Yeah, dang... Layke's been inducted with Team Galactic?!
Why in the world did Keebae tell him that his best friend had died in the rock avalanche? That's pretty mean! Why would Keebae do something so mean?!
Once again thanks for the really freakin kind comments, OMG! You said you write stories, but you reply on here as a guest comment. Do you post any of them on fanfiction?
Chapter 6: An Uneasy Peace
Lucaro's paw nudges my arm. I stop, glance over to him. His gaze has been overcome with this oddly cobalt color, blue like his fur, morphing his amber gaze to something muddled, borderline brown. "I believe... if we go this way..." He takes a preliminary step and his eyes explode with color. "Yes. Yes, this way."
"Pff... Lucaro, what's 'this way'?" I ask. Despite my lack of explanation, I follow him off the path and into a beaten-down line of bushes and trod-upon grass. My lucario friend must've found us a little shortcut.
He focuses on mapping out whatever direction it is we need to go in; then his words come out in short, stubby breaths. "Keebae. I sense her aura. The, ah, the aura that I braced onto her. It's this way."
I swallow. "Dude... this won't lead us to, like, Team Galactic's evil secret base, will it? If... If we start walking to some freaky building in the distance, you're gonna have to give it up. I am not here for that." We can't save Layke if we end up like him, after all.
"Ah..." He allows a moment of pause. "I hadn't thought of that. Well... we will just have to see."
I can't argue with that. It's not like there's not a pressure building up in my chest the bluer and bluer Lucaro's eyes glow. It's not like my best friend's face isn't flashing like overblown fireworks in my head with each step we take, closer, closer, of course only maybe but also...
We emerge in a clearing of flowers. I freeze.
The... sheer mass, jewel-like in luster, and the way they dip to the sun in the dusky evening half-light... the gentle cusp of sunlight tucking around the stems and uplifting them in a tender orange sheen...
Where... are we?
Soft petals flutter against our toes, and I begin the incredibly tricky work of nudging my feet around the stems and hoping to the love of all things good that I don't crush any of them. Lucaro of course can step literally anywhere and the flowers bounce back up, because every single aspect of nature just loves him, I guess. He glances at me once or twice and definitely stifles a crackle of laughter while I try to balance my giant steel bar thing as to not slip down and hit a petaled plant.
Gosh. When his eyes edge over to me again, I glare his way and stick out my tongue. "We can't all be perfect like you, okay."
His cheeks flush violet. "I... I am not perfect, Niri..." Then, in shame, he looks away, his tail drooping down to his feet.
"Whatever." I snort. I'm not helping him feel better. I don't—I don't need to. I've got enough to pay attention to.
The flowers thin out around a small sandy trail up ahead, and I collapse with a sigh once we reach it. Some small scattered cottages blanket around the trail, like they wouldn't dare to touch the flower-anomaly and potentially ruin it.
When I falter, Lucaro's paw nudges by me again, and I let him lead me up the trail and past the houses. A pokemon center, painted pink and covered in flowers to match the precious theme, passes us by, then a couple more houses, some trees here and there, and the sea of flowers follows ever farther. He hisses me to a halt when we breach the flowers and duck beneath a tree whose boughs dip us into shadow.
There's a stump by this tree, and a girl is crouched on the stump. Her knees are tucked up to her chin, her hair slumped over to cover her face.
Lucaro silently mouths Keebae and I have to stifle my chuckle. Yes, I can tell, I mouth back. Who else has her hair cut in that weird diagonal fashion, short on one side and longer on the other? Even her freaking bangs follow the pattern. She makes no sense. What kind of fashion statement...
Rolling my eyes, I shuffle to my feet. Lucaro hisses at me to stop, but then I don't. Soon after, with a reluctance, he rises as well. Now we're both staring down at Keebae.
She has yet to notice us. Utterly silent, hardly even moving but for her hair, slightly, swishing to the pendulum of her breathing. The only source of light that hits her is from the bracelet of blue aura that encircles her wrist.
Lucaro's eyes blaze flaming blue when he gazes upon it. He watches me, waiting for me to do something.
I lean over and tap Keebae's shoulder. Immediately she's up in a flurry of action, hair flipping around her head and whipping her in the face, one hand out in defense while the other straddles her hip for her poke balls, tied to her belt.
Then she recognizes her perpetrators. "Oh... great. It's just you." She slumps into an easier stance, folding her arms across her chest. "What do you want?"
"What do you think we want—" I snap, but Lucaro drowns out my words.
"Have you had a chance to visit your father?"
Keebae's lips pop open; her cheeks blurt red. "I—Uhhh... uhm... d-didn't expect you to remember something as dumb as that, um..." She coughs into her fist, twiddling her hair with a thumb on her free hand. "Yeah. S-Something like that. But now he's disappointed in me and it's all your faults... hhggnnh..."
She's switched out her Galactic uniform—I'd begun to wonder if they were allowed to take the drabby thing off. Keebae's pikachu-yellow summer dress makes me realize that I underestimated her taste in style, because I would steal that from her if it had any hopes of fitting me.
I'm... dumbfounded. She's kind of—kind of—cute. In a kiddish way, yeah, but... when her narrow eyes aren't so tightened up, when she's not in her sizes-too-big Galactic garb, when she lets her body relax... I can see something in her that maybe she doesn't realize she has.
Lucaro speaks up while I stare wordlessly. "Were you not able to learn of Layke's whereabouts, then?"
She swallows. My heart shudders in my chest as I return to the present. This is why we're here. This is why we fought a bunch of kids all morning for something to fill our pockets. Something shaped like hope.
"Yeah... Yeah, he was killed in the rocks."
I flinch; Lucaro's eyes blaze a sudden frightening red. The bracelet glows the same red. "Keebae. That was a lie."
Her brows pitch up so quickly it's comical; I'd laugh if I wasn't ready to freaking strangle this little monster. "Y-Y-Yes it was a lie. J-Juuust checking."
"You are a stealing little snotrag," I hiss, and she hides her face in her hands like it'll keep us from seeing the blush as it grows stronger. I've never before met someone with such dark complexion so susceptible to a display of shame across her face.
Keebae mutters, "Don't say that. I'm not a snotrag." Then she continues, speaking into her hands, "Yeah, I saw Layke... and I told him that you died in the rocks."
"KEEBAE WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT—" I explode—
"Yeah, well now he's gonna focus way harder on being a member of Team Galactic, and, like, getting things actually done. Okay, and if he focuses way harder on it, then he'll do way better at his job, and maybe he won't end up like the guys who don't listen, so there. And also maybe he'll be my friend."
She just wants to freaking be his freaking friend doesn't she. What kind of sorry, nasty, smarmy excuse is that.
My voice doesn't rise. It stays lodged stuck in my throat like my expectations. "That is a horrible explanation."
Lucaro sighs. "I agree. But—Niri... at least we know now that Layke is safe, for now."
"Yeah, whatever..." I rub my eyes and scowl into my hand. "Keebae, what in the world is wrong with you? Why do you think telling people that their friends are dead will get you anywhere in the flipping world? Why do you steal chimchars? Why are you even in this weird marauder group that tries to kill people with gigantic rock avalanches? Don't you have friends or... I don't know, a mom, a non-stolen pokemon, something?"
She promptly flops back onto her tree stump. "I..." Hovers over her breath, face scrunching into yet another ugly scowl. "I mean, yeah, I..." Closes her eyes. "I am doing my absolute best, okay... I...
"H-Have... you heard the story of the pokemon that got turned into a human?"
"The... Keebae, what?" Out of sheer confusion, I sit down in front of her. "Are you gonna elaborate, or just let that hang in between us while I stare up at you and think ugly thoughts about you?" Lucaro winces and sits beside me.
"Don't think ugly thoughts about me," Keebae mumbles, her eyes opening just to stare at the dirt. "It goes like this. Once upon a really long time ago, there were some people who wanted to make the world a wonderful place. They were disappointed that things were so bad, and they decided that they had to be the change they wanted to see, or... whatever.
"They wanted pokemon to be free. They wanted the world to know that pokemon were miserable." I look over and catch Lucaro's eyes widening, softening, allowing the story to shape his heart. It... makes my chest pinch. "So they searched in the wild for a pokemon. When they found the perfect one, they... took her from her home. Then they put her in a machine that molded her physical being into a... human.
"And they were—They were going to take her around the world and tell everyone, look. This girl used to be a pokemon. Listen to what she has to say about humans. She thinks humans are awful. Humans are mean and they have to change. That's what they wanted to do with her. But they were the ones that were awful to her... and what they were doing was so bad, and... I... and I—" She breaks off, clearing her throat.
"I mean, how messed up is that? What a messed up story. Good thing it's... just a story, right?"
Suddenly her bracelet flares red. Keebae squeaks and stares down at it. "I—I didn't mean to say that."
Lucaro's misty reddened eyes gaze up on her. "Keebae... what happened next? What happened to the pokemon-turned-human girl who was mistreated by the terrible humans?"
"Uhhh..." She bites her lip. "If I tell a lie, then you'll know it's not true..." Releases a breath, staring down at us, enraptured by her freaky fairy tale. Except it's... apparently not a fairy tale. It apparently happened. It was a lie when she labeled it fake.
What sort of crazy past is Keebae hiding from the world? She's not—is she?
"Are you the pokemon who—"
She hisses, cutting me off. "I am not the pokemon who was turned into a human girl." Lucaro and I stare at her bracelet, but it stays blue. So it's the truth. "I just... happened to be there when it happened." Still blue. "I had nothing at all to do with the story." Blam—As red as her stupid embarrassed face. "Okay, I didn't do anything bad to her." Back to blue. "Now can we please stop talking about this."
"But..." Lucaro—Lucaro's crying? When did he start crying? O-Oh gosh. I awkwardly pat his arm. "But Keebae, I must know what happened to the human girl. Was she able to turn back into her original form again? Is... Is she still estranged from her family? Is she... still in suffering? She has not... She was not... k-killed... in her suffering... was she?"
Keebae stares down at him, and I realize that there's something other than her usual scorn laced within her expression, something small, something vulnerable, something she's been scared to show us until now. "I... I'm sorry. I don't know. The last I saw her, she was okay, but... that was a really long time ago. I was pretty young when it happened... and after I—uh—after I did what I did, whatever that was... I wasn't allowed to see her again.
"I think she's okay. But I don't know."
Lucaro releases a long, slow, hesitant breath that shuffles out of his throat like a dying soul. "I pray for her safety." Then he gently shakes himself. "My name, Keebae... it is Lucaro."
Her brow furrows. "Lu...caro. Okay.
Then her eyes go back to me and my dumbfounded stare. "What, Niri? Am I still a nasty ch-chimchar-stealing snotrag?"
My eyes fall to her lap—where her tiny fiery chimp lies, curled up. He must've come out while we were listening to her story.
He's... Gosh, is he comforting her? This little purring lump of orangey chimchar... Keebae's hands curl up around his fur, around his head, and he stays comfy in her warmth, and it really makes me feel awful about like five hundred of my Keebae preconceptions.
Somewhere in the very pit of my jacket pocket, Lup says, She's just trying to win you over.
Sh-Shut up, you stupid piplup. I raise a shaking hand to wipe back the sudden sneaking tears that lace my cheeks. You don't know anything about authenticity.
Lup, hurt, mutters, Niri, I'm not a piplup anymore. Remember? When I saved you from that horrible giant dragon Arnold?
I—I close my eyes. I am not in a state to say any of the right things today. I'm uh, I'm sorry, Lup. Then I look up and face the girl who I have been kind of awful to this whole time that I've known her, this girl who's in this crazy star-obsessed organization who probably never opens up her tightly-clenched heart. "I'm sorry, Keebae. I've judged you. Wrongly. Kind of a lot."
Her eyes widen, and her cheeks smolder. "I—Uh... It's f-f-fine!" Pouting, she folds her arms over her chest and glares down at me from her tree stump. "But stop calling me a chimchar-stealer, because that professor guy was just gonna leave poor Chimpy in his poke ball for... a long time. I don't—he doesn't talk like Lucaro, or anything, but he looked so miserable until I let him out of his ball and told him he wouldn't be stuck in that ugly old lab anymore."
Geez... really? "Maybe he's just as rebellious as you." I thought the chimchar was gonna go to a lab assistant or something. But—Well—I guess a lab assistant would spend much of their time inside of the lab anyways.
"I'm not rebellious!" Keebae squeaks. "I'm just, I'm just doing my best, okay! My livelihood just makes me look rebellious! Maybe a lot rebellious! But—But, you tell me, what else am I supposed to do?"
Lucaro and I share a glance. "Uhhh..." I start, since it's not like the lucario knows much about teenage girls. "Get a job somewhere? Stay at a pokemon center until you can piece your life back together? Go life a normal life while you're still young?"
I ignore Lup's quip of Niri you're not that much older than her and open my mouth, only for Lucaro to cut me off.
"You could come along with us! You do not have to stay with that scary organization, Keebae! Niri allowed me to join her—why don't you join us?"
Lucaro—Oh, Lucaro... I release a long, drawn out sigh. Nudging him closer to me, I whisper into his ear, "If she's with us, how are we supposed to save Layke?"
He bristles. "If she is with us, then she will not be miserable with them. Can you not see the quiet pain in her face, Niri? We cannot simply ignore her own suffering in favor of fishing out Layke, not when she is so... sad, broken, by her ugly human experiences."
"Yeah but..." I shift over to him, my voice sharpening. "She's the one who joined them in the first place. She kind of chose this for herself." I raise it. "And who—who knows what's going on in that crazy delinquent group. She's our key in, our means of freeing Layke and maybe stopping whatever it is they're up to."
Lucaro suddenly winces, injured. "Niri, you are not listening to me, just restating your reasons."
"Because my reasons are good—"
"But you are not considering mine, nor hers." He gazes over to Keebae, my eyes following, only for the both of us to realize that Keebae is no longer there. "Ah—Wh-Where did she..." His fractured gaze falls. I catch, swimming in the stream of pain and confusion, a sudden blaring red smear.
Nudging him, eyeing his excruciating expression, I say, "Lucaro. Your eyes... Wherever she is, she's lying her butt off right now."
"She didn't... all the way back at their secret base... is she?" He furrows his brow, then leans into himself, catching his head in a paw. "Lying about... where she went and what she saw?"
I sigh. "Whatever she's doing, she must be protecting us from them." This... weird, tiny part of my heart burns at the notion. Keeping us safe from her own creepy boss... "Geez, I trust they don't hurt her. With her bracelet going off and all..."
"We will just have to hope," he murmurs, "but... there is not much else we can do about it now. Niri, are you not hungry? We have been walking all day on little to eat save what we found in the morning."
"I mean—well—yeah..." I close my eyes and feel myself slowly relax.
We have the money now, so we might as well use it.
Lucaro stands, and I follow. We reach the sandy trail, and I use my pole to steady my wavering gait. Under my breath, as the shadows blanket about us and tiny shining stars stud the sky, I mutter, "Sorry, Lucaro. Layke's kind of my priority though. I just don't have your heart. Keebae put herself in her position. I don't really care if she gets herself out of it."
A soft breath by my ear. Lucaro's stopped, and he's gazing into me. "You were kind to me in my need. I know... Keebae appears to be a vice for the sake of Layke, currently, but she is a person with her own problems as well. I...
He breaks off. Sighs. Starts again. "Niri, can you ask the locales about the story? The story of the pokemon who was turned into a human. I want... I want to know if anyone else has heard of it."
"Oh! Yeah. Sure. Let's do that. Maybe we'll see a little more into Keebae's weird head."
Finally Lucaro's eyes flare, and the aura has faded away to his natural amber. "Maybe."
I wonder where she is right now. What in the world she's doing. Why she... was honest with us... out of everyone she knows, including her crazy Galactic family.
I really freaking wonder about the story. Who's the girl, if not her? How is she connected to it?
But we just don't know. Too many questions. Too many questions, and I'm too hungry and frustrated (and maybe too stupid) to figure any of them out.
