Chapter 3: Things to Get Used To
It took a few days for Yang to do much more than just wander aimlessly for most of the morning, maybe eat one meal the entire day, then spend every moment when the sun was down in that fancy bed. Hell, her lack of motivation to do much of anything hadn't gone away.
Still, it was only a matter of time just leeching off the kindness of the professor before some part of her started feeling guilty. She didn't know the guy at all and yet he kept her fed, helped get her some clothes, gave her a place to sleep..and he asked for nothing. Hell, she'd have been creeped out if there was any sign of perversion but he was just too damned kind and more interested in where she came from than anything else. A lot of the questions he'd asked seemed so simple and basic, thankfully nothing anywhere near as tough as a test from Oobleck, but still made her think about things.
So here she was, trying to do one handed push-ups and convince herself she wasn't a complete invalid. Trying to get herself to just let go of the worries she was in no position to do anything about.
It's not like she knew what happened to her teammates, and every night thoughts of their potential fate made her depression turn to anger. Anger at how helpless she felt. Anger at how everything went from carefree in the festival to suddenly she was confined to her dorm room after defending herself after a match to Vale under attack by Grimm, the White Fang, and Atlas robots! The robots were supposed to be on their side, weren't they?! Worst of all were the nightmares.
[There was nothing Yang could do to help Blake. That sadistic bastard with a sword hadn't been satisfied just taking Yang's right arm. He sliced off her left, then her legs.
She didn't know how she was still conscious, or why he didn't just decapitate her. Maybe it would have been too merciful.
He certainly didn't show any mercy to Blake once he was done with Yang. If anything him sheathing that sword and just smiling wider made things worse.
Blake tried to fight back as he started beating her with his bare hands. Every blow was aimed at either her ribs or the still bleeding stab at her stomach. And every blow knocked the wind out of her. Yang could tell, she could 'feel' every punch. Whimpered in sympathetic agony whenever he dug into the still bleeding wound.
She lost count of how many times he hit her after eleven. That was when Blake stopped resisting and just made breathless noises of pain, desperately trying to gulp for air before she was struck again.
Maybe the guy got bored, or maybe he felt like he'd made his point. Whatever the case he stopped punching, and just grabbed Blake by the throat. At best she could just weakly grab his wrists, but the air had been thoroughly beaten out of her lungs. And all Yang could do was scream for her partner until the nightmare ended.]
She was jolted out of her thoughts when she heard the professor call to her. "Ah, good morning, Yang."
In her shock her arm moved out of place, and she wound up bumping her nose against the ground. It didn't hurt enough to force any pained noises but it still stung her pride. And that had already taken enough abuse over the past two weeks.
If Oak was sympathetic to the embarrassing moment, it didn't sound like it. "While it's certainly nice to see you're up and moving, maybe it's best if you had breakfast first. Especially considering how little you ate yesterday..or the day before."
Part of her wanted to mention she felt better than she did when she'd first arrived. Numb and filled with directionless fury was better than feeling tired and depressed, right? The other decided to shrug and get to her feet as she said, "Okay. Not like I have any other plans."
It was a rare thing to talk to a young adult who grew up in an entirely different culture. One where humanity was in a constant war with the world around them as opposed to at peace and trying to understand it better. As far as Oak knew, this was the first time ever. Granted, there were several dangers in this world, but nothing as far as he knew that consumed villages, entire 'cities'. Anything that potentially dangerous had a rival equal or superior to make sure it didn't cause too much harm.
Miss Xiao-Long made a grimace, not of disgust but the sort of confusion where no matter how many times you're told it stays confusing. "I know I keep asking this but..really? You let ten year old kids run around with 'monsters' across roads with 'other' monsters that probably want to hurt them?!"
He never thought about how everything he had ever known would look to an outsider's perspective. He never even considered that there could be such a thing. It was rather enlightening. So much time spent studying Pokémon and their relationship with the world and humans, now to get the perspective of someone who had never seen Pokémon before.. "I understand your concern. Truly. Everyone who becomes a trainer has to go through tests to see if they're ready, and most families wait a few more years.."
That prompted the blond woman to stare at him like he'd grown an eye on his forehead. "Sorry, I grew up with a 'very' bright little sister and I wouldn't let her go town to town alone even at 'twelve'! Maybe fourteen, but I'd probably tag along just to be safe."
So protective, even hypothetically. And given her physical fitness and..injury, she led a harsh life. Probably much scarier than anything anyone else he'd ever talked to could ever imagine. "And that speaks very well for how much you care for her. Please understand that it's a coming of age in this world. If it was any more dangerous than driving a car, we would be even more careful."
The car comparison seemed to grab her attention. Interesting that cars were still a thing on a different world. "Yeah, I get that. But a driver has to worry about how their car runs, the rules of the road, and pay attention in case the other drivers are following those rules. Even then you get the occasional jerk that changes lanes without warning or doesn't care about a stop sign. There's probably a lot more to being a 'trainer' than a driver, so you've got a combination of ignorance and willful jerkiness to deal with."
Another solid point in her favor. His own grandson was a bad combination of knowing the basics well enough to pass the exam, cocksure enough to consider some of the rules to be more like guidelines, with a hint of arrogance mixed in. Part of him wanted to pity whatever Pokémon he'd have at the start of his journey. The other held hope that his journey would help him grow as a person. "Oh yes. There is quite the learning curve, and nobody can learn everything there is to know in a single lifetime. At least from my perspective it feels like there's always something new. But part of growing up is to face the unknown, learn from it, and adapt. While there are some bad eggs out there, all the ones I've run into have acted like brats regardless of their actual age. No system is perfect, and the fact that the good people of the world outnumber the bad means that we must be doing something right. Though we might not know exactly what part that is."
With that, Yang thoughtfully finished off her last strip of bacon. She'd been eating her breakfast rather slowly, at first due to the occasional moment of trying to do things with a limb she didn't have and mulling over whatever emotions, probably negative, that inspired. Thankfully he'd managed to get her brain going in a different direction.
Absently playing around with her eggs, as if she wasn't sure if she should even try eating them or not, Yang responded, "Yeah..the good outnumbering the bad is good. I can get behind that, even if I still think the system's pretty screwed up. But you're sending a bunch of little kids out on their own and..well, I can't really think what they'd be doing when on the road. If those 'pokiman' things aren't as dangerous as the Grimm where I'm from, they're just wandering aimlessly. Nothing is in desperate need of defense, and with countless people from ten to whatever just roaming around, it's probably a pain to keep track of them all to know just how they're doing."
Yes, a society constantly in a fight for survival 'would' be more concerned with knowing where people are and how they're doing. But a peaceful one would see that kind of concern as invading one's privacy. Probably why her 'scroll' had that map feature, a health monitor, and needed to be connected to a central hub. "Well, not entirely aimlessly. There are numerous kinds of contests, tournaments, and other things across the various towns and cities to draw in trainers. Many have different things they ask for in a winner. Combat skills and showmanship being the most popular areas. And every region has a little challenge in place that everyone, regardless of their interests, tries at least once."
At the word challenge, she finally started trying to pick at the eggs with her fork. Her grip wasn't what he'd call shaky, but she was definitely putting more thought into her movements than such a simple action usually warranted, and visibly winced when anything slipped off. "What kind of challenge?"
There was something about the way she asked that. Something that carried a bit more weight than when a child asked. A child just wanted to know how to prove themselves, to make their name known in the world. But Yang..when she asked, it was someone trying to decide if it was something worth trying at all more for the sake of having something to do.
That warranted a slightly different response than he might give for a school documentary or an 'as you know' bit in a radio show. "There are eight official gyms per region, each run by an expert in a particular type of Pokémon. Rock, water, lightning, grass, psychic, poison, fire, and ground in Kanto. When you beat a gym leader, you gain a badge, and the next leader you challenge doesn't hold back as much since you have proof you passed a challenge. About eighty percent of trainers can manage to get one badge, though for some it can be quite the uphill battle. Around eighteen percent can get all eight and earn the right to face a group known as the Elite Four, and any who beat them get to be known as a champion. Regardless of how far into the journey one gets, it's always a worthwhile adventure. It forces you to learn a larger variety of things to overcome adversity, and in exploring a region you can gain some rather wonderful friendships."
Based on the expression on her face, the sales pitch didn't land quite the way the professor hoped. She nodded in understanding, but not interest. "Okay. I can get that. Some of the most fun friendships happen randomly. And you don't get much more random than in the middle of the road."
Still, it was progress. She wasn't thinking about her losses so much and he'd managed to learn a good amount both about her and her origins in their daily back and forth. The road to knowledge and understanding wasn't always a straight road. "Indeed. Speaking of random, since you're feeling more active today do you think you could help me with a few things once you're done with breakfast?"
That definitely caught her off guard. "You've got two assistants. What's a clueless cripple able to do that they can't?"
Was it a good thing that she was acknowledging she had limits? Or bad that she referred to herself like that? "Victor is a rather excellent technician, but struggles to stay interested in anything that doesn't immediately pertain to technology. While Integra is very knowledgeable but tends to be on the timid side. While I can certainly handle the little guys myself, they can be tiring, and you seem to have have a good mindset to give me a ha..some help."
He wanted to slap himself for the near slip, but Yang didn't even notice. She took a slow swallow of another bit of egg, as if she knew the answer to her next question wouldn't be as easy to digest. "When you say 'little guys', do you mean school children or.."
"Oh no, these are Pokémon. And don't worry, these ones are far too young to be dangerous."
It was more out of a sense of having nothing else to do than any sense of responsibility or curiosity that made her follow Professor Oak to the rather interesting room. It kind of looked like an indoor garden, if the gardener wasn't concerned what plants were growing where so long as they kept growing. If she didn't know any better, she'd wonder if they just built this building around a random section of nature. Just how much money did the professor have, anyway? And how did someone make so much doing just science stuff?
Her eyes were drawn to the first living non-human creature she'd seen since her arrival in Pallet town. Lazing under the window-enhanced sunlight, the little lizard barely moved when it noticed the two humans. Kind of like a cat trying to have a nap, it gave them a once over and yawned as if to say "whatever you want, you can do it yourself." If the cat had frog-esque skin..and a plant stuck to its back. Did..did that thing move so little that a massive plant took 'root' in its 'flesh'! It either couldn't feel pain or was the second scariest thing she'd ever seen!
Another pair of creatures was playfully wrestling in the bushes. A red lizard wound up tossed towards the lazy one, landing belly first in the dirt. The fire on its tail seemed to get a little more intense in its indignation. Climbing back to its feet, making the cutest, high pitched roar she'd ever heard, it gestured with its arms for its opponent to just bring it. That reminded her of one of the first lessons her dad taught her about combat: only the stupid and the cocky willingly concede the initiative.
The final creature stepped out of the grass, and unlike the red lizard had noticed it now had an audience. The blue turtle gave Yang and Oak a quick salute and swaggered like a kid trying to look cool and not comprehending that it looked ridiculous with its head leaning back, legs making exaggeratedly "heavy" steps and shelled pelvis sticking out.
Red waited until blue was in arms reach and then leaped. Really? Tackling a shelled opponent from less than a foot away? There's no momentum! And as the two amateurs proved they didn't have any clue how to wrestle, blue's more stubby arms and legs proved too awkward to get a grip on. Add in the smooth shell with few if any obvious places to grab? Yeah, red was screwed.
Professor Oak was giving them a fond smile. "I never get tired of seeing young Pokémon interact with eachother, or young trainers getting their first starters. There's just something about seeing the beginning of a journey.."
Part of Yang wanted to make a jab about the professor's age. But she couldn't help just continuing to stare at the creatures. The way the lazy one gave a huff of superiority before standing on all fours and moving to a better place to watch practically screamed 'Weiss'. At least assuming Weiss wasn't in one of her workaholic moods. The way the blue one seemed to gloat as it quite clearly won again made the words "I'm queen of the castle" sing through her head. And the way the red one looked dejected for all of four seconds before jumping back to its feet and clearly asking for a rematch..well okay. That didn't remind her of anyone in particular but it was still kind of cute.
When she finally managed to think of something to say, she kind of felt like a little kid helping out her dad and uncle Qrow around the house again. "Just what kind of help do you need here?"
"It's mostly just keeping them company and making sure they're eating properly. I try to set aside at least an hour a day to do this, but sometimes other projects get in the way. It's a poor excuse, I know, but it's easy to lose track of time when you've run into something particularly engrossing."
Something about that felt less than honest to her. He certainly found time in his day to check up on Yang every day, even if it was at random times. He had enough money to give a random stranger a bed that was probably more expensive than everything in her Beacon dorm room combined. This was a guy with a very flexible schedule who could hire someone to do this kind of menial task for him.
Shrugging, she figured she didn't have anything else to do so she wouldn't call him out on that. "Well, you didn't bring any bags of food that I can see, and unless their breakfast consists of about six berries from that random tree there, this is probably just to hang out with them."
He gave a smile very reminiscent of Ozpin at that. "Well, not just 'hang out', considering some of your questions earlier I thought you might want to meet some starter Pokemon. These are the ones that people from Pallet town choose from. None are really better than the other, it all comes down to style and personality."
Well if he wanted to put her mind at ease about the whole monsters and people living together thing, showing these three cute guys was pretty effective. But she somehow doubted 'all' of them were this cute.
It was hard to say how long she'd been in there. Anywhere between an hour and three felt about right. And she couldn't even remember when the professor left the building. She was too consumed just..watching the little guys.
The lazy one, a species apparently called "bulbasaur", felt like the most clever of the bunch. When the professor put some canned food into bowls, he took one lick and grimaced while the other two just dived in. Understandable, it looked like wet dog food..if dogs ate salmon flavored chunks of a brownish substance. Maybe cat food was a better comparison?
Then some kind of vine slid out of that plant on his back to reach for one of the berries in the tree. So that growth wasn't some morbid sign of lethargy but a part of his body he could control? Weird.
When he couldn't quite reach it, he started scanning around for something to give him that extra few inches he needed. Part of Yang felt a little guilty for just walking over and giving him a boost, he seemed to be having fun solving his own problems. Then she saw the surprised, grateful smile he aimed at her and damn it's a good thing she'd developed an immunity to cuteness. You could 'weaponize' how adorable this thing was.
The fire lizard, something called a "charmander", was the first to finish eating. Yeesh, the little guy was competitive with pretty much everything it came across. Though based on the way he acted it had less to do with winning and losing and more about the challenge.
After seeing the way Yang helped the bulbasaur reach the berries he clearly wanted to prove he could climb all the way up there himself. At least if the way he went to the trunk of the tree, tried to dig his claws into the bark, and awkwardly started to climb was any indication. Unfortunately for him, his claws weren't fully grown in yet, and even if they were they just weren't designed for climbing trees. She'd seen more than enough things meant to tear flesh to make that sort of mistake.
Still, while Yang had the sense that he wouldn't appreciate her lifting him up to his self-imposed goal, there didn't seem to be any issues with her giving some advice, mentioning spots that looked like they'd give him better grips. Bit to the left to a knot here, a branch firm enough to support his weight there. She was also free enough to move under the little guy just in case he fell. It's not like the bulbasaur needed her help to crush and smear the berries across the cat food.
A good thing she did, too. It was hard to say if he just didn't get his claws in deep enough or if a small, critical part of what was holding his weight broke off. All she knew was that she had half a second to react to a little red blur falling within arm's reach. In some ways it was easier to catch him than Ruby, he was smaller and didn't fall as fast as her sister could run. It was still awkward with only one hand, especially since she moved as if she had both and could 'feel' both move where she intended them to be. It wasn't until he desperately latched onto her left that she even remembered.
Yang couldn't find it in her to be annoyed as those little claws made her still recovering aura flare a bit, though she did hiss at the pain. It probably didn't do much damage, someone without an active aura might have gotten some reddish lines around the tricep but no actual bleeding. Still, the little guy looked apologetic and she probably could have thought of a better way to catch him one handed.
Since both were to blame, Yang didn't feel the need to get angry at him, she just asked, "So, you want me to put you back on the ground? Or find a spot partway up to keep going?"
While she couldn't outright understand any of the noises coming from his mouth, the claw pointing down was clear enough. Gently setting him down, she chuckled as he tried to start climbing all over again. Guess he wanted to prove he could do it in one go. That left her playing spotter. At least he wasn't lifting weights or..
..her train of thought was derailed when she saw some motion back at the food bowls. Specifically, the turtle, called a squirtle, was..breakdancing. Or at least trying to breakdance. It was difficult to do without any music in the background..and with such stubby limbs..and a shell.
The bulbasaur gave his companion an exasperated stare before picking up his still unfinished bowl and moving. Guess this wasn't the first time he'd done crap like that. Thankfully it wasn't captivating for too long, she noticed just in time as charmander fell down again, moving just fast enough to catch him. It probably wasn't the softest catch using her arm like a branch. Still he landed in a way that didn't get her scratched and it probably hurt less than smacking straight into the ground would have. Progress.
Setting him down again, she heard the oddest noise. A combination of a meow and a croak. Charmander gave his buddy a blank glance that could only mean "really?". Bulbasaur took a front paw to his forehead and rubbed. Yang just giggled. Yeah, she could definitely see what the professor was saying about these things.
Of course she couldn't help wondering why he'd left this handful of a trio with the girl who literally had just one hand. A little help would be appreciated.
Author's Note: And that does it for the first three chapters. Anyone have any ideas of which of the three starters Yang should pick and a nickname for her new partner? I can't promise I'll take it into account when I make my own decision, but it's still a fun thing to think about regardless.