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 Posted: Fri Oct 30, 2015 11:32 pm
Please note: For brevity's sake, I will be compiling the entirety of Lennyka's journey in this thread to not spam up the Wilderness subforum. Each post is considered one solo despite taking place in a single thread.
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 9:56 pm
01.
Asphodel touched a hand to her bosom and looked out to the blaring white sky seen from Magnolia's room. "Even now, I can feel her..." the Gardevoir said, but her words came out as a string of speech not understandable to human ears, causing the lavender-haired girl to perk up from her book.
"Asphodel?" Magnolia said, glancing over to her. "Did you say something?"
"Yes..." the Psychic-type said, nodding. She slid her gaze out to the sky again, causing Magnolia to rise to her feet and join her at the window. She focused her eyes on the same spot Asphodel was looking, but when nothing peculiar came into view, she turned and looked into the Gardevoir's.
"What's the matter?" she asked.
Asphodel glanced at her and then shook her head. "I—" she said, tightening her fingers into a fist on her bosom. "I'm not sure, but she's... She's in trouble, Magnolia..."
The worried look worn on the Psychic-type's face was mirrored on Magnolia's. "Something's wrong, isn't it?" she said, receiving a nod in reply. She clasped a hand to Asphodel's and cocked a chin to the door. "Take me."
James nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the crack of Magnolia's room door hit against the wall and the girl with Asphodel march off as if on a mission. "H-hey, where are you two going?" he asked, jogging after them after Magnolia pressed her sun hat on her head and exited the room without missing a beat. "It's kind of late to be searching for mega stones, Illia!"
When James matched her pace, Magnolia said, "I'm not going out to search for mega stones, James. There's trouble."
"Trouble? What do you mean?"
"Asphodel sensed something. I'm not sure what, but I'm not going to pass up whatever it is if someone or something is going to be hurt."
James rested his eyes on the Psychic-type. Even though he was well aware of Asphodel's origins when they met in that alleyway so long ago, he never brought up how uncomfortable he was with it. The Team Rocket Pokemon had situated herself well under the roof of a person not her trainer. At first, she was an annoyance that pirouetted away from any mischief she caused, backed by Magnolia favoring her view of things, but that side of her thinned out when she evolved to her final stage. She became a modest Gardevoir, but that didn't stop him from feeling something was off about her.
This moment was just confirming his thoughts.
"Illia, are you sure about this?" he asked, but his concern fell on deaf ears. She continued to keep up pace with the Psychic-type and James, defeated by her straightforward concern, resigned himself to whatever dangers awaited him at the hands of Asphodel's sensing.
Lennyka rolled over onto all fours, bowing her head as her body shuddered from the violent spasm of coughs that ripped from her chest. Suddenly, they morphed into a high-pitched wail of laughter that ended in a sniffle and grin to the dirt she felt lower than. "Disobeying orders, huh..." she said, pressing her forehead into the crook of her arm. "This is what I get for asking a few questions? The crap kicked out of me? Man, life's rough..."
And, to her, it felt as if it wasn't getting any better. The agent finally worked up the nerve to start asking questions, find out where her brother was. At first, they were just innocent questions dropped with higher-ups if she could nab a lead somewhere, but when her desperation grew, Lennyka couldn't hold her tongue. Every chance she got with every director or above she saw, she asked them the whereabouts of Sorano. Each reply was either a shrug or warning to get back to work. Unfortunately, she crossed the wrong higher-up while out on a mission, and after the thousandth or thousand and second time she asked them about the older Eckert sibling, they decided to vent their frustrations out on her with a few dozen punches and kicks before abandoning her in the middle of the Zatao grasslands.
"Find your own way back to base. This mission is done," were their last words before hopping into the only vehicle seen for miles and driving off without her.
Pushing herself up into a sitting squat, Lennyka clamped a hand onto her throbbing shoulder and looked up to the darkening sky. Grey clouds swirled as a cold chill picked up in the air. Suddenly, fat raindrops pelted at the grasslands below before turning into a heavy shower. The agent grimaced internally at her luck, wondering if Arceus had something against her.
"I have to trudge back to HQ in this?" she said with a huff. "Melting away sounds like a better plan..."
*
"I-Illia, stop walking so fast, you'll get wet!"
"James, hush."
The redhead rolled his eyes as the rain beat a rhythm on the umbrella he held above himself, Magnolia, and Asphodel. She's lucky his predictions came true and he managed to persuade her to go back to the hotel room and nab a few things for their sudden adventure—an umbrella especially—or else all three of them would be soaked to the bone. The wind still cut through them like a knife, but at least they were spared from one of the elements.
Asphodel had fallen silent since they left Magnolia's room; her green eyes holding itself to the horizon. Not once did the fourteen year old unclasp her hand from the Gardevoir's either; she wanted to be of support to her until they found what she sensed. Meanwhile, James continued to bicker internally with himself. Every step he took felt like one more into the maw of inevitable danger.
"Illia, can we at least wait out the rain?" he said to her. "We've traveled so far we've reached the grasslands. What if it floods?"
"James, it won't flood. The terrain is too flat for that."
"Then if you get a fever?"
"A few days in bed will assuage that."
"Well, what if you get hurt?"
"James, I appreciate your concern, but you mustn't worry about me like this! I can handle myself. I promise I won't get hurt."
"Tell me not to worry? Tell me not to worry?! Illia, I have every reason to worry—you just stormed out of the room without a lick of explanation to me besides that there was trouble! I have every reason to worry! It's because I care about you, Illia! I lo—"
Suddenly, Asphodel slipped her hand out of Magnolia's and held her limb before the two teens, stopping and silencing them in their tracks. Exchanging looks, Magnolia and James peeked from behind her out to the distance where they saw an unknown figure squatted in the grass.
"It's her..."
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 10:20 pm
02.
The sting of the rain reminded her of the pain in her chest that day when Sorano clasped a hand to her shoulder; his fingers trembling from his guilt. He couldn't even look her in the eye.
"Len, I've been keepin' somethin' from ya," he had said. "I'm not who ya think I am. I'm... I-I'm actually a member of Team Rocket..."
You'd really get a kick out of this if you saw me now, Sorano, wherever you are, she thought. Because so am I. We've both fallen pretty low, but I've fallen a little lower. It's kinda dark down here in this pit.
Lennyka wasn't one to ruminate her life in the middle of some grassland without any idea where she was, but moments like these just pulled them out of a person. She was considering a lot of things then, but the most strongest feeling of all was to find the nearest hole, curl up, and hope the world forgot about her. They already did with her brother, so who cared if it happened to the second Eckert sibling?
At least it'd give me some peace of mind...
At the sudden scuff and halt of footsteps to her left, barely audible over the splash of the rain, Lennyka went on the defense. She was to her feet and glaring at the source of the sounds, expecting confrontation despite not being in the best shape to fight. The agent hated how it triggered before she could process thought, but it was residual; it was pounded into her since her training days in Kanto.
"Who is it?" she barked at the figures, but when she saw the face of the young girl with the Gardevoir and unknown male, confirmation came back to her—it was that brat who tried to fight for 89585's freedom before being overpowered by the experiment's coded attack. Seems she survived that incident Lennyka was positive she hadn't.
Magnola felt her breath hitch in her throat. She didn't need to be reminded of the Team Rocket member who left her bedridden for two weeks. That face of hers was embedded as deep as the trauma of that day in her psyche. Everything in her mind was telling her to run, get far away from this person, but she couldn't leave Asphodel. Not with the look of concern she had given her earlier before. Taking a deep breath, she took a step forward, and the patter of rain she heard on the material of the umbrella was exchanged for the one on her sun hat.
As if her step prompted it, in unison, the two said, "It's you."
Lennyka gave her a toothy grin despite the shiver that zigzagged up her spine. "Come to act a little revenge?" she said. "You've got some rotten luck. I don't even have the strength to run, let alone fight. Do your worst."
Magnolia winced at the implication of her words. She had no desire to hurt Lennyka even if she was a criminal. "I'm not here to do anything to you," she said. "I'm here because of Asphodel. She sensed you were in trouble... A-are you all right? Do you need help?"
Lennyka's eyes narrowed and, despite her training telling her otherwise, she slid her eyes from the individual she dubbed the enemy and to the only other being that could "sense" her—the Gardevoir. "Why in the world would your Pokemon sense me?" she snapped. "That makes absolutely no sense!"
Magnolia opened her mouth to answer her, but Asphodel floated forward and spoke in her stead. "You don't remember me?" she asked. "I'm yours. I'm Asphodel. Don't you remember me?"
The name slipped in one ear and out the other. "I've never owned a Gardevoir," she said. "My Raichu was the only Pokemon that ever mattered to me."
The impact of her words hit hard, but Asphodel did not back down. "We met in that alleyway, remember?" she said. She clasped her hands together on her bosom and stared down at the earth; she could feel Lennyka's heartbeat thumping wildly in her chest. She was so frightened she couldn't concentrate. "You caught me as a Ralts and gave me a home, but you never returned. I-I've been with Magnolia ever since, waiting for you... Waited for you for so long. Until I evolved. Don't you remember me, Lennyka? Don't you still have my Pokeball?"
Lennyka unconsciously glanced down to the Pokeball at her hip between Daffodil's and the Master Ball belonging to the Mewtwo she wasn't to use unless it was a dire emergency. Many times she had tried to use it to catch a Pokemon that'd have its use on her team and, time and time again, it failed. The agent thought of it as defective, but she didn't have the heart to throw it away. Something kept her from doing so; was she the reason? Suddenly, her pupil dilated at the memory of that day: She was running from a heist at a bank, she escaped into an alleyway, and bumped into a frightened Ralts. She had taken it back to the temporary apartment she had rented, but she couldn't stay; she was running late back to HQ.
I'll return, okay? I promise I'll return and take you home. To our real home.
But she never did.
Lennyka felt her stomach heave. Not once had she forgotten Sorano, but she herself felt forgotten. Yet, here was someone who, not once, forgot once. Thought of her since that day she was abandoned. Dropping to her knees, the agent's shoulders trembled, but no tears came; she had cried enough.
"H-how long?" she asked the Gardevoir. "How long did you wait?"
The Gardevoir glided forward, breaking from Magnolia and James's company. The fourteen year old reached a hand out to stop her, muttering, "Asphodel—", but the Psychic-type didn't listen.
Stopping before Lennyka, Asphodel smiled, and said, "Long enough. I've waited long enough. I want to come home, Lennyka. May I come home?"
Magnolia pursed her lips. "Asphodel, are you sure?" she asked the Pokemon.
The Gardevoir nodded her head. "I'm sure," she said. "I think Lennyka needs me more." Floating up to her, Asphodel embraced the girl. "Thank you so much for taking care of me, Magnolia. I... I-I had fun."
Magnolia held onto her. "I'm glad," she said into her chest with a smile. "Goodbye, Asphodel. Goodbye..."
Approaching Lennyka once again, Asphodel dropped down to her and laid a hand onto the agent's hurt shoulder. Smiling to her again when she looked up to her, she slid her hand from her shoulder to the sphere at her hip and was withdrawn inside. Without another look to Magnolia or James, she rose to her feet and staggered away to return to base.
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Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2015 11:26 pm
03.
"Asphodel? Did you hear me? Asphodel!"
The Gardevoir's attention was so taken by looking around the agent's room, she hadn't looked back to her yet. As she glided a hand across the mantle piece that held a myriad of knickknacks and pictures, she jumped a bit when Lennyka called her name, and knocked a photo off the shelf. Before it hit the ground, she caught it with the use of Psychic, and let out a sigh in relief as she gently set it back on the ledge.
"W-what is it, Lennyka? Do you need something?"
Lennyka appeared in the doorway of her room. "No, I don't, but do you?" she asked. "You've been acting kind of tentative since I've brought you here. Are you sure you're okay?"
She nodded her head. "Y-yes, I'm fine..."
It'd been two weeks since the Gardevoir willing returned to her original trainer. She hadn't expected to settle back into the mundane actions she was used to with Magnolia, but the predilection was there. Everything was so different. For example, Lennyka was gone most of the day, unwilling to take her along on missions until she became situated in her new environment. It was also vastly more quiet in the agent's quarters. While living with Magnolia and James, she got used to the cacophony of sounds brought on from the former's many Pokemon, but Lennyka, owning only one more she was aware of, didn't want to associate with her. So Asphodel really only had Lennyka to talk to and, like before, she was never there.
The agent combed a hand through her wet locks and joined Asphodel at the mantle. "Were you looking at that?" she asked her, cocking her chin at the photo she noticed to be on the wrong side of the mantle.
Feigning interest, Asphodel said, "Y-yea, I was. I noticed you in the photo, but who's that next to you? I've never seen him before. Is he the brother you mentioned?"
Lennyka shook her head. "No, that's not him," she said. "I've, um, I stashed most of the photos I have of Sorano in a box in my closet." She didn't want to admit she couldn't look stand looking at a face she could never forget in the first place. "That's Moose, Sorano's best friend. This is when we were sixteen; we'd gone finishing in Vermilion City and he had nabbed this huge Seaking from the waters." She tapped a finger on the fish in the photo. "We took a picture of it together before he released it." Picking the photo up, Lennyka stared down into it with a smile as she leaned against the mantle. "He was such a playboy, even had a thing for me. Said he loved me. It was weird."
"Weird? How so?"
"Well, I've never felt that way about anyone, not even him. I'm not capable of that kind of love." Lennyka set the photo back on the mantle and walked away from it. Sitting down on the edge of her bed, she reached for the brush at her bedside table and stroked it through her teal locks. "Sorano's the only person that's important to me."
This caused Asphodel to frown. "But you said Daffodil—" she began, but Lennyka corrected her.
"I mean human," she said. "My brother is the only human I care about."
The worry on the Gardevoir's face flashed to relief. She wished she could've been included in that equation, but didn't voice her thoughts. "What was your brother like?" she asked. While she knew Lennyka was reluctant to tell her anything regarding Sorano's disappearance, she knew the Eckert was fond of talking about her older sibling. She held him in high regard and finding out why piqued her interest.
A smile curved upon Lennyka's lips. "He was... a hero," she said.
Asphodel blinked. "Hero?"
Lennyka nodded her head. "When we were younger, he would always pretend to be a hero. You know, like one of those video games—those sword touting, chosen ones? That's what he wanted to be, at least. But in my eyes, he truly was a hero... Just without all of that extra stuff. He would save me whenever I was in trouble. Even if he wasn't the world's hero, he was mine. Sorano liked to thrust himself headfirst into trifles, but sometimes, he would just stir it up himself unknowingly. He was cocky, annoying, and like Moose, a womanzier, though he failed spectacularly all of the time. Too pompous, too full of himself... But Sorano was my big brother and the only person who showed me what it meant to be happy. He was happiness itself. Or, at least, like it."
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