THE SMILE OF FAMILY

by Ryan Libra

Author's Notes

I don't own pokémon… if I did I'd be working on the next game instead of this. :D

- x x x -

CHAPTER 4

The sun remained a relentless blazing globe in the sky, and its rays beat down on the island with seemingly renewed force. A new sound joined the cacophony of the Pokémon Fair: a soft rushing that Wade never failed to enjoy. It told him that the sea, its now quiet waves lapping at the shore like a famished creature, was nearby.

The beach was set in three layers; the first being the cemented boardwalk full of stalls, the next being the sand where a few recliners and beach umbrellas could be found, and the last being the expanse of the sea. The cemented path held no palm trees to serve as landmarks of some tropical paradise; they had been replaced by lampposts and other structures of rock, cement, and electricity that denoted the hand of industrialization. The sands glistened in the noon sun, and their treasures, children’s footsteps and small empty seashells, played hide and seek among the white grains. The sea reached out to the horizon where it eternally rendezvoused with the sky. Wade stopped a moment to gaze at the quiet blue, and he felt a little peace envelope him.

“Mystic Water from the Johto seas!”

“Hurry, hurry, hurry! While our bargains still last! The cheapest Dive Balls you can find!”

“Chinchou! Yes, ladies and gents, Chinchou that we personally Dived for!”

“Rare Staryu for only five thousand!”

“Horsea necklaces! Azurill necklaces!”

Wade glowered at the salesmen. So much for peace. He sauntered over to the nearest shop, a wooden booth with a few items, and absent-mindedly pored over them. Skye followed behind him as the long-haired boy scanned the merchandise with a mildly interested eye. Bikers passed by, as this was perhaps the only place left in town that was wide enough for a bicycle to go through without being bulldozed by a crowd. Clutching balloons with Marill faces drawn on them, children giggled and ran around in the sand, oblivious to their parents, who were also checking out the wares. Several ice cream vendors rang their bells as they pushed their carts.

The two reached a slightly large shop with the words “Bert’s Berry Bonanza” displayed on top in straight bold letters. Wade lackadaisically looked over the variable fruits as he heard the saleslady mention to a woman—who had enough baubles to supply a jewelry store—that they were out of Mint Berries, and that the Higgins pokémart was the reliable place to procure some. Followed by a Delcatty that looked as prim as its owner with its spotless pink and yellow fur and bud-like tail, the lady left the store in a huff.

“What was that all about?” Skye mumbled.

The next stall was paradise. It had to be the biggest Water pokémon store Wade had ever seen! Giant aquariums surrounded the perimeter of the makeshift wooden store, and in the center were numerous pens. Wade rushed over to the aquariums and gingerly placed his hands on the glass. Tentacool, their soft blue bodies nearly blending in with the color of the water, floated lazily near the surface of the water. Cute Horsea peered outside with wide innocent eyes, while Goldeen paced slowly in their watery abodes as they made sure that their long, graceful fins could be seen. Qwilfish rolled around the water as Barboach avoided their poisonous spikes with their small, sleek forms.

Wade then leaned over the wooden fence that enclosed the corrals in the middle of the store. He reached out with his hand for a star-shaped pokémon with a beautiful red gem emitting a soft light in its center, but the Staryu remained motionless. Seel clapped their fins and barked unceasingly, while their close relatives, Spheal, rolled around and enjoyed being flung in the air by the Seel’s noses. Gurgling loudly with froth issuing from their mouths, Krabby skittered and snapped their razor-sharp claws. As if being besieged by the biggest migraines of their lives, Psyduck sat motionlessly with their webbed hands clutching their round heads. Wooper lay down on their bellies and wiggled the gills at the sides of their heads. There were a lot more, and Wade was content to just see them play around.

Or maybe not. Why not buy one?

With a deep look of concentration on his face, Wade alternated between looking at the pens and at the aquariums. Where should he choose a new pokémon? The pens, or the aquariums?

He just didn’t know!

- x x x -

Skye had a big grin on his face. And it was difficult to wipe it off, what with Wade moving around the store like an eager child who had spotted racks of candy.

“How’s business on the first day?” he asked the shopkeeper, who was diligently brushing a Psyduck. It quacked in delight.

“I’m dead beat!” the old, wrinkled man replied cheerfully. “Thank goodness I have help now; I don’t know what I could have done without Jack and Mary Ann, there.” He pointed at two ten-year olds occupied with feeding the playful Seel and Spheal. “The little fellas are having an easy time giving the critters food; especially since I’ve switched recipes.” He jabbed a gnarled finger into the air and shook it back and forth. “Never, ever feed a pokémon with a Mint Berry flavor, or they’ll go mad with the great smell. Mint Berries give their food a strong aroma, so remember that.”

Skye glanced at the olive-haired children, who were giggling at the antics of the lively pokémon. Two Seel were playing catch with a spherical Spheal, which was barking in delight. “Your kids?”

“Nephew and niece. You gonna buy something?”

Skye chuckled. “I’m just waiting for my friend over there to make up his mind. He loves the little Water types.”

“Something we have in common… Oh, Sandra, you’re here,” the old man greeted a bony woman wearing a leather apron and purple gloves. Her white hair was done in a bun held in place by what Skye thought were giant sewing needles. “What is it now? I don’t have time to listen to your yakking—”

“Herman! I know you have them! Just this morning I placed a blue plastic bag of pokéballs containing all my Barboach near your feed sacks. Now they’re gone!”

“But I’ve been busy with the kids the whole morning!” the old shopkeeper protested. “We don’t have time rummaging through plastic bags and snatching them, or whatever it is you’re accusing me of! You probably misplaced the darn thing.”

“Excuse me—” Wade began.

“Not now!” the two shopkeepers growled in unison.

Skye had a bad feeling as Wade’s face darkened. The younger boy put down a Horsea on the counter, right in between the feuding shopkeepers, promptly stopping them. In quick succession he snatched a sheaf of documents behind the counter, looked for the pokémon’s price, pushed the papers into the old man’s hands, fished money from his pockets, then slammed the bills on the counter. One of the kids—Mary Ann, Skye remembered her name was—handed Wade a pokéball with an adorable smile on her rosy face. Afterwards, Wade stomped out of the room, leaving the two dealers to stare at him with their jaws hanging open. Skye just laughed and grinned nervously at them.

Excited squealing from the Wooper in the pens caught his attention. When Jack opened the pen gate to leave, all ten of them tromped out and outside the shop. Wade gaped at the Water-Ground pokémon as they passed by him.

“I’ll get them back,” he said.

“I’ll help!” Skye said as he jogged outside. He released his Jumpluff, a blue ball of cuteness with three cottony balls attached to it and ordered a Sleep Powder. The green particles caught up with four of the escapees, promptly incapacitating them. He was about to ask Wade where the others went when his hackles rose.

Wade seemed rooted to where he was standing and unable to move. He was staring at something in the distance. His face suddenly contorted. A snarl ripped out from his throat. He tore through the crowd like a Weavile after prey, undeterred by indignant cries as people were pushed out of the way.

“Wade!” Skye was about to sprint after him when he spotted two of the Wooper eating something on the sand.

“Go on, boy,” the old shopkeeper said from behind him. “We’ve got these two covered. Something’s got your friend’s riled up. Go on after him.”

Skye nodded at him. “Thank you.” [Jumpluff, after him!]

[Right!]

[Try not to lose him. Never mind if I don’t catch up; I know where you’ll be, anyway. Go!]

The little puffball whizzed through the air. Skye took a look at the throng before him and decided that he was going to get nowhere if he chose to swim through that. He quickly surveyed the buildings and was glad that there were enough rooftops. He darted in between the stalls, prayed that he wouldn’t be seen, and, with a little telekinetic shove from his mind vaulted up the first building.

[Skye, what’s happening?] Pidgeot asked in his mind.

[Wade bolted off,] he answered frantically. The next rooftop was a bit far, but he had no time for careful estimation of distances. [Something’s wrong. He… he just… changed. It’s as if he were driven by some demon to run.] He jumped and landed on the next roof. He felt the rush of wind as he resumed chase. [Pidgeot, I need you to help me look for him. What he did’s too much of a reaction for a bunch of escaped Wooper.] Skye hurled its pokéball.

[I’m surprised you didn’t release me sooner,] Pidgeot replied as its figure coalesced from the pokéball’s red light. Taking wing, it rushed forward.

[Jumpluff’s searching to my right, maybe you should go a bit farther.]

[Things will be fine, Skye,] Gliscor’s gravelly mental voice assured him.

Skye peered down to the left side of the rooftop. No sign of Wade. He checked the other sides; he wasn’t in any of them. He vaulted to the next perch, a tall wooden pole that held up yellow tent, then up to another roof.

It was on the next building top that he spotted Wade, around the same time that Jumpluff called out a [He’s here!] to him. Skye summoned Pidgeot to his side with his mind. He hopped on the great bird and descended into the narrow alley to a spot a few feet to Wade’s side.

“Wade,” Skye began as he leapt off Pidgeot.

“He’s mine.”

Skye stopped. Wade’ voice was a frozen knife. Appraising the situation was probably the best thing to do right now, so he let his gaze wander. To the left was a gangly man with a brown sleeveless shirt, a bandanna, mud-colored shoes with laces, and a bag slung over his shoulder. The bag did little to conceal the fact that whatever was inside it was struggling its hardest to get free. Skye stared. It was the man from the Great Gardevoir!

“You saw it, blast it!” he growled. Using his free hand he hurled a pokéball and brought forth a Diglett.

Skye watched as Wade released his newly acquired Horsea into the battle. He was about to ask why he didn’t bring out something more powerful like his Slowbro when he realized that the Diglett wasn’t really accustomed to battles; it showed in how the Ground pokémon kept glancing back nervously at its trainer.

So Wade really does have a kind side, he thought in wonder. Or maybe he just recognized that this was also a good opportunity to train his new acquisitions. But that still did nothing for the lump in Skye’s throat. He looked at the bag again and was willing to bet his whole allowance that it held captive the Wooper that had escaped.

“Horsea, Bubble.”

“Diglett, Scratch attack!”

With its tail acting as a makeshift pogo stick, Horsea bounced off to its left and launched a flurry of bubbles. Surprised, the Ground pokémon took the attack head on and was stunned, but only for a moment. With a speed that rivaled a Water pokémon moving in the sea, it dug its way to Horsea and clawed its face. Horsea squeaked and bounced back, but it glared at its opponent resolutely.

“Nice work, Horsea,” Wade said softly. “One more Bubble.”

“Growl at it, Diglett!” the gangly man barked.

Diglett didn’t have time to execute the Growl; it fell into a dizzy heap after the last bubble popped on it.

“Don’t have that sneer now, do you, Jacobson?” Wade taunted softly.

Jacobson stared wildly at him. Skye saw him swallow before releasing another pokémon: a small but unyielding rock with arms, a Rock-Ground type known as Geodude.

“How… how’d you know who I am?” Skye could have asked the same question.

“Bubble,” Wade ordered.

Horsea bounced again and fired a volley of bubbles, pushing the slower pokémon backward. Geodude teetered unsteadily for a while. Jacobson snapped out a nervous “Rock Polish!” and the Rock-Ground pokémon began glinting as if it had been fully enveloped by the rays of the sun. Now faster, Geodude rushed Horsea in a Tackle that the Water pokémon failed to evade.

Skye noticed that Wade wasn’t fazed at all; there remained that self- possessed veneer that he wore despite Horsea’s tired countenance; a façade that, to Skye’s eyes, barely contained a wintry rage about to go out of control.

Horsea countered with another Bubble attack, and that ended the battle. Geodude clunked down and stopped moving.

Jacobson swung around and made for an escape, but Skye acted before that could happen and before Wade could do something rash. He flung his arms out; the man’s shoelaces quickly untied themselves and bound his feet together. He crashed down and let go of the bag, but before Skye could catch it Wade was already telekinetically floating it safely into his arms.

[Sit on that man, Pidgeot.]

[I’ll lay an egg on him, too.] Pidgeot bounded the distance between it and Jacobson and promptly nested itself on the man’s back. Jacobson struggled and snarled, but a good peck on the head kept him quiet.

Skye slowly walked over to Wade. He couldn’t see the other’s eyes; his hair covered them and his head was turned down. Skye bent down and carried Horsea into his arms and patted the tired Water pokémon on the head.

“Horsea was amazing, Wade,” he said.

Wade didn’t answer. His arms were still around the bag.

Skye offered Horsea back to the other. Wade exchanged the bag then rubbed his fingers under Horsea’s head. It squeaked contentedly.

“The police?” Skye asked. Wade simply nodded.

Skye fished out his cellphone from his side pocket and called the police station. After an exuberant greeting by Officer Kerrick Malone, a bearded forty- year old with a belly to rival that of a Snorlax, Skye proceeded to giving him a short and detailed account of what happened, beginning with their visit in the Water pokémon shop and all the way to the battle. Officer Malone was a good buddy of the Andies family; whenever the burly man felt like training the Geodude he used for police-work he usually bought his supplies from their pokémart. As Skye narrated the events, he noticed Wade walk over to Jacobson, stare at him for a moment, then pick up something beside him.

“But what would prompt those Wooper to go out like that, Skye?” Office Malone asked. “What, all of them just felt like having a stroll?”

“I don’t know myself, Officer. You’ll have to ask the shopkeeper.”

“Anyway, thanks, Skye. Give me fifteen minutes to get there.”

“Will do. We’ll keep the guy tied up.”

Jumpluff hovered to him then stared at Wade. He had almost forgotten about the puffball. Skye rubbed its head and thanked it for its efforts earlier. It chirruped and smiled, then drifted to Wade and took a peek at what he was holding. Skye followed its example.

It was a pink glob of… something. With an overpowering smell. Not unpleasant by any means, just… overpowering. Horsea sniffed at it and chirped what seemed to be an inquiry. Without waiting for an answer, it quickly sucked the thing into its snout and burped.

“Aaaaah!” Skye found his finger pointing at the little monster. “It ate it! Now we don’t have anything to show Officer Malone!”

“Relax, you idiot,” Wade muttered as he bent and picked up another pink glob of… something. Skye found out that the source seemed to be Jacobson’s pockets. He picked one up and sniffed.

“… Food?”

“Obviously why Horsea ate it.”

Skye grimaced. “I don’t want my food to smell this strong. It smells… minty. Like peppermint.”

“Aren’t you going to ask how I knew this thug?”

That quiet query was laced with an emotion that Skye couldn’t identify. Or perhaps he was scared to find out what that emotion was. Wade’s eyes remained down on the ground. He had wrapped his arms tighter around Horsea, which looked up at him and chirped a concerned note.

Why did he have to look like the burden of the entire world rested on his shoulders? His chest ached for him. No one had the right to carry that weight!

Skye sat on his haunches and untied the bag. Four blue adorable faces with pink gills stared up at him in confusion.

“We’ll get you guys back to your owner in a while,” he told them with a smile. “Stay put for now.” He placed his hand reassuringly on one of their heads. It produced a high-pitched squeak that Skye interpreted as an “Okay.” He wished he could communicate with these critters just as well as he did with his own pokémon.

[Say something.]

Skye looked at the other. This was the first time Wade had spoken to him in his mind. Their powers were something they had never talked about, not to Dad, not to anyone else in Ebony, not even to each other.

“I don’t like asking people uncomfortable things,” Skye replied softly. “If it hurts too much to talk about, then you don’t have to force yourself.” [You’ll tell someone when you’re ready.] Then, with a little more daring, he continued, [You’re no criminal, Wade. That much I believe.]

The silence that followed could not have been more awkward. Skye settled for returning his Jumpluff to its pokéball and leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. He drowned in relief when Officer Malone, in a short- sleeved white polo shirt and khaki pants, came jogging to them with his Geodude thumping behind him.

“Good job, you two,” he said in a voice that sounded like rocks rubbing together. “That him?”

“Yes sir.” Wade no longer looked like a lost child. He showed the officer the pink pokémon food. “We found these in his pockets.”

“And these are the stolen pokémon,” Skye said as he swept a hand over the Wooper.

“I’m innocent—” Jacobson began exclaiming, but Pidgeot pecked him into silence. “Ow!”

“Well, we’d better drop by the shop to interview the shopkeeper,” Officer Malone said as he brought out a pair of handcuffs. He jerked Jacobson’s arms out from underneath Pidgeot’s body and bound them. Pidgeot then hopped off and preened.

[They’ll know that one of them was caught,] Wade mentally told Skye.

[… They?] Wade’s intense gaze was unsettling.

[They have henchmen everywhere. They know every policeman who works here in Ebony. They’ll know that Jacobson was caught if they see Officer Malone with him.]

Skye didn’t realize he had stopped walking until a particularly noisy gaggle of teenage girls jostled him out of the way. For that matter, he didn’t even notice that they had already gone out into the main streets. Officer Malone, who had taken the lead and was pulling a hopping Jacobson, looked back at them and gestured for them to hurry up. When Skye looked back to check on Wade, he felt a cold, iron hand grip his insides. Wade wasn’t following anymore. He was just there standing a few feet behind, gazing back with a face as unreadable as a rock.

Skye swallowed. [Wade… please. Don’t do anything reckless.] Don’t put me through that again. Though meant for Wade, he kept that last thought to himself. [We can let the police handle this. If something criminal is going on in the Fair, then it’s not our business to dabble in it.]

A plump lady with a feathered hat walked past Wade. Then he was just gone. Skye felt his breath stop.

No... No! He searched for any sign of him, hoped that his eyes were only playing tricks. But Wade had really disappeared.

He gasped when his hand was violently hauled forward.

“Move it, you moron. I don’t want to drag your remains back just because you got caught in a stampede while staring like the world had crumbled. And when are you going to recall Pidgeot? That featherhead’s going to make trainers look for its owner, and the last thing we need are more battles.”

Skye wanted to faint. He found Pidgeot hovering a couple of feet above him. He quickly brought out the Normal-Flying pokémon’s pokéball and returned it.

[Featherhead?] Pidgeot’s tone was amused. Skye laughed nervously.

[I have to do this.] Wade’s mental voice was obstinate. He maintained that firm, Kingler-like grip on his forearm as the two followed Officer Malone. Not once did Wade look back at him.

Skye bit his tongue and willed his brain not to ask why.

[Don’t get in my way if you plan on coming with me.]

Skye should have been stung at that, but for some odd reason he wasn’t. That cold hand gripping his insides was gone, but it had been replaced by flutters in his stomach.

A million questions came unbidden to his mind. Did Wade really know these thugs? How was he connected to them? And what was Wade going to do with them? Was he finally going to get a glimpse of Wade’s shrouded past, one that had been off-limits for the past seven years?

- x x x -

“Tarnation!” the tomato-nosed man roared. “You’re telling me that we’re out of Mint Berries?”

The henchman before him quaked. The scrawny underling wiped the sweat off his forehead with the hem of his tan-colored apron. The heat of the kitchens wasn’t the sole cause of his perspiration. “Jacobson got the last batch of the pokémon food. Then Teller got the batch before that so he could swipe this last load.” He placed his shuddering hand on a bag of wailing Cubone sitting on the table beside the chocolate-filled bowls. Their struggling had knocked off one of those bowls, which had shattered and had added brown splotches to the dirty yellow of the tiled floor.

The fat chef grumbled. He pensively tapped the rolling pin in his left hand onto the table edge. “We’ve got to get more.”

The henchman gulped. “But Boss, where are we getting more of the stuff?”

The chef laughed. He grabbed a chocolate chunk from the nearest tray and tossed it into his mouth. “Would you believe, a certain pokémart?”