[PKMN FULL] "Past of the Past": A Beta Johto Journey (IC)

I did it I found it. My hand is shaking while I write. Im so happy. I have never felt so happy. I have found the name. I feel complete now. I found myself today. I am me now. I am Yasu!

Yasu Yasu Yasu Yasu
It looks so different when I write it. I love writing but I want to speak it. I want to speak it to Tohru. I love this name. I love her name. They pair. Red and green. Male and female. Wetness and warmth!
Graceful names. Simple names. Sharp names. Sharp as stone. Beautiful stones!
There are beautiful stones stuck in me. My head. My neck. When I move I feel lightning. I think it is pain. I have a headache but it is a good headache. This is good pain this is perfect pain. This is beautiful pain like the stones and I love it and the stones. I love myself and I love living because life is just like the stones are and never changes and never ends. I can do anything. I can be anyone. I am Yasu I am Yasu I am Yasu!

I am so excited that I am pulsing not shaking. My arm is not shaking it is pulsing like the wet and warm thing. The wet and warm thing inside of me everywhere that has always been with me. I am wet and warm everywhere. It feels so good. Im pulsing and I feel so good. I want to feel this good forever life is forever life never changes like perfect beautiful stone!

I am Yasu!
I am Yasu and I will always be Yasu because that is me!
Yasu is I!
I feel like I can do anything ever. I can be famous and loved by everyone if I make them. I can jump from anywhere and fly. But I cannot fly or be famous yet because I have a goal to meet Tohru and say her name and say mine and follow Tohru everywhere and then I will be complete and then I can fly. Life is so beautiful! I have a goal! Life is so beautiful with purpose with a goal. Life is always beautiful.

But Im pulsing also because I am nervous.I want to meet Tohru but I dont want to upset her. I dont want to make anyone upset. I feel so good. I want to make other people feel good too. I want to be famous. I want to jump and when I jump I will fly. When I jump everything will be alright. Tohru will jump first and then I will follow but I will fly. Will Tohru fly too? NO BAD QUESTION NO SOMEONE PLEASE IM SORRY NO I PROMISE

LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL CHERISH UNTIL YOU CANT

Thank you Tohru, I love you Tohru. I miss you Tohru. Have a safe trip Tohru.

PRINTED TUESDAY 1/9/95 08:45:33
Heyyyy sis!! Lol can i call you onee-chan? : 3 LMAO IM JOKING

Sorry I couldnt stay & say bye ,bus to Pallet leaves soon so printed thisi & left you something u might like … or not, lol

Mom left u lunch in the frige & said shell text you sicne shes coming w/ me to palet to c if the paperowrk went through & OMG im so o EXCITED AAA, how many kids even get a pokemon my age anyway??? Soo blessed hahaha, maybe i really am just special? ; ) jk jk

(i have no idea what im sayig anymore im just so hype, hope u like th ejournal & all, you can write about… idk… johto… girl stuff… lmao imma stop xd gtg

Oh & Dad said hell text you (LOL that wasn OT on purpose i sweearr, so tragic xd gtg

WAIT page s sorryaaah so much cringe lmfao, don't worry about it tho : ), wrote a lotta cringe in it just no wrrories : ) : ) yeah? Yah
Bye, have a nice trip Comp Girl!! come back soon,ily, xxx etc & promise not to go grass ; )

PRESS START TO CONTINUE

PRESS SELECT TO GO BACK

BAG:

► ITEMS
► BALLS
► KEY ITEMS
► TMS / HMS

'Ceased Development' — chapter 01.1​

----------"You know my uncle?"
----------"Yes, but the nice man your father was! All the years that I had been of taking him in, so to speaking, and were in working together with one another! And yet your uncle was not caring of the field. I would even say he was… uncaring."
----------"Aha, really?" Responding as he sidled past; her hands were clutched in her hoodie sleeves, her back was towards the depths of the office space. "Is he less 'uncaring' now that he's working with you on your research?"
----------"Worked with all, Tohru! You especially! Working you are, now! Volunteering! And excited you must be, should be, very much!"
----------"Yeah, I'm really excited, Elm." His focus had been on the Happa as she looked on. "What about you and Dad?"
----------Sidled past her again; the professor transitioned from the opposite end of the operating table to the furthest edge of the room, vanishing with a cry back of, "Sarcasm!"
----------"Sarcasm?" Tohru laughed, "Professor Elm! I want to know how you and Dad are doing! He needed to ask you something." And he returned with a new glass syringe, scrubbing its tip meticulously.
----------"Sarcasm of Training! You are not of understanding the importance!" Sidled through; he placed the second syringe beside the first: smaller, plastic, empty; a swab soaked with fungicide he took from the same station — a folded towel spread with curious instruments — with which he wiped the vague neckline of the plant Pokémon before him. And during the procedure, he continued, "Science you are working for! Renewal you are working for; the future! The future of you — Tohru — and me and everyone else in the Johto of all!"
----------"Umm, okay, but… Actually, about that—"
----------"Yes, 'that'! Hurry, now! What are you meaning?" Elm punctured Happa with the syringe.
----------"I-I'm 'meaning,' like, I don't know what you expect me to do out there—"
----------"Gahh! You know what are you expecting! Trainer!"
----------"Trainer…? Isn't that—"
----------"That is you! Trainer you are! So training you do about or whatever! Starting this night you must be of highest priority catching and battling Pokémon, for so life depends on it!"
----------"Wait, tonight? I was going to stay the night here, in Silent Hills--"
----------"No! Never! Too late is never!"
----------"Whyy, Professor, it's already super late... Can't 'Trainer work' wait until morning--?"
----------"Waiting is Route 29! For work!"
----------"Well, Dad said I shouldn't go until morning."
----------"Ahww, your father knows wellness of Johto, fineness at all times; night, day! And ask I did for adult of young anyway.... or near-ish of young! But yes, you must go, note on that! Parent permit not needed! I'd even say, unneeded!"
----------"Alright, Elm."
----------"And your Chiko is done."
----------Happa was shoved across the table, towards Tohru. It stuck in place fast an inch before Professor Elm. Passively, the creature crumbled over itself. Its posture became uninterpretable at that point. A nervous Tohru stretched across to prod at the creature, expressive with pity or impatience or pure regret on her part. The mound of plant matter might have twitched to signal it hadn't died. It fixed its misaligned yellow eyes at nothing and on no one. Its Trainer's finger probed its forehead; it remained unresponsive.
----------"It has a knicked name 'Chiko,' correct?"
----------"Uhm, yeah… And you were joking about the hostage situation thing, right? 'Cause he looks kinda depressed. Or are those the meds talking."
----------"Bah! Meds!" And the professor folded up his materials. "Chiko is needing of water at all times! Be sure of leaf hardness before entering battle! Leave squishy… bodyness not exposed — I should say, nonexposed — of sun and heat and all else to make dry!"
----------"Can do, Professor." She let it alone, wiped the mucous from her finger, asked, "Do I need to know about, like, 'diet' or anything…?"
----------"Yes, diet," Elm responded. "Very funny, there. Very easy to 'die-it.'"
----------"What are you talking about?"
----------"Water only! Pellets only! Veggies only! Do not let scavenging start! Habit of peril, that is! No leaves of brown, etcetera! Now, off, Chiko! You are complete in your checking-up and can be removing your slime from property!"
----------He swatted at the Happa; this yielded motion — one consummate act of assemblage, like a balloon prop blown up again, and a rejuvenated Chiko crept obediently down a leg of the table.
----------Tohru was unimpressed. "You know, bossing him around isn't helping anything."
----------"As a person, I am very helpful!" the Professor yet dismissed. With towel-folded items shifted to one arm, he took the other to the shortest end of the operating table and gave another shove. His visitor hastened back; in a rush of metal and shrieking wheels, the space was cleared, and Elm trailed after into the dark expanse of his laboratory.
----------Tohru Anayo was hence left alone, Elm providing only a brief vocalization of further instruction behind. She could barely make it out. From wherever he stood, there was a great distance between them, even the echo of his voice rendered vague, but there was a quiet implication for Tohru to wait there, don't leave yet. She had no ambition to go, but the lab was a cold place with a hospital's floor and vintage, peeling wallpaper, dark while just distinguishable beneath the single, hanging lightbulb: something like framed eyeballs surrounded and stared back. Tohru found herself drifting towards the single window in the room to occupy her mind as Chiko lounged somewhere, likely. So she peered out into the town on the tips of her feet through the high and tiny window with the only entrance, only exit, of the door at her left.
----------Fog condensed on the glass. It consumed the town. Houses were low like the laboratory, single-story and, thus, swallowed. And there were no lights to be found, no stars, only cloud. This was an illusion of altitude, Tohru looking out but also down from thousands of hurtling miles high. This was but a colorless, atmospheric dance that destroyed all notion of foundation. All yielded in the churn of fog. But three pillars of reality stood high above the waltz and quadrille: three wooden windmills, their blades spinning methodically with constant flow. The fog continued its dance. The mills groaned with effort and windchill tinged the pane. Tohru felt alone the touch of the fog.
----------But what she was ogling particularly she did not know; now conscious of her unawareness, she was gripped with a sudden anxiety to know. Tohru felt as if she was missing something, a subtle insinuation of sorts — a jingle of keys. The doorknob began to vibrate — the only exit, the only entrance.
----------From her perch, Tohru strained her vision as far left as possible, sighting immediately Professor Elm. Slouched over the knob, he wrestled with a ring of keys elusive in leather-gloved fingers. She heard his mutterings through the wall, as faint as they had been in the moments he'd boded in the darkness.
----------Precipitately, Tohru intercepted Elm's grip on the knob. She rooted her heels and wrenched backwards in an effort to overpower his control, and he conceded immediately as she found the door flying outward, the Professor no longer right behind it, but his associate in his face the second she conceived she was outside.
----------"What are you doing? Were you about to lock me in there?"
----------"Locking of the door, next task of mine." Elm was slightly puzzled, mainly occupied, as he entered a fitful juggle with a key on a ring, pressed between pointer finger and thumb, and a stack of miscellany in the bend of his arm. He managed, in the moment of Tohru's confrontation, to approach the door at an angle conducive to setting the key into corresponding lock.
----------"Professor—!" She tried again, but stopped short; there was no acknowledgement. "Where's Chiko? Is he still—?"
----------She felt a slimy sensation across her knee.
----------"Oh. Hi."
----------"Tohru, I am of deciding to leave this lab," Elm announced, in a shower of fallen folders and documents; he had attempted to re-position. Reaction to such on the Professor's behalf was null, however, as in his gloved hands was another device whose boot-up screen had him fidgeting.
----------Meanwhile, Chiko glided over gravel to the documents, gradually accumulating them in its mouth.
----------Elm explained, "I am needing fresher air. I have been of great business cleaning since this morning. All this day, waiting for Trainers such as yourself, too. Great bore. Let us take a 'cherry walk,' I and yourself, Tohru!"
----------"What are you talking about, a 'cherry walk'?"
----------"Yes, just hours by, sun not set. See horizon, Tohru? View of beauty, right? In same direction, Cherrygrove Bay is awaiting!" His fingers flew over the buttons of the small, rectangular apparatus which, from the slot at its base, emitted a strip not unlike a receipt, the same which was tacked instantaneously by Elm to his laboratory door in a swift movement. "Note of redirect to home of assistant: yes, right there it is. Went home hour ago, no matter! They have key, they have Pokémon access! Well is everything."
----------Chiko grunted in an attempt to return Elm's lime-stained papers to him and his attention
----------"All came earlier, too. Most all. All who matter." He meant this in jest, but Elm's need to laugh died as he perceived Tohru's partner at his feet. He flashed only a meaningful glance at the girl, then. "Retrieve those, yes?"
----------Tohru expressed nothing in return, but obeyed to collecting the Professor's documents after bowing to Happa's level. With Elm turned away, her attention exchanged to the note affixed to his lab, the one whose intended message had apparently taken seconds to convey. It read:
----------"You are not needing to read it," came the high call of the Professor. "I had told you of it!" Then he performed a sweeping gesture in his direction, so she decided to follow, and henceforth trailed Chiko.
----------With Professor Elm just before her, suddenly; he forced something silicone upon her. Tohru was obstinate — "What- What- now?" —, flustered; she clenched fists to block Elm's force through her fingers.
----------"Hold, yes?" After a brief struggle, he burst into explanation, "Fine new invention! Catalog, vast! Knowledge, diverse! An encyclopedia sized as a Reader and as accessing, too!" Tohru had been bestowed such 'Pokédex,' "The heart to your inner Trainer!"
----------Tohru studied the encumbrance, nothing durable about it for 'fine' technology, all lightweight and chromatic, waiting to fall and shatter on rugged road. All looks, little practicality; 'Comp Girl' would know. And it was literally encyclopedic with a chrome-pink cover that clicked open. The innards were atrocious; the navigation buttons were smaller than a fingernail, and the display screen equally inaccessible. Did he design this himself? she mulled, and expressed, unconvinced, "I don't have to pay anything if it breaks, right?"
----------Said Elm, "Do not be breaking it!"
----------Said she, "I'm not paying for it when it does. I didn't ask for it."
----------Said Elm, "No more, I have!"
----------Said she, "Then just take mine back and give it to some other kid."
----------"No, no, no, you are not understanding the greatest importance of the Pokédex, it is essential, a key item, you must take it—!'
----------"Then just tell me why, then! You've been going on and on about how I don't 'understand Training' but you being a cryptic ass isn't helping!"
----------"Ass!? Nooo, you are going far now!" And the Professor distanced himself from her as if prepped for detonation. From the color in his face he looked himself bound to explode, but there was also a gaping quality to his expression, like stun-horror, as if the worst had already happened. "You are fearing and projecting the afraid you are, there is no need, this is fun, this is exciting!" Desperation heightened his pitch, tilting embarrassingly close to shattering range. It was wild and wavering and raving. His arms followed suit, gesturing in great circles so that he almost spilled and stained more paper with dirt and, inevitably, mucus.
----------Chiko peered up, awaiting.
----------"Development this is, Tohru! Better person, like adding bricks to the founding— you are of becoming a great person through Training! Learn so much, you will—!"
----------"Am I not a good person now? What are you saying?"
----------"W- I- You are…! Training…! It's good! Why questions you ask, why!? You read letter, yes? You are given items, you refuse them! Do not be happy if not earnest feeling but be open…!"
----------"What, so I just shouldn't ask questions?"
----------"I… s'ppose… not?" And the color drained from his complexion as Elm realized this was the wrong answer.
----------A spited Tohru, vindictive in victory, let her temper die where she stood. "Then I'm just gonna leave if I can't ask you anything. Come on, Chiko."
----------The unresponsive Happa anticipated the shift and started slithering past Professor Elm. In the span of its eventual progress, the man pleaded further:
----------"B-but it is the next route that is of challenge—!"
----------"I'm not going to a route. I'm gonna stay the night."
----------"No you will not, there is no place of staying!"
----------Tohru's hardened tone devolved into mumbling. "What are you talking about…"
----------"No motel and the Center is so small! No houses allowing, please be trusting of that! Intern of mine? Grumpy man! Not allowing staying, only visiting! Likely. But likely much!"
----------"I— So I have to move on? There's no—?"
----------"Yeees, move on! With me! 'Cherry Walk'?"
----------"Oh— fuck." She hissed the final word, the 'better alternative,' though not to the Professor; he cringed. She couldn't face Elm, but fought to readjust the pack on her shoulders, the same she'd let swallow her 'Dex. Tenaciously, mulishly, Tohru fussed with the clumsy ties on her boots as Elm looked on, breath bated and expectant, while she picked at the loops, expectant, and Chiko hovered off somewhere, unresponsive, maybe breathing or something.
----------The Trainer mumbled, "I mean, you could've told me before I got here that there wasn't anywhere…"
----------Pleaded the Professor, "There is within it something for you, you know."
----------Initially, Tohru didn't understand, and looked up to see something of a warped, perforated stone resting in Professor's Elm outstretched palm.
----------"Everstone; as also known, Unchanging Stone. Wandering name, yes? Telling of wonder! From the grab of Graveler harvested! Beautiful nature in its work!"
----------A literal pebble, Tohru assumed, for her trouble. Albeit it was the excuse she needed, one plucked instantaneously from the Professor's pocket, paired with the raw charisma of a straining, sallow, solicitous salesman.
----------She said, "Well, I'm leaving. Either come with or… whatever."
----------So progress was made with Professor Elm hastening after Chiko and her in his perpetual balancing act. Papers fell, Chiko rounded back to assist, green slime, rinse and repeat. Tohru trekked onward.
----------Gravel crunched under her heavy steps. The path, unpaved, stretched on unbroken towards the horizon on the flat plane of Silent Hills. Elm's awe sounded behind her: "Ahh, a gorgeous sighting. Far move worth all." She could make nothing of it. The sky was empty of color. The fog returned.
----------With each pace Tohru sunk deeper into the improbable expanse of cloud, to the extent she feared looking down at the true Silent Hills from her perch upon the heavens. She could only move forward, through visible density, through tangible weightlessness: the fog that stood against the wind.
----------The girl felt a pit in her chest at the proliferation of her party's silence and, consequently, her solitude. She turned back for Elm but discerned a torch in the distance first. A glow, and then she might have blinked, and it was gone. The only indication of a home — anything — gone. A light was never put out; it never was. Tohru slowed.
----------Silence, in the consequence of footsteps, then ahead of her a crunch. Suddenly, in her peripheral, there was movement. A dark shadow in the fog, a solid shape, a man with murky features, approaching. Tohru froze.
----------To her right, but headed forward, her direction, staggered movement. Slouched in head, neck, and shoulders, the man clutched his bicep in agony. One step, two step, trudging, crunching. With resolve, with delirium, clutching, slouching. Not slowly, but eventually, the man who failed to face her slunk forward, hurting, moaning.
----------Elm was right beside her. "Keep walking."
----------Chiko, unresponsive, had already passed the man. It stalled in his stead, waiting for them at the farthest edge of town, beside an indicative sign: "29". The Happa's yellow eyes lingered on the limping form of their acquaintance. When Tohru arrived trembling with the Professor, she called Chiko's name to follow again, but it remained unresponsive and staring.
----------Tohru Anayo, bemused if it were as high as she were, gazed back against the Professor's protests. And the man staggered on. If he ever collapsed — if anyone in the silent Silent Hills cared to help him — she had Training to do; she wouldn't be present to see it.

> loc: SLNT_HLLS
> party_add: #BET_HAPPA
> obt{Dex.kitm
> mission_accept{escort_Elm
> party_add: #P_ELM

​

Post 1: The Foggy Village

Post 2: I can't socialize to save my life...

Sound carries at night.

Alton had gone up to see the windmills, of course. All of them featured beautiful murals around their bases, about as high as an average person could reach without a ladder- he?d spent a few hours trekking between them, discovering the telltale signs of an artist progressing with practise and time, covering their oldest works with new and improved versions. Had a fleeting notion that it might be neat to sleep inside one, since there was no lodging to be found in Silent Hills, but realized very quickly how awful an idea that would be. Windmills are not nearly as graceful and silent as they appear from afar, no- they rattle, squeal, thump, shake; their old, rickety bones protest every strained movement. He?d stared at them in mild horror for a moment, before taking a few notes and turning heel back to the village, eventually settling up camp behind the tiny Pok?mon Center. Alton fell asleep easily, used to camping after a few weeks travelling on foot.

But sound carries at night.

Four in the morning was as good a time as any to start a day, Alton supposed, neatly tucking away the last of his gear and setting off. Muffled cursing reached his ears before the source came into view- a woman in casual dress, crouched on the dewy grass and scrubbing furiously at the sign outside the Pok?mon Center. While hearing swears in that particular cadence was shocking and unfamiliar, the angry woman in front of him was unmistakably Nurse Joy.

?Good morning??

?Nothing?s going to be good when the day starts like this,? Joy spat, scrubbing harder. The sign was still mostly covered in paint that certainly hadn?t been there the night before. Not just the splotchy tags associated with traditional graffiti, either- the whole sign had been converted into a beautiful explosion of color featuring what seemed to be hot-air balloons scattered across a blazing sky. ?Every week, I swear- don?t know what this town is coming to- ugh!?

She threw the rag into her bucket, splashing Alton?s shoes as she turned to glare up at him. ?Did you see who did this??

?No, ma?am.?

?It?s probably the same punk who?s been doing up the windmills. No respect! When I finally find out who it is--?

Alton considered the town?s size and the potential difficulty of finding someone who had artistic skill such as he?d seen demonstrated. It couldn?t really be so hard, could it? If they hadn?t been found so far, perhaps nobody had even really tried. Alton opened his mouth, but Joy wrung out her rag in an illustrative manner and he quickly bit back his intended words. A rather regrettable sentence took their place.

?I?m sure I could track them down for you.?

Joy laughed, a bit harshly. ?That?s a sweet sentiment, but I doubt you?ll have any luck.?

?No- I?ll find them.? And, before he could catch himself, ?I want to give them a job.?

?You what?!? Joy rocked back on her heels, near overbalancing, and glared at him once again. ?You think a vandal like this deserves that?!?

?I--?

?No. Whatever. I don?t care.? Joy whipped the rag back up to the sign, splashing herself with more vigorous scrubbing. ?Get them out of here and do what you want. At least I won?t have to do this shit again.?

The cursing resumed as Alton backed away slowly, then turned tail and fled toward the outskirts of the village. It stood to reason that someone going up to the mills with buckets of paint would hardly go unnoticed for so long unless said someone lived rather close to them in the first place. There was one house in particular he?d noticed the night before- a haphazard construction, patched and repaired so many times that the original structure was long gone. His knock echoed into the room beyond, as did the crash of the door separating itself from its frame. Sharp cracks indicated shattering glass and wild thumps told of possessions scattering under the onslaught. Ever traditionally, the last of the cacophony to pass was the sound of a plate rolling out of the chaos and shaking itself down flat.

Meekly, Alton knocked on the doorframe.

?What. Did you do. To my house.?

Alton Marie Mocinno IV

is currently in

Silent Hills

with

Tua

attempting to

offer a job to
a very artistic
small-time vandal.

Ella talks easily- about life, the universe, and everything. Her Sentret sits upon her shoulders like a scarf, hiding half her face but not a bit of her attitude. She?s bright and quick and laughs at herself. She teases Alton like she?s known him for years rather than mere hours. He appreciates all of that- he?s never been the best at holding conversation, but Ella?s content to manage it for the both of them.

?I mean, why would I stay in Silent Hills? You can walk around the whole place in like, ten minutes. There?s nothing. No people, no jobs, no Pok?mon, no door-? Alton choked on a sip of water as she- and Tua, in his arms- laughed at him. He?s never going to live that down, apparently. ?It?s a stagnant piece of shit. I would have left years ago if I could?ve.?

?Why didn?t you??

?Well, Grandma wasn?t dead yet, so I had to take care of her. And I didn?t really know where to go. I can?t even get to Cherrygrove on my own. How was I supposed to leave? I mean, I?ve been trying. Training Terracotta when I can. But there?s only so strong she can get without me putting her in danger and I really? don?t want anything to happen to her. She?s kind of my only friend besides Viv.?

?Who is-?

?Oh did I not-- hah, I didn?t even tell you her name! Okay so Vivienne is my friend that lives in Cherrygrove. Her mom?s a captain and she does deliveries from Goldenrod so I?m going to hitch a ride with them to- what was it? Mocinno Industries? Yeah. God, why haven?t I done this sooner? It?s so easy.?

As if to remind her that no, it?s not that easy, Terracotta began to growl.

?Shit.?

A Paras rustled its way out of the grass to their right. Alton quickened his pace. Another orange claw poked at their feet as they hurried through, more and more appearing along the narrow path too few feet had worn down over past years. Too many to fight. They?d have to run and by the time Alton thought it Ella was already doing so, Terracotta clinging tight to her shoulders. He hefted Tua up and sprinted as best he could, her extra weight disadvantageous but preferable to being defenseless. Swirls of yellow and purple swirled around their legs, swiftly creeping past knee height. Alton knew they must be nearly out of this forest, nearly to Cherrygrove- he scanned the path ahead desperately for a break in the trees, some semblance of hope.

?There!? Ella yelled, voice muffled by Terracotta?s fur but hand flung out toward an obvious clearing. Alton winced as he felt a stab to the back, to the shin- kept running, as fast as he possibly could. Barricades came into view, crossbuck fences and guard towers- they were so close-

He yelped as he went down, rolling to protect Tua even as he inhaled the fine spores blanketing the forest floor. Alton forced himself up to a knee suddenly assaulted by stabbing pain. Tua tumbled from his grasp as he fell again, struggling to even crawl as Ella faded from his vision? as everything faded.

Alton Marie Mocinno IV

is currently in

Cherry Forest

with

Tua
Ella
and
Terracotta

attempting to

escort Ella to
Cherrygrove Pier.

Alton woke to a cacophony.

In the distance, hostile screeches gave away the presence of a horde of ferals. Closer, frantic commands of garrison guards shoring up defenses. In the same room, two people arguing. Over him? Opening his eyes made the room spin. His head throbbed.

"Look, he's awake. Now stop pestering me!"

"Alton!" Ella's springy hair and relieved expression appeared in his limited field of vision. "You're pretty messed up, not gonna lie."

"Wh-" he croaked. Ella helped him sit up. Terracotta handed him some water. "Where's Tua?"

"In her Pokéball. She's okay! The guards said she did a great job protecting you from most of the attacks. 'Cause she can't be affected by the powders, or something? You inhaled a lot of that crap, though. This guy says you're gonna be hackin' up sludge for a good while."

A disgruntled man sat at a desk in the corner, grinding something into a fine powder. At Ella's address he looked up and gave a curt nod. Alton gave a weak wave in acknowledgement.

"He won't give you any more medicine," Ella huffed. "Apparently it's too expensive."

"I've explained this several times." The man growled. "You get as little as possible. Just enough to make your body able to take it from there. We do not have the resources to do more than that. I have other people to think about."

"But what if he's rich!"

"Don't care unless he can pay for double what he uses. Up front, of course."

"Alton-"

"No, it's fine." Ella opened her mouth to protest, but he cut her off. "This is how people live around here. I have to… I have to experience it to know it, I think."

The man raised an eyebrow. Ella rolled her eyes. Alton made a mental note to pay for a shipment of medical supplies. A shriek pierced the air.

"What's happening out there?"

"Guards are fightin'. It hasn't been that long since we got in."

Alton rose shakily and dragged himself to the small window, picking up Tua's ball on the way. Flames scorched the clearing, Growlithe spitting and biting at swarms of Paras scuttling from the underbrush. Guards stood side by side with their Pokémon, electrified truncheons sending bugs flying. Burnt grass betrayed the tide of battle; the guards had been closer to the forest at one point, but now were backing ever closer to the city gates. They were tiring, and the forest had a limitless supply of combatants.

"I'm sorry. We led them here…"

The man in the corner scoffed. "Idiot."

"Excuse-"

"No. Shut up. Guess you wouldn't know, being a sheltered prick or what have you, but this is what we live in. And if everybody went around blaming themselves for this shit, nobody'd get anything done. So knock it off and deal with it."

"I-"

"Shut up." The man turned back to his work. Ella shrugged. He's right, she implied, followed by Should leave him alone.

The battle raged as they wandered through the guard tower, eventually finding an entrance to the village. The fight sounded further away, as if the guards were forcing the invaders back once more. Alton hoped they were.

"Look," Ella said, after too much silence, "we made it. We're safe- even though you got beat up- and the guards are doing what they do every other day. It's their job and it's how life goes. Just 'cause we were part of it this time doesn't make it any different."

"I didn't think I'd…" he trailed off, struggling to find the right words.

"You'd what? Get attacked? Cause some trouble? Alton, that's dumb. You're dumb. You're in trouble as soon as you step outside town borders. You've been lucky so far I guess, but that's not usual. You're doing some dangerous crap. There's a reason I never left Silent Hills. Terracotta's close to evolving, did you know that? She's way more powerful than anything around here. But power means nothing when it's one against hundreds."

Ella huffed, swiping aggressively at the hair falling in her eyes. "You gotta train Tua. You gotta get some more Pokémon. You gotta find a group to go with. You gotta be safe, Alton. Too many people die."

"...Sorry."

"Just. Don't be dumb. I'll help you train until I have to go. You don't leave Cherrygrove until I do."

Alton Marie Mocinno IV

is currently in

Cherrygrove Village

with

Tua
Ella
and
Terracotta

attempting to

train in the art of
Not Dying.

Post 6: Rattled