The ancestral home of our family is a large historical mansion located at the edge of Lacunosa Town.
"Big… It's so big!" Iris exclaimed excitedly when Leticia brought us here. Even I cannot help but stop and stare the moment I was standing in front of the large iron gates that bore our family crest, an unsheathed dagger surrounded by a liepard on each side. I can feel the age of this building simply by standing here.
The gates slowly opened with a loud groan and I was brought out of my reverie when I felt a pair of hands lightly pushing me on the back. I turned my head, spotting Leticia greeting me with an encouraging smile.
"Welcome home, cousin. Come on, let's go in, everyone is waiting for you."
Home, that has always been a word that I am unfamiliar with. I never belonged anywhere, never felt any sense of belonging to anyone or any place ever since Jane died. Yet, this building is where I would grow up if Kain never interfered. I would grow up alongside my younger brother and cousins, I would grow up with a place to call home, I would grow up remembering what it means to have family and grow up knowing what it means to know that I am not alone.
Those thoughts are unnecessary because there is no going back in time, but I still couldn't help but harbour them in my mind.
"Can we go in?" Iris pulled on my sleeve and I decided that there was no point delaying the inevitable. I am home, whether I like it or not. I am twenty-two years late but I made it back. I don't even know how to start describing what I am feeling right now and a part of me just wants to turn away and never look back, to never step past those gates even if I don't know the reason why I am feeling this way. Maybe it's because deep down, I never felt that I deserved a good ending or deserved a home, much less a family.
I never felt so conflicted but Jane had returned home, houndoom and gengar had returned home, so maybe it's time for me to do the same as well, to return to the home which my younger brother that I will never meet had grown up in.
"Let's go in," I muttered, my voice a little more hoarse than usual and Iris' face broke out into a smile as she skipped happily alongside me while holding onto my hand. These conflicting feelings will subside after a while, that I am sure. No point thinking too much into it.
Leticia led us through the large and well-maintained garden that lays behind those gates. It's filled with various kinds of flowers despite the cold weather and I can see a variety of pokemon wandering about as well. Most of them are dark types, but there are still a considerable number of pokemon of other typings sharing the space as well.
We soon reached the doors of the ancient mansion which opened shortly after Leticia knocked on the door twice. A man in a suit who I presumed was the butler of this place was there and greeted us professionally.
"Welcome back, Ms Leticia, Ms Amelia, Master Grimsley and the rest have been expecting you. Can I assume that this gentleman is…"
"He is," Leticia vouched for my identity with a nod. She turned back to me while taking off and handing over her coat to Kevin like what Amelia was currently doing. "Kevin, our family's butler. His family have already been serving as our butlers for three generations."
"And I do hope this will continue for many more to come," Kevin added with a pleasant smile. "Welcome back, Young Master Jayce. I can help with your coat and luggage, if you may."
I wordlessly handed over the bag that was slung across my shoulder to Kevin, still unsure about what to do in such an unfamiliar setting. The interior of the mansion was warm and cosy, so I decided to take off my coat as well and gently instructed Iris to do the same before handing them over to Kevin. Leticia walked ahead as our guide as I took the time to observe our family's mansion. It's grand and is befitting the status of a family as ancient as ours but not to the point of being obnoxiously luxurious. Even the decorations and ornaments were mostly simple in design which suits my aesthetic just fine.
"This place isn't usually this lively. Most of the time, only uncle and his family live here, the rest of us live elsewhere but uncle has called for our return to help oversee and manage Lacunosa ever since Asher…" Amelia's voice trailed off into a whisper before shaking her head as if to get rid of those negative thoughts before putting a smile on her face. "Anyway, welcome home. Try not to get lost while you are here, I sure did when I was younger."
"This place is big enough to have dragons," Iris added before pointing at various spots which she could see and listing off the ideas in her little head one after the other. "Drei can sleep there, haxorus can live here, and maybe a druddigon over there…"
"She really likes dragons, doesn't she?" Amelia mused and looked back at me, to which I gave a tired nod in reply.
"Tell me all about it."
We soon reached what looked like a living room. There was even a fireplace with a small purple flame burning in it and upon closer inspection, that purple flame is a litwick. There were already people waiting for us there. Lexus and Mikhail had apparently reached here a step ahead of us, I could see my father standing up from where he was sitting on the sofa the moment he spotted me. There were a few other adults in the room who I can only assume to be my aunts and uncles.
"We are back," Leticia announced with a smile. "We had to take a little detour, sorry if we took a little long."
My attention was drawn to my father, who had walked up to me and looked as if was trying to say something but withheld it in the end. I guess it's the same for me too, I don't know what I am supposed to say.
"Jayce?" Iris asked cautiously as she tugged on my sleeve, hiding herself behind me the moment my father came closer.
"You don't need to be scared, that's my father," I informed Iris and gently pushed her to the front. She's still not letting go of my hand.
"Welcome back," My father spoke after another few seconds of awkward silence. "It's late and… You must be tired, so… uh…"
"I'm fine, but Iris here will need to sleep soon. It's way past her bedtime," I replied and Iris looked back up at me as though she didn't want to leave my side in this strange and unfamiliar place. I could see the silent plea that she was sending my way, so I knelt down to try and explain things to her.
"This place here," I gestured around with my hand as I said that, "is my home, and will also be yours. You will be safe here. One of the adults here will show you a room where you will be sleeping tonight. I still have things to talk about with the adults, so I expect you to brush your teeth, wash your face, change into your pyjamas, and then go and sleep as soon as you can. Okay?"
"I…" Iris' eyes darted about hesitantly, whatever enthusiasm and curiosity she had about this place suddenly evaporating into thin air. "I'm scared… I-I don't want to sleep alone."
I released umbreon out of his pokeball, who was tense and on alert as if expecting to suddenly find himself in battle in this unfamiliar environment. He relaxed slightly when he realised that was not the case and looked at me for instruction.
"Go with Iris, she doesn't want to sleep alone. This place is… our new home. No need to be so tense, you can relax."
Umbreon cocked his head to a side in slight confusion, not understanding why and how we suddenly found ourselves a new home but he did not question. He walked over to Iris and lightly tapped his paw against her leg, telling her that he will be by her side. That seemed to calm her down a little. After a little persuasion from Amelia, Iris felt comfortable enough to follow after her to her new room, but that did not stop her from looking back at me every few steps until she disappeared out of sight.
"Just to clear any misunderstanding you might have, she's not your granddaughter or anything."
The adults in the room nearly choked on air at the words I told Grimsley.
"I knew that, Leticia informed me about the gist of the situation before you guys arrived," Grimsley snapped back, the awkwardness from before temporarily dissipating from that unexpected turn in our conversation before returning once more. "Uh, uhm…"
"Grimsley, are you going to hem and haw like a swanna in heat and uh uh uh in front of your son till tomorrow morning?" A woman who I suspected to be Leticia's and Lexus' mother said with an exasperated sigh as she stood up and walked over to me to introduce herself. There are certain features about her that can also be seen in Lexus. Her hair is a dark black in colour like Lexus and she doesn't have red eyes, which would mean Leticia inherited more of her father's traits than she did from her mother because there really isn't any semblance between mother and daughter in terms of appearance.
"My, my, you have grown into such a fine young man. Ah yes, I do see a lot of Gladys in you, especially your eyes. A little shy and soft spoken too, I see. I'm your aunt Giselle, darling, I hope Lex hasn't been giving you any trouble."
"I didn't!" Lexus cried out in indignation.
"It wasn't any trouble at all," I remarked, managing to hold back the "he's not enough of a threat to pose any trouble to me anyway" that was on the tip of my tongue. "On the contrary, I find his straightforwardness to be a change of fresh air."
"What a sweet talker too. Oh dear, if only Lex has a tenth of-"
"Mum!"
"You see? You see?" Giselle pointed at her son as if to make a point. "Can't blame me for being worried about his future if he's always like this."
I would say that she should be proud that at least Lexus did not turn out to be a cold blooded terrorist or a mass murderer, but that would make the conversation go awkward very quickly.
"Giselle, it's not nice to hog Jayce all to yourself. Let us talk to him too."
"Nobody's stopping you, Gustav," Giselle retorted as a man taller than my father laughed and joined in the conversation. Beside him is another man and I realised that all of them have black hair, which would mean that this is a family trait.
My hair is a dark brown, which would mean that it is something I inherited from my mother.
"I am Gustav, your uncle, you have already met my son Mikhail. This is Gavin, also your uncle, Amelia's father, but he's not that much of a talker. My wife Ruby is sitting over there," Gustav pointed to a silver-haired woman sitting nearby and greeted me with a wave which I returned with a nod. "Gavin's wife was unable to make it tonight, but you should be able to see her tomorrow."
"It will be my pleasure."
"I have a feeling that you will fit right in here and my intuition is rarely wrong. After all, you are one of us too, a part of our family," Gustav chortled and patted me on the shoulder. "I would love to talk and get to know you better, but it's also getting late and I think it's better if you go and rest for now. We will have a lot of time together to catch up with our lives. Isn't that right, Grim?"
"Don't state the obvious."
"He's always been like this since we were boys, never saying what's really on his mind," Gustav pointed a wagging finger at Grimsley. "Gave us all a huge surprise when he managed to find himself a girlfriend. Your mother, I mean. Only she has the patience to deal with a guy like him. Oh, did you know how he met your-"
"Gustav."
"Oops, that's my cue to get going. It's late, so see you tomorrow, Jayce. Maybe we can go on a fishing trip some other time! I know all the best spots in Unova!"
"See you tomorrow," Like the man of few words Gustav described him to be, Gavin bidded farewell as well as he made his way out of the living room together with Gustav. My cousins followed their parents' example and filed out of the room one after the other after bidding us good night until only Grimsley and I were left. The awkward silence returned.
"I have the whole night to spare, be it listening to whatever you want to say to me or as aunt Giselle puts it, hem and haw like a swanna in heat and uh uh uh till tomorrow morning," I cannot help but borrow her words as I comfortably rested part of my weight on the armrest of a sofa beside me.
Grimsley pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation.
"I swear, she's going to be the death of me someday, but… I have a lot to say, Jayce, but when I see you again suddenly I have no idea what to say," Grimsley admitted. "Just… Just know that I am very happy to see you again. I'm happy that you are safe and sound, that you finally came home even if I was slightly irritated that we literally had to search high and low for you for months."
"Sorry, but at the same time, I'm not sorry. I… I have no idea why I didn't want to come back either. Maybe I'm running away from trying to understand all the new things that I suddenly have, maybe I'm just a coward that's too ashamed to come back after all I've done. I really don't know, it just never struck my mind that I actually have a home here to come back to. That word is foreign to me and at the same time, it scares me," I confessed. "But… I will try to adapt. Having a name, a family, a home, actually having cousins and aunts and uncles that I never knew I had. Maybe take up on uncle Gustav's offer and try going on a fishing trip since I've never been on one before. Shouldn't be too hard, I think."
"You will do fine," Grimsley gave my shoulder a slight squeeze. "I spoke to Alder regarding your situation and there are things that I will need you to catch up on to understand the kind of arrangements you will have to be put under due to your unique circumstances but for now, you have a new identity. You will have a new ID, a new passport, everything that identifies you as you. I took the liberty to fill in your name as Jayce Dandolos since I think that is the name you prefer to go by, hope you don't mind."
"That's nice. Thanks," I replied, feeling very surreal that I no longer need to go under a false identity.
"So, uhm…"
"So we are back to you hemming and hawing-"
"Can you stop that?"
"It sounds funny to me. I think I see where Leticia gets her sense of humour from," I smirked and my father just rolled his eyes. Maybe I should be the one directing the flow of the conversation to keep my old man from hemming and hawing any longer.
"Maybe you can start by telling me more about the family. I heard a little about Giselle and her children because they do appear in public from time to time even if they keep an overall low profile, but I never knew about Mikhail's and Amelia's side of the family until I met them. They even say that they go by a different family name in public. Not sure if I understood that correctly."
"It's an arrangement our family followed not long after the Culture Purge. Our family is part of the Five Weapons that helps lead the Twenty Assisting Houses in protecting Unova. We represent the dagger, a tool that does not seek honour nor recognition, easily hidden but deadly when unsheathed. We handle all the dirty work that needs to be done for Unova through any means necessary, no matter how ugly it gets. This is what the family that takes up the spot of the dagger has to embody and we had been sitting in this position without being replaced ever since the Five Weapons were founded."
"The twenty five families that stopped the civil war before it spiralled out of control during the Culture Purge. Led by five, followed by twenty, protecting Unova's truths and ideals until the end of time," I recited the line from one of Unova's more commonly known stories. "And our family was the very first family to represent the dagger, and we had never been replaced since because we had always been the best in what we do."
"Precisely," Grimsley nodded in affirmation. "The only other family to have never been replaced in their seat of power is the Euclid family, the Shield responsible for guarding the region. The Sword, Spear, Bow; families in those positions have been replaced several times over the centuries, but never the Dagger and Shield because we simply are that good. Elesa said that you two had already met, she herself was a Euclid."
"Was a Euclid?"
"It's a long story so I will just keep it short. The Euclids and us, we never really got along for stupid reasons that I never really understood. Despite that, Elesa's father, Ethan, and I were very good friends even if our families are always at loggerheads with each other. We were both the best candidates to become the next head of our families and we thought that the silly feud between our families will end in our generation when we finally grow into the positions we are groomed to be. When we both became the respective leaders of our families things ended up as we hoped for a few years but things just don't go our way. Ethan and his wife passed away in an accident, leaving Elesa behind when she was just a child."
Grimsley picked up and tossed a small piece of firewood into the fireplace, which the litwick residing in it happily accepted.
"Elesa's grandfather, Isaac, took over the reins of the Euclid family once more and the relationship between our families went back to what it originally was. Never saw Elesa again until she was in her early teens and our reunion was her banging on our gates in desperation and screaming for help. She's Ethan's only child and obviously, I couldn't just let her be, so I took her in."
"What happened?"
"She was disowned by her grandfather. That was not something revealed to the general public, of course, but as far as her grandfather is concerned she is no longer part of the family. She was a literal wreck back then, to the point that she was having some serious suicidal thoughts, nothing like the glamorous supermodel you see now and I couldn't imagine what Ethan would feel if he were to see his daughter like that. I made the decision to take her in under my wing even if it meant souring the relationship between our families even further but I couldn't adopt her directly, not when as far as the public is concerned, she's still a Euclid, so I did the next best thing and made her my apprentice. Like this, she now had a legitimate excuse to stay with us instead of going back to her home. Your mother liked her a lot, even treated her as her own daughter. To us, she might as well be a part of our family, even grew up together with Asher and the kids and they all have a good relationship with each other. If I recall correctly she will be dropping by soon."
"And probably annoying me the moment she sees me again."
"That too," Grimsley agreed with a smile. "Still, I'm glad she grew up well. Now, we have digressed, where were we before this? Ah, why Gustav and Gavin doesn't go by the Dandolos name in public. It's for our own protection, mainly. As I said, we do the bulk of the dirty work for Unova and we made a lot of enemies as a result. Our numbers weren't much to begin with and sometimes those who seek revenge against us would target our children instead of the adults. Our family experienced one too many of such tragedies in the earlier part of our history so disassociating some of our members from the family name soon became necessary to ensure that our family would never be wiped out. That arrangement worked in our favour and we saw no need to change things, so that practice continued till today."
"But Leticia's side of the family takes up the name."
"Only family members who the family head feels are able to protect themselves from all threats are allowed to take on the Dandolos name. Giselle is no pushover and so are her children, so I allowed them to be the exceptions. I'm still unsure if I did the right thing by allowing Lexus that same privilege, you saw for yourself how unstable he can be, but he should be fine when he finally snaps out of his rebellious phase and grows into a man. Gustav and Gavin, their expertise lies elsewhere and not in pokemon battles, and that same trait carried over to their children as well. Make no mistake, their contributions to the family are by no means any lesser than Giselle or I. While they aren't trainers, they also have their own pokemon and are nasty enough in a fight to give even top tier League trainers a run for their money."
"So do you want me to take up the family name? Or do you want me to go undercover?"
"If you are asking about my preference, I would prefer that you take up the name. After all, only someone who can take up the family name in public can be a possible candidate as its next leader," Grimsley revealed and raised a hand to stop me before I could protest. "Yes, I can guess what you are concerned about. If your excuse is that illness of yours, stuff it back in, I assure you that a cure will be found. Remember that we are no longer in Indigo, this is Unova. Do not underestimate the influence and power our family wields in our homeland. If your concern is about if you are unsure if you are capable enough for the job, stuff it back in too, nobody in our family will doubt the capability of someone who was good enough to work his way up as an undercover spy and be appointed as one of Team Rocket's Executives. That is more than what any of your cousins or Asher would be able to do. My only concern is if you are willing to take up this responsibility because I won't have an unwilling member lead the family. That will only lead us to ruin."
"If I decline, then who is next in line? Leticia?"
"Leticia is very capable, we all can see that in her when she was just a girl, but she's not exactly willing to take up the mantle. Ever since they were young my siblings and I all agreed Asher was the best candidate to fill that role, being as capable and even more so than Leticia in certain areas. Still, we know that people are capable of change as they grow older, so just in case, we decided to train and groom them both for being possible candidates to take over my position after they grew up. They exceeded our expectations, of course, but after becoming an adult Leticia had hinted to us time and time again that she does not wish to lead the family, so that responsibility fell onto Asher's shoulders. Originally, if all goes well I would be able to pass everything regarding the family into their capable hands and retire a few years later but then Plasma happened."
My father took a brief pause to recollect himself before continuing once more.
"After that, Leticia had no other choice but to assume Asher's role and prepare herself for the eventuality of becoming the next Head of the Dandolos family. She didn't have a choice after Asher died, there really wasn't anyone left because she's the only suitable candidate in her generation. Already, I'm gradually delegating more and more family matters to her in order to get her used to doing the decision making. She's doing a good job thus far, but I know she would be happier without all the responsibility she never asked for."
"You know, there's one thing that I could never figure out after so long. Why Lacunosa? Why did the Plasmas target our town of all places? Lacunosa does not fulfil the conditions of being a prime target of terror attacks."
"A multitude of reasons, really. Firstly, we still don't know how they knew, but we are convinced that they were well aware that Asher was the only Dandolos in town that day. Prior to that day, my siblings and their children don't usually stay in town, they live elsewhere to help manage matters that our family are in charge of in other places but there will always be somebody close enough to protect Lacunosa should an emergency arise. That day of the attack was one of the rare days that our work brought us all to places anywhere but near Lacunosa, which is normal because that does happen sometimes, but the problem lies in how Team Plasma knew about our schedules."
"A traitor, or a spy."
"But not from within our family," Grimsley spoke with surety. "Theoretically, if there is someone influential enough and high up on the social ladder they could possibly get to know a fair bit of our family's schedule on a particular day. In fact, our family is starting to think that there was a leak from one of the Five Weapons or the Assisting Houses, but that is a serious accusation to make so we won't be bringing that up until we have concrete evidence. We can only let our suspicions rot in the bottom of our stomachs until then."
"So they struck on a day where they knew there was the least resistance available in town."
"Correct. As for the other reason why they chose to attack Lacunosa, have you heard about our town's legend? The large meteor that came from the sky contained a terrifying monster, and at night the monster would appear along with the cold winds and take away humans and pokemon to eat them. That's why we should all stay in our homes after the sun has set."
"I'm guessing that was more than just a mere myth."
"There was really such a meteor. If you go northeast of here you would eventually reach the Giant Chasm, that's where the meteor fell. The climate there is just plain weird. The entire chasm is enveloped in an eternal winter and the terrain there is a natural maze that is filled with all sorts of powerful pokemon that should not have made their way there in the first place because if we go by what we know about pokemon migratory behaviour, it just doesn't make any sense why they are there. Our ancestors built a large wall in the direction of the chasm as if to keep something out but nobody ever managed to navigate through that maze so we could never confirm the existence of that monster."
"But if that monster is real…"
"Yes, that's what we are suspecting as well. Despite the Plasmas claiming that what they are doing is to liberate all pokemon, the way in which those hypocrites used and treated pokemon is nothing better than enslaving them. The Plasmas have a weird obsession for myths and legends that largely ties to Zekrom and Reshiram which their beliefs are based on. On the day of the invasion, there was a recently uncovered ruin which Asher had a part in excavating which was also under attack, and that ruin held records that documented quite a bit of our region's history as we later found out. That supports our suspicions that the Plasmas have a vested interest in legends and folktales relating to pokemon. So, our family decided to dig a little further into our town's history and we finally found something. A name, that was all we found, but possibly a name that was meant for the monster: Kyurem. There is also some sort of relic that Drayden's family had been guarding ever since their founding that seems to support this idea as well so for now, we assume that the legend is real and that Unova might have another legendary or mythical pokemon that we never knew of. Based on what happened that day and how they conducted their attack, we assumed the worst and assume that this knowledge is also available to Team Plasma."
"If Team Plasma's goal is to capture legendaries… It is possible. Team Rocket already proved that it was possible."
"That's why I decided that until this crisis is over or until we find a way to uproot those detestable Plasmas once and for all, the bulk of our family members will stay and guard this town and the chasm, except for those who are required to be in other places to keep things up and running. This is why we are all staying in our ancestral home for the foreseeable future."
I stayed silent as I took some time to process the information which I had learnt from my father today.
"About the succession and stuff, give me some time to think about it. Might need to discuss this with Leticia. As for Team Plasma… I might need to rethink how I am going to go about destroying them now that I learnt that their ambitions are bigger than it seems, what with legendaries being brought into the picture and whatnot."
Grimsley patted me on my shoulder.
"Just know that you are not alone, son. You have a family to count on now. I assure you, whenever one of us gets hurt the entire family will bite back. This is why we are so feared in Unova. Not just because of the infamy and the kind of reputation we built up over the centuries, but also because whenever one of us was harmed, our retribution had always been a thousand times more cruel and swift than what they inflicted on us. It was how people learnt to never mess with us. I think you already embody this quality from what you told me about how you removed the bastard Kain."
"Yeah, the looney side of me, definitely inherited that from you."
"That's a compliment to my ears."
I cannot help but let out a laugh.
"See? Looney, definitely from you."
Name: Jayce Dandolos
Age: 22
Pokemon Team:
1. Ninetales, female
2. Exeggutor, male
3. Weavile, male
4. Honchkrow, female
5. Umbreon, male
6. Hydreigon, male
7. Drapion, female
8. Zoroark, male
9. Bisharp, male
10. Shiftry, male
11. Porygon-Z, (Nosy), genderless
12. Greninja, male
13. Spiritomb, male
