Here we go! We're past 80,000 words, and I'm confident that this will be a story that will make it over 100K. If so, that would put me in an elite group among Pokemon fanfictions. Not only will I be proud of this accomplishment, but I hope that this will gain me some more recognition. It's not that many people who are in this group, after all.
Answer: As record45 told me her favorite scene was this, I also have come to love the first attempt at going for the flower. I also like how the flower has turned up in the hospital in the last chapter; that's one of my favorite scenes as well. Really, I love ending scenes/chapters with characters falling unconscious, because I see it as a good way to build tension.
Question: Do you enjoy reading/writing action scenes or non-action scenes more? Do you find battles boring, I guess is what I am trying to say.
In any case, I bring you another chapter. And we have entered the month of June as well (or we will be tomorrow), which is pretty awesome, since this is the month I was born in.
One thing: Even though I have been to New York City twice in my life (my sister goes down there far more often, since she's really into theater), I don't really know the whole layout of it. One of my friends from summer camp gave me a tour (he lives down there), and I felt completely out of my element.
GARFIELD'S POV
Man. That was pretty shocking.
I had always thought that Kieran was going to be the kind of person who would absolutely refuse, point blank, to tell you anything about himself. It would be one thing to reveal a potentially embarrassing secret or moment from your past, but revealing that you were dying? Man, that took guts.
The reaction was almost immediate. Lucas sat up on his bed, eyes as wide as dinner plates, at least the type of dinner plates that they give you at restaurants to put your appetizer bread on. Michelle looked as though she was about to sob, and Malcolm flat-out keeled over. Clearly, the young Zorua was fine, because he got up right afterwards, rubbing his head. He hadn't completely fainted, so I didn't think he had to see the doctor about it.
"So...what did you just say?" Eric asked. Clearly, he was just trying to avoid the topic, pretend that he had never heard it.
"It seems like a disservice to have hidden it from you guys for so long, but it really is true. I'm fucking dying" Kieran said, almost in a taunting tone. "And I really do think that you guys deserve to know that".
"How do you know you're dying?" Malcolm asked incredulously. "None of us can predict the future".
I wanted to explain to Malcolm that there were other ways of dying besides in battle. Perhaps of illness...then again, he was just a kid. Ten years old, apparently. And, while I would have thought that this would be an old enough age to comprehend the reality of diseases being causes of death, I might have been wrong on that.
"A few years ago", Kieran said, "my parents took me to the hospital to get an EKG test".
"Which one is that?" the young Zorua asked. "Is that the one where they put tubes in your arm?"
"No" the dying man explained. "What they do is, they sit you down in a chair and put all these wires on your chest and arms. It makes you look like a huge science experiment".
"That's pretty cool" Malcolm said.
"It's not cool when you consider what it's for" Eric said. "It's to measure the electrical activity of your heart, to make sure that you don't have a heart condition or anything. Can you explain what it is, Kieran, that you had?"
"Wait…", Michelle began, "...did you know?"
"No. But it does sound like Kieran here had some kind of heart condition".
"Have, Eric Owsley. I still do have it, and my life expectancy is only twenty-five years old. And I'm 24 right now; my birthday is on December 17. That's not a long time; I might only have a few months left to live".
"Sorry to hear that" said Lucas. "Is there anything you can do? What condition is it?"
"It's called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy" said Kieran. "It means that my heart muscle is thicker than most, which is a big problem. Like I said, it's not curable, and it's slowly killing me".
"You don't act like it" Lucas said. "You sound pretty healthy to me".
Kieran laughed sadly. "Some days are my good days. Some are my bad days. Lately, though, I've been having a lot of good days. I wonder, how long can that last before the final spiral downwards? I try not to think that way, but it can be hard when you're aware of your impending death".
"You can still complete the quest with us, right?" Malcolm asked.
The dying man looked at the exuberant young Zorua, a determined expression on his face. "I'm going to complete this quest if it kills me. There's just too much at stake".
The knowledge that Kiean Mortimer was terminally ill was depressing, but it was also alarming. It told me that he had nothing to lose, since he was going to be dead in a few months, most likely. If that was the case, what prevented him from betraying us, figuring that he wouldn't have to live with the consequences too much longer?
The fact remained, however, that we had trusted him up until this point to help us, and I didn't see why that would have changed. After all, he'd still been sick even before he had told us that. And, he'd helped us rescue Lucas from Team Rocket's clutches. Why would he go through all of this trouble, only to end up turning on us and killing us at the very end?
Even so, I had a hard time getting to sleep that night. I was constantly thinking about possibilities as to why Kieran would be so willing to trust us with this information. I had been made aware by Lucas, Michelle, Samuel, and Malcolm, back when the former was staying in the hospital part of the Pokemon center, that Kieran had attacked them once before. Why would he not do that again?
The truth was, I didn't have much of an answer to that. However, my dwelling on these thoughts led to yet another vision of the past that night.
Over the next week, I did various odd jobs around the small town of Skylock. It was a very tight-knit community, but, when I was given questions about where I was from, or my background in general, I refused to answer them.
The reason for this was, I didn't trust people too much. I'm one of those who tends to be skeptical of people I have never met before, along with generally preferring to keep much of my identity a secret. That's just another part of my personality.
For the most part, except when I was directly asked, I never even revealed my name. The only things I really needed it for was when I was going to eat at the restaurant, or for the hotel I was staying at. I got small amounts of money for the jobs I took up, which is enough to support yourself if you live in a hotel and don't have too many belongings to speak of.
Instead of buying a gym membership, something I would have had a very difficult time affording, I went on jogs along the harbor. I was quickly becoming a member of the community, albeit reluctantly, and I was recognized by a few people as Garfield O'Shannon. For most people, however, this was a name that they did not know I had.
One day, however, I was on my typical morning jog when I saw a van pull up in front of me. It was a white van, which already meant that I was inclined to be suspicious. However, I became more suspicious still once I saw who was inside it.
Black uniforms with the eighteenth letter of the English alphabet stenciled in red. In addition, the two young men both held Pokeballs in their hands. Which could only mean one thing. Team Rocket.
Of course, I'd heard of the evil organization. I had heard that there was a base near Penobscot Bay, and, while this was more of a Mid Coast section of Maine, the fact remained that it wouldn't have been too long of a drive from a town like Camden.
One of the young men recited the Team Rocket slogan, albeit excluding the part about Meowth. It wasn't the traditional trio of Jessie, James, and Meowth. Their name tags read TODD and RICH, so it was easy to assume that those were their names.
"Should we look for...which type, again?" Todd asked. He had a smug grin on his face, which made me like him even less than I already had.
I don't like to admit this, since it's a little embarrassing, but I ran. I ran so far away, all the way to the farmer's market that was just setting up for the day in a park by the sea. I looked back to see that Rich and Todd had followed me. I wished that I could have gotten rid of them, because they were jeering the whole way, while coming up with plans to steal some rare Pokemon.
Rich held out his Pokeball once the three of us had reached the market. "Houndoom, tear this guy apart!"
I froze in place as the large, antelope-like Pokemon emerged in a beam of light from its Pokeball. A second later, I realized that I shouldn't be doing that. I should be doing something, because I didn't want anyone in the marketplace to get hurt.
The Houndoom began prancing through the farmer's market, upsetting a wheelbarrow full of apples. Before I could do anything to try and stop the destruction that was being wrecked upon this small-town farmer's market, a middle-aged woman screamed as Houndoom tore through her shopping cart full of watermelons. This was not good. I had to stop it quickly.
Rich was within striking distance. He was probably too focused with watching Houndoom prance through a pile of peaches to care that I was about to hit him in the head.
With one blow, the young man had fallen over backwards into a stack of muffins on a table, sending both to the ground.
"NO!" Todd yelled. "You're going to pay for this, you little fucker!"
It was ironic that he called me little, since Todd had to be several inches shorter than me. The other Team Rocket grunt threw his Pokeball on the ground, which resulted in a Mightyena exiting.
Mightyena bared its fangs before charging directly at me. I ran right out of the way, stepping over the unconscious Rich, as well as the tall man behind the muffins. An upset bottle of Sprite Zero lay on the ground, which was pouring onto Rich's pants, making it look as though he had had an accident. I tried not to snicker at that.
Mightyena began causing a ruckus along with Houndoom, sending carrots, melons, apples, and berries crashing towards the ground. It was clear that this scene was not going to be met with leniency by the police, once they came. It wasn't often that Pokemon attacked humans like this; one of the key purposes of battling, besides being a spectator sport, was so that Pokemon would be less likely to get bloodthirsty and attack humans like this.
Here, a farmer's market was being disturbed, and all because of these two Team Rocket grunts.
Houndoom was munching on an apple pie that had been sent clattering to the ground, while Mightyena was still standing next to the upset table full of muffins. The man behind the counter had been unable to move out of the way as Mightyena took a large chunk out of his leg. Blood was flowing all over his khaki pants, and I knew that he needed help, fast. Human bodies were not nearly as durable as those of Pokemon.
I kicked Mightyena in the ribs, not feeling any remorse for it. After all, it hadn't had to attack those innocent Civilians that way; it really hadn't. The way things had been going, there had been no other way. I had had to attack the Team Rocket grunts, or else things would not have worked out at all. Plenty more people would have gotten hurt, although the farmer's market would have been beyond saving.
I had to get out of there. The police might think that I had been involved with Team Rocket, helping them try and catch valuable Pokemon. I didn't want to stay here with those suspicions against me. I wasn't in the mood to undergo a heavy amount of questioning.
LUCAS'S POV
The next morning, I felt much stronger still. Clearly, sleeping in a normal Pokemon center bed had helped to do the trick, as well as eating real food for a change. I'd gotten nothing to eat at the Team Rocket headquarters, and that had been a hellish experience. Hopefully, I would never have to go through anything like that ever again.
We ordered breakfast from the cafeteria, and I was definitely enjoying the French toast with strawberries. I looked across the room and saw that Kieran was looking unusually relaxed for someone who had just come out as being terminally ill. That was definitely not a light revelation to give.
In addition, the fact was that I was nervous myself. On one hand, the farther away we went from the headquarters of Team Rocket, or rather the Maine branch (since there were branches of Team Rocket all over the country, and indeed the world), the safer I felt. Even though I had been unconscious when I was rescued, and not able to appreciate what lengths were gone to in order to make that possible, I'd been told that, even with everything that Eric, Garfield, and the four comrades I already had had done, it was a little too easy to rescue me. It's possible that they could have been intending to let me go even if they hadn't come to save me. Or, possibly the more likely scenario, they were once again going after us. We'd definitely have to be careful about that.
On the other hand, we were heading down to New York City. I'm not one who likes large crowds, and going to places like Times Square can be absolute hell for me. In this case, however, we might not have a choice. And, if we were forced to navigate through enormous throngs of people, at least I had gotten the chance to recover first. I was more than willing to deal with this.
As soon as we had gotten out of the Pokemon center, Kieran called a Crobat in once again, which already had harnesses with it. This led me to believe that it was probably the same Crobat the whole time.
Was Kieran some sort of Pokemon whisperer? What if Arceus himself had granted Kieran that ability, but at a high cost...a very high cost? It's said that God works in mysterious ways, so surely Arceus would as well.
Now that he had told us more about his past, it made more sense that he had a special affinity for Poison types. It was as though there was literally poison in his body, which kind of was the case, since he was terminally ill. With that, it wouldn't be surprising that he felt a special bond towards them.
We climbed onto the Crobat and harnessed ourselves in. I didn't ask Eric why we could not have simply teleported with Mesprit, but I supposed he had his reasons. I wasn't going to question him right now, simply because I had so many other things on my mind.
As we flew southwest over New England, I felt the wind in my giant red ponytail once again. It was quite something, and flying without worrying about falling was definitely one of the most exhilarating feelings that it was possible to have. I may or may not have been holding my arms above my head like someone having a good time on a roller coaster.
"Where are we going in New York City?" Michelle asked Eric as we flew further southwest, to which Eric replied, "Central Park". I'd never been to NYC before, and so I didn't really know what to expect. Hopefully, it would be fairly interesting, while not too intimidating.
I saw the woods down below and wondered where the ruins of my house were. This wasn't easy to see, since we were roughly three or four thousand feet above the ground. I could have asked Samuel, since Lucarios could see even better than Zoroarks, but I didn't want to reopen old wounds.
I had no idea where my father was living now. There was no way that the government would allow him to stay in our old house, now that it had been pretty much destroyed by the Fire and Poison armies. Maybe he had even taken his own life, not wanting to live without my mother. From what I had seen, they had had a pretty great marriage, if my relationship with them had been less than happy.
After what must have been an hour and a half of being stuck in my own thoughts, I saw the water below me. I knew that it had to be Long Island Sound, and I now knew with certainty that we were getting close. The beauty of the entire place, from this high up, was difficult to comprehend. We were a few weeks into September at this point, and a good amount of leaves were starting to change colors. Even from this height, it was clear to see that.
"Are we getting close?" Malcolm asked. I could tell that he was feeling anxious to get moving, especially since his harness was jingling a lot, making a noise that could be heard over the wind.
"Yes, we are" Eric replied. "Central Park is right in the middle of Manhattan. We're going to land in a nearby alleyway, and then walk in there. And then, Lucas, are you going to see if you feel the tug?"
Normally, I can zone out to a decent degree when I'm doing something as thrilling as riding a Crobat 3,000 feet above Long Island Sound. It's entirely different when my name is mentioned. Whenever someone drops my name in a conversation, it's very easy for me to jump into the conversation, regardless of whether or not it is about me.
I realized what Eric was saying. "Yeah, I'll try to feel the tug towards the flower once we reach the ground. It's a bit weird that I'm the flower whisperer of this group, though, don't you think?"
Samuel chuckled. "Well, you tell me. I still remember the first attempt at getting the first flower".
It was shocking to look back and realize that our first go at the purple flower had been only eight days ago. It felt like it could have been eight lifetimes, what with everything that had changed. Being made fun of to no small degree, my house getting destroyed, the start of our quest, getting kidnapped by Team Rocket, getting my blood taken, the caffeine and treadmill, recovering in the Pokemon center, and now flying down to New York City.
And all of this had happened in a little more than a week.
After another half hour, we landed just outside of Central Park. It was a miracle that Crobat had managed to carry all seven of us at once, but we had made it into an alleyway all the same.
"So, where in Central Park are we going?" Malcolm asked. "I've never been to New York City! Always stuck in that village in Quebec, until now".
"That depends" Kieran said. "Can Lucas feel the tug towards the orange flower? Or are we completely blind going into this?"
I looked at the young man. Now that I knew he was dying, there were some signs visible on the outside that he was tired. His hair was hanging loosely, and it was clear that he didn't make too much effort to brush it. In addition, there were dark purple circles under his eyes that, if you were looking for them, were more than easy to spot. Kieran Mortimer did not look like a picture of health.
On the other hand, I'm sure that I didn't, either. My large red ponytail had been whipped around a lot by the wind, and I looked kind of like a long-haired hippie from a rock band. Of course, if that long-haired hippie had been a Zoroark.
However, that wasn't my main concern. "I do feel the tug" I said. "I can lead you there, but would it be a good idea to use an illusion right now?"
Eric nodded. "Yes" he said. "Why don't you imagine that you're a human, and you lead us into the park. Be careful not to give any verbal cues, because that breaks the illusion".
I hadn't used illusions in a while, eight whole days. Based on that, you might think that it would be tough to remember, having only done it once. However, I was more prepared than you might have thought.
Somehow, having Eric Owsley, the man who had taught me this skill, around at the tame made it easier. I envisioned my body becoming smaller, and I painted an illusion of my usual appearance over my current Zoroark body. I imagined slightly long hair, kind of between a lion's mane and the style New Englanders wore during colonial times. Unlike the 1700s haircut, I was taking the ponytail out and replacing it with hair that made it halfway down my neck.
I imagined the same steel blue eyes, golden brown hair, tall body that I had had my whole life. I changed the color of my skin from black to Caucasian, and imagined myself changing form.
I still felt as large as usual, but looking back down at my body confirmed that I had turned back into Lucas London, or at least Lucas London's human form.
I would wave back at them, show them the way, but I knew that I could not speak, for opening my mouth in order to talk would also ruin my illusion. I figured that a large Zoroark would be a distraction in such a major city, and I didn't want to cause any unnecessary traffic accidents...not that a traffic accident was ever necessary. Therefore, I should keep quiet. That was my line of reasoning.
I reached for the tug and felt it pulling once again on my invisible harness. Indeed, it was telling me exactly where to go. Even though it was not necessarily a pleasant sensation, I knew that it was a helpful one. Without it, we would have been completely and utterly lost.
SAMUEL'S POV
Lucas led us through the alleyway and into a more open area, one where you felt like you could see the sky more. I definitely felt more comfortable and happier here, like I had just gotten out of a burning desert and saw an oasis right in front of me.
It was hard to remind myself that the young man we were tailing was the one that had once been a Zoroark. Indeed, I had become so used to Lucas being a Pokemon that it was difficult to recognize him once he had become a human again. It just wasn't something I had an easy time seeing.
We were led across the street and into Central Park. In the crisp air of early autumn, some of the trees were turning color. Up in Quebec, in the Zoroark village, most of the trees had been evergreen, so you really didn't see as much of it.
Once in the park, I felt even more like a chicken with my head cut off. It didn't help that I'd never been to Central Park.
My family, my biological family (I was starting to think of this group more and more like family to me), had been fairly poor, and my parents were divorced, so we had never had enough money for any serious type of travel. Up until when we'd gone up to Quebec, I'd never been outside of New England. When we had gone to get passports, it had been kind of a joke.
Looking backwards, I could tell that the rest of the group seemed just as confused as I did. Meanwhile, Lucas was showing us the way, walking silently in a manner you would imagine a robot would, had the robot been as limber as a human.
Eventually, we arrived in what looked like a small garden. In the middle of it was a flower in a dull orange color, hidden among what looked like a lot of weeds. I had little doubt that this was it.
We had found the second flower. There was only one question remaining: Where would it ask us to go next?
A pretty short chapter, but the next one will be longer, I promise. I hope that you have enjoyed the story thus far, and will rate and review it.
Also, I will go back to releasing the chapters when they are finished. In exchange, I will look over them for one day once they are done. And, do you want a stat check?
Reviews 87 Followers 44 Favorites 31 Communities 5 Views 6,738, Traffic GraphUntil then, SnowLucario out.