The dawn of the next morning found me and Courtney already an hour's walk away from the town of Crossroads. While I felt we could have safely waited until after light to leave, Courtney had apparently taken King's warning in the most serious possible light. Even as we walked along, she seemed subdued and did not speak except when I spoke to her. She was definitely shaken. I couldn't say I blamed her.
"I'm tired," she commented as the sun began to peek through the trees, speaking of her own volition for what seemed like the first time since we had left the Pokemon Center. The statement was substantiated by her rubbing her eyes. "It can't be seven o'clock yet."
((We didn't get to sleep until after midnight,)) I reminded her. ((And then you decided we had to start out before dawn.))
"I thought we needed to cover as much ground as possible before daylight." She motioned to the trees that still lined the road. "When it gets too light, we'll probably have to leave the road and walk through the woods, to make sure nobody sees us. I thought we should go as far in the darkness as we could."
I had to admit that made a bit of sense. ((You seem to be worried,)) I said, stating the obvious for the first time.
She looked at me. ((Aren't you?))
What kind of a question was that? What did she think I was feeling? ((Of course I am,)) I said.
She nodded, then looked at the ground in front of her feet for a few moments. "Sorry. It's just that... what happened really scared me. King leaving so suddenly and all. It makes me feel alone somehow." Again she glanced at me, suddenly seeming embarrassed. "That's, um, why I didn't put you in your Pokeball. Even though King said to. I don't know what I'd do right now if I didn't have you to keep me company."
So that was why. I had meant to ask, but we had hurried out of the Center too quickly for words, and she hadn't seemed especially approachable in the time since. ((You were alone-- or nearly so-- walking up the coast to Nolvaring. That was a journey of several days, wasn't it?))
"That was different." She pulled her jacket closer around her, the same faded one she'd worn ever since I knew her. New clothes were not a concept one normally associated with Courtney. "That time, I was only running from the police. That was bad, but... " She licked her lips. "This is worse. Those people give me the creeps. Just knowing they're out there makes me afraid."
I was blocking as much of what I knew about the PLA from my mind. My only exposure to the group had been from the brief encounter back in Radjin, along with what I had picked up from King and Ashley in the time since, which wasn't much. But my subconscious mind, it seemed, was already ascribing every sort of horror and fear it could conceive of to the machinations of this mysterious group. I could imagine quite a lot, unfortunately.
King had told Courtney-- no, he had practically ordered Courtney to call the police if she even suspected we were being followed by one of their agents. He had to know that any encounter with the police would almost certainly lead to the discovery of my identity and Josh learning of my whereabouts. He had to know this, and yet he had given Courtney those instructions.
If that wasn't reason to be frightened, I didn't know what was.
It wasn't too much longer before Courtney motioned towards the trees. Without either of us saying a word, we drifted off the road, crossed the short stretch of grass that separated the highway from the forest, and faded into the maze of tree trunks.
***
The journey would probably not have taken more than six or seven hours on the open road, but hampered as we were by vegetation and rough terrain, the sun was already getting low in the sky when I noticed the edge of the forest approaching. Ahead, through the thinning branches, tall buildings could be seen. Nothing I'd heard had given any indication as to Kelton's size, but from the structures I saw, it looked to be a medium-sized town.
We reached the final row of trees and emerged into the comparative brightness of the unblocked sunlight. It was then that I saw just how limited my view of the town had been.
I had thought Radjin was a large town. Compared to Crossroads or even Tentacruel Bay, it had been. But Kelton made Radjin look like barely a dot on a map. Kelton was huge. Kelton was rows upon rows of houses and factories, all against the backdrop of glittering steel skyscrapers that seemed to dwarf even the mountains in the distance. The entire city seemed like something out of a magazine article or a documentary on Kanto-- not the sort of thing you'd expect to see on a backwater peninsula, and certainly nothing the likes of which I had ever seen in person before.
"Wow," was Courtney's reaction to the sight. I had to admit that pretty much summed it up.
Kelton stood in a large valley at the confluence of two rivers, surrounded by sloping grasslands and flanked on two sides by mountains. There was still quite a bit of distance to cover before we reached the town proper, and it looked as if we would have to rejoin the highway, since the bridge afforded one of the few means for crossing the river. We were out in the open now, but we were also within sight of the city and of the guard tower on our side of the river. The odds of anything happening seemed low.
We reached the river without incident. This road was obviously not one of the more heavily traveled routes out of the city, and nobody was inside the guard station except for the guard on duty, a black-haired woman with a cheerful smile that suggested she was not kept very busy in her job. "Hello, and welcome to the city of Kelton," she said as we passed through the door. "How are you today?"
"Good, I guess," Courtney mumbled. I didn't say anything. The chance that this guard knew any Pokemon languages, let alone Ponyta, was small. Besides that, something told me it would be a good idea not to call attention to myself.
"You're getting in late. Did you have a safe journey?"
Courtney nodded.
The guard seemed a bit taken aback by the lack of response she was getting from Courtney. I wasn't sure exactly what she had been expecting, but I supposed that most travelers were a bit more communicative. Most travelers also probably hadn't spent upward of a week on the run alternatively from law enforcement agencies and what apparently amounted to a vigilante group of sorts.
"Have you been to Kelton before?"
A shake of the head.
"Kelton is a very big and very exciting place, but it's also easy to get lost." The guard reached down to a hidden shelf underneath her desk and pulled out a sheaf of what appeared to be maps, brochures, and tourist guides. "If you're interested, I could give you some information on what Kelton has to offer in the way of Pokemon sites and tourist attractions."
Courtney shook her head no again. "No, thank you. I don't need that stuff. If you could just direct me to the Center, that would be great."
"Ah. Hmm." She riffled through the papers, then selected one map in particular and unfolded it on the counter for Courtney to read. It was a simplified diagram of the city, with thick lines for major streets and dots to indicate the locations of Pokemon services. I noticed that most of the Pokemon locations, including the Gym and the Center, seemed to be concentrated in or around an irregularly shaped green area in the geographic center of the city.
Courtney noticed it, too. "What's that?" she asked, putting her finger on the curious feature.
"You don't know? That's the Pokemon Gardens." When Courtney's face remained blank, the guard elaborated. "It's an experiment. Based on studies of inefficient Pokemon services in other big cities such as Saffron, they want to try concentrating all the standardized facilities in one part of town, combining it with a large parklike area where Pokemon can run free. It's huge, with lakes and woods, and it's got something for everyone. It's been a great success so far. I think you'll like it."
Courtney nodded slowly, picking up the map and frowning. "So we just get off the bridge and go straight up the street?"
"Just straight up the street. You can't miss it as long as you stay on the same street."
Another nod. Courtney folded the map up again. "Well, thank you." She gave the guard a tired smile "I'm sure we'll be fine."
With no further delay, we stepped through the doors of the station and set out onto the bridge.
***
Kelton, it turned out, wasn't quite as beautiful from the inside as it had appeared coming out of the woods. While one would not quite describe the city as dirty or as run-down, the streets and sidewalks seemed to inevitably be in various stages of disrepair, and litter was not an uncommon sight. The people of the city did not seem unfriendly or hostile, but they went about their business as quickly as possible and seemed to desire avoiding any human contact beyond what was necessary. As far as I was concerned, that was fine with me.
The contrast as we came into view of the Gardens could not have been greater. The bleak concrete and wrought-iron fencing that surrounded the Gardens looked the same as the rest of the city, but the park within seemed nothing less than a lush paradise, with bright green fields, dense woods, and sparkling lakes all visible from where we stood across the street. In one of the meadows adjacent to the street, a variety of Normal-type Pokemon could be seen playing while their trainers looked on. The glow cast by the setting sun only added to the tranquil atmosphere.
((Looks like a nice place,)) I commented. The mood seemed to dictate understatement. Courtney just nodded.
Despite the fence around the perimeter, access to the Gardens did not seem to be heavily controlled. The access point a few hundred feet from where we stood was labeled "South Gate," but there were no actual gates, nor was any kind of guard station apparent. A few trainers who were standing or sitting nearby noticed our arrival, and most of them smiled and/or waved, but again we were not approached by anyone. For this I was thankful. It seemed like the nearby presence of other Pokemon no longer threw me into a frenzy, but I was not anxious to test the limits of my newfound tolerance.
((Where do we go?)) I asked Courtney. The road we were on led across the field and along the shore of the lake before disappearing from view behind a small hill. I supposed that our first destination would be the Pokemon Center, but within the walls of the Gardens, there seemed to be no man-made buildings in sight.
She consulted the map. "It looks like this road runs straight through the park. The Center and the Mart seem to be in the center, where the east-west and the north-south roads intersect. If we keep on the road, we should get to them before too long."
We kept walking. The sun seemed to have dipped lower by the time we reached the wooded hills that obstructed further vision of the park. The dark woods caused a momentary sense of panic, recalling as they did the all-too-recent time when the forest seemed a place of lurking danger. But the park's lights had begun to come on, and even in the growing twilight the road remained well-lit. I squelched my fear and drifted closer to Courtney as we followed the road's twists and turns toward our uncertain destination.
As it turned out, the distance to the center of the park was not as great as I had feared. Whether because of the lack of conversation and scenery or because of another factor, it seemed like almost no time had passed before the woods came to an end and we beheld another open area much like that at the edge of the park. The difference was that this one was much larger, with a corresponding increase in the number of humans and Pokemon scattered around, and was also home to several large buildings. The buildings, in stark contrast to those outside in the city, were low, spaced widely apart, and seemed almost to blend into the terrain.
Courtney was studying a small inset on the map that gave a detailed view of the area we were in. "I guess that large building in the very back is the Gym. We don't need to worry about that, I suppose. That would mean that the Center is the second largest building-- the one over there." She pointed.
Her analysis seemed accurate. ((So what are we waiting for?)) I asked.
"Absolutely nothing. Come on."
We descended the hill. What little glow had remained from the disappearing sun was now rapidly fading, but hundreds of lights kept the pavement and grassy areas alike brightly lit. A few of the trainers and their Pokemon were beginning to drift towards one or another of the buildings, but the vast majority of them seemed almost not to notice, continuing to play, train, battle, or whatever they had been doing all along.
"Do they ever go to bed?" I heard Courtney wonder aloud, in a muttered tone that probably was not intended for anyone's ears but her own. I thought she was exaggerating just a bit, but I had to admit that the activity seemed a bit unusual. I gave it a mental shrug and filed it under the category of things I couldn't be bothered to think about.
We were approaching the doors of the Pokemon Center, whose spacious lobby and its inhabitants were visible through the large glass windows that faced the plaza, when I became aware of a group of Pokemon on the grass not far from our path. I turned my head to look at them more carefully, and discovered that it seemed to be a gathering of Electric-types. There were Pikachu, Magnetons, Voltorbs, a few Raichus and Magnetons, and the occasional Electrode. I even saw a vaguely humanoid shape that could only have been an Electabuzz. They were interacting with each other, conversing, some seemingly wrestling or playing with each other. There were no trainers that I could see, but since the likelihood of so many Pokemon in this place all being rogue was fairly small, I assumed the trainers were simply standing off at a respectful distance or were attending to other business while their Pokemon socialized.
As I watched, I felt something tug at me, so distinct it was almost a physical sensation. I felt an overwhelming desire to go to these Electric Pokemon, to join them and be one of them. The notion brought back to mind the tingling sensation, which was now my constant partner. Before Radjin it had seemed chaotic and tumultuous, but now it simply lingered and pulsated on the fringes of my consciousness, something halfway between a beating heart and an idling engine. At the sight of the group, it gave a sudden flare, lunging upward for a moment before subsiding to its normal state.
I suddenly realized that I had stopped and was standing still. Courtney had stopped too, several paces in front of me, and was looking at me. "Ponyta? Is something the matter?"
I started to answer, and then stopped. What was I supposed to tell her?
((I want to go over and say something to those Pokemon,)) I responded after a couple seconds' thought. ((Would it be okay if you went on ahead? I'll catch up with you in a few minutes.))
She still looked concerned, but at least she smiled and nodded. "That's fine. I'll go ahead and see about getting us a room, then I'll wait in the lobby for you. Good luck talking to them."
Now what was that supposed to mean?
Courtney walked away. I looked back at the gathering that had attracted me, and for the first time I felt uncertain about what I had just decided to do. Who was to say that these Pokemon would accept me any more than the Fire Pokemon I had encountered in the past? They looked friendly enough, but experience had taught me that even the most amiable-looking of groups could become instantly hostile if they felt threatened by the presence of an intruder. Did I dare approach them?
It was now or never. With supreme effort, I forced myself to begin putting one foot in front of the other. Slowly, I drew closer to them.
The closer ones gradually became aware of my approach and looked up at me. One of them, a young Pikachu, detached himself from the group and scampered towards me. ((Hi there!)) he greeted me with an excitement that belied his age. ((What's your name? Do you want to play?))
((My name's Ponyta,)) I answered him, wondering how I could brush him aside without seeming rude. While the company of Electric-types seemed to be what I craved, I was already feeling a bit overwhelmed and wasn't sure I could handle games right now. ((I'm sorry, but I don't feel like playing right now. Maybe another time.))
((Oh.)) The Pikachu seemed disappointed, but not crushed or anything of that sort. With a shrug, he turned and retraced his path to his companions, who resumed their activity.
I might have followed him, if only to watch them and see what they were playing at, but my attention had been diverted by what my eyes had just happened upon. Standing near the middle of the Electric cluster, engaged in what seemed to be an animated conversation with a Magneton and a Raichu, was the most beautiful Pokemon I had ever seen in my life. The curves of his muscular body, the lines of his spiky fur and exquisitely sculpted head-- in that moment, everything about him seemed beyond the power of words to describe. The Jolteon's appearance was something above and beyond that of the other Electric-types: not cartoonish, as the Pikachu or Electabuzz, nor machine-like, as the Magnemites and Voltorbs, but instead something like no other. It was truly a thing of beauty, and it captivated me.
The bustle around me faded away. I began walking toward the Jolteon, who still lay on the ground with his back to me, oblivious to my approach. My heart pounded. I felt a pressing need to become better acquainted with this beautiful creature, but in the back of my mind I harbored the knowledge that he might not necessarily want anything to do with me. The possibility was almost too much to contemplate, so I tried not to.
Something must have alerted him to my presence-- some noise, or some indication that his companions gave. He turned and looked directly at me. My heart skipped a beat. His face was every bit as beautiful as the rest of him, but more than that, there was something maddeningly familiar about it.
His dark eyes widened in surprise. ((Ponyta...?))
I was still trying to place him when it occurred to me that he had addressed me. I could feel my own eyes widening. ((Wha... What?))
((Ponyta! Ponyta? Ponyta!)) His face took on an expression of wonder, and he stood up quickly, shaking his fur off. ((It's really you! How on earth did you get here?))
He was still incredibly familiar, but I couldn't quite pin it down. I shook my head helplessly. ((I'm sorry... I know you... but I don't know you.))
It was his turn to look confused. ((You don't remember me? From the school in Silverspring?)) He held out his paw and looked at it, turning it to show off the yellow fur. ((Look. I even decided not to become a Flareon. Just like you said.))
I looked again... and then it all came crashing back in a flood of suppressed memories. The Eevee who had talked with me, and had showed me how to escape my prison when I had been too stupid to figure it out myself. I remembered it now, or thought I did.
((Sorry I didn't recognize you,)) I said lamely. ((You've changed. Um, I mean-- um-- you know what I mean.))
((I think I do,)) he said, with just a trace of amusement in his voice. ((Don't worry about it. That's the downside of such a heavily transformative evolution-- nobody recognizes you anymore. I can hardly imagine how it must be for Beedrill.)) He looked at me. ((But you. You look a little bit different, too. Not a lot, but a little.))
((I know,)) I said, and was surprised to hear myself saying it. ((You... you look...)) The word that my brain was giving me was "gorgeous," but I couldn't bring myself to lay my feelings on the table quite so blatantly. ((Great,)) was what ultimately came out of my mouth.
He smiled, a beautiful smile, then looked at the Raichu and Magneton, who were watching with a bit of confusion. ((Guys, this is an old friend of mine that I haven't seen in forever. I really want to talk to her. Can we finish talking later?))
((Sure thing, Snap,)) the Raichu said agreeably, and the Magneton bobbed up in down in something that might have been a nod. ((Have fun. Talk to you later.))
The Jolteon nodded at them, then turned back to me and motioned off into the darkness. ((Let's take a walk. I know some of the trails around here. I want to talk to you alone.))
I was only too glad to agree, and fell into step behind him as we moved away from the crowd. ((Those two-- are they good friends of yours?))
((Who? Chester and Morpheus?)) He shrugged. ((They're just a couple of Pokemon I met in the past couple of days since we've been here. They're nice, I guess, but I haven't known them long at all.))
I nodded, pulling up short as we reached the tree line. We were beyond the range of most of the lights, and shadows surrounded us, but somehow I felt no fear. The woods which had seemed threatening before now seemed lovely and welcoming.
((Come on,)) said the Jolteon-- Snap, I now knew his name was. His voice had a touch of what I might almost have called a mischievous tone. ((There's something I want to show you.))
He pushed into the undergrowth and disappeared from sight. I followed him, my body substantially larger but still not encountering any serious resistance. I had no apprehensions whatsoever. Just as with Ashley earlier, the very presence of someone I felt I could trust seemed to take the weight of a world off my shoulders.
***
I was anxious to find out what exactly it was that Snap was so eager to show me. I didn't have long to wait, as it turned out. In what seemed like only a few minutes, we emerged from the dark tangle of brush and tree trunks into a tiny clearing on the side of a hill. Compared to the forest, the open space seemedrelatively bright, illuminated as it was by the nearby lights of the city and the presence of a full moon overhead.
I looked out over the side of the hill. We were near the eastern side of the park, apparently, and in the darkness below I could see the park fence silhouetted by the lights on the street that circumscribed the Gardens. The very edges of the glow cast by the streetlights fell on what looked like the surface of a lake, indicating a medium-sized body of water located just inside the fence. Other than that, the areas inside the park seemed all but pitch black. It gave the eerie impression of a gigantic void looming between the fence and the small patch of ground where we stood. The effect should have been unsettling, but
somehow it was not.
Snap walked up next to me. ((This is where I come when I want to be alone. We've only been here a couple of days, but I get the feeling we might be staying here
for a month or more, so I want to find my own special place. Being alone is pretty high on my list of priorities most of the time.))
His words echoed the same thoughts that had run through my head so many times since before I could remember. Being alone, having one's own space to escape to-- both were desires I could readily empathize with. ((Why are you telling me where it is,
then?))
He looked surprised, as though not quite understanding why I would ask such a question, then his face clouded with an expression that I thought I recognized as
embarrassment. ((You're different.))
The words nearly made me jump. They were phrased as quietly and unthreateningly as possible, but the words themselves elicited a shiver that I wasn't aware of until it had already rippled through me. I felt no fear of Snap, but suddenly I was possessed by the inexplicable thought that somebody was watching us. To be caught here-- alone with an Electric-type-- seemed unspeakable for reasons I could not begin to put into
words.
Snap noticed that something was wrong, too. The embarrassment on his features melted into concern. ((What's wrong? Did I say something?))
((No, you didn't do anything,)) I hastened to assure him. My problems were my own, I reminded myself once again, and the last thing I wanted to do was allow anyone else to feel guilt on my account. ((It was just something I was thinking of.))
He seemed to accept my explanation, and nodded a few times. ((So.))
To break the uncomfortable silence that descended again upon us following that pronouncement, I decided to inquire on a subject which made me intensely
curious. ((Who are you travelling with now?))
((My trainer. The same one I had when we were still at the school in Silverspring. Did you ever meet him?))
I thought about it and realized that I hadn't. The two encounters I'd had with Snap as an Eevee had been alone, devoid of any human or Pokemon presence whatsoever. For that matter, all the human trainers I had seen there-- except for Josh, of course-- seemed to blend into one another in my mind. What distinct memories I had must have slipped away in the time since I had left.
((No, I can't say I did. Tell me about him.))
Snap seemed happy to get on this subject. Whether it was because he liked his trainer or because it was something to talk about, I couldn't tell at first. ((He's great. Real nice guy. He doesn't interact with people very much, but that's just the way he is. He's great once you get to know him.))
((He's an actual trainer, then? Going on some sort of League route?))
((Yeah. Peninsula League, standard. When we get up to Mayholm, we're going to try to transfer to Johto if there are any slots left. If not, we'll just continue to the finals here, and hopefully we can make it to one of the other leagues in the summer. No real hurry, and this is as good a place to start as any other.))
((That's what your trainer says?))
((Yes.))
((Sounds like you're pretty busy, then.)) The tranquil surroundings and the conversation were beginning to have a soothing effect on me, making me relax slightly and letting some of the tension flow out of my body. Snap seemed to be feeling the same way.
((Not as busy as you'd think. Trainers are easy. Gym leaders are a challenge, but we've only lost to one once, back at the very beginning. We don't really work that hard. Trainers we encounter along the way give us all the experience we need.))
I thought of the stories I had heard, stories of Pokemon and Trainers both who had slaved their entire careers and gotten not so much as a League Top 8 finish for their efforts. I looked at Snap and saw someone with a potentially bright future, a future that I and thousands of others couldn't help but envy. And yet, in a way that made no sense, I was also incredibly proud of him. I hadn't really spent that much time with Snap, probably no more than a couple of hours if one included our previous encounters... And yet, I felt as if I knew him intimately. I wanted very badly for him to succeed.
Then I had another thought. I thought of all the Pokemon who reached the top and then fell. I thought of Supernova, resigned to spend out his days in the lobby of a remote Pokemon Center and dependent on passing strangers for companionship. I thought of these things, and I looked at Snap again... And suddenly, for reasons that made no more sense than before, I wished his future was not quite so bright.
All this went through my mind in the space it took for his mind to find something else to tell me about his trainer. ((His parents live in Shinselm. We're actually on our way back north to spend the holidays with them. The gym here was going to be our last badge until the new year.))
Something about that seemed odd to me. ((If your trainer comes from Shinselm... why were you at the school in Silverspring?))
The question made him pause to think. Judging from the look on his face, it wasn't one that had ever occurred to him. ((I don't know.))
((Never mind,)) I said. It wasn't like it was really an important question. Most likely the schools in their area had all been full, or something like that. ((Are there any other Pokemon in your party?))
((Oh, yes. Of course. You can't make it in a League if you only have one Pokemon--certainly not if that Pokemon is a type that tends to have glaring weaknesses. Hiram, that's my trainer, has two others. A Slowbro-- her name is Pepto-- to cover for my weaknesses, and a Snorlax named Clare for use when all else fails. They actually don't like battle very much, so he tends to only bring them out when there's something I can't handle.))
((What are they like outside of battle?)) I inquired. The picture Snap was presenting was quite alien to anything I had ever known, a worldview that centered on battle, with its attention to types and weaknesses and backup plans. It seemed to that going out with only a single Pokemon did not neccessarily doom one to failure, as evidenced by the apparent success of Ashley and King. Then again, those two seemed slightly more interested in seeing the world and having a good time than in any sort of competition.
((Outside of battle? Well... I don't see much of Clare outside of battle, to tell you the truth. She seems to enjoy staying in her Pokeball most of the time. When she does get let out, she tends to keep to herself.))
((Maybe she just needs someone to talk to her,)) I suggested. I considered myself somewhat knowledgeable on the subject of Pokemon keeping to themselves. ((A lot of times Pokemon are just shy about interacting with other people. If you don't reach out to them, nothing gets any better.))
Snap shook his head ruefully. ((I know what you're talking about. But believe me, we've tried everything we can think of to get her to be more social. Hiram really wants to be friends with all of his Pokemon, but even he gave up on Clare eventually. She doesn't dislike anyone, but she doesn't want to be friends with them either. She battles when he needs her to, and in return she wants to be fed, housed and left alone the rest of the time. That's all.))
It sounded sad to me, but it was none of my business, and I had long ago decided that I should try my best to accept others as they were if I expected the same treatment. ((What about the Slowbro? Pepto?))
((She's more outgoing. She loves the company of people and she loves being talked to and played with, but I can tell that Hiram gets annoyed with her slowness from time to time. He tries his best not to show it to her-- like I said, he really likes all his Pokemon-- but he's told me in private that if he didn't have me around for some intelligent companionship, he'd go crazy. He really enjoys interacting with a being that he considers his equal, and I think that over the past few months he's come to focus on me to the exclusion of his other Pokemon.))
((He considers you his equal?))
((Yes. He's said as much.))
I digested this tidbit of information. In my travels I had encountered exactly three trainers whom I felt placed their Pokemon on equal footing with themselves: King, Courtney, and now this Hiram. In every other human-Pokemon relationship I had seen or heard of, there had been a certain atmosphere of condescension. I had not begun to notice this until after I had seen an equal relationship for the first time, but now I could not help but see it-- and be strangely saddened by it-- almost everywhere I looked.
Snap obviously found the silence of my thoughts to be uncomfortable, as he leapt in with another subject that he had obviously been waiting to broach. ((Enough about me. What's been happening with you?))
I opened my mouth to begin answering, and it was at that moment that we heard a twig snap in the underbrush not too far away. I froze instantly, and it was only after a few breathless moments of listening for any further sounds that I realized Snap had done the same. My immediate response as soon as I could begin thinking coherently again was to wonder why the possibility of someone else nearby had produced such an intense sense of fear in me. Not merely annoyance or apprehension, but fear. When I looked at Snap, the expression on his face suggested to me that he had experienced a very similar emotion.
((What was that?))
((I don't know.))
The seconds immediately following the snap had been filled with silence, but now we began to hear more sounds, the crunching of leaves and brush presenting a clear picture of someone making their way through the forest towards us. Whether it was human or Pokemon, I could not tell.
((What should we do?)) hissed Snap through clenched teeth. The implication, that something needed to be done, seemed almost ludicrous in a certain light. If it was so, then the answer I found myself wanting to give-- Hide-- was even more ridiculous.
"Ponyta?"
My recognition of the voice only lessened the tension a little, but the relief was still palpable. Snap saw me relax and relaxed a little himself, but not by much. I had to swallow once before I trusted myself to speak. ((I'm over here.))
Light from the beam of a flashlight danced crazily off the maze of leaves and bushes surrounding our clearing as a figure, now recognizable as a human, pushed its way through the final few yards of forest to us. Before us stood Courtney, looking somewhat the worse for wear after her trek through the woods. "Ponyta, where have you been?"
I gulped mentally. Courtney was not angry-- she never got angry at me-- but she looked tired and exasperated. And I had evidently succeeded in worrying her, which meant guilt was in the works whether she intended it or not.
((I've been out here. With... Snap. Snap's an old friend of mine,)) I added. ((I knew him back at the academy. The one in Silverspring.))
Courtney frowned. "The one you ran away from?"
((Yes,)) Snap interjected. His tone seemed somewhat curt and completely unlike him. I attributed it to the tension of the situation, which had yet to wear off. At that moment, I belatedly realized that I had completed only half of the introductions.
((Snap, this is Courtney. She's my owner.)) The word didn't really convey the sense of our relationship that I wanted to get across, but "trainer" was even more inappropriate. "Friend," the other best word for the concept I found myself wanting to express, struck me as seeming silly as it was about to form on the tip of my tongue-- and so it died there.
Most of what remained of the tension visibly flowed out of Snap. His defensive attitude melted into one of uncertainty, still cautious but not giving the impression of being on the verge of exploding at any given moment. I hadn't realized how much Courtney's appearance had rattled him, but as I thought about it I realized how I would probably feel if Snap's trainer had chosen that particular moment to invade our solitude.
((Good to meet you, Courtney,)) Snap was saying. ((Sorry to have reacted badly to your arrival. You caught me off guard, is all. I hope we can be friends?))
Courtney returned Snap's overtures with a blank stare that, combined with what looked to be tiredness and a general air of annoyance with the situation, could have been interpreted as being unfriendly and insulting. I could tell that Snap was a bit put off by this response, so rather than give the conflict the opportunity to escalate again, I jumped in. ((Um, Snap, I don't think Courtney understands Jolteon. Sorry. Courtney, Snap was saying that he's happy to meet you and that he was just caught off guard by your arrival.)) As was I.
I now found the tired stare directed at me, and resisted the urge to take a step backwards. Courtney gave a sigh. "Ponyta, you know I'm always happy to meet your friends. Any friend of yours is a friend of mine. But we've been walking since before dawn. I don't know how much of a strain this is on you, but I can tell you it's not a lot of fun for me after a while. And it's after midnight. I guess what I'm trying to say is, is there any chance we could continue this conversation in the morning?"
She had a point. I glanced quickly at Snap, who hesitated only for a second before nodding. Upon receiving this signal from him, I nodded too.
"Thank God." I could really tell that fatigue and lack of sleep were exacting their toll on Courtney, more so than at any point during our travel. Her speech was slightly slurred and she appeared to be fighting to keep her eyes open. "Um... Snap... can you find your trainer okay? Do you need our help to get back?"
Snap shook his head once, a quick, emphatic gesture. He did not speak, knowing as he did now that his language was alien to Courtney.
"Great. See you tomorrow, then. Come along, Ponyta."
Courtney turned and began retracing the path she had come. I looked at Snap. ((I'll see you tomorrow too, I guess. Where do you want to meet?))
((The lobby of the Center is fine with me. Or outside on the grass. Somewhere near the doors.))
((I'll see you there, then. Are you going back now?))
Again, Snap shook his head no. ((I think I'll stay out here for a while. There are some things I want to think about. Have a good sleep, Ponyta.))
((Sweet dreams,)) I agreed, and moved to follow Courtney.
As we reached the top of the ridge that formed a physical barrier between the Center grounds and the hillside where the clearing was located, I looked back. Snap was all but invisible to someone who did not know to look for him, but I thought I could still make out his shadowy form, sitting in the middle of the clearing, staring after me.