Silver Linings pt4

Ivanna sat in the back of the Pokemon Center with her latest package from HDP, staring at the exceedingly small folder of directions for the care of her pokemon.

Brain dead.

Well, more specifically, the left head was brain dead. The Doduo—Aziz, she reminded herself—had one head that had been brain dead since birth, and his owner had recently died due to heart complications. HDP picked up the wayward pokemon since no one had wanted to take care of him, and now he fell into Ivanna’s hands.

She could practically hear Yuliy’s mocking words and Vaska’s doubt before she shoved it all away. Ivanna laid the papers on the table and rubbed her temples. All right, she just had to think. Brain dead on one side. That meant the other head was completely intact with a brain, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with his body. Theoretically, he could fight. One vacant head meant nothing.

Uncrossing her legs, Ivanna grabbed the pokeball and released the pokemon. The rather tall bird formed from the red light, and Ivanna just managed to stifle a noise when the apparently brain dead head dangled limply—neck and all.

However, the good head’s beady black eyes lit up like a child on Christmas. “Hello,” he said brightly, wings shivering with excitement. “Are you my new caretaker?”

“I am,” Ivanna said, careful not to stare at the limp head.

“Well, I don’t really require much care,” he said. “I don’t have any medication or need any special treatment—just got a dumb head. Oh, I’m Aziz, by the way,” and he effortlessly stood balanced on one leg and offered the other foot to her.

Lifting her brow, Ivanna took the foot, giving him a shake even though it was a little weird. He seemed likeable enough and was much more polite and emotionally stable than the rest of her pokemon. “My name is Ivanna,” she replied.

His little wings rustled, and he put his foot down again, shifting his weight. “You’re a trainer, aren’t you?” he asked her.

“I am.”

“HDP doesn’t get trainers signing up,” he said, that curious light in his eyes. “It’s mostly nurses or people who only want one to take care of. They don’t think they can handle more than one messed up pokemon.”

Aziz paused almost expectantly, and Ivanna turned her head a little. He was holding something back. What did he want? Her eyes grazed his limp head, and she said, “So how come you can’t even hold other head up?”

“It’s just my biology,” he explained easily, not seeming very shy of the very obvious hanging head. “See, each head on a Doduo is controlled separately, and that includes the neck. So since I’m not in charge of that neck,” and he poked it with his beak, “I can’t stand it up so I don’t scare the little children away.”

Ivanna laughed in the back of her throat, just barely managing not to snort. “Vell, Aziz, I’ve got proposition for you,” and the second she said that, he perked up, giving her his full attention. “I have vacancies on my team, and I need pokemon to battle for me.”

His feet shuffled in excitement, sending the dangling head bobbing. “You want me to fight for you?” he asked excitedly. “Me? With this head and everything?”

“If you vant to,” Ivanna told him.

“I’d love to!” he exploded instantly, almost before she could get the words out of her mouth. His wings flapped several times, and he burst, “You don’t understand, I was excited when I was assigned to a trainer because, I mean, HDP doesn’t GET trainers, and I was so excited to be able to travel! I want to see everything, but never in a million years did I think you’d actually want to battle with me!”

“Vell, vhy not?” Ivanna asked, crossing her arms. “There’s nothing vrong vith you other than one dumb head, and that von’t stop you from battling.”

“Of course not!” he said enthusiastically, lifting his good head high. “I mean, it IS pretty floppy though . . .”

Her brows pinched in thought. After a moment, Ivanna began to reach for the dumb head, stopped herself at the last second, and asked, “May I?”

“Sure.”

He didn’t seem to be squeamish of it, so she grabbed the head, wrapped its long neck around his round body, and sat it on his back. He watched with interest as she said, “Don’t move,” and rummaged in her purse. She pulled out a green scarf that had pink flowers on it, wrapped it under his body and around the head, tying a tight bow at the top. She leaned back to survey her work. “There. How does that feel?”

“I get it,” he said, hopping experimentally from one foot to the other, seeing exactly how much movement he could manage without jostling the head. She had tied it rather snugly, so while the scarf did loosen, it kept it quite still. “I get it!” he said, looking up at her with awe. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You want to use me in battle?”

“Yes, I do,” Ivanna said plainly.

His wings rustled with excitement. “Real battling,” Aziz whispered almost to himself, looking at how she had tied down the distracting head. “Me, the brain dead Doduo . . .” He looked up at her black eyes shining. “I won’t disappoint you, I swear!” he burst, nearly bouncing with energy. “I can do it! I’ll be the best battler you’ve ever had! Me, disabled, brain dead—a real battler!”

Ivanna’s lips twitched against a smile at his enthusiasm. See? That’s right, Yuliy. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight; it’s the size of the fight in the dog. “You can meet rest of team later once ve get to next route,” she told him, feeling much better about everything. Something about the Doduo just rubbed her right. “You ready to start training?”

“I was born ready!” Aziz exclaimed, crowing it loudly. “You won’t regret this! Real battling—hah! I almost can’t believe it! Let’s go! I’m ready!”

Ivanna returned the eager pokemon, a positive feeling warming her as she situated her floral blouse and bright blue skirt. Matching floral heels clicked on the Pokemon Center floor as she left in a fashionable fluff, but this time the heels were chunky and wide as she had learned her lesson from wearing thin heels through Santalune Forest.

As Ivanna left Santalune City, she happened to see that girl with the pigtails—Shauna?—idling at a clothing store, but she didn’t see Ivanna, thankfully. She wondered if she was taking the gym challenge too.

Unfortunately today was sunny. And it was HOT. Ivanna scowled up at the sky, pulling her sun hat a little lower over her brow as she already began to sweat in the day. She hated summer. She hated sweat. They were supposed to be headed into autumn right now, not another insufferably hot day. Paterre Way was trimmed and strictly kept up by gardeners, so the path was straight and clear, preventing Ivanna from having any urge to leave the beaten path.

Instead, finding an open space where she wouldn’t be in anyone’s way, Ivanna released her pokemon, and all attention shifted immediately to Aziz, who actually looked a little ridiculous with the floral scarf tied around him. She’d have to find a better way to secure his head. “Everyone,” she said, “this is Aziz. Aziz, this is Mildred, Roxana, Vinko, and Vaska,” and she pointed to each pokemon in turn.

“Hello everyone,” Aziz chirped, puffing up his feathers. “I’m ready to brawl!”

Vaska sent Ivanna a sideways glance because of their new company, but Ivanna just gave him a little shrug. He was eager like Roxana, and that was all she could count on right now. “Mildred, you and Vinko take it easy today. Aziz, you’ll take point vith Roxana.” The young dragon hooted, immediately darting to the bird’s side.

“All right, you’re with me, Aziz,” Roxana said with a grin, both limited pokemon not even batting a lash at each other’s physical disabilities—Vinko was trying his very best not to stare at the temporary, unorthodox fix that held Aziz’s head down. “I’ll teach you all about battling. Come on, let’s find someone to fight!”

Aziz hooted and jogged along with her, his long legs more than easily keeping up with her. The team looked at her, so Ivanna made a motion for forward and began a brisk walk down route 4.

She fished her Pokedex out of her purse, flipping it open to check Aziz’s moves. Hm, Quick Attack, Growl, Peck, and Rage. A nice and basic set up, but with the amount of bug types beginner pokemon trainers used, Peck would more than help him have the edge. She spared a glance at Mildred who contentedly stayed by Vinko’s side. She hadn’t told the bulldog yet, but as soon as she could, she was going to replace her. She was fragile and too worried to properly battle, so she couldn’t force her to. For now, she could just tag along.

And, the strong ones of her team—Roxana and Vaska—proved to sweep the competition again. She only made Vinko battle once or twice, content to let him recuperate after his gym battle and the run-in with Vaska. And Aziz? He was a little fragile and out of shape due to his formerly inactive lifestyle, but he slipped into the team with grace and an optimism that was sorely needed.

“So you’re Mildred, right?” he asked. Mildred shied away, hiding behind Vinko despite being bigger than he was.

Roxana laughed, coming up beside Aziz and leaning on his leg. “Oh, you’ll have to leave her alone for a while. She’s got social anxiety, but once she warms up to you a little, she’s a real sweetheart. Right, Mildred?”

Mildred’s ears pressed to her skull, and she backed away a little from Roxana. “Uh . . .”

“Eh, I’ve just got too much personality for her,” Roxana told Aziz who looked down at the shiny dragon. “She’ll like you though. You’re super friendly, so I don’t see why not.”

“Sorry about the head,” Aziz said conversationally, and Mildred immediately looked away, caught staring. “It’s pretty weird at first, but you’ll get used to it.” He looked up to the sky, shouting, “Hey! Vaska! Get down here!”

Mildred and Vinko both dipped their tails, quickly making their way into the grass to avoid him. After a second, the circling bird canted down and landed on the ground. “I’m Aziz,” the Doduo told him. “I thought since we were teammates we should at least get to know each other a little.”

Vaska cocked his head at him. “Hm. You’re pretty good.”

“Am I?” Aziz asked, filled with surprise and sudden pride. “I hope I am! You don’t know how much this means to me. Everyone else acts like I can’t do much because of my dumb head, but Ivanna is letting me battle! This is really a dream come true. I never thought I’d get a chance like this.”

Vaska glanced over at Vinko, and he suddenly looked down at the ground, muttering gruffly, “Yes . . . She tends to see best in everyone.”

“That’s good though, isn’t it?” Aziz asked him, so upbeat that he couldn’t understand Vaska’s depression. “She’ll be able to play us to our strengths then!”

“She sure will,” Roxana agreed. She suddenly punched Vaska’s side with her stumpy arm, causing the bird to jump and scowl at her. “And of course Aziz is good! I’m teaching him, aren’t I?” She grinned up at him. “Come on! Let’s go steal some kid’s stuff so they’ll fight us!”

Aziz laughed and loped alongside Roxana as she sought out their next victim. Ivanna walked along through the gardens, watching them from a distance. It seemed like Aziz was the only one who wasn’t wary of Vaska. She smirked at him when he looked at her, and the Murkrow took off in a flounce. Good. She needed someone to ruffle his feathers, and ruffle them in the RIGHT way.

Ivanna turned down a path by herself, keeping a closer eye on Vinko and Mildred. Even though she was uncomfortably hot, her chest had to depress in resignation. The flowers WERE pretty. She picked one, pinning it to her hat. She walked deeper into the tall flowers, thankful that today seemed to be looking up compared to yesterday. She wasn’t cut out for all this emotional upheaval.

Along her way, she saw a man. Her brow lifted a bit incredulously as he was absolutely swarmed by Flabébé of all different colors. It was actually a bit disconcerting, because he was so tall and homeless looking.

He didn’t glance at her as she walked by briskly. Weird. She moved on, looking back at his white hair that made his age a little too ambiguous for her peace of mind. A little too weird. She stopped, turning back to look at him. Was he moving? She narrowed her eyes. Barely. She thought she saw him scooping all the little Flabébé to himself, but his hands did little more than tremble.

She glanced to where she was losing sight of Aziz and Roxana. Rolling her eyes and turning back around, she said, “Hey.” He didn’t respond. “Hey!” she called louder, frowning. Ivanna began walking back to him, asking, “Are you okay?”

Something just felt . . . off. However, the second she got too close all the wild Flabébé scattered into the flowers. The man snapped out of his reverie, hands dropping and head lifting to where they had run. Ivanna crept around him, keeping her distance but getting close enough to see his face. Did he not speak English? She tried to remember her French, saying a little haphazardously, “Do you always be sad in flowers?”

Something like that, she thought in annoyance. Wrong tense or something. She really should have studied her French more. However, the man stood abruptly—so abruptly that Ivanna’s hand flew to Vaska’s pokeball, and she belatedly realized that none of her pokemon were with her. Her eyes flicked up, and immediately she felt safer knowing Vaska was still hovering above her wherever she went. Her eyes flicked back to the mysterious man, and his dark eyes collided with hers, knocking the breath out of her with their hollow, deadened sheen.

He blinked, turning away, hands groping in his pockets. “The pokemon . . . The flower pokemon . . .” Ivanna shifted forward, trying to hear him. What flower pokemon? ALL Flabébé were flower pokemon. “The pokemon that was given eternal life . . .”

Shaken, Ivanna managed to stutter, “Vhat?” at the same time he release a pokemon. Stumbling backwards when the massive Golurk overshadowed the sun, Ivanna’s eyes widened when the pokemon picked up the man. “Vait! Vhat pokemon? Vhich one? One of these Flabébé?”

With a blast from Golurk’s rockets, the pokemon took off with a massive gust of wind that knocked Ivanna flat on her back, sending her sprawling and her hat flying away. Flinching at the heat that swept over her, Ivanna squinted into the sky, seeing the Golurk disappearing with the puzzling man.

“Fine!” she shouted angrily. She got to her feet, brushing her skirt free of dirt and grass, her feathers thoroughly ruffled by the man. Eternal pokemon. Eternal pokemon her ass. She didn’t care what people said about Team Galactic and Spear Pillar, it was all hogwash. One crazy homeless man in Kalos wasn’t enough to shake her.

However, as she grabbed her hat, forcing it back on her head, she couldn’t help but BE shaken. She’d seen the look in his eyes. She KNEW that look of misery. She’d seen it in herself. She’d seen it in Vaska. An uncomfortable shiver ran up her back despite the heat of the day.

She could still see it in Vaska.

“Ivanna!” She looked up, and she instinctively took a step back when Aziz came barreling in at the top speed known to Doduo. “I heard you yell,” he panted, feathers fluffed from his run. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine,” she said with a scowl, busily brushing off her skirt and blouse for invisible dirt as she collected herself.

“Here, let me help—don’t move,” and Ivanna did as he said, letting the bird peck at her hat. After several long moments where he fiddled with something on her hat, he leaned back with a proud look. “There!” Then, that gleam in his eyes left. “Wait, you were wearing that flower, weren’t you?”

Absently, Ivanna reached up to the flower, feeling its petals secure on her sun hat again. “Yes,” she said, “I vas. Vhere’s Roxana?”

Before he could answer, her question was answered for her. She shouted, “Ivanna! I didn’t do it!” at the same Ivanna could clearly see the pokeball she was carrying and see the gardener with the shears chasing after her.

“Roxana!”

After getting things straightened out by a pokemon battle—“I don’t think you vill get pokeball back unless ve battle,”—Ivanna made sure to return all of her pokemon. “Yes, Roxana, you made everyone lose roaming privileges.” She even returned Vaska, much to his annoyance. More and more desperate to get out of the blazing sun and the humid day, Ivanna picked up her pace a little, following the path strictly up to Lumiose City. Air conditioning, she chanted to herself as she walked, wishing she were back in mild, cool Sinnoh and all its snow.

After a few more battles, at last the gate came into sight. She had made such good time that she still had a few hours of daylight left, the sun not yet beginning to truly set. Set on her path, Ivanna didn’t notice the man come up behind her.

A hand grabbed her upper arm. Ivanna jerked, immediately digging in her heels and swinging a fist at her assailant, but he was ready for her, catching her fist and manhandling her to the side.

“And just where do you think you’re going?”

Ivanna stopped struggling with a distasteful scowl. “Yuliy.” She yanked her arm, and this time, he let her go, the burly man standing taller and wider than her. “Vhat the hell vas that?”

“What the hell was THAT?” he asked right back, green eyes glowering.

“I vas going to Lumiose Pokemon Center,” Ivanna snapped right back, crossing her arms and standing up to her full height.

“We’re not stepping foot into Lumiose without Dimitri,” Yuliy growled.

Ivanna’s blue eyes widened, and it dawned on her that he was serious. “You are out of your mind,” she shot back, brows creasing. “Lumiose is heart of Kalos. I meet with Professor Sycamore in two days, there is gym leader here—”

“Yeah,” Yuliy butted in, “and Lysandre Café, Lysandre’s restaurant, Lysandre’s Tower, and Lysandre Labs! Are YOU out of your mind, Ivanna?” He flung one arm out towards the gate. “You step foot through that gate and you’re entering the jaws of hell! We’re waiting for Dimitri.”

“Ve don’t need Dimitri,” Ivanna said in annoyance. “I have fake identity; I am just new trainer—”

“Fake identity,” he scoffed, “that’s a load of bullshit, Ivanna, and you know it. The second that man sees you with that blond hair, with your Murkrow and that Russian accent—”

“And vhat are chances that Lysandre vill even see me?” Ivanna said incredulously, fingers tightening on her arms. “I vill be one person of millions, not—”

“You don’t even know how far organization extends,” Yuliy snarled, his accent deepening and falling apart the angrier he got. “He could have people all over streets looking for you—”

“It’s been ten years,” Ivanna said stiffly. “I doubt Lysandre is still—”

“Vhy do you think we hid those ten years?” Yuliy barked, pacing out and back up to her face. “He knew he had let Madam Inga and you escape—”

“Vhat time to be coward again, Yuliy.”

He slipped back into their Russian tongue and took her along with him. “This isn’t cowardice, it is common sense!”

“Are you trying to hold me back?”

“I’m trying to keep you alive!”

“I don’t need protecting.”

He laughed, once, harsh and shook his head. “Oh yes, you and what pokemon? Not even Vaska can hold a candle to Lysandre yet, or any of his scumbag grunts.”

Ivanna stood stiffly, unmoving and unflinching. Her features were as if chiseled out of a block of ice as she ordered quietly, “Yuliy, this is ridiculous, and you are overreacting. My father was not a coward, and neither am I. We are going to walk into Lumiose. Separately. I will go first, one of Sycamore’s sponsored children, completely innocuous, and you will follow at a respectable distance. Understand? I don’t have time to wait for Dimitri.” She paused, and she frowned. “And it is absolutely roasting.”

Yuliy stood in front of her, raging with displeasure and a trickle of sweat oozing down his brow. Finally, his lips cracked open. “I’ll go first,” he bit out, and Ivanna’s lips twitched smugly.

Pleased that she could still control him, Ivanna also tried to shake his words as he disappeared beyond the gate. Lysandre would have no idea who she was. She had plenty of time to train up some pokemon before she infiltrated his lair and before he realized who she was. Come to think, it wasn’t likely Lysandre would know she was coming at all. He hadn’t been hunting them actively for years, no matter how paranoid Yuliy was. They hadn’t heard from Lysandre and his Team Flare in over five years.

Deciding she had waited long enough—and if she stayed out in this insufferable heat any longer, she was going to melt—Ivanna walked up to the gate for Lumiose City.

Her gut clenched. She ignored the bite of fear and hiked up her chin, entering the stomping grounds of her sworn enemy.