Chapter 8: Flame
:D :D :D :D IT'S THE REVIVAL! *fanfare*
Anyway, guys, I am
soooo sorry this took so long. What with exams, homework, general procrastination and so on, I haven't posted a chapter for over a mon- no, since August! FREAKING AUGUST! OMG *dies*
Anyway, I have more exams in about six weeks, but till then I'll try to keep posting. It'll no longer be a strict weekly schedule, but you'll get each chapter when I finish it, whether it's three days or three weeks after the last one. Just a recap, now, in case you've forgotten and don't want to be reading the first seven chapters again . . .
Chapter 1: Tyson, Haley and Alexis learn of the opportunity of the Pokemon Journey Program.
Chapter 2: Tyson overcomes his doubts and resolves to go on the Pokemon Journey with his sister. A pair of shady characters, Jeremiah and his unnamed boss, are introduced.
Chapter 3: The groups for the Program are decided, and Tyson and Haley meet Jerry, their new teacher/mentor/guardian/whatever.
Chapter 4: Tyson, Haley and Matthew receive their first Pokemon, and have an encounter with a mysterious, green-cloaked figure.
Chapter 5: Team Jerry (wtf since when) set off on their Pokemon Journey (complete with boat! d(*.*)b)
Chapter 6: Samuel and Li are introduced, though far from the action. Tyson meets the green-cloaked woman again, who seems oddly civil this time around.
Chapter 7: Samuel and Li are assigned another mission. Jerry tries to deal with Matthew's problems. We learn that Jerry first encountered the Cult of Avos two years previously.
Chapter 8: OMG OMG here it is! ^_^
[FONT="]Chapter 8[/FONT]
[FONT="]Flame[/FONT]
[FONT="]June 16, 2000[/FONT]
"This is a city?" Tyson asked slightly sceptically as Pastoria came into view. "There's . . . not much of it." It was true. Pastoria City was little more than a town; it had to have a few thousand inhabitants at most.
"Maybe so," countered Jerry, "but the Great Marsh is something we certainly can't miss. I reckon any Trainer should see the Great Marsh at least once, and it's a great place to catch a few Pokémon, seeing as you don't have to worry about battling them. Not to mention the fact that it has a Pokémon Gym, although I don't think you guys are up to that just yet." The S.S. Valeria came about, creaking ominously, and slowly chugged into reverse. Ponderously, it backed up into its niche in the dock, alongside ships much larger and newer.
"There we go!" said Jerry happily. "Told you she'd make it, didn't I?"
"I guess . . ." Tyson admitted. "Don't you think it's odd that we're the only passengers, by the way?"
"Now you mention it," Haley pondered, "that
is strange. If this is the main route between Sunyshore and Pastoria, why weren't there any other passengers?"
Jerry scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Well, actually," he said, "the
Valeria's about to be put out of commission. The authorities had concerns about her safety, so she's headed for the scrap heap before long."
"What?" Haley squeaked. "I thought you said it was safe!"
"I did, and it is," Jerry demurred. "I've sailed on the
Valeria many times, and she's never done any wrong. Most people are scared to so much as board her, though, so she's not bringing in enough income. Between that and the safety concerns, well . . ." He shrugged casually. "It's a shame, but we haven't got time to do this. We've been neglecting your training. I'm supposed to be laying down the groundwork for your future as a Pokémon Trainer right now, so we'll head out to somewhere that we can do that comfortably. Come on."
Five minutes later, they had left the
S.S. Valeria behind. Jerry was whistling cheerfully as he strolled across the wet flagstones that stretched along the harbour, but suddenly stopped. It was only a split-second pause, but Jerry had obviously seen something. His lopsided grin vanishing like a Furret down a hole, he practically dragged them across the quay, leaving them little time to look around. Tyson barely had time to register the bustling harbour-side market before they were bundled into a taxi.
"What's the hurry?" Haley whispered to him as Jerry leant forward to converse frantically with the driver, giving him directions they couldn't hear. Tyson glanced around. The taxi was a large affair, with split leather seats facing both forward and back and tinted windows. Matthew, looking shocked, was curled in a corner, eyes slightly glazed.
"I don't get it either," Tyson muttered back. "Did he see one of those Avos people or something?"
"I didn't see any," said Haley, "but it's still possible, I guess." Breathing heavily, Jerry sat down and untangled his seatbelt, motioning them to do the same. Once they were all buckled in, the taxi shuddered as the driver put his foot down on the ignition. Jerry pressed his nose to the window, scanning the street as they dodged in and out of light traffic, heading north. Tyson and Haley exchanged worried glances, but said nothing further. Matthew continued to stare vacantly into the middle distance.
As they got further away from the quay, Jerry relaxed gradually, although he still appeared jumpy. Five minutes later, they exited the taxi in front of an unassuming red-brick building. It sat alone on the side of the road, with a line of trees stretching away to either side for quite some distance. Jerry joined them twenty seconds later as the taxi zoomed off, kicking up dust from the beaten road.
"What was that all about?" Haley demanded. "Did you see someone at the quay that we needed to avoid?"
Jerry nodded tersely. "
Her," he said simply, looking rather shaken.
"Who? That woman from the Avos cult?" Haley asked. Jerry ignored her.
"This," he said loudly, gesturing at the building in front of them, "is the entrance to the Great Marsh, one of the best places in Sinnoh for observing and capturing wild Pokémon." It certainly didn't look like much, Tyson observed. The building was roughly square, squat and sturdy, with a small door set into the wall. Jerry pushed the door open and ushered them inside, ignoring further queries as to what he had seen to make him behave so oddly.
The inside of the building was equally ordinary. It didn't look like the entrance to a Great Marsh; it didn't really look like anything at all. The room was small and square. In one corner stood a public PC like the ones seen in Pokémon Centres. In the other was a small, rickety desk, in front of a large, hand-painted poster that proclaimed 'Pastoria's Great Marsh – Rare Pokémon!' in loud, garish colours. Behind the desk sat a bored-looking young woman in a worn suit that, like everything else in the room, gave off a sense of age and dustiness. She looked up immediately as they came in, greeting them with a smile that seemed a little forced.
"Good morning! Welcome to Pastoria's Great Marsh!" she said happily, but with a note in her voice that suggested she said the words multiple times a day, and was getting somewhat tired of it. Jerry flashed her a charming smile.
"Hey there," he said casually. "How much is entrance for four?" he asked. She blinked a couple of times, gazing at him blankly, before smiling uneasily.
"Um, 500 each, so 2000 altogether. With the group discount, that's only 1800," she said. Jerry pulled a wad of notes from his pocket and silently counted out the required amount.
"Um, you'll need . . . these," she said distractedly, handing each of them a small box. "30 Safari Balls. You can use these to catch Pokémon in the Marsh if you like. Alternately, you can just observe the Pokémon in their natural habitat."
"Thanks." Jerry took his box of Safari Balls and headed for a door that Tyson hadn't noticed earlier. It looked to be identical to the one they had just entered. Jerry ushered them through. Matthew hesitated for a second, but followed, shaking his head.
The first thing that came into Tyson's head when he saw the Great Marsh was that it, was, in fact, very marshy. He wasn't so sure about the 'Great' part, however. As far as he could see, it was mud. Thick, brown mud, criss-crossed at intervals by wooden boardwalks. Here and there a stand of trees poked up through the mire like the fingers of a drowning man.
Where did that morbid simile come from? Tyson wondered, shivering. There was something oddly creepy about the Marsh. Tyson glanced at the others, wondering if they'd noticed. Haley was uncharacteristically silent, while Matthew was just as quiet as ever. Jerry, however, appeared to be in his element.
"Ah, it's been so long since I was last here!" he exclaimed, setting off along one of the boardwalks at a pace that required them to jog to keep up with him. "If I recall correctly, there was a great spot for training along this way! Come on, you lot, try not to fall in the mud!" he laughed, navigating the wooden walkways as if he lived there.
After ten minutes of hectic dashing, during which Tyson barely had time to register the dozens of curious Pokémon that observed them with keen interest as they raced past on Jerry's tail, they finally stopped at a large grove of trees. By the time Tyson and Haley caught up to Jerry, he was standing in front of one of the trees with a pensive look on his face. The twins were both breathing hard, but Jerry didn't look like he'd even broken a sweat. He was calmly examining the trunk of the tree he was standing in front of, a large, worn cedar that looked like it had been there for decades.
Tyson peered over Jerry's shoulder. Scratched into the bark, the edges rounded by age, was a clumsily etched heart. In the centre were three characters – 'C+J'. It was like something out of a movie.
"I didn't think people actually did that," said Haley offhandedly, seeming to read his mind.
"Neither did I . . ." mused Jerry. "Neither did I." But something about his voice rang hollow to Tyson. His eyes narrowed, and he regarded Jerry suspiciously. Did 'J' perhaps stand for Jerry?
He brushed the thought aside almost instantly. So what if that was how it was? It was none of his business, and besides, that sort of thing was Haley's department. He had no need to worry about those things.
Even so, he wondered absently if there would ever be anyone to carve his initial onto a trunk. Unbidden, an image floated into his mind's eye. A similar heart, carved into a similar tree. 'T+?' He couldn't make out the other letter.
I must be going soft, he scolded himself.
Where the hell did that come from? All the same . . .
"All right!" Jerry said loudly. "We're here, so let's not waste time. Through here!" He ducked between the trees. Tyson glanced briefly at Haley and followed, Matthew drifting along in their wake like a ghost.
"Whoa . . ." Tyson breathed. It shouldn't have been terribly impressive; all it seemed to be was a large clearing in the trees. It would have been around fifteen by twenty metres, roughly rectangular, and the trees around it were so thick it was impossible to see out of them into the Marsh. The ground in the clearing was hard-packed dry dirt, as might be found anywhere else, dotted with sparse clumps of grass. It was entirely unremarkable, and yet Tyson felt something strange about it, as if some power inhabited the area.
"Doesn't look like much, does it?" said Jerry from beside him. Tyson jumped. Could everybody read his mind today? "It seems fairly ordinary, but this place is special. When I used to live in Pastoria – a few years ago – I often came here with my friend to train. It was our secret hideaway. This place has seen more battles than the local Gym, I'm sure."
"I thought it had that sort of aura around it," Tyson said thoughtfully.
"Yes," murmured Matthew unexpectedly. Tyson glanced at him sharply. He had his eyes closed, and one hand stretched out over the clearing, palm out. "There has been lots of conflict here. I can feel lots of tension, fighting . . . passion. But also . . . happiness. There's lots of happiness. And even . . . love?" His eyes snapped open with a jerk.
"Wh-what was that just now?" asked Haley, blinking. Matthew was gazing around as if he didn't know where he was.
"Huh? What? Oh, that's just . . . just the feeling I get from this place. That's all. I can't really . . ." he trailed off. Tyson narrowed his eyes. He had no idea what was going on, but he could tell that Matthew was lying. He opened his mouth to challenge the statement, but before he could say anything, he was interrupted by a strident, triumphant voice from behind them.
"A-ha! There you are, Jeremiah! I
thought it was you at the quay, and now my suspicions have been confirmed!" Jerry winced as if he'd just bit into a lemon, but didn't turn around. Instead, he blocked his ears and shook his head frantically, muttering to himself.
"No . . . no . . . don't tell me it was her after all . . . crap . . . what do I do, what do I do?" Tyson glanced quizzically at Haley before turning to see who Jerry seemed to be so afraid of.
~~~~~
