Chapter Text
Charlotte stares at the orphanage’s front door. She’s been doing that for hours, now. What else is she supposed to do?
Laura turned eighteen a couple days ago. And now, after some paperwork was finished and filed, she’s gone.
That’s great. In fact, it’s fucking amazing. Turning eighteen is an occasion that every kid in this damned orphanage looks forward to starting from the moment that they realize that all of the doctor’s promises of refuge were filthy lies.
Charlotte is happy for her sister. She is, really! Laura won’t have to deal with electrocution or isolation anymore. She’ll get a spacious bedroom to herself. She’ll get to garden personally, instead of just telling someone else how she wants a garden she’s barely allowed to go and see be maintained. And she’ll get to see Saphira regularly.
…but there’s also a gnawing feeling in Charlotte.
She can’t help but feel upset. She wants those things, too… well, she’s not much of a gardener, but the other stuff.
She wants the freedom to do what she wants. The ability to go outside and train her Pokémon, aka a part of her literal job, when she pleases.
Speaking of, she’d love to be able to do her main job regularly, easily, and in the intended place, instead of only once in a blue moon, with the ease of pulling teeth, and in the most boring arena she’s ever seen.
And most of all, she’d like to be able to see her sisters regularly. She wants the three of them to be free together.
…and a small, dark part of her wants them here. With her.
Neither of these things will be happening. Saphira and Laura are free. Charlotte is trapped. This is the way that it’ll be for the next few years.
Maybe this is deserved. Her punishment, for dragging the two of them here in the first place.
But before Charlotte can spiral in these thoughts, a smaller hand grabs onto her own, and she looks down to see Anna.
“Hey, you don’t have to be sad!” the younger girl says with a smile. “You’ll see her again soon!”
Ah. That’s right. Even the doctor isn’t stupid enough to think he can keep a former patient who’s the direct relative of a current patient away entirely. Saphira visits sometimes, and Laura will, too.
Anna tugs on Charlotte’s hand. “Come on, let’s get something to eat!”
And the words make Charlotte realize she’s actually pretty hungry, so she nods. “Yeah.”
The two leave up the stairs.
— — —
Anna’s acting jittery.
She’s usually a peppy little weirdo, sure, but it’s extra noticeable today, ever since that girl came by earlier.
Her name was Carly. Long, dark brown hair, super bright green eyes. But the most notable thing about her was a subtle scent that Charlotte would recognize anywhere— Carly had met Laura, who had made some perfume for her.
Apparently, Laura had even mentioned Charlotte to Carly. That felt nice to hear.
As for Carly, she beat an orderly in a battle before the doctor pressured her into telling him why she’d come around. Then she’d gotten the fuck out, like any smart person would.
To be frank, Charlotte has no idea why the whole thing excited Anna as much as it did. But there’s no real other explanation… or well, actually, maybe there is. This is Anna, after all. Maybe Nostra gave her a super special prophecy, or something.
Ha, if only.
The front door opens, and the doctor returns from his house call, dragging along a bright pink haired young girl as she kicks and screams.
Once they’ve left up the stairs, Charlotte speaks. “You guys think that was the kid he was checking up on?”
“No, Lapis’ other Gym Leader has purple hair,” Noel says.
“So he just found another kid as a bonus, or something?” Charlotte wonders.
Noel shrugs.
Anna is surprisingly quiet throughout all of this, simply staring at the front door.
And then, a few minutes later, there’s that sound like someone is trying the knob, and Anna rushes over, unlocking the door. The person on the other side opens it, revealing Carly.
“Anna?” she asks, surprised.
“Come in!” Anna says, backing up so that the older girl can do just that.
Charlotte shares a curious glance with Noel. Anna doesn’t usually touch the front door— none of the kids do.
Regardless, the two of them move to stand by Anna as Carly and two others walk in— a boy and a girl, both with purple hair, though notably different in both shade and style. The girl is probably that Gym Leader, uh… Shelly.
“Hi again!” Anna greets.
“Hey! Thanks for unlocking the door,” Carly says with a smile.
Anna giggles. “Of course! I saw your glowiness through the wall~”
“‘Glowiness?’” the boy repeats.
“Carly glows! It’s amazing!” Anna claims.
Both of Carly’s friends look over to her with confused expressions, but she just shrugs. It’s one of the better reactions a stranger has had to Anna’s wild claims.
Said young girl introduces herself to the boy— Cain— and Charlotte speaks up. “So, like, why are you guys here? Is it about the girl that was just brought in? She was kicking and screaming the whole way. Not that that’s unusual.”
In fact, she’d even say it’s common in the orphanage, for a child to be dragged around by an adult despite the child’s resistance. Hell, a pink haired girl, specifically, resisting as they’re dragged around by an adult is pretty common; Charlotte’s made sure of that.
“We’re… um—” Shelly speaks up, clearly unsure. “We’re going to save her!”
“Yeah, it’s a prison break~” Cain says. “You guys wanna come?”
“The more the merrier, in my opinion!” Carly says, looking around at the overly clean environment with a grimace.
Charlotte has to look away for a moment, hiding the probably stupid expression that crosses her face at the idea. Getting out? Being rid of everything this place forces on her? Even… going home?
“Are you kidding?” she asks before looking back to the others. “I was halfway out the door by the time you said ‘prison break.’ Metaphorically, if nothing else.”
“Great! Happy to have you along!” Carly says with a grin.
“B-but… we’re not leaving without Heather!” Shelly says.
“Course you aren’t,” Charlotte says.
“Can you guys help us save her?” Carly asks.
“Course we can. In fact, you need us,” Charlotte says. “It’s only a matter of seconds until the orderlies crash the party and toss you out.”
“But our Pokémon were confiscated,” Noel says, looking over his shoulder to watch for any orderlies.
“I thought you guys were Gym Leaders?” Carly says.
“Yeah, as if that matters to the doctor. If he had his way, we wouldn’t even know what a Pokémon is,” Charlotte says, before looking over her shoulder with a smirk. “Not that I need to to help. I bet I can hold a few of the orderlies up for you. But if you don’t come back for me, heads are gonna roll.”
She looks back to the others. “Deal?”
“Duh,” Carly says. “Why wouldn’t we come back for you?”
“Just covering my bases,” Charlotte says.
“Charlotte, what are you doing?” Anna asks.
“Creating a diversion,” Charlotte says, walking off through the doorway to the back. She finds a pair of orderlies.
It’s too fucking easy to get on their nerves. All she has to do is ask for her cigarettes a few times. She only even swears once, and only after one of the assholes has asked her to calm down in a warning tone.
And it’s also easy to act exactly as they expect her to, even as she’s grabbed. She just recalls the last hundred times she was thrown into the Circuit, thrashes and protests and even bites one of the bastards.
Again, it’s really all too common of a routine.
As she’s dragged along, the orderlies notice the others standing by the door, but that’s fine. Charlotte acts out enough that multiple have to escort her to the Circuit, meaning there’s only a few that go challenge the new guys. She’s not sure about Cain, but Carly managed to beat an orderly before, and Shelly’s a Gym Leader. They should be fine.
They better be, at least. She doesn’t want to have done this for nothing.
Charlotte struggles for as long as she can, but eventually they manage to throw her into a cell and close the door behind her.
“This hurts us more than it hurts you, you know,” an orderly says.
“Are you trained to say that?” Charlotte snarks.
“We’re trained to help you,” another orderly says.
“You’re kinda dogshit at it,” Charlotte says.
They all go on arguing for a few minutes before one of the orderlies thinks better of it, and convinces the others to leave… but before they can, a Nidoking appears in the doorway. Cain’s, from the sound of it.
Obviously the orderlies take him on, but they don’t exactly do the best job, since the Nidoking’s position means they have to fight one on one.
As that happens, Charlotte is left to wait and think, feeling just as jittery as Anna seemed earlier.
This is incredible. Charlotte would pinch herself, but the orderlies already grabbed her harshly enough for her to know it’s not a dream. And besides, not even in her wildest dreams would a group of strangers just waltz in and offer escape several years early on a silver platter. And yet, it’s happening.
The fact that it’s a group of strangers is the real surprise. If anything, she expected Saphira to get fed up and Hyper Beam this place to dust. But no! Strangers, of all people! Weird!
Now, though, Charlotte has to wait as they stage their prison break. And that’s probably the weirdest part of it all: waiting around for these strangers to do the heavy lifting.
It makes her somewhat uneasy, actually. She’s unused to relying on people aside from her older sisters. Anna and Noel, maybe, but given their ages, it’s often them relying on her.
Charlotte would’ve just led the two of them out the door the second she realized that the orderlies were going to be heavily distracted, but none of the three have their Pokémon. She wasn’t exactly going to leave without them, especially Ninetails.
Besides, it’s not like the approach of just booking it while the orderlies aren’t looking has ever worked for anyone before… aside from possibly that one shithead, a few years ago. She might just be dead, though.
But then, nobody else has had the benefit of outside help before. And nobody’s ever come in and defeated all of the orderlies in battle, which is looking like a very real possibility as they continue to eat shit against Cain.
Eventually, the fight is pushed back enough for them to battle him two on one, but that still doesn’t do much for them. Soon after, Carly and Shelly enter the room, and the former unlocks the cell Charlotte is in.
Charlotte walks out. “You guys actually pulled through.”
“Of course we did~” Cain says, staying focused on his battle otherwise. “You really doubted us?”
“You don’t want me to answer that,” Charlotte says dryly.
Carly snickers. “Well, take this as a lesson, then. From now on, you can rely on us!”
“That’s right!” Cain says as his Nidoking knocks out a Spoink. “~Me and my friends are gonna do it right, you’ll never see us run away from a fight~”
“You’re singing at a time like this?” Charlotte asks, raising a brow. It’s a nice idea, sure, but cheesy even without being in song form.
“Yep!” Cain says.
“You’re a regular magical princess, aren’t you?” Charlotte asks.
“Yeah, I’m his knight,” Carly quips.
“And someday my prince will come and sweep me away!” Cain says dramatically, briefly flashing Charlotte a flirty smile over his shoulder. “Charlotte, dear, be my prince?!”
Charlotte snorts. “Yeah, as if.”
At least these guys are entertaining.
Nidoking takes down a Voltorb, the last of the two orderlies’ Pokémon, and they flee. Cain recalls his Pokémon, and Carly opens the other nearby cell. Then she and Shelly head over to fight the last of the orderlies, who guard the storage room, while Charlotte watches.
The girls actually do incredibly, defeating all six of the orderlies’ Pokémon with just a Growlithe and a Yanmega.
After, Charlotte walks up. “All right, open the storage or I’ll have Carly tear you to pieces.”
Carly grins sharply at that, setting her eyes on the male orderly she just fought.
Said man gulps. “…y-yes, okay.”
The storage is opened, and Charlotte, Carly, and Shelly walk in.
Charlotte finds her own Pokémon, along with the twins’ and Heather’s, easily enough. Even finds the cigs she stole the last time she was allowed outside, and a spare ID card. Then she looks to Carly, seeing her holding something. “What’s that?”
Carly shows off what she’s holding, a key. “Any idea what this goes to?”
“That’s the archive key,” Charlotte says, and she knows because she’s stolen it before.
“Do we not need it, then?” Carly asks.
“Actually…” Charlotte says, an idea coming to mind. “There’s a pair of rooms in the back of the building with a bunch of shelves. The doctor keeps files on each of us back there. We should get rid of them.”
“Wouldn’t they have digital backups, though?” Shelly asks.
“Probably. But anything that makes the doctor’s job more difficult is worth doing, in my book,” Charlotte says.
“All right,” Carly says. “We’ll grab them. You, Cain, and the twins should go to Heather.”
Charlotte hesitates. “Well…”
“We’re not going to read them,” Carly says.
Ah. Well, Charlotte would be stupid to trust every little thing she’s told, but… she wouldn’t want to not be there to wreck the doctor’s shit. So she nods. “Fine. Don’t make me regret believing that. Mine and the twins’ files should be in the room with the table. Saphira’s will be in the room you’ll need to use that key to get into. Laura’s should be in the archive by now, too, unless the doctor forgot to move it. Let’s get going.”
Carly and Shelly nod, and they all leave.
Now’s exactly what Charlotte’s been waiting for.
— — —
Charlotte’s out. She’s fucking out!
She’s not free. Not yet. But she’s out of that hellhole, about three years early. She and the others even plan to head to her family’s house!
Unfortunately, it ended up not being a straight shot; the cops came running before they could get to the old railnet, and they ended up having to take shelter with a local gang. But it’s still so much closer to being home than Charlotte’s been since she was a little kid that she feels like she’s crazy to believe it sometimes.
It’s been a couple days. Right now, they’re all hiding out in one of the gang members’ houses. Carly is out with said person doing some kind of work for the gang, as part of the deal struck for shelter, while Cain runs to a cheap burger place to get everyone dinner. So Charlotte’s in charge of watching over the others.
It’s a position she’s sorta kinda used to. She’s never officially been in charge of others, not in the eyes of the doctor or his orderlies. But at the orphanage, the older kids tended to look after the younger kids in certain ways. Making sure they weren’t breaking rules too openly, or that they weren’t alone with the adults if they didn’t have to be.
Charlotte… wasn’t really super well known for it. To be honest, a lot of kids would probably say that she had caused them more trouble than anything else. But she’d helped the twins, at least, especially in the last few days after Laura left, and had always tried to make sure kids were never alone with the doctor, with how insistent Saphira always had been on it.
This current babysitting isn’t really hard, though, since the others all do their own thing.
Right now, Charlotte and the younger kids are in the TV room, as the house’s owner calls it. The room has a TV, a couch, a single bookshelf, and a bunch of pillows and blankets that the group has been using, although they’re currently off to the side. The TV plays a cartoon that she only pays a little attention to as she lounges on the couch, while the other kids each do something on the floor.
The twins are both coloring with crayons that Charlotte would bet money were taken from a restaurant. Shelly reads a book while sitting against the wall, frequently glancing at her nearby friend, Heather, who herself isn’t really doing much of anything. Just kind of… staring at nothing. Occasionally she looks up at the TV, but doesn’t really seem interested.
She hasn’t said a word since they rescued her from the doctor. Not that that’s really too weird; lots of kids become way less talkative after their first “therapy session.”
“You seem happy lately!”
The voice snaps Charlotte out of her thoughts, and she glances over to the source, Anna. “I am. We’ll be at my family’s place soon, how could I not be?”
“Yeah, it’s gonna be great!” Anna says. “Nostra and Nomos are excited. You are, too, right Noel?”
“Yeah. It’ll be nice to get some fresher air, and see Laura and Saphira,” Noel says.
His words are flat compared to his sister’s, but Charlotte knows that that’s just how he is. He’s just as glad to be out as she and Anna are. Definitely not as happy to see Charlotte’s older sisters as she is, but still happy.
Charlotte and Laura kinda took the twins under their wings after the latter arrived at the orphanage. Saphira had already aged out, by then, but she would talk to them whenever she visited.
They hear the front door open, and Cain’s voice calls out. “We’re back!”
He and Carly enter the room with a bunch of fast food bags, passing them out.
“Where’s DeFacto?” Shelly asks.
“Reporting in with Archer, maybe doing some other stuff,” Carly says. “He’ll be back eventually.”
Then, her eyes drift to the TV, where a new episode of a cartoon has started. “Ooooh, I love this show!”
Charlotte looks to the screen. There’s a boy with a triangular head and orange hair talking to green haired boy whose head is also oddly shaped. It looks vaguely familiar, but…
“What’s it about?” Anna asks.
“Wha— have you guys never seen Phineas and Ferb?” Carly asks, shocked.
“The doctor was stingy with screen time. Probably thought too much would rot our brains,” Charlotte says. “But you know, electrical shocks were totally fine for them.”
Carly humphs. “Lame! Let’s watch it together as we eat!”
She plops down onto the floor with her food, and Cain sits down on the couch. Cartoons aren’t what Charlotte expected to spend her time on, but everyone focuses on the TV as they eat, so she does, too.
The show’s actually not bad. Really fucking weird. But not bad.
— — —
Charlotte sits on the living room couch one night, Ninetails’ head in her lap. It’s only been a few days since the orphanage escape, but it’s possible her sleep schedule’s already going to shit.
The doctor kept all of the kids on a pretty strict schedule. They were woken up and let out of their rooms at a certain time, and forced to go to bed at a certain time. Sleeping during the day wasn’t allowed outside of certain circumstances.
Obviously, though, that’s been thrown out the window. Charlotte and the others can sleep when they’re tired, and if they wake up in the middle of the night, they can go somewhere else instead of just huddling in bed and hoping they can fall back asleep. Like she is now.
Not like there’s much she can do, though. She can’t go outside, at risk of being found by a cop or orderly, and turning on the TV would probably wake the others. So here she is. Hanging out with Ninetails in the living room. Just the two of them… until Carly walks in.
“Something woke you up?” she asks quietly.
“Yeah. You too?” Charlotte asks.
“Mhm,” Carly hums before her eyes sweep over the room. They land on a small table near the front door, and she walks over to it, opening the drawer and pulling something out. She turns around and shakes it side to side, and Charlotte sees that it’s a pack of cards. “Wanna play Go Fish?”
Charlotte shrugs. “Sure.”
Carly sits down on the floor with her legs criss crossed, while Charlotte lies a few feet away on her stomach, Ninetails laying next to her.
Carly establishes the rules she plays by— apparently there are a few different variations— and takes the cards from the pack.
“I’m kinda surprised you were able to get a Ninetails, with how strict Connal was. He doesn’t seem like the type who would just provide you guys with evolutionary stones,” she says as she shuffles. “Did you catch her like that?”
“Nah, I just stole a Fire Stone while the orderlies weren’t looking during an outing,” Charlotte says.
Carly snorts. “Wow. So then, you raised her from a Vulpix?”
“That’s right,” Charlotte says proudly. “We’ve been together for pretty much our whole lives, haven’t we girl?”
Ninetails croons happily.
“Aww, that’s sweet,” Carly says with a smile as she starts to deal. “Did one of your sisters catch her for you?”
“Nope. My mom had a Ninetails, too. That one was this one’s mom,” Charlotte explains. “Mom was actually the Fire Leader in the old League.”
“Really? That’s awesome!” Carly says.
Charlotte smirks as she picks her cards up. “Like I said, it kind of runs in the family.”
“I only started training Pokémon a few weeks ago,” Carly admits. “I have prior experience battling, but Percy is the first Pokémon I’ve ever been the official Trainer of.”
“No fucking way. Next thing you’re gonna tell me is that you got that Growlithe the day we met,” Charlotte says.
“…the day before, actually,” Carly says.
“Bullshit,” Charlotte says. “I saw that thing take out multiple Pokémon. No way it’s a fresh catch.”
“Actually, she belonged to someone else before, so she already had some training,” Carly says. “I’d already had some battles with her, too.”
“Well, that makes more sense, but still,” Charlotte says. “You said you’re taking on the League, right?”
“That’s right,” Carly says.
“You’d better keep doing that. I want a go at you,” Charlotte says.
Carly chuckles. “Will do, boss. Anyway, you can go first.”
The two girls play Go Fish for a while, Ninetails watching. Eventually, Charlotte starts yawning.
“You think you’re ready to go back to bed?” Carly asks once the yawns get frequent enough.
“No, I can… stay up for a while more…” Charlotte insists as her eyelids start to droop. “I just… need to… rest my eyes for a sec…”
But as her eyes fall shut, her grip on her cards starts to relax, and her face soon finds the ground… maybe she needs more than just a second, but…
After a minute, she vaguely feels her body being lifted up.
“Mmm, bedtime. C’mon, you two can rest together,” Carly’s voice says.
Ninetails makes a sound in agreement, and Charlotte is carried away as she drifts off to sleep.
— — —
Charlotte sits in the kitchen, opening some chips and soda. She and the others are at another gang member’s place, now, moved around to make them harder to track down.
Cain walks in. “Oh, heyy Charlotte.”
“Hey, princess,” Charlotte greets. “There are some more of these in the pantry and fridge, if you want some.”
Cain nods, and grabs a pack of chips and some soda before sitting down. It’s silent for a minute aside from the sounds of eating and drinking, then he sighs.
“Woah, tired of me already?” Charlotte asks.
“Pfft, course not,” Cain says. “I’m just worried about Heather.”
Ah. Makes sense; the younger girl hasn’t made a peep since they’d rescued her. Not that Charlotte’s heard, at least.
“Thought she’d be talking by now. Most kids are, this long after their first ‘session,’” Charlotte says. “Then again, I guess she doesn’t have anyone to swear at about it.”
Cain hums in thought. “…I think it might have to do with her dad…”
…oh. Duh. Kids typically get dragged to the orphanage after they’ve been, well, orphaned.
“I know you guys don’t really know each other, but on the off chance she says anything to you, try to be nice to her, yeah?” Cain requests.
“Duh. I’m not completely heartless,” Charlotte says.
“Thank goodness,” Cain says, tone mischievous. “That means there’s something for me to steal~”
“Ha! Keep dreaming, princess,” Charlotte says.
They chat and banter lightly as they eat, until Cain finishes and wanders off to go do something or other else.
Charlotte wonders how old he is. He acts pretty mature sometimes, watching over her and the other kids, but then he’ll turn around and make an obvious dick joke. Appearance wise, it’s hard to be certain with the makeup that he wears, but he doesn’t look that much older than her. A year or two, maybe?
Seems like an odd age, to be responsible for children for longer than a day or two. Maybe not, though. After all, Saphira—
…
…
…oh.
The realization hits like a bucket of icy water. Saphira was fifteen when their parents died. She wasn’t much older than Charlotte is now.
That’s… weird. Saphira’s always seemed so mature, even back then. She was a lot more emotional when they were first orphaned, but then who wouldn’t be? And she’d grown out of it quickly enough.
Charlotte’s mature, too… but she doesn’t feel like she’s on the same level as Saphira was back then. And the realization makes her intensely uncomfortable for reasons she can’t put her finger on.
She thinks, but can’t come up with an answer.
Charlotte finishes her snack soon, and starts to leave to find something else to do… only to pause before she reaches the door. She turns around, and gets another pack of chips and can of soda before heading off to the living room. There, she finds Heather, curled up on the couch.
“Uh… hey,” Charlotte says awkwardly.
Heather looks up at her, but says nothing.
Charlotte hesitates, then approaches. She sets the food and drink down on the cushion next to Heather. “Here. For you. If you’re, y’know… hungry. Or whatever.”
Heather stares silently.
Charlotte coughs into her fist. “Yeah, uh… cool. Bye.”
She heads off to find the twins. As she leaves, she hears the sound of the pack of chips opening.
— — —
Charlotte and the other kids got kidnapped by terrorists. Which is a crazy fucking thing to say, but it’s true.
Apparently, the doctor has joined up with Team Meteor, an actual terrorist group, for the sake of making sure Charlotte and the others stay under his thumb. Real great work he’s doing.
Not that it really matters. It took a while— probably a day or two— but Carly and Cain showed up to the old Yureyu building to rescue them all, just like that one person Charlotte “acquired” a key from said they would.
Apparently the two of them, Carly in particular, are in the habit of terrorist fighting. Which, like, is a wild thing to learn about two of the people Charlotte’s spent so much of the last two weeks with.
Now, the duo heads up to the top floors to rescue Anna and Heather while Charlotte tries to figure out how to unlock the cage that Noel is in. Shelly and a pair of defeated Meteors watch.
“A-are you okay, Noel?” Shelly asks.
“I’m fine. They haven’t hurt me,” Noel says, squeezing his left arm with his right hand. “I’m more worried about Anna… she didn’t seem to be doing very well after they took her Pendant.”
“That’s no good, but, um… are you sure you’re okay?” Shelly asks.
Noel shrugs. “It’s not like this is anything I’m unused to.”
“Pfft, yeah, slap a bed in here and it’s just like our old rooms. Maybe even better,” Charlotte says.
“…what?” one of the Meteors asks.
“Oh?” Charlotte asks, looking to them and feigning surprise. “Did the good doctor not tell you about his superior therapeutic childrearing techniques of locking children in cells every night?”
“You’re bluffing,” the other Meteor says.
Charlotte snorts. “Yeah, wouldn’t it be so much better for everyone if I was?”
She refocuses on the lock. “Anyway… I think the best method of dealing with this lock is gonna be making it so there’s not a lock anymore.”
She looks back up to the Meteors. “Where are our Pokémon?”
The second Meteor scoffs. “Like we’re gonna just tell you.”
“There’s no point in looking for them, either,” the first Meteor adds.
“So they’re nearby, then? Cool,” Charlotte says, looking around.
Her eyes land on a doorknob sticking out near the end of the hallway. Realizing what she’s seen, the two men move to block her, but she pushes past them, dashing to the door and opening it to find a small storage room. She enters, flipping on a flickering light and quickly finding a bunch of Poké Ball belts on a shelf. There’s a pair of backpacks nearby, too.
“Hey, get out!” one of the Meteors demands from the doorway as Charlotte grabs her Poké Balls.
“Uh, no?” Charlotte says. She finds Ninetails and lets the Pokémon out, then turns around with a sharp grin as she puts her belt back on. “Y’know, this building’s pretty old. I bet it wouldn’t take much of a fire to bring it down. Maybe, say… a blaze that starts at the size of a man in stupid clothes?”
The man gulps. “…they’re not stupid.”
“Uh huh, sure they aren’t,” Charlotte says. “Now, out of our way.”
The man obliges, and Charlotte and Ninetails walk out, the former holding the rest of the belts.
She holds one with multiple Net Balls on it out to Shelly. “This one’s yours, yeah?”
Shelly nods, taking it. “Th-thanks!”
“No problem,” Charlotte says before turning to Ninetails. She taps the lock. “Burn this, but only this.”
Ninetails nods, and turns around. She lifts a single tail up to the lock, and the end forms a small flame. Soon enough, the lock is burned, and Charlotte swings the door open.
Noel steps out. “Thank you.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Charlotte says, holding out his belt to him. He takes it, and puts it back on.
Charlotte recalls Ninetails, and she and the other two wait, Noel squeezing his arm.
“…you’re real worried about Anna, huh?” Charlotte asks.
“Yeah,” Noel says. “She almost seemed… sick.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Charlotte says. “Remember the first time the doctor shocked her badly enough that she stopped hearing things?”
“Yeah. She was really upset about it,” Noel recalls. “She kept saying that she needed to be able to hear Nostra, to help everyone.”
“And just a few days after, she was happily telling us about how she was hallucinating again,” Charlotte says fondly. “It’s probably like that. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
“…yeah,” Noel says, seeming a bit hopeful, although most people probably wouldn’t be able to tell.
Charlotte stifles a laugh at the look the two Meteors share. Once both of the backpacks have been taken from the storage room, she continues to talk with Noel and Shelly.
Eventually, the sound of rapid footsteps approaches.
“Time to go!!!” Carly shouts as she, Anna, Cain, and Heather round the corner.
The seven of them run, Charlotte waving to the grunts who guarded her before as she passes them.
Home, here she comes.
— — —
Finally. Finally, finally, finally. Charlotte is home.
Anna’s sick, so that sucks, but Charlotte can’t help but feel a little bit giddy inside. She’s finally free! Saphira’s away up in Labradorra, apparently, but Laura is here! Charlotte and her are together!
Carly leaves to go get some medicine from Spinel Town, and Shelly heads to the kitchen to get something to eat, leaving Charlotte alone with her sister.
“Good to be back,” Charlotte says. “Uh… sorry to spring so many guests on you without warning, though.”
“You don’t have to apologize,” Laura says with that soft smile of hers. “I’d much rather have an overcrowded house than have you and the twins back at the orphanage. I already know that Carly is a very nice girl, and Shelly seems kind as well. I’m more than happy to open up the home to you all…….. and of course, I’m happy that the family can be together again.”
“Yeah,” Charlotte says, throat suddenly feeling a bit tight. “Yeah, I…”
Laura walks over, taking Charlotte’s surely kinda dirty hands in her own gloved ones and giving them a soft squeeze.
“I missed you…” Charlotte admits, so quiet that it barely comes out at all.
She’s not going to cry. Definitely not. It’s been a few weeks, not a few years.
“I missed you, too, and I know that Saphira did as well,” Laura says.
Charlotte really does try not to cry. She’s not a baby. And yet… well, it’s just her eyes getting a bit wet before she wipes them, so it doesn’t count.
— — —
The next day, Charlotte sits on her bed, holding her open orphanage file… or she guesses it’s more like a three ring binder. Whatever.
Carly held onto them all while they were hiding out, but now that there’s no risk of losing them, it was decided to let each of the (former) orphanage kids decide what to do with theirs. And Charlotte took hers. Decided to read through it.
She doesn’t know what she was expecting. To learn something about herself? There’s nothing in here that she didn’t already know.
If she’s learned something about anyone, it’s the doctor. She already knew that he can’t tell when he’s the problem, but man, is he completely unable to tell when he’s the problem. And aside from that…
Client may believe that she is only capable of being a troublemaker, Charlotte reads, a line included in a report of a time she’d pitted two of the other kids against each other.
She scoffs. She bets those two kids’ binders don’t have anything written in them about when one had stolen from Laura and the other had pulled Anna’s pigtails. The doctor hadn’t seen those things, so they hadn’t happened, right? Only the troublemaker had said anything about them, so they must’ve been lies. Surely there wasn’t another explanation, like both of the victims being too nice to say anything.
And like, so what if Charlotte’s a troublemaker? So what if not every time she’d messed with the other kids had had a reason? At least she’d been having more fun than the straight-laced doctor.
Charlotte closes the binder with a huff. What a waste of her time, and of paper.
…what the hell is she going to do with it, though?
She thinks for a while… then comes up with an idea.
She opens the binder back up, and pops the rings open. She takes out all of the pages that have been written on, then closes the rings and binder. She shoves it under her bed, then stands up.
She heads out of her room and downstairs, finding Laura having just entered the house with grocery bags in her arms.
“Hey. I’m gonna go train in the mountain,” Charlotte says.
“If you insist……..” Laura says, unsure. “Just be careful, all right? I don’t like the looks of those metal structures…….. don’t let anyone see you.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t be too long. Just wanna try a new technique real quick,” Charlotte says, heading out.
She walks around the lake, then into the mountain. Once she reaches the more open space, she looks around. Seeing nobody, she takes Ninetails’ Poké Ball in her free hand, letting the Pokémon out.
“Hey. Let’s burn these,” Charlotte says, showing the papers.
And Ninetails, the kindred spirit that she is, nods.
Charlotte puts the papers on the ground, and Ninetails spits a small, weak flame at them.
And it’s beautiful, the way that they burn. Paper quickly turns into ash as tiny bits of fire dance, and the two lifelong friends watch, mesmerized.
Once the papers have been satisfactorily destroyed, Ninetails smothers the fire with her tails.
“Nice,” Charlotte says. “All right, time to head back. Return.”
Ninetails doesn’t protest even a little bit as Charlotte recalls her. She’s just as unready to feel the cove’s flammable grass under her paws as Charlotte is to let her.
— — —
A couple days later, Charlotte walks around Spinel Town’s museum.
It’s not really somewhere she’d ever choose to spend time on her own, but the others decided that they wanted to come here before getting lunch, so here she is.
At least the skeletons are pretty cool. And occasionally something randomly teleports, which is apparently a thing that’s happening in town lately, and is pretty funny to see people react to.
Charlotte wanders around for a while before spotting Shelly staring at a painting hung on the back wall.
Charlotte walks over. “You into art?”
“Oh, no, not really,” Shelly says. “I mean, it’s nice, and these are all pretty… but that’s not what caught my attention. This is.”
She points at the plaque of the painting that caught her eye, and Charlotte leans in to read it. “‘Burned Tower, a monument to history and tradition.’”
“It’s in Johto, where I’m from!” Shelly says with a smile.
“Wait, seriously?” Charlotte asks, surprised. “What are you doing all the way in Reborn on your own?”
“Um, well, I guess you could say that I was scouted?” Shelly says. “Back when the Reborn League was in the process of starting back up, they couldn’t really find any good candidates for the Bug Type Gym Leader position. But a League worker was visiting some family in Azalea Town, and we met, and I ended up getting offered the position and coming here.”
“You’ve been here on your own since the League restarted? Aren’t you, like, twelve now?” Charlotte asks, doing some mental math. “That’s fucking crazy.”
“Well, yeah, b-but it’s really not that big of a deal!” Shelly says, looking away with a flustered expression for a moment. “In regions out east, it’s actually pretty common for Trainers to start their journeys around the age of ten, give or take. And obviously I have caretakers… I-I hope they’re not too worried about me… but the point is, I wasn’t really alone.”
“Yeah, but you still went to the other side of the world without any of your family. That’s insane,” Charlotte says, lightly punching Shelly’s arm. “Why’d you decide to do it, anyway?”
“Well… I wanted to be like my brother!” Shelly admits with a smile, visible eye lighting up a bit. “He’s the Bug Type Leader back in Johto!”
“So awesome runs in your family, too, huh?” Charlotte asks. “You two close?”
At the question, Shelly actually wilts a bit, looking downwards as her smile turns into a frown. “…n-not really. We talk a bit sometimes, if he’s there when I call my parents, but… usually he just says hello and l-leaves…”
“Oh… well, that’s his loss,” Charlotte says. “I bet none of his Johto League friends smash old trains through giant rock piles.”
Shelly giggles a bit at that, looking back up. “I still can’t believe we did that!”
“Well, we did, because you suggested it, and it was awesome,” Charlotte says.
“Yeah… I-I guess it was pretty cool,” Shelly says. She’s quiet for a few moments, looking thoughtful, before speaking again. “You took your mom’s old position of the Fire Type Leader, right? Did you decide to train Fire Types because of her?”
“Nah, not really,” Charlotte answers. “I mean, I got Ninetails from her, but specializing in the type just kinda came naturally to me. Maybe it’s in my blood, but I didn’t, like, set out to be like her on purpose. She was awesome, though, so I’ve got no complaints about it.”
“Really? Was she strong?” Shelly asks.
“Hell yeah,” Charlotte says. “Her ace Pokémon was her Charizard; Saphira says that thing could zip around almost as fast as her Dragonite. Mom even managed to beat Dad, and he was the highest ranked Leader in the old League!”
“Wow!” Shelly says, impressed. “He was the Dragon Type Leader, right?”
“Yeah. Apparently it took ages, but Mom never gave up,” Charlotte says fondly. She’s always loved hearing that story from her sisters.
“That’s really cool,” Shelly says.
“Yep,” Charlotte says before looking back to the painting. “So, you ever seen the… Burned Tower? Because it sounds awesome.”
“A few times. Not since coming to Reborn, though, so it’s been a long while,” Shelly says.
“Hey, is that Spear Pillar?” Carly’s voice asks.
Charlotte and Shelly turn to see her approaching them.
“Spear huh?” Charlotte asks.
“Spear Pillar. That painting,” Carly says, pointing to a painting a couple down from the Burned Tower one. “It’s in Sinnoh.”
“You ever been?” Charlotte asks.
“Haha, nah, you don’t just ‘go to’ Spear Pillar,” Carly says. “But like… someone from Sinnoh who’s never heard of Spear Pillar is like someone in this town asking ‘What’s Reborn City?’”
“You’re from Sinnoh?” Charlotte asks.
“Yeah. Did I not mention that?” Carly asks.
“Not to me, at least,” Charlotte says. “I thought people out there left for their journeys at ten?”
“Some do. Not always, though!” Carly says before taking a closer look at the painting and reading the plaque. “Yep! That’s Spear Pillar!”
“It’s connected to Sinnoh’s central Legendary Pokémon, right?” Shelly asks.
“Yeah. Legends say that it used to be a temple, until some sort of clash between Dialga and Palkia literally blew the roof off,” Carly says with a grin, eyes sparkling. “The statues were destroyed, and the pillars were broken into resembling… well, spears.”
“Awesome,” Charlotte says.
“Hell yeah. There’s some debate over whether or not it happened, since we obviously only know about it through records of the event… but it sounds cool as fuck, so I hope it did,” Carly says. “Anyways, you two enjoying yourselves?”
“Yeah, the museum’s really interesting!” Shelly says with a smile.
“I guess it’s cool. I like the skeletons,” Charlotte says, looking over to one nearby.
Carly hums. “Makes me think of the Rock Type Leader back in Sinnoh. He’s really into fossils. Loser ass nerd.”
“…you guys are close, then?” Charlotte asks knowingly.
“Childhood friends,” Carly says. “Anyway, let’s see, what are these other paintings of?”
The three chat and look around for a while longer, until everyone leaves for lunch. It’s a lot more entertaining than Charlotte would’ve expected.
— — —
About a week after first arriving, Charlotte and the others are having lunch in the kitchen when they hear the sound of the front door opening, and a very familiar voice. “Laura, I’m back!”
Charlotte practically jumps up from her seat at that, hurrying to the living room. “Saphira!”
“Charlotte?” Saphira asks, eyes widening just a smidge as her youngest sister rushes over. She pinches her leg. “What are you doing here?”
“We got out,” Charlotte says with a grin. “Some others helped us get our Pokémon back and escape.”
“‘We?’” Saphira asks. “And who the hell got you out?”
“Hi, Saphira!” Anna says, Noel waving from next to her as they and the others trickle into the living room.
Saphira blinks, taking them all in. “Okay, so… ‘we’ is you and the twins, and these other two are…?”
“H-hi!” Carly says, waving a little with a smile. “I’m Carly!”
Shelly waves as well. “I-I’m Shelly. Nice to meet you!”
“We’ve gotten away from the doctor twice now,” Charlotte says. “Obviously he wasn’t a fan of that, so we ended up having to hide out.”
“…I see,” Saphira says before looking to Carly and Shelly. “Thank you for bringing my sister home.”
“Oh, it’s no big deal, really!” Carly says, glancing away and twirling some of her hair between her fingers.
Shelly nods in agreement. “We were just doing what’s right!”
“How exactly did this all happen, anyway?” Saphira asks.
“Long story,” Carly says.
“It’s true, I’ve heard it,” Laura says. “Maybe they should tell you over lunch?”
“…I really should eat something,” Saphira admits.
“I’ll make a sandwich for you,” Laura offers.
Once everyone is sat down in the kitchen, Saphira listens as everyone else except for Laura takes turns telling the story of the orphanage breakout and what followed, starting with Carly’s first visit to the orphanage.
“So I led the other four here,” Charlotte eventually says. “Any clue what’s up with that metal stuff in the mountain?”
“I have no clue what you’re talking about,” Saphira says.
“Some men in black have built odd structures into the interior of Tanzan Mountain,” Laura explains. “Carly and I tried to take a look around, but we couldn’t get past some gates……..”
“I’m worried it’s Team Meteor,” Carly says. “In addition to the metal stuff, things have been teleporting around in Spinel Town as of recently with no discernible cause. My money’s on a PULSE Pokémon— have you heard about those?”
“I have,” Saphira says, expression shifting to a determined one. “I’ll go check things out.”
“At least finish your lunch first,” Laura requests. “It’s just a few more bites.”
“I’ll finish it as I walk,” Saphira says, standing up with what’s left of her sandwich in hand and picking up her bag. She starts to walk away. “I’ll be back when the threat’s gone.”
Once they all hear the front door close, Carly speaks. “…she’s cool.”
“The coolest,” Charlotte agrees.
“Hey, maybe once we’re done, while we wait for her, Noel, Nomos and Carly can have a Gym Battle!” Anna suggests.
“…outside?” Charlotte asks. “Like, here?”
“Yeah!” Anna says. “I feel like it’s going to be really, really important that Carly collects every Badge really soon! And since we have two Gym Leaders right here, it only makes sense!”
Charlotte glances away at the thought of battling with her Fire Types outside. “…Carly hasn’t caught up to my rank yet, so I’ll pass.”
“That’s true. Actually, Noel is next for me,” Carly says. “I’m down for it if you are, buddy.”
Noel thinks for a few moments, chewing on his sandwich, before swallowing and speaking. “…okay. We can do that.”
Once lunch is done, and Noel and Carly look through their teams, everyone heads outside.
Charlotte just hopes that Carly doesn’t use that Arcanine of hers.
— — —
Charlotte and Shelly hunker in the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible.
Noel and Carly’s Gym Battle was interrupted before it could even start by Saphira flying back on her Dragonite. The doctor and Team Meteor found them all again… or maybe Meteor knew they were here already, and was just waiting for them to lower their guards.
If that’s true, it was a stupid move, since Saphira came back first, and having her around is basically the opposite of lowering their guards.
Unfortunately, because of the law or whatever, everyone below eighteen has to sit this fight out. It’s up to Saphira, Laura, and Carly to play defense.
“W-what do you think is going on out there…?” Shelly whispers, trembling a bit.
“I dunno,” Charlotte whispers back.
There was the sound of battling earlier, but it’s stopped. They can hear talking now, but can’t make it out.
“We’ll be fine, though,” Charlotte continues. “I mean, we’ve got the highest ranked Leader, an Elite Four member, and the wrecking ball fighting for us.”
Shelly nods. “R-right!”
After a little while longer, there’s a very loud, distinct sound— Hyper Beam. Charlotte hopes it hit the doctor.
A couple minutes later, she hears the door open, and she and Shelly make themselves as small as possible until they hear Carly’s voice. “Guys? It’s… they’re gone.”
Charlotte and Shelly stand and walk out to meet her. She looks rattled.
“Are you two okay?” Carly asks.
“We’re perfectly fine,” Charlotte assures her. “What about the others?”
“I haven’t checked on Laura, Noel, and Anna yet, but they should be fine,” Carly says. “But… Sirius kidnapped Saphira.”
“Wow, big mistake,” Charlotte says.
“Are you not worried?” Shelly asks, surprised.
“For Meteor, maybe,” Charlotte says. “She’ll probably just destroy them from the inside out.”
“It’s to lure us in. He pretty much invited me to follow him,” Carly says.
“What comes next is pretty obvious to me,” Charlotte says. “Come on, let’s go; Laura needs to hear about this.”
The three head out to the living room, where they find Laura examining a huge hole in the wall, shocked.
“Are Anna and Noel okay?” Carly asks.
“Yes, they’re fine……..” Laura says, not even looking up. “But I asked you to not mess up the room……..”
“Hey, that was Saphira!” Carly says. “She had her Dragonite Hyper Beam Connal through the wall.”
“Nice,” Charlotte says.
Laura looks up, eyes flitting from Charlotte, to Carly, to Shelly, and then a confused expression comes onto her face. “Um, then…….. where is she?”
“Sirius— the man with one eye— had his Seviper use Poison Jab to knock her out and kidnapped her,” Carly explains with a grim expression, causing Laura to gasp. “He wants us to follow him to a Meteor base willingly.”
“She’s gonna kill him when she wakes up,” Charlotte mutters with a smirk. “And any other Meteor in the vicinity.”
“I don’t think we should just let them take her though,” Laura says.
“It would be safest to just let her go,” Charlotte says.
“So we’re totally going in?” Carly asks.
Charlotte grins. “Exactly.”
Laura looks confused. “But you just said—”
“I said that would be safest,” Charlotte interrupts. “We’re not safe; we’re family. And that means we’re going to get her back. You know she’d do the same for us.”
“Over a week ago, a Meteor lead me, Cain, and Amy into a trap. That ended with me defeating a PULSE Pokémon,” Carly says. “That was two Badges ago, and involved help from a high ranking Gym Leader, but not an Elite Four member. Either Sirius didn’t get the memo about the incident, or he’s way too cocky. We’ve got this.”
“……..okay, you’re both right,” Laura says, expression turning determined. She looks to Charlotte. “But you’re staying here.”
“What?” Charlotte asks in disbelief. “What are you talking about?”
“They were after you in the first place, not me. So, I’ll take care of this,” Laura says, in that firm tone that she rarely uses, that means there’s no use arguing.
Charlotte scoffs. “No one ever lets me have any fun.”
“Well, someone has to hold down the fort,” Carly says. “Obviously I’m going with Laura— if there’s really a PULSE in there, I should go, since I’m the only one of us who has any experience with them. You’ve gotta make sure that, if anyone in Team Meteor tries to come back while we’re gone, they regret it!”
Charlotte looks to Shelly, who’s been listening to the conversation silently, then to the doorway in the back, where Anna and Noel are unsubtly trying to listen in in secret… for some reason. “…yeah. I can do that.”
“Awesome,” Carly says. She looks to Laura. “Just let me heal and sort through my Pokémon real quick, then we’ll go.”
Laura nods, and Carly heads through the doorway in the back.
“Be careful, all right?” Laura asks.
“Can’t make any promises there, but we’ll be safe… in a sense,” Charlotte says.
Laura gives her a smile that looks half exasperated, half fond. “I know.”
Carly returns, and she and Laura head out. Now, all Charlotte has to do is keep an eye out, and wait for the inevitable victorious return.
— — —
Charlotte sits next to a hot spring, knees to her chest, arms around them. Ninetails sits to her left. It’s late, but she’s not going home. How could she, when… the others are being stupid?
Saphira is obviously fine. Sure, she fell off a mountain sized Steelix. But she’s Saphira. She’s fine.
Some of the others were talking like she isn’t, though. And then Laura brought up the fire. So Charlotte left.
…part of her can’t help but think that she should never have come home. Saphira is obviously fine, but still, falling off a giant Steelix probably hurts, right? That never would’ve happened if she had no reason to target Team Meteor, and the only reason she did was because Charlotte coming home had caused Team Meteor to target her.
Aside from that, Laura had caught up with Charlotte as she was storming off, and, well… Laura had been very obviously upset that Charlotte immediately brushed her off. Or maybe it was because the others got into her head, about Saphira not being fine. Which is stupid, but wouldn’t have happened if all of that other stuff hadn’t.
It seems Charlotte coming home has only caused her sisters trouble.
“Thought I’d find you here.”
Charlotte glances over to Carly, who sits down on her right side, a brown paper bag in hand. “Did you?”
“It felt on brand,” Carly says. “So… how are you feeling?”
“Please,” Charlotte says with a sneer. “Spare me with the therapy bullshit, I’ve had enough of it for a lifetime.”
“Okay, sorry,” Carly says. “Are you coming home? It’s getting late.”
Charlotte glares at the heated pool of water in front of her. “No.”
“Well, as long as you have your Pokémon to protect you, that’s fine,” Carly says.
“Why the hell are you even here?” Charlotte asks.
“Because I’m concerned about my friend. Is that so hard to believe?” Carly asks.
“We’ve known each other for like, three weeks,” Charlotte points out.
“That’s more than enough for me! We’ve been through enough together,” Carly says.
“Whatever. Leave,” Charlotte says.
“Okay. But take this,” Carly says, setting the bag next to Charlotte. “Maybe go outside with it to make sure it doesn’t heat up too much. See you, Charlotte.”
Carly stands and leaves. Once she’s gone, Charlotte picks up the bag and opens it. Inside are two packets, one of chips and one of PokéSnax, two bottles of Fresh Water, and a pouch with some sliced berries inside.
Charlotte scowls a bit. What is she, a child being packed lunch?
…she does end up going outside and feeding Ninetails the PokéSnax, though. Eats the chips, and splits the berry slices with her Pokémon. Drinks one bottle of water, and helps Ninetails drink the other.
The two end up sleeping there in Chrysolia Forest, together.
— — —
Early the next morning, Charlotte heads back home.
She was going to stay away longer, but, well… she got hungry. And she doesn’t have any money to go into town and buy something, assuming anything’s even open. So she has to trudge back.
As she walks through Tanzan Mountain, though, there’s the sound of a huge blast, startling her. She looks in the direction it came from, but sees nothing, and decides to head further in to find the source.
As Charlotte approaches some steps up to what used to be a gate, someone steps through.
She’s covered in dirt, and several scratches and scrapes, but it’s her. Saphira.
“You’re okay,” Charlotte says, looking up at her sister with wide eyes.
“Of course I am. Was there ever any doubt?” Saphira asks.
Charlotte grins. “Never for a second.”
Saphira nods, then starts to walk down the steps. “Carly is heading on. I’m taking the rest of you up to Carnelia. Let’s go.”
Charlotte nods, and follows her sister’s lead.
She knew it would be fine.