Warning, this chapter has mentions of child abuse in it, notbing graphic though.
Chapter 26
All Aboard
(-¤-)
Celestic town was nice, rustic creeping into modern. The outer layer that brushed up against nature was concrete and functional architecture, plain but not quite boring. But the closer one came to the center the more one could see the towns history.
Traditional Japanese buildings stood proudly around the tiny shrine in the center of town, each ancient and feverishly cared for. The shrine itself had been interesting. A thing made of weathered wood and stone, fragrant incense burned in intricate clay cups and wooden sticks. The smoke, when I had first seen it, had made my heart skip. I thought the super important piece of history was on fire and that I would probably get blamed somehow.
But while the shrine was admittedly very pretty it was just a quick stop on the duos real destination. The Celestic Town Historical Research Center. They had a wing open for tourists to look through just some of the enormous amount of artifacts they had collected over its 80 years of being in service.
Tickets had been 50 bucks a pop, a fucking ridiculous price, but one that I paid. We had missed the beginning of the current tour by a good fifteen minutes, the next wouldn't start for another thirty so we opted to wander about on our own instead. Most of my research of this world had gone into how pokemon and their abilities work with a few other subjects to make sure I don't bumble into avoidable situations, like laws and social shit. I hadn't given much thought to history at all and just skimmed the more recent stuff, something I could get away with without much suspension on account of my "age." I didn't have a whole lotta time to learn about this world so I had to be picky.
Walking through the main hall of this place really put the age of this region into perspective. I was from America, most of the history they teach there is about various wars and the occasional dead politician from up to 500 years ago. The land itself had been inhabited by millions of people long before colonizers got there but the history books always brushed that little fact under the rug.
Here they proudly displayed just how old the region was. Pots dating back over 1500 years stood behind thick glass display cases. Weapons from previous civilizations stood proudly even after eons of time had passed them by. They even had a display case for pokeballs of the ages, some weren't even balls at all. One in particular was an intricate lamp like device made of weathered ornate brass and chipped stained glass. The plaque said it was estimated to be over 3000 years old and the oldest known capture device to date. One of a kind as well.
But what really struck me was the Hall Of Legends. A room entirely dedicated to the legendary pokemon of Sinnoh and beyond. Pieces of stone shrines with plaster carvings to replace what had been lost to time depicting both Palkia and Dialga kneeling to Arceus. Dozens of pieces of jewelry baring the marks on symbols of various legends were kept behind glass display cases. One of which matched the simple patch I had made to represent Suicune, a copy of their head crest on proud display.
Clay figures stood proud and tall. Ceremonial weapons clung to their air of former glory with tarnished brass and gleaming gold. Art made with reverence for creatures beyond human understanding circled me. Each one reminding me of my promise to battle the creatures these people once worshipped.
I was marveling at a large colorful tapestry that showed both Darkrai and Cressialia when Citrine tapped my shoulder in an effort to get my attention. I snapped head over, vaguely annoyed by the sensation of human touch lingering on my skin. He motioned to another group of people gathered around a familiar woman in a tweed jacket who seemed to be giving some kind of short presentation. I walked over with him, focusing on her words as I did.
"-all over the world. And more ruins containing them are still being discovered to this day." She motioned towards the large stone tablet she stood infront of. Every inch of the ancient lime stone was covered in Unkown text. The odd symbols forming long lines of a language no longer spo-
Wait a minute.
I looked closer putting sounds to letters, my eyes scrawling across them trying to make sense of it. It wasn't english, even if the alphabet was, but...
Was that Japanese?
It fucking was! Well it probably was, I only know like two words of the language and I'm pretty sure 'idiot' and 'anime porn' are not gonna be on that thing. But the sound and cadence was recognizable all the same.
Weird.
"The pokemon this writing system is based on are known as the Unknown." A small chirp rang out as one such creature sprang up over her shoulder, "And heres one now!" She smiled as the odd Q shaped critter flitted about the small crowd, it large unblinking eye curiously taking in the sight of the unfamiliar people. "This is Query, they was found at the Ruins of Alph in Johto a few years ago. While we try to make sure the pokemon in these sights stay undisturbed, Query here decided they liked us much better than the ruins and snuck into one of our researchers bags right before his return trip. They've become a sort of mascot around here now."
The strange pokemon hovered above the crowds heads just out of reach as if suspended in some unseen liquid. Its eye wandering until it saw me, and froze.
It moved much faster than one would expect, going from maybe twenty feet away to in my face in just a second. I jerked back but they kept pace as their eye wildly went over me.
"Dude what the fuck?!" What's its deal? I didn't do anything. Wait, aren't these things like psychic and shit?
Does it know I'm not from here.
A weird feeling sorta tickled my thoughts, not my brain but my actual thoughts, it was faint, just barely there but strange and foreign. Almost like flicking oil into water, both liquid yet easily seperated. There were no words just vague notions, a hint of excitement, a touch of curiosity, the barest suggestion of a question I would never be able to know, let alone answer.
"That's fucking trippy, what is it doing?!" Nope, don't like that shit, not one bit. It's not trying to hurt me, I think, but what the fuck.
"Oh I'm so sorry ma'am" A new and oddly familliar lady quickly walked over to us and gave a slight bow. The Unknown flitted away back towards the crowd, curiosity seemingly satisfied. "When something catches their interest they just can't seem to help their self." The newcomer was in her late thirties, circular glasses that really brought out the nerd in her looks, a brown cotton jacket and wait a minute I know this lady.
"You were at the tournament the other day, right?" I questioned. I definetly didn't remember her name but I recalled a bit about our conversation and the food I got after it. Mostly the food actually but its better than nothing.
She blinked in surprise. "Oh, your Alice, I'm Dr Brooke. You won the tournament," She smiled "I have to thank you for running Augustine off like that. He seemed so insistent on ruining competitions for months nows." Citrine mumbled out something that sounded alot like a jab about my name recollection skills and was promptly ignored.
"Yeah he seemed like a dick." If she had any problem with my language she didnt show it, instead her smile only grew wider.
"Oh you have no idea. Ever since he showed up attendance for the local tournaments has dropped by at least half." That was only half of the usual crowd!? "They were thinking about banning him from them outright. They might if he shows up again, but after that embarrassment I doubt he will." At least not without someone clocking him with another soft drink.
She knit her brow in concentration for a moment, seemingly mulling something over. "Say, you said your pretty good at 'kicking peoples teeth in' the other day." I raised an eyebrow at her, curious as to where she was going with this. "How would you like a bodyguard slash delivery job?" Both Lazuli and Citrine perked up at that.
"What kind of job?" The orange one asked.
"Oi! She ain't asking you." I snapped before turning back to her. "What kind of job?" I could feel his eyes rolling at me.
"We have an artifact that needs delivered to an engineering and research center in Alomosa town. Usually we would just have it teleported there but the artifact doesn't transfer over, it's like it's immune to psychic influence. We want to find out what it's made from. My boss is paranoid so she insists that it be delivered by someone who can actually protect it. It'll be a quick job, I'll even give you a free train ticket and 400 dollars on delivery." That sounds awesome.
"What's the catch?" Because there is always a catch.
"No catch, I'm supposed to do it myself because I'm the only employee that's any good at battling but I need to board a flight to Kanto tommorrow for my sisters wedding. This came up and ruined that so it would be a big help!"
"Alice, me and Lazuli are going to Alomosa town anyway, we could go together." Lazuli had the slightest look of hope in her eyes as Citrine said that and damn if I'm not a sucker for sad kids. Besides, it does sound pretty easy and it would more than make up for the money I forgot to grab.
"Yeah ok." What's the worst that could happen.
(-¤-)
Which is how I found myself on a train going east at 6 in the goddamned morning. Fuck me, its way to early for this shit. I've never been a morning person, not even after I started traveling. Being able to cover massive swaths of land with a big ass bat and a piece of junk with wheels means I can sleep I as long as I want.
I couldn't even get any coffee from the pokemon center, the stupid chansey was dead set on being responsible and not letting a child have any. I don't care if it stunts my growth.
I. Want. Coffee.
At least the train itself was nice, dark wood interior, brass finishings, green carpet and matching cloth seats clearly made with comfort in mind. The whole thing looked like it was styled after those trains from old western movies. They even had those seats that faced each other. I guess this is what happens when you actually have a well funded public transportation system, hell the tickets didn't even cost that much, just 50 bucks a piece.
Only a few other people were on the train with us, seems Alomosa town isn't super popular.
"So, what do you think is inside?" Citrines voice snapped me back to horrible waking reality. The thing he was refering to was a plain brown suitcase that we had been tasked to deliver to Alomosa town. A small place that had a well funded science building that would take a look at the item inside.
"No fucking idea. Probably drugs." I snarked. He made a face that suggested that he took me seriously for just a fleeting moment before realizing that I was bullshitting. Ha. "Weird that it wouldn't teleport, maybe its dark type."
"Stuff can't be dark type, only pokemon can." I smell a stupid argument to be had.
"Sure it can, stuff can be fire type or rock type. Why not dark type."
"No they can't, those aren't a thing."
"Camp fires are fire type, statues are rock type, and you're a fighting type." He opened his mouth to give an argument but couldn't seem to one summon up. Finally he found one.
"Name one dark type thing thats not a pokemon."
"The thing in the briefcase." It gave me a hollow thump as I slapped a hand on it.
"You don't even know what it is!" He exclaimed.
"But I know it can't be teleported, and dark types can't be teleported, therefore its dark type." I said with the finality of someone who knows what their talking about and is definitely not making shit up because she's bored.
"Prove it." Oh? A challenge to my argument, or an attempt to call my bluff. Oh sir, you have called out the wrong girl.
"Fine." He blinked at me, suddenly confused as I took out Karens pokeball.
"What do you mean 'fine'? You don't have the combination for it, you can't even open the thing."
"Don't have to." Karen suddenly appeared in my lap, the light show from her release both bright and attention grabbing, like her. She gave herself a small shake before taking in her surroundings and deaming them unworthy of her presence. A glare settled on her face and was quickly replaced by contentment as I immediately began grooming any slightly out of place fibers. "Oh Karen?"
She looked me for a moment, "Could you be a dear and get the thing out of this briefcase?" She took a momemt to eye said briefcase before suddenly squeezing her way through the hairline crack of the seal around the edge. Both kids to my sides gawked in amazement as the little puff ball disappeared into a place that should have been impossible to get into. Ah cottonee, a thiefs best friend
"I-wh-WHAT?!" Citrine exclaimed, an appropriate reaction to her special ability.
"The Cottonee line have the ability to squeeze into any visible crack," I began explaining "They do so by briefly shifting segments of their physical form into psuedo energy to flow right through them. This also goes for anything inside of them, like food-"
A small puff of cotton popped out of the side before the rest quickly followed. Her bright orange eyes narrowed in concentration as she wriggled free of the bag. Once free she quickly spat out our mystery item.
"Or weird dark type things." I said with enough smug to power the train before checking out said weird thing.
The item in question was a simple necklace made of fine woven white fibers. Thats it, no decorations, no amulet, no clasp, not even a knot. Just a loop of white, it kinda looked like thick paracord. Huh, I was expecting like a crystal or some crazy dagger thing, not boring jewelry. I gave another rather impressive yawn as I took the thing into my hand, grimacing at the slight amount of spit that had gotten onto it from Karen. Turning it over revealed nothing new, I couldn't even find the ends of any of these fibers. For supposedly being over 800 years old it was in surprisingly perfect condition.
"Well thats boring." I huffed, a lack of damage aside this thing was very plain. "I was hoping for something shiny."
"Guys," Lazulis tiny voice finally spoke up. "We weren't supposed to take it out. They're gonna be mad!" Poor girls voice was wavering as she pointed out my rule breaking.
"No, they said don't open it." I reminded her knowing full well that I was being a shit. "Didn't say anything about taking it out."
"But it's out and were gonna be in trouble and they're gonna yell at us and-" Her words came stumbling out of her mouth in an increasing panic.
"Woah woah, chill out I'll just put it back." I handed the boring necklace back to Karen who huffily reversed the process and stored it away in the briefcase again.
"See, all fixed." I quickly returned the puffball. "Besides I'm the one making the delivery, remember? The only one that would get in trouble is me, you got nothing to worry about."
"I guess..." She mumbled out, probably still a bit nervous about my antics.
The ride from then on was fairly quiet, me and Citrine got in another minor argument, this time about lemonade of all things. Citrine held no real animosity towards me from our pointless spats, mostly I think he just enjoyed having someone who argued back, he seemed like the type that enjoyed a good shouting match.
Lazuli however mostly stayed quiet in her window seat across from us, silently fiddling with the emergency seatbelt buckles attached to the seats. The more I watched her the more I recognized certain behavior patterns. Only really speaks when spoken to, or just to Citrine, and even then the words were whispered out. She seemed almost hyper sensitive to my emotional state, curling in on herself when I let even a hint anger into my voice. A dozen little ticks, actions, and inactions all telling me the exact same thing.
Our train ride had just reached the middle of its journey when Citrine excused himself to the bathroom. I waited just a minute or so before doing the same, leaving the briefcase with Laz for the moment. I didn't need a piss break though, I just needed a few questions answered and I'm pretty sure she would just lie to me if I asked her directly.
The entrance to the restroom was in a small closed off hallway in the back of the car. The smooth rumbling of the tracks beneath brought back memories of moving to the city. before that I had lived in a more rural area. Lots of trees, some old abandoned buildings here and there, and a small community of people. I would call it quaint, Mom would call it redneck, dumb bitch.
Moving away from an enviroment like that to a bustling city was jarring at first, people always on the move, cars constantly rumbling by, an actual taxi service. It was a place that was impersonal and wholly alien, something I found both terrifying, and comforting. A chance to start over, to decide my own fate, even if that fate was just minor job after job. Moving out at 18 was rough, but living with her was rougher. Which brings me to my next point.
The bathroom door opened as Citrine stepped out, he stopped, taken aback for a moment at my presence.
"So is she a runaway or what?"
His brow knit in confusion at my question, "What?"
"Look, I know an abused kid when I see one, and she's clearly been through it." All the flinching, mumbling, and general shyness spoke volumes. "I'm not gonna turn you guys in or anything, I know what its like to be in a shit home like tha-"
"Stop." He cut me off, "We aren't runaways." Well that's good, I'm honestly not sure what I would've done if they were. Maybe travel with them permenatly? Someone would need to look out for them in a situation like that.
He glared for a moment, clearly mulling over whether or not to tell me the full story. I stayed put patiently waiting for an explaination, until he finally relented. "But you're right about her being abused. Her mom died when she was just a baby and her dad works away from home alot. So eventually he remarried so she could have a mom." He snarled with genuine malice at the mention of her step mom. "Turns out mommy dearest wasn't exactly in it for the family aspect. Lazulis dad makes alot of money and where there's a sad single man with lots of cash."
"There's gold diggers." I finished.
He nodded "So this woman just wanted money and hated dealing with kids so she did eveything she could to make sure Lazuli wasn't an *annoyance*." Now I was snarling at this bitch. "Her dad was never home long enough to figure out what was going on and she was always too scared to say anything. We met on the play ground one day and I saved her from some bullies, she stuck to me ever since. Eventually I learned what was going on, told my parents and a few phone calls later the wicked step monster was on the curb of the street with a suitcase, no money, and on the fast track to divorce." He smirked, "Lazuli stayed with us until her dad got back where he decided to retire early and stay home with her."
"Her home life is alot better than it used to be, but she never stopped clinging to me. It's the whole reason she's on a journey at all, because I wanted to go on one and the thought of me leaving terrified her. Her dad let her because he feels guilty about everything that happened and hopes this can boost her confidence. So here we are."
"Well shit." That's rough. Hearing that story really made me want to hunt that bitch down and wail on her, but at least Laz has gotten out of that crap. "Is she doing any better?"
"The first three months I knew her I thought she was a mute, and now she can kind of talk to strangers. It's slow going but she's getting there. What about you?"
"What about me?" I used to act alot like Lazuli when I was younger, and then I saw red for the first time and all that fear got channeled into anger after that, the belt stopped working so well once I went out of my way to build up a pain tolerance to it. Not to say it fixed anything about my situation but it at least gave me some degree of control.
"You said you were from a bad home earlier, are you a runaway?" Ah shit I did say that didn't I. My made up story says yes but it's not something I want to just flaunt out to the world. Especially if someone actually recognizes 'me'. Maybe I can spin this around.
"Well that's kinda compli-" I was cut off by screaming from our cars sitting area. Our heads snapped towards the door, the previous topic discarded for now. I was the first to react, bursting through the thin wooden door with the karate kid hot on my heels.
Webbing met our eyes, it was everywhere, as if a bomb had gone off covering every surface in the tiny space coating everything and everyone. A lone figure stood in the middle of the cart, his words dying in his throat as he got a look at us newcomers. A fancy blue suede tuxedo covered his tall slim form one white gloved hand held a cane topped with a pokeball while the other held my briefcase. An intricate white mask obscured his face and an honest to gods tophat sat on his head. His whole vibe screamed 'evil magician'.
"Ah, it seems I've missed a few stragglers." His voice struck me as huaghty and had an air of showmanship to it.
"Are you fucking kidding me?!" What the fuck is happening right now?! Who the fuck is this guy? Why does he have my package? Why is he a magician? Why does he have a tophat?
A whimper drew our attention away from him for just a moment and towards a very unhappy and webbed up Lazuli. The poor girl looked like she was about to start hyper ventilating, tears streaming down her cheeks past the webs covering her mouth. I turned back to the fuckwad with the stupid getup.
"OH YOUR FUCKING DEAD!"
(-¤-)
Alice Thorn
May 8
Team
Jack
Buneary
Moves: Pound, Foresight, Frustration, Sweetkiss, Defense Curl, Baby Doll Eyes, Quick Attack, Jumpkick, Shadow Ball, Low Kick, Swagger, Protect, Fire Punch
Ability Limber
Luke
Golbat
Moves: Absorb, Super sonic, Astonish, Bite, Whirlwind, Wing attack, Confuse ray, Air Cutter, Swift, Protect
Ability Inner focus
Karen
Cottonee
Moves: Abosrb, Fairy Wind, Growth, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Poison Powder, Protect, Swift, Razor Leaf, Cotton Spore
Ability Infiltrator
Mark
Scraggy
Moves: Leer, Headbutt, Sand Attack, Feint Attack, Swagger, Low Kick, Dragon Dance, Protect, Endure, Facade, Pay Back
Ability Moxie
3318¥
In Box
N/A
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