Lesson 26: Somewhat out of character
To fit in a person has to possess certain qualities. For starters obeying the law like any other sane human being is a step in the right direction.
The organized jungle also known as society comes with a huge amount of do's and don'ts, some of them more complex than those wretched manuals on constructing your newly bought closet (N found those amusingly easy).
For example running around in your underwear is an obvious don't. Treating others with the utmost respect is a big, flashing in neon letters 'DO!'
In N's opinion it didn't really matter if others stared at him strangely, if the townspeople decided to pass a homeless person (going out of their way to create a wide arch around the poor fellow in doing so) the teenager found himself compelled to rebel against such petty behavior.
Yes the stranger was kind of dirty to the degree that it became hard to see the actual color of his hair, and point taken his smell could've knocked out a Herdier but hey, the man wasn't causing any trouble unlike some of the teenagers running on the streets in mayhem, and wearing socks on your hands could be considered genius.
It didn't matter. You could be considered a gentleman or a sleazy dog and most people are considered both at least once during their lives.
A lady or… someone not so ladylike.
A King or a mere peasant.
N realized his behavior hadn't been very king-like, a certain amount of strictness was in place, however throwing one of his loyal subordinates against a wall wasn't. Certainly not in front of a Sage.
He deserved it though. He muttered quietly, as if to justify himself to the tiny voice in his head that seemed to relish in sticking the mental picture of Ashe to his forehead.
Sitting there bowing her head, radiating pure regret. Purrloin and her Snivy had looked utterly shocked, even that Blitzle, still wild back then was taken aback by her sincerity.
Zero seizing his opportunity to sneak outside Team Plasma's temporary hideout found his single human friend outside the building. He was sitting up against the cold concrete wall of the (what should've been) abandoned studio. Knees drawn up against his chest in the position Zero had seen him take on ever since he was a child it became rather hard for the fox to find his friend capable of the violence he had witnessed only minutes ago.
Shaking his head from unwanted thoughts Zero walked quietly toward him. He had been crying, that much was obvious.
"I shouldn't have done what I did." N whispered when Zero reached his feet and stood there.
"It was funny." Zero replied answering the young man's affronted glare with one of his own before adding, "I too saw that picture. It might please you to hear that I didn't see any injuries on her."
Zero stared at N, searching for any sign of relief. N began to fiddle with the chain around his neck, his downcast glance made him look somewhat vulnerable, like a child about to receive his punishment.
"You sure?" he asked.
"As sure as I have a tail and four paws."
N couldn't stop the small smile from appearing on his face, biting his bottom lip he voiced out his troubled thoughts, "Father will know about her, maybe he already does. We both saw the angle from which that final picture was taken.
Zero who looked rather puzzled hissed, "You don't think?" he looked over at N.
"I don't think, I know." N replied, his voice grim, "The Shadow Triad will have their work cut out for them…"
"She can be a handful." Zero admitted resting his head against N's leg, his eyes drooping until they were mere slits.
N chuckled, the two of them remained outside for more than an hour, they sat in companionable silence, each alone in his own thoughts.
"Zero?" N asked as he leaned over to scratch the canine's head.
"I said I was sure N," Zero protested, "My eyes are better than yours plus I wasn't preoccupied with strangling people to death.
"Just checking." N laughed, flicking the Pokémon's ear with his index finger knowing his friend hated it when he did that. Zero's payback which consisted of transforming into a horrendous looking, however uninjured Ashe ended with N rubbing his aching forehead muttering apologies to a knocked out fox.
"S-Sorry! But you should know better!" He began as the fox recovered himself from the unexpected headbutt. Said attack had been strong enough to break his illusion, something only a Pokémon should be capable of. N's face had been priceless, seeing an illusionary brunette, fox eared with canine teeth had been the last thing he'd expected. In his turn Zero hadn't seen that headbutt coming…
He never does things half-heartedly.
"He never does anything half-heartedly." I explained with a barely suppressed snort, waving over an obvious puzzled Touya.
Chocolate colored eyes surveyed the huge amount of dishes, his eyebrows practically disappearing behind his bangs when he noticed the mountain high tower of empty plates.
"No kiddin." He replied struggling to squeeze himself onto the empty seat next to an already blushing Bianca, who shot him a shy smile before turning her attention on an extremely depressed Cheren. It was quite impressive that she still tried to talk some sense into my black haired friend, by now the blonde had to strain her neck in order to see past bowls of fried rice. Her efforts went to waste of course. Having a conversation with the leftovers might've been more interesting, since Cheren had hardly said a word after informing us about his loss to Lenora.
Apparently his Pokémon hadn't been able to even touch Lenora's team, if I had to believe Cheren the Nacrene City Gym was the new proud owner of a Dewott shaped dent in the wall, and if I felt like adding a Snivy shaped one I should go ahead and challenge her.
"You celebrating something?" Touya asked, an ear splitting grin on his face.
It was obvious the brown haired teen was very happy about something, the guy was glowing with enough pride to vanquish the dark ominous clouds Cheren preferred dragging alongside him. He could make girl scouts cry merely by looking at them.
"More like dealing with a certain something." I said with a nod towards the Basic Badge that shone on Touya's collar, "Congratulations."
Mouthing an inaudible 'Oh' he carefully steered the conversation into a direction that didn't result in him having to dodge fried rice.
"It should be close to hatching by now." He said, glancing at the grey egg that sat in my lap, snugly wrapped in the scarf Snivy had stolen, "Excited?"
I shrugged, "Only every second of every day." I replied airily, smiling softly at the egg's smooth surface. Not a single crack was to be seen.
"You'll come out when you feel like it don't you little man? Good things are worth the wait but I bet you already know that."
A frown marred Touya's face,"Little man?" he asked, "Gran actually told you the Pokémon's gender? Ah man she can't keep a secret, thank god she didn't tell you what kind of Pokémon it is."
I studied his face, "It's really a boy?"
Touya blinked and shook his head, "You just said?"
"Yeah but that was… I dunno motherly intuition?"
"Oh… err… surprise?"
Taking my time to chew on a mouthful of rice I tried wrapping my head around the fact my feminine instincts had been spot on for once. Miracles do happen.
"Can I ask you something, and promise not to be offended?" Touya asked ignoring my taxing stare.
"Try me and I'll judge if I feel offended." I replied waving my fork in his direction.
Considering how much it would hurt to be poked with cutlery the brown haired teen decided to take the risk."Why don't you ever…" he hesitated, rubbing the back of his neck, "You know how women get around kids and newborn Pokémon…."
"Yeah they melt into a puddle of goo and lose their ability to form coherent sentences.." I admitted catching Bianca's eye so I could stick out my tongue at her.
"So? Why aren't you like that?"
"That's a good question!" Bianca interjected, finally joining in on our conversation allowing Cheren some time to feel depressed.
Seeing their eager faces made a bright blush appear on my own, "I don't know I guess I'm just -"
"It's not like her." Cheren said softly in his metallic voice, " It would be totally out of character."
I shot him a smile, my bespectacled friend had a point, "He's right." I said with a slight nod in his direction, "It would be like Bianca dying her hair black and hating fashion, or a Cheren without glasses but with a sense of humor."
"Oh har har, I'm dying here." He replied dryly, ignoring Touya and Bianca's roaring laughter.
"I would love you if you had perfect eyesight, but I prefer the snarky, sarcastic Cheren. Even if you're the world's biggest sulker."
Later that night after paying quite an impressive bill (the restaurant's owner had friendly invited us to please visit again) the three of us had said goodbye to Touya and we returned to our cheap, but using Bianca's words 'cozy' hotel. The rooms were affordable and as long as you hurried in the shower everyone had the privilege of enjoying hot water.
She's the world's biggest fraud. Cheshire purred, lazily licking a paw and using it to clean a long ear. The feline, unable to resist a bunk bed, had claimed the top bed, having the highest position in the room gave him a somewhat superior feeling, not that he needed it.
If only they knew how out of character she gets when no one sees her. Marron hissed amused, eyeing his trainer who had once again been caught acting very un-Ashe-like.
She sat on the floor cradling the egg in her arms while humming a soft tune looking rather absent minded. Her voice stopped short, and after considering for a while she began singing in a hesitant but rather pleasant voice:
"Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly. All your life, you were only waiting for this moment to arise."
She drifted off into a soft hum that lulled grass, dark and electric type to sleep. Inside the egg a flying type could tell by the sound of steady heartbeats that his soon to be companions had succumbed to sleep. He liked it when the owner of the soft voice sang to him. One song had been his particular favorite, he had tried to convey that message to her by kicking against the dark thing that seemed to surround him. He didn't possess enough strenght to break it just yet, but he knew she had felt it back then because ever since she used a particular name when she spoke to him. Apparently said person sang the song he liked so much.
It was a good name.
And a rock feels no pain, and an island never cries
It took Cheren two more tries before he managed to defeat Lenora. He and Saya returned to the arena with their heads held high, unfazed by Lenora's Watchog who stood waiting for Saya illuminating the stripes on his body, threatening the water type. The rodent's bulging eyes grew even larger when Saya smartly used her scallops to deflect his thunderbolt attack. Bianca and I had invented that technique after experimenting with some of Raisa's moves.
Unable to hide the spring to his step the black haired teenager who practically paraded through Nacrene City agreed to train Bianca for her upcoming battle with Lenora. In my opinion, fighting her would be a much better occupation than cleaning his already brighter than the sun Basic Badge. He started acting somewhat like himself after I suggested I could tape the badge to his forehead so he would never have to let it go. Helping Bianca was a more pressing matter, especially after I caught her studying her last remains of mushroom soup obviously considering to drown herself in them.
The blonde, in her belief that Lenora was unbeatable and probably more powerful than the entire Elite Four hoped Oreo would evolve gaining her an advantage against Lenora's Normal-type Pokémon.
I too had decided to get in some training before taking a chance against Lenora. Challenging trainer upon trainer Marron evolved into a taller, slightly different version of himself. Remembering his loud cry and seeing him bathed in a brilliant light still made my heart skip a beat. His opponent an extremely tough Servine found herself face to face with a haughtily sneering serpent. She didn't stand a chance.
"Alright Cheshire, double team one more time!" Arching his back the feline once again filled the clearing with exact copies of himself. Raisa who found herself surrounded by glittering emerald eyes and slashing tails neighed unhappily, her kind didn't enjoy being surrounded.
"Like we practiced guys!" I yelled taking a step back when dozens of Purrloin's ran for cover, already aware of the incoming attack.
Storing electricity in her jagged horn and releasing it with a loud bark Raisa sent an unavoidable ring of power towards several purple cats.
Only three of Cheshire's copies managed to remain unscathed. After hours of training Raisa had finally mastered a move Cheren called 'Shock Wave', according to him it didn't do that much damage but it never failed to hit the mark.
Counting this time Cheshire had managed to sustain his double team only once and without that large boulder to hide behind there would be only one dark type left on the battle field.
"Nice! Smart move Cheshire! Raisa your aim improved a lot!" I cheered watching the exchange of attacks between the two Pokémon, secretly feeling quite proud of the progress they were making.
"They're really giving it their all aren't they?" I asked Marron who joined me on the sidelines. The grass type had enjoyed his 'day off' to adapt to his new form, he had done so surprisingly easy and the one having to adjust was me, "You doubled in size!" I muttered comparing his height to my own.
"Your smugness might've tripled." I joked with a tap on his nose, giggling when he stared at my finger with a slightly cross-eyed look.
After returning Raisa and Cheshire to their Pokéballs (both Pokémon were getting a bit too enthusiastic in their friendly fight) I slowly walked towards the Nacrene Museum of Natural History, the lady sitting behind a desk in the entrance hall gave me a wave and winked. Her usual 'Welcome to our museum please enjoy your visit' had disappeared after my fourth visit. The museum itself was just too huge and I might've been a bit too distracted by the exact replica of a cavern situated somewhere in Johto.
"It says four teenagers discovered the cavern by accident," Cheren had read aloud from his information brochure, "after following their Growlithe nicknamed Robot" He pulled a slight face, "one of the boys fell into a hole in the ground."
Bianca had nudged him in the ribs, "You lost her the second she saw it." She said with a nod in my direction. The bespectacled boy followed her gaze and sighed, "Now I'll never get to see those Wailord bones…"
According to my friends I stood there looking at the painting of a rainbow colored bird with my mouth dropped like an idiot for over twenty minutes.
Marron even tried to chuck a leaf straight in my open mouth without me noticing.
Today would be Bianca's pick and slightly influenced by Cheren's constant nagging we took some time to listen to a scientist's lecture on extracting Pokémon DNA from fossils. After that we wandered past gigantic skeletons noting how reptile Pokémon suddenly grew wing-like appendages after years and years of evolution. Bianca had found herself forced to return Dodger in his Pokéball, the small terrier had been itching to steal the tip of a Dragonite's tail, resulting in a complete skeleton being not so very complete anymore. The big watery eyes he used on his trainer had nearly worked if not for Cheren.
The space exhibits humbled the three of us, and our Pokémon grew quiet all of a sudden when we entered the planetarium and stood beneath a starry sky.
"We're so small compared to all of that." Bianca whispered her eyes glistening.
"We sure do." Cheren replied solemnly squeezing her shoulder.
As I stared upwards I noticed something from the corner of my eye. It appeared to have a soft glow around it like it was radiating, "That stone." I said unable to stop myself from moving towards it. I came to a halt in front of a shelf, "It's... glowing." Extending a hand I found myself aching to touch the deep black stone.
It almost feels like it's calling out.
"Ashe?" Cheren and Bianca asked simultaneously.
Ashe. Marron hissed slashing his long tail in agitation, wrapping a slender vine whip around my wrist.
Ashe.
I jumped in surprise and turned towards the source of the sound, not quite able to shake the feeling a fourth voice had spoken my name.
It had happened again. When she checked the museum that evening before closing down Lenora could've sworn that newly arrived black rock hummed and pulsed. It had something eerie…
That morning the thing had been light as a feather, hours later the stone had become so heavy it took her a considerate amount of strength to lift it, and lifting stones had been her job for more than fifteen years. It still was.
"Almost as if it didn't want to be moved." She shook her head. You're losing it honey, maybe I inhaled too much dust from cleaning that Tirtouga shell… Yeah that must be it.
Shaking her head one last time Lenora decided to remove the troublesome thoughts from her head like she removed the sand covered apron she wore.
As if to ridicule her the innocent looking stone gave one last fleeting hum. The sound of it almost too low for human ears.
If she closed her eyes and listened closely it almost resembled a human heartbeat.
Almost.