I initially wasn't going to include this chapter, but I figured it was important to have a transition chapter here. I'm blown away by the fact that we're already at Chapter 15.
Also, this story is now 150 pages long on Google Docs (I'm using 11-point Arial font). I thought that was a notable milestone.
Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to rate and review! Follow if you want to know when updates come. Enjoy.
BRADLEY CLARION
Even though it was only midmorning, I felt as though it were a lot later in the day. I supposed that this shouldn't be too surprising; after all, I had been up since around midnight, and I'd already been through a battle. My first battle as a Pokemon, and I had the feeling that there would be many more.
I couldn't explain exactly why, but I somehow felt horrible for defending myself. What I'd told Jenna earlier had been true, and, while her words had reassured me that I wasn't a monster, that only went so far. I wanted to be an ethical person, or rather Pokemon (although I hoped I would be human again soon).
So yeah, it was no wonder that it seemed like so much time had passed. So much had happened in just the last nine hours.
"Are you feeling overwhelmed?" Jenna asked me, as though reading my mind.
I nodded, chuckling nervously. "Yeah, just a bit overwhelmed. I haven't seen any of your world other than Skylock, and to hear that I might have to go alone…".
Jenna shook her head and interrupted me. "No, you won't have to go alone. Because I'll go with you, whether my mother lets me or not. We're going to pack enough food and supplies for two weeks instead of just one".
I recalled how much trouble it had been to carry food for one person for a week on the jungle trail. Hopefully I wouldn't be hiking all the time; if what Jenna was telling me was true, there was a cargo ship in the harbor that would take me to Sele City.
Sele City (pronounced SELL-AY) was apparently where I would find what I sought. But that begged the question: What, exactly, was I seeking?
Wait a minute...she said that she's going to go with me, even if her mother specifically told her that she couldn't. That's so awesome of her!
I could barely resist the impulse to hug Jenna; that was how kind she was being to me. I only stopped myself from doing so by picturing the scene of us hugging in the next day's newspaper.
There we go. As if moving the fountain in the middle of Central Square wasn't enough bad publicity, now we've got interspecies romance. How amazing is that?
"Thank you so much, Jenna" I said, feeling my eyes widen and my mouth morph into a smile. "It means a lot to me".
"It's no problem. I'd love to see more of my world besides just Ilion".
I could hardly contain myself; much of my nervousness had been replaced with excitement, and I was now feeling adventurous again. In a way, the old Bradley Clarion was back.
New body, same adventurous spirit. I'm glad that hasn't gone away for good.
Jenna led me into what appeared to be an outdoor shopping mall. This one didn't seem as dedicated to the upcoming carnival as the others that I'd seen; rather, it gave off the impression of a school supplies store.
The thought of shopping for school supplies made me feel rather wistful, and I'd gone from excited to sad in one fell swoop.
Once I had gotten back from the Alola trip with my father, I'd been planning on heading to college and majoring in Ancient History. I wanted to follow in his footsteps, and now that would never happen.
I'd thought that I would be able to cope with this reality, but alas, that wasn't how it worked.
"What's wrong?" Jenna asked me, evidently noticing that I seemed down.
I shrugged, wiping a tear out of my left eye. "I was going to go shopping for school supplies, and I'd have a fancy college backpack and everything. But that's not going to happen now, is it?"
Jenna shook her head. "I'm sorry about that, but isn't this better than college? We get to save the world, if you look at it one way".
She might look at it as, we get to save the world. I, however, looked at it as, we have to save the world. Clearly, I was less of an optimist than she was.
I shrugged, not wanting to be rude. "I suppose you're right".
"You're going to have to be really careful, though, Bradley" she told me. "You already had a lot of eyes on you after the incident in Central Square. Now everyone knows that you're a fighter".
"Not everyone knows that" I protested, but Jenna put her hand over my mouth.
"Doesn't matter; they will know it as soon as it's in the paper. And it'll be headline news pretty much everywhere".
We arrived at a stand that sold large backpacks, all of them looking like they could handle almost anything. I wasn't sure if I'd still be able to carry a backpack as a Braixen, but there was only one way to find out.
Actually, yeah, I should be able to. The keyword, of course, is SHOULD.
The merchant, a Leafeon who looked to be in his thirties, said, "Good morning, Jenna. And this is your friend...what's his name, again?"
Oh, shit. We're dead meat, because he almost certainly knows that I'm the only Braixen in Skylock. This is not good. Also, how does he know Jenna's name?
The Zoroark girl looked a little uncomfortable, and I couldn't blame her. If I were in Jenna's position, I would definitely keep the name Bradley Clarion a secret. It was all I could do to not run away; that would make me stand out even more. And, as they say, the tallest nail is the one that gets hammered in.
"His name is Brett. Brett Chisholm".
She came up with a name for me on the spot! She's such a good liar; does it come with being a mistress of illusions?
"Oh, okay" the Leafeon merchant replied. "Well, Brett, what are you looking for?"
"A...a backpack" I said, feeling increasingly nervous. I expected that, at any moment, the merchant might ask me how I had managed to find my way into this world. Most people would probably stop at nothing to get an interview with me.
Plus there are those poachers on the dark market, and the fact that most of the city doesn't take kindly to foreigners...yeah, I'll be glad to be out of here.
"Ah, yes. Are you going back to school? How old are you, anyway?"
"Uh…eighteen. And no, I'm not going back to school; I just need a backpack to...uh...hold stuff".
"Oh, okay" the merchant replied. "Well, just take whichever one you want". He sounded a little skeptical, but I wasn't going to mention it.
I decided that a golden yellow backpack would be best, since it looked a lot like the color of my fur, and I felt that it was fitting. But then I remembered that it was a similar color to Matamoros' scales, and I didn't need to be reminded of that. So my eyes turned to the next backpack, which was…
Black. Just like those voids the Conqueror has for eyes.
I began shivering even though today was significantly warmer than yesterday had been. Just the mere thought of Matamoros' eyes sent chills down my spine to no small degree.
I picked out a forest green backpack; this color didn't remind me of the greatest enemy that all worlds faced, and that was good enough for me. It didn't hurt that it was also the biggest one, so, assuming I could carry it, it would hold what I needed it to.
Once Jenna had taken out her wallet and paid for the backpack, I started feeling guilty. As soon as we were out of earshot of the backpack merchant, she asked me why I had a shameful expression on my face.
"I just feel bad that you're spending all this money on me" I told her. "This, when you might not even go on the quest with me".
Jenna laughed. "Trust me, Bradley. I'm going".
She spoke with absolute conviction, sounding 100% positive of it. Perhaps there was something she knew that she wasn't telling me, but I decided not to speculate any further.
We headed to a different building, which seemed to be a supermarket. I remembered being told that it was always best to carry lightweight but high-energy foods with you, since that was what gave you the most value for the limited space you had in your backpack.
So we stocked up on the essentials, such as granola bars, dried fruit, and two water bottles. I sincerely hoped that we wouldn't need to use them; hopefully we would be able to get food easily wherever we were going.
Of course, if my luck thus far would be any indication, this probably wouldn't be the case. I wasn't going to get my hopes up, so it was better to be safe than sorry.
It was as we were about to leave the store that the trouble started.
We were waiting in line to check out when I saw a mother Lucario in the line with her Riolu son. The mother was pushing a shopping cart, since she'd bought far more items than we had (we simply used baskets).
At first, I didn't think any differently of this mother-son duo than I did of any other individuals in Skylock. They were just shopping for whatever they needed.
The son then pointed at the TV monitor overhead, and then at me. "Mama, it's that Braixen from the news!"
His mother, who was clearly focused solely on getting all her items ready to check out, replied with, "That's nice, dear".
"No, I mean that's the guy who moved the statue!"
My heart toppled over like a Jenga tower does when you take out the wrong block. I dreaded what was to come, but at least Jenna was unlikely to blame me for this one. It wasn't a matter of me drawing attention to myself, we were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The mother Lucario turned around and faced me. She looked livid, but also fiercely protective of her child, like any parent should be.
"Don't you dare harm my son, Braixen!" she shrieked. I realized that she was going to draw as much attention as possible to the situation so that she saved her son.
I meant her no harm, but she clearly didn't realize this. That is, until Jenna managed to defuse the situation.
"Brett doesn't intend to hurt anyone. Please don't assume that of every newcomer to this town". Jenna spoke in a very measured tone, probably trying to be the voice of reason.
The mother Lucario still looked rather mad and afraid of me, but Jenna continued to explain that we were just shopping here for supplies, although she didn't say exactly what we were buying supplies for.
She and her son seemed mollified, at least for now, but some of the damage had already been done. There was now an audio recording in the store of me getting into an argument with a Lucario woman, and everyone would know my false name and that I was with a female Zoroark.
Then again, they knew that I was with Jenna anyway. Even so, between the statue, the battle of Skylock Harbor, and this...yeah, I'm going to be in a world of hurt.
As we were checking out of the store, I kept looking over my white furry shoulder for anyone approaching, but there were only a few other people in the store waiting to check out. There was no news media...yet.
"We're going to take the back roads again as much as possible" Jenna told me once we had left the supermarket. "That way, there's less chance of running into the news media".
I was okay, ecstatic even, with this. There was absolutely desire within me to encounter reporters who would ask me a billion questions about my name, who I was, where I had come from, how I had gotten here, and a thousand other topics that I couldn't even think of off the top of my head.
"Good idea," I replied as we turned down a road that seemed to be far less traveled than the main thoroughfare.
We didn't talk very much for the rest of the trip home.
Carrying the green backpack I had purchased, which now held various provisions for the adventure I'd soon be leaving on, I was panting by the time we reached Jenna's house again. I hadn't realized just how heavy it was when it was full.
Well, that's just something I'll have to get used to.
"You seem really tired," Jenna told me when we entered the house. "Are you sure that you wouldn't like to get a little more sleep?"
I was torn on that. On the one hand, there was no denying that I needed more rest. On the other hand, how restful would it really be if I had more nightmares?
Whether I dreamed of Matamoros or of my father's expedition, or of something else that I could hardly even imagine right now, it was a terrifying prospect. It was kind of like a game of Russian Roulette; which chamber would I land on, and would it have a terrifying dream or one that simply saddened me?
"I might go back to bed" I told her, making my decision. "Just wake me up when it's time for lunch; we'll have some planning to do for sure".
The Zoroark girl smiled. "I will do that. And if you want, I can buy more supplies while you're asleep. Would you like that?"
I shook my head, laughing humorlessly. "I'm not sure I can carry any more than what we already have in the green backpack. Although…".
I realized that if Jenna were to come with me, she'd presumably be able to carry her own backpack. Therefore, we could carry twice as much.
"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea" I finished. "And then we'll have lunch when you're back, and we can discuss our plans to go to Sele City together".
"I heard that!" came an annoyed voice from the kitchen. I realized, too late, that Mrs. Izola had been able to hear us talk, and would now know that Jenna planned to defy her by leaving with me without her permission.
I saw Jenna's mother turn around and walk over to where we were standing. She looked rather angry, to say the least.
"Jenna, what did I tell you? I still haven't decided if you can go with Bradley or not. He's practically a bomb!"
"What do you mean?" I asked Mrs. Izola, narrowing my eyes into slits. "In what way am I practically a bomb? That doesn't even make any sense!"
"I mean", Jenna's mother replied breathlessly, "that you could 'explode' at any moment and cause a lot of trouble for her. We've already established that you might be a very dangerous Braixen to be around".
I couldn't help but feel rather insulted at that. So far as I knew, I hadn't given Mrs. Izola any reason not to trust me. It was one thing for her to not fully trust me, but to refer to me as a bomb was quite another.
Jenna spoke up, defending me. "Mom, I wouldn't do this if I didn't absolutely have to. I know it sounds unbelievable that I have to go with him, but I've never been more certain of anything in my life. I need to do this".
Mrs. Izola shook her head. "You most certainly don't need to, Jenna. Plus, plenty of terrorists are sure that they need to blow up buildings. Doesn't make them right".
Oh boy, we're entering into some touchy territory here. She's comparing her own daughter to a terrorist...what kind of mother does that?
"We will discuss this later," Jenna's mother said firmly. "For now, Bradley, you should probably get some sleep, just as you were saying".
I felt a little self-conscious that she knew I'd been awake for much of the night, but I wasn't going to say anything about it. At least she didn't know the exact reason, and I intended to keep it that way.
Leaving Jenna and her mother to argue about whether she'd be allowed to go with me, I went up to the guest bedroom and looked at my bed. It might have been a simple, unimpressive twin bed, but there was a good chance that it would be my last time sleeping on a comfortable mattress for quite a while.
Okay...it's time for a game of Russian Roulette. Which dream chamber am I going to get?
I climbed into bed and put the covers over my body. It still wasn't easy to adjust to sleeping with a tail, but I managed it.
It wasn't long after I climbed into bed that I fell asleep. I was a lot more tired than I had realized; clearly, the combined adrenaline from training with Bray and the fight against the Blaziken-Lucario duo had faded.
Unfortunately, that didn't make me safe from nightmares. Far from it, as I sank into one immediately.
In my dream, I was somewhere else.
I found myself hiking up a mountain alone, still in my Braixen form. This mountain was in the jungle, much like the one I'd scaled to find the Temple of the Fox. However, there was something different about this jungle as opposed to the jungles of Alola.
Somehow, it seemed drier. Even though it was a tropical forest, I didn't think it accurate to call it a rainforest, since it appeared to not rain here very often.
This mountain is a volcano.
I'd seen no concrete evidence to support that hypothesis, but the realization came to me within a minute. Much like Jenna probably felt about going on the quest with me to defeat Matamoros, I knew that the mountain was a volcano, even without any proof.
For a few minutes, I hiked up the volcano, past groups of Chatot who were singing melodies pure and true. It was really quite amazing; this place really did seem idyllic.
I turned around and saw that I was on an island in the middle of a vast tropical ocean. The color of the water was a far lighter shade of turquoise rather than the navy blue of Skylock Harbor, and looked far more inviting.
Is this paradise?
Unfortunately, it didn't seem like a paradise for long, because I felt the ground beneath me start shaking, resulting in my legs trembling. I tried to stay on my feet, but the quakes knocked me to the ground. Fortunately, I fell onto my front, not my back, meaning that I didn't crush my tail.
Even so, I ached as I got up, and I realized what the cause of the rumbling was.
The volcano is about to erupt.
I might have felt rather tired from the hike I'd just taken in my dreams, but the knowledge of the impending natural disaster got me to spring to my feet and take off in a sprint down the mountain.
Sure enough, the volcano erupted; it was the loudest, most horrifying sound I'd ever heard. And when I say that, I mean even worse than Matamoros' laugh.
There's nothing quite like staring down the barrel of a gun to create fear. In this case, the "gun" was an active, exploding volcano. I ran down the mountain as quickly as I could.
Unfortunately, with speed came a lack of precision as to where I stepped, and it wasn't long before I tripped over a tree root. It was a wonder, to me, that such a dense tropical forest could grow around an active volcano, but now wasn't the time to question it.
I fell to the ground, having twisted my ankle. Moaning in pain, I looked up to see clouds of ash turning the sky from day to night.
Out of instinct, I tried to hold my breath in order to avoid inhaling any smoke, but I couldn't do that for very long.
It's just a dream, I reminded myself. It's just a dream.
For a dream, it sure seemed very real, and when I tried to open my eyes and wake up, I couldn't. I was stuck in my nightmare, about to be consumed by flames.
From overhead, I heard insane laughter, the most horrible laughter I had ever heard.
"Yes, yes, Bradley Clarion. You might be the Golden Boy, but just because you're like gold doesn't mean you are gold. You puny mortals are no match for me!"
More laughter, and then I opened my eyes to find Jenna looking over me. I was breathing very heavily, and had clearly been tossing and turning during the time I'd been asleep.
Judging by the ache in my backside, I had even lain down on my tail, which was unwelcome news. I felt cold sweat running down my face and soaking my furry arms and legs, and also saw a very concerned expression on Jenna's face.
"Are you okay, Bradley?" she asked me in a tone that sounded almost motherly even though she was several months my junior.
"What do you mean? I'm feeling fine" I lied.
The Zoroark girl shook her head. "Doesn't look that way to me. You were tossing and turning when I got up here. I got some more provisions for the journey, though".
"Thanks" I replied. "How long have I been asleep?"
Jenna shrugged. "A couple of hours. Mom's making lunch now, but we have some time to talk".
"What would you like to talk about?" I asked her, sitting up carefully in bed so as not to hit my head on the slanted ceiling.
At first I was worried. Jenna pursed her lips slightly, as though she were angry with me and trying to figure out how best to respond.
But then she smiled.
"First, I want to start with some good news," she told me. "I talked with my mom, and she says that I can go with you. I was able to convince her after about fifteen minutes of negotiations".
"Did she ask for anything from you?" I replied, because, to me, that's what the word "negotiations" meant.
Jenna nodded. "Not that much, though. She mostly wanted to make sure that I would stay safe as much as possible".
I laughed dryly. "Stay safe? When we're dealing with a supernatural dragon who wants to take over the world?"
"I know" the Zoroark girl replied. "It sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn't it? But if that's what it took to persuade her to let me go with you…".
"I get it. It sounds like it was worth it".
I can't believe Mrs. Izola is so naive as to think that she'll be safe. But we have to save the world, or, as Jenna would say, we get to save the world.
After that, Jenna sat down next to my bed. Both of us sat there in silence for a good five minutes or so, and then she spoke up again.
"By the way, my dad got up while I was away. Would you like to meet him?"
"Yes, please". I couldn't believe that I hadn't met Jenna's father since I'd been here. I guess it's not that surprising, since Jenna had told me that he was a doctor, and the job of being a doctor can be quite demanding.
"Okay, then. I'll send for him; you stay here".
It was only about thirty seconds until a middle-aged male Zoroark entered the room, clearly Jenna's father, but during that time I was so deep in thought about my dream that I hardly noticed when the door opened.
"Hello" he said, reaching out his paw for me to shake. "You must be Bradley; my daughter's told me about you".
I felt my face flush slightly. "What has she told you about me, exactly?"
Hopefully it's not too personal.
"Eh, just that you were going to leave on an adventure, and that she's coming with you. She's fiercely loyal, you know...I get the feeling that she'll follow you to the ends of the earth".
"Good to know," I replied. "Anything else I should know about your daughter, since I'm going to be spending a lot of time with her pretty soon?"
Mr. Izola shook his head. "Jenna tends to wear her heart on her sleeve. What you see with her is what you get. I don't think I need to tell you that, though; you arrived yesterday, right?"
I nodded. "That is correct".
"Thought so" Jenna's father replied. "Call me Arthur, by the way; that's my real name. If there's anything I can do with you during your short stay here, just let me know".
The way he spoke to me, as though he were there to care for my needs, gave me the sense that he was using the same tone that he used with his patients at the hospital. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.
"Thanks, Arthur," I replied. I stood up from the bed and walked past him. I realized within a few seconds that this was a rather rude thing to do, so I turned around and asked another question. "Is lunch almost ready, by the way?"
Mr. Izola nodded. "Yes, it is; my wife is a very good cook, so it should be delicious".
"I know. I've had her lasagna; it is heavenly".
Arthur chuckled. "Well, then", he replied, "I'll see you down there. Good luck on your quest".
The rest of the day was pretty uneventful.
After a delicious lunch of beef stew (which might not sound all that spectacular, but is pretty awesome on a chilly winter day in Skylock), Jenna and I went back up to the guest bedroom to discuss our plans for leaving the city and stowing away on a ship.
We eventually settled on the following plan: We would sneak out at three in the morning, when the only things that might detect us were searchlights. We'd still have to be careful to avoid them, though; according to the Zoroark girl, if you were detected by the searchlights, this would cause an alarm to go off.
It was especially important to avoid detection, because we would be breaking the law not just by stowing away on a cargo ship, but also by being in the harbor at that hour in the first place. It was illegal to be in the harbor zone from nine in the evening to five in the morning unless you were on official business, such as working the night shift at the harbor factory.
Because staying hidden was so crucial, Jenna told me that she was going to create an illusion of being a worker at the factory. Having lived in Skylock all her life, she knew the uniform that workers wore, and could easily picture it intensely enough to create the illusion.
The main pitfall in this plan was that we wouldn't be able to communicate verbally with each other. Even if she appeared to be a human, a Zoroark's illusion did not extend to their voice; she would still sound like Jenna Izola rather than a random factory worker on his night shift.
"Jenna?" I asked her. I had thought of an idea that she appeared not to have considered.
"Yes?" she replied. "You don't like the plan?"
"It just occurred to me...could you change my appearance as well? You didn't mention if that was possible or not, so I was just wondering".
Jenna appeared to think hard about this for a few moments. Eventually, she responded with, "I think I could, but it would take a lot of effort. Mastering illusions requires a very large amount of concentration, as does maintaining them".
"But you could do it, right?" I asked her, trying for my best Lillipup-eyes expression. I desperately hoped that it would be possible, as even if Jenna's illusion held, it would have looked very suspicious if she were escorting a Braixen, the only Braixen known to be in Skylock, the one who had caused this much drama.
"I'm almost positive I would be able to, but I'd be pretty exhausted afterwards. Keeping up an illusion of just myself for an extended period of time is hard enough".
"Hey, you can sleep all you want on the cargo ship," I told her. "It doesn't have to be graceful, it just has to get the job done".
"Okay, I'll do my best," she replied. "Because you're right, I can't believe I hadn't thought of that! Pretty glaring omission on my part".
"Hey", I said, "don't worry about it. Better to think of it now, I should think, than to not think of it at all and get caught".
Jenna chuckled, smiling slightly. "Yeah, I guess you're right. At any rate…".
"Jenna!" came a shout from downstairs. Judging from the older, female tone of voice, the shout had clearly come from Mrs. Izola.
"I'm coming!" the Zoroark girl replied, standing up and heading down the stairs, leaving me alone in the room.
Whatever is going on, it's probably not good news. Mrs. Izola's voice sounded so urgent…
I lay back down on the bed, though I had no intention of going back to sleep. The nightmare in which I'd been running down the volcano would likely keep me traumatized for a long time, and I would seek to avoid sleeping unless I absolutely had to.
Of course, I thought to myself sadly, we'll see how long that lasts.
(Insert a horizontal line here)
JENNA IZOLA
"What is it, Mom?" I asked as I entered the kitchen to find my mother pointing at the TV screen with an expression approximating rage, but that was more shock than anything.
My mother gestured towards the television set and exclaimed, "That's you, isn't it! Yes, that's you and Bradley!"
With a giant gulp, I glanced at the screen. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach as I made out the scene through the grainy picture that we couldn't afford to improve. (At least, that's what my father said; I suspected that he simply considered this to be a low priority).
My worst fears were confirmed when I saw that the TV displayed a scene of a Zoroark and a Braixen fighting a Lucario and Blaziken respectively. My heart stopped as soon as I knew with absolute certainty that I was the Zoroark. My mother was right.
"It's not what it looks like!" was my instant reaction, which was pretty stupid. There was no way that my mother would believe that. More importantly, there was no way the rest of the town would believe it either.
"What do you mean? Jenna, you ended up in a fight at the harbor, which is now all over the news. Every news website, from PNN to Vulpix News, is covering it!"
I knew this was going to happen. I just didn't expect it so soon.
I was aware that the authorities typically turned a blind eye to street fights; they happened all the time with newcomers, and, like it or not, the police had given up on trying to do their job. Street fights just happened, and that was the way it was.
Even so...I started to feel like a hypocrite. I had very often reminded Bradley just how important it was to keep a low profile as a newcomer to Skylock, and now here we were, the centers of attention yet again.
Just then, there was a knock at the door. At first, I didn't realize who it might be; Nick, Bradley, and my father were all home. And then I looked through the window and my heart sank yet again.
What appeared to be the entire city's worth of news media (all humans; there were no Pokemon reporters in Skylock for some reason) had gathered outside my door. Some of them were holding cameras, some of them microphones, but all of them looked hungry for information.
"Mom, it's the press," I said. "Should I try to disperse them? Or should I grant them an interview?"
She didn't respond for a few seconds; she looked shocked and rather sick to her stomach, as though the thought of me granting the news media an interview made her feel nauseous.
Finally, she shrugged. "Maybe you can just go out onto the porch and tell them what you know. But be vague about it".
I took a deep breath. This is pretty nerve-wracking, I thought to myself. Pretty crazy that I'm about to stare down so many reporters.
My friend Lucia would have been eager to give an interview; she was a lot more outgoing than I was. But I wasn't Lucia; I was far more nervous than she would have been.
I opened the door to the house, expecting to be trampled almost immediately. When the news media is dead-set on getting information about a crazy event, they can be quite rabid.
Fortunately, this did not happen; I was glad that the reporters stepped back so as to give me some space. Of course, if they could have given me a little more space, as in not shown up at my house at all, that would have been ideal.
"I'm Calvin Moore from Vulpix News, and I'm here with Skylock's own Jenna Izola. She has been identified as the Zoroark who was in the fight at the harbor, and it's also suspected that the Braixen she was with is staying in this home as well".
Turning to me, the man who called himself Calvin Moore, a burly man probably in his late fifties and with a thin white beard, continued by asking me the following question.
"Can you confirm or deny that, Jenna?"
I shook my head. "He's not staying with me. I just met him in the harbor area and fought with him against the Blaziken-Lucario duo who were being extremely rude to him".
I can't believe it. I just lied to a newscaster! How much trouble am I going to get in if they catch me in said lie?
I sincerely hoped that Bradley stayed up in his room, hidden from view of the media. I wasn't sure exactly how bad the repercussions of being caught in the lie would be, and I didn't want to find out.
"Can you tell me what the purple force field was? The item the Braixen was holding has not been identified; do you have any information on what it might have been?"
I shook my head again, this time being perfectly honest. "I do not know what created the purple force field. Next question?"
"How old are you, Jenna?" another reporter, this one from PNN (which stands for Pokemon News Network), asked me. "Just important to know for the newspaper".
I saw no reason to lie about my age. "I'm seventeen" I responded, peering into the crowd of reporters. There had to be at least thirty of them, all clamoring to get as much information as possible so that they could tell a sensational story.
Calvin Moore put the microphone back into my face. "Can you tell us about how you found the Braixen? After all, there are no known Braixen in Ilion...except for the one you've been seen with".
As I responded, I was rather surprised by just how bold I could be in refusing to tell them what they wanted to hear. "I cannot answer that question, as I wish to respect his privacy".
That's the second lie I've told them. If I weren't heading for Sele City tomorrow, I'd be very scared indeed.
Okay, it wasn't exactly a lie. Really just a lie of omission.
"I refuse to answer any more questions," I told them. "I'm sorry, but I feel that I deserve some privacy as well as the Braixen".
I waited on the front steps with bated breath, hoping that the crowd of reporters would disperse. It took a minute, but they seemed to get the message, thankfully.
Entering the house again, I saw that Bradley was halfway up the stairwell; I guessed that he'd been waiting for me to come back up to his guest room.
"Were you giving them an interview?" he asked me.
"Well, not exactly" I replied. "It wasn't really an interview, because I wasn't going to give them all the answers that they wanted. I wanted to protect your privacy".
"Thanks" the Braixen boy said. "I...had a bit of a nightmare during my nap earlier".
Was it about Matamoros, by any chance?
As if reading my mind, Bradley continued with, "Yes. Well, I didn't actually see him, but I was on a volcano that's erupting and heard his laughter. It definitely qualifies as a nightmare".
"Indeed" I replied. "That kind of reminds me of the dream I had last night".
It really did; what Bradley was telling me served to confirm what I had already seen, and it was definitely unsettling and horrifying.
Judging by his description of the dream, Matamoros promised to unleash fire and fury.
Fire and fury like the world has never seen.
This wasn't the easiest chapter to write, but I did finish it, and that's the important thing. I was going to wait until tomorrow to post it, but I decided that I might as well just put it up now. I think you guys are ready for it, after all.
Also, enjoy your Fourth of July weekend! I hope you have nice celebrations in a socially distant fashion.
As always, feel free to join us on the PercentVerse Discord server; we have a lot of fun there. I'll see you next time!