Chương 9

I can hear my wife waking up as I finish brewing her morning tea, the particular cadence in her breaths shifting ever so slightly. The breakfast I made for her isn't to my normal standard, but the small kitchenette in our hotel room doesn't allow for much more. Knowing that she is unlikely to get out of bed this early without further prompting, I leave the table and stalk into the bed-chamber, silent so as to surprise her.

She is turned away from me and facing the window, her once-red hair spilling from the blankets. I reach the window and throw the curtains open, "Good morning, Dear," I say to my lovely wife. She groans, "You always know, I'm not sure why I bothered today." Truth be told, on any other day I would have let her sleep in, but we have someone to meet today. My dear Maeve slowly rises, bones creaking, to her feet.

"Ah, but I'm excited to see her. Did you make breakfast?" She asks me, sniffing the air.

"It's only oatmeal with fruit, miltank-milk, and tea I'm afraid," I inform her.

"I didn't have the space, time, or ingredients for more." She waves me off as she starts walking to the small eating space in our suite, "You spoil me too much anyway, love," She lies, I would never give her any less than my best. We eat in relative silence before readying to move on to the day's affairs, she takes her medicine, and I take on a familiar façade as we step outside. Neither of us like it.

And though it took me a while to understand Maeve's talk about social expectations and the negative stigma against single mothers, I have stood by her for fifty years now. Even if the ' father' of our children would not. We've been through far too much together to do otherwise. And even despite my nature, I will remain her guiding light until the end. We begin the slow journey northwest of Vientown. we make no effort to rush, for Maeve's sake.

Though Dialga's march has been kind to her, I fear the day she is found underfoot, and she shows signs of it's nearing evermore with each passing year. I find it best not to dwell on such thoughts, lest my control slip. Yet it is a truth I cannot deny, and so I look to the world around us. Almia is a blessed country, despite its history. There is a vibrancy to the world here, a lust for life that has… perhaps not been forgotten but has stagnated in many other places.

The life that surrounds us stands in defiance of what was once inevitable. Now only memories, even of the worst disasters. It takes forty-five minutes at this slow, meandering pace to reach our destination, but that time gives my wife and I the freedom to take in the life around us, the beauty of a land shattered and made whole again. It can even still be felt in the air… No, this feeling is fresh, no more than two weeks in age. Interesting, perhaps I will need to watch for another such as Maeve.

In any event, we approach a small compound, the cyclic symbol of the Ranger Union displayed dominant and alone on the otherwise unremarkable red and black bunker. Entering, we are met with the view of a blue-haired Unovan man behind a desk as he glances up at us.

"Oh," He says, sitting up straight and turning to face us.

"Sorry, we don't get many walk-ins and… Anyway, What can I do for you today?" He asks. It is my wife who answers first, "Maeve Aisling and Liam Aisling, we're here to see our granddaughter." At that, the man's expression turns confused, but Maeve preempts his coming question, "Ryuko, dear. Onaga Ryuko." The man seems thunderstruck for a brief moment, looking between us.

"Okay, yeah just give me a sec," He tells us. Standing, the man walks into a door to the right of his desk. Leaving us to wait. I almost cannot, I can hear my granddaughter three rooms deeper into the building, speaking to a different man about… ghosts?

"I wonder what she'll think when that man tells her we're here. Do you think she'll believe him?" My wife asks me." I believe she will be quite pleased to see us, even though she will try to hide most of it," I tell Maeve, kissing her on the cheek. She flicks one of my ears, knowing exactly where it is despite my outward appearance, and we both smile.

"We're alone dear, but you're right. What's going on back there?" My love asks. I focus on the words I can hear coming from that room." That man just told her we're here, she doesn't seem to believe him, but she's also rather excited," I describe to her. Her smile grows warmer.

"Oh, to have ears like these. Have I told you how I wish I did?" She says, gripping my ears and beginning to rub them.

"Oh, but I suppose I do, bonny fox," She adds playfully as I lean into the touch.

"T hey're returning," I let her know, regretfully pulling away from her hands. Ryuko practically bursts from the door, suspicion turning to shock on her face.

"Oma? Opa?" She asks, staring at us. The man trails behind her, moving back to his desk." Little Ryu!" I say, readying my façade for touch as I step to bring her into a hug. Before I can, however, a weavile plants herself firmly between myself and my granddaughter.

"No, I don't know what you are, but-" She gets out before my wife's voice cuts her short.

"Later, please, Weavile. Right now we would like to see our granddaughter," She says, her tone familiar and unyielding. Weavile doesn't back down, but she remains silent for the moment. I'm lost for words, in truth. Little Ryuko has found herself not only a loyal partner but a shadow. To engender such protectiveness in one of my type is not an easy thing, and I'm not certain I could be more proud of her. Though, that may be a lack of faith on my part. I need to voice my thoughts."

I am so proud of you Ryu, to think you would grow into such a noble young woman, it warms my heart." Ryuko has gone red at this point, hands covering her face. She steps around her shadow and into my embrace.

"You're embarrassing me!" She says before sighing, "I didn't know when I'd see you again, Opa. Now's not the best time, but there probably won't be a good time soon anyway." Stepping out of my arms and into Maeve's, she continues, "You should have called ahead or maybe sent a letter. I might have been able to schedule time for us, then." That's likely true, the Rangers are always busy. Oh, and I cannot describe the fear I felt when Ryuko first told me that she'd been accepted to become one of them.

But she clearly proved herself worthy of them in time, the once deathly frail girl now a beacon of strength among humans.

"How long will you be in Almia?" She asks. Sweet child.

"We're moving to Pueltown." Replies my wife.

"With Kanto's current situation and our age, we had to choose between Almia and Unova, and we decided that Almia would be the best place to live the rest of our lives. Most of our things were sent ahead, we just decided to drop in on you first." Maeve pushes Ryuko away a bit.

"Have you heard from your parents recently? Liam and I haven't been able to reach them at all." Ryuko shakes her head, "No, but I haven't really tried after…" She sighs, "Yeah, I haven't heard from them." Oh, I see. I don't know where we went wrong with Killian. Though perhaps it was not us and instead Kanto's doing. Either way, if he's finally decided his daughter's career is worth ignoring this part of the family over… I may need to accept that we- I failed him.

"Let me go ask my boss if I can have the afternoon free, there's a situation though, and we're still waiting on someone, so I probably won't be able to today," She says, before turning and walking towards a door.

"Love you, Opa, Oma! If I can't get today I'll try for tomorrow. Sorry, I can't stick around longer. Bye!" And with that, she's through the door and out of sight, Weavile following slowly after. Ah! She certainly hasn't lost her spark.

"So, uh, You haven't seen each other in a while then." The blue-haired man asks, speaking up for the first time. I chuckle at that, and my love is smiling with me." It is not easy to travel from Kanto to here, no. Especially now," I tell the man.

"Yeah, I get that. She was right though, the guy's an hour late already." The man informs us. Hmm, perhaps we should go and see the rest of the city, then. ▲▲▲ ▼▼▼ It's getting close to midday, I should go check on the kid soon. I just want to sit here right now though. I feel a few tears hit my legs. Buizel's growing up so fast. He just found a — and he was very enthused by this — female friend and he's obviously interested in her. I knew that was coming soon, he's almost six now.

He's strong enough to make it on his own, it won't be long before he leaves for good. I just wish he would stay a child for a bit longer. This isn't the first time I've been through this of course, not by a good length. It still isn't easy. But I've got Ryu and Charlie to keep me company when I need it, and the kid's going to need my help and guidance for now. I'm just sitting on the shore. The first few times I went through this hurt, though now I'm not sure if 'hurt' is the right word anymore.

My baby boy's all grown up again, and soon I won't be seeing him every day anymore… I'm happy for him, he's one of my stronger children, and he even has some of his father's sparks, but I'm still sad to know he'll be gone before too long. I feel a few more tears fall. I'm still just sitting here. Maybe it's just' cause I don't want the kid to see me crying like this, but it's not like they're truly a child, too introspective for that.

It's also not like they wouldn't understand, with everything I think they've been through. Not even like these are bad tears, just what's normal.

"C'mon old bones, we promised ourselves no more moping," I remind myself. Sighing, I stand, if only to fall into the water a second later. I begin my swim across to the east shore. It takes only seconds to reach it and soon I'm moving down the path to what is now Charlie's den. Shockingly, they're outside, with a look of extreme focus on their face. Looking at the rest of the clearing around the old dwelling, I can see they've been busy practicing force and technique.

There are gouges, craters, and furrows in the earth around the clearing. I can see the remains of several felled trees and even a spot where there' s only shattered wood left. I settle down, resting my backside and leaning my head on my hands, to wait. … Well then. Deciding I've given them long enough to notice me, I start talking, "Looks like you've been busy," I observe, which seems to break them out of their focused state.

"Oh!" They startle, glancing at me.

"Yeah, I…" The kid pauses to look around, "I guess so." They pause again, probably considering their next words.

"I've been trying to figure out my gim- N o, specialty? I think that's the right word. Anyway, I'm pretty sure it's my voice," They say.

'Specialty?' Hmm, Hmm… yeah, that makes sense with the other spooks I've seen. Some were just balls of gas that kept releasing more gas, they're annoying but not all that strong, all it takes to dissuade them is a strong wind. Every ten or so years the shedinja appear, and they're… strange. Usually dour, and generally best left alone to fade away. There are the drifblim of course, but I'm not sure how much they count as ghosts. They've got the same feel to them, and they're friendly enough, but they aren't… dead.

And then there was that one spook that kept hurting others by hurting themselves, and that one I had to wear down enough that they decided to just leave. They kept screaming a name too, still not sure why. How do they know about stuff like that, though? Curious." That makes some sense, with the way you sound," I acknowledge." Are you doing okay otherwise?"

"I think so," They say, eyes trailing over the chewed-up earth.

"Actually, yeah, I'm doing pretty well," they say, now looking down the human path.

"Weaver and I talked about some stuff, it… felt good to get some of it off my chest." Oh? Well, so long as it made them fe e l better, that's what matters. I am a bit curious though.

"Anything you feel like sharing?" I ask them. They look at me for a moment, "I…" They stop, blinking.

"I said something while we were talking, and it turned into a much longer conversation," They tell me, before clearly thinking about their words again. I guess they're just not ready to share that with me, probably only shared it with the weavile because it slipped out.

"I'm… I don't think I'm ready to explain it to you yet, I don't know if I ever will be, honestly. It- it's a lot," They confirm my thoughts. I can't say I'm not a little disappointed to hear that, but I can understand at least. If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"Um, are you okay?" They ask, now looking at my face.

"You tas- You look like…" They stop, looking down. Wheel, why do you have so much trouble looking me in the eyes kid?

"I'm okay. Buizel's growing up fast, and it always leaves me feeling some kind of way. You don't need to worry about it," I tell them. I can see the worry on their face anyway.

"Are you sure you don't need anything?" They ask. They genuinely are the nicest ghost I've met, but I know I'll feel better eventually. I always do.

"Just some company," I tell them. And smiling, "You're helping enough right now." There's a short pause before I decide to check something, "You and weaver protect Ryu yesterday? Made sure she warmed up well enough?"" I don't know If I'd say I protected her," They hedge, glancing back at the old structure.

"I made sure she was warm though. I couldn't really tell how cold it was, but apparently, Weaver wasn't helping with that."" That's just how she is. She can't get hot, only colder," I say nodding.

"Though Ryuko should have known better than to be in that freezing rain for so long." They let out a small laugh at that, "Weaver said something similar while we were in the city. She thinks Onaga is too selfless," They say. Anybody who spends time with her would realize that. What was the other thing they said?

"You went and saw the city?" I ask. I don't think I've been out that way for… I'm not even sure how long it's been.

"Yeah. Uh, Weaver thought I was developing a fear of humans. I'm pretty sure she was right," They say. A fear of humans? Now that's unusual. Though… not unexpected with what they say happened to them, and it also feels uncomfortably familiar…" Charlie, were you a capture or just a companion?" I ask them, and they freeze up. Yeah, that follows.

I don't even wait for the answer, "If you're scared of a human- of anything hurting you like that again, of being caught or whatever else, the solution is just to get stronger," I tell them, now looking at the mess they've made while doing just that.

"You're obviously trying already, but just practicing like this will only take you so far." I'm watching for a reaction, and I don't miss the slight wince when they realize what I mean.

"I'm sorry kid, but this isn't some safe human city with someone to enforce ' laws' and all that. You're apparently a curiosity, and Ryu's warned me that there probably will be humans looking to catch you." The kid slumps a bit in the air, "I figured, it's just… I never liked violence. I liked making stuff more," They say. Then in a tone low enough that I don't think I'm supposed to hear, "I miss having something to do." I want to know, but do I pursue it instead of staying on topic with what they need to do? Hmm…

getting to know them more is the better choice, ultimately, so I decide on that. I'll come back around to learning to fight afterward." What do you mean by that?" I ask them. They freeze, again.

"Um. W- Well, I…" They begin, sinking to the ground slightly.

"I had a job, before I- You know? And I'm used to having things to do all day…" They sound uncertain, like they're afraid of how I'll react. Why? I know humans will get us to help them with things, but why is the kid so twitchy about it?

"Yeah? What did you do?" I ask them, trying to figure it out." I… put buildings together. Or fixed them, sometimes. It depended on the contracts we got. Everything from roofing, to plumbing, foundations, structural, and even electrical work." They look a bit less afraid now. Maybe it's not them but something they heard about me? I suppose if they are used to being around humans then hearing about some of the things I've done might do it.

"Hmm? You know how to do all that?" I ask, probing a bit.

"Y- Yeah, I do. I spent years doing it all." They're looking a little distant now, the way they do before dropping onto deep thoughts. They've said some things I don't recognize, but that's no surprise. I do know one thing I've heard Luxray go on about, though, "You said, 'electrical work'? You know a lot about that kind of thing?"" Hmm? Oh, yeah I guess I do," They say distractedly, and I can almost see the thoughts start churning in that head of theirs as they go still.

They get that look a lot, and, while I'm tempted, I'm not going to try knocking them out of it just yet. I don't know what they're thinking of that needs focus like that, but it s probably important to them. Standing, I take a better look around at what they've been doing. Some of the destruction was obviously from sound attacks, the distinctive patterns clear in the loose dirt around them. Others though… they have the same shape as the smaller ones, but I can tell there was considerably more force behind them.

The fact that I heard none of this happening means the kid has been controlling the focus and bleed of the forces very well. I almost want to laugh when I see the clear spots around the ranger signs. They really must not want to damage those. Walking over to the structure at the south end, I can tell they've been busy here too. There's a pile of creeping vines by the door and I can smell ash and the sticky paste I taught the kid about.

Looking in through the front window, I can see the remains of a fire inside and surprisingly little else. It seems Charlie has been trying to make the space more comfortable for themselves. None of the other spooks that tried to claim this place did that, none of them were this friendly either. Makes me wonder why, frankly. It might just be an age thing since Charlie does come across as older than most around here. Hmm, I might need to ask them about that at some point too.

A sound from down the human path pulls me from those thoughts. Turning my head, I listen closer.

"…told you it's legit. Got it straight from the institute. Right around here somewhere, according to the locals." Says a male, human voice.

"And I still say we should have just staked out the Lost Tower." Says another human, also male.

"Not that I'm going to complain about a free vacation. Though I'd bet you overpaid for that leak. And the overnight train."" Do you think I should go for tough or earnest?" Asks a third, rather croaky, female voice.

"I guess… I just don't know what a ghost is going to be like." The voice finishes a moment later. Oh? An object lesson for the kid? Whether I need to knock some sense into the humans or let Charlie deal with it, it makes a perfect example. Though if they're looking for an actual fight… glancing at the churned-up earth tells me that the kid genuinely does have some strength, but the way they act is proof enough that they don't know how to use it in a real fight.

I continue to watch and listen as the group of three approaches, only one set of feet is unheard as they do.

"Hey, can you pass me a bottle?" Asks the second voice.

"Wait… guys? There's something off about-" The croaky voice, interrupted.

"Did You eat all the snacks?" The first voice, accusing.

"No. I've had exactly one pack since we left the city."

"Really?

'cause they're- Oh I put them in that pocket."

"Was that a- Never mind, you need to learn to pay attention. Stinger? What's up?"" There's something big ahead." Says the croaky voice, alert and wary. It isn't much longer before I can see them through the trees. Two humans, each wearing bags. And a croagunk, the amphibious pokemon is rare around here, but not unknown to me. She locks eyes with me before laughing hysterically. It takes her a moment to stop laughing.

"Ah! Mm. Oh, no, I'm… shutting up now," She says. Very smart choice. It takes hardly a moment longer for one of the humans to notice me, they're almost in the clearing now.

"Dude, there it is!" Says the human with the first voice, pointing at Charlie. Charlie, who hasn't even noticed what's going on. Honestly, kid, I get that you tend to drift off but there's a threat right there. Although, they've got a look on their face now…

"Brad, not the thing you should be focusing on right now." Hisses the other human, his eyes moving from me to the ranger signs and back again. With the way the croagunk has moved between myself and him, I'm guessing he's the trainer. Although I don't see any pokeballs, so it seems he's not an idiot at least.

"Yeah? What do you… mean…" The other human trails off when he notices me.

"What the hell is that?!" The trainer gives 'Brad' an incredulous look, "We came all the way down to Almia, and you don't know who that is?" The man asks, disbelieving.

"Man, I'm not a professional. What do you expect? That I know every mildly famous pokemon in a country I don't even live in?" The increasingly idiotic-sounding human retorts." Wha- Mildly famous?" the trainer says, now sounding like someone told him that water was dry. There are only two of them, and one already knows about me. No need for theatrics or a show of force then. I look at Charlie for a second again, kid's still zoned out, and I'm going to need to talk to them about that. But first, the humans."

You should l eave," I tell the trio, then to who must be named Stinger, "And you need to do a better job keeping your partner out of trouble, okay?" She simply nods before grabbing her trainer's hand and tugging, trying to move him back the way they came. The trainer looks at her blankly, before nodding and addressing the other human, "Brad, we're leaving," He tells the man.

"What? But the ghost is right there! We came all the way out here!" He protests with a slight whine to his voice." Yeah, and The Marshal is right there. We. Are. Leaving. Stinger and I are going to go have a nice, normal vacation, and we are not going to talk about this ever again. Got it?" The trainer says, tone brooking no argument.

"I- But-" 'Brad' stutters, looking between the other human, Charlie, and me.

"Fine," He says after a moment, clearly unhappy about it.

"Make me waste four-hundred-cred on top of the trip," He grumbles low enough it's hard to hear. I see a look cross the trainer's face when he also hears that and I can see the risk and threat calculations pass across his face, behind his eyes, but with the way he's readied himself they're not about me. Then he shoots out a hand to grab the other human's bag, stopping him.

"Brad, did I see what I think I did in your bag earlier?" He asks with a clear warning in his voice.

"Uh… I dunno. What did you see?" Brad responds. It's clear he heard the warning and knows he's outmatched.

"Brad" The trainer practically hisses, "Did you sneak a pokeball in?" The now blatantly smarter human asks.

"I thought we were here to catch a ghost-type!" The idiot defends himself, pulling away from the trainer's grip and facing him.

"Don't we need a pokeball for that?"

"Catch?!" The trainer asks, incredulous. Then he takes a deep breath to noticeably calm himself before responding, "Do you know why I only brought Stinger with me, Brad?" He asks all too calmly.

"…Because she's your fir-" The weakling starts before being interrupted." Because she's my first, my Ace, Brad. My best representative." The trainer says, now likely unnervingly calm to the other human.

"Do you know why I turned in her pokeball and didn't try to bring another, Brad?" He asks now.

"Well, I-" The idiot human says before being interrupted again." Because a happy pokemon of her size doesn't need a ball, Brad. Because pokeballs are illegal here, Bradley," He says, and I can see him visibly calming himself again.

"Do you know what the second rule of competitive battling is, Brad?" He asks, tone now all too chipper. The other man opens his mouth before the trainer interrupts, answering himself again, "It's make sure your team wants to be there, Brad. Do you know the first rule?" The fool looks around, seeming to wait for the trainer to answer again before realizing he won't.

"Um, no?" He says, now a little frightened." IT'S GIVE THEM THE FUCKING RESPECT THEY DESERVE YOU MORON!" The trainer roars with a fury I can respect myself.

"Just… give me the ball and leave," He growls, holding out a hand. Without a word, the weak human digs through his bag and hands the trainer a red and white sphere.

"Thank you for the train tickets, but please try to make sure I don't see you until I'm back in Sinnoh." The trainer says, not bothering to look at the other human. The thoroughly cowed human puts his head down and slinks back the way they came muttering to himself the whole time. The trainer just sighs and starts kneading his forehead with both hands.

"What… What happened?" I hear Charlie ask. Turning my head, I see them staring at the trainer, there's a look on the kid's face that tells me they at least know what could have happened." You know," Says the trainer.

"When Brad showed me that report he bought saying there wasn't just a calm but possibly friendly ghost-type I thought: 'Why not try?' I had a pitch and everything, battles, adventure, luxury, maybe even friends 'till the end," He sighs, putting a hand on Stinger's head.

"Sorry to disturb you two, I guess. I hope you don't mind if I give Brad a bit so I don't run into him on the way back."

"Awful nice of you," I say.

"But you need to ask them about that, this isn't my den," I continue, pointing at Charlie.

"I- Sure?" Charlie says, bobbing in the air a bit. The trainer raises an eyebrow and looks at Stinger, who nods. He then shrugs before setting his bag down and sitting next to it, beginning to look through its contents.

"No water, stupid mistake," He murmurs to himself.

"Nate's really nice," Says Stinger, speaking for the first time since she saw me, "I know it might not mean much coming from me, but he is. Brad can just be a bit… mmm… slow, he's harmless though." She squats down next to her human, leaning into him.

"I kinda wish we got the chance to at least give you the pitch, but I can tell you won't take it now." She turns her head when the now-named 'Nate' pulls out a block of food and passes it to her. The two of them stop talking after that, content to wait in silence.

"I need to stop drifting off like that," Charlie says, eyes a bit wider than normal.

"You need to learn situational awareness too," I tell them, and I know they got the point.

"So you and I are going to work on that, and how to protect yourself, right now. Follow me," I say. They're quiet as they rise a bit, getting ready to follow, before they stop and look at the structure.

"Um, you don't think there will be people in there when I get back do you?" They ask, still staring at the old place." Nah, between what the two of us have shown them the tourists won't be coming back out here for a few days. I'll give it another day or two before we see any more in numbers," I tell them. That doesn't seem to convince them though, as I see their eyes move to Nate and Stinger.

"Those two, at least, don't seem to be idiots," I reassure them.

"And once you get some real experience, idiots won't be a problem either." They think a moment longer before nodding and moving to follow me. They don't try to resist as I lead them out across my lake. I can say a lot of things about the kid, sheltered, skittish, and like all ghosts even a bit unstable, but them being an idiot thankfully isn't one of them. I do have to wonder what the kid's life was like living among humans.

It's been a long time since I fought my way out of there, and from the little they've told me, I get the feeling they had a much better life with them than I did, even if the end had to be painful. But if they don't want to say more then I won't push it. Sometimes, you just need to drown your past and move on.