A Maiden's Voyage
Chapter 7: A Woman's Ire
Well we made it to the city. The one that's barricaded from the inside and the way they barricaded it makes me wonder if they expected people to ever enter the city limits at all. Rotom and I looked up as a man looked down at us and ran over to whatever is on the other side of this gigantic wall. It seemed like the Eterna Forest would be a demilitarized zone and this was proven to me when the Society wouldn't be able to penetrate the heavily fortified wall. I never knew that the land I live on was in such turmoil over opposing viewpoints. Rotom and I both agreed we were a bit scared of what was to come when we realized we were in a completely different world where the laws of physics didn't apply here. The Society seemed to make me believe that all Galactics were blood sucking beasts that craved destruction and I was honestly a bit uneasy when I could see their disapproving looks from all the way on the other side of the wall.
The Galactics were discussing something and I saw their heads peek down at me again as they discussed some things with someone who looked in charge. A man in a silver Galactic suit called down below to someone as he descended on some stairs I inferred were on the reverse side of the barricade. A click was heard and to my surprise, the wall began moving down as though it were a facade to keep enemies out... or to keep its citizens in. The silver-suited man looked to be in his fifties as he walked over to us and Rotom looked at him virulently, as though he were gearing up to attack. The man, when he was within spitting distance appropriated a smile on his face and clasped his hands together to welcome me.
"I just want to get in I'm not a terrorist." I said looking at him, then to Rotom who continued staring down the man.
"I am Lieutenant Murphy Varin." He said eying me. I held up papers to which he looked at them awkwardly re-reading each word twice until I had to cough to get his attention.
"That is a legal document signed by the Society and Galactic leadership saying I can enter since I'm taking the Sinnoh League Challenge." I said to him, carefully. I was well aware of the malicious ways of this association and I wasn't about to be friendly with them after all they've done to my peaceful land.
"This also says that you're a Society Member and that would make you public enemy number one on my list."
"Look I don't want any trouble, my papers validate me and I'm not going to cause any disturbances so can I please just go?" I looked at him with my eyes pleadingly, but with a startling annoyance building up inside of me like this man was the root of all my problems.
"How do I know you're not just a Society operative trying to sneak into my city?"
"I'm certified. I'm taking the pokemon league challenge. I even have a gym badge from Oreburgh," I showed him. "I'm not hostile, I swear."
"You're just a little kid, why don't you just run off back into the bushes and play with your dolls?" He said shooing me.
"Why don't I call your supervisors and tell them a boneheaded Lieutenant is refusing my entrance into a city despite legal documents? I said frantically. I was well aware I had lied but it was the only way to let me into the city.
"You're bluffing." He said flatly. "I don't care who you are, you're not about to make look bad you arrogant piece of-"
"Varin!" A female voice called from inside the fortress. "Who's there?" An oddly dressed woman appeared from inside the barricade and I couldn't understand who she was until it hit me.
"S-sorry commander. I didn't mean to do anything wrong I was just following protocols." Varin's voice changed from threatening to subdued in negative three seconds.
"Protocols?" The woman laughed. Her gaze was focused on me as she left the protection of the fortress and pushed Varin aside and she extended her arm to meet mine. The first thing I noticed was her makeup was illuminated in the bright sunlight and her dark skin shone in the daytime air.
"Geraldine Swan." She said shaking my hand.
"Aria Ketchum." I said back to her, something mysterious lurked within her dark brown eyes and her long wavy hair blew in the wind that came from the forest and ascended high into the rising rocks of Mt. Coronet miles away. She wore white Galactic clothes and I could tell she was in charge.
"But the people around these parts like to refer to me as 'Jupiter.'" She said as I connected the dots and realized I just shook hands with the woman who was responsible for the Jubilife Bombings. I instantly changed my perception of this woman and swore I'd feel nothing more than hatred for her and the rest of the scoundrels that lurked in this world, destroying everything in their wake.
"Glad to finally meet someone who'll talk to me that isn't stupid." I said looking Varin in the eye, to which he angrily walked at me and Jupiter pushed him away, back into the fortified land.
"I hear you want in?" Jupiter said looking deviously at me. She thought I was some kid who got lost.
"I'm just here for my second Gym Badge, I don't want any trouble. Then I'll be on my way." I said, my eyes wandering from her to the mountains far behind her and the city.
"I see you possess a document with Mars's signature written on it. You should feel proud of your Society leaders for their hard work in restoring a once great adventure many people wish to embark." Her smile looked so real but I could feel it was fake like her eyebrows. Her darkened face diminished her facial features but I could still see the faint veins of crow's feet on her face.
"Yes." I said, not knowing what needed to be said. Geraldine Swan finally looked away from me and looked at Rotom for the first time who was also transfixed on her, too. The two of them formed a solid indecisive connection between the them that relied on intimidation and alertness. She returned to me and smiled with a reddish lipstick applied perfectly on her face, to which she turned around and walked back into the fortification, awaiting me to follow her.
I can't say I wasn't a little afraid of this place. It was like I was walking into a new world that was just outside of my own hometown. Jupiter took me over to a small building located deep within the fortification. As we approached the building I found myself looking in all directions at the first piece of Galactic Sinnoh I've seen in my life. There were people walking around in the fortified land that looked as though they were preparing for war. Men were placing sandbags on a Honchcrow's back as it flew up to the top of the wall I first saw and placed it carefully with the rest of them. In the watchtowers I saw two Galactic operatives and a Blastoise wearing a Galactic uniform as they watched the ground below, awaiting any assailants who might threaten their "peace." In the watchtower next to them, I could see two Mareep, also in Galactic uniform looking down at the scene below and I couldn't tell if they wanted to come down themselves.
The people on the ground were moving things left and right. I saw some Rhyhorn moving boxes of stuff I couldn't identify and behind them I saw a gate that seemed to lead to the city. Jupiter wasn't leading me into the city, and instead she led me into a building with a large yellow "G" painted on the top center. We were greeted by a Galactic operative who curiously stared at me and exited the building as we entered it. I could feel his eyes on the back of my head when we walked in and he watched us. Jupiter illuminated the room which looked like an ordinary conference room and she took a seat, telling me to take anyone. I took one seat sitting opposite to hers on the large conference table and Rotom floated near my head.
"Must that pokemon get in the way our bonding?" She looked at Rotom.
"Rotom and I are partners. He's staying and that's final." I looked her dead in the eyes.
"Fine." She smiled, coldly. "If you want entrance into Eterna City, we do things a little differently here. Here we abhor any misconducts within the city limits and as you can see we take extra precautions to ensure that." She said sitting forward in her chair with one hand cupped into the other as she rested her chin on top of it. I noticed the walls were very barren except for one poster of the entire Sinnoh region with the two halves denoted by red and blue.
"You've come a long way haven't you?" She questioned me.
"From Twinleaf Town." I said flatly.
"Oh." She shook her head as if she couldn't care if I came from the gutter. "I heard they hold a festival there. And that General Barrington makes an appearance there every so often." She smiled, still looking at me.
"He's someone."
"Oh, do you know him?"
"Are we playing the question game because I have things I need to do."
"Now, now, Aria. I'm just getting a feel of you. If you seem okay enough to roam through my city then I'll let you but I need to make sure you're not up to anything, okay?" She smiled so sweetly and I could see through her red lipstick and her crows feet to the deep hatred she had for Barrington, when all I knew about him was that he was the leader of my region and that he was creepily looking at me at the Twinleaf Festival.
"Okay I don't know him at all, except when I was registering for the League, he was staring at me weirdly. That's all." I said looking at the table.
"Sure?" She tilting her head. I could tell she wasn't pleased with my answer and was hoping for something else. I shook my head in silence as she nodded hers looking at the wall behind me.
"It's just you and Rotom? No friends on the journey?" She began again.
"No, my friend's families forbade them from coming with me because they said it was too dangerous."
"And dangerous this world is." She said nodding her head. Then she looked up at the ceiling. "It's funny, you know how long people fight and murder. It's a never ending cycle that flows through all of history and it's not worth anyone's time." This angered me deeply. "I've been at war for now, for about twenty years." She paused. "I was, I think around your age when the war began in my hometown of Sunyshore. I was thought of as a smart, young woman who was planning on becoming a software engineer at the University and I had a full ride and the support of all my peers. Then, when war collapsed I found myself choosing sides and so I sided with Team Galactic or die, basically." She paused again.
"Why are you telling me this." I eyed her angrily.
"Because I know you know terrible things about me." She looked down from the ceiling and into my eyes.
"What?" I looked frozen. Rotom noticed my discomfort and started shaking as if to leave the building. I looked up at him and he ceased, but he never looked away from the woman.
"I've only just met you." I looked at her dumbfounded.
"You're from Twinleaf Town. Where they host the Twinleaf Festival and everyone gathers to celebrate the ongoing battle against Team Galactic. I also am aware that they extensively tell the younger people there about the 'terrible ways' of my organization." She said looking from me to the door and back.
"I'm sure I am a large topic of discussion and I don't really feel the need to repeat the things I've done." She said focusing her gaze on me.
"How is that supposed to make me believe you? You have the blood of hundreds of people and your hands. Something you can't wash away." I spewed my anger at her. She remained calm and I saw her look to the door, not moving away from her comfortable position.
"Can I show you something?" I watched, with ire as she stood up and walked into a room adjacent to the front of the stony building. I could hear her shuffling through her things and she sighed when she came across a paper that she took with her back into the conference room. She propped the piece of paper before me and Rotom became tense as she walked close to me.
For determination and fierce passion for the science of engineering, this certificate of excellence is presented to Geraldine L. Swan, for brilliant conduct in achieving the Mastery of Science thereunto which presents a startling new face in the world and to therefore replace the great minds of a land that which was no more but revitalized with this young, brilliant mind. I read it out loud. I looked at her and she was just staring down at the diploma, recollecting past memories of her life. I wasn't sure it the diploma was fake or not but I still didn't trust her.
"I know the things I've done can't be taken back. Everyone in this world has done things they can't take back. Sometimes I have bouts of regret because I hear screams in the deep inner reaches of my skull."
"And you think you're sob story and a diploma is going to make me forget about all the lives you took? To win some war?" I stood up, not going to take anymore of this bullshit.
"Listen you little whore." She said slapping the grand tabletop with the palms of both hands and my eyes widened. Rotom became increasingly agitated now. "I can send your little behind back to whatever dirt gutter you came from if I had a mind to. I'm under oath from my superior and General Barrington to welcome you brats into my city and if I so much as catch you spitting in the wrong direction I will personally whip your sorry butt back to wherever it is you're from. Are we clear on that?" She looked at me, flaring her nostrils in anger.
"Crystal."
Rotom and I stormed through the rest of the Galactic settlement and reached a gate. I was blown away by that woman, Geraldine Swan. The fact that she was trying to gain my sympathy. My sympathy? I just can't right now. I need to sit down somewhere. Rotom and I walked no less than thirty seconds before the bright red roof of the pokemon came into view. The sun was shining in the bright sky and it was starting to get a little dimmer, unlike me. I was burning with emotion when Rotom tried calming me down.
"I'm so pissed off." I looked down the road as I looked around the actual city, with Rotom floating beside me. We walked straight into the pokemon center and I needed a place to let off some steam. The center wasn't too busy and a boy who was handed back his Chikorita noticed me sitting down angrily.
"She's crazy." Rotom said.
"I am so done with these Galactics. I can't wait to get back to Society Sinnoh and be done with this place." I looked at him. Rotom was hovering up and down in agreement with me and out of the corner of my eye I saw the boy holding his Chikorita, looking at me. He looked as if he were my age but we of course didn't know each other.
"Are you okay? You seem really out of it." The boy said taking the seat next to mine. His Chikorita squirmed in his hands when it saw Rotom and in response, Rotom buzzed intimidatingly.
"I'm just not in a good mood." I said looking at Rotom.
"Well I can tell you're not from around here, I've never seen you here before. M-My name's Medgar." Medgar had really dark hair and a small, round nose, but he also had innocent pale blue eyes that looked at me curiously, as though nothing in this town could ever possibly enrage someone as much as it had caused in me. I explained, in brief, the situation with Commander Jupiter and he looked around the center, making sure nobody around could threaten him before nodding in agreement with me. He told me that she was becoming increasingly oppressive on the citizens after she got a warning from the other commanders that the Society was dramatically increasing surveillance of the Eterna Forest. I didn't quite understand why he was telling this to me but it helped calm me down a little.
"There? Are you not angry anymore?" He looked innocently at me. I nodded and looked at his Chikorita that was cuddled up in a little blue ball taking a nap in Medgar's arms.
"I should probably tell you my name is Aria."
"That's okay, stranger or not, I don't like seeing people angry. It doesn't do well to the already crumbling atmosphere of this city, I do the best I can." He said smiling.
"I volunteer at the homeless shelter on the other side of town, where we help feed people in need. I find that people who learn to help others learn to help themselves find internal joy. Perhaps you would want to join me?" Medgar said, cracking a little smile.
"I would love to." I said looking from Rotom to the boy. "I'll go with you to the shelter and later can you show me to the gym in this town? I came here to face the gym leader and leave this place as quickly as possible." He blinked.
"Well, sure I'll of course walk you to the gym and perhaps then we can have a battle?" He said smiling at me.
"Sure, I could use some practice before my gym battle." I said.
"I don't understand I thought you wanted the gym badge?" Medgar looked at me confused.
"What?" I said. His Chikorita looked up at me and giggled.
"Oh." I said, blushing.
The entire day went by really well. Medgar took me to the shelter and we spent a good two hours until the sun began going down, handing out food and drinks to impoverished people. Many of them welcomed Medgar as soon as he walked in through the doors and I was just his plus one. Rotom floated by my head as I handed a tray with bread, warm chicken noodle soup (that I scooped out of a huge cauldron) and a small bowl of white rice to people who smiled warmly at us. I also met some people who were friends with people from Twinleaf Town and asked me to relay their greeting to some of them back home, despite me not knowing some of the people they had mentioned.
That day I didn't think about the Commander or Team Galactic and just enjoyed myself with all the people I had met. It was bittersweet saying goodbye to Bruce, Lynn, Phil and Old Mags when Medgar and I left the shelter but I promised them all I'd return and spend the day, again. Medgar and I got to know each other a little better and I was surprised the Gym Leader was so active in the cities inner reaches but more so that he was so young. I asked when he had become the gym leader of this city and it turns out he had only been a gym leader for about two months now. But in that time he's only had a few battles and none of them were for League challengers. I told him I was the first of many trainers to come and he shook his head excitedly when I said both sides of Sinnoh agreed to pardon trainers taking the Sinnoh League Challenge.
"Where can I find a place to sleep, tonight?" I looked at him, laughter still in my voice as he had just told a funny joke about a Galactic Grunt.
"I have a house, a couple blocks away from the gym. It's pretty big and you could stay there the night if you like." He said, trying to make it sound like the idea wasn't a little bit weird.
"Sleeping over at a Gym Leader's house?" I laughed. Rotom looked at me cautiously and I returned an eager, carefree look.
When we walked to the large house in the south side of town Medgar reached into his blue pants pocket and grabbed a silver key, which he used to unlock the front to his house. I walked in, looking at the beautiful paintings and was impressed by the cleanliness of such a marvelous place.
"Where are your parents?" I turned to him after admiring a painting of yellow and blue swirls in a gorgeously painted night sky. He looked downcast as the last word breached my lips and spread out to his ears.
"They were killed in a fire when I lived in Hearthome City." I just looked at him, shocked. Rotom stopped where he was floating and just looked at the sullen boy, not too much older than I was.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"No. It's fine. I've looked past that. I have this spacious house to spend the rest of my days with my pokemon. In peace." He said, looking at the paintings and the chandelier.
"My mom died, when I was born and my Dad thought I was gone too but the doctors were wrong and I was born a live baby." I tried leveling the mood. I didn't realize why I told him such a deep fact about myself, but there was something about Medgar that made me trust him and it wasn't his pale blue eyes, but something much more magnetic. Something I couldn't wrap my brain around.
"Thanks, Aria. Now let's see where you'll be lodging." He said returning his smile back to his face. We walked up the stairs of the large red house and down a brief red-walled hall, where he came to a dark door and opened it.
He showed me inside the nicely decorated room and I could tell this was designed for guests, only. It was quite a large room with red walls and elegantly arranged drawers that I observed were vacant. He showed me the bathroom that was beautiful in itself and I thought about taking a shower in the nice home. Too bad I didn't pack any clothes. Looks like Rotom and I are going shopping tomorrow.
Medgar left us alone and I quickly jumped into bed, recollecting the day in my thoughts as I tried snoozing away. That night I thought about my terrible encounter with Commander Jupiter, but it was mended by Medgar's sweet personality. I remember feeling so guilty when he begged for my forgiveness when it was too late to have the gym battle. He swore we would have our battle first thing the following day at his gym which he said I would love. I found myself enjoying the places Medgar showed me and all along I thought about leaving this place and never turning a blind eye. But Medgar opened it and I loved him for that.