Pokémon Bloodstone | An Orre Fanfiction

Chapter 22: Mystery

Trainers in Phenac City were asked not to battle as Pokémon Centers filled with injured Pokémon from the sewers. It was early morning when the last blockage was cleared. The workers were yet to eat. They were too exhausted to remove and refasten their filthy overalls for a few bites of unappetising convenience food.

Amber told Trefor and Jerome to go home. She and Pera remained to monitor the situation while she questioned the Krookodile she caught. It was anxious and suspicious. She understood that something was lost and Krookodile felt guilty that it failed to protect it. That implied their suspicions that a human, or more specifically a Cipher member, made a fuss down there... or did they discard something that harmed or scared the Pokémon? Perhaps an unwanted Shadow Pokémon?

'Charizard, can you ask Krookodile if it was a human or a Pokémon?'

Charizard had been with Amber for so long, they understood each other perfectly. It could communicate with fellow Pokémon in ways she could not and loosely 'translate.' There was no question the perpetrator was an aggressive human... and it suddenly clicked with Amber. It wasn't an object that was taken. It was Krookodile's baby Sandile. Pokémon were usually proud when their offspring were chosen by loving Trainers, but they wouldn't simply give them away. Trainers had to prove themselves in battle. If parent Pokémon did sense bad intentions, they put up a fight... and even if a Cipher member managed to feign love or ambition, they probably used Shadow Pokémon and showed no respect for the residents or their habitat. It brought tears to Amber's eyes that almost every Pokémon in the sewer exhausted all their collective energy to protect Sandile, but failed. How could anyone treat them as worthless vermin? Krookodile was a mother just like Amber was. She wasn't even angry about the blockages. She was angry with Cipher. It had to be them... didn't it?

'I'll do everything I can to get Sandile back, Krookodile. I promise. And I know who can help us.'

Amber whistled. She didn't know if the entity in her thoughts really heard her whistle or simply sensed it, but she knew it would appear in time.

***

Jovi's old tent was pitched in the woods in the Agate Hills. Chalcedony's Scorbunny, who evolved into Raboot after defeating a wild Swadloon that afternoon, lit a campfire. Stars shimmered through gaps in the leafy roof overhead. Dirk caught a feisty Rufflet. Losing to Rustie's Hoothoot, which then evolved into Noctowl, didn't discourage it from challenging every Pokémon around the campfire. Raboot was sick of it. It irritably booted a burning stone. Rufflet cried and finally hid behind Beedrill.

'He's quite a character,' Rustie remarked, 'Can I take a photo of him?'

Rufflet abruptly stopped crying. It proudly puffed out its chest to be photographed. Seeing its own face on Rotogram set it off again. Poliwrath offered to practice boxing with it, but it was still adjusting to its new strength. It shuffled awkwardly away from unconscious Rufflet when it accidentally punched it too hard.

'Damn!' Dirk exclaimed, 'You're stronger than me, Poliwrath! Don't worry! I think Rufflet already knows our motto. No pain, no gain!'

Chalcedony gently picked up her dozing Eevee. It didn't like holding the Everstone, so she attached it to a collar, but it didn't like the collar either. She took the collar off.

'We're gonna go for an evolutionary walk.'

'Mind if I come?' Rustie asked, 'There could be different Pokémon out at night!'

'Sure.'

As the voices of Dirk and Zileh faded, so did Rustie's smile.

'Hey, Chalcedony... I've been thinking... I didn't want to say it in front of Zileh, but she looks just like Alfie and Abbey.'

'I know. One of his grandparents even had red hair as bright as hers. But Fire Agate would be 21. Zileh's 14.'

'If we're considering something as ridiculous as Jude Mesquite being alive... what's to say she hasn't been lied to about her age? Maybe her parents – her adoptive parents – don't even know how old she really is.'

'Gosh. That would be horrible.'

'Cipher aren't above anything.'

'It wasn't Cipher, though. Obviously, they were members of Cipher, but they didn't do it for Cipher. Lovrina was out to get Abbey. Gretchen was just bloodthirsty.'

'Yeah... and I still don't see why Lovrina would let the baby live.'

Eevee stirred in Chalcedony's arms. Maybe it was the unsettling things they discussed, along with the cloak of night and how close it grew to Chalcedony, that prompted its evolution. She laid it down as it began to glow. Yellow bands appeared on its darkening ears and tail. When the light was shedded, the red eyes that looked up at Chalcedony glowed eerily with its new yellow markings.

'Yay! Umbreon! You're so cool!'

Rustie beamed. 'You really are!'

Her Sylveon cheerfully bumped noses with Umbreon. They walked a little further, but Rustie wasn't really out to look for Pokémon at that moment. She didn't want to plant an outlandish idea in young Zileh's mind. They returned to the campfire.

'The more I think about our mystery,' Chalcedony said as she sat, 'The more ridiculous it is. We know Gretchen and Lovrina weren't acting on Cipher's behalf. So how would they do baby swapping across borders – let alone put a random kid up for adoption – without their Cipher connections? Maybe she is dead.'

'But maybe,' Zileh replied, 'They went in with a baby and went out with a baby. Airport security wouldn't know the difference. No-one was looking for Fire Agate because they thought she was dead.'

'If she's alive, I don't think Ardos can possibly know. He'd be looking for her to threaten Alfie again.'

'What if it's you, Chalcedony?'

'What?'

Chalcedony blinked. 'Why would it be me?'

'You look a little like Alfie. And your hair is curly like Abbey's. It's red, too.'

'But my eyes are green. Abbey's were brown. And brown eyes are dominant.'

'Head injuries can stop melanin filling your eyes like it should.'

As Zileh said that, Chalcedony noticed a faded scar on her forehead. Rustie's eyes were on it, too, but Zileh was squinting at Chalcedony. Dirk laughed awkwardly.

'Kinda crazy that three of y'all are natural redheads.'

'I met another girl with red hair,' Chalcedony interjected as if to distract herself, 'Ruby Jane. She'd be the right age, but I don't think it's her. Her eyes are turquoise.'

'I don't think it's you, either.'

Rustie shook her head. 'You do look a little like Alfie... but I think you look more like Emili or Leden.'

'We need a list of potential Fire Agates.'

Zileh yawned. 'But it takes forever on a P★DA. I'm gonna do it when I get to the Pokémon Center. I'm wiped out.'

She climbed into her sleeping bag in the tent. Her friends sat in silence for a while. Dirk was wondering the same thing. Chalcedony knew it. The way they all distantly stared at the tent flap gave it away. When they heard soft snoring, Rustie spoke.

'It's unlikely, but... she is a little taller than you already, Chalcedony.'

Dirk sounded uncomfortable. 'She's real smart for her age, too. But I still wanna know who the dead baby was.'

Chalcedony shrugged. 'Maybe it was Fire Agate. How would she really end up being adopted by randos?'

'Maybe they took her back to use as leverage against Alfie,' Rustie suggested, 'But another Cipher member took pity on her and hid her somewhere?'

'I guess it's not impossible, but...'

Chalcedony absentmindedly stroked Umbreon. 'If there's any chance it's Zileh... if she's out there at all... Ardos obviously has no idea, but if we can find out, so could he. Even Theta could go for her. She's in danger and she probably doesn't even know why.'