Against All Odds (2011) [PG-13]

[mattbcl]

Outcast

Part 3

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Jason felt awkward hopping onto the porch of someone he only knew as an employee of the company; he and his family had always subscribed to the tenet that work stayed at work, and nobody took it home with them. With the possible exception of Carson Creight himself, who primarily worked out of the home. Jason knew that today – a Friday – corresponded with Janice’s usual day off, which was really the only reason he’d even consider being here now.

He rapped his knuckles on the door five times in rapid succession. Within moments, the door swung open and he found himself looking up into the face of Janice Forester. Though she was still attractive for being in her mid-60's, wrinkles were threatening to overtake her well-tanned features nowadays. Her silver hair was bound back into a ponytail and she was wearing an apron... indicators that she’d found work of her own to take care of.

She offered him a polite smile. “Jason Creight. And here I thought today was a work day for you. What brings you to my humble abode?”

“Uh... I was wondering if I could talk to you for a little bit,” he said, suddenly feeling anxious.

“Oh? What about?”

“My brother.”

If he hadn’t already known what he knew, he might not have noticed... but he could see the smallest bit of her smile fade at the mention of Daniel. She tilted her head at him. “Is something wrong?”

“I... was actually wondering if you could tell me that. I saw him... do something today. And he knows I saw it.”

Now her smile was gone, and she cast furtive glances in each direction. “Are you sure this isn’t something better discussed with your father?”

“I had to hide. Danny chased me. I think he’s already talking to my dad.”

She stepped forward and gently draped an arm across Jason’s shoulders. “Come inside, Jason. I think I can spare a few minutes.”

He blew out a heavy sigh of relief and gratefully stepped through the door into her home. As he glanced about, he saw that it was about what he would have expected – at least one plant in a corner of each room, windows covered by sheers and bracketed by heavier drapes... lots of furniture, but no guests to speak of, except himself. He found his mind swimming through a hazy memory of being at his grandmother’s house; Janice’s residence bore similarities to the comfortable atmosphere and the idle air.

She gestured to her dining room, where there was a small table surrounded by four rolling chairs. “Come in and have a seat. Do you want something to drink? Water, tea?”

He let out a nervous laugh. “I don’t suppose you have any soda, do you?”

She made a face. “No, unfortunately. I don’t care for it, myself... if I want caffeine, I’ll take coffee, and I don’t need all that sugar rotting my teeth out. I hope you brush often.”

“Maybe more often than some people think,” he said cautiously. He sat down. “But I guess some water would be okay.”

“Fair enough.” She went into her kitchenette and fetched the requested beverage, then sat down at the table and leaned on it with both elbows while Jason took a series of long gulps. She tilted her head at him. “So. You saw Daniel ‘do something’.”

Jason nodded. “He was in a pen for land-based Pokémon. He was fist-fighting with a Machop, actually fighting it. He ended up beating it down to where it stopped getting up. He was about to hit it some more. I’ve never seen his face look like that. It was like he wanted to kill it.”

“Was there anyone else there?”

“No, it was all empty of humans except him and me. I think the others knew where he was. I was looking for him, but nobody wanted to give me a clear answer. ‘I saw him go that way a little while ago.’ ‘Oh, I think you just missed him.’ ‘Wasn’t he in one of the land pens earlier?’ And when I found him, that’s what he was doing.”

“And he chased you for seeing it?”

“Not at first. He tried to explain it. He said he saw the Machop beating up a baby Sandshrew. Said it was aggressive, the kind that this Pokémon gym up north in Kanto is after. He said he knew he went too far with it but he was trying to defend this Sandshrew. But I didn’t see a Sandshrew anywhere. So I told him I didn’t believe him and said there wasn’t anyone else around where there should be. He tried to grab me so I ran off and hid.”

Janice’s expression changed. “And then you came here. So nobody knows where you are?”

“I guess. Except for you. I’d rather nobody else know right now.”

“I can’t promise that, Jason. I’ll have to let your parents know where you are eventually. But I think you’re safe here for the time being. As for your brother...” She sighed. “I wish I could say this was the first time hearing he would do something quite that brutal.”

“So I was right?”

Janice arched an eyebrow. “Beg your pardon?”

“I figured if he’d done it before, you would know. Those are the pens he goes to the most, if he’d get caught beating up a Pokémon, it’d be there.”

“Well, then, yes, your instinct was correct.” She laced her fingers atop the table. “I’ve only seen him do it once myself, and even then it wasn’t nearly as bad as what you describe. But it could easily have gotten there if I and a couple of my assistants hadn’t been there. He got very frustrated with a Tyrogue that he was trying to help strength-train. It kept failing in battle and Daniel threatened to get into the ring with the poor thing himself if it didn’t shape up.”

“Didn’t you tell Dad about it?”

“That was the first time. I thought of it as an isolated incident but I warned him I didn’t want to catch him behaving that way again towards those or any other Pokémon. If they don’t respect you, they certainly won’t listen to you. And respect is a two-way road, as any high-schooler already knows.”

“But doesn’t it make sense that if he was doing it once, he’d do it again?”

“That’s the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, Jason. A lot of things make sense once you’re looking back at them. And your father is very keen on giving everyone a chance. So I let the matter go. I suppose your brother decided to take my warning literally. I never did see him behaving that way again with my own eyes, but the others started reporting to me that they’d seen him roughhousing or tormenting Pokémon in the pens. I brought the matter up to him after the third report got back to me... he said they misunderstood what he’d been doing. He even offered me an excuse for each one.”

“So what happened then?”

She shrugged. “I said if I kept hearing about it, I would see to it he didn’t enter the pens I operated, no matter whose son he was. And I stopped hearing about it. But steadily, my assistants seemed to get more and more uncomfortable with working there. I had a couple of them quit unexpectedly, and they didn’t give me a reason. When I finally gathered everyone together and confronted them, they reluctantly told me what I thought had been happening – Daniel was again bullying the Pokémon, and throwing his weight around with anyone who caught him doing it. That was when I took the matter straight to your father. I gave him every detail and told him as long as I worked for his company, Daniel was not welcome to enter those pens.”

Jason frowned. “So... Dad fired you?”

Janice let out a sigh and took Jason’s hand in her own. “Jason, one of the things you have to learn as a company employee is that when the management wants your time with them to end, they’ll offer you two options. The first one is you can choose to quit. You give them your two weeks’ notice, which gives them time to find a replacement for your position and keeps them from having to deal with the hassle of a fast hire. If you did a good enough job, they’ll give you a healthy severance package so you don’t cause them any trouble down the road.” She flipped her free hand over to palm up for emphasis. “The other option is for the company to fire you. You leave immediately, you get no extra money, and it looks very bad on your résumé if you’re ever looking for other work. I chose the option that would be the least trouble for everyone involved.”

“But why? Why wouldn’t Dad listen to you? You’ve worked for him for so long... as long as I’ve been in school! Danny hasn’t even worked for him for a full four years yet!”

“Because your brother was crafty. He’s gifted in many ways, and one of those ways is a very good memory. He told your father about each incident the day they happened, and he told him in private. Each time, he offered what your father said was a ‘heartfelt and genuine confession of his own humanity’. He underplayed what he had actually done to your father, who had no reason not to believe his own flesh and blood, especially when he’d gone and told him he knew he’d done something wrong.”

“So because Danny told Dad... Dad wouldn’t believe what you told him.” At Janice’s nod, Jason tried to wrap his brain around all of this new information. It was confirmation, all right, but of behavior that ran more deeply than he would ever have guessed at the beginning of this day. “I still don’t get it – I mean, did he think you were trying to beat up on Danny or something?”

“Fathers and their sons, Jason. First sons, especially.” She held up a conciliatory hand. “I mean no offense to you by that. But I think you’ve seen it, your father heavily favors your brother. It’s the worst-kept secret that he wants Daniel to eventually take over the company. I don’t think it’s entirely your father’s fault, but he’s blind to the damage Daniel is causing. And based on what I’ve seen and what I know now, I would prefer to take early retirement than work for a company that had someone like Daniel at the helm. I said all of this to your father, and his response was that he would expect to see my two weeks’ notice by the end of business that day. So it looks like I’ll be getting my preference.”

Jason frowned. “So... that’s it for you, then? I mean, there’s nothing else?”

At that, she smiled. “Oh, hardly. Any number of Pokémon handling companies would be happy to hire me for my experience and success rate. But believe it or not, I consider this an opportunity. I’ve rarely left Tangelo Island for much and I’ve thought for a long time about traveling all of the Orange Islands. Work never really allowed for it, even though I was paid generously. Now I can put that money to use.”

He shook his head in confusion. “That’s such a big change, though. I mean, you want to change your whole lifestyle because of this one thing?”

“When it comes to adapting, it doesn’t matter if I want my lifestyle to change. I have to do it. So I may as well do it on my own terms.” She patted the top of his hand encouragingly. “And I hope that’s a lesson you’ll keep close to you. When your life comes to a crossroads and you’re not sure what path to take... pick the one you’d want to tread slowly. Life’s no fun if you turn it into a race for the finish line.”

He scoffed. “Right now life’s feeling a bit more like a dead end.”

“So do something about it.” She gestured at him. “You’ve got a brain. Use it. Figure out a way you can get out of there and into a place you want to be.”

“Easier said than done.”

“You’re preaching to the choir, dear.” She smiled and patted his hand once more, then stood up. “Tell you what, I’ll give your father a call, vouch for you, and take you back home myself. Daniel’s not going to be beating you or anyone else up while I’m here.”

He felt his heart skip a beat or two, directly followed by a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Even if he doesn’t, Dad’s still gonna be mad at me.”

“We’ll see about that.” She approached her kitchen’s wall phone and dialed a number in. As she held the receiver to her ear, she offered him a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Jason. I think things will look up for you. Just give it some time.”

—

Jason felt himself wilting under the gaze of his father. The pressure did not lessen when Carson Creight shifted his eyes to Jason’s older brother, whose face displayed an expression of abject humiliation and embarrassment. Whether he actually felt either of those things or not, Jason could no longer say, but if Daniel was acting, he was doing a phenomenal job of it – he looked as pained by their father’s piercing stare as Jason felt.

Mr. Creight looked at Jason again. “Jason, I have no reason not to believe your story, but no other employees in the complex noted Daniel running or appearing to give chase to anybody.” Then he glared at Daniel’s downcast head. “Though given your tale, I can certainly understand you wanting to hide from him. Rest assured he will not be in a position to cause you harm, either now or any point in the future.”

He glanced back to his younger son once more. “I’m disappointed that you didn’t just come directly here. Your brother arrived in my office promptly to talk to me about what happened. Notably, he omitted some of the more... colorful details, but he told me he knew right off the bat what he did was out of line and apologized for letting me down. Do you have an answer for that?”

“I, uh...” Jason cleared his throat. “I... kind of thought he would beat me here. And then you wouldn’t believe me over him.”

“Jason, that’s ridiculous. You know you can talk to me about a dispute between the two of you. I do my best to be fair and listen with both ears. In this case, both of you have given me the same basic story – you saw Daniel in a round of fisticuffs with that Machop and stopped him before it got too far out of control, then were scared off when he gave you an explanation.”

“But Dad, you’re missing the point!” Jason blurted out, and he looked up at Mr. Creight’s face. His father was already wearing a frown, so when he saw the lines in his face deepen with exasperation at having been interrupted, Jason had to resist a cringe. “It’s happened before, and every time, you’ve forgiven him for doing it instead of punishing him! If you’re gonna punish me, shouldn’t he get it, too?”

That inquiry brought a distinctly unpleasant look to Daniel’s face and he shot a glare at Jason. Mr. Creight was quick to notice the glance and he turned a hard stare upon his elder son, then said, “Daniel, please give us the room. I’ll speak with you when we’re done.”

Jason had never seen his brother look as happy to leave the presence of their father as right at that moment; he turned around and promptly left the office without a word. It wasn’t difficult for Jason to understand why Daniel was relieved – the full attention of their father was now squarely upon his younger son. “That was rather boorish of you, Jason. You know I expect better.”

“But he beat up a defenseless Pokémon and he tried to beat me up! Shouldn’t his punishment be the same as mine?”

“No. He reported to work today, right on time, and when a problem surfaced, he came to his employer to discuss it and to try to find a solution. He still has a lot to learn, and even he admits it’s entirely possible his place is not in the Pokémon pens.”

Mr. Creight directed an accusatory finger at Jason. “You, on the other hand, did not report to work. Instead, the moment you got out of school, you came to me so you could vent your personal reservations about a professional decision I made, and then you sought out your brother to confront him for the very same reason. You hid in a broom closet, and then you ran away entirely. All the while, your trainee was waiting for you to show up so he could learn how to do the very job from which I’m promoting you.”

“Dad!”

“Jason, rest assured that I will discover the truth of this particular matter, and that I will deal with your brother as appropriate. Right now, my concern lies with you. Once we discovered you were nowhere to be found, your mother and I became very worried. You even asked Janice not to tell anyone where you were. I can understand you being afraid of confrontation but a request like that puts her in a position you shouldn’t have asked her to be in. And if it’s going to be that you’ll run off like that with no word on where you are, then we’re going to have to keep a closer eye on you, for the time being.”

“Dad, I don’t need babysitting!”

“Your behavior indicates otherwise. For the next week, you’ll come home from school each day and immediately report to my office, where you’ll do your homework until it’s complete, and show it to me for review. I don’t like hearing from your teachers that you’re not motivated, so this gives me an opportunity to provide you the little kick you need.”

“But what about my job?”

Mr. Creight heaved a sigh. “Son, I’m sorry to say it, but yours just isn’t that special a job. There’s any number of people who can stock shelves and who’ve handled inventory before. For a week, I can rotate the responsibilities. You don’t need the job that badly right now. What you need is discipline. I do want you to help your brother run this company when it’s time for the two of you to take over, and self-discipline is the best quality someone could ask for in an employee, a successor... even a son.”

Jason’s frustration only grew with each sentence his father uttered, and at that last, he glowered up at Mr. Creight and couldn’t restrain the retort on the tip of his tongue. “Danny doesn’t have it but he’s your favorite anyway.”

Mr. Creight’s expression suddenly grew very dark and he leaned across his desk to direct an icy stare at his progeny. “I see one week won’t do the job. Three, then. And I guarantee you we’ll be talking about that remark soon. But tonight, I’m done with you. Send your brother back in here and go to your room. Stay there until you have to go to school.”

Jason’s jaw dropped. “It’s Friday!”

“Yes, it is. Now get out of my office.”

Jason could find no other option available to him but to do as his father told him. He trudged out of the room and hung his head as he made his way up the hall. Daniel was standing against the door frame leading into the bathroom, arms and legs crossed casually as he stared at his younger brother. “Nice try, trying to get me in trouble like that,” he said.

Jason’s head snapped up. Daniel’s expression implied a touch of playfulness and devil-may-care attitude mixed in with the gravity of his jab; there stood his brother, and not the brute he’d seen in the Pokémon pen.

His nostrils flared. “What’s that supposed to mean?” He jabbed a finger at Daniel’s chest. “This is all your fault! You should be getting it, too!”

“Not my fault he likes me more.” Daniel leaned forward. “Hey, and for the record, the Machop wasn’t seriously injured. A trip to the PokéCenter and he’s in tip-top shape again. All in all, no harm done.”

“What, so you think that makes it okay? You beat that thing senseless!”

“I’m saying it could’ve been worse. I was gonna thank you for keeping me from making it that way but I think I’ll just keep those thanks to myself now, ‘cause I see how it is.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“You’re a jealous little pest.”

“At least Dad thinks he can fix me. He wants to talk to you again, maybe he wants to see if you need therapy.”

“That’s real cute, squirt. Hope you enjoy your stay in your room.” Daniel pushed off the frame and paced back to their father’s office; from within, Jason could hear the man tell his brother to close the door behind him. It wasn’t of consolation to him that the man’s voice was no more forgiving to Daniel than it had been just a few moments ago.

But on his way to his room, a thought entered his mind that was completely unexpected, given the current circumstances. Now I really wish I could have that Gyarados... just to help make them back off of me...

He scoffed at the thought. Yeah, like that would accomplish anything. Why would I even think about that at a time like this? If anything, my chances of getting a Pokémon of any kind just went straight down the toilet with what happened today... not like it’s even my fault it happened like it did. I’ve got basically no chance at it now, unless Dad sees me doing everything he wants me to do. Get the highest marks in school. Stay at work past midnight every night. Be a good son, be a loyal little brother, and don’t question either of them.

He went into his room, closed and locked the door, then laid down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling. For a long while, no coherent thoughts passed through his mind... just vague flashes of resentment and frustration that he tried to quell. But even the peace of silence within his own head could not be maintained forever. Maybe Janice really is right. Dad won’t ever look at Danny and be disappointed in him. Not like he does with me. He’ll just keep on giving him free passes ‘cause Danny knows how to say all the right things.

And what happens when Danny and I are supposed to take over? Yeah, right, who am I kidding? It’ll just be Danny that takes over. I won’t ever really be in the picture as a partner of any kind. Sure, I’ll be working here, and maybe with the kind of money that says I’m set for life... but if Danny’s gonna keep acting fake toward people and brutal toward Pokémon...

I think I’m with Janice. I wouldn’t want to work for a company where the guys in charge thought it was okay to abuse the Pokémon they’re supposed to raise.

He frowned. But what would that all end up looking like? I quit from CBC and go looking for other work – Mom and Dad would be furious. Sure enough I wouldn’t get a Pokémon then. And it wouldn’t really fix the problem. Danny will still go off on the Pokémon pretty much whenever he wants. Even if he doesn’t work in the pens anymore, he’s got his own Pokémon... so he can still act as abusive as he cares to and nobody would even know.

Heh. Maybe if I ever did get that Gyarados, he’d end up being a pushover for having injured Pokémon...

Jason closed his eyes and shook his head. That’s not right, me thinking that. Shouldn’t even be fun for me to think about it. It isn’t any better than thinking a Gyarados could make someone back off. Nobody should be beating up on Pokémon, but by the same token, Pokémon shouldn’t be used to beat up on people, either. That’s not what they’re there for. He sighed. Kinda makes me wonder what that Viridian Gym wants with such aggressive ones, anyway. Is it just the gym leader, or the trainees there, too? And there’s no theme that we can tell to the purchase. Why would they buy so many Pokémon?

Then he opened his eyes and frowned. Wait a minute... buying the Pokémon. The rule is that Dad won’t give me a Pokémon until I’m at least fifteen, but he never said anything about me not being allowed to get one with my own money.

He turned over on the bed and sighed. Not like that’ll do me any good right now. I’ll be lucky to get any food around here, much less a reasonable discussion out of my dad. At least I have a Pokémon license that covers handling them... I don’t need a trainer’s license unless I’m planning to register with a league.

And not like that will be happening anytime soon, either.

He closed his eyes again and tried to find the respite of sleep. I’ll find the right time.

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© Matt Morwell, 2011

[mattbcl]

Outcast

Part 4

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The next morning, Jason was seated at his desk, accessing files on Pokémon breeding through his computer. His dreams the night previous had consisted of him astride a giant snakelike creature, alternately laughing in joy and gasping in fright with every hazy vista imaginable sprawling before him. He could only attribute such a dream to a desire to own his own Gyarados, seemingly a deeper desire than he’d thought he had.

And so he’d felt driven to start doing some research when he awoke. Evidently, access to the local information network through his particular machine had been restricted... further proof in his mind that his father wanted to punish him more harshly for a trivial offense than his brother for a major one. But instruction manuals and informational brochures were still accessible and it was these he was riffling through.

It’s not easy to evolve a Magikarp to a Gyarados. A lot of trainers don’t have the patience for it because Magikarps are so stupid, they don’t know how to fight. Then, all of a sudden, when they evolve, they have all this power they don’t even know they have... and as Gyaradoses, they get smart enough to use it, once they know what they can do. So Magikarps are cheap – Gyaradoses are expensive. Just like most Pokémon at the last stage of their evolution.

He switched to a different window that displayed exactly what a Gyarados was capable of, according to the latest research. They’re incredibly fast in the water but they shouldn’t really try traveling over land. They don’t even learn any land-based attacks on their own. Still, they can be taught the move Earthquake, which can be incredibly useful when dealing with an Electric-Type Pokémon. So that’s a must.

He scribbled “earthquake” on a slip of paper in front of his keyboard. He was all too aware the CBC Supply Store had in stock a vast array of data discs – trainers liked to call them “TM’s”, short for “Technical Machines” – that assisted in teaching a Pokémon how to use moves it might never learn on its own. For that matter, he also knew the price of each one... and the Earthquake TM was expensive, due to its high power and potentially devastating effect on local landscapes.

He wasn’t entirely certain why Gyarados was considered a partial Flying-Type, as to his knowledge, even at the apex of its ability it learned no moves of that type... the only reasoning he could come up with was the effect electricity had on it. While an extremely powerful creature on all other fronts, against lightning, it was as good as shish kebab.

There was a knock at his doorway. He sighed, turned off his monitor, then got up and opened the door. Although he’d expected to see his father standing there, instead it was Amelia Creight who greeted him with a soft... perhaps even sympathetic smile. “How you doing?”

“Not so hot,” Jason admitted.

“Mind if I come in?”

He shrugged. “I guess it’s your room... I’m just borrowing it.”

She gave a chuckle as she stepped inside. “You’re starting to sound like your father.”

“I hope not.” He sat down on his bed.

She tilted her head at him. “So your dad told me about the little conversation you had last night. You think he loves you less than your brother?”

“I didn’t say that, Mom. I didn’t say anything about him loving anyone more or less than anyone else.”

“Your father seems to think you were saying something to that effect.”

“Well, I wasn’t.”

“What did you say, then?”

“I said Danny was his favorite.”

Her face wrinkled. “You must know that’s not true. Daniel’s always worked his hardest to win your father’s approval. Even he falls down every once in a while. Your dad forgives him because that’s the kind of man he is.”

“Maybe, but Dad doesn’t forgive my mistakes nearly as easily or quickly. And I don’t even make that many.”

“Jason, I know it’s hard. Maybe your father has in mind that he wants to see you succeed the same way your brother has and those are some big shoes to fill.”

“It’s not fair, Mom. I’m not Danny. I don’t wanna be Danny. If Dad’s gonna look at me, I don’t want him seeing Danny at fourteen years old. That’s not me. I’m a different person. He can’t expect me to be the same.”

“No, no...” She held up a hand for emphasis. “He shouldn’t expect you to be the same, Jason. Doesn’t mean he can’t. And I’ve had this conversation with him before, but he can’t help himself. After seeing how successful your brother is, your father is trying to raise you the same way. I agree that it isn’t fair, but as a businessman, he has a poor time changing what he thinks is a tried-and-true method.”

“But am I always going to have to be Daniel Creight’s little brother?”

She sighed. “I’m afraid so, Jason. That isn’t fair, either, but that’s just the way it is.”

He looked down at the floor. “Doesn’t have to be, though.” He glanced back up at his mother. “I could quit.”

She frowned. “Why?”

“Because I saw what Danny looked like when he was beating up that Machop. And I know it wasn’t the first time. If he’s acting like that now, what’ll he do when he takes over? I don’t wanna be a part of that. I don’t want that reputation.”

“Look, I understand it’s tough, but I don’t think quitting will help anything. You’ll still be Daniel Creight’s little brother, with or without a job at CBC, and without the job you’ll have no money and no way to change what you think is going wrong with the company.”

“Mom, I’ll never have a way to change what I think is going wrong. Long as Danny stays with the company, he’ll always be ahead of me. He’ll always be in charge. And he’s never gonna quit. He won’t change, either, not ‘cause I want him to. I don’t wanna work for him.”

“Jason, any scenario that involves you working for him is still a long way off. Nobody’s saying you have to stay with the company if you eventually decide you want to do something else with your life. I just don’t think you can make a snap decision about your job and all based on what happened yesterday.”

“Mom, c’mon,” he scoffed. “Dad would hate me if I quit. I’d be letting him down all over again. He doesn’t have to say I should keep working here out loud for me to know he’s expecting me to. He’s always saying he wants Danny and me to take over. Really he just wants Danny to take over.”

“Listen, it isn’t Daniel’s fault he’s older than you. He’s had more time to get ahead in the business. Three years is a long time to make your father very proud.”

“So is fourteen, Mom, and all I seem to do is remind him of how much further I have to go to reach Danny’s potential.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to keep dealing with that. I won’t quit right away, but I’ll start looking for other jobs.”

She pursed her lips for a moment, then turned and headed back to the door. “I’ll bring up your lunch and dinner.” She paused inside the doorway and half-turned back to look at him. “You’re right about one thing, Jason. If you do quit, it’ll be disappointing. You’re a good and honest employee. That’s a sad rarity these days.”

He got up, then sat down at his desk and turned his monitor back on. He wanted to have the last word – usually someone else stole it away from him – but with his parents, he knew there were only certain times where he could take it. This wasn’t one of those times. So he kept it to himself, letting the words ring loud inside his mind. I can at least live with myself better.

—

Jason didn’t expect the next three weeks to pass by quickly. He wasn’t disappointed, either – each weekday saw him do as his father bade him, however reluctantly. Directly following school, he went home and sat in Mr. Creight’s office while doing every last bit of his homework. Although his teachers complimented him for being much more prompt with his work, any time he had left to himself was spent loathing both his father and brother for putting him in this predicament, as though it were some conspiracy against him.

The first weekend was spent cleaning up his room. The next two were bereft of work for him. His father had evidently meant for Jason not to return to work until his penance was complete, which suited Jason just fine – it meant that instead of having to endure the stupifying boredom of replenishing supplies and taking stock, he could spend his spare time perusing details on the finer points of raising a Gyarados.

He’d spent some time wondering why it was that he pined for this Pokémon, in particular. It certainly wasn’t for its endearing nature – even scientists called it the “atrocious” Pokémon, and with good reason. A Magikarp was by nature moronic and easy to push around. Once evolved, it tended to remember this attitude towards it as Gyarados and was apt to spend the rest of its life seeking revenge upon everyone and everything that had treated it as an inferior life-form.

And it wasn’t just entirely about finding something to rival Daniel, either. For all the thought he’d put into countering type differences, should the two Creight boys ever find themselves on the opposite sides of a Pokémon battle arena, there was something about this Pokémon that appealed to Jason. Perhaps it was the factor of intimidation... the knowledge that anyone with half a brain looking at a Gyarados would say to himself, “I should steer clear.”

For that matter, there was also the size of the beast. At an average length surpassing 21 feet, it was considered one of the largest Pokémon in existence. Jason was willing to admit he had always been the “little man” of the family – maybe there was a compensation issue in his mind he hadn’t fully realized. Whatever the reason, the more he studied about this Pokémon, the more he wanted it... either in spite of the difficulty of raising one, or because of it.

But since he’d been out of work for three weeks, his bank account had not grown by a single credit – probably pretty critical when I’m thinking about buying a Pokémon and a bunch of TM’s for it, he thought ruefully. He knew he’d already spent too much time regretting ever walking in on Daniel that day but once more he found himself cursing that moment in time. Things probably would be much easier if he had just kept to himself about the whole business of Rocky Lancaster being hired.

Oddly enough, the promise his father had made about them discussing the matter in more depth never came to pass. Jason couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps Mr. Creight had recruited his mother to have that conversation instead. He had no doubt she’d brought to his father’s attention Jason’s thoughts on quitting CBC altogether in favor of trying to get out from under Daniel’s ever-growing shadow. On the one hand, that seemed to make it all the more curious that Mr. Creight would have nothing to say on the subject... but on the other, Jason was grateful that it hadn’t been broached since.

He heaved a sigh as he looked at the numbers scrawled on his notepad. More than half a month had not changed them any – a Gyarados, even a newly evolved one, was still beyond his price range, to say nothing of the TM’s he wanted in conjunction with the purpose. Assuming his father let him go back to work once this third and final weekend was concluded, he would have to go almost four months, and without spending a single credit during that time, in order to save the amount he needed for the full purchase. He hadn’t even lent any thought toward what characteristics he would want to see in the Pokémon he bought, despite the fact that CBC took seriously what a trainer wanted out of their products.

He shrugged. Well, if we’re going to go with pie-in-the-sky wishes anyway... He started scribbling on his notepad again. I don’t really like physical attacking. I think a Pokémon able to fight from a distance doesn’t have to worry quite as much about getting critically injured. So that means a focus on special attacks instead. And I’d like one that’s intelligent. No dumb brutes.

He chuckled aloud. I must be nuts, thinking Dad would let me have a Pokémon of my own before he said he would consider giving me one. But he’s said for a long time that I’m free to do with my money as I please, so long as I understand the consequences of using it. I think I really want this.

Maybe that’ll be enough of a case for him.

—

“Dad, I’d like to get a Pokémon.”

Carson Creight looked up from his desk, eyebrow arched at his younger son. “Haven’t we had this discussion? I recall having it several times throughout your youth.”

“I don’t think we’ve had this particular discussion, no,” Jason countered.

The elder Creight rolled his eyes and shifted his gaze back down to his work. “I’m busy, son. Can we talk about this later?”

“You’re the one who encourages me to talk to you whenever I have something I think I should talk to you about. Normally I don’t have anything I really need to discuss, but tonight I do. And normal working hours were over before dinnertime... so can I please have a few minutes to talk to you?”

At that, Mr. Creight hesitated for a moment, then set down his highlighter deliberately and looked up at Jason. “Very well, you have my full and undivided attention.”

“Good. Because I’d like to get a Pokémon.”

Mr. Creight gave a disapproving frown. “I did hear that the first time, Jason. And I’ve told you before that if you’ve performed to my satisfaction, you’ll be given any one Pokémon we have that you want as a gift on your fifteenth birthday... but not a day before. I’m sure you heard me then, so did you want me to repeat myself?”

“No. I wanted you to listen to what I said. I said I’d like to get a Pokémon.”

Mr. Creight narrowed his eyes. “And what, exactly, is it you think I’m missing about that statement?”

“It’s what your customers say all the time whenever they come into the shop. We ask them what we can do for them today, and they say, ‘Well, I’d like to get a Pokémon.’ What are we usually supposed to say in response to that?”

His father’s expression changed from one of exasperation to one of jaded curiosity. “Typically we ask for details on the kind of Pokémon the customer is looking for. But you already knew that. Jason, are you saying you’re interested in purchasing a Pokémon for yourself?”

“You’ve always told me the same thing you always told Daniel – fifteenth birthday, if we’ve made you proud, we can have any one we choose. But you also said that once we earned our money it was ultimately up to us how we chose to spend it.”

“You have four months to go, Jason. You want to spend your hard-earned money to buy one when you can get one for the simple price of working to the best of your ability?” Mr. Creight leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers over his stomach. “Either you’re too impatient to wait, or you’re not convinced you can show me you deserve it.”

“It doesn’t have to be either one of those. Maybe I want to show I can actually compete with Danny in something. Maybe I want to show myself I’m responsible enough to take care of one... or learn that age really does matter.”

“What Pokémon are you looking to buy?”

“A Gyarados.”

Mr. Creight tilted his head from one side to the other and half a smile crept across his features. “You want to learn how to shoulder the responsibility of taking care of a Pokémon, and you want your first one to be a Gyarados?”

“Okay, so it’s a bit of a learning curve.”

“That’s quite possibly the understatement of the millennium.” Mr. Creight leaned forward, elbows on the ledge of his desk. “This whole discussion is based on a bit of a technicality. I reserve the right to turn down the business of any potential customer for any reason. That includes you.”

“You’ve had younger kids than me in that store, buying Pokémon by the dozens and TM’s by the hundreds.”

“Yes, and those kids train professionally.”

“I have the same exact license they do. You require everyone who works for you to get a Pokémon handling license.”

“Jason, a Gyarados would be a bit much for you. It might even be a bit much for your brother.”

Jason groaned. “Dad, that’s exactly one of the reasons I want this... to show I’m not Danny, that I might actually be able to do just as well as him without needing to be him.”

“I didn’t say you need to be Daniel in order to tame a Gyarados, or do good work, or even make me proud of you. Your mother was right when she told you the comparison would always be there in some way. The example Daniel sets is the one I’m familiar with. I might even admit the bar is set too high for me to expect you to meet it all the time, but I think you can clear it with room to spare if you apply yourself.”

“So let me apply myself here. I can have a greater appreciation of what the breeders and trainers in the pens have to go through if I have my own point of reference to work with.”

Mr. Creight held up a hand. “Fine. Then, assuming I said it was okay in my book for you to buy one, would you even have the money for a Gyarados?”

“Well... not all of it. But the company does a sort of layaway arrangement. Payments on the Pokémon, and it gets trained in what you want it to learn, until you have it paid in full.”

“That’s true, but I don’t particularly relish the thought of you going into debt over a Pokémon, especially when you can wait and get one for free. If you don’t have the money to complete the purchase off the bat, I don’t see how it helps you learn anything about saving. The layaway process actually ends up charging people more money in the long run because we apply interest against the amount still owed after a certain time, and we train the Pokémon professionally rather than simply selling their owners TM’s that they can use themselves.”

“I know that, Dad. The trainers call it ‘the amateur fee’.” The younger Creight planted his hands on his hips. “I’m not trying to use it as a lesson about saving my money.”

“I think that’s a lesson you should keep in mind. It’s not a good idea for you to owe money – not at your age and not to this company. Going into debt at any age isn’t a good thing, and that’s basically what you’re talking about doing.”

“Dad, all I need to know is if you would let me spend my money on a Pokémon before my birthday. Even if I do get one free when I’m fifteen, I’ll still only have one. What’s wrong with wanting more than what I’m already looking forward to?”

His father seemed to be fighting a snicker. “There’s a difference between ambition and hoarding. Ambition takes patience. Hoarding is usually accompanied by a lack thereof.”

“I’m not talking about hoarding, Dad. I’m talking about that...” Jason gesticulated as he sought the right words, as though they were hovering in the air just beyond his grasp. “...that sense of accomplishment that comes with getting what you want and not needing favors to do it. If you let me get this Gyarados, and I get it, I’ll have gotten it all on my own. The Pokémon you’re talking about giving me for my fifteenth birthday is a gift. It’s a favor. And maybe it’s one I don’t want.”

Mr. Creight leaned back again and crossed his arms. “It seems interesting to me that you accused me of showing your brother favoritism two months ago – and now you’re saying you don’t want the same. It’s almost as if you think I shouldn’t reward your brother for his hard work.”

“It’s not about that, Dad. Reward him all you want. What I want right now is to not be treated like Danny Junior. He never bothered to ask if he could buy a Pokémon ahead of time. He’s willing to take every favor you give him to advance himself. If it’s how I can keep myself different from him, at least to you, I don’t want the same favors he got. Maybe I don’t want any at all.”

“You’re saying you would say no to me offering you any Pokémon you wanted?”

“I’m saying I want to earn what I get, the right way. So I’ll have to work harder. Bring it on. I’ll feel more honest about it that way.”

Mr. Creight tilted his head. “That’s an interesting way of trying to one-up your brother.”

“I don’t want to compete with him, Dad. I just want to be my own person. I want to be seen as my own person. And I want to be treated that way, too.”

“And the act of purchasing your own Gyarados will earn that distinction for you?”

“It’d be a start, anyway.”

His father drew a long breath and then blew it out in possibly one of the heaviest sighs Jason had ever heard the man expel. Then he threw up his hands. “Fine. Fine. I’ll talk it over with your mother, see if she agrees. If so, then you’ve got yourself a deal.” Then he leveled a warning finger at Jason, disregarding the smile that had broken out across the teen’s face. “Now keep in mind, you were willing to forfeit all notions of favoritism. I’m not going to tolerate seeing you behaving jealously if I treat your brother to something I withhold from you. If you go broke on this Gyarados you’re so keen on, you’ll be the one responsible for getting yourself back out of the mess.”

“Yes, sir,” Jason responded, and although his tone indicated he understood the seriousness of what his father was telling him, he couldn’t hide his enthusiasm. His smile didn’t abate. “I promise I’ll earn this.” He turned around to leave.

“You’ve already earned something out of this conversation, Jason.”

The teen glanced over his shoulder, eyebrows raised.

His father gave him the barest hint of a smile. “My respect.”

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© Matt Morwell, 2011

[mattbcl]

Outcast

Part 5

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Jason’s enthusiasm continued to show in both his school work and his job. His promotion to the cash register still stood, despite butting heads with his father, for whom Jason now had a greater appreciation in his ability to separate personal and professional issues (at least when it came to Jason). He was cordial and helpful to everyone who showed up at the place, and did his best to keep a pleasant atmosphere in his little pocket of the store. It left his co-workers scratching their heads at first, but they weren’t going to complain about him being perky; it seemed to have a positive effect on the rest of them.

He did his best to avoid Daniel at all times during working hours, and to avoid hearing about him from anybody else. The thought had occurred to him during his period of punishment that if their father wasn’t going to hear out one of his most respected employees and his younger son when they were both saying the same thing, nothing would sway him to act against Daniel.

But where accusations seemed to get Daniel no closer to being axed from his job, his own confessions to their father did at least get him moved away from the pens. He transferred to a more cushy desk job. Jason found the man’s job title basically forgettable – “Daytime Operations Special Assistant” or something of the sort – and he felt it was a burden lifted to know he wasn’t going to be bothering the Pokémon nearly as much. At the very least, their father had made it more difficult for Daniel to interrupt the work the breeders and trainers were doing.

Jason didn’t make his order immediately, choosing to heed his father’s advice – at least in part – regarding the aptly named “amateur fee”. Let’s face it, though, I have that fee coming to me. I am an amateur. Three weeks after his discussion with his father about the matter, however, he saw how close he was getting to his fifteenth birthday – now only two months away – and decided it was time.

The process was simple enough on the surface: one went to CBC’s Main Services building and spoke to a designated official about purchasing a Pokémon. That official then interviewed the potential customer to determine exactly what Pokémon, what characteristics, what strengths, and what abilities they wanted. In the event the exact attributes desired were present in the exact Pokémon species desired, the official would take the buyer to see the available specimen. It was a shrewd method of sealing the deal before the customer even knew it, because rare was the person who saw what they wanted face-to-face that did anything but say they wanted it right now.

Jason wondered how much simpler the process would be with his knowledge and his already-made decision to purchase a Gyarados. He pulled out the piece of paper on which he’d neatly written everything his liaison would need to know about the specimen he was looking for and kept it in his left hand, while he used his right to open the front door of the Main Services center.

“Jason!”

He wasn’t surprised to hear his name – everybody and their Poochyena here on Tangelo Island knew who he was. What did surprise him, however, was the sound of his mother’s voice issuing that name to the local atmosphere. He blinked and turned to his left; sure enough, there she was, seated at a desk whose nameplate read Amelia Creight – CBC Advanced Breeder / Official Liaison.

That last also was no surprise to him, as he knew that she acted in both capacities. Although she preferred breeding grounds, she was an expert saleswoman... calm, compassionate, open, friendly – but also firm and knowledgeable. He’d often found himself wondering if there could have been any other woman intended for Carson Creight’s hand in marriage, but he’d always been left with the conclusion that there really was no one better suited to be his wife.

No, what surprised him was that she was in here at this particular time on this particular day. The schedules he’d seen had said she was going to be working the Grass-Type pens all day. He’d rather expected to see Kyle or Cody approaching him with an inquisitive look. But no – there his mother sat, fingers laced and a professional smile on her face.

“Today’s the big day, then?” she asked.

For that one moment, Jason actually felt himself forget what he’d walked in for. “Uh... what?”

“Your Pokémon, Jason. You’ve got that list you’ve been writing and re-writing for weeks.” She nodded toward his hand. “But I’ll bet I don’t need to see it to know you’re looking to get yourself a Gyarados. It seems such an odd fit for you, though.”

“Um.” Jason felt his ears turn red and he felt awkward as he sat down opposite his mother. “Well, I guess maybe it is.”

“So you’re settled on Gyarados.”

“Yeah, I think so. But I know it’s your job to ask questions, so go ahead.”

A sly smile passed over her features. “It’s my job to ask the questions, but you don’t have to worry about giving me the wrong answer – there’s no such thing. First thing’s first, though. Why a Gyarados?”

“Well...” Jason could already tell he was growing fidgety and he unfolded his paper to give his hands something to do. “I spent some time thinking about the sort of Pokémon Danny would get. And I figured that certain types just wouldn’t be the sort he’s interested in. I’ve never seen him deal with Electric-Type Pokémon – he’s barely even mentioned them – so I figured that weakness would be one I wouldn’t have to worry about.”

“‘Worry about’?” She tilted her head at him. “Sounds to me like you want to get a Pokémon that can beat your brother.”

His ears flamed a darker red and it started to creep into his face. “Well... sort of.”

She blinked. “If your selection’s based entirely on that, I’m not sure a Gyarados would be a proper fit for you. Mantine is the same type classification and it has a reputation that’s far friendlier.”

“Mom... I thought about Mantine, really I did. I even thought about a Croagunk because I figured Danny wasn’t the sort to get a Psychic-Type. But Gyarados appeals to me the most. It’s big, it’s bad, it’s powerful to the max...”

“And it’s also dangerous.” She leaned across the desk and fixed a serious gaze upon her son. “I would have some very real concerns about your safety and the safety of anyone around you as long as you had a Gyarados in your possession. Magikarps need to be at a power index of Level 20 before they’ll even evolve, and it’s difficult to get them there. When they evolve, suddenly they have all that power they don’t know what to do with.”

“I know all that. That’s why I want to get professional trainers to teach this Gyarados the moves I want it to know. Then it’ll know its power and be more tame when I’m able to finish paying it off. I’m willing to pay the amateur fee so that it’ll be safe.”

“It’s also a big commitment, you know,” she noted. “Gyarados isn’t a small Pokémon. Its appetite matches its size, and it doesn’t eat Magikarp, which is by far the most prevalent Pokémon in the waters around Tangelo Island. And if you were to unleash your Gyarados in those waters, what guarantee would you have that it would return to you?”

“Like I said, the pro training it receives before I get it. It’s not like I’m wanting to get a completely wild one and tame it myself, Mom. I’m not a breeder or a trainer. I want a Pokémon that’s scary. It’ll surprise people who think I’m not that scary. It’ll make them think.”

“About what?” She leaned back and clicked her pen several times with her thumb. “Not messing with you? Respecting you?”

He sighed. “I wasn’t expecting you to be here today.”

“I delegated some of my work. Your brother needs a closer eye kept on him while he’s still adjusting to his job, and I’m starting to feel that there’s a potential bad seed in our clientele we need to watch out for – the vicious trainers who only want Pokémon in order to hurt and humiliate others.”

Jason’s eyes widened. “Wait a minute... you’re not saying I’m like that, are you?”

“Not necessarily, but I know you’re not like that because I know you. I meet customers all the time who don’t have the luxury of a lifelong relationship with me.” She gave him a momentary slight smirk, but her expression grew serious again. “And I don’t have the luxury of one with them, either. In performing interviews like this one, my job is to determine whether it’s appropriate to sell a Pokémon to a given customer. We could be held responsible for what a Pokémon does even once it’s out of our hands, if it’s in the hands of an irresponsible or even a cruel master.”

“But you know I wouldn’t be either of those things, Mom,” he answered. “I honestly think I can handle the responsibility. I know what I’m getting myself into. I see trainers of all kinds around here and I know which ones are the ones I should be learning from. I’d be following their example. And I’d also make sure I asked for help when I needed it.”

She arched an eyebrow at him. “And for what reason would you do that?” she inquired, much in the manner of a schoolteacher administering a challenge to her student.

“Because... just ‘cause it’s my responsibility doesn’t mean I have to do it alone.” Though it had taken him a moment to come up with the answer, he felt a slight swell of pride in his chest for having recalled his mother say the same about his responsibilities at work, when he’d first become employed. He peered at her; her blank expression had yet to change, making him wonder if he’d offered the correct response after all. “...Right?”

She tapped her pen on her desk. “It’s more than just a mantra, Jason. Make sure you heed that advice. I know you’ll hate hearing this, but your brother owes more than just a little bit of his success to it. So does your father, for that matter. You’ll find a lot of people do.”

Jason tried to keep his face from twisting at the mention of Daniel’s good fortunes. His mother knew him all too well – he didn’t want to hear yet another comparison to his brother just now, or be told how to be more like him. At this point, that’s as likely to get me to not act like him!

Still, he knew she meant well by it. She’s just trying to help me be successful myself. He gave her a nod. “Okay. I’ll try my best.”

Now her façade broke, and she gave him a smile – one that he knew had dazzled its fair share of boys and men. It was that smile that got her customers to submit to the “amateur fee”, to extra training, and to supplementary products, any of which could drive an average trainer to the poorhouse. But in addition to being charming, she was also quite shrewd, and an excellent businesswoman; she knew how to take care of her customers so that not one had been made to feel like they were required to purchase the extras, nor did any complain that she had somehow put them in debt. Jason knew there had been several salesmen who had come and gone over the years who could not make that same claim.

“So... let’s talk about your Gyarados.”

—

It was scarcely an hour later when Jason was going on a somewhat unnecessary tour through the Water-Type Pokémon pools, where each weight- and height-class were given their own dwelling. Pools and tanks though they were, those words did nothing to offer justice to the domain – each dwelling was appropriately-sized so that most of them did not want for extra space. For those that did, there were tunnels that led into the fresh water coves in and around the island, naturally-occurring but dominated by the Pokémon bred at the CBC.

He had never been familiarized with the exact overall measurements relating to the tunnelspace and the pools, but he knew it had to be in the range of miles. In fact, the structural integrity of a sizeable chunk the island literally rode on the pillars supporting it in the tunnels – though it would take nothing short of a total catastrophe to fell them, there existed the possibility that everything upon which the CBC was built could quite literally fall into the ocean.

That didn’t just go for the CBC, but other buildings and businesses in the area, as well. Should there be an earthquake, volcanic activity, or some other volatile deep-earth event, at least half the island could kiss its treasures goodbye. But Jason knew from his studies that there hadn’t been any naturally-occurring tremors here in eons. No tectonic activity had ever been recorded in this region since it was first settled by humanity, and scientists had no reason to believe they would see any for a very long time to come.

His mother gestured to the pane in front of which they now stood. “Here are the specimens you’re looking for, Jason.”

“I’m really just looking for one. You sure we’ve got the right kind?”

“Shouldn’t underestimate our resources.” She glanced down the lane and gestured to one of the hands walking in their direction. “Kyle, c’mon over here for a minute, would you?”

Kyle was a lanky blond with a pair of thick-rimmed glasses and a rumpled-looking lab coat that wasn’t quite white. Upon Mrs. Creight’s beckon, he altered his aim up the alley and offered them both a polite smile. “Hey, Mrs. C. What’s up?”

“Well, Jason here is looking to get a Gyarados from us.”

The tech blinked. “Did his birthday arrive already? I must’ve forgotten, I didn’t get an alert or anything...”

“No, no,” she laughed. “Actually, he’s making a full-on purchase. And since he’s going to be a paying customer, I’d like to make sure we extend our best resources to him.”

“Do we have anything less?”

“Nice save.” She clapped him on the shoulder. “Jason, you know Kyle, our resident water watcher.”

Jason nodded. “Yeah. Passing me off, then?”

She chuckled. “For the moment. You’re in very good hands, I think. I need to get back to the office, but once you’re wrapped up here, come on back and we can sit down and go over the paperwork you’ll need to fill out.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mom.”

She smiled. “Of course.” She wrapped her arms about Jason for a moment, then looked at Kyle. “Take good care of him, huh? He’s a mole for the boss.”

“Figured as much,” responded the tech.

Jason’s mother chuckled once more, then departed the tank area. Jason watched her go, then turned back to Kyle. “So... yeah. I’m wanting a Gyarados.”

“So I hear.” Kyle’s head bobbed as he spoke and he shifted from side to side; Jason had never known him to be the most social character, but he definitely knew his Pokémon. “She’s already asked why and all that jazz, so I won’t rehash that – but your question, at this point, is gonna be, ‘Do they have what I’m looking for?’ So let me in on the news here. Got some particular guidelines?”

“Uh, yeah.” Jason consulted his list, which he still gripped in his left hand. “I’m wanting one that has greater potential in special attacks. Y’know, stuff that hits from a distance.”

“Gyarados is pretty good at either one, it’s a flexible Pokémon. But yeah, I kinda like something that doesn’t have to get into the fray. Standing above close combat and all that.” Kyle’s head bobbed again. “Anything else?”

“Well, even though I’d like a focus on special attacks, I don’t want everything else to be sacrificed for it. It should be able to defend itself, though whether it’s better doing it with its own pure speed or just stamina is up to you guys, I guess.”

The tech held up a hand. “Hang on, now, you don’t get to pass the buck that easily. If you’d like us to work on one more than the other, let me know. If not, we can make sure to try and balance them out as much as possible. But this is your Pokémon, man. Own it, huh?”

“Okay, okay, my mistake,” Jason conceded. “I know you take this all seriously. Just... I guess, balance them out as best you can. Obviously even the fastest Pokémon can’t get out of the way all the time, so...”

“Got it. What else?”

“Well... I’ve got a list of moves I’d like it to be trained to know, too.” He held up the paper in his hand. “I know it’s sort of a lot but I want to cover all my bases.”

Kyle took the proffered document and inspected it for a long moment. He folded the paper back up and then looked to its owner. “We can do this but you should probably keep in mind most Pokémon can only remember a few moves at a time. It’s something of a strain for them to keep a bunch of them in memory at once.”

“Yeah, but Gyarados is fairly smart, and it needs direction. I figure the more moves it knows, the more direction it’ll have. Plus it might not get worn out so easily.”

Kyle shrugged. “You’re the boss.” He glanced at a nearby pillar, on which hung a clipboard stacked with a series of report papers, and pulled the clipboard from its mount, then flipped through its contents. Then he looked to Jason and offered him an encouraging smile. “What do you know... looks like we might have one just your type here.”

“Really?” Jason felt his heart skip a beat.

“Yep. Check out the tank on your left, I’ll bring him in. Or, reel, I think.” Kyle reached for a keypad on the wall and dialed in an access code; at first there seemed to be no response, but within just a few seconds, it was clear something was afoot. The smaller water-based Pokémon in the indicated tank were clearing away towards the central pools. Kyle offered Jason no explanation but Jason didn’t need one – the access code the tech had punched in activated a miniaturized tracking device implanted beneath the skin of the Pokémon they owned, and that device was capable of summoning the Pokémon carrying it toward the keypad used.

And here comes the lynchpin of the sale...

A giant shadow in the waters began to take definition in the haze of the tank. As it drew closer, Jason felt a swelling in his chest combined with a surge of adrenaline injecting itself into his blood. Logically, he knew exactly what to expect – it wasn’t as though he hadn’t seen them before. But this was to be different.

This one, he knew, would be his.

And then there it was, in all its terrible glory, mouth hanging perpetually open and steely eyes inspecting the humans on the other side of the window pane. It curled this way and that in the water, fins generating heavy currents whose end results caused audible splashing on the pool surface up above. To hold itself in a slightly elevated position, it twisted its body in a constantly rotating spiral, while its head remained almost perfectly still.

Jason pressed his palm against the pane. “Amazing,” he said.

“Thought you’d like him. Specs on him say he’s a bit of a glutton, which is a good thing if you want him to be as healthy and strong as you say. He’s also got something of a temper.”

Jason resisted the urge to glance over his shoulder at the tech, but he raised an eyebrow. “Well, yeah. This is a Gyarados we’re talking about here.”

“No kidding, but I’m talking about a notably foul temper, here. And a short fuse, too.” Kyle lolled his head to one side. “Speaking of which... how’re you planning on having him trained? Gonna do it yourself?”

“No way,” was Jason’s quick response. “I’m paying the amateur fee.”

“Definitely the way to go for a man’s first Pokémon.” Kyle snickered, then followed Jason’s stare up at the giant sea serpent. “Got an iron will, too, or so the diagnosis says here. And he’s got a higher-than-average auditory capacity, very alert. Actually to the point of jumpy, he sure thrashes around. Which is strange, ‘cause I can’t really think of any reason he’d be concerned about anything that’s making a noise I can’t hear.”

Only then did Jason catch up with what Kyle was saying. “Yeah, weird. ‘Iron will’, though? What’s that about? Is he stubborn?”

The tech perused the document on his clipboard. “Can be, but it looks like they’re more content to say when he wants to do something, he’s doing it, and hang everything else. See here, it says ‘highly persistent’. Good thing he hasn’t been taught how to focus his power yet.”

“What, was he wild?”

“As rashly as he behaves–” Kyle glanced at his clipboard upon the sight of Jason’s raised eyebrow at the adjective. “Yeah, it says he’s ‘rash’ right here in the report – you’d think he was, but no, actually, he’s been captive, born and raised. Still, would you behave tame with a body like that?”

Jason scoffed as he turned back to Kyle. “No, I guess not. Biggest fish in the sea gets to throw his weight around whenever he wants to, right?”

“Exactly. That’s why I thought it was strange for him to be so jumpy, but...” Kyle shrugged. “Whatever, it’s a quirk. Every Pokémon has one or two. He’s crafty, too. Mischievous. He likes to–”

Tink-tink!

Jason turned around – and promptly shouted and jumped away. The Gyarados in question, which had lost Jason’s visual attention, had almost pressed its perpetually-open mouth to the window panel, and tapped its razor-sharp fangs against it. Jason groaned. “What the...”

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I was gonna say, he likes doing that. He’s pretty smart, so don’t underestimate him, whatever you do.”

“Good thing is, I may not need to worry about it that much, it’s gonna be a while before I actually have all the money I need to get him out of here.”

“Financing a Gyarados? The amateur fee is one thing, but you’d be paying more for him in the long run, you know.”

Jason scoffed. “Tell me about it. But I figure that it’s the best way to make sure he’s disciplined enough to listen to me when he gets out.”

“Hold up on that, listen to me for a sec,” said Kyle, and he pointed a corner of his clipboard at Jason for emphasis. “The relationship between a Pokémon and its master... it isn’t always about following direction. You’ve gotta treat him less like a pet, more like a partner. Especially with the more volatile Pokémon, you have to respect them and respect what they can do. Otherwise they can seriously hurt you, and sure enough you’re not gonna be able to do anything to them in return. Unless you can blast a Hyper Beam from your mouth. Kinda doubt that.”

“Now that you mention it, I kinda doubt that, too. But I wouldn’t mind trying one day.” Jason crossed his arms and gazed up at the Gyarados still staring at them through the glass. It was hard to gauge from a visage so removed from a human one, but Jason could swear the Pokémon was growing bored just hovering there on display.

Huh, he thought. Maybe a bond’s forming right here and now... people here really know how to seal a deal. I’m not even Kyle’s biggest fan – he looks rumpled, not that professional – but he’s had this sale in the bag from the moment I walked in, so it doesn’t matter. Wonder how he does it with people who aren’t sure. ...Heh, probably just lets Mom do the talking.

Jason pressed his hand to the pane and smiled. “I think I’ll take him.”

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© Matt Morwell, 2011

[mattbcl]

Outcast

Part 6

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The weeks leading up to Jason’s birthday seemed to progress on alternating speeds of unbelievably fast and achingly slow. He tried to spend as much of his spare time as he could near the pools where the Gyarados was being raised and trained. Had he been any other buyer, he might have been asked to leave the property after a few days’ worth of that sort of attention, but everyone knew Jason. One of those times where being the boss’s kid actually works out for something.

Plus he believed there was something to be said for having a Pokémon’s future owner or trainer in close proximity, if at all possible. He’d never seen any studies on the subject but he thought the matter of the “bond of partnership” Kyle was talking about earlier would be more easily facilitated by having him nearby. If the Gyarados was going to be his Pokémon, why not at least offer it the face it would have to get used to in the environment with which it was already familiar?

And so he found himself a nearby perch, day after day, watching the Gyarados prowl about in the pools or receive the training he intended for it to have. As the days progressed and he saw how the training worked, he began to realize that TM’s weren’t exactly the “quick” method some trainers professed them to be. Really, they offered a Pokémon the most basic understanding of how to perform a maneuver, but after the data disc was used, it was up to the Pokémon to figure out how to refine the measure for maximum effect and efficiency. And ultimately, that had to be achieved on its own.

Which makes sense... I guess I just always thought once the TM was displayed to a Pokémon, it just automatically knew how to do the attached move.

With that considered, Jason now found himself rather thankful that Pokémon, in general, were not liable to command mastery over any particular move without experience in it. Given the apparent disposition of the Gyarados to misbehave – it continued to pull pranks, scare passers-by perusing the tanks, splash water at everyone it saw, shove past other Pokémon in the tanks, and assorted nonsense – Jason wasn’t sure how wise it would be for it to know how to use attacks to their fullest effect.

But he trusted the trainers to be responsible in their jobs. It’s what I’m paying them for, after all.

Days transitioned into night oftentimes without him being fully aware. It wasn’t always his fault; overhead floodlights bathed the pools in all the artificial sunlight and heat they would need to keep the Pokémon within them comfortable, leaving it sometimes difficult for Jason to figure out whether dusk had arrived at a cursory glance. Of course, in the event they preferred cooler waters or darkness, the tunnel systems underneath the island provided an excellent refuge.

That was where the Gyarados seemed most comfortable. Naturally, that was the one place Jason’s eyes couldn’t follow, and that was usually when he went home. On days when he was more excited, he would end up skipping dinner to be closer to the Gyarados, a fact his mother gently reminded him of at least twice.

Summer break came upon them, and Jason’s grades were notably higher marks than they had been from five months previous. Dinner table conversation brought him accolades from his parents, as well as a friendly clap on the shoulder from his brother – the only physical communication Jason would really allow from Daniel, but the smile of pride and congratulations on his older brother’s face seemed genuine enough.

The day before his birthday, Jason was ushered out of the house almost immediately upon waking. Although he knew that the occasion would be celebrated most ostentatiously – as it had been the last fourteen times – and he wanted desperately to see just what sort of effort was being made to that end, he really required no convincing in the matter of staying out. Each day he’d spent at the pools watching the trainers work with his Gyarados, he believed he had felt a slight strengthening in the connection he knew he would share with his soon-to-be first Pokémon.

As he made his way to the marina, he couldn’t help but consider what sort of work it had taken to get to this point, not the least of which had been confronting his father about the man’s favoritism toward Daniel. It was then that Jason’s desire to have a Pokémon of his own had overridden his good sense, and now he felt somewhat silly about the matter. Looking back at it now, it seemed foolish – now, because he hadn’t been patient enough to wait for his father’s promise to be delivered, he would actually be forced to wait past his fifteenth birthday.

If I had applied myself as hard to my job and schooling without that discussion, I might have gotten this exact same Pokémon for free, instead of spending all my savings on him and then some, he thought, as he sought out his favorite perch, a pool just a short distance from the one the trainers used. He sat down with his chin against the guard rail and his legs dangling over the edge; there was no danger posed by the Pokémon residing just beneath his toes, as they were low-power and many were still asleep.

He pondered more. But who’s to say I would have applied myself that hard? I may be getting this Gyarados later than I might have, and maybe at greater cost, but it’s still gonna be mine, and not a gift from anybody else to be taken away on a whim. I’m earning this. Nobody can take that away from me.

He nodded to himself decisively. Yeah, this was the right thing for me. ...But the next time I want a Pokémon from here, I might be better off just doing good work in the first place!

The Gyarados came swimming out into the main pool, urged on by the tracking device circling its neck that was summoning it. Even from high above it, Jason could hear the rumbling through the water that signified the giant sea serpent issuing a growl, likely at having been awakened.

Its head rose above the surface of the water then, and it turned about until it was looking directly at him. Its perpetually-open mouth spilled out water and a vicious-looking forked tongue, the latter of which reeled back into its place of origin only an instant later. The expression on its broad, scaly face was impossible to read, alien as it was in comparison to a human visage, but the look in its eyes carried something that Jason wasn’t quite sure he liked. There was something there that gave him a premonition. He could not suppress the shudder the creature’s gaze seemed to urge from his body.

The shiver that coursed through his shoulders was evidently all the Gyarados needed to see, because as Jason re-settled himself on the edge of the tank, the Pokémon turned away from him and to the trainer floating in the water in front of it. Jason took a deep breath and blew it out, hoping to expel along with it whatever that feeling had been. He scratched the back of his neck. What was that about? he wondered. All of a sudden felt like someone was walking over my grave. Or maybe slinking over it like a snake...

He narrowed his gaze at the massive Pokémon now taking direction from the trainer below. Gonna take a while to reestablish that connection now. Whatever that was in his eyes, it wasn’t friendship. That was something else altogether. Then he glanced up at the sky – a couple of Wingulls were hovering and cawing while the sun continued to creep up the eastern horizon and spear through the clouds. He chewed his bottom lip. Well, now, there’s an alternative I hadn’t thought about. And probably more maneuverable than a Gyarados...

He sighed. Great going, Jason, spend all this time and money and effort to get yourself the Pokémon you’ve got your heart set on, then let your eyes rove just as the deed is being done. There’s your Pokémon, right down there, being taught all the moves you’re paying for it to know, and you’re wanting to look anywhere but there? Must be out of your mind.

...no, what’s really nuts is you’re talking to yourself like this.

“All right, let’s see what you can do!” the trainer called out. Jason recalled his name was Alan, and he was a fairly built middle-aged man with brown hair. He brought one muscular arm up and aimed an open palm at the sky. “Show me a Rain Dance!”

Jason rolled his eyes. Oh, brother. That move works and I’m about to get drenched. He got to his feet in anticipation of having to find himself another place to stand – and that place would probably have to be inside, since a Rain Dance performed on an island was likely to douse the entire habitat.

The Gyarados raised its face to the heavens and its mouth opened wider, if that was even possible, for an earth-shaking roar that beckoned the clouds themselves to do its bidding. In response, what wisps there were seemed to suddenly swell and darken, and the sun was suddenly obscured from view. Mist settled over the grounds. The mist became a drizzle, and Jason knew all too well the drizzle would soon become a steady rain, and then a deluge. Feeling not terribly interested in getting washed out, he got to his feet and sought out refuge from the cold droplets.

At the very least, you never have to worry about weather control here! he thought cynically. He stepped through the nearest entrance back into the complex and closed the door behind him, but then sought out the nearest window so that he could continue watching their progress. That done, he saw that Alan was evidently not at all put out by the rain – and why should he be? He’s in the pool already, not like he can get any more wet – and his arm was still extended upward, as if directing the Gyarados to continue expending energy in commanding the downpour to occur.

Jason pressed his forehead against the window. I hope he gets around to letting up soon... a Rain Dance causes it to rain for a little while before calming down to normal conditions and the island’s not really needing to be completely drenched here in order for Gyarados to prove he knows how to make things wet.

Then his brow wrinkled as he saw something in the distance – or at least thought he saw something there. It was difficult to make out but it certainly was standing out, now that clouds barred Tangelo Island’s usual permeation of sunlight, a shocking white shape that appeared to be prowling back and forth on the edge of CBC grounds.

Curiosity bade him to take a closer look at it, and he groaned at himself for wanting to do so. I really don’t feel like being rained on right now... then again, not like I’ve got anything else to do... He trailed away from the window, then trudged to the access hatch and took a deep breath before exiting back out into the rain.

Fortunately it was a steady patter instead of a thundering downpour. There was little mistaking it as the doing of a Pokémon; rain of this sort was too pleasant to be a natural occurrence on a tropical island like Tangelo. Living out in the tropics had the allure of 95% pleasant conditions... but the other 5% carried with it the most devastating weather most people had the distinct displeasure of meeting: typhoons and twisters. Whether they were tornadoes or hurricanes, they were all nasty, and everyone had contingency plans that usually involved hunkering down in their neighbor’s wine cellar.

Such were the thoughts that pervaded Jason’s mind as he made his way across the grounds, now thoroughly soaked and cursing himself for his own curiosity. And now he was beginning to wonder if that curiosity was to be rewarded with something unpleasant, because he was getting a very good idea exactly what it was he was looking at across the way.

A white-furred creature standing on four powerful legs... glimmering yellow eyes set inside a jet-black face... a single crescent-shaped horn jutting from its right temple...

Jason stopped in his tracks and felt the blood drain from his face. He had never seen a Pokémon like this one in person. The CBC didn’t keep them and to his knowledge, neither did any trainers on the island. The fur on this one was disheveled and the look in its eyes was unmistakably feral, indicating it was wild.

An Absol.

The Pokémon had leveled its gaze directly at Jason, or at least that’s what it seemed like it was doing – Jason wasn’t sure and he wasn’t sure he wanted to be. The legends of what Absols were capable of rang in his ears. Absols would appear wherever there was a great disaster about to happen. People misunderstood why they were there. They thought of them as some sort of evil omen, like they were bringing the disasters with them, and hunted them to the brink of extinction.

So if one is here now...

Jason turned this way and that, wondering who else was seeing the Pokémon prowling just on the edge of the grounds. But there was apparently no one in his visual range who had yet taken notice of the creature, and it wasn’t moving, nor had it allowed its piercing stare upon him to relent. He couldn’t help but look upon the Pokémon and wonder what exactly was coming that could be so disastrous as to draw it from whatever hiding place it had chosen.

It only appears before people in order to warn them of impending danger. And this one’s looking right at me. So it’s trying to warn me... but what’s going to happen–?

“Hey, stop!”

Jason’s eyes widened. It was Alan’s voice calling out, and much more loudly than it should have been. He tore his gaze away from the Absol and twisted around to look at what was happening in the pool. What he saw was the Gyarados, towering far above the trainer below it, yellow-white light welling from its mouth.

Oh, no... It came flashing back to him, the list of moves he’d wanted his Pokémon to be taught – the list included Rain Dance, Earthquake, Dragon Pulse, Surf... and Hyper Beam. He’d already known that Gyarados learned Hyper Beam at the apex of its abilities, but he’d wanted this one to have it now, so that when it was used, a trainer against it – and Daniel, in particular – might be faked out into believing they were facing a stronger foe than they actually were.

They’ve already taught him Surf, Earthquake, and Hyper Beam... they were supposed to do Rain Dance now so it wouldn’t stress his abilities as much as the first three did...

He was torn in two directions as to how to respond to what was unfolding before him. The rational thing for him to do was run away as quickly as possible, find a safe place and hunker down – the sight of the clearly unbidden energy buildup within the Gyarados’ maw was more than enough for Jason to understand that it was no longer acknowledging Alan’s control over it.

But the other side of him demanded for him to run to the trainer and try to get him away, somehow warn him of the Absol’s presence. Jason was hardly the only one privy to the knowledge that in all of recorded history, an Absol’s instinct had never been wrong. If there was something bad about to happen, and from the looks of things there was no good coming from this, then Alan needed to know.

He finally set one foot in the direction of the pool.

But his mind was made up far too late.

The Gyarados loosed a herculean blast of energy straight down into the water in front of it. The shockwave blew all the water out of the pool, along with the trainer, and created a glowing tower of water that rose dozens of feet into the air. Jason raised up a hand to shield his eyes from the blinding light that speared through the column, then stumbled as he felt the ground shudder beneath him. Giant gaping cracks split the concrete foundation surrounding him.

He brought his hand back down.

The Gyarados was gone.

Alan lay on the concrete deck next to what remained of the pool dish. Jason’s eyes were still dazzled from the light so he couldn’t make out any details, but he was sure it was Alan because that had been the only human in or around the pool.

He felt himself regain his senses and his focus at that moment; he sought out the nearest staircase and raced down it to the injured trainer’s side. The middle-aged man was covered in ceramic and concrete dust, water droplets, and small cuts, and there was a dark trail of blood beginning to carve a path along the ground from his arm.

“Hey! Alan!” Jason called out to him, kneeling by the man’s side. He dared not touch Alan for fear of exacerbating his injuries. “Hey, are you okay, man?”

His question was answered with a mumbling groan. Alan’s head rose and turned to face Jason; the teen saw a trickle of blood seeping from the older man’s mouth. Alan ejected a rasping series of coughs, and each one forced a splatter of blood droplets to the ground beside him. He tried to arch his back, but then his face contorted in pain at doing so and he flopped back to the ground.

Abruptly, the ground shook. And this was not like it had with the destruction of the pool dish – no, now the entire island seemed to be rumbling beneath Jason’s feet. It shifted this way and that; it seemed as if the concrete slab on which he stood threatened to heave up and topple over on him. Instinctively, he got to his feet and started running – though to where, he wasn’t entirely sure. Any earthquake affecting one part of the island would have been affecting all of it...

An earthquake!

If Jason had been standing still, he might have dropped to the ground and buried his head in his hands. As it was, he still did so mentally, even while he raced to the nearest shoreline. They taught it how to use Earthquake, and now it’s gone into the tunnels under the island! This keeps up and everything my dad built here will crumble!

But right now, there was really nothing he could do. He had no way of knowing where, exactly, the Gyarados had gone under the island, nor did he have any means of tracking it. He wasn’t its trainer, nor was he officially its owner. He had absolutely nothing at his disposal that would help him control it.

His mind raced as he got to the shore. Rain was still coming down on the sandbar, creating a dark, dimpled landscape where just minutes before there had been a smooth yellow beach. Tourists and natives alike were huddled with each other in fright and confusion, trying to stand a fair distance away from any potential debris and stay on dry land at the same time. Some were scrambling about with no clear direction or purpose; others had a clear direction and were bolting in their chosen paths with all haste. Jason certainly felt himself a member of the former category... he truly had no idea what to do, now that he was here.

If I only had something, anything, to stop that Gyarados!

Several screams broke out among the people gathered on the beach. Jason followed their gazes back to the CBC grounds; spearing through the main office building was another blinding blast of energy. The white-hot stream sliced through the levels of the building like tissue paper and extended into the sky, then arced downward to the east and seared through the entire east wall of the structure. When the lance of energy ceased, Jason could see people inside cautiously peering through windows and through the destroyed segments... perhaps thinking the worst to be over.

But only a few seconds had passed when the ground shook again. Metal shrieked and the two halves of the office’s bisected wall slammed against each other. While strong, the building had never been constructed for this brand of punishment, and it shuddered violently – then started to fall apart right before everyone’s eyes. Jason heard more screams emit from the bystanders surrounding him as the faces they saw suddenly disappeared.

They’re... they’re... gone.

He slumped down onto the sand, hands over his eyes. I can’t believe this, I just can’t believe this! The Pokémon I wanted for myself, I was so impatient to get... now it’s going on a rampage and destroying everything I know! It’s hurting people!

“Jason?”

He felt someone touch his shoulder and he willed himself to look up at the hand’s owner. The face that looked down at him was that of Janice Forester, and the look that adorned her features was unlike any Jason had ever seen there. It was an expression of terror and uncertainty... neither of which he’d ever expected from her.

“What’s going on? What’s happening?” she asked.

“I... I...” He couldn’t produce a sentence, couldn’t even conceive of one, really. Then another barrage of cries assaulted his ears, and he snapped his head around to look back at the CBC grounds – just in time, because another great glowing tower of water was rising up in the pool arena. Because the shine of light within was more distant for Jason this time, he had less difficulty looking at it, and when the glow faded, he saw the Gyarados burst forth above the apex of the tower, to go diving back into the tunnel from whence it had come.

“Jason, what was that?”

He looked back at Janice again; her hand had clenched on his shoulder now, and her gaze had not yet turned away from where the Gyarados had appeared in the air. He plainly saw her gulp as the words stammered their way out of her mouth. “It looked like... like there’s a Gyarados in there, going crazy...”

And it’s my fault...

The entire ground rocked again, and people shrieked as they staggered and fell. Janice was one such person who took a full fall; she sprawled out on the sand next to Jason. As he was kneeling, the shuddering impacted him less, but it was more violent than the previous tremors had been... and it wasn’t stopping quite so suddenly, either.

More buildings located in the CBC grounds appeared to be suffering damage because of the quakes. Now windows were shattering, and bricks and rooftop devices – water supplies and smokestacks – were toppling over. Jason couldn’t even begin to hazard a guess as to the amount of money the damage could potentially cost, but surely it was enough at this moment to risk bankrupting the family business.

But more than that... the Gyarados, in its rage, was hurting people. Maybe even killing them.

I have to get it to stop somehow!

Wait...

Jason turned in the direction of the beachfront welcome center, where southbound trainers arriving astride their water-faring Pokémon typically stopped for maps and supplies. Attached to the welcome center was a small extension of the CBC General Store... fully stocked with everything a trainer could want: potions, elixirs, protein and carbohydrate mixes – and capture balls of all kinds.

He shot to his feet and staggered toward the store, wrenching away from Janice’s clinging hand as he did so. The ground kept shaking, but he made himself run as fast as he possibly could, keeping only minimal contact with the ground. Rain pelted his face and torso, and wet sand clumps from his shoes spattered him as high as his own thighs.

Everything was a blur as he charged through the door. He knew exactly where the capture balls were, rows of them in miniaturized form under a long glass case to the left of the cash register. Focused as he was on acquiring the items inside that case, he wasn’t sure if there was anyone still in the store or not... and he didn’t really care. He sought out the fastest method of accessing the case – the back was locked, but he knew the glass wasn’t tempered. He grabbed a spinning display case standing atop the flat glass and turned it over with as much force as he could muster; the pane shattered instantly, and he reached inside and raked up as many orbs as he could in a single scoop of his hand.

He turned and raced back out the front door without a second thought. In fact, there was very little to evidence he had a first thought, save for his immediate desire to try and stop the rampaging Gyarados. Capture balls bounced out of the scoop he had made of his arm against his chest, but he wasted no time in trying to retrieve them. Even as he bolted top speed back into the CBC’s acreage, he considered, I’ve never used any kind of capture ball on a Pokémon before! I’ve seen other trainers do it on television, but I’ve seen a hostile Pokémon captured in real life maybe a grand total of six times! I’ve got almost no idea what I’m doing! All I can do is start throwing these things at it and pray they catch it!

But first he had to locate the enraged creature, which had dived back into the tunnels beneath the island. And in this area, the ground was now constantly shaking and shifting, which indicated that the tunnels directly beneath it were beginning to collapse from the siege upon them. The sound was deafening – Jason could hear nothing, and clouds of crumbled debris and dust were blurring his vision. Belatedly he realized that the haze must be coming from the damaged and destroyed buildings surrounding him and that his lungs could get clogged very easily. He pulled the neck of his shirt up over his mouth and nose and tried his best to take slow breaths, but already a painful stitch was developing in his side, and his breathing was labored at best. There was no helping it.

As violently as the ground beneath him shook, he knew that standing still was impossible, so he scampered this way and that, at the very least trying to remain upright. At the same time, he tried to count the number of capture balls still in his possession – four had survived with him. He knew them all by heart: two were standard issue Poké Balls, one was a Luxury Ball, and one was a Dive Ball. Some minuscule voice in his head was calculating the price of the items he had just stolen, then informed him that it hadn’t counted the ones he’d dropped.

The ground pitched again as his foot touched down, and he fell face-first to the ground. His vision swam and he felt something warm, wet, and sticky running across his face. Hazily, he considered the likelihood that it was blood. If there was pain, either he ignored it or it simply didn’t register – he got back to his feet.

And just in time.

Because the Gyarados had risen up once again through another access point in the pool arena, and was roaring as loudly as its voice could carry.

Jason grit his teeth. I’ve got you now...

He struggled forward and held the Dive Ball up in his right hand. I may not know much but I know this one has the best chance of catching a waterborne Pokémon. He cocked back, then hurled it as hard as he could.

It smacked the side of the Gyarados’ face, then splashed into the pool beneath it.

Jason’s eye narrowed. Wait, what...?

But the impact of the ball against its visage had not gone unnoticed. The Gyarados rounded on Jason and leaned down to look at him face-to-face... so to speak. Its own face was as long as Jason’s torso, and its jaws could easily accommodate someone his size if it decided to make a morsel of him.

Then Jason realized his mistake, and just how far below the level of “amateur” it had been. I didn’t enlarge the ball before I threw it! It won’t open when miniaturized!

But it was certainly too late for Jason to try again with that ball. The Gyarados growled and then lunged at him – instinctively he dove to his left, making the Pokémon miss by inches. He pressed the stud in the center of another ball in his hand – he didn’t bother taking note of what kind it was – and he lobbed it at the Gyarados’ side as the gargantuan Pokémon began to recoil from its failed attack.

This time the ball took the effect Jason had expected the first one to take... upon striking the Gyarados, it bounced away and upward, and snapped open. For the briefest of moments Jason could see within it the small shimmering mirrors and the incredibly complex miniaturized laser matrices that defined a Pokémon capture ball and gave it the ability to trap a creature this size, or any other, within its confines. As that instant lapsed into the next, a neon red glow of combined lasers poured out of the ball, instantly seizing upon the creature at which the ball had been thrown – intuitive technology at its finest – and the capture sequence was initiated.

And the timing could not have been more crucial, for the Gyarados was rearing back for another physical attack upon Jason when it was suddenly surrounded by the harsh glow of the capture energy matrix. The shimmering red light bound the massive Pokémon in place and the Gyarados’ image began to dissolve into the glow. Jason tried his best to recall from his studies exactly how the devices worked; its physical mass was being converted into energy that, ideally, would be confined to the interior of the ball. The specialized mirrors inside, designed precisely for this purpose, would infinitely rebound the quantum-level energy until the ball reopened... that energy could convert back to physical form only when in contact with the world outside the ball.

But if the Pokémon you’re trying to catch hasn’t been weakened or isn’t exhausted enough, it can create an energy surge during the dematerializing process that can destroy the sensitive mechanics inside the ball... and then it’s only as good as your average chew toy.

The thought occurred to him at the precise moment the Gyarados’ physical form had completely dissolved into the ball, and the solid laser net ensconcing it dragged the Pokémon’s energy inside. Because of the recoil of the energy flow, the ball was still hovering in midair, in defiance of most laws of conventional physics. The top clacked shut, and then the ball clattered to the ground and rolled across the ruined concrete foundation toward Jason.

His first instinct was to back away from the device – it now contained the essence of a monster that had very likely just decimated his family’s life and quite possibly killed some of the people working for them – but instead he scrambled forward and picked it up, eyes focused on the stud in the center of the ball. Besides being the means by which a ball could be enlarged or miniaturized, it bore a light in its center that glowed the same harsh red as its capture matrix when during an attempted capture the target Pokémon was trying to escape confinement.

And that light was glowing quite brightly at him now.

He muttered a curse, then cast about, searching for the shore – in the confusion, he wasn’t sure of his bearings. The cloud of dust surrounding him wasn’t helping matters any; his field of vision was almost completely occluded by the stuff now. To make matters worse, the capture ball in his hands was beginning to whistle and rattle... noises that a capture ball only made when its machinery was badly malfunctioning. And that meant the Gyarados was battling its way free.

He squinted as he looked closer at the ball. It was one of the two standard issue Poké Balls he had snatched, which meant he still had one more of that brand, plus the Luxury Ball. But he knew neither of them had any more strength than the one the Gyarados fought now. And the plaintive noises it made were only getting worse, the shaking more violent.

Jason had no time, and no sense of direction. So he did the only thing he could think to do.

He chose a direction and stuck with it, running for all he was worth.

He kept his hands closed tight over the ball, as if that would somehow prevent it from popping open and releasing the energy inside. In truth, he knew how dangerous it was to be holding a ball a Pokémon was struggling against – if the energy surge was powerful enough to destroy the insides of the ball, then it was certainly enough to cause him serious harm.

Abruptly, he tripped over some unseen obstacle and fell forward... and continued to fall, much further than he should have in order to hit the ground nose first.

He opened his mouth to scream in surprise and fear.

At the same time, the ball in his hands popped open, despite his futile attempt to contain the Pokémon within.

His vision blurred, but he could see congealing within the beam of angry red light beside him, a Gyarados was forming.

All sense gone, he lashed out with his arms and scrabbled for purchase on the Pokémon – perhaps the only immediate option for survival was simply to grab it and hang on.

And so he did.

Then he felt the impact. It was harsh and unforgiving and it battered him on all sides... but his descent continued even further. His mouth and nose and ears filled up with fluid contaminated by the debris that had fallen into the impromptu cavern. Now he was engulfed in water, and the Gyarados’ tail was thrashing hard, its body undulating beneath him.

Jason held on to the Pokémon for dear life as it churned through the waters. He couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, and couldn’t even move, save to hold as tightly as he possibly could to the creature... and hope that it would break through to the surface soon.

He felt himself beginning to thrash alongside the Gyarados as the deprivation of air became unbearable, and his instinct to hang on was slipping in favor of releasing it to locate oxygen somewhere – anywhere except this aquatic creature that, he felt foolish for realizing only now, needed no air to survive. It was amphibious and could breathe in both environments.

Then the Gyarados whipped its tail once more, snapping Jason so hard that he felt the darkness of blacking out overtaking him.

And, as with so many other things... there was nothing he could do about it.

Nothing at all.

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© Matt Morwell, 2011

[mattbcl]

Outcast

Part 7

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Jason did not come back to consciousness easily. He felt the dark oblivion trying to keep him in its embrace... but at the same time he felt the weight, burning, aches, pains, and all other inconvenient sensations that usually accompanied being alive and in discomfort. With effort to rival that of any workhorse Pokémon he could recall putting forth in recent memory, he clawed his way back up into the light of the world around him.

And light there was. In abundance, in fact. Gone were the rain clouds that had overshadowed Tangelo Island at the behest of the enraged Gyarados. Instead, the sky had nary a cloud to be seen... only the burning tropical sun to which Jason was already well-accustomed.

A wave of water washed over him, causing him to sit up suddenly and splutter fluid and sand from his mouth and lips. He groaned and coughed violently for several moments; he could feel the fluttering in his lungs that informed him he had, at some point during the ordeal, unintentionally breathed in water.

It was only once his coughing had calmed down that he realized he was lying on a sandbar, and that prompted the revival of his curiosity. Wait... where am I?

He looked around. Wherever this was, it wasn’t a place he recognized – and it seemed it was a place human civilization had decided to ignore. Despite the perfect beach sprawled before him, there wasn’t another soul in view, nor were there ships on the horizon. To his right, there was a gathering of Wingulls with a couple of Pelippers interspersed with them. Just beyond that, there appeared to be a small family consisting of an Azumarill and a Marill, with a baby Azurill bouncing happily on the ball of its own tail – a habit consistent with infant Azurills that had yet to learn how to operate their stubby legs.

Behind him was a large rock face. It wasn’t exactly sheer, but it would have been nearly impossible for Jason to attempt to scale it. Even if he’d been willing, he was no professional in the business... actually, save for ascending a few palm trees on the beaches of Tangelo Island, he had no experience whatsoever in climbing. The face was in a semicircular shape; it seemed Jason had landed on a sea-level sandbar to an island whose primary landmass was some distance above. He knew that this alone was not evidence that humanity did not exist here, but architects of late had taken to building homes and structures close to faces such as these – and it was an irresistible locale for a lighthouse, if shipping routes were to take anybody here.

But none were present, at least that he could see.

And to his left...

He coughed hard and scrambled back when he saw what was there.

Gyarados...

The serpentine creature had its head perched on the sand just beyond reach of the tide, leaving its body just far enough in the shallows that it could retreat if need be. It was a luxury that few other waterborne Pokémon enjoyed, being able to transfer at will from land to water and back again.

And it was staring directly at him.

But it had evidently offered no reaction to him waking, nor of him recoiling. Instead, it simply lay there and looked at him with eyes that did not blink. Its long face gave no expression that Jason could discern, but gone from its gaze was the strange look that had been the prelude to its rampage.

Jason got to his feet, thinking to stay out of its reach... only to realize that such an idea was surely a stupid one on his part. I did want him to learn special attacks so he could go at an opponent from a distance, after all... Then he frowned as he wiped his sand-crusted lips on his arm. As crazy as he was acting, you’d think he’d want to attack me. Obviously he knows how. So what’s he waiting for?

If it could hear his thoughts, it deigned not to supply an answer.

He coughed again and spit up seawater. He groaned at the awful sensation. His lungs were burning worse than his skin underneath the Orange Islands sun, from which there was no escape here. He stomped a foot in frustration, looking back at the Gyarados in the angriest glower he could muster. “This is all your fault,” he grumbled.

It didn’t answer. Didn’t even twitch.

He felt an incredulous laugh bubble up and spill out. “What, you’ve got nothing? Not going to attack me? C’mon, what’re you waiting for?”

But no glow was forthcoming from its mouth, and although its fangs were perpetually exposed, it showed absolutely no inclination to use them. Jason staggered forward. “C’mon, let’s have it. You didn’t really leave anything behind for me anyway... what did you do to my home? My family? My friends? All for a little temper tantrum?!”

Feeling emboldened, he kicked a clump of sand at the Gyarados. “What did you do it for?!”

A blast of air blew from its nostrils. Jason shouted and jumped back, certain that it had decided enough was enough – but still, no attack, nor anything else that could be considered a real response, issued from the sea serpent. Yet there was no mistaking where its gaze was aimed; there was no Pokémon and no point of interest directly behind Jason, so the only thing it could logically be looking at was him.

Jason looked around, trying to find anything to focus on other than the creature that insisted on watching him. “Great,” he muttered. “This is just... just perfect.”

He slumped down to the ground and let his head fall into his hands. “How did I even wind up here? I don’t even know where I am.”

Another rush of air emitted from the Gyarados’ nostril slits. It raised its head from the ground a few inches and let out a low growl; the noise echoed against the rock face. Jason sighed and forced himself to look back at the Pokémon. He scowled cock-eyed at it. “What do you want, anyway? You keeping an eye on me so when I die, you can have lunch?” He gestured up at the sun. “Shouldn’t be too long, I’m cooking as it is.”

It growled again... and then it turned around.

He got to his feet suddenly. “Hey, leaving so soon? Really classy. Just leave me out here to rot in the sunlight.”

The Gyarados shifted its head back in Jason’s direction, just far enough so that it could glance at him sidelong. It stared at him like that for a long moment, then quickly tilted his head back and upward... almost as if to indicate that he should...

Climb on?

Jason stifled a laugh. “You’re kidding. You want me to ride you. Yeah, right. You know what you are? You’re a wild Pokémon. I’d be crazy to ride you.”

But you rode him already, didn’t you? spoke a voice in Jason’s mind. You must have done it, to get all the way here. And somehow, miraculously, you made it to dry land, out here in the middle of all the open water. You end up on dry land and you’re standing here cursing your own Gyarados for keeping you from drowning.

Jason frowned. Until that moment, he hadn’t consciously made the connection. That’s right. I didn’t drown, when by rights I should have. Maybe I washed up on the shore by myself... but that doesn’t explain what Gyarados was doing here when I woke up. They’re predators but if he was that interested in rejoining the wild, he wouldn’t have stuck around.

His expression shifted. “What’s going on with you?” he asked. “You should be out in the water now. You’re just hovering around here. I’m not that interesting.”

Having no means to express its reasoning... and perhaps lacking the faculties to fully comprehend what Jason was saying... all it seemed to care about at the moment was Jason wasn’t doing as he was being instructed. It growled again and gave him another invitational tilt of the head.

Jason crossed his arms. “And just exactly where is it you have in mind to go? You can’t be thinking about going back home... they’d put you down. Or worse. So you’re gonna run. And you’re thinking you’ll just take me with you, just like that.”

The tinny voice in the back of his mind spoke up once more. But you can’t really go home, either, can you? This is your Pokémon, the one you wanted, the one you were paying for... and he’s destroyed everything your family had. Your father doesn’t have the cash to rebuild. And what about the people who got hurt? Workman’s comp. Your family will go bankrupt, and where will you be? There’s no inheriting the company now. There’s no company, period. It’s all finished.

“Shut up,” he whispered to the voice.

You can tell me to shut up, but it’s the truth. You’ve got nothing to go home to. And what about this? You wanted Gyarados to know attacks like Earthquake and Hyper Beam. It’s because of you he knew what he needed to know to destroy the whole place. It’s ultimately your fault.

“No,” he whispered. “It’s not my fault...”

Oh, yes, it is. Your Gyarados, your responsibility. You go home now and you’ll have to look your parents in the eye and tell them you’re the one that made it happen. You know what’ll happen, too. Your dad will spend the rest of his life disappointed in you. Danny will spend the rest of his life blaming you. And your mom? She’ll be the most devastated of all of them. Her heart will be broken. She’s the one who said you didn’t need a Gyarados to get what you wanted out of a Pokémon, but no... you had to have this one.

Jason clamped his hands over his ears and clenched his eyes shut. Running away from it won’t make everything better!

The voice wouldn’t be denied. “Running away”? What would you rather do, go back there and spend the rest of your life being the reason your family and their business failed? Definitely the way to go. Until one day you wake up wishing you had just run away in the first place. So do yourself a favor – start now.

He rubbed his eyes. There were flaws in the arguments the voice posed... but at the same time, it had already argued any point he had to make. Going back home would most likely mean spending his life trying to get out from under an incredible umbrella of debt. Debt, and stigma. It speared through his mind with all the force of a lightning bolt, a vision of what the future would look like in the flash of an instant – the name “Creight” would become taboo... symbolic of the overconfidence of people who thought they could tame and train Pokémon exactly the way trainers needed them to be. It would be synonymous with the arrogance of presuming one didn’t need any security precautions against the Pokémon being trained – not to mention the presumption of building a castle on quicksand.

If I go home, I’ve got nothing... except a family that’ll hate me forever.

If I run, I’ve still got nothing... except a Pokémon who hurt everyone I know. And me, too.

He wasn’t sure he could make the choice.

He looked back at the Gyarados once more, who was still patiently waiting on Jason. The teen shook his head. There was no knowing exactly where the creature had in mind to take him. Maybe it was insane enough to head back to Tangelo Island. Maybe it wanted to strike out on the open water. Maybe Jason’s sarcasm had been right on, and it was simply waiting to make a snack of him.

There was no knowing where it wanted to go.

Jason didn’t need to make a choice concerning destination. Really, anywhere was better than here.

The teen sighed, and approached the serpentine Pokémon. Its segmented body offered him surprisingly easy purchase on its back, and its fins gave him natural handles on which to anchor himself. He leaned down, his body flush against Gyarados’ back. “This... is gonna be really weird.”

The Pokémon only growled in answer, and began to push away from the shore.

As they headed for the open water, Jason abruptly recalled something he had learned in school. The word “outcast”. It had applied to those kids that didn’t really fit in with any particular group – or niche, as his teachers liked to call them – and didn’t have that many friends, if any at all. Jason had never really taken the word into consideration unless he had to deal with synonyms.

Looking up synonyms for that word for his language class was what had occasioned him to find the word “exile”. Its definition had sounded a lot more severe than “outcast”. He’d paid it little mind since, having no real context that would help his own understanding of it.

Think I’m a little closer to that definition now.

He was on the run. He couldn’t go home. And he had nothing to his name except the clothes he wore and the Gyarados.

No, he thought. Not just the Gyarados. My Gyarados.

Astride the very Pokémon that had ruined his life...

Jason Creight rode on.

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End of Outcast

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© Matt Morwell, 2011