Ch.88
Imported from SF2 with no description.
Sharon - Trainer's friend
It had been a long trip. Not physically, but having had all that time to think was too much. I stood at the shore and found myself wondering what it was all for. What we were even hoping to do. Even assuming we made a big splash and stole the stage out from under her, what would it even mean to do so? What would it change? She'd still be the same conniving bitch she always was. It wouldn't change how things were, or how they'd happened. It wouldn't give Alcyon her happiness back.
It wouldn't fix what my family had done to Maggie. Or to her best friend.
Bugger me, nothing would fix that. I had begun to doubt myself even before I darkened Maggie's doorway. I was grateful for Alcyon giving me the nudge, to break me out of my thoughts again. I owed it to her, didn't I? To all of them. To myself, too. To stop running.
It was enough to make me laugh, and make me cry. To push me to the edge of hysterics and leave me trying like hell to just not hyperventilate. That's why, in the end it all came back to me. They were doing this to help me, weren't they? They had no other reason to get involved.
It was time to stop running. To stop pretending I didn't see, didn't know. It was time to face this for exactly what it was.
So I walked to Maggie's house, and when I knocked on the door, I tried not to think about how it echoed inside. How quiet it was. I tried not to think about her, and her Primarina, and how goddamned quiet it was, and what my family had done to make it that way. But I couldn't pretend. I was crying even before Maggie opened the door.
I wasn't sure what I was expecting. Nothing good, to be honest. Maggie had begun to gray, her hair no longer completely that vibrant red it once was. Wrinkles had crept in, around her eyes and at her forehead. She'd opened her mouth, glowering at me as if she were about to shout or chase me off, but I spoke first.
"Please. Please hear me out." I said, trying to blink away the tears, then brushing them aside with the back of my hand. "I'm sorry, just... five minutes, please."
Maggie - Contest Hall Trainer
I wanted to hit her. For even showing up I just wanted to smack her across the face as hard as I could. It wasn't her fault, but she should have known better. After what her sister did to me? That she had the sheer audacity to even show up was enough to make the bile rise. It was that Alcyon was there with her that gave me pause. That poor Lapras also had her whole life run through the wringer thanks to the girl's rotten family. But there she was, looking to me with a kind of determination I used to see looking in the mirror in the morning. Used to. Before my whole life got turned inside out thanks to those assholes.
Maria had found her way to my side in the middle of Sharon trying to convince me to help her friend, to help them stand up to her sister. My silent little siren remembered her, and flinched, shying away behind me.
"Did you forget? It's your family that did that to her." I said, as I held Maria close, the Primarina looking up at me in hurt and worry. Her scarred face and neck a testament to the horrors she went through that fateful day. "You bastards stole her voice, and her beauty, and almost took her life. You took away everything from her because she could still steal the show from that goddamn Lapras!"
Sharon flinched as if I hit her, and I wished I had. It wouldn't have fixed anything, it wouldn't have helped but I still wished I had. That Alcyon flinched made me feel guilty, however. No. It made me feel honestly ashamed. She didn't deserve it any more than Maria did. They should have been rivals. Friends. That was stolen from them, too.
It was Maria who held me back, her flippers reaching up to brush at my arm, pulling my attention to her. I didn't need to hear her song to know it in my heart. I was angry for everything they'd taken from me, and I was furious for everything they'd taken from her. Somewhere along the way she'd moved on, but I was as trapped as I'd ever been. I saw in her scars all of our shattered dreams and that taunting smile from Sharon's sister. As angry as I was... she just wasn't. I wish I knew exactly what she felt, but it wasn't as if she could tell me anymore. All I knew is that she didn't want me to be angry at the girl. And she was right. Sharon was just a girl. She was young when all of it happened. It wasn't something she did, or even understood. Not really.
"I know, sweetheart... you're right. I know." I said, deflated as I embraced Maria. She always pulled me toward the better side of me. It might have been the only reason I didn't do something horrible. "Look. I know you didn't do anything. But we both know; you and I? We're not friends. Not by a long shot. I don't owe you any favors, and whatever you're planning, I doubt I want any part of it. I have no intention of helping you. But you can thank Maria, I'll at least listen. I owe her that much."
Shizuka - Sharon's Haunter
It was good that she'd begun to doubt. To question. She was learning to ask the important questions. What did she hope to accomplish? What did she want to happen? What was her goal? She wanted to undermine her sister. To take away the facade of power the woman had built up around her. Well bully for her. But what would that actually do? And was that what she wanted?
Maggie wasn't afraid to ask the pointed questions. She didn't pull any punches, and for better or worse that was exactly what Sharon needed. The two began to discuss a wicked plan and I couldn't help but find myself grinning as I watched from the shadows. It was simply devious. Diabolical and twisted and in a way oddly poetic. But it all hinged on the actions of others, one couldn't be sure it would add up to anything, still, they were setting plans in motion, and that was more than I'd dared hope for.
I had been there, that fateful day. When Maggie almost lost her best friend. When Maria had her whole world taken away from her. Nobody there that day knew what I'd seen. The theater spotlight falling from the scaffolding, the broken glass and the blood. Maggie's heartwrenching cry and the shocked stares of the stage hands. An accident, they'd determined. A tragic accident. Nobody could prove otherwise. But I knew. We all did. The awful truth of it was that the only thing accidental about it was Maria's survival.
Seeing the two plot and scheme now... it was nice to know that everything in the world did ultimately move in circles. I wanted to drown the woman, but this? This might be even better. So I'd bide my time, I decided. I'd just listen in and wait. Tragic accident, or carefully laid trap, it didn't matter to me. In the end, I'd make sure things were finally settled. For Sharon's sake. For mine. For everyone else who had ever been hurt along the way. I could be patient. I'd already waited this long. I'd rather Sharon solved it herself, of course... Or, I'd at least pretend that was how I really felt.
Zorah and I shared a moment, knowing and oddly serene. He had been the only one I ever confided in. The only one to know exactly what I knew. We would wait and see. But at the end of the day, we'd both do what we had to. What was long overdue. His heart wasn't in it the way mine was, but his loyalty ran deeper than anything. He'd do it simply because I had asked. He was simple that way, and a girl could appreciate simple, in a complicated world.
Helena - Trainer's Absol
There was a change on the wind. Something subtle and ashen. A kind of sullen that left a bitter taste in my mouth. It wasn't danger. Not for us. Not yet, at least. I had distracted myself for most of the morning playing volleyball with the girls. By lunch I'd begun to get pretty good. I still couldn't leap straight out of the sand, but Cocoa was happy to set up for me to vault off of, which at least put me on par with Belle's moves. The two of us had taken charge of our respective teams, and it was back and forth for a while.
Good things never last, though.
Fuck's sake, there was just no getting around Mira's speed. My best shots were still mostly being blocked with her clever vaults and dives. They didn't completely destroy us, but all we could really do was make them work for their win. Claire and Tempest had taken the day to lounge in the shade of a parasol, content to chat with each other and people watch. The local pokemon trainers offered a few matches, which gave us a break from our game. We all had to hold back though, to keep it competitive. After a few playful if a bit disappointing scuffles, we decided on lunch.
Fresh sea food. Real sea food. I was worried about making myself look like a glutton, but Mira beat me to it. I couldn't begin to guess where the girl put it all. Like a bottomless pit, gift wrapped in ribbons and bows. Pressure off, I enjoyed way more food than I should have had, and ended up joining Claire and Tempest for a change, although I napped more than chimed in on their conversation.
I could still feel it. That sullen mood. Irritation, like something digging at me. A want to be angry and a sourness knowing it wouldn't do any good. I wished I knew what it meant, but Absols don't get anything but a glimpse. And sadly we can't ignore what we see. It's there, whether we want it to be or not. Definitely put a damper on the first taste of an actual break we'd had since we arrived.
And probably the last one we'd have for a while, if my guess was right.
Damn it, master... we needed a real vacation, fucker! No problems to solve, no bad guys to hide from. A real fucking rest.
... Yeah, yeah. I know. Half of that was my fault anyway.
Tempest - Trainer's Lycanroc
It was nice to have a day to just relax, at least in spirit. But I couldn't shake all the questions I had, all the things I'd have to learn. I wanted to dance. I wanted to sing. But would my body even let me? I had no idea what to expect. Master settled in with us, and it was a happy distraction, just being there with him was enough to quiet my nerves.
Tomorrow would start a new day, and a new journey, too. This time though, being tough wasn't good enough. I needed something more. Something I didn't know for sure I had. It was exhilarating. It was terrifying.
We all went to bed early that night, but somehow I still managed to stay up late. It wasn't like me to be so anxious, but I couldn't help it. I could feel the tension right down to my claws and as the hour grew later, my thoughts circled back to my confession to Master. To everything I'd been running away from all this time. To why I even wanted to be up on that stage to begin with.
It was a stupid, childish reason. I knew that. The girl I was, though? She didn't understand that it was hard work. That it was stress and repetition and nervousness. It was a smile for the crowd while behind the scenes you're pushing yourself to your limits just to keep up. I knew that now, as much as I hated to admit it. I wasn't afraid of the work, but I was terrified I wouldn't be good enough.
Wasn't I always?
Master didn't know it, but when he named me? He called me out. Tempest. There always was one, in my heart. I'd never tell him, I'd never let him know how naked it made me feel to him. Tempest. The girl who was too afraid of being left behind to let herself rest. The scrawny runt who had to cry and bleed just to be half of what her brothers were. The girl who threw herself into the fire just to exist.
Tempest. Maybe someday he'd see how right he was. But it didn't change anything. Not tonight at least. All this time, all this journey and somewhere inside me I was still that scared little Rockruff, hiding in alleyways and stalking his scent, because I'd finally made a friend. Claire snuggled close to me. I couldn't tell if she was asleep or awake, but she always seemed to know when I was thinking of her.
I might have been that same scared girl... but I wasn't alone. That was enough. I wasn't alone. I wouldn't face it alone. They were with me. She was with me. master was with me. Claire snuggled me close, and my thoughts had begun to quiet down.
Her embrace, and then his as he shifted in his sleep. I understood that things were different. Felt different. I didn't have to win all the time. I just had to do my best. That was enough. They wouldn't let me be alone, no matter what happened.
Trainer
It was strange to be intimidated by a red-headed woman who had to look up to meet my gaze. But I was actually very intimidated by her. She circled me, poked my abdomen, held my arm out and rotated it, appraised me like I was going to market. Then she clicked her tongue and shook her head. "You really don't have an eye for talent, Sharon." She said with a sigh. "He's stiff as a board and his balance is wrong. I'm going to have to teach him from scratch." She said disapprovingly as she moved on to Tempest.
"Oh you poor girl!" She said immediately, turning Tempest's face this way and that. "What has he been feeding you? Your fur is a mess, and these scars... we'll have to be careful how we get our picture taken, won't we?" She asked, a little more gently than she'd treated me. "You. Trainer. I'm going to give you a list of things you need to get. You are going to get everything on that list, exactly as I wrote it, you will not deviate, you will not make excuses. Are we clear?" She asked, before shaking her head and sighing. "Your girls deserve better than you're giving them, and I'm going to fix that, if I have to beat you over the head and shoulders to make it happen."
Sharon laughed, and winked at me from behind the woman. "Easy, Maggie. He's a league trainer, he's never even seen a contest performance before."
The woman, Maggie, turned to face Sharon with a scowl. "You didn't tell me you'd found a rank amateur to do your dirty work. Is your whole family just incapable of full disclosure?" She sighed, and nodded. "My fault. Of course nobody who actually knew what they were getting into would have anything to do with someone with your family name. Did you even tell him why he's here?"
It was then I spoke up. "I'm here because this is Tempest's dream, since she was a little girl. That it happens to coincide with helping someone get some closure is just dumb luck."
" He speaks!" Maggie said, feigning shock in an overly dramatic pose, her hands raised to either side of her face, open as if taken aback. "You have a good reason, then. I expect you to work twice as hard as ... Tempest, was it? If I don't think you're capable of doing the job, I won't hesitate to cut my losses and go home. Have I made myself crystal clear?"
"And what's more," She began to scold me, stomping up to me, her finger in my face as she admonished me. "You are going to take care of each and every one of your pokemon with the same care and dedication I expect you to show Tempest. If this is what you think counts as presentable, I shudder to think how the rest of your family must feel! You ought to be ashamed of yourself, did you learn absolutely nothing from an entire year of class? I swear the league administration would just give anyone a license, wouldn't they?"
Sybil
Oh. Oh, I liked her. I wanted to learn everything about what she just did. How she commanded the room, immediately. He'd have licked her boots. I would have killed to have that kind of power. She spent an hour berating him, and he took every word of it. More than that, he was clearly taking it to heart. She made good points, solid arguments, and didn't pull a single punch. I wasn't sure if she was a trainer or a slave driver. Either way, it was the sexiest thing I'd ever seen a human do.
I found myself imitating her posture, subtly. The way she kept her balance just a little forward, as if she were waiting to pounce. The way she held his gaze, gestured with her hands. I wanted to know her magic. And it was. That was magic. It had to be. No way did our headstrong trainer become a meek, obedient little puppet for just anyone.
Tempest had been dropped off at a spa, and would spend the day being pampered in ways I could only envy. She'd shine by the time she was done, but even then, Maggie only called it 'a good start', and booked a second appointment for a week out. The Lycanroc stared at her carefully filed claws, glistening with a clear coat leaving them shining like polished obsidian, and seemed to not quite recognize herself in them. Yet at the same time, it was one of the happiest expressions I'd ever seen her make. She felt pretty. Maggie had seen to that, before anything else.
Getting the things on her list took the better part of the afternoon, and Sharon paid for every item. It was expensive stuff. Soaps and conditioners, a set of brushes and combs, three very high end lotions, and custom ordered pokeballs. Maggie had set him up with a tailor who took his measurements and booked him an appointment at a salon as well. Sharon was completely unapologetic, and when master tried to apologize for the cost, she just winked. "Who do you think is really paying for it?"
Master would have assumed Maggie, but I knew what she really meant. She was using her family's money. The ill-gotten gains of their despicable little empire. It was a delicious twist to the whole thing, and being a recipient of the benefit was an oddly empowering feeling.
Maggie was right though. Master was very rough around the edges. Nobody went hungry, we weren't being abused, but it wasn't like he was going to any great lengths to keep us at our best. We were all just living, day to day without any real thought put into it. She would change that in him, and it was one that I agreed with. Even my old trainer had one up on him, there.
Not that I'd have ever gone back.
In the afternoon, she really did start from scratch with him. She taught him how to walk. It was hilarious to see him struggling to correct his posture, change his gait, slow down and work up a sweat by doing little more than walking, turning, stepping backward, stepping forward, moving to the side... but after a couple of hours of her instruction, the difference was obvious. His steps changed from a kind of... almost lumbering march forward to a seemingly effortless glide. His back was straighter, his shoulders and hips moved more freely. It was almost sexy. No. It actually was.
If she could do that in an afternoon, I had high hopes she could actually pull this thing off.
Maggie - Contest Trainer
Honestly! It was like Sharon knew I had a soft spot for lost causes, and he was more lost than most! His girls were a proper mess, and by his own sorry state I wasn't sure if he had simply washed up like flotsam, or what! Still, even driftwood could be polished into something pretty, if he was willing to shut up and listen. I went easy on him, but there was always more to do. I wasn't entirely satisfied with his progress, but he did make progress, _ if _ he could retain what he'd learned.
I spent the later part of the evening teaching him how to use the things he'd bought. It was a crash course, and the tip of the iceberg, but baby steps. I had to remind myself that. Today was all about baby steps. He was going to have to learn how to do things the right way, which meant showing him the error of his ways. We all teamed up to wash and brush his girls, and take care of their fur the way he should have been for all this time. It was a good start, but there was so much more to fix that it seemed daunting.
I'd have to work hard to make him into the trainer those girls deserved, but I wasn't going to stop until I'd done so. Even if Sharon's little plan failed, I'd make sure he learned something. It was the least I could do for his brave little Lycanroc. I'd make a decent trainer out of him, if it killed him.
I hated to admit it, but while he looked haphazard, and very obviously had no fashion sense; he took care of himself well, in the most basic sense of the word. He had a good physique. One that he clearly worked for. He gave those same values to his pokemon. Even his Miltank was fit and healthy. She could have modeled for MooMoo Milk. He clearly cared for the well-being of his pokemon, even if he had no idea how to act on that feeling.
It was hard to disparage him as a person, even with all the ways he was lacking. He was there because it was the Lycanroc's dream. Everything else was secondary. That, at the very least, was exactly how it should have been. He was an unpolished gem, not some junk salvaged out of a dung heap. As much as I admonished Sharon for having no eye for talent, maybe it was professional pride that had bit me in the heat of the moment. Time would tell, but something about the way he looked at his pokemon made me feel like he saw the beauty in them. The beauty he wanted to show the rest of the world.
That was a hard thing to find.