Post by scissorhands on Dec 19, 2016 15:41:14 GMT -8
“When we got to Goldenrod, I really think it was already happening as much as it was going to happen,” Cairo said.
“Why? What was happening, exactly?” Dani asked.
“I don’t know. It wasn’t like they were walking around the streets, but, at the same time, they weren’t exactly hiding underground.”
“But Alison was there?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I actually found her pretty quickly because I followed that guy that took her straight from the Justin Bibarel concert.”
“But, so, were Davis and them angry that you left?”
“I don’t know. I texted Davis on his Pok?Nav to let him know what was going on—that it was a split-second thing and I didn’t have a choice. I mean, even if I’d wanted to find them in that concert I couldn’t have. He told me to go and that they’d catch up, but I’m not sure what happened or where they went. I mean, this is the first day I’ve had to catch my breath in the last few weeks.”
“But Alison is OK?”
“Yeah,” Cairo said, “and back in Sinnoh now.”
“Are you worried about her?” Dani asked.
“No. She can take care of herself. She’s more than capable. They just blindsided her in a weird environment is all.”
Cairo got up from where he was sitting beside Dani on the ground of a little spot on the shore of Cianwood. He paced a little bit and put his hands in his back pockets.
“Are you okay?” Dani asked.
“Yeah. No, I’m fine. I wish I’d heard from one of them, but I know Davis has been training and been busy. Same with Dekota and I know his leg is probably still putting him out.”
“Well if you’re done here, then why aren’t you back in Sinnoh? Why don’t you go find them?”
“What?” Cairo asked.
“Alison is OK, your friends are in Sinnoh. Your business in Johto is done, right?”
Dani wasn’t really looking at him as she spoke. Instead, she looked through fluttering bits of her hair toward the sea. She was trying to make her words carry over the winds beating one another on top of its small waves. She could almost taste the salt.
“I guess so.” He had to sort-of yell over an abrupt gust.
“What does that mean?”
He said nothing and then she repeated herself. He said, “I think that maybe Sutton is in Goldenrod.”
Dani kept her eyes fixed out toward the ocean. They briefly followed a couple of Remoraid jumping out of its surface and then back in.
“Why do you think that?” she said.
“Well,” Cairo said, “I’ve heard reports that Unown has been seen there right now. That’s what she was doing. She was researching Unown and, before we met, she had been following any sign of them. She was writing a paper on them.”
Dani stood up and brushed sand off of the back of her short, blue dress. It had small Wingull printed on it.
“Well you know what I think you should do,” Dani said.
“I do?”
She laughed a little and said, “Probably not. But maybe that’s for the best.”
“Why is it for the best?” Cairo said.
“Because,” Dani said before she took a little pause and then started up again, “you need to go do what makes you happy. After the whole Galactic meltdown a few years ago, you did something you thought you had to do and opened that training facility. But you weren’t happy because you weren’t ready to stop being a trainer. You weren’t ready to stop seeing the world, bud. And you know what? I heard Kallen has been doing better there running it than you ever did.”
She stopped and laughed a little. He nodded.
She said, “For as long as I’ve known you you’ve been chasing around Galactic or saving people or doing things for everyone but yourself. And I’m not going to be another person who influences where Cairo goes.”
He took a second and really tried to process what she’d said. The wind was still competing for his attention. He looked back toward the city and saw a Yanma chasing bugs on the skyline. His eyes rolled across the tops of the buildings until they finally rolled all the way down to Dani, trying to control her hair that the wind had given life to.
“You should go talk to Jasmine,” Dani said.
Cairo let out a breath he’d been holding. He said, “If anything could make this situation more complicated,” and just left it at that.
“You don’t think that’ll clear it up?”
“No. No, I don’t think that’ll clear anything up.”
“But don’t you kind of owe her? Seeing as you abandoned her?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dani smiled and the wind calmed down for a moment.
Dani said, “Take Tropius for the night. Fly to Olivine.”
“I have six Pok?mon on me,” he said.
“So give me Mawile for the night. She could use some girl time anyway.”
Cairo muttered some frustrated nothings and dropped himself back into the sand. He laid back and looked up at some clouds that he started shaping, in his mind, like a bunch of Mareep and Swablu.
Dani rolled her eyes and reached down to grab the fourth Pokeball from Cairo’s belt. He squirmed a bit and tried to reach for what she’d taken, but she was quicker.
She said, “Here,” and threw a different Pokeball back at him.
“Dani,” he said, groaning a little, “Tropius isn’t even going to listen to me.”
“Yes he is. He trusts you.”
Cairo held Tropius’ Pokeball above his face as he stayed laying down.
“What if he doesn’t?” Cairo asked.
He heard no response and asked again. Wind buffeted his head a little bit as he raised himself to a seated position. He looked around spastically, unable to find Dani. He finally turned all the way around, though, looking back toward the city and saw Dani in the distance walking beside Mawile.
“That’s great.”
Cairo stood up and stretched a bit. He threw Tropius’ Pokeball into the air and called for him. He caught the empty shell and watched a red light take Tropius’ form, stirring up sand beneath what became the fruit Pok?mon’s feet.
Tropius looked anxiously around and stood at a distance from Cairo.
“Hey, I know you’re confused. I know you’re nervous. Dani is at her apartment. I need to borrow you to help me fly to Olivine.”
Tropius looked at Cairo for a second while he spoke and then began looking around again. Cairo approached the Pok?mon, taking only a couple of steps before Tropius ascended to its hind legs and craned its neck down toward him.
“Yeah, this is great.”
Tropius’ head followed Cairo every step he took.
“Tropius,” Cairo said, “you know who I am. You know you can trust me. Dani is my best friend. I just need your help getting to Olivine and I’ll bring you back as soon as I’m—“
Tropius grunted loudly and exhaled heavily enough that it blew Cairo’s hair back even from a few feet away.
“As soon as I’m done, I’ll bring you back. Come on, man, I know she’s not here but I’ve flown on you a hundred times.”
Tropius stayed on guard until Cairo took a Pokeball from his belt and brought out his most trusted ambassador.
Beautifly appeared and flew to Tropius. She started lightly batting his face with her wings. She sealed her eyes here and there. She was blissful. They appeared to exchange a few words. Eventually Tropius relaxed and even appeared to playfully nip at Beautifly a bit.
“If she flies with us,” Cairo said, “will that be OK? Can you please take me?”
Tropius approached Cairo and looked at him for just a second longer before he lowered his neck and wings.
“Okay, then,” he said.
Tropius cut through the air quickly enough that it took only half an hour or so to get to where they were going. Cairo was freezing, though, being battered occasionally by light rain and clouds of mist. By the time Tropius’ feet settled beside the lighthouse that was such a staple of not only Olivine City, but Johto itself, Cairo’s shirt was sopping and stuck to his chest and back in a series of places. His teeth were unwittingly battling one another inside of his mouth.
He asked both of the Pok?mon how they could stand the cold. They both jumped around with one another, ignoring the trainer. Cairo peaked an eyebrow and walked forward toward stairs leading to the lighthouse’s platform. He reached both arms out in opposite directions, Pok?Balls in hand. He called back Tropius and Beautifly simultaneously.
He was wiping condensation from his forehead and trying to form his hair with his hands. His feet pressed down into malleable wooden steps that creaked as they held on. His nervousness poked and prodded him from the inside out and he tried to settle it but couldn’t. His breathing became involuntary and he had trouble guiding it in and out in the right proportions. He was worried she’d think the residual sky covering him from head to toe was sweat.
He walked to the entrance at the bottom of the lighthouse and knocked without looking to its wooden panels. He looked to the left and saw an Ampharos leading a pack of Mareep at a man in overalls’ beckoning in the distance. He felt his hand crash up and down against the wood, moist enough that it cushioned more than fought back. He stood there for a few moments and continued knocking periodically. Eventually he turned his head toward the door and a sign stood at eye-level. It read: LIGHTHOUSE CLOSED TEMPORARILY—CARETAKER AT GYM LEADER CONFERENCE. APOLOGIES.
“That’s about right,” Cairo said.
He walked to the end of the dock that extended past the lighthouse. He sat down and hung his legs off the end. It was too dark to see very far, but the stars beginning to poke through a three-quarters-set sky made the ocean glow a bit.
On the beach to his right, two young trainers battled a Mudkip and a Marshstomp, respectively. He watched water spray in all directions for a little bit. He watched their trainers move restlessly but with inerasable smiles. They called out to their Pok?mon with confidence and to one another with even more. Their eyes were so bright it seemed impossible for them to blink. Eventually, though, the Mudkip was sprayed backward and into unconsciousness. What Cairo noticed most, though, was that both trainers and Marshtomp ran to its side and comforted it as it came to. They were proud of the Pok?mon and proud of each other and it showed. They were battling, he reasoned, for the sake of getting better and for friendship and for growing. Somewhere along the line, he thought, trainers lose that.
He sat there for a moment and tried to reason whether to stay and wait it out for Jasmine. He weighed going to Goldenrod to try to find Sutton, going to Sinnoh to try to find Davis or Dekota, going to Hoenn to relieve Kallen of his duties. He weighed taking on the Johto league. He waited so long, even, that he eventually realized that he was sitting and waiting for someone to come along and offer him reason or direction. But Dani was right, he thought.
He slid his fingers along the small Pok?Balls attached to his belt. He felt Golduck’s. He looked out toward the ocean and imagined how deep it was at points and how little anyone knew about it. It scared him a bit to think about, but he knew how unafraid Golduck was every time he dove in, despite not knowing what it held. He remembered Wailord towing him through the waters of Sinnoh, unafraid of what could have been ahead.
He took his Pok?Nav from his pocket and scrolled with his finger through his contacts until he saw Davis Kerrigan’s name appear. He hovered over it for a second before he actually pressed down. His finger stuck to the screen just slightly and, as he lifted, the thickly humid air left a faint fingerprint impressed. He wiped it away and wrote. He wrote: Hey, man. Where are you?
“Why? What was happening, exactly?” Dani asked.
“I don’t know. It wasn’t like they were walking around the streets, but, at the same time, they weren’t exactly hiding underground.”
“But Alison was there?”
“Yeah,” he said, “I actually found her pretty quickly because I followed that guy that took her straight from the Justin Bibarel concert.”
“But, so, were Davis and them angry that you left?”
“I don’t know. I texted Davis on his Pok?Nav to let him know what was going on—that it was a split-second thing and I didn’t have a choice. I mean, even if I’d wanted to find them in that concert I couldn’t have. He told me to go and that they’d catch up, but I’m not sure what happened or where they went. I mean, this is the first day I’ve had to catch my breath in the last few weeks.”
“But Alison is OK?”
“Yeah,” Cairo said, “and back in Sinnoh now.”
“Are you worried about her?” Dani asked.
“No. She can take care of herself. She’s more than capable. They just blindsided her in a weird environment is all.”
Cairo got up from where he was sitting beside Dani on the ground of a little spot on the shore of Cianwood. He paced a little bit and put his hands in his back pockets.
“Are you okay?” Dani asked.
“Yeah. No, I’m fine. I wish I’d heard from one of them, but I know Davis has been training and been busy. Same with Dekota and I know his leg is probably still putting him out.”
“Well if you’re done here, then why aren’t you back in Sinnoh? Why don’t you go find them?”
“What?” Cairo asked.
“Alison is OK, your friends are in Sinnoh. Your business in Johto is done, right?”
Dani wasn’t really looking at him as she spoke. Instead, she looked through fluttering bits of her hair toward the sea. She was trying to make her words carry over the winds beating one another on top of its small waves. She could almost taste the salt.
“I guess so.” He had to sort-of yell over an abrupt gust.
“What does that mean?”
He said nothing and then she repeated herself. He said, “I think that maybe Sutton is in Goldenrod.”
Dani kept her eyes fixed out toward the ocean. They briefly followed a couple of Remoraid jumping out of its surface and then back in.
“Why do you think that?” she said.
“Well,” Cairo said, “I’ve heard reports that Unown has been seen there right now. That’s what she was doing. She was researching Unown and, before we met, she had been following any sign of them. She was writing a paper on them.”
Dani stood up and brushed sand off of the back of her short, blue dress. It had small Wingull printed on it.
“Well you know what I think you should do,” Dani said.
“I do?”
She laughed a little and said, “Probably not. But maybe that’s for the best.”
“Why is it for the best?” Cairo said.
“Because,” Dani said before she took a little pause and then started up again, “you need to go do what makes you happy. After the whole Galactic meltdown a few years ago, you did something you thought you had to do and opened that training facility. But you weren’t happy because you weren’t ready to stop being a trainer. You weren’t ready to stop seeing the world, bud. And you know what? I heard Kallen has been doing better there running it than you ever did.”
She stopped and laughed a little. He nodded.
She said, “For as long as I’ve known you you’ve been chasing around Galactic or saving people or doing things for everyone but yourself. And I’m not going to be another person who influences where Cairo goes.”
He took a second and really tried to process what she’d said. The wind was still competing for his attention. He looked back toward the city and saw a Yanma chasing bugs on the skyline. His eyes rolled across the tops of the buildings until they finally rolled all the way down to Dani, trying to control her hair that the wind had given life to.
“You should go talk to Jasmine,” Dani said.
Cairo let out a breath he’d been holding. He said, “If anything could make this situation more complicated,” and just left it at that.
“You don’t think that’ll clear it up?”
“No. No, I don’t think that’ll clear anything up.”
“But don’t you kind of owe her? Seeing as you abandoned her?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Dani smiled and the wind calmed down for a moment.
Dani said, “Take Tropius for the night. Fly to Olivine.”
“I have six Pok?mon on me,” he said.
“So give me Mawile for the night. She could use some girl time anyway.”
Cairo muttered some frustrated nothings and dropped himself back into the sand. He laid back and looked up at some clouds that he started shaping, in his mind, like a bunch of Mareep and Swablu.
Dani rolled her eyes and reached down to grab the fourth Pokeball from Cairo’s belt. He squirmed a bit and tried to reach for what she’d taken, but she was quicker.
She said, “Here,” and threw a different Pokeball back at him.
“Dani,” he said, groaning a little, “Tropius isn’t even going to listen to me.”
“Yes he is. He trusts you.”
Cairo held Tropius’ Pokeball above his face as he stayed laying down.
“What if he doesn’t?” Cairo asked.
He heard no response and asked again. Wind buffeted his head a little bit as he raised himself to a seated position. He looked around spastically, unable to find Dani. He finally turned all the way around, though, looking back toward the city and saw Dani in the distance walking beside Mawile.
“That’s great.”
Cairo stood up and stretched a bit. He threw Tropius’ Pokeball into the air and called for him. He caught the empty shell and watched a red light take Tropius’ form, stirring up sand beneath what became the fruit Pok?mon’s feet.
Tropius looked anxiously around and stood at a distance from Cairo.
“Hey, I know you’re confused. I know you’re nervous. Dani is at her apartment. I need to borrow you to help me fly to Olivine.”
Tropius looked at Cairo for a second while he spoke and then began looking around again. Cairo approached the Pok?mon, taking only a couple of steps before Tropius ascended to its hind legs and craned its neck down toward him.
“Yeah, this is great.”
Tropius’ head followed Cairo every step he took.
“Tropius,” Cairo said, “you know who I am. You know you can trust me. Dani is my best friend. I just need your help getting to Olivine and I’ll bring you back as soon as I’m—“
Tropius grunted loudly and exhaled heavily enough that it blew Cairo’s hair back even from a few feet away.
“As soon as I’m done, I’ll bring you back. Come on, man, I know she’s not here but I’ve flown on you a hundred times.”
Tropius stayed on guard until Cairo took a Pokeball from his belt and brought out his most trusted ambassador.
Beautifly appeared and flew to Tropius. She started lightly batting his face with her wings. She sealed her eyes here and there. She was blissful. They appeared to exchange a few words. Eventually Tropius relaxed and even appeared to playfully nip at Beautifly a bit.
“If she flies with us,” Cairo said, “will that be OK? Can you please take me?”
Tropius approached Cairo and looked at him for just a second longer before he lowered his neck and wings.
“Okay, then,” he said.
Tropius cut through the air quickly enough that it took only half an hour or so to get to where they were going. Cairo was freezing, though, being battered occasionally by light rain and clouds of mist. By the time Tropius’ feet settled beside the lighthouse that was such a staple of not only Olivine City, but Johto itself, Cairo’s shirt was sopping and stuck to his chest and back in a series of places. His teeth were unwittingly battling one another inside of his mouth.
He asked both of the Pok?mon how they could stand the cold. They both jumped around with one another, ignoring the trainer. Cairo peaked an eyebrow and walked forward toward stairs leading to the lighthouse’s platform. He reached both arms out in opposite directions, Pok?Balls in hand. He called back Tropius and Beautifly simultaneously.
He was wiping condensation from his forehead and trying to form his hair with his hands. His feet pressed down into malleable wooden steps that creaked as they held on. His nervousness poked and prodded him from the inside out and he tried to settle it but couldn’t. His breathing became involuntary and he had trouble guiding it in and out in the right proportions. He was worried she’d think the residual sky covering him from head to toe was sweat.
He walked to the entrance at the bottom of the lighthouse and knocked without looking to its wooden panels. He looked to the left and saw an Ampharos leading a pack of Mareep at a man in overalls’ beckoning in the distance. He felt his hand crash up and down against the wood, moist enough that it cushioned more than fought back. He stood there for a few moments and continued knocking periodically. Eventually he turned his head toward the door and a sign stood at eye-level. It read: LIGHTHOUSE CLOSED TEMPORARILY—CARETAKER AT GYM LEADER CONFERENCE. APOLOGIES.
“That’s about right,” Cairo said.
He walked to the end of the dock that extended past the lighthouse. He sat down and hung his legs off the end. It was too dark to see very far, but the stars beginning to poke through a three-quarters-set sky made the ocean glow a bit.
On the beach to his right, two young trainers battled a Mudkip and a Marshstomp, respectively. He watched water spray in all directions for a little bit. He watched their trainers move restlessly but with inerasable smiles. They called out to their Pok?mon with confidence and to one another with even more. Their eyes were so bright it seemed impossible for them to blink. Eventually, though, the Mudkip was sprayed backward and into unconsciousness. What Cairo noticed most, though, was that both trainers and Marshtomp ran to its side and comforted it as it came to. They were proud of the Pok?mon and proud of each other and it showed. They were battling, he reasoned, for the sake of getting better and for friendship and for growing. Somewhere along the line, he thought, trainers lose that.
He sat there for a moment and tried to reason whether to stay and wait it out for Jasmine. He weighed going to Goldenrod to try to find Sutton, going to Sinnoh to try to find Davis or Dekota, going to Hoenn to relieve Kallen of his duties. He weighed taking on the Johto league. He waited so long, even, that he eventually realized that he was sitting and waiting for someone to come along and offer him reason or direction. But Dani was right, he thought.
He slid his fingers along the small Pok?Balls attached to his belt. He felt Golduck’s. He looked out toward the ocean and imagined how deep it was at points and how little anyone knew about it. It scared him a bit to think about, but he knew how unafraid Golduck was every time he dove in, despite not knowing what it held. He remembered Wailord towing him through the waters of Sinnoh, unafraid of what could have been ahead.
He took his Pok?Nav from his pocket and scrolled with his finger through his contacts until he saw Davis Kerrigan’s name appear. He hovered over it for a second before he actually pressed down. His finger stuck to the screen just slightly and, as he lifted, the thickly humid air left a faint fingerprint impressed. He wiped it away and wrote. He wrote: Hey, man. Where are you?