Aha! You didn't have to wait long for the conclusion of that cliffhanger! Okay, so it was a LAME place to break it, but hey, I gotta get my kicks somehow. It's a bit of backstory for basically the next two chapters, but character development is necessary, people.
There is, however, a very important and kinda rant-ish sort of Author's Note at the bottom; I usually do all the talking up here, but it's too big and you wouldn't know what the hell I was talking about anyway. But read it. Internalize it. Feed it to your dog, I don't care. But please keep in mind, it's a policy.
I wish I owned these people. They're fun. But alas, the Pokemon Company, Nintendo, Gamefreak, and Satoshi Tajiri own these people. I'm just ruining their lives.
December 16, 2000.
5 Obsidian Trail.
Veilstone City.
10:51 AM.
Gregori cradled the porcelain cup of coffee in his hands, feeling the warmth soak into his cold fingers. Blowing gently, he pierced the steam billowing from the cup before taking a delicate sip. Letting the most minute quantity of the coffee slide down his throat, he swallowed, savoring the feel of the liquid, before returning the cup to the saucer on the table in front of him with a gentle clink.
"Gregori."
He glanced up, letting one of his feline eyes brush across Natalyia's features before returning to the delicate rhythm of taking another minute sip of the coffee.
"Why did you not tell me?"
Her gentle, lilting voice carried the hint of the accent that the two of them shared with their common language. She gently caressed the rim of her coffee cup, before looking back to her male companion.
"You know I would have helped you, in due time."
The two sat in silence as Gregori sipped again at his coffee, blatantly ignoring her. Natalyia didn't seem to find this odd, in fact, she took several sips of her own coffee, watching the billowing snowflakes dance outside of the cafeteria's windows.
"It's not that." Gregori replied eventually. "I know you would have."
"Then why did you not wait?" Natalyia hissed, her blue eyes hardening. "It is not as if I would have denied you, brother."
Gregori let that hang in the air for a moment, taking another delicate sip of his coffee. His decidedly feline eyes flicked from hers to the snow, and then back again.
"I have found a job." He stated simply. "My employer posted my bail."
"But brother..!"
"I don't want to talk about it."He hissed in their native tongue, and Natalyia reared back, fingers defensively rising to her face. "It's none of your concern!" (1)
"It is all of my concern!" Natalyia nearly shouted, locking eyes with Gregori. "I have the right to be concerned about you! I'm your sister!"
Surprisingly, she picked up on their language immediately, despite the fact that she had been speaking Common for years longer than either of them had been speaking their native tongue. Gregori slumped back in his chair, more taken aback that he'd been chastised by his younger sister than anything else.
"I don't want to talk about it."He grumbled, as Natalyia let out a small exasperated sigh.
Natalyia rolled her eyes. "You always were the private one." She replied, brushing a hand through her honey-colored hair. "You never let anyone come in under your shell."
Saturn shrugged. "Just leave it alone, Natalyia."
Natalyia placed a gentle hand on Gregori's arm, squeezing tightly. "I do not prefer to see you harmed, again." She replied, switching back to Common.
There came an unpleasant pause, until Natalyia shifted in her chair and took another sip of her coffee. She turned to Gregori.
"Who is this employer with which you have begun to work?"
For a moment, the two siblings stared at each other, both having a silent battle of wills to determine if Gregori would tell Natalyia the truth about Cyrus. In the end, he decided to waylay her concerns; she did not need to be clinging to him the entire time, bothering him about his new job.
Gregori took the last sip of his coffee, draining the dregs down his narrow throat. With a sigh, he primly mopped his upper lip and clasped his sister's hand in his. Training his sparkling eyes to hers, he smiled grimly.
"He's a man with a vision, Natalyia."
December 16, 2000.
Four Rockslide Avenue: Veilstone City Hall
Veilstone City.
1:34 PM
The snowflakes had taken the opportunity to completely blanket the city in snow by the time Jennifer left City Hall in her limousine, heading for the Mayor's residence to bunk down for the rest of the day. Sighing, she slipped off her heavy boots as her secretary Mary-Jane plunked down in the seat beside her; both women suitably clad in warm coats and long ski pants, although Mayor Stockman had been wearing a pair of heels in her snow boots, for her appearances in City Hall.
The Weather Institute of Hoenn had issued a blizzard alert for Veilstone and the surrounding areas. The branch of the Weather Institute that operated in Sinnoh was based in the telecommunications hub of Jubilife, and had issued the alert straight from their higher-ups in Hoenn, urging all residents to heed the alerts and gather in a safe location.
Of course, the Pokémon Center would remain open to all Trainers taking refuge from the storm, and even as the small limousine struggled through traffic to the Mayor's Residence, Jennifer spotted several different groups of Trainers streaming into the nearby Center. She herself had just finished a radio broadcast urging any who didn't have a place to go to congregate in the Center, or to head even to the Gym. She hoped that her measures would be enough; the public was still grumbling about the loss of the technology building on Granite Street to the Galaxy Corporation, and despite her best efforts, this blizzard would of course cause property damage that would reflect on her policy.
The lavender-ette pinched the bridge of her nose as she tossed off the heels she'd been wearing under her boots, staring blankly ahead through the front window. She mentally reviewed the list of severe weather policies the city enacted: tow trucks and other emergency vehicles were standing by, she'd contacted the surrounding cities for other emergency help, like food and utilities (Pastoria and Hearthome had both been willing to provide) the Gym Leader had been contacted (who would succeed the Mayor in the emergency chain of command)…Jennifer trailed off her mental train of thought. It appeared she had everything prepared.
"Don't worry, Madam Mayor." Mary-Jane piped up at that moment, clutching her ever-present PDA and clipboard with her heavy mittens. "I know that we prepared everything correctly."
The limousine slowed to a crawl, and Jennifer unconsciously glanced up to her room, wondering if the flash of light she saw was really a figment of her imagination.
"By chance….Mary-Jane….did you call for an exterminator…?"
Mary-Jane looked puzzled for a moment, until the meaning fully caught on. "Oh, yes, ma'am. I did call for one this morning. Unfortunately, the service declined to work in this dreadful weather."
Jennifer nodded, understanding the reason but not liking it. "Oh, sure. I understand."
"Ma'am, I'm sure that it will be quite fine." Mary-Jane smiled at the Mayor, displaying even white teeth with just the faintest hint of intervention by adult braces. "Really, I'm sure it will all clear up in time."
Jennifer couldn't help but force a smile at her secretary's chipper personality before hastily putting back on her boots as the limousine rolled to a stop.
At the same time, something deep inside of her didn't like the idea of having to wait one bit.
December 16, 2000.
55 Pyrite Drive
Veilstone City
4:16 PM
Henry sighed heavily as he pulled his car into his driveway, parking the cream-colored vehicle with an odd clank in the snowy landscape. The car coughed a couple of times and then died, leaving the Police Chief finally able to hear himself think.
Already, the snow was blowing even harder than it had the night before, and Henry was regretting having to skip his vacation. Very obviously, his girlfriend Shiri had been distraught about missing the famed Sunyshore clubs, and had literally been cursing him from Heatran to Darkrai and back for the last twenty minutes that he had driven back from the office.
Wisely, he'd had his phone off most of the day while he attempted to track down the released convict Gregori Scott. But that hadn't stopped her from calling no fewer than fifteen times, and sending nearly 60 angry text messages. He'd decided to let her get it all out of her system on the drive home from work so that they could comfortably live together for the duration of the blizzard. In hindsight, this may have not been such a great decision, as his ears were still ringing from the ferocity of Shiri's argument. But he knew at least, that when he stepped through the door, she understood that it really wasn't his fault that their vacation was delayed.
Sighing, Henry wrapped his trench coat around his body, making sure it was fastened securely, before opening the door and bolting across the driveway and around the back porch to the door. Banging on it a couple of times, he waited until Shiri appeared at the window before she unlocked the door, hurrying him into the laundry room.
"Fuck!" She exclaimed, slamming the back door against the wind and quickly locking it. "That's strong." She slapped her sock-covered feet on the floor in an attempt to knock off the little bit of snow that had blown into the laundry room.
"Yeah." Henry agreed noncommittally, stamping his boots on the floor to rid them of excess snow. The snow sloshed around them, and Shiri delicately stepped past Henry so her socks wouldn't become completely soaked.
For a moment, she looked out on their small backyard, nearly covered up with three feet of snow already. She turned to her boyfriend, who was in the process of taking off his snow-boots and helped him by freeing him from his coat and scarf, hurriedly placing them across the dryer in the utility room to dry.
"…Shiri….I'm sorry about-" Henry began, beginning to take off the rest of his outer clothes that were wet.
She cut him off with a wave. "Don't worry about it. Look, I know you have responsibilities."
Henry nodded as he enfolded her into his arms, although she quickly pushed away, but not in anger. "You're wet. Go take a hot shower." She commanded lovingly.
"OK." Henry replied, opening the door that led into the house proper.
It was a small house on the outskirts of the urban middle of the city, only two bedrooms with one bath. It wasn't too much, but it was home for both of them.
Henry padded in his socks to their bathroom, noting that Shiri had been watching their TV in the large common room. Magazines and books were scattered about the little room like always, and Henry slipped a bit on the laminate floor as he crossed to the bathroom, before ducking inside and beginning to take a shower.
Shiri stepped quietly into the kitchen adjacent from the living room, peering over the bar-style window that opened into the living room. Directly underneath the window was the couch; Skitty-corner to the couch was Henry's beloved old orange-and-yellow-striped chair, upon which a single Pokémon was sleeping. One eye on the weather reports on the TV, Shiri began boiling water for tea, despite the fact that she should be saving the water.
The man on the TV, from the Weather Institute's branch in Jubilife, was chattering incessantly about how this would be one of the worst storms in recent Sinnoh history. His dapper smile belied the monstrosity of a storm that this was turning out to be, and Shiri cast a cold glance every so often in the TV's direction. Being a native of Snowpoint, Shiri was far too used to blizzards and such to really care about it. But that didn't mean she liked them at all. Sighing, she continued at the task at hand, using her delicate hands to clean up the mess as if it had never existed.
Henry stumbled from the bathroom a few minutes later, thoroughly bundled in a pair of fleece pajamas and big, fuzzy socks. Steam from the hot shower followed, dissipating almost immediately in the cold house. He wandered over to the form of the sleeping Pokémon on his armchair and caressed the top of its head gently as it slumbered.
"You should put him away." Shiri spoke up, startling him from his musings. "It's gonna get really fucking cold later on."
Henry nodded as his girlfriend poured tea into a teapot and gathered cups for the two of them. Running a hand through his shaggy black hair, he swiped a Pokéball off the nearby shelf and swiftly recalled the sleeping creature back into it. Sighing, he placed it back on the shelf before sitting on the couch where Shiri had obviously been reading, her body warmth still clinging to the heavy blanket.
"Let's watch a movie." He remarked, as she sat the teapot down on the end table closest to the front door and the TV. "There's not much else we can do. I'll even let you pick." He added, grinning.
Shiri smiled before darting over to the bookshelf on the adjacent wall where their collection of movies was stored. Popping one in the DVD player, she bounded back over to the couch and snuggled up next to him under the blanket.
Henry groaned as they sipped their tea, listening to the opening credits begin. "No musicals, you bitch."
Shiri giggled. "There is nothing wrong with South of Sevii; besides, you owe me, Henry Griffin."
Henry smiled as he placed a chaste kiss on the top of her head. "Yes….I owe you a lot."
Author's Notes: (1)
Okay. This may seem totally trivial, but it's not to me, and it'll become important later on, so pay attention. First off, it's completely (and possibly deliberately) vague in any sort of canon what type of language is present within the Pokémon World. For all intents and purposes it is Japan, yet this is fundamentally impossible. Here's why. This is fiction, first and foremost, not remotely connected to the real world as it is, right now. The whole Pokémon world can't be Japan, because there are no Pokémon in Japan. It's like Japan, but it is NOT Japan. (There are also several geographic disparities, like Evergrande City, based on a city in Greece, that are painfully obvious to prove this point). But that's not the point, I'm getting off topic.
On a side note, I am ignoring the Pokédex mentions of several real world places, including Chile, Australia, China, Antarctica, and several other real-world locations. In fact, as the Games have progressed there have been rewrites of earlier 'Dex entries without the real-world locations included. (For example: Arcanine, but you can do your own research on that).
The closest real world language that the two are speaking is Russian. But it is not Russian. It can't be Russian, because there is no Russia! In fact, the citizens are probably pretty clueless about their own countries/regions, because technically only six of them have been discovered. (Yes, I'm including Orre and Fiore). Take for example, Fantina. She's very painfully obviously from France, yet she can't tell you where she's from because her country has no name. It's just that she's "not from the country in which the games are based".
Moving along, there will be several mentions to the other regions, yet I'm trying to stick to game canon as much as possible, so they won't be named. I will be, however, alluding to (possibly more) two languages called Common(what could be considered English; a trading language) and Sinnoh Basic (what the population would have been speaking before interaction with other cultures, like Ancient Egyptian). It's silly to assume that everyone across all the Big Four speak the same language. Obviously, Hoenn, being geographically isolated, by, hey, an ocean,would speak a different language than Kanto/Johto. And even citizens of Kanto/Johto would speak a language different from their counterparts across the mountains. (Take Portugal and Spain. They're right next to each other, but they don't speak the same language, do they?) And of course, Sinnoh would have a different language than Kanto/Johto; the example of Fantina proves that! She speaks French!
To wrap this up, they're speaking Russian. But it's not Russian; that's just the closest I could get. I truly apologize that this little explanation turned into a mini-rant; I will curtail such feelings in the future. I will state up front that I am an insane realist. I strive for realism above all else. So it may seem like I'm obsessing over something that's insanely trivial, but that's just how I am. If it's not real to me, it won't feel real to you, and the story falls flat.
Again, thank you dear readers, for all your support.