Wow, two chapters in less than twenty-four hours when before last month I hadn't posted anything in years. I'd be concerned if I wasn't so excited about writing this story.
(~)
It felt like a furnace, she thought, as a bead of perspiration rolled down her forehead and into her eyes. She winced, raising a hand to swipe away the drop of salty water. Certainly her homeland of Johto never experienced such stifling temperatures. It felt like she was surrounded by a roaring fire. The tinny whirr of a metal fan giving its best effort to create some semblance of a breeze in the cramped little customs and reception building of Gateon Port was all that could be heard in the layer of heat that seemed to suffocate sound itself.
The redhaired girl surreptitiously scooted to her right a bit, glancing at the official behind the desk. If she concentrated, she could perceive a dull waver flickering around him. His aura looked as lethargic as he did. The official paid her no mind as he examined the passports and papers of the- extremely small, actually –influx of people traveling to Orre from another region. It looked like only about a dozen other people had gotten off the boat with her on the stop to fuel up.
Orre was… not exactly a small region. But its size was quite disproportionate to its population. Most of the region was made up of stretches of sand or hard-packed, infertile soil. It was a brutal place, and whatever people lived here consolidated into a tiny handful of cities and towns scattered across the map with long distances between them. From what she'd heard, only several of them were even hospitable for travelers, and the rest ran rampant with crime. And according to a quick internet search, its population of wild Pokemon was at a critically low point. All in all, it was the very antithesis of the verdant, lively region of Johto.
To be honest, if her grandparents didn't live in one of the few patches of lush land in the region, she wouldn't be the least bit disappointed if she never set foot in the land of Orre.
She reached up, hesitantly, as if she would be scolded, and slid open the window behind her. It let in a hot, but welcome breeze of salty ocean air. Better salty than stagnant. She nearly nodded off in the dry heat.
"Rui Mirei?"
She snapped out of her light doze and glanced up at the bored voice, and saw the man at the desk looking uninterestedly at her. The redhead got up, pulling her suitcase with her.
"That would be me," she replied, tightening her grip on the handle of her bag.
"Your passport checks out. There's a bus leaving for Agate in half an hour," the man with the sluggish aura droned, sliding her documentation over the top of the desk and glancing back at his rather outdated desktop computer.
"Welcome to Orre," he stated with not an ounce of enthusiasm in his voice.
"Um… th-thank you," she said over her shoulder, eager to get out of the stifling little building. The sooner she got to Agate, the better. From what her Grandma Beluh had told her, it was a beautiful place. And beautiful would be a welcome change.
She rolled her suitcase behind her, wincing from the harshness of the sun. It wasn't even midday, and it was already scorching. She came to a brief halt, rummaging in her pocket for a couple elastic hairties, and pulled her short red hair up into two high pigtails. Already, sweat had accumulated on the back of her neck, and she was grateful that she could get her hair out of the way.
It took her not fifteen minutes to walk to the bus station. The buses looked woebegone and decades old. Hardly anyone commuted, and the tourist trade flourished about as much as the wild Pokemon population.
"Wouldn't recommend waitin' 'round in them buses, lil' lady," the driver told her with a gap-toothed smile. "They don't got proper air conditionin', and we ain't leavin' fer a good twen'y minutes yet. Just toss yer stuff in the cargo hold, an' stretch yer lil' legs while ya can. S'gonna be a long drive."
So with a sigh, it was back out into the sun. Rui couldn't help the uneasy feeling settling in the pit of her stomach. She felt completely out of place in this run-down port town. She wasn't used to the blazing heat and the people and their auras seemed oddly unfriendly.
The sooner she got to Agate, the better.
She kicked a dislodged chunk of cement across the ground as she wandered aimlessly through the streets, wondering if there was a shop nearby with some air conditioning that she could take shelter in for the time being. Being fair skinned meant she was going to be constantly in danger of a bad sunburn if she stayed outside for too long.
Just as that thought crossed her mind, she shuddered. As paradoxical as it seemed, a cold chill ran down her spine. The girl's muscles tensed up, and she cast her blue gaze around nervously.
You're being silly. You are just on edge because you're in an unfamiliar place, her mind whispered to her. But she knew better than to ignore her gut feelings.
She turned on her heel, and found what. She recoiled, fearful, clapping a hand over her mouth.
Not too far away, stood two men facing down a third. A fallen Machop lay wincing on the ground. Towering above it stood a yellow Pokemon she'd never seen. It was still kicking at the Machop laying at its feet despite the protestations of the Machop's trainer. Finally, the man caved and returned the bruised and bloodied fighting type, shouting obscenities at the two who were cackling in response.
"That's your best? Please, that wasn't even a match," the one with the bizarre hairstyle roared.
"Cough it up, wuss," the other taunted, rubbing his fingers together. "I'd say we'd take that miserable heap of a Pokemon offa your hands instead, but it's not worth it."
The third man looked like he was about to crack the skulls of the first two together, but stopped cold at the sight of the yellow Pokemon starting to run at him. Paling, he threw down the contents of his wallet and ran for it as the creature just barely missed sinking its fist into his stomach.
"Get that monster under control, ya sons a' bitches!" The man howled over his shoulder to the renewed laughter of the others.
Rui's eyes, however, were locked on the yellow Pokemon the whole while. Fear took root in her chest.
An aura the likes of which she'd never seen before engulfed the Pokemon. Black, black, pitch black, it roiled and flared and swelled. It was nothing but complete agitation and chaos and something so uncontrollably primal. Though she was yards away, she could feel a consuming wrath and agony emanating from the strange Pokemon. Even after the men recalled it to a Pokeball, she could feel a lasting imprint of darkness that made her tremble.
Her mind told her to run and never look back.
Her gut feeling told her to investigate.
Perhaps it was the first time her gut feeling was completely, indisputably, utterly stupid.
"H-hey! What's wrong with that Pokemon?"
She clenched her jaw as she marched towards the two men, who leered at her smugly.
"What's it to you? It just gets a little excited about violence, that's all," the one with the hat replied with a cocky grin.
"You must be fresh off the boat, girly," the fire-headed man added, curling his lip into a smirk. "You dunno how things are done here in Orre. You better get right back on that boat an' keep movin', cuz this ain't no place for coddled little girls like you."
A flicker of anger sprung to life inside of Rui. Her hands curled into fists, and despite the little whisper in her mind telling her to leave, leave, leave, she planted her feet and stared them down.
"That isn't what I mean! What's with that dark Aura surrounding that Pokemon? That's not natural at all! It looked evil! Like it was covered in a huge shadow! What did you two do to it?"
Immediately, the smirks slid from the men's faces as they glanced warily at each other. When they turned their gazes back on her, she knew she'd said something very wrong.
"I reckon that's none a' your business, girly," the fire-haired man said, his voice lowered and dangerous. "But I'm real interested in what ya just said, yeah? You said it looked like a shadow, eh? Sounds really weird, huh Trudly?"
"Sure does, Folly," Trudly replied. "I think our boss'd be real interested in it too."
"Say, that's a good idea, Trud," Folly said, a sinister grin forming on his face.
Rui felt fear grip her like a vice. She shuffled back a few short steps, eager to maintain distance from the slowly-approaching duo.
"How 'bout you come with us nice n' quiet-like, girly?" Folly continued. "We got someone who'd just love to meet ya an' hear all about this shadow stuff."
She finally turned to run, but two pairs of hands wrenched her backwards, and a sharp pain to her head hit her before she could scream.
