Chapter Three:
Change
Disclaimer: I do not own the series Pokémon. Like, at all. It and all its respectable characters are © to Game Freak and Satoshi Tajiri. However, all writing contents and semi-plots here are © to me; unless it is stated otherwise. All shows/ books/ video games/ songs that are mentioned in this chapter are all © to their respective owners, I do not own them.
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"Change is the one reality that we can count on. Trying to hang on to our expectation, that is death."
-Jessica Warren, "Bones"
There was hardly a complaint from Shay when Norman went in to wake her up at seven in the morning the next day. She uttered a few nonverbal groans, and a grumbled request for coffee. Aside from all that, she was more or less amicable enough to get dressed and was downstairs mere minutes after he himself got there. The coffee hadn't even finished brewing before she seated herself down at the breakfast nook. He bid her a good morning, and she said much the same, and then said it to his team as well.
He was pleased at that, and then surprised at his own approval.
Bandit made a beeline for her, all but leaping into her lap. She took it in stride, digging her fingers into his fuzzy cheeks with vigor. The Zigzagoon seemed taken with her, and she with him. He decided that, too, was a good thing. He would have had a harder time if she, indeed, didn't have pokémon where she was from and was more disturbed by them than enchanted as she was. Norman was still trying to figure out how to broach the subject about that with her.
He couldn't just barrel on through without grace on the matter. It'd be as disastrous as a Tauros in a china shop if he didn't navigate the conversation with care. He chewed on different ideas on how to do so as he made a quick breakfast for himself and for Shay, and then for his team. As soon as he set aside each dish for each pokémon, they sidled over to enjoy it. Bandit was just quick to abandon Shay when his dish hit the ground.
"Well, I guess I'm chopped liver, then. Thanks for that, buddy," she said after the Zigzagoon left her and Norman set her plate and coffee in front of her.
"So, this Birch guy we're meeting this morning…what am I supposed to be doing for him, exactly?"
"Whatever he needs done around his lab."
"Don't I need a license to work in a lab? I feel like I need a license to be near this place."
"You won't be handling any of his equipment directly, I suspect. More like…cleaning. Organization. Filing."
"Basically janitorial and admin work. Got it." Shay pronounced sarcastically. She sopped up some egg yolk with her toast and took a large bite of that. "Good thing I know a thing or two about that."
"What did you do before you ended up here?"
Careful, Norman. Ease into it.
"Administrative work. Supply and logistics, mostly. Warehousing on the side and occasionally I operated tactical vehicles when usual operators were in short supply or unavailable." A beat. "I also know how to use a gun, if need be."
That was rather telling. He had to school his face from expressing the troubling thoughts he had rousing beneath the surface at that information. Norman took a sip of his coffee, using those precious seconds to gather his next words carefully.
"You won't need a gun here. Ever."
"Yeah, sure. I get it. Don't need guns, not when we have creatures that can blow the tops off mountains or mind fuck you to the point of becoming a lobotomized vegetable as a result, right?"
He noticed her liberal use of 'we' in that damning answer. She wasn't stupid. She didn't want to be seen as a stray nail needing to be hammered down or yanked out. She was trying to blend in. Norman was beginning to find he liked her very much on that note alone. She was going to be fine in helping him and the rest of the League with keeping a lid on things, or at least for as long as they could to get a handle on this mess, whether she knew it or not.
"If you choose to see it that way."
She said nothing more on the matter and neither did he. Knowing she knew a thing or two about administrative work, however, was useful and Birch could perhaps use that for a while. With his assistants busy with lab-controlled research, and with Birch and Brendan both doing fieldwork, he could imagine the difficulty in remembering to do other basic things.
They left fifteen minutes later, setting out on foot. The lab wasn't far, and they reached it with almost ten minutes to spare. Jacob was the one who unlocked the front entrance when they came knocking, looking exhausted. His shaggy dark hair looked greasy and unkempt as it stuck up in all directions, while beneath his eyes appeared bruised and tender. Even his clothes look like they'd seen better days. Norman surmised he and Meryl, Birch's other assistant, had pulled yet another all-nighter. Perhaps they were shifting attention from Birch's usual range of research to that of the Creation Trio. It took Jacob a moment to recognize Norman for who he was. When he did, he jumped in bewilderment and threw open the door, ushering them inside. Norman didn't miss the questioning stare Jacob cast Shay's way when she passed through the door beside Norman. It almost made him smile at the way she kept up with him, head held high, gaze sweeping but rooted in confidence, like she owned the place.
Birch wasn't far into the lab, and upon seeing Norman, his face lit up. That glee fell away, however, when his gaze strayed to Shay and his expression fell, all in the span of a heartbeat. He seemed to notice his own falter and perked, if only to save face.
"Norman, ya old bastard! 'Bout damn time I saw you around Littleroot!"
Norman took hold of the outstretched hand offered to him, gripping hard in return and leaning into the one-armed hug Birch tugged him into. Birch gave him a few slaps on the back before releasing, grinning.
"It's been a 'goon's age since we last saw each other. We really should go out for beers sometime."
"So long as you're paying and you don't drag me into the field the second bottle in," he joked back. Birch laughed.
"That was just one time, c'mon, now!"
"One time is all it takes."
"Ah. What a stinker." Birch smirked, let it linger. He turned his attention to Shay, offering a milder smile in her direction as he addressed her. "And who is this lovely young lady you've got in tow, Norman? Care to introduce us?"
"Professor Birch, I'd like you to meet Shay Kenway. She's a relative from…from Caroline's side of the family. One of her nieces, I believe."
Birch caught on quickly, offering only the slightest twinkle of confusion in his eyes at first.
"Oh, is that so? Well, that sounds fantastic! Any friend or family of Norman's is a friend of ours! I'm Professor Birch, I run this here lab in Hoenn."
He grinned the second his initial perplexity passed, offering a large, meaty hand toward Shay. She stared at it, assessing, then took it, striking fast and squeezing hard, if the look of bewilderment on Birch's face was anything to go by.
"Whoa, strong grip there! You teaching her any moves, Norman?"
"No, I'm afraid that's all her. Natural raw talent, I'm guessing."
"I'd rather a strong grip than a limp one. Gives a good measure of a person," Shay replied coolly. Birch laughed, and Norman smiled. Cool as a cucumber while under pressure, Shay appeared to be. He was impressed. He wouldn't have blamed her one bit if she were more rattled, more frayed at the edges. But this all made things go a lot smoother than trying to calm and reassure a frazzled woman that she was going to be all right, that she was safe, that nothing bad was going to happen to her. He had to wonder what kind of administrative job that required both a gun and logistic skills that helped her keep her cool so well under pressure. A soldier, perhaps?
It didn't seem so farfetched the more he thought about it.
Another question for another time, and only when the time was right. Now wasn't that time, not in the mixed company they had. Norman was sure that Steven would have kept his conversation with Birch private, away from his research team and his son as well. It wasn't a matter of trust, it was a matter of security. Brendan was a good kid, but he was still a kid…even if, legally, he was technically an adult. Revealing to him something this big was too much to risk at this point in time.
Birch was quick to latch onto Shay, providing a jovial and charismatic energy as he swept her up in a tour throughout the facility, with his aides Jacob Twiss and Meryl Tanner occasionally crossing their paths as they flitted about from one room to the next. Norman followed at his own leisurely pace, having visited Birch a number of times that he was familiar with the place well enough.
He tailed them as Birch showed them around, occasionally fielding questions Shay had, but otherwise, she seemed rather…blasé about it all. Perhaps she was better at hiding her surprise or fear or even excitement than he initially believed.
It was close to the end of the tour of Birch's facility that Shay finally asked when she would get started.
"You can start today, if you'd like. I'm sorry it isn't much more exciting beyond the categorizing and the cleaning, but it's better than puttering around this sorry bastard's house all day with nothing to do while he's in Petalburg working."
"Right. All those gym challengers."
Birch's laughter boomed around them. "Exactly! Although, from what I've been hearing, there haven't been as many challengers hitting him up as much. Why is that, Norman?"
"Not many people can hack it on the long road to becoming Champion, I'm afraid. Flannery's done a rather excellent job in deterring prospective challengers who might have come my way if it weren't for her and her team."
"Oh, right. Flannery. She's as hot as they come when it comes to a sizzling gym battle, I hear. I haven't gotten a chance to watch any recent recordings, I'm afraid, but I hear nothing but good things for our newest gym leader."
The conversation spiraled from there until a voice interjected, calling for an answer from anyone available. Birch replied in kind, giving the new voice directions as to where they all were. Norman recognized the owner of the voice before he saw him rounding the corner to find them: it was Brendan, Birch's son. The young man had really come into his own. It had been quite some time since Norman had last seen him.
In fact, the last time he had seen the young man was…was at the funeral. He had been at least a foot shorter than he was now, a lot lankier, with plenty of baby fat still clinging desperately to his cheeks that had given him a childish and overly youthful appearance. He still looked young now, but there was a leanness and plenty more muscle to his frame that lent a viewer to his maturity as well. His hair was the same deep chestnut colour as his father's, but he had his mother's blue eyes.
When Brendan came jogging up, greeting his father, standing between Shay and Birch, Norman thought that, if one didn't pay too much attention…Shay could have slid into a family photo and no one would have been the wiser.
Brendan greeted his father first and turned to him last with a grin—before he noticed Shay standing just to his side, waiting with a crooked smile painted on her face. He jumped at least a foot or two away from her, a hand flying to his chest.
"Holy crap—I didn't see you there!"
"Yeah, I get that a lot. Advantages of being short; nobody sees ya until it's too late. I'm pretty good at sneaking up on people as a result."
"I guess. Sheesh. You need a bell or something…" Seeming to remember himself, Brendan cleared his throat and offered his hand to Shay. "Sorry, I forgot to introduce myself! Name's Brendan. I'm, uh, actually this guy's kid."
Shay took Brendan's hand and gave it a firm squeeze, glancing between Brendan and Birch. A smile alit her face as she considered the information.
"Oh, that's pretty cool. Well, I'm Shay, and I'm…I'm just going to be working here. Small-time stuff, like organizing files and cleaning. Nothing spectacular compared to what you guys do, but it'll pass the time."
Brendan took back his hand as Shay released it and looked to his father.
"You're actually hiring someone else? After all the gripe about not wanting anyone else around?"
Norman found his cue and stepped closer.
"He's doing this as a favour to me. She's one of Caroline's nieces. Shay's come to stay with me for the time being and it wouldn't be fair to leave her on her own while I'm at work."
Brendan, thankfully enough, seemed to accept this more readily than if Birch had come up with something. Man couldn't lie that well to his own child. Birch threw him a thankful glance before nodding to Brendan when the young man looked to him for confirmation.
"Right! Yes! Shay's a part of Norman's family, staying for, uh…how long was that again, Norman?"
Shit. He hadn't thought of that.
"I haven't decided yet," Shay quipped rapidly. "I'm at a bit of a…crossroads with life right now, and I thought it'd be best to leave home in Kanto for a change of scenery. I reached out to Uncle Norman to see if I could stay with him. So, here I am."
Fuck. That was actually better than what he was going to say. And that 'Uncle Norman' bit was a nice touch. It drove enough of a connection home that Brendan didn't question it. Birch's family wasn't the only family Shay could have slid into with little question or concern.
"Uh, say Brendan, why don't you show Shay around the rest of the lab while I catch up with Norman, huh? Be a pal for your old man?"
"Not a problem! C'mon Shay, follow me. Hey, has my dad shown you the lab pokémon yet?"
"No, he hasn't. Do you get to handle them a lot, or…?"
As their conversation faded and the backs of the two disappeared down the hall and around a corner, Norman turned to Birch. Birch visibly slumped and wiped a hand over his brow.
"Jeez. She's good. I actually got stumped on what to say. I forgot to let Brendan know we were getting a new…well, she isn't exactly a team member, but she's still going to be around, you know?"
"I'll admit I hadn't thought of a believable story myself. She pulled in a pinch. I can only hope that things continue to go this smoothly with her. And with any other Appeared."
Birch tilted his head to glance at Norman.
"Have there been any more?"
"Not that I've heard, but I'm sure they'll make themselves known soon enough. Wallace checked in with that one he found."
"Oh? And? What's the verdict?"
Norman pursed his lips.
"Dead. He got attacked by several Sharpedo, apparently, and he hadn't wanted us to worry until he had an idea of his survival rate. Bled out just as they got to the hospital in Sootopolis."
Birch cursed quietly under his breath and exhaled loudly. "Poor bastard."
"My sentiments exactly. I can only hope that the other Appeared who come to this place won't have as hard a time with the local pokémon like that."
"We can hope," Birch replied with a nod. "They could be luckier, though. Sharpedo are pretty aggressive when something enters their territory or threatens their food supply. Or what they perceive as a threat, anyway. And I'd definitely qualify humans as a threat, considering the environmental impact we've been leaving more and more of over the years."
Norman hummed back a nonverbal response. There was a companionable moment of silence between the two of them. Birch broke it first, heaving a sigh.
"So now what? We just…let her work here, pretend we don't know anything, hope for a miracle?"
"To be honest, I'm not sure. About what comes next, I mean. Steven hasn't exactly offered a solution on the matter, especially since we're having to pull our forces, so to speak, back home from supporting efforts to help in Sinnoh to deal with these…terrorist organizations."
"Right, he mentioned that. Team Aquatic and Magnet or some such?"
"Team Aqua and Team Magma," Norman corrected. "But at the moment, I'm not ready to deal with it all. There's already a lot on all our plates."
"True. I feel like I should be worrying about presenting my new research to the upcoming summit but with all of this weighing down on us, it's going to be hard to focus."
"I hear what you're saying. But Steven was specific on the matter, that we should continue as though nothing is wrong here in Hoenn. Eventually, I suppose the Appeared and the Missing will make more of a headline in the future, but for now, we should be working towards avoiding a panic."
"Not ideal," Birch muttered. He sighed, quick and short, and clapped a hand on Norman's shoulder. "I'll help her get settled in, you don't need to stick around. Keep me updated on things if you hear anything."
"Thank you, Birch. I really appreciate this."
"Not a problem. I know this is all happening fast, but the quicker we respond…"
"The better we'll get a grip on things." Norman finished with a wry smile. "Thank you again. I'll be by at around five to pick her up."
"Nah, don't worry about all that. I'll just have Brendan walk her home until she gets used to coming and going on her own."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah, she seems like a sharp kid."
"Birch, she's twenty-seven."
"Oh! Oh…I thought…she looks…"
"Yes, I thought so too. She seems a bit sensitive on the matter."
"Got it. Now, get on out of here, ya old coot! I'll take care of things around here!"
"I'm not old, I'm barely forty…" Norman grumbled, eyeing his old friend with distaste.
Birch let off another one of his booming laughs. "Now who's sensitive to their age?"
Life had become unnecessarily complicated and yet simultaneously simple all at once. She was displaced from her home dimension and upon her first day, had been arrested, interrogated, and subsequently released. That was the complicated part. The easy part was getting scooped up before she was allowed to metaphorically drown in the deep end, given shelter and a job shortly after.
But this all was called luck and it would eventually run out.
As much as Shay wanted to milk it for all it's worth, there was a hard slab of stone weighing her down in the pit of her chest, grinding away at her insides. A whisper at the back of her head was constantly telling her it was a trap, that something was wrong, that she was being played for a fool. She had tried to ignore it since Norman sprung her from the police station, but by the end of her first day working at Professor Birch's place, the whisper had grown to a roar and the heaviness became unbearable and made breathing difficult, and her appetite suffered for the rest of the day.
Even when Brendan had snuck out the lab pokémon for her to interact with—and holy fuck, she couldn't even describe how fucking cute they all were, even more than their art sprites from the games—the nausea and taste of bile at the back of her throat barely dissipated.
Someone knows something, she concluded. Someone knows something.
Shay was willing to bet that that someone was Norman, and Norman knew something. Why else would he go along with the tall tale that she was his dead wife's niece from Kanto, rather than outing her for what she was? She would bet anything that the other day, he had been at some sort of meeting, and it had something to do with her.
She had barely taken in any of Brendan's rambling on their walk back to Norman's house after Birch released her from work. She would nod at appropriate intervals, humming an occasional nonverbal response, and added in a few yes or no answers for good measure. By the time they reached the front garden gate, Brendan had fallen quiet suddenly. The lack of his chattering made Shay tune in, somehow more unnerved by the hush of the early evening than his voice.
He was standing there, hands shoved into his jean pockets and shoulders hunched, making him appear smaller than he actually was. He was staring at her expectantly, waiting, all while appearing a tad awkward.
"Uh, so, this is your stop. I hope that your first day wasn't too bad. I kinda got sidetracked from what I was going to get done today, but that's all right."
"Ah, shit, really? I didn't mean to take up any of your time."
"That's fine, really. It was better me than one of my dad's assistants. They had more important stuff to get done, really. Someone has to work in the lab, since my dad spends more time in the field than he does indoors." He grinned at her, shrugging. He pulled a hand from his pocket and extended it to her. "It was great to meet you, Shay. I won't be around the lab as much, but if you ever need someone to hang out, you can give me a shout-out when I'm not doing research."
"Sounds like a plan, dude. I'll be sure to hit you up. Thanks again for showing me around," Shay shot back breezily, returning the smile. Brendan took his leave after that and Shay watched briefly, then headed inside. Norman was already cooking something, and it smelled delicious.
The Slaking duo, Solomon and Kane, were predictably already knocked out, having staked out positions in front of the quietly playing television as a pokémon contest program continued unhindered. Bandit the Zigzagoon was napping with Art the Linoone on the loveseat. Drizzle the Spinda and Dom the Vigoroth were having a quiet conversation with one another. The team members that were awake gave her a chorus of greetings. Norman poked his head around the corner out of the kitchen, gave her a greeting, then returned back to whatever he was cooking, calling that it'd be ready soon.
Shay meandered over to the couch and picked up the remote, upping the volume of the contest as she sat down. In all honesty, Shay hardly watched television back home, hadn't bothered to pay for cable or satellite services. She had depended primarily on streaming services—Netflix and Hulu, with YouTube thrown into the mix for gaming culture updates mostly—and then she ended up transferring a vast majority of her preferred television shows and movies to a massive digital library. It was why she carried her laptop and external hard drive with her to work. During her lunch hours, she'd watch something to pass the time. In fact, the only discs she had around these days were physical copies of games she had accumulated over the years, and old DVDs in a binder case she rarely ever touched.
Her stomach twisted at the memory and a sudden thought lanced through her, and she wanted nothing more than to go upstairs and watch one of her own programs, to garner some amount of comfort and familiarity and normalcy. She started to get up from the couch but was intercepted by Dom the Vigoroth.
Dom was nearly as tall as her, even slouched over as he was, yet despite his smaller stature, he kept her boxed effectively between the couch and the coffee table. He stared for only a moment longer, before offering his two-clawed paw toward her. It took Shay a brief second to realize he was offering it to shake.
"Sorry 'bout th' other day, luv. I know my kind are a bit…voracious in tempah sometimes. I was just followin' orders. Hope it's all water under th' bridge between us."
Shay stared, flabbergasted. The Vigoroth stared, his lips pulling into a frown.
"You alright, luv?" Silence. "Oi. You can understand me, can't ya? Thought you could 'ear our kind. The little'un over yonder told us so." He jerked his head in Bandit's direction.
"I…I can, yes. Sorry. I just…wasn't expecting you to have a…Cockney accent."
She hoped it was a Cockney accent. Shay could identify a number of American accents, but those from England? Hopeless.
Dom tilted his head at her, confusion written clearly on his furry face.
"Wassa 'Cockney'?"
"Never mind." She shook her head and took the proffered paw to her and shook it. It was all so very…human of him. "And it's not a problem. Really. I understand following orders."
Dom seemed to accept this and displayed a very toothy grin in her direction. "Glad t' 'ear it. Anyway, food's nearly done. Can't wait. Don't know 'bout you, but I'm damn hungry."
With that said, Dom wandered off, looking pleased as punch. Shay stared after his shaggy backside, mostly astonished. She was drawn out of her reverie by something pawing at her leg and she glanced down to see Bandit vying for her attention, a happy grin on his face.
"Hey, you're back!" He patted Shay's leg while dancing on the spot, liquid brown eyes shimmering with affection. Shay found herself returning the smile, feeling a small amount of warmth blooming in her at the Zigzagoon's excitement. Though he seemed to resemble a racoon more than a canine, he certainly had the qualities and affection of a small dog. She reached down and scratched Bandit on the head, under his chin, and behind his ears. This earned her content trills and burbles from the pokémon.
Just as she excused herself, Norman took that moment to announce that dinner was done, cutting short her escape back upstairs.
"How was your first day?"
"Gee, where to start? Should it be with learning a new letter or a new number, or perhaps a new shape and colour today?"
Shay had to cut down her smirk into a tight-lipped smile instead, even in the face of a disapproving glare shot her way. She sniffed lightly and took a bite of the creamy chowder Norman had prepared for dinner, chasing it with a biting of sourdough bread paired with the chowder.
"I learned about the filing system and how it needs to be reorganized, what places and what equipment I'm allowed to clean and how often. I've also been given access to the lab pokémon. Again, mostly cleaning duties, but I can give them some one-on-one time when things get slow and they're in need of stimulation."
"That sounds fantastic. The last part, I mean."
"Definitely. Brendan showed me them. I'm digging the Torchic. Love the smell of feather dust."
Shay fell quiet. Norman didn't prod her any further, judging her silence was intentional. She couldn't tell if he had more to say, or if he was simply accepting that she was done and closed off regarding the subject. His face was schooled into a deliberate mask of neutrality. It irked her.
He knows something, that trifling little voice whispered at the back of her head. The bullheaded part of her wanted to ask outright what he knew, to get belligerent until he told her…what, exactly? What, if anything, did he know about her? Did he even know anything?
Why would he bother springing me from the police station? What could he possibly gain with setting me up in his house and with a job?
She stared into the bowl of food in front of her, her appetite once again waning. She heard a loud clink of silverware on Norman's side of the table and she lifted her gaze to meet his. He watched her, quiet and guarded.
"Is everything all right?"
She dropped her gaze, lips pressing tightly together into a thin line. She pondered over the decision to say something or not, before she told herself what else could she possibly lose?
"I still don't understand what made you have me released from police custody. Why you're allowing me to stay here. What you could possibly gain in helping me get a job here in town." Shay lifted her eyes to meet Norman's once more. "What kind of game are you playing here, Norman?"
Norman took his time in putting down his spoon, in taking a sip of his water, and wiping his lips with his napkin. Leisurely and deliberate in his movements, she could see he was gathering his words as carefully as possible.
"Why don't you tell me what you know first?"
She blinked, taken aback, thrown for a loop. All that jazz. She mentally pinwheeled, unsure of how to answer at first. Norman waited patiently, his eyes steely and locked tight on her face.
"I…I have no idea what you're—"
"Don't bullshit me, young lady. You end up in my home, without having broken in or tripping my house alarms. You have no identification on your person, you refuse to answer even the most basic of questions like what your real name is or where you're from. There are one too many holes in your story, and anyone who paid attention could see that. I'm not a fool, much as you probably hope that I am."
If Shay could choke on her own tongue, she probably would have swallowed it to do just that if it meant getting away from this conversation. Her heart gave a painful lurch in her chest and proceeded to pound away like a war drum, a boost of terror coursing through her veins at light speed.
Shit, shit, shit.
She tried to think up a good enough excuse, to draw on that well of inspiration she had dived into earlier when interacting with Professor Birch and Brendan. Now she was scratching at bone-dry dirt, without any hope of hitting jackpot. Her tongue grew thick and clumsy in her mouth, her brain slowly drained out to a blank, and her shoulders slowly but surely fell to a defeated slump. She broke first, dropping her stare once more, this time in bitter resignation. Norman sighed.
"What do you know?" She inquired quietly.
"Are you aware of a region called Sinnoh?"
"I've heard of it in a news clip the other day."
"Right. Did they mention anything more than its name?"
"…not really. It was the tail end of a report before it flipped to something else."
"Sinnoh is currently under siege. Mostly by a few of pokémon who are colloquially known as the Creation Trio. They include Palkia, Dialga, and Giratina. The other half of the trouble is that of Team Galactic, a terrorist organization who are the reason these ancient pokémon are running amok in the first place. Now they're raging war with one another. These pokémon…they specialize in bending space, time, and in Giratina's case, tearing rifts open to an alternate dimension. We—as in the collective League members, gym leaders, and Champions across several regions—believe that because of this volatile activity, their combined powers may have torn rifts in the fabric of reality and opened us up to…other dimensions, besides the one that Giratina originally resided in. So, tell me…are you from this world, or are you from another?"
The silence was deafening. It was damning. Even Shay's heartbeat couldn't drown out the oppressive hush that had fallen upon the room. She wanted to answer yes. She also wanted to deny any allegations that she was, while true, not from this world. Fear gripped at her, stretching her muteness for longer than she would have liked. Finally, she settled for a wordless nod to start with. Her entire mouth—tongue, cheeks, gums, and all—felt numb as she found the will to speak again.
"I'm not…from this world. I come from a place where we don't have pokémon. We have animals, but they can't…fry a person's brain with a blast of psychic power. They don't breathe fire so hot that it can melt stone. They aren't able to crunch through metal like it's an afternoon snack. Our animals have their own amazing natural abilities, sure, because nature evolves to allow species thrive and survive in the face of adversity, but…nothing like what I've sampled from television here."
She fell mute once more, and she felt…light. It was easier to breath, like a weight has been lifted from her chest and the tension in her shoulders and back lessened considerably. She snuck a peek at Norman's face and froze at the expression on his face.
He was smiling at her. She couldn't look away.
"What?" She finally snapped, unable to take the discomfort that was sizzling away at her insides.
"It must feel good to get that out in the open."
She tried to swallow and found her throat scraped about like sandpaper. She swiped up her glass of water and gulped down big swallows before she trusted herself to answer.
"I didn't think it'd be a good idea to say anything to anyone," she admitted. Norman nodded in agreement.
"Smart choice. Right now, the Hoenn League are aware of your situation. A day ago, another Appeared was found, but he unfortunately perished."
Shay felt the blood drain her face. "What happened?"
"Sharpedo attack. It's…a kind of big fish with teeth. Lots of them. He was picked up by Sootopolis's gym leader, Wallace, and taken to the hospital, but he died of blood loss before they could do anything for him."
"I guess I'm lucky in comparison."
"I would say the same thing," Norman said. "Professor Birch is also aware of your situation. You don't need to hide anything from him. But I would keep up the "family façade" with Brendan and anyone else you meet for that matter. We're trying to limit the number of people who know about this for as long as possible. The last thing we need is a panic, considering it's not just people appearing in our world, but people who are disappearing. And we assume pokémon as well."
"There are people who are going missing?" Shay thought to the news report she had listened to, just days ago, saw the video of the foreign fishing vessel, and of the shark with the golden star emblazoned on its skull. She shivered, recalling with damning clarity that it had been what she had originally thought it to be: a Sharpedo. She had been hoping that it had been a hoax.
"Yes, but currently as it stands, it'll be next to impossible to sort through who are missing through normal conventions versus those that have been gone missing due to pokémon ripping holes in the fabric of reality."
"It'd be a nationwide panic," Shay concluded. "Every time someone is out of sight, they'll go stir-crazy and accuse the Creation Trio for making their friends or loved ones go missing."
"Exactly." He studied her. "You seem very calm about this. I honestly wouldn't blame you for…well, freaking out."
"I've had three days to adjust. It takes three days for someone's world to adapt when it's been turned upside down."
"That hardly seems like enough time to adjust." Norman replied, his tone sounding doubtful of her claims. Shay snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Would you rather I be screaming and crying instead of trying to learn how to get along in this world without drawing attention to myself?"
"I was actually thinking that earlier. I think I prefer the latter."
"There you go." Shay glanced down at her bowl of chowder, half-eaten, and growing colder with every passing minute. "What now?"
"We try to find a way to get you and any Appeared back home. Try to retrieve any of our missing citizens. Steven, our region's Champion, met briefly with several other region Champions, and they too have been experiencing the same Missing and Appeared issues. They'll be working on a solution to do much the same."
"What about harnessing the power of the Creation Trio?"
"These pokémon are equivalent to gods. Ancient creatures that we couldn't possibly dream of containing, not very easily or for very long, if it is indeed possible. Team Galactic thought they could do just that and look where it got them. Scattered, leaderless, and if the reports are to be trusted, they suffered heavy losses when the Creation Trio first broke free."
"Can't someone just…catch them?" Shay pressed tentatively, earning her an exasperated exhale from Norman.
"We don't have the technology to do that, and even if we hypothetically did…do you really believe it'd be right to try and compress all that power into a pokéball? To be forced into servitude to one person?"
"…point taken, although I don't see why they couldn't be released back to where they belong afterwards."
Norman sighed again. "In theory, it sounds simple. In practice, I imagine it'd be infinitely more difficult. And we're not in Sinnoh, right on the front lines of where they are. We're in Hoenn. There's not much we can do from here, except wait."
"Christ, I hate that option. 'Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait'. Story of my fucking life."
"It doesn't sound exciting, I know. Believe me, I can sympathize."
"Can't I just go to Sinnoh, then?"
Norman laughed, and it was a bitter, hollow sound. "And do what, exactly? You can't travel anywhere. Not without a trainer ID or a passport. And you don't have a pokémon team, if you're thinking of doing something stupid, like confronting any one of the Creation Trio. Because it wouldn't just be one, it'd eventually be all three. Where one is, the other two aren't far behind. And besides…from what I've been hearing, travel into the country has been banned, except for pre-approved individuals, such as the Champion."
Shay fell quiet again, this time in embarrassment. Norman glowered at her, but it was half-hearted and there really wasn't any menace in his stare at all. She knew he was trying to be well-meaning. She couldn't blame him for pointing out the fallacy in her ideas. It didn't mean his words didn't sting. There was little room for levity at this point, and Shay's appetite had finally abandoned her in full. She quietly got up and gathered her bowl up. Norman stood, moving to take the bowl but she shook her head and sidestepped him.
"I'm good. I just…don't feel very hungry. I think I'm going to call it a night."
With that said, he reluctantly let her go. Shay stored her uneaten food into the fridge, passing by the legion of eyes watching her every step—and belatedly remembering that Norman wasn't the only one who heard her confession—and marched right upstairs after, slow and methodical. Her legs felt like heavy lead weights, and every step seemed to burn with effort. When she got to her borrowed room, she went inside and stood with her back braced against the closed door, taking in and expelling out deep breathes, trying to hold back the twisting, sick feeling reacquainting itself with her stomach.
When she couldn't keep up with the exercise, she gradually collapsed in on herself, curling up on the ground and began sobbing quietly.
Notes: I almost forgot to update today because I've been sucked into the new Tomb Raider game lately. Sorry, my peeps! Forgive me if I find myself delving into ancient Maya and Inca ruins lately rather than pokémon lore. XD But please don't forget to drop a line in the review box and let me know what you guys think!
