NOVEL FROG Chapter 9: Pink Shadow
??? years ago:
Inyssa sat on the cold, featureless floor, hugging her knees tight. Around her, white extended infinitely in all directions, as though a thick and perfectly uniform blanket of snow had covered the entirety of the world.
It wasn't completely empty, however. Images, shards of sound and motion like mirrors floated above her, but she refused to look. Refused to listen. She pressed her face so tightly against her knees that she could hear the rush of blood in her ears.
Someone sighed in front of her. It was a sound different from that of the others, more real, more substantial.
"It's hard, isn't it?"
Inyssa nodded weakly at the familiar voice, but didn't dare look up. Even so, she could somehow tell that a pale hand was extended toward her.
"It's okay, you don't have to look at them," said the voice. "I'll hide them for you."
Words left Inyssa's mouth, but she couldn't hear them herself. Even so, the other person could.
"...No, I'm not. Not outside of here, at least," she admitted. "But does that make me less real?"
Inyssa said nothing, and the person above her giggled warmly. That pale hand landed on her shoulder and she seized up, but no pain, no iron grip came. Only softness and warmth.
"I'm sorry for what she did," said the voice. "I'm sorry I have to do this. But I'll do my best. I'll keep you safe from them until you're ready, until you can face them again. So until then...
"Stay safe."
As those words echoed through Inyssa's mind, a pearly mist rolled in from all around her, swallowing everything, even her.
Inyssa wanted so badly to stick her new badge to the flap of her coat like a mark of pride, though part of her knew that she'd probably look like a novice who was too excited for her first easy battle if she did so. Barry on the other hand had no second thoughts about it, proudly showing it to anyone who came close to him. She had to force him to save it in his badge case after a few minutes; he'd lose it otherwise.
Sarah and Palmer invited them to a fancy meal in the most respectable (if one could use that word to describe it) restaurant in the city, but Inyssa didn't want to spend another minute around the smoke-filled dump; besides, they had to hurry if they wanted to reach the next town before the sun went down.
"That's the correct answer!" Palmer nodded, arms crossed. "There is no time to sleep or eat on a Pokemon journey; all that matters is the next obstacle in the way!"
"Don't listen to him, please do make sure you're getting enough food and rest," his wife replied, looking at the man with knit eyebrows. "In any case, where are you planning to head next?"
Barry tilted his head to the side, still holding his badge case as if it were his own son. "Isn't the closest Gym in Eterna City?"
"Yes, right past route 206 and 207," Inyssa recounted, trying to remember the map of the region she'd studied. "It's a long way but we should be able to make it in a couple days if we hurry. And if I know your son as well as I do..." She glanced towards Barry and gave him a small bump with her elbow. "He'll make sure we don't slack off on the road there."
Barry's parents glanced at each other for a moment and tried to hide a smile, though Palmer was much less subtle about it.
"If you say so." Sarah gave her son a pat on the head. "Then I guess we should take our leave if you kids are..."
Her words were interrupted by a loud, persistent beeping coming from the woman's wrist. With an exasperated sigh she looked at the Poketch and answered the call. Her device was much bigger and personalized than the version Inyssa had gotten in Jubilife city.
"Yes, hello?" Sarah's voice changed instantly, becoming firmer and colder. "Yes, Sarah Paladino here. I'm not in a position to talk right now, I notified that I would take a day off for my son's..."
She stopped talking. Her expression changed slowly, almost imperceptibly, eyebrows knitting together, lips pressing until they went pale.
"What? Where? What do you mean there was an... was it even an accident?" She turned away from them, shoulders tensing up. "Are there any wounded? Oh good, that will make things easier." She breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll get there as soon as possible and I'll take Palmer with me. Make sure not to let anyone through until the officers from the Association show up."
With a loud beep she finished the call, lost in thought for a moment. She turned again to the kids and then to her husband, an ominous look on her face.
"I have bad news," she announced. "Something happened on Route 206..."
"What's wrong!? Tornado!? Lava!? Legendary Pokemon!?" Palmer's eyes lit up with the same fire as Barry's. "What am I needed for?"
"Calm down, you oaf!" Sarah pushed him out of the way, face red. "There appears to have been a terrorist attack. Someone destroyed the bridge leading to Eterna City."
A cold silence set in around them.
"D-destroyed?" Inyssa repeated, not believing her ears. "Like..."
"The entire bridge!?" Barry yelled next to her, for one second taking his eyes off his badge case. "But isn't it like... really big?"
"At least a third of it collapsed, and from what my coworker reported it wasn't an accident." Sarah crossed her arms, her foot tapping down quickly. "The people below heard Pokemon fighting, and then a huge explosion took down the bridge. Luckily there aren't any wounded, but that just means there are no witnesses either. And whoever did it probably escaped."
Inyssa felt something in her chest become heavy, and her stomach turned. "But... what's going to happen now?"
"I'm afraid the Association is not letting anyone through the route. They're trying to identify the culprit," Sarah said. "Getting to Eterna City will be impossible for now."
"Aw, we have to stay here until then?" Barry's smile dropped in an instant, his shoulders lowering. "But that'll be boring!"
"Kids please, this is serious." Sarah glared at them, arms crossed. "I will let you know when the path opens again, but until then..." She left the sentence hanging and tried to smile again. "But it's okay, you can visit Floaroma Town in the meantime; I heard it's beautiful this time of year."
Inyssa had to stop herself from cursing in front of Sarah, though she almost failed at that. She put a hand on her head, nervously shuffling her hair under her hat; this couldn't be happening. What were the odds? And when she was in such a good mood too...
"This is just great." She closed her eyes and sighed. She didn't want to protest and sound bratty but this was a less than ideal development. "Is there anything interesting to do in Floaroma?"
"Yeah, we don't have time to smell flowers, mom!" Barry placed his hands on his hips as if he were giving her a lecture. "We're extremely busy Pokemon trainers you know!"
"It'll be good for you, trust me," Sarah replied, her patience running thin. "You two could afford to relax for a couple days."
Palmer nodded and grabbed a Pokeball from the pocket of his big green coat, "Good life lesson kids; sometimes you gotta follow whatever path your adventure puts in front of you. Unless it leads to a volcano, that was a bad idea on my part. In any case, we'll let you know when the roadblock is lifted, and if you want I can take you two to Floaroma right now."
"Palmer, I need you on the scene," Sarah told him, grabbing his arm. "If you're going to give them a ride then make it quick, you'll have to run some reconnaissance around the crime scene."
"I'll be back before you know it. Or even before that, that's how fast I am!"
He threw the Pokeball upwards into the sky, which exploded into a white light that started growing more and more until the silhouette above them covered the light of the sun itself. The strange form grew two giant, crescent shaped wings and a small head with a long neck . Wind roared in their ears as the behemoth started flapping his wings. Inyssa's body was frozen, the sight of such a beast leaving her breathless. The Salamence's eyes were set on the two kids, red like rubies.
"W...wh...Th..." Inyssa tried to speak but her brain wasn't cooperating. "Holy..."
"This is the best day of my life," Barry whispered, eyes unblinking.
Palmer stroked his chin, satisfied with the kids' reactions.
"Are you impressed? This is Makura, my best buddy." He whistled to the dragon Pokemon to come down, who did so reluctantly. "He's a bit of a grump but he has a heart of gold. What do you think?"
The Salamence turned his gaze slowly towards Inyssa, as if expecting her answer. The moment his eyes met hers the girl's legs turned to jelly and a violent shiver ran through her spine. She had a feeling that thing could eat her if he didn't like her opinion of him.
"...I've seen scarier," she said, high pitched.
The dragon's eyes narrowed, and for a second she thought she saw him snicker a bit, after which he turned to his master, awaiting orders.
"He seems to like you, so that's something." Palmer put a hand over his snout. "Alright boy, I'll need you to take all three of us to Floaroma, think you can handle it?"
Inyssa could feel the dragon's roar in the ground before he opened his mouth, shaking the air around them and forcing them to block their ears. She assumed that was a yes in Salamence speak.
Palmer performed what appeared to be a circus jump right onto the back of the Salamence, who barely felt the adult human on top of him. "Hop on, kids! He won't bite, probably."
Slowly she approached the dragon, while Barry simply ran towards him and jumped on his back like his father did. However the Salamence's eyes were not set on him, but on Inyssa. The girl felt the red gleams piercing her body, and for once in her life she wasn't going to be a smartass and try to anger the incredibly powerful beast. With as much tact as possible she put one leg on top of his knee while she pushed herself upwards, landing face first behind Barry.
"Are you sure this is your best form of transportation?" she asked Palmer, her hands shaking.
"The best legal one at least," Palmer smiled and looked down at his wife. "Would you mind covering for me again? Just tell them I'm doing very important Frontier Brain things and I'll be there as soon as I'm done."
"Yeah sure, I already have a speed dial for covering you up," Sarah said as she showed her Poketch. "Just try not to crash into another airplane."
"A what!?" Inyssa screamed from behind Barry, suddenly not feeling too sure about their current situation.
"That's in the past Sarah!" He pointed a finger at her. "I'm a better man now. Let's go Makura, towards Floaroma!"
Inyssa couldn't see what was happening but she felt the Salamence's wings flapping, and the horrible feeling in her stomach told her they were slowly ascending. When she finally dared to look down she saw only a black spot that she assumed was Sarah, many feet below her. She was debating herself whether to put her arms around Barry to keep herself steady, since no one could see the color of her face while they flew, or just grab the scales of the dragon Pokemon and possibly slip off and die. She was seriously considering her options when she heard Palmer speak.
"Grab on to something! This will get intense fast!"
The Salamence's body began to glow with a scarlet aura, wings arched back, and Inyssa felt a strange pressure in the air around her ears. Her arms moved on their own, grabbing on to Barry as strongly as possible, and she inhaled deeply.
The immense force almost made her fall from the dragon's back, the air around her exploding into a sonic boom and obscuring the view below into a blur of lights and shapes barely recognizable. The small part of her brain that was still working thought that there was no way she could hold on, but she slowly felt that the wind around her became less and less violent as seconds went by, and when she dared to open her eyes she noticed that they were now traveling at a more reasonable speed. They were still fast, but she could at least recognize the landscapes below as they soared. In front of her Barry was either trying to say something or just making random excitement sounds as his blonde hair waved violently behind him, hitting Inyssa in the face.
Slowly the knot in her stomach unraveled, and her eyes started exploring everything below her, from the brown stone around Oreburgh's caves to the endless sea of green that was the surrounding routes. A smile formed on her lips as her breath was taken by the amazing view. Excitedly she turned her head in all directions, trying to take it all in; but her gaze finally set in on a single point, almost directly behind her. Her smile disappeared as she witnessed a giant, oppressive wall of smoke coming from the north of Oreburgh, covering most of the sky around it. That must have been where the bridge was destroyed, which meant...
A flash of green appeared from the pillar of smoke and flew in front of her eyes, passing all of them towards what she guessed was Floaroma Town. The Pokemon almost crashed with them but made a last second pirouette and his green leaf wings almost touched her face. The person on top of the Pokemon turned her face towards them, and Inyssa could only see a flash of pink that she assumed was the girl's hair.
"Watch where you're flying you jackass!" She barely heard the woman's voice as her Pokemon sped towards the town, slowly disappearing.
"Ah, lovely," Palmer said in front of her, only a speck of sarcasm in his voice. "We're almost there kids, hold on tight!"
Her stomach turned as the Salamence veered downwards and they started falling into Floaroma at an alarming speed. She could see a blur of colors that she assumed were the fields of flowers. Only seconds before reaching the ground the beast's wings extended greatly, absorbing momentum and decreasing the speed of his fall, until he finally landed on solid ground as smoothly as a falling leaf.
Inyssa tried to get off the dragon but her body was too stiff and she simply slipped off and went straight to the ground. While her face was getting acquainted with the dirt beneath her she heard Barry talking to her.
"That was... WHOOHOO! That was the best!" He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her upwards, helping her to her feet. "Wasn't that the best, Niss?"
"It was... something, alright." She tried to clean the dirt off her clothes but her arms were still shaking. "I think I need to... lie down for a second."
The Salamence made a growly sound that Inyssa thought was a laugh. She was going to kick that dragon's ass once she had a better team.
"Well, I have to go before I bring Sarah even more trouble." Palmer spoke on top of his Pokemon. "Have fun kids! And remember, don't accept weird flowers from people unless they're a declaration of love! Goodbye!"
Before she even had the change to say something crude to him the Salamence extended his wings once more and flew up towards the sky, disappearing from their view. Barry smiled, his hair still an indescribable mess from the wind, and breathed deeply, taking in the sweet aroma. She had to admit to herself, this place was very pretty, all around them brightly painted houses filled the place and countless trees, flowers and plants grew at the sides of the streets and in the walls, making it seem like nature was overrunning the city. Hundreds of different flower smells traveled the air, confusing her nose yet not exactly making it hard to breathe. It was like a symphony of floral scents.
"Did you hear that Niss? If you wanna confess your love to someone then you can find all the flowers you want here!" He patted her on the back strongly. "Just make sure it's not a Sunflora."
"If I had to do that I don't think I'd get you a bunch of lame flowers." She spoke without thinking, still concentrating on the overwhelming smell. "Maybe a stack of pancakes."
There was a long silence that Inyssa didn't notice until she turned to Barry. He was looking at her, one eyebrow raised and a sly smile on his face.
"I didn't specify who you were gonna confess your love to."
Inyssa froze, and suddenly she felt like the temperature rose a bit.
"So hey, what is there to do around here?" she looked away. "We should probably look around, see what we find."
Barry put a hand over his stomach, "I'm hungry, I haven't eaten since like... breakfast. We should find the Pokemon Center first."
"Breakfast was two hours ago."
"It was a really uneventful breakfast," he sighed. "Toast and coffee, the same as nothing."
"I had nothing and I'm not complaining, you big crybaby." She started looking around, trying to find any recognizable landmark. "Let's split up. You look for the Pokemon Center and book us a couple rooms, and I'll search for something to do later."
"Alright, I'll try to save you something." Barry put himself in his usual running position, and turned his head to her before taking off. "Don't get in trouble without me!"
And with that he disappeared into the distance.
Inyssa's stroll through the town was as uneventful as it was pleasant, taking in every single sight that presented itself to her and slowly appreciating the beauty of everything. Part of her thought that as tacky and overdone as the whole flower aesthetic was, she wouldn't mind living here after becoming the Champion. Sure would beat living in Oreburgh or Jubilife. Everyone she met and talked to seemed unusually nice, and while there were a couple sleazy flower sellers around most people were just happy giving them away to any stranger that passed by. She imagined she must've looked like a foreigner from her clothes, since everyone seemed to be wearing some variation of summer attire, lots of sundresses and beach shorts.
She was walking around a bright violet painted block of houses when she heard something close to her, at the other side of one of the alleyways in between two houses. She didn't have any reason to stop, but something inside her made her body freeze at the sound of that voice. She stopped right before the hallway and put her ear close to the bricks.
"...his strongest commander, just to get us. It was smart, but that doesn't mean they don't have their full attention on us." It was a young woman's voice, and it sounded jagged and tired. "...No, we're not hiding. I don't care how many people they throw at us... can you listen to me before complaining!? We'll stay low for now, but we have to keep going if we want to stop them. Sorry but if you're gonna use me I'll have to make you pay rent, metaphorically speaking. We'll start with..."
She stopped talking, and a long silence extended from that hallway towards where Inyssa was. After a couple seconds she realized that the silence felt heavy somehow, as if it were surrounding her like weightless water. Before she had time to turn away the woman appeared from the other side of that hallway, and Inyssa almost had a heart attack from the surprise.
She was easily six feet tall and looked to be in her mid or late twenties, halfway between chubby and buff, wearing a sleeveless black shirt with fishnet under it and a golden halo in the middle, under which were the words No God. Her hair was a bright pink at the tips and brown on the base, making her head look like a paintbrush.
The strange woman blinked, and for a single moment the blue of her eyes seemed to change into a bright yellow, although it changed again as soon as she blinked. She didn't seem to have any sort of Poketch or ear piece or any device that would explain who she was talking to. Her left shoulder was covered with a white cloth that seemed to be stained with blood, and she appeared to be hurt on other places in her body, even if her posture didn't reveal that.
She stared right at Inyssa for a couple seconds, her expression shifting between surprise, anger and obliviousness. Then, she turned around. She walked right past her, shadows covering her eyes.
"Good day," she whispered while passing, slightly limping.