LOG 29: Rigoletto Taiga

Before leaving Schubert City, I went and exchanged Gardevoir for Mawile and Absol for Zekrom in case Logan and Dawn chase after us as it would only be us to suspect for stealing those orbs.

The Taiga of Rigoletto was home to ice and snow where swiveling rivers and asymmetrical lakes were all frozen. It was way colder, nevertheless, Seafoam Islands is still the champion of arctic temperature. Here, the sun could be seen and though we wear jackets, the chill was not enough to shake us.

On our way to the desert, Valery couldn't hold herself but throw snowballs at me. I could hold my patience for the first fifty, but beyond that, I had to take my revenge and throw back snowballs.

"Hey, does it ever bother you to think how a Taiga could be beside a desert?" asked Valery as we hiked passed a knoll and another.

"No, and I don't mind."

"Makes you wonder if Arceus ever screws up."

"I don't believe in any god."

"And yet says 'Oh Arceus!' Yeesh, you do."

"T... Those were past mistakes!" I said, almost loosing grip on my rope.

"But you've seen Giratina right? You said that to me."

"Yes. Sacrificed my first ever Pokemon for it to save those trainers and everyone else because of the same logic that Team Rocket wouldn't survive. I shouldn't have made that decision and end the world all together."

"No, no, I don't think that was an option. You were pissed when that Logan came in and switched sides didn't you? Let me guess, you were close, then all of a sudden he decides to travel with this blond blue hair girl who was able to tempt him to, what do these trainers call it? 'Release their integrity?'"

"No. Like he said and agreed on, that was then, I helped him a few times, he helped me a few times, and it's back to zero."

A puffed up smile was slowly forming on the ridges of her lips. "Or, you could be--"

Me looking back had halted from what she was about to say immediately.

"Does Madam Boss ever now that you have an affair with a trainer?"

"I don't have any affairs with anybody! Not yet at least."

"About you? Had you ever been into an affair with someone?"

"No. My parents doesn't permit. And I follow my parents because I care for them."

"Oh, reminds me why you haven't called them all this while."

We reached the top. I laid down on the soft snow and rested with her.

"C-call?"

"Don't you think they might be worried that you're still frozen in ice? If you truly care for them, you would be telling your parents about your status to ease their anxiety about the proclaimed dead daughter of theirs? Right?"

"Well... No signal!"

"Impossible. I called Virgo, my friends, come on now?" I rolled and faced her. "What are you hiding?"

"I'm not hiding anything!" She faced away. "You're only assuming."

"They're dead, aren't they?"

"Dead? No! I told you, I don't have any sad backstory."

"Yes. You. Do."

"No. I. Don't."

"Is that why you don't want to mega evolve your Aerodactyl? Hmm... Did a reckless form of such a powerful Pokemon end up taking the lives of your parents?"

She squinted her eyes, stood, and gathered a large snowball to smack me with it. She threw ten more and then an eleventh until a twelfth and thirteenth. Once her rage was over, she went far to a tree and nestled on its bark like a child who had lost their temper.

I left her for a while and soon went closer to sit beside Valery. She scribbled and drew at the snow with a twig.

"Father gave Aerodactyl to me as a present and that mega stone I have. I ended up being naughty about it because I wanted to train Aerodactyl to mega evolve and be that way. I thought I was good enough. Aerodactyl ended up burning our entire house. Mother survived, father didn't. I was trapped in the attic of our turret and so father came to rescue me but in return, he couldn't make it out just in time. I guess, it was not only him who saved me, but luck as well. Since then, I no longer mega evolved my Aerodactyl as it constantly reminded me of the trauma I've experienced years ago."

"And your mother?"

"She lost her husband, she got depressed. You know what happens after that."

"Oh--"

"And then I learned to live on my own at headquarters. But it was hard for me to make any friends, so I did some cheating too."

"Was that why you're a lieutenant colonel?"

"Yes. There was an assessment. If you pass, you'll get the rank, if you don't, either you remain as a grunt or get demoted. I cheated, hacked their system by bribing an excellent neuro agent so that the simulation would always be 100 whenever it processed my score on my account. Eh, they didn't know it was hacked, maybe until this point, but despite that, I still didn't have any friends nor did I become popular. Just a dot on Team Rocket's thousands of lieutenant colonels."

"Well! I can ascertain that you'll have plenty when you accomplish a mission others could not solve"-- A beam of yellow light punctured the ground and melted the surrounding snow.