It's been days since Giovanni and Ariana decided to avoid capture by ending their lives by blowing themselves and their last hideout at Five Island.
Giovanni's death signified the end of Team Rocket and of an era, and also heralded the beginning of a new age. For better or for worse, Indigo will change, it is now up to Lance and his Pillars to decide how and what that change will be. This is no longer something that the interpol can interfere with.
I decided to spend my free day paying Volkner a visit. He's still in the hospital and so is Jasmine. Jasmine had not yet woken up while Volkner had suffered a blow to his head. Thankfully, both of them are alive, but I know that they both had lost pokemon while trying to defend Olivine from Zapmolcuno.
"She's a lot better now. The doctor said that there's a chance for her to wake up within these two weeks. She is starting to respond to outside stimulus. When I was talking to her last night her fingers actually moved a little. So yeah, we are fine."
Volkner is almost always keeping a vigil by Jasmine's bedside. He is on the way to a speedy recovery. Jasmine is still in a coma but things are starting to look well for her too.
"I guess it's goodbye after this, huh?"
"Aw, don't be so sad, short stack. It's not like we will never see each other ever again." Volkner flippantly waved me off from where he was sitting on a chair beside Jasmine's bed.
"I'm not sad, just annoyed, because you not joining means that I now have to help Looker look for and recruit somebody else to replace your role in the interpol."
"Asked Kayla?"
"She refused."
"Oh damn, you're out of luck."
"Damn straight. Do you have any other recommendations?"
"Nope. None that I could think of that fits your search criteria and is free to go travelling round the world like you do."
"So that means I'm allowed to bug you until you join, because there's nobody else."
"Now that's just being plain mean. Can you really bring yourself to harass a patient who is still recovering from a head wound?" Volkner pointed to his bandaged head to further emphasize his point. I looked at the wound, then back at him.
"Yeah, I can."
"Heartless."
"I tend to leave that impression on people."
"You'll never get a boyfriend at this rate."
"Not thinking of getting one and not in a hurry to do so."
"Don't make your statement so soon, you never know when your words will come back to bite you in the ass. Trust me, I'm speaking from experience," Volkner replied with his signature yawn. "So, did Looker say anything about what you guys will be doing next?"
"He didn't mention anything too specific, but I believe our next stop will be Unova. Team Plasma is starting to grow into a real threat. At the rate they are going, they can easily be the next Team Rocket within the next five years if nobody is there to stop them."
"If even you can see that, then Looker could too. My thoughts are the same as yours, the interpol's next stop has to be Unova. No other matter is as urgent as the Team Plasma problem once Team Rocket is out of the picture," Volkner voiced his agreement. "But be careful, Unovans are a religious lot and Team Plasma gains their supporters through the propagation of a twisted version of Unovans' beliefs. You are treading on a thin line here, because nobody is wrong and everybody is right the moment religion comes into the picture. This is partly the reason why the Plasma problem got blown up to such proportions."
I mulled over his advice for a short moment before asking him another question.
"If it was you, how would you go about trying to convince people that their so-called beliefs and religion is wrong, that they are hurting people just by supporting Team Plasma's acts?"
Volkner went silent with an uncharacteristically grim look on his face.
"You let them experience it for themselves, what their beliefs really mean for the victims on the receiving end of Team Plasma's treachery. Give them the cold hard truth. The rational ones will start to see their mistakes. The irrational ones… They are probably beyond saving at this point."
Volkner let out a soft sigh before continuing.
"In my opinion, you will need influential people to help you with this. I'm not talking about just any Tom Dick or Harry, Vel, I'm talking about the really influential ones. Like Pillar level kind of influential and more. If you are still in doubt and have no idea where to start collecting evidence, always start from the money trail. If it's possible, convince the Unova Government to put an embargo on any businesses related to Team Plasma no matter the cost. A large organisation like Team Plasma has to get their fundings from somewhere, cut it off at the source and they will be hard pressed to function properly. Find their biggest supporters and remove them from the equation one by one. Do it right, and it will just be a matter of time before Team Plasma falls."
"Money, huh?" I supported my chin with the back of my hand as I gave a deeper thought towards the issue. "Doesn't seem that obvious at first glance, but it makes sense for Team Plasma to have some very influential supporters backing them up. They would not have been able to do half of the things they managed to do thus far otherwise. Even Team Rocket amassed a nation's worth of money in order to properly operate on such a large scale, I don't see why Team Plasma is any different."
"And there you have it, one solution to the Plasma problem."
"Thanks. Are you really not joining us? Not even thinking about it? I mean, not immediately, cos Jasmine obviously still needs you, but in the future?"
"I… I don't know," Volkner admitted. "Zapmolcuno was enough to give me nightmares for the rest of my life."
"I'm sorry for your loss," I said, knowing that he and Jasmine had both lost some of their pokemon in that battle. I can never imagine losing any of my pokemon in that manner, so I can only guess what Volkner is feeling right now. He doesn't outwardly show it, but I know that he grieves for the loss of his pokemon friends when he is alone.
"We knew what we were getting into. That battle wasn't any different from the countless other ones we partook in Sinnoh, the only difference was that a legendary was involved this time." Volkner spoke and I could feel the melancholy in his tone. "We tried our best and we knew it, their deaths is something that I have to come to terms with eventually. I will grieve for them, but I won't let myself wallow in misery forever because that will only dishonour them. You will do well to keep that in mind, Vel. Losing your pokemon is a very common occurrence in our line of work, I'm just lucky to only experience such loss so late in life. Not sure about the other regions, but in Sinnoh, the average soldier would lose a pokemon by the time they joined the service for about two to three years, that's just how it is."
"I... will cross that bridge if I ever get there," I replied, not wanting to imagine going through such a loss at all.
"I really hope you never do, Vel. I really hope you never do."
"What do you mean he's gone?"
"As I said, he's gone," Looker repeated his words as he sat behind his desk with a cup of hot coffee in hand, looking entirely unbothered that one of Team Rocket's Executive that was under the strict watch of Indigo had just made his great escape without anyone knowing how or why.
The person who went missing is Jayce. Considering that he was Project Illusion's Operative 2046, the double agent who was Lance's mysterious informant and warned us of the crisis before we were blindsided, and also known as Team Rocket's Executive Plague, going by the fake identity known as Jacob Myers of Viridian for so many years, I'm appalled that the Indigo could actually lose someone of such importance under their watch.
It is also very likely that he is the Shadow that the six of us had been looking for all this while. None of us were allowed to see him after we had successfully rescued him due to his status, the only people allowed to visit were the people who had Lance's permission to do so. I had been patiently waiting for the day where one of us could talk to him, alone, to get confirmation if he really is the person who we think he is.
I just never thought that he would orchestrate a prison break just a few days after he woke up. His injuries are supposed to be grievous, he is supposed to barely be able to move, and he's being guarded and watched over by some of Indigo's best operatives round the clock whose only job is to prevent anyone from entering or leaving the room without Lance's permission.
So, assuming that this is really his doing, how on earth did Jayce manage to do what he did? It would take another miracle for us to find him ever again. We will never have confirmation about the prophecy, we will never know what he knows and it may just be information that we need to know the reason for our existence here.
So, I think that I am entirely justified to feel vexed and irritated upon learning this piece of news.
"How?" I cannot help but question, because I know just how heavily guarded Jayce's ward was. "He's not supposed to be able to do that, especially when he has no access to any pokemon."
"That is not entirely accurate, he does have access to his pokemon." Looker corrected me, looking as though he had expected Jayce to make an escape all along.
"What?!" I cannot help but exclaim. "Isn't that a stupid thing to do?"
"It's beneficial for everyone if he went missing due to the conflicting nature of his identity and allegiance. If all we need to do to lend him a hand to conduct a prison break is to allow him to have his pokemon back, well…"
"So Lance was expecting this and is turning a blind eye, is that it? What am I missing here?" I questioned, knowing that the dirty politics of Indigo must have been behind this somehow.
"You have to consider his unique circumstances," Looker patiently explained from where he was sitting. "He is an undercover spy. Well, not officially recognised under Indigo's laws due to the illegality of Kain's Project Illusion, but he was indeed working for Indigo's interests for his entire life upon an order given by the then leader of the nation. However, you also cannot discount the fact that he is also a bona fide terrorist who had planned and participated in many terrorist acts. Add the current sensitive topic of the Kanto-Johto divide that we barely managed to keep under control, you have a powder keg waiting to explode in the form of an operative who was arguably responsible for both the prevention and also ironically played a part in starting the entire war. As such, nobody has any real clue on how to properly deal with him. There are just as many people wanting to try him for his crimes just as many people out there who are willing to pardon him. Lance and Samuel Oak are both stuck between a rock and a hard place."
"People are using Jayce as a tool to play the blame game. Technically, he orchestrated the entirety of Team Rocket's Operation Skip. If all of the blame were to be pushed onto him, it could turn the public's attention away and make Jayce take the fall for Indigo." I realised with widening eyes.
"Yes. There are people high up in Indigo's ruling body who are constantly pressuring us and Lance to reveal Jayce's existence to the public in their attempt to quell the public's rage that had resulted from this mess. It's a miracle that Jayce's existence is still being kept a secret, no doubt a result of the Professor's influence. Grimsley has also been pressuring Lance to be able to bring Jayce back to Unova with him, but while Lance may be the Champion, his authority doesn't allow him to do whatever he likes without taking into account the opinion of other important stakeholders."
"But if he somehow happens to escape his confinement before anyone can come to a conclusion on how to deal with him…" I trailed off, already understanding just how and why Lance and Professor Oak had dealt with this situation the way they did without allowing anyone to trace their involvement back to them.
"Even if the faction who wanted Jayce exposed to the public and pin the blame on him will be hard pressed to push on their demands. Every single bit of Jayce's identity is fake, including his ID, so he technically never existed. They can't possibly pin the blame on a fictitious person, nobody would believe their claims unless they somehow caught Jayce again and televised it to the world, which I highly doubt to be possible. I honestly doubt that we would ever see him again now that he's gone, but it is not exactly a bad thing either."
"I still don't understand. How does Jayce even get hold of his pokemon in the first place? I thought they were confiscated."
"Remember how Grimsley was the one who had custody of Jayce's pokemon? Grimsley doesn't trust Indigo, obviously, not after he learnt that Kain was the one who murdered his in-laws and brainwashed his son to be his personal tool. I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow managed to pass Jayce's pokemon back to him without anyone knowing. Dark Specialists can be rather tricky to deal with."
"Lance had everything planned out from the start," I deadpanned. There's no way Lance wasn't involved when the outcome turned out to be so convenient for everyone involved.
"More like the Professor and Lance planned it out together," Looker chuckled before releasing a sigh. "A pity though, I had wanted to try recruiting Jayce for our cause. Someone of his skill and experience was exactly what we were looking for, someone who can acquire information for us through unconventional means."
"I thought he didn't have very long left to live? I don't understand the scientific jargon Shannon was talking about but the gist I got was he had overused Mega Evolution and it shortened his lifespan considerably? Would someone like that want to use his remaining time to help us?"
"I don't know, but it never hurts to try," Looker admitted. "Oh well, I guess we should start looking for other candidates and plan for our next mission. Our work in Indigo is done anyway."
"How soon are we leaving?" I asked.
"I'm hoping to leave within the week, two weeks max." Looker informed me. "The foreign delegations are also all starting to plan their leave now that their work here is done. Whatever that happens from now onwards is not something that we can easily interfere with because this is Indigo's domestic business, so it's best to just leave before things either get awkward, or people start to question our intentions in overstaying our welcome. Certain lines still have to be drawn despite the nature of our line of work."
"Before this mess happened we were supposed to be recruiting people to join us. Where are we supposed to look for them now?"
"I extended an invitation to Skye, I think she has the needed skills seeing how she had handled herself during the operation on Five Island and the fact that Lugia had chosen her to be its rider. Lugia had extended its protection to her, that means something. Earning a legend's acknowledgement is not something many people have succeeded in doing throughout our world's long history. There were Champions and Pillars involved in the war, and none of them were chosen by Legends. Yet, a Ranger nobody knew of until now was chosen and acknowledged by Lugia. Do you understand the implications of such an act?"
"Lugia extended its protection to Skye…?" I inquired, not understanding what Looker was talking about.
"Nobody believed Skye when she said that she found Lugia through Lugia's instructions, that it had talked to her in her head. Someone decided to do a psychic extraction of her memories for verification but Skye didn't want it, found that idea to be too intrusive. I wasn't made aware of the details, but from what I was told when someone's psychic foolishly tried to force its way into her mind Lugia's power somehow immediately interfered and promptly kicked them out."
"Cool. But how?"
"It's Lugia, a legendary pokemon," Looker shrugged. "Nobody understands half the things they do and how they did it, you just accept their acts of miracle and roll along. Oh, someone else that we both know had caught my attention too back at the operation at Five Island, so I extended an invitation to him too. Jacky Marsh, your opponent in your conference. I'm surprised that someone of his skill had chosen to enlist in the Rangers instead of Indigo STAR. Jacky and Skye will fit right in, they are more than capable of handling themselves and the knowledge and experience they gained during their time as Rangers might prove to be useful in certain situations."
"So they might join us?"
"Probably, hopefully. I think there's a very good chance that Jacky will join us. I'm still sitting on the fence when it comes to Skye's acceptance of my offer. Maybe you can help me and give her a call and persuade her?"
"Right away, boss." I mock saluted before quickly making my way out of the room to give Skye a call. Skye's too fun and there's no way I would pass up the chance to convince her to join us in our world-saving gig.
We found Shadow, but recruiting him had turned out to be a bust. Now, if only Akamu and Mary decided to stay on too, then things will be perfect.
"Leaving already? Ah, that's truly unfortunate. I wanted to have a battle with you too."
Morty's lament elicited a laugh out of me. The interpol are still staying at Olivine, because this was where our accommodations are located and partly because Volkner trusts me enough to ask for my help to look after his home in his absence. To be perfectly honest, Kayla is doing most of the work in ensuring that everything in his West Forest is doing fine in their absence, I usually just keep her company and run a few errands when needed.
While the side of Olivine closer to the sea had been heavily damaged thanks to the battle with Zapmolcuno, the rest of Olivine remained largely untouched. I'm sure that I am not the only one who could still remember how Jasmine and her pokemon practically saved the entire city by putting themselves in between them and the Kanto's legends. That is definitely something that will be talked about by the city for many years to come.
Jasmine is still in a coma. People do not feel as safe without a Gym Leader watching over the city because this period of time is their most vulnerable. Chuck and Morty took turns to help watch over Olivine in Jasmine's absence because their cities are the nearest to hers, but Jasmine's Assistant Gym Leader Eusine is doing most of the real work in facilitating a speedy rebuilding of the city. There are also rumours that depending on the speed of Jasmine's recovery, Eusine might or might not take over her position of Olivine Gym Leader entirely.
Today is Morty's turn to help keep watch over Olivine. He is pretty laid back all things considered, and I happened to bump into him near Olivine Gym when I was helping Kayla deliver a stack of documents to Jasmine's office.
"Maybe I will challenge your gym the next time I'm here," I offered, and Dolly voiced her agreement by making a sudden appearance, waving an enthusiastic hello at Morty's gengar before diving back into my shadow. I could sense the eagerness of the other ghosts hiding in there as well, something which I haven't been able to sense before. I'm starting to think that I am getting more and more attuned to the ghosts living alongside me at every passing moment because I am starting to be able to understand them with greater clarity as time passes.
Maybe my "superpower" is finally awakening?
"I will hold you up to it," Morty said with a grin before talking about another seemingly unrelated topic. "By the way, do you know the history of my clan, the Matsuba clan?"
"Uh, no? Sorry," I replied with hesitance. Am I supposed to know about it?
"Oh, don't be. I was really just asking for the fun of it. You just reminded me too much of my clan's benefactor, that's all."
"Your clan's benefactor?" I asked, my curiosity now thoroughly piqued at this strange turn in our conversation.
"The Matsuba clan officially came into being during the warring states era, although from historical records our ancestors had always been living in Ecruteak centuries before then. To give a little context, the warring states era wasn't kind to our ancestors. We were on the verge of extinction, hunted down by our rival clans and nearly exterminated."
I took a seat in the room we are resting in, knowing that this might take a while. Rena made herself comfortable by jumping and then curling herself up in my lap while Fuzzy decided to perch himself on the top of my head. Archer stood silently by my side as per usual.
"Then someone single handedly saved our clan much like a story out of a fairy tale. Our benefactor was a woman who could command ghosts as easily as breathing, something unheard of at that time. She ripped our rivals apart and saved our clan. Not only that, to give us power to protect ourselves, everything that she knew about how to tame, control, and command ghost types, she taught it to us, making us the first official clan whose members are able to wield their powers on the battlefield and slaughter our enemies. From then onwards, we were recognised as an official clan and regained our standing in Ecruteak. Naturally, our clan swore allegiance to her for everything she had done for us. Our clan had never done something similar ever again, she was the first and the last person who the Matsuba clan swore fidelity to in our long history. It was said that the name Matsuba wasn't our original clan name, our clan leader back then decided to change our clan name to Matsuba because we had sworn allegiance to our benefactor under a pine tree. Our name, Matsuba, means "pine" in oriental tongue."
Morty then playfully wagged an eyebrow at me.
"Our benefactor did not want us to leave any form of records about her, so what the descendents of the clan do know about her are mostly passed down through word of mouth. Do you know what our elders' description of her was? She was a young woman with blonde hair and green eyes. Despite being constantly accompanied by ghosts, a rapidash and an espeon are always by her side. Sometimes a scizor can be seen around her as well. Granted, it is common for people to domesticate the ponyta line even before then and scythers and eevees are not exactly super rare to begin with, but still, you cannot deny that her description fits you down to a T, right?"
I looked down at Rena, who is also looking back up at me. We then both looked towards Archer, who gave me a 'how-do-you-want-me-to-react' look.
To be fair, like Morty had mentioned, the ponyta, eevee, and scyther species, while uncommon, aren't exactly impossible to be found in the Johto region if you know where to look. In fact, depending on which area of Johto you are looking at, some of their species can be found very easily. Still, this coincidental resemblance is getting creepy.
"Resemblance aside, do you now understand what kind of legendary figure she was seen as? This was five hundred years ago, where pokeball technology was rudimentary at best and only the richest and most influential people had the ability to afford even one of those ancient Apricorn pokeballs. Taming pokemon was a highly dangerous affair and by extension, being a pokemon trainer, because there is no pokeball to protect you from harm. Many things were still not discovered five hundred years ago, like how to evolve an eevee into an espeon and how to evolve a scyther into scizor. People knew such pokemon existed, but none knew how or what triggers the evolution process to reach their final form. And then comes along a young woman in an era where women's social standing are at the absolute lowest, possessing pokemon whose knowledge of their evolutionary secrets are things that people will kill for, ripping apart the entire Ecruteak just to save one clan by commanding one of the most vicious pokemon typings known to mankind. Ghost typing aside, how she managed to tame and command so many pokemon without the aid of a pokeball was a true wonder and also a miracle."
"And yet the history books don't have her name penned down? Even Champion Ishikawa only managed to tame six pokemon, and that was already considered a trainer's limit of their time, the reason why the official maximum number of pokemon we can use in battles is six and nothing more than that. If your clan's benefactor is as skilled as you said, then… why?"
"I have no idea. It's like everything about her was either forgotten or erased on purpose," Morty shrugged. "The only places where you can now find mentions of her exploits are in my clan or at Azalea. Azalea was where she first started out and met Champion Ishikawa and subsequently joined him on his quest to unite Indigo under a single banner."
"What's her name?" I decided to ask, now totally invested in this story.
"Not too sure, because she never gave out her real name to anyone. She goes by many names in Azalea. She was known as Lady Ilex, the Forest Fairy, Shadow Maiden, just to name a few. Ilex Forest was supposedly named after her, by the way, but even my clan didn't know if Ilex was really her true name. In the end, we only have her titles to go by," Morty sighed. "Either that, or her real name has been lost to time. If you search hard enough in Azalea you might find some of her tales still being passed around till this day. Nothing significant enough to be recorded in the history books, but lasting enough to be remembered even five hundred years later. What our clan did know was that her help was crucial in helping Ishikawa Katsuo conquer both regions and subsequently found the Indigo League. You know who Ishikawa Katsuo is, right?"
"The first Indigo Champion, the first person to ever have the foresight to set up a Pokemon League to cease all wars, and it was the precursor to the formation of the PWL because other regions started to see the value behind the peace that a Pokemon League can uphold in a region and potentially across the world," I recited from memory.
"Yes, the Indigo Champion has been praised as a visionary and a revolutionary figure because of that. Standardising all forms of language and currency, setting up laws, maintaining peace and averting wars with his mere strength alone… The things he had done for Indigo were many, but he couldn't have done it alone. That woman I was talking about, our clan's benefactor, there were claims that Champion Ishikawa couldn't have done everything he had done without her input and help. We don't know the specifics of the extent and type of help she had given him, but we do know that the Champion not only holds her in very high regard, but also very likely has romantic interests for her. However, it doesn't seem like she ever reciprocates those feelings."
"So a one-sided affair on the Champion's part? Huh, I never heard or read about something like this before. You are right, this is not something to be found in history books."
"Champion Ishikawa also has many allies, including many famous clans back then. One of them still survives till this day, the Uehara Clan of Fuschia City, a clan of shinobis."
"Uehara? Isn't that…"
"Koga's clan," Morty affirmed with a nod of his head and a grin on his face. "Champion Ishikawa's wife was a Uehara and he conquered Kanto with her help. Sadly, she didn't live long enough to witness him conquer Johto to form the Indigo. Many historians argued whether Champion Ishikawa held any love for his wife or if their union was simply a political arrangement. Well, that is not really my concern here, I just thought that this might be a nice tidbit that you would want to know. You can't really hear this story anywhere else."
"So, you see a resemblance between me and your clan's benefactor because we have not only the same hair and eye colour, but also the ability to command a large number of ghosts?"
"Yep, that's basically it. Are you sure you don't have any ancestors from Johto? Maybe you are really her descendent somehow one way or another?"
"I honestly doubt it. My family has been living in Hoenn even before the warring states, we even have a detailed family tree to prove it," I shook my head in reply. "But my looks were mostly inherited from my mother and I'm not too sure about the ancestry on my mother's side, so there's a very small chance that your guess might be true."
I swore that Morty's eyes shone the very moment I said that.
"Are you seriously thinking what I think you are thinking?" I asked carefully, a little taken aback by how excited Morty seemed to be.
"How could I not?" Morty argued. "Agatha had been telling me about your peculiarities long before I met you, I've been interested in your abilities for a while now. Do you even know how abilities in humans manifest? For example, human psychics? For that to be possible they definitely have ancestors with that same kind of power, passed down from one generation to the next. These powers may not manifest in every generation, it may lay dormant within their blood and skip their appearances entirely for more than a hundred years and then suddenly manifest three or four generations later. Famous psychics like Sabrina? Caitlin? Tate and Liza? They definitely have psychics as their ancestors."
"Wait," I shot up in my chair as I suddenly thought about Morty's words and the kind of "superpower" that me and my fellow reincarnated souls are supposed to have. "I don't know much about these things. These 'abilities', can you elaborate? Is it possible to have abilities that are not psychic? And if so, what kind of abilities have been documented?"
"It really depends on what you want to classify as an "ability"," Morty said with an air-quote motion of his fingers. "People with abilities are being referred to with different names, depending on the region and the period of time it was documented throughout history. The Altered, Enhanced, Shifted, Transcendents, Ability Holders... Well, you get the gist, although in modern day we refer to them as Ability Holders. Some abilities are not as easily identified, often manifesting in a more passive manner. Ever heard of the ancient order founded by the elusive Aura users, Sinnoh's Aura Guardians? They are said to be blessed with the fighting type's ability to sense and harness lifeforce which we call 'Aura'. There are beliefs that anyone who could still use Aura today are descendants of the Aura Guardians, like Bruno. The first Unova Champion, the Mad Conqueror? It was said that he lived among dragons and he could even speak their tongue, allowing him to effectively command an army of angry dragons to fight his battles in a manner that nobody else can replicate. That ability granted him so much firepower during the war that his enemies ruthlessly hunted and culled any of his known descendents in fear of having that ability passed down. The Tidecaller, Alola's infamous female pirate that brought about a grand age of piracy within Alola during the warring states? Her ability to breathe in water and to easily command water types made her nigh invincible in the Alola region where water is practically everywhere, and she subsequently made use of her abilities to bring her pirates out to terrorise the world, starting from Kalos. Her influence and skills as a Water Specialist was so legendary that even till today, she is still being referred to as the epitome of what a Water Specialist should be. Her original title of "Tidecaller" is still being used today, although in modern times such titles are only given to highly skilled Water Specialists as an acknowledgement of their strength. Siebold is one such person who has the rare honour to be given the title of "Tidecaller". That is the true origin behind his title."
Morty paused for a moment before continuing to tell me what he knows.
"There are other documentations of various "abilities" manifesting, of course, like how some people naturally had tougher skin and don't injure easily, some people never suffering a burn in their entire lives, but ultimately, these are inconsequential minor things that nobody would ever notice and hence classify as a supernatural "ability" when there are flashier ones out there, notably the psychics."
So, in essence, if Morty's words are to be believed, our abilities may have very well been something passed on to us by our ancestors from decades or maybe even centuries ago, only choosing to manifest in us right now. My affinity with ghost types may have very well been something that has been passed down within my family from either side but I'm the only member in which that ability has manifested after so many generations of laying dormant. The same might be true for my fellow reincarnated souls too.
"How do these abilities first come about anyway?"
"Ah, that is another black hole to dive into, talking about it can take the whole day," Morty yawned. "Sadly, Indigo isn't very big on preserving history. You would have better luck trying to decipher such mysteries in the other regions like Sinnoh or Kalos. Maybe Unova too, who knows, if some of their original history survived the Culture Purge four hundred years ago."
Morty tossed a snack at his gengar as he continued to talk.
"In your case, you might just want to ask your mother if she knows anything about her family's ancestry. Even without the resemblance between your physical appearances, the similarities between your abilities is too uncanny so it's unlikely for there to be no relations between the both of you whatsoever. The ability of my clan's benefactor to command so many ghosts at once must have been an ability too and if you are truly her descendent, then it would not be impossible for her ability to have finally manifested in you after more than five hundred years. If you are of her blood, I promise you that you will always find an ally in us, the Matsuba clan."
"That's a lot to think about."
Morty's reply was another grin.
"That goes for pretty much everything, doesn't it?"
60
"Morty said that?"
"Yeap. So I was thinking if you know anything about our ancestry on your end since it cannot be from Dad's side, just so you know… Uhm, for our own benefit?"
"I… I'm almost certain that my side of the family has been in Hoenn for as far as we could trace back, but since we are looking at more than five hundred years worth of history, I cannot really say for sure." Mum said in deep thought on the other end of the video call. I can see Dad beside her and oh, Vance is there too. What a rare appearance.
"That sounds pretty cool, ain't it? Maybe we are a family of ghost espers and I have the potential to unlock this ghostly ability too," Vance said from the other end of the line and I rolled my eyes.
"If you had it in you, I'm sure it would have manifested by now. If you really have a similar ability it must have been a dud."
"Oh come on, Vel. My starter is Macky, a ghost type! It has to mean something!"
"I'm sure Macky just bonded with you out of pity more than anything else. Right, Macky?"
I could hear Macky's cackle from the other end, telling me that he agrees with my statement.
"It does explain certain things about you, like how ghosts just seem to love you and things like that, but I still find it hard to believe that all of this is simply due to an inherited ability passed down through your mother's side of the family for more than five hundred years and the trait only manifesting in you right now," Dad added his two cents regarding the issue and honestly, I agree with him as well. Assuming that I am really a descendent of that mysterious Lady Ilex, of all people, why me? Why not Vance? If I was ever going to have another younger sibling, would he or she awaken a similar ability as well?
"But Vel, since you are going to Unova, this may be the perfect opportunity for you to find out more about your ability."
"Why Unova?"
"Remember when I went there recently for a business trip and returned back with Chewy? I've heard things about Ability Holders there, just that I did not make the connection between Ability Holders and you because back then, your ability wasn't as pronounced for me to make the connection and frankly, there's no one true way to identify Ability Holders as far as I was told."
"Who told you about this? Can I meet him or her?"
"That piece of information is actually common knowledge in Unova. Unova has the highest concentration and number of Ability Holders throughout the world. In comparison, Ability Holders are very rarely found in other parts of the world, so much that hardly anybody knows about them outside Unova. However, due to Unova's… history, Ability Holders tend to conceal and blend themselves into the populace, so you could pass by an Ability Holder on the street and not know they are one. Just know that Unova is where Ability Holders are most commonly found, much more than anywhere else in the world by a very huge margin, but they are also not well-received there. Be curious, but also be careful. Don't reveal your ability carelessly, okay?"
"Xenophobia, I take it?" I made a blind guess and my father nodded, telling me all that I needed to know. "Alright, I will be careful. But on our family's side, is there no way for us to check whether Mum's side of the family...?"
"That may not necessarily be true. Tracking the origins of your mother's side of the family will be difficult, no doubt, but with our family's influence and connections we might be able to find out about certain things," Dad said while stroking his chin in thought before looking back at me. "That said, you often underestimate the kind of things our family can do, Vel. Not that I blame you, it is mainly my fault for sheltering you too much from the real inner workings of our family's social circle, but if you are to continue your work in the interpol then there is a need for you to learn more about our family as soon as possible. Be it our history, influence, wealth, connections, you can no longer be ignorant about it, not when you are now a member of the interpol. Our family's name is a powerful tool to have, Vel, and it is a waste to not utilise it properly for a job like yours. I think I have put off that part of your education for long enough, it's time for you to really learn more about what being a Vera really means."
"Griff," Mum immediately interrupted with a frown. "Vel is still-"
"Vance was already well-versed and connected with our family's closest allies at her age, and that was when he was swamped with ACE duties too. Vance and Steven started their education at an even younger age, didn't they?" Dad argued. "Granted, Vance is the appointed heir who will be the future Head of the family, but Vel is also a child of the Vera family. It's fine for her to not learn more about the family if she decides to lead an ordinary life, but now that she is a member of the interpol her every word and action not only represents her, it also speaks on the behalf of Hoenn and of our family. She is growing up, people in our social circle will no longer start to see her as an ignorant little girl but as Velda Vera, the heiress to the Vera family. It's time for her to start announcing her presence within the upper class of Hoenn and also to people around the world who we are well connected with. With such connections at her disposal, it will make her job as an interpol member easier, trust me."
"I… Well, you know I never disagreed with you when it comes to the family's affairs, but Vel is… She's already been through so much and I…"
"Mum, it's fine," I reassured her as best as I could. "Dad has a point, I am a Vera too. Can't let Vance shoulder all the responsibility, could I?"
"I'm relieved that you think this way, it means that you are more than ready to shoulder the burdens and responsibilities that comes with our family name," Dad spoke up in a serious voice, which means that he is not fooling around. "We have connections in Unova too. My previous business trip there was to meet several influential families in Unova to discuss the possibility of a joint business venture. I will have you meet them as a representative of our family and give you free reign to manage that side of our family's business."
"Dad, I know very little about running a business," I reminded him, suddenly feeling very daunted at the thought of stepping into such an unfamiliar field without any prior experience in it.
"Don't worry, I won't make you do this without any form of help. I will send my closest aides to help you with it."
I blinked my eyes in confusion as I tried to fill in the blanks myself.
"... You have aides?"
The blank look I was showing my family was returned to me by them in kind before Vance suddenly burst out laughing. I can tell that Mum was trying to hold back from laughing as well with how her shoulders were trembling while Dad simply facepalmed.
"It's my fault. I have sheltered you a little too well, I shouldn't be surprised that you have no idea on who is helping us to support the entire family business," Dad admitted before asking me a question. "Vel, you have an idea about the scale of our family business and of our history and importance to the region. Think logically, do you really think it is possible for us to support Hoenn on the scale that we are capable of with just one pokemon farm? Do you really think we could run all of our operations with just the four of us?"
"Obviously no…" I trailed off, knowing the obvious answer to the questions but I still have trouble wrapping the idea around my mind. "But I never saw anyone else helping in our family business other than the part-timers working on the farm or the trainers helping to guard it. There were practically no signs of anyone assisting us in the finance side of things. It was always just you and Mum and maybe Vance if he is at home to help."
"We do have a large team working for us to ensure the smooth running of our business, Vel," As if no longer able to hold in the truth any longer, Vance finally spoke up after he was done laughing everything out of his system. "By a large team, I mean corporations and companies, and a few of them are listed companies too. The only reason why you don't see us interacting with them is because we work remotely from home most of the time. Dad is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of these companies, the running of the daily operations of these companies are usually left to the respective CEOs he appointed and Dad usually gives them the freedom on what to do as long as they work for our interests and make profits without breaking the law. Do you understand what I am talking about so far?"
"Uh, I think so?"
"Companies like Swellow Transport, Swalot Supplies? They are all affiliated companies with our farm, they are all started up by our forefathers throughout our family's long history. We don't pin our family name on each and every of our businesses, you know? The only exception is our farm which is the representation of our family's roots. The large number of pokemon and related supplies, a lot of it is transacted within our network of businesses to ensure that it runs smoothly as a whole. The food that we use to feed the pokemon on our farm are all bought from Swalot Supplies, remember? That is one of the major affiliated companies of our farm that is also under our name."
"You are currently too young, but you will be a shareholder of each of our family's businesses too when you are of legal age, just like Vance did," Dad added. "And yes, I do need to educate you about the large group of companies our family had created over the centuries and also the important people working for our family who I frequently relied on to keep our businesses running. I skipped out on this part of your education because you weren't as healthy back then and you needed to recuperate, but since your health is getting back on track, it's time for you to be a little more involved with our family's business."
"But Dad," I cannot help but nervously ask when I remembered the task Dad gave me. "What if I fail? I mean, you are asking me to handle an overseas joint business venture with our Unova partners. I am only thirteen, I'm not exactly in a legal position to discuss business ventures, right?"
"From a legal standpoint, you are right, but you are also a Vera, that alone gives your words enough weight to affect the future of the entire business venture. As for the possibility of failure, doesn't that apply for everything else? If you fail, just take it as a learning opportunity. Our family can take the loss, no problems."
At this point, I have a feeling that I am still severely underestimating my family's wealth and influence. It's like my worldview has been restricted by the relative poverty I had experienced in my previous life and also by the humble upbringing I was raised in this life. The world of the rich is really not something that I had stepped into yet. Like Dad said, I haven't stepped into the social circle that I supposedly belong to just on the account of being a Vera. I have no idea what the truly rich really do and are capable of.
"If the business venture fails, that is going to be one hell of an expensive lesson."
"And a lesson worth paying for, in my opinion," Dad replied. "Don't stress yourself out over it, Vel, just treat it as a learning experience. It's just another business venture."
"I have this sudden feeling that I shouldn't be surprised if our family has one or two mansions that I'm not aware of."
"Oh, you already knew about that?" Dad gasped in surprise. "The one we have next to the Stones in Rustboro, or the one in Fortree? Or is it the one we have right in Petalburg or maybe the one at Lilycove?"
"...Dad, please. Stop pulling my leg."
"This is actually true, we do have several mansions in Hoenn under our name, not just the ones your father just mentioned," Mum interjected and I can feel my eyes widening in disbelief at the confirmation. "It's just that your grandfather never liked the mansions much and he prefers the homelier feel of our ancestral home after your grandmother passed away, so he moved in there. Your father moved in together with your grandfather so that it was easier to take care of him and it was how I eventually met him in Petalburg, got married, and had you and Vance. After your grandfather passed away, your father and I never saw a need to move back into the mansion since our family was already very small to begin with and we have no need for such a big house. And after you were born, we decided to just continue staying here because the environment in Petalburg is much more favourable in nursing your health."
"Annnnnd I was never told about this because…?"
At this point, I am getting kind of numb to the revelations my family are casually revealing to me, and also a little annoyed at why such things aren't made known to me even when I am their daughter. It's not like I am lusting after the family's riches, but it really irks me that I seem to be the only one in the dark about everything in regards to the family. I get it that I wasn't educated and trained in the same manner as Vance did as an heir due to my frail health when I was younger and hence, was let known on far lesser things than he did, but for things like this? It wouldn't be too much to ask to be let known of such information so that I would have a better understanding of our family's wealth and influence, right? I am a Vera too, right? If I had really known about the scale of our businesses and of our wealth I wouldn't appear to be so ignorant of our family, right?
Looking back, I wonder if Steven sees me as a sheltered and ignorant little girl whenever we see each other. I wouldn't be surprised if I appeared as a laughing stock to him seeing as how ignorant I am of my own family.
As if knowing the reason behind my annoyance that I am trying my best to conceal, Dad quickly spoke up.
"There wasn't really a need for us to bring this topic up, and, uh, all we wanted for you is for your health to get better back then. You were already having troubles trying to breathe properly as a child, so things like these never came up because your mother and I were more than willing to take care of you for the rest of your life if need be, you need not worry about a single thing."
My annoyance vanished as fast as they came the moment I heard Dad's reply. It's true that I am not an easy child to take care of due to my frail health, I would have died a long time ago if it wasn't for my family's wealth ensuring the continuity of my second life for as long as it is. It's true that this led to my family being overprotective of me and makes me appear to be sheltered in the eyes of other families of equal standing as my own, but I cannot deny that this all started because my family had always done things with my best interests in mind.
"Sorry, Dad, Mum."
"What are you apologising for?" Mum admonished in an all too familiar manner. "Unova's climate is a lot harsher than Hoenn or Johto, so remember to take care of yourself, okay? Especially if you stay there long enough to experience their winter season. Unova's winters can be really harsh, so make sure you wear enough to keep yourself warm."
"Yes Mum."
"And eat more, you still look too skinny. Did you actually lose weight in Johto? That's not good, you are already too thin to begin with and you are at the age where your height should actually be growing like a bean sprout."
"Mum, can you stop reminding me about my height?" I groaned.
"Eh, I think Vel is fine the way she is. She's cuter that way."
"Vance, you are not helping."
"But you are really cuter at your current height! You will not be as cute if you grow any taller!"
"I like being pretty, being beautiful, being drop dead gorgeous like Mum is, but I absolutely don't want to be cute," I punctuated my words extremely clearly for my dear brother. I have long since passed the mental age of wanting to be cute.
"But Vel-"
"No buts about this."
"Vel will definitely grow into a gorgeous beauty like your Mum is by the time she grows into her height. I… I anticipate and dread that day in equal measures," Dad muttered, just loud enough for me to pick up over the video call.
"Dad, why would you not want your daughter to grow up to be as beautiful as Mum?"
"Because there will be boys chasing after you and none of us can be there to chase them off given how your work brings you all across the world," Dad stated plainly as if that is the truth of the universe and I decided that trying to argue for my case is a lost cause.
"I'm not even thinking of dating anyone right now-"
"But there was that time when you went out to meet a boy!" Vance accused.
"When?"
"That time after your conference when you met with your boyfriend for lunch!"
Oh, he must have meant my meeting with Tate where he and Dad tried to stalk me only to fail.
"Yes, he's a boy, but he's just a friend. That doesn't equate to a boyfriend, brother dear."
"Oh, him?" Mum spoke up, finally realising who we were talking about. "I met him once when he walked Vel home that day. I like him, he's very well-mannered."
"MUM! You are supposed to be on our side! He's going after my baby sister!"
"I'd be worried if Vel doesn't go after him. I think he's a good catch, and it's good to start young for a specimen as fine as him. Vel, just ignore both of them. If you already have him on the hook, now you need to start reeling in the line. Come to me if you need advice."
"Guys, can you stop speculating about my love life, or the lack thereof?" I held in the urge to sigh as I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. I'm only thirteen, physically, puberty has barely just kicked in and already they are worried about me having a boyfriend or not?
"I just really want to know who he is," Dad replied, which Vance vehemently agreed with furious nods of his head.
"Not telling," I shot back, not wanting to deal with this insanity for even a second longer. With my newfound understanding of the family, I have a feeling that something ridiculous would happen if they knew that it was Tate. Something like Dad and Vance would somehow use our family's influence to somehow get Tate to step down from his position as Gym Leader... Yeah, I wouldn't put it past them to be this petty if the matter in question involves me. They can be really crazy in matters where I am involved.
"Vel-"
"Not, telling."
"See?! Look how defensive she is! She definitely has a boyfriend! What happened to not dating until you are twenty-five?!" Vance exclaimed to Dad and I cannot help but facepalm.
"I thought our agreement was fifteen? Wait, I remembered you then changed it to twenty. You keep pushing the age limit up."
"No dating until you are thirty! That's final!"
"I've recognised that you had made a decision regarding on when I should start dating, but given that it is a stupid-ass decision, I've elected to ignore it."
"Vel! No cussing!"
"Oops. Sorry, Mum."
"Vel, I'm serious! Dad, say something!"
"Maybe I should just start picking Vel's future husband starting from now and start grooming him into a perfect husband. At least this way I can be rest assured that whoever I picked will treat Vel like a queen."
"DAD! This is not even remotely funny!"
"Just a joke, just a joke!"
He definitely didn't sound like he was joking at all.
"Just need you to read through everything and then fill up here, here, and there. Remember to sign at the bottom." I instructed Skye as I helped her point out where she should fill in and sign the forms that would officially make her a member of the interpol. Looker had offered Skye the chance to join us and she had taken it up after much consideration.
"Wow, we get to earn that much?" Skye let out a low whistle when she finally read the amount of remuneration we are entitled to as members of the interpol.
"We are risking our lives to save the world. I think this much is reasonable," I deadpanned. "Although I believe that us demanding for a pay raise after the incident with Zapmolcuno might have been a factor too. Looker can be very persuasive."
"So when do we move out?" Skye asked as she swiftly signed her name at the bottom of the form the moment she was done reading through the employment contract. She had tendered in her resignation from the Rangers not too long ago in order to join us. From what she had let known to me, her immediate superior wasn't too pleased at her sudden departure.
"We will be leaving with the Unova delegation the moment we get the green light. Borders are still on lockdown, so it might take a while." I explained as I took back the forms and placed them neatly back into the folder that I had brought along. "We should be able to leave somewhere between one to two weeks from today, so just be ready before then. We will inform you of the details at a later date once we confirm the exact details."
"Unova delegation? So we will be traveling with Grimsley and Elesa?"
"Yep. Grimsley is a little anti-social though, so maybe you might want to keep your distance." I told her after some thought.
"We are going by ship. That is going to take about a month or so, minimum, and we have to deal with an anti-social Elite Four?"
"Elesa's fine," I shrugged at where we are currently seated in her living room at her home in Violet City. She has two brothers, one older and one younger but none of them are home right now. The older brother is Falkner, the younger one is somebody who goes by the name of Ciel and is probably not a "canon" character. "Besides, Shannon and Nova are there too. Oh, Akamu and Mary will be hitching a ride with us as well."
"I thought…"
"They have reasons, and…" I trailed off, hesitating on whether to inform Skye about my suspicions but decided to in the end. "Mary brought back an orphaned baby when she was involved in the operation at Mahogany. It's a baby boy, red hair, and his name is Silver. I believe that is the reason why they are so eager to leave Indigo, even if it means owing Looker a favour."
"Silver? Red hair? Call me crazy, but wouldn't that make him the… you know…"
"Glad that I'm not the only one with the same suspicions."
"And Akamu never said anything about it to you guys?" Skye asked in disbelief.
"The chance never came up." I explained simply. "Furthermore, I do trust him. If it is something so important that it will affect us, I don't think he's the type to keep mum about it. I think he is aware that people like us had already guessed Silver's identity, although that begs the question of how he got involved with Giovanni of all people in the first place. Looker told me that Mary's father was Alice's mentor, so that might be the connection we are missing."
"Alice?"
"Executive Ariana, Giovanni's wife."
"Oh," Skye replied before asking another question. "So it may be Alice asking Mary to help take care of Silver and that's how the antagonist of the games ended up sailing with us to Unova?"
"Perhaps." I shrugged my shoulders once again to convey my confusion as well. "We will only know when Akamu decides to come clean with us."
"Cool, that makes it six of us sailing to Unova now. Wait a minute, is Volkner…"
"Nope, he's not coming along. He's staying behind to help take care of Jasmine. There's been… complications." I finished lamely after being unable to find a suitable word to explain the situation to Skye. "If he decided to come along it wouldn't be anytime soon, not until he finishes what he has to do before that."
"Word has been going around that Jasmine may be forced to relinquish her Gym Leader position after what has happened. Something like she is no longer in a state to continue to carry out her duties or some shit like that. It's worrying."
"She did lose quite a number of her pokemon. That would be a devastating blow to any trainer, be it in terms of firepower or their state of mind. Not to be rude, but I'm surprised that she made it out alive in the first place. It was Zapmolcuno."
"That thing's batshit insane," Skye muttered darkly. "And the seventh that we had been finding the entire time? It's really that guy? The one that nearly killed me twice?"
"Unfortunately for you, yes. Unfortunately for us, he made a successful prison break just two days ago and we have absolutely no clues on where he might have disappeared to. Mewtwo isn't uttering a single word about it too no matter how nicely we tried to ask. We may never get to see him ever again."
"I don't mind that. Just meeting him once can give you nightmares for months." Skye shuddered at the mention of Jayce. "Can't believe I was squaring off with one of us in a deathmatch the entire time. He outclasses me so much that it wasn't even funny."
"I get what you mean. I was there to witness his pokemon at work back on Five Island, they are deadly enough even without him to command them. Part of me is actually curious as to how he would fare against someone like Akamu or Volkner. He did go against Giovanni for a while after all, and according to Professor Oak it wasn't a one-sided massacre. The professor did say that with the exception of a steelix, the rest of Giovanni's pokemon all suffered some serious wounds and I think Jayce managed to kill two or three before he went down."
"Jayce? Is that his name?"
"The closest we could get to pinning a name down for him. He wasn't given a name at all ever since he was born, all he had were numbers and codenames. Jayce is what he prefers people knowing him as."
"I don't want to work with him at all."
"Understandable," I nodded in understanding. Jayce had nearly killed Skye on two separate occasions, if the same were to happen to me I would have the same reservations too.
"Alright, let's stop talking about him and all the gloomy stuff." Skye cleared the dour atmosphere in an instant as she reverted back to her upbeat self. "This is your first time coming to Violet, right? If you are free I can show you around the place. We were not hit as bad as the other cities during the war, so you can still do some sightseeing here before we set off."
"That would be nice."
The Sprout Tower is easily recognisable. It is located right at the northern end of the city, a large pagoda that is over 100 feet in height and held together by a giant flexible pillar that shakes from side to side. According to the monks here, the flexibility is needed to protect the tall tower from the occasional earthquakes and also symbolises the battles that are occurring on the upper floors. The flexible pillar technology is known as jukozo in the oriental tongue, a construction technique designed and proposed by the then leader and elder monk of the Sprout Tower monks, Sage Chigusa Banri.
"Sage Chigusa Banri?" I cannot help but ask when I heard that title being mentioned by the monk that was helpful enough to give us a tour of the place. Unfortunately, due to recent events the tower is not open to any challenges from the public at the moment, but visitors are still welcomed to the tower to either pray or to sightsee.
"Ah, Sage is a title given to our elder monks. As our leader during the warring era, Sage Chigusa naturally possesses that same title as well. He is the one who promotes the beliefs that all living beings coexist through cooperation. Not everybody wanted to participate in the war between Champion Ishikawa and the Wataru faction, and so Sage Chigusa made the Sprout Tower a sanctuary for refugees who wanted to escape from the war. It was said that Sage Chigusa was so powerful that even Champion Ishikawa would not cross him carelessly, and the only reason why Champion Ishikawa could pass through Violet City to continue with his conquest was because of a truce made between both of them."
Skye nodded along in understanding, obviously having grown up here hearing the local tales of Sage Chigusa Banri. I, however, am more interested in the origins of how he earned the Sage title.
"If Sage Chigusa was so powerful that Champion Ishikawa would not carelessly offend him, just what is he capable of?"
"He is a prodigy in the field of construction, for one." The monk guiding us throughout our tour in the swaying tower replied without delay. "Like I mentioned earlier, he was the inventor of the jukuzo technology which is still being applied in the construction of many modern day high-rise buildings. Violet City flourished under his protection even during the chaotic days of the warring era. The Sprout Tower is a sanctuary not only for humans, but also for pokemon who were fleeing from the war. Maybe it was because he was a Grass Specialist, but most of the pokemon who flocked to the tower were grass types. His victreebel and meganium were his most notable companions, although he was able to bring out the full potential of any other grass types under his command."
"Is he an Ability Holder?" I asked curiously, remembering the conversation I had with Morty regarding this topic.
"I hadn't heard that phrase in a long time, but to answer your question, he could be," The monk nodded. "But it's been so long that nobody could say for sure. The records we kept about Sage Chigusa mostly document his academic achievements as a scholar rather than his prowess as a trainer."
We soon reached an altar where several members of the public were gathering and kneeling in prayer. Since we are already here, it would be rude to not follow the local customs and pray as well. I'm not a religious person so I have no idea what I should be praying for, so I ended up praying for the continued health and safety of my family and pokemon.
The monk that was serving as our guide had excused himself when Skye and I were doing our prayers. Skye showed me around the place since this isn't her first time here and we soon found a room that contains the long list of names and portraits of the previous leaders of the Sprout Tower Monks ever since its founding. I spotted Sage Chigusa's portrait soon enough, with the name Chigusa Banri carved right beneath his portrait.
"Not sure if Hoenn follows the same custom, but in Johto, before we were unified there was the difference between naming conventions of the oriental tongue and the common tongue. People using the oriental tongue will put their family or clan name first, followed by their given name. It's the opposite for those using the common tongue. It's the same logic behind Japanese and English names in our… you know."
"It's the same for Hoenn too. Our founding Champion used the oriential tongue before he standardised the region's naming conventions to those of the common tongue as per the standardisation of the PWL. People born after the unification have to use the new naming conventions set by the Champion, but people born before it had the choice to stick to the old ones if they wished for it."
"Guess things are similar for both our regions. When I was young I kept thinking that Ishikawa was the given name of our Champion until Falkner corrected me and said that it was his family name. Nobody realised the misconception I had until I nearly failed my history paper in primary school. Most embarrassing moment of my life."
"You went to school here? I was home-schooled."
"Sadly, and let me tell you, it was hell having to share the same room with an entire class of seven year olds. Your parents taught you themselves or hired a teacher to teach you?"
"It was mainly my mum doing most of the teaching, not that she needed to teach me much. I had a harder time pretending not to know as much as I should. Learning about pokemon from dad was a lot more fun, although I did not have many lessons about pokemon when I was younger because I was a lot sicker then. Because of that, I did not learn as much as Vance did when he was at my age."
"Your older brother?"
"Uh huh. A little overprotective and a total goof, but he's still my brother anyway."
"I can relate with the overprotective part. Have I told you that when I tried telling my brother that I decided to join the interpol he thought that I was trying to come clean to him that I have a boyfriend? And that he thought that my boyfriend was Looker? Nearly strangled him back there."
I tried and failed in holding back my laughter when I heard the unexpected news. Skye and… Looker? That's quite a… unique pairing.
"Yes, laugh all you want. I admit that it's kinda funny in retrospect."
"Looker's at least twice our age, why would Falkner think that you and him are dating?"
"Precisely." Skye deadpanned. "No offense to Looker, but I have better taste in men. Going after men twice my age is not my cup of tea."
"You can grab yourself a hot Unovan boyfriend and kidnap him back home when we finally start work, just saying."
"Nah, not interested in dating at the moment. Feels kinda weird cos it makes me feel like a cougar, and dating men around my physical age right now is off putting too because most of them are still immature boys, but dating men far older than me in physical age right now would be weird too. So I don't think I would date until I am a few years older and boys my age finally grew enough to be slightly more mature that they wouldn't irritate the hell out of me." Skye elaborated before asking me. "What about you?"
"Honestly? I don't mind dating when I'm a few years older just for the fun of it, although I don't think I will marry anybody. I am planning to stay single for the rest of my life."
"Ooh, so you want to be a playboy- no, wait, a playgirl? Is that a word?"
"I'm not," I stressed. "Besides, I'm pretty sure that there are guys out there who don't mind dating but have no wish to get married too. If the feeling's mutual I don't see a big deal about it."
"What makes you want to stay single though? Fear of commitment?"
"In a way." I conceded. "According to the doctors I wasn't supposed to live past fifteen in the first place, although I believe I can prove them wrong soon. Still, that does not guarantee that my condition will not suddenly worsen and I don't want to commit to a relationship and then suddenly die from another of my episodes. I just feel that that will be very cruel to whoever is unlucky enough to date me, especially if they do so with marriage in mind."
"Aww, you are such a considerate girl!" Skye cooed and messed with my hair by ruffling it with her hand, prompting me to scowl at her.
"Stop it."
"Hey, your hair's really smooth." Skye commented as she looked at her hand, then back at me. "What kind of conditioner do you use?"
"I'm not too picky about conditioners, I just ask my mum to give me some of whatever she uses. I think she packed those for me cos I never cared much about this kind of thing."
"And what brand does she use? Surely you know that?"
"Uhh, I think it's… Jynx's Kisses? Something like that? The weird brand logo with a Jynx showing off its long golden hair?"
Skye's jaws dropped.
"Vel, that brand is a luxury brand. One bottle of it is freaking expensive, like my entire month Ranger pay kind of expensive and I was from the First Regiment where we draw a much higher salary for the kind of shit we have to go through, and even I find it expensive."
I blinked. I really had no idea because my mum is usually the one fussing over my hair and skin and stuff like that. While I do care about my own personal hygiene and beauty, it's never to the extent like mum did. The most I did was to apply and use face masks when I have the time and mood for it. That is about all I did because I really don't see a need to obsess about beauty at my current age.
"I really have no idea."
"I can tell." Skye drawled with a flat look on her face. "Then again, I shouldn't be surprised since your family is quite literally swimming with money."
"I can let you use my conditioner?" I offered.
"Just once will do." Skye quickly added. "I'm just curious whether it's really as good as people made it out to be."
"I'm not too sure myself," I cannot help but run my hand through my hair and suddenly I cannot help but realise that yes, my hair is really smooth and nice to the touch. Why didn't I realise it sooner?
"But now that you said it, my hair is really smooth. I might ask mum where she bought this brand from or if she knows if Unova sells any of those."
"I'm sure that it is a Hoenn product, although they have been trying to expand their business to Johto with moderate success in the past two or three months. It was how I came to know about it. I'm not too sure if they are trying to do the same in Unova though."
"Huh, I thought businesses tend to keep to their own regions? Globalisation isn't really a thing in this world."
"There have been some trade agreements between some of the regions since around… last year September? Or was it October? Anyway, governments around the world are starting to try and establish a workable system for their region's corporations to establish an international presence, open up trades, those kinds of things. That brand of conditioner that you are using is one of those businesses."
Last year September or October? That was around the time I was made aware of the prophecy and shared my solutions with Wallace, wasn't it? So governments around the world were already trying to establish concrete connections with each other since then? It's something good to know. At least, some progress has been made to try and promote international relations.
"Want to climb another floor upwards?" Skye suggested as she steered the topic of discussion back to the Sprout Tower. "The higher levels are not open to the public right now but the view from the floor above us is still really great. You should totally take a picture here, you cannot claim to have visited Violet City without coming here at least once and taking a picture at the Sprout Tower."
"Do they really have a 100 foot tall bellsprout here?" I asked Skye after remembering about the rumours about the Sprout Tower that I had heard about in passing before coming here.
"If they do, they never show it to the public, and it's hard to hide a bellsprout that tall. Nah, maybe it existed at a point in time, but definitely not now."
"I'm just wondering if it will remain a 100 foot tall weepinbell or victreebel after it evolved."
"A 100 foot tall victreebel? Sounds like a catastrophe to me. Thanks but not thanks."
"I thought there were legends about giant pokemon? Like torterras who are centuries old and are big enough to become a walking island or an entire continent by itself, super old onixs or steelixs that are at least ten times the average lengths of their species, cases like those. Come to think about it, Volkner's gyarados is a giant pokemon too. Is it already fully grown? Because if it hasn't, imagine if it ever grew into its full length-"
"Imma gonna stop you right there cos the Ranger in me does not want to imagine the nightmares that come from dealing with problems stirred up by giant pokemon."
"I'm just curious about the amount of food they have to eat each day." I clarified. "But have you dealt with giant pokemon before?"
"Only once because those are rarer than you think." Skye grimaced. "To make things worse, it was a giant snorlax. If you think a normal snorlax is a glutton, you have no idea how terrifying a giant snorlax is. That big guy alone nearly devastated the ecosystem of the forest to the north of Ecruteak. Hell, it tried to eat my entire team because it was that hungry."
"How did the Rangers solve that snorlax problem?"
"We have no choice but to feed it ourselves for a short while. The only other option was to allow the forest to provide food for it naturally but the snorlax's appetite was too big to be sated. Nobody wants to capture and tame the snorlax too because they are always angry unless they are fed. Trying to raise one on your team is a logistical and financial nightmare for any trainer, and that snorlax is a giant pokemon. In the end, some research team decided to recruit some Elite trainers to help capture it for their study, so that's the end of it for our side."
"Must have been one hell of a fight." I spoke, remembering about the one and only battle I had with a snorlax in my final battle against Tucker. Snorlax may not be quick on their feet, but their near impenetrable defense and overwhelming strength is more than enough to make them true terrors on the battlefield.
"It was, but I'm just glad that the snorlax was gone. Never saw or heard about it ever again."
It was then that we reached the floor Skye had suggested we climbed up to. Like she said, the view here is picturesque. Would have been better if the city hadn't been embroiled with the war with Team Rocket but I'm not going to complain.
My visit to the Sprout Tower with Skye reminded me of something. Maybe it's because things had been so hectic lately that I had forgotten about it, but my goal is to travel the world and I do have some time left before we have to head out for Unova.
I really should get some sightseeing done before then.