Chapter 17: The Old blood and the Golem
That night Nina and Jessy injected themselves with the prescription that would enable them to lactate, Nina warned Alex not to go into the master bedroom that night as both her and Jessy would be locked inside the effects of the drug causing the two to become uncontrollably horny during until morning. Alex nodded asking for Fritz to look after him getting a smile from the elderly pokemon "like very old times then" Fritz commented on the request with Scorch volunteering to guard the door.
With the night set the family split with Scorch pulling up a chair by the master bedroom as Nina and Jessy were locked inside by the cinderace, Alex was taken by Fritz into his nursery for a change of diaper as well as a change of clothes.
"Now before you say it I am not just going to send you to bed" Fritz said getting a confused look from Alex "Who are you and what have you done with my usually obedient zoroark?" Alex said in a semi-mocking tone, "funny, anyway whilst everyone else was out buying you new things I got to work on your old stuff" Fritz said taking out a pair of boxes one was mid sized much like a large christmas present whilst the other was long and thin.
"I assumed most of my old stuff was either destroyed or unrepairable" Alex said getting a smile from Fritz "no such thing to me as your granny put it waste not want not" the Zoroark said reaching into the first box before pulling out clothes clean freshly repaired looking as if it was the day he first purchased them. A pair of black jeans that he knew would sag perfectly over the ankles of the boots that followed, then his long sleeved shirt and to top it all off his jacket made from the same material as his trousers he had always felt it completed his look letting the wind break on its surface keeping him warm no matter how much the weather battered him.
"Judging from your expression you're?" Fritz questioned seeing the open mouthed smile Alex gave him "OVER THE FUCKING MOON!" Alex said with no hint of restraint, "knew you would be" Fritz said pulling off the onesie, changing his diaper and sliding the new clothes on tying the boots onto the artificial feet. "What was it that you called me?" Fritz asked then Alex looked puzzled "Fritz?" Alex answered then Fritz shook his head, "before you became my trainer and what I heard you calling me to mama" Fritz teased.
Alex blushed having never known his paternal grandfather having died days before he was born, when ever he would visit his gran her zoroark would always be by her side ash grey with red tipped hairs that often crackled with an etheric fire and an obsession with all things mechanical. He was always there from his first words, when he first learnt to read sitting on his grans lap even stood over him to protect him from his own mothers wrath.
"Grandpa" Alex let the word escape his lips and Fritz let out a more gentle smile "can you please call me that from now on? I kinda like the sound of it" Fritz said with an air of a dream on the words, "Sure…" Alex said before grinning "only because you're old enough to of babysat Arceus when he was in diapers" he added getting a laugh from both himself and Fritz.
"Well if I am that old then you as a young person won't be needing this" Fritz said holding up the long box getting Alex's interest instantly, "show me!" Alex said getting a tut from Fritz "what's the magic word?" Fritz said teasingly. "Can you show me please grandpa?" Alex asked both laughter and impatience present in his voice, "that's better" Fritz said opening the box and taking out the walking stick that was inside.
The moment he laid his eyes on it Alex's jaw would of hit the floor, made of walnut and steel with bands of brass along the length of the extended barrel ending in the clubbed end of a rifle stock. "MY GUN!" Alex exclaimed getting a nod of understanding from Fritz "not entirely I am not letting you run around with a gun, I am not THAT stupid it does not have the firing pin and the barrel has been welded shut so it meets the legal minimum to be considered 'disarmed'" Fritz explained giving Alex the heavily extended rifle.
"You turned it into a walking stick? Why?" Alex asked genuinely confused with Fritz shrugging "I was bored and didn't want to see my favourite grandchild constantly needing his mummy and daddy to hold him up" Fritz said booping Alex on the nose before sitting him up, "now say we take you out for a walk?" Fritz said and Alex nodded getting put down on the ground.
He tucked the rifles stock under his left shoulder the familiar hand grip along the body giving him something to hold onto to let it act like a third leg, "That's it" Fritz said taking a few steps back letting Alex taking a hobbling step forward then another. Alex took more steps forward seeing the happy look on his grandpa's face egging him on to keep going only really stopping when they got to the door of the nursery.
"HEY BUNNY BUTT!" Fritz called out with Scorch looking at him "LOOK!" Fritz added once he had Scorch's attention then nodded for Alex to walk, smiling knowing Scorch's reaction Alex hobbled out looking down the corridor at his daddy before waving. Scorch himself almost keeled over backwards on his seat, "Grandpa's gonna take me out for a night walk!" Alex called out with Scorch calling back "Stay safe and please come back should you encounter any danger"
Fritz carried Alex down the stairs not confident in his grandsons ability to traverse stairs just yet but set him down when they got to the back door, getting himself dressed up in a long leather raincoat and grabbing an electric lantern for himself as well as a light the clipped onto Alex's front the two left.
Walking into the orchards Alex's eyes explored the darkness the light shining from his chest lamp lighting up the trees, "so why are we walking around the orchards at night?" Alex asked with Fritz matching Alex's slow pace. "Tonks is returning tonight, before you ask what he was doing he was securing your old hiding spot I don't want to spoil the surprise we are doing with it though" Fritz said smiling down at Alex, "not even a little spoiler?" Alex said stopping looking up at a Rawst tree.
"Didn't get enough at dinner?" Fritz asked reaching up and pulling a branch down, "yea" Alex said with a blush before filling his pockets with berries "smart lets hope tree mama does not notice" Fritz said with a wink as he returned the branch.
Chewing down on the sweet berry Alex felt relief as he hobbled along "so where are we supposed to meet him?" Alex asked after a few more minutes of walking what muscles he had left beginning to burn, "follow the creepy noises we are trying to track a ghost type after all" Fritz said the smile on his face telling Alex that he is genuinely having a good time as well as reminiscing of his gran.
For Fritz it was like the adventures he had with Alex's paternal grandmother when she was a child in the Hisuian region, the pair would go looking for ghost types on walks all the time but on this night he was with Alex and the ghost he was hunting was a friend rather than a stranger. Suddenly sensing something Fritz put an arm out in front of Alex then called into the darkness, "there you are!" Fritz said aloud and the glowing grill face of a Golurk lit up the darkness.
"TONKS!" Alex said excitedly hopping towards the construct, "master" Tonks whispered out with Alex just about being able to hear its ghostly voice. Though Alex knew every noise from his golurks non-existent mouth was much softer it felt right to actually be able to understand the random noises coming from his mouth.
"Master ok?" Tonks said and to Alex's surprise he found himself being lifted by the giant from under the arms, "yea why wouldn't I?" Alex said following the small flickers of orange light in the grill that counted for Tonk's eyes. "OH!" Alex exclaimed clanking his legs together which to Alex's surprise felt more weird to actually do than to think "nothing to worry about just getting used to the new legs is all" Alex said smiling up at Tonks.
Seemingly satisfied with the answer Tonks put him back on the ground and Fritz cleared his throat "did you place the supplies where we told you?" the elderly Zoroark asked getting a large nod from Tonks, "tucked away for another day" Tonks said getting a groan from Alex "did you teach him how to rhyme?" Alex asked half seriously. "He just does that sometimes but how about we do something fun?" Fritz said jumping back a few feet before Alex could even answer, "A POKEMON BATTLE!" Fritz said and Alex took a mental double take.
"WHAT!?" Alex shouted as the elderly zoroark did a single flip backward putting more room between them settling on the ground with not a single noise, "a Pokemon battle don't you remember?" Fritz said gesturing widely "your granny would challenge you after school to see what you learnd" he added reigniting the memory inside of Alex. "You never battled Tonks!" Alex said loudly in realization getting a nod from his grandpa, "a single battle is all I ask I want to see if your skills have rusted since we last sparred" he said and with a smile from Alex as well as a small gesture towards Fritz Tonks lurched forwards between the two.
"When do we stop?" Alex asked "until one of us says stop" Fritz said digging his clawed feet into the ground, "HAMMER ARM NOW!" Alex shouted not letting Fritz have even a second of prep but Fritz leaped out of the way retaliating with Shadow ball. "IRON DEFENSE!" Alex commanded and obediently Tonks raised up his arms a shimmer of iron like energy wrapping his form letting the shadow ball burst harmlessly on it, "GOOD! USING HIS SUPERIOR DEFENCE! BUT NOTHING I CAN'T CRACK" Fritz yelled charging up a hyper-beam.
For Alex time slowed down mentally as his mind ran through thousands of possible moves and combinations, though something appeared in his peripheral sight a single Yamask was observing the battle. "MAKE HIM GO OFF BALANCE BULLDOZE!" Alex yelled and Tonk's face lit up, with a joy filled laugh the golurk directed a punch towards the ground making the wave fly towards Fritz making the Zoroark wobble.
"NOW ICE WIND!" Alex said covering his ears as the golurk let out an ear piercing scream as shards of ice and flakes of snow filled the air all being flung right at Fritz, Alex smiled thinking he had him but quickly fire and ice met as Fritz countered with flamethrower the two moves holding each other at bay.
Then there was that damn Yamask again but this time it relocated itself right behind Fritz, "almost as if it's" Alex grumbled to himself before seeing Fritz charging up hyper beam. Looking back to the Yamask a single memory cracked through his head like a whip.
On a field long ago Alex lifted Cinder off the ground congratulating him on a valiant attempt before returning his friend to his Pokeball, "you were close this time Alex" His gran said walking over to him hobbling on her walking stick with Fritz walking behind her "really close" she added with her usual smile. "But close does not cut it" Alex said more annoyed with himself for losing, "now Alex do you know what makes me a good pokemon trainer?" his gran said with a smile.
"You're smart?" Alex said questioningly getting a laugh from the old lady, "There's that deary but it's something I hope you will do yourself you should-" she said as Alex brought himself back to the modern day.
"THINK LIKE A MAD GENIUS!" he thought to himself before declaring "PHANTOM FORCE NOW!" making Tonks vanish as Fritz fired and missed striking the spot the golurk once stood, "where did he go?" Fritz said whirling around looking for the ghost. "AS BELOW! SO ABOVE! HYPER BEAM!" Alex shouted as Tonks rematerialized above Fritz before showering the Zoroark in a solid beam pinning him down with pain.
When the smoke cleared Tonks stood over Fritz waiting for orders "BATTLE OVER!" Alex ordered seeing Tonks relax his shoulders before helping Fritz to his feet, "use of a ghost type move as a utility against a ghost type? That's insane, I love it" Fritz said with a smile hugging Alex before the boy yawned exhaustion becoming present on Alex's face.
"before we take you to bed theres 1 more thing" Fritz said scooping up Alex, "hand me to Tonks, you're exhausted" Alex demanded seeing the tired look on Fritz's face before giving him a stare then folding his arms. "Grandpa" Alex said in an unamused tone getting a confused blink from Fritz, "Alright but only because you're concerned for me but stick close" Fritz said handing Alex off to Tonks with Alex getting comfortable being cradled in the golurks arms.
Alex assumed the yamask had vanished since the battle but the light clipped to his chest only revealed the dancing blob of black and gold followed the trio as they made their way through the orchard. "This is the only spot the only tree that Jessy is forbidden to touch" Fritz said as they walked into a small clearing, a path laid out in stone slabs flanked all around by…
"Heathers" Alex muttered not daring to saying the name of the plant his gran was named after too loudly, "that's right but look" Fritz said pointing to the tree that sat in the middle of the clearing bathed in moon lights glow. "The mourning tree?" Alex said curiously "but that can't be" Alex added on puzzled by the presence of the plant, though terrifying for him a single yamask was perched upon its branches.
"After you left we used your grans old house in Spikemuth as a base to operate out of, until we got this place so I asked for Jessy's help and brought them here" Fritz said and Alex raised an eyebrow "them?" he asked looking up nervously at the yamask that had an expression like it knew who he was but does not speak his name. "Look closer" Fritz said and Tonks held Alex closer to it, usually the tree appeared to be a normal if smaller than average willow but with a grey bark and leaves that cloaked it like a shawl, but this time when Alex looked at it the tree looked like another tree identical had grown up its side wrapping its branches around it as if it was both hugging and supporting the older tree.
"You...you grew one for her" Alex said understandingly looking at Fritz "I did" Fritz said as a second yamask floated down from the tree line before nuzzling up against Fritz, Alex felt terror and unease fill him but when the yamask got closer he felt it fade. The smile that could make even the largest brute put down their weapon and weep their soul along with eyes that could mend that soul, "gran?" Alex said softly extending a hand getting no words from the yamask the only thing it used to communicate was its face.
Its eyes and smile contorted into one of pride before floating up to the other yamask then the pair departed flying off into the night, Alex let out a long sigh wanting to go back to the house to sleep though he would swear something watched over him as he slept that night.
authors note:
i always wanted to right a piece for my own gran after her passing and always guessed what pokemon she would of had, Zoroark would of been the perfect fit hense fritz and with pokemon usually showing traits of their trainers Fritz is always looking to learn more of the modern day not just settling for yesterdays knowledge.