? You two wouldn't happen to be part of the space knights are you?"
The girl stepped forward. "Yeah, we are. Why?"
God, I hate being put on the spot, but here I go. "Well, you know I heard a lot of the good work you guys have been doing and I was wondering if you had a spot available in your castle perchance?"
"You wanna join?"
"Eh… yeah basically."
She shook her head. "Sorry kid, but no can do. We already have enough people as it is. Maybe come back another time."
My smile faltered but then the brother stepped up. "Abby, I don't think the castle is that crowded. We can bring uh… what's your name?"
"Calvin."
"-Calvin here to Horror Glass. There's nothing wrong with more heads than one!" The boy looked at the girl ecstatically.
"You think he'll even accept?" She asked with apparent boredom.
"There's only one way to find out!" He smiled.
The girl sighed again but ultimately conceded. "Alright, kid. If you really want to join, follow us. But don't get your hopes up. My name is Abby, and he's Toby. Got it?"
"Sure?" They left the rock and so I followed. I had one more question to ask. "Hey, can I ask something else?"
"You just did!" Joked Toby.
"Toby." I can practically imagine her eyeballs rolling from here. "Yes, new kid?"
"You mentioned a guy named Horror Glass. Who are they? Is it the name of your king?"
"Yeah, it's our king's name." She answered. "As well as to our queen and jester."
Yep, weird country here I come.
The trek wasn't as bad as I expected.
Sure, I had to go up even longer hills but it wasn't before long until I met their headquarters. There were a great handful of kinds around the area. I saw a jigglypuff dig of what I assume to be a makeshift garden using a spork (I don't even know if they even had plants in there). Other kids either sat around and conversed with each other. And I could distinctly see two pokemon guarding the entrance of their castle, a treecko and a piplup, both wielding rather large metal pole things. They were rusted to hell… did they pick those from one of the fences?
All of them wore that same bandana as Toby and Abby. They told me it was a way for them to tell who was who during their castle adventures. It makes sense, but what got me is that their castle wasn't really a castle. It was a-
"You guys use that windmill over there? That's your castle!" It was a decently-sized windmill attraction akin to those you would typically see at a miniature golf course. A lot of the paint has chipped to hell but the wood and the rest of the structures looks no worse for wear. Rose told me this school used to be a golf course… Did she mean regular golf or mini-golf? Perhaps both? Eh, probably the third option.
"Yeah, pretty neat right? I was so excited we called dibs on this when we first started out!" Said Toby. "Doesn't really work anymore but it's very comfy on the inside."
"Wow. Why hasn't the school torn this down yet?"
"Well, this area has been recently claimed by the school. You know how you need permission sometimes to get more land. It's exactly that. This windmill was a part of it." Explained Abby.
"Ah ok. Did they just forget about it or…?"
Abby shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe they were planning to remove it but something got in the way. Maybe they forgot about it? I don't really care why as long as we still have it."
Yeah I gotta admit. It's old but shows off a weird yet enlightening uncanny vibe to it. I like it. We approached the entrance of the windmill and in an overly dramatic gesture, both pokemon positioned their poles across the door preventing entry.
"Halt! State your name and business before the king!" Shouted the piplup. Abby sighed.
"You rehearsed that, didn't you?"
"Oh come, Abs! You can't be a guard without all the intimidation! It's just like the movies."
"Yeah!" Said the guard's partner.
"My name is not Abs. You make it sound like a boy's name." Complained Abby.
"Dude, Abs totally sound better than Abby. I honestly think it suits you better." The piplup took notice to be pointed with his club. "Whose this fruitcake?"
"A potential new recruit." Toby wrestled an arm around my neck and smiled at the guards. "We wanna see if Horror Glass will say yes. Can we come in Whirl?"
"Pfft! Of course you can Tobster! I think he's doing something but he shouldn't be too busy. Oh and I guess you can bring your cousin in as well."
"Sister." Abby explained.
The piplup shrugged. "Eh, close enough. Have fun you three. Try not to piss off the king! I would really hate for us to bring out the guillotine."
"Ha." Abby deadpanned as she first entered the windmill. The rest of us followed inside as I saw the treecko whispering to his friend if guillotines existed back in the middle age. The piplup shrugged.
"You two are friends with him?" I asked. Toby beamed. Abby sighed.
"Nah, only me. We hang out a lot after school! He's awesome."
"No, he's annoying." Rebuked Abby. "For god sake, half of his brain is entirely made from overused 'Yo-Mama' jokes while the other half is full of complete bull-"
"Anyways!" I interrupt, clasping my hands as I look side to side. It was dark here save for the light peering in from the entrance and it was oddly quiet. "So where's uh… Horror Glass?"
"Right Here!" Shouted a sharp voice in my right ear, accompanied by the sounds of screeching and roaring. I forced myself to jump back to the figure approaching towards us. It was hard to see its form sans the glowing red eyes that seemed to peer into my soul. "You have trespassed on my territory, violated my sanctity! For that you shall die!"
It approached closer, twitching and snarling as it chuckled to itself. Horrified, I tried to step back but trip, fortunately, I was caught by Toby. He nor his sister appeared to be modified on what was transpiring.
"Haha! Foolish mortal! You thought I would give you mercy! Hahaha! Prepare to-"
"Are you done yet?" Interrupted Abby.
The figure groaned in the shadows. "Oh come, Abby. This is like one of my favorite things to do! Can you play along? Please?"
"We can act scared later, Glass. We got an important announcement to make."
"Alright, give me a sec." The red eyes move to the center of the windmill. Light suddenly appeared in the room; I looked higher up the wall to see two large windows peering the rays of the sun upon us all. A string was attached to each window, and the two strands were held in place by a robotic arm attached to...
"Man, is it bright today." The metapod said. He wore a contraption across its body, a harness with two robotic-like claws on each side of it. It reminded me of claws moved on its own and as if he spontaneously grew a pair of legs, carried him to the center of the room. All I can see in the room is a plastic chair and an abundant amount of graffiti on the walls. Quite the throne room.
Horror Glass sat on the chair and sighed. One of the arms bent down and was rubbing the tip of his head. I stood there in awe, I made quite a spectacle by staring at the fact that the 'king' caught me in the act.
"Ah, I see my little arms here caught your eye. Quite neat ain't it?"
I gulped and straightened my posture. "Yes… it's quite interesting. I had never seen that before in my life. What is it?"
"Oh, it's my brand-new GrabPack! A new present I've gotten since Christmas. Pretty fancy if I do say so myself."
Oh yeah, I heard these were part of a new development in technology back at Whitefang. Since a good deal of the pokemon species weren't born with limbs, some scientists were looking for some solutions to tackle the problem. I've heard they were looking into technologies that respond to the brain, kind of like a RC car. Nice to see they were successful at that front. Those do look pretty high-tech.
"So anyways, what's the deal this time? Are those Valor and Mystic chumps attempting to pull a fast one on us?"
"No such a thing your highness!" Beamed Toby as he wrapped an arm against my neck. "Our buddy here, Calvin, wants to join the fun. Ain't that right, Cal?"
I took a step closer and stared at the 'king'. Horror Glass looked at me with intrigue as he continued to rub his head. I cleared my throat. "That's right. I've heard some of the good things you've been doing and I want to be a part of that. Now, I understand you may have a lot of people on the team already and I'm very new to this-"
"Eh, sure. Why not?" Horror Glass relaxed in his chair, soaking up the nice rays of the sun. "Welcome to the club, buckaroo. I will promote you to knight and all that, yadda yada yada, and that's about I'll leave the training to you Abby."
Wow. That was easy. Is the application process always like this? Toby was happy about the announcement, can't say the same about Abby though.
"What?! Harrier, you cannot be serious!" Abby in her outage marched straight to the throne. "I have a bunch of students to look after, and I can't handle any more! And now you assign him to me, on the spot no less? What happened to the 'proving your strength and all that crap' you've been spouting about? Huh! How about that?"
"Harrier?" I muttered.
Toby leaned on my shoulder and whispered. "His name is Harrier Glass, but he always insists we use Horror Glass instead to make him look cooler."
"Did it work?" I replied.
Toby rubbed the back of his neck. "Not really, but I think it has a ring to it."
Back to Horror Glass, he took a deep breath, calmly pushed away Abby from his personal space and rose from the chair. "Normally, I would. But in case you haven't noticed… we're in a crisis right now! I got ease up on some of the rules, I had no choice!"
Abby rose an eyebrow and leaned in, curiosity apparent. "What do you mean crisis?"
Horror Glass looked to Abby then to us. "You haven't heard the news? Abby! We've lost around six of our group today! That's the biggest loss we ever had."
"Lost six?! How did that happen?!"
"One of the knights decided to defect to those red Valor jerks and took his buddies with him! Now I'm hearing word that maybe even more people might leave. So forgive me if I don't particularly care about being picky this time around."
Abby groaned and gripped her weapon tighter. "How does Valor keep getting away with this? They're making a mockery of us at our home!"
"Wait! Hold on, hold on!" I waved my hand to get the attention of the king. I said "Are you saying there is more than one kingdom in this game?"
"That's right, since you're new. You have to be acquainted with the rules." Horror Glass acknowledged before continuing to speak. "I'll give you the basics. Yes, there is more than one kingdom, three to be exact: Valor, Mystic, and of course, Instinct."
"Only three, that's not too bad. I can tell that we're yellow but er..." I forgot which kingdom I was a part of. Why do I keep forgetting to ask the names of things?
"Instinct, Instinct is yellow." Toby answered. "Blue and red are Mystic and Valor respectively. They dress like us too, the only difference is the colors."
"They got more than colors!" Rebuked Horror Glass. "Those chumps keep pulling the rug from under us, Valor especially!"
"Yeah, tell me about it. You know what always bothers me? It's the fact they just have to boast about it all the time. I mean yeah, I can understand the ho-rah! But come dudes, can't you give a man a break-"
"What are you doing here?!" Horror Glass shouted at the piplup from outside. He had been sticking his head into the windmill and overheard a lot if I had to guess. The king wasn't having it. "This conservation is private! Out!"
"Sheesh, fine, just trying to light the mood." The piplup whined before leaving the windmill. This situation is becoming more complicated than I expected. Three kingdoms battling each other, and the people around here are taking it very seriously? Is this even a game anymore? Sure feels like I'm entering boot camp alright.
"Looks like this Valor kingdom is giving you a lot of trouble. Why's that?" I asked. Horror Glass was eager to respond.
"Oh don't get me started! They're only claim to superiority is that they have the highest population out of all of the kingdoms and sure do have a lot of good players on that crew but that's it. Thankfully we're on an equal footing with the Mystics but that ain't saying much. I suppose you don't have something you can bring to the table too?"
"Actually, I do have something. I do happen to be quick on my feet and I would say I'm fairly smart. And um… well, I also know how to survive in the wilderness… I suppose?"
They all froze at me, their faces almost appearing incredulous. I thought I overstepped on my terms of believability until Glass cheered. "You're an actual wild child? That's sweet! You totally have the job!"
"I thought I already had the job?"
"Nevermind that, we got to put you to work right now before the bell rings!"
"Aren't we supposed to fill him in, your highness?" Chided Abby.
"Oh, hush now girl! We're getting there right now. So you see Calvin, here is how things work around here and-"
"Uh… sir?" The same piplup interrupted by peering into the tent. "Uh… your top generals are here and they want to discuss strategy. Should I let them in?"
Horror Glass boasted with glee. "Ah, here already? Huh. Sorry Cal, looks like my hands are tied at the moment. Abby, Toby, why don't you go take the newbie elsewhere and give him the pointers. Try giving him scoop on everything when you can. Capice?"
Abby sighed and grabbed my hand. "Come on, you two. We got work to do."
"Oh that's right! We're gonna do that thing with the sticks! I call dibs!" Toby announced as he raced out of the windmill. Soon after a handful of more kids entered the temple, all having a paper cutout of a yellow bird on their shirt. It appears to be pinned. As we exited the structure, Abby turned to me and gave me the fiercest look I had even seen in my life.
"Hope you brought your training shorts. You're gonna need it."