Chapter 1: Like The Good Ol' Times
Summary:
Ruby Nishikawa, has been asked to meet up with his buddy, Oscar Sumiyoshi, who is now one of the Professor's working at Professor Birch's lab in Littleroot Town. The following discussion that takes place in the lab sets them down a path that will potentially be the answer to preventing a pending disaster.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Always the bridesmaid, never the bride.
That's the situation I find myself in at this moment of my life.
It bothers me. I always wanted to win tournaments. I really do, but every time I reach closer and closer towards the final hurdle, I trip and fall flat for the world to see.
It's gotten to the point where I even ask myself...
Why?
Why do I participate in Pokemon tournaments?
It’s a question that bothers me when no one's around. They say males tend to be shocked by a Pikachu rather than be left alone with their thoughts, and I could see why that’d be the case.
Do I participate because I feel like I belong in the Pokemon battle scene?
Is it because that’s when I can sink out all the noise in my head?
Is it a matter of self-pride? Is it a way of proving myself?
“Lucaaa…” Rey snaps me out of the trance of thought I was in. Her eyes zoning out into the distance via the window, and her head on the palm of her hand, presumably due to boredom.
“I know Rey. He’s late.” I sigh as I feed my Lucario a blue Kelpsy Berry, imported from the Paldea region.
To say Oscar Sumiyoshi is a punctual person would qualify you for the ‘Liar of the Century Championship’. That man has been late to everything since the day he was born, and the irony is that Oscar is actually born a few days earlier than he should be. Turns out that is the last he would ever be early at something.
“Ruby?” I hear a familiar voice call my name.
I turn away from the table and standing upon me was a guy my age, with beige coloured skin and black hair, with a pair of green eyes to go with it. To say that I am used to this sight would be, well, an understatement. I’ve only known him since we met at Rustboro High more or less a decade ago, but it feels like everyday for the past 5 years of my life has him involved in some sort of way.
“Took you long enough.”
“A flock of Tailow’s decided it was a good time to have a picnic in front of my lawn this morning and leave all their shit with it just as I was about to leave.” Oscar sighs. “Then I got my clothing all wet trying to clean it and now I have to wear my Tuesday lab coat on a Monday.”
Damn, those Tailow’s were on a mission.
“Alright, bird business aside…” I try to lead Oscar to get to the main point of this meet up. “You wanna tell me what’s been bothering you lately-”
Before I could finish my sentence, a pile of papers containing vector graphs, charts, and pictures were presented to me on the table for viewing. Its thickness is comparable to those encyclopedias I used to read about Pokemon battling, or those books that your dad uses to swat a pesky mosquito that won’t leave you alone at night on a camping trip.
What I’m tryna say is…
“That’s thick. What are all these about then?”
“One of my observation decks off the shore of the mainland has been picking up some strange sound waves recently, its been going on for a whole week." Oscar answers as he walks around the room. "It's most likely coming from the archipelago just further north of Hoenn, which is off limits for normal people like you and I.” Oscar explained as I look through the vector graphs he was referring to. “Normally I would chalk this off as a freak one-off accident, if it not were the fact that-”
“The patterns are repeating.” I utter as I take a closer look at the graphs. “At a high pitch too.”
“I see that you're sharp as always.” Oscar responds with a nod. “I’ve tried comparing the graph with other known species of Pokemon that possibly inhabit the island, but none of them match. Hell, almost none of them are able to match the amplitude of the graph either.”
“Have you tried comparing it with the roars of the Weather Trio?” I ask further.
Oscar shakes his head. “None of them fit the match. Besides, why would the three of those Pokemon be outside of their usual habitat?”
"Fair point..."
“I don't want to sound like some paranoid conspiracy theorist, but I think there's something going on in the north.” He continues with a shift in his tone, slightly pressing on the seriousness of the situation.
"Alright..." I reply with a bit of confusion. Sure, this is all very concerning stuff, but... "Why, exactly, are you sharing all this to me?"
Oscar looks at me with amusement. "Is it wrong for me to share my findings with my friend of 5 years whom I trust?"
His reply just made me more suspicious, I can't lie.
"Okay, let me rephrase my question earlier." I try again. "Why are you sharing this information with someone you trust, and why is it me to be specific?"
"I mean, why not you?"
"Mate, we haven't talked for a few months now. Ever since I relinquished my role as your lab assistant, we don't even text each other, let alone hangout.
Now imagine my surprise getting a text message from you, saying we should meet up at your office as soon as possible, doesn't that seem a tad bit suspicious? Like there's a motive behind this meeting?"
Oscar can't help himself from laughing, I guess that what I said was true?
"You really haven't changed a single bit." Oscar finally stops his laughing to continue the conversation.
"C'mon mate, just because we haven't met up for a few months doesn't mean our 5 year friendship hasn't taught me anything."
"Right, right..." Oscar nods as he ponders out the window.
"Would you mind going out with me to the north to investigate what's going on?" Oscar finally gets to the point of this whole meeting.
Immediately I could feel the tension in the room rise the moment that question was raised. Oscar looks at me with hope that I will accept his proposal, whilst I myself try to keep my composure and maintain eye contact with him.
What else can I do when I am presented with that sort of question? I want to go with him, but I'm not free this entire week. Not to mention...
"You know I'm not your lab assistant anymore right?"
"I know."
Then that should make my answer very clear, shouldn't it, Oscar?
...
“Lucaa!” Rey breaks the tension that is filling the room as she takes a final bite of the berry I gave her, like, 2 minutes ago.
“She hasn’t changed one bit since I first met you.” Oscar giggles, referring to Rey’s habit of finishing every single food given to her in a flash.
“Well, a good warrior is a well fed warrior.” I reply as I Rey’s ears. “Mate, as much as I want to help you, I have training sessions organized for the upcoming Hoenn Championships until the next week or so. I can’t go to those islands and investigate even if I want to.”
"Really? Not even for old times sake?" Oscar asks again.
"I would, but maybe not when I have a tournament coming up in two weeks time." I stand firm on my decision.
Oscar stops moving back and forth around his table, places his arms on his hips with his head looking at the ceiling.
"I don't want to alarm you any much then I already have, but, whatever that's on one of those islands might just kill all of us." Oscar drops a bombshell of an info.
Alright, now he's got my attention.
"Why do you say so?" I enquire further.
"I mean, just looking by the facts we have now. Loud roars from an unknown creature, presumably larger than the Weather Trio, coming from an unexplored area of the Hoenn region, where we have no past nor present information about.
Don't you think that's a little bit suspicious? It's like the North of Hoenn is a black hole of some sorts. Nothing from there is getting in nor out."
"Or maybe there's something that the people from the past doesn't want us to discover, and the people of the present are trying to hide from the records." I add a bit more speculation to Oscar's prior statement.
"So you agree that its something worth to be investigated?"
As much as I want to debate with Oscar regarding my priorities, he is right. It might be fully fueled with paranoia, but maybe my obsession with training for the upcoming tournament is blinding my judgement. I know that this matter is worth investigating. I, like Oscar, am also curious as to finding out what's going on. But I just couldn't bring myself to sacrifice my time for this.
"We also haven't talked about the mysterious Pokemon much." Oscar snaps me out of my thoughts. "Isn't it concerning that not only that we don't have any official records that match this Pokemon's roar, but also the fact that the pattern of its roar is repeating? As if its calling for something?"
...
"You really are trying to sell me to go on this investigation with you, mate."
"Is it working?" Oscar asks as he lets out a guilty smile. I mean, it was quite obvious that he's trying to get me to change my decision.
"Depends on your answer to this question.
Do you actually think whatever on this island is going to kill the people of Hoenn?"
Oscar looks at me as his bright smile shrinks in size. He's still smiling, but its more of a smile where you accept your fate followed by the sentence 'it is what it is'.
"Not only kill, it will annihilate Hoenn as a whole." He uttered.
The last time Oscar said that, it was the night where his one of observation decks picked up strange shaking from the shores of Mossdeep Gym.
The next day? Kyogre and Groudon emerged from the seas.
I remember that day pretty well, considering it was 2 years ago, and that I was involved with fighting the dingus' that had awoken those two Pokemon in the first place. Luckily, those dingus' are no more, and the Draconid people took care with returning Groudon and Kyogre back to where they belong before anything escalated. Crisis averted.
That event was all I needed to not doubt Oscar's instincts.
“When do we move?” I ask.
“Is 15 minutes cool? Gives us time to pack the stuff we need and for me to change clothes.”
"Speak for yourself, I'm all prepped up." I reply as I get off the chair to leave the room, with Rey following next to me. “You owe me a lifetime supply of Castellia Cones after all this!” I slip in the charge of service before running off, not before hearing some muffled shouting though.
Must’ve been the wind.
I exit the lab and the warm summer sun greets me gently. The best part of Hoenn is how it is not too hot and not too cold either, just the perfect weather for me to able to wear my orange hoodie and black tracksuit without sweating nor shivering my legs to death.
But like Oscar said back in the lab, whatever that is in the north might have the capacity to bring Hoenn to its knees, and I won’t be able to enjoy this weather no more.
Not to mention the lives lost, destroyed homes, hell, Hoenn might not even exist anymore.
And if Hoenn doesn’t exist, so too would be the case for the Hoenn Championships.
"Looks like we got our work cut out for us." I sigh as I look at Rey, who looks unbothered by the chatter both me and Oscar had in the room just now.
Rey definitely understands everything we were saying just now, its just that, as much as Rey loves going on adventures during my days as a lab assistant, she definitely enjoys battling more than anything. Something about honing her skills and attacks whilst feeling the thrill and adrenaline of a Pokemon battle satisfies the self-esteem phase of Maslow's pyramid for her.
I guess this unplanned trip is probably a let down for her.
"It's okay Rey, we will make sure it won't take long." I try to persuade Rey. "Then we can go back to training for the tourney."
"Luca." Rey replies, rather shortly than normal. Probably satisfied by my promise, but is still disappointed, which, is understandable.
What awaits us at the archipelago, I wonder? Only time would tell.
Notes:
next chapter eta: end of august - early september
Chapter 2: Murky Leads
Summary:
Ruby and Oscar lands on one of the islands in the archipelago and were met with an unexpected welcome, but not from its people. With the lack of leads and opposition arising, it was evident that this expedition isn't going to be smooth sailing as they were hoping. But, maybe one person can change that...
Notes:
Sorry for the delay, but here's Chapter 2, now in all its glory! Thank you for your patience ^^
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Is there more to the ocean than what meets the eye?
I’m not just talking about the waters that surround Hoenn, but rather, the world in general. Places such as Seafloor Cavern in Hoenn and Unova’s Abyssal Ruins proved to us that underwater structures exist. It's just a matter of how far we are willing to be curious about what lies on the seafloor. Maybe some new Pokemon species? Who knows.
It’s truly a wonder with how far technology has come where automation has slowly but surely replaced real jobs, yet the same automation fails to fully uncover the secrets of our waters. Maybe if humans weren’t so distracted with destroying each other and everything around them, we could.
“Look, over there.” Oscar taps my shoulder whilst pointing to my 3 o’clock.
I look to where he is pointing and see that beyond the vast ocean we’ve been flying on for what felt like an hour, were a group of islands, separated by a few meters from each other. Hell, the only reason they look like islands is probably because its currently a high tide. If it’s a low tide then a land bridge would most likely form, connecting the islands together.
“Is that our destination?” I ask as I look on the physical map of Hoenn we brought along with us. As for some reason, these islands at north of Hoenn are off limits, they won’t appear on regular digital maps installed on our Xtransceivers. The only way to know its existence is via reading a bunch of history books off the Hoenn region, or own an old map like we do.
And by we, I mean Oscar. If it was me, I would’ve thrown it away to free up space in my apartment.
“Seems like it.” Oscar gives confirmation as he folds the map back into his backpack.
“Alright Ari, take us there.” I pat the side of Braviary’s head, near they eye, and point to where we are heading to.
“Ari!” Ari lets out a short cry before embarking on a flight path towards the islands.
Honestly, I might be tired, and so is Oscar. But, both of us can’t complain when Ari has been carrying us for the majority of this flight without breaking a single sweat. True, an average Braviary is able to carry a car whilst flying, indicating its pure strength, but that is a whole different school of Wishiwashi when compared to flying for an hour whilst carrying two trainers who weigh an average 55kg each.
“Beginning our descent.” I warn Oscar as we begin to get closer and closer to the sea as we begin our approach towards the shoreline. “Be on the lookout for anything suspicious.”
In all my 19 years of living, this is the first time I’m entering, quite literally, uncharted territory. Breaking the law no less, set by the government of Hoenn itself. Nobody should be here, yet here we are.
All because of some damn vector graphs and intuition.
“What are the odds that as soon as I jump off Ari that this sand is going to swallow me alive?” I ask Oscar as we are about to hop off Ari who’s hovering above the sand of the shoreline.
Oscar gives my question a few seconds of thought before reaching out his arm for me to grab. “Hold on to it, I’ll pull you out.”
“Mate…” I sigh with a smile, as I grab hold of his arm with the palm of my right hand. “I was just joking.”
Well, you can never be too safe I suppose.
With a deep breath, I get off Ari, one leg at a time. The moment my right leg makes contact with the sand, lo and behold…
“It’s safe.” A sigh of relief escapes me as I fully get off Ari.
“Part of me wished you'd have fallen through the sand, for comedic purposes.” Oscar laughs.
"That's just mean."
To be fair, Ari would have got my back if that did happen.
Oscar gets off Ari as well, but not before uttering, “You’re a trooper, Ari.”
“Bravi!” Ari moves his right wing close to his head, indicating a salute towards Oscar. Oscar returns with the gesture himself, smiling gleefully as he does so.
"The sand feels pretty packed." Oscar says as he stomps on the sand a few times. "Our feet isn't sinking in as much as it normally would at the beaches back in the mainland."
Yeah…now that Oscar pointed it out, I realize it too.
"No Pokemon either, as far as I could see." I try to add on.
"Uh huh…" Oscar nods as we scan the beach for anything of note.
I don’t know if my eyes are deceiving me anything, but….
“Oscar, this island is off limits to everyone…right?” I ask for confirmation.
“Yeah, not a soul, but us.” Oscar said confidently.
“You might wanna…” I twirl my fingers as a signal for Oscar to turn around to where I’m looking at.
Oscar turns and sees what I’m seeing. Two men in white, approaching us, with a Cacturne and Machoke accompanying them.
“Is there a patrol team or something around here?” I ask.
“No, even if there were, it’s supposed to be conducted in the surrounding waters of the island, rather than on the island itself.” Oscar replies in confusion. “Don’t worry, I’ll handle this.”
Oscar, Ari, and I both stay put as the two men finally reach within talking distance of us. To be fair, from afar they did look like two studs in the open as there was nothing to distinguish one from the other. But now that they’re closer…
Well, they’re still as high as studs, not to mention both of them had black hair. In fact, they look exactly alike apart from their eyes, one of them had a pair of green ones while the other had a pair of brown eyes.
“May we help you?” Oscar tries to break the ice and start the conver-
“You aren’t supposed to be here.” Green Eyes cuts straight to the chase.
“We know, but we are here under the orders of Littleroot Laboratory-”
“We don’t care, we need you out of this island immediately.” Green Eyes cuts off Oscar’s sentence, seemingly uninterested in hearing as to what Oscar has to say.
“Look, we get it but-”
Machoke, who had been standing quietly by Brown Eyes’ side unprovoked, slams their fists on the sand in anger and intimidation at our lack of compliance. To be honest, I wasn’t even bothered by the act of strength Machoke threw our way, I’m just pissed they aren’t letting Oscar speak.
“Easy now, Machoke.” Brown Eyes tries to calm his Machoke down, to which he was met with Machoke crossing his arms, visibly showing his impatience.
All while this is going on, Cacturne and Ari are having a standoff of some sorts, with each Pokemon trading roars with each other. I mean, Ari’s a flying type so he should be able to handle Cacturne with ease. I have faith in him if things go south.
“Hey Green Eyes.” I try to grab both of the men’s attention, which clearly worked since Green Eyes just looked at me back, clearly offended. They might not be willing to hear Oscar, but if I provoke them hard enough, maybe they'll hear me.
“The fuck you just called me?” He replies in a deeper voice, which, I could only guess, is just an attempt to intimidate us.
“You seem keen to get us off the island.
Something you’re hiding?”
“Why are you so interested in knowing?” Brown Eyes finally put his 10 Pokecents into the conversation.
“So you are hiding something?” Oscar, who now has a Pokeball in hand thanks to the Machoke ordeal earlier, asks. His eyes blinking multiple times as he does so. “Actually, who gave you guys the right to be here as well?”
As communications broke down between us and the two men, I could hear the roars between the Scarecrow Pokemon and Ari intensify…
Till finally, Ari lunges forward and lands a blow on Cacturne with its feet and sharp claws.
“All good there Ari?” I look to see my precious Braviary covered in seeds, leeching Ari’s health and hurting Ari, which I could only deduct as being the instigator to Ari’s attack.
The two men just looked at each other and had this nod of agreement of sorts, followed by Machoke finally letting down their arms from its crossed position earlier.
“Oscar, take care of that Machoke for me please.” I whisper to Oscar.
“What about that Cacturne?”
“Probably has Water Absorb, Lud probably can’t deal much damage on it.”
“Fair enough.” Oscar complies and sends out his Ludicolo into the fray. “Lud, take aim at Machoke, and use Hydro Pump!”
“Mach Punch!” Brown Eyes and his Machoke, wasting no time, make their move on Lud as well.
Machoke rushes towards Lud, preparing to land a Mach Punch to its face. But Lud, by accident or skill (I’d like to think it's the latter), bends backwards to power up his Hydro Pump, avoiding the Mach Punch by the narrowest of margins whilst doing so.
“Luudiii!” Lud finds the strength to turn to where Machoke crash landed, and blasts a long range Hydro Pump in its direction, completely knocking out Machoke in the process, or what seems like it.
"Ari!" Ari calls for my attention as I see Cacturne and Green Eyes in front of me and Ari, seemingly displeased at the outcome of the battle involving his partner in crime.
“Cacturne, Sucker Punch!” Green Eyes and his Cacturne directs his attacks towards Ari.
Luckily, one of the men’s Pokemon is at least competent, as Cacturne lands a blow towards Ari right as he was trying to try to grab hold of it. Combined with the damage done by Leech Seed, Ari’s definitely not doing good from a health perspective.
But, his species ain't called ‘Hero of The Skies’ for nothin’.
“Ari, Brave Bird!” I instruct Ari to do the most powerful move he can execute.
“Sucker Punch again!” Green Eyes expects to pull the same trickery against Ari again.
The problem with it is that Ari’s a fast learner. Anticipating an attack from the opposing Cacturne, he makes use of his agility and avoids Cacturne’s Sucker Punch by pulling up at the last second before Cacturne is able to hit him.
“Now, Ari!”
Ari dives back down and grabs Cacturne by the claws before rising back up again, gaining altitude for the upcoming fall. Cacturne could do nothing but struggle, trying to get Ari’s claws to let go of it.
As if he is answering Cacturne's pleads, Ari dives back down, gaining momentum and speeding each moment he does so, and right as it looks like both he and Cacturne are both about to take an impact into the sand, he lets go of Cacturne, and flies off, leaving Cacturne to carry that momentum as he crashes into the shoreline.
“That’s my boy!” I cheer as loud as possible so Ari could hear, and with it, I could see the Leech Seeds from Ari slowly but surely dying and falling off his body, confirming that the host, being Cacturne, is knocked unconscious.
With Cacturne now handled-
“Look out!” I hear a shout behind me as in an instant I could feel a giant body blocking out the sunlight from hitting my body.
As I turn around, I see a badly injured Machoke, his right arm loaded for a punch, trying its hardest to make a go at me, but withholding him from doing so is a Blaziken, using both of its arms to take the full brunt of the force exerted by the Machoke.
“RUN RUBY!” I hear the same, feminine voice shouting at me to get out of the predicament I find myself in, which I eventually do.
As I escape far enough to be safe, I see the Blaziken that saved me, striking kick after kick, punch after punch at the Machoke, with such coordination put into each movement, not to mention the power, accuracy, and agility of each blow, reminiscent of a martial artist.
“Finish him off, Kentucky, High Jump Kick!” I hear its trainer trying to put the finishing blow onto the Machoke.
“Blaaaze!!” The Blaziken, now having put some distance between itself and Machoke, makes its initial run up before jumping up, high in the air and aims towards the Machoke, who can barely process what’s going on.
By the time that Machoke does though, the opposing Blaziken, barely, lands the High Jump Kick with such ferocity, finishing off what’s been a hectic battle in the first 10 minutes of us being on this island.
I must admit, that Blaziken is a force to be reckoned with.
Wait, where’s Oscar? He could have at least warned me about that Machoke…
“Oscar, mate?” I call out his name.
“Right here!” Oscar shouts back as I see both him and his Ludicolo pinning down the two men. “They were making a run for it so my attention shifted to not letting them get away. I thought that Machoke was knocked out, my bad.”
“Nah, you did well.” I compliment him whilst giving a pat on the shoulder. "Any leads as to who they are?"
Oscar shakes his head. Damn it, but at least we caught them now. We will force the questions out of them one way or another.
“About time you two get some information out of these guys.” A feminine voice interrupts our conversation. The same voice that I keep hearing, shouting at me during the battle.
Standing next to us, is a tall ass woman. Like, I’m talking the same height as me, and I’m 185cm tall. Her blonde hair blows in symphony to the winds direction, with blue sapphire coloured eyes and beige coloured skin to compliment it. Laying rest on her head are a pair of aviation goggles, with a keystone attached to the side of it.
As her black unzipped hoodie with red pin stripes and the number ‘96’ printed on the front flaps around erratically due to the wind, she finally speaks; “I’ve been waiting behind that boulder for information for like, 5 minutes.”
“Zeph?” I whisper under my breath.
I had reservations before, but now that I finally heard her voice, there is no doubt in my mind.
My eyes aren’t playing tricks with me, that’s definitely Zephyr Shikinami.
“In the flesh dude.” Zeph replies. “Been a while, huh?”
“It…is.” I reply. Last time I met Zeph was a few months back for the Dewford Surfers Cup, held every quarter of the year. But, we go way back. In fact, in the first tourney I ever participated in Hoenn, she’s there, where she convincingly beat me to the title of Junior Champion of Hoenn.
Since then, we lived our own lives. Zeph rose quickly to fame thanks to social media, then got berated by online wannabes. Meanwhile, I entered tourneys and became the bridesmaid in every single one I entered.
Yeah...safe to say the scripwriters of our lives were fucking with us during our teenage years. Lots of lessons to be learnt at the expense of the sweet memories of our childhood.
We never really crossed paths, apart from competing in some tourneys here and there. But, after a training camp last year, we started to have gotten closer aga-
Woah woah woah, is Oscar waterboarding those guys?
“Oscar!" I yelled at him to grab his attention. "Calm down mate. They’re no use if they’re dead to us.”
“I would if this stupid guy starts talking!" Oscar vents his frustration as his Lud continued to blast Green Eyes’ with a wave water. A mini Hydro Pump, if you wish to call it so. “Who are you people and what are you doing here?!”
“None of your business now, is it?” Green Eyes continues to not cooperate.
“Let me handle this.” Zeph replies as she approaches Green Eyes. Rather than coerce them to speak, she slides her hand into the right pocket of the man’s trousers and grabs hold of his wallet. “This might give us more information.” She smirks as she waves and opens the wallet in front of the two men.
Her eyes gaze from one side to the other of the wallet, before pulling out an ID card from the wallet. “Richard Oobleck, holding the position of Logistics Department for…Suzuka Co.”
Huh, the transportation company.
“Do you think there are more of these people around?” I ask Oscar.
“Probably.” Oscar replies, with confidence.
“Dudes, look at this.” Zeph shows us a signal receiver she found inside one of the man's pockets, making beeping sounds and flashing a red light on one of its end. “It says ‘motion detected’ on the screen. They probably have motion censors set across the shoreline.”
No wonder they found us so quickly, it wasn’t a coincidence at all.
“Alright, now how are we going to dispose of these guys?” Oscar asks rather violently. Understandably so though, man’s had enough of putting up with this behaviour.
“Just let them go.” I reply.
“And let the entirety of Suzuka Co know our presence on this island?” Zeph replies .
“Brings us closer to the truth now, doesn’t it?” I reply. "Besides, you got any ideas?"
Zeph, out of laziness to argue or lack of better ideas, sighs and shakes her head. “I guess it's better than letting Oscar be charged with manslaughter.”
“Oh trust me I’d be glad to be charged with that if it means putting these two 6 feet under.” Oscar replies as he and Lud let go of the two men.
The two men, now granted with the freedom of movement, retrieves their injured Pokemon, and walks off, silently. Probably out of embarrassment too. Their 30 year old bodies just got shown up by 3 young adults in their early 20s.
The tense situation winds down, and a sense of calm finally returns.
Actually…
“Say, what brings you here, Zeph?” I ask.
Zeph looks at me, deliberating on how to answer the question I pose to her.
“My father.” Zeph replies instantly. “He’s been missing for a week now.”
Ah.
“I'm…sorry to hear that.”
Zeph shakes her head gently whilst waving her hand off, before putting her bag down and pulling out a long hard cover notebook. “I searched through his office…, and stumbled upon a notebook of his.”
She opens it and flicks through the pages. “Last thing he wrote down was something about an awakening of some sort, I can’t quite figure it out….” She utters before stopping at where his dad last updated the notebook. “He pasted this map which pointed towards here, so I figured he’s around here…somewhere.”
Zeph points at an old map, similar to the kind Oscar and I own. On the map features a hand-drawn arrow, pointing towards where we are, the archipelago at the north of Hoenn. The only difference is,it has a name written on it.
'Merquie'
That's... a word.
“Judging by his notebook… looks like he made the decision to come here himself.” I point out.
To which, Zeph nods in agreement. “Knowing my father, I doubt he’s working together with Suzuka Co. The way he left the office also shows no signs of struggle, it's like it was on his own will.”
Still though, I can't shake my mind off the things that Zephyr said about what Dr Langley wrote.
Awakening? Merquie? How do you even pronounce 'Merquie'?
Lemme take a look-
“Hey Zephyr…” Oscar enters the conversation. “Can I have that notebook for a second?”
Seems like Oscar has the same idea. Probaby for the best, he's more qualified than me.
Zeph nods as she hands over the notebook to Oscar, to which Oscar runs through the pages, searching for any clues. Not a bad idea, maybe what we and Dr. Langley are seeking for might be the same thing.
Or Pokemon? Ruins? City?
Who knows at this point.
“How’s life?” I ask Zeph while Oscar does his thing.
“Could be better.” she sighs. “Been experiencing these mild headaches lately, probably because of, well, this."
“I see." I nod in reply. "Have you and Dr. Langley made up yet?"
Zeph shakes her head. "You know how my dad is. Grumpy, hates the world, hates humans. Probably hates his only daughter as well." Zeph sighs as she finishes her rant. "I don't even know why I'm searching for him to be honest.
But if anything happens to him, I feel like I was to be blamed for not taking action more earlier."
Must be stressful to be Zeph.
“Ruby, look.” Oscar calls me over and shows a page from the notebook. It featured a picture of an entrance to a cave at the foot of a mountain, surrounded by tall trees with long, overhanging leaves.
“You think that’s where he is?” Zeph asks as she also takes a peek at the picture.
“It’s worth a shot.” Oscar replies with confidence. “Foot of a mountain with rocks and boulders, surrounded by palm trees. Search for an area with these three key indicators present, and we have a chance at finding this cave.”
Zeph and I nod in unison.
Whatever we are searching for, we sure are getting one step closer to it. Once we do so, maybe all this, Merquie, Awakening, stuff will finally make sense...
Notes:
next chapter eta: Late September to Early October