21
After I'm finished updating, I walk over to the two lovebirds, who are still sleeping, long after everyone else has awoken. I nudge Markus awake and Markus opens his eyes slowly. Good morning Raizu.
"Yeah, hi to you too." I say, sounding somewhat annoyed, which has almost become my regular tone of voice lately.
Is there some reason you are waking us up?
I step back a little so he can see the camp, which is full of activity right now. Rachamim is telling jokes to a few of the pokémon, and he must have just said the punch line, as he got tackled playfully by Veera. Sakura is, again, making breakfast, and Serena is putting up the tent. "You are up as early as me normally."
He shrugs. I guess-, he stops talking. His mouth drops and he stands up, sending Abby flipping over on to the ground.
What is the big idea?! She says, not liking his rude awakening.
Alexis! This is Markus! Hello? Says Markus, in a tone that sounds like he's yelling in my own head.
I swing my head around. "Alexis?!" I look around, and I notice Veera and Sakura coming up.
"What happened!?" Asks Sakura.
I shrug, when Markus starts yelling again. Oh my god, it is you! Where are you!?
I run up to him and start shaking him, and say "God damnit, calm down! What is going on?" I say, impatient with him.
He's mindspeaking with Alexis I presume. It's like telepathy, but it only works toward the person they want to talk too, like how I talk with you privately, and works for quite a ways. Answers Veera, looking unusually happy.
I nod and am about to say something, when I am startled by Markus' next comment. Alexis… there is someone you should meet. My trainer Raizu Kawashima.
Before I can put a word in edgewise, I feel a force hit my mind. Not being equipped with the same mind as Markus, I feel a tidal wave of force hit me. Not physically, but it doesn't stop my legs from buckling and getting a migraine-like pain. I feel a weird voice in my head, and it speaks as to me as clear as my own head would to myself. Yeah.
Ah, are you Raizu? Oh, you must help Markus to find me! Has he spoken of our relationship?! She says, obviously panicking.
Yes, he has, more or less extensively. And, you may like to know; one of your daughters is with us too. She was my first pokémon, and I saved her life at the risk of my own. I try not to sound to proud, but knowing I have saved a life seems like an amazing thing, considering what I have been through still.
Oh, is it Veera!? Can I speak with her? I miss her so… As she spoke this time, a saddness found itself inside of me, making me want to cry tears, but both of Joy and Sorrow.
I respond yes and she promptly releases her presence out of my mind, and I assume into Veera's, who responds. They talk together much longer than either Markus or I, and I let her go off on her own to talk.
About 10 or so minutes later, after the first mind speaking incident, I decide to ask Markus a few things. "Alexis… She must be in Celadon." I say, starting conversation.
He sits himself quietly on a log and opposite of me, who is on a stump (more of them, augh). I… don't know how I can explain my relationship with Abby though. We… mated. We are mates, and I… don't feel bad for betraying Alexis. Oh, what will I do!? He says, and nearly starts crying again.
I get up and fiercely slap him across his face. He looks stunned, and slowly turns to me, looking truly hurt. Hurt on the inside, farther than any sword or bullet could reach. "I think she'll understand that you lost all contact with her for a long time and needed to move on. The last thing she would want, I think, is for you to live your life, feeling bad for your actions by comparing them to what you did with her. It isn't exactly my place to say this, but GET OVER YOURSELF." I just get up and walk away slowly, hoping he'll either cry himself out or come to a resolution.
He doesn't do either. You are right, and I am sorry for how I have acted. It's stupid and immature. He just gets up and jumps through the trees to camp, still sad apparently, as one of his tear drops lands on my arm as he goes. I just look down and keep walking calmly toward the camp, wondering what could possibly happen to make this day any more odd.
--
Nothing really happens. Markus gets back and talks to Abby, but never a word to me. Veera relates to me that Alexis isn't in any immediate, but is still undergoing the same kind of experiments she had been originally put under, and that it's slowly killing her. This news scares me, and I decide to not tell the others. We don't want any more regretful thoughts or overreactions with amplified emotions…
But, later that night, I decide to spend time with Serena. We have been wanting to spend alone time, so we both get our sleeping bags and get a little farther away from camp. Still within sight, but far out of hearing range.
We talk. A lot. Serena hears a bit of my life, and me hers. Her life has been equally cushy when compared to Rachamim's life, but her mother was killed by a murderer. Living in Goldenrod, law enforcement quite high there, caught him and sentenced him to death quite fast. Still, it left an impression on her life, and she hates death. As such, she has vowed to become a doctor, or nurse even, which is why she is so good at medicine, when it comes to either pokémon OR humans.
Eventually, we get around to my journal, and I try to get off the subject. "You know what has happened all this time, it isn't like you weren't ever here."
She shakes her head quickly. "You know I wasn't in that big tower with you silly, or in the building you went up in, with Draxik. I wanna see if you can write anyway, come one!"
I sigh, and get the journal out of my bag. It is a little tattered, but in fine condition anyway. As I sit there, listening to the music in the MP3 player I bought in Cerulean while we were there (better prices than Saffron, and still good quality really), I turn on some music of an unusual genre I like: emotional, aka "Emo." Known to simply be music about "kids cutting themselves," it is commonly dark, but I just appreciate the well written lyrics and overflowing emotion as it washes over me. After a few hours, she closes it and gives me a frightened look.
"What is it?" I say, taking out my ear phones.
"Your memory of these events… your vivid descriptions… scare me Raizu." Her face makes me worried. "You only updated three or four times, and this is that well written?"
I shrug. "Good memory is all it is. Not that big of a deal."
She shakes her head. "After all these dramatic events lately, it should be hard for your brain to recall ANYTHING more than a few days, especially only a few days after it happened."
I shrug again, not seeing why this really matters. I can tell she is getting serious though, as her vocabulary is showing itself for what it really is, but she gives me a darker look. "Only humans with a photographic memory would know this, and those people have near perfect memory for years. You don't have that. Your abnormal strength and reflexes, memory, and even you admit you are mature, yet you are only 13! I think it all means something, and if we don't find out soon, it may lead to dire consequences."
I shrug yet again, and say, "I'm sure we'll find out what is to happen when the time comes."