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- Apr 10, 2022
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and the rainstorms continue on
In years past, two children came to stop a titan of the seas before it could flood the world. In their quest, they discovered the remnants of a familiar story. A team of eco-terrorists, a blue orb of primal power, the great sky-dragon at the top of the world.
The story ended, the same way it always did. The same way it always must.
This is not that world. This is not that story.
Here, the rain continues on.
Bullet-rain, crushing as always, crashed against the decks of Pacfidlog.
The great sails, once hastily erected, billowed fully in the wind. The houses of the sea-faring town swayed and wobbled, but the ropes held.
Its destination since the Calamity; Mossdeep. Ever Grande City had gone under, just like the rest.
It was sad, Adam thought, that the only saving grace of Pacifdlog was that the houses themselves were boats. It was the same for most of the residents, too; many had had families visiting others when Kyogre had been raised and the news came about.
He sighed. Ever Grande City had been a bit of a wreck, deserted and empty of survivors. It had seemed most had evacuated or died. Only the odd wild Pokemon remained, wandering the broken city searching for food.
Of course, not all were wild; there were a few pets left behind in the rush. Which was how David, his friend, got his Pokemon.
It wasn’t like there was a coherent League around to make the rules, or any governing body, really. He was her owner for the time being.
Outside, thunder roared; it was the longest flood-cycle that this world had seen thus far. A week, and the storm showed no sign of stopping. All because of Team Aqua.
David coughed near him as he petted Bubbles, his Marill, drawing his attention. ‘Lovely weather out there, isn’t it?” He tugged his raincoat – one a size too big for him, liberated from an abandoned shop a couple flood-cycles ago; none of them really bothered to care what day it was anymore. It could have been days to weeks; the only constant was the crashing of bullet-rain.
Adam grimaced. “Yes. Yes it is. It’s a great day to stay inside this ramshackle seafaring settlement, wondering if we might die--”
As if on cue, the lights inside the house flickered for a couple seconds. “Shut it,” David replied. “We’ll be at Mossdeep in like... a couple days. Just hold out till then.”
“Wish we coulda stayed longer in Sootapolis,” Adam grumbled. “So many shops to go through, and what, we only checked the hospital and the grocery stores?”
“Dude, if this joint overloads we’re all going down.” David sighed. “You coulda grabbed a couple PokeBalls from the PokeMart back at Sootipolis y’know, try to catch something when we make landfall.”
“I’m not a serious Trainer. Never was.” Adam shook his head. “Like, how many gyms did you get through?”
“Like, three.”
“I got two. Before I thought the food expense and time wasn’t worth it. And damn, I released much of my team; gave my last one to my younger brother.” He sighed. “I’ll work something out once we all land.”
The day of arrival came and went, as the scouting parties among the town’s population of one-hundred and fifty disembarked to check the city.
Adam found nothing but shorted-out electronics and clothes in a couple houses, most of them decaying and rotting away from continued exposure to rain. Many of these houses accompanied – and outnumbered – the empty shelves of the few stores found near this side of the city. The Pokemon Gym was locked and empty, with nary a Trainer in sight. It seemed that its workers had been given priority and advance warning in the evacuation, judging by how neat everything looked.
One of the houses was unusually well-maintained. Many of its windows had been sealed with heavy tape and boarded over. The back door was unlocked, and he let himself in, noticing a short trail of oil on the floor.
Adam grimaced, before his eye caught a copper-tipped spear hung on the wall, on two large hooks. The shaft was unevenly carved and the head was bound with twine, causing it to stick out of the modern architecture of the house like a sore thumb.
Opening a cupboard, he spotted some tin cans, noting the smell of freshly-salted fish. It was almost impossible for what he found to be this fresh. Nodding, he closed the cans, and stuffed two of them into his backpack, making sure to leave everything as he found it.
Well. Better late than never to check the PokeMart.
The PokeMart, unlike the houses on the far side of the city, was mostly untouched save for slight water damage. The sign was flipped to OPEN and the door swung open with a push; it seemed like the shopkeepers had neglected to lock up in their hasty evacuation.
Apart from the half-empty shelves, it looked chillingly normal. Upon opening the door, the automated bell had chimed its signature annoying jingle. Back in better times it would have been a signal to greet customers, now it served as a bell to any wild Pokemon in the area.
He moved to one of the shelves containing PokeBalls, almost slipping on yet another trail of oil. As he moved to pick one up, a noise from the store room drew his attention.
Standing in the doorway was a strange cat-like creature, three-and-a-half foot tall; all cyan and pink with the biggest purple eyes he’d ever seen. It stared, unblinking. He swore he could see it vibrating in place, like the rush of a million sugar highs were coursing through its veins. It didn’t seem bothered by the water rolling off its back, and Adam felt unfairly jealous at it’s obvious lack of discomfort when here he was, standing in clothes that had long since gone crusty with seawater.
“Hi!” Its voice was the squeakiest he’d ever heard, like these kids that he’d picked on back in middle school. Each word of its speech blended into the next, making them hard to understand. “WhatcanIdoforyou?”
Its oily-black pupils, he noticed, were big enough to see his own reflection in. He didn’t want the thing to think he was stealing, so, he put the PokeBall back and replied, “Nothing,” before walking out, trying to force the conversation and awkwardness out of his mind.
Behind him, he faintly heard, “Threelandmarktokensforthatcaptureball.” It was not worth the mental effort to even process the slimy cat’s too-rapid, excitable speech, and he continued on his way.
For a brief moment, he wondered if the supplies he had found in the well-maintained house had been that creature’s possessions – no, that didn’t matter. Even if that were true, these supplies were his now.
Bubbles was having the worst day of her life, thus far. She’d approached the Pokemon Center, with its lights on, while waiting for her Trainer to be done with checking out a nearby building.
Two bipedal, slimy cats with frilly pink whiskers had waved at her, and she’d screamed.
It was when David came to check on her to find her crying outside the doorway to the house that he’d been checking. He’d tried to ask her what was wrong, and she’d mutely pointed at the PokeCenter.
Her Trainer sighed and picked her up, moving towards it.
David had always thought he knew what to expect when he entered a PokeCenter. A Chansey manning the counter, Nurse Joy with her wide smile, in her standard cap and dress, the PC Storage terminal...
The terminal for the PC Storage system in this one was long since broken. It wouldn't even turn on when he pressed the power switch.
A voice made him jump. Behind the counter, speaking English, was a 3-foot tall... thing; looking much like a slimy cat at first glance. It nodded to him. “Need help?” it asked, ears flattening upon seeing him.
“No, I’m fine.” A pause, before he asked, “So... what – I mean, who – are you?”
There was no response, so David decided to name it a slugcat in lieu of whatever its species was. It seemed the most appropriate considering its appearance.
“Well.” David looked at the two slugcats sitting on low stools. Before long, he turned to the one behind the counter; its pelt was a pristine white. He’d call this one Sugar. “What do you sell?”
Sugar’s tail swished behind them and their ears twitched. He didn't know what it meant; maybe he could ask later. “Room for the night is 2 city tokens. Extra nights after that needs 2 city tokens and 2 landmark tokens each.”
“Tokens- he began, but Sugar gestured to a tourist coin-press machine behind the counter. A note on the machine read; This machine only accepts P1000, P100, P10 or P1 notes.We apologize for the inconvenience.
He passed one of each note over to Sugar, who inserted them one-by-one. The machine spat out tokens; one of each type corresponding to the money inserted.
Sugar passed him the city token. “Here. You wish to stay the night, give me more notes.” they said, before handing over the tokens left over.
The coin press being exorbitant was no surprise. Mossdeep was a university city and tourist trap; everything had its value artificially inflated here. What was surprising was that the slugcats had repurposed it to mint their own currency, in a sense.
He thanked Sugar and left, about to get back to Pacfidlog to rest. They’d be here for a few more days, then they’d move on. Still, he wondered if he should reveal the existence of the slugcats; if he had come into contact with them who knew if the other parties had. Hell, they’d probably already did.
Still, as he left, the thought of sleeping in a room with actual electricity, proper running water instead of heavily processed and filtered drinks made him smile. He’d have to get the mayor’s permission first. If not, he could just sneak out – hell, framing it as a “no-one cares about prices anymore” would be easy enough.
Back in the house, he flopped onto a chair. Adam came through shortly after. “Yo, Adam. You found anything?”
Adam passed him the dried fish without a word. “Here. Dried fish; takes good enough. Otherwise, nothing but a slimy cat.” He noticed the tokens clutched in David’s hands. ‘Seriously? Tourist trap tokens? Don’t you have like, anything better to do than waste what money you have?”
David laughed, dropping the tokens onto the table with a clatter. “Hey, don’t say that. I’m just collecting them. Besides, we were just looting buildings a while ago.” He took a bite of salted fish. “Holy shit, this stuff is fresh. You know where I can find more?” When no response was gained, he continued, “I guess it doesn’t really matter.”
“Mhmm,” Adam replied through a mouthful of dried fish. “Well, I’ll be seeing you. Got more things to do than just standing around.” He turned and left.
David was left alone with his thoughts. Yes, he could wait a few moments before telling the mayor. Giving the tokens one last look, his mind was made up. He’d kill to spend the night in a properly-heated room again. Besides, if the tin can of dried fish came where he suspected it did, slugcat cuisine ought to be delicious. He'd have to be careful what he ate, of course; he doubt they would know about allergies...
He looked up at the sky through the window – the rare instances where the flood-rains stopped to let the sun shine.
It was definitely going to be a good day after all.
