Season 2 - Episode 11: City Living_Pokemon Slate Gray

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Slate and April shared a knowing glance. Joseph Quinn, the man they were looking for was missing. Had he gone into hiding like Professor Larch? Or had Team Shade already got to him?

“So,” the man named Looker started, “what business might two young people such as yourselves have with Mr. Quinn?”

Slate and April looked at each other again, surely both wondering whether they could trust this man.

“You’re with the International Police?” April asked him.

“You’re not from Nutera?” Slate added, reasoning that it would be less likely for an outsider to be in league with Team Shade.

His curiosity obviously piqued by the guarded teens’ questions, Looker answered honestly, “I’m not from Nutera, no. I go where I think the International Police are needed.”

“And you think they’re needed here?” asked April.

“Oh, I’d say so, yes,” Looker affirmed. “But I have to gather evidence to convince my superiors of that. Perhaps the two of you can help with that?”

Slate and April silently locked eyes once more.

“Cards on the table,” Looker offered. “I’m investigating a criminal organization operating in Nutera. I believe this organization may have kidnapped Mr. Quinn. I’ve been reviewing his files but haven’t discovered any leads. If you know anything, it could be very important.”

“We thought Mr. Quinn might have some information for us,” April admitted.

Then, Slate clarified, “Information on Team Shade.”

The man raised an eyebrow with intrigue and leaned back in his chair. “It seems our interests align,” he said.

“Do you know about the missing people?” April asked.

Looker nodded. “I suspect Team Shade is responsible, but between the victims’ memory loss and the unusually limited reports from the Nuteran police, compiling information has been difficult.”

Slate revealed, “My mother was one of the victims. She worked with Mr. Quinn. We think she was targeted because she was investigating Team Shade.”

Looker lowered his head solemnly. “I’m very sorry to hear that. Your mother wouldn’t happen to be Heather Davy, would she?”

“How did you know?” Slate asked in surprise.

“A hunch, for the most part,” shrugged Looker. “The Chronicle’s editor has informed me of several employees who have had to make flexible working adjustments since the disappearances, and your mother was hired for her investigative savvy. You also strike a resemblance to her employee file photo.”

April seemed impressed with the man’s deductive reasoning.

“Please, help me get the people that did this to your mother and the other victims,” Looker implored, pulling a small notebook from his inner pocket. “Help me prevent what they’re planning. Tell me everything you know, starting with your names.”

Deciding to put their trust in the officer, Slate and April introduced themselves and relayed what they knew. Slate started with the sudden move to Nutera, the night he and his mother had arrived and her subsequent kidnap, the chase, and meeting April. She then loosely detailed how her family had been forced to go into hiding, and how she had been too late to warn the Davys of the danger.

They then recounted rescuing Bella at the Almony Gym, Heather Davy’s sudden reappearance and the discovery of her condition, the mission to speak with Joseph Quinn, and finally, the recent showdown at Pyne Farm. When they finished, Looker closed his eyes, apparently reflecting on everything he had been told.

“You kids have done good work. You’ve given me names, dates, and a lot of other info to work with. I’m glad to have met you,” he praised. “But you need to let me take care of things from here on out.”

Slate and April were both taken aback by this statement.

“What do you mean?” asked Slate.

Looker sighed deeply. “There’s something bigger going on here, Mr. Davy. I know you understand that. It’s too dangerous for you two.”

April spoke up at that point. “He’s right, Slate,” she said calmly.

Slate’s jaw dropped in shock. He felt betrayed.

“We’ve done our part. Let’s leave this to the adults and the professionals.”

Slate felt his face flush with anger and embarrassment but was too stunned to object. Could April and Looker be right? Was it too dangerous for them to continue their mission? Were they just kids playing detective? His desire for revenge aside, what about helping his mother? Could he trust that task to the International Police?

“Thank you, Miss Larchmont,” said Looker, pulling out a business card from his pocket. “I hope you will pass my contact info on to your mom, Slate. Should the communications start working again, I’d be glad to hear from her.”

Crestfallen, Slate begrudgingly accepted the business card before getting up to leave. He left the room in silence while April bade Looker goodbye. He strode directly to the elevator in the lobby and pushed its button without turning to see if April was following. He couldn’t look at her right now.

When the empty elevator arrived, he entered and saw the pink-laced white boots of April’s feet join him inside. “What are you sulking about?” she asked.

Slate turned to the girl in astonishment, looking her right in the eye now. “Are you kidding?” he snapped. “You totally stabbed me in the back!”

“Oh, that,” said April, utterly unfazed by his reaction. “I had to get him off our backs somehow.”

“Wha… Huh?” said a bewildered Slate.

“You didn’t think I was serious, did you?”

“You weren’t?”

“Of course not! I didn’t even use my real name,” April asserted with a barely concealed smile. “Look at all the info we gave Looker. He wouldn’t have any of it if it hadn’t been for us. I’m sure he’s capable, but so are we! We can investigate Team Shade in ways he can’t. We’ll just pass what we learn to our moms as planned, and they can clue him in from time to time.”

“Oh,” said Slate feeling foolish. His spirits lifted immediately, and he began to laugh at himself. He was certain April had enjoyed her little deception and how he had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker, but he didn’t mind. The unpredictable girl’s antics had worked to his advantage for once.

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A fortnight after the meeting with Looker, Slate could be found where he had been every day since; in Pistachion Park. While April was attending her Pokémon School classes, he was using the time to train. Unfortunately, it was not going well.

“Eevee, use Swift!” Slate commanded enthusiastically.

The brown Pokémon’s fluffy tail glowed and sparkled gold before being whipped in the direction of a large nearby tree. A spread of star-shaped rays was released, assaulting the tree’s trunk before evaporating with a twinkle, most landing inside a chalk circle Slate had drawn.

“Nice!” praised Slate. “Now, Cryote, use Echoed Voice!”

The white-furred pup’s booming bark rippled through the air and hit the chalk target dead-on.

“Yes!” Slate cheered, then getting caught up in the moment, he pointed toward the target and cried, “Now, Larvoid, use Tackle!”

The maggot Pokémon responded but wriggled forward so slowly, Slate began to feel silly holding his arm out. Nevertheless, he maintained his dramatic pose until Larvoid began to contract its squishy body and shoot itself at the base of the tree.

“Alright, Larvoid!” said Slate with a little less vigor. The blind bug could sense the tree but had no way of knowing where the target was. “Now, Crimsant, use Night Slash!”

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To Slate’s surprise, the largest of his Pokémon dashed forward. However, the disobedient red queen made a beeline for Eevee. Still nursing a grudge against its former foe, it slashed dangerously with its scissor-like jaws. Eevee dodged the attack, but Crimsant persisted.

“Would you cut that out! You’re on the same side!” Slate chastised irritably, having no choice but to return Crimsant to its capsule for the second time that day. He tried to find consolation in the fact that it had at least attacked Eevee using Night Slash, but he knew that was more likely to be a coincidence. “Alright, well, your turn, Uglay! Use Peck!”

Slate wasn’t exactly surprised when there was no reaction to his order, but he was momentarily confused when he found that Uglay was missing from the lineup. He located it a second later, sitting at a different tree, facing inward. He sighed and walked over to the shell-covered bird Pokémon. The gloomy aura radiating from it was almost palpable.

“You want to give it a go?” Slate said softly, crouching next to the depressed creature. “A workout might cheer you up!”

Cryote trotted over at this point and tried yammering something, but Uglay turned away. The pup came around to its other side, and it turned away again. This continued a few more times, like a game they were playing, until Uglay began to wail, releasing streams of tears from the eye holes in its shell.

Cryote whined and ran away from the noise. Eevee was already covering its long, floppy ears with its paws, while Larvoid… Well, there was no way to tell what the red-white sac was feeling.

Regretfully, Slate recalled Uglay. “I don’t know what to do,” he despaired, sitting down where Uglay had been, leaning back against the tree. “It’s been two weeks. Why won’t either of them listen to me?”

Eevee and Cryote came over to console him, placing their front paws on his knees. Larvoid was wriggling in his direction too, though, it would take some time to reach him.

“You guys are all doing great, though! Let’s call it a day and go meet April.”

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While Slate and April had been studying and training hard since arriving in Pistachion, they had also taken advantage of living in the big city. Even with many stores and businesses closed, they found plenty of things to see and do during their downtime. They had been to the movies, a food festival, and an art gallery, and had frequented Pokémon-friendly restaurants and recreational spots. They even found time to scout Silph Co. HQ a couple of times.

They hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary there, though. People in suits came and went but none sporting the Team Shade insignia. Then again, the grunts didn’t wear them. Still, if Team Shade was connected to Silph, they were smart enough not to make it obvious.

Slate often met April outside the Pokémon School after lessons ended. She usually picked up ideas about what they should get up to from other students. Today, he waited for her on a nearby bench, chatting to Eevee about nothing in particular, who dozed on his lap while its fur was petted lovingly.

As a wave of students filed out of the school building, Slate spotted April talking animatedly with a tall blonde boy, dressed almost head to toe in white, barring a beige vest and a cream backpack. He couldn’t help noticing that the girl’s cheeks were flushed.

“Hey,” said Slate when they approached, suddenly feeling awkward.

“Slate, this is Gabriel. Gabriel, this is Slate!” said April energetically.

“Hey,” Slate repeated without rising from his seat.

“Nice to meet you, Slate,” said the boy politely, sweeping back his blonde curls. “April’s been talking about you in class.”

“Oh?” he said with a pointed look at the girl, wondering what humiliating stories she might have regaled the boy with. The color of her already red cheeks deepened.

“Yeah, she told me you have real potential as a Trainer, and that you have an Eevee, and it’s true!” Gabriel replied brightly. “I’ve never seen a non-Nuteran Pokémon in the flesh before, even one as well-known as Eevee. Can I stroke it?”

“Sorry, my Eevee’s a bit picky about people,” Slate said churlishly. Something about this boy just put his back up. Perhaps it was all the unsightly white. His clothes all looked brand-new, even the brilliant-white sneakers, which didn’t have a speck of dirt on them. It looked like Gabriel was cosplaying as an angel.

April didn’t seem to mind, though. “Slate,” she rebuked softly, surely adjusting her usual snappy tone for present company.

Gabriel withdrew the hand that had been reaching for Eevee, who was loyally glaring at him now. “Oh, no worries. My Acria is a bit like that, to put it lightly.”

“Gabriel is one of the Trainers who got the last starter Pokémon from Hazell Laboratory,” April explained. “There was only Acria, the Fire-type, and Sercuit, the Electric-type that Howie got.”

The boy grinned and chuckled, revealing dazzling white teeth. “Good thing, too! I didn’t like the look of that Sercuit.”

His comment irked Slate, who had thought Sercuit to be a pretty cool Pokémon, even if it had a loathsome Trainer.

“Well, I’ve got to be going, April, see you at the convention,” said Gabriel. “Nice to meet you, Slate.”

April sat down on the bench next to Slate, watching Gabriel float away.

“Convention?” asked Slate, rousing the girl from her reverie.

“Nutera’s annual Pokémon Grooming Convention is being held at the exhibition center on Saturday. I told Gabriel we’d check it out,” April explained.

“Grooming? It sounds like a beauty contest,” said Slate with disdain.

“That is part of it, but it will still be interesting. It’s a good chance to meet Trainers and Breeders. It’ll be fun! Besides, I already told Gabriel we’d be there.”

“Oh, well, in that case…” Slate muttered under his breath.

Pivoting, April asked, “How was your day?”

“Same as usual,” said Slate.

“Uglay still giving you a headache?”

Slate nodded.

“Right, well, follow me," said April, jumping to her feet.

“Where to?”

“First, to get some dinner. I’m starving and I know a place with an early bird special. starving. Then, we’re going to Pistachion Spa!”

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“You weren’t kidding,” said Slate when he and April arrived at the city’s supposedly most reputable health spa just after six o’clock that evening. The interior was decorated in pastel shades and the employees wore soft pink tunics. “I told you, this really isn’t my thing, April.”

“It’s not for you. We’re here for Uglay,” she clarified.

“Huh?”

April approached the pink reception desk. An employee pointed her to the left, where hairdryers and mirrored booths were visible through an archway. It was a salon. As she and Slate entered, she said to a woman who greeted them, “Hello, I heard you do Pokémon grooming?”

“That’s right, dear,” said an older woman with heavy blue eyeshadow and an enormous beehive, which made Slate wary.

“My friend has an Uglay, you see…” April explained.

“Our specialty! We get so many of them here. The poor creatures are ever so concerned with their appearance, but we know just how to cheer them up! Or your League Points back!”

Slate’s eyebrows raised with intrigue. Could something as silly as grooming be the answer to his unhappy Pokémon’s problems? “I guess it’s worth a try,” he said, then released Uglay from its capsule, its cells forming atop one of the styling chairs. “What do you say to some grooming, Uglay?”

On cue, the odd bird began crying, but the groomer held a large book open in front of it and began flicking through the pages. Uglay immediately ceased its tears and observed the pages with interest through its eye holes.

“Looks like it’s willing,” the lady said, and the salon workers erected privacy screens around Uglay’s booth. “You can pay at the counter, then take a seat in the waiting area. I’ll come get you when we’re done.”

“Do you really think this will make a difference?” asked Slate a few minutes later.

April grinned. “We covered the effects of grooming at school today. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!”

Slate remained dubious. However, after half an hour more, he and April were ushered back into the salon.

“It just loves it! Come quick!” said the groomer, waving her hands excitedly.

Slate jumped up and followed the lady into the salon with April. Peering around her tower of hair, he witnessed a bright white glow emanating from behind the screens. “What’s happening? Asked Slate.

“It worked!” said April triumphantly.

“What worked?”

“Uglay’s evolving!”

The groomers removed the screens. Uglay’s whole body was bathed in light, but its small outline was clearly becoming larger, reaching upward to the ceiling.

Slate was transfixed by the almost magical metamorphosis. A few seconds later, the light dissipated, and his new Pokémon was revealed.

Towering over them, due in part to it standing on the styling chair, was a bird Pokémon with a long narrow neck, beak, and pair of legs. Its plumage had an interesting pattern. While its face, neck, and wing tips were white, most of its torso was black. This included its dangling dual tail feathers, which resembled coat tails.

The creature hopped down from the chair and appraised its reflection in the wall mirror. It stood proudly as it stretched its long wings, using one to smooth back the two black crest feathers on its now shell-less head. Overall, the Pokémon’s appearance put Slate in mind of a butler.

*Ping*.

SPECIES

#025 Haughron

DERIVATION

Haughty + Heron

Season 2 - Episode 11: City Living

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