Chapter 3 - Touring Pyrite Town
Wes yawned as he woke up, groggily raising up and stretching his arms out. Unknown to him, he had bumped an alarm clock off the desk besides him onto a sleeping Umbreon. Umbreon woke up with a sudden start and give out a yelp of surprise, leapt five metres into the air in fright.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Wes sleepily. Umbreon glared at Wes.
“Hungry?” asked Wes. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a can of Pokefood.
“Here you are,” he offered, placing it by Umbreon.
“Umbre?” (Um… that’s not it, but good enough!) he said, as he deftly bit open the can and started eating. Meanwhile, Rui also arose from sleep.
“Sleep well?” asked Wes.
“Sleep well? What with you snoring and that bloke next door talking in his sleep…”
“Umm… sorry…” apologised Wes. “Someone was talking in their sleep?”
“Uh huh. Something about a Zigzagoon using Tackle… but I took care of him,” grinned Rui.
“Espeon!” (You bet she did! Poor guy…) yawned Espeon, waking up himself and instantly stretching out his legs. Seeing Umbreon eating, he used his psychic powers to get a can of Poke food from Wes’s bag to float to him. He neatly separated lid from can, and discarded the lid in a nearby bin.
“Sure whatever, serve yourself…” mumbled Wes. He decided that he really didn’t want to know what Rui did to the sleep talker next door for the moment - he was too sleepy at the moment to worry about that.
“What’s the time?” he asked Rui.
”Well, it’s…” Rui began, consulting her watch, “almost eleven o’clock,” she answered mildly.
Wes bolted upright. “Eleven o’clock?” he cried in disbelief.
“Uh huh. Guess yesterday’s… occurrences really took it out of us.”
“Fair enough. Man, I’m hungry…” muttered Wes, watching Espeon and Umbreon chow down their food. “I guess Makuhita and Croconaw are also hungry. What say you give them a formal welcome, Espeon and Umbreon?”
“Umbreon…” (Fine… hope they’re not all crazy like before,) said Umbreon, as Wes took two Pokeballs off his belt and glanced at them for a short moment. He then directed them towards the ground, and pressed the button on the red-white colour split that decorated the spherical capsule. Multicoloured beams of light shot out of the Pokeballs, travelling in a jagged line towards the ground, illuminating the room. Upon contact with the ground, the beams of light diverted into two separate 3D shapes. Almost instantly, Makuhita and Croconaw emerged from the kaleidoscope of coloured illuminations that had materialised on the floor.
“Esp?” (Why does he always try to make that process exceedingly spectacular?)
Wes ignored this comment and observed the two Shadow Pokemon. He was still uneasy about them, especially as Makuhita had attacked him before he was snagged. Then again, Makuhita didn’t seem that aggressive against him - perhaps attacking trainers was a concept that Shadow Pokemon didn’t disrespect in their altered state. Wes shuddered - just how did Snagem make Shadow Pokemon anyway?
Meanwhile, Makuhita glared around at his surroundings. Upon seeing Croconaw, it gave a growl, noticing that he too was a Shadow Pokemon. The blue wide crocodile merely coldly stared down Makuhita in response.
“Strange…” muttered Rui.
“What is?” asked Wes.
“Makuhita’s aura seems… smaller then before… or maybe I’m just imagining it.”
“Maku! Hita Hita!” (How dare you glare at me! I am far stronger than you!) shouted Makuhita loudly, waving his arms in the air menacingly.
“Croc-naw,” (I have no interest in what you say,) sniffed Croconaw disdainfully.
“His aura is smaller? Maybe… I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but one never knows…” Wes trailed off uncertainly.
“What do you think… could they become… normal again?” asked Rui.
“Maku!” (You’re just jealous of my strength!)
“Croc-Croconaw.” (What’s there to be jealous of? Your stupid squinty eyes, or your exceedingly large mass?)
“MAKU!” (That’s IT!) cried Makuhita, launching himself at Croconaw. Croconaw deftly dodged the attack, but Makuhita anticipated this and quickly changed direction, charging at Croconaw. Just before a full-on brawl ensured, both Pokemon found themselves frozen on the spot.
“Espeon…” (Behave, you two,) warned Espeon sternly.
“Maybe… but it’s probably too early to tell. However there’s the fact that you can discern Shadow Pokemon from normal ones, which means the shadow process is imperfect. And who’s to say that the shadow process is permanent?” said an oblivious Wes.
“I hope that’s the case,” replied an equally oblivious Rui, not noticing the scuffle between Wes’s new Shadow Pokemon.
“Maku!” (Stupid Espeon! Can’t you let me finish him?) demanded Makuhita.
“Croc…” (Quiet, you annoying incompetent thing,) sniffed Croconaw in a superior fashion.
“Umbre-Umbre!” (Why can’t we be friends, why can’t we be friends…?)
Wes suddenly seemed to remember that Makuhita and Croconaw were present. He kneeled down and turned to them.
“Hello, you two. As you may have guessed, I’m your new trainer. This is Espeon and Umbreon,” he said, nodding to Espeon and Umbreon. Makuhita gave Espeon a death stare, Croconaw pretended not to notice. Espeon seemed slightly amused by it all.
“Umbre!” (Oh calm down... you’re all acting like new born Bonsly.)
“Croc!” (You can talk, Mr. Moan-a-lot!) retorted Croconaw. Umbreon growled in response.
Wes sensed something was not right. He knew his own Pokemon well enough to get the gist of what they were saying - Espeon in particular was quite the translator being a psychic Pokemon. And although he was unfamiliar with Makuhita and Croconaw, he knew that his new Pokemon wouldn’t be winning the Nobel Prize for Peace anytime soon.
“Hungry?” he asked Makuhita and Croconaw, as he pulled out some Poke food from his bag.
Immediately the tension in the air evaporated, as Croconaw and Makuhita promptly forgot about their argument.
“Maku!” (Food? Stupid Trudly never fed me!)
“Naw!” (Finally somebody’s talking sense here!)
Wes smiled. He knew just how to solve a quarrel between Pokemon. He turned to Rui as Makuhita and Croconaw quickly finished their meals.
“How about we go for a late breakfast?” he asked.
“I was waiting for you to say that,” said Rui. “Although wouldn’t it be an early lunch?”
“No, I still say its called breakfast,” claimed Wes, recalling his shadow Pokemon into his Pokeballs, not quite trusting them to walk the streets of Pyrite without causing mayhem. After all, they were Shadow Pokemon, and if the goons from Cipher saw them, their cover would be blown.
“What’s wrong with calling it lunch? It’s late enough as it is,” queried Rui, as they left the abandoned hotel to search for somewhere to eat.
“What about… ‘brunch’?” offered Wes.
“‘Brunch’? What kind of name is that?” asked Rui sceptically.
***
Yet again, Pyrite town presented problems to Wes and Rui - Wes resorted to using his Pokemon to help search for a place to eat. They had split up - Rui and Espeon one way, and Wes and Umbreon the other way. They met up outside a closed PokeMart - with a sign on the door proclaiming that the owner had ‘Gone Fishing’ - where the owner would fish in the desert Wes had no idea. It didn’t seem that he would be back yet at any rate.
“Any luck?” asked Wes.
“No,” replied Rui. Wes noted that Rui was strangely distracted by a tall nearby lamppost randomly placed in the middle of town.
“What’s up with this place?” grumbled Wes. “No restaurants, no fast food takeaways - heck, there’s not even a shoddy kebab stand in sight!”
“Let’s ask,” decided Rui, walking up to a bystander. “Excuse me…” she began.
“ARRGH! Get away from me! You’re trying to hit me up for money, aren’t you?” accused the frightened man.
“Umm… no, I just want to know…” continued Rui, slightly frightened by this outburst herself.
“Well I’m NOT giving anyone any more money!” declared the man, running off. Rui blinked.
Just then, the old woman that had chased them the night previous opened her door to her house, shouted “Stop trying to sell me money!” and slammed the door shut.
“This town is… weird,” exclaimed Rui.
“It seems most people here are on edge. I don’t particularly blame them - judging the mess this town is in - and the police service…” trailed off Wes, referring to Johnson. “Is there anyone who is in charge here?” he wondered.
“Hey! I found a place!” declared Rui, reading a sign by a house near the town’s entrance. Wes went up to the sign which declared in large print:
PYRITE’S MOTHER’S FORTUNE TELLING
Have your future told - if you dare…
Special deal - free meal* with first reading
* - meal may be of questionable quality and variable quantity
Wes scrutinised the notice. Frankly he did not go into the mysteries of the future all that much - especially after Espeon had once told him he would have been a good violinist. How very wrong was he. He also didn’t like the sound of the disclaimer at the bottom of the sign, but a meal was a meal.
“Espeon…” (I HAD told him ‘guitarist’, not ‘violinist’, but how he misunderstood me…) moaned Espeon, reading Wes’s thoughts, but commenting to no one in particular.
Rui was much more positive about the find, taken in to the mysterious dark interior of the house she could see through the windows.
“Doesn’t this look great? A meal and entertainment!” exclaimed Rui excitedly3
Wes yawned as he woke up, groggily raising up and stretching his arms out. Unknown to him, he had bumped an alarm clock off the desk besides him onto a sleeping Umbreon. Umbreon woke up with a sudden start and give out a yelp of surprise, leapt five metres into the air in fright.
“What’s wrong with you?” asked Wes sleepily. Umbreon glared at Wes.
“Hungry?” asked Wes. He rummaged through his bag and pulled out a can of Pokefood.
“Here you are,” he offered, placing it by Umbreon.
“Umbre?” (Um… that’s not it, but good enough!) he said, as he deftly bit open the can and started eating. Meanwhile, Rui also arose from sleep.
“Sleep well?” asked Wes.
“Sleep well? What with you snoring and that bloke next door talking in his sleep…”
“Umm… sorry…” apologised Wes. “Someone was talking in their sleep?”
“Uh huh. Something about a Zigzagoon using Tackle… but I took care of him,” grinned Rui.
“Espeon!” (You bet she did! Poor guy…) yawned Espeon, waking up himself and instantly stretching out his legs. Seeing Umbreon eating, he used his psychic powers to get a can of Poke food from Wes’s bag to float to him. He neatly separated lid from can, and discarded the lid in a nearby bin.
“Sure whatever, serve yourself…” mumbled Wes. He decided that he really didn’t want to know what Rui did to the sleep talker next door for the moment - he was too sleepy at the moment to worry about that.
“What’s the time?” he asked Rui.
”Well, it’s…” Rui began, consulting her watch, “almost eleven o’clock,” she answered mildly.
Wes bolted upright. “Eleven o’clock?” he cried in disbelief.
“Uh huh. Guess yesterday’s… occurrences really took it out of us.”
“Fair enough. Man, I’m hungry…” muttered Wes, watching Espeon and Umbreon chow down their food. “I guess Makuhita and Croconaw are also hungry. What say you give them a formal welcome, Espeon and Umbreon?”
“Umbreon…” (Fine… hope they’re not all crazy like before,) said Umbreon, as Wes took two Pokeballs off his belt and glanced at them for a short moment. He then directed them towards the ground, and pressed the button on the red-white colour split that decorated the spherical capsule. Multicoloured beams of light shot out of the Pokeballs, travelling in a jagged line towards the ground, illuminating the room. Upon contact with the ground, the beams of light diverted into two separate 3D shapes. Almost instantly, Makuhita and Croconaw emerged from the kaleidoscope of coloured illuminations that had materialised on the floor.
“Esp?” (Why does he always try to make that process exceedingly spectacular?)
Wes ignored this comment and observed the two Shadow Pokemon. He was still uneasy about them, especially as Makuhita had attacked him before he was snagged. Then again, Makuhita didn’t seem that aggressive against him - perhaps attacking trainers was a concept that Shadow Pokemon didn’t disrespect in their altered state. Wes shuddered - just how did Snagem make Shadow Pokemon anyway?
Meanwhile, Makuhita glared around at his surroundings. Upon seeing Croconaw, it gave a growl, noticing that he too was a Shadow Pokemon. The blue wide crocodile merely coldly stared down Makuhita in response.
“Strange…” muttered Rui.
“What is?” asked Wes.
“Makuhita’s aura seems… smaller then before… or maybe I’m just imagining it.”
“Maku! Hita Hita!” (How dare you glare at me! I am far stronger than you!) shouted Makuhita loudly, waving his arms in the air menacingly.
“Croc-naw,” (I have no interest in what you say,) sniffed Croconaw disdainfully.
“His aura is smaller? Maybe… I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but one never knows…” Wes trailed off uncertainly.
“What do you think… could they become… normal again?” asked Rui.
“Maku!” (You’re just jealous of my strength!)
“Croc-Croconaw.” (What’s there to be jealous of? Your stupid squinty eyes, or your exceedingly large mass?)
“MAKU!” (That’s IT!) cried Makuhita, launching himself at Croconaw. Croconaw deftly dodged the attack, but Makuhita anticipated this and quickly changed direction, charging at Croconaw. Just before a full-on brawl ensured, both Pokemon found themselves frozen on the spot.
“Espeon…” (Behave, you two,) warned Espeon sternly.
“Maybe… but it’s probably too early to tell. However there’s the fact that you can discern Shadow Pokemon from normal ones, which means the shadow process is imperfect. And who’s to say that the shadow process is permanent?” said an oblivious Wes.
“I hope that’s the case,” replied an equally oblivious Rui, not noticing the scuffle between Wes’s new Shadow Pokemon.
“Maku!” (Stupid Espeon! Can’t you let me finish him?) demanded Makuhita.
“Croc…” (Quiet, you annoying incompetent thing,) sniffed Croconaw in a superior fashion.
“Umbre-Umbre!” (Why can’t we be friends, why can’t we be friends…?)
Wes suddenly seemed to remember that Makuhita and Croconaw were present. He kneeled down and turned to them.
“Hello, you two. As you may have guessed, I’m your new trainer. This is Espeon and Umbreon,” he said, nodding to Espeon and Umbreon. Makuhita gave Espeon a death stare, Croconaw pretended not to notice. Espeon seemed slightly amused by it all.
“Umbre!” (Oh calm down... you’re all acting like new born Bonsly.)
“Croc!” (You can talk, Mr. Moan-a-lot!) retorted Croconaw. Umbreon growled in response.
Wes sensed something was not right. He knew his own Pokemon well enough to get the gist of what they were saying - Espeon in particular was quite the translator being a psychic Pokemon. And although he was unfamiliar with Makuhita and Croconaw, he knew that his new Pokemon wouldn’t be winning the Nobel Prize for Peace anytime soon.
“Hungry?” he asked Makuhita and Croconaw, as he pulled out some Poke food from his bag.
Immediately the tension in the air evaporated, as Croconaw and Makuhita promptly forgot about their argument.
“Maku!” (Food? Stupid Trudly never fed me!)
“Naw!” (Finally somebody’s talking sense here!)
Wes smiled. He knew just how to solve a quarrel between Pokemon. He turned to Rui as Makuhita and Croconaw quickly finished their meals.
“How about we go for a late breakfast?” he asked.
“I was waiting for you to say that,” said Rui. “Although wouldn’t it be an early lunch?”
“No, I still say its called breakfast,” claimed Wes, recalling his shadow Pokemon into his Pokeballs, not quite trusting them to walk the streets of Pyrite without causing mayhem. After all, they were Shadow Pokemon, and if the goons from Cipher saw them, their cover would be blown.
“What’s wrong with calling it lunch? It’s late enough as it is,” queried Rui, as they left the abandoned hotel to search for somewhere to eat.
“What about… ‘brunch’?” offered Wes.
“‘Brunch’? What kind of name is that?” asked Rui sceptically.
***
Yet again, Pyrite town presented problems to Wes and Rui - Wes resorted to using his Pokemon to help search for a place to eat. They had split up - Rui and Espeon one way, and Wes and Umbreon the other way. They met up outside a closed PokeMart - with a sign on the door proclaiming that the owner had ‘Gone Fishing’ - where the owner would fish in the desert Wes had no idea. It didn’t seem that he would be back yet at any rate.
“Any luck?” asked Wes.
“No,” replied Rui. Wes noted that Rui was strangely distracted by a tall nearby lamppost randomly placed in the middle of town.
“What’s up with this place?” grumbled Wes. “No restaurants, no fast food takeaways - heck, there’s not even a shoddy kebab stand in sight!”
“Let’s ask,” decided Rui, walking up to a bystander. “Excuse me…” she began.
“ARRGH! Get away from me! You’re trying to hit me up for money, aren’t you?” accused the frightened man.
“Umm… no, I just want to know…” continued Rui, slightly frightened by this outburst herself.
“Well I’m NOT giving anyone any more money!” declared the man, running off. Rui blinked.
Just then, the old woman that had chased them the night previous opened her door to her house, shouted “Stop trying to sell me money!” and slammed the door shut.
“This town is… weird,” exclaimed Rui.
“It seems most people here are on edge. I don’t particularly blame them - judging the mess this town is in - and the police service…” trailed off Wes, referring to Johnson. “Is there anyone who is in charge here?” he wondered.
“Hey! I found a place!” declared Rui, reading a sign by a house near the town’s entrance. Wes went up to the sign which declared in large print:
PYRITE’S MOTHER’S FORTUNE TELLING
Have your future told - if you dare…
Special deal - free meal* with first reading
* - meal may be of questionable quality and variable quantity
Wes scrutinised the notice. Frankly he did not go into the mysteries of the future all that much - especially after Espeon had once told him he would have been a good violinist. How very wrong was he. He also didn’t like the sound of the disclaimer at the bottom of the sign, but a meal was a meal.
“Espeon…” (I HAD told him ‘guitarist’, not ‘violinist’, but how he misunderstood me…) moaned Espeon, reading Wes’s thoughts, but commenting to no one in particular.
Rui was much more positive about the find, taken in to the mysterious dark interior of the house she could see through the windows.
“Doesn’t this look great? A meal and entertainment!” exclaimed Rui excitedly3