Sirius knew cold. Weather in Canada often fluctuated a lot, but for the most part they were usually dealing with colder temperatures all the way up until May. The best weather happened around April though, slightly chilly with crisp air that invigorated the lungs, too warm for a full winter ensemble, but cold enough to throw on a jacket or sweater.
Today’s weather was a lot like that, and despite present company, he took the time to slowly take in the early afternoon air and sun.
“Care to start moving?” Quinn asked, slightly exasperated.
Sirius slowly opened his eyes, nodding at his companion, and the two descended the massive galactic stairs, and into the city below. It was still a weekday, so the streets weren’t too busy, mostly elderly and university aged students milling about, perhaps a handful of people running errands but nobody looked to be in a rush.
He thought it every time he walked the streets, but Veilstone city was just…beautiful. Like a modern take on Roman architecture, every nook and cranny was carved in loving detail. Some areas were left open, walls of blank rock open for amateur carvers to practice and advertise their work, human and Pokémon alike. It was a city of art and culture that worked in tandem with the Pokémon residing there. He could see Kriketune’s busking in corners, their blade like hands producing a lovely violin/piano sound mix, he saw Geodudes perched against rock, lounging about and eyeing them with lazy eyes, it was so…god there just wasn’t any other word for it, it was just beautiful.
For the most part, they walked in silence, neither really sure what to say to the other. Sirius…wasn’t really good at knowing how to approach Quinn, considering the events last night, so he decided to stay quiet unless he really needed something.
“Can we stop by the Pokecenter?” He asked, his thumb moving to the pokeball holstered at his side.
“Didn’t Delilah look at your Seedot already?” Quinn asked, shooting him a suspicious look.
“Yea, but she said due to the amount of injured mons, she couldn’t really get to them all. I’m thinking I drop off Valor for a little bit with Joy just to get a second look.”
“Valor?”
“Ah…nickname.” Sirius replied sheepishly.
Quinn remained silent for a moment, before finally nodding, “Ok, let’s go.”
“Appreciate it.” He said, giving the Agent a smile.
“...So you really did defeat Tyler and Will then?”
“Lucky shots.” Sirius admitted, his smile fading, “Their Golbats were already injured by the time we got to them, a sneak rollout from Valor knocked out one, the other had its movement hampered from an injured wing, so two on one. Even then it was difficult, Valor was barely standing, and Pra-Felis’s Shuppet looked like it would fall apart any second.”
“I see.”
The two lapsed into silence until reaching the Pokémon Center, where Quinn stood by the door.
“How long do you need?” He asked.
“10 minutes, we stayed with Joy for a little bit, just wanna say goodbye.”
“Sure.”
He stepped inside, and was greeted by the warm interior of his temporary home, welcoming orange walls and that soft jingle in the background made him smile just a little bit.
“Be with you in a minute!” He heard a familiar voice call, and he couldn’t help but smile even more.
Joy’s Chansey beamed at him as he entered, and he nodded to the healer Pokémon. Settling himself in his usual spot by her desk, he gazed lazily about the room. Still empty, good, he needed to talk to Joy alone anyhow.
Worry from Chansey, You are hurt.
He smiled again, and sent assurance back, Nothing I can’t handle
The Pokémon reached into its pouch, holding up an egg. Eat, it’s good, it sent through worry.
“I’m good, don't worry,” Arun replied, chuckling, “Seriously, it’s not as bad as it seems.”
Chansey frowned, but complied, placing the egg back into its pouch.
“Alright,” Joy said, removing latex gloves from her hands as she exited the back, “What can I do-Arun!”
“Afternoon Tal.”
Talia Joy (He was really surprised to find out they had first names.) somehow looked even more tired than the last time he saw her, despite the sharp alertness in her eyes, her shoulders drooped just a tad with exhaustion.
“You and your brother didn’t come in last night, I was worried.”
“Yea, we didn’t really want to add to the amount of people you’re already caring for I guess. What happened?”
“Arceus it was hectic,” She sighed, leaning back into the counter to massage her temples, “I was woken up at around two in the morning because there was a massive breakout of Pokémon from Galactic headquarters. Apparently this prompted some of the young trainers to go out and start battling them, which led to a whole bunch of injured Pokémon, a lot of them near fatal. Gods above, it's not supposed to be this busy until next year.”
Arun winced, that wasn’t supposed to happen. He had hoped the Pokémon would reach home territory unaccosted, but then again, if he were a trainer suddenly seeing other regional Pokémon, he probably would have tried his luck as well. Damn, now he had to add to her workload with the extra Pokémon he and his brother managed to rescue…
“You’re ah, you’re not going to like this gift I got you then.” He said, abashed.
“What do you mea-” Talia’s eyes widened when she saw the dozens of tiny Pokeballs placed on her desk, “Are they all-?”
“Yea.”
“Chansey.” She said quickly, her voice instantly snapping into focus and professionalism, “Get them all under the scanners, test if any of the wounds are serious. Arun, how long were they in their Pokeballs for?”
“About 10 hours? Maybe a little more.”
“Ok, good. Chansey, light injuries can be placed in the habitats, start treatment for those needing, I’ll join you soon.”
Chansey chirped, saluting and walking off with the Pokeballs carefully cradled in its arms.
“Do you have any other injured on you?”
“Not exactly, but I was hoping you could give a second look to this fellow.” Arun reached for his belt, clicking the switch and letting his companion step out. Valor stretched, and looked up at Joy with expectant eyes.
She blinked once, glancing back and forth between the two, “When did this happen?” She finally asked.
“His name’s Valor. Valor, meet Talia.”
She instantly frowned at the faded scar on his side, “He was hurt?”
“Yea,” Arun grimaced, “Super-effective too. Had a doctor take care of him, but having a second look would be nice.”
“And you’re already seeing other Doctors, my, my.”
“Oh please, we both know nobody could ever replace you.”
“As long as you know.” She hummed, before reaching under her desk. After rummaging for a few moments Talia rose with a strange device that resembled the machines that accepted card payments back home, except this was fitted with a cable that ended in a number of suction-cup looking devices. She attached the cups to Valor, who looked more than pleased to be receiving the treatment, before Talia stumbled back a bit, scoffing to herself as she rubbed her eyes.
“Hey,” Arun said, reaching out and folding his hand over hers, “You gonna be ok?”
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“It’s what I do.” Joy replied, giving him a haggard smile. “Does this have anything to do with why you’re wearing a Galactic uniform now?”
“It might be.”
“Did they give you Seed…Valor?
“Maybe.”
“You’re not going to tell me, are you?”
“Less you know, the better.” He shrugged.
She sighed, pulling her hand away, “Just…play it safe, ok? They’re dangerous.”
“You know?”
“The Joys are an old clan, Arun.” Talia said softly, “There’s little that happens that we don’t know about.”
“Can you…can you tell me about them? Galactic, Chronos, Astrai.”
She gave him a disappointed look, and it took everything in him just to not confess everything he knew.
“Please, Talia. My brother and I, we’re locked in. The more we know, the better of a chance we have.”
“To what? To survive?”
“To thrive, to make it big and get out on our own terms. Please?”
“Fine,” She sighed, “But I don’t have forever, what do you want to know?”
“You’re a gem, Tal.” He said softly, grinning slightly as she rolled her eyes. “What do you know about Chronos? Where did they come from?”
“Both teams trace back to Sinnoh’s founding, when at the time the region was called Hisui. As Galactic grew more and more influential, and settlers began arriving from all over, the clans realized they would lose their hold on the region.”
Ok, Hisui, he knew that. Legends Arceus. But how much of that game was true? The main character…were they also from Earth? Is that why the people here spoke English? Their accents were a little strange to him but it was a wonder that they could communicate at all.
“At the time, before the league, there was no unified Sinnoh, just a number of settlements scattered about,” Joy continued, “Galactic changed that, uniting its people and becoming the first official government. The old Clans, the ones still holding onto their tradition, consolidated power by looking for other means of production.”
“Crime?”
“Not at first. Astrai began Sinnoh’s religious practices, and to this day it’s what they’re mostly known for. Chronos though.” She sighed, “Started with small fighting rings, gambling and smuggling. By the time the league moved in, they had more than enough assets to fall back on.”
Ok, they introduced organized crime, and if it was as early as she said it was, then it made sense how they got to what they were now. Damn, he still had so many questions, but he was running out of time before Quinn would get suspicious. Still, there was one question burning in his mind.
“How the hell do you know all this?”
“Family secret.” Talia smiled playfully, before unhooking Valor from the machine as it gave off a soft beep. “Hmm, he’s ok but he’s not good.”
“And that means?”
“It means you should leave him here for a bit. Chansey can monitor him for the night, and you get another excuse to visit me in the morning.”
He crossed his arms and nodded sagely, “Always good to follow the Doctor's orders.”
He sent a questioning ping to Valor. Will you be ok alone?
Assurance. I know her people, they can be trusted.
He placed a hand on his little Acorn’s head, massaging it affectionately, she can, he sent.
“Ok.” Arun said, stepping backwards, “Take care of him for me then, yea? That’s my buddy right there, I’ll clean out our rooms next time I come over.”
“No.” Talia said suddenly, causing him to pause, “That’s not necessary.”
“But-”
“In case you ever need a place to hide out, Galactic knows not to cross the Joys.”
Arun laughed, shaking his head to himself, “Seriously, what the hell are you guys?”
“The world’s top healers, and saviours of people who make stupid decisions. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.”
She didn’t have to tell him twice.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Come on Felis! You can do it!”
“Don’t give in!”
“We believe in you!”
Felis held up a hand to his onlookers, staring at the bucket below him. The noise, the vertigo, the space had been hitting him like a truck. Tears fell freely from his face, and snot dripped down his nose, but he would not give in, nay, he would surpass his limits! He would go beyond!
“5…4…3…2…1…Time!”
The room exploded in cheers as Felis finally collapsed, throwing up into the bucket provided, a bottle of water was handed to him, and he took a deep swig, swishing the water around before spitting that into the bucket as well. He rose to meet his adoring fans, taking a deep bow as the Grunts redoubled their cheers.
“9/10 folks!” Leland said, as the crowd began to simmer down. “Our brave champion, after an excruciating hour of throwing up all over the place and failing his task, has finally reached his final stretch. Will he make it? Or will he fail, doomed to repeat the process once more. There’s only one way to find out.”
It had been an excruciating hour. This hell contraption that Winton had a hand in designing…if he wasn’t watched all the time Felis would’ve taken the scrawny man out back for a ‘talk’. But it was almost over, Leland was right, it was his final moment, his final stretch.
The crowd had arrived at first to laugh at him, as he knew they would, they shouted jeers and spun him round and round when they wanted him to fail, and Leland had let them. Probably still sour about the arm. But people loved underdog stories, and he played the part well, the japes and jeers slowly turning into support and borderline fanaticism as he got better and better with every trial.
“Any words from our champion?”
“I want to just say, whether I make this or not, Ava, Sam, Lucas, all 3 of you are dead to me. I see you betting against me.”
The crowd laughed, and the three he called out shouted retorts and sent gestures his way in good jest. It had been a while, it felt nice to flex the skills he had, wrapping them about his finger. It was impossible to hate him, unless he wanted them to of course. The only person Felis was really wary of was Leland, he was supposed to tag alongside the man for the day but he never revealed anything he could use to charm the trainer. Well whatever, he’d get his shot.
“Alright! Break’s up!” Leland shouted, and Felis groaned, much to the crowd’s amusement. Right, he had to deal with this first, he hated motion sickness.
He turned back to the hell contraption, the sickly orange glow challenging him to enter its domain once again. He adopted a runner pose, crouching down with his hands placed ahead of him…not that it would help in any way, but hey, theatrics right? He glanced back at Leland, and after muttering a final prayer, nodded at him.
“Three! Two! One! GO!”
Felis sprinted, jumping into the circle, its effects starting immediately as he felt his whole world distort. It was as if the world itself had laggy frames, everything from the lights to the people, to the sounds, dragged itself off in one direction as his mind spun in increasingly faster circles. Felis had never kept up with religion, but he prayed anyway, silently screaming to his God and Arceus both to save him.
Then just as it started, it ended, the other circle shunting out Felis as he stumbled into another corridor, this one more empty aside from a couple of amused grunts who caught him before he could fall.
“How’s it going?” One asked.
“Oh happy days all around Sammy. Just ah…just give me a minute.”
“Hey, you know the rules, you get 10 seconds, 4 left.”
“Oh cruel world.” Felis said sarcastically, pushing himself off the Grunt and stepping back into the pad. It was even worse the second time around, as the world blended into a mass pile of soup. He needed to get his mind off the splitting headache, distract himself. He needed to...he needed to talk to Leland, learn more…how? If he failed the crowd would probably disperse…but he bet on himself, 500 of his 1000 share. He couldn’t win, that would mean they’d all leave together, he needed the man alone. Maybe he could…maybe…oh god he wanted to throw up.
The spinning finally ended, and he collapsed out the other side, the sounds of the crowd mute as the pounding headache tore through his mind alongside his thoughts. He needed to win first…stand up a little bit. But then what?
“9! 8! 7! 6!...” He heard Leland shout in the background.
Felis forced himself up, one hand desperately holding onto the wall as he rose. His vision wobbled, the world turning left and right as if he were on the deck of a rocking ship.
“He’s up! Final count! 10! 9! 8!”
He leaned into the wall, closing his eyes and settling himself deep into his mind, away from the noise and the world. He wanted that money, it was 500 pokedollars, or as he figured out pretty early, about 50 Canadian. He’d overheard Grunts talking earlier, angry about their Zubat spilling their $100 burger meal. Fries, drink, and a burger, that would be about 12-14 dollars in Canada, depending on extra sauce and all that, but it was a close enough comparison. Maybe a 10:1 ratio in US dollars instead? That would make more sense.
“5! 4! 3!..”
Ok…how was he going to get his one on one talk with Leland though. The man would shadow him for the remainder of his time here, it would be good to change his opinions on him, especially since he was an agent, and not a Grunt, whatever that meant. Or maybe he was both? It was unclear. What to do then, how would he isolate him from the crowd?
“2! 1!”
He got it.
“And that’s game! Our brave hero has surpassed his limits, he’s clear to use the teleporters!”
Cheers and boos went up as money was exchanged all around, Felis opened his eyes to see the crowd surge forward, patting him on the back, ruffling his hair, his left hand twitched by the razor still stashed away under his sleeve, but he still laughed as jovially as he could. When the extra 1000 (or 100 US) was pushed into his hand, he widened his eyes in shock.
“Urp-!” He gagged.
“Oh shit SOMEONE GET HIM THE BUCKET!”
The crowd instantly shied away from him by 5 or 10 feet, and Felis hurled his stomach contents a couple inches beside the bucket, a chorus of laughter following after.
“Ah shit…” He slurred, wiping his mouth as someone handed him a paper towel, “I’ll ah, I’ll get this cleaned up, you guys go on ahead, join you later.”
“I’ll make sure he’s ok.” Leland said, nodding to the crowd as they dispersed, before handing Felis a mop, “All you.”
“Yea, thanks. At least it’s not in the teleporter this time.”
That had been a mess. His mop had been teleported out several times before he got the hang of it. When it teleported in, he had about 3 seconds before withdrawing the mop otherwise it all just went poof, even if the whole thing wasn’t in the teleporter. Which honestly really eased some of his fears, the vomit and mop didn’t combine, the machine recognized it as two different things, and he didn’t lose the head of his mop which meant even if he stuck just his foot inside the machine, his whole body would go along with it. Not that it made it any better.
“Still wrapping my head around the fact a guy like you caught us by surprise.” Leland sighed.
“Dude, I get motion sickness, I'm still a badass.”
“Uh huh, a badass that broke my fucking arm, huh?”
Felis cringed internally, right. Of course he wouldn’t let that go easily. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
It was at that point Aken came floating down the hall. The little ghost wanted to explore a bit, growing tired of Felis’s routine and in his words “Unhealthy amounts of positivity.”
“Aken!” Felis said happily, settling the mop in its bucket, “How was it buddy?”
“Perfect! The den has so many hallways and obsolete rooms, I can feel the despair of the Grunts getting lost in its corridors!”
“Glad I’m not the only one suffering.” Felis laughed, as Aken took his place by his shoulder.
“You…can understand him?”
“Na, not really.” Felis lied, “I can pick up some cues though, usually I’m right.”
“Hm.” There was a brief pause of silence as the man regarded Aken, “So he’s the guy that took out Tyler’s Golbat?”
“Alongside my spectacular trainer skills, yes.”
“Want to have a battle?”
Felis stopped, and turned towards him, studying him. The man’s face was a mask of nonchalant care, but his body was slightly tense, as if he wanted to prove something.
“Ok.” He thought, glancing up to Aken who had a mischievous grin growing on his face, “Maybe I’ll bite.”
“There’s no way I’m taking on your Pokémon dude.” He said laughing aloud, “You’d crush me.”
“Hey you said it, not me. But na I’ve got a newbie on my team, bout the same level as your Shuppet, I think. We could do a one on one, get you some practice.”
Felis pretended to consider Leland’s offer; he'd take it, of course. He needed experience, especially if they were going to be thrown to the wolves eventually. Arun had done most of the heavy lifting in their previous battle, and now that they were being split, he couldn’t rely on him like before.
A flash of irritation shot across him as he remembered Saturn's words. He forced it down quickly, they'd get their chance, they just had to be patient.
“Ok. I’m game, Aken?”
“Like you even need to ask.” The Pokémon scoffed
“Perfect.” Leland smiled "Just go ahead and write up your report to Saturn, then come find me in the Cafeteria.”
“I have to write a report about not throwing up?”
“Saturn’s orders, not mine.”
Felis groaned, beginning his march back to the damned Admin’s office. Stupid bureaucratic paperwork. When it was time for the Main Character to kick Galactic’s ass, he hoped he and Arun had front row seats.