Chương 321: Interlude - Iron Islands II

A/N: This is the final part of the interlude. INTERLUDE - IRON ISLANDS II"Thank you for your time, Jude," Cecilia sniffled as she wiped her eyes.

"Truly." Jude Cantrell— Cecilia's therapist— was a middle-aged man around his early forties with short, dark hair. He had a thin face with sunken cheeks, though he wasn't underweight by any means. The short man nodded as he walked out of her Pokemon Center room. She'd unpacked everything about Grace today, having finally pulled her worries out of the box, and sometimes, a good cry really did feel good, even if the crux of the issue hadn't been addressed.

"I will see you tomorrow at noon, Cecilia," he smiled.

"You did well today."

"Will you be able to get to Falkirk?" she muttered. While Jude had a Misdreavus and a Banette, he had no means of Teleporting that Cecilia knew of.

"Oh, one of your ACEs will fly me. We've been in contact," he said.

"And remember, give her space. Calling over and over won't do any of you any good. She's most likely seen those and will answer when she's ready." Cece nodded tightly and then watched Jude stride through the Center's dirty hallway with steps so light she wouldn't have been able to tell he was here was she not looking at him. She'd been doubtful about therapy before, but Jude was truly a blessing.

It was unfortunate that Chase had refused the League's offer, even if he was doing relatively well compared to her and the others. Cecilia knew he had a lot on his mind to vent about, especially after yesterday's outburst about his worries about the Iron Islands. Alas, Chase was an islander, after all. The people here had developed a culture that dictated that getting help was shameful and toughing things out was the only way to go about things, and he had still not let go of that mentality.

Once she made sure that she hadn't forgotten anything in her room, Cecilia left— and hopefully she would never have to stay here again. She was pretty sure she'd breathed in more dust in a single night than she had her entire life. Chase was already waiting for her in the lobby, though he was talking in a hushed tone to his Lucario and Zangoose. She felt bad interrupting what looking like an important conversation, but Ri had noticed her approach anyway, and his glance gave her position away to Chase.

"Good afternoon," she said.

"Arceus, you've been crying," he deadpanned. Cecilia frowned.

"You didn't have to say it so… matter of factly. Yes, I was crying, but I'm done now. I let everything out of the box. How was your morning?"

"Spent it visiting places with Ri and the rest of the team. Kept Wimpod in her ball, though. This place would terrify her." She hummed as she got closer.

"See anything good?" She nearly jumped when Ri spoke into her mind. It was good to reminisce. There is not much to do here, but I have been here plenty of times with Urie. The place hasn't changed. Zangoose offered him a supportive look, though support from her looked like she was still glaring. After so much time spent having Slowking speak through telepathy, Aura felt odd to her mind. Like a frigid blanket enveloping her brain. Not painful by any means, but slightly uncomfortable.

"We went to check out the mines too," Chase added.

"To see what conditions people worked in." Cecilia winced.

"And?"

"Awful. You know, I didn't really comprehend how bad it was. My dad probably kept how shit conditions were to keep me happy, but it's hell down there, Cece. I spoke to the miners and they told me about the shit air ventilation, the lights that don't work half the time, the heat, the long hours… and the mine's so far away from First Landing that they don't have time to go home for lunch, so they're forced to buy food on location. And guess what? They pay Teracore for their food.

The company's literally growing richer by not feeding them." Cecilia frowned. Even Unova, which was quite literally five corporations in a trenchcoat, had laws to protect workers against abuse like this. The picture was growing clearer, now. For the vast majority of people, the only jobs open would be the mines. These were, coincidentally, always far away from any settlement, which meant that workers would have to spend an absurd amount of time commuting there and back on foot.

Not only that, but they were stuck there the entire day for wages that were honestly so low she wondered how they even sustained themselves. Unless they worked overtime. Chase explained that there were barracks near the mines where miners could be lodged if they so chose so they could work longer hours. Entice them with more money, but not enough to actually change anything. This place was a well-oiled machine of oppression.

"Did you find a supervisor to speak to like you wanted?" Cecilia asked.

"Yeah, but if I did anything, he'd retaliate on the miners when I left because he'd think they sent me or some bullshit. I know how they work," Chase said through gritted teeth.

"They spend the day here and then Teleport back to Canalave. Funnily enough, the government doesn't track them."

"Obviously not," Cecilia said with a hint of sarcasm.

"That'd be far too fair."

"They hate that here," he nodded.

"Arceus, what I would have done to punch that fucker in the face. Ri warned me before I could. Instead, I spent some of my savings from the LTIP and bought the entire place lunch— not from Teracore, though. Fuck giving them any more money. I had Sig fly the food in from here." Cecilia's eyes widened in surprise. He'd talked about needing to save money to have his team catch up for the Conference, but clearly, this was more important to him, and she respected that fully.

Which you almost forgot to do, and would have done if I hadn't been here, Lucario said.

"Give me a break," he groaned. He stood up to leave, though he recalled Zangoose and left Lucario out. They were both ready to fly to Falkirk, now. According to Chase, it would only take thirty to forty minutes to make it there. It would have been faster, had Sigilyph been a fast flier, but she was still lagging behind in flying type TE compared to Talonflame or Grace's Togekiss, and she didn't have a literal jet engine like Lehmhart did.

"The Iron Islands don't look very ripe for agriculture or raising any animals," Cecilia muttered as they left the Pokemon Center.

"Is fishing enough to sustain the place?"

"No. A lot of the food is imported from the mainland," he instantly replied. I figured, Cecilia thought. The leash Canalave had on this place was tight.

"We mostly eat fish Pokemon, though. The ones near the coast are weak enough to kill with mechanical harpoons, and their attacks aren't enough to destroy our fishing boats. Obviously, there are accidents sometimes, though. Keeping the waters mostly clear is one of the few things Canalave does right."

"Well, at least you're aware of the situation," Cecilia said after a short pause.

"How will you proceed?"

"Next time I speak to Cynthia will be very interesting," Chase said.

"This time, you'll have a set of demands instead of asking her to 'fix' things. Cynthia is a pragmatic woman at heart. So long as it is in her and Sinnoh's interest, she will accept your demands— after Team Galactic is done with," Cecilia explained.

"You have levers to pull, but will it be enough?"

"I have the Voice. And I can possibly unite the people of the Iron Island, though it'll be tough."

"Pfft. You're a charismatic leader, Chase, and you fit in," Cecilia said.

"You'll unite them in no time."

"Threaten a strike if they don't give in to my demands. Teracore will throw a fit, but at the end of the day, Cynthia's pulling the strings. I'm thinking that we should use more machine-based mining. That way Sinnoh keeps getting their iron, and we can breathe easier."

"There will be a heavy upfront cost," Cecilia said.

"And you can't get too reliant on machines, or Pokemon will get angry and people will lose their jobs." Some would rather work in such terrible conditions than not have any money at all.

"I know that. But we need to diversify. The fact that the majority of us either go into fishing or mining is the problem, but… Arceus, this is hard. I can't just snap my fingers and turn this place into a tourism haven, or a manufacturing hub, or whatever."

"There will be difficult times ahead. But future generations will be thankful," Cecilia muttered as they approached First Landing's outskirts.

"Alola was in a similar situation after the Great War. I read about it as a child." He scoffed.

"As a child? You subjected yourself to this shit willingly?"

"It was quite a fun read, thank you very much," she haughtily retorted.

"Alola had fewer people than you do now, the land was barely developed and it had been a Hoennian and then Orrean colony. I can refer the book to you if you wish."

"I thought Orre was like, anarchy."

"It was a power that rivaled Unova before multiple Moltres razed it to the ground," she explained.

"This is common knowledge."

"Don't get smart with me. I'll take the book name, though," he finally said.

"Good. Though obviously, the situations have their differences. Alola looks… far more appealing than this place and are far easier to actually live on." The Iron Islands weren't as pretty, though a few of the islands she'd seen on the ferry here had been breathtaking. The land was basically impossible to farm on, so a population that ballooned too quickly like it had in Alola after the war wouldn't be possible here. Still, educating Chase in these matters would prove useful.

"I plan on spending the summer after the Conference here, if this Team Galactic bullshit is dealt with," Chase said.

"I need to start organizing. I can't handle all of this shit on my own, so I'll need to find people better than me to delegate some tasks to."

"Excellent thinking!" Cecilia said with a surge of excitement.

"Had I not had prior commitments, I would have joined to help before going to Unova."

"Right, you're going to the Battle Frontier with that psycho." Cecilia rolled her eyes.

"I wouldn't go as far as calling Cynthia a psycho. She's a goal-oriented woman, and most of the times she doesn't care if she has to step on some toes to reach those goals if it leaves Sinnoh in a better position."

"Well, she shares a lot of the blame for this whole situation," he gestured around the town, "so I'm not going to forgive her any time soon. She can start repenting by giving me what I want." They kept talking about politics until they were ten minutes out of First Landing at the same spot they'd trained in before. The rocks here still looked burned from Houndoom and Talonflame's duel yesterday.

The dark type was a menace, but Talonflame had managed to pull off a win by leveraging her speed in the air, and they'd been working on quite a few tactics to finally address her frailness which they'd need to beat Byron. Steel type or not, it would not matter if she got taken out in just a few hits like she used to. Her, Slowking, and Lehmhart would be her lynchpins for the Gym. Scyther and Hydreigon, she wasn't so sure, with their evolutions looming ahead.

At this point, she was sure that hitting Zweilous hard enough would trigger it, which was why the dragon type hadn't trained yesterday. Falkirk's island would be a much better environment for this. For Scyther, meanwhile? A week training heavily in an iron-rich environment like this one would be enough, if he pushed himself and chose to evolve. Cecilia released Lehmhart, who instantly brought an enormous finger close to her face. She let the giant delicately rub his finger on her cheek and smiled.

Still as delicate as ever.

"People got scared yesterday because of your robot," Chase smirked.

"Someone was walking nearby to investigate the sound when we trained, but turned when they saw him." If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. First Landing's inhabitants had probably never even heard of a Golurk before. Cecilia hoped she hadn't scared whoever had seen him too much.

"He's no robot," Cecilia said.

"He's alive." Lehmhart let out an affectionate hum, releasing steam from his back, and he lay down on his stomach when she asked if she could put her saddle on his back. It was a time consuming endeavor, as she had learned to get used to, and she quickly climbed on his back to strap the reinforced leather around his upper arms, where they were the thinnest and they wouldn't retract. Then, another loop around his 'skirt' to stabilize the entire structure.

Nearly ten minutes later, she was strapped in and ready to go. Normally, Slowking was the one to help her, but since Chase was here, he decided to take his stead. Taking off on Lehmhart was a turbulent affair. The sound of whatever powered him was so loud Cecilia couldn't hear herself think. Honestly, she had considered buying hearing protection along with her goggles, but with everything going on, she never made time for it.

Soon enough, they were in the air, and Chase was following on Sigilyph's back a few minutes behind. — Falkirk was… Small. The island itself couldn't have been larger than her father's property in Humilau— and Cecilia did realize comparing it to that made her an obnoxious rich girl, but the fact that she'd been confined in places larger than this entire island during her childhood really put her privilege on full display.

Like most islands, it sloped up into a central mountain, where Cecilia could see the entryway to an enormous abandoned mine due to the railways that protruded out of it. Some of the rail had been upended and destroyed, however. And that was like much of the town. There wasn't a single building left intact, and a scant few were still standing. Even the pier had been sunk beneath the waters. Strewn across the town were the remnants of everyday life.

Abandoned and overturned carts, rusted bicycles, shattered glass windows and still-open doors bore witness to the haste with which residents had fled. There was a trail of destruction that was very easy to follow, even now. Steelix's path. The steel type had torn a hole through the mountain wide enough to fit two Lehmharts and had crawled their way to the town, possibly creating earthquakes on the way there, from the way fissures still ran through the ground.

Cecilia tapped on Lehmhart's back, and the ground type landed inside of the city, near some kind of… shop, kicking up dust and debris as he did. Cecilia covered her nose and eyes until it settled down. It was hard to tell what the building had been, with the way the structure had collapsed, but Cecilia saw hints of counters through an enormous hole in the wall. Now that Lehmhart could use his arms, he carefully grabbed the saddle after unstrapping it.

It was quite the feat, how he managed to be so delicate with his size. He placed Cecilia on the floor, and she finally took in the ruins of Falkirk for the first time. It was eerie, how silent this place was. She could almost imagine the people walking in the streets, but they were nowhere to be seen. She had never been inside of abandoned or destroyed cities before, but Cecilia was pretty sure she'd just discovered a new phobia of some kind. Abandoned places felt wrong.

Shadows of their former selves, haunted by their past inhabitants. She felt goosebumps on her arms and placed her arms flat against her body with a shaky breath. No signs of a Steelix anywhere, Cecilia thought to herself. Chase landed around twenty seconds later, and though he was slightly paler than usual, he looked… relatively okay. He released Ri immediately, along with the rest of his team. Even Wimpod, he carried in his arms. All of his Pokemon hovered around him, though he kept repeating that he was fine.

"I'm going to find my house," he simply said. Cecilia recalled Lehmhart and decided to silently follow. — Everything was gone. Chase had known that would be the case, of course. He'd seen it happen while running through the streets. The sound of homes collapsing, glass shattering and the ground shaking had been so loud he hadn't been able to hear the screams. So yes, he had known, but seeing it again was an entire other fucking matter.

He walked through debris-filled streets like they weren't full of death, taking the same path he used to as a kid to go from the pier to his house when his old man used to go talk to some fishermen friends. Chase always decided to go back home early, because he hated being outside as a kid. Today, he wished he'd spent more time with his Dad. Watched him talk about gambling, or his time spent abroad as a trainer, or anything.

Ri and the rest of his Pokemon followed in silence, and even Vikavolt was making an effort to mask the sound of his flight. Wimpod trembled in his arms at all of the destruction, and Chase softly caressed her carapace with his callused hands.

"Be strong," he asked.

"It'll be okay." Cecilia's stare was piercing. All of his life, he'd thought he would be alone with Ri doing this, but having a friend with him was… different. Nice, even. These past days with her had been fun, even if they had a lot of bullshit to deal with. They weren't alone very often, but he found that they meshed very well and were passionate about the same things. In the end, he was glad she was here. And to be honest, if she hadn't been, she'd probably be obsessing over Grace again.

But right now, none of that mattered. He was just trying to distract himself from what was to come. Wimpod jumped in his arms when she noticed half of a human skeleton buried under a fallen roof. Then fragments strewn ahead of a boulder. Then another sitting with a piece of sharp rock lodged inside of their ribcage. They didn't have the decency to remove the fucking corpses too deep in the city. Rage swelled inside of Chase, but he couldn't scare Wimpod even further.

She was doing her best to be with the team, and despite what he had said when he had first caught her, she was a fighter. If… If they hadn't gotten rid of the corpses this deep, then that meant— Chase didn't run, but his pace sped up dramatically. He turned away from Main Street and onto Smith's Road, like he had hundreds of time before. His home sat at the very end of that street. His breath caught in his throat, and suddenly, he wasn't so confident any more.

Sweat built up on his arms and his leg started to bounce the minute he stopped. Can I do this? He didn't know. He wasn't sure anymore. He— he— Chase, Ri muttered. You do not have to do this. You don't have to force yourself to see for me.

"Ri, we've wanted to—" he stopped to breathe.

"—wanted to go back this entire time. We made an oath the day he died. We're right there, Ri. Right there. A few dozen steps, and we're…" Sigilyph beeped worriedly, though Zangoose stopped her from intervening. This is important, Lucario acknowledged. But your well-being matters more to me. If seeing this will break you, then you are better off not doing so at all. And before you yell, it is with a heavy heart that I say this. Chase gulped, and he looked back to his street.

The shitty fucking bench that was always dirty and on an uneven spot in the ground was torn in half, and half of it was jutting out of one of his neighbor's wall. The little patch of vegetation old Karin used to keep and water was gone. Arceus, he had hated her for yelling at him every time he'd nearly walked on there, and now she was dead. Fuck.

"I'm going," he finally said.

"I'm going," he repeated a second time, steeling himself. He took the first step. Then the second. He hopped over a fallen house, and found his steps heavier the closer he got to his home. It was collapsed. Completely, as he knew it had been. Their old stone home lay in ruins, the once sturdy exterior now a jumbled pile of even stones and dirt. The roof obviously hadn't fared any better, and in the end, the entire place was inaccessible.

"It's… collapsed," he muttered.

"I need to…"

"Sigilyph and Slowking can help," Cecilia suggested.

"They can lift the debris with Psychic." Sig excitedly beeped, brushing his back with one of her wings.

"Sure, uh, yeah," he said.

"That sounds good." His friend released her Slowking, and the two psychic types got to work. The fucked up part of this was how easy it was for the both of them to clear this place out. They lifted the roof like a piece of paper and split it into multiple parts, carefully catching the splinters before they could get to them and placing them neatly back on the street. Next, the stones flowed like grains of sand and were thrown back. An unsurmountable obstacle as a kid was now dealt with in barely two minutes.

If it was so simple, then why the fuck couldn't the Rangers do anything? Steelix was being quiet, so they could have sent a group of two or three to do this. He knew the answer. Because without having an opportunity to reclaim the island and start mining again, they had no reason to actually fucking help them. Fucking Canalave, he raged. Arceus, the fact that he couldn't go to Byron right now and have a fucking word was pissing him off. He understood, but that didn't mean it was right to do this.

Sometimes, the rubber had to meet the road and you had to tell Teracore to suck a dick. Chase gave Wimpod to Zangoose, who clumsily carried her in her arms as he approached the ruins of his now uncovered house. At least the flooring had survived. The wood still creaked in the same spots too. He walked through a non-existent door with Ri at his side and set his eyes on his father's corpse, with bits of torn-up clothing he'd been wearing.

The usual crap he wore below his miner's uniform since he'd just come back from work. I love you, son. This wasn't your fault. You aren't weak. You're perfect. He was still in that same position he had told Riolu and him to run away with, though the part of the roof which had collapsed on him had now been removed. The damage now was obvious. His leg bones were cracked in at least ten pieces and fractured all over.

When he'd been a kid, he had desperately tried pulling his father out from under the roof until his fingers started to bleed and his nails started to split, and even with Ri, it hadn't been enough. Ri hadn't been strong, back then. But in the end, it never would have mattered, would it? His Dad never would have been able to run anyway, with the state of his legs. Lucario closed his eyes as a blue aura enveloped him, and Chase knelt against the floor close to his father's bones.

He readjusted his cap and clasped his mother's necklace. No pictures he hoped to reclaim were intact.

"I'm back," he muttered.

"Sorry to keep you waiting." No answer came. Of course, no answer came, but that didn't matter. He talked for a long time, about his journey. About how much of an asshole he used to be, his new friends, and this Legendary bullshit he honestly didn't care about beyond the world needing to be saved. He must have spent an hour and a half recounting all of it, though Ri often interrupted to correct him when he strayed or was too biased. He also prayed.

Chase had an odd relationship with religion, ever since he visited his mother's grave. He liked imagining his parents, reunited in the afterlife and being proud of him. He had done more research, in the months since.

Worship of Arceus like they did in the east was a little hard, when he knew the prick was resting on his laurels and watching the world possibly end, but supposedly he made a nice garden for the dead to hang out in after they passed if they were good, so Chase would let it slide if his parents were having a good time up there. It was different everywhere, he knew.

Not everyone believed in the same thing— hell, not everyone even believed in Arceus being the creator, but this was his version of things, and it would work well for what he needed.

"I'm going to make things right," he declared.

"When I left here, I made an oath with Ri as soon as I was alright enough to speak again on the rescue boat. I said I'd come back here to see you again, but I also said I'd become the Champion and make things right." He stopped to take a breath, staring into the empty eye sockets. His hand was still outstretched. Chase could still feel his father's touch on his cheek, using the last remainder of his strength to tell him he loved him.

"One day I'll be Champion," Chase continued.

"But the work I can do here? I don't need to be Champion to do it. And it starts now." Chase rose a new man. The sun bore down his back, illuminating the ruins of his home as he stared down upon his father.

"Let's give you a proper send-off, shall we? Let's give all of you a proper send-off." Chase left his house and called out to Cecilia, who had been patiently waiting all this time. It was scary, how much of a saint she was.

"Cece," he said. Her eye twitched.

"You look different," she noticed.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah. I'm going to need your help carrying all of the bodies down to the pier, if that's okay?"

"Sure thing," she said without a moment's hesitation. Moments like this was why he was glad he'd met her. Overrated Unovan trash. Legendaries, he'd been so full of shit. — Falkirk had only been home to a few hundred people, yet it took until nightfall to gather all of the bodies, and even then, Cecilia was sure they had missed some, but they had done all they could. When she'd asked what they were gathering them for, Chase had simply answered that this was how they buried people in the Iron Islands.

They'd built multiple barges using wood and hardened mud from Lehmhart and placed all of the bones on it after making sure they would actually float. They were a little rocky, but it did, and Houndoom set each of them aflame with flames that were beautifully golden. Their teams surrounded them, save for Zweilous, and they watched in silence. Chase's team was huddled around him, while Lehmhart played a farewell tune that fit the mood almost too well.

"The traditional way of doing things was to put the person on a boat and burn them at sea, but I had to improvise," Chase explained as the bones and barges burned down.

"Of course, that was before. Back when Sinnoh was just a squabbling mess of city-states and we rivaled Canalave on the sea. Before we were conquered. Nowadays, we just burn the corpses on land and keep the ashes, but this… felt proper, I guess." The smoke rose high into the sky as they watched in silence. None of the barges got too far, because Houndoom's flames were too powerful, but the gesture was there, and Cecilia knew that was all that mattered.

She wondered, still, why Chase hadn't wanted to keep his father's ashes, but it wasn't her place to ask. Urie Karlson would burn among the rest of his people.

"I finally did it," Chase sighed as he stared at the night sky.

"You did. It might not mean much, but I'm proud of you," Cecilia said. She did not know what it felt like, to lose a parent who had genuinely loved you for the first or second time. Chase crouched, and his arms hung off his knees.

"I hope they're proud too," he said.

"They are, Chase. They are." There was a short pause.

"You religious?" he asked. Despite fewer and fewer people being religious save for a few countries, Cecilia knew, that most of eastern Sinnoh saw Arceus as the creator— which apparently was correct, which was called Originalism. In Johto, they believed it to be Ho-Oh, who was also their guardian of the afterlife who would reincarnate you if you lived a good life. That one was called Celestism, for their worship of the light and rainbows. In Unova, the majority followed the religion of Syncretism.

They believed that two dragons— Reshurem and Zekourom fought for eons in a barren world until peace was made, and they united as one. Without their fight to scar the world, life began to bloom and the world came to be. There was a split-off of that church who believed that the dragons had split again, which was why the world was in such discord all the time.

Another believed that a third dragon had been in the picture and had thrown a once peaceful world into disorder, but in the end, Cecilia had never really believed in any of these.

"Not exactly, but does that matter?" she shrugged. Though Arceus' existence had been confirmed, she still didn't believe there was something beyond death.

"If you think your parents are watching over you, then who am I to disagree? I'll support you every step of the way." Chase smirked.

"For all your moral quandaries about how you'll use your power wrong," he started, "you're probably the nicest person I've ever had the pleasure to meet." Cecilia sat next to him.

"Why don't we make an oath, you and I?" He blinked, but she continued.

"That we'll change our homes no matter what, and that one day, we'll both be Champions. You, Sinnoh's, and me, Unova's. That we'll be different than all of the people in power now and actually try to break the status quo. That we'll do good and never lose sight of what's right, no matter what tools we need to use to rule." Her comrade turned toward her and outstretched his hand.

"You better not disappoint me, Cecilia Obel. Because I'll take these very seriously." She clasped it tightly.

"I'll do what's needed, Chase Karlson. Until we reach the top." Cecilia rose a new woman, and the thread by which her reservations hung snapped.