In this chapter, Layla tracks down the stolen dragon skull, fucks up her truce with her mother, catches a Pokemon on the sandy Route 4, and agrees to take Fantasy Acid.
Shine a Light in the Darkness
Chapter 8: Stolen Goods and Drugs
I did clean myself up before moving on, although that wasn't what Tormod meant by his words. I' a savage, after all… mostly, though, I didn't want the next Team Plasma soldier to mistakenly think one of his friends had put up a fight.
As luck would have it, I found said Team Plasma soldier just a hundred paces, a trip through a giant hollow log, and a clearing later, and he was the one with the skull. In fact, he was sitting on the ground, leaning against the skull, reading a newspaper. And here I was worried that they were going to escape. Magnate Gym Leader Donates ½ Billion to Charities, read the main headline. I made out other headlines ("Freak Gale Damages Bridges," "Gym Challenge System Leads to Untimely Deaths, Low Test Scores") before the Plasma man noticed me and lowered the paper. "Hey, have you seen Gorm?" he asked me.
"I… don't know who that is," I said. Meeting Montoya normally left me angry, but the end of our last fight just made me confused. I was prepared to wait this guy out until Burgh arrived… not that he seemed too reliable.
"Gorm? Wears a blue-lined robe and a furry little hat? He's kind of Sagely? Quotes Sun Tzu a lot? Blue eyes? He's kind of a big deal…" the Plasma grunt trailed off. "Hang on, you're not with us."
"Yeah. I'm not wearing armor or anything."
"Yeah, but you've got the red hair, I thought you were just out of uniform." He shrugged. "We're never supposed to be, but it would've been cool with me. So… what happened to the others? Weren't they holding somebody off?"
"They weren't very good at that, considering I'm in front of you."
"Ohhhhhhhh…" the man looked sadly back down at his newspaper. He threw it aside. "Fuck it, they don't have any good comics since they ended that one with the boy and his stuffed Raikou."
"Dude, you're old," I taunted. "They ended that before I was born."
"Yeah, well, you stink!" Actually, he stank, but I just waved Tormod forward for a battle. "Fine! I'll send out all my Pokémon at once! Go, Patrat, Patrat, and Sandile!" He sent his three Pokémon out, and they all tensed for battle.
"Brom, Zihark, back Tormod up!" I called.
"There's no way you can beat my Pokémon before… before…" he looked at his Pokémon, all lying flat on the ground.
Tormod withdrew a steaming hoof. Brom staggered back from the force of his own blow, a Rock Smash that left the Patrat in question six inches into the ground. Zihark let his leaf cloak flutter back into place, a bloody leaf embedded in the tree stump across the clearing. "Before I finish your sentence?" I teased.
The man moaned and sat down. "Dammit…" he groaned. "Sending them all out at once made me lose faster! I'm sorry." He shook his head. "I'm not thinking so well today… I'm REALLY hung over. I had a few drinks earlier to get psyched up to steal this skull, and… well, it was a bit early for vodka." He was cradling his head in his hands. "I could barely read the words in that newspaper… I think I crapped my pants."
"You did," I said politely. "I can smell it. Look, if you need a blood alcohol level of seventy-five percent or whatever to do a Team Plasma mission, maybe it's not right for you."
He waved me away and clutched the skull to him like a teddy bear. "I'm sure it'll sound good again next time I talk to one of the Sages… they know what they're doing…"
"Indeed we do!" I looked up. From another part of the clearing marched an old, angry-looking man. He had a mostly-white beard and mustache, along with gunmetal-grey hair that had mostly deserted the top of his head. His skin was deeply lined, and his eyes were cold and blue. He was dressed just like the man the Grunt had described, so I could only assume he was Gorm. "What happened to you, soldier? You're a wreck. You even smell like defeat!"
"He had actually crapped himself before I fought him," I volunteered.
"That's just sad," Gorm snapped. "If I were you, I'd have shat my pants too, out of terror at how GODDAMN AWFUL I WAS!"
"I'm sorry," the Grunt muttered, flushing.
Gorm facepalmed. "Our King forbid the Seven Sages from exercising our own force except in the gravest of situations," he growled, "but as the good book says, 'If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even if your master forbids it!" He drew a Pokéball from the folds of his robe. "You've got spunk, Trainer, but my Krookodile will straighten you out but good!" I swallowed. Krookodile was a fully evolved Pokémon, and a brutally tough one. It could conceivably kill me and my whole team.
"I think the fresh meat's done enough, sunshine." Gorm and I looked up. Burgh was sitting on a tree branch. A high tree branch, twenty-five feet above the ground bare minimum. "If it's a battle you want, Castelia's hottest trainer is right here."
"Or maybe you don't want a battle at all, hun." I looked over my shoulder. Lenora was approaching from behind me. "Gym Leaders can be tough cookies, especially when you're not challenging them as part of the normal system."
"You know what, fine," Gorm snapped. "You can have the skull."
"They can?" the Plasma grunt asked. "You know you and Rood had us steal this from a museum."
"I will not speak ill of Rood," Gorm said in a way that suggested he really wanted to, "but he was misinformed. This Dragon Skull is totally unrelated to the Legendary Pokémon we're searching for." He frowned at me, putting away his Pokéball. "A trainer is an inconvenience, but two Gym Leaders are a major incident. I'd like to fix you good, but I'm under orders, you see."
"So you're not in charge, then?" Lenora asked.
"I am hardly the most important of the Seven Sages, and of course our King has the final say in all matters." Gorm bowed to Lenora and Burgh curtly. "If Ghetsis were here, he would explain our goals so perfectly that you would all be swayed by his words alone to release your Pokémon, but I'm not gifted with his eloquence. I'm a man of action… and this is no time for action."
"Coward," I muttered.
"I pick my battles," Gorm said with a grim smile. "The Good Book says, 'know yourself, know your enemies, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.' So goodbye, Lenora the Normal-type user, Burgh the Bug-type user…" his eyes lingered on me. "…Layla of Nuvema Town. Next time I will bring sufficient force that even Gym Leaders should reconsider attacks on us." He led the Grunt away.
I grabbed the skull. "What took you?" I asked Burgh as he jumped down. He rolled to his feet, making me jump back as he came up inside my comfort zone.
"I've been in those trees for fifteen minutes after beating up some Plasma goons," Burgh bragged. "What took you?"
"The skull's not damaged, is it?" Lenora asked impatiently.
"Huh? No, it's fine." I handed it to her.
"Thank Arceus. That skeleton's our big moneymaker. It pulls in thousands annually all by itself." Lenora looked at Burgh. "Are you going to chase them?"
Burgh shook his head, brushing his hair back afterward with one hand. "No, they'll get, like, all jittery. I don't wanna see what happens if we corner that Gorm guy… (he'll probably take his shirt off)." He stretched. "I'm gonna head back to the city and paint. Lenora, why don't you bring your hunky friend along and go carousing?"
Lenora shrugged. "You should go on, Layla. There will be tougher opponents around the city. You could use some practice before you go after Burgh for your third badge."
"Right," I agreed. "I'll see you there, Burgh… and I'm sure Cheren will be on his way into the city soon with or without your permission." Burgh, who was already walking off, made an excited squealing sound. I turned back to Lenora, who was hefting the skull under one arm. "Lenora, can I have a word?"
"Sure, honey. But first…" she fished in her pocket with a free hand and extracted a crystalline, purple-grey stone about the size of a glue stick. "You went above and beyond to help my Gym, putting yourself in danger. In addition to the standard stuff, I want to give you this Moon Stone. It'll evolve some Pokémon, including Munna."
"Thanks, but…" I fondled the stone in my hands, tracing lines in it with my nails. "Did you hold back when you were fighting me? I'm glad I got the badge without anybody in my pack dying, but I wouldn't want to think I hadn't earned it…"
Lenora grinned. "You're a sweet kid. You know, Gym Leaders rarely fight at full strength. I learn about my opponent, and I fight them at a level that gives them a difficult, but surmountable, challenge. If you were doing your best and your team was performing well, it's only natural that you beat me 2-0. That's what a good Gym Leader is supposed to do – challenge the trainers." I thought back to Cilan and his brothers. Was all that just to challenge me? "I've got to get this back to the Museum before my husband has a coronary. You should go enjoy Castelia… and be sure to check out the Gym when you feel ready. Burgh must've liked what he saw during your battle. He was hiding it, but he's eager to battle you. Take care of yourself! And warn everybody about my Retaliate!"
I laughed. "Ditto. I want everybody to fear my Retaliate, too!" It was nice to know that there were some people who were just… competent.
Many uneventful battles later…
"Wow." Tormod said.
"I can barely see the other end," Rolf observed.
"Us Pokémon can move mountains, but this… is the power of humans," Zihark remarked.
"It's a pretty spectacular piece of scenery," I admitted. "Come on, I want to get to Castelia by sundown so we can find the Pokémon Center."
The pack and I were almost the only people on the pedestrian walkway, and it really was a long walk, so once the conversation dried up, things started to get dull. "I'm going to call my mom on the Xtransceiver," I explained, dialing her number.
"I've been meaning to ask about you and her, actually," Edward said.
"Later," I hissed. "It's ringing… hey," I said awkwardly when I saw her face on the screen.
"Layla…" she smiled thinly. "How are you?"
"I'm alright," I said. "I've… had some deaths on my team…"
"Sweetie, that's awful!"
"…but I had a good talk with Nacrene City's Gym Leader. She helped me decide to keep going."
"Okay…" she bit her lip for a second. "Layla, you know the door's still open if you ever need to come home."
"Thanks, but… I've got to keep going. How are you doing, mom? You look stressed. Why don't you take a vacation?"
"I'm fine," she insisted. "I talked to your father last night – early evening for him, of course." Good old mom. Denial and deflection – we're just a family of liars, aren't we?
"How's Orre treating him?" I asked, a little colder than I meant to.
"Layla, you know he loves you and he wants to come home, but travel in and out of Orre is… difficult. Besides, terraforming takes a long time, but he knows how to work the machinery and he supports our lifestyle."
"There are jobs in Unova that pay," I protested, "or at least there were plenty when he left."
"He was overjoyed to hear that you had gone on a Pokémon journey," she pressed. "He was almost in tears. You know he loves us."
"Sure, Martin loves us," I said, "but I'm not going to wait around my whole life like Penelope for him to come home!"
"I wish you'd at least call him 'dad' like you used to!" my mother shot back.
"M-mom, it's been TWELVE YEARS. I didn't remember what he looked like for years before they got videophones in Orre. I don't even know him as anything other than a voice, a moving picture and a trust fund!"
"YOU!" My mother yelled, tears in her eyes. She looked like she was going to continue, but she cut the call instead. I raged wordlessly and barely restrained myself from throwing the Xtransceiver off the road.
I turned to Edward. "It's complicated, okay?" I snapped.
Castelia City was… well, it was a grand location, for sure. I mean, it sure is huge. And the shadows stretch long. Which is nice, but it was summer, and despite all the shade it managed to be grotesquely hot. And it stank like a pile of dead Garbodor. It was the most crowded place I'd ever been, bar none, and while some of the citizens were friendly, others were… pushy. Not a great environment for a girl with a good and difficult-to-explain reason for not wanting to be touched. I mean, there was plenty to love about the place. I just… managed not to love it. It's not like I was scared. It's just intimidating, you know?
"The Big Cherubi," Bianca sighed happily. "I haven't been here in forever."
"I came here with my mom eight months ago," Cheren replied. "How about you, Layla?" They had called me on the XTransceiver as I was eating dinner, making me glad I had resisted throwing it away. I hung out at the Pokémon center while they picked up a meal for themselves, and then they tried (and failed) to pick us up some Castelia Cones (they apparently sell out early every day). So I had gone to bed intimidated and disappointed thanks to the city.
"This is actually my first time out of the southern island of Unova," I admitted. Bianca gasped.
"I thought your family vacationed to Opelucid when you were a kid," Cheren said.
"I was like three, that doesn't count," I replied. "You guys go have fun, I'm gonna take the north exit out of town and grab a wild Pokémon."
"You're not coming with me to go shopping?" Bianca asked.
"Sorry…" I shrugged. "I'm not really… comfortable with the city yet."
"It was tough for me the first time too," Cheren acknowledged. "But you've gotta get over it, right? I'm gonna go challenge the Gym here."
I remembered Burgh and his reaction to Cheren. "I talked to the Gym Leader, Cheren, and he said he's very interested in meeting you."
"Why shouldn't he be?" Cheren asked rhetorically, his ego swelling. "I will be champion one day soon, after all." I snickered. Cheren had no idea what Burgh had in store for him. I hoped it was consensual.
"Okay, I know I don't like the city, but FUCK. THIS. SHIT." The city at least had a good balance of light and shadow to it. Some people find the shadows scary, but I was always most comfortable with some darkness. The desert… there was what a Pokémon Ranger had told me was a 'light sandstorm condition' going on, which meant blowing sand that left the area bright without really letting me figure out where the sun was in the sky. The sand irritated my eyes and my (sore) nose, and my mouth if I opened it. It was also getting inside my clothes, which sucked. Royally. "Let's get a Pokémon to round out the team and head back into the city." I marched a bit deeper along the road (which I could just barely see), holding my hand over my lower face.
"We should get a Pokémon that knows the desert for when we have to cross it later," Brom said. The sand didn't seem to bother him, but then, Brom could get hit by a semi truck and wouldn't be all that bothered.
"I'm actually liking this sand," Edward said. "It just slides right off my coat. Brom, how about we lead the group through the desert later?"
"You guys do that," Tormod said. "And instead, we can find a Pokémon who knows his way around the city, since none of us are comfortable there!"
I sneezed out some sand, and at least a little dried blood. "I don't think wild Pokémon live in the city, guys, except maybe some mean Patrats. And if they do, I doubt we'll find them out here in the desert."
"Oho! Did somebody call for a city rat?" I froze and looked up. A sand dune had formed a ridge to the left of me, and a Scraggy was staring down at us. The reptilian Pokémon had two layers of scaly skin – a torn, loose yellow one that hung baggily on his legs, tail, and face, and a lighter, newer cream-colored layer that was exposed from his belly up to his lower lip. He had red belly scutes, a blunt red spine sitting high on the back of his skull, and a stupid grin that prominently displayed a missing tooth. "What a coincidence, yeah? I'm looking for a Trainer! My old gang broke up not long ago…"
"You just… want to join us?" I asked. I'll admit it. I was suspicious. He was a Dark-type and Dark-types get a bad rap, but they do have a rather high number of thieves, liars, and thugs. I was worried he would pull some serious Wutai theft on us – do you blame me?
"Yeah, sure! I'm a world-class future Scrafty! All the little trainers, yeah? They get too big for their diapers and want to fight, but I leave 'em quaking in fear! They can't take the world-class!" He blinked and rubbed his chin. "Actually, I'd better battle you first in case you're still in diapers."
I squinted at him. His body already had some little scratches – his scales weren't suited to the sandstorm. "Sure, I'll throw down. Edward, get in there and Tackle his ass!" Edward didn't need to be told twice, and he certainly didn't need pleasantries like letting the 'future Scrafty' get a word in edgewise. A single Tackle laid the lizard flat.
"Hey, that was really good!" The Scraggy popped right back up onto his feet. "You're amazing, dog! I like the cut of your jib!" He got up, rubbing his shoulder, and began to walk over to Edward, holding up his shed skin 'pants' with one hand.
"Well, not everybody has what it takes to cross paws with Edward THE GIANTSLAYER," Edward bragged.
"You're not kidding. Hey, Eddie, you mind if I shake your paw?" The Dark-type held out a hand.
"I'm honored that you- UGH!" The Scraggy grabbed Edward's front paw and kicked him in the ribs.
"Pay attention, kid, we're fighting!" The Scraggy laughed and jumped back. "Round these parts, we call that a Faint Attack!"
"Edward, don't let your guard down! Tackle him again!"
"Rrrr…right!" Edward slammed a shoulder across the Scraggy's face. "Yeah! I feel really good in this Sandstorm, Layla! Like, really fast!"
This time the wild Scraggy went down with a yell. "Ah! You son of a bitch! You knocked out my tooth!" He got up on his hands and knees, and I could see that he was indeed missing another tooth. He was shuffling around in the dirt for it. "Help me find it!"
"Ummm…" Edward looked at me and gave a quadrupedal shrug. "Okay… he walked carefully over to the Scraggy, but he didn't pay Edward any attention, just scrabbling around in the sand. "Hey, I think I see it here behind you…"
"Where?" One of the Scraggy's eyes looked lazily back over his shoulder. I noticed he had crazy peripheral vision.
"It's under your tail," Edward said. "Move it for a second."
"Sure, bud, yeah." The Scraggy's tail lifted up… and slammed down on Edward's head. "Faint Attack again, muthafucka!" He flicked the tooth into the air with his tail, stood up, caught it, and reinserted it into his mouth. "These grow back eventually, but until then I thought I'd see if I could fool some idiot with this trick. It works, so you know… another for the book! Yeah!"
"How'd you like me to knock out the rest of those teeth?" Edward threatened.
"Whaaaaaat? Haters gonna hate!" The Dark and Fighting-type crossed his arms and strutted absurdly.
"You know what? I think it's bedtime for this guy," I said.
Edward huffed. "You're right. Screw this. Rolf, deal with it."
"Right…" Rolf stepped up to face the Scraggy, who began walking towards him. "Stay back, you!"
"Hey, no worries, buddy," the Scraggy said soothingly. "I'm not gonna hitcha. Watch my arms, yeah? Watch my legs, my tail, whatever. I ain't gonna punch or kick or slam or generally Faint Attack you." He came up nice and close… and slammed his forehead against Rolf's. "No, that was a Headbutt! Ahhhh ha ha haaaa…." He wiped a tear from his eye. "The look on your face, buddy!"
"Rolf, Hypnosis!" I yelled. Rolf rubbed his head and nodded, blasting the wild lizard.
"Yes, master…" he said. Then he turned around and dropped his 'pants' to moon us. "Or NOT! I'm a Dark-type! Did you guys forget to do your homework?"
I heard Rolf grinding his teeth together. I had to end this before one of my boys killed him. Wordlessly, I pulled a Great Ball and threw it. He tried to dodge, but with his 'pants' down he only tripped and fell. "No fair!" he moaned as he was sucked into the Ball.
Met Largo at Route 4!
Male Scraggy, lv. 17.
Bold Nature, Moxie.
Somewhat vain.
Within a half an hour, we had gotten ourselves patched up at the Pokémon center, Largo had been pressured into some apologies (although Edward didn't forgive him), and he had led us out into the city. "No worries, shorty," he said to me, picking up a discarded toothpick from outside a restaurant stall that gave free samples. "I know a Musharna around here somewhere." He stuck the toothpick in his mouth and wiggled it. "And his trainer supplies all kinds of stuff to relax both people and Pokémon."
"Don't call me shorty," I replied.
"How about sweetheart, yeah?" I shook my head, and he grunted. "Uh… girlfriend, pretty young thang, senorita, fraulein…"
"I'm your trainer," I said. "Call me Layla."
"Fine…" he said. "Man, your team's a total sausage fest, Layla. And I don't just mean the guy they make sausage out of – you're alright, Terry!"
"Tormod," my starter Pokémon replied coolly.
"Yeah, sorry."
"You know, the last Dark-type I caught complained about that too," I said with a sigh. "She was a female Purrloin, though."
"Oh, really?" Largo raised a nonexistent eyebrow. "Can I meet her?"
"There was an accident…" I said. "I don't wanna talk about it right now."
Largo turned around and stared at me while he led us backwards down an alleyway. "I get it… you guys have lost a few, yeah? Well, you don't need to worry about me, I mean, I'm no giantslayer…" he chuckled. "But I am world class. Here we are!" I looked up. Huge green graffiti had been sprayed across a brick wall. It read "HARMAN PHARMACY." Underneath was a middle-aged man with long green hair that had started to streak silver. He was wearing torn, baggy clothes and relaxing with a hand-rolled cigarette in his hand, sitting in a ratty old recliner covered in Christmas lights. A Musharna bobbed and tumbled in the air next to him. "Hey, Bollo, how's Harman doing?" Largo asked.
"…Corinthian…" Bollo the Musharna mumbled.
The man laughed. "Don't mind Bollo. You here for business?"
"Uhh… yeah…" I shrugged nervously. "My new Pokémon here told me you'd have something to help me with stress?"
"I remember him…" the man (Harman?) peered down. "Take care of this guy, will you? All his little buddies got caught recently, too, so he's been stuck on his own." He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. "You promise to be a good trainer to this dude and I'll give you a free sample."
"Hang on…" I said. "I don't want anything that'll mess me up to badly, okay? Don't give me anything you wouldn't give a Pokémon."
"Hey, I wouldn't start you off with anything too crazy," Harman said, still rummaging. "Gimme some credit. Here." He took a white piece of paper from his pocket, tore it in half, then tore it in half again and flicked the nickel-sized remainder at me. I caught it out of the air. "Stick that under your tongue and won't nothing trouble you between now and dinner. It's safe for Pokémon, too. Your Scraggy there's tried it. Bollo here is on it now."
"I can imagine EVERYTHING," Bollo said.
"He's on a much larger dose than I gave you," Harman said hastily. "You want anything for your team while you're here?"
"I'm good," Largo said.
"Yeah, not my thing," Edward said, shaking his head.
"Maybe another day," Tormod said nervously.
"Agreed." Zihark wrapped his leaves around himself. "I'm not in the mood."
"Somebody's gonna hafta watch out for you while you're on it," Brom said.
Rolf shrugged. "I think I'll have fun just watching."
"We're good for now," I assured him.
"S'coo," Harman said, picking up a fisherman's hat from next to his chair and sliding it down over his face. "You'll be back."
I turned and marched out of the alley, and towards one of Castelia City's busiest streets. "He said you tried this stuff, right, Largo?"
"Trust me, you'll have a good time." He narrowed his eyes at me. "And you're not having it now, yeah?" He was right. My shoulders were tense. I was starting to give myself a neckache. Despite all my rationalizing, I wasn't comfortable in the city, and I wasn't going to be at this rate.
"Here goes nothing," I said, placing the square of paper under my tongue.
That Team Plasma Grunt is just pathetic. Level 14s? At that point? Just insulting.
All the Sages besides Ghetsis are kind of flat. I could probably have cut them, but I do like the idea of an actual leadership structure in Plasma. So I added some character by basing them visually on actors/comedians I like and personality-wise on characters played by them. Rood, who we saw very briefly in Chapter 6, is based on Lewis Black, and Gorm here is based on Rip Torn. I also played up Gorm's Sun Tzu deal.
Since Gorm's biggest role is this part of the story, I thought I'd give you a Rip Torn factoid: he's a crazy fucking badass in real life, too. He's 80 and still acting - or he would be if he wasn't wrapped up in legal trouble from breaking into a closed bank with a gun in early 2010. He was apparently really drunk and thought it was his house. Dennis Hopper also said on a talk show that Torn pulled a knife on him on a movie set once, but Rip sued for libel and won (and won the appeal), saying that Hopper was the one who had drawn a knife.
I really like writing Largo. I hope he doesn't die, he's really fun and a good Pokemon. I'm also glad I got him (20 percent chance!), I had a Sandile last time I played through Black, and Darumaka would be pretty redundant next to a Tepig (although I like Darumaka in general). On a related note, other Pokemon on my 'wild Pokemon wishlist' include Axew, Sigilyph, and Golett. A decent Electric-type could be good, too.
Drug time! I think I'm the first Nuzlocker to get their main character high, but feel free to correct me. Is this going to be an awesome fun-fueled trip, or will something horrible happen? Find out next time!
Nuzlocke challenge (c) Nuzlocke
Pokemon (c) Nintendo and Game Freak
Layla (c) me