Ethan sat at the banks having finished treating most of the wounds that the unconscious Gyarados had. He had gone up and delivered Chii to Mary`s house since she and Zoey were sleeping there for the night. After having delivered Chii, Brawly joined him as they ventured back to the bottom of the waterfall. His friend had been offered a place to sleep by Mary, too, but had denied the offer.
“So what did you talk about?” Ethan asked his friend. It had been a few hours since Zoey had ran off after she confessed her feelings to Ethan.
“You mostly,” Brawly laughed and shook his head. “You seriously need to learn to open up more, dude.”
“You got that right,” Ethan could not help but laugh alongside his friend. “I can’t believe that I did not realize that she was interested in me though…”
“Really?” Brawly looked at Ethan with an eyebrow raised. “You are, like, really blind when it comes to stuff like that, man. You would not even know it if a tidal wave of social hints hit you right in the face.”
“Yeah, I’m not that bad,” Well, maybe he was that bad when it came to that, after all. But he would never admit it. “And you are more of an expert when it comes to that, I assume?” Ethan countered.
“Of course, dude. Unlike someone…” he sent Ethan a look. “I know these things.” he finished with a grin.
“Oh really? Because I swear I had to bail your ass out that one time…” Brawly grimaced as Ethan mentioned that.
“Hey, I thought we agreed to not bring that up again,” he complained. “Besides, I was, like fourteen, how the heck was I supposed to know?” Ethan shot him a deadpan look.
“She wrote, and I quote, ‘I love you’ on a shirt she stole and left it on your doorstep.”
Both Ethan and Brawly looked at eachother for a few moments in silence before they burst out in laughter once more.
“Y-yeah… bitch was crazy!” Brawly had to wipe a tear away because of how hard he was laughing.
“I know, right?” Ethan could not help but enjoy the moment. He may not have had his whole family back together yet, but as he looked over at his friend and how they were both laughing he thought that things were about as good as they could get. Well, they could be better…
Ethan shook his head as that thought entered his mind. He was having a good time with his friend, so he should be happy with what he had. He only hoped that Brawly had not noticed how he had stared at him before he caught himself.
“So… a Mienshao, huh?” Ethan decided to change the subject.
“Yeah, I kinda like it,” Brawly said as he unwrapped the long fur on his hands and let it fall down. “I’m still not used to using these though…” he sent his arm forward before retracting it, resulting in a sharp snapping sound as the whip like fur on his arm snapped back. “But I figure that with some training, I will be good.” Ethan just nodded as Brawly mentioned that. If there was something he was good at then it was training.
“I was planning to sleep here in case she wakes up,” Ethan pointed a thumb at the Gyarados. “But feel free to go to Mary. She did offer you a place to sleep, after all.”
“Nah man, I would feel bad if I left you all by yourself.” Ethan smiled at that. It did feel better with someone else there indeed.
“...Thanks.”
“Don't mention it dude,” Brawly held out his fist, and Ethan gladly accepted the invitation, fist bumping his friend.
Ethan and Brawly continued to sit there and talk about their experiences in Equestria up until that point for several more hours. But eventually they too had to give in to the night’s sweet embrace.
“And I say, that you NEED to stay calm,” the first thing Brawly heard as he woke up was Ethan’s voice, and it sounded like he was arguing with someone. “If you overexert yourself, you might make your injuries worse!”
As Brawly opened his eyes and sat up he saw what was going on. The Gyarados was very awake, and Ethan was facing off against it in a battle of wills.
“These injuries are nothing! In fact, I feel much better than I did yesterday, why I bet that I could even…” the Gyarados had raised its tail when it felt severe pains shoot through its entire body.
“See? You are not well enough yet… I could only do so much to treat your injuries… I could treat the superficial damage, but electricity can leave deeper damage, and it seems like that is how it is in your case.”
Ethan sighed as the Gyarados slumped back down. He had woken up by the sound of her groaning in pain, she was putting on a show to prove that she was fine, but her actions had just proved otherwise. She was in no condition to leave, she couldn't even move her tail properly without her body screaming in pain.
“Y-you treated my wounds?” the Gyarados asked curiously as it looked over its own body, noticing that she had indeed been patched up. “W-why?” She asked as she turned back to Ethan.
“Well, what else was I supposed to do? I had to do something,” Ethan noticed then that Brawly also had woken up and waved him over. “My friend here was the one that found you… if you don't mind me asking, what happened to you?”
The Gyarados eyed Brawly and Ethan for a few seconds, inspecting the two that had assisted her, before she answered Ethan’s question.
“I… I don't know,” she answered sourly. “At first I thought that it was some nearby Electric-type that was using Thunder on me… but it simply refused to stop. The clouds followed after me, sending bolt after bolt of lightning down at me. I tried to fight it, but how does one fight a cloud? I… only remember bits and pieces before I woke up here.” She then did something that surprised Ethan. The slender Gyarados lowered its head towards, making it almost touch the ground, she was bowing. “I, Scylla, am in your debt for helping me!” She said before she looked up again.
“Um… that’s not really necessary, but… thanks.” Ethan scratched his head as he spoke, slightly put off by her display. “Brawly, do you mind going into town to check up on the girls? I want to give Scylla here a once over.”
“Sure thing dude, I’ll let you do your thing. See ya later!” His friend waved the two of them off as he walked away towards the town.
“Brawly… as in the Gym leader?” Scylla asked Ethan.
“Hmm? Yeah, that’s him. And I'm Ethan, both of us are former humans. What about you?” Scylla scoffed at him as he suggested that.
“I am a Pokémon through and through, not some weak human being.” Ethan was not sure if she tried to be insulting or not, but he paid it no mind.
“Okay, that makes things a little easier… so do you mind if I give you a once over while asking some questions?” Ethan asked her. “It will help to determine how long your recovery period will be.”
“Do what you need to do,” Scylla told him as she rested her head on the banks again. While she was grateful that Ethan was helping her, she really did not like the situation that she was in. Having to depend on some human…
“Okay… how high can you lift your tail before it begins to hurt?” Ethan asked her, watching as Scylla began to lift her tail before she grunted in pain and let it fall back down into the water.
“N-not that far…” Ethan nodded as he watched how she moved her body.
“And how bad would you say that the pain was… let’s use the traditional one to ten scale.”
“I-it’s a seven…” Scylla groaned, she was still feeling the pain from trying to move her body.
Ethan nodded at her answer as he continued to watch her. In his opinion, she was the type that tried to fight through the pain and ignore it to put on a show, so it would not surprise him if the pain that she felt was actually worse than what she told him.
“So are you like a doctor or something?” Scylla asked Ethan who looked up to her in surprise.
“Err… something along those lines, sure. I have medical training at least…”
Now that Ethan had had some time to think about what she had said earlier, he had his suspicions about what had hurt her in such a fashion.
“You said that the clouds that did this to you followed you… did you encounter any of the natives before that happened?” Ethan asked much to Scylla`s confusion. “They would seem similar to Ponyta`s in nature, but also different.” At this, Scylla nodded.
“Y-yeah… they had wings and they were continuing to bother me, so I tried to scare them away.” She let out a lot guttural growl as she remembered those guys, they had kept calling her a monster… She knew that she had a fearsome look as a Gyarados, but to call her a monster…
“That would explain it…” Ethan figured that she scared the Pegasi too much, or that they thought that she was a threat, and therefore tried to combat her or chase her away by using thunderclouds, since they could manipulate them freely.
“What? Are you saying that they did this to me?” Scylla was beginning to raise her voice as she spoke and Ethan noticed that she was becoming increasingly angry as they spoke about what had happened to her. “I’ll find those bastards and teach them a lesson when I’m well enough to move again…” Ethan walked up to Scylla so that he stood just in front of her face and stared her into her eyes.
“You will do no such thing!” Ethan exclaimed as he stood his ground against her. Scylla on the other hand was taken by surprise. A small Lopunny was challenging her like that, a former human no less.
“And why shouldn't I?” She growled at him. “Are you going to stop me?”
“If that is what you plan to do, then yes, I am going to stop you!” Ethan continued to hold his own in the staring contest between him and Scylla. “They did not know what you were, so they most likely acted out of fear when you scared them…”
“Still… for them to do this to me… I need to teach them a lesson!” Scylla’s pride prevented her from giving up on that easily. She had been humiliated, and she wanted revenge.
“And what will that accomplish, huh? Did you not hear Arceus and his speech? We are supposed to be friendly with the locals… and you are planning to just go up there and act like some kind of big scary monster? What exactly is that supposed to accomplish?” Scylla froze and looked away as Ethan mentioned the word “monster”.
“I… am not a monster…” she said in a low tone.
“Really? Because that is how you are acting right now. Big strong brute that needs to get revenge…”
“That’s not who I am!” Scylla shouted back at him, making Ethan backpedal slightly from the sheer force of the yell.
“Then prove it…” Ethan told Scylla. She stared at him for a few moments before she turned her head away from him.
Ethan could not help but let out a sigh. Scylla showed clear signs of anger issues and her reaction when he had called her a monster… He really had his work cut out for him…
Zoey had been more than a little down the day before. Part of it was because of the fact that she had been rejected–that would hurt no matter what. But what was worse was the fact that Ethan hadn't told them about such an important piece of his life. It was like he did not trust them. She knew that it was a silly thought and that it was not true, but she still felt like she had been betrayed nonetheless.
Her talk with Brawly that night also helped a lot. He admitted to the fact that Ethan had sent him after her, but she really did not mind. She had been so angry, and he really helped to calm her down. Afterwards, they simply talked. Brawly had convinced her to give Ethan a little more leeway when it came to opening up. He really did not mean anything by it–it was just the kind of person that he was–and if she wanted him to change, then she was going to have to help him with it.
He also had a lot of funny stories to tell her about when he and Ethan were kids, and all the kinds of different adventures the two of them went on. It had been exactly what Zoey had needed. To simply talk, not about anything important, just some normal silly talk. She could really see why the two of them were so good friends.
“So are you okay?” Chii asked Zoey, and they and Mary Care were sitting at the table, eating breakfast. Chii had already fallen asleep on her way back so she had not had a chance to speak to Zoey until that morning.
“Yeah, I’m fine now!” Zoey reassured Chii as she scratched her head. She did feel better if not completely fine, but she would not let that bother Chii anymore. She had given her enough to worry about the night before.
“I did hit Ethan in the face if that helps.” Mary had to choke a laugh as Chii mentioned that. She had been filled in on last nights events after Zoey had arrived.
“That… does make me feel a little better, yeah.” Zoey could not help but give an amusing smile as she heard that. She could not imagine Chii decking Ethan in the face, it was a shame that she had not been able to witness it on her own.
“You’re welcome!” Chii said happily as she looked extremely pleased with herself. She normally would not have hit Ethan, but he really deserved it at that point. He had tried to explain things to her, and she understood it to a certain degree. But she still did not understand why he just could not love Zoey back… it would have been perfect.
Mary came over to Zoey after the three of them were done with breakfast and Chii was just playing around the house.
“Are you sure that you are okay?” Mary Care asked. “From what it sounded like, you had really fallen for him, and that kind of thing is usually not something one bounces back from that quickly…” Zoey looked at her pony friend and slowly nodded.
“I know… but I can at least pretend, right?” Zoey gave her the best smile she could manage. “I don’t know if things will go back to normal for me straight away, but I’ll give it my best!” Mary could only nod and smile at her response.
“That sounds like a great plan, Zoey… you are a strong girl!”
“Thanks… oh that reminds me… Ethan got the mayor's approval and got that building he mentioned to you.” Zoey told Mary. Since Ethan still had not shown his face, she had guessed that he had his hands full with the Gyarados or something else.
“Oh, that’s great! Do you need any help in getting it ready?” Zoey nodded happily at Mary’s offer.
“I was just about to ask that actually,” she smiled sheepishly. “I wanted to get started on that as soon as possible and-” a knock on the door interrupted the two of them.
“Just a second,” Mary said apologetically as she went over to see who it was.
“G’morning,” a bright awake Brawly greeted them with a wave of his paw as she opened the door. Mary had met him briefly the night before and cast the translation spell on him then so she knew who it was and welcomed him inside. “Ethan just wanted me to see if you girls were okay.”
“So Ethan is not coming himself?” Mary asked.
“‘Fraid not, the Gyarados finally woke up and seemed to be bit of a handful.” Zoey nodded, it had been as she thought.
“That’s alright, and it's a good thing you arrived Brawly, we are going to need your help!” Zoey said, getting a surprised look from Brawly. He had planned to do his morning workout, but it seemed that his plans would have to wait.
“‘Course, what do you need, Zoey?” He was always happy to help his friends, after all.
“I don’t know what Ethan told you, but we need your help with getting a building back into shape. Ethan got it from the mayor so that we could have a place to stay, and so that the injured Pokémon from the situation that I told you about have a place to get better.” Zoey turned to Mary before she continued. “We had to get most of them out by today, right?” Mary nodded.
“I’m afraid so… they simply don't have the space for that many, especially since most of them are in good enough of a condition that they are able to move. The normal procedure would be to take them to the nearest hospital, but if we can get that place up and running then that will be great!” Mary answered.
“Good, I wanted to ask you if you think that any of your friends would be willing to help get the place in proper condition?” Zoey asked
“They… might. I’m sure that Zephyr will say yes, but I will ask around. It is for a good cause, after all.” Mary smiled. “Do you know where the place is?”
“No… I’m afraid not, I was hoping that you could show us.” Ethan had told her about the building itself, but not anything about where it was located.
“I’d be happy too! I just need to go over to the clinic to check up on the Swablu first.” The Swablu that they had found the day before had been sleeping at Mary’s clinic because of its injuries.
Zoey nodded in understanding.
“Okay, let’s head out then!”
Officer Jenny was grudgingly making her way through the town. She had been out by the site where they had rescued the Pokémon from almost all night. The local police had concentrated its efforts on tracking down Shady while Jenny hoped that she could find some kind of clue as to where Shady might have sent off the Pokémon that he had already sold.
Sadly, her first night had revealed next to nothing to her. She had found a journal of some kind but as far as she could tell, it contained next to no useful information. A lot of the pages were missing, and some were burnt to a crisp. Still… it was somthing. She had worked with less before.
“I need some coffee…” Jenny moaned out in an almost zombie like voice as she continued to stumble down the streets. She was usually a morning person, but working through the entire night would take its toll on anyone.
Jenny wanted to snap at every pony she passed that happily greeted her with a smile. It should have been illegal to be that chipper in the morning.
Okay, maybe she was a little too harsh… she just really needed to get some coffee in her system. She basically ran on the stuff when she worked as an officer back on Earth after all. It was an addiction that she was not ashamed of in the slightest.
She contemplated going to the police station to get her morning coffee, but there was a few problems with that.
She only really knew Protocol and the Pokémon Ranger, and both of them were out searching for Shady.
She did not have any money either, so she guessed that she would head over to Mary Care`s house. She did not like mooching off others, but until she could get her sweet, sweet caffeine, she couldn’t really care less.
However, when she got there, all she was met with was an empty house.
Cursing her luck and without anything better to do, Jenny sat down. She figured that she could just wait there in hope that someone or somepony that she knew would happen to walk by. It was not that big of a town, surely someone must….
“H-hello? Officer Jenny?” Jenny jolted awake as she heard a familiar voice and felt someone poke her side.
“Oh, hello there, Mary. I was just looking for you,” Jenny could not believe that she had fallen asleep, she was better than that.
“Oh dear… sounds like your translation spell has worn off too. I reused it on Zoey and Chii this morning but I think I might have one left in me…” Mary Care charged up her horn and hit Jenny with a familiar magic beam. “There, I'm sorry, I was not sure how long that spell would last in the first place… but what were you saying?” Mary asked Jenny now that she could understand her.
“I just said that I was looking for you,” Jenny repeated. “I have been up most of the night… I… I wanted to ask if you had any coffee?”
“Oh… oh yeah, I have some, I think,” Mary said as she unlocked her door and let Jenny inside. “Just sit down while I make you some.” She said as she trotted over to the counter and got started.
“So where are the others?” Jenny asked, she had expected to at least stumble across one of the others, but so far she had not seen anyone she knew but Mary.
“Oh most of them are helping get the building that Ethan got from the mayor up and running. It needs some work, but with so many helping, it should not be that much work!” Mary smiled, it warmed her soul to see that many ponies and Pokémon working together.
“Wait, what building?” Jenny asked since it was the first time she heard anything about that.
“Oh, Ethan asked for a building from the Mayor where all of you could live, along with the Pokémon that needed a place to stay as they recovered from their injuries.” Jenny had to admit, she was slightly impressed with Ethan. Not only since he had taken initiative about something like that, but since he had actually gotten the mayor to accept it. She would have to ask him exactly how he managed that once she saw him…
“Here you go!” Jenny looked up at Mary who help a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of her. It was the most beautiful sight she had seen all morning.
“T-thank you.” Jenny said as she accepted the cup and began drinking greedily. She had gotten better at handling objects with her paws. The coffee was hot, almost too hot, but she just did not care.
“W-wow…” Mary stared at Jenny in awe as she emptied the entire cup down her throat without a single break.
“I really needed that,” Jenny let out a content sigh as she gave the cup back to Mary who took it in her magical grasp and put it in the sink. “So are you headed back to them now?” Jenny inquired, Mary had started walking into town and she had followed.
“In a little while, I just have a few errands that I need to take care of first. I could send you in their direction if you want, but I could use some help if you don’t mind.”
Jenny was still a little tired, but there was no way that she could say no to Mary for asking such a little thing of her. She had already done too much for them after all.
“Of course!” Jenny answered.
“Great!” Mary smiled. “Our first stop is Mignon’s restaurant.”
And so the two of them continued walking towards their first destination. Jenny would normally have initiated some small talk, but her brain was still not functioning at its full capacity. Thankfully for her, Mary had noticed the small burned notebook that she had been carrying the entire time and decided to ask inquire about it.
“So you were gone for the entire night… Ethan mentioned what you were doing, did you find anything?” Mary asked.
“Oh… yeah, I found this.” Jenny said handing Mary the notebook, which she took gently in her magical grasp. “A lot of the pages are burnt, and some I think are just simply missing… but I hope that it contains some clues that might help us chasing down Shady. I haven't had the time to go through it thoroughly yet.”
“Oh… well it’s a great find nonetheless, right?” Mary asked as she handed the notebook back to Jenny who took it and tucked it in with her tails.
“I hope so…” It did not take long for the two of them to reach Mignon’s place. It was still early in the day and he was still setting up shop and getting ready for the day ahead, when they arrived.
“Oh hello there, Mary!” Mignon greeted them as they approached. He was outside and was bringing in some crates when they arrived.
“Good morning, Mignon,” Mary greeted back with a wave of her hoof. “Zephyr said that you were willing to help us.” The pony chef nodded and put the crate he had been carrying down.
“Of course I am! Here, let me show you,” he said as he waved them over to the very same crate he had been carrying as he opened it.
“It’s not much, but I figured that you need all the help you can get. I got a few more that I can do without, and I can arrange some kind of discount for you in the future.” The crate was filled with all kinds of food and ingredients.
“T-this is great,” Mary said in awe at how much he was actually just giving away. “A-are you sure though? It’s not too much?” Mignon just held out a hoof and shook his head.
“Nonsense, this is nothing,” he let out a short laugh. “I have had a great year, besides, this is not just from me. Zephyr came to me with a lot of bits that he had gathered from most of the ponies on the weather team. It seemed that they were all ashamed that one from their team would do something so horrible and they wanted to help in any way that they could. This is the least we can do to help those poor creatures that had to go through that.” Mary and Jenny heard him curse something under his breath, but it was too low for them to make out exactly what. “I just can't believe that somepony would do something like that, especially since one of them was from our own damned town…”
Jenny was speechless. She had figured out that a lot of the ponies were more kind and welcoming than she was used to, but she had no idea that they were so generous. With how many injured Pokémon that much food would last them a good while.
“I… thank you so much!” Jenny said as she bowed her head.
“Oh please don’t do that,” Mignon complained. “As I said, this is not just from me, remember to thank Zephyr and the others too, they paid for a good sum of it, after all… I’ll arrange something to get it delivered later, I'm sure that both of you have other things that you need doing, too!”
“Still, this is great, Mignon, thank so you much,” Mary smiled gently. She had hoped that some of her friends would help out when they got started, but she too was overwhelmed at how many were actually willing to help out.
Both her and Jenny thanked Mignon one more time before they set off to continue with Mary`s other errands. They made several stops around town, it seemed that everypony had heard of what had happened along with Ethan and Jenny`s involvement in it. Jenny also overheard some talk about something falling down the waterfall the day before. It was a small town so it seemed that rumors traveled fast.
After a while, the two of them were done and started heading out towards the building that Ethan had procured.
“That went well!” Jenny commented as she carried a bunch of blankets on her back. Most of the ponies that they visited were friends of Mary of ponies that either she or Ethan had met before.
“It really did!” Mary beamed. “You guys have done some good things around here, so it’s no surprise that they want to help you out!”
“I guess…” Some of the ponies… most of the ones they visited were glad to be able to help out, but there were, of course, some that were a little cautious of them. They seemed happy to talk to Mary, but immediately became cautious when they noticed Officer Jenny. “So how far out in the outskirts is this place?” Jenny asked. They had been walking for a small while and had left the village, following a small forest trail.
“Oh it’s not far, the warehouse is just around the corner… metaphorically speaking.” Jenny sighed as she continued to follow after Mary Care. She was not one to normally complain, but all the blankets were starting to weigh down on her little Vulpix form.
She was just about to voice her complaint when she noticed a building just behind some of the trees in front of them. It was rather large, as it should have been since it was a warehouse. The foliage around the place was pretty overgrown, and it seemed that it had been allowed to get out of hand for a long time.
Thankfully, the building itself seemed to be in pretty good shape, at least from the outside. As the two of them got closer, Jenny could hear a lot of noise coming from the inside.
Jenny was about to ask how many of them were inside when the door opened and a familiar pegasus flew outside.
“Oh hello, you guys!” Zephyr greeted them as he flew down and landed in front of them. “Oh, you got the blankets, that’s great! Did you talk to Mignon already?” Jenny was really thankful when he lifted those blankets off of her.
“Calm down, Zephyr, and yes I talked with him. He will take care of it and deliver it a little later.” Mary told him. “How is everything going along?”
“Well, it’s going rather smoothly, I must say, it should be finished by this afternoon at this point. Well, the essentials and stuff at least… it still needs some finer work, but it’s well enough that you guys can live here!” he said with a large grin on his face. They had been working hard ever since Mary had asked them that morning and the progress was showing. “Come on in, I'll show you!”
Jenny and Mary traded a look before they followed after him.
The insides was rather roomy. All the junk had been cleared out, showing them just how large the place actually was. There were no rooms, just one large space that they had to work with.
The air was filled with pegasi that were fixing the roof, checking for any leaks among other things. In one of the corners of the building, Jenny could see several pieces of furniture. Some of them looked a little beaten up, but not too badly. It was definitely something that they could use.
“This is great!” She commented as she walked after Mary who was just smiling broadly. Zephyr had trotted over to the corner with the furniture and deposited the blankets there for later use.
“It’s wonderful what can be accomplished when so many put their hooves together,” Mary said in agreement.
But while it looked great at first glance, there were still a lot of things that still needed fixing. The two of them continued to look around
“I know that we just arrived here, but can I ask another favor of you?” Mary asked sheepishly.
“Of course!” Jenny answered, she only hoped that it would not be anything too physically taxing because of her small body.
“Great! You see, Ethan is down at the waterfall… he stayed there since last night, I think.” Jenny had heard some rumors about what had happened there.
“Why did he stay there all night?” Jenny asked, they had slept at Mary`s place the night before, she it seemed strange to her that Ethan would not leave.
“Oh… that’s right, you did not hear about what happened between Zoey and Ethan,” Mary had a pained look about her face as she looked around. “I dont really know if it’s my place to tell you… but Zoey confessed her love to Ethan.” Jenny was not completely sure what to think about that. They were not human anymore, but the fact that a human and a Pokémon were not supposed to be together like that was just a fact that had been driven too deep into her. Generations of hate is not something that is easily ridden.
“And? What happened?” She let Mary continue.
“He turned her down…” Now that was something that surprised Jenny.
“R-really?” She could not see that Ethan would have something against human and Pokémon relationships.
“Yeah… turns out that he is gay.” Jenny`s mind pulled a total blank on her. She felt like she could just burst out laughing, in fact, she struggled to hold said laughed back.
“T-that just sounds like a bad TV show.” She managed to say without laughing too bad. A few giggles had managed to escape through her lips though.
“TV show?” Mary asked.
“N-nevermind… so you want me to go get him right?” Mary nodded happily. “Consider it done, I’ll have him back here as soon as possible.”
And with that, Jenny turned and walked out of the building, still giggling slightly.
Ethan had spent much more time with Scylla than he had first anticipated that morning. At first, he had just planned to look over her injuries and make sure that she was okay. But after the little bout the two of them had that morning, the more time he spent with her, the more he felt like he should not leave her alone, at least not yet. With how she reacted that morning, he was also sure that she was hiding something, but he knew better than to hope that she would open up about such things easily.
After Ethan had given her a complete once over, the two of them had mostly just talked.
“So how are your friends then? You said that you were in a large group?” Ethan asked as he sat in front of Scylla. She had been reluctant to talk to him at the start but she had eased into it and gotten a little calmer around him.
“They… they are alright, most of them at least. But we are strong!” Ethan had noticed that she had a tendency to raise her voice as she talked about something she was passionate about, and if he let her go off, it would develop into shouting quite quickly. “Really strong, few dared to get in our way!”
“Is that not the goal of a lot of Pokémon?” Ethan interrupted her before she could go off on one of her shouting fits again. “A lot of them want to be strong for their trainer.”
“But we did not have a trainer… he was our boss, our friend…” Ethan recognized the look on her face and tone of her voice even though she was quick to hide it. She missed them, even though she probably would never admit it if he said so. It seemed quite important for her to keep up the tough gal persona. “For a human, he was alright! How about you, little one?”
Ethan could not help but feel slightly miffed. He was a grown man, now turned into a Pokémon albeit, but an adult nonetheless. It felt slightly wrong for him to be called “little one” though from her perspective, most people or Pokémon would be little ones.
“I have a family… we are a closely knitted group,” at least he liked to think that they were. He hoped that they still was. “And I love each and one of them a lot,” they were his life after all. “But you said that most of them were alright… I guess not all of you got that well along?” Ethan asked and could see Scylla scoff as he asked.
“... There were a few, yeah, we got along though… it’s impossible to work with someone if you don't get along. But we weren't too friendly. Pompous bitch…” She muttered the last part to herself, but Ethan`s ears caught it.
He could not help but wonder what Scylla had actually done when she was on Earth. She had said that it was not a trainer, but they still worked in a group.
Before he could even think about asking Scylla`s body began to convulse as she grunted in pain. It only lasted a few seconds but it obviously took its toll on her.
“D-do I really have to stay still for so long?” She muttered in a tired voice. Ethan had told her that she most likely would take several days to heal up again.
“You don’t have to stay completely still… but I don't want you doing anything too tedious, just relax in the water,” he frowned as Scylla scoffed and looked away. It would not surprise him if he went away and returned to see that she had aggravated her injuries trying to do something she was not ready for.
“I am not some HELPLESS LITTLE-” she was interrupted by a sharp pain the shot through her body again. She noticed the glance that Ethan was sending her, with an eyebrow raised, as to say “what did I tell you?” But even if she knew that he was right did not mean that she had to like it. “Fine…” she muttered as she let her head rest on the banks again.
“Look at it this way… if you do as I say, then you will be fine again that much sooner!” She nodded reluctantly at him.
“Fine!” She huffed, it was hard for her to relax completely when she was used to being so much more active, that and the healing methods they had back on earth. This was so much slower.
“Who's that?” She asked and Ethan turned around to look at what she was talking about.
Coming down from the path out of the forest was Officer Jenny.
“Oh that’s just Jenny,” Ethan told her as he waved her over. “She is a former human too.”
“Police officer, I’m guessing with that name!” Scylla said as they looked at the Vulpix in question.
“Hey Ethan! Who is this?” Jenny asked as she looked Scylla over. She had heard about something falling down the waterfall and some talk about a sea-worm so she guessed that she must have been what everyone had been talking about.
“Oh this is-”
“Name’s Scylla.” she said as she stared down Jenny. She looked rather puny as well, though less so than Ethan did.
“... Pleasure,” Jenny turned her attention back to Ethan again. “Listen, Mary and the others sent me to get you, they got a little surprise sort of for you.” Mary and the others had asked her to go get Ethan. Normally, Zoey would do it, but she was still a little “off” about Ethan, which Jenny could understand. She had heard from Mary what had happened, after all.
“Oh, alright, I guess... are you going to be alright on your own?” He asked Scylla who just gave him a look.
“What do you think? Of course I will be fine.” she said in a coarse tone.
“...Okay then, I’ll be back later, and I expect to see you here when I return!” Scylla just huffed and turned away from Ethan and Jenny. Of course she would be fine, she had been through worse… though it would be a bit boring just being there alone…
“So is it anything exciting since you came all the way down here to get me?” Ethan asked as he and Jenny had started walking away from the water and up towards the town.
“You'll see when we get there.” Jenny answered.
“Hmm… fair enough, I guess. So how did your search go? Did you find anything helpful?” Ethan asked, he was unsure of exactly when Jenny had returned but he guessed that she was gone for a good while at the very least.
“Actually I did, here,” Jenny said as she showed him the notebook. “Some pages are missing or burnt, and some parts of it I can't make heads or tails off… but at least it’s something.” she wrapped the book back into her tails. “I’ll take time to study it properly once I get the chance… we will catch this bastard.”
“Yeah, we will,” Ethan agreed with her. “But more importantly, we need to find those Pokémon that he already sold off. Have you gone to see his accomplice yet?” Ethan asked.
“No… you smashed his jaw pretty good… they said that it will probably take some time before he is able to talk… I don't blame you for doing it, it is just a little inconvenient right now…” Ethan had to agree with her on that one.
The two of them continued to walk in silence for a few more minutes before Jenny spoke up again.
“So… gay, huh?” Ethan could not help but groan loudly, he was apparently not going to live that one down.