(OOC: Don't try this at home, kiddies. There was much torturing of Liacri involved in order to obtain the rights to bunny her character so thoroughly. I mean, er… Always be sure to ask permission before bunnying! I just thought that I should get us moving again -.-' And sorry about the crappish post… I'm doing NaNoWriMo, so my writing is a little… yeah...)
"I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that it's necessary for us to move on," Isabel said with as much politeness as she could muster, glancing down at her watch. "There are a few people my companion and I would like to speak with as soon as possible, and it would probably be better to get there sooner than later."
Isabel turned and briskly continued on in the direction she was previously headed, Audrey skipping along close behind her.
"Are you excited to see your family too, Sabey?" Audrey asked with her usual obscenely bright voice.
"Yes," Isabel said, forcing herself to smile. "I just hope that my parents didn't decide to move in the past few years…"
"They wouldn't do that!" Audrey said with a grin. "You've always had such a nice home. They'd never leave it!"
"Not to mention they probably wouldn't have any better place to go," Isabel muttered under her breath, looking around at the rows of closed shops that lined the streets.
The two continued on in relative silence, Isabel silently contemplating the chances that her family had decided to leave and only speaking when forced to respond to Audrey's random happy outbursts. They eventually managed to get out of the city, suddenly finding before them an entirely different landscape. There was little else but green grassy hills all around them, broken only by a plain gravel road and a few farmhouses that stood along it. There was a good mile that needed to be walked before they reached their respective destinations, and the length was almost enough to kill Isabel when coupled with Audrey's incessant chatter. The two finally made it, stopping in front of two medium-sized houses resting relatively close together when compared to the great distance between most of them along the stretch.
"There's your home," Isabel said, pointing to the closest of the two buildings. "Would you like to say hello to your parents while I do the same with mine?"
Audrey looked over at her house with an excited expression, though she seemed reluctant to leave Isabel's side.
"Do you wanna come visit my house and I'll visit yours later?" Audrey asked, suddenly bubbling over with enthusiasm as she looked up at the taller girl. "We could have a sleepover or something!"
Isabel struggled to stop herself from giving an annoyed sigh.
"We don't really have a whole lot of time left before we should head back to the rest of the Uprising," Isabel explained slowly. "So it would probably be most efficient if we each visited our own homes alone."
"Okay Sabey," Audrey said reluctantly, then immediately perked up again. "I'll see you in a little bit, then!"
Audrey skipped up the driveway to her house, radiating her usual carefree happiness. Isabel sighed and continued down the road to her own driveway, feeling some excitement stir in her as well as a bit of heartache. Her parents still most likely didn't know that her brother ended up joining PXS, and she was debating whether it was necessary to tell them or not. She started up her own driveway, eyes fixed on her feet as she continued to weigh her options.
"Isabel?"
Isabel's head snapped up, her eyes falling upon a woman in the doorway. The woman gazed at Isabel, looking somewhat disoriented and confused at the sight of her. Her hair was a somewhat pale shade of brown, with a complexion nearly as fair as Isabel's. Her pale blue eyes glinted as she examined Isabel.
"Mom," Isabel croaked, feeling tears sting the edges of her eyes. She began to quicken her pace up the driveway, just barely restraining herself from sprinting up to her mother and throwing her arms around her.
"You! Her mother shouted coldly, bringing Isabel to an abrupt stop several feet away from the steps leading up to the deck.
"What are you doing here?" the woman demanded, taking a few steps toward Isabel and glaring coldly down at her. "You should never have come back. Go away! I never want to see your face again! Your organization is ruining everything, and your terrible parents are… are…"
"Sarah!"
A man appeared in the doorway behind the woman, placing his hand on her shoulder and gently turning her around. The woman burst into tears, clinging to her husband and muttering inaudible nonsense to him, to which he replied with: "I know, I know" as he led her inside.
The man reappeared a moment later, apparently having successfully placed his wife in a place where she could hopefully collect herself. Isabel stared at him with her eyes and mouth wide open, still stunned by her mother's words.
"Dad… What happened to…?" Isabel felt herself grow cold and numb.
"Your mother has been having some… psychological issues lately," her father said dismissively with an obviously-forced smile. "Just the shock of seeing you must have thrown her off a bit. She'll be fine in a little while."
Isabel could only manage to nod, completely unsure of how she should respond.
"Come on inside," her father said, opening the door wider and gesturing for her to enter. "I'll get you something to eat and we can catch up."
Isabel obeyed silently, passing by her father and walking in the direction she remembered to be the kitchen, examining the interior of the house as she went. Everything looked to be about the same, except more tired somehow. It was obvious that not as much of an effort had been put into keeping the rooms perfectly tidy and presentable, but it was still basically the same as when she had left it. She sat down at the kitchen table, running her fingers over the familiar burn marks on it from when her mother had tried to take up bead-making and nearly burned the house down. She looked out the back window, feeling a nostalgic sadness at the complete absence of Eeveelutions, not that she had expected otherwise.
"What would you like to eat?" her father asked, opening the refrigerator.
"Whatever you have is fine," Isabel said, continuing to look out over what used to be their ranch, suddenly desiring to take her PokeBalls from their hiding place and letting her Pokemon see their past home as well.
Her father took a container out of the refrigerator and took off the saran wrap, placing it in the microwave and turning it on. He took out two plates and placed them on the table along with two sets of silverware. He put two cups and a water pitcher on the table as well, then taking the container out of the microwave and putting it on the table as well. He sat down at looked at Isabel with a smile.
"So… How have you been doing these past few years?" he asked, scooping some steaming casserole onto each plate.
"Pretty well, actually," Isabel said, attempting to sound casual. "I've been able to travel to a bunch of different regions."
"That's great," he said with an encouraging smile.
"And how have things been around here lately?" Isabel asked, taking an experimental bite of the food on her plate. It was pretty bland, but warm and pleasant unlike most of the meals she was expecting to have on her journey.
"Things have been… difficult," her father said, looking down at his plate. "But we've been very fortunate. Many other places were harder hit than this area."
"And work has been?" Isabel took another bite.
"I quit my job," he admitted. "Working in law enforcement just wasn't right for me. But I got another one at a general store in Chipper City. Your mom managed to find part-time work as a waitress, too."
Isabel nodded and continued to eat, unsure of whether she should be relieved or saddened by the news. She quickly looked the man over, noticing how his black hair was longer than usual and less tidy than she remembered, poorly-trimmed facial hair appearing in patches across his face. His dark blue eyes were lined with deep circles, as if he hadn't gotten a decent amount of sleep since she left. She didn't exactly care to bring up the Uprising with him, nor did she think it would be beneficial to bring up her brother. Right now, Isabel just wanted to leave. She quickly downed the rest of her meal and stood, giving her father a pleasant smile.
"Thank you so much, dad," she said with as much cheer as she could manage. "But I really should be going."
"Are you sure you don't want to stay? For a few days, maybe, or even just tonight?" he asked, standing as well.
"I really should be going," Isabel said, looking down at her watch even though she hadn't spent nearly as much time here as she had planned. "Though would you mind if I took a few things from my bedroom? I could use some extra clothes and things like that."
"Of course," her father said, looking relieved. "I'll get you a bag."
Her father disappeared into what she remembered to be the guest bedroom, reappearing and handing Isabel a tattered old duffel bag. Isabel thanked him and went upstairs into her room. She opened the door and sighed. It was dusty and dark, as if it had been cleaned once over the years and never dealt with again. She went over to her dresser and pulled out any pieces of clothing she thought would be of any use, going into her closet and doing the same with shoes. After stuffing a meager amount of supplies into her bag, Isabel straightened up and exited the room, not caring to be overwhelmed with the memories it held. She went back downstairs, surprised to find that her father had cleared the table and now lined it with canned food and a few toiletries.
"Dad… You don't have to do that," Isabel said with wide eyes, walking over to the table.
"I know," he said with a smile. "But I figured that you could use some help, and this is the least we could do."
He took the duffel bag from Isabel and began carefully packing the items inside. He zipped it up and handed it back to her. Isabel swung the considerably heavier bag over her shoulder, taking care not to crush her own backpack with it.
"Thanks dad," she said, feeling a bit of warmth spread through her again as her eyes stung a bit.
"We love you and we're so proud of you," he said, pulling her into a firm hug for a long moment. Isabel savored the sensation, aware that it could be the last time she experienced it for various reasons.
"Good luck," he said, holding her at arms length and looking her over with a distant hope in his eyes.
"Thank you," Isabel said, inclining her head and quickly making her way out of the house.
She began walking back in the direction of Chipper City, her mother's words pressing into her once more. Did she really think that the Uprising was making things worse? And what did she mean by "terrible parents"…?
"Sabey!" Audrey shouted, running up to Isabel and flinging her arms around her. "Did you have a good time with your family."
"Yes," Isabel said with a faint smile, looking down at her childhood friend. "But now we really need to get moving."
***
After a few inquisitions of various refugees, Isabel finally managed to locate the area where the Uprising had been assigned quarters. Isabel ducked into the tent, surprised to find that very few members were there. She looked down at her watch with a frown.
"Where are they?" Isabel muttered to herself, looking back into the swiftly-darkening city.
