Chapter One
He'd wanted to name it Port Caroline, Cape Carol, or even Carolstown but she would have none of it.
"It's already known for you. You are the big figure, the local hero. If we name it after you, it will just add to your reputation. Besides, it's not really a cape, Johnny. You know that."
He'd suggested Blueport rather incredulously. He'd wanted to honor her with a city and he was a stubborn man.
"Done. Now, what do you want for dinner?" she'd asked.
He'd laughed and she'd won the argument. Although he couldn't deny the pride he felt whenever he looked at any part of this bustling port town, there were still times he wished he'd stood a little firmer. He felt he'd be just as proud of Carolina as he was of Blueport.
He chuckled to himself. He really had named it after her in the end. John Blue. He was so used to the alias that it really had become his name. He'd all but forgotten his true name. He hadn't gone by it in almost forty years. His chuckle became a bassy rumble. Forty years ago, he'd had such different goals. He would have regarded founding a city and living to see it prosper as impossible; however, now he knew that impossible was only a limit he imposed on himself.
Well, he knew better now. He'd faced down the International Police and calmly sent them packing, none the wiser. He'd built a city despite being a wanted fugitive and, now, he'd helped found an entire country. He had every reason to be proud. John Blue was a man worth being. John Blue was a person he was proud to be to his core. The salty sea breeze blew through the park and ruffled his bristly gray hair. He smiled and gripped his driftwood cane.
"Archie!"
Forty years fell away in a blink and he turned around without thinking. It was impossible not to react when his name was called like that! A poochyena dashed by him and knocked the cane out of his hands. Although he didn't really need the thing, he was only over extended... That was the only reason he fell. He knew he was falling and he didn't hit hard. The kick in the ribs was unexpected though. It sent fire through him, and roused an anger that he hadn't felt since his feet were planted on his home soil.
Someone was sprawled next to him. He recognized that someone must have fallen over him and the rational part of his mind said that the kick was just an accident; however, there was fire in his blood and anger from a life long dead and suddenly unearthed.
He got up swearing oaths straight out of that little illegal bar hidden in the depths of Castelia's sewers. He rounded on the other man and blasted him with every bit of profanity at his immediate disposal. It was a considerable repertoire. It occurred to him that this may have been a bit much. Though he was going to be sore in the morning (To the Trenches with aging!), it was only his pride that was injured.
The fellow on the receiving end of his foul-worded diatribe rolled over to stare at him. The man's face went from surprised to incredulous to irritable and bottomed out at down - right disdainful. Fear never entered into it and there was something about that sneer that put him in a fighting mood over ideas long since dead.
"You damn skinny figy," he finished. It sounded a little weak after everything else but it was apt enough. The guy looked like a bundle of sticks drowning in a giant fishing vest; pockets crammed full of junk and string. A stupid floppy boondock hat shaded a pale, pinched face that had been sunburned too often, while wispy white hair floated free around his ears. His square, thick - framed glasses had polarized against the sun, but the eyes behind them were clear and sharp.
"I should have kicked you in the head," the man said in a grating, nasally voice. "A concussion would have done you good."
"You cocky little basculin. Your pokémon knocked me down!"
The skinny man actually smiled. Well, he twitched his lips in a supreme effort to lift the state of rigor mortis his features were locked into. Not too many people would have called it a smile, but Blue just knew that was what it was.
"I am pleased. Archie, heel!"
The poochyena pranced over and settled at the reprobate's side. The doggy grin plastered across its face just fed the flames inside him. Kyogre's Wings, this man...!
"You're pleased?" he snapped. "Well, I damn well hope so, you prodding pidg..."
"Enough profanity," the other man's raised voice silenced his tirade before it even began. "If you have concerns, you can express them like an adult instead of a filthy pirate."
That sent shivers through him. The tone, the cadence... Hell, even the look sent him back years.
"You seem far too happy to have knocked a man down," he growled as he reached for his floatzel's pokeball.
"You misunderstand. I take pleasure in toppling a swaggering piloswine. A man I would accord respect as I would be accorded respect in turn."
"Shut up, you nerd!" Blue snapped.
He felt embarrassed immediately by how childish he sounded; however, the effect was immediate. The man gaped. While most people may have stiffened, this guy was already so ramrod and tense that he couldn't. Instead, his shoulder dropped with his mouth and those narrow eyes widened.
The poochyena growled.
As one, he and Blue released their pokémon. Blue's floatzel, Finny, found himself across the grass from a wizened crobat.
Blue knew a thing or two about crobat. His command of "aqua jet!" had Finny racing the speed of sound. He gritted his teeth as the familiar supersonic headache set in. Although it was too high-pitched for humans to hear, the backwash was still grating.
The battle was fast and furious. The crobat was as old as its trainer, but it's sonic attacks kept Finny hopping. Not for the first time, Blue bemoaned his decision not to teach Finny double team. The other trainer abused the move with irritating smugness; however, though crobat was old, its age wasn't all that made it frail. A properly timed and predicted aqua jet gave Finny had all the speed he needed.
Blue cheered when Finny tackled the purple bat out of the air. The other trainer looked sour, but Blue couldn't remember the last time he'd had a more enjoyable fight. It had been years since he'd cheered over a move!
His cheer turned into a groan, though, when the wizened bat twisted in Finny's grip and sunk its fangs into the floatzel's neck. He could hear the poison seeping in. Finny wailed, but retaliated by crunching down on the purple bat. Crobat passed out, but its fangs remained clamped to Finny's neck.
"Seadra's spines," Blue muttered, impressed.
The skinny bastard wore a sour expression.
"That will teach you to knock a man down!" Blue boasted
"I am hardly finished," the man replied.
"What, is your pup to fight?" Blue laughed. "Even poisoned, Finny'll eat him for lunch!"
"You are unwise to underestimate his spirit," he said.
"Aye, he's fierce enough, the little scamp," Blue chuckled.
The poochyena growled menacingly. Blue turned his laugh into a bellowing roar. The poochyena choked mid-growl and whimpered. It looked up at its trainer. The little man had flinched, but had regained his composure. He stared down at Blue, evidently unimpressed. Blue couldn't understand how he could look down on him when he was so much shorter...!
He could only remember one skinny little smug tynamo who'd ever successfully done that to him, but that had been nearly...
"The trouble lies in this being a public park in a populous city," the man admitted sourly. "My pokémon would be unable to fight without destroying this space."
"Sea's blood, man! If that's the trouble, then we'll finish this at the Arena!" Blue exclaimed.
Blue was itching to finish this fight. Besides the satisfaction of humbling this arrogant little man, the thought of a pokémon tough enough to destroy a park made him almost giddy. Blue had his own share of tough pokémon as well.
"Hardly. One does not simply walk into the Arena," the other man said dryly. The way he looked at him made Blue feel like a lippy kid bragging to the teacher. He grit his teeth and tried not to growl like the poochyena.
"You do if you're this one," he said, forcing a joviality that he didn't feel.
"I'm sure," his opponent answered sarcastically, rolling his eyes for added insult. "But I can't now. I have an important meeting that I cannot postpone for the likes of you."
Blue went slack-jawed for a moment, but he recovered admirably. "There's no one more important!" He sputtered. "Don't you have the belly for it, or are you full of air, you spiny qwilfish?"
"Your challenge is not declined, merely postponed," the man snipped. Blue was glad to see he'd gotten a rise out of the frigid bergmite. "If you can so freely book the Arena then it should be little trouble for you to reserve a spot later on. Life goes on. We are both old enough to know that."
Blue did growl then. Damn that the skinny sudowoodo was right.
"Later tonight then, eight o'clock sharp. Mark your calendar, girly, because you've got a date."
The other man sniffed disdainfully, but Blue didn't miss the way his eyes flashed at his new nickname.
"It will be a rare pleasure to knock you down again," he replied tartly.
"I'll knock that sneer off'a your face."
"My dignity will suffer little for the loss of a sneer. You, on the other hand.."
They parted reluctantly and tossed jibes and insults at each other until they were out of earshot.
Blue hummed with energy.
"Damn," he swore. "The rest of the day'll be unbearable!"
"Mr. Mayor!"
Blue groaned. He'd been found out. He turned reluctantly toward the dapper young man who was pounding down the sidewalk, one hand on his neat Trilby and the other clutching an over - sized datapad.
"Hello Sysco," he sighed.
"Mr. Mayor, you do remember your appointment with Mr. Scarley at ten o'clock?" Sysco huffed.
"Would you believe me if I said yes?" Blue asked.
Sysco huffed again, but not just out of exasperation. Sysco had been a comfortably fat man before he'd been hired as John Blue's personal secretary. Blue's hope had been that Sysco would chair his desk and not bother to chase his mayor when he didn't want to be found. Sysco had been a horrible disappointment in that regard. Sysco had a strong sense of duty and embraced whole - heartedly the theology that he was the true mayor of Blueport, handicapped by his bungling manager. Blue suspected that Sysco also resented the thought that he could be ignored.
The end result was that Sysco had lost a lot of weight.
"It is ten - thirty," Sysco deadpanned.
Blue clapped his hand to his head, "What? Is it that time already?"
"Do remember, sir, to kindly take your pokétech with you when you leave your office. It is more convenient for everyone if you can be reached at all times," Sysco said priggishly. He bustled toward the Prism, looking over his shoulder to make sure Blue was following.
"That thing? I think I left it on my desk," Blue said with a yawn.
"You did sir. I could hear it ringing all morning."
"Well, why didn't you answer it then?" Blue asked bluntly.
Sysco ignored the dig. He usually did. One of the reasons Blue still employed Sysco was because Sysco was able to tolerate his insults. It was an added bonus that he couldn't respond back. Sysco more than made up for it with his nagging, though.
They finished the trip to the Prism in silence. It was the best hotel in Blueport and its bar, the Fire Horse was acclaimed as the city's finest. Blue drank there himself when the situation demanded, but he preferred the unnamed dockside watering hole out by the warehouses.
His preferences aside, he was proud of the Prism. To have a four - star hotel in the untamed continent of Vestige! And it was in Blueport, of course. He laughed. Sysco didn't understand his mirth and glowered at him. Blue didn't care.
Sysco stopped outside the door.
"Do remember that this is a serious meeting sir. One for which you are already late, I may add. William Scarley's produce would slice down on our dependence on imported goods," Sysco said.
Blue sighed. Sometimes Sysco's fantasy that he was an unaware bidoof was trying. Of course he knew the benefits that Scarley could bring. Otherwise he wouldn't have invited the man out.
"Yeah? Well, I'd think better of him if I wasn't the one putting him up," Blue grumbled.
He hid his smile at Sysco's exaggerated exasperation. Sysco's opinion of him wasn't entirely the man's fault. It wouldn't do for Sysco to learn that he was smarter than he let on. Blue had built a city. He knew the power that came from owning the roof over a man's head.
They went in. The lobby was light and airy with the namesake crystal pillars catching the light and flinging it back in sparkling rainbows. A fountain of creamy white stone stood in the center while gleaming carbink floated through the spray. Sculptured bergmite swam in the water or rested on the side. He watched as a gleaming swanna swam by, followed by three exquisitely detailed ducklett. The sculpted bergmite watched him balefully, as if daring him to comment. Blue wasn't one to back down from a challenge, but the bergmite looked so comically menacing that he only managed a half - hearted, "Well, now ain't that somethin'."
"If you would wait here sir. I'll see where Mr. Scarley is waiting," Sysco said. He was Kalosian, born and bred. Elegance rolled off them like water from a marill. They seemed to take it as their due, the smug basculins.
Having grown up in a rougher world himself, he felt awed and small by sights like this. It was a handicap that he tried to overcome. He deserved this sort of thing now, dammit!
"Good morning, Mayor Blue," greeted a pretty maid with a fetching curtsy.
"Good morning to you too," he replied. He eyed the maid appreciatively. Lugia's Breath! What a uniform!
They made small talk for several minutes until Sysco returned. Blue bemoaned his timing. He was just breaking through the maid's polite exterior. Sysco tolerated his chat with ill - grace and coughed pointedly. Just for that, Blue drug out the conversation for longer than he would have. When he'd had his fill of watching Sysco build pressure, he let the maid go and turned his attention to him.
"He's still in his room. The desk clerk reported that he only just got in a few minutes ago. Honestly," Sysco said in a sotto voice, "the only thing worse than your tardiness is his own."
"Yep. Certainly real inconsiderate of him," Blue drawled.
"You are hardly one to talk sir," Sysco said.
"I think we ought to go tell Scarley what we think of lateness around here, don't you?" Blue said, ignoring Sysco. He headed for the stairs. Sysco bobbed behind him like an unhappy drifblim.
"Sir, really, the elevators would be the best option," he said.
Blue climbed a flight of stairs.
"Sir, besides being more efficient, it would give you time to consider this action," Sysco said.
Blue climbed another flight of stairs.
"Sir, do remember your leg."
Blue climbed another flight of stairs.
"What are you planning?" Sysco demanded.
Blue climbed another set of stairs and then Sysco had to use his breath for something other than being snide.
The floor they reached was luxurious for sure, but it didn't have the ethereal feel of the lobby. In the end, hotels were hotels everywhere.
He marched down to Scarley's room. He could tell Sysco was surprised that he knew where it was. He wondered how the man would take it when he realized that Blue wasn't quite so dumb after all. Sysco was panting and dabbed his head with a monogrammed hankie. Eight flights of stairs was no mean climb and even his leg was protesting. He didn't let it stop him, though. He pounded on the door.
Inside, there was a startled bark and a growl. There was a clatter of claws on tile and then a sudden scratching on the other side of the door. A moment later, the door started to open at the same time that a peevish voice scolded, "Down Archie!"
You could have knocked Blue over with a feather. It felt like a froslass had breathed down his spine and he froze, one hand in the air and his mouth open. It was the man from the park, and the look that that man gave him was of pure irritation.
"Didn't I tell you I'd meet you tonight? What are you here for? Go away," the other man said as he dragged the poochyena back by its collar.
Sysco had just enough breath left to look scandalized.
"Sir," he managed. It was breathless, but still scornful. "This is Mayor John Blue, the man you had an appointment with over an hour ago."
The man turned his stare back to Blue, and this time it was appraising. Blue just remembered to close his mouth.
"I see," he replied icily. It was apparent that the man's previous opinion of him still stood.
Blue bristled.
"You're William Scarley?" he demanded. "Seels and clampearls! You've been greatly exaggerated!"
"Likewise," Scarley returned coolly. "However, this does explain your easy boast of the Arena."
"Damn straight," he agreed. "And anywhere else I want to go. You can come along, just as long as we don't have to stand here in the doorway."
"Very well, but do allow me the courtesy of a few minutes," Scarley said. He shut the door without waiting for an answer.
"Nomel - sucking basculin," Blue burst out.
"Rude," Sysco agreed. It was the strongest insult he knew. "What did you do to him sir?"
"And why would you assume this has anything to do with me?" Blue snapped. He rounded on Sysco with all of his pent - up aggression.
Sysco was unperturbed. "Tell me I'm wrong."
"Well, you're wrong!" Blue grumbled, put out by Sysco's complete lack of fear. "I just beat him in a pokémon battle, that's all."
"Sir!" Sysco whined. "You weren't even supposed to meet him until today!"
"And you wonder why I don't like to be in the office," Blue said.
Sysco just stared in hopeless disapproval. He honestly didn't understand. He had no idea why Blue didn't relish being cooped up at his desk. Blue didn't know if that was funny or frightening. He was saved from pondering it by the emergence of William Scarley. Scarley'd changed out of the out-sized fishing vest and in to red slacks and a black button-up. A wide-brimmed fedora shaded his face from the sun. Scarley adjusted his thick, square glasses unconsciously and the gesture just bothered him. Honestly, this geezer...
He laughed at the thought. Sysco and Scarley stared at him.
"Just how old are you anyway?" he asked Scarley.
Scarley looked sour and replied, "More mature than you, I'm sure."
Sysco moaned quietly and looked pained. Blue smiled his sharpedo grin.
"Manaphy forbid that we grow old before our time. I suspect you were born eighty," he said.
"There is nothing wrong with being mature," Scarley retorted. "With age comes wisdom."
"That's where you're wrong," Blue replied. He noticed that Sysco was herding them toward the elevators, but he didn't mind. He had a feeling that he was going to win this time and could let his secretary worry about where he was walking. "Wisdom comes from experience. Experience comes through change. There's a reason we're born dumb. If we were born knowing everything, we'd never need to change and we'd never get wiser. I've made my share of mistakes, aye, but I've earned my age."
"You still have quite a ways to go," Scarley said snippily.
"Aye, that might be so," he admitted good - naturedly. He sunk his barb with relish, "But that still puts me ahead of a man that's been eighty for seventy-five years!"
"Sirs!" Sysco all-but-wailed, "Do remember that this is a serious meeting!"
"I am endeavoring to treat it as such," Scarley said. He looked sour. "I concede your point, as much as it pains me."
"Get used to the feeling, girly. You're going to be conceding a lot more points to me before these negotiations are over."
"However," that smug look on Scarley's face made him wary. "If we assume that you are indeed correct, then I was born with more experience than you and then had a life of experience on top of it. It is then safe to assume that I have more wisdom than you ever will."
"Relicanth's rocky head! Age doesn't equate wisdom! I just said...!'
"What is age, then, if not a byproduct of our experience?" Scarley asked. The ironic lift of his eyebrows and the barest hint of a smile on his face made it clear he'd thought he'd won. Blue didn't stop to think why he'd know that about this near-stranger. In the face of losing an argument with him, it didn't matter.
"It's a way to measure your stodginess, you scamp of a nerd!" he retorted.
The effectiveness of that insult had already been proven. The atmosphere got chilly fast.
"You crass pirate! It is insulting enough that you strangle commerce through your ports. Kindly keep a civil tongue in your head while dealing with me!" Scarley hissed. He was too stiff to pry his lips open for more natural speech.
Blue waited with bated breath for Sysco to faint dead away, but that was only part of him. The other part was ready to fight.
The elevator door dinged open.
"Pirate am I? That's a fine way you parley with me then, you struggling crustle. Is this how they do negotiation in Red Territory?" he shot back.
"I would hardly want you to think your emboarish behavior is intimidating. Your own skills at negotiation leave much to be desired," Scarley returned icily.
"This is hardly dignifiable as 'negotiation,'" Sysco said in dazed horror. "'Haggling' is by far the better term for this abomination."
Blue started to laugh, but he didn't want to lose his edge. He choked the laugh back and it became a couple deep coughs. He cleared his throat and looked back at Scarley. This was the most fun he'd had in ages! It was something to be John Blue. People pandered to John Blue. People put up with his eccentricities, because he was John Blue. John Blue had status. John Blue was Blueport. It was easy to be outrageous when no one pushed back.
He wondered if Will Scarley felt the same, although it was difficult to imagine the pinched-faced man purposefully being outrageous. This man was where outrage went to die.
"Welcome to this unequal contest. We might get this done before we hit the boardroom, Kyogre be praised. Cutting a deal with you would be convenient. You're closer than Kanto and already have the roadwork set up. It would be infinitely cheaper to buy food from you and the idea is popular here in the city. It would be a good move for you too. Even with Aulpes' new harbor, Blueport is larger, our port is better, and our ocean more temperate. We're experienced and know what needs done," he said.
Blunt and straightforward was his preferred style. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to spend days beating around the bush. Just the thought of being closeted up in the boardroom made him shiver.
"It would be convenient. It's true that we have connections set up. We always imagined you would see sense," Scarley said. "Despite your asinine restrictions and prohibitive taxes, Red Territory is the bread basket of Vestige. If you'll let us, we can feed this continent and more besides; however, you continue to stifle us under your oppressive regulations! Silver's return has brought us relative peace, yet you continue your piratical practices. You fight the unity you yourself helped bring forth!"
Scarley delivered this last line with withering bitterness. Blue scowled.
"Aye, she's a powerful trainer, and a pretty little scamp too, but it'll take more than vanquishing Team Green to unite me! What of Black? There's the true villain. I can't not get my power from her any more than Aulpes can. I can't afford my city to go down and no one, not even Silver, can stop Black fast enough."
Blue dreamed of energy independence, and not for the first time either. Team Green had offered it to him and, despite being in a better position to understand Teams than most, he had taken it. It didn't work out and innocent pokémon had been abused because of it. Thoughts of it kept him up at night and it was a shame that wouldn't ever leave him; however, he still longed ruefully for energy independence.
"Red Territory is no friend of Trixie Black," Scarley said.
"Red Territory can't power me either," Blue shot back. "It'll take more than a herd of mareep to keep me lit."
"Red Territory has more to offer than a 'herd of mareep,'" Scarley said dryly. "We have coal to power us as well."
Blue placed his hands down on the table. It was only then that he consciously realized that he'd made it to the conference room. Scarley stood at ease by a chair. Feeling confident, was he?
"It's not your coal and we both know it. New Anistar ships to Kalos, though Kyogre knows what for. To build a coal plant in this day and age..." he shook his head, bemused. "I won't say I haven't considered it. The expense would be tolerable, but the moment Black catches me thinking about it she'd shut me down."
"You hardly seem the type to be so easily cowed," Scarley said scathingly.
"Watch it, my fiery feebas. If it was just about me, I'd of taken care of this years ago. I'd of thought you of all people'd understand that," Blue said moodily. "I'm not pleased, but Black is like all big problems. She started small and grew so quietly that by the time I found out it was too late."
"She can't function without you," Scarley said tightly. "If you stopped paying her..."
"She'd shut me down," Blue said flatly. "I can't go down, ya understand?"
"So you continue to empower the largest threat to the continent," Scarley said. He loaded the words with so much disdain that Blue's blood boiled.
"Frillish take you! Go on then, lord your damn primeval life-style over me, because you sure as hell can't lord your cities! You got roads? I've got 'em too, and every one lined with street lights and every one of them need power. If I could live in a shack powered by mareep, I'd be you, but I've done one better! I built a city, you misbegot mantyke, and I'm even proud of the damn thing!" he bellowed. "If this is about Black, that bottom-feeding corphish, get to understand that we're like remoraid and mantine. You don't get one without the other, girly."
"You short-sighted piloswine! Do you really believe you're the only one who hates her?" Scarley asked. "In powering you and Aulpes she craves resources, pokémon, human, and natural. She's destroyed her territory in her search and now she's expanding into ours! We fight her, of course, but with you two backing her, we make precious little progress."
"Cry to someone who cares," Blue replied.
It was harsher than he would have been in a good mood. It wasn't that he didn't care, he just didn't know what to do about it.
Things, when you got down to it, were simple. He needed power. Black made power. Black wouldn't allow him to supply it himself. Black used her pull to make sure no one else could supply him either, so he needed Black. This gave her a say in his politics that he didn't like. For example, the much bewailed Machine Tax, or the seed tax and the ban on just a few key components that would allow him a working power plant. He wasn't sure what taxes in Gold City were like, but if Aulpes got his power from Black, then he had a good idea of what they would look like real soon.
None of these thoughts showed on his face as he and Scarley glared at each other.
"It appears I've come here in error," Scarley said finally.
"Oh?" Blue growled.
"Indeed! It appears I should be negotiating terms for Blueport with Trixie Black!"
The accusation hung in the air. The quiet conference room filled with a dull roar, like the water running over an abyss. He saw Sysco sit heavily in one of the chairs. Blue regretted that he was standing up. It robbed him of his ability to shoot to his feet, slam his hands down...
"You sludge-eating grimer!" he bellowed. "Enough of this! Grab up yer pokémon and beat it down to the Arena!"
"And what good will that do?" Scarley asked sourly.
"Maybe none at all, but if you expect me to sit quiet under your insults, you've got another thing coming. I ain't negotiating nothing with you until wipe the floor with you!"
In the back of his mind, the small, reasonable part, he wondered why he was so angry. He'd thought these sort of things often enough to himself. Sysco had obliquely voiced his concerns and even the populace had brought it up a time or two. He'd always listened, bit his lip, and made excuses. He tried not to think about it. This absolute basculin, though. This pretentious piplup had accused him to his face and, Kyogre's Mighty Wings! Just the look of the skrelpy little man irritated him!
Scarley's head came up, his chest went out, and he met Blue's glare head-on, no fear. Blue smiled for the first time since he and Scarley had entered the conference room. Scarley didn't have to say a thing. His eyes said the challenge was accepted.
"And you called me primeval," Scarley said testily.
"Pokémon is hardly as primal as I'd like to get on you," Blue said quietly. The threat was just for Scarley's ears. No need to upset Sysco anymore than he had to.
Scarley's glare narrowed. He wasn't shocked, he wasn't confused, and he sure as hell wasn't afraid. If his rigidity was anything to judge by, Scarley was angry, just like Blue. Sysco could say what he liked. There was only one way this conference could have ended, and that was the same way he'd intended to start it all the long.
Scarley had to know that too. Scarley stood up and indicated the exit with a jerk of his head. Blue snached up his cane and headed for the door. Scarley fell in behind him.
"After all, you have to lead in some capacity," Scarley's quiet words dripped with acid.
They were so quiet that Blue doubted anyone but he had heard them. That didn't change his reaction at all.
Blue had never liked the thought of a cane. As a younger man, he'd been strong and active. A cane was a symbol of weakness and, worse, an admission of defeat. Even now, he really didn't need the damn thing. It was just a prop, something to lean on and something to further that grandfatherly image that Sysco was always going on about. A prop, in all senses of the word. It didn't hamper his movement much and he'd finally worn the driftwood handle to a comfortable shape. At times when he was desperate or bored, more often when he was chained to his desk or a conference room, he could pretend it was a prow under his hand, or an oar, or a wheel. A cane had other uses too, ones that he'd found out over time. Really, what couldn't a man do with a stout length of wood?
Case in point. He deftly inserted the cane behind Scarley's knees with one hand and shoved him hard in the bony chest with the other. It was possible Scarley could have resisted, but the man was too rigid to bend and too brittle to resist. Scarley fell into one of the conference room chairs. Blue had considered taking him to the floor, a just payment for the park this morning, but he had a better idea.
The driftwood cane whistled through the air and slammed into place across the arms of Scarley's chair, effectively belting the skeletal prawnard in. Damn his eyes! They weren't narrowed anymore, but wide with outrage. Giratina's Nine Hells! What did it take to make this man afraid?
"Do you really want to see Primal Reversion?" Blue threatened.
And immediately he wondered why he'd said it. It wasn't something he thought of regularly and he hadn't thought of it in a long, long time. It wasn't one of the better parts of his life, nothing more than an archaic remnant of a person he considered long since dead and buried at sea. Like the sea, the world had accepted the splash and swallowed it without a trace. Who would remember or care about something so far back?
"Primal..." Scarley's outrage faded and finally, FINALLY there was something other than disdain on that pinched face.
"You want to see primal, girly? Well, I can show you right here, right now," Blue said. He pushed on, emboldened by that sudden crack in the icy armor. He leaned in. "You ever seen two titans collide? Do you want to see what it's like? You got trouble with Black? Well, just imagine what it'd be like if I went after you too. If you think I'm bad now, just you wait until I actually try to hurt you. This is just games and politics. War is hell, and I know my share of it. You'll be crushed."
"Is that a threat?" Scarley asked levelly. His expression had hardened, but it lacked the iron defense quality it had before.
"Do you want it to be?" Blue replied, nonchalant as you could be while pinning a man to a chair. "And think a bit before you answer."
"Sirs! Really!"
He looked up. Scarley did too, thank Kyogre. It would have taken a stronger or possibly a deafer person than him to ignore the scolding doom in that snobbish Kalosian accent. Sysco was inflated with indignation, his chin up, his arms out, and his chest puffed up so much that his buttons strained. That, along with his colorful suits, always made Blue think of drifloon and drifblim, the balloon pokémon. Sysco's aristocratic look of shame, perfected through years of breeding that someone like Blue could neither comprehend nor ever hope to aspire to, reminded him that the balloon pokémon could carry aftermath.
"Do try to remember why you are here sirs! This is about produce and shipping, taxes and fees! Things that it is not appropriate for gentlemen to come to blows over!"
Sysco was lecturing him.
Sysco was lecturing him in front of Will Scarley.
It was a dangerous thing to lecture him when his temper was up. Sysco knew that. There were reasons that Blue had burned through secretaries before. Blue had been nice enough to them, until they'd told him something he didn't want to hear one time too many or they'd walked in on him when he wasn't in the mood. It took a strong person to weather the storm that was Blue in a bad mood. He would thunder and blast and rage at them until they broke or abandoned ship. Sysco was different. He'd simply stare him in the face until he was done and he had this look that always made him feel silly. Previous secretaries had said that they had worried Blue would hit them when he was raging. Sysco knew that he wouldn't, no matter how mad he got. This gave him power.
He felt silly now. It wouldn't have been so bad if Scarley had at least looked a little guilty. Smug basculin.
Blue took his cane off the chair arms. Scarley fiddled with his cuffs and smoothed his collar. He adjusted his glasses with that same irritating movement from before. Blue shifted his cane hand to hand restlessly. Scarley kept looking at him too. It made him itch.
"I ain't backing down," Blue said. "Gentlemen or not, a challenge is a challenge!"
"Agreed," Scarley said frostily. "However, we already had an appointment for that,"
"Well, if you need the time," Blue drawled. "Yer down a crobat, if I recall."
"Your floatzel is no better," Scarley replied. "I will see you at eight."
Blue nodded. He summoned Sysco with a jerk of his head and they left Scarley sitting in the conference room. His mind was already far away.
"Ready my boat," he ordered Sysco.
"Of course sir," Sysco demurred, tapping away on his tablet.
He stomped out of the hotel without noticing the luxury of his surroundings. His mind was on a small fast boat anchored at his private dock and exactly where it would take him.
"I'll beat respect into that rocky-assed relicanth," Blue fumed.