Chapter Twenty-Seven:
Wind

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.

Notes: Whoof. A more recent update to coincide with a previously updated chapter! Here's to hoping I make it a habit again!

Moving on, I want to thank all my new viewers, and the reviewers who dropped a line in the review box. I am so happy to see y'all! I raise a glass in the hopes I hear more from y'all in the future!

Current Team: Keno the Marshtomp, Sela the Poochyena, Ambrose the Kirlia, Faye the Taillow, Breela the Breloom, Luna the Skitty

Badges Won: Stone Badge, Knuckle Badge


You should know by now
All there is to know
About how this is going to go
When the whisky drops
Down my burning throat
The words come out, "Let's go"

And so we will
Hold our thumbs up
To the wind and
See which way she blows
And off we go
— "Wind" by Orenda Fink


The translucent liquid in her glass, broken in sight only by chunks of ice, swirled as Shay stared listlessly into it. Overhead, an unknown rock song that Shay could care less about, because it wasn't her world's rock song, played on. Other patrons in the bar were either on their own or in groups. Some of them had pokémon with them. Others had pokéballs gleaming at their sides.

The surface of the bar proper was well cared for, polished and clean. Shay took a swig of her drink, wincing at the strong, bitter taste that burned her mouth and throat. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she endured it.

Her entire day had been exhausting.

Was it fair to go so far as to complain that her entire life had been exhausting? She was willing to drink to that just as much as today's events.

Dealing with Norman had been an entirely momentous affair and she was infinitely grateful that Brendan had been there to help. She had a sneaking suspicion that had she been on her own, Norman wouldn't have listened to her. She knew in her gut that Norman would have dragged her ass back to Littleroot before he listened to a word she said.

Shay threw back another heavy swallow of her drink and winced as she finished it off. A cough was quick to come after that. Shay wiped the back of her hand across her lips with a grimace.

"Not your style?"

Shay shook her head, face still puckered at the taste lingering in her mouth.

"Gimme something strong and sweet, I can't handle this shit on its own," she admitted, pushing the glass away from her. She regretted just sitting down and asking for 'something strong' on impulse. The barkeep grabbed it with a grunt and turned a little further down from her. He filled a few orders he had ahead of Shay's before returning. He plopped a tall glass in front of her, nearly filled to the top with liquid.

It was amber gold at the bottom, with a rosy-pink drizzling at the top. Condensation gathered rapidly across the surface of the glass. Ice cubes danced in and out of sight of the opaque liquid within. Shay could just make out a slightly fruity scent wafting from it.

"Skitty Sunset," the bartender announced with a nod. "Strong and sweet, just like you ordered."

It was Shay's turn to grunt. She uttered soft thanks after and took an experimental sip. She swallowed, blinking in surprise, and nodded in approval to the bartender. Satisfied with his customer, he moved on.

Shay kept running through the events in her head.


There was much leverage a gym leader could harness when they wished to throw their weight around. Time and time again, Shay was starkly reminded of this.

Norman led her and Brendan through a maze throughout the Pokémon Center, well away from prying public eyes. They passed a nurse or two in scrubs, a Chansey and a Blissey walking side by side. The two pokémon scrutinized the pack passing them by, but Shay pointed at Norman and Dom's backsides and mouthed, 'gym leader' to them. They quickly scurried away after that.

Shay remained by Brendan's side while he crutched along. Shay knew on a very personal level just how much it sucked to have to keep up at someone else's pace whilst on crutches. It was always a relief to have someone walking your pace for a change. She caught Brendan's eye at one point, and he flashed her a grateful smile.

At least I'm doing something right, Shay thought tentatively. After all the other fuckups I've done and made.

Their labyrinthine trail came to a halt as Norman paused at a door. He clicked it open to check inside. Satisfied, he signaled for them to come inside. Brendan went first, while Shay recalled most of her team. Keno's bright eyes shined with worry. She clipped his pokéball to her belt and motioned him to follow her. Relief swelled across his face as he disappeared around the bend. Shay was quick on his heels. Norman and Dom were the last to come inside. The door clicked shut behind the two of them.

It was a cramped office space they found themselves in. Judging from the stark emptiness, spartan decorative space, and the faintest hint of dust on everything, it hadn't been used it some time. Three chairs were crammed on either side of the desk. Norman opted for the more comfortable office chair. Brendan was already seated closest to the door, Sienna now out beside him. She fussed over him while Shay squeezed past them both. Keno swiveled around enough to let Shay by. She sat down, with him staying behind her.

With the awkward round of musical chairs completed, silence was their next guest to settle into place. It gently fell over them, filling up the rest of the room with its heavy presence, much like the dust motes did. The severity in Norman's face had lessened, but it wasn't completely gone either. Dom had rounded the desk during this interim, and promptly plopped down on the ground behind Norman with a heavy sigh, leaning heavily against the desk.

Norman's steel-blue eyes raked over the two of them. Discomfort formed in the pit of Shay's stomach all over again, sour and roiling.

Just get this over with, she thought. More than anything, she just wanted this whole business to be done with and behind them all. All the yelling, the posturing, the headaches that came with it. She was already exhausted by all of the morning's previous events. Shay had simple wants at this point: she desired a date with her bed and didn't want to be bothered for at least a whole day.

But first, she had to muddle through the rest of this…

Shay's nerves were still relatively rattled, although the walk had dissipated some of it. Sadly, they were returning with a vengeance, and it didn't ease her troubled thoughts at all. The shake in her hands had her wedging them in between her thighs. There was little she could do about the hectic pounding of her heart.

"So," Norman began slowly. "How much did you tell him?"

He gave a curt nod Brendan's way. His face was schooled once more, Shay noted. His earlier temper seemed to have finally subsided. She wasn't holding her breath that it was actually and truly gone.

Shay exchanged a look with Brendan, already picking her words with care. She turned her attention back to the man sitting across from her. She was suddenly reminded of being a child, sitting in front of the school principal. Or perhaps her days as a junior Marine, being faced down with a high-ranking SNCO for the very first time in the fleet. It always made her nervous and flighty.

"I told him enough," she simply replied. Norman cursed, the chair creaking as he leaned back and away from the desk. Brendan shifted in his own chair, drawing the man's notice.

"I got more out of my dad than Shay, Norman. Honestly," he said defensively. He tilted his head in her direction. "She just…filled in the blanks Dad wouldn't tell me."

Norman expelled a loud, exasperated breath out his mouth, brows knitting together, jaw going tense again. He allowed a minute so he could gather himself back up again.

"So now we have someone outside the League who knows all this. Fantastic."

"Wait, the League knows about this?! Well, what—how are they—what are they doing to help Shay get back home?!" Brendan spluttered and jolted straighter in his seat, eyes going wide as he looked back and forth between Shay and Norman. Sienna's beak fell open slowly, feathers puffing up even slower as a soft, "Oh my," came from her.

"Yes, Brendan. The League knows of her existence, and judging from the information your father gave me, it isn't just people and pokémon going missing in our world, it seems people and now animals are coming into our world." He gave a weary nod towards Shay." From hers."

"And this all has to do with the Creation Trio, doesn't it? Because of all the trouble they've been kicking up." Shay decided now was as good as any time to pipe up. Gone were the shakes in her hand, the waver in her resolve. When Norman glanced at her, he conceded her point with a weary nod.

"Somewhat. You've been somewhat on the nose about that since the start, I'll grant you that. Look, you two—I'm not going to pretend I understand the entire picture. What I know is this: Shay is not from our world as we know it. This is not for the public to hear about. And now that you know, you have to keep this information secret."

Brendan was perturbed at first.

"But…you said there are more out there. What happens when they start causing major public scenes, try to hurt people or pokémon? Or-or do anything that draws attention, really? What about that bear-thing that attacked me and Shay? What's going to happen to it?"

It was a valid point Brendan was bringing up, one Shay hadn't even thought about when she first arrived. And what's more, there was the underlying issue of what they would do to her if Norman brought her back like he apparently planned on doing.

They'd take her team away, that was for sure. What would happen to them if Norman let the League take her? Try to rehome them through adoption agencies? Send them to the lab with Professor Birch? Or worse…would they simply release them back into the wild? A twist of sick lurched inside Shay's gut as her thoughts continued to spiral downwards. She startled at the firm grip that descended upon her shoulder and she craned her neck to look at Keno standing by her side. He offered her a small smile of encouragement, almost as though he'd pulled a page out of Ambrose's book and read her mind.

Shay turned back to the exchange with Brendan and Norman, emboldened by Keno's encouragement. She cut through them both and whatever conversation they seemed to be engrossed in.

"What would you do if I did go back to Littleroot? How long until the League decides to scoop me up and spirit me away to some secret compound where even you don't qualify for any clearance to know where it is, let alone visit? And what do you think they'd do with my team? Do you know any of that, Norman?"

Norman's gaze was hard as he brought it to bear on Shay, but as he processed her words, he seemed to understand what she was going for. It was clear he hadn't thought of that. The earlier interruption that Brendan had so indelicately shouted back in the cafeteria came back to her.

Norman shuttered his gaze, avoiding both hers and Brendan's.

"I…I don't know what would happen to you. Your team would most likely go with Professor Birch." Norman inhaled deeply, gathering his thoughts.

"And what happens if the Creation Trio are my only way back home? Should we just sit on our asses, twiddle our thumbs, and continue doing nothing?"

"Do you think that becoming the Champion is going to fix that? You win, and then what, you go off to Sinnoh? You'll get yourself killed!"

Shay kept her gaze level with his, unflinching as she replied coldly, "Then I'll die trying instead of sitting on the sidelines doing nothing at all."

"Hooooly shit, Shay," Brendan squeaked out beside her. The grip on her shoulder tightened marginally. Blood was roaring like the crash of a waterfall in her ears, drowning out almost all other sound. Surprisingly, the pounding in her chest had eased in its helter-skelter rhythm. A strange, serene calmness was finally catching her up.

Strangely, Norman smiled at her, issuing a soft laugh as he shook his head.

"Caroline used to give me that same look you're giving me. She was stubborn as a Tauros and…and May got that from her. When the two of them teamed up against me, I didn't stand much chance against them." Norman ducked his head and clasped his hands slowly together on the desk. Shay noticed he had begun to fiddle with a wedding band on his left hand. Dom shifted from his position, quietly placing a large taloned paw on his trainer's shoulder. A shudder ran through Norman's frame.

"They wanted to come with me at the same time I moved out here to Hoenn and I…I told them no. Caroline fought me every step of the way and May did too. But they finally agreed, and we split things up in two. I secured housing out here, had half our belongings delivered to the new place in Littleroot. I got established at work, Caroline put in her two weeks at her workplace, while May finished up school. I wanted them to come out in the summer."

Norman's voice was level until the last sentence. Shay broke from the scene long enough to glance over at Brendan. He didn't meet her gaze.

"I should have listened to them. If I had, if I'd let them come…they'd be alive, they wouldn't…" Norman shuddered again, knuckles going white as he squeezed his interlocked fingers firmly together. "They'd be here with me."

There was an insurmountably hefty weight to his words, wrought with remorse and grief. It struck a harsh chord within Shay as she stared flabbergasted and slack-jawed at the man sitting across from her.

"I-I never knew all that, I just…all I knew was what Dad told me, that they died in an accident, that it was horrible and...I'm…I'm so sorry, Norman."

If Norman heard Brendan, he didn't acknowledge the young man. Instead, it almost seemed like he was gathering his strength to go on. The urge to lurch up from her seat to give Norman a hug rushed hot and bright within her. She remained where she was, weighed down by her own limbs. The moment passed before she could steel her nerves to get up, and Norman was moving again.

Stupid, stupid, stupid, she kept calling herself on repeat as Norman inhaled deeply and lifted his head back up.

His composure would have been perfect; if only his eyes weren't misted over with unshed tears threatening to spill. His throat bobbed as he gathered his words and swiveled his attention on Shay.

"Brendan's right. I can't…keep you from making your own choices. I just thought that if I tried harder to protect you…"

"…it would feel less like you failed to protect your family. Like…you could make up for it." Shay finished. Norman inclined his head at her.

"Yeah." Was all he could manage. He breathed in deeply, looking ten years older in a split second. "Yeah, that's…that's the gist."

Shay struggled to get her tongue in working order again. There was a right thing to say here, something worthwhile, something that could console the man sitting before her. The window to say anything else passed her by and Norman was clearing his throat, compiling himself once more.

Norman swept his palms across the flat of the desk and used it as leverage to push himself up to his feet.

"Shay…I'm sorry. Truly, I am. I've…overstepped my bounds. Brendan's right. You're not…you're not my daughter. And I know I'm not your father." His voice cracked a bit at the end. Norman swallowed, his throat bobbing. He kept his gaze shielded, staring at the desk and his hands for the longest time before he met Shay's. There was a stolid resolution in his face.

Oh, my god. A dumbfounded thought hit her like a bolt out of the blue. Am I the Ellie to his Joel?

The calm and collected mask that Shay was normally used to was back in place before she could decide. Norman inclined his head toward her.

"I won't stop you from continuing your journey. You're a grown woman and…I think that there might be some merit to your theory. According to Birch, the scant research he's been able to pull from Professor Rowan and quite a few other scientists in the region…there's something revolutionary about the Creation Trio happening right now. I won't pretend that I understand everything he went into, but…I think I understood enough."

Confusion briefly struck Shay, almost like a fragrant whiff of something she couldn't quite identify before it was gone without a trace.

"You might be able to go home after all. But…you're going to have be able to go against some of the oldest gods in our known history. This is what you'll be facing in the end to go home. That isn't an easy feat to undertake. The old gods are not kind. They are not benevolent. They do not discriminate, nor do they pick favourites."

He captured Shay's gaze with his own, unyielding and challenging. Shay's breath hitched in her chest, recognizing the testing tone of voice he was utilizing.

"I'm not going to back down. There's no fucking way I'm going to give up. I've come too far already."

Norman's sudden grin threw her. It wasn't broad and overbearing. It subtle yet it held enough weight for her to gather the underlining message. It gave her enough courage, however tentative, to smile back. Confidence trickled back into her, drop-by-drop.

"If anything, Norman, those gods of yours should watch out for me. I'm gunning for them, one way or another."

He held her gaze for a long while, unblinking. Shay refused to be the first to blink and stand done. When Norman closed his eyes, it wasn't so much in defeat as it was in acceptance.

"I don't doubt that. I'm starting to learn that you just might be even more stubborn than May or Caroline." Norman shifted his attention to Keno, his smile still present. "Amd I must say, for someone who's never been raised with pokémon, your Marshtomp is looking in fine form. The same goes for the rest of your team as well."

Norman rolled to his feet, the computer chair sliding backwards as he did. Dom was just as quick to get himself upright. His rough fur was flatter and his movements less agitated now. He was calmer if the simple nod he gave Shay was any indication. Shay gave Dom a slight wave in return, and he gave her a toothy grin.

Brendan got up and Shay did so lastly. Norman rounded the desk and took pause at the door, hand hovering above the door handle. He returned his gaze back on Shay and Brendan alike.

"If you'd like, we can go out later tonight, to make up for this all of this," Norman began before clearing his voice. "If that's something you'd like, I mean."

Shay exchanged a look with Brendan, but it didn't last for very long. They turned back to Norman, both smiling. The heaviness in the air had finally and completely dissipated, and all doubts scattered when Norman finally pulled the door open.

"That...that would actually be great, thanks."


Shay shot a glance over her shoulder , eyeing the entrance into the bar—and the exit into the restaurant proper—with searching anticipation. Breela stirred at her side, taking pause from her own beverage of fresh, clean water. She craned her neck to glance up at her trainer, head tilted enough for her clear, bright eyes to lock with Shay's.

"What time are they supposed to be here," the Breloom inquired curiously, her voice still soft as ever.

Before Shay could answer, let alone open her mouth, Shay stirred at the sign of Norman crossing the threshold, and right behind him was Brendan. Shay turned back to Breela, running a reassuring hand over her mushroom cap. Breela shivered in delight and leaned into her trainer's touch.

"Right about now, actually," Shay replied, her mood lightening considerably. Rising from her stool, she clutched her sweet alcoholic beverage. Shay crossed the bar floor, each step taking away all pretense of strain and stress from earlier in the day. Perhaps it was the alcohol helping, perhaps it was her own relaxed nerves.

Shay did know one thing for certain. It helped somewhat that Bob Marley's relaxed lyrics played over in her head: she didn't have to worry about a thing, because every little thing was going to be all right.