Hmm...not sure what to put here. This chapter sets up the plot for the first Saga, which I'll be calling the Blue Saga, and Ends the first arc. The Next Arc will begin in chapter five.
Also, I may have included some stuff (Specifically, the scene with Rachel), that may have overstepped my bounds and made my story AU. If so, so be it. Enjoy!
Chapter 4: Breathing Room
“I’s- We’s, that be- appreciate the offer” Kazuko began, munching on a long piece of kelp, “But please, girlie, piss off”.
Jade blinked at the unexpected animosity, and Alex noticed for the first time that her irises were silver. Stupid…magical pokegirls Alex thought faux-grumpily. It was the only thing about Jade’s appearance that suggested her un-humanity- which was an anomaly amongst Megami in general; they were usually indistinguishable from humans.
Smiling wickedly, Jade said teasingly “Oh, feeling bonded to your new master~?” She giggled at this.
Her cheeks reddening, Kazuko tried her best at an incredulous eyebrow-raise- managing, at best, a spasm of her forehead- glanced at Alex, and said “Him’s? Y-you’s think’s I got a bond with him’s!? I ain’t able to decide for me’self from one moment ta’ the next if’in I find him ta’ be the best tamer I’s met or the worst! And certainly he’s the most insane, he be! He’s was laughing at a swarm’a Buzza’s, Hundred’n’ten at least, it’a been! And he’s be laughin’, cool as kelp! The man, he’s got his brain salted, he does!”
“I couldn’t help but notice among that all the fact that at times, you’ve considered me the best trainer you’ve ever met” Alex commented, grinning like a wolf as he watched her uncomfortable reactions, amused.
Glancing at him, she scowled venomously and spit “You’s stop staring, pervert!”
Alex was about to protest this moniker- that was twice she’d called him that, and he was pretty sure that qualified as a nickname (if a fabulously foul one at that) - when Jade began, interrupting the both of them, “Speaking of being perverted…”
Both Alex and Kazuko turned to her, waiting expectantly. Alex leaned back, letting his eyes drift as she marshaled her thoughts. They were in a restaurant across the street from the pokecenter which was known in the region for its seafood and sushi (Alex had wanted to direct a cannibalism joke towards Kazuko, but she’d ordered a big pile of kelp and seaweed, and so the verbal missle had gone unfired), Alex sitting next to Kazuko with Jade across from them in their booth by the front windows. The “bet” Kazuko had declared her winning over had the terms that Jade would pay for Kazuko’s meals while they were here in the city. Alex wasn’t sure what Kazuko was going to have done for Jade if she’d lost; she had no money.
In addition, she had paid for Alex’s meal as well. When he explained that he had no money because it had been stolen, she had stated the meal would be on her (when he had protested, she’d replied that he’d paid her in the laugh she’d gotten when she checked out his pokedex- the one in the name of Tehbesttaymer Indawerld). Alex was still worried about what would happen with that- if he’d be able to get his own pokedex back. He’d have to check that out at the League HQ.
“So…” Jade had begun tentatively. She looked at Alex, but her gaze flickered briefly to Kazuko as she said “I’m guessing you two haven’t gotten around to…Taming”.
It was at this point that Kazuko began to choke on a wad of kelp, and as Alex pounded on her back, he said dryly to Jade “No, we haven’t exactly gotten around to it, what with, you know-” he began to count out the points on his free hand- “Me getting the shit beat of myself, leaping through the jungles from tree to tree, fleeing from a massive swarm of Buzzbreasts, falling down waterfalls, and my recent lack of consciousness”.
Her throat now clear, Kazuko took a delicate sip from her glass of salt water, before saying indignantly “You’s be missing a real important point, I’s thinkin’! It’s small, it is, but you’s forgettin’ that I’s never gunna let him’s touch me’s! I’s be havin’ standards, I do!”
Finally unable to take it, Alex exploded “What is your problem!? I haven’t done anything to you! Plus, I thought you Feeblasses were supposed to be depressed and have low self-esteem, not act like snotty kids and think they’re such hot shit!” The irony of this observation sailed cleanly over Alex’s head, though Jade did give a small snort.
What he couldn’t ignore, however, was the fact that Kazuko had just grabbed him by the throat and slammed him up against the glass pane of the window to Alex’s left. She shouldn’t be able to do this he thought to myself. I mean, I do have partially hollow bones, but even then, this little girl shouldn’t be able to move me so easily.
Alex was reminded of a tidbit that was known as “The Folly of Tamers”, which was listed in every pokedex and was required knowledge on Tamer’s License exams: Among pokegirls, it wasn’t just “looks can be deceiving”; it was that they were. Pokegirls were never what they appeared to be. That, coupled with the fact that Tamers never knew their own strength- and in a bad way- was what led to 80% of the deaths amongst Tamers: over-estimation of the self, and under-estimation of the enemy.
Kazuko’s face was inches from his own, her teeth bared in an angry snarl. While her teeth were as chipped and mismatched as they ever were, Alex was suddenly reminded of a shark, her teeth looking especially sharp this close up.
“You’s wants to know why’s I don’t be liking you?” she said quietly. “Is the same reason I hate’s all you’s humans, it be. You’s be tryin’ to classify’s us, you’s be tryin’ to predict’s us, you’s be tryin’ to say that all of us be the same. You’s be of the mind that you’s be the special ones, the ones who’s is all unique river-rocks. You’s be thinkin’ us pokegirls is little more than animals, you do. That we’s all the same.”
Slowly, ever so slowly, Kazuko unfurled her fingers from Alex’s windpipe. Her sharp little nails had left red marks on his neck, but he wasn’t bleeding. Despite her powerful grip, she’d still been careful not to dig into him- too much, anyway.
“We’s not all the same” she said quietly, turning back to her food. “You’s know that, Alex, you do. Now’s, anyway”.
Alex flopped back into his seat, brooding. Who was she to lecture him? As if she knew more than him! She was just a stupid Feeblass, not a human. But then, of course, came back The Folly of Tamers. Perhaps he was underestimating her. Still, how great could a Feeblass be? At best, they had potential, to become Milotits. He couldn’t shake the thought, though, that there was something…different about Kazuko. Not something obvious like her odd personality. Not something magically different, of course, but simply…different.
Breaking Alex out of his thoughts, Jade cooed “You two make such a cute couple~”
This time, it was Alex who choked and Kazuko who knocked on his back.
* * *
After they’d all eaten their fill (without much more choking), their small group had made their way to the League HQ of the town. Silvermist was a small town, so the government office- which doubled as a police station- was similarly small. Only a single woman was currently working there, idly listening to the radio. The office looked big enough and had enough desks for about ten people, though.
A particular song on the radio caught Alex’s attention:
I walk in the Pokecenter, this is what I see:
E’rry Megami be smilin’ at me
I got my harem at my heels
And we ain’t afraid to battle (battle, battle).
Why?
I’m taming and they love it! (love it!)
Alex hated popular music.
Seeing them, the government representative turned her radio off and smiled. “Something to do? Well, fantastic! I‘m Rachel. What do you need?” She was a short woman with her hair tied back in a pony tail, blonde with grey streaks. Laugh lines were visible in the corners of her eyes. She was probably in her fifties or sixties. Alex was surprised to see there was no Officer Jenny here, but, considering how small a town it was, Rachel seemed to be the only police officer here, or at least on duty; maybe she had an Officer Jenny somewhere in a pokeball.
Alex scratched the back of his neck, wondering how to explain. He felt a tap on his shoulder, and Jade whispered in his ear “We’ll get some supplies while you take care of this”. Alex nodded, and grinned to himself as he heard from behind him Kazuko whining, presumably being dragged out by Jade, “Oi! But I’s want’s to see her’s yell at the moron, I do!”
Turning back to Rachel, Alex began to explain his situation: How he had gotten ambushed in the jungle by Team Rocket (she’d really given him a tongue lashing for being stupid enough to be lured into an ambush like that), how he’d had all his stuff stolen, including his pokegirls and pokedex, and how he’d been left with a Feeblass and little else.
(It was at this point that Alex realized, surprisingly, that during his entire time going through the jungles, he hadn’t used the pokeball that Team Rocket had accidently left him. He laughed inwardly and preened a bit; even without the extra supplies (err, supply) those idiots had accidentally left him, he’d still made it through the jungle! God, he was an awesome tamer!)
Rachel sighed, biting her lip. “This is a tough situation…mind if I see your pokedex?” Alex nodded, handing her his fake one. She linked it up to her computer and after a minute of clicking, said “Huh…this is obviously a fake pokedex. Its serial number belongs to a tamer who dies 107 years ago. This wasn’t made by the League. Can I have your ID number?”
“I can’t remember it-” no one memorizes their ID he thought defensively- “And it was on my pokedex. My full name Is Alexander Engel”. She typed a bit, and said “three matches, worldwide. Are you native to the Indigo League?” He nodded, and, with a click, began reading. As she continued, she began to frown.
After a minute, she sighed, swiveled her chair to face him, and said “Well, this sucks…so, apparently you’re dead. Your pokedex, harem, and a jacket with your blood on it were turned in as proof”.
“Well, can’t you just say ‘hey, he’s alive!’ and fix it like that?” Alex asked.
Rachel shook her head. “No, I can’t. See, all inquiries, non-basic information- everything- has been locked down. I can’t even make a request for information, much less get it. Neither, for some reason, am I able to submit anything”.
Alex was dumbfounded. “Why?”
“I can’t even access that!” Rachel snapped, slamming a small fist against the keyboard. “Sorry” she added instantly, calm once more. “It’s just…why the hell is ILA level clearance required on your profile!? What’s so special about you, that only the leaders of our damn League can know anything about you?”
Alex bit his lip. “What exactly could I have done that would constitute a lockdown like that?”
Rachel sighed, burying her face in her hands. “I don’t know” she mumbled, before running her hands through her hair. “I guess…if you were a Menace Class Terrorist? Maybe the new head of Team Rocket? Stuff like that”.
“But…but I’m not- how can you accuse me of-”
Chuckling now, she said “Relax kid, I didn’t accuse you of anything. Naw, kid like you? No way you could get mixed up in that shit. Or, at least, not so deep in it. You could be a grunt, maybe, or even a Rocket Captain, but…not the leader. ”
Alex nodded. “Thanks for believing me”. Even if you kinda insulted me in doing it.
“Plus, you had a Megami with you, and Megami are never seen around bad people, unless they’re kicking their asses. No, this is definitely a lie”. She sighed, glancing furtively at the screen. “The fact that I, personally, can’t get any information is troubling. I used to be a pretty high ranked League Official, and even after I retired, they let me keep my high rank access. That means this is really high up, whatever it is”. She looked him in the eye and said “I think the governments out to get you”.
* * *
About ten minutes later, Alex exited the police station/office to find Kazuko and Jade waiting outside. The two were laden with shopping bags, and each had a backpack on their backs, the kind tamers often wore. With a start, Alex realized they were each wearing new clothes. Kazuko’s ragged grey dress was replaced with a goth-lolita style one, in blacks and silvers, with some lace and simple frills at the cuffs and hem. Her hair had a small red ribbon in it, and she wore small black shoes on her feet.
Jade, meanwhile, was no longer wearing her pokecenter outfit. She wore a simple white blouse and a short black skirt that showed off her long legs, which wore black stockings with intricate patterns swirling through them.
Catching him looking, Jade smiled. “You like?”
Alex blushed but nodded. “You look great”. Turning to Kazuko, he said, grinning, “And you, for once, don’t look like someone just dragged a dead body out of a lake”. She stuck her tongue out at him and Alex realized that it wasn’t like a normal human tongue. Instead of being short, thin, and kinda wide, it was long, a little thicker, and about half as wide. It terminates in two delicate forks about six inches from her face.
Sighing, Jade asked “Can we please not fight? Let’s go over there-” She pointed to a picnic table across the street, and Alex obliged. They set the shopping bags down and sat down.
As they went through everything, Alex explained what had happened with Rachel. Kazuko and Jade had bought a wide variety of supplies: For starters, new backpacks for all three of them (there was an extra one in a bag for Alex). Jade explained, a little tiredly, how she’d been able to enchant a good amount of their equipment. The bags, for example, had had their insides of every pocket at least doubled in size. Jade tried to make an explanation about it, something involving how “dense” space was, but Alex waved his hand, not in the mood for having his head explode.
They’d bought a few outfits for all three of them (“I hope what we got for you fits” Jade had smiled apologetically), food, water, potions, pokeballs (the irony of pokegirls buying him pokeballs was not lost on him), three tents and sleeping bags, a first aid kit, cooking equipment, matches, toiletries, a flashlight and batteries, a Swiss army knife, a hatchet, and a few other odds and ends.
“Out to get you?” Jade echoed when he explained Rachel’s theory.
“You’s humans gova’ment sure is fickle” Kazuko said. “Kinda funny, it be”.
Alex went on to explain how Rachel had had to confiscate the pokedex, for investigative purposes, but had registered him a new pokedex, under the name “Alex T. Astor”, just in case any League Officials got suspicious of someone with the exact same name reappearing.
She had also logged her phone number into his pokedex, so he could call her if necessary. “I’ll keep you updated in case I notice anything. Good luck, okay?”
He’d asked what she was wishing him luck in, and she’d grimaced. “I forgot to say…see, in situations like this, were there was no body, the ‘deceased’ had a certain window of time to call in. You were listed as ‘almost definitely dead’- not that that’s the correct label, given the evidence of your death- so you only have a week to report in, or you’ll be declared dead and your harem will be given away.
“This wouldn’t usually be a problem; I’d be able to take a DNA sample and prove you alive. But the system’s not accepting any information on your case. So basically, you have a week from the report to show up in the capital”.
“But if the report was sent out right after you got ambushed…” Jade began.
“Then you’s got five days, not countin’ today” Kazuko finished.
Alex confirmed that this was indeed the case. They went back to packing in silence, until:
“Do you think we forgot anything?” Jade asked worriedly.
“Forgot sum’tin!?” Kazuko exclaimed. “We’s got the whole bloody store, we’s do!”
“Yeah, how much did this cost?” Alex asked, worriedly as they packed the equipment into their bags. He was starting to feel guilty about Jade spending so much money on them- and where she’d got the money.
Jade smiled widely, flashing a silver and white card. “Don’t worry about it. I’m not the one paying”.
Alex was unsure of what she meant by that, but didn’t ask; another, more important question had come to his mind. “Hey, why did you want to come along? And why did you feel the need to try to trick me, back in the pokecenter?”
“I’s still say we’s should ditch her, I do”. Kazuko commented, idly flipping the blade in and out of the Swiss army knife. “I’ll’s even help drive her’s off if we need, so’s we can keep the stuff. Sound good, eh?”
Alex frowned at this. That was a bit too much, he thought. He recalled how venomously she’d told Jade to leave back in the restaurant; what did she have against the Megami? It didn’t seem to be personal- they got along fine; Kazuko just didn’t seem to want Jade to go with them. “Jade’s been nice to us. You shouldn’t be so-”
Jade interrupted him, shaking her head. “No, I should apologize, for forcing myself on you like this-” A small snort came from Kazuko, perhaps because of the double entendre. Jade continued “I tried to trick you, because, well…” She shifted back and forth uncomfortably. “It’s standard Megami policy, really. I guess we’re…kinda cautious”.
“And why did you want to come in the first place?”
Jade smiled gently, looking down at her lap. “The reason we’re supposed to give, whenever that question is asked, is ‘mysterious reasons you’re not ready to know’, or the like- even when it’s not true. Tamers are always willing to believe that they’re special, that they’re ‘chosen’, that they have some great destiny”.
She shrugged. “Some do. Most don’t. But I’m getting off topic. Why do I want to come? I guess I was bored…that’s the main reason. Plus, when I first saw the state Kazuko was in, I decided, even if you had a nice explanation, I wanted to watch you, just in case you were abusing her”. Alex opened his mouth to protest, but she raised her hands and said quickly “Don’t worry, I believe you! I know it wasn’t your fault”.
Alex considered this explanation. She hadn’t explicitly stated she wasn’t following him because he was special. Yeah, that was probably it. She was bored, so she picked an interesting Tamer to follow, knowing he’d have some good adventures.
“Still,” she continued, “While suspicion was what drove me at first, I guess I’ve gotten tangled up in you two”. She grinned. “Fact is, I couldn’t just send you on your way- I’d never stop worrying”.
Alex nodded, accepting her explanation. “Alright, you can come” he said, well aware that, despite her politeness, she’d never actually asked for his permission.
“Wells, this’s been a blast, it has” Kazuko said suddenly. “But is we done yet? If she’s be comin’, she’s be comin’; I’s wanna get going, I do!”
“Yes, we should probably get going before it gets too late” Jade agreed.
Alex bit his lip, hesitating. What if they’d forgotten something? But he shook his head, uttering a loud laugh. He was Alex Engel, Tamer extraordinaire! Even if they’d forgotten something, they could deal with it. Hefting his pack around his shoulders, he nodded. “Yeah, let’s go!”