Long time no hear... 2 and a half months, to be slightly more precise. There's a few reasons for that, personal and otherwise, a big issue is that I realized that my desire to not end last chapter on a cliff hanger actually made the entire timing and divisions between chapters disjointing and kinda disgusting. It took me a few weeks just trying to sort out the stinkin thing until I gave up and took the obvious solution and just shifted the tail end of last chapter onto the start of this chapter. This one's gonna be short, not gonna lie, and I'm not sure how long it's gonna take me to actually get to finishing the next chapter, it's gonna be weird for me, and piecing it together is either going to be very quick or very long depending on when I actually get around to it, a lot off moving pieces and hints going around.
At this point though, I've finally come to the blatantly obvious conclusion upon looking upon our first parts of this story, what the pokewars peeps call "The Old Shame", that this story is ultimately a rough draft, one that I will immediately break into two stories and rewrite upon this thing's completion. So...I think I might try to write faster, at least to get the ideas out there before I lose them, and we'll see how that goes I guess.
On the other hand, gonna be pretty quick to get out ME's next installment, just pidgey this time, so go check that out in a week or two, I guess. I'm going to try to- and by God, I've been saying this for about a year now, but I mean it this time- get an update for Fire Emblem, between shifting tides, which basically amounts to a medieval history enthusiast's rewriting of fire emblem fates, reaching for George RR Martin levels of world building and moving parts...how far I fall short will remain to be seen. But if that sounds like something you might enjoy, I've got like four chapters setting it up so far that you can already look at, so hey, come on over if that's your thing.
"-re sure you don't even know her? I swear, the resemblance is uncanny."
"Never heard of her. What's the deal with you and this girl, anyways?"
A pause, "It's nothin."
"Nothing good, I can hear your fists clenching." Another pause, "Oh, he's awake."
"What? No he's…" I opened one eye, and rubbed my forehead at the onset of a splitting headache, "Well dam- dang, you're right. How you feeling?
"Like I was hit by a truck." I grumbled.
"You're not far off…" the voice chuckled, an odd accent tinting the sound of amusement. I moved my hand so I could look the speaker in the eye- some sort of hobo. Large- probably almost as tall and bulky as Scar, with wild brown hair that jutted out of his head in all directions, a large jaw, pale skin, and a short, patchy beard on his round, youthful face. Working my way down, my assumptions were reinforced- a poor, ragged brown jacket, over an equally worn gray t-shirt, ripped thick jeans, and mismatched socks above worn gray sneakers.
My eyes traveled back up and met his- round and green behind thin glasses, odd, and then I recognized his accent, and resumed groaning, "Not ANOTHER one, why…Arceus, why?"
The hobo looked off to his right, and I managed to recover enough to follow his gaze, to Rui, who was standing by the window, who shrugged, "We have two Orreans in our group. It annoys him, I guess."
"Orrean?" The hobo almost sounded insulted, "I'm no fu-freakin Orrean. I'm Unovan, no sand included! None!" Then the hobo paused and looked towards Rui, "Ah, no offense. It's a bit frustrating's all."
"None taken."
I racked my mind for information 'Unova is across the sea, isn't it? To the…west? East? Both?'
"Yeah, Unovan." The hobo asserted, "Not Sandy Unovan, not Flying Unovans, not Mining Unovans, not Giant Unovans- just Unovan."
"Why is it they call us 'Sandy Unovans' anyways?" Rui asked, "A third of our region is just a grassy valley."
"Yeah, and a quarter of it is mountain, and the other half is…sand."
"I mean, yeah, but, we're not even that similar."
"Half the time, I can't tell the difference between a Johtoan and a Kantonese, can you?"
"Yes, actually, I can."
The hobo paused, "Really? How?" the hobo shook his head, "Whatever, tell me later. We should probably get back to the others. How many people did you say you had?"
I spoke up first, eager to prevent another tangent, "There was four of us, including Rui and I. Scar- big, scary Orrean military type charged in here ahead of us, Robert was right behind him, I think."
"Ah, they've probably already found the others." The hobo looked worried "Hopefully this 'Scar' fellow…who the heck names their kid 'Scar'? Ah, well, hopefully he's not feeling trigger happy."
I remembered how he charged into the darkness, gun raised, kicking in doors, "It should be fine" I lied, and hoped.
The hobo shook his head, "Yeah, hopefully." He offered me a hand, and helped me get off of the floor, "Ah, name's David. Sorry 'bout- about running over you, Rui's told me a bit about you, Crescent." I glared a bit at Rui, who, of course, didn't react, "We should get a move on." David turned towards the door, and flipped a switch, flicking on the lights.
I slapped my forehead in frustration as David opened the door into the hallway, before turning back to me, "Hit the lights on your way out, energy doesn't grow on trees, sides, don't want to attract any more attention than we have ta." Without another word, he stepped out, and a few moments later the lights in the hallway flickered on.
'Attention from wha-' I paused and thought a moment, 'The ratata, obviously. Should I close the blinds?'
"What's the hold up?" Rui asked.
"Just hold on a moment, need to check something." Rui tilted her head for a moment, but nodded slowly in affirmation. Satisfied, I approached the window, intent on closing it. As I pulled down the chain, a purple blur appeared in the corner of the window, and I leaped back from the window quickly, accidently bumping into a table. I stayed there for a moment to catch my breath, 'Wait, is that…rolling?' I turned to the table, looking for the source of the sound.
'Shit!' I lunged, barely catching a small object before it crashed into the ground, a small brown domed thing that felt bony and brittle to the touch. I gently lowered the thing to the ground, and crawled away from the window.
"Smooth, Crescent. Smooth."
'Shut up.'
"Crescent? What was tha-"
"Shut up!" I repeated in a harsh whisper, using the words already in my mind, and immediately regretting it as her expression changed from one of shock to one of indignation. "Sorry, just… we should go, quietly." Thankfully, Rui seemed to understand, and lowered herself into a crouch, and did not protest as I grabbed her by the hand and led her out.
"Yo! What's da hold u-" David suddenly appeared in the doorway, and just as suddenly froze. David looked between Me, Rui, and the window, and then lowered into a crouch of his own.
The world seemed to lurch as I felt myself yanked from where I was standing, and before I could tell what had happened, we were in the hallway, the door to the room closed behind us, and no light coming from the room. "Not cool. Very not cool."
I titled my head down, ashamed, "Sorry."
David only huffed, "Fur-Forget about it just don't wander off."
I nodded, shoving it out of my mind, and took another look at the now-illuminated hallway, taking in observing the small chairs, the numerous white boards lining the walls, the sickly white paint that covered the cinder block walls, the papers of numerous academic subjects taped to every door…and most of all, the fossils; fossils were everywhere, mounted on numerous frames and lying in numerous glass displays. Large upright skeletons, small shells, helical structures.
"That's kind of…creepy." Boo made her opinion known, "I get that it's an ancient pokemon amusement park, but why are these all in here?"
I nodded solemnly, and saw David a ways up the hallway, "What is it that they were doing in here?"
David turned to look at one of the fossils, a large skeleton, with a great resemblance to the Kabutops animatronic earlier. "The people in charge of this place wanted to expand this park, make it representative of pokemon in other regions, create more plants and such that look like they belonged in the time. I think they just finished a new kabuto animatronic, that swims around without prompting. I don't know what they're working on currently, or, were, I guess."
A sudden bang echoed through the hallways, and David jumped in surprise. "Oh fuck no." He turned and ran, his feet pounding against the floor in a sprint, and turned and ran up a staircase on the left, leaving me confused and alone in the hall.
And then a sudden weight landed on my back, reminding me that I was not alone, as Rui frantically scrambled onto my back, "What are you waiting for? Let's go!"
I grunted, 'She never ordered Scar around.'
"Scar never needs to be ordered around. Scar is a six-foot tall, two-hundred fifty pound badass that wrestles with Ursaring. Meanwhile, you're a five foot eight one-hundred fifty pound kid that's too scared to pick up a gun because we has shot, and too scared to pick up a knife because he accidently cut himself"
The truth hurt, I decided. Better to do what Rui asked than to give Boo an excuse to crack the whip. My legs began to carry us forward.
"Woah there pal." David's voice echoed through the halls, "Talk to me, I'm a lot prettier anyways…and put that down, they're just a bunch of nerds, they wouldn't be able to hurt you if they tri- THE FUCK DID YOU DO!?"
'That's not good.' I picked up my pace, jogging down the hall, 'Which do-'
"Second on the left, the only one with lights on, duh."
I nodded and ran up to the door, swinging it open, only to be greeted by the sight of a fuming David, standing eye to eye with Scar, gesturing angry to the battered and broken body of…yet another Kabutops animatronic, "We NEED these. Are ya da one that busted the two out front? What is your malfunction?" David stepped forward again, far, far closer than I could have stood without feeling the air forced from my lungs and lost for words.
And then David was punished for it. Scar seemed to shift, and a sudden impact echoed through the room, forcing him not to step back so much as scramble to LAND, from a blow so heavy I felt my bones shake from standing in the same room.
Scar stood stoic, fist still extended, as if himself not sure what had happened "My sorries. I was surprised."
'Scar is never surprised.'
Brief muffled whimper came from David's throat, before disappearing as rapidly as it appeared, though it left a small echo in its wake. David coughed and righted himself, another whimper echoing through his throat, but rather than being strangled, it rose in volume, like a strangled roar. David coughed again, and turned quickly to Rui and I. "In hindsight, shoulda waited for the two of you anyways. Rui, we're pals, right? Tell sandman here to calm down please. He's scaring the nerds and I think he wants to shoot me."
Rui opened her mouth, and then quickly closed it. Then opened it again…but only managed to force out a strangled, anxious noise that did little to instill confidence.
"Oh come fucking on," David coughed out "What did I do? Somethin I said?"
Scar -while previously passive- seemed to swell at Rui's strangled silence, as if preparing to spring into excessive violence. Rui opened her mouth to intervene again, but could not manage more than a few nervous stutters, too late to mean much even if they were effective.
"Okay, what the fuck has little miss sunshine so-"
'This is getting out of hand'
I took one step forward, intent on doing something, anything to prevent this pointless conflict from escalating further…but my legs betrayed me, my knees locked in place and my breath caught in my throat. Scar appeared as if ready to explode into violence, his typical stillness exuding a cold threat that seemed to freeze the air and sent electricity shooting down my spine. Thoughts of another step forward brought fears of convulsions, tremors, suffocation. My eyes dared about the room, Robert appeared to be similarly anxious, swaying back and forward while stepping back hesitantly.
David however, dug in his heels, lowered himself to the ground, a garish grin splitting his face, exuding something so clearly antithetical to joy that I did a double take, a disposition so uncharacteristic of the exuberant and loud person I had met minutes before. David's lips moved, syllables mumbled under his breath with no apparent meaning, the hand holding Scar's rifle slowly loosened its grip, and the weapon began to slip between his fingers… and then a footstep echoed in the midst.
Mine.
My blood did not freeze when the bottom of my shoe made contact with the ground. I did not fall to the ground convulsing. Air entered my lungs unhindered. Something seemed to give in the atmosphere.
"Stop!" A man seemed to step out of thin air between the soldier and the vagabond, a slightly smaller fellow in a white labcoat separating them. The scientist gently pushed David behind him and gave a small bow to Scar, "I apologize on his behalf, sir. He doesn't mean what he says and doesn't understand what he's saying."
I observed this diplomat- clearly Kantonese, and in his early thirties, with dark hair that stuck up in a wild cowlick, narrow eyes that seemed filled with a quiet energy and a soft face with smile lines already well on their way, and a frame considerably smaller than David himself. "He doesn't mean what he says"
"I mean exactly everything I say." David interjected, forcing an awkwardly large smile on his face, more for showing his teeth.
The other man ignored him, "He's been in a poor mood since everything that's happened."
"I don't need an excuse to be an asshole."
"And," The man interrupted. "He's been a lot harsher since…well, there were more of us."
David opened his mouth, a cruel retort already prepared when the man finished, but he paused, seemingly just now noticing the man, stepping up to him and trying to tear his labcoat off, "Take that fucking thing off! Where did you even find it?"
"Alright, alright!" The scientist capitulated quickly, undoing the top two buttons and allowing the coat to slip off. David dashed out of the room, with coat in hand. The scientist sighed tiredly and rubbed his eyes. Silence ensued, as Scar stared blankly at the man, while he opened his mouth to release a long yawn.
Robert stepped forward to intervene, but Scar placed a hand on the boy's shoulder to maneuver him behind him. "This…thing is of terrible manners. Let us try again." Scar slung his weapon over his shoulder and inclined his head slightly, "You may call me Scar."
The man nodded and proffered his hand, "My name is Foster, I was…am, a researcher here." He held out his hand for several more seconds- a fact that Scar was oblivious of- before withdrawing it awkwardly, "The rest of us are scientists or custodians; except…old man shuckle over there." Foster pointed to an old hermit in the corner, curled up into a ball and sleeping.
I paused, only now taking in my surroundings; the room was similar to the one before, but wider, and instead of tables of plants, animatronics laid about. Towards the back of the room a little bit under a dozen people sat quietly against the back wall, seemingly terrified of what had occurred.
"Why?"
Foster chuckled nervously, "What are we here? First because we didn't want to leave our projects behind- one in particular. We didn't really understand what was coming, so we just… kept working. All of us have spent some nights here before…by the time we figured out what was going on, it was too late to do anything. There's ratata to the west and beedrill to the east, and a couple of people here tried to leave- people that lived around here and ran here to hide… I don't think they got far."
"Then there's the matter of all the scientists, of every godamn fucker in a labcoat being abducted and shit." I turned back to the doorway as David walked back in. "Just like that, one night their there, swaddled in those white shitty things to keep warm, in the morning, they were gone. Just like that."
Scar's fists seemed to tighten at that, "Is this true?"
"No, no, calm down." Foster waved his hands around in an attempt to calm everyone, "Most of the people wearing labcoats were from Hoenn, they were keeping themselves warm with them. They probably left in the night, to try and get around the Ratata while they were sleeping. Most of them hated sitting around here when who knows what was going on back in Hoenn."
"PROBABLY." David stressed. "And we probably wouldn't have wound up in a fucking apocalypse from- or all things, angry ratata." David shook his head, "Speaking of, Sand Man. Tonight you and me are going to go prop up those machines that got knocked around. Until then, have fun, be quiet, and eat some cotton candy or whatever you can find. Now if you'll excuse me, I have shit to do." The scruffy Unovavn turned and stomped off, looking as inconvenienced as he possibly could.
"Did we really need him here in the first place? Not like we asked him to come back."
"I apologize for him, again. The last few months have been hard." Foster said, a grimace on his face.
Scar merely nodded, "It was…lamentable. There are things to discussed, if you know what lies ahead. Let us…exchange information."
"Yeah, we should…just…not here." Foster gestured to the people in the back of the room, huddled together. "I…think they could use some distance from you all. We can talk in one of the adjacent rooms."
Scar nodded, "That would be…prudent. Rui, you will come to transcribe."
"Translate."
"Precisely." Scar lifted the slim girl over his shoulder and gestured for Foster to lead the way, before briefly following.
I looked around the room awkwardly, no really sure what to do with Scar gone, until I felt a hand on my shoulder, Robert's. "We should get going too I think," Robert tilted his head in the direction of the still anxious scientists huddled against the wall, "Are you hungry?"
I opened my mouth in the affirmative, but paused, 'Am I? My stomach hasn't growled in a while, and I just ate yesterday…' I bit my lip in perplexion, "Not really, actually."
Robert's eyebrows furrowed, "Me neither, come to think of it…but still, when was the last time either of us had cotton candy? Or anything sweet?"
My mind wandered to an apple offered in the back of a truck, seemingly years ago, and yet scant dozens of miles away, with a very different group of people, and a very different self. "Too long, let's go."
"Why are you here? Why is it everywhere we turn around, we find you, despite every time you walk off you say you're doing something important." I asked.
David only shrugged from where he was sitting, "I did, in this case, making sure you didn't take anything you shouldn't." he tossed two pink bags at us, both of which Robert caught and turned to me- cotton candy. David continued, "Those two are for the four of you, a little thank you for not shooting us dead on the spot, and a little going away present for tomorrow morning when you'll be leaving us all, quickly."
Robert nodded slowly and turned and left the room, opening a bag of cotton candy as he did so, with me hot on his heels. "What do you make of that."
Robert snorted, "Guy's a jerk, but we didn't exactly endear ourselves to him." Robert tore off half of the cotton candy and handed me the other half, "Too many people here anyways, only so much park food they can go through before they have to pick up an go, so they definitely don't need us staying any longer than we need to."
"What about him and Scar?" thinking of their interactions so far left me worried, "Do you think it'll be a problem?"
"I'm not going to worry about Scar…the jerk seems like some kind of rebel." The way Robert said it had the makings of an insult, but he quickly moved on, "The situation between Unova and Orre has been complicated recently, take a young Unovan that has problems with authority, getting told off and intimidated by an Old Orrean that represents a lot of things young Unovans despise… It's going to be tense, but we should be able to make it one night without incident."
"Just one night." I said off handedly, 'Just one night with a roof over my head that doesn't look like it's hobbled together from a junk pile. Just one night with heat and air conditioning and electric lighting…' It meant very little to me, for some reason, 'Better to have never acclimated at all rather than acclimated and lost.'
I took one bite of the cotton candy, and my mouth puckered as the sheer quantity of sugar graced my unprepared palate, 'Just one night of stale cotton candy… no, I don't think I'll miss this place at all.'
Like I said, weird short chapter, mostly setting up for the next one, now, there's a lot of hints as to what exactly is going to happen, but I think I've actually been pretty creative with it, so it might surprise you. If you got a guess, or a tip, or whatever, well, do the thing that everyone on this blasted site always tells you to do. "Note to self: Write Poem Urging Few Readers to Review So I Can Improve."
