The trees around Aeris and I began to thin out after about fifteen minutes of walking, and the Gligar eagerly gestured ahead of us. "I see the city!" she said cheerfully, waving the strange treasure around in her claw.
"Well spotted," I remarked, gazing down the hill at the clustering of buildings and artificial shelters that made up the city. Being only a quarter mile or so from my living space, I could see the city gates whenever I so wished, so Aeris' excitement was really unnecessary. The only reason it had taken us so long to get to this point was that we chose to go through a denser forested area to avoid humans that would be taking the path between cities. I was very fond of my independent, free life-style, and attracting the interest of a Pokémon trainer was not exactly what I wanted at this stage of my life.
Without the shelter of trees to hide us, I picked up my pace. The sooner we reached the city limits, the safer it would be. There was a known mandate in that town that Pokémon trainers were not permitted to battle or capture wild Pokémon unless they were conspicuously dangerous or a nuisance to the public. Neither Aeris nor I fit that description, so we could drop our guards there, but until then, we were fair game. Fortunately, our vantage point confirmed that there were no humans presently in our path, confirming that we could head directly to the city without adjusting our course further.
From the corner of my eye, I could see Aeris studying her prize with child-like enthusiasm. I smiled to myself. Aeris really was one of those people who were still kits at heart. Even as life went by, she always tried to find something good about each day and each person, and made the most of her experiences, for better or worse. Even though she was holding something that, in my opinion, was little more than interesting junk, she was more than willing to accept that it had more value than that. If she was wrong, and she had been before, then she used it as trade fodder for something better. It was a cycle for her.
As we walked into the city limits, Aeris' excitement grew. The humans scattered about the streets attracted the Gligar's eye, whereas my focus was far more on our destination. I had only seen the building once or twice, and had never gone inside, so I first needed to navigate to the general area of the place before I could identify it and find Brio.
"Aeris, this way," I said, the Gligar happily following me down one of the streets. Not content with simply walking, she continuously kicked off the ground to glide a few feet, and repeated upon landing. I chuckled to myself, turning my head to get a better view of where we were going. It's so much more confusing when there are so many people and buildings around; it was making me feel claustrophobic, with how even the smaller buildings towered over my head. Trees at least presented me with a feeling of safety, of natural shelter.
The Gligar abruptly stopped short. "Found it!" she announced, jabbing one of her claws in the direction of a large white stone building. There was a sign by the door labeling it, but my eyes passed over the lettering in favor of the carving of an open book that served as a secondary label.
"Good job," I agreed, climbing up the stairs leading up to the main entrance. However, when I reached the door, it refused to budge. I grunted, nearly falling over from the exertion of tugging on the handle with no result. Aeris climbed up the stairs after me to see what the holdup was, and she tried opening the door as well, with the same results.
"Wow, what do they do to these?" Aeris marveled, as I flopped down on the stairs in defeat.
"Barricade with rocks, I'm sure," I sighed. Now what could we do? If Brio was inside, and we couldn't get in, we hit a dead end. Then a realization hit me like a pile of the aforementioned hypothetical rocks. "Oh duh! We could just wait until a human goes inside! They're strong enough to open the doors, right?"
"Good point!" Aeris squealed, plopping down on the steps beside me and gazing around at the street a dozen steps below us. "So...how long might that take?"
I laughed, looking up at the door again. "No idea. I don't think this is a popular human hangout. Brio loves it, but let's face it, no one's going to come here so early in the morning, and-"
"Sy?" a male voice called out, startling me from my sentence, and I turned my head around so fast that I winced. "Aeris? Um...what are you two doing here?"
Rubbing my neck, I turned my attention to the quadruped gracefully ascending the stairs. His fur was pale blue, bordering on white, and looking carefully revealed the fur frozen into needle-like quills that were painstakingly groomed flat. Two flaps dangled on either side of his head, ending in a dark blue tip that matched similarly colored markings on his feet and tail. He had his head cocked curiously to the side as he sat down a few steps beneath us.
"Hey Brio!" Aeris said. I moved quickly enough to hold her back from tackling the Glaceon. Brio flinched at her sudden movement, only settling down when Aeris was restrained. "Guess what!"
Brio gave the Gligar a blank look. "I don't know. What?"
"Guess!" she insisted.
Brio shot an inquisitive look at me and I shrugged with a pleasant smile. Aeris wanted to have her fun, and I wasn't going to ruin that. Finally, the Glaceon sighed. "You..." As he drew the word out, he started looking towards me for cues, and I very pointedly avoided eye contact. Nice try, Brio, but you have to play her game. "...learned how to read?" he guessed finally, shrugging helplessly.
"Nope!" Aeris answered gleefully.
"Then why are you two at the library?" Brio wondered. "It's not even open yet. It opens at 8. It's only ten to." He paused thoughtfully before adding, "Why are you two even in the city?"
"Guess!" I don't think anyone has to wonder who said that.
Brio again passed me a pleading look, but I just grinned. Aeris is so much fun. The fact Brio is honestly horrible at guessing games, as opposed to my playful attitude towards them, just adds to the fun. "You're...pretending to be the mate of...a rich...Eevee?"
Aeris and I just stared at him. To put that into perspective, Aeris swallows my deliberately absurd answers without missing a beat. The Glaceon's cheeks flushed and he muttered something about having 'read that somewhere'.
"Maybe you spend too much time in fiction, Brio," I mused, shaking my head and trying to control my silent laughter.
"Why are you two here?" Brio interjected defensively, his ears drooping a bit.
"Looking for you, you icy dope," I chuckled. Brio blinked blankly again. "Oh look, Aeris, he's starting to remember that he has friends," I teased. The Gligar giggled and slid down three stairs, holding her treasure out to the Glaceon. He blinked at it, then back at her, then at me with the same inquisitive stare. It's amazing how often he looks like a Stantler caught by a Flash technique.
"What's this?" he asked.
Aeris looked offended. "It's my treasure! Guess what it is!" Cue Brio's look of horrified exasperation. "Come on, guess!"
"Your...treasure?" he tried tentatively. Aeris pouted.
"Cheating!"
"We don't know what it is, either," I said, taking pity on the Glaceon. "We wanted to find out if you knew, and if you could read what's written on it."
Brio was about to respond, but a click from behind me tore his focus away. A smiling human woman had just opened the door, and the Glaceon promptly climbed up the stairs, as if instinct itself was bidding him forward.
"Good morning, Glaceon," the woman said, stroking Brio behind the ears, prompting loud, happy purrs from the ice type. Aeris stared at the human's hand enviously, while I raised my eyebrow subtly. "You're the first one here, as usual, and after I shelve the returns, I can read to you until the early browsers come in. How does that sound?"
Brio purred happily, nuzzling the woman's hand and following her inside with a flick of his tail, completely forgetting us. Aeris recovered first, launching herself forward and catching the door before it closed. I closed my open jaw and shook myself, getting to my feet and helping Aeris pry the door open enough for us to get inside.
It wasn't exactly difficult to find where the two had gone. It was a very small entrance room and an open door leading to a massive, brown carpeted room with rows and rows of shelves, all filled to the brim with books of all shapes and sizes. The ceiling towered above us like a blank sky and I felt dizzy just looking around. Aeris, on the other paw, was looking rather enthusiastic; her eyes scanning each row of books as if they were glittering diamonds.
Near the entrance was a large brown table, upon which Brio was seated, watching the human walking amongst the shelves with stacks of books in her arms. His tail dangled off the table and flicked with subtle enthusiasm, broadcasting clearly to me the fact I could never imagine feeling myself: This human building was essentially his home. I entertained myself with the thought of tugging his tail hard enough to pull him off, but quickly pushed that away. I hate having my tails pulled; being a hypocrite at Brio's expense was too malicious.
"Hey, Brio!" I called up to him.
The Glaceon jumped as if he had been stung by a Beedrill, whirling on me and hissing "Shhh!"
I blinked. "Did...did you just shush me?"
The Glaceon scowled, but settled down. "This is a library!" he whispered, glaring at me with an uncomfortable amount of anger in his eyes. Oh wow, I must have actually done something to offend him or something.
"Sorry," I muttered before continuing at normal volume, "So, we were-"
"Shhh!" Brio whispered aggressively. "Whisper if you have to talk!"
"Seriously?" Aeris is going to piss him off in here, if that's his stance. Fortunately, the Gligar was..."Oh no, where's Aeris?"
"You...let her in?" Brio demanded, sitting up and staring around in a slight panic. "Did she touch anything?"
"Did I enter the cathedral by mistake?" I deadpanned, backtracking to where I had last seen the Gligar. Sheesh, I've never seen Brio so uptight. There was a light thud behind me and I knew without checking that Brio had hopped off the table and was no doubt looking for the Gligar.
Fortunately, Aeris hadn't gone far. She was seated on the floor, trying to pry a large volume from a lower shelf, a feat made more difficult by the fact her pincher claws were not exactly made for gripping a book tightly squeezed between two dozen other books. "Hey Sy!" she chirped loudly.
I swear I could hear Brio's blood pressure rising, even though he didn't say anything. He was at our side in moments. "Aeris, don't touch anything," he pleaded, in a much nicer tone than he had used when scolding my volume. Everyone loves Aeris, it seems.
"Sorry," Aeris chirped. "So what is this?" she asked, sticking the treasure under the Glaceon's nose. He sighed, glancing over at the human, who was still navigating the shelves.
"Fine, fine, let me see it," he muttered. "But when Alyssa's done, she's going to read to me, and I only get that for a half-hour or so a day, so if I still need to help you, it'll have to be after that."
I blinked. "Why do you need her to read to you? I thought you knew how to read on your own."
"I do," the Glaceon said, jerking his head for us to follow him, and leading the way towards one of the cushioned chairs spread out around a table, in a section away from the shelves. "And she knows it. But I like following along when she reads, and she's busy with her job for the rest of the day, so..."
He hopped up onto a chair and I climbed up after him, sitting down on his left. Aeris tossed her treasure onto the chair and scurried up as well, sitting to Brio's right. The Glaceon glanced between us with a mild frown, but didn't object. Instead, he placed the stone onto the table in front of him, frowning again when Aeris rested her head on his shoulder.
"So where's this writing?" he asked, turning the stone around uncertainly. It took a few seconds to locate it, but I soon pointed it out to him. He peered over the faded lettering. "Oh, I see it. One second...the lighting's not that good," he murmured, using a paw to tilt the stone towards him, so that the lighting from the ceiling hit it at a different angle.
"Can you read it?" I pressed. Brio nodded.
"It says-"
"All done, Glaceon!" the human's voice called out. Brio's ears perked up, and he immediately hopped off the chair, the stone clattering on the table loudly. Aeris yelped, but inspection of the stone confirmed no damage.
I stifled my laughter at the Gligar's indignation. "How did I know that would happen?"