Month 7: July of Death (second part)
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Month 7: July of Death (second part)
July 1st, 2015
July 1st, 2015
"Get set..."
Nori took a deep breath. He affirmed his decision, and it was a difficult one to make. He gave Kallisto one final glance before the race began. Almost all of his problems the past four months could be traced back to him in some way. He had to do this. He had to make a statement. He had to prove there was at least one thing he was better at than Kallisto, no matter the risk involved. That was all there was to it.
Eddie waved his arms. "Go!"
At once, both skaters kicked off, pushing themselves forward towards the slope with all their might. The race was on in earnest.
The boy shifted his weight right as he got to the incline. In one motion he flipped his skateboard up, caught it, turned around, and marched away. This didn't matter to him. They'd hate him for this, but he didn't care what they thought. Not like Kallisto's opinion of him could get any lower, and the others would just have to live with it. This was something Kallisto wanted to do solely for the sake of his own ego. Nori didn't have to indulge him – he was better than that.
His action was so audacious that it didn't register with the other Gym Trainers for at least five seconds. By that point Nori was already off the solar panels and passing by the observatory.
Eddie was the first to react, quickly catching up with him. "What the fuck, kid?!"
"I'm leaving," he replied without stopping or even looking back. "He can do this on his own if he wants."
The dark-skinned teen repeated his words in a dumbstruck manner. Tono and Ollie called him out.
"You pick now of all times to back out?"
"Chicken! Coward! Pussy! Wimp!"
Yet Nori was unbothered by their insults as he started down the hill with purpose. The way he saw it, if Kallisto wanted to race down that death ramp, he could do it by himself.
---
The thing that Kallisto liked most about skateboarding was the thrill.
The feeling of the wind against his body, the swift speeds he could build up, the rush of a quick turn, and knowing he was in total control of where he wanted to go. There was nothing quite like it. If he didn't make it as a Pokemon trainer for any reason, being a professional skateboarder would be in his top three other options.
Still, he couldn't believe Nori was actually going through with this. Kallisto was confident in his own ability to pull this off. He'd been skateboarding ever since he moved to Sunyshore. He'd won a number of amateur competitions and placed high in some professional ones. He'd even participated in a luge tournament a couple years back, placing second. Nothing beat experience. Maybe that's why he had challenged the young official in-training. He couldn't stand losing to someone so inexperienced, no matter how much of a lucky prodigy Nori seemed to be.
Kallisto flicked his gaze to his right. No sign of Nori. He didn't hear a scream, so he hadn't fallen off. He must have been going slower and more cautiously. A wise decision on his behalf, given the risk. As Tono had pointed out, none of them had any bird Pokemon that could catch them if they fell. The best they had was Gracie's psychic powers and Eddie's Magnezone. They were both on standby below just to be on the safe side, but they were unideal. They instructed both Pokemon to get ready to catch Nori, just in case.
As he was halfway down, Kallisto had a strange feeling come over him. He always wondered if he had a form of ESP, but another of his senses was also registering something was amiss. Not only did he not see Nori, he also did not hear him. He chanced glancing over his shoulder and nearly twisted all the way around in shock.
Nori was nowhere in sight. But he had kicked off! Where was he?! Did he actually fall? Where were the guys?
His focus was diverted, and he was brought back when he felt his board start to shift left. Kallisto cursed himself for forgetting the basic rule: look where you want to go. Eyes forward, he instinctively leaned in the other direction to correct his course.
To his horror, the board shifted too far to the right.
---
Nori had realized something when he was standing there high over Sunyshore. It had all finally sank in.
Maybe he did have to change. Maybe he actually needed to become a better person. No, he did have to shape up, no maybes. But it wasn't in the way or to the extent Kallisto had been insisting. Everyone else who cared had been right. Everyone from Lux in February to Prema days ago had seen it. His feud with Kallisto certainly would've happened anyway given the head Gym Trainer's own flaws, but it wouldn't have gotten to this point if he'd handled things better from his side.
But you're taking things way too far, and lashing out way too much. You need to learn to let things go.
Ironic, thought Nori. Even Kallisto had seen that, but he wasn't right about everything. This wasn't about having to fall in line and behave ‘properly.’ If he was like that, he wouldn't even be at Sunyshore. It also wasn't about not being forgiving. He had no reason to! Volkner put in the effort, yet Kallisto simply expected time to mend things. This was about pushing or doing things when he didn't need to.
On the other hand, no matter what he'd done to aggravate the situation, Kallisto also had a lot of culpability by not stopping his campaign. And he wasn't willing to budge or compromise. So screw him. He'd never forgive him, and even if he somehow did, he'd never forget it. And if his friends were going to blindly support him, well, screw them too. He wasn't going to let people he didn't care about control him.
He didn't have to care what Kallisto thought about him. He didn't have to prove anything to Kallisto. He didn't have to be like Kallisto. He was Nori Carino, an official in-training. The head Gym Trainer would be basking in his own insecure glory. And maybe someday Kallisto would be at the top of the Pokemon battling world despite all he'd done. But Nori didn't care. He would be helping and saving troubled Pokemon. He wouldn't be training them to be the best. He didn't have to do anything Kallisto wanted. He didn't even have to do anything about Kallisto, besides what he needed to.
That's why he didn't have to race Kallisto. He should've said no right away at the Gym without being goaded into this, but better late than never. What was he going to do about backing out at the last second, ruin him? What could he do that he hadn't already done? Nori wasn't concerned. At the very least, he wasn't afraid.
For the first time since the beginning of the year, Nori Carino felt free.
---
Nori returned to the Gym at peace. He entered to pandemonium.
The power was still off, but that was a trite matter. The lobby was packed full. Some of the on-hand staff were gathered in the offices - a few running around like lunatics - but many were idling outside watching the scene before them. All four security guards had their hands full trying to deal with a dozen chattering visitors who had somehow gotten inside. A few descended upon the boy on sight, flinging so many questions at once he couldn't understand any of them.
"I just got back?" he loudly spoke over them. "What's going on?"
"What the FUCK happened, Nori?!"
Volkner came from the staff hallway like an enraged Primeape. Everyone gave him a wide berth as he marched right up to Nori and glared at him with intensity.
"What do you mean, what happened?" the boy asked.
"I got a call from the cops saying you were skateboarding up at the observatory!"
Nori sighed. He saw this coming, having prepared to handle it on the skate back. "Yes, the others and me were trespassing," he said, pointing out that the Gym Trainers were there too. "But they didn't tell me we would be. I know, I know. I should've said no in the first place or after hearing what we'd be doing."
"That's not what this is about!" the Gym Leader cut in.
With this, Nori became confused. "Then what is it about?" he asked, tilting his head.
"Kallisto fell off! He's in critical condition!"
It went deathly silent. For three seconds, you could've heard a Hoppip's footsteps. "Wha..." Nori quietly vocalized.
Volkner pushed by. "I'm headed to the hospital. Stay here, go upstairs, and don't talk to anyone until I get back!" He motioned at the crowd. "All of you, get the hell out of here! Gym's closed! Beat it!"
The security guards robotically lumbered to usher them away. Even some of the staff followed suit in exiting. Nori, like everyone, was left stunned.
Kallisto fell? Kallisto? Nori was unsure how to feel. He hated him, sure. But falling? It was a long fall. Was he okay? Was he going to die? He wanted to karma to catch up with Kallisto and punish him severely. Nothing else was going to, evidently. But this was too much. And...there were worse things to worry about. Things that he'd thought of, thankfully, like the police becoming involved. He needed to get ready to face them, just in case.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything was a blur.
It had started with the shriek of Chasity which pierced the air, followed by her panicked sputtering over the walkie-talkie. They had run over at once, and it was what they didn't see that made the situation clear. There was a single second in which Tono felt little concern. But after that, Eddie's Magnezone came languidly hovering up. Its retinas were squeezed shut. Another second after the sight of it sank in is when all hell broke loose.
Chasity was trying to point them to somewhere. Ollie was looking over the cliff frantically. Eddie was rambling at his Pokemon. And Tono was still as a mountain. Everyone was speaking or shouting, but to his ears, they may as well have been speaking Greek.
After what felt like hours, Tono was able to do something. Words from his mouth. "Someone call 119 already!"
One of his friends, he wasn't sure if it was Eddie or Ollie, had screamed to him, "You got the only cell phone!"
He had forgotten that. Tono reached into his shirt pocket; his fingers failed him as he gripped his AN-Droid and it clattered to the ground. He stared at it a moment too long, time in which Ollie pounced to pick it up. His friend scrambled to his feet - spouting into the walkie-talkie all the while - and passed the phone. Tono nearly fumbled it again as Ollie let go. He turned the phone on, coming face-to-face with his lock screen. The password had absconded from his memory.
Mercifully, he remembered after a second that you could access the call screen for an emergency number anyway. He swiped and shakily dialed 129. No, that was wrong. 418. It was three simple numbers! 52#.
"Fuck it!" Eddie snatched the device from his hands and was able to dial properly. "We fuckin' need an ambulance up here!" After a pause, he clarified, "The cliffs by Sunyshore Observatory. Our friend fell off!"
Tono knew it. How could this happen? He knew his friend was making a mistake. If only he had been able to talk him out of this. If only Nori Carino had not tricked his friend. Why, why, why had this happened?
His tears were drowning him. As he tried to breathe in, his vision clouded from the dryness welling in his throat. His legs gave way, and everything went dark.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Hey."
"Hello." Nori waved to Volkner.
That night, Volkner came to find him. It had likely taken him a bit, given Nori was working in a room he rarely came into. For good reason as well - it was a small office with two computers. They mostly went unused, due to Tono having his laptop and the others only using them when they needed to.
Volkner stared at him in disbelief. "Since when do you use a computer?" he asked after about ten seconds.
"I've been learning." At least school had been good for something in that regard. He was still stumbling over trying to find things on his own, that said.
"What are you doing?" the Gym Leader asked.
"Emailing someone." Shouldn't he have been able to see that? Without looking back from the screen, he asked, "What happened after I left, anyway? With the others?"
"From what I've been told, Kallisto lost control of his board and fell off. They had Gracie and Eddie's Magnezone ready in case of an accident, but they weren't able to catch him in time." Volkner huffed. "He's suffered numerous injuries, but he's in stable condition."
All of that didn't surprise Nori. Even Mankeys can fall from trees. And if anyone could survive a ten or so meter drop onto solid earth, it would be Kallisto. As for how it came to pass, Pokemon had emotions too. Now that he was thinking about it more clearly, they certainly were ready to help. Eddie and Tono wouldn't tell their Pokemon to let him - or Kallisto - die. But seeing Kallisto fall off might've been so surprising that they couldn't react before it was too late.
"Maybe something's looking out for him," Volkner remarked.
"Or maybe they're punishing him, but leaving him alive," he put forth an alternative suggestion.
The man shrugged. "Could be."
It was actually something of a relief that Kallisto would likely survive. Dying would have been far too much for his tastes. This was perfect, actually. As long as he somehow didn't make a quick miraculous recovery with no long-term effects.
"What about the others?"
"Haven't talked. Police questioned them, keeping the witnesses separate." replied Volkner. "They'll be questioning us tomorrow."
"Okay."
He expected exactly that. Right now, he was getting ready for when that happened. He had to prepare for the police in particular, and he was doing just that. Nori knew even before this had all happened that he needed to take every precaution possible. Whether it would be enough, it remained to be seen. But he had to try.
"Should've listened to you, sorry..."
"It's fine, you couldn't have known." It sounded like Volkner was more cursing himself out than apologizing, but even Nori had no way of knowing what to expect. "We just need to do what we can now."
Suddenly, Volkner leaned against the wall. "It's over," he sighed.
"What is?" Nori briefly glanced behind himself.
"My Elite Four aspirations." With this, the Gym Leader slumped, crumpling to the floor. "No, forget that. My whole damn career. Knew I should've reined them in more. They kept pushing, kept going further. Kept doing nothing, since it's Kallisto. Now this happened. It'll be the biggest scandal since the Viridian Gym one. And I know them. They're going to blame you for this, and–"
"Volkner, just relax," he gently cut him off, looking back at him as he spoke. "Panicking isn't the thing to be doing now." Plus it was starting to get annoying.
"You're so damn calm," grumbled the Gym Leader.
"I'm focused," he corrected. Part of him was panicking too, but like he said, he couldn't afford to do that right now. "We don't know what's going to happen. All we can do is get ready for what might happen."
Volkner nodded, supporting against the wall and managing to his feet. "You're right," he said, shaking his head at himself. "I need a drink. Preferably something hard. You want one?"
That got him to swivel around in disbelief. "A hard drink? You mean alcohol?"
"Won't tell," said the Gym Leader. "Besides, might be your only chance if they lock you away."
"If it tastes as bad as that other stuff, I don't want it." The boy turned back to the monitor. "More importantly, I'm working. I shouldn't be impaired for this."
Volkner leaned in, this time actually looking at the screen. "Just what the hell are you working on?" he pondered aloud, unable to make anything of it.
Nori coyly smiled, placing his pinky on the side of his mouth. "I told you, you need to get ready for what might happen."
##########
July 2nd, 2015
"Report," said the chief of Sunyshore's police. "What's come of the questioning?"
One of his officers stepped forth. "There were several witnesses testifying that they saw the group headed towards the observatory. A couple of the observatory's employees also reported seeing them pass by, but thought nothing of it." He paused. "Kallisto Kervanos has been in no condition to give a statement. The Gym Trainers have also been unhelpful, although one stated this was a challenge issued by Nori Carino.
"The Gym Leader's story about how this started lines up with what the others have said. Denzi did also claim they have been harassing Carino as of late. As for him, he confirmed walking away when the race began, but claimed that Kervanos coerced him into participating, and that Tono Takuma had hacked the Gym's electricity to allow them time to do so."
It took the chief no time to come to his conclusion. "This is clear cut to me. He's obviously lying about it. As for the so-called harassment, I doubt it's nothing more than him being unable to accept criticism from Mr. Kervanos." He pulled out a form from his desk and started filling it in. "Tomorrow, Nori Carino is to be arrested and charged. We have about five counts."
