Act 1: Chapter 27

Act 1: Chapter 27

"Just remember, Lee," Mable firmly says as both rise from their spots in the Pokemon Center meeting room. "Life can be challenging sometimes, but don't ever let unpleasant times control you, okay?"

"Right" Lee sighs as he stretches his arms above his head, taking care to not push Vulpix off of his shoulder. "Thank you again, Mable."

The therapist smiles kindly and steps up to his side, placing a hand on the shoulder Vulpix isn't occupying. "I know your Corvisquire has you down, Lee. Just take heart in your other pokemon and know that someone like yourself will pull through stronger than ever."

Lee smiles back, though his smile is little more than a slight upturn of his lips. "Will do," he says, turning and leaving the meeting room. Like last time, he heads left down the hall back to the lobby of the Pokemon Center.

After Corvisquire's sudden abandonment and Lee's victory at the Mauville Gym, he, Brendan, and Zinnia stuck around Mauville for several days in an unspoken agreement to wait and see if Corvisquire would return.

So far, nothing.

Lee's post on Battlenet garnered little in the way of useful replies, though one young trainer provided a humorous five-post adventure of him tracking down what he thought was the rogue pokemon, only to discover it was a Honchcrow. One person suggested contacting the Pokemon Rangers, and Lee did so, but other than the confirmation email saying they're looking, the Rangers have been silent.

The team hasn't been idle during their time waiting, as Grovyle began to throw himself into his training with fervor. His loss in the Mauville Gym stung him, that much was obvious, and Lee didn't need Vulpix's translation to understand the wood gecko's intentions.

Grovyle, against Lee's wishes, is trying to single-handedly cover the loss of firepower that Corvisquire's departure created.

Seed Blast was mastered in less than two days, and already the Grass-type can utterly saturate an area in a hellish barrage of near-sonic seeds. Grovyle's next custom move was a simple reversal of Seed Blast, being a single, accurate super-sonic seed to pierce defenses Leaf Blade can't safely carve through. Seed Sniper is the somewhat uninspired name, and after just a day Grovyle has mastered it enough to use in a battle.

Vulpix pushed herself as well, but not to the same level as Grovyle. Her physical growth is slowly beginning to stagnate, as her weight gain began to taper off and the recorded feats in Lee's notes show less and less improvement as time goes on. It's no big surprise or a problem, as Vulpix is a special attacker first and foremost, but Vulpix herself seems irked that Grovyle is beginning to pull away from her in physical ability. Her pyrokinesis continues to grow as expected. The shapes she can create with flames grow more and more complex, and directing them in different directions is becoming easier. With her telepathy so honed and Psychic energy so familiar to her, Lee decided it was time to begin training the physical side of her psychic talents. So far

Well, the empty soda can they were practicing with last night wiggled a little bit.

So far it's been a frustrating experience for the vixen. Controlling fire came to her so easily that telekinesis has been a rude awakening.

Stepping into the crowded midday lobby, Lee and Vulpix are just in time to see Brendan get his pokeballs back from one of Nurse Joy's white-coat-clad assistants before the boy turns to them, a smile on his face. "Hey, you guys!" The Birch heir greets as he clips his pokeballs to his belt and walks closer. "Ready for your demo with the Silph guy?"

"As ready as we'll ever be," Lee nods. "Grovyle has his moves, and Vulpix is going to show off Convergence, so I hope that'll be enough for a TM deal. Grovyle isn't super attached to Seed Blast and Seed Sniper, so we're planning on offering them up if Silph wants something right away."

"Pssh," Brendan waves a hand with a grin. "I betcha Silph will sign you on instantly after seeing just one."

Lee smiles. "I appreciate the optimism," he says, glancing around. "Where did Zinnia go?"

"Right here. I ran to the post office real quick."

Lee, Brendan, and Vulpix turn, finding the missing dragon tamer walking up with a beaming smile on her face. She stops before them and puts her hands on her hips with a satisfied sigh. "Guess who just sent her Tyrunt fossil off to be revived?"

Brendan's jaw drops. "What? How? Fossil revival is stupid expensive if you're not some bigshot!"

'Stupid expensive?' Lee wonders. "How expensive is 'stupid expensive'?"

"Hundreds of thousands of credits for just one revival" Brendan's reply shocks Lee to his core. "Hell, if you don't put a huge deposit down, most labs don't even reply back."

'Ouch,' Lee winces. 'I thought an Eevee was asking too much, but just one fossil can set you back the price of a nice house. Wait' Lee turns to Zinnia with a sinking feeling in his gut. "Zinnia, you didn't just put yourself in debt to get yourself a dinosaur, did you?"nove(l)bi(n.)com

She scoffs. "Have some faith in me, Dolittle. I had to pull some strings, burn some favors, and make a few calls, but I didn't pay anything other than my time. It'll take a bit, but I'll have my Tyrunt in a month or so."

Brendan still seems unconvinced. "Right"

"Good for you, Zinnia," Lee steps in before she and Brendan can argue. "I'm glad to see this working out for you. I take it you're excited for your new pokemon?"

Zinnia beams. "Hehe! Of course I am!" She wiggles in place. "Ah! Every little girl's dream; her own dinosaur!" She sobers up and clears her throat. "Erm, anyway, how did your time with your shrink go, Dolittle?"

"It went," Lee crosses his arms and shifts on his feet, unsure what to say. Vulpix nuzzles his cheek, and from her comes a soothing reassurance. "Last week was kind of heavy, so she suggested taking it easy this week, just talking about life and whatnot."

The tanned woman smiles and nods, not pressing. Brendan looks as if he wants to inquire further, but he bites his lip.

Vulpix paws Lee's neck, a silent reminder of the time poking his brain a second later. "Oh! I need to get to that demo for Silph! Are you guys coming?"

Brendan grins. "You know it!"

"Mmm-hmm," Zinnia agrees.

As a group, Lee, Vulpix, Brendan, and Zinnia leave the pokemon center and head deeper into Mauville through the throngs of people flooding the streets. Lee spares a look around as they walk, taking in the sights.

Wattson's popularity as the Gym Leader is apparent from how many Electric-types are out and about with their trainers. In just a few minutes, Lee spots a Pikachu riding in a girl's handbag, a Raichu jogging along with his college-age trainer, an impatient Electrike tugging at his leash, a Mareep with a giggling little girl on her back, and a Galvantula clinging to the underside of a lamp post enjoying a berry snack. Some of the smaller businesses they pass are made to cater to Electric-type pokemon only, many offering services like 'discharge therapy' or 'electro cycling', which sound like the same thing to Lee. Others are stocked with tools and insulated toys for raising younger pokemon.

'Almost like a miniature New York,' Lee hums as he peers up at the tall buildings of Mauville. 'Largest city in Hoenn, yet only five-hundred thousand people live here. I wonder if the census counts pokemon? Hard to say Idly, Lee wonders what Nigel would think of Earth's population of eight billion when the entire pokemon world doesn't even boast an eighth of that number. 'Then again, pokemon outnumber humans so that figure might be a bit skewed and Earth's population probably isn't that high anymore'

A nip on his ear from Vulpix pulls him away from such morbid thoughts.

"So do these guys have a place set-up for the demo, or are you just going to trash one of their offices?" Zinnia asks with a smirk. "I gotta admit, that would be funny."

"The address they gave me leads to one of their offices," Lee says, pulling out his phone as they stop at a crosswalk with a red light. He flips through his emails back to the one from the Silph Co rep. "Yeah, one of their offices," He looks up in time to see an old truck roll by with a panting Rockruff hanging out of the passenger window. A second later, the crosswalk light turns green and lets them continue on. "I imagine they have a test site or some indoor range with a pokemon that can make force fields on-hand. I warned them that these moves are no joke."

Another thirty minutes of walking leads them to a four-story building in its own small corporate park near the outer eastern part of the city. The grass is cut short, the shrubs are all trimmed square, and the windows of the building are all sparkly and clean. At the top of the building is a large sign clearly spelling out "Silph Co" in stylized letters.

Lee double checks his phone one final time before nodding. "This is the place. Let's go."

Stepping inside, the trio of trainers and single pokemon push past the revolving door and take in the lavish lobby of the Silph Co building. Lee in particular looks down at himself afterward, now very conscious of the wear on his clothes and the dirt on his boots in the face of the immaculate room.

"Do you feel a little underdressed too?" Lee hears Brendan whisper to Zinnia as they make their way to the reception desk in the middle of the lobby.

Zinnia scoffs. "No. Why would I care about what some office jockeys think?"

As they approach, the smartly-dressed woman manning the reception desk looks up from her computer screen with a smile. That smile shrinks when the first thing she sees is Vulpix. "I'm sorry, but Silph Corporation has a no loose pokemon policy on the premises. I'll have to ask you to..!-" She trails off with a look of vague fright when her eyes shift to Lee's face. "E-Erm"

The zoologist smiles disarmingly, or at least tries. 'Was I doing the scary no-expression thing again?' He clears his throat. "Good afternoon. My name is Lee Henson and I have a 12:30 meeting with Mister Aarons?"

When Zinnia snickers, the poor young woman seems to regain her wits. "O-Oh, of course, Mister Henson. One moment" She returns her eyes to her computer and quickly types in a string of words, her painted nails and the large ring on her left hand flashing in the sunlight. She pauses, then types something else. "Alec Aarons will be seeing you in just a moment, Mister Henson. Will your guests be joining you?"

"If it's all the same," Lee responds kindly.

She nods and smiles back unsurely.

It takes only a moment of waiting for one of the elevators near the back of the lobby to chime and open, letting out a smiling man in a black suit who beelines for Lee's group. "Mister Henson! Alec Aarons is the name, and thank you for coming out here today!"

Lee scans the approaching businessman with an appraising eye.

Aarons is a handsome man in that difficult-to-place age range of late twenties to mid-thirties. The skin of his angular face is flawless, and his platinum blond hair is slicked back and shiny in the bright fluorescent lights of the office. There isn't a single wrinkle on his three-piece suit, and his perfectly white teeth almost glint through the narrow gap in his lips made by his easy-going smile. There's an aura about the man, one that would charm most anyone with his smooth voice and attractive face.

In the back of his mind, Lee can't help but draw a comparison to Patrick Bateman from the old movie American Psycho.

"And thank you for taking the time to talk to me, Mister Aarons," Lee reaches out and clasps the man's hand with his own in a brisk shake. "I know you must be busy around here."

Aarons lets out a single short laugh and lets his smile widen just a smidgen. "Please, call me Alec, and for one of Hoenn's rising stars? I can make time." He withdraws his hand and gestures to Vulpix before letting it fall to his side. "Congrats to you and Miss Vulpix on your Dynamo Badge. Wattson is a superb trainer even if his other duties means he doesn't have as much time for his pokemon anymore. To go toe-to-toe with his personal pokemon and win speaks volumes about you." He looks past Lee to Brendan with an appraising look. "And Mister Birch's match was just as thrilling. Watching Manectric get pushed and actually lose is a rare event."

Brendan chuckles bashfully. "Ah, we were working with a type advantage, and even then Wattson's pokemon were tough. He nearly had us."

"Regardless, it was an excellent showing," Aarons inclines his head and turns to Zinnia. "And I'm afraid I never caught your name, miss"

"Zinnia," the dragon tamer supplies simply. She looks over Aarons with a critical eye, then relaxes. "Dragon Tamer. Nice to meet ya."

"The pleasure is all mine." The blonde man smiles back. "Let's take this to my office, shall we?"

Lee and co follow Aarons back to the elevator, where the businessman takes them up to the 3rd floor and to a wooden door labeled "Tech Machine Dept" guarded by a keypad lock, one that Aarons swiftly enters the code for. As they enter and make the trip to Aarons' office, Lee glances at the open-floor office and glass dividers taking up much of the floor space, each desk occupied by a well-dressed worker, many of whom look up to see himself, his friends, and Aarons. The air is filled with the sounds of shuffling paper, the ringing of desk phones, and muffled conversation.

On Lee's shoulder, Vulpix's ears turn as she takes in sounds human hearing would miss, then she widens the psychic channel to her trainer and wordlessly offers her hearing to him.

"-Aarons doing bringing someone up here? He should have taken them to the demo site not-"

"-ing to show off his new client? That's bold, breaking the no pokemon rule and walking right by Nasir's office."

"I thought Joan was working on the new Henson account?"

Lee reaches up and gently scratches under Vulpix's chin, making her shut her eyes in satisfaction. 'Thank you, Vulpix. Seems like Aarons is quite the opportunist to say the least.'

Along the outer perimeter of the large room are a number of private offices behind closed doors, several of which they pass, then they come to a stop by one labeled "A. Aarons - Sr Licensing Rep."

The four people and single shoulder-riding fox step inside, finding a tidy, modern office with little in the way of personal effects, though Lee is surprised to find three guest chairs before the desk. He seats himself in the middle one with Zinnia and Brendan flanking him.

Aarons sits lightly behind his desk and folds his hands over one another. "Can I get you all anything? Water? Coffee?"

The fireballs continue to swell, turning into hissing, miniature suns just as they did in the fight with Absol. Their growth begins to stall out around the size of beach balls, and Lee can feel Vulpix's stamina slowly flagging as her most powerful attack greedily sucks down energy.

Just like he did in their Gym battle, Lee opens his bond to his starter wider and takes the psychic tether deeper into himself, tapping into his own body.

The fireballs roar and grow another size, making the dirt below them dry up and crackle from the sheer heat. Lee cuts the feed from his own body as his head begins to feel light, already prepared to get a scolding from Vulpix later. The vixen looks back at him, and Lee covers his ears.

Vulpix's eyes flash, and the fireballs scream towards Kangaskhan.

Heat. Light. Force.

A power without discrimination.

One Vulpix commands.

KRABOOM!

Lee cracks open an eye to watch, calm taking hold even as he feels the explosion wash over him and nearly take him off his feet.

The explosion is deafening. Even with his ears covered, Lee feels them nearly pop, and the shockwave is like a kick to the chest. Dust rushes past, dirtying his clothes and forcing him to close his eyes. The sheer, burning heat is present only for a moment, but it warms his skin to an uncomfortable level. Through the trees and off the building behind them, the echoes of the explosion roll through Mauville, rousing countless frightened bird pokemon from their perches and into the air.

As the dust settles, Lee rubs the dirt from his eyes and opens them to take in the destruction.

Where the Kangaskhan was, there is now just a limp green wireframe in the vague shape of a pokemon, as if the fake pokemon had its hide blown clean off. Under it is a smoldering crater nearly a foot deep and fifteen feet wide, and the dirt within hisses as it cools from red-hot back to a burnt black.

Above the crater is Kangaskhan's HP bar. There is no number, just a flashing warning saying "ERROR".

'Th*t wa* unn*cessary, Lee.' The vixen at Lee's feet huffs, turning and jabbing his leg with a paw. 'I c*n fuel *y own mo*es.'

Lee smiles and bends down, taking Vulpix into his arms without a fight and rising again. He wraps his arms around her middle with her back to his chest, letting her hindpaws and tails dangle. When he leans down just enough to kiss her scalp behind her head-tuft, the fox's ire cools considerably. "How about that?" He turns on his heel to the spectators.

The trio of Silph Co techs are struck dumb, all three of them glued to the tablets in their hands, all of them emiting a warning chime.

"Jeez" Brendan breathes, a hint of awe on his face. "I didn't realize it was that strong" He looks down to his belt, where Marshtomp's ball wiggles restlessly.

The grin on Zinnia's face can only be described as savage. She clenches and unclenches her fists under her cloak as she effortlessly catches Lee's eyes, telling him that he's got a battle with her coming in the near future.

Finally

Aarons works his jaw, seemingly speechless. His eyes look between the crater, then to Vulpix, then up to Lee. After a long moment, he smiles and combs his hands through his hair, brushing away debris that flew over the ballistic glass screen. "Oooh yes," he purrs. "We can work with this."

As the chilled night of the city begins to roll in, Corvisquire curses himself for the millionth time.

It's been four days since he liberated himself, and he feels Hungry. His stomach gnaws at itself, demanding a meal more substantial than a stolen pizza slice or a bush of berries.

Perched high on a fire-escape on the side of an apartment building, he peers down at the multitude of people and pokemon walking by the alleyway, his powerful eyesight taking in faces, hair, clothes, and stances.

Few of them look up at him, and none are Lee, and for that he's grateful Or?

The corvid growls under his breath and shakes the traitorous thought away. He doesn't want to go back. He doesn't want a trainer. He doesn't Doesn't

"Thank you for going above and beyond, Corvi."

Corvisquire's talons grip his railing perch tightly.

"I know you'd do the same for me, even if you won't admit it."

Corvisquire hisses to himself, screwing his eyes shut.

"Can you fly me to Littleroot? I want to make a grave for them, just a little one, so they're not forgotten."

The hollow metal railing groans under his talons. "I didn't verbally agree to anything, so I broke no promises"

Lee settles on the dingy couch, Shinx crawling up into his chest. He turns to Corvisquire with a small grin. "It feels good to get everything off my chest. You guys are my family and I felt like I was lying to you by not explaining."

Lee's mutilated face fills Corvisquire's mind, and the ugly human's kind smile fixes everything in the worst way. The crow grimaces so hard he feels his beak almost crack. Then another face, one from years ago takes Lee's place.

The boy looks down at Rookidee, surprise on his face. The surprise is traded for delight a moment later. "Wow"

"Bred and born just for you," the other human who keeps his parents says, but Rookiedee is too focused on his young master to pay the man any mind. "He's the best of the best."

Gentle hands lift Rookidee, and he snuggles into them.

The bird pokemon was just one of many offspring to his parents. It's simply nature to not invest too much into many chicks who are bound to go, so when his little master picks him up?

Rookidee knows love for the first time, and he needs more.

The flitter of air-light wings and the tip-tap smaller talon touching down on the rail pull Corvisquire from the memory making him see red. He snaps his head to the side, half-ready to eviscerate the offender with Steel Wing.

Next to him is Swablu, the dragon woman's Swablu. She looks up at him with unreadable black eyes.

"How did you find me? Speak or else." Corvisquire demands darkly.

"Does that really matter?" Swablu's voice is just as airy as her wings with a slight trill as if she might start singing. She blinks. "I won't tell if that's what you're worried about."

"Tch," the larger bird clicks his tongue. "Really now? Why come down here?"

"Just to talk," she answers easily. "I just want to know why?"

"Why?"

Swablu nods. "Why leave like that? Do you know how much you saddened Lee? Or how angry your teammates are?"

Something in Corvisquire's chest clenches when he thinks of the scarred man, but he scoffs at Swablu. "And I care, why?"

The smaller avian scooches closer, gently running her beak through Corvisquire's wing and preening several out-of-place feathers that Corvisquire didn't notice. When did that happen? "Well," Swablu pauses her preening. "Why stick around so long just to turn around and leave?"

"I simply needed food and shelter until it stopped being convenient." the crow sniffs.

Again, Swablu pauses, looking up at Corvisquire with surprise. "Are you assuming that the rest of us don't talk amongst ourselves?"

'What?' The larger of the two frowns. "What do you mean?"

"You may not talk to your team, but Marshtomp's team and my team do," the cotton-bird looks up at Corvisquire accusingly. "You agreed to let Lee give you a physical only to run away. Why?"

Frazzled, Corvisquire barks out the first deflection that comes to mind. "I don't like being touched. It was his fault for pressuring me."

"You only needed to refuse and the worst Lee would have done is ask again. He does so out of care, not maliciousness." Swablu says dryly. "And you claim to not like being touched, but let me preen you without issue."

Corvisquire jumps to the side as if burned, putting a foot between him and Swablu and turning to her with a glare.

"Is it only an issue when humans touch you?"

Corvisquire's wings darken into a steel-gray and take on a metallic luster, humming with thinly veiled danger, yet Swablu presses on. "Are you afraid to be loved?"

Swablu leaps and spreads her wings, only narrowly avoiding the Steel Wing that screeches through the fire-escape railing in a sloppy, rage-fueled cut.

"Don't speak about things of which you have no knowledge!" Corvisquire screams at the hovering Swablu, red leaking into the edges of his vision. "Don't you dare!"

Carefully, the other bird settles back on the railing a wary distance away. She peers up at the starry sky as she folds her wings. "You're not the only one who hurts, Corvisquire," she murmurs. "Zinnia has hurts, Lee has hurts, Vulpix has hurts, everyone does. You know this, especially about Lee." She gives him a hard stare. "You leaving has left him worse off."

The crow ignores the stab of pain in his heart.

"I know you care for Lee at least, so why won't you let him return the favor?" Swablu asks. When she gets no answer, she continues on. "One only needs to open themselves up to the love of others to heal." She spreads her wings. "If humans like Lee and Zinnia can move past the pain in their lives, if they can bravely open themselves to others after the things they suffered, why can't a strong pokemon like yourself?"

'I'm not brave, you fool.'

As she takes off into the night sky, Corvisquire watches her go, suddenly feeling lost. He spreads his wings and flies in the opposite direction, feeling how smoothly his preened wing cuts through the air, and how much the other one drags.

"Can you fly me to Littleroot? I want to make a grave for them, just a little one, so they're not forgotten."

"I need to evolve, I need the armor of a Corviknight," he mutters. "Then I'll go back, if only to fulfill that promise I stupidly made."

That night, he slept fitfully in a breezy tree, alone.