Chapter Text
A dark, cloudy evening tinged with fog blanketed Malie as the sun began to set. A mizzle fell upon the city and its residents walking or driving home from work, adding to its calming gloom.
Brooke was preparing to leave for her boyfriend's house, which was a few blocks down. After having applied a streak of appealing black liner and matching mascara to her lids and lashes, along with a padding of pink-tinted blush to her cheeks, she held a portion of her hair over one palm and ran a brush over it through her long, straight black hair, undoing its last few kinks before leaving the restroom.
Her skin was gently tanned; she had light freckling on her cheeks. She also had a couple of shimmery piercings, one on her nostril and another on her belly button.
Her name was her father's idea, who had gathered inspiration from the Accord that he once respected highly after having worked in Unova on business many years before the war. She'd have a native one otherwise, although the locals referred to her as Paloke sometimes, which was its Alolan variant.
She walked to her dresser and put on a white parka and jeans over her lean figure, popped a tiny pill in her mouth after shaking it into her palm from a bottle, and washed it down with a half-full water cup on her dresser, then went downstairs and put on sneakers before heading out the door under the gentle rain.
"Ugh." She glanced up while taking a few steps across the pavement from her parents' modest home. She could barely, if at all, feel the rain, but she knew it was there. It lightly, lightly fell onto her hair, dotting her strands in mini droplets and not daring to penetrate and drench them. It fell onto her parka with soundless subtleness, wary not to be a nuisance, but that it was to Brooke.
The scent of wet asphalt rose from the walkways and sat fresh in the air. The fog's thin layer permeated the city's air without reducing one's visibility.
Malie City, where Brooke resided, was a quaint, coastal area within Alola. Despite being a city by name, it resembled a village. Its dark green residential structures and shops were built closely with puffy green trees filling the spaces between. Steep grassy mountains and greenery encompassed the city's outskirts, matching the verdant color of the structures they defended.
She strolled its damp stone walkways lit by lined streetlights under a slightly muggy, tepid mountainside climate and stuffed her hands into her parka's pockets. She passed locals, some of whom chatted by storefronts, and glanced up at the ambiant cries of trumbeak and the clacking beaks of toucannon perched atop lampposts and the edges of roofs while passing breezes moved and played with her hair, all of which formed a tranquil atmosphere.
She jaywalked a street over after a couple of old cars passed.
Managers and employees cleaned and closed shop in what would become a chain reaction as the night got later.
A gengar swept the floor of a mart, pushing dirt into corners that they gathered from outside.
A golduck spat water at windows and wiped them with a cloth afterward, peering at a dry spot they couldn't scrub clean.
A machoke wearing a thick hoodie helped a woman pull a store's front gate down to conceal the inside. She patted their shoulder afterward, and they walked away together.
Store and restaurant workers served last-minute customers and diners, with some subtly rushing them out.
Buses weren't a thing in Malie, and ride pokémon culture had faded out over a decade ago across the region, but several vehicles with a large white or black spotted sticker plastered across the side parked at curbsides or drove around. In front of the spots was 'Spot!' in bold print. They were this city's taxis. Anyone in Malie could work for the company and use their own vehicle if they were officially registered.
Brooke had moved from Akala Island to Ula'ula with her parents three years ago. She was now nineteen. They'd relocated to a calmer place to retire, but she had despised the move at first, especially since it had ripped her from her school and friends and had detached her from civilization.
Malie was a world of its own, which she'd learned to appreciate, and it was where she had met her boyfriend two years ago. Life was slow due to the city not having much to it and having an older population for the most part, but she somewhat had one.
The dress style was also more or less outdated, at least when compared to Akala and Melemele, both of which had partially left traditional Alolan wear in the dust for years now.
Traditional wear was more laid-back, from tees with colorful floral and beach patterns and sundresses to loose linen pants, knee-length shorts, and polo shirts.
The lifestyle and culture were vastly different in Ula'ula; Brooke had learned a lot living here, such as the fact that most migrants residing illegally in Alola stayed mainly in Poni and Ula'ula, as the chance of authorities catching and deporting them was greatly reduced.
Many sought refuge from living conditions in their regions. While Hau'oli and Heahea City were preferred due to more and better opportunities, they were a risk, so small cities like Malie were their best option. Some migrants came with enough money to rent homes, but others came with nothing to their names. However, the community cared for them, often hiring and paying under the table, which only some businesses did in Hau'oli.
One thing in particular she simultaneously liked and disliked about this city was its serenity, which really just depended on her mood. She felt safer here, the people were sociable, and the population was in the high thousands compared to twice that or more in any major city—oh, and the air was fresher.
People also rarely drove unless they lived at Malie's outskirts, roughly five minutes out by car. Most walked and some biked or used motorbikes. They used to ride pokémon and use Pokégear decades ago, but they'd left those in the past after the era in which older towns and cities truly caught up.
Back to Brooke—it didn't take long for her to reach her boyfriend's residence. She'd waved to neighbors in yards or stores and greeted a few acquaintances along the way.
She stood at his door and knocked, waiting several minutes and adding a few more knocks before he answered. Her lover looked half asleep in a wrinkled tee and shorts. She sucked her teeth. "Ayh, Parker, you fell asleep?" She spoke in a soft Alolan accent, which had slightly faltered over time due to her chasing and befriending foreigners mainly from the Accord.
She rolled her eyes and watched him fix his short hair.
"Uh… yeah, sorry, hun. I had to work later than usual last night. Guess I dozed off. Come in, though." He grinned, eyeing her face down to the small piercing on her nose.
His accent was about non-existent, as he was from Sinnoh but had moved to Alola with his parents years ago.
He moved aside and let Brooke enter. His height lingered slightly over her.
"It's fine. Hair was getting wet, though." She went to sit on the couch.
This was her first established relationship, which had gone well so far; she and Parker were the same age.
"Drink or water?" he asked.
"Water." Brooke had first started drinking before she moved to Malie with her old group of friends and ex-'boyfriend' in her mid-teens and had narrowly missed drowning in an alcoholic pit because of it.
She had since toned it down but still enjoyed the hit, so she'd been stoked to find out that Parker responsibly drank shortly after meeting him. She discovered this after the first time he had invited her over by going through his kitchen cabinets.
After Parker went to the nearby kitchen, two pokémon enter: his torracat, whom she knew, but one walked in behind him that she had never once laid eyes on.
She studied its body and stance as it stood with a slight hunch. Its head was lowered; its knuckles neared the floor. She eyed its fur, where fluffy off-white met sleek cheri red in a seamless blend, and scanned its overall rough demeanor. "...I didn't know you had a lycan." Brooke took the cup Parker handed her while keeping her eyes on the midnight lycanroc. She again scanned the bright red layering its white fur, razor-sharp claws, its sleek, slim form, and gleaming red eyes. The fluffiness around its back, face, and that hung over its head asked to be touched. Everything else? A deterrent.
"His name's Vix. Felt fitting. I've had him for several days, but I've kept him inside his great ball most of the time since he's stupid stubborn. Seeing how he acts while roaming today. We're still training, but he's rough." Parker stood next to her. "Catching a midnight is a gamble. Some of my friends have... slightly calmer ones."
"He looks like he'll rip your throat out if you irritate him." She giggled, her lips curling into a nervous smile, but she pinned her words onto herself and faltered both. That pokémon creeped her out.
Brooke sipped her water.
She'd never seen one up close, but it unsettled her about as much as she would have assumed. She couldn't imagine waking up in the middle of the night to Vix standing in her vicinity with those piercing eyes. It would be a horror movie.
"Gotta find out how to get to him," Parker said. "But the challenge is nice, I guess." Parker stared at the noncompliant pokémon standing dominantly on its hind legs, staring back up at his owner as if challenging him.
Brooke had planned to spend the night at Parker's house but wasn't expecting him to fall asleep beside her within the same hour, although he did tell her he'd had a long day.
She stood from the couch and turned off the TV before them on a glass table, then went and set her empty cup on the kitchen counter. Under the curtained window over the sink were a few potted plants angled to receive sunlight during the day. "Might as well leave. Let him sleep," she mumbled.
However, she flinched upon turning to exit the dark kitchen at Vix, standing at its entrance with sagged shoulders. His eyes glowed a bright red in dim lighting. "Oh… ahm, Vix."
Brooke looked down at him from where she stood at a distance. While tense before his radiating presence, she again had a slight urge to touch him, as if a form of morbid curiosity. He was a captured pokémon, meaning he wouldn't use those sharp teeth or claws on her and hadn't on Parker, but still. That thing could probably sense fear.
Oddly enough, he was staring at her, but it was just slightly gentler compared to Parker earlier. Brooke cocked her head, kept in place by Vix's commanding stature. Although his stance, along with his eyes, appeared softer, he wore a menacing smirk contesting both.
Eventually, after Vix let up and left the kitchen, she left Parker's house.
Fortunately, it had stopped raining, but a subtle chill lingered along with a moist and faintly sweet, earthy scent. She was a couple of blocks away from home while looking up at a dark sky dotted with stars.
Around her were dead stores and people hanging out in their front yards. Malie shut down early besides a couple of chain restaurants and markets, which Brooke had the hardest time dealing with when she first moved here. Couldn't even order a late-night pizza—there wasn't a Wikiblux either, so her membership points had long expired, but it was whatever now.
She spotted a few people walking and singled out a few women in skimpy clothing. Sex work was how a number of women got by in Alola, and an alarming number were trapped in the field. It was the region's dirty secret that was less frequent of an issue in both tourist-heavy islands due to more accountability and a stricter sense of law. Brooke had never seen it so openly in Akala.
Back to Vix, maybe she'd ask that lycanroc what his problem was, even though it would likely end in him staring at her without respect. She didn't know how to force compliance in pokémon, but perhaps she could stir something in him and help Parker.
"Hey. Ho, Paloke!"
"Ayh." She turned around and looked back at a small market with puffed cheeks and an eye roll. An old couple owned it, and since it was close to her residence, her parents sent her there frequently, meaning they'd seen Brooke on her worst hair days.
She dragged back to an old man standing by the door. "Howzit, Niko?" He wore a floral shirt and washed-out pants.
"Sorry to be a bother. Glad I caught you walking by. What're you doing out so late?" He smiled. His accent was heavy.
"I was at my boyfriend's. I'm going home now." Brooke cared not about handing over personal info here. It was impossible to conceal personal business in a small town, meaning she had to care twice more about her actions since it'd come full circle nine times out of ten.
"Ah, Pakeli was helping me stock just the other day. Great guy." He coughed. "But I was gon' ask if you could lend me a hand here. Keanu's away, so I've been having a hard time gating up. I don't want to throw out my back again."
"'Ae (yes), sure thing." Brooke went to one side and held the rope leading the gate while Niko held the other, pulling the creaky metal wall down over the glass door and watching him lock it.
"Much appreciated. I got to head home and eat supper before it gets cold, or the wife gets upset."
"Anytime. Tell her I said hi." She continued her walk home.
Brooke looked up at a group of toucannon fly past followed by trumbeak. They landed on the edge of roofs, lit lamp posts, bamboo trees planted before shops and restaurants, or powerlines lining the sidewalk while crying or clacking their beaks.
A couple of cutiefly landed on planted flowers sprouting from bushes along the pavement or in patches in people's yards to pollinate. The flowers mainly belonged to seniors who found it to be a decent hobby. Some even had feeders hanging on their porches filled with sweet nectar for them to sip.
She reached her home in minutes and got the door open, greeting her mother and father on the living room couch before heading upstairs. She made a quick stop at the restroom in the hall to wash off and brush her teeth before closing herself in her room.
It was a small one with a pile of clothing in one of the corners as she tended to toss her clothes after a long day's work.
She had a large dreamcatcher hanging from the ceiling over her bed with stringed feathers draped down from it. She also had a small treadmill and other light workout equipment in another corner to stay in shape.
She turned the dial on the portable heater plugged in on her floor that functioned as a fan too, which Brooke had to buy since the homes in Malie didn't have central air.
She took off her parka and pants and haphazardly tossed them atop the pile, then sat on her bed in a tee and pajama shorts she changed into. Her small purse hung on the post attached to the headboard, holding scattered miscellaneous items and slots for the few credit cards she carried.
Brooke reached down by the side of the bed and pulled an attached snack drawer out, grabbing a bag of baked salty chips and a water bottle. She lay on her side and got comfy, switching on the TV atop her dresser and putting on a channel that ran decent movies.
She yawned while opening the crinkly bag. The channel currently played an action film halfway through its runtime titled: 'Runaway Raikou', displaying a typical hand-to-hand combat scene in dim lighting between two men on top of a building under heavy rain. Lightning made from bad CGI lit the scene whenever it struck around them.
She lay back and thought about Vix again, popping a chip in her mouth. She wasn't sure whether she'd tell Parker about what happened tomorrow. It wasn't that serious, just strange.
