“…and you didn’t stop him when you had the chance? What the hell was going through your head, Ambrose?!”
When the traveling trainer didn’t show up anywhere the morning after his arrival, a small group of workers and merchants had gathered together the following evening, once the shops were closed and most of Driftveil had drifted off to sleep. Each one looked sick to their respective stomachs at the implication of what had befallen the young visitor to their town, a fate that they had unfortunately become quite acquainted with in the recent past.
“I ain’t the kid’s daddy, I told him not to go in there, and the knucklehead didn’t listen to me. What was I sp’ost to do? Chase ‘im and beat his ass with my belt? I figured he wouldn’t be dumb enough to need that…” the husky, dark haired merchant replied with a scowl so harsh that one could have made a convincing bet that his face would get stuck that way permanently.
“Well clearly that wasn’t the case now, was it? Now we’re all in some real deep Bouffalant shit…” Ambrose’s fellow merchant growled out as she began pacing from side to side, clearly annoyed.
“That’s all you ever do, Kate, point those damned bony fingers at people. Why don’t you start pointin’ those things at the moron who watched the idiot go inside?” he retorted, pointing over to a particularly hefty, muscular man in the back of the small gathering with the familiar hardhat, black jacket and orange pants of a worker. “I had no idea he was walkin’ straight for the damned Storage. What’s his excuse?” The worker protested, pointing over at another man in similar attire, albeit much thinner and more gangly in musculature.
“W-what? What the hell’re you doing bringing me into this, Nate? I wasn’t anywhere near the market or the warehouses when this all went down!” He hastily shouted back in his own defense.
“You were the damn fool who was supposed to seal the entrance to that storage room after the last three times this happened, Dick!” Nate shot back, grabbing Dick by his shirt and glaring at him rather intensely.
To those who knew him it wasn’t usually considered the brightest idea to challenge Nate, and a fellow worker like Dick was quick to realize his mistake and quickly backed down. “A-alright, you got me there… but… I did try to seal those doors. I thought I’d welded them from end to end.”
“Then how’d the kid get inside, Dick?” Kate spoke up, arms crossed, the rest of the group’s eyes focused sternly on the gangly worker who’d paled somewhat at the question.
“H-how’d you think? Someone either unsealed it from the outside, or our pal in the fridge did it himself…” Everyone seemed to stiff up a little at this. Never had it occurred to any of them that this entity would get that close to the exit of the building, so close to where they had been many a time before.
“You just had to keep this one quiet fer so long, didn’t ya, Kate…” Ambrose grumbled, Kate turning around and shooting him another look, only for the fellow merchant to return one in kind. “Don’t even think about arguin’ on this one. Plenty of us were goin’ to alert the authorities after the two search parties never came back. We thought we were takin’ too damn long by then, but you insisted, ‘better fer everyone we keep this down.’ Well, now a trainer from outta town’s gone, and that trainer probably had family and friends, people he contacted on occasion who ain’t gonna be gettin’ any more calls.” Everyone seemed to go silent as if the reality of the situation was only just then settling in for all of them. “Now, fact of the matter’s that we all made a mistake here, and in some form or ‘nother, we’re all at fault fer this gettin’ out of hand. Once the cops get here, and they will, only a matter’ve time ‘fore they start askin’ questions, and I know fer a fact most’a ya wouldn’t be able to keep the same story up, be it fer yer conscience or just incompetence. I say, we let this whole business happen, we’re gonna have to clean it up.”
Immediately the others began to speak up in protest.
“Are you nuts?!”
“I’m not killin’ myself!”
“What good’s any of that gonna do?!”
Swiftly, Ambrose tossed up a Pokeball from his pocket in response, unleashing his Braviary, the Valiant Pokemon letting out a loud cry that immediately silenced the others as it perched itself behind its owner.
“You fellas seem to forget we’re not doin’ this alone. I know fer a fact none of ya ever gave up trainin’ fer good. None of us have, it’s the one thing that’s stuck with us since we were youngin’s… Whatever that thing is, there ain’t no way it can take all of us down at once. Now, either we make amends for letting this bloodbath go on for so long, or it’s never gonna stop… and there’s a damn good chance it’ll eventually think of coming out on its own anyway… I’m not takin’ that chance, and I sure’s hell hope none’a you want to either…” He stared at each one of them, awaiting their replies, getting silence for a moment more, until Kate eventually spoke up first.
“You’re a damn fool, Ambrose, I’ve known it for years, but, I can’t say you’re wrong. This mess is gonna end one way or another, and if I’m gonna get torn to bits, I’d wanna go down fighting, not waiting in some cell,” she said with a smirk, pulling back the trench coat she had on, unveiling several Pokeballs attached to her belt, pulling one out and releasing the Darmanitan contained within it. Ambrose grinned at this, an expression he rarely displayed in recent times, before the two looked over at the workers, who appeared to still weigh their options for a moment before Nate let out a shrug and grabbed a Pokeball from his pocket, his Krookodile materializing beside him.
“Yeah, why the hell not? I’m not averse to beatin’ the shit outta this thing, whatever it is,” he said while cracking his knuckles.
Looking uneasily at the others, Dick finally gave a sigh before giving a quick nod. “Guess I don’t wanna be the one left out and all,” he said, tossing a Pokeball that let out a Conkeldurr, apt indeed for a member of the labor force.
“Guess we’re decided then. ‘Less you fellas object, I say we do this thing tonight, before word gets out. Best we don’t let anyone see where we’re goin’ either.” The others merely nodded in agreement at Ambrose’s suggestion. “Then we’re in agreement. I’ll see you all at the Cold Storage tonight at 12. Bring any Pokemon ya feel you can spare, but, I recommend you only bring yer strongest. We don’t want any more unnecessary slaughter. Try and rest up too… obviously we’re all gonna wanna be at full strength and all…” At this, they all went back to their respective jobs, Ambrose and Kate heading back to their respective stands as Dick and Nate made their way out of the marketplace.
---
Deep within the darkness of the Cold Storage, the sound of weakened groans emanated from the single open container… It seemed Harold finally found his voice… just a little too late.
When the traveling trainer didn’t show up anywhere the morning after his arrival, a small group of workers and merchants had gathered together the following evening, once the shops were closed and most of Driftveil had drifted off to sleep. Each one looked sick to their respective stomachs at the implication of what had befallen the young visitor to their town, a fate that they had unfortunately become quite acquainted with in the recent past.
“I ain’t the kid’s daddy, I told him not to go in there, and the knucklehead didn’t listen to me. What was I sp’ost to do? Chase ‘im and beat his ass with my belt? I figured he wouldn’t be dumb enough to need that…” the husky, dark haired merchant replied with a scowl so harsh that one could have made a convincing bet that his face would get stuck that way permanently.
“Well clearly that wasn’t the case now, was it? Now we’re all in some real deep Bouffalant shit…” Ambrose’s fellow merchant growled out as she began pacing from side to side, clearly annoyed.
“That’s all you ever do, Kate, point those damned bony fingers at people. Why don’t you start pointin’ those things at the moron who watched the idiot go inside?” he retorted, pointing over to a particularly hefty, muscular man in the back of the small gathering with the familiar hardhat, black jacket and orange pants of a worker. “I had no idea he was walkin’ straight for the damned Storage. What’s his excuse?” The worker protested, pointing over at another man in similar attire, albeit much thinner and more gangly in musculature.
“W-what? What the hell’re you doing bringing me into this, Nate? I wasn’t anywhere near the market or the warehouses when this all went down!” He hastily shouted back in his own defense.
“You were the damn fool who was supposed to seal the entrance to that storage room after the last three times this happened, Dick!” Nate shot back, grabbing Dick by his shirt and glaring at him rather intensely.
To those who knew him it wasn’t usually considered the brightest idea to challenge Nate, and a fellow worker like Dick was quick to realize his mistake and quickly backed down. “A-alright, you got me there… but… I did try to seal those doors. I thought I’d welded them from end to end.”
“Then how’d the kid get inside, Dick?” Kate spoke up, arms crossed, the rest of the group’s eyes focused sternly on the gangly worker who’d paled somewhat at the question.
“H-how’d you think? Someone either unsealed it from the outside, or our pal in the fridge did it himself…” Everyone seemed to stiff up a little at this. Never had it occurred to any of them that this entity would get that close to the exit of the building, so close to where they had been many a time before.
“You just had to keep this one quiet fer so long, didn’t ya, Kate…” Ambrose grumbled, Kate turning around and shooting him another look, only for the fellow merchant to return one in kind. “Don’t even think about arguin’ on this one. Plenty of us were goin’ to alert the authorities after the two search parties never came back. We thought we were takin’ too damn long by then, but you insisted, ‘better fer everyone we keep this down.’ Well, now a trainer from outta town’s gone, and that trainer probably had family and friends, people he contacted on occasion who ain’t gonna be gettin’ any more calls.” Everyone seemed to go silent as if the reality of the situation was only just then settling in for all of them. “Now, fact of the matter’s that we all made a mistake here, and in some form or ‘nother, we’re all at fault fer this gettin’ out of hand. Once the cops get here, and they will, only a matter’ve time ‘fore they start askin’ questions, and I know fer a fact most’a ya wouldn’t be able to keep the same story up, be it fer yer conscience or just incompetence. I say, we let this whole business happen, we’re gonna have to clean it up.”
Immediately the others began to speak up in protest.
“Are you nuts?!”
“I’m not killin’ myself!”
“What good’s any of that gonna do?!”
Swiftly, Ambrose tossed up a Pokeball from his pocket in response, unleashing his Braviary, the Valiant Pokemon letting out a loud cry that immediately silenced the others as it perched itself behind its owner.
“You fellas seem to forget we’re not doin’ this alone. I know fer a fact none of ya ever gave up trainin’ fer good. None of us have, it’s the one thing that’s stuck with us since we were youngin’s… Whatever that thing is, there ain’t no way it can take all of us down at once. Now, either we make amends for letting this bloodbath go on for so long, or it’s never gonna stop… and there’s a damn good chance it’ll eventually think of coming out on its own anyway… I’m not takin’ that chance, and I sure’s hell hope none’a you want to either…” He stared at each one of them, awaiting their replies, getting silence for a moment more, until Kate eventually spoke up first.
“You’re a damn fool, Ambrose, I’ve known it for years, but, I can’t say you’re wrong. This mess is gonna end one way or another, and if I’m gonna get torn to bits, I’d wanna go down fighting, not waiting in some cell,” she said with a smirk, pulling back the trench coat she had on, unveiling several Pokeballs attached to her belt, pulling one out and releasing the Darmanitan contained within it. Ambrose grinned at this, an expression he rarely displayed in recent times, before the two looked over at the workers, who appeared to still weigh their options for a moment before Nate let out a shrug and grabbed a Pokeball from his pocket, his Krookodile materializing beside him.
“Yeah, why the hell not? I’m not averse to beatin’ the shit outta this thing, whatever it is,” he said while cracking his knuckles.
Looking uneasily at the others, Dick finally gave a sigh before giving a quick nod. “Guess I don’t wanna be the one left out and all,” he said, tossing a Pokeball that let out a Conkeldurr, apt indeed for a member of the labor force.
“Guess we’re decided then. ‘Less you fellas object, I say we do this thing tonight, before word gets out. Best we don’t let anyone see where we’re goin’ either.” The others merely nodded in agreement at Ambrose’s suggestion. “Then we’re in agreement. I’ll see you all at the Cold Storage tonight at 12. Bring any Pokemon ya feel you can spare, but, I recommend you only bring yer strongest. We don’t want any more unnecessary slaughter. Try and rest up too… obviously we’re all gonna wanna be at full strength and all…” At this, they all went back to their respective jobs, Ambrose and Kate heading back to their respective stands as Dick and Nate made their way out of the marketplace.
---
Deep within the darkness of the Cold Storage, the sound of weakened groans emanated from the single open container… It seemed Harold finally found his voice… just a little too late.