Void and veil 24- Aftermath
"Speech"
'Thought'
I was tired, low on energy, and sore, but I was thankful that my wounds from last night were still numb from the super potion on the train this morning, or I'd feel even worse.
Even still, it couldn't keep the bone-deep fatigue at bay, as I forced myself to remain calm and analyze the situation.
I looked around the waiting room of the hospital we'd been brought to.
The girls were here, of course, along with their Mothers and their Grandfather.
But there were also another 8 Jenny's here, all armed to the teeth and with six Pokeballs each on their belts.
Thankfully, the atmosphere was better than the previous lunch I'd had around the rest of their family, or well, it was in regards to me, not the situation. There were no odd looks of suspicion anymore, replaced by looks of respect and gratitude.
And while I'm not sure where my Grandmother was, Sonia was here. She had been escorted in about an hour after our arrival, still in her Pajamas. Then she had taken one look at my bloody form, grabbed me, and then started crying.
She hadn't said a word yet.
It made me feel horrible.
I hated it, but I'd resolved to keep the veil in place, I'd lie and cheat and do whatever I could to avoid another person finding out about the veil.
She'd be safe.
I'd failed the girls in that regard, though it had admittedly made us closer, it had also made their lives more difficult. The Grimm and Zombies on the train were a testament to that.
They had enough to worry about with their psycho father.
And my newest teammate Mei was further proof of my failures, never mind this poor Purrloin I'd accidentally brought into the fray, I HAD to do better, they never should have known in the first place.
Speaking of them.
Our newest arrival Purrloin seemed confused and scared about what was going on. They were once more latched onto me, specifically hugging the back of my neck like a weird piggyback ride. However, that meant that they too were also on the receiving end of Sonia's hug.
Though oddly enough, they seemed to enjoy it given their purring.
Mei was tired but content at having pulled her weight and being able to fight something. She was currently leaning against my back and Sonia's side, resting.
Whereas Henrietta was once more on my head. Though she was irritated at Sonia's proximity, she was allowing my sister's emotional breakdown without a fuss.
I appreciated it.
And at least it wasn't just me, Fiona was currently dealing with her own emotional relative, currently being held tight in her mother's lap.
It was adorable, she was trying to play it off but had a solid grip on Mama Joy's dress, though she was admittedly trying to hide it.
Likewise, Zoey was clinging to her mother, though I think she had fallen asleep there.
Still, for now, I'd done what I needed to, and all that I could. I'd stopped a Team Plasma operation and prevented an undead outbreak.
Logic dictates I should have focused on the Grimm not the girls. But logic can stuff it, the Grimm had endes up on that train, and I'd performed as both a Magi and a friend.
I KNEW the alternative would have been far worse for the girls, at the very least.
I think in the original timeline the girls would have been taken long before it escalated to this, considering something like this was never mentioned in the game, nor was the fact that Ghetsis had daughters.
That thought continues to terrify me in the back of my mind, no matter how much I try to suppress it.
If I hadn't been here, they would have been taken with minimal fuss, but I was here, and it had escalated.
Without me would the Grimm have gotten loose or would it still be contained?
Would that be better, to have just left there?
Should I have let the Grimm go in the morgue?
Would the casualties have been as high?
Would I have been able to save them?
I don't have the answers.
But I've made my choices, and I'd fix this mess before anyone else could fuck it up.
Then I'd deal with Team Plasma for their part in this.
But first things first.
I checked the clock in the waiting room, 8 hours until the eclipse.
And I was in no condition to fight the damn Grimm.
As mentioned before, I was tired, but I also know that when that super potion wears off I'm gonna be hurting, and I don't know if it'll last until the eclipse.
I suppose I should be thankful that without my guardian's consent, I was able to refuse treatment, though it certainly helped that I had 3 Pokemon that wouldn't let them.
Much to my relief, this was before Sonia's arrival, and no amount of pleading from staff would help.
Purrloin was doing it out of desperation, more than anything, and we're honestly lucky that no one has thought to ask about them yet, they weren't a threat and that was good enough for now.
Hatty and Mei though, were smart enough to know what would happen if my prior wounds were found, and I didn't have a cover story for that, no half-truths would get around that, and as we've established a flat-out lie wouldn't work here.
Odds are that because of the investigation psychics, or aura readers might be involved.
My worst fears were being realized.
Depending on the strength of the psychic, we might, MIGHT, have a chance to spoof it, but beyond that, we're fucked. Unless, of course, I can think of something.
They can't find out about the zombies or, Giratina forbid, the Grimm, ANYTHING else, but not that.
Thankfully, Zoey and Fiona hadn't seen anything truly incriminating on the train that might indicate the supernatural. But then, I have no idea how effective these mental probes are, is it just vision, hearing, how far back can they see?
It was all very hush, hush, considering that it was only used in more extreme circumstances... like say a terrorist attack.
Still, I need to work on the girl's mental defenses when we get the chance. For now, all I can do is wait, and try to gain information on the situation.
"Say, Captain?" I broke the silence that had taken over the room for the past hour or so, save for some sobbing.
"Yeah, kid?" One of the Jenny's armed with a shotgun turned toward me, her voice firm but not unkind.
"Can I ask how things are going, we've been here a while," It was obvious I was trying to get information, but then I wasn't hiding that.
I was running on limited time now, and we'd been here for 5 hours.
The Captain shrugged, "Only thing I can tell you is we've found their base, and we're pushin' 'em out, don't worry kid we'll get 'em."
Huh, well, that might explain why Gran hasn't shown up, and why Mei's folks haven't shown up yet. Mustard's probably with the assault team, and Gran's likely there in her capacity as the regional Pokemon professor to organize the liberated Pokemon.
There will be a lot.
"Can I ask how long this has been going on?" I had a good idea already, mind you, but that had answered several questions already.
Considering the amount of rapid response teams that had passed us to follow the train tracks, while we awaited pick up, I'd hazard a guess that the assault was long over.
But getting confirmation would be great.
"Sorry can't tell ya," She shook her head in the negative.
"Right operational security, got it," I sighed, it was worth a shot.
The woman raised her brow in surprise.
"One of my best friends is a Jenny, I know the basics," I gestured to Zoey, answering the unspoken question.
Never mind the fact I had knowledge from a past live.
The old man, Jack, huffed in amusement, "More than the basics from what I saw."
I rolled my eyes but didn't elaborate for Sonia's sake, who had pulled away enough to look at me.
Oh good, she's recovering.
She looked at the dried blood on me, then at her hands, which were covered in flakes of dry blood alongside her pajamas.
She was wide-eyed in shock, as if just now processing how bad I looked, which might actually be true.
That's not so good.
Seriously, would it have killed them to let us clean up a bit, maybe get some spare clothes or scrubs.
"I'm fine, just a nosebleed, Mei and I ran nose first into a wall trying to catch up, is all," I was doing my best to be soothing as I spoke, before she could completely freak out again.
Mei rubbed her muzzle in phantom pain at the reminder, 'That hurt.'
I made sure not to reply.
Sonia grabbed my face, immediately checking me over. Then, realizing she had little to no idea what she was doing, she spoke up for the first time since entering the room, "I-is he okay?"
"From what we can tell, yeah," It was Mama Jenny who replied, still holding her daughter.
"Wh-what do you mean, from what you can tell?" Sonia was breathing erratically.
Oh, shit, I haven't been seen by the medical staff.
Fiona chirped in from where she sat on her mother's lap, "He's fine, I checked."
Thank you, Fiona.
"YOU, checked?" My sister was not as amused at that.
Then again, would you be if another child was the one checking over your kid brother's injuries?
Fiona rolled her eyes, "He let me check him before we got here, you know how he is with hospitals."
Sonia's jaw set, and she turned to the Captain, "Can we get a doctor in here?"
The older Jenny sighed, "Only if he'll actually let them check him over, he already refused once."
Wow, just throw me under the fucking bus, why don't you?
"Jericho," Her tone was firm, but raspy from all her crying, "They, ARE going to call a doctor, and you are going to be SEEN."
Fuck.
Hatty actively hissed her displeasure.
'Easy,' I projected, my psionics were slowly returning with rest, but using them was only making my fatigue worse.
In this case, it was necessary.
'She can't,' Hatenna responded, concerned at the prospect.
"Don't you dare," Sonia, however, had, had enough of Hatty's hissing, and was glaring back.
"Enough Sonia, it's done, Fiona already checked me over," I was trying to be diplomatic, trying, being the main word.
I'm far too tired for this.
"She ISN'T a doctor," Oh good she was at the anger stage, wonderful.
Fiona looked offended at Sonia's comment, though kept quiet at the look I shot her.
"Well, love, if he refuses treatment, we can't make him, not without a parent or guardian's permission," Jack commented.
Annnnnd we're back to the glaring.
I sighed, "Sonia-"
She didn't let me continue, "Doctor, now."
Ok, guess we're doing it this way, "No."
Sob, annnd we were back around to being upset, shit.
"I'm fine, it's just a waste of time, is all," That was the wrong thing to say, she was back to crying.
Fuck.
It was midday now and Sonia had cried herself back to sleep with worry, I felt like such a dick, she was worried about me, but I just couldn't.
"You know all you had to do was get checked over, and she'd be fine," Would that old man just shut the fuck up?
I glared at him in lieu of a retort.
"Why is that?" He asked, strangely there was no suspicion in his voice, only curiosity.
"The last time he had to go to the hospital, we had to trick him, then the hospital had to drug him," Fiona answered in deadpan.
I winced, so many colors.
"You're afraid of hospitals?" The older man's voice was filled with mirth.
"I'm working on it," I stated, suppressing my embarrassed at THAT getting out. Not that it was a secret, but I didn't advertise the fact either.
'Interesting,' Came Hatty's mental voice.
'What,' I asked, as the group had a quick laugh at my expense, and honestly, I was fine with that if it helped the girls relax a bit.
'He isn't surprised, like he already knew, his mind is... strong,' The little witch informed.
Hmm, that IS interesting.
'Do you kn-' Before we could continue, Fiona spoke up, distracting me and breaking my weaker than normal mental connection.
"That's nothing Grandpa, you should have seen what I had to do the first time I gave him a check-up," She sighed trying to hide her wince, likely reminded of her most resent check up on me.
But I caught it, so others with training likely had.
I subconsciously went for the still-healing scar on my throat, but met my scarf and readjusted it instead, at the reminder.
I eyed the old man, but he just hummed and looked thoughtful.
"How's Aunty Jill and Uncle Mark," A muffled voice cut in, Zoey was apparently awake and refusing to move from her mother's side.
I don't know who they are, Jill and Mark?
"I... We'll talk about it later," Mama Jenny responded looking downcast, every child knows that sentence means something bad.
Zoey let out a sob.
"Th-They were two of our guards, our Aunt, and her husband," Fiona explained with a shudder, squeezing her eyes shut and taking a fortifying breath.
"Oh," Was my only response.
Casualties then... no, lost family members.
I suppose a lot of Jennys would find husbands and the like in other officers on the force.
Regardless, I bit back my anger, Plasma would pay for that as well.
The Captain sighed, and some other members of the squad fidgeted, no matter the training losing someone hurts.
Mama Joy whimpered slightly and held her daughter closer.
The old man just took a solemn breath, it spoke volumes about his resilience. Or worse, how accustomed to it he must have been.
"So son, didn't know you had a Purrloin," He asked looking at the now sleeping cat.
He was obviously trying to change the conversation, but...
I looked down at the creature that had since left my neck and was now curled up on my lap, and this close there were signs of scars as I brushed aside fur.
I don't know why an elite grunt had a Purrloin, but I'm getting an idea, and I don't like it.
Hatty pointedly didn't huff at my thoughts, as I felt minor horror, anger, and curiosity course through her.
Yeah, those were too clean to be from combat.
"I do now," Was my only response, it brokered no argument.
Plasma covered their true intent well in the games, but their elite were likely in on their true goal. So no need for smoke and mirrors about freeing Pokemon from evil people.
No, they were the fuckers that went too far, this poor creature was included, but I'd let it rest for now, my answers would come later.
They're my responsibility now.
"Yeah, I see that. You know if she was with the terrorists she needs to go through processing, right," He cocked his head waiting, watching.
She?
Focus.
The armed Jenny's shifted slightly as if acknowledging a new threat.
I can't lie, if the old man was bringing it up then so would the interviewers, probably.
Can't get caught out, gotta get this right, "Found her."
Nailed it, not.
He frowned as if disappointed.
I. Am. Exhausted. I'd say give me a break, but I don't have the time.
"Perhaps we shoul-" The Captain was cut off.
"Stop jumping to conclusions, I never said she was with Team- the terrorists. I found her about to be killed by THOSE same terrorists," I cut the captain off... dead zombie terrorist count, right?
The man frowned, as did all of the officers, as if confused.
The old man went to speak.
"Jack," And Mama Jenny interrupted him again.
"Easy Esther, this is actually important... for once," One of the officers interrupted, this one a little bit shorter than the others, by like a centimeter.
"Oye!" The old man grumbled then grabbed his own heart in faux pain and began dramatically, "Oh, woe is me, betrayed by my own family. However, shall I survive."
Zoey sniffled but smiled at his antics, while Fiona managed a full snort.
Oh, that's why he was hamming it up.
Well, at least it bought me some time.
The Captain sighed, "Mister Arc... Jericho, I know this must be hard, but if you can tell us ANYTHING, we need to know."
"Shouldn't that be handled by interviewers or something?" I questioned.
"Yes, and it will be, but if you can tell us anything right now, I can pass it along," She mentioned.
I rolled my eyes, "They'd still ask again anyway, I'm friends with Zoey, remember?"
I pointed at the suddenly shy Zoey, who fidgeted at her family's attention.
Still, if I can spin a narrative, that would be great. Originally, I thought we'd be interviewed immediately on arrival, but that had not been the case.
6 fucking hours.
"Look all I can say for sure is that the terrorists never called her from a Pokeball, and with how they were acting, I can guarantee that she doesn't have a Pokeball registered with the terrorists. When I got to the carriage she was on top of the luggage rack and the terrorists wanted her, they were trying to kill her, and she was hissing at them. Then an attack or something went off and the back of the carriage exploded, along with the grunts present. She preferred taking her chances with me after that," I informed the Captain.
It was technically true, a grunt didn't release her from her ball, I did. The back of the carriage did explode, only that was mine and Henrietta's work.
The captain looked at me hard, "You saw that?"
I grunted in confirmation.
Mei grinned next to me misunderstanding the captain's question, 'I did too, I can confirm it, right teacher?'
I sighed, we really need to work on her Aura control.
'They don't understand you, idiot,' Hatty broadcasted to us with a scoff.
'Hey!' Mei yelped.
They had the Captain's attention, but she just looked puzzled, not able to understand Mei's barks.
"Yeah, we were all there, whatever happened, happened in the other carriages too, nothing but explosions and bodies until the final carriage, it was a mess. I never saw who did it," Again, true, undead are bodies after all... well, technically I never saw the Grimm either.
The Grimm who, I'm now sure, was responsible for the undead, and, therefore, us needing to defend ourselves.
A technicality? Hell, yes, but I could work with that. It would all depend on how this integration is conducted.
"We heard it too," Fiona commented, even as Zoey nodded in confirmation.
"I see, so you think someone else was on the train as well?" She asked, her face hard but concerned.
"Had to be," More like someTHING, but they didn't need to know that, "But all I saw was destruction, up to the final carriage anyway. My guess? They didn't want to tango with the Triad," I sighed.
I wasn't sure what the Grimm had been thinking, it had a perfect opportunity to take me down even if it couldn't get to the girls, but it had left me alone. Perhaps it didn't want to waste what energy it had gotten? I would have put up a fight, it knew that, and the eclipse WAS fast approaching.
"Triad?" The woman whispered in a grim tone, looking for confirmation.
She was, however, interrupted by the louder Jack, who was more concerned with another part of the story.
"Interesting that might explain the Mightyena we pasted on the way, aye Esther?" Jack's comment chilled me, and he was looking right at me, analyzing me.
"Mightyena?" Zoey squeaked out, stopping her mothers' response, who instead gave her a supportive squeeze.
It was still in the Castle, shit.
Honestly, in that moment, it took more will power than I'm willing to admit, to stop myself from going, fuck it, and just running out of the room, to deal with the fucking thing.
The aftermath be damned.
Thankfully, my own exhaustion, injuries and the armed guards, forced me to remain. It was probably for the best, storming out now would be monumentally stupid.
"You alright Zoe?" The man frowned and looked at his paling granddaughter.
"Still not a fan, huh, Zoey?" I shot out, trying to think of an excuse and very much aware of my own lack of color.
Fiona latched on to the opening having stiffened herself, "Well maybe if someone hadn't used them in horror stories."
She faux glared at me.
It was good enough, and with my prior knowledge, I could come up with... something, "Oh, please the Mightyena's of Paris is an urban legend."
"Can't say I know that one," The man raised an eyebrow.
"Focus, kid, you said THE Triad was there, as in The Shadow Triad?" The Captain was blatantly concerned now and the other officers, barring Mama Jenny tensed.
"Easy love, he already told us that one, I've passed it along," Jack waved her off.
The woman relaxed slightly but turned back to me, softer voiced, "You're sure Jericho? I'm not saying you're lying, but you were in a stressful situation."
The, and you're a child going up against trained killers, went unsaid. But was very much heard.
"They fit the description and were definitely enhanced," I shrugged and stroked my sister's hair while she slept, hoping that it might help in some way.
The woman cursed under her breath and straightened.
"Enhanced?" Mama Jenny's voice was uncharacteristically high.
The old man frowned, "We assumed as much, but never had any confirmation before, you sure kid?"
"Hatty blasted 'em with an experimental high-yield Disarming Voice when we disconnected the carriage, barely even fazed 'em," I commented, shaking my head in very real exhaustion.
"Fuck," Jack swore under his breath.
No one reprimanded him, which was telling in and of itself.
Knock, knock.
Everyone's head snapped toward the door at the sudden interruption.
"Ma'am, they're ready for you," A Jenny's voice came through the door.
"Rog," The captain replied professionally, signaling her team to check the door.
Mama Joy and Jenny got up with the girls.
I could take a hint, but there was a problem, Sonia still had me trapped in a sleepy hug.
"Err, Sonia?" She didn't stir...
"A little help?" I asked, well, anyone.
'I got her,' Mei grinned, putting her fighting-type strength to use.
She forced open my sister's arms with ease, then as I slid from her grasp, Mei picked the sleeping girl up in a princess carry, as Sonia now sleepily hugged the slightly smaller fighting type.
They looked ridiculous, still, if it works, it works, "Thanks."
I checked on the sleeping Purrloin who was, as it turns out, wide awake and scrambling up my arm to my shoulder.
Then we followed the others out of the waiting room as the Jenny's in combat gear surrounded us.
Where were we going?
I have no idea, and I'll certainly admit to some trepidation.
Without Gran present this could be a mess, children's rights laws were waaay behind those on Earth, or at least modern societies on Earth. Sure they existed but not to the same extent, one look at Brock's backstory will tell you that, let alone all the children running around this world with Pokemon that could level cities.
Needless to say, I wasn't looking forward to this.
It didn't take long to arrive at our destination.
"Through here," One of the armed and armored Jenny's guided us.
Interestingly enough, we hadn't been split up, the entire group was still together.
Well, they probably did things differently here compared to Earth, or maybe this was some law I was unaware of.
I mean, I wasn't even asked to return the Pokemon that were out at about, which is probably a good thing considering the fact I only have one Pokeball.
Regardless, this was actually a good thing... which is why I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Great, now I'm getting paranoid.
The room we entered was another waiting room, almost akin to the one we'd just left, save for the reorganized chairs and desk.
There was also the fact that Chairman Rose was here with his assistant Oleana, they were sitting off to the side. While a much older Jenny with graying hair sat front and center, in a navy blue dress uniform complete with medals and ribbons. Right behind her was Champion Mustard along with Mei's parents, with another older man I didn't recognize that bore a striking resemblance to Raihan, though bigger with light scarring and darker skin.
His eyes were red with low yield energy, and his gaze damn near froze me. The only reason it didn't, was the pure fatigue running through me.
A Draco, he had to be.
"By Arceus," Annnd there's Gran, wide-eyed and ironically baggy eyed, standing beside the Jenny's make shift desk.
Seriously, couldn't they have come to us?
Whatever, I was too tired to care, "Hey, Gran, busy morning, huh?"
She moved forward and began fussing over me, too concerned to be angry with me doing something stupid again.
Though, the yet unshed tears in her eyes certainly made it difficult to look her in the eyes.
She swallowed thickly before speaking, "Are you alright?"
She was blatantly looking at the blood covering me.
"Tired," I shook my head, I really was, "Don't worry, those morons didn't hurt me."
I pointed to the blood on my face, "The wall me and Mei ran into did more damage."
Speaking of, Mei's parents were currently eyeing her state, though they didn't seem quite as worried, concerned, yes, but not panicked.
They were also sporting battle damage, nothing crippling, but they were definitely hurt.
Mei looked toward the ground as well as she could, which wasn't much by any means, considering that she was still carrying my sister.
The Lucario opened his mouth, but was cut off by a light, if playful, whack to the side via his mate, Meinshao.
"Good afternoon children, I'm glad to see you're all unharmed," Chairman Rose interrupted us with a small smile, grim as it was.
He actually seemed genuine, and looked rather tired himself, his suit was wrinkled, tie slack, and hair frazzled.
"We all are," The Draco added with a nod.
The older Jenny nodded, "Indeed, I'm sure you'll all be glad to know that thanks to this little stunt of theirs. The League as a whole has been able to find their base of operations in the area, and drive them out."
Rose gave a sharp understanding nod to the woman, it wasn't happy by any means, but there was SOME respect there. He was technically the league chairman in this country, after all, even if he preferred to rely on his own forces, rather than official league forces.
"You got him?" Mama Jenny spoke up in surprise, hopefully.
The rest of the family perked up at that, but, "I'm afraid not, the terrorist's leaders fled during the fighting," The older Jenny scowled at her own words.
And that brought the mood back down.
"Right, I don't mean to be THAT guy but can we please cut to the chase? We're all tired and want to rest, so can we get on with it?" I sighed out, it was time to bite the bullet, so to speak.
Rose once more spoke up with a rueful grin, even as his assistant twitched slightly at my voice, "Don't we all, young man."
My Grandmother sighed in agreement, and eyed me with naked concern, before letting go of my shoulder, "Why don't you all take a seat so we can figure out what exactly happened?"
"Indeed, the Champion's Lucario has volunteered his services as an aura reader for accuracy, so we can complete this investigation, posthaste, and figure out what we are going to do from here," The Jenny behind the desk informed us evenly, even as the rest of us took seats in the room.
Frankly, the seating arrangement made it look more like a classroom given that all of our chairs were facing the front, even as we took our seats, the other Jenny's took up guard at the door, and around the room.
I wonder if the others know Mei is this Lucario's daughter, wouldn't that be a conflict of interest?
Screw it, I'm not gonna be the one to say anything.
A Groan caught my attention, Mei had just put Sonia down into a seat.
Squeak*
Annnd Mei was now Sonia's teddy bear, lovely. I swear she can sleep through anything, and anything she can't, she just goes right back to sleep.
"Riiiight, so, I don't know about everyone else, but how exactly does this work?" I studiously ignored the pouting Mienfoo, while I asked my question.
'Hey, let go, come on, pleeease,' Mei's voice echoed through the room.
Nope, ignoring it.
Gran gave a flat look Sonia and Mei's way before answering, "Aura users, especially powerful ones such as Lucario here, will know when you're lying and trying to skirt the truth, even your intentions behind your answers, they can read your emotions and intentions."
Oh, shit.
Well, it wasn't anything I didn't already know about the Aura Pokemon. Still, on the bright side, this wasn't going to be a full on mind probe, it still wasn't good, but it wasn't a worse case scenario.
I would be telling the truth, just not the whole truth, and this Lucario knows I'm an Adept. I am not sure if that's a good or bad thing right now.
Mustard chucked, subtly raising his brow at Mei who had now ceased struggling, and was now pouting on Sonia's lap acting as her teddy. Mei was more than capable of escaping Sonia's grasp, but was thankfully aware of her own strength compared to Sonia's, and therefore being as gentle as she could.
Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to escape Sonia's cuddles, this time anyway.
"Probably best to wake her up," Zoey's Mother spoke up from where she sat with her daughter.
I sighed, "Yeah, yeah, alright."
I really wasn't looking forward to this, especially seeing as I'd likely be doing my damnedest to go after the Grimm later, which would no doubt cause even more issues. The least of which was my wounded body, which I desperately needed looking at.
Getting away from the Police, let alone Gran AND Sonia was going to be a nightmare.
"Sonia, Sonia! SONIA!" I tried, escalating in volume.
Bang, bang, bang.
I thudded her chair in a simulation of knocking on her door at home.
That did it, "Huh?" She groaned awake.
Hatty sniggered from a top of my head because, of course, she did.
"Wakey, wak-ug," My teasing was cut off as Sonia glomped me.
A meaty thud sounded through the room as I landed flat on my back, along with Mei who was now face down on the floor cheering, 'Freeeedom!'
I distinctly heard Mei's mother chuckle as I fell.
"Oh thank Arceus, I had the... worst... dream," She looked up, realizing where she was, or at the very least who she was around.
'Oh that's not good,' Sonia's knee was on my stomach, more specifically digging into my biggest injury.
Granted, I didn't actually FEEL anything, but that was because of my current numbness. Who knows what sort of damage that might have done, along with all the strain I'd been putting on my wounds.
"Sonia," I got her attention, keeping my face blank, "Get, off!"
Purrloin chose to take that moment to show her irritation, rather than remain discreet.
A growl of feline warning sounded out of the little purple Pokemon.
"Ah!" She scrambled off of me, almost as soon as she processed what she was doing. Unfortunately, in her panic she'd forgone caution and basically used me as a springboard, likely doing MORE damage.
Well, at least she'd gotten off.
"Sonia calm down, dear," Gran interrupted, coming up to the girl and throwing an arm around her.
"G-gran, but he-" Sonia was obviously trying to make sense of what she should deal with first. She was, however, pointing at me, making her slowly comprehending focus clear.
Maybe letting her sleep wasn't my best idea, if she was going to panic the moment she woke up.
"I know, dear, we'll sort it out," She soothed.
I groaned, pulling myself back up, 'You ok?'
Hatty responded with assurance, followed by annoyance, making grumbling sounds, in lieu of responding.
I sighed and patted the growling felines head to calm her, "Can we please just get this integration, or interview, or whatever it is over with?"
The champion cleared his throat before speaking for the first time today, "At this point it's simply a formality, we know you're all the victims here, or were acting in self-defense as a concerned citizen. For now, we simply want your side of the story."
The Jenny in charge nodded at him, then shot a glare at Mama Jenny and the old man, "Or in the case of others, who I'm choosing to believe were simply doing their jobs, this will be your verbal report."
Zoey's mum glared back, but Jack, well, he'd turn his head and began whistling, or trying at any rate, he wasn't very good at it.
The graying Jenny twitched.
Rose raised a brow at that but took over regardless, "So you're aware both my assistant Oleana and our dear Commissioner will be making records of the information as we go."
He gestured to both his assistant and the old Jenny behind the desk.
"Indeed, so let's get started," She continued, gesturing to Zoey and Fiona.
A/N: Okay so in about 2-3 more chapters this arc will finally come to a close and time will skip forward by at least 2 years, my writing has improved a lot and I've learned a lot from writing this story thus far.
So hopefully I'll be more efficient in the newer arc's.
Yeah I'm not quitting on this just because I've made mistakes.
In fact I've redone chapter 1-3, not majorly, just made some adjustments, lamentably Grammerly doesn't work with the android taping pad any more, so I'm just doing what I can manually and with proofreader.
So, thanks for the patience, and sticking with me as I learn and try to make something entertaining. If you learn something yourself great, if not, congrats you're far smarter than me. *Confetti* .
Finally, new pokemon mystery dungeon fic is out: It's a Pokemon world.
@BiazarKaiser: not exactly, and you might notice that the other carriages after the first they stormed had fewer people than you would expect, make of that what you will.
@GoMagikarp: To be honest he's more just tired and grumpy, mostly resigned at this point, not that he won't try, but he knows he can't keep going like this, he's health was already in question and is only getting worse.