Hey guys and welcome to chapter 8. Thanks for all the follows! Enjoy!
The house was quiet. Very quiet. So quiet, in fact, that anyone entering the house would have thought that it was vacant. They would have been wrong. There was one person who resided inside of it currently. The old man didn't make a lot of noise; he just sat in the living room, sipping out of his tea cup. The silence was broken when the door to the house was opened. A younger man walked into the house and promptly closed the door. He shivered a bit, and then went over to sit on a couch opposite the old man's chair. There was some more silence for a while until the old man broke it with a question.
"How was the first day of winter?" he asked.
"As cold as the last day of fall," the younger man said.
"Still no luck?"
"No. We have search parties all over the place looking for him, but the only thing we have been able to find was his pokéball." The younger man took a gold pokéball out of his pocket and placed it on the table. "But this doesn't help us know where he might be."
"Alright, you worked hard. You should get some sleep."
"Yes, sir."
The younger man got off of his position on the couch and started to go up the stairs but stopped once he saw the coat rack. They were missing a pair of gloves and a scarf. He couldn't help but let out a deep sigh.
"We'll find him, Steven. Don't worry," the old man said from his seat.
"I hope so Jason…" Steven finished his looking and started up the stairs once more.
Jason, on the other hand, just kept in his chair, staring at the wall in front of him. "You'll find him," Jason whispered to himself, "just not the way you expect to."
Sam hadn't really ever thought of it before, but since all the trees didn't have their leaves, the forest kinda looked like one of those haunted forests that you would see in movies. Sam wasn't much of a movie person, so he assumed that that was reason he hadn't make the connection sooner. Once he had started his quest to collect all the pokémon, he didn't have time for things like movies. But now that he was so close to being done with the pokédex, he would have that luxury again soon. Sam found it interesting that even though it was the second day of winter, he still didn't feel cold in the slightest. The only time he ever did was when Lily stood beside him, and that was with the fur on. He wondered how it would feel once he was back as a human.
The group had made it to a little place by a river where they had decided to eat lunch and rest.
"Hey, Drake, can you pass me an oran berry?" Sam asked his flareon partner.
"Sure," Drake slung the bag off his back and took out an oran berry. He then picked it up with his mouth and threw it at Sam, who tried to catch it with his mouth. It just hit his right eye. Sam shook it off and started to eat the oran berry.
"Nice catch!" Lily commented.
"I'd like to see you do better," Sam retorted
"Alright, Dray, pass me a berry." Lily said. Drake took another berry out and threw it at his sister. Lily jumped up and caught it perfectly between her teeth and crunched it before she even hit the ground.
"Showoff," Sam huffed.
"You're just jealous," Lily said with a playful attitude.
"Maybe a bit," Sam replied with an equally playful smile.
"Hey, Drake, come here a moment," Cassius called out. "There's something I want to talk to you about that I think you'd be interested in hearing.
"Alright," Drake said as he went over to where Cassius was.
"So I assume that it wasn't just blind luck that you were able to catch that berry so elegantly?" Sam continued his conversation with Lily.
"Of course not. I used to do that all the time with my Dad back when I was little." Lily responded.
Lily had never told him about her dad, but Sam didn't think that it was his place to ask. Lily, however, knew what he was thinking.
"I've never told you about my father, have I?" she asked.
"No you haven't. You… don't have to tell me if you don't want to talk about it."
"No, it's fine. I want you know." Lily took a deep breath and then started. "Once, when Drake and I were still eevees, our father said that he was going on a journey. He told us that it was a pilgrimage that all persians did."
"Your father was a persian?"
"Yeah, he was. He said that he would be back in four months…" Lily closed her eyes. "
"That was 3 years ago. Truthfully, I don't even know if he's still alive." A few tears escaped Lily's eyelids.
"I'm… sorry for bringing it up." Sam apologized without even thinking about it. Looking back on it later, it was Lily who had brought it up. It just felt like the right thing to say.
"It's fine," she opened her eyes and put on a weak smile. "It's just sometimes hard to get by…" Lily stopped as she choked on tears. Sam went over and gave her a small hug. It was a bit weird, since he didn't have arms anymore, but he was still able to do it. He just stood there, comforting her for a bit, until she had recovered.
"Thanks, Sam," Lily said.
"Anytime,"
"I… just… need some time alone, if you don't mind."
"Not at all."
Sam went over to where Kate was eating and sat next to her.
"So, I was wondering why you decided to travel with us?" Sam asked the mightyena to start a conversation.
"It's because I owe you guys a debt," Kate responded. "I'll help you get home, and then I think I'll take my leave.
"Hm," Sam said in recognition. "So… I'm guessing that because you got separated from your pack by a trainer, you don't like humans either?" he asked hesitantly.
"You could say that," she replied while scarfing down the last of her berries.
"Like, not at all?"
"Why do you care?" Kate asked in a hostile tone of voice.
"Well…" Sam was trying to come up with a reason. "Drake doesn't like humans because he lost someone close to him because of them. I was just wondering if you felt the same."
"Humans in general, I have no problem with. It's just the people who capture and train us like we're pets that I have a problem with."
"I see." Sam couldn't help but feel really guilty. The reason that Kate hated humans so much was because of him. It was his own fault.
"So, what were you doing in houndoom territory anyway?" Sam asked.
"Getting stronger."
"Stronger?"
"In order to get revenge on that trainer, I need to get stronger."
Sam's heart skipped a beat.
"What?" he asked, not sure if he heard it right or not.
"I'm going to get revenge on him for taking me away from my pack and my family."
"Oh…"
"Something wrong?" Kate asked.
"No, nothing's wrong," Sam lied. "Do you know where he lives?"
"Yeah, I remember. He lives in a mansion in the northern part of the city."
"Right…" Sam said, feeling very worried now. "You know," Sam changed the subject, "you haven't even seen your pack for two years. Do you know that they're still out there?"
"Well, I hope so, I really wa-" Kate stopped mid-sentence and looked directly at Sam.
"How did you know that it's been two years?"
Sam's heart skipped another beat.
"You told me," Sam quickly came up with a lie.
"Really?"
"Yeah, when we were down in the cave."
"Oh… don't remember that."
Sam mentally gave out a breath of relief. That was close he thought. Sam needed to get a breather to take in all this information.
"Alright, good talk," he said and then got up to go over to where Cassius and Drake were.
"And that's how you can detect if it's raining or not?" Drake asked. Sam felt like he had entered the end of the conversation.
"Indeed."
"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Sam said as he approached them.
"Cassius here was just telling me about how espeons can detect weather patterns."
"It has to do with their fur and wind channels, right?" Sam asked.
"Sort of." Cassius replied. "It's actually really complicated. I can tell you about it some other time if you want, Sam."
"I would like that a lot." Sam said. "So, is it going to rain anytime soon?"
"In a bit it will."
"Do we need to seek shelter?"
"Not yet, but we might need to later. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to do a bit of meditating." Cassius said.
"Not at all," Drake replied. Cassius got in his mind-reading stance and closed his eyes.
"I still have no idea what he's doing when he does that." Drake whispered.
"I don't know either." Sam lied. He thought that if Cassius was going to keep the fact that he was human between them, than keeping his mind-reading thing a secret was a fair trade.
Drake looked over to where Lily was sitting and saw her looking down at the ground with tear marks on her face.
"She's thinking about dad again, isn't she," he asked to no one in particular.
"Hm-mh," Sam said in confirmation.
"Lily was really attached to our dad, even more than mother. When he left to go on his journey, she really didn't want him to go. And then he never came back."
"Do you think he's still out there?"
"I don't know." Drake replied honestly. "I always hoped that one day he'd just come back, or that we'd find him wandering out there somewhere."
"...I'm sorry." Sam uddered.
"Yeah… " Drake mumbled and then walked into the forest, wanting to be alone. Sam couldn't help but notice that all of the pokémon he was traveling with have lost someone close to them. Drake and Lily lost their parents, Kate lost her pack, and Cassius had lost his master. This made Sam feel especially lucky that he never had anyone close to him die.
Thinking that they weren't going to leave very soon, Sam decided to lay down on the grass and look up at the clouds. He remembered doing this when he was a lot younger with Dallas. The two of them would just lie in the grass, like Sam was doing now, and see what pokémon they could make out of the shapes of the clouds. They had this one spot that they would always go to that was close to his house. It was also a place where Dallas actively trained.
Hang on, Sam thought as he looked around. This is that place! He couldn't believe that he hadn't noticed it sooner. That also means… Sam ran into the forest and ignored Kate asking him where he was going. After a bit of running he made it to another clearing by the river with a very large stump in the middle of it. Lo and behold, who would show up there but Dallas. He was sitting on the large stump yelling out commands to his golem.
"Alright, Rollout one more time!" The golem followed his orders and curled up into a ball. He started to roll at an incredible speed around the stump. So fast, that Sam almost got knocked off his feet when it passed him.
"Alright, that's enough. You can have a break." Dallas called out. He returned the rock pokémon to his pokéball and put it back on his belt. He gave a large sigh and looked at the sky.
"Where are you, Sam?" he asked to no one in particular. "Why did you just disappear?"
Sam so desperately wanted to run out and tell Dallas that he was alright. That he was right here. But that wouldn't work. Dallas wouldn't recognize him. He would have just thought he was an eevee.
"Friend of yours?" Cassius asked from behind him. Sam jumped at the sudden appearance of his psychic friend.
"Yeah, has been for seven years."
"I see he trains his pokémon hard."
"Yeah, he does, but it's the only way to get better, right?"
"Maybe, but I can tell he doesn't love his pokémon."
"What do you mean?"
"He doesn't treat his pokémon with respect and also doesn't see them as equals. Just tools for battle. People like him are the reason that Drake doesn't like humans. You understand that, right?"
"I guess," Sam let out a long sigh. "I just hope everyone isn't too worried about me."
"We'll get you back. Don't worry."
"Yeah…"
Just then, Sam felt something light hit his head. He looked up and saw rain clouds directly above him.
"Yes… you see, when I said it was going to rain, I meant it was going to rain hard." Cassius said. "Let's get back to the others."
"So this friend of yours, where do they live?" Lily asked as they were being pelted by the rain that was now falling harder.
"In the outskirts of the city." Cassius yelled back so that they could hear him over the rain. "It's not much farther now."
"Do we really have to go into the city?" Drake asked.
"Well, if you want to stay out here in the rain, be my guest!"
Drake took the point and kept running.
The group was running through the downpour following Cassius through the forest. After a bit more running, the group made their way to a paved road that marked the fact that they were now out of the forest. Sam looked around for any people who might be here, but it looked like no one else wanted to be out in this storm either. The group continued running until they reached a bunch of houses that looked exactly alike in row. They went to the third one on the left and then went up the steps to the door.
"Let's go," Cassius said and entered through a pokémon flap in the door. He didn't need to tell anyone else twice as all of them entered through the small door. Well, almost everyone. Kate couldn't quite get through, so Cassius had to open the door with his mind and let her in that way. Everyone was soaking wet and dripping everywhere. Sam examined the house. It wasn't much really. Just a condo with a kitchen, living room, a bedroom, and some other extra rooms.
"Who's there?" a voice came from somewhere. A purple and black cat like pokémon came out of the kitchen area to where the group was. Sam recognized it as a purloin.
"Ah, Cassius, so glad to see you again. Are these your friends?" she asked.
"Indeed. Guys, this is Amber, an old friend of mine. These are the people who I have been traveling with. Amber, meet Sam, Lily, Drake, and Kate," Cassius said as he pointed to pokémon respectively.
"The pleasure is mine." Amber said. "I assume that you came in here to avoid the rain?"
"We did. Is it alright if we stay here until it passes?"
"Well, it's fine with me. Jane is out right now, but I'm sure that she wouldn't mind it either. So come over and take a seat. Tell me about what's happened in the past three months since I last saw you."
"So you were able to escape because of a stray bomb you found?" Amber asked.
"Yeah, it was blind luck that we got out of that cave." Lily said.
"Wow, sounds like you had a lot of fun."
"Fun's not the word I would use to describe it," Kate replied.
"Well, it sounds more fun than being in a house all day." Amber said as she leaned back on the couch.
"I know, how could you survive cramped up in this small space?" Drake complained.
"Oh, you get used to it." Amber replied. Her eyes lit up when she remembered something. "Oh! Hey Cass, have you heard the latest news?"
"Don't think I have." Cassius replied.
"So you know that pokémon collector up north who was trying to complete the pokédex?"
"I believe that you told me about him once."
Kate just let out a growl. This made Sam swallow hard.
"He went missing four days ago."
"Really?" Cassius said in a fake surprising voice that sounded very real. . "Do you know why he disappeared?"
"No, no one does. One day, when he went to go catch an eevee, he just straight up poofed out of existence. It's all very mysterious."
The others continued talking about this and that, but conversation was not what was on Sam's mind. He couldn't help but feel like something was up with Kate. Every now and then when he looked over to her, he caught her staring at him. It was only for a split second before she looked away.
What's her deal?
Sam heard a creak coming from the door behind him and looked to see who had entered. A woman in her early twenties entered the house. She had on a poncho and was carrying a bag of groceries.
"I'm home, Amber!" she called out in the house. "And boy, is it raining out there." The woman looked over to where the group was siting. She looked a bit confused at first, but the look soon subsided.
"Well, hello, Cassius. Haven't seen you in a while. It's hasn't been since…" the woman who Sam assumed was Jane stopped talking for a second, and then shook her head. "Anyways, you and your friends are welcome to stay here as long as you want." Jane went over with the bag and started to unload its contents. Amber started to talk about something else menial, but Sam didn't feel like listening to her. He just kept thinking of what Kate was up to.
"Alright, Jessie, can you just tell me what the optimal conditions are for us to catch them?"
"We need them distracted. Hurt or injured would be good so that they can't escape our trap. It would be even better if we could have them distrust one another and therefor not try and help each other."
"Alright, well, how are we going to pull that off?"
"I'm not too sure."
"From what I've heard," Meowth interjected, "I get the feeling that mightyena doesn't really like any of its partners. Maybe she will be the key into tripping them up."
"Well, it's a start." Jessie said. "Let's just hope that she is easily manipulatable."
"Hey, Cass? Can we talk?" Sam asked. It was now later in the day and the rain was dying down. The group was about to head out.
"Sure, what is it?"
"I think she knows," Sam said bluntly.
"Who?"
"Kate, I think she knows, or at least is catching onto, who I am."
"Perhaps."
"I don't know what she'll do when she finds out that it really is true. It's only a matter of time."
"I don't know either," Cassius replied. "But I do know one thing. I said that I would get you home no matter the cost, and I will stay true to that."
"You don't mean…"
"I do, but let's hope it doesn't come to that. Come on, we need to get going."
As the quintet left the house onto the flooded streets, Sam kept thinking about Kate. He felt a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time towards her. Knowing that Kate wanted him dead, Sam would have thought that the feeling towards her right now would be anger, or maybe fear. But it was neither of those things. No, the feeling he was experiencing was that, very much, of pain. Pain, sadness…
...pity.
Hope you guys liked it. If you want, you can leave a review. That would be cool. I'd like that...I mean... you don't have too... but...it would be cool...