XXII
Quash
It was the early evening when Shiri and Ashton made it back into Viridian City. Ashton drove his car through the quiet roads of the city, neither he nor Shiri feeling talkative. The silence was filled by a synthy track playing from his stereo.
He pulled up outside the small house Shiri shared with her mother. Her mother's car was not in the driveway, and as they did not have a garage, that meant Elise was at work. Ashton considerately parked on the street, and the two of them made their way inside.
Everything was just as it had been since Shiri had left on Friday. It had been four days, yet at the same time it felt like a lifetime since Shiri had been home. So much had changed in that short time.
So much Shiri needed to explain to Elise. She hadn't been able to when she had called earlier. That was a conversation meant to be had in person.
Considering the time, Shiri figured her mother was closing the restaurant that night and would not be home for several hours. Ashton settled down at the dining table, setting up his laptop and Shiri's notebook, while Shiri checked on Briony. The nidoran was asleep in her little bed in Elise's bedroom, and on her way back, Shiri gathered some snacks from the kitchen.
When Shiri returned to the dining table, Patches was sitting on the table and pecking at a few nuts Ashton had given her. Shiri let Boltund and Houndoom out. Both pokémon sniffed around their new surroundings. Shiri called to Boltund who approached her, his wiry tail standing upright in curiosity.
"This is my home," Shiri said to him, petting him behind the ears. "This will be your home, too." Boltund opened his mouth to pant, his tail wagging now, and he seemed happy.
"Look at you, trainer," Ashton said with a grin.
"Hardly trainer," Shiri said, settling down in a chair beside him. "But we're partners, right?"
"That's one way to look at it."
They settled into their research. Ashton had spent much of the train ride between Goldenrod City and Saffron City emailing everyone he knew about Pokémon Labs, Inc., psychic abilities, weird phenomena about pokémon, and anything else he could think of that would give them leads. He had his email inbox open on the laptop screen, scrolling through the various subject lines.
One email was from the contact which had sent the link to the video Shiri and Ashton had watched that morning. They reported that within half an hour of that first email, the video had been removed from the forum and the post locked. The contact had downloaded the video, luckily, and sent the file in the email. Ashton immediately downloaded it to the harddrive.
Beyond that, there was hardly anything about Ashton's inquiries into Pokémon Labs' history beyond what was already publicly known. Their history was clean–or as clean as a megacorporation could get. It was full of growth, sales, mergers, acquisitions. Praise for low product costs, high employment opportunities, convenience to the end consumer.
The sort of rhetoric that made Ashton feel sick to his stomach. He hated the language of business. It seemed like the only language his father spoke.
"Dead end," Shiri said, resting her chin on her hand as she watched Ashton scroll.
"They know how to keep their image clean," Ashton said, his voice tight with frustration. "But whatever. They can't hide their dirt forever. I'll find it." Shiri reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze. He let out a long breath, gave her a smile, then returned to his inbox.
As to his second inquiry–about psychic abilities and more specifically seeing auras–there was a little bit more.
"Psychic abilities ain't uncommon among people," he said as he scanned some of the linked articles from the responses. "Psychics tend to keep psychic pokémon, sharing kinship and things such as. And there are people who claim to read auras along with other types of divination. But so far, I haven't really found what you're going through."
"Pokémon Labs has observed this," Shiri said, flipping back a few pages in her notebook. She had written down everything Simon had said to them. "Other people must have as well."
Chewing on the end of her pen, Shiri gazed at Boltund as he rooted around the kitchen, about seven or eight feet away. Even at that distance, she couldn't see his aura. Maybe there were people who could see them, but they weren't aware of their ability. This was a new development for Shiri, afterall, and she didn't even know what had triggered it.
But if they had ever encountered a shadow pokémon–and it was becoming clear that they were ubiquitous in Kanto and Johto–it would be unmistakable. If those people existed, there had to be some record of them, even if it was just a forum post of someone asking about what they saw.
Ashton scarfed down some rice crackers as he opened one more email. This one was from an address he didn't recognize, but the domain caught his attention: secc . ONBS was the Orre news network which had reported on the ousting of Cipher back in 2005. Ashton and Shiri had been reading about it the last time they saw Simon. The email contained a short message and a link:
Mr. Kayano,
You may find this helpful. Shadow pokémon never went away. We made a mistake. If you need anything, please reach out.
-Secc, ONBS Global.
The link was an article on the news network's website, and the headline read, "Orre's Psychic Heroine: Rui Explains Her Remarkable Abilities in Exclusive Interview." It was dated nearly seventeen years ago.
A year and a half ago, Orre was plagued by a horrible combination of pokémon theft and the development of shadow pokémon. These shadow pokémon were powerful and dangerous, the dark creation of former corporation Cipher. Cipher's power had our beloved Orre in a chokehold. Their executives were found in powerful positions all over the region: in Pyrite, in the Underground; even the mayor of Phenac City, our capitol, was under the control of Cipher.
It is thanks to the intrepid efforts of Wes as well as his loyal partner Rui that Cipher has been pushed back. Wes and Rui are an inseparable team. Wes has a superior command of his pokémon partners, and Rui possesses a mysterious ability that helped the duo identify these shadow pokémon. Today, Rui sat down with ONBS' own Marcia to shed light on this ability.
Beside these introductory paragraphs was an image of the young woman in question. She was a white teenage girl, decked out in clothes befitting any teen at that time: a white mini-skirt, a layered purple t-shirt and a denim jacket over it. Her bright red hair was styled in two little tails on top of her head, her round face framed by bangs. She had massive blue eyes that sparkled with her wide smile.
The interview, rendered in a script format, continued on.
Marcia: Thank you, Rui, for taking the time to speak with ONBS today.
Rui: It is my pleasure.
Marcia: We'll get straight into it. Rui, you have said before that you are able to see something which differentiates shadow pokémon from regular pokémon, is that correct?
Rui: Yes. I'm able to see a shadowy aura around them.
Marcia: Can you expand on that and explain what an aura is?
Rui: I think so. An aura is like a field of energy that radiates from any living thing, including humans and pokémon. Everybody has one, but most people can't see them. When a pokémon has had the door to its heart closed, their aura becomes extremely dark. It's also much bigger. It's very noticeable for me.
Marcia: Do you know why their auras turn dark?
Rui: Not really. Wes and I have been researching this for months. My best answer right now is that the process of closing their hearts off has a very negative effect on their well-being. The shadow aura is very aggressive. It's almost like the pokémon is in a permanent state of aggression and anger.
Marcia: And they are more aggressive, correct?
Rui: Yes. There were several times when the shadow pokémon Wes rescued would attack him. There were a couple that tried to attack me too. Sometimes battling would make it worse.
Marcia: That sounds horrible.
Rui: It is, but that's why it's important that we helped them.
Shiri turned away from the screen for a moment, her hand over her mouth. It was exactly the same as she had experienced. She felt relieved and exhilarated to know she wasn't alone, that she wasn't just losing her grip on reality.
But she couldn't be overwhelmed with positive feelings. Rui had spoken about the fact that these pokémon were suffering. Shiri had felt that, somewhere inside of her, like an instinctual knowledge that came from her bones. Even despite what Simon had insisted.
Ashton, who didn't seem to have noticed Shiri's reflective expression, leaned forward as he read on and whispered, "Oh, damn, you see this?"
Shiri turned her gaze back to the screen where he was pointing.
Marcia: Are Team Snagem and Cipher totally gone now?
Rui: We don't believe so. We have eyes on the inside at Team Snagem, and it seems they are still active, although they do not appear to have any contact with Cipher. But where there's smoke, there's fire, you know?
Marcia: And are you taking any measures to prevent another incident?
Rui: Wes and I are working with Professor Krane and Lily Russo out at Pokémon Labs HQ. They are busy developing technology which will be crucial to combatting any further attempts at closing the doors to pokémon's hearts. We may not know if or when Cipher will return, but we can be as ready as possible to stop them right in their tracks.
Professor Krane and Lily Russo sounded familiar. Shiri glanced through her notes as Ashton spoke. "Lily Russo is the mother of Michael Russo."
Shiri froze, gazing up at Ashton. "The CEO of Pokémon Labs today."
"You got it, girl."
Shiri gazed at the screen again, not seeing the words displayed there. Michael Russo had helped to oust Cipher in 2005, Shiri recalled. Then he took over the Pokémon Labs company and had turned it into the machine which now churned out shadow pokémon and dispersed them among the people of Kanto and Johto. At one time, Michael Russo had opposed the people making shadow pokémon. Then he became one of them.
How did that happen? The big money question.
A jingle of keys in the door made both Shiri and Ashton jump. Elise walked through the door, dropping her keys on a small table beside it and kicked her shoes off. She looked over at Ashton and Shiri at the dining table, a smile coming to her full lips. "I was wondering if you two had finally run away and joined the circus." Her eyes fell on Boltund, who had trotted over at the arrival of a new person, then Houndoom, who had settled under the table, and Elise's eyebrows rose. "Perhaps you have."
Ashton chuckled and stood up as Elise walked over. He hugged her warmly in greeting. "Don't you worry, ma'am, I brought Shiri back safe."
Shiri met her mother's gaze. Their last conversation hadn't been a happy one, but Shiri was relieved to see her mom again after the last four days. She had been awash in feelings of uncertainty. Her mother's presence, her smile, could make those feelings disappear for a little while.
Elise passed behind Shiri and hugged her shoulders. Shiri gripped her mother's hands in return, warmth filling her body. "Thank you, Ashton," Elise said, nodding to him. "And could you do me a favor?"
"Yeah, shoot," Ashton said cheerfully.
"Go home, please."
Ashton met Shiri's gaze briefly before closing his laptop, the click resounding in Shiri's ears. "Right, yeah. I'm sure you two have things to discuss." He shoved his laptop into his back, and called Patches to his shoulder. One of the best things about Ashton was his ability to shrug off awkward situations. "See y'all tomorrow?"
Shiri gave him her best smile, but it felt weak. "You know it."