Chapter 7: Trivial Transit
For several minutes they laid there listening to clacking of the wheels against the rails. The faint sound of chugging was also present in an atmosphere of silent background noise. The snow covered hills passed by along the fogged up windows. Ceailean had already helped himself up to a seat and occasionally glanced at Marie who still remained on the ground. She shifted her head and an exhausted Snom spilled out of her beanie.
“You know, you don’t know what kind of nasties could be lurking on that floor.” warned Ceailean.
“I don’t care,” groaned Marie, she waved away his warning with her hand, “Guess I’ll get sick, it's no problem.” At that moment, a door could be heard sliding open. They both looked to see the Conductor coming from the other car. Marie then instant leapt to her feet and shoved Ceailean to the other side of the seat. The Conductor walked in and eyed the two of them immediately upon entering.
He was a bit unorthodox. All he was wearing was blue jean overalls and boots. His skin was full of coal stains and smudges. The hair on his face was poorly kempt and his gaze felt unsophisticated and sluggish. He exhaled and walked over to them.
“May I see your ticket sir’s” he asked.
“Oh, yeah, sure.” said Ceailean nervously. He held his ticket out for the conductor to grab.
After looking for a moment, he said, “Thank you”
Ceailean looked confused, “But Mr, you didn’t punch my ticket.”
The Conductor gave Ceailean a glance, “Are ya sure bout that boy?” Ceailean looked back at his ticket to see that it had already been punched. The Conductor chuckled at the sight of Ceailean’s surprised face, “Ha, don’t sweat it boy, it always surprises them the first time they see it. Me and my cousins have been in this business for years, and in that amount of time, you tend to learn a couple things.”
“That’s cool, I guess.” said Ceailean mesmerized.
“Yeah, like how lil miss stowaway isn’t even supposed to be here.” He glared at Marie accusingly.
“Huh, me?” stammered Marie. Ceailean was shocked to hear that she had come on illegally.
“Yes missy, who else.” said The Conductor, “Care to explain yourself.”
“No, yes, um, wait, I do have my ticket,” said Marie slowly, “It’s just that, I don’t want to show you?”
The Conductor looked to Ceailean unimpressed, “Is she fer real”
“Yeah just don’t mind her too much.” Marie sulked after Ceailean had said this.
“Yeah well, accordin’ to the Kalos railway guidelines, Imma have to escort you off ol’ Vesta here once we come across the nearest station.”
“Oh please, I’m just one person, can’t you just let it slide?” begged Marie.
The Conductor pulled out a pocket watch from inside his overalls and looked at it, “Well this thing here says that we weren't even supposed to leave the station for another 30 minutes, so I have a lot of time on my hands. So I’m sorry missy, but rules is rules.”
Ceailean thought about what he said for a moment and came up with an idea. “Hold on,” he said holding out his hand, “Why don’t we just say, we never saw her in the first place.”
“Oh really, what makes you think that I would just do that.” said The Conductor leaning into Ceailean’s face.
Ceailean then flashed a $5000 bill in between them, “I’m pretty sure this will help fog up your memory.” The Conductor stood back and observed with a face that seemed insulted at the mere suggestion. Ceailean then began to doubt his plan when the Conductor quickly swiped the money out of his hand.
“Your right!” he cackled and walked away from the pair of them. He observed the bill like it was a prized jewel. After kissing it and placing it in his overalls, he swiped the intercom microphone off of its perch.
“Welcome aboard the Vesta ladies and gentlemen. The government requires that I give safety instructions to any and all passengers on board. Now look, the safety exit is whichever one you can get out of, don’t run around in the cabin, and the fire extinguisher is over there. Although I don’t think you’ll need it considerin an arguably better one is currently crawlin up your seat.” Ceailean and Marie look to their side to see Snom crawling up the seat. Marie picked it up and held it within her arms, it resting pleasantly within them.
“That would be about all, but I would also like to introduce to you our catering service as well.”
All the sudden, a pokemon swung around and smacked itself on the window Ceailean and Marie were seated at. They jumped up and yelled at the sight of it.
The Conductor was laughing, “Oh my, it’s been so long. Grapploct get in here!”
Grapploct slid down the window and let itself in as the icy cold wind blew from behind. It crawled along their laps and made its way down the car to position itself near The Conductor. It’s posture was almost the complete opposite of the Conductor’s, as if it were the owner of a super fancy restaurant.
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“This here is my long time partner Grapploct, he will be your caterer tonight.” explained the Conductor. “A true prodigy in the world of cocktail mixin if I do say so myself. I can offer my complete confidence that he will be the greatest when it comes to any kind of beverage. With that in yer head, what will you be havin today?”
Ceailean and Marie looked at each other in confusion. Marie decided to go first, “Do you guys have a menu.” She held Snom securely towards the end of her request.
“Just name something off the top of your head, Grapploct here is able to create anything close to what you want.”
Marie seemed a bit discouraged, nonetheless she said, “Have you heard of a Chilan Sunrise.”
Grapploct looked slightly surprised. “Hey, that’s one we don’t hear very often. You seem a bit more sophisticated in your knowledge of fancy beverages.” Marie smiled at the compliment. “And how about you lil man?”
“Uh how about a nanab smoothie?” asked Ceailean slowly. The Conductor and Grapploct looked at each other for a moment, before Grapploct walked out the car without a response.
“While he’s away, I would suggest you keep your criticisms to yourselves. A little fallout with a mentor figure can leave you a bit on the sensitive side.” warned the Conductor in a hushed voice. They both seemed to agree with that prospect and Marie placed Snom back inside the beanie on her head. Grapploct reentered the car shortly after, holding two capped plastic cups. It made its way down the walkway towards them and firmly held out their drinks upon arriving at their seat.
“Thank you.” said Marie sincerely, grabbing both beverages. Marie took the cap off one and looked inside to see a colorless gray sludge. Snom peeked from under the beanie and seemed to look quite interested. Marie however, looked a bit hesitant and grimaced as she put the cap back on. She handed it to Ceailean, “Here, I think this one's yours.”
“Thanks.” said Ceailean. Grapploct then offered them straws, which they both accepted. Ceailean drove the straw straight through the opening of the cap and drank with almost no hesitation. He gave a small sip and stopped, “Oh no, actually I think this is yours.”
“Are you sure?” asked Marie slightly worriedly.
“Yeah, this isn’t a nanab smoothie, so you must have mine.”
“I’m pretty sure I know what I saw.” Marie then opened the cap of the other drink to find the same gray sludge in that cup too.
“I’m telling you, you have my smoothie”
Marie looked back to Ceailean, “Are you sure it doesn’t taste bad?”
Ceailean looked confused, “Well it doesn’t, it’s just not what I ordered.”
After a bit of hesitation, Marie then reluctantly agreed to switch. Ceailean poked another straw into the other beverage and drank.
“Yeah see, nanab smoothie-” he opened the cap to the cup and looked inside, “Oh. Whatever still tastes good.” He continued drinking.
Marie then worked herself up to drink from the cup. She sipped slowly until a familiar taste reached her mouth. “Hey, this is actually pretty good.” She then sipped her drink at a significantly higher pace.
“See what’d I tell you, Grapploct is one of the best there is when it comes to beverages.” said the Conductor.
“Yeah yeah, this is good, how much for them?” asked Ceailean.
“Nahdah, all Grapploct here requires is outside validation for his work and talent. Seeing that you have already given your compliments, consider it already paid.”
“Really? Well thanks. Keep up the good work.” complemented Ceailean. Grapploct bowed its head and walked back towards the Conductor.
“Thank you to catering service for your spectacular introduction.” resumed the Conductor. “Your trip will take an estimated 5-6 hours on our way to Lumiose city. Weather seems like it will have bright and sunny clear skies upon our time of arrival. We will also be making a designated stop at Santalune City and you may vacate the car upon arriving. My name is Reese and I’ll be your conductor for tonight, welcome aboard.” Reese then hung up the intercom and exited the car with Grapploct.
Marie, feeling a little relieved, got up and moved to the seat directly across from Ceailean’s. She laid down on it and looked up to the ceiling. She sighed and asked, “How did you know that bribing him would work?”
“Well he said that the train left earlier than scheduled, which could’ve meant that they were only waiting for passengers. But seeing as there was none, they decided to just leave anyway ahead of time. So that made me think that he would bend around the rules if it weren’t anything too major.” explained Ceailean.
Marie lifted her head to look at Ceailean, “Wow, you must of been really observant.”
“Yeah, but it was a gamble. I didn’t know if it would work.”
Marie smiled and put her head back down, “Well thanks anyway, I’m glad you did that for me.”
“Hey, anything for a friend right?”
Marie’s smile slightly diminished at that statement, “Yeah, for a friend.”
Silence filled the car for a couple moments before Ceailean said, “Well, it must be super late and it's going to be a long ride, so I think I’m gonna hit the hay.”
“Yeah.” responded Marie. She pondered in her head for a while. “Hey, C? What do you plan to do when you get your first pokemon?”
Ceailean gave Marie a glance, “I don’t know, maybe compete in the Kalos league.”
“Oh really?”
“Yeah, how about you.”
“Hmm, I don’t know either. You seem to have a better idea than I do. Maybe I’ll compete in the league also.”
“Your battle with June sure was something fierce, it was one of the closest battles I’ve ever seen. I think you would be perfect for something like the league.”
Marie blushed slightly. She stared at the ceiling, but her eyes were full of thought. “Maybe I am.” Still though, she did not seem so sure of herself. Doubt began to cloud her mind, to the point of asking why she came in the first place. Did she come for such a reason as just being around Ceailean as much as possible, was there nothing else for her to work towards.
She was then suddenly snapped out of her trance when she felt a hum on her head. Snom, who was still residing in her beanie, had fallen asleep. She felt it through her beanie with her hand. Snom snored every so often and hummed a little every time it did so. Marie smiled, for even if the future was uncertain, one thing was clear.
“Hey C,” she raised her head again and looked to Ceailean, “No matter the goal, let’s make sure to get stronger.” She raised her fist above her body.
Ceailean faced Marie fully and smiled, “Yeah, that’s for sure. Let’s never lose to people like June again.” He raised his fist to match Marie.
Marie lowered her head one last time and pulled her beanie over her eyes. Ceailean took off his glasses and put them in his jacket pocket. He rested his head against the frost covered window and drifted off into a deep sleep.