Chapter 15: Perceptions of the World
Two hours had passed, and a lot had happened. Soon the little abandoned town was flooded with police officers and Team Harmonious grunts. A few news helicopters flew overhead trying to get a good visual for media teams on the ground. Team Harmonious used water type pokemon to put out residing fires as the police went around analyzing evidence and asking questions. On the side during all of that sat Ceailean, Marie, Sycamore, Blaziken mask, and Clemont. They all chilled out as they watched everything progress before them.
“You know you two,” said Sycamore, “I would try to keep shut about your involvement around those news teams if I were you, lest you’d want to be swamped by tons of people asking a lot of questions. And seeing how tired you two look, I wouldn’t want to be in that position either.”
“You don’t gotta tell me twice.” sighed Marie. Ceailean looked at Marie curiously.
“Oh, have you had a run in with them before?” asked Sycamore.
“My dad always had stories back from when his business was still growing, that was a long time ago though.”
“Interesting.”
Ceailean noticed that Marie seemed as though she was trying to ignore him. “Hey, are you okay?” he asked, trying to get a conversation going. She simply ignored him. “Hey, come on, say something.” He tried to place his hand on her shoulder, but she quickly slapped away. “What? Why are you being this way?”
“Why? It should be obvious C!” she said angrily.
“Huh? What did I do?”
“What did you do?! Try leaving me on my own all by myself.”
“It was the only thing I could think of at the time, what was I supposed to do with all of our Pokémon out of commission?”
“Oh and that excuses the other three times!”
“Three? I couldn't have left you alone that many times.”
“Really! Well I count that time we first encountered Steele and Jragon, the third floor, tricking me in the forest, and leaving me in Officer Jenny’s car!”
“But, you weren’t opposed to diverting their attention for the first one.” Ceailean’s voice started to become sad.
“That...That. Still, you ended up leaving me alone. What happened to worrying about me on my own, what happened to no one left behind!”
Ceailean remembered what he told Marie back on the truck, those were his exact words. “I-”
“Actually, you know what, I don’t want to hear what you have to say! It’s obvious that you don’t actually care. If I could still walk, I’d get away from you!”
“Marie you can’t actually think that-” Ceailean tried to get closer, but she shoved him back. He stood back, his expression full of sorrow.
“No, stay away from me! I h-,” she caught herself and mellowed her voice, “I… don’t want to see you right now.”
Ceailean stood there for a few moments, then Sycamore walked over him and said quietly, “Young man, why don’t you sit this one out for a bit.”
“But I don’t-”
“It'll be fine. She just needs some time for herself to think things through, plus she had been through such a traumatic experience. I’ll talk to her, so try not to worry, okay.” Ceailean considered for a moment, then agreed. He gave one last look at Marie, who had her eyes closed and arms crossed, and walked away.
After a moment, Sycamore made his way over to Marie and asked, “Did you really mean what you said?”
“Hm, how could I not?”
“Well, I’d say through all that trauma, you’re confused with your emotions.” This got Marie’s attention, prompting her to open one of her eyes. “All that anger and strife had built up, and now you’re getting it mixed up in your head with the most traumatic moments of your experience.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You actually care.” Marie felt as though the conflict in her had calmed down. “Being left alone, you didn’t actually fear for yourself, you were actually worried sick about that young man, weren’t you.”
Her head sulked, “His name’s Ceailean.” Her voice was shaky.
Sycamore sat down next to her, “Ahem, you were worried sick about Ceailean then. After all, you were pushing yourself beyond what you reasonably should have. Seems like the kind of person that doesn’t like to leave their friends alone.”
Sycamore then noticed a slight sob. Marie was gripping her clothes hard, tears were falling onto her balled up hands. “I...you’re right…”
“Aw, come here.” said Sycamore, offering his embrace. Marie leaned into him and cried into his chest. “There, there now, everything is going to be alright.”
“Will it? Do you think *sob* that he’ll forgive me for what I’ve said?”
“If you guys were already great friends, everything should work out in the end.”
Marie continued to cry while Sycamore comforted her. Blaziken mask had been watching the whole exchange and smiled. He turned to Clemont and said, “Clemont, why don’t we leave them be for a while.”
Clemont looked over and understood. “But what should we do?”
“Why don’t we check up on that Ceailean fellow, it seems he went off to check up on the captive Pokémon.”
“Sure thing, I’ll need to record some footage for Bonnie anyway since she asked for some.” Blaziken mask nodded and led the way towards Ceailean.
Ceailean walked down the street with his head down and his hands in his pockets. The words Marie said to him echoing through his mind. He slammed his fist against the side of a building in frustration as he turned the corner. There he saw the dock, along with several pokemon freeing all those that were captured. Goodra pried the doors off the cages, Garchomp was slicing them open, and Gurdurr pulled them apart. Florges, Wooper, and a new smaller pokemon were going around checking up on the pokemon, making sure they got their energy back with oran berries and water. Fennekin and Scorbunny were there too. Fennekin was eagerly welcoming back all its old friends, however Scorbunny stood near the edge of the docks, waiting.
“Does the resolution of this conflict fulfill you?” asked Crisis.
Ceailean hadn’t noticed that Crisis had seen him walk up. “It does, I guess.”
“You’re uncertain.”
“No no, I’m happy that we saved all of them, but, I feel as though I broke a promise to someone while doing so.”
Crisis shrugged, “I am unable to speak for this individual, but I can only hope that you’re able to come to an agreement with this individual.”
“Thanks, I guess?”
“You’re uncertain.”
“This time I am.”
Ceailean walked away to observe more of what was going on and to see how Scorbunny was holding up. Just then, out of the corner, he noticed something. He turned to see a pokemon that filled him with dread, Dragalge. It moved over to him, making him more and more on edge. Eventually, he decided to try to push it away, but as he walked forward, Goodra sensed the hostility and stopped him by holding him back with its horns. “Huh, what’re you-”
“Stop, there is no need for more conflict.” said Crisis.
“But this is-”
“I’m sure you have had your gripes with this Pokémon, trust me I know it as well, but it has changed for the better.”
Ceailean calmed down, “So it’s on our side?”
“Yes”
“But how?”
“Tis quite the story actually. As I can recall, this Pokémon had made its way here shortly after most of you left the docks to consult the police. It was barely able to perform any action by itself, but regardless it made its way here. It fired upon the pokemon freeing those that had been captured. Before any could retaliate, Goodra held them all back and talked to it. Goodra walked closer, speaking in a comforting tone. But Dragalge’s trust hadn’t been won yet and it fired upon Goodra. But still it urged the other pokemon back, advancing upon Dragalge offering its embrace. When it reached, it embraced that Dragalge, and its expression seemed as though it had never experienced that of love, forgiveness, or embrace. After that slight ordeal, it had agreed to help free the rest of the pokemon. The reason why escapes me, for I have no interpretation of what the conversation was.”
“Ugh, still making every sentence overly-complicated, Crisis.” said a voice behind them. They turned around to see a woman had showed up.
Crisis smirked, “Ah, if it isn’t Rival, and no, I feel that I must demonstrate the linguistic knowledge of Team Harmonious to show our sophistication.”
“Don’t speak for all of us, you just tryin’ to make yourself sound smarter than you actually are.” teased Rival.
“Hmph!”
Ceailean saw she looked somewhat like the person he saw on the speedboats. Her hair was short, straight, and a slick black, all tied together in a ponytail. The outfit she wore was similar to Crisis’s, a regular white shirt with brown pants, but she wore a red jacket tied up around her waist. She was dark skinned and wore a smile which felt like it would never go away.
Rival looked at Ceailean with her blue and yellow eyes, “So, I hear you were the one who took down most of this operation by yourself. I say you must be quite the impressive one.”
Ceailean scratched the back of his head, “Well, I wouldn’t say that-”
“Aw come on, no need to sell yourself short!”
“I didn’t do anything, it was all because of Marie and Scorbunny.”
“Oh, another one called Marie. Tell me, what is she to you?” Rival leaned in closer to Ceailean as if she was implying something.
“S-She’s my friend.” answered Ceailean, nervously.
“Hmm, isn’t that nice.”
Crisis walked up and separated them with his arm, “Now now, I believe you are making our guest uncomfortable. Ceailean, I believe that introductions are in order. This is Rival, the first admin of Team Harmonious.”
“Nice to meet cha’” she said, holding a peace sign next to her eye. Something grabbed her attention however. Scorbunny was tugging at her pants leg, as if asking for something. “Oh hey there little one, if I heard correctly, the one pokemon Floatzel had caught in the water was very important to you, no?” Scorbunny balled up its fists and nodded. “Floatzel, why don’t you reunite our little friends who so long for each other.”
Floatzel walked up, holding Snivy’s cage in its hands. Scorbunny couldn’t contain its anticipation as it watched Floatzel put it down. It grew an intoxicating smile as it finally got another clear look at Snivy, who was just as happy to see Scorbunny. Everyone around smiled as well. Garchomp had started to walk over to free Snivy, but Scorbunny told it to stay back. Everyone was confused at this decision. Scorbunny observed the cage closely, then looked to Ceailean, it had an idea. It climbed up to Ceailean’s head, all the while making him wriggle around wondering what was going. It stood on top of his head and jumped. Scorbunny’s leg ignited into flames as it ax kicked the lock on the cage, shattering it into pieces. Snivy was thrilled to bits. Scorbunny threw the cage door open and gave Snivy a great big hug.
Ceailean’s heart was warmed, but a question then popped up to his head that he hadn’t considered, but he kept it in the back of his mind. Scorbunny had tears forming in its eyes, Snivy patted it on the back in a comforting way. After a while, Scorbunny finally pulled away but still held on to Snivy’s hands as it started to talk. It went on and on. During the conversation, they both looked toward Ceailean, to which he awkwardly waved to them. Snivy gave an approving nod until its attention was taken away again as Scorbunny began to vaguely act out the events of the day. During the end however, Garchomp got confused, looking as if the story being told wasn’t the whole truth.
“Aw, isn’t she cute?” asked Rival.
“Yeah, I guess Snivy kinda does.” answered Ceailean.
“Who’re you talking about, I’m talking about Scorbunny.”
“Wait, it’s a girl?”
“Yeah, you couldn’t tell?
“I guess not, I just kind of assumed.”
A Team Harmonious grunt had walked up behind everyone and said, “Miss Rival, we have the people in question. We await your orders.”
Rival’s smile immediately went away. “Understood, bring me to them. I suggest you come along as well, Ceailean.”
Ceailean didn’t understand why, but he nodded his head. He turned to Scorbunny and said, “Hey, I’m gonna take of some things, you mind helping free all the pokemon that are left?” Scorbunny gave him a thumbs up while scratching its nose. Snivy announced its cooperation as well. “Okay, I’ll see you two in a bit.” They both waved goodbye as Ceailean followed Rival.
“Right here Miss Rival.” said the T.H. grunt. He fiddled with a lighting fixture until it flashed brightly, revealing three people tied up to posts along the buildings. There sat Steele, Jragon, and Darke.
“Are these the ones you faced, Ceailean?” asked Rival.
Ceailean looked all of them over. “No, you’re missing one. That one was named Boug. He was a kinda iffy one, wore a generic greaser outfit you know, white shirt, leather jacket, jeans, black shoes, and he was blonde.”
“Write down the description, try to find him.” said Rival to the grunt.
“Understood.” The grunt then walked off.
“Hmph, he was an idiot.” chuckled Jragon.
Rival immediately walked over and smacked him across the face, “You’re only to speak when spoken to, understand!” Jragon did nothing but stare her down in disgust.
Steele began to laugh hysterically, “I can’t believe it! To be done in by children who don’t even know how to battle. Something must have gone wrong, there’s no way I should’ve lost!”
Rival was about to enforce her rule once more, but Darke interjected, “Shut it you lead infested prick! Your voice is comparable to a grater to my ears!”
“What’s wrong Darke? Huh? You actually disappointed that we were all defeated? At least you say your efforts were just as futile as ours!”
“I will personally see to it that your are run through a steel mill you motherf-”
“Alright boys, shut up, both of you!” shouted Rival. The two silenced themselves. “Okay then, do you have any questions before I begin my work, Ceailean?”
Ceailean was put on the spot by this question. He thought fast and came up with something. “I got something, but it’s a long shot and a little unrelated. You don’t mind do you?”
“Be my guest.” said Rival.
Ceailean nodded, then pointed at Darke, “You.”
“Me.” he simply said.
“What can you tell me about the Battle for Kalos, and the parties involved in its upbringing.”
Darke scoffed, “What do I look like, some kind of history teacher to you?”
“Irrelevant, answer the question. Were you involved in it at all?”
“Tch, all I know is that I supplied some Pokemon to those flare guys, and I didn’t get paid. Damn snakes practically cashed out by the time they planned their doomsday scenario.”
“What about Lysandre, did you meet him at all, do you know where he might have gone?”
Darke paused. “You know, you remind me of run in with someone around seven months ago. He talked good business, offered me quite a sum of cash for some information. All questions pertaining to the Battle of Kalos, curiously, like you are. You wouldn’t happen to be in business with the likes of a Jonah Lafar, are you?”
“How did-” Ceailean stopped himself, but already knew he messed up.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Ah, to think, a man of that caliber, involves himself with a child. You must tell me what happened to make him think in such a way.”
“I don’t owe you anything.”
“Such a shame, but now you must know you have nothing to gain from me. He must have taught you, you already know what it's like to live in the little world I thrive in, even if only a glimpse.”
“The world you speak of isn’t the real one.”
“And yet, it exists. Let that sink into your head, there are humans out there that take in the pleasure of selling off those pokemon. Literal husks of human beings, incapable of any form of redemption.” Darke spoke as if he hated talking about it.
“Then I’ll stop it.”
This frustrated Darke greatly, “Must you be so naïve! You say nothing but a child's fantasy. People are the scum of this world, and for as long as they exist, they will infect any community that is run with the idea of peace. For it us and only us that created every problem this world has ever had to deal with. And it is here and now that you should realize, all of you, that we all should’ve died 5 years ago.”
Ceailean crossed his arms and stayed silent for a moment. Then he asked, “If that’s your way of thinking, why do you yourself contribute to the problem?”
“I gave up! I tried to live life oblivious to the wrongs of the world. But that ignorance caught with me one day, and I lost everything! And here I am now, losing everything again. This cycle will continue on and on, down to the last living consciousness. What you did here means nothing, dark practices will continue on their way, whether or not I am part of it.”
“Changing the world isn’t a process that can happen in a day Darke. Mr. Lafar taught me something, and it is that with each passing generation their life gets easier and easier. The incentive to participate in the bad things in life will become nullified. The perfect world will eventually exist one day, but we all have to keep pouring good into it. I’ll be doing my part, it's only only a shame that you aren’t.”
Darke closed his eyes and rested his head against the post. “Fine then, go and prove me wrong. You’ll die trying. I have nothing left to say to you.”
Ceailean put his hands in his pockets and gave a glance at Rival. “You’re after someone, aren’t you?” she asked.
“Is it that obvious?” sighed Ceailean.
Rival raised her hands, “Hey, I won't budge any further. I’ll just say that, I know what you’re feeling, even if only a little. But, I don’t want to see you go down a similar path that I took long ago.”
“I… let it go. It wasn’t something I wanted to think about anymore.”
“I gotcha,” she smiled, “I’ll let ya go, be sure to stay positive.” Ceailean made no expression, closed his eyes and walked back towards the docks.
“Damn kid,” said Darke.
Ceailean had found himself in the docks once again. The sun was setting over the ocean and all the free pokemon were playing with each other. Goodra, Garchomp, Florges, and Gurdurr watched over them. Over to the side, Crisis seemed to be conversing with someone.
“-understood.” finished Crisis. They turned away from each other, but Crisis regained their attention as soon as he saw Ceailean. “Hold on a minute, the individual I spoke of has just arrived. Ceailean, If I could just borrow a moment of your time, I would like to introduce you to Galar's Professor Magnolia and her assistant Sonia.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Ceailean.” said Magnolia, holding out her hand.
“L-Likewise.” said Ceailean, shaking her hand. “I assume you guys have also been affected by the wrongdoings of the pokemon hunters here.”
“Straight to the point then. Yes, we have had a Pokémon taken from our region, and a very important one at that.”
“A Pokémon? So just one? If that’s the case, why show up personally?”
“Sonia?” asked Magnolia. Sonia nodded and stepped forward.
“You see, a pokemon named Scorbunny was placed as a special order, so we really need it back as soon as possible.” she explained. Scorbunny had noticed its name being mentioned and went to investigate along with Snivy. They stood around the corner from where they were talking.
Ceailean scratched the back of his head, “Are you sure it has to be that Scorbunny, surely it can be easily replaced. I was hoping to ask it to come along with me on my journey. It fought so hard to save all of those pokemon, and I admire it for that.”
Scorbunny gained a new respect for Ceailean after hearing that.
“I’m afraid it’s not as simple as that. You see, that Scorbunny was lent to us from a competitive breeder for the Jirachi Foundation. A little boy at the age of eleven has been diagnosed with a terminal disease and requested that he spend the rest of his days with a pokemon, particularly one that was cool and easy to get along with. He’s only got about three months ahead of him. I hope you can understand.”
Ceailean’s heart sank. Of course he would’ve liked Scorbunny to come along, but he would be insane to deny this boy his final wish. “I-I understand, um,-”
“I can only imagine what you must feel, but we really must act fast.”
“Okay, I’ll… talk to it.” Scorbunny had walked up behind Ceailean.
“Scorbun?” it asked, tugging on his pants leg. Ceailean turned around to see that it had a worried expression.
“Hey Scorbunny.” said Ceailean quietly, “I wanted to ask you to along with me, but as it stands, there’s no way I can do that.” Scorbunny began to look sad. “There’s someone who needs you, someone who needs you way more than I do. They are not gonna be around for very long, so his last wish was to hang out with a cool Pokémon. And if you ask me, you’re one of the coolest Pokémon I’ve ever seen.”
Scorbunny tried to reason with him, but he placed his hand on its shoulder, quieting it. Scorbunny looked back to Snivy for its input, only to see it with its eyes closed and arms crossed. “I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but we did it. Together. You don’t have to worry anymore.” Scorbunny shook its head. It jumped on Ceailean’s duffle and began to rummage through it. Ceailean was tripping over himself trying to figure out what it was doing. “Hey woah, what’re you doing?”
Scorbunny jumped off and presented to Ceailean a pokeball. The same pokeball Ceailean caught it with. It was now determined, it tried to convince Ceailean to let it come along with him. Through all the persuasion, Snivy grew more and more bothered by Scorbunny’s persistence. Scorbunny kept it up, until Ceailean felt as he had to interject by saying, “I can’t! I’m… sorry Scorbunny, but I can’t.” Scorbunny looked hurt when he said this. Ceailean took the pokeball away from Scorbunny, “It would be selfish of me to let you come with me knowing that someone way less fortunate than me isn’t able to have their wish granted because of it. So please, I’m asking you, go hang out with them, for however long they need you to.” Scorbunny was about to speak up again, but Snivy came up from behind and placed its hand on Scorbunny’s shoulder. It turned to see Snivy shaking its head.
Scorbunnys ears drooped, it gave one last glance at Ceailean. “Please,” he said. Scorbunnys head then hung low, seeing that any further talk would be pointless. It slowly walked over to Sonia and Magnolia. Snivy walked over with it for comfort along the way.
“I really am sorry about this Scorbunny. Thanks for understanding.” said Sonia. Ceailean watched it the whole way, noticing that Snivy gave him a look, it wasn’t happy, but it understood. Scorbunny didn’t give Sonia more than a glance before standing next to her sorrowfully.
“Best we don’t linger too long. It’s time.” said Magnolia.
“Right. Ceailean, may I ask for its pokéball?” asked Sonia.
“Oh, yeah, here.” he said, throwing it to her. As she caught it Ceailean said one more thing, “Can I request something?”
“Sure go ahead.”
“Can you let Snivy accompany it back to Galar?” Snivy looked surprised when he asked this.
“Huh? If I do that, I’m pretty sure it would complicate the process of getting all these pokemon home.”
“Please, it fought so hard to save all the Pokémon, especially Snivy.”
Sonia pondered for a bit. “You don’t have to worry about a thing. I’ll personally see to it that it is returned home once this business is all over.” said a gruff voice. Everyone looked to see that Blaziken mask had shown up along with Clemont.
“And might you be?” she asked.
“Hm! He is none other than the hero of Lumiose city, Blaziken mask of course.” assured Clemont.
“Hero?”
“Yes, he protects all those who’re innocent-”
“And all those in dire need anywhere in Kalos!” finished Blaziken mask.
A moment of silence befell the group. “Alright then, I believe you.” said Magnolia.
“Professor Magnolia, are you sure?”
“I, and so have many others, looked into the incident that had occurred here five years ago. I can confidently say that this man was a key player in the Battle for Kalos. A battle that prevented literal doomsday for the entire world.”
Blaziken mask scratched the back of his head, “Well, I don’t mean to brag.”
Sonia observed him up and down. “If you say so professor, he can come along and return Snivy home once we’re done.”
Blaziken mask smiled and turned to Clemont, “Looks like I won’t be home for a while. Clemont, I leave Lumiose to you while I’m gone.”
“As Gym Leader of the Lumiose gym, I promise to do just that!” saluted Clemont.
“Good! Professors, are we ready to get going?”
“Yes, the boat is this way.” said Magnolia.
“I want to see off Scorbunny before it goes.” said Ceailean, “Mind if I come along?”
“There’s no need to ask, of course you can,” said Magnolia.
“Thanks.”
Together they all went towards the end of the dock where a Ferry awaited them. Magnolia, Sonia, and Blaziken mask had all boarded, but Scorbunny stayed behind, with Snivy wondering what was up. Scorbunny turned around and gave a quick hug around Ceaileans leg. He smiled, “Hey, it’s okay.” He crouched down and pet Scorbunnys head. “I really am sorry it had to end up like this. But I want you to know if it hadn’t been this way, I would’ve gladly taken you as my partner.” Scorbunny looked up to Ceailean and nodded with a smile and tears in its eyes. “Come on now, no need to cry.” said Ceailean, wiping the tears away with his thumb. Snivy called Scorbunny, indicating it was time to go. Scorbunny let go and held its fist at Ceailean. Ceailean returned the gesture by fist bumping Scorbunny. It cheered up and boarded the ferry.
Ceailean looked to Snivy, who was giving him a smug look. “Make sure you take care of Scorbunny, alright.” Snivy sighed then smiled, giving him another look that practically said who do you think I am. Snivy boarded as well and soon enough the ferry was well on its way. Ceailean wanted to wave goodbye, but quickly retracted his left arm as his shoulder was hurt badly. He then waved with his other arm goodbye, shouting out, “Bye Scorbunny, I’ll never forget what you’ve done for everyone!” A distant cry from Scorbunny showed that it felt the same. Ceailean watched until the ferry was nothing but a speck on the orange ocean.
Ceailean walked back to where all the freed Pokémon were and there he saw Crisis babysitting them, with a little difficulty. A small group of Pokémon sat in front of him as he explained, sounding out each word, “You’re not to leave this area under any circ*mstance, this is for the safety of all your well-beings.” The Pokémon all just looked at him curiously, clearly not understanding a single thing he said.
“You having a bit of trouble there, Crisis?” asked Ceailean.
“Supposedly. It would seem that this bunch of Pokémon act as if they’re completely unintelligible.”
“I heard what you were trying to say so I think I got this.” Ceailean turned to all the Pokémon, “What he’s trying to say is don’t wander off and get lost, okay?” Immediately all the pokemon understood and swore to stay close.
Crisis sighed, “Must you humiliate me in such a way.”
“Come on, not everyone can understand your enlightened way of conversing. You gotta dumb it down a bit sometimes.”
“You will convince me of no such thing.”
“I guess. Do you know how we’ll get all these Pokémon home?”
“It’ll be a complicated process. We must negotiate with the local authorities on the distribution of them, perhaps even housing areas if no one claims them.”
“Sounds hard.”
“It’s inconsequential. This is all for the betterment of the wrongs humanity has created. Even if it may be small in the long run, our name will be remembered in the name of cleansing this world of all thoughtful sin.”
“A bit of an edgy way of thinking, don’t you think?”
“I… am unfamiliar with the word edgy. Do you mind explaining it to me?”
“Oh, it practically means unnecessarily dark or tense. That’s at least in the way I understand it.”
“Understood. I thank you for your meaning.”
“Likewise buddy, I’m gonna see Sycamore and Marie so I’ll see ya later.” Ceailean began to walk off, but Crisis held him back.
“I wouldn’t go in that direction if I were you. You see, Rival has a certain specialty when handling prisoners. You should leave her to her work.” Ceailean was about to speak, but then they both heard two voices yelling in argument.
“Is that her handiwork?”
“No, something is wrong.” Crisis walked over to them to check what was going on, Ceailean followed close behind.
“-I can assure you that the criminals will be thoroughly contained within Team Harmonious headquarters.” argued Rival.
“That’s not the point! I simply can’t leave highly wanted criminals in the hands of a vigilante group.” argued back Officer Jenny.
Rival was absolutely fuming, “Vigilante group-!”
“What might be the problem, Rival?” asked Crisis.
“It’s her, she’s the problem. She says we can't take in the criminals to face justice!”
“Huh?! If you continue to keep me from doing my work, I’ll have to take you in too.”
“Officer, I’m sure there’s no need to escalate-”
“No Crisis! In the name of Team Harmonious, I’ll be sure these criminals pay for going against everything we stand for!”
“Bring it crazy lady!”
“You’ll be sorry! Floatzel, help me-!”
“That is quite enough Rival!” said a voice from behind. Everyone looked to see a large man wearing a brown sweater vest along with the usual Team Harmonious attire being escorted by two Team Harmonious grunts. “I will not let Team Harmonious be responsible for this escalated conflict! So for the love of Arceus, stand aside!”
“S-Sir, my humblest apologies.” said Rival, crouching down before him. Crisis did the same.
“I apologize on the behalf of my subordinate. I hope this conflict won’t cause any problems in the future.”
“It’s fine. I’ll just be taking these criminals to face the law.”
“Of course. This is of no concern to me.”
“Sir?” asked Rival.
“You’ll only speak when spoken to.” asserted the man. Rival quickly became silent.
“Alright, may you all be your way, and I’ll do my job. Good day to you all.”
“Good day to you as well.” the man said as Officer Jenny walked away. He then faced Ceailean, “So who might be?”
“Uh…”
“He is the one that discovered the operation being undergone in this area sir.” answered Crisis. “If it weren’t for him, we wouldn't have ever found these criminals.”
“Is that so. You two may stand.” Crisis and Rival stood on their feet. “So, what might your name be?”
“C-Ceailean.” he answered.
The man stood there for a moment, then he slapped Ceailean’s left shoulder, “That’s my boy, hahahahaha!” Ceailean winced considerably in pain, making the man's smile quickly disappear, “Oh my, I’m so sorry. Do you happen to be injured?”
“Yeah, in a way.”
“Well, sorry again. I just wanted to praise you on the work you’ve done here today. I’m convinced you’d make a great addition to Team Harmonious if you’re interested.”
“I’m good.”
“Ah well, I won’t force ya. It was nice to meet you nonetheless. Oh, where are my manners, I’m Armageddon, the leader of Team Harmonious.” he said, holding out his hand.
Ceailean reluctantly shook his hand and said, “Likewise. Armageddon contrasts the team name a little bit though doesn’t it?”
“Don’t worry about it, it’ll all make sense in time. For now, I must head off. Rival, Crisis, we’re heading home.”
“Sir!” they both said, following his lead.
The Team Harmonious crew walked down the street, leaving Ceailean all to his own. He continued on his way to where Marie and Sycamore were. When he got there, he found that Marie was being hauled away on a stretcher into an ambulance. She noticed that he had shown up. She sat up and said, “C…!” But she was quickly told by the paramedics to keep her head down. She looked at Ceailean out of the corner of her eye until the doors closed.
“Marie!” shouted Ceailean, running up to the ambulance. The sirens blared and it drove off before he could catch up. Ceailean was feeling a little down, but Sycamore got his attention by clearing his throat.
“Hey, it’s about time we head back to Lumiose. I can give you a ride back if you want.”
“Y-Yeah, that’d be nice.”
“Alright, follow me. The car is this way.” Ceailean followed Sycamore and entered the car in the front passenger seat. As they drove off, Ceailean looked out the window to see several Team Harmonious grunts and police assessing the damage. Then he saw Tyranitar and Bastiodon being guarded by several people as they reside in heavy duty cages.
The abandoned town shrank behind them as they finally leave towards Lumiose city. The ride remained silent until about halfway there, when Sycamore broke the ice by saying, “So if you don’t mind me asking, who is Marie to you?”
Ceailean was a bit curious on why he asked this. Nonetheless, he answered, “She’s a good friend of mine. I’ve known her for four and a half years.”
“You know how long you’ve known her?”
“Yeah, it’s a bit weird isn’t it. I don’t remember how long I’ve been with all of my other friends. She’s the only one I remember.”
“That’s very interesting. It’s the same with me and my friend Meyer. I don’t remember the first day we met. But he’s still my friend nonetheless.”
“Yeah.”
“You came to my lab originally seeking a starter, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, but we cause quite the stir didn’t we?”
“Don’t worry about it, all is forgiven. But I must thank you for at least helping us track down those culprits. In the back, I have a new shipment of pokedexes in a box in the back seat. Why don’t you go in there and choose your favorite.”
“Oh, thank you. But do you mind if I take two, you know, for Marie.”
“Go right on ahead, young man.”
“Thanks again.” Ceailean reached back and opened up the box of neatly sorted pokédexes. He looked for a moment, choosing a black pokédex with red accents, then a white pokédex with cyan accents. He set up the white pokédex while putting the black one in his duffle.
“We’re almost there. Where do you want me to drop you off?”
“The Kodoarla, we were staying there before all this happened.”
“Got it. And just so you know, those pokédexes come with free access to the internet. So take a look if you ever get bored.”
“Okay, I’ll take a look.” Ceailean logged onto the internet and signed into his chat room ID. There he noticed a bit of conversation between Devin and Mallen, their usernames being HalftheBattle_ and Encroaching_Couch. However, Ceailean’s DM’s had blown up in his absence. It was Devin, and he was looking for answers.
HalftheBattle_: I don’t believe what I’m hearing, we need to TALK asap!
HalftheBattle_: If what I’m hearing is correct, you need to tell me what happened!
HalftheBattle_: I KNOW YOU DON’T HAVE A MOBILE DEVICE, BUT THAT DOESN'T MAKE ME ANY LESS ANGRY THAT YOU CAN’T ANSWER, HURRY UP AND FIND SOMETHING TO TALK ON!
The rest of the messages were several variations of the same requests. Ceailean gave a slight chuckle and turned off his pokédex, staring at the passing light posts illuminating the inky black sky.
Eventually, they made their way to the Kodoarla. Ceailean got out of the car and while saying goodbye to Sycamore, Sycamore said, “Hey, I know I wasn’t able to properly give guys your starters. So why don’t you guys come back in a couple days. Everything should be back to normal by then, so guys could get your starters.”
“Thanks, we’ll uh, be there.”
Sycamore leaned back on his seat. “Look, everything’s going to be fine. She truly worries about you, so I don’t think she’ll be in a bad mood for very long.”
“Oh! That’s right, where did they take Marie?”
“They took her to a local hospital here in Lumiose to get that leg checked up. Don’t worry about it, I’ll give them a call. When they’re ready to release her, I’ll pick her up and bring her to you.”
“Wow, thanks again. Must be sick of hearing that now.”
“No no, it’s all in good faith.”
“Okay, well, I’ll see you in a couple days.”
“Alright, see you then.” Sycamore drove off and Ceailean walked up the steps into the hotel. He booked his room and made his way there. Upon opening the door, he looked into the dark room, feeling lonely. He made his way in, closing the door behind him, completely leaving the room dark. He threw his duffle, jacket, and shoes on the ground. He looked at the clock, which read 8:34 PM, but he didn’t care. He went straight under the comfy covers of the bed and went to sleep.
His last thoughts were full of worry, about Marie, about Scorbunny, and about how he felt in that moment. He had let go of his newly acquired friend and made his long time one mad. This was a new low for him. As he drifted off into his dreams he could only think of one thing.
He was alone…
