FLOOD [Pokémon]

Chapter 55

NERO

Sunday, April 15, 2018

The drive back to the southwestern coast took two days—about forty-eight hours too long for my tastes, but there was nothing I could do about it; gnashing my teeth and cursing under my breath didn't make the bus go any faster, though a couple of times—particularly when one of our connecting buses ran late, leaving me to pace up and down the grimy floors of the terminals—I came very close to losing my temper in public.

Finally, we pulled into the Slateport City station. Simeon had made a few calls during the last leg of our long journey, and so Lyle Vega was there with the Seawatchers' van to pick us up after we retrieved our luggage.

"Any sign of Jude?" I asked as we strapped in.

"No." It took me a moment to notice, but Lyle appeared decidedly less chipper than the last time we'd spoken. "Not at the Sea House."

"What's Kuma got to say?"

"We haven't gotten anything from her since last night."

So that meant there would be no update about the soldiers either. My stomach became a pit of acid, and I hugged my bookbag. No matter: after I got to Delphirius, I would see for myself.

No, idiot. No bolting! You're supposed to be working with them: that's why you had a tell-all with Simeon, remember?

My feet began tapping, and they didn't stop until we turned down the drive for the Sea House and found a park in an empty lot somewhere northwest of the Pavilion. As I piled out, Simeon seized my arm.

"Nero," he said mildly.

It was a warning: the heat was going to my head again, and I probably looked on the verge of doing something stupid. That was accurate: right now, I just wanted to bolt for the waterline and see if I could shift back to seaside form, full Drought or no.

Then two things happened: my stitches began aching, and my stomach growled. I winced, and grabbed my injured shoulder.

Simeon pounced: "Go find a room in the Suites and unpack, and I'll drop by storage to find something for your shoulder. We can talk about what we're going to do there."

"Have you boys got something cooking?" Lyle asked, raising a brow.

Simeon shot him and then me a look, and said, "Lyle.... Walk with me for a sec."

Lyle gave him an intrigued look and fell into step, and they went one way, while I went another. I hiked through the woods and found a staircase that led down to the sand. It was early afternoon, close to one o'clock, and the dunes were bright and hot: I felt my toes baking even through my borrowed tennis shoes, and by the time I was climbing the Seafolk Suites' veranda, my lower extremities felt well-done.

I was needled by a very peculiar nostalgia as I headed through the lobby and up the stairs — the last time I was here, it was with Jude. I found the room we'd used during our stay, but it was currently occupied by a couple of other merfolk, so I went up to an emptier floor and claimed a suite at the far end, near the bathrooms. My legs and shoulder were killing me by that time, and I collapsed onto the bed, unable to believe how weak I was. How the hell had that crossbow bolt had taken so much out of me?

I closed my eyes for what I thought was just a moment, and was startled awake about half an hour later by Simeon coming in, with a medical kit in one hand and a plastic tray of food balanced in the other.

"Why did I know you wouldn't stop by the cafeteria on the way up?" He set the food on the drawer chest. "You're really antisocial without Jude around, you know that?"