3 - Breathless - Chapter Three
BreathlessTale of the Breathless One CHAPTER THREE "What?" I ask, confused. "Calm down, say that again slowly." She takes a deep, shaky breath. Trying to steel herself a second time, she says, much slower, "Can I come with you, wherever you're going, please?" I thought about it. On one hand, I didn't want to be responsible for her safety as she was much more fragile than I am, but on the other hand, I had grown somewhat used to being able to talk with her. I doubt many other Pokémon would be as willing to come with me as she was. Plus, I didn't know how my comrades-in-arms would feel about me taking an otherworldly creature with me back home, because if I did accept, there would be no way I'd break her heart by saying I'd have to leave her one day. I guessed she could see that I was having an internal conflict. She seemed worried, and more than just a little scared. I nod slowly, coming to an agreement with myself. "You may come with me - " "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" "- on the one condition that you rest here for another night, and get a good breakfast in you. I'm not going to allow you to re-open healing wounds." "Okay!" She heads back into her room, filled with glee, though not overly showing it. It was controlled, and I was glad because of it. It meant that, with practice, she could become better restrained. But that still left one question.... "Officer... Jenny?" I ask. "Yes?" "Since you are an officer of the law, perhaps you may have knowledge of the basic laws I will need to follow here, if I do go to see how I may go about contacting my base, and so on." "The basic laws? Hmm...well, for starters, you aren't allowed to take someone else's Pokémon, with very few exceptions, such as an abusive trainer's Pokémon, and a few other technicalities. Then, there's a limit of how many Pokémon you can have with you at any one time. You can only carry a maximum of six Pokémon, the rest have to be put into storage, with a few exceptions also. That's really all you have to know. Also, you might want to get yourself a Pokédex, so you can fully register yourself as a team." "Who do I cont... talk to to get one?" My tongue was now starting to tick me off. "I'd suggest Professor Juniper, although there are easier ways to get one then to go all the way to Nuvema Town." "What would be the least time consuming way?" I ask. "You could ask Nurse Joy there, if she wakes up anytime soon. They have the authority to give you one, like Professor Juniper does." I nod. "Should I wake her up now then?" The officer looks down to the fainted nurse sitting in the chair I had placed her in. "...Probably." she half-chuckles. I move over to the nurse. Shaking her shoulder, I hear her groan. Officer Jenny begins to speak. "Welcome back, Nurse Joy. Have a nice rest?" Nurse Joy looks around, alarmed. "I was asleep?!" "You fainted. After you interrupted me installing my face," I stated bluntly. She looks at me, embarrassed. I hold up my hand, smiling slightly. "I will vouch for you that seeing me with my face off assuredly causes extreme nightmares in children below fifty years old. Now, I just want to know if you can register for me a Pokédex. I intend on leaving tomorrow." "Oh...ok. I'll get right to it!" Nurse Joy immediately jumps up from her chair going to her desk. "Now, if you will please just sign here... here... here.... and here, and fill out these forms..." #***# After a large amount of forms, the next morning greets me with a black blur slamming into me. "Good morning... uh..." "My name is Adam." "Good morning, Adam!" she says with a smile. "Good morning," I say. "Have you eaten yet?" "Not yet," she admits. "Go eat, and then I'll be picking up some minor camping supplies." "Okay, Adam!" she replies. She jogs over to where they were serving breakfast. "One of these days, I'm gonna want to make myself a proper digestion system," I think. "I think it would help if when I ate, it actually helped me." I watch her dig into her freshly-cooked pancakes with gusto. It made me almost laugh. She had syrup in her fur. Now I'm gonna have to make her shower. She puts her plate in the trash bin, looking at me expectantly. "There is no way I'm going to let you walk around with syrup in you fur. Now you gotta go shower. I'm not going to leave until you're done." She sighs. "Fine," she says, pouting. "I'll do it now." After showering, I help her brush her fur. While I'm not usually as comfortable in close-up range with anyone, I thought I should trust her, at least this much. We head out right after. Even though she said she was used to sleeping outside, I got a sleeping bag and a tent, as well as other miscellaneous supplies. We head back through portions of the forest, finally getting through a path. Since I was best equipped to carry heavy weights, I carried the bag. Somehow, sundown came just a bit too quickly. Setting up the tent, I let her sit next to me by the fire. "So...Adam, what's it like where you come from?" "It is a place filled with war. At least...all that I've ever seen. I know that there are some places, secluded places, that don't know of it. Where I'm from, I had to battle wars for the sake of the Populace, or the majority of humans there. In truth, I'm not entirely sure I want to return." That dampens her mood a bit. I could tell, because she stopped talking for a while. "What was your life like, before you were attacked..?" I ask, hesitantly. "I lived with my father, until they attacked me. They shot him. You know what happened next." she says, sadly. "Hmm." I say. "What about...before?" "My father was very kind. He told me many stories." "Oh?" I ask. "Like what?" "W...well, he told me about my mother. He said she was captured by a trainer. He told me about the adventures he'd had. And many other stories. Did..did you have a mother, or a father...?" I think for a moment. "That question can be answered with both yes, and also no." "How so?" "As far as I remember of my own world... the Army... and such.. I've never had anything of the sort. But... if I think about it, I remember another life. It seems faded, like it was long ago, but I know it couldn't have been. All I really remember, is a bedroom. The rest is just one blur." "Hmm..." She yawns. "I think I'd better be off to bed. Good night, Adam." "Good night." I reply, though my thoughts were elsewhere. If I really had been... more... than just another soldier, then why was it so hard to remember? It would be hard to say that this all felt like a huge dream. I knew I was unconnected to this other life, at least, I wasn't directly connected. It was more like...what was the phrase? Residual Memory? I wasn't sure. Of course, this very well could be a huge dream. I doubt it, though. If I was laying in a human bed somewhere, I doubt I'd know so much about my guns. It didn't feel like this other me knew much of anything related to combat at all.
Meanwhile... Biosignal Redirection Depot_ Two men are arguing in front of a large computer station. The fat man is furious, the other is bored. "What do you mean, we've lost his signal? I though it was impossible to lose a military robot's signal, even if he was in an entirely different dimension!" "Well, sir, it appears something else is interfering with the signal. Perhaps an opposing Biosignal is already re-integrated into his brain?" "That's impossible! He was in pieces last time they saw him!" "Well then, maybe that wasn't him..?" "No, it was him. The Boss confirmed it himself. That was his body, and his signal being broadcast from his unit. We all saw that entire squadron blown to bits!" "Just forget it, sir. Even if we were to find him, he would most assuredly not be the same. He may even fight you." "Perhaps...I can help with that..?" At this, a man in a dark cloak steps into the room. "And just how would you do that?" the fat man demands. "I have the needed skills to send some Soldiers after him and retrieve him, should he be...elsewhere." "Just how would you manage it, if we can't find him with the best goddamn supercomputer in the country?!" The hooded man pulls off his cloak, to reveal the face of one of the most highly dangerous 'criminals' of the Progarm-Warrioristic Army, known only as 'Chaos Omega'. Of course, these men did not know anything about him, or this other Army. "Because... I have the power to traverse worlds." Omega pulls back a black sleeve to reveal a grotesque inter-meshing of technology and flesh, with a dark crimson gem embedded in the back of his palm. "With this machine, I can send myself and others through worlds. It's called a Portal Creation Device." The fat man looks at this man. He could accept his help, and get back their best Soldier, or he could reject the offer, and most likely get fired for not trying. Little did he know, this man had other plans for their 'best Soldier', that did not, in fact, include returning him to their Army. "It's a deal!" the fat man says, clasping the arm in a handshake. Omega smiles, making the other man uneasy. "A deal it is, then."