Azure yelped as he breathed in, inflating his body. His round ears flicked wildly under the strain. Then, with a cry, the marill unleashed a jet of water into the air.
The water gun came sprinkling back down. Lyra leaned back in bliss, the water droplets splashing against her face were an amazing comfort against the blistering heat. Another day, another cloudless sky, another roast underneath the oppressive sun. And yet, today somehow seemed worse. The air was stickier, whereas most of the other days were drier. Sweat dripped from her hair, soaking through her clothes.
A slight, almost imperceptible breeze wafted in from the south, rippling the waters of the Kanjo. Azure bobbed beneath the surface, then surfaced again with a splash, yipping with delight. He sprayed another water gun into the air, showering Lyra once again with cooling water.
He sure seems to be enjoying the heat, Lyra thought as she wiped the water from her face. With this heat, she couldn't tell if she was wiping away more sweat or river water. "That's enough, Azure. I think I'm wet enough." She giggled, watching the marill continue to play in the river without a care in the world. Oh, what it would give to be a pokemon for a day. In her mind, she envisioned herself as an abomasnow standing atop Mount Silver, arms open and embracing the wind, snow falling all around her. Oh, how amazing the views must be!
But instead, she suffered in the late summer heat, legs dangling in the Kanjo. Efforts to keep herself cool were demonstrations of futility, and only the wind she imagined atop Mount Silver served as a reminder of better weather. The views were dull down here, too; trees, brown river water, and more trees. And shriveled grass, of course. Then again, she imagined the brownness would look much the same atop the sacred mountain. Very few places in Johto must be spared from this drought.
Her morning started in the same usual way. She awoke well before her aunt – a common occurrence, but one that still peeved her because that meant she had to make breakfast, and Lyra did not like making breakfast. Mornings were for starting your day, not for working, and to Lyra, cooking breakfast was work.
Then, she walked past main street on her way to the Kanjo, and she had overheard Crazy Theo raving about a massive storm that was coming. "Lighting that torches the sky! Rain that comes down in sheets! The fires of New Bark will reach the sun! An omen from Arceus himself! But, it will only be just the beginning!" He screamed from his stoop by the Loyal Sentret. She recalled the spittle that dripped from his mouth, that crazed look in his eyes. Just seeing him gave Lyra the chills. The man was once normal, but those days were long passed.
But what happened then didn't matter; not here, not at the Kanjo River. The river was Lyra's special place, the only place where she felt she could escape the nothingness that was New Bark. The only place where she could dip her legs into the water, lean back, and daydream the morning away. What she dreamed of didn't matter; only that the dreams had nothing to do with being in this boring town.
A flock of spearow cawed overhead, shaking Lyra out of her reverie. She frowned; another strange happening in New Bark. Spearow did not usually nest around the Kanjo, and yet for the last couple days, she had seen spearow flying around the river in large numbers. Despite their size, the tiny birds could be particularly nasty and territorial. Even if the territory wasn't theirs, they had a notorious reputation of suddenly deciding otherwise, and Lyra didn't want to be on the wrong side of an attack.
"Okay Azure, enough play time," she said, picking the marill out of the river. She kept a close eye on the spearow. I'll have to notify the Harold again, she thought. Harold Lynanov, the constable, was a close friend of hers; in some regards, Lyra considered him her adopted father. She had told him yesterday about the spearow gathering by the river, but he apparently made no move to deal with the issue yet.
As she shook her hair dry, Lyra swooped her legs out of the water and dropped Azure to the ground. She kept an eye on the spearow as she walked back to the grove of trees, knowing that they liked to strike when their target's back was turned. By the time she entered beneath the canopy, she lost sight of the bird pokemon and breathed a sigh of relief.
"I think we have a few more hours to kill before we go home," Lyra said. Azure gurgled in response. Her aunt was probably still drunk, and she turned particularly nasty after lunchtime. It was only after her afternoon nap when her temper softened. If she had a job, Lyra probably would have spent her afternoons working, but there weren't many openings for a seventeen-year old woman. The Mareep's Milk had offered her a waitress job, an offer that was still open, but she had spent enough time around drunkards. She'd rather waste her days doing nothing than take that job.
After a few minutes of mulling about underneath the trees, she turned north. Living in New Bark meant that you had to know how to kill time, and Lyra was a professional when it came to killing time. There was someone else on her mind that she decided she should visit. Merely thinking of the poor women upset Lyra deeply. Azure rolled by her feet, a blue blur amongst the dust. After passing some homes and dried up ponds, she came across the Markin house. She walked up the stony pathway and knocked on the door.
"Lily! Lily, are you home?"
No one answered. After a moment, Lyra heard the sounds of hammering from the back of the house. She circled around the house and stopped at the fence demarking the mareep pen. Within were a couple of grazing mareep and Lily. The older woman was up to her elbows in mud, digging into the ground for some reason. Stone piles sat to her side.
"Lily! Lily, hey!" Lyra leaned against the fence, smiling widely and waving her hand. By her leg, Azure also stuck his head through a hole in the fence, yipping and waving a blue paw.
The older woman looked up and smiled faintly. She grabbed a rag beside her and started rubbing off the mud clinging to her arms. "Hey Lyra. What brings you here?" Then, she turned her gaze to Azure. "Make sure that… pokemon doesn't creep through the fence, okay?"
Lyra shooed the marill back with her feet. "Nothing much," she said, returning her focus to Lily. "I just – well, I just… How are you holding up?"
Lily's smile turned sad, then it disappeared entirely after she scrunched her face. "I'm fine, Lyra. Is there anything else?"
Lyra paused for a moment, stunned by the older woman's sudden change in tone. "Nothing else. Just wanted to make sure everything's with okay – which it sounds like it is – after Ethan -"
"I said I'm fine. And Ethan – wherever he is – is fine, too. I'm sure of it." Lily crossed her arms. Her bonnet shadowed her face, giving off a cold look. "Is there anything else?"
"Nope," Lyra said, trying – and failing – to smile warmly. "Well, it was good to see you Lily! Come on, Azure. Let's go!"
She could feel the older woman staring holes in her back as she walked away. Lyra couldn't help but feel terrible for Lily, despite her sudden nastiness. All she wanted to do was offer the older woman some condolences, but it seemed that Lily was not yet ready for such things. She couldn't blame her; it was all her shit son's fault!
Now it was Lyra's turn to have her mood fouled. She knew exactly what happened to the poor woman; everyone in town knew what happened to the poor woman. New Bark was small, so when something exciting happened, news spread like wildfire.
Three days ago, Ethan Markin disappeared during the night, but the news didn't break until yesterday. For whatever reason, Lily kept it to herself; she didn't notify anyone, not even the constable. Something happened between last night and this morning because when Lyra woke up, Ethan's disappearance was the only thing the town could talk about. It peeved her that she was one of the last to learn about it.
Of course, there was another reason his disappearance angered Lyra. A day before his disappearance, Ethan promised her – he promised! – that he would bring Lyra along with whatever adventure he was going on. Lyra knew he was leaving – he had admitted as much - and she was supposed to go with him. It wasn't that she particularly liked Ethan; she found him to be insufferably arrogant. But, he was leaving, and she wanted to leave too, so teaming up seemed like the best option. At least for a short time, that was. If Lyra knew where the bastard ran off to, she would track him down if only to smack him across the face for lying to her. On top of being arrogant, Lyra learned that he was also a selfish, lying bastard. And, he didn't even tell his own mother that he was leaving! Who does that?
Lyra sighed and sat down on a rock, sinking her head into her hands. She looked up to see Azure staring back at her, his black eyes glowing with curiosity. He yipped with concern. "I really should stop feeling bad for myself. It's selfish." She sighed again. "What should I do, buddy?"
The marill hopped into her arms, and she promptly pulled the pokemon in for a hug. She truly was being selfish. Ethan wasn't her child - she could hardly call him her friend! Lily was the one actually suffering. "I need to stop feeling bad for myself," Lyra repeated.
For all of his many faults, Ethan was driven. It certainly contributed to his arrogance, but when he wanted to do something, he did it. Nothing would come between him and what he wanted, for better or for worse. He was like that in school, and he still like that now. For once in her life, Lyra needed to be more like that. She needed to stop thinking and just go.
"What do you think Azure? Why should I cry and whine and sit on this rock in this shit town while Ethan goes off to see the world? Why do I need to wait for him, or anyone? Why shouldn't I do the same?" Lyra had no idea where Ethan went, but there weren't many options either. It had to Cherrygrove to the west, Blackthorn to the north, or Viridian to the east. She shook her head; it didn't matter where Ethan went, all that mattered was where she would go. "We are definitely going to Olivine. The lighthouse is supposed to be lovely! Plus, the water is supposed to be nice there. You can swim in the harbor!"
Azure squealed in delight.
"Then, we can visit the Whirl Islands and be the first to explore the caves! We can walk up the steps of the Tin Tower and be the first to ring the Clear Bell since Hideki the Great! We'll walk all across Johto and Kanto, and then we can take a boat to Hoenn and walk the Chimney Mountains! My hair will turn grey, and you'll evolve into an azumarill. We'll become old, grizzled adventurers that don't take shit from anybody. We won't have to wait on anybody or ask for permission for anything! Just you, me, and whatever lays before us!"
As she spoke, Lyra leaned back against the rock and closed her eyes. In her mind, she could actually see the things she spoke of. The Olivine Lighthouse and Tin Tower illuminated brilliantly in her mind's eye by some unseen sun. Imaginary sand shifted beneath her feet as she looked upon the Whirl Islands, the waves crashing against the beach to her back. Ash and smoke fell around her as she walked through the deep chasms of the volcanic Chimney Mountains. She could do this. She would do this. All she had to do was push herself.
Lyra opened her eyes and smiled. "What do you say, Azure? Is that the kind of life you want to live?"
The marill yipped joyously and jumped in the air. He sprayed a water gun in the air. It fell back down to the ground, the droplets like a mosaic of colors shining in the sunlight.
…
"… and how many spearow did you see in the flock this time?" Harold sighed heavily, putting his pen down to massage his temples.
"Umm, six – not wait! Seven. Yes, seven spearow," Lyra said. She sat opposite the constable, a large desk standing between them. Azure squirmed in her arms every now and then. He was probably hungry, she figured. It was two o'clock, well past his lunchtime – and well past her lunchtime too, now that she thought about it. As if on cue, her belly rumbled.
It was still too early for her aunt's afternoon nap, and therefore still too early for Lyra to go home. She decided that her best option was to notify the constable of the spearow flock she saw earlier. Surely that would help prevent an accident in the future. So, she headed straight to his office, a double-story building with a gabled roof nestled between the Loyal Sentret and Mary's Marvel Mansion. On the other side of main street was the Mareep's Milk and Grigory's General Store. Between those four buildings, the area was often nicknamed the Square of Trouble, what with its penchant for frequent drunken violence and occasional petty thievery. Truly, it was the most perfect place for the constable's office.
The inside of the office was fairly plain, the first floor dominated by the constable's large desk. At the foot of the desk slept the constable's pokemon, a manectric. Sunlight streamed through a window, illuminating the interior. A staircase sat at the back of the room; one set ran upstairs towards the deputies' quarters, and one ran downstairs towards the jailcells. The constable's other pokemon, a hitmonlee, leaned against the railings of the staircase heading downstairs. Lyra could hear moans and bangings echoing from the jails of the drunkards waking up to their hangovers, only to find that their hangovers were not the worst thing they were waking up to.
Harold stomped on the floor and yelled "Shut up!" in the direction of the staircase, loud enough for the manectric to jump up in shock, elecitricity sparking off its fur. The moanings and the bangings ceased. Then he sighed and ran his hand over his bald head. His eyes looked sunken and tired in the windowlight. "Damn drunkards caused trouble last night at Mary's. Me and deputy Oliva spent all night cleaning up their mess." Harold shook his head, sighing again. "Anyways, the spearow. Seven, you said? Did you see a nest anywhere this time? Usually, they're up in the trees."
Lyra shook her head. "No, I don't remember seeing a nest. I go to the Kanjo almost every day. In fact, I don't ever remember seeing a flock of spearow before the past couple days."
"By Arceus," the constable muttered. He placed his pen down on his desk. "This is probably the same flock of spearow you've seen the past couple days. They are birds; they can travel too, you know." He shook his head and grumbled something unintelligible under his breath. "Why are wasting my time with this, Lyra?"
"I – what?" Lyra tried her best to flash a disarming smile. The constable was the closest thing New Bark had to a village leader, and he certainly looked the part. Whatever hair he had left on his head had migrated to his face. His burly arms crossed his strapping chest. He was kind, but he was also no-nonsense man, and if he thought someone was feeding him a pile of tauros shit, he did not hesitate to express his disdain. For you and your nonsense. Lyra's smile faded beneath Harold's crippling stare. "Well… I – you know. Spearow are dangerous, and I – well… wanted people to be safe…?"
"No, fearow are dangerous. Spearow are little more than pests. Honestly, Lyra!"
Lyra threw her arms up and nearly knocked Azure off her lap in the process. "Honestly what? I thought they might be a problem."
Harold groaned and leaned his head back. When he looked back at Lyra, his face softened, his no-nonsense frown all but faded. "No, no. You're right, Lyra. Spearow can be trouble, but to be honest, I simply don't have the time or manpower to deal with a minor issue. Relatively minor, that is." He stood up, towering over the desk. Lyra made to sit up too, but the constable motioned for her to stay seated. "No, please. You said you had more to say. Sorry for snapping at you. I barely got three hours of sleep last night; been working all morning. Arceus knows I need a break. You want some coffee?"
"With milk, please," Lyra said. Harold nodded and walked toward a side room beside the staircase.
The constable returned with two steaming mugs in one hand and a cup of milk in the other. He placed both everything down on the desk, reached to pet the manectric behind the ears, then sat down. "By Arceus am I tired." He took a sip from his mug. A smile blossomed beneath his beard. "That's good. How's yours, Lyra?"
She took a sip, the gave a thumbs up. Azure chirped happily. "Good, thank you."
"Normally I'd tell you to stop bothering me during work hours, but," his smile grew mischievous, "to be honest, your company isn't half bad all the time."
"Half bad? My company is great!"
"You keep telling yourself that," Harold said laughing. He wiped a coffee dribble from his beard, then looked at his clock on the wall. "Aren't you usually home at this time? Usually you stop by earlier."
Lyra shrugged. "Well, my aunt was still asleep when I woke up. Figured she had a late start to the day, so…"
"Ah, I see." The constable nodded in understanding. "I guess that's why you spent your whole morning by the Kanjo staring at spearow?"
"I thought they would be a problem!"
Harold put his hands up in protest. "I'm just teasing. But honestly though, I barely have time to look into it. Shit keeps flying onto my desk these days. A couple homes on the west side have been fighting over property lines since last week, one of Professor Elm's aides wanted to file a report over some apparent stalker they've been having. Some kid with red hair keeps staring at the lab from across the street, apparently. And just this morning, another telegram arrived from Blackthorn detailing some new decree from Clair. I swear, we get a new one of those every day."
"Crazy Theo has been shouting his doom and gloom again," Lyra added. She took a sip to hide her shudder. Lighting that torches the sky! Rain that comes down in sheets! The fires of New Bark will reach the sun!
"That too! I swear, every time that loon opens his mouth, the people in this town get dumber." He shook his head in disgust. "Just two days ago, someone from the north side stormed into my office and demanded – demanded! – to know what I was going to do about this drought. Me! As if I can control the weather like –" He snapped.
"If only you could. I'm sick of this heat." The two sat in silence, drinking their coffee. Azure would occasionally squirm in Lyra's arms, to which she would scratch his ears and coo softly. All the while, Harold eyed the marill with scrutiny.
Moaning and bangings echoed from the jails again, noticeably souring the constable's mood. He stood up in a huff and walked downstairs, his hitmonlee following in suit. After further shoutings followed by a sudden and loud thud, Harold and the hitmonlee walked back upstairs. A light sheen of sweat covered both. "Sorry about that," the constable said, wiping a hand across his forehead. "Just a minor disagreement."
"I stopped by Miss Markin's earlier," Lyra said after a moment. She took a sip from her mug.
"Did you now? Why?"
"Just wanted to see how she was doing after, you know, Ethan disappeared," Lyra said, shrugging. "She was not happy to see me," she added quietly.
Harold put down his mug with a sigh. "You really need to stop doing things like that, Lyra."
"Like what?"
"Like intruding on other people's business. Just because I tolerate it with you doesn't mean others will. Just because Ethan's disappearance is the talk of the town doesn't mean you need to take it upon yourself to deal with it. That's my job." Harold lifted the mug back to his lips only to put it back down, empty, in disappointment. "Arceus knows enough people have bothered her about it already. Shoot, Arceus knows I get enough people bothering me about it, too."
Lyra cracked a smile. "You know, you sure do complain a lot about your job."
Harold laughed. "If you had to serve as constable for the fine denizens of New Bark, you'd find yourself complaining, too."
"Oh, trust me. I don't plan on staying in New Bark long enough to take over your job!"
"Just don't disappear on me like Ethan!" Harold stopped laughing and cleared his throat. His voice softened. "Are you actually planning to leave New Bark?"
Lyra opened then closed her mouth, unsure of what she was going to see. "I don't know. Maybe," she said after a moment of silence.
"Well I'd hope you'd tell me before you go. Disappearances are nasty business."
Lyra glared, meeting the constable's eyes. "I would never, ever do that to you. I promise."
"Good." Harold nodded, his gaze drifting to somewhere along the wall. "Good."
They talked for another hour, sharing stories and laughing about other current events in town. Harold made more coffee and occasionally had to go back downstairs to keep the guests – as he called them – quiet. When the conversation had all but ceased, Lyra looked at the clock and saw it was almost three-thirty. She bid goodbye, and picked up Azure to leave.
"Hold up one second," Harold said, lifting a finger. He pointed it at the marill. "If you're actually serious about leaving, you need to do something about that."
Lyra tilted her head, confused. "What, Azure?"
"Yes, the marill. Please tell me you've finally gotten your trainer license."
Lyra bit her lip, then gave the constable her best award-winning smile. "Can't say I've found the time, Harold. You know they cost money and there's the test and –"
"By Arceus," he said, massaging his forehead. "I shouldn't need to tell you the penalty for carrying a pokemon without a trainer license in the Silver Prefecture. By law, I should have hanged you already."
Lyra gulped. The constable was more than a friend to her, but his brutal honesty could still chill her to the bone on occasion.
"Everyone knows you in New Bark, Lyra. Everyone sees you walking around with your marill," Harold continued. "That won't be so outside of here. If you leave, I won't be there to stop you from making mistakes."
"I can make perfectly fine decisions all be myself," Lyra retorted. Her eyes narrowed. "Is there anything else?"
Harold shook his head. "Just tell your aunt I said hello."
With Azure in tow, Lyra left the constable's office and walked into the searing heat of dusty main street. She had been inside so long that she needed to shield her eyes in the sunlight. Few people were outside; only a trader walking his donphan-led cart down the road. And Crazy Theo, of course, sitting on his usual stoop by the Loyal Sentret.
With a sigh of frustration, Lyra walked down the road. She greatly admired the constable, and often he was her sole source of stability, but he also had a way of grinding her nerves every now and then. Yes, she knew that he was technically right; she was breaking the law, after all. But, who gives a damn? A marill was one of the more harmless pokemon. She looked at the man with the donphan-led cart; did he have a trainer license? What about all the mareep farmers, did they need trainer licenses too? A mareep's shock certainly hurt more than any attack from marill, she was certain of that.
Her wandering mind was interrupted by a sudden outburst from Crazy Theo. "Lighting that torches the sky! Rain that comes down in sheets! The fires of New Bark will reach the sun! An omen from Arceus himself! But, it will only be just the beginning!" He screamed, standing on his stoop with his arms out wide. After a moment, a dropped to a sit and began muttering incoherently to himself.
A sudden feeling of dread sank into Lyra's stomach, and she only barely washed away the notion with a quick shake of her head. "Dumb laws, crazy people. One day, Azure. One day we'll leave this town." In her mind, she was on a boat travelling between the Sevii Islands, waves and wind splashing on her face. She looked to her right and the great adventurer, Hideki the Great, stood beside her, encouraging her forward.
But, she was only in dusty New Bark. A flock of spearow flew overhead, coming from the east and turning north, cawing the entire time. "Must be that same flock from the Kanjo," Lyra said, frowning. "Maybe they'll pick me up and fly me out of here." Pure fantasy, of course, but an entertaining one nonetheless.
Suddenly, another flock of spearow came from the east. Then another. And another. Soon, it seemed like the entire sky was swarming with spearow. Their caws consumed the air. In terror, Lyra grabbed Azure and ducked underneath a porch ceiling.
And just as soon as they came, the spearow left, flying north, leaving only confusion in their wake.
(o)
Lily sat at the kitchen table, her body exhausted and her skin burnt from hours spent outside. Tears rolled down her cheeks, smudging the buildup of dirt. She breathed deeply in a vain attempt to keep control over herself, but it was hard to do so in these moments of loneliness. She wanted to scream, to yell out "Why, Gods? Why have you singled me out?", but she could not find the words. Working outside kept her mind distracted, but in these lonely moments at the table, it was hard to keep her dark thoughts at bay.
She hadn't wanted to go inside, not when there was still daylight left, but a sudden flock of spearow appeared out of nowhere. There must have been hundreds of the bird pokemon, all flying and squawking in the air. The flock's sudden appearance scared the mareeep into huddling beneath a tree, and Lily ran her hardest into the house, slamming the door behind her once she was inside.
That was a couple of hours ago, and once she found herself inside, she found it difficult to get herself back outside. It was as if the chair she sat in glued her butt to the seat.
She gripped the full, steaming mug of tea in front of her; she hadn't taken a sip yet. Instead, she breathed in deeply, embracing the herbal aroma. The heat soothed her aching hands and helped kept her mind clear.
When Ethan disappeared in the night three days ago, Lily knew that her boat had been thoroughly rocked, and only sheer willpower kept it afloat. Wherever he is, he's safe. I know it, she thought. Those comforting thoughts helped her keep her last bits of sanity. Her son was rash and bullheaded, but he was clever and perceptive, too. Wherever he was, Lily had upmost confidence that Ethan could keep himself safe and out of trouble.
Or, she so desperately hoped.
Frankly, it was not only the fact that Ethan left that upset her so much. She had prepared for this moment when she found that pokeball in the bag underneath his bed; she just didn't anticipate him to leave so soon after. No, what angered her were the people that swarmed her like flies to a corpse, offering their condolences with croconaw tears. The same thing happened when Gerald left her all those years ago, and the same thing happened now. Toby Mrances stopped by; Lyra Otkin; Alexa and Theodore Maratov; them plus others all stopped by to offer her well-wishes, asking her what they could do to help. Why couldn't these people get it into their thick heads that Lily didn't want their help?
Oh, Lily tried to keep Ethan's disappearance a secret, but she cracked two nights ago while at the Mareep's Milk. A couple drinks in, and she started bawling. If only she could've kept her in emotions in check…
And then there was that bastard, Professor Elm. Sly and slinking. He was behind this, she just knew it! He was the one that gave her son a pokemon, who was the one that thrust a dangerous and heartbreaking responsibility upon her clueless son! It wasn't Ethan's fault for accepting; the boy didn't know any better!
Years ago, before Ethan was born and before her hair turned gray, Lily trained pokemon. But all it brought was heartbreak and tragedy. Her first tragedy. Nothing good came from training pokemon, nothing. She truly feared that her son would go down the same path.
Lily stopped to breathe. Tears were streaming down her face again, but these were not ones of sadness; they burned like the fire in her belly. She stood up and unclenched her fists – she had no idea when she clenched them in the first place. A walk, she thought. A walk to… I don't know. Somewhere.
Her walk was a short one, and she found herself in her bedroom standing over a small bedside cabinet illuminated with evening light from the nearby window. The cabinet had one drawer, and in that one drawer was a folded blanket that encompassed the entire container. The far corner of the blanket bulged slightly. Long ago, when she had first moved to this house in New Bark, Lily promised herself that she would never remove that blanket for the rest of her life. The blanket itself was of a faded green and brown meant to mix in with forests and grasses. Its edges were faded after years of use from a past far gone. Just looking at the thing made her stomach ache.
And then, somehow, her hands moved to the blanket – whose hands were those? She would never do such a thing! But the blanket was lifted, and underneath sat a greatball, its blue top-half faded to a near white, and scratches cut deep into the white half. It was a memory of a time long since passed, and more than that, it was her own little secret. No one in New Bark, not even her son, knew that she kept this by her bed. She lifted it with trembling hands as the memories rushed back. Painful memories, so much so that she shut her eyes as if that would help.
She wasn't always Lily the house mother and mareep herder. How long had it been? Two decades since she last opened this greatball? It was at least a couple years before Ethan had been born…
A knock on the front door drew Lily's attention. She frowned: Another wanting to offer condolences, probably. She didn't return the greatball to the drawer; inexplicably, she kept it in her hand.
"Hello?" She said as she opened the front door.
The towering figure of Constable Lynanov stood outside, sweat dripping profusely across his face and bald head. His expression was somber, and he stood at a distance from the doorway. Behind him, his hitmonlee stood with arms across its body.
Lily's immediate thought was to slam the door on his face, but she withheld the urge. "I thought I told you to not to investigate Ethan's leaving." Her voice was acid. "Wherever he is, he is safe. He can take care of himself."
He shook his head and tried his best to smile. He put his hands up as if to surrender. "No, nothing like that Miss Markin. After that flock of spearow overhead – crazy stuff, wasn't it? After that flock flew overhead, I planned on going to the Kanjo to investigate. Figured that's where they came from and all. And, since your house is along the way… Well, I figured I'd stop by and see –"
"And see what? How I'm doing? I'm fine."
The constable nodded awkwardly. "Of course, of course. And you look like you're doing fine! But, I had some people stop by my office, said you looked like you needed some help –"
"Those other people need to learn to mind their damn business."
"I couldn't agree more, miss –"
"Then why are you're here?" Lily's voice was hard as steel. She could feel a dribble of tears running down her cheek. "Why are you disturbing my peace? I'm fine. Everything is fine. Leave. Me. Alone."
And then she shut the door on the constable's face.
She swallowed hard as she leaned against the door, listening to the constable's footsteps grow fainter and fainter. The tears had stopped; it seemed that she did have a limit on how much she could cry after all. Another passerby wishing to offer unwanted condolences, only this time it was the constable. If only out of respect for Harold's position, she should have listened to what he had to say, she shouldn't have slammed the door in his face, but she was frankly tired. Of thinking about Ethan, of being reminded about Ethan. Why, oh why could she not be left to grieve on her own? She stayed leaning against the door for what felt like a long time, but couldn't have been more than a minute. She clutched the greatball in her hand and breathed deeply.
Lily heard a noise outside. Actually, she heard many noises. Shouts and footsteps, and then the unmistakable sound of pokeballs opening and spilling their contents. Slowly, she moved toward the window by the front door and peered outside. And what she saw horrified her.
There was a pair of people wearing hoods that obscured their faces. Their black slacks and dark red shirts offered a stark contrast to the sunburnt grass. They stared down the constable with their pokemon – a crobat and a machoke. Harold stood his ground, shouting something that Lily couldn't hear, his hitmonlee standing between him and the hooded fiends.
The hooded fiends struck first. The crobat soared to the sky as the machoke bum-rushed the hitmonlee. The kicking pokemon slid underneath the machoke's swinging fist and countered with a sweeping kick to the knees.
As the machoke flipped upside down and landed on its back, one of the fiends circled around the battling pokemon and faced the hitmonlee's back. Suddenly, the fiend leaped towards the kicking pokemon, a long knife appearing in hand.
Lily screamed as the knife protruded from the hitmonlee's gut. The pokemon took one look at the blade sticking out of its belly, and then slumped into the arms of the murderous fiend. A horrified expression came upon Harold's face, and he seemed as if he was going to shout something too, but the crobat suddenly descended upon him, knocking him over. The bat pokemon sank its fangs into his shoulder.
Something came over Lily as she watched the fiend with the blade slowly stalk towards the supine Harold. The blood on the knife glinted a brilliant red in the evening sun. An anger descended upon her, and then that anger morphed into a sort of focus that she had not felt in decades. A focus that was only honed after years of battle. Harold was in trouble, and she would not let further harm come to him. Not if she could help it.
The two fiends and their pokemon abruptly shifted their attention as Lily kicked open the front door, the greatball facing outward in her extended hand. Who is this? Lily thought. Absently, she wrinkled her nose at the sulfuric odor of the red miasma. I am not this woman anymore!
And yet, she still pressed the centerpiece.
The fiends smiled greedily at the sight of the red miasma, but their smiles disappeared when the miasma formed into a skarmory.
The armor bird pokemon took a moment to gather its surroundings, something that almost drew Lily out of her strange reverie. She looked at Lily with confusion on her face, and Lily couldn't help but feel a pang of regret; when was the last time she had sent out Ariana? Twenty years ago?
But it was too late to turn back now. Lily had so thoroughly rocked the boat that it was now sink or swim. She pointed towards the fiends. "Ariana! Attack!"
The skarmory jerked her head back towards the fiends, and with a screech that sounded like metal grinding against metal, she dashed forward. Her wings spread out, revealing silver and blood-colored blades that glimmered with a dangerous edges, and the armored bird took flight.
One of the fiends dove out of the way; the other didn't. Ariana cut through the unlucky fiend's body like butter, slicing the torso from the legs and sending streaks of blood through the air.
The crobat entered the scene, flying after the skarmory with lightning speed. But, Ariana banked hard to the left and came face-to-face with the crobat. The bat pokemon barely had time to slow down before it was skewered by the skarmory's beak.
Ariana landed in front of Lily, wings spread out and ready for another assault. The second fiend had finally stood back up and took a moment to glance at the carnage.
"Come at me you bitch!" The fiend said in a male voice. "Submission!"
The machoke hesitated for a moment, no doubt considering the bloody remains of the first fiend and the crobat, but then it charged the skarmory with a roar. Ariana sidestepped the machoke's blind shoulder charge and retaliated with a strike of its metal wings, cutting deep gashes into the machoke's face.
She still remembers how to battle, Lily thought with a smile, but then quickly shook the ridiculous thought away. The greatball had held Ariana in stasis; the last time the skarmory had seen her, Lily was a younger woman with much less gray in her hair and perhaps a few less wrinkles too.
Reeling from the counter strike, the machoke lifted one hand to cover its wounded face while pushing out with the other and striking the skarmory. But the damage was minimal, and Ariana chomped down on the machoke's exposed hand. The machoke cried out in pain.
"Call back your pokemon!" Lily yelled at the fiend. Who is this person that's speaking? This isn't me! "Or I'll have my skarmory kill your machoke, and then I'll have her kill you!" This isn't me anymore!
The fiend growled. "Dynamic punch!"
The muscles on the machoke bulged, stretching the skin to reveal the pink flesh underneath. It yanked its hand out of the skarmory's bite, losing some fingers in the process. With its other hand, the machoke unleashed a devastating punch on Ariana's exposed face, sending the skarmory flying backward.
Ariana stood up quickly, but her legs were unsteady and she seemed to sway in place. The machoke was slow to follow up though; it was still reeling from its injuries, but after another shout from the fiend, the machoke stalked toward the skarmory with murderous intent.
"Come on Ariana! Snap out of it!" Lily shouted with urgency. The skarmory's armor could block most attacks, but an angry machoke could punch through it with ease. "Take to the skies!"
Ariana seemed to hear part of Lily's words because she started flapping her wings, awkwardly ascending into the air. But, it was too late. The machoke had crossed the distanced and with its good hand, yanked the skarmory by the leg back toward the ground.
Suddenly striking the ground snapped Ariana out of her confusion, and the skarmory started squawking and screeching deafeningly. It was enough for the machoke to recoil.
There's the opening! "Go for its neck, Ariana!" Lily yelled.
Even though the machoke still held onto the skarmory's leg, Ariana still managed to flap her steel wings to gain some air. Twisting her body, the skarmory slashed its wings across the machoke's neck, sending a spray of blood across the grass.
The machoke let go and stumbled backwards, its good hand gripping the gaping wound in it neck, blood seeping between its fingers. After a moment, the machoke collapsed.
Lily and Ariana turned their deadly focus to the remaining fiend. She couldn't see his face, but by the way he looked around, he was clearly afraid. He turned and ran.
"Oh no you don't," Lily hissed under her breath. "Get 'im, Ariana!"
Lily didn't look to see what happened, but she heard the screams. She moved with casual ease over the corpse of the machoke, over the disembodied legs, and over the bloodied crobat. She sighed when she caught a glimpse of Harold's hitmonlee; its hand lay over the wound in its stomach, and it seemed to have stopped breathing.
Lily kneeled beside the constable. His left shoulder was purple, and swollen blood vessels patterned like spiderwebs circled around the bite marks. "Poison," she murmured. But that wasn't what disturbed her the most. It was the way Harold looked at her. He seemed more afraid of her than of the poison that coursed through his body. His eyes were wide and fearful.
"You – you – you –" Harold coughed weakly. His gaze kept switching between her and Ariana and the corpses.
"Don't speak," Lily said quietly. Crobat poison was a hemotoxin; internal bleeding would set in shortly without treatment. "Save your energy."
And suddenly, that intense focus that had descended upon her washed away. Lily blinked, and the back of her throat went dry as she looked upon the carnage, carnage she was responsible for. The stench of blood and sulfur was too overpowering; she tilted her head to the side and vomited. This is it, there is no going back, Lily thought as she watched Ariana dance amongst the corpses, picking bits of flesh here and there. This was the life that she had left twenty years ago, the life that she had kept repressed in her memories for the twenty years since, and the life that was responsible for her first tragedy.
The life of a pokemon ranger.
Distantly, the sounds of battle elsewhere rang out. The smell of smoke wafted in the air. New Bark was burning, but the fire in Lily's belly burned out, and all she could do was sit on her knees and weep beside the wounded constable.. For despite her best efforts, her past had finally caught back up to her.