//------------------------------// // Chapter 31 // Story: Old Scars, New Chances // by Arcticbrony //------------------------------// It was early in the afternoon. Most ponies were already up and about, doing their daily chores or being hard at work with different things. Back in the warehouse, Ethan was gathering up all of the other Pokémon that were living there to have a talk of sorts with them. He had been too restless lately and felt like he had to do something; something that he had initially delayed because of Jenny's disappearance. But he thought that he could at least get started, as it was something that would take a lot of work, possibly over a long period of time, but he had to start somewhere. “Hello, everyone.” Ethan greeted the magnitude of Pokémon that were sitting in front of him. Their numbers had dwindled a bit over the last few days, another few had healed enough to leave and decided to do so, and a lucky Pansear had even found himself a family to live with. “First off, I wanted to ask all of you how you are liking it here so far.” “It’s nice!” “Yeah, thank you for letting us stay.” “It’s okay… until I find a place I belong.” “I just want my wings to finish healing so I can leave.” The responses were a bit mixed, something that was expected, but the majority of them liked it there, something that brought a little extra to Ethan's smile. But a lot of them, even if they liked it there, were only living there temporarily in hope that they would find another place. Whenever it was to just leave into the wild when they were healed or to find a family of their own, they all had their own goals. And Ethan hoped that he could help some of them with those goals. “You are probably wondering why I gathered you all up like this.” He said, getting a few nods and vocal confirmations as they were watching him. They were all gathered up in one end of the warehouse. Brawly was watching from a distance as he relaxed on a couch in the other end of the warehouse, while Chii, Zoey, and Vernus were all out. “Well, I have a proposition for all of you.” Ethan began. “It’s entirely optional, but I hope that some of you will agree to it.” Ethan could already see that some of them were getting a bit put off, while others were drawn in by his words. “What I want to do, and what I am proposing to you, is a program of sorts. Some of you, at least the ones that used to live with humans are aware that humans quite often has Pokémon to help them with various tasks, right?” “L-like a Machoke working as a mover?” The Pachirisu that Jenny had rescued asked. “Yes, exactly like that.” Ethan smiled as some of them were catching on. “My trainer and I used to help out at schools when we traveled around.” An Abra named Lady spoke up. She was one of the ones that used to have a trainer before ending up on Equus, and had decided to stay with Ethan and the others, at least for the time being as she hope that her trainer would end up finding her there. “That’s right, Lady. I remember you mentioning that. Did you have fun with that?” The Abra in question smiled and nodded happily. “Indeed we did. We could get some extra money that way and I really liked helping the children with math and other things!” She positively beamed. “That is great then. But what I have in mind is a little different from that.” Ethan admitted, getting some curious looks. “Of course, there are no more humans, so ponies will be the ones in focus. Those of you that agree to volunteer for this will still be helping ponies, but maybe not in the ways that you are used to… Have any of you heard of the term, service Pokémon?” He had warmed them up enough and decided to just cut straight to the chase. Some of the Pokémon started talking in between themselves again, a few apparently having heard the term before, but not all. “This is pointless!” The Taillow suddenly spoke up. “I'm just going to leave when I'm healed anyway, so there is no point in me listening to this.” And with that he started hopping away from their little group since his wings were still restrained for his own good. It had been more than Ethan had expected of him in the first place, he had been surprised he had agreed to listen to anything at all. But, it was their choice what they wanted to do, so he did not hold anything against the Taillow. Ethan waited a little bit longer since the Taillow's outburst had shaken up the group a little, but when no one else left, he decided to continue. “So… service Pokémon, anyone?” He asked again since they had been cut off before. “Um… you mean like… the partner an Officer Jenny has?” A rather shy Minccino spoke up. “Like that Growlithe?” “Um… sort of I guess, those can be seen as service Pokémon, but that was not what I had in mind.” The Minccino looked a little down from Ethan's response. “But, it was a good guess. Anymon else?” The same Abra from before, Lady, seemed deep in thought before her arm shot up. “Oh, oh, oh!” She kept waving at Ethan who just smiled at her eagerness. “Yes, Lady?” “My trainer’s mom was very sick and had to stay at a hospital almost all the time.” Lady started. She looked a bit sad as she thought back to it, but she pressed through and continued. “She couldn't use her legs and was in a wheelchair most of the time. But she had a Liepard who helped her with everything she needed. It pushed her wheelchair when she needed to get around. Helped her with her medicine, and just spent a lot of time with her so that she would have somemon to talk to.” Lady smiled a little to herself as she told the little tale. “He was a really kind Liepard… Is that what you are talking about?” She looked up to Ethan who had been touched by her little story and was wearing a gentle smile of his own. “That is indeed what I am talking about!” Ethan confirmed, and Lady made a quiet little “yay,” since she had gotten it right. “The program I have in mind is hopefully going to be able to help a lot of ponies in different situations, and is going to train Pokémon who volunteer for it.” Now some uncertainty was beginning to spread throughout the little crowd. “One example is helping the elderly, just like Lady suggested. A pony with some kind of mental condition who needs someone to be there to take care of him or her most of the time… and then we have the kinds of problems that are not so easy to spot. A pony with deep depression might just need someone… or somemon to be there for them, someone that is able to talk to them and keep them calm.” But along with the uncertainty, a few eager looks were mixed in with the bunch as well. “Perhaps a certain pegasus who has been in an accident and lost most of her sight who just needs a friend and someone to be there for her when things are tough. Perhaps even encourage her to try flying again.” Ethan said while looking at the Natu who immediately brightened up. “A lot of you have very special abilities, gifts that can help everyone around you in some way or another. But it is up to each and every one of you how you decide to use those gifts. This is a pretty big decision, I realize that, and no one will hold it against you if you decline; you can still keep living here just like nothing has happened. And if you change your mind later, then that is up to you. So… are any of you interested?” Of course he had a lot more he wanted to say, there was much more to the program after all. But he figured that it was enough for a start to see who would be interested and volunteer for it and who would not. It took a few minutes, some of the Pokémon had to talk among each other to figure out exactly what they wanted, and the majority of them declined and went back to what they were doing before instead. Some just outright declining and some saying that they needed more time to think about it, something that Ethan respected. In the end, he was left with five who were still sitting there. It was no surprise to him that Lady was still there. She really enjoyed helping others and had a knack for it too. The Natu was not a surprise either, Ethan knew exactly what she wanted to do, or rather who she wanted to help. The third was the Minccino from before, she had not said that much but she looked a little more at ease now that there were not that many Pokémon surrounding her anymore. Lastly there was a Monferno who Ethan really did not know that much about, she had just shown up on their door one day and asked if she could stay there. She helped out with different things and always tried to make herself useful it seemed, but she rarely spoke. And a Minun who had been captured by The Weavers along with her brother. Unfortunately, her brother had not been rescued with her; he was still missing. “So the five of you want to help others, huh?” Looking over them, Ethan received nods from all of them. “That’s really great, and very kind of each and every one of you.” It really filled his soul with joy. “Thanks, you guys!” “S-so, what now?” The Minccino spoke up. She kept grabbing her tail in a rather adorable manner, trying to hide behind it as she spoke. “Now… now we just talk a little.” Ethan said as he sat down and crossed his legs. “I already know all of you pretty well.” With the exception of the Monferno since she almost never spoke or wanted to speak. He had tried to get through to her, but she seemed content with just doing her own little thing, well, until now that was. “But I want to get to know you even more.” He looked at said Monferno who kept her glance and nodded reluctantly. “What sort of ponies will we be helping?” The Minun, asked as she looked up to Ethan. “All kinds of ponies… who knows, there may even be a few non ponies.” He held his paws up and shrugged in a rather silly manner, making the Minun giggle. “There may be a little time until we get to start properly though. There are still a few things that I need to take care of, but in the meantime, I will be spending a lot of time with you all, getting to know you, and teaching you a thing or two possibly.” If they were to work with ponies that were suffering from depression or other things then they needed to know how to act in certain situations or how to deal with a few crucial things. Hearing this put a small damper on the Natu though, and she looked down sadly, something that Ethan noticed. He knew that the Natu had been visiting the pegasus filly a few times, and had grown rather close to her, so it was not a surprise that she wanted to help her as much as she could. “But, maybe not all of you will have to wait that long.” Ethan said as he reached out and gently rubbed the top of the Natu's head. “After all, we already have somepony in mind for you, don't we?” Happy with hearing those exact news, brought an adorable smile to the little gal. “Really?” She asked, looking up to Ethan with hopeful eyes. “Really! We can't keep little Stormy waiting, now can we?” The little Natu shook her head, or rather her entire body. “There is a few things we need to go over though, but don't worry, we will get you started as soon as possible.” The main goal was to get Stormy out of her shell, and while the Natu had helped her a lot already just by visiting her, they still had a long way to go. Who knew, maybe they could even encourage her to try flying again. “I will do my best!” The little pokémon chirped loudly, well, as loud as a small Natu could be anyway. “I am sure that you will.” Ethan encouraged her. “Though when you start properly, you may have to live at her place. The same goes for the rest of you.” He shifted his attention back to the whole group. “Depending on who you are helping, you may have to stay there full time, and you will also need to have the translation spell cast on you. I know that some of you are not used to that, but it is for the best. Are all of you okay with that?” “Yeah, I can't communicate telepathically with others yet, so that is fine with me.” Lady said, and apparently the others agreed with her, all of them voicing their agreement. “That’s great, you guys! Now, since we are going to be working a lot together, let’s get to know each other a little better… Why don't we start with you Lady? Why do you want to help others?” Helping others was always a noble thing to do, but everyone usually had their own reasons for doing so. And Ethan figured that it would be a nice beginning subject to learn more about them, who they were, and what kinds of personality they had. All of which would be important factors in deciding that kind of cases they would be best fit for when they started. What sort of ponies they would be best suited to help. Darkness. Her surrounding were pitch black. She was unsure how long she had been there, they moved her quite often, and it was just as unpleasant every time. At least in the darkness, nothing would hurt her. She knew the confines of her cage really well, it had been her home ever since she had been captured. With shaky legs, she stood up and walked forward. Three steps forward, bars. Two to the side, more bars. Five steps backwards and another set of bars, and the lock to her little cage. At the very least, it was big enough for her to stand at her full height without hitting her head… it was more than some others got. For she was not alone in the room that she found herself in, no, there was multiple cages stored there in the darkness. How foolish she had been to go in alone… why had she thought that she could take them on her own. It had seemed like such a good idea at the time… but as she rounded that last corner that led into that laboratory, they had been waiting for her. They took her by surprise, effortlessly overwhelming her; she never stood a chance. She would have liked to say that she put up a challenge, made it tough for them… but no. It was all over in a few seconds. Two of the ponies ganged up on her, holding her down, while Shady levitated a rock over her head. And with one well placed strike, she had passed out. Useless. Creating light would have been fairly simple for her, it was not like they had put a muzzle on her. But she remembered the last time she had used her flame, no, she no longer even dared to create the smallest light in fear that they would notice it. That somepony would come in at the wrong time and see. She had tried to escape, taken the first opportunity she got to attempt to do so. She had waited until she had been left alone, and then she had unleashed her strongest flame upon the iron bars that held her. But it changed nothing. Her flame had not been strong enough to melt the bars, no matter how much she tried, it was futile. But her flames had accomplished one thing, they had left a mark on said bars, a mark that her captors had noticed the next time they checked up on her. She tried to remain strong, but tears welled up in her eyes and a familiar pain returned as she thought back to it. She had tried to escape, of course they had to punish her. They did well to remind her that what they did was her fault and her fault alone for what she had tried to do. They had not even used any kind of anesthesia. No, she was to feel every second of it, it had been excruciating. She had only had it for a little over a week… but still. They took one of her tails, and there had been nothing she could do to stop them… she had been helpless, watching as they held up her own body part in front of her after the deed had been done. Taunting her. Pathetic. She could no longer hold it back any longer. Tears rolled down her cheeks, dripping onto the metal floor below her. She had tried to stay strong, she really had tried. But she was not strong, they had showed how weak she actually was, over and over again. “Fiwe fox no cry.” A soft rumble came from besides her cage, it seemed that she had woken up one of the other captives that was being held wherever she was. It was a native creature, and it had a gentle soul. It was in just a bad situation as any of the ones that was held captured there, but it… he, always cared for them before himself. “Pwease don't bhe sad…” She heard the familiar noise of skin rubbing against the metal bars as, Jim, as she had grown to know the kind creature, stretched his chains to their limit, just so he could hold his hand just outside her cage. It was one of the few moments of comfort that she found there. She sniffed and wiped her eyes before she walked over to the side of her cage and leaned her head against the bars, nuzzling gently against the fingers of the giant hand that was held there. “I… I'm sorry, Jim.” She spoke, even though she knew that he could no longer understand her. The translation spell had already wore off. But neither of them really seemed to care. Jim would listen to what she had to say anyway. “I just don't know what to do anymore. I can't do anything right.” And as much as she hated to admit it, she was scared. “I’m a failure.” She uttered, her voice barely a wiser. Trash. “Ish going to be okaay. Jim pomise.” But even though he could no longer understand her, he seemingly always knew that to say. But their moment of comfort came to an abrupt end as a creaking sound could be heard. Jenny's head darted in the direction of the door. She seemingly held her breath as she stared intensely in its direction. But as the door slowly opened, allowing rays of light into the once darkened room, Jenny's breathing began to quicken, and she was not the only one who was reacting this way. All around her, a mix of whimpers and growls could be heard. Even Jim retracted his hand as he watched the door, his fists clenching. “Well, well, well.” A voice came as a shadow could be seen appearing in the door opening. It was a voice that Jenny knew, a voice that she knew all too well. In a fit of panic, she scurried back in her cage, pressing herself into the corner as much as she could, making herself as small as possible. “How are you today, my pretties?” Terrified. Shady was a pony that she had learned to fear over the time she had been there. And every time those doors opened, and he walked in. She hoped to Arceus that he would not go over to her cage, that he would leave her alone. Having been in the dark for so long, the light hurt her eyes, and such she could not see Shady clearly. But she did see that he was in fact walking off to the side, away from her cage. And that made her relax slightly. She looked down at herself, and could see how badly she actually looked at that point. Her fur was matted and dirty, it almost seemed like it was losing its once magnificent color. She had a few wounds across her body too. Wounds that she had gotten from trying to put up a fight, not that it mattered in the end anyway. And down at the bottom of her back, her five tails. Five… it had once been six. Where her missing tail once had been, there was now only a patch of missing fur, and a few stitches in her skin. They had been rather thorough with making sure that it was done properly. As Shady had told her, “damaged property would be no good.” That was all that she was anymore, property. Not a person, not a individual, not, just another object who was going to make them money. “Some good news today.” She heard him say as he walked out of her field of vision. “For you especially, Plusle.” They had also learnt the names of most of the Pokémon that they had captive. “What? No, please stay away from me!” Jenny could hear what she assumed to be the Plusle protesting, begging to be left alone. But it mattered little. None of the Pokémon left there had any kind of translation spells on them, and even if they did, she knew that Shady would not care. “Oh, calm down you little electric mouse!” A sharp metallic clang followed as Shady had kicked the metal cage, hard. “Got a buyer for you… and they even wanted you in one piece, ain’t this your lucky day.” Jenny could see Shady come back into her view once again, his horn lit up this time as he was levitating a small cage with the Plusle inside of it besides him. The little thing looked positively terrified, and just like Jenny, it had retreated into one of the corners and was just holding itself while shivering like a leaf. “Bad ponay! Leave mousie alone!” Jim roared loudly as he went after Shady. Or at least he tried to. His chains clattered loudly as they reached their limit, but that did not stop him from trying. He stretched his arms after Shady in a futile attempt, the shackles around his wrists digging into his skin. Shady just scoffed as he watched the large form of the Cave Troll struggle against his bonds. Not that it mattered of course, the chains were not something that a creature like that could break, even if he was at his full strength. “Oh calm down you big brute.” Shady just ignored Jim's efforts. “It will be your turn soon enough. I’m sure somepony will find a Cave Troll useful for something.” And with that, he turned his back to them and started to trot out. The Plusle looking back at Jim with desperation in his eyes. Futile. “P-please… Help me..” He begged, reaching out with his little paw. Struggling against the bars of his own cage, desperate. His teary eyes being the last they saw as the doors closed once again. Leaving them in the darkness once more. “Mousie! Mousie!” Jim kept shouting while struggling with his chains. He was hurting himself, but he did not seem to care. His compassion over his fellow captives was greater than his sense of self care. “He is gone, Jim…” Jenny told him, though she was having mixed feelings herself. “He is gone.” She felt sorry for the Plusle, especially since they did not know what was going to happen to him. But, the fact that Shady had taken him over her, meant that she was safe. At least for now. She knew that she should feel horrible because she prioritised herself over any of the others, she knew that she would have felt horrible just a little while ago. She just did not care anymore. Hopeless. “Mousie…” The room shook slightly as Jenny heard Jim fall back into a sitting position. Even he did not have that much fighting spirit left in him, it seemed. She laid down in her little cage, the remaining of her tails curling up around her as she closed her eyes. Time had no real meaning in that location, they had no clue if it was day or night, no way to tell the time. So, one just sort of slept when it was possible, if you could get any sleep at all, that was. Jenny was not sure how long she had just been laying there, motionless in the darkness before she could feel the sweet embrace of sleep start to overtake her. Before it was shattered, as the creaking sound returned and a few rays of light lit up the room. The door was opening again, there was no rest to be had. “You did not think that I had forgotten about you, my little fox? Did you?” Her whole body started shivering. He was coming for her. “No, no, oh Arceus please no!” She could only watch in fear as Shady slowly approached her cage. Though… something was different about him, he was wearing something around his neck. It looked like… “M-my, tail?” Like some kind of disgusting trophy, around her captors neck was her severed tail. Being work like a scarf. “As you can see, my little pretty.” Shady had reached her cage, and kneeled down to look at her. “This makes for a rather gorgeous fashion accessory, don't you think?” He slowly ran a hoof down the fur on the tail. Jenny felt furious, her blood was boiling. She wanted to attack, to burn the flesh of his face. Fear. B-but she couldn't. She did not dare to go against him. If she did anything then… then she would be punished again. S-she couldn't be punished again, she just couldn't. “Turns out that you have some extremely high quality fur.” Shady commented as he put his hoof back down and stared straight at Jenny who was still covering in the corner. “Not only is it so fine, but it is really resilient as well. Top notch, if I may say so.” “P-please, just leave me alone.” Jenny whispered, her eyes looking down at the floor, not daring to meet his glare. “And you see, we already have somepony that wants to buy this lovely little tail of yours… but the thing is. She wants more.” Jenny looked up and watched in terror as Shady's horn lit up and her cage was surrounded in its glow. “And really, who am I to deny such a request when we have such an ample supply of them.” Despair. Jenny could only cry in fear as the magic from Shady spread to her mouth, holding it shut, just in case she would try to fight back. She would do anything to not go through that again, anything. She slammed herself against the bars, she wanted out, she needed out. But Shady only laughed at her efforts. “Now, come on, my pretty.” Shady levitated her cage up and started lightly trotting towards the door. “It’s time to make some bits!”