AN: Back on track! I'm super excited about the upcoming chapters. This is the longest story I've ever written but to wrap it all up I'm estimating I'll end somewhere between 150-200k words. So not quite yet half way there xD
Within half an hour she had her stuff packed and resisted the urge to look up how long Skorupi venom could be traced in blood for. It wouldn't do to have something like that in her search history.
She was screwed, royally and utterly screwed. There was no good outcome here. He would live, and run his mouth to the police, no doubt. Or he would die and they would start a serious investigation. Her chances were poor to begin with, but with everybody talking about the girl with the Skorupi, it wouldn't be long before the police traced the incident back to her.
Why hadn't she stayed to make sure he got that antivenom? She would be in trouble but at least she wouldn't have murder on her hands. Yun could always pin the blame on her Pokémon, say Reign was uncontrollable. But what they did to aggressive Pokémon was worse than what they would have in store for her. Reign wouldn't stand a chance and she couldn't let that happen.
"Oh Arceus, what do I do." She held her head in her hands then jumped up from the bed and started pacing back and forth.
She would need to disappear. Color her hair, get a new wardrobe... and then what? Her stock would last her through a couple of weeks at best. Perhaps she could teach her Pokémon to live off the land, Twinkle should be able to manage it at least, but she didn't have the same faith in herself. And what if they ever needed healing?
The first step was to get away, she decided, then she could unclutter her thoughts and think of... something.
In a frenzy, she changed into clothes her mother had forced her to pack but she had never intended to have them see the light of day. An oversized grey hoodie that had once belonged to her brother and a pair of, ill-fitted, washed out jeans. She stowed away her belt and stuffed her Pokéballs into the hoodie's large pockets. The only things she allowed herself to keep on where her well worn hiker boots and the black reinforced gloves.
Having already payed for her stay in advance, she tossed her room key on the counter and left through the automatic doors with her head down, ignoring everyone and everything around her. She would head back to Hearthome first and then leave for route 212. It connected to the largest unpopulated area of the entirety of Sinnoh. She could hide away there.
The west gate soon loomed before her, the grey building separating the city from the wild landscape behind it. Longing for the moment the trees swallowed her up, she took a step forward. Then turned around.
Her feet brought her to another destination, one she didn't want to be at, at all. But despite her previous intentions, it was the right place to be. Veilstone's nearest police station. It would look better on paper if she just confessed. They could still sent her to juvie, but this way she would have some control over her story.
She had to protect her Pokémon, Reign in particular. She had to convince them poisoning the thief had been her will and her scorpion was trained to perfection, so obedient he'd never even question her orders.
Her hands were clammy and she was starting to feel a little queasy but she still managed to move herself towards the sliding doors. They opened and as she tried to get in, she nearly bumped into a boy. She was so out of it she nearly didn't recognize the familiar blue eyes. Her brain stuttered before she caught on.
"Ikeda?"
He looked equally dazed, with red rimmed eyes and a pale clamor to his skin.
"Yun? Is that you." His voice cracked when she spoke her name.
Nodding she moved away from the automatic doors to let him pass. "What are you doing here?" She asked softly, fearing the answer wasn't going to be anything good.
His shoulders slumped and the look he gave her was defeated. "I- my Pokémon got stolen."
She gasped and before she could stop herself, she blurted out. "No way, somebody just tried to steal mine."
His eyes narrowed. "You too? There were so many trainers in there to report stolen Pokémon, it's unreal. How could something like this happen on such a scale?" There was a tremor in his voice that betrayed his frustration.
A frown marred her face. "That can't be coincidence..."
She peered through the glass front and saw dozens of kids inside, all looking panicked. The staff was buzzing around, papers were scattered along the floor, it was chaos. "But why?"
"You still have your Pokémon, right? Don't even bother reporting it." Xavier bit while aimlessly kicking the sidewalk. "They're hardly even making time for people that did get stolen from."
Yun's eyes widened when realization hit her. If there was an organization out there stealing Pokémon, it didn't make sense to steal so many at once. That was sure to draw the attention of the authorities... unless you wanted to draw their attention. With this many victims, it would take them all day to just get all their statements down, let alone gather evidence and follow up on leads. Days would pass before they'd get anywhere. By then it would be too late.
"Oh no." She whispered in horror.
Something in her tone must have tipped the boy off that there was something terribly wrong because he sounded genuinely worried when he asked. "What is it?"
"I know where the stolen Pokémon are."
Xavier tensed. "How?" Then his expression darkened. "Never mind. Where are they?"
When he leveled his eyes to hers, the look in them burned with an intensity strong enough to make her take a step back. "I need to warn the police before it's too late." She said, walking by him to enter the building.
The doors slid open and as the noise of the havoc inside greeted her he grabbed her arm to halt her. His words barely rose over the racket but she heard him all the same. "Don't bother with them, they won't help until this mess is sorted out."
She hesitated.
"Yun please," He tried, "please tell me where my Pokémon are."
Perhaps it was the sound of a pleading friend, perhaps the fear that help might come to late after all... or maybe her resolve to turn herself in wasn't as strong as she thought it was and she would take any excuse to delay the inevitable. Whichever it was, she found herself failing to enter those doors once more, eventually turning around.
Having her full attention, he continued. "They took Guillaume. I don't know what to tell my mom if I can't find him."
If she told him, there was a high chance he would go looking for his Pokémon on his own and she would never forgive herself if something happened to him. But... what if she was standing there, with her Pokémon gone, knowing there was chance she'd never see them again. She had been in shoes just over an hour ago and it had felt as if her life was ending.
She looked at her phone for the time. "We're going to need a plan, we have three hours."
After giving him the basic run down, Xavier lead her to a somewhat privacy oriented diner to discus their contingencies. They slid into a booth at the corner and ordered something small while talking quietly among themselves.
"I should call Chihiro, she has a psychic that could get us out as soon as we find your Pokémon."
"And you think your ranger friend can just drop all her responsibilities to go on a wild goose chase with two kids she barely knows?" He huffed. Clearly, whatever went down at the police station had made him lose his faith in authoritative figures. "Besides, Guillaume will bust us out when I get him back."
"Okay..." She replied hesitantly. However, she couldn't deny he had a point, Chihiro would probably just scold her if she explained what they planned to do. Tell them to wait for professionals to handle it.
"Cipher... I swear I heard that name somewhere before." The boy's brow scrunched, trying to recall something. "Say Yun, how did you say you found out about their plans."
Tensing suddenly, she ground out. "I didn't." Then she looked over her shoulders to check if anybody was nearby and sighed deeply. "When that thief snatched two of my Pokéballs from my belt, Reign was out with me. He couldn't have known because he was hidden under my jacket. Don't ask why, it's a long story." He nodded in agreement before she continued. "Anyway, the point is... what happened is..."
"He poisoned the thief." Xavier finished for her, making her flinch. However, he had a grin on his face. "Serves him right. That was some quick thinking of you. I wish I had thought of sending Deva at the one who robbed me."
"Deva?" She asked.
In response he fished a sole Pokéball out of his pocket. "The starter my parents got me. She's the only one I got left. She can be real vicious, too." A smile ghosted across his face but Yun didn't share the sentiment.
"It's not funny, Ikeda. I could be in serious trouble for this, Reign even more so."
He cocked his head. "Why, because you defended yourself from a criminal? Last I checked, that's not a crime."
"Do you think that would count as self defense?" She said, unbelieving.
He shrugged. "Who cares, that's how my lawyers would sell it."
And there she had almost forgotten that the boy was filthy rich, almost. "I'm not like you, I don't have any lawyers at my back." Her voice sounded almost petulant.
He smiled, a humored gleam in his. "I remember you didn't like trading with me much before but I'll tell you what, if you help me get my Pokémon back, I'll lend you a lawyer if you ever need one, free of charge."
It wasn't right, she knew that, she had even omitted to tell him how she had thrown away the antidote for the thief to fetch, how she was unsure he was still alive and not knowing was eating at her conscience. She wondered if he even realized how dangerous Reign's venom could be or had become. Yet his careless and downright approving attitude over the whole thing still managed to make her feel just a bit lighter and the promise for help made her breath just that bit easier.
So she ventured a small but strained smile at her former classmate. "That's a deal I can agree to."
Then she turned serious. "First things first, though, getting your Pokémon back."
His eyes burned with determination.
Between the two of them they had four Pokémon. One of his and three of hers, five if you count Fish though she certainly didn't. Even if she could admit to herself she didn't want to let him go, and she couldn't, he had no combat capabilities that she was aware off.
So she stowed his Pokéball away in her bag and kept the other's hidden in her hoodie's pocket's, ready to be called upon. Reign was once again hidden on her back, stinger at the ready but with clear instructions to not take action on his own again.
They left for Veilstone's port with a little more than an hour to spare, Xavier made a small stop to withdraw another one of his parents' Pokémon.
"Can't lose this." He grimaced as he pocketed the Ultraball.
"Another league Pokémon?" She asked.
He shook his head. "No, this one is my dad's but... you'll see."
With that cryptic explanation they arrived at the northern docks a little ways out of Veilstone while the sun had just set. As the only place near veilstone that had a harbor, Yun guessed this had to be the right spot. It was not tourist friendly, in other words it was grey and drab with a lot of machinery and noise going around. It was also bigger than she would have imagined for a place she had never heard about until she looked it up.
They stuck out like sore thumbs while they were searching for the Ichiban, and received more than one pointed look. One of the few workers around even came up to them to ask if they were lost or something.
"No sir, we just came to look at our future prospects."
The man raised an eyebrow at Xavier and mumbled something about staying clear of the crane's before leaving them alone.
"Yeah, that was totally normal." Yun grumbled, wondering what on earth he had even meant with that.
"Hey, if you had something better to say, you should have done it. I can't think of another reason why we would come down here." He crossed his arms defensively.
"We could have told him we were looking for a relative that would be boarding the Ichiban." She suggested.
He threw his hands in the air. "Why didn't you say that sooner?! We could have asked him where the ship is docked."
"I don't know," She murmured embarrassed, "It didn't occur to me until just now."
They went a bit further before trying to aks nearby workers about the Ichiban. The first person they asked didn't speak Japanese, or according to Xavier, pretended they didn't, but the second one pointed them in the right direction.
In hindsight, it was kind of hard to miss and easily stood out from the rest of the boats. The Ichiban was not a cargo ship or a fishing boat, instead it looked more like one of those ocean liners, build for the transport of people instead of goods.
There were some people moving around on deck, on the lower levels, crates and boxes were being stored. The enormous boat had several entrances but all of them were either being used, or closed.
"How are we going to get in there?" They had forty minutes before departure.
"That's what I brought Seirei for." Xavier answered as he pressed the release button of his Ultraball.
From the name alone she had expected a ghost, and she wasn't sure if she had guessed that wrong, but the form that appeared before them was definitely shaped like a dragon. It was tall, floated in the air despite having no wings, and Yun wasn't sure where it's long cyan tail ended as it faded into invisibility.
"Seirei is a Dragapult," He informed her, though it didn't ring a bell, "and he's known for his love of mischief."
The boy turned to the dragon. "Isn't that right Seirei?"
The Pokémon closed his narrow eyes and revealed it's sharp pointy teeth and what could have been a smile... or a threat, Yun wasn't sure.
"I need you to distract all these people for a little while," He made a vague gesture towards the boat, "Can you do that?"
The Dragapult made a high pitched noise before he became fully invisible, the only sign he was still nearby was the occasional thump noise his tail made whenever he smacked it against something. The sound became more and more distant with each second that passed.
"Now we wait." Xavier stated.
"Are you sure whatever he's going to do will work?" Yun asked.
"I'm sure. It won't even matter what he'll do." The boy sounded certain of this. "It might take a little longer because it's dark but once people see him, everybody will want to catch a glimpse of him. I'm not sure if you've noticed but people tend to get a little crazy around dragons. A little while ago there was this kid with a Gible-"
"I've noticed." She said dryly.
He raised his eyebrows at her but otherwise didn't comment while they kept watch from behind some crates. Checking her phone, they had thirty minutes left to get in and out. She took a moment to see how Reign was doing as he had yet to move and inch from his position underneath her hoodie. Her scorpion waved his little claw at her when lifted the garment and didn't seem to be in discomfort.
"Dragon!" Someone shouted nearby.
Like Xavier had predicted everybody dropped what they were doing, some took out their phone to try to get Seirei on camera while other's were releasing their Pokémon, looking to challenge him. They were no doubt hopeful that he was a wild Pokémon that could be caught.
The two of them rushing forward, pretending to come running for the dragon as well, Xavier even had his phone out, and nobody so much as looked their way. Seirei had torn one of the lifeboats off the Ichiban and was making a spectacle of tearing it apart. Some people on deck were having their Pokémon fire attacks at him but none managed to connect as he simple floated out of reach.
For a brief moment, Yun felt paralyzed with apprehension as the well behaved, shy girl within her was screaming for her to turn around and let the professionals do their job. But she simply shook her head and grabbed her former classmate's arm. They ran up the ramp as quickly as they could and went for the first door they saw. Xavier wrenched it open and behind it was a dimly lit hallway with rows upon rows of doors.
They did it, they were in.
AN: Just a reminder, updates are now on Mondays.