Am I allowed to make like May and start this off with an apology? Because I really am sorry for taking so long to update this story and I genuinely don't deserve readers with such kind reviews. I could just sit here and make all sorts of excuses about why this is so late (sorry again), ranging from periods of writers blocks to mocks, but I won't waste anymore time and just get on with the story.
Oh! And before I forget, Merry Christmas to everyone reading! It might not be the 25th in some parts of the world when this goes up but it's nearly 4am in England and I've just churned out 2k+ words as quickly as I could to make up for generally being an ass about updates. It's Christmas and here is my awfully written and rushed present to you guys.
A huge thank you to QuartzClaw, Sakura Touko, Melia Antiqua, Catherine45, Ready To Flyxxx and Piplup1212 for reviewing! There's no better motivator other than reading through your comments and it's seriously helped me through writing over half of this story just now.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon
Chapter Three: Welcome to Night City
"I'm so terribly sorry!" May bowed her head hurriedly as she apologised for the umpteenth time.
The girl had eventually introduced herself as Dawn but not before rolling on the ground whilst screeching and clutching her eyes. May would have found it rather comedic if her conscience hadn't weighed her down, her guilt growing ever stronger.
"A-ah… It's okay." She sat cross legged on the ground, rubbing her red eyes with tears streaking down her face, something that the girl had adamantly claimed were her body's natural reflex as it tried to remove as much of the spray as possible. "At least my eyeballs smell like Wild Mountain Roses" Dawn added with false cheer, laughing pathetically at her own joke.
May giggled feebly, gingerly rubbing her toes. "But I'm awfully sorry." She lowered her gaze to the floor. "I shouldn't have done what I did-"
"No, no. It's really okay. I probably would have done the exact same… Just with a less expensive brand…" The guilt returned once more, heavier than ever. "Ah no! I didn't mean it like that!" The girl frantically tried to correct her mistake at May's downcast expression. "Just forget it; I'll be fine in a few more minutes."
May nodded slowly, fidgeting form where she sat as the girl set right the medical box she had come in with, rummaging around the contents for plasters and a bottle of something that she couldn't identify. Briefly wondering how they could help her eyes, May could barely react before the shorter girl lunged across in a flash and poured the contents of the bottle over her arms where the once forgotten cuts lay.
They weren't forgotten anymore.
Dawn grimaced as May hissed. "Ether, it hurts like hell. Sorry but I had to." She shrugged. "You wouldn't want to scar, would you? It's all Paul's fault for not being careful when he broke the window." She made a noise of disapproval. "That guy doesn't care about anything. Do me a favour May, during your time here, stay away from the guy with purple hair; he's more trouble than he's worth."
Purple hair? The only other person she knew who had purple hair was Baron Cacture and he wasn't exactly the most pleasant person to be around. Maybe it was the hair colour that made them crazy. Can shades get to their head?
"Duly noted." The brunette made to wipe away the liquid on her arms before her hand was slapped away.
"Don't do that." Dawn advised, blinking rapidly as she got up. "It's going to itch for a while but-" She tapped her nose as she reminded the girl once again. "Scars."
The girl flitted around her room, swiftly correcting any indication that May had been shuffling around her stuff. At the desk, she eyed the locked journal but after flipping it through her hands for several moments and deeming it undisturbed, she set it down again. An awkward silence ensued, only disturbed by the younger girl's footsteps as she moved around whilst May simply stayed on the ground, her arms burning.
"So…" May began in an unsure tone. Dawn hummed in response, the only indication that she was listening. "Um… If you don't mind me asking, where am I?"
"That's classified." The blue haired girl responded curtly, rummaging through her wardrobe and scowling at irregular intervals with her eyebrows furrowed in thought.
"Ah, okay." That threw her off guard. Was this place so secretive that she wasn't even allowed to know her location? "Then how did I get here? All I recall is suddenly losing consciousness and then waking here."
Dawn paused, staring the girl down for a full moment or so before replying. "Drew carried you." She said simply. "You're only here because I doubt you'd prefer to be in one of the guys' rooms, Misty's place is just as bad and Leaf had to go out for a bit."
She was being vague, May noticed, with descriptions. Almost as if she was purposely skirting around the more sensitive information.
"I mean." She continued. "You could have stayed in Leaf's room but there's zero privacy in there. Everyone in this house knows not to enter my room without permission after what happened last time." The girl gestured to a single Pokeball clipped to her belt which May glanced at nervously. No. She couldn't deal with monsters right now, her current situation was a tense as it is. "So you're stuck with me until we get you a room or we wipe your memories and send you on your merry way, it'll be as if this entire ordeal never happened so- ah wait moment, here."
Dawn cut her small speech short as she pulled out a simple outfit, the majority of which was red, before throwing it in May's direction.
"…What's this?"
"Well, we can't have you running around in a nightgown all day, can we?" Dawn shrugged. "It should fit but tell me if it doesn't, I have a ton of clothes that I don't wear anymore because they were all used in disguises. Sure we may be criminals but that doesn't mean that we can't look good on missions-"
"I'm sorry, what?" May interrupted, sharply inhaling. "Did you just say criminals?"
Dawn's eyes widened at her blunder. "What? No! I said miserable- no wait! I mean… Individuals! Yeah, individuals." She tried to nervously laugh it off. Key word: tried. "Maybe we should check for any damage to your ears, I heard that the glass pretty much went everyone."
She laughed again, her back turned as May changed her attire. At first glance, Dawn had seemed quite a lot younger and smaller than her but the clothes fit surprisingly well and wasn't at all stuffy and restricting like the ball gowns her parent's tailor forced her into on a regular basis. Whilst small, it felt like one small freedom in her life and she might as well enjoy it whilst it lasted.
"So," Dawn began again when May had finished changing. "Are you hungry? You've been out for a while so I assume that-"
She was cut off by the loud growling of the older girl's stomach, much to her embarrassment as her face turned a startling shade of red, much brighter than the hue of her clothing.
The two stared at each other.
A pause.
It started off as a small giggle which erupted into full blown laughter as the pair held onto each other for support before ultimately crashing to the ground.
"H-help!" Dawn choked out between breaths, struggling to stand again as she clawed at the carpet with her fingers. "I-I c-can't-"
"S-stop laughing!" May clutched her stomach with a mortified expression on her face. "This isn't funny… Oh Mew, I'm dreadfully embarrassed… B-but now that you mention it, I am rather famished."
"Well…" Dawn took a deep breath, exhaling slowly to calm herself down again as she massaged her cheeks that had gotten sore from laughing for so long. "There's always some sort of food in this place. Even if there's nothing good in the kitchen, we can always raid Ash's room once you get past the traps he sets up for potential food thieves."
"Sounds brilliant to me. My parents discovered the more taxing way that nothing can get between me and my next meal." She flashed a smile that told the blue haired girl that she wasn't joking in the slightest.
Dawn hummed in thought, giving May's arms a quick check up before deeming her fit to walk around. "Your parents? You're a noble right? That's why you were caught up in Maxie's kidnapping scheme."
She nodded. "That's correct. Officially, I'm known as Lady Maybelle Maple, the daughter of Lord Norman Maple, the peacekeeper of Petalburg City. I was rather reluctant to attend that party… I utterly despise social gatherings like that as people tend to take advantage of them to further their own standing. It's all horribly faked but I was promised by my parents that they would hold off finding potential suitors for another good while."
"Oh that must be rough." Dawn murmured absentmindedly. "I always thought that it would be so cool to be born into a noble family, they're really the best off in this world. Hang on- did you say that Norman Maple was your father?"
"That's correct."
Dawn's mouth shifted into an 'o', visibly tensing up for a moment or so before her lips turned up into her usual bubbly smile. "Well, you said that you were hungry, right? So let's find you something to eat. It might not be as good as the stuff that you're used to be you'll live."
She pulled the older girl to her feet and made to move out of the room when a small, bird-like creature wandered inside. It took all of the self-restraint that May possessed to not scream and provoke the potentially wild monster. At least with her father's team, she knew that they wouldn't hurt her but now? Not so much…
"Oh, that's Ash's…" Dawn crouched down eagerly to meet the bird, untying a roll of parchment that had been hastily tied to its leg. "I wonder what he wants…"
Her eyes scanned over the sheet and it was conveniently positioned so that her shoulder blocked the contents from prying eyes, more specifically, May's eyes. The girl's overly curious nature was a trait that her mother always reprimanded but she couldn't help it, in a world where so much was going on, of course she wanted to know more about the exciting things. It came as a surprise to her that she had only learnt about the criminal gang, Night City, during the party and not long before it. Whilst her father was usually tight lipped on most topics regarding his work, his daughter knew exactly how to squeeze information from him.
"So, what is this message inquiring about?" May asked, nervously glancing down at the monster at irregular intervals. "It seems rather important."
"Oh it is." Dawn nodded, crumbling the paper into a ball and stuffing it in her pocket. "I'm sorry about this but I have to be somewhere else. If you leave this room, make a right turn, go straight until you pass the broken window and make a left there, you'll see a staircase that leads down. Go down two flights and you'll reach the general eating area."
May blinked. Pardon?
"Did you get all of that?"
She nodded. Wait, why did she nod?
"Great! I have to run but I'll catch you later though. You can come back up here when you're done to get away from everyone. Don't talk to anyone who looks over the age of 20 and don't anger the ginger girl with her hair in a side pony, it's not going to be pretty." Dawn babbled on quickly, scooping the bird into her arms and running out. "And don't go down into the basement!"
"Of course not…" May called back weakly in a nervous tone. Like she knew where that was.
But it wasn't like she could lose her way, right? The building couldn't have been that big since Dawn's reaction to her noble status indicated that she wasn't high ranking within society or anything like that. She was May Maple. She couldn't possibly get lost.
She was lost.
It had turned out that the building was more of a labyrinth that anything else and Dawn's previous instructions had been none too helpful. The broken window? The last time May had checked, there were around 8 of those, not including the 3 she found in disused rooms scattered on the floor she was currently on.
Of course, she had found a staircase eventually but there was a tiny possibility that she may have gone down a couple sets of flights more than Dawn had instructed her to do. Maybe.
May groaned in frustration. She had lost the staircase again and whichever floor she was currently on was a lot darker than the rest. It was cold and draughty with the walls made up of thick stone blocks that protruded from the general structure at awkward angles. Metal brackets that contained lit sticks were the only source of light and the brunette couldn't tell which direction she was heading half of the time.
"Excuse me, miss, but what are you doing here?" A voice whispered quietly into her ear as a hand appeared on her shoulder.
May's only reaction was to do the logical thing that everyone would do in her situation. She screamed. She screamed a high pitched, deafening shriek that made her feel as if she was destroying her voice box but for good reason.
"Woah, calm down there, banshee." A second hand was clamped over her mouth, muffling her cries.
She furiously kicked out. "Banshee?" May fumed, the figure only just about being able to make out her words from under his hand.
"You know, those spirit women with the tendency to wail and scream a lot." He answered in a condescending tone.
"I know what a banshee is, thank you very much." She wrenched the hand from her mouth and spun around to face the newcomer, glaring daggers at them. "I just don't appreciate being called one."
"Okay then." It turned out to be a teenaged boy, possibly a year older than her, who simply shrugged. "Then answer my question, what are you doing here and who are you- wait no. Scratch that, I remember who you are-"
"Your voice!"
He raised an eyebrow. She hastily coughed, blushing furiously.
"I recognise your voice from the night at the manor." She quickly corrected herself, scowling. "You suddenly appeared after the lights turned out and the windows broke."
He gestured for her to continue as if waiting for her point. "And..?" May didn't know why but the way he drawled out his vowels simply infuriated her.
That was when she noticed that she didn't really have a point.
"Anyway, the name's Drew-" That rung bells in her head, it was a name that Dawn had mentioned earlier, right? He held out a hand and she shook it firmly.
"May-"
"Maybelle Maple." Drew nodded at her. "I already know, news travels fast when Dawn's the first to hear about it. But she should have also informed you not to come down here and this is a place where someone like you really shouldn't wander around." His gaze darkened as what was a once charming smile gave off an eerie feel when the torch light flickered off his face. "You wouldn't want the wrong kind of people to find you here…"
"W-what do you mean by that?" May's breath hitched in her throat. She took a step back, drawing her arms closer to her chest.
Drew laughed. "Oh no, not me." He winked. "I would never harm someone like you. It's just that there can be several shady figures walking around this area who would be a lot less understanding if your current predicament; you can blame Paul for that."
"I-I still don't really understand."
"Did Dawn not tell you anything about what you've just dragged yourself into?" The teen asked in disbelief, "She kept her mouth shut? She didn't let anything slip?"
May shook her head, noticeably keeping her distance from the boy.
"Well, I guess I have the authority to tell you." Drew grumbled, pulling a face before grinning with the appearance of someone with good news. "To put it simply, you've just found yourself in the heart of the headquarters of some infamous gang."
"H-huh?"
"Welcome," He spoke with a flourish, a smirk forming on his dimly lit features. "To your own personalised hell, Lady Maple. Welcome to Night City."
She paled, eyes widening. "You can't possibly mean…"
"Of course I do." He laughed like he hadn't just revealed his largest secret to a complete stranger, "a hundred percent serious. I pride myself in being one of the faces behind the Black Flygon, surely you've heard of us? Especially so since your father is the great Lord Norman Maple of Petalburg."
"B-but you." She stuttered. "And D-Dawn…"
"Hm?" Drew frowned, raising a hand to his chin as he pretended to be deep in thought. "She's the sweet and innocent type, isn't she? Not the kind of person you'd expect to be in a gang like ours, right? But looks at me and my dashing good looks, I don't exactly fit into this stereotype either."
Arrogant. That was the first word that came to mind. May had to admit, he did have a point. At first glance, it looked as if he cared far too much about his appearance; a clear juxtaposition between his stupidly aesthetically pleasing visage and the dank surroundings that the pair found themselves in.
"So, Princess-"
"Don't call me that. May is perfectly fine-"
"Okay then, June. " It was like he emphasized the name to purposely antagonize her.
"May." She seethed. "My name is May. Not any other month that you decide to spout out."
"That's hardly important." He brushed her off quickly. "What is, April, is that you need to leave this floor as soon as you want to. It may be quiet for now but Ash called a meeting a while ago and it should be ending soon-"
"MAY!" She ended up yelling, bunching her hands up into fists as she obviously blanked the rest of his words. "My name is MAY, do I have to spell it out for you? M-A-Y-"
"Shut up, would you!?" A third voice reverberated around the passageway as a second figure came into view. This time it was a girl with bright orange hair and a rather pissed off expression, so to speak. "Drew, stop screwing around and help the poor girl out before she breaks a window or something." She snorted. "Well, it's not like we don't have enough of those."
He opened his mouth to protest but was promptly cut off by the girl again. "Just get it over and done with, pretty boy. Learn to just do as you're told, why don't you? Or else I'll gut you and let Brock cook the rest of your remains."
Drew let out a nervous laugh, knowing that the most recent newcomer would hold true to her threat.
May too broke out in a cold sweat, half shocked and half intimidated by the red head. She recalled that Dawn had warned her of several things before she disappeared somewhere. One, don't go into the basement. Check and already busted for doing so. Two, don't anger the ginger girl with the side pony because it certainly wasn't going to be pretty.
AN: I hope that it isn't obvious that it's horribly rushed. And yes, I managed to worm that statement from the description in here and I'm surprised because I was expected it to sound really choppy after leaving it on its own for so long. The 'meet the crew' will continue on through the next chapter or so (depends on how it flows because I honestly don't really know what I'm doing here and I'm not sure whether I should be admitting this or not).
Be sure to leave a review and tell me what you think, criticism of any kind is welcomed and if I takes absolutely ages to update again, you can message me all you like to get my butt into gear and start writing, I honestly don't mind.
Merry Christmas once again!
Thanks for reading,
Lisitair