Nintendo owns Pokemon; Pokemon owns me; I own a lawyer, and he tells me that Nintendo doesn't care what I do as long as I don't own money.
In Ruins
moving half-way around the world
Yes, my lovely readers, I have moved from good ol' Texas to Tokyo, Japan! I write this to you from my dormitory room in Tokyo, where I'll be spending the next four years of my college life. Because of this, you understand, I cannot give to you as long of a chapter as I would like to give you. The past three weeks have been a madness of family issues, my summer job, and packing/moving/saying goodbyes, and then the endless rigamaroo of orientation and exhaustion of speaking a foreign language with fretful regularity. However, I am by no means going on hiatus! I will continue to update with as much consistency as I can. Consider the length of this chapter a mere blip for which I profusely apologize. At least it's here and it's got plot, ne? Now, without further ado...
land slide
Fear - The roar of the earth splitting, and screams; the crumbling dirt around him, spilling over him and burying him alive.
Silence - a thick blanket of it, that wrapped around him and even swallowed up his heartbeat, and his gasp as he realized that the mounds of soil that encompassed him were crushing him from the inside out.
Fear and silence - crushing him, smaller than himself. And who was he, anyway - and what was he - when he was vaguely aware that all of himself was just a speck the size of sand - and Is this what death feels like? - and then he vanished. And it was black. Or was it white? It could've been. It could've been any color, or every color, for all that he knew; for he knew nothing. And it was the absence of color and the absence of even time itself.
Forever - an empty void without meaning. No sound, no feeling, not even sorrow; not even hope. A bleak resignation that simply was: He was nothing and it was nothing.
Forever.
And then it changed.
It was like being born.
It was like brine in his eyes on his first trip to the beach. It was like building a sandcastle with Satoshi.
It was the feeling of something moving against his face, something that was intangible... and that meant that he was tangible. And this thing that was touching him so lightly was familiar. It was the smell of the blossoms that grew at his parents' home. He remembered it.
That! That was it -- memory! These were his memories -- and he -- he was real!
It was this realization that startled him to pay attention to his ears. He could hear the sound of distant waves. And that familiar touch was the wind that came off of the sea. The prickling sensation came from the sand. And he sensed it all because he had skin, and mass, and even smell.
He felt his face - and only then did he realize that yes, he could feel, and no, he wasn't blind, but he had been clenching his eyes shut.
So he opened his eyes. And there was color.
Blue - Such a vast sky! It was higher above him than he'd ever thought it could be. And this warmth spreading on his right cheekbone; it was the sun, on the side of his face.
He felt something warm bubbling up inside his throat, and for once, he let out a rich noise. Salt licked at the edges of eyes. It stung, and it was wonderful. He'd never known what life was before. He'd never known what a gift it was to feel. What had kept him from realizing this, years ago? Why had he shuttered his eyes and acted like he didn't care?
And that was it.
This was not 'years ago'. This was not even 'seconds ago', this was not even 'his life'.
Shigeru returned to himself completely in that moment. He still felt the sand in his hair and he could feel the fabric of his clothes clinging to him as he laid on his back. The hysteria suddenly absented. Shigeru forced himself upright and stared ahead -- Stunned.
He was on a beach.
The surf was at low tide, and he was laying in the sand, when he should have been dead, or in the infirmary, at least, after the earthquake that ripped through the ruins of Alph, destroying it forever.
Instead, he was on a seashore, taking in the waves of water rather than a vast sea of sand.
Behind him, he could hear a zephyr sweep over flowers - he scented it as the wind passed him, and found himself overwhelmed with the pungent aroma of hibiscus. Shigeru grew into the awareness that, from the corner of his eye, a field of red flowers were in bloom.
Yes - he was alive. He could tell as much from the fact that his heart was panicking inside of his chest. Still - this wasn't right. He wasn't supposed to be here and he wasn't supposed to be here like this. It was better than death, true... Even so, he would've been a fool for it to not have dawned on him that, suddenly, maybe 'life' was not the same as it had been before.
If Satoshi had wanted to escape, it was already too late; his legs were nothing but loose jelly and his eyes could not focus on a single thing that didn't spin out of his field of vision. His arms trembled as he reached around him for a hand-hold - but it seemed that the world was eroding all around him.
He began to shout, but in the howling, breaking noise, he couldn't even hear himself.
The roar of it was so loud - he covered his ears with his hands - and the world was practically silent, so enveloped with the sound! The wind was too strong - he had to close his eyes to keep them from being scraped with flying sand!
There'd been no time to think before it was gone altogether. He had either lost consciousness, or the conscious world had lost him. Either way it ended up the same: with Satoshi flat on his back, covered with a wiry-wool blanket, and a cold compress administered to his forehead.
He stirred at this; he had a pounding headache and couldn't see a thing in the disorienting darkness. But through it, he heard a soothing voice singing softly to him. Satoshi let himself breathe out, and he rested. Somehow he just knew that he was safe.
...Haruka's voice always made him feel that way.
When Satoshi found consciousness again, Haruka was no longer singing. Even so, he could still sense her at his side, and he could still hear the echoes of her voice, as if it alone had healed him. And maybe it had; he knew that songs were powerful. He'd learned that lesson years ago, when Pupurin sang its song and made him forget that anything mattered but the peace inside of sleep. When the Orange Islands unleashed their ancient bird pokemon from the depths, he couldn't help but learn that there was a song in the currents of the tide and possibly in life itself. And when Haruka sang to Jirachi, it had made him feel... happy.
It had been years since he'd heard her voice. She'd been traveling, she'd been with her brother, settling down in a new life; and now, as if out of nowhere, it was all that he could hear - a melody in the midst of a landslide.
She was here. Singing to him. And there was a cool compress on his forehead; a balm that tingled his arms.
He wondered if the damage had been worse than even he could've known. If Haruka was here, it meant she must have been told about his condition. And his condition; what was that? It took so long to get to the Ruins of Alph - he must've been sleeping for days. Maybe, weeks. And what if he had been in a coma, nearly dead? He could tell from her song that she was worried, and a pressure of guilt built up between his eyes.
He lifted his eyelids and the light flooded in.
The first thing he saw were a welcome pair of warm and worried eyes.
"...Haruka?" he questioned. His voice was raspy but he pushed it anyway. "You're...here."
It took several moments before Haruka responded. And even then she only said, 'Yes. I am'.
Satoshi stirred further. "...What's going on?"
"That's what I'd like to know," Haruka replied.
A cup of warm tea was pushed against his lips, and he accepted. There was something bothering him, but he couldn't place it yet - he was still too lost in sleep.
"What do you mean?" Satoshi asked.
"I'd like to know how you got here."
Satoshi swallowed the last of his tea and Haruka took it from him.
"There was an earthquake," began Satoshi, and just the word on his tongue released an after-shock of emotion. "I was - I was trying to ask you what happened, if I was... hurt. That's why I'm here, right? Something happened, and I wasn't... and the Ruins... Where is Pikachu? Shigeru... where's Shigeru!? Is he okay?"
Haruka didn't reply.
"Didn't you just hear me? Did something happen to... Shigeru isn't... He's okay, right?"
"I'm sure he's fine," said Haruka placidly. "But are you all right?"
Satoshi looked at her - really looked at her.
Wouldn't she be the one to know the answer to that?
And then he saw it: her hair was held up in golden clasps.
It was such a bizarre change from her typical adornment that he found himself wondering if her entire wardrobe had changed since he saw her last, and so he looked. He opened his eyes and his jaw dropped as well.
"Are you all right?" Haruka repeated, worriedly leaning towards him.
"No - I'm not!" he said, the words coming out shakily, "What are you - why are you -?"
He tore himself away from her worried face and looked at the opposite wall of white granite stones, held together without mortar or cement or anything at all. In the center of the wall hung several leather items from a hook, things he'd seen only once before, but never understood. He shifted his gaze further to the left and to an open window, or rather, a hole in the lay of the rocks. And through it, Satoshi saw everything.
And he saw a dead city sprawled before him -- alive.
He took in all of it, as well as he could. White granite stones piled and terraced into steps and courtyards and homes. Through the openings in the walls, people were moving around in the simple routines of their lives. Laughter -- the slapping of sandals on stone -- the smell of exotic spices, a kitchen fire, and the gentle rolling of a stone crushing grain.
Haruka rested a hand on his back and leaned in to support him. Only then did Satoshi realize how heavily he was breathing, and he was amazed that he was breathing at all.
"Do you understand me?" she asked, her voice lilting at the end. A piece of her hair slid over her shoulder and fell across her tunic.
Satoshi shook his head quickly, only realizing too late that it only made the world swirl even faster around him. Who was this Haruka who sat beside him? And what had happened to bring her - or him - to this place?
"Where am I?" Satoshi asked. "Haruka, where are we? What's going on!?"
"Haruka!"
Both Satoshi and Haruka turned their heads to the doorframe, where a black haired boy in tan colored linens had appeared. Several people outside had slowed down to unsubtly look in on the commotion. Satoshi ignored them; he was too surprised at seeing yet another familiar face.
"Masato!" he exclaimed.
"Masato," echoed Haruka, shooting Satoshi an unreadable look, then returning her gaze to her brother. "What is it?"
"There's another one. He's down by the ocean!"
"Another what?" asked Satoshi immediately. Haruka ignored the comment and surveyed him quickly.
"You look like you'll be alright," she addressed him, and rose to her feet. "I'll be right back."
Satoshi looked around the strange room and peeled back the linen covering him.
"No - Don't leave yet !" he cried out, and propped himself up. Haruka looked at him speculatively.
"Do you need something?" she asked.
Masato stomped his foot impatiently. "Ha-ru-ka! Come on!"
"Oh, shut up, brother. I'll meet you at the Perch in a moment."
"Fine," huffed Masato, and ran off, allowing Haruka to turn her attentions to her patient once more.
Satoshi worked his jaw.
"I don't - I don't know what's going on," he said honestly. "But I don't want to be alone. So, whatever's happening... I'd rather go with you."
"Then hurry up," she told him. "You might be useful to us, anyway."
Satoshi brought his knees up and adjusted to his limbs, feelings as if he were using them for the very first time.
A prickle of sweat had broken out on his arms. He didn't know what he was getting into, and although it wasn't anything new for him - that was practically the story of his entire life - this was different. This was something he'd never dealt with before.
Still, it wasn't fear that made him anxious. He was... scared, yes, but in a good way. He was... excited.
He'd wanted so much to feel alive again. It was bizarre that, somehow, he was standing in ruins and its life was lending to his own.
An abandoned pokegear lay faceup in the sand; the shattered screen blinked between a giant '?' and a background of grey lines. Several feet away, Ookido Shigeru paced, running his fingers through his hair, cursing, and muttering to himself angrily, "Earthquake... Dead... Beach," over and over again.
It was a list that made no sense. And he was a researcher.
He was a scientist; he was in the forefront of his field. He had been part of a team that discovered a way to regenerate pokemon fossils when he had only been 13 years old. Five years later, he was leading a team through the most dangerous ruins in the known world, with aims to unravel an even greater mystery: how ancient pokemon harnessed their power.
It led back to the Unown, an extinct pokemon with limited evidence of any existence at all. That was over a year ago, but he wasn't one to be overwhelmed by the immensity of his task; after all, challenges were his forte. It was as though he'd been born with the cruel destiny of a difficult life. He had been orphaned at four and he could never live up to his famous, distant grandfather; to make matters worse he was gay, he had lost his best friend, and when he was fourteen he had been--
NO. He would not think of that, now. Not ever.
"It's not like it even matters anymore!" he interrupted himself. All he could see was the sea and flowers and a giant rock face that towered up some three thousand feet into direct sunlight. Even when he shaded his eyes, he could barely make out the edges of the mountain; it was enough to tell that there was no practical way to get there from here.
Shigeru sighed, and wiped the sweat that had been building on his forehead. A stray thought tickled at him, the voice sounding like it was Satoshi's.
"Whaaat? You're not giving up that easy, right?!"
Shigeru's lips quirked into a smile.
It was a brash and stupid thing to do; not in his nature at all. But he didn't have anything better to do than to wander around and try to find a way out of this mess - even if that meant to climb a mountain.
Satoshi didn't expect to find himself panting to keep up with Haruka and Masato. But, then, he hadn't expected to find himself in a suddenly, real-to-life historical village that had previously been a desert ruin, that he had most recently seen crumbling beneath a massive earthquake. Satoshi struggled to keep up without even breaking anything more than a brisk pace. Haruka and Masato wound around the busy streets, of marketpeople and children and all sorts, with ease; Satoshi, less so.
"Where are we going?" Satoshi wondered aloud, after several minutes of fleet-footedly following them down sloping terraces and winding stairs. "Haruka? Masato?"
Haruka slowed down just long enough for Satoshi to catch up to her side.
"Do you see the edge of the city?" asked Haruka, gesticulating before her. Satoshi nodded; several courtyards gave way to a rocky ledge where green tufts of grass spilled into the air. "You don't have a fear of heights, do you?"
Satoshi cast a confused glance at her. "We're not jumping off of there, are we?"
"Actually, there's a kind of narrow path carved into the side of the mountain."
"All the way down?" asked Satoshi. "You mean we'll have to climb back up afterwards?"
"You might have to, but I won't," cut in Masato, haughty.
"What do you mean!? I thought you weren't going to leave me!" Satoshi faltered, and Haruka laughed into her hand.
"Masato, don't tease him! He doesn't know -"
"Know what?" Satoshi had to turn sharply to side-step a heavy-laden berry vendor. "Know what?!"
Haruka and Masato paused in the middle of the street. Haruka in particular gave him an appraising look. "Well, you do know what pokemon are, right?"
"Of course!" Satoshi spluttered, "I'm the Champion after all!"
"Champion...?" queried Masato.
Satoshi had the grace to look sheepish. After all, it really didn't seem like the right time to brag about something unheard of, wherever they were.
"You see, here at Alph, many flying pokemon live on the side of the mountain, at a place we call the Perch. I have a relationship with a flying pokemon who lives there. She lets me and Masato ride her, so I can come and go from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain with no problem."
"Okay, I get it," Satoshi nodded several times. "So do you have another pokemon that I can ride, too?"
Masato interrupted with a loud groan and began walking again. "You have to prove yourself to the pokemon if you want to ride it."
"Well then, how am I supposed to do that?" asked Satoshi, following doggedly.
"It's different for every pokemon. Altaria always like Haruka because she can sing with them."
"I can't sing," Satoshi pointed out, blunt as ever. "So, I guess I can't ride an Altaria, huh?"
"Look, that's not the point," Masato sighed loudly.
Haruka placed a hand on Satoshi's arm, and interrupted gently. "What Masato-chan means to say is, that once a bird has chosen a rider, it's not going to accept any other. There aren't exactly many at the Perch who you might be able to ride because of it."
"So you can't just tell your pokemon to help someone else? Oh great," muttered Satoshi, putting his arms behind his head. He looked up at the blazing sun and grimaced.
It figured, really. Just when he'd be getting bored with life... Something like this would happen. And really, what could he do but take it in stride? He couldn't leave himself to think on things too long, or else it would catch up with him - that's what had happened last time, resulting in his rather infamous breakdown.
Maybe 'carpe diem' wasn't the best way to live, but it was practical, even though no one would apply that term to him.
Satoshi folded his arms behind his head, and grimaced as he looked up at the blazing sun.
On the side of a mountain, two thouand feet below, Shigeru Ookido did the same.