Author's Notes: Sorry it took so long to get this chapter up, but I've been swamped by end-of-quarter school projects and haven't had much time to write. Hopefully I'll be past those by the end of next week and be back on track.
I'm sorry to hear that the previous chapter didn't turn out as unsettling as I'd hoped. I'll see what I can do for the next chapter that involves Grottlis to make it reflect his character a little better.
Chapter 12: The KeyThe morning dawned bright and cheery over Goldenrod, banishing the lingering shadows from the night before. Katherine found herself jolted from an uneasy slumber, grateful to be able to look out at the sun again. Jeremy had apparently gotten to sleep at some point; he was curled up on top of Katherine's pack in the corner. Katherine sat up and stretched, yawning widely. She reluctantly pushed the sheets aside and stood up, staggering of her room to the hall, where she found herself immersed in a wonderful scent.
Ms. Leafbaum was apparently already up and cooking; bangs and metallic clatters eminated from the kitchen, along with the smells of syrup and frying bacon. Katherine rounded the corner and stood in the doorway to the kitchen. "Good morning, Ms. Leafbaum," she said to Mark's mother, who was engaged in vigorously stirring a bowl of pancake batter.
She looked up and smiled. "Oh, good morning Katherine," she replied. "I just thought I'd make you a little something for breakfast before Mark comes. He said he'd be here sometime before lunch."
Katherine nodded and wandered back to her room, where Jeremy was rousing himself slowly. He uncurled his small body and stretched, catlike, back and forth. He then settled down to grooming himself, dragging his small tongue through his fur. Katherine reached down to retrieve her brush from a pocket in her pack next to him and started to work it through her hair.
Once both Katherine and Jeremy had made themselves adequately presentable, they headed to the kitchen, where Ms. Leafbaum was setting the final dish on the table. Again, she had done far more than was necessary, creating a huge spread of breakfast items, including pancakes with maple syrup, bacon, and a large pan of scrambled eggs.
The three of them sat down to another hearty meal, though Katherine was disappointed to find that it was not as cheery for her as the previous night's dinner had been. She couldn't get the uneasy feeling that had come over her last night out of her head, and she had a feeling that today was going to be yet another wild adventure which she might not yet be prepared for.
The clock in the kitchen slowly ticked off time, and soon it proudly announced that it was ten thirty. Ms. Leafbaum assured Katherine that Mark would certainly arrive soon. Katherine sat contentedly in the living room with her Pokedex, going over her Pokemon's statistics and thinking about what moves she should have them learn next. After what seemed an eternity of agonized waiting, Mark arrived.
He burst in through the door. "Mom, I'm home!" he yelled. Ms. Leafbaum came rushing to greet him, burying him in a deep hug.
"Oh, it's so good to see you again, Mark!" she said happily, relaxing her embrace.
"There's someone else here to see you, too. Katherine stopped by."
"Katherine?" Mark asked incredulously. "Well, that's a surprise."
"Yes she's just in the living room, there," Mark's mother replied indicating Katherine, who was lounging on the couch just inside the room. She gave Mark a cheery wave.
"Katherine!" he said with a chuckle, "I didn't see you! What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to see what the next Johto champion looked like before he became famous, of course," Katherine replied slyly."
"Come on, there's plenty of room in the living room, and we've got plenty to talk about. Grab a seat. I made cookies," Ms. Leafbaum shooed Mark into the living room and dashed back to the kitchen for refreshments.
Mark took a seat on one of the squashy armchairs near the fireplace, and the two trainers inspected each other. Mark looked almost exactly as Katherine remembered him, though it had been nearly a year since she had last seen him. He had piercing blue eyes and short, curly blonde hair, though it was a darker shade than his mother's. He wore a perpetual grin and his "lucky shirt," a dark blue T-shirt depicting a Vaporean crouched in an attack position.
"You haven't changed much, Mr. Champion," Katherine told him.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Ms., uh, Trainer," he replied. "So what brings you my way, anyway?"
Katherine was about to reply but was interrupted by Ms. Leafbaum, who had returned from the kitchen. She was now laden with a large plate of chocolate chip cookies and a pair of Squirtle Sodas. She set the cookie platter down on the small coffee table in the middle of the living room and handed a soda to Katherine and Mark. "Don't spoil your lunches, now," she commanded with mock severity.
Katherine and Mark helped themselves to several cookies and Ms. Leafbaum settled herself on the couch opposite Katherine. Katherine passed a cookie to Jeremy, who accepted it eagerly. The cookies were still warm and very gooey, and his white stomach fur was soon stained brown.
Remembering Mark's question, Katherine answered as best she could without giving too much away. "I wanted to see my old Vulpix again, you know? I wondered how he was doing. I thought you might like to have another look at your Arcanine, too."
"Well, you're in luck," Mark replied. "I have your Vulpix with me, although he's actually a Ninetales now. That's nice of you. I really would like to see my old Growlithe, or Arcanine, again."
Jeremy's ears perked up at the word "Ninetales", but he otherwise didn't react. He had begun grooming himself, licking the chocolate off of his fur with relish.
"What's with the Rattata, by the way?" Mark asked, indicating Jeremy.
"Oh, he's just a present to one of my little cousins. She's always wanted a Pokemon, and she really loves Rattata. Her mom says that it would be fine for her to have one, so I went and caught her one. I'm just heading to Ecruteak now, actually, to go give him to her." Katherine lied quickly. It wasn't entirely untrue; one of the reasons that she had been backtracking was that her younger cousin, Sasha, would soon be old enough to begin her own Pokemon journey. Her aunt and uncle had charged Katherine with the task of finding a suitable Pokemon for their daughter to begin he quest with.
"Ah, one of those "Pokemon bequeathal" things," Mark said, nodding knowingly.
"That's how you got your Vaporeon, wasn't it?" Katherine asked, seeming to remember something along those lines.
Mark nodded. "Yeah, my uncle got it for me while he was still a trainer. Pity he quit; he probably could have been pretty good." Mark's first Pokemon had been his Vaporeon, and she was still one of his most valued companions. He had bought his lucky shirt in honor of her and he claimed that neither she nor the shirt had yet let him down.
"Why'd he quit?" Katherine asked absent-mindedly, thinking back to her own first Pokemon, Elekid.
"Same reason everyone does, I suppose," Mark replied with a shrug. "Got tired of it. Got tired of the life. Some people just sort of...lose interest."
The four people in the room, all of whom had been trainers or were trainers now, fell silent, contemplating Mark's serious words.
Mark's mother broke the silence. "Enough of the sad talk," she announced. "Let's hear what you've been up to, Mark."
Just as Katherine had been the previous evening, Mark was more than eager to describe his recent exploits. He enthusiastically described his battle with Clair, where his Vaporeon had once again led him to victory. He described the email that he had received from the Johto League shortly thereafter, inviting him to the invitational that was held at the end of each Johto League season to determine the champion, and his plans for the future. "I've never been to the Indigo Plateau," he explained, "so I'm going to have to hike there instead of flying like I'm used to. I need to be quick about it, too; the tournament's a week from now, and it's a long walk. I'll be flying down to New Barktown later today."
"Wow," said Katherine. She couldn't imagine what Mark must be going through, the anticipation of the coming battles and the lingering doubt that just maybe he might not be good enough. That maybe he'd do poorly and embarrass himself in front of half of the world. The tournament would be televised, as it was one of the largest Pokemon events of the year.
"What about you, Katherine?" he asked. "How's your badge quest going?"
"Not so well, I'm afraid," Katherine sighed. "I have six. I was a little distracted by the whole "need to catch Pokemon for cousin" thing, but once I've got that little errand dealt with, I should be back on track." Assuming that I'm back at all, she thought to herself.
"That's good," Mark replied. "Well, if you wanted to see your Ninetales, we better head outside. It's a bit cramped in here."
Katherine nodded. "Makes sense. Shall we?"
The pair stepped outside onto the street, closely followed by Mark's mother and Jeremy, who was scampering along in the rear. Mark selected a Pokeball from his belt and tossed it lightly out onto the street. "Come on out, Ninetales," he commanded. A golden fox Pokemon leapt daintily from the ball as it burst open, turning back to face Mark as the Pokeball reversed trajectory, returning to his hand.
"Go, Arcanine!" Katherine cried, sending out his Pokeball. He bounded out of it in a burst of white light. The huge red Pokemon towered over the dainty Ninetales, who looked up at him with interest.
"Growlithe!" Mark called. Arcanine, confused, turned around to see who was calling him by his former name. Spotting Mark, he gave a loud bark and bounded over to him.
"Vulpix?" Katherine asked the Ninetales uncertainly. He looked up at her with wisdom in his eyes.
"Niiine," he replied softly. Katherine knelt down so as to be at a better level to talk with him.
"You certainly look different," she said in wonderment. The Ninetales warmed to her admiration, drawing himself up proudly and lashing his long tails. "Listen, Ninetales, there's something very important that I wanted to see you about," Katherine explained to him. "I have a friend who really wants to talk to you."
Hearing his cue, Jeremy emerged from behind Katherine's back.
When the Ninetales saw the diminutive rodent scurry out from behind his former trainer, he became immensely curious. He arched his graceful neck down so as to sniff the newcomer. When he did so, however, his head snapped back up as though he had been hit full in the face with a Water Gun, and the expression on his face wouldn't have been an unexpected sight in that situation either. He bowed down to the Rattata, but this time it was cold determination that illuminated his red eyes rather than playful interest. "Niine. Tales. Tales nine." he hissed in a low voice.
"Ratta! Rat rat," Jeremy replied. The two became engrossed in a heated discussion, Pokemon language flying back and forth between them faster than Katherine could follow. Usually, she could get the gist of what a Pokemon was saying, but these two seemed to be able to understand each other word-for-word.
Bored, Katherine turned to see how Mark was getting along with Arcanine. Quite well, apparently. The burly Pokemon was enthusiastically licking Mark's face, ignoring the trainer's half-hearted attempts to shove him away. Mark's mother was laughing delightedly at the spectacle, and people passing by on the street smiled at the pair.
The conversation behind Katherine seemed to have worked up to some kind of argument. The Pokemon were exchanging angry words loudly. Ninetales' eyes burned angrily and he was furiously lashing his long tails. Jeremy was bristling and fairly yelling at the top of his small lungs. Katherine hoped that Mark wouldn't notice the apparent hatred between the pair and separate them.
That didn't seem likely. Having finally managed to restrain Arcanine, Mark was letting the rest of his Pokemon out to see their old friend. Pokemon appeared in bursts of multicolored light, turning the street into a menagerie in a matter of seconds. Katherine eagerly dashed over to have a look at them.
There was no doubt about it; Mark's Pokemon had definitely improved since the last time that she had seen him, and he had a couple new ones as well. His Flaaffy had apparently evolved, as an Ampharos was now trundling around the street, barking "Amph! Amph!" in its odd, slightly nasal voice.
A Piloswine snorted grumpily, trying to blow the hair away from its tiny eyes to see better. It began to lumber up to Arcanine to say hello, but accidentally blundered into another of Mark's Pokemon instead. The Raticate gently pushed Piloswine away and chattered directions to it, allowing it to make its way over to Arcanine without any further collisions. Mark's old Tangela was shyly standing near the Raticate, clearly in awe of the fiery dog. The vines encompassing its body rustled and swayed uncertainly, and its large eyes peered out with a mixture of curiosity and fear at the powerful fire-type.
Mark's final team member was as calm and aloof as ever, sitting off to the side and taking the scene in coolly. The Vaporeon watched Arcanine with interest, her flat blue eyes regarding him intensely and her mermaid-like tail lashing thoughtfully behind her. Her perpetually damp skin shone slickly in the midmorning sun as Katherine walked up to her. She turned his head as she approached, flicking her ribbed ears. "How's it going, Vaporeon?" she asked her conversationally.
"Vaaaa," he replied thoughtfully, cocking his head to one side. "Eeon, vaporeon."
"Pretty well for me, too, thanks," Katherine replied, guessing that Vaporeon had returned the question. She felt rather uncomfortable lying to the Vaporeon, who appeared immensely wise, as though she knew the truth of Katherine's situation. She merely nodded in a satisfied way, then turned her attention back to the rest of Mark's Pokemon. They were playfully tussling with Arcanine, who was by far the largest of any of them.
Jeremy and Ninetales' argument had apparently ended when Katherine turned back to the pair. Ninetales seemed to be giving Jeremy some sort of speech, talking slowly and with emphasis. Jeremy was listening intently and occasionally nodding. The Ninetales reached the end of his monologue and turned around on himself in one fluid motion, burying his muzzle in the long fur of one of his tails. He appeared to fish for something with his mouth, then seized hold of it and turned back around to Jeremy. In his mouth was a single long, golden strand of fur, which he had apparently pulled out of his tail. He set it down carefully on the pavement, and Jeremy scurried over to retrieve it. The Ninetales then abruptly stood up and trotted over to Katherine.
"All done with him?" Katherine asked.
"Tales," Ninetales replied emphatically.
"You want to see your old friends again, huh?" Katherine asked him, reaching for the Pokeballs on her belt.
"Niine, nine," he replied enthusiastically. Katherine obligingly grabbed her Pokemon's Pokeballs off of her belt and tossed them into the air.
"Come on out, everyone!" she called. As the shower of Pokeballs hit the cobblestones they burst open to disgorge the rest of her team, who quickly surrounded Ninetales, talking excitedly to him. An unpleasant stench wafted across the street, causing passers by to wrinkle their noses in disgust and hurry past and Mark, his Pokemon, and his mother all turned to see what was generating the horrible smell.
"Mukkk! Mukmukmuk!" Muk bellowed excitedly at the sight of Ninetales. He extended his goopy hand, scattering the rest of Katherine's team who quickly darted out of its path. Ninetales shrank away as well.
"Err, you remember Muk, don't you, Ninetales?" Katherine asked nervously. She didn't want to have Ninetales grow angry and begin trying to torch Muk, but the Pokemon appeared to gather his courage and allowed himself to be greeted by Muk, who of course wanted a handshake. That done, Muk seemed to be satisfied, and Katherine hastily returned him to his Pokeball. Pidgeot irritably blasted the lingering stench away with an underpowered Whirlwind, and her Pokemon settled down to enjoy a bit of time with old friends.
There then ensued a half an hour period in which Mark's team and Katherine's team frolicked together as much as was possible in the confines of the city street. They chased each other up and down the wide path, wrestled with each other, and generally made fools of themselves. The three humans looked on with amused pleasure, as parents do over frolicking children. When it seemed that the Pokemon were finally beginning to wind down, Mark and Katherine asked them to bid adieu to each other and returned them to their Pokeballs.
"Well, I guess I'd better be off," Mark said reluctantly after his Vaporeon disappeared into its Pokeball once more. "I have a lot of walking to do and not much time to do it in. It was nice to be seeing you again, Katherine. And I promise I'll come home again right after the tournament."
"I'll be watching for you," Ms. Leafbaum said cheerfully, "and you can bet that I'll drag as many of the neighbors as I can into it. I'll tie them to a chair and force them to stare at the TV while you're on, if I have to." Mark chuckled and gave his mom another hug.
"See you around, Mark," Katherine said regretfully, hoping that this whole mess would settle out all right and she would truly be able to see him again. Mark nodded and started off down the street, waving goodbye as he went. His mother waved emphatically after him as he disappeared around a corner, headed south down the main street.
She stopped waving and turned to Katherine. "I suppose that you'll be leaving now, too?" she asked regretfully.
Katherine nodded. "I'll be sure to stop by and visit when I'm in the area. Maybe I'll bring my little cousin along when she gets her Pokemon."
"I'd love that, dear," Ms. Leafbaum replied. "You're welcome any time." She returned to her home, and Katherine sighed and turned to look at Jeremy. He had sat aloof from the silliness that had gripped her Pokemon as they gleefully played with old friends. He had been sitting moodily off to the side, occasionally running the long strand of fur given to him by the Ninetales through his forepaws.
Katherine walked over to him and crouched down. She surreptitiously looked left and right to be sure that there was no one around. The street was empty for the moment, so she leaned in close to Jeremy. "So, where to next?" she asked quietly.
"Blackthorn," Jeremy hissed quietly. He then put the strange strand of fur into his mouth and scurried up Katherine's arm to rest on her shoulder. Katherine sighed inwardly. She had been enjoying a peaceful brake from weird Pokemon and curses and the like, but it appeared that now was the time to return to business.
"Go, Pidgeot," she called, throwing down his Pokeball. Pidgeot appeared somewhat perplexed at being called out so soon after having been returned to his Pokeball, and he looked questioningly at Katherine. "We're taking a little trip to Blackthorn, Pidgeot, and we need to get their fast," Katherine told him. She hoped that it would just be a little trip, at least.
Pidgeot obediently allowed Katherine to mount and then kicked off from the ground, his wide wings sweeping through the air and propelling them upwards. "Geooot!" he shrieked, banking to face northwest and pumping his wings to gain speed. Soon the wind was howling in Katherine's ears as he streaked above the ground, flying high and fast.
"So, Jeremy," she Katherine addressed him sarcastically, practically having to yell over the roaring of the wind, "it looked like you and Ninetales got along pretty well there."
Jeremy glared at her grumpily. "He didn't like me at all, that's for sure. Thought I was too impertinent, or something like that." Katherine could imagine that word being used to describe Jeremy quite well, but she remained silent. "Anyway, he took a good look at me and said that the curse on me was too powerful for him to remove by himself. He did say, however, that he knew of a certain place where we could go to find someone who would be able to help me out."
"I assume that that's why we're headed to Blackthorn," Katherine deduced.
Jeremy shrugged. "Blackthorn's just the starting point. We'll be headed out into the mountains near there to reach our destination. According to your old Ninetales, we're looking for an old volcano, one that's been inactive for a pretty long time. He was a little sketchy on the details, but he said that if we followed the first river that we came to after leaving Blackthorn from the north we'd be hard-pressed to miss it."
"What's with the fur thing?" Katherine asked.
"Oh, that," Jeremy said reluctantly. "Well, that's sorta the reason that your Nintales was sure we wouldn't be able to miss the mountain. It's a sacred place for Vulpix and Ninetales, goodness knows why. He said he expected there to be guards there, who might try to stop us from getting into the mountain. That's why he gave me this," here he held up the long strand of fur, which he had been clutching with one of his small white forepaws. It streamed out behind him, shining golden in the unclouded sunlight. "He said it was some sort of token that would make the guards let us through."
Katherine couldn't believe it. Her old Ninetales respected her enough to give her the key to one of his specie's most important places? She couldn't believe it. He might know her well enough to know that she was a kind person and wouldn't dream of intentionally abusing the privilege, but she couldn't imagine him giving her such an honor. "I can't believe that he would trust me with something like this," she breathed to herself.
Jeremy's keen ears caught the words even over the screaming of the wind. He shifted uncomfortable on her shoulder. "I said something like that too, and your Ninetales just laughed," he said uncomfortably. "He told me that it wasn't really so much that he trusted us, just that he was sure that if we abused the privilege we wouldn't be alive long enough to enjoy it."