(It's a short chapter, yah. I know, I know, I know. I ALWAYS get like this before a whoah major arc, and I have a LIFE now, so I update less. ALSO, it's the holidays. /Sighs/ Well, no excuses. /Laughs/ In exchange, the next five or so chapters will be EPICAL TO THE EXTREME. /Nods/
Yeah, that's the 'creature'. Okay, moving on...not much to say...I don't mean to offend any specific religion; I intend to scrutinize all of them. Fair?
I don't own Pokemon.)
The dull-eyed child stood on the street, three other children behind her. The towers of Saffron rose into the sky, providing the trees with competition. The people swirled by them unawares, until the girl handed them a flyer.
The man took the flyer, flipped through it, and nodded at them, before walking off into the chaos of the city, disappearing into the crowd.
"In the name of the Unknown God," they chanted, voices dull and bland as their clothing, "the fornicator has sinned against His omnipotence. We must treat him with a rod of iron and a whip of steel."
Most people walked past with nary a nod of assent or dissent; this was a common sight in Saffron, ever since the Children's Youth Group started up under Jimmy, (never ever James), Bishop.
Until one girl, a vagabond with a Nidoran by her side, strolled past them, tattered socks and scraps of leather that were supposedly shoes falling off her feet in rhythm with her movement.
She spoke to them, challenging them in a grackle squawk too old to be a child's voice, and yet holding some sort of pained innocence.
"Well, what'n the fuck'm I supposed to care for?" She challenged the lead dull-eyed child. The girl turned to her.
"He is a fornicator against the Unknown God." She said, as if this explained everything. The vagabond huffed.
"Who, Mister Tristan?" The dull-eyed girl nodded.
"He sinned against the Unknown God, and it is our duty as citizens in his Kingdom to demand retribution—"
"What the fuck're you, god?!" The vagabond spat. The Nidoran—a male one, mauve-colored ears standing proud and tall—arched his back and hissed at the group.
"No," the girl said with a dry patience, as if this homeless street girl tried her benevolence past the breaking point, "we are his chosen people—"
"Innit everyone god's chosen?" The vagabond said, crossing her arms over her skinny, frail chest. The dull-eyed girl rolled her eyes.
"Certainly not homosexuals." The vagabond shrugged.
"Well, what's it matter he's gay? Tristan's a good member of the Elite Four! I mean, it's thanks to him Morgan passed that act on schooling; more kids are attending now! An' then you just shit all over him like he's less'n human. That's just stupid."
A few people were crowding around the street girl, most nodding in assent. "Yanno, y'don't run this country. If Morgan feels like doin' something about it, fine. But you're not the Champion, so I don' think you can order his execution on the spot." The Nidoran by her side met the dull eyes of the children, hissing softly.
The lead girl's eyes hardened. "Go, Abel!" She tossed out a Pokeball, and a Murkrow phased out. The street kid nodded at her Nidoran. "C'mon then, Ian." The Nidoran faced his opponent, waiting for the Murkrow to take to the air.
He flapped his wings once, and stayed on the ground, flopping weakly about. The street girl's eyes widened. "What't fuck's up with your Murkrow?!" The girl's eyes crinkled in a vague smile.
"It is the Unknown God's wish that we not question his sky, or his air. Those who rise above the earth our Unknown God so lovingly crafted for us need to be taught—gently, but firmly—that the earth is our domain."
The girl felt sick. The Murkrow's wing was broken. It could only hobble slightly.
"If you don't treat that, he'll die!" The girl cried. "I can't fight an injured opponent!"
The dull-eyed child advanced—and slapped the other girl across the cheek, feeling the firm smack of flesh under her palm.
"Then you're stupid, for not recognizing an advantage when the Unknown God gives it to you. You and the rest of your rotten kind will burn in hell for eternity." The girl's eyes softened for an instant. "Join us, and be saved."
The vagabond spat in her face.
Turning on her heel, she left the square, Ian the Nidoran in tow, as the people stared.
Like clockwork, they merely went back to their routines, as the dull-eyed children started chanting again.
It was such a wonderful day. Gold and Silver had split, to, according to Gold, 'make babies'. She knew they were really heading out to check the riot damage, but knowing Gold, sex would most likely be involved anyways.
How was the Resistance Order going to go on? Did all the members still agree with Yellow's tactics? Or were they so weak as to go on with it anyway?
Livvy sighed, as she called, "Alright, let's make camp!" Her Pokemon happily nodded assent, and settled down. Jack yawned, stretched like a cat, and flumped down on the grass. Livvy smiled, and settled next to him, rubbing behind his ears before following suit, and falling...aslee...
The small creature cooed happily, finally finding her mommy again. She wobbled over to the girl, and climbed up on her chest, barely begun to develop, and sat down, staring unblinkingly into her mommy's peaceful face.
"Mommy?" Livvy's eyes shot open.
"JESUS!" She spat, shooting up into a sitting position. The young thing at her feet stared up at her. Jack snapped up, and arched his back, hissing and bristling at the intruder. He stared at the young thing, which was now filling up with tears.
"What...what's a Cubone doing so far away from the Lost Tower?" Jack said, flicking his ears in questioning at Olivia. She shrugged.
"Mommy!" The Cubone said in a cheeping voice, pointing her bone at Livvy. She pointed at Jack again, and crowed, "Daddy!" Olivia looked at Jack.
"Kill it, Useless." She said, going to wake the others up. Jack shook his head with a bit of fury.
"I can't kill her, Livvy! She's just a baby!" Olivia sized her up.
"Looks about four months old to me. Not bad for a Cubone." Jack continued to shake his head.
"They mature slower because most mothers die at birth! She's like a young kit still! Livvy...Livvy, she must've seen us at the cemetery...and she thinks you're her mum." Livvy stared down at the Cubone, pity and disgust warring in her eyes.
"Screw it. It's not worth my time." Jack spat.
"Why are you being so coldhearted!? What did she do to you!?" Livvy laughed shortly.
"My own mother failed me. What's to stop me from doing the same?"
Not even stopping to see if they were following, she turned on her heel and left for Saffron. The Cubone looked up at Jack hopefully. "Daddy?" She cheeped at him.
Jack resisted the urge to bang his head against the wall. "Yeah. Let's...let's just go." The Cubone happily scrabbled up on his back, and, hearing Grimwald's raucous laughter behind him, he started off behind Livvy.
"She'll need a name." Santi reminded him. Jack grit his teeth.
"I know. I know. Give me some time." He shook his coat out, feeling his blue rings glowing softly. Why was Livvy being like this?!
He padded on a bit behind her, watching as she burst through the gates leading to Saffron. He sighed, and looked at the woebegone Cubone.
"Jayel." He blurted out. Santi raised an eyebrow.
He shrugged. "Not my problem." Jack sighed, as Jayel began beating him on the head with her club.
He really needed a break from saving the world from a dystopian society. There wasn't really much glory in it after all.
Jack walked through the gates, and came up to Livvy with Jayel on his back, still cheerfully beating at him with a club.
"I told you to kill it, Useless." Livvy's tone was cool now, calculating as she stared at Jayel. "Cubone skulls on the black market fetch a nice price. We need the money."
Jayel stared up at Livvy, and blinked. "Mommy...? Mommy, play!" She threw her bone, and it flew about five feet and came back in a perfect arc, thumping into her hand.
Livvy merely stared for a second, before turning on her heel. "Fine. The runt stays. If it loses even one battle, I kill it myself. Understand?" Jack sighed, and nodded slowly.
He'd admitted to her that he'd loved her...and she'd said she loved him back...but now...
It was as if nothing had ever happened.
How much did he really mean to her? She was his world, his savior, his life. His mate.
And she simply walked beside him, saying nothing as Jayel pulled his ears and cheeped happily.
Jack wanted to be more than Useless. He wanted to be her shadow, her defender, her protector...he wanted to be hers.
He sighed, and shook his head. That could wait. Right now, he needed to understand why she rejected Jayel like this.
With a flick of her wrist, Olivia pointed left, and said, "We're in a big city, and there's a lot of people. Do you all mind staying in your Pokeballs?"
Jack wondered if she'd seen the anti-Pokephilia signs around. That must be the reason.
So nodding, they were all returned to the cherry and cream Pokeballs, while Olivia sighed and kept walking.
She looked up at Silph Co., and craned her neck up to see the skyscraper, shaking her head in wonder at its height.
In his Pokeball, Jack curled up and managed to peek out at her childlike wonder.
/She's thirteen, soon fourteen./ He thought to himself. He shuddered. /And I want to mate with her./ He shook his head. It was hard to realize that sometimes; for all her power, for all her bravery...she was still a child.
And yet...
He shook his head, and tried to get some sleep. He would let nature take its' course eventually.
Olivia headed past the company and into the small main square that Saffron had put up a few years ago. She watched the children playing with dry interest; and then she caught sight of the dead-eyed children, standing like sheep waiting at slaughter.
The children were standing in the square now, waiting for Saint Jimmy to come out of the Church and bring them to the Saffron City Children's Youth Group. Olivia happened to be walking past when their Pokemon were out of their balls.
/help me they took my wing I cannot fly/
/Weres my momma momma were are you were/
/They're going to kill us all—/
/Save us girl save us please/
/DON'T WALK AWAY PLEASE SAVE US PLEASE WE—/
Olivia gasped, collapsing to the ground and shuddering, sobbing hysterically and rocking back and forth, as the Pokemon stood stock still. No one moved.
The Pokemon hadn't even spoke, not in chattering cries nor Translator shrieks.
/IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD LIVVY/
"It's all a lie," she choked out in a sob that came out like a laugh, "they're all lying to me—"
/Just because you're in your head doesn't mean it's not real, sadly./
There.
The voice of reason.
She was still shaking though, and found she couldn't stop. It just kept going through her body like an electric shock made of ice.
She heard doors flung open by strong hands, heard muted cheers of dull joy, as a booming laugh rang in her ears.
A minute later, she heard footsteps, and looked up, as her thoughts fled at the sight the man with huge hands and a falsely warm smile, like fluorescent lighting.
"Hello, there, young lamb of the Unknown God!" He boomed cheerfully. "Welcome to Saffron City Children's Youth Group!"
As she felt small, insectlike touches scurry her into their waiting arms, she only had one thought.
/Everyone in this city appears to have gone mad./