A Work of Magic
Chapter 6: A Whole New Journey
"This is Eterna City, right?" Jess asked the nurse at the counter the next day after a hurried breakfast.
"That's right," she replied with a small nod.
"Okay, got it," Jess muttered, making a mental note of it. "So, uh, could you tell me how to get to the nearest PokéMart?"
"Of course! Just go directly south from here, and it's on the left side of the road."
"Oh, that's simple… Thanks!" Jess called, waving quickly before nodding for her team to follow.
Jess couldn't help jovially thinking that they must have been quite a sight – the trainer was holding both her arms out, one bird perched on each arm, Ninetails at her heel, Missie in the crook of her arm – the arm Pidgeotto was on, and the Mismagius trailing all of them hesitantly.
"You guys are so lucky, not many people keep all of their Pokémon out as much as I do – few people even keep one out, let alone their entire traveling company!"
The Murkrow nodded. "Mur, murkrow," he said, sleepily voicing his thanks before going back to preening.
"Do you ever stop doing that?" Jess asked his playfully as Ninetails used his head to open the door and let her pass before trotting back to her side. "Thanks, Ninetails."
The fox-like Pokémon nodded, pricking his ears as they ventured forward in the unfamiliar territory of Eterna City.
"Mis…" The larger ghost blinked wondrously as she glanced around – the path they were walking on was made of square stones, how did that happen…? And the sky was so… blue! Never before had she seen such a bright, vibrant color, except maybe when she had seen a Misdreavus use something with a bright flash, and the sun, the daytime moon as her family called it… It burned her eyes to look at it, but it was so… was there even a word for it…?
The black bird used his feet to scratch an itch on his neck, then he tilted his crowned head at the trainer. "Mur, murkrow… mur…?" He seemed almost nervous.
Jess smiled reassuringly. "No, it's not annoying, I was just wondering. Why would it be annoying?"
He shrugged, mumbling something about Honchkrow.
"Do you have something against your own evolved form?" Jess asked, noticing his unusually bitter tone immediately.
"Mmmm… Murkrow."
"Maybe, maybe yes," Jess said, raising her eyebrows knowingly as she lead the group into the blue building. "Hey, Mismagius, you'll blind yourself if you keep staring at that."
"Mis," the ghost suddenly almost yelped, only now realizing that they had gone into the building and rushing after them. And as soon as she was in the threshold, she slowed to a stop and began staring at everything with wide eyes. She had never seen so many colors in one place before, or so much organization… or anything even remotely like this place…
"Misdreavus!" the other ghost yelped, suddenly excited – she had always loved exploring new places with her friends, and this was the newest place she had ever been in. She began wriggling in the trainer's arms, eager to get up and inspect every single –
Jess chuckled as she picked up a plastic basket. "Okay, I'll let you go… but first you have to answer me one question."
The ghost looked up at her eagerly.
"Does this hurt?" She pricked the ghost's back with a finger gently but suddenly, and the ghost yelped.
"Okay, sorry Missie, but you're still not ready to move on your own."
"Mis…" The ghost blinked, a little disappointed, but after glancing around again her spirits were lifted again by the curiosity rising with every new item they passed. "Misdreavus!"
The trainer laughed, closing her eyes and smiling fully. "It's interesting, isn't it? How much there is? Okay, let's see, I need… Potions, antidotes, every kind of healing item they have in stock, grooming supplies for Ninetails, a few ingredients for everyone, I can get water by the stream in the forest…"
The Mismagius, now lagging quite a few feet behind the rest, snapped her head to the trainer immediately. Not many humans knew about the small river in the forest… Come to think of it, she had never seen a human by the stream in her entire lifetime. And her mother had actually said that the river was far too deep in the forest for most humans to travel to… There just seemed to be no end to the surprises with this human…
Jess noticed her startled attentiveness, and she blinked at the ghost. "You wouldn't mind, would you?"
The ghost shook her head, blinking at her inquisitively.
"I don't usually like traveling along the actual paths, they always go away from all of the intimate nature…" She hoped that at least kind of answered her question.
The Mismagius blinked back, thinking how it was actually the other way around, then she sighed an airy note and turned away from Jess.
The trainer shrugged and continued on down the aisle, pulling a few supplements off the shelves for the birds and Ninetails before turning and walking along the back of the store, pulling off at least five of the ice heals, burn heals, awakenings, and nearly two dozen paralyze heals and antidotes for the trip through the forest. "Okay, that should do for the healing supplies…"
"Muuurkrow," the bird muttered sarcastically.
"Oh yeah, I'm sure," Jess replied.
After a few more steps, the Misdreavus blinked and craned her neck, looking over Jess's shoulder to see her companion and noticed how behind she was, how distant she seemed, and she cried out to the Mismagius softly.
The Mismagius turned to her and replied with a soft note, reassuring her that she was still paying attention to them and not getting lost in thought.
But then the trainer turned to her to smile, and the Mismagius tensed and turned away immediately, pretending to be interested in a box of Pika-Pellets.
Jess shrugged, then gasped and jumped aside; she had almost collided with a young woman that had a small Flareon at her heels.
"Whoa, sorry," Jess apologized hurriedly as they met eyes.
"That's okay," she said with a smile. "No harm, no foul."
"Okay," Jess replied with an awkward smile.
The Flareon at her heels growled at Ninetails, and all the fox had to do was stare at him, and the young fire-type ran behind his trainer's legs and whimpered.
"Aww, Ninetails, be nice," she scolded softly as he sat with an elegantly satisfied pose. "He's not usually competitive like that," Jess told the other as she stroked his mane.
"Nine," he told his trainer calmly.
"Oh. Well… He's like me, he won't bite, but if you mess with us, then, well," Jess said with a shrug. "We'll mess back."
The other laughed. "This little guy's too brave for his own good, he just likes to take on anything – but then he chickens out the minute it actually becomes a challenge," she laughed.
"Flareon!" the little creature cried defensively.
"Murkrow," Jess's bird told him, and the Flareon peeked around his trainer's knees and glared at the bird. Then he glanced at the Ninetails again and almost shrunk back – but the larger fire-type stepped to him and licked his head.
Both trainers chuckled as the smaller one shook his head and stared at the Ninetails, obviously confused.
"Misdreavus!" the ghost in Jess's arm squealed playfully.
"Oh, hi there," the other trainer greeted. "Didn't see that one."
"I guess she's a little shy," Jess told her with a tender tone.
Missie nodded sheepishly and let out a couple of note of greeting.
"Hello to you too," the other smiled.
The Misdreavus smiled back.
"Quiet, too," the other observed.
"That's one of their charms – ghost-types, I mean… Most of them at least."
"I've never really liked ghost-types much," the other said. "I'm way more of a fire-type kinda girl."
Jess shrugged. "That's obvious," she said jovially, referring to her short red hair and energetic air. "I prefer ghost types, they're so much easier for me to get along with…"
"Looks like you have more birds than anything."
"No, there's another ghost over there," Jess said. "She's just not very sociable."
"Okay then…" Then she glanced at her Pokétch and suddenly grabbed a few boxes. "I gotta get going, I'm on a time schedule!" she said as she hurried towards the counter.
"Bye," Jess mumbled, thinking It's a good thing she's so active then…
The Mismagius yelped softly as the girl rushed past and tore her out of her fascinated trance, and she barely managed to move out of her way before the trainer rushed right into her. "Mis," she murmured frostily, watching the Flareon as he struggled to keep up.
"Mismagius," Jess called softly, pulling her attention back to them so she wouldn't get lost in this big place as she turned down the aisle that held all their preferred foods in it, plucking the containers off the shelves with expert ease.
"Let's see… So those are the usuals…" She glanced up and down the aisle, thinking about what else they could use. "And these should work until I can actually get some fresh berries." She picked a few bags of dried berries and scanned the ingredients, looking for whichever one had the most variety. Let's see, Murky likes dry food, Pidgeotto likes sweet, Ninetails eats whatever… Aguav, Pecha, and Razz berries, but nothing dry… "Hm… Oh, this one'll work! There's at least three of every flavor here… and they all have some kind of healing associated with them too! Great – And the votes have been cast, we have a winner!"
Another trainer peeked around the shelves to see what on earth was going on.
Jess waved innocently. "Just picking dried berries," she told him.
"Weirdo," he muttered, going back to his own shopping list.
"And proud of it," Jess whispered cheerfully to the Misdreavus as they headed for the counter.
The ghost smiled up at her trainer.
"You smile a lot," Jess observed.
"Mis," she replied, nodding emphatically. What was there not to smile about?
Jess chuckled, then she glanced back at the Mismagius yet again.
She was gliding hesitantly down the aisle, stopping warily to inspect every single trainer she passed before rushing past them and staying as close to the opposite shelf as possible.
Jess couldn't help thinking about how different the two ghosts were… Missie seemed to enjoy it when people actually acknowledged her presence, she was shy but friendly, and obviously enjoyed having human company… but the Mismagius… not so much. Whenever a trainer turned her way curiously, she froze and her entire body tensed before she bowed her head with her hat covering her eyes and hurried away.
The trainer smiled sympathetically; she knew exactly what it was like to not quite enjoy being around people… she was like that herself. And she was certain that the ghost had a wild heart, she had a feeling that if anyone tried to get her to live life in a Pokéball, the Mismagius would fight for her life and then escape the moment opportunity presented itself. And she resolved that the Mismagius wouldn't be her Pokémon - that indicates ownership and makes it sound like the ghost is a mere object, something to be possessed and owned - and she wouldn't be the ghost's master because that made it sound like the Mismagius was her slave, but they'd have to be friends, partners.
She had always thought like that and always refused to talk about her teammates like that, but she would have to be especially delicate with the Mismagius if she wanted any chance of getting close; the way the ghost had left them on that second day was proof that one wrong word could turn everything upside-down.
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After stopping at the Eterna City Herb Shop (and reassuring her Pokémon that if you brew the herbs into tea and add enough drops of Sweet Honey and maybe some cinnamon, the bitter taste seems to vanish), Jess had taken them right back to the Pokécenter. Now they were all in the room, comfortably situated and waiting for Jess to finish her sentence as she pulled the drawstring and let the sunlight pour into the room. " – and the one and only time it ever happened, it was like 'Whoa!' So, yeah… That's why Ninetails is the only Fire-type I've ever been able to stand. When you get too many, and if you have my personality – more Earth-type than anything – things just get… uncomfortable."
Ninetails nodded, remembering that day… Jess had gotten a little too close to a young and riled-up Cyndaquil.
"Murkrow," the black bird cawed, his laughter barely held back; it was still audible in his tone.
The smaller ghost hovering above the bed tilted her head, wondering exactly how a human could be Earth-type…and the Mismagius next to her blinked, suddenly remembering her expression and plastering a bored look just before the trainer turned back to them.
"Okay, well, now you know. I don't usually talk to people anyways, so… Well, what about you guys?"
"Mis?" The Misdreavus blinked inquisitively.
"I want to get to know you! I mean, I know what species you are, what attacks you can learn, all that typical trainer stuff… but I want to know you guys as individuals, I want to know the real Pokémon, the true beings behind the facts." Jess smiled, her eyes seeming to light up at the thought. "Not like you guys are some ancient language that needs to be deciphered or anything… so… Missie?"
The little ghost's eyes widened as everyone turned to her, Ninetails and Pidgeotto tilting their heads expectantly. She blushed and smiled sheepishly – realizing that she had no idea why she was the center of attention.
Jess smiled softly, making a mental note that Missie seems to be timid even with her own team… "Missie," she began comfortingly, "we're just hoping to know a bit about you, no need to be so nervous."
The Misdreavus tilted her head. "Mis…"
Jess chuckled. "Okay, come here…" She crossed the room and cradled the Misdreavus in her arms. "So, what's your story?"
The Misdreavus smiled, admittedly glad that she was actually being listened to… "Misdreavus!" she squealed jovially, thanking the others for their attention before she began telling her story, her high-pitched voice coming in short sentences as she spoke. Her life in the forest, the capture, how it was so exciting it felt like a game to her… meeting Marie, her ex-trainer… She was so delighted at first, it felt like they could never be separated! Marie seemed so excited to get a Pokémon for her birthday! But… then… after the party, Marie never really paid any attention to her… they weren't together for very long before Eevee came and Marie had a new best friend… and she just… Did Marie even know she was there anymore…?
The ghost stopped, and she bowed her head at the memory of trying to get her trainer's attention but being shooed away…
"Hey, wait, are you okay…?" Jess tilted her head, noticing her change of expression immediately. The trainer sighed, sitting on the bed and cuddling the ghost against her.
"Mis…" The little ghost murmured a few notes softly.
"Oh Missie… Do you know why she just stopped like that…?"
The Misdreavus only shook her head sadly.
"Did she at least spend any time with you? Or something like that? Anything like that?"
The ghost replied, tilting her head up at the trainer and shaking her head again.
The Mismagius let out a soft note, a bitter resentment arising within her. Somehow she wasn't surprised…
"She obviously didn't train you much," Jess noted, not hearing the Mismagius, as she remembered how the Pokédex had gauged Missie's skill level. "How much did she train her other Pokémon?"
Missie replied, and Jess let out a note of thoughtfulness. "She must not have been much of a trainer at all if she hardly trained anything…"
Missie shrugged; she wouldn't know, she had no way of telling what other trainers were like.
Jess shook her head, obviously disappointed. "Did she even seemed to care about you?"
For the first time, Missie was silent. But her expression said so much…
Jess sighed; her desolation was all too obvious, and the little ghost was obviously injured by the events… She brought the Misdreavus closer and promised, "I'll never be so careless, and that I'll always try to keep her safe from anything like that happening…"
The Misdreavus blinked up at her, the beginnings of a smile showing on her face.
Jess smiled warmly. "I know it would never be my choice to hurt you, or neglect you – or any of my Pokémon… You guys know that, right?" she asked, directing the last part to every creature in the room.
Every Pokémon responded with an eager cry of agreement.
Everyone except the Mismagius. She blinked, turning the words over in her mind… and the fact that this trainer seemed to not care what species or type or personality they had made her so deeply want to trust her… especially the way she looked beyond all the rumors surrounding some of their species' names and wanted to know what they were like as individuals, the real version of their beings, not the stereotypical versions… but then the memories resurfaced once more. She pushed them back before she let them bring the sentiments into her mind, but they had flared vividly enough to make her wary again and wonder if it was all just gimmick, or worse, a trick, a lie, a trap…
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Jess let out a grunt, struggling to pull the zipper closed over the last centimeter of the bag on the floor, just a little more…! Her fingers strained, the fabric pulled, the bags of dried berries inside crinkled with the pressure…
And it closed so suddenly she barely knew it happened.
The Misdreavus, hovering just above her shoulder, squealed with delight.
"Mission accomplished," Jess beamed, patting the front pocket triumphantly. "Alright, who's got the trophy? Closing this bag after I stock up should be an Olympic sport!"
The Mismagius rolled her eyes, her expression betraying a slight annoyance.
"Mur-murkrow?" the black bird asked, tilting his head in memory – he distinctly remembered one trainer passing through the forest with a radio, listening to the Olympics… and they didn't use trophies…
Jess chuckled. "Right, medal. Smart aleck."
The bird bowed – then lost his footing on the window ledge, and he would have ended up on the floor if Pidgeotto hadn't swooped under him and caught him.
"And the hero of the day award goes to Pidgeotto," Jess declared in a sports-announcer tone, applauding as the larger bird landed and Murky rolled onto the bed, his crown feathers sticking out at random angles and his feet sticking up in the air. "And the klutz of the day is Murky," she snickered.
"Krooow," the Murkrow growled, rolling back to his feet and preening fiercely.
Jess barely managed to suppress her laughter as the Mismagius grinned and swooped down, plucking one of the misplaced feathers from his head and feigning innocence from across the room when he looked up.
"Bored much?" Jess asked the ghost, and she shrugged in response.
The trainer laughed. "Okay, we'll just have to find something else to do then. Something long and interesting and exciting…" She put her hand to her chin in thoughtfulness.
"Mur-murkrow," the bird told her, tilting his head in memory.
"Really? Well then I guess we should check the lobby then. Brochures sound like a good way to find something interesting… C'mon guys." And she held out her arms for the birds to light on, Ninetails trotted to her heel, and Missie hovered over her shoulder.
Jess stopped at the threshold. "You coming?" the trainer asked the Mismagius, who shrugged indifferently.
"Misdreavus," the smaller ghost muttered, smiling as she spoke.
The purple ghost blinked, then she nodded and hesitantly followed them out the door.
"See anything interesting?" Jess asked them when hey reached the lobby, browsing a magazine for ads on anything worth traveling for.
"Nine?" The fox nodded to a sign posted on a door, something about the Lost Tower…
"But we went there two years ago," Jess told him, remembering the day she had found a lost Abra… Then her eyes became thoughtful. "But the ghosts there… hm…" She glanced at the Misdreavus and the Mismagius. "What do you two think about the Lost Tower?"
The Misdreavus expelled a note of curiosity, but the Mismagius shook her head.
"Thus the search continues." And she turned back to the magazines, setting down the first and opening a travel magazine. "Oooh, that looks interesting," Jess said, glancing at the table of contents. "A memorial service? That sounds new… wait… Where's that again…?" She flipped to the page, and her eyes lit up. "Oh, Lavender Town! I've heard of that place! Okay, research time." And she pulled her laptop from the bag, sat down, and began typing furiously.
"Mismagius," the ghost murmured, feeling a bit dizzy from trying to follow the trainer's fingers as they flew over the keyboard.
"Murkrow-murkrow?" the black bird asked, sensing her excitement.
"A long time ago, when I was first getting into ghost Pokémon, I read about this tower thing in Lavender Town, it's supposed to be haunted and there's tons of ghosts living there and it sounds awesome… Lavender Tower," she mumbled, skimming the page, her eyes sparkling with excitement as she read on eagerly. "Hey guys, check this out!" she called, her excited tone causing even the Mismagius to look over. "Lavender Tower is the main attraction… memorial services… Built on a graveyard?!"
Besides being a great excuse to get out and see the world, a nice, long trip would be the perfect way to bond with the new team members, and they'd get plenty of good training in as they head through the regions…
"There are even legends about the ghosts that haunt the tower!" she told them eagerly. "Doesn't that sound awesome?!"
The Misdreavus squealed excitedly, her pitch so high it tickled Jess's ears, the Murkrow on her shoulder bobbed his head exuberantly, Ninetails nodded with a note of agreement, Pidgeotto fluttered his wings and let out a cry of excitement, and when Jess turned to see the Mismagius's reaction, she was inspecting the computer screen as if intrigued.
Jess's smile tripled in size. "Wow, everyone seems excited! Alright then, the decision has been made. Next stop: Lavender Town!"
Another chorus of excitement erupted, and Jess, caught up in the moment, threw her hands into the air with the victory fingers sticking straight up. "Now for a real adventure!"
The Ninetails looks at her inquisitively; she just finished with her quest for the ghosts…
Jess laughed at his expression. "I guess I just really want to get around the world and see more places and new species of Pokémon that you can't find in Sinnoh without special tools…" Her eyes grew distant and thoughtful as she began planning for the journey. "Alright then, it's settled. We leave at the first sign of dusk!" And then she paused, and she corrected herself. "After dinner of course."
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True to her word, she took her bags and the team to the counter as soon as they finished eating. "Do you happen to have any maps to Lavender Town?" she asked.
"That's quite a long way," the nurse replied.
"I know," Jess replied, feeling a smile twitch up the sides of her mouth. "I don't mind."
"Are you from the Kanto region?" Nurse Joy asked as she sifted through the papers under the counter.
"No, I'm actually from Celestic Town."
"Oh, the town of legends!"
Jess nodded.
"Isn't that where Cynthia's from?"
Jess nodded, this time a proud smile glowing on her face as she let out an "M-hm!"
The nurse straightened herself and turned to the trainer. "We don't have any maps that go that far south…But we do have this." And she handed Jess a rolled-up map. "That will take you all the way through the Sinnoh region. You'll have to pick up a map for Kanto along the way."
"That's fine. Thank you, thanks for everything!" And she smiled as she headed out on her most ambitious journey yet.
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On the way back to the familiar forest, just before they reached the treeline, Jess called all of the Pokémon to a halt. "Mismagius, you need a name," she said.
The Mismagius turned to the trainer, an odd tilt in her body suggesting that she thought the trainer was crazy.
Jess laughed. "Well, just calling you 'Mismagius' sounds kinda impersonal, don't you think? I mean… it's like calling me 'human.' And besides, giving you your own special name makes you more… unique. And… it kinda makes you feel like a part of the family."
The Mismagius blinked, wondering if that was a good thing or bad.
Jess began sifting through her options – though she got off to a slow start at first. "Miss, mis, mis... Mis... Missus? No, that's pretty dumb... Mis, um, hm, let's see… Mismagius is the magical Pokémon… mis, magic, miss... magic... Miss Magic – Ew, no, that sounds like something my littlest sister would name you."
The ghost let out a breath of relief; she had been desperately hoping that wouldn't be her new name.
Jess tilted her head, taking in the ghost from another angle. "Hm… I think you need something commanding, something powerful and elegant…" She looked at the ghost ponderously.
The ghost stared back with boredom in her gaze. How long was this going to take…?
"Something like you can command magic. That's what you do, right? Pretty much?" She thought, sorted through her dictionary of a vocabulary, discarding words for their simplicity, their clicheness, their silliness… and then a certain phrase came to mind with the word magic.
"Mistress of Magic," Jess said, her eyes lighting with a fire of discovery. "Mistress of magic! That's it. I love it! Your name is Mistress."
A jubilant cry of celebration was let loose by all of the other Pokémon.
"Mistress the Mismagius," Jess said, tasting the word and feeling its texture. "I like it," she decided, the smile on her face tripling in size.
The Mismagius tilted her head, almost confused. This naming ceremony seemed to be worth so much to the trainer… …and how did having a different name make her part of the… 'family'…? Her gaze became inquisitive, her eyes alone almost asking the trainer the questions arising within her… almost.
Her gaze was still too enigmatic to the trainer for her to know what she was thinking.