Chapter 119:
Goodbye, Halcyon Days
Pokémon List:
Luna (Kirlia)
Fay (Riolu)
Midna (Zorua)
I realized that I must have looked like a freak to any onlookers. I had tried to make myself reasonably presentable, but my attempt at it failed disastrously.
As I dragged myself through the starlit streets of Alamos, I tried to cling to the shadows. Although that didn't help my image, it hid the vague brown-red color on my clothes and the sore state I was in.
Besides, shunning the light right now felt like the right thing to do. It allowed me to avoid looking at myself too much. I felt more like a cloud of thoughts, incoherent and free, just waiting for my own slow body to catch up with my nimbleness.
My wet clothes were glued to my skin, I felt my skin burn where the water had whipped me, and overall, I felt horrible.
Luna led the way. I think she could have squeezed out one more teleport for the both of us, but I was sure that if she did that, she would likely faint on the spot.
The way back to our place wasn't that long, and I knew the general layout of Alamos well enough in order to avoid the streets where most people were still partying. Even if some of them started asking questions, I would claim to have been robbed, act like I had encountered a wild water type, or just pretend to be drunk.
Somehow, the cold wind I had felt before softened into a warm breeze, some sort of condolence to my circumstances. The wind must have decided I had suffered enough for tonight.
Or maybe I was growing numb.
More likely some kind of mild shock, I conjured. The world around me did seem muted. Everything felt like it wasn't even that real or important, as if it were happening to someone else.
Thinking about how I felt, however, opened the door for other thoughts to pour through, and that was the one thing I was trying to avoid. I tried to keep walking in a straight and normal line. I wasn't injured, but my entire body felt like it was. Or maybe I had indeed been injured but I just didn't process it correctly?
Water was still dripping down from my hair, against the back of my neck, across my back, and down my leg, where it left me to fall down and be forgotten.
{A little further,} Luna's voice kindly guided me.
Her perfectly white skin had turned dirty because of the sand and leaves that clung to her wet body. She appeared to be mostly unfazed by the entire encounter, but even her reassuring smile faltered when she looked me in the eyes.
"You're still doing fine?"
{I am managing,} Luna said, though she avoided looking at me as she spoke. Instead, she focused on the walls, rooftops, and buildings, detecting whomever came within our range and charting the best route to avoid any awkward questions on top of avoiding having to look at me.
"Great," I said, still managing to sound sarcastic. At least that part of my brain was functioning. As the awkward silence started to overflow, my brain began to drift. I couldn't help but come back to what just happened.
"Luna," I asked, my voice shaking a little. "About what just happened…"
Luna turned around and scowled at me. A steeled expression was barely visible, but what little I saw sent a shiver down my spine. Her words ran inside my head. {I am deeply sorry, I should have taken down the Greninja the moment we entered that accursed room.}
"No, it was my fault," I said. "I should have known there was a dark type down there."
I made a mental note to myself to invest in new moves the moment the entire Alamos business was done. Luna's range of options against a Dark Type was abysmal. I hadn't really realized it because she always fought low level Dark Types such as Midna. That had never been a problem before, as Luna's mobility and overall power managed to render the Type matchup more of an inconvenience then a hard stop. But for a fully evolved Pokémon like Greninja, it was a hard counter.
Luna must have felt my inner turmoil because she said, {I promised to protect you.}
"You did nothing wrong," I responded sternly, not willing to budge on the topic. "I should be apologizing for dragging you into this mess."
Fuck, it was such a clusterfuck.
Luna stopped and gave me a narrow eyed look.
{You knew it was going to be a mess.} She turned around and continued the march forward. Yet her voice kept going through my head. {We all knew this was going to happen, yet we still went,} Luna said matter of factly, her voice not retaining much emotion. {Do not bother apologizing.}
I closed my eyes for a brief second, feeling my own disappointment wash over me. The nails on my fingers dug into my palm, giving me the satisfying feeling of being alive. Things didn't have to go this way.
Fuck, so much had gone stupidly wrong.
If I had invested more time into diversifying Luna's moveset, the entire encounter could have gone differently. I promised myself to immediately start working on ironing out the chinks in my team's defenses.
I couldn't help but to chuckle at the absurdity of my thoughts right now, trying to come up with a training regiment and considering which type weaknesses needed to be accounted for.
This was neither the time nor place to do such a thing, but it helped me clear my mind and distance myself from what happened. That was good.
The streets of Alamos Town, even all the way in the back, still were alive. There were plenty of porch lights, street lamps, and even the lights coming from inside people's homes, shining through the curtains.
Strangely, seeing all this made me feel much better. It felt like this comfy world and soft night were the real world, my world, while what happened an hour ago was somehow nothing but a memory from years ago.
I looked at my hands, expecting them to be stained red. But they looked like they always did. Even my nails were spotless. As I grasped an invisible gun inside my hand, however, I could practically see the scene in front of me happen again. I could practically see myself go through the motions. Pulling the trigger.
But now that I was up here in the open air, I felt surprisingly clean about it.
Knowing my own Pokémon were waiting a little up ahead, knowing I was surrounded by thousands of people and seeing the color-filled sky–– it all made me feel smaller, and by extension, less guilty.
A new emotion started to burn inside me, swirling around my stomach like acid. A rage suddenly worked up my system, and I had to force myself to not let out an enraged scream.
Fuck that Greninja. Holy fucking shit. Why couldn't it just accept defeat and fucking move on? Why did it put me in such a spot that I had no other option but to kill it?
Fuck, fuck, fuck. Should I be angry? Was I disrespectful, or just trying to cope with my own feelings?
I simply couldn't tell.
"Luna," I said. "About what happened down there."
{Yeah?}
I slowed down a little, allowing her to turn around and look me in the eyes. She did and her red exhausted eyes portrayed exactly how I felt.
"What I did tonight…" I had trouble putting it into words. I didn't want to say I killed the Greninja, even though I did it. But I also didn't want to make it too much of an issue, even though it felt to me like that it was a big thing. A huge thing.
Fuck, I couldn't even decide on wether I cared much or not at all. A part of myself felt disgusted, and another part felt like it was pretty damn reasonable and that I shouldn't be so hung up on it.
However, regardless of how I felt, I still had a responsibility towards Luna.
"What I did inside the bunker," I paused, allowing the weight of the subject to sink in. I swallowed, my mouth suddenly going dry. "What happened, you need to know that it was bad."
Luna gave me a strained puzzled look, as if she was really trying to understand me but simply fell short.
I recomposed my thoughts and I tried to salvage my idea of a speech. I wasn't in the best position to instill important morals onto my young partner but I couldn't let this issue fester.
"I killed that Greninja. And that was something bad." As soon as the words left my mouth, it felt like a hollow excuse, a recited statement without any feelings or truth.
I tried again.
"I killed the monster, I didn't want to, but I had no other choice." Because I made a crucial mistake. "But that doesn't change the fact that I did something wrong, something you should never do—"
{You saved my life.} Luna's quiet voice had interrupted my own words.
"Because I fucked up first," I argued. "But that doesn't change that I did something horrible. I want you to understand that."
Luna gave me a contemplated look. Her worn out eyes met mine. She looked me straight in the eyes, as if challenging me to look away.
When I didn't, she nodded slowly.
{If you say so...} she said reluctantly, but I could see from her darting eyes that she didn't feel nearly as convinced as she should. Nor was I myself, really.
I let out an exasperated sigh and continued the walk back.
"Look, just don't tell the others, let's keep it between us for now."
{Sure.} Luna said, her smile sweet like poison.
With that smile, we continued heading for our place.
We walked for at least one entire street before Luna's steps faltered in the middle of a side alley that funneled into the main shopping district.
I just happened to glance up at the sky when I saw a bright spot above me that hadn't been there before. I looked up and saw a sphere hanging in the sky. It wasn't just that, somehow, the sky had turned from black into a soft blue color.
As I stared at the sky, one thought ran through my head. Well, that's strange.
The sun was out in its full blazing glory and the entire sky was cast in its usual palette of white foamy clouds and orange coloured sun. I could feel the warmth of the sun wash over me.
But strangely, although it appeared to be noon and the sun was violently beaming down on the city, it was somehow still completely dark all around me. It was hard to describe how it actually looked because what was happening in front of me defied all logic.
The light from the sun didn't illuminate the city at all, as if I were looking at a still image of a sky instead of the real deal. Like two realities had been merged together with no regard for how things were supposed to work.
It reminded me of when you fell off the map in a video game and you could see the sky for what it really was, just an image wrapped around your world.
But this was real life.
I blinked again, trying to look into the sun.
The sun was moving.
My eyes widened. That was not the sun.
And then the sky was dark again. Filled with deep colors and countless stars covering the world like a comfy blanket.
The world was normal. Nothing had happened. Everything was perfectly fine.
The normalcy of the night almost hit me; the whiplash and change in color werestartling.
What the hell?
{It's here.} Luna said.
Darkrai.
A sudden cold wind blew through the alley. The temperature dropped, and I felt my skin crawl.
Of course, I couldn't catch a break. I looked at my hand. Touched my own face. Then, when my fatigue caught up with my surprise, I groaned out loud. I felt raw and underprepared for whatever was coming next. I just wanted to go to bed and continue with all the bizarre shit tomorrow. I could feel Luna's doubts blending through me, but at the moment I felt only like fighting.
"Darkrai, you there?" I asked aloud, shouting the words without any regard for the neighborhood or the fact I must have looked like a complete lunatic. At that moment, I just didn't want to deal with being cautious.
"Face me if you dare!" I challenged the dark creature, not feeling like playing the game of hide and seek at this hour.
The world looked like it did before, a canvas of shadows, darkness and lights. A perfect place for a creature of Nightmares to play hide and seek.
Except, I was too tired to deal with that shit right now. I was at my limit.
"I know you've been stalking me. If you want to kiss me so badly, might as well do it here and now." I yelled, my voice was somewhere in a frequency between annoyance and anger. I couldn't decide what I felt most exactly myself.
I waited, my eyes moving from shadow to shadow. Everything I could not see was a potential hiding spot. Fuck, it could be invisible. All I knew was there. Somewhere, untouchable and lurking.
{And it's gone,} Luna announced.
I released a sigh and turned to Luna. "Okay, tell me something I didn't know."
Luna rolled her eyes but reluctantly spoke. {When we first met, I was being attacked by Zigzagoons. That was because I took something from them.}
I nodded. "My original hair color isn't blue, before I came here, it used to be pitch black."
{Really?} Luna asked, looking far more surprised than she should have, considering what happened today.
"Yes." I answered shortly, not really feeling like talking about the past. But, at least I confirmed that we were not in one of Darkrai's nightmares. I was really doubting reality for a second, but apparently, the sky disappearing was just a normal real world thing.
Why, though?
I felt like so much was happening, and yet, despite it all, I still had no answers.
What was up with the weird glitches in reality? It happened when I entered the town as well.
Was it because of Dialga and Palkia? Or did something else cause it? Something that came from deep underground.
As we traveled the last few streets in silence, I began to wonder. I visited two crime scenes today, the town's square, in front of Godey's towers where Darkrai had dropped the body, and the place where the guy came from that now held a corpse of its own.
Dropping a body in a public space like that was most likely meant to be a warning. Maybe for Greninja. Darkrai must have known the guy was up to no good, but not where he came from.
It was a mess.
I tried to sort out my thoughts, separating from what I knew for a fact, and what I theorized.
Darkrai was on the hunt. I knew that. It claimed 1 life, most likely, while interrogating the guy in some sort of manner, hence the prolonged and unnecessary suffering the victim endured.
Either because Darkrai was unsatisfied or just trying to gain more intel, it dropped the body in a public space, perhaps to provoke anyone who was in cahoots with the victim? A threat, then? Or a trap.
I, because I wasn't stupid and knew how to read, managed to find the guy's home base.
An underground bunker beneath a fast food restaurant. He must have come from that place. The laptop was his after all. Even had a name: Robin Glory.
A glorious demise indeed!
I had briefly gone through the laptop, and although the water hadn't caused it to malfunction, there was nothing overly useful on that brick of data.
It revealed his name and some personal information. He came from a small town in Unova. Used to be a Pokémon trainer, suffered through an accident and quit. He disappeared from the public's radar and now he was here.
There was no mention of Galactic or Cyrus, but I bet my ass that this was definitely related to it.
Somehow, Robin ended up in an underground bunker with his Greninja. He left his place and got snatched by Darkrai, who killed him. Nothing all too useful, except confirmation that he did come from that bunker.
All I got from tonight were pieces of a bigger picture and straws to grasp. And although I was slowly unraveling some semblance of a plot, the feeling I had failed utterly remained.
We reached our place without much trouble. I don't think the staff would appreciate me dripping water on their floor when they found it the next morning but I figured I just added a little extra money their way when I checked out.
I quietly opened the door of my room and I found Fay and Midna lying on the bed, Fay completely quiet while a soft snoring sound came from Midna's belly. The TV was still on, playing some kind of slice of life comedy I hadn't seen before.
A bowl of popcorn at some point had joined the pair on the bed, but now most of it was gone, or lying on the bed.
The red lights of the alarm told me it was a few minutes past 1 AM.
Quietly, I turned off the TV and put my backpack and weapons in the corner. As the weight from my body was lifted I allowed myself to exhale freely.
The warm temperature of the room, the almost complete silence of the night and the relaxed atmosphere. All of it felt really good, like the outside world was miles away from me.
I was inside my own room, and for tonight, I was done.
Luna yawned and stretched out, her tiredness now fully catching up. {Goodn—}
She dropped to the floor, not even making it to the bed before her lights went out.I gently placed her on the bed, on a non popcorn filled spot, and bid her goodnight.
Reluctantly, I stepped into the shower and allowed the hot water to pass over me and clean my body. For a few seconds, I had no thoughts whatsoever in my head. Just a blissful experience of almost painfully hot water running down my skin.
When I was finally done, I returned to my bed and enjoyed the way my head hit and sank into the pillow. I was ready for sweet ignorant bliss to take hold of me.
But as I laid down, my thoughts, unconstrained by anything to focus on, drifted back to that little room underground.
There had been one other thing I was curious about–– the metal box I found underneath the bed. The one with all the dangerous labels attached to it.
When I closed my eyes, I saw the image vividly in my mind. It kept nagging me more than my supposed first kill, or my encounter with Darkrai.
Out of all things today, that little loose end bugged me so much.
I turned around in my bed, careful not to kick anyone off it while I twisted in the blankets.
The box was a loose end.
After toying with it, I learned it was some kind of containment box, containing whatever dangerous materials were inside. There were many labels attached to it. One of the labels warned for Distorted Local Reality and Aura Infused but another one warned of it containing Highly Reactive materials.
Like a bomb.
I had left the box down there alongside the Greninja that had been guarding it. Both of us were stupid fools. I won the fight against him, but the reward hadn't been worth the kill.
The container had been empty from the start. No anomalous materials, no bombs, no anything. Just a useless container filled with nothing but regrets. And all I got for my efforts were more questions.
My first night as a killer was a dreamless one.
A/N Welcome to the Insane World of Pokémon is a comedic-slice of life - Crime Noir Coming of Age - Adventure Drama with elements of horror, the supernatural and a lack of sanity.
This is the third anniversary of the fanfic! We have reached 6000 (if this number is incorrect, please review so it becomes accurate) reviews and 400.000 words today.
Thank you all for reading.
Huge thanks to Atomic Morning for beta reading and helping with the chapter.
Well, next chapter should have some more action, so expect it to come "relatively" fast, after all, we've got a whole world of insane Pokémon to explore.
-CaptainMoonShine-
(reviews)
-Flashfyre12:
You know, I think a lot of people forget about what pokemon as a game and franchise is about; it's about the journey. The author has well fleshed out characters, any issues they have are not simply written in as an intervention, they crop up sometimes in high stress situations. Let the author add lore and let the characters organiclly overcome issues, with all the little pitfalls along the way; after all they were going for a more realistic portrayal of the Pokemon world, and the cast wholeheartedly supports their writing.
A: Well, I try to write this fic as a long web novel, instead of a typical fanfic story. I suppose it's not for everyone. But I am glad you enjoy it.
Ferno16:
Is Greninja dead or in comatose. I ask because of the dreamlike gaze. Other than that, thanks for updating
A: I hope this chapter answered your questions.
Azulasimp90
A: Good job noticing the hidden ability!