Chapter 3
Don't think about it
Goldenrod at night. Laresa walked through the empty streets, heading for the Pokemon Center. It was late, but Pokemon Centers were always open. Laresa had only just arrived in Goldenrod; she usually stopped earlier and set up camp for the night, but she'd been close enough to Goldenrod that she'd decided to press on.
The man lunged out just as Laresa passed the alley way he'd been concealed in. He grabbed Laresa and pulled her into the alley, shoving her against a wall. Before she could let out a cry, the man had a scarf wrapped around her head, covering her mouth. He held Laresa against the wall with one hand while unbuckling her belt with the other. He yanked the belt away and tossed it aside, putting Laresa's Pokemon beyond her reach.
Laresa resisted, but the man slammed her back against the wall with both hands. "I wouldn't struggle if I were you. You're not getting away, so it'll only make things worse for you." Laresa struggled against the man anyways, which he responded to by slamming her into the wall again. "I told you not to struggle. Jesus, you women are all dumb shits. All I want is a little fun, then I'll let you go. Shit, you'd think you bitches would enjoy it just as much as I do."
The man let go with one hand and pulled his pants down, then took Laresa's shorts and pulled them down around her legs. He put both hands on Laresa again, and came closer, and closer, and-
Laresa awoke with a cry and shot backwards, banging her head against the wall. "Gah, fuck!" She leaped out of bed automatically, then stopped. Calm down, damn it! You were just dreaming. You were just dreaming. It was a dream. It was a dream. It was just a dream. It was- She sank down to a sitting position on the floor. Yes, tonight had been a dream, but before that- before that- God damn it, girl, don't go there! Okay, have to find something else. Have to think about- about something. About- the object, yes. The object, Ho-oh, all that shit. Focus on that. Focus on that. Okay.
Laresa stood and grabbed her belt from the bedside table. She detached the object and set the belt down again. Okay, the object. Good. All right, so what do I know about this thing? Not much. It calls Ho-oh, and it only works when placed over a Pokeball, most likely because it uses the ball's power supply. The object can be folded and unfolded. It has a symbol on it. And a jewel, which is at the center of the object when unfolded. And the jewel gained a red color after Ho-oh's first appearance. And-wait, there was something else that first time, too. That... reaction or whatever it was when I pointed the jewel at Ho-oh. Hell, the entire incident there when I found the thing. It... Ho-oh did something to it. Is that what lets it-no, Ho-oh appeared the first time after I pressed the jewel. Hmm... damn, I just don't know enough. Okay, so information. Mathis and- shit, I must have imagined that other guy. They both-or Mathis and... would it be my own mind, then? Yeah, maybe. Canalave certainly is the right idea, I think. Okay, then. If I want to figure this thing out, Canalave's probably the best bet.
Laresa walked through the woods south of Floaroma en route to Jubilife, from which she would go east to Canalave. It was still dark out, but that was to be expected, as it was still early in the morning. Laresa knew she wasn't going to get back to sleep, and just laying there wouldn't have been a good idea. She needed to focus on something else, anything else, so she'd started on the trip to Canalave. If she'd remained, she would have just lay awake, trying to keep herself from thinking about-God damn it, don't go there. Don't let yourself think about that. Don't-wait, what was that?
Laresa quickly pulled her flashlight out of her pack, turned it on, and aimed it in the direction of the noise she'd just heard. Then she heard another noise. And another. And another. So there's a lot of them. Great. Better be ready for a fight. She began releasing her Pokemon team, starting with Sceptile and Espeon. Soon, the full team was out: Sceptile, Espeon, Absol, Tyranitar, Luxray, and Nidoking. She barely had time to get the last two out before the assumed enemy came into view, and- What the hell?
Laresa didn't exactly have Pokemon habitats memorized-she, like most trainers, relied on her Pokedex for that information-but she was fairly certain a lot of these weren't native to the area. And there was certainly an unusual level of aggressiveness on display. Some sort of fight was going on, that was for sure, and Laresa could hear more sounds of conflict. The whole thing's coming this way. Great.
Laresa and her team did not get left out of the battle. The minute they were sighted, they were attacked. "Defensive mode!" Laresa ordered. "We're not out for blood here! Form around me and fight only in self-defense!" The team complied immediately. They knew exactly what they were doing; they'd practiced the plan they were now putting into action. Laresa had established plans for a number of situations, and she made sure her team was familiar with every one.
"Okay," Laresa said, "we don't know how far to the sides this stretches, so meet them head on! Move against them and we'll get out of this faster!" As the group began moving, Laresa reached into the item pouch on her pack and removed some Smoke Balls. She'd have preferred to keep the Smoke Balls in the quick-access pouch, but keeping too many items in there would defeat the purpose, namely that anything in it could be gotten at quickly, as there wasn't much to search through. Laresa ended up choosing between putting Smoke Balls and Repels in the quick-access pouch, and she'd found herself going for Repels more often. However, she still wanted Smoke Balls to be easily available, so she kept several at the front of the item pouch, allowing her to just reach in and quickly grab them, as she did now.
Laresa's team moved forwards, with the extremely durable Tyranitar in the lead. Laresa didn't throw down a Smoke Ball yet; at the moment, her team was moving through quite nicely. The Smoke Balls would be used if needed, but not until then. And they probably won't work well in this situation, anyways. Right now, her group didn't seem to be drawing any special level of attention; they were just there, given no more attention than any other participant. At first, at least. As the team moved through the fight, more and more of the focus was on them. Shit, why are we drawing their focus? Is- shit, it's because we're proving ourselves tougher than any of them. So they perceive us as a threat. Shit! We have to fight, but that's drawing attention to us, and at this rate, I doubt we'll last much longer.
Sceptile was the first to go down, after taking a simultaneous flame blast from an Arcanine and a Camerupt. She was more than tough enough to take a few hits from fire-types, especially wild ones, which were generally weaker than the ones trainers had, but she, like the rest of the team, had already taken a lot of damage, and the blasts were too much for her. "Good effort," Laresa said as she recalled Sceptile. "We'll be fine without you." Although I think we both know we're in trouble with or without your help.
Luxray went down next, followed by Absol. Shit, not good. Okay, time to try the smokescreen. Laresa threw down a Smoke Ball, producing a smokescreen for cover while she and the rest of her team ran for it. The problem was that the smokescreen wasn't large enough for this situation; sure, it hid them from the closest attackers, but they couldn't move far before exiting the smokescreen, and when they did, they went right back to being attacked. Sure, she could throw down more as they moved, but that would show where they were by where the smoke appeared. But maybe this'll work.
Espeon went down. Laresa recalled her, then threw down another Smoke Ball. Then she took another and threw it to the side. She then took another, the last in her hands, and threw it to side, past the other one. As she'd hoped, most of the Pokemon attacking her ran towards the new smoke clouds; Laresa had made it look like she was going that way, and they'd fallen for it. Good thing this frenzy is crazy enough they can't pick us out with other senses. "Okay," she said to her remaining Pokemon, Tyranitar and Nidoking, "they didn't all run off, so be ready. Take out anyone who comes at us and keep moving."
The first light of dawn came as Laresa and her two Pokemon made a run for it. As expected, the few Pokemon still there attacked, but Tyranitar and Nidoking didn't have any trouble with them. But then more came into the area. Shit, what the hell is this? "Okay, move it!"
Even Tyranitar could only take so much, and he'd already taken a lot of hits. He went down, leaving Nidoking as the only one left. Damn it, this is insane! What the hell is going on here? This is not natural behavior. What the hell is this?
The pair kept moving, but it wasn't too long before Nidoking went down. Well, shit, she thought as she recalled Nidoking. She then reached into the quick-access pouch and pulled out two bottles of Repel spray. And now this is what I'm down to. Not good. Okay, all I can do now is try to get the hell away. But can I? And how far do I need to go to escape this? Shit, no choice but to go for it. Okay, then.
Laresa broke into a run, one Repel bottle in each hand. A Linoone came at her almost immediately. She ssprayed Repel in its face and ran. She kept moving, but didn't get far until her path was blocked. Okay, shit. Can't go forward, and I don't think Repel is going to be enough. Okay, now what? A thought came to her as she noticed the early dawn light, a verse she remembered from a story:
When
all words are gone
lost to the dawn
is there a spell on which I can call upon?
And there wasn't. Laresa didn't have anything left to get her out of this insane, unnatural frenzy. There wasn't anything she could do herself to get past, and her Pokemon were all down. They'd gone, one by one, and now, as the dawn came, there was nothing she could-Wait, what if-? No, maybe there was something. But would it work? If nothing else, its sudden appearance might prove enough of a distraction to let me escape.
Yes, there was something. Let's hope the dawn comes.
When
She reached down to her belt.
all words are gone
She grabbed hold of the strange object.
lost to the dawn
She found the jewel on the object.
There is a spell on which I can call upon
She placed her finger on the jewel.
So I have sought to find the dawn
She pressed down on the jewel.
The flash. And then-
Laresa picked herself up off the ground. Something hit me, then. She looked around.
She'd pressed the jewel, and then-
And then the flames had come, engulfing the area. But the flames were gone now. Laresa was used to Pokemon flames from battle not setting things on fire or anything, but even so, she was amazed at how little effect on the surrounding area there was after that inferno. And there, in a small clearing where the trees were knocked over in the battle, was the great bird, the Blazing Dawn, Ho-oh.
Laresa pressed the jewel just automatically, without even thinking, then collapsed to the ground as Ho-oh vanished. Holy... fucking... shit.
Eventually, Laresa placed her pack on the ground and removed some medicines from the item pouch. She released her Pokemon again and began applying the medicine. "Here you go. I'm sorry you all had to get hurt like that. I didn't think of calling-"
A sharp look from Sceptile cut her off. "Yeah, I know," she said. "It's not surprising I forgot about that with all that shit going on." Hell, I only found the thing yesterday. Of course I'm not used to having it yet. "And I couldn't know that it would even work. Hell, why would I expect Ho-oh toprotect me, anyways?" She looked at the object. "I don't even know what this damn thing is, or why I have it, or how I ended up in the cave, or-" Okay, girl, calm down. If you want to figure this out, take it one step at a time. Okay.
Okay, she thought as she resumed treating her Pokemon, start with all the Pokemon that aren't found in this area. Okay, that one's easy. Relocation. If it's real, there's no reason to assume it only happens to humans. Pokemon could be getting hit by it all the time. There're probably a shitload of out-of-habitat sightings-actually, that would explain those Wurmple in Ilex. And the Bidoof outside of- of Goldenrod. Okay, so that answers that question. But why were so many Pokemon in this area, and why were they so violent? Because that wasn't natural. That kind of frenzy just doesn't happen. So why did it? And what the hell was with the numbers? That was a huge number of Pokemon involved in that; why were there so many? And are the two things separate events that just happened to coincide, or are they related? Hmm... well, I think the natural assumption is that they're related, but I don't want to commit to that right now, not when I don't know anything. Stay open to all possibilities. Maybe they're not related, maybe they're not-shit, and maybe they're related to the object. No, that's not it. That stuff was happening before I entered the area. Hmm... but maybe the cause of those does have some sort of relation to the object. I just don't know enough.
All right," Laresa said as she finished treatment of her Pokemon, "that should do it. I'm sorry I can't do anything more, but... hell, why do I still apologize for things like that? You all know the drill by now. Although I don't think any of you have ever been quite this badly beaten up. Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up properly as soon as we get to Jubilife." She recalled them all to their balls and got to her feet. She closed up her pack and slipped it back on. Damn, and I lost my flashlight, too. Must have dropped it at some point during that mess. Okay, I'll have to get a replacement in Jubilife. Until then, well, that's why I keep an extra.
She started again towards Jubilife. Okay, have to be careful. There's no guarantee there won't be another insane fight like that. And my team can't handle another one. Hell, we couldn't even handle the first one. It took Ho-oh to bail us out. Hopefully it'll do a repeat if we get in trouble again. Okay, but why the hell did it aid me in the first place? It came because I used the object to call it, but that can't be the only reason it came to aid me. I mean, why did it give me this thing in the first place? There's obviously a reason, but what is- "Gah!"
Laresa tripped over something and fell to the ground. She tucked into a roll and quickly got back to her feet, spinning around to find what she'd tripped over. Which was-Oh, my-
It was a dead body. A savagely mutilated dead body that had been literally ripped apart. Blood and guts were strewn all over, as were what was left of various ripped-off body parts. Much of the flesh had been ripped away, in some cases down to the bone. There were signs that feeding had occurred, and in some places there were signs of missing bone pieces having been literally bitten off.
Laresa stumbled backwards and fell on her butt. Holy shit, what the fuck is this? She took a few seconds to compose herself, then got to her feet. Okay, girl, calm down. Don't freak out. It's just a body. Or... was a body; I don't know if the term really applies any more. Shit, what the hell did this? No, that's stupid. This-can't tell the gender. This person was a victim of that frenzy. Probably a trainer camping for the night. Did- did you have a chance to fight back? Or were you dead before you could wake up?
Laresa looked away and fought down her nausea. Okay, girl, focus. It's only a body. It's only a body, like what you would-damn it, I can't stop thinking about it! Okay, girl, focus. Immediate situation. Are this trainer's Pokemon all right? Okay, check the balls. If I can find them. Let's see... on the belt, all six. Amazing none got knocked off when the body was... when it had all this done to it. Okay, are the Pokemon in them?
Laresa reached into her pocket and took out her Pokedex. She took one of the dead trainer's balls and placed it on a sensor in the Pokedex. After a second, the display showed the scan results: this partiticular ball was occupied, and it contained a Bidoof. Shit, must have been a new Trainer. Damn. She repeated the process with the other five balls, after which she put them in her pack. Fairly standard beginner team. Damn, you never had a chance. Okay, um, trainer card. Probably slotted into the Pokedex like normal. Where's the Pokedex? Not in your pocket like mine, not after your cloths were torn to shreads. Maybe in your pack, which is...
It didn't take her long to locate the pack. Or, rather, where the pack had been. She knew what had happened as soon as she saw the result. The trainer's equipment, medicines, everything was spread out all over the place as though it had exploded from the center of the mess. Which it had. Shit, you had a compression failure. They must have ripped at your bag to get at your food or something. And damaged it heavily, given how much durability and redundancy they build in. Okay, let's see if your Pokedex is in this mess.
It took some searching, but eventually she found it. Okay, good, found your Pokedex. Trainer card is... yes, it's here. Name is... Taylor Matthews. 18 years old. Yeah, you were just a beginner. Damn. Okay, got your Pokemon, Pokedex, and card. That's everything important. Okay, hand these over to authorities in the city. I'll have to remember to do that when I reach Jubilife. Okay, time to get moving.
Laresa resumed heading for Jubilife. Okay, what the fuck was going on with that. And, shit, was Matthew the only victim? Or are their other bodies lying there. Lying there like- god damn it, girl! No! No thinking about that! Don't think about it! Okay, girl. Okay. Um... okay, the object. Yes, good. Focus on that, think about that. You may not have information, but you can still think of possible answers. Yes, do that. She walked on, trying desperately to think about something other than death.
She didn't want to experience it herself.