Chapter 17: A Magical Meeting

"Can you please help me? My starly was t-taken by a bunch of mean guys! I put in a quest, but nobody has come… I don't have any more money, but please!"

A little girl was trying to get a man in a business suit to help her, but he shrugged her off after muttering something about a meeting soon. We were in the East Gearen laboratory, so it was probably just an excuse to not waste his time. 

I walked over, waving my hand to try to get her attention. She was crying though- probably too overwhelmed by the situation.

"Hey there. Did you say your starly was taken?"

I didn't come to the lab for a quest- I had just finished one and needed to heal my pokemon, but I couldn't leave a crying kid alone like this.

"Sniffle Y-yeah… On the pier, they s-said it would be worth a lot of money… sniffle"

I patted her small head, and just then looked up at me with the largest puppy dog eyes I had ever seen.

"Could you… h-help me?"

My heart twisted in a knot, but I forced a smile. 

"Of course. You said they were on the pier, right?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~

The girl didn't give any more information, and just started bawling when I had said I would help. 

Tak-tak

It was raining on the pier, but I had bought an umbrella with the earnings from the last few quests. Kastanna kept me warm on my shoulder, her black and blue tail curled around my neck to keep her steady. 

'Hmm… It looks like them.'

Three guys in biker leathers were crowded around a starly, poking at it and stretching its wings out. It tried to peck their hands, but they had bound its beak shut. 

"Hey! How are you guys on such a wonderful~ day!"

Cu-Ruuuuush!

My pokeball hit the floor, and Fauche came out. The rain would help him more than hinder, and his strong confusion would be more than enough to cover the water type counters. 

"Psy!"

He seemed more energetic than usual- probably because of the rain. 

"Huh? A little goody-two-shoes wants to pick a fight? Well, our leader never loses!"

"Yeah, you've got this Bruce!"

"Heh, of course I can crush a kid like this. Game on, greeny!"

I loosened my clenched fist, not wanting my back up plan to be obvious. They were big, but mostly just fat- I could just walk circles around them in a fist-fight, but I was a trainer now. That was on the back burner.

"Let's go, Wimp Crusher!"

A small bug type came out of the the biker guy's pokeball. I scanned it into the pokedex. 

'Wimpod, huh?'

"Wimp Crusher, use-"

"Confusion."

"Psy!"

The bug pokemon rolled over, and quickly was returned to its pokeball. 

"Hey! Get him, Grubber!"

'That name sounds like a crime…'

"Use confusion."

"Psy?"

The second bug type keeled over as well, its little legs swinging in the air as it laid on its back. 

"You little-"

Vrrrrrrrrrr…

"Damn it, the boat's here."

Shink

He pulled out a knife, moving toward me without even recalling his pokemon. I scanned the passed out pokemon before putitng my phone away. 

"Listen here, you're going to move aside unless you want to die- this starly is coming with us, and that psyduck of yours too!"

Trained pokemon aren't allowed to attack people unless being put under threat of death. I was threatened, but since my psyduck wasn't then I couldn't command him to attack. 

'Plan B it is.'

"Nu-uh-uh~"

"Fen?"

"Don't fly, little dove. AINEDMKIENDWEM1"

CRRRRRRRCK!!!

"What the…!?"

The ship that had just pulled in was speared from underneath by three massive stone spikes. Kastanna curled tighter around my neck, and I recalled Fouche. This wasn't a problem either of them could handle. Heck, I'd be pressed to dodge something that large. 

"Little dove, little dove, little dove~"

Looking up, a woman surrounded in a pink aura was floating above the new wreckage, quickly circled by a floating book- the rain seemed to drift around her as if she was covered in a shield. I couldn't make out many of her features, but the pink aura betrayed the maddened smile on her face. 

"A bird can no longer fly with clipped wings. We can't have peasants like you running around."

Her voice also carried unnaturally well in the downpour. 

'She must be an incredibly powerful psychic…'

"So you think you'll just be able to do what you please? That's too bad. For you at least~ AINEDMKI"

She floated down on a pink screen of light, landing beside me. I hesitated to step back- I had the range to attack with this distance, but I wasn't sure if attacking would even do anything with the shield. 

Now that she was closer I could make out her tan skin and scars- definitely a working woman. Her white camisole and dark pink and white jacket worked well with her features, if a bit too immodest for... her body type. I felt my blood chill, and held back a shudder. 

'...Darn it. Why can't people just wear trench coats like in Unova? It's the winter. It can't be that warm here.'

"Look at what we have here! A couple of no-good thugs trying to steal a poor pigeon. As punishment, you three shall be my faithful servants."

She flicked back her brunette hair as she spoke, posing half-seriously with an air of nobility. I couldn't tell if she was serious or not, but given the giant spike and floating I leaned toward the former.

"You shall stay with me at the Alvavors Ruins where you will learn to be proper men and servants. Any objections?"

I fiddled with the phone in my pocket, unsure if I should just call the cops. I had wanted to get this done quickly, but this was out of my league by far. 

"Yeah, just one-" 

"AINEDMKIEND"

One of the boss guy's grunts spoke up, but was cut off by the woman spouting the strange words again. He floated into the air the moment she stopped speaking- like a spell. Psychics didn't use spells, instead projecting a force from their bodies to manipulate the world around them. 

'Maybe she's some type of magician?'

"Hey hey, would you- just-!"

"I'll meet you back at the ruins, Charles."

"My name ain't Charles, it's Rick!"

The man started floating backwards and into the air, slowly picking up speed. 

"Goodbye Charles! You too, Daniel."

Another flew off, this time too stunned to say anything. 

"And how could I forget about poor ol' Peter."

I stepped to the edge of the pier, hooking my foot under it in case she tried to send me off next. 

"I'll see you all at the ruins."

'No, she seems to not have mistaken me for them at least.'

I stepped up before she turned to me, hoping she didn't notice me distrust. I could see the smirk on her face as she turned to me, the maddened glint in her eyes not diminishing in the slightest. 

'Almost like… No, exactly like that black dog Rusty and Dad fought.'

I had seen this sort of murderous glint in the video Mom showed me the video of when she saved Dad from a massive black dog. Her quagsire managed to hold it back as they ran, but-

"Starlllll!"

"It seems Starly is doing fine."

I turned to her, having been staring into the air for a few moments. 

'I need to focus- It's not the time to get lost in thought.'

"The name's Karen. I'm- Actually, let's keep that a little secret for now."

The glint in her eyes diminished as her smirk melted into a normal smile. She had somehow turned from a maniac into a reliable adult in seconds.

"Just giving out all the info in the beginning is boring and deprives mystery. Do you like my little stone creation?"

She gestured to the ravaged ship behind her, stone spike speared through the steel hull and out the top. She looked at the wreck as if it were an art piece. 

"Magic is a beautiful thing... A beautiful thing humans tend to push away because they fear it."

"It certainly is… amazing."

I was good at fighting, but most pokemon were out of my league. Giant stone spikes like that were similar to Stone Edge, a famous move used by a team member of almost half of all the current champions. For a human to unleash that power was… terrifying. 

"Have you heard of the Garufa?"

She turned back to me, locking eyes with me. The maddened glint was back. 

'They're… pretty.'

I hadn't been this close to a woman in several years. At least since I had turned thirteen. I tried to step back to get some distance, but I felt the edge of the pier behind me- 

Tap

She grabbed my arm, pulling me closer so I didn't fall of the pier. I was almost touching her body at this point, and I could feel her warm breath on my chin. 

"The Garufa were an ancient tribe that roamed the world centuries ago. They harvested Pokemon's power and sealed their soul along with their Pokemon's soul into a book."

I looked down at her, my eyes shaking too much to make out anything. The umbrella I was barely holding onto fell into the water below, but she didn't seem to care. She hadn't stopped speaking, but my heart was ripping out of my chest. I could barely pay attention to her words. 

"-Allowing them to enhance their power and cast magic parallel to their Pokemon's type."

The stone spikes and flying above the shipyard- I tried to connect the dots to distract me from the scent of flowers. 

'A rock and psychic type? Or maybe multiple pokemon? …Definitely... lavender...'

She let go of my arm, stepping away and looking back to the waiting starly on the far end of the per. Or maybe it was the rain- her eyes weren't focused anymore. I felt weird. Not like when I was in contact with people normally- it felt like I was burning up inside, and the cold ebbed away. I wanted to feel that again. 

"Look at me ramble. Don't worry, it's funny."

Turning to the ship she continued speaking. 

"You don't suppose the driver of this ship survived this little… uproot. Hmph. They probably had a family, but who really cares about family anyway?"

'...She's definitely emotionally hurt. That or just absolutely insane.'

My head cooled down at her words. Whether she didn't realize the driver may have died or just truly didn't care, it snapped me out of my confusion. Or whatever that was. 

"I find stone much more lovely."

'Stone… rock or ground type trainer probably. Easy to find food for, and- no, she's a magician. She may not even have pokemon.'

She moved next to me on the edge of the narrow pier, letting the path open again. 

"Starly, you are free now. Return to your trainer."

"Starlllll!"

Hopping away with a cry, the starly pecked my feet in thanks. I didn't feel the pain, the numbing cold settling now that I had moved away from the woman. 

"Fen…"

I felt Kastanna wrap tighter around my neck. She wasn't trembling, but she certainly seemed wary of the woman. Much less scared than I was.

'But... what was that earlier?'

My chest still hurt. Something I hadn't felt in a long time- no, I felt it when I was sad enough, but not in a situation like this. My heart still echoed in my ears, and I couldn't help but want to get closer and see why that happened. 

Tak! Tak! Tak!

Karen walked a bit down the pier, looking at the murder scene of a ship. Though, considering the lack of escapees... that was likely to be the case. 

"I'll clean up the mess I created here. You go on and finalize the request you started. I'm sure that girl will be thrilled to see that her beloved pigeon is safe from harm's way."

She brought out the book from earlier, holding it with a smirk as she looked over her shoulder at me. 

"Or you know, lose the pigeon again because she's irresponsible. Whichever they see fit, I suppose~"

She turned back to the ship, flipping through her book. I got a notification on my phone- the girl had submitted the quest as completed by me. Her starly must have gotten back to her, but I should make sure she gets the binding off without hurting it. I turned to walk away, but couldn't. I waited for a few seconds, my inner turmoil finally leaning toward the option of not dying. 

"...Thanks for the help, Karen."

She didn't respond, still looking through the book. It was green, and filled with notes and strange letters I couldn't recognize. 

Tak-tak-tak

"Fen?"

"Yeah… just a bit tired, Kastanna. Wanna get dinner early today?"

"Fen!"