Expanding a Pallet Chapter 6
As stores went, it looked fairly organized. Some Pokéballs in the camping section, some varying kinds of food for the critters mixed with food that looked very much meant for people. Really despite the odd little things that seemed normal around here it could have been any general store she'd ever been in. Pretty much everything someone on the road might want, though not necessarily the best quality. The only thing actually off was the lack of a bell or electronic ring as she opened the door. Either it was broken or this was the only store she'd ever been in that didn't want to give the workers a warning.
There were just two people in the store, a middle-aged man with a protruding gut and a young man with glasses, neither of whom seemed to notice she'd entered. Hell, they might not even be 'expecting' customers this early in the morning. Both had a vest with what looked like a cute cat in front of a cave. Possibly a baby tiger..assuming tigers were red around here. The older guy was probably the professor's friend, but it couldn't hurt to be sure.
So she walked behind him, and knocked lightly on a shelf. Or at least she 'thought' it was lightly. It sounded a bit louder than she intended, making the younger guy jump and nearly drop what he was restocking and making her take a quick glance where she knocked. It didn't 'look' dented, but that was still a worrying sound. Like she'd smacked a hammer against an anvil.
The old guy didn't even flinch at the noise, just casually turned around and asked, "How can I help you, miss?"
Maybe it was the way he didn't even glance at her missing arm, or just the fact he was unphased by the loud noise. Whatever the case, she felt some of the tension from outside dissipating. "Professor Oak wanted me to pick up something here."
His face went from a professional, well-practiced smile to a wider, more heartfelt grin. "Ah, you made good time. I wasn't expecting you for another four hours. Come, this way. It's actually a few separate packages."
He started moving to an out of the way doorway with a staircase, and Yang couldn't help wondering if Phyllis could even handle stairs. She certainly didn't look like it'd be an easy proposition. "Huh, you know I didn't think to ask him but just what 'am' I grabbing for him anyway?"
Keeping an eye on the bulbasaur as she followed the owner, she chuckled to herself when Phyllis took just one look at the stairs and gave her a stare that practically screamed "are you kidding me, I don't have anywhere 'near' the grace to deal with this kind of terrain".
The man smiled as Yang stopped and gestured for Phyllis to get on the bag. He clearly wasn't in any hurry to get back to whatever he was doing earlier. "Well there was a small dumbbell, one of those one hand things. I've never been one to do that kind of exercise so I'm not sure if there's some different official name for it. Some prototypes of an interesting device he's been working on, a convenient electronic encyclopedia. I look forward to seeing how it works when he actually installs the software for the thing. Last but not least in anything other than weight is his monthly science magazines, and your licence."
It didn't feel 'too' uncomfortable to carry the bag and Phyllis on her shoulder as she went down the stairs. She just had to compensate for more of a weight imbalance. She was probably already dealing with an imbalance anyway, a few dozen more pounds on that side wasn't going to bother her. Phyllis didn't move much on the way down, but once they reached the bottom she lightly poked Yang's chin with a vine and pointed to the ground. Based on the expression on her face, it had less to do about being scared being off her feet and more like she was embarrassed to need the help in the first place.
Gently setting the bag down, Yang gave her a quick pet. "Hey, don't worry about it. I'm happy to help whenever you need it."
Nuzzling against the hand while it was there, the little girl climbed off the bag. Deciding that carrying it just to put it down again when they grabbed what they came for was silly, she didn't bother getting it back on her shoulder.
Not even a raised eyebrow from the old man at the short byplay or the bag staying on the ground. It wasn't that he didn't give a shit at all, there was just a vibe that he considered it as normal as someone yawning late at night. Considering her just walking down a street felt like she was the weirdest thing ever to grace civilization, it was actually pretty comforting.
There was an unspoken, instantly understood plan between them. The old man walked through the overstock to find one of the little packages, Yang would open a pocket of the bag, and they would try to stuff it in as neatly as they could.
The bar for the dumbbell came with some different weights for it, that was nice. Sure, back home she could bench-press a hell of a lot more than the max weight this little thing could take, but then benching wasn't going to be a thing for her anymore. She was probably going to use it mostly for curls and keeping her arm in shape, not building strength or proving something to anyone.
The "electronic encyclopedia"..well, one look at it made Yang understand why Victor had been so fascinated by her scroll. The thing looked like a plastic brick, and while she could admit that it was easier to handle one handed than a scroll, even with the small door to protect the screen and buttons, the fact that it needed an outright keyboard meant there was less room for the screen. Add in the fact that the device as a whole was smaller than her scroll was when fully opened, and there just wasn't a lot of room to work with. Either the text would have to be pretty small or there'd be very few letters per line, both of which could easily become annoying. No speaker or slot to insert headphones, so no chance you could listen to music or use it to communicate with anyone. At best you had a slot that was for connecting it to a computer, looked like an ethernet or something that needed a similar kind of hole in a smaller slot, and what was probably something to help it recharge. It was probably unfair to really compare the two devices when the only thing the brick was programmed for was checking the time and mentioning its battery status. That said, she put one in a jacket pocket just for the sake of having a clock in an easy to reach place.
Somehow the magazines caught her off guard. She expected some dry looking texts bundled together. But the covers certainly showed these people had a sense of style and humor. A computer magazine with a polygon creature somehow smiling without a mouth, one of its legs on a paperclip with eyes and a mouth. "Advances in AI Expands Possibilities". A biology magazine with a menacing purple ghost on the cover, its all too wide grin the stuff of nightmares and its disembodied hands holding the article title, "Busting Some Mysteries". While she wasn't inclined to read any of it, it certainly looked like they had a good amount of flash to go with their substance.
The final item, her license, came with a wallet. One of those brown folding ones. The material felt like if rubber and leather had a love child. It wasn't too difficult to flip it open, the trouble was getting the card into one of the pockets one handed. Sure, she could have asked for help from either the old man or Phyllis, but something as simple as working a wallet felt like something she should be able to do on her own. Period. Sure, she was 'crippled' now but that didn't make her helpless.
After some awkward fumbling trying to hold her wallet in her elbow and insert the card in a slot she 'somehow' managed it. Probably something she'd get better with practice. Again, if the old man had amusement, or any reaction at all for that matter, he didn't show it. He just zipped up her bag for her and patiently waited. Putting the wallet in her jacket and making a mental note to ask the professor about money when she got back, Yang felt there was one thing she absolutely had to say before leaving. "You..aren't going to ask.."
..what was with her arm? She wasn't even sure why she trailed off mid-sentence. She 'wanted' to know why he didn't react to that or any of the other things that seemed to highlight she didn't belong in this strange world, but at the same time her mouth just..stopped moving.
It didn't take him long to figure she wasn't going to continue. He just gave a warm smile and replied, "We've all got our own paths in life. None of them really right or wrong, all of them with their own share of challenges. So really, what 'should' I be asking about other than if there's anything else you'll be needing today?"
Considering she literally had no money at the moment, even if she 'did' want something more she wouldn't be able to pay for it. "Nope, I think that's everything. I'll just get back to the professor, I'm a little curious what these gadgets can do when he's done with them."
He nodded at that. "Sounds good. Oh, and when you get back to him, tell him that our mutual friend Kenshin is going to have a TV special on Thursday. Hold on, let me write down the time.."
{It was just another lazy night in the RWBY dorm room. Ruby was sketching something in her bed, and based on her face it was something that needed a good amount of concentration. Weiss was checking something on her scroll, either the news or checking about an event later in the week. And Blake was reading one of her numerous books, completely absorbed in the words on screen.
Really, it was just another pleasant night like so many others they'd shared together in that very room. There was just one little thing, one small issue. Yang wasn't there with them. It wasn't just that Yang wasn't physically there and off somewhere else for some reason. Any and every sign of her existence as a member of the team was missing.
Her bed wasn't balanced on top of Blake's bed with some of Blake's books. The Achieve Men poster wasn't on the wall. Her usual haphazard mess on the floor wasn't around for Weiss to complain about. No fourth towel in the closet, or a fourth bag. It was just a perfectly happy team of three..}
Yang didn't really wake up with a startled scream or horrified gasp. While the dream wasn't all that pleasant it wasn't the kind of horrific thing she'd had that involved people dying or severed limbs or her feeling helpless while bad things happened to people she cared about. What woke her up wasn't the unpleasant haze she was already forgetting.
It was Phyllis, nuzzling up to Yang's cheek, a worried expression on her face. Huh, guess it was pretty obvious she was going through a bad dream, even if it wasn't an extreme one. Giving the bulbasaur a quick petting, the blond whispered, "Sorry if I worried you. Just thinking about some friends. Things were more than a little crazy when I..left."
Add in the fact that she didn't leave them by choice while all hell was breaking loose and chances were she'd never see them again and it was no wonder they seemed to be haunting her. At least she didn't dream of them getting hurt, that was progress, right? Do people even get over something like this in less than a month? The only two people she knew who dealt with traumatic loss were her father and uncle. Not only did they go through something different when her bio-mom left and super-mom died, she didn't even have the option to talk to them.
Well, the sun seemed to be shining through the tent flaps, so there wasn't much point in trying to get some more sleep. Still, she wasn't alone so she couldn't just make the decision on her own. Sitting up, rubbing her eyes a bit, she gave Phyllis what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "Well, you up for getting the day started right now? Or would you prefer some more rest?"
The only response was Phyllis making a soft noise from her mouth. It was almost like a sigh mixed with a meow. Where Zwei would have looked at her quizzically, Phyllis used a vine to gently rub the knuckles of Yang's hand while getting out of the bed. Hard to say what the little girl was thinking, and not for the first time Yang wished they could actually talk to eachother, not this one sided crap. Still, work with what you've got, not what you wish you had.
So she got out of the sleeping bag and started working with Phyllis to put away their set-up. At least she didn't have too much to worry about on a road she'd already gone through once. At the very least she and Phyllis could easily deal with the rats. The birds, however, were a bit more annoying. Especially since most of the things Yang could do to them made them go flying, and that wasn't much of a solution for creatures that were actually capable of controlling themselves in the air.
Pallet Town wasn't really a comfort to see again, even if it was more familiar. At best there were fewer people just wandering the street as she came in, and none of them paid her any attention. Hell, she was probably old news at this point. And she didn't have to ask for directions either.
Was it normal for someone going through what she did to go from a social butterfly to..well, a wallflower didn't feel like the right word for it. Ruby was certainly shy around new people, but she never showed any anxiety over asking directions or something. It was just that she had some trouble talking to anyone outside of her interests if she didn't know them too well.
But now Yang felt uncomfortable just walking down a street when less than two weeks ago she'd eagerly be the center of attention or at least be a memorable part of whatever was going on. Not that she'd been in any parties since coming here but she very much doubted she'd be the life of it.
Still, probably not something to dwell on. The professor was waiting..or possibly still asleep. Just what 'did' he do at seven forty in the morning, anyway? Whatever, she could just go to the part of the lab where all the technical stuff was done.
Somehow she wasn't surprised to see Victor typing up a storm. It was hard to tell if he was writing notes based on whatever ideas her scroll gave him or doing something new, but the technophile was pretty tireless from what little she knew of him. For a moment she considered knocking on a wall to announce her presence, but then she had the mental image of denting if not outright putting a hole in the plaster. So she settled for a cough. That..didn't get his attention. So she then said, "Well good morning to you too."
That certainly got his attention. He practically tripped over his chair as he rushed over to her, and once again he found a way to remind her of Ruby as he hurriedly asked, "Did you get the Pokédexes? Did you didyoudidyou?!"
Well at least he didn't try tackling her. The guy had at least 'some' restraint, though honestly part of her would have preferred if he hadn't, at the very least it would have been nice for a laugh. Putting down the bag and pulling out the plastic bricks, Yang giggled when he started counting them and had a facial expression that screamed "hey, wait a minute", pulling the last one from her jacket pocket.
If he was curious why she kept one there, he didn't ask. He just had a giddy expression on his face as he said, "Right. Now the fun begins. Hold on, where did I put that cable.."
It didn't take him long to the stray wire he wanted. While the desk wasn't up to Schnee standards of clean, some scattered notebooks, pens, and crumbs from various snacks couldn't hide the tangled black cord. It looked like an ethernet, if those kinds of wires came in smaller sizes. It was already connected to the computer, so all he had to do was plug in a device and run a program that installed the operating system. She couldn't help noticing that it was PD 1.03, which meant he'd gone through a few revisions and patches before even getting the first device.
And he used the few moments it took for the operating system to install onto the mostly blank device to start explaining about it. "Now, unlike your brilliant piece of tech, this has a lot less processing power and memory. Still, we're using that memory pretty damn well, and absolutely everything we've loaded onto it is fully accessible no matter where you might be. Deep in a cave? You can still do everything you want to. Its main function is, of course, an electronic encyclopedia."
Almost as if on cue, the installation for the first device was completed. He switched that one out for a fresh one while he accessed it and continued talking. "Now, while there are certainly more Pokémon out there, this first version only goes into detail about two hundred and fifty of them. These are the ones that are prevalent in both Kanto and neighboring Johto, so they're the ones you'd be most likely to see from various trainers in the two regions. While we 'could' have stuffed in detailed information about absolutely every Pokémon that's currently known, that wouldn't have left any space left for 'anything' else, not even a clock."
Giving an exaggerated hiss, Yang joked, "Yikes. Good thing you didn't do that, it'd feel awkward going watch shopping."
He didn't seem to notice the joke, which was arguably a good thing since Yang wanted to slap herself for even thinking it. Why the hell did she even spout out a joke that she herself didn't like?! "Some of the 'other' things it can do at this point are a notepad, for when you just want to take something down without pulling out a pen and paper. A calendar that can connect to the notepad for when you want to keep track of a schedule. And this latest bit I just got finished with, a low-resolution map of Kanto. Really like what I've done with it."
He opened it for her, and it looked..okay. The roads looked straighter than they probably actually were, and he'd apparently decided not to bother trying to get enough resolution to show much in the way of terrain. Just some cartoonish trees to indicate forests, brown splotches to show mountains or just more rocky terrain, what looked like huts for caves, and a cartoonish house for various settlements. While it was probably better than nothing, she didn't see why he was all that proud of it. At best she could muster an, "Okay.."
She apparently didn't do a good enough job hiding her less than stellar opinion of that bit, but he smirked at her. "Granted, not a great resolution map, but look here. You can move this cursor like so over the location you want, hit this button here, and there, you get a description of where you are."
She didn't look too closely at the description he pulled up, but she was a little impressed by the little feature. Did he think that up to make up for the crappy looking map, or would he have done that even if he could have gotten a map with more detail on that little screen? "Pretty nice. Easy to see how someone could appreciate that on the road."
Then she heard Professor Oak say something behind her, making her jolt in surprise. "I agree. Very convenient for those who want to learn more about their surroundings."
You'd think a man who looked like he'd just woken up and was drinking his morning coffee wouldn't be all that stealthy, but he'd managed to enter the room without a sound and given the small smile on his face he enjoyed the surprise he gave Yang. Based on the expression on Phyllis' face, the little girl didn't notice him enter either, much less how he somehow managed to get within five yards without somehow being noticed. Maybe that was why the guy in the store hadn't flinched. He was used to being snuck up on.
Victor was the only one in the room who didn't seem in any way surprised, quickly saying as he got the next brick connected to the computer, "Ah, good morning sir. Say, you think we should get one of these to Katsumi and Azul? Technically we're still in the prototypes, and while I'm 'hoping' we get to mass production soon, it couldn't hurt to get a decent variety of opinions of how it works."
The professor had many ideas of what the young lady's thoughts might have been as she traveled route one with her young Pokémon. How she reacted to the unexpected, the bond that would continue to grow between Pokémon and trainer, and numerous other things. Was it wrong to want to do such an..informal experiment, so to speak, on someone who was from a completely different culture? He honestly didn't know, and it itched at him a little.
Still, hearing what she had to say, and what she didn't talk about, was rather enlightening, and it certainly vindicated what he'd done. She'd enjoyed herself on the road, and while she'd appreciated her Pokémon's presence, there was still a shadow of loneliness. Technically that was better than the signs of depression she'd had when she'd just been doing things day to day at the lab, doing odd little activities on her own or whatever he'd asked her to do in order to keep herself busy and pass the time with no goal in sight.
He was willing to acknowledge that he was probably letting his own cultural baggage direct him towards a solution that felt right for Yang. There was a chance he was wrong, that it might make a bad situation worse. Still, he couldn't help thinking that what she needed was a full on journey, it didn't matter for what or why. Just a reason to travel around, meet various people, gain numerous experiences. Something to keep her from festering in her own mind and getting into a hole she might not be able to climb out of.
But the question was, how was he going to pull something like that off? She was too sharp for him to just come up with a random excuse out of nowhere for her to do something. If he had to come up with a way to get her to explore the world, it'd have to be something legitimate. A real reason. He certainly wasn't convinced that her short trip sparked her to want to see the rest of the world, she'd had more of a "mission accomplished" mood about her than "I really want to see more". She was more of a goal oriented person than he was used to dealing with, and as far as he could tell none of the usual goals of trainers appealed to her at all.
Not that she described herself as a goal oriented person in any of their conversations. Of course maybe by the standards of her world, she was rather free and loose..or had been before whatever injured her happened. Just how much was trauma and how much was upbringing? Interesting questions, but it wasn't like he had some way to check.
Shingen could serve as a good teacher, at least for a bit. But it would need to be something she approached him for. And how was the professor supposed to convince her to try something like that? What kind of task could he give her that would require a lot of travel and someone showing her the ropes before that happened?
She apparently couldn't care less about "being the best". Trying to catch them all..no, the kind of attachment she was growing with her Pokémon was the kind that meant she'd probably choose to have a small team of companions, not hundreds. Hm..he 'did' get an email about the Indigo League wanting him to do something to spice things up to the usual yearly stuff, though they hadn't specified what they wanted or when. Just that it would be nice for one of the old Kanto Trio of champs to make a random TV appearance and provide some commentary on a few matches at some point.
So he could use that as the reason he wanted Yang's "help", but what? Interviewing people? Gym leaders? Whatever trainers she happened to meet on the road? What kind of interviews? Definitely required some more thinking, but he had time. The day was still young, and letting Yang send a day or two without anything to do before giving her whatever the task he finally decided on might give it more impact when he did throw whatever it turned out to be at her.
Author's Note: Yeah, a major issue I'm running into is a justification for Yang to go on a journey other than this is the Pokémon world and I've got some things in mind to happen to her in the future. A little annoying that the games only ever made the goal "beat all eight gyms and then the champ", so I can't really draw on that too much for inspiration.
So I figured why not close the chapter with Professor Oak struggling with that very question, and 'his' thoughts are taking things in an interesting direction. How should Yang interview the various gym leaders, what kind of questions will be asked, will she have the option to throw in her own questions, will battling them be optional or part of the interview process?
Sure, we're still several chapters away from running into the first gym, but it's nice to think of these sorts of things ahead of time, and to give our hero a reason to be going from place to place. As it is, her mindset wants Yang to do what she did in the show, just say in one place and try to "get over" her issues and not really succeed. So since the motivation isn't quite internal, at least not yet, then it needs to be something external, something that the professor gets her started on and that she might find herself enjoying as it goes on.
Anyway, hope you all enjoyed the chapter. We'll see when the next one comes out.