Maverick and Sylviana leaned against a shelf to my right. When they got there, I didn't know. Why? Even more of a mystery. I tried to ignore the fact that they were probably waiting on me to leave.
Good thing waiting was my forte. I couldn't say as much for Pawn, Sylviana, or Maverick. Eventually, it was my turn to approach Shantal. A lot of people were behind me, so I hoped to make my turn as quick and painless as it could be.
"Next please." The woman laced her fingers together and smiled. I walked up to her and handed her my copy of the book with both hands. "Hello, hello."
"Hello." I twisted my hands and looked off to the side as she cracked the book open to the front.
"So who should I make this out to?"
Oh, she was going to personalize it? Well, I wasn't really going to sell it. "Eloise Damon." Hopefully I didn't need to spell it.
"Damon?"
"Yeah?" I watched as she first printed my name in nice script, then a fancy yet legible autograph. She then looked up at me and smiled.
"Pawn, right?" Shauntal pointed at the gallade and stood up with her other hand out. Pawn shook it and nodded. "I knew you were familiar!" Her hand moved to point at his choker with the divot in it. My brother's gallade cried out with a light tone.
"Is that right?" How did they know each other?
"Are you related to Joel Damon?"
Where was this coming from? Hesitating, I said, "He's my brother."
"We battled just last week. What a thrilling and meticulous battle it was!" Shauntal offered her hand to me next, which I reluctantly shook. Did sharing blood really warrant this? The whole line of people behind me was probably watching. How many eyes were on me, then?
"I'm happy for you." What else was I supposed to say to an Elite Four member? "Uh, so what was the resu-"
"Who won?" Maverick stormed up to us and pushed me to the side again. "Did Joel lose?"
"I'm sorry? Haha, I…" Wow, he even put Shauntal at a loss for words. "I apologize, but it was a private battle. I don't think I should divulge such personal information."
"Damn." Maverick didn't bother holding his tongue. Did he have any manners?
"You do that," I barely said above a whisper, rubbing the area he practically punched. Pawn came up to me, holding the book Shauntal signed while glaring at Maverick. "Did you win?"
Pawn kind of chuckled and waved me off, then hung his head. Guess he lost. I thought it best to never tell Maverick that.
"Then I challenge you to a rematch, Shauntal." Maverick sure knew how to be a charmer.
"Ahaha…" I felt really bad for the poor woman. "Well, I would be glad to. However, this book signing goes on for a little longer, and there's still a line waiting patiently. Let me finish this event before we go… Maverick, yes?"
He did say rematch, so they battled before? Presumably Maverick lost. I reveled in that thought.
~X~
Across the street from the museum, a bunch of people gathered around Shauntal and Maverick prepping for their battle. I was there too. What could I say? I wanted Maverick to lose.
"Okay, Maverick. How about a three-on-three single battle?" Shauntal pulled out a notebook and pen from her bag and jotted something down.
"Fine with me." He immediately sent out his bisharp without waiting to see who Shauntal picked. She was the ghost-type Elite Four member, right? So Maverick's choice stood to reason.
"A bisharp, huh? You seem to know Joel. His bisharp fared quite well against us. How about yours?" Shauntal tucked her pen behind her ear and tossed a poké ball. Out came a blue giant golem-mecha with a bandage across its chest. "Excelsior, let us begin."
What a name. A golurk, apparently. Both bipedal pokémon assumed positions opposite each other and waited for a command. As I squinted to get a better look at Excelsior, some tall couple took the empty spot in front of me, blocking my view entirely. Thanks, I spat in my head.
"Edge, night slash."
To get another view of the battle, I circled over to behind a shorter person. But, another guy took the spot just as I got there, causing us both to jump when we almost collided. "Sorry," I mumbled before walking away from him to avoid further awkwardness.
"Hammer arm, Excelsior. Then another!"
Still unable to see the battle, I tried finding another spot. I didn't think there would be this many people around to catch the battle, but the book signing did have dozens ready to follow their beloved author around.
"Come off it." I hid my words in a sigh. I wound up standing in front of the museum due to how dense the crowd was, and how I couldn't get a good spot. And as I said, the museum was across the street from the battle.
"Jump back and use swords dance!" I gave up and decided to watch from above the crowd. I looked up in time to see Edge leaping through the air back to where Maverick stood.
"Beautiful. This is stunning. Love it." Pawn patted my shoulder and kind of pointed to the west exit of Nacrene City. "Why no-"
I got cut off by a loud slamming noise. From the battle, I saw Excelsior's upper body above the heads of the crowd and heard the sound of someone being returned to their poké ball.
"We haven't lost yet." Maverick sent someone else out, who I could also not see from my position. Boy, did he shout loudly. I heard him perfectly clear from where I stood.
I looked around for Sylviana, but couldn't find a trace of her. Having lost all motivation to do anything today, I poked Pawn and pointed at the poké center.
~X~
The next morning, I woke up at Pawn's behest. I supposed I didn't have a right to be lazy and complacent with my achievements so far. In a daze, I managed to let Pawn push me all the way to Pinwheel Forest before I stopped yawning.
"Go ahead on your own," Sylviana had told me last night. Apparently she had an obligation or something. It took forever for her to tell me that, though, due to her laughing fit over Maverick's one-sided defeat by the hands of Shauntal earlier that day.
"Feels horrible." The forest, in one word, was humid. So grody and sticky that I couldn't wait to get out. Noticing no one was around, I blew a large bubble with the gum I chewed.
Pawn huffed and kept pushing me. I really needed to figure out a way to motivate myself so he wouldn't end up doing this inevitably.
A strange rustling and squishy crunching rang through the air. "What's that noise?" I slowed down and tried listening more closely. Pawn pulled me back after exclaiming rather loudly, causing me to nearly have a heart attack.
"What?" I looked to where I was going to step. On the paved road was a green blob, barely visible in the forest's darkness. "What is that?"
It moved. Soon, the blob unfurled to reveal a yellow bug coated in green gnawing on some leaves. It made some squeaky, squishy chirping.
"Is it eating or not?" Yes, that was my first leaf it chewed didn't seem to be growing smaller.
It stopped chewing and looked up at us. Without thinking, I blew another gum bubble, prompting the bug to cry out. I scanned the little thing, a sewaddle. When I closed his dex entry, he had yet to move an inch. "Go around him?"
Pawn walked past Sewaddle and motioned for me to follow. Not like he was blocking the whole road, though. I tried, but the bug moved just to block me from progressing (unless I was willing to step on him).
"What?" I stepped right and Sewaddle copied me like a mirror. "Can you stop that?"
He grunted and lunged at me.
"Oh, good grief." I stumbled to the left in time to dodge. "Uh, uh, Pepper."
I managed to send Pepper out without issue. The bug jumped at us again. With a cry, she shot out ember on her own, which Sewaddle dodged.
"What is happening?" I didn't actually step on him, did I? "Ember again."
This one hit him good. He cried out and fell down. Just when I thought that he stopped moving and that we messed up, I saw Sewaddle wiggle and gnaw on the leaf behind his head again. "Uh…" Pepper oinked with the same tone. "We should just leave."
As he distracted himself chewing, Pepper and I walked ahead to meet back up with Pawn. But, just as we did, I heard Pepper groan. Looking back, some white string shot out and wrapped around her tail from Sewaddle's mouth.
"What now?" I stared at Pawn. All he did was shrug. "Ember, yet again."
Could the result have been anything else? Sewaddle became a little more crispy as he didn't even try to avoid the move. Pawn tugged on my arm and made a throwing motion.
"Catch him? Why?" There was no need. He engaged us first, anyway. Plus, he coated Pepper's tail with string shot. We both had reason to not really want him. Kinda like Munna, but a little less… worse? Man, even after all this time I still disliked Munna. Wonder what Joel's doing with him.
Sewaddle jumped back up only to fall down again. I had a feeling he faked faltering since he didn't bother closing his eyes in doing so.
"Uh, Pepper?" I honestly didn't care. My tepig tilted her head and blinked. "Indifference?"
Since he engaged us and seemed to want me to catch him, this bug had to have had an ulterior motive. But what? I had nothing he could want.
"I hope I don't regret this." I practically flipped a coin in my head before pulling out an empty poké ball. When I looked at his evolutions' Stat Star dex entries earlier, he did seem viable, so that was one perk. Kind of.
I chucked the ball ahead. Before it hit Sewaddle, the bug jumped into it and went in without issue. "Right…"
I plucked the ball up and shook it. Sewaddle sent himself out, causing me to drop the capsule and gasp. He immediately bounded towards me and shook one of his little feet up at my face.
"What?" Was he mocking me? I just caught him, thought. Pawn kind of laughed and came up to me. He rooted through my bag and pulled out a pack of the gum I currently chewed. "What about it?"
I watched as the gallade opened the pack and waved it at me. How surreal. I took a stick out and looked down once I heard a strange panting. Sewaddle wriggled in place and looked longingly at the gum in my hand. "Oh my god. This isn't real." Pepper huffed and looked away. I guessed she didn't care for gum after the blue raspberry incident.
Pawn laughed again and pushed down on my shoulders as if to get me to squat down. I complied. "No way. You want this?" I waved the gum in front of Sewaddle. He cheered and nipped at it. Did he even know what gum was? I unwrapped it and dropped the stick from a foot above him. He opened his mouth and let it fall inside, after which he chewed like a demon. I was never that excited chewing gum.
"Glad you like it…" I pinched myself. "No, no, wait. Don't swallow it, don't swallow it!" I shook my hands like crazy and wondered what would happen if he did. Pawn patted my arm and pulled me back up.
"You love it." I would admit, he did look kind of cute. His fangs were a little much, but he seemed so preoccupied chewing gum, of all things, that I didn't really worry too much. Pepper nudged him and observed the bug she just lightly roasted.
"Let's just call you Gummy, alright?" Easy to remember and representative of his likes. I hoped I wouldn't regret it later. He hummed and continued chewing "I'll take that as a green light." I pinched myself again before throwing another stick of gum in my own mouth.
Were things supposed to be like this?
~X~
"This sucks." We walked down Skyarrow Bridge again. I kept Pepper and Gummy out after we exited the forest. Gummy, once we started mobilizing, jumped on Pepper and used her as a vehicle. The tepig didn't really mind, but I couldn't help but stare incredulously at the bug happily chewing gum atop Pepper's back. Rose walked a little behind us, still trying to carry her log with Tempest perched on one end of it.
"Are you getting any stronger, Rose?" The sound of wood tapping on the bridge said it all. "Should you join a gym or something? You've been trying for a while without any progress." If anything, she seemed to be losing stamina by the day. I heard a huff, then a grunt of effort. "You're gonna pull something." Tempest whacked the back of Rose's head with her wing as if to get her to be more quiet. I gave up on trying to figure out her deal.
"We're almost there." I saw the entrance to Castelia straight ahead and kept my eyes glued to the ground until we finished descending the flight of stairs before the gate. Then I looked around and raised an eyebrow at the sight of Sylviana a short distance away.
"Why is she here?" I walked toward her, noting that she stood next to Maverick and in front of some guy at a table. On the table were several fancy cushions, each with a poké ball on top of it and a gilded plaque before it. The plaques each had the name of a pokémon species engraved on it. Were those nameplates gold? They looked it.
"Oh, hey, El." Sylviana waved me down.
"What are you doing here?" Could the scene before me be any more suspicious?
"Did you just get here? Wow, you should have called us. We took a car here. Sorry." What? What happened to what she said yesterday? I must have misheard, then. And wasted my goddamn time and energy crossing Skyarrow Bridge!
"Gather round. The more the merrier!" the guy behind the table called out. At his side, a weavile beckoned other people forward. This kept up for a few minutes. As time passed, more and more people came. It seemed like they were at the bridge just to see what this guy had to say rather than cross to Nacrene City from Castelia or vice versa.
"Perfect." The guy behind the table checked the super-expensive-looking watch on his wrist. "Alright, ladies and gents, thank you for coming. My name is Shawn, and I am pleased to welcome you to my latest pokémon auction!"
Auction? Pokémon auction? Did that mean what it sounded like? Was this real? As the people squeezed closer around the Shawn guy, I returned everyone except Pawn to not lose them.
"I have six wonderful pokémon today to present to you all. I hope you like them." He clapped and scanned the crowd. When he glanced our way, I felt my stomach drop. I forced myself to look up, only to see him staring intently at Pawn, I assumed. My brother's gallade grunted the same way I said I don't like this.
"Bullshit," I heard Maverick say.
"Let's get the show underway. Everyone, feast your eyes on Aggron!" My heart paused as a huge hunk of sentient metal came out of the poké ball he threw and stomped the ground. Shawn walked up to Aggron and pet his head, causing the thing to snuggle into the touch, however that worked. "Weavile, get over here."
Shawn's weavile ran and took the spot opposite Aggron. They were going to battle now? Nothing could convince me that this wasn't fishy.
"Let's show off what Aggron is capable of!" The crowd went nuts.
"Is this even moral? No, legal?" I asked no one. It had be this: he was selling pokémon.
"Stupid phony," I caught Maverick saying.
"Be quiet." Sylviana hit his arm. Yeah, I couldn't believe this was real either.
Shawn stood behind Aggron. Did that beast even know what was going to happen to him if my guess was correct? "Stone edge." Aggron glowed white with power for a second before two rings of jagged rocks surrounded him. He sent them flying at Weavile. Without needing his trainer to tell him, the smaller pokémon dodged on his own.
"Weavile, brick break. Aggron, you too." The two lunged at each other and clashed their hands together in a stalemate. "Aggron, iron head."
Aggron's head glowed as he brought it down to smash against his opponent. Again, the smaller one dodged. "Night slash."
Weavile charged forward with claws surrounded by dark energy. When he came close enough, Shawn called out, "Superpower." Aggron crushed his hands together in time to clap Weavile between them. Once he let go, Weavile fell down and struggled to stand. "Now brutal swing."
Aggron flailed about with a purple aura and smacked Weavile back. No hesitation at all. How savage. Once he landed, Weavile held an arm in the air and didn't stand up.
"Let's hear it for Aggron, everybody!" Shawn held his pokemon's arm up in the air like he won a wrestling match. The crowd ate it up and cheered like animals.
"What about Weavile?" I watched the little guy skitter to the table Shawn sat at earlier. There he took a small backpack and opened it, pulling out a blue spray bottle and applying it on his wounds. He then ran back opposite Aggron.
"We all saw what Aggron can do. So let's start the bidding." Shawn returned his pokémon and waved the ball in the air.
I was right. And I think I didn't like being right for the second time in my life.
"The starting price for Aggron will be a simple, low 1,000,000 poké. Any takers?" Of the crowd of about thirty people, maybe five raised their hands. I couldn't make out the garbled garbage they spewed while they clamoured for poor Aggron as my brain shut down. "I saw the good man in the white hat first. Next bid?"
How absurd. Who had such money to burn when they could just train someone themselves? And who knew if the pokémon they bought would listen to them. I couldn't believe this.
What was even the point of buying a pokémon like this? Glory? Power? I thought people took pride in effort and caring for their own partners. Was I wrong?
What of the pokémon being sold? Would they even be happy about changing trainers at the literal flip of a coin? Would they rampage upon finding out their "trainer" Shawn was a liar and hurt their new "trainer"? Would they miss Shawn? Would they just surrender and submit to their new "trainer"? Would they even realize what they really were to Shawn? I couldn't fathom the thought.
And I thought I didn't care about pokémon.
"1,500,000 poké!"
"1,600,000 poké!"
"2,000,000 poké!"
~X~
"20,000,000 poké!" someone called out for the sixth pokémon (plural) in Shawn's little showcase: a collection of 20 butterflies, each with a different wing pattern. They flew in sync in a strange dance.
"Any other offers? These guys were hard to get ahold of. I probably won't ever train a kaleidoscope of vivillon ever again." Shawn looked around. The bids had crept up by small increments for the past ten minutes before that person declared 20,000,000, jumping from just 10,000,000. "Fine, then. Sold to the nice lady in yellow. That concludes my auction today. Thank you all for coming. Would the six winners please come up to finish the transaction?"
Applause erupted from the crowd before they dispersed. Shawn returned the vivillon two by two. I stood dumbstruck as six bourgeois-ass people lined up in front of him. "What just happened?"
Pawn tugged on my arm and pulled me toward Castelia City while breathing a lifeless tone. I kept my head down as we passed by Shawn's table. However, my worst fear came true as he said, "You with the gallade. Could you stay behind for a chat?"
I stopped walking from the sheer shock I got. Weavile sauntered up to us and held his arms out as if to block our path, pointing us to his trainer. "I don't…" I didn't finish my sentence.
Not too long after, Shawn, Sylviana, Maverick, and I were the only humans on this side of the bridge. Shawn tucked what I believed was a credit card scanner and a couple of checks into his bag before approaching me.
"Hello. Name's Shawn."
I held my breath before reluctantly saying, "Eloise."
"Did you like what you saw?"
My words came out without thinking. "Not really."
"You have any pokémon you really, really want?"
"No…"
Shawn's face dropped like his attitude shifted completely. "I can guess how this is gonna go. I saw you scowling through my entire show. I'm gonna cut straight to the chase, Eloise."
"Huh?" Why was this happening? And I wasn't really scowling. I just wasn't smiling.
"How much do you want for me to take this gallade off of your hands?"
My heart pounded as I actually felt my face flush. "What?"
"How much for your gallade?"
The audacity. The arrogance. The entitlement and money. I couldn't believe this guy. But there he was in front of me, spewing such garbage. Sell Pawn? Even if he wasn't Joel's, why would I? Did he just see pokémon as products? Even I was better than that, and I felt indifferent on the whole.
What about how affectionate all his pokemon were to him, like Aggron? Apparently, I ended up actually voicing my thoughts. "Are pokémon just money to you?"
Not batting an eye, he said, "Yeah. What else would they be?"
I stared down at Weavile, who stood by Shawn like a squire. "Never mind." Words eluded me. It wasn't like I was in the position to lecture him about anything. As much as I liked Pepper and Pawn, I couldn't easily say that I really loved them or anything. My pokémon felt more like an obligation, if I had to be honest, and nothing more.
"What? You gonna preach to me about friendship or some shit like that?"
I couldn't bring myself to answer. This just became a huge mess, one I wished I avoided.
"I'll say it one more time. How much for him?"
He wasn't going to stop, was he? I would have taken Maverick bumping me to the side every time Joel came up over this. Taking my time coming up with an answer, I finally said, "Why do you want him?"
Shawn looked at me as if I was the stupidest person on Earth. "I can tell just by looking that this guy is strong. In my hands, I can capitalize on that. I know you won't be able to do that." Was sneer the correct word to describe how he said that? "I'll even be generous since you don't understand."
"I understand, alright." I just wanted him to go away.
"I'll give you a down payment of 500,000 poké. Then, when I sell him to a guy I know who will love your gallade, I'll even give you ten percent of the profit on top of it. How's that sound?"
That made it sound even worse, to be honest. People really threw money around that way? Not just in cartoons and stuff like that? Plus, each of the pokémon he sold today went for millions of poké, though I guessed that wasn't the real issue here.
With a yelp, Pawn smacked the hand Shawn reached out to touch him with. Without thinking, I returned him and shoved his poké ball deep into my bag.
"Made your choice?" Shawn pulled out a huge wallet from his bag and cracked it open.
"I'm sorry…" I wasn't really. "I can't sell Pawn. He's… my brother's." Since the friendship speech would just be stomped over by Shawn, I couldn't say anything of that sentiment as an excuse, even if it was a lie.
"Oh." Shawn didn't seem too concerned about that. "So? You'll be doing the both of you a favor." Of giving up one of the more integral parts of my brother's team (not that any other of his teammates could be discounted)?
Couldn't he give up? "No, thank you."
"Heh." Shawn walked up to me and shoved his face before mine. "Yeah, y'know what? Forget it. He's not worth it."
"That's not very nice." I stopped caring about offending this ass that wanted to buy Pawn, who I probably would never see again in the future. Though that didn't help me speak any more loudly or assertively. "Bye, then." I dragged my words out.
"Damn, thought that would work. Whatever. Just know, Eloise, that I get what I want. I always do." Was he a real person? Did he not understand the world didn't revolve around him? "I've got another auction in Nimbasa to get to. Next time I see you, though, you can bet your ass you'll be handing him over to me."
"What?" Didn't he just say he didn't care about Pawn anymore? Was that shitty reverse psychology? "No, no thank you."
"Oh, aren't you something else." Shawn sure knew how to paint himself like a villain. "Let me tell you this since you seem to think you're more righteous than me."
"I didn't say-"
"No, I can see it on your face. You think I'm disgusting, don't you?" Shawn said it, not me. What was his damage? He dominated this conversation and skewed it as if he were the victim.
"Please leave me alone…"
"Everyone has a price. Everyone. Don't think I don't know that you do as well. Money is everything." So he saw everyone as a walking piggybank or something? He practically foamed at the mouth saying this. "And shit trainers like you ought to be thankful people like me are around. Just wait and see. Next time we meet, I know you'll be begging me to take your stupid gallade off your hands, and to sell you a pokémon to carry your ass for the rest of your journey." Why didn't he think Pawn could do that for me?
What could I say? I locked up and bit my lip, digging my overgrown nails into my palms. I heard Shawn and his weavile stomp off to Castelia. The next thing I knew, Pawn sent himself out, and Sylviana and Maverick walked up to me. "I…"
"Oh, my god, I need to talk to that guy," Sylviana said. Did she intend to teach him a lesson? Give him the scolding of a lifetime? She could go ahead and do that. As long as I didn't have to see that guy again. Better she do it than me."Who does he think he is?"
Sylviana ran after Shawn. I finally looked up once Pawn pulled on my elbow.
"Some cocky bastard," Maverick spat.
"Uh-huh." My voice wavered. Everything felt so surreal. Why did I end up in these messes?
"If you have any self respect, Lois, you won't pay that guy any mind. Bastards like him just think being a trainer is a joke. If he cared at all about pokémon, he wouldn't be selling them like candy." He really didn't know my name, huh?
"Come again?" I said just barely. I didn't really want to be lectured like this.
"I mean it. Or do you actually think that guy's okay?"
"I don't." My hesitation to speak made it seem as though I was lying. At least, that's how I thought it went. "He worries me." Understatement of the year.
"Good." Maverick slapped me on the back and turned to Pawn. Damn did he hit hard for a playful hit. "If I'm going to beat you"-He shoved a finger in the poor gallade's face-"Joel's going to be the one in command." Of course.
Maverick set off for Castelia, and eventually I followed with Pawn on my heels. I barely remembered what I did, but after I checked in the poké center, I went to my room and lazed about the rest of the day.
~X~
Come the next day, Pawn dragged me to the videophones once I woke up to a text from my brother. I put in the new address he gave me, which told me he was back home in Opelucid, and waited for him to pick up.
Again, Miles greeted me with strange breathing before Joel pushed him out of frame. Pawn stepped closer to me so Joel could see him, prompting Miles to come back to hold his dangerous arm up, presumably as a challenge issue. He came dangerously close to the camera, probably nearly breaking it. Miles surely didn't understand technology too well.
"And?" What a way to start this off.
Pawn covered for me, petting my shoulder while trying to rile my brother and his bisharp down with his free arm.
"Badges?" He couldn't have made this less painful?
"None." Somehow, guilt became one of many things I felt at that moment. Not just because of my lack of progress, but because of what happened yesterday as Pawn kept trying to be my advocate. "You make it sound like I can compose infinity or something."
"Then get on it. You're in Castelia, aren't you?" Joel was the battle prodigy, not me, though. "Did you catch anyone else?" He pinched the bridge of his nose.
With an overexcited cry, Pawn pulled my bag (nearly choking me, if I could add), and rooted through the front pocket until he pulled out Rose's and Gummy's poké balls with vigor.
"A timburr and sewaddle?" So he could read. I scribbled the species name in the corner of the stickers I placed on each ball along with my pokemon's name on it. "Gummy?"
"What?" Should I have felt ashamed?
"Just use your tepig and pidove and go. Just go." I thought he was going to hang up, but he didn't move. Joel pointed at Pawn and switched subjects on us. "Why are you so excited? You're way more vocal than you usually are." Pawn gave a weak laugh.
"What did you do? Should I revoke your Pawn privileges already?" Why was he talking to me like I was five now? Actually, Pawn did seem more like my babysitter than anything else, but still.
I wanted to stay silent. I didn't want to say what happened yesterday. For one thing, I didn't know how Joel would react. Also, I wanted to purge Shawn from my memory. The way that guy functioned… Would he follow through on what he said? What would he do to me if I didn't have Pawn if we saw each other again?
"Yesterday…" The word came out without thinking.
"Yesterday what?" I was locked into this now.
"There was a guy, a pokémon auctioneer."
"A what?" As if I made that up. "And?"
There was no way I was padding this out with comedy or something. After gulping, I said, "He wanted to buy Pawn."
"You better have said no!" It was Joel's turn to lean into the camera. I flinched as his voice reached a volume rivaling his archeops's squawking, which was to say quite loud. "If you said anything else-"
Pawn pulled me back and stood in front of the videophone while patting his chest as if to say I'm still here. He practically shouted out. Whether he meant it to protect me or himself, I didn't know. Only now did it seem evident that he was bothered by Shawn too. Made sense, though, after being ogled at like a toy.
A calm, deep, feminine voice rang out with a noise of concern. From the corner of Joel's screen popped out the head of a gardevoir. Oh, no, Bishop was there? Pawn's sister made it harder to not be honest. I actually liked her, too.
What a mess everything became. For some reason, Miles and Bishop overtook Joel on his screen and talked over each other to Pawn, who did his best to keep up with both. On my side, I tried to formulate a way to say what I needed to say with the least ambiguity and in the most succinct fashion. I failed at it, though.
"Enough, let me get the answers first." Joel returned his two pokémon. Pawn pushed me back in front of the phone.
"I…"
"You what?"
I breathed in and out once. Twice. "I said no, but he really wanted Pawn."
"And then?"
"I returned Pawn, then he left."
Joel sighed and wheezed for a good second. "Why did he want Pawn?"
Oh, how I didn't want to say. "To sell him…"
"The fuck?"
And just a few days ago, I bellyached about not having money. Come to think of it, Shawn's pokémon were seriously strong, even I could tell. The way he showed them off? Even more so. So why was he selling them instead of just battling a bunch of people? Was raising a bunch of new pokémon easier than battling a few high-stake battles? I didn't think so.
"What was his name? What did he look like?" Never had I heard my brother sound so serious. He really did care bunches about his pokémon.
"Shawn. He…" Now that I thought back on it, Shawn looked like a normal dude. The only things I really remembered about him was that he was loud, greedy, and intimidating. "He wasn't shy about calling himself a pokémon auctioneer. And he had a weavile with him."
"A weavile?" Joel had one too.
"His name was Weavile." Yeah, he didn't have a nickname.
"Goddamn." This whole conversation felt so rigid. I allowed silence to overtake us until he started talking again. "Whatever. That's not important anymore. Go behind you and send Pawn back to me."
"What?" It wasn't like I didn't expect him to ask for Pawn back. I just didn't expect him to ask for Pawn back so soon. He did say until I got a gym badge, didn't he?
"He's not yours. Transfer him back to me." Joel tilted his head to Pawn and tapped his watch, which was behind a bracelet I didn't know he had that matched the chokers on all his pokémon. The way he wore it was similar to the way I wore my Xtransceiver and wristwatch. So we did have things in common. Ever since he got serious about his journey way back when, Joel and I became even more distant. "We have something we need to do, too. I need you, Pawn."
Pawn froze in what I assumed was awe with a huge smile growing on his face. Did he miss being by Joel's side that badly? Without hesitation, he nodded and dug through my bag for his own poké ball. Once he took it out, the gallade froze again and patted my back.
"What do I do?" Good for Joel, he knew what he wanted. I didn't.
"Figure it out yourself." Joel motioned with his hand, prompting Pawn to slowly step behind me to the transporter machine. Not before squeezing my shoulders together and waving at me, though.
So much for helping me. But what else could I do? With Joel waiting for me to move, I forced myself to follow Pawn and return him. I nestled his poké ball in the transporter and put in the correct address. With a faint flash of light, Pawn disappeared from my side and went back to his rightful trainer.
"Just go to the gym already. If you get two badges, I'll let Bishop walk you." So now I was a pet? And it would be his gardevoir next time? On his Joel's side of the videophone, Pawn and Bishop sent themselves out and waved at me before their trainer ended communications
Gym? Good grief. Well, it wasn't the worst idea given what happened at Nacrene "gym" and Striaton "gym". But now, I didn't have Pawn pushing me to go. Without him there, it sure felt easy to become lazy and idle.
~X~
The story starts with a heroine with too big a heart.
She adores everything in life and shares things from the start.
A fallen comrade, she offers her hand.
A crying friend, she offers her shoulder.
A puzzled acquaintance, she offers her mind.
A sad stranger, she offers her smile.
And to everyone, she offers her heart.
But they just take and take and take
everything she holds out, never with wait
until there's nothing left.
When she's just an empty husk, a marionette,
she tries running and hiding, but they don't let
her escape, taking her un-offered legs for themselves.
Had she said no, had she run away, had she been less kind
she could have avoided her own inevitable land mine
and the chessboard would not be populated with her as pawns.
She started her game tipping the king
and would have lost no matter what.
When you're kind, you get walked over. When you're selfish, nobody likes you. I knew what both sides of the coin felt like.
I didn't believe that I was wrong in denying Shawn. But even still, Joel ended up taking him back before I knew what I was doing.
Author's note: To Mythgirl's review, yeah Sylviana was being a brat. Hopefully the context of when she was doing so hints at a bigger picture. But Eloise is kind of a pushover, so who knows, wink wink.
