An Age of Valour
by the Lady of the Mists
Chapter Twenty-two: "He's Back"
The night was relatively quiet after that incident, apart from Umbreon being extremely nervous and Lydia having to continuingly pet him in order for him to calm down. She didn't blame him, though; she had already guessed the reason for his nervousness, even though Jesse and Jennie didn't understand the real reason behind it.
Of course, Jennie had to go and bring it up at the morning breakfast table, right when they'd all woken up. "Who were those guys last night, anyway?" she asked. "I mean, it seemed like Umbreon knew the blond one."
Umbreon got up and walked away, a deep moaning sound coming from him. "What's up with him?" Jesse asked, glancing sideways at her. "Who was that guy? Did Umbreon know him?"
"All too well," Lydia said, giving him a sideways look. "The blond guy was Umbreon's former trainer." She had recognised him after awhile, remembered him from her vision when she'd entered Eevee's mind at the Rosewaters Isle Pokémon Centre.
Jesse's mouth opened slightly and he closed it, shaking his head in disbelief. "So that was the guy that . . ."
"Made Umbreon all worked up about fire Pokémon trainers, yes, that's the one," Lydia answered as she stood up, walking over to Umbreon and sitting down next to him, stroking him gently.
"I don't get it," Lydia heard Jennie said and her brother instantly launched into an explanation, which she tuned out as she turned her attention back onto Umbreon, who laid his head into her lap as she stroked him behind the ears.
"So, that was him, huh?" she asked softly and Umbreon looked up at her, a sad look in his eyes. "That was your former trainer." She sighed. "Look, I can't tell you that you're never gonna see him again, because I have the feeling that we haven't seen the last of him, but I can tell you this: justice will be served. I promise, he's gonna be spending every moment in jail that he deserves. It's just the 'when' I'm not sure about. But I promise, Umbreon, he's not gonna touch you, not while I'm around."
Umbreon seemed to accept this as he stood up and licked her face appreciatively and she laughed, hugging Umbreon tightly. "All right, you want to rejoin everybody else and have some breakfast?" she asked and Umbreon barked in agreement as they headed back over to the group. Lydia pulled her Pokéballs out of her pocket, releasing their occupants before she sat down with her friends.
"He all right?" Jesse asked her, looking over at Umbreon as he sat with Smoochum and Poliwag. She nodded with a smile at him. "Good. So, are we gonna be worried about the spiky-haired guy from last night or are we just gonna wait until he shows up again?"
"I don't think he's really a threat," Lydia said slowly. "A bit cryptic, but he could've let those guys fry us, but instead, he just scared them off." She shook her head. "I don't know what it is, but I think he's on our side." Lydia frowned. "Okay, when did we become a side?"
"Since all of these guys from this mysterious organisation started tracking us down," Jesse answered as he leaned back against the log. "But I'm not as sure as you are that this guy is on ours. Maybe he just wants to play mind games with us. If we see him again, then why don't you take a little peek into his mind, okay? That way we'll know for sure whose side he's on."
Lydia sighed as she looked at him. "Jess, I can't just go poking my head into everybody's mind whenever I want to." She folded her arms across her chest. "It's unethical. Besides, it tends to scare people away. Sometimes being a psychic sucks." Jennie laughed and she smiled. "Anyway, we'll just add it to the list of things that we're gonna ask Uncle Jack when we call him. Man, that list's getting long, isn't it?"
"Well, we're not going to learn anything just sitting here," Jennie announced, "so let's hurry up and get back on the road, because quite frankly, being here creeps me out a little after that little incident last night. Those guys are gone for awhile, right?" she asked.
"I think so," Lydia assured her. "For some reason, they strike me as the night time evil-doers. Hey, maybe they're vampires!" she said with a grin, causing both Jesse and Jennie to laugh.
"For some reason, I doubt it," Jesse said, shaking his head. "Come on, let's eat."
--
The sun was already bearing down upon them as they walked through the woods that would lead them to Route 37. Once or twice, they stopped for challengers, but mostly, they went on their way until Jesse suddenly called, "Hey, look! Isn't that Violet City?"
"Yeah, it is," Lydia said as she saw where he was pointing. "I forgot we were supposed to stop right by it on our way . . . think we should stop or just keep going? It's only a day or two until we reach Ecruteak, anyway. There's not exactly any real reason to stop."
"How about the sun's going down and we're not going to get much time in anyway?" Jennie muttered. "We've been roughing it for a couple days, Lydia, can't we just crash in the Centre tonight? I promise, I'll be good and rested tomorrow and at my full strength if we can just sleep in an actual bed tonight."
Lydia cocked an eyebrow and Jesse rolled his eyes disbelieving. Jennie reluctantly dropped the act. "Okay, maybe not, but how much further could we possibly get tonight? And we'll have nice soft beds and a decent meal," she pointed out. "I don't mean that personally, Lydia, I love your cooking, but I need a nice, at home meal every once in awhile or . . . can we please just stop? My feet are literally killing me."
"Oh, all right!" Lydia said in mock exasperation as she shook her head. "Might as well, we're here."
"You give into her too easily," Jesse told Lydia. "You keep it up and then she's gonna have you wrapped around her little finger . . ." Jennie scowled at him as they walked down the hill towards the Pokémon Centre. "Oh, well, the Pokémon could use a check-up, I guess."
"You guess?" Lydia sighed. "We've been coming across trainer after trainer ever since we left Goldenrod." Jesse sighed, conceding her point as they walked through the doors. "Anyway, now would be the perfect . . ." Her voice trailed off as she saw the man standing at the desk, talking to Nurse Joy. "Uncle Jack!"
He looked around as he heard her voice and grinned broadly. "Well, well, if it isn't my favourite niece," he said with a grin as she hurried forward to hug her uncle tightly. "How are you, kid? No broken bones or anything?" he wanted to know.
"Sprained arm, but it healed," Lydia said with a shrug. She'd taken the bandage off the day after they left Goldenrod and was able to move it without much difficulty. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, just had some technical difficulties with the equipment, was giving them a hand," Jack replied with a shrug. "Hey, Jesse, how's it going? And who might you be?"
"Uh, this is my sister Jennie," Jesse said as Jennie said hello, shaking hands with Jack. He nodded in admission as he looked at the three of them. "It's good to see you again, sir."
"So, what's going on, you three?" Jack wanted to know after they admitted their Pokémon and headed over to the waiting room to talk. "Linton said that you called while I was away. Sorry I missed your call, kiddo," he said to Lydia. "It was urgent business."
"No, it's okay," Lydia assured him. "Actually, um . . . we just wanted to know if you knew anything about their dad." Jack looked surprised as he looked at the Turner siblings. "You said that you knew Jesse's grandfather, so we just thought we'd ask."
"Knew you'd ask me eventually," Jack sighed. "Well, not a whole lot is known about Jared Turner, until he turned up about fifteen years ago and met your mother. That was back before I knew him, when he was all of eighteen and determined to enter the Pokémon League. And I mean, way determined. Would have done just about anything to get in, even if it was illegal." He shook his head. "Well, he fell in love and his dream suddenly became meaningless. He became the kind of man that every girl dreams of marrying. I can tell you this much, kids," he added. "He loved his wife enough to give everything up for her. And he loved the two of you even more. And that little sister of yours. What's her name? Janet? Jean?"
"Jamie," Jesse said quietly. "I don't get it, though. If Dad was everything that you describe, then how come he left us? Why didn't he stick around, even if Mom didn't want him to?"
"I'm not sure," Jack answered as he leaned his arm across the back of the couch. "But I can tell you this much, he's been helping out over the past ten years in more ways than you can imagine. There's something coming, something big, but nobody knows what it is." He smiled at their confused faces. "Oh, don't mind me, I've just got my mind on a bunch of things. The point is, if you want to know why your dad didn't stick around, the only thing to do is ask him yourself."
"Oh, sure, we're just gonna go up to his house in Ecruteak, knock on the door and say, 'Hi, Dad, remember us? The kids you abandoned? Mind if we come in, sit down, and have a long talk about why you left us?'" Jesse looked exasperated as he said that.
"Well, that's the direct approach," Jack pointed out. "I would suggest being a tad less confrontational about it, but otherwise, you've got the idea." He chuckled as he looked towards Lydia. "So, how's the road been? Won any badges?"
"Three, we're on our way to gym four," Lydia answered, pulling out her badge case to show her uncle. He smiled, looking proud and wistful. "So, you got any info on the gym leader in Ecruteak?" she wanted to know. Jesse made a face at her and she shrugged. "Well, we asked him about your dad, didn't we?" she pointed out.
"I'm gonna go get something to eat," Jesse sighed. "Jen, you coming?" Jennie nodded as she followed her brother out. "It was nice to see you again, Mr. Talon."
"Yeah, nice to meet you," Jennie told him, leaving uncle and niece alone in the lobby.
"Nice kids," Jack muttered. "I don't get why Jared would have abandoned them like that, though."
"From what his letter to Jennie said, it didn't sound like he had much of a choice," Lydia told him. "She said that he said that her mother told the judge that settled their divorce a bunch of stuff so that they were never able to see him. He didn't really want to leave, but their mom didn't really give him much of a choice. What was he like, when you first knew him?"
Jack sighed. "He was . . . a lot like your dad," he admitted. Lydia's eyebrows went up. "The only thing that he cared about was Pokémon, Lydia, I'm not going to deny that. They were the only thing that he lived for. Until he met their mother. He was a real piece of work." He shook his head. "So, what's going on? You look distracted? Something happen?"
"Yeah, uh . . . we've been having a lot of run-ins with this girl named Alicia Knightly," she answered. "Says that she works for some organisation that uses Pokémon to try and control the world, to take it over or something. We've escaped her several times, but she keeps coming back." Something flickered behind her uncle's eyes, but it went by so fast that she thought she imagined it. "And then yesterday, we got attacked by Umbreon's old trainer and two of his friends. They were about to force us into a Pokémon battle to steal ours, but this guy appeared out of nowhere."
"What guy?"
"I don't know," she answered. "Tall, spiky-haired, good-looking. About fifteen or so. Dark hair, blue eyes. He scared them off and then said that I needed to use my powers to my full potential or I was gonna end up losing everything."
"Did you tell him that you were psychic or did he just sort of know?" her uncle asked, frowning.
"No, I didn't tell him," she answered, realising that now. How did he know about her powers? Was it possible that her uncle knew him, that he was a friend of Jack's? "Do you know who he is? When I asked him who he was, all he said was that he was a friend."
"I have an idea," Jack murmured. "A very good idea." He shook his head. "You don't need to worry about him; he won't hurt you. If anything, anybody hurts you and he'll have something to say about it. Go get something to eat, kiddo. I'll see you before I leave, all right?"
Lydia sighed, realising she wasn't going to get any more information out of her uncle tonight and headed into the cafeteria. But as she passed through the doors, she heard Jack say one last thing.
"He's back."