Chapter Six - Underground

It took very little for Nikolai to remember being Noelani's age. It just took a few key phrases including the word freak and the sound of a bell to forget about it. Which wasn't so much a phrase as a, oh what did Cynthia's mother's books call it… a trigger mechanism, or something? Whatever it was, it was very good at making him feel smaller than he already was.

His fingers would always reflexively draw for a pokeball at the very thought, breathing quieter than normal, body coiling until he felt like a permanently tied up spring. Then his little girl would turn over in her sleep. He would uncoil and move up beside her, all those dusty old feelings replaced with a single question:

Is she breathing? Is she breathing?

Sometimes he could hear it. Sometimes he couldn't.

This morning, he could, barely over the sound of his own rapidly screeching heart. He listened to it for a solid hour, until his daughter opened her eyes and sat up on her own. She looked down at him, watery blue eyes seeming to devour every centimeter of his still face. She looked so solemn and old.

Perhaps it was out of the seriousness of the moment, but Nikolai responded to this heavy scrutiny with a poke to her nose. Her face immediately scrunched, pouting more like she had sucked on a lemon. He laughed, releasing a breath he hadn't known he had been holding.

"Let's get breakfast," he said and she nodded, too excited to speak.


With another small, but excited roar, Kaylee lunged for her opponent. Skylar the Zubat dodged with ease, none of the ease of inside the cave of course, but he was fast enough with the open wind helping him along. Each failed snap of her jaws made Kaylee twitch with anger. She bunched her paws up and leaped again, jaws glowing with what one day would be a real Thunder Fang but for now, puttered out as she smacked into the dirt.

Noel's face twisted with fear. "You okay, Kaylee?" That fall had nearly crunched teeth in. Kaylee sat up and grunted appeasement, turning back to face her opponent with her rump in the air. That let Noel let out a breath of air in relief. "Okay, Skylar, keep dodging! Then Supersonic! Kaylee you gotta hit him once!"

Percy was running around the two of them as fast as his stubby legs could carry him. Oreburgh soil was tough, so running on it was easy so long as you didn't crumble or crater it. He could learn a little speed before he evolved into a grotle and then deal with staying still. He had to learn how to counter speed.

Noel kept shouting out orders, basic commands that only she really understood the importance of. But even if those moments didn't go well, she was eager all the same. Satisfied she was suitably occupied (and watched, he had a pokemon watching for mistakes!), Nikolai sat down on another book and started to read.

At some point in the middle of his pages, a furry white and horned head planted itself on the worn pages, followed by his daughter's curious gaze.

"Daddy?"

Nikolai blinked, rubbing his eyes. "Yes, Noel?"

She was settled on the little saddle his parents had gotten for Alma, his Absol, when he had broken both of his legs in the Lavaridge hot spring. "I'm hungry. Can we go get lunch?"

"Lunch?" He checked his Poketch. The mail icon sat on screen, full color and everything. Lucas had insisted, the pushy little brat. "Is it already that time?" She gave a him an unimpressed look in reply and he beamed at her. "Sorry, sorry. Let's get something to eat. Sweet potato fries?"

Noel pouted. "No. Real food."

"Darling, that is real food." He sat up and wiped the dirt from his pants. "Come on, I know just the place."

He did, or rather, he knew the place he was going. Oreburgh was best known for its stone ovens. The best cauliflower pizza were usually made here. That wasn't the point. That was just a bonus.

"Come on, return everyone but-" He paused to think about it. "-Skylar. He needs to be used to crowds and the sunlight. You won't get much travel done at night. When we get to city limits, keep his pokeball close, okay?"

Noel nodded and turned to look up at her pokemon. "You heard daddy! Return!" After only Skylar remained, she made a face. "I would have left out Kaylee though…"

Nikolai whistled for Alma, who laid down long enough for Noel to climb off. "Why?"

Noelani trotted after him, one hand safely nestled in Alma's fur. "Because she's less-scary looking!"

Nikolai tried very hard not to smile, keeping an eye on his stride. "Right now she is. Eventually, she'll be a full grown luxray, too big for you to handle. If you were a trainer on your own, what would that mean if she decided someone's starly looked good?"

Noelani thought hard about this. "That I am a poor trainer whose pokemon don't listen!" She paused for air. "That I don't have enough badges and I am dan-ger-ous."

Nikolai nodded, gesturing to Alma, who seemed unamused at being the sudden center of attention. "That's right."

"Papa, I'm too young for badges," she pointed out, deflating even as she said the words. Ten was when you could start earning badges because you were supposed to leave home, improve yourself, then come back for further education. Some students got lucky enough to have their journeys funded.

"You won't be eventually,"

She didn't say anything at first. Then she mumbled. "You don't know that."

NIkolai smiled through his heart in his throat. "No one knows that. I just believe it's possible."

Noelani kicked a loose rock with her toes. "Like Arceus?"

"Mm. Pretty much." He pushed the pizzeria's door open. "Faith in something is sometimes all we have, even when it's bad. You know?"

He didn't ask her to believe it. He wasn't going to try. Instead, he pointed to the blond woman dressed up in casual clothes, earning stare after stare from a few starstruck fools.

It was worth it to see Noelani's sorrow swell into utter joy. It was worth the flashing of cameras from Holo Casters just to hear Noelani yell, "Mama" at Cynthia from the top of her lungs and to see all that happiness in one place.