Aha! I return with a new chapter!
Ok, the next chapter. It's been a good while, but I was busy pretending I had a life outside of here, etc, etc. :P But I suppose there's some good news - this one is a giant of a chapter (yep, far longer then any other >_<). Length's partly also put down to some fairly new stuff that you'll see, such as fun fun fun plot set-up (so there's less later :P), and some stuff regarding characters as well. Some explanations as well.
Chapter is IMO tad less funny then the previous (no opportunity as good as a Miror B battle), and I was being experimental and went with something... different for the last scene. Whee. But still plenty of jokes (hopefully *image removed* ), a fair few being small. Plus ye pastry/pastry-related food item of sorts. And I swear - any resembalence to past occurances/comedy ideas or other people's characters are entirely co-incidental. Honest. *image removed*
Oh, and yay for posting this on my birthday! Hurrah for good timing.
***
Chapter 12 – Attack of the Interviewers
"Sir! Mr Wes man! Wait up!" an interviewer called as Wes exited the police station, the anxious man marching up to him.
Oh no, not another one, Wes thought in dismay, regarding the interviewer who was currently waving his microphone in Wes's face with great enthusiasm with a look of despair. Espeon and Umbreon looked on with an equal look of anguish; not looking forward to another interview.
Over the last few days, Pyrite Town had come under invasion of a mindless army of reporters, anxious to make a name for themselves, and confuse as many people as possible with their euphemisms and constant requests for anecdotes in the process.
"What did you think when you had to..." the man began in a bright smile and voice, before Wes cut him off.
"Oh for goodness sakes, don't you have anyone else better to annoy? Family relations, perhaps?" Wes asked sourly.
The news reporter remained where he was, the smile still plastered upon his face and the microphone still mere millimetres away from Wes's face.
"So then, what's your favourite brand of toilet paper?"
Wes sighed, running a hand through his hair in exasperation.
"Oh... hey, is that a Gym Leader over there?" Wes suddenly interjected, glancing over the man's shoulder into the distance. The man gave a loud gasp and turned around, stumbling over to where Wes had looked. Then he stopped short.
"But where..." he muttered before turning back to Wes; but by then Wes and his Pokemon had taken the opportunity and had slipped away out of sight.
Wes walked quickly, anxious to get away from the reporter – he had enough of being pestered all day. Soon enough he reached a small, quiet street. He half-heartedly kicked a stone along the ground, and sighed to himself as Espeon and Umbreon went over to amuse themselves somewhere; he had managed to lose the attention of the residents of Pyrite town, and was content for the rare piece of solitude.
There was just something about the fact that everyone in town now gaped at him, and whispered that he had single-handedly brought to their attention the presence of Cipher, and had brought them down for good – attention had never been something Wes had had before, and it made him uncomfortable to suddenly have so much of it over the last several days.
"Hello, Wes," a squeaky voice piped suddenly from behind him. Wes jumped up, startled by this, and frowned.
Great – another resident, he thought grimly to himself.
"Can I have an autograph?" the person continued, already brandishing a piece of paper – oddly with small love-hearts dotted upon it - and a pen. Wes sighed and took them, anxious to scribble his name on it quickly and be done with the person.
'Could you address it to, um me?"
"Oh, fine... what's your name?"
"Oh, it's 'Phillar Caractor'," the man said. Wes stared –
But then again, it seems most people in this region had strange names, he mused, as he wrote down the name as Phillar spelt it out. Handing it back, Wes sat down on the kerb again, before turning around a minute later to find the man still there. He was staring creepily and intently at Wes's left arm, and appeared to be drooling slightly.
"Yes?" Wes asked, somewhat unnerved by the man's stares.
"Oh... um, sorry," the man said, seemingly confused himself and catching himself out of his trance. "But now, I was thinking – we can be friends!"
"…Um, sure…" Wes said, not very keen on this random friend request from a person he never met before.
"Yay! We are the best of friends!" the man proclaimed happily and loudly. "Now, can you lend me some money?"
"What- no!" Wes shouted.
"Oh, ok…" the man said sadly, before he quietly walked away towards the northern end of town, clutching the piece of paper in his hand.
Wes sighed once more, before returning to the peace and quiet he currently had the opportunity to enjoy.
I wonder what's there's left to do now… Well, frankly, ever since the business regarding Miror B, there's been nothing to do, Wes thought glumly. All but Miror B had been seemingly accounted for, and suddenly all that was of interest in Pyrite – besides the odd Pokemon battle – was the challenge of trying to keep interviews with the reporters below five a day.
Admittedly though, the whole Shadow Pokémon business seemed far from over. It appeared that Pyrite was only part of the dealings that Cipher had done, and that their grasp extended far further than had been anticipated. It was also confirmed that the criminals captured had no idea where was Cipher's main base, although apparently Miror B had known this. Wes sighed – if they hadn't let him escape, they would have been able to find out so much more about Cipher's doings.
"Hello again!"
"Arrgh!" Wes jumped to his feet again and turned, to see Phillar greet him again with a wide smile.
How did he return from the opposite direction? Wes wondered, confused as to how Phillar had seemingly returned from the south side of town. "What do you want now?" he asked.
The man seemed to ponder the question for some time, before simply shrugging and smiling even more brightly at Wes.
Wes sighed. "Then why are you here?"
"Can I have some mon-"
"NO! Go away!" Wes ordered.
"…Well then, do you want to see my inventions?"
"Not really, no," Wes said.
"But look! This is a
fabulous thing I have here!" the man said, pulling out another piece of paper, which had a large, bold question mark written in the middle of it. "This thing is what I call… the '
Question mark!"
"You invented the question mark," Wes repeated blankly.
This man must be mad… or maybe Espeon affected his mind with his mind wiping…
"Yes indeedy, friend!" the man confirmed. "You can use it in sentences that involve a question being asked! Like, for instance…" the man then turned the paper over, to reveal a message 'Would you like to see an example?'.
"See?!" the man said excitedly. "I'm so clever, because it's really an example! See the question mark there?"
Wes sighed, as the man continued rambling, trying to convince Wes that he desperately needed funds to develop a friend for the question mark that he would call the 'exclamation mark'. He had enough of these annoying crazy people, and decided to try to get rid of him.
"Hey, listen, there's a Gym Leader by the
exact opposite side of town..." he said, but he didn't bother to finish his sentence as Phillar happily bounded off to investigate this piece of information. Wes this time waited a few extra minutes, before sitting down once again upon seeing Phillar not return, before he returned to his thoughts.
Yes, it's a shame that there's nothing to do, and that Miror B got away… But still; we did rescue Plusle, and arrest all those people as well... Wes mused.
And the extra people from the Police force from those fancy-pants regions came yesterday as well, meaning we may have less to do, he added to himself as he sat down on a somewhat clean piece of kerb, remembering the group of people which had arrived in style to Pyrite town. They hadn't seemed very impressed by the town of Pyrite to say the least – Wes didn't blame them for that, given they must have come from far better places, nor had to work in a slum like Pyrite before. Being shouted at by the old lady who mistook everyone for salesmen hadn't left a good impression on them either. Sherles merely frowned at them when they waltzed in, muttering that not nearly half the number that he had expected had been sent over. All four regions had ended up sending over at least a couple of policemen each, but Sherles had been disappointed in the end result of support. Still, it was certainly better than nothing. Sherles was talking to the group right now; no doubt they would have to get used to the veteran's rough ways quick.
Wes's Pokémon had more or less recovered from the dancing ordeal they had had – and he and Rui were fine as well, although still rather surprised by the fact that Miror B had had a radio that made people dance. Clearly Cipher has some people capable to making such a device, and that fact was somewhat worrying. Croconaw had also had sudden urges now and then to dance for a moment or two, before quickly pulling himself out of it and glancing around to see if anyone had noticed. Makuhita seemed unaffected however, and for the most part was still his old aggressive self, attacking defenceless gates and walls to amuse himself.
As for the Shadow Pokemon obtained, the number had grown to seventeen. In addition to the Yanma and Sudowoodo Wes had snagged, they had collected some more in the raid in a Remoraid, Mantine, Qwilfish, Dunsparce, Meditate and a Swablu. They were being gradually purified by Wes, Rui, Secc and Johnson (who was currently complaining that they seemed to get irritated by his mere presence). The Pokemon all varied in size and nature, yet all were generally easy to unsettle, and quick to anger.
One exception to this seemed to be the Yanma, who remained as hyperactive as ever, partly due to it seemingly to have had a drawback to the coffee Nore had evidently given it. Every time it caught sight of the brown substance, it would dart right for it. Residents of Pyrite were now keeping a closer eye on their supplies of coffee, after one nasty incident resulting a frightened child, overturned bins, and bizarrely enough minor explosions in the Colosseum - all caused by an overly eccentric Yanma which had flown around for hours on end, before collapsing out of tiredness onto an unsuspecting interviewer. The interviewer had been seemingly unfazed by it though, having promptly started to try to interview it.
Slowly yet surely however, their aura was slowly diminishing according to Rui, who seemed more at ease at being able to see such things; and Secc's daily analysis of them confirmed that their emotional levels were steadily returning to a normal state.
What was curious was that for a fair few Pokemon now, their Shadow Metres were fully depleted and showed that their emotional states had almost returned to normal – yet some still showed hints of their Shadow personality, and all still had, Rui claimed, a dark aura to them. Secc concluded that although they had have improved, they still had more of their Shadow selves to dispel. He was currently researching for any hint on how to truly turn them back, but for now was only able to guess that they needed more time for now.
"Wes?" a voice called suddenly, breaking Wes out of his reverie – he looked up and looked at Rui, who approached happily and plonked herself down next to Wes.
"Hey," Wes said.
So much for peace and quiet, he thought with a small twinge of disappointment.
But to be honest, I don't mind her company, he continued to himself.
And at least it's not that other guy. Heck, Gonzap was less annoying than him at times!
"What's up, Wes?" she asked.
"Oh, nothing. Just these darn people that keep bothering me… and interviewers."
"Really? Where were they?" Rui asked suddenly, looking around curiously. Wes laughed slightly at Rui's enthusiasm.
"Why do you enjoy them so much? I find them somewhat annoying, after they ask the same question for the millionth time on what brand of sunscreen I use, because they can't find anything decent to ask."
"True," Rui chuckled. "I don't think they've had much reporting or interviewing practise before. But I just find it fun to talk about... stuff. And it's fun to see them get confused and all by talking longer than they expected," she added with a mischievous smile.
"Umbreon!"
(I get rid of them by eating their microphones!) Umbreon said proudly, returning with Espeon who rolled his eyes at Umbreon's way of getting rid of people.
"Espi. Espeon!"
(That's a lousy way, and it gave you indigestion. Simply confusing them on who they were meant to interview is much simpler…) Rui laughed, and petted Espeon – one such reviewer had annoyed Espeon enough that the end result was the reporter giving a three hour long interview with himself. It ended up being aired on television as well, bringing much entertainment to all.
"Well, wouldn't your parents see you on T.V. by now?" Wes asked. Rui gave a sudden gasp, and then burst out laughing.
"Oh god, they would have! And I had spent half an hour talking about laundry detergents just to annoy that one guy who kept shoving his microphone up my face, and then it was on T.V. the next day!"
"Espeon!"
(I TOLD you not to overdo it...)
"My dad would be so embarrassed, I'm sure about that..." she said, before shrugging. "What about your father, Wes?" Rui asked, still giggling. Wes paused for a moment before answering.
"I...don't have one," he said simply.
"Well, that's... wait, what?" Rui said suddenly. "No... father? Oh... "
"No mother either," Wes continued.
"But... that's horrible!" Rui exclaimed, shocked.
I've known plenty of people – who were mostly Pokemon trainers, come to think of it - in my town that don't seem to have a father... but to have no parents at all? Poor guy! Rui thought.
"But... what..." Rui began. Wes gave a small, sad smile.
"I never knew them, actually," Wes said. "I was in an orphanage for a while, in a different region which was, believe it or not, worse off than Orre is. After a while I simply escaped, and ended joining some gang for a while – I don't think anyone from the orphanage really bothered to look for me when I left – they were probably glad. We did some pretty crazy stuff..."
"Espeon. Espi..."
(Yeah... like graffiti walls with maths slogans, or terrorise abandoned shopping trolleys. Totally radical...) Espeon drawled.
"Then less than a year or so ago," Wes continued, ignoring Espeon's comment, "I stole myself away on a ship, which ended up taking me here. Looked for work, had trouble doing so, before Team Snagem came along and I joined them. And the rest is history."
Silence started after Wes stopped talking, both him and Rui in deep thought. Then Rui drew closer, and gave Wes a tight hug.
"I'm sorry..." she mumbled, before letting go.
"Well... um, there's no need to be. All in the past," Wes said, surprised but not minding Rui's actions.
"Umb Umbreon..."
(You didn't mention me or Espeon in your ever-so-detailed history there...) he began. Wes laughed, and gave Umbreon a thoughtful pet on the head.
"No... I met these two when they were just Eevee shortly after leaving the orphanage – they were simply sitting in some alley, looking frightened and confused. They decided to just follow me, despite the fact that I had no idea where I was going."
"Espi, Espeon..."
(Hey, we were merely wondering what the hell you were doing in an alley...) Espeon began.
"And what you were doing there yourselves, exactly?" Wes asked, raising his eyebrows.
"...Espeon...Esp,"
(...exploring or something or rather... oh fine, we too were lost,) Espeon admitted.
"Umbreon!"
(I was playing battleships!) Umbreon remarked happily.
"Well, I just took care of them, and they kinda grew on me. We've been friends for years now, and I've also had fun training them – they seem to enjoy it too."
"Espeon!"
(Too right! Wes does know how to command a battle!)
Rui gave a small grin then. "Well, Wes, maybe you'll teach me how to battle then?" Rui asked.
Wes smiled. "Sure."
***
Wes grimaced at the sound of yet another window shattering into a million fragments, and the yells of angry neighbours that followed.
"Espeon..."
(Rui... half of your Pokeball releases have ended up breaking something!)
"Oops..." Rui said quietly, for what Wes thought had been the umpteenth time.
"Espeon!"
(You're the worst thing the town has seen since Cipher!) Espeon drawled sarcastically, observing the scene of destruction that stood before them.
"Never mind Espeon," Wes advised. "Look, there's no need to throw the Pokeball so hard or so far – just a small throw will do it."
"Ok," Rui said, preparing yet another throw as she took another spare Pokeball out of her bad. Trying to concentrate harder this time, she aimed the ball, and threw it.
Shortly afterwards, Wes grimaced at the sound of yet another window shattering.
"...Umbreon?"
(How did you manage to throw that backwards
of all directions?)
"I think we might move on from throwing Pokeballs," Wes added hastily, noticing Rui reach for yet another Pokeball. "Maybe you should just, err, practise sending out Pokemon by just pressing the button on the Pokeball as opposed to throwing it."
"Ok then," Rui said, reaching for a Pokeball, aiming it to the ground, and pressing the small white button situated on the equators of the ball. A white beam shot out, and Quagsire popped out, looking dazed and confused.
"Quag...?"
(Duh...what?) it said sleepily, before Rui then returned it to its Pokeball.
"..Well done," Wes said, pleasantly surprised that Rui hadn't broken anything this time.
"Come on out again!" Rui cried, sending out Quagsire another time. Quagsire looked visibly more confused and dumb folded then usual at being sent out again –
which is a sight indeed, Wes thought,
given what it normally looks like with those tiny eyes. Meanwhile, Rui returned Quagsire to its Pokeball before it had time to respond, before once again sending it out.
"Umb...Umb..."
(So... shiny...) Umbreon said as he watched the lights from the Pokeball constantly materialise into Quagsire, then suck it back into the Pokeball. Wes thought it was becoming a bit too much for Quagsire by this stage – it now had the annoyed expression one usually got when they had to listen to Johnson for too long – albeit Quagsire's face still maintained the somewhat vacant look it always seemed to have.
"I think, Rui..." Wes said, before a sudden shout from the Police station caught his attention.
"Wes!" a gruff voice called. Wes turned and looked – the sight of Sherles advancing in his slow steady way confirmed who Wes had thought called him. He waited patiently as Sherles came up to him, while Rui gave a wave to him in-between further practise of using a Pokeball.
"Ok then, I've just had a talk with the new recruits. Bunch of know-it-alls," Sherles muttered, before spying Espeon, and the 'mind-wiper' machine still attached to his neck. "Firstly, that's got to go, I'm afraid," Sherles remarked, yanking it from him.
"Wait, what?" Wes asked, confused.
"Espeon!"
(No, my mind wiper! That thing was fun!) Espeon shouted, disappointed that his toy was gone.
"Unfortunately, those good-for nothing youngsters
insisted that actually controlling people in such a way is against the law, according to some 'Section 56 624.27, Catch 22' or something from the law book. Never mind that it actually stopped those criminals," Sherles said bitterly.
"But, seeing as you knew it was against the law, given you know what law it was," Wes began, who was wondering why they had decimal points in the law numbers, or that they had so many laws to begin with, "why did you tell them?"
Soundlessly, Sherles pointed to an approaching Johnson.
"Ah," Wes said.
"Not again, Johnson..." Rui remarked, why still absent-mindedly sending and returning Quagsire. However with her attention now partly on Sherles and his information, her aim no longer remained at the ground, as Quagsire suddenly found himself perched on the roof of a house, before again being forced to return to the Pokeball.
"Espeon! Esp...Espeon?"
(But I want it back! But Sherles... why couldn't we just mind-wipe the new people into forgetting about it?)
"It came to mind," Sherles said, "but firstly, if we were to do such a thing and get caught... well, it wouldn't be worth it frankly. Everyone in the know within the Police headquarters would know anyway now, given that I, and Johnson, wasn't only talking to the group here, but their respective heads of Police across each region via live telecast. Not to mention Johnson even gave a couple of them the Itemfinders we used to protect ourselves from the Mind reader for them to examine!"
"...I said I was sorry," Johnson muttered.
"Still, Johnson, there goes a good way to win our battle with Cipher! I'm already now caught up in some red tape, although luckily I was able to shut Johnson up before he DID tell them we wiped minds and all – told them we just used some very mild mental persuasion, which is luckily good enough for them, as long as none of that business continues goes on."
"Not with them knowing though," Wes added, not in the least bit happy he was seemingly expected to have to obey some obscene rule now – his Pokemon, he thought, were allowed to do what they wanted.
"True," Sherles admitted, "but remember, if you do it'll have to be without these items providing Espeon assistance, it's only to be used if given 'clearance' by the powers that be, or if not, then without anyone knowing, thanks to Johnson," Sherles said, with annoyance emphasised on Johnson's name. "Honestly, you haven't helped out much at all since I've hired you."
"Hey, I helped out with my Magikarp in the battles and all," Johnson defended.
"True," Wes added. "His Magikarp actually won in a two-on-one battle during the initial battle we had in the hideout bust."
Sherles stared at Wes for a moment, and then burst out laughing, guffawing at the absurdity of that statement.
"That's a good one, Wes!" he wheezed.
"But...it's true! I spent ages EV training my Magikarp and all to have it that strong...I had so many battles against other Magikarp to have it as fast as it is for instance..." Johnson insisted, but his words were lost on a disbelieving Sherles.
"Quag?"
(Help?) Quagsire managed to call, finding himself now on top of a lamppost temporarily, before Rui returned him to his Pokeball without looking, still absentmindedly pressing the button on the capsule.
"But it probably won't matter much though," Sherles added. "We do have the police force here to help us, even if smaller numbers… They're also, by the way, pretty amazed however with Secc and how he manufactured them, calling him some super whiz at technology and whatnot. But let's go inside; there's some stuff I want to show you. After these people finally leave, that is," Sherles said, observing the last of the newcomers slowly walk out of the Police station and embrace the stench of Pyrite.
"Ok then, just after I practise sending out Quagsire one more time," Rui said, before turning around to locate Quagsire, who was trying to dizzily waddle away from Rui now, and returned him to the ball. Meanwhile, one more person emerged from the Police station as Wes and Sherles approached, a scowl furrowed on his face as he sipped from a mug he clutched, clearly not happy to be here.
"Hurry up, youngster," Sherles snapped as he continued to linger by the entrance. "Andrew, was it? Shouldn't you be going over those boxes found in the hideout?"
"What's it to you? And I'll do it soon enough; never you mind, old man," he replied coolly, seemingly disinterested in what Sherles said. Wes frowned – he had thought that police officers – especially those from the big regions – would have had more manners than that.
"What're you looking at?" the man continued, glaring at Wes. "Think you're some big-shot, huh?" Wes flared at the comment, and the man grinned, knowing he had riled up Wes. "You're just some guy who moved to the winning side at the right time, aren't you?"
Luckily for Andrew, before Wes moved to respond with more than a few sharp words, a mournful grunt was sounded by Andrew's feet, who suddenly jumped backwards in shock.
"What the hell is that!?" he cried, somewhat startled in the least at the sight of a dizzy Quagsire trying to keep steady, with his stupid gaze looking up at the man.
"Quag…sire?"
(Where am I… are you food?) Quagsire asked suddenly, looking up brightly at what he thought was a pile of walking food as opposed to a person. He stepped forward happily, while the man stepped back uncertainly, unsure how to deal with the Quagsire.
"Sorry about that!" Rui called from afar. "I'll just recall him…" she said, before pressing the button and directing the Pokeball at Quagsire. A small 'click' sound followed, and a pause; then nothing. Frowning, Rui tried again, and again, but all that happened was the appearance of a small trail of smoke now seeping out of the Pokeball. "It's not working!" she cried.
"Don't tell me you broke the Pokeball by using it too many times…" Sherles muttered to himself. Wes meanwhile grinned at Andrew – it seemed that he was unfamiliar with Quagsire, and looked like he had had the shock of his life.
"I'll just try this one," Rui said, pulling out another Pokeball. "Come here, Quagsire," she called, directing it at Quagsire who was currently attempting to bite off the man's shoe, dawdling after him with his short flippers outstretched. Rui pressed the button, and white light ejected out of the ball – only now Andrew found himself facing a curious Yanma as well.
"Arrgh!" he screamed, Yanma's huge bug-out eyes regarding him.
"Yanma Yanma Yanma!"
(Hi how are you I'm a Pokemon look at me I can fly whee!) Yanma buzzed at him as it darted around him, before stopping short and hovering by his hand, sniffing at the mug Andrew was holding.
"Oh dear, that was Yanma's ball, not a spare one..." Rui said quietly, realising another blunder of hers.
"YANMA!"
(COFFEE!) it shouted, knocking the mug out of his hands and licking at the spilled substance. Meanwhile, Quagsire had taken this moment of Andrew's distraction and bit his foot, trying to overcome his rubber boots.
"Arrgh! What is with these Pokemon!?"
"Quag…"
(Tastes like chicken…) Quagsire said, while Yanma gave a shrill screech of happiness as his eyes seemed to grow larger.
"Yanma-Yanma-Yanma-Yanma-Yanma-Yanma-Yanma!
(Yay I got coffee I like the coffee it makes me go faster and faster and faster and faster and faster and hungrier and faster again and look at me hehehe I like you Mr coffee giver man I'm going to follow you!) Yanma said with glee, zooming even faster around and around Andrew, who gave a cry of confusion and ran away with Yanma following with ease, leaving Quagsire to continue chewing his boot.
"…Let's go inside before the Yanma comes back, and deal with what it does later," Sherles finally said. The others wholeheartedly agreed.
***
"Ok then, we have some more info here on Cipher that also regards Shadow Pokemon. We've found these," Sherles said, producing two CD disks, with the words 'Ein File H' and 'Ein File P' written on them. "One we found by the place you battled Miror B, and this other one apparently Johnson had picked up. There's information relating to Shadow Pokemon here, and we suspect there might be some more as well, which we're still searching for, just in case."
"Yes, I found it after the first fight and put it in my pocket," Johnson interjected, anxious to establish it was him who had found it.
"Plus we now have a new name to go on who's connected to Cipher," Sherles added.
"Who?" Rui asked, curious.
"Oh, I know! Miror B, of course," Johnson said.
"Johnson?" Sherles responded.
"Yes?"
"You're an idiot."
"Oh...someone new... well then, was it that Andrew guy?" When Sherles didn't respond, Johnson continued, "Oh, I know! It's Rui, isn't it?"
"No, she's on our side! No, it's a man called Ein, hence the name written on the CDs. He is, I'm guessing, the guy who compiled these disks, and he also seems to have had a large part in making Shadow Pokemon, judging by how he writes about them. Unfortunately, our database returned multiple results for a person named Ein, so it's firstly a matter of shifting through them. Also, most of this information is stuff we already know, really – some stuff about Hyper State and what it can do – there's a printout of it for you by the way," Sherles added, handing Wes a large bundle of papers. "But there's some interesting stuff there as well – apparently, according to this Ein person, one CAN purify Pokemon, although how is not mentioned... and that they plan to try to make... unpurifiable Pokemon."
"Really?' That's rather interesting… so it sounds as if it is possible to purify them," Wes said.
"But if they were able to make it impossible to purify them..." Rui added, shivering at the thought.
"Indeed. It's quite a fair bit of mixed news here, although I think-" Sherles began, before being cut off by the sound of the door opening and a reporter barging in.
"On reporting business," the man explained, waving his microphone at the group, and before Sherles could respond, he had waltzed into the prison – currently full with the people they had arrested – and waved the microphone at a prisoner's face.
"So, what's prison like?" the interviewer asked, pulling out a tape recorder as well. Meanwhile another person walked in – Sherles move to stop him, and then relaxed upon seeing Duking enter the room, with Plusle bouncing happily besides his towering master.
"Hello there," Duking spoke in his booming voice. The large man had been much more upbeat ever since Plusle had returned to him, already having regained a more assertive posture and exuded happiness. He then frowned slightly, hearing questions come from the prison cells. "What's going on there?"
"Oh, just a reporter," Sherles muttered, as a persistent 'Do you think working for Cipher had been a good career move for you?' sounded, accompanied by angry and annoyed responses from the prisoners. A faint reply from one could also be heard, mentioning that the person had only wanted to join a dance school in the first place.
"Poor them," Rui said. "Now the reporters seem to want to interview them..."
"Serves them right for kidnapping Plusle," Duking said. "It's good to have him back; even if I can't understand him well for he jabbers too quickly for me to understand him – my hearing's been a bit off today. But, I'm glad to have him back and all."
"Plusle Plusle Plusle!"
(I wonder what time lunch will be I'm hungry and want to go for a walk and then play with the children whee children!)
Duking smiled, and knelt down and petted Plusle. "That's right; I love you too," he said, as Wes stared.
He's right – he doesn't understand Plusle that well... he thought, having a sneaking suspicion Plusle had been talking about other things.
"Rui," Sherles said, "out of curiosity; what
did bring you to Pyrite town again in the first place?"
"Well, I was going to Agate Village to visit my..." Suddenly Rui gave a small gasp.
"What is it?" Wes asked.
"Oh man... all this time I've been here, and I've supposed to have been in Agate Village visiting my grandparents... I guess I just... forgot," she added sheepishly.
"You... forgot?" Wes asked, raising an eyebrow.
Is such a thing possible?
"Espeon! Espeon..."
(I swear, she isn't that much better than Johnson! Being that forgetful doesn't make sense...)
"What's Agate Village again?" Johnson asked suddenly.
"Well, I did have it in my mind when you rescued me... but I somehow kept forgetting about it ever since I bumped my head in Phenac City... to be honest, I don't remember much at all around then."
"Umberon, Umb?"
(Maybe a certain use of one's powers in Phenac City had to do with that, eh, Espeon?) Umbreon whispered to Espeon, an amused and knowing look in his eye.
"...Esp..."
(...Shut up...) Espeon responded, his eyes shifting around.
"I only remember something about being angry at... something, and I forgot about getting back to Agate for the most part, what with all these events..." Rui continued. "They'd probably know I'm safe, as I was on T.V., but I think I should head up there then."
Sherles nodded. "I agree. You did your part with this, and they are probably worried about you, Rui."
"Ok then, I'll get my things soon. But how will I get there? I don't even know where it is..."
"I'll go," Wes offered, speaking up suddenly.
"Really?" Rui said, sounding pleasantly surprised. Wes shrugged, with a light smile on his face.
"Why not? Nothing much to do here now, and with the Police now taking over... might as well take you there. I can just drive the Zoomer there..."
"Yes, I agree," Sherles added. "There isn't much you have to do here now; even if the majority of these young simpletons aren't the most co-operative crew I've had the pleasure to work with, they'll do fine, and I suppose you can keep purifying those Shadow Pokemon in Agate Village as well. Secc can keep in touch with you as well."
"Hey, would ya stop bugging us?" someone shouted loudly from the prison cells –
it sounded a lot like Folly, Wes thought to himself.
"And keep that microscope out of my face as well!" another added; this time Trudly was the one who shouted.
"...It's a microphone."
"Whatever. It's bloody annoying!"
"You two are almost as annoying as the reporter – shut up already!"
"No, you!"
"Can someone remind me how the hell did I get here again?"
"Hey, give me back my microphone!"
"Anyway..." Sherles said, interjecting in-between the shouts from the prison cell, "you better pack your things, Rui, and get ready to leave. No point to spend any more time here. Now, if you'd excuse me, I must be off," he said, departing from the room.
"Plusle Plusle Plusle!"
(Have fun in Agate then you two I heard it has lots and lots and lots of trees I don't know what trees really are but they sound tasty!) Duking suddenly looked surprised, and glanced down at Plusle.
"What's that?" Duking asked. "You want to go to Agate village with Rui and see trees?"
"Plusle..."
(No, I don't...) Plusle said, wondering how Duking had arrived at that conclusion to what he had said.
"Oh... ok then. If you're sure you want to go some sight-seeing, I guess its ok," Duking said.
"Plus-Plusle!"
(Ok- wait, no no no!)
"Duking..." Rui began, meaning to tell him that Plusle had probably meant otherwise.
"You'll take good care of him, I'm sure," Duking said, smiling. "I'll go and tell the kids then," he said, and with that left as well. Plusle looked at his departing back confused, then shrugged and jumped onto Rui's shoulder.
"Plusle…Plusle Plus!"
(Well, a trip might be fun… and maybe they'll have potatoes there as well!)
"Well, he's not going to be too much trouble, seeing he's so small… ouch!" she cried, as Plusle accidentally dispelled some electricity and zapped Rui out of excitement of going for a trip, and the possibility of potatoes.
"Plus!"
(Sorry I just like potatoes!) Plusle said, now jumping up and down on Rui's head.
Sherles ducked his head back in through the door just then, and looked at Rui and Wes. A small smile could be seen below his moustache as he regarded Plusle's antics, before speaking. "Oh, yes, before you do, you need to see someone, you two... a 'Fateen' wants to see you. A fortune teller, I believe." With that, Sherles left the building.
"...Her?" Wes asked. "That crazy woman? Bah, I don't think we should..."
"Why not?" Rui asked.
"Because she was rubbish! I don't believe in things like fortunetelling..."
"Well, she said we would meet a tall dark stranger... and Miror B was tall..." Rui began, not so eager to discount her.
"Oh, come off of it. Miror B was firstly only tall because of that ball of hair he had. And a dark stranger? Heck, with his outfit he nearly made my eyes bleed with all those colours..."
"Well, that's one way to put it..." Rui admitted. "Ok then..."
"Oh, fine, we'll go," Wes then said.
"Well – wait, what?"
"Might as well, would only take a few minutes I guess..." Wes said. "Come on; we'll get your things."
"Hey... um, can I come too?" Johnson asked suddenly. Wes seemed to ponder this question for a split second, before answering.
"No. Besides, you may have to... um, show those new Policemen around. Especially that Andrew bloke," he added as an afterthought. With that, the two left, as Umbreon glanced at Espeon and shook his head.
"Umbreon?"
(You went and did the same thing again, didn't you?)
"Espeon,"
(Oh, come on; it was only a small nudge of persuasion,) Espeon said innocently.
***
Shortly after, the two were more or less ready to go. Taking their belongings, they departed the police station and headed to the front of Pyrite town, dodging the occasional reporter anxious to ask them their opinion on whether Pyrite should be renamed 'Ultimate Utopia of Ultimateness' or 'Borrisville' to attract new tourists. Rui found Yanma weakly hovering around Pyrite hotel, the coffee's effects already wearing off on the tired Pokemon who had evidently had fun chasing Andrew around town. After returning him to his Pokeball - with Wes making sure there were no mistakes with the process this time around - they placed their bags by the Zoomer, and headed into Fateen's house. She was seated in front of her crystal ball, with another man standing anxiously before her.
"You have... RETURNED!" Fateen spoke over-dramatically, adding in overly-eccentric hand gestures to her comment.
"Well, we're here to see you…" Rui said, before the man stepped forward.
"Oh, no no no! I was here FIRST!" he shouted suddenly, causing all in the room to jump slightly. "Sorry," he continued, "but I really do need to hear my fortune!"
"Ok then…" Wes began, before the man cut in again.
"IT'S MY TURN!" he shouted again, before turning and facing Fateen. "My turn… yesss..." he muttered under his breathe. Rui and Wes exchanged looks.
"But, dear sir," Fateen began, "you've been here all week! And... umm..." she continued, looking desperately around the room. 'the words... they... not good!" she tried.
"You said that yesterday!" the man retorted.
"But I told you all that any sane person would want to know! From the incident that'll happen to you involving your wife and your handsome friend…"
"…Yes, well," the man mumbled.
"…and even how much you will lose after you bet your life savings on a horse that will lose because it ran the race in the wrong direction… AND let's not forget that incident resulting in that law suit…"
"Enough! Just tell me something else – please!" the man said, pleading to Fateen. "Something... good!"
"Oh, fine," Fateen grumbled, moving things away from her crystal ball. "But there's just one thing I want to tell those kids – and it'll only take a moment."
"But-"
"But nothing – you will wait, or you can forget about your fortune telling!"
The man stared for a moment, then mumbled and walked to the side of the room, amusing himself by glancing at a bookshelf and mumbling to himself about his fortune.
"He's been this way all week... and he scares the other customers away," Fateen grumbled quietly to Wes and Rui. "Threw my crystal ball at them and everything. Lucky it didn't break. But anyway – I have some information that'll be of help to you regarding those Shadow Pokemon you have..."
Oh man, not another person trying to help out... Wes thought. Fateen must have noticed his sceptical look, as she addressed him. "Oh, I can offer you some advice," she said simply, "Team Snagem boy."
"But..." Wes said. It was odd that she seemed to have known about him having worked for Team Snagem – that information had been kept under wraps away from the reporters, and hence the general public - but maybe the reporters had found out.
"And, I know you are on your way to Agate Village – which may be fate working, actually," Fateen added. Wes stared – she couldn't have possibly known that. He shifted uneasily.
"Ok then," Rui said, intrigued. "What is it you want to say?"
"Well, you have a problem purifying them, do you not? All I want to say is that I had a vision!" Fateen exclaimed, suddenly throwing sparkles into the air from a small box on the desk.
"Espi..."
(Maybe you did, but why the sparkles?) Espeon asked, eying them with scepticism.
"Umbre!"
(Shiny!)
Then an uncomfortable pause followed.
"...Yes?" Rui said finally.
"Huh... oh yes. I lost myself there for a moment," Fateen said, shaking herself out of a gaze at a particular interesting-looking wall. "The vision!" she cried, throwing more sparkles in the air.
"...And?" Wes prompted.
"Well... the key to freeing them is in the north. More specifically, Agate Village."
"Oh, ok..." Rui said, pondering this. "Is that all?"
"Of course!" Fateen said, sounding a little bit offended. "What do you want, me to tell you how to do everything to beat this ga- err, I mean, my visions aren't always clear," she said, seemingly catching herself from saying something.
"Well, thanks...I guess," Wes said. "We'll, ah, keep that in mind. Rui, let's go – we'll be on our way in... two or three minutes."
"No, you won't," Fateen suddenly said.
"Wait, what?"
"Don't you know? Outside looms the biggest danger of all – the invisible pixies!" Fateen continued, waving her hands mysteriously with a dramatic edge to her voice. Wes simply sighed and walked out, with Rui and his Pokemon following. Meanwhile, the man stepped up to Fateen.
"TELL ME MY FORTUNE NOW! PLEASE!" he shouted pleadingly, causing Rui to jump slightly at the question as she stepped outside.
"Oh, all right," she said. She turned to her crystal ball, gave it the quickest of glances, and then turned back to the man. "You will die."
"Oh, ok- wait, WHAT?"
"Twenty dollars, please," she said, ignoring his reaction and holding her hand out. But the man simply ran out past Wes and Rui, howling with sadness and heading straight for the pub.
"Pity..." Fateen said quietly. "I forgot to tell him he'd die due to old age..." she added to herself with a wry smile, satisfied she was rid of him.
Meanwhile, Rui sat down in the side seat of the Zoomer, as Wes retuned his Pokemon to their Pokeballs, and hopped into the driver's seat. Giving Pyrite town one last look, Wes gunned the Zoomer, and they started off north for Agate Village.
***