Finding You - Chapter 19

Finding You - A Pokemon Black and White Fanfiction - Chapter 19

Absorb

Having agreed to train Pokemon with Grey, Luna found that Grey's company can be enjoyable - when he's not being irritating. After several days of consistent training, Luna and Grey went to the Pokemon Center to purchase more Pokemon food for her team, only to discover that it had been poisoned by an unknown saboteur. Only Odette refrained from eating the food. After taking her Pokemon in for treatment, Grey and Luna head out for a walk, only to suddenly be surrounded by Team Tenebris grunts...

***

Luna felt Grey tense up beside her as the Tenebris members moved in closer. Helios, loyally standing his ground beside his master, growled menacingly.

But it was Luna who spoke first. "What do you want from us?"

None of them answered right away. But then a thought came to her. "This is about what happened in Nimbasa, isn't it? I saw what happened. I saw what you were doing at the carnival. Are...are you trying to make me keep quiet? It's too late." Luna swallowed. "I know who you are, and I told the police already."

Grey looked at her, but if he had any questions he kept them to himself. One member who, behind the mask, seemed to be in his mid-twenties, finally spoke.

"Don't interfere with the affairs of Team Tenebris any longer," he said. "Further interference will have consequences. We aren't to be messed with, kid. We have a mission, and we are going to follow through with it no matter what."

"And what kind of mission is that?" Grey asked hotly. "Setting places on fire, causing earthquakes, hurting people...the only thing that'll get is hate."

"You wouldn't understand." With these words, the team member gave an ever so slight nod of his head, and instantly Pokemon were materializing at the sides of the Tenebris members.

Luna glanced up at Grey to see how he was reacting. Though tense, he didn't seem too concerned about the number of foes he and Helios would have to face.

Luna suddenly remembered that she still had one Pokemon and released Odette from her Pokeball. The Gothita seemed especially tiny next to Helios, and among the other Pokemon being let out.

"Grey," Luna murmured quietly, "even with Helios, I don't know if we can--"

"This'll be easy." Grey turned to Luna and smiled devilishly. "You haven't seen what Helios can really do."

All at once, the Tenebris Pokemon leaped towards the trainers, but upon a quick command from Luna Odette unleashed a powerful Protect shield that sent the other Pokemon skidding away from the power of their own blows. With that, Helios and Odette both took on enemies from both sides.

"Odette, Psyshock!"

"Helios, Aura Sphere!"

The two attacks were launched in a blast of colorful light, instantly KO'ing a handful of Pokemon; however, they were quickly replaced by more. Helios ran and rapidly began to shoot powerful spins and kicks at the Pokemon who launched themselves at him, repelling them as soon as they came near, while Odette stayed near the Trainers to protect them from the oncoming attacks, occasionally shooting out psychic blasts.

Amid the yells and cries of the Pokemon and people, Luna felt a strange calm. Maybe this is how Touya felt the other night when he was battling Tenebris in Nimbasa. Somehow, giving Odette commands and fighting like this feels surreal instead of scary. It's strange, but...I like this. Maybe this is what real battling feels like.

As Odette launched multiple Psyshock attacks, however, Luna noticed a strange phenomenon; Odette's body was starting to glow brightly. Luna was quick to realize that she was evolving.

"Grey, watch our backs for a second! Odette's evolving!"

With ease Grey commanded his Lucario to shield the trainers from the attacks as Odette morphed into a larger form; her torso and limbs elongated, and two pigtail-like froms appeared on the sides of her head. When she finished, she was an entirely new Pokemon--Gothorita--though her undeniably sullen expression remained.

"Thanks, Grey," Luna said, "we've got it now. Odette, let's see what you can do!"

But even with her newly strengthened form, Odette and Helios were not enough to fight the continuous barrage. With every Pokemon that was defeated, another was sent out, and it seemed as if the cycle would never end.

"Luna!" Grey exclaimed over the turmoil. "It's...not looking good right now! Helios is getting tired!"

"So is Odette!" Luna replied. "I...I don't know what to do!"

Odette, however, was watching her Trainer carefully, and as if in response to their distress she suddenly began to glow. Her whole body and eyes illuminated the darkening area as she slowly began to float above the fighting.

Then, without warning, Odette let out a sharp cry and there was a bright flash of light.

With that, Luna and Grey were gone.

***

When Luna opened her eyes, all was dark.

Cautiously she sat up and felt the floor around her. Stone. Definitely not the pavement in Castelia.

She looked around. "Grey?" she asked. "Are you in here?"

"Yeah." Grey grunted and sat up; his voice sounded like it was several feet away.

Luna stood up and carefully began to tread her way across the room. "Do you know what happened?"

"Not really. One minute Odie was doing that weird glowing thing, and the next we're in here. Maybe she--OW!"

Luna found herself stumbling over a form on the floor, and fell to the ground. She scrambled away just as Helios lit up a blue aura sphere with his paws, illuminating Grey's sitting body right next to her, as well as Odette lurking close nearby.

Grey stood up and stretched. "You tend to trip over people a lot, don't you?"

"Just you," Luna retorted. "Maybe if you weren't in people's way all the time -"

"Just me, huh?" Grey put on a mischievous expression. "Well, gee, Luna, maybe you're...falling for me?"

Luna tried not to laugh, but a spurt of air escaped her lips. "Sorry, Grey, that was pretty  bad."

"It was," Grey admitted, though he didn't seem bothered by his bad joke. "Anyway, as I was saying before I was oh-so-rudely interrupted, I think Odie teleported us."

"Teleported?" Luna repeated incredulously. "I didn't know she knew that move..."

"Well, neither did I, but that seems like the most obvious explanation." Grey looked around. "Where are we, anyway?"

"That's what I'd like to know..."

Helios brightened the aura sphere and moved it around. The walls of the room were decorated with intricate hieroglyphs and designs. Luna placed her hand on one, feeling the cold, dark stone, and when she brought it away her palm was covered in dust.

Grey's expression changed from one of curiosity to one of astonishment. "Whoa!" he exclaimed. "This is the Relic Castle! I've heard of this!" He scrutinized the walls with startling interest. "These are the ruins of an old city that one of the twin heroes of Unova built. It's been a tourist site for years, but...I bet no one else has ever been this deep."

"It is cool," Luna agreed, "but I want to make sure we can get out first before we think about exploring it." She turned to Odette. "Can you teleport us out again?"

Odette shook her head.

"She's probably too tired," Grey guessed. "I think we can get out of here on our own anyhow. Helios has Aura Sphere, so he can light the way."

After finding a doorway out of the room, Luna and Grey, along with their Pokemon, began walking down a dark corridor, lit only by Helios's blue Aura Sphere.

"Team Tenebris," Grey muttered, finally breaking the silence. "I haven't been following the papers, though I guess I should have. Why would they randomly show up like that?"

Luna explained what had happened at the carnival, from the moment the ferris wheel began shaking to the end when she and Touya were blown away from the Tyranitar's Roar. She didn't mention Touya by name, however. It would be too hard to explain it to him...

When she finished, Grey seemed more irritated than before. "That was stupid," he snapped. "Why would you go and get yourself involved like that? They're criminals. You leave criminals to the police."

"My friend was the one who got most involved," Luna retorted. "I just put out the fires, then went to see what was going on later. I didn't think--"

"Exactly! You didn't think!" Grey exclaimed. "And now a group of them cornered us probably trying to kill us or at least hurt us with their Pokemon! What kind of idiot are you?"

"I-I'm not an idiot! Why are you being so mean all of a sudden?"

Silence.

By now, the two of them had stopped walking. Luna sighed and slid to the floor against the side of the corridor walls, lit only by the bright blue light of Helios's Aura Sphere.

"Grey," she began hesitantly, "you seem to already know some stuff about Team Tenebris."

Grey let out a long sigh. "Yeah...I do. More than I'd like to admit."

I knew it. "What do you mean by that?"

Grey seemed to become irritated again at the question. "Forget I said anything." He stood. "Let's go."

"No, wait." Luna made no move to stand up. "I want to talk about this." Slowly Grey sat down again, his muscles stiff with tension. "What happened in Nimbasa was the first time I ever saw anyone from Team Tenebris directly. I don't know very much about them."

Grey let out a long breath through his lips. "Team Tenebris has been around a lot longer than the papers would have you think. You aren't from Unova, so you wouldn't know, but I remember how a few years ago they started rampaging a lot like this."

Luna's eyebrows shot up. "You mean this has happened before?"

"Yeah, but the way they did things was different. Nowadays it's more like wildfires and earthquakes--"

At the mention of the word 'wildfires' Luna curled her knees to her chest. Laddie.

"--but they used to be more like a big, organized gang. They still used Pokemon, but for different things, not so much natural disasters."
Though she had gotten an answer, Luna somehow felt more curious than before. "For someone who says they haven't followed the papers lately, you know a lot."

It was an invitation to confidence, though Grey didn't seem to be taking it. There were several moments of silence as Grey fidgeted slightly beside her. Luna waited patiently.

Though it was only a few seconds, it felt like minutes before Grey finally said, "You wanna know how I know so much?"

Luna nodded.

"It's because my dad used to be a member."

Not in a million years would Luna have expected him to say something like that. "You're kidding."

"It's true. He got arrested and stuff before I started my Pokemon journey, but I still remember him. I never saw him actually do anything, though; it was the cops who filled in the blanks for me after he got taken away."

"What...about your mom?"

"She ran out on us a long time ago. I don't know if she was a part of Tenebris or not." Until that point, Grey had been making eye contact, but he dropped it as he spoke those words. Luna didn't pursue the subject.

"Oh." C'mon, Luna, say something. "Grey, I'm so sor--"

He shrugged. "Doesn't matter. It was a long time ago. Every family's got their problems; mine just happened to BE the problem. Some people have it worse off than I do."

"Maybe, but..."

Luna trailed off, unsure of how to finish her sentence. There was another long silence.

I wish Touya was here, Luna thought. He'd know what to say next.

"Um," Luna began at last, hoping to change the subject, "so, if Team Tenebris was around before, what happened to them? Why are they just coming back now?"

"Well, there was this guy who disbanded them," Grey said, visibly more relaxed. He stood and began to continue walking down the corridor, Luna and Helios following closely. "I wasn't there, but I heard that he went to Driftveil when Tenebris was threatening to attack this marketplace and he battled them all. His Pokemon were so strong that they total swept 'em. Then he battled their leader, and he won against him too. And when he won, the police were able to get in and stop them."

Luna gazed thoughtfully into the darkness ahead in admiration. "Wow. That's amazing."

"Yeah. Actually, I knew him before he went on to do all that."

"What?" Luna looked at Grey incredulously. "Yeah, right!"

"No, I'm serious! See, when I was like, I dunno, ten? I had this group of street battlers in Castelia. We'd meet and battle, and it was really the only thing I had to do to stay away from my dad. But then this guy came along and made us stop because we were tearing up the streets. I hated him for that.

"But then, we actually started talking, and he treated me to Casteliacone, so he seemed okay. Eventually he figured out that I didn't have such a great situation at home, and I tried to keep him away, but he took action and made sure my dad got arrested and that the police took me into custody. At that point, though, I was already ten, so I was allowed to travel, and I decided to become a Trainer. I remember thanking him really fast, but then I ran away. I don't feel like I did enough."

Luna thought for a moment. "He seems like kind of a hero, huh?" she mused. "It would be nice if he came back."

"It would be awesome if he came back," Grey agreed, "and took down Tenebris again. But he was a professor, and he said he had work to do."

"What was his name?"

"Uh, to be honest, I kinda forgot." Grey stopped walking for a moment to consider, his furrowed features lit ablaze by the bright Aura light in the blackness. "It's on the tip of my tongue, though. Let's see...Don...Dominic..."

Luna's heart skipped a beat. "Dominic?"

"Yeah, that was his first name...his last name started with an M..."

Oh my gosh. This can't be right. Could it really be...? "Was his last name Mond?"

"Yeah, that's it!" Grey looked at Luna and nodded. "Have you heard of him?"

"Oh...oh my gosh." Luna's hands flew to her mouth. "That's my dad! Dominic Mond is my dad!"

Grey gave her a look of absolute incredulity. "What?"

"Really! My full name is Luna Mond. Dad...or, well, Dominic....he's a Pokemon professor, he specializes in Pokemon psychology. He used to be a Trainer and got all the gym badges in Kanto, and he quit before challenging the Elite Four, but he kept his team." Luna was speaking so quickly that she was stumbling over words, but she didn't care. "Five years ago he told me that when I became a Pokemon trainer, I should meet him in Unova because that's where he was finishing his research!"

Grey's eyes widened in recognition. "So that's why I recognized you!" he exclaimed. "You look a lot like your dad! You both have white hair and blue eyes...and he showed me a picture of you once. When I was little. Now that you mention it, he did say his daughter was named Luna..." Grey tousled his fingers through his hair. "Holy crap."

Luna clasped her hands together. "Grey, do you think he's still here somewhere? In Unova? I've been taking the Gym challenge, and my name's been getting into the newspapers for it...I was hoping that he might see the paper sometime, wherever he is, and know that I'm here, and then he'd be able to find me."

Grey shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Luna, I don't know..."

"Hey, did he ever say where he went after he beat Tenebris? Oh, wow, I bet he got into the papers, huh? As soon as we get out of here, let's go to the Castelia newspaper place, we can look in their archives!"

"Luna, I--"

"Oh wow, I mean, this proves it! He really did come to Unova! He kept his promise! Now we just have to--"

"Will you shut your friggin' mouth?!

Luna's chatter instantly died out.

"Listen," Grey said, grasping Luna firmly by the shoulders. "Dominic probably isn't still here."

Luna shook her head. "No, I know he is! I-I mean, he's got to be..."

"Snap out of it and think for a minute!" Grey snapped sharply. "Dominic came to Unova and beat Tenebris, right? And now they're coming back again. If he was so willing to step up last time, why hasn't he done anything right now? Why hasn't he come out of the shadows again? Dominic isn't my dad--I sure as hell wish he was, but he isn't--so I didn't know him for nearly as long as you have, but if there's one thing I learned about him it's that, even though he was sorta quiet, he wasn't the kind of person to just sit there and let the bad stuff happen. He took action before the bad stuff became worse stuff.

"There's two things that most likely happened to him. Either he left the region and moved on with his life...or something happened to him. Something bad."

Luna inhaled sharply.

Grey remained firm and calm, and looked Luna straight into the eyes. "Think. Did he ever send you letters? Did your mom ever tell you anything?"

"N-no..." Luna said shakily, "he didn't send anything...and mom said he never called. B-but it was a bad divorce, it just came out of nowhere...I always thought maybe mom just intercepted the letters, or he just wanted to avoid her--"

"I doubt that a bitter divorce would stop a man from sending letters to his little girl."

"Well...maybe Mom took them..."

"There's always that chance," Grey agreed, "because I don't know what your mom is like. Do you she'd do that?"

Luna thought. The relationship between her and her mother had gone down hill over the years, but her mother had insisted that she would never do such a thing, and Luna knew that Ellen Mond was an honest woman.

Her voice was a quiet whisper as she said, "No."

Grey sighed and continued walking again, surprisingly out of things to say. Nothing needed to be said anyhow. The idea was clear.

But then a thought came to Luna. "Grey," she said as they turned a corner, "When Team Tenebris attacked us today, it just seemed weird and out of the blue, right? I mean, yeah, I was there in Nimbasa, but...I really didn't do much to stop them at the carnival. I just fixed up a bit of the damage. What if they came after us for other reasons? I mean...now...we both have ties to Team Tenebris somehow..."

"There's the exit," Grey interrupted abruptly, pointing ahead to an area where the dim light seemed to grow brighter. For a moment, Luna thought that he wasn't going to respond to her, but he continued talking.

"I don't know what the deal is, but the fact is is that now Tenebris has taken direct action, and that means we could be in trouble. But even more than that...I think there's more to the story than either of us know. Something else must have happened during the time that Dominic took down Tenebris before, something else that didn't get in the papers or the news."

Grey's right, Luna thought silently. And if there is something more to it, then Team Tenebris has to be at the root of it.

The Gym challenge will have to wait for now; this is more important. I won't stop digging until I find out the truth. And if that means taking down Team Tenebris again...then I'll do it, just like Dad did.

To be continued...