You thought the last chapter was ridiculous? Well enjoy this one. xD
Disclaimer: No matter how much ridiculous I stick in it, Pokemon is not owned by me.
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Beck found himself unable to meet Sabriel's eyes the next day, as they walked along the route to Fallarbor Town. He had a hundred questions that he was itching to ask, but Sabriel made a point to act perfectly normal, albeit laughing a little louder than usual and walking with a deliberate, skittish bounce in her step. The orange bird pin she had worn was also missing, and she fidgeted with a bracelet on her wrist instead. It was obvious she was pretending that nothing had happened and was not willing to answer anything.
The boy was still rewinding the memories of yesterday, trying to figure out if what Sabriel said was true, or if it was all still one big prank. If it was true, then who exactly was Sabriel "spying" for? Why was she traveling with them? And the people dressed in black, dubbed as her enemies—that ice-eyed boy—who were they?
In his distraction, Sarah had to nearly hit him to get his attention.
"Oy. Beck." She tapped him again on the shoulder. The boy started and blinked at her like she was some sort of ghost that had just emerged from the Distortion World.
"Over there." Sarah pointed to the sky, her half-closed green eyes focusing on something. The wind blew at her hair and made a pair of small dangling Pokeball-shaped earrings she wore jingle lightly. "See it?"
Beck blinked again and quizzically followed her gaze. Wheeling amid the falling ash that constantly showered the route was a silver shadow that the weak sun glinted off of. Like a falling star in the night, it shimmered rather conspicuously as it circled the sky above them. It was…a bird?
A bird…
"What is it?" he asked, squinting, brushing some ash out of his sandy hair.
"It's a Skarmory," Sarah replied, glancing over to Sabriel.
"I see it," the other girl said, shrugging. She turned to look at him and her silver eyes made him cringe for some reason. "Hey Beck, why don't you try to catch it? Those things are rare, you know."
"Oh." Beck had heard of the metal birds and he had seen some Trainers with them. They looked strong and magnificent and he decided he did indeed want one for his lineup. "Alright. Go, Igneous! Ember!"
The Numel raised his head, fixed his eyes on the metallic glint in the air, and shot a spurt of flame. His aim was perfect, and there was a terrible screech of outrage that echoed across the field, as the hot coals hit the Skarmory, bouncing off of its armored body with discernable clinks. The Pokemon immediately dived downwards to confront the threat and Beck ordered Igneous to attack with Ember again.
The Skarmory let out another cry of anger, streaking down in a Fury Attack that Igneous took to the face, admiringly without flinching at all. The Numel batted the Steel-type aside with his head.
"One more time!" Beck yelled. Igneous managed to hit their quarry with another sputter of embers, this time causing the weakened metal avian to crash, skidding on the ash-coated ground. The boy took the opportunity to throw an empty Pokeball. It sucked the startled Skarmory in, wobbled once, twice, and then burst open again in angry white light.
"Shoot," Beck murmured, readying another one. The escaped Skarmory hissed angrily, picked itself up and fled into the air. Igneous shot another volley of Ember at it, but the bird was faster, dodging and vanishing into the veils of falling ash.
"Ah…" said the boy, disappointed. Sarah had her solemn lake-green eyes glued to the sky for a moment more, before shrugging at his failure and turning as though to leave.
A faintly playful smile danced on Sabriel's lips. "Do you want it?"
"Want what?" Beck asked warily. The voice in the back of his head, the Suspicion Voice, roared to life and screamed of some sort of trick even though out here, in the plain view of some nearby Trainers and Sarah, there was nothing that could be pulled.
"The Skarmory, of course. Do you want it?" Sabriel tilted her head, smiling at him amiably.
"But...it got away…"
The spy seemed to pout. "You underestimate me." With that, she hurled one of her Pokeballs into the air. "Get 'em, Savv!"
Her Gyarados emerged with a roar that shook the air and blasted apart the curtain of ash. The Water-type uncoiled into the sandy sky, shooting with remarkable speed through the dust. A moment later, another long drawn-out screech was heard; Savv returned with the struggling escaped Skarmory caught rather cruelly in his large jaws.
Beck wasn't sure how to react until he was elbowed in the ribs by Sabriel. The boy muttered something and tossed a second Pokeball at the Skarmory.
This time, the bird stayed in the capsule.
Feeling a great deal of gratitude to Sabriel for her help and guilt for suspecting her of wrongdoing—spy, or not—Beck rushed to retrieve his new Pokemon. He was feeling rather pleased, because he had four Pokemon now, had caught them all within a short period of time, and four seemed like a good, solid number.
"Good job," said Sarah monotonously—whether to Sabriel or Beck, the boy couldn't tell. Sabriel smiled modestly and shrugged as Beck attempted to thank her, recalling her Gyarados with a deft flick of her wrist.
"We should keep moving," she said, glancing around in a slightly odd manner. Beck was too preoccupied with his newly caught Pokemon to question her, as they pressed on with a strange sense of urgency.
They rested for a while in Fallarbor Town, where Beck got to know his newly caught Skarmory, which he nicknamed "Solo". The bird seemed to be just as sulky as Sarah often was, refusing to look at him and sitting in a corner dejectedly. He did, however, perk up a little when Beck offered him some sugar he meant to put in the tea he had purchased. Little things, it seemed, were the key.
Igneous, he discovered on the other hand, absolutely hated sweets. The Numel had made a face upon seeing the sugar cubes and refused to go within one feet of Solo as long as the Skarmory was eating them.
Beck would have liked to stay in the town, but Sabriel seemed to be in an awful hurry and she pushed them to leave even as the afternoon melded into twilight and it was obvious that they couldn't make it to Rustboro before dusk. She lead them on a brisk pace, seeming worried about something, her eyes clouded with thought. When Sarah was ambushed by a Trainer and left them briefly to battle, Beck once again wanted to ask Sabriel about the incident at Lavaridge and her occupation. She seemed, however, too preoccupied, her eyes darting occasionally to the trees and rocks and sky, like frightening things would dive out at any time.
When they reached the mouth of the Meteor Falls cave, dark had swept down the heavens, falling in black ribbons, and Sabriel finally decided to stop for the night. Beck didn't understand why they didn't spend the night in Fallarbor, but he didn't complain, helping Sarah gather firewood and set up a camping spot.
He was too exhausted by the events of the day to stay awake past dinner and curled up in a less bumpy area of the ground, close to the campfire after unhooking the four Pokeballs at his belt and setting them nearby. Sarah was sitting on the opposite side of the campfire, staring distantly to the east.
"We should get some sleep," she said, to no one in particular. Sabriel nodded absently and continued sorting something in her bag, but Beck needed no other persuasion. Using his backpack as a pillow, he laid down and closed his eyes.
The cackling of the flames quickly lulled him to sleep.
At first, his sleep was undisturbed, unbothered. Then, a dream descended upon him with dark claws, gripping him tightly in a world of falling, bleeding feathers. He was a bird again, and his wings had been torn off—he was falling, falling. Pain engulfed him, terror, and he cried out to a wheeling shape—wheeling and spinning and gliding like a wooden toy kite, like the Skarmory he had caught had been doing— that flew smoothly above him for help. The shape paused at the sound of his pleas, flapping its broad shadowed wings, and then resumed circling lazily, watching pitilessly as Beck fell screaming into the darkness below.
The boy woke with a half-muffled cry, clutching his wing—no his arm, which should have been torn off, but wasn't. Bewildered, he shot up and nearly tripped Sabriel who had been attempting to step around him.
"Ugh…" Beck groaned, realizing the girl had accidently stepped on his arm. "Oh...Sabriel…what are you doing up?"
"I'm j-just…" Sabriel trailed off, sounding startled, her voice at an odd key. Her Umbreon was standing by her side, eyes glinting dangerously. The silver disk of the moon hung low in the late midnight sky, cradled between two heavy blankets of clouds and shedding ethereal luminosity over the flat land that led up to the mountainous caverns of Meteor Falls.
"What are you doing?" Beck asked with a yawn, sitting up straight and trying to rub the heaviness from his eyes.
"Nothing. I'm just going to get a drink of water. Go back to sleep." Her voice had gone back to a friendly pitch, smooth and persuasive and innocent.
But something was off.
Beck shook his head and struggled to focus his eyes on Stark. The Umbreon stared back, something like a snarl on his face. His teeth were bared, and he was crouched, like he had been about to pounce right on top of Beck.
"That's…" Beck began, eyes widening. Sabriel seemed to realize something and hissed an order. The boy let out a muffled oof as Stark dove at him, pinning him down with strong paws. Beck struggled, but his efforts were futile, his arms restrained. His Pokeballs lay silently, a good three feet out of reach.
"I really didn't want you to wake up," Sabriel said softly, standing over him like a death angel. The white-washed light streamed through her wind-whipped pale magenta hair, giving it an otherworldly sheen. Her gleaming eyes, matching the color of the pitiless moon, were unreadable. "You wouldn't have felt a thing. But now…"
Weak light danced in her eyes, a deadly dance that matched the one in Stark's eyes. "I don't have anything against you. But you know and because of that, I can't let you live."
Beck began to say something, but the Umbreon was already lunging at him, lunging at his throat. There wasn't even time to scream.
Then, just as abruptly, Stark's weight vanished. There was a flash of purple, and Beck saw the Umbreon jerk as something hit him and knocked him away. Sabriel herself was attacked by a blur of black fur and flashing claws and she let out a cry of surprise, stumbling away.
"I wanted to get up early tomorrow too," Sarah's cool voice rang out from the darkness like a lone, pure chime. "But now I'll be all tired because you're making me miss sleep. Thanks a lot."
Stark rushed to defend Sabriel from whatever was assaulting her. Something soft and furry grabbed Beck and dragged him a few feet back. Still in a state of complete shock, Beck slowly looked up and saw the face of Sarah's Furret. He tried to move, but the Long Body Pokemon held him down with soft paws, an almost sympathetic look on his cute mousey face. Furret peered down at him with patient blue eyes, telling him to stay put.
Stark the Umbreon was locked in combat with a Weavile. Sabriel crouched down in an odd stance, with two other Pokeballs in her hand, having gotten over her surprise. Her silver eyes flashed wildly, panicked, all hints of swagger in her lyrical voice gone. Her words came out in a strangled snarl. "Who are you?"
"Who am I?" Sarah replied nonchalantly, stepping into the moonlight so that she was visible. The light streamed like a sleepy waterfall in her hair. Her lazy eyes were twin pools of lake water, the moon's reflection hanging in their unfathomable depths. "Well you've been traveling with me for the past three weeks. Shouldn't you know my name by now… 'Oriole'?" She laughed softly as she said the last word, like it was a private joke.
"How do you know—?"
"Oh, we've been keeping tabs on you." Another voice called out. It was a boy's voice and it sounded awfully familiar. The second person appeared beside Sarah, and Beck recognized him as the ice-eyed boy that had ambushed Sabriel in the alleyway at Lavaridge.
"You," Sabriel growled. Her eyes darted nervously between him and Sarah, like a cornered animal's.
"Me," answered the boy with a chillingly friendly smile. "Let's finish this, Weavile. Brick Break!"
Sabriel screamed, "Get back, Stark!"
A red laser flashed through the night and footsteps pounding on gravel reached Beck's ears, as she suddenly vanished from his view, into the darkness. There was the sound of another Pokeball activating and the roar of a Gyarados thrashing with a Water attack. A moment later, silence.
"She got away," the other boy said, sounding a little crestfallen. He tilted his head, running his hand through his curly locks, shining platinum in the moonlight.
"You weren't fast enough," retorted Sarah.
Crunching footsteps, the sound of more boots on gravel and hard ground. Sarah appeared to stand where Sabriel was a moment ago. She looked down on Beck who sat there, dazed. Her eyes were unsympathetic.
"Are you okay?" The question was more of a flat statement, something lobbed carelessly at him like a morsel of food thrown to a starving beggar by a scornful aristocrat.
Beck's lips struggled to wrap around words. "I'm…"
"Oh leave him alone. He's probably in shock. It's probably the first time anyone's ever tried to kill him in his sleep," the ice-eyed boy called casually. "How long have you been deceiving them, Oriole?"
Sarah ignored him, fiddling with one of her Pokeball-shaped earrings.
Now Beck was hopelessly confused. "Oriole?"
"That's me," Sarah said shortly, gesturing to Furret, who was still curled up like a pillow against Beck's back.
"What?" He had found his voice again and it was rising with distress. "Sabriel—,"
"—was an imposter." Sarah cut him off calmly and Beck fell back in surprise as Furret suddenly left his side. "Essentially, she was pretending to be me. Which I find very amusing." Her voice distinctly lacked any trace of amusement at all.
"Those criminal organizations just get smarter and smarter," her companion snorted, recalling his Weavile.
"If you think they're so stupid, Agent Osprey," Sarah said pointedly to him. "Then you should have caught all of their leaders by now."
"Oh give me a break, Agent Oriole…" The ice-eyed boy apparently named Osprey complained humorously. "Slave driver..."
"I…" Beck looked up with pleading eyes to Sarah, begging for answers. She stared back without sympathy. The boy swallowed nervously and asked weakly, "Then Sarah…are you really a spy?"
"…pardon?"
"A spy?" Sarah and her companion exchanged amused glances, leaving even more Beck horribly confused. "Is that what that horrid girl told you she was pretending to be? A 'spy'? How childish is that?"
"Well," Sarah said slowly, in answer to Beck's question, a very faint smile tugging at her lips. "Kind of. But not really. We're undercover agents of the International Police, posing as Trainers. The International Police keeps a few agents in every region, but apparently there's trouble here. So I was sent to investigate."
Beck now felt rather foolish, but he pursued timidly, "Then Sabriel…what is she?"
"A member of the organization attempting to resurrect Team Aqua," Osprey replied, his frosty blue eyes rolling in exasperation. "I suppose she assumed Oriole's identity to let rumors spread that the International Police were sending more agents. That's in order to help frighten their rival Team Magma into backing down. In truth, both of them are scared stiff of the agents of the International Police."
Beck took a moment to process this in his sleep-deprived mind. "So both of you are agents of… the International Police?"
"That's what I said, didn't I?" was Sarah's curt reply.
"And Sarah…you're really 'Oriole'?"
"You should go back to sleep," she said with a sigh, this time sitting down. Her Furret snuggled up to her. "And Osprey—go away. You should be in Mossdeep investigating the Space Center."
"That's the thanks I get?" Osprey laughed, as he turned away. "But fine. I'm off to slave away again." He paused, and then tossed over his shoulder, "By the way, Looker's in the region."
"What?" Sarah asked sharply.
"You heard me." Osprey stretched and stepped out of the moonlight. "Word's out that he arrived just a few hours ago—dunno why, since we have it under control. So far. You really should stay on top of the newsfeed, Oriole. Anyways, he'll probably want to say 'hi', so just telling you."
Sarah's face was blank and it was impossible to understand her response to the arrival of this "Looker" person who had apparently arrived.
Osprey sent something large and winged out of a Pokeball. A moment later, he had climbed atop of that winged Pokemon and was soaring away, his silhouette giving them a jaunty wave that neither of them returned.
Sarah murmured something to Furret who nodded. "Okay. Bedtime," the girl declared calmly, like everything that had happened was a normal occurrence.
Shakily, Beck lay back down, though he was now wide awake and his heart thrummed frantically. Sarah—"Oriole"—had lain back down, using her Furret as a pillow. He flashed wary glances at her, half-expecting her to set her Pokemon on his throat as soon as he closed his eyes.
"Go to sleep," she said abruptly, without opening her eyes. "We're going to go through Meteor Falls tomorrow and you have the Rustboro Gym to train for, don't you?"
"I…" In truth, Beck had not given much thought to his League challenge all day, ever since Sabriel had claimed to be a spy. Everything, it seemed, had gone downhill from that point.
"And don't worry," sighed Sarah again, rolling over so that her back was turned to him. "I'm not going to randomly attempt to kill you during the night. I'm one of the good guys, right?" The last line was so scathingly sarcastic that Beck expected her to spring up and attempt to kill him right there, as a follow-up.
Her final statement was exceedingly callous, but somehow reassuring. "I'm undercover, so it's less suspicious for me to be traveling with someone. So you're useful to me. I won't let you be killed off. Now, good night."
With that, she was silent.
Beck shuddered, wondering now if he was the traveling companion of the agent named Oriole, or her prisoner.
Yet somehow, he was comforted by something or tired enough, to manage to go back to sleep. Even the nightmares were buried away by his exhaustion, and his sleep was deep and tinged with only the occasional flash of gray.
He woke to the sound of buzzing and something impatiently tapping him on the face. Beck groaned, muttered something about flying pancakes and slowly opened his eyes—only to see a giant insect on his head.
Barely suppressing a startled shriek,—for even now he still felt rather high-strung—Beck shot upright and backed away from the Ninjask that hovered into the air. The Bug-type turned away from him, drifting over to a tree.
The boy glanced around. The campfire was a pile of smoldering gray ashes; it was still warm. He spotted Sarah's messenger bag piled there, but its owner was nowhere in sight. Automatically, Beck searched for Sabriel, too, accustomed to the sight of her bright magenta hair. It took him a moment to remember that she was a member of some criminal organization, whom had attempted to assassinate him the night before. He wondered if last night had all been a terrible surrealistic dream, but after looking around, Beck spotted gorges in the dirt, flurried pawprints that belonged to an Umbreon—traces of the battle that had indeed really occurred.
Shivering at the memory, Beck turned his attention back to the Ninjask.
"Are you Sarah's?" he asked cautiously, for the Bug-type seemed to be guarding the camp. The Ninjask replied with a short nod, curt and brusque just like its Trainer.
"Where is Sarah?"
Ninjask produced a thumming sound with its wings, but otherwise ignored the boy's question.
Wincing at the cold shoulder he was getting—if insects had shoulders—Beck reached for his Pokeballs, searching for more friendly company. Igneous was sent out first. He made a low sound, bumping Beck on the shoulder with his head in greeting. The boy smiled, concerns about spies and secret agents fading away as he patted his Pokemon on the head. Solo the Skarmory seemed rather annoyed at the presence of the Ninjask and its buzzing wings, and had to be placated by a lump of sugar that Beck fished from his pocket. Both Oddish and Baltoy were still fast asleep, which Beck supposed was understandable because the morning sun was still low and orange in the sky.
As Beck dug into his own backpack and searched for Berries to hand out to his Pokemon, Sarah materialized out of nowhere. Furret trotted next to her on all fours, and then stood up on two legs as they halted. He waved cheerily with his paws at Ninjask who seemed rather disgusted at his exuberance and turned away with scornfully flashing wings. Unbothered, Furret loped over to where Igneous and Beck's other Pokemon were gathered. The boy was rather surprised at the Furret's friendly demeanor, considering the personality of his Trainer.
"The way is clear," Sarah said calmly.
"The way to where?"
"Rustboro." The girl glanced around, her half-closed pale green eyes flashing piercingly, letting her normally indifferent and lazy frontage drop, to be replaced by razor-sharp watchfulness. "I've checked the area. No crazy people with Umbreons and Gyarados after us."
"How long did you know who Sabriel was?"
Sarah let a pause fall between them, as she lazily took her eyes off their surroundings and fixed her wintergreen gaze on him. A barely discernable smile was on her face. "Well, ever since I met her. Despite her swagger, I can tell you she has had absolutely no training in what you would call 'spying' and 'espionage'. If you hadn't noticed, she botched her attempt to kill you last night pretty badly. The only thing I would say she got right was grabbing two people to travel with her, to make herself blend in better. Osprey would not have noticed her at all, except that I informed him. Useless idiot," she added, as an afterthought, though there was no antagonism in her voice.
Beck shivered at the cold, casual way she talked about killing and spying and espionage. He slowly withdrew all of his team, except for Igneous. Putting a shaking hand on his partner's flank, he took a deep breath and said, "Look…I'm not sure I really—,"
"—Want to travel me with me?" Sarah finished for him, with another mirthless smirk on her face. "I apologize. But you have no choice in the matter. After all, you know about me now…while the International Police do not go about killing everyone who finds stuff out, I can't let you run free with the secret. You're stuck with me."
Beck wanted to retort sharply, but the flat look in her eyes stopped him. Her green orbs were wintry and perfectly serious, two solid slabs of ruthless emerald glass. Whereas Sabriel's silver eyes had been frightening, Sarah's were simply blank and factual, with an edge of a cold, calculated huntress. Looking at them, like that, gave him chills.
Beck nodded meekly, and Sarah took her bladelike eyes off of him. She was once again gazing off in a distant direction, even as she picked up her bag. Igneous lowed, sniffing at Beck's hand for more Berries, seeming completely oblivious to the tense atmosphere.
Furret darted over to the remains of the campfire and scattered the ashes carefully, destroying all traces of it. With his tail, he also covered over the footprints where Sabriel's Umbreon and Osprey's Weavile had briefly fought. Beck scrambled to gather his own things and rose as Sarah began walking towards the distant mouth of the entrance to Meteor Falls. He was looking at the ground and almost smashed into Sarah when she abruptly stopped.
"What is it?" he asked, torn between irritation and timidity. She ignored him, staring off to the left in a curiously intent manner. Beck looked to the same direction and saw only trees and some bushes that a small breeze blew over. Furret perked up, sniffed curiously at the air, and then glanced back over to his Trainer. He also looked evidently puzzled.
"Nothing," she said, after a moment. Her eyes narrowed at the trees. "For a moment…nevermind. Let's go."
She led a brisk pace and Beck had to scramble to catch up.
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I actually don't know what happened here, except that I made it up on the spot. So there. Hope that was random enough to entertain you. xD I am certainly entertaining myself while writing this.
Ah...too many spy movies...
Thanks for reading, as always~ :D